9 Month Madness

Lord love a duck! Or a chicken in our case :) I never thought I would be pulling my daughter away from the toilet soaking wet from her making it a personal water table or picking her up and dog food comes spilling out of her mouth! And to boot, this is only the beginning. How can something so dang cute be so disgusting? I guess my attempt at "baby proofing" just plain sucks because she is constantly reminding me what I have not thought of. But how do you live or how do they learn if you bandage every corner, strap every piece of furniture down, and lock every cabinet? I already curse and fumble myself trying to get those dang outlet covers out of the wall when I need to use one. It becomes a power struggle (no pun intended) and sometimes it wins, sadly. Parent proof or baby proof? And to top that I look like an old woman with bruised up legs due to the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs, hurdling is not my strong point.The other day I found myself telling her to shhhh as I was watching an important TV program ( Real Housewives of New York) only to realize she is just imitating what she was hearing! Yelling and screaming! Haha. All I could do was laugh and then I turned it off, realizing it wasn't that important after all. ( Tivo is great.) She has a way of teaching me things I have tried to learn my whole life, like patience and that unconditional love. Now I am not saying go out and get yourself a baby to learn a few lessons....I looked down the other day only to find her laying on the floor, feeding herself, and watching baby tv and I shed a small tear thinking she doesn't need me for all of that anymore, but thankful at the same time.

Please don't think just because I look put together I have got it all down. When she pulls a few hairs out, I pull a few more. It's a daily give and take then break. Ha.

I mean who is this human sitting on her knees drinking from a staw? I see frequent visions of the teenage years when she does these "big girl" things and pray she's going to be the perfect, homones in check child. I hear every mother of teenagers laughing so hard out loud right about now. Just let me pretend until I can, okay?

I must say no no a lot because among her first words is the close version to no no. Proud moment right there. We recently drove to Indiana to see my family and the biggest blessing was how well my child did on that trip! She only woke up once a night, napped like a champ, and was pleased to meet so many new people! It was also great to see everyone and have my child on her best behavior. We had a talk about it before we left. Kidding. I ran across this gem while browsing old photo albums, proving that my child may look somewhat like me....I won't stop until someone sees it! I mean why do little girls need to look like their daddies?! So not fair :)

I recently re-painted a playroom in our home to be more girlie, because every 9 Month old needs a playroom right? Reality is that every mother of a 9 Month old needs one! A space she can play that is safe, fun, and secured off from stairs! I swear I will be gray by 35. Thank God for beauticians and mini fridges.

I am sure everyone now does those monthly sticky bellies right? I love seeing everyone's photos and how their little one changes over the year. But us mothers only post the best, cutest, and oh look how awesome and behaved my child is photo on our social media sites....all 10 of them :) Well here are a few that didn't make the "awesome" award or cut. Because this is totally safe while your mom is across the room trying to take your picture.

And because this is totally my reality! Mid-vomit. You're welcome.

So fellow mothers and fathers and gaurdians alike...cheers to making it this far and cheers to the next phase of what we will call...move it or loose it. Eeeppp!

Early Life Crisis

I hope everyone had a great Holiday weekend! It was our first July 4th with a baby and my how things change. Cookouts and hanging with family has taken over our plans and I wouldn't have it any other way. Since my child is loved, we had four 4th of July outfits to wear which was so fun! One of the joys of having a little girl. Also if you are my true friend (aka Facebook friend) haha you would know of my previous early life crisis status. I wanted to run a marathon and get some chickens... Yes the farm kind. Well folks, my hubby is awesome and I have signed up for my first (and probably last) marathon and we have a mini farm in our city yard :) First of all I would like to apologize to all of the people I secretly made fun of for putting the 26.2 mile sticker on their cars. With about 8 weeks left of training I am already looking for a damn sticker to put on my car, maybe just for a week. What a crazy concept it is to train for at least 16 weeks for 1 single race. It is a serious accomplishment to run an obscene amount of miles for yourself. I decided to run my local marathon here in Des Moines, Iowa in October because I think our state is just as beautiful as the next, and if I need medics I can choose who I want to care for me :) The dedication that running this race requires is so crazy but I guess it's now or never and my aching knees and body probably won't hold up when im fifty! I have looked and looked for the ideal running plan but I am just doing a modified version of a few. You can follow my progress/runs on Map My Walk app and if you get a wild hair...join me in my training! As for the chickens, I swear my hubby was just as curious/excited as I was or he wouldn't have drove 50 miles to get the coop :) We got the Chik N' Villa from Theisan's Farm store. A double nesting box, a hang out spot, and a small grass run, they better like it!

Put together by us and maybe this idea was not as thought out as it should've been but we are up and running. I called the post office to notify them of my "live birds" arriving and they acted as if they get them daily. So meet the newest addition to our family. The smaller girl is Shirley and the larger girl has no name. Suggestions appreciated. I feel a trip to the nursing home could help because for some reason I think the older the name the better and they have some goodies there.

We ordered them from McMurray Hatchery here in Iowa and they are pullets about 5 months old, so we should have eggs in a few months. Eeep! A few thing I guess I never realized growing up with chickens is how much they eat! So much that I found myself Googling "can you overfeed chickens?" They answer was no, so bring on the loads and loads of poop. Geeze. Thank God for the power washer. We will see how long this "idea" lasts :) We want to let them roam around our yard but we haven't come up with a plan on how we rangle them back into their cage?! We should video that experience. On another more manageable note, my new garden is doing awesome! New location, raised bed, and a double fence to keep the vermits out! What? You can't have chickens without a garden! Haha When we go "farm" we go all the way. But I don't plan on getting rid of my garden anytime soon! I think I may have too many cucumbers this year (never a problem), but I better learn to can/pickle them!

And with our extra tomatoes and veggies I make a super easy and delicious freezer spaghetti sauce to enjoy all winter long. Two new things I am growing this year are brussel sprouts and sweet corn, so far so good.

Call it lazy or brilliant but I decided to grow my sweet potatoes in my flower pots this year. Little to no work and just as pretty as actual flower pots for the backyard. Grow your slips inside just before planting season and this is what you get!

I think I am done for now with the new ideas or my early life crisis as if I don't already have enough on my plate. But when I started this blog I did say have baby, will live. Stay tuned.

Travel Northwoods Wisconsin

This trip has been a family tradition on my husbands side for years! Everyone rents cabins along the lake and the cousins run wild and enjoy a week of freedom and nature at its finest. This year we brought along the baby of course and not sure I feel as if I just went on vacation. Although this is the type of vacation where you pack your entire house and drive it 8 hours. Seriously, salt & pepper, foil, and kleenex are a few musts. Yes you can buy it there and maybe that will be my plan for next year....or just rough it. HahaNot going to lie, my favorite thing about road trips is getting fast food. McDonald's is my stop of choice :) Soooo bad but soooo good!

We stay at White Birch Village in the Woodside Cabin along with my husbands brother and family. Looking out our family room window is this view, horrible right?

Breakfast is served at Grandma's house and the menu....eggs, pancakes, bacon, and toast all cooked in bacon grease of course! Hey it's vacation. Everyone goes in their own directions until about dinner time, then we all meet up for another home cooked, healthy meal :) Some choose to kayak, paddle boat, swim, play at the beach, play a little basketball, hot tub, explore, play some golf, and head to town and shop. With plenty to do, the word bored is never heard or said. Baby girl got some beach time in.....

And some sleep in the hammock. Seriously she must have been tired to sleep like this for almost 3 hours! Yes I blew in her face to make sure she was breathing...

One of my favorite things to do up North is puzzles. I scan the stores for the most awful looking challenge of a puzzle so it lasts for a few days. With built in babysitters I actually get to sit for a few minutes without chasing a baby. Some of you may not know I have an obsessive quality about me, once I start a puzzle the building has to be on fire before I will quit working on it :) I just like to refer to it as "focus."

Every year, Thursday is our day to cook dinner at the cabin but our new tradition is everyone goes out to Sayner Pub for the best bloody marys and of course PIZZA! That's the best of both worlds...no cooking and no clean up!

My favorite thing this year was finding this awesome trail in Boulder Junction. Since I signed up for my first marathon (crazy I know) running up North is not only beautiful, but you can breathe! No humidity. Although I was constantly looking for bears :) I am that crazy person who works out on vacation but running through such beauty hardly seems like "work."

Boulder Junction is about 10 minutes away from the village we stay at. Perfect little town for some local shopping and coffee. With shops named Coontail, Blueberry Hill, and Northern Latte, you know you're going to find something for everyone.

So until next year, we will count down the days until our family reunites for another week of fun! Thank you White Birch Village for the endless memories.

Super Easy Bruschetta!

Need a quick party appetizer or a before dinner snack? Here is your go-to recipe. If you don't have a Hy-Vee close by you are missing out. For those who have no clue what I am talking about, it's my local grocery store. Friendly, helpful people everywhere and the huge perk is the fuel saver card. Buy groceries you normally need and get money off of your gas...easy and awesome. So this recipe is made with some Hy-Vee brand goodies, if you don't have a Hy-Vee use any brand....if you must.Ingredients: Hy-Vee garlic chips ( Save 5 cents on your fuel saver this week!!!) Fiesta fresh salsa-I use mild Hy-Vee Mozzarella & Provolone cheese

Lay your garlic chips out on a cookie sheet, place 1 spoonful of salsa on each chip, sprinkle with cheese, and broil.

Seriously that is it! Broil on high for 2-5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Now sit back with you glass of wine and pretend you slaved away for hours making this appetizer :) Enjoy!