Will I be "Fed Up" by May 9th??

I wish I didn't... I wish it wasn't in EVERYTHING... I wish every holiday, special occasion, day that ends in "y" I would stop justifying my sweet tooth and just quit it all.

A few weeks ago I was trying to cut back on my sugar intake after reading 25 things that will terrify you about sugar. I knew it would be drastic and crazy and impossible to go cold turkey.

The next day one of my 5th graders was reading a food label (that is a whole other issue I don't dare get into right now) of a birthday treat from his classmate and said, "Wow, this has our entire daily value of sugar in this!  And he actually only ate one of the three truffles and saved the other"  At that moment, I wanted to have that self control... I wanted Declan to someday have that awareness and control.

I don't want to be that crazy person and crazy mom that never lets Declan have sugar... But I do want to be that crazy person and mom that allows it very little until Declan is truly old enough to read the food label and have the self control like my student did!  And being truly honest, I want to selfishly prevent as few temper tantrums and refusals to eat other food when that stage starts.  So I am looking forward to the documentary that can hopefully help me (scare and brainwash me more to continue cutting back)  We will see what "Fed Up" convinces me of after May 9th.

On a related sidenote, being a mom has made me worry more and try to control things I know in my mind I really won't be able to control long or forever, but as day by day goes by, the true magnitude of being a parent has hit me hard as Declan is imitating more, "speaking" at us all the time, doing and exploring unsafe things, etc...

 I'm am also reading THE ONE BOOK I am begging Andy to read, Brain Rules for a smart and happy Baby: 0 to 5 now.  I can't stop thinking how we'll do some of the common sense and not so obvious things that research shows can influence and guide kids to be moral, hard working (smart), and content (happy).   A lot of it is obvious to me as a teacher and good review from my psychology classes, but I love the research studies explained in easy to understand terms.  But the obvious things to do are still HARD WORK as a parent!  Practicing and teaching empathy and emotions are so intertwined in the brain!  I plan to blog about this book more this summer (once I finish it, reread it, takes notes on it and digest how we really can do it) but I would seriously recommend this book to any new parent or parent of a kid under 5... Because if your kid is over 5... they may already be screwed up ;) j/k... sort of... parts of the book alarm me.  Especially the importance of face time in kids 0-5 and all that they are just waiting for time to tell what technology/screens beyond TV do.  

Spring Break Myrtle Beach

When we booked this vacation over a year ago, we were hoping for summer like weather in SC, relaxing fun with family and baby,  and lots of golf... Well I got 1.5 of those things... You can guess the combination ;)  But in all reality, bringing both WI Thrall's and Linehan/Larsin's wasn't the "stressful" part.. and neither was Declan... it was all in my head constantly worrying if people were having fun and what I had to have for Declan, when he would nap/eat, etc... Finally, by day 4 I was able to relax about it all and enjoy myself!  We had plenty of adventures and everyone did have lots of fun despite my early worrying!

The weather wasn't hot-summer like, but at least it was what we'd like spring weather to be in WI and MN now... We had two days above 60 (day we got here and day we left ;) ) but it was still nice to have no snirt around... Snow+Dirt... my new favorite word Britt taught me!  And there was a pool.  Declan loves swimming and water.  I see a TigerShark in our future!! :)

A group of us went to Pawley’s Island Hammock shops where Tim got his new rope hammock and Britt got scolded by Armenia women for tipping a giggling Declan backwards/upside down! 

Our day in Charleston went smoothly, (except for new waitress at our lunch restaurant who didn’t know how to split checks, run credit cards, give change, etc…  paying took 25mn and left us running to catch our ferry to Fort Sumter!)   Shopping on Market Street, seeing Rainbow row and the mansions on the Waterfront, and learning the history of the Fort Sumter made for a full day! 

We played two rounds of golf on different courses of Myrtle Beach National, South Creek and the West course.  My favorite was the West Course (and not just cuz I had one of my best rounds ever beating Andy straight up, but did enjoy it’s friendly layout and fun slopped/tiered greens and variety of holes.  We played Blackmoor and it was very short for ladies so I played the gold tees, but it had 7 dog legs… all the holes felt similar.    However… random side note. Never use FedEx.Com to “estimate” shipping golf clubs home…  We have travel airbags you can borrow!    Our online estimate was 35$... never read anywhere about them charging for the box (25$!!) and really the shipping was 55 plus box… so 75 bucks was a painful bill to pay.

While most of us got three rounds of 18 holes in, Lance also enjoyed getting his round of 18 holes in… on a mini-golf course.  He was also in his glory there talking ‘Lance-smack’… a little calmer and sweeter than typically ‘Thrall-smack’…  Timmy’s favorite Lance-line was, “Last time I did this was ‘02 or ‘03… ..’02 or ‘03 days ago, practicing to kick your butts!”  Lance and big Tim tied in the boys group while Sue kicked all the ladies!

The last two days we squeezed in more fun! Sue, Britt & Lance got to take a helicopter ride over the city and beaches!  Lance was a like a little kid after the flight, calling his buddies to tell him he was just flying in a helicopter.  Lance got his Tutti-Fruitti ice cream after 60 years as he told everyone walking back on the boardwalk!  Sue and Britt also enjoyed the sculpture/flower garden at Brooksgreen Gardens.   Connie, Britt and I had to do the SkyWheel at Jimmy Buffett’s Landshark Restaurant to view the ocean!  And though the weather wasn’t as summery/hot as I wished, it never interfered with our fun and just our packing up morning was the only morning it rained! 

Now back to the real world of working looking forward to our spring weather to get here!  Guessing this will be my last blog until summer as the next two months will be busy for me!  Andy and Declan will have lots of bonding time as I finish out the school year while coaching our Laker girl’s golf team!

Dear Declan! You're 9 Months ALREADY!!

My Dearest Declan!

You're 9 months old today!!  You have been with us in this world as long as you were in my belly and that is so amazing to me! This nine months went faster than being pregnant and was a whole lot more fun (and comfortable!!)

2014 has been a lot of fun so far!  We ice fished, spent weekends with Grandma and Auntie, and went to a fun baby shower celebrating Baby Purkat!  You aren't the only baby on the Thrall side anymore as cousin Luke was born and soon Jen & Corey's Baby P will be here in April!  My bet is on a baby girl Purkat!  We also went to 3M bowling fun day with Albrechts and Schwedlers.

Dad has been back on straight days since mid-Jan and that has been wonderful for me, as he does morning drop off at Jessica's and I get to see the smiley guy for pick up!  But Dad has tons of fun getting your diaper changed and getting your dressed in the morning. You love rolling all over and finding toys.  

You eat a ton!  I thought you would eat less often eating more adult food now, but now you are just eating or drinking milk all the time!  You love food full of flavor and have been eating lots of protein now!  

We have baby proofed our house as you have discovered cupboards, Croix's waterbowl and our swinging door block of poker chips fell on your hand once :(  

Age: 9 months    (Dr. Appt. Mon 17th!  First St. Patrick's Day for my little Irish boy!) 

Weight:  Guessing.. 21lb      Way off... as always with weight.... 18 lb 11 oz

Length: 28 inches                Closer... 28 1/2"
Head:  18 inches                  RIGHT ON!  18"

Feats/Mobility: You are back to being a great sleeper!  Thank You! You are officially crawling on all fours, though somethings you still army crawl or stick out a back leg in half the splits.  You pull yourself up on things pretty quickly too!  You love jumping with us or in your doorway jumper (The bouncy house at Talan's birthday was a little scary at first but you liked it better as day went on!)  

Likes:  Mom... You get more nervous when Dad or me (but especially me) are not in your sight   You read books alone and give them to us now.  Balls and Balloons!  You still LOVE dogs... this weekend we have Brockway and Fin with us!  

Dislikes: Getting into your carseat still causes a small scene. The word NO and taking you away from dangerous things gets a tantrum from you.   

We are off to Myrtle Beach with both families in two weeks! You'll have your first plane ride and see the ocean and eat lots of seafood with us! (And we'll be away from winter and hope to come back to true MN spring!)

Love you through and through,

Mom

From your daddy:  I've been too silent on all of mommy's blogs.  You have grown up way too quickly and I never realized how fast the time flies by.  Every day, I can't wait to see what you will be up to or get into.  Each morning, the first smile on your face when I come in your room is the best start to any day I could ask for.  Watching you play with toys and trying to figure out what you are thinking is one of the great mysteries.  

Now that you've started crawling, you've added new surprises to what I need to be expecting.  You've shown up in the bathroom while I'm getting ready.  I've found you pulling candy out of the pantry (at least you haven't figured out how to unwrap it yet) and you've even tried to get out of the back door.  As you've grown older, I've thought of putting one of the cats' collars on you.  The truth in parenting is so accurate...silence is such a danger, if I can't hear you, you probably are doing something you shouldn't be.  

Being able to spend more time with you since getting back to a normal day job has been one of the greatest joys.  You've been the wallpaper on my computer and I love getting new pictures of you to share.  At times, the job gets very stressful but all I have to do is take a step back, close some programs and spend a minute looking at my little boy and everything else melts away.  

I dread nap times and every evening as 7:30 rolls around because it means I have to let you sleep and I don't get to spend more time with you.  But you wake up soon enough and your smile captures my heart again!

Love you Munchkin Man~ Daddy

Freezer Meal Making Day!

My evenings with my boys go so fast.  And though I like cooking (but can't say the same about dishes) I don't want to spend over an hour in there every night... Even on the simple meals from prep to clean up it's 40 minutes...  Especially now that my baby led weaning Declan is really eating a ton now, pizzas 4 nights a week just won't cut it.  (Just kidding about the 4 nights a week... I would never eat that much pizza to Andy's dismay.)

So I was THRILLED when one of Andy's high school friends told the Facebook world about her Freezer cooking page and she emailed out recipes from their recent day of cooking to me full of other great tips.   

So Saturday, two of us grocery shopped Walmart and Cash Wise via phone  (earbuds recommended next time...) comparing prices on everything.  It took longer but for 72 meals, it was worth the extra hour... 90 bucks a person for 12 meals... I was pleased! 

Just one of the two tables of food.

 And Sunday, we chatted, laughed and cried (over onions), opened cans, browned some beef, chopped, prepped, poured and only messed up tablespoons for teaspoons once (it was garlic... everyone loves garlic!) in around 4 hours.  

If this interests you, let me know!  I seriously want to continue this after only two meals of ease! Tonight,  I for sure had an extra 40 minutes to an hour to play and relax (and blog on a weeknight...!)  I want to get a calendar date set and a rotation going of where we cook, who shops etc.  I'll be happy to find recipe ideas and  keep up the recipes/grocery lists/label making for bags!

If this interests you, but you are nowhere near Hutch or have enough friends closer to you to get your own groups going, some links are below for ideas!  We did just 12 of the 16 recipes on that page.  The labels are the cooking directions that label the ziploc bags and the grocery list is of the 12 recipes we did.  It's an excel chart you can edit based on number of people you are prepping/cooking with.  

Other tips are having people bring a cutting board, 2 or 3 mixing bowls, knife, onion choppers, measuring utensils and if not a lot of spice is used, see if people have that in their spice cupboard.  Lay out the recipes and put the ingredients in each zone.   

Recipes

Labels

Grocery List

My 12 meals ready to go in the freezer!

Santa Fe Chicken we had tonight.  Last night was Enchiladas!

My Framily

Nope, that is not a typo (though I know these posts can be full of them... proofreading is not my strong point...feel free to comment any typos you find)  It's just a stolen word from Sprint's new ads about Framily Plans.

But it got me thinking how lucky we are to have such good Framily in Hutch with our families too far of a drive away to help watch Declan on a whim and swing in for dinner.  Plus, Declan most likely won't be having cousins anytime soon, so I love that he has friends his age close by.  You know... because an almost 8 month-old totally need friends.  Or shall I make the new word frousins... or cousiends... Ok, I'll stop attemping humor and just put up the cute pics of Dec and friends.

Major positives of two more cold days... visits from Malorie, Noah and Cameron (who I sadly forgot to get pics with, but Bailey loving on Croix will have to do :) )   Their parents all came too... adult time was great!  

Andy has been off shift work for a few weeks now, but for the past year and half, I was so grateful to be invited to Sarah and Dave's house for dinners and walks and playtime whenever Andy was on afternoons and I was lonely by Wednesday.    Dave is still on shifts so I'm trying to pay Sarah back for all the meals they fed me.  Her and the boys have been over a couple times so far this year, but I hope to get them over a lot more.  As hard as shift work was on me with one baby, she has 2.5 kiddos and is inspirational!   I couldn't be more thankful for her friendship and our conversations on life, love and advice on anything baby ;)

Declan and Daddy on Dad's Birthday

This past weekend = more Framily time!  We got to celebrate Andy's 31st birthday with our Schwedler Framily and my first Andie and Jesse.  While Andie and Jesse graciously watched Declan before dinner, we went to Cabaret (and though this blog is not a review for theater I have to prepare others... the show was very well done, I'm so glad we saw it,  but don't go to the show to be uplifted... I knew nothing of the storyline and was caught off guard.. I'm leaving it at that...)  

I got in trouble for taking this picture... 

Sunday, Schwedler's came over for brats, AMAZING cake from Costco that I may just get a membership to buy that cake from, playing with golf and there may have been some football game on in the background too...  Eli held Declan before bed practicing his future big brother skills!  

Crazy Things we do to make Declan Laugh!

I said today, "Wow, we may have been weird before Declan, but we are WEIRD now."

And I said this because of what I just spend 10 minutes doing to make Declan laugh.  I was chasing Declan (and Andy) around with my Vikings Santa hat, shaking my head so the poof ball would almost get him (and get him).  He was laughing hysterically and we just made laps around the house.

So that got me thinking, what else have we done to get Declan laughing?

1) Snapped a belt
2) Waved towels in his face saying Whoosh
3) Played peek-a-boo
4) Stuck my tongue out and wiggled it a whole bunch for over 15 minutes
5) Played tug-o-war with Croix forever
6) Blew raspberries
7) Chewed on his toes or whatever toy he is also chewing on.
8) Say any nonsense onomatopoeia word
9) Danced with Croix or just tapped/galloped/danced all around him
10) And of course the santa hat poof ball!


I know it will continue... and I am so ready for that!

(I didn 't realize I never hit publish on this blog back when it was written in December.  But it still continues and many of those same things still work!  He still belly laughs often, and my favorite now is when we find him laughing at his own toys.  Plus he is jabbering like crazy in the last week!)

On Feb 10th... Watching Dad give dogs Pepperoni!

Celebrating the Lakes... the frozen, frigid, freakin' cold lakes

Trust me... I am not "celebrating" this weather.  I usually defend Minnesota and snow and variety in seasons to my desert loving husband, but this year, I am tiring of the "cold days" off of school... Feel like I can't get a normal week in with my students!  But I am just trying to stay positive and do treasure the extra days with Declan and his different stages that are flying by!

Cold aside,  it was fun to just be in a 80 degree fish house, eating already caught fish (because we caught none :( ) , and laughing with family and friends we don't see enough!

 Getting rested before the action!

    HERE FISHY FISHY FISHY!!     

          I READY TO BRAVE THE COLD!

 Declan loves dogs and this little Rusty is his newest paw buddy!