proud mother of an oompa loompa.

Posted on March 1, 2012 by mommyinthemidwest

I noticed it in pictures starting a month or so ago. It varies in severity from day to day.

my nose matches my fire chief hat.

There have been times I have tried to wipe it off after we finish eating.

my nose is even orange when i push my train.

A friend told me that the same thing happened to her nephew because he ate a lot of carrots.

my nose is orange morning, noon, and night.

Huh? I finally googled it. It’s a real thing. Foods rich in beta-Carotene include sweet potatoes, carrots, mangoes, canteloupes, and carrots. Notice a theme?

{source}

I looked at the variety of baby food meals (meat and veggie combos) that we have for Dexter and noticed that they are pretty much all some hue of orange. I looked on a few mommy forums and saw that tons of moms with 8-10 month old babies were experiencing the same thing. Some were worried – some stopped feeding their kid orange foods altogether. What the what!?

mom, why are you turning me into an oompa loompa?

Am I turning my baby into a oompa loompa? Maybe.

{source}

Do I care? Not really. He’s the best little blonde-haired, blue-eyed, orange-nosed oompa loompa I’ve ever loved.

Have you heard of this orange-nosed baby phenomenon?
xo,
~C~

greetings from Ohio

Posted on February 29, 2012 by mommyinthemidwest

We traveled to Ohio over the weekend to visit R’s sister Michelle, her boyfriend Bob, and our nephew Spencer. What. FUN!

It was weird to see Theo going up and down the stairs with no problem. I was hovering like a helicopter the first few times but tried to back off over the course of the weekend as I realized he’s got this. What I wasn’t expecting was to see Dex climbing up the stairs with NO trouble at all. Yes, I remained hovering helicopter with Dexter.

Theo had the most fun playing in Spencer’s room, in Spencer’s super cool bed. I have to admit, I’m a little jealous of this loft bunk from Ikea. All weekend Theo was announcing “I wanna play in Pencer’s room!” And play they did! They were basically adorable in their matching McQueen slippers.

Dexter took a little snooze on Daddy’s shoulder…

then we took a short ride to the local fire station for some exploration.

still sleepy, mama!

hello, brown eyed boy!

Michelle’s neighbor, Chief Tony, welcomed us inside.

both boys love their Aunt Chelle

jaws of life!

Official Freddie Firefighter badge. And yes, Theo always wears a band-aid, boo boo or no boo boo.

We had a great, great time.

There was more playing back at the house (in Pencer’s room of course)!

Theo was exhausted, as evidenced by him sucking his thumb for 5 continuous hours or so.

See? Coolest bed ever.

Sunday morning it was time to pack it up and head back home. We loved our weekend and spending time with family. Can’t wait to see them again in a couple of weeks for Theo’s birthday.

xo,

~C~

blooming.

Posted on February 28, 2012 by mommyinthemidwest

Dexter & Dawson

I gotta give it up to professional photographers. It is not easy to get 2 babies to look in the same direction and smile simultaneously.

Aren’t these two buddies the most precious little things?

Dawson’s mama and I went to college together and stayed in touch off and on through Myspace (oh, remember Myspace?) and Facebook. We really started talking a lot more after I started my blog and then even more a few months later when she got pregnant.

She always had questions for me about pregnancy, then labor and delivery, then about having a newborn. Hey, I’m no expert, but I like feeling like one. I always take an interest in my friends’ pregnancies and babies, that’s my thing. That’s what I love. If I have a pregnant friend, you can bet I’ll be cheering them along throughout their pregnancy and pep talking them, pumping them up about how childbirth is what their bodies are built to do. That the female body already knows how to give birth, even when the female mind is scared to death. If they’d let me, I’d be in the delivery room with pom poms and a megaphone. Maybe that wouldn’t be so helpful.

Alas…

Some friends appreciate it, some friends blow it off. Dawson’s mama, I guess she appreciated it. And I appreciate that. And since her sweet little peanut was born last August, we’ve become pretty good friends. Almost daily texters. We went from just talking about babies to a whole lot more. I like it.

Sometimes friendships bloom where you least expect them. Sometimes they wilt when you never thought they would. I’m thankful for my new and blossoming friendship with Dawson’s mommy. Even though we live an hour apart, we’ve made a point to get together quite a bit. Every relationship takes a little work, you know. I guess the ones that were meant to wilt…just wilt. The ones that are meant to bloom will flourish.

Maybe motherhood bonded us. Maybe it’s what has made other friends of mine drift away. Maybe some friendships aren’t supposed to span lifetimes. Maybe they’re just intended to support you through a particular phase of life. Maybe that’s all this is, but I hope not.

So us two moms, we’ve decided that our little silly billies will be friends. We will force their little baby friendship to bloom, whether they like it or not.

So far? So good.