Happy Halloween!

Well, it's Halloween! We're very excited to have Aunt Erin and Uncle Danny up to visit tonight! I'm going to (hopefully) take lots of pictures and will have lots to share after tonight! Austin is going to be a puppy, which he is very excited about. Every time he sees his costume, he says, "Puppy!" so he knows what's going on! I'll keep you posted!

Hi.

Just wanted to share this!

I'm still here!

I love that I wrote that. Because it's not as if the handful of people who read this blog don't talk to me...every SINGLE day, regardless of whether or not I blog! But, just for kicks, I'm still here!

We had a pretty good weekend. Friday night there was a brawl at the YMCA between me and some old bat named Dorothy from the childcare center. Let's just say this...am I still a member of the YMCA? Yes. Is Dorothy still an employee of the YMCA? No. Aw yeah! That's how I roll! Don't mess with me, my kid, and my entourage (a.k.a. Cecilia)!!

Anyway, back to the weekend, which will seem oh-so-bland compared to the Friday night shenanigans! Austin and I cleaned the house on Saturday for a good part of the day. Nick did some garage work when he rolled out of bed that afternoon, too. Then, not much else happened. We played out in the yard, which was chilly but fun.

On Sunday, Austin and I met Cecilia, Memphis, and Grayson at Target for our monthly "10% off" day. We did some pretty good shopping! I went with a goal of getting some specific things, including sports bras, black shoes (because I need more!), cat pee pads, and a potty seat. I ended up with...cat pee pads and a potty seat (among other small random things). What happened to all the things I was going to get for myself, you ask? It's the same every time. When I go out to buy something for myself, I have a hard time finding anything that works! I'm going to do some online shopping and see if I can't come up with something, though, because I NEED the sports bra and shoes pretty badly! I promise!

Austin and I then hit the Dollar Tree where I bought our Halloween candy -- I know, enticing, right? Come to our house for gross peanut butter chews, Tootsie Rolls (sorry, Mom!), Dum Dums, and sad PAL gum. You're no one's pal, PAL gum. You lose your flavor in like 4 chews. I have to get that kind of candy, though, so I won't eat it! I suppose I could invest in nicer candy that I don't love, like Skittles or Starburst, but I was really interested in spending just $1 per bag! Oh, those lucky trick or treaters who come by our place! I'll act really friendly to make up for the poor candy selection, I promise!

I also WRAPPED CHRISTMAS PRESENTS on Sunday! Can you believe it? I have 2 people DONE and 1 person on the way to being done already! I love getting stuff ahead of time! Heads up, visitors to 13 Timberview Drive...no peeking for presents in our house!!

We wrapped up Sunday with a delicious pork chop dinner and some attempts at Zumba in the basement. Austin didn't really want me to work out, though, and insisted I hold him the whole time. Zumba is hard enough, but trying to do it with a 25 lb. weight on one hip is pretty impossible!

Fall Weekend!

Nothing is better than a fun fall weekend! We had a great one this weekend! While Daddy worked his butt off (poor guy!) and slept while he could, Austin and I went down to the Twin Cities of Elwin/Decatur to visit with Gramma, Papa, Aunt Erin, and Uncle Danny. These people are always a good time, and I figured it would be good to get some family time in, since we're heading into the tantrum phase! Oh yes, it has started!

Anyway, we went down to Gramma and Papa's house on Saturday morning. We had time for a quick visit before loading up the car and heading to meet Erin and Danny to follow them to Black Bart's Pumpkin Patch! It was a fun time! There were rows of pumpkins to choose from, a corn maze, a hay bale maze for little kids, goats, a shop, and some other fun things. Austin's favorite thing of all? The "GRA-GUR!!!!", or tractor, if you're not familiar with Austin-speak! He LOVED the tractor and kept going back to it to play!

Enjoy the pumpkin patch pictures!

18-month appointment today!

Austin has his 18-month dr. appt this afternoon at 4. He usually does really well at these appointments, so I'm not worried! I know they dr. will ask us how the talking is coming along, so last night, Nick and I attempted to make a list of words Austin says. We weren't sure if we had to include ONLY words he initiates (for example, he really won't say "knee" on his own, but when we talk about parts of the body and I ask him "Where's your knee knee knee?" he'll point to it and say, "Knee knee knee!"), so we left those out. We're erring on the side of less words. Even doing this, guess how many we came up with?

About 61 words! Wow!

The "typical" number of words kids can say at 19-24 months seems to be around 50-70 words, so our boy is there already! Go Austin! Just like his mommy...

I did a quick search for this topic, because I wanted to see what the average number for 18 months is, and I found these posts by other moms in a discussion of what is "right" for 18 month olds:

• "Our doctor said between 4-10 single words at 18 months is normal."
• "At her Parents as Teacher evaluation and 18 mo ckup they both said around 5-10 is great..."
• "What to expect ... the toddler years" says they should be able to use 3 single words.
• "My pediatrician said he likes to see them have 6-8 words. But in the same breathe, told me if they don't have exactly that many not to worry about it too much as long as I see them trying."

I guess we're okay, then!

Fun in the car!

This morning, as we were driving to daycare (or "school", as we like to say!), Austin was playing with his toy remote control. You'd think, by the way, that if you give these kids the fake, toy version of something electronic (cell phone, remote, digital camera, etc.) that they'd be happy to play with that one and then would leave the real thing alone. Not so much! And why? The toy versions are way more colorful and tend to do more things with better sound effects!

Anyway, so we're driving to school and he's playing with the remote. He was pushing random buttons and making noises. He finally got on a pattern of flipping this dial around. When you flip it, you either get

• the "weather channel", where someone says, "What a nice day!" in either English, Spanish, or French,
• the "sports channel", where a man yells, "GOOOOAALL!", or
• the "music channel", where you hear Yankee Doodle, This Old Man, or The Itsy Bitsy Spider.

He was in a rhythm. He'd flip to the weather channel and listen to the words, flip to the GOAL! and say "Oohhhhhhhh!!!!!" to echo the guy (while looking at me in the rearview mirror), and then flip to the music channel and DANCE IT UP in his carseat! This kept up for a good majority of the ride and it was so funny to watch! Then he started mixing it up -- mixing the "channel" order around. Finally, he threw in more. After listening to the person announce the weather, especially when it was in another language, he'd babble incoherently, mimicking the person!

I tell you, this kid keeps me entertained! We'll see if he's as into this toy on the way home!

My new boyfriend!

I am currently dating the Smoothie King. Yes, we started our relationship yesterday on October 9, 2008, and we are continuing in a hot and heavy manner today! It was love at first sight for me, really, and I think the King felt the same way! We are looking forward to many more blissful dates together and to celebrating anniversaries for years to come!

You laugh at this, but I am serious. We just got a new Smoothie King moments...MOMENTS away from Heartland, and wow! I've never had Smoothie King before, but it's so delicious! Now, it is expensive, so I don't anticipate this become an every day event, but it is really tasty.

The smoothies are so fruity and refreshing! I have to recommend the one that, so far, I've enjoyed the most. Today I had Pineapple Surf. Here's the description:

Pineapple Surf®

Whoah, dude. Get your buds prepped for a mondo wave of pineapples, strawberries, kiwi and our vanilla protein blend. It’ll turn any straw into the pipeline you’ve been waiting to ride.

Ingredients: Pineapple, Strawberries, Kiwi, Protein Blend, Turbinado, Vanilla, Honey

That was a tasty one! We substituted orange juice for the kiwi and it was fantastic! Yesterday, I tried this one:

Berry Punch™

Here’s a flavor that’ll knock you out. A right hook of raspberry. A slam of strawberry. A big jab of blueberry. All blended into a delicious Sorbet Smoothie that makes you wonder if there should be a legal limit for berries in one drink.

Ingredients: Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberry Sorbet, Electrolyte Mix

Also delicious! There are so many options and things you can do to personalize your smoothie that the possibilities are endless! If you have one by you (I love how I post that, as if I don't know the minuscule amount of people who read this blog and live in either Decatur or Bloomington/Normal!), I highly suggest you give it a try sometime!