We have spring fever!

Spring is finally here! I am loving the warm, earthy smelling air, green grass and flowers sprouting, being able to have our windows open and Eliot's exclamations of "twees, twees" which means trees in case you don't understand one year old babble.

Spring also means that I have a huge to-do list (self-imposed) which is completely overwhelming to me tonight. Here's the list:

• Renovate our lawn organically which involves spreading corn gluten meal, core aerating, overseeding (which we know might not be very successful due to the cgm) and then watering and mowing.
• Get the garden ready and plant.
• Clean out the flower beds and plant.
  
• Organize our house (closets, junk drawers, office, etc.) We're pretty organized already so this won't be too much work, maybe a weekend?
• Paint our master bathroom and fix the tile or re-tile around the tub - we're undecided at this point, but something will be done.
• Paint Eliot's bathroom and install new bath fixtures.
  
• Clean our carpets. We bought a carpet cleaner and I have a recipe for natural cleaner. This is just a big pain in the butt, but it's much needed.
  
• Complete all the miscellaneous little to-do's that we have been neglecting around the house.
  
• Reorganize our garage - we have new bikes, bike trailer, strollers, etc. that all need a permanent home. Our garage is a DISASTER right now so this will probably be a big project.
• Clean our fish tank - we have to do this every month but I hate it so much that I'm including it on this list.
• Re-stain our front porch and deck.
• Clean our windows. Ick.
• Hang a whole bunch of pictures that have been sitting on our floor for six months.
• Move the furniture in our bedroom after removing the TV and the table on which it sits. We need to do this, but once we do, we'll probably have to start doing Eliot's nebulizer treatments in the living room so he can watch Baby Einstein while we do it. It is very helpful in keeping him still for 2o minutes.
• Finish our basement - it was done but then it flooded and we kind of had to start over. So now we need to finish it again.
  

There might be some other things but I can't think of them right now. Isn't it tiring just reading the list? I need some motivation and inspiration. Do you have any ideas or encouragement for me? Please share...

Let's end on a fun note. Here's Eliot's current vocabulary:

1. No way!
2. Twee (tree)
   
3. One
4. Two
5. Uh-oh
6. Vacuum
7. Ee-wee (meow)
8. Ruf, Ruf (barking)
9. No!
10. Daddy
11. Duck
12. Bath
13. Moo
14. Na, na, na (nursies)
15. Mama (although he uses this word rarely)
16. Yeah (accompanied by head shaking)
17. Nana (banana)
18. Hi (this is his favorite and most frequent word, even though it's low on the list)
19. Roar (he really roars) and Leo, which is the name of his lion

There might be more, but I'm sleepy so that's all I can think of. Thanks for checking back in, even though I've been bad at blogging regularly. I'm still working on that resolution...

February & March...Yikes!

I read a couple of blogs pretty regularly and it drives me crazy when they don't update them... if you read my blog, I apologize for the lack of updates! I guess my excuse is that we've been busy? Here's what we've been up to...

On January 29th, Eliot turned one and we celebrated with my family (from out of town) by staying at a hotel with with a waterpark. The kids (and the adults) all had a lot of fun although, the waterpark was a bit colder than we would have liked for the babies. The next week, Eliot came down with a stomach flu and ended up staying home with Jason almost all week. We were going to have another birthday party for Eliot that weekend, but we ended up postponing it because of his illness.

On February 13th, we flew to Seattle to spend a week with our friends, Jen & Tom and Eliot's first crush, Paige (sorry Lila!). Like usual, we weren't ready to leave for our trip and we were packing up until the very last minute and came close to missing our plane. But no worries! Northwest never disappoints and we were delayed for over 3 hours, 2 of them while sitting on plane which was about 87 degrees. It was a little hairy at the end with Eliot as it was bedtime, but he fell asleep as soon as we took off.

We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Seattle doing fun things like going to the aquarium and the Science Center which had a toddler play park (Eliot LOVED it and had a huge tantrum when it was time to go) and eating fish & chips along the waterfront by Pike Place Market. We couldn't have a vacation without a little drama, though. After our eventful trip to the waterfront, we got back to Jen & Tom's place and Eliot decided he wasn't quite done with the stomach flu. After a scary moment prompting a 911 call, he continued to projectile vomit about 4x an hour for eight hours or so. Not very fun at all! A day and a half later, Paige got sick, too. (We're sorry Paige!) But she was a trooper and recovered very quickly and we were able to leave for Whistler, BC as planned on Tuesday.



We spent the next three days in Whistler. Jason skied, me & Eliot got to ride to the top of Blackcomb Mountain and ride the very cool (and scary) Peak to Peak gondola to Whistler Mountain and back again. The next day Jason, Eliot & I spent the day snowshoeing in the mountains. It was so beautiful - we had a fantastic day! Oh yeah, I almost forgot... Eliot started walking while we were on vacation. And today, he runs around like crazy - he's hard to keep up with but it's good for us!







At the end of February, we finally had our second birthday party for Eliot - most of Jason's family and some of our friends came. Eliot had a great time and loved eating birthday cake for a second time. Lucky boy!



At the beginning of March, we traveled to Sioux Falls for Berkley's birthday party. It was frog themed party since Berkley looks so much like a tree-frog... all three boys had a great time playing together again. As they get older, they're definitely able to interact more. It's a lot of fun watching them.

The third week in March, Eliot came down with a bad cold and as the week progressed, he started coughing more and more and eventually wheezing. We took him to Urgent Care where they listened to his lungs and promptly sent us to Children's Hospital. They were very concerned about his breathing. After hours in the ER, he was diagnosed with RSV and bronchiolitis and we were sent home with a nebulizer. After a week at home with Jason and multiple neb treatments each day, he recovered nicely and is back to his normal self. We're hoping that is the last ER visit for awhile. I think we've had our fair share this year.

This week, Jason finished his cohort at Concordia. He has a couple of generals left to take and he'll officially be done with school. For now, he has a couple months off which will be a great break for our whole family.

Today, we went to the MN Zoo to see the Farm Babies - cows, pigs, horses, sheep, goats, chickens. We ended up seeing a lot more than the farm animals and Eliot LOVED it...we bought a season pass and it should make for a ton of fun this summer. He can make the "baaaa" noise of the sheep which is incredibly cute and hilarious all at the same time. I just need to note that it snowed here yesterday and it was only in the low 30's today... that is just incredibly wrong. This has felt like the longest winter in a very long time and I cannot wait for spring to finally arrive.

Have a good week everyone!

Dear Eliot...

You're one! Happy 1st Birthday Little Lover!

I cannot believe that it's been a full year since you were born. You don't know this yet, but your birth was the most amazing experience of my life. When we pulled you out of the water and I put you on my chest, I was absolutely sure that I couldn't possibly love you any more that I did at that very moment. Your eyes were open and you stared at us quietly and we were utterly blown away by the miracle of your birth. How could I know that in every day since that day, I would grow to love you more?

Everything you do is magical and precious to me. The way you snuggle up to me during the night and breathe your sweet baby's breath on my face. The way you giggle when we chase you around the room or tell you something is "yucky". Your complete obsession with the vacuum cleaner and all it's accessories. The way you splash me whenever you have a bath. Your wet, open mouthed kisses (we're still working on that) and your soft hugs. The way you push your little wooden cars around making little car noises. Your raspy little voice. Even in my complete exhaustion in the middle of night, I am head over heels in love with you.

To be totally honest Eliot, what I feel for you today is completely terrifying. I have no control over it and it consumes me entirely. I want so many things for you and at the same time, I only want to shelter and protect you. This world is both a beautiful and a horrible place all at the same time. How can I possibly prepare you for what is to come? How can I be the mother you need when there are so many areas in which I lack foresight, knowledge and wisdom. There are so many things for the both of us to learn and our days fly by too quickly. My mistakes are already piling up - I've let you fall off the bed, twice!

For whatever I lack (and I fear that it's a lot), I'm sorry. While I cannot promise perfection, I can promise to love you unconditionally. I know that there will be days to come when we will not agree, but I will be there for you always. You can feel completely secure in my love. While I have no idea what the future holds for you, I can't wait to encounter it with you and your Daddy.

You are the bright light in my life and I am forever grateful for the gift of your presence. Thank you for your spirit, your humor, your stubbornness, your individuality, your sweet, sweet soul...in all my dreams of you, I never realized how much you would change my life.

I love you, forever...
Mama

Happy Birthday Eliot!

Resolution breakers...

...that's what we are. It's not even the second month of the year and we've already broken our resolution to blog at least once a week. Well, I'm better than Jason anyway - he still hasn't posted about the marathon last year (Yes, that was at the beginning of October!). Try, try again, I guess.

Both me and Jason have been really busy at work this month which makes us pretty tired by the time we get home and make supper, feed Eliot, feed ourselves, bath Eliot, read a book (or 4) to Eliot, brush Eliot's teeth and put Eliot to bed. We also were in the position of finding new daycare for Eliot a couple of weeks ago which took some time and was stressful as those kinds of things always are. But it's working out great and he's actually napping during the day which makes for a much happier family in the evenings.

In case you didn't remember, Eliot will be one year old on Thursday. Can you believe it? I can't. It's absolutely crazy to me that an entire year has passed already. If I think about it too much, I get really sad because it's been such a great year and we've enjoyed every minute with him and it's just all flying by too quickly. Do you know that if we want Eliot and his sister (our next baby WILL be a girl!) to be 2 years apart, I need to be preggers by March!? No plans for that quite yet, but we'll keep you updated! Maybe September instead of March...

We'll be celebrating Eliot's birthday with my family this weekend. Since Eliot and his cousins all *LOVE* swimming, we decided to take them to a waterpark and stay overnight at the adjoining hotel. It should be fun for all involved, including the adults. For his birthday, we got Eliot a bunch of miscellaneous things (books, bubble bath, etc.) and a rocking horse! I'm so excited to give it to him - he's really close to walking all on his own (so, so amazing!) and I think he'll love playing with it. He should be able to get on and off pretty easily. Take a look:


Now doesn't that look like fun?! We will likely have a couple of other birthday parties with Jason's family and friends also in the near future. Adorable pictures to come...

I'm planning on making an organic, sugar-free carrot cake for Eliot's birthday and it sounds so yummy that I thought I'd share the recipe with you. I'm hoping to make a "test" cake this week so I'll post a picture if Jason doesn't eat it all first.

Organic, Good for baby, Sugar-free Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

• 8 oz (2 cups) whole wheat organic flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• a pinch of salt
• 10 fl oz (1 1/4 cup) water
• 6oz (3/4 cup) organic raisins
• 6oz (3/4 cup) organic sultanas
• 1 tsp organic cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp organic nutmeg
• 8oz (1 cup) organic carrots, grated
• 4 fl oz (1/2 cup) organic, unsweetened applesauce

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 375 deg F (190 deg C).
• Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
• Pour the water into a small saucepan and add the raisins, nutmeg, cinnamon and sultanas.
• Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 5 mins.
• Put the grated carrots into a bowl, then pour in the liquid mixture. Then, add the applesauce and stir the mixture thoroughly.
• Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and stir thoroughly.
• Pour the mixture into a greased pan and bake for 45 mins to 1 hour, until a sharp knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Eat and enjoy! If you're the birthday boy, feel free to throw cake or smear it all over your face and head.
  

Since we're posting recipes, here's a couple more. Eliot's had a bit of a cough all month and after we read a recent article about Vicks being not good for babies, I decided to make our own natural (and safe!) chest rub for colds. Here's the recipe...warning, it smells absolutely fantastic and is known to induce sleepytime in our house!

Homemade Natural Chest Rub

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup organic, unrefined coconut oil
• 3 tablespoons grated beeswax
• 2 tablespoons sweet almond or olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Vitamin E oil (to help preserve it)
• Lavender essential oil
• Eucalyptus essential oil
• Rosemary essential oil

Directions:

• Melt the coconut oil, beeswax and sweet almond or olive oil in a double boiler on medium heat.
  
• Once it's melted and blended together, pour the mixture into a small glass jar - any small container will do, but glass is preferable to plastic or metal because of the essential oils.
• Add 10 drops of Lavender EO, 4 drops of Eucalyptus EO, 6 drops of Rosemary EO and the Vitamin E oil to the oil/beeswax mixture. IMPORTANT: If you're making this for adult use, you can use more Eucalyptus but 4 drops is the absolute most you'd want to use for babies!
• Gently stir it to mix the oils.
• Let it harden before use (you can speed it up in the fridge).
• Appy to baby's chest liberally and smell, smell, smell the yumminess and go to sleep!

Ok, since this is a recipe heavy post - here's one more. This one's for you, Tom - now go clean the tub!

All Natural Soft Scrub

Ingredients:

• 1/2 -3/4 cup baking soda
• 1 cup vinegar
• 1 cup distilled water
• 2 tablespoons natural, non-toxic cleanser (we like to use Restore All-Purpose Cleaner)
• 10-15 drops of Tea tree essential oil, Lavender essential oil and Rosemary essential oil (use less if you want it less smelly, more if you like it smelly)

Directions:

• Mix the baking soda, water, cleanser and essential oils in a large bowl.
• Add the vinegar last - it will foam like crazy.
• Mix well - the consistency should be like a runny frosting. If it's to runny, add more baking soda. If it's too thick, add more vinegar and/or distilled water.
• I make this without measuring as you can't really screw it up as long as there's some of every ingredient in there. It's really easy and it works great!

Until next week...stay warm!