I've been having the most fun trying new recipes lately.  I've realized that I can save a lot on our grocery bill if I have every meal and snack planned, instead of just having our supper planned and figuring out the rest as needed.

This morning we had yogurt parfaits for breakfast.  And for lunch I made delicious pesto pasta.

Both the boys are either coming down with something or allergies have descended upon us, so G didn't really eat anything.  Z on the other hand LOVED it!  He told me over and over that it was "dewicious", and ate all of his.  Part of mine.  And all of G's.

Other fun new things I've tried lately are sweet potato muffins.

Another thumb's up!

And then there are the bologna and cheddar muffins.  I've always been afraid of muffins.  I have problems mixing them just right almost every time.  But I've realized what an amazing thing they are, and what a great quick meal they can make in a pinch.  These were supposed to be ham and cheddar, but it was a "I need to go shopping, what can I make with what's in my fridge" meal.  And ta-da!  Bologna Cheddar muffins!

are they not the cutest little boys ever?!

Some more things on the menu for the next few weeks that I'm excited to try include....

bang-bang chicken salad
ham and cheese crepes
egg pesto melt
and
homemade graham crackers

We got the Jeep back on Wednesday.  It seems to have been an electrical problem.  The codes that came up said that the fuel injectors were ALL bad.  And that there was some problem with the throttle making connections with something.  The mechanic cleared all the codes out, cleaned a few things and it seems to be fine.  Of course, only M has drove it so far.  And it only has problems for yours truly.

Yesterday was a very long day.  I had training in Minot for the apartment complex I started managing.  Which meant getting me AND the boys out the door by 7am.  What a chaotic ordeal.  I dropped them off at the daycare I used once before.  They immediately started running around and playing.  And didn't even come and tell me bye =(

After a long day of training, which ran late, I went and did my grocery shopping.  And then went to pick up my little men.  Oh, how I missed them.  10 hours without hearing or seeing them is way too long.  I was so anxious to get them I could have cried.  They were at the basketball game, completely passed out in the stroller.  The daycare lady said they did amazing and played and ran all day long.  Only a few times they asked where I was, she told them I had to go bye-bye, and they were fine. 

It was good to have a day away.  It made me realize how much I love being able to spend every day with them.  And how much I miss them when they aren't around.

I need to go back to Minot sometime in the next week to get some training and certifications, and I'm already dreading having to leave my boys.

Taking A New Turn

Yesterday's post started the new turn of my blog.  When I originally started this, M was in Georgia.  The boys and I were in New York.  I wanted to make sure that I wrote down the little things of our day so M could be part of it.

But now here we are quickly coming up on our 2-year anniversary of living in North Dakota.  Together, as a family.  Our life is changing again with the arrival of our little girl.

While this blog will still talk about my adorable children, because they are indeed my world, I'm also going to start taking the time to just write.  Write whatever it is that I'm thinking about.  I realized yesterday that my facebook status has been an outlet for a lot of this.  Only, there is so much you can post on facebook. 

And so a new chapter begins...

I have decided.  That I should just stop going to my OB appointments.  This entire winter, every single OB appointment I have coincided with bad weather, or just plain old bad roads.

Last appointment (2 weeks ago) had a special spin to it.  I had failed my 1-hour glucose test and had to take the 3-hour test.  This test requires you to start fasting at midnight the night before.  Getting your blood drawn once after you've been fasting; drinking this special, 'yummy' orange potion (which really I don't find so bad... a lot like flat orange soda); and then having your blood drawn at 1, 2 and 3 hours post-drink.

I already had an appointment scheduled for 1:30 in the afternoon, so I decided I'd just do the test then.  M had just come off of working 3 double shifts in a row, and I wanted him to be able to sleep as long as possible before I left him with the boys to head to Williston.  The roads were, of course, bad and it took me longer than planned to get there.

Going to jump over a bunch of minor details.  Important facts: I'm pregnant.  I hadn't ate in 14+ hours.

Between my 2nd and 3rd blood draw I ran to Wal-Mart to pick up the groceries I needed.  I RAN through the store, and successfully got everything on my list in 30 minutes.  And then got the slowest cashier in the world.  Who felt the need to make a comment about every single thing I was purchasing. 

"Oh, I need some of this."
"Hmm, I haven't tried this yet.  It looks good."
"I love fruit snacks too."
"Do you like rice?  You must like rice.  I don't like rice."

And so it went.  I'm hungry.  I'm tired.  I'm tapping my fingers on the counter.  I'm ignoring her.  I need to be out of this store and back to my doctors office at exactly 4:32 PM.

Finally she was done.  I run (literally, run) through the parking lot with my cart load of groceries and start to unload them.  And then the guy who was behind me in the checkout walks by.  2 seconds after I've picked up the dog food.  He offers to put the dog food in the truck, and then says he'll unload all my groceries for him.  We talk about how SLOW the cashier was.  And I mention that I have to be somewhere in exactly 7 minutes.  He so very kindly offered to push the cart back for me so I could get on my way.

I walked through the doors to the office at exactly 4:32 PM.

After the blood draw I grab something to eat and happily head home.  Once home it was a little while before M started unloading the groceries.  After one trip in the house he asked me if someone had helped me.  I told him yes, and how wonderful and sweet this guy was.  M had a funny look on his face.  I asked if something was wrong.  And he handed me a set of keys.  This poor guy had dropped his keys in the bed of my truck.  And I didn't know.  Until 2 1/2 hours later.

Fast forward again... I ended up having to get back in the truck and driving the 1 1/2 hours back there to bring him his keys.  He had just moved here, knew no one, and had been sitting in Wal-Mart hoping I'd call.

And then today's appointment.  It was all going fine.  Just a quick check-up.  Yes, the numbers on the scale are still creeping higher.  My blood pressure is good.  Lil' M's heartbeat is good.  All done.  Grab a few groceries and head home.  2 miles out of Williston the Jeep starts acting a little weird.  Not too weird, same problem its had on and off for the past 3-4 years.  And then it got worse.  20 miles outside of Williston the 'check engine' light came on.  And then engine/RPMs started doing crazy things.  It would be in the normal 2000 RPMs @ 65mph, and all of the sudden the engine would rev and shoot up to 3000 RPMs.  So I called M, told him what was going on, and to be prepared if I should call back saying I needed a ride home.  It was if it was losing power and then overcompensating to keep the same speed.  Eventually if I was going 60 MPH it was shooting up to 4000+ RPMs.  And hills did it in.  I was able to drive it all the way to Crosby, where M met me, and we left it at the garage.  The best way to describe it, is it felt like it was running out of gas.  Even though there was 1/2 a tank.  And I drove it 60 miles.  We'll see what they say about it tomorrow.

But it has lead me to believe that I should just stop going to these little, quick check-ups.  They don't bring good things.

The Things They Say

yesterday...

"Gavin, where is your hoodie?"
"o'er there", he points across the room
"Go pick your hoodie up and bring it to mommy, its too cold to not wear it"
"I stuck Mommy.  My tail stuck."

this morning....

"Mommy, put shoes on?!"
"No Zane, we don't need to wear shoes"
"Awww, man" (looks disapointed)
(eyes light up) "Pweasse, pwease, pwease!!!"

Smarty Pants

M and I were so proud (and slightly) amazed at the boys earlier today.  We were playing cars on the floor and Z picked up one of the cars and says "Nissan!"  Sure enough, it was the Nissan.  We then proceeded to ask him what every car laying on the floor around us was.  Every, single one of them he knew!  Chevelle, Nova, Porshe, Mustang... without a beat he could tell us what they were.  He even went into the playroom and found specific cars we were asking for ("where is your black nissan?").  G did really good too!  He wasn't 100% on like Z was, but he could tell us what the majority of their cars were.

They aren't great a counting... usually goes something like "2,4,2,3,6,7,2,7,8,2".  But at least they know their cars!

And So It Begins

This morning I was getting the boys dressed for a playdate in the afternoon.

Z looks at me and says "going bye?" 
I tell him "No, we're having friends over!"
He gets a big smile and says "GIRLFRIENDS?!"
I laugh, "Girlfriends?  You want girlfriends over?"
He giggles, "yyeeaaahhh".

Ahhh, my little ladies man.

potty {deep breath} training

This afternoon we had an impromptu potty training session.  Its something that I've been casually working on with the boys, but not really pushing it yet.  Basically I'm getting them used to sitting on their potties and hopefully getting the general idea of what is supposed to happen in their heads.

I had been in the kitchen making the boys lunch.  And I hear from the living room "MESSY!".  Now, I should have known then that something was going on.  In fact, I even had the thought "I'm probably going to regret not running in there right now to see what is going on".  But I wanted to get lunch made and some dishes washed before we sat down to eat.

15 minutes later they were still both shouting "MESS!".  And I finally made my way to the living room.  And there were 2 adorable little boys.  Completely naked.  They had managed to unsnap the placket on their jammies.  Unzip their jammies and take them off.  And take off their diapers. 

There in the middle of my living room floor, along with 3 obvious locations where they had peed, was a poop.  Which they were squatting over, pointing at and yelling "MESS!"

Its one of those moments that you either cry or laugh hysterically.  And laugh I did.  It was just too funny to see their little nake-y bums squatting over this random poop in the middle of the living room.

I brought out the potties and told them they were supposed to go pee and poopy in their potties.

And then decided they could wear undies at least until naptime and I would see how they did.  They actually did really good.  They both stayed dry through lunch.  It was quite an amusing lunch in my opinion.  Every 5 seconds I found myself saying "Tell mommy if you have to go pee or poopy.  Don't pee on Elmo.  Don't pee on Spongebob."

After lunch G did pee in his potty!  I was so proud of him, and he was so proud to dump his pee in the toilet, flush the toilet, and best of all "wash!"  The child LOVES to wash his hands!  They both then had one accident before naptime when I put them back in a diaper.  But I felt that for 2 hours in undies 2 children, 1 success and 2 accidents wasn't that bad.

After naptime Z discovered the clean undies that were still in the living room.  And he felt that he should be wearing them (and yes, he did this himself with no help from me!)

G was again naked when I came to get them for supper.  I'm not sure if he's trying to tell me he doesn't like his wet diaper and wants it off.  Or if he really just likes to strip and run around naked.  I'm really leaning towards the later.

Milestones

I put up a post on my facebook earlier today and a friend mentioned I should journal my super woman moment as its a milestone.  It only took a split second for me to realize she was right.  So here it is.

Today I needed to run to the grocery store.  Now 'running to the grocery store' isn't the same as most people.  M is working the horrid shift of noon - 8pm, so I had no choice but to bring the boys with me.  It involves the whole ugly process mentioned in 'the decision' along with a 30 minute car ride to the grocery store.  I only had a short list today, mainly we needed milk and produce.  Easy, peasy.  For most people.  In general I get to the store, unload the stroller, take one boy out of the truck, buckle him into the stroller, get the other boy out of the truck, buckle him into the stroller (that one usual screams), grab my purse and list and head inside.  Lately, I've been branching out and letting the boys walk (while holding my hands) into the store, and then I put them in the basket of the cart.  I'm not fond of doing it at this particular store because they have these odd little carts (no lie the sides of the basket are maybe 12-13"), and the front of the cart actually drops open.

Today I decided I will let the boys walk in the store.  I discussed with them in great detail what we were going to do once we got in the store, and what sort of behavior I wanted to see.  Sometimes that actually works.

I came out of that store feeling like super woman.  They listened perfectly.  There were no tantrums or meltdowns.  No one ran away.  They did try to get me to buy marshmallows and pudding.  But after I explained to them that we already had that stuff at home and it wasn't on the list, they put them back on the shelf.  I let them each pick out their own cereal.  Originally they chose strawberry yogurt cheerios and banana nut cheerios, but after they realized I was actually letting them pick out what they wanted they chose cookie crisps and Reece's puffs (which sounded pprreeetttyyy good to pregnant mommy, and was NOT denying them those!)  They marched around that store so proud to help me get the groceries off the shelf and push the cart.  And we came out of the store with the only extras being 3 kinds of juice instead of just one (again, a side effect of being pregnant... they ALL sounded good to me!)

There were some potential difficulties getting out to the truck (2 toddlers, 4 heavy bags of groceries, 1 me).  But, thankfully the store has baggers who also help you carry the groceries.  I did get the one creepy person, but I was feeling on top of the world at that point and didn't care!

It made me so proud to see my little men behaving so big.  I also had another proud moment where someone commented on how good they were talking. 

It also gives me hope.  Maybe, just maybe when this new baby arrives we will be OK.  I will be able to do this after all.

Happy Boys