birthday eve

Last year the doctor told me that my blood pressure was sky high, the protein in my urine was off the charts, and I was retaining more water than a camel.  I was admitted to the hospital, Jim was called, and Oliver was sent to a friend's house.  I was watched and monitored and banned from eating.  They told me my condition was worsening but I really felt fine, and was sure they would let me go after the 24 hour watch...obviously I was incorrect. 

This year I watched Lydia enjoy paint for the first time, she's working on some art for her party.

Tonight I put Lydia to bed as an infant and tomorrow she'll wake as a little toddler, a little one year old, an ever sweeter, even more curious girl.  She got some extra snuggle time before bed tonight, a few extra minutes on her favorite spot on my shoulder.  Oliver says, "I can't wait to she her when she is one, this is so exciting!"

This is so exciting! 

christmas gifts, lydia edition

I could buy Oliver a million presents, but shopping for a one year old seems miles more difficult.  I'm in the market for something she can like now, and will continue to like for a year or more, and something that promotes open ended play.  Here we go...

Since Lydia's birthday is also in December I'll include those gifts also.

Jim and Oliver found Lydia this fantastic piano for her birthday.  When you push the keys some jacks pop up, there is a cover that keeps the jacks contained.  When the jacks are no longer a chocking hazard the cover can be removed and then the jacks can pop up and be chased around.  

Ramp Racer car track. 


I thought every baby just came with a ring stacker toy, somehow neither of mine did, so we picked this one out, it can be stacked in a few different ways.  





The other day Oliver and I stopped in to Joann's with a 50% off coupon in hand, in search for a gift for Lydia.  I was wanting to find some melissa and doug play food or a chunky puzzle, but the melissa and doug stuff was on sale (25% off) so my awesome 50% off coupon wouldn't work.  We searched on and Oliver found and excavator that had a screwdriver that can put it together and take it apart, he swore that Lydia told him that's what she wanted.  He promised he could "help" her use it if she was having a hard time putting it together.  We talked a little about finding something that might be better for a 1 year old, and I showed him the 3+ on the truck box.  We searched on and found these Smartmax toys.  So fun! They are big enough to not be a chocking hazard and will let Lydia have fun exploring magnets, and building, and Oliver found a 1 on the box, he proudly carried it to the checkout.  At Joann's the price was $70, and with our coupon it was $35

thanksgiving menu

I'm a Thanksgiving purest.  I like a good classic turkey dinner.  The year my mother announced she was making lasagna for Thanksgiving was the end of my attendance at my family's Thanksgiving (they moved away the next year). 


So here is what will be on our table this holiday.  I'm excited to have all the recipes in one place! 

Martha's delicious herb butter turkey




The bestest mashed potatoes are made with yukon gold potatoes! 

Simple easy stuffing. 





This sweet potato casserole is a new addition for this year.  I already made it, and sampled it, and wow, it's basically cake.  It's sweet and the crunch top is just delicious.  I think it's going to be Oliver's favorite. 





Carrots. yummy roasted carrots with garlic.  



Cranberry sauce, it's so easy, the can isn't necessary. 

Homemade crescent rolls, if you don't burn half of them, like I did, it makes a ton and it's really simple.  



Gravy to top it all off. 




Dessert

Pecan pie bars



Pumpkin pie is not my favorite, but a double layer pumpkin pie with a cheesecake layer on the bottom pumpkin pie on top is pretty awesome. 



































So what's on your Thanksgiving menu?  What MUST be on your table?


Bonus!

We are not having this amazing pumpkin dump cake for thanksgiving, but we usually have it once during this time of the year.  It's so simple and a great mix of flavors and textures. 





Activities

I printed out these silly Thanksgiving photo booth props.  My printer was running low on ink, so the pumpkin pie might not be the right shade or orange, but we will make it work. 

I'm really not into shooting games or activities or really anything shooting related, but this just looked so fun and I found a ball launching toy to make the activity work. 

Of course there will be football and parade watching. 





Hope everyone had a joyful day spent with family and friends. 

Christmas, Oliver edition

I finished Oliver's Christmas shopping by mid November, now I need to use my self control to not purchase anything else.

This is the first year that Oliver has stated something he wants without being prompted or asked.  What he wants is a trash truck.  He described some trash truck he saw at target, I found one on zuiliy for $25 and it seemed to fit his description.  Here it is over at amazon, but ouch that price tag is nuts!

                                          

I also found some pete the cat CD books, which we ordered from scholastic, through his preschool.  He really likes listening to audio books so we continue to build the collection.  


Bongos. Because, why not?  Again, I found them on zuiliy for much less.

Marble run elevator!  We already own and have loved this awesome marble run and we got this elevator to go with it. 

Lastly, he's been really into talking about space and rockets, so when I saw the awesome green toys rocket ship on zuiliy for 9.99, I knew we neeeeded it. 

Now, what does a one year old want for Christmas?  Gift wrap & boxes? 

christmas gifts, a review of last year

Last year I wrote this post sharing the gifts that we purchased for Oliver.  I think the test for a good Christmas gift is that when Christmas roll around again you 1. still own the gift and 2. still play with it

The post in the above link contains links to amazon, to make your shopping even easier.  

So let's grade last years gifts.

ukelele, love
CD player, use it all the time
CD books, he likes them and he likes borrowing others from the library

meh, I think it will be more fun Lydia can play with him





of course he loves train stuff, and it's free since we have
a huge stash in our basement from when Jim was a kid


Oliver also got a Duplo fire station set and two big bases for
his duplos.  We go through lego phases, sometimes we
play with legos all the time and sometimes we take a month
or so off. 

All in all I think last years gifts were a success.  I'm trying to stay clear of  tech gifts.  I like toys, I like building, I like being creative, and I really want to inspire that in Oliver and Lydia.  Also, I spend a lot of time playing with Oliver and Lydia, so I think it's better for my parenting if I buy toys I like to play with!  Tomorrow, I'll share what I got Oliver for Christmas this year.  Yes, I'm already done with his shopping.  Zuiliy had some great deals that I couldn't pass over. 

11 months

Eeeek, I can't believe sweet Lydia is going to be one next month!

Right after snapping this photo, my camera officially died, so I snapped a few more with my phone.

annoyed I keep telling her not to touch the plant

how most of this photo shoot goes

 

This past month was so fun (my favorite, so far) and Lydia has learned so many new tricks.
-claps her hands
-waves
-high fives
-pulls to standing
-crawls around the house, is getting better at navigating, she always finds me in the kitchen
-climbs up the stairs
-we lovingly call her "baby Godzilla" as she can  demolish any project in a matter of seconds
-wiggles out of diaper changes
-still enjoys nursing, but is eating more and more solid food and the occasional drink of whole milk


Now it's time to party plan!

unknown

Oliver's teacher thinks he may have some speech issues, so she passed on a phone number for the early intervention folks and encourage us to give them a call.  Oliver was assessed when he was first home and passes with flying colors, but the standards are much higher now that he is 4 and we want to be sure he is fully ready for kindergarten next year. 

So, the pile or paperwork arrived at the end of last week.  In the past I would have called it a crazy amount of paperwork, but I've got perspective now.  This assessment covers vision, hearing, speech, fine and gross motor skills, and self help skills.  There are a ton of questions about my pregnancy (didn't happen), delivery (wasn't there), and early sickness and milestones (weren't documented well).  Okay, I know these are important questions, I know 99% of moms can answer them confidently.  I just write "unknown" after "unknown."  I'm totally fine with that, I mean I wish I knew, but I know what I've signed up for as an adoptive mom.  The only thing that makes me frustrated is there is not box to check saying he is adopted, he can't be the only one in the history of this assessment that isn't homegrown.  Has no other adoptive mom pointed this out?  Have they pointed it out and the district hasn't changes the questioner?  The doctor's office has an adopted box, even his tiny preschool has an adopted box.  Give me a damn box so I don't have to feel like and idiot writing unknown!

Then they ask what language is spoken at home, I answer English.  However, there is no question about what the child's first language.  Yeah, we speak English, but he didn't show up here until 20 months old.  Blah.

Finally at the end of this annoyingly flawed paperwork there is my question "is there anything else we should know?" and three little lines to answer.  I drew an arrow, flipped the paper over, and wrote the paragraph of answers that they didn't care to ask for, and I know this is just the beginning.....

End rant.

His assessment is on Thursday.  I'm actually pretty excited to hear how he does and get some tips for things we need to work on.