Just A Saturday Night....

3:40      Husband calls.  On his way home from a long day of overtime work on a Saturday.  Declares that we should go out to eat.  Wife stresses over the thought of mixing a restaurant with a baby who hasn’t napped.  Must get baby to nap now.

3:55      Baby goes down for nap.  Hooray!  Wife picks up the computer to search for hold-my-baby’s-socks-on devices and knows she’s wasting time.

4:05      Husband gets home, scolds wife for wasting time on the computer, flops down on the couch.  Hypocrite.  Preschooler goes through regular routine of welcoming Dad home: screaming, jumping on the couches, running from living room to front door to kitchen to living room.  Repeat.  Do we really want to go out?  Maybe we should order take out.  Wouldn’t it be nice to get out of the house?  Is it a bigger hassle to get all ready?

4:30      Wife still on the computer.  Baby still sleeping.  Husband still slouched on couch.  Preschooler still spastic, wearing only underwear from naptime.

4:45      Baby’s awake.  GET OFF COMPUTER!  Prepare dinner for Baby, change out of sweats into real clothes, put pants on Preschooler.  Ahh!  Have to pump!  Check diaper bag.  Dog needs let out.  Don’t forget to warm an bottle for the restaurant!  Go warm the truck!

5:25      Leave the house!  Head to the restaurant.  Participate in “how was your day?” small talk.

5:40      Restaurant is PACKED.  Husband can’t believe it’s already this “late.”  Circle the parking lot, back on the road.  Where to now?  This one?  PACKED.  That one?  PACKED.  Annoyed.  Discussion of options ensues.  Preschooler hears the conversation and chimes in, “MCDONALDS!”  Repeats request incessantly, louder, louder, LOUDER.  Baby, who has recently found her voice, joins in.  LOUD NOISES!!

5:55      Husband and Wife continue brainstorming.  Truck passes McDonalds.  Volcanic meltdown!  Wife holds head in hands.  Husband loses patience.  MORE LOUD NOISES!

6:00      Truck stops at train track.  Meltdown continues.  Wife realizes Baby’s bedtime is in an hour.  Anxiety.

6:10      Settle on a restaurant without a wait.  Pizza.  Exciting!  Why didn’t we order in?

8:00      Wife opens bottle of wine.  Flops down on couch, comfy in sweat pants.

Who says a mother sacrifices wild weekend nights?  My Saturday nights are still crazy. 

It's Just Like Riding A Bike

I've definitely had a blogging rut lately.  I don't really know what to write about.  My life has been far from boring or lacking things to do, but who wants to hear all about what I do during the day?? J

One thing I did think that some people would find interesting is what happened last night.  I nursed my daughter.  Yep, after 4 months of exclusively pumping, I nursed her back to sleep.  Crazy?  That's what I thought!

It all started when she woke up at 10:30, which is about 3-4 hours before she usually does.  She wanted to eat, so I gave her the only bottle that I had upstairs.  The one that I had pumped an hour earlier.  The one that's supposed to be used for the 2:00 AM feeding.  She gobbled it up (ALL of it of course!) and she fell back asleep like normal, but I knew it wouldn't last until her normal wake-up time of 7:00 AM.  I was right.  She still woke up at 3:00.  I tried her pacifier.  She screamed louder!  And shook out of anger.  That obviously was not what she wanted.  Haha.  Too bad I didn't have a couple ounces left from that first bottle!

I didn't want to pump.  I stopped middle of the night pumping several weeks ago to get more sleep.  I didn't have time to pump a bottle anyway.  She was pissed!  How dare I try to give her that stupid piece of silicone.  I didn't want to go downstairs and get a bottle out of the fridge.  It would have taken too much time to warm it up anyway.  So, guineas idea, let's try nursing!

I think I was in one of my stubborn streaks when I came up with that idea.  I mean, how dare she not follow her schedule and want to eat more than once during the night.  It was her fault she didn't have a bottle upstairs anyway! J I just wanted to get back to sleeeeeeep!  Aparently, so did she because she did something I didn't really expect her to do.  She latched on and nursed away!  It was just like riding a bike!  It didn't last long, but it didn't have to.  She was comforted and fast asleep within 10 minutes.  I put her back in her crib, feeling very accomplished and baffled at the same time!  Maybe I should try this more often!  I have in the past, but she hasn't been a fan.  Who could blame her though? 

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Happy 1/2 Birthday Sweet Pea J

Can We Fix It? ...Um, Yes We Can?

I live with Bob the Builder.  His alter ego is Cory, my husband.  He’s taken on several projects around our house: finishing our basement, ripping up our carpet and laying wood laminate, knocking out some walls and building others.  Most times the project starts out somewhat like this, and I freak out a little.

No big deal, just our exhaust fan hanging from the ceiling.  It started dripping water every time we would take a shower and have it running.  Umm...not good??  Let's just cut out a chunk of the ceiling to investigate what's wrong.

This picture doesn't do this situation justice.  The garbage bag is full of black (moldy??) insulation AND water that poured out of the exhaust system when my husband dropped it down out of the ceiling.  There's drywall dust and pieces everywhere too, and if you've ever done any sort of house construction, you know how ANNOYINGLY EVIL drywall is!



My husband got into our attic to work on our predicament.  After several minutes of spouting off instructions, passing tools back and forth and catching more water in the trash can, down came some of this tube stuff.  Don't we NEED that?  Who knows.  I guess we'll see!



Most times everything works out just fine.  (Most times, my contractor dad is here to guide the job along!)  It’s been several days since this little task and I believe we’re in the clear.  I hope I don’t eat my words.

20 Minutes of Yoga = 2 Days of Sore Muscles

I’m usually not one for New Year's resolutions because of course, they are easily broken and that makes me feel like a loser.  So why did I start this blog with a list of New Year’s resolutions?  Well, this time I was trying to hold myself accountable.  Maybe if I put it in print for multiple strangers to see, I would want to follow through.  I have tried.  Really.  Okay, just kinda. 

My biggest issue, as is true with many others in this country, is creating a work out regimen and sticking with it.  I don’t particularly look out of shape.  I’ve been blessed with my father’s mighty metabolism.  But metabolism doesn’t build muscle!  I eat healthy and try to stay as active as possible with my kids but I am not in shape and a few choice areas of my body could use some work, if you know what I mean. ;)

I got myself my family Wii Fit Plus for Christmas and I’ve been super excited to really use it to its full potential.  I’ve set up my profile and set my goals.  I’ve picked my favorite games and exercises and created my desired routines.  Now, if only I could drag my sleep-deprived butt out of bed in the mornings to DO that routine, everything would be peachy keen!  If I could do that, this post could be about how awesome I am.  How I’ve met my first goals and how I have so much more energy.  But it’s not. 

I’ve “played” with this game maybe five times since eagerly opening it on Christmas morning.  One of those times consisted of 20 minutes of yoga, something I've never done before.  This caused two days of not being able to move my arms without a groan.  Who know yoga was so intense?  Why haven't I been more committed?  For a couple common, obvious reasons...

For one, I need to get up by 5:00 AM to have some time before my kiddos wake up, ready to have Mommy at their beck and call.  My daughter has deemed herself the queen of the castle and has been crazily difficult to get on a consistent schedule.  She changes it up every week.  I’m choosing to get other household chores (and a little blogging time) checked off my list during her nap times rather than working out.  Also, her nighttime habits have been less than desirable.  One morning when I was able to get in my "workout", the game greeted me with this lovely message:  "Good morning, Bre!  Do you feel refreshed?  Do you know it's been 14 days since you last trained?"  Thank you for that pick-me-up.  I’m getting maybe six hours of choppy, interrupted sleep each night.  No, I don't feel refreshed!

Secondly, my husband is gone for work by 5:00 AM, home by 4:30 PM and gone again (for HIS exercise classes) by 5:00 PM every night.  So for the majority of the day, I’m by myself with the kids.  By the time he gets back home, our kids are already fed, bathed and our daughter is in bed.  He’ll eat his dinner, play a little with our son then get him to bed before we crash ourselves.  I’m busy!

I know what you may be thinking: BOO HOO!  But before you play me the world’s smallest violin, remember that I’m not feeling sorry for myself or making “excuses.”  I’m simply agreeing with millions of other Americans and new mothers in saying, it’s hard to start and stick with a workout routine!  Cue “Biggest Loser”!  I’m venting, owning up to my failures J.  I'm hoping once I'm getting better sleep I'll be more eager to wake up at 5:00.  This used to be no problem for me!  I can run on six-ish hours of sleep, they just need to be consistent.  Uninterrupted!  I’m a mother, a wife and soon I’ll be watching my friend’s one-year-old four days a week.  I’ve never had a regular exercise regimen (unless you count high school basketball practice) and trying to start one while also trying to adjust to your newly expanded family is rough!  If you’ve done it, HUGE kudos to you! 

So I’m curious, what’s your never-fail tip for getting your exercise in everyday?

I Did It!

I did it, I made a button! J

Okay, so you might not be that impressed, and I'm really not all that happy with the actual look of the button itself, but I'm ESTACTIC that I just figured out how to do it!  I started throwing one together, just to see if I could and when I successfully completed one step after another, I couldn't stop and I made my button!  Hopefully, I will have time to make another one that's a little "prettier" but I'm just so proud that I made this one!  So, how do you say, "Grab it."  Haha  you'll have to go to my sidebar to get it because I've pushed my luck sitting on this computer and my son is about to wreck the house he's so bored! 

Thanks everyone J

More {followers} Monday

Okay, so I'm new at this, but I have high hopes that everyone will read my stories and love my family and think I'm really really interesting. J

Well, at least I'd like some fellow mom friends to read about and learn from, so I'm participating in More Followers Monday.  (I know, it's already Tuesday.)  I found out about this from my friend Emily at Baby Dickey and decided, why not?  If you're looking for new blogs to follow, you should check it out too!  There are some pretty cool mamas out there!

In my post before this, I talked about how much I hate winter and the cold and the snow and how I prefer to stay indoors until spring shows her lovely face.  I'd love to hear about new indoor activities you do with your kids to help pass those winter blues!  Leave a comment and I'll check out your blog and we can become follower friends. 

Snowed In

I’ll admit, I’m not one of those moms to get all decked out in snow gear and run out into the brisk winter air with child-like excitement, ready to roll those snow balls and pull my giddy little children on a sled behind me.  I’m not fond of that.  In fact, I hate it.  I’m one who believes show should only come for Christmas then be on it’s merry little way for another 365 days.  I prefer spring, a little bit of summer and most of fall.  Call me a party pooper!

I try to make up for my scrooge-like attitude with fun, creative indoor activities.  I’m always looking for new ideas.  Last month my cousin’s son had his third birthday party.  She bought head lamps and “grow me” dinosaur eggs as favors.  Interesting combination?  I thought that myself!  The eggs were all hidden in the dark basement as all the kids were given their head lamp to go on a dinosaur egg hunt.  Genius!  J  I thought so at least. 

So we’ve recreated that in our house to help pass this first home-from-school snow day.  My son loved it!  Here are some pictures.  It was hard to capture the true essence of the hunt, considering the lights were off and I have to use the flash on my camera because it sucks otherwise.  I’m working on my husband for a new one…so any recommendations are greatly appreciated!

Ready to go!

   

On the hunt.

   

Haha.  See the pink egg in the activity block?  His face says that he doesn't!

   

Counting his bounty.  I had to hide 17 because that's his birthday.  That's the magic number around this house.

Curse You!

My son is quite the character.  I’m sure you’ve never heard any other mother say that about their child before J  All sarcasm aside, I’m going to tell you about him anyway.  Cade is almost 4 ½.  He’s always been the stereotypical boy: into race cars, dump trucks, trains, bulldozers, football, wrestling…I think I can stop there, although I could go on and on!  He’s also always been a great learner.  A sponge!  Lately, he’s been into wanting to read and spell.  He’s had writing down for awhile now, knows all his letters and their sounds.  He loves his LeapFrog magnetic alphabet games and I’m convinced they’ve taught him more than I have!  One of his recent phases has been making funny words by mixing up random letter sounds, rhyming words, talking in a comical voice, etc.

He has a book with magnetic letters and the objective is to spell the words of the characters on each page (i.e. dog, car, sun, etc.)  During one of our play sessions with this book, Cade decided he was in one of his goofy moods.  He wanted to mix up the letters and try to pass it off as the real deal, provoking a play-along-with-the-joke giggle out of Mommy.  What he didn’t realize is that this….

….got a genuine laugh, for reasons he won’t understand for hopefully a few more years.

He has quite a few other “cursing” stories.  Haha, I think they are my favorite.

We'll Have To Pass!

Have you heard of Sophie the Giraffe?  I’ve seen Sophie in so many places: the subject of posts on fellow mom blogs, hanging from slobbery fingers in strollers at the mall and wrapped in colorful paper at my cousin’s birthday party.  What was all the hubbub about?  Maybe Brynlee would enjoy being a part of this trend.  Then I saw her at the bookstore, smiling back at me from behind her price tag.  YIKES! 

On second thought, I think this little giraffe will do.  The one that hangs from the bouncy seat that we got 4 ½ years ago when my son sat in it.  Our budget-friendly Sophie.  Haha. 

Liquid Gold! Please, don't call A&E's "Hoarders"

I’m an “exclusive pumper” and have been since my daughter was about 2 months old.  She was a difficult nurser and I was having supply worries.  If you care to know more, I can explain later but I’m not going to use this time for that now.  Anyway, for the longest time when she was around 3 months I thought she was ready to take more than her usual 4oz, but she never did…until recently.  She’s been taking 5oz for a few weeks and I believe she’ll want 6 shortly.  The only “issue” with this is that when she only took 4oz, I was producing 6-7oz each time I pumped.  Let me do the math for you: that’s 2-3 extra oz each “feeding” session!  I would freeze 6oz batches with the assumption that, “She’ll be eating more soon and I’ll need this to compensate for what I’m not pumping.”  The 6oz I had so proudly produced and stored away turned into 12, which multiplied to 60 and presently, over 200oz sit in my freezer, ready and waiting to be eaten!  Yes, you read right…200oz.  It’s ridiculous I know.  My husband is NOT fond of it either!  But what was I supposed to do?!?  I consider myself a pretty smart pumper due to the research I’ve done, the length of time I’ve done it and the mistakes I’ve made along the way.  No expert, but smart.  I knew what I was getting myself into.  I didn’t want to diminish my supply though either.  I’ve backed down quite a bit because for one, it’s getting annoying and two, I have no more room in my freezer!  We had to put our newly purchased frozen vegetables out in the snow!  Good thing we live in Iowa!  I’ve dipped into my stash a couple times now to make baby food and for a couple bottles, so I’ve probably taken the total count to 186oz!  Woo!  Makin’ progress!

This isn't even all of it!

So what to do with this extra 100 or so oz?  Why not donate?  I’ve considered milk donation for awhile now.  I heard about it before I had kids and thought it was weird.  When I became a mother, my attitude changed and I couldn’t think of giving my child anything BUT the best.  Then, I read posts like this from my friend, Emily and saw questions like this on twitter.  It just gets me thinking.  My heart goes out to mothers who have to visit their baby in the NICU and I cannot image having to go through that myself.  Wouldn’t it be great to help ease their minds, at least a little?  I’ve looked into milk banks and there’s none around my area.  I somehow stumbled onto this site, Milkin’ Mamas and thought, “Perfect!”  Now I just have to come to terms with parting with my precious liquid gold!  Has anyone else donated their milk or used donated milk for their babies?  What are your thoughts?

V is for Veggies!

I love making baby food.  I feel so domestic, even when I pull out the leftover Casey’s pizza to serve the other members of my family right after making a batch of sweet potato broccoli.  Hey, I can only do some much cooking in one day!  I “breastfeed” so I feel for me the next logical step is making my own baby food.  I put “breastfeed” in quotations because I pump exclusively and although I don’t nurse my daughter, I still “breastfeed” her.  But that’s a topic for another post.

I decided that I wanted to make my own baby food before I got pregnant with Brynlee.  I think I’m attracted to the fact that it’s so easy and I love knowing exactly what’s in it!  I got two baby food recipe books as gifts and couldn’t wait to use them.  My mom gave me a food processor that she had just sitting in her pantry.  A friend of mine gave me two grocery bags full of ice cube trays that she used for her daughter’s food.  So far in my baby food making journey, I’ve only had to buy two sweet potatoes and one bag of frozen broccoli.  Talk about a budget saver!

The books I have are Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel and Healthy Meals for Babies & Toddlers by Valerie Barrett.  It seems weird to me sometimes that baby food needs recipes.  I mean, isn't the point to making your own that you don't have to add extras to the food?  Hmm.  I like the books though because they give suggestions that I might not have thought of or tried before, like pea, bean and zucchini puree or fillet of cod with spinach in a cheese sauce.  Yum!  They both have really great pictures,  and good cooking and storing guidelines and all recipes are grouped by age.  Top 100 has “food facts” and nutritional points that are nice.  Our sweet potato broccoli recipe came from this book.  Healthy Meals might be my favorite of the two.  For one, it has recipes for children older than 1 year and a few family recipes so we might use it longer.  I really like the suggested weaning plan they have.  It’s nice to have a guideline, whether you follow it or not.  I got an oatmeal recipe from this book and the squash and spinach recipe that we’ll be trying next.

So far, Brynlee's had oatmeal, sweet potato, sweet potato broccoli and broccoli.  I mixed the broccoli with the sweet potato the first time because I anticipated a mixed reaction to the broccoli, at BEST.  Nope.  Not my daughter.  She lapped it right up.  I got braver.  I made broccoli by itself and tried it last night.  Again, no reaction other than, “Give me more!”  Think Cookie Monster gobbling cookies.

 

Next: squash and spinach.  After that, maybe spinach by itself?  We’ll see!  I'm testing dangerous waters and my baby's breakin the stereotypes!  We'll see how long it lasts.

What stories do you have about starting solids?  What was your child's first food?  Did you make your own baby food?  What about recipes...what are your favorites?

Hogwash!

I began my blogging journey (my second journey actually, with my first lasting a short 4 months during my pregnancy with my daughter) just a few short days ago. In an attempt to "get blogging" quickly I chose a name without much thought: "Reuter Rubbish." After posting this and brainstorming several more hours, I solved my problem myself and came up with "Race Cars & Ruffles." Enjoy my blabbering. I guess I just needed a brainstorming platform and my blog fell victim!
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Alright, I'm hating my name. My blog name that is. I wanted to get this blog thing up and running and "needed" a name quickly, but I can't be that creative that fast and now I want to change it.


Already.


I used my last name but that's not the part I care too much to change.


Rubbish.


Really?


At first I thought, "Oh it's lighthearted. My blog isn't really that important. Not too many will care about it I bet. It's just a bunch of nonsense about my life and my family." But rubbish? Can't I give myself more credit than that? My life and my family aren't trash and although I'm no journalist, I don't think my writings are junk. It started with an "r." That's why I chose it. Whoop! How creative am I?!?


I've been trying to think of a different one myself but apparently I'm gonna need a few days. The creative section of my brain seems to have gone to mush. From an adult point-of-view anyway. It's been taken over by baby talk and a preschooler's interests.


I have managed to break out of the box a little bit. This is what I came up with: my son is obsessed --OBSESSED!-- with race cars. Racing in general, really, and he shows no mercy when it comes to winning! (I get scolded if I don't pick the #1 gas pump or if I finish my cereal before he does!) Then there's my daughter. My sweet baby girl. I've fully enjoyed dressing her up and she's most likely in pink (I didn't really plan it this way, but it just happened.) Bottomline, I love to make her look girly. So when you think girly, you think ruffles? Race cars & Ruffles? (Here I go with the "r" again!) I'm thinking I like that. Any other suggestions?

Meet my babies

Well, one of them lets me call her my baby. The other seems to think he's "not a baby anymore" and doesn't agree when I say, "But you'll always be my baby!"
Brynlee in the hospital, July 2010...

Cade in the hospital, July 2006...

Oh how the days fly by!

Hello New Year's Resolutions!

1. Jump on the blogging bandwagon.

2. Start reading again.

3. Scale down my facebook friends. "So, how do I know you?" But build up my other online communities!

4. Play with the Wii Fit Plus everyday. If I call it "playing" it seems less like working out!

5. Cook more?? Maaaybe!

Good luck to me...we'll see how this goes!