Sunday, May 31, 2009

Need a new recipe?

I made this King Ranch Chicken the other night for dinner. I am attempting to find some new and easy recipes while I am home more. Now that we have a family I would like to make more "meals"....no more frozen pizzas and skillet sensations... or maybe just less of them! This one I got from www.kellyskornerrecipes.blogspot.com I saw some variations at www.allrecipes.com where you could use flour tortillas or doritos instead of corn tortillas. If you have ever eaten at Carlos O'Kelly's my favorite dish is the Lite Fajita Chicken Enchiladas and this sort of reminded me of that!

King Ranch Chicken
3 chicken breasts
1 10.5 ounce can cream of mushroom soup
1 10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup
1 can Ro-Tel (diced tomatoes and green chilis)
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 small package of corn tortillas (I used about half of a 27 ounce package)

Spray 9 X 13 pan with non-stick spray. Tear up corn tortillas and cover bottom of pan. Boil chicken breasts and cut into bite sized pieces. (Boiled chicken didn't sound good to me so I had JW throw the chicken on the grill the night before when we were cooking hamburgers). Mix soups, chicken, and ro-tel together and pour over tortillas. Top with cheddar cheese. Bake at350 for 30 minutes. Serve with spanish rice. Yummy!!!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Sling & Swaddle Journey




You may have noticed a little button on the right hand side of this page that says "Sling & Swaddle". I will soon be receiving a Hotslings baby carrier and a couple Miracle Blankets in the mail! I was chosen to be one of 30 moms who will use Twitter to micro-blog their daily adventures as part of a competition for more prizes. If you want more information you can click on that little button on their right and it will go to the website. I will probably figure out how to put a link that says "Follow me on Twitter" or something like that once I get my account password. I have never used Twitter to "tweet" so I am curious about how that will go!


I have some friends who own the Hotsling and really like it a lot. I am excited to try out a baby carrier that is a little more "stylish" than the Sleepywrap that I already own. I already use the Miracle Blanket on a nightly basis so I am loving the idea of having a couple more! I'm sure I will be posting pics and updates on the blog as well. If you are interested in either of these products than it may be helpful to see what some "real" moms have to say about their experiences.




Looooong Day...

Yesterday was a long day for Mommy, Daddy, and Luke. I don't think Charlotte had a clue! JW was gone all morning and into the afternoon. From the time Luke woke up and came upstairs he was crying, whining, and throwing fits. I am not quite sure what the problem was. The day before he didn't have a nap but then went to bed early and slept a good 12-13 hours that night. I thought maybe he was just messed up with his sleep or maybe he is getting molars or maybe he has a headache or growing pains.. I dunno! Maybe it's just being 2! :) He took a nap in the afternoon but he still acted out the rest of the evening. He kept trying to hit and throw things at us... we are still trying to be consistent with the time outs (because basically that is all we know how to do! haha). Then we went to Lowe's to look for a paint color for Charlotte's room. While I was trying to decide, Luke was grabbing all the little paint swatches. I was trying to keep the workers from seeing the mess we were making because there was no way I could find the correct slots to put them back. I had Charlotte in the cart as well and Daddy had disappeared to go look at something. I pushed the cart a little farther out so Luke couldn't reach the swatches and he goes (really LOUDLY by the way) "No! You get time out!!!" accompanied by his mean face. I almost had to laugh (but I know that's not good to do)... I'm sure I smirked and I think I said "ohhhh, really??". I hope that's not what we sound like when he gets a time out! I try to be very controlled and stern, but not yelling. Anyways, he may be testing us a little with the time outs and behavior or he just had a really bad day. At one point, JW said in a smarmy tone, "You still want 4 kids?" and I kept my mouth shut... No Comment! haha
We were both afraid this would continue into today but so far he seems like he is in a much better mood. Thank God!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

She Laughed!






This morning Charlotte laughed for the first time! She is usuallly very smiley and alert first thing in the morning and today was no exception. I held her up to the bathroom mirror so she could look at herself and I was talking to her and kissing her on the forehead. She smiled soooo big! Then I changed the kisses to a zoober (I am assuming everyone knows what this means, but I am not sure if that is just a word we have used in our family??) and she did a little chuckle! So cute! I got her to laugh 3 times and then ran downstairs to tell Daddy the news. I am not sure he really wanted to be woken up yet just to hear that haha but I was proud of her. The next trick will be getting that on a little film clip to share.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Siblings...

I LOVE being a mom. I feel it is what I am meant to be in life... as well as an awesome (har har) SLP (Speech Language Pathologist). It is difficult being a parent but it is also very rewarding! People are always asking if we are "done" having children now that we have a boy and a girl. Often finances are brought up as a reason to just stop at two. To me, I don't think it is all about finances. Luke and I were in the car the other day and (of course) running late and much to my despair we were stuck behind a school bus. Then the cutest thing started happening. At every stop, a child would run off the bus and into the arms of their brother and/or sister waiting for them in the driveway. The kids were all smiling big and smaller ones would be jumping up and down with excitement that their sibling was finally home from school! It was such fun to see such pure bliss! At this point in my life I really enjoy having a family with small children. I know they will get older and eventually less cooperative but hopefully we can have a family that enjoys doing activities and building memories together. If you ask me now, I can imagine at least one more child added to the mix. Mom, don't freak out on me! haha When JW and I discuss it, we say let's wait 2-3 years and then see how it is going. I think that would be a good idea since Luke would be approaching kindergarten age and Charlotte would be becoming more independent at that time. Anyways, I imagine what it will be like when the kids are older and how great it will be when they are interacting together. I am sure it won't always be rosy, but I do imagine them having a close sibling relationship (eventually!) and it would be great to have another sister or brother in the mix. The sibling rivalry may have started already though, Charlotte was kicking and wiggling her arms around, like 2 month olds do, and her hand went towards Luke's bowl of mini-marshmallows. He yelled "No!" like she was going to take one of his precious marshmallows... trust me, this kid does not share his marshmallows (I've tried!). I am thinking to myself, just wait until she is 6 months older and she really is trying to grab his food or toys haha! I think our household will get a lot louder with fits being thrown, but I also hope the laughter gets louder as well.


Monday, May 11, 2009

Zoo!





Today was a busy day here. We first received word that our new nephew, Finn, was born over in Holland! We are happy to hear that he and his parents are all doing well! We can't wait to see how he looks and hear all about him. :)

We had plans to go to take the kids to the zoo and that pretty much took the whole day. Luke was a very good boy and got to walk most of the time and didn't whine too much when he was asked to hold our hands. He got to pet and brush goats, ride a pony for the first time, ride on a carousel, ride on a little train, pet a cow, see a peacock with it's tail feathers fanned, pretend to hatch out of an egg, play African drums, and see lots of cool animals! He pretty much liked everything. Charlotte was her usual, content self and slept in the stroller most of the time. We managed to even stop at a few stores and eat at Applebee's together with no fits or meltdowns so it was a great day!


Note to self: If you try to hug a goat... it will probably try to eat your clothes... and if you yell, "No, stop it!" and run... it will probably chase you...but you probably will just think that's funny.




























Friday, May 8, 2009

Charlotte is 2 months old!



At 2 months of age, Charlotte is holding her head up better. She is also smiling more and "cooing and gooing" back when you talk with her. Of course, whenever I try to get a picture of her smiling or talking back to me she stops! Here are some recent pics though that I think are cute enough to share. I am definately excited to have a little girl. I am loving all the cute little outfits and I think she already likes talking to her mommy. Hopefully she will enjoy doing things with me when she is older. It seems like I am always hanging out with my mom and sisters so it makes me hope that the future will bring the same with Miss Charlotte. :)










Say, "I'm smart!".... "I fart!"....hmmm

I do think Luke is very smart little boy even if he can't say it correctly yet! He has been enjoying swimming lessons with his Daddy. Luckily, Daddy enjoys it as well so Mommy can just watch and take pictures. JW spared me the horror of having to don a swimsuit 6 weeks after having a baby! haha This is Luke's third time with swim lessons and he really is starting to understand and even looks like he is doing a little dog paddle with Daddy holding him. JW also has been having him jump off the side of the pool and catching him and then you turn them towards the wall so they know what to do if they fall in.... Last night Luke jumped off the wall for the first time without holding Daddy's hands. He was very proud of himself. He also enjoyed throwing a little toy octopus out in front of him and swimming for it. It cracks me up that he kept going "See that Mommy? See that octopus?" Here are a few of the cute videos of I got him jumping and swimming.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Graduation, new knee brace, and 2 month check up!

This past weekend we went to a graduation dinner/ceremony for JW. He completed the classwork to become a Journeyman Electrician and at the same time took courses through Vincennes University to earn an Associate's Degree. This has required him to go to classes 1 or 2 nights a week for the last 4 years from 5-9pm with a 45 minute drive there and back straight after work. This has been a sacrifice in that he was gone from the time he woke up to the time he had to go to bed on those days. I am proud that he pushed himself to complete the classes and finally is done with it! It was a great opportunity to better himself and it was sponsored by his work. Hey, you can't beat a free college degree nowadays! He also received certificates for having the highest grade point average in his class and perfect attendance (What a nerd! Ha! just kidding). Here he is shaking hands with the president of Vincennes University.

He received a leatherman multi-tool, some "cool" safety glasses, and a $50 giftcard to Lowe's. The program also paid for a hotel for the night so we spent the night at a Hampton Inn for free! Lottie really enjoyed lounging in the big king-sized bed at the hotel
JW has been attending physical therapy 3 times per week and just received a nifty aluminum brace to help stabilize his knee. Right now they are working on getting it to straighten. He still cannot bend it much but I imagine it is slowly getting better.


Today Charlotte had her 2 month check up. She weighed 11 pounds 8 ounces (70th percentile) and 22.5 inches long (50th percentile). Everything looked good. Her rash has cleared up around her face. I switched us all to the Dreft laundry detergent and got dye free/perfume free dryer sheets. I also have been using Aquaphor on her face when she gets out of the bath. That seems to help some! She had to get her first shots today.... :( I believe Tante Kirsten was with me when Luke had his first shots. I think he cried with the initial pain/surprise of it but was soon soothed when he was picked up. This girl... no way... she was ticked for a loooong time! I think she is going to be like her mother. She doesn't forget quickly and once you start crying, you can't stop! She screamed even after I cuddled her and theN I gave up and had to just carry her out of the doctor's office still crying. She does this very sad frown face when she gets hurt and her little bottom lip shudders and it's just ohhh soooo sad! It breaks my heart. Hopefully she won't be too bothered by the shots tonite. Luke has swim lessons, so that is where we will be!

 

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