I'm A Boy Mom

Today B and I have just been hanging around the house. We (I mean I) haven't done a lot of house work but we've had a fun filled day! (I did sweep, dust and manage to get all the dirty dishes into the dishwasher!) Never a dull moment in this house with a 3 year old and a huge puppy. I can still call him a puppy because he isn't 2 until June. Anyway here we sit watching "Mighty Machines" if you have a boy and you haven't found it on Netflix find it and go clean. You have 30 minutes. Seriously GO!

This morning while Blake played outside on his new play set I got a great workout in! I deleted the picture of my set up but I took my computer and yoga mat outside. Double duty! Got in my workout and watched him play plus Cooper got to run around like the crazy dog he is! B joined me a few times for some of the moves he liked. He said, "squats, I know those!" Ha he is used to working out with me or watching me workout! So while we were outside he got pooped on by a bird for the first time ever! I laughed because he didn't even realized that he had black goo all down the back of his head and shirt! Oh I deleted the picture proof earlier too. What was I thinking? It was so funny! After we cleaned his head we also went for a run! First one in a long time but it was a good one! Apparently I deleted all my pictures from before noon before I uploaded them. (Note to self, dump pictures from phone to computer more often!)

As we played in the house before lunch I started thinking about boys. There are lots of posts out there about being a boy mom. Since I have a boy I read them! It may seem strange but just recently I have come to realize that when people say boy mom that includes me, even if I only have one boy. I'm currently mind blown that it has taken me this long to feel confident and comfortable saying "I'm a boy mom!" I'm not sure why I never really felt like it included me in that category, maybe because I only have one boy and most people that I read about being a boy mom from have many boys. I love being a boy mom. In the future when I have another child I'm okay remaining a boy mom! For some reason I find it amazing that boy behavior is similar across the board! I also wonder how different little girls are.

I decided that I'd snap a few pictures of B playing throughout the day to share. (A few other older ones too!) I think mostly because if someone were to surprise us with a visit mid play I would be shocked and hope they understood how boys play! I was standing in the middle of the living room and I was surrounded by cars, trucks, dog toys, and my couch pillows! I should have known not to buy white couch pillows, good thing they are washable!

I have all of B's toys in tubs and buckets. If he wants to play with blocks he can get the block bucket and drag it where ever he wants. (Not until I get them out of the bathtub from being sanitized though) When he wants to play with something he grabs the tub brings it into the living room and dumps it out, right in the middle of the floor!

Naturally that results in a pile of cars and the rest sprinkled all over. Hey its life around here! Watch your step because there is a hot wheel or some other car to be stepped on! When he decides that he wants something else to play with he goes to get another bucket and dumps it out right there too! My coffee table as well as my body are also the best roads we have in the house! 

The coffee table also doubles as a chair and launching platform if he can get away with it before he gets caught. Sometimes I think sitting on the table is the only time he sits down in a day! He doesn't even sit down to eat!

He does love to sit at his desk and do art work though. That's sitting! Even if it doesn't last long!

He loves to play games. It's a new love and the game must only take a few minutes and not have many rules but he loves them. Some of our current games are memory match which ends up being more like go-fish, a new number construction game he got for his birthday, the annoying fishing game where the fish pop up and down, barnyard uno and hungry hungry hippo (loud). Memory usually turns into "momma do you have Ripslinger?" "No buddy you have find him by turning the cards over." "OH!" turns all the cards over until he finds the one he's looking for! The number construction game he got for his birthday is awesome. It is educational and perfect for boys! It has pieces and nuts and the objective is to build numbers using the pieces the card tells you to! I help him make the numbers but he picks out the pieces! It's called Number Construction, if you have a boy or girl who likes to build its a must have! (It would be good for teachers to use in small group too!)

Everything is a toy even if it isn't a toy! All my kitchen utensils that he isn't supposed to play with, he does from time to time. The netti pot, he thinks its for having a tea party like he has with his cousin and Granny over the weekend. The couch is a trampoline. If it's easy to hold to his face its a phone (even though we have play phones). His imagination constantly amazes me, even when it stresses me out a little.

Boots on the clearance rack = perfect dress up shoes.

Yes we let him put them on and walk around the store. We laughed the entire time! He's a kid!

The netti pot. 

The mop is also a toy. I don't mind when he plays with it because my floors are getting a little clean right!

Clothes are optional in our house all the time, well okay not when we have company, then they are required! Keeping him in clothes doesn't happen some days and others I can't get him to take off his sweat pants for anything! He also goes naked in our backyard often. There has to be a boundary somewhere so the front yard requires at least underwear! I'm not kidding!

Naked + mud = best time ever!

It's never too cold to want to play in the water! We almost have to hide the hoses and cover the faucets when its cold out. Playing in the water and mud never get old. We very rarely have a day that he doesn't play in the water. Even this morning while I was working out he was filling his watering can and pouring it all around my yoga mat!

Friends playing in the water. She eventually made her way to standing in the water table too!

Other things that occur daily that I don't capture on camera. Throwing EVERYTHING toys, cups, food, shoes, clothes, I mean anything he can pick up! His hands are constantly in his pants. Why because 1 he figured out he has something in there (about 2 1/2 years ago) and 2 he's obsessed with playing with it. It's just one of those boy things that they never really out grow. He is full of more energy than any adult can ever dream of having! He is also the best at giving snuggles when he wants to snuggle. He rubs my boobs every time he can get his hands on them. Another male obsession that starts early in life, probably! "I like boobs Momma!" were his words to me one evening last week. (Haha if you aren't laughing you should be! It was funny!) He eats all day long, maybe if he would sit down for an entire meal he wouldn't be so hungry ALL THE TIME. (No you say, it gets worse, I guess I'll have to go back to work so we can afford to feed him.) I also love all the statements, comments, etc. that he comes up with that blow my mind. Seriously where do kids come up with some of their stuff!

Over the last week or two I have been struggling to keep the joy of all these things in the front of my mind. Turning 3 has seemed to be such a tough transition that I have had to force myself to step back and take a moment to appreciate all the things he does that are so boy and so toddler. After all he won't be 3 forever (yay) and he will be so grown up before I know it! 

Do you have a boy? Does he do the same type of things? Do you have a girl, how many of these things does she do? Share some funny things or some so boy things your boy does with me! Share some girl things with me to!

It's All In How You Say It

People are always curious about what's going on in your life and ask questions about personal things. It's not just to us that I'm referring to either, some of our friends are facing the same things. It wasn't until recently that I figured out there are questions that one I don't want to be asked and two I shouldn't ask other people. It also clicked that maybe it's not the question but more of how it's said. 

Here they are the two big questions that I have decided shouldn't be asked  (have you already figured them out?) 

1. When are you going to have a/another baby? 

2. When are you getting married? 

Let me start by first saying I'm sorry if I've ever asked you either of these questions. I hadn't figured out how to appropriately word them or figured out how much it sucks to be on the receiving end of such a question. 

 

I'll start with number 2 since it doesn't apply to me; I'm already married. We have a few friends and family members that are not married yet, some are dating some aren't with anyone serious yet. I can't speak for them but I kind of feel like they will take that leap when the time is right or when they find the right person. It's not like people who aren't married by the time they are 30 aren't going to ever get married. I know they think about it and asking them or calling them out on it isn't making them feel any better about it! Just think twice before you ask someone, are you ever going to get married? 

On to the question I face so often that I actually want to scream or punch someone when I'm asked it...when are you going to have another baby? Yesterday was the first time I have ever been asked about future children that I didn't feel like I was being put on trial. My Uncle and I were chatting while cruising along the highway and he said "are you guys going to have anymore kids?" It was in context, it wasn't demanding that we have another child, it was simply put out there as a question. I think it was the first time someone asked me and I didn't get upset (on the inside) about it. It was all in the way he worded it. 

There are many reasons why I dislike the "when are you going to have another baby" & comments that hint about having another and feel they should be avoided. First off do you know what they are going through? Have you even thought about or are you aware of how difficult it actually is to have a baby. (I did a little research on it maybe you should too.) There are so many reasons that people don't have another baby or even one baby to begin with. Maybe the people you are questioning which feels more like demanding when you use the word 'when' about this have recently had a miscarriage and don't want to share that information. Maybe they have been trying and are struggling with fertility. Maybe they aren't ready to add another child to their family just yet. Maybe they can't afford another child. Maybe they are soaking in every minute they have with each other or their first child before adding chaos to their lives. Maybe it's as simple as they don't want children or any more children. Maybe they are working on their relationship before adding a child or more children to the mix. 

So the point I'm trying to get across is, think about how you word your questions and consider the possibility that there is more going on than you know about. 

I will share because now I'm sure people are really wondering why we don't have another baby yet. We will have another when we are ready. I will share with the world when that time has come! Right now we are enjoying our time loving on B! 

(Disclaimer this post is not pointed directed at anyone. It's just what was on my mind as we are traveling today!)

Happy weekend friends! Enjoy yourselves! 

B is 3

There are lots of different emotions coming to mind now that B is 3 years old. He is growing up so fast! 

The biggest thing for me is more the fact that this is our last year at home together. He's going to be leaving me to start PreK in the Fall of next year. How can that be? Anyway all the sad momma emotions about my boy growing up aside we had a great time celebrating his birthday! 

This was our first time to have his party at a place other than our house. I was a little stressed about loosing the control of the party by having it somewhere else but it turned out perfect. We went to Skyzone Trampoline park on Saturday. I think the adults had as much fun as the kids! We had our private trampoline court to jump in. We had 19 people kids and adults jumping with other adults watching. We jumped for an hour. It was so fun to watch B run and bounce and giggle. He would throw the dodge balls at people and take it when they threw it back at him. I loved watching B and his daddy play together! It's always is one of my favorite things to do but during his birthday party it was even more fun! After we jumped we had pizza, cupcakes and opened gifts. I felt like this part of the party was really rushed but it was still so much fun! B loved all his gifts and his cards. He kept stopping opening his cards and reading them "Happy. Birthday Blake!" he'd say! It was precious! Just before we sang happy birthday I asked everyone to sing it quietly bc he hates loud noises. As soon as everyone started singing he had his hands on his ears and he yelled "LOUDER LOUDER!" 

One of the things I wanted to be sure of while having his party at the trampoline park was that I was able to stick with his firefighter theme. He loves everything firefighter related! I made all of the decorations and the invitations. It turned out perfect! Here are some pictures from his party! 

On his actual birthday he woke up to balloons in his room and a few on his bed. His daddy and I blew them up the night before and put them in there right before we woke him up! He was so excited when he woke up! We played with all of the balloons for as long as we could before daddy had to leave for work! He kept telling everyone about playing with the balloons when he woke up! I don't have any pictures of that of course because we were in the moment and enjoying it so much! His Meme, Papa, Aunt Amber and cousin Chloe came up to hang out for the day. We went to the zoo until it started pouring down rain on us! We left the zoo had lunch then went to the aquarium. When we finally got home just in time for daddy to be home from work B was exhausted. His visitors headed home and we went to eat pizza for dinner. I have said before that he loves pizza! We had a great dinner followed by a yummy birthday dessert. Pictures from our fun on his birthday! 

Rain at the zoo

Aquarium-Watching the sharks eat with Papa! 

Being silly with Meme

Measuring up to an alligator gar

Gifts and dinner with momma and daddy

Dessert!

Family photo on his birthday! 

This is B when he woke up yesterday morning! 

He had a great birthday weekend. Here are our thank you cards we made yesterday! 

1st Season of T-Ball

I signed B up to play t-ball back in March. I searched the YMCA website and found that his birthday fell in the cut off. The born between dates were something like 3-17-2009 to 5-17-2011 and guess what Blake was born on May 12th of 2011 so he feel right in there! I was so excited for him to play. I volunteered to be a co-coach because I wasn't sure I could coach a group of 3 and 4 year olds. I was worried about my competitive nature coming out and that wouldn't be good for this age group. I also wasn't sure how B was going to react to playing ball. I wasn't sure if he was going to be stuck to my side or if he was going to be Mr. Independent. The only way I was going to be able to figure out how he would react was go put him out there.

Anyway we had practice every Monday night. We missed the first practice because B was sick and we were late to the second practice. I felt like we weren't starting the season off very good. He cried the entire first practice because he was cold. The first game he wouldn't run the bases or stand out in the field. Practice started to slowly get better. He was like a little pro out there fielding the ball and running it to first base. Then when it came to game time he would freeze up. He started to cry during one game and informed us "I not like those screamers!" He was referring to a group of parents that would cheer for the players when they crossed home plate. We finally got him some ear plugs. Between the ear plugs and him becoming more comfortable with what he was doing t-ball became fun! He was excited to go to games and practice every week. He started to look forward to seeing his t-ball friends and his coach!

B was the youngest child in the league, I think, but for sure on our team. I caught a lot of grief from people about making him play when he was too young and whatever nonsense they were saying that I wasn't paying any attention to. He's our kid so if we want him to play t-ball at 2 1/2 years old we can do it! I knew that he was young so we were going to have to help him ease into it slowly. It turned out to be better that I didn't coach this year because it took him a little while to get used to the idea of me being out there to help everyone and not just him. At the beginning of the season he wanted someone to do everything with him, running to first base after he got the ball, running the bases with him after he hit, help him hit, stand with him in the field. By the end of the season he was hitting the ball on his own, running the bases by himself and running the ball to first base if he fielded it in a game. He still likes for someone to stand right behind him in the field but that's partly because all the other kids have people out there with them too! So for all the people who thought it was a terrible idea for us to have our kid play t-ball at such a young age take a look a these photos and then tell me it was a bad idea. Go ahead!

It was such a fun season! I can't wait for him to play again next spring and to try out soccer this fall!

Fit It All In!

I have been thinking for a couple of days about how I manage to fit it all in. I honestly thought this post was going to be such a simple one but then it took me this long to sit down and figure out how exactly I do fit it all in. Since there is no such thing as nap time at our house it is much more difficult than it used to be!

There came a point after B was born that I decided that I needed a stress relief; lets be honest being a mom can get super stressful! That's when I started running and working out. As his first birthday came up I couldn't stand the thought of buying all the birthday stuff, it's just not me. That's when I started scrapbooking and paper crafting again. Lately I have been trying to find time to read and blog.

I schedule workout time into our day. The gym I go has a wonderful kid zone. The teachers in there are awesome and B loves them. The people at the gym really are our gym family. If I go there without him every single person in there asks where he is!

Making the time to craft is a little more tricky for me. I get on a crafting kick and do a lot at once then don't do it again for a while. I get to send B to MDO once a week so that is helpful to accomplish a lot of things. I get the most crafting done while he is at "school" but I also craft when he is at home with me. I have figured out that if I make him something and let him craft too then we can get some crafting accomplished! I always let him pick what he wants to make. He loves to look at the cut outs on the computer if we are using the Cricut or to pick out his own paper and stickers. I turn my toddler loose with scissors, glue, stickers, markers, crayons, pens, whatever he wants to craft with! Allowing him to manipulate those things is good for his fine motor skills and I'm watching so he doesn't hurt himself or destroy anything. We have our work space that he does pretty well about staying in. We used the kitchen table for a long time but now he has his own desk just like momma and daddy's desk. I also always have some sort of activity for him to do that he can move onto if he gets tired of crafting. The activities are usually things that make him think but that he can do on his own. They are never new activities but instead activities he has done once or twice so that he can do it himself without me having to stop every two seconds to show him how or what to do. I limit my craft time to 30-45 minutes typically. If he is entertained with helping me or doing his own thing I may work for an hour. If I have something that is pressing to get finished I do it at night after I put him to bed. When I craft at night I work on it while Daddy is doing bath time then I take a break for story time and tucking in. I get back to work on it as soon as I know he is sound asleep so the noise of the Cricut doesn't wake him up!

I squeeze my blogging time in here and there. Most afternoons we have some relaxation time when B watches a movie and/or plays in his room without me. I have been using this 30 minutes to an hour for blogging time lately. I sit on the couch with him and he lays on my lap while I type on the laptop. Not the easiest way to type but it works for us!

There are other times of the day that I have been trying more and more to take advantage of too. Morning before he wakes up; if I get up around 7 I can accomplish a lot more. I don't always get up because I like to sleep in but I have been trying to get out of bed no later than 7:30. B normally sleeps until anywhere from 7:30-8:30. If I'm training to run a race then I will force myself to get up at 6 to go run before either one of my boys wakes up! I push time to limit often. If I have 20 minutes before I need to leave I will do something for 15 minutes then take 5 to clean up and get out the door. It doesn't always work in my favor but I like to push it to the limit!

I also have a sweet neighbor girl who loves to come play with B. She is more help than I think she even knows! She comes down and they play inside or outside doing whatever they want. I love that she loves to play with him as much as he loves to play with her. Sometimes she even takes him to her house to jump on the trampoline or do crafts. I consider it a luxury that most people don't have. She doesn't come every day but when she does I try to the super speed woman mom and take care of as much as possible while she is here or he is with her! Most of the time she asks to come down to play with him when she has time between her activities.  I'm sure going to miss having her as she gets older and doesn't find it as fun or have the time to play with him as often.

It all comes down to making sure that what I'm doing and want to do is in line with how we want to raise B. We want him to be self sufficient so him playing by himself is good for him. We want him to be intelligent and allowing him to explore new things without direct instruction helps encourage that. We want him to feel confident and loved. I'm not a stay at home mom to just sit at home with my child. I am here to guide him, teach him, and care for him. While I do things for myself during each day I spend the majority of my day doing things with B. There has to be balance.

Here is our latest crafting project! 

Mine-

B's- 

What's Your Diet Like?

I'm not talking the most popular diet on the market right now, I'm talking your diet as in the food you put into your mouth everyday. Until a year ago mine was whatever sounded good or whatever I wanted to eat. I tried to keep it healthish but wasn't overly concerned with what I was eating.

I started following Tone It Up loosely in February 2013. I was just looking for a way to tone my muscles to go along with my running. I started reading about their nutrition plan, following members of their community on Instagram and started to adapt some of their suggestions for a healthier me. In April 2013 I decided to join in on their Bikini Series to get ready for summer. I didn't need to loose weight but I needed to tone up so this was perfect.
    A little about Tone If Up from my perspective. It is a company started by two friends. They provide free workouts and tips; they are trainers at your finger tips from the comfort of your home. They have created a community of women who support and love one another. They encourage their members to meet up and get to know each other. The nutrition plan and their workout DVDs cost but they provide so much that is free. I had huge success from just adjusting my eating and doing their free workouts imagine the success I would have had if I followed the nutrition plan! If you are looking for an amazing support community to help you stay on track check it out I very seriously doubt you will be disappointed! I hope to purchase the plan someday but until then I have a different diet that both my husband and I adopted in June of 2013.

I was in Texas in the middle of June visiting some family and family friends when my husband decided to watch the documentary Forks Over Knives. He was at home working and not on the trip with us. I was stuffing my face with fajitas, queso, and all the other yummy stuff when he called to tell me about it. Since he had had some digestive issues that landed him an overnight stay in the hospital the previous May he knew something needed to change. After all we are too young to have digestive issues! He watched the documentary on a recommendation from his brother and just like his brother he was hooked. So that phone call he made to me was to tell me that when I got home we were going to try going mostly vegan with our diet. We weren't going to become total vegan but we were going to cut out all meat and dairy products.

              There was a quote in the documentary "If it walks, hops, swims, crawls, slithers, had eyes a mom and a dad. Don't eat it!" -Dr. Terry Mason-Chicago 

Andrew (my husband) didn't demand that we change, just suggested that he'd like to try it and I wasn't going to say no. I want my family to be healthy so I was on board. I also ate all the "crap" food I could before we got back from our Texas trip!

The transition to a vegan diet was tricky for me. It wasn't because I missed meat, I wasn't a huge fan of meat to begin with. I almost hated the transition because for the first time in my stay at home mom wife cooker of dinner life I was comfortable cooking food. I could just throw spices on something and turn it into a yummy meal! I finally had cooking success but now I couldn't cook meat or use any dairy products. What the heck was I supposed to cook? My brother-in-law gave us this really yummy black bean taco recipe and I think I made it 3 times a week at first. We started searching out vegan recipes on the internet. We found the blog Oh She Glows, Angela was a life saver! She has awesome recipes that are easy to follow and are SO YUMMY! I got ideas for meals from other places too but her stuff never fails me! When we invite friends over for dinner I make one of her recipes. I haven't had anyone complain about the lack of meat yet! With that we were on a mostly vegan diet all in the matter of a month. We would still eat cheese every now and then and had trouble giving up pizza or sushi (we still haven't given them up!) but for the most part we were successful and feeling good. I don't cook meat at home ever and I'm not missing it. I am now happy to cook and not include meat. It's so much easier and I have less worry about cross contaminating things.

It was more difficult to stay true to our vegan eating habits during the holidays but we did okay. We are not going to make a fuss and cause a scene because we choose not to eat meat. When we are invited to parties or are at family functions we fill up on vegetables first and if we need it eat a small portion of the meat they have. We don't make a big deal of it because we aren't those people. If we want to we bring our own veggie burgers to a cook out. We don't skip out on things just because there won't be "anything for us to eat." That is why we don't claim to be vegan!

Our diet change and our boy. He still gets milk. He still gets to eat meat and cheese or whatever he wants. It was a little difficult for us to transition as much as we did; we couldn't put that on him too at just 2 years old. He is a good little eater. He always has eaten his vegetables and loved them so this is how the transition has gone for him. I give him what we eat. That's it. I make something and I put it on his plate for dinner just like I do ours. He normally eats the same thing that we eat but there are some things that he won't eat. He hates quinoa, its a texture thing for him. I still always put it on his plate but he doesn't eat it much unless I mix it in with something that hides it! He asks for spinach on his pizza and peas with every meal! He loves nuts, beans, peas, carrots, smoothies, broccoli, hummus, rice, spinach, peanut butter & jelly and spaghetti! He also loves pizza, hotdogs, turkey, hamburgers and chicken. We don't keep anything away from him but we do try to limit the amount he does have. Except juice we don't let him drink juice that comes from the store with all the sugar and crap in it. He doesn't need it and he doesn't miss it!

Staying consistent is only hard because we get lazy. If we fight the lazy then we stay on track. The world we live in has made it so easy to just quickly grab food but there aren't very many quick vegan options. If I don't cook at home we end up slipping and not staying on track. For the last two months we have been doing terrible and I can see the difference in our waist lines. Summer is just around the corner so it's time to get back on track. My goal is to get there and stay there. I feel better about myself and I can tell that my husband feels better about himself too. I'd like to think that in a year from now I won't want to eat cheese or anything else.

One of the points in the documentary Forks Over Knives and the book Eat to Live is that these foods are slow killers. I'm not here to argue one way or the other just to share my story about my families transition. There are days now that I almost feel guilty for feeding animal proteins to B or to myself. It hasn't kept me from eating animal protein but it has forced me to think harder about what I am putting into my body. I want to live longer and maintain a healthier life and I think cutting out animal proteins in our diet is going to help a lot with that!

Don't get me wrong, we aren't perfect but we are working on maintaining our vegan diet 100% of the time!

Here is a picture of our little family on the 4th of July last year. I was down about 10 pounds and he was down between 15-20 pounds. Muscle definition on me was all thanks to Karena and Katrina with Tone It Up!

My Schedule as a Stay at Home Mom

The other day my son and I met my husband for lunch. During lunch my husband asked what time it was. I looked at my phone and simply replied 1:00. The look on his face when he looked at his phone and realized that it actually was 12:45 caught me off guard. He called me a "lax time teller" due to my unscheduled days! Ha!

He is right though. There are days that I have things that require me to follow a timed schedule but there are more days that I don't. I can't say I don't enjoy it because I love it! When I first started staying at home my friends asked what I did with myself all day and how I kept from going crazy. I made a schedule for myself I still use this schedule now. I also have added things in for myself and my son. Every day there is a house chore that needs to be done, some days are gym days, every other week we go to the library for story time and we have play dates whenever possible. Here is what our week typically looks like.

Monday- Gym @ 9, Grocery Store if we didn't go Sunday Laundry and Floors Day

Tuesday- Gym @ 9, every other week library @ 11, Bathrooms Day

Wednesday- B to MDO @ 9:30 , I do my long runs, go to yoga, deep clean the entire house, do yard work, grocery shop, shop for fun or just sit on the couch depending on how I feel that day. This week I finished all the laundry, cleaned all the floors (vacuumed, swept, & mopped) made the beds, vacuumed and spot cleaned the couch and mowed the yard! It was a successful day.

Thursday- Gym @ 9, Dust Day, Play Date Day

Friday- Play Date Day, Kitchen Cleaning Day, vacuum

Some things that I do daily are: cook dinner, load/unload dishwasher, wipe down the kitchen after dinner. Do I get everything done every day or even every week, no way but I if I stay on top of it my house doesn't look like a little tornado went through it! My husband helps out with the post dinner kitchen clean up while our little guy plays with his toys or the dog. Typically the boys do bath time together while I either pick up the living room or just relax! Even though our boy is 2 we still make him pick up his own toys every night before bed. We don't always have play dates every week but I like to have them as often as possible. Play dates are good for B and they are good for me to get some adult interaction time! Play dates aren't just for the kids.

We also have art time as many days a week as B wants. We do learning activities mostly through play. I provide him with a lot of different materials to explore and create with. We play with his toys and we play outside. Our at home activities will take up another post on another day because after all we are home more than we are out!

Is if finally going to happen?

Everyday I think of all these great things that I could blog about and that maybe someone will read and benefit from. I think of them, think of putting it in a blog post and continue on with what I'm doing. I have attempted to start a blog so many times that I have lost count. I mean just coming up with a name that I could live with was hard enough. Today I thought I had already created the title and I came to the computer to work and yeap you guessed it I renamed it. So here it is. I will not create a different blog, this one is it!

A little about me.
    I am a stay at home mom. My son is turning 3 in a just a few short days! Where did the time go? I am turning the BIG 3-0 in a few months myself. Wow! Before I became a mom I was a teacher. I taught elementary school for 4 years, 3 different grade levels in that time. I loved it! Now when I think about what I'm going to do when my little one turns 4 and starts school I panic but that's for another day! I have been married to my other half and best friend for 5 years. Loving him more everyday! I consider myself to be one lucky girl because not everyone gets to stay at home with their children when that is truly what they want to do. I think birthdays are special and should be celebrated to the fullest but respect when people don't want a huge birthday bash. I love to run, workout, try new vegan recipes, hang with family and friends, drink beer, paper craft, and scrapbook. I wish I had an eye for photography and decorating but instead I call on others to help me in those areas! Oh and we have a dog an Irish Setter to be exact. His name is Cooper.

 Just like so many other people I plan to share the things I do, see, deal with, learn and live daily. My crazy love for running/working out and how I came to find it. The change from a "normal" diet to a mostly vegan diet and how it has impacted my family. My son of course. My life as a stay at home mom. 

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