helpful?

Aubrey will stick anything in Ainsley's mouth, 3 hour old bottles that she lifted from the counter, dirty pacifiers that have fallen behind the couch, and grubby 2 year old fingers. It is super endearing, and super nasty. Luckily this bottle was only about 5 minutes old, I had set it down to answer the phone and Aubrey sprung into action. What a great sister! Oh course she kept trying to roll Ainsley away form me this morning and kept telling her bye. In general, sweet and loving best describe Aubrey the sister.

more on food

I have a goal to make a soup or crock pot item weekly through our cold months. Mostly because it is a cook once, eat twice meal, but also it's a challenge to find new recipes that we may like. We really liked the Southwestern Corn Chowder that I made two weeks ago. It was hearty and had a little bit of spice to it! We ate it as a main course the first night and as a side dish with a few other meals that week.

Tonight I made a creamy squash soup. I liked it, but Mike wasn't a huge fan. No biggy, I only used 4.5 pounds of squash in it so it will be consumed in the next month. Actually, I made a meal for a family from our church so they will be helping us out a bit. I was a bit disappointed. The recipe said it was only ten minutes prep, but it was more like 45 minutes of prep, and 10 minutes of precooking. Then I had to puree it in the blender in small amounts. I liked it, but it was more work than I am willing to put into a side dish. It did use up the rest of the squash after I made Ainsley several servings so it served its purpose. Next week I am planning on trying beef stew with dumplings. We'll see...

Mmmm

We just started a short term small group with our church. The groups are made up of 8 people each and the purpose is to get to know other people in the congregation through monthly dinner parties. That means we get to eat four times, but only have to cook once! Last night I brought dessert to our group. I wanted to bring something seasonal and light since the host was making a roast for dinner. I found this recipe for a Pumpkin Mousse Trifle and had to give it a try. It was delicious. It had all the qualities of a pumpkin pie, but with a lighter flavor. It would be a great addition to a Thanksgiving meal if you were hoping to try something new this year. Here's the recipe if you are interested.


42 NILLA Wafers, divided
1 pkg. ( 8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1-3/4 cups cold milk
1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, divided
1/2 cup Autumn Spiced Nuts
ARRANGE 32 of the wafers on bottom and up side of 2-1/2-qt. serving bowl; set aside. Beat cream cheese and pumpkin in medium bowl with electric beater on medium speed until well blended. Add vanilla and spice; mix well.
POUR milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Let stand 5 min. Gently stir in 1-1/2 cups of the whipped topping. Add cream cheese mixture; stir until well blended.
SPOON half of the pudding mixture into prepared bowl; top with the remaining wafers. Cover with layers of the remaining pudding mixture and remaining 1/2 cup whipped topping. Sprinkle with the Autumn Spiced Nuts. Store leftover dessert in refrigerator.

to make the pecans...
1/2 cup Pecan Halves
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/8 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. butter
TOSS pecans with sugar and spice; set aside.
MELT butter in medium skillet on medium heat. Add pecans; cook and stir 5 to 7 min. or until lightly toasted.
SPREAD onto sheet of wax paper; cool completely. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature.

things I have been thinking about

-I really under utilize bleach in my cleaning and laundry
-Coffee is good, but only with Carnation French Vanilla creamer
-Aubrey has been dry for an entire week, no accidents
-Except in her crib, which is extremely intentional
-It seems like my kids get sick every Tuesday due to colds being passed around church
-I love Colorado, 35 degrees Sunday with 6 plus inches of snow and 78 yesterday
-Mike and Aubrey had a snowball fight in shorts and t-shirts!
-Aubrey does all her business in the potty, I've heard this is huge
-Mike started a new job last week with Wells Fargo as a Home Mortgage Broker
-He has been home for dinner every night, he hasn't been home for dinner since June of '06
-I like cooking dinner when we get to eat as a family
-Ainsley is a great eater and has tolerated all fruits and vegetables so far, I am so lucky
-Ainsley is pretty much weaned
-We started giving her a bottle once a day about a month ago when I started tutoring
-The bottle gives her more, faster, so she wants that more than me
-I'm really excited about decorating for Christmas
-It was nice doing laundry this week that wasn't soaked with urine
-Aubrey seems really big now that she is wearing underwear
-I'm making a pumpkin mousse trifle for a dinner party tonight, I am really excited about it
-We have a babysitter tonight! It is the first time since we saw Pirates of the Caribbean when Ainsley was 6 weeks old
-I think Ainsley will be crawling within the month
-I need new clothes for winter
-I like the way Captain Crunch tastes, but I don't like the film it leaves in your mouth
-I prefer Target to Walmart
-I'm thankful for my friends and family being so supportive of Mike and I and the decisions we make for our family
-We have so many toys, and Aubrey only wants what Ainsley is playing with
-Sharing is hard
-I should be making my trifle, it needs to set for five hours
-Or vacuuming my floor, Jenna is coming over in a little bit
-Or taking a shower
-Or exercising

So these are the types of things I think about while I lay in bed awake in the middle of the night for no particular reason. I guess that's what happens when you fall asleep in the 6th inning of the Rockies game. They better win the next two, and then two more sometime after that!

non-naps

Well... Aubrey hasn't exactly been napping lately. How exactly do you go from 3 hours of daytime sleep to nothing? I know, you refuse to sleep if your diaper is even a little bit wet. Aubrey takes off her diaper once she wets it and calls for me. I tell her everyday not to take off her diaper, but to call "mommy pee pees" and I will come up and take care of it. So yesterday she took everything off three times during her non-nap. Time one, dry. Time two, yeah she went two and tossed it all over the side of her crib. Time three, naked and peed on her diaper, which was on her sheet. So that was her hour and a half non-nap. I think I gained three stress pounds during the process.

Bedtime... She peed, took a bath, and got tucked into bed. No more than five minutes later she was crying an attend to me cry, Mike went up, she was naked and peed all over everything. Again, on her diaper which she had taken off to pee. I got her redressed in new pj's, new diaper, new lecture. I told her to call me if she needed to go to the bathroom. Before I was at the door she told me she had to go pee pee. I took her to the toilet and she went a little bit, I am guessing it was out of fear of what I would do if she didn't pee. Then she went to bed.

Nap time today... I told her that I would spank her bottom if she took her diaper off and peed in her bed. She needs to call me. She cried like mad after I left but eventually went to sleep. An hour and a half later I heard her jumping in her crib. I was feeding Ainsley so I didn't rush up there. She began calling me and telling me she pewt (poop, past tense). She did, took off her diaper, and threw it out of her crib, AGAIN. She didn't pee in her crib, so no spanking.

We are getting her twin bed sometime this week, I am hoping that the freedom to get out of bed on her own will end the chaos of nap time and bedtime. I am losing my mind and literally up to my elbows in it. I really needed to go to Walmart today but Aubrey refuses to go to the bathroom and I refuse to put a pull up on her before she has gone. She won, I had to put Ainsley down for a nap, so no Walmart trip today, no dinner either. At least not a nutritious one.

The only thing we have yet to try is duct tape. I really don't want to. I want her to obey because my words are enough (even though I resorted to threats today). Then again, washing five loads of pee filled sheets a week is a little ridiculous. I am so frustrated. I guess that explains the two caffeine sodas I've had today and only two glasses of water!

Fall snow

Well, we had a few flurries last Sunday, but this is definitely the first real snow of the season. It was a bit chilly today to say the least. Our steep driveway got the best of me on the way home from church so I had to trudge through several inches of snow one kid at a time. Aubrey was very mad that I was carrying her and threw a full blown tantrum once we got inside. She really wanted to play in the white stuff. We all went out together to clear the driveway in the late afternoon during Ainsley's nap. Aubrey loved it, and quickly discarded her gloves and started picking up handfuls of snow and eating it. Then her hands got cold, and then it wasn't so fun. This is our first winter where Aubrey is really aware of the snow and that it is fun to play in. Last year she would look at it and get excited, but she didn't realize it was a real option to go out there. I have a feeling I will be out there with her a lot this year.

From our front door, we sure didn't make it too far up the driveway.
Notice the glove on the ground, she wanted the full experience I guess.
Why doesn't our driveway melt as fast as the street does? Of yeah, it is in the shade all winter long!
Aubrey is in the grass here. She is stuck and not sure what to do. I told her I would help her as soon as I took a picture. That didn't help any. She really wanted to go to the gate and go in the back. We had a pretty bad snow drift blocking the path so we headed back over to the driveway for some slippery fun.

6 months today

Yesterday I put Ainsley on a tummy time mat while I was on the computer. She flipped over while holding onto the mat and got tangled up in it. Instead of helping her I took pictures.
She then pulled off the Velcro pillow and continued her rolling spree. She is so much more mobile than Aubrey was at this age. Aubrey had only rolled over a handful of times by the time she was six months old. Her little sis travels around by rolling and scooting all day long. She gets pretty angry as the toys get further and further away from her. The scooting is usually backwards you see. Ainsley has also lost a considerable amount of the hair she was born with and the new hair is coming in lighter. It appears we will have another blondie on our hands. Hopefully they won't be too sad when they darken up during their college years.
I don't have any stats for her yet, we have our checkup early next week, but she is doing great in my opinion. She eats three meals a day and nurses or takes a bottle a few other times during the day. My trip to California ruined her amazing sleeping streak, so she has been getting up twice after we put her down for the night, but she can usually be soothed by means of the pacifier and it is right back to bed for me. I cannot believe that she is already six months old. The time has truly sped by. With the fast approach of winter, I am sure the next six months will feel twice as long as the first six months.

On another note, Aubrey has been accident free for 24 hours. I think she is day trained. She initiated all five trips to the potty today. Woohoo. She is still undressing during her naps, but only after she wets her diaper,and has called me each time. She will be moving into a twin bed in the next few weeks, so hopefully that will help her with getting out of bed to use the potty. Our goal for next week, running small errands and staying dry when we are away from the house.

Day Four

Aubrey was dry all the way until nap time! Unfortunately I decided to keep her up after I put Ainsley down so she could have some outside time with MOM. Apparently our backyard is so fun, that the bathroom isn't an option. So she had two accidents in thirty minutes. I then put her down for her nap and figured we would be good until this afternoon. A while later she was yelling "MOM." I was feeding Ainsley, so I got there a few minutes later, her diaper was off, and she was peeing in her crib as I walked in telling me to "gook" Now, why would you take off your diaper and then pee? Good news, I guess she realized ahead of time that she needed to go. Bad news, her blanket is in the wash for about the 7th time in 2 weeks. So we are making a lot of positive progress. I just had hoped that we were done with accidents after are successful morning.

Yesterday

Aubrey started calling me MOM. I hate it, I am mommy, not mom.

potty training continued

Aubrey's doing great. Only two accidents yesterday and three successes. The biggest issue is that she doesn't pee often, so there aren't tons of opportunities to praise her. She did have one accident this morning, but it was very little. She is really reluctant to sit on the potty when I ask her, but when she really has to go, she runs in there and is done in no time flat (although it is still prompted by me)! Our new problem, the second she finishes, she stands up and tears her potty apart and dumps the pee in the toilet and flushes. So I have been cleaning the bathroom a lot and trying to convince Aubrey to wait for me. She isn't the best dumper... I have also figured out how to keep her diaper on while she is in her bed. I put a pair of underwear on top of it. She wants to leave her underwear on so the diaper stays on too!!! Good times!

We're Exhausted

Mike and I spent the entire day yesterday potty training Aubrey. I've read books, done research online, talked to friends who have been through it, and read several magazine articles, But nothing can prepare you for potty training. Mike and I are people who love to be in control, and God has been providing us with several circumstances lately where we have to let go. This was very difficult for both of us yesterday. We got Aubrey up, put her in undies, which we are calling "Elmos (Momos)" and "Zoes (Owies)." We explained that she is a big girl and not going to wear a diaper anymore, we talked about staying clean and dry, and we talked about using the potty. Heck, we even had Aubrey show Snoopy how to use the potty! We had done everything the books had said to do. Now we had to wait. Aubrey and I started playing with play dough in the kitchen while Mike popped a bag of popcorn. We started out giving her a piece of popcorn every few minutes for having dry elmos. We stretched the time out as the morning went on. We also stretched out a huge blue tarp across our family room. The novelty of the tarp kept her occupied and she happily played on the easy wipe surface. Occasionally she would walk to the kitchen, tell us she was dry, and put her bowl on the counter. So far so good. She even had a near success on the potty, but when she started to go, she stopped herself. She was rewarded with a candy corn for really trying. She then had her first accident in the kitchen a few minutes later. Poor girl. She made it to nap time without another incident. She saturated her diaper within minutes and called for Mike. She had already taken it off, and waited for a clean one which was also soaked a few hours later. We were off to a good start, but still no real progress with using the potty.

After her nap, we reminded her what we were doing and started all over again. She was very emotional and resisted any attempt we made to encourage her. She had a few more accidents in the kitchen. We were pretty fed up and about ready to throw in the towel. then an amazing thing happened. She had another accident and freaked out. She was crying and yelling pee pees and was so upset. As sad as it was to see her like this, it meant, at least to me, that she understood she wasn't suppose to pee in her elmos!

So today I was on my own as Mike was at work, and we had already had an accident right before Mike left as the timer was going off and I was asking Aubrey if she was dry. I felt defeated, emailed some parents who had recently been through this for any magical formulas, and camped out on the tarp and prayed. Then after lunch I had Aubrey sit on the potty. She told me "bye" which means leave me alone. So I did. I took Ainsley up for her nap, started my lunch, and then heard the best thing ever. Aubrey was yelling "pooh poohs" and standing in front of her potty! She did it!!! She went to the bathroom on the potty and went numbers 1 and 2. I was so excited. I gave her a big hug, got her cleaned up, and gave her some candy corn to celebrate. We called daddy too. What a huge accomplishment. I hope that this success triggered something and we will continue to have success after success!

It has only been a day and a half, but this is the most exhausting thing I have ever done. It is really hard for me to let her play like normal, away from the kitchen and tarp, but I am trying to make this more stressful then it needs to be. Sorry you had to read another post about poop!

Rancho Cucamonga, CA and Orange County too!

While staying with my parents, I got to sneak away a few times and visit dear friends from my post college days. Sarah had her son Edric, 6 days after Ainsley was born. How fun to visit her He-Man, he is so strong and was pushing himself into a push up position. Sarah actually went to high school in the town that I am living in. I am hoping that they hate their jobs someday and move on out to God's country.
This was my view on the on ramp to the 55 north. I can use the word view as the on ramp was doubling as a parking lot. I guess this cop has a great can, because the cars couldn't get enough of him!
I warned Aubrey that freeways are no fun in the OC, so she came prepared with things to keep her occupied. She soon abandoned them and took a nap instead.
Ainsley and I ventured to Coffee Bean in Tustin, or maybe Santa Ana, to catch up with Tammi. It was well past Ainsley's bedtime and I figured she would sleep away in her car seat while we caught up. It's pretty weird how she sleeps with her eyes open and a big ol' smile on her face. The best part was the way I got way lost on my way there. It is seriously within a mile of the school I taught at, and five miles of where I owned my first home. But for whatever reason, my car kept going the wrong direction. We only got to see each other for a few hours, but it was well spent!
Sunday morning my Aunt Karen and Cousin Kaleigh came over to visit for a bit. Aubrey didn't want her picture taken, she was very happy when I didn't have the camera out!

Not pictured in this post. My Grandma Bette, Aunt Kelly, and cousin Justin all came to my parents for dinner Thursday night. Ainsley was still getting over Roseola and cried for the better part of five hours, so no pictures were taken, at least not from my camera. And my parents seem to have eluded me too. I know I took pictures of my dad with the kids, but I was using their camera. Our friend Sue came over on Saturday for a bit too. She was getting over a cold and didn't hold the kids, hence no picture. And my sister, her boyfriend and son came over too, but the kids were pretty put off by the amount of energy she brings to a room so I was holding them the whole time, again no picture. So, I will have to remember to take pictures of everyone next time!

Aubrey has a song stuck in her head!

It is hilarious, she has been humming a song ALL DAY. Sometimes she is using "do's" to hum the song, sometimes she is blowing bubbles to it, and sometimes it is "la la's". So what song is stuck in her head? Johann Strauss' Blue Danube Waltz! How did it get there? Compliments of Disney's Little Einsteins "The Glass Slipper Ball." We had to watch the episode again tonight to keep the song stuck there and continue our cultural experience for the day! She is getting to be a really fun kid to be around! Errr... not that she wasn't fun before.

Question of the week

This picture was taken about a mile from my parents house in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. They aren't exactly coastal, but palm trees tend to bring out certain memories or feelings in people. So... What does this picture make you think of? Scroll down for my answer and post your own in the comments section.

















That's right folks, those palm trees make my mouth water for a double double animal style! It is also what Mike and I had for our first date. Mike dressed in a suit, and me in a little black dress, after an amazing night at the Lion King in LA. Of course I only ordered a cheese burger animal style that night, it was midnight after all!

Great News!!!

Aubrey was assessed yesterday and qualified for speech therapy, and it is free! I am so excited. She is so smart in every way, and just gets so frustrated that she cannot access the words or phrases she needs to be understood. Last week she actually doubled her vocabulary all on her own and began putting short phrases together like "eat ice" "I bah daddy" "up pease" and "me do it." She is also repeating a lot of what we say too. We are super excited to see her vocabulary bloom in the months ahead!

Redlands, CA

We took a 1pm flight out of Denver last Tuesday on Frontier. It was great. The flight wasn't very full so I had the entire row even though I had only purchased two tickets!!! I didn't have any car seats, but we made the best of it with Ainsley taking a teensy nap in my lap and Aubrey roaming about the two seats that were assigned to her. Oh and Mike got to take me all the way to the gate so the airport wasn't that bad either. Well, except for the Asian lady that was smelling my children's arms and face, that was creepy.
Seanna picked us up and came prepared with milk for Aubrey, water for me, and nutritious snacks for all of us. We stayed with her family through Thursday and it was so great to hang out with one of my best friends for a few days. We had some good chats and got to see our kids become friends, or as close to friends as two year olds can be.
Seannna watches another little boy during the week, so three toddlers can wear a couple a girls out. Here they are watching Sesame Street.
Seanna was awesome and even let me borrow her car to visit some old friends. Erin and Stephanie were best friends in high school and good friends of mine. Erin, on the left, invited me to her youth group during my freshman year of high school. And although there are many links in the chain that lead to me becoming a Christian, this was the crucial one. Without that invite, who knows when God would have used someone else to bring me closer to Him. Thanks Erin, for being brave and asking someone you barely knew to go to church with you! My life wouldn't be the same without you! Stephanie was also a lifeline for me. My parents were usually asleep around 8pm when I was in high school,which meant calling and calling and calling after youth group to get a ride home. There is nothing like trying to wake your parents up so you can get a ride home at 9:00pm! Stef was awesome and gave me a ride home most weeks even though it was out of her way. I don't think I had seen either of them since sometime in college, it is so fun to catch up with old friends! Megan was my best friend for a lot of high school. I think I spent more weekend nights at her house then at my own junior year! We would stay up late talking about everything, cutting our split ends in front of her mirrored closet, and eating a huge tube of raw cookie dough, oh and of course running miles upon miles together in cross country! It was great to see her again. She is pregnant with her second daughter. Doesn't she look great? Ainsley wasn't with me for this visit. She had been running a high temp for three days and I didn't want to get other kids sick. It turns out she had Roseolla, or something like that. I had to take her to a local doctor while I was in town. Luckily I was able to get her into Seanna's pediatrician and didn't have to go to Urgent Care!
Aubrey and Alex gave each other a loving embrace when my mom showed up to take us home with her on Thursday. It was really sweet to see the little munchies saying good bye!

There is no place like home.

We got back from the airport at 8pm last night. Aubrey immediately dumped all of her toy boxes all over the freshly vacuumed floor (thanks Mikey) and began playing like mad. She built with her blocks, put together puzzles, sat in her special chair, pushed her plane around, asked for milk and a snack, and was pretty adorable! I put Ainsley down on the floor so she could stretch, she had been confined since noon. She rolled and rolled until she hit a wall, we would put her back in the middle and she was off again. Who needs to crawl when you can just roll to your destination, right? Daddy was thrilled to see this, since she perfected this maneuver while we were in California. I was glad to sit on the couch, eating ice cream and watching Heroes. Mike was content to have his family home, even though the house was destroyed within five minutes! It's good to be home. I will post about the trip once I get unpacked and get a little rest. I didn't get much sleep in the last week so I'm going to try to sleep when I can today.

Day Three - Low Key

Thursday was a low key day for the Mikester. I went to lunch with my friend, Matt, at Chili's. We created another installment on the IGAFFL Network and then I came home to watch the Rockies clobber the Phillies to go up 2-0 in the series. How bout them Rockies? After an afternoon nap on the couch, I got the ole suit on and went to a Gala/Fundraiser for YoungLife at the Cherokee Castle just outside of town. It was a great evening for an awesome cause. I finally got the lawn fertilized today. Tonight, we are having a guys poker night at Charles' house so hopefully I don't lose my shirt, figuratively speaking. Wish me luck!

Day Two...Having Fun or Getting Lonely...

The answer is...YES! I am having fun but miss my ladies. I talked to Rachel in the morning and while her attempt to get Aubrey to talk on the phone didn't take hold, she did get her to give me a loud, "I bah DADDY!". My day still seemed pretty full for not having much planned. I got caught up on Heroes and Prison Break in the morning and then heading to Littleton to have lunch with a few friends. Once I got back to town I went over to my friend, Charles', (he's the other one in those videos) office. I decided to help him coach his 6 yr old tackle football team for practice. This is funnier to those of you who know that I have never played one down of tackle football in my life. This little kids are pretty good. I got to play running back during some defensive drills which was fun except that this morning I am in realization that I am too old and unpadded to be tackled by a bunch of munchkins. We had fun though. This week's game is on Saturday so I'll be on the sideline like a real life coach. Livin' the dream, people. Livin' the dream.

From there, I was invited to his son, Cole's (who is the star of the team), 7th birthday party dinner which was delicious. I made it home after watching the Cubbies lose at about 11pm and hit the hay.

Today, my biggest plan involves fertilizing the lawns for the winter. Is my life great or what?

Mikey is STILL in the house!

Yes, it is true...most of you come here expecting to hear from my wife, and what a wife she is. You come here expecting to hear or be able to give stories that border on unmentionable and advice that borders on exceptional. Well, not this week people! Rachel is gone. Aubrey is gone. Ainsley is gone. All you have left is ME. (you lucky duckies)

So in my wife's absence I will try to let you know what sort of things a guy does when the 3 loves of his life hop off to California and leave him to fend for himself.

I got the fam to the airport about noon and was able to get a gate pass to get them to the...well, gate obviously. It was fun watching Aubrey push the stroller she was supposed to be pushed in. It was not fun watching a lady come up into my girls' space and give them kisses on the face and fixing their hair and pulling up pants. I was uncomfortable.

I taught Aubrey to say, "I love DADDY!" yesterday. All I have to do is point to my eye and sure as day, she says, "I bah DADDY!" As she says bah, she hugs herself to show "love" so I give her full credit. I only choked up a little bit when I gave Aubrey her last hug before she hit the jetway. They made it safely to their destination and I miss them already. I know, what a sap.

The rest of today focused around one of my fantasy football leagues, the IGAFFL and making a video which you can see at www.youtube.com/igaffl if you are bored and/or like to laugh. Then I went to worship practice and now I am back here typing this watching a "The Office" rerun.

More later...

Oh, and how bout them Rockies!!!!

Blog Fast

I'll be fasting technology while in California this week. Mainly, because my parents only have dial up, and my friend Seanna doesn't have Internet at all We were challenged to think outside the box with our relationship with the Creator this week at church. Well, we are in a series about different pathways to connect with God, so we are challenged to do something different each week with regard to our faith. So every time I am wondering what's going on in Cyberspace, I will be reminded of whose I am and who He is. Hopefully it will be a gentle reminder to pray throughout the day (which I will need to do a lot of 1000 miles away from our home). So I am off line as of tomorrow afternoon and won't be connected again until Monday evening. Hopefully it will be refreshing to be free from the Internet.