Go Outside?

The past 2 weeks were a whirlwind of VBS and a wonderful Florida vacation. I would have already posted on these things if I wasn't so busy catching up on all of your fabulous blogs! My reader overflows.

In the name of chronological order the above Florida vacation will be posted next... hopefully Thursday.

Back to 3 weeks ago...

J's absolute favorite place to be is outside.  We are working on saying, "outside".  For the time being he goes down the line of baby sign language, interjected with pointing and grabbing us by the hand leading us to doors.  "OOOO!" points to door makes sign for please... then more... then juice... then milk... grabs hand leads to door, usually kicking along a ball three times his size... and finally when all else fails, he lets out a "woof". Like M says, "J believes there is a dog (woof woof) behind every fence". Logic assumes that outside has fences, therefore...

I'm not overly fond of playing in the front yard for too long at the moment, it being a million degrees and me feeling a million months pregnant, so we've spent most days at the pool.  This early June day I embraced the heat, and was glad I did for some of these sweet pictures.

Here are my favorites. I could have posted more, but worried you might think I was obsessive or something... ;-) (Disclaimer to my friends who can really take a picture: metering, editing, coloring, etc. is for sure not perfect- some more-so than others. Instruction welcome!!)

J 16 months

I could just cry that this next one is blurry...

M loves this one...

All done (waves hands in air). Hehe, sorry, a little toddler humor.

And yes, the child does need a haircut.  I am taking him this week.  We have been so busy that we did do a little at-home-trim... you can probably tell the difference...

Obviously standing on the coffee table is an absolute, "no", but sometimes you just gotta take a picture first.  He was originally laying on his stomach coloring on the table... having him color at the coffee table seemed like such a good idea at first.  Crayons on the wall... baby on the coffee table... yada yada yada... we're back to the table with phone books.

Oh- a few more, promise this is it! Maggie-cat has endured so much "love" this summer she deserves credit.

You cannot hide from me!

Alright, Lemon out.

No More Than Words

I have been a terrible blogger, lately.  I do have a laundry list of excuses... but, I know that song is getting old.  I do think my picture-taking will pick up once the rain stops and the warm temperatures are here to stay. Maybe we'll be more interesting then. Maybe.

Till then... here's what's going on.  If I was blogging, here's what the posts would be on (in no particular order, it's purely coincidental that food is first):

Use your imagination to insert beautiful and vivid photos of our lives (ha)

Cooking

• Eggplant Parmeasan. Nausea has been come and go- but, on one of the "go" days I spotted a pretty eggplant in the grocery store. Called M, told him to get ready- I was finally cooking. And it was going to be good.  Surprise is usually not a friend of ours, and that night was no different. Comments ranged from, "why did you think I liked eggplant?" or, "it's a vegetarian meal" to, "if I pretend it's chicken parm I suppose it's okay".  Luckily, this meal and conversation ended in laughter and not tears. Pregnancy hormones are so unpredictable. I made it just like I usually make chicken parm, but I don't think I've ever posted on that. So, here's my friend's recipe.


• Chicken Enchiladas and Poppyseed Chicken. The first is my brother-in-law's wife's mother's recipe. Ha. I kinda just wanted to type that. It's Mrs. Trina's recipe, Mary Lindsey's Mom.  Have I mentioned that ML and Chris will be moving here in May??? I am about to bust I'm so excited.  M and I will have to work to not suffocate them. With love of course.  Back to food- I made 2 casseroles of each from 1 Costco rotissarie chicken.  Froze one of each. Poppy seed chicken last night, chicken enchiladas tonight. Both recipes have already been documented. The thing about food blogging is you have to use new recipes. And someday, when I starting thinking about dinner more than 5 minutes before we eat, it I'll do that.


• BBQ. I made this for J's 1st birthday, and I made it again last week.  I should have documented the process, but I put the rub on right before I went to bed. Which means I was very sleepy and probably not in the best of moods. It is Paula Dean's pulled pork recipe and the Neely's BBQ sauce. They are both unreal.  Some changes I made to Paula: I used a boston butt, 1/2 the salt, twice the liquid smoke, and I cooked it in a crock pot on low for 8 to 10 hours (depending on the size). Oh, and the BBQ sauce cooks down a lot, so don't be scared to make the full recipe.


• Chicken sandwiches, Chicken Salads, Burgers, Egg sandwiches, Grilled Cheese and Pizza Rolls. That pretty much covers it.  Quick. Easy. High Protein. Oh, and 1 more...


• BK $1 Double Cheeseburgers. Way too easy for a pregnant lady. I could walk to BK from our house. It's on the way home from work. It's delicious. It's $1. This one actually does deserve its own post. But, I fear that would reveal a far too realistic look into my pregnancy eating habits.

J-Bird

*Warning- most of you will find this only mildly interesting, if at all. It is really documentation for myself.

• Is 13 months and hilarious.
  


• Says "bye-bye" constantly. When we hang up the phone, leave a room, put him in his car seat... oddly enough, doesn't seem to say it when we ask him too.


• Other words? Constantly says, "Dada". The other day he pointed to his "rocking giraffe" and said clear as a bell, "Dada".  I think it's because M and the giraffe both have kind eyes. I get a tortured "MaaaaaaMaaaaaaa" every once in a while if he is upset. And, of course, "BA".


• Swimming lessons are over... J successfully went under several times. We now try to go to the pool once a week to keep up some skillz. On the whole, J is much more interested in the floating basketball and chewing on the noodles.


• Loves food smothered in BBQ sauce. Favorite meal is still oatmeal. Made from old-fashioned oats with brown sugar, cinnamon, banana and heavy cream.  Tried to sneak in some instant oatmeal to speed up the process, efforts were shut down with a 3 day breakfast strike. One for Roosta.


• We did win the sippy cup battle. About 2 months ago we switched J exclusively to the sippy cup.  A 45 minute battle of the wills (he knew how to do it he was just refusing), and we haven't looked back. One for Mom and Dad.

House

• Not much to report except loads and loads of laundry.


• No big projects on the horizon, just trying to keep the crushed cheerios under our feet to a minimum.
  

Spinning

• I suppose if anything is robbing my time from blogging it's teaching my 2 spinning classes a week- which I love.
  


• I agonize over music choices... care to help me out? Leave a comment with your favorite work out song.


• Yes, I plan to keep teaching till my belly hits the handle bars. Or until there is a revolt over having such a large spinning instructor.

Entertainment

• LOST is in swing. I hate to say full swing because we've gotten like 3 answers. Still, something to look forward to.


• Modern Family is our new favorite show.  Cameron or Phil are our favorite characters.  Phil! I cannot express how funny his character is.
  


• Parenthood has had 2 episodes and we like it so far.  And so far both episodes have made me cry multiple times. A comedy for sure, but bittersweet.  As fun and sad as real life.  Bonus- Lauren Graham is in it!  Completely different character than her Gilmore Girls days, but still great.


• Just saw, Up in the Air. I thought it was great, M thought it was so, so. Couple of very "R" rated scenes. Just thought I'd mention that because I've recommended inappropriate movies in the past because I've forgotten "those parts".  Like the time I watched Love Actually with my parents.  In short, I'd rather not watch this with my in-laws.

Leopards

• Have been banished (for real this time) to outside. It's a shame, but I do not need 8 more feet to clean up after.


• Are still very loved.


• Jake's numbers have crept back up on the scale, and he probably weighs slightly more than Roosta.

There you have it. In Words.

Whole Lot of Little Somethings

Pretty much sums up our weekend. M, J and I cooked, relaxed and went to Costco. We love simple.



so we did some porch sitting...



we played...



And had a little lesson in efficiency...

Oh, I see you.

Be there in one sec.



Hold on- I'm gonna be right there.



Boo.



The worm tactic has failed.

Hope you all had a great weekend... and that you have a good-

*gasp!



Monday.

Outside Leopards

Our leopards have been a bit neglected.

Or, maybe they'd rather be left alone a little more often...

Either way, we've had some incidents* that I won't go into...

Result? This is what it looks like to be an outside leopard only.



And yes, Jakerbaker7 is looking thin.

*no babies were harmed during any of these incidents

Bag It

Leaving the house for work and daycare is no small feat.  I'm sure it gets easier to consolidate, but for now we are not traveling light.  At least Jake found a worthwhile purpose for all my bags* on the days I'm at home.

*note- 2 other cooler bags, car seat, child, and my all important coffee mug not pictured (I have given up on carrying a purse entirely).  I am a sight walking sideways out the door.

Copy Cat

Monday I started a campaign to ban all leopards from sleeping on our bed.  Maggie tends not to obey the "stay on the brown blanket" rule, and likes to go in and out several times during the night through the door leading outside in our room.  Jake always stays on the brown blanket and is quite content to sleep 12 hrs uninterrupted.  So, after 48 hrs of the "new rule" we had a very dejected Jake and a very unaffected Maggie (it's unaffected not uneffected.  I looked it up).  Above is a very happy Jake after the abolition of the "guest bed only" rule.

I know some of you probably are thinking that a leopard shouldn't nap so close to a baby.  I assure you it is never unsupervised, and honestly, we are confident that we could trust Jake to babysit before a lot of people and certainly before any other leopard.  If J cries, Jake calmly looks over as if to say, "yes, I know, they don't feed me enough either", and rolls over.  Pictured below is Jake's reassuring paw as proof.

Dinner Is On Me

Saturday we heard the familiar, yet more urgent, sound of Jake at the door asking to come in.  Looking out the window we discovered the reason for the excited, muffled meow.  Jake very proudly held in his mouth what we can only assume was a dinner offering.  Encouraging words and two treats were tossed out to him, passage inside was not permitted.

Compromise

Acting Out

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

(our freshly laundered WHITE duvet cover)

Not documented is the muddy trail through the kitchen and into the pack n' play.   I was too busy throwing things into the washing machine and hollering, "bad cat! bad cat!".

Pictured below is the culprit looking perturbed after being banished to the guest bedroom.  I know I hurt his feelings, and granted, the last 2 weeks have been a bit of a change for the leopards.  They've lost all rank and every prime nap spot.  Perhaps I will have to make a special effort to watch Cash Cab this evening with a certain displaced, and confused feline.

The Biggest Loser Leopard Edition: Training Update

"You're the best! In the world! nananananadahdahdah" (does anyone know the words to that part? "No one can ever keep you down?").

This week JakerBaker7 also stopped short on his sprints, Mister and Lady (team spotted black's trainers) were a bit more understanding than Bob.





Last chance workout is going to be brutal.

The Biggest Loser Leopard Edition:Weigh-in #1

We haven't watched the actual Biggest Loser episode from last night yet, but we did have a weigh-in of our own.  In a stunning twist, Jake is already down from his all time high weight of 18.7 lbs from this past August.  Usually contestants don't reach their plateau until towards the end of the season, Jake on the other hand will start the season by working on his last, and most difficult, 4 pounds.   The upside is that Jake is that much closer to achieving the stealth body we know he is capable of.  However, as the self proclaimed trainers of "team spotted black", M and I feel we have our work cut out for us if we want to have any significant body % lost and to stay above the yellow line.

JakerBaker7: Leopard

Team: Mister & Lady

Age: 2

Height: 10"

Occupation: Stay at home cat

Bio: JakerBaker7 was the largest of a litter of 4 born in February 2007.  Significantly larger than his live-in sister, the runt, Maggie.  However, Jake's heart has always matched his appetite.   Extreme weight gain set in as a result of boredom during Mister & Lady's stint in an apartment.  Inside all day, Jake was unable to get the exercise he needed, which resulted in mindless snacking.

Click for results... (I had to create some drama without the aid of commercial breaks)

The Biggest Loser: Leopard Edition

Last night was the premier of The Biggest Loser on NBC.  M and I sat on the couch and ate cookies n' cream while watching (I'm pregnant), but we really feel that Jake could stand to get involved this season.  After all his short run last season was successful.  I was a bit disappointed to find that joining "The Biggest Loser Club" involves your credit card, so, JakerBaker7 is not technically a registered member.  Although, I imagine the gist is this: exercise and eat healthy.  For Jake that translates: go outside when lady and mister people are not home, limited fiber treats only, and restricting oneself to eating "just the red ones" out of the food bowl (the other colors are not his favorite, so why waste the calories?).  People could help efforts by taking up food in between meals to discourage snacking... although this may actually cause Maggie to starve, so we'll have to see.

More to follow on Jake's first weigh in...



Meanwhile the "real" Biggest Loser started off with a firm tug on the heartstrings.  I've mentioned before this show has reduced me to a sobbing mess repeating the refrain, "these people are changing their lives!", on more than one occasion.  This season I can already tell that Grandpa, 'Big Jer', is going to inspire.  In the first workout he passed out and was rushed to the hospital, but Jillian worked her magic and Jerry had lost 25 lbs at weigh in!  The big twist of the night was that ALL couples falling below the yellow line had to send ONE half of their couple home with hopes of winning them back after a period of time.  I have to admit, this seemed a bit harsh, but NBC must have a plan...