Christmas Gift Ideas for an 8 year old boy?

I'm starting to think about what to get the kiddos for Christmas (because holy cow less than 2 months!!) and Jasper I'm definitely stuck on. He's at a hard age. He's not super into 'playing' anymore. Which is super sad (for me!) ha. He will occasionally go in his room and play with his toys for a little bit, but for the most part he spends his 'free' time outside kicking a soccer ball, shooting a basketball, or tossing a football into the air to catch. He also likes reading! But other than that he doesn't play much. Help a mamma out if you have an 8-10 year old son and have some ideas!

So far my ideas for him are; 

Some clothes- kind of boring, but he likes new clothes so he will enjoy getting them, especially if it's Shaun White

A few new chapter books

Pokemon cards (he's recently gotten into this..) 

A new football (he is down to one as a classmate recently punted his on to the roof of his school) 

Maybe a new soccer net? 

He already has all the 'big' things I can think of like a new bike, big basketball hoop, skate board, roller blades, scooter... what else is there? 

We don't do a lot of video game stuff, we have a wii, and the old school 64 which he enjoys, but it's like once a week maybe for 20 minutes. 

We like to do one big santa gift, and a bunch of smaller ones, and I'm really struggling with a big gift! 

Boo at the zoo.

On 2 hrs of sleep. I deserve a medal. Or a reallllyyy big coffee. Which I got, so I guess I already got my price. Our little vampires had an amazing time. Soren, who has his first cold, had an okay time too I think snuggled up against me. They can't wait for next weekend!

Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend we pretended it was fall (its still high 70's even hitting 80's) and did our trek to the 'burbs for the best pumpkin patches. A decent pumpkin patch is just Not something you can experience in the city. Naturally I tried to get my kiddos to cooperate for some pictures. They just weren't having it. Somehow I can get good pictures of everyone else's littles, but my own? Nope. 

 Someone got his mothers resting bitch face..care to guess which one? 

 I did test out our go pro camera and took some little videos, so as soon as I get that loaded I'll be adding that!

*Stephanie B You are the winner of the zippadee zip- I emailed you!

Tindra Says

"Right now I'm in preschool but when I'm bigger I'll get to go to Tindragarden!"

"I'm so bigger than you" to everyone she meets. She will just randomly go up to kids who are clearly older/bigger than she is, look them straight in the eye and tell them she's bigger. Confidence is high in that one. 

"Mom can I put on some lipstick to match my pretty scara (mascara) "

"I always love cuddling you. Except for when I don't like to. But now I want to because I love to. Today."

Zippadeezip review and giveaway

You guys know by now how much I love sharing my favorite 'must have' baby products with you when I come across them, and the zippadee-zip is another one you need to add to the list.

I first heard about zippadee-zip from a friend when I was pregnant with Soren. She wast just transitioning her baby out of the traditional swaddle and said the zippadee-zip was a life saver, so naturally I made sure to book mark their page for future use as I remember the struggle with Jasper and Tindra when I was transitioning out of a swaddle. Tindra would have preferred to stay swaddled in her wombie till Kindergarten I'm pretty sure. 

We decided to start the transition out of the woombie last month when Soren was almost 5.5 months and not going to lie, I wasn't excited to make the change since day one (or like day 4 really) Soren has been zipped in his woombie and I was convinced the change was going to be horrible. 

I'm Thrilled to announce that I was wrong, so wrong. He made the transition beautifully. In fact, the first night he was in the zippadee-zip he slept from 7 PM to 5 AM! It hasn't happened again, since he still wants to nurse 3 times a night, but before that the longest he had gone was 4.5 hours, and now he's regularly sleeping 8 hour straight before waking to nurse. 

The zippadee-zip is so great because babies can keep wearing one even when they are rolling, crawling, sitting etc. It's so lightweight and flexible that it doesn't restrict their movements at all! A favorite feature of mine; it can be worn even when zipped buckled into carseats/swings/strollers etc. This is a big big bonus for us. Soren sleeps on the go often, and as soon as I buckle him up and lay him in his stroller, he knows it's nap time. Like I said, life saver!!

And now, for the best part, one of YOU lucky readers can win one! So go like ZippadeeZip on Facebook and enter below to win! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway




They also now offer amazing teethers for you to check out also! Good luck! 

Tired baby

Sorens was up at 5 am today. Fiiiiiivveeee aaaaaammmmm. That's too damn early. And then he woke up 20 min into his usually really awesome morning nap thanks to the neighbors getting a new roof today. And the same thing happened for his second nap. So he looked like this for most of the day. That damn roof better be done by his nap tomorrow.. 

Happy kannelbullensdag!

Today is cinnamon roll day in Sweden, oh yes it's a real thing. They take their buns very seriously there! Soren got to celebrate with his very first bite of dessert. He's a big fan! 

High point creamery

Third day in a row of blogging- whoa! Trying this from my phone so if it looks weird.. That's why. I was invited to come try out High Point Creamery's new fall flavors, so tonight after dinner we went. We became obsessed with High Point Creamery last summer (it's super close to where the kids go to Swedish school and right next door to one of our favorite burger places) so of course jumped at the chance to try their new fall flavors! They have the most unique flavors to choose from and they are all amazing! My favorite tonight was the pumpkin pie with a side of caramel, but Drew was obsessed with the malted chocolate. And the kids loved them all equally and refused to pick a favorite, but Tindra did inhale the Tipsy Peach preeeeeetttyy quickly so if I had to place bets, that's what I would put my money on as her favorite. Jasper said everything with Carmel on top of it was the Best thing ever. So basically, you can't go wrong. If you are in Denver, you definitely need to stop by! Great atmosphere, amazing  one of a kind flavors, basically can't go wrong! Thanks for having us High Point Creamery!

Rut

I feel like I've been in a blogging rut for a while now. Probably since I got pregnant with Soren and was so sick for 5 months, and then just so exhausted. And then throwing a newborn into the mix. Blogging started to feel like a chore. And I hated that. I started blogging our study abroad adventure just about 7 years ago (what!?!) and absolutely loved it. I just shared what I wanted to, when I wanted to, without thinking out posts in advance. And I want to get back to that. 

I started blogging to share snippets of our days, and most importantly to remember the every day adventures with Jasper. I blogged for me and only me. And that's what I'm going back to. Sure I'll share some amazing reviews (I've got a good one coming up including an awesome giveaway!) and fun recipes and all that, but sometimes, I'll just be writing Just because I feel like it. Because lets face it, blogging/writing is Much cheaper than therapy..

So to kick this off, I'm going to attempt to blog every day in October. Lofty goal right? I'd love to hear what you want to read about!

Have a fantastic Friday night! I plan on splurging (I've been eating super clean for the last week) on a slice of pizza with Drew and catching up on Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder. 

6 months

We are just a tad past due on a Soren update over here, but hes not 6.5 months! Yeah, over half a year. And nope, no idea where the time has gone. But at the same time, its almost hard to remember a time when he wasn't part of the family. Ya know? 

Sleep: Hes actually (knock on wood) getting a hang of this sleeping thing. He usually takes an hour morning nap (yesterday it was two hours!!!)  and then his afternoon nap is typically 2 hours. He refuses a 3rd nap and is honestly ready for bed by 5:30. But most days I hold him out till 6. Or 6:30 if it's a soccer night. But then he's out till 6-7 AM with a couple middle of the night nursing sessions that I'll be honest with ya, I'm in no hurry to cut out. Who needs sleep, right? But he finally falls asleep on his own in his bassinet and then ends up in our bed after his first night nursing session. I know I'm supposed to say he sleeps in his own bed, and co sleeping is bad and promotes bad habits. Right? Except I really couldnt care less. He's the first baby who has really taken to co sleeping, and if he wants to be in our bed till kindergarten, I'll let him. I'm guessing he will follow suit of his siblings though who as soon as they turn a year old are like peace out mom, don't need you anymore. So as this is (most likely) my last baby, I will savor every cuddle, every middle of the night wake up, and every numb arm from having a big headed baby fall asleep on it. I know now, with an 8 year old, that this time goes by way too fast. It's cruel how fast it goes really, so I'll take it all for as long as I can get it. 

Eat: He usually nurses 8-9 times in 24 hours, anywhere from 15-30 minutes at a time, and has started purees and table food as well. We will be doing baby led weaning, but more so when he can completely sit on his own. He eats 3 meals a day to try to up his calories, and he is a Big fan of food. Current favorites, avocado and watermelon, but has literally not turned down Any food that's been offered him.

Size: He had dropped down to the 3rd percentile in weight, which concerned me but not his Ped since he was still in the 65th percentile for height, but now at his appointment this morning he's up to 5th percentile and had gained just about one pound in two weeks- so I'll take it! Small victories!

I'm semi convinced he's never going to crawl, not because he physically can't, but hes literally the most chill, content baby I've ever met and just doesn't care to. If he drops a toy he's playing with either one of his siblings rush over with another one or he starts playing with his toes, he's very relaxed. Unlike T and J. But that could all change as soon as he figures out how awesome it is to be mobile so I'm not crossing fingers yet that I'll have a mellow child that will let me sit on the bench at the park sipping my latte instead of sprinting after them...