Delicious.

I just have to share this recipe before I forget. :) If you want the yummiest, gooiest, sweetest apple crisp recipe ever, click HERE. I made this for Dear Sweet Hubby and I the other night, and oh my goodness gracious, it was amazing! Dear Sweet Hubby said "This is easily one of the best things I've ever tasted."

It was that good.

And I love apple crisps, but I usually prefer the topping to anything else and end up leaving the filling...but not this time. I ate it all right up. Along with seconds. And a serving for breakfast the next morning. :) And LBB loved it too...but he loves fruit and sugar, so I wasn't surprised. :)

Short Walks in the Rain

I love rainy days. And I love walks in the rain...

...especially with this cute little guy. :)

And luckily, LBB loves walks in the rain just as much as I do, so today we put on his rain coat and went for a short walk across the street (to get a snack and soda.)

As we were walking over, I asked my sweet little boy if it was raining, to which he happily and enthuasitically nodded "yes." Than I asked him "Where does rain come from?"

And my sweet boy pointed to the parking lot. :) Not quite. (A few weeks ago I asked him where wind comes from and he pointed straight up at the clouds. Smartie.)

He giggled as rain lightly fell on his face. He talked to the blue jay that was hopping around in the grass. And he laughed hysterically when the blue jay flew up in the tree.

Ah. Rainy days are so much better now that I'm a Mommy. :)

Biffed It

That's exactly what little man did yesterday. :)

True to his "Never Slow Down" mantra, LBB went running after a big bouncy ball yesterday...lost his footing...and used a patio stone as a landing strip. :( He originally had a chance. He used his hands to slow him down, but all the momentum that was built up in his little toddler self had nowhere to go but forward, and forward he went.

I've got to tell you...there's nothing more heart stopping than seeing blood coming out of your little one's mouth and streaking down his cheeks for the first time. But, once we got him cleaned up and all the dirt and muck off his face, LBB was no worse for the wear minus a patch of scrapes right by his eye. My parents and I were thinking he might get a black eye from it, but today he woke up just fine and no swelling or anything. Phew.

And I have to add...this time last year, if anything happened to LBB, I'd immediately start trying to figure out who was to blame and all that stuff. (You know...overprotective new mommy and all.) But...I'm so proud of myself because in the midst of it all, I got him cleaned up, made sure he was ok, and could honestly acknowlege that it was an accident.

And accidents happen.

And this is not going to be the only one that my active LBB gets into.

And...most importantly...that as Mommy, all I can do is clean him up. Check his boo-boos. Give him a kiss and some comfort. And give the rest to God.

Maybe I'm getting this Mommy thing down pretty good after all. :)

I Jinxed Myself...

Back in THIS post, I made a comment about how a can of Chef Boyardee Mini Beef Ravioli may become my best friend, remember?

I jinxed myself. Today at lunch, LBB took one bite, made a look of extreme displeasure with the ooey, saucey, pasta-ey (not a word, I know) bowl that was placed in front of him. Then he spit out his noodle.

Oy.

What is a Mom to do? This boy won't eat a thing!!!! I know, I know. Toddlers can be picky. Kids can be picky.

I don't think you understand. :)

This goes beyond picky. This is the far end of the spectrum picky. Sigh. My mom said something funny tonight:

"I kind of thought it'd be funny if you got a kid as picky as you were, but I didn't think this picky." Not word for word, mind you, but that was pretty close, right Mom? :)

So, as we talked about it at dinner at my parents' house this evening, my sis mentioned that if we ever had someone other than them babysit that we'd have a very long list of the food he won't eat. I suggested that it might be easier to just make a list of foods he does it. Here goes:

• Bread. But not french bread, crescent rolls, and whatnot. Just white. (Preferably Sara Lee Smooth Light) And Cinnamon Chunk from the grocery store


• Pinto Beans. But only from Chipotle.


• Rice. Any kind really. He likes rice.


• Bananas. Bananas. And more bananas.


• Strawberries.


• Black Berries


• Graham Crackers


• Cheese Quesadillas


• Corn. Corn. And more corn.


• Ritz Crackers.


• Gerber Puffs


• Target's Archer Farms Fruit Strips

I'd love to say there's more. But there's not. Isn't that sad? He's about as picky as they come. Sigh. At least it makes grocery shopping easy. :)

And I am crossing my fingers that I don't jinx myself again...I don't know what I'd feed him then.

Dedication

This past Mother's Day weekend, we had LBB's baby dedication at our church.

Dear Sweet Hubby and I have never been "keen" on baby baptism...mostly because we feel it should be LBB's choice to be baptized when he knows what it means. But...this baby dedication is exactly what we believe, and we are so blessed to have our church feel the same way.

If you want to read our church's view on the subject, click here. :)

Right before we got up on the stage, they played the sweetest video about children and dedication and raising them in the way of the Lord, and my overly-emotional Mommy-self came out and I had to fight back the tears. As I held my sweet little boy, all dressed in his dapper suit that was a gift from PaPa and GiGi, all I wanted to do was hug him and give him kisses on his little forehead...but since we were first in line, I had to be content just holding him tight. :)

And then during the ceremony, I couldn't help but feel my heart be filled with God's love and support as our Pastor talked about the dedication and what it meant...it's an amazing thing.

God blessed Dear Sweet Hubby and I with the profound gift of raising this little boy into a man who lives for God. God has given us a few basic tools...the Bible, prayer, and lots more prayer. And with those tools, we get to have a hand in teaching LBB the love of the Lord. What it means to be saved. And how to live his life for Christ.

What a big responsibility for two plain, simple humans, isn't it? And we're all like that. We're all given that responsibility as parents...children are a gift from God, and it is straight from the Bible that we are to raise them up in His name. And just when you think..."This is quite a daunting task. Where do I even start?"

God gives you a hint.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deuteronomy 6:5-7

Well...maybe not so much a hint. Maybe more of a smack on the forehead. :) God's pretty awesome at knowing what I need to read when I need to read it.

There's going to be struggles. There's going to be questions. There's going to be that nagging feeling of "Are we even doing this right?" But that's why God is there. That's why the Bible is our go-to guide. That's why He blessed us with family, friends, and a church family that is there to support us.

And that's why He gave us knees...because, goodness, they are going to get a lot of wear and tear over our lifetime as parents. Especially with that spirited little guy that God blessed us with...but the amazing thing is...even when LBB has a rough day, I know that God has great things in store for him.

And that, as a mom, is an AWESOME feeling.

Back When I Knew It All

When I was pregnant, I had all these beautiful visions of me and my little one enjoying trouble-free days, never watching tv, having fresh baked goodies on a regular basis, and making delicious dinners that could have their spot on Food Network.

And then I had LBB.

Trust me...I might as well have been having visions of hopping around a flower field with a lollipop in my hand.

There are moms out there who can do it...and I applaud them. Moms that can make gourmet, organic, all healthy meals that have never seen the inside of a canning factory. There are moms out there who can serve warm, fresh bread on a regular basis to their loving family, all while looking like they just stepped out of a 1950's Good Housekeeping Magazine.

I am not one of those moms.

In fact, I really think those moms are few and far between...figments of our pre-baby imagination where our little ones always listen, never throw a toy, and always eat their meals. That whole thinking that "When I have kids, I'm not going to feed them applesauce that isn't homemade" and "When my kids are the same age as that mother's, they are not going to throw a tantrum everytime I put them in the cart at Target." Trust me...if you don't have kids of your own yet, I know you're thinking those thoughts. :) I thought them. All. The. Time.

But...then you'll have kids.

And you'll realize that in the whole process of waking up, getting them ready, squeezing in a quick shower for yourself, and then chasing their active little bodies around all day, that somewhere in the middle...

They throw a fit.

They scream at the store.

They refuse to eat their dinner.

And a can of Chef Boyardee Mini Beef Ravioli's may very well become your best friend.

And that, my friends, is the wonderful thing about motherhood. It catches you off guard, in such an amazing way. When you invest long hours being awake in the middle of the night while your little one cries because of a tooth coming in or when you've had the day from *fiddlesticks* because your toddler decided to push every limit he could imagine, those "perfect" things just don't matter.

It's the bedtime kisses at night and being put in charge of watching his baby Anklyosaurus when he goes to bed that make you a good mom.

Nothing else matters much...although it would be pretty awesome to go hopping through a flower field.

Hello?

I'm at a crossroads...I'm not sure if I want to keep writing in this blog...I know I don't have a lot of readers, although that's not why I do it. If I wanted more I could always make it public, but it's more for friends and family to keep up with us...and even more importantly, a way to journal and document our life. I keep saying that someday I'm going to print the entries out on a regular basis and keep it for my LBB, but I'm thinking it might be more effective just to start writing in a journal and keeping it for him.

I love this outlet of writing, but sometimes I feel like I'm just talking to myself. Does this all sound whiny? It's really not meant to be. I'm just putting this question out there...how much does reading my little old blog mean to my readers? I'm starting to question if the effort that goes into writing in here and trying to stay current is really worth it? Are my blog entries boring or interesting? Is there any point to me doing this little blog?

Let me know what you think...