A Very, Very Light Snow

So there has been a slow start to the day. I haven't been feeling great all weekend, and it took everything I had to get out of bed this morning. But it was necessary. I have to be at the doctora at one, and in general have a long to do list.

It has been quite awhile since I last blogged. Much has happened. We went to on vacation, been busy with school, work and Laiden. Laiden actually started walking yesterday! He took 10 steps, decided that was enough and then started to crawl again. He is turning one on Wednesday. We are excited for his birthday this coming Saturday. He has gotten so big, and is such a joy.

I hate to cut this short. I have to get going!

Where's the sun?

For almost a week now, one of the girls who works with me, R, and her daughter, K, have been staying with Matt and I. She is almost 8 months pregnant and K is 14 months old. There are certain events in her life that have brought her to stay with us, and I must say, as if it's not obvious, the girl has a lot on her plate! We have been trying to help her get on her feet, and it's been wonderful having her and K here. K is a doll. She is about 6 months older than Laiden and is smaller than he is. The sight of the two of them together is adorable! They get along so well. The first day they got here, K walked into the room and Laiden just lit up. He crawled over to her to start playing with her. Needless to say, she took to him very quickly also.

Having R around has reminded me of how incredibly blessed we are. Things can be crazy and you can feel like you are running in a million directions. Life may not even being going the way you had planned, but if you just stop and look, you see all of the amazing things God has given you. God has given Matt and I absolutely amazing parents who have done so much for us. He gave us a beautiful son who we adore (even though he can be a total pistol). We are able to decide what we want to do with our lives, and He helps get there. He has opened so many doors.

So if you are having a bad day, stop and think of 5 things you are thankful for today. It might help put things in perspective.

Our Wonderful, Wonderful Son…

Laiden can be the absolute light of our lives...And the absolute death of our ears. He has been fairly sick the last 6-7 weeks. Three double ear infections, two stomach viruses, one eye infection and teething to top it all off! Needless to say, as the very loving and concerned parents that we are, we let him get away with well…pretty much everything. He was being held til he fell asleep, some nights he got to lie with us in bed, and in general got A LOT of mommy and daddy time. Oh and we can't forget, he got a lot more bottle!

Now we are paying for it. Our mild mannered child has been replaced with what often feels like spawn of evil. He has the most outrageous temper, and he is not afraid to use it. He seems to have left the pain behind and is on to just being generally pissed. If we don't give him his every wish and whim we are bestoyed with blood curdling screams…We are over it. Last night we wouldn't pick him up when he screamed from his crib because he wanted us, and when he throws one of his lovely tantrums we don't acknowledge him. He is beginning to get it. The most difficult part is getting him to eat solids again. The only thing he wants to eat besides a bottle is Mommy and Daddy's crackers. Our new favorite trick of his is when he is in our laps and we are about to take a bite of a cracker, he snatches it out of our hands and puts it in his mouth. And he's fast. Little stinker!

But I must add, as much as we are venting at the moment, we do love our son. Just not his new temper! Though he isn't too bad…Only about a half hour of screaming at bedtime before he goes to sleep!

So for Christmas, how about some Aleve and ear plugs?

O-BAM-A!

AHHHHH!  Matt, Laiden, and I can't even begin to contain our excitement!  We have worked so hard and believed for so long that this could happen.  We can say undoubtedly that we are PROUD of our country.  Look at the way it united people last night: in the streets of Chicago, New York City, Australia, Germany, Kenya...the list could go on!

21 months ago, I went to Springfield to see Obama annouce his candidacy for president.  It was a freezing cold day but I went anyways because I believed he could change our country in the way we needed.  At the time Matt was in Italy and could not join me, and Laiden was not even close to existence.  A lot can happen in 21 months and it has.  I have changed, my life has changed, but my belief did not.

I am proud to say I have confidence in the future for my son.  And as we like to joke, Laiden's first word is "Obaba." ("M"s are hard to say!)

Have a wonderful day! God has blessed America!

And I Had Just Updated My Other Blog!

I had an old blog that I had kept some what updated about a year ago, and just last Thursday, I rediscovered it and decided to add a new post.  Now I am on this site!  Oh well...Goggle is where my email and calendar are so might as well use this service too!!!!  However, I am so busy, I truly don't expect to keep up with this very faithfully (probably because I will forget I have it!)

I have to start off by saying, I have the best husband.  I have been so busy working and making jewelry that I am not home often and the house can become a wreck.  Matt, Laiden, and I were wearing our grubbier clothes because there were no clean ones left!  And, of course, we were behind on dishes.  I had barely any time to cook this week, and Matt was so buried in school work I didn't see him much!  The one afternoon I had available to clean last week I ended up watching my friend's little girl (who is a total doll and Laiden's future girlfriend) on the farm because Patty was doing a photoshoot.  

However, Friday and Saturady, Matt was off and had no school work so he did about 10 loads of laundry, our paperwork, the dishes, mowed the lawn and even made homemade pizza (crust and all) because we eat pizza every Friday night!  It was so nice to come home and things were in (some what of a ) order and dinner was being cooked.  I must say he was relieved himself.  We even had Chase and Maggie over and it was the first time they had Matt's homemade pizza too.  We all agreed...it was a success! Now the moral of that story is...we have set a laundry scheldule!  We are also more carefully mapping out our dinners for the week, and Matt wants to trade off making the pizza because he enjoyed it so much.  I truly don't mind squeezing in time to cook because it is my stress reliever, however, I won't hold him back!:)  

Last night I did get around to making a somewhat healthier version of fried chicken, which for whatever reason sounded so good yesterday.  And poor Matt, the only meat I really eat is antibiotic free chicken breast, so I am constantly trying to find new ways to make it tasty for both him and myself.  I defrosted chicken breast, soaked them in skim milk, covered them in batter (white flour, whole wheat flour, southwestern seasoning, and ancho chili powder), fried them for a minute on each side in a little bit of olive oil, then baked them in dill pickel juice (a nice traditional southern ingredient) at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, flipping them halfway.  It was amazing!!!! And Matt loved it so I really knew it was a success.  I served the chicken with homegrown sweet corn and french style cut green beans.  It was a great way to have a fattening favorite...by serving it with lighter sides.

I have been struggling to lose the rest of this baby weight.  I will be on a great path, and all it takes is one weekend of pigging out and my stomach beings to look like I am pregnant again. :(  However, I bought a few steak filets last week so Matt could enjoy some wonderful read meat and I am making them with twice baked potatoes tonight (not the healthiest dinner!)  Other than tonight, for the (very) few who (might) read this blog, I will try to post some simple healthier versions to classic recipes or recipes I just make up...since so many of my friends are trying to get me to start doing their cooking too!  Really, I can prove to you that it's very easy!!!

I should get back to my busy life!