That’s nice! July 10, 2009

Josiah has a new favorite phrase: That’s nice!  Here are some examples of him using it.

1. Driving down 72nd st, Mom: Josiah, there is the hospital where you were born.

Josiah:  Oh!!!  That’s nice!!!

2.  Mom:  Josiah, daddy called, he is on his way home!

Josiah:  Oh, that’s nice!

3.   Josiah:  That? (meaning “what’s that?”

Mom:  I am feeding Eva green beans all mashed up/

Josiah:  Oh, That’s nice!

4.  Mom walks in the living room after doing dishes in the kitchen to find Josiah playing with Eva

Josiah:  Mommy, I nice!

yup, it’s official! July 8, 2009

It is official!  I am potty trained!!

9 weeks July 8, 2009

Our new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. Baby’s starting to look more and more human. The essential body parts are accounted for, though they’ll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: baby’s heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do the tiny teeth. The embryonic “tail” is completely gone. Baby’s organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won’t be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. The eyes are fully formed, but the eyelids are fused shut and won’t open until 27 weeks. Baby has tiny earlobes, and the mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that baby’s basic physiology is in place, baby is poised for rapid weight gain.

best menu idea for a busy mom July 2, 2009

Life is insanely busy with two two and under and I know it will get even more busy come February.  Most of you who know me well know that I am not exactly the best menu planner… ok, to be honest, I really stink at it.  Jim will tell you that for the first 3 years of marriage of meals repeated the following: steak, chicken, pasta, steak, chicken, pasta… it got really old fast and Jim put up with it well, but asked me to add something new.  This was easier said than done.  That is hard considering Jim hates casseroles, I hate fish and neither of us will touch mushrooms.  Our choices were limited in what we desired.  One day I was talking with my mom and we came up with an idea.  So, one day, I set aside about 3 hours and sat down on the computer, opened up 6 blank documents and started planning.  I made 6 different menus.  Each week has one Italian, crock-pot (so lunch is ready when we get home from church), grilled, 2 ethnic groups that you have a hard time finding a restaurant for and one day let for something new/we haven’t tried in a long time meals.  So, I spent 3 hours finding these recipes and adding them to our menus and then I just rotate those menus every 6 weeks.  By the time we get back to the beginning that menu doesn’t sound bad at all.  Then it is nice because half of the grocery list is done!  Then I just plan side dishes according to what is on sale with the fruits, pasta salads/bread and veggies.  Like for example, one night we are suppose to have homemade chicken tenders.  Well, I just cut a few potatoes and spray cooking spray on them and put them in the oven with the chicken and we homemade french fries.  Or we have a stir fry and we enjoy manderin oranges for dessert or I get those frozen egg rolls (ok, Jim bought the egg rolls!  they were ok.).  Planning different side dishes isn’t as difficult for me since the main course guides the rest.  Here are two examples:

Week 6

Friday

Ravioli

Saturday

Sandwiches

leftovers/pizza/out

Sunday

pork roast

chicken tenders

Monday

Chicken enchiladas

Tuesday

something new

Wednesday

chicken curry w/rice

Thursday

Caribbean lime chicken

Week 1

Friday

Penne Alla Fresco

Saturday

Sandwiches

leftovers/pizza/out

Sunday

Bev’s Italian Chicken

bratwurts

Monday

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Tuesday

something new

Wednesday

Steak

Thursday

Stir Fry

I start them on Fridays based upon which days I go grocery shopping.

mango July 1, 2009

Eva HATES eating food.  She actually refuses solids with every fiber of her being.  So, we have been letting her suck on different soft food that we eat… like mashed potatoes or a mashed green bean… just as long as she sees it coming off our plate, then she is more interested.  Well, we found something that she loves!!!  MANGO!!!  The other night Jim let her suck the mango juices off the core and missy enjoyed that for a good 10 minutes!!!  YAY!!

8 weeks June 30, 2009

Baby is now 5/8 of an inch long, about the size of a kidney bean. Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from baby’s hands and feet, eyelids practically cover the eyes, breathing tubes extend from the throat to the branches of developing lungs, and the “tail” is just about gone. Baby’s arms have lengthened, too, and the hands are now flexed at the wrist and meet over baby’s heart. The knee joints have formed, and feet may be long enough to meet in front of baby’s body. In the brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways.

learning the gospel June 29, 2009

We have recently been talking to Josiah about preaching the gospel.  One of the things we do is “practice.”  Josiah, without help, say “God is holy.  Man is bad.  Jesus is good.”  Ok, it sounds more like “God holy.  Man bad.  Jee good.”  It is still encouraging!

weighty update June 28, 2009

I am now 13.6 lbs!!!!

intruder June 25, 2009

My brother, Nate, came over to help Jim with a project and as we were eating Nate and I were reminiscing on the “old times.”  One memory we were remembering that I thought I would share with you all.

As most of you know, I am from a family of 6 kids (plus my foster siblings).  One night my sister, Melissa, and I were babysitting so our parents could go on a date.  Not an uncommon routine.  I believe that I was about 15 and Melissa about 16.  Anyway, almost everyone was on the main floor watching a movie (only Nate was upstairs watching a “non-girlie” movie, romances of any level didn’t suit him), when we heard the door bell ring.  Melissa went to go get it, but instead of answering it she ducked and started whispering to me.  I just rolled my eyes at her thinking “what is so scary that you hide?”  I got up to get the door, but just like Melissa I hid as soon as I saw him.   Through the small window by the door was someone standing there is a halloween mask (I believe it was spring or summer, not even close to halloween).  Melissa and I bolted for the kitchen where she grabbed a broom and I, rolling my eyes at her again, grabbed my mom’s largest knife.  My thoughts were “yeah, swing the broom to where he would rather run away!  that is sure to scare him off!”  After the door bell rang again it took only a few seconds before Nate came running in the kitchen, eyes wide!  He took one look at what we were doing and grabbed a second broom handle (he was about 12).  Just then the door opened and we heard “we’re home” call from our dad… the relief lasted a portion of a second before the suspicion spread across our faces.   It didn’t take long for my dad to confess his “joke.”  He was the only one laughing.

7 weeks June 23, 2009

Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy extremities . Technically, baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of it’s  tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that’s the only thing getting smaller.  Baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry.

If you could see inside, you’d spot eyelid folds partially covering it’s peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of the nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of  baby’s brain are growing, and the liver is churning out red blood cells until the bone marrow forms and takes over this role.  Baby also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in baby’s growing intestines is bulging into the umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from it’s tiny body.