Fresh Strawberry Muffins

I'm getting all sorts of excited for U-pick strawberry season to come into effect.  T-MINUS 30 DAYS!!!! I have been C-R-A-V-I-N-G strawberries this entire pregnancy and being able to pick buckets of them is the equivalent of a man discovering a free beer tree.

I've found a ton of yummy strawberry recipes...thank YOU Pinterest. but so far this one is my hands down favorite. Fresh Strawberry Muffins.  I got the original recipe from Wendy's Food Files but have, of course, changed it a little.

Fresh Strawberry Muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt (easily can be omitted)
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries

1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon



Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla, mix well.

Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Add alternatively with the milk to the egg mixture. Gently stir in strawberries.


Spoon into muffin pans.

Mix together sugar and cinnamon, sprinkle on top of muffins.

Bake at 400º for 20-25 minutes.  Cool. Devour.  I think these are best within 48 hours of making them.

Be careful....these go FAST. 

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Who doesn't love Eric Carle? I know I loved his books growing up and I'm happy to say that M loves them too. My personal favorite was (is) Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me. M is a big fan of A Very Hungry Caterpillar, A Very Quiet Cricket, A Very Busy Spider, Ten Little Rubber Ducks and Brown Bear, Brown Bear. 

I came across some awesome printables here via Pinterest and while most of them are far too advanced for M at this point I found a couple that would work for him now. It was fairly simple. 

I printed the sheet from the website

Cut out each square.

Spaced the out in a pouch and laminated.
(Use can also use clear contact paper for this step.)

And trimmed the excess plastic off. Viola!

He did the fish by himself! 

M had a blast playing with them.  I helped him match up the animals but I made him help and point out which ones.  He also like pretending to 'swim' through them so that's just bonus fun right there. 

I also thought M would like the lacing cards since he has fun lacing his colored pasta. 

It was another laminating project.  Again, clear contact paper works well too.  Once laminated and trimmed I used a single hole punch (Thanks, Mom!!) to punch out the holes and grabbed some boondoggle for the 'thread'.  I had to help him but we had fun. 

In and pull...which is what he calls it now  :)

Being a little dork. 

 I'm looking forward to making the Mini Coloring Book later this week for road trips.

Play dough time!!

What kid doesn't love play dough?  It's pretty much a staple of American childhood.

What parent doesn't hate the expensive crap they sell in the store? Yea, that's what I thought. And it's not really  'toddler friendly', since part of exploring and learning at that age is taste testing (blech!)

So, I was able to find a simple and edible (although, I wouldn't serve it at your next dinner party) online. I found it here at adelynSTONE. I like it because it has simple ingredients that I already have in my house and there weren't any potential allergens (like peanut butter or honey) so all of M's little friends could potentially join in the fun without worrying about any hospital runs.

Play Dough-

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/4 cup salt
1 tbsp of vegetable oil
2 tsp cream of tarter
FOOD COLORING <--essential (well, to me)

Pour in all ingredients into a saucepan, blend well. It might be touch lumpy but that's ok.  Place over medium heat.  Stir, stir, stir...until desired consistency.  Take out of pan and knead.  This part is so much fun.  I usually do the first part and let M help once it's cooled down a bit.  Store in an airtight container.

ooOOOooohh...pretty. 

And...BAM! 

HOW EASY IS THAT?!?!

One of the best things about this recipe is if there's "waste" at the end of it...who cares?  It takes pennies to make. I plan on sprucing this recipe up for gift ideas come holiday time.

He asks to play with it every day :)

Mommy Wars: Rising Above

So as a member of the online generation, I'm pretty up to date with all the controversial/hot button topics surrounding motherhood and parenting out there. The latest?  The recent Time Magazine breastfeeding cover...yikes.

Hey, don't get me wrong. I breastfed M until he was 14 months and would have continued if he has wanted to. Till how long? Who knows.  I'm all for breastfeeding, which is entirely different post in itself. This article however had little to do with breastfeeding specifically. What? Yea, exactly. The article is actually supposed to be about Attachment Parenting, you know...the breastfeeding, babywearing, cloth diapering, co-sleeping hippies of modern America.  *waves* Hi, that's me. But they wanted shock value, so they went for it.

Did I go into the parenting game armed with my beco, organic cotton onesies and all natural remedies?...uh, no.  I read up on both breastfeeding and formula, co-sleeping and crib sleeping, the ying and the yang. Guess what? I forgot it ALL when I got home with this perfect little nugget who needed me all the time.  I didn't think, "I'm going to do attachment parenting!", I thought, "Just survive the next hour, the next two...till bedtime".  I did what felt natural is all.

Unfortunately in today's media-fueled society is very, very easy to judge others. Motherhood is no exception.  And I had NO idea what I was in for. I had lost touch with most of my friends from high school who had babies, as the natural rhythm of life goes. I had different bottles in mind. *wink* Anywho, because I lost touch, when I got pregnant with M, I joined an online birth club with hundreds of women all over the world who were having babies the same month as I was. Mainly just to see what aches, pains, symptoms, feelings, etc were 'normal'. And like so many other social situations, the subculture of modern mommyhood is just like high school.  It's a competition all on it's own.

Did you know if you give your kid formula, you're setting him up for learning disabilities when he's older?  Or how about if you don't start CIO at 8 weeks, you're child is going to be constantly attached to you for the next 18 years?  And maybe you didn't know this but if you don't start Baby Einstein videos by the 3rd month of life, you've basically ruined any chance of the kid going to Harvard. Ok, obviously I don't agree with any of that and I wish I was just making it up. Unfortunately, those were statements I read from moms to other moms. Along with ensuing drama from that, add... teens posing as moms, with moms with Munchhausen's by proxy, mix in some good ole fashioned female hormones and you got yourself a time bomb waiting to explode.

I hung in there though, armed with my popcorn, with the prime time drama I was watching unfold as I scrolled through pages of nonsense to see if my son's multiple epic poops a day were normal. I couldn't understand why these women were constantly tearing each other for the choices that they made for their families. Some people choose not to breastfeed simply for convenience/work or some people don't feel like they can get adequate sleep when they share a bed or even room with their kid and not everyone has easy access to a washer and dryer so cloth diapering isn't an option, everybody's situation is different.

I was very, very fortunate so find a tiny little subsection of women, less than 20 of the original 1700+ members, that saved me.  Literally saved me.  They are 18 of the most accepting, loving, giving, smart, talented and HILARIOUS women I'm privileged to know. We have every type of mom imaginable in there; from stay at home moms to single moms, new moms and seasoned 'vets', Republicans and Liberals, moms from Canada and even a gorgeous mom from South Africa. And although we may not agree on everything, we always respect each other's decisions. I love the cross section of personalities we have.  We have talked about everything from religion and death, politics and the big one...mommyhood.  And I have never felt slighted or judged in the least. They've helped me more times then I can think and I only hope that I have been able to return the favor a time or too.

In times of need, these women have gone above and beyond for each other. When one needs reassurance for a impending doctors appointment, she's bombarded with supportive texts. When one needs legal/IT/money advice, someone is always there with an answer.  When one couldn't have her mother with her when she had a new baby, we all chipped in and bought a plane ticket for her mother to fly across country to be there with her daughter. This women are amazing.

We're confronted by choices every day.  Coke or Pepsi, Republican or Democrat, iPad or Kindle, white meat or dark meat...the list so goes. And you're constantly having to defend your answer. And when fellow mothers have college degrees, you're going to have to back up your parenting choices with an explanation...4-5 pages, single spaced, APA format.  Ok, not really but you get where I'm going.  Motherhood isn't just something that you do.  It's a market, it's an arena...and it can be a damn bloodbath.

The trick is to rise above the, "Why is your son crawling yet? Grayson's been on the go since he was 6 month, 4 days old. Scarlett isn't in preschool yet?  Oh she's going to be so behind in Kindergarten.  Oh, no thank, I don't let Isabelle eat any processed foods, but would you like some organic grade carrots sticks I grew in our garden."  It's hard. But we can do it. Just smile and nod and remember to love your kids as individuals.  They're not going to do the same things at the same time as everyone else. Enjoy them for who they are and find like-minded people who don't give into the competition.

In a modern age where people don't even know their neighbors it's sometimes hard to find a connection.  When you mix in the day-to-day responsibilities and tasks, it's hard to find people to relate to.  I wish more people were able to find this in the world. Be it online or in the 'real' world.  Especially in a time where it's easier to tear someone down and judge them, then open your heart to them.  I know how lucky I am not to have to defend myself or my choices and to just have a place to be myself.

For my wives ♥

The Boy Who Wouldn't Sleep: Part II

If you missed Part I, here it is in a nutshell....my son won't fall asleep alone and after 18 months of little to no sleep we decided it was time for a toddler bed. And here's how THAT'S going...

Night #1-- Test run.  I'm not taking apart that crib unless I have to. 

Ghetto Set-up

Asleep on his ghetto set up by 10:30pm.  Little to no sleep for this anxious mama, I was checking on him constantly.  Woke up at 2:30am. Laid down with him in his room, asleep in less than 10 minutes.  Woke up at 4am, Joe got him back to sleep in about the same time. Slept till 6:30am

And this is how we ended.

Night #2-- Converted his crib to a toddler bed and got a bed rail for safety.

This is how we started out...

Asleep by 9:30 in his converted crib.  Woke up at midnight. Would NOT go back to sleep in the bed. Pulled mattress onto floor.  Slept till 4am. Back to sleep in 5 minutes. Slept till 6:30am 

THIS IS SPARTA!!

Night #3-- We ditched the crib.

Asleep by 9:30pm no bed, just a mattress on the floor. Woke up at 2am. Would NOT go back to sleep in his own bed, up until 4am.  Got him back to sleep in his bed, slept till 7:30am.

Bedtime stories...in BED!!

Night #4-- Asleep by 10pm.  Woke up at 3am. In bed with us. Mommy fail, I was exhausted.  Family snuggles  until 8am.



Night #5-- Asleep by 10pm.  Freakin' thunderstorms. Woke up SIX TIMES between 10pm and 1am. I gave up and let him sleep with us. Family snuggles until 8am.

Cause he's a big boy now.

Night #6--Asleep by 9pm. Woke up at 3:30.  Back to sleep for an hour, then up for the day. *sigh*


Night #7- Bought new special big boy bedding.
In bed at 10:30pm.  Woke up at 4:30.  Back to sleep in few minutes, slept till 9am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

......and that hasn't happened since.  M has consistently been waking up 2-3 times a night for the past week (week 2). He's ended up in our bed twice because I'm too exhausted to play his games. Although, last night I was able to get him to sleep in our bed and carry him to his bed later.  Worked for a couple of hours... *sigh* I miss sleep. But for the sake of (what's left of) my sanity, we're not going back!  We're muddling through this DAMN IT!  He will sleep through the night....eventually.

Update: Last night, he only woke up once at 2am! Came in, grabbed my hand, led me back to his room, then asked me to lay down. It's 7am, and he JUST woke up.  I'm NOT calling this a fluke, I'm calling it PROGRESS!!!!!!

Felt Fishing Fun!

My mom was really into doing crafts with us when we were younger.  One of my own personal favorites was the "Fishing Game."  Maybe it's because magnets are super cool to young kids....or maybe it was because we were allowed to hang off the back of the couch to play.  Regardless, it was something that I knew I wanted to do with my own kids.

M has recently acquired a fascination with fish.  Fish, fish, fish! When we went to the National Museum of Play he was mesmerized by the aquariums.  His father got him some pet fish, which he talks to and feeds every day, so I thought this might be the perfect time to introduce this game.

Supplies:
Felt
Scissors
Yarn or String
Paper clips
Magnet
Wooden Dowel
Googly Eyes
Glue gun
Fish Templates

I spent maybe $10 on this craft (I already had scissors and glue gun) which in itself is a huge bonus.

First, I had to find fish to cut out. I'm not artistic at ALL, so you might be able to free hand cutting out fish if you are. If you're like me just search "Fish Template" and under the image results you should find a bunch.  I ended up using 4 different kinds because I like variety.

Second, trace templates onto felt, I just used a fine point Sharpie. I was able to utilize my awesome sugar cookie cutting skills and fit one 'set' of fish on each square of felt.  You'll be using two cutouts for each fish.

Third, cut, cut, cut. I found this worked best while watching my favorite tv shows paired with Ben & Jerry's after M went to bed. Ok, that last part isn't necessary...but it helps :)

Fourth, GLUE GUN TIME!! Who doesn't love using glue guns?  I know I do. Lay out each pair of fish placing a paper clip in between. Press together. 

Fifth, add googly eyes.  Again, this isn't necessary but I think it's a super fun/cute addition and it just takes an extra minute or two. 

Sixth, take wooden dowel, attach yarn or string with magnet tied to the end. I had to cut mine in half because they were out of the shorter dowels at my local AC Moore but that means I have an extra for playdates!

Final step....Go Fishing!! M had a blast and a half with this. The first day he kept going back to it over and over again. I think he'll be ready for fishing with his grandpa in no time!!

Checking out his fishin' pole.

First attempt..miss....

Second?...GOT IT!!

Playing with the fishes.

He realized it was easier standing

I think this is something that will work for a long time by adding a degree of difficulty to it. 

I'm already thinking of the numerous possibilities of numbers and letters glued onto the fish. 

Please ignore my messy house, I'd rather do fun stuff with him like this than clean. 

The Boy Who Wouldn't Sleep: Part I

Joe and I have always loved sleep. B.B. (before babies) we would sleep till noon easily.  So, naturally, I thought I would give birth to a like-minded little individual.  I. was. so. wrong. My child hates sleep. Well not really, my child hates to sleep alone.

A rare shot of him sleeping alone. 

When he was just a wee little nugget, he slept pretty good for a breastfed baby. Up every two to three hours to eat, not too uncommon. Then he hit a growth spurt around 3 months and just when I started getting 3-4 hours straight of sleep, he went back to nursing every 2 hours. Ugh.  Well, I was exhausted at that point because as I have mentioned above, my dear husband likes, no NEEDS, his sleep so I was pretty much doing this middle of the night crap solo.  One night whilst nursing my hungry little dude...I fell asleep.  I had propped myself up to about a 45 degree angle and he had managed to slide off my chest and more to my side, still cradled in my arms.  I woke up to him searching for more food.  And thus began our co-sleeping.

Where it all started....

He slept and nursed in our bed till he was about 7 months then we tried transitioning him to his crib but he was still waking up every 2-3 hours to eat (read: I get up with him) sooo I would just end up bringing him in bed with me because I was so tired. But at 11 months old when he STILL was waking up 2-3x a night and I was STILL getting little to no sleep, I demanded to Joe that we do Cry-It-Out (CIO). Well, Joe has an issue with crying. He can't handle it.  So that was hard dealing with two very frustrated boys, but after a week M seemed to get it and started sleeping from about 8pm to 4am in his crib.  At 4...guess where he went? You betcha! My bed. I'm lazy...feel free to judge.

I got to admit...I love it. 

From about 12 to 18 months he slowly started sleeping later.  The best was the weeks where 4-5 out of the 7 nights he would actually sleep from 8-8:30pm to 6:30-7:30am.  *sigh*....those were few and far between.  He'd wake up in the middle of the night because he was sick, in pain (from an injured hand), teething, freakin' squirrels in the attic chasing their nuts <----I so wish I was kidding about that. Or maybe that night the planets weren't aligned in the correct configuration, I don't know. The point is, he would wake up and no matter how much I rocked him or how inviting I made his crib, he hated it in there and wanted to be with us and doing CIO that late was not an option for my husband.

I get it, I totally 'ruined' him. He wants to be cuddled and loved all the time.  He's a snuggler just like both his parents so I can't really blame the boy. He will only fall asleep in the car or with someone laying down with him.  That's just how it is.  One night, after a week of M waking up multiple times every night for a week Joe suggested that we just transition him to a toddler bed because around the time he was 12 months old we gave up on the crib for naps and would just lay with him on a blanket on the floor in his room.  I was very, very reluctant. I wasn't ready to give up 'baby jail' yet. Welllll, one night I was putting M to sleep and it was taking forever, over an hour of crying and screaming; M was pissed too. In a fit of parental frustration, I pulled his mattress out of his crib, plopped it on the floor, surrounded it with blankets and pillows and he was out in less than two minutes. Crap. He's a big boy now.

This is where we are now. 

Stay tuned for Part II of The Chronicles of the Boy Who Wouldn't Sleep...

National Museum of Play

Yesterday, we took M to the National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY.  I had seen an ad for it's Wizard of Oz exhibit on PBS and immediately wanted to go (for those of you who aren't aware, I'm the biggest Wizard of Oz geek). Well, the exhibit closes next week and after weeks and weeks of prodding and bribing I finally got the hubby on board to go. Well, guess who had a blast? EVERYONE!!!

We left pretty early in the morning, took us about 2 hours to get there thanks to construction.  Thankfully, little dude took a quick cat nap before we pulled in or I don't think he would have been able to go as long as he did. We were there for over three glorious hours and only did about a third of what was there. I have never seen the boys so happy and excited. I cannot wait to go again.

Basics you should know...

• Kids under 2: FREE!... Children (2-15): $11... Adults (16+): $13... and Seniors (62+):$12              They do have memberships but because we live so far away we opted out at this point, maybe when the kids are older. 
• Food Court: Lunch gets kind of crazy around there, we hit up the retro diner a little before noon.  Good call too because right after we sat down they were swarmed. They also have a Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Subway and Louie's Sweet Shop.
• They have little quiet areas strategically placed all around in case you need a place to feed your infant, your child gets overwhelmed or like this tired prego, just need a place to rest for a few minutes.
• Make and Take Crafts!  M wasn't into this but I'm sure he will be when he's older. 
• Free Parking...need I say more? 

Same face. I love it.

Rubber ducky room

Hey, who's that handsome guy on TV?

Hikin' uphill in the tilted room

It's harder than it looks

The Sesame Street Exhibit was by FAR his favorite area.  We could 

have spent all day in there and he would have loved every minute of it.

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street? Sure can!!

Aww...I wanted to meet Oscar..

Lala..la..la...lala...la..la...

Who doesn't love Elmo?

Mr. Noodle!

On TV with The Count!!

His mind was blown...

.

Hello? Elmo? 

Big Bird's Nest 

Intermission

He could barely sit down and eat his lunch.
He wanted to get back to the FUN!!!

They had so many awesome exhibits, a post office, a theater, a sailboat.  

All with 'real' parts for the kids to use.

Making music

Work, work, work

Writing a letter to his friends.

My favorite exhibit! We're off to see the Wizard!

The 5-year-old in me was totally in heaven. 

But you know I *had* to take a picture of the shoes...

Feeding the cow...which was hilarious to him. 

Brag Moment: He knew all the
 animal sounds :)

Mama! SUNSHINE!!
(which is what he calls anything yellow)

Couldn't be happier to be on the
Yellow Brick Road with my
own little munchkin.

That's one proud Dad. 

An area devoted to Comic books!! Geek out time!!

My heroes off to see their heroes!

How awesome is this? You can snap a picture and email it to yourself!

Always be Batman.

         

There were tons of little places to explore in Reading Adventureland.

There are tons of little play areas like this located around the museum.

Dr. Suess

Fairy Tale

Neverland

He loved running across the wobbly

pirate bridge. 

It's Wizard's Chess!!

Prince Maddox!

What a dork...

He was obsessed will the
 Who-ville Mirror.

SQUEE!!!

eGameRevolution: Every Gamers' Disneyland

Oh yea, Joe was in heaven

A life size Lite Brite! 

Dance Floor

I cannot wait to take the boys here again. I highly recommend this to anyone who 

is close to Rochester. It's a place where everyone for 1 to 100 can have fun! 

Anddddd...Done!!