32 Patriots 24 Giants

That's my prediction for the game tonight and now here it is on the record. I just made a big old pot of chili and we're excited to watch. Unfortunately I don't like either team so I could care less who wins.

T

Smiles and Cookies

Yup that's good old Clark D smiling there. I just put him on his belly on a whim the other day and he loved it. Curtis always hated being on his belly as a baby, but then again he was a pretty miserable baby anyway you put him. Clark D, on the other hand, is so happy and smily most of the time. "They" say you should give your baby "tummy time" to help strengthen neck muscles and such for a few minutes every day.

Curtis and I made some more cookies this week. These are Martha Stewart's ice box butter cookies. I made the dough on Saturday and then on Monday I cut them up and let Curtis place them on the parchment lines cookie sheet. These are one of my husband's favorites. Very easy to make a bunch of dough a head of time so you get almost instant satisfaction come baking time.

Right now I have Paula Deen's banana bread in the oven. I'll let you know how it turns out. I seem to have manifested a lot of her recipes into my life lately and they are all good. A neighbor made this and shared a slice with me yesterday and since I had the ingredients and a craving and both boys are napping I figured I'd try it. It was really easy to make and true to Paula Deen style uses butter instead of oil. I had to tweak it a little and I'll let you know how and why later when we see if it's any good or not. The big reason I wanted to try it was that Curtis ate a piece and said he really liked it. With any other recipe I've tried for banana bread he's always said no. Of course maybe it was just because some other mom gave it to him. We'll see.

T

Infant Gemstome Massage etc.

Just wanted to share something. I've been sitting with Clark a lot now-a-days on the bed giving him belly rubs. Lately his stomach is very gurgly (if thats a word) and he seems to have tiny periods of fuss and pain. So this afternoon I felt it gurgle and I took him on the bed with my collection of gemstones. I don't have many that aren't in bead form, probably less than a dozen. So I took them one by one and rubbed them in clockwise circles on his belly. I've been told clockwise circles help digestion. So he seemed to really calm down a lot and get peaceful for citrine and yellow topaz. I looked these up and liked what they were for and then noticed that they are both considered birthstones for his birth month of november. Pretty cool that he seems to already feel connected to his birthstone(s). He's now sound asleep and I keep catching him smiling in his sleep. Another funny thing I found on that website is that Clark has yellow topaz as a birthstone and Curtis has blue topaz as a birth stone. Next chance I get I'm going to try to get a blue topaz from the gem shop and see how Curtis reacts to it.

So today started rocky because I was a little tense about this photographer coming. See I won a raffle for a free photo shoot and a disc with 25 best pics on it. We had her come this morning to do baby and family portraits. I always get tense about pics because I've felt like I take a terrible picture and never really have many that capture the good moments in our lives (until now). There is a negative story about my wedding which we have about 3 good photos of that I still have bad feelings about. But I won't get into that. So I took some rescue remedy but Curt and I were still snapping at each other and I was stressed about Curtis' pants not fitting and my hair being frizzy and the weather being cold and almost rainy. Well, the photographer was great and we got a bunch of great shots and as we finished up the first few rain drops fell. I'm expecting some great pics and I'll be sure to share when they come in 2 weeks.

Now I'm looking forward to an evening of bonding with Clark as Curt is taking Curtis to the monster truck show. Funny thing is a friend got them tickets and was going with them and his son who is 6 months older than Curtis but he backed out at the last minute so now it's just DH and Curtis going. It's a little drizzly so we got them ponchos and I'm wondering how Curtis will do with all the noise, but they are going to try it out for a little to see how it all goes. So Clark and I are getting to spend the whole afternoon and evening together bundled up inside on a drizzly cold day, and honestly I can't think of anything else I'd rather do right now.

Off to make some tea.

T

Cookies

Here's what Clark D looks like now.

So I picked up a gingerbread man kit at an after Christmas sale for really cheap. I thought I'd try letting Curtis bake cookies with me and didn't want to invest too much money since I figured more would get on the counter and floor than on the pan. I've heard all these stories of women baking cookies with their toddlers but wondered how my little tazmanian devil would do. Last weekend we let Daddy go to the movies with a friend and once Clark D was asleep Curtis and I had fun making and eating some of these. He had lots of fun stirring the dough and also enjoyed using the cookie cutter. The dog also enjoyed it since she got to lick all the dough off the floor that Curtis spilled.

Florida vs. California

We have them on the citrus but unfortunately I have to admit that they have us on the avocado. These Florida ones are not nearly as good and flavorful and buttery as the California hass variety I get at the Publix.

Stay tuned for info on sweet potato pie. That will be my next challenge but I'm not sure when I'll accept it. I'm still trying to shake this cold that hit us all hard here. Hence the wonderful fresh picked and squeezed orange juice day in and day out right now.

T

Pumpkin Pie

So it all started on thanksgiving. I became obsessed with pumpkin pie. See we went to my IL's house and Clark was only something like 3 weeks old. So they did the whole thing and we just showed up to eat since we were all still pretty disheveled from the birth and all. Dinner was good but there was no pumpkin pie! I was devastated, but being the polite person I am I ate the apple pie they served with a smile.

That week I had seen Martha Stewart make a Libby pumpkin pie on her show and it seemed simple enough. So I waited until my Mom came to visit and I bought all the ingredients and I planned to make one while my Mom was here figuring she could help me distract little ones if they woke from their naps mid pie making. Well, that pie turned out great. We all ate it happily with whipped cream on it every night until it was gone.

Now, this beautiful pie I made about 2 weeks ago when I continued to crave pumpkin pie. It was so easy the first time that I knew I could do it alone. Plus I still had a pie crust left, so there you have it. Isn't it a thing of beauty? I am drooling now just looking at it.

T

Charity Raffle

Recently an internet friend of mine passed away after a battle with cancer. She left behind a husband and two children. There is a raffle at this site with some really great items and all the proceeds go to this wonderful mother's family. Please check it out. All raffles are only a $1.

T

new year

Anyway I'm feeling a little gittery today. Could it be because I've had so much sugar (pumpkin pie, birthday cake, 1/2 coke, power bar, 1/2 bagel)? I'm making a cup of herbal tea right now to try to counter the effects. I'm sure it isn't good for Clark either. I'm trying to get used to the fact that as a bfing mother everything I eat effects him.


This leads to my new years resolution. I've been thinking about it a lot. I have lots I want to accomplish but the big thing is my diet. Lately it's gone to pot. Definitely too much sugar but also too many processed foods and I shamfully skip meals and get so hungry I snack on junk all day. It is harder with an infant and a toddler but most of it is just laziness. So #1 goal is to slowly refine my diet and that of my family (I might be nuts on that one).


#2 is organization (I know it's cliche). I've been in a real declutter mode lately. These sugar jitters help with that at least, keeping me cleaning and organizing. Since December is a big gift month for us I went through the toy box yesterday and made three piles. There were the keepers, the trash, and the stuff to donate. Now when I add all the stuff that is still under the tree it won't be so bad. Still I plan to slowly get rid of more and more throughout the year. there is just no need for kids to have as much as we do and so much of it is noisy plastic junk. Curtis has more fun with acorns and play dough than most other things (yes the play dough stuff was the best gift this year for sure).


So now that I've laid it all out there, time to get to it. The cleaning and orgnaizing will be easy compared to the diet stuff. I'm just terrible with food self-control until now, but that will change slowly and gradually over the next year, I am confident!


Clark really smiles at me now. Every once and a while I decide to give him a little sponge bath. I put him on the bathroom counter on this spongy bath pad thing and wipe him down with clear water and shampoo him with special baby shampoo. Today when I did it he looked into the mirror and saw my reflection and smiled so big at me. I stood there smiling back at him for several minutes of heaven!


Wednesday in the Target a woman stopped me and said, Your boys are beautiful!" I was beaming. Life is so good. Both boys are napping now and I'm off to my tea to calm down some.


Tara

3rd b'day

2 weeks ago Curtis had a great b'day party at CEC.

Today we exchanged gifts with my DH's side of the family. I made most of the gifts yet forgot to take pics for the blog. Bummer. Just trust me there were some great handmade gifts and next year I'll try to document better since I won't be preg or with a newborn during the holiday.

T

Santa 2007

MIA

Just a tase of things this holiday for us. I've not been much into blogging lately but I'm sure I'll be back here regularly eventually.

Tara

What we've been up to

Clark enjoyed his first Thanksgiving.

Curtis loves his baby brother.

Not much sleep lately so I haven't been posting here as I try to nap when I can. Clark is great and Curtis is doing fine too. We're excited about Curtis' 3rd b'day this friday!

Tara

Brothers

Clark Daniel

I didn't realize I had less than 12 hours to go when I asked Curt to take this pic.

Clark is less than a day old here.

Our family just hours after birth.

Tara

Clark Daniel

was born 11/11/07 at 3:13am

7lbs 4 oz after less than 4 hours of labor

he's super cute and looks like his big brother only he has dark hair

pictures coming soon

update

Halloween was great. Here are some pics to highlight our family fun.





No I'm not in labor yet. I am now 3 cm dialated and he is fully engaged. I've had some bloody show since yesterday but no contractions. It could be tomorrow or it could be in two weeks.

Tara

2 cm

At my MW appointment today I found out I'm 2 cm dialated already. We both know this doesn't mean much since you can stay this way for weeks but it does give me hope that I won't go over like I did with Curtis. At this point in that pregnancy I was still shut tight.

We need to get my car vacuumed and my infant seat installed this weekend. Also I'd like to get the sports stuff off the baby's room walls and find some more fish themed stuff to put up. Otherwise I feel pretty prepared. I have a box of newborn diapers, a bassinet next to my bed already, and two boobs ready to give milk. Maybe we'll think about packing the hospital bag this weekend too.

I still think I have a few weeks but better safe than sorry right? It's such an exciting and magical time!

Friends

We have visitors this weekend. Curt's best friend from college is down from NC visiting with his 4 year old daughter. Yesterday the four of them went to Seaworld and Curtis and Lauren had their faces painted. I stayed home since I'm big and uncomfortable and had a nice relaxing day watching my favorite cooking shows. Apparently Seaworld was doing a Halloween every weekend this month and the kids got to have their faces painted and got to go trick-or-treating at several stations throughout the park. Curtis had his face painted like a monster and had lots of fun growling at me when he got home.

T

Less than 4 weeks to go!

Traffic and such

Well, I've been a little mia here lately. No real reason just having trouble getting comfy at my computer desk. I can't wait until we get a laptop. That is supposed to be our Christmas gift to each other if all goes as planned. This computer is probably 7-8 years old and have very little storage and runs so SLOW.

I thought we had our first day of fall today since it was so cool this morning but it has definitely warmed up now. I think it's mid 80's now even though it was in the 60's this morning. Maybe it'll cool off faster this evening. We're having pot pies tonight for dinner which is kind of a fall dinner. It's Curt's favorite brand and they were 50% off. Lately I keep my eyes peeled for easy to make and clean up after dinners for obvious reasons. By dinner time I am a bunch of braxton hicks contractions and washing dishes is near impossible.

Curt and I are actually daydreaming about moving to a sleepy little town in the mts of NC. He's hating his job lately and I got stuck in two weird traffic situations today which got me thinking about how frustrating Central Florida traffic is. I think we'd be so much happier if he had a different job and we didn't live in such a trafficy (is that a word) area. His friend Ryan from NC is coming down next weekend and he has been discussing an opportunity with Curt for a job with him up there. I guess we'll see what he has to say...and of course we couldn't really move until the baby was a little older...but the daydreaming is nice.

They had all of sand lake road closed with cops and school buses everywhere when I went by today. That's the road the high school is on and I went by around the time school gets out and was diverted around a different way by a cop. I'm really hoping it's not anything bad. My neighbor, who has a son in the middle school, told me they have gangs there and some other stuff and these are also things that make me want to get out of this area. Orlando seems to be going down hill fast with gang and random crime.

Ok, well, enough negative stuff. I had the morning off since Curtis was in preschool and I cleaned all of our floors so now while he naps I can rest up.

Tara