Making Memories

To you this might look like just a generic 90's shower with a random stuffed cat and plastic coffee pot haphazardly abandoned in it.  But to me, this is a memory of the sweetest kind.  A memory of a chubby cheeked, curly haired little girl marching around with her kitty and toy coffee pot, hiding in the shower and peeking around the corner with little giggles and shrieks, and then pulling me and the pup in the shower too for an impromptu dance party.  Both hands up in the air, swinging that kitty and coffee pot around like we're on Soul Train.

Every night after Lyla's gone to bed I get this crazy little thrill from picking up her toys.  Walking around the corner and seeing the play guitar on the ground from a morning jam sesh, and putting the book away where she learned to say "yak" just that afternoon...it just brings a smile to my soul. 

Remembering the sounds of her and Joan shouting "YAK!" with a fit of laughter following every one while I laugh to myself and continue to respond to emails and take calls for work.  Those are the sweetest moments.  And picking up those messes...as overwhelming as they can feel at times, it's a trip through memory lane for me.  Even if it was just a few hours before. 

Those messes are her imprint on this house and on my heart.  And let me tell you, my heart must be BIG to handle an imprint the size of her messes.  ;)

- K

Happy Friday! It's GIVEAWAY Time!!!

I'm so excited to announce that we were able to team up with Freshly Picked for a giveaway to celebrate our first blogging birthday!  I really can't gush enough about how great their little moccasins are.  I mean how cute are they?  And I swear they are the ONLY shoes that stay on little fat infant feet.  Like, really stay...not just for 30 seconds.

We just ordered the lilac for Lyla (perfect, right?) and I can't wait to share details and pictures when they arrive!!

Now onto the exciting stuff - the GIVEAWAY!  One lucky winner will be selected to receive a pair of moccasins in the size and color of their choice!  (Winner must be from the US.)  We will announce the winner next Friday, 10/4!

You can enter multiple times, and this is how:

1) Follow @freshlypicked and @kassirosechapman on Instagram, repost the giveaway announcement picture and tag #babiesandbrewskiesgiveaway
2) Become a follower of this here blog via the Google or Bloglovin apps in the far right column (both count as separate entries!)
3) Follow Freshly Picked on Facebook (leave a comment below if you did this)
4) Leave a comment below about how much you love our blog and simply can't get enough.  (ha just kidding!)  But comments do count as an extra entry!

GOOD LUCK!!

- K

P.S. Image credits go to Freshly Picked for the product and Heather Mildenstein for the photography.

4:30 AM Wake Up Calls and Other First World Problems

 

We had quite the early wake up call this morning, and let me tell you - 4:30 AM certainly looks a lot cuter than it feels. 

 

I have to say that I've been feeling a little off lately.  I finally made it through the sickness of the first trimester, but these hormones have been a real B.  And it obviously must be the hormones, because I'm simply never like that on my own accord...

 

For the most part I consider myself to be a pretty optimistic person, and I think I keep things in perspective, realizing that so many others are going through such harder times, but I have just been down lately.  Things have just been harder in general this time around, and I've had a whole list of complaints at the ready for anyone willing to listen.  Which is mostly just Ryan.  The other day I was going over the list, getting all "woe is me" when I realized that every one of them were such "first world problems".  It dawned on me that none of these things were real problems, and it was time to quit the pity parties.

 

But the truth of the matter is 19 month olds are HARD WORK.  Man, this girl is just getting to be more fun by the day with all the crazy personality coming out of the woodwork, but she is also getting more active, opinionated, whiny, and ever closer to those dreaded terrible twos.  Speaking of, I have a question.  If they didn't even bother to name this crazy pre-2 stage, like it's not even a blip on the terrible two radar, just how horrible are these terrible twos?  And what were we thinking having our kids almost exactly 2 years apart??? 

 

Well, this morning when I got that wake up call from the cutest little 19 month old, I knew it could be the start of a very bad day.  But I do believe that your attitude is a choice, and choosing to be happy was what I did today.  And guess what, me and my girl had one of the very best days.  4:30 wake up call and all.  

- K

 

P.S. This week is our 1 year anniversary of our blog and I have a really exciting giveaway to announce!  Stay tuned this week to find out the details!!

Go Broncos!

This is Lyla's game face.

It's usually reserved for very serious things like 20 minute buckling sessions, but who's to say she's not actually thinking "Let's go Broncos!!  Get those Raiders!!!" or something along those lines??

Happy Monday!  And GO BRONCOS!!

- K

Date Night

Last night we got to head out to the Eagles concert, courtesy of Ryan's company.  We love date nights, especially when they don't start until after L goes to bed.  (Why do I have such anxiety about babysitters putting her to bed??)

The concert started at 8, and we incorrectly assumed there would be an opener, so meandered about town until 8:45 only to find out we'd missed 1/3 of the concert.  Luckily we didn't seem to miss any of their best songs.

The band is all about 65 years old now, and so were a majority of the concert goers, which actually had some perks.  Mostly those included the fact that no one stood except for maybe 3 songs, and a bathroom break/ intermission in the middle.  The worst parts were the insane lines for the bathroom during said intermission, and the place was freaking HOTTTT.  I blamed the old folks for turning up the furnace.  Ryan blamed my pregnancy hormones.  To each his own.

They saved the best for last - Hotel California and Take It Easy.  And so did we - with a stop at Taco Bell on our way home.  All in all a very good night.

- K

 

Today was a Good Day

Today was a good day.  Just one of those easy days where nothing really went wrong.  Lyla was in the sweetest cozy and playful mood all day.  More shockingly there were absolutely no poop/pee/puke accidents.  And in a house with a pregnant lady, toddler, puppy and two cats...this is newsworthy.

...and then while writing this I go upstairs and find the puppy made it rain toilet paper all over the main floor. 

Today was a mostly good day.  ;)

- K

The Weekend

My mom was in town until Saturday afternoon, and Lyla ate up every second.  She dragged that lady around from dawn til dusk every single day.  The only good thing about being away from family is getting the concentrated one on one time when they get to come visit. 

We took Grandma to the farmer's market Saturday morning for breakfast.  Lyla and I got donuts, but Lyla decided she should just go ahead and both.  Personally I think her upside down technique is pretty fool proof.  I mean, the frosting IS the best part.

After donuts and a nap it was time to head to the airport.  We were so sad to say goodbye - Lyla is still talking about grandma anytime any little thing we did comes up.  It's pretty amazing the associations she's making these days.

After the airport we headed to dad's rugby game, which we saw about 5 minutes of before needing to head to the playground.  Luckily we happened to catch one of Ryan's trys and I yelled "Go, Dada!" and clapped with Lyla.  For the rest of the day she would periodically start clapping and yelling "Dada!".  Ryan didn't mind it.

On Sunday Ryan had to work for a few hours, but managed to have a quick dance party with Lyla to some of the music in Despicable Me beforehand.  It was one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

One of the best parts of the weekend was the awesome, cool weather.  It's really starting to feel like Fall and it scares me a little having come off the worst winter of all time, but I do love jeans, boots and sweater weather more than anything.  To celebrate I got out my Fall decorations which consist of 4 decorative pumpkins and 2 pumpkin candles.  I know, I know - getting crazy over here.

Tim also got into the festiveness and tried on his Halloween costume.  I'm pretty sure he loves his dinocat hat more every year.

- K

Lake Harriet

My mom came into town this week for an impromptu trip, and it's been nice to have a helping hand around!  Today for some reason we became overly obsessed with the idea of getting Lyla a baby doll.  I don't even remember how it started, but it quickly spiraled out of control and turned into a multi-store search, which I'm glad to tell you ended successfully.  We then went over to Lake Harriet, baby doll and stroller in tow.  L is very serious about her motherhood duties.

We played at the park, fed some ducks - well, mostly Lyla ate the bread herself while yelling "duck!"  We also had some delish burgers and L found out she realllly loves ketchup. 

They had a 9/11 remembrance concert going on at the lake, and I feel like it would be remiss of me to not mention such a significant day in our recent history.  It's so easy to push it into the back of your mind, remember the date and think something like "wow, can't believe it's been 12 years already" and move on with your day.  Except then you see the footage replayed, and stumble upon story after story of people that were there, family members that were missing.  That's when you remember exactly how real it was, and the feelings you felt watching it all happen.

I don't have words for this day, or the people that were there.  The people that helped and the people that are gone.   I am extremely blessed to not have had anyone involved, but I am forever impacted.  I will never forget.

God bless the USA.

- K

 

 

 

Milwaukee Road Trip

This weekend Ryan had a rugby game in Milwaukee which he asked Lyla and I to tag along to.  I am pretty ridiculously bad at geography, and have basically no knowledge of Wisconsin, so my immediate reaction was a very sarcastic "oh, yay."  But we went anyways for an adventure, and an adventure it was.

My cousin lives in Madison, and she happened to be picking up my aunt and uncle in Milwaukee the day of the game.  We hadn't seen them in over a year, so we met up in downtown Milwaukee that night and had so much fun catching up.  Turns out Milwaukee is a super cool little city!  It's a really eclectic combination of new and old, with a huge German influence.  Don't quote me on that because I didn't actually look it up, but just picture lots of cheese, sausage, and gnome shops.

The next morning we stopped in Madison on our way home and met up with the fam again.  We played at a park and ate at a great restaurant called Weary Traveler.  L was a pretty good little trooper the whole time, but I think she had enough "screen time" with the iPad for about a month in those 3 days.  Don't tell her pediatrician.  She was also quite obsessed with her Uncle Mike.  I think she could tell he's a grandpa.  :)

So, Midwest, you prove me wrong once again.  Every once in a while you really are quite tolerable.

- K

 

 

 

 

Oh, Baby!

We've been hiding some exciting news over here for a while, and it's so nice to finally announce!  We are expecting baby number 2 on March 9, 2014 and we can't wait!  Well, really I just can't wait to find out if it's a boy or girl first.  Decorating nurseries and washing tiny little newborn clothes are two of my all time favorite things ever.  And those newborn sized diapers...ah!  So, so exciting.

And scary, and exhausting, and how the heck are we already here??  Didn't we just have Lyla yesterday???  Cue those crazy pregnancy hormones...  Everyone say a prayer or two for Ryan.  ;)

- K

A Poopy Kinda Day

Today Lyla and I let Kevin out to go poop.  Which he did...and then got it stuck all over his furry butt, which happens way too often in my book.  So we played outside for awhile in an attempt to avoid the inevitable butthole cleaning.  While we're out there Lyla lets me know she's peed, so I go ahead and take her diaper off.  I mean, we're outside so no big deal.  Then she gets all watery-eyed, which is the tell-tale sign of poop...which again, we're outside, so whatever.  I guess.  After she's done I run her inside to her changing table to clean her up, then set her down on the ground (still diaper free) and she pees.  So I clean that up, and realize that I left the puppy outside with the baby poop.  So I run outside, and yep...it's gone.  And then I got to wash the dog poop off of the dog butt with a hose.

Sometimes I can't even handle all the glamour.

We recovered by washing our hands thoroughly, chugging protein shakes, making snickerdoodles and cuddling in the pup's new cozy bed.  There's nothing 4 or 5 cookies can't fix.

- K