In the kitchen...

For the record, I'm still a huge fan of the learning tower, as is Ezra.

Here he is making a gluten free pizza.




The other night he swiped the broccoli out of my hands while I was getting dinner ready and just started going to town eating the whole bunch.


That night instead of his normal stalling technique of needing water while I was tucking him in, he said he needed broccoli...I assured him that he could have as much broccoli as he wanted the next day. :)

rhythm...

A friend of mine talks a lot about having a rhythm chart for her kids to visually see during the day that lists all of the main things that are happening in their day. She said that the days she makes the rhythm charts, the day goes much more smoothly.

So, I decided to give it a shot today to see if it could help us with the little things that are so difficult: getting dressed and getting in the car seat.

In the end, I found that the rhythm chart was really nice for me to have to visually see how our day was going to go. ...I think Ezra liked it too, but the verdict isn't totally in yet. :)



*The pink drawing at the bottom of the chalkboard is Ezra's picture of the baby in my belly. This morning he asked if we could go to the doctor again to see the 'baby in mama's belly'.

Tea for Ezra

Ezra is a bit of a tea-hog. Lately he has been drinking about 3/4 of my cup of morning tea. Which isn't too big of a deal, but it's my tea, and I really look forward to it in the morning!

So, the other day I decided to start making him his own cup of chamomile tea and adding some milk and local raw honey (we are trying everything to help these season allergies of his).

Having his own cup of tea at breakfast was a BIG hit! It didn't quite have the calming chamomile effect I was hoping for, but I think I was mom-of-the-day for about 30 minutes! That all ended of course when I told him it was time to get dressed...oh, if only he lived on a nudist colony, life would be so much easier for him.

Ezra do it

"Ezra do it" is a very common phrase we hear around these parts these days. From picking out his clothes, to putting on his clothes, dumping the contents of his potty, and getting in the car seat, our boy of ours is very excited by his autonomy.

Most of the time this is fun and exciting, although I'm not going to lie...it also leads to very loooong times of waiting for him to start getting dressed, or from moving to being in the car to actually sitting in his car seat. Oh virtue of patience, don't leave me now.

I do love seeing the outfits he picks out. This was the other day. And no, this was not for bedtime, this outfit was picked out specifically for going to the park.

That would be "dinosaur on skateboard shirt", "basketball hoop (pajama) pants", and "snow boots" (because after all you always need to be prepared for a snowstorm in Tucson).

It's a healthy baby...

GREEN!

We had our ultrasound today and the little one inside was throwing punches and dancing all around for us to see.

Ezra was a little concerned about the goo on my belly and kept asking me to "wash it". Ryan pointed out all the different features of the baby, and Ezra seemed quite pleased with that.

20 weeks down, 20 to go!

Prego belly...

This morning I went to go for a run and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror...yowsers, where did this big ol' belly come from? I know it's been growing all along, but I feel like it suddenly has really popped out there.


And here is the post-run, red-faced, sweaty mama...


Tomorrow we go for our 20-week ultrasound!

A new arrival!

Last week our friends Matt and Abby gave birth to their first little gal, Evelyn Faith.

Here is the little cutie, fast asleep with her mouth wide open...


And here is Ezra playing outside with Ryan...I think he was trying to show off for Evelyn...and perhaps entice her to come play outside too!


And finally, here's Ezra taking his turn at holding Evelyn.


He of course had to give her a 'regular hug'...


Followed by a 'bear hug'...which caught me by surprise and I was laughing so hard that I could hardly get him to release his grip on sweet lil' Evie.


When I told him he could give her a kiss on the forehead, he responded with "kiss on the lips"...this boy is a lip kisser, what can I say.

Happy Birthday Grandpo!

Ryan's Grandpo is a leap year baby, and will be celebrating his 76th year of life this week! We had a little birthday fun celebrating with him and Grandmo at our house on Friday with Jessica, Eleanor, and Noel.

(Jessica is known for her baking skillz and I have pretty much been craving chocolate cake everyday since then.)


The wee ones at the wee table.


And the Es on the piano...


Ezra has been wanting to sing Happy Birthday most days since then, so I think I'm going to have to brush up on my piano skills and learn how to play it soon!

Meet Me at Maynards/Hotel Congress

Meet Me at Maynards is the weekly walk that happens downtown every Monday. Although, they have recently changed the location to Hotel Congress, so I'm not sure what to call it anymore...

This past Monday we met there to help Abby Narter induce labor by walking....and....IT WORKED! She ended up going into labor that night and had a sweet little girl, Evelyn Faith the next morning.

weekending with friends...

I still have photos to post of when my mom was in town, however I accidentally sent her home with my camera that has the photos on them...oops! So, they will be posted next week...

Last weekend we had a nice, laid-back weekend with friends.

We spontaneously decided to meet at the park for dinner and playing on Saturday evening...




The 2 on 2 basketball game that totally made Ezra's day!


On Sunday evening I went out with some girlfriends to celebrate Joyce's birthday, Abby's "day-before-due-date-day", and Blanca's pregnancy!...all while being serenaded by the best of the best music in town, R & P Music Factory (Ryan Green and Paul Jenkins :).





The prego mamas...

Right Now...

In the spirit of Soulemama, I am feeling like doing a "Right Now" post...

I have no photos to go along, but here are the sentiments...

Right now I am...

::loving that we have made 3 meals in a row using things (cilantro, kale, and spinach) from our garden, albeit a very small garden

::ecstatic that Ezra has learned that I am not a short-order cook and eats whatever I make for dinner

::looking forward to taking Ezra to his first basketball game tonight (he LOVES all things basketball and a friend of ours plays in a league that we are going to go watch)

::wondering what Ezra has been doing in his room for the last hour so quietly

::anxious to meet the newest and tiniest member of our circle of friends, Evelyn Faith born yesterday

::wanting to have a knitting project to go to, but intimidated by starting it...

::thankful I don't have a migraine, and that I haven't thrown up in 2 weeks!!

::loving the feeling of the little one inside me kicking to always remind me he/she will be joining us on the outside 'soon'!

::excited that our 20 week ultrasound has been scheduled for March 1st (we won't be finding out the baby's gender, but I still just love getting to see that beating heart and moving itty bitty body)

Trash Truck

One of the most exciting parts of our week is waiting for and watching the trash truck, followed by the recycling truck.


It is seriously a much anticipated activity in our house. And lucky for us, we can still be in our pj's for it. AND, because we live on a dead end street, we can watch the pick-up (for both trucks) on both sides of the street.


I love Tuesday mornings on our street.

Renaissance Festival

Did you know that the Arizona Renaissance Festival is the real deal? As in, 27 acres of actual buildings/castles? I had no idea!

My friend Marcia and her husband Dick have worked at Renaissance Festivals all over the country for the last 18 years and she gave us a pair of free tickets, so my mom and I along with Ezra ventured up to the festival last Sunday. We only planned on being there a half day not knowing it was definitely a full day's worth of festivities.

Here is my mom and Marcia (Marcia is a "local yokel" who goes around getting people to play a dice game with her, and her words, "no coin is exchanged"...a.k.a. it's free to play :)



And here is Dick...


He is also a "local yokel" who does leather work. Isn't his hair great? It's real. When not working Renaissance Festivals, he is a professional Santa. I never even knew that such a profession existed before I met him.


This was one of the shows we watched...Ezra was totally mesmerized by them.


The petting zoo was a huge hit...




As was the food...


But by far the most exciting part, was riding the elephant! :)

Texas!

Last week Ezra and I flew to Dallas/Ft. Worth to spend a week with our friends Summer and Micah while her husband/his dada was away on business.

You may remember we took a similar journey last year. (Geez louise, Ezra has grown a lot of hair in the last year!!)

Summer is super generous and graciously offered us her frequent flier miles to fly us there and back. And, while Ezra is still a "lap child" we wanted to take advantage of it!

It was a great week. The boys had fun playing together. The mamas had fun eating yummy food, talking talking talking, and staying up much too late for the 'early' mornings we knew were around the corner.

The week left me thinking again about how living in community/on a commune seems like the best way to go. The "work load" seems like half as much when you are able to share it...and it feels a lot less like work since you are able to chat and have fun.

Eating blueberries in the learning tower while waiting for breakfast.


Playing at the park...


...having fun with mr. micah!


The Fort Worth Zoo...


...it's a great zoo, with the largest variety of primates I've ever seen! Look at this sweet ol' guy resting his head...


I love that it looks like they are "dosey doe'ing" in this photo...


I totally bummed all of the photos off of Summer which means I have no photos of Summer! But if you go to the link to last year's trip, you will see her there. :)

Thanks for a great week Summer and Micah!

bump!

I have received several requests for pictures of my belly...and without further ado...here you are!

17 weeks...and just starting to have more "good days" than "bad days"...

party!

Ezra was livin' it up with Aunt Rachel, Mimi, and Ray on Saturday night while Ryan and I were having dinner with some friends.

When we picked him up we could tell that the 3 of them had all been having fun. In fact, I think it took me being in the same room as him and sitting on the ground for over 30 seconds before Ezra even realized I was there. He didn't show that he even wanted to leave...he was having a blast body slamming on to the air mattress in Aunt Rachel's room.

Painting...

Hello!

Ezra and I were in Texas last week visiting friends. I promise to post all about it later this week... :)

The week prior to Texas, I was feeling a little bit prego icky still, and before going to bed one night I decided I needed to come up with a game plan for the next day with Ezra. I found a blog post on making shaving cream paint, that looked super simple...and totally up Ezra's alley.

So in the morning we gathered our supplies (all you need is shaving cream, finger paint and paper)...


...and went to town on the paper...


...and all over this body...




It was super fun...until I brought out the camera. I should have known better. Enjoy the moment...we don't need everything on camera. But no, I just had to take a picture of how cute he looked covered in paint. And that my friends is where it all started to go downhill. Because of course cameras have buttons and flashing lights, and they are so fun to hold...even when your hands are covered in shaving cream paint. And when mom says you can't have it, you want it even more...and you'll even wipe your shaving cream paint hands all over the walls and sliding glass door to "clean them" so they are ready for the camera. :)