19 months and counting..

Legree is 19 months old! Well, almost.. tomorrow he will be 19 months old. I wanted to do a blog post to document what he's been up to! I've been a TERRIBLE blogger lately. I've got to do better! I really want to blog to remember all the little things that change so quickly with having a toddler around. The reason I've been MIA?? Because I've been in a sewing cave! I'll blog more about that later (I promise!). I don't want to forget the beginnings of my love of sewing either :).

But for now, on to the cuteness that is Legree... 19 little updates...

1. Legree no longer wants pancakes for breakfast. He likes yogurt, a banana and grits.
2. He only drinks about one cup of milk a day now. He refuses it and declares "NOOO" everytime I pull his milk out. He does drink a lot of juice and water throughout the day. He also eats his weight in yogurt, so I guess he's still getting his calcium etc.
3. He's wearing size 4 diapers during the day, size 5 at night time.
4. He's in 18 month clothes now
5. He is talking more and more. Some of these words he's said before but is saying them more now. "Truck", "Muno", "Tootie", "Broby" and "Plex" (from Yo Gabba), "Grandma", "John Doe" (John Deere), Chooo choo (train), Ju (juice), "Mote" (Remote), "Girl", "Boy", "pig", "Dog", "Wanna go", "NOOO", "Bubbles", "Drink", "Banana", "Cracker", "Cookie", "Cof Cof" (coffee), "Again", "MEASSE" (Please), "Tant Too" (Thank you), "Baby", "Corn"
6. He loves dancing and talking gibberish all the time!
7. LOVES to watch Yo Gabba Gabba and Tractor movies at Grandma and Grandpas. But mommy has basically cut off all TV during the day. He was getting a little to attached to it for my comfort. So we watch ONE show a day and that's it!
8. Waves bye to us when we put him to bed at night
9. Makes "pretty hands", closes his eyes and bows his head when we pray now.
10. He often asks me in the morning when he wakes up "DADA??" Wanting to know where Ben is. He goes to the bed to see if he's there and then the bathroom (hillarious right?). So, I have to explain to him that daddy is at work
11. Loves to be thrown onto the couch or bed and asks for you to do it over and over again. Daddy does this every night with him. As soon as he lands on the couch, he laughs, said "Again? MEASSE!", backs up to Ben for him to pick him up and throw him again.
12. Pulls us by the finger and points to what he wants CONSTANTLY. If we pick up the wrong thing, he is quick to tell us no and make us keep trying till we get it right.
13. Loves to pick out his own snacks now. Thankfully, he has good eating habits and generally wants corn, yogurt or a banana. Or all three! He also loves peanut butter on a cracker for snacks too.
14. Loves corn with a passion! Especially corn on the cob and often goes to the freezer and begs for corn.
15. Is obsessed with brushing his teeth. He likes to do it but loves for us to brush them too! We think he's getting his back molars in. He's started chewing on everything, a little fussy and drooling everywhere again
16. He is becoming a very good helper. He helps me switch the laundry over, puts away the tupperware when I'm doing dishes and LOVES to help vacuum. He's very good at following instructions and loves to help!!
17. Is a stickler about getting his vitamins every morning. If I forget, he reminds me!
18. Still is obsessed with tractors but is getting into trains now too! He's all boy!
19. Still loves to eat!! Although he has opinions now on what he eats and if he doesnt recognize a food he's hesistant to eat it.

Mommy and Daddy love you Legree! You are so much fun and are SOO SMART!!

A stroke of pure genius...

So, sometimes (not often) but sometimes I have a stroke of pure genius! This is one of those times and I wanted to share the love.

I never know what to make Legree for lunch! I always want him to have healthy well balanced meals and thankfully he's a good eater. But come on.. I don't want to have to cook and clean up after COOKING three meals a day, every !

Lunch seems to be the worst for me. I HATE heating up mac and cheese for lunch every day. Just doesn't seem healthy.. and it makes no sense to make a full healthy meal for just me and him. Sure, some days there are left overs from supper, but not every day.

Spaghetti-os in the can have NO nutritional value and are LOADED with sodium. WAY to much sodium for even my body to handle, much less someone that is only 25 pounds! As is much of the prepacked, processed food this day and age! Are there sometimes when Legree eats greasy McDonald's french fries? YUP! Sure thing! I won't deny him that and it's not bad in MODERATION! But it won't be everyday or even every week for my little guy!

So, OK here's the solution... Premade frozen meals just for Legree! Here's what I did. I brought some Wacky Mac. Fun little colorful noddles made of VEGGIES! AWESOME right? So, they get carbs, protein (from the whole wheat) and a yummy starch that everyone loves!

Then regular old jarred pasta sauce that is chalked full of veggie goodness. I got the Garden Vegetable kind because it's got EXTRA veggies pureed in there. If they have the kind with no salt added, that's even better. The less sodium for the little guys and gals, the better!



So, I cooked the WHOLE BAG of noodles, dumped the sauce in there and added some garlic powder (not garlic salt, but powder... the powder adds flavor without adding sodium). I then took a box of frozen spinach and heated it up. Then I divided it among the bags too. So, on top of all the carrots, tomatoes etc that are in the spaghetti sauce, PLUS the wacky mac veggie noodles he's getting a GREEN LEAFY VEGGIE on top of it! And trust me, he'll eat it because he won't notice it's in there when mixed with all the redness from the spaghetti sauce and he gets SOO many nutrients. I'm doing a little happy mommy dance thinking of the healthfulness (is that a word?) right now!


Then I took one of Legree's bowls that he normally eats out of, filled it up with the wacky mac, spinach and spaghetti sauce mix and then dumped the bowl into a freezer bag! I repeated this SEVEN more times! That's EIGHT HEALTHY meals for this little guy! He eats A LOT more then most kids, so this could probably go up to ten servings for a smaller eater. All I have to do is take one of the bags out of the freezer, reheat it and it's ready to go!

Ohh and wouldn't this be FABULOUS for nights when you have something to eat that your toddler can't have? (Like hot wings for example)... instead of getting something off the kids menu, just give them this, you could even heat it up before you leave the house and give it to them at the restaurant! Ohh I'm loving this more and more!

Ohh and you may be asking where's the protein? What about meat? Well, first off I'm not a big meat eater. Not because I don't believe in it or anything... I do eat it, just not too often. I don't think it's really necessary as long as you are careful to get protein elsewhere. Meat is expensive and not that great in most cases so I make sure that we get protein else where when we don't have meat. Well, whole wheat pasta has A LOT of protein in it (thank you wacky mac) and for those of you who don't know spinach has a ton of protein in it. And what do toddlers drink all day? MILK which is chalked full of protein!! So, we're covered in that dept. too.. no worries!

Here's some pictures of all my meals lined up ready for the freezer and the contents! I might even have to dig into one of these one day myself!!


Hopefully I can think of some more ideas like this and have several different healthy meals to choose from throughout the week... I'll share them as they come to me!

P.S. You can certainly mix the spinach in before you put it in the bag. I just threw it on top and will mix it together when I reheat. No problem-o!

18 months

I just realized today that I didn't do an 18 month post for Legree! WHOOPS! Anyways, here's 18 little facts about our big guy...







1. Wears size 18 month clothes (24 month Pjs! WHOA!)



2. Is 32.5 inches tall and 25 pounds (a HUGE jump and is almost to the average mark for his age. He's been normally in the 5 to 10th percentile for his age)



3. Has 12 teeth (maybe more but I'm to scared to go in and check, I like my finger too much to risk it!)



4. Has started throwing temper tantrums if he doesn't get his way!



5. Has turned into a little monkey and is climbing up and onto EVERYTHING



6. Loves to help mommy do laundry! I take the clothes out of the washer and he puts them in the dryer and shuts the door when we're done. He also helps me unload the dishwasher by putting (throwing) the tupperware in the cabinet. He's understanding and responding to directions more and more!





7. Is just so much fun! He laughs, claps and dances for everything. You are one happy little boy Legree!





8. Loves to read his books. He likes to sit in my lap and for me to read him his tractor books (forget it if it doesn't have tractors in it) and then he reads it back to me.





9. He has started getting interested in the potty. I've been taking Legree to the potty with me so he knows what goes on in there and gets used to the words. He's started "using" the toilet paper(just taking it off the roll and wiping all over his body) and throwing it in the toilet. He also shakes his head yes when I ask him if he wants to use the toilet (but fails to tell me when he needs to go). I've been telling him he's "pooping" when I know he's pooping in hopes he'll come tell me one of these days! I feel like he's still too young for "real" potty training but I'm trying to ease him into it and not rush it but not ignore it either!!





10. LOVES his Papa (my dad) VERY dearly! They are two peas in a pod!! They get coffee together, brush teeth and "shave". He also loves for my mom to rock him to sleep and sing to him and play hide and seek. He loves Ben's mom SO much too! He loves for her to chase him around and watch tractor videos. He's got her wrapped around his little finger! He loves sitting in Ben's dad's lap and reading tractor magazine and pointing to all of the tractors.. it's so cute!





11. He is saying so much more. He said John Deere recently and is starting to say "sentences" now. Like when he eats something he really like he says "Izz zoo goo" (it's so good) or "Com on es go" (come on let's go).





12. It's snowed four times in his short life already! Twice last winter and twice this winter already! I think he knows as much about snow as we do! He sees it and says "sno"





13. He loves Kilo and checks on her several times a day. He laughs at her especially when she gets on our picnic table!





14. He has a new obsession over grapes and apples and constantly wants one or the other.





15. He also currently is obsessed with "juuu" (juice). He wants it and not his milk now!





16. We have been weaning him off of his "baa baa" (pacifier). He's been doing pretty good. He's better at home without Ben around. I think he knows Ben is a sucker and will give it to him!





17. We've been working on manners with him and he's got "please" down pat. But most of the time we still have to prompt him. But he's said it a couple of times this week to me without being prompted. I'm just trying to stay consistence and make him say please for everything he wants so he gets used to it! Ohh and he doesn't really say please... he says "MEAAAASSE" It's so cute! Next up we'll work on thank you but I'm trying to master one thing at a time with him.





18. He is a ham and loves to talk to everyone, wave, shake hands at church and smile at everyone! But he doesn't want to go to just anyone, he still is VERY attached to me in particular but also to Ben, my parents and his parents.

John Deeah

I pointed to a tractor yesterday and asked Legree what is this? Normally he says budin budin... instead he said "John Deeah". I couldn't believe it! I asked him about 4 times and he said it over and over again. Finally he got tired of me asking him and walked off. I've been trying for months now to get him to drop the budin budin and say tractor, instead he picked up John Deeah all on his own! Well, that's the only kind of tractor he recognizes anyways. If it's red or blue he doesn't really care about it! HA! Wanted to document it so when he gets older he'll know his love for all things green and yellow started YOUNG!

You're gonna eat those words one day!

When Legree stays at my parents house he always sleeps in bed with them. Why? Mainly because they let him get away with it. He NEVER, let me repeat, NEVER does that at home! He always lays in his bed, goes right to sleep and never complains or wakes up. He's really the best sleeper ever. But not when he's there! Well, until they let him get in bed with them of course. Which is fine with me, they can spoil him if they want, they are his grandparents! And they love having him close by all night. (Not for me, I need me beauty sleep and getting kicked all night is not my idea of fun).



Anyways, I always pick on mom about it that he only gets up there and it's their fault for spoiling him and that he NEVER EVER gets up at home! Well, what do you know Christmas night Legree woke up at 2 am. I thought something was seriously wrong because, like I said, he never gets up. Nope, nothing was wrong... he just wanted to get up and play with his tractors!! Seriously he screamed till we let him down to get on his new tractor. He was fine, played with it till 6 am and then went back to bed. I couldn't believe it! I deffinately had to eat my words on this one!!





Thankfully, it didn't become an issue and he has slept through the night and hasn't tried to pull that anymore. I guess I can understand all the excitement of all the tractors was too much and he just wanted to play more.





I didn't get a picture at 2 am because well I was exhausted beyond belief. I'm not used to getting up in the middle of the night anymore, but here's a picture from when he first got it... he was so very proud!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let is snow...

It snowed here on December 26th! So much for a white christmas, but it was close enough that it was VERY exciting!! We took Legree out in it for a few minutes. He is just getting over being sick so this mama wasn't taking any chances. I bundled him up tight in lots of layers and we were only out for a few minutes. But it was so cute to hear his "OHH WOW" "WHOOOWEE" over the snow. Here some of our pictures from our play time outside...

Baby mittens wiping off snow from baby boots, how precious is that?

That smile just melts my heart every time!

He decided he wanted to take a walk down the street...




But daddy didn't let him get too far....




Snow day is fun day!

Christmas Traditions...

I remember when I was a little girl (maybe around 10-12 range) reading in a magazine somewhere that Christmas traditions were what your kids remember about Christmas and are important. And then the magazine went on to suggest some traditions to start with your family. So, I thought to myself when I have my own family I will have LOTS of Christmas traditions. Well, we don't have LOTS of traditions, but we do have a few very important and heartfelt ones that I LOVE!

1) Christmas shirt - When I was 5 years old my Grandma Lola gave me a Christmas shirt that says "Dear Santa, I want it all!". She gave one to all of her grandchildren that Christmas. She gave them all to us in the same size: a man's extra large! A little big on a 5 year old :) But I thought it was so funny and proudly told Grandma I would wear it EVERY Christmas. And by golly, I have! It's 22 years old now and still in good shape and actually fits me instead of being like a tent on me. I only wear it Christmas eve night to bed and while we're opening presents. Then I wash it and put it away till next year. I don't want it to get to worn out. But it's so special to me because it's been with me through EVERY Christmas for 22 years. And even though my Grandma Lola can't be with us in person, I feel like I have a part of her with me every Christmas morning, and that is more special then I could ever put into words!

2) Chinese food - About 4 years ago it was just me and my parents for Christmas. My brothers were married and with their wife's family. I met Ben a month later, so I was still single at the time. So, mom didn't see much point in making some big Christmas dinner. Well, after our Christmas eve service at church we were STARVING and the only place we could find open was Chinese food. Which we all love anyways and we were right tired of turkey, ham, mac and cheese etc so we said what the heck, let's do it! So, we ate Chinese food that night and loved it. And we promised to make it a yearly tradition to eat Chinese food on Christmas eve. And that's what we do! It was so much fun this year to have Legree with us and for him to be old enough to enjoy the food too!

3) Christmas service - Every Christmas eve we, of course, go to our church service. It is always a candel lit service and we sings LOTS of Christmas hymns and have several sermonettes on the birth of our Savior. This is such a special service. This year as really hit home to me about what a sacrifice God made in sending us his only Son, for our sins. He sent us the perfect for the imperfect. The best gift of all!

4) Parents over for breakfast - Every Christmas morning we have Ben's parents and my parents over for breakfast. We eat, catch up and then they watch Legree open up his Santa presents. And then we play with him and all his toys together. It's so much fun and means so much to Legree, Ben and I to have them all here with us. As soon as they all got into the house today Legree was just squeeling, giggling and dancing with delight that all his grandparents are together. He has such a close relationship with all of them, it's so wonderful!

Some "new" Christmas traditions that we are starting as of next year....

3 presents... I've been thinking a lot about how to "explain" Santa to Legree and what's going on with Christmas. I mean it's kind of a lot to take in and next year he'll be able to understand presents etc more. So, Ben and I decided we are going to tell Legree from now on that Christmas is Jesus Birthday and that's why everyone celebrates it so much. And that Jesus loves us so much that he not only died on the cross for all of our sins, but he also sends us His Birthday presents at Christmas! He sends Santa to deliver them on Christmas eve night. And from now on, Legree will only get three presents Christmas morning. Because Jesus got three presents from the wisemen, and it doesn't make much since for Legree to get more presents on Jesus' birthday then Jesus did. We hope and pray to keep the focus on this being Jesus birthday and let Santa just be a courior for the presents. And to let Legree know he should be thanking Jesus for His birthday gifts and for the greatest gift of all, Jesus coming as man to save us from our sins.

Another tradition that I started two years ago and never really noticed till this year... Christmas ornaments that aren't really ornaments. UGH? Yeah sounds weird... but I wrote about in a previous post but for the past two years I've collected a tree topper and an "ornament" that weren't meant to be ornaments, but I put them on our tree like they are. So, I'm going to find something significant from that year and turn it into an ornament. I'm sure I'll find some interesting things to hang every year!! And in the future our child(ren) can help me find a "nonornament" and turn it into an ornament! This year I made Legree a pair of Christmas Jons jons. I just started sewing and really love it! So, since they are green and red he can't really wear them past today so I'm going to take the buttons off of them, put it on a pretty ribbon and that will be our "nonornament" for this year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! See ya next year Christmas traditions!!