A week in our life and pictures

Another week has passed us by and that means that we only have one week left as a family of 3!  Nolan is doing great.  He is loving the weather and we have been spending a lot of time outside.  The transition to his big boy bed went very well.  A funny story from early in the week:  The double stroller I ordered had arrived and after a few days of it sitting in the box I was eager to put it together.  Finally I did.  As soon as Nolan saw it he kept saying "walk, walk" over and over again.  Once it was assembled (luckily it just needed the wheels put on) I popped Nolan in.  I told him that his baby brother would go in the spot next to him.  He kept asking to go on a walk so Kevin got his giant sock monkey and put him in there with him.  We went for a walk like that.  I think we got quite a few double takes from the neighbors.  Nolan was happy as a clam though.  Let's hope that remains the same when baby brother is the passenger!

Showing where baby brother will go



ready for a walk with sock monkey



Day 50:  Playing basketball



Day 51:  While not the best of the bunch I took, I love his face in this one



Day 52:  Backyard adventure



Day 53:  Nolan told me to take a picture of Baa Baa



Day 54:  Eating some waffles before school



Day 55:  Wearing mommy's shoes



Day 56:  Playing on the neighbors swing

Here are a few other cute ones from the week:



entertaining Ryan



At Cole's jumpy party

Eating some cake

 

Two pieces of cake for Dos!




wearing daddy's visor



talking to Seamus through the door

 
  

Recipe Recap Week 8

This will be a quick post because I didn't take a picture and I am not going to post the recipe. 

This week I made steak and broccoli with peanut sauce.  It was fine, but didn't blow me away.  Part of the problem was that I had a hard time eating it due to my locked jaw.  Kevin said it was good but the leftovers have been sitting in the fridge with neither of us touching them.  The recipe came from the Houston Chronicle.  I do not feel like typing out the recipe and I was unable to find a link to it on-line.  Hopefully I will find something a bit more interesting for next week!

38 Weeks

Nursery is painted and looks great!  Just need to get the furniture lined up correctly and then it is good to go!  Nolan transitioned to his “big boy” bed on Saturday and things are going pretty well!  He has woken up in the middle of the night 2 times.  The first night he woke up at 3:40am and it took about 2 hours to get him back to sleep (Kevin finally climbed into bed with him); second night was perfect; third night he woke up at about 12:45am but luckily it only took about 15 minutes to get him back down; fourth night was great again.  Hopefully the good nights will keep up.  We make a big deal out of the fact that he is a big boy and I do think he is excited about the bed.  I think he is just getting used to being out of the confines of his crib.  

Had another appointment today and there is still zero progress…this baby is just as stubborn as his brother!  We were set for a c-section on March 7 but the doctor told me today that she has to be out of town so now it will be on the 8^th.  She said if there was a reason that we were set on the 7^th she could try to make it work but there really is no reason that it has to be that day.

How far along:  38 weeks

Size of baby:  according to my pregnancy app that I downloaded the baby is 20" and weighs about 7.25lbs...the size of a mini watermelon.

Weight gain:  Sadly I have surpassed what I gained with Nolan and I still have 2 weeks left!  My feet and ankles are remaining swollen now so I definitely have a bit of water weight working against me.

Maternity clothes:  yes, definitely.  I have to be very careful in what I wear lately because in some clothes my belly hangs out!  I wear non-maternity work out clothes and PJ's but everything else is maternity

Gender:  another boy

Movement:  lots...especially after eating.  Some of the movements are getting uncomfortable. Now that I know he is head down I have a little better feeling of what is kicking me where!

Sleep:  Doing pretty well.  I am getting up at least 2 times a night to go to the bathroom though so my sleep is more disrupted.

What I miss:  Being able to reach my fat feet…and getting shoes on comfortably!

Cravings:  nothing specific.  I like food in general hence the weight gain! 

Symptoms:  Just getting pretty uncomfortable.  Dos likes to hang out in my rib cage which makes it hard to sit sometimes.
Best moment of the week:  hearing the strong heartbeat at the doctor today.

A week in pictures

Another week down for 363Project!  Here is some of what we have been up to this week!


Day 43:  not interested in looking at the camera



Day 44:  Doing laundry is fun!



Day 45:  Watching TV with daddy



Day 46:  Playing outside



Day 47:  Time to wake up!



Day 48:  testing out the new bed



Day 49:  he found a Santa hat and was intent on wearing it!


Finally here are some pictures from his first trip to Chuck E Cheese.  He had a great time there for Leo's 3rd birthday.  He went to bed saying Chuck E Cheese and clapping!  Thanks for inviting us Leo.

Nolan at 22 months

It is hard to believe that in 2 short months Nolan will be 2!  Where has the time gone?!?!  He is continuing to learn more everyday and keeps us on our toes.  The weather is warming up so we are able to spend the evenings playing outside and taking walks again.  He loves to play with sticks and acorns (or k-corns as he calls them) right now.  Last night on our walk Kevin was teaching him how to throw the acorns down the drainage ditch.  It was funny at first because every single acorn would miss!  Towards the end of the walk he was better about making it in the hole though.  


Ready for a walk



Playing with his sticks

His love of trains is increasing.  He likes to carry around Thomas and Neville and he is getting into the show Chuggington.  We heard this was a favorite of Kyle’s so we decided to record some episodes for him.  He sits there with his eyes fixated on the TV when it comes on.  



fixated on Chuggington

He is still a great sleeper…knock on wood…and we plan on moving him to his “big boy” bed this weekend.  Hopefully that will go well!  (First night wasn't the best...nap today is good so far.) The past few mornings he has been greeting me with “hi Mommy” and giggles when I walk into his room.  Then he likes to gump (jump) in his crib for a few minutes.  He has a great time.  He still is close to his 2 Baa Baa’s and now they come with us out of the crib in the morning.  There are 3 other lovies that also reside in the crib…he doesn’t necessarily snuggle with these but he does like to line them all up and count them.  In the 20 month post I said that he can count to 10 but routinely leaves off the #2…well now he has #2 but has decided to drop the #3!  At least he will repeat the #3 if we say it to him.  He refused to repeat #2. 



standing by all of his lovies

A few cute phrases he says are “Hold you Daddy/Mommy” when he wants to be picked up.  He also learned how to say “awesome” from AB…luckily he chose to pick up on a clean word from his Godfather!  It is funny because sometimes he will randomly say “Anthony awesome”.  Sometimes it takes us a little while to figure out exactly what it is he is saying or asking for.  One example is he will say “foo fun” which we figured out meant “this one” (Kevin hoped he was already a Foo Fighters fan).  He still gets excited to see school buses and all of them are called Claudia’s Bus (she drives the daycare bus).  

He still enjoys bath time and while he plays with the ducks in there, they no longer have to come out of the tub with him.  At Christmas he was given some soap “finger paints” so he enjoys getting stripes painted on him and the bath tub walls.   

Sometimes he will start on his ABC's and then all of the sudden start singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  It is so cute to hear him sing this because he knows the whole song but the words don't always come out right.  We also bought him some flash cards and he enjoys going through those.


practicing his flash cards



Recipe Recap Week 7

This week's new recipe comes from the Paula Deen magazine I used to get.  It was for Iron Skillet Tamale Pie.  I think this is a new favorite of Kevin's.  I liked it, but as is often the case I felt that it could use a little more spice.  Maybe using ground sausage instead of beef would give it the zip I am looking for.  I made it in a baking dish instead of a skillet and it filled it up to the brim so next time I will have to use a bigger dish.

1 pound ground chuck

1 onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 (10-ounce) can enchilada sauce

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

2 cups self-rising cornmeal mix

1 cup cream-style corn

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon chili powder

1. In a large skillet, combine ground chuck, onion, and bell pepper. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until beef is browned and crumbly. Drain well. Stir in enchilada sauce, tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in cheese. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a 10-inch cast-iron skillet.
3. In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal mix, cream-style corn, milk, oil, and eggs, stirring until smooth. Stir in sugar and chili powder. Pour one-third of batter into skillet. Bake 10 minutes. Spoon meat mixture evenly over cornbread layer. Spoon remaining cornmeal batter evenly over meat mixture. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of cornbread comes out clean. Cut into wedges to serve.




Picture from the magazine...we didn't make ours look this pretty!

 

A luncheon for Dos and a week in pictures

Today my mom's wonderful friends threw a little luncheon for me and Dos.  We had a great time eating some delicious food and telling funny stories.  They were so nice to give some gifts to get us ready for Dos.  He got a few cute clothes, some diapers, wipes, and an adorable giraffe that plays white noise.  Nolan has had a white noise machine since he was about 8 weeks old and we still turn it on for every night.  I am hoping that this will work the same sleeping magic on Dos.

Below are pictures of Nolan from the past week.  Sorry for them being out of order.  For the life of me I can't get them in the right order and it is time for bed! (edited:  I got the pictures in order finally but some of the captions look funky...maybe one day I will figure it out!)

Day 36:  Story time before bed

Day 37:  Grumpy bed head boy

Day 38:  Finger painting!

Day 39:  chillin' on the couch

Day 40:  excited about his new pen

   



Day 41:  brushing his teeth sporting his Nova gear...too bad they lost :(

 

Day 42:  nothing like cold pizza for breakfast!



Recipe Recap Week 6

Once again this week I made two new things.  Only one did I really follow a recipe though.  For the Super Bowl last Sunday we went over to the Gray's house to have some dinner and watch the first half of the game.  Russ grilled out burgers and sausage so I said I would bring some potato salad.  I had originally planned on just buying some pre-made but then came across a recipe that seemed easy and tasty.  It was for red potato salad with bacon.  It is a Paula Deen recipe that I tore out of Foodnetwork Magazine.  It was easy to make and was "fresh" tasting.  It had a fair amount of veggies in it and a light dressing.  The recipe can be found below if interested:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/red-potato-salad-with-bacon-recipe/index.html

The second thing I made was home made potato chips.  There is no recipe that I followed just a method that I have seen on cooking shows before.  They turned out pretty good!  I did not fry the first batch long enough though so they were not crunchy.  They tasted fine though and Kevin and Nolan gobbled them up while I made the other batches.  Nolan kept asking for more chips...guess he was a fan!

I used 2 decent size russet potatoes, sliced pretty thin on my mandolin.  I heated some vegetable oil in a large frying pan and then added the potatoes in a single layer careful not to over crowd the pan.  When Paula Deen recently made chips she said they only took a few minutes and to remove when brown.  Well, with the 1st batch it had been about 15 minutes and they still weren't brown.  I decided to take them out and see if they were crisp but they weren't.  I turned the heat up a little higher and then was more patient with the next 2 batches.  These did brown nicely and were crunchy!  I simply added a little bit of course salt while they were warm.  I think they would be good with different seasonings as well or even with sweet potatoes.  I would make these again as a special dinner treat!

Chips and a Reuben...yummy!

36 Weeks

We are just waiting on the nursery to be painted so that we can finish getting Nolan's room set up.  We have purchased a mattress set for him and have everything we need, just need to move out the crib!

I had my first progress check this morning and there is no progress!  This is a good thing if you ask me because I am not quite ready for his arrival!  Even though I am starting to feel the "weight" of this pregnancy more, I think the next few weeks progress checks will be very similar to Nolan.  The doctor said that he is head down but floating.  Believe me, I felt him floating up in my ribs yesterday!

How far along:  36 weeks

Size of baby:  according to my pregnancy app that I downloaded the baby is 19.25" and weighs about 6.3lbs...the size of swiss chard.

Weight gain:  I prefer not to say!  I did finally have a "normal" weight gain though after the high amounts of the past month.  My feet and ankles are starting to swell too so I think I have some extra water weight.

Maternity clothes:  yes, definitely.  I even feel some of the tops are getting too small.  This baby is riding high and out front!  I wear non-maternity work out clothes and PJ's but everything else is maternity

Gender:  another boy

Movement:  lots...especially after eating.  Some of the movements are getting uncomfortable. Now that I know he is head down I have a little better feeling of what is kicking me where!

Sleep:  Doing pretty well.  I feel like I am getting up to go to the bathroom more frequently though...this is no easy task either.

What I miss:  nothing too much.  I did get a little excited to be in non-maternity wear soon though when I saw Spring clothes out at the stores.  I was also a little envious of my dinner companions this past weekend having drinks while I had water!

Cravings:  nothing specific.  I like food in general hence the weight gain! 

Symptoms:  Just getting pretty uncomfortable.  Dos likes to hang out in my rib cage which makes it hard to sit sometimes.
Best moment of the week:  hearing the strong heartbeat at the doctor today.

Wade's 3rd Birthday...and a week in pictures

I meant for these to go at the end but I messed up.  Being too lazy to fix it here are pictures of Nolan from this past week.

Day 29:  Posing for the camera

 

Day 30:  Nolan complaining about having his picture taken! 



Day 31:  Too busy playing to smile

  

Day 32:  Nolan loves to put trash into the trash can



Day 33:  I asked him to open his eyes and he closed them tighter...stinker!

 

Day 34:  Learning to play t-ball



Day 35:  A man's work is never done!


Yesterday was Wade's 3rd birthday so we headed over to his house to celebrate.  We had some snacks and football cake (which turned our mouths blue!) and the kids got to run around and have some fun.  Wade is into Toy Story right now so he got some good themed presents.  Kyle and Nolan also enjoyed playing with Thomas the Train.

Some pictures from the party are below:



Birthday boy!