The Commercial Break.... :-S

Today was kind of a rough day. No nap for baby, sick dogs, overwhelmingly dirty house... you get the idea. I decided it would be OK for Nicholas to watch a little TV while he was in his highchair in the hopes that he would sit in there a little longer than normal and give me time to mop the floor (again) to clean up the dog's unfortunate accident. After that was done I couldn't help getting sucked in by a episode of The Wonder Pets. First of all is there is dumber show on TV.... besides Dora the Explorer I mean? Anyway while I sat there stunned by the sheer silliness of this show (Nicholas grinning like a idiot and enjoying every minute of course) the commercials came on. First one was for cereal, Cinnamon toast crunch to be exact. Pretty innocent right? Uh hu, until I paid closer attention. Two squares of cereal are in the bowl, no milk just in case it matters to you. While one square looks the other way the other sticks out it's tongue and licks it's friend. Ummm gross lol. Then it acts like it did nothing. The second square looks away again and we see the first start to stick it's tongue out again for another lick and BAM, the second square turns around and in one bite EATS his licking friend! OMG.... !!!  In the same commercial break we watched another cereal commercial. This one for Trix. We've all seen these right, where the white bunny just wants a bowl of cereal and the kids won't let him have one. This has been going on since I was a little kid, and maybe even longer. Poor rabbit. This time the rabbit seems to accept that he will never get a bowl of Trix and just shrugs and says " A rabbit can dream can't he?". What on earth??? Isn't that sending the message that sometimes you just can't achieve your goals, hopes, and dreams? Gosh. It's been like 20+ years, give the damn rabbit a bowl of cereal already. Chances are he won't even like it. Seriously have you tastes Trix? Yuck :P lol. We also watched commercials for some crazy toys and Trojan condoms. Speaking of the last one, maybe that is there to remind you about birth control so you don't have to watch stupid shows like this for any longer than you have to (like you would if you had another baby) LOL. Or maybe it was there to rub in the fact that you forgot to use one that one night and now look what you have to watch on TV. :p

So I'm thinking I may DVR the Wonder Pets show for future TV days and then I can fast forward through the commercials. I pay attention to the subject matter of the shows I may allow him to watch but I can't factor in commercials. It doesn't do a great deal of good to do research and pre-watch some shows to make sure you are OK with letting your creature watch them when the network is going to put inappropriate commercials into the mix :P

NO, Momma I don't want to smile! :p

I have such a little flirt/ham of a toddler. Really he smiles at everyone (except walmart cashiers??) and plays shy baby and flirts and puts his hands out. He is sooooo cute, not that I am biased or anything. Just today he walked right up to two lady's working at a jewelry store and pretty much demanded that they notice him and he just broke out the biggest cutest cheeeeeeese smile he had. We were walking around the mall today which is how he walked up to them. We were following behind him holding onto the other end of his toddler leash. Yeah, yeah, I am one of those mom's who believes in toddler leashes. If you don't well.... bite me, or get your butt down here and come to the mall with me and it can be your job to chase after Nicholas when he doesn't want to ride in his stroller. :P Anyway back to the story. We were at the mall to see the Easter Bunny and hopefully get a photo with him. It took us a while with all the detours and what not that Nicholas wanted to make but finally we located his bunny-ness and yay there was no line at all to take pictures. Poor Easter bun bun was sitting there looking quite bored in fact lol. We selected the package we wanted, just the one photo and then let the lady talk us into buying a photo frame for a dollar more and the photo would be free. *Shrugs* what's a photo without a frame right? Anyway I walked up and showed Nicholas the big bunny and then plopped in down in said bunny's lap and step out of the camera's shot. Now the rule here is you are supposed to SMILE for the camera, right. Hahaha, NOT Nicholas. As soon as I plopped him down the smile vanished and a very serious look came over his face. This is normal. It is amazing difficult to photograph Nicholas. He just seems to know when you are about to snap the picture and stops smiling and/or turns his head away. Nice. I was just happy he was directing his serious look towards the camera. The ladies taking the photo though weren't busy and didn't have a line of people waiting so they were not going to accept a non smiling photo. They jingled keys, waved toys, played peek-a-boo, flashed the flash on the camera, sang, called his name.... the works. LoL. Nope, not gonna happen lady. I am not going to smile at YOU. Never mind that I was smiling 10 seconds ago. He even decided he had had enough of looking at the camera and turned to look at and smack the Easter Bunny. :/ great I have a kid who has violent tendencies towards mascots lol. We got a couple of shots of a less serious look, almost a smile but no real smile. Even I couldn't get him to smile by making funny noises or talking to him. At that point I called in the big guns, AKA Daddy who without fail can usually get a smile out of little Nicholas. Poor daddy... today was not his day lol. He played peek-a-boo, made all sorts of crazy sounds, jumped around, danced... haha he seriously worked up a sweat and probably got a good start on a workout in before FINALLY we got a brief smile. *snap and flash* YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS we got it! Whooo hooo. Nicholas took that opportunity to take another swipe at the Easter Bunny's nose and as I swooped in to pick him up. Thankfully the photo is nice and clear and he's looking directly at the camera and has a BIG grin on his face :) YAY! I don't think we have gotten as nice as photo as this one. Certainly not with Santa, but then there was a huge line of people waiting and that one was free so they weren't inclined to be as patient I suppose. From the photographer's standpoint all of Daddy's hoping and yelling and crazy noises attracted the attention of several other parents who brought THEIR kids over to meet and have photos with the Easter Bunny as well. Hummm, they should have given us a commission or something lol.

So we are officially ready for Easter now, we have seen the bunny, and we have plans to dye eggs and make a little baby Easter basket and preserve the memory on film :) Maybe on Easter morning I can get a couple more photos of Nicholas smiling lol, we'll see. Sure wish somebody would tell Nicholas that smiling for the camera is a good thing!!! I guess he'll get better at that with time.... at least I hope he will !!!  

Of course I will share our Easter picture with you all :) Come on, all together now, Awwwww :) This is a snap shot of the photo that I took with my blackberry which is why it is a bit dark and not perfect quality. You can still see the smile though!

Baby Nicholas goes to Hooters!

Ok, so I was raised to believe Hooters was a bad place, just one step down from a strip joint. You go there to look at boobies and butts and you justify it by saying the food is really good whether it is or not. It's a sports bar, a guy place.... the ultimate man cave. Except for one thing, the wife and baby you brought along b/c this is actually really and truly a family restaurant. Surprise! lol. Never mind that a pretty decent number of playmates and Hefner girlfriends have been hooters girls, and never mind that they require all sorts of ridiculous dress and behavior of their employee's. Honest to goodness this is daddy's favorite family hangout. I found that out today when my husband and I decided to take our weekend trip out to lunch and out of the blue he said "why don't we go to Hooters?" I had made mention a time or two about the rumors of good food and said I had never been before. Off we went :D


Yay arrival at last, I get to experience the hoot. We walk in the door and first impression was yup it's a sports bar type place and ummmmmmmm is there a hostess on duty or can we just go sit down? About .003 seconds later a cheery chorus of "Hi, WELCOME to Hooters!!!" Well, ok, so we've got friendly folks in here I guess. :) The hostess comes bustling up gives us a nod and a smile I guess to show that she is not totally ignoring us as she by passes me and heads straight to.... nope, not the husband. NICHOLAS! "Oh my gosh, heeeeelllooooo, aren't you a little cutie pie! Yes, you are soooooo CUTE!" With no hesitation she holds out her hands and to my extreme surprise takes my son right out of my husbands arms and continues to fawn over him. Make no mistake here, she didn't just steal him or anything, I think she may have asked if she could hold him I don't really recall. My husband handed him over no doubt just as surprised as I was lol and inquired if they had highchairs. The reply he got was "Of course we do, we just wuv widdle babies like you handsome boy!" lol. She carried Nicholas all the way to the table and expertly plopped him into a highchair and helped buckle him in. All the while keeping up a steady conversation along the lines of welcome to hooters with a fair amount of what a cute little boy this is and a mention of her own daughter loving to come eat here at  hooters b/c of the lights around the windows looking like Christmas lights. Nice. A few seconds after being seated we had our drink order taken by our waitress and magically crackers appeared at the table for Nicholas brought by the hostess. Another waitress brought over a yellow balloon and tied it to the highchair for Nicholas to play with. So adorable since Nicholas and daddy were wearing their matching yellow polo shirts today :) We order our fried pickle appetizer and crayons and a coloring page appeared at the table. Nicholas was in heaven with all the girls paying attention to him. He is such a flirt. He chowed down on some fried pickles and when our meals arrived the waitress has brains in addition to her boobs and made sure to place the plates OUT of Nicholas' reach. I cannot tell you how many dumb waiters and waitresses out there (probably those who do not have kids) put a scalding hot plate of food down practically right in front of Nicholas. Ummmm hey genius, babies tend to grab things and this has one of two outcomes. Either the plate is hot and will burn him (Mexican places) or he will mange to get a hold on it and WILL pull it into his lap and thus dumping food all over the floor, and possibly burning himself in the process and almost certainly will break the glass plate. Thankgoodness this lady has some sense. She was also nice enough to offer to refill his sippy cup with water when he had drank most of what we had brought for him. There is a first! All throughout our meal Nicholas babbled at and flirted with the waitress who kept in a good mood so mommy and daddy could actually eat for a chance. He hadn't even had a nap and between the food, crayons, balloon and wait staff Nicholas stayed entertained and happy without being over stimulated. Apparently the staff at our local hooters is extremely baby friendly. Definitely a win. I have to say it was a nice change from other places we've eaten where the staff could care less and you have to be on the lookout for things than can wrong during the meal.

The most surprising thing about this whole experience was guess what, the food IS really good. I was surprised. They have more than wings as well which also kind of surprised me. I had only ever heard about their wings. The staff was friendly and yeah they were dressed in a way that would certainly add fuel to a man's imagination but hey, at least they are covered. There are way worse things for my husband to be looking at and they were wearing little shorts under their ridiculously short school girl inspired skirts so nothing was showing that shouldn't be. I have to say we will definitely be back. Yum yum and lots of fun. :) I'd call this a hidden gem, who knew?? :) This is my kind of place..... now if I could just magically look like a hooters girls we'd be all set :P Hahaha, 

Healthy Mom In the Kitchen Recipe Challenge

Help us cook and eat healthier (or for that matter at all lol) I plan on compiling and then trying out as many new recipes as I can with my family and writing a review of how it went. Me ... in the kitchen..... you won't want to miss this ROFL.

Recipes need to be
- reasonably healthy, (Even better if they happen to be vegetarian or easily converted to veggie)
-all or in part toddler friendly
-easy to prepare. No crazy prep instructions if you please, if I try and flambe something I am likely to set my house on fire.
-NOTHING fried, see previous comment and friend foods aren't super healthy anyhow.
-inexpensive to prepare. No 8.99 a pound lamb or anything. :P
-preference will be given to clean fresh ingredient recipes over recipes that contain or are based on store bought mixes or soups. These types of recipes may take longer to prepare but that's OK. That is part of the challenge.

You can e-mail your recipes to Trainer@Blacktiekennels.com (please put recipe challenge in the subject line) or you can leave them as a comment here (comments won't be published for viewing)

Shut it and ring me up Mr. Walmart cashier

Good lord, sometimes you just want to smack people.

I was in WallyWorld this evening to buy dog food, which in my case means 20 lbs of chicken quarters (more on that in later post). My husband and I decided that since we were in the store on our own without baby Nicholas we could spend as much time looking at whatever we wanted to as we wanted. Somehow we ended up in the craft section on the way to electronics and I decided I would go ahead and buy Nicholas some crayons. I was reading in the WTE the toddler years book that it is never to early to introduce art and Nicholas is much better about not trying to eat everything he picks up so we are going to give the crayons another try. I bought a small pack of the large ones (I was looking for the uber large ones but I guess they don't make those anymore???). We looked around some, picked up the chicken, and proceeded to the checkout. Because we only had three items we went through the express lane. We were in a hurry to go and pick Nicholas up from Granny's house since it was getting late. The cashier was a nice older gentleman who was just a little to nice. He was taking FOREVER to ring up the two ladies (who were together but buying their items separately). He was talking about each item and flirting and OMG.... just HURRY up! This is supposed to be express checkout for heaven sake. COME ON! Finally it's my turn and he acts like the two bags of chicken are just sooooooooooo heavy and comments about how I must like big meats. First of all you're in your 60's at least and I'm a 20 something. I'm not discussing what kind of meat I like or how big I like it. Hey, though I'm kind of a bitch so sure I'll play along. To throw him a curve ball I commented that I was a vegetarian and didn't eat meat (partly true, though I had just come from a nice dinner with the hubs where I had eaten a medium rare steak lol). He almost dropped the second bag of chicken and just looked at me. Ummmm k, now whatcha gonna say gramps? Anyway he then started commenting that the bags were very heavy and he was only going to put one each in a shopping bag. Sure, that makes sense to me. Ever try and carry 20lbs of anything in a little plastic bag? Then we get to the crayons. You would have thought I was buying beer and condoms or something when he saw those. "ohhhh crayons huh?" Ugh, can I hit this guy? JUST RING IT UP AND LET ME PAY!!!! He makes a big production about the crayons and my husband pipes up and says that they are for our son, his first set of crayons dontcha know. No comment from the cashier. Weirdo, apparently walmart is all about hiring geriatric deviants to run their registers??? Anyway he then kind of refuses to put the crayons in their own bag and tosses them in with one of the bags of chicken. *smacks head* hey mister, you ever hear of salmonella ? Thank goodness these are nice thick bags and didn't have any leaks in them. He could of put them in one of the little tiny bags before he stuck them in with the chicken. OK so finally our purchases are rung up and I am paying and we should be on our way. Nope, this is walmart we're talking about here nothing is ever that easy. He takes forever to count out our change. OK so he wants to make sure he does it right, that's fine. What was not fine was that he took the time to look at each and every coin front and back (WTH??) and same with the bills. Like do we have a money fetish?? There was a stamp on one of the dollar bills he pulled out of the drawer that said something like "track this bill" and had a website to log onto. He made a big deal about that too reading it out loud to everyone standing in line. OMG, seriously it's my money give it to me and let me out of here you freak. Nope, not so fast. Now he wants to have a discussion on what this might mean. Kill me... we are never getting out of walmart, tell Nicholas I loved him and was buying him crayons lol.

Finally we were able to leave and head to the car after it taking us almost 10 minutes to check out with three items. Incredible. Nicholas was happy to see us when we arrived to pick him up. It was nice to go out without him but I was glad to have him back as well. Thank god he wasn't with us in walmart. He's not the most patient creature and having to sit there while Mr crazy guy checked up out would have been a real experience. Then again he would have probably started throwing a fit and maybe the process would have been a lot faster :P

The dollar bill by the way is a neat thing. The website is www.wheresgeorge.com and you enter the serial number of the dollar bill you've received and you can see where the dollar has been before it came to you. This one has traveled 99 miles in about a month, the last entry was in Mobile AL which is a couple hours from here. Interesting. :P

Becoming a little person

Nicholas has crawled, crab walked, and toddled into toddler hood full tilt. It's amazing how quickly he is changing and learning new things. I have always heard that newborns change the fastest and the first year of life is the most amazing thing to witness. I respectfully beg to differ. The second year so far has been WAY more exciting than the first and we are only two months in. Of course the first smile and the first laugh, and the first time he rolled over or played with a toy will forever warm my heart but frankly toddlers are just more fun! People have cautioned me to "watch out" and used phrases like "oh boy, you're in for it now!!" whenever I've spoken about things like Nicholas learning to walk. Puhhh- leease!! That's a bunch of nonsense. He started walking independently about two and a half weeks ago (he's been walking holding onto things since October I think) and since then he's been tons of fun and a lot less trouble. He can get from point A to point B faster, is more keen to follow me when I need him to, and I can now let him play in the yard without having to worry as much about what he may eat. Fact of the matter is when you're standing up you are to busy to try and stuff handfuls of grass into your face or grab teeny twigs and try and jab your eye. We did have a dirt eating (please god I hope it was just dirt) incident last week. I think that was a special case though. He is happy to run around the backyard exploring and no doubt learning tons about the world. Not to mention walking is cleaner than crawling. Only his feet get dirty now, at least until he learns to make mud pies ;)

Walking isn't the only change we've seen in the last few weeks. Little things like picking up an object and handing it to mommy or daddy have become some of our favorite games. It was ultra adorable the first time he did it. He would hand first to daddy, take it back, then hand it to mommy and take it back and so on. Minutes (which in toddler time equates to hours) of entertainment for him and for us. Earlier this week he started pointing to himself in the mirror in imitation of what we do when we point to the mirror. I should probably explain that every time we pass a mirror we point and say things like, "look, look, there's a baby" or "Look Nicholas, it's the baby in the mirror". Recently we've begun naming the baby in the mirror Nicholas since that is who it is. He LOVES the baby in the mirror and will grin his biggest grin and wave and sometimes clap and now he will also point at the baby as soon as he seems him. Super cute! Yesterday we started learning to turn the light to the nursery on and off :) As soon as the light goes on (or off) he smiles and might even giggle He is really into cause and effect type games right now. We spent a good 10 minutes yesterday standing next to wall pressing the light switch and watching what happens. He doesn't always push it hard enough to turn it on but he's showing that he understands how it works at least a little bit. Our new routine is to have him turn the light on when we head in for a diaper change and to turn it off when we leave. He loves it! Today's big accomplishments were climbing up onto his toy train by himself and learning to kick a little foam basket ball that he got for Christmas. I was showing him how it could roll and he could chase it when by a lucky chance his foot connected with the ball and sent it across the living room. He was fascinated and we played that game for a good long while until something on the bookcase caught his attention. Gotta love how quickly a toddler can shift his focus.

We also have a favorite book all of a sudden. I believe he got it for his birthday though I have no idea who gave it to him. It's called Where's My Puppy and it's a little peek-a-boo book and it has a hole in the middle of a lot of the pages. Nicholas is fascinated with holes for some reason. If he can poke his finger in it he certainly will !!! This applies to noses, mouths, eyes, water bottles, soda cans.... you get the idea. He sits in your lap and lets you read the book while he jams his little toddler fingers into the books holes on each page. It's one of the few times he is stationary while awake.

soooooo big!

Honestly when babies are first born they are really more like high maintenance pets. You have to keep them clean, feed them, provide stimulation and love. Even when they start crawling they are still kind of like a very very involved and demanding pet. With the coming of toddler hood Nicholas has begun to blossom into a little person who each and every day acts more and more like a little kid. He laughs and smiles and shows what he likes and dislikes. Tantrums aside (which we really haven't gotten into yet) I think toddler hood is awesome and way more fun than having a newborn/infant. Sure it's a little more work but it's fun work and watching him learn and figure things out is a way better pay off than I got when he was an infant. Not to mention that after a year of practice I am much much better at dealing with him in my own way.  I kind of wish other people would see that  and understand that I've got this (for the moment) instead of telling me that I was "really in for it now!" That sort of statement just isn't helpful or appreciated. Haha, it was more appropriate when I first found out I was expecting. :P

Craziness at Golden Corral

Hahahaha, we ate out this past weekend and it was quite an experience. We went to Golden Corral b/c it is super easy to find something for Nicholas to eat on a buffet and there is no waiting for food to be delivered which also makes dining with Nicholas an easier experience. First thing, as most buffets of this sort go you have to wait in line and then pay before you can enter over eaters paradise, (aka the buffet). While waiting in line I noticed a sign that read " for your convenience plates and utensils are located on the buffet islands. These items are strictly optional".  Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ???? Optional ??? So I can just go up to the buffet and grab the whole (probably scalding hot) platter of fried chicken and maybe some containers of veggies and bring them back to my table? Or I can just pull my chair up and eat directly off the buffet (with my hands??) ?? Since when is a plate optional at a restaurant? I can see maybe some paranoid type people bringing their own silverware but plates??? That is just weird, but then we were in Pensacola and there are some ummm interesting folks living there. Thankfully all the patrons I observed were taking advantage of the optional plates and silverware.

Next thing I noticed, and maybe this is a regional thing, but since when is it acceptable to head out to the golden corral in full blown hooker I'm ready to get laid and paid attire.... in your 40;s ?? YIKES!! My husband spent a fair amount of time staring down at his plate to avoid having his eyes seared out of his head but a particular patron who didn't get the memo that just because you can stuff your cellulite in those leggings doesn't mean you can go out in public wearing them. Newsflash, men don't want to see a morbidly obese woman's butt crack or lumpy butt and NOBODY want to see the pantie line of your g-string or it poking out above the tops of your waaayyyy to small pants. The people who sat down right behind us were extra special too. Again, when you turn 35 and you look 45 it's time to start dressing like an adult. Sorry, I don't make the rules. :P These people had two children with them grade school age, and they were really raising them up right. Little girl, about 8ish was a little hooker in training in her outfit. Since when are F me boots made in kid sizes??? She also had her hair dyes (with roots grown out about an inch and a half in true redneck fashion) this god awful maroon red color that some many people seem to find attractive. It matched her mothers lol. It was awful. Come on people, don't do that to your kids. Let them have a natural hair color, kids that young don't need makup and sexy clothes. And we wonder why teen pregnancy is such a big issue... HELLLLLLOOOO??  The little boy had the honest to goodness strangest haircut I have ever seen in my life. I have to wonder who's idea it was. He had a patch of hair about the size of a half dollar right in the middle of his forehead where the hair was grown out and allowed to hang down right between his eyes. The rest of his head was shaved bald. It was sort of like a reverse rat tail. I don't even know what to say about that?? I just hope that it was the little boys idea and he liked it.

The extra special people behavior wasn't limited to just the eating area of the restaurant. I had to go to the bathroom near the end of the meal and left Nicholas in daddy's care to go take care of business. Wow.... Just wow.... I found myself in a stall between two teens who were texting each other while they were doing whatever it was that needed doing and giggling like they escape from the mental ward of the local hospital. Umm why not just sit next to each other and talk ?? Weird. Then comes in a lady who heads into one of the stalls and is interrupted by her cell phone ringing. Now my view on this is let it ring. Take care of yourself and then call whoever back. It'll only take a minute. Don't answer your phone, this is just NOT classy. Well, nobody ever told this lady that and not only did she answer but she answered and put her phone on speaker. WOW! Guess who was calling?? Her husband, and he was calling from the table to tell her to hurry it up b/c he wanted to go and get ice cream and he couldn't b/c he was stuck sitting with their kids. WOW!!! Really? She proceeds to have a fight with him in the bathroom on the speaker phone about how she'll take as long as she damn well pleases and there is nothing he can do about it. I couldn't help it. I was finished but I sat there an extra minute or so just for pure entertainment value. LoL. On the way out of the bathroom the sign on the door read " if this restroom has not met your expectation please notify a member of management". ROFL, oh I think we've more than met my expectations!

Oh the way out to the car I almost felt the need to pay an extra dollar or two for the show. I mean I didn't realize entertainment would come with the meal. For once Nicholas wasn't the funniest thing in the place, though he was the cutest :P I will definitely be back here!! The food was actually pretty good and the wait staff was great as well. Easy place to take baby, good food, good waiter, and a dinner show. What more can you ask for ?


I'm soooo probably going to hell.....