December

I've only blogged twice this month and I probably won't get around to blogging any more. Not because I don't want to, but because we're headed to Grand Junction on Thursday and I very rarely post from my parents house. I have to say, even though I despise the cold, I love December! It just feels so holiday-ish, and since the Christmas season is my favorite, I guess I can put up with the cold for a little bit. However, with cold come germs, and out comes Kari the germaphobe, so we haven't left our house too much. I know that you're thinking "Jonathan had Strep for 2 weeks AT YOUR HOUSE" and you'd be right, so the not leaving the house thing really doesn't mean there aren't, I'm just a freak.
Anyway~ I have thoroughly enjoyed my hot chocolate every morning and my occasional trip to Starbucks for a caramel apple cider. I constantly have on Christmas music no matter where I am. I have also enjoyed getting my girls dressed in cute winter outfits like this:

Going to church

"Little sister"

What you can't tell from this picture is how ridiculously cute her boots are.


Well, I hope you all have a wonderful December, and I'll be posting more in January!

My girls

I just want to tell you all that I think my life is great. I'm not trying to brag, just let you know that I am happy. I'm grateful for all that we have, and I really enjoy having 2 kids. More than I enjoyed having just one. Of course, having a 2 year old and a newborn doesn't always make for great days, but we're just taking it one day at a time. And most days are great. I especially love it when I come into the living room to find this:

Breast pumping.


Excuse the nakedness. She seriously does not like to have clothes on. Ever. Her favorite thing is to get naked, wrap up in her blanket, and sit in front of the space heater in her room.

Addilyn is 7 weeks old now, which is crazy! Time is flying by. She's going through the dreaded baby acne phase right now, so I haven't been taking too many pictures, but here is one:


I know one of the greatest gifts we all get is thinking that our kid(s) are the best/greatest/cutest. There are days when I don't think mine are the "best", but I definitely love them the VERY MOST!

Wheels on the bus

For your entertainment:

A story about Strep and Thanksgiving

Turns out having strep throat doesn't make for the best Thanksgiving. I wouldn't actually know, because it's Jonathan that has it. And if you're wondering why it's not Jonathan writing this post about it, it's because he's still dying on the couch. He has now been totally out-of-commission-sick since last Thursday! Poor guy! And while I feel really bad for him, I'm SO ready for him to be over it because I feel like a single mom of 3 kids right now.

Lets start from the beginning. Last Thursday he came home from work sick with the chills and body aches and a sore throat. Friday and Saturday he struggled through the work day, taking about 4 Advil every 4 hours to keep his fever and sore throat at bay. Sunday he was still feeling really awful and annoyed that his "flu" hadn't gone away. He showed me his tonsils and they were HUGE and had white spots on them, but the light bulb didn't go off over my head until a couple hours later when he said, "Ya know, with my tonsils looking like that I wonder if I have tonsillitis or something." And I was like, "STREP!" because one of my friends from church had just told me she had it. He went to urgent care right away and sure enough: Strep. They gave him a prescription for Amoxicillin and we figured he'd take the next day off work, and within 24 hours he'd not be contagious and be good to go. Wrong. Monday was awful. Tuesday was awful. By Tuesday night when I was pretty sure he was going to die, we decided he should go to the hospital just in case something else was wrong that was making him feel like this. Nothing else was wrong but they gave him a shot of penicillin and a steroid shot and sent him on his not-so-merry way. The next morning he was feeling better but still couldn't really eat anything and was getting lightheaded if he was up too much. Same thing on Thursday, Thanksgiving, which is why it wasn't great. Same thing today, which is why he came home from work an hour early. WHEN IS IT GOING TO END?? My goodness, I haven't seen him sick like this EVER. Not in the 3 1/2 years that we've been married has he called out from work sick, and now it's been a week of days off or going home early. :( Let's just all keep our fingers crossed that he'll be back to 100% soon, or I might die too.

Did I mention he's also lost 15 pounds? :(

Needless to say, this was the ONLY picture we took on Thanksgiving:


I hope you all are staying healthy!

My secret

I've discovered the secret to happiness. Well, besides my perfect marriage and my perfect kids.



Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.

But seriously, you HAVE to make these. Even if you think it's annoying when people post recipes on their blogs, THIS is the one you have to print and try. It will not let down your expectations. And if you don't want to go through the trouble of rolling them in balls and covering them in chocolate, just take a big scoops and add it to vanilla ice cream for instant cookie dough ice cream! Perfection. Or, you can tell your kids how lucky they are that their mom lets them eat dough straight out of the bowl because hey, egg free!!


Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
Yield: 3-4 dozen
Prep Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 2 1/2 hours
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

14 oz dark chocolate candy coating

Directions:
Beat butter and sugars and in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Cover and chill dough for 1 hour.

When dough is firm enough to handle (it may help to lightly flour your hands), form dough into 1" balls and arrange on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Place sheets in freezer and let chill for 30 minutes.

Melt chocolate candy coating in a double boiler or in microwave according to package directions. Using forks or a dipping tool, dip cookie balls into candy coating to cover. Tap fork on side of pan to remove any excess coating, and return to waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Chill until set. Store, chilled, in an airtight container for up to 1 week (though good luck making them last that long).


So, the verdict is in.. These are BETTER than cake balls. And my baby weight is not going away. :) Enjoy!

Also, if you're not on Pinterest after last time I told you to, could you PLEASE get on that so I can stop posting this stuff on my blog? Thanks.

Family Pictures

Can you guys believe how many pictures we get taken? We're narcissistic.

The other day I was telling Jonathan I wasn't sure what we were going to do about a picture for our Christmas cards this year. We could go to JCPenny or Sears, but none of their card deals come with free sitting fees, which are $9.99 per person, so that's already $40 more than I wanted to spend, not including the actual pictures! (I'm cheap.) We could call the lady that did our maternity pictures, but she lives in Springs, so I knew it would take a while to get an appointment for her to drive down here, and it took her about 2 weeks to get our last pictures back, which was too long for me to wait. (I'm impatient.) So, I pretty much did nothing except whine to Jonathan that I didn't know what we were going to do. Then my friend Tara read my mind. Seriously, the next day she wrote me on my facebook as asked if it would be ok for her to take pictures of Addilyn for practice. All of my problems were solved! So, I asked her if we could throw in some family pictures while we were at it. She did such a great job! Unfortunately for you guys, you have to wait to get your Christmas card in the mail to see the whole family together. Here's a preview of the rest:


By the way, how cute are those outfits?! My Aunt Ann sent them to me when Addilyn was born, so this was the perfect opportunity to show them off!

So cute

Kisses from Mom

And Dad

For those that don't know, she has a mole on her shoulder. We thought it was a birthmark, but our pediatrician told us it was just a mole. Anyway, there it is.


Thanks again, Tara!!

Recipes

Are you on Pinterest? If not, you should be. If you need an invite to be on, let me know and I'll e-mail you one. There is so much fun stuff to look at, but my latest obsession is recipes. I guess it's not my latest, I've always been obsessed with recipes. I think I'm the only person in the world who, in 3 years of marriage, hardly ever repeats a recipe. When I meal plan, I like to just browse through different cookbooks or apps on my phone, find recipes that looks yummy, buy the ingredients and cook them. Sometimes they're great, sometimes they're not so great. Jonathan would probably actually prefer that I just stick to what I know, but what's the fun in that? If I did that, I wouldn't have come across all these delicious looking recipes on Pinterest, 2 of which we have absolutely loved! I thought I'd share them with you. Here you go:

This first one looks long an complicated buy it's really not at all. It's just a lot of ingredients. But these taste just like the ones at Chili's! They're so yummy!

Southwest Egg Rolls
*Makes about 2-3 dozen

INGREDIENTS:
Rolls:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow or red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
3 (about 1 1/2 pounds) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 green or red pepper, diced small
1 jalapeno pepper, membranes removed, seeded and finely minced or 4 pickled jalapeno rounds from the jar
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
10 ounces frozen, chopped spinach, defrosted and liquid squeezed out (wringing through a kitchen towel works great)
1 cup frozen corn
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2-3 cups shredded cheese, such as Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack or Cheddar
2-3 dozen small, fajita-size flour tortillas

Chipotle Dipping Sauce:
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup salsa
1 teaspoon minced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (if you are opening a new can to only use 1 teaspoon, freeze the remainder in a freezer-safe ziploc bag and pull out and thaw as needed)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line two rimmed baking sheets with foil and lightly grease with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the dipping sauce ingredients. Mix well and set aside or refrigerate until ready to serve.

In a large 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for 3-4 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add the cubed chicken breasts and peppers and cook over medium or medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add the rinsed and drained black beans, spinach, corn, cilantro and seasonings. Mix well and cook until the mixture is heated through. Add the cheese and stir well, cooking, until the mixture is hot and cheese is mostly melted.

Warm the tortillas. I place 5-6 between two damp paper towels and microwave for about 45 seconds. Place some of the filling on each tortilla and roll up tightly, egg-roll style, folding in the edges. Place seam side down on the prepared baking sheets (secure with a toothpick if needed).

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, until the rolls are lightly browned and heated through. Serve immediately with dipping sauce.


Here's the second one:

I'm not sure if there is a breakfast that is worse for you, but this is SO delicious! I'm thinking we'll definitely have to have this at my parents house over Christmas!

Cinnamon Roll French Toast Bake
Ingredients
1/4 cup melted butter
2 cans (12.4 oz each) Pillsbury® refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing
5 eggs
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup maple syrup

Garnish
Icing from cinnamon rolls
Powdered sugar
Maple syrup, if desired

Directions
Melt butter and pour on ungreased 13×9 inch glass dish. Separate cans of dough into 16 rolls reserving the icing for later use. Cut each roll into 8 pieces and add to buttered baking dish.
Beat eggs in medium bowl. Add cream, cinnamon and vanilla and beat until well blended. Pour over cut pieces of cinnamon roll pieces.


Sprinkle with pecans and drizzle 3/4 cup syrup over the top. Bake at 375 for 20 to 28 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 15 minutes.
Remove the covers from icing and microwave on medium or 50% power for 10 to 15 seconds. (Should be thin enough to drizzle.) Drizzle icing over the top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with syrup if desired. Yum!

Now go try them! And if you haven't joined Pinterest, I highly recommend it.

Houdini

A couple months ago Amelia started taking off her pajamas at nap time and bedtime. She wouldn't really do anything except once or twice she peed the bed, but mostly she would just yell for us until we went in to find her stark naked. One night she didn't yell for me, but I just happened to go into her room about an hour after she fell asleep and she was wrapped up in her blankets so cozy, naked. Well, I was telling Melody about it, and being the sewing genius that she is, she whipped up 2 footed sleepers that zip up the back by the next day. Problem solved, right?



WRONG. That worked wonderfully for a couple weeks, and then the other night she was yelling for us from her bed and when Jonathan went to check on her she was naked! She had gotten completely out of a sleeper that zips up the back! What the heck? Who is this child??

Here is a close up of the neck:


Here's a close up of the back, which apparently had enough of a gap that she was able to squiggle her tiny shoulders out of, slip off over her body and escape!


Now each one has an added button on the top that will HOPEFULLY solve the problem.

Clothes galore

We have SO many baby girl clothes it stresses me out. That's a lot. The other day I got out the two huge boxes we have of winter clothes that are a combination of Kalena's, Amelia's, Caroline's, and clothes that Kirsta got from friends that were done having kids. As I'm sorting them into different totes that I think (hope) will be an effective way of organization so we get the best use of all of it, I'm wondering why we would possibly need 15 different pairs of (essentially the same) pink pants. I tried to take a picture so you could get a feel for how many clothes are actually here, but there's just really no way to do it justice. Here's a look anyway:

That's footed outfits on the bed, "pre-made" outfits in one tote, long sleeved shirts in one tote, and just pants in the other tote. That doesn't include any dresses or sweaters, which are hung up.


And here's a close up of that adorable sleeping baby in the midst of it all:


I think there's only one solution for all this: See how many days we can go without repeating an outfit or doing her laundry. That should be a fun game.

I can only keep my fingers tightly crossed that Elsha finds out she's having a girl in March, so that I can give it all away!

Camouflage

Where did Addilyn's legs go!? :)



These are the things that amuse me when I'm sleep deprived.

Pajamas

The other day I was in Old Navy and up by their registers they had some Halloween costumes on 50% off clearance. I didn't think this would make a great costume, but I knew it would make GREAT pajamas, and that Jonathan would love it!

Mom

Why is it that you can eat 1000 different lasagnas (or enchiladas, or brownies, or...) in your life but your mom's is always the best?

As you all know, my mom was here last week to spend a whole week with me! I guess I need to start having more babies so she'll have a reason to take a week off work to sit around my house with me. It was so relaxing with her here. She made everything seem so easy with a new baby, even if it meant holding her while she cried so I could finish reading a book with Amelia. She also had great parenting tips for us with Amelia. How come we've been struggling with potty training for weeks but as soon as Grandma is here she goes accident free for 3 days in a row? Hmm. There's only one conclusion.. My mom needs to come live with us. :) I sure had a great time with her and hope I can be as great a mom as she is!

Happy Halloween

Our Halloween this year was pretty uneventful, mostly because we didn't know when this baby would come, so we didn't know how much we'd feel up to doing. Friday night while Mom and Dad were in town we invited Melody and Tom over for pizza and pumpkin carving. Here are some highlights from that night:

She was pretty grossed out by it all


Me cleaning it out


Jonathan carving it


It's Elmo!!



Last night Jonathan took Amelia trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. She made it to 4 houses and then said she was done, so we went over to a friend's Halloween party for a while and then came home.

Ready to go!


Cutest darn elephant in the world!


I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

Sharp sticks

This one is for the Gustavsons...

Tonight at home, mom, Jonathan, Amelia and I were downstairs watching tv and Amelia was being a little bratty and whiny. Finally, I got my stern voice on and this was our conversation:

Me: Amelia, what do you need? Do you need juice?
Amelia: No
Me: Do you need to go upstairs?
Amelia: No
Me: Do you need a poke in the eye with a sharp stick?
Amelia: Kay
*We all burst out laughing*


PAUSE


Amelia: Sharp stick??

Maybe you had to be there, but hopefully that was just as funny to you guys.

Let's Compare

The great debate: Who does Addilyn look like? We've gotten different opinions from all over the place, so I thought I'd do a little comparing between her newborn pictures and Amelia's. Shall we?

This is my favorite first picture of Amelia


Jonathan look-alike


One of the first pictures of Addilyn


Relaxed


So, any resemblance between the 2 girls?? Well, check this one out. I was looking through my baby book and came across this picture of me that's on my birth certificate, taken when I was 2 days old.



And here's Addilyn again:


Whatcha think?!

Birth Story

Let's start on Monday, Oct 10. I had my weekly doctors appt, where she told me that I was already dilated to 4cm, and since I had had steady contractions that had died off the night before, I needed to head to the hospital the next time I had contractions for no more than an hour. She also said, "How about if nothing happens before Wednesday morning at 5:30 we start you on Petocin?" I agreed, without really thinking about what I was agreeing to. Kirsta came down from Denver Tuesday morning and we spent that day trying to bring on labor ourselves by lifting heavy things, using my breast pump, and eating spicy green chili for dinner. After Jonathan got home from work that night we decided together that induction wasn't what we wanted to do, regardless if it meant knowing the baby would be out of me a few hours from then. I called the hospital to tell them I was nixing the induction, and the lady I talked to was the sweetest, most supportive nurse in the world! If I've ever been unsure about a decision, she definitely backed me up 110% and made me feel like the greatest person alive for wanting labor to come naturally. So I went to bed that night feeling wonderful, knowing that it would happen when it happened. And it happened.


I woke up at 2am with a sharp, shooting contraction, and knew that I had just had another one that incorporated into my dream. I got out of bed and after only 3 super painful contractions I knew this was the real deal, so I woke up Jonathan and then went and sat on my exercise ball and started timing. They were coming every 2 minutes and lasting about 45 seconds. Jonathan went downstairs to wake up Kirsta, who happily got up, got dressed and immediately started massaging my back during contractions. We called Melody (my mother-in-law) to come over and stay with the 4 kids at my house while we went to the hospital. I checked into labor and delivery at 3am on the dot, and we made ourselves at home in our labor room, where Kirsta took position as my personal fanner (is that a word?) because I was SOOO hot! I seriously felt like it was 1000 degrees in my room. She was also the worlds best coach, talking me through each and every contraction, telling me to sway my hips, yell ouch as much as I needed to, and never forget to breath. Jonathan set up shop behind me as my masseuse, and trust me, I did NOT let him stop until it was all over. Contractions or not, he was NOT to stop massaging. Lucky for him, it was short. :) My nurse, who is not going down on my list of favorite people, was taking her sweet time with everything, not seeming to give any kind of hoot every time I would yell, "WHERE IS MY EPIDURAL?" She'd casually reply, "Well, first we have to do this. It's coming, don't worry." Or something else not reassuring at all. I kept wondering how much time had gone by, but I refused to look because I knew I'd freak out if it had only been like, 15 minutes. Anyway~ finally my nurse said, "I need you to lay on the bed so I can put this IV in you." As she's casually digging around in both of my wrists I looked at her and said, "I need to push!" She just stared at me blankly. Like an idiot. Then she said, "Well let me take this IV out and when this contraction is through let me check you." She checked me and sure enough, I was at 10 cm!! She told me I was ready and what did I do? I BURST into tears. I was SO SO scared of what was about to come. I said, "So no pain meds?" And she just shook her head. A lot of people aspire to have natural child birth, but I am not one of them. I was scared that my body would tear in half, or that somehow I just wouldn't be able to do it, all the while know that I HAD to do it, pain killer free, and I was SCARED. She ran to grab the doctor, who never made it. A whole rush of nurses and residents came in and through my hysterics I pushed like I physically did not think my body could push, and 3 pushes later Addilyn was out at 4:48am. I regained my composure for a second to realize what just happened. Then I asked for my phone, called my mom and lost it again. I just kept telling her how scared I was, and she kept asking, "Why are you scared? The baby is already out." And I'm like, "I wanted an epidural!! I couldn't do it!! I'm so scared!" I guess it was scary. :) WHEW. Talk about an adrenaline rush for the next few hours. I was just bewildered and couldn't believe what had just happened.

There's no way I can ever thank Kirsta and Jonathan enough for all their help. I truly know that there is NO WAY I could've done it without both of them.

More belly pictures!

I'm sure by now you are all are sick of seeing pictures of my belly, but lucky for you, this baby is coming tomorrow or Wednesday, and then all you'll see is pictures of her! I got these pictures done yesterday afternoon at my house and it was so fun. A little awkward being so scantily clad in front of the photographer, but it's what I wanted so I had to. :) Then about 10:30 last night I started having painful contractions exactly 5 minutes apart, at about 1 minute per contraction. I was SO excited, thinking, "Here we go!" I timed them for 3 hours, and just about the time I was going to wake up Jonathan and tell him I thought it was the real deal, they died down. SUCH a disappointment. This afternoon I had a doctors appointment and she said it wasn't a lost cause because they progressed me to 4 cm! Yay. After she said that my body is totally ready and that of course natural labor is best, if baby girl doesn't come tonight or tomorrow we're going to start Petocin on Wednesday morning at 5:30. So, whether she likes it or not, she'll be here within 2 days! Yay. Anyway~ back to the real reason for the blog.. Belly pictures! Here are a couple from the shoot yesterday:







The next blog I'll post will (hopefully) have baby girl Addilyn's story along with pictures! Until then...

Never a dull moment

In our house, I feel like there's never a dull moment. Well, except right now, when my due date is 9 days away and that might as well be a year, because waiting for it to happen is KILLING me. I'm trying to make the most of every day, spending quality time with Amelia, sleeping as much as I can, cleaning a lot, and trying to mentally prepare myself for what's about to come, but that doesn't make days like today any less boring. Anyway~ I snapped a couple cute pictures of Amelia yesterday that I thought I'd share with you, just in case you're at home as bored as I am.

At dinner, she told me she needed to go pee pee so I told her to put down her soda and she did her high pitched, "No no no no no!" and that was a battle I was just not willing to fight, so here she is:

Disclaimer: No, she did NOT get to drink that whole soda. It was Jonathan's and she got the last couple drinks.

After dinner was bath time, and then Jonathan got her dressed in her new pj's from Estes Park:

Hahahahahahaha.


Fingers crossed for a baby soon!

Maternity Pictures

On Wednesday, Jonathan, Amelia and I got a maternity photo shoot done. It was so much fun! Of course, I think a photo shoot every day would be fun. We drove about 30 minutes to the Fountain Valley Nature Center and met up with our photographer, who's name is Regina. It was so beautiful up there, with lots of water and the leaves changing on some of the trees. Unfortunately, Amelia wasn't so into getting her picture taken that day but we made the best of it and just took lots of pictures without her. :) Regina just sent me a link this morning with a couple of the pictures, and I know she made it a point to send us a couple with Amelia in them, but these might be the only ones we get, haha. Anyway~ here's the few she's sent me so far.










So, this was our outside, flower girl, free-spirit photo shoot. :) On Sunday, Oct 9th, Regina is going to come down to my house for our inside, black backdrop, less clothing, more exposed belly photo shoot. I can't wait for another one!