Followed my little one around with a camera for a while..

I may be just a tad bit biased, but I think I have the makings of a future model here. Too bad he hates the camera.

Swedish baby clothes are the Cutest. Hands down.

And they are seriously SO well made. I have yet to encounter any baby clothes that hold up as well as the ones we bought while we are there. I can't wait to go back next summer and fill our suitcases, but until then Im super excited one of my bridesmaids from Sweden has offered to pick up Jasper some warm winter clothes. Because lets face it, nobody makes  nicer/warmer winter clothes than the Swedes.

These will soon be a part of Jaspers winter clothes- these gloves are Amazing. They go up super high so snow doesn't come in and they Never fall off. We can play outside in the snow for hours (which we do) and when we come in his hands are still warm and toasty. Mamma's hands on the other hand- not so much. I need a pair too!! And these little pants are cute by themselves- or can be warm underneath pants, to keep Jaspers legs even toastier when we are out!! Thank you Polarn o Pyret!

Pics found on polarnopyret.se

Baby FEVER!

I've majorly got it. One of my closest friends back in IA just had a baby boy, several more there are pregnant, and one of my closest friends here in CO found out on Monday she is pregnant! I've had the fever for a while now, but it hasn't been the right time. Drew was finishing up school and starting a new job plus the whole getting married in October deal made us want to wait as well :) But when is the Right time?!?! Most of me is saying NOOOWWWW!! But thinking ahead right NOW isn't the best time either. We have plans to travel to Sweden at the beginning of next July for a friends wedding/vacation/late honeymoon- and doing that with a newborn probably isn't the absolute best idea (especially since I will most likely have to have a scheduled c-section next time around and I know the recovery could take a while.) Also I wouldn't really want to be like 7-8 months pregnant either, and you aren't supposed to fly the last 30 days I've heard so that's out of the question.

 And I need to take into consideration that I was really sick the first 3 months with Jasper- I mean throwing up 12-15 times a day, all day kind of 'morning sickness'. So spending thousands of dollars to go to Europe and being sick the entire wouldn't be the best. So I'm thinking being 4-6 months pregnant would be ideal. That for me was the' honeymoon' stage of pregnancy. I wasn't sick or even very tired anymore. I wasn't huge yet, it was actually perfect. But that only gives me a three month window when we decide to start trying! Decisions decisions.

I had to add in some baby Jasper pictures. And the pregnancy picture is of me two weeks over due heading into the hospital Aug. 2nd to be induced. 20 hrs later I was a mamma!

Weekly Organic Meal:Twice Baked Potatoes

I LOVE potatoes. So much. And I'm always looking for different ways to make it. Sunday evening I made these Delicious, organic, twice baked potatoes.

Ingredients

Organic large potatoes (doesn't really matter what kind, as long as they are BIG)

organic sour cream

organic butter

organic chopped up chives

cayenne pepper

salt *pepper

organic shredded cheese

Bake the potatoes in the oven until you can easily put a fork through- usually about an hour, more if they are bigger potatoes

Once you take them out cut them in half and scoop out all the insides into a large bowl. Leave the skin- so they are like little bowls.

In the bowl add all the ingredients(except for the cheese) together and mix. I taste a lot during this process so I can get it just how I like it.

 Once it tastes delicious- and it will- use a spoon to add the potato mixture back into your skin bowls (sounds kind of creepy) fill it to the top and set back into the oven for about 8 min. to warm up the potatoes. Add shredded cheese to the top of the potatoes then put in oven on the broil setting. This gets the cheese a little bit crispy. Leave in for 3-4 min. Take out and EAT!

I usually serve this with a bunch of stir fried veggies, or a grilled chicken breast. But this time I served with a side salad and it worked really great also. They also make great left overs for the next day so I always make more than I know we will eat. 

Weekly Organic Meal: Waffles

I think breakfast is super important (though I'm such a hypocrite and rarely eat breakfast) but I do make sure Jasper get's a good breakfast. We keep it simple and don't have a Ton of variety to breakfasts- he will either have yoghurt with fresh fruit, eggs and toast or waffles. I was buying those DELICIOUS frozen Eggo waffles- but on the quest to go organic those had to go. Sad face. So when I was looking at the frozen waffles at Whole Foods I saw that they were $4.99 for 6 waffles! I think that is CRAZY for frozen waffles! So I found a 10 grain organic waffle/pancake mixture for $4.99 and decided to make my own.

Last Thursday I whipped up a batch of it. I think all I did was add (organic) eggs and water to the mixture, bust out the waffle iron(kind forgot we even had one) and voila I had I think 13-14 waffles for J! I used Maybe 1/6 of the bag- so for $4.99 (plus cost of eggs) I can make Jasper almost 100 waffles!! Yay for me! And these ones are even healthier! I froze the 12 waffles we obviously didn't use in individual baggies and stored them in a big freezer safe container in our freezer. And this morning when Jasper asked for waffles I was able to reach in my freezer, grab a waffle baggie and pop it in the toaster! Jasper likes his waffles with some powdered sugar and chopped up fresh fruit.

I was emailed this because CF is an important cause to me..it only takes Maybe 30 seconds to vote..

My cousin has Cystic Fibrosis, and I was tested when pregnant for the gene and I tested positive..so needless to say this is a very important cause to me. I voted and it took me 20-30 seconds, so please log on and vote!

Dear Friend, With just 3 days left in the Pepsi Refresh Project, we urgently need your vote! The CF Foundation is currently ranked 5th out of hundreds of projects, but we need to be in 1st or 2nd place to win! Cast your vote today, and you could help the Foundation win $250,000 for important CF research.  Remember, it's simple to vote. Go to www.refresheverything.com/helpbabiesbreathe to cast your vote for our project online. You can also vote from your mobile phone! Text* 102534 to Pepsi (73774). You can vote once a day online AND you can also vote once a day by text until Thursday, September 30. Thank you for your support! Sincerely, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation 800-FIGHT-CF info@cff.org www.cff.org *Standard text messaging rates apply --------------------------- To learn more about the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, visit www.cff.org. Connect to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation on:   Facebook           Twitter  Sign up to receive information by e-mail. Remember to add info@cff.org to your address book or safe sender list to ensure that you will continue to receive our updates! Click here to unsubscribe http://llists.cff.org/u?id=13207767.733cd48913040af126351b8c33bacf88&n=T&l=cffinfo&o=89939  If the link does not work, please send an e-mail to on-unsubscribe@llists.cff.org from the address you would like removed. Read our privacy policy. Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 6931 Arlington Road, Bethesda, MD 20814

This looked fun: Meet me on Monday

I love getting to know more about the ladies whose blogs I read so I figured I would join in on this!

1.  How many TV’s do you have in your home?

Two. We aren't too big on TV in our house so really we should only have one. We have one in the living room/family room and Jasper has my tiny old dorm room one in his bedroom that has a VHS attached (yah, told you it was old) so we keep that in there and once in a while we will get a bunch of blankets/pillows and make a little nest and watch an old VHS disney movie together. It's quite cozy.

2.  What is on your bedside table (nightstand)?

My new lamp- which I LOVE- my kindle, my night facial firming creams (yes creams, I have 3 that I rotate between because I love them all!) and a class of water.

3.  How many pair of shoes do you own?

Not counting gross Old Navy flips- because I have about a dozen of those, I have about 25 I'd say. Is that a lot? It sounds a lot when writing it down. 

4.  Can you change a flat tire?

Not to save my life. That's what AAA and cell phones are for!

5.  Do you prefer sweet treats or salty treats?

Sweets for sure. 

Top Two Tuesday: Favorite Songs

This one is SOO hard for me! I can only pick two??

The first one is easy, but its a tie because I think they are my all time favorite songs by my all time favorite performers.

1. Fix you and The Scientist by Coldplay

And I think number two would be

2. Flake by Jack Johnson.

Those two have been favorites for years.

A couple of runner ups

Your Not Coming Home by First Aid Kit  
THe harmony between these two Swedish sisters is Amazing. Trust me. Listen to it.



This Year's Love by David Gray 


Sampson by Regina Spektor
 Oh gosh I have so many more, but I'm forcing myself to stop. Head on over to The Undomestica Momma if you want to play along.

I'm so blessed to have these girls in my life.

Saturday was a relaxing, errand running, kitchen cleaning type of day. Drew took Jasper on some fun outings which was great for them AND me because I got to get some stuff done that is nearly impossible with a three year old and one year old ( I nanny for a 1 yr old boy) tagging along.

Then Saturday night a great group of girls planned a dinner/mini bachelorette party for me! It meant so much that they took the time to do that. They all have such busy lives, and one even moved almost an hr away but came back for it. The 5 of us met last August when all of our just turned 2 year olds were in the same Little Gym class. Between the 5 of us we have two three year old boys and three three year old girls- and one of these lucky ladies announced to me last night she is 5 weeks pregnant!! Over the past year I have grown super close to these girls- we are all so different, ranging from the youngest (24 yr old me) to the oldest 32 yr old Michelle. Some of us are stay at home mammas, two are single moms, one of us adopted her daughter when she was 6 months, one of these ladies works TWO jobs so she can provide everything for her daughter Completely on her own. Some of use are VERY liberal, one quite conservative, and a couple of moderates. We honestly have more things Not in common than we do in common. But despite the differences in our lives we have been very close, and I know if I needed ANYTHING- these ladies would be there for me. And that's such a great feeling when my closest family members are 700 miles away.

Here are some pics from the night. Most were taken after I had consumed several "Darlenitini's" (Think malibu rum, peach shnapps, orange and pineapple juice"

And yes, I decided after a few drinks that doing Pilates in heels sounded like a fabulous idea

Where I complain about how I gained 5 lbs in one night..

Except I'm not Really complaining-because that would mean I wish last night wouldn't have happened. And I don't. Not one bit.

Last night 4 friends came over for wine & cheese night. We try to do this whenever we get the chance- which really isn't all that often. But when we do get together it's so much fun.

So three glasses of ride wine,
LOTS of BRIE
strawberries dipped in some sort of cream cheese dip
Cream puffs
Aged sharp cheddar
Aged havarti
Three different crackers/bread
hummus, pita and veggies..... Equals 5 lbs later.

Oh well it was an amazing night- got to meet a good friends new(ish) boyfriend AND I kicked bootay at Apples to Apples.. And tonight? 4 girlfriends who can't come to our wedding (we Are getting married 11 hours away)  are having a little dinner for me to celebrate. So I'm sure tonight will be filled with way to much deliciousness as well. Again, No regrets!! Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!

Going through old pictures for or wedding reception slideshow..

And found some old ones of Drew and I.

I think Jasper Might have enough hats for fall/winter..

He has at least two more not pictured here because I'd forgotten I'd bought him them a couple of months ago, and there is one more GAP hat that is to die for but they didn't have it in his size (my 3 year old has a head the size of a 7 year old, true story) and I'll have to pick up an Hanna Andersson hat as well because I always get him one, but then we are SET!

And about half of these are from last winter and amazingly enough still fit..so it's not like I bought him 15 hats This year alone..thats better right?  I can't help it though- its a lot harder accessorizing a little boys outfit. But hats? I can throw one  on and instantly the outfit is cuter. Plus we live in Colorado people! Hats are totally necessary for fall and winter here. So I admit, I go a little overboard with little boy hats. Whats one baby/toddler item you go overboard on?

I get that my son has long hair..but seriously? 4 people in an hour think he looks like a girl?

Maybe I just don't see it since I see him all day every day. But looking at my son, I don't think he resembles a girl. Yes he has some feminine features, like mile long eye lashes. And okay when the wears the occasional purple or maroon shirt (I get sick of blue) I can even KIND of get it. But when he is wearing this? 

4 different people stopped us today at Whole Foods and the post office to tell me what a sweet/cute little girl I have. One even looked at me like " Are you sure?" when I informed her he was a boy. Yes lady, thats my SON and yes, I'm pretty positive. On a side note- he has an obsession (okay we both do) with hats, and refused to take that one off even though its high 70's today. He did take it off for part of his Little Gym class though- but that's only because kids kept trying to take it. 

And yesterday was day 4 of the spray tan and I'm still LOVING the color! The weird streaky thing went away and I could not be more pleased with the color. 

Picture is from Tuesday night when we went out with two couples- neither who I had ever met but Drew knew both the guys from work. After I got home that night Drew informed me that one of the girls we had dinner with, her dad is the former governor of CO. Crazy huh? 

Amazing

This song is what got us started on our 3 hr youtube adventure the other night. This is one of my favorite songs, and this version? Well if you are anything like us you will have to play it at least 5 times. It's 4 Norwegian guys, and especially the last one, are just amazing. It wouldn't let me just post the video here- but copy and paste this into a new window and you will Not be disappointed. They seriously give me the chills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2NEU6Xf7lM&feature=related

Weekly Organic Meal: Chicken, Thai inspired meal.

Since we have decided to go organic I have decided I'm going to TRY to come up with one, delicious, healthy ORGANIC meal every week. If anyone has any suggestions for yummy, healthy meals I'd love to hear them! I'm especially trying to make meals that can be used well for leftovers as well since eating all organic is quite expensive- but if it can be used as left overs instead of tossing it like we used to do then we might not spend way more money every week than before eating organic.

Sunday night I made a yummy Chicken dish that was loved by everyone! I don't have a recipe, but its something similar to an amazing dish my friend Sofie made when we visited them in Sweden last winter. We don't have the same ingredients here as there so its definitely different, but still so good!

Ingredients: (all organic)
Noodle sticks (or rice noodles)
a container of sour cream
most of a small container of whipping cream
chicken (chopped into pieces about the size of my pinkie)
soy sauce
cashews
a little bit of salt and pepper

1.Sautee the chicken in a little veg. oil
2.In a pan bring the sour cream and whipping cream to a boil
3. Add in soy sauce- I can't tell you how much because I do everything to taste, but it should turn kind of a tan color (then add in a little salt)
4. When chicken is done, add into the pan with creams and add cashews
5.Boil rice noodles- for about 4 minutues

Add sauce to the noodles and voila you've got a delicious, organic meal!

We had it for lunch yesterday and I think it was even better after it had been sitting in the sauce over night- Drew also took it to lunch and was disapointed there wasn't any leftovers today to take with as well.

Next time I think I will use slightly bigger noodles though, that is the only thing I would do differently.



The pictures don't do the meal justed- its MUCH better than it looks.

Our weekend and a delicious meal to try!

The weekend, as always, went by way to fast. Drew works so much and so hard during the week that we barely see him- but weekends are Our time.

Friday night we intended to watch an Entourage DVD we got from Netflix- but I wanted to show him something on Youtube and from that song I wanted to show him we hopped around on there and the next thing we know we have been sitting in front of youtube listening to amazing music for almost 3 hours! So that was our Friday night.

Saturday I got up early to hit up some garage sales in our town. Twice a year they have garage sales for the community and soo many people participate in them. These are the only garage sales I ever go to, because the average price for a house in the community that we live in (we live in a condo) is around 400,000, so the stuff is usually pretty nice! I ended up just getting Jasper a bunch of toys- that he most definitely did NOT need and a few books. Then I went to an early morning pilates class (ive done one before) and i loooved it- but surprisingly I wasn't as sore from that as from yoga- I would have thought it would be the other way around. After that I came home and made lunch for my boy. During Jasper's nap Drew and I folded a TON of laundry, then I went and did the spray tan and Drew got a haircut. Followed by ice cream and a movie night with my love.

Sundays are my favorite day of the week. This past Sunday was 94 degrees (toooo hot in my opinion) so we ran some errands, did some grocery shopping, I got some quality ALONE time in Barns and Nobles where I had a GC to use and then we let Jasper play in Boulder Creek. Drew hung some shelving things (explain later) while I made us a delicious organic meal (which I'll explain in next post)

Top Two Tuesday: Favorite Hair Products

I don't use a lot of hair products because I don't ever actually do anything to my hair! It's naturally thick and pretty straight so it doesn't need much work. That being said- heres my top (and only really) do hair products I use!

1. Redken anti-snap leave in treatment. I love this products because my hair is so thick I need something to put in it after I shower or I won't be able to brush it later when it dries- so I use about 3-4 pumps of this and run it through my hair and let it naturally air dry. I always have hair dressers tell me how healthy my hair is for its length- and I think this product is one of the reasons why!

2. I almost always shower at night- and about once a week I will load my hair up with Redken Real Control Intense Renewal Moisturizing Mask- its a super thick deep conditioner and you can leave it on for 5 minutes, or 5 hours or longer. I usually leave mine on over night and when I rinse it out in the morning my hair seriously feels like silk. Looove it.

I can't wait to hear about everyone else's fav hair products!




In other news.. One of my closest friends since 7th grade is IN LABOR! She went in this morning to be induced and anytime now I will be getting a call- probably from her hubby- announcing the arrival of her little guy. I can barely concentrate on anything I'm so excited! Ashley is an amazing person and I could NOT be happier for her and her hubby. They haven't had the easiest road (its a similar story to ours) with getting pregnant and married at 19, trying to finish nursing school and balancing a family life but they have done amazing. I was in Ashley's wedding 4 years (and 3 days ago) and she will be in mine in less than 5 weeks!! Thats what kind of friend she is- that even though she will have just had a baby she will be there for me on our special day. Another crazy fact? One of Drew's groomsmen, his fiance, just had a baby girl a week ago! So two people in our wedding party will have newborns at our wedding!! Carraaazzzyyyy!

Spray Tan: Before and After

These aren't very good pictures because of bad timing, lighting etc. And the first one I clearly was not ready but we were in a hurry to get this spray tan and a haircut for Drew so it is what it is. The leg pic shows the weird streak- but I think that was how I wiped my leg off after so I should be able to correct that next time. The slightly orange palms are gone so I'm left with a color that so far I love! Depending on how the color looks tomorrow I'm thinking Wednesday will be the best time to get it done since our wedding is Saturday evening. If I shower Wednesday before I'll be fine with not showering till Friday and wont be showering Saturday because my hair stylist says my hair is to long and thick and wont hold curl if its newly washed. Good thing I don't like to shower every day anyway!

So I tried the spray tan!

I was confused and thought I had called and made an appointment for someone to spray it on me- as everyone seems to think that's the best way to go- but when I got there I was informed they don't do that- and since it's still 5 weeks till the wedding I figured I would go ahead and give it a shot in the booth.

The whole time I was super nervous that I was going to pull a Ross and not get turned around in time (if you haven't seen that Friends episode you must, its hilarious. But I didn't. I got turned around in time.

So far (its been 22 hours) I love the color, it's not orangy at all as some said it would be. My complaints? The palms of my hands are slightly orange, but not too bad. My friend who does this every couple of weeks told me to make sure to wash my hands and feet right after getting out so they wouldn't turn orange. I forgot to do this. So at least I know what to do next time. Also? I have a weird streak down the back of my legs (in the Exact same spot)!! I have no idea what to do about this!! But I still think I'll get one before the wedding because obviously my legs are covered up by my dress. I'll post before and after pics!

5 question Friday

1. What is the first nightmare you remember?

I can't really remember any early nightmares- I frequently remember my dreams, but they are seldom nightmares. Two nights ago I did have a dream that the church we are getting married in was flooded and we all had to swim down to the alter, but even that wasn't a nightmare, it was actually kind of fun!

2. Even if you're not a sports fan, what's your favorite sport to play/watch?

I like to watch Soccer, and I looove watching the summer and winter olympics! Skiing, gymnastics, ice skating and swimming are my favs to watch for that.

3. If you could pull off one piece of trendy fashion, what would you want it to be (jeggings, hats, thigh high boots, etc.)?

Well I wear jeggings (have had some since we were in Sweden so Im actually excited people will now wear them!) and if I think something is cute, I generally will just wear it regardless of what others will think. But one thing I don't feel like i pull of is hats!! Other than winter ones of course.

4. Did you make good grades in school?

I was the girl that got good grades without trying- even in college, and it tended to piss some people off who actually worked their asses off. I guess I never really had to try to hard. Except for in math. I Suck at math. And I was so right every time I told my teacher I would Never need to know 90 percent of that crap in the real world. Hello when have you ever had to do long division with out a calculator? Uhm never.

5. What magazines do you subscribe to?

I decided to cut magazines out and put all the money I wasted on that in our 'Sweden fund'- but I do love People and Cosmo. And I still have to buy any magazine with R Patz on the cover.

101 in 1001

I've seen this on several blogs- and love it. I love lists, and I love accomplishing things. So this will be a good way for me to figure out exactly what I want to do it and also to help keep track of what I'm doing. So Starting today, September 17th and ending in June of 2013. Wow. That seems so far away. By then Jasper will be almost SIX. That thought is slightly, okay Totally depressing.

There's no way I'll be able to come up with 101 right now, but I'll keep adding to the list. These are in no certain order.

1.Pay off all debt (not included student loans because private university between the two of us..well it added up)
2.Move to Sweden. Not permanently but for a few years- by 2013 I want to be there or at least be planning our move there.
3.Weigh 125 (currently 130) which for me I think is the perfect weight for my height (5'6)
4.Do pilates every day for a week
5.Do pilates and yoga regularly.
6.Being in the shape I want to be before having another baby.
7.Have another baby!!
8.Travel more around Europe- I want to see it all. Countries been to: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, England, Finland, Indonesia, Thailand, Virgin Islands, all of those several times.
9. Visit my dad in Brazil
10.Eat almost all organic, ALL THE TIME
11.After having 2nd baby- lose the baby weight again, and this time do it faster!
12.Graduate college.


Okay that's all I've got right now- will have to think of lots more!

Spray Tan?

Anyone done one? I'm contemplating doing one before the wedding but want some feedback? Do we like them or no? Any advice? I need to test one in the next week if I'm going to do it before our wedding because i do NOT want to look orangy, or blotchy or anything.

Svenska Skolan! (Swedish School)

Not only did my 3 year old start pre school yesterday- he started Swedish preschool! It's only every other Sunday for two hours, but still my baby went to school All. By. Himself. Well besides me standing outside in the hallway the entire time peeking inside the window every 30 seconds...and I Might have snuck outside to watch him outside at recess with all the other little swedish kiddos..but other than that he was ALL BY HIMSELF. And he did so amazing. THis is one proud mamma. They only speak Swedish to the kids in class- so of course I was nervous, but my little man did me proud.

Of course I had to get some pictures before heading to school..and one of him playing red light green light with his new friends