Take a look at my pictures. I am no small person.
Do you know why?
Because I love food.
Do you know what I love more than food? (besides my babies and my husband, because those are obvious givens here!)
Food shows.
Adam and I watch/DVR so many food shows. We especially like the reality food shows.
Some of our favorites are: The Next Food Network Star, Dinner: Impossible, MasterChef, Hell's Kitchen (even though it's SO scripted and drama central... I think it's cause I like me some Gordon Ramsay...that's besides the point here though), The Great Food Truck Race, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, Diners-DriveIns & Dives... and the list goes on.
As much as I love watching the yumminess that these shows feature and focus on, I have one question I would like to ask.
Why, oh why, are these shows always aired in the evening? We always watch them after we've made/eaten/cleaned up after dinner and we snuggle up on the couch and watch faithfully.
The minute a plate is shown on the screen, my mouth salivates. Each commercial break leads me to the pantry or refrigerator to see what I can conjure up to satisfy whatever desire I'm having right then.
Clearly, I'm not hungry.... but I feel the urge to snack or eat as a result of watching these food shows. And sometimes I don't even have an urge to eat anything but I feel like it's wrong to sit there and watch a food show without food in my hand (...yes, I realize this is a problem and I am attending meetings to help me with this, haha) It's kind of like watching a church service on TV and not having the urge to pray. It just doesn't happen.
Because there is no way around my snacking issues, I've tried something new this past week. Now when we sit down to watch a food show, I pop a piece of mint gum in my mouth before it starts. Does it help curb my snacking? Yes... because nothing tastes as good after you've had minty gum in your mouth. Does it take away my desire to eat? Sort of. Does it give me fresh breath? You betcha! Hey.... you can't always have it all! :-)
Until Next Time,
Mama Brown(ie)
Friday, September 24, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Happy Birthday to my Husband!
I devote this post to my husband today. His birthday is tomorrow... but I will write about it today! Because tomorrow, I will be on a mission all day long to ensure that his birthday is extra, super special.
This will involve baking, cooking, and cleaning.
Notice there was no room in there for blogging, so here I am now.
26 years ago tomorrow (that sounds so weird and like it shouldn't make sense, but it does haha), Adam Brown was born. The End.
JUST KIDDING! I'm feeling comical today apparently.
Sometimes I don't have all the words to express my emotions. Sometimes I don't need words to express my emotions because my actions do all the talking.
Adam is my husband, the father to our children, a loyal employee, a brother, a cousin, and a son. But the most important role he plays in my life is that he is my best friend. He makes me laugh, he makes me cry, he makes me feel safe, and he loves to cook. (Enough said, right?)
September 21st has been an important day in my life for the past 10 years now. I remember contributing $10 for Adam's 16th Birthday present - a skateboard. I also remember that birthday because I was grounded and my mom wouldn't let me go over to his house to eat cake. But I did anyways because I was a brat like that. :-)
This year we celebrate with our beautiful little family we've created and I just want my husband to know that he truly completes my life in every single way.
Happy 26th Birthday Adam. I love you more than words can say. Here's to 100 more years+ together! xoxo
Until next time,
Mama Brown(ie)
This will involve baking, cooking, and cleaning.
Notice there was no room in there for blogging, so here I am now.
26 years ago tomorrow (that sounds so weird and like it shouldn't make sense, but it does haha), Adam Brown was born. The End.
JUST KIDDING! I'm feeling comical today apparently.
Sometimes I don't have all the words to express my emotions. Sometimes I don't need words to express my emotions because my actions do all the talking.
Adam is my husband, the father to our children, a loyal employee, a brother, a cousin, and a son. But the most important role he plays in my life is that he is my best friend. He makes me laugh, he makes me cry, he makes me feel safe, and he loves to cook. (Enough said, right?)
September 21st has been an important day in my life for the past 10 years now. I remember contributing $10 for Adam's 16th Birthday present - a skateboard. I also remember that birthday because I was grounded and my mom wouldn't let me go over to his house to eat cake. But I did anyways because I was a brat like that. :-)
This year we celebrate with our beautiful little family we've created and I just want my husband to know that he truly completes my life in every single way.
Happy 26th Birthday Adam. I love you more than words can say. Here's to 100 more years+ together! xoxo
Until next time,
Mama Brown(ie)
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Terrible Two's
We have officially made it. The time has come.
Destination: Terrible Twos.
Yup. Here we are. In full force.
Let me give you a glimpse into the nightmare that I live and breathe daily. (Okay, so not EVERY day is a nightmare... just lots of hours of lots of days.)
It all started about a month ago when I drove down to the Community Center and took AB3 swimming. We stopped by the office on our way in and I picked up a pamphlet with the class listings and times. I had perfect timing because sign up for the new fall session was less than a day away! After looking through and making some calls to Kristin (AB3's bff's mom), we chose two classes to sign the boys up for.
Tiny Tots Sports on Wednesdays from 9:00-10:00 and Alphabet Art on Thursdays from 9:00-9:50.
I told AB3 we would be starting to go to "school", and he woke up everyday asking to go. He was so eager and excited and it was hard to contain him some days!
So the big day arrives and we show up to Tiny Tots Sports. All goes well for the first 10 minutes when it's open gym and play time. Once class begins, there is structure. *Enter tantrum.*
AB3 does not like structure. He is 2 and a half... therefore he doesn't listen very well. AB3 does what he wants (within reason). When I pull him away from the "unstructured" activities, his tantrums escalate. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I was *that* mom on Wednesday....AND Thursday!
I will give him the benefit of the doubt... gym class was busy! They started off by running tons of laps back and forth and the Irish in him came out within minutes. This was obvious by the bright red in his cheeks! Then they tried to practice playing kickball. AB3 preferred to pick the ball up and throw it, and wanted nothing to do with kicking it. I re-directed him to do what he was being told to do. *Enter tantrum.* This continued for the rest of class. All he wanted to do was everything he wasn't supposed to do.
Although Wednesday was frustrating, Thursday was even worse.
Alphabet Art! I was so excited to do some fun crafts with my little guy. And so was he... until the "structure" came back. He went and got his supplies like he was asked to do, but wouldn't stop playing (dangerously) with the scissors. So mommy stepped in and took them away. *Enter trantrum.* This tantrum was by far one of the worst because we are in a small room with about 15 moms and 15 kids. His tantrum includes lots of high pitched screams, proceeded by whining and crying. When he is in this mode, it's so hard to bring him back down to calmness.
Finally it was time to make an Angel (for the letter A) and it was a super cute craft. We had to trace his foot and hands and of course, AB3 wanted to do it his own way. *Enter tantrum.* This tantrum lasted the longest and left me in tears. Nobody said a single thing to me, but I could tell the judgmental eyes were all on me. The teacher told us at the beginning of class that if the child misbehaves or gets upset, the right thing to do is ignore them, stay calm, and NOT to remove them from the room. By keeping them in the room, they need to learn to deal with it. When you remove them, they feel like they've won, and the cycle will repeat.
So as I'm sitting there with the high-pitched-screaming-bloody-murder-whiny kid, my own eyes well up with tears and I nearly lose it. I felt beat up, and defeated.
Here is my little AB3, who only days before, was so excited and ready to go to school... and he's throwing the biggest fit. There were kids in there way younger than him, and some way older than him. NOBODY made a single sound, except for him.
Somehow we ended up making it through the 50 minute class. We will go back and try it again next week.
I'm not quite sure what these tantrums are stemming from. The odd thing is that his extreme tantrums are only like this in public places. It's as if he tries to stick it to me in public because he knows I won't be able to punish him as easily somewhere outside of the house. It could be that he wasn't feeling well this week (the bug has been going around...) It could be that he isn't used to structure like that. It could be that he's the first child and spoiled (but I'm admitting to this and cracking down on it hardcore). Or it could just be the fact that he's in his terrible two's and doesn't know how to handle them.
Either way, our first two days of school were rough. I'm hoping next week is easier and more enjoyable for both of us. Wake me up when the two's are over!
Until Next Time,
Mama Brown(ie)
Destination: Terrible Twos.
Yup. Here we are. In full force.
Let me give you a glimpse into the nightmare that I live and breathe daily. (Okay, so not EVERY day is a nightmare... just lots of hours of lots of days.)
It all started about a month ago when I drove down to the Community Center and took AB3 swimming. We stopped by the office on our way in and I picked up a pamphlet with the class listings and times. I had perfect timing because sign up for the new fall session was less than a day away! After looking through and making some calls to Kristin (AB3's bff's mom), we chose two classes to sign the boys up for.
Tiny Tots Sports on Wednesdays from 9:00-10:00 and Alphabet Art on Thursdays from 9:00-9:50.
I told AB3 we would be starting to go to "school", and he woke up everyday asking to go. He was so eager and excited and it was hard to contain him some days!
So the big day arrives and we show up to Tiny Tots Sports. All goes well for the first 10 minutes when it's open gym and play time. Once class begins, there is structure. *Enter tantrum.*
AB3 does not like structure. He is 2 and a half... therefore he doesn't listen very well. AB3 does what he wants (within reason). When I pull him away from the "unstructured" activities, his tantrums escalate. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I was *that* mom on Wednesday....AND Thursday!
I will give him the benefit of the doubt... gym class was busy! They started off by running tons of laps back and forth and the Irish in him came out within minutes. This was obvious by the bright red in his cheeks! Then they tried to practice playing kickball. AB3 preferred to pick the ball up and throw it, and wanted nothing to do with kicking it. I re-directed him to do what he was being told to do. *Enter tantrum.* This continued for the rest of class. All he wanted to do was everything he wasn't supposed to do.
Although Wednesday was frustrating, Thursday was even worse.
Alphabet Art! I was so excited to do some fun crafts with my little guy. And so was he... until the "structure" came back. He went and got his supplies like he was asked to do, but wouldn't stop playing (dangerously) with the scissors. So mommy stepped in and took them away. *Enter trantrum.* This tantrum was by far one of the worst because we are in a small room with about 15 moms and 15 kids. His tantrum includes lots of high pitched screams, proceeded by whining and crying. When he is in this mode, it's so hard to bring him back down to calmness.
Finally it was time to make an Angel (for the letter A) and it was a super cute craft. We had to trace his foot and hands and of course, AB3 wanted to do it his own way. *Enter tantrum.* This tantrum lasted the longest and left me in tears. Nobody said a single thing to me, but I could tell the judgmental eyes were all on me. The teacher told us at the beginning of class that if the child misbehaves or gets upset, the right thing to do is ignore them, stay calm, and NOT to remove them from the room. By keeping them in the room, they need to learn to deal with it. When you remove them, they feel like they've won, and the cycle will repeat.
So as I'm sitting there with the high-pitched-screaming-bloody-murder-whiny kid, my own eyes well up with tears and I nearly lose it. I felt beat up, and defeated.
Here is my little AB3, who only days before, was so excited and ready to go to school... and he's throwing the biggest fit. There were kids in there way younger than him, and some way older than him. NOBODY made a single sound, except for him.
Somehow we ended up making it through the 50 minute class. We will go back and try it again next week.
I'm not quite sure what these tantrums are stemming from. The odd thing is that his extreme tantrums are only like this in public places. It's as if he tries to stick it to me in public because he knows I won't be able to punish him as easily somewhere outside of the house. It could be that he wasn't feeling well this week (the bug has been going around...) It could be that he isn't used to structure like that. It could be that he's the first child and spoiled (but I'm admitting to this and cracking down on it hardcore). Or it could just be the fact that he's in his terrible two's and doesn't know how to handle them.
Either way, our first two days of school were rough. I'm hoping next week is easier and more enjoyable for both of us. Wake me up when the two's are over!
Until Next Time,
Mama Brown(ie)
Monday, September 13, 2010
Silly Boys!
Time flies faster than I can even watch go by, and my babies are doing the cutest things lately. Here are some of the latest happenings in the Brown(ie) House:
* As I previously blogged about before, AB3 is potty trained... but he calls his pee "'orange juice". Haha, cutest thing I've ever heard. "Look Mommy, orange juice in the potty!"
* AB4 loves, adores, and worships his older brother. The twinkle in his eye when he spots his brother doing something is a sight I hope I never lose. As we all know, AB3 is obsessed with cars. Anytime he's on the ground playing with his cars, AB4 inches his way over and pushes cars around with him.
* AB3 has developed the attitude of a 13 year old. If I do something he doesn't like, this is what I hear: "I'm gonna tell daddy!". Reading it here does it NO justice. He says it with SUCH attitude! And if I offer him something he doesn't want (like vegetables... GASP! Bad mommy!) he tells me: "Broccolli go buh bye, mommy! NO! Carrots are cryin!". Haha. It's seriously so hilarious. He has such expression in his tone when he yells like this. I will record a video and post it!
* AB4 has outgrown his baby bathtub (tear) and he's now taking baths with his big brother in the big tub! He sits in a little bath seat and loves every second of it! AB3 shows him how to splash and he helps rinse his brother off. Sometimes a little too much and we need to remind him that AB4 is still a little baby!
These little boys do silly things all day long. I need to do a better job of documenting their silliness because time really does fly by and I don't want to forget these things in years to come.
Until next time,
Mama Brown(ie)
* As I previously blogged about before, AB3 is potty trained... but he calls his pee "'orange juice". Haha, cutest thing I've ever heard. "Look Mommy, orange juice in the potty!"
* AB4 loves, adores, and worships his older brother. The twinkle in his eye when he spots his brother doing something is a sight I hope I never lose. As we all know, AB3 is obsessed with cars. Anytime he's on the ground playing with his cars, AB4 inches his way over and pushes cars around with him.
* AB3 has developed the attitude of a 13 year old. If I do something he doesn't like, this is what I hear: "I'm gonna tell daddy!". Reading it here does it NO justice. He says it with SUCH attitude! And if I offer him something he doesn't want (like vegetables... GASP! Bad mommy!) he tells me: "Broccolli go buh bye, mommy! NO! Carrots are cryin!". Haha. It's seriously so hilarious. He has such expression in his tone when he yells like this. I will record a video and post it!
* AB4 has outgrown his baby bathtub (tear) and he's now taking baths with his big brother in the big tub! He sits in a little bath seat and loves every second of it! AB3 shows him how to splash and he helps rinse his brother off. Sometimes a little too much and we need to remind him that AB4 is still a little baby!
These little boys do silly things all day long. I need to do a better job of documenting their silliness because time really does fly by and I don't want to forget these things in years to come.
Until next time,
Mama Brown(ie)
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Isn't it Funny?
There must be an official "Book of Life" out there somewhere that everybody BUT me has read. The reason I assume this is because I always get the exact same responses from people during random conversations. It goes a little something like this:
Person: Do you have any kids?
Me: Yes, I have an almost 3 year old boy and a 6 month old boy.
Person: Oh! So when are you going to have another?
Me: Umm... didn't you hear me? I have a SIX MONTH OLD! (Okay, so I never really actually say this, but sometimes I want to!)
Some people can handle having all these babies close in age on a daily basis, but I think I would go nuts! My body doesn't produce babies like an assembly line. I need to re-coup and watch AB4 grow a little longer before I even step foot into the baby factory again!
I could be talking to somebody I've never met or somebody I've known for years and yet everybody always asks the same question! Or there is also the infamous "Congratulations on your marriage!..... so when are you going to have babies?"
ONE THING AT A TIME PEOPLE!
I know that these things are easy conversation pieces and all, but sometimes they just make me laugh at how common they are. We're all different people, from different backgrounds, with different life experiences, but yet our thoughts always seem to align in funny ways.
With that said, since I know you're all itching to ask now but probably won't because of this blog post, we go back and forth on having another child. Part of me wants to establish my career before we have another child, but I also don't want huge gaps in age between my kids. I want to wait, but I don't want to wait too long. Does that even make sense? We don't have a "gameplan" for a new Brown(ie), but I think that eventually there will be another.
For now, I'm going to enjoy my school-free days, and focus on my two little boys.
Until Next Time,
Mama Brown(ie)
Person: Do you have any kids?
Me: Yes, I have an almost 3 year old boy and a 6 month old boy.
Person: Oh! So when are you going to have another?
Me: Umm... didn't you hear me? I have a SIX MONTH OLD! (Okay, so I never really actually say this, but sometimes I want to!)
Some people can handle having all these babies close in age on a daily basis, but I think I would go nuts! My body doesn't produce babies like an assembly line. I need to re-coup and watch AB4 grow a little longer before I even step foot into the baby factory again!
I could be talking to somebody I've never met or somebody I've known for years and yet everybody always asks the same question! Or there is also the infamous "Congratulations on your marriage!..... so when are you going to have babies?"
ONE THING AT A TIME PEOPLE!
I know that these things are easy conversation pieces and all, but sometimes they just make me laugh at how common they are. We're all different people, from different backgrounds, with different life experiences, but yet our thoughts always seem to align in funny ways.
With that said, since I know you're all itching to ask now but probably won't because of this blog post, we go back and forth on having another child. Part of me wants to establish my career before we have another child, but I also don't want huge gaps in age between my kids. I want to wait, but I don't want to wait too long. Does that even make sense? We don't have a "gameplan" for a new Brown(ie), but I think that eventually there will be another.
For now, I'm going to enjoy my school-free days, and focus on my two little boys.
Until Next Time,
Mama Brown(ie)
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