Welp. I guess I'll start a new blog.

So, I received a notice that I can't add any more pictures to this blog. Apparently, you only have so much memory for pictures. Wah.

I decided to start a new blog because I wasn't actually sure what else to do. I'm going to switch over to wordpress and see if I like it.

I feel like they're more flexible with certain things and then with others, they will barely let you customize.

My new one is thelittlethingsmattermost.wordpress.com (I know, I'm not very creative.)

 I also decided to print this blog just in case something ever happens to it on here. Have y'all ever researched that? Man, it's kind of expensive. This is 4 years of blog but I probably had a total of 200ish posts. It was going to be close to $100. I went through and eliminated about 20 of the posts because they were videos or what not. But it was still like $85, so I decided to just do black and white photos and that took it down to $30. I figured I have most of the pictures printed in photo albums anyway.


Anyway, 'tis been a good journey little blog. Much love.

Bedtime routine.

Seriously, Jackson was adorable tonight.

He was pretty miserable this morning. He got vaccines yesterday and he usually doesn't feel well for a few days after he gets shots, so it was no surprise.

But tonight, he was so dang fun.

After his bath, we usually play in his room for 20-30 minutes depending on how tired he's feeling. Our playing consists of him putting foam circular blocks in my mouth and me shooting them across the room or at him. Leo joined in on our fun last Sunday and we had a block shooting contest. Jackson actually had a little red circle on his belly from one of our powerful shots. I know. You wish we were your parents.

We also play lots of peekaboo, basketball (he has a cute little fisher price hoop), and have dance parties.

Tonight, I was doing jumping jacks and Jackson was trying so hard to mimick me. He kept his legs spread out and then he'd just bounce his head up and down.

At 7:30ish, we settle down with books and songs for about 10 minutes. A couple days ago, he actually fell asleep on me while I was singing to him and I could've died it was so sweet. So, I keep trying to recreate that moment. It hasn't happened yet, but darnit, I'm persevering.

When we read, he usually just flips the pages as fast as he can and then we start over. But last night and tonight, he let me read an entire book. It wasn't a board book or anything super visual. It was some flimsy Mercer Mayer little critter paperback. I think it's called Just Grandma and Me (see mom, he misses you.) He let me read the entire thing and then wanted me to read it again and again. Funny, huh?

He also found this book on the floor and brought it to me. He really likes fish and on each page the little black fish was in different places. It was basically like a where's waldo experience. We'd look for the fish and then he'd say his version of "right there!" We did that over and over again and he started giving the fish kisses. Oh my gosh. So cute.

He didn't end up falling asleep on me and he didn't have much patience for singing but man, I would love it if he started to get into reading. We have so many books and I love my books. I'd love to be able to choose a new book to read and have him love them with me. 

Friday's Favorite

So, I think instead of choosing 5 things, I'm just going to do as many as I want. I feel like I was trying to reach for things, not that I don't have 5 wonderful moments in my week, but my brain only remembers so much. 

Halloween- So last Saturday, we went a Halloween party and got all dressed up like lumber jacks. Leo's beard was the initial inspiration, but then we thought well if we have a lumberjack, we should probably have a lumber-jackson. :) And then I found a furry hat and joined in on the fun. On wednesday, we dressed up again for Leo's work party but didn't end up going trick or treating. 

My baby's cute

Cutest tooshy ever. 

He falls a lot. Like a lot. 

For real. So clumsy. 

Love those twinkly eyes. 

Top Five Friday

1. Worked on the plans for my little sister, Lauren's bachelorette party with my older sister, Jess. Loo is getting married this December. It's going to be wonderful. 

2. Got a super fun cold sore. It's a beastly one. I haven't had one in a long time and man, I don't miss them. 

3. It snowed!

4. Went to Ikea and pretended like we were in a movie theater. Ikea has the cutest toys for kids. I could've spent so much money. 

5. Got caught up on New Girl. Hilarious. 

**Playing at Target**

**Playing peek a boo**

 **baby has a cold**

(Longest post ever)- You might be a mom if...

you don't flinch about using your sleeve to wipe your child's snot.

That is my life today. Jackson finally cut his bottom 2 year molars through (I can't tell if the top ones are coming soon) and so I was hoping to have some happiness from him but then he caught a cold. So, the happiness didn't come. I thought maybe it'd be an easy cold but he was dripping green  snot this afternoon, so that's fun. Anyway... ('member that birthday, dad, when you paid me money to not say "anyways" because anyways isn't a word, but anyway is a word. Your money was well spent.)

Today, I had a lot of mommy moments.

The first one came when my sister sent me a video of my nephew as a newborn and my heart started rumbling. Why rumbling you ask? 'Cause it got a little baby hungry.

This post might be tmi, but since it's pretty much just my family that reads this blog, whatevs.

With Jackson, I knew exactly when I was ready for a baby. I will never forget the afternoon. It was Fall 2009 and I was being super lazy with Leo. I'm sure sweatpants and TV were involved. I looked around and had the thought, "I'm ready to be responsible for something other than myself." I realized, although my life was productive (going to school, working full time, etc.), it was not the productive that would truly bring me a lifetime of happiness. I still wanted to graduate so we waited awhile longer, but I knew I was ready.

In the grand scheme of my life, I wanted my kids close together, so when Jackson was around 15 months, I kept expecting this magical desire to have another kid overcome my thoughts the way it had with Jackson. That way my kids would be 2 years apart. But that didn't happen. I felt like and do feel like still, wow, Jackson is so much work on his own. I can't even fathom how to take care of 2 kids.

But today, and I blame my sweet nephew's video to be the catalyst for such feelings, I felt that same feeling as I did thinking about having my first child. My life is going smoothly and my schedule is so easy. Sure Jackson is still rotten and drives me bonkers sometimes, but a lot of my time is spent doing what I want to do. And it's probably about time to give myself another challenge. Another responsibility. Another purpose.

I'm not announcing that we're trying for a baby, because that's personal and awkward to talk about. And well, we're not trying yet. Anyway...

All I'm saying is, it's fun to think about Jackson having a sibling and it doesn't scare the living daylights out of me. Actually, it still does but maybe the prospective joy outweighs the fear.

Ok, that was more typing than I'm used to.

Another mommy moment came from when I put Jackson down for a nap today. He usually talks/fusses for at least a few minutes before falling asleep. Today, I heard him talking loudly like he was wide awake, playing in his crib, not going to take a nap loud. First, I was annoyed listening to him, and then almost suddenly, I heard a bump from the ceiling and then he was quiet. Now, we're in town homes, so sometimes, I hear noises that sound like they're coming from our upstairs but they're actually from the neighbors.

But he was talking so loudly and then suddenly boom, quiet. I have fears about him figuring out how to get out of his crib and a normal parent would probably just open the door and check on him. But, the door to his room is creaky and if I open it and he's not in a deep sleep, it will wake him up. So here I am, on the staircase, crawling quietly debating with myself whether his nap is more important than the possibility that he could have fallen out of his crib, hitting his head on his changing table on the way down and is now lying unconscious.

I chose to crouch on the floor and look under his door to see if there was a limp body. Seriously, there is no exaggeration here. I couldn't see anything but his toys, so I waited 5 minutes for him to fall into a deep sleep and then slowly opened the door. He was perfectly adorable, sound asleep.

Honestly, it freaked me out. Then I did the what ifs game. What if I hadn't gone up and he had been hurt? Sometime he sleeps for 2 hours. I would've left him up there for 2 hours.

Yes, I realize only other crazy moms would understand my irrational ability to turn something so small into a huge situation.

My last mommy moment came when I was watching the movie What to Expect When You're Expecting. I got it on redbox last night and after I made sure Jackson was asleep and alive, I turned it on during his nap. He only slept through half of it, stink pot baby, so I put it in my laptop and snuggled him on the couch. He watched his show and I watched mine. Well, that only lasted for a half hour. So for the last 30 minutes of the movie, I ignored him while I watched. He wanted a drink, he wanted me to build a tower, he wanted me to put the blanket on my head and hide, etc. I did the bare minimum I had to and just kept watching the movie. The movie's kind of dumb but all the babies come at the end, so of course I'm emotionally invested and crying. Jackson got so whiny and kept trying to close the laptop and I got so annoyed with him. I mean, I was just trying to feel all weepy about these sweet babies coming into the world and here he was, ruining it with all his needs and wants...

I finally realized what an awesome mom I was being and turned it off. I'm sure it was close to the ending anyway. Then I spent the next hour being a sweet, attentive mother. We built towers, played peekaboo (Ours is more of a monster version. He really loves my monster impression. You probably would too.), took some snacks up to his room and read a bunch of books. He loves the game right now where I pretend I'm asleep (honshu honshu as we call it) and then he gets to wake me up. We've worked on the how he wakes me up aspect too, thank goodness. I almost lost an eye and a nostril.

To make a short story long, it was a good day with that little stinker.

See what I'm saying about his hair wanting to have a middle part?

Top Five Friday

Here's the deal. This post should really have pictures. But you see, I'm already in bed annnnd my legs are warm and so yeah, I'm too lazy to go get my camera. Maybe I'll add them later.

1. It felt like Fall outside this week and it was wonderful. Long sleeve shirts. Sweaters. Love it so much.

2. On Wednesday, I made rasberry jam with my Young Women girls. They did two batches, rasberry pear & rasberry peach. So dang yummy. (The jars are so cute too. This one really should have a picture.)

3. Early Christmas Shopping. So, I'll be in Texas visiting my family from Nov. 19 - Dec. 18, which means I'll come back and have 1 week before Christmas. I'm trying to get all of my shopping done now. I'll also probably decorate my house before I leave so it's ready to go when I get home.

4. DI find take 2. I found an adorable coat for myself for $4. It's Forever 21 and sure, it was covered in cat hair... But with a little lint rolling action and quite a bit of hand washing, it's like new! (I really will put a picture of this one on here. That is, when I get energy.)

5. I survived Jackson's tantrums today. The best one of the day was at Wal-mart and I got him a little ice cream cone from McDonalds. It started melting on the side and so I grabbed it and licked it but obviously, Jackson doesn't know how to share because he freaked out and threw the ice cream cone at my shirt and then flailed his head back and smacked it on the cart. (Don't care that that's a run-on sentence.) When I gave it back to him, he went ahead and bit the bottom of the cone, so most of the ice cream fell on the floor. Good times.

Top Five Friday

Hey, so... I'm going to start doing this thing. I know lots of people who do some form of Friday 5. I'm hoping this will help me better about documenting the day to day things. So, every Friday, I'm going to choose to best 5 things that happened during the week.

1. Pumpkins! - I already posted about this but it was still really fun to do Halloween stuff for the first time with my bubba boy.



 2. Rediscovered my love of How I Met Your Mother. - Have y'all watched this show recently? Freaking hilarious. I can't tell if my favorite character is Barney or Marshall. These are the big decisions I deal with every day.

3. Once Upon A Time premier. - So good.

4. Cutest picture ever of my baby. - Enough said.

5. Made Zucchini bread. - First time I've ever made zucchini bread. Delicious. It probably would've tasted even better with chocolate chips, but oh well.

**Cute pictures from my phone**
(Post workout, bubba sitting on my lap, snuggles)


(Found this jacket for Jackson for $4 at D.I.)


(Yeah, we have morning snuggles a lot)

Who knew I liked Halloween?

So, I actually don't like Halloween. Or at least, I didn't before I had a cute kid. I don't like being scared and I get scared really easily. So I do not watch scary movies. Ever. I don't go to theme parks when they're doing Halloween stuff. 

Anyway. But then, I had this cute kid, Jackson, and he makes all Holidays more fun. 

So, we did some pumpkins last night! I wanted to paint the small ones cute, but then I remembered that a toddler was helping me so we did the best we could do. And then, I wanted to try carving the big pumpkin with cookie cutters and a mallet and that sort of worked? 

First of all, it has been years since I've carved pumpkins. It's kind of gross and hard. I thought Jackson would have fun with the goopy stuff, but he thought it was just as gross as I did. 

They didn't end up quite as pretty as I'd hoped, but esta bien. And how cute are these pjs!

Oh! And my hubby had a birthday! I love him. So does Jackson.