outnumbered.

spending too much time with Aunt Abbey and those girl cousins...

i received this via text message tonight at work with the caption:

what a pretty little girl!

G would have a FIT if he saw this!

...thank goodness he has 3 boy cousins on his Dad's side.

(i'm sure my sisters and i are guilty of doing similar to our poor little brother, too. sorry mikey.)

no words. just joy...

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two-fer-one's.

we all like to get two things for the price of one, right?

think of time as money. we want to make the MOST out of our moments, hours, afternoons, days, weeks....
and time is precious. we often are forced to sacrifice one thing for another due to lack of time, which is a drag. but let's face it, there just aren't enough hours in the day.

unless, of course, you master the art of the 2-for-1.

yeah, you little multi-taskers, that's doing two things at one time. many of us do this all day, and yes, we often may do three, four, or heaven forbid FIVE things at one time.

but to REALLY achieve the 2-for-1 status you have to think outside of the box. (yeah, so cooking dinner while watching the news or eating breakfast on the road doesn't really count, sorry.)

................................................

here is a morning hygeine time-saver that i began doing when i was late for morning class back in college.
brushing my teeth in the shower. some of you may do this, it's genius if you ask me. you clean your teeth and your bod simultaneously! brilliant:

once crowned with the wonderful title of "mommy," i gleaned a handful of additional two-for-one's that just may be useful for you, dear bloggie. who knows?

like this one! feed Kai snack, AND clean the floor! (a chore that i HATE):

OR working on my core strength doing planks and other various abdominal exercises while waiting for Kai to fall asleep (i usually wait for him to finish his bottle before i leave because if i don't then it leaks all over the place!). i'm sure G would die laughing if he walked in to Kai's room thinking that i was rocking him but instead found Kai in his crib and me diligently holding plank position on his floor! he has asked me a few times why i was breathing so hard when i crawled back into bed after "putting Kai back down." haha! that's a 2-for-1 at it's best, my friends.

...then there are the more practical, everyday kind of 2-for-1's like me (or honey! j/k) taking a bath with Kai. that's a time-saver. even if i don't get all the way into the bathtub with Kai, every night i put my feet in with him AND wash my face...that's a lil' two-for-one.

we also eat breakfast together. out of the same bowl and everything. i've had to alter my daily oatmeal recipes a bit to be more conducive to a 9-month old stomach (1/2 c. old fashioned oats w/1/2 a sliced bananer, blueberries, sometimes strawberries and always raisens) but he LOVES to share breakfast with mom. i'm not sure when this all started, but that little stinker will eat every meal BUT breakfast in his high chair. it's like he knows that once mom cleans up his mess and put the high chair away she's breaks out the "good stuff" and thats just what he wants. mommy's oatmeal. at least it's healthy. then, (here's another 2-for-1) when we are finished with our oatmeal honey licks out the bowl and once it's shiny and clean (er, sort of) Kai pushes it around the floor for usually a solid 30 minutes AND bangs on it with our spoon. seriously. just about every day.

another 2/1...or actually 3/1: walking (exercise) with Kai, and Honey (dog walked!) TO the library (or any other destination of an errand we need to run!). we do this quite often. one of the benefits of our home being wonderfully centrally located  in this grand metropolis.

...and then there is the little game i play with Kai's naptime. i like to see HOW MUCH i can get accomplished in any one period of blessed nap time. more often than not, this is at least 2 hours. but sometimes it barely eclipses an hour and it's those naps that keep me movin' fast! during Kai's morning nap i usually have my daily quiet time outside after feeding Honey, picking up the house and either folding or starting laundry. then i either work in the yard or get a bit of a workout in.

(this is an unfinished project!!)

this is a very random blog topic, but making the most out of your day is great, dontcha think?!

do YOU have any tried and true 2-for-1's you'd like to share (silly or not...)??

a little of what you fancy does you good...

[goin' for it]

Seize the moment.

Remember all the women on The Titanic

who waved off the dessert cart.

Erma Bombeck

p e a c e...

nothing quite defines "peace" like the image of a soundly sleeping baby.

among the hustle and bustle of life, amidst noise and chaos, tired babies always embrace peace.

they may fight sleep in a loud and busy place, but wrapped in a soft, sweet smelling blanket or

skin-on-familiar skin, they eventually give in...

and sleep.

we all go through times when peace seems to elude us.

it's loud, it's busy and we're drowning in the noise of alarms, reminders and deadlines barring us from that deep, freeing exhale that seems to shift the heavy load we bear off of our backs so we can at last receive...

peace.

sometimes we just need to give in.

we need to let go.

maybe cry, maybe apologize, maybe forgive, maybe laugh....

we need to silence the noise of the world and breathe...

and allow ourselves to be covered and tucked tightly into the warm, renewing comfort

of God's perfect peace.

Philippians 4:6-7 (The Message)

 ^6-7Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Uncle Mikey & Kai

two of my favorite boys.

being a big sister, believe it or not, taught me a lot about being a mommy.

mikey and i have always had a different kind of relationship.

i attest this in part to me being older when he was born AND the fact that my mom went back to school during his elementary school years and i was next in line for things like taking him to school, getting him breakfast, helping him get dressed, etc. those things were never a burden to me. i enjoyed stepping in and getting to be a sister-mom. i can remember dropping him off at elementary school (usually late)my senior year in high school and making him give me a kiss on the cheek before he got out of the car.

i often have deja vu moments when i catch myself doing something with Kai that I did with Mikey years ago. such as:

tucking him in under the "floating blanket," reading books with over-the-top animation, making him "fly" on my feet while laying on my back and belting made up-silly-random songs at the top of my lungs to make him laugh and probably scare/weird him out a little bit...

and...yeah, Mikey turned out a little like his big sister, with a wild imagination and an over-active verbal response system (which is both a blessing and a curse).

i can only hope that Kai will be lucky enough to inherit our ability to smile our way through life's storms and make a joke out of just about anything.

I'd say the odds are in his favor.

9 month update!

Kai Quincy

at

9 months

Now that he's pulling up on EVERYTHING, he often enjoys looking out the window while standing bouncing on the back of the couch.

And yes, like I said pulling himself up on EVERYTHING...

and trying to climb on everything.

His favorite climing posts thus far: the couch, any door or window, any coffee table, the dishwasher, the pantry, MOMMY and honey (and those are JUST the faves!).

Favorite toy: ANYTHING with wheels....

or anything that easily slides around on the ground while being pushed. This boy LOVES wheels!

He also loves to MOVE. He's crawling in super speed now...

He has recently mastered the art of clapping!

I have been taking him to baby/toddler story hour at the local public library

(every Wednesday at 10, it's fun!) and we sing lots of songs that have motions and he mirrors the bigger children (and Mommy, of course!)

He's also started crossing his little ankles when he's in a sitting position (seen above and at right below).

My little man....

Yes that's a BlackBerry on the floor next to him.

It was my DEAD BlackBerry that he so kindly decided to give a bath to early last week. He literally dropped it in his full bathtub. I turned my head for ONE second...

He is also eating peas (and cereal and old pieces of breakfast lunch and dinner...and dirt and leaves...).

Off the floor.

Yep, please note the bowl that was intented to hold the peas. Nope, he dumps his snacks on the floor and sometimes doesn't even bother to pick them up, he just eats em' straight off of the floor like Honey. It's hilarious and great for building up the immune system...or something like that ;)

Yum! Sticks!

...also any cup. Or bowl. Really, anything with an opening he LOVES to pretend like he's drinking like a big boy. G and I let him drink water out of our cups and he enjoys it so much he tests every cup/bowl out to see if it contains any refreshing cold water. But in the photo located above-right he was really just toasting to the marriage of Mommy's buddy Veronica!

Eating LOTS of fun new foods.

Some of the newer favorites include kiwi, grapes, egg yolk (boiled/microwaved) and raisins!

Loves, loves, loves to be OUTSIDE.

Here he has walked (in his walker) to the door (more like RAMMED the door) and is shrieking to get my attention to take him outside. He does this at the back and front door several times a day.

If it's decent out we are outside a LOT working in the yard, watering the garden and flowers and weeding...

Still lovin' bathtime, especially if it's with cousins!

Bathtime has changed quite a bit, however. He crawls all over the place and pulls himself up on the sides.

He also enjoys splashing. A lot. It's getting more interesting with every day

 (not to mention more WORK for the usually WET and TIRED bath-giver!)

Favorite mode of transportation: Mommy's old blue backpack

 (My Dad used to carry me and my siblings in this thing!)

My little red...

getting more personality with every single smile-filled day!

 (Think they're related?!)

Such a fun age.

SUCH a fun boy.