Box Subscriptions

Box subscriptions have been the latest craze and I too have joined in on the fun. If you don't know what I am talking about you have been living under a rock...just kidding. It's when you sign up to receive a monthly box that has samples that pertain to that box. I am not talking about tiny one time samples because it's usually the full size item. I have done the Birchbox, Barkbox, Bluum and of course Citrus Lane. The Birchbox was a monthly box filled with beauty samples. The Barkbox was for the dogs, which by the way I loved. The only downfall to it is that I have two dogs, so I would really need two subscriptions. Other than that it was an awesome subscription that I did for six months and the only reason why I did not renew is because we have two dogs. The Bluum box was a gift to me and was a mommy and baby box. I then signed up for Citrus Lane.  

Oh, Citrus Lane, how I loved you but then you failed me. You started out impressing me with every box that was sent to the house and the big man loved everything in it. I was so excited to get the box and see all the sample items in it and it was always stuff I could use. Then month five came along and it was a HUGE disappointment. I figured, well, they can't all be excellent. Everyone deserves an "off" month right? Well, then came month six and it was soooo sad. The box was even missing two items in it and I didn't really care because those two items were crap anyway. It was just the point that I did not get all my items that the card said. I initially was going to renew my subscription, but after months five and six I completely changed my mind. Big time fail and disappointment in my mind.

So, now I am not doing any box subscriptions, but due to a friend's suggestion I did sign up for Stitch Fix and can't wait to get my first shipment next week.

Did You Know?

Duct tape has many uses in life...keeping stuff together, patching holes, making prom dresses and wart removal. Yes, wart removal. At the big man's last doctor appointment it was noted that he has a wart on his foot. Since he is so young they do not want to freeze it off and it was suggested that we either wait for the wart to go away on it's own or use Duct tape. What, Duct tape? Yup, the doctor said to put a piece of Duct tape on the wart before bedtime every night for three weeks and it should go away. There is an ingredient (read chemical) in the tape that apparently draws out the wart. Uhm...ok! This sounded kind of crazy, but we gave it a shot. We have been doing this for three weeks now and the wart is almost completely gone. Crazy! Obviously if you get a planter wart I would recommend to get it frozen off since it's much quicker than putting tape on your foot for three weeks, but if you are unable to get it frozen off then Duct tape is the way to go!

Exciting Tupperware

I knew babies liked playing with Tupperware and getting into cabinets, but I didn't think that is all they wanted to do. The big man prefers Tupperware over his toys. It's crazy. We have all these toys for him, but he will beeline for the Tupperware cupboard and take out all of the plastic ware and play with them. I find it interesting because I don't see what is so fun about Tupperware, but apparently it's a really good time.

Besides Tupperware he also loves to play with water bottles. So, I went to Hobby Lobby to get some supplies to put in water bottles that he can shake and make noise with. He enjoys taking the items out and putting them back in, then finishing it off with a good shake.

To entertain this adorable guy all you need is a Tupperware cabinet and water bottles....easy peasy!

Father's Day Fail

For Fathers Day I got tickets to the Cubs game for today knowing Andy would enjoy taking the big man to his first game. We have been looking forward to this day since. Not only is it something to do but we know the big man would have enjoyed all the people watching. It would have been a fun family outing. Ugh...I did say would have because we didn't end up going. This was (and still is) a super bummer! We had water issues this morning, and by issues I mean we had none, so we called the plumber. What was supposed to be a thirty minute job, and we would have only been slightly late to the game, turned into over two hours! By the time the plumber left, the game was already in the 6th inning. Such a waste of a good day!!!

The big man was all ready to go to the game as he was sporting his Cubs shirt (thanks to Briggs).

Notice the tooth! Yup, he has one full tooth in, one poking through and another on the way. This has provided not-so-good times in our house.

He's waving to his two BFF's...Madison and Izzy.

Giving Madison some love.

I Have An Excellent Eater

I have heard my fair share of stories on how little ones are picky eaters...hey, I was one myself growing up. So, once the big man was moving to table food from my homemade puréed food I braced myself for screaming fits, compromising and whatever else it took to get him to eat. Let's be honest, I was not looking forward to this. To my surprise I got the complete opposite child. Unless he is teething (the dreaded week right before the tooth pokes through) my son will pretty much eat anything...and ALOT of it. THIS behavior he certainly did not get from me. I was a super picky eater as a kid and I basically lived on chicken nuggets, seafood, chicken nuggets, and chicken nuggets! My mother also told me all the time that I did not eat enough to keep a bird alive. So, he obviously got his daddy's appetite too. Yay for me!

I am not bragging about this because I am very thankful and feel that I am lucky to have such a good eater in my one year old. Plus, I am not bragging because I believe in karma and I don't want this to come back and bite me in the butt!

Here is an example of our dinners this past week that has surprised me the big man gobbled everything up.

1. Homemade pesto chicken pizza

2. Skinny version of chicken and broccoli casserole

3. Homemade chicken taquitos (I put peas in the big man's)

4. Shit on a shingle (I loved this when I was a kid.)

5. Chicken pesto pasta with spinach, carrots and zucchini

This boy can eat a giant helping and then have fruit for his dessert. I am very proud of him and very happy that he got his daddy's appetite. He is also very serious about his food. You better not mess with him while he's eating, but I did manage to get him to smile for the camera in the middle of his meal. He also likes to check out what's being made for dinner to see what he's getting. It's super cute!

After dinner Madison can't wait for me to take the big man out of his chair. She starts cleaning up the pieces he has dropped. The big man just rolls in laughter over this and it's too funny.

If it is a teething week he is not interested in eating at all. I pretty much have to resort to hot dogs and/or mac 'n cheese. That is definitely not my dinner of choice for him, but I feel bad for him because his mouth hurts and I wouldn't want to eat either, so I totally understand.

First Diaper Rash

We made it a whole year without the big man getting a diaper rash. Then this past weekend (yes, while we were cabining) the big man had diarrhea due to teething and ended with his first diaper rash. Poor guy! I felt so bad for him because he would scream every diaper change and I knew he was in pain. I tried a few different things, but the one thing that seemed to work was naked baby playtime. After a nice long warm bath I dried him off and let him roam the house naked. I was only going to do it for 5 minutes to avoid any accidents, but he LOVED it and was squealing with excitement. We were getting a kick out of naked baby playing and roaming the house that we let him go crazy for about 20 minutes. We got lucky the past three nights that he has had no blow outs or peeing during naked baby playtime. By the way, after the first night of doing this his butt looked healthy in the morning. 

One Year Photos

His one year photos have finally arrived and here are just a few of my favorites.

 

Fourth of July

This past weekend I got lucky again with the state banning fires for the holiday weekend because it's been so dry here. That means no camping for me. Instead we rented a cabin with our friends in Strawberry. Since it was a last minute booking we got a "rustic" cabin with tiny beds. It was not the best accommodations, but it did have a great mountain view and bathrooms. I prefer a bathroom any day over squatting in the woods! 

Even though we had less than stellar accommodations, we did have great company and that is all that matters.

A little flip cup is always a good game to play.

Max was an awesome trooper all weekend despite the fact the dogs woke him up daily at 5:15 am. This mamma was not thrilled!

One thing we learned is to start booking the cabin well in advance so we can get the space we need for our group of people.