Why I Don’t Bother

If you have ever been to my house you may have noticed (but hopefully not) that my windows are not clean.  With the exception of the bathroom mirror every glass surface has finger prints and smooshed kid face prints all over. Sure once or twice a year I bust our the Windex and clean those windows

But within seconds, like a moth to a flame I get this

Baby cling!!!

Because what is better than smearing up and licking clean glass??? Beats me. Heck, even the cats get in on it and sneeze on it or whatever other weird things cats like to do to make an otherwise clean object messy.

Both our room and Little Moo’s room have full mirrored sliding doors which are full of the little grimy prints. And I know it isn’t me  grubbin’ them up because they are in toddler range, just the bottom half of the mirrors. Five minutes ago I cleaned the ones in Little Moo’s room so that we could hang some things on the mirror. I even pointed out to Little Moo how nice it was to actually be able to see our reflection in the mirror, which he seemed pretty impressed with. Sweet, maybe this will last a day or two or…..NOT.

Currently Little Moo and Niecey Poo are blowing raspberries on the clean mirrors. Yep folks, that is why I don’t bother. They were on that glass before I even finished!!!

Some may find lazy, I just see it as making efficient use my time.

“Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the sidewalk before it stops snowing” ~Phyllis Diller

The Restraint of a Four Year Old

Lets face it, there are many reasons to be jealous of children.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to convince Little Moo to take a nap that I wished I could be the one curling up under my [insert cartoon character here] blankie and sleep the afternoon away without the guilt of all the things I should be doing and have that be all that anyone expect of me, sleep for a couple hours. I dream of that many days, but I digress. Children have beautiful hair and skin, get carried around, served and can throw down in the middle of the store if things are not going their way. If I did that in the middle of Fred Meyers because there weren’t any more of any number of frugal items I’m looking for I’d be escorted out by a very cranky manager who isn’t going to cuddle me later. Or at least I should hope not. Yes, there are many reasons to be jealous of children, but mostly I’m jealous of my son’s restraint with food.

I show restraint in many areas of my life and in some areas I feel like I’m pretty good at exercising the restraint necessary to live the kind of life we want our family to have. Except when it comes to food.  I joke that I have no willpower when it comes to food especially in dessert form. But it is no joke. This is one area of my life that I struggle with, not just daily, but minute by minute. If I buy a bag of Hershey Kisses…

Mmmm, chocolate! Yeah, they will probably only make it until the next day but not much longer. And if you are lucky you might get some, if you around when I open the bag. And it isn’t that I sit down and eat the whole bag, but I just grab one or two on my way past the cupboard or the candy dish.  ALL. DAY.

OOPS!

This is true of brownies or cookies too. They just taste so good! I have gotten better at just not making sweets or buying them since I know this about myself and sadly I have not been blessed with the “I can eat whatever I want and not gain a pound” metabolism.  Sigh… So I struggle with tasty treats and showing restraint.

And then comes along a spunky little boy we will continue to call Little Moo who did this

We got donuts as a special treat and he got a tasty donut with sprinkles that he was so excited for. He ate about half of it then asked if he could save the rest for later and then asked for some cheerios and milk. Ummmm…..who are you and do we really share DNA???  We have worked really hard to give our children a positive image about food. We talk about what is healthy and not and while our menu could be healthier, I don’t actually do too terrible at providing healthy meals. It is mostly the snacking that gets me in trouble (and Zippercow). Strangely enough this isn’t the first we’ve seen of this from Little Moo. If we get a travel cup of Nutter Butters or the little purse box of animal cookies for him he will (without our prompting)  eat a handful and ask if he can save the rest for snack tomorrow. Duh! Of course you can you wonderful little boy you!

I’d say I don’t know how, but to be honest we’ve always had set meal/snack times for Little Moo and he gets limited candy and sugary treats. Enough that he isn’t deprived and feels the need to gorge at every opportunity but little enough that it isn’t a staple in his diet. We also NEVER make him clear his plate. Clearing our plate was what we were taught when I was a kid and I fully believe that is part of my own issues, why as an adult, even if I am full I feel the need to eat everything in front of me. Children  are actually conditioned not to listen to their bodies when they say they are full. He is always allowed to eat as little or as much as he wants at meals. Most days he doesn’t eat everything on his plate unless he’s played extra hard or it is a favorite. And if you set a tray full of vegetables in front of him he will go to town! He also likes to drink water, which we encouraged from the first time he held a sippy cup and doesn’t like soda. I also try not to talk about “dieting” but eating healthy around him. All in all, to this point in his life I feel we’ve done pretty good with food, he seems to have a pretty healthy relationship with food.

I wish I could be more like him. Yes, my four year old.  And it is not like I can’t do it either. While I was pregnant with Littlest Moo I had Gestational Diabetes and learned to very strictly control my diet very quickly to keep both of us healthy. Yet with no little baby growing within me to protect I struggle to keep my motivation. You’d think being healthy (and by extension skinnier) would be enough, but then I think one day without working out won’t hurt, I’ll do more tomorrow. Then I don’t. One cookie turns into four and then I feel since I’ve fallen off the wagon I might as well eat what I want. I know this is bad for me, yet I find myself in the same cycle constantly. So here I am. Twenty eight year old mom of two children who needs to learn how to be healthy with food from my four year old.

Growing Up So Quickly!

Littlest Moo is 8 months old today! He’s closer to a year than being an newborn (which makes me oh so sad) but he is so much fun! He is sitting up, GI crawling, rolling and is super excited about eating real food!

Whatever brother is doing is always super exciting and hilarious, of course. Have I mentioned that most of Littlest Moo’s weight is in his cheeks. So cute! Sure I’m biased, but what Mom isn’t?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Woobie. Littlest Moo’s purple cow that he has to have to sleep every night. So we bought another (right)  so that if purple cow is dirty (because let’s face it he still spits up a lot) he has something to nap or sleep with. Instead, he wants both to sleep with. He holds one in the crook of each arm. Super cute!

Yay for fists full of cows!!!

I’m sad that our baby is growing so quickly, but I’m so excited for what is to come! Mostly I wanted to share super cute pics of our little guy!

Roommates

So Littlest Moo and Niecey-poo share a room during the day. Initially I was worried that this little arrangement would not work out. Mostly because our Little Moo was never great at sharing a room, he has too much fun and would never go to sleep. But these two little hooligans are the bestest of roommates! Niecey-poo calls Littlest Moo “My-my” and if I’m laying her down she asks for him and looks for him in his crib. And if he is in there he peeks over his crib bumper, like so

Too cute! They love each other so much and know when to have fun and when to get to the serious business of sleep, which Niecey-poo takes VERY seriously. This would be Sleepus Interuptus

Like I said, she takes sleep VERY seriously! Most days they just yell at me when they are awake, but the other day I was finishing something up while they “talked” to each and then heard this

Of course they stop doing it as soon as I come in, but they were giggling for a couple minutes before I brought the camera in. I realize it is a bit dark but I was trying not to disturb their play. I’m just sad I couldn’t catch more of it! He was peeking over the crib bumper and she was popping her head up over the edge of the playpen. I’m so glad they can enjoy being roommates!

I’m Still Here!

Don’t worry, I haven’t already abandoned my blog. I’m sure those of you that know me might think that I have, but with our new laptop it has become much easier to post something real quick while the children are playing  not so cooperatively. However, every spare moment this last week has gone to caulking, scrubbing walls and taping. It’s exciting to be so close to finishing this project. Tomorrow we will have paint on 2 of our kitchen walls!!! I’ve had some “help” from the children and pets

This would be Zippy “helping” me by climbing into the box I had pulled out to put kitchen stuff in.  I should know better than leaving an empty box unattended with 2 cats and a gaggle of children about. He also assisted by nudging my elbow while I was attempting to apply caulk on the baseboards. He is super helpful that way.

Whilst preparing to paint I’ve slowly worked at making our room less of a disaster. Here is a terrifying before

And now for the less terrifying after

Not nearly as put together as I’d like it to be, but there is the potential and clearly I don’t believe in working on one project at a time. Yes, that would be the drawer from the other desk on top full of stuff for me to go through, but I can see the top of the desk and eventually I will be able to make space to put more BOOKS on the bookshelf , novel I know! It’s funny, as a teenager I relished a crazy room. I always knew where everything was and when my room was spotless it actually made me anxious. That is SOOO not the case now.  More that just a little clutter makes me anxious. Not in a “I need to be on my hands and knees scrubbing everyday” kind of way, but I do like to be able to use the desk and counter without having to move a bunch of things, and I don’t like tripping over, stepping on or sitting on toys. I know I’m not alone in this!  Is my house spotless? Not even close, but my goal is to keep things organized enough that it is just a matter of throwing some things in a basket and making the beds. Okay, if someone new is visiting I might dust…MAYBE.

Oh, and that desk took Zippercow over 5 hours to put together…sheesh!

That’s Right, We Build Our Furniture

Every time we need a new piece of furniture we spend tons of time looking at the selection of build it yourself furniture. And every time I say to Zippercow that someday we will be grown up enough to buy furniture that we don’t have to assemble ourselves. But lets be honest, that will probably never happen. In the end the stuff you build yourself is just more affordable AND we don’t have to worry about if it will fit through the doorway to get it in the house. But most important of all is it is family friendly furniture. By that I mean it holds up to the  abuse children inevitably inflict upon it, and because it isn’t uber solid wood, I won’t have a heart attack every time a hot wheel screeches across it. Because lets face it with two boys everything (much to my dismay) is a hot wheel highway. So unless it is padded furniture it is probably some form of Sauder brand furniture or something from Ikea. And since we so rarely have to opportunity to visit Ikea, it more often then not is some variety of Sauder.

On this occasion we are in need of a computer desk.  Our current one has been broken for awhile and I’ve been waiting for it to collapse causing all sorts of doom. But in the spirit of organizing we thought we’d get a new desk so I can get on with the organizing of our office space in our room. And instead of putting shelves up over the desk we opted for one with a hutch. So while Zippercow is putting all of this desk together I am writing this post. Sure I could be helping him but I’ve learned that unless he asks for the help it is just best to stay out of his way. And weirdly enough I can’t wait to get to organizing the desk area. Strange I know! It has been so overwhelmingly terrible that I’ve avoided doing anything in our room so as to avoid the tragedy that had befallen our room, the office space.  Nothing really had a place, so just pile it here, and the like. But disaster no more! In just a few short….hours the desk will be complete and I can breath a sigh of relief. Aahh….

Are we alone here? Does anyone else pretend to be a carpenter and screw together inexpensive assembly required furniture?

Happy National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day!

Oh happy day!!! As a kick of to National Peanut Month March 1st is apparently known as National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day! This is recently known to me (like within the last hour) but since I just shared my favorite things I thought I just HAD to post on this because…

peanut butter is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!!!

Seriously peeps, I really really love chocolate but I LOOOVVVEE peanut butter even more. If you know me at all you will know that I am famous for saying “peanut butter makes everything better”. And it is so true. First you start with this

then you add, well anything. Some great ideas are celery, carrots, apples, pears, saltines, ritz crackers, graham crackers, pretzels and of course ANY combination of peanut butter and chocolate! And it is no coincidence that today is also IHOP’s National Pancake Day, because lets face it, the only way to eat pancakes (or waffles) is with peanut butter and syrup.  Don’t forget the classic lunchtime staple, peanut butter and jelly!

Peanut butter toast is great too. So fabulous in fact, I eat a slice of whole wheat  toast with peanut butter and a small glass of milk every morning for breakfast, even when I was pregnant! I’m positive that is why Little Moo is also quite the peanut butter fan.

Some other great peanut butter tasties

YUM!

And of course this wonderful cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld introduced our family to peanut butter and jelly muffins, scrumptious!

Don’t forget how much peanut butter adds to desserts. Great in brownies, just make the brownies as you normally would and before putting them in the oven put some dollops of  peanut butter in the batter and swirl it in with a butter knife.

Or peanut butter cookies!

1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar and 1 egg. Mix together and bake 10-11 minutes at 400 degrees.

 

They are great plain, or you can add a chocolate to the top for a extra special treat. I also make excellent peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. They are my signature cookie! Ask for the recipe sometime, they are great!

I could go on about the magnificence of peanut butter (and on and on) but I will leave you to it. How do you like your peanut butter?

Mama Moo’s Favorite Things!

I have a lot of favorite things, but I will start off with my MOST FAVORITIST things

Of course the first two are these silly hooligans. Little Moo and Littlest Moo. Aren’t they adorable!!! Sure I might be biased but come on, they are about the cutest thing ever!

Then of course there is this guy. Not the little one (but he is the MOST adorable little boy ever) but the man holding him. Such a wonderful husband and father, and probably one of the funniest people I know. LOOOOVEE him!

 

Mushy, sure. But I can’t share my favorite things without first sharing my absolute most favorite things, my menfolk!!!

Now on to some of my favorite things in our home

This is my favorite grouping on a shelf in our house. It  is on a wall in Littlest Moo’s room. Cows. I know, shocking right? I love it for a couple reasons, mostly because right now it is the most put together thing in his room (I will show pictures of the rest of it in my next post. Yikes!) And because I made the cow pictures. I spray painted some Goodwill picture frames, found some cow coloring pictures and gussied them up.

What do you think? I love the dancing cow! I have written “moo” around the edge of the white paper. Love it!

Then of course there is the John Deere cow. ADORABLE!

Which brings me to my other favorite cow

We found this little guy at Fred Meyer in the clearance section. I couldn’t decide if I liked him or thought he was creepy. I’ve come around and now I love him. He has inspired décor for the living room that I would have never come up with if I didn’t find him. He’s my cowspiration! I will share that with you soon too. Currently he sits upon a shelf, but he has been spotted elsewhere as well

Those are a few of my favorites. Mostly cow inspired, but hey it IS Zipper Herd!