Dance-o-rama

Jase was dancing around tonight and making us laugh, as usual. As soon as I got the camera out, however, he didn't do it quite the same (of course) but it's still cute to see him bouncing around. Take a peek!

That'll be Stupid

So Jase is starting to pick up "less desirable" words for kids to say--but it sure is pretty funny. Here's what he said to me yesterday.

"Mom! Mom! I gonna turn off the light (just the one in my room)! That'll be stupid!"
"Mom! Mom! I gonna put the lid back on! That'll be stupid!"

I tried not to let him see me laugh. I just said, "Oh ok! That'll be fun!"

Then later as I was driving to hang out with my friends, I put on my Carrie Underwood CD since the radio reception is pretty much static until you get into "town." I listen to the CD pretty frequently. Anyways, I was singing along (of course, car karaoke all the time) and all of a sudden I realized a small voice from the back seat was totally singing along with me!! What?! SO CUTE! He knew tons of words to a few of the songs. He even said, "Mom I like this song!" Adorable. I love it.

Noodle Fun

Haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd up load a couple pics of Jase eating noodles (and a video clip, too). Roob showed him how to "suck up" noodles into your mouth. It's cute how impressionable kids are! He's getting pretty good at doing it!
Enjoy the short video clip! (sorry can't figure out why it gets cropped weird)

I Heart Surprises!

So look what the UPS man surprised me with today? FRESH ROSES! Ah, so pretty and so sweet! I love flowers--I wish they would stay this pretty for months! :) I also got a box of yummy chocolates with it! I am so excited! Thanks babe! I love surprises! Your present is coming!!!

Baby Bronson Update

Hooray! If you saw read my post a few days ago about that little boy who had drowned, but then his heart started beating--here's a update for ya: Today I read that their little baby boy is doing GREAT! He's alert and responsive! I'm soooo excited to hear this since I was soooooo super saddened by the whole story just a few short days ago. See new updates HERE. I needed some good news today!

Baby Room Decor Stuff

So I finally hung up Jase's name in his room, along with a couple of tin stars. You can't really tell from the picture, but the big one is red and the little one is a rusty orange color. On the opposite side of the window, I hung 2 more identical stars and left room for the upcoming baby's name to go underneath them. (Those other spherical things you see hanging from the ceiling are Jase's glow in the dark planets. Heh.)I think it will be cute when it's all said and done. Except that there's only so much room on the other side of the wall...so hopefully I don't pick a name with more than 5 letters in it! And, hopefully Michael's Craft Store still sells these same letters or I'm in trouble! Right now I think the top name contenders (for me anyways) are Ian or Cody. I'm just diggin' those names for some reason.

Baby Bronson

I don't know how I come across these things, but I do. And being highly emotional and pregnant does not make it any easier for me to hear this kind of stuff. My friend Emery had a post on her blog about this little boy named Bronson who drowned in his parent's jetted tub. But now he's alive...barely. Of course I was so fascinated with this story I had to go and click on the link to his mom's blog and read all about it. I have never cried so hard, truly. My kitchen table is sopping wet. It's a heartbreaking story and every mother's worst nightmare--ironically, I related somewhat to her pain about feeling guilty--like it was her fault he drowned. I felt the same way when Jase burned his hand so badly at only 10 months. I should have been watching him better, I should have known, etc etc. All those awful thoughts come back to me from time to time when I see his burn scar and think, "It's probably only a matter of time before he'll need a skin graf," or "How will this affect him later in life?" Sigh. Heartbreaking. However, Jase's poor burn is nothing compared to what this woman has gone through with her youngest son. It's incredible. It's a lesson in life to me that stuff happens. It happens. There's only so much a human being can do to protect their children from every day mishaps. I hope this young mother can forgive herself somehow for what has happened to her little boy. I try to let this sink into my brain, but it just makes me a more paranoid mother. So my prayers and love reach out to this mom. If you want to read the story, you can see her blog HERE. The post that explains what happened the day he drowned is at the bottom of the page (I believe it's dated February 1st). May God be with this family during this extremely difficult time.

The Truck's Stuck!

So we were in town the other day and making our way back home. Reuben was ahead of me in his truck and I followed with Jase in the Explorer. About 20 minutes into my drive I got a phone call:

Reuben: "Amiee, are you almost home?"
Me: "Yes. Why?"
Reuben: "I need you to tow me out of the snow in the yard."
Me: "What??!! (laughing) How did that happen?"
Reuben: "Well I knew you were behind me and I thought it would be fun to try it out."
Me: "Niiice."
Keep in mind we've got at least 2 feet of snow in our yard that has been sitting there for months...so it's nice and icy hard-packed snow.
Towing him out (even with my sweet 4x4) proved to be a bit challenging since our driveway is covered in about 2" of solid ice. It looked like my car was "ice skating" while trying to get him out!
After a few tries, we were successful! But we (ok, he) did have to dig out his back tires.
The damage...

Update on Big Boy Bed

I have to say that Jase has utterly surprised me. It's been at least 2 weeks (maybe 3?) since we took the side railing off of his crib and started letting him sleep in a daybed. He's done the best for naps (has NEVER come out of the room and goes right to sleep), but quite a few times in the morning he wakes up early and comes into our room (normally he sleeps till 8am). So what I've been doing in the mornings is saying, "It's not time to get up yet. Go back to your bed until Mommy comes to get you." We walk back there together and he's been very good about laying there until I come get him at 8am (anywhere from 15-30 min). Awesome.

Well, today we have hit a bump in the road. I went into town earlier to get some groceries. I didn't realize that for some crazy reason he fell asleep for about 10 minutes in the car (shoot). However, it was such an early and short nap, I did not think this would affect him. So when we got home (about 2pm) I put him straight down for a nap. He was out the door and down the stairs within 10 minutes (argh!) but he had a poo diaper so I figured that was why he came down. So I put him back in his bed. I think I have put him back in his bed now about 15 times in the last hour. WHAT!? The annoying thing is that during his "nap" today I had to work on some real estate stuff so it was stressing me out having to deal with him getting out of his room every 10 minutes and interrupting my focus (hang on he just came out of his room again)! So what would have normally taken me 20 minutes to do, took me almost an hour! Lovely.

Anyways--they say to have as minimal of a conversation with your toddler as possible, and to keep your temperament calm. Calm. Riiight. Well I'm doing fairly well at "acting" calm bc at this point I am super aggravated. The only thing that is different about today's "nap" is that he already fell asleep in the car for a little bit. I swear that is the problem. Oh and he snuck in a few "Rolos" candies, so that's not helping at all. I know he is testing me so I am trying to be as consistant as possible. The ironic thing is that I was just about to go get him and let him play (since it's been almost an hour and a half of this "game"), but in the last 20 minutes he's come out of the room WAY more times and is REALLY making me nuts. So now I don't want to "reward" him for doing that, ya know? ARGH. I hate when he doesn't sleep and I don't get Amiee time bc it makes me just go insane!!! NOT cool.

And I can't go downstairs bc it is too hard for me to run up and down the stairs to keep putting him back in his room every 5 minutes...so I am stuck up here in my bedroom so I can "monitor" him. So much fun. Not.

One funny thing did happen, however. At one point when I told him to get back in his bed, he crawled into it, sat down, looked at me, and in a stern voice said "YOU LISTEN TO ME!" (I had to cover my mouth to hide the hugest smile that swept across my face. Omg that was hilarious). Other than that moment, not funny. Just total annoyance! Calgon, take me away!

Jase in Dad's Hoodie

Thought this was pretty funny!

Brunch with the Girlfriends

So the other day I got a text out of nowhere inviting me to a brunch at my friend Erinn's house. Y'all know this is right up my alley! Food and friends--can't be better. So we each got our assignments and showed up for a little food party earlier today. I brought my camera to document it all...but I forgot to take pictures of the attendees (duh)! Oh well. I'm not sure which was more fun--eating all the food or chatting! You can find the recipes we used on my food blog, Roll Me Outta Here. Here's the spread--fresh fruit toppings, homemade whipped cream, crepes, sweet coconut syrup, and savory breakfast casserole: Crepes (I ate way too many of these):
Homemade coconut syrup for the crepes (a must try, seriously):
Breakfast casserole (sausage, eggs, milk, hashbrowns, cheese, green onions):