Wordless Wednesday: All Clean!

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Mamatography: Days 232-238

Mamatography: A 365 Day Photography Project. At least one picture per day of what you did that day.

 Aw Geez! This week has flown by! I've been preparing for school to start (It starts in two days!) and getting Little I switched to a different daycare. He'll actually be going back to his original daycare for a few different reasons: 1) I am tired of him getting bitten/injured for no reason, 2) His old daycare has made a lot of staff changes and the teachers that I actually liked before are still there--except one, boo! 3) they have a preschool class, and 4) They are rated with a 2 Star Step Up To Quality rating in a 3 star quality rating system. 

I'm really excited for him to start preschool, and for once he's sharing in the excitement. He keeps asking when he gets to go to his new school.

And now, on to our week in photos:

Sunday, as always, we went to church and then had dinner with my family. We spent some time winding down later, and Little I decided that this was the best way to get his chair to lean back without the risk of falling over.

We got a mini "learning" trampoline (it was the cheapest) because my friend has one and her daughter and Little I were fighting over jumping on it when we were over there last. He LOVES it. He can get some pretty big air too.

.Tuesday, we cut Little I's hair again. I buzzed it again because it just grows so fast!

The first feel..

Wednesday was Mama day, so my mom (his Mama) picked him up a little after 5 p.m. when she got off work

Waiting for Mama.

My order from Kmart finally came in too! Little I loves his replacement pool since his one from last year somehow got a hole in it.

He loves his new pool.

Apparently this is how people from my neighborhood walk around. In the middle of the day. Down a street with TONS of kids playing.

When we were playing in the pool on Friday, the train that runs right behind my house made itself known, and Little I reacted like he normally does:

The face of fear. He covers his ears and clings to me.

 The train:

Little I used to think it looks like something from Chuggington.

Finally pulled him away from his trampoline and pool and he played with his trike and other toys today.

The Trike

Lining up his cars. He Always does this.

Wordless Wednesday: Haircut

The finished product.

Look at all that hair!

First feel, not sure he likes it.

Mamatography: Days 225-231

Mamatography: A 365 Day Photography Project. At least one picture per day of what you did that day.

 Sunday we had dinner (aka lunch, but on Sundays it's called dinner?) with my family and, as always, Little I was a ball of energy and nearly every word out of his mouth made us laugh.Then we came home and took a nap, made chocolate milkshakes, and played with puzzles, his art easel, and lots of cars. By the way, chocolate milkshakes leave a very distinct mustache.

Some smiles and chocolate milkshake mustaches. Oh, and some Very blue eyes.

Monday started off with some silliness. Then we went to the library, gas station, and then back to the library because I forgot to return a book. After that, we came home and painted with watercolors for the first time at home. Little I has done wonderfully with the water colors and my floors show no sign that they're even here. :-) 

I also bid on, and won, a Nikon D3100 with AF-S 18-55mm lens. I'll be expecting that sometime by next Monday and then I'll finally get to start working with a DSLR camera! So excited, you have no idea!

At breakfast Little I decided that his car basket made the perfect hat.

First time with watercolors at home. (we've been using the color wonder equivalent until now)

 Tuesday we went to the grocery store, painted with more water colors, colored on the dry erase side of the easel with Crayola's washable dry erase markers and spent some time before bed time in the bathroom painting with shaving cream and food coloring.

Painting with shaving cream in the bathtub.

 Wednesday cleaned a bit and after a long nap (for Little I) my mom picked him up for Mama/Papa day

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 Thursday I watched my best friend's 2 sons for a few hours M, who you've seen in a previous post, and X, who turned one that day.

I put Little I's 1st birthday shirt on X to send him home in.

 Then my Nikon D3100 that I got on Ebay finally came (after waiting all day while UPS said it was on truck for delivery) at 5:30pm. I actually had a bit of a panic moment when I accidentally entered an old tracking number from a Paypal shipping confirmation email and it said it had been delivered.. but it wasn't here. It took me a bit, but I finally realized the date said 7/31 instead of 8/16. Haha.


Friday we were going to go to the park. What better place to try out my new camera? But then the weather decided it didn't like my plans and it rained. I tried out a few things inside, but there wasn't enough light in the house.We went to my parents house for dinner, and Little I played on the floor with Papa, which doesn't happen often because he has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

Paying with Papa, being careful not to bounce. :-)

 Saturday we were busy all day! Finally we stopped for lunch at Swensons drive in (only in Ohio), which is my FAVORITE place to eat ever (it's better than A&W in my opinion).

Waiting for our food in the car

All in all, it was a wonderful week, and hopefully I'll have time to play with my camera this week!

Shaving Cream Paint: Pinterest Sunday

It's Pinterest Sunday! Each Sunday I post about a project, craft, food or anything else I've done with ideas from Pinterest.

This week it was all about shaving cream. My mom gave me a couple cans a while ago and I just came across a pin for different play uses. This comes from a list from The Artful Parent. This week we did a few different numbers on the list and plan to do more in the coming weeks. So far we have done #12 and #18. We got tons of pictures from the body art/bathtub art, but not so much from the mirror art, which took place with the body art.

The beginning.

After adding food coloring. Left one white.

The runway of plastic left over from painting.

Body painting

Starting to paint the bathtub.

When the colors started mixing together.

Smooshing the plate to get the rest of the shaving cream on the wall.

The finished product.

Feelings on Single Parenting

I read a blog today that listed 8 reasons why being a single parent blows. It's not a blog I normally read, but it got me thinking. There are plenty of things I dislike about single parenting. But there are also tons of things that make up for those other things. 

Things I dislike:

1. Not having a real night "off" in 3 months. Now, my parents take Little I every Wednesday from 5-5:30pm to about 7:30 or 8pm. While they have him, I either a) clean the house, b) take a shower/bath, or c) catch up on school work or other things I have let slide.  Usually more than one of that list. 

2. Not having someone to back me up in my parenting choices. The rest of my family doesn't necessarily share my view on some things (cloth diapers, discipline, etc.) It would be really nice to have someone there to back me up, or, if need be, calmly talk to me about those choices. 

3. Cleaning all the time. Little I does help out a bit now that he's getting older. He picks up his toys, puts his dishes in the sink and trash in the trash can. But there are things that he can't do yet, and so all of that is on me. I specifically hate cleaning up pee from everywhere. I know he's only been potty trained for 7 months, but having to clean up pee off the floor, carpet, bed, toilet seat, walls, and clothes alone just drives me berserk.

4. Sleep. We started co-sleeping in the very beginning because it was so much easier to just whip out a boob to nurse as apposed to actually fully waking up and going into another room to nurse at night. I definitely got more sleep in the beginning because of this. I really feel the need to keep him in my room/bed with me because we don't live in the best neighborhood, but he is such an active sleeper that it's ridiculous. I think if I had a partner, we either wouldn't live around here or I would at least feel more secure and could sleep without him.

5. I haven't gone on a date in ages, and the last guy I dated didn't even make it long enough to meet Little I (my rule is 6 months, or we're getting "serious"). Also, you know the other thing adults like to do in bed? I really miss that too. I guess that's partially my fault, since my belief is that if I'm not ready for him to meet Little I, why would I chance making another child with him?

6. With it being only us, I've gotten into a routine of just fixing what he likes to eat. It has gotten really bad though. His proteins consist of any nut butter and chicken (breaded and baked). He will rarely touch vegetables unless they're in a juice or smoothie. Luckily he will eat just about any fruit, bread, or dairy.

Now for the things that make up for it. Some of these are just about being a mom, one or two focus on single parenting:

1. Cuddles. Did you know that one little cuddle or hug or kiss can make all your worries disappear for a while? 

2. Not having to let someone else dictate how I raise my child. Really, that's one of the very few positives of Little I's dad not being involved. And when I think back to how it was when he was here, let's just say controlling isn't the word for it. 

3. Seeing old cartoons that I loved and having him love them too. Who knew Gumby would be popular with him. Now I just have to find a video of Eureka's Castle to show him.

4. Seeing the world through his eyes. Everything looks much brighter and happy. 

5. Unconditional love that goes both ways. No matter what I do or how bad of a mood I'm in, he still loves me, and conversely, I'll always love him and show him that no matter what his behavior is like or what he says. 

6. Beginning to understand my parents better. Now that I am a parent, I feel so much more grateful to them for everything they've done for me (and are continuing to do). I am much more willing to do things around their house now that I'm not living there and know some of what they went through while raising us 3 girls. 

7. Freedom to choose what religion I want to bring Little I up in. We go to a Christian and Missionary Alliance church. It's the type of church my grandpa pastored and where I grew up. I like the values of the church and the other area C&MA churches. Little I's dad didn't feel the same way. He didn't want to go to church there and didn't want me to take part in a dedication ceremony for Little I. (which I did shortly after we broke up)

8. Being able to stay in one place if I want to. I live in Northeast Ohio. Not a lot of people my age like Ohio. Personally, I could do with a bit of steady weather--the joke here is if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes--but really Ohio, specifically around Akron, is the only place I see myself raising a family right now. It's also where  my mom's side of the family is. Most of us live within 20-30 minutes of each other.

There are so many more things that I just can't put into words right now, but all of these things add up to one thing: us. I wouldn't change anything for the world because it all factors into how we are as a family and individuals. And while we are not perfect and have many "bad" days, all that matters is that we love each other and we are happy in the end. 

Wordless Wednesday: Up Close and Personal

Berry Wash: Pinterest Sunday

It's Pinterest Sunday! I've done a few things from Pinterest this week, but the only one that is truly "complete" is this:
A method of washing your berries (and other things) so that they don't mold before you're ready to eat them, via  Food Lush.

Basically you make a 1:10 solution of vinegar to water, soak the berries (or whatever), rinse, and store until you're ready to eat them.

Soaking the grapes and strawberries.

Rinsing

Storing the strawberries

Storing the grapes

There really is no vinegary aftertaste, and, wouldn't ya know, this is the first time in forever that we finished the fruits the same week we bought them. However, they did last until Saturday (we bought them Tuesday) with no mold. I'll be doing this with all the fresh fruits we buy from now on!

Mamatography: Days 218-224

Mamatography: A 365 Day Photography Project. At least one picture per day of what you did that day.

 

This week has had its ups and downs. I've been trying to go over to my parents more because that's where Mamaw is staying. There have been a lot of tears and prayers. I think she has just given up. She has been starting to write down who will get what when she dies, and any time we're down at her house she constantly asks, "Do you want to take that home today?"

Today my cousin had a birthday party for her son. (Can these kids just stop getting older already?) There were just so many people there that I almost had a panic attack. I think it's because I'm already overly emotional all the time. 

Little I has random conversations all the time now, some are with me but most are between his tractors/trucks/animals. It's pretty hilarious, actually. I overheard him today being his tractors' voices. It went like this: 

John Deere Tractor: "You're my hero, red tractor."

Casie IH Tractor: "I know I'm your hero. It's because I'm red."

And then his horse started complaining because Little I "falled" him. 

He's definitely my rock lately; any time I start to get upset, it's like he senses it and does something to make me smile or comes and cuddles. I couldn't ask for a better son.

 

I love this little boy.

Yay, bathroom picture? Oh, I got a new bathmat ^^ see?

I reorganized the fridge so Little I can reach everything he's allowed to.

Painting a picture.

The finished product

Little I's breakfast. Yes, he asked for all of that.

Midnight snack: chocolate-peanut butter milkshake. Love my immersion blender.

A really intense cheese face?

My sister and I had to arrange the pegs in the game at Cracker Barrel before we could play. Oh, and yes the one on the left bugs me because of the bottom line not being aligned. 

Wordless Wednesday: Chocolate Fountain Cookie