Oraeley: My Site

Kids all seem to reach an age where they decide that when a camera is pointed their way they are supposed to put on a special face. Next comes the stage when they decide that they should hide from cameras, we’re not there yet!

Here’s Deeder’s special camera face:

Tongue out. Smile on, and laughing.

He’s a blur in the legs because he’s sitting there kicking his legs back and forth (um, okay, you already guessed that. oh well.) The kicking legs don’t really take much away from the picture–I just ought to increase the shutter speed a bit.

Isn’t the outfit cute?
It’s from Aidan, Deeder’s Alaska buddy.

Thanks for sending it along, Jen! It fits just right and looks pretty good on him too. What size is Aidan in? He must be getting pretty tall if this one was too small for him!
The pant legs fall down over Deeder’s feet yet when he stands up.

In Carly news. No baby yet! We’re hoping she’ll be here soon, really hoping!
Yesterday Deeder and I went for a walk, intending for it to just be to the end of the road and back, that’d be about two miles and the day was perfect for getting a little exercise. We ended up going about six miles! I wasn’t feeling tired yet by the end of the road and Deeder was having a great time looking around and saying hi to all the dogs that were out walking their people.
I sortof doubt that all that walking will help Carly come any sooner, considering I walked a whole lot while I was pregnant with Deeder and he came late. Oh well.

On Wednesday we bought Carly her carseat. It isn’t pink like Daddy was hoping for, but it is a carseat with high ratings on the ole crash test chart and that’s what matters. Right? It’s still in the box–Daddy says that he has a good two days after she’s born to install it, which is true.
He did unpack the sweetpeace and set it up. Deeder’s been having fun messing around with the controls, giving his dolly fun rides in it.

I guess that’s about all for now.

If anything exciting happens this weekend that lands me in the hospital with a new baby I’ll have my momma guest blog about it. How’s that sound?

Deeder’s been a very good boy this month.

Deeder opening gifts from Lauren!

Sometimes I find our days to be so tiring, other days I look forward to his naps ending so that we can go outside again and resume whatever game we were playing before nap and lunch time.

I know it’s been a challenging month for him. Not with teething or anything. It’s that ever tough and infamous stage commonly known as Terrible Twos in which all things by some force of nature must be questioned by the child. Some days Deeder seems to have an inner battle going on in which he is split between listening to Mom and Dad and shouting “No” and doing the opposite of what we ask. He rarely throws fits noticeable to other people. It seldom goes any further than him having to be asked twice to do something that he’d rather not, like getting out of the flowerbed! He does say no and scowl, in the end though, he does listen.

Deeder’s been expanding his roaming grounds too, very exciting business for him! After the snow melted he was able to run about in the grass rather than just up and down the parking lot pavement watching out for ice. Soon after the melt he decided that he needed even more–i.e, the neighbor’s yards. Thankfully the neighbors who he’s chosen are all welcoming and seem to enjoy his frequent unannounced.

Just over the past few weeks that he’s been visiting the next door neighbor dog Deeder’s become so comfortable over there that he doesn’t even need the neighbors to be home to go over for a visit!

Who couldn’t say yes to such a friendly face?

When Mommy has the energy for a walk Deeder gets to go to the park, which of course he completely enjoys. The climbing rocks his world! He is very cautious when other children come and want to play with him though, so we try to go early in the day when the chance of other kids being there is slim.

Here’s a slide video for your enjoyment:
He sure is brave!

Hope that didn’t make you dizzy! My camera work isn’t the smoothest thing ever!

This month I re-enrolled Deeder in the music class we went to last fall. So far it’s been going well. Deeder doesn’t participate as much as I would like him to, but that’s OK. As a child I wasn’t very outgoing in that way either. He’d prefer to go up afterward to beat on the drum, rather than crowd in with the other half dozen children when it’s time to play drums. His favorites are the songs where he gets to shake maracas and march, although he does have trouble sometimes staying in line with the march–there are days when he’d rather march out the door, rather than around in a circle with the other kids.

Deeder’s favorite toy this month has been his ride on John Deere tractor. He can even drive it through long grass and on bumpy places behind the garage.

Darren’s birthday is this Saturday. Deeder and I are still working hard on thinking of something extra special to do for Daddy as this is a big one! Don’t forget to say happy birthday to him on facebook, email, or maybe even a phone call? I know he really wouldn’t mind being remembered!

Another month gone, they do fly by so quickly. This time next month Deeder will have a new baby sister. It’s hard to believe, and even harder to imagine, but like all things we’ll make the adjustments and not be able to imagine life any other way.

Wordless Wednesday

Vanilla Ice Cream

Preparations: 5 minutes, plus 20 - 25 minutes chilling time; optional 2 hours to ripen.
Makes ten 1/2 cup servings.

1 cup whole milk, well chilled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
1 - 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, to taste

In medium bowl, combine the milk and granulated sugar. Whisk until sugar is disolved, about 1 - 2 minutes on low speed.

Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla to taste.

Turn machine on, pour mixture into freezer bowl through the ingredient spout

And let mix until thickened, about 25 - 30 minutes.

Variations include Mint Chip, Butter Pecan, and Cookies & Cream. Since we didn’t have all of the ingredients for any of those alterations we stuck with plain ole vanilla.

It turned out really yummy! We couldn’t help but take little scoops out while the icecream was still mixing.
And, as you can see, Deeder completely enjoyed trying to drink the bits of heavy whip and vanilla that were left after we put the concoction in the icecream mixer.

This week I’m linking up to a bloggy party for mommies all over the vast world of Internet land. This one is hosted by a site called Mommyfest and is similar to the Ultimate Blog Party that I joined a couple months ago. This one is celebrating it’s 5th year running, pretty cool.

I was so addicted to blog hopping during the Ultimate Blog Party that I stayed up at least an hour past my bedtime each of the seven days that it ran. Now that’s silliness!

If you’re here for the first time let me give you a quick low down on the author of “Oraeley: My Site” and say Welcome!

me and my one year old co-author

My name is Laura and I’m 23.
I graduated from community college in 2005 with an associates degree in Early Childhood Education. It was incredibly time consuming and at the end, although I did learn some pretty cool things, I felt like I’d been cheated. All those hours and months (adding up to three years) of my life had been spent training for an occupation that I couldn’t even make a living wage on!

I tell people that I plan to go back to school, but I think that’s just for looks. Looking at in an eye of honesty and reality I don’t know when making something out of myself would happen. Or even what I would do! For now I’m Honey, Babe, and Mommy and that’s OK with me! It’s a good occupation, high paying in every way that counts for me right now. It’s energy draining but the emotional highs that I get from this job are hard to beat!

September 10th, 2005 I married my husband Darren. It was a beautiful wedding, as close to perfect as I think we ever could have wished it to be.

The following summer our son Diederick (Deeder) was born. And now, less than two years later we’re excitedly awaiting the arrival of our daughter, Carly.

Blogging has been part of my life coming up on 3 years now.
My brother bought me this domain name for my 19th birthday but it wasn’t I became engaged and wanted to write about my wedding planning that I began using oraeley.com as a blog.

I also enjoy taking pictures. I’m no real artist with photography, but I sure do enjoy it! Taking pictures helps me glue moments into my mind–the kind of tiny things that I’d otherwise forget.

Well that’s a quick run through. Please do feel free to stay and browse around a bit, I totally hope you come back sometime. Maybe even subscribe to my feed and make me part of your daily reading?

Comment and I’ll be sure to drop by your site. Thanks so much for stopping in!

For other MommyFest participating bloggers, click here.
Did I mention that there are prizes involved?? You know how crazy I am about those! So this one is running May 12 thru 16th.
If you’re a mom and you blog, go on over and sign up. It’s bound to be fun!

As you can see from the pictures, Miss Sophia is in control of the situation from second one! She wasn’t a tirant at all, she didn’t need to be! Deeder adored her and was happy to do whatever she asked. She’d say, “Lets go over there, I’ll ride your truck” and Deeder would hop off and hand it over. After she was seated she’d say, “K, Diederick?” As if all the time he had really had the option of not giving it to her and now that it was hers she’d let him in on that secret.

Deeder was very proud to introduce Sophie to his next door neighbor doggie friend Luca. That’s where they’re headed in the last snap. I put my camera back in the house at that point because I wasn’t sure how involved I’d have to be in introducing Luca and Sophie. Sure enough, she wasn’t as gentle as Deeder is with the dog and did need a bit of coaching on proper doggie manners. Soph was good listener though, both to Luca and to me. In no time, they were good friends and had established a boundaries understanding.

She was at our house for about two hours–6 to 8PM–and I hope that she’ll need to be baby sat again sometime.

Tonight was Sophie brother’s talent show (he does breakdancing) and I guess she doesn’t do the whole sitting still and being quiet thing; she’d rather be the one on stage showing off her talents!

Soph helping Deeder finish his grill cheese.

5/29/2008 thru 5/11/2008

Looking for Mother’s Day gift ideas?

Wavy Locks.
Lately a whole lot of my pictures at the end of the day are just of the back of Deeder’s head–since he moves so much. It is a cute head though, don’t you think?

Adventure Hunting.

Deeder’s friend Sophie came over to play this week.

Rain Residue.

For more Winners visit my friends linked through the Sarcastic Mom

This pram was the cake topper from the cake at my baby shower last Saturday. Isn’t it cute? The wheels really work!

My son calls it a “Tuck” (his word for truck) and enjoys rolling it across our kitchen floor while I prepare his breakfast each morning. After breakfast he asks me to put it back on the windowsill then doesn’t request it again until the next day. A fun little addition to our already perfect morning routine!

(the pram with it’s little ceramic baby doll)

OK. I know, the saying is “April flowers bring May flowers.” But bear with me!

Thursday afternoon Carly had her second baby shower. How cool is that?
Daddy got home Wednesday evening at 11:30 (like he always does) and came up stairs to tell me that he’d pick Deeder and I up from music class. I thought that was nice news since the uphill trek is getting to be a bit of a challenge as my body mass increases. At the time (12:15am) it didn’t occur to me that while this news was nice, it wasn’t something that one would expect to recieve at midnight.

Turns out he wanted to pick us up not just to save me from my long walk as he claimed, but so that we could go to a baby shower!

It was at the Chinese restaurant where we went a few weeks ago for a birthday party for some of his co-workers.
And there they all were again, the whole evening shift staff and lots of presents sitting on the table wrapped in baby prints. Carly now has even more cute little pink outfits, and brother, mommy and daddy had a yummy meal.
In addition to the clothing, the ladies also gave us a gift certificate that will most likely go to buy Carly a snazzy carseat. I’m not sure what brand we’re looking for, but yeah.
Thank you, everyone!

The roses are from Sophies mom, Jen. I just hope I can keep them alive.
She said that they need moderate sun and that the soil should be kept “moist”
Sounds simple enough, somehow though I’m sure the beauty wont last long. I’ll enjoy them for now and try my best.

In related news, today I’m 37 weeks along with Carly. That means that she’s ready to meet the world developmentally so it would be okay if she came any day now. That’s pretty exciting!

Have a great Friday! I’m totally hoping my dryer gets fixed or replaced today…it’s been a drag having to air dry all our clothing for the past few days!

Deeder’s Diet

Thinking of Deeder’s upcoming week long stay with his grampa and gramma in Washington I wanted to make out a list of things that my little dude likes to eat. So, here it is: 13 things in 5 categories, just to keep it simple!

Beverages:

Juices. Darren buys frozen juice concentrates a lot and Deeder completely enjoys them, especially the blend flavors.

Milk. We get organic whole milk by the gallon now because Deeder goes through so much of it! He always has a sippy cup nearby with milk in it throughout the day.

Water. Deeder likes to drink it from water bottles or a cup, he wont take it in his sippy–don’t know why.

Breakfast:

Oatmeal with raisins in it and honey or a little brown sugar on top.

Scrambled eggs with cheese on toast

Blueberry pancakes with apple sauce on top and bacon on the side

Lunch:

Peanut butter and jelly (or honey) on wheat

Grill cheese sandwich with ham and tomato soup

Bean and cheese quesadilla, with sour cream for dipping

Dinner:

Breakfast or lunch items, depending on his mood. Example: if he had oatmeal for breakfast I make him eggs for dinner. Sometimes on Daddy’s day off we go out to eat; sometimes that gets complicated and I end up feeding him at home after we get back.

Junk:

Potato chips.

Junior Mints.

Sierra Mist.

As a bonus, I think I’ll add on the bottom here a little list of things he used to love but wont touch anymore:

Yogurt
Cheese sticks
Mash potatoes
Apples
Green beans
Tapioca

I think I’d classify him as a kid who will eat anything. Just because nothing seems to really bother him–if he’s hungry he will eat what he’s offered, even things that I would guess might be spicy to a young child’s taste.