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Monday, December 9, 2013

Let The Holidays Begin!


All packed up and ready to head to Papa's!

We had the best weekend. I took Saturday off for our Fuchser family Christmas which meant I got to leave work after a long workday on Friday, say sayonara to work and hola to cocktails, loads of food, awesome family and Cards Against Humanity. If you haven’t played CAH, I definitely recommend you check it out. Well, that is if you have a good sense of humor and don’t mind a little dirty, nasty awesomeness all rolled into a party game.

Fortunately my dad’s side of the family are drinkers and fun-havers so it was a good night. Well, my husband had a much “cooler” night than I because he, my dad and my brother-in-law didn’t make it to bed until 5:45am. (What normal adults actually stay out that late anymore? Oh yeah, our guys.)

After a fun Saturday we were ready to meet up with Nick’s side of the fam to visit his Grandpa on Sunday. Unfortunately we got loads of snow on Saturday night/Sunday and didn’t feel it was smart to make the trip to the country so we swung by my cutie niece’s birthday party and then took off back for Omaha. DeLaney has to be the sweetest little almost three year old…love her and as much as I can’t believe C-man is two, I also can’t believe Laney is going to be three on Tuesday. And the party? Loads of fun...just check out her birthday tree!





Hope you all had a great weekend, too!



Friday, December 6, 2013

Love Lately {December 6, 2013}

Happy Friday, lovely ladies! (And men. If there are any of you reading this. I highly doubt it, but you never know.) =)

I will just welcome myself back to the blogging world and jump right into some of my favorite things as of late. So, heeeeeere goes......

{one}
'Tis the season. I've officially jumped on the bandwagon and, yep, I'm all over this Christmas thing. Well, by "all over" I mean I'm actually decorating the house for Christmas this year which did not happen last year (big scrooge) AND we've adopted this little guy to help us get into the holiday mood.


Granted, Cruz doesn't entirely understand that he needs to be good or the elf will tell the big guy, but it's still fun to watch him look for Buddy (lame name, I know, but my choice Guacamole was veto'd) in the mornings.

{two}
Speaking of holidays, we not only are decking the house in holiday cheer this year BUT we also decided to keep our old fake tree in storage and got all fancy with a real tree. An actual real Christmas tree. I can remember my mom talking about wanting a real tree when we were younger, but back then she and my dad had like seven mouths to feed and we couldn't afford one. However, Nick and I decided if we were going to do this Christmas decorating thing, then we were going to do it right, so we loaded up our little lumberjack, Cruz, and headed to the tree farm. And let me tell you, the evergreen smell floating through the entire house? Totally worth every penny.



{three}
Million Dollar Shoppers (Lifetime). My absolute favorite show right now. Personal shoppers in NYC paired with rich, snobby women looking for clothes = great TV. Check it out.

{four}
Julie Ann Art. I absolutely love sending/getting snail mail. And I love sending cards that are sarcastic, snarky and awesome. This gal offers just that (not to mention some that are a bit risque, which is even more awesome) and I couldn't wait to personalize these two cards with a fun, little message from me and send them to the hubs (when he was away for the past four weeks in training) and my bestie (who just got engaged not too long ago).




{five}
Online shopping and specifically Ebates. As many of you know, I'm an online shopping fanatic, well I'm an all over shopping fanatic, but shopping online is just absolute perfection. I just love coming home to packages on the porch. Speaking of packages on the porch - I was introduced to Ebates by a friend and I'm kicking myself for not trying it out sooner.  Long story short, you sign up (for free, obvi), search the website you are looking for, then link directly to your fave major websites from Ebates (Amazon, Gap Kids, Zulily, Ruum, Vickies, Target...you name it, most are on it), shop from the site like normal, purchase and voila! you get an email from Ebates shortly after letting you know how much cash back you received just from linking to your fave shopping sites through Ebates.

Let me be honest here, you're not going to become a millionaire overnight using Ebates, BUT you will get cash back for doing what you already do, which by this I mean shopping. Now that my friends makes complete sense to me.


That's all for now! Have a great weekend and remember, only three more until Christmas!


Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Our Favorite Things: Twelve to Fifteen Months

I've really enjoyed looking back on the lists of our favorite things. Every item brings back good memories or our little man and makes me thankful for the happy boy we have been blessed with.

Without any further adieu... here is another edition of our Monthly Favorites.

12 - 15 Month Favorites:



  • Playtex Sippy Cups - the best sippys we've found by far and we still continue to use these. They are easy to clean and best of all as long as you have them put together correctly and tightened (which I generally don't), they are virtually spill-proof.
  • Safety 1st Baby Proof - we loved this entire line, however, were most impressed with this one for the toilet. It may not look the fanciest, but it really saved us from fingers slammed in the toilet seat, many different types of toys and other items being dropped into the toilet water as well as keeping little man from sticking his hand in that grossness. Definitely a must have.
  • Munchkin Snack Containers - we tried out quite a few different containers and found these to be the best. The lid is soft on little hands, but they keep snacks contained the best as well. We use these for dry foods, cut-up turkey dogs on the go and grapes or blueberries can oftentimes be found in ours.
  • Plum Fruit Shredz - can you say yum? Not only did Cruz gobble these up, but I loved them as well and if there happened to be a random package in my bag, you can guarantee I ate them. Plus, they are from our fave brand, Plum. Loved virtually all of their foods.
  • Welsh's Fruit Snacks - these were the best "oh shit I forgot to pack a snack and need to stop at the gas station" go-tos.  Not that this happened to me (only like once a week), but little man loved them and they weren't greasy like I found some other fruit snacks to be. Plus, the package is big enough to share with mama.
  • Cloud B Twilight Turtle - this is a great nightlight and noisemaker/sound machine for Cruz's nursery. The light can be adjusted to different levels of brightness, it has music & relaxing noises and a timer, which shuts off after a certain amount of time. He loves to look up from his crib and see the lights dancing on the ceiling, I really think it's soothing to him and he has to tell me as soon as I lay him down, "mama, turn turtle on!" It's super cute and we obviously use it still to this day.
  • First 100 Words Book - little man loves this board book. Bright colors and great pictures. We started using this to learn colors and animals and now it's gotten to the point where he can go through each page and essentially "reads" the book to us, because he knows what each item is on every page.
  • Safety First Convertible Car Seat - we moved Cruz to this seat right around one year because his legs were dangling over the edge of his other one. We had narrowed our research down to this one and the Britax, but after speaking to our daycare's owner (at the time) who is a well-known pediatrician in our area and who has also done a lot of car seat research, she told us that one of the engineers from Britax went to Safety First with the goal of recreating the popular Britax model, but making it more affordable. Even knowing that we did not want to skimp on safety just for a lower price item, she still recommended this one. We love it and have one in each car. 
  • Mickey Mouse Plane Ride-On Toy - Cruz got this as a gift and it was one of the best presents ever. He still uses it to this day and he's almost two. It had so many awesome features: very colorful, moved easily when pushed or ridden, the seat lifts and stores four shape blocks and the propeller moves with the push of a button and lights up while Mickey talks. Plus, the propeller is made of foam, so it's very soft to the touch. Very cool toy.

Well, there you have it, another edition of our favorites - 12 months to 15 months. What were some of your favorite things during this time?

Linking up with Kristin and her adorable new blog. =)



Friday, November 8, 2013

Love Lately {November 8, 2013}

Well hello there. My name is Katie or better known as MIA. As in I've been MIA from this little ol' blog for much longer than I would care to admit lately. While I miss it, I have been very busy single parenting and planning the biggest 2 year old bash imaginable (ok, the biggest two year old bash I've ever thrown, how about that?)

Let's get on with it, shall we?

{one}
My 'almost' two year old!  As Cruz's 2nd birthday is almost officially upon us (next week to be exact), I can't help but get a little sappy looking back on his pics from the past two years and how much he has changed and captured our hearts. Check out this adorable little dude!


You can also find his monthly updates here.

{two}
The bash. Tomorrow we have approximately three thousand people (or at least it feels like it) coming to our house to celebrate Cruz man. I've been working on decor all week, we get our new sectional delivered today and will put the finishing touches on everything tonight. I love this part of being a mama.

{three}
My man. I'm picking up Nick from the airport today and we are going to surprise Cruz at daycare this afternoon.  I don't think Cruz or I could be more excited to see him! This is week two of him being gone for training for his new job and it's easy to say we are missing him something fierce. But we made sure to stick in his mind with fun little pics and videos like this all week:


{four}
Sweets and treats. I fully intend on gorging myself on cupcakes (thanks to auntie Morgan), Nothing Bundt Cake and candy all weekend long and I'm not even sorry about it. I mean, I've basically been doing this since Halloween last week, so why stop now?

{five}
The freakin' weekend. My weekend officially starts on Friday like the rest of you all for once and I'm loving it! I get to skirt out of work a tad bit early too. Can't beat that!


Hope you all have as much fun as I know I will this weekend!



Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Pre - All Hallow's Eve

I know...

I've been a bad, bad blogger. I swear I have a reason.

His name is Cruz. And we've been going it on our own for the past few days and have too many more to count while daddy is gone for training.

But you know what? I've loved it. No, I don't love the fact that Nick is gone. Not at all. But I love that I have to leave work by a certain time each night. No stretching it to finish an email or a project. I have to be there to pick him up by a certain time...or else. God forbid I'm late. They charge like $25 a minute.

And it's so worth it. When I walk through his classroom door and he spots me. His eyes light up and he looks to his teacher and says, "there's my mommy! She's heeeeere!" And runs with all his little might right to me, arms stretched out, looking for a big bear hug. THAT is the best feeling.

At night, I've been loving it. I've put my work to the side for once and focus only on him...because I don't have the other parent to tag-team with, so I have to make the most of our few, short hours with just the two of us.

And it's been awesome.

We've colored for hours on our chalkboard. We've played trains until we couldn't "choo choo" any more. We've painted pumpkins. We've built some of the biggest, best forts. We've sprawled out and watched Halloween movies. And he giggles at them. Oh, and how much I've loved it.

I've got a really cool kid.

Speaking of really cool kid. He's way too cool to pose for a picture these days and getting him to pose for one is definitely not easy. So when I looked through my DLSR and found this one. You can imagine my surprise. This boy is the cutest.


And while I wish our Halloween costume would've worked (um maybe his mama didn't take into account that Halloween in Nebraska is cold), I still love that we captured this shot. He loved singing into that gold candlestick and running around the house. I mean who doesn't love a little Tom Cruise in Risky Business? Especially on a toddler.

Have the best Halloween. I know this guy and I will!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Junkstock Omaha!




Omaha yet again impressed with another cool happening in town. I was pretty excited that Britt and I figured out how to make a last minute trip to Junkstock work for us last Sunday during Cruz's nap. It was a gorgeous day and this old farmhouse was packed.

{The Food}
Of course my first purchase would be food. That's just the way I roll. There was a great food truck area with tons of options, but we opted for the giant corn dog (delish) and Indian taco. After an hour or so of shopping we had to head back for some kettle corn to go. Nick and Cruz wouldn't have forgiven me if I didn't.










{The Goods}
As the name implies, there was tons of junk. But you know what they say, one man's junk is another man's treasure. However, I'm not much into junk, so we passed through quite a few vendor tents, but there was so much other great stuff to sort through.

This would look great at my parent's farm. Too bad I wasn't looking to spend $375.
It's as if this chair was just sitting there waiting for me to scoop it up. So I did.
It will look great with a brightly, colored throw pillow.

Loved these signs, but wish they had the "love" on the white board with black lettering.
I may have to order it.

A girl I used to work with owns County Line and she does letters & numbers out of old tin roofs.
I have this "m" on order, but with no rust. I think it will look great in our entryway.
Our haul

What a fun little find - can't wait to check it out again in April to see what we may have missed!

Friday, October 18, 2013

Love Lately {October 18, 2013}

It's that time of the week - FRIDAY. I don't know what it is but regardless of whether or not I have to work all weekend, its still nice to make it to Friday!

Let's jump into some of my faves.

{one}
Fall TV. Sons of Anarchy, Law & Order SVU, Grey's Anatomy and Shark Tank are my must-watch TV. Shark Tank is probably one of my most favorite shows ever to grace my television screen. I swear some day I will have an invention on that show - not sure what yet, but something...  If you haven't watched the SOA series, I highly recommend taking it up with your husband - we look forward to Tuesday night every week when we try to watch the newest episode together. And how can you not like Jax. I cannot believe I'm posting a pic of a half-naked man on here, but when Nick showed this to me, you know I had to immediately send it to my sis Tess so we could swoon over our favorite character on the show. It's our loss that he pulled out of the 50 Shades movie.



{two}
Speaking of Shark Tank, one of our local businesses was featured on the show (eCreamery). eCreamery is delish and definitely a fun treat when we are in the Dundee area...or when I make a special trip all the way there on a random night because "Cruz" wanted some of the salted carmel ice cream with crushed pretzels. Plus, check out these creative flavors made just for Shark Tank! Best part - even if you don't live in Omaha you can still order online and they ship! Plus you can customize a container for someone special as well as the ice cream in it.




{three}
Russell Stover S'Mores. Of course I'm the person who gets sucked into the in-line displays while waiting to purchase something at Target. And this s'mores bar was my latest splurge and it didn't disappoint. I've always loved S'mores, but I don't have a super cool fire pit at my house to make them whenever I want (good thing!) so this was a nice little surprise and tasted exactly like a s'more, without the charred marshmallow flavor.




{four}
Bacon pancakes.  I still don't know what the weird obsession is with bacon, like why people where bacon t-shirts and all, but I do know that I'm loving it lately. BLTs, with breakfast and in my pancakes. Huh?? So this picture doesn't do them justice, but these are the bacon pancakes our chef at work whipped up for us before serving them at a customer "pancake bar."  These below are the strawberry, pecan & bacon and just bacon with maple syrup. We also had blueberry and bacon. And each of them were beyond delish. If you can cook - which I cannot - I highly recommend you make these bad boys.



{five}
Date night. Nick and I are planning to go out on Sunday night to celebrate his new job and get a little "us" time before he leaves us next week for his four week training in Denver. Little man and I are definitely going to miss him.




Here's to yet another great weekend!



Thursday, October 17, 2013

Two Posts in One Day....Wha??

You all know I absolutely love Zulily.

Well TODAY there is a flash sale for Puma Kids and Women as well as some great accessories. Check it out here! I found a ton for me and little man. Can't beat a good deal! And even better...it's odd these days when my cart has more items for me than Cruz and today my stuff definitely won out! Wah hoo. You can tell I'm in a mood to be comfy by my selections - sweatpants, sweatshirts. It's that time of year. And that bag is for Cruz. They are so handy when you're husband is taking the kiddo somewhere and doesn't want to drag along a girlie diaper bag.


Hi. My name is Katie...and I am a Zulily addict. Admitting it is the first step to recovery from what I've been told.

Have a great Thursday!

Birthday Wish List



It is that time of the year....Cruz will be TWO in less than a month and I can hardly believe it. I don't know who is more excited, him or me? I love love love birthday parties and I'm having the best time planning his. Hopefully he appreciates it. =)

I've had tons of people asking what to get Cruz and since his birthday is so close to Christmas, I wanted to put together his "wish list" of things he wants or better yet that we feel he would love. With no further adieu.




Cruz's Wish List:
  1. Teepee from Land of Nod & Etsy
  2. Toy Organizer 
  3. Toy Organizer Cubes 
  4. Columbia Snowsuit 
  5. Puma Tracksuits - Cruz lives in these come fall/winter, they are perfect for comfort at daycare and lounging around the house. However, we never spend more than $20 on them at Marshall's, TJ Maxx and Burlington Coat Factory
  6. Mad Pax Backpack - Later Gator Half Pack
  7. Trendy Kids Percy Suitcase 
  8. Boon Bath Toys - Creatures & Water Bugs & Bubbles 
  9. Fishing Rod - Abu Garcia Ike Dude. I have no idea if this is a good one, I just liked the way it looked. =)
  10. Tackle Box - Wormgear. Same with this, no idea. (Maybe Nanu will have to pick this gift up since he's the fishing pro.)
  11. Boon Groovy Plate / Catch Bowl 
  12. Disney Movies - at this point we have none and I think it would be fun to start his collection of fun, boy Disney movies. There are so many great ones out there!
  13. John Deere Motorized Tractor 
  14. Little People Flip Books - currently he has a Mickey Mouse & Noah's Ark flip book and loves them! There are a bunch to choose from and I know this mama would like to change it up a bit. It gets a little old reading the same books every night.
  15. Brain Quest - he loves the set of flash cards we have right now that work on colors, shapes and animals, so let's tackle his vocab!
  16. Step Stool for the bathroom sink

Back to the party - do you think I can get away with doing another cake smash? I just don't think he got after his 1st birthday smash cake as much as he should have.... I was expecting a little man covered in cake and I think this year he would absolutely destroy one. =)




Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Sicky Little Guy


Well, welcome to what seems to be the longest post ever. I hate being back here talking about a sick little guy, but so seems to be our life. It was all good for what felt like so long.

If you remember (you will if you've been reading along for a while), our little guy went through loads of sickness from about five months old (March 2012) until we pulled him from our first daycare almost  9 months later (December 2012).

First time really sick - RSV in March 2012

From RSV six times, seven ear infections (resulting in tubes), sinus infection twice,  hand foot & mouth and croup. We went to specialists to try and figure out why he was getting so sick and none of them had a clue. He was put on many different preventative meds but none of them seemed to prevent the inevitable future of him getting sick once again. We ultimately purchased a nebulizer since he was constantly needing to use it for breathing treatments. He wasn't sleeping, we weren't sleeping, we were stressed and missing work all the time because he couldn't be at daycare while sick or if he had even a slight fever.

If you spot this junk running out of your kiddo's ear, it isn't good.

It was the beginning of December 2012 on the tail-end of a bad bout of RSV (like I'm talking three week-long bout) that we decided we were just going to pull him from daycare. It seemed every time we would get him better and back to healthy, he would spend a day or so back in daycare and was immediately sick again. 

We didn't have a plan, but fortunately had amazing family and friends to help us figure out care for our guy until we did. I started interviewing nannies and we found an amazing one who started with us in January 2013. From the time we pulled him from daycare until the day our nanny left us (more about that here), little man was not sick once. Not one time, I tell you. And it was amazing. I never knew how life could be with a healthy baby and it was everything I imagined it would be.

Flash forward to now and our little dude is back at a different daycare. Lo and behold, what happens? Not less than three weeks after being back in daycare (middle of September 2013) and our boy was sick once again. This time with Croup and a pretty bad case of it.  Mind you, with neither daycare have we "skimped" and opted for a cheap solution - we have really tried to only leave our boy in some of the best daycare centers in Omaha. Obviously nothing helps the fact that some kids are just more susceptible to getting sick than others. But nothing changes the fact that ALL kids are going to get sick - the different levels of how sick they get is the variable.

This sickness started with him getting a slight fever and having runny nose and watery eyes for a couple days. We chalked it up to sinus/allergies since our pedi thinks our guy may have allergies like his daddy and at this same time the hubs was sneezing pretty bad as well. Then his fever got worse and he was coughing that barking/seal-like cough (a dead giveaway since we had heard this exact painful cough before) - this was Thursday night, so Nick brought him into the clinic on Friday. Diagnosis: Croup.

He was given a steroid and we were told to continue giving him breathing treatments to try and clear him up. He was pretty bad Friday and Saturday but seemed to be getting better Saturday night (slept through the night!) and seemed completely normal on Sunday morning. Then Sunday he took a turn for the worse. Woke up from his nap shaking and had broke another fever - like 103 degree fever.  He was whiny and crying and if we know anything about our guy it's that even when he is sick he's in a pretty good mood and still so sweet, so this was off for him. He continued to get worse and I was on the phone with the after hours nurse trying to determine what we needed to do. She gave us the option of going to the Children's ER or waiting it out. We decided to wait it out but that only lasted an hour when we determined he wasn't going to be able to sleep, was very uncomfortable and the fever wasn't going down despite our different attempts. With all that you hear about not ignoring high fevers and the fact that he had a fever over four days into the sickness (which generally isn't good), we knew we needed to head in.

No one wants to be at an ER with their child at 10pm, but I can tell you I found comfort in it once again, because at least you get answers, and generally help (in the form of stronger meds) to help your baby. They gave us a stronger breathing treatment and treated his fever and we were off to fend for ourselves. Fortunately, little man fell asleep on the way home and I opted to sleep on his floor that night just to be sure his fever didn't get worse.

Two days later, he was back to himself. Thankfully.

Until this past weekend, when he got Croup yet again. Even more fortunately, it was such a light bout and we seemed to catch it early, so he did have to miss daycare on Friday and Monday, but it wasn't near the capacity that it was last time.

From the moment we heard that first barking, seal-like cough early Friday morning and through the weekend, we have been talking about what we are going to do. Do we go back to the search for a nanny? With Nick starting a new job here at the end of the month, neither of us can continue to miss more work. When will his immune system start building up, so he can fight off illness better? There are just so many questions.

Some of my tips when dealing with a sick baby:

  • Trust your instincts. There are times you will feel like a fool because it may feel like you are calling for what the nurse makes out to be the smallest thing, but remember that is their job and they hear these different diagnoses every day. As a first-time mom, you need that reassurance. 
  • Keep up with the doc's instructions, even if it feels like they are better. There were times that C would seem to be getting better, so we wouldn't continue his breathing treatments or other instructions as long as the doctor had told us to thinking he was better. Then he would take a turn for the worse. SO, just listen to what they say and continue doing what they recommend to make sure your baby is fully recovered.
  • Get a second opinion. After going through so many doctor's visits and seeing little man sick all of the time, we sought help from someone else. Not that we didn't believe in our doc, but you never know. And we wanted to make sure we were fully in the know on what was going on or better yet to see if they had any other ideas as to why our little guy was always getting so sick.
  • Overdoing the cuddles during this time are ok.  When your baby is sick, all you want to do is snuggle and chill with them until they feel better. My opinion...do it!  You really should put the baby down and go do the laundry, wash the dishes or clean the house, you say? Screw it, enjoy the time with your baby. Sometimes all they need is a warm snuggle from their mama.
  • You will feel guilty for working outside the home and having to send your child to daycare. Like all the time. I hate that I have to send my son to a daycare center and that it has resulted in him being so sick, but I also can't change our situation and the fact that I have to work. Do I wish I could be there to cuddle him when he's sick instead of sitting in my office worrying about him. Absolutely. It's just not realistic. And I can't beat myself up for it.


Well, we are going to be over here, just preventing future sickness. If you have any ideas for us, we will take them! Have any of you experienced this kind of craziness?

The preventative Flo-ven inhaler C takes every morning
He also gets Singulaire mixed in with yogurt or his milk at least once a day
You can read more about our experience with baby illness herehere, here, here and here.   

Have a great Tuesday everyone!


Monday, October 14, 2013

Our Weekend



Ha. I saw this on facebook and thought it was the best thing ever. Not that it's true, I mean I can't be going to the bar every day, but sometimes I wish I could.

Let's get onto the weekend deets, shall we?

{friday}
Little man woke up sick Friday morning....definitely the barky, Croup cough. I hate that from just hearing it we can diagnose him ourselves, but I suppose that's what you get when you have a little guy who has been sick a lot in his short life. Thus, he stayed home from daycare yet again and that made for a very relaxing night once I got home from work. We may have went to my bed to snuggle and do breathing treatments around 8pm and both of us were sound asleep by 9pm.

{saturday}
Since we were supposed to have family pics, but had to cancel because C man was sick, it meant that most of the ladies in the Manganaro-Gardner clan were going to be in town so we felt a ladies night was in order and invited a couple other gals to join us.

We planned dinner at Salt 88 - can you say delicious goat cheese rangoons and Joe Geez flatbread with vino and great girl talk? I'm down for that every day. Afterwards, we headed to Red Lounge for more cocktails. However, this old lady started to get tired and when I realized I should call it a night because any more drinks and I wouldn't be good to drive, Kristen and I headed home.

Blurry photo but look at those beauties I got to hang out with!

Cotton candy for dessert - um, yes!
{sunday}
C man decided he was going to wake up early, so that meant my headache joined us. Fortunately for me it didn't last much after a cup of coffee and it was play time. During his nap, I snuck away with Britt for a last minute trip to hit up Junkstock. We had never been but I've heard it's awesome and I'm always down to check out new things in our city. So glad we did and more to come on that later.

Of course, the first thing I bought at Junkstock was food,
but this was the best corndog ever.
Earlier in the day, I told Nick to get some guys together to watch some football somewhere. The poor guy was stuck in the house all day Friday and Saturday with our sick boy...and I was so thankful he did it without whining. Lord knows that's never fun.

So last night Cruz and I planned a BIG playdate that included running upstairs and downstairs no fewer than seventy-two times, coloring, playing tractors and trains, writing letters, racing cars on the kitchen floor and cooking dinner in his manly kitchen. After his bath we ended the night with a Peter Pan's Lost Boys-style fake smorgasbord feast. He started with pretending we were eating treats by scooping these different things off the floor into his "bowl" and sampling each others made-up goodies - dipping our fingers into whipped cream, spooning up cold ice cream, sampling each others cookies and then we ended with a hot cup of coffee. He knows to stay away from our coffee because it's "really hot" and decided he was drinking "really hot" fake coffee. Then I started pretending I was too and I can't tell you why, but we ended up laughing and giggling and having the best time. I know this entire paragraph sounds just plain cuckoo, but I think it's times like this that you make the best memories with your babies.

Loving his new Elmo bath towel

As I finished typing this, Cruz woke up. He walked over to me and said, "mama, I want to watch Spun-Bob." It was like the heavens opened up and angels sang...I never thought I would hear anything else out of his mouth, but "let's watch Mickey Mouse" for as long as we all were living.

Happy Monday y'all.