I finished the book Room yesterday. The fictitious five year old boy who tells the story reminded me so much of Ephram and, though his circumstances are completely different, every time I set it down I was reminded just how patient I should be with Ephram and how much he has yet to understand about the world. A quick but interesting read for mothers of little boys (or girls).

I am so anxious for the Olympics. Women’s Gymnastics in particular. I can still feel the excitement I had in the 1996 Olympics. Every four years it returns.

Fireworks tomorrow! Here’s a great refresher on how to photograph them if you are planning to do so.

I am celebrating two nights in a row of Ephram sleeping in his big boy bed. Now, if only I could get him to stay in his bed at naptime… Oh, and actually nap.

Beau’s brother headed home on Sunday and even two days later we’re all still missing him. Especially Ephram. It made me so happy that he remembered Uncle Blake from Minnesota.

Yesterday was our first official 100+ degree day in Houston.  But instead of hiding inside all day as I would in the dead of winter in Minnesota, we headed to the Splash Pad!  Ephram and I both had a blast, though he particularly enjoyed finding a worm and carrying it around with him everywhere…  I got a few odd looks from one or two of the moms there, and no, I didn’t love him having wormy hands.  But I’ve learned, sometimes you just have to let boys be boys.  Wormy hands and all.

We’ve been to the Splash Pad with a couple of different groups of friends this summer so far, but yesterday we met up with the lovely Casey.  I think I started following her blog around the time we were both pregnant with our first babies.  She lived in Texas, I lived in Minnesota.  Fast forward two years and she was getting ready for a move to Scotland and I was getting ready to move to Texas.  We never had a chance to meet in person before she moved, but she’s in town visiting and invited us to join her mom friends/kids yesterday.  Casey is such a sweet girl, besides being so talented and having great taste/style.  So great to meet you in person finally, Casey!

I’m attempting to start a new family tradition of Homemade Pizza Friday.  So far we’ve done it twice, and I’m still learning the best way to make the dough.  This week I hope to try an overnight dough.  Ephram helped me last week since he’s in love with our mixer.  After adding the yeast and water, I told him we had to wait a little while before adding the flour.  I helped him hop off the counter and he took off to get his toy mixer.  After I retrieved the flour from the pantry, I realized he’d not only ran to get his own mixer, he was also trying to open the backdoor so he could obtain flowers for the pizza dough.  I absolutely love this age.  At least in between the tantrums…

What’s new with you this week?

Happy Tuesday!

Ephram has impressed me a number of times in the past week.  The first was when he threw away an empty box that he knew was garbage.  The second was when I asked him to bring a pile of clean clothes to his bedroom and later found that he’d not only followed my instructions, but he’d put the clothing pile inside one of his dresser drawers.  And shut the drawer.  The third was when I asked him to put his pajamas in the laundry room and I later found them not only in the laundry room, but inside the washing machine.  Makes me feel like a good, example-setting mom when I see him follow simple instructions like this.  BUT, there are still many moments when he disobeys, loses his temper, & throws things.  Good or bad behavior, I’m continually becoming more aware of just how much he’s watching me and learning from me, the habits that will become his own as he grows up.  Ryan wrote a post yesterday that hit the nail on the head.  Made me think even more about this very thing.

Quick & incredibly useful internet tip: I learned of IFTTT.com last night, which stands for If This Then That.  And just as they claim, they put the internet to work for you, by creating If-Then formulas for you.  I haven’t dove too far into what is possible with IFTTT yet, but so far I’ve set up recipes to have my Instagram photos automatically uploaded to my Dropbox, my Tweets archived to my Google Calendar, and my favorited Tweets put into a single Evernote file.  Okay, so this all might seem worthless from a distance, but it’s worth checking out the “recipes” they have and see if there are any simple tasks you could automate for yourself.

And, the most exciting part of me week so far?  Getting our new kitchen table.  Seriously, it shouldn’t be that exciting, but for this nerd, it is.  Beau spent over 5 hours putting together a tv stand, a kitchen table, and four chairs (all from IKEA) last night.  I wish I would have time lapsed the whole thing, but here’s 90 minutes worth of him and Ephram putting together the table in 50 seconds.  Ephram and I ate breakfast and lunch at the table this morning and I think it’s safe to say he loves it almost as much as he loves milk.  And that’s saying a lot.

One thing I was super excited about saving money on when we moved to Texas was a snow blower (very much essential up in Minnesota). Little did I know, there are other essentials down here in Texas. Beau and I had discussed hiring a pest control service a few times before we moved into our house, but nothing serious. Friday afternoon I called and hired professional bug sprayers, and it’s a good thing, since we discovered a dead black widow on our doorstep that evening. They came and sprayed yesterday, but he warned me that there may be an increase in spiders for the next week since they’ll be trying to evacuate our home. Sure enough, I’m 99% sure I found (& killed!) a brown recluse on our back patio this morning. My arachnophobia has doubled.

A couple weeks ago you might recall my frustration with finding cute boy clothing. Well I found yet another adorable online (of course) site for affordable boys clothing via Pinterest today. If you share in my frustration, head over here to NextDirect. I’m particularly smitten with these onesies.

Random discovery of the week: I’m a Bath & Body Works soap hoarder. Though, to my defense, most has been gifted to me. I love the smells, but I’ve just seem to stick with my Target version of Dove or Aveeno soaps in the shower. So I have started using up my BBW soap as a last rinse at the end of my shower. It leaves me feeling an extra bit of freshness. Right now I’m stuck on Cherry Blossom. Anyone else do this?

In less than one week, we’ll officially be able to eat dinner as a family for the first time in 2012. Now, I know that may sound strange, but we gave away our kitchen table before we moved from MN and ever since then Beau and I have sat at bar stools and Ephram has sat by himself in his high chair. Call me silly, but I just don’t get the same “family dinner” feeling when we eat like this. A new, round, white Ikea table will be delivered next Monday and fill a blank spot in our kitchen – and I’m super excited.

What are you excited about this week?

Happy Tuesday! Stay cool!

I am in love with Ephram’s love for reading. At least, until he asks me to read the same book for the 7th time in a row. I’m sure it’s a stage that will pass with time as he learns to “read” to himself more. And in an attempt to move that stage along I’ve been trying to read more in front of Ephram. Unfortunately all my recent book purchases are on the iPad, which Ephram relates with games, not reading. So, I finally picked up a book at the library for myself to read while he reads. Problem is, I’ve gotten so hooked that I have a hard time putting it down! I have a feeling I’ll be finishing this one off quickly, so if you have a book suggestion, please let me know!

My new iPhone game obsession: Little Things Forever. It’s like the modern version of Where’s Waldo. (Note: The original Little Things is currently free, but it’s only for the iPhone)

If you’ve been keeping up with my Instagram feed lately, you know that we successfully got Ephram to sleep in his toddler bed – not that we left him much choice by converting the crib into the toddler bed, but the biggest success was that he didn’t cry and he fell asleep after we left the room on Saturday. While his night time sleep seems to be undisturbed by the change, his naps are another story. Yesterday he quietly talked with his stuffed animals for over 2 hours in his crib without taking even the smallest break to sleep. This is probably the reason he’s been sleeping until close to 8 the past two days. So I guess this isn’t the end of the world, especially if he’s still willing to lay in bed quietly for a couple hours during the day. But the big transition will be to get him to sleep in his twin bed so we can move that crib into the nursery! Maybe some cute new bedding will do the trick?

The absolute best part of Ephram sleeping in a bed is that I’ve added a step in his bedtime routine where we talk about our day before I leave the room. Without crib bars in the way it’s much easier to talk with him after he’s been tucked in. The things he can recount from the day amazes me and he ends up doing much more talking than I do. Actually, this is fairly true about most of our days. It’s definitely reminding me that I need to do more videoing because photos just don’t capture the cute words he says. Like last Friday when Ephram turned a tape measure into a guitar and began running through the house yelling, “I pwaying the guitAARRR!!”

Have a happy Tuesday!
& leave a fun Odd or End about your week in the comments!

Despite my confusion of seasons, I’m stoked to create a Summer Bucket List with the inspiration of the Happy Family Movement. I know both Eprham and Beau won’t give me much input on the idea, but I have a few activities I’d like to have us do before we become a family of four. First on the list? Seeing fireworks. I’ve missed out on Fourth of July fireworks for the past 4 years as a meteorologist working rotating shifts, and Ephram was still a little too young to enjoy them the last two years anyways. But I think he’ll love them this year and luckily, his little brother will still be safe inside my belly (where it will be a bit quieter – hopefully).

If you’re a Facebook user and at all interested in business, this article may interest you. Last week Beau and I were discussing Facebook’s IPO – I love talking with him about that sort of stuff – and I swear Beau could have written that article. He had mentioned so many of the same points made by the author. Very interesting stuff. Especially web-based marketing.

Recipe Review: The Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken recipe was a hit! Beau said it was the best meal I’ve ever cooked. Sadly, the Fettuccine was the opposite. I gave it a 2.5 out of 5 stars, but the boys weren’t fans at all. You win some, you lose some.

Our holiday weekend was mostly spent adding a little life to our backyard – in the form of plants. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s looking much more pleasing to the eye already. And, talk about pleasing to the eye, I am in love with this hibiscus.

So, it’s no secret that I was sort of hoping for a girl this time around, but I’m not nearly as bummed as I thought I would be about having another boy. Primarily I think I’m relieved that I won’t be tempted by adorable girls clothing for years to come now. Of course, after I realized this over the weekend, I then came across some adorable boy outfits online. Of course the outfits I fall in love with aren’t just at Target or something. No, instead I stumble across the cutest stuff online (thanks Pinterest…) and then realize I can’t just buy it and have it shipped. I guess an hour trip to H&M is in my future. Unfortunately, these sweet rain boots are only sold in New England!

If you haven’t discovered HonestToddler on Twitter yet, you’re in for some laughs. I swear it could pass as a narration of my days at home with Ephram. Especially this one, and this one, and this one. Okay, all of them.

For the first four months of the year I really feel like I slacked at making good, semi-healthy dinners. I mostly blame two things: moving/apartment living and an awful first trimester with pregnancy #2 (there were definitely a few especially bad weeks in there where fries and cookie dough were the only things that didn’t make me want to throw up). But now that we are settling into our house and I’ve gotten my regular appetite back, I’m so glad to be cooking again. This week I have two recipes I want to try out in particular: Fettuccine with peas, asparagus, bacon – Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken

Over the weekend we visited the Alamo. San Antonio is so beautiful. These flowers are only a tiny bit of the beauty.

While visiting the beach this past weekend, Ephram picked up a handful of soft, white-ish sand and exclaimed, “Snow!” This is either evidence of being away from Minnesota too long, or just the fact that I don’t have enough photos from the beach printed and hung around the house yet. Probably both.

Thursday is my big ultrasound – the one that reveals the sex of baby #2. To say I’m excited is a bit understatement. I cannot wait to refer to Ephram’s future sibling as a brother or sister finally. Of course, once we know, it will be time to finally start settling on a name for him or her. If it’s a girl, we’ve totally got this covered. If it’s a boy though, well, I fear we might not settle on a name until we are at the hospital.

I’ve gotten so many questions regarding how I’ve done my pregnancy series (both with pregnancy #1 and #2), so I’m planning a “how to” post for next week.

I’m so in love with this super simple photo-a-week project by the incredibly talented Erin Vey. Most people cringe at the thought of trying to keep up at such a committed project, but definitely read her method here. You just might want to give it a shot with your own children. Wouldn’t you love to have something like that created with photos of you from your childhood?

Our friend Amanda is visiting us this week and before picking her up from the airport we told Ephram that Amanda would be visiting. He quickly shortened Amanda to Manda, which then became Santa (since they rhyme – sort of). It’s been three days and he’s still calling her Santa. (It’s just too adorable to correct.) Between his snow/sand mix-up and this, Christmas could be a little confusing this year for him.

This past weekend Ephram was invited to a birthday party with a petting zoo! Serious. Emery, your 2nd birthday party will probably be one that Ephram remembers for a very long time. Though the animals might remember Ephram even longer. :)

So, my efforts towards potty training Ephram last week pretty much fell flat.  We’re just going to have to wait.  But, there has been a slight epiphanie in the Gjerdingen household – if you sing Old McDonald to Ephram, he’ll let you change his diaper struggle-free!  Man, if only I had come up with this thought about 4 months ago!  At least I’m no longer desperate to potty train him anymore and much more okay with waiting.

Though I normally wouldn’t share a video of scraggly me, still in my pajamas and robe on a Sunday morning, this is just too cute not to share.  And I know several of Ephram’s grandparents who would love to see this.  So, please ignore me in the video and give your full attention to the adorableness that is Ephram singing his alphabet.  And by his, I mean, his.

Casey of Paper + Twine shared the birth story of her second son yesterday and I was anxious to hear it.  She’s actually from the area of Houston we now live in, and had her first son here in the US, but moved to Scotland around the same time we made our big move.  If you’ve ever been through a pregnancy in the US, I’m sure you’ll find her experiences, and the differences, a little interesting.

If you are in the market for an awesome and unique looking iPhone case, definitely check out Kal’s artwork on these cases via UnCommon.  So, so cool.

Did you see Justin Timberlake is now designing home decor items? I’m not sure what’s cuter – him or those designs?

I couldn’t find a Tuesday worthy photo to share today so I dug up one that never got blogged from last summer.

PS. In preparation for a new blog series here, I’ve got a question posted on the Facebook page that needs your response!

Sadly, our lizard, Francisco, was absent from our apartment deck on Tuesday and Wednesday as we made our move. I worry he may have become lunch to some pesky birds that had been eyeing him up all week. I sure hope he’s not the last one we see this year. Anoles are just so cute!

I swear the universe is trying to tell me something. Lately, I’ve been surrounded by inspiring people getting their run on. I was so proud of myself last summer for working through the C25k program, but once Fall came I lost a lot of motivation for running. And then the Fall cold season came and I found myself wheezing and out of breathe less than a half mile in on any run I attempted. I actually still get the wheezing occasionally in the evenings, just while sitting and watching tv. Super fun, let me tell you. And this is even after one round of antibiotics for it (pre-pregnancy)! Anyways, I’ve decided that post-baby, I WILL be getting back to running. I love having something to look forward to, but in the mean time, feeling baby kicks isn’t so bad.

Toddler speak is my new favorite hobby. I’m serious, who needs real hobbies when you can sit and listen to a toddler learn to talk all day long? The best quote from Ephram this week was last night as I let the water drain from the bath tub, “Water gone… I missing the bath!”

Did I mention how nice our new neighbors are yet? No?! Well the evidence now sits in my house: our first house-warming gift came yesterday from the loveliest (and also pregnant!) next door neighbor.