Recent happenings

It's been a smooth week around here which has been great & I seem to be getting out of the strange funk I've been in.  Not sure why I've been in a mood since I really have no reason to be.  I've just been noticing that I'm irritable, tired & uninspired lately.  I told Mike that I feel like I'm running on a treadmill... I just keep running & running & there's no end in sight.  Maybe it stemmed from the rut I was in at work.  After going to a conference on Friday with fellow RDs, I seem to be more excited about heading to work in the morning.  In the clinical nutrition world, there's absolutely no reason to become stagnant so brushing up on skills or learning new information is so important to me.

I've been cooking up a storm lately!  I roasted some purple & gold potatoes on Sunday, served along side turkey burgers & a tossed salad.  Since I'm going to be done breastfeeding in about a month, I'm trying to make a conscious effort to eat well so I don't pack on the pounds as I stop.  I'm seriously going to miss that extra allotment of calories!  I'm also joining a gym soon & I plan on working out three days a week.

Picture courtesy of skinnytaste.com

I cooked up some Crockpot Bolognese sauce yesterday which was excellent!  We served it over spaghetti squash instead of noodles which I've never done before.  It was really good & saves about 180 calories per cup.  So yummy.  Click here for the sauce recipe & here for the spaghetti squash recipe.

Cam & I hit the park on our way to pick Reese up from school yesterday.  We played Queen Mommy & King Cameron as we pretended that each tower of the playground was our castle.  We were lucky enough to have the place to ourselves which was awesome.

Reese was so happy to see us!  This is a picture of her that I took from my cell over my shoulder as she laughed at her brother while we sat at a red light.

Since the poor gal barely naps at daycare, I laid her down as soon as we got home & she was asleep in seconds! Had I not picked her up early, she would have never taken a second nap.

With less than two weeks to go, we're gearing up for Halloween!

Although Reese did go trick-or-treating with us last year, this really is her first Halloween.

I was exactly 38 weeks pregnant with my little pumpkin last Halloween. Instead of being a pumpkin again, this year she may be dressing up as a sunflower.  Lauren was sweet enough to pass the costume down from Taylor, but I'm not sure if it'll be too warm for the still toasty Florida weather.  I'm considering just getting her cat ears, putting her in a black outfit & drawing whiskers on her face to keep things cooler & easy.

No, this is not a picture of Cameron, it's some little boy I do not know.  However, this is the costume Cam will be wearing this year.  He's on a huge Mario kick, so he'll be thrilled to wear this bad boy.  He doesn't know the costume shipped to our house today because if he did, he'd want to wear it non-stop.  I'm not crafty enough to make him a costume & I'm far too cheap to spend a lot on something he'll barely wear, so it's cheapies for the little guy!

Anyway, tomorrow is Friday & we're officially bringing back Perno Pizza Friday!!!  We used to make our own pizza every single Friday, but it's been ages & ages since we've last done it.  I typically like to cook up a fancy pizza with goat cheese, figs, arugula, etc, while Mike prefers something classic like sausage.  So we'll have to take turns each week to keep things fair.  Well, hope you're all having a great week!

11 months!

Reese, in exactly one month, we'll be celebrating your first birthday!  I know I say it every month, but I really cannot get over how quickly you're growing.  A year ago today we didn't even know you & now you are such an important member of our family.  We seriously could not possibly imagine our lives without you.

So, what is my 11 month old girl up to?  Lots!!  You're cruising all around the furniture & looking like you want to walk so badly!

This is your first month in your very own room with your very own space since we've just moved into our new house.

Your personality is really coming out & we're realizing just what a goofball you are.  Not only that, but you're extremely sensitive & dramatic.  If I say no to you, you throw your head back and cry hysterically.  Oh my goodness, we are going to have our hands full with you!

 You definitely realize just how funny you are & do all of your tricks to make us crack up!  You have lots of tricks up your sleeves..

This is what you do when we ask you, "How big are you?!"

This is what you do when we ask you where something is.  You love, love, love to point at everything and everyone!

 

 

And this is what you do when we tell you to blow a kiss.  So stinkin cute!

This is your latest trick.. you started crawling around like this just 2 days ago.  You're such a character!

I guess you just don't want to damage your precious, delicate knees!

You are such a Mama's girl & cannot stand it when I have the audacity to put you down!

You link your arm around mine & hold on for dear life.

 Needless to say, I'm not often able to get a whole lot done when you're awake!  It can be a challenge sometimes but I'm trying to soak up this sweet, pudgy, cuddly age you're at, knowing it's passing me by too quickly already.

You still have only two teeth on the bottom, but are able to eat most anything if it's cut into small pieces.  You have a wonderful appetite & haven't turned your nose up to anything just yet.  You still drink 3, 8oz bottles of breast milk a day & eat baby food 2-3 times a day, depending on  how many finger foods you eat.  When we're home, you don't eat much baby food since you're eating whatever we eat.

You're still an awesome sleeper, thank goodness!  You go to sleep around 7:30pm & sleep until about 8am on the weekend.  You take 2 naps per day for a total of about three hours when you're home, but barely sleep at daycare.  Sometimes you come home after sleeping only a half hour.  Ugh.

You wear size three diapers, but we'll be moving you to fours next time we buy.  You're moving up to size three shoes, but still rarely ever wear them.  You're in twelve month clothes, but I'll be cleaning out your drawers & moving you to 18 month sizes within a day or so.  Growing like a weed!

You say, "Dada" & "Mama" but I wonder if you even know what you're saying.  Sometimes when Daddy asks you where Mama is, you point at the light or some other random place.  Silly girl.

Happy 11 months, sweet girl!  I love you with all my heart!

Crockpots & kiddos

Lately I've been drawn to Crockpot cooking on my Wednesdays off.  I get dinner knocked out first thing in the morning so it's one less thing I have to worry about.  And who doesn't love the welcoming aroma of dinner as you walk through the door?

Pardon the not-so-fabulous pictures, but this post involves all pictures taken from my phone (other than the picture below which I borrowed!)

This week I cooked up some hearty, yet very healthy minestrone soup.  It was super tasty & left us with enough dinner for tonight.  I love leftovers!  I actually enjoyed the soup even more tonight since the flavors had more time to meld.  We served it with fresh bread & grated Parm over the top.  Yum!  Click here for the recipe.

Since we've had soooo much going on with the move, Mike encouraged me to hop in on a girl's trip to Siesta Key two weeks ago.  Despite all I could've gotten done at home, I am so glad I went!  It was awesome to get out with a bunch of fellow moms, let our hair down & just be goofy together.  Who doesn't love a weekend full of the beach, a sailboat trip, shopping outing, dinner, drinks & a sunset & dancing to live music?!

I never thought I'd be a mom who had a really hard time leaving her kids, but I sort of am that way.  As great as it is to get away & get a break, I miss them so much!  Although, I do know it's good for all parties involved when Mom is happy & relaxed because if Mommy ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!



And this past weekend it was Mike's turn to get away as he headed to Jacksonville to watch the Bears game.  He skipped town just as little Reesers was at her neediest, fussiest time.  I seriously could not put the girl down & God forbid I did, it was the end of the world.  I've discovered that I have quite the dramatic, sensitive girl on my hands.  We're in a world of trouble with this one, folks! ;o)

Cam got himself a hand-me-down toy box from my co-worker this week.  I spruced up the 18 year-old sucker with a little super glue since the stickers were peeling.

Yesterday we headed to see Hotel Transylvania.  I wasn't sure if Cam would be scared by the movie, but he ended up liking it.  There were a few scary parts where Dracula would make a bad face, but other than that, it was really age-appropriate.  I also considered Frankenweenie, but we decided he was too young for that one.

We had such a nice afternoon together.  Until we got home from the movies, that is.  Cam ended up having a fit on the driveway about a scarecrow we bought.  He wanted it inside, I wanted it outside.  I let him rant & rave right by the front door as I dropped bags off in the house.  Less than a minute later, I headed back outside only to discover that Cam was nowhere to be found.  At first I wasn't nervous since I figured he was hiding in the garage or by the bushes.  Panic quickly grew as the minutes ticked on & I still couldn't find him.  It was probably only a minute or two, but it seemed like forever.  Soon I began to run around the house, screaming his name until a neighbor boy let me know that he saw him go around the house.  That's when I really lost it.  My heart raced as I sprinted toward the pond in the back of our house.  Just before I reached the pond, I saw him run around the neighbor's house.  As I was about to hysterically cry, our neighbor who I've never met before, came around from the direction of Cam.  Here I am, meeting this woman for the first time, frantic & on the verge of hysterics, as she's telling me that Cam walked into her house!  WTF?!  After breathing an insane sigh of relief that Cam was okay, choking back tears, feeling angry at Cam at the same time, I met my neighbor.  Super sweet lady, by the way.  Anyway, after we got back to our house, Cam got a BIG FAT time out, I cried my eyes out & we had a nice, long chat about not wandering away from our house & walking into someone else's house.  I can tell you that I will not be leaving that kid alone for a second let alone less than a minute!

Well, this post has been a bit all over the place, but that's what's been going on over here in a nutshell.  Tomorrow is Friday, thank goodness!  Hope you're all having a great week!

New house - kitchen

Things have been crazy busy here with settling in to our new house, organizing & getting in to a new routine. Since the move, my drive has extended from 15 minutes to 40.  Not only are we 15 minutes farther from my work, but I'm now the driver & picker-upper of the kiddos.  But the extra space in the house has made it so worth it & I honestly don't even mind. Besides needing to unpack a few more boxes & hang more pictures/art work, we're pretty settled & comfortable in the new house so I'll gradually post pictures, room-by-room.  I'll start with one of my favorite places, the kitchen!

This is a view looking into the kitchen from the family room.

The doorway to the left leads to the living room, dining room, master bedroom, den & the front door.  The doorway to the right also leads to the dining room if you make a left or to the laundry room & garage.

Here's the view when you enter through the garage door.  The staircase leads to the bonus room & the doorway to the left of the TV leads to the guest bedroom/bathroom.  I love that our guests will have their privacy with the bathroom being within the room.

This is the view when you come through the front door.  The doorway at the bottom of the staircase leads to the kid's bedrooms & bathroom.  Reese will no longer have to sleep in the pack & play in our closet when guests come!!  Yay!

With one huge slider in the family room & another behind the kitchen table, there's a ton of natural light which I love.  The first thing I do in the morning is draw the blinds.

Today has been very gloomy & rainy so we're just hanging out & I've got turkey, white bean, pumpkin chili cooking away in the Crock Pot. 

And despite the seemingly endless Florida heat & humidity, Fall is still my favorite time of year!  Since I want to get into the spirit, I put some decorations out.  I grabbed a bag of gourds & mini pumpkins for about $6 total & the rest of the stuff, I reuse each year.

Because of all of the pine trees, our subdivision is called Pine Glen.  When we were out on a walk Monday evening, Cam picked up a few pine cones that I'm also using to decorate. Nice & inexpensive!

Last night Mike got our new spice racks hung on the inside of our pantry door so cooking was a lot easier this morning!  I'm used to hunting through a cluttered, crowded cabinet full of spices, so this has made me very happy!

I'm so thankful to finally be in our new house & I don't know if I'll ever stop walking around in awe of it all!