Hundred-Acre Wood

The warm sunny breezes from Tuesday have given way to a chillier, blustery sort of day.  This is the wind that makes the willows weep. This is a day that makes me feel like I'm in the Hundred-Acre Wood and that most of my plans for the day should be replaced with a cup of hot chai and a snuggle session with Oliver and a few good board books.  This is the time of year where most of the leaves have fallen and decor has shifted from ghosts saying "boo" to turkeys reminding us to "give thanks".  Soon thoughts will shift once more to garland strung on banisters, evergreen and hollyberry scented candles and peppermint flavored whipped cream on steaming cups of hot cocoa.

I've tried to plan better for Christmas this year.  Instead of jamming all of our shopping into one Saturday in December where good intentions turn into arguments fueled by frustration because there are still "five more people on our list and we're running out of time just pick something!!", I'm trying to spread out the shopping.  I've tried hard to listen, really listen, throughout this year in hopes that I can pick out the perfect gift instead of "just picking something".  Being at home has also given way to me getting my craft on and so a lot of my gifts this year will be handmade.  Not handmade by an elf in Santa's workshop with a wooden hammer but my me in my craft room/playroom/den/spare bedroom with my glue gun. Here is what I finished up today.  Who knows who it might be going to?! That person, who just might be reading right now, will just have to wait until Christmas! Exciting I know!!

I have a confession to make.  I broke a rule.  I have this set of rules that I live by, most corresponding to seasons and holidays.  Among these rules are watching You've Got Mail every fall, Family Man every Christmas, you have to have a jello cake decorated like the American flag every Fourth of July and so on and so forth. The rule that I broke is sacred to me, it's serious business.  Every fall I vow that I will not under any circumstance do it, but this year I did.  Last weekend I walked down the block in Chicago from my sister's apartment, I opened the door and was overcome by the nutty scent of roasted coffee, I walked up to the counter and I ordered a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha.

My rule is that I have to wait until the day after Thanksgiving before I start indulging in Christmasy coffee drinks.  I might as well have put up my Christmas tree in August and started listening to Christmas music in October.  But...it was worth every chocolatey minty sip.

Ghosties, Penguins, and Cops (Oh my!)

The pumpkins have been picked and the candy has been bought (twice if you must know) and Halloween is here!!  The fact that candy is one of my favorite things on the planet (see above comment) Halloween ranks right up there among my favorite holidays. I don't know if I just remember it differently 20 years later or if things really are different now. My Halloween memories consist of being pigeon-holed into a warm costume because it was always either raining, snowing or bitterly cold (all three if you were really lucky) and it was always pitch black out raising the spooky factor a good 50 percent.  Today trick or treating starts at 5:30 and ends at 8:00 so you really only get 30 to 45 minutes of spooky ambiance and the temperature is forecasted to be about 45 degrees with no rain, maybe those people talking about global warming are on to something?  Regardless of rain or shine it is still Oliver's first Halloween and that's pretty exciting. We had to pick out two costumes because when all the good stuff was in the store it was still about a month and a half away from Halloween and any one that has ever had a baby knows that a whole lot can change on the size front in a month and a half.  So we have the penguin (look at his cute little tail)...

and the policeman...

The mustache paci I saw on Pinterest and followed the link to an Etsy website where they were selling them for $15!!! I thought hogwash, I can make that, so with a bit of felt and my hot glue gun I did!  We'll see which costume fits tonight, either way pretty darn cute if you ask me.

I missed a post last week, sorry about that, we were really busy around here.  Grandpa and Grandma Rekers came for a visit.

We had all sorts of exciting things happening.  We had a Halloween party at the neighbor's house.  I made cake balls that looked like pumpkins and Nutter Butter Ghosties.

I've been making cake balls for several years but only since the cake pop revolution have I started putting them on sticks.  I'll give you my recipe for cake balls at the end of this post.  They can be time consuming but can be the perfect treat for any party from bridal showers to Christmas parties.  Make sure you eat a few after you make them because you more than likely won't get any at your party because they go really fast!

We're on hands and knees now people!

We haven't quite figured out how to put wheels in motion and move forward, but soon I think, very soon.  And then look out world and good-bye knick knacks on bottom shelves for you shall be packed away only to be re-introduced someday when danger has passed.

We're headed to Chicago again this weekend.  Daddy gets to come this time and all the aunties will be there with the exception of Karley.  We initially planned the trip so that we could run the Hot Chocolate 5K Run and it turned into a perfect weekend to reunite with friends and family.  We'll also be lucky enough to meet up with some of our dear friends that we met in Minnesota who now live north of Chicago so it looks like it's going to be a great weekend.  Oh wait, maybe not as great as planned, did I mention that I've run twice since I signed up for this race two months ago? In case you are wondering, no, I am not the type of runner than can pick up where I left off and run when I haven't run a race in months over a year. So if you need me this weekend I'll be laying in the middle of Grant Park trying to recuperate from the heart attack I am sure to have at about mile 1.


Cake Balls:
1 store bought cake mix
1/2 can store bought frosting (coordinating flavor, chocolate with chocolate cake mix, vanilla with vanilla etc.)
1 bag colored Wilton Candy Melts (you can find these at Michaels, Hobby Lobby and sometimes Wal-Mart)

Bake the cake according to directions on box and allow to partially cool.  When still warm break cake into about 6 pieces and put in large mixing bowl. Add half can of frosting.  Mix until all incorporated and sticky. This works best if you just use your hands, the heat from your hands and the warm cake melt the frosting.  Once it's the correct consistency (no cake crumblys left) roll into small balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.  Place a lollipop stick (you can also find these at Michaels, Hobby Lobby etc) in each ball but not all the way through.  Place in freezer for about an hour. Once the balls have been frozen for an hour melt your Candy Melts according to directions on the bag.  Dip each ball in the melted goodness and lightly tap against bowl to shake off excess coating. Place back on wax paper or if you want perfectly shaped balls  stick the stick into a piece of Styrofoam and let coating harden.  These also freeze well so you can make them ahead of time and they only take about an hour to thaw.  Enjoy!!

Birthdays

My grandma turned 90 last week and we went back to Iowa for her birthday shindig. This was kind of a big deal.  Grandma has been talking about turning 90 since the day she turned 89.  In each conversation she would have she would manage to slip in an "I'm going to be 90 you know" no less than three times.  I'm pretty sure she was even bragging it up that she was going to turn 90 to all of her friends and family at her brother's 99th birthday party...yes I said 99th, I don't think grandma quite had the grasp of the irony of that. So to Iowa we went. Before we went to Grandma's party we took a trip to Carroll's Pumpkin Farm with my aunts, cousins and their kids. Growing up we went to the pumpkin farm every year and it was so fun to bring Ollie there for the first time.

 Big boy is sitting up on his own now.

So Saturday was the birthday party.  It was wonderful to catch up with family that we haven't seen in a while.  When we were kids we would go to my grandma and grandpa's house every Sunday for dinner.  Dinner being lunch, not supper. All of the grandkids would play outside while grandma and the aunts would finish up the roast or whatever was being prepared that day.  We would gather at the table and say the Lord's Prayer and then eat.  After the meal was cleaned up and the dishes were done we would move to the living room where the adults would sit while the kids passed around the crystal candy dishes that grandma had filled especially for this day.  My sisters and I would always fight about who got to pass around the candy dishes, there were two dishes and four of us. I hope that someday we can live closer to family so that my kids can see their cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents every week.

We finally got a picture with all of us girls together.  For those of you that don't know my sister Karley (second from the left) she is Kiley's twin and has special needs.  She lives in a home with three other ladies in Adel, IA and is doing so great.  It had been about three months since I had seen her and even longer since she had seen some of my other sisters so she was ecstatic to see all of us, made quite evident by her shrieks of laughter upon seeing us.  She did the same when she saw Grandma, pretty sure that made Grandma's day.

Now it's always hard going back home and being with family because it is so piercingly evident that my mom is gone.  When I'm at home in Indiana I can go about my life, I still think of her everyday and I still want to pick up the phone and call her but I'm not reminded of her at every moment.  At home in Iowa is a constant reminder of her; going to the grocery store, visiting our favorite ice cream spot, seeing so much of her in the faces of her sisters.  Each trip home it gets a little bit easier but just when you think it's getting to be bearable the holidays are right around the corner.  The first Thanksgiving without her, the first Christmas morning waking up without her in the kitchen, making baked french toast and listening to Mannheim Steamroller. I want Oliver to have those memories with her and perhaps that is what makes me the saddest of all.  I know that my mom would have been such an awesome grandma and made such great memories with him.  She would be the grandma that would catch frogs with him, go on nature walks with him,  read books to him, bake him cookies, and teach him to skip rocks.  Ollie still has a couple awesome grandmas, Grandma Rosie and Grandma Stacey. They will have their own things that they will do with him and they will be so special.   There is also my aunt Fonda, who is already an awesome grandma and already treats Ollie like one of her own grandkids and for that I am so very grateful.

During Grandma's party an impromptu leaf fight broke out.  The woody scent of crispy leaves transported me back 17 years to our own giant leaf pile.  But alas there was no tire swing to jump off of into the pile so they had to make their own leaf magic.

Grandma wasn't the only one that had a birthday this week.

Who else had a birthday you ask?

Aunt Edie that's who! She turned 26.

Ollie and I tacked on a trip to Chicago to visit Edie at the beginning and end of our trip to Iowa.  We saw her new apartment with this great view...

We went to the park...

We played a little...

We ate cupcakes and pizza, drank Autumn Blend coffee, we walked everywhere, it was lovely.

And this wouldn't be a blog post without a little craftiness sprinkled in so here is the wreath I made for my grandma's birthday. A styrofoam ring from the craft store, some yarn, a sprig of berries and some felt rosettes.

I hope she loves it.

So now rainy day activities beckon, coffee and a little cleaning.  Who am I kidding? Replace the cleaning with a whole lot of playing on the floor and reading books.  Happy Thursday all!

Me Time

Among the hundreds of things that change when you have a baby one of the biggest changes is "me time".  In my previous life running to the grocery store, reading a magazine, watching my favorite TV show or sitting down to watch a movie were all easy tasks.  I've wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember so I am in no way complaining about not having as much me time.  However, me time is so important for my well being and let's face it, my sanity.  Nowadays even an hour to myself can bring on a whole new sense of being refreshed. You have to choose your activities wisely though. Some days the grocery store is enough to do the trick.  Some days require a good run on the treadmill.  But the past few days I've been feeling less than inspired so Sunday for my hour I needed some inspiration. I needed to get my craft on.  So I set out for the fabric store.

First I made a slight detour. A trip to the fabric store is always enhanced by this:

It's funny the way your interests and activities change the older you get.  I can remember being a little girl and being so annoyed by being dragged through the baby section at Wal-Mart or some other department store while shopping with my mom.  Instead of looking through onesies and tiny little shoes I would have rather been shopping for Lip Smackers, Debbie Gibson tapes, and tapered ankles jeans.  Fast forward 20 years and I find myself right back there in the baby section but by my own choice. Who knew?!  Another place I was always taken against my will was the fabric store with my aunt.  I didn't really mind it in small doses but there was no such thing as a short trip to the fabric store.  I would drag my feet up and down those aisles while she would pick out zippers, buttons and bolts of fabric.  Once again fast forward a couple decades and where do I find myself?  In the freaking fabric store!!  Now I get it, it's a place of creativity and inspiration.  I don't consider myself the most creative person in the world.  I see people knitting, crocheting, painting, sculpting and sewing and it makes me so jealous. There are so many projects and things I wish I could do but there is just not enough time in the day, month and year.  If I choose semi-easy projects I get my creativity fix.  We have some friends that are having a baby in November so I thought I'd try my hand at these bibs and burp cloths.  I found this super cute fabric and can't wait to see how they turn out.

I know it will take me awhile to make the bibs and burp cloths since I am so new to sewing but my craft craving needed to be fulfilled.  For a quick crafty fix, I decided to make my little guy a cozy blanket. I went with the old-school, no sew fleece blanket. He loves the fringes. 

Our house has been a bit nuttier than usual these past few days.  We had to finally bite the bullet and work on getting the babe to sleep on his own in his own crib.  I always said that I would never be the mom that lets her kids sleep in bed with her.  I've got nothing against those that decide to co-sleep, it is a personal preference and there are more studies coming out recently that promote the family bed. As a result of lack of sleep we've found ourselves with a bed buddy and a baby that refuses to sleep in his crib.  I have to admit though, I don't really mind it all the time.  I love waking up in the morning next to my baby.  He rolls towards me and  looks at me with those big blue eyes and smiles at me every morning.

We stretch together and ease into the day by snuggling just a little longer.  I love catching an unexpected whiff of his sweet baby smell in the middle of the night.  I love hearing his little sigh right before he falls fully asleep.  But with the good comes the bad.  We have a vicious cycle of the three of us (sometimes four if the dog is part of the slumber party) waking each other up.  Corey will snore and wake up the baby, I'll wake up and get the baby back to sleep and then because Corey is snoring I can't get back to sleep so I'm nudging Corey telling him he's snoring. I don't think we've had a good night's sleep as a couple since January.  In addition to the constant waking, when I do finally get to sleep I'm still aware of his tiny little body next to mine and I will sleep perfectly still and wake up stiff and sore from laying immobile for six hours.  Over the past couple of months I've said so many times, "this is it, I can't do it anymore, we've got to get him to sleep in his own bed".  So I'd go into it a little half-assed and fail every time, overwhelmed with his crying and too tired to fight it.  This weekend I said it again but this time I followed through.  The first night I eased into it and gave up at 11 pm.  Night number two was nothing short of brutal.  For four hours I tried to fight through the gut wrenching soul beating cry.  I'd give him five minutes and then go to him and soothe him for two to three minutes.  We did this for FOUR HOURS.  Worst. Night. Ever.  Finally at 1 am I gave in and brought him to bed with us where he fell fast asleep the second he put his sweet little head on my mattress.  But I considered it a bit of a success, I made it two hours longer than I did the night before.  At this rate maybe we'll be sleep trained by December, bleck!!!!  But Saturday night we did it!  I decided to let him cry for 10 minutes before I went in to soothe him and it worked!  I only had to go in and soothe him twice and he slept for 9 hours!!! NINE! I, of course, couldn't sleep.  I was wide awake at 2 am twiddling my thumbs and not knowing what to do with myself.  Not to mention the fact that I had to pump.  So I did, and checked my email, cruised Facebook, checked the weather forecast and caught up on my celebrity gossip on my US Weekly app.  I didn't want to jinx it though. We did spend most of the day outside so I figured the fresh air got him all tuckered out.  I didn't want to count my chickens, but last night it was 12:30 and he'd been sleeping since 7 and I had barely heard a peep out of him.  Don't kid yourselves though, I went into his room no less than ten times to make sure he was still breathing.  And so there I sat, wide awake, feeling a bit lost without my bedtime snuggle buddy.  I really shouldn't have drank that Dr. Pepper at six o'clock.  I'm still not counting my chickens before they hatch.  I know that it takes two weeks to form a habit and I'm sure that our sleepless nights are not completely over but I'm going to take what extra "me time" I can get.

P.S. Did you know that Friends is on Nick at Night? What the what?! Nothing like making you feel older than dirt.

A Random Smattering...

Last week was a crazy week filled with a fussy baby clingy from his second round of immunizations and a dog that chose to roll in the garden three times which means three baths in two days and to top it all off, aforementioned dog threw up twice. Oh, and did I mention my husband was gone all week on business so I got to balance this crazy household on my own?  So, I have to admit I was on the precipice of absolutely losing my mind so I had to take a brief blogging hiatus.

I'm lonely for my sister today.  Well all my sisters really but specifically my sister Edie.  But I'm lonely for her because I got a good dose of sister time a couple of weekends ago which I guess is worth being lonely for her today.  There really is nothing like seeing the ones you love love on your baby. 

And when she said "how about I take the baby tonight so you can sleep all night?" I gave the question a resounding "yes, please!".  But there is something about being a mother that even when you have the opportunity to sleep through the night uninterrupted you still wake multiple times to sneak into the room to watch your baby sleep. I do have to say though, it was a beautiful thing to have my bed back to myself.

Edie and I wanted to make these together but sunshine and picnics at wineries called to us with their siren song so I promised I'd make them for her this week.  They were inspired by this pin I found on how to make homemade coasters with scrapbook paper and tiles from your local DIY store.

I found this great Etsy artist via Pinterest a couple of weeks ago.  I finally ordered a nursery print and it arrived in the mail this week.  I love, love, love it!  She's got some great nursery prints and artwork and it's super affordable.  You can find her at her Bunch of Bees Etsy shop.  Here is the print I ordered. Did I mention I love it?

Each year I try really hard to make it to September before pulling out my fall decor and I anxiously await the day when I can find beautiful baskets full of mums at the local nursery. Fall doesn't officially start for another 15 days but I consider Labor Day the unofficial start of fall.  Labor Day has become a new tradition for us.  We get together each year with friends we met when we lived in Minnesota.  We only see each other once or twice a year but when we see each other it's as if no time has passed and we fall right back into place.  Afterall isn't that the true sign of a friend? Weeks, months or even years can pass and when you see each other you don't miss a beat.  Last Labor Day I was sick out of my gourd with "morning" sickness that lasted all day and this year my little boy got to meet their little boys. They made the long trip to visit us in Indiana this year and the week was filled to the gills with laughter and late nights spent drinking wine and catching up on life.

It's starting off to be one of those really great summer weeks.  I love fall so much that I'm always so anxious for it to arrive that I often forget how great the last few weeks in summer can be. Great summer days where the sun shines all day, the humidity is low and the swing in temperature provides great warmth during the day but nice cool evenings perfect for walking dogs and babies.

Hopefully this week will be a little less eventful than last week.  So far we've made it to Tuesday without any dogs throwing up or rolling in the dirt and Oliver is back to his old self.  Here's to the rest of the week going as smoothly!