Our little chili pepper

First Halloween

Animal Names

Most parents teach their children the names of different animals. Apparently I need to teach my husband.

(Convo a few nights ago about different kinds of pets)

Jerad: You know, those fluffy things.
Me: ????
Jerad: Um, they have two names... and one of them is like the name of another animal.
Me: .... the hell!?!
Jerad: They have fur!
Me: What do they look like? Do they have tails?
Jerad: You get like two of them and they breed like rabbits.
Me: ...but they're not rabbits...

Finally we establish that he's talking about Guinea Pigs.

You know, those fluffy things with fur with two names (one of them is like the name of another animal) that breed like rabbits.

And Jerad is 28

Jerad turned 28 today!!! We started dating not long after his 23rd b-day and at the time I thought he was so old. Ha! We had a low key weekend. We repainted the guestroom/office:

(don't worry--its no VOC paint)

Now we just need to clean up, decorate, and hang stuff on the walls. Eventually Jerad is going to build a longer and shallower custom desk so he can have space to work and I can have space to craft.

While we worked we listened to Catch Me If You Can the audio book


Its one of my favorite movies and hearing the story was really fun. I've never listened to an audio book before. I love it! Usually when I read I just immerse myself in the book. This way I can get something done at the same time. Win-win. Jerad loved it too, now if only our library would get a better audio book selection...


We also rolled out the new wool rug I bought for the living room:


I'm not 100% sold on it yet. We'll see. I think it would be a better bedroom rug.

Saturday night Jerad's parents and sister watched Marshall and we went to Guiseppe's Restaurant. I told Jerad he could pick anywhere that he wanted to go and that's where we ended up. It's where we went for my birthday:) He loves the lamb.

For his birthday I got him the cell salts he had been asking for, and a make your own root beer kit:

Sunday (his actual b-day) I got up with the baby at 6 and let him sleep in. When he got up at 8, he started making the root beer:



It has to ferment for a few days to a week so it will be awhile till we get to taste it.


Sunday afternoon our friends Liz and Gregg stopped by for awhile, and then Melinda and Larry babysat for a little bit while we went out to lunch. At lunch we were looking at the dessert menu and decided it would be fun to make a chocolate cake. We came home and Jerad chose this recipe for homemade Hostess Cupcakes. They were by no means healthy, but at least minimal chemicals!





It was a great weekend, and nice to chill around home instead of jetting off for once. We will be jetting off next weekend for our anniversary though.

And just because it feels weird to not post some baby pics (I know that's why you all come here now-a-days), here you go:

(staring down Sophie)

(being a charmer)

(superman)

(chilling in the bumbo while I shower)

I'm so lucky to be surrounded by two such sweet happy boys.

Rainbow Baby

This one's for Danielle.

Is it over yet?

Man, I can not wait till this day is over. Bleck.

Yesterday Marshall went to bed super early, like 6. Jerad is traveling right now and going to bed early sounded good to me too, so I nursed Marshall in his sleep, read a few chapters in my book, set my alarm for 5:30am and turned off the lights around 9:30.

Setting the alarm is really just a formality because usually the baby wakes up at 4 to eat and I haven't quite fallen back asleep before the dogs and the cat all start whining/barking/beating down the door to be fed. This in turn wakes up Marshall who wants to talk and play. So, we start our day at 5 and the alarm is a "just in case."

Last night Marshall didn't wake up to eat until 3:30 so I got a pretty good chunk of uninterrupted sleep! I wish he'd wake up closer to 2:00am because then I'd have a chance to fall into a deep sleep before I get up at 5, but I'll take what I can get. At least he always nurses and goes right back to sleep. I remember waking up a few times last night and thinking it was weird that it was kind of light outside and that Marshall was holding so still. Usually he kind of thrashes around and wakes me up, but he was just cuddled up to me snoring. I decided to just enjoy the fact that the baby wasn't using me as a punching bag in his sleep, and not to worry about the light outside since it clearly couldn't be 5:30 yet.

Awhile later I got a text message and decided to check it. It was my mom wondering what time I was dropping the baby off. Oh, and it was 6:34 already.

I HATE starting my day off like that! I like to ease into my morning, have time to play with the baby, eat a little breakfast. Today I jumped up managed to shower, get dressed, get Marshall changed and dressed and fed, feed all the pets, load the car, and be out the door all in under 20 minutes. Do not ask me how, it was some sort of miracle. I always pack the diaper bag, all my pump stuff, and my lunch the night before. Thank goodness for that or I would have really been late.

Even with the almost 30 minutes that it takes to drive to drop off the baby and get to work I was only 15 minutes late. Still, its a crappy way to start the day and I'm ready for it to be over. Also Jerad gets back late tonight and it'll be nice to have him around.

If I remember, I'll take a picture of Marshall's outfit and post it. Since I was just trying to hurry he isn't the most fashionable today. He has a tie-dyed onesie and rainbow baby leggings. It sort-of almost matches. Love it.

Waste Not

Every week when I go to the store, I clean out the fridge and end up throwing away a lot of stuff. Its frustrating! A lot of times there are leftovers that we would have eaten had we remembered they were in the fridge. We also forget about produce and it ends up not being as fresh as it could have been, or even worse, getting tossed out.

This is our new solution:

We write down all the leftovers, fruit, and veggies that are in the fridge. Instead of standing with the refrigerator door open trying to figure out what to eat or pack for lunch the next day, we can consult the board! When we use up something, we just cross it off.


Besides not wasting as much, we're also having yummier lunches. Usually we grab something that we've frozen, and this makes it easy to find a good pairing. For example yesterday Jerad was going to bring some baked fish and was able to look at the white board and decide that sliced tomatoes and mashed potatoes would be good sides. I made a sandwich out of the hummus and olive tapenade.

As long as we make it a habit to check the list, cross off things that we use, and add new leftovers/produce as it comes in, I think this will be an amazing help!

Weekend Shananagins

We had a busy weekend! We finished clearing out the guest room and set up our new sleeper sofa:


Now we just need to build the new desk, and decorate. And agree on paint. So... should be finished sometime next year.

Saturday morning we went to the Pioneer Day Parade:






Everything was going pretty well until one of the steam tractors blew its whistle. Oh boy. He kind of lost his shit for awhile. After Jerad finally calmed him down (thanks babe!), I put him in the Ergo and bounced him to sleep. I maaaaay have fallen asleep too.

After the parade we went out to lunch with Jerad's family. During Marshall's naptime. Another big mistake. You know how I always talk about how he's such a great baby as long as he gets his naps? Well between the parade (he was only out for 20 minutes or so) and lunch he missed 2 naps. It just went down hill from there. I had to leave the table twice. We were "those people" with the screaming baby that ruins everyone else's dining experience. Awesome.

He ended up falling asleep at 4 then waking up ready to go at 11. Luckily we were still up and it wasn't a work night! We've been reading Mysterious Island so Marshall got to listen to a few chapters. Maybe he'll be an adventure story lover too.

Sunday morning we got up and worked around the house. I decluttered our kitchen, laundry room, and have another huge box of stuff to get rid of. Jerad TSP'd and started painting our dining room chairs, and a chair for the porch.

Marshall finally discovered his feet:


In the afternoon we went to the Pumpkin Farm:



It was warm and Marshall wasn't that into it. I call this one "The Saddest Little Pumpkin"


And this one "The Angry Little Pumpkin."


Then we headed over to the park and played on the swings. Adorable.





Look how little he is, you could fit three of him in there!



Jerad is traveling again next week, so it was nice getting in some quality family time.


Next weekend is his birthday, and the next is our anniversary, so lots to look forward to!