Kinda Amazing

Over the past few weeks, Bird has really become quite the talker. He now gets someone's attention by using his/her name, and if he doesn't know what to call someone, he uses "Buddy." If we ride in the car without music, he chatters incessantly. He's started to put several words together into phrases. For example, he was choosing a book to read at naptime last week and he kept telling me "Away hop, hop! Away!" I finally figured out he wanted to read "Runaway Bunny."

And every once in a while he will come up with a word or phrase that's just kinda amazing. Like this morning while running errands, we drove past a playground. "Pay gound!" Bird chanted from the backseat. Really? Did he just say playground? How does he even know that word!?!? 


A few minutes ago I told Bird it was time to stop playing and get ready for a nap. He put down the puzzle piece he was playing with and said, "Bye, bye farmer." And indeed, the puzzle piece was a farmer! I had no idea he knew that word! Geez. It's just kinda amazing (and scary) how much kids learn just by absorbing what's happening and being said around them.

Ready for Spring

Reasons Bird is Ready for Spring:
1. Being able to play outside for more than 10 minutes at a time.
2. Being able to play outside without 4 layers of clothes on.
3. The snot flow slows down when it's warmer.

Reasons Mom is Ready for Spring:
1. Getting Bird OUT of the house!!!

The weather's slowly warming up (upper 50s to 60s), our weeds grass needs mowing, and Bird's snot is flowing. Spring is coming! And it's a good thing, too. Statistics show that Bird receives 100% fewer spankings when he plays outside versus being cooped up inside. His rear end agrees.

I realize that this is Georgia, which means that the weather's totally unpredictable, but we'll just enjoy each bit of sunshiny spring-like weather that comes our way. And as Bird would say, "Yep. I happy!"

Wacky Wednesday

So today is one of those days when I have some random thoughts running around together. The best way to make sense of it all is to blog about it. Welcome to Wacky Wednesday.

1. I have a friend who sometimes does a "What I Wore Wednesday" post on her blog, showing pics of the cute outfits she's recently worn. If I did that (which I won't), you would see the exact same tshirt, sweatshirt, and pair of sweatpants for every day this week. (That is for every day I managed to get out of my pjs.)

2. This morning I was feeling pretty blah. I managed to get Bird some milk and a Nutrigrain bar before needing to run to the bathroom. With all the running around, Bird must have figured something exciting was going on because he grabbed his breakfast and followed me into the bathroom. While I leaned over the toilet and threw up for a few minutes, Bird sat down in the middle of the bathroom floor and ate his breakfast. Glad I could provide some early morning entertainment.

3. Even on days when I'm not nauseated, I'm still not super hungry. Food just doesn't sound good to me (which is a problem I wish I had without being pregnant). Because of this, I've just been eating whenever I feel like it and eating whatever sounds good. Here's an example menu:
Bfast: Enteman's chocolate frosted donut, Sprite & nausea meds. :)
Lunch: A few bites of half a bagel & cream cheese, then finish off Bird's Gushers fruit snacks
Snack: A microwave cup of mac & cheese, then share an apple with Bird
Snack #2: carrots & ranch dressing
Dinner: I fixed twice-baked-potatoes & salad. I ate about 2 bites of it.
Healthy, huh? And my OB is trying to get me to eat fish at least once a week. Right. Not going to happen.

4. Our wireless contract is due for renewal, and Jacin and I both have older flip phones. I would love to have a smartphone and be able to email/text my PC customers while I'm out and about, but good grief! I might have to take out a loan just to pay for the data package each month! It's like making a car payment!

5. Just in case I had forgotten that I have a toddler in my house, Bird left me a reminder: 2 small, dirty socks in the bottom of the dishwasher. I'm just glad I found them before turning it on!

I LOVE being pampered

This weekend I went to the Spring Launch training meeting to learn about the new Pampered Chef products coming out in March.  It was a fun and super exciting meeting, and being there just reminded me of what a blessing my Pampered Chef business is. Here are just a few of the MANY reasons I LOVE owning my own Pampered Chef business:

1. I can be at home with Bird!
2. I make my own hours (Instead of working 9 to 5 five days each week, I only work 5 to 9 two days a week).
3. If I put in overtime, I earn extra money. I get to decide how much time and energy I put into my job.
4. Support is always there if I need it! I have such a sweet and godly mentor, Diane Clayton, who helps me  with every aspect of the business.
5. I get paid to cook & party! It's so nice to have a few hours to myself to build relationships with ladies in my community (and get paid doing it!).
6. Promotion is always within reach. If I set goals and work hard, I can and will build my business!!
7. My PC business has put me into contact with some wonderful women that I now count as good friends. I would never have known them without PC!!
8. I have a stronger sense of self-confidence! I've always been a pretty confident person, but owning my own business, setting my own goals, working hard and then immediately reaping the benefits has given me a sense of confidence I didn't even realize I lacked!
9. Free products! The company is incredibly generous, and gives us opportunities to earn free stuff all the time!
10. Free travel! PC offers the opportunity to earn free trips throughout the year. I have set a goal and am working towards earning a FREE trip for Jacin and me to Nashville this fall and Las Vegas next summer. :)

Owning my own PC business has been such a blessing. What about you?

Bird Update

So it's been A WHILE since I've blogged. The first few weeks of pregnancy #2 have been kinda yucky, so I've spent a lot of time on the couch or in the bathroom. BUT I'm feeling much better yesterday and today (knock on wood), and Bird is doing SO MANY new things, I figured I'd better record them somewhere before I forget.

Just over the past few weeks, Bird's vocabulary has exploded! He has words like play (pay), go, bath, night-night, paci & tat-tat (which he wants to carry around all day long), eat, tractor, cat, dog, outside (side), book, bye-bye, hello (ello-ello!) and lots more that I can't remember right now. His first phrase was "see it!" He loves to play with his tools and explore forbidden areas (like the bathroom and my bedroom). He enjoys finding small things to put down into the heat/air vents (and he currently has pulled one vent out of the floor and is carrying it around. Not good.).

Overall, he is sweet and cuddley in the mornings and wild and crazy in the afternoons/evenings. In the mornings, he will cuddle with me on the couch while we watch the news. After lunch & a nap, there is not a lot of sitting still.  A week or so ago, while I was vacuuming, Bird got a new value-sized bottle of baby shampoo and poured it all over his fully-clothed self in the middle of the kitchen floor. I found him sitting in the middle of the soapy puddle, rubbing the shampoo on his dry hair, mumbling "bath, momma. Bath." At night after dinner, he likes to run around in circles until he coughs up his dinner.

He loves his dog, but it's a tough love. Today I caught him hitting Rascal over the head with a newspaper while yelling, "HiYa!" Thank goodness Rascal is patient. I just don't think he's going to have many brain cells left.

And there was more I wanted to include, but pregnancy brain has gotten the best of me. And Bird is wrestling with the blinds, about to tear them off the windows. Whew! I'd better go.

Tis the Season

I really can't complain, because Bird has been SUPER healthy this fall/winter. Especially compared to last year when he had numerous ear infections, several stomach viruses, RSV, and a perpetual cold. This season, so far, it's only been a cold. But ohhh the snot!!! Poor Bird had a fever, cough, and lots of green snot for about 4 days this past week/weekend. And of course the plethora of snot and frequent coughing leads to throwing up. Yuck. Today, though,  the fever is gone, the snot has slowed down and the cough is better... but now my nose is drippy, I'm sneezing my head off, and I sound like I'm in a barrell. Thanks for sharing, Bird! Oh well. Tis the season.

The toddler and the toilet

So last week I had the bright idea that I could get the bathrooms cleaned while Bird watched The Jungle Book (which he watches at least twice every day). After turning on "The Book" as Bird calls it, I started my least favorite chore by pouring cleaner in both toilet bowls. As I was returning from a quick papertowel run in the kitchen, I found Bird in the bathroom elbow deep in the toilet bowl. He was swirling the water around, soaking wet, and having a GREAT time. What a great helper! :)