changes

so as you can see i'm changing this blog around a bit. i've decided that "my daily bread" sounds much too deep for what this blog really is. i'm in more of a PB & J world these days. i have a few titles in mind but as Dora says "i need YOOOUR help!" so please leave a comment about which title you like best. you can leave comments under anonymous if you're not signed up on blogspot.

A) My Daily PB&J
B) Daily Dose of PB&J
C) PB&J For The Day
D) Just PB&J
E) as much as i like PB&J, loose it for your blog title.

thanks for helping! gracias!

Easter Pictures

our first visitor

today is a beautiful 60 degree day. a day that we've spent mostly outside. we need more days like this, they make life worth living. the birds have been very active today... they even figured out our bird feeder and Mayden is slowly figuring out that she can't excitedly run toward them or they fly away. pronto.

new Spring sheets for May's bed!

my crap day (well, 1/2 of it)

the last 1/2 of this day is definitely in the running for "worst day ever" title. okay i'm probably being over dramatic but both of the kids were extremely needy... Cam because of teething & May because of a sugar high (i think). from Mayden saying "im hungry" every 15 minutes to Cam taking a mini second nap. i couldn't get a second to myself which in turn caused the house to implode upon itself. it's so frustrating to see the house falling apart and not be able to do a damn thing about it because if you stand up your kids will loose their minds.

Chris called to say he would be late which was no big deal because i thought the kids would be in bed nice and early and then i was looking forward to having a quite house to myself for a little bit. buuuuuuuuut that didn't exactly work out.

bath time for Mayden was interesting. first, if you know May then you know that she is very attached to inadament objects. i mean she gives things like crayons, figurines, magnets (and apparently soap) personalities, voices & souls. she gets very upset when one of her crayons is used by someone else (not because she doesn't like to share, but because they are little people and are not for coloring). anyway my mom gave Mayden a bath fizz duck for Easter yesterday so tonight i let her have it in the bath. she (of course) was talking with it until all of the sudden she realized that it was getting smaller and smaller and soon it would be gone and had a major meltdown. she did manage to salvage a small bit of it and i'm sure she'll keep it around for weeks.

so while trying to explain to her that bath fizz chemically reacts to water and it's okay for it to disappear i wiggle her into jammies and brush her teeth. next it's off to bed where i read her three books, set her up with a few more books, kiss her goodnight and leave... she falls asleep soon there after. well that's what NORMALLY happens. not tonight. nope tonight i read the books and midway thru the first book i hear "im hungry" AGAIN! i hate to send the kid to bed hungry but she just ate something 20 minutes before (and 15 minutes before that and dinner a 1/2 hour before that!) so i try to tell her to wait until morning but she cries "but i'm really hungry" and it seems genuine so i go out and get her some cheese and pretzels to eat in bed while i'm putting Cam (who is thankfully being very patient) to sleep. i'm thinking she'll just fall asleep on her own. i go get Camo all ready for bed, grab and bottle and head to our room. while i'm feeding him and rocking him i hear Mayden screaming my name. Cameron finishes the bottle without falling asleep so i take him into her room to see what she wants now. she wants me to snuggle with her. something that i can't do because i need to put Cameron to bed. so i tell her i will come rub her back after i get Cameron into bed. she puts up a fight but after explaining many times that i will be back i walk out of the room and of course the blood curdling screaming ensues (this is really not at all like her and one reason having two kids kinda sucks [obviously she needs a little more attention tonight, but i can't give it to her because Camo has needs too...frustrating]) okay so while she's freaking out i put Cameron to bed and praise the Lord he peacefully surrenders. i return to the scream room (as promised) to find May has thrown up in her bed. sweet. so i clean her up. i clean the bed up. i throw everything in the laundry. get her back into bed. rub her back. she falls asleep. it is an hour past her bedtime.


so now i'm pissed off because i have to take care of this:

instead of watching Jon & Kate + 8. ugh... actually i should probably watch it because watching that show makes me feel 10 times better about my life. (god bless those parents)

gas prices thru the roof!

i used to see signs on the side of the road that said: slow down, save a life! now i see signs on the side of the road that says: slow down, save gas! .... that just caught me as odd sad.

coloring eggs, naturally

this year i decided we'd dye our Easter eggs with food instead of those little mystery tablets. mostly because we want to consume them after Easter but also because i was curious to see how it worked. unfortunately the results weren't that great, but i think i can do better next year. there are a few different ways to go about doing this.

we chose to do it the "cold way", thinking Mayden could help out more this way. so all you do is take your food and add about a cup of water and boil it essentially making your own dye water. add a tad bit of vinegar then proceed like you would with those tablets only you need to let them sit overnight. it's not quiet as dramatic as only waiting 30 seconds to see the change.

so this morning May woke up eager to see our newly colored eggs. i was pretty sure the orange and green would be lame (i was right) but i was really surprised at how great the blue was... really vivid! red/pink didn't turn out as great as i thought it would. i'll look into how to make them better looking and we'll see what happens next year.

L to R:

orange (2): made with Carrots, chili powder & cheyenne pepper

blue (2): made with red cabbage

pink (2): made with strawberries & beets

green (1): made with spinach

brown (1): made with coffee

grey (1): made with blueberry pie filling

bird feeder

i wanted to get Mayden a bird feeder for Easter because she loves feeding the birds at my moms house. i ended up running out of money before i remembered that i wanted to get her one... so we made one out of a milk carton & Popsicle sticks. it turned out really good. we put it out this morning and so far no bird visitors, however it is really windy so maybe tomorrow they will come dine.

9 months of Cameron Jude Dude

it's easy to see his growth in these carseat pictures. in the first one he's only about a week old (notice how big the buckles look next to him) the second picture is Cam at about 4 months old and the last one is a few days ago. i can't believe the one year milestone is right around the corner... i'm going to go cry now ;o)

look what i can do!!!

so i stood Cameron up inside a laundry basket today and he stayed there (for a few seconds)! he's not pulling himself up yet (he's not even crawling yet... but getting close) he seems to be enjoying his new trick although he hasn't really figured out that he needs to hold on in order to stay up.

i love being a mom (right?)

there is no better way to ruin a perfectly great day then to have your two year old puke all over herself (and her car seat) on the way home. thanks May-May!

this is beyond disturbing.

there have been an abundance of child abuse stories on CNN.com lately. i cringe every time i read about one or see the abuse for myself via video. its always so shocking to see an adult use their physical power to intimidate or hurt a helpless child. everyone has a bad day, i've been there... but holy crap there is no excuse for this! watching this makes me cry for that poor baby and those poor parents who thought their kid was in good hands. as much as i hate daycare centers this is one time where the baby would have been better off there then at home. if i ever found that someone treated my baby like that i would need to be physically restrained or that lady's life would be in jeopardy. thank god they found out about this when they did.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2008/03/14/seg.caught.on.nanny.cnn


on a much happier note: this video is amazing! and i thought Mayden was an amazingly brilliant toddler... i think we've just been beat

bum knee

so in the process of trying to get more healthy and exercise more i injure my left knee. because of our no health insurance situation i'll be taking the "wait two+ weeks and see if it gets better" route first. if that doesn't work then i'll panic. this is a blow... just when i was starting to feel good about loosing weight & getting myself together i go and make myself inactive again....ARRG

survey about your kid(s)

What is your child(ren)'s name?
Mayden Rae & Cameron Jude

How old is your child?
May- 2.5 Cam- 8 months old

Who does your child mainly look like?
both mostly look like their daddy... darn him!

What kind of diapers did you use?
we use Fuzzibunz cloth mostly but for nights and long outtings Whitecloud works best for us

What kind of bottles do you use?
boob & Avent

Did you breastfeed your child?
i tried SOOOO hard, Mayden for 3mo & Cam for 6mo

If you answered no, why not?
like i said i tried. either my babies don't work or my boobs don't work, either way they didn't like eachother

Desribe your child in three words:
Mayden- smart, sensitive, thoughtfull
Cameron- happy, sweet, easy going

Are you still with the father of your child?
yeppers

How old were you when you got pregnant with your child?
May- 25
Cam- 27

Recent milestone that your child has reached.
Mayden- 99% potty trained!
Cameron- getting close to crawling

Was your pregnancy planned with this child?
planned, maybe not smart...but planned :o)

How has your life changed since having your child?
how has it not changed? that's an easier question to answer

Do you want more kids?
i want more kids, but i don't want them to come from my body... got it?

If yes then how many?
2-3

What color eyes does your child have?
May- dark brown
Cam- dark blue... don't ask me how that happened

Do you miss what it is like to not have a child?
sometimes, but mostly no

Do you wish you would have waited to have a child?
sometimes, but mostly no

One thing you wish someone would have told you about having a child?
i don't think anyone can prepare you for what it's like but it would have been good to have a heads up about how hard it is to be on call 24/hr/day and that breastfeeding is often super hard!

Greatest memory of your child?
there are too many... and many more to come!

Was your birth complicated?
totally. both didn't go the way i planned... after many hours of difficult labor i ended up w/ emergency c-sections :o(

Did you get pain medication?
i tried not too but because of the complications i did end up with a spinal with both kids

How long were you in labor?
almost exactly 17 hours with both kids

How did you know you were in labor?
i figured it out after a few hours of contractions... i'm smart like that

Weirdest habit your child has?
May- she makes everything talk, including little people, crayons, food & plastic easter eggs
Cam- he's too small for his habits to be weird, they are still just cute

Favorite toy:
Mayden- she goes thru phases, right now she's into crayons
Cameron- he has this long wooden teething toy that we call "his sword" because he wields it around like a ninja

loudmouth

Cameron has finally found his voice! he's always been a talker just not a very loud talker. his sister found her "outside" voice around 4 months old... and subsequently hasn't gone back to her "inside" voice yet! May doesn't appreciate his competition as she spends most of the day "Suuuussssshhhhhhing" him. it always backfires on her as he gets so thrilled that she's giving him attention and he squeals with delight. it's pretty funny.



here is some video of Cam testing his lungs out, but this is actually mild compared to what he's capable of!

it's working!

potty training is going perfect. she is occasionally wet in the mornings but other than that she's trained. i still can't believe how fast & easy that was. i'm sure Cameron will be a totally different story... i hear boys are harder.

exercise along with my new eating habits seems to be liking me. i lost 2lbs this week and that puts me at a total of 5lbs lost since the start. my original plan of just jogging 2 miles a day and not adjusting my eating bit the dust last week as results were slow. a week ago i started on a basic principal of weight loss... move more/eat less. simple. i stick to 1500 calories/day which i easily plug into my Fit Day. actually if you want to be my stalker you can see exactly what i eat every day here. i love this program and for me its been super easy to stay on track. so far i'm very happy with the results.

i used a roll of film on the kids today. they weren't really cooperative, but i did manage to get a few cute shots. once i get the film developed (along with Julie's prego pics) i'll post any good ones.

here's one i took with the digital camera during our little photo session.

my kids are broken

my kids are generally great sleepers... until recently.

for years May has been on a 9pm to 9am sleep schedule and it's been wonderful! i knew my luck was too good to last... this winter she's slowly been ditching her afternoon nap and going to bed at 8pm instead and waking up at 8am. no problem, 8 is reasonable. BUT within the last few weeks shes been waking up earlier and earlier. one day it's 7:30 the next it's 7:15 then 7... but this morning she top them all at 6:30!!! ARGG!!! thankfully my poor hubby, who was sleeping out on the couch because Cam was in bed with me (see below), got her up and let me sleep in a bit more. i'm starting to think that maybe she's waking up because she has to pee. she has been dry most mornings this last week. so i thought i solved everything by putting the potty in her room at night so she can use it (and not wake us up) in the morning.... so far she hasn't, i guess she just doesn't get it.

ever since Cameron started sleeping thru the night at about 3 months old he hasn't once woken up in the middle of the night (a much different story from his sister). that is until last night.... last night i put Camo down to sleep at around 7, about an hour earlier then usual. it was either that or listen to him scream for an hour, which in retrospect might have been a better option. anyway i was expecting his early bedtime to wake him up a bit earlier in the morning but i didn't expect the chaos that would ensue. he woke up crying at 11pm so i scooped him up right away and brought him to bed with me hoping he'd just fall right back to sleep but noooooooooo i wasn't able to get him to fall back asleep until 2am. i tried everything including a diaper change, bottle, lots of rocking, letting him cry for 15 min hoping he'd fall asleep and eventually gave into the idea of giving him some Tylenol at 1am. maybe his teeth are bothering him? i donno.

what in the world is going on here!?!? anyone know if it was a full moon last night?

photog

this website makes me want to get back into photography. this is totally my style.


my friend who is about 9 months pregnant with her second child asked me to take some photos of her and her family before the baby comes. tomorrow is suppose to be 60 degrees so we've decided tomorrow is the day! i always get nervous that none of the pictues will turn out okay. this is why i don't think i could ever do a paid gig. but really i'm so excited to do this for them, it will be fun.

if by chance they do turn out okay i'll post some after they're developed.

February Movie Madness

it's official, we watch a lot of movies. once the kids are in bed it's how we choose to unwind. before i made this list of movies i didn't realize exactly how many we get thru in a month. we should probably read more books. Chris and i take turns (Chris= blue, Adia= red) picking the move we watch, this month we started with his pick...here are my mini reviews


Rescue Dawn - i had no idea what this movie was about when we watched it and i really love going into a movie like that. the odds of me liking it are much better when i go in blind. you really can't go wrong with a true story. i mean if they made it into a movie you can safely bet it's got to be an interesting true story. acting is really perfect plus one of the new LOST characters is in it! score= B


Once - a really cute little movie with an amazing song in it. in fact the actors/singers/songwriters in this film won an Oscar for best original song and they so deserved it. it's a little slow here and there but the chemistry in this film is really felt throughout. Score= B


Good Night & Good Luck - what a refreshing movie. i love black & white modern films, they bring such a crispness to the screen. another based on a true story movie that i didn't know much about going into it. so many parallels to what is going on with our current events, very interesting. Score= B


Say Anything - this is a perfect example of how my expectations got in the way of me liking this movie. it was good, but it's such a huge 80's cult classic that i was expecting it to be great. i don't know, it just didn't grab me like it probably would have if i'd first seen it when i was 14. John Cusack was very good but the female lead wasn't impressive. score= C


Brother's Keeper - fantastic documentary! you will fall in love with these brothers and their story. the insite these directors had to make this movie is wild and i'm glad they went for it. this movie stays with you for a few days after seeing it. it's hard to believe that people still live like this in America. sad really. Score= A


Little Children - i watched this one on my own and this sealed the deal for Kate Winslet being one of my favorite actresses of all time. she is fantastic in this movie! it's a really great & dark story of what can happen when a housewife gets bored and a househusband(?) becomes emasculated. Score= A


Waitress - i'm a sucker for these artsy romantic comedies. i fully know it's a "chick flick" yet i totally indulge... many times. it's one of those movies where you know the rest of the world wouldn't necessarily think this is a great film, but you just love it anyway. the look and feel of this movie is awesome. acting is good, but the cinematography in this film is wonderful! i think i really like Keri Russel outside of Felicity... who knew! Score= A


Sweeney Todd - in the mood for death? welp you'll find plenty of it in this movie. as much as i didn't want to like it (mostly because my husband liked it first) i really did enjoy it. for some reason i am really attracted to musicals (not to mention Johnny Depp :o) the songs were good and i'd probably really love them with one more watch. this movie delivers everything you expect from a Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaboration. there are no words for the ending, you just have to stare at the screen with your jaw dropped to the floor. Score= A


Brokeback Mountain - I'd seen this movie when it opened in the theater and loved it then too. when i heard of Heath's death i decided i wanted to revisit this movie. this movie just proves a theory i've had for a long time now. love is love is love. excellent film! Score= A


Their will be blood - good movie, great acting. the beginning is painfully slow but the movie totally redeems itself in the end (not to mention the middle). the rumours are definitely true... their will be blood. but in all seriousness the one very annoying thing about this movie was that a major theme in the movies score sounded almost identical to LOST's score. so in the middle of the movie my mind is flashing to Jack, Kate & Sawyer running around the island. Score= B


SCORE=
A= loved it and will definitely watch it again
B= liked it but probably won't watch it again
C= didn't really like it and definitely won't watch it again
D= couldn't even finish it

why get dressed?

seriously, on days that we don't get out (which sadly is probably at least 4 of 7/week) why should i or the kids get dressed? when Cameron was first born of course we didn't and i haven't totally got back into the habit of getting dressed every day. it doesn't seem nessesary and it's kind of a waste of time. i suppose warmer weather will be coming soon so we'll be outside daily...i guess the neighbors will appreciate some appropriate clothing.