Ot and Et

Ot and Et {the new name}

2012-02-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

in preparation for the addition of the little lady very very (eek, very!) soon, "Otto's Mom Blogs" is now officially "Ot and Et" ❤

you know Ot --> the cute munchkin toe head that makes my world go round.

well very soon you'll get to meet little Et too. Et is short for Loretta Cecille, a name we chose after much much ado. some of you heard about this name drama ad nauseum because choosing her name had me in tears many many times and i vented on twitter on more than one occasion. rob and i have the most opposite taste in names you could imagine. but when we settled on Loretta, after my grandma on my dad's side, and Cecille, after rob's sister and one of my favorite people in the world, well it just felt immediately right.

i wanted to share with you one of my favorite pictures in the world. this is my dad (when he was not yet two) with my grandma (such a fashionable dame)! she meant the world to me and so sadly she passed away when Otto was still a newborn. i miss her so much and am so honored to be able to name our daughter after this strong, funny, smart, independent woman who was such an inspiration to my life and such a loving grandmother always.

xo,
lindsey

quarters and dimes and dollars

2012-02-07T22:43:00.000-08:00

otto's piggy bank savings have been burning a little hole in his pocket lately so this weekend when we went to Target i told him he could take $10 to buy himself a new book or toy. i wanted to share with you guys our little counting money project because it was a really fun and easy way for Ot to participate in counting out his own money and to learn about coins.

this sort of evolved on the fly so you can see my crafty project lacks cuteness. also you get to see the dreaded state of Otto's room most days. i swear we clean before bedtime! anyways... all you need is a bag for the counted money, a plain piece of paper and a marker.

we started with the dollar bills and i explained to Otto that each one is worth one dollar. Otto can count pretty high so he had no problem counting the $6 in greenbacks that we put in the bag.

next we put all the nickels and pennies back into the piggy bank. we focused instead on dimes and quarters. so you can see we made a little puzzle, tracing 4 quarters on one side of the page and 10 dimes on the other. i told Otto that 4 quarters or 10 dimes were equal to 1 dollar and his job was to fill in either the dime or quarter side of the puzzle.

he totally got it right away. and each time he filled up a side we'd go back to the money bag and i'd say, "ok, there were $6 in here and now we're adding $1 so how many do we have now?" Otto counts on his fingers; it kills me. So smart!

so i know i'm not winning any curriculum awards here, but how easy was this? and fun! and it engaged Otto in counting, learning about coins, doing a puzzle, blah blah blah.

bonus! Otto picked out a bouncy ball and some bubbles. summer toys! outside toys! and all on his own. we went through each aisle of the toy department and he would pick something out but then find something else he wanted more. so his choice evolved from a Cars set to, eventually, the bouncy ball and bubbles. and he was totally stoic about toys that were outside of his price-range which i thought was pretty cool of him.

just all in all an easy project and cool experience and then the sun actually was shining that afternoon (gasp!) and we got to play with bubbles in the park.

target made me...

2012-02-04T20:06:00.000-08:00

target actually made me go on a target shopping spree. what a wonderful world.... kinda sorta. they sent me a blackmail letter saying that if i didn't use my target visa in the next 30 days they'd close it (because i haven't used it in a year). dear target, ummm, that was actually by design, see i'm trying to clean up our credit... but, if you insist...

so the plan was to buy summer dresses and cardigans that would work as maternity shirts and cardigans for now... and then actually turn back into summer dresses and cardigans after the baby comes. above picture is just what i wore today, yep, i'm secretly a bad news bear.

a bad news bear who shops in her house slippers and finds herself trapped in a 4' x 4' dressing room with a small, adorable spazz!

i have never had more fun trying clothes on in my life! and NOT because it's super fun to look like a circus tent. my kid = rad. all i gotta say. ps. cute "shirt" right?

so then spazzy weirdo starts playing with my tshirt. because that's fun.

oh, and i got a jacket too! my boss came to work in a 10,000x cuter (but kinda similar) jacket on friday and got me all jacket lustin'. and even though i can't button this guy, it's really super cute. plus the whole target blackmail thing, i HAD TO.

so the frontal view on this yellow "shirt" is maybe not the world's cutest. my belly button is beyond out of control this go around. i blame the gall bladder surgery, it left my bb pretty much deformed and then when it popped out it popped out in a really major way + crooked = embarrassing, for reals, but what can you do? answer: accentuate that sh*t, that's what!

wild thing. i think i love you! but i wanna knowwww for sure. come here, toss my tshirt around a while. wild thing, i love you.

ps. of all the spreeing we did today, this one, for whatever reason, kinda made me the happiest...

hope everyone's having equally delightful weekends. superbowl plans? and by that i mean what are you eating??? i am most excited for zebra cakes! and potato chip cookies a friend is bringing over. i don't know what it means, but it sounds amaaaaazing!

ps. i'm only feeling the wee'est bit guilty about the target spree. because truth is??? so irresponsible! we're trying to not spend right now. errrrk. but i really want to keep my target card, is the thing. i've had it since i was 19. that's 15 years people! i loooove my target card. it's really pretty. ok, i know that's dumb but i don't care. so now i'll tuck it away again and pay this off in the next few months and have a couple more things to wear for the next 5 weeks (which brings the number of things i can wear as shirts right now up to 7, so pathetic)...

otto, by the way, is the wind beneath my wings. i just can't even say how much sunshine he brings into my heart. what a weird little wonderful dude i'm raising. i hope - every single day - that i can be deserving of his awesomeness and be a good mom. i hope when baby comes i can find a way to be a great mom to both of them without taking away from either. i have so many worries about this, but in the end i know we'll make it work. and otto is so excited for the baby to come. that helps a lot. he has no reservations. i'm the one who stays up at night worrying about how it will all work out.

but i know it will ♥

xo,

lindsey

planning the nursery

2012-01-31T20:49:00.000-08:00

baby girl should be here in 6 short weeks, holy lord! but we won't be able to do a nursery for her until we move into a bigger space this summer. in the meantime she gets part of a corner of our bedroom and i'm going to do what i can to make it a special corner, but without going overboard decorating since it's just temporary (i'm thinking paper bunting, do you hate that idea?). anyways, in the mean time, i'm starting to think of what i'd like her room to be like once we do move. here are some sweet ideas that i've been liking lately...

i actually bought these vintage look hangers on ebay tonight, they're exactly what i was looking for (except i was hoping to get actual vintage ones but i kept getting outbid - jerks). anyways, i do love them! and my mom recently gave me several vintage baby girl dresses from her childhood that i also wore when i was a baby. they are so delicate and beautiful that outside of a photo shoot i don't think i'll put our little girl in them for daily wear. but they would be so pretty hanging on her wall on these hangers!

who knows what the windows will be like, so it's pointless to do anything but "window shop" (yuck yuck) for now but i do love both of these options from Land of Nod. sidenote --> stupid Land of Nod that sends me their stupid awesome catalogue full of awesome stupid things i want but can't really afford on every freaking page! the ruffle curtains attacked me from their spring catalogue and they honestly aren't that expensive, plus they are just so classic and pretty.

a friend at work showed me these chairs today on amazon and i fell madly in love. word is, they are "cheap" knockoffs of famous chairs, but they are still out of my buy-it-now pricerange. still i am keeping them in mind for the little lady's room. they have such great color and energy ❤

this one is harder to show, but my parents are giving me an old family dresser that is kind of similar to this one. i'd love to refinish it in white or pale yellow and switch out the hardware for any of these that i found on anthropologie. le sigh! how i love these pulls! especially the one in the top left.

i've had this kind of craft hoop wall installation on my radar for almost a year now (i first posted about it here) and really really really want to finally go for it in baby's room. for those of you who read harper's happenings, mandy did a really awesome version of this in her little girl's room. l o v e!

soooooo... that's what i've got so far. most of it is pretty doable, depending on the space. well those chairs are kind of crazy expensive for plastic chairs, but i really do love them so we'll see. and how i hope we end up with hardwood floors! our current place is carpeted (even in the freaking kitchen, what?!!) and i am just not a fan at all. i love a good rug, but carpet grosses me out. so fingers crossed!

and in the mean time i'll tidy up baby's semi-corner, get the bunting up (unless you hate that idea, anyone? opinions?) and snap some pics of the temporary space really soon. it's not much, but it will be organized and hopefully at least a little charming.

xoxo,
lindsey

mama steez - out and about with the ottobot

2012-01-29T08:34:00.000-08:00

yesterday ot and i got to have an all-out day out. we went thrifting (still haven't found any great thrift shops here in eugene, but determined to keep looking), out to lunch, then for a cookie, and then to the "fahncy" grocery. i cherish these times more than ever, knowing that in a few short weeks one-on-one time with my little ham will be harder and harder to come by. here's what we wore -->

on mama: headband (Target), sundress (thrifted), sweater (Lux thrifted), jeans (Motherhood), shoes (MadLove from DSW).

i have been wearing soooo many sun dresses and moo-moos as shirts lately.

on the ham: jacket and button-up (Baby Gap), shants (Le Top thrifted), baby legs (made by mama), shoes (Crocs).

the thrifting was pretty much a bust but we did find 2 new books for Ot and a cookbook for me. then it was lunchtime and unfortunately (for the health of my child) my turkey burger lust got the better of me so we were off to Carl's Jr. my child did not mind!

he was so excited that his "toy" was a book bag (for his new books). that made his bookworm mama pretty happy.

then, as if french fries weren't enough, we headed off to a cookie shop for dessert. i found out some friends of a friend own a little cookie shop right here in town. so random, the owners just moved from arizona to oregon in september. lucky for us because cookies are, well, cookies!

serious cooking chowing at crumb together (what a cute name, right?). meanwhile, my cookie was lonnnng gone.

then it was off to the grocery for loads of beans (if you read my previous post you're acquainted with my newly found bean "thing") and other groceries for the week. sidenote: whoever invented those car-in-the-front shopping carts should really stab themselves in the hand with a fork over and over again. impossible to steer! but whatever, it capped off otto's list of awesome doings for the day.

now it's sunday! a whole 'nother weekend day to fill. i think we're baking an apple cake this morning and then i have a hot date with a bunch of laundry. what's everyone else up to?

fava or lima beans with artichoke hearts and peas, mmmmmmm

2012-01-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

last weekend we had some people over for dinner and i tried out this new recipe that was a smash, bang, boom HIT! i don't know if i've really talked about this on here, but our house is 33% vegetarian (the hubs, a better man than i, or you know what i mean anyways) and so we eat vegetarian meals pretty frequently. almost always, actually, with sides of chicken, turkey, or fish for otto and sometimes me.

anyways, i've been aspiring to work more beans into our dinners menu. i didn't grow up eating many beans and when i did, it was gag town, usa, so this has been a real challenge for me. but i am determined, and finding that i actually do really like bean dishes when they're done right. and so, after all that jabber, here is an easy one that is just super delish!

what you need...

1/4 cup evoo (that's extra virgin olive oil for the recipe uncool)
1 yellow onion, cut into thin half-rings
1 2/3 cups frozen lima or fava beans (aka broad beans) (i used lima)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup water
2 cups frozen peas
14oz artichoke hearts, drained and cut into halves or quarters
2 Tbsp chopped dill
1 Tbsp chopped mint
4 scallions chopped
salt & pepper to taste

what you do...

1. heat the oil over low-medium heat, add the onion and cook about 5 minutes til it's soft and browning
2. add beans, lemon juice, water and bring to a boil
3. reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 5 minutes
4. add peas, artichoke hearts and herbs. stir. simmer, covered, another 5 minutes.
5. remove from heat, salt/pepper to taste, serve hot or warm

this isn't my recipe, in fact i just barely altered it by replacing the broad beans with lima beans and cutting down on the onion content (the original recipe called for 2 onions, egad that seemed like wayyyy too much!) i found this recipe in a cookbook i picked up at CostCo last summer called Essential Vegetarian. so far it's been consistently decent with only one recipe that was pretty "meh" so if you come across it while thrifting snap it up!

speaking of thrifting, cookbooks and beans, i was really excited to find an old slow cooker recipe book while out thrifting with ot today. it's 365 recipes (::aside:: what's up with 365 being the magic # for crock pot books and blogs? so weird to me. that's far too much crock potting! my husband would kill me after day 3. but whatever.) anyways, i am dying to make the above orange-spice glazed carrots and a bunch of the soups and bean recipes, like all kinds of chilis and refried beans! i bought bags and bags of organic dried beans from the bulk bins at the grocery this afternoon. look out world my family will be riding high on magical fruit very soon!

if anyone has any awesome bean-y recipes they'd like to share, i would seriously love to hear about it. and hope everyone is having a great weekend. we're about to watch Drive with Ryan Gosling so my night is gonna be awesoooome (that last part said in a really high pitched voice) i hope yours are all at least as good!

xo,
lindsey

an inappropriate response

2012-01-25T21:27:00.000-08:00

today while i was driving i pulled up at a stoplight next to one of these guys whose job it is to spin a sign for a business. not usually notable, unless they're really enthusiastic spinners, except this time the guy (who wasn't a very enthusiastic spinner) looked just like john c. reilly. uncanny.

which just made me laugh (not because he looked like JCR but because JCR is super-funny so seeing him pretty much doing anything would make me laugh). like this makes me laugh, a lot (enjoy).

bwahahahahaha! anyways... other than in my imagination, the spinning sign guy wasn't doing anything funny at all. and he looked right into my eyes while i was gleefully laughing right into his eyes, and for a second we were sharing a moment, or so i thought. just me and JCR having a fun old time. except nope. he then got all stone faced and totally skunk eyed me. lame!

but really i am lame for laughing into this poor guy's face. i am a psycho! i blame hormones. that's all. that's my whole story.

xo,

lindsey

all through the night

2012-01-24T21:29:00.000-08:00

last night for the first time and tonight, hopefully, for the second time, Otto successfully slept through the night without a pull-up. no accidents! he's been sleeping through the night accident-free for a while now (about 2 months), but last night was our first night without a parachute, so to speak, and he handled it like a pro. of course he did, he takes these things very seriously ::said with a smile::

and of course i'm super proud of him and super happy about this. but at the same time? it's one more tie to his babyhood gone. sniff, sniff, cry me a river your kid didn't wet the bed. right? but for reals... he's 3 now. 3! Three. III. Tres anos. omffffffg.

And then today i am switching over from my old phone and uploaded almost 700 photos from the old one to my computer (i'm a huge slacker, what can i say) and going through the past 18 months or so of sucky phone pics (cuz my old phone sucked) reminds me that not too long ago AT ALL Otto was still totally a baby. and i'm feeling pretty emotional about it. he's growing up so fast. and i might just be sitting here crying. ugggh.

so without editing or anything, i thought i'd just share a few of my favorite phone pics i'm re-finding via this download here. from the past 18 months. in no particular order. of my baby. who'll always be my baby, even as he grows and grows and grows into the coolest little "guy" i've ever known.

xoxo,
Lindsey

annnnd poprocks!

all the small things

2012-01-22T21:10:00.000-08:00

our weekend in a nutshell...

new helmet!

"old helmet" bit the dust on Friday. so errand #1 this weekend was get ~~a new~~ the world's freaking coolest helmet for morning bike rides with daddy-o to pre-school every day. success!

new braids and new bump shot!

ahhh, who am i kidding? milkmaid braids aren't new, but i kind of forgot how much i love them until this weekend. and while i was getting all semi-gussied to take Otto out for an oil change and helmet shopping i snapped this bump shot. question: how am i supposed to keep growing this child for another 7 weeks? mah belly is ridic people!

ps. and sorry for the toilet in the background but whatever, our bathroom is teeny tiny it was pic-with-toity or no pic a'tall.

new recipe!

we had a little dinner party saturday night (like 6 people came over, mind blowing. it has been ages and ages since anything like this has happened at our house). otto had a blast entertaining and i got the chance to try out 3 new recipes. the one above was an especially nice success because i've been wanting to add more beans into the rotation on our dinners menu. i'll try to do a recipe post later this week.

double bonus is that we were forced to clean the house saturday afternoon pre-dinner party. so my house is cleanish! i swear if no one ever came over our house would never get cleaned.

sunday with otto!

rob had a lot of school work to get done sunday so i took the wee one out of the house for a few hours to give dad some quiet work time. we ran errands, got lunch, checked out a resale kids' clothing store i've had my eye on for a while, and then got ice cream. i was really hoping the sun would last long enough for us to go to the park but it was kind of half drizzly, half cloudy, and windy all day. oh well. ice cream!

ot got these skinny jeans (Gap) from his nana for christmas. i can't stand them they're so freaking cute! and in case you thought he was making dinosaur poses in the helmet pics because of the helmet, oh no, that's just the new pose...

it's also the "bad guy" pose.

and that's all she wrote. hope you all had good weekends!

xo,
lindsey

36-240-36

2012-01-18T22:05:00.000-08:00

my husband is a technical wizard! he figured out that our internet wasn't uploading anything. which is why i thought picasa was being a d-bag yesterday. (a thousand apologies to picasa for ever doubting you.) then he fixed it tonight. hurray!

so anyways, baby bump in full effect. kachow!

so this post should more realistically be titled 36-240-50 but that sounded wayyyy less catchy. and there's nothing i can say about my outfit, hair, etc. soooo not proud! (in my defense it is mighty cold here and i can't button the buttons on my coat these days so it was squeeze-into-wool-sweater-or-freeze time on a lazy saturday when we really wanted to be outside enjoying the rare sunshine) in short --> don't judge. annnd anyway! this is just the only picture i have of the belly from the past month and my oh my how it's grown. egad i feel like a walrus lately. and the bootay is working hard to keep up with the belly. i think anyone who's ever been pregnant knows this feeling - just like feeling like your body is this big, alien thing all swollen and out of proportion and awkward. i'm not complaining, but that's honestly how i feel. but otherwise feeling really good these days. well, tired, but really pretty good...

8 weeks to go! omg omg omg omg omg. part of me can't wait and another part can't believe it'll be so soon.

it feels very unreal. i'm so excited and at the same time, way more scared this time than i ever was before Ot was born. life is about to get seriously shaken up!

xo,
Lindsey

New Bump Shot (dun dun dunnnnnn)...

2012-01-17T22:30:00.000-08:00

I miss blogging. Like a lot a lot. And tonight I had this big plan to upload 1 photo and do a little post. 1 measly photo! Big plan! But picasa is being a huge d-bag and won't let me. So I'll try again tomorrow. Because this bump of mine is pretty much outta control. I figure I showed the cute bump pic from a while back, it's time I fessed up to the less-cuteness that is going on these days. And also just want to get back in the blogging habit.

I miss y'all. Taking a blog break was wholly unplanned. It just kind of happened. I have excuses, but the truth is I just didn't have it in me for a while there. Wasn't feeling talky or charming or much of anything, just tired. The prospect of this new addition to our family has my worry wartness in full swing. My mind is a jumble of financial, time management and parenting worries these days. Boo. No fun. But I'm in the mood to be in a better mood and doing this blog was always something that helped me focus on the happy stuff. I need to get back to that. So hopefully picasa (stupid d-bag that it is, or maybe my cruddy laptop is the d-bag, whoooo knows) anyways hopefully tomorrow these technical difficulties go away and I can upload my "whoa yikes" bump pic on here. Fingers crossed.

xo,
Lindsey

Easy Egg-and-Cheesy Crescent Comfort Breakfast Rolls {Recipe}

2011-11-26T09:38:00.000-08:00

So I "invented" these recently and they've quickly become a weekend breakfast fave around our house...

I use the term "invented" loosely because there's no way I'm the first person who thought of this. But for reals, this is like the easiest, yummiest breakfast recipe ever and they are 1000% toddler approved (meaning Otto would fight you for one).

Here's what you need...
1 tube Pillsbury (or whatever) crescent rolls
3-4 eggs cooked in the scrambled fashion
Shredded cheese
Other fillin' ideas: cooked sausage, spinach, hash browns, bacon, you get the idea

Here's what you do...
1. Pre-cook your eggs and any other ingredients that would need to be cooked
2. Lay out crescent rolls on cookie sheet, add a layer of your fillins, then roll into crescent shape
3. Cook per directions on the tube

Voila! These were totally inspired by my friend Alana who was making tuna-and-swiss crescent melts recently. I thought, "holy sh*t I could be stuffing these bad boys?" and a breakfast classic was born.

These breakfast rolls are so so easy and so so amazing. I hope you like them too! And hope all my US friends are having happy Thanksgiving weekends and everyone else is just having amazing regular weekends!

xo,
lindsey

is that a baby in your belly or do you just eat too much chocolate?

2011-11-16T20:26:00.000-08:00

ummmm... both?

bu bu bump! i can't believe 3+ months from now this little lady will be making her appearance. i'm starting to go crazy trying to think of the perfect name. rob and i do NOT have the same taste in names at alllllll. but i really want to come up with a name we both love and then lock it in already. like really really badly. and i want to order Otto and baby matching embroidered Pottery Barn stockings! ugh! i'm making a sour lemon face right now...

anyways...

so we had a really awesome saturday! it was chilly but not cold and only rained in the evenings. so we took ourselves to the park. how pretty is oregon (and my kiddo)? I mean seriously...

Ot is working on his pedal skills. it's not so easy when you're a little guy! and we totally forgot his helmet at home so he got lots of assistance this time cuz we were afraid to let go. but he's getting the knack though. it'll be a bittersweet moment when he can finally get that bike going without us. yay and boo.

in other yays, rob volunteered to go on a pregnancy run for me tonight. i came home craving a serious chocolate bar and we have nothing around this crud hole that will satisfy so i'm totally getting the pregnant lady pamper treatment tonight! here is my "grocery list" : king size (or 2) dark chocolate w/ almonds candy bar(s). i can't wait til he actually makes this run. it's gonna be a down and dirty chocolate bar make-out session!

xo,
lindsey

Oopsie Loopsie

2011-11-13T15:09:00.000-08:00

so i just wanted to share this rad little etsy shop with you guys; it's where i found Otto's insanely cute puppy hat for his halloween costume and for reals... every. single. hat. ashley makes is Adorbs-ville, USA. she was also really cool about my request for a custom matching dog-tail to go with the hat. and this wasn't one of those i'll write about your shop in exchange for free stuff situations, no discounts were had, i didn't even ask. i just fell in love with all of her hats and am a super happy customer who's now trying to decide which hat i want to order for my little bun-in-the-oven so she has one too! Oopsie Loopsie Crochet and Design -->

and even though this pic could def make the list of "sad etsy boyfriends" i love this beard hat. i want one! and how insanely cute would this be on a little boy? don't answer, i'll answer. "beyond cute, thank you."

ok, so that is my post for today. obsessed with adorable hats for the kiddos! and with dark chocolate almond bark. tomorrow i'm posting my stepping out post and you'll see my bump that's about 1 1/2 pounds of baby and 8 1/2 pounds of chocolate.

so hope everyone is having relaxing, lovely, cocoa-filled weekends. can you believe thanksgiving is in like 2 weeks though? egad! good lord time is flying this autumn.

xo,
lindsey

h a double-l o double-u double-e n

2011-11-09T21:01:00.000-08:00

what? i'm not that late with the halloween pics. and really? (if i do say so myself) it was worth the wait for these puppy/fireman shots. cutest puppy/fireman ever! we had such an amazing night. Ot was a hard core trick or treating fool. only semi-worried that he'd get rocks instead of candy after watching The Great Pumpkin Thursday night.

and then my favorite part, the puppy butt...

i'll do a separate post soon of the Etsy shop that was amaaaazing enough to custom make Otto this hat and tail for the costume. it's like the cutest hat shop of all tiiiiime ::sung in a super high-pitched voice:: !!! then i just ran some wire through the tail so it would stick out a bit and sewed it to the fireman's coat. we got the fireman costume and rain boots both at Target. double-awesomeness is that the hat and boots are totally wearable on the daily, and in chilly, rainy Eugene they will get lots and lots of use this winter.

Mama Steez - Life's a Coast

2011-11-06T08:28:00.000-08:00

Egad I'm already annoyed doing this post and I haven' even started yet! When I changed jobs I had to send my old, snuggly computer back and inherited Rob's ollllld, POS laptop to take its place. Boo. I hate typing on laptops. I hate doing anything on laptops! It's like one of fifteen teeny reasons why I haven't gathered the strength to get back in the blog habit since The Great Gall Bladder Fail of 2011.

Reason number one being that I am pregnant! That's like a really great excuse to get out of anything right? As-of this weekend I am 23 weeks and let me tell ya, wayyyy bigger than I'm about to appear in the following Mama Steez pics. These are about 7 weeks ago and were taken at the tail end of my gall bladder diet that lost me almost 15 pounds in about 5 weeks. I'm back up those 15 pounds and dudes, it's all belly (and butt and, fun-ly, one boob more than the other one). But anyways, this is from the last time I actually Stepped Out on a Saturday. We went to the beach (sigh, remember the sun? I kinda do.) And it was all kinds of glorious. And then I was told that now that I live in Oregon we don't say "beach" we say "coast". Cuz everything's hipper in Oregon, even sand! So without further, here's what I wore...

top: Old Navy. scarf: from a street vendor in Paris jeans: c/o Denizen

Coming soon: belly shots. I promise! I just need to wrap my head around the fact that this pain-in-the-ass laptop is my computer now. ::bangs head on desk:: Oh and IT'S A GIRL! Eek! Otto is so so so so so excited to be a big brother. He told me, "I will protect the baby from mud balls." ::heart leaps into mouth:: He is also ready to teach her how to eat cereal and color and sing songs. I'm so glad he's into this big brother thing. He's such a sweet heart.

the what's what

2011-09-22T20:23:00.000-07:00

oh my gosh, you guys, i am so out of practice on the blogging lately that i don't even know where (or how) to start this post. so much going on in my life (that i want to talk about and that will hopefully explain my silence a little) and so much going on in my head as far as what this blog is and where i want to take it... which is "i don't know" and "gee i really don't know". i'm just all un-grounded and un-focused right now...

We Moved Far Far Away...
so in July we picked up our lives and moved from Tucson to Eugene, OR. i was so excited about this move but almost immediately upon landing here i just fell into this gloomy slump of feeling cruddy and napping and feeling cruddy while napping. it was cruddy!

My Gall Bladder Broke...
not too very long after settling into our new life in (gorgeous, amazing, temperate) Eugene i had a gall bladder attack that was pain like nothing i've ever experienced outside of giving birth to an almost 10 pound baby. it sucked and forced me to go on a crazy not-allowed-to-eat-much-of-anything diet for almost a month while we waited to see if i needed surgery. which, it turned out, i did. so a couple of weeks ago i had my gall bladder removed. ouch. but i'm doing so much better now. i think a lot of the cruddy-ness i was feeling that i thought had to do with the move was really just my mood being affected by my toxic gall bladder. goodbye foul organ!

I Got a New Job!..
right?! i really wasn't urgently looking for a new job when we moved because i've been working out of my house for almost 6 years. but i saw this position and really felt it was right for me. and i really haven't enjoyed being a work-at-home employee these past 6 years. like The Shining levels of cabin fever have been making me a dull boy for a long time now and really turning me sour. so in the midst of everything i find myself starting a new job on Monday! i'm so excited and, to be honest, just overwhelmed by this additional change in my life. things are starting to look super rosey around here and i'm just really excited to see what this new challenge has in store for me.

Otto Dealt With the Move...
in the midst of all this craziness, little Otto has been having an okay time transitioning into our new life. but i can't say it's been all cake. tantrums are up. naps are down. and i've felt really sh*tty about how un-energetic i was those first eight weeks or so after we moved here. i know it had to do with my body and was out of my control... at the same time, little man could have used a mommy who was functioning at 100% and i really feel like i dropped the ball and let him down. trying to make up for it now.

And Speaking of Otto...
so guys, Ot is 2 3/4. he's developing into this autonomous, testy, hilarious, genius, wonderful, grouchy person who i'm feeling less and less comfortable blogging about. my last post with Otto in it felt really awkward to me. i was thinking, "is he going to be ok with me posting this stuff?" because he's really not a baby anymore at ALL. he's a little person. and i don't know how comfortable i am putting pictures and telling stories about him on here anymore. i'm not talking about a complete shut down. but i don't know what i am talking about either. i'm still figuring it out.

And Then...
and then there's other stuff going on and on my mind too that i don't know if i'm ready to talk about yet. but needless to say, i'm a lil overwhelmed by it all! in my noggin and in my little corner of the world. and it's all just created a huge case of writer's block for this mama.

i dunno. that's all i got right now. i'm working through all of it and hope to be back on here more regularly soon. doing what i always did but maybe tweaked a little to match my updated life. i seriously miss the blogging and even more than that i miss the time i spent each week reading your blogs and interacting with you guys. i plan to dive back in soon. cuz y'all are awesome.

-lindsey

this made me cry happy tears...

2011-09-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

my friend posted this on pinterest last night and at first i was just like "what an awesome dresser!" then i read the sign and just teared up. amazing. the original image came from --> http://ilovechartreuse.com/

so i owe you all 1,000 explanations about my absence from this little corner of the interwebs lately. it's been a hot mess of a month with so much going on i don't even know where to start. i'll be back soon (i swear!) to lay it all out. but for now i just wanted to say that i've missed you guys. like a lot.

like a lot a lot.

xo,
lindsey

wordless... i can eat pickles and my friend sarah gave me the greatest gift

2011-08-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

having awesome friends is awesome.

-lindsey

where a kid can be a kid

2011-08-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

there is a litmus test you can use to determine if your kid is officially a kid (and not an alien and definitely no longer a half baby/half toddler). the test --> take them to Chuck E. Cheese. if they run around like a chicken on 4 Loko for three hours, scarfing pizza, dancing, and throwing a pirate's bounty of tokens into blinky machines that spit out tickets you can use to buy plastic slinkies and temporary tattoos? you've got a kid. if they try to shoot you with a raygun? throw a cup of water on them! aliens hate that. so sayeth Mel Gibson.

my "kid". or should i say my "kids"...

can i just tell you how sad i was to not get to partake in this pizza? like drooling-out-my-tears level 10 (on a scale of 10) sadness. stupid gall bladder motha effa! and then like three lines worth of this %$+!@!!!!!!!. Chuck E Cheese's pizza is a new-and-improved recipe too... and the boys had no qualms about eating it in my face either, jerks. love em, but come onnnnn! cut mama a break. buy her some shoes. give her a backrub. something.

ok, the fact that Otto wanted to ride this carousel 5 (five!) times in a row? that kinda equals a backrub for my soul.

and whenever he legitimately won tickets -- this is kind of a funny thing, because on a lot of the games you just throw a token in, some contraptiony thing happens, and then random tickets spit out -- but whenever Ot legitimately won tickets, like above, he was so proud he would grab his tickets and run all the way across the restaurant to the stage and show Chuck E! omggggggg it was the cutest -->

unfortunately, Mr. Cheese was resting a lot of the time and wouldn't look. haha. Ot didn't seem to mind.

we had so much fun! and my kid got to be a kid (remember when that was the Showbiz Pizza motto?). i used to have a Showbiz album i got on my birthday and i would play it over and over and over again and sing along in this deep bear voice, "Happppy Happpppy Birthday Babeeeeeeee" to my little record player. the hot thing to collect back then was little plastic charms and i used my tickets to buy an Oreo charm with a bite taken out of it and another charm of a tube of lipstick. ack, remember charms!!!???

-lindsey
note: lucky ducks that we are, we were given a complimentary meal and tokens in exchange for my writing an honest post about our experience and the new pizza recipe at Chuck E. Cheese's. the opinions stated are mine all mine.

"i'm gonna wash you like a train"

2011-08-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

otto was using a dishtowel to "wash" our arms and faces this afternoon when he comes up with this gem. kids are so awesome.

in a mini-update on me... i'm having a hard time adjusting to the "gall stone diet" and feel pretty cruddy and tired. low-fat, non-dairy was like my life when we were vegan for 5+ years but that was almost 10 years ago. i'm ok with all the fruit but i miss butter... a lot. so who knows if my ol' we-just-moved doldrums are inching back in (stay back, you damn doldrums!) or if it's like a physical reaction to the whole gall situation but i just feel sleepy and cranky. also i am the proud owner of 2 new pairs of sweatpants, so you know those badboys are lulling me into a catatonic place (because new sweatpants are amaaaaaazing!).

some really fun posts are on the way though. we took Otto to Chuck E. Cheese this weekend and he was hilarious. and then today i took him to a raptor (like owls, eagles, hawks) sanctuary center and it was pretty neat and woodsy. he really loves snow owls but vultures? he doesn't trust em for a minute! also my friend sarah made us some pickles and i wanna show you pictures because that's freaking awesome (gift me with pickles, i'll love you forever).

hope everyone is good. i promise to stop cuddling with my george washington book soon, but for tonight, it's me and the patriotic hottie with wooden teeth, all the way til my 8:30 bedtime. ::yawn::

-lindsey

this time last weekend...

2011-08-13T08:40:00.000-07:00

this time last weekend i had some serious stomach stuff happening, not gonna lie, but it was pre-gall stones attack so i was just rolling with the punches and we decided to road trip it to the Oregon Coast for a beach day. it was cold, windy, downright brisk! but it was also gorgeous and awesome and i wanted to share...

no feet!

found some driftwood. took his jacket off. i was like, "Otto, are you crazy? it's freezing!" but he wasn't havin it. meanwhile...

i put myself in charge of "minding" the picnic blanket by wrapping myself in it and not moving. ps. mama needs her hair did.

mama also needs a pedi. mama, lately, is a trainwreck. but it was totally worth passing gas while freezing on the beach, for this -->

a little bit of magic, right? and next time i won't be all secretly dying inside. also, next time i'm wearing pants instead of a skirt (read: comes from Arizona, wasn't prepared).

hope everyone's having happy weekends! eat an Oreo for me!
-lindsey

i was thinking of calling this one "the gall" or "romancing the stones"

2011-08-11T07:49:00.000-07:00

so just when i was all set to get back on this blog horse and ride, i end up feeling crazy sick for a few days and then wake up Tuesday morning at 1am like this...

and my hair really didn't even look that good. that fun lasted until about 9am. ugh.

so after a day at Urgent Care, 3 liters of IV, and an exhaustive round of ultrasounds on the ole belly it turns out i have a big cluster of gall stones, plus my gall bladder is all jacked to heck. i'm officially a hot mess.

anyways, it looks like i get to have gall surgery sometime pretty soon to remove the kit and caboodle. in the mean time i'm on an everything-restricted diet that's centered on oatmeal, avocadoes and blueberries for the next few weeks.

has anyone else gone through this? recipe ideas are greatly appreciated. as are any other coping tricks. i'm just trying to fend off another attack until i can consult with the surgeon at the end of the month. they said if it happens again in the meantime i have to go into the ER for emergency surgery. no bueno.

xo,

Lindsey

beachward, ho!

2011-08-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

today we are packing up our pale selves, grabbing Starbucks on the road, and driving about an hour west of eugene for a day at the beach. an ocean beach! we have a kite that i'm hoping to launch and i am dreaming of someone (someone please!) selling beachside icecream. i hear the beaches here are cold and choppy - the sea, she be a fickle lady, arrrgh - but i don't care. i'm just really looking forward to exploring a little of our new state, getting my feet sandy, and feeling a little salty breeze and hopefully sunshine on my skin.

i hope everyone is having great weekends. [to those of you in san diego today, my cup of jealousy runneth over! see you at BlogHer12 though] xoxo

-lindsey

wordless... a river runs through it (eugene i mean)

2011-08-03T20:29:00.000-07:00

ok, i am a huge title liar! there will be words, but just a few. after our playdate on saturday, Otto and i walked down to the river's edge and watched the water for a while. Otto was literally like, "whoa!"...

if he looks extra pink-cheeked here it is 100% raspberry jelly from our bagel breakfast.

like whoa ♥

-lindsey

Otto's Big Boy Room Makeover

2011-08-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

so i was all kinds of tempted to call this post "Jewels Phone App and Snuggling George Washington" because i'm still rocking this uninspired-womp-womp funk and spent the last few days snuggled up whenever i could, under covers, either playing this phone app that's like the old 90s game Bejeweled or reading my George Washington bio "Washington, A Life". so yeah, i just won the 2011 So Cool She's Fonzie, Ayyyyy award, right? but i'm honestly trying to jump my motorcycle over these blues. i really am! ayyyyy.

we even went out this weekend. socialized! on a bagels-and-coffee-in-the-park playdate with Katherine and Rylee of Little Miss Rylee blog. that mama is rad; totally fun time. and then on sunday we went to a neighbor's little boy's first birthday party. i made friendly with a few moms at that party and we might all go swimming with the kiddos later this week. see, Lindsey, things are looking UP! i says to myself. still, the Jewels and Founding Father are calling my name, "lindsey, come snuggle, i can not tell a lie, i need you and more cheetos, lindseeeey, don't shower!" must. not. snuggle. dead. president. any. more.

ok, i'm pretty sorry about all that nonsense. if you're still with me i'll totally butt-thump a jukebox to play your song. ayyyy. and now, onto a few pics of Ot's new big boy room. he really loves it...

we're really excited about the shiny red clock. now in the mornings when Otto wakes up (usually having crawled into bed with us) (and usually at the first sign of sunrise, like 5am, egad) we put him in his room with the baby gate up and show him "when the big hand gets to *this* you can wake us up". it's a teeny step towards telling time and he's been really great about it, watching the clock and playing independently every morning for about 30 minutes before the whole house JUST HAS TO GET UP. clock win!

ok, that's all i got. xoxo,
lindsey

naps and comfort food

2011-07-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

if anyone has been wondering what i've been up to instead of blogging lately, there's the answer. dudes. i think i'm in a funk. a lazy, mayonnaise-framed funk. boo. ::goes and takes a nap::

for reals though, i just can't seem to hit my stride yet. we love it here so far. the food is amaaazing. the weather is amaaaazing. it's gorgeous. we planted edamame and watermelon. Otto loves his new school. Rob and I have gotten back into our work routines. yadda yadda apple pie. yawn.

i've been cooking. a lot. and then sweating off the extra calories by taking really long naps under heavy blankets. like just the other night i made AVOCADO-VLTs (that's Veg-bacon, Lettuce Tomato) with pan-seared corn on the cob. And OMGAvocadoVLT --> wallows in mayonnaise.

this was like the best food porn dinner ever. and it really only took about fifteen minutes to throw it all together. and i mean it's ORGANIC mayonnaise. i get all kinds of healthy "good mom" points for that, right? right??? give me stars!

i found this pan-seared corn on the cob recipe from this month's Parents magazine (here) and i will never use the tinfoil/bake method ever again. for once in my life i followed a recipe exactly and shocka! it turned out amazing and full of flavor and only took about 8 minutes to cook. Otto? ummmm, a fan.

and he busted out with, "do i get to use those corn-eaters?" so of course we'll be using the term "corn-eaters" for the rest of our lives. because duh. you should too.

so that's me, in a nutshell. ugh. totally feeling like a limp lame little noodle. or like a cheetoh puff. SOS, send xanex. whatever, i need a nap.

-lindsey

Mama Steez {stepped out, yo} #2

2011-07-25T20:12:00.000-07:00

we actually did a little steppin out in Eugene this weekend. first to the farmers market on saturday (a crazy mob scene, no good pictures were taken, one grubby toddler ran amuck, much amazing produce was snapped up, mucho mucho good foodthings were consumed).

then on sunday to breakfast at Studio 1 where i, ahem, outdid myself. if i do say so! as did Otto with some scrumptious french toast berry explosion plate that he took one bite of and said, "probably we should come back here again." then later on sunday for an evening walk and picnic dinner. it was WARM for like the first time since we moved here, so i pulled out the summeriest thing i could find. here's what i wore...

i'm wearing: onesie (Target), shoulder bag (thrifted), and loafers (Kenzie).

i lerrrve those shoes but egad! on the white legs. s'embarrassing.

anyways.. THAT is how i stepped on (in the hood) this weekend. i can't believe july's almost over. booooo!

lindsey

the new kitch, unchicken soup, and our new after-din tradition

2011-07-24T08:36:00.000-07:00

happy sunday morning to you. i'm so freaking happy it's sunday morning!!!!! i get to "sleep in" today (so of course i'm using my time to do this post) but if feels really chilled out and relaxing. and in about an hour we're all going for a walk to a nearby cafe for breakfast. i'm still having a hard time finding my groove in our new life. i find myself taking thousands of naps and sleeping like 10 hours at night. i think it's all still catching up with me. i keep wanting to post, but then feel so overwhelmed by the idea that i go to bed early instead. it's a hard knock life, yo.

anyways, so here is our new kitchen!

it's teeny, but i think we made it cute and manageable. and my only real complaint is that there is carpet IN THE KITCHEN. What?!! Yep. We ordered this Mad Mat (in a smaller size) to go in there but i still fear the day my butterfingers drop a boiling pot of chocolate pudding or something <-- bound to happen --> doom.

one of the first meals i made our lil fam in the new kitch was my famous unchicken soup. i'm a chicken soup FREAK but the hubs is still a vegetarian (i stopped when i was trying to get pregnant with Otto and feel like someday i'll go back, but since we give Otto chicken and fish regularly, i've found it really hard to deny my chickeny fishy desires). anyways... during my vegetarian days i perfected this recipe for unchicken soup that tastes just like the real deal. no joke. so this was our dinner the other day...

organic carrots and onion from the farmers market ♥

Notes on the above... that Imagine "no chicken" broth is like a miracle! i drool! amazeballs! and i've found after trying lots of products that Quorn nuggets (because they're so dry i think) really soak everything up and make the best unchicken for soups.

after a hearty dinner we set out on our evening walk to the park (which has become a fast tradition already). it's so so so so so so so pretty here and we have this great park less than a half-mile from our house.

so there you have it. this is pretty much what we do after dinner every evening now. and because the local produce here is so killer, i've been inspired to cook fresher, more vegetable-powerhouse type dishes.

ok, off to breakfast. what do you think of the kitchen? too small? or manageable? so far we're making it work but i fear the day i attempt a tofurkey feast! doom.

-lindsey

wordless... after dinner strollin

2011-07-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

Oregon Trail 2011

2011-07-19T01:03:00.000-07:00

hey guys ♥ ack! sorry for the loooong delay.

since i posted last we loaded our entire house up in a Uhaul (minus an antique dresser my mom kept for me that wouldn't fit, sniff sniff), dropped Otto off with his grandparents for the week, caravaned (rob in Uhaul, me in minivan with seriously unfair farting dog) for 3 days to Oregon, moved into our new house, had my mom fly Otto up to us a couple days later, and then spent the last few days hanging with my mom while getting settled into our new digs. holy sheesh i'm tired.

like crazy stupid tired.

like so tired i felt paralyzed just thinking of writing this post. also i took hardly any pictures of this thing! i'm feeling like a huge womp womp blogger about it all. but i'm determined to get back on track! in the next week or so i'll share more pictures of our new place that's *this* close to all set up already; including Otto's big boy room (it's super cute); and our adorable new neighborhood. for now, though, here's a few pics of the Oregon Trail 2011...

the dream team. my parents, rob's parents, my lil bro, and our brother-in-law all shlepped down to tucson to help us load up. they are awesome!!!

then this was pretty much the view for a day and a half. yawn.

then, as we drove norther (a word!) up california, things started to get greener and leafier...

we stopped for dinner at Grilla Bites organic restaurant in Redding, CA and omgggg.

mushroooom graaaaaavy. mmmmmmm... also, they had a huge rube goldberg on the wall that we got to do for a quarter. neat!

then the next day a lil more of this...

now quite prettier, eh? and then around 1pm on wednesday we pulled into our new driveway!

and i haven't taken a single picture since! because i've been busy unpacking, yo. and also just feeling slightly out of my groove still. oregon is gorgeous and i think we're going to love it here. but i think i have a little ptsd going on right now. and it's taken a lot of energy to keep Otto comfortable with all the changes. dudes, i'm pooped. and that means tired. so i'm gonna tuck into a coffee cup of blueberry cheesecake icecream and then snooze now. i'll try to post more tomorrow. xo!

-lindsey

pottery with friends {world's awesomest tow-mater}

2011-07-08T20:20:00.000-07:00

kate and zora are our across-the-street neighbors and some of our best friends. so kate and i thought it would be nice to take Ot and Zora for a big sha-BANG outing before we leave for oregon (omg we're leaving this sunday, omgomgomg). so last week we headed to the ceramics painting place in the mall after a nice dinner of too much gelato.

it was so awesome to see the kids get into painting their projects. also, sort of a psychology study to watch kate and i try to structure the painting and add our own touches to the ceramics. PSHAW said the kiddos. structure is for suits and bores! eat more bubbletape!

well, actually, the lovely Zora did a pretty immaculate job of polka-dotting her teapot with kate. Otto, on the other hand, was teaching mommy a lesson about "letting go of control"...

me: must make tires perfect...
otto: must not rinse brush before switching colors...

seriously ugly children. right? anyways, we had a blast...

so today we got to go pick up the finished pieces! Otto's mater bank was comin' home, dad gum!

but first, more gelato and a ride in the kiddie roach coach! because obvi.

::drumroll:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: and now. i give you ::drumroll again:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

the. WORLD'S. AWESOMEST. TOW-MATER! (with perfect tires)

hurray for kids!

-lindsey

preschool penpals ♥

2011-07-06T20:10:00.000-07:00

friday will be Otto's last day at his pre-school. boooooo. we have had such an amazing experience since he first became a part of this school and Otto has grown as a socialite, intellectual, adventurer, artist, and friend.

he just loves it there. and loves his little friends there so much that he even insists on incorporating them into our bedtime routine. at night, every night, we sing the Batman song but instead of "dun nuh nuh nuh bat-maaaan" we sing different names of Otto's friends at school. it's so sweet and funny. and just shows how much Otto's playmates mean to him.

so... one idea i had to help Otto transition as we move several states away was to invite the kids in his class to become pen-pals with Otto. but i wanted to do it in a way that really encouraged them to do so (not just, hey write me a letter) especially as we aren't particularly close to any of the parents of the kiddos in Ot's class. but Otto is so very close to the kids themselves. so i put together these little envelopes, one for each child in Ot's class...

letter co-written by yours truly and the Ottster himself.

see, they're already pre-addressed and stamped! talk about guilt-factor (haha) if at least a few of the kids don't write to us i'll become a huge misanthrope forevermore. anyways, someone better!

so each envelope will have a little letter from Otto paperclipped to it, and will be put in the kids' mailboxes at school on friday. this way, Otto can share stories and pictures of Oregon with his Tucson friends and vice versa, he can keep in touch with his Tucson playmates and their goings-on. i'm really excited about this and hope it works out!

Ot even got in on the action by decorating some of the envelopes. stamp much? :)

he's surely going to miss his preschool here in Tucson a lot. and i know that's just one of a bazillion adjustments we're asking him to make with this move. my job (i feel) is just to make the transition as easy and fun as i can for him. to instill a spirit of adventure and excitement into the move. and this pen-pal idea seemed really fun to me. hopefully we can keep this smile on my kiddo's face throughout the transition to our new city/state. cuz it's such a freakin cute smile...

-lindsey

everything is all over the place...

2011-07-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

including my brain right now. we're at t-minus 7 days til the big move and it's really cock-blocking my blogging! house is a mess and unphotographable times 10. i'm hardly doing anything amazing with Otto anyways, just trying to keep him distracted and fed while we sort, clean, and pack up five years worth of everything.

well this afternoon we did make it out of the house to go paint pottery with my friend/neighbor Kate (we are each the Ethel to the other's Lucy) and her little girl, Zora. Kate took some great pics of that which i WILL post on here, i WILL! sometime soon. Ot's piggy bank broke yesterday so he and i teamed up to co-paint a new one: TowMater. oh boy.

so i hope everyone is having awesome long weekends. happy Canada Day and 4th of July weekend! i hope everyone is eating as much gelato as this mama and wishing you all beer, corn chips, and naps!

-lindsey

we'll all float on, all right.

2011-07-02T01:02:00.000-07:00

i read (i think when i was pregnant with Otto) about this mom who - every day at the end of the day - had a conversation with her five year old about their favorite and least favorite thing that happened that day. the exercise allowed her to reflect on her child's perception of the day, relive and appreciate the joys, and address any outstanding grievances. ever since i read this little article the concept just stuck with me. it really clicked. i think Ot's a little too young at 2 1/2 to benefit much from airing his grievances (which would likely be whatever made him most sour within the previous five minutes, anyway). but i do like to reflect back on the day with him at bedtime each evening and talk about the favorite moments.

guys, this move is making me emo! anyways, today was just so full of favorite moments for me that i wanted to put them all down. even though Otto and i skipped our talk tonight as he'd stayed up a little late picnic'ing with us in the living room and watching the Clifford movie we rented.

first favorite moment... i woke up thinking of the new camera (that's not an affiliate link, just a link) i purchased last night with my birthday money that will be coming sometime next week. i can't wait! i'm going to make out with this beauty daily. yay! ♥

second favorite moment... i found out while at work today that one of my closest friends gave birth to a healthy baby girl this morning. after work i went with another friend to visit mama, baby, and doting family at the Tucson birth center (where Otto was born, though they moved to a different space recently). holding and beholding that sweet, perfect little lady reminded me that no matter how crazy things get, there is peace and beauty wherever you look, if you just remember to look (which i sometimes forget to do) ♥

third favorite moment... after i got home from the birth center, my little family headed out to pick out a tame-enough-for-my-coddled-toddler video and treat ourselves to a picnic of Whole Foods deli items. at home we sat on a towel in the living room and ate hummus, sushi, ricepaper spring rolls, italian corn-on-the-cob, peaches, and a fruit tart while watching. mama also indulged in an orange blossom cream ale (holy shit). Otto sang and danced through it all, singing "i. ammmmm. watching. myyyyy. mooo-veeeee" over the songs ♥

another awesome favorite moment... during bedtime Rob put on "Float On" and strummed along on guitar. we all did a big dance party and sang along, dancing, with Otto dancing with his favorite bear. it was too good. we did it again. that's right, two times dance party!

do you guys do anything like this? remembering the best of each day? it's really therapy for me. focusing on the good stuff kind of puts the rest of stuff in your peripheral vision, at least for a while. especially since personality-wise i'm often super inclined to focus on the challenges and frustrations. me <-- a really worry wart. it's honestly why i do this blog, in a lot of ways, to capture and reflect on all the things that make me happy. to honor my son and my family, who are sources of daily joy even if i'm sour lemons by the end of the day.

tgif,
lindsey

shaggy boombastic

2011-06-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

after...

we're growing Ot's hair out. i have this dream of having a blonde-haired blue-eyed little hippie urchin cutie pie running around Oregon with belled out corduroys and flowy tendrils peaking out from under a woolen cap. the thing is, bangs-and-mullet-wise, we've been going through somethin' of an awkward stage lately. like he's been looking shaggy and neglected (or so says Nana with her eyes, tsk tsk). so we trimmed it up yesterday, just removed some of the mangey mullet in back and shaped the rest a bit... and now?.. duh! he looks super cute. but if i'm being totally honest? i think he might also have Jennie Garth's haircut from the last season of the old 90210. whatever... the "Kelly" was a cute haircut.

before...

this here pic is from Ot and mama's breakfast date Tuesday morning. i just love this pic, haha! because Ot looks like a 45 year old cheeto-eatin beer drinker who just saw his curling team win some curling something something on ESPN. right? oh boy. but we really did have a fun breakfast...

i let him drink straight applejuice. which is basically baby crack. then i let him try my pellegrino --> he loved it! he kept saying, "yucky ewwwww," then taking another sip and laughing like crazy. it was pretty much a magic pellegrino moment.

then he drove his tractor along the "roads" on the wall for a while and i snapped a shot of his soon-to-be-less-mangey locks. while chowing down on a sourdough egg&cheese sammy.

now just waiting for his stinkin bangs to grow out!
-lindsey

two point five

2011-06-28T19:28:00.000-07:00

Ot is just two days shy of 2 1/2 ♥ and everything about him that's always been there is suddenly magnified (humor, tenacity, sweetness, sourness, daring, just all of it). he's coming into his own so much, growing confident in his body and words. using words like "maybe" and "sometime" and "probably" in the right context and accusing us, "you're teasing me!" when we joke or say something that doesn't make sense to him.

"leave the door open just a little bit, mom"

for someone who changes his mind every three seconds he's also insanely demanding about what he wants. he loves his routines and i feel cruddy about how this move is already uprooting some of that. the boxes that are accumulating in the living room...and the general dissarray... he has Oregon on his mind constantly. and he's excited, like really excited, and wants to talk about the rain, grass, our new garden, the mountains, the beach, the university football team, and his big boy room.

Me: It NEVER rains in Oregon
Otto: You're teasing me. It rains a LOT!

but he's obviously also concerned. at bedtime now (a seventy-five step process these days) he's now added "let's talk about Oregon" to his delay tactics. and every night we talk for ten minutes or so about our new home and how while mommy and daddy drive our things up to Oregon,Otto will get to stay with his Nanas and Papas and then fly in an airplane to Oregon just a few days later.

in all the hub-bub of the move, i'm trying not to miss all the leaps and bounds of advances Otto is making as he continues on his journey through toddlerhood. a few things he's up to...

- on Monday he had a whole day at preschool in underpants with no accidents!
- he knows his ABCs (he loves the India Arie version so sings em kinda groovy) and can count to twenty
- he loves to do "pushups" and (to my horror) jumping off of pretty much everything
- he's memorized several of his favorite books and reads along with me
- he plays independently with his toys for long periods, playing store and circus and having the characters interact and talk
- he has a girlfriend at school who he "hugs her back" and he thinks she looks like a cowgirl (really? it starts this early?)
- and since he's two he's also a little batshit crazy most days, at least at some point.

rob and i try to lead by example and be strong, fun, sympathetic parents. sometimes though, we just have to run from the room so we can bust out laughing without Otto seeing. he's a trip. each and every day a trip. and honestly, just the most amazing, happy, wonderful little trip i could ever imagine.
-Lindsey

ps. i've really had it with my phone camera. i'm definitely getting a little point-and-click in the $200 range. a few of you suggested the Canon Powershot. anyone else out there have a suggestion? i'm going to start comparing what's out there later this week because i've had it with sub-par pictures! boo!

packing couture, let's move our bodies! and giveaway winners.

2011-06-26T15:12:00.000-07:00

packing couture
instead of "steppin out" this saturday i pretty much "stepped in" as we are midway through pack, pack, packing our house. definitely not the cutest outfit that ever happened, but i'll call it packing couture. this is what i wore...

i wore: tee (thrifted from Buffalo), tank (Target), maxi skirt (Target) and awesome Jesus sandals (thrifted).

another view of the runway...

we still have mucho mucho to do though. like a certain "shoe situation"...

oh boy.

"let's move our bodies!"
moving on. so friday afternoon we took Otto to Whole Foods to pick up some dinner (we'd rented Follow That Bird and were planning a fun picnic dinner on the living room floor while we watched our movie). can i get a "holla" for golden sesame tofu?!

we had the freezer aisle to ourselves when the Beegees "night fever night fevahh-ah!" comes pumping on the loudspeaker. we're all kind of grooving through the aisle, when Ot busts out with, "let's move our bodies!" and starts doing the most awesome sittin-in-the-cart-disco dance i've ever seen. kid has moves! he was laughing and smiling and seriously grooving. it was awesome. so you know the whole Muth family rocked the frozen foods aisle for 4 minutes of Night Fevah-ah. yay disco.

my friend Rebecca hosts "Little Chatterbox" every Friday on her blog Musings of a Manic Mama. this week i'm linking up because Ot said something funny, yay!

giveaway winners!

i am always tardy when it comes to choosing giveaway winners. it's part of why i stopped doing so many giveaways. something in my brain is always super excited to host a giveaway and do the post. but when it comes time to random.org the winners, etc. etc. i just procrastinate forever. ugh. sorry! anyways, without any further ado, here are the winners of either Martha Stewart Living or Parents magazine subscriptions!

congrats Heather, MrsDivineBodies, and kathy! i'll be in touch this week to get your deets & will order your subscriptions right away!

ok. so! who's ready for the week? ::looks around, doesn't raise hand:: yeah, me too. ugh!
-Lindsey

lowwww keyyyyy

2011-06-24T21:36:00.000-07:00

there is a lot of chaos going on around these parts lately. my house is a Mess (with a capital M) of semi-packing. i am a MESS (all caps, yo, mama's going nucking futs) of trying to get our act together in the next two weeks. and Bonus! i also already need my bangs trimmed (yay!). and if someone could l'oreal mousse my roots while i sleep, that'd be awesome. my eyebrows probably need plucked too. and if you could just shave my legs, pack up my house, and bake me a quiche while you're at it. thanks.

but tonight? tonight the hubs is off playing poker and i am doing a little tea therapy...

i recently discovered Yogi Vanilla Hazelnut flavor and oh. mah. gah! i'm also about to curl up with this...

and before long, do this: zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

i wish equally low key evenings to y'all. unless you're out partying and having fun. then more power to you, you crazy young unfogeys who i don't relate to at all. this shaggy, two-tone haired fogey salutes you with a head nod and a yawn.

ps. i totally need to draw the winners to the "my shame is i do coke rewards, let me get you a magazine subscription" giveaway. i'll do that this weekend and announce!

ok, off to do all of the above. night guys ♥
-Lindsey

sugar-crusted dried-fruit whole wheat muffin amazingness {a recipe}

2011-06-23T22:58:00.000-07:00

the following is an experiment gone yummy. Ot helped me make these semi-sweet (think cornbread or scone-level sweetness) healthy fruit muffins the other day and i wanted to share...

this recipe is a modified version of Joy of Cooking's "basic reduced-fat muffins"...

What you need... vegan options in parentheses

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 egg (or 2Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1Tbsp cold water)

3 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk (or 1 cup vanilla almond or hemp milk)

1 cup freeze dried fruit, crumbled (we used peaches)

What you do...
1. Oven at 400'F
2. Spray or line a muffin pan
3. Get everything measured and ready cuz you're gonna stir it all together at once
4. Stir everything together at once

5. Pour batter into muffin pan (original recipe says it makes a dozen. we made 9 larger muffins)
6. In a coffee cup (or whatever) mix another 1/8 cup sugar + 1 Tbsp cinnamon. Sprinkle on muffin tops.
7. Bake about 14 minutes (until a fork/toothpick comes out clean)

and voila! feed these to your friends and family. or hide in the closet and eat them all! bwahaha! for reals though, these muffins are so good, healthy-ish, and way easy to make. win to the win.

TGIF guys! this weekend we start hardcore packing (omg i'm so getting spammed by pornbots for saying that). anyways!

we move 2 weeks from sunday so we need to put our packing into high gear! my parents are coming down Saturday to entertain Ot for a few hours while Rob and i disassemble our house, get rid of stuff, pack, or do what i ended up doing tonight --> start packing up photo albums and end up spending hours just looking at photo albums. love photo albums.

oh, and we're going to a build-your-own-pizza party on sunday at a friend's house. i'm really excited about this. lots of kiddos and a fun activity, plus i get to see a few friends again before we skip town. plus pizza is no slouch.

what's everyone else up to this weekend? muffin baking? if you make these let me know what you think!

xo,
Lindsey

and i shants, shants, shants, and i shants, shants, shants!

2011-06-22T01:14:00.000-07:00

re: the title --> tuesday i made Otto 3 pairs of shants during his naptime and got The Kitty Cat Dance (of course i did) stuck in my head... except "shants" instead of "dance"... who knows why my brain is an idiot :) but i have fun.

shants are neither shorts nor pants!
make way for Otto's summer wardrobe! he's got a drawer-full of size 2T pants that still fit but might not by autumn. and the kid needs short pants. stat. it's freakin summer in Tucson, dudes. so instead of shopping, today i converted 3 pairs of pants into 3 different kinds of shants. save money! look cool!

the simple shant...

the preppy shant...

ok, so i took enough pics of these cuffed shants to do a tutorial. but wasn't sure if anyone would want/need it? ps. these ones are my fave! the little doggy fabric is like the cutest thing that ever happened.

and finally, punk rock shants!

give child a power drill. get concerned when he likes the power drill way too much.

for reals though. these little punk rock pants were the best find to begin with. they're "le top" and i'm sure they would have been $50 new but we found them at the thrift store for $3! Ot wore them all fall, winter, spring and now he can wear them as shants all summer. none too shabby for three bucks!

productive tuesday! what do you think of the shants? i love it when guys (like grownup guys) wear their pants like this with flip-flops or slip-ons. Ot'll rock the shants all summer and then if they still fit in fall we'll just throw some baby legs under there. whoa. these could be the pants that never end. but i kinda doubt it. he's growing like a weed lately. but i don't wanna talk about that. cuz it makes me all bittersweet for that little dude whose legs were too short for all these pants not too long ago.

xo,

Lindsey

♥ tomorrow is wednesday, and thursday comes afterwards ♥

2011-06-21T07:03:00.000-07:00

today is tuesday! we so excited!

just a quick little drop-in to share a tuesday high-five with y'all. my favorite dayyyyy!

on the agenda today:
- Little Gym with the little dude
- smoothies? i think we'll definitely need smoothies
- drop off mega donations pile (feels so nice to clean house)
- Target for packing tape and other moving supplies (egad! we leave in less than 3 weeks!)
- muffin making
- naps all around

heck to the yeah :) i'm also going to try taking a few pictures with our oldish Kodak 6.1 mega pixels. crossing my fingers the pictures are great. otherwise i may be on here soon asking you guys recommendations on a great digital point-and-shoot in the $250 dollar range. but for now, crossing fingers this old cam does a good job!

xo,
Lindsey

Mama Steez {stepped out, yo}

2011-06-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

rob and i actually went on a (double) date saturday night! this is unheard of! *loud train sound*! we went with my gorg sister-in-law, Kari, and brother-inin-lawlaw (what is the term for this person? it's Kari's hubs). whatever. he's cool too. look, i taught her the blogger pose!

she is a natural little pigeon toed, hands on hips, up-to-the-side looker!

i promise we weren't drunk... but we are huge dorks. i love this girl!

we saw Super8 and it was SuperGreat. from me to you --> see this movie, it's all-around good stuff.

i'm wearing: top (thrifted from Buffalo Exchange), cords (Banana Republic), and heels (Jessica Simpson).

ps. after seeing these pics, although i seriously love them, i think i'm determined to get a "real" "non-phone" camera. i read enough blogs to know my pic quality stinks. sorry. i used a neat filter so they'd still look stylish even though it's like Blurry City, USA.

in other Father's Day Weekend news. we spent the weekend up in Phoenix enjoying our family as we start our 3 weeks countdown to moving to Oregon. here are just a few little snippets of the fun. i was too busy enjoying the fun to remember to take many pics #momfail... but not really. i mean, i was busy momming!

we stopped by Del Taco for din on the way to Phoenix. i won't defend the healthiness of this dinner, but i will say that they have, hands down, the WORST kids toys of ALL TIME. not that Ot was disappointed, but i mean come ON. come ON!

my nephew turned One Years Old! omg omg omg omg omg.

ps. he does not have a little gold earring. haha! but he does have a super awesome fun-fetti extreme, half chocolate half vanilla frosting pirate cake. yum. i was the saint-like martyr who selflessly tested both sides of the cake to make sure it wasn't poisoned or less delicious on one side vs. the other. that's right, it's always give, give, give from Aunt Lindsey. i don't know what they'll do without me.

Ot's Nana painted his toes ♥

he loved it ♥

we feted the Papas on saturday and sunday. ate way too much. laughed, played, swam, and took far too few naps (especially those of us with chubby thighs and painted toenails... wait. and i don't mean me!). seriously though, all-in-all, it was wonderful.

i hope you all had great weekends too!

xo,

Lindsey

this old house...

2011-06-16T20:32:00.000-07:00

so i have some really really really really big big news (and that's why they call it jum-bone!). we have a home lined up in Eugene! with our own yard! a washer/dryer room! on a quiet little street! and we're moving in july! july --> eek! ok, that's maybe a little sooner than we are maybe ready for, but we're excited! here, a little sneak peak of Otto's soon-to-be room.

i can't wait to get it all set up like a "big boy room" and share pictures with you! in fact, i'm really excited to decorate this new place with a more consistent and charming style than we ever did our current home. i think i finally have a better feeling for what i like. i credit you guys (your blogs, your pinterest pins, your etsy recommendations) for helping open my eyes to how charming and unique a home can be. even in this day and age of ikea and target-trying-to-be-ikea. don't get me wrong. i LOVE ikea and target-trying-to-be-ikea. but i'm also feeling really empowered to find or create some more personal, unique touches in our new pad.

wildflower-lined steps down to our private entrance...

it's a little duplex. i'm so thrilled. i can't wait. i love it already!

this old house
so i'm obviously mildly excited about this move from tucson to oregon. but i also wanted to take a second to nod in the direction of this old house we're leaving behind. Melissa got me thinking today about the fact that this old house holds my dearest memories. it's the house we brought Otto home to. the house where he's grown from baby to toddler to toddler-squared. it's this house...

ps. i want that moment back...

at the same time, this house has been the home of some of my darkest moments. years of unending sadness and cold fear that changed who i was and who i will be, forever (would i ever get pregnant? could i?). those years tested my relationships with everyone i'd ever known. aged my soul. brought me to my knees many many times. and yet.

this is the house that brought me my greatest joy. my Otto. my heart. my love.

this house has been the stage of so many milestones. so much change. so much love. and it's going to be hard to leave it, and the people i've grown to know and hold dear while we've camped out in tucson for the past five years. but i am also soooo ready to move forward. moving forward has been the goal all along. Rob finishes his phd, Otto starts on his path towards the US presidency, and i maybe learn to relax a little bit more, enjoy the rain and trees and flowers and sky, and start making new memories with my beautiful little family in a new home (that has organic garden beds, did i mention? hells yes!).

xo,
Lindsey

Operation Muffin Top Destruct! You're Invited...

2011-06-14T20:16:00.000-07:00

Alright bozos (just kidding, I was just trying to sound super "boot campy", did i?) anyways... Ten-hut bozos! Stand up straight; spit out that gum; summer is upon us. It's time to eat watermelon instead of oreos wrapped in brownies! It's time to drink light beer instead of whiskey spiked cocoa wrapped in brownies! What is WRONG with us? Why do we keep wrapping things in brownies?! Soldiers, it's time for...

won't you join me? we did this last summer and called it #mummytummy and i met so many of you that way. here's how it works...

- you, soldier! yeah, you! comment below with your twitter handle
- i'll tweet you, along with others who've joined, 3x per day with the hashtag #MuffinTopNo!
- every time you see that tweet it's your responsibility to do a set of 20 crunches (or whatever ab exercise you like) as soon as you can
- "reply all" every now and then to let me know you did, make friends, and/or curse the ground i walk on (or bless the ground i walk on, whatev)

i'll start scheduling the tweets for every day, starting this Friday, and let's see how it goes... maybe we can last through the end of summer and start saving money by doing our laundry on our washboard abs! economical and healthy, that's what i'm all about!

getting fit
i do hope you join in, for reals. we had so much fun doing this last year and i met a bunch of super cool tweeps who i'm still friends with today. i'm going to take a serious minute here so feel free to just skip down to the comment form & sign up if you want (please sign up, it's so fun i promise!)... ok, now for a little personal moment. it's been a pretty stressful year for us so far. and i haven't been taking very good care of my body. i admit it. especially starting in january of this year, we went through some hard family stuff and i felt sad, out of control, and just kind of lost. i absolutely turned to food to help me cope. i needed something i could bury myself in and i've always been a comfort eater. i'm at a point right now where my clothes don't fit right and i don't feel happy about my body. things are still stressful for us (trying to find a place in oregon, getting ready for a huge move) but i'm ready to kick my secretary's butt out of this slump and get back a little control over my own body. i know i have it in me!

my food plan: i've seen a lot of bloggers lately who've subscribed to some pretty serious diet plans. i'm so impressed and sometimes a little overwhelmed by what everyone's doing and i just wanted to share my own plan because it's pretty simple and i thought it might appeal to some of you. all i did was find a calorie calculator online, input my height, weight, age, sex, activity level, goal weight and goal date. it told me how many calories i need to be eating per day to hit that weight by my goal date. that's it. we eat super well-rounded around here, almost totally organic and lots of vegetables and lean proteins, so i'm just going to watch my calorie intake each day. ta-done!

my exercise plan: 90mins yoga, 60mins power yoga, or a 60mins boot camp video at least every other day. i'm just determined not to let more than one day go by at a time without doing one of these workouts. sometimes it's gonna suck, but at least for now i feel determined enough to stick to this plan. and on exercise days i'm upping my calories by whatever i burn so that i'm still getting enough calories to use my brain and focus and stuff during the day, but my net calories will be where they need to be for the weight loss goal.

twitter: Operation Muffin Top DESTRUCT! is just a casual, fun twitter club where i tweet you like a mean harpy to "do your situps" 3x a day and we all kind of laugh and groan about it, admit we're cheating some days, brag that we're ahead of the curve other days... and i really hope you'll join in!

an "omg hahahaha!" blog moment, my joy, and a lil giveaway!

2011-06-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

this post is SO going to be all-over-the-place but here goes...

omg hahahahaha!
me = mortified! so if you look closely at my huaraches <-- in that post, you might notice something that I totally didn't but that Overthinking Mama pointed out to me. they're 2 completely different shoes! not even the same brand! i've been wearing them every single day for 2 weeks! didn't notice a thing. because. i. am. ~~a moron~~ awesome.

omg hahahahaha!

oh, and i'm so going to keep wearing them. is that lame? honestly? should i stop? i should stop right?

my joy
this past weekend some of our oldest, dearest friends came to visit with their son. Otto and Leif are the best of buds! Leif totally looks out for Ot and shows him what's what. Otto sings impromptu versions of the ABCs to Leif, while accompanying himself on guitar, out of sheer excitement at having his "brotha" in the house. not only was it a joy to spend time with these rad people (i'm trying to convince them to move to oregon right behind us) but to watch these two kiddoodles goof around and delight in each other for 2 days just about blew my mind with happiness. here, the goof troop...

love these kids so much.

a lil giveaway

one of my secret shames is that i do Coke Rewards. rob drinks Coke Zero like it's going out of style and i'm officially addicted too. we go through a 12-pack every couple of days (egad!) and so, in honor of me accumulating like 5-bazillion coke rewards i am sharing the love. 3 winners will win a year subscription to Parents Magazine or Martha Stewart Living! unfortunately it's open to US-only (sorry my lovely canuck friends, blame the coca-cola company and its stupid rewards rules).

all you gotta do to enter the giveaway is comment below. anything at all! mock me for my huaraches, if you wanna (how rude of you) and make sure i can reach you if you win. giveaway will end this friday at midnight PT.

Not an entry... If you like this blog, I'd really appreciate it if you'd vote for me on Picket, TMB and/or TBB. But I want to be clear that this is NOT an entry. But please vote anyway, thanks!

huaraches! godzundheit.

2011-06-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

i'm kinda guessing no one cares about the fashion obsessions of a lady who's currently holding her highwater cords up with a hairband... and yet? i have to share. on memorial day i found these, brand new at the thrift store, for $2. Two dollars!

ladies and gentlemen (what? i know at least one neurologist gentleman who trolls this blog) i'm bringing huaraches back. them otha suckas dunno how ta.. somethin. whatever. look!

hip hop huaraches, yo! love them. i've been wearing them with high-rise cords, skirts, sun dresses, and skinny jeans. they are so bright and summery and remind me of being in 5th grade! that's the last time i owned some.

it's the weekend!
weekends are so much better than weekdays. hope everyone's having an awesome weekend so far. our friends get into town in about an hour so we're planning some drop-to-your-knees-good vegetarian chinese food from Guilin for dinner. our friends are the coolest couple, rob's best childhoodl friend and his wife, and Otto idolizes their son (who is six, totally a "big boy whoa") and i predict lots of giggles and running around will be found at our house tonight!

oh, ps guys, Top Baby Blogs reset. i feel cheesy asking but if you don't mind could you click here and then on the owl on the left to help me get my spot back? thank you!

also, i need help! rob's vegetarian and we're trying to eat low-cal & healthy this summer. so if you have any recipe suggestions or links to recipes you've done that fit the bill, please let me know. i'm trying to plan some meals that aren't salad. thanks!

xo,
Lindsey

you make me happy when skies are grey

2011-06-10T01:20:00.000-07:00

i've been a serious soul lately what with worries about our move and just me being worry-wart-me about life. sometimes i feel like a cartoon character with a little grey cloud hovering over my head all the time, pooping on me (or raining or pooping rain or whatever). i am a poop cloud magnet! glum. well, yesterday on twitter i mentioned that i was singing "you are my sunshine" to Ot and that it always makes me weepy. i was suprised how many people replied that the song "destroys them" too. it just speaks so purely to love and to telling the person who matters so much to you just how much you love them. this is not a glum thing, it's a joy thing. my grandma used to sing that song to me when i was a little girl and it made me feel so happy and loved... and singing it always brings me right back to those moments from my childhood. i miss my grandma and i love Otto so much and so i just lose it, the tears are unstoppable. but at the same time it means a lot to me that i sing that song to Otto and that he has those memories, like the ones i have, of having that song sung to you in sweetness, love, and sincerity.

so this is my sunshine post! i've been browsing etsy lately looking for ideas for decorating our new place (whenever we finally get one). i am gravitating towards bright, sunshiney decor that would inspire me to be happy even when skies are grey in oregon (which i hear happens sometimes *wink*).

for the kitchen

wall hanging (the merriweather council), potholders (MamasBabyLove), organic helichrysum flowers for tea (twig & leaf botanicals), happiest mug ever (rising sky pottery), upcycled bundt cake pan flower basket (boots n gus)

for the bath

stepstool (circle creek home), cactus pot (virginia wyoming), washcloth holder (cricket capers), mermaid towel hook (TheDoorStop), wall hanging (KathyPanton)

for the family room

side table (poppyseed living), candle sconces (RetroPops), doily (roni's boutique), throw pillow (moose & bird), tube radio (leaning cedars vintage)

ok, that should do it! what do you think? hello sunshine? for reals though --> somebody buy me that sidetable!

ps. TGIF errbody! hope you're all having sunshiney days. no poop clouds! and that you have fun-filled weekends ahead of you too. We. Do! some of our oldest, dearest friends are coming to town to visit. Ot has been counting down the days all week, as have i. yay friends!

xo,
Lindsey

lunch plus gelato with my small (waffle) fry

2011-06-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

tuesdays i get otto alllll day long! look at that munchkin face! he is fun to have all day long!

it is truly the day i most look forward to all week.

this tuesday we started the day mellow. Ot sat by his bookcase pulling an avalanche of books all around him and quietly "reading" to himself for about an hour while i put laundry away and cleaned. then we went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and fun in their little kid zone and afterwards onto Allegro il Gelato Naturale for organic gelato! i repeat, organic gelato! ahem, organic gelatoooo!

i realize my posts have been light on the editing-down-of-pics lately. i take so many cute photos of Ot and i can't nix any of them. so i thought i'd do little mosaics of our lunchtime outings just to save space or mix it up or something.

Chick-Fil-A

my favorite moment at Chick-Fil-A was in the kids room and this little 4ish year old girl was playing with Ot and trying to get him to go down the slide. she got kind of bossy and bossed, "go down the slide!" and Otto replies, "no thanks, I'm too nervous." haha!

Onto Gelatooooo! Oh wait, Gel-Otto! hang on a second while i Bwahahaha! I just blew my own mind #entertainsself anyways...

did i mention the gelato was cream flavored? not vanilla. cream. and lordy magordy, magordy lordy lordy! it was goooood. i also tried a sample of saffron flavor that was yum! and i hear their salted caramel is so good your toes fall off. next time! ok, back to the pic --> pity the fool don't know how to eat ice cream cones :) he just threw his head sideways and "chomp!" i love that Ot eats with such gusto. i could watch this kid eat for hours (and i do). ok, gelato mosaic time...

and he was even nice enough to share with mama! what a champ!

and that, folks, was our tuesday. followed by a good ole nap and an afternoon in the kiddie pool in our backyard. what a day what a day what a day ♥

xo,
Lindsey

wednesday on tuesday. tuesday on wednesday.

2011-06-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

this was slated to be my wordless post for tomorrow because today i really wanted to share my tuesday photos (like today's photos) with you guys. tuesday is my "Otto Day" each week and we've been having the best time kicking around town today. so i was going to put it all together during Ot's nap (happening as i click click click)... BUT! my phone aka camera isn't letting me upload those tuesday pics. womp womp wommmmmp. so without further ado - wordless wednesday! except i feel like jabbering so it's wordy wednesday instead... and on tuesday. whatever :0)

Bienvenido a Miami
i realized on the way to preschool the other day that i'd dressed Ottobot like a classic Florida tourist - only thing missing is the fannypack & zinc nose! world's cutest ragamuffin! so we did a little photoshoot by the neighbor's wall... cuz ya just gotta document days like this!

he seriously melts my heart and buckles my knees. makes me smile even when he's making me crazy sometimes. and brings me joy like i'd never known before he came into my life. every day is a blessing and i totally totally know it and appreciate it every day.

plus he is really cute and whipsmart and he smells good. my sunshine.

i loved these pictures so much i finally, after hating my blog button forevvvvver, redid it! if you are a fellow blogger who would be so kind, you can find the code in the right sidebar. but anyways, i wanted to show you so here it is! ::drumroll::

what do you think? before it was just black letters on a white background. meh. i really love this new one because duh i love otto and there he is in all his florida ragamuffin cuteness glory ♥ what do you think?

and hopefully my phone un-becomes a huge a**hole before tomorrow and i'll share our tuesday adventures with you on wednesday (i hope).

xo guys!

-Lindsey

a home of our own

2011-06-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

hey guys, i hope everyone had seriously amazing weekends! we really did. spending as much time as we can up in phoenix with friends and family until the big move to oregon in... well... sometime soon. and that is the thing! we are moving to oregon in less than two months and we have no place to call "New Home" yet.

so tonight, instead of blogging about how amazing and hilarious and smart and cool Otto is and how bittersweet it is to see him basking in the presence of his nanas, papas, aunt, uncle, and cuz... how much he just loves them. and how it really breaks my heart that we're moving so far away...

instead of that bummer stuff, i'm going to be trolling craigslist and hotpads and hoping to find a few leads on a house for us to rent in eugene. i want a house, with a yard, hopefully a washer/dryer, and if i'm really wishing hard, something old and charming. but i'd be happy with just the yard part and am crossing my fingers really, really hard (ouch) that some kind soul will let us sign a lease long distance because ugggh, we really don't want to have to send a scout (aka me or Rob) out there ahead of time, moneywise i'm really hoping we don't have to.

here is why i know it will be worth it...

image source

otto running and playing here. getting to know forests. rivers. the ocean. camping. seasons. beauty.

well, that plus the whole rob-getting-his-phd thing. so wish me luck in this quest! please cross your fingers really, really hard that the stars align for us and this whole "a home of our own with a yard please" thing.

xo,
Lindsey

you should totally make biscotti

2011-06-04T07:38:00.000-07:00

biscotti is your friend! make biscotti! i just found out recently that people don't realize how super easy it is. it's sooooo easy! and soooo nom! plus you can feel all european and cool telling people stories that start like this, "the other day when i was making biscotti..." (even cooler if you're smoking a long black cigarette at the time and your story is about how you almost peed on LL Cool J).

right? anyways... otto helped me make biscotti just last week and it turned out awesomeballs! we even used whole wheat flour and still awesomeballs!

so this recipe is modified but not a whole lot from the Joy of Cooking "reduced fat classic biscotti" recipe -->

what you need...
3 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 egg whites
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp orange zest
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp orange juice
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla

what you do...
1. Preheat oven 375' & grease a cookie sheet
2. Get everything measured and ready cause you're gonna throw it all in a big bowl at once
3. Throw everything in a big bowl at once
4. Stir until smooth (confession: towards the end I use my hands to really get the last bits mixed in)
5. Flour your hands and shape dough into 2 cylindrical rolls, each about 12" long
6. Place on cookie sheet apart from each other and press so they're flatter (but not super flat)
7. Bake 25 minutes
8. Let cool like 5 minutes, cut into about 1/2" slices (I do this on the cookie sheet, but my cookie sheets are soooo not precious)
9. Lay the slices flat on the cookie sheet
10. Bake 10 more minutes

is all! they are so easy and sooooo good... you know who agrees with me? Dr. Freakincute!

Dr. Freakincute kinda needs a haircut but i don't want to! i'm hoping if i hang in there long enough they'll do some kind of side sweep thing and he can grow it out longish.

returning to the biscotti --> you can also mix in pretty much anything you want. we've used dried cherries, dark chocolate shavings, raisins, butterscotch chips... i know Rebecca made them recently with white chocolate & macadamia, um yeah!

ok, go forth and bake! smoke long blag cigs! steal my LL Cool J story and tell it like it's your own! oh, and have an awesome weekend!

xo,

lindsey

and that's a pretty. nice. hair. cut.

2011-06-02T20:01:00.001-07:00

i had the WORST experience with a hairdresser of my entire 33 years of life yesterday. it was kind of unreal. let me set the stage... there were no customers in the salon and she was texting when i got there. so i signed in and she kept texting for like 10 minutes, then went to the sign-in sheet and like read my name and looked sort of "out to the crowd" even though i was the only one in there! haha? so i said, "yep. that is me!" because duh.

ok, i kind of looked homeless yesterday. this was a last-minute haircut on the way to yoga because i found some "heavy bangs" pictures i liked on pinterest earlier in the day. so i'd come wearing faded, threadbare exercise clothes, no makeup, probably smelly, hair all to hell, and armed with *fabulous* pictures of what i wanted to look like. here is an illustration of the scene -->

then she like didn't say hi, wouldn't smile, and kept asking me all these point blank questions where i could tell she could care less, and also i HATE chitchatting with people who suck.

::yawn:: so are you married?
::yawn:: so do you have kids?
::yawn:: what's your job?
::yawn:: how much money do you make?

no joke! she asked me that! i was like "am i tripping on perm fumes?"

anyways, i was in a hurry and determined to get the heavy bangs of my "Taylor Momsen and some Vogue model" pinterest dreams. so i took a leap of faith and let this asshat cut my hair. was it worth it? here's my new haircut, 3" shorter and banged out like a son of a gun!

yay! bangs! also, here is a picture of how i'll prob be wearing it most days because it always seems to end up in a "blogger bun" these days -->

neato bangs, yes? i am excited! how often do you think i'll have to have these trimmed? i have no agenda to end up looking like Cat Power. but i'm definitely not going back to that place again. no way!

ps. in mommying news, i totally broke with my Nothing New resolution and got Otto a KidKraft firetruck toddler bed. i couldn't resist! it arrived this afternoon and Rob built it tonight. Otto was off the wall with joy! and took to it like a lifelong bed-sleeper. he's totally asleep on it now, dreaming of being a fireman. awwwww, sniff, sniff. he really is growing up so fast.

ok, everyone tell me you like my bangs!

xo,
Lindsey

Wordless(ish)... All kinds of love for yogurt parfait

2011-06-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

a little warning for those with toddlers: the granola in the Target-cafe-yogurt-parfait (say that 10 times fast. do it.) has big almonds in the mix. i almost didn't notice, which could have gone down badly. instead it was a bonus! because this mom loves stealing almonds from toddlers... and eating them (the almonds; i don't eat toddlers).

ps. i don't know what his hair is doing in these pics. i swear he doesn't have a bowlcut!

3 more words... my kid's awesome!

hope your day is filled with all kinds of love too. xo,
Lindsey

scottsdale tweetup!

2011-05-31T00:12:00.000-07:00

me = still beaming (ear-to-ear style) from this past weekend's "tweet up" with Alana! we spa weekended it like royalty, crossed paths with LL Cool J (I thought his private room at our restaurant was the bathroom and almost crashed in to pee, eek!), ate a LOT, drank in moderation (ahem), slept through the night two whole nights in a row (moms, I know you're drooling over this one), and spent so much time by the pool it's kind of beyond awesome. i love this girl and i'll be riding this happy wave for a while!

we even brought along some of our twitter friends!

here's us the night i almost peed on LL Cool J... same night we also met an Iron Chef!

eat. drink. tweet!

smile. eat. spa!

Le sigh! While I am very happy to be home again with my boys, these days in the lap of luxury with this girl made my heart sing. We got along like old chums, it was just awesome, and felt so natural taking our online-mom friendship to the IRL-mom friendship level! How lucky we blogging and tweeting moms are to have these tools that let us socialize and make friends even if we're going, going, going 24/7 working and being moms every day. I love it. And I loved my weekend with Alana! Lovefest 2011, whoohoo!

xo,
Lindsey

a guest post & a tweet up {no peek stew}

2011-05-27T00:11:00.000-07:00

gah! how excited am i to post this guest recipe post from Alana? words cannot describe! but i will try. and it's not just because i have a weird thing for stew, either. that would be inappropriate excitement. but my excitement is appropriate because in addition to the stew-love i am meeting up with Alana this weekend at the Sanctuary resort in Scottsdale (our first time meeting, aren't we fancy pants?) for a weekend of sunshine, cocktails, snacks, pool swims, hot-tub sits, cupcakes, bad tv, massages, chit chat, and naps! how do you spell heaven? wait... that joke only works in spoken word. anyways...

i can't wait to share pics of this heavenly meet-up with you guys in my next post. in the mean time catch me and alana on twitter where i'm sure we'll both be jabbering away all the while about our adventures!

and without further ado... stew! ps. I had to edit a bit because this was supposed to run a couple weeks ago while we were on vacation but due to technical difficulties got postponed until now.

Thank you to Lindsey for having me guest post today! I adore this lady and am so glad I could do her a solid and post something while she is ~~off on vacay~~ in freaking Scottsdale! soaking up the sun and drinking yummy drinks by the ~~beach~~ pool with ~~her hubs~~ me! Sounds horrible right?!?! Who likes to sit ~~on the beach~~ in a lounge chair and not worry about changing a diaper, cleaning dishes, or folding laundry? Not me! {insert sarcastic tone} All kidding aside I am thrilled to help her out and offer up a yummy recipe that is so easy to make and will be your go to for a quick, yummy, comfort food!

I am constantly on the look out for super yummy, easy to prep, and cheap to make dinners now that I have a 15 month old! Time is short chasing a toddler! I am a huge fan of stews. I love them any time of the year. Meat and potatoes taste just as good in the winter as they do in the summer in my opinion! Imma meat & potatoes gal!

This is my grandma’s recipe for No Peek Stew. I have such fond memories of her prepping this meal as I ran around her kitchen. This stew was a go to meal when I spent weekends with her which was often! Every time I make this I think of her and all the fun we had together. She is no longer with us but I like to think she watches over us when we eat this and is proud that I make her recipe for my own family!

No Peek Stew

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Your ingredients:
1-2 pounds of stew meat
1 can of Cream Of Mushroom Soup
1 small can of Mushrooms (Stems and Pieces) *I didn’t add this to my recipe because Mushrooms and I are not friends these days*
2-3 (depending on size) potatoes
1 Package of Baby Carrots
1 Package of Lipton’s Onion Soup Mix
1/4 Cups Water
1/2 Cup Red Wine
Salt and Pepper to flavor

I usually dice the meat into smaller pieces depending on the amount I purchased.

Dice up the potatoes and add the baby carrots.

Add the can of Mushroom Soup, Lipton’s Onion Mix, water, red wine, salt and pepper. There is ALWAYS red wine in our house so I use whatever we have open.

Mix all of the ingredients together.

Cover with foil and cook for 3 hours until meat is tender.

See how easy that was! I usually serve this with biscuits or crescent rolls!

Enjoy!

***I often mix everything together in the morning when the baby is napping and put in the refrigerator until it’s time to cook it.***

dice dice dice... isn't that nice?

2011-05-26T00:04:00.000-07:00

We invented a super easy little dice game that has been keeping Otto (and mama) pretty entertained lately and I thought I'd share. It's totally age-appropriate for Ot (who is almost 2 1/2) and is a way to work with numbers, patterns, sorting, etc. Plus it's fun!

Warning: This is sooo not one of those "oh my god the blogger did something really crafty and cute and it's an heirloom forever keepsake piece of crafty amazingness" posts (I'm not good for those very often). I guess if you crocheted the cards instead of making them out of paper? Ummm anyways... This is, in fact, a "~~throw it away~~ do your part and recycle it when you're done" post --> as you'll see at the bottom of the post that's pretty much what we did. In short - It's just this fun, easy little game we made to engage with the kiddo.

dice dice dice!

1. After you make 6 playing cards as shown below (one for each side of the dice, I used 4x6 index cards) then you pick one card and roll the dice

2. Then together, look at what you rolled and find the ones that match the card.

3. Then either keep rolling the rest til it's all dice that match or what we do is... Otto really likes to manipulate the dice and find the right number. Then sit back and admire your work!

Easy peasy fun, right? Otto takes so much pride in the cards once we've "found" all the right dice. Here is a little graphic I did up so you can see how simple the cards are...

Of course fun dice games can quickly turn into crafty sticker fun projects. ps. Check out Ot's milk-face, awww...

So sticker fun was fun too! And I can remake the cards again in two shakes whenever we want to play again.

What do you think? I love coming up with imaginative play and games like this. Do you guys have games like this that you play at home with your kids? If so, please share! We're always looking for new, easy fun learning games to play at home.

xo,
Lindsey

what he wore {a lil fashion shoot}

2011-05-24T00:44:00.000-07:00

we did this little impromptu fashion shoot the other day to showcase my new favorite vintage kids find OF ALL TIME and some other sweet things...

i loved these pics so much i redid my header! look above, you'll see it - all new! now for more cuteness...

Ot's wearing top (my new favorite, from lil' peeps vintage) and bottoms (wonderboy).
Benji's wearing polka dot collar & matching leash (c/o dog collars boutique).

whoa, doggie! haha. he is so fun.

Anyways, I am so in love with this outfit on Otto that it's kind of making me crazy that he won't be able to wear it for months (arizona, summer, meh). I hope he doesn't outgrow the top by then or i will seriously be scowling in the cool Oregon breeze. Sidenote on Ot's pants: I won them! Won! From a giveaway on Baby Blackbird (check out yesterday's post here for more amazingness from this kids fashion blog).

Official verdict: Cuteness!

Benji there is sporting this cute polka dot collar/leash ensemble (ahem) that we are going to give to Harley, Otto's Nana's new golden retriever puppy.

If you are in the market for dog fashion items you might check this place out and you can use the code BLOG5 for 5% off your order of anything on the site.

Thanks for sharing in our lil fashion shoot! Makes me wish I had a "real" camera and the time (and money, sheesh) to do this kind of thing all the time! Oh well, once in a blue moon will have to do.

xo,

Lindsey

Some more links to dog collars boutique: dog toys, retractable leashes, bling dog collars, dog id tags

{Guest Post} Baby Blackbird's Vacation Stylings for Mr. O

2011-05-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

Brandy from Baby Blackbird is one of my favorite blog mamas and I stalk her site on the daily to get fashion ideas for my little man (and myself). Brandy is the cutest thing (fashionista extraordinaire) and she dolls her kiddos up in the perfect mix of hipster modern, etsy awesome, her own creations, & vintage wassup. I always say she's like Rachel Zoe for kiddos! While I was on vacay last week, Brandy was cool enough to do this special guest post! But then (womp womp) blogger froze for a couple days and I wasn't able to schedule it in time. Boo! Luckily it's cuteness doth not require me to be on vacay so I'm running it today. pssssst, after you're done drooling over this cuteness (I so went bulldog slobbery when I saw this), then you should clean yourself up and go check out Brandy's awesome blog. Thanks, Brandy!!! xoxo

Hi there, I'm Brandy from Baby Blackbird | The Kids's Fashion Destination, I'm a fashion designer by trait and a mommy to two little kids. Baby Blackbird is about all things fashionable for kids, fashion trends, kids' street style, and so much more...come by some time and have a look around!

The lovely Lindsey let me crash Otto's Mom Blogs while she's vacationing it up in the sun. I thought I'd put together a couple outfits for Otto. I know Lindsey is on this vacation Otto-less {this time} but IF Otto was laying on the beach with Mom and Dad, this is totally what he'd be wearing:

1.Crewcuts kids aye aye baseball hat 2.Crewcuts kids classic Kway jacket 3.Crewcuts boys stripe lobster tee 4.The Gap retro aviators 5.Crewcuts boys contrast swim short 6.Havaianas boys flip flops

Daytime on the beach, wouldn't this outfit be perfect for Otto?

1.77kids woven panama hat 2.The Gap convertible plaid shirt 3.77kids wayfarer sunglasses 4.Crewcuts beaded leather cord bracelet 5.Crewcuts slim fit chino 6.Crewcuts kids Sperry slipons

Evening out for dinner, how cute would Otto look in these duds?

I hope Lindsey is having a great time sunning it up, come by Baby Blackbird some time, check out some cute kids's street style and some of the hottest kids fashion trends.

Parents of the Caribbean

2011-05-20T22:29:00.000-07:00

I'm breaking my silence, yo! Sorry for the white noise. We've been off on vaca for the past week in Turks & Caicos (stayed at the Gansevoort, and holy gorgeous) while Otto stay-cationed with his grandparents. Me, now? I am well rested, well fed, rainforest showered, and my ruddy pink skin is now ruddier and pinker than ever!

Right?!!!!

ps. that picture is meant to be viewed while listening to Sade and sipping a mojito. Are you with me?

I have so much to say I don't even know where to start! It's taken me and my crackerjack phone alllll day to upload our pictures to Picasa and I'm too pooped to edit them or lucidly write a post. I missed Otto a LOT LOT LOT during this trip but it was also really good to just veg OUT for a few days and catch up on 2 1/2 years worth of lost sleep, haha. So anyways, I wanted to share a few more pic favorites and then I'll be back later this weekend with wordier stuff.

parents of the caribbean -->

You guys, for reals, this was heaven on earth. But just so you don't go off thinking I vacationed gracefully, check out what I spent all day Wednesday doing...

That's right, I spent a whole day in bed watching reality tv, drinking beer, and reading Washington A Life because ::drumroll:: allergic reaction to sunscreen! Hello hives...

Honestly though, chilling out with my itchy legs in a crisp hotel bed with a giant TV showing a Millionaire Matchmaker marathon, guzzling cold beers, and dozing with my GW biography does not a terrible day make! Happy hive mama, right here.

Also! While I was away Brandy from The Baby Blackbird and Alana from Life on the Mom List were going to guest post, but then blogger (they host this blog) crashed for a couple of days before we left & I couldn't schedule those posts. So stay tuned in the coming days for Brandy's amazing kiddo fashion stylings and a truly nommy looking recipe from Alana's family recipe box!

xo,
Lindsey

♥ Soap Sale! Get Your Soap! ♥

2011-05-12T06:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a fun one! My fabulous sponsor, The Northwoods Goat has some new soap "flavors" and is hosting her very first sale to make way for the new stuff. Check out the goods!

32% off Oatmeal Honey (to make way for Oatmeal Honey & Shea)
32% off Cornmeal Scrubber (to make way for Cornmeal Poppyseed Scrubber)
32% off Avocado Rose
32% off Tomato Clay
32% off Mint Chocolate
32% off Baby Calendula
42%off Spiced Pine Shaving Soap

This post wasn't sponsored, by the way. I'm just having a little case of writer's block and when Hilary from TNG emailed me about the sale last night I thought "this is perfect, this is my post"... If you are interested in being a sponsor, please contact me using the link on the right sidebar for rates & info.

xo,
Lindsey

{may flowers} Lil Boy Fashion Gone Floral...

2011-05-10T14:31:00.000-07:00

I was just putting together some new posts for CupcakeMag --> ideas for floral fashions for chic mamas and their casas with the theme of may flowers. Then I thought how fun it would be to find flower-bedecked items for my metro-hipster boychild. I'd love (love love!) to put Otto in these petals...

{neckties ♥ by The Belle and The Beau Etsy shoppe}

{button-up and boots ♥ from PFI Westsern}

psssst. I want matching boots for mama!

{daisy belt ♥ by Old School Leather}

psssst. I want a matching belt for mama, too!

{many tees ♥ from Common Threads non-profit}

psssst. guess what? yep, wanted: matching tees for mama!

Anyways, Ottobot would look so sweet in may flowers! It's cute, edgy, and cool to mix it up a little. Not alllllllways put boys in sports, cars, sportscars, and dinosaurs driving digger trucks. What do you think? Agreed? Cute and cool?

Now to find these things at the thrift store, haha!

xo,

Lindsey

Hey Mama! Hey Mama!

2011-05-08T20:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, this past weekend was yet another super oober wildly busy one. We are managing to fill every single weekend leading up to our move with events, occasions, parties, and lonnnng road trips. I am pooped on all the activity. And pooped starts with P and that rhymes with T and that stands for Tired. Zzzzzzzzzz.

Wait. But! Lots of fun was had this Saturday/Sunday what with a wedding to attend Saturday night and Mother's Day festivities Sunday.

I'm doing this almost purely as a "Stepping Out" post because in all the commotion I completely failed to take a single picture of my child. Bad mom! But really, I am a good mom. I swear. I was just busy momming, is all.

So here goes, What I Wore {Mother's Day Weekend Edition}

My handsome husband NEVER lets me show his face on this blog but just for Mother's Day (and I think because this photo is so durn cute) he gave me the greenlight! Yay, aren't we dashing? This is us before heading off to the wedding. Rob's wearing shirt/belt/pants (Banana Republic), dress-up shoes (Natha Studio from DSW), and tie (Alfani from Macy's).

In addition to the sunbomb that went off in these pics (and I'm NOT talented enough to fix this in Picnik)... It turns out I need a new blogger pose! Rob took 3 pics, if you can spot 5 differences I'll get you a year subscription to Parents Magazine (no joke!). Haha, look at me be the same...

I'm wearing dress (Pepper "thrifted" from Buffalo Exchange which isn't really thrifting, is it?), necklace (vintage, thrifted) and shoes (Antonio Melani from DSW).

I got these rockin 3" heels 6 years ago to be Maid of Honor in my best friend Megan's wedding. So even though I've worn them maybe only twice since then, having them in my closet never ceases to bring me joy. I just have to mention that these days Megan is an amazing mommy to one of Otto's best friends, 3-year-old Elliot. Yay for hot shoes and even hotter moms!

So that was Saturday. Dressed up, stepped out. Sunday was way more low-key but I want to share this pic of me with my own mom (aka Nana Lee). We did waffle breakfast this morning for Mother's Day -->

We're both wearing super-cute pedicures we got on Saturday. My mom's also wearing an "I Tree Nature" tee (haha, cute) and khakis that I would bet good money are from LL Bean or Anne Taylor. I'm wearing shirt (BDG thrifted from Buffalo Exchange which yeah yeah I don't really consider thrifting), skirt (Necessary Objects thrifted for reals), and flip-flops (Birkenstock).

Speaking of "Steppin Out" & all my blabberings about what is/isn't really thrifting.
I WON a $50 gift certificate to the Vintage shop Opal!

Which is the lovechild of Mandy who founded Steppin Out.

So double-shout-out because I love that shop and Mandy's blog is amazeballs!

Naked Baby Scandal! It's actually probs good that I don't have any pictures of Ot in this post since he spent a large majority of the weekend in his birthday suit or just a diap. Am I the only one who rubs sunscreen onto/into their kid's hair to protect their little toe-headed scalp? Makes for cool hair, yo! ps. You've seen the kid --> He was and always is the cutest thing since baby chickens and he MADE my Mother's Day by running up to me at 5:30 this morning as I shuffled my way into my parents' kitchen for coffee and greeted me with a big, "Happy Mother's Day, Mommy!"

And THAT is what it's all about.

xo,

Lindsey

little mister clean

2011-05-07T07:43:00.000-07:00

a few weeks ago our preschool teacher gave us some awful news. our perfect (perfect!) child? well, he has a flaw. a tragic flaw. he is...

[Dun! Dun! Dun!]

... a mess-ophobe.

now honestly, who cares? right!!! right??? except... the more i thought about it the more I realized that a 2.333333 year old who doesn't let himself get messy is probably having a bit less fun than one who smears cheese in their ears, squishes playdoh between their toes, or stores mud pies in their pants. Those are fun times!

then I thought if i smash cheese into his ears i am just going to horrify him and make this phobia concrete so instead, I thought we could start doing some fun-if-messy projects at home. actually his wonderful preschool teacher also told me, "start doing messy fun things at home."

yesterday we took the sponge farm animals from this unmessy project and took you guys' advice (thank you to all of you who suggested this rad idea) and did a fingerpaint project.

I had FUN! Ottobot (carefully and oh so seriously) humored me for about five minutes, then realized his hands were DIRTY! Horrified...

I racked my tiny brain. I was saying, "it's ok to be dirty now because we're playing now. When we're done we can get all cleaned up." To which my analytical child didn't miss a beat, "ok, done now! done now!"

So of course I smeared paint on my face. See, no harm done. Look, this is fun!

Ot wasn't buying it. In truth, I felt a little silly. It was, in fact, not that exciting to have paint on my face. i thought Otto might love it though. Instead he looked at me like I was plagued (and an idiot).

the wins: Otto loves and is proud of his painting. we hung it on the fridge and he looks back on the painting experience fondly.

the to-work-ons: being OK with being messy (he did NOT get this phobia from his mama or her housekeeping example). being OK with imperfection (he DID get this one from me. i think i hold myself to too high a standard sometimes. probably i could work on myself in this department too)

And now it's Saturday morning and we're getting ready to pack up some gifts, cards, bottles of the hard stuff, nicer clothes, and swimsuits and head off to Phoenix for a wedding tonight and Mother's Day breakfasts and lunches tomorrow.

Happy Mother's Day to all my readers. We're all touched by motherhood and I sincerely believe that good moms make the world go round. Some of the best "mothers" I know do not or have not yet had children. But being a good mom is inherent in who you are: taking care of those around you, helping them to grow into their best selves, caring, loving, laughing, baking cookies. To those of you whose blogs I read, you inspire me as a mom every day --> To be a better mother. To take a shower. To get creative. To buy a belt! And to share my journey here. Thank you guys!

xo,
Lindsey

2 years 4 months

2011-05-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

As of Sunday Otto was 2 years, 4 months old. Le sigh! He walks like a boy. He quacks like a boy. I'm so proud of his every achievement but the window of time between now and his babyhood seems oh so short...

and he's just up to so much lately that is real kid (real person!) stuff. I wanted to share a few of the milestones that put a smile on my face every day. First, my kiddo at the splash park (where he pretty much refused to go near the water, then splashed for two minutes, then talked about splashing "a LOT!" for the next 2 days).

Do you see the future seventeen-year-old in these pics? It scares me, but I do. Especially the close-up. Boy oh boy -->

So what is Otto up to these days?

- Well, as you can see, he's now posing for photos. We've got the cheesey "cheeeeez" face and the classic Otto sticking-tongue-out pose. I'm still hoping for the sm-eyes (smize?) to make its appearance. He'll get there.
- He can sing his ABCs
- And count to 13 reliably, after that it's number salad but he knows a lot of numbers. So it's like, "...10, 11, 12, 13, 27, 18, 19, 100!"
- He can negotiate which for now seems to be working to my advantage. Me: Please just try it; take ONE bite. Otto: No! Five bites! Me: You win, five it is.
- If you look closely, above, his feet are finally big enough for the mandals without socks! Just in time for 95' temps. I'll miss my little Florida tourist.
- He's really starting to appreciate rhyme, onomatopoeia, and alliteration. Thank you, thank you Dr. Seuss and Margaret Wise Brown!
- He tells reallllly funny jokes. He tells one-man knock knock jokes. My favorite, said all at once, he came up with at the thrift store and had me dying! "knock knock who's there bear ahhhh! run away! it's just a joke"

And 1,000 other amazing, wonderful, funny things. I just love him. Love.

Looking forward to a quiet, loving Mother's Day this weekend full of great-grandmas, nanas, moms, pops, siblings, kiddos, my stupid dog, and Nana's new puppy! I wish you all amazing weekends and would love to hear what your little kiddoooos are up to these days.

xo,
Lindsey

Verdi the Monkey Doll {Bla Bla Kids} Giveaway! CLOSED

2011-05-04T20:26:00.000-07:00

I have a really fun little giveaway for you guys c/o my friends over at Tiny Birds Organic Baby . If you're like me, you've been seeing Bla Bla Kids dolls everywhere lately. They are blowing up! Because why? Duh, look!

Verdi the Monkey is 24" of fair trade, handmade, cuteness. He is a green version of the pink & blue monkeys you see there and would be the sweetest addition to any little munchkin's favorite dolly collection ♥

How to enter the giveaway (any or all of these, nothing mandatory):
- Tell me any other item you'd like from Tiny Birds Organic Baby
- "Like" Tiny Birds on Facebook
- Follow me on Networked Blogs and/or Blog Lovin (see right sidebar, I'm new to both)
- Tweet this up to 3 times daily (then let me know you did each time):

Win Verde the Monkey BlaBla doll! He's bananas! #giveaway @OttosMomBlogs http://tinyurl.com/4ywkcj2

Leave a comment for each entry please. Giveaway is open through May 31. A winner will be chosen using Random.org. Make sure I have a way of contacting you if you win. Open to US and Canada only.

CONGRATS TO LARISSA! WITH COMMENT #136 YOU'RE THE WINNER OF THIS GIVEAWAY! I'LL CONTACT YOU VIA EMAIL TO ARRANGE SHIPMENT OF VERDI!

Good luck!
-Lindsey

Not an entry... If you like this blog, I'd really appreciate it if you'd vote for me on Picket, TMB and/or TBB. But I want to be clear that this is NOT an entry. But please vote anyway, thanks!

May Showers Bring June Babies!

2011-05-03T00:10:00.000-07:00

So this past Sunday I was the proud co-host of my amazing friend Clare's baby shower ♥ It was the loveliest of parties. I get the social anxiety before gigs like this but was so relieved to find that all of the attendees were super cool ladies (a gent or two) & their kiddos. Easy to talk with. Such a great crowd, in fact, that we never even had to whip out our "in case of emergency" shower games! Thank goodness because shower games = uck uck hairball vom uck uck uck.

Ok. Some pics! There is nothing prettier than decorating with fresh flowers...

The Now-World-Famous gluten-free vegan muffins Triple Threat! All recipes were from the amazing Gluten Free Goddess. I give you: Muffin City...

{ Brown Sugar Blueberry . Strawberry Rhubarb . Almond Peach }

Prepare yourself for death-by-cuteness. The big sister...

More decorations and yum stuff...

Presents...

And then the sweetest gaggle of princesses to ever attack a pregnant lady...

For reals guys, it was the most lovely, laid back shower ever. Yay for that!

When I got home I thought I might as well do a "what I wore" photo shoot. Be prepared to be underwhelmed. The dress is a recent thrift success I'm pretty excited about though...

I'm wearing: Dress (Meghan Los Angeles, thrifted) and Espadrilles (Old Navy). I also wore grey leggings to the shower so I wouldn't shock anyone with my hirsute albino legs. Bonus: Didn't flash my drawers either!

An aside: Lemon Lemon Baby I'm looking at you with those espadrilles!

So there you have it. Baby shower fun and in another month, even better, there will be a baby! We're calling her Gracezilla for now (that name c/o big sister). I'm so glad I'll be around to meet sweet miss before we head off to more northwesterly lands!

Hope everyone else had friend- and muffin-filled weekends! I owe so many of you blog visits. It's been a lil nuts around these parts. Like tonight I worked til 10pm. 10pm! I'm behind on my socializing, boo. What did I miss?

xo,
Lindsey

Don't You Know I'm the Muffin (wo)Man? Plus! A Recipe.

2011-05-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

If you follow me on Twitter you might know that I spent 200 hours yesterday making muffins for a baby shower I'm hosting this morning (yikes. i smell. need go shower!). My challenge was catering a gluten free, vegan party and the 3 different kinds of muffins I attempted all (look like they) turned out awesomeballs! Yay! But the busy-ness has kept me away from me olde blogge for the past day or so.

So In Honor of Muffins!

So in honor of muffins and in honor of my baby shower co-host, Kate, who authored the below, I'm re-running this recipe which was one of the first ever on this blog. It was almost a year ago and I had hardly a reader so this should be new to you. I bring you "Zora's Zucchini Muffins" !!!

Zora's Zucchini Muffins...

It has always been so fun cooking with Zora. She gets really into it, and says the greatest things while doing it.

For awhile, we made these mini muffins at least once a week, froze them, and then took them along with us on playdates. Big hit!

While making these one morning, I wrote down 4 consecutive statements of hers - these just came out one after another:

"It's all googly" (when stirring the wet ingredients into the dry)

"Yuck! It smells like sugar, but it doesn't TASTE like sugar!" (when I let her try a bit of cinnamon from my fingertip).

"This will take a lot!" (referring to how much stirring is necessary to get it thoroughly mixed).

"Wow, look at the fork, it stands up!"

That is the great thing about cooking with kids - they are really making so many observations, and are just fascinated with the process.

Here is our recipe, if you want to try it yourself!

ZORA's ZUCCHINI MUFFINS
makes 4 dozen mini muffins or 2 dozen regular sized

3 eggs
1 cup oil or applesauce or a mix (we do 1/2 oil 1/2 applesauce)
1 cup sugar (white or brown or a mix - we do a mix)
2 cups grated zucchini (about 2 large zucchini)
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour (we do a mix of whole wheat and unbleached - 2/3 regular and 1/3 wheat)
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp (or less) salt

Preheat oven to 350

line muffin tins or spray HEAVILY with organic pam spray - these will stick to the tin, if not.

Medium bowl - beat the eggs, then mix in oil/applesauce sugar. Combine with grated zucchini and vanilla (all wet ingredients)

Large bowl - combine all dry ingredients

Mix them all together now in the Large bowl

spoon into muffin pans - well greased or lined! (Zora is really good at this part).

Bake for 14 minutes (mini) or 20-24 minutes (regular sized) - you will know they are done when your child says, "wow, those smell good." I frequently bake until that perfect smell hits - that is the true gauge.

Freeze half of them for later - these freeze really well.

Enjoy! Zora has 3 at a time (of the minis).

ps. we have a KinDer Perch, and find that this makes cooking so much fun. We highly recommend it.

framing the family pics { i heart The Art of Chic } you get 20% off !

2011-04-29T00:45:00.000-07:00

!! ::clicks heels:: !!

upcycled frame collection from The Art of Chic for our family photos...

we're moving soon or I'd hang these, but for now i'm enjoying this messy top-of-dresser install...

So insanely cool, right? And here's the really cool thing...

The Art of Chic is giving TidbitsParenting readers a 20% off discount (before shipping) through May 31! Use the code TIDBITSREADERS20OFF at checkout for your discount.

This shop is vintage decor and upcycling heaven! I am madly in love and already working with them on a custom second order (they are super nice and were really cool about my custom request).

Eye candy! Here are some of my favorite items listed right now, you can commence drooling in 3... 2... 1...

Milk glass, le sigh...

Oh Etsy, what did the world do before you?

Guys, I'd love to hear about it if you go shopping. They have so many frame sets in different color schemes, it's awesome. And I seriously want those butterflies in the bottom pic but am waiting for any non-picture frame purchases until after we're in the new place. That's kind of a pout, haha! Don't judge.

Thank you, The Art of Chic for offering this rad discount!

a little afternoon project

2011-04-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

I meant to post this last night but we were out rocking & rolling with Elmo and Super Grover til way past Otto's bedtime. By the time we got home at 9pm my little child was a puddle of overwhelmed (yet happy) goo. So were his parents. We zonked.

Earlier in the day we did a little project to keep Ot occupied while he impatiently waited for 5pm when we could leave for dinner & muppets. Here is proof that $1 (or one awesome baby penpal who sends your kid cool stuff) can equal a seriously fun afternoon project. Here is also proof that hoarders who save their kiddo's baby food jars have reason to do so - projects! Husbands who call said hoarders "creepy hoarder weirdos", please take note.

Ok, he's obviously got Elmo-on-the-brain. Anticipation = distraction. But for reals, this was a super fun project. Ot would watch each capsule as we poured the water in one by one. Each time I'd say, "what do you think this one will be?" and he would say, "a really big duck!"

every. time. ha.

What fun! Have I mentioned that Tuesdays (my day with Otto each week) are my favorite days? They are my favorite favorite days. Now we just need a project to do with our spongey farm friends. Ideas?

xo,
Lindsey

ebeanstalk.com {Review}

2011-04-26T00:37:00.000-07:00

i had a lot of funny looking around ebeanstalk.com for toys for 2 year olds (like that sweet child o mine) for this post. And found so many fun things I'd never seen before. I want to bring home...

that girly organic pink doll is serious cuteness. (And I thought I'd seen every organic toy on the market!)

they categorize their toys by age and gender which made it easy peasy to find toys that would be right up Otto's alley. Both toys for 2 year old boys and toys for 2 year old girls. Ok, i went cross-gender shopping while browsing around. I like Ot to have every color (including pink & yellow, gasp!) represented in his toy box and some baby dolls too.

and you know there is always drooling over classic kids books...

I've never seen/read "The Carrot Seed" have you guys? It looks so cute.

Much appreciation that the toys featured at this shoppe are all focused on education and learning. And they have a huge variety. (top selling toys for 2 year olds)

My opinions are always my own peeps! In exchange for this honest review I will be receiving a gift card. Yay! I'm thinking it'll go towards adding "The Carrot Seed" to Ot's library.

Vintage Daddy Part 3 - The Easter Leisure Suit

2011-04-25T00:06:00.000-07:00

the final installment of the Vintage Daddy posts because Ot's now worn all of the clothes we inherited from rob's childhood closet. Part 1 was the super cute eighties polo tees. Part 2 was that unfortunately tight coach's uniform we poured him into for his preschool parade. Part 3 kind of takes the cake... the cuteness cake...

Ot's wearing a vintage 80's captain's leisure suit that he inherited from his old man. white button up (Gap). and brown tweed sneaks (Converse).

He welcomes you to The Love Boat. Totally, right?

Well, actually, looking at that glum mug. He's more like, "Whatever, you're on The Love Boat, meh."

We could barely coax a smile out of him because he won't smile for pictures these days! Gah! Do your kids do this? I can't stand it. It's like smiling, gleefully smiling ::camera comes out:: frowning, crabbily frowning.

Well not all frowning...

Courtesy smile! But still, some frowning...

I'm wearing dress (lucca couture resale/thrifted). tights (Target). amazon heels (Jessica Simpson).

I picked this dress out because it reminds me of 16 Candles and just felt like a fun, perfect easter dress to go along with Otto's 80s look.

The rest of our day was a whirlwind of food (yo Easter Bark, yo!), family, and puppy love...

and now I am tired. and Ot crashed on the drive home from Phoenix in that dead-to-the-world way that little kids do.

and i hope you all had really happy weekends, doing easter stuff or passover stuff or earth day stuff. so many occassions this weekend! rob and I were talking about how next easter (when we're living up in Oregon) we might take Otto to the beach for a picnic, egg hunt, mellow kind of easter. I know a few of you did beach days today. I love that idea so much but it also makes me realize how much I'm going to miss being relatively near to family for all of these days. bittersweet.

xo,
Lindsey

Chick Chick Beanbags {A Craft} Ot's Easter Basket

2011-04-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

Three little bi-irds. On my doorstep...

Singing a sweet song...

This was my craft project for Ot's easter basket. Bean bag chickens!

Made with big ole beans...

They turned out super cute. Wait, I mean, "don't you think they turned out cute?" I did the pattern myself, super simple cuz I'm no artist, but it worked out just right. Hey, they look like chickens. I'm calling it a win!

Otto's easter basket this year will be humble, but oh so sweet. Three vintage Babar books and a gazillion rubber stamps from Bookman's. Chick chick beanbags. And Portuguese banana cookies from Cost Plus. I love Cost Plus.

Basket cuteness...

So that is our little sweet little easter basket. Yay!

In other exciting (exciting?) events, I went to Buffalo Exchange last night to find an Easter dress (and I did) but I also found this dress and really wanted to share a pic of my most excellent thrift adventure. It's not the best pic ever but I found this mint Laundry by Shelli Segal summer moomoo for $30. $30! These things retail for like $250! So excited. Can't wait to wear it this summer...

It has pockets.

Sooooo.... that's all I got! Easter is going to be hectic. as per usual we'll be trekking on up to Phoenix so we can be with our families that day ♥

Very excited to meet the newest member of our family. Harley - a golden retriever puppy that Ot's Nana just welcomed home Friday morning.

Otto gets to do an easter egg hunt at my aunt's house and that is going to be super fun! He's old enough this year to give the bigger kids a run for their money. My little man is whipsmart! He'll be an easter egg hounddog I'm sure of it!

Also on the agenda: making easter bark. It's gonna be mind blowing. If it turns out I'll post the recipe because dudes.

So happy weekend to you guys! If you're celebrating easter or passover this weekend I sincerely hope you enjoy your holidays! Anyone planning anything fun like a picnic or an egg hunt? I can't wait to see everyone's pics on facebook, blogs, etc.!

xo,
Lindsey

Fooooooood. How Velly Velly Pinteresting!

2011-04-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

Today I'm joining some lovely lovelies in having a Pinterest themed day. Fooooooood...

source: Another Lunch via Pinterest

Actually "Fooooooood." is the name of my Pinterest album dedicated to, you guessed it, recipes and foods I want to put in my pie hole. The above lunch is probably the best thing I ever pinned. How cute is that? I mean, come on!

Someday I will be this kind of mom.

For reals.

Anyways... In my life right now I have two food challenges I'm dealing with and I thought I'd use Pinterest to help me gather ideas on how to tackle the challenges. The first one: I'm hosting a gluten-free vegan baby shower next weekend. I'm actually excited about this one because I love vegan cooking anyway and have been playing around with gluten free recipes here and there. So look what I came up with. Look! Muffin Triple Threat!

Strawberry rhubarb.

Brown sugar blueberry.

And pretty peach.

All of those recipes/images were originally from the Gluten Free Goddess blog. It's awesome & she takes such amazing pics! I'm using Pinterest to bookmark them so i have easy access next Saturday when it's time to tie the apron on and start bakin ♥

My second food challenge is more of a personal journey (like a casual journey) that I've been on lately. I've been trying to eat 100% raw (and peeps) up until dinnertime on the weekdays. I'm doing this because I work from home and it's super easy to spend the entire day snacking on garbage. I'm trying to get healthier this spring and this is my strategy.

I've been happy to munch on fruits and carrots and salads and expensive raw bars from Whole Foods but it IS getting a little boring already. So I went recipe hunting and found some fun, easy ideas that don't require special machinery or a dehydrator. Look. Holy crap. Yum!

Source: Gone Raw via Pinterest.

All of these recipes sound easy and look so good! That's the thing. If I have fresh fruit and healthy foods around I will eat them. But it's so easy to fall into the pizza and pasta cycle. Hopefully having a few more recipes up my sleeve will help me steer clear of that dirty, p-and-p cycle!

Want more food eye candy? Don't miss out on other Pinterest posts today by Domesticated Delight, >Life on the Mom List, >Mama Heada and >Eisley Rae.

So who's dying over the duck bento? Dead right? Also, if any of you have amazing raw and/or gluten-free vegan recipes that you'd like to share with me I'd seriously love it. And who's on Pinterest? Are you freaking cracked out addicted yet or what? I'm tryyyyying not to be - so I pretty much avoid it at all costs. Until I don't. Then it's like HOURS. But it's awesome, right? If anyone needs an invite lemme know. I have some.

xo,

Lindsey

Bruce Willis Dance Party!

2011-04-20T22:36:00.000-07:00

Alright guys, file this one under nonsense because I'm just going for it. Bare with me please and the payoff is an ~~awesome?~~ awesome! music video at the bottom that makes all the jibber-jabber worthwhile. ~~I give you my word.~~

So, in an unexpected but pretty exciting turn of events, I was interviewed by the Tucson Weekly for its 9 Questions segment. That is a link to the interview which ran today!

One of the questions they asked was "What was the first album you owned?" and mine is a doozy. It was a Bruce Willis covers album, doing songs like Secret Agent Man and Under the Boardwalk.

I just happened to dig up this survey I took as a seven-year-old girl which helps explain my frame of mind and awesome music taste way back when -->

Bruce oozes cool. Also, I think he's hot. Still! Disagree? I'll punch yo face!

But I don't wanna put you through the misery of watching a 5 minutes long video from the 80s of Bruce crooning Respect Yourself. Google that on your own time. Instead I wanted to share one of my favorite "ode to Bruce" songs that I discovered a few years ago when we were hosting a Die-Hard-Orama party in honor of Die Hard 4's release. It was a *Come as John McClane* themed all-day-affair and I think I lost all the pics when I deleted my Myspace account 100 years ago :( Which sucks because that was a room full of fully loaded John McClanes. It was kind of amazing.

Don't say I didn't warn you. Or did you love it? I kind of love it.

xo,
Lindsey

Buddies ♥

2011-04-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

My best friend's little boy is 3! (I'm gonna hit ya with a recurring theme around here and say for like the zillionth time "where DOES the time go???). It truly seems like just yesterday that Mr. Elliot, at that time known as my squishy little chicken-monkey, was a newborn bundle of sweet-smelling snuggles. I was just barely pregnant with Mr. Otto back then, looking forward to my own little snuggle ball. Three short short short years ago Elliot was brand new. Now he can ride a half pipe at the BMX park with no training wheels (seriously this kid's a phenom).

But did I mention how small and snuggly and cuddly he was? And the sweet smell?

Wooshy goo goo.

Ahem.

Baby fever anyone? Moving on...

We had so much fun at Elliot's birthday party at the Scottsdale Railroad Park this past weekend. Seriously Arizona peeps, if you haven't been, this place is a win! Bonus: lots of shade. Bring a pic-a-nic basket and like $20 for train and merry-go-round rides and you're set for the day.

Buddies ♥ This party was the first time Elliot and Otto have played *together* running around, laughing with each other, showing each other things, playing Red Rover, really interracting like kids. Saying, "cheeeeeese!" into each other's darling little eyes...

Melts my heart to see one of my favorite people (Megan) reflected in that little boy. And to see our children playing together, like US in so many ways, and yet their own amazing selves. Fuggedaboudit. I'm a puddle of goo.

Goo mama signing off,
Lindsey

Update! It's my blog I can update minutes later if I want to. Here is a pic of us all on a train. Call it the Multi-Generational Friendship Train (if you wanna, or don't, but I am).

I drew friendship handcuffs on all of us because I am really good at using Paint. Anyone else mind blown seeing their kids become friends with their friends' kids? It's so awesome and trippy, right? That was rhetorical, of course it is. :)

The Regal Beagle

2011-04-17T20:59:00.000-07:00

My dog ruined my blog post. I'd trade her in for a box of stale peeps but for reals, look at this pathetic face...

If you listen closely you can hear her saying, "I got bit by some ants. Mmmm hmmmm. French fried taters." (that's right, she speaks in a Slingblade voice, whatever).

We were out of town this weekend and about five minutes after we got home smarty pants there decides to go have a dance party on an anthill. The rest of us were inside Ot's room playing "I Can Do That" when we look outside and see Georgia flailing around outside the window.

My dog is a hot mess on a good day. Mmmmm hmmmm. French fried meat head.

Rob and I knew just what to do. So we did it. We freaked the crap out of her. Wrapped her paws in frozen pea bags. Gave her an anti-inflammatory that's for her hips. Slathered baking soda paste on her legs. And locked her in a baby gate in the kitchen for a few hours "for observation".

I'm sure that was how long it took for the ant bites to subside on their own. But in the mean time we were dedicated to our job of freaking the dog out and expending a LOT of energy maintaining our panic. So all the fun blog post ideas I had about a Twitter meet up at the Phoenix zoo on Saturday and my best friend's little boy's birthday party at a train park today... yeah those ideas are being postponed.

Right now it's time for this mama to call it a night.

Mmmmm hmmmmm.

ps. She's fine now. Or at least too scared of another baking soda bath to act like she isn't. Oh, question! Does anyone know of a really good non-chemical way to beat ants? The hubs is threatening to do a spray and I am four score against it. Please tell me your secrets!

xo,
Lindsey

I Love Boxed Wine. But Today I Got a Stinky...

2011-04-14T19:12:00.000-07:00

Can a child fit all of their terrible twos into one day? I seriously hope so because if this whine box comes traipsing around these parts again tomorrow I'm gonna be seriously tempted to trade him in for a box of chillable red or one of those hip little Target wine cubes.

Facts about boxed wine...

1. Boxed wine doesn't whine
2. Boxed wine doesn't ask its dad to make french toast for breakfast and then refuse to try even a single, nommy bite
3. Boxed wine is delicious
4. Boxed wine doesn't throw rocks at babies, twice
5. Boxed wine doesn't snuggle and sing songs at bedtime

Ok, so that's Boxed Wine: 4, Whine Box: 1

Boxed Wine for the win!

Also, is it just me or has this been the longest. week. ever? Ever? EVER!? Could the weekend just get here already? Puhleeeeeez? I'm taking Otto on a tweet-up playdate at the zoo on Saturday (excited, scared, my first tweet up, yay!) and then to my best friend's little boy's 3rd birthday party on Sunday (loved ones, cupcakes, again yay!). What's everone up to? Anyone chilling out with a whine box this weekend? If so, you're probably in good company (because I'm good company, duh).

xo,
Lindsey

That's a Crock of {Baked Potato} Soup!

2011-04-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

The last 48 hours have been harrowing *wheezes out a tired sigh and takes a nip of el tequila* but this recipe success was the exception! ps. Thank you to everyone for your insights and stories on doing away with the pacifier ♥ Ot ended up with terrible gas last night, he was tossing and turning and just. plain. sick. He finally ended up in our bed and we felt like jerks making such a night be his first night without the soothing pacifier he was used to, so a little after midnight (after mom & dad putting up the good fight for hours) we caved and gave him a pacifier. This morning he woke up feeling better and found that the Pacifier Fairy had left him a Little People 3-ring circus & train set (seriously this thing retails for like $150 and I got it at Lil Traders for $12) and he was happy. Happy! He went to bed tonight with just one paccy mention (not really a request, more like he was reminding himself that the paccies are gone now) and has been sleeping peacefully for hours. Hopefully that's The End of the pacifier drama.

Onto the Soup!
(Note: I'm giving both the vegetarian and non-veg recipe below. I personally think they taste exactly the same. That's all.)

Crock Pot O' Soup. Here's What You Need...

- 3 1/2 lbs potatoes (don't peel them, skins are good for you!) cut into 1" pieces
- 2-3 small sweet red peppers, seeded and chopped up
- 16oz frozen broccoli
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
- 4 cups "No Chicken Broth" by imagine foods (not sponsored, it's just the only veggie broth I use, amazing!)
- OR 4 cups chicken broth or really any veggie broth
- 1/2 cup half-and-half
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 to 2 cups water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 4 green onions, chopped
- 2-4 veggie bacon strips (I used morningstar) broiled til crispy, then crumbled
- OR 2-4 strips bacon, crumbled
- shredded cheddar & jack cheese blend (to taste)

Crock Pot O' Soup. Here's What You Do...

- Add potatoes through broth (above) to a slow cooker and cook on high for about 3 hours
- Then use a masher or hand mixer to mash/blend the veggies to a desired consistency, leaving some chunks but making generally smooth
- Add to the pot half-and-half through green onions but set aside just a few onions as garnish, stir (as you add the water do so in 1/2 cup increments til you get your desired consistency)
- Ladle into bowls, top with more onions, bacon crumbles, add'l sour cream, and cheese

This is easy comfort food at its finest and tastes JUST like a yummy baked potato. We made ours with completely organic ingredients which always feels really healthy. I modified this recipe A LOT from a Family Circle recipe.

Let me know if you try this! I seriously love soup. It's almost pornographic how much I love soup. And this version got the husband-who-doesn't-like-food-that-tastes-healthy as well as the picky-toddler seal of approval. Winning!

xo,
LM

The Pacifier Fairy - Otto's Getting Served!

2011-04-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

Turns out that the best age to kick your kiddo's pacifier habit is before they're two. I read this today. Crap. Ot turned two a few months ago. Plus he's a stubborn ass lil dude. Crap crap crap.

Sooo... Spoke with the hubs. Came up with a plan. Ot's gettin served -->

We're dealing with this in a very official fashion. Not making a huge deal out of it, but just, "look what came in the mail. oh, ok, it's time to turn in your paccies."

We'll replace them with something cool. My job tomorrow while I've got Mr. Ot for the day is to find something worthy of being the replacement. Hmmm. I'm hoping our local kids consignment paradise Lil Traders has something ample.

Who's done this before? Results? Tips! I'm hoping this goes over quick like tearing off a bandaid. Too much wishful thinking?

Wish me luck! Send me wine!

xo,
Lindsey