Oatmeallllll

One of the things they start to learn in the toddler room is to use utensils. Of course, LM has only been in the toddler room for ten days, so you know, he hasn't exactly mastered this skill. When we get home at night, the Little Man has a little snack sometime before he goes to bed. Often, this snack involves some oatmeal. 

Monday night he was cranky when we got home. This has been the regular modus operandi since joining the toddler room. As I worried, he isn't getting enough sleep. So, until he gets used to this schedule, I am going to have to get used to a cranky boy. Sigh. Anyway, he was whining and crying before his snack and so I decided to give him the oatmeal and a spoon so he could feed himself. Suddenly, he was less cranky, so it totally worked. He loved feeding himself. He made a total mess, but you know, he was going to the bath next so who cares??? It made my sleepy, cranky boy less so for a few minutes so it was completely worth it. These are photos I snapped with my phone, as well as a little video.

Of course, the spoon is optional.

Yes, yes indeed. That's a clothing rack in my living room.

It's a long story we can talk about later. Ahem.

Don't miss those bits on the spoon, baby. 

Of course, we'll miss the bits on your face.

In case you needed to see this part up close...

Eventually he resorted to picking up the bowl.

And, the little video.

Excess

Saturday morning I finally tackled my shoe problem. That is, I finally took the time to go through my shoes to cull out the ones that no longer fit. My foot grew a half size while I was pregnant, and I was hoping somehow it would go back to "normal". It turns out this isn't bound to happen. Ahem. And, I was having a hard time finding the shoes that did fit. So, I took the time to clean them all out.

It was during this process I decided I am a shoe hog. This is not anything I would have ever said about myself. I don't have a excess of shoes, I would say. I'm not always purchasing them for each outfit, etc. But, if you look at this pile going to Goodwill, you would probably agree...I've amassed quite a few shoes. I decided to count them - 33 - THIRTY-THREE - pairs of shoes. I know I didn't amass them overnight. It was over the last probably ten or so years for some of the shoes I wore less often. But seriously, that seems like a lot of shoes.

Empty shoe boxes, crying to be filled.

hee hee.

It just supports the feeling I have that we live with a lot of excess in our lives. And every time I try to simplify, clean out - purge - I turn around and fill the space back up with more junk. Why on earth do I do this? Who needs that many shoes? Shirts? Kitchen goods? Toys? No one. But that hasn't stopped me. One thing I've done is to purchase books on simplifying my life. I even read those books. But, purchasing those books just adds to my book excess. Seriously. Oy.

Maybe I can get a handle on it. Perhaps the shoe purge will put me on the straight and narrow. But don't bet on it. I still have 20 - TWENTY - pairs that fit. Geez.

See you soon.

Saturday Festivities

Last Saturday was a full day. First, after LM woke up, we went late to his swim class. Then, after he napped again, we walked down to the carnival at the local Catholic church and school. After that and after another nap by the boy, LM and S went over to the SMU Boulevard pre-game activities while I went to work. Here are some photos of the last two events. All photos were taken with the purse camera:

Turns out the walk to the church was a little hotter than we expected.

The boy looks hot, no?

Given the heat, it wasn't real crowded when we were there. 

It gets crowded for the evening.

There were lots of food booths from local restaurants, carnival games, and even a few carnival rides. It was a pretty nice little carnival, I would say. Here are some photos of the games, etc:

Here a black belt in karate was going to break a board with his bare hand. 

This garnered quite a crowd of little boys.

There's half a smile!

That over there is one of those human sized gerbil balls.

Rides and a big slide.

OK, on to SMU!

The boy wore his jersey.

I LOVE this photo. 

Nope...not a beer trough...a duck trough!

With Peruna! LM was rather enamored, can you tell?

The Mustang Band

S and the LM hanging out at our friend's Boulevard location.

Little Man in a Little Man chair.

Apparent faux pas on Mama's part - I just grabbed that sippy cup out of the cabinet and put it in his bag for the event. It turns out the opposing team's colors were purple and orange. Whoops. Good thing he had his jersey on! ;-)

At the end of the time at SMU, on the way to the car, in front of the band hall.

That's about it. See you soon.

Return of the Four Letter Word

Almost TWO years ago, I publicly wrote about how I was going to start a serious diet here on my blog. And, I was doing really, really well with it. Until this amazingly unexpected thing happened - I got pregnant. And our lives changed forever.

Cute photo, but who's the fatty in the middle behind the cute boy?

I am an oddity in that I actually did not gain any weight while I was pregnant - so, when I had the baby, I was down about twenty pounds. But then - THEN - after I had the baby, I gained weight back. Serious weight - like all twenty pounds - over the course of the next few months. After I had the baby, I was HUNGRY. All the time. I was breastfeeding around the clock and I had an appetite like no other. So, I ate. And apparently, I did that part really, really well. Because here I am - back up to an uncomfortably large number.

So, I want to change that. I have decided to do the same plan as I had before - a few weeks of Medifast and then a switch to Weight Watchers. I have to say my heart is not in it as it was back in November of 2009. I was really gung-ho back then. But I am going to take it one day at a time - bird by bird, as they say - and I hope I can stick with it and get to a weight I find more comfortable.

Time to mind that middle.

There are many reasons to lose weight - for your health, for one. To have more energy, perhaps. To fit into your clothes better. To have a better self-image. Etc etc. The one that is driving me right now, however, is how I look in photos with my son. There is a lot of picture taking going on, if you know what I mean, and when I see myself, I cringe. I hate it. I hate looking at photos of me. Right after LM was born, I didn't feel this way. I didn't mind the photos. So, I know much of this HAS to be the weight I am.

I hope to be successful. And, you know, besides dieting, I hope to find a way to exercise more regularly. Oy. I know I can do it. I've succeeded at many hard things in the past. This is simple by comparison. Here we go.

See you soon.

A Cute Boy Goes Cycling

So, now, after almost a two year hiatus, we are back on our bikes. We got a great deal on a like-new bike trailer and S also bought a seat to attach to his bike where LM can ride. It's so fun to be able to go out on the bikes with LM, and so NICE to finally get back to probably my favorite exercise under the sun.

Here are some photos of LM discovering the bike trailer:

This was the night S brought it home, right before bed. 

He loved it!

It has a wheel you can attach that turns it into a stroller. 

One night S took him around the block in it. He loved it even more!

One where I didn't cut S's head off. Heh heh.

It's been in our front room for a week, and S has enjoyed exploring around it.

And sitting in it with the remote. Ha.

Here are a few photos from our first time out with the boy in the seat:

We tried out his helmet and the seat in the house before it was attached.

We were doing everything to make it cool to wear the bike helmet.

It worked for now at least, he wore the helmet no problem. 

The boys headed out to the garage.

Getting ready to go.

The seat.

Strapping up the boy in his seat.

Not sure yet...

On our inaugural ride we decided to just ride a short distance up to eat breakfast early on a Sunday morning. It went pretty well. We have to cross two heavy traffic streets to get up there, but on Sunday early the traffic wasn't bad, and we were able to cross one of them at a light.

At the shopping center for breakfast.

The boy in that helmet is just too cute.

Then, on the way home, we circled around the block to take in the big hill near our house to make it a tiny bit of a workout. I made it up the hill much easier than S with the boy strapped on. I'm sure you can imagine why...so I took the opportunity to get some shots of them coming up the hill. Here you go:

I think he liked it! Hey Mikey!

A fun time was had by all.

See you soon.