You know how sometimes parents feel like they have to keep up with their kids style-wise, resulting in a mid life crisis? I hope I’m not at that point yet, because I do consider Dekker very trendy and me not so much. But I don’t have a big desire to be trendy so I hope it stays that way. Otherwise I’m hooped.

Dekker has never had a pair of shoes that fit him. Ever. I know, it sounds like he has been neglected. He hasn’t been. He really didn’t even walk until Christmas so the fact that we couldn’t find shoes that fit wasn’t too bothersome. Just double up the socks in winter and we were good to go. However, it is time. So we hit up one of the second hand kids stores in the city and came out with three pairs. Our favorite?

Amazing, right?? They jumped out at Dekker right away. They were in a box of lots of shoes and he pointed right at these. We love them, and surprisingly, they have enough stretch that we can get those chubby feet into them!!!

Walking in them is another story, hahaha! He is sooo off balance and uncoordinated in them! When we first put him down on the ground in them, he held on for dear life for a good few minutes before we was willing to stand on his own. Then he tried for steps. He went super slow, and lifted his legs up like he was putting on pants or something. Really high, and he took giant steps. So fr he isn’t a fan. I think I’m just going to put him in Robeez around the house for a few days so he can get a feel for having something more structured on his feet. We are definitely a barefoot family. I don’t like wearing shoes, or even socks. Why should he?! Well because its important. So hopefully he’ll get there eventually. I don’t know a lot of kids, or teens, or adults that can’t walk when they’re wearing shoes. There’s hope. For now, I’m just going to enjoy laughing at him from a distance.

Its like watching a kitty with tape on its paws try to walk.

 

After a few people suggested yesterday that my oranges actually were blood oranges, I did what I should have done in the first place. I googled them. My bag of oranges did not say “blood oranges” on the label, but they said “Redmoro,” which google corrected to “red moro” which brought up info on blood oranges. So I guess they’re all intertwined somehow. Weird that our first bag was nothing like these weird veiny ones we have now, but oh well. They taste the same, and at least they’re not like the creepy blood oranges I saw on google that were deep purple in color. A purple orange just doesn’t make sense, and Judge Judy says that if something doesn’t make sense, it isn’t true. Judge Judy knows all.

On the note of food, I mentioned months ago that I had the idea to keep record on a white board what is in my pantry and freezer. The project was brought to me one day when I was filling my freezer with beef and was annoyed at how little space I had available. I was so embarrassed that my first instinct wasn’t to be grateful! So I thought it would be a great idea to write it all down and to be able to see what we were so fortunate to have! Sometimes, if I can’t see something, it will never get eaten. So I figure it important to have the list in front of me so I can see whats available, and better keep track of whats running out. I’ve dragged my feet on the project, but its been bugging me more recently to start the process. In an effort to start today, I just wrote down on paper what is all in my pantry. I think the freezer is the more important part of the project but its also bigger and messier and will likely have more things I need to throw out. So I started easy. I was reminded again of how blessed we are to have as much as we have. I write two columns of food products on both the front and back of a sheet in my notebook. I guess thats not a super clear explanation, but goodness we have a lot! Much more than we need!!! Baking supplies, juices, canned fruits and veggies, soups, spices, condiments, mac and cheese, snacks, snacks, and more snacks 🙂 Without going downstairs, I know my freezer is loaded with a large box of chicken breasts, lots of ground beef, steaks, roasts, an entire ham cut into quarters, fish, bread, buns, juice, muffins, etc.

While I realize that no one truly cares what kinds of food I have in my house, I sometimes need a kick in the pants to remind me to be grateful. We are sooo covered! No more complaining about not having room in the freezer. And with this project on the go, no more “There’s nothing to eat in this house!!”

That being said, anyone want to come over for dinner soon? It appears we have an excess of…well, food in general. Thanks be to God!

Ok, this is not a normal post for me! But I have to know if anyone has seen anything like this before!

I bought a bag of oranges to feed Dekker non-stop so he gets over his cold faster. I wasn’t sure if he’d like them, since Christmas oranges are so much sweeter, but he wolfed them down no problem. So I bought another bag. What I found inside lokoks like this:

So, for the record, the color of these oranges is a deeper color than an average orange, more grapefruity. But this is quite red! And then when you look closer…

Looks like yucky little blood vessels right?! EW! Even on the peel!

I mean, what diseases are these oranges carrying?

The first time we saw it, we threw the orange out, but the next one was the same, and the next one.

We finally got brave and tasted them, and they taste exactly the same. But I’m kind of sketched out!!! Has anyone had this before in their random bag of oranges???

We FINALLY slept better! And got stuff done. Overdue stuff.

We finally took down our Christmas tree! Hahaha, I know, its awful that it almost made it to February, but its happened before. Our tree this year was a bit deceiving though. It was still green!!! But very dead. Every ornament coming off made a huge mess, but a quick sweep afterwards was no big deal and the whole thing is taken care of for another year. Brady says our living room looks huge now. I say it looks empty. Oh well, I’m thinking Dekker needs to start playing with his megablocks so that should fill space soon enough.

On the note of toys, we moved some of Dekker big toys that we have upstairs for some reason to the basement. I guess he really hasn’t been mobile for too long, so they’ve been upstairs more for when people with kids come over. Now that he can actually play with them, it makes more sense to put them somewhere with more space I think. We also put his big jumping toy thing downstairs into storage since he’s been too big for it for quite a while. We did a whole bunch of laundry and fixed up the dishes.

Ok, I know it isn’t a lot, but I feel accomplished! It is sooo easy to be lazy, especially when everyone in the house feels like crap. So getting a few things done feels better than nothing. Our supper of french fries (somehow that turned into french friends the first time I typed it…) and chicken strips is in the oven, salads being mixed, Dekker is sleeping, and an episode of The Biggest Loser is calling my name from citytv.com. Sooo looking forward to the next hour or two!

I woke up this morning at 3:00 and didn’t fall back to sleep until 7:00. And we had to wake up at 7:15. It was a rough night. And morning. And day. But I lived. Dekker was nice and tired all day. He slept through the entire church service and had a three hour nap in the afternoon. He was happy and playful during the times he was awake, which made the day as easy as I could really have asked for, considering the night.

I realize my posts have been pretty lame with all the crappy sleeps I’ve been having, so just a few quick updates for you:

Dekker is still beautiful and happy as ever. He is more cuddly these days than ever before. He walks and runs, dances and jumps, growls and sings. He has a mullet and diaper rash. He has started chewing the corners of his blanket when he’s falling asleep. I wonder if its due to teething, but I’m still banking on those two year molars not coming for a while, and thats all he has left. His favorite color is red, his favorite foods are oranges and bananas and bread, and his favorite song is the theme song for “The Nanny.” I know, poor child. Dekker excels at listening and obeying. He has began tickling feet and pretending to pour water into his plastic cups and taking big pretend drinks. He is the best.

Brady and I are good. Well, Brady is decently sick, honestly. But you’ve heard about that a lot recently. He has a couple of days off this week that we plan to spend getting our family better. Another exciting note for us is that we have a few exciting things to look forward to in the next couple of months! Our anniversary is coming up soon, and we have always spent a weekend away at least in the month of our anniversary if we can’t get the weekend. So that is officially booked! A quiet weekend at a beautiful hotel by our favorite lake. Dekker-free, might I add! It will be nice to hole up for a weekend, just the two of us. And use the hot tubs on the roof of the hotel too. Its been a while since we hot tubbed. Lastly, does anyone remember my post about going to see Marianas Trench? It was truly an awesome show! They were on a tour they called “Face the Music,” completely run and planned by them. Not their label, but the band. It was super theatrical and by far the best show I’ve ever been too. We travelled to Regina for it. Well apparently the tour was a wild success and they’re going back across Canada to perform in a few places they couldn’t fit into their first tour. SASKATOON!!! They are closing their tour off in Saskatoon 😀 I’m so thrilled they’re coming in general, but to be the place of their final show of the Face the Music tour somehow feels like an honor. Either way, I pre-ordered tickets, and we are SOOO looking forward to, once again, an amazing show and a fun night away! (*I’ll just throw a quick disclaimer in here. No, we don’t dislike our son or want to be away from him, but a break here and there is super refreshing! One in February and then two months later doesn’t make me feel like Dekker is being neglected…) Its nice to have things to look forward to.

I’m not going to add a picture of the last chunk of this post just yet. I’m back in the crocheting saddle. Just for a project or two, we’ll see how it plays out. I started back up a day or two ago and had some pretty rocking success. I’m tentatively excited about what I came out with, so hopefully it can continue and my confidence will build back up. If thats whats supposed to happen. Who knows anymore.

Well, I’ve pretty much been awake since 3 this morning. So ready for this day to be over.

Someone had blackberries at breakfast today.

Note the purple streaks up his arms and all over his lips. He normally doesn’t like to get messy while eating. You know those pictures with the kid covered in spaghetti? That would never be Dekker. Until today maybe. Normally, a grain of rice left on his chin would be removed before he’d take another bite. Until today. I apologize but there is noway I’m leaving out an of these pictures. If they all look the same to you, thats fine, but they’re all beautiful to me.

The end result: My messy son, covered in berries. He rubbed his hands in his hair, all over the front of his sleeper, and of course, every available inch of skin. Honestly, I think he really enjoyed it, which made me happy too. When it was all over, it was as though he already knew what was coming next. My boy willingly went into the bathtub and got good and cleaned up without barely a tear. Tear-free baths are not a common occurrence around here, and we were so grateful and proud of him!

Such a sweet boy.

 

 

Brady had today off so we took advantage of the extra weekday and took him to the walk in. He has had this ridiculous cold for about a month now, and it is again getting worse.

We had a great doctor at the clinic, as usual. There is no doctor that I have encountered at Lakeside Medical that I don’t like. Very good office. Unfortunately, he is confident that Bradys illness is viral. Bacterial would get him antibiotics, but viral is usually just a shrug and a “wait it out” treatment. He was sympathetic though, and gave Brady some nasal spray with the instruction to use it after one of those gross netty pot things. He also gave us a prescription for cough syrup with codeine in it so we will all be able to sleep without midnight coughing fits.

We felt better after we left, having had such a nice appointment, but we waited for it for just over two hours, and somehow, that was enough to wipe us out. I am completely exhausted for no good reason. I’m going to put Dekker down and go to bed.

Most importantly, I’m NOT going to witness the netty pot. Gross.

I’ve mentioned baking in my last two posts, and last night I even dreamt about baking! So I thought it would be good to get some of that out of my system. The easy way, but the delicious way.

First of all, I don’t know if what I made qualifies as muffins or cupcakes. I was going to call them muffcakes but that can definitely be taken the wrong way, so I’m going with Pumpkin Joys. I recognize I should probably link to the website where I found the recipe but its such an adaptable and easy recipe that I’m not sure if it would make sense to give credit! Anyway, this is how it went:

Not a riveting picture, I know, but this is literally all that went into the recipe. I doubled it, so one big can of pureed pumpkin, and two boxes of yellow/golden cake mix. Done. Well, thats what the website said. The commenters said they were a bit bland in the end so I added about a tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice. Good decision.

I tried to mix this beast by hand with a wooden spoon, and failed miserably in just a few minutes. Sooo much cake mix, and seemingly not enough wet. So I threw the responsibility at my Kitchenaid mixer and walked away for about fifteen seconds, coming back to beautiful batter! My favorite thing about the batter was that I could eat it. Raw. Honestly, I’m not afraid to eat cookie dough, eggs and all, but knowing this was just dry ingredients and pumpkin felt even better. Only a short 20 minutes later…

Aren’t they beautiful? I bought some cream cheese thinking they would be divine with icing on top. And they would be! But they don’t need it 🙂 Of course we can’t forget some minis for Dekker…

He loves them too. Complete success in the kitchen! And our house smelled amazing. Felt good to accomplish something with 100% success. I really don’t think I would have done anything different. They are perfect.

Lucky for us, Brady had a short day and came home for lunch. We played with Dekker and watched “Away We Go” while he napped. For dinner, we made big, delicious salads with chicken and bacon and sunflower seeds and my homemade honey mustard dressing. SO delicious. I know, some of you are probably thinking “Salad? Thats it?” But seriously, its so yummy and we each had a heaping bowlful. Huh. Who knew ‘bowlful’ was a word?! Learn something new every day I guess! Like how to make Pumpkin Joys.

*drool* Super disappointed that the food part of the day is over.

Since todays blizzard was cancelled, Dekker and I picked my mom up from her home and hit the city for some errands running.

We hit Costco with zero success first. You know those amazing Contigo travel mugs? They now come in locking form, and I really want the pink ones. I have been waiting and looking for months. I heard there were some there, so I ran in and left my mom and Deks in the car, but alas, no pink. Dangit.

From there, we went to pick up some Robeez I was buying for Dekker off of one of those Facebook online sale type pages. That poor lonely woman told me her entire life story. About 40 minutes later, I finally got out the door and back in the car. We bailed out of that section of town at a good pace, since we had a lot to do and that set us back a bit.

Brady was working next to our ideal floor plan house again so we dropped by so we could show my mom the layout. To say simply, she approves 🙂

After lunch, we did a decently quick shop at Superstore and then headed to her place for the evening. Dekker was a total champ the entire day, and slept in the car on the way home. He did an amazing job for being as tired as he was. He was so patient and smiley and playful. I was reminded so many times throughout the day how thankful I am to have him in my life.

Of course, it was shortly after supper that I was greeted with my daily challenge. It isn’t usually the same as the day before, but there is always a challenge with a child. Today, it was supper. As I’ve said before, if all we ever gave Dekker was bread, he would be the happiest camper in the world. I mean really, who wouldn’t be? For dinner, we had a delicious cheeseburger soup and biscuits, and as usual, Dekker was far more interested in the biscuits. Wanting him to eat more of the soup, I would only give him so many pieces of biscuit before giving him a bite or two of soup. And WOW did he fight today. Probably at least ten minutes in, I took stock of the situation. He was over half done the soup, and every bit had been a battle. He liked it, I could tell, but he wanted the bread more. I had him facing me with no one else in his line of vision. He was straining to get out of his chair. He had big tears down his cheeks, and he was mad at me. I was mad at him too, and wasn’t too far off form having tears on my cheeks as well. After him hitting a spoonful away and making a mess, I gave his hand a slap. After disciplining him, I always feel like I can’t pass off the ugly job to anyone else. Even if he’s mad at me and would eat better for his dad, he needs to show respect and listen to what I’ve asked him to do. I also never want him to feel like he is a nuisance and that I don’t want to be with him, even when things are difficult. Maybe I think too much, but I think respect is super important and that it goes both ways. Just one way I try to encourage my son in hard situations, I guess. So we fought it out. It probably took another ten minutes before I, stupid as I am, decided to just stick a small chunk of biscuit on each spoonful of soup. Well THEN  there was no problem. Sigh.

Once he had eaten everything, I took him out of his chair and we went for a walk to the back of the house to have a chat. We went into a darker room so there weren’t any real distractions, and I told him he needed to show more respect and not act out in anger. For those of you who are thinking “Just try doing that when they’re running circles around you” or that I’m picking a silly battle, that’s fine. We all have different ideas and parenting thoughts, and we don’t all have to agree. This is one I choose to pick. So I spoke these words to him over and over, and he was getting more and more mad at me, trying to get out of my arms and flailing around. Finally he burst out crying and just hugged me. I took that as a “I’m sorry mom, you’re right,” we had a little cuddle, and went to play toys with Grandma and Grandpa. It was rocky, and long, and I was exhausted by the end of it. But I feel like it went the best it could have gone. Right? I think so, anyway. There is always a challenge.

Now, I am tired. I just had a great cuddle and kiss time with Dekker before he went down, and now it is my turn to let down. Sooo ready!

Might bake tomorrow…

I feel like I’ve been leading a super boring life so far this year. I have nothing to blog about these days, so my posts are short and boring. I’ve felt super discouraged about my crocheting recently as well so I haven’t made anything in a couple of weeks. And now its too cold to be outside at all so I haven’t surfaced from my home! I’m starting to get cabin fever.

Today was good though. Dekker woke up late in the morning and we had breakfast together. Brady picked up the amazing granola from Costco yesterday when he was getting milk, so I had it for breakfast. SO amazing! If you haven’t ever tried it, its in the section of stuff they mix up there, with the buns and cookies. Go buy some. Dekker and I spent a couple of hours playing the basement after that. So many of his toys are missing. I’ve looked under couches and inside boxes with very little success. I guess this is where that kind of thing begins. Hiding stuff. Oh well, just stacking cups that I’ve noticed.

Brady went to work at stupid o’clock so he came hope mid-afternoon! I love it so much when his days can play out like that. I mean, he tries to go to work nice and early so he can come home and see us. If he works until 5, he’s home by 6, and Dekker is going to bed around 8. So he earlier the better. But of course, going in early doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes there is just tons of work to be done, so he has to work longer. Whatever. Today is whats important, and today he came home early 🙂 He’s even boilng up some perogies for us right now. Delicious!

Being in the kitchen a bit today, doing dishes, I realized a couple of things. One is that we are at the end of yummy homemade sweets. I’ve been craving brownies, so perhaps I’ll make some soon again. I feel bad having too many sweets in my house when I don’t make as many meals, haha! Another thing I realized is that we’re out of most of our food. I mean, no, we’re not. We have tons of food, and are completely and utterly blessed. But we’re out of apples, bananas, oranges, yogurt, sandwich meat, cheese, etc. Everyday things, whether for Dekker or for Brady’s lunches. Therefore, despite the cold and the threats of blizzard conditions tomorrow, its time to grocery shop. Maybe not my smartest plan, but we need to eat and I NEED to get out of my house. So I’m thinking shopping tomorrow, then maybe the day after I’ll bake? Yes, that question mark is there on purpose. If I don’t bake, or even if I do, I think I’m going to do a solid tidy of my house. Dekkers toys are always all over the place. I’m going to purchase some tubs tomorrow so I can put the toys away at night and he can pull them all out again the next day. I know, most of you moms probably already do that, for the sake of sanity. I’m comfortable in the untidiness of my sons toys, but it would also be nice to be able to walk through my house without tripping. So, tomorrow I’ll purchase whatever baking ingredients I don’t already have, and tubs, and that should keep me occupied for another day 🙂 YAY!

Perogie time for me! Gotta add those to my grocery list…