"Free" baby stuff!

Need a nursing cover, carseat canopy, or sling? Or maybe a gift for an expectant mommy! Get them for free (just pay shipping) from these sites:

Carseat canopy

Note: only the canopy is free, but I ordered the whole set for a discounted price

Udder Covers

Seven everyday slings


Pick a website and Click "shop now" at the top.
Use Promo Code FAMILY2012 or FAMILYBUMP at checkout

I intended to only order the carseat canopy, of course they sucked me in with their "free" offers after each purchase! I'll let you know what I think of each one when they arrive! Happy shopping!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Recipe of the week: Energy Bites

Since having our baby boy, I have been trying to cut dairy and gluten out of my diet as much as I can to help with our breastfeeding.  I never realized how many snacks and meals I eat that have dairy and gluten in them until I did this.  Pretty much everything I had been eating was either dairy or gluten.

So of course I decided to browse through Pinterest for some healthy snacks without dairy or gluten and found the recipe for these no-bake energy bites.

Ingredients:

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter of your choice)

1/3 cup honey

1 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

*Makes 18-20 bites*

Just mix all the ingredients together, put in the fridge for 30 minutes, then roll them into small balls. Store in the fridge and you can refrigerate them for up to 1 week.  

I have made these several times over the past few weeks and they are slightly addicting! Probably not going to help me much with the weight loss, but they are yummy! 

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Happy Father's Day to all the awesome Daddy's out there!
Happy Father's Day to my hubby who is such an awesome Daddy to our beautiful babies! Thanks for all your hard work and everything you do for our family!

And Happy Father's Day to my Daddy in Heaven! Here is how I remember my Daddy most....

My Birthday Party, always made sure that everyone had a great time!  

Camping vacation

Always having fun! 

Always smiling

So I will smile today watching my babies make memories with their Daddy and because of all the awesome memories I have with my Daddy!  I wish I was able to share so much more in life with him, but I know he is smiling down and watching over us everyday!

Closet cleanout

Thanks to my sleepy babies, I had 2 hours of free time today! They are rarely asleep at the same time, so when I finally got them to sleep, I tried to take advantage of the time!

Although I would have really loved a nap, my closet was in desperate need of a cleanout and some organization! Still had all my maternity clothes thrown all over the place and I was really ready to see those disappear! (at least for now ;) )

2 hours later...



I was finally able to part with ALOT of clothing! (even a pair of eeyore pj pants i had from 8th grade, haha, guess I decided with baby # 2 it was finally time to "grow up")

And none of this is maternity! That's in a whole different pile in our guest room!

Anyone have suggestions for donating or selling any of this? Some is pretty old, but I still have some things with tags on them?!? eBay, garage sale, Goodwill??

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My birth story!

Well, as I sit down to write this, I realize I should probably preface this with my daughter's birth story from 2009.  I will give you the abridged version.

Went into labor with my daughter around 2 AM, stayed at home as long as possible.  Made the 45 minute drive to the hospital with contractions really close together around 7 AM.  I was 8 cm. dilated when I got to the hospital, but my water hadn't broken.  So after waiting it out, getting my dose of group B strep antibiotics, I decided to opt for the epidural.  Waited a little while for the doctor on call to arrive to give the epidural, and it was probably close to 10 AM by the time I actually got my epidural. After some more waiting (luckily more comfortable at this point),  The baby didn't really seem to be dropping so my midwife decided to break my water around 4 PM.  Turned out my bag of water was what was dilating me, so I then went down to only about 2 cm. dilated.  Did some more waiting to see what would happen and also added some pitocin to my already packed IV of antibiotics, pain meds, and epidural.  And around 8PM decided I would try pushing to see what happens.  And pretty much all that happened was I pushed baby down far enough to get completely stuck.  Called in another doc to try a vacuum, but he decided it would be best to do a c-section.  Not really having any idea what was going on at this point, 9:30ish, I cried my tons of tears and said ok.  Had a catheter put in, which is fun when you are trying to push a baby out whose head is completely stuck in your cervix.  I had also realized that through all the moving while pushing, my IV that had (not sure what its called) but epidural drip in it had come out.  So I was now starting to feel everything that was happening.  Got wheeled down to the OR, but for some reason they couldn't get the door opened (WHAT??) So I laid in the hallway screaming that I wanted to push and feeling all the contractions, while they found someone to open the door to the OR! (We were at a small, rural hospital in PA, pretty sure I was the only one there having a baby at the time).  Then little did I know I had to wait for the anesthesiologist to come back to give me the spinal for the surgery since all these people were on call at this time of night! Waited I think a good 20 minutes for that.  C-section went well, for a c-section, and of course I got a quick glimpse of my baby girl, who was then sent upstairs with my husband, while I was sent to a recovery room, where  I pretty much laid by myself shaking for an hour.

So needless to say when I found out I was pregnant with baby #2, I knew I wanted things to be different.  I started by finding a new set of midwives, who deliver at a different hospital, are pro-VBAC, and have a great relationship with the hospital staff!

My baby boy was due on May 9th, and I knew exactly when I got pregnant, so I really thought he would be born fairly close to the 9th.  However, my 20 week ultrasound put my due date at May 18th.  Throughout my pregnancy, my belly measured a few weeks smaller than where it "should be".  I am rather petite so this made sense to me.  But my midwives monitored closely.  Between my size and the fact that the ultrasound said May 18th, my husband and family were pretty certain that I was not going to have this baby until mid May.  But towards the end of my pregnancy, I "knew" that he was coming sooner rather than later.

Saturday April 29th, I started having some early signs of labor and spent most of the day preparing for the birth of our baby.  I really thought it was happening.  But when Monday rolled around and I still wasn't in labor, I shrugged it off as gas pains, or just being tired.  I started feeling a little better by Tuesday and had so much energy.

Wednesday May 2nd,  Had a regularly scheduled midwife appointment for my 39 week check up.  She first asked me if I have any questions for her and I asked her "Is it time yet?".  I am not sure what the procedure normally is, but I never had a vaginal exam at the end of either pregnancy to check if I was dilated, etc.  So we went through the motions, checked the baby's heartbeat which was great, checked to make sure the head was headed the right direction, and measured my belly, which was way smaller than the last measure ( I think I measured 33 cm and the week before I was 35 cm.)  So she knew that the baby had dropped, but she didn't really make it seem like baby was coming anytime to soon.  She also gave me my paperwork for my induction if I would need one on May 24th!!! I politely told her that if I was still pregnant on May 24th I may lose my mind :) and we went on our way.

Baby girl and I went to the grocery store and with this energy I had all of a sudden, I decided to buy tons of meat and produce to make some meals and freeze them over the next week before our baby boy arrived.  We also stopped at Chick-Fil-A to fulfill the pregnancy craving, yum.

When I got home I unloaded the groceries, and then it was nap time for baby girl.  Took her up to bed, laid with her and read stories, and tucked her in.  I went into my bedroom and sat down at the computer, and all of a sudden felt so exhausted.  I sent a text to my husband that said something along the lines of "my head is telling me to do a million chores, but my body is telling me to nap."  So I napped.  Probably for about 2 hours.

Baby girl woke me up around 4:30 and I went to go to the bathroom.  Had some spotting of blood when I peed, which I had never had before.  So being a little paranoid I decided to call my midwife at 4:45.  She told me that if I wasn't having any contractions and it was only a little blood that it was normal.  And at 4:45 PM I still wasn't feeling any contractions, I just felt really really tired.  My husband came home from work around 5:45 PM and I think baby girl and I were still snuggling in bed.  But we decided to get up and go downstairs to find something for dinner.  We heated up some leftover pasta casserole, but I couldn't even eat any of it.  As I sat with my family for dinner around 6:00 PM I decided that maybe I was having a few contractions, but they were pretty far apart and not very strong.  Since I had some spotting, and was feeling contractions I started really thinking that labor was happening.  So I headed upstairs to pack my bag for the hospital, tie up some loose ends, and clean up. I called my midwife back to let her know I was in labor, and she told me that whenever I felt ready I could head to the hospital and she would meet me there.  I called my mom to give her a heads up that I thought I would probably need her help in the morning. My contractions still weren't very strong and if I was in labor it would probably be morning until I headed to the hospital, because that's how much time I had with my first baby....should have known better!

39 weeks, contractions were just beginning 

Within 15 minutes of that phone call my contractions were all of a sudden much stronger and about 5 minutes apart. So I called my mom back to have her start making her way to our house to watch our baby girl.  As my contractions got very painful very quickly, I decided to hop in the bathtub to help with the pain while we waited for my mom. (she lives an hour away and wasn't at home when I called her).  In the meantime my husband was taking care of my toddler, getting the car seat in the car, packing his bag for the hospital, and freezing the pounds of meat I had just bought at the grocery store, and pretty much paying very little attention to me or the fact that labor was happening really fast!  After about 5 minutes in the bathtub, I yelled to my husband that he should call our friends to come over and watch our daughter because I was already feeling an urge to push.  As fast as I could blink, I felt as if I was barely going to make it out of the bathtub, get dressed, get in the car, and drive 20 minutes to the hospital.  I couldn't believe how fast everything was happening.

Around 7:30 PM, My hubby put a movie on for our baby girl and tucked her in bed so we could run out the door as soon as back up arrived. My mom was still 45 minutes from our house at that point! So thankful we had some good friends close by to come over and help out!

We pulled up outside the hospital at 8:30PM. Someone brought a wheelchair out to the car and wheeled me inside, while my husband parked the car.  So there I sat in the lobby of the hospital, feeling very ready to push a baby out while a nice receptionist kept asking me questions to make small talk, not realizing that I really could not talk at that point.  After about 5 minutes, but felt like 20 minutes, they pushed me up to the labor and delivery floor where I then had to get out of he wheelchair and head into a "waiting room" to get checked in.  I tried to stay calm, but I don't think anyone, including myself realized how far along I was. Thankfully we only sat there for a minute or two when they WALKED us to a delivery room and got us all set up. (that was a really LONG walk down the hall)

As much as I had told myself I wanted to be mobile during the labor in hopes of avoiding another c-section, the second I saw that bed to lay in, that was all I wanted to do. So I laid down and hung on to the railing for dear life during my contractions.  The nurse of course had a million questions for me, that I could barely answer, I finally remembered that I had my birth plan written out in my bag and motioned for my husband to get it out.  I don't think I opened my eyes at all during any of this.  I do specifically remember the nurse asking which doctor was going to see our baby when he was born, and I thought I had worked that all out before we got there.  I was told there were doctors on call that would see the baby, however, apparently that wasn't the case. So as I am ready to push the baby out my husband is on his phone with the insurance company finding a doctor that is in network to see our baby when he is born since our pediatrician is to far away to come to the hospital.

I laid through the contractions for quite awhile while they hooked up monitors and gave me an IV for my group B strep antibiotics. (which I still regret getting).  My midwife was in and out of the room for the first hour we were there, and I just labored it out through the contractions (and listened to my husband on the phone with the insurance company, not exactly the background noise I wanted during my labor).  After about an hour of answering questions, squeezing the railing, sucking on some ice chips, my midwife came back into the room.  She had read my birth plan and asked the nurse to unhook the monitors so that I could move around a little bit and possibly start pushing.  I tried to change my mind, but being the awesome midwife that she is, she reminded me that I wanted to be mobile and it would help get baby moving in the right direction.  Well all she got out of me was a roll over to my hands and knees to try laboring that way.  After about 2 minutes I decided to lay back down! My midwife then left again for a few minutes and I continued to have really really strong contractions.

I hadn't opened my eyes much the entire time we were there, so I didn't really know who was in the room (hoped my husband was still there), but I was kind of waiting for someone to tell me it was time to push.  At around 10:00 PM (ok I really have no idea what time it was but that sounds about right), after some really painful contractions, the nurse finally said to me, let me know if you need to push. I immediately yelled "I need to push!" So she called for my midwife to come back in along with some other nurses, again didn't open my eyes have no idea who was there.  And the pushing began.

After a few pushes, I could definitely feel things moving along.  I pushed through maybe 4 or 5 contractions when my midwife told me reach down and touch my baby's head.  Not having that experience with my daughter, it made things much more real for me and I guess you could say I kind of "woke up" a little. I feel like I had been in the room hearing everything that was going on around me, but was sort of in a state of delirium.  I think I also had "c-section" in the back of my mind.  I was confident in myself, but really wasn't sure I would be able to have a vaginal birth, so I was waiting for them to tell me it was time for the section.  So once I felt his head, I knew it was "go time" and really began pushing...and yelling.  My midwife told me several times that yelling was not going to get the baby out, pushing was.  :)

Ok, the rest of the story is a little graphic, but hey its all part of the story right!

My midwife realized I was tearing, kind of in the wrong places, and had torn my urethra.  Still not sure what that means or how that works. In my birth plan, I had stated that I didn't want an episiotomy, but when she realized where I was tearing, she recommended making a cut so that I wouldn't tear more "up top".  At that point I really just wanted the baby out, so on the next contraction she made a cut.  And if I wasn't awake before that, well I was definitely awake now...Just a reminder since this is a long story, NO epidural! On the next contraction, I pushed my baby boy's head out and they told me reach down to help pull the rest of him out.  It was really an out of this world experience that I can't put into words.

And as soon as I pushed him out I helped pull him up to my chest.  Completely different experience than simply catching a quick glimpse of your baby before they whisked her away like with my daughter's birth.  And of course he started screaming, pooping, and peeing all at the same time.  That's my boy! I still felt like I was there in the room taking everything in, but it was such a surreal experience that I didn't really move or say anything for awhile, just held my baby.  I do clearly remember my hubby looking at me and saying "You did it babe!" I think he was as surprised as I was that I didn't need another c-section!

A few minutes after everyone was cleaned up (and stitched up in my case), we began our new breastfeeding adventure! So amazing how they automatically know what to do!

(And on another note, it has taken a lot of courage for me to decide to post this photo, I am very self conscious, especially with breastfeeding, but have learned so much through my breastfeeding experience with my daughter.  And to help take the "uncomfortableness" out of breastfeeding I decided to post this amazing, God given experience to hopefully help "normalize" breastfeeding and not feel so ashamed to feed my baby!)

Our Baby Boy, 6 lbs. 12 oz. 18 1/2 in., just minutes old :) 

Baby Blake and his Daddy! 

Although there were a few tiny bumps in the road during this birth, I am so thankful for an awesome midwife who guided me through this experience and made it almost enjoyable.  I never thought an epidural free birth would be enjoyable, but it really was the experience of a lifetime.

Can't wait to do it again...hahaha j/k  

Where do the groceries go?

Yesterday, I somehow woke up with some motivation. So we started our day at the Geigertown Fire Co. Breakfast buffet. Usually the hubby sits and eats with us, but they were really busy so it was just me and the kiddos! But they were both really good!

Because breakfast went so well by myself, I decided to head to the park with the kids since it was a beautiful day! Thought there would be lots of kids there for my toddler to play with, but of course we were the only ones there! So while baby boy cried for Mommy's milk, baby girl cried for mommy to do EVERYTHING with her! Finally convinced her to go for a walk so baby boy would fall asleep and then I could play with her, which he did, for about 5 minutes!

Not sure what I was thinking, maybe I was just sick of being in the house, but I decided we would try Walmart after the park. However, when baby boy woke up on the way there, and still continued crying after i fed him again in the back of the car, I called in back-up (the hubby) to help me at Wal-Mart.

Of course the second he got there both kids turn into complete Angels and you don't hear a peep from them the entire trip. Only problem we had....




Where do all the groceries go???????

Guess I will be doing some baby wearing at the grocery store from now on! ;)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Recipe of the Month: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Since the arrival of our baby boy, I have been very behind on blogging! So you will probably only be getting a recipe every month for a little while! Here's one I made while still pregnant, so it's probably not the healthiest in the world, but they were yummy and of course my Toddler LOVED them! Here is a link  to the recipe that I based this off of, but I changed/added quite a bit! 

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/2 c flour 

1/2 c sugar 

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3 ripe mashed bananas 

1 large egg

1/2 c unsalted butter, melted 

1/4 c milk 

3/4 c semisweet chocolate chips 

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp. vanilla extract 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line twelve 1/3-cup muffin cups with foil muffin liners. (I didn't have any so I just sprayed the muffin pan). Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in large bowl. Mix mashed bananas, egg, melted butter, vanilla, and milk in medium bowl. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients just until blended (do not overmix). Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide batter among prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake muffins until tops are pale golden and tester inserted into center comes out with some melted chocolate attached but no crumbs, about 32 minutes. Transfer muffins to rack; cool.

They were moist and really good! We froze 1/2 of them to pull out for breakfast/dessert every once in awhile! 

A very Happy Mother's Day!

Celebrated my 1st Mother's Day as a Mommy of two last Sunday! Since my baby boy was only 10 days old we didn't do a whole lot of celebrating (or sleeping).  But we did manage to get out of our PJ's to have lunch at the park!

It was a gorgeous day and my little princess was definitely excited to get out of the house for a little! Mommy was also just as excited! Little man, well he slept the whole time, but I am sure he was also excited about his first trip to the park! 

Mommy also got a fabulous Mother's Day gift...and it didn't take long for little princess to take over! 

Maybe I can catch up on some blogging now, if I can ever pry it away from her! What are some good Ipad apps???  Preferably the free/cheap ones :) 

To laugh or cry...

2:30 AM: get up, change diaper,
Feed the baby, spend alot of time trying to get him to burp, lay him down in bed with us, since that is the only place he sleeps for more then 5 minutes.

2:50-4:30 AM Listen to the baby grunt so loud that sleeping is out of the question.

4:30 AM Baby finally "explodes" and as we pick him up to change him, realize he peed all over himself and our bed, yes the sheets that my loving mother just washed for us 2 days ago! Change baby's diaper and his pajamas and simply put a towel over the giant wet spot in the bed and hope that my loving mother will change them again for us when she visits tomorrow.

4:45 AM Feed baby and rock him until he falls back to sleep. While rocking the baby, I first hear the dogs wandering around downstairs, followed by the infamous vomit sound that dogs make. Didn't even go downstairs to assess that damage...

5:00 AM: hear a little voice coming from the bedroom down the hall, THANKFULLY that little voice was able to get back to sleep all by herself!!

5:20 AM: I am now wide awake, listening to more grunting, coming from the swing instead of our bed, but still loud enough to keep me awake! After I finish this post, I will be saying a very big prayer for sleep (and some comfort for my baby boy) and will then hopefully get some...I'll decide if I want to laugh or cry when I wake up, right now I don't have the energy to do either...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

He's Here!

Well, this post is about 12 days late, but our beautiful baby boy arrived on May 2nd after a very quick, epidural free, VBAC (stay tuned for a post about that).

Our little man, 6 lbs. 12 oz., 18 1/2 inches! So precious!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Clams and Hockey

Today would be my Daddy's 68th Birthday! 10 years ago on this day we would probably have been preparing to venture to the Wells Fargo Center (maybe it was the Spectrum still) to watch the Flyer's playoff game or preparing to watch them at home! After the game I'm sure we'd be making our way to Willy Joe's (is that place even still open?) to eat clams and celebrate! There you have it Clams and Hockey! 

As much as I miss those days and my Daddy, I know his birthday celebration in heaven with Jesus is way better than a hockey game and clams.  But either way I will watch the hockey game and cheer on our beloved Flyers! Probably won't be eating any clams, but will be thinking of my Daddy all day, as always! 

Happy Birthday Daddy! Miss you more and more each day! 

One of my favorite pictures of my Daddy and I before my High School Senior Ball

"A Cleaning What???"

That is pretty much what my husband said when I hung our new "cleaning schedule" on the fridge!!

We made it to 38 weeks! Still so unbelievable to me that any day now I will be a Mom of 2!  We had told ourselves for a long time that we were having 1 baby.  And now we are days away from having 2, and couldn't be more excited, nervous, tired, anxious, and every other emotion possible to feel!

I didn't realize how tired I actually am until I saw this picture! 38 weeks! 

However, being days away from being a Mom of 2 has also turned me into a crazy person nesting mommy.  I feel like there is so much planning to do, from who is going to clean the house, watch the dogs, watch my toddler, to what do I need at the hospital, is my house clean for whomever is staying here, is the laundry done, is the nursery ready, etc.  Just feel like I have been going nonstop and there wasn't much method to my madness.

So, in my very pregnant state of mind, I decided I needed a "cleaning schedule". Bahahaha. I know get a good laugh now.  But I needed to create one pretty much just for my sake of feeling sane and feeling like I will be able to clean my house and raise 2 kids at the same time.  So I did some searching online and used a few different resources to create a "schedule" that MIGHT work for our house. I based our schedule on the template shared by The Carolina Clipper.
And here is what I came up with....

We have just about finished up Week 1 and although it looks a little overwhelming at first, it has been easier to keep up with than I thought.  We were out running errands, at classes, or doctors appointments every morning this week and I was still able to get just about everything done.  I did have a little help in the vacuuming department this week though! That is the one thing I don't think I will ever be able to keep up with thanks to our dogs!

I know they are so cute :) Their hair is NOT! 

I decided to put the schedule in a page protector and use an expo marker to keep track of what has been completed throughout the week.  That way whoever might be here helping with chores after our baby boy arrives will know what needs to be done (aka my husband :) ) So far it has helped us stay a little more organized and get rid of some clutter that I normally would probably ignore and not clean up! I'll let you know if we can keep up with it! I'm sure I will be making changes as we go and probably add, move, change somethings, but it's a start!

Recipe of the Week: Baked Oatmeal

Thank you Pinterest! This is amazing!

Made this oatmeal for breakfast pretty much the second I saw it on Pinterest cause it looked soo good and I actually had all the ingredients in my cupboards to make it!
Here is a link to the recipe and directions for Baked Oatmeal from inspired taste.

Ingredients
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon grated orange zest (I left this one out)
1 teaspoon Chinese five spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup walnut pieces, chopped
1 cup sliced strawberries (I also added some blueberries)
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups milk
1 large egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ripe banana, peeled, 1/2-inch slices

Method
Preheat oven to 375°F and generously spray the inside of a 10-1/2 by 7 inch baking dish with cooking spray and place on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sugar, baking powder, orange zest, Chinese five spice, salt, half the walnuts, half the strawberries and half the chocolate. (Save the other half of strawberries, walnuts and chocolate for the top of the oatmeal). In another large bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, butter and vanilla extract.

Add the oat mixture to prepared baking dish. Arrange the remaining strawberries, walnuts and chocolate on top. Add the banana slices to the top then pour the milk mixture over everything. Gently shimmy/shake the baking dish to help the milk mixture go throughout the oats.

Turned out amazing, however isn't so great reheated...at least in my opinion.  We didn't reheat it in the oven though, so it might taste much better if you reheat that way.  But the bananas do turn a little brown by the next morning.  So I'd recommend making it when you know you will have enough people over to eat it all! 

FREE Princess Activity Kit

It's National Princess Week! Head over to Target's website to download a FREE Princess Activity Kit.  Lot's of cute printables and other great deals on Princess items! Thanks to For The Mommas for passing along this info! 

What's REALLY in your household products?

Had a brief ADULT (I know surprising) conversation the other day about what is in household products and cleaning products and the adult I was talking to had heard that some of these products were possible culprits for young girls "developing" faster than ever before.

I didn't start this conversation, nor had I done any research on the topic, but the person I was speaking with mentioned that carpet cleaners (mostly professional cleaners) and dish detergent were some of the worst products.

I will be completely honest, I have STILL have not done any research on this topic, as I am almost afraid to find out what is in my house!?! But of course the next day as I was loading the dishwasher, I stopped to look at the bottle of dishwasher detergent that we have to see what was really in it.  First thing I read "harmful if swallowed or put in mouth".  But we put it all over the dishes that we put in our mouth??  Granted it is rinsed (hopefully well) off the dishes in the dishwasher, that still made me think a little.  It also stated "Do not get on skin or clothing", but I guess just pray you have a good dishwasher that gets the stuff off of everything it washes??  And "Contains Bleach".  Maybe they all don't have bleach, but our particular brand happens to.  Maybe it's just me, but I am not sure I really want bleach all over my plate that I eat off of?

We have been having trouble with our dishwasher getting dishes clean, so if it can't get all the food off the plate, how is it guaranteeing that all the bleach and other chemicals are off of there too??

As I still have not done the research on this, it just seemed scary to me?  I plan to research it more, along with other household products before jumping to conclusions, but definitely makes you think a little bit!

Anybody do any research or have any info on this topic?

I hope to post an update if I find any interesting information!

Recipe of the Week: Cheeseburger Soup

And I didn't find it on Pinterest! :) (although you probably could if you searched for it!)


I happened to be watching TV during the day, which rarely happens...and as we put together a Winnie the Pooh puzzle I was listening to the Nate Berkus Show. Their guest was Chef Aaron McCargo and they were making foods that many pregnant women would instantly crave hearty meals.  Of course the next day I had to go buy all the ingredients to make this soup!  This will probably not be in my "diet" after I have the baby, so I thought I would make it now and enjoy while I still can!

*Note: This recipe is actually "Spicy Cheeseburger Soup", but being 9 months pregnant, didn't want to add the "spicy".  So check out the link for the original recipe if you like to spice it up a bit!

Cheeseburger Soup

Ingredients:

1 cup peeled, diced potato (1 medium all-purpose potato)
½ cup canola oil
2 pounds ground beef
1 cup finely diced onion
½ cup diced green bell pepper
½ cup diced red bell pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Italian Herb Blend
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ quarts beef broth
¼ cup beef bouillon powder
1 ½ pounds white American cheese, thickly sliced
¼ cup chopped scallions, white and green parts

Directions

In a large saucepan, put the potatoes and enough water to cover them by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, until fork-tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and return to the pan. Cover and keep warm.

In a large stockpot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. When hot, add the beef and cook, breaking up the meat slightly with a wooden spoon, until the beef begins to brown, 6 to 10 minutes. Add the onion and the bell peppers and cook, stirring, for another minute or two. Add the flour, herb blend, salt, and black pepper. Cook, stirring, until well mixed and thickened, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the broth and bouillon powder, lower the heat to medium, and cook, stirring, until heated through, taking care not to break the meat up too much.

Remove the pan from the heat, add the slices of cheese, one at a time, and stir gently until the cheese melts into the soup and the soup becomes creamy. Add the scallions and the potatoes and cook just until heated through. Serve hot.

Doesn't look as appetizing as it really is! It was yummy, but a little salty for me! I also like "chunkier" soups so I would probably cut back on some of the beef broth next time.  We ate the leftovers over rice the next day which was really good.  We also have a TON left to freeze!

Let's Read!

Has TV taken over your life?? I have felt like my kiddo has been watching way to much TV lately.  I have been allowing it more as this pregnancy is exhausting and I sometimes enjoy just sitting for a 30 minute cartoon.  But she now will beg to "watch a show" several times a day.  I have also made the mistake of turning the TV on, or playing a movie on my iphone for her while she's eating lunch or breakfast (mostly to get her to sit still for 5 seconds and actually eat something!)  But I am now regretting some of these choices.

So of course as I browsed through Pinterest (while watching TV :) ) yesterday, I came across a pin of different ways to read more with your child, which led me to 10 Ways to Read More with your Child. The website has some great ideas for reading time, many of which were for independent readers, but others are great for all ages! The one that stuck out to me was number 8: Read to your child at mealtimes and snacktimes.  So today instead of TV or Iphone clips, I decided to bring a few books to the table with our lunch.  I read them to her while she ate, and to my surprise after we finished the small stack she asked me to read them all AGAIN!!! (I have to admit, I was really expecting her to say "Mom, can I watch a movie now?")

Can't wait to try some of the other ideas on the website! How do you incorporate reading into your day??

What are some of your favorite Toddler books! Here is one of our favorites right now: Ed's Egg By: David Bedford.

We actually got this book in a set with a few other fabulous stories from Alissa's Great Aunt for Christmas.  My daughter is absolutely in love with them. I am not sure where she got the whole set, but here is a website link to the publisher where they sell many of the other stories we have.  They also sell many of them on Amazon!

Happy Reading!

Easter Activities!

Easter is almost here, and if you're looking for some activities to do with the kids here are some ideas!

Geigertown Fire Company Egg Hunt! 

Saturday April 7, 2012 at 1:00
This event is completely free! There are different age group areas and TONS of eggs with great prizes! Come out and show your support for your local fire company and how much you appreciate all they do! Check out their website for more info on the Easter Egg Hunt or other events they have throughout the year!

Weaver's Orchard Egg Hunt and Easter Activities! 

Friday April 6th and Saturday April 7th, 11-2.  

Cost is $5 per child, but includes the egg hunt and many other activities for the whole family! They will also be offering hay rides.  Visit their website for more information on all the events going on this weekend! 

Easter Activities at Home! 

Since I had ALOT of time to spend with my toddler this week, I decided to put together the Easter Pack from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com.  .  I did this as a preview to the Letter of the Week program that I am planning to start with her shortly.  I wanted to introduce her to the system I hope to use when I start the preschool curriculum.  I was so happy with how excited she was about all the activities and that she was actually able to do all of them! We really had fun with it! There is still time this weekend to do any/all these activities with your kids! 

Just ordered these counting bears from Amazon, and she is obsessed with them! 

So of course we had to use the bears to do our Egg Counting (from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com)

She also enjoyed the coloring pages from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

We hid these number cards around the room and after she found them she had to put them in order to read her bible verse.  

"He Is Risen!" Puzzle

Had to wear the new bunny ears to work on her lacing card

You can find all these Easter activities and MORE at www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com.

Recipe of the Week: Outback Steakhouse Alice Springs Chicken and Honey Mustard

Found this recipe (along with a few others that I love) on the website 50 Easy and Delicious Chicken Recipes.

Here is a link to the recipe and directions from the blog Six Sisters' Stuff.  I figured I couldn't go wrong with Honey mustard, chicken, bacon, and lots of cheese!

Ingredients- Chicken breast, cheese, mushrooms, bacon, salt, honey, mustard, mayo, onion flakes, and cooking oil.  

Ours definitely doesn't look as fancy as the pretty picture from their website, but it was still yummy! Only recommendations I have are don't use hickory smoked bacon (unless you like that). I didn't enjoy the "smoked" flavor it gave to the chicken. I also would have added some extra mushrooms to it! But I finally found a meal that the whole family will eat!!! 

Check out Six Sisters' Stuff for more information about this recipe and some other fabulous recipes! 

Mac Help! Please!

Help!!! I am currently looking for anyone that might be able to help me with computer clean up.  I've kind of gotten in over my head in photos and movies on my computer and my Iphone.  I am always so worried about losing my pictures and movies that I save them in a million places and I am so afraid to delete them! So I currently can't really do anything on my Iphone because I have so many movies on it, and I have tried burning DVD's of my iphone movies, but for some reason some are missing.  We have so many different back up devices that we bought, more memory for our computer, and I am just not sure what to do with it all, or how to find out that I am really saving things there.  I am pretty clueless about Iphoto, IDVD, Imovie, Itunes, etc. and although I attempt to use all of them and can get some things done, I know there has got to be an easier/better way! 

Anyone good with this stuff that could possibly give me some quick tips so that I would be able to use my phone this weekend?? Or for longterm know of anyone/anywhere I can take my computer to to get help with this all. I don't really want to just drop my computer off to have someone do it for me, I really was hoping to kind of sit/talk with someone to figure out how to do it all on my own.