Sleepover at Grandma's

Moose and I are having a sleepover at his Grandma's house.  His Daddy has to work all day tomorrow, and Grandpa is out of town hunting, so we decided it'd be fun to spend the night with Grandma and then hang out here tomorrow.  I cannot imagine how excited Moose will be when he realizes he gets to entertain Grandma all day long! :)

All ready for bed at Grandma's house!

Daddy saves the day!

As promised in the previous post....video of Daddy cheering Moose up.  First, "bull" fighting with a Moose, followed by walking practice. :)

Where'd my brain go? And pure trouble!

Yesterday we had a really fun get together with a bunch of friends.  We all gathered down at the clubhouse and had a potluck style BBQ, along with plenty of laughing, games, and conversation.  It was medicine for my soul to get together with new friends and some family, and just have a good time.  It makes me think that maybe, in time, we'll have a "new normal" here and I won't miss home as much!

Moose was on the go the entire time!  There were three babies there under 18 months.  It got pretty wild with the kids!  I have to confess.  I had a "bad mommy" moment!  I think Moose permanently altered my brain when I was pregnant, and I may never be the same again.  My attention span is shorter as is my memory.  I was talking about it with some of the other mommies yesterday, and it appears to be a common condition. 

But anyway, back to my "bad mommy" moment.  My Mom and sister in law went back to the apartment to get some cookies.  I decided to go get a pitcher to make some lemonade.  So off I went.  With nary a thought about poor little Moose.  Yes indeed, I left him right there in the clubhouse.  Yes, his Daddy was there, but wasn't paying attention.  And yes, there were plenty of other mommies around, and the clubhouse was closed to everyone but our group.  But still...I just took off and didn't even think about him.  I got to the apartment and suddenly remembered...MOOSE!!  By the time I made it back to the clubhouse, poor Moose was in tears.  Abandoned by his Mommy and forgotten forever (okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration...but he wasn't happy one bit!).  My friend Kim was trying in vain to comfort him.  I felt awful!!  My poor little baby!  We got him comforted, dried his tears, and he had plenty of fun the rest of the evening. 

But it just shows that my brain doesn't work as well as it used to.  Where do all those brain cells go when those little babies are growing inside us mommas?  Just the other night I woke up (again) in an absolute panic, thinking that I couldn't find Moose.  My heart was beating so fast it felt like it would explode, and all I could feel was terror.  He was sound asleep in his crib, and Branden got me calmed down.  But that lingering anxiety is never far away.  He is so precious.  More precious to me than I ever imagined he could be.  Which makes it all the more alarming when I do something like leave him at the clubhouse without a thought.  It's certainly not for lack of caring.  It just....happens. 

I suppose all I can do is take care of him the best way I know how.  Luckily, as far as I can tell, the daddies don't get "mommy brain" so that helps.  Far too many times I have asked Branden, "What if we forget Moose somewhere?", and his constant reply back is "We wouldn't."  Okay, good.  Moose is really good about riding in the car.  He rarely makes a peep.  So of course my brain always thinks he's not there!  So my routine is to ask Branden, "Moose check?", at which points he HAS to look back and visually spot Moose, then tell me that he sees Moose's gym socks!  It's our little game, but it also does plenty to reassure me, too!  So I am hoping that being slightly neurotic, anxious, protective, with a heart that feels like it will burst with love is just a normal part of being a Mom.  Right?  Just tell me it is, and I'll feel all better! :)

Now, on to what a little mischief maker Moose was today.  He went to bed really early last night.  He was exhausted from playing with his friends at the BBQ, and he is also teething again.  He slept in this morning and then woke up full of trouble!  I got a few pictures that illustrated a small portion of our day...

The morning work of the Moose Man!

Trying to snag the camera.

Attempting to disassemble his toy car (and who did his hair anyway?).

Closed doors are no match for Moose.

Does anyone see me in here working on the bookshelf?

Oooh, this will be a fine magazine to tear apart!

He had a fit after dinner, so he got a bottle.

Can you tell how cranky he looks here?

What the pictures don't show is in addition to all his mischief making he also went on a long tricycle ride earlier in the day, followed by watching Mommy work out in the gym, and then playing in the pool with his friend Alex.  After the above bottle, Moose went to bed for the night (or so I thought).  But he was exhausted, fussy, and didn't want any part of being in his crib.  Thankfully at about that time his Daddy got home, and saved the day (again).  (I got some video of the cheering up process, which I will put in the next post)  We ate dinner and all three headed down to the spa to relax.  Moose was more than happy to go straight to sleep after a long, hot soak.

It was another wonderful day with my lovely little baby.  It seems like every day he is as cute as he can be, and then the next day he is even more precious.  I can't wait to see what the days ahead hold with my little sweet thing and his awesome Daddy!

Mindful Monday: Tricycle Time

Who:  Me and Moose

What:  Take Moose riding more often on his tricycle

Why:  Moose loves getting outside on his tricycle.  It's fun for him and good exercise for me.  The weather is beautiful so it's a perfect time to spend more time outside!

How: At least 2 times this week I am going to take Moose out riding his tricycle on the lake path.

Out like a light?

Moose went shopping with Mommy and Grandma.  He had a blast, as you can see!

A few minutes later he was riding in the car, laughing like crazy at his Mommy.

Three minutes later (I kid you not, it was literally three minutes!) I looked over and what did I see?

Yup, out like a light!

Moose's Menu: Sausage and Cheese Tortellini

This is another meal that all three of us ate.  It was absolutely delicious!  It's a bonus that it is also super easy to make.  We will definitely be having this again in the near future!

Sausage and Cheese Tortellini

1/2 pound ground sausage, cooked

(2) 14 ounce cans diced Italian tomatoes, undrained

2 large fresh mushrooms

9 ounces of cheese tortellini, uncooked

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

In crock pot, combine cooked sausage, tomatoes, and mushrooms.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours.  For last 30 minutes, stir in tortellini.  Top with mozzarella cheese for last 5 minutes until melted.

Moose's Menu: Beefy Noodles

I made this for our dinner last night, and saved a portion for Moose.  All I did was mash his up a little bit and he had no trouble at all eating it.  It filled him up pretty quickly, and he really enjoyed it.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture. But imagine it looking like Hamburger Helper, only homemade, and you will have a pretty good idea of what it looked like.  It was really yummy!

Beefy Noodles

1/2 large onion, chopped
1/2 Anaheim pepper, minced
Olive oil
1/2 lb ground beef, browned and drained
14 oz can stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 cup water
4 oz. wheat elbow macaroni, uncooked
Salt and pepper
Mozzarella cheese

Saute onions and Anaheim pepper in olive oil.  Add browned and drained ground beef, tomatoes, water, salt/pepper, and raw macaroni.  Cook for 15-20 minutes or until macaroni is tender.  Top with the Mozzarella cheese.

There's no making a tired baby happy...unless you are his Daddy!

Moose had to stay up a little later than usual tonight.  This was the result of him taking his diaper off during his nap, peeing all over the sheets, which soaked through to the mattress pad, and resulted in all of his bedding having to be washed and dried.  Not a big deal, but his sheets weren't dry in time for him to get to bed as soon as he got tired. 

So there he was, following me around the house while I finished cleaning and got dinner together.  He was fussy and whiny.  Nothing was making him happy.  I held him.  I played with him.  I gave him a bottle.  I asked him to tell me his troubles.  Nope, nothing was good enough.

Thankfully, at about that time his Daddy got home and was able to help.  Seeing "Da" immediately improved his mood.  We got his bedding back together and put him in his new jammies from his Grandma.  They are the cutest little Elmo jammies.  As soon as we put him in his crib he grabbed his blankie and Elmo, then rolled over and went to sleep.  Lesson learned?  Make sure Moose's bed is ready at all times, because as soon as he gets tired he is a very cranky little man!

Jumpin' Spinach

Somehow Moose's spinach dinner jumped off the spoon and right onto his face!  We have no idea how that happened!

Goats and a Happy Meal

Today Moose got to spend the day with his Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma!  We did some shopping and also looked at possible decorations for Moose's birthday party.  It's never too early to start coming up with ideas, right? :)  Speaking of...Sara, if you are reading this, I need to get in touch with you soon about designing Moose's invitations!  (My cousin Sara has a really cool Etsy shop and makes the cutest invitations.  You can check out her Etsy shop by clicking here.)

After doing our shopping we went out to Grandma's house and hung out for a while then went and picked up dinner.  Moose reached a milestone today.  A very important culinary milestone.  He had his first McDonald's Happy Meal!  Yes indeed, our little guy chowed down on ever so yummy Chicken McNuggets, french fries, and chocolate milk.  He absolutely loved his food!

 Granted, he won't be getting Happy Meals every day, but having one every now and then certainly won't hurt him.  I can mentally imagine all the health food activists out there just cringing.  A baby eating fast food?  What can I say...we like McD's and we're exercising our right to parent as we see fit.  At times it's still kind of crazy to think that we are all grown up, have a baby, and are "in charge" of the decisions that have to do with his upbringing.  It makes me appreciate even more the way my parents raised me.  They were a great example of raising kids in an intentional way.  They sometimes made decisions that may not have been popular, but looking back I can see that they were raising my brother and I the best way that they knew how.  Now Branden and I are doing our best to raise Moose the best way we can!  (And yes, sometimes that means junk food....so for anyone that wants to ban fast food, how about you just stop eating it and leave the rest of us alone?  But that's a whole different topic and post!)

The big excitement for the afternoon was Moose riding the goats!  There are 2 "pack goats" out at my parents' house. One belongs to my parents, the other to my brother.  They are in training to pack supplies in on hunting trips, but they also make really sweet pets, too!  From the looks of it, they make good riding goats, too!

Sleepy baby waiting up for his Daddy

Fall is coming!

Today Moose and I took a walk around the lake.  I brought my camera along and took some pictures of the scenery and flowers.  It's so pretty here right now!  I am starting to be able to feel fall in the air.  The days are still fairly hot, but the evenings and nights are so much cooler.  We've been having a few small thunderstorms, too!  I always get so excited when the seasons start changing.  Each season is so much fun, and I am really looking forward to learning the natural rhythm here in Colorado!  Up next...pumpkins, corn mazes, Halloween, crisp fall nights, cool days, birthdays, Thanksgiving...I can't wait!

Mindful Monday: Work that body!

Our goal of getting in bed by 11pm, from last week's Mindful Monday, went fairly well.  We got thrown off on Friday and Saturday night because Branden didn't get off work until around 10pm.  Which meant getting in bed by 11pm wasn't going to happen.  But on our "normal" nights, we did a good job of getting in bed relatively early.  Yay us!

Branden requested this week's Mindful Monday.  He said he wants a workout partner (me!), so we're going to work on actually using that awesome exercise room here at the apartment complex.  Working that in around Moose's sleep schedule and Branden's work schedule is going to be the challenging part.  Hmm...


Who:  Me and Branden

What:  Exercise in the gym 2 times this week

Why:  We both agree we feel better when we are getting some exercise, plus it just makes sense to use the gym when it's right there and included in rent!

How: 2 times this week we are going to go down for at least 30 minutes and work out in the gym.  An easy way to jump start that would be to fit the first one in on Tuesday, when Branden is off.  Maybe we'll make it more than 2 times, but at minimum we want to hit the gym 2 times before next Monday. 

A little sweet thing!

Pause to be Grateful

 
Sometimes it is easy to get into a rut of rushing through the days, and never stopping to just reflect on the blessings in our lives.  I know that I am the type of person that tends to see the glass as half empty (just ask my husband!) at times, and I am working on that.  Branden is more the glass half full type. I sometimes think he is just overly optimistic or just doesn't care enough to worry.  But I think there is a lesson for me to learn from him about just letting go of control and letting God take over.

This morning in church Branden leaned over to me and whispered that everything would work out and that God hasn't let us down yet.  As usual, I was worrying about bills and money.  I spend altogether too much time making spreadsheets of money coming in and money going out.  Obsessing over every cent and how we are going to make those dollars stretch.  Yet somehow, magically, we always have food to eat and a roof over our heads.  "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" (Matthew 6:26)  Yes, we are much more valuable than the birds of the air.

This isn't to say that we can go out and be reckless with our money and just spend it all, then throw our hands up to God and ask for more.  But to me it does mean that if we are being thrifty with what we spend, seeking God's direction in our lives, and giving back to God what is His (tithing) then He will provide for us.  It is reassuring to know that God is intimately aware of each of our circumstances, and and "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)

I wanted to take a few minutes while the house is quiet to just reflect on some of the things I am grateful for in my life.  It helps me to bring into focus all the blessings God has already given us, and gives me hope that He is still looking out for us.

Our healthy, happy, beautiful little Moose


Both Branden and I have good health


A wonderful husband that works hard so that I can stay home with our baby


A safe and lovely place to live


A reliable and safe car


Good friends who remain close, even though distance separates us


New friends who are happy to welcome us to the area


The opportunity to move to a new state to make a better life for Moose


Work for Branden that he really enjoys and that also provides a living for us


Our amazing family who has been there for us at every turn


The assurance that Jesus died for us and that God deeply cares about us


Unexpected blessing of a resolution to a situation that was even better than we dared to hope for

The Lord's love never ends; his mercies never stop.  They are new every morning; Lord, your loyalty is great.  I say to myself, "The Lord is mine, so I hope in him." (Lamentations 3: 22-24)

What are you grateful for? 

How can he be so cute asleep?

Branden and I have a nightly habit of sneaking into Moose's room to look at him sleeping.  Well, it used to be nightly, but as habits are prone to doing, it has escalated.  Now we go in 2-3 times a night.  One of us will look at the other and say "I'm going in!" and we'll bolt for his bedroom door.  I always have the privilege of going in first, even if Branden makes it to the door first.  He's just a sweet husband like that, and he knows how much I like getting in there to see Moose first!


Lately Moose has been sleeping in many different positions.  Tonight he was all sprawled out next to Elmo, with his hands thrown up over his head.  It just warms his Momma's heart to see how innocent and precious he is.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of his cute little self!

Why Moose? Or what's in a name?

Why do you call him Moose?  Where did the name Moose come from?  I hear one of those questions (or a variation) nearly every time someone asks me what my baby's name is.  (I'm more inclined towards "Zachary? Who is that?")  I have begun introducing him as "His name is Zachary, but we always call him Moose.  He has no idea his name is Zachary."  It's quite a mouthful to get out, but it does clarify what we would prefer he be called, and what he (and everyone else close to him) is familiar with. 

So why is he called Moose?  It's actually a very simple reason.  When he was born, he was a tiny little thing and I called him "Mouser."  (I bet you can see where this is going already...)  As my nicknames tend to do, it morphed.  It morphed into Moose, but rather than continuing to evolve into another nickname, Moose stuck.  So now he is called Moose.  Always.  And in all honesty the name Zachary seems very foreign on my tongue and not Moose-like at all! 

I do love his real name, and it has meaning to me.  When Branden and I were picking out names, we went through a lot of them.  Tossing some out, writing some down, and none seemed just right.  I liked names with a Z in them.  My two beloved dogs, Jazz and Boaz, both have names with Z's.  So when I read Zachary, I knew that was the name!  It was confirmed the next day.  I went over to my parents' house, and Mom told me she had thought of a great name for the baby.  I told her we had just picked his name the night before, but wanted to know what name she had thought of.  I kid you not, she said Zachary!  So cool, and from that point on it was settled that he would be named Zachary.

His middle name also has significance to me.  My Grandma is one of my best friends and I love her dearly.  She has always told me she loved the name Ethan.  I remember her saying that for years, long before I was even married or thinking about kids in any way (other than to say I never wanted any!).  I always agreed with her that it was a pretty name, but I couldn't see it as a first name.  I'm big on names that can be easily shortened into nicknames, and Ethan just can't.  (E?  Eth? Nah...)  But as a middle name?  It sounded great, so it was decided that in honor of my Grandma (and also because we really liked the name) he would be called Zachary Ethan. 

But for everyone "in the know" he is just Moose.  Maybe someday we'll call him Zachary, but maybe we won't.  I guess time will tell!  Plus, if he keeps growing at the rapid rate he currently is, Moose is going to be a very appropriate nickname as he gets older!

Me and "Mouser" in the hospital...see how small he was?

 

 

Our little Mouser

Our "big ol' baby" Moose!

My, my how Moose has grown!

Home again!

We are back at our own home after a very quick trip to California.  Moose did great in the car for the most part.  Somewhere out in Utah he threw up all over himself.  We had to pull over on the side of the highway to clean him, the car seat, and the car up.  In Nevada he had a bit of a poop incident. It got on his outfit, and we had to try to clean him up in some out of the way gas station.  Thankfully I brought a lot of paper towels, plastic bags, and towels.  We put all of it to good use! 

He slept really well in the hotels, and rode in the car like a perfect little angel!  We discovered that if we give him his blankie in the car seat, he doesn't cry at all.  He spent hours playing with his gum container, Pepsi bottle, blankie, and his foot!  He was such a good boy!

We are all really happy to be home and sleeping in our own beds tonight.  We spent Saturday night on the edge of Colorado, Sunday night in California, Monday night in Las Vegas, and Tuesday night in Wyoming.  Within a day and a half we had been in Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, and Wyoming! 

It was wonderful to see my hometown (for all of the 6 waking hours we were there!), and even better getting to see my grandparents, Uncle Randy, and my cousin Brandon along with his wife Sara and their two kids.  We missed my Auntie Sherry, unfortunately! I'm hoping to go back for a longer visit soon, as that was just not enough time.  It was a little sad having to leave.  That little town in California will always be home to me in many ways.  I have so much history there.  I feel a bit like a plant that has been transplanted, and I think I have a bit of shock from it!  I'll probably blog about that a little more sometime soon.

We were too rushed and tired to take a lot of pictures, but I did manage to get a few.  Every time I wanted to take a picture of Branden, he said "later" and unfortunately later never came.  So even though there is no documentation of Branden on this trip, he was most definitely there!

We met Grandma and Grandpa out in the middle of nowhere so that they could see Moose.  They were on their way to Colorado from California, and we were doing the opposite!  Todd and Beth flew out there to help them drive all the vehicles out here, so we got to see them, too!

Moose spent a lot of hours sleeping like this.

Here I am in California, where part of my heart will always be. 

In-n-Out in Las Vegas!

I think this was at a rest stop in Nevada somewhere!

Daddy was playing photographer, and took this pic!

The saddle seats at McDonald's in Evanston, Wyoming were adorable!

Cute little guy at Grandma and Grandpa's new house in Colorado!

Moose was so happy to get to play with his Grandma again!  They missed each other!