Connor-ism of the day

A recent conversation:
Me: Connor, we need to get ready to go to the grocery store.
Connor: No mow-ah bwocowee.
Me: What?
Connor: No mow-ah bwooocoweee Mommy.
Me: No more broccoli?
Connor: Yes.

Cracker Crushin'

My New Favorite Salad

On a recent visit, my mom made this delicious salad. I have since gotten the ingredients and made it several times myself. It's so yummy I wanted to pass it along! Not only is it tasty but it's super easy & adaptable too.

I use 50/50 Spring Mix/Baby Spinach

pear slices

crumbled goat cheese (you can use Feta too)

chopped pecans (candied if you like)

Craisins

Dressing

2/3 olive oil

1/3 red wine vinegar

dash of: ground mustard, salt & pepper, garlic powder, sugar

Just add ingredients to an air tight container & shake well. Dab a little on your finger and taste it. If it's bitter, add a little more sugar. If it's bland, add a few red pepper flakes. Whatever you like!

I make enough dressing to last through my bag of salad. It's so easy to throw this together for lunch and feel good about what I ate instead of fish sticks & apple sauce with the boys! Let me know if you like it!

San Antonio Whirlwind Weekend

This past weekend we took a trip to San Antonio. We crammed a lot into three days! We saw grandparents, great grandparents, aunts & uncles, friends from college and friends from Cove! Thursday we started with a visit to Mimi & Papa's house and dinner with Grandma Julie (no pictures, sorry.) This is the only picture I did snap that day: My stubborn toddler who refused to swallow his last bite of lunch. He was so tired he fell asleep in the car with a mouth full of slobbery cheeseburger. Bleh!

Friday we got up early and met our friends from Cove who were in town on their own. We played at Hemisfair Park and went to lunch at EZ's. Hemisfair was so fun until hoards of school children descended upon us. Poor Colin was wearing a cute blue polo shirt but as the playground filled up he became impossible to spot because all of them had on matching t-shirts that were the same shade of blue. For her sanity and his safety, Laura took his polo off and had him run around in his under shirt. (If you can't tell from the pictures Connor just adores Ryan who is 5. He loves to play with Colin who is just a bit older but he adores Ryan.)

No Dad, I don't want to stop playing to take a nap.

And on Saturday my sweet friend Hannah got married! It was a beautiful spring wedding.

Check out those adorable little yellow ballet flats!

Hannah, Elizabeth & I were roommates in college and when I moved out, Bonnie moved in. I had a great time reconnecting with old friends & learning all about life as moms now.

By the way, Cameron did go on this trip. I am a terrible mother who somehow only photographed one child. Ugh, guilt.

For more pictures from the playground check out Laura's blog.

Super Easy Stir Fry

I am a big fan of all Chinese food. I am not however an all star chef. This is how I make stir fry for my growing family.

Ingredients: (Sorry, no pictures)

2 bags Minute Rice (I use brown rice)

1 bag Steamfresh Stir Fry veggies (carrots, broccoli, snap peas, baby corn)

2 eggs

2 chicken breasts

1/4 C(ish) diced onion

2 Tbsp butter (or more, just eyeball it!)

1 tsp minced garlic

soy sauce

Cook rice & set aside. Cut chicken into small bite sized pieces and set aside. Scramble eggs and set aside. In a large skillet melt about 1 T butter. Add onion and allow to clarify. Add garlic, remaining butter and then chicken. Allow chicken to cook through. While cooking chicken follow the microwave directions on the veggie bag. Once veggies and chicken are cooked, mix rice, eggs and veggies into the skillet. Add soy sauce and stir continuously until it looks ready to eat.

Death Virus Report

Tomorrow marks 2 weeks for me. I have been sick for basically the last two weeks. It started with allergies - itchy, watery eyes, sneezing, etc. But by Thursday (after a few nights of little sleep) I developed a fever and body ache. Then, while putting Connor to bed Thursday (1/20) I noticed he was running a fever and had been extra needy that evening. We both we feverish and puny over the weekend but Matt was home and his mom was visiting so we got to rest and were well taken care of. Saturday night as we were going to bed Matt said, "My throat has a tickle. I hope I'm not getting sick." He woke up in the night with a high fever and very sore throat. He missed church for an illness for the first time in 5+ years. Connor was still puny and feverish and by this time Cameron had also developed a fever and congestion. His congestion was actually so bad that he was throwing up after eating because he would choke on his phlegm. I seemed to be improving but because the boys were all so sick I wasn't sleeping. (Down for an hour, up for two, etc.) My mom came to help Sunday and Monday. We took Cameron to the doctor Monday morning and were told that he just had a nasty virus and that there wasn't much that we could do about it. We didn't get to see our pedi so when the doctor said that we should have a pretty low threshold for a second visit, I made a mental note not to endure for more than a couple of days before returning. I finally convinced Matt to go to the doctor Tuesday after he'd had fever for 3 days straight. They told him it was the flu. Again, not much we can do about it but his doctor also said to return if he didn't improve by the weekend.
Cam's fever broke Tuesday and was gone all day Wednesday until early evening. Connor was fever free all day Wednesday and seemed to be mending better than anyone else. I was up and down. One day feeling like I was on the mend and the next feeling like I'd been run over by a Mack truck. Thursday morning I left Connor with Matt and took Cameron back to see our doctor. She confirmed my suspicion; he had a double ear infection (our first) and a sinus infection. She said that when the fever breaks and then returns you generally have a secondary infection. He was on antibiotics by noon and slept most of the following 24 hours. Matt was doing much better Thursday but just needed a lot of rest. He also had such a swollen throat that he has had trouble eating or even drinking anything. Friday was a better day for me, so I took Connor to the grocery store. We needed some food and a lot more tissues.
By Friday evening Matt's fever had returned and he was going downhill so he agreed to go back to see the doctor at the clinic on Saturday. Saturday morning when we called (around 8:30) there were no available appointments. Devastated and angry we did more google searching and found as many at-home remedies as we could.
After missing church the week prior and an entire week of work, Matt was determined to go to church yesterday. He didn't run fever at all on Saturday and both boys were nearly 100% recovered so I agreed that it might be great to get us all out of the house and back to normal life. Boy was I wrong. It seems to have wiped me out completely. I have had so much congestion and coughing that I haven't been able to sleep. I am walking around nauseous and lightheaded. I tried calling several times this morning to get an appointment for myself but once I finally got through, they were completely booked. Matt called the nurse's desk for his doctor and had antibiotics called in for himself. His symptoms all seem to fit a sinus infection, like Cameron. I now have an appointment for first thing tomorrow morning. Matt is back at work today, just forging through and determined not to get any more behind. I am torn about MOPS tomorrow. The boys are healthy & in need of socializing. It's my turn for breakfast and I usually give a friend a ride. But on the other hand, I am miserable. I just want to sleep - BUT I CAN'T!
I am sorry for such a negative blogpost but I am so depressed and angry at whatever this virus is that keeps attacking us that I just needed to get it all out. Please pray for my little family. Pray for rest and healing. I am beyond my wit's end.

So wiped out they can't even hold their heads up.

Look at those rosy cheeks and glassy eyes.

Temperature check - it was pretty routine for a while.

This was last weekend when he was at his worst. My poor babies!

Feeling Cheesy

I've been skeptical for a while that pre-shredded cheese had something added to it. It doesn't stick together and it doesn't have as much flavor. I just read tonight what it is...
Potato Starch
Natamycin
Corn Starch
Calcium Sulfate

It requires 4 extra ingredients that I don't really want in my cheese. I had actually just been trying to believe that the cheese must just be dried out after being shredded. Wrong! I have been buying less and less pre-shredded cheese for a while now, and reluctantly buying what I did. I just had a hunch something wasn't right. Calcium Sulfate is used to make plaster, quick setting cements, molds, and casts among other not-so-appetizing things. Plus! Who needs more starch in their diet? Not me. No thank you. I get plenty of starches and would prefer to keep them out of my cheese.

It seems like the more research you do the more you find chemicals in our everyday foods. I am by no means a health food junkie or granola mom (although I really wish I was!) but I want to be an informed mom. I want to do my part to stay healthy and to raise healthy children.

A while back my mother in law introduced me to Tillamook cheese and it is just about all I buy now. It costs a little more but the taste is totally worth it. And now that I know about the additives in pre-shredded cheese, I will be buying the bigger blocks rather than the smaller.

By the way, I have not taken a job with Tillamook - I just really do like their cheese!

Purely Pureed

It's that time again. I have begun to make baby food! Tonight was 7 sweet potatoes! I have zucchini, summer squash, carrots and peas on the menu too. In the past I used ice cube trays and then transferred the frozen cubes to labeled ziploc bags. This time I am going with individual containers, at least to begin. I thought I got some snap apart containers specifically for this purpose as a baby gift but I cannot find them anywhere. With two babies around, I just need fewer steps in the whole process.

Dutch Apple Pie

I have tried twice now to make my friend Shelly's Dutch Apple Pie and neither have come close to hers. The first one had no crumb topping; rather it all melted together and made a crunchy crust over the top. The second had the right topping but the apples didn't get soft enough, still too much crisp-ness for me. Guess I'll just have to keep trying, oh darn.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

It's been a while since I've posted a recipe and I had 2 friends ask me for this one, so here it goes!

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

4-5 chicken breasts
1 can RoTel
2 cans cream soup (I use 1 mushroom & 1 chicken)
3 Cups grated cheese
1 tsp. ground cumin, chili powder, garlic powder
salt & pepper
8 oz. sour cream
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 Serrano pepper, seeded, de-veined and chopped (optional)
1/2 onion, chopped
12+ flour tortillas

1. Cook thawed chicken breasts in the crockpot with RoTel & seasonings on low for 4-6 hours. (or until cooked through & very tender.) Drain excess liquid and using 2 forks, shred chicken.
2. While chicken cooks, saute peppers & onion.
3. Mix shredded chicken with remaining ingredients, reserving 1 cup cheese.
4. Spoon mixture into tortillas, roll them up and place seam side down into a greased 9x13 pan. Spread remaining mixture over tortillas and top with cheese.
5. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve with tortillas chips.

Adventures Around the Table

Connor ate stir fry! For months now we have had to make our food & then Connor's food. He refused to eat real food, still requiring pureed veggies and only a select few of them. Recently he has become more and more adventurous and tonight we made only one meal. Honey Lemon Chicken with stir fried rice and veggies. He never batted an eyelash; just picked up his spoon and went to work. By no means did he eat it all or even try it all, but he was willing and didn't make a fuss. Major progress in this house!



On top of his new found tastebuds, Connor is learning to speak more and more all the time. Tonight he wowed us again. When we all sat down we told him we were going to pray, so he clasped his hands together and Matt coached him through the following prayer.
Matt: God
Connor: Dah
Matt: Thank you.
Connor: Tah too.
Matt: Amen.
Connor: Men Men! (With much enthusiasm and a big grin!)

Taco Soup

In honor of the first signs of Fall, I am making Taco Soup for dinner!
Ingredients:
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 Jalapeno or Serrano pepper (depends on you how spicy you want it)
1-2 cans of Ranch Style beans
1/2 a small onion, chopped
1/2 a green bell pepper
1 can Rotel (drained)
1 can Mexicorn (or plain corn)
1 package Lawry's Taco Seasoning
1-2 cloves minced garlic
3 1/2 Cups chicken broth (or water can be substituted)

Chop your veggies and saute until tender in the bottom of a large pot. Brown the ground beef, drain fat & add to pot. Add all other ingredients and heat thoroughly. Serve with grated cheese on top. A side of chips & guacamole round out the meal nicely!

Stuffed Chicken

We've made this a couple of times now & we LOVE it!

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I prefer to pound them so they're nice & thin.)
1 C frozen spinach, thawed
1/2 C chopped mushrooms
1-2 cloves garlic
1/4 C chopped sweet red peppers
4 slices Provolone cheese
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/2 t Basil, Parsley, Thyme & Oregano

Preheat oven to 375. Butterfly the chicken, then pound it out. Saute mushrooms, spinach, peppers and garlic briefly. In a bowl mix the drained spinach, sauteed mushrooms, garlic, salt & pepper and herbs. Place stuffing inside chicken breast. Lay cheese on top of stuffing. Drizzle olive oil over the top of the chicken. Bake for about 30 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink.

We have served it with wild rice or quinoa and a green veggie like zucchini or broccoli. So very yummy! (Also, FYI bigger chicken breasts are easier to butterfly & therefore 1 breast will feed both Matt & me.)

New Foods

Waffle Strips

Yes, I have been very busy and technically I still am. I am just going to throw a few videos on here to appease the grandparents. Connor has been eating more and more real food lately and he always makes us laugh when he samples something new. FYI, he made these same faces with celery, dog food, grapes, blue berries, etc. He makes a disgusted face and then goes back for more. What a goober!
I will post more later this week or early next week. Please be patient!

Quiche

This is my favorite quiche. It is a combination of Florentine & Lorraine. It's been a work in progress for a while and I think this is the best version.

1 uncooked pie crust (I prefer Pillsbury)
1 t butter
2/3 C diced onion
1 lb fresh spinach (or less if you're using frozen; NEVER use canned - yuck!)
3 strips bacon, cut up and cooked until almost crispy (bacon is optional & I have used turkey bacon and not even noticed a difference.)
1/2 t salt
dash of pepper
1 C shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
1/2 C shredded Swiss cheese
1/4 C Parmesan cheese
4-5 eggs
1 C heavy cream or half & half
dash of ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350. Roll out the pie crust into a greased pie pan. Saute your onion with the butter, add spinach until wilted. Season with salt & pepper. Remove from heat, drain excess liquid and spread over pie crust. Combine eggs, cream, nutmeg and mix well. Stir in cheeses. Pour over spinach & onion. Stir around to mix ingredients and remove air pockets. Bake for 45 minutes (or until set & golden on top). Allow to cool 15 minutes. Serve with muffins and fruit!

Crawling Video

Here's the evidence! He's still learning but he is starting to use crawling as his main method of transportation now. Last week he was only experimenting with it and still mainly using rolling and lunging. It's beginning to shift now. It's pretty exciting to watch. The crazy thing is that he wants to stand so badly. For a while we thought he was going to skip crawling and go straight to walking. He is pulling up on everything from the coffee table to window sills and now even on flat surfaces like the front door! He has even learned not to pull things over onto himself when he's pulling up. It's pretty incredible. (To us anyway.)


In the way of food news, Connor is experimenting with some "real" foods lately. For example, we gave him a little bit of a dry (meaning no syrup) waffle on Saturday and he seemed to enjoy it. This morning he had some blueberry muffin, but he didn't really care for that. I might try some cheese today or maybe some cooked pasta. We'll see. Hmm, he's also had some peeled grapes, which he turned his nose up at. He loves graham crackers but they require a lot of supervision because he can easily choke on them. He is using his little mesh pacifier thing a lot lately with cantaloupe, mango and peaches. He devours the fruit. He didn't care for the grapes in there either. I guess they're too sour. Well, that's all I can think to tell you for now.

Yes Please

Lately Connor has taken to agreeing with us when he eats. Check out the video to see what I mean.

Progress

I went to get Connor from his nap one day last week and found him sitting up all by himself in his crib. He is not even crawling yet and is now pushing himself up to sitting all the time, like he's been doing it forever.

Then, yesterday I found him like this:

Standing! How do I keep up?!

And finally, I found these mesh pacifier things at Target that you put fruit in & baby can suck the juice out. My mom got one for Connor this week and he loves it! All he's had so far is cantaloupe but we'll be more adventurous soon.

Stats

We went to the doctor today & at nearly 8 months old (just 4 days shy) Connor weighs 24.1 lbs (95%) and is 28 1/4 in (75%). He went to town on the butcher paper they cover the table with. He kicked his legs all around (picture windshield wipers) and gathered the paper in his arms, tore it all apart and then began to eat. At one point Matt gave him a tongue depressor to look at and Connor stuck it in his mouth and just kept playing with the paper. He looked like a little puppy. We were quite amused. The doctor kept saying how healthy & active he was. She was impressed with how badly he wanted to go go go! Obviously I've never had a baby before so I don't know what is average and what is not. Apparently Connor is far more active & wiggly than the average baby his age.

He is not crawling yet but let me tell you, he is dying to! As I type he is on all fours rocking back & forth. He is beginning to dig his toes into the floor & launch himself forward to get something that is just out of reach. He is still rolling everywhere and spinning around on his belly. His latest and greatest accomplishment however, is that he will now get himself from laying to sitting all by himself! He started doing this on Tuesday morning and has done it repeatedly since then. Matt got really excited tonight when Connor went from sitting to being on all fours in a very smooth/easy transition. Like he's been doing it for weeks or something. I'm not dying for Connor to be crawling yet because that means a lot more ouchies and boo boo's but Matt on the other hand is waiting with baited breath to see his boy crawl.

Here are a couple of pictures from the day. We went to the pool again, which Connor loved, and I forgot my camera. However, he wore his pool robe & a dry diaper home.
Look how cute he is!

Connor really loves Avery. Notice the fear in her eyes though.


Then at dinner Daddy got 'creative' with a Cheerio.

'My dad is the silliest!'

Food!

Connor has begun eating food. We started with rice cereal, then apple sauce, sweet potatoes, bananas and most recently avocados. He is thrilled with the whole process. He leans forward opening his arms and gathers the spoon full of good stuff into his mouth. It is really precious. Here are a couple of pictures to prove my son's love of food. (Like mother like son!)

sweet potatoes


avocado


more avocado (he's quite the helper with the spoon)


just up from nap time & all smiles!