Could this really happen?

I found this video of what Microsoft might look like in 2019. I had to share. It was exciting, intimidating, and incredible. Do you think it could happen?

Video found here.

I Didn't Expect

I didn't expect that teaching my baby to eat solids would make me fall head over heels in love with him all over again. Hard core. Like get-giddy-to-see-him infatuation. Why didn't anyone warn me about this? I seriously am addicted to him - it's like an illness. After he goes to bed at night I miss him so much that I have to watch videos and look at pictures to get my fix before I go to bed. Who wouldn't want to though, seriously?

Yeah, maybe I feel a little choked up when I see these pictures, but that's normal, right?

I wrote lots more about how perfect he is and realized it was way gushy and overboard so I reigned myself in, but it was really hard. He couldn't be a better baby. We're so blessed.

Cool stuff I found last week but forgot to post

This article about motherhood was funny and so true!

This love story made me cry a little a lot.

This artist's project reminds me that I really do love contemporary art.

Here are two awesome ideas for making Ikea furniture more snazzy. Find them here and here. Why didn't I think of that?

This video made me want to say something nice.

These photos taken for the Berlin Philharmonic are amazing!

What a fun idea for kids.

This article makes me want to teach Lincoln another language. I think it's too late for me...

Sweet Potatoes?

We finally decided to feed Lincoln solids for the first time. I had no idea it was going to be so funny! All day today we are still chuckling over it. We sure love this kid and think he couldn't be any cuter. He fills our home with laughter and happiness!

Warning: This video is really long. So long that we had to cut then end of it off because YouTube wouldn't allow it's length. We filmed it for our families and for us and we would watch it many times even if it was a hour long. Please don't feel obligated to watch the entire thing. I apologize in advance for the incessant snapping of my camera and for my cackling laugh. Do you feel stupid watching movies of yourself, or is it just me?

365 Days: Week 11

I looked out the window and what did I see? Popcorn popping on the apricot tree! Spring has brought me such a nice surprise, popcorn popping right before my eyes. 

I discovered a really extensive network of walking paths right by our house. I can't imagine how we have lived here for so long without knowing about it. I've been exploring them for days now and have never found an end. 

It rained all day so we stayed indoors. We confirmed something that we have been suspecting for a while - it isn't safe to leave Lincoln in his bouncer anymore...

It was raining all day but the tree in between our yard and our neighbors yard is finally in bloom.

Still raining. Look at that sky! For those of you that think I live in the middle of a pancake flat place look again (even though it is hard to see because of the poor picture quality) - you can see the road dip and rise over four hills!

We decided to start doing some preliminary planning for our master bathroom remodel. We went to The Tile Shop to get some ideas. They have examples of probably 20 different bathrooms, so it is fun to look around. 

It was almost indescribably beautiful today so we tried to spend as much time outside as we could while still doing some house projects inside. I don't know why we even bothered to bring a stroller on our walk because Lincoln just wanted to be carried by his daddy the entire time. Those two are absolutely infatuated with each other!

Wavy Hair Trick

I tried this out today and it worked so well that I had to share. I'm seriously never curling my hair again! I put a little gel in my hair when it was about half dry and so far it is holding my curl really well. My hair is stubbornly straight, though, so we'll see how long it lasts. At least if it falls flat I only spent a few minutes on it and not 30 minutes like I would have to if I did it with a curling iron. Scooter came home before I took the headband out and he was extremely amused and told me that I looked Swedish. I have a feeling that girls in Sweden don't wear their hair like that except in his head. I never saw any. I hope you all enjoy!

video originally found here

Update: I left my hair down and slept on it all night and in the morning it still looks good enough to wear today. I'm a believer!

A Cake Tale

This is a story about a girl on a mission. A mission that involved a failure and then a success with rainbow cake (and bad pictures, sorry, again - my good camera will be back soon!).

I saw a rainbow cake on a blog a few weeks ago. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I don't make cake very often because it is always too much for two people to eat on our own, but for some reason I really wanted to make this.  I didn't have the kind of pan I needed and didn't really feel like spending $20 on a pan I would hardly ever use, so I gave up on the idea. Later that week I was at a thrift store and saw the kind of cake pan that you need but stupidly didn't buy it because by then I had talked myself out of making a cake just for the two of us (curse you, baby weight!).  Later that night my husband told me that we were having the missionaries over for dinner the next day. Suddenly I had more people to help us eat the cake! The next morning I went back to the store hoping the pan was still there, which it was, so I took it as a sign that the cosmos wanted me to finally make my cake, diet or no-diet, so I bought it ($3.99!) and took it home.

You are supposed to use one white cake mix and divide it into bowls, dye the batter, and pour it into the pan. I seriously underestimated how much time it was going to take to divide and dye the batter. I suddenly looked at the clock, did a little calculating about how much time I had before our guests arrived, remembered that I only had one oven, realized that at the rate I was going I was only going to have cake to serve for dinner, stopped making the cake and started making meatloaf and Pioneer Woman mac and cheese while Lincoln had a meltdown instead. I was feeling really frazzled and super unimpressed with my housewifely abilities.

After I had made sure that there would be dinner when the guests arrived I went back to the cake. I figured it could bake while they were here. I found that after I had taken out the required amounts for the colored batter I didn't have very much plain white batter left. When I poured it into the pan it didn't even cover the bottom. I frantically searched my pantry for another white cake mix but, of course, there wasn't one. I was worried about how the cake was going to look, so literally twenty minutes before my guests arrived I grabbed Lincoln and ran to the grocery store, bought another mix, made it, and poured the batters into the pan. Our guests arrived, Scooter got home and I served dinner. On the way into the dining room I put the cake in the oven.

About 40 minutes later I anxiously went over to the oven to look at how the cake was doing. I opened the door and saw that the batter in the pan had swirled together. Then I realized that there was batter in the pan not cake. The oven wasn't on. I served Fudgsicles and stale ice cream left over from Christmas (I know, who keeps ice cream for that long, right?) for dessert. I baked the cake anyway because I was interested to see how it would look. I was so disappointed when I took it out that I promptly threw it away. The next morning I thought I would take pictures, so it's in the trash.

And now, the really poor quality blurry pictures (curse this camera!) of a really ugly cake. The pretty version is up next.

My sister, Lauren, came to visit and was going to be here over St. Patrick's Day so I thought it would be a good chance to try again (especially since she has an iPhone which takes better pictures than my little video camera). This time we didn't try to rush and we made it over a few days. We learned from the earlier failure and made some changes to the directions that I was following from the original blog.

Here's what you do. It takes two boxes of white cake mix, so mix both of those up. Now get six small bowls and divide and color the batter. According to this chart.

Red - 7 oz (3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp)
Orange - 6 oz (3/4 cup)
Yellow - 5 oz (1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp)
Green - 4 oz (1/2 cup)
Blue - 3oz (1/4 cup+ 2 Tbsp)
Purple - 2oz (1/4 cup)

It takes way more food coloring than you think. I used mostly gel coloring, but also used a little bit of the liquid stuff toward the end because it was easier to control the color changes. I found when I made my first cake that it is hard to make the red and orange look different from each other. My advice for this would be to make the orange closer to a pastel orange so it has a lot of contrast to the red. I would also use the no-taste red food coloring if you have it because it really takes a lot to make it red. I didn't have any and was nervous that I was adding so much that the cake was going to start tasting weird, so mine was really more like a dark pink.

The next step is to pour it into the angel food cake pan, which has been really thoroughly greased and floured. The first time I made it I just used small spoons and dripped it into the pan because I didn't want to go through the hassle of doing a more elaborate method. The second time I put the batter into sandwich bags and cut the corner off so I could pipe it into the pan -it was so much easier. Put the baggie into a paper cup while you spoon the batter in. Make sure the hole in the corner is really small because it makes it a lot easier to control the batter as it is coming out. First cover the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of white batter. Then you put each layer in a smaller ring on top of the other layers leaving the first color showing on both sides of the ring. I found it helpful to make sure the first ring you put into the pan, the red, almost fills the bottom of the pan or else you might run out of room and it will be hard to squeeze all the other layers in. Last you put 2 tablespoons of the original white over the purple. You could probably skip the last bit of white if you want because you will probably end up cutting it off later when you level your cake. I did.

Once you've got it in the pan bake it at a lower temperature for longer than the cake mix box says. I did mine at 325 degrees for about an hour and ten minutes, but I would start checking it at about an hour.

Let the cake cool completely. I waited at least four hours. Level the cake once it is very very cool. I used a serrated bread knife which worked well. I wish I'd have cut more off of mine so it was totally level, but since I hadn't seen the inside I was worried about cutting the purple completely off, but it turns out that I could have cut a lot more off.

Flip the cake over onto a plate or cake stand and frost it.

  See how it isn't quite sitting level on the plate? I should have cut more off.

Hold your breath and cut into it!

Obviously, I was thrilled. I'm such a dork.

Behold! A rainbow!

And a new Plowman family St. Patrick's Day tradition is born! Huzzah!

365 Days: Week 11

We drive past this house quite often and every time I ask myself, "what were they thinking?" Perfect for St. Patrick's Day, but that's pretty much it.

We have had gorgeous weather this week. It was 80 degrees with a light breeze so Lincoln and I spent the afternoon at the park. He had never really felt grass before and I wondered how he would do with the new texture but he seemed to not mind it at all. 

During one of Lincoln's naps I went out to soak up the sun with my journals and to-do list. I have never been good at keeping a journal but these journals make it more manageable and I haven't missed a day yet this year. I keep one for myself and one all about Lincoln.

My youngest sister, Lauren, came to visit during her spring break. We tried to take advantage of the beautiful weather so we walked to the grocery store. Lincoln just loves her - the feeling is definitely mutual.

We have had this huge pile of gravel on the side of our house for six months. It was left over from when Scooter dug a window well and cut a hole in the foundation of the house to make an egress window in the basement. He had the morning off and decided to spend it landscaping the yard with these. I have never met anyone that works harder than my husband. Moving this amount of rock is no easy task.

What would a Doxey girl get-together be without a little shopping? We had so much fun in the fitting room and took so long that I'm sure the Banana Republic staff were wondering about us. 

We celebrated St. Patrick's day by going to Zarda, a BBQ place that we hadn't tried yet. I let my carnivore-crazed husband order for both of us. He ended up ordering a meal that has multiple pounds of 4 kinds of meat that is supposed to feed 4-6 people. The look on his face when the food showed up was priceless - pure joyful anticipation. Thankfully, he didn't eat all of it right there in the restaurant, but he gave it his best shot. 

Nikon Says...

Nikon says my camera has been shipped! I can't wait to have it back! I've been checking my porch every hour!

Kinda impossible to find a photo of me and my camera (for obvious reasons) so stole one out of my friend, Brian's,  Facebook album.

Lincoln Swinging

It was almost eighty degrees yesterday! Lincoln and I tried to spend a lot of the day outside. It was heavenly. We went to a nearby park and played for a while. Lincoln sat on my lap and we went on the swings. He LOVED it! See for yourself! 

Could he be any cuter? No way!

Cool stuff I found this week

How does he do this?

This made me reevaluate.

I wish I could do this without being scared because I think it's brilliant.

This room is crazy, but in a good way.

This article amazed me. What a gift!

Wow! That's all I can say.

This article was interesting and a little bit sad.

365 Days: Week 10

Lincoln is getting either too strong or too wiggly to sit in his boucer. Just lean back and relax, Lincoln! I used to leave him in it semi-unattended (like while I was showering), but now I'm nervous that he is going to topple forward onto his face.

Scooter came with me to the grocery store (a very rare treat, indeed!). It is so much easier when he comes because I don't have to try and squeeze all my groceries into the seat of the cart. While we were wandering I suddenly realized I was talking to myself. I backtracked and found Scooter at the butcher counter. To try and lure him into coming grocery shopping with me again I told him he could pick something. Most people would want to pick ice cream or a snack food, but not my husband. No, he wanted beef. I don't know that I'll ever cure this man of his carnivore tendencies.

Lincoln has gotten really good at putting his toes into his mouth this week, especially during diaper changes. Last week he was sort of just gathering his foot toward his face, but now he really gets them into his mouth every time. Look at those little chubby rolls!

My friend told me about a thrift store that I hadn't been to so I went there this week (OK, I went twice!). These are a couple things I found. I know they aren't that cute right now, but I think they have serious potential. A little primer, a little spray paint, and they'll be very cool. 

We are finally getting around to painting our bedroom. We know our priorities are a little strange when we start training Lincoln on home-improvement before we have even started him on solids.

It was such a beautiful day (I don't know why we look so bundled up - over-cautious mama?) that Lincoln and I went into the yard to watch Scooter do a little yard work. Lincoln got hungry so why not?

Scooter played in a racquetball tournament. Lincoln and I both loved watching him play. I had brought a bunch of toys to help keep Lincoln entertained, but he didn't need them. All he wanted to do was watch his daddy in open-mouthed amazement. The courts were not fully enclosed so it was really loud in the viewing area. It sounded like guns were randomly being fired. I couldn't believe how well Lincoln did with the random noises. He only jumped a few times and never cried or seemed upset. Once Lincoln figured out that his  would echo in the court if he squealed we didn't get to see very many consecutive points.

Five Months Old

Dear Lincoln,

You have been such a joy this month. You have completely mellowed out this month. You used to be kind of a high-strung kid, but now you are just easy-going. It has made life around our house better than ever.

You have continued to progress physically this month. You roll with ease to either of your sides and from your tummy to back or back to tummy. You are getting better and better at sitting upright on your own. If I set you on our bed and hold your hips you can usually sit for a while before tipping backward or slumping forward. Your abs must be getting really strong as well because when we put you in a reclined or semi-reclined position you strain to sit up. You will not lay back and relax in your bouncer for more than a few minutes without sitting up and leaning forward. We put together your jumper and you really seem to enjoy the feeling of standing on your own. You are getting better and better at focusing on something and grabbing it. All these new skills make it much more fun to play with you. You are a really active and busy baby. You don’t like to be cuddled unless you are sitting or standing. If we try to lie you back you get really annoyed.

We have been through a few rough phases with your sleeping this month, but we have come out on the other side with a baby that sleeps really well now. At the beginning of the month we stopped swaddling you so your hands were free to wave around in your sleep. You would wake yourself up by hitting or rubbing your face. You would also flip over to your tummy in your crib and get stuck. You couldn’t settle down unless you were on your back, so you would cry until we came to flip you back over. Sometimes I would rescue you and flip you to your back and before I could walk back to my own room you were back on your tummy crying. It was frustrating for both of us! After talking to your pediatrician he told us that if you get to your tummy on your own that it is OK to let you sleep like that all night.

We decided that learning how to manage your flailing hands as well as learning to either stay on your back or sleep on your tummy was too many things to master all at once, so we started letting you sleep exclusively in your swing. This made it so you couldn’t flip to your tummy. It took about a week, but you figured out what to do with your hands – suck them! You’ve definitely settled on your pointer and third finger (the same fingers your daddy sucked as a baby). I used to always nurse you to sleep then carefully set you in your crib, but we decided to start putting you down for your naps while you were awake to get some practice putting yourself to sleep. Once you had mastered that skill we moved you back to your crib and started letting you figure out how to comfort yourself when you woke up in the night.

It was awful to listen to you cry, but I think it was easier because of our video monitor. We could see you and monitor you every second. I didn’t have to guess what was going on in your crib. Being able to see you led to some funny sessions of watching you perform all kinds of acrobatics as you tried to get to sleep. Your dad and I would be crowded around the tiny monitor like little cheerleaders exclaiming, “Get your fingers! There they are! Suck them, darling! Just turn your head babe! Roll back to your back, babe! Don’t go up onto your elbows! Come on, bud!” Being able to suck your fingers helped you immensely. Now you really don’t cry anymore. Now, you start out the night on your back, but usually end up sleeping most of the night on your side or on your tummy. You are also starting to take longer naps, probably because you can comfort yourself. Thankfully, you are still strictly following the 90-minute schedule.

I have mixed feelings about you turning out to be a finger-sucker. I might have preferred you to take pacifiers because then when it is time to wean you off them I can just take them away.  I really tried to get you to take pacifiers, but you just wouldn’t. It is nice that, unlike pacifiers, your fingers can’t really fall out of your mouth and if they do you can put them back in yourself. I’ve heard horror stories about moms having to go in fifteen times a night to put the pacifier back into their baby’s mouth. It nice right now, but I’m already worried about weaning you off of your fingers. How are we going to do it? I’m also worried that you won’t learn to talk as soon because you always have a mouth full of fingers. Maybe I just need to chill, right?

The other major accomplishment this month has been learning to ride in your car seat without acting like I was going to make you live in your car seat forever. It has been so wonderful. I am no longer a prisoner in my own home. We used to be out of milk all the time because I never thought getting more milk was worth the hysterical scene we would have while driving there. Now I can run to the grocery store without having a long internal debate beforehand about whether it is worth getting us both all upset. I don’t know how it happened - one day I forced myself to go on errands and you didn’t really cry at all in your car seat. I thought it was a lucky coincidence, but the next time we went out you were an angel as well. Now we go window shopping just to get out of the house. I don’t know how it happened, but I’m glad it did!

The other thing you have decided not to loathe this month is baths. I still bathe with you, but you seem to actually enjoy it. I think that you would be OK if I bathed you by yourself, but I haven’t wanted to try it yet. Instead of sitting against my legs, out of the water, now I sit you on the bottom of the tub and actually submerse your lower half. You stay warmer and sometimes even splash around a little. It sure is easier to keep you clean now!

You can see why the theme for the past month has been mellow. You are better at entertaining yourself. I can set you in your bouncer, or in your jumper, in your Bumbo, or on the floor on a blanket and you can stay happy while I get things done. Sometimes, you are so mellow that I worry that you are bored and not getting enough stimulation. You have been enjoying your feet for the past couple weeks. You started by gathering them to your chest, but now you are getting really accurate at grabbing them with your hands and bringing them to your mouth. You especially love to suck them when you are getting your diaper changed. When you don’t have your fingers in your mouth you are a really loud baby. We went to dinner at a friend’s house and you were squealing so loudly that we couldn’t hear each other very well.

We are getting to be such good little buddies this month. You are getting more of a personality and we are enjoying each other’s company a lot more. You think I’m really funny and you laugh at me a lot. I love your laugh more than I can explain. I tickle you all the time so I can hear it. I miss you when you sleep a long time. One night this month I woke up in the middle of the night and silently went to the window to see if it was snowing. I glanced over at you and you were alert and quietly staring at me. I felt like you had woken up because I was awake – almost like we had an invisible bond. I picked you up and we just walked and cuddled for a while before I fed you and put you back to bed. It was magical.

You bring so much joy into our house. Your dad and I can’t get enough of you. We are super unproductive when we are all home together because we just like to sit and tickle you, play with you, and look at you. You are like our own little sun.

Thanks for making us happy when skies are gray,

Your Mama

365 Days: Week 9

We got my camera all packed up for it's journey to California. Bye camera! Get well soon!

The clouds were beautiful while I was running some errands. 

Sometimes I feel worried/guilty that I'm not stimulating Lincoln enough. Ah, the guilt and anxiety of motherhood... Some days he has to spend lots of time playing by himself so I can get things done (anyone else planning their ten year high school reunion?). Because he still isn't the greatest at grabbing and keeping a grip on toys, "playing by himself" seems more like just rolling around on the floor or watching me from his bouncer. Sometimes I imagine that he is looking at me with accusatory eyes. Lately, I've been trying to come up with more stimulating things for him to do. I've had this balloon since the end of December (yeah, that might give you an idea of how organized my house is) and it stills floats really well.  It drifted into a room we rarely go into so I kept forgetting to pop it and throw it away. Now I'm glad I didn't because I figured out that Lincoln likes to have the balloon tied to his leg so that when he kicks it moves. 

 *I'm not leaving him unattended with the string, so don't worry that he will strangle himself, ok?*

This is Aldi. It is a really cheap grocery store we have here. It is super tiny and they don't some things, but what they do have is usually a great deal. For example, avocados for 19 cents each! Guacamole anyone?

What is going on with the weather this winter? It was 70 degrees so Lincoln and I took a walk to the grocery store. I didn't really need anything but when I got there I discovered that there was a 50% off sale on Kelloggs cereal. I was hungry (the worst state to be in while at a grocery store) so I couldn't resist buying a couple boxes of "fun cereal." We usually try to buy healthy-ish cereal like Grape Nuts, Wheaties, or Raisin Bran, but I splurged and bought Cocoa Krispies and Cinnabon cereal. Is that an open cereal box under the stroller? Yep. Don't judge! I couldn't wait until I got home - I'm exclusively nursing a big baby so I'm hungry all the time. It made a yummy snack for the walk home.

We decided to give our office a little TLC this weekend. It was one of my least favorite rooms in the house. Someone (I'm not naming names) insisted on painting the office a pumpkin color about two years ago. That same someone would not let me paint sample swatches. He just picked a color out at the store, had them mix a gallon of it, and brought it home. When I got it on the walls I hated it and have hated it everyday since. We finally got white primer up over the hideous orange. What a difference!

We added wainscoting to the office, caulked all the trim and wainscoting, painted the lower half white, and the upper half a gray-blue. We both love it! The office is completely transformed and we got it all done on Friday evening and Saturday. I'll post more photos later after we switch out the ceiling fan which is almost too hideous for words.