Crib bumper, my current addictions, and cave-woman

This post is totally random, but that's okay. If you don't want to read it, you don't have to! :)

We finally made the transition of moving Bryce into his own room. He has been sleeping right next to me in the pack-n-play for the past four months, but I felt like it was time for him to make the big move down the hall. It was really difficult for me. I don't know how in the world I'm going to let this kid go to kindergarten, let alone serve a mission in 19 years! Overall, he's been doing okay in his room, aside from a few nights ago when he thought that he would humor me by waking up EVERY single hour. I really need to do some sleep-training with him, but I have to make sure that I'm fully mentally prepared. It's really torturous for me to hear my kids crying, even when I know that it's for the better. When I was letting Lizzie learn to put herself to sleep, she would literally cry FOREVER, sometimes for up to 3 hours at a time. My husband can simply sleep through all of the crying, but it's impossible for me. I have to be awake and listen to every single decibel. I remember pacing around my bedroom in the middle of the night debating with myself whether or not to just go into Lizzie's room and help her go to sleep. But Jon would usually wake up for a few seconds just to tell me "Andy, DON'T LET HER WIN!", and then he would start snoring again. Lucky guy. I wish that I could be as detached. :)

ANYWAY, I made Bryce a crib bumper this week. I want to decorate his room with a Dr. Seuss theme, but the Dr. Seuss bedding is SUPER expensive. So, I thought that I would just make him a really colorful bumper instead. I looked online to see how other people made crib bumpers, and I tried to copy what they did. But I made a lot of mistakes. Overall, however, I think that it turned out okay. It serves its purpose anyhow. Making the crib bumper was a zillion times easier than making Lizzie's quiet book, so I really have no complaints! :)

Here's the little Chunka-roo, enjoying his new space. Just LOOK at those LEGS!!! I can't believe how hefty this little guy is getting. At his four-month appointment, he was almost 17 pounds and 26 inches long. Surprisingly, he's only on the 75th percentile for his weight, I thought for sure that he would be off the charts.

This is a picture of one of my current addictions:

It is sooooo super yummy. If you like nuts and seeds. We bought it at Costco. It's all natural, and contains dried cranberries, almonts, cashews, sunflower seeds, oats, flax seed, pumpkin seeds, and even more. I LOVE IT. I could eat it every day, every second of the day. It's that good. :)

My other current addiction is SALAD. I really love salad and we usually eat it almost every night with our dinner. And I have it often for lunch too. We buy lettuce like crazy in our house. And I never get sick of it. I love trying new dressings and adding different toppings to my lettuce to make it taste delicious. Well, I came up with the PERFECT salad. One that I could eat every single day and never get sick of it. I refer to it as "Andy's Perfect Salad".

Here are the ingredients:

Lettuce - preferably the dark green leafy kind. I'm a fan of simple Romaine mixed with a handful of Aragula.

Corn - canned, or straight off the cob.

Black beans - fresh, or canned. Recently, I have enjoyed Trader Joe's "Cuban Style Black Beans". They definately give the salad a little extra kick.

Red Bell Pepper - chopped up really tiny.

Shredded Cheese - just a tad.

Chicken - The salad tastes excelent without the chicken, if you prefer vegetarian style, but the chicken tastes great too. I like grilled chicken breasts. With this salad, I prefer to use a Blackened Seasoning Blend on the chicken. It tastes soooooooooooo yummy.

Bacon Bits - The fresh, chewy kind. Not the hard, salty, crunchy kind. And just a little bit...mostly for flavor.

Avocado - You don't need the entire avocado, just a portion. Although, it won't hurt to add the whole thing --- YUMMY!

Salt and Pepper - I like the seasoned pepper blend from Costco.

Dressing - I know that Ranch isn't the healthiest choice, but my oh my, it tastes SO good on this salad. You don't need a lot, just enough to provide a little moisture. The lettuce will already be a bit moistened from the beans and the corn, so you really don't need much dressing.

There you have it. My perfect salad that I absolutely adore. I honestly can't get enough of it!!

And here is our little "Cave-woman". We call her that because she looks like one at night when I take her braids out. Her hair looks crazy, and when she starts acting crazy too, she reminds me of a cave-woman. I'm not sure why. I haven't actually met a cave-woman in my life. In fact, I don't think that real documentation exists of what cave-woman were like. There are only speculations. But I honestly think that Lizzie would make a terrific cave-woman. :)