Our International Trip!

We decided to take Ella to Canada for our fourth anniversary. It was a great idea, until we realized that Ella is not really a calm baby anymore. She is a moving monster these days and her idea of fun is not being strapped into a carseat while we wait in the line at the border. She cried both ways across the border, but needless to say they let us back in!

While in Vancouver, Canada we went to the aquarium. I had visions on seeing whales since the website proudly boasted that they had whales. Well they did, but one of the smallest whales. Boo. Oh well, I still saw a whale!

When traveling with a small child I have learned a lot, especially because I have never traveled with a small child before! Here are my top 10's:

10. Don't forget the snacks - cheerios or puffs are a must!

9. It is okay to over pack because it is when you are down to your last onesie that there is always an accident. Always.

8. Squeeze babyfood packets are made by a genius and are a great quick meal on the go!

7. Always check online to see if there are restaurants that have kids menus because even if you don't plan on having your child eat the food there, childrens menus always mean highchairs. You would be surprised how maybe places don't have highchairs.

6. Plan to drive around aimlessly because your child has finally taken a nap and you don't want to stop the car. Just plan on it.

5. Even in other countries/states your child is adorable and people will want to talk to you. Just smile and be glad you have a cute baby, even though it is the millionth person who wants to talk to you!

4. Always back a non-noisy toy in your bag for when the baby gets bored. If you don't have a toy, plastic bags work well also but are not non-noise. Just an FYI.

3. Don't count on anything late night other than waking up with your baby screaming. This is a great time to bring a laptop or tablet so you can watch netflix or read the news. You will feel old. You are.

2. Hotel cribs are just fine, especially when it means you don't have to lug your travel crib everywhere. Bring a sheet they have slept on and they won't know the difference!

1. Expect to be late and not get as much done as you thought. Babies apparently don't understand that the dolphin show starts in five minutes, or that it is one in the morning and screaming is not really allowed.
After four wonderful years of marriage I still feel like a very lucky girl! My husband is an amazing father, partner, and provider. He also is accident prone, which is a new thing. In the past month he has be in a car accident that hurt his back and shoulder, fell down in a parking garage and hurt his wrist, and most recently hurt his toe while chasing Ella. Yikes! Despite his less than graceful self, I love him! In honor of our belated anniversary here are some wedding photos! I always love wedding photos!

Pork Chops and Apples

So I have been slacking on posting my cookbook updates. I also have been bad about taking photos of the food I make. I just want to eat it! NOW! Ha!

So I'm going to try to get back on the wagon. Last night I made Pork Chops and Apples from Betty Crocker's New Good and Easy Cook Book

Pork Chops and Apples p. 71

6 Pork Chops

3 or 4 unpeeled apples, cored and sliced

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbs butter

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Brown chops on all sides in hot fat (I used olive oil). Place apple slices in greased baking dish. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Dot with butter and place chops on top. Cover, bake for 1.5 hours.

Okay here is the deal, I didn't have 1.5 hours and my chops didn't seem thick so I browned them, used my Pampered Chef apple slicer thingy (if you want to order this please let me know, Brentt Roberts is my Pampered Chef dude and would love your business...shameless plug). The apples were thin and peeled so they cooked fast. I cooked it all for about 30 mins and it was perfect. The apples make a yummy addition to the pork chops and it has a buttery cinnamon sauce you can put on top. We had corn on the cob, tomato slices, and rolls too. It was a very yellow looking dinner, but whatever it was good. No photos because we ate it all up!

Now a little note about this cookbook. It is super old, 1962 apparently. The book is actually made into meal plans so you can pick a main dish and it shows what sides and even desserts to serve with it! I didn't use it that way because since it was from 1962 the sides were weird (what are pickled crabapples anyway? people ate that?!). One of the fun things is it shows you how to garnish your meals. The good ol' days where housewives would spend time making the meal look pretty. So fun!

Mommy and Me!

For my own Mother's Day gift I decided to get professional photos of Ella and I together. I don't have many photos with my mom because she always hated the way she looked in photos. The ones I do have I love, especially the ones when I was little. Ella is growing so fast and I want to make sure that I have photos of both of us throughout her life.

I went to Memories By Aly for a mini-shoot with just the two of us and it was fun! We were freezing because of course it was the only day that week it rained. Ella is not a smiler, so a lot of the photos she isn't smiling in them but looking a little annoyed/mean mugging. Oh well - memories!

Here are a few photos:

My little girl is growing up so fast! It was around this time last year we found out we were having a girl. It was a shock since I had convinced myself she would be a boy. I believed that I would spend my life with dirty boy socks and Thomas the Train toys. In one happy moment dolls, bows, and pink came into my life and I have never been so happy! She is a pill sometimes, but I could never ask for a better gift!

Swimmy Lessons

We have been very busy lately and I haven't been able to write! I wanted to make sure that I wrote down our swim lesson experiences!

I never had swimming lessons growing up. Of course I had two lake cabins and grew up around water so swimming was just something you did. With Ella I wanted her to have that same sense of security around water so we started swimming lessons at the YMCA. I call them her "swimmy lessons" and we go every Monday.

The first lesson was less than fun. Going by yourself for with a small child is not only a little scary, but it was exhausting. When we first started she couldn't crawl so I could change her into her pink poodle swim suit and plop her down. Now that we are on our second session she has learned to crawl, therefore she has learned to CRAWL ALL OVER the gross disgusting floor. I have learned to corner her with the dressing stools on a towel. My poor child is in swim jail!

So far Ella has learned to reach for foam letters, "jump" into the pool, dunk under water, float on her back, and stare at the other kids laughing like they are nuts. She always seems so unenthused, but at the same time she doesn't act like she hates it so we keep going! My child is just very serious. Swimming is a serious activity in this household.

Here are some fun photos that we finally were able to get taken thanks to daddy taking a day off of work!

Here are the things that swimming lessons have taught us:

1. Mommy is more afraid of baby in the water than baby is.
2. Swim diapers are not made to hold pee...
3. Three towels is a must
4. Just because your child isn't smiling doesn't mean she isn't having fun
5. Do not place your child in car seat in swim diaper (see #2)
6. No one is looking at mommy in her swimsuit if you put baby in a pink poodle suit. Trust me, they aren't.
7. Naps before swim are very important. VERY important.
8. When it is cold outside the pool is warm, when it is warm outside the pool is ice cold. Go figure.
9. Babies do not mind getting a mouth full of water
10. You will look like an idiot singing in a circle with your baby, but see #6

So fun! I highly recommend swim lessons. People always look at me strangely when I saw we take swim lessons, but it is really just something for mommy/daddy to do with baby and a good way to get baby to get used to the water. Plus, HELLO pink poodle swimsuit!

Sleeping is for losers and other fun times...

Ella would like to say that sleeping is for losers. All cool kids know that waking up all the time is awesome. You should all try it sometime. It makes for a super grumpy mommy, squealy baby, and a frustrated daddy. Or you know...be a loser...and sleep. That's cool too.

So needless to say, sleeping is not really happening in our house and hasn't been since about February. Fun times. I've read a ton of books and blogs and asked for what other people have done and then I came to the conclusion that I have no idea what I'm doing so I'll just wait it out a little bit longer and try again. That's all I'm going to say about that, and I feel that helps to describe why I haven't been blogging lately.

Since Ella is now HALF A YEAR OLD I thought it would be fun to do a list of her top 10's. Here they are, Ella's top 10 things!

10. Bouncing up the stairs at night time.
9. Singing head and shoulders
8. Playing in the exersaucer
7. Jumping up and down on the bed
6. When daddy comes home
5. Bath time aka make a big wet splashy mess time
4. Daddy kisses on the tummy
3. Chewing on things - everything really
2. Rolling around the floor
1. Boobs

So yeah...boobs still win out. Here are her least favorite top 10 items

10. Getting in the carseat
9. Socks
8. When something inhibits rolling all over the floor
7. Those bumpy things on the cement in the doorway of Costco (the cart going over that is not cool)
6. Pickaboo that goes WAY too long
5. Putting on a onesie
4. Getting out of the bathtub
3. Whenever mommy leaves the room
2. Feeling hungry
1. Sleeping at night

So that is what is happening in baby land! Hooray for this kiddo!

Angel Baby Easton

Last night my online mom group was rocked by the loss of one of the babies - Easton. He died in day care during his nap. It is one of the hardest things being a mom knowing how much this mom's heart must be breaking. Before I was a mother the loss of a child was sad, but I was incapable of knowing the devastation. I haven't been able to stop crying or holding Ella tight. We just don't know how long any of us are here, or how long our loved ones will be in our lives. Please all of us give our sweet loves hugs today, Valentine's Day as today is not just about romantic love, but about appreciating those that have enriched, lightened, and touched our lives each and everyday. I know some are anti-Valentine's Day saying it is a made up holiday by the card companies, but to me especially this year, it is more about taking a small moment to thank heaven for those people who we have and who we have lost.

Sending my love and prayers to Bridget today.

Here is my sweet love - who I am holding on tight to today and always.

Valentine's Day Game!

I found this blog that has a game to play for Valentine's Day, so here we go!

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

Let's see...we started dating when I was 17, took a few years off, so probably 8 years.

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

We were both in band in High School so we met in class. I remember the first time I really "saw" him was at a band concert when he was wearing a red island print shirt and a thick metal necklace right before the steel drum band performed. He was cute and super cool and I was super dorky. We were really just friends at first, I thought he liked my friend Lindsey. He asked her to the homecoming dance and I didn't have a date so I convinced Chris Parkin to ask me. We double dated and we realized that we liked each other better than our dates, even though Chris was super cool, funny, and seriously the most talented person I know, he was just not "the one". I put that in there because he really is cool...and now a professional musician and I think I sort of made him hate me after this whole double date disaster. I'm sure he is over it...

Here is the great photo of that night.

3. If married, how long have you been married?  {do tell}

We got married June 14, 2008, so 3 years!

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? 

We got married at Fort Wright Mukogawa in the Chapel. It was semi big, 200 people invited. It was much bigger than we wanted and we had to cap it because of seating in the small chapel.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

Ugh no I actually hate nicknames. Sometimes I call him Husband and he calls me Wife. So maybe that is nickname enough...(this photo has nothing to do with this I just like it...ha!)

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

           1. He is funny, and thinks I'm funny. We are just funny people! (see photo!)

           2. He is really smart - he is a doctor after all! He just has this ability to learn and interpret   

               things that amazes me. He also teaches me things like sports and spelling. I suck at spelling.

           3. He loves me. This sounds weird, but the way that he loves me is amazing. I am somewhat 

               emotional and crazy at times and he is so grounded in his love that it brings me back and 

               makes me feel safe.

7. Tell us how he proposed?

I don't really have a good proposal story. We were buying a house and I was kind of freaking out because I just never envisioned myself buying a house without being married. After signing the papers which took twice as long because we weren't married, he asked me to marry him. It was sweet and real, not all puppies and rainbows.

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

Um...is there another option? Ha! I guess flowers but no teddy bear, since I'm not five anymore. I'm not a super big Valentine's Day person, but diamonds are always nice. (wink wink) This photo has nothing to do with this, I just don't have a photo to match and you can't go wrong with baby photos...best gift he has given me!

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

I'm a sunset dinner on a beach person, but more often then not we are a watch 30 Rock reruns type of couple. It's all good - you can't go wrong with Tina Fey!

Or maybe a Mariners game with a Ichidog...

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

I want to go back to Europe with him, sooner rather than later. We had a great time, but missed Ireland and Wales which were on our list of to do's. I also would like to tour more of England. We had such a good time last time and are the best travel buddies! After that Brazil, Australia, and Italy. Of course we do have on the list Boston and New Orleans so we'll see how much of this traveling gets done with a little one.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

Stay home with the Bean. I am going to make homemade Fettuccine Alfredo and maybe cheesecake or something. Oh and some wink wink...HA!

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

Not really, just some time with my family. Maybe a nap if possible since this doesn't have a snooze button...oh how babies change things!

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

Laugh and laugh often. We try not to take ourselves too seriously, and sometimes it is hard, especially as a first time parent. Just try to remember that it is supposed to be fun. Oh and it helps if are the same political party so you can watch the Daily Show and not get in a fight, you both love
"good" beer, and root for the same college team.

 

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

(ps I don't LOVE the way I look, but the feeling is total love)

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!