I love Sarah’s view on raising a boy, High Heels: Parenting Gender. By following his path, and not forcing him to take another.

This Cinnamon Roll Pizza by Picky Palate (thanks to Mom Advice for posting about this first) just may be on our table come Sunday morning.

My friend Angie posted the most delicious Kahula Dip recipe ever. You won’t be able to stop eating this. I promise.

I’m in love with weelicious. So many toddler friendly recipes to try out. Which one should I start with? Perhaps the Pizza Muffins will make their way into my menu plane next week.

What were your favorite posts this week?

This post is proudly linked up with Saturday Stumbles over at It’s Come to This and It’s a Blog Party.

Fave Links This Week is a post from: Alli 'n Son

But I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. Instead, I wanted to share the top ten’s from June. And to say a huge THANK YOU for all of my referrers.

Top Ten Referrers

1. Org Junkie
2. Twitter
3. Facebook
4. Blogger
5. Beauty and Bedlam
6. Oh Amanda
7. A Southern Fairy Tale
8. Seven Clown Circus
9. It’s Come to This
10. It’s a Blog Party

Top Ten Most Popular Links (Non Giveaway)

1. Chicken in Tomato Vinegar Sauce
2. Blueberry Streusel Muffins
3. Soaking Beans
4. Chugga Chugga Choo Choo!
5. Movies, Music and Mayhem
6. Creativity Boot Camp Days 1-6
7. 18 Months and Remembering
8. Memorial Weekend
9. Homemade Poptarts
10. Answers to Burning Questions

This post is proudly liked up with Top Ten Tuesday over at Oh Amanda.

Top Ten for June is a post from: Alli 'n Son

In general, I consider myself a pretty happy person. I’ve been blessed with a wonderful husband, the most adorable 2 year old in the world (even when he has his challenging days). I have great family and wonderful and supportive friends.

But…

There are still days that I need a little pick me up. Or days when I just need a little something. Here are some of the 10 little things that make me a happier, healthier person.

1. Go for a run, a walk, or dance to the Hot Dog Song with the kiddo. Exercise always makes me feel better, even if it’s just dancing around the room like a crazy person for a few minutes.
2. A few pieces of a very good, very dark chocolate. Mmmmm, this is an instant pick me up.
3. Baking. Crackers, cookies, granola bars. Whatever it is, it always puts me in a good mood.
4. Having a weekly date with the hubby. This is something that a bloggy friend just suggested, and something that I plan on starting. Even if it’s just an hour a week of alone time at Starbucks.
5. Talking to my BFF stay-at home-mom friend. I could talk to her for hours (and sometimes we do). Just having someone to relate to brightens my day.
6. Searching for new and healthy foods to try. I love experimenting, and any time that I can sneak a veggie or two into a meal makes for a healthier family.
7. Yoga. Which I don’t do nearly enough. It’s relaxing, builds energy and even counts as exercising. Ommmmm.
8. Me time. I can’t stress this enough. Even if that means getting up at the crack of dawn to exercise. Or going to bed early to read.
9. Having a wonderful and supportive husband. Need I say more?
10. Focusing on the positives in life rather than the negative. When everything seems to be going wrong, I list all of the things that I’ve been blessed with. That really changes my outlook and helps to put things in perspective.

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I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Tropicana Trop50 blogging program to be eligible to win 6 free Juicy Rewards points and a $30 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Trop50 Little Things for Happy, Healthy Living

1000 Little Things for Moms from Trop50

10 Little Things that Lead to a Happier, Healthier You is a post from: Alli 'n Son

Today marks the official second birthday of the kiddo. There will be parties (there has already been one). There will be cake (there has already been plenty). There will be presents (he’s already been spoiled). We basically have a week’s worth of celebrating going on. Don’t worry, there will be posts and photos to follow.

One thing that took my by surprise at the kiddo’s first birthday was how emotional it was for me. I just didn’t expect it to be such a special day for me. Remembering back, yes, of course it is special for me too. I mean, I gave birth to the kid after all. But the powerful emotions that I felt nearly knocked me off my feet. And I never said a word to anyone. I kept to myself that I was so close to tears the entire day. That I was amazed by this little boy I created (with help of course). That I fell in love with him all over again.

On the days before his second birthday, I could feel the emotions creeping back in again. Hiding under the surface, glimmering in the twinkle in his little eyes as he ripped open presents over the weekend. And now that the day has finally arrived, I’m floored again by how I feel. I’m sad. Sad that my little boy is grown, or at least growing up. That he will never be my little baby again, so needy and cuddly. That these moments are so fleeting and so precious.

And terribly happy at the same time. I’m so thrilled to see the wonderful little boy that he is turning into. I love seeing his love of reading grow. I love that he loves puzzles, just as I did as as child. I love that he has his daddy’s dark brown eyes, his expressions and his love of music. I love that he has my hair. And of course my sass.

So to celebrate his birthday, here’s my list of the best parts of giving birth. Pretend for a minute that it doesn’t hurt like hell. That you aren’t violated in more ways that I can to think about. Let’s take a moment to focus on the beauty of it.

1. The excitement of knowing that you are in labor. That knowledge that in a few short hours you will meet the little one who has been cooking away for the last 9 months. The little one that you know so intimately, and have never met.
2. Knowing that my life, my marriage, is going to change forever, and being so excited. Knowing that this is what I’ve been wanting for so long, and having no fears.
3. Knowing that Dad-oo was at my side, iPod in hand, with a playlist that we put together weeks before of my favorite music to get us through (little did we know that we’d listen to that playlist so many times that we eventually just turned it off).
4. Seeing Dad-oo in a new light, more supportive, loving, and worried than I’ve ever seen him before. Knowing that he’s be a great dad.
5. Being surrounded by wonderful and supportive staff at the hospital.
6. Knowing the comfort of having a wonderful doctor who was with me through the entire pregnancy, the birth, and would then be the kiddo’s doctor.
7. Beautiful, beautiful drugs. They are a beautiful thing, and allowed me to actually enjoy giving birth.
8. Falling completely, utterly and wholly in love with this little baby boy.
9. Feeling the weight of responsibility of caring for this tiny life, and realizing that I am more vulnerable than I have ever been before. But also knowing that I wouldn’t have it any other way.
10. Taking the kiddo home, finally, and feeling as though he had always been there. He completed our lives in a way I could never have imagined.

Did you have a favorite part about giving birth? What was it?

This blog was inspired by Oh Amanda’s Top 10 Tuesday’s Blog Carnival. Head on over for more Top 10 Lists.

The Birthday – It’s Here is a post from: Alli 'n Son

Click to see the full size image.

Click to see the full size image.

Check out more WordFUL/Wordless Wednesday Posts at 7 Clown Circus and 5MinutesForMom

Wordless Wednesday is a post from: Alli 'n Son

Mac and Cheese

I’ve had mild success getting the kiddo to eat it in the past. I made a brand new pot on Sunday, and with Dad-oo’s request, I added a few hot dogs. Tada! Dinner is served. The kiddo did a pretty good job at eating. Well, he gobbled down the hot dog in 33.98 seconds and did pretty with the mac and cheese. Although we did have to encourage him by offering his cuppa cup after he ate 3 more bites. Which he did. Eventually.

I tried it three more times. The first two were for dinner again. He refused to eat it. Not even one teeny tiny bit. Yet he asked for cuppa cup and oranges over and over. Umm, no, I’m not your personal chef. Take 3 bites, then you can an orange. That doesn’t sound too unreasonable does it? Out came the pouty lip, the over dramatic head thrown back, and an oh-so-sassy “Noooooooooooo!” Fast forward, he went to bed two nights in a row with no dinner. Only milk.

I gave it one last try during lunch. I reasonably thought maybe he just wasn’t hungry at dinner. He eats two large meals and 2-3 snacks during the day, so that would make sense. I was sure that the lunch time mac and cheese would be a success.

Boy, was I wrong.

Screaming, zero bites (it was even covered in extra cheese!), tears, sassiness, head tosses, forks on the ground. You name it. He did it.I even broke down and offered a different meal, turkey, crackers and cheese. This is one of his all-time fave meals. He ate a few crackers, but no turkey or cheese. He asked for cuppa cup. I said yes, after two bites of turkey. One bite later, I have no hope that there will be a second bite. Mostly because he’s lost all sensed of control, reason or sensability. It’s almost like he’s a toddler. Strange. So, off to nap time he went, kicking and screaming.

OK. I get it. You don’t like Mac and Cheese. Lesson learned.

The Mac and Cheese Meltdown is a post from: Alli 'n Son

Last week I decided to tackle potty training again. We had slacked off during the holidays. Too much traveling, too many celebrations, it just wasn’t going to happen. So I declared last week Potty Training Week. Unsuccessful for the most part. Unless, of course, you count peeing on electrons as being potty trained. Which I don’t, just for the record.

There I was doing something oh so important like checking Twitter email, while the kiddo runs around the house naked from the butt down. I knew, knew, knew that this was a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad idea. Yet I did it anyway. I had every intention of sitting him back on the froggy potty before any accidents happened. Right after I checked this last email…

By the time I got over to the kiddo, who had a glossed over look on his face while watching what was, I’m sure, quality television, it was too late. I didn’t even stand a chance. He had peed, on the two shelf’s, the xBox, the brand new Wii and the DVD player. Frick, frick, double frick.

Thankfully nothing seemed to have seeped into the electronics (thank you, thank you, thank you). I mopped everything up and sponged down the outsides of everything so we wouldn’t wonder where that faint pee smell was coming from weeks from now. Then proceeded to turn everything on. You know, to make sure they all still worked. Apparently that is a huge no-no. Or so I found out. Hours later. Ummm, where were you when I first posted it on Twitter and Facebook? Apparently if you just let the electronic dry out, there’s a good chance that it can be saved. I could have used that information a few years ago, during what I like to call the “Paint Can, Waterfall Phone Episode”. But that’s a story for another time.

Thankfully everything survived. I have vowed to never let the kiddo run pants-less through the house again. You know, unless it’s just for a minute. What harm could come from that?

To the xBox and Wii, now forever known as the WizzBox and PeeWii, I’m sorry. From the bottom of my heart. It will never happen again. I hope.

The PeeWii and the WizzBox is a post from: Alli 'n Son

What is this miracle job? I’m working in the Mini Care at our local YMCA. This is a small area of the Y dedicated to watching kids ages 6 weeks to 6 years while their parents work (at the Y) or while parents get in a quick workout or attend an aerobics class. I’ve been using this service since I had Eli, it was the only way I could still get in a work out on a regular basis. The people have always been very kind and very good with the kiddo. I always felt comfortable leaving him there, no matter who was watching him.

And now I get to be one of these people. I’m starting out with just a few hours, 2 afternoons a week. That’s all I need. Just something to get me out of the house, meet new people, get Eli with some new kids, some new toys, and help contribute (a little) to our income. Plus, you get some pretty awesome perks…ahem…a free membership.

So yes, I’m back to working – ish. But I still consider myself a SAHM. I have all of my mornings free to do all of the momma and kiddo things. I still have freedom and flexibility in my schedule. I have built-in childcare (me!). Plus most of the women I’ll be working with are SAHM moms, so they understand what it’s like. It’s the perfect gig, and I can’t wait to officially start next week.

I’m a Working Momma Again is a post from: Alli 'n Son

Leg Huggers Sale is a post from: Alli 'n Son

I couldn’t resist myself, I had to enter the kiddo. He’s just too adorable not to. Friends, family and even random strangers, are always tellings us that we need to get him in modelling. So here’s our first attempt. Please vote for Eli in the GAP Casting Calling and vote often. You can vote once per day through November 17th.

VOTE for my Kiddo in the GAP Casting Call is a post from: Alli 'n Son