"Bye-bye pee pee"

Behold the 2-year old: the walking, talking, fingerprints-on-the-glass, chubby grubby funny eating machine. He is the jack of all things "toddler" and yet the master of none. Slowly, he takes on this masterpiece called life.

And so, the next step of life in his world means mastering the golden throne; the porcelin god; the loo; or, in toddler language, the potty.

For a few months now, we've been intrigued by the potty. The word "privacy" has not existed in our house, and guests are warned to lock doors behind them. We've gone through the motions anytime Gavin brings up the word potty: we run to the bathroom, take off the pants, take off the diaper, and put him on the training seat. Unfortunately, with the wee one ranking in the 97th percentile for height and weight amongst his peers, the training seat is a bit....snug. So, up we go onto the "cushie tushie" on the toilet.

For those of you lucky enough not know what a "cushie tushie" is, let me enlighten you:

Attractive decor, huh? We've spent the last few months following toddler cues: pulling at the diaper, endless rants of "poopy Mommy," pointing to the toilet with an "eh" sound, flushing, and trying to stick limbs into the shimmering water. (No, it's not a water table, son.)

Yesterday, however, 2+2= 4. My better half picked up wee one from daycare yesteday and was told that Gavin had, not once but TWICE, asked to go potty and was successful! Granted the one time all needed body parts weren't tucked into the right places and he came home in different pants than he went to school in....but we'll take it!

Three more times last night, at home, we successfully visited the potty. Two of the times he even gave warning, "pee pee coming!" Ahhhh that's my little news reporter in the making.

So, we've officially embarked on the next level of toddlerhood. I guess we installed those hardwood floors just in time, huh?

A blessed life we live

We've been working very hard on getting wee man to learn good manners. This, of course, includes "thank you," "please," and "excuse me." Outside of needing prompting to be polite 90% of the time, he's doing pretty well (as showcased this morning when I was in the way of his breakfast and I got a "scuse me Mommy" with a stiff-arm shove in the leg).

"Bless you" is another popular polite phrase that our son has taken a hold of quite fervently. This means that if you snort, cough, burp or sneeze in his presence, he will say, "Bless you Daddy/Mommy."

Yesterday morning, the little guy was walking down the hall and coughed. After a moment of silence, we heard a wee voice say, "Bless you Davin." To which the husband and I quickly replied, "Bless you Gavin."

I guess Daddy and Mommy need to work on their polite manners now!

Where did 2 years go?

Today is wee man's 2nd birthday! Oh my...where has the time gone?

April 28, 2007:

April 28, 2009:

Happy birthday, my dear little boy. Thank you for all of the joy and laughter you have brought into our lives. *hugs*

Silly drivers

So for those of you that know me, I'm originally from NJ. Born and raised for 18 years in the Garden State (stop the snickering...). That also means I learned how to scare....er, I mean drive in that state as well.

It's no surprise I'm more on the aggressive side of driving (though I do try to tell people I'm just a very "defensive" driver - I mean, if you're not aggressive while driving in NJ, you'd be roadkill!).

Driving home from picking up wee man from daycare yesterday, I came across a stupid driver - turning on red while the opposing traffic (aka: me) had the turn light. I wasn't impressed, and while I would have liked to tell the dust bunnies in my car what I really thought about the stellar move, I refrained since the little guy was in the backseat. So, instead of the string of expletives I would have used in my pre-Mommy life, I chose to blurt out "bad car!"

To which my innocent toddler replied, "Bad car...silly dwyvahs!"

Apparently his father has been curbing his Irish tongue too, and prefers to blurt out, "silly drivers" at....well, you know....silly drivers.

From the mouths of babes...

Hoppy Easter!

We hope everyone had a fantastic Easter weekend! Here are a few shots from ours, including wee man's first egg hunt:

the Easter basket:
and all ready for Easter Mass:

This is what we do at daycare

I think it's safe to say that we're still in the climbing stages of toddlerhood. Last month, his teacher was telling me how she turned around to see my perfect, wee angel in this rather awkward situation:I don't know if this is the teachers' way of practicing calisthenics, or a game of, "If you can fit into this space...."

The other kid looks like she's eyeing him up, doesn't she? Good luck getting him off the shelf, kid. Good luck.

More recipes to share

I'm part of an online community of great women, and one of things we like to share are different recipes. I recently picked up on a couple of winning recipes in our house from these amazing ladies (I don't want to post their blogs here, since I'm not sure if they would be okay with that), but I have to give a shout out to Michelle and Becky for the following recipes:

Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole (adapted from Cooking Light)
1 TBSP olive oil
1 cup diced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb chicken, shredded (original recipe called for soy chicken)
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese or taco cheese blend (original recipe called for light taco cheese)
14 corn tortillas, quartered
20 oz green chile enchilada sauce1 can green chiles, chopped and undrained
1 tsp chile powder
½ tsp cumin

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until soft and translucent. Add undrained chiles and sauté for another two minutes. Mix in shredded chicken.

Add cumin and chile powder to green enchilada sauce, stir to combine. Ladle 1/3 of the sauce into the bottom of a baking dish. Lay ½ of the tortilla pieces over the sauce, overlapping them to make a solid layer. Add chicken/onion mixture, sprinkle half of the cheese over the chicken mixture and then ladle another 1/3 of the sauce. Top with remaining tortilla pieces, sauce and cheese. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, uncovered.

Serve with light sour cream and cilantro.
(I adapted this further, by using only one 10 oz. can of enchilada sauce and mixed 10 oz. of mild salsa in with it - this purely by mistake since I forgot to buy 20 oz. of the sauce! I also cooked whole chicken breasts in the skillet first, since I knew it would be easier to shred cooked. I left it slightly uncooked in the middle, figuring it would "cook up" in the oven.)

Smothered BBQ Ranch ChickenRecipe:
4 chicken breasts
3/4 cup BBQ sauce
3/4 cup fat free ranch dressing

Mix ranch and bbq sauce together- pour over chicken in frying pan. Let simmer for 30-35 minutes until cooked. Top it with shredded cheese, a sprinkle of chopped bacon, and a handful of chopped scallions.
(I again adapted this, since my evenings are hectic enough feeding the wee man and all of the other things I have to do once I get home from work: I Pam-ed the bottom of an oven dish, placed uncooked chicken breasts in the pan, covered with the sauce, and covered with foil. Put in the over at 350 for 30 minutes. At 30 minutes, remove foil and sprinkle shredded cheese on top of chicken. Bake until cheese is melted. Top with scallions when you remove from oven.)

Enjoy!!

I love new things...

Introducing, our new couches and living room!

Even Heidi looks thrilled, don't you think?!

Finally, we bought a new ceiling fan for our dining room:

If all goes well at the gargae sale we're having later this Spring, maybe I can get a new kitchen table too!

Anyone looking to buy a decent, 5-piece kitchen set or nice loveseat to help me reach my new goal?! Call me!

Random musings of a toddler (oh and molars suck too)

The last few days have been rough - the incessant whining, the constant drooling (well that's been going on for 5 months now so we're used to that), the interrupted sleep (meaning whining all night), a low grade fever, and constant junk being expelled from tiny nasal passages.

We finally nailed it last night, though - it's the molars! I took a quick peak (before the chomper could bite me) and saw two top molars - only half-way out, meaning one side of the tooth was showing, the other was still hiding. Owwwwwwwwwwww.....

So we took matters into our own hands last night and channeled decades of ancestor parents before us: we brought out the good Irish whiskey. Within a minute of drenching his gums in this liquid gold, wee man stopped whining and was running around like a happy, wild Banshee (and no, he wasn't drunk). Awww sweet relief for us all! We had to do a rinse and repeat around 10pm, but we got a night of sleep out of the deal. And someone woke up very happy this morning too!

He was saying goodbye to Daddy while we were still in the house and laid a big wet one on both my mouth and Daddy's before my coffee mug was even in my hand. On the drive to school, I decided to boycott his Babies Laughing nursery rhyme CD (don't get me wrong, it is cute, but it's getting old) and put on the soundtrack to the movie Mama Mia! On the song "Money Money" all I could hear was Gavin singing, "Mommy, Mommy." Ahhh that's my sweet boy!

This got me thinking that I NEED to start journaling all of his new words and phrases, since some of them are just too funny. The current favorites are:

e-i-e-i-o (he wants his music on)
carseat
daddy truck
mommy car
gotcha
I got it
uh-huh (usually in a pathetic, semi-dramatic tone)
phone (in case we didn't hear the phone ringing 4 inches from us)
papa (any man over the age of 50 with graying hair)
Louie (his stuffed lion)
guha-guha-guha (his blankie)
Daddy, boom boom boom! (accompanied by shaking of his arm - this represents Daddy hammering)
tank you and pease
I bach (accompanied by a shaking of his forefinger to tell us he'll be right back)
tubbie
baby
wah-wah (water) or juice
milk
cup
caukie (coffee)
Tom and Cincie, Buhwayce (Bryce) and Eesa (Lisa) (all of the neighbors)
Meow (he thinks that's the cat's name)
I sorry
And so many more.........the list is getting long!

But, my personal favorites are:
"I broke it." Followed immediately by, "Daddy fix it." (Poor Daddy gets to fix a LOT of things around here.)

And "Davin" for his name (Gavin).

From the mouths of cute, snot-nosed babes......

It's a good day to be Irish!

Well, 50% Irish anyway. But wee man will take it with being both an Irish citizen and American citizen - the kid has the best of both worlds!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, friends!

He likes it!

A day at the park...

Spring is finally starting to peak it's pretty head around the corner here in Western PA. On Saturday, temperatures reached almost record-highs of 74 degrees! Since the husband is still tackling home improvements, and it's hard to keep wee man out of his hair and tools, the two of us ventured out to a local park. After a few minutes of hesitation, Gavin took off like a champ and showed no fear in tackling the slides, as you can see:

Oh to be a kid again, huh?!

Top Chef

So, the husband and I love cooking shows - especially Gordon Ramsey's Hell's Kitchen and Top Chef. I wish I could think more off-the-cuff when it comes to cooking, like the chefs on these shows do.

What I really struggle with though, as a working Mom, is just plain getting a hot dinner on the table during weeknights. I keep falling back on the good ol' stand-bys: bruschetta chicken bake, tacos/fajitas, meatballs, spaghetti bolognese, kielbasa, lasagna, bbq porkchops, meatloaf and perogies.

Every now and again I venture out with shrimp or some other fish.

But we're both getting really tired of it. So, if any of you have nice, easy meals to share with me, please let me know!

I'm slowly making progress, though. Last night I did try something new. I knew some of the ingredients that were in our cabinets, so I went to www.allrecipes.com, entered a couple of ingredients and voila! I ended up making this (with one minor ingredient change):

Artichoke Chicken

INGREDIENTS
1 (15 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup mayonnaise (used a can of low-fat creamed chicken instead)
1 pinch garlic pepper
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the artichoke hearts, Parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, and garlic pepper. Place chicken in a greased baking dish, and cover evenly with artichoke mixture.
3. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until chicken is no longer pink in the center and juices run clear.

It turned out really well, and the husband was quite happy to have something new. (And we decided to add another can of soup and artichokes next time.)

Bon appetit! (And remember to share your recipes!)

Ireland

Here are a few pictures my sister-in-law sent me from our trip to Ireland. It was a chilly, but beautiful day that these pictures were taken - the perfect opportunity to let Gavin outside to stretch his legs!

My husband's brother and his family have a beautiful house overlooking a serene lake. (Tomas, myself, Gavin and cousin Michael, driving the bike):

Gavin and Michael:

The boys on the tractor...or "truck" as Gavin is obsessive about:

New Year, new changes

Happy New Year! 2009 has been a whirlwind adventure so far. The New Year and the first week of '09 were spent visiting our Irish relatives in Couny Cavan. It was a wonderful 2 weeks partying at all of the siblings houses. I'm not sure how much wine and beer was drunk, but needless to say, the husband and I are still drying out. Wee man had a fabulous time with all of his cousins, and was in for a very rude awakening when he came home and wasn't being spoiled anymore.

We're all settled in now and preparing for the Steelers to play in the Super Bowl next week!

On top of all of that, we've done more remodeling to our house. (By "we" I mean the husband has been the laborer and I just keep managing the money flowing into the projects!) We picked out very nice re-engineered hardwood for the entire upstairs (minus the bedrooms and stairs) and the landings. After 2 long days, the LR and DR are done - and we're so pleased. Already I can feel my allergies disappearing and Wee Man has found that the new floors lend to a faster Nascar-esque speedway for his trucks. In all, I think we can call it a success!

After we finish the flooring, we'll be getting a drywalled half-wall where the "spindle wall" is behind the tv, and then new couches to replace the 11-yr old ones that are now ready to be retired to the game room downstairs. Then a couple of area rugs, a new ceiling fan and some decorations on the walls should complete this phase of renovation!

Slowly but surely, we're getting there. I think we'll have to have a party once it's all done!

Hollywood is going to have to wait

I've been a good boy....

Last weekend, Wee Man got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus at an annual visit my old company hosts. Much to our surprise, he was not scared at all! In fact, after the line went down, we caught him walking over to the stage stairs, climbing them and going back for another visit! I guess he forgot to tell him everything he wanted the first time.

Last night, I took the kid for a professional photo at a local studio called Portrait Innovations. We've had photos taken there before and they have yet to disappoint us. For the holiday, they offered a one pose package (with 7 sheets of prints) for $9.95. So, $10.55 later, here it is:

What a handsome guy, huh?

Bob the Builder

Bob the Builder: According to wikipedia Bob the Builder is a children's television character. Bob appears as a building contractor specializing in masonry with his colleague Wendy, various neighbors and friends, and their gang of anthromorphised work-vehicles and equipment (all made of clay). The show is broadcast in many countries, but originates from the United Kingdom.

And I'm the lucky gal who married him!

A couple of Sunday mornings ago, the husband was once again dreaming about what we would do to our house if we had the extra money to do it. As always, he fell back to dreams of an open floor plan, hardwood flooring, expanding the kitchen, etc. I at least agreed that the wallpaper on our half walls had to be taken down.

The next thing I knew, my normally sane husband had a glaze over his eyes and his hands were wielding a hammer.

Now you see it.....

Now you don't!...

There actually was another small, half wall coming out of the main wall on the right (if you look at the carpet in the second pic, you can see that there was a small entry). I was just in too much of a daze to realize what was happening - and I forgot to grab my camera in time!

It was the right decision, though, and the husband did an awesome job.

It turns out that one of the previous owners decided to change the wallpaper on the walls, but was too lazy to take it off the wall. So instead, they took extra wood panels from the downstairs wall, turned them backside out, nailed them to the walls and wallpapered that.

All together now: HUH?

The height of laziness, I tell you! So, in essence, we had two walls on our walls.

We're hoping by Spring to get the new flooring put in and then who knows what Bob the Builder has in store for us after that. He's already eyeing up the kitchen walls.

I'm eyeing up hotels.

There's nothing better than good friends

On Saturday, we entertained some dear friends for the first time! Joanne and Tony brought over their precious 5.5-month old twin girls, and Shelly brought over her 18-month old son Nate.

Of course wee man was a cranky little thing for the first half of their visit, but he soon got into the little babies (and the pre-arranged marriage with chatty little Ashlyn us Moms have going on), and he and Nate seemed to enjoy playing and watching Sprout. In fact, it was so funny listening to them - one would giggle watching the cartoons and then the other one would giggle back! I did manage to snap a couple of photos while they weren't looking.

I also channeled Australian chef Curtis Stone (I picked him because he's so cute and that accent....yum...) and went to town in the kitchen. I served bacon-wrapped water chestnuts for an appetizer, grilled london broiled and mashed potatoes (done by Chef Husband), brown-sugar glazed carrots, and a vegatarian lasagna for the non-meat eaters!

I haven't tried the lasagna yet myself, but here is the recipe:

Ingredients
1 1/2 quarts spaghetti sauce (your favorite homemade or jar spaghetti sauce)
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 teaspoon oregano
6 cooked lasagna noodles
1 (16 ounce) container ricotta cheese
1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced zucchini
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
3 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Mix carrots, oregano, and spaghetti sauce together.
2. Mix Ricotta, spinach, and eggs together in separate bowl.
3. Spread ½ cup spaghetti sauce in bottom of 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
4. Layer 3 lasagna noodles, ½ remaining sauce, ½ Ricotta mixture, ½ sliced zucchini, ½ sliced mushrooms, ½ Mozzarella, and ½ Parmesan.
5. Repeat layers with remaining ingredients.
6. Bake in 350 degrees oven for about 45 minutes.

A new-found baby fever, good wine, good dessert, and great company later, we have decided we need to do this more often! Thank you, friends, for a great night!