Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Farewell

I am happy to report, we only have ONE cat now. Hercules was taking yesterday by a lovely family, that had three sweet little girls, who were sooo happy to have a kitty. I'm thankful that now I have one less thing for me to think about, and happy that he is going to a home that has lots of people who will pet him and love on him. He's a great cat and will be missed, but I am glad that I can now have my carpets cleaned and not have to worry about him peeing all over them!;)


So farewell sweet kitty, I hope you enjoy your new home!


P:S Gotta love Craigslist!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Busy, Busy Bee's


Dylan and I have been busy little bee's these last few weeks. For those of you who don't know, Adam got another contract job, which might turn into a full time position if he wishes to accept, we don't really know the details or anything yet though. So, with him being gone, Stay at home Mommyhood has begun. You know, it's harder than I thought that it would be. Dylan is mentally exhausting. He doesn't like to stay still, and see that he isn't too mobile yet means I have to do a lot of work!

We've been shopping at the outlets, Babies R US, Home goods, Target, the grocery stores and the mall, we went to visit Aunt Erin and Michelle in Bonham, they came to visit us, we go on morning runs ( for my sake of course), bounce in the jumperoo, and have mastered sitting. We are trying to keep ourselves occupied. Not only have WE been busy, but Dylan himself has become quite the little adventurer. One thing that I have learned being home with him is... WE ARE IN TROUBLE. He is into everything, wants to touch everything, eat everything, see everything. It's funny and exciting at the same time to see his little personality shine.

Because of this busy-ness, he has been giving us the biggest issue with eating. The kid doesn't like to eat, when there are more exciting things he can be doing. We usually just lay him on the couch in the boppy and feed him, but he has learned that he can push himself up into sitting, so now it's almost impossible to feed him unless he is STARVING! I can no longer have the TV on, or my phone or remote near him or he immediately NEEDS to have it. Luckily for us though, he doesn't seem to through temper tantrums when we don't let him have something, he just finds something else to try for, and the cycle repeats itself until he can have whatever he finds.

I'm so excited to see him crawl and walk, but wow, I am going to be in BIG trouble when that happens!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Where did Quality go?

Being a stay at home mom allows me many great opportunities: spending time with my tiny man, doing laundry, like EVERYDAY, vacuuming 19 times a day, cooking, changing diapers, and well, watching some quality TV shows. You know,Full House,Saved by the Bell, Fresh Prince, Gilmore Girls, and my favorite 7th Heaven. Seriously, I loved all these shows as a younger person, with I guess the exception of Fresh Prince, never really watched it.
Why don't we have family shows like these these days? No clear phones, with cords, that show the inter workings of the phone itself, no words like " Going Steady", not very many true phone conversations ( These shows were pre- cell phones), there are no cuss words or anything like that in these shows.
Also, how come it is when I watch these shows, I am tempted to have 6 kids? It just seems like so much fun to have a huge family. Though, in reality it would probably be a nightmare. I just think it would be so fun to have lots of brothers and sisters to turn to. Take Brothers and Sisters, or Parenthood, the " current" Brady Bunch families if you will. Am I the only crazy person that thinks 6 kids wouldn't be such a bad idea? Maybe I'll have number 2 and decide, I think Adam will put his foot down on 6!
Sitcoms have come such a long way since these shows were on air. I am torn whether I like new shows or old ones better! What about you? What were your favorite shows as a tween?

Thursday, July 15, 2010

It Happened...

Remember the last post? How I was going to run off and take pictures of a gummy smile? Well I was too late. That afternoon I took a picture of him, only to see when I looked back at it, two little pearly whites looking at me. The days of gums are gone. This is such a big milestone in a babies life I know. When actually it's probably a bigger one for the parents. A sign of him growing up. My baby is growing up. It's happening too soon.

One good thing with his pearly whites is... he is even more ADORABLE with them!!! I know, you didn't think it was possible did you. Well, just to prove it to you, he showed them off to me for you. I know the pictures are a little blurry but, he was bouncing like crazy, and I'm still trying to figure out how to use my lens, while practicing manual settings. So enjoy.



And with these new teeth comes this...

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Sleeping Equipment

Ever since I can remember I've always been able to sleep easily. When I was in elementary school, and Jr. High, I would always sleep with the radio on. Then I learned that was kinda weird, so in high school I stopped. I can fall asleep just anywhere. Heck, I even fell asleep in a movie theater like the week before I had Dylan! When Adam and I started living together, well I had to get some " equipment" to help me sleep. Why I don't know. Maybe it was that I was getting older and needed to sleep in the dark, but he would always stay up later than me with the lights on, so I invested in an eye mask. Let me tell you the thing has been around for years, and I don't know what I would do without it in our new house. We have windows that face the incorrect way on the map. Therefor, our bedroom is flooded with light at sunrise. Not good if you don't wanna be up.

Recently I've added to the sleeping equipment. Ear Plugs. Yup ear plugs. Remember the three lovely pooches I wrote about a few weeks back? Well that make a lot of noise that just grosses me out. You know, the licking and biting noises that just sound all slurpy and yucky? If I hear them, I cant go to sleep. For some reason, all of the dogs have decided that there skin is crawling, or tastes really good or something, because they all three do it non stop at night. Grated they do have a FEW fleas that I can't for the life of my get rid of. We've sprayed the yard, bathed the dogs, put the nasty stuff on their necks, but they won't go away. Lucky for us, they are not infested, just a few. Anyway, back to the ear plugs. Adam had purchased an eco-box of the soft ear plugs for when he mows the lawn, so I started wearing them. I don't think I have slept so good in a long time.

So I guess there is no real point to this post, just wanted to give you a mental picture of me sleeping with a pink eye mask and some ear plugs. Pretty funny huh? So, if you have trouble staying asleep or getting there for that matter I recommend getting some equipment!:)

Sunday, July 11, 2010

BREAKING NEWS....

My little peanut has not one, but TWO TEETH! Yup TEETH.

When did he turn from this...


Into this...



I'm off to take MANY pictures of that gummy smile, since those day will be gone soon. :: tear::

Saturday, July 10, 2010

How to not lose weight...

So now that Adam is a temporary working man, we take our weekends together very seriously. Like today, we had to think REALLY hard about if there was anything we needed to leave the house for. No? " Ok, well I'm not getting out of my Jammie's" Yup, its one of those kinda days.


Last night I had a serious craving for cake. Any kinda cake. Chocolate, cheese, anything really. But of course, we had no cake available. I even came up with some kinda cherry pie filling cake in my head. Some might think of it as a black forest, which I had completely forgotten about until I was looking for recipes. So this morning, first thing. I made a cake. A chocolate cake with cherry pie filling between the layers. It's amazing y'all seriously. I even used some of the buttermilk we had. We never use all of the buttermilk. So here it is folks. I used Cool Whip Free, in an attempt to make myself feel better about eating it. It's the perfect icing in my opinion to keep the cake nice and light.

Chocolate Cherry Cake
Adapted from Ina Garten

Butter, for greasing the pans ( I didn't do this)
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
1 21 oz. cherry pie filling
1 container cool whip

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.


Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. Place half of cherry pie filling between the layers of cake. Ice cake with cool whip , or icing of your choice, put last of cherry pie filling on top of cake. And enjoy!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Mr. Snuggle-Puss

Well some of you might remember this post. I was without a picture of our latest kitty. Well, I think he must have read it and decided he would do ANYTHING for us not to give him away. I'm telling you, since the day after I posted it he has been the most loving cat ever, aside from when he bit Dylan for pulling the crap out of his tail, ears, hair in general. The second we sit down on the couch, he is there in our lap. Lay down on the bed? There is he. He doesn't even bother me when I brush my teeth anymore. He has resorted to using the water bowl.


See exhibit A.

A little lazy, but hey progress.

So there you have it, the 5th family member, try as he might, he must go. Any takers!?

Monday, July 5, 2010

Everyone is different...

Now that's a statement I'm sure you've only heard a million times in your life. I've had this conversation several times since I'm become a Mom. Everyone raises their child differently, as well as every child is different. It starts from the beginning. Some might see this post as a little soapbox-y but I don't know if these are things that people think about or even know about. So here goes...

CAR SEATS! Exciting huh?

When my mom and I went to buy Dylan's travel system, I got the lowdown from Bob, our fantastic salesman, about the new regulations regarding car seats and safety. The new law effective June 1, I believe, was the children under 4'11 or 80 pounds are required to be in a booster seat. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT??? I always sat in the front seat, let me tell you, Dylan will not be sitting in the front seat for a LONG time.

As many new mom's know, there is an infant seat and then a convertible seat, and last but not least the booster. Until recently the recommendation, for the infant rear facing seat, was, 1 year or 20 pounds. The NEW recommendation is 2 years, or until the child reaches the seats recommendations. For example, we will be getting Britax convertible. They are releasing a new convertible seat that can rear face until 40 pounds. So in my estimation, Dylan will be looking out the back window until he is 5! I kid I kid... MAYBE.

According to some research I have done, head and neck injury from car crash is the leading cause of death for children under the age of 12. Why would anyone want to take that chance? I know the chances are slim that you would be in a crash that bad but still. I feel like it is drinking throughout your pregnancy thinking..." It's a small chance this baby will have Fetal alcohol syndrome." Just seems like an unnecessary risk. Again, I know this sounds a little one sided, and I of course don't care what you choose to do, I just thought that I would get it out there. Seems like a simple thing to me, so what if you kiddo has to look out the back of the car, they won't know the difference if they always have.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

7 Months*

Dylan turned seven months on Friday. It baffles me as to where those last 7 months have gone. I feel like he should still be a tiny little thing in the hospital! But you know what? He's growin' up. Yes it makes me a little sad, but I'm so happy with the silly little boy he is turning into to.
He has been really busy this month. Not that we have done anything to exciting, but HE has been busy. This kiddo can't just sit still anymore. He MUST. BE . MOVING. He still can't crawl, so he rolls, and when he isn't rolling, he is jumping, or with his latest baby mover contraption, hoping. I'm a little terrified of what he is going to be like when he is on the move. Because he can't even really move now and he is EVERYWHERE!




We've gone swimming a number of times, and he really does like it more each time we go, so that's great. He even tries to jump in the water, which I like to
call swimming. If only he knew to hold his head above water, that would make my life much easier. This month also marked his first fever. I won't go into details because I already have, but I'm glad that nothing was wrong with him, and enjoyed his cuddling in the meantime.


At a whopping seven months old Dylan is, still wearing 3-6 month clothes, and even some 0-3 still, loving on all his animals, though they don't reciprocate the feeling, "walking" with your new toy, Have no teeth- yet, can finally touch the ground in your jumperoo ( Still the Best 20 buck investment EVER), won't sleep like a normal child in your swing, laugh,smile ( open mouthed of course), and giggle all the time, love standing at the top of the stairs looking down- a bad sign of things to come I'm sure, and screaming Happy= Screaming, Sad= Screaming, Mad= screaming, Bored= Screaming. There is no stopping the scream.


So here is to another month of a happy baby, and wow, I guess I should like plan his first birthday party since it'll be next week! Also, I've linked a photobucket account because there were so many cute pictures from this month that I though, those of you who don't have me on facebook would like to see! Enjoy! ( For whatever reason it loaded backwards... sorry, the last pictures are the ones from the beginning of the month!)

Dylan's 7th Month of Life ( It works now!)

Thursday, July 1, 2010

5 is too many...

Well for the last 7, SEVEN Months, everyone has heard a whole lot about Dylan. I have neglected our first born. The Fur babies. Now of course some are now our adopted fur babies, but they are no less, fur BABIES.

They don't do a whole lot. Louie is old and fat, but still every one's favorite. Because well, he loves to be loved. Who doesn't love that. We are working on him losing weight, it just isn't happening, poor guy. I would have ten dogs if they were all like Louie. He loves everything, and everyone. Especially his teething baby, who leaves spit everywhere for him to lick up!


Then there is the FEMALE dog. She is the first female I've ever had, and will probably be the last. She is the most high strung dog in the world. She barks at everything. Is scared of everything ( luckily we've gotten over the thunder thing, for the most part.) She always humps Louie, yes you read that correctly. SHE humps Louie. usually his head. She doesn't eat very much, thus making her look emaciated compared to Louie. She does love her daddy though. Not so much me, I mean she likes me, but doesn't love me. And she couldn't care any less for Dylan either. Won't go near him.

And last but not least of the dogs is, our adopted baby, Gator. He was my mom's. He is a good dog, which is why we still have him. I don't think emotionally I would be able to give him away, even if he was being bad. WE always wanted a dog that
fetched, now we have one. He sucks walking on a leash, so he usually gets left behind. He will get his energy out in the yard, where Bailey and Louie just lay down or stand there. He's a little over whelming because he's so big, and doesn't really listen to anything. OH well!



Siren, oh the one no one hears about. The cat. She was an only cat up until April.
Now she really hates us. We brought two more cats into the house, finally re-homed on, and are currently working on the second. Anyone want a cat? She hates Gator. She isn't fond of Dylan even though he LOVES her, she loves his stuff though. He laughs when he sees her, then she runs. It's kinda funny, but she will be in trouble when he is mobile. she is little miss priss that's for sure.



Hercules, the cat we are currently trying to re-home. He is a grumpy, fluffy grey cat. This cat is the strangest cat ever. Of course, I blame it on my mom. She would put out a cup of ice water for him every night. Because " That's how he likes his water" Well let me tell you. With six animals and a baby, there is no way in hell I was going to put ice water out for him at night. So what does he do? FIGHTS FOR THE SINK. I swear, brushing my teeth has never been so hard. He will butt heads with me to get to the sink water. Also, taking a bath is terrifying. Because he was squat down to drink the hot bath water. He will dip his tail way down in the water, though I don't think on purpose, but still, One little slip and I will have a cat with claws in the tub with me. Scary.Sorry no pictures of Grumpy. If I stumble upon a good one I take it and post it later!


SO there you have it. The animals of the Fenner house hold. It's amazing how they all have their individual personalities, but still manage to drive Adam and I crazy on a daily basis. It's like having 6 kids. The second we get up, not only does Dylan scream at us until we feed him, but so do the cats. And the dogs hover around us, tripping us until we feed them. Mental Note: We will NEVER have this many animals, no matter what Dylan wants, again!