Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Looking back

Because of Lil Sis's birthday the other day I was looking through old pics throughout her pregnancy and other moments in her life. It made me kinda miss being pregnant. Kinda.

Since I started my blog the day of her birth I wanted to post a couple belly pics.

PhotobucketPhotobucket

It was nice being able to take the picture myself because I could angle my face in the mirror in such a way so you couldn't see my triple chin that I obtain during pregnancy.

Enjoy.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Picture Overload


Slobbering on blocks with her 9 month old boyfriend/Being mocked by Daddy. A favorite pastime.

It sure was difficult blowing out that one lone candle./ Loving her books.

Diva with two of her aunts. Cute, aren't they?



Delving into the chocolaty goodness. / Eying that last piece of cake and thinking, "Oh dear chocolate cake how you have made my life complete."


A chocolate covered one year-old. I wonder if they sell those during Easter?

Thursday, March 26, 2009

"Ceeeelebrate good times...


Proud Daddy and Mommy (Never have posted that pic of myself..anywhere!)




One year later!
...C'MON!"

Oh yes my friends today is truly a day for celebrations. Not only is it my 1 year Blogiversary but it is also Lil' Sis's FIRST Birthday! Hooray!

What's that now? You wish you had a pretty link to Lil's Sis's birth story? Here ya go!

May I say that I really loved Lil's Sis's labor and birth without people wanting to throw stuff at me?

It was quick, relatively easy and I felt like a million bucks afterward. I still remember my nurse's name-Margarite and how amazing she was. Not only did she accommodate my wishes she also delivered my baby! Quick funny story: When Lil' Sis was about 5 months old I was in Target and I heard a voice. It was unbelievably familiar to me but it was a voice that was not consistently in my life circle. I crept around the corner and saw Margarite! I knew she would never recognize me so I quickly went up to her and gushed about how wonderful she was. It was a little weird to think about how she had seen me in my most "vulnerable" state but I didn't really care. I heart her.

Nurses will make or break a delivery experience. I would never hesitate to kick a crappy nurse out of my labor room and neither should any laboring mother.

Anyhoo so today is her birthday (my baby's not Margarite's) and it's obviously bittersweet. The year went by so fast because she is such a sweet and wonderful baby. In honor of her twelfth month here are twelve things I love about her:

1. Her birthmark that looks like a large mole on her left hip-SO.CUTE.
2. Her obsession with me. She is 100% a momma's girl.
3. Her love for nursing which in turn makes me love it. I thought I would probably wean her at one year but I don't see an end in the near future.
4. The way she scrunches her nose when she smiles.
5. How she loves to point at stuff and say, "Whadat?" (What's that?)
6. "Mamamamama"
7. Her ba-donka-donk. Baby got back.
8. The fact that she now consitently sleeps through the night. Really love it.
9. The way she snuggles up against me when she's tired. Diva never ever did that.
10. How she loves her big sister so much and is so excited to see her in the mornings.
11. When she crawls up and sits in Diva's play chair and looks at me with an "I'm such a big girl Mommy!" look.

12. That she is part of our family. Her sweetness makes me not so terrified to continue having more children.

It amazes me how children from the same parents can be so different. Lil' Sis is very shy and apprehensive around new people, whereas Diva, when she was around the same age would wave and say, "Hi!" to strangers at the grocery store.

Happy Birthday my little munchkin!!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Turkey Mush



Can't take credit for this idea but it's delicious. Sheyla inspired me and this meal is so easy and so healthy and so YUMMY.

We all have those nights, "What the HECK am I going to make for dinner?" Let's face it, as moms all we want to do is sit down with a bowl of cereal or some string cheese and toast and call it dinner but our hubbies need sustenance and substance. I'm lucky that my husband is not picky and will eat anything I make.

A few weeks ago my friend Sheyla made my family dinner and she called it her, "Turkey Mush". Basically you take ground turkey and throw in whatever the heck you want and put it over Brown Basmati Rice. I think in her version she had pinto beans, corn, tomatoes, onions, garlic, green olives, soybeans and some other stuff. It was really, really good and my entire family (like my brothers and sister) looooved it.

So anyway fast forward tonight and I threw this together and it was just as good. Now I didn't measure anything so this is totally going by what your taste buds like.

First I start up the Basmati rice. I add a scoop of Better than Bullion(Chicken) and a tablespoon of Smart Balance for some flavor. Let it cook while you begin the rest of the meal.


About a cup of chopped onions, sautee for a few minutes in large pan with olive oil
mince a couple cloves of garlic, throw in with the onions
dump in lean ground turkey
cook turkey until no more pink can be seen
add in one can of black beans
one bag of frozen peas
one can of green chilies
couple shakes of oregano
a little coriander and cumin
salt and pepper
dash of red pepper flakes

When it's all finished you can scoop the turkey mixture over the rice and it's a nice, hearty healthy meal that seriously took me only 45 minutes. YUM. My almost 12 month old (come Friday!!) who is also a sickie chickie ate a bunch of it. Don't ask about my almost 3 year old because she had oatmeal cookies for dinner.

This meal will definitely be added to our dinner repretoire. It's something where you can always have the ingredients on hand-if you freeze the ground turkey and then take it out long enough beforehand to thaw.

There you have it! Turkey Mush! Thanks Sheyla!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Withdrawal

http://bases.stanford.edu/images/facebook-logo.jpg

I can't access Facebook and it makes me sad.

Is it just me or is anyone else having problems with it?

*I had an epiphany right after I posted this that's it's probably my browser. Yup, I was right*

So now my question is, anybody have any clue why Facebook is not working with my Firefox? I heart firefox. I can't give it up!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

I think she reads my blog.

*Last night*

It's 10:30 pm and Hubby and I are going to bed. Diva walks out of her room and climbs into our bed. Um no, not happening.

Hubby says, "Okay kiddo, it's time to get back in bed!"

Diva replies, "I'm not a kiddo, I'm a DIVA!"

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

8 pm - 8:30 am

That is how long Lil' Sis slept last night. Straight. Without waking up. I'm amazed. And I fell asleep at 10:30 last night so for the first time in MONTHS I feel actually RESTED. Awesome.

But lest you think she did this all on her own she did not. I am not a fan of letting babies cry themselves to sleep. If anybody tells me they let their 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 month old cry themselves to sleep I cringe. I feel sad for those poor babies.

However my baby will be one in less than two weeks. She goes to sleep fantastically. Lay her down wide awake and she's out in less than a few minutes. It was the continual waking sometimes more than 2 times a night that I couldn't handle any longer. And as the saying goes in sleep training or night nursing, "If you start to resent it, change it." (Or something like that)

The only thing to get her back to sleep was to nurse. So last week I decided enough was enough. When she awoke in the middle of the night I would go in her "room" (our closet), pat her back, give her her binky and let her know that all was OK but that I was not going to feed her anymore (just at night of course!) I didn't pick her up either. I would leave the room, shut the door and that was that. If she fell back asleep and then awoke crying again I would repeat the process.

It made her angry. Like really, REALLY angry. She screamed bloody murder for a few minutes then it would die down to whimpers and whining for who knows how long after that. I went back to sleep!

It worked. For now. It took about 4 days..er..nights. And you know what? She still woke up every morning with a huge grin on her face. No recollection of mommy ticking her off.

So here's to more nights of being able to sleep 7 hours consecutively! Cheers!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

The Widow



Every time this girl wants to play in the backyard I first go and do my "inspections."


I'm on a hunt. I start kicking things over, turning them upside down.

Hmmm...this table looks harmless. On no...it's not.


I flip it over. Sure enough I find one of these lovely ladies lurking in the corner.


(click on her to see her in all her arachnid-glory)

Without fail I discover of these deadly chicas every time I go hunting.

So finally, I called one of these guys:


Man Using a Pump Sprayer to Exterminate Bugs Royalty Free Clipart Image

Hopefully soon we'll be seeing less of those eight-legged blood suckers.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Shey's day!



Meet Sheyla. Sheyla has been a part of my family's life for awhile now. It all started when my mom started taking Pilates classes with her about a year ago. She's an awesome instructor who will absolutely kick your butt. She is a very warm, kind and amiable person with two adorable sons. She is an awesome single mom who would do anything for her children.

After my baby was born I took up Pilates with Sheyla as well and enjoyed talking with her. I could tell right away she was a wonderful person.

A couple months ago my mom's ward had ward conference and the members were encouraged to ask friends, neighbors or family members who aren't LDS to come and learn more about the "Mormons." My mom felt impressed to ask Sheyla to come. I was given the task to ask Sheyla at our next training session. I barely got the words out of my mouth before she said, "Yes yes yes! I would love to!" That was the beginning of the beginning. The missionaries had their "golden contact." I couldn't believe how easily she retained the knowledge of the gospel. She basically taught herself and told me time after time how much she could feel peace in her life grow.

Today, Sheyla was baptized and will be given the Gift of the Holy Ghost this coming Sunday. It was a wonderful day full of strong emotions and a wonderful Spirit of the Lord.

Sheyla is quickly becoming one of my greatest friends. I have no doubt in my mind that my mom and I were used as instruments in God's hands to introduce her to the Gospel. My testimony grew ten fold as I watched her own testimony blossom. She had been searching for a long, long time for a church that fulfilled her and satiated her hunger for the Truth.

Sheyla had barely a clue that we were LDS the day we invited her to church. She barely knew what Mormonism was or how it worked.



I had very, very little to do with her conversion but I was and AM so excited to have been able to particpate in it.

You never know what could happen when you open your mouth!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

100

So I know you all know that this is my 100th post. Cuz you know exactly how many posts I have right?

Anyway I was racking my brain to see what exciting thing I could post for my 100th post. So without further ado I am announcing that.....

I am not pregnant. That's right folks, in about 9 months I will not be giving birth to a boy or girl. This news is pretty great. As much as I do love being pregnant, it's the raising of the child that freaks me out. So there you have it. Spread the word. Mom, I'm sorry you read this announcement on the blog.

So anyhoo there's not much going on in my life that is exactly 100th post-worthy. Lil' Sis turned 11 months old two days ago. I canNOT believe how quickly this year has passed.

Diva serves as my daily entertainment. The things that come out of her mouth make me want to roll my eyes or laugh hysterically or scream in a pillow. I don't understand why preschoolers have to be so fickle. For example:

Lunch Time:

Me: "Hey sweetie do you want a sandwich?"
Diva: "No"
Me: "Are you sure? What about peanut butter and honey?"
Diva: "NO! I don't want a sandwich!"
Me: "I know you're hungry, do you want yogurt instead?"
Diva:"Noooo! I want a sandwich!"
Me:"Uh...ok? Peanut butter and honey?"
Diva: "No I want cream cheese!"
Me: "Okay you can have cream cheese"
*I start preparing a cream cheese sandwich and upon seeing me take out the cream cheese...
Diva:"I don't WANT CREAM CHEESE!"
Me (and starting to get a teensy weensy exasperated): "But you SAID you wanted one!"
Diva: "NO! I want YOGURT!!!"
*putting my head in my hands mumbling something about the nut house*
*Getting down on my knees and looking her in the eye: "You can have a sandwich or yogurt, which is it?"
Diva:" I want a peanut butter and honey sandwich!"
Me: "SIGH....Okay, go sit down."
*Prepare the sandwich, place it in front of her....hold my breath*
*Diva opens the sandwich...waterworks begin*
"I WANT CREAAAAM CHEEEEEEEESE!"
*Wishing I could have a lobotomy*

It's just a stage....it's just a stage....it's just a stage.

LW

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