The Big News

We are expecting baby #2 on May 9th! We are so excited/nervous/anxious about having our 2nd baby.  Our first has been such a blessing and I could never have imagined all the joy she has brought to our lives! For a long time we had really planned on only having one little girl, as she was a little bit of a challenge as an infant (or we really just didn't have the knowledge we do now).  So we decided to let God take over and if it was meant to be it would happen. And it did! Very quickly! I can't say it was a surprise because we weren't "not trying", but I definitely didn't expect to get pregnant as quickly as a I did.  But either way we are completely overjoyed and I can't wait to be a mother of 2!!

We had our first appointment with our midwife last week, a different group of midwives than I had with my daughter.  I am hoping for a little bit different birthing experience than I had the first time around. I am hoping, now that I am a little more educated about everything, things will go a little smoother than before.  I have been given the OK so far for a VBAC and I am so completely excited about that.  Not only was I given the OK, but the new midwife did not understand why I would have needed a c-section with my first pregnancy.  So excited! We will see how things progress! But in the meantime, anyone have VBAC experiences or 2nd baby experiences to share! I would love any info! 

Recipe of the week: Cheddar-Baked Chicken

This week's month's recipe (sorry totally slacking on the blogs lately) is yummy chicken! I actually didn't find this recipe online, I decided to use one of the many cookbooks I have that I rarely open! This one is from the Easy Chicken cookbook that I got for $4 at Marshalls and has so many great recipes in it!

I can't really take credit for making this one, my husband actually did most of the cooking for this meal! :) And it was yummy! If you need a quick and easy dinner this would be it!

Cheddar-Baked Chicken

1 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp. mustard
1 cup grated Cheddar
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. chopped fresh chives (we used the dried version)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 400. Mix together the milk and mustard in a bowl.  In another bowl, combine the cheese,  flour, and chives.

Dip the chicken breasts into the milk mixture and coat evenly.  Then dip them into the cheese mixture to completely coat.  Place on cookie sheet and spoon any spare cheese coating over the top.

Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown.


We were definitely scrounging for dinner options, but we added some sweet potato french fries and some cauliflower!  

Ok, so the picture in the cookbook looks so much better! 

ooopppss, we made to many

Yes, I found the "ooopppss, we made to many" shelves at Wal-Mart.  And yes, I said "shelves".  They actually had 2 full carts full of baked goods that had a use by date of today.  They just happened to have pumpkin cream cheese loaf cake for $1.94! Brought it home, helped myself to a piece, saved one for my hubby, and decided to freeze the rest of them individually so I can pull one out whenever I'm hungry for one! I wish I would have thought of freezing them while I was at Wal-Mart and I would have bought more!

Girl's night

Had a great girl's night with my baby girl today! Shopping at the Philly Outlets and dinner!

Found her shoes for her Flower girl dress! $11 at Stride Rite (gotta love buying white shoes as winter is starting)

Found nothing for me, which is usually how shopping works these days!

But we had a yummy dinner at Ruby Tuesday! Love their white chicken chili and baby girl loves their grilled chicken, mashed potatos, and green beans! Yum! My favorite part is that we both have leftovers for lunch tomorrow!




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My Monday Night Rant

Monday night was finally here....Monday's are not the best days for us, we have a busy morning and of course on this particular morning I forgot my free iced coffee card at home!!! Then on the way to our class my tire pressure light came on AGAIN (see previous post).  Came home and spent my free time cleaning up pounds of dog poop in the backyard. So at 6:00 when my husband came walking through the door just in time to eat dinner I was definitely happy to see him.  Of course by that point I had forgotten it was Monday and he would be walking out the door a few minutes after he finished stuffing his face with dinner.  My husband has Fire company drill night every Monday.  Oh yes the joy of being the wife of a volunteer fire fighter! 

So after he graced us with his presence for just enough time to eat dinner, he was off again.  And he chooses these words to me as he walks out the door..." I need to go help them clean up".  He picked the wrong words at the wrong time! I was in the middle of vacuuming up dog hair (his dogs that I adopted when we got married) for the 4th time this week, the dishes from dinner were overflowing the sink, the dishwasher needed to be emptied, the laundry needed to be folded and put away, and the lawn needs to be mowed, not to mention the fact that our 2 year old is running around asking Mommy to play with everything! And he NEEDED to go help them clean up after he spent all day Sunday at a fire company fundraising event.  Well all I could think is how about you help me clean up! (which he will be to tired to do when he gets home, and tomorrow, well he'll be back at the fire company for their monthly meeting after work) 

Which in turn leads me to my rant about Volunteer Fire companies.  Not only are these VOLUNTEERS there for their community at a drop of a hat to rescue you from your home, car, tree or to save your home or car they work their butts off to raise money so that they can have all the equipment they need to properly do their jobs! So much of their time AWAY FROM THEIR FAMILY is spent fundraising so that they can get up to date equipment or get more training so that they are better prepared to help YOU. My husband spent his day Sunday away from his family to raise money for his fire company, just to spend Monday night away from his family cleaning everything up that they used on Sunday.  And I will admit although they are all doing something good for the community it is so frustrating that it takes so much time away from his family, not to mention the fact that it is above and beyond the 10 hour work days he works already. I realize now that so much of the frustration that I have could be relieved if more people had the mind set that my husband does and puts so much time into helping others. I wish that I was able to help more, but haven't been able to be very helpful while chasing a 2 year old around. But in my pre-mommy days I spent many nights after work at the fire company carnival and other events volunteering and helping them raise money. Even if it is not going through fire training to become a fire fighter, you can help your local volunteer fire company by volunteering for fundraising events, even if once a month, or once a year, you being there might mean that a firefighter can spend a little more time with their family.  It would take so much pressure off the guys and gals that work so hard on their fire fighting duties it seems unfair that they also have to take on all the other duties also.  So if you are able call up your local fire company and find out what you can do! End rant.

Sleeeeeeep!

For the past few weeks baby girl has been having a hard time falling asleep. We usually go through our whole bedtime routine of bath, stories, rocking, music, and into her crib. She usually would fall asleep about 10-15 minutes after we put her in her crib without a fuss! Although there is still no fuss, she rolls around her crib for a good hour or hour and a half before she falls asleep!!! I am starting to feel so bad for her! We have pushed bedtime a little later to make sure that she is definitely tired, and she is usually visibly tired and asks to go in her crib, but just cannot fall asleep. And no matter how much later we put her to bed she is still up at 7:30 every morning and then seems exhausted by 10 AM. Starting to worry she isn't getting enough sleep!

Naptime hasn't been as bad, but I am currently listening to her roll around in her crib trying to put herself to sleep and it's not going so well!

Any suggestions???? I know she probably gets this from me since I cannot fall asleep at night either , so I guess I could use a few suggestions for myself too! We both need some sleep!!!!


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Free Iced Coffee at DD

Pumpkin coffee on a cold rainy Monday morning was just what I needed! (even if it is iced it still tastes awesome) Found this Free Iced Coffee Mondays card in one of our coupon packs that we get in the mail! Glad I decided to go through the mail instead of just throwing it away! My husband lovingly left the card on the counter for me to use instead of using it for himself. ( he forgot it running out the door this AM) :) lucky me!! Check your mail!


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I've got an App for that!

Tonight I realized that my daughter is pretty much addicted to my Iphone App, Tozzle.  I have had games and apps on my phone for her for about a year now and we only use them once in awhile in dire situations like really long lines at the grocery store! But ever since I purchased the full version of Tozzle she BEGS to "play games on Mommy's phone!"  And out of the whole page full of games I have for her she now only picks Tozzle!!!!

For those of you not familiar with the App since it is fairly new to me, here is the description from the apple website:
Looking for something entertaining but also educational for your kid? Then Tozzle is the perfect App for you! This puzzle app is built for children from age 2 - 99.
It keeps your toddler entertained and he/she learns to improve shape recognition and motor activity.
Choose from 39 different puzzle pictures, all including funny sound effects.
It's really easy to use. Just let your toddler pick one out of 39 colorful, child orientated puzzles and let him / her solve it by drag&drop. Once a puzzle is solved your kid can play around with the sound effects by tapping on the figures. 
An exit button on the bottom left brings you back to the selection menu. 

This program was tested by several toddlers and we took their suggestions seriously to create a funny but educational app for them.
If a child can't find the right place for a piece, a helping arrow appears after the third try so every child can solve every puzzle.

Look forward to relaxed car rides, you´ll never again have to drive AND entertain your kid, you can concentrate on driving while your child is having fun with Tozzle! 

If you want to see Tozzle in action, just search for "Tozzle" on Youtube.
I guess if you want to see how it works check Youtube! But your child is given a picture with pieces missing and they have to drag and drop the pieces in the correct spot. 
Here is a screen shot from apple.com also: 

 I am AMAZED at how fast my daughter was able to pick up on where the pieces go! Some of the puzzles are pretty tricky and every time you add a piece, another empty one appears! But she LOVES it! And I highly recommend it for $1.99! My husband searched his phone (he is not fortunate enough to have an Apple product) and unfortunately couldn't find it in his list of Apps.  But check it out for your Toddler if you haven't already! Older kids might even like it too! 


Here is our "Top 10 Favorite Iphone Apps for Toddlers" if you are interested in some other Apps.  


1. Tozzle 
2. Monkey Preschool LunchBox
3. Zoodles (we only have the free version, but she loves the movies on it) 
4. Barney Game Pack 
5. Sprout: Dress Chica
6. Wheels on the Bus
7. Alphabet Animals-Talking ABC Cards 
8. Toddler Teasers: Shapes 
9. Sprout Player
10. 123 Animals Counting Lite (The full version is probably better, but we haven't splurged yet) 


What are your favorite Iphone Apps for Toddlers or Mommy's of Toddlers?? Would love to hear from you!