Chores

Let me start by saying that the mention of the word, "chores", sends a chill up and down my spine.  Don't get me wrong, I love having a clean house and pride myself on it.  The perfectionist side (okay, OCD side) of me hates it when something is not put back in its proper place or if the spines of books aren't straight and the wording is not facing the same way.  However, I hate the daunting task of keeping things clean.  Of course, right after I clean, I make the rule that we can't eat snacks in the living room again.  Then, after a few days, I forget how annoying the task was of cleaning out each sofa and corresponding cushions.  The biggest thing I struggle with is not that the house is not "clean", but that things are not picked up.  The fact that I have a 15-month old hasn't helped that task, either.  However, she has begun helping us pick up her books and toys before bedtime, so she essentially already has a chore at such a young age :)

This brings me to another goal.  Refer back to "Meal Planning" earlier this month for one of my other goals.  To sidetrack a bit, I'm in week three of meal planning and it is going fabulous.  It helps me stay on my budget by shopping for sales and avoiding impulse buys and I have increased my variety of meals.  Win-win!  Okay, so back to my new goal.  I want to do a specific chore (related to cleaning/upkeep of the house) each day of the week.  I've really struggled with having the daunting task of cleaning the house as a whole, rather than trying to break it up into more manageable pieces.  In other words, my daily routine of doing dishes, keeping the kitchen clean, and the never-ending task of laundry, as well as cleaning up her toys each evening will go on.  Some things are just a must.  However, I think I can keep the house really clean all the time if I follow this pseudo-schedule (subject to change):

• Monday: Dust/Windex every room.
• Tuesday: Vacuum all carpets.
• Wednesday: Clean bathroom vanities/showers.
• Thursday: Sweep tile/mop all floors.
• Friday: Relax and enjoy all of the fruits of my labor :)

I'm really just starting to type this as it comes to me, so things may not make perfect sense right now.  But I'm thinking that if I can spend 20-30 min. a day on these things, then it won't seem so overwhelming when I have to clean the entire house.  And, who knows, maybe I will find that I don't need to mop once a week, etc.  I really thought I would have a better handle on things once I stayed at home, but it almost seems harder now because I'm here all the time and things are bound to get more dirty. 

I will say that I am doing this in part because of our new purchase.  I can't believe how excited I got about buying a new vacuum.  I must really be a stay-at-home mom.  I also realized this recently when starting a Christmas list and realizing that 90% of my wants were related to kitchen appliances or utensils!

With the length of my hair, I tend to go through the cheapy vacuums about once every year or two.  Anyhow, here is my new "baby":





I definitely grew up spoiled when it came to having a clean house.  My mom would spend several hours on Saturday doing a deep clean of the entire house and Derek and I would be her little dusters, going all over using Pledge and Windex.  I want to strive to have as clean of house as I did growing up, but don't want to sacrifice time on the weekend/evenings to make that happen.  Here goes nothing! 

Bun in the Oven

By the name of my post, you may think this is one of my recipe round-ups and I will be telling you about a good bread recipe I found.  Well, this is not the case.  We are expecting our second Prentice baby in February of 2013!!!!!  We are so excited and announced to our family/friends earlier this week after my 13-week checkup with my doctor.  Nothing like hearing the baby's heartbeat...one of the greatest sounds in the world :)

To back track a bit, we found out we were pregnant with at home pregnancy tests in June.  So, this has been our little secret (between Chad, me, and Meredith) for a while now so what a relief to shout it out.  I say pregnancy "tests", because we took three different ones and then of course later confirmed things with the doctor in July.  Not only did we not believe the results, but the positive line was a bit faint and you can see how it got darker over time and there was no doubt by the third it was true.

June 12th

June 13th (darker even after just one day)

June 17th (no doubt there is definitely a baby in there)

Well, I definitely didn't need to worry about Meredith spilling the beans to anyone, since she is not much for words these days.  So far her vocabulary includes ma-ma, da-da (most popular), hi, thank you (with her own unique pronunciation), more (sign language so it doesn't count), and Jesus.  So, no need to worry :)  However, when we would ask her where baby is, she lifts up my shirt (or Chad's if he is closer) and points to my belly/bellybutton.  I think I should have taught her the word belly first, because I'm now picturing her at pre-school using the word baby when referring to belly.

So, we wanted to be a bit creative with our Facebook announcement that would not only hit long lost friends, but most of our family.  We first started by calling our parents and my brother by telling them Meredith was going to be a big sister, then texted some close friends, then announced on Facebook later that evening.

Here is the picture we chose for our announcement, which said, "Coming in February":

This was, of course, right before Chad caught her as she attempted to walk down the stairs on her own.

And, for laughs, here are some outtakes.  Notice, she is wearing different clothes, because I took these pictures over the course of a few days in different locations.  She was very uncooperative and liked to throw the sign.  I don't have any of those to post, because I was upset and quickly deleted them off of my camera.

Love her face in this one.  Looks like she doesn't want to be a big sister.

She could care less in this one.

Of course, we are picturing have moments of being overwhelmed, remembering back to how hard the recovery and how challenging a newborn can be, but we wouldn't change it for the world.  I can't wait to have our two little kids as playmates.

Oh, and did I mention I really want to wait the full 9 months to find out if it's a boy or girl?  The planner in me says "Are you kidding me?", but I really want to have a big surprise.  We shall see if we can hold out that long.

Meal Planning

So, today I tried something new.  It's something I've been wanting (okay...needing) to do for quite some time.  I actually planned out an entire week's meal on paper!!!  My final product looks like this:

I am over the moon thrilled that I finally did this.  I'm hoping to make it a weekly habit, possibly growing into a full month meal plan.  Only time will tell if that will actually happen.

I've always been pretty good at cooking at home and really do enjoy it.  However, since Meredith came along it's been too easy to say, "let's just go out to eat", if we can't easily find something to make.  I'm big on crockpot meals, but I've noticed lately that I will be short one ingredient and have to run to the store for that one item, which I find to be a pain with a 1 year-old.  So, I looked in our pantry to see what items we had and checked out the meat in the freezer, looked at some recipes online, and came up with my tentative daily meals.  This entire process took about 20-30 minutes.  Not too bad for a first timer.  Then, Meredith and I headed to Aldi and Meijer to pick up the additional ingredients we didn't already have in stock and voila!  I don't have to hit the stores again for at least 5 days and it feels awesome :)

Now I better get back to the amazing smell of chili drifting through my house....

Meet Me in St. Louis

In late July, we took a mini-vacation to St. Louis and met up with my parents.  It was a very HOT weekend with temperatures in the mid to upper 90s, but we managed to make a great trip out of it.  We had initially planned to go to either Grants Farm or the St. Louis Zoo that weekend, but it was just too hot and miserable to be outside for long with a toddler, let alone we adults!

We had my parents meet us in St. Louis because we needed someone to sit Meredith while we went to a Cards v. Cubs game.  We've been to both Wrigley Field and Busch Stadium before, but we had never been to a Cards v. Cubs match-up since being together.  Although the Cardinals played a historic 7th inning with 12 runs (boo!), it still made for a nice outing.  After seeing the prices for such delicacies as say water or lemonade ($4-$6 for a bottle) and parking ($15), we were reminded how nice it is to watch a game in the comfort of our own home.  Plus, we have a much better view that way :)

Opposites Attract!

Before the game, though, we found a cute little nature park not far from our hotel.  Due to the heat, we only were there about 15-20 minutes, but it was just enough time for a little walk and a stop for some rides.

Waving hello to someone.

Not sure if the stunned look was because she was tired or possible heat stroke (just joking!) :(

Mommy, Grandpa, Meredith, and Grandma.

Mommy, Meredith, and Daddy.

Such a pretty little place.

Our plans for being outside at Grants Farm and/or the zoo were quickly changed with the heat.  What's a person to do in St. Louis that doesn't involve being outside?  Well, the Science Center, of course!  I think I've been there on at least two school fields trips back in the day and then as a family at least once.  It's free admission and really has something for everyone.  Here are some photos of our day there.

Having a stare-down with the dinosaur.

Can't quite reach it!

She liked puppets...

....and the corresponding picture books.

Hmmm...wonder what happens if I turn this.

Our future engineer...

Of course, our little bookworm was never far from books.

Grandma and a tired Meredith.

Nevermind the engineer....our little computer programmer.  Like Daddy, like daughter.

And we can't forget the leggos.

What a little cheese!

Grandpa Prentice

What a hectic July we had in our family!  Filled with both good and bad times.  To get the bad out of the way first: Chad's Grandpa Paul Prentice passed away on July 12th.  He got the call early that morning and though it was not a huge surprise (he was 92 and in a nursing home), it is still always a shock when someone you have such memories of passes on.  It was a nice chance to catch up with the Prentice relatives, some of which we don't see very often due to location, but still sad nonetheless.  We also were a bit relieved it didn't happen on July 11th (as selfish as that seems), since we didn't want our anniversary to be associated yearly with his passing.

Chad reminded me that we were the same age his grandparents were when they married (28 and 26).  His grandma is still alive at 90, so it's a testament and an example for us to look at to see how we may be after 60+ years of marriage.

Grandpa Prentice in his Navy days.

Chad with Grandpa Prentice

Military funerals are an amazing thing and brought chills to me.