More pictures

The kids ready for church

Stir Fry being silly

My family

The Cousins (impossible to get 6 kids 4 and under
to take a good picture)

Baluga and Uncle "Bake"

Self Diagnosis

The other day one of my new neighbors brought over a starter for Amish Friendship Bread. Today was day 10 and it needed to be made, so I decided to try to make it while Speedy was sleeping and Stir Fry was watching a show. Baluga wanted to be involved and pointed out all the messes I was making in my kitchen. In an attempt to keep her busy and out of my hair while I was cooking I gave her some chocolate chips. For only being 2, Baluga talks pretty well and is pretty easy to understand. Although sometimes she likes to gabber when singing songs or just talking to herself. While playing with her chocolate chips she was doing this, but sounded like she was saying, "I O.C.D, I O.C.D, I O.C.D." over and over again. Now is this a prediction for what is to come, self fulfilling prophecy? Either way I thought it was pretty funny to her my 2 year old call herself what sounded like OCD while she was organizing her chocolate chips.

He's arrived!

Well before I start, I never posted a picture of Baluga's room. So here it is, it's not a great picture, but you get an idea of what it looks like.

Early Friday (August 24th) morning 3:45 AM I had my first contraction. I was thinking that this was it, but hoping it wasn't because Stir Fry was having his preschool open house that morning. Well they continued to come, and then I thought maybe my water had broken. So the mother-in-law was on her way to our house, which takes about 15 minutes. We almost just left the kids home with the door unlocked for grandma when she showed up, but we waited. We got to the hospital and I was 4 cm after less than an hour of labor. At this point I was ready for the drugs, but was told my doctor might have me wait an hour to see if I progress, which he had done just 30 minutes earlier for another one of his patients that was there. Are you kidding me!?! Do you not see that things are getting worse fast!!! They finally called the anethesiologist and I got some relief. Before it was over I had a lot of pressure and felt like pushing, and was just hoping there was enough time for it to kick in. By the time it was done I was to 9 cm. Only minutes later our little one was born (thank good the drugs were starting working fast and the doc gave me extra because he could tell things were happening FAST), after a little less than 2 hours of labor, and only being at the hospital 40 minutes. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 8 oz. and measured 19 1/2 inches long. I have yet to decide on a blogger name for him, so for now we'll just call him Speedy, for obvious reason. So for his blog day view, Speedy.

Count down

Well I'm glad to report that things have improved, (almost 1 week and 9 pounds down later) although we are still going slow on adding to the diet.
On another note, I had my LAST doctors appointment today. Holy cow where did the time go? I'm 3 cm, which with my other two I was only 1-2 cm up until labor. They stripped my membranes today and scheduled me for an induction on Monday, August 27th. So sometime between now and then there should be another addition to our family. We are still debating on a name, we have a list of about 4 that we go back and forth on. Everyone is kind of leaning towards one name, which they are just trying to convince me to agree to use. We'll see.
So my next post will probably be as the mom of three, wish us luck!

Could it be any worse?

Well I'm sure it can, but right now it doesn't feel like it. With the number of days left until my due date, being able to count on two hands, it starts getting miserable anyway. But having some of the hottest weather this summer and having no air conditioning and just a swamp cooler, I feel what I can only imagine a menapausal woman feels like. I sweat so much it's gross. Then to make things worse a few days ago I came down with a bug, that is supposidely going around. Which leaves me more tired, achey, and uncomfortable than normal. I'm not sleeping, or at least not that much. And I spend a lot of the day in the bathroom. I haven't ate much, because it only makes it worse. Hopefully things get better, the good news is the kids have been pretty good for the most part over it and understanding. And the hubby has been more than willing to help, that is if I can think of anything that might help, and dealing with being in charge of dinner, since I don't join them. So let hope things improve quickly and I feel like I did before this sickness happened, then I'll be a lot happier.

Missing home

I always wish I live closer to my family, but there are times that makes me miss it even more. Like at the beginning of the week when we had a pregnancy scare at night and left me thinking who would I call if we had to go to the hospital to have a baby. It's times like this that make anyone miss their parents (especially your mom, for us girls), if you aren't lucky enough to have them close by.
In other news, besides me missing my family. We've got all (well except for a few odds and ends) into the house, that is not to say it's unpacked. Most of the house it packed and not unpacked. The kids seems to be adjusting well, and seem to be a nice neighborhood. Baluga is now in her own room, after sleeping in Stir Fry's room for several days, waiting for the paint job to get done. It turned out cute (I'll post pictures later). Hopefully we'll be mostly unpacked by the time the baby comes, which hopefully isn't for another couple weeks, well I guess we have about 1 more week until baby can be born and not premature. Wish us luck.

The one some of you have been waiting for

I mentioned I think in my last post that we were looking for a house. We have found one and signed papers yesterday. We should be moving in this weekend. People have asked for pictures so here are some. I didn't have the time or desired to format them to put them strategically through the post so deal with it. The first few are of the outside. The old owners have been out for weeks, and the sprinklers haven't been one since, so the lawn is showing that along with a lot of weeds. There is a big sand lot in the back which can see in the corner of one of the pictures growing weeds. When it comes to pictures of the inside we don't have much except for the living room and kitchen. As you walk in there is an accent wall, which you will see on the right and then the living room. Then that leads into the kitchen/dining room. On the main floor there is also 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. In the basement, which you can see the banister from one of the pictures in the kitchen, has a big family room, which will probably turn into the TV room/office/play room, because it's so big. It also has another bedroom. There is also an unfinished bathroom that is framed and wired. There is also another room that is framed with lots of shelves, that will be used for food storage for now, which can later be converted to a 5th bedroom if we want. So wish us luck this weekend, in moving, finishing packing, unpacking, and cleaning and everything else.

My Substitute

It would be nice if parenting was like basketball and you have some subs waiting on the side line for their turn to come in and get a chance to "play". It would be nice to have a couple people just waiting around, where at a moments (I guess more like a micro-second) notice they could relieve you of your duties for whatever time you need to re-coop. There are tons of times where I would like this, for example, when the kids don't take long enough naps and I'm not ready to get up from mine and the same goes for night time and getting up in the morning, and nameless other things. But yesterday I NEEDED one of these. Approaching the end of pregnancy makes me more emotional at times than normal and more tired. The day started off fine with the kids, but it was about dinner time things started falling apart. The hubby had been at work since 4:30 AM and wasn't going to be home until 8:00 PM at the earliest. I had dinner in the over and Baluga was asking for gum (she recently figured out the not swallowing gum issue, so she has had it more often), which I told her no because this would be her who knows what number of piece for the day. She wasn't happy with me, so the screaming and crying began. It didn't help that I think she was starting to get tired and I think she missed her daddy, because she hadn't seen him at all that day, and she is very much a daddy's girl. Then it led to her wanting chips, which in turn I said no, since we were close to having dinner (her crying and screaming hadn't stop since the rejection of her first want). Lately all she has wanted to eat and will eat without force and constant telling her to take a bite (if that even works) is snacks and treats. So I've had to hide them, although I missed one box and it was out in site. After about 25 minutes of this crying and screaming and asking for things I wouldn't let her have she finally ask for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which I finally gave in, even though dinner was minutes from being done. So the kids had sandwiches and I was the only that ate the dinner I made, but I was done, I was reaching my limits, I'd rather give her a sandwich then continue on the road we were on. Which that worked for a couple minutes. I let them have a few chips with their sandwich and that is of course all she ate and wanted more and I told her no, and the crying and screaming all started again. At this point I was at my limit, so I decided to go upstairs and let her throw her fit, I couldn't deal with it any more. So what happened. She brought her fit upstairs to me. How thoughtful. Of Stir Fry is following her, but he had finished his "dinner" and wasn't throwing a fit. After several more minutes of the screaming at my side, I was in tears and at the beginning of falling apart, so I got up and locked myself in the bathroom just to be alone. At this point the floodgates opened, so Stir Fry could her me crying, I'm sure Baluga might have been able to over her crying and screaming. At this point Stir Fry keeps on telling me through the door that it's ok. After a couple minutes of being in there and Stir Fry telling me it's ok, which progressively got louder and louder, since I wasn't responding, I came out (but mind you Baluga is still screaming and crying). I came out and told Stir Fry that I needed her to stop crying and then laid on my bed. At that point my substitute came in! My little 4 year old took over. He calmed her down (I don't know how) and they both climbed on the bed with me and he snuggled her and hugged her and whispered to her. I didn't ask him to do anything, he did this all on his own, which was almost reason enough for me to start crying all over again, but for different reasons. He's such a good helper, especially when I need him the most. So this one is for my sweet little boy Stir Fry who I love more than anything. I love you!

Who wouldn't want...

So the hubby likes photography and has been doing it more lately. I think he likes doing nature shots best because what you see is what you get, where with humans and anything else that can move on it's on it's unreliable. He's taken some good shots of our kids, but yet again back the problem I just mentioned. They don't want to hold still. They don't seem to understand the difference between their natural smile and the smile they give when they say "cheeeeese". A few months ago he took this picture of Baluga and you can see what I'm talking about. She thinks she's smiling but she's not. He still loves this picture, though.
So this where the title of this post comes in. Jones Soda allows people to submit photos for the chance to make it on their bottles. We thought this would be perfect and goes along with the types of pictures they put on. After reading my friend, Stephanie's current post, I decided why not use my blog to advertise it and have all you guys (how ever many or few that might be) to vote on my baby's (although she isn't much of that any more) picture and help put her on a bottle or two. So go check out my little Baluga and vote for her picture. And if you like it send it along to people you know and have them vote too. Wish us luck we'll need it, and if you read Stephanie's post you'll know why.

Catch up

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, so here goes.
Baluga eye is healed, although there is a red mark still there that will hopefully fade. She's been getting into a dress craze, so I decided to make her a few dresses (there is one dress that is purple with flowers I haven't gotten a picture of) that only cost me a couple bucks to make and required very little sewing and no pattern.

She also recently had her first hair cut ever, by me, which I don't think I'll ever do again and just leave to professionals. She got a couple inches cut off

We've also made some pretty big purchases lately. We bought a new kitchen table, since we were quickly outgrowing the one we got when we first got married. A tiny 4 chair set. We found this one and loved it. It's counter height and very dark wood, it almost looks black, but you can see some red in it if the light is just right. It has a leaf that fold into the table, so when it's open it's a big square and can fit 8 people.

Which then led to our next purchase. We didn't want the kids playing with playdough and other things (especially since it's so high and I didn't want to worry about them falling off the chairs and getting hurt) on this and wanted something they could play on and eat on when we had people over.

Now for the last pictures and last purchase for now. We got Baluga a new bed. With the baby on the way it needed to happen sooner than later. She was sleeping in the crib which we converted to a toddler bed, but wanted to get her a bed before the baby came so hopefully she would be adjusted to her new bed. The head board and foot board look the same, except of the course the foot board is smaller.

She loves her new big girl bed and has been sleeping well in it, thank goodness.
Now for the last little bit of news. We are looking for a house, which is exciting and a little stressful. I feel like I should clean and dejunk now. Then part of me thinks what's the point when we'll have to go through everything when we move. Just thinking about it makes me more tired than I already am. So there's what's going on with us lately.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to me! Well I'm not one to praise myself, but I just had to post this.
My little 4 year old brought this home from preschool yesterday. It was a bright pink paper that said "My mom" and then had fill in the blanks, which I'll just have in bold text.
My mom
Her name is Erin
She is 5 inches tall
She weighs 5 pounds
Her hair is gray (I'd like to add that it is NOT!)
Her favorite movie is.... Over the Hedge
Her favorite thing to do is... Catch Butterflies
She makes the best... Food Ever
I love her because... I love her

I hope all the mother have a wonderful mother's day and all of us children remember the simple things that we love about our mothers!

Poor thing

Up until yesterday, weather has been pretty nice around here, which is leaving the kids wanting to play outside ALL of the time. Wednesday they were outside in the back playing and we weren't out there for more than a couple minutes when this happened.
There are a couple cement stairs from the back door leading down to the carport area, which she has gone up and done tons of times. But this day, just wasn't her day. I just barely sat down to read my book and looked up to see her face plant into the first stair and then flip over backwards. Fortunately this is the only damage on her check and nose.

It's one of those things that you see happen, that seem to go in extra slow motion, but yet you couldn't get yourself there to do anything about it. You gotta love it when that happens.
I think it's still a little sore and definitely swollen. She's funny about letting me touch her ouchies. She'll let her dad check on her teeth coming in and feel her gums without a fuss, the minute I try anything like that she cries and says "no, mommy!"
This last picture I took today, while she cried and said, "No, no, no picture mommy!" The first two pictures were taken by her daddy, which she was pretty cooperative about, and of course for me this picture was taken in between her putting her head on my pillow crying and telling me not to take her picture. She's also said a few times when we have asked to look at her cheek, "No, not look at me!"
She's been kind of funny about it. And this has been her first real accident and I feel bad since it happened on my watch, but to keep myself from crying and feeling too bad, I need to tell myself kids will be kids and they'll get hurt. The last few days she has seemed to be more clumsy, so maybe she's just getting into that phase. Hopefully she won't be too self destructive for my sake.

The truth comes out

Well there is something that I've been keeping from most of you, and now is the time to let it come out. I'm pregnant. I'm half way done with this pregnancy, too bad it is the easier part that is over. I decided I would wait until I had my 20 week ultrasound so that not only could I announce I was pregnant, but hopefully also announce if we were adding a boy or a girl to the mix (I say this because with Baluga, she was stubborn and we didn't find out when we were suppose to because she wouldn't let the ultrasound tech good a look at her heart and other thing as well as in between her legs). We found out today that the kids will be having a little brother. So there you go, the boys will now out number the girls.
I'm lucky that with my pregnancy I haven't had to deal with weird cravings, or I guess maybe I should say the hubby is lucky, since he doesn't have go out and get them, since I assume pregnant women who have those cravings don't mind eating them at the time. But the problem is my little Baluga has got them!




The other day we were having lunch (some leftovers from the night before). It was a ham and cheese loaf (so like a hot sandwich) and some apples. Baluga LOVES to dip her food and one of her favorites dips is mustard, which Stir Fry and I aren't found of but the hubby is. I gave her some mustard to dip her "sandwich" in, since that is what her and her daddy did when we had it the first time around. I also put some peanut butter on her plate so she could dip her apples in there. Did she use the peanut butter, of course not! She dipped her apples in mustard! I showed her what the peanut butter was for and dipped a couple bits in there, but she kept on going back for the mustard. I fought my instinct to tell her no and that was gross. But then I thought who was I to taint her taste buds. I should really let her decide, right? If it won't make her sick, who am I to tell her not to eat it, even if it's something I wouldn't imagine trying!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my baby boy. Well he's not really a baby anymore in terms of his age or anything else, but I think he'll always be my baby boy in my heart. So to my little Stir Fry here are some cute things I love about him:
His super long eyelashes (it sad when your baby is born with longer eyelashes than you!)
His cute smile
The tenderness he shows towards his little sister (most of the time)
His concern for me
He thinks band-aids will make all things better
The dimple on his ear
The fact he stopped throwing his fit after I left this morning to get in the shower, before opening his new playdough toys, so I could at least supervise the mess
And because he's mine

Now I could go on, but it's my boy's birthday and wants to play with his new playdough and I told him I would open it when I was done getting ready, so I think he's waiting long enough.

Thank Heavens for...

Thank heavens for Pediatric Dentist! On Valentine's Day my little ones experienced the dentist for the first time and did better than expected, and I'm sure the pediatric dentist and the fun office helped. Stir Fry had some cavities, so he had his first of two appointments yesterday to get one side done. He did so good. I could tell he was nervous and maybe even scared, but he didn't cry and was very brave. He held my hand the whole time and I told him to squeeze it if he got scared or nervous and he never did, I wonder if he forgot. My little three year old was braver than most people older than him. I'm so proud of him, and am happy there is such thing as a pediatric dentist, since there wasn't when I was a kid.

I'm in the mood for Love

I decided I would do a Valentines Day post so here goes.

14 reasons why I love the hubby
1) After almost 6 years of marriage and kids he still opens the door for me
2) He has NEVER missed a pregnancy doctor appointment with both of our kids
3) He helps out with the kids without being asked
4) He lets me have a day off when he knows I need it, and would any other time if I would just ask
5) He sees the best in me
6) He thinks I'm a better mother than I think I am
7) He gets up with the kids at night
8) My comfort comes before his
9) He likes to cook and is more than willing to take care of dinner
10) He washes the dishes
11) He always cleans the bathrooms
12) He supports me in all I do
13) He encourages me
14) He makes me feel better about myself

So with that said I love you! Have a great Valentines Day!

I'm losing it!

Do you ever have those days as a parent that you just can't hold it together and question your abilities. Well today is one of those days and it's only 9:30AM!!!! Someone help me please! It started with a rough night, where Baluga cried close after I laid in bed, but at least she fell back to sleep. Then a couple minutes later Stir Fry came in saying his blankets were off and needed help getting them back on. Oh course that wasn't the end of it, then about 12:30 Baluga woke up again and wouldn't go back to sleep, so that meant one of us going in there and rocking her, which ended up being me. Of course she was asleep almost instantly, go figure. But what happened when I tried to lay her back down? Of course she woke up and screamed her head off, but I left anyway. Did she go back to bed of course not. Then the hubby got up with her and laid on the couch with her, and finally two hours later she was in bed. Did I get much sleep during that time, of course not. The hubby will often fall asleep on the couch and stay longer than he needs to, so I'm always checking the clock and looking to see if he has made it back to bed. After Baluga was in bed, she was fine until the morning, but then we have Stir Fry's normal getting up at way too early for me (6:00-6:30) and we make him go back to bed until 7. Well this morning he did his usual but this time he was covered in pee because his pull-up was too full, so we had to take sheets off, but new clothes on, I didn't even bother to put new sheets on and put him back to bed. Good start to a morning! So I was already tired and low on patience. Well this morning has only added to that. I don't ask for much as a mother. I'd like to eat at least 2 meals a day, and get 30 minutes of exercise in (if i choose). The minute the video went in, started the neediness. They can be quiet independent when it's works well with their time, but heaven forbid they give my 30 minutes! I need this, or this, or I'm going to make a huge mess, or do things I should normally be able to do on my own and of course not listening of doing anything I say. It drove me nuts and of course me and the kids suffered for it. I hope this day passes quickly and we all survive. It's days like this that make me question my ability of being of parent.

Bargain shopping

I live right across the street from Albertson's. We are so close the parking lot lights illuminate our bedroom. But do I shop there? Not very often. I don't like there prices (on non-sale items and sometimes sale items), there produce is crap (whenever I have gone there for produce it's hard to find stuff, not that there isn't, just that I don't think it's good quality, I'd even go as far as to say horrible quality). Now this isn't to say all Albertson's are this way, because I have been to other and haven't had problems, just the one by my house I don't like. I have another store that I favor that is close by that has better prices and produce. So when do I shop there? Last minute, "Oh I forgot to get that when I was at the store" items, when someone gets sick spur of the moment and I need medicine quickly, or when they have good deals. The things I tend to wait for to go on sale are fruit snacks and granola bars for the kid when they are a dollar. So yesterday was the start of their 10 for $15 sale of Quaker breakfast products. But when you bought ten you got $5 off, so it was 10 for $10. Another problem with this Alberstons they never prepare well for a sale, especially 10 for $10 sales. They run our of items (or at least the good stuff) usually the first day. And with so many people getting rainchecks (which they now put an experation date on) if you don't time it right you can never use them because the products are always gone (I don't know if that is their way of saving money or what, but as a shopper I don't like it). So I headed over at 6:30 AM!!!! to get my stuff, so I could stock up and have things to choose from. I got 50 items, granola bars, cereal, instant oatmeal, oatmeal bars and cookies. So you can do the math, I spent about $52 after tax. But the amount I saw on the bottom of what I saved was even better. I saved $135!!!!!

Which Reindeer are you?

Thanks again to The Sassy Lime for this one.
I've lost the blogging touch and my creativity. So lately when I find something that won't take a lot of thought I go with it.

Which of Santa's Reindeer are you? Cupid Like Cupid you know how to spread love. You have a place in your heart for everyone and are always there with a hug or a kiss Find out which of Santa's Reindeer you are at Quizopolis.com

Christmas Meme

Christmas Meme

I got this one from The Sassy Lime

1. Eggnog or hot chocolate? I like both, although I'm probably more in the mood for eggnog then hot chocolate and my mom has a good egg-less eggnog

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? They are wrapped

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? no preference

4. Do you hang mistletoe? no

5. When do you put your decorations up? after thanksgiving, usually by the first of the month, if we are going to be in town for Christmas

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? besides dessert? probably cheese ball, eggnog, I can't think of any other holiday food.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: someone doing a secret act of service

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? what's the truth? you mean he's not real?

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? no

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? with as much help from the kids we can handle

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? depends on the time of year, it's nice to have it during the winter, but i don't care of it during the spring like when my oldest was born

12. Can you ice skate? sure, but that doesn't mean I'm great

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? maybe a cabbage patch kid

14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? family and the true meaning of christmas, and now that I have kids, seeing it through their eyes

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? the merry cherry roll my mom makes

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? the 12 days of christmas

17. What tops your tree? a white snowflake

18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? there are nice things about both sides of it

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? too many to choose from

20. Candy canes: what about them?

21. Favorite Christmas movie? good question

22. What do you leave for Santa? Cookies, and milk, and carrots for the reindeer

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Halloween

Well like I have told many of you, I decided to make my first attempted at sewing and make my kids costumes this year. They turned out pretty good, or so I think. Since many have asked to see pictures, here they are. Stir Fry was Peter Pan and Baluga was Tinkerbell. There is also just one of them playing. I hope you enjoy them.

Who's my care taker?

Well me and the kids are sick and it's no fun. My least favorite thing about motherhood. It's ok when the kids are sick but when you get sick too, that's no good. Full-time mom's don't have sick days like the hubby. The hubby gets to take a day off and you take care of him or let him take naps when he needs to. When you are mom you get none of that. You get a nap if the kids let you. You don't get to throw your fits because you are trying to get one of the kids to calm down from theirs. I guess lucky for me tomorrow is the weekend so I'll have help, that is if the hubby doesn't get as sick as us, and then in that case, I turn into the care taker of everyone again, even though I'm sick.
On a side note, Stir Fry doesn't act sick for the most part, just has the symptoms (cough and runny nose), while Baluga on the other hand is very tempermental besides the symptoms. Yesterday when the hubby or myself couldn't calm her down, she went to her brother and stopped crying and just cuddled. I guess she needed her big brother to love her and hold her and tell her it was going to be ok. That just melted my heart.

She's falling apart

Well I think Baluga didn't get a long enough nap, or good enough, not sure which. She woke up awnry. Nothing was good enough for her, and when I thought I had what she wanted figured out she just started crying. I couldn't make her happy. I was asking her if she was falling apart. Now here comes the funny part. Stir Fry then asks me where is Baluga breaking? He was obviously listening to our conversation and understood as best as a three and half year old can. He thought his sister was breaking!

A must have for all

Well I came across this must have on the Food Network Channel a while back, and bought a few months later and just recently bought my second one. It must be good if I bought two! Well shortly after my purchase, I converted someone to buying one that day. So what is it. It's a popcorn popper. My first one I took on vacation with my family with giving it to my dad in mind and that's what happened. I finally replaced the one I gave away and glad I finally have one back. It take on 3 or 4 minutes to pop popcorn, so just as long as the microwave stuff, but you have more options. Plus when you can buy a big 8 lbs. tub of popcorn kernals at costco for under $7 it's cheaper. Who doesn't like popcorn?

I don't even know what to say

So my family called me last night, just to check up and chat. I heard an interesting update about someone I grew up with. A guy my little brother's age, who I was pretty good friends with, just got married. That didn't surprise, since he was always a lady's man, I figured it would happen eventually, and kind of surprise it took so long. Well is still leaving me speechless is who he got married to. Now I don't know the person, so I can't make judgements about her. But this guy is 23 and he married a 52 year old woman! I found that crazy. This lady is older than his parents! She been married once before, so she could have children older than him. Their new step-daddy could be younger than them! I'm assuming they didn't get married because of a pregnancy, since she's mostly likely too old for that stuff anyway. How could you at such a young age decide you never want to be a father? To make things even more strange, weird, gross (I dont' know what word to use here) she was a teacher of an institute class (a religion class) he was taking! Talk about crossing the line a little bit. I'm a firm believer in not putting yourself in a situation that could turn out the way it shouldn't. Like spending time with a student after class, or a married lady without her husband (now I don't know if she was divorced or married when they first starting spending time together). This whole situation just boggles my mind. The parents were even invited to the wedding or have met the lady yet. I just don't know what to think. What do you think?

Recipe Monday

I know it's been awhile since I've done one of these, but I a made a pretty great recipe last night, if I don't say so myself, that deserves a post. I recently got quite a few free peaches, and not being a canner, I decided to freeze them. So I got one bag out and made this receipe.

Crunch Peach Cobbler

*1 can (29 oz.) or 2 cans (16 oz.) cling peach slices in syrup (I used about 7 peahces that had been cut and frozen, if you want to use fresh, use about that many and add sugar to them and let set for a while, maybe for a day in the fridge and let some of the juices come out since you need it)
*1/2 c. plus 1 Tbls. sugar, divided
*1 Tbls. cornstarch
*1/2 tsp. vanilla
* 2 c. flour, divided
*1/2 c. packed brown sugar
* 1/3 c. old-fashioned or quick oats
* 1/4 c. butter, metled
* 1/2 tps. cinnamon
* 1/4 tsp. nutmeg (I added this one myself, I feel you can't have peaches without nutmeg)
* 1/2 tsp. salt
*4-5 Tbls. cold water

Drain peaches and reserve 3/4 c. of syrup.
Combine 1/3 c. sugar and constarch in small saucepan. Slowly add in reserved syrup. Stir well. Add vanilla. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened (doesn't thicken a lot, or not as much as I expected). Set aside.
Combine 1/2 c. flour, brown sugar, oats, butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl; stir until mixture forms coars crumbs. Set aside.
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Combine remaining 1 1/2 c. flour, 1 Tbls. sugar, and salt in small bowl. Cut in shortening until mixture forms pea-sized pieces. Sprinkle water, 1 Tbls. at a time, over flout mixture. Toss lightly with fork until mixture hold together. Press together to form a ball.
Roll out dough into 10-inch square, 1/8 inch thick. Fold dough in half, then in half again. Carefull place folded dough in center of 8x8 baking dish. Unfold and press onto bottom and about 1 inch up sides of dish. Arrange peaches over crust. Pour sauce over peaches. Sprinkle with crumb topping.
Bake 45 minutes. Serve wamr or at room temperature with whipped cream, although last night we used ice cream, just as good if not better.

Enjoy

I'm going to have my hands full

Can you say DIVA? Well the other morning little miss Balugas hadn't been out of bed for more than an hour and was so awnry, like she needed to go back to bed, but that couldn't have been the case since she hadn't been up very long. The hubby finally asked her if she wanted to get dressed, and she nodded. I then took her upstairs to her room and got a shirt and asked her if she wanted to wear that, and she nodded, I then got a pair a pants and asked her about those and she said no, I then got another pair and she approved of those. We then got dressed and then she was fine, until something else popped up.
What am I getting myself into? I was never a girly girl, I hope I can handle this.

My new past time

Most everyone has seen them, and they have become so popular, those wooden boards that are painted with fun sayings on them. While on vacation at the Oregon Coast I saw them in almost every shop, selling for at least $35. My father-in-law works in the movie industry and has a big and smal vinyl cutter (which is used to cut out the saying on most of these boards). Prior to going on vacation I made several of these, by going over to the in-laws and using their machine, one for my self and several for other for wedding presents for fraction of the cost. (Side note, sorry Marie if you are reading this and see your wedding present before you actually get it. Congrats!!!!) After coming back from vacation I wanted to do more of these and wouldn't mind making some money off of it. Since the in-laws are currently working out of state and the machines are being used, they let us take the small one and all the vinyl we wanted to our house to be used. So now I have access to a machine to print off fun sayings and do whatever I want. They are fun to make and I consider myself lucky to access to a machine like this in my home, hopefully I can start getting the word out and make a little extra money. So here are some of the ones I have made. Most of them are samplers for a craft activity I might be doing, so the size of the boards might be a little off, but you can get the just.

Milestones

We have recently reached a few milestones around here in our family. Baluga turned one a little while ago, and has recently stared to attempt to walk. And Stir Fry is now fully potty trained, at least during the non-sleeping hours. Something finally clicked in his head after us trying EVERYTHING and now he does all his business in the toilet. With that said, this is for my kiddies.

10 things I love about my Baluga:
1) The way she says cheese for the camera, but only us, not when we take her to get her picture taken professionally, like Saturday (go figure)
2) How she smlies
3) The way she loves her big brother Stir Fry, and is always trying to be like him
4) When she is a daddy's girl (it melts my heart and I know melts his)
5) When she is a mama's girl (let's me still know I got the magic touch)
6) That despite of our thoughts, she actually weaned from breastfeeding and the pacifier better than we could have ever expect and is pretty good baby without them
7) Her hair, and the fact that she has some
8) Her cute little baby bum
9) When she signs and picks up new signs, the same goes for when she talks
10) That she is my baby and the cutest girl every

10 things I love about my Stir Fry:
1) His eyes, which he gets comments every where he goes about them (blue with LONG eye lashes, how can people not stop and say something)
2) The way he loves his baby sister Baluga
3) When he says I love you out of the blue
4) When he reads to his sister
5) The way he loves his dad
6) The little dimple by his ear
7) When he wants to help me or his dad (I know that won't last forever)
8) His love for books
9) The fact that he was a good baby, and for the most part a pretty good toddler/kid
10) That he loves music and dancing

In over my head

As a mother you learn that you need to start thinking of Halloween and what will your children will dress up as, months in advance, otherwise you are stuck with what is left and hope they have something in your child's size. So I have found myself thinking about October 31st and what my children will do. I've looked online and am shocked at the prices of costumes. Yesterday we went and looked at the fabric store and patterns they had. We've made a decision, one that Stir Fry is excited about and we are going with it. Stir Fry is going to be Peter Pan and Baluga is going to be Tinker Bell (which for this picture you need to click on the picture to see all the patterns. which will then show the Tinker Bell one). Now I haven't really sewn before, besides what we did in home ec and things like that. I have a sewing machine and want to learn, so what better way right, is to just dive in. I bought a Sewing for Dummies book which will hopefully help, and with the help of my mother-in-law when she is in town for a couple days and when I go home the beginning of October with the help of my mom, hopefully I'll learn some things, get more confindent, and have some decent Halloween costumes. So wish me luck on biting off more than I can probably chew. Good thing I have a big mouth.

My family's day view

For multiple reasons, I've never posted any pictures of family or anything for that matter. Some of the reasons....I can only download the pictures from the camera to the hubby's labtop, which he uses during the day at work, which is when I post of the most part. To keep some anonymity, to keep from judgment (try to let the reader put a face to the writing). And probably the reason that has stopped me from doing it thus far, don't laugh, I don' t know how to download the pictures from the camera, the hubby has always done it.
So here there are, in blog day view, my family. My cute kids, Stir Fry, 3, and Baluga, who just had her first birthday, me and the hubby. Most of these pictures are from our vacation to the Oregon Coast, and then others of just how cute the kiddies are.
So there you have it, you know have faces to put to the stories. I hope you like them.

My closet obsession

During my pre-teens I discovered a great love, dance. I started taking classes and I loved it, I found joy and happiness in it. Every time recital time came around, I envied the girls who were in mulitple routines and could take all different kinds of dance. But at the same time I knew I was luck to just be taking one class. My family struggled financially (but we were always happy and strong) and our extracurricular activities were limited. Unfortunately I was only able to take classes for a few years. The place I was taking classes at made a rule that in order to take anything besides ballet, you had to take ballet (for technique purposes). When I heard this, there wasn't even a decision to be made, I had to stop. I couldn't ask my parents to try to afford another class and all the expenses that come with that. So before I knew it, it was over. I didn't ever think it really bothered me, sure I would love to take clases if things worked out, but I was ok with it (or so I thought). Now here it is over 10 years later, and I find myself obsessed with So You Think You Can Dance and watching it religously. It helps that my kids like it and will dance along with the contestants, gives me a "good" excuse to watch it. "I watch it because my kids like it." Although anytime I try to use that excuse my husband will say otherwise. I realize now, that I miss dance, I wished I took more, I wish I was better, heck I wish I was confident in my abilities, I wish a lot of things. But unfortunately there isn't a lot that the dance world has to offer a mom in her mid-20's with little experience looking to rediscover dance. So my solution...Watch SYTYCD and think what might have been and cry and try to live through them. I hope that I can be blessed enough to let my kids experience the world and discover and do what they love. I also hope that I can seperate my love from their love, since there are a lot of parents try to live through their children, and make them love what they love.

Returning to my life and what it holds

There were reasons why I was looking forward to coming home from vacation and reasons why I never wanted to. I love being with my family, and I wished I lived closer and got to spend more time with them. I enjoyed. I like the added help of grandparents and an aunt and uncle. I enjoyed the help of my husband all the time. But I didn't like the lack of sleep I got because of my baby girl, although luckily she didn't disturb Stir Fry sleep. I looked forward to getting in my own bed, my own room, a routine again. But I didn't look forward to what awaited me, or should I say what didn't await me.
The last nine months I have worked very hard at enjoying where we are at at this point in our lives. Before last November I was very unhappy with where we were living, our lack of friends, and everything else that came with life outside of our family. It had been a little over three years since we had moved to this place and I had "tolerated" it long enough. I wasn't happy, and since moving wasn't and still isn't quite yet I finally decided to make due with what I had. We made a real conscious effort at meeting new people and making friends. After several months it started to pay off, we had met people we enjoyed doing stuff with and finally reciprecated our invitation to do things. I was content and would even say happy. I had friends, which everyone needs some, and my kids had friends. There were 3 or 4 ladies that I got along really well with. The day before we left on vacation one moved across the country to the east coast, where he husband got accepted to law school. The one that I'm closest to friendship wise, and location wise (she lives right next door) found out short before we left that he husband was to go to Iraq! She has a daughter that is 2 weeks younger than Baluga and another that is about a year older than Stir Fry, but she his best friend. Her family lives in Colorado, so she decided to move back there. I would do the same, I don't blame her. They left on vacation right before they did and we left right as they got back, so now that we are home we have until Friday and then she is gone. We returned home, and I found out he has not left yet, which he was suppose to leave the 9th. He isn't sure when he is leaving and might not even leave, but they are still moving! Why did the Lord do this to me? I feel I'm back where I started 9 months ago, although I know what I'll be missing. I just hope and pray we get good neighbors that we get along with and have kids to play with.
Sorry for the pitty party, I'm just bummed to be home. Any thoughts on how I can make the best of the situation?

Welcome Back

Well we returned home last night after a week of "vacation". We went to the Oregon Coast and rented a house with my parents and older brother and family. We had a good time, and always enjoy one anothers company. We had 6 adults, and 5 kids 3 and under in a three bedroom house. The only time it bothered me was sleeping. I had both of my kids in a room with the hubby and I, and of course little Baluga didn't sleep well, and I didn't want to let her cry it out and wake up the house, nor did I think she would calm down being able to see us. We played on the beach and just took it easy. I loved watching my kids play with their cousins and their grandparents. So we are home and I can try to get things back to normal and start on my new adventure of trying to wean Baluga from breastfeeding and her pacifier while trying to get her to sleep through the the night. Wish me luck.

I'm not a beverage bar!

Yesterday morning we were sitting down for breakfast. I had made a coffe cake and the hubby made OJ to drink. I decided I'd let Baluga try some for the first time. I wasn't sure if she was found of it or not. So I gave her milk instead to go with her breakfast and gave Stir Fry her sippy cup with OJ in it. When Stir Fry finally made his way to the table, since often times it's hard for us to get him to come and sit and eat with us, he asked if Baluga wanted juice. I told him I didn't think she wanted some. He them pointed to my tummy, I think meaning to point to my breast, and said Baluga wanted juice. (I am still nursing her and plan on weaning after we get back from vacation in about 2 weeks.) The hubby and I both thought it was pretty funny. Like I was some sort of beverage bar where she can choose her beverage of choice at the moment. Sorry folks, hate to break it to you, my body doesn't work that way, does yours?

Family File

After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, I felt so helpless. I watched the news and saw the destruction that had occurred, and I wanted to do something.

It was horrible to hear stories about those who were missing, and to see their families crying and holding a picture—if they still had one. I noticed so many of the pictures were extremely out of date—there were baby pictures for children who were five years old!

Why was this? If I lost my child or my husband, which picture would I end up holding?

Everything these people owned had been destroyed and they went with the first picture they could find. They did the best they could with what they had, to try to bring their loved ones back.

And so the idea behind Family File was born. Family File is a free website that provides resources and tools to help protect and save lives. It provides a secure place to keep current pictures of loved ones and their vital information for use in case of an emergency.

This site, www.thefamilyfile.org, was created in the hope of saving lives. Family File offers parents the comforting assurance that if something were to happen, even as unexpected and disastrous as Hurricane Katrina, they would have everything they need in one place.

I invite you to visit the website. Check out the background and security information. Take a few seconds to create your own account, and insure your family’s preparation. And then, help us get the word out (post this on your blog, forward as a email, etc.)—the more people that know about and use it, the more children we can all help save. Please forward this letter to your family and friends.


Erin Maughan,

Founder of The Family File

www.thefamilyfile.org

(While Family File is free, donations are welcome for the site maintenance and growth.)

Gardening

A neighbor of ours was nice enough to let us use some of their gardeing space this summer to plant our own garden. It's been quite the experience. We have finally gotten to the point where our garden is getting the type of attention it should be getting. While we could be doing better, things are going well. Inspite and because of the lack of attention it got at the beginning some plants are doing well while others I'm not sure of. The green bean planter box is always the last to be weeded, and by that time the kids are running out of patience, so for this summer I don't know how much vegetables we'll see from them this season. On the other hand the zucchini and cherry tomatoes have done well, and we are starting to see our cantaloup and watermelon start to grow. We have learned a few things so hopefully next year will be a better success.
We have had probably 10 zucchini so far and more to come. With that I've done some looking around and experimenting on new ways to use it. So with that said, I'm going to share with you the new recipe I have found and we LOVE. I have done some tinkering with it, and have added some sausage to it, which is great, and also we love this served up with spaghetti with my homemade red sauce (which I will do later, it's good, it's easy and even turned a friend of mine that wasn't a red sauce fan into one, or at least of fan of this one).

Baked Stuffed Zucchini

A side dish for four, a vegetarian main dish for two. These can be made hours ahead of time, and just stored in the fridge until ready to bake.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Halve lengthwise:
2 medium zucchini
With a small spoon, carefully scrape out the pulp, leaving a 3/8 inch thick shell. Steam the shells cut side down for 5 minutes. Coasrsely chop the pulp. Heat in a small skillet until softened, about 3 minutes:
2 tsp olive oil or butter
3 TBS finely chopped onion
Meanwhile, squeeze the moisture out of the chopped zucchini, then add it to the pan along with:
1 clove garlic, minced
Cook for 2 minutes more. Turn into a bowl and compbine with:
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup dry bread crumbs
2 TBS chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp chopped marjoram, tarragon, basil, or thyme
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
salt and blake pepper to taste
Spoon the filling into the zucchini shells and set them in a baking dish. Drizzle the tops with:
olive oil
Add water to come 1/8 inch up the sides of the shells. Bake until zucchini is tenter and the top is browned, about 30 minutes. Let cook a few minutes before serving.

Unexpected Reactions

Awhile ago, the hubby got something in the mail from the Puget Sound Blood Center. We were kind of surprised and how no clue what it was, since we no longer live in that area. After opening it he was reminded of something he signed up for a LONG time ago. Years ago he signed up to be on the Bone Marrow Donor Registry when he gave blood up in Seattle. They contacted him to let him know there was a potential match of someone who needed a bone marrow transplant, and they needed to do further testing on his blood sample to see if he would be a match. So we needed to discuss it and see if that was something as a family we wanted to do. We decided that especially since he hadn't do anything on our end why not. They had a sample of his blood, they just needed his permission to test it further.
After he called and gave them the go ahead, we had a very serious discussion on what he would do if he ended up as a match. He would have to go up to Seattle for the transplant, and my parents are up there so he could stay at there house and have their help with whatever after transplant help he might need the day or two after. Was there really much of a decision to be made? If you had the opportunity to help save a life why wouldn't you, especially when it's not life threatening to you? Who we were (in a way) to tell a parent, sorry we choose not to help you out in such a tough time in your life and your child's? We decided he would do it, if all came back well with the tests. If we were in their shoes, we would EVERYONE to help us to do whatever it takes to help our child. We couldn't do that to a family if there was something so easy for him to do.
We got a letter back saying that the family decided to take different courses of action at this time, but they would keep the hubby's information on file for use later. It made me think, why aren't I on the list? So I did some research, and unfortunately there aren't a lot of places in the US to sign up, none near me. In order for me to do I'd have to pay some money, which at this time I can't really do. So I think the next time I'm in Seattle I'll see what I can do to put my name on the list.
So now to the title of this post. The hubby decided to talk to his work partners about this and the decision he had made, since he would have to take some time off, if he were to go up and donate bone marrow. I was shocked and baffold by their reactions. None of them really agreed with his decision, although they would support him. They said if they were in his shoes they woouldn't do it. Are you kidding me? Especially since most of them are parents, I thought they would look at the human side of it and think what we did, if it were my child I'd want someone to help, instead of saying sorry it's an inconvience for my and my life, too bad, better luck next time. If I was a potential match for their child, they'd probably ask me to help. Or even if their child needed blood, they probably ask me to donate, since I have O negative which all blood types can have. I was just amazed that they felt the way they did. Am I strange for feeling the way I do? Would you help someone out you didn't know, even if there was some recoop time?

Blog Surprises

Well there is a blog that I have been reading, one of another mommy and her woes. I think I found her because she found me first. Today I made a rather interesting and surprising realization. I think I know this girl!!!
It's funny how I read these different blogs, and I know you do to, you start to feel like you know these people on some level and can relate to them.
Today after reading her most current post, I was surprised that her parents live in the same town as mine. Things started to click. There were a couple of girls I knew by this name, one I knew of, the other I new well. I was racking my brain of last names, finding it hard to remember things from almost a decade ago. As I continued to read, I had it, I knew who she was and I even remembered her maidan name! It was a girl I went to high school with and was in our circle of friends. One of those that we both went to college and got married and just lost contact.
So needless to say I was pleasantly surprised and I won't ever read her blog in the same way again.