Such a Smartie Pants

EH continues to amaze us every day.  Even though he's not growing physically nearly as quickly as he did during his first year, his intellectual developments are far more profound and - in my opinion - much more exciting.

Although there have been a few instances where he would do the traditional toddler babbling and we had no clue what he saying, for the most part he communicates using real words.  Considering that he's not even two yet, this is really impressive to me, although I suppose it could be really common and I just don't realize it.

He knows his numbers up to 10 (usually skipping 9 though, in his excitement to yell "TEN!") and during quiet moments you'll suddenly hear him starting singing the beginning of the alphabet (A B C D E....) to the actual tune, usually one octave higher than I think he should be attempting.  It's little things like that that make me realize his little brain is always working... always thinking.

A few weekends ago we were asking him to name people.  He knew most people around the table, but when it came to one of his half-aunts that he hadn't seen in a long time until that weekend, he paused.  "What's her name?" we asked.  He didn't answer and we forgot about it and kept eating breakfast.  But five minutes later, he quietly said, "Amy."  DH and I looked at each other in amazement - it appeared that EH had been thinking about what her name was that entire time!  We were so impressed.

In the morning, he says, "Hi Mama," followed quickly by "Pee in potty?"
On our way out the door he says, "Sherrie's house!" excitedly and then asks "Milk?"
If you ask him what he wants to eat, he'll almost always say "Chicken taco."
Today he said, "Go downstairs" as we were heading to the car.
He says "Broom," when he wants his broom, and "sweepin'" when he's using it.
He stops and looks at the pictures on our wall and names the people in them that he knows.
When Murphy is barking he says,"No bark!" or "Bad boy!" and shakes his pointer finger.
When he wants to read a book, he asks "Book?" and then commands you to "Sit. Down." Pointing at the ground where you need to sit.
If you sneeze, he'll say "Bless you." If you say "Thank you" in response, he'll come back with "Welcome."
If you give him something, he'll thank you directly (and then usually also add "welcome" after that.)
When he wants to go outside, he asks "Outside?" and once there usually starts with "Swing?" or "Slide?"

And the most exciting one that just happened recently!?!?  He can SPELL HIS NAME!
Isn't that awesome?
And, I can tell you, oh so cute... 

Yelling "Ooouuuuuut" - He did NOT like being in the pool at first

These are a just a few examples of the interactions that we have with him each and every day.  It's really quite remarkable.  Although he has been known to throw a tantrum or two when he's hungry or if he has a poopy diaper but doesn't want to tell (almost every time he's playing outside, because he doesn't want to have to go back in to get it changed), for the most part he is an amazingly happy baby, and I think that part of that is because he can communicate with us, and we understand him.

It's starting to look..

More like a kitchen!

Although with a countertop installation date of July 18 we still have a few more weeks to go...

Have you heard?

This is what my kitchen looks like these days. It's looked this way since Monday. Will continue to look this way for many, many, weeks.

I have done what I consider to be an impressive job at not being overly whiney about the fact that I have no stove, no kitchen sink, no indoor location to prepare food.

Oh, you hadn't heard? Our "kitchen" is now on our porch.  Bet you can't wait to see a picture of that!

Paying to lose - DietBet

After some quick and rewarding weight loss a couple of months ago, I once again fell off the wagon and pretty much gained it all back (all but 2 pounds.)  

But then summer weather came to Pittsburgh, and I started pulling my summer clothes out of the bins from the attic, and oh my god, they were all too tight.  How embarrassing.  EH is nearly two years old - can I keep blaming my weight on him when he's 8? 15? 30?  Probably not. 

So I had to think about what my main motivators are.  First and foremost - at this point, at least - the greatest motivator is fitting into the majority of my summer clothes that are currently snug. But I'm also motivated by money, and so I decided to try something new. 

Enter DietBet - a social networking website where you join "games," put up money up front, and then try to lose 4% of your current weight in 4 weeks.  It's basically online gambling for weight loss.  

I am not one to usually like gambling, but the odds are completely within my control, and that I do like.  I started with a low-stakes game requiring only $20 to join, and with only 66 other "players."  The pot is $1,320.  As long as I lose my 4%, I am considered a "winner" and I will get my $20 back.  If everyone else also "wins" then getting my money back is all I get.  But it's unlikely that everyone will win, and those who "lose" don't get any money back.  Basically, the pot of $1320 is split between all of the winners. From what I can tell, an average of 50% of the people win.  If I am a winner in this bet, and the 50% average occurs, then I'll get $40 back instead of my original $20.  The possibility of doubling my profits - albeit small profits - is an exciting motivator for me! 

There are a couple of things working against me.  

First, 4% is actually a LOT of weight - 6.5 pounds for me!  That's 1.6 pounds per weeks!  My myfooddiary.com goal has me on track to lose 1.3 pounds per week, assuming that I am 100% committed to eating at or under 1500 calories PLUS exercise 7 days a week.  I am certainly not there.  But I know from the past that I sometimes lose more weight than what they say I will, especially early on, so we'll see how that goes. 

The second thing working against me is that because I joined the game at the last minute (once I decided to do this, I wanted to start immediately - I might as well start the game at my highest weight!) I weighed in at 8 p.m. in the evening.  As most people know, nighttime is not the best time to weigh yourself. My morning weight is usually pretty predictable and reliable, but since I have never really weighed myself much in the evenings, I'm not sure that the predictability will stand.  On top of that, my weight will largely depend on how much I ate or drank that day, which can be scary.  BUT, it was necessary.  I wanted to start immediately AND I know that I will never have enough time in the morning to put on my "weigh in" outfit, set up my full length mirror in a location with good lighting, get my code word for my scale picture, AND upload the pictures within an hour of taking.  I can barely get the out the door on time as it is, and I wake up between 5 and 5:30 a.m. each day. (Today I "slept in" until 5:40 and it felt amazing!)

The third, and final, thing that I have going against me is that DH is going to start renovating our kitchen soon. This means that we won't have an oven, or a kitchen sink for pretty much the entire duration of my four week dietbet period.  Our meals will be limited to things we can cook on the grill or in the slow cooker, or eating out, which of course is not a good option when one is on a diet.  Eating healthy during all of this is going to be my greatest challenge by far. 

An official weigh in includes two pictures, and you have to follow these rules: 
Photo #1
Shorts and a t-shirt or tank top (and you must wear the same outfit for your weigh-in and weigh-out photo)
Entire body must be in the photo, including your face
You must be standing on the scale that you're going to use for photo #2

Photo #2
Your feet on the scale
Showing your weight
A piece of paper displaying your "secret word" must in the frame

Your secret word is a random word that they give you at the time of your registration.  I suppose that's how they ensure you're real.  Your random word expires if you don't upload your picture shortly after registering, so you can't use the same photo for multiple weigh-ins. 

So, today is the first day of my Diet Bet and we'll see how it goes! (Probably not well, today at least, since I am off work today, currently sipping a cappuccino as I read this with thoughts of going to Chipotle for lunch in my mind.) BUT I plan to exercise and if I have a moderate dinner I should be good to go for tomorrow without gaining, at the very least!  I'll let you know how it goes!

Little Sister's Wedding

(My apologies to my Facebook friends who are also blog readers, as you are going to see the same pictures here that you already saw on Facebook. Sorry!)

I already showed you the flowers that I did for my sister's wedding last weekend (which I actually really enjoyed doing!) but since I was also sort of the photographer as well, (or, at least, one of a few people who were taking pictures) I wanted to post a few more pictures from the festivities!

Walking down the aisle

The ceremony was your standard Catholic wedding mass.  And maybe it's not a standard part of Catholic weddings anyway (I can't recall when the last Catholic wedding that I attended was), but the priest never said "You may kiss the bride!"


The sort of awkward expressions on their faces in the picture above are them thinking, "Is he going to say it??" and then realizing it wasn't going to happen.


In front of the church

Afterwards there was a small reception gathering at my parents house, where desserts, cheese, fruit, chips and salsa and drinks were served.  There were a few brief speeches, and then all of the bridesmaids were given wine glasses with our names on them.


The day was incredibly cold for May, but it didn't rain, and that's really what counts.  Trust me when I say that in every outdoor picture you see, I wish I was wearing a sweater, and I was always throwing it off at the last second.


We tried to take some family shots sans children, but EH decided he that he wanted to be a part of these pictures, and refused to walk away (he also refused to give up the num-num, which he is usually not allowed to have during the day - I don't actually know who gave that to him, or if he just randomly found it.)  Anyway, that's why everyone is laughing in the photo below.  I like to think of this as EH's first photobomb.


So we finally gave in and decided children could join in on the photo.


The sky was overcast, but that made for nice pictures without a lot of shadows or squinting, since it wasn't bright!  All in all it was a good day, and in a few weeks we'll be at it again when they have their larger reception for friends and extended family!

Making Your Own Wedding Bouquets

I think I found my new calling: Wedding Coordinator. 

This past weekend was my sister's wedding, and I was a bridesmaid, florist, and photographer.  I was most excited about doing the flowers because I knew it would be something that I would enjoy doing.  She chose hydrandea's and after watching a 5 minute YouTube video on making hydrangea bouquets, I was ready for the challenge.

Making your own wedding bouquets is much simpler than you might originally think, especially if you're using full, fluffy flowers. 


The bouquets turned out lovely, and I didn't even need any of the accessory ribbon that I purchased to decorate them a bit.

The only bad thing about these bouquets is that hydrangea's are apparently very thirsty flowers, and can't go for long without water.  I make these in the morning and left the stems long so that we could put them in water until right before we left.  I cut the stems down to about an inch below the ribbon when we walked out the door.  Three hours later some of the blooms still looked fine, but some of them had really wilted. 


I also did two large altar arrangements for the church, using the hydrangeas and some filler flowers and greens that my sister ordered. 


I thought the large arrangements turned out really nice, but was disappointed that they were place far back on the altar and were barely noticeable unless you knew to look for them. I was thinking that they would be placed more in the forefront, on the steps up to the altar where I've seen flowers placed before, because they really did look nice and deserved to be noticed!


The bouquets were really simple to make, and if anyone is interested, here is all you need:
  • 4 to 5 hydrangea stems per bouquet
  • 1 wide rubber band per bouquet
  • Green floral tape
  • Wide satin ribbon
  • Pins with pearl heads
  • Cool heat hot glue gun

To put together the arrangements:
  1. Put your stems together and arrange them the way you want them
  2. Put a rubber band at the base of the flowers so that the bouquet stays together
  3. Starting at the rubber band, wrap green floral tape around the stems for at least 6 inches (decide how long you want your stems to be for the bouquets before you get to this step)
  4. Once the floral tape is in place, put a line of warm glue about a 1/2 inch down from the top of the floral tape and secure your ribbon
  5. Wrap the ribbon around the stems, going up first to cover the floral tape, but then heading back down to cover your starting point
  6. At the bottom, decide which part of the bouquet is going to be the front
  7. On the back of the bouquet then, place another line of glue and secure and cut your ribbon
  8. On the front of the bouquet, place a pearl-headed pin down the front, every 1/2 inch or so
  9. Place in an inch or so of water until you're ready to use them!

It looks me about 2 and a half hours to make 4 bouquets and 2 large altar arrangements.  If only I had realized my talent before my own wedding, I probably could have saved us a ton of money (although that would have added to my own stress at the time, I'm sure.)

So, now the only question is - What to name my floral design business?

Twisty Slide - Toddler Style

EH is finally at that age where he is super interested in playgrounds.  Going up steps, walking across bridges and going down slides.  ESPECIALLY going down slides.


I thought he might be a little apprehensive about going down slides by himself, but I could not have been more wrong.  He loves it.  Can't get enough of it.  The worst part about going to the park is convincing EH that it's a good time to leave.

I finally understand why the parents of toddlers are always lamenting cold weather and the inability to go outside and play.  Outside is so much fun at this age!