"Hey Cole, want that left over apple juice in the fridge?"
"Yes. Where is it?"
"In the door- in the glass."
"You know when I saw this the other day, I thought it was chicken broth."
"Oh, ya?"
Big gulp. "BLLLLEEEEEECCCCHHHHH!!!!!" Coughing, choking, head in kitchen sink.
Smirk.
A Forever Family
Monday, 30 January 2012
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Family Pictures December 2011
My friend Claudia took some family pictures for us just after Christmas. They are on Facebook but most of my family and even some of my friends aren't on Facebook so I thought I would repost them here.
K Update
My baby girl has been growing so fast. She got a new jumper at Christmas and couldn't touch the ground so she had to stand on a box.
Now, four weeks later, she can stand on the ground; however, she still hasn't really figured out the jumping.
Now she has a brand new feeding chair where she eats her dinner every night.
Cole figured out that if we put just a little bit of water in the bath tub she can play in the bathtub by herself (carefully supervised). Now she enjoys a bath every night before bed and loves being able to be in there by herself (so do we!).
She's sleeping in her crib in her own room now and is doing very well. She generally naps there everyday and sleeps almost all through the night now, too. 7pm-3am, feeds, back to sleep till 7-8am. Though sometimes she still misses sleeping with mommy and daddy and feels like a prisoner in her bed.....
Last week we found her in the middle of the night rolled over on her tummy, still swaddled, with her head banging up against her mobile buttons. Pretty funny- she was still pretty much asleep, too. A few nights ago we found her rotated 180 degrees. Her head was where her feet were originally and her feet were now where her head had been laid down. That happened twice that night so I put her back in the bassinet for the rest of that night so she'd stop waking herself up from all her moving.
K is also working hard at learning to sit up. She loves to sit on people's laps and try to hold herself up. A couple days ago Cole put her in the front part of the shopping cart where young kids/toddlers usually sit. She thought that was sooo much fun. He padded her back with a jacket cause she kept leaning back but she enjoyed the whole shopping trip up front sitting like a big girl. I wish I had my camera then.
K is happy, healthy and growing strong. She loves to play with her toys, roll on her mat, sing with daddy, watch animated movies with lots of music, play in her jumper and exersaucer, splash in the bath, ride in the buggy or snuggli, make new noises (especially with all her new spit from teething- lots of bubble noises lately) and generally just look cute all the time.
Now, four weeks later, she can stand on the ground; however, she still hasn't really figured out the jumping.
Now she has a brand new feeding chair where she eats her dinner every night.
Cole figured out that if we put just a little bit of water in the bath tub she can play in the bathtub by herself (carefully supervised). Now she enjoys a bath every night before bed and loves being able to be in there by herself (so do we!).
She's sleeping in her crib in her own room now and is doing very well. She generally naps there everyday and sleeps almost all through the night now, too. 7pm-3am, feeds, back to sleep till 7-8am. Though sometimes she still misses sleeping with mommy and daddy and feels like a prisoner in her bed.....
Last week we found her in the middle of the night rolled over on her tummy, still swaddled, with her head banging up against her mobile buttons. Pretty funny- she was still pretty much asleep, too. A few nights ago we found her rotated 180 degrees. Her head was where her feet were originally and her feet were now where her head had been laid down. That happened twice that night so I put her back in the bassinet for the rest of that night so she'd stop waking herself up from all her moving.
K is also working hard at learning to sit up. She loves to sit on people's laps and try to hold herself up. A couple days ago Cole put her in the front part of the shopping cart where young kids/toddlers usually sit. She thought that was sooo much fun. He padded her back with a jacket cause she kept leaning back but she enjoyed the whole shopping trip up front sitting like a big girl. I wish I had my camera then.
She also likes to sit like the big kids in her stroller when we go for our daily walk.
K is happy, healthy and growing strong. She loves to play with her toys, roll on her mat, sing with daddy, watch animated movies with lots of music, play in her jumper and exersaucer, splash in the bath, ride in the buggy or snuggli, make new noises (especially with all her new spit from teething- lots of bubble noises lately) and generally just look cute all the time.
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Fake Sandwich
We are still a student household so we are poor. I'm pretty good with the budget and making our limited income stretch. When I was dating Cole, he was not very good with his money at all so when we got married I had pretty tight control on the money. Since then, he's learned self control and is very good about the money but for the first little while I had to monitor it a bit. I used to make Cole's lunch for him but that lasted only a matter of months and then I made him do it himself. I make dinner every night but I hate making lunches. So for a while I often asked Cole what he was bringing for lunch to make sure he had enough food so he didn't buy anything.
One day I asked him if he was making a lunch and he got annoyed at me but he was supposed to be leaving in a few minutes and I wanted him to have something to eat. I asked again and finally he went into the kitchen and when he came out he had a sandwich wrapped up in plastic wrap. He left the house. I asked him later that day how his sandwich was and he said, "Meh, it was a crappy sandwich." And that was the end of that.
A couple days later I was getting into the car with Cole and there on the floor of the passenger side was Cole's sandwich from the other day. I was like, "Hey, you didn't eat your sandwich- that was a waste of food." But when I pick it up, I see that his "sandwich" is actually two pieces of bread wrapped up to look like a sandwich but it's really just bread. He made a FAKE SANDWICH! It was so ridiculous that I couldn't even be mad (even though he told me he ate it). In fact, I laughed quite hard. Sometimes a wife will nag her husband with good intentions and sometimes a husband is compelled to make a fake sandwich to get his wife off his back.
One day I asked him if he was making a lunch and he got annoyed at me but he was supposed to be leaving in a few minutes and I wanted him to have something to eat. I asked again and finally he went into the kitchen and when he came out he had a sandwich wrapped up in plastic wrap. He left the house. I asked him later that day how his sandwich was and he said, "Meh, it was a crappy sandwich." And that was the end of that.
A couple days later I was getting into the car with Cole and there on the floor of the passenger side was Cole's sandwich from the other day. I was like, "Hey, you didn't eat your sandwich- that was a waste of food." But when I pick it up, I see that his "sandwich" is actually two pieces of bread wrapped up to look like a sandwich but it's really just bread. He made a FAKE SANDWICH! It was so ridiculous that I couldn't even be mad (even though he told me he ate it). In fact, I laughed quite hard. Sometimes a wife will nag her husband with good intentions and sometimes a husband is compelled to make a fake sandwich to get his wife off his back.
Monday, 16 January 2012
Proud Mama
When you're a mom, most of your life revolves around the sleeping patterns of your child. I've struggled for the past four months with making decisions concerning K's bedtime routines. You can have ideas before the baby comes about what you'll do or how you'll be but you don't really know until you're a mom what kind of parenting choices you'll make and sometimes they surprise you.
I always thought that I wanted Kailey in her own bed and even in her own room. I planned to keep her in her bassinet in our room for the first month then move her to her own room. I thought I was against kids in my bed (not because I thought it was wrong, but because I thought I wanted some separation between wife and mother and the bed seemed like "wife" not "mother"). I also thought I was going to be a tough love mama and put my daughter on my schedule. But as it turns out, I am pro bed sharing, I hated the first time K slept in her own room and there was no tough love to be found...only the soft gushy kind.
We did originally put K in her own room at around 6 weeks but she ended up back in our room pretty quickly. She also spent a fair bit of time sleeping beside me. I loved it. I did not enjoy breastfeeding so I didn't feel that "bond" that some women talk about feeling while breastfeeding, but I felt like I was able to feel that during the night with her next to me. She grew inside my body and it seemed like even outside of it, our bodies still knew each other and she was able to find me to feed and I was able to sleep without moving into her space. She loved sleeping in our bed. I worried that I was letting her create a bad habit and that she'd have a hard time moving into her own bed again but I gave in every time she wanted to sleep with us. I also decided against sleep training and I let her do what her instincts told her and hoped that the time would come when she would do all those wonderful things at night that a parent hopes and dreams for: sleeping though the night, staying in their own room, etc.
Every parent is different, every child needs different things and it's hard sometimes to know if you're doing the right thing or if you should be doing what someone else is doing. But I decided to trust my own instincts and let Kailey take her time figuring things out and "babying" her while I had the chance (because if you can't baby your child when they're a baby, when can you?).
This last week has proven that moms know best (most of the time) and whatever your instinct is, to bed share, to room share, to pull out the tough love, to create a schedule or wait for one to arrive, you should follow it. Every parent will come to their own conclusion and it's only right if it works for you. I'm proud to say that K has chosen her own bedtime recently and every night at 7pm she's ready for bed. She's moved into her own room and both she and I are happy with this development...now. It was the right time for the two of us to separate during the sleeping hours and she's sleeping wonderfully. I'm so proud of her. She still needs one feeding during the night around 3am but if that's what she needs, I'm good with that till she no longer needs it. She isn't even waking up periodically throughout the night and needing help to get back to sleep. She sleeps peacefully from 7pm till about 8am except for the 3am feeding and we are all happy. Who knew such a simple thing could make a person so happy? I am one proud mama.
I always thought that I wanted Kailey in her own bed and even in her own room. I planned to keep her in her bassinet in our room for the first month then move her to her own room. I thought I was against kids in my bed (not because I thought it was wrong, but because I thought I wanted some separation between wife and mother and the bed seemed like "wife" not "mother"). I also thought I was going to be a tough love mama and put my daughter on my schedule. But as it turns out, I am pro bed sharing, I hated the first time K slept in her own room and there was no tough love to be found...only the soft gushy kind.
We did originally put K in her own room at around 6 weeks but she ended up back in our room pretty quickly. She also spent a fair bit of time sleeping beside me. I loved it. I did not enjoy breastfeeding so I didn't feel that "bond" that some women talk about feeling while breastfeeding, but I felt like I was able to feel that during the night with her next to me. She grew inside my body and it seemed like even outside of it, our bodies still knew each other and she was able to find me to feed and I was able to sleep without moving into her space. She loved sleeping in our bed. I worried that I was letting her create a bad habit and that she'd have a hard time moving into her own bed again but I gave in every time she wanted to sleep with us. I also decided against sleep training and I let her do what her instincts told her and hoped that the time would come when she would do all those wonderful things at night that a parent hopes and dreams for: sleeping though the night, staying in their own room, etc.
Every parent is different, every child needs different things and it's hard sometimes to know if you're doing the right thing or if you should be doing what someone else is doing. But I decided to trust my own instincts and let Kailey take her time figuring things out and "babying" her while I had the chance (because if you can't baby your child when they're a baby, when can you?).
This last week has proven that moms know best (most of the time) and whatever your instinct is, to bed share, to room share, to pull out the tough love, to create a schedule or wait for one to arrive, you should follow it. Every parent will come to their own conclusion and it's only right if it works for you. I'm proud to say that K has chosen her own bedtime recently and every night at 7pm she's ready for bed. She's moved into her own room and both she and I are happy with this development...now. It was the right time for the two of us to separate during the sleeping hours and she's sleeping wonderfully. I'm so proud of her. She still needs one feeding during the night around 3am but if that's what she needs, I'm good with that till she no longer needs it. She isn't even waking up periodically throughout the night and needing help to get back to sleep. She sleeps peacefully from 7pm till about 8am except for the 3am feeding and we are all happy. Who knew such a simple thing could make a person so happy? I am one proud mama.
Saturday, 14 January 2012
One Beef Roast....Two Delicious Dinners
I'm all about stretching a meal and a dollar. We often buy our meat from Costco then portion it out and freeze it. A month or so ago I bought one of those packs of 3 beef roasts and last night I was down to my last one. My sister is in town visiting but I managed to stretch one little beef roast into 2 delicious meals for 3 people without it seeming like a stretch (for 2 people you could get 2 meals with leftovers). Success!
Dinner One: Shredded Beef Enchiladas with Roasted Salsa
beef roast + broth or liquid to cook it in
tortillas
2 cups sour cream
2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese
2-3 onions
2-4 jalapenos
1 green pepper
roma tomatoes
few cloves or garlic
cilantro
2 limes
taco seasonings
In the morning place the roast in a crockpot and pour in some broth (or water) and let it cook all day long.
The enchilada sauce and salsa can be made ahead of time.
Enchilada Sauce:
-saute one large onion and one large jalapeno (seeds in our out depending on your preference)
-when tender, add one tablespoon of flour and let cook for a minute or so to get rid of the raw flour taste. Add 2 cups of sour cream and 2 cups of shredded pepper jack cheese (or similar) and cook on low for 10 minutes until the cheese is completely melted and the sauce has come together. Taste and adjust seasoning to your preference. I added a little more salt, pepper and cayenne.
Put aside for later. If you're doing this hours ahead of time, put in fridge. (it does NOT need to be warm to assemble enchiladas)
Salsa (from Pinterest)
I usually make pico de gayo but this was a nice change and a super great alternative to buying it.
Halve some roma tomatoes (I think I used 7-8...use more or less depending on how big of a batch you want...I made like 2-3 cups of salsa with my amounts), halve or quarter an onion depending on how big it is...I used one and a half onions because mine were smaller. Throw on a cookie sheet with 1-3 jalapenos (whole) and a few cloves of garlic. Roast at 375 for around 30 minutes, turning veggies once. You're looking for some char on the peppers, for the tomatoes to get juicy and soft, for the onions to get translucent with hardly any char at all. Take out, cool. Then run through a food processor with cilantro, lime and salt. Start with one pepper, taste and decide if you need more. One large jalapeno with seeds in was enough to make my salsa hot without any burn. Put in fridge for flavours to meld.
When the beef is tender, pull the roast into two sections. Chop one half up into big chunks and place in a container in your fridge. The other half gets shredded up and goes into a saute pan with some water and your favourite taco/enchilada seasonsings (or packet if that's how you roll) to season the meat for the enchiladas. I also added some green pepper to this mix to stretch the filling- you can add whatever you like to put in your enchiladas or nothing else at all.
Set your oven to 375 and it's time to start assembling your enchiladas. Half a beef roast will get you about 6 regular enchiladas or 15-18 small enchiladas. I used medium sized flour tortillas for Cole and me and small corn tortillas for my sister who stays away from gluten. Both were delicious.
Heat a pan with some oil and run your tortillas through the oil and onto some paper towel- softening them up and making them easier to roll.
Put some sauce on the bottom of a casserol dish. Take a tortilla, put some sauce and filling down the center of it and roll it, placing it seam side down in the dish. After you're done, pour more sauce over the top. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Serve with salsa and whatever sides you like. We had some refried beans. If you bump up the sides and only give one enchilada per person you could stretch this meal even further, making it super economical.
DEEELICIOUS! (Even my sister, who had been snacking on my leftover birthday cake all before dinner and who is not generally a very big eater, went back and ate more after her first helping)
Dinner Two: The Best Beef Stew of my Life!
makes 4-6 serving depending on how greedy you're being
2 bulbs roasted garlic
left over beef roast
Flour, 2 tablespoons
6 carrots, sliced in 2-inch chunks on an angle
2 apples, such as Honeycrisp, peeled and chopped
2 to 3 ribs celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 to 2 1/2 cups cloudy organic apple cider (couldn't find any so I used a good apple juice without any added sugar- worked real well)
2 cans beef consommé
Herb bouquet, a few sprigs each of thyme, parsley and sage tied together with kitchen string (or a combo of dried spices- I used dried thyme and sage and fresh parsley)
Mashed potatoes
This stew needs about 2 hours in the oven, so take that into account when starting dinner.
Also, it calls for 2 whole bulbs of roasted garlic, which need 40 minutes in the oven. This could be done ahead of time or another day completely. (350 for 40 minutes. Most people know how to roast garlic, if not, google it. Super easy and mellows out the garlic for a nice sweet taste)
This is a Rachael Ray recipe and starts with bacon but I've never done that part. Feel free to add some bacon to this stew if you are so inclined though. Chop up 6 carrots (recipe originally called for 3 carrots but I didn't find it enough) into 2 inch pieces on an angle, chop up 2 sweet apples, 2-3 ribs of celery, 1 large onion. In an oven safe pot, saute in some oil until tender. Add 2 tbsp flour and cook the taste out for a minute. Add cider/juice, consommé, the roasted garlic cloves, bay leaves and stir to combine. Add reserved bacon (if you used it) and herb bouquet or dried spices to pan, bring to a boil then cover and transfer to oven (350). After one hour add beef that you saved from last night (it is already super tender so I don't cook it in the stew for the full 2 hrs). Return to oven for an aditional hour. Let stand 20 minutes while you cook potatoes.
Make your favourite mashed potatoes (in the Rachael Ray recipe she adds parnsips and cheese). Serve bowls with mashed potatoes in the bottom and stew on top. Yummmmy.
Whenever Cole and I have this for dinner, we have enough for dinner, lunch and dinner again.
Dinner One: Shredded Beef Enchiladas with Roasted Salsa
beef roast + broth or liquid to cook it in
tortillas
2 cups sour cream
2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese
2-3 onions
2-4 jalapenos
1 green pepper
roma tomatoes
few cloves or garlic
cilantro
2 limes
taco seasonings
In the morning place the roast in a crockpot and pour in some broth (or water) and let it cook all day long.
The enchilada sauce and salsa can be made ahead of time.
Enchilada Sauce:
-saute one large onion and one large jalapeno (seeds in our out depending on your preference)
-when tender, add one tablespoon of flour and let cook for a minute or so to get rid of the raw flour taste. Add 2 cups of sour cream and 2 cups of shredded pepper jack cheese (or similar) and cook on low for 10 minutes until the cheese is completely melted and the sauce has come together. Taste and adjust seasoning to your preference. I added a little more salt, pepper and cayenne.
Put aside for later. If you're doing this hours ahead of time, put in fridge. (it does NOT need to be warm to assemble enchiladas)
Salsa (from Pinterest)
I usually make pico de gayo but this was a nice change and a super great alternative to buying it.
Halve some roma tomatoes (I think I used 7-8...use more or less depending on how big of a batch you want...I made like 2-3 cups of salsa with my amounts), halve or quarter an onion depending on how big it is...I used one and a half onions because mine were smaller. Throw on a cookie sheet with 1-3 jalapenos (whole) and a few cloves of garlic. Roast at 375 for around 30 minutes, turning veggies once. You're looking for some char on the peppers, for the tomatoes to get juicy and soft, for the onions to get translucent with hardly any char at all. Take out, cool. Then run through a food processor with cilantro, lime and salt. Start with one pepper, taste and decide if you need more. One large jalapeno with seeds in was enough to make my salsa hot without any burn. Put in fridge for flavours to meld.
When the beef is tender, pull the roast into two sections. Chop one half up into big chunks and place in a container in your fridge. The other half gets shredded up and goes into a saute pan with some water and your favourite taco/enchilada seasonsings (or packet if that's how you roll) to season the meat for the enchiladas. I also added some green pepper to this mix to stretch the filling- you can add whatever you like to put in your enchiladas or nothing else at all.
Set your oven to 375 and it's time to start assembling your enchiladas. Half a beef roast will get you about 6 regular enchiladas or 15-18 small enchiladas. I used medium sized flour tortillas for Cole and me and small corn tortillas for my sister who stays away from gluten. Both were delicious.
Heat a pan with some oil and run your tortillas through the oil and onto some paper towel- softening them up and making them easier to roll.
Put some sauce on the bottom of a casserol dish. Take a tortilla, put some sauce and filling down the center of it and roll it, placing it seam side down in the dish. After you're done, pour more sauce over the top. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Serve with salsa and whatever sides you like. We had some refried beans. If you bump up the sides and only give one enchilada per person you could stretch this meal even further, making it super economical.
DEEELICIOUS! (Even my sister, who had been snacking on my leftover birthday cake all before dinner and who is not generally a very big eater, went back and ate more after her first helping)
Dinner Two: The Best Beef Stew of my Life!
makes 4-6 serving depending on how greedy you're being
2 bulbs roasted garlic
left over beef roast
Flour, 2 tablespoons
6 carrots, sliced in 2-inch chunks on an angle
2 apples, such as Honeycrisp, peeled and chopped
2 to 3 ribs celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 to 2 1/2 cups cloudy organic apple cider (couldn't find any so I used a good apple juice without any added sugar- worked real well)
2 cans beef consommé
Herb bouquet, a few sprigs each of thyme, parsley and sage tied together with kitchen string (or a combo of dried spices- I used dried thyme and sage and fresh parsley)
Mashed potatoes
This stew needs about 2 hours in the oven, so take that into account when starting dinner.
Also, it calls for 2 whole bulbs of roasted garlic, which need 40 minutes in the oven. This could be done ahead of time or another day completely. (350 for 40 minutes. Most people know how to roast garlic, if not, google it. Super easy and mellows out the garlic for a nice sweet taste)
This is a Rachael Ray recipe and starts with bacon but I've never done that part. Feel free to add some bacon to this stew if you are so inclined though. Chop up 6 carrots (recipe originally called for 3 carrots but I didn't find it enough) into 2 inch pieces on an angle, chop up 2 sweet apples, 2-3 ribs of celery, 1 large onion. In an oven safe pot, saute in some oil until tender. Add 2 tbsp flour and cook the taste out for a minute. Add cider/juice, consommé, the roasted garlic cloves, bay leaves and stir to combine. Add reserved bacon (if you used it) and herb bouquet or dried spices to pan, bring to a boil then cover and transfer to oven (350). After one hour add beef that you saved from last night (it is already super tender so I don't cook it in the stew for the full 2 hrs). Return to oven for an aditional hour. Let stand 20 minutes while you cook potatoes.
Make your favourite mashed potatoes (in the Rachael Ray recipe she adds parnsips and cheese). Serve bowls with mashed potatoes in the bottom and stew on top. Yummmmy.
Whenever Cole and I have this for dinner, we have enough for dinner, lunch and dinner again.
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
My Time
I think it was while I was pregnant that I developed “My Time”. Every night when we went to bed, I would declare that it was “My Time”. Cole would have to wait to watch his episode of The Simpsons and pay attention to me. Asking him to “talk” never worked because he’d always say “Fine, what do you want to talk about?” And if I failed to produce a concrete topic, he’d turn The Simpsons back on. Boys sometimes don’t understand that girls often just need time. So thus, “My Time” was born and became our nightly ritual. Occasionally I threw it in when I felt I needed more attention outside of bedtime and because I was pregnant, Cole had to give in.
Sunday night, K was calling me from her exersaucer. You’d think on the weekends she’d get more attention, but since Cole is home we tend to get distracted by errands and such and K doesn’t get as much attention as she does Mon-Thurs from me. It seemed to me that she was calling for her own “My Time.” I picked her up and stood her up on my lap facing me. She smiled, gently grabbed my face in both her hands and pulled my face to hers and gave me a not-too-slobbery-open-mouthed-baby-kiss. She did this a few more times. Sometimes a girl just needs some attention.
