KID FRIENDLY FOOD? UGH.

I hate to admit this, but I'm totally one of those moms that stresses at every single meal that her child isn't eating enough. I read somewhere that Branson should be getting 1300 calories a day. WHAT???????? That is CRAZY. But they also said that you should look at it all spread out over a week. I could bore you with all the studying I've done on this topic but I won't. I will bore you with what I do that seems to be working. Number one, if I sit back and think about it, I'm pretty damn proud of how good of an eater my little man is. An example: yesterday we went to sushi. Of course Branson didn't get any raw fish, but he did eat cabbage salad with walnuts (ok, so he ate mostly the walnuts), edamame, shrimp tempura, veggie tempura, and sticky rice. Pretty darn good for a 17 month old, in my opinion. One of my tricks when cooking at home is to hide veggies. In everything. Eggs, mac n cheese, grilled cheese, quesadilla's, mashed potato's. I also offer veggies in their natural form at least twice a day, so he knows that they will be served and they are expected to be eaten. Usually he just eats around them or feeds them lovingly to the dog. But every once in a while, when he thinks I'm not looking, I'll see him take a bite of broccoli, celery, or something else "healthy". And there are veggies that he loves: cheesy broccoli, sweet potato's, beets, hearts of palm. I also refuse to make more than 1 meal. If he doesn't eat lunch, he's SOL until snack time. And usually the snack is raw veggies with ranch (I'm evil) and maybe some crackers. But hey, if he's hungry he'll eat it! Speaking of ranch, this kid loves anything dipped in ranch or ketchup, including but not limited to asparagus, raw veggies, meatloaf, veggie corn dogs, eggplant meat balls. So I'd say all around I'm pretty lucky. He loves his fruit, tolerates his veggies, and of course he thinks bread and dairy were put here just for him. I think so too.

JUDGEMENT DAY IS EVERYDAY

So here is the thing. I really hate being judged. Of course as human beings I think it's almost natural for us to judge others, some people are better about not doing it than others. I try really hard not to judge, especially those that I don't know. Being judged as a parent is almost as bad as being judged in like, middle school. You know how in middle school you want so badly just to "fit in" with everyone? it's that age where you still are young enough to want to please your parents (and excuse me, but parents I think are very judgemental, and rightfully so), but you also so badly want to please the "cool kids"? Well being a parent of a toddler I'm not at all trying to please anyone, but I feel the same hot-cheek feeling of everyone who has an opinion about what I'm doing as I did in middle school. "he's hungry", "it's too cold", "he shouldn't play with that", "he shouldn't eat this or that or the other", "why isn't he talking more?", "he talks too much", "he isn't using a utensil diligently at every single meal, for every single bite???". You get the gist. So frustrating. I try really hard not to butt into anyone else's parenting style, unless I am asked or if the child is in danger. It is so not my place to judge someone else, especially since I can barely figure out how to be a mommy to my one little monster that hasn't even hit the terrible 2's yet. (or maybe he has, temperament wise, not age wise). You'd be amazed at how many people, most of whom I don't even know, have something to say! Like in the grocery store, the lady that sees him fussing for 2 seconds and says, "oh, he needs a nap!". Please. He doesn't want to be sitting in the lame ass cart anymore lady. Ok. rant over. Thank you and come again.

A LITTLE TIME AWAY MAKES FOR A HAPPY MOMMA

Ryan and I finally went on our first out of town vacation with out Branson. I missed the little guy SO flippin much, but it was so nice to just be a couple again, and not have to worry about being Momma and Dadda. My mom was kind enough to come stay with Branson at our house, where he would be most comfortable. Of course it didn't go of with out a hitch. Right as we were boarding the plane to Sin City, we got a phone call. Branson has smushed a bee, and had been stung. I'm sure any parent would be worried at this point, but since my mom is DEATHLY allergic, my heart dropped into my toes. Thank God, he isn't allergic. And after calling the bee "caca", Momo saved the day and made it all better. On to the vacation. We arrived at Ceasars, we ate glorious food, gambled a little, and got to see my bestest friend in the whole wide world, Chrissy. Chrissy, Chris, Ryan and I dined at Sushi Roku, my most favoritest sushi place ever. That's the one thing I seriously look forward to in Vegas, the food. Serendipity 3 is my new favorite place. They are famous for their Frozen Hot Chocolate, but honestly I could do with out it. I had an amazing mochachino, followed by even more amazing Mac N Cheese, the best chicken sandwich I've ever eaten, and I forgot to mention they brought us frozen cheesecake on a stick because we are "diamond" members. This place has awesome food, so much so that I am inspired to create a Yelp account and give them a bazillion stars. (we ate there twice, it was THAT good). The second best part about Vegas is my ability to sleep. For some stupid reason, I sleep SO MUCH BETTER in hotels than I do at home. I've always been that way. But since I've had a baby, I can assure you I slept like the dead both nights at Caesars palace. I wasn't even bothered by Ryan's restless legs or snoring (sorry babe!). The third best part about Vegas? Coming home to my beautiful baby boy. And he was so happy to see us. A big thank you to Momo for watching over our little compound. Dealing with our animals is a full time job in itself.

On a less positive note, Branson has croup again. It's not as bad this time, but it's lingering. I took him to the Dr. yesterday to have a wart burnt off (caused by eczema, who knew? not me), and he not only has croup but an ear infection as well. Poor baby! So he is on a steroid and an antibiotic. I wish we could have had the steroid shot opposed to the oral liquid. He had his first does last night, and despite being EXHAUSTED, he was up playing until 1 am, and then up again from a coughing fit from 3 am to 5 am. Needless to say I didn't get any sleep. And now it's almost 1 pm, and he is napping his little head off. Of course! Because he probably sleep until like 3 pm and then be totally off his schedule. Wish me luck...