Five on Friday

Happy Friday and last day of February!  I'm all sorts of ready for the "in like a lion, out like a lamb" March business.  Maybe I'll relive my grade school days and do a little lion & lamb craft with Liam.  Scratch that, my kid doesn't do crafts!  Unless it involves paint, and then he's in!  Here's my weekly randomness; as always, thanks to all the lovely hosts: Christina, Darci, April, & Natasha!

 

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A big thanks for all the wonderful comments & support I've received from my Bad Day & Surviving the Long Days posts!  Sometimes it can be a bit intimidating to share posts like these, but then the support floods in and feels good that other mamas can relate.  This one of the reasons I love this little blogging community!

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I snagged the Melissa & Doug shopping cart for $36 on Amazon this week!  Thank you Thrifty Littles (you should all be following her) for posting about this awesome deal!  I have been eyeing this item forever, since Liam is obsessed with a shopping cart that our neighbors have, but the $70 price tag was outrageous.  The price has been changing all week, so if you are interested keep your eye on it!

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Ever since I started making Thai iced tea at home (so one whole week), I have been obsessed!  Then, I saw a recipe for Thai iced tea icecream on Pinterest, and my mouth was instantly watering.  I haven't made homemade icecream some time, but I plan on dusting off the maker and getting to work on some creamy goodness this weekend!

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The other thing I've been craving: bubble tea!  I was spoiled by all the options when living in Seattle, because it has been impossible to find a bubble tea shop here in Utah.  So once again, Pinterest came through & I found a recipe on how to make your own bubble tea at home!  I need to brave a trip to the Asian Mart close to my house and see if they have all the fixin's!  Taro is by far the best flavor of bubble tea; don't let anyone tell you differently!  Always go with taro!

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We had some crazy warm weather this week (three days of 60+ degree temps), which was absolutely amazing!  Apparently all my Spring bulbs thought so too, because they are already poking through my garden!  They are still freezing temps in the forecast which have me very nervous.  I will be so upset if a late freeze ruins them!  I have so been looking forward to having a colorful garden this Spring, and my tulips will be the perfect hiding places for a few Easter Eggs!

  Via

I can't wait for things to start blooming!
Anyone else getting excited for gardening weather?

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It's the Little Things

...like sunny, 63 degree weather in February.  

Like a morning trip the zoo, where the most exciting thing is a dirty tractor.  

Like a brief moment to rest your legs and take in the view from your neighborhood.

Like your 10th time down the same slide while the neighbor girls fawn after you.

Thanks to Ashley & Jess for the link up!

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Owl Love

I have developed a wee bit of an owl obsession since Liam was born!  I mean...have you seen my little boy's halloween costume?!  Lucky for me, owl's are definitely trendy right now.  So, I have been able to swoop up all sorts of adorable stuff!  Liam is a little young for the clock, but you know I will be adding it to his playroom at some point.  Maybe sometime soon actually, because it would be perfect perched up on a shelf!

bedding//book//stacker//plate//lamp//clock

Any other adorable owl stuff out there  that I need to know about?

19 Months Old

This last month Liam has changed so much; a huge mental leap for sure!  His little mind is constantly processing new things.  Conor & I have been amazed at how quickly he is picking things up and how much more he is capable of understanding.  We love watching him develop and are so proud of every little thing he does!  It's his monthly update, so I get to brag away!

Favorite Foods:  This kid is still not interested in food; it literally blows my mind!  He has cut way back on nursing, but isn't eating any more real foods than before.  It worries me a bit, but I suppose he will eat when he's hungry!  This month he kissed his beloved yogurt & cottage cheese good bye, and instead he prefers Annie's Mac & Cheese ("bunny pasta").  If he helps me cook, he is much more willing to try foods.  Somehow it magically tastes better coming straight out of the pot!  So I'm making a lot of mac 'n cheese these days, which means I'm eating a lot of it too!  He's also scarfing down Annie's bunny crackers.  All day long he tells me "bunnies...hop...cup", so we refill his cup by having the bunnies hop into it!

Breastfeeding:  I have officially stopped offering to nurse, unless Liam gets himself hurt.  He has done well with this and is nursing much less frequently.  He typically only nurses during nap time & bedtime (and throughout the night) and maybe one other time during the day.  I still don't think either of us are ready for him to wean, but it feels good to be slowly starting that process.  Especially as we begin to start thinking about baby #2.

New Words:  Liam's vocabulary is growing & growing!  He is frequently using 2 or 3 words together and practically narrates his entire day!  He still loves reading books, but now he will spend more time on each page and tell me everything he can identify in each picture.  Sometimes we only have to say a word once and he will have remembered it & mastered it by the next day.  His "k" sound is currently missing right now so bike is "bite".  He also uses a "f" instead of a "w" so wrench is "french". He is starting to pronounce the "S" sound a bit better though. It's so fun figuring out his speech and little language!

Sleep:  No significant changes to report, unfortunately.  We've been using a sound machine for a couple of weeks now, and while it hasn't really improved our sleep situation, I'm still hopeful!  We have it cranked up pretty loud, so Conor has been sleeping through many of Liam's night wakings.  A big win for him!  For an adorable update, Liam has finally started to become attached to a stuffed animal.  He loves snuggling up with "bay bear" (baby bear AKA my classic pooh bear from childhood) and insists upon having him in bed for naps & nighttime.  Every once in awhile he comes in the car when we're running errands too!  Precious, just precious.  We also converted Liam's crib to a toddler bed, which he is very excited about!  He loves to be tucked in and to pretend to go "night night."  If Once Liam starts sleeping for longer stretches we will start trying to put him in his own bed.  

Favorite Interests:  Everything Conor or I do, Liam is right there with us!  Laundry, cooking, dishes....he loves being helpful!  He is still obsessed with cars and is always pointing them out while we are driving, or in a parking lot, or in books.  He knows the difference between a car, jeep, bus, truck, & tractor.  The only thing he loves more than cars: books with cars in them!  We spent much our day reading "Go, Dog, Go" & "Make Way for Ducklings".  Coloring is a new activity that loves to do throughout the day.  However, someone must be coloring with him!  He will shove a crayon in your hand until you join in!

This month, Liam has learned how to clean-up, which fills my heart with glee.  Sometimes he likes to make a mess just to "nee nup"!  I love how organized he is, knowing where most of his toys & books belong. He's slowly learning his colors, so he tries to identify everything & anything all day long.  Blue is his most successfully identified color, followed closely by green.  He constantly wants to play, especially with all his neighborhood friends!  They are so many girls around, and he is smitten with each one!  He has one particular favorite: a 7 year old blond named Ava whom Liam just swoons after.  We have been spending much more time outside, where I get to relax on the porch and watch Liam chase after all the girls.  He's also discovered pockets...makes him such a cool dude!

We have settled into a nice groove as a family and are quite enjoying our ever growing boy.  The toddler stage is exhausting but so much fun!  We love every crazy minute.  I look forward to all the challenges and developments that this next month will bring!     

Five on Friday: Best Of

It's Friday (book club Friday to be exact), and Conor is coming home from work early today!  I can already feel that glass of wine hitting my lips while I enjoy a few hours with some of my favorite women and no kids!  After seeing a few bloggers post their 5 most viewed posts, I am following suit today.  My blog has grown drastically since I first began, so enjoy this look at The Best Of Tiny Toes, Little Nose.  As always, thanks to all the lovely hosts: Christina, Darci, April, & Natasha!

 

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Liam's Birth Story.  I love that is the most viewed post of mine!  I was so upset & disappointed with Liam's birth for a long time; I waited almost six months before sharing my story.  Now I feel much better about it, and I can look back at the beautiful event that it was!  Grab your coffee this post is a long one!  

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28 Week Bumpdate.  While the post is a random bumpdate, this picture spread like wildfire on Pinterest!  There's also a few hilarious stories about the raging hormones of a pregnant, so that's fun too!

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Sneak Peak: 1 Year Photos.  This post is popular because of the breastfeeding image.  I hope (truly hope) that people have viewed it as something beautiful and have been inspired by it.  I have always been very open about breastfeeding in general, as well as my choice to continue breastfeeding past that first year.  If you are wondering why you never saw a full post of our 1 year photoshoot, it's because our photographer (Haley Sierra) is hoping to have them published.  Even though I never did a full post, they have been scattered all over the blog.

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Cloth Diapers.  I'm also excited about this post being in the top 5!  I love converting people to cloth, and I could honestly talk about it for hours... and I have!  Hopefully this post helped convert a mama or two!  You can also read an updated post here.  

-FIVE-
Nursery #1.  I spent countless hours dreaming up this little space for Liam!  We found out we were pregnant just days after putting in an offer on our Seattle house, so I had begun to picture his nursery for that day on.  I loved how it turned out and was excited to watch him grow up in that room...  Well, we moved to Salt Lake City when he was only 5 months old, so that didn't happen!  While I loved his first nursery, I am actually happier with his nursery here in SLC.  It so simple & cozy; you can see his new space here.  

Hope you enjoyed that little visit down memory lane!  

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

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Surviving the Long Days

Some days are long.  It's 10am and nap time is already over long.  Daddy has a work dinner and won't be home before bedtime long.  And then magically you have a 1 1/2 year old,  and you think that was the fastest 18 months of your life!  Parenthood is sneaky like that!
For those extra long days, it's good to step back for a moment and remember who you are.  Because between all the smiling, crying, giggling, & whining you can most certainly lose it!  I try to remind myself of the mom that I always want to be for Liam; I try to keep empathy in mind.  That's my secret, my mama "mantra" if you will... EMPATHY.
I regularly attend Nursing & Beyond (toddler) La Leche League meetings and this seems to be a word we are always coming back to.  At these meetings, I find myself surrounded by like minded mamas with similar parenting styles, whom all help me grow as a mother to my ever changing toddler.  I love it and always leave those meetings feeling rejuvenated as a mom!  At a recent meeting, one of the mom's gave us each a list of some daily reminders to keep in mind while parenting.  Especially when parenting through the more challenging days.  

And for my breastfeeding mamas: NURSE! I love the concept of "mothering at the breast."  
I have this piece of paper pinned to my fridge and find myself looking it over frequently.  So quickly I can get caught up in moment and lose my patience...but just as quickly I can turn things around for Liam & I.  Yesterday was one of those dreaded long days for me.  Conor had meetings run late at work, so he wasn't able to make it home before a work dinner.  Days when I am completely flying solo, with no back up are always tough for me.  The witching hour was approaching, and I didn't have an ounce of energy left.  But Liam deserves better than my less than stellar self, and I was determined to end our day on a high!
So we grabbed a silly hat and headed outside into the windy & chilly weather for some fresh air. He shoveled the sprinkling of snow we received and loved every single flake, every single second!  I relaxed and watched my little boy in awe.  He is growing up much to fast!  As he grows, I love him more & more.  He is becoming something amazing!  I know he will do great things!

During that long (longggggggg) day, came beautiful memories.   Parenthood...sneaky I tell you, SNEAKY! 

It's the Little Things

The best part of the day is when Conor comes home from work!  Liam face instantly lights up & his eyes get huge the moment he sees his dada!  Meanwhile, I give a huge sigh of relief!  His arrival signals the end of the witching hour and the arrival of cocktail hour (my favorite of all the hours)!

Conor's kisses & Liam's smile are two of my favorite "little things"!

Thanks to Ashley & Jess for the link up!

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Weekend Recap: Valentine's Day 2014

While most of you were enjoying your extra long weekend today, I had the typical Monday with Conor back at work.  Apparently his company is too cool to celebrate our presidents...  How unpatriotic; shame on them!  Anyways, our weekend was wonderful & filled with plenty of love!
On Friday, I woke up to find Valentine's Day cards from both of my boys and a Washington Home T that I had been wanting!  Conor & I usually just do something small for V-day, so I bought him his 1st pair of Smart Wool as well as some Theo chocolate (salted almond for the win).  Socks might not seem all that exciting, that is, until you've slipped your footsies into some Smart Wool!  If you don't have a pair, go get some now!

Pajamas: GAP
We went small for Liam as well and skipped the typical sweets.  Instead, he was surprised with a festive pack of stickers, some colored chalk for his Ikea table, & Steam Train Dream Train.   My mom always had a card & treats waiting for us at our spot at the kitchen table on Valentine's morning, so I have continued that tradition with Liam.  Maybe by next year, he will be running to the table to see what surprises wait for him.  While I would have loved a huge heart themed breakfast, Liam could still care less about food... So I didn't waste my efforts on him, even though my little holiday lovin' heart is just bursting for this type of thing!

During the day, Liam spent plenty of time running around with his best friend Max!  I love the mornings we get together, because Liam is always exhausted come nap time and will typically sleep longer!  It was a beautiful day out, so L also had the opportunity to play with some of the neighbor girls he has his eye on...  He even received a few Valentine's!  The ladies love him!

Our dinner tradition is to go out the night before Valentine's (which we did with Liam in tow), and then to cook an extra special meal at home the night of.  We really wanted the opportunity to have a long, relaxing dinner... which doesn't coincide with a toddler's eating habits, so we postponed dinner until after Liam's bedtime.  We prepared a rack of lamb (one of my favorites) and sipped on Chambord & Champagne all night long!  Well, all night until Liam woke up.  So, really only for about two hours.  :-)
Conor was a sweetheart and let me sleep in Saturday!  Oh how glorious that extra hour of bed to myself - lay on my stomach - uninterrupted sleep is!  I could sleep all day.  Really.  I happen to just love sleep.  Which is really quite cruel considering the kind of sleeper my kid is (a non sleeper really).  I've decided that whenever Liam is officially weaned, I will be spending one entire night in our guest room.  One full night of sleep!  I dream about this day often!  Back to Saturday... I woke up to both of boys working on a special lego project.  It makes me so happy to watch Conor & Liam play together!  He is different little boy when he's with his daddy and I just love how much he tries to do everything Conor does.  I wish I could always be peeking in on them without L noticing me.  In a very non-creepy way of course.  

Since Valentine's Day is officially over, Liam is already sporting his green pajamas in preparation for St. Patrick's Day!  While Liam & I lounged in our jammies, Conor did a bit of hardware store shopping...  Apparently we have a brand new washer & dryer coming our way!  Our house has two laundry rooms, but the one in the basement is only equipped for a gas dryer (which we didn't have before).  With our new appliances, I will be able to move all our laundry to the basement and make the main floor laundry room a mudroom.  I have already been all over Pinterest finding ideas of what to do with that little space!  I'm fairly certain we'll be painting the walls, Benjamin Moore Evening Dove, but not much else is planned yet.  We used this color in our guest bathroom in our Seattle house, and we really loved it!  Might as well stay with something that you know exactly how it looks & you like!  Stay tuned.  :-)
Sunday was a cleaning day in the Keenan House.  Our cleaning lady moved away a couple weeks ago, so some of the deep cleaning had gotten away from me a little bit, oops!  Our morning of cleaning got me all revved up for some serious spring cleaning & organizing before the warm weather really hits.  Once that happens, I know we will want to be spending all our time outside and working on the yard, so I need to get all house projects done in the next couple months.  Liam was a big helper with his own broom (that never got in my way...ever) which earned him some crazy playtime outside with the neighbors.  It is so cute watching him run around with the older kids, even when he has absolutely no idea what they playing!

We ended the weekend having dinner with our friend Claire, who was in town visiting.  It's always nice having a bit of much needed adult conversation before I head into the week!  Plus, Claire always brings the most amazing cheese over which I willingly stuff my face with!  It should also be noted that Conor & I just started Season 4 of Breaking Bad.  I feel like we are binge watching at a somewhat reasonable pace of about 1-2 episodes a night.  You all should be impressed that I still find time to blog when I have all these episodes of Breaking Bad just waiting for me each night!  And that's what I'm off to do right now!  
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and enjoyed your  day off today if you were one of the lucky ones!

Five on Friday

Happy Valentine's Day!!!  I have always loved this simple little holiday, so Liam & I will be having a festive little day together!  I snuck Conor's valentine in his car last night, so I'm sure he enjoyed that little surprise in the morning.  I even have a few presents & surprises for this evening!  Here's my weekly Five (thanks to all the lovely hosts: Christina, Darci, April, & Natasha)!

 

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Today I want to help bring awareness about Menkes through a little boy referred to as Super Teddy!  This quote from his mother is just beautiful and demonstrates her strong love for her son: "Teddy's story is more than just menkes- it's about trusting your gut as a mother, struggling to find strength to live another day, and how friends, family, and even strangers can lift you up in the worst of times.  Teddy was put on this earth for a reason- and he's not going to leave without making a difference."  You can read more about Teddy's story here.  

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We bought a juicer this week, and I am really pumped about it!  Am I a horrible person for being most excited about making my own bloody mary juice?!  I'm completely new to the juicing world, so I need all your favorite recipes immediately; send them my way!

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While scouring through Pinterest this week, I discovered this Thai iced tea recipe!  I am obsessed with Thai iced tea, and sometimes even want to go get thai food just for this drink.  But usually, we get thai food as take-out, so no tea...grr!  So.. I am ordering some tea from amazon today (and something else apparently, since it's an add-on item...poor me)!

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This video that Grace put together made me laugh (and almost want to cry) so hard!  Being a stay-at-home-mom is the most amazing & challenging thing, which Graces captures beautifully.  Nobody can quite understand your day better than a fellow SAHM.  I always tempted to answer the "do you work question" with "I'm retired"!  Conor never lets me put that on any forms though...  If you aren't already following Grace's blog, Camp Patton, you really should.  She is witty & hilarious and has really nailed this whole motherhood thing (she has three kids and is pregnant with #4)!

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One of my new favorite sites is On To Baby!  The parties that are featured are amazing!!!  I can get sucked in for hours...that is, if I ever had hours to kill anymore...which I don't.  So, I can get sucked in for nap time!  Onto baby is the Style Me Pretty of the mommy world.  Now go ooh & ahh over some pretty spectacular parties & nurseries!

Boho Nursery

Hope you all are feeling extra loved today!
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