Owen & Jack {Big Boy Bed Transition x 2}

Oh my, how things have changed! Owen & Jack have both officially graduated to a toddler bed (or Big Boy Bed as they like to call it!) and really, they've been doing well. We have days that they wake up WAY too early for our liking and then days where they don't go to sleep early enough but overall, I have no complaints.

We've honestly been so lucky in the sleep department with our kids. Owen learned how to sleep through the night (12 solid hours) by 4-6 months old. Jack took a little bit longer but when he transitioned over to share a room with Owen, they've both been rock stars. They go to bed easily and sleep through the night pretty consistently. On occasion, one of them will wake up and cry but the other will keep on sleeping or not seem bothered one bit. Mornings before the transition to big boy beds went pretty smoothly as well. The boys would wake up around 7-7:30 a.m. and talk or play in their cribs until we walked in the room to get them ready. On weekends, I stretch out mornings even more. They happily played in their cribs while I cleaned up their room, stocked up on diapers, broke down boxes, etc. I knew I stretched the time too much when they get a bit hangry. Oops. It's a fine line ya'll.

Then, on one fateful Saturday back in February, my heart jumped out of my chest. I heard the boys wake up but then it was pretty quiet for awhile so I stayed "asleep" in bed a little longer. Then, I hear the sound I've been dreading to hear for a long time. I hear the space heater beep (it beeps when someone turns it on or off).

Ummmmmmmmmmm, excuse me?  

I bounced out of bed to find Owen prancing around his room. Oh boy. Thankfully, all he was able to do was turn off all of the equipment (space heater, cool mist humidifier and sound machine) and play with the floss I left out on the shelf of their changing table (um, scary). Of course, my mommy brain freaked the heck out and decided right then and there that Owen was getting his big boy bed. And with no effort to get him comfortable with the idea. By 10:30 a.m., the changing table was taken out of the room and the crib was converted into a toddler bed. Yay!

Owen's Toddler Bed  |  February 18, 2017

Jack's transition went pretty similar except we knew that he could climb out of his crib for a little while before we switched him over. It wasn't until he was climbing both in and out that I decided to transition him to his toddler bed. Again, I decided on a whim that it needed to be changed but this time, I kept the boys in the room while I switched it over. The crib became a toddler bed before 8 a.m.!

Jack's Toddler Bed  |  September 16, 2017

Mornings, as I mentioned above, have changed a little bit. The boys have discovered their independence and once one of them (almost exclusively Owen) determines it's time to get up, they bounce of out of bed, turn on the lights and wreck havoc on all.the.things. We don't keep much in there so it's not really that bad. I should say it's not that bad anymore now that we've put closet door locks in place. They no longer go near the closets or try to open them but they do like to pound on them to make noise. Because they tend to wake up earlier than we like, I let them play together a little bit before I intervene. If it gets a little out of hand, I provide them legos to play with which typically calms them both down a bit. If I stroll in a little too late, they will likely have both mattresses on the floor and will be jumping around on those. The only reason why this is bad is that while Owen's bed has a board in place, Jack's has wire springs. When we have another baby, I'll sell Jack's crib and keep Owen's to reuse. In the meantime, I just need to get my butt out of bed sooner. Easier said then done.

Nap-times aren't as they used to be so that's a bit unfortunate. Owen has always resisted naps for us so it was no surprise to me when he flat out refused to go down for a nap at home. Jack has always been a great napper so we didn't want to have them napping together anyway. In hindsight, we probably could have gotten it to work eventually but it wasn't a battle we were prepared to take on. Instead, we just deal with a fussy toddler or try our darndest to get him to sleep on the couch downstairs while watching a movie he's seen a million times before or take him for a car ride so he'll nap there. He does great some days and then not so much on other days but we somehow manage. We can definitely tell when he hasn't had one because he goes into his own little world where he doesn't hear a single word we say.

Jack just transitioned over a couple of weeks ago so it might be too early to tell, but we are still able to put him down for a nap on the weekends (Thank goodness!) I tell him that he just needs to have some quiet time and if he happens to fall asleep too, that's fine. I give him books and a couple cars and it's so cute when I leave because he's just excited that he can do those things. Of course, Jack might wimpy after awhile but he has fallen asleep successfully every time.

Bedtime hasn't really changed much it seems.The boys generally stay in bed once we've shut the lights off and closed the door. We might hear them talking or singing for awhile or running around even but I always find them in their beds when I check on them a few hours later. That's also the time I put in the fan or space heater too because they'd definitely mess with it if we had it in the room right away. The only thing we've changed in their room is the curtain we hung up Both boys have picked out their favorite fire trucks so they don't often fight over it :). The curtain also blocks most of the light so it should help the boys stay asleep in the mornings, right?

2017 Goals {5}

It's time for another 2017 Goals update! This year has gone by soooooooo quickly. It's hard to believe that we'll see the end of 2017 in less than three months. Let's all try to make the most of it!

You can read up on my past 2017 Goals updates here: #1, #2, #3, and #4.


GOAL #1 - Read
In my last update, I mentioned that I was going to reread all of the John Grisham books that I found when cleaning out the basement. I was headed into a busy time so I knew that I needed some light reading. I can't tell you how much this helped me stay a teeny bit more sane while life was crazy around me. Between my last update in July and probably the first week or two of September, I got through four books: The Firm, A Painted House, The Summons, and The King of Torts.

I took a couple weeks off and then decided to read this book, which I will talk about more down below and in posts of its own!


GOAL #2 - Control Finances Better
Wow, reading what I wrote about in July is fascinating. It's fascinating in the way of all of the money we've spent progress we've made! Let's look at the list, shall we?

Since July
*We've had our basement floors professionally cleaned
*Our duct work was cleaned out (GROSS!)
*Had Driftless Gardens redo our landscaping and hardscape!! This will get it's own before & after post to show the full affect of this change. It's insane.
*Got our HVAC system serviced
*Ordered a new furnace!

Yep, we had our HVAC serviced in September right after our New Orleans trip and I was not in the least bit surprised that it was strongly suggested that we replace our 22-year-old furnace. Thankfully, everything else is working just fine even though they too are 20+ years old. We'll just wait for those things to die before replacing them. Back to the furnace, we got estimates from a couple of different companies and did decide on who to go with. We're now just waiting for the new furnace to arrive so we can set up an installation date. Though this wasn't an expense we were planning on, I'm pretty excited for the new furnace. We'll be getting a new thermostat  too and I'm pretty darn excited about it. It will have wi-fi capabilities, tell us the indoor/outdoor temp, humidity levels, when to change the filter, etc. If nothing else, it'll be so much better than what we have now.

As you can tell, we've been shelling money out left and right this year. Everything that we're doing is really helping out this ol' house of ours so it's all money that is well spent in my book. We just need to keep prioritizing all of our other spending to make sure we're paying down some of the debt we've accumulated.

GOAL #3 - Cook more, Cook Smarter
I had high hopes for the last few months and didn't quite measure up to my goals. I'm going to give myself some grace here because what I did do is learn how to make my own alfredo sauce. Holy cow, it's amazing but it, along with my constant pasta-eating and beer-drinking habits, meant I gained a bit of weight in the process. Was this totally worth it? Not 100% but it was pretty damn delicious!

Lately, I've been trying to be more intentional with meal planning again and making sure to cook dinner at night. This helps us tremendously in terms of eating better. We just need to make sure it's a dish we both like because that's the game changer!

I definitely want to add this recipe in to our rotation after we tried it a few months ago. Holy cow! The whole family absolutely loved it so we'll definitely have this more often when we can have pasta again! Just look at this simmering beauty!

Fall also indicates to me that TOMATO SEASON is upon us! I decided that I needed to can more tomatoes this year than I did last year because I ran out of my stock in February. This was the main reason why I bought more of a CSA share this year. I'm so glad I did but man it was a ton of work. I bought 130lbs and canned it ALL over two days. Despite the amount of time and work it took, I'm definitely glad I did it and that I shouldn't have to worry about running out for at least a year. I'm hoping to make it extend past a year, though, so I don't have to do as many next year! In total, I have 24-8oz jars and 51-32oz jars.

GOAL #4 - Form Healthy Habits
This is where Whole30 comes in to play.

I bought the book back in August and decided that it was definitely something I needed to consider. I knew I had some pretty bad eating/drinking habits that I needed to fix and some weight to lose. This program would help me do both, in addition to a number of other things, like sleeping better, be less stressed, have more mental clarity, etc.

I am happy to report that today is Day 9 of the program and I'm doing very well so far. I'll be writing a separate post on this too so you can read that for more details on my first week!

GOAL #5 - Travel
NEW ORLEANS! Guys, this vacation was soooooooooo necessary and sooooooooooo nice. It was a leisurely few days in a pretty cool city. We got to try a lot of good food, walked around a ton and just enjoyed our calm days without any responsibilities whatsoever. I'll post about this too to give you all the fun details of our trip.

Jack {2.5 Years!}

We've hit another milestone with Jack! I haven't been the best with my calendar/activities so the fact that I'm posting this on his actual 2.5 year birthday is pretty amazing. I love this little boy with all my being and have enjoyed who he's become!

Jack's favorites!

*Sitting on my lap or right up next to me
*Mommy :) (Owen is a lot like me and prefers his daddy. Jack on the other hand is a lot like his daddy and prefers me. I think this shows how really well suited Gspice and I are for each other. We need to balance each other out!)
*Daddy's bars (Nature Valley's crunchy)
*Being carried (he's getting sooooo heavy!)
*The colors red or blue. Those are the ones he picks out the most/thinks everything are
*Running around making monster noises
*Rough-housing with Owen
*Playing with cars
*Watching Fireman Sam (not sure what that show is called) & Tasty videos
*Playing outside
*Drinking water
*Playing in water, especially when you dump it over head
*Smiling
*Hugging


Jack is seriously sooo stinkin' cute and sweet. He's developing a bit more sass it seems but I am going to try to blame that on him getting his second molars one at a time. Brutal.

There are a few things I'm very much looking forward to or at least hope to weather the storm that is ahead. Owen became such a different little boy between 2.5 and 3 and I'm just excited to see where we go with Jack!

1. Potty training - he's just starting to work on #1 and doesn't seem to fear #2 like Owen does. We'll see how long this takes.....

2. Big Boy Bed transition - this is quickly coming upon us. Both boys climbing on Jack's crib is a teeny bit terrifying and we often find both boys in either bed. Seems like he sure knows how to climb out but not back in yet. We'll switch this soon now that we have the closet locks on the doors.

3. More words!!!! I think this will help him be way less frustrated and I can't wait to hear his little boy voice speaking sentences and such!

4. Better listening skills

5. No more throwing anything - food, toys, books, water bottle....

6. No more spitting/pushing - got to nip those in the butt!

What's for Dinner {42} - Spaghtetti & Meatballs with Bone Marrownara Sauce

So there was a time back in 2013 when Gspice and I went to Chicago with some friends. I had very recently found out I was pregnant with Owen and I was a hardcore debbie downer, not wanting to go out at night and do anything fun. On one of the nights I stayed in to watch Chopped, Gspice and friends went to Gilt Bar and he stiiiiiiiiiiill talks about what he ate there.......Bone Marrow.

Fast forward to a couple of week ago, when I saw this Tasty video on Facebook.

This video pretty much changed my life. I saw it and almost peed my pants because if you know me, I love a good meatball and red sauce, let alone a homemade red sauce. I showed it to Gary and he almost peed his pants because you know, the bone marrow. Just look at the bone we got from Fareway!

I really wanted to surprise Gspice when I told him we were going to have this so I did some digging to see if I could buy the marrow in Decorah. Turns out that Fareway has these huge bones, frozen in their meat department. Awesome! I bought two for less than $10. I let them thaw a little bit and then popped them in the oven for a few minutes. I can't remember what I had it set at but I may have cooked it a little long based on the video and what mine looked like once I scooped it all out. Oh well because..................................................................

Daaaaaaaamn, it was good. SO GOOD. It's seriously legit and I highly recommend making this recipe!

Spaghetti & Meatballs with a Bone Marrownara Sauce from Richard Blaise on Tasty/Buzzfeed

1 yellow onion, diced (about 1 cup)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (28 ounce) can whole tomatoes and their juices
¼ cup red wine (we used a cabernet sauvignon)
1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
8 ounces ground pork
8 ounces ground beef
3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh oregano, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh sage, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
3-4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup chopped bone marrow
12 ounces cooked spaghetti
1 cup plain bread crumbs, toasted
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. In a large pot over medium heat, mix the onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Cook until the onions start begin to soften, about 3 minutes.

2. Remove half of the onion/garlic mixture and place in a small bowl to cool. Set aside or refrigerate to cool completely. To the pot with the remaining onions/garlic, add the tomato paste. Cook the tomato paste, about 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently, to caramelize the natural sugars in the paste.

3. Add the canned tomatoes and cook, stirring constantly, and scraping the bottom of the pan to make sure nothing burns, until the mixture comes to a low simmer. Break apart the whole tomatoes using a wooden spoon or squeezing with tongs.

4. Add the wine and continue to cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes to give the alcohol in the wine a chance to evaporate. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes longer.

5. In a medium sized mixing bowl, stir the ricotta with the reserved (and cooled) onion-garlic mixture. Add the ground pork, ground beef, basil, oregano, sage, rosemary, parsley, salt, and pepper. Gently mix together first with a spoon then going in with your hands. Shape the meat into ping-pong-sized balls and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Place the meatballs in the fridge if you will not be cooking immediately or if they have warmed from handling (they will keep their shape better if kept cold before cooking!).

6. Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Working in batches, sear the meatballs lightly on all sides until they begin to brown. They will not be fully cooked at this point.

7. Transfer the seared meatballs (and any accumulated juices) to the marinara sauce and add the bone marrow. Cover and let simmer for an additional 20 minutes to finish cooking the meatballs and allow the bone marrow to render its fat.

8. Add cooked spaghetti to the finished sauce and toss to coat. Serve garnished with toasted breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan cheese.

9. Enjoy!

**I highly recommend making the meatballs ahead of time! Our meatballs kinda fell apart in the cooking process but aren't they pretty?

2017 Goals {4}

So where did the last two months go? Seriously!?!?! Unfortuately, as my work life got super busy, so did my personal life. Guess what I did? REVERT BACK TO BAD HABITS! Ugh. I don't have the best perseverance so it was too easy for me to fall back on all of the things I did to gain weight. Drinking too much, eating too much pasta, not getting great sleep, not drinking enough water, not working out. These are my daily challenges that I haven't been meeting very well lately. With that said, I'm ready to jump back in!

You can read up on my past 2017 Goals updates here: #1, #2, and #3. I'm really excited to get started again!


GOAL #1 - Read
The last time I posted, I had started The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying. Though I have managed to declutter quite a bit............(IE: Garage Sale: I got rid of a lot of baby clothes at our sale April and completely cleared out my dining room which still stands empty to this day... AND Sewer problems: We cleaned out our basement so there's literally nothing sitting on the floor!!!)...........I haven't gotten past the 1st chapter. It certainly is an interesting read so far and though I've heard mixed reviews, I'm interested to finish the book. Our home still seems to be in a constant state of disarray. I would love to feel like we have a place for everything and for it to all feel purposeful. Let's face it, we've got a lot of junk! I've thought a lot about the different problem areas in our home so now it's just about getting down to business! I'm hoping this book helps but I'll be finishing it later.

With trying to bring back some other goals, I thought some light reading would be appropriate for now. I went through all of the books I own (only because we needed to clean out the basement of course) and decided to re-read all of my John Grisham books before deciding what to do with them. I only have 6-7 of them so it shouldn't take me too long. I decided to start with the oldest John Grisham book I own, which is also the book I read the summer I met Gary in 2005. Crazy how time flies. I know that a photo exists of me holding that book in Miller Hall, but I for the life of me could not find it. When I do, I'll post it :)


GOAL #2 - Control Finances Better
The saga that is our basement is almost complete. We had a water line leak that did eventually get fixed, we got the exterior faucet replaced and we need to do minor repair to the sprayfoam or whatever it's called in the basement where our pipe connects to the wall. It's still leaking a little bit of water (not sewer) but not a terrible amount. Next up is to get the basement professionally cleaned (which was completed this week!!!), hence why we needed to declutter and get everything off the floor. The amount of boxes I held on to is absolutely ridiculous so that feels really good to be done with even though it had developed a bit of mold growth. #notfuntohandle! Once the space is clean, we also plan to get all of our equipment serviced - water softener, water heater, furnace, air conditioner, and the basement washer/dryer. I don't know how the sewer damage or mold growth may have affected all of this so it'll feel good to make sure they are all in tip-top shape.

Of course, I don't want to be done with home repairs yet! I also want to get our duct work cleaned because we've never done that since moving in five years ago. It's just nasty in those! Definitely time to get them cleaned and wouldn't it be nice if we found Gspice's wedding ring in the process.....

Also on the docket, landscaping! I'm so stickin' excited about this. We've got so many weeds and trees sprouting everywhere and our hardscape area is pitiful. I can't wait for it to be fresh and updated so we can use it better. The big weed garden by our carport will also be removed and that space with be leveled and reseeded so I think we'll plan to put the kids' toys over there. I suspect this will be completed within the next few months.

As you can tell, it'll be important for us to manage our money well. I've developed our plan for July so it'll take dedication to stick to the budget. Let's plan on weekly check-ins, okay, dear?


GOAL #3 - Cook more, Cook Smarter
My last post was all about how well I have been doing with this. Man, how different things look today! I've completely fallen off the wagon but reading through my last post is very encouraging. I bought a larger CSA share this summer and I plan to put that to good use - not only for me but for the boys too. They aren't huge fans of vegetables these days but they sure do love fresh green beans and sugar snap peas. I would also love to get other produce and add them to their favorite dishes to bring more veggies to the plate. I need that for me too because I'm pretty basic with my vegetable tastes. I'm eyeballing this particular recipe despite the summer season so we'll be giving that a try here soon.

I've also become highly addicted to fresh basil and green onions. I got my hands on them at the Farmers Market a couple of weeks ago and I now put them on everything I eat. SOOOOOO GOOOOOD! I got a new recipe from a meal I had in the Luther cafeteria just a few days ago that I plan to try out and you better believe it'll have some green onions on top :) I'll share the recipe soon!

GOAL #4 - Form Healthy Habits
Habits take time to form of course but breaking them is oh so annoying! I was doing so well the last time I posted so I need to get back to that. What's changed since then is that we are being a bit more intentional about getting all of the boys' energy out before their bedtime. We were battling the "I'm not tired because it's still so bright outside" for weeeeeeeeks and that meant they weren't sleeping until at least 8-8:30 but then waking up between 5:30 and 6 every morning. Talk about grumpy toddlers! It's rough when they don't get the amount of sleep they need! Well now, we just stopped fighting it.

After the boys eat dinner, we now go for a walk, go to the pool, go to the park or anything else active. It tires them out and they have been sleeping until last least 6:45 every morning. It's been great. I even got a workout completed one morning when our alarms went off early enough. If I can squeeze a workout in then, that would be great but that might not be an every day occurrence.

I also found a new workout geared for my arms and more precisely, my arm flab. I would love to make that go away so this is something I plan to implement on a regular basis. You can't beat a 12-minute workout!

As far as our 30 pound weight loss goal, let's see how far we can get before our September deadline!


GOAL #5 - Travel
After thinking about it for a month, we have confirmed with each other that we DEFINITELY still want to go to New Orleans. I just recently booked our hotel and am waiting to book our flights so if you have any suggestions on that, LET ME KNOW! I don't buy plane tickets very often. We haven't planned much else out but we do hope to do one of the haunted tours and try out a lot of different restaurants. I'll do more planning in the weeks to come!