It's a beautiful day

As Joe was leaving for work this morning I opened up the window and said, "Another beautiful day..." under my breath. It's been rainy and dreary everyday and when I looked out the window it was pouring. After I said that Joe said, "Don't say that, it's a great day. Everyday is a great day." I didn't think much about what he said until after he left. He's right. Who cares if it's rainy? Yes, it would be nice to be able to go outside without getting soaked, but what's the point of complaining about it? It could be so much worse than just a rainy day. As I write this, I'm patiently waiting to hear what my friend Krystal found out at her appointment yesterday. I got a text last night that said, "please pray, don't really want to talk yet." I know what that means. I felt the same exact way when I got my diagnosis. I feel devastated for her and her family. I remember after I found out we went to University Village. I don't think we got out of the car, we all just sat in the Sequoia in shock. Made phone calls. I remember seeing people park, get out of their cars, headed to do some shopping, have lunch and thinking how lucky they were. I was just told I had cancer and they were just going about their normal day. In our car, our world had totally stopped. It was the worst feeling ever. I'm sure that's what her family is feeling right now and it makes me feel sick. Keep keeping Krystal, her babies and family in your thoughts......

Bad day to be a chicken

Just saw this article on TDN.COM. I wonder if this was an easier way to die than getting their heads cut off at Foster Farms?

Just a picture. Or two.

On Saturday we went to visit Baby A and his mommy. Baby S and her mom came for a bit too! Here's a picture of them back in November....

And here's them on Saturday....

They have definitely come alive. We could hardly get them to keep their eyes open in November, now we can't get them to sit still. Well, Baby A and Baby S, that is. Liam just watches the two of them in amazement. It's like he's thinking, "you guys! why don't you just save some of that energy and let your mommy hold you like I do?!" Haha. Baby A was born in the middle of August so he's definitely doing different things than Liam. But Baby S, who is two days younger than Liam, is doing pretty much the same things as Baby A. It's fun to see the different development and have them all together. And of course, a good chat/gossip session with the mama is always great! By the way March, where did you go? I feel like you haven't even started but you're already so close to being over. What the heck?!

Random Wednesday

It's gorgeous out this morning! BLUE sky and frost. My favorite combination! Hopefully the sun decides to stay for awhile!

As we were checking out of the hospital after having Liam, Dr. Henderson stopped in. The last thing he said to me was, "The three things you need a lot of while breastfeeding: protein, water and prenatal vitamins." I definetely listened, I wanted to do everything in my power to succeed at breastfeeding. I can't help but wonder if his statement has something to do with my constant cravings for MEAT. Joe and I aren't big meat eaters...the only meat I would ever buy at the store would be ground turkey breast for turkey meatloaf and chicken. My meat cravings have been more than that. I've been craving pork, red meat...anything! At my grandma's birthday dinner I ordered a filet mignon. And I loved every bite of it. I think that's the first one I've ever had. Some might say my tastes have changed but I really think it has to do with breastfeeding. I wake up absolutely starving in the night. Yesterday on the Today show they said cravings don't have anything to do with what your body needs. I don't know if I totally agree with that. I'm not trying to justify my meat eating, but to some extent I think your body really tells you what you need if you're listening carefully. I'm not 'craving' cookies or chocolate. Just meat. It's so weird!

Anyway, since I feel like we've been eating a lot of beef, I decided we should have chicken. I got out my Portland's Palate cookbook (second time this week!) and decided on Chicken Ole. I used to make this a lot PJ (pre-Joe). It was delicious! And another easy one.

Chicken Ole

1 cup chunky salsa, medium hot (I would use HOT next time)

1/4 cup Dijon mustard (I used leftover Hickory Farms sweet hot mustard)

3 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lime juice

6 chicken beasts (I used TWO but did the same amounts of everything else)

In a large bowl, combine salsa, mustard and lime juice. Add chicken, turning to coat. Marinate in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (I marinated all day).

In a large saute pan, melt a little butter over medium heat until foamy. Remove chicken from marinade and place in frying pan. Cook, turning frequently, until well-browned on all sides. (I actually added a tiny bit of water and cooked the chicken until it was completely cooked). After this I added the marinade to the pan, covered with a lid and let it simmer for about an hour. No knife needed after it was done, just fell apart, the way we like it!

I also made Spanish rice and whole pinto beans to go with it. It got a thumbs-up from Joe so I'll be adding this one into my rotation. :)

Happy Wednesday!

Recipes galore!

Move over Facebook, I think I'm going to have to replace you with this list! I already feel overwhelmed and want to rush to the store and make everything. Stay tuned for reviews. :)

My grandma

Wow! My grandma looks amazing for 80! We surprised her after church and had cake, coffee and punch for her at her church. She was SO excited and beyond proud to show off her family, especially her great grandchildren. It was a great day! I hope I look as good and have the same spunk as she does when I'm 80!

SPRING

Spring is here! I really can't believe it, where did winter go? Time is seriously going so fast. I find myself stopping and having to think what month it is! It can't possibly be the end of March already.. :( Today is my grandma's 80th birthday and Mr. Liam's 5 month birthday. A big day all around!

Today I am feeling so thankful. Thankful for our sweet baby napping in his crib, thankful to be celebrating my grandma's 80th birthday, thankful for my wonderful husband, family and friends. I often get so wrapped up in life I don't take the time to stop and think how lucky and blessed we all are. I've been following a blog, Rockstar Ronan, (his mom is originally from Kelso) and I feel so sick every time I read it. I had to stop after Liam was born, it scared me too much to read it, but I've recently started reading and following this little guys battle with cancer again. Life is so unfair sometimes, so unpredictable. I should realize that after what I went through with cancer but it's amazing how fast you forget how fragile life is. I can't even begin to imagine what Ronan's mama is going through. My heart aches every time I read her entries. She ended one of her latest entries with, "I would like to say a big FUCK YOU CANCER for doing this to my beautiful baby boy. I hate you very, very, much." Very well stated. I would scream that everyday if I was going through what she is.

Keep my friend Krystal and her family in your thoughts this week as she'll be having her brain surgery on Tuesday morning. Why do such horrible things happen to such good people? It will never, ever make sense to me.

App discovery

Last night we had dinner with our friends Carly and Jeremy (Baby Gavin's mom and dad). It was soooo good and Carly told me all of the recipes she used came from the Whole Foods app. Finding that out and already having a current recipe obsession meant I didn't go to sleep until after 12:30 am! I am so excited about this app! I ended up making Kahlua brownies to take, one of my trademark desserts from the Portland Palate's cookbook. I forgot how addicting those things are. Need to get the leftovers out of the house ASAP. Joe and I got home and kept taking little tiny bites. You know, the kind where you stand in front of the pan and cut a tiny piece. And then another tiny piece. And then before you know it a HUGE piece is gone. Ughh. I also woke up with a pounding headache this morning. The kind of headache where you'd think I'd been drinking green beer all night. Could it possibly be from the minuscule amount of Kahlua that was in the brownies?! We had a great time last night, it's always so much fun to get the babies together, and it's fun when the husbands can join us, too!

I made myself get up and exercise this morning before Liam wakes up. I've been having him lay on his exercise mat and watch me...he seems to enjoy it...but this morning we're having a mini class reunion planning meeting (miss you, Joanna... :( ), so I needed to get it done early. It wasn't nearly as fun...I've come to love our morning routine and having Liam in the room watching and playing and talking to me. Have I mentioned lately how in love I am with this little guy?! He is my little buddy. I am so, so thankful I'm able to stay at home with him and experience everything with him. He is discovering and learning so many things everyday. I love being able to witness it!

Happy Friday!

My favorite color day!

First off, Alyssa was right. The picture yesterday was a lean pocket my husband took to work with him. And apparently this is what it looked like after following the microwave instructions on the package. I wonder what else they put in this one besides pepperoni?!

Yesterday was a busy but fun day. Liam and I had moms group at Cafe Sip N Play! Not all of the moms were there but it was still fun to see everyone and the babies. I don't see the changes in Liam because I'm with him everyday so it's always crazy to see how much the other babies have changed! Liam and I also made a Costco run and spend a quick $100. Can you get out of there without spending less?! Liam was also thrilled that I found him another pair of Pajama Jeans there! That was definitely worth the stop and dragging him out in the rain! Now that we've found these, I can hardly stand to put him in regular jeans.

Last night my sister invited us up for dinner. She made the best pot roast. YUM. Another recipe I need to steal! I've been loving all the Sophie time I've been getting lately. She is SO smart and her vocabulary is incredible! I can already tell Liam is going to learn so much from her. He stares at her and watches her every move!

Ok, coffee is done! Happy Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday

Any guesses what that is? I found this in Joe's 'random' picture file....

Yesterday I told my mom and sister that within the next few months my hair will officially be the same color as Jamie Lee Curtis. I might as well give in, eat the Activia I have in the fridge and deal with it. The GRAY is getting out of control. It has slowly been coming in and I've been trying hard to convince myself it isn't that noticeable. Well, it is now. Like really. Joanna, Alyssa...need your hair dying expertise! I think I'm partially in denial because I really don't want to start having to dye it constantly. I haven't had to do anything like that since going back to my natural color in 2004. And it's been so nice. Not using hair dryer since I shaved it + not having to color = SO much more ME time! I did the Sharpie method last week (thanks, Jo) but the smell of permanent marker was too much to handle. Which obviously means I have TOO many gray hairs or else it wouldn't be so bad.

Lots of people say, "Ohhh, but you're going to have that pretty gray color" and I say, "Maybe so...but not at the age of 27!!!" I will now start researching my options. Don't they make like a rinse or something you can use in the shower?!?!

Daylight savings = wife fail

I didn't wake up until 7:16 this morning, three minutes before Joe left for work! He was happy that he was capable of being quiet, but I felt sad and guilty. He doesn't expect me to get up with him but I love our mornings together before he leaves for work. We always have coffee, talk...morning is definitely my energetic time. When he gets home at 8 I'm usually too tired. Sometimes I even find myself with a story or something we need to talk about but think to myself that I'll just wait until the morning, when I have more energy for it. :) I also like to help him get his lunch ready and make him breakfast. None of those happened today. I know he doesn't expect help with his lunch and breakfast either, but it makes me feel good and I know he appreciates it. As I sit here after drinking my first cup of coffee, I realize another reason I might subconsciously get up with him. He drinks less coffee! I don't have enough for a second cup.......... :( Here's to hoping I'm back to my regular wake-up time tomorrow!

Joe's latest (of many) obsessions

Yep. One of the ugliest cars ever produced is Joe's newest obsession. I keep telling him there's a good reason they only made them for a few years. But like a minivan, he just can't get over how practical they are. Not only is it a Subaru (his favorite), it has a truck bed, AWD and gets great gas mileage. I admit it would be way easier to get Liam in this than in Joe's truck but still....c'mon. Oh, and he likes this yellow color. And he's wants to sell his motorcycle to buy it. That I'm ok with. I hate motorcycles! But I just don't know if I could ever end up liking a hideous Subaru Baja!

West African Chicken-Peanut Soup

I tried a new recipe on Monday. My Aunt Susie raves about this soup so I decided to give it a try. It was very good, I thought it was pretty spicy, Joe had to add hot sauce. But then again, he adds hot sauce to everything. Apparently this soup is served at the Blue Moon Tavern and Grill in Northwest Portland. Here goes....

West African Chicken-Peanut Soup

1 cup diced cooked chicken
2/3 cup diced onion
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 cup chopped stewed tomatoes, drained
3 tablespoons chunky peanut butter (needs to be chunky!)

In a large pot, saute the chicken, onion, and garlic in the sesame oil for about 10 minutes, until the onion is tender. Add the curry powder, salt, pepper and pepper flakes and saute 1 minute more. Add the chicken broth, tomato paste, stewed tomatoes and peanut butter, stirring until well-combined. Heat until very hot but not boiling. Serve immediately.

My aunt suggested serving it over white rice so that's how we ate it. I don't know if I'd like it without the rice, so I definitely recommend doing the same!

Happy Friday!

Bills

Bills are never fun to pay, but I've realized that everytime I get our cable bill and cell phone bill I want to cry. I haaaate paying these two bills! Joe and I were talking about our TV watching habits and realized we haven't even watched the evening news for the last week or so! When Liam was a new-newborn I'd watch all the morning shows but I don't even turn it on in the morning. I never grew up with the TV on a lot, especially during the morning/day, so I think it just bugs me. Kinda like if I'm up too long without taking a shower/getting dressed...I start to feel sick. Same goes with TV being on too long. We also don't have any shows we watch. Probably because Joe's work schedule is so crazy. The only thing I (kind of) consistently watch is Live at 7 after the news. Makes us both wonder why we're wasting our money paying for it. Especially with the longer days coming up. It's much easier not to have the TV when it's not dark at 4:30! I don't want to give our cell phones up, I really consider it more of a safety thing, but I think we could give up cable easily. I guess it's just more of a comfort thing knowing we have it! We'll probably talk about getting rid of it for the next few years. Hahaha.

Tuesday things

LIAM IS STILL SLEEPING! And he's been asleep since 7:15 last night. After not sleeping through the night since returning from Maui, I'm a little shocked. Ok, a lot shocked! I've had coffee, eaten my breakfast and keep checking the monitor to make sure I can see him breathing. Maybe the so-called "4-month sleep regression" is over. We'll find out tonight!

We went to Liam's 4-month appointment yesterday. It was his 4-month but he was actually 4months 17days. He weighs 15lbs 14oz and is 24.5 inches long. Basically, he's perfect. Everyone loved him, Dr. Libby called herself his girlfriend. And he did SO good. We requested that purple hair didn't give him shots again (he had a bad experience with her, along with a few others I know), and he didn't even really mind the shots. Glad we're done with shots until May. I think it hurts me more than it hurts him! Anyway, his weight is the 54 percentile and his height this time was only in the 21 percentile. I asked for reassurance that he wont be a midget and she told me not to worry. Most likely this appointment was before a big growth spurt. She said the weight percentiles stay consistent but the height shoots all over the place. Like a staircase. At his 2-month it was way up, guess this is the way down month. She told us to keep trying rice cereal but I haven't tried again yet. I guess I should start soon. For some reason it makes me sad to see him start it! I was kinda happy when he didn't like it...he still prefers me! She said the most important part about having him take bites of it is because it has a lot of iron, something he's not getting a lot of by me breastfeeding. I'll try again today...

She told me something very interesting about breastfeeding. I'm sure I read this but forgot about it. The first milk that comes out is called the hind milk and it's really watery and quenches their thirst. Then the fore milk provides the nutrition. So it's like a 2 for 1 deal. So, so incredible! I can honestly say that I LOVE breastfeeding. I can't believe I've been doing it already for almost 5 months. I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Happy Tuesday! He's still sleeping...it's now 7:35am! :) :)

Prayers needed

A college and sorority sister of mine, Krystal, found out last week she has a brain tumor. She called me this morning and I got the chance to talk to her a little about it. Ever since finding out about her situation last week, I've had a very heavy heart. Not only did she just have a beautiful baby girl, Miriam, on February 16th, she also has two little boys. I can't even imagine what she must be going through yet she is sounding so strong, confident and at peace with everything. You can follow her story here. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers as her and her family are going through this difficult and scary time.

Our fridge has a lot of new artwork, save the dates! Just when I think everyone is done getting married in comes another fridge full. :) If only one of the weddings that I'm super excited for wasn't on the same night as my 10 year class reunion that I'm helping plan.....

And yes, I still have the save-the-date from our wedding on the fridge. I don't have the heart to take it down. Besides, it covers a scratch on our fridge so nicely! It'll probably be up there until there's no room because every square inch of the fridge is covered in Liam's artwork. My parents never had a fridge that I could hang stuff on, I remember trying to find anything magnetic so I could. I think the only thing in their kitchen was a tiny strip on the side of the oven. Yes, I agree a fridge covered in stuff looks somewhat tacky, mine already does, but having it covered in Liam's art someday will be priceless!

Happy Friday!

Sheenerific

Ok, last quote, I promise! "I have a 10,000-year-old brain and the boogers of a 7-year-old."

Hahahaha. This is probably going to make him so much (more) money! T-shirts, etc. This is exactly what he's hoping for, I'm sure!

Ok, done with my Sheen kick. For real. Back to the only other thing I talk about, Liam. ;)

Spring is on the way. Just heard the count, only 17 days. Yipee! I've never been so excited for it to come. Usually I'm sad winter is almost over but not since having Liam. I'm so ready for longer, warmer and dryer days so we can get out more. Let's just hope we have a good spring. Spring is usually a bummer season here. It's not cold, it's not warm....just dreary and wet. Usually the best thing about it is knowing that summer is just around the corner!

It cleared up for a bit yesterday evening so Joe and I took Liam on a walk around our neighborhood. Less of an ordeal than loading up and going to the lake...just walk out the door and can get back fast if it starts raining! During our walk we were talking about Charlie again. Funny because of all people, Joe is the most anti-Hollywood person I've ever met! Or so he claims. Seems he still always knows more than I do! :) Joe's favorite Sheen quote: "I'm a total frickin' rock star from Mars."

Happy Thursday!

Oh, Charlie...

I admit I've been following the Charlie Sheen drama a little bit. I watched the 20/20 interview last night and was disgusted. What a freak! Some of his top 10 quotes from the interview are here. I don't know if I'll ever be able to watch Two and a Half Men again....if it ever comes back on, that is.