Happy 9 Months Hudson Paul!

So Hudson turned nine months old over the weekend.

First, I can hardly believe it - it really is true that time speeds up for the second child, and I would imagine every child thereafter too.

Secondly, I've been feeling a bit of mommy guilt about the many empty pages of Hudson's baby book. I know this is the curse of the second child, and that many second, third, fourth children do not have the baby books that the first child does - flowery love letters and play by plays of every milestone. I'm trying to catch up, and luckily I tried to make a mental note of the big milestones so I could record them later.

So I thought to make up for some of those empty pages, I would celebrate Hudson's ninth month here.

Hudson, you have taken off ever since you hit eight months! You started crawling on Christmas. All of the crinkly wrapping paper and colorful bows were just too much for you not to get your hands on! Now you hardly hold still. Your favorite places to explore are the bathrooms, behind any door, closets, under the table, and anywhere I try to stash the vacuum cleaner your friend Mr. Vacuum.

You're excited to finally be able to get a good look at your brother's train table. You love to dismantle train tracks. You often make quite a mess out of the latest rail system that your brother's designed, but Daddy and I cover for you when he demands to know what happened. You even sometimes manage to get your little hands on a train or two. They're usually the ones your brother has cast aside, but you are happy as a clam.

You and Phinn are starting to make up some of your own games. You crawl over to the pack and play and press your face up against one side while banging on it with your chubby little hands. Phinn will go to the opposite side and pop up and say "Peek-a-boo Yo Yo!" The two of you will laugh and do it over and over again. It absolutely makes my heart overflow with joy to see you and your brother becoming buddies.

You are beginning to really enjoy eating. I pretty much give you a little bit of whatever we're eating, and you seem to prefer it that way. You were never a fan of the purees or having someone else feed you. I think we are either entering a growth spurt or all of your crawling has really increased your appetite, because I can't seem to get the food on your tray fast enough.

You absolutely love bath time. You pull yourself up on the bathtub and eagerly bang on the tub and squeal excitedly as I fill it up with water. You love to play with the bath letters and cups. I have to keep an eye on you, though, because you are always trying to drink the bath water. You even surprised me the other day by sticking your face in the water and blowing bubbles! During your first bubble bath, you seemed to be a little confused by this stuff covering up your bath water, but you figured out in no time that you could splash right through it. I'm beginning to think that between you and your brother, I am going to need to start donning my raincoat and boots when I have you two in the tub.

Hudson, you are a sweet, easy-going, happy little guy. Even though I feel like your baby time has been passing faster and faster, I make time each day to savor your babyness. Sometimes you make sure I get a good dose by waking up for cuddles in the middle of the night. I love your new toothy grin and the fits of giggles that go with it. Your chubby little cheeks are so precious, I can't seem to kiss them enough. You make us all laugh when you shake your head "no."

Nine Month Recap:

Weight: ~ 21 pounds. I am ball parking this because you don't go for your nine month check up until next week.

Sleeping: Still waking up once to cuddle with me for a little bit and then happily go back to bed. You do your best to grab a little morning nap as we drive, but you do an excellent job taking an afternoon nap usually lasting a couple hours.

Teeth: FOUR!! Two top and two bottom! You got them all at once. You were such a trooper.

Hair: LOTS! You still have so much hair. I think we may be taking you for your first haircut this month. Daddy will be happy, but I will probably cry.

Favorite Foods: Blueberries, mango, sweet potatoes, yogurt.

Favorite Time of Day: Tubby time!

Favorite Toys: Anything with wheels. You love pushing around cars and trucks, and you even sometimes make a little motor noise to go with it!


Hudson Paul, you've changed so much over this past month, I can't wait to see what you will be up to next!

Good-bye Cable. Hello Media Streaming!

As a kid, I remember never having cable. One of the perks of spending the night at a friend's was getting to watch Behind the Music or Say What Karaoke. I always thought I would have cable when I grew up - and I did for a few years, but we've been cable free now for almost three years now. We actually don't even get the basic network channels.

We weren't against cable at first. We had gone without it during our first few years of marriage, during which Hubs and I took turns balancing on one foot, sticking out our tongues, and scratching our head while holding the rabbit ears so we could get a slightly less fuzzy version of whoever's TV show was currently on.

Then we moved, and weren't able to pick up anything with the rabbit ears, so we sprung for cable. Not only did we get hundreds of channels, but we even had a DVR.

A few years later, we moved again and decided to go without cable to save money.

Now in the twenty-first century, I bet a lot of you are wondering how can we survive without TV.

Well, instead of paying $100+ a month for cable, we pay $7.99 for Netflix instant streaming and $7.99 for Hulu Plus. So, that is a savings of $84 per month. That's like a date night, or two jumbo boxes of diapers (depending on what's higher on the priority list this month).

We also have Amazon Prime (which is $79 a year), which we use mostly for the shipping upgrade because of all the diapers, baby/toddler gear, and everything else we purchase there - but I've recently discovered their great "Watch Instantly" video library.

I don't have time for TV, and I certainly don't have time for TV on its schedule, so these alternative options are perfect for me.

So here's what we are currently watching:

Hulu Plus

I have quite a few guilty pleasure shows that I watch here. I'm currently hooked on:

Revenge: I love mystery and suspense and enjoy trying to stay one step ahead of the plot. Each time I think it's close to the end, they throw in another twist. This show is in season three and I'm still enjoying it. It is an interesting plot of a daughter avenging her father's death, but the story line isn't designed to be a long series at least in my opinion. I'm sure by the end of this season the show will be on life support and the episodes will be too far fetched. When that happens, I will quit watching it because free time is currency in a house with children and you have to spend it wisely!

Nashville: Can I just have Connie Britton's hair please?! She was great in Friday Night Lights and I have enjoyed watching her in this role too.

The Good Wife: This show satisfies the side of me that once dreamed about going to law school. I know it's a TV show, and I know legal drama is far from the truth of a real courtroom, but I enjoy it. I enjoy seeing the internal conflict some of these lawyers manage when representing guilty clients or big bad corporations.

The Hubs has his shows as well. He enjoys watching Community which I can get on board with every once and a while. The episode "Basic Intergluteal Numismatics" episode  absolutely killed me! It's an issue some people...ahem..around our house struggle with. He also watches Key & Peele, but that's not really my thing.

Some of the shows that we share are The Daily Show, The Colbert Report (See, you can still get your news without CNN and FOX. I used to say that sarcastically, but I have actually come to believe that their reporting is if not as good, possibly better than cable news channels.), the occasional SNL, and of course Parks & Recreation - our Friday evening tradition.

Netflix

What do you do when your three year old wakes you up at 5:30 AM and your sleep deprived self is not ready to function? You catch a cartoon or two on Netflix, so your toddler is happily occupied and you can ease into the morning. Needless to say, Phinn, our energetic, early riser has enjoyed some Netflix lately. Some of his current favorites are Curious George, Justin Time, The Magic School Bus, and Phineas & Ferb.

Netflix also has some great full length children's movies if you're looking for something for family movie night. We have watched The Lorax and The Polar Express (more times than I can count!) and I'm thinking about showing some of the older Disney movies such as The Sword and The Stone and The Great Mouse Detective.

Hubs and I have been watching Freaks & Geeks - with a young James Franco, Seth Rogen, and Jason Segel, which is an underrated one season sitcom from 1999. Some of the movies on our list to watch include Say Anything, which is an 80's cult classics starring John Cusack and has the infamous scene of him in his girlfriend's front yard holding a boombox playing "In Your Eyes," and Broken Flowers, a Bill Murray movie from 2005 which he claimed to be his best role yet.

Most of all, we're eagerly awaiting the return of House of Cards! If you have not checked out this Netflix series starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, I cannot recommend it enough, especially if you enjoy political dramas. I will say, at times it made me disgusted. I wonder how accurately it depicts the political arena and the DC world  in general. It's all food for thought and can make for great debates (or politician slamming).

Amazon Prime

We've been slow at integrating Amazon into our media streaming, but lately we have been perusing their movie selection to save ourselves $1.26 by skipping Redbox (Okay, I'll be honest - it's usually upwards of $3, because I tend to fall asleep and need another night or two to finish the movie!) Some of the movies on our watch list include: The Truman Show, Waking Ned Devine, Sleepers, and The Painted Veil.

I used Amazon Prime to watch Dowtown Abbey for free. The only downside is that I can't watch it until the season is over unless I want to pay $2.99 / episode.

I will say, the one downside to not having cable is not having a sports package. Not that we usually have time to sit down and watch a whole game, but I know Hubs would love to watch more Hokie football and I could do with more STL Cardinals baseball - and we both could use some March Madness. We did look into getting a sports package, but it wasn't worth the cost. Maybe in a few years when the boys are more interested in games and there is a more reasonable option available.

So, if you're interested in saying "good riddance!" to overly priced cable that comes with all those channels that never have anything on, or if you've already broken up with cable and our looking for some media streaming options, definitely check these out.

If you are already hip to this, let me know some of your favorites. I'm always looking for new options to add to my queue!

Be Safe My Runner Friends

I read a heart breaking story today. A wife, a mother of three young children, a runner who is no longer here. She was struck by a car on her morning run this past Sunday. The driver was drunk.

According to the news reports I have read, she was running at 8:15 AM, so there was ample daylight. She was running facing traffic, which is proper road safety. I do not know if she was alone. I do not know if she was wearing headphones.

As a mother and a runner, this hits me right in my heart. It makes me sick to my stomach. It scares me.

How many times have I run with my headphones in and had the volume up loud enough to be startled by a car. How many times have I run routes that incorporate turns with poor visibility for runners and drivers. How many times have I thought, Surely that car sees me. They will slow down. They will cross over to the other lane. How many times have I put trust in the hands of those driving around me while I run.

Too many times.

I am generally a very safe and cautious runner. I run facing traffic. I stick to the side of the road. I dress to be visible. I run during daylight hours. I try to keep my music to a level where I can still hear what is going on around me.

But like so many accidents, it's a lot of little things that may seem harmless in and of themselves, but together, they can add up to tragedy. 

My pragmatic side tells me that freak, tragic accidents like this one happen sometimes. However, I also feel like this is a wake up call for myself and other runners to buckle down on runner safety. Take those headphones out of our ears. Educate ourselves on how to enjoy our hobby safely. Plan routes that give us visibility.

This is also a wake up call to drivers. Runners and others on and near the road are trusting you to be a safe driver.

I don't think I need to lecture on the importance of not driving under the influence.

But I think we all need to take a minute to think about how safely we are driving. Are we texting while driving? Are we trying to find the right Spotify playlist? Are we updating facebook? Checking our email? Are we eating and drinking? Are we trying to reach a toy in the back seat to appease a whining child? Are we too tired? Are our minds elsewhere?

I know there are times where I am guilty of these things. And I think about where we feel the safest to do these things -- neighborhoods.

Driving in a neighborhood does not demand any less attention than driving on the road. It only takes a second for a child, a runner, a biker, a pet, etc. to come out of nowhere. Traveling at a slower speed, does not justify paying less attention to the road and its surroundings.

On Saturday, people across the nation will be running for Meg. The young woman, wife, mother, runner who was killed.

I plan to pound the pavement and think of her, her husband, her children, and her friends and family left behind. I will run and pray for good to come of this tragedy, to remind myself not to be afraid but to be safe, and to think about how I will teach my children to be safe runners and safe drivers.

And my headphones will be tucked inside my desk drawer, where they belong.

Please fellow runners, take a minute and read over these General Running Safety Tips from Road Runners Club of America and think about how you can make your own runs safer.

New Year, New Approach

So I just finished catching you up on my old news, let's get on to NEW things. (Disclaimer: No big announcements or anything, in case you were about to eagerly scroll down the page hoping to find a big reveal.)

As you can see, my blogger template is quite outdated. That's exactly what happens when you take a blog snooze for two years. It's just not as pretty or exciting as all the other ones out there. I'm hoping to soon take vie balance through a makeover. I have been eyeing some custom designs for a while and hope to make a decision soon.

With the new year underway, and being the goal-orientated list maker that I am, I have a lot goals for 2014: Read more. Exercise. Eat Healthy. Spend more time in the moment. Blog. Stress less. Pay off some debt. Spend more time outdoors. Take more photos.

The list could go on. What can I say? I'm an idealist and I always set high expectations for what I want the future to hold.

After I had mentally made this list, I laughed and thought about all the extra hours I would need to add to each day to accomplish them. Then I realized that the best thing I can do for myself is to be a better steward of what I have - whether it's time, food, money, resources, or seconds to breathe before someone needs me.

So that's my primary goal for 2014 - to better use what I have, and make it really count. Maybe in the process, I'll accomplish some of these other goals - or maybe I'll end up some place else. Either way, I want to try to enjoy the journey more and stress less about crossing off items on my "to do" list.

Although here is a great picture of exercising, spending more time outdoors, and taking photos. You can't take the control freak out of me that easily ;)

Phinn enjoying our New Year's Day hike.

Has It Really Been Two Years???

I'm diving back in to blogging after an almost two year hiatus. I'm not sure what took me away from you - whether it was just life, or if I felt I was done sharing - but I'm back, and with lots to share.

Here are the major highlights from my time away:

In April 2012, we bought a house

Besides testing all the doors in the model house, putting this sticker

 on the map was the highlight of the house buying experience for Phinn. 

In July 2012, we moved in

Our house on its little hill.

In August 2012, we found out we were expecting baby #2, and in April 2013, Hudson Paul changed our family of three to a family of four

My family of four. Shortly after this Phinn tried to 

hijack his brother's photo shoot.

In September 2013, Phinn started preschool

First day of school. Every school day after that for the 

next month, Phinn expected a sign and a photo shoot

 before we would leave the house.

In October 2013, Phinn turned three years old

And he still asks, "Is today my birthday?"

There were lots of celebrations and vacations in between

Phinn leading the dance circle at a wedding. 

His dance card was full that night.

Family trip to Colorado to ski Breckenridge and to visit my brother.

Traditional Demmitt family Easter bunny cake. 

Hubby thinks its creepy. I think its cute.

Phinn and I rode an elephant together. 

My little monkey and the Man in the Yellow Hat. 

Curious George is a big deal around here.

I think our facial expressions pretty much sum it up.

Someone was filled with a little too much brotherly 

love at Hudson's baptism.

I had some difficulty deciding what to talk about on the blog. Should I focus on fitness? Cooking? Motherhood? My thoughts on the current state of the world? 

Then I realized - I don't need to limit myself. I think to best share, I need to share what is on my mind and my heart. So you're in for it now, just ask my hubs!

I've found myself in a similar yet very different situation to when I first began blogging. I'm trying to balance so many things, and in the process, I'm learning more about parenting (especially parenting two children and being the parent of a three year old) and myself. Life is keeping me busy.

I'm working to get back in shape. It seems to be more of struggle after baby #2, which probably has something to do with my time being stretched further - also maybe the amount of sugar and carb quick hits I've been taking to feed myself while fighting sleep deprivation and living on the go.

I'm cooking for Hubs and I, and Phinn who has become picky in his old age. I am coming to believe his refusal to different foods is based not on taste, but simply on exercising his three year old sense of independence. Hudson has pulled his high chair up to the table and loves finger foods. It was a constant battle to feed him with a spoon, so we have been taking a more "baby-led weaning" approach with him.

I'm working part-time from home with no sitter. Yes, you read that correctly - I have a baby and a toddler and I'm working from home with no sitter. I must be crazy! Luckily, my work is fairly flexible, and I can do a lot of it when the boys are napping or in the evening. To be honest, most of it is happening in the evening, because days when both boys nap not only at the same time, but also long enough for me to get much accomplished is...rare. When it does happen, though, it's known around our house as a double rainbow.

On top of all this, I am also trying to identify a new career field for myself. I have lots of interests (fitness, writing, cooking, photography) that I want to focus on and see what comes. I feel like blogging is a great way for me to explore all of these things.

Right now my world is chaotic (and my house even more so, but they say that's a sign of a good mom, right?!) and some days I struggle to find balance, but on days when I do, I feel like I have reached the sweet spot. And we all do a happy dance to celebrate.

So I'm back, and hope to see you around! ;)