Two Words

I have two words to describe my day: Bikram Housecleaning.
Oh yes, it's the latest craze since global warming and the Second Great Depression arrived.
I can no longer afford a house cleaner. I can't buy an air conditioner and I don't have a gym membership. All of these things rolled into one = you said it, Bikram Housecleaning!
"Ever since we put a new black shingled roof on our house, the living room really heats up in the daytime. During this month's heat wave, I lost 4 pounds AND my house is sparkling!"

Waiting for baby

I always beleived that I was reasonably patient and for the most part let things happen when they did. However waiting for babies is not one of my patient moments. It started 4 1/2 years ago when I sat at home awaiting my first bundle of joy. I was lucky enough to go through the pregnancy with two very wonderful and inspiring women who were also expecting their first. I suppose my impatience started to fester when the first women announced she was having contractions and was 4cms dilated a couple of weeks out from her (our- we were all due either on the same day or within a day)due date. She went on to be induced two weeks early. I was excited for her and was fine seeing I still had a pregnant companion. Though she somehow out-smarted me and managed to deliver ON her due date (who does that anyway???)so here I was on my due date with babies all around and none were mine. I waited and waited and then 10 days later walked comfortably and without pain into the hospital for an induced birth. My baby was in no hurry as it took nearly 2 days in the hospital to have my dear 9lb 5oz little boy . With number two I was so busy with my 18 month old that the time did pass reasonably quickly however the end was once again a heavy burden (although I only gained half the weight of my first pregnancy my belly was again a huge bump in my torso)This time I was a little more clued in and with another big baby on the way informed my doctor that if I reach my due date with no baby then I would like to be induced. I have to confess at this point that I was working on a different due date to the actual one my doc had so I actually asked her to schedule my induction 5 days before the due date I had in my head. Although I did pass the actual due date (by 3 days)I only found this out after my second little 9lb boy was born.
So here I am now 4 days out from the due date of my 3rd bundle of joy and have been expecting to have this baby for the past three weeks. Just this week it occured to me that it was highly improbable that my baby would be born before the due date and in my case without being induced. I have been walking around for these past three weeks acting over due and very much feeling like this baby was defying my every wish to come ontime. As I am now 4 days out I realise that this baby still has time to be ontime or even early if it so chooses. I am now trying to relax and take time to put my feet up (ok nearly impossible with my 2 boys)and to stop putting the pressure on (although I have gone ahead and asked my midwife book my induction next Monday because once Sat comes and goes I will be ready to have my baby whether the baby is ready to or not!)

The First Birthday

SIGH.

It is with a little bit of both happiness and sadness that I must report that we have celebrated our last first birthday! There has been drama at each first birthday party...which makes me happy that we will not have to do any more and sad that we will not have the opportunity to redeem ourselves and have a drama-free first birthday.

At SO's first (a big blow out mind you, where we invited everyone we had ever met!), we didn't think about handing a one year old a cupcake, that was essentially, on fire, with a big ol' number one candle. Of course she reached for the flame, and of course her dad grabbed her hand so that she did not get burned. But she got scared, started screaming and did not recover until after her nap. It was still fun and memorable - but that is what we remember, vividly, from that one.

Which brings us to yesterday...VO's first birthday extravaganza. This one was MUCH smaller than the first...just family. Which was probably a good thing in hind sight. It was sort of monkey themed...we had monkey invitations, banana cake (he LOVES banana) with yellow swiss buttercream frosting topped with blue monkeys from a barrel. As I was making the frosting, I definitely recognized the amount of egg whites going into the frosting. SO had a sensitivity to egg whites when she was a baby and only recently started being able to eat them without her chin turning red - she is now three. It always cleared up really fast on her, but I still had not tried to give VO eggs yet, at all (my first mistake). So, I took this into consideration when putting the frosting on VO's little cupcake, I just smeared a very thin layer on top (my second mistake), then topped it with the big number 1 candle and a little monkey. This is what his little cupcake looked like.

VO enjoyed it very much. He enjoyed the singing, and mommy was on top of the burning candle this time blowing it out right about the time he noticed it. And he MOWED the cupcake. This is what he looked while enjoying his birthday.



And this is what he looked like after.



Holy CRAP. Can you say *alergic reaction*? There is nothing like giving your 1 year old a chemical shower (so to speak) to get the frosting off his face as soon as possible. And then having daddy rub his face down with hydrocortizone while mommy makes the call to the pediatrician to find out his benadryl dosage! Good times. Good times.

Bad mommy.

So it is with the O's and first birthdays: drama, crisis, medical emergencies...presents! All turned out fine and he even started to be himself and play with all of his new toys once the benadryl kicked in, and his sister let him.

Follow Up to Last Post

OK, so the pot pie turned out pretty good, despite my best efforts to screw it up. I have a problem paying attention sometimes and trying to do too many things at once! On the first go around (yes, I did part of it twice!) I burned the roux (butter/flour thickening part), so I had to do it again. And since I was pressed for time (trying to get dinner on table to feed everyone at once) I did not chop any more shallots. Instead I threw in some minced garlic I had on hand. I did not have any cream in the first place, so on the first try I used the last little bit of whole milk in the fridge. On the second try I used 1/2 'n 1/2, which was probably a better substitute anyway. It actually turned out pretty good. But not in time to feed the kids, so I whipped up a little mac 'n cheese for them while the pie baked away. It was ready for EO when he got home from work...and he had three helpings. The man loves a good pot pie!

As Per Request - What I Make For Dinner

OK, so I would not normally do this, but I have had a couple of people ask me what I have been making for dinner lately. Here is what is on my list for this week - so far. I get my harvest basket of veggies tomorrow which will dictate the rest of the week.

Tonight I am making Turket Pot Pie - using a recipe I have not used before. My old recipe was this (super easy-super fast): cooked turkey breast chopped, 1 bag frozen organic veggies of your choice (I prefer peas, carrots and green bean combo), 1 can condensed cream of broccoli soup, 1 package of frozen pie crust (2 crusts). Combine turkey (or chicken), frozen veggies and soup (do not add any additional liquid to the soup). Line pie pan with crust, fill pie crust with turkey mixture, cover pie with other crust. Seal crust up on the edges and poke vent holes with fork in top crust in a pretty pattern. Bake at 350 for about an hour, until crust is a nice golden brown (you may need to cover edges so they do not burn).

Today I consulted the food network as I do not have cream of broccoli, or cream of anything actually, I stopped buying it because I cannot find it without MSG in it (c'mon Campbell's). And will be using this recipe coutesy of Mr. Bobby Flay (who I really do not ever use, but this one seems good enough and the reviews were all good - side note- whenever getting a recipe off foodnetwork.com or epicurious.com always read the reviews!!!) I am starting with cooked turkey, so skip the first step and I don't have all of the veggies in the recipe so I will be using parsnips, carrots and whatever frozen veggies I can find in the freezer that will work. I am also using store bought crust - judge me if you want - I know I can make it, I just choose not to!

Some time this week I will be making this because it sounds AWESOME (and no, my kids will not eat this, it is for me. I love wasabi peas!). I got the last ingredient that I needed this morning.
Last week I made Parsnip and Apple Soup (after having Tom's at Villa Creek I KNEW what had to be done with the beautiful parsnips in my crisper.) And mine was good, but of course, his was better! (recipe found online) Chicken Chili Verde - a knock off of DB's, Gabrielle's SIL (must give proper credit)...saute onions, garlic, add whole BS chicken breast, submerge in chili verde sauce, bring to a boil, reduce heat simmer until chicken is cooked through, remove chicken and shred or chop, return to sauce add kidney beans and chopped cilantro. Serve with tortillas, shredded cheese and sour cream - even my three year old eats it (she makes tacos just like mommy and daddy!) and VO eats the chicken and the kidney beans. Lettuce wraps - I love the teriyaki and pineapple meatballs from Aidell's. I use these for the lettuce wraps, cook some rice, shred some carrots and jicama (or what ever you have), wash some lettuce leaves and there you go...Asian style tacos.

That is all I can remeber for now. If anyone has any dinner ideas, I am sure we would all love something new to add to the rotation - please share!