"Fire Trucks Mommy"

Tripp woke up at 5 this morning, by 6:30 he had already eaten breakfast and I was out of things to do with him (ok, no I wasn't, I just hadn't had any coffee yet and was still really tired). So since his "fire trucks" video had to go back to the library today and he has been asking to watch it ever since our drive to Indy (the whole reason for getting it in the first place), I decided to let him watch it one more time. He was mesmerized to say the least.

And since this is my blog and I can say pretty much whatever I want to on here, I am just going to give my opinion about TV watching and kids. I am ok with it. You can try to turn me in to DFCS for that, but first let me explain. I believe in all things in moderation. TV, video games, movies included. I think other forms of "media" should be more prevalent (e.g. books), but an occasional TV show is fine with me. Maybe when Tripp is older, it might be one 30 minute show a day. Right now, occasional means that this fire truck movie was his first movie/TV show to really ever watch. And I plan on it staying that way for a long time. But I also am not going to forbid it. All things in moderation. Just like dessert :)

A Weekend in Indy

We went last weekend to visit our friends in Indianapolis. We had a great time catching up and being together. Tripp loved being with his friends, so much so that every morning when he woke up, he would say "friends? upstairs?" cause they were still sleeping upstairs and he wanted to go find them. He could barely wait for them to wake up, both because he was excited to see them but also because in their room were lots of new toys, trucks and trains.



Janet arranged for us to have a babysitter on Saturday night so the adults (and baby Luke) could go out and enjoy some grown up time together. After a somewhat eventful morning of trying to get to the airport on time, we made it home in just enough time to run some errands and have Tripp get really sick all over the car. I was so thankful it wasn't a few hours earlier while we were still on the airplane. And of course the following day Nelson was so sick he couldn't leave the bathroom for eight hours, but now he is on the up and up and feeling better after having some quality time cuddling with his son.


I am hoping and praying I don't get it next! So now I'm off to wash a lot of clothes since I have been busy washing car seat covers, sheets, rugs, etc instead. But many thanks to our amazing babysitter who got a jump start on the laundry for me this morning! Have a good weekend everyone!

Happy Birthday and Thanksgiving

Thursday was both Nelson's birthday and Thanksgiving so we did some major celebrating. We started the whole week off right by going out to dinner, and, on a last minute whim, spent the night out at a hotel. My parents had already volunteered to watch Tripp for the night so we just decided to make the most of it and go all out to begin Nelson's birthday celebrations! We stayed at a cool hotel in the Loop. It was a really nice room and we had fun pretending to be hip and cool in order to fit in with the other clientele.


Even though they had a cool roof top bar, we did our usual thing and hole up in the room all night, watched lots of TV shows and ordered room service for dessert. It was a great night! Then on Nelson's actual birthday, James woke up early to make his brother-in-law an awesome breakfast. James and Steph even brought special bacon all the way from Tennessee since they love Nelson that much!




We had maple glazed bacon and blueberry pancakes! It was all very tasty! Nelson opened up lots of presents, this year with Tripp's help.


We headed to my folks for a tasty Thanksgiving lunch! We finished out the night with Harry Potter and pumpkin pie cheesecake (which was definitely needed cause the "pumpkin pie" at lunch turned out to be sweet potato pie so everyone needed their pumpkin pie fix). It was a great birthday (from Nelson's perspective too) and Thanksgiving!

Another Good Day

We love the Magic House, and thanks to Groupon, we will get to go a few more times for free! We went again yesterday, and I think Tripp's favorite part was the babies. He is quite enamored with babies and even enjoys giving them bottles. I am planning on capitalizing on this whenever he has a sibling!!

He also really loves boats (well any mode of transportation) and he couldn't get enough of the big water and boat area. We probably could have spent all our time there!

He has also been cracking us up with his talking lately. One conversation had to do with poopy (it was my facebook status a few days ago so I won't bore you with it again here) but today I was laughing really hard when I was trying on a new pair of pants I just got. I took off my pants to which Tripp quickly responded "oh no Mommy!!" and he ran over and patted my leg where my pants should have been. Then I put on my new pair of pants and he quickly exclaimed "Nice!! Nice pants Mommy!" I am not sure where this came from but I was laughing so hard. I felt so affirmed in my decision on the pants. I am definitely not returning them! Another funny, but also very awesome moment was yesterday when we were getting ready to pray before lunch and I said to Tripp that praying is when we talk to Jesus to which he promptly replied "Hello Jesus! I love you Jesus!!" and that's when the tears came for me and goosebumps for Nelson (who I promptly called on the phone and Tripp said the same thing, only this time for his dad to hear). I know that he doesn't fully understand what he is saying, but this is when it is pretty amazing to think about the covenant promises of our God and that an 18 month old covenant child is speaking truth, whether he knows it or not. Let's just say it's been a pretty awesome day today.

The best chocolate cake ever

Last night I was really wanting some chocolate and I had seen a recipe in my Martha Stewart that looked amazing. So I decided to give it a try. And it was awesome. The only thing is that it is a little labor intensive and I started the whole process at 8 o'clock at night. So I definitely skipped a few steps and skimped on my cooling times. Otherwise we would have been up till 1 o'clock waiting to taste it. And even though we gained an hour last night, a certain little boy did not get that memo and was up bright and early.
So if you are need the mood for an awesome chocolate cake and want some for dessert, start this project around 3 in the afternoon and you should be good to go by about 8.
First- the recipe is from here- Chocolate Cake with Milk-Chocolate Crunch and Caramel Sauce, Next- make sure you have a candy thermometer, otherwise you will be at Bed, Bath and Beyond around 8:30 when you realize you need one and it's too late to turn back (cause the cake is already in the oven).
Then- start baking.
You will have your cake.


You will have your caramel sauce.


You will have some milk chocolate crunches (which I forgot to take a picture of)
Then you will put it all together and ice it.


Then you will eat it. And probably never be the same person again.

18 months!

Today is Tripp's 18 month birthday and we also headed to the doctor for his check-up. It was great, I really love our pediatrician. Tripp's stats for today:

Height: 34 1/2 inches (94 percentile)
Weight: 28 lbs 2 oz (76 percentile)
Head Circ: 19 1/2 inches (90 percentile)

My attempt at taking some pics of him today pretty much captures his personality so while they might not be ones you would get from a professional, they are at least an accurate representation of this not-so-little boy we have.

My 28th Birthday

I have to say, this was probably one of my best birthdays yet. You see, back in July after I spent a weekend being an awesome sister and basically doing manual labor for my brother and sister-in-law, we all decided that they needed to return the favor and come to St. Louis and help us with a project at our house. That project: our bedroom. See, I really really did not like bedroom the way it was before. All the furniture was collected at random times, there was nothing on the wall and they were not painted. Basically, it wasn't pretty. So we picked this weekend for them to come so that we could do our redecorating project, eat really good food, and spend our birthday together (my mom, brother and I have the same birthday). So James and Steph got here on Thursday and we went out for our birthday Thursday night at a great St. Louis restaurant Vin de Set.


Then bright and early Friday morning we went to work. We painted, we hung curtains (I had made them earlier completely under Steph's guidance), we hung pictures, a mirror, removed furniture, added lamps, and changed out light switches and face plates. We were busy. And it paid off. I love our room now. I can't wait to go to bed at night.
The before:


The after:



We rewarded ourselves with great food- on Friday night we went to Brasserie by Niche and on Saturday night we had Chinese food.
Today James and Steph had to leave and I am pretty sure I was in a bad mood for a while. But after looking at this little trick-or-treater, who can remain grumpy for too long?

A Good Day

To steal from Kevin Henkes, today has been a good day. We went to Grant's Farm and saw a lot of animals, including some goats we got to feed and then some elephants that were throwing tires back and forth to each other.

Tripp also decided to set a record for his longest nap yet during which I did some serious sewing. I tried my hand at a romper and came up with this:

We also read lots of books and played dress up.

So in honor of Tripp, who goes around saying "day" while looking for a certain book- it has sure been "A Good Day."

Our baby is growing up

I think my son went and grew up overnight.
**Photo taken by my very talented brother-in-law and stolen by me while he was busy watching TV :)

My recent relationship with Coupons

I love using coupons. A lot. But recently I have been feeling a little overwhelmed with them. Well, mostly overwhelmed with having to clip them all. So I decided to take a different approach with my coupons. I am not going to clip them. I am doing as some people do- they just keep the insert, and then when they are going to use a coupon, they clip it. This has already saved me a lot of time. And tonight I celebrated by going to Walgreens and spending $10 to get all this.

Yes, using coupons is totally worth it.

Sewing Projects

I have a few sewing projects I am about to undertake. One is a romper for Tripp, the other is some new curtains. I am really excited about both of them, mostly because today I got an awesome new-to-me sewing machine. I have one already, but this one is one of those old school kinds- with all metal parts and it folds out into it's own little table. I got it at a garage sale, and I am super excited to give it a whirl. However, I had trouble finding my fabric earlier. I guess this is why.

the Big D

We spent the better part of last week and the weekend with Nelson's family in Dallas. We met our new nephew, got to spend lots of time with our old nephew (old as in age, not in that he is not our nephew anym0re- in case you were confused), and spent time together just as a family. I am not sure anyone could want for anything else.

on libraries

It seems like people are always updating their blogs about the books they read or recommendations of books they might have for others. I have nothing against that, and in fact, I thought about trying to write one myself (so that my blog would not always be about Tripp). But then I realized that would be futile seeing as though I really do not like to read and I actually have a pretty strong hatred of libraries. It all started in highschool when I would be studying away during study hall (read: trying to get a certain boy's attention while pretending to work on my homework). Then Ms. Peters the librarian come by and ask if I had gum in my mouth and of course I did, so I then I was always faced with a moral dilemma: do i lie and keep my piece of gum hidden under my tongue (seriously, I just put it in, it is such a fresh, juicy piece of gum. and you want me to waste that!?!) or should I tell the truth, get up and spit out my gum all while risking getting a detention for breaking the stupid "no chewing gum in the library rule." I will be honest- I was usually fifty-fifty on this one (and it usually was depending on if I could afford a detention that day- like if I had a game instead of practice so I didn't have to be somewhere right after school). Ms. Peters also made us be really quite and actually study. I am not sure what that was all about. I mean, come on, it was my senior year- I didn't think anyone was supposed to study their senior year. But she made us. So my hatred of libraries began slowly. Then in college, it grew. See, we were given SIP carels (little study places where we could work on our senior integration papers) and that was nice, but the library smelled. Sometimes it gave me a headache. And then that is when I realized that libraries are just a stop on the drug trafficing train. How is that, you ask? Well, let me tell you. It's quite simple. You know those little plastic flaps on the covers of books, well, drug dealers just slip in the drugs underneath those flaps and return the book to the library. Then they tell their compadre to go check out "The Grapes of Wrath" and lo and behold, when their friend gets the book, the drugs are right there under the cover. I know, it's a pretty genius idea, but it is illegal and it makes the library smell. So books and libraries and reading pretty much went to the bottom of my "things I like" list. Until Tripp was born. Then I was re-introduced to books. Granted they are kids books, but they are books none-the-less. And now that Tripp does some talking, his favorite thing to say is "Ahh More!" after we finish a book and are about to move onto the next. Well, since I don't like libraries, this reading habit was getting kinda expensive- since the only way to get books without a library is to buy them. And it was also getting really old to read all the same books over and over again. So seeing as we live one block from our municipal library, I thought it was time I sucked it up and got a membership (or whatever you call it there). Tripp and I bravely ventured out recently and went the library. And we checked out five new books. Five books! For free! And we even were encouraged by the children's librarian to sit in the rocking chair and read. Read aloud? In the library? I was shocked. But we did it. And we had fun (I think I was even chewing gum, but Miss Karen didn't even get mad). We went home with our books, read them over and over and then went back the next week for five more books. For free again! This time we even stayed and played with a few toys at the library. I even plan on going back this week, for more books. So while I am not ready to write any book recommendations for people (I will leave that up to the serious book worm in the family), I have to admit- my like of libraries is growing. Slowly but steadily. And I am looking forward to the day when I might possibly be able to write a blog post with my own book recommendations. Don't hold your breath though, seeing as though it has taken 28 years to get to this turn around point in my life, it will probably take another 28 years before I am ready to make any recommendations to the public.

apple picking

Toothpaste, mushrooms and roses

I have always thought it was weird when one of the first things that is discussed in pre-marital counseling is if you roll or squeeze your toothpaste and how so many fights break out over this controversy. I always thought there are a whole lot more important things to be talking about instead. Besides, why doesn't anyone ever say, "who the heck cares, just buy two tubes of toothpaste!" (which is what we did cause we both like different kinds of toothpaste).

Marriage is hard- it takes putting the other persons needs ahead of your own, it also takes compromising, loving unconditionally, and choosing to work hard to make sure your relationship lasts- not just giving up when it gets tough. To steal from Gary Thomas, who wrote Sacred Marriage (highly recommend this book), I agree that marriage exists to make us more holy. It is a spiritual discipline that is part of our sanctification process. I also think that children are a HUGE part of this as well. I didn't come close to understanding my own selfishness and sinfulness until after Tripp was born. I have also learned that being tired, spit-up on, and un-showered-for-a-few-days does not in anyway justify treating my husband poorly.
But marriage is also awesome. There is something that is so comforting about the fact that Nelson knows every little detail about me and yet he still loves me. I love the feeling of cuddling up to him at night while we watch our favorite TV shows. I love that we email many times during the day just to hear what the other person is up to or what weirdness is happening at our respective workplaces. I love that we have our own "dialect" when talking to each other (if you don't believe me, just ask my brother and sister-in-law, they are really good at imitating it). And I also love that Nelson knows and loves all the little things about me that make me who I am. Like the fact that I am really clumsy, that I love mushrooms even though he hates them.

And I love that when Nelson gets a burger at a fast food restaurant, he folds the wrapper into a perfect square that fits directly under his burger and eats off of that and that he always makes sure his cup holders are closed in his car (of course they are always open in mine- they need to be ready for a drink at a moments notice).
It is really nice too when you show up at home after a long, hard day and have a dozen of these waiting for you.

So fight for your marriage. It is probably the hardest thing you will ever do, but it's the right thing to do and it's totally worth it.

"Oh Boy!"

One of Tripp's newest phrases is "oh boy!" (He also says "elbow" so this can get confusing to all of us at times). Tonight, though, was definitely a night of "oh boys" (and a few "wows"). Our municipality is having a festival with free rides, food, fire engines and even a police helicopter landing. To a 16 month old little boy, that was almost too much excitement to handle (so we saved the pony rides for tomorrow). Even though he was pretty tired, he loved it and had many "oh boys" and "wows" for us to night.

the helicopter was flying in from above