Husbands Add Seven Hours to Women's Housework Load Each Week, University of Michigan Study Says

I saw this headline a little while ago, and it really stood out to me. That's an hour extra housework per day, just for the sole fact of having a husband.

I don't believe it. Sure, there's extra laundry, more frequent cleaning of the bathroom, and things like that--but overall, my husband helps out a lot with the housework and kids. He does the grocery shopping (ever since we had a second child) and all the yard work and cooks dinner a few nights a week, just to name a few. I know a lot of your husbands help out just as much, too--doing laundry, dishes, etc.

So, this post is in honor of Father's Day, and great big thank you to my husband and yours, for all the support they give us! And here are some recent favorite pictures of my cute husband with our kiddos.

Here's a link to where the headline came from, in case you're interested.
http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2008/04/husbands_add_seven_hours_to_wo.html

Miraculous Morning

You know those mornings when your kid(s) sleep in longer than usual? I'm not talking just 20 extra minutes--which in itself is glorious--but a good two hours longer? And you know how you start off being productive (cutting the baby's fingernails and doing the dishes) because you are loving that you get some extra time to actually get something done?

But then...it gets later and later and you get feeling giddy inside, feeling disbelief at your fortune. You think, "Should I go check on them?" Secretly you're wondering if goblins have come and sucked their breath out because there's no way they really have kept sleeping this long. You wish you could hear some stirring from the bedrooms. But then you do and you pretend like you didn't hear it at all.

You decide to make a smoothie and go sit on the back porch to prolong the last minutes of this miraculous morning. As you sit outside in your p.j.'s, you think, "When did all the birds start chirping so much and when did all the airplanes start flying over our house so often? I've never heard them before..."

Dee-licious

So, here it is: documentation of Brad's first taste of rice cereal. There were only a couple of funny faces, and so quick that it was impossible to get a pic of it. Mostly he just enjoyed it, as you can see. And of course, Miranda was NOT going to be left out of the fun. I had to keep telling her not to put the spoon too far into his mouth as he was gagging on it...I've decided second children must just get lots of blessings for the mere fact of being born second and having to endure toddler older siblings :)

Mom, I can Explain...

I have a really good excuse why my bed is never made these days...

The Week in Pictures

Miranda fed a baby cow at Thanksgiving Point Farm Country.
She also rode the horse all by herself for the first time.
We enjoyed Memorial Day with Daddy. This Monday is a holiday, too, right???
Heidi and Jeremy are making lots of fondant cakes for practice. Our friends, Cody and Darci, are getting married in less than three weeks and their wedding cake should be perfect!
Bradley had his first experience of grass. (He liked it.)
Miranda is showing her brother how to climb all over dad.
Brad had his first taste of 'real' food--a banana. I did it the lazy way, though, through this mesh bag teether. Yum, yum. Maybe this week we'll do the high chair and cereal thing...

Amazing Discovery

Moms, do you want a few minutes to yourself to read a book or just enjoy relaxing in the sunshine? Then this is the perfect solution for you. A spray bottle. That's right, this amazing invention will entertain your toddler for many minutes a day, giving you the much needed rest you deserve. Your toddler will get so much entertainment out of spraying rocks, bugs, brick, sidewalk--the possibilities are endless. They may even slightly water your plants!
Now, you might expect to pay a lot for your child to play by themselves, safely, for 10, 15, even 20 minutes at a time. But here's the amazing part: you can have this for only ONE DOLLAR!!! Unbelievable, but true. Start enjoying some time for yourself today!

Customer Testimonial: "The spray bottle is my two year-old's favorite outdoor toy. She can play with it without my help--which makes both of us happy!"--Heidi, Utah

Results not typical or guaranteed. Adult and/or child will probably get wet.

Baby Chicks are Here!

Dear Diary,
Today I was eating cereal with Mom when Mima called. Mom sounded excited talking to grandma, and when she hung up the phone, she said, "Hurry, Miranda. We need to get you dressed! Mima's coming soon." I hurried and got dressed and when Mima came, she told me that their baby chickens were at the post office, waiting to be picked up. She said I could come with her! At the post office, we told the mail lady that we were there to pick up a package. Mima sat me on the counter at the post office and when the lady brought out the box, I could hear a lot of little "peep, peep, peep" noises coming from the box! We took the box to Grandma and Grandpa's house, down in the basement. Mima took off the lid there, and I looked in and there were baby chicks-- a lot! We put them in a big crate with little crushed up corn and some water for them. They like their big heat lamp light, too. I told Mima, "Hold them! Hold them?" She said okay, but I had to use two hands to hold them and sit down in a chair. They were so soft and cute. I gave them kisses on their heads and petted their feathers. Mima counted them all and there were 25! That's a lot! I love the baby chicks. I didn't want to leave. But Mima gave me chocolate and said next time I could hold them some more.
Love, Miranda

Blessing day!

Fashion Advice

There's no better way to complete a totally cute outfit than with your little brother's future Halloween hat.

Aprons

This was my latest craft project--aprons. It was inspired by this first picture. Miranda got this little apron from Grandma Merilynn (who is modeling with Miranda in the pictures) for Christmas last year. It is such a cute design and Miranda loves wearing it. So, I made matching apron sets for mother/child for a church auction to raise money for the youth programs. I think they turned out really cute! Thanks to both moms who helped me sew them in time for the auction--they were a big hit!

Happy Anniversary

Here's to six years and counting!

Losing It

Warning: This post contains sarcasm and some bitterness.

It's official. I'm losing it.

My HAIR has started to come out in handfuls, thanks to post-partum hormones. I'm really looking forward to a fashionable, fuzzy, short regrowth look for summer.

My SANITY is going. Miranda has started doing two new things this week, and let me seriously say that they better be phases that pass quickly. One is that she is screaming at the top of her lungs. No matter what I do--ignore it, punish it, explain why it's freaking annoying--she continues to do it until I successfully distract her with something else. I'm not sure what kid she learned this from, but I'm pretty sure it was one in nursery. The other thing she has been doing lately is a fake burp. Yea, really cute and feminine, you can bet. This one, I'm pretty sure I know who she learned it from, and he's not a 'kid'. Oh well, at least we get to practice saying "excuse me" a lot.

My PATIENCE is wearing thin. As I was nursing Bradley today, Miranda put tape on my toenail. When I pulled it off, along with it came my toenail polish. Good-bye $28 bucks I just paid for my pedicure a week ago that I was hoping to stretch out for a good two months. Which leads me to this question: Why is it that just as toddlers are becoming so fluent and picking up so many new words, why is it that now is when I feel the most like cursing and find myself having to bite my tongue?

What's the Big Deal About Caviar?

Jeremy's employer, as a bonus, paid for he and I to have dinner at La Caille Restaurant. Jeremy had been there once for a high school dance, but I had never and actually told Jeremy last year that I wanted to do that for our 6th Anniversary, which is coming up in a couple weeks! So I was quite excited.

It was fun and definitely worth doing once, and of course it was wonderful that we didn't have to pay the bill (which was over $200 by the way!), but I don't think I'd ever go back. The food wasn't that delicious for that price. The atmosphere was wonderful, though, and now one of our dreams is to turn our patio into a nice covered atrium one day like they have there.

Anyway, I ordered the lobster bisque appetizer because I love lobster, but mostly because it came with caviar and I have never tried caviar. I cannot believe people spend huge amounts of money on that! It hardly has a distinct taste besides tasting salty, and it's really crunchy and gets stuck in your teeth. Tell me if you disagree with me...Jeremy's appetizer was crab cakes, and they were really delicous.

For dinner I had the filet mignon and Jeremy had salmon-both really good. Jeremy loves creme brulee, so he had that for dessert and did love it. I ordered the "Trio of La Caille Desserts" because I was indecisive. It is "a miniture sampling of our favorite desserts: Creme Brulee, Chocolate Chantilly Cake, & Baked Alaska". When the waitress brought me my dessert, she apologized that the chef was still making the Baked Alaska, and gave me some chocolate dipped strawberries instead until he was done. I ate most of what I could still fit in my stomach, but I was so full that I knew if they brought the Baked Alaska there was no way I could even have a bite of it. I asked for it to go, but it still wasn't ready yet and they were so apologetic and said my dessert was complimentary on them, but to tell the truth, I had no idea what Baked Alaska was, and I didn't know what I was missing, so I said not to worry about it. Well, in case you don't know either, I just googled it, and it's a cake and ice cream dessert topped with meringue. YUM. I should have waited--my food would have digested in the meantime, right? That's what the picture is, at the top, by the way.

Nemo Party

I can't believe our Mandy is two! We had a "Finding Nemo Party" for her to celebrate since she loves anything fish. (Ask her dad why that is...) Anyway, although I think she was a little overwhelmed, she had tons of fun, too!

The kids all went fishing for prizes and here they are modeling one of their prizes, fish glasses.
'Fishing' over the banister.

I decided to make the cake because I didn't like the one from the grocery bakery. I think it turned out cute, although it was my first time using fondant and I need to practice that more! It was a vanilla cake with cream cheese filling and cream cheese frosting~delicious!
Making a wish for a terrific year of two's ahead!

Thumb vs. Binky

Little Brad has started to look for and--often finds--his thumb. He loved his binky for the first couple of months, but lately hasn't taken it very much. Now I catch him sucking away on his fist or thumb when he's hungry.
Miranda is a serious thumb sucker, and I don't think I want two thumb suckers. But then again, I don't know that I really have a choice, do I?
'Thumb' definitely has it's benefits over the binky, but it's not a bonus when it comes to kicking the habit as a toddler! The pediatric dentist told me he would like Miranda done sucking her thumb by age three, at the latest, which I don't really see happening without some serious and possibly painfully emotional intervention...

Have You Ever

Have you ever gone to a movie all by yourself? I did on Monday. Miranda and I are sick right now and it made for a terrible and terribly long day for both of us. So when Jeremy got home, he said he was kicking me out of the house. He was really serious, too, so I took him up on it. I went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic. I'm sure the other 12 people in the theater were thinking, "Oh, that's too bad. That girl's friend stood her up!" Anyway, it was a great movie and it was great to get out of the house and relax for a couple hours...

Family Pictures

I love how our pictures turned out! They are priceless. Now I just have to decide which ones to enlarge and frame...

Random Act of Kindness

What's helping keep our spirits up during this cold week? Gerber daisies from Jeremy's parents--we love them!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

We had breakfast with the Easter Bunny today. It's a free event at South Towne Mall and our second year of participation. If you have never been, you should plan on going next year, too. Here's what to expect:
Wait in line to get the breakfast--which is tiny Chick-Fil-A sandwiches, pancakes with no syrup/jam, and o.j. or chocolate milk.
Speakers begin blaring "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" and the rabbit makes his entrance with mall employees holding large baskets of plastic Easter Eggs.
Breakfast begins to be served and the line progresses towards the bunny and the food.
Meet the bunny and take a picture, if desired.
Get a plastic Easter Egg (with candy inside) for each child.
Get breakfast.
Eat breakfast.
Wish you had maple syrup for the pancake.
Marvel on how soon Easter will be here.
Put wet wipes to good use on sticky fingers and chocoalte milk mustaches.
Pack up the kids to go home and think, "That was fun--for a free event!"