Thursday, January 28, 2016

the big enchilada

i just finished the last of the leftovers for lunch today
and reminded me to share my newest recipe.
 
i always need something easy for dinner.
nothing that takes all day.
heck, nothing that even takes an hour.
it's got to be fast, easy and good.
i read a recipe the other day on pinterest
and i thought it met all my requirements.
i changed a few things because i
a) didn't have it
or
b) didn't want it
 
the original recipe called for a pound of hamburger
but we had just had chili the day before,
so i went with chicken.
i didn't even cook the chicken.
i took out my trusty bag of tyson grilled chicken strips
and cut them into pieces.
i measured out a cup of frozen stir fry veggies (onions, green & red peppers) 
diced them up and put them in with the chicken.
once it was hot, i added a packet of enchilada seasoning and
one can of rotel - - stir.
i decided that corn sounded good with this,
so i added a pile of frozen corn to the mix.
(probably like 3/4 cup)
i was also going to add a 1/2 can of black beans,
but we were out. wah wah.
meanwhile in another pot, i cooked 8 oz of pasta.
you can use whatever you have in your pantry.
i had thick, flat noodles.
they weren't egg noodles, but they were shorter than fettuccine.
i don't know exactly what they were,
but i liked it and i already had it.
once the noodles were done, i added it to my chicken
and mixed it all together.
then i poured it in a casserole dish,
topped with lots of shredded cheese and
backed it at 350 until hot. (20-30 mins)
serve with sour cream.
 
brette is a huge fan of mexican food.
she eats it better than anything,
hence her 2nd birthday party.
so i'm always looking for easy mexican
and i thought the noodles were a surprising change from rice,
which B doesn't eat very well.
overall, it was a hit and i'm adding it to the "keeper" pile.
 
 
here it is, right out of the oven...
 


Monday, January 25, 2016

reid: six months

 
 
it's here.
the half way point.
she's rounding the corning and heading into
the second term of her first year.
just. like. that.
 
 
growth:
i am currently sick.
i am sporting a double ear infection AND strep throat.
not to mention, my cough and stuffy nose.
so when reid didn't sleep through the night like normal
and was congested as well, i decided to take her into our pediatrician.
she is not sick (yaaas!) and weighed in at 17 lbs.
her 6 month appointment is tomorrow so i will have better stats,
but i know she's growing and that's good enough for me.
she's still in size two diapers and 6 month clothing.
she's grown out of the 3 months stuff and i've started
putting her in 6-9 months stuff even though its a little big.
if its warm, she wears it. 
i've stopped giving her reflux medicine because
she seems to have outgrown the puking thing.
in fact, i don't even burp her anymore.
just another sign that she's getting older.
still no teeth, but i swear they're on their way.
 
 
sleeps:
i don't want to complain because
i know there are people out there that have it
W A Y  worse than me, but i'm a
little frustrated by her lack of consistency at night.
we always have her down by 7:30.
some nights she's back up by 11:00,
but then she'll sleep until 5 or 6.
other nights she's up at 3 and then back down until 7.
but no matter what,
(except for like 4 nights)
she is always up once a night.
not a the same time,
or even for very long,
but definitely up.
and i always nurse her because
she IS sleeping long stints and i feel like
she is ONLY 6 months old.
but i'm ready.
i'm ready to put her down at 7:30 and
not see her pretty little eyes until 7:00 the next morning.
fingers crossed its coming soon.
and yes, still sleeping for the most part on her tummy.
i try to flip her over but she always goes right back to her stomach.
i'm going to ask the doctor about it tomorrow.
i don't know what else to do.
my next problem is the dreaded nap.
so important.
so needed (for baby and mom).
and reid is not having it.
she still takes FOUR naps a day.
FOUR.
do you know how hard that is to do with a two year old
that needs s o m e t h i n g  constantly?
its hard.
but reid will only sleep for 30-45 mins.
obviously that's not enough, so she gets tired every few hours,
i put her back down and pray for a long nap,
but it never happens.
i just want her to sleep from 9-11 and then from 2-4.
now if someone will just tell her...
 
 
 eats:
she is still nursing every few hours.
but she's also drinking water out of a straw or
a sippy cup. (mostly because that's what we have out for brette)
and you know we started food.
she normally is fed twice a day.
this week she's trying out apples and peas.
she's not loving the peas, but i poke them in there.
next week will be sweet potatoes and pears.
ronnie forgets that she eats now and he pretty much took
over the kids this weekend since i've been sick.
reid only ate once.
whoops.
i guess i need to remind dear ol' daddy that he has
two girls that need to eat now.
 
 
plays:
she's a people watcher.
she loves to watch brette run around and dance.
she loves anything that allows her to sit up.
i can get her to sit on her own for a while,
but i only do it on my bed so it doesn't hurt when she falls or
when i'm super close by and can catch her.
she getting closer.
she also loves activity mats.
we don't have one, go figure.
but shan does and every time i'm over there,
reid will just lay on paige's activity mat perfectly content.
 
 
firsts:
she made her way into her first new year.
she had her first solid food.
and she can semi-sit up under supervision.
 
 
i think these next 3 months will bring big changes for reid.
i know a certain little girl down the hall that cannot wait
for her little sister to sit up a start playing with her.
i'm excited to see it myself.

 happy 1/2 birthday, chicken little!
 


 
 
 

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

reid eats

 

 
 
 
someone was hungry.
as in, crying and reaching for our spoons when we ate.
it was too much.
so even though she was shy of being six months,
like i had planned.
we went ahead and started giving reid food.
i wanted to start with cereal and peanut butter,
but i am borrowing the rest of shannon's cereal she has leftover
from paige and since i don't have it yet,
and reid was getting demanding, we went ahead
and gave her carrots.
and then the next morning, bananas.
she had to get used to the consistency,
but each day she gets better and better.
she only eats about a tablespoon,
but i think she's enjoying it.
we're going to be adding cereal, sweet potatoes,
pears and peas soon.
its so fun. i just love when they start eating.
 
 
next up, steak.


AND, does anyone remember this?
how cute are my little girls.
 
 

Sunday, January 17, 2016

the need for tinted windows

soooo... lets talk about my boobs for a bit.
 
i don't think the bank i work at has ever
had someone that needed to pump.
or if they have, they act clueless.
when i first came back in september,
my boss told me i could use the men's bathroom
because it had a lock on the door and a bench.
ew.
but i tried it out.
1. the bench is too far away from the plug-in,
so i had to stand in front of the mirror while pumping.
weird.
2. it smelled seriously awful.
3. i had to go tell the men in the bank that i would
be in their restroom every time i needed to use it.
awkward.
 
with a little advice from my friend dana and her legal expertise,
she convinced me that i should be a little bit more pro-active
in my pumping demands.
(i guess its illegal for your place of employment not to provide
you a place to pump and it cannot be a restroom.)
i am so not good at confrontation, so i took it upon myself
to find another place more suitable.
unfortunately, all the offices have glass front walls,
so there is no such thing as privacy.
but, being the genius i clearly am, i brought in my old
shower curtain and tacked it up over the opening.
yesssss. i just scored myself my own little pumping room.
 
fast forward to october and we had a community service project.
everyone had to meet at this ladies house to fix it up for her.
i emailed the guy in charge to see if there was somewhere i could go,
since i knew we'd be there several hours.
he said the house would be in no condition to actually go inside
(ps- who lives at this place?!?)
but there was a QuikTrip a few miles away.
not ideal.
i was trying to figure out how i was going to lock the QT bathroom
door for 15 minutes without causing a riot.
instead, that morning another guy in charge said i could use
the generator he brought if i moved my car close enough to
run an extension cord.
so just imagine me, crouched down in the backseat of the 4runner,
outside this dump of a house, while all my co-workers are right outside working.
it. was. heinous.
and the generator was SO LOUD.
like a freaking motor off a muscle car.
there was no being discrete.
 
and now here we are today.
i think the number of women in the company
that needs to pump must have grown.
i got an email on friday saying they reserved an extra room for
our annual all-employee meeting at a local convention center, just for nursing moms.
can you believe it!
there would be a key left in an envelope outside the door, so
you could lock yourself in there and we could all take turns.
a big step up from the men's bathroom or the backseat of my car.
i'll take it!
  
i'm so glad i only do this a couple days a week.
pumping sucks.
only five months to go.



Thursday, January 14, 2016

picture me rollin'

i mentioned that ronnie was gone all weekend.
he decided that we needed to add another vehicle to
our garage (also known as cox's used car lot) and
this one was located in illinois up close to his mom's.
he drove there with a friend and spent the weekend.
and then he brought back a yukon.

 
it's getting ridiculous.
i did agree that we needed a new vehicle because
ronnie's truck has a regular cab and the
jeep is a pain to get the girls in and out of.
so my suggestion?
sell the jeep.  sell the truck.
buy a newer four-door truck that's family friendly.
unfortunately, ronnie is not down to sell his truck.
apparently, there is something special between a man and
his 1998 regular cab truck that we cannot all ride in.
smart, right?
but he did decide to sell the jeep and
look into a suburban.
we were going to do this a year ago, but
ronnie got cold feet and ended up taking it off the market.
so as of right now, we have the truck,
the 4runner, the jeep, the yukon, ronnie's work truck shed, and a harley.
i'm. not. kidding.
but ronnie promises to sell the jeep as soon as possible.
let's all keep track of how long it takes him, because
if there is one thing i know for sure about ronnie,
nothing is fast.
 
my advice?
never marry a man with a love for all things auto.
(unless you're willing to spend a few extra minutes everyday moving
around cars so you can get the right one out of the driveway.)
 
 
b u t
i have to admit..
i am loving this new addition.
heated seats in the winter,
sunroof for the summer
third row for the puppies,
extra storage in the back
and leather for easy clean-up when the kiddos spill.
not to mention, i feel a little gangsta.





Monday, January 11, 2016

the unwanted houseguest

reid was the worst houseguest of all time.
ronnie went out of town over the weekend so
i decided to head down to my parent's house saturday
afternoon and spend the night with them.
it's nice to have an extra set of hands,
especially at bedtime.
reid went to sleep in her pack-n-play pretty normal.
but she woke up around 10 and
never fully went back to sleep.
i'm used to her sleeping 9 hours,
not 9 minutes.
i blame her teeth.
not that she has any,
but i think they're on their way.
it was so exhausting and frustrating
and i felt bad because my parents could hear her,
so they were awake all night too.
the. worst.
my memory is hazy, but
i know i was still up at 4:30 so i finally brought
her and her boppy lounger in my room and
she slept an hour and half.
and THAT felt successful.
the worst part is, i still had to be functional
the next day because brette wants to do crazy stuff
like eat and talk.
i know my parents were super tired too and my mom had
a headache from lack of sleep but they helped out so
much so i could be a half-ass mom for the day.
if your kid is going to be completely miserable,
they should at least have the decency to do it in
the privacy of their own home.
geez, reid, way to go.
 
last night was a bit better...
she was up at 9, 11, 12, 12:30, 5 and 6:30.
and as i type this she's been up since 8 and it's
going on 9pm.
go. the. F. to. sleep.
someone remind me to buy a powerball ticket.
i need to hire a nanny during the teething months.
 
 
(this is me and reid that next morning at my parent's
while brette watched monster's inc in her undies.)






Wednesday, January 6, 2016

you saw this coming, right?

 
let's see.
i'm three days into my new year's diet.
you know the drill.
in january i always vow to be skinnier and
by april i change my resolution to
"enjoy your family and friends more."
which equates to relaxing on the patio with a few beers.
or a few pieces of chocolate cake - take your pick.
blah.
but no really.
I WILL LOSE THIS WEIGHT.
i always have a goal after i have my babies.
i want to be back to pre-pregnancy weight by
the time they turn 6 months.
i made it with brette and i plan on making it with reid too.
but reid turns 6 months old in 2 weeks.
i gained 28lbs with her and lost 18 of
it within the first few weeks.
now i have 2 weeks to lose the final 10lbs.
i'm watching what i eat, but
i really need to add some exercise.
everyday i beg ronnie to bring my treadmill home.
(it's still in storage at my parent's from when we
lived with them last winter.)
and yes, it's been that long since i've worked out.
i've also asked him several times to bring me up
my 5lb weights from the basement.
so far, nothings been done, but
i'm hopeful that i can start my new work out routine next week.
(do you like how i blame my laziness on ronnie? me too.)
i thought seriously about joining a gym.
i called and got pricing, child care included.
i think it would be nice to get out of the house
and do something for myself, but
i also know that they make you sign a contract
and i'm not sure i want to make that commitment.
plus, i'm pretty sure joining a gym in january is annoying.
i can only imagine how packed it is at the beginning of the year.
for now, i'm going to try it on my own.
wish me luck.
 
ps- can you believe reid will be 6 month??? holy geez.
 

 
 

 
 




Friday, January 1, 2016

cheers!

 
 
the clock struck midnight.
the calendar flipped.
our glasses bottles clinked.
and just like that, we started a new year.
2 0 1 6
you're supposed to spend new year's with the
one you love and lucky for me,
i talked my friends into coming over for
a little par-tay so i could stay at home and
put my littlest to bed on time.
brette on the other hand,
didn't go down until a little after 9:00
because she was having the time of her life running
around with graham and reese.
(no worries, she took a three hour nap today)
with reid still getting up around 4am every night,
i feel bad having someone watch her so we can go out.
it's not exactly a great time to be up.
but wouldn't you know it,
that little chicken slept until 6am this morning.
she would.
 
we had a lot of fun.
we talked about babies and houses and jobs and other people.
normal 30-something conversations.
 we laughed and drank too many beers,
but not a drop of champagne, so if anyone
feels like making a toast,
i have the supplies in my fridge.
 
i hope your new year's was fun and safe.
just imagine i'm raising a glass to you.
now let's get this party started.
 
sweet hats.

party people

sparkling juice at midnight. poor reese had to be woken up for it.

my fur family.

graham: a future party animal. this child never went to sleep.

the girls

turnbow's - with a little girl due in march.

the boys

the glovers
 
chocolate cake mouth.
 
 
now for my new year inspiration:
you're welcome.