Top 10 Things You Know When You're a Mom in AZ

It takes a special kind of mom to raise children in Arizona, especially with this summer's record-setting heat! Here are some of the things only us AZ moms can understand:

1. Skinned knees year-round because your kid wears shorts every day.













2. Cart covers... not just for germs, but for burns.

3. Ice pack coolers for car seats

4. An emphasis on swim lessons in a state with no water. Pools. Everywhere.

5. Birthday parties at the playground, the zoo, the train park, the water park... what's a rain plan?

6. The genius that is the Noggle.

7. The terrifying realization that the Grand Canyon is no place for a toddler. Who's idea was this road trip?

8. Camelback water bottles. Never leave home without them.

9. How to keep those pesky scorpions under control.

10. For more than 300 days of sunshine, we wouldn't have it any other way!

At his 18 month check up, Baby B weighed in at 25lbs and 34 inches tall!

Half Birthday

Today is Baby B's half-birthday! He's officially 18 months old, definitely a toddler, and I can't believe in just 6 months he'll be two. Hopefully it won't be "terrible."

This milestone has me thinking back on the past year and a half and how wonderful this whole parenting adventure has been. To celebrate his half-birthday, here's a look back at baby B's first year:



At 18 months, Baby B likes running, talking, puzzles, cars, trains, telling jokes, Mickey Mouse, anything with buttons, sports class, and so much more!

He dislikes: naps, being interrupted while playing, and thunderstorms.

Top Chef: Toddler Edition

Though cooking has never been my strong suit, I'm a big fan of cooking shows. Watching those shows I've learned many things: how to sneak veggies into Mac and cheese, what zest is and why it's apparently necessary on everything, and I've heard many times that you're never too young to start participating in the kitchen.

I'm here to tell you what many same parents already know: that last part is false. 17 months old, is too young to participate in the kitchen.

After watching Daphne Oz make sweet potato brownies on The Chew I received the vegetable in my weekly box from the farmers market. "Perfect!" I thought. "Oh, what fun it would be to make these with Toddler B!" Clearly I was delusional at the time.

I got my ingredients and chased him down, plopped him standing on a chair so he could reach the counter where I'd carefully laid out the mixing bowl and a measured cup of flour. I reached to guide his little hand but he quickly took his other hand and started patting the flour aggressively, watching it fly and puff all over his shirt and the floor. Just as I started to clean it, he saw the canister of cocoa powder. Who knew he could open cocoa powder? By now the dog was intrigued at the prospect of flying ingredients and I was scrambling to do damage control. I snatched the mixing bowl, cocoa powder and removed the eggs from his reach before it was too late. In my haste to create a distraction to buy time, I gave him a smaller bowl and poured in a few spoonfuls of the next ingredient I happened to be holding. Brown sugar.

There I was, less than 5 minutes in, covered in flour and cocoa powder, scraping ingredients off the counter as my son stood next to me happily shoving handfuls of brown sugar directly into his mouth.

At least he was occupied long enough for me to finish the mix. The "sweet potato brownies" turned out to taste pretty good despite the fact that none of the measurements were precise. Not even close. And yes, I fed them to my toddler even though he'd just eaten who-know-how-much straight brown sugar.

As I said, cooking has never been my strong suit. But, at least the food critics in this house are easy to please!