Meal Planning & a Cleaning Lady

To say that Ryan drew the short stick on a Suzie Homemaker/Betty Crocker wife is pretty much an understatement. & I will be the first one to admit that I hate cooking & cleaning and rarely do either. Thankfully, though, Ryan is a bit of a clean freak and although he complains about it- I think he really likes cleaning. So the cleaning gets done but not without a bunch of complaining and dirty looks.

Meals are another thing- for the most part we just grab something to eat or stop at Chili's [yum!]. We have always struggled with actually making at home meals- mostly because we both work full time & we don't get home from picking up the boys until 5:15/5:30 and by then we just don't feel like cooking some elaborate meal. I also don't want to spend hours on the weekend pre-making our weekly meals when the weekends are my only real time with the boys.- that and I don't really like cooking. See...Better Crocker- FAIL!

So after much discussion about what we can do since out to eat meals are getting increasingly more difficult with 2 mobile kids & the issue of cleaning is bound to end up in a big blow out fight we have decided on two things...

1. We are going to start meal planning & subscribing to the Sunday paper so that we can plan around ads and coupons. We actually started this week thanks to Costco :) We will still probably go out to eat once [maybe twice] a week but we are hoping to save it for the weekend. I mean we were spending like a crap ton of money going out to eat...like $500 a month. That's insane & doesn't include our weekly groceries! Not gonna happen with 3 kids, one being a girl who needs lots of hair bows...haha- half kidding :)

2. We are hiring a cleaning lady aka my sister. Neither of us are too keen on the idea of having a stranger in our house & my sister, Laura, is probably the best cleaner around. We will likely have her start this week or next and she will come do our deep cleaning every 3ish weeks.

We are both really hoping this will alleviate unnecessary arguments and money being spent.

Holden the Crawler.

Our wee baby started crawling last night. & after well over 2 months of being on all 4's rocking, doing push-ups, kicking one leg out the side...we are over the moon!!

Henry yells, "Yay! Olden!" and Ryan & I clap like maniacs. It was a happy, happy night in our house.

dearfoams [Review & Giveaway]

A bit ago I was contacted by dearfoams to see if I was interested in doing a Mother's Day inspired review & giveaway of slippers.

& to be honest, I'm not usually a slipper person but I can't walk around my house without socks on- I hate the feel of carpet, grass, couch material, etc on my feet so I thought I would give it a shot since summer is slowly creeping in & wearing socks in the summer isn't the coolest...haha.






Aren't they super cute?!? & quite summer-y. They are super fuzzy & the sole of the slipper is pretty squishy so it isn't like you are walking on hard, flat slippers. I'm pretty excited to wear them around the house this summer :) Oh and the sole isn't floppy so you can easily run out to get the mail or chase a toddler in the driveway with them on :)
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& now the fun part!

dearfoams is generously giving THREE [3] of my readers their very own pair of this cutie summer slippers- [size medium-7/8]!



To Enter [please leave a separate comment for each entry]:

Mandatory Entries:

Visit dearfoams and tell me which product is your favorite. [1 entry/comment]

Follow my blog & tell me that you do. [1 entry/comment]


Additional Entries:

"Like" dearfoams on Facebook. [1 entry/comment]

Follow me & dearfoams on Twitter. [1 entry/comment]

Tweet "Win a pair of slippers from @dearfoams @jennifermae0625 http://tinyurl.com/3t9ovou" and leave me the link. [1 entry/comment per tweet per day].

Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link. [1 entry/comment]



Good Luck!!! This giveaway will end one week from today Thursday, June 2nd, 2011 at 12noon CST. The winner [chosen by random.org] will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.


Please note: I was given cutie slippers free of charge. I was in no other way compensated for this review/giveaway. These opinions are my own.

Life Ain't Always Beautiful.

Without going into too much personal family detail- we could use some massive prayers.

I've mentioned before my dad is battling cancer & recently he was back in the hospital. Basically we were told there is nothing more they can do treatment wise and it is just pain management at this point. He is still on his chemo treatments but they are not giving him much longer- like months.

So we need prayers...lots and lots of prayers. Because our family needs more pictures like this...with Harper...and my sister's future babies.

Nursery Thoughts...

My original plan for Harper's room was to do a spunky hot pink, grey and black room. But to do that we would have to paint over the paint that is currently in that room- which is Holden's nursery right now and was Henry's when he was a tiny babe.

& the more I think about painting over that paint...the more sad I get. I still remember being mildly pregnant on that Sunday with Ryan measuring the tape lines and actually painting an entire room in one day- which was a first for us. We didn't know yet if the babe was a boy or girl & we were so very excited.

I can't paint over that.

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So I am switching the color scheme.

Here is what the paint looks like in the room now...





I am in LOVE with these fabrics. I will make [or have Christina make] her blanket & I plan on learning how to sew up a crib skirt.

RockyTop Design

& here are a few decor-ish ideas I have floating around in my head...

Expressing You & Create and Adorn

The Pink Palace

Rocky Top Design & Paper Ramma


I have no idea when we will actually start her nursery- all the big stuff is already taken care of [painting, furniture, etc] so it's just getting the bedding and accessories going. We will likely start & finish Holden's big boy soccer room before we start Harper's room.

So much to think about- oh yeah and we have our big 20 week u/s in a couple weeks so we surely won't be starting anything until after that!

18 Weeks.

How far along?: 18 Weeks

Total weight gain: The scale at home is still sitting about +2.

How big is baby?: According to theBump...a sweet potato. 5.6 inches, 6.7 ounces.

Sleep?: Eh. It's ok.

Best moment this week?: The baby thumps are getting a bit stronger & I have felt it a few times from the outside.

Movement?: Getting more and more noticable.

Food cravings?: Lime Mister Misties from Dairy Queen. I can't get enough.

Labor signs?: Nope.

Belly button in or out?: Still in but it's starting to change a little bit.

What I miss: Waking up feeling rested.

What I'm looking forward to: We have our big u/s in a couple weeks. I am anxious to know everything is developing normally.

Yeah so...

about that potty training...I think we really are going to dive into this weekend.

We were finishing up dinner last night when all of a sudden Henry screams, "Potty, hurry!" so we ran and as soon as he sat down...he pooped. He pooped on the potty! I was cheering but I think seeing the poop in the toilet freaked him out because he would look down and say "uh oh"- I tried to tell him that it was a good thing & he is such a big boy. Hopefully he is too scarred from seeing his poop in the toilet.

Yeah I have made 2 Facebook posts about him peeing and pooping on the toilet. I always told myself I wouldn't be one of those parents. But I am & I can't help it...haha.

So any of you lovely ladies [or guys] who have potty trained a little boy...send me some of your tips. :)

Potty Training?

We really didn't have any intentions of potting training Henry quite yet- he is only 21 months but after this weekend we are kinda thinking about it...


So on Friday while Ryan and I were running errands we got a call from my sister that Henry had some exciting news. He peed on the potty! This was after he told them that he had to go. He has been sitting on the potty for quite some time but has never actually gone so this was HUGE news!

Then on Saturday we were getting ready to leave the house and he said he had to go potty again so we brought him to the toilet. He peed again! He did ask again while we were out at the mall but we had to wait in line for a stall so we didn't make it in time :(

But then this morning he said he had to go on again so we ran to the bathroom and sure enough he went again. I don't think he has ever heard me scream with joy so loud...haha. He just has the proudest look on his face when he finally does it.


So we talked to daycare a bit today to have them put him on the potty at every diaper change and if he says "potty!" to bring him into the bathroom. We will see how he does this week and we may tackle potty training head on this weekend. Eeeep! I didn't think this would be happening already. He is still my wee baby!!

Done...I think...

Well apparently I can't make up my mind what I want this blog to look like now that we are no longer "The Adventures of H-Squared".

But I think I am good with the new look...it more me :)

17 Weeks.

How far along?: 17 Weeks

Total weight gain: Well according to my home scale I am officially up 2 pounds. & so it begins :)

How big is baby?: According to theBump...an onion. 5.1 inches, 5.9 ounces.

Sleep?: Crappy. All of a sudden I can't sleep through the night.

Best moment this week?: Still the baby squirms. It doesn't get old...at all! & finding out the our sweet babe is most likely a little Harper.

Movement?: Nothing consistent but I am noticing her more and more.

Food cravings?: Lime Mister Misties from Dairy Queen. I can't get enough.

Labor signs?: Nope.

Belly button in or out?: Still in!

What I miss: Waking up feeling rested.

What I'm looking forward to: We have another u/s on Friday to hopefully confirm that wee Harper is joining our family- or else I have a lot of pink clothes to return ;)

Our Sweet Little Harper [we think]

We went back to Bella Angel on Saturday to get another look at the babe to see if we could get the perfect girl [or boy] shot.

Unfortunately we didn't get a it :( The ladies looked and looked for about 45 minutes and we didn't see any sign of a peen but we didn't get the ideal 3 line girl shot. We got a few that were pretty darn convincing, though.

Brenda [Bella's owner] emailed me yesterday asking if we got the shot on Saturday- to which I told her we didn't so she told us to come back on Friday to check again. She is just as obsessed with knowing for sure one way or the other as I am. & to be honest I wouldn't mind it if we found a little peen but I just want to know.

Here are a few cutie pictures of Harper [or Hampton ;)]

Mother's Day

I had a wonderfully awesome Mother' Day. Aside from waking up at the time we were supposed to leave the house- everything was awesome!


We did our annual Race for the Cure Breast Cancer Walk at Mall of America. It's always such an emotional experience for me...Ryan laughs when he sees the tears well up in my eyes but the whole experience touches me.

My boys are going after cheerleaders already :)




Our annual family picture is just a bit to hard to take ourselves...

My mama and sisters :)




Ryan & his mom...his dad was there but was MIA for the picture...haha.




& Ryan surprised me with these lovelies for Mother's Day :) I had been hinting at each holiday for a year now...haha :)





I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend :)

Henry's Big News

Yes, we are having a little GIRL!!! Well right now we are 95% sure. I'm not comfortable saying 100% quite yet- we are going back for a re-check tomorrow but we didn't see any sign of a peen [which was VERY obvious with H1 & H2] and we got a few shots of what we think are the 3 girl lines :)

To say we are shocked is pretty much an understatement. I thought for sure we were having a boy. I think Ryan is a bit frazzled and doesn't know what he is going to do with a girl but she will for sure be daddy's little girl.

So Harper Lorraine is on her way...let the bow buying begin :)

16 Weeks.

How far along?: 16 Weeks

Total weight gain: Still none. I was actually down 2 pounds at my appt last week. I'm sure the gaining is coming!

How big is baby?: According to theBump...an avacado. 4.6 inches, 3.5 ounces.

Sleep?: The restless leg has started a bit but other than that it's been pretty good.

Best moment this week?: I felt a wee baby squirm. It made me realize how much I really have missed being pregnant. Yeah I know it hasn't been that long but it's such a cool feeling!

Movement?: A tiny bit here and there.

Food cravings?: Lime Mister Misties from Dairy Queen. I can't get enough.

Labor signs?: Nope.

Belly button in or out?: Still in!

What I miss: At this point...nothing. I feel pretty dang good. & I can wear my contacts again!

What I'm looking forward to: We [hopefully] find out tomorrow if Hampton or Harper is joining our little family. I'm pretty excited. I still think boy!

Wordless Wednesday.

Sunday Funday

We had a pretty relaxing Sunday. It was cold and windy so we pretty much stayed in our jammies all day- well except for our lunch trip to Dairy Queen. Lime Mister Misty...Mmmmmmm.


Henry is proving his toddlerhood in different ways every day...yesterday we turned around to find this...




& my wee Holden is growing too...much too fast I might add...




& here is a cutie picture that I couldn't help but share.






I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend...I'm really looking forward to this week. We find out if H3 is a boy or girl on Thursday and Mother's Day is Sunday...woot! :)