Alright everyone… I have a new approach to changing my health and lifestyle. I have decided to start a blog that will chronicle all of my steps to lose weight or Fight the Fluff as I now call it. I can hear it now…A new blog, you ask? Woman are you crazy? Nope! I find writing my blogs to be very cathartic and enjoyable, so why not add this step to a process that at times feels hopeless and very difficult. Sharing my thoughts, feelings, accomplishments and setbacks in a public forum with the people I know love and support me, I feel, will add to my eventual success and loss of fluff. So please visit and read about my journey at Fight of the Fluff (you will have to read my introduction to understand the meaning behind the title). Thank you in advance for your support and I hope you enjoy it as much as you enjoy The Baby Babbler. To visit this blog simply click here. Enjoy!
Month: August 2011
Happy 3rd Birthday Harrison!
Today we celebrated at the Grape Arbor Park in Calabasas with Harrison! What did we celebrate? His 3rd birthday of course! I cant believe our babies are turning three! It means that Abby is not more then a month away from this milestone. Yikes!
As it seems to always happen for the Guerrero Family, the day was one of the hottest of the year. The mercury reached 106 degrees and it was a bit humid to boot. Luckily the park has a lot of shade trees and all of the picnic tables sat underneath the arbors. Erika made Harrison’s cake again this year and it turned out great! The theme was Thomas and Friends and the cake certainly reflected that. I love that she even made a train tunnel. Very talented!
The kids played to their hearts content and didn’t seem to be affected at all by the heat; its great to be a kid! Abby had the chance to make a few new friends and play until she was actually asking us to go home and take a nap. Now that was a great party! Unfortunately Harrison and Abby are at that age where they don’t want people taking pictures of them, so I only have a few. Ellie, on the other hand, didnt have an issue with it. We love spending time with the Guerrero family and of course, celebrating birthdays with them!
The beautiful and very yummy cake, made by Erika! It turned out great!
Ellie had the right idea and found a great way to stay cool on a hot day.
Mmmmm, ice! Not only was it refreshing, it also felt good on her gums. She is finally starting to cut one of her top teeth!
I wanted a picture with Abby. Abby thought otherwise.
Singing “Happy Birthday” and cutting the cake. Notice the three large white spots on the front bottom portion of the cake. Yeah, that is where Abby decided to stick her fingers. Gotta love that girl.
Little Ellie girl attempting to climb the steps on the jungle gym. She had no problem with it while mommy, on the other hand, nearly had a heart attack when she saw how far up she went. What an adventurous little cutie!
Adventures in Organizing…Part One.
I have begun a mission, a mission to get rid of the junk in our house and keep it as clean as one possibly can with two small children. To get my feet wet, I decided to start with our bathroom. It really needed it. The Fly Lady helps a lot and while I don’t follow her intensely right now, its my plan to do so. If you are wondering what The Fly Lady is, click here to check things out!
The Fly Lady has one mantra that I know is working for me and that’s “Baby Steps”. I am usually the one that bites off more then I can chew and then has twice the mess half way through than what I started with. Its at that point I give up and nothing gets done. So tonight I decided to tackle one a small chunk of our master bathroom, the counter top and the top drawer. It took me only 20 minutes to complete both and I no longer live in clutter! (Well in those two places at the very least.)
Before
I constantly tried to organize this counter top, but to no avail. I needed a better system and I wanted counter space once again!
After
Counter space and accessibility to some of the items Shaun and I use on a daily basis.
I have to say that the two things that helped our situation the most were the jars I bought and re-purposing the top drawer because I had a new place for the things inside it. Here are a few tips that I discovered:
- First off, I didn’t want to spend a ton of money reorganizing. I have enough junk as it is so I didn’t need to add anything else to the mix. So I went to a place where I knew I could find things at a very cheap price… Walmart. Ok, so I know a few of you out there have some issues with them and so do I but I knew I could find what I needed without breaking the bank. I just had to get past the lack of organization and the chaos.
- What I wanted for the counter were apothecary jars to hold cotton swabs and cotton pads. I went to the bath section and found some cruddy looking plastic ones with metal tops. They cost $8.99 a piece. When I went to look for some drawer baskets I found myself in the kitchen organization section and found the beauties you now see on my counter. For a total of $8.97 plus tax I was able to buy all three of them. So, ONE cruddy PLASTIC apothecary jar for $8.99 a piece or THREE GLASS jars for $8.97 total. I WIN! It just takes a little bit of searching.
- The small jar holds my cotton pads perfectly, the medium jar holds our cotton swabs, and the large jar holds my collection of lip gloss that I can never find when I actually need one of them. Now my lip gloss and chap stick can be found in one place and it looks pretty too!
The top drawer was simple to clean out. Most of the cotton swabs in the box fit into the medium sized jar and what was left in the box is now stored in our linen closet (another baby step for later). Basically once the jars were full, this drawer was empty. Now I could rid myself of one of the biggest pieces of clutter on my counter, my make up bag.
Before
Poorly used and cluttered drawer space
After
My new clean drawer with accessible make-up, moisturizer and face cleansers.
This one was a really cheap fix too! The black basket for all of my brushes was something I already had in the house. Its actually meant for my desk drawer to hold supplies but I wasn’t using it. So I re-purposed it. The three white baskets I also found at WalMart and set me back only $1.97 for all three.
So for this little adventure in organizing, I spent a total of $10.94 plus tax. Not bad and now my sanity is safe. At least for the moment. Next step, tackling the two remaining drawers and the cabinet under my sink. What about Shaun, you ask? Well, he is a guy so clutter in the bathroom really isn’t an issue for him! On to the next!
A Saturday at the Park
Today was another lazy Saturday at the park. We got there early to beat the heat, but luckily there is always a nice cool breeze blowing here. Abby and Ellie had a blast and of course they were tuckered out by the time we left. I love lazy days at the park, although sometimes I wish when I said lazy days at the park it meant the same thing it does to my parents… Yellowstone! Oh well, I wouldn’t trade in these moments for anything. And, for once I don’t have a lot to say. Just enjoy the pictures!
Mommy-Daughter Date Day!
Today Abby and I had a mommy-daughter date day! It was our very first since Ellie was born and I think it was something long overdue!
To start I took a very hungry Abby to lunch. We headed to Red Robin where Abby and I had lots to talk about, like Disneyland, books, the park and lots more. Abby even made a little friend while we were there. She even decided to sit in the booth with us! Her mommy didn’t even try to stop her, I love it when parents watch out for their children like that! Abby had a corn dog for lunch and I have to say, this might just be a new favorite.
After lunch we headed to the library. Without Ellie with us we could take our time and really enjoy the library experience. We went through all the shelves of books and found some new ones as well as a few favorites. We sat down on the soft couches and read together for a bit. After reading a few books we headed over to look at the fish in the large aquarium that connects the children’s wing to the main library. Guess what… We Found Nemo! From there we found a few books for mommy and then headed over to check our books out. The library now has a self check out section, so Abby got to help scan the books and make sure they were demagnetized.
After the library we headed to the park and played for a bit. Abby bounced around from one jungle gym to the next, over to the seesaw, to the swings and then back to the jungle gym. It was a quiet day and most of the kids at the park were hanging out in the play areas for bigger kids. Its ok, Abby has a great imagination and ran everywhere making up games as she went along.
Before long Abby was exhausted. So we left the park and stopped for a drink; it was a pretty warm day. On the way back to the valley to pick up Ellie, Abby passed out and took what I would assume was a very good nap. She was snoring! Nothing like a great ending to a great day, and it was so wonderful to have some one on one time with my punkin!
Sunday Reading
Today we stopped by Grandpa and Nana’s for a bit, to say hello. It was warm out and everyone was relaxing. The girls went straight for the books! Daddy read a few books to the girls and Nana read to Ellie. Abby was even given an old copy of The Wizard of Oz to look at. She was very gentle and seemed genuinely interested in it. I cannot wait to read those stories to both she and Ellie when they get older! Sometimes a good day is just reading books with family. It also makes me so happy to see that our girls love to read! Its a good start!
All In A Saturday!
This Saturday started like any other Saturday would. The girls stayed up late Friday night, so we had the chance to sleep in a bit. When we did get up, the girls hung out in our room for a bit, playing and snuggling and then we headed downstairs for some breakfast. After breakfast and a few hours of playing, dancing singing and helping mommy do chores (I say that with a wink because the help usually unfolds the laundry I just folded) it was time for a nap. The nap would be a much needed one because, unlike most Saturday afternoons, ours was about to get a bit busy.
When nap-time was over I walked into the room and this is what I found…
Ellie had the best case of bedhead that I have seen from either of the girls so far. She must have sweat a bit in her sleep or something because her hair was out of control and glued that way. I had to use some of Abby’s detangling spray to make it look somewhat normal again! She didn’t care though. The sleep that created that bedhead must have been good, because Ellie woke up happy as a lark.
After fixing the crazy hair and getting dressed, we headed on over to the Escobar’s house to celebrate Emily’s 3rd Birthday! Wow, I cant believe Emily is 3 and the scary part to that is that means there is only a month and a half until its Abby’s turn. Where does all the time go! For her birthday Emily had a Dragon Castle Bounce House, boy oh boy did Abby have fun. She jumped and hopped and slid all over the place with Emily. Its fun to be a kid and play that hard.
Emily’s birthday was Jessie themed. For those that do not know, Jessie is the cowgirl from Toy Story and one of Abby’s favorite characters. Jackie made Emily’s dresses for the big day and she looked ADORABLE! I might have to convince Jackie to make one for Abby one day!
Inside the house, Ellie was having a blast with all the balloons hanging from the ceiling. One red balloon, in particular, became her friend and she carried it all over. I have to say, being that she is only 13 months old, she did a pretty good job of holding onto that balloon. They were helium filled, so if she let go they went up up and away, well to the ceiling. Luckily someone was around to grab that red balloon down for Ellie.
As our time at Emily’s party ran out, we thought it would be a good idea to get a picture of Emily and the girls. Jackie put Abby up in the chair for me and the fun began. Trying to take a picture of three children who are three and under is a tough task. This is the best picture I could get. At least they are all looking in the same direction!
After we left the party, we headed to the Ventura County Fair. We got there a bit late in the evening, so we didnt spend a lot of time there, but we had a blast. Abby and Ellie were completely engrossed with all of the lights, the sights and the sounds. Abby was so into it that she even had her first big accident since potty training. UH OH! Actually it wasn’t a big deal at all, nothing a change of clothes cant fix!
When at the fair, you must indulge in some fair type food… grilled corn on the cob, funnel cake, chicken, popcorn. Or how about the largest corn dog I think I have ever seen?! No Abby didn’t eat it all, it actually started off as Daddy’s but of course, it ended up in someone elses hands. Abby and Daddy thoroughly enjoyed it and even had to toss some of it away! It was huge!
After a snack we headed over to play some games. Shaun and I played the ring and bottle toss game but to no avail. That one was harder then it looked. We then headed over to the water hose game, using high pressure water to race Curious George to the finish line. We played twice and I almost won, but not quite. What a bummer too because the prize was a mini pillow pet! Our last game of the night, Shaun played the plate game, breaking plates with baseballs. This time, he won! Shaun was able to win a stuffed giraffe for Abby and a dolphin for Ellie. Unfortunately Ellie dropped her dolphin and before I could retrace my steps it was gone. Some people are so mean sometimes.
After games, Shaun took Abby on a few rides and through the fun house. Abby had a blast the entire time. In order to get out of the fun house you had to go down a big twisty slide. It certainly was fun seeing a grown man come down that thing with his little girl in his lap. After the fun house, they took off and rode on the dump truck coaster, the hot air balloons and then Abby and I rode on the spinning bears. I had a great time with the girls!
After rides, snacks and games the girls were tired and it was time to go. As we started to load the car up with strollers and of course, the girls, the fireworks started. Boy were they close! With every boom another car alarm went off. The sudden start to the fireworks scared the girls, so they had to enjoy them from inside the car but I was able to snap a few pictures. It was the perfect end to a perfectly wonderful day! Yup, its all in a Saturday with the Wharton Family!
A Big Congrats to the Santa Barbara Foresters!!
Congrats to my Brother In Law, James Wharton and the Santa Barbara Foresters on a huge win! 2011 NBC World Series Champs!
Click Here for an article posted by the National Baseball Conference (NBC) regarding the win. Congrats again and we cannot wait to see you when you get home! Abby says, “Can we see Uncle James now?” See you soon and enjoy the win!
One of Many Reasons I Will Always Miss Montana
The main reason I miss Montana is my family. I miss being near them and in a way I am jealous that they live in such an amazing place. I love the mountains and could move there in a heartbeat. Yes, that includes living there during the winter.
One of the things I love about being in the mountains is the late summer thunderstorms. I have so many wonderful memories of sitting with my dad while we were on vacation in Provo or Yellowstone or anywhere in the mountains for that matter, watching the lightening and listening to the thunder as storms rolled in. They are some of the best and most cherished moments.
Just this past week, a fantastic thunderstorm rolled through the Gallatin Valley. My dad, the wonderful photographer that he is, captured some beautiful images as the storm came in. When I saw them, I knew I needed to include them on our blog. Oh how my heart aches for weather like this and the mountains of Montana. At least through these wonderful photographs I can enjoy them.
While I may not be there with him, watching the ligtening and listening to the thunder, its like we are once again enjoying those storms together, as we did when I was a little girl. Thanks Dad!
Park Time!
Yesterday we finally had a cool enough day to head to the park. FINALLY! It was a gorgeous day too. We headed to one of our favorite parks. The day was sunny but warm with a beautiful breeze. It was wonderful! Our day went a little something like this…
Abby gave me her face to say, please mom… can we go? I said yes of course!
When we got to the park, we set our stuff down and headed for the sandbox. I took Ellie’s shoes off and as usual, she did not like the feel of the sand on her feet.
Abby, who didnt want me to take pictures, headed to play in the sandbox with a small group of kids and help build sandcastles. Abby was hard at work. Making sandcastles can be serious business!
Ellie was content playing on the foam floor and the small toddler jungle gym. Its easy to stay entertained when you are 13 months old.
After the sandbox, Abby wanted to hop onto the swings for a bit. Ellie wasn’t too sure about them but that’s OK, Abby had a blast and even worked on pumping her legs so that she could move the swing herself.!
After the swings we headed to our spot under the tree and had a lovely little picnic, complete with blueberries, bananas, grapes, pretzels, tangerines and nectarines. Yummy!
As we sat for lunch, Ellie started to chase the birds. Boy did she love those birds, but they always ran away from her!
After our little picnic it was back to playing! Now for a bit of time on the perfectly sized play area for toddlers and preschoolers!
With a lot of time spent running around the play area, we headed to the swings. This time Ellie got into her swing without a moments hesitation. Once we got swinging, she loved it! I think she loves the swings even more then Abby does, if that’s even possible. This time in, Abby got the hang of it and was able to pump her legs and swing on her own! Although, she still wanted mommy to push her.
After a long time spent on the swings we called it a day. We packed up our items and headed home. The fun of the park continued at home and even kept the girls from napping. I thought all the fun and fresh air would have made them nap even longer but alas, I was wrong.
It was such a wonderful day at the park! I hope the heat stays away so we can go every day!
How Hard Is It To Get A Cup Of Water?!
Pretty hard apparently!
In the process of becoming healthier Shaun and I have started cutting some things from our diet. The first step… SODA. We have been soda free for a few weeks now. A few nights ago we were out running errands and decided to stop for something quick. No its not the healthiest but it was food and we ran out of time to cook. We try to make healthy choices and stick to our no soda policy, so we ask for water. We purchased large drinks and instead of asking for soda we asked for water. Based on the response we received from the cashier, you would have thought we asked in a language that no longer existed. Here is a rough interpretation of how the conversation went.
Cashier: “You mean you want a water bottle?”
Shaun: “No I want the paper cup filled with ice and water”
Cashier: “You dont want a water bottle?”
Shaun: “No, I want the cup with water and ice”
Cashier: “Ummm, hold on.” (Disappears and returns about 2 minutes later) “Im sorry, we cant do that”
Shaun:”I cant pay for a drink and instead fill the cup with ice and water?”
Cashier: “No, but you can buy a water bottle and we will give you a cup with ice.”
This conversation went on a bit and we even spoke to a manager. Apparently unless you want bottled water (which, at McDonalds, is a small bottle containing only 8 ounces) they wont put water in a cup. Why, you ask? When it all comes down to it, McDonalds does not have a button on their registers for water as a beverage option in the cup. I guess in the world of McDonalds, if the button does not exist it cant be done. It just makes no sense, you can give me a cup with ice in it but you cant add water to that?
Its really not that big of a deal but it irritated us. We were thirsty and a little water bottle wasn’t going to cut it. We also didn’t want soda or iced tea. Not that I intended to frequent McDonalds a lot, I certainly don’t plan to give them our business any time soon, and over ice water too. Silly. Just another reminder to bring my large water containers with me.
Wow Wow Wubzy Must Go Away!
I had another title for this post, but I thought it might be a tad harsh so I changed it at the last minute. Its how I feel though. Its a miracle, but there are only a few shows in the preschool programming world that I dont like but those that exist I dislike with every ounce of my being. Wow Wow Wubzy is one of those shows. From the music, to the voices, to the way the characters speak. Many of you might think its not that bad, its cute even but for me its worse then nails on a chalk board or someone chewing in a Popsicle stick. Both Shaun and myself dive for the remote if we are caught off guard and the show starts. Even worse, this ball of uber saccharin generally comes on early in the morning or just before bedtime. I just had to rant because during this heat, I have heard this theme song play one too many times. Take a look below and see for yourself. You’ll either cringe or think I am crazy and just whining. Either way, ENJOY!
The Wharton Adventures 