Saturday, May 26, 2012

a pinkless baby girl bedroom.

incase you don't know me, i'm not a big fan of pink. not a fan at all, actually. the only pink i can enjoy is bright pink or hot pink. pastel pink=gross. so when it comes to having a baby girl, i wish myself luck on the quest for finding non-pink things. regarding clothes, i semi gave up. its impossible to avoid pink completely. so i compromise with the brights and i've found it to work. 

because of our recent move, i was a little behind in completing lucy's room. i had decided on a bright-ish yellow for the walls. i loved the paint chip. mom slapped on two coats in the previously blue room. she texted me and said it was bright...a lemon yellow. she then proceeds to ask "have you ever considered the effects of a yellow room on a baby?" oh great, thanks mom. (side note: my mom has this amazing way of coming up with the weirdest things to worry about, which then causes me to worry. fires, toy boxes opening and falling on kids heads, men hiding under my car ready to slash my ankles and kidnap me, deathly poison found on the headset of a pay phone...you know, normal stuff.) so i googled "yellow paint in baby room". what do i find? google tells me that yellow walls make babies irritable, anxious, and overstimulated. thanks, mom and thanks, google. i felt confident that my power as a parent would surpass that of the walls, so i move forward with the whole yellow plan. (google was obviously wrong because lucy sleeps 12 hours a night and has been for a while now.) 

i'll admit, i thought my mom was overreacting about the brightness of the yellow. but as i walk up the stairs and turn toward the bedroom i literally had to look for my sunglasses. it was not only bright, it was florescent. so...we go buy another gallon of a different shade of yellow and its perfect now. 

with a little fabric, spray paint, and scrapbook paper i put together the cutest, pinkless baby girl room. it totally fits lucy and i love it.





headbands galore!

my new obsession is making headbands for lucy's perfect little head. i've been obsessed for a few months now. i started just before she was born, so i could have a few to pretty her up (not that she needed it) in the hospital. i've since made, oh, hundreds of them. i can't stop. if you ever need a cute, handmade gift for a baby girl friend or want to dazzle the head of your own offspring, check out my etsy store, the speckled pear. my big sis, megan, will be joining forces soon.

here are a few pics to tease you with.







tasty bites: rhubarb/cake/jello mix dessert

we had a keezer/mcgovern family dinner the other night. kate, my sister-in-law, brought the most amazing dessert. i am all about desserts, especially ones that taste as good as this and do not require any mixing, whisking, or beating. you have to try it. it would be the perfect ending to your memorial day cookout.

ingredients:

-4 cups of sliced rhubarb
-1 cup of sugar
-1 packet strawberry or raspberry jello (both are good)
-1 yellow cake mix
-1 1/4 cup water
-1/2 cup melted butter

directions:

-grease pan and preheat oven to 350.
-dump rhubarb in pan. cover with sugar. cover the sugar with the jello packet. layer with dry cake mix. sprinkle water and melted butter over the top.
-bake at 350 for an hour.

so good served with ice cream. or whipped cream if that's what you like. DELICIOUS.


Wednesday, May 16, 2012

update: jude and lucy!

today was one of those days where i felt like i was on the set of a movie. i walked by lucy and smelled something funky. (let me preface this by saying that this girl can poop like none other. she usually only poops every second or third day, but when she does...LOOK OUT. it will most likely be a complete explosion...the kind that requires either a whole package of wipes or a bath.) so i lift lucy from her infant seat to find that her whole outfit was soaked in liquid feces. gross. so i open her pajamas and its everywhere. there's no way i'm even going to try and salvage this onesie or pajama outfit. in the name of saving time, effort, and a whole bottle of shout advanced gel, i just cut the things off and chuck them in the trash. i dangle lucy over the sink and spray off the poop. the whole process is quite gross, but its part of being a mom, right? she somehow gets poop on her hand which then transfers to her face. EW. so there's pretty much poop everywhere, lucy is screaming, and i'm sweating. not fun.

to make it all better, i glance over at jude (who is supposed to be eating his lunch) and he's clearly taking advantage of the fact that his mama is completely preoccupied. he had taken the peanut butter off his plate and smeared it all over himself, the counter, and the booster chair where he sat. he then requests that i wipe him off. yeah, right. ok, let me just put down your poop covered sister and i'll be right there. ahh. what a funny scene.

overall, being the mom of two has been such a pleasant experience. i was semi-worried before lucy was born, because i didn't know what to expect. but it has gone amazingly well. jude loves his sister so much, and she certainly loves him. i think he gets more smiles out of her than anyone!

so here's an update on the kids...

jude:

-jude is such a boy. i mean really, he totally is. he is obsessed with farting and bathroom talk. luckily, he picks up a lot of habits from his dad. he walked up to me this morning and said "pull my finger, mama!" thanks, bk.

-jude is a rambler. he could talk to himself for hours. its so cute. we were driving home from ellsworth the other day and he did not stop talking for two seconds. i loved it though. today he was talking while i was feeding lucy and he said "mama, you sit in that chair. i'll sit in this chair. daddy will sit in that chair over there when he gets home from work." he also loves to follow sentences with the words "last night". i think he hears brian and i say this from time to time so he figures he may as well give it a shot. he'll say "i drank milk from my lightning mcqueen cup last night." even though it wasn't necessarily last night. it really cracks me up.

-jude loves to watch monster truck/helicopter/tractor videos on youtube with meme. he asks for it often, but we try to do it as a "special treat". in the car the other day jude was playing with a monster truck. he was going on and on, talking and rambling. mom said to me "do you hear what he's saying?" he was saying "monster trucks say 'bad to the bone!'" which i guess was in one of the videos he watches with meme. too funny!

-one of the cd's i have in the car right now is chris tomlin. one of the songs on the album is "god of this city". the chorus says..."greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city." well, jude LOVES this song. whenever we get in the car he asks to hear it and i often hear him singing it randomly while he's playing. he also likes to "play the drums" which really consists of him taking two stick like things and banging them on whatever is nearby. so he loves to play the drums while singing (screaming) "things to be done in this city!"its the most adorable thing.

-on the topic of songs, we were at walmart the other day and jude looks at me with a surprised look on his face. he said "lightning mcqueen! mack on the highway!" we were in the fabric aisle and i had no clue where he saw lightning mcqueen but i usually just take his word for it. then i realized that the song playing in the background was "life is a highway" which is in the movie cars. he is an expert on all things cars!

-jude has an incredible memory. he often times starts talking about things that happened a long time ago. one time, about 8 months ago, bella bit him on the face. he has never forgotten that and every now and then he says "bella bit me on my face." come on jude, forgive and forget. he also had an episode a few weeks ago when he fell from a chair and crashed head first on the floor. he often relives that experience by saying "i went crash from the chair and hit my head. mama screamed 'BRIAN!'" i love his memory.

-jude has a harley davidson ride on toy at gramma and papa's house. whenever he rides it he says "ride it like you stole it!" props to papa for teaching him that one.

i guess that's enough on jude. i could honestly go on for hours.

lucy:

-lucy is an angel baby. knock on wood. she has been sleeping 9 consecutive hours for a while now, sometimes 11 or 12. last night she slept 7 to 7. it was glorious. i don't know how i got blessed with such a good sleeper, but i am very thankful for it.

-lucy loves jude! she smiles at him so much and i think she likes watching his movements.

-lucy is a morning person. i go in to get her in the morning and she is all smiles. lucy is so chill, laid back, and happy. she fusses a little before she goes to sleep, but i let her be and she puts herself in a trance.

-we are in quite a good routine now: eat, play, sleep. that's what we do and it works so well. lucy is awake a lot now so that makes things a little more exciting. she loves her little jungle gym mat. she also loves looking in the mirror. she's such a squirmer and kicks a ton.

-lucy still has the most amazing hair. none of it has fallen out. she's such a beauty!

love you, jucy!





Wednesday, May 9, 2012

tasty bites: world's most amazing oatmeal chocolate chip muffins.

these muffins are my absolute favorite. after i found the recipe a couple years ago, i make them alllllllll the time. quick, easy, and GOOD. i feel like i posted this once before, but megan is bugging me for it so here it is again.

ingredients:

-1/2 cup butter, softened
-3/4 cup brown sugar
-1 egg
-1 cup flour
-1 tsp. baking powder
-1/4 tsp. baking soda
-1/4 tsp. salt
-3/4 cup applesauce
-1 cup oats
-3/4 cup chocolate chips

directions:

-cream together butter and sugar. add egg.
-combine dry ingredients (except oats) and add alternately with applesauce.
-add oats and chocolate chips. mix until combined. divide into greased muffin tin.
-bake at 350 for about 15 minutes (maybe more depending on your oven).

jude likes to pick out the chocolate chips and eat those first. hey, whatever works.

tasty bites: shrimp, asparagus, and pesto pasta

brian and i love shrimp. we love asparagus. and we love pesto. so i combined the three for dinner last night and it was pure deliciousness. i kind of just threw this all together so measurements aren't exact, but they don't need to be.

*sidenote: have you ever noticed that after you eat asparagus your pee has the weirdest smell? according to my cousin brian, everyone has this experience but not everyone can smell it. weird, i know, but try it out.

ingredients:

-shrimp (cooked or uncooked, whatever suits you)
-1 garlic clove
-1 bunch of asparagus
-2 tablespoons butter
-pesto (i used, oh, lets say, 1/4 cup. use however much you like!)
-angel hair

directions:

-this is literally the easiest dinner ever!
-cut asparagus into bite size pieces. sauté in pan with butter for a few minutes. add garlic. add shrimp until either cooked (if you use uncooked shrimp) or heated through (if you use cooked shrimp).
-boil angel hair (or desired pasta) until done. drain. add shrimp mixture and pesto. mix well.

that's it! so good and so easy. i like to make my own pesto, but i used store bought last night.