Do You Know the Muffin Man?

I love to cook, but I hate to bake. I think it is like having a green thumb - either you have it, or you don't. When I bake, it is bound to be a disaster. I either severely under or over bake. But, I have been wanting to bake with Charlie for some reason lately. He loves helping with everything, and I knew he would get a kick out of pouring the ingredients and helping me mix. So, I decided to make some banana nut muffins with the Little Guy the other day.

I set everything up like a cooking show. All of the ingredients were measured and ready to go, the oven was preheated, and I had everything that I needed out so that Charlie and I could get right down to business. It was very Rachel Ray.

His little face lit up as soon as I lifted him onto the counter. I let him pour everything in the mixing bowl resisting the urge to help. We both got spoons to mix, and he even allowed my help at that point. He continued mixing while I spooned the batter into the muffin tins. He was so pleased with himself, and he looked so big pouring and mixing. I am so proud of my little man!

We watched the muffins rise in the oven, and then it was time to taste test. He has recently become very concerned with whether or not his food is too hot to eat. He often hands me a piece of food to blow on it or tries to blow on it himself, which usually results in the food being blow half-way across the kitchen. So, he was a little hesitant at first, but then he dove right in. He couldn't finish the entire muffin (Samson got to help since the unwanted muffin hit the floor), but he sure did look cute chowing down.

No Name Shaw

This is how I lovingly refer to the baby. Nick and I have hit a baby naming wall, and we have not really talked about any new names in the last couple of weeks. I think we are both just burned out. The next step might involve picking a name out of a hat at this point. It would be easier than trying to come up with a name that we both like.



As always, I will keep you posted if we do stumble upon a name worthy of Baby Boy Shaw.

24 Week Baby Update

Last Thursday marked 24 weeks. I had a doctor's appointment and all looked well with the baby. His heartbeat is in the 150's and he is measuring about two weeks ahead of schedule. Not sure what that means, but if it means I get to be done two weeks earlier, that is fine by me.

I, on the other hand, feel like I am falling apart. The pressure and pain in my hips and pelvis are really beginning to affect my day to day life. If I stand or sit for too long in the same position, I am in terrible pain. Nights are the worst because it hurts to lay on my side, but I am not supposed to sleep on my back. I try to fall asleep on my side but always seem to wake up on my back. In an effort to elevate my head while laying on my back last night, I fell asleep in a nest of 6 pillows. In addition to my aches and pains, I have developed some other strange symptoms. The palms of my hands and soles of my feet become VERY itchy at night. My hands actually started to bleed this weekend from scratching. Lastly, I have a lovely red rash all over my abdomen. I ran through my long list of aches and pains and other strange symptoms and was assured that it is all normal for a second pregnancy. My OB gave me a prescription for maternity support hose (no thanks) and told me to drink 8 oz of water each hour that I was awake (no thanks again). I mean, seriously??? If I drank that much water, I would either have to move into the bathroom or start wearing Depends.

-Side note-

When I was teaching, I always had children coming up to me with complaints of headache, sore throat, stomach issues, etc. To see if they were really sick, I always encouraged them to drink some water and wait a while to see if it made them feel better. 9 times out of 10 the water magically healed whatever seemed to be ailing my students. My recent visit to the OB made me wonder if they are pushing water to see if it magically cures me too.

I also found out that I put on another 5 pounds since my last visit. This had me fighting back tears as the toothpick of a nurse recorded my weight in the computer. I have put on 15 pounds total so far, which is average. But, I only gained 20 with Charlie, so it is depressing to realize that I am probably going to gain more than that this time around. Let's face it, the baby is only about a pound now, so that means I have to put on at least another 6 pounds of just baby. That puts me right over 20 pounds!

We're Back!

Yes, I know it has been a very long time since the last post. Life has been busy, Nick has been traveling a lot, and the computer has been S-L-O-W for some reason. So, that has meant no blogging or checking other friends' blogs for the past couple of weeks. Nick is back out of town tonight, the house is decently clean, and the laundry is done. So, I am going to spend a little time getting the blog back on track. Enjoy!

18 Month Well Check-Up

We visited the pediatrician the other day for Charlie's 18 month well check. I had a list of questions a mile long. I asked about discipline, eating, language development, and much more. According to Dr. Douglass, Charlie is right on track and sounds like a very normal toddler. It was such a relief to hear that she was not worried about any of my concerns. She is a mother of three young children (her youngest is only a few months older than Charlie), so I figure she knows what is normal for a toddler. Not only was I relieved to hear that he is meeting all of his developmental milestones, but I was shocked to find out that he made some big jumps on the growth chart in both height and weight. Our practice does not give exact percentiles. Instead, they give you a range that your child falls into. The nurse told me that Charlie was at the top of the range for height, which makes this shrimpy mommy very happy. I am always worried that I have passed my short genes on to Charlie. Finding out his weight was equally as shocking. Considering most of his food ends up on the floor, I was half expecting his weight to have dropped. Anyway, here are the stats for our growing boy:

Charlie at 18 Months

Weight - 26.5 lbs (50-75th percentile)

Height - 33 and 1/8 inches (50-75th percentile)

Head Circumference - 50 cm (95th percentile)

LOL

I just had the best belly laugh thanks to my son. We were upstairs doing laundry when I turned around to see Charlie sucking on a pacifier. What's so funny? Well, we took Charlie's pacifiers away on his first birthday because I had heard horror stories about trying to pry them away from older children. I thought I had cleared the house of all pacifiers, but apparently I missed one. When I turned to see my big boy sucking away on that paci, it just tickled me. He seems so grown up these days, that it was hilarious to see him using something from his baby days. Not to worry, the paci is in the trash. There will be no Paci Fairy visiting this house.

Blurb

A while back, I told you about Blurb. It is a site that can transfer all of your blog posts into a book. The books come in all shapes and sizes, soft cover and hard, and can be hundreds of pages long. The Blurb software is free to download, and the prices for the books are very reasonable. My book is roughly 90 pages, and it will be a little less than $50 (not including shipping and handling).

I have decided to create a book for each year. I started to blog at the end of 2007, but I only posted a few times before Charlie was born. So, those posts are getting lumped together with all of 2008. I just finished the book the other night, and I am so excited to see the real thing when it comes in the mail. I haven't ordered yet, because I want to do one final proof reading before submitting the order. I promise to let you know how the final product turns out.

All in all, the process was very easy. And remember, I am NOT good with computers or anything that has to do with technology (It is the Christmas Miracle that I finally figured out how to send a text message). The toughest part of the whole process was formatting the book to be the way that I wanted it to look. Blurb literally sucks up everything from your blog and puts it into a book in chronological order. It is not perfect, however. You will need to go through and make sure you are happy with the way your pictures look and whether or not you want a post on one page or several. My book started off with 160 pages, and I was able to edit it down to 90. It took me probably five hours total to get it looking perfect. There are a few things that I wish I had known before starting, and I am going to share them with you. So, here are some tips for transferring your blog to Blurb:

1. Blurb lumps all text and all pictures together. In other words, captions that might be under your pictures on the blog, will not appear that way when they are transferred. You can cut and paste your captions, and put them under the pictures if you want. I found this to be too time consuming, so I ended up deleting my captions. Next time, I will probably go through the blog and delete the captions before I transfer. This is only because I am much more comfortable with Blogger than I am with Blurb.

2. Depending on how your blog is set up, the date for each entry might look like this:
Fri Jun 03 EST 11:00:45 2008. This was by far the most annoying thing to edit, and I am sure, had I looked a little harder, I could have found a way to edit all of the dates at once. Instead, I edited each date as I went along. Annoying? Yes! The end of the world? No.

3. If you have linked to another site in a post, the website URL will appear at the bottom of the entry. No biggie, but you will definitely want to delete it.

Other than that, like I said, it is pretty straight forward and easy to use. Now that I have one book under my belt, I am sure the next one will go even quicker. Although, I have become quite the blogger this year. I started off blogging 2-3 times a month, and now I average about 15 a month.

I am just so happy that our family will have all of the wonderful memories that we have created together in beautiful books. I can't wait to sit with my boys some day and read them stories about when they were little babies. If you ask me, the blog is one of the best things I have done for our growing family. As I looked back through 2008, I was reminded of so many details that had already become hazy. With our crazy, hectic lives it is so great having all of the memorable moments bundled together in a common place.

I hope you enjoy making your book as much as I did! And, let me know if you have questions.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!!!

Things are getting desperate here at the Shaw Household. The rain has had us cooped up for a week now, and we are running out of things to do indoors. Last week, Nick was out of town, and Charlie and I nearly went bonkers inside. We went to the mall yesterday just to get out of the house. Today, Nick watched Charlie so that I could go help my SIL register. I was gone most of the morning and did not get back until after Charlie's nap. When I got home, Nick asked the million dollar question, "What do you do with this kid all day when you can't go outside?" Seriously, if I had the answer, I would be a much happier person. Charlie is like a little pinball bouncing off the walls of our home. He moves from room to room searching for something to play with or get into. If any of the mommies out there have any great ideas for rainy days, I would love to hear them!!!

Tonight, the rain started to really come down right after dinner. So, I decided to throw open one of the windows in the kitchen and let Charlie see, hear, and feel the rain. We had done this earlier in the week, but it was not raining nearly as hard. He loved sticking his little hand out the window to catch the rain. He would pull his hand in to show Nick and me what he had caught. After a while, he started bringing the rain over to Nick and washing his hair with it. He then started scrubbing his own arms with the rain. Such a goober!

We skipped our normal bath after dinner tonight because the thunder and lightning started up pretty hard. It was straight into pajamas and reading a few books. After we read, I always ask Charlie if he wants me to rock him in his chair. Sometimes he wants to be rocked, and other times he is so tired he wants to get right into bed. Tonight, he rested his head on my shoulder and let me rock him. Every time the thunder would rumble, he would lift his head and begin babbling about it. This went on for about five minutes. I would just LOVE to know what he was telling me about that thunder. What does his little mind think of all of these new experiences? One can only imagine...

All You Need is Love(y)

Meet Lovey. This is Charlie's most prized possession. It is a blanket square that has a blue, fuzzy fabric on one side and a brown, silky fabric on the other. Charlie loves Lovey. It is just plain and simple. Lovey is required for sleep and can make any heartache or boo boo instantly better. When Charlie sees Lovey, his face lights up in a way that makes my heart skip a beat, and he lets out a little squeal of joy. He always holds Lovey in his left hand and sucks his left thumb like in the picture above. It is so sweet.

Lovey was a gift from Grandma and Grandpa for Easter. Mom and I noticed a few months before that Charlie had taken a particular liking to blankets that had silky edges. He would try to tote the blankets with him from room to room. The only problem was figuring out how to carry them without tripping constantly. Mom and I decided that he needed a smaller version of the real thing. Mom, being the savvy shopper that she is, set out on a mission to find a little silky blanket square that would be perfect for Charlie. When she presented Charlie with Lovey for the first time, he held it close to him and began sucking his thumb. It was as if he had been waiting for Lovey his whole life. Mom and I were thrilled, but we had no idea how important Lovey would become.

We now have four Lovey blankets in our home and one emergency blanket at Grandma and Grandpa's house (just in case something catastrophic should happen at our home). You may think this is an extreme number of Lovey blankets, but for us it works out quite well. There are usually two in the wash and two out for loving on at any given time. However, we do have times when we can't find any of the four Lovey blankets. How this happens will always be a mystery to me.

Lovey travels with us just about everywhere, and I am very grateful for his (yes, Lovey is a boy) existence. Who knows how long Charlie will be head over heels for Lovey, but I think every kiddo needs a comfort item. Nick and I had blankets that we loved, and I even had a robe that I slept with up until a few years ago. It is good and right to have something that can provide you with instant comfort, and I am happy that my son has something that takes care of that need.

Fridge Fun

You may be wondering why I am taking pictures of my child inside the refrigerator. The answer is very simple: This is Charlie's new favorite place to be when I am preparing a meal.

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Normally, making dinner is my least favorite part of the day. It means that I have to attempt to do the food preparation, cooking, and serving of our dinner while a very angry 18-month-old pushes me away from the counter and hits my legs in protest. It is just such a special time of the day for us. I have tried distracting him with his own set of cooking utensils, toys, books, and as a last resort, the TV. All of my attempts have failed, and we seem to have the same struggle night after night...until recently.

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A few days ago, while getting supplies for dinner out of the fridge, I must have left the door open accidentally. I went about my business chopping and peeling veggies for dinner, when I suddenly realized that something was missing. There was no feisty toddler hovering by my feet, and it was quite in my kitchen. Now, all moms know that quite is never a good thing if your child is awake. In fact, it usually means a disaster is about to happen. I quickly whirled around half expecting the kitchen to be on fire, when I noticed Charlie sitting quietly on the floor with three bottles of salad dressing. He was just looking at the labels and examining how the liquid inside the bottles moved as he turned and twisted them. Was this really happening? Was Charlie really entertained by these bottles?

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YES!!!

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Forget the fancy toys that are in every corner of our home. He just wants to play with the stinking salad dressing bottles. The past few days have been the same routine during dinner preparation. He goes to the fridge to let me know that he wants in, and I open the door and let him into his new wonderland. I have even moved all of the plastic containers to the two lowest shelves so that I don't have to worry about broken glass. I don't know how long this craze will last, but maybe I should try out some new recipes while I have a little extra time on my hands.

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***DISCLAIMER***

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I realize that leaving the refrigerator door open for extended periods of time is not good for the environment and is wasting energy. I am all about conservation - conservation of my sanity that is! I apologize for not using energy wisely, but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.