My New Obsession

I can't even begin to tell you how completely obsessed I am right now with  http://www.exercisetv.tv/workout-videos/! As a Mommy who is limited on time for herself, it's a blessing from above! During Max's lengthy little siesta this morning I was able to work in a 45 minute workout, (never mind the fact that I should have been cleaning!) They offer a wide variety of workouts ranging from 2 minutes to 45! Since I am always on the hunt for a new workout, ExerciseTV gives me the flexibility to keep things fresh and new so I don't get bored, for free! Plus, it's a great way to try out a new workout DVD before buying it! 

PreSchool Theme - Color Exploration

I'm so excited to begin another year of "at-home lessons" with Jaxon! Color Exploration is the first theme for the new PreSchool year. One great way to teach your kids about color is by talking about rainbows and the colors they are made of.

Jaxon began our lesson this morning by teaching me a song he learned from a show on PBS called The Cat in the Hat... red, orange, yellow, green, followed by blue, then we go into violet, that's the rainbow song for you! Take a listen!

After our music lesson, Jaxon painted a beautiful picture of a rainbow using what he remembered from his song to get the colors in the correct order. Here he is painting his rainbow! 

We concluded our "at-home lesson" this morning by making "Coffee Filter Sun Catchers". This is a great way for kids to learn how to mix colors to get new ones! For directions on how to make your own "Coffee Filter Sun Catchers"... see the link below!

Read more: Color Experiments for Children | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8609857_color-experiments-children.html#ixzz1WWP26odG

Facts About Exercise and Breastfeeding

I get FaceBook updates from Active.com. This was an article that came through today that I of course just had to read. It's pretty straight forward and there wasn't anything in the article that I didn't already know but there was something that I hadn't thought about and that is "sweaty boobs"!


I like to workout in the morning before the kids get out of bed. When I get done Max is up and ready for his morning feeding... sweaty boobs! I work out before I go to bed at night, after the kids are already asleep. Most of the time Max wakes up right as I finish... sweaty boobs! Sometimes while Max naps in the afternoon and Jaxon is "relaxing" I do some Yoga. When Max wakes up I have to quit because he's ready for a snack... sweaty boobs! 


Poor guy! It doesn't seem to phase him though... he NEVER complains, 'course he can't talk! Anyone else concerned with "sweaty boobs"?!

The Facts About Exercise and Breastfeeding | Active.com

New Look

I decided it was time for a change! New school year, new blog design! What do you think?! Thanks to April over at A Mommy's Blog Design Studio for the great new look! 


If you're in need of a blog makeover, check out April's fun designs!  www.AMommysBlogDesignStudio.com

Back to PreSchool

The day is finally here... PreSchool's back in session and Jaxon couldn't be more excited! He woke up bright and early this morning ready to learn, (more like play), and like the big boy he is, fed himself, brushed his own teeth and got himself dressed! I think if I would have let him, he probably would have driven himself there too! 

Here are a few candid shots I took this morning while he was getting for his first day back!

He wanted to be prepared so he laid out his clothes last night before bed!

Here he is all ready to go... Max is helping Mommy clean up after breakfast by eating the crumbs off the floor!

Getting ready to get in the car... I think he was sort of ready to be done with the home photos!

Here he is with the sign outside of his school!

Even though he only gets to ride this bus once or twice a year, I always make him pose next to it!

He can't wait to ride the bus every day!

Getting ready to head down to his classroom!

Hanging up his book bag... he was really excited about getting the green  name tag!

Settling back in with his friends... this is a new table in their class! It looks like it's going to be a big hit!

He had a great day and can't wait to go back on Wednesday. It's going to be a great year!

Pizza for Dessert?

Since this Mama's on a health food kick, my lil' fam has been having to do w/out the sweets!
I'm not sure they'd agree but I consider fruit, dessert. Hubby and I had a meeting to go to last night and were asked to bring a dish for the potluck we'd be having before the meeting started. 


I wanted to bring something that wasn't going to be loaded in fat and calories so I went a hunt'in through some of my favorite websites for healthy "eats". I decided on this yummy little treat below. Not only was this delicious but it was really fun to make w/ the boys! Jaxon and I made a sorting game out of putting the toppings on and Max was our "sauce" taste tester! 


I'm thinking of adding this to the Birthday Party Menu... it's quick and easy and so yummy, best of all it's a somewhat healthy, kid-approved dessert!  

http://family.go.com/food/recipe-sk-19070-fruit-pizza-t/

Urge to Purge

Every couple of months or so I get this overwhelming urge to purge! I love to sort and organize, (you'd never know it by the looks of my house), but there's something so satisfying about throwing things out and making more room for, well, more stuff! 


In our master bedroom we have an open closet or a closet w/out a door. A man had to have come up with that genius idea! I mean really, who wants all their crap spilling out for the whole world to see? At least with a door you can pretend to have nicely folded jeans and shirts all hung in rows! 


Since I'm one of those Mommy's who occasionally enjoys a good hide inside the closet, this makes things difficult! So in an effort to keep a lid on what really is all my Hubby's crap,and make more space in my hideout from the kids, I once again decided it was time to purge the closet. 


I always go in guns blaz'in! I get my trash bags ready and at first am chucking things like a crazy person. But slowly I begin finding things that I haven't seen in the past 8 years or more and so begins my trip down memory lane... this is when what should have taken an hour turns into several hours! 


I came across a stack of pictures from me & Hubby's honeymoon. (Now I won't bore you with all the nitty, gritty details but we had a pretty exciting trip to Mexico!) Hurricane Wilma basically destroyed our honeymoon in a nutshell! So as you can imagine, I don't exactly have an album sitting on the coffee table devoted to the memories of that nightmare!!!


In the stack of pictures were more images of a mangled island then you can imagine but also there was an image of an iguana that we saw strolling through the resort the first and only day we had to enjoy our trip. I immediately thought to myself, "I have to show this to Jaxon!" I called him back to our room and showed him the picture and answered about 5000 questions he had about the image. He started talking about how if he'd been there and seen that iguana he'd have picked him up and brought him home.


Me: "You would have tried to smuggle an iguana home from Mexico?" 
Jaxon: "I would have "snuggled" him all the way home, Mom!"


Needless to say, my closet is still be purged 24 hours later! Hopefully today I'll be able to keep myself from showing Jaxon any more pictures and finish the task at hand!!!  

Pioneer Woman's New Show

If you are as crazy about the Pioneer Woman as me... check out the link below to learn more about her new show that's coming to Food Network tomorrow! Max, you will take your nap so Mommy can watch!!!


http://thepioneerwoman.com/details-on-the-food-network-show/

Does This Make Me Famous

I am so excited to share this little bit o' blogging news with everyone! I was contacted by the nice people at The Baby Habit and asked if I'd consider doing an interview with them about my blog. Of course I was interested! When I told Jaxon about it he asked if this meant he was going to be famous... leave it to Jaxon! 


Check out my interview!  
http://www.thebabyhabit.com/blog/interview-with-amanda-from-adventures-in-motherhood/

Baby Teeth Blues

Our little daredevil Max proceeded to knock one of his new teeth loose yesterday. As you can imagine I was hysterical upon noticing that his all-the-way-through, shiny, new, bottom tooth was pushed forward! In a panic I immediately called the Dr.'s office and asked to speak to a nurse. Here's why that was a BAD idea... 

You can't just TALK to a nurse... they have to call you back! I knew this because this wasn't my first rodeo but come on, this is sort of an emergency, not the kind that requires a visit to the ER, but you know what I mean!

The nurse didn't call back for 30 minutes... 30 minutes is a LONG time when you are waiting to find out whether or not your child's smile is compromised!

During those frantic 30 minutes, (when I was absolutely freaking out, not knowing what to do), I decided I better call my supportive spouse and tell him how I allowed our 10 mth. old to some how loosen his pearly white! I thought for sure that Spouse would leave work and come home to support me in person... WRONG! He decided instead to stay there and call every 5 minutes to see if I'd heard back from the nurse!

After 20 minutes of waiting on the nurse I finally calmed down enough to realize just how stupid I was being for waiting on what would ultimately result in me calling the dentist... so I called the dentist (who was 20 minutes down the road and closing in an hour and 10 minutes)!

The dentist decided he needed to see Max and asked if we could come right away because we'd have to fill out some paperwork. By that time Spouse came home (to support me in person), and we were on our way to find out what damage had been done.

With 30 minutes to spare before the dentist office would be closing we ran in expecting to be rushed back immediately but the paperwork needed filling out first... 20 minutes later (or 10 minutes to closing), we were finally taken back to the exam room!    

22 dollars later we were told that nature would take it's course over the next week. The tooth will either reposition itself and harden back up, fall out on it's own or turn black and need to be pulled! We're hoping it repositions itself!!! He also advised that we keep him from chewing on anything (YAH, RIGHT), and offer only soft foods (which Max doesn't really care for)! 

Mommy guilt kicked in while we were sitting in the exam chair and I cried all the way home with my supportive spouse making, "I'm gonna knock your teeth out comments", all the way home! THANKS DARLING!

So we wait. And in case you were wondering, he is still biting the body part that feeds him so he must not be in too much pain and agony!

If you're like me, a self-help guide always comes in handy... oh yeah, they have one for anything online... check it out if you are a parent to a wobbly toddler or if you have boys!

http://www.howcast.com/videos/324751-How-To-Deal-With-a-KnockedOut-Baby-Tooth

Pantie Raider

Max decided to take advantage of the 5 for $20 pantie sale at Target on Saturday!

Fish Outta Water

Jaxon going off the board for the first time! 

Daddy getting ready to play lifeguard!

Away he goes!

He was already begging to go again at this point!

Swimming to the side... who's gonna get there first?!

Joe's turn!

Looks like he's ready to go again too!

Alyssa's turn!

She's a pro!

Joe, Jaxon & Alyssa - Last day to swim 2011! Jaxon always had such a good time w/ these two!

A Little Corny

Every Summer we look forward to sweet corn! Jaxon LOVES corn in any shape or form but prefers eating it right off the cob, so when it's ready to be picked, he's ready to help do the shucking! Unfortunately the weather took it's toll on our crop this year and we've ended up resorting to buying a few ears here and there at the store. Here are a few shots of the boys working hard for their dinner!

My plan was to take some pictures of them eating it but before I knew it, 

the corn was gone! 

Dear Max - 10 months

Dear Max,

I hope you'll understand one day when I go to explain to you why Jaxon's life has been filmed from day one and yours, well, not so much, that it's not because I didn't love you just as much, I was just a little strapped for time those first few months. We've been spending a lot of time lately going back in time and watching our home movies from when Jaxon was little, like you. It's lit a fire under this old Mama's butt and inspired her to get the video camera out a little more.

You've been a busy little guy this past month. You are crawling all over the house, climbing everything and sprouting teeth like crazy! Jaxon brushed your teeth for you for the first time this morning, (should have been taping that), you did really well, considering! You even started pushing your lil' buggy around this week which means you'll probably be walking on your own soon!

You LOVE to bite! And I know you're not going to like it but if you keep it up, you're getting weaned sooner than planned! You drew blood the other day... NOT GOOD!!! Jaxon didn't think it was funny but the other day you bit him on the buns... Mommy thought it was hilarious which made Brother even more mad! You even like to bite yourself! Your new nickname is "Sharktooth"!

You're not picky when it comes to chow! You'll eat just about anything that the rest of us eat. Mama let you try your first sample of peanut butter this week, yes I know you are supposed to be at least a year old to eat PB but it's not like you ate half the jar.

We are counting down the days till Jaxon goes back to PreSchool. Mama & Brother are very ready... you on the other hand are going to be lost! Mama promises to play lots so that you don't get too bored and miss Brother too much and he'll be home for lunch and in the afternoon so you'll have someone to play w/ again. Maybe it'd be a good time for you to take your nap... you know, those things you don't do much of!!!

Until next month, love... Mommy

Maddox - August 18, 2001,10 months (Notice our back to PreSchool countdown on the board... we're not excited or anything!)

For those of you who think Max is a happy camper all the time... here's proof that he's not!

Adventures at the Sunset Zoo

Shopping with small children is stressful! School shopping w/ them is even worse! In an effort to make school shopping more bearable for all of us we decided to treat the boys with a trip to the Sunset Zoo. Since we've been having much nicer weather lately and the crashed computer depleted our vacation fund, we thought we'd try and make 1 BIG day trip out of 3 major tasks... computer shopping, school shopping and animal viewing! What was I thinking?!?!?! Clearly I was not!
Things started out rather smoothly. The boys managed to make it more than half way through the zoo w/out a major meltdown. We stopped at the halfway point for a water/snack break on a shaded bench right across from the bald eagle exhibit... Jaxon's favorite bird! Things went from peaceful and serene to, well lets just say not so peaceful and serene, all thanks to the gift shop located conveniently smack dab in the middle of the park! After a short bump in the road, we were back on track for the rest of the day at the zoo! Here are some highlights from our time at the zoo! 



This was taken two years ago, the first time we took Jaxon to the Sunset Zoo.

Jaxon hates pink... it's a girl color! He told me he thought the flamingos were pretty cool even though they are pink!

Jaxon pointing to his favorite bird, the bald eagle!

Jaxon & Maddox taking their water/snack break!



Here's Jaxon checking out the maned wolf he affectionately named "Wolfy"!



Max seemed to like the giant anteater!



This was Max's first trip to a zoo... he had a really good time!



Jaxon's favorite exhibit was... can you guess?! That's right, the poison dart frogs!



Here he is showing Daddy the green and black poison frog.

I took a picture on this very same bench two years ago...

... things have changed just a bit! Jaxon has grown, Mommy & Daddy have shrunk a bit and we added lil's Max to our pack!



It was a great family outing that I hope we can do again soon... the zoo part, not the school shopping!!! 



Making a BIG Splash

School starts in 2 weeks! I think I'm more excited than Jaxon at this point! Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed most of our Summer Vacation but there comes a time in every young man's life when he's had just about enough "Mommy time" and vice versa!

One of the ways that we've kept from killing, I mean driving each other, I mean staying busy this Summer has been by going swimming. Not only is it great exercises but it's also a great way to waste a few hours in an otherwise boring at-home afternoon!

Jaxon's big thing this Summer has been swimming in the BIG kids pool. Since he hasn't had lessons yet I wasn't sure this idea was a real great one until a friend of mine introduced us to arm floaties... or as I like to call them my lifeline to sanity at the pool! Jaxon thinks these little, plastic, lifesavers are the next best thing to sliced bread!

Max likes to swim too. Even more than swimming though, Max likes the snacks! Here he is enjoying a Chips a Hoy cookie while BIG brother makes a BIG splash!

Jaxon's learning to doggie paddle...

and use his goggles!

I dread telling him that the pool will be closing soon... oh well, PreSchool will be a great distraction!

Photo of the Week - TP Memories

Max went missing for a few minutes yesterday... here's where I found him! He'd unrolled the entire roll of TP and eaten a few pieces by the time I found him. I'd just given Daddy & Brother instructions on closing the toilet lids after using them... luckily they'd listened!

Someone else I know enjoyed unrolling the TP rolls at one time too...

he had a little more hair though! (This was taken 5 days before Jaxon's 1st birthday so Max is a few months ahead of his time... YAY Mommy!)