Easy make ahead dinners

Because dinner time is a little crazy around here with usually two kids awake at the same time and trying to cook, I have been looking for good recipes that can be either done quickly with little preparation or meals that I can prep early and just cook later. I thought I would share a few that we have loved from my allrecipes.com phone app.

• Chicken Zucchini Casserole

allrecipes.com

This recipe I doubled and made for our Sunday family dinner with Bob's family, which usually means about 10 to 12 adults. Everyone loved it. I read through the reviews and left the carrots out and only used half of the butter and mixed with water for the other half. We served it with a green bean and carrots side dish and my sister-in-laws corn bread. I hear my father-in-law went for thirds. I prepared it beforehand and just threw it in the oven an hour before we were going to eat.

• Fragrant Lemon Chicken

allrecipes.com

This recipe was so unbelievably easy, but once again, I read through the reviews and followed some of the suggestions like using chicken broth instead of water in the crock pot and I also cooked it for 45 minutes in the oven to brown up the skin. If you don't use the oven, the skin looks raw. It is probably fine to eat, but looks pretty gross. I started cooking this during Calan's first nap and then put it in the oven during his second nap. I reheated it for dinner. The leftovers were great for chicken sandwiches.

• The Best Meatloaf

allrecipes.com

This one, literally, Bob looks at me and said this is the "best meatloaf" he had ever had and he, to be honest, doesn't really like meatloaf. Using steak sauce really made a big difference. I put this together during Calan's second nap and just popped it in the oven before dinner. When I make it again, I probably will saute the green peppers and onions. They were a little too crisp when it was done cooking. 

I'm making pan-fried pork chops, carrots, and broccoli tonight for dinner. What are you making?

Blanket time revisited and in action

Before Maisie was born, I had started doing "blanket time" with Calan, but basically abandoned it when I got a little too pregnant and Maisie was too young to institute it correctly. I am so glad we took a break. At the time Calan and I were pretty frustrated with each other, and doing blanket time was not working for either of us. This has completely changed. Calan is just that much older and I have more patience and both of us are on the same page (for the most part) now.

Blanket time is basically exactly what it sounds like. It is a specific amount of time that he spends playing on a blanket. The idea is that it sets up a limited area with out a physical parameter and helps develop the ability to stay put within a boundary.

The pack-and-play is great, but blanket time is different because there is no physical parameter that stops him from running off.

This is not an overnight event. Calan didn't just one day think, well I think I will stay on this blanket and just play. We are working step by step, minute by minute to get him to stay and happily play. Blanket time is not a time out. It is not a punishment. It should be just like independent play time and be a happy play time that they focus on just a few toys.

I have been doing blanket time, again, with Calan for about a month and we have worked our way up to 8 minutes that he sits on the blanket and plays with a few of his favorite toys. It is not perfect and I usually still have to tell him once or twice to stay on the blanket, but he does usually stay there for the whole time. Once we get to the point that he stays on the blanket for 8 minutes without me saying anything we will add a minute and work our way up to about 30 minutes.

Right now, I stay right by Calan reading blogs, books, or Bible study. I do something other than hoover over him. I am right there to correct him, but I am not engaging with him.

I start blanket time by telling him that we are going to do blanket time and that I want him to play on his blanket for 8 minutes. I lay out a blanket and set up a few toys on it as he sits down on the blanket. He loves sitting on blankets, so he usually jumps on before a single toy is on it for him. I then set a timer and say that blanket time has begun. I won't lie, he usually just looks at me with a blank stare, but somehow he does seem to understand because when I get up to sit on the couch, he stays on the blanket and usually grabs for a toy.

Here is how yesterday's blanket time went:

Blanket time has begun. He had to take his socks off first.

Just sitting here playing with his Mrs. Noah figurine and
wiggling his toes.

Hmmm ... realized I was taking photos with my cell phone.
He crawls toward me off the blanket at about 5 minutes.

I put him back on and tell him that he has 3 minutes left of
blanket time and that my phone is a no touch.

Literally 2 seconds later, he stopped crying and went right
back playing with his toys.

Playing away.

Time flies when you are having fun.

Timer goes off. I tell him blanket time is over with.

After cheers and claps from me, he gets up and grabs
his lamb.

Calan and lamb are out of there.
He actually just came over and sat next to me and we
then read a book.

His time on the blanket is not traumatic or cruel. It is a tool that will come in handy for me as his parent when I need him to first obey me and secondly to stay in one spot when I ask him to. He doesn't understand that but I do.

Impromptu family time

I love it when we get to have some spur-of-the-moment, quality family time. Bob was waiting on a few things at work and realized that he could take off early, so we took the kids and our dog out to a local cider mill for cider, doughnuts, and pumpkins. It was great. Unlike the weekends, which are packed, there was only a handful of people. Plenty of room for some quality family time.

Biggest bite ever. He loved his first cider and doughnuts.

Best picture I got of the three of us.

He of course tried to pick up the heaviest
pumpkin he saw.

And then he thought the hay and
leaves were more interesting.

Maisie was a good sport.

Calan had to hold the pumpkin on our
way home.

Now, I can't wait to carve our pumpkins this weekend.

4 years strong

I never know how I am suppose to feel each year when Oct. 16 comes along. It is a day that I won't really forget, but one that seems like such a different lifetime. I don't know why, but I don't really hold on to bad memories. A part of me kind of doesn't remember a lot of my cancer experience. Is that crazy? I am sure many would not understand, but I remember somethings, but a lot of it is just in the past.

Now I could go back and read the blog that I wrote during the whole experience, but I just haven't been able to bring myself to do that either.

But I would say that each year when this day comes and goes, I feel blessed. I realize all the things that have happened over the course of 4 years and I am so incredibly thankful to God that I was here for everything. Three of my best friends got married, two of them had children, my brother-in-law married an amazing woman, I quit my job (hopefully never to return), and the biggest blessing of all, Calan and Maisie.

I look at the past 4 years and realize how quickly time has flown by and how life has never stopped. I battled cancer and I am strong because of it.

I battled cancer and I am still me, but a better version.

I battled cancer and kept on going.

So today, I am grateful. I am grateful to all my family and friends who love me and support me. And all my family and friends who keep encouraging me to well ... Be Me.

Thank you.

Footloose and Fancy Free

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to rock out to "Footloose." I am not sure what it is about that song and movie, but it just makes me happy and gives me a sense of freedom. I usually do not have a care in the world when I am rocking it out to that song. I look foolish and I love every moment of it.

In honor of the re-make premier of "Footloose" today, here is Calan rocking it out.

Have a rocking Friday and a great weekend! And GO GREEN!

Big brother love

Isn't he so sweet with her? When I laid her down, he laid with her. Melt a momma's heart.

The pink elephant in the room

Bob and I back in May 2008. I had finished chemo in
February and had my mastectomy in March. I was
still doing radiation treatments at the time this photo.

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't worry about my health on a daily basis, or when I think about dying tears instantly well up in my eyes. I'd be lying if I didn't look at my children and wonder if they will know me their whole lives or just a short time. I do worry and I worry a lot.

October is one of those dreaded months for me. On Oct. 16, 2007, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was 26-years-old. I wish that I had been diagnosed in any other month than October. I love that there is awareness out there, but seriously all the pink just reminds me of the ever present elephant that hangs out in my life.

I was just reading the synopsis of the Lifetime movie "Five" that premieres tonight at 9. I instantly started crying, so I will not be watching the movie. I don't think that I can handle it yet even though it has been 4 years. I don't think that I will ever be able to handle it. I watched a movie back when I was pregnant that started off about a love story and I thought it was just a romantic story, but then in the last 15 minutes BAM; the main character dies of cancer. It sent me into a horrible tailspin that Bob was pretty freaked out by. I was hysterical. I just kept thinking how I am bringing another life into the world that I might not be able to see grow and even worse, I was bringing a girl that I wouldn't be able to teach her everything that a mom can teach their daughter.

Now, I know that I have been healthy and that everything went really well with my treatments, and I can't worry about the things that I can't control or worry about a diagnosis that hasn't even happened. But that is obviously easier said than done. I worry like any parent worries about not being there for their children.

October just brings the worst out of me.

My, myself, and I (and the kids)

This past weekend, I was flying solo again. My husband had a men's retreat (a very manly weekend) with guys from our church (which was 450 men). He had a great time, and I was really glad he went, but of course, that meant I was home with the kids by myself all weekend. We survived.

It is interesting to me that even though I am home every day and that my day-to-day life is pretty much the same, I still look forward to the weekends. I love doing things as a family and having Bob around to help. It refreshes me for Monday morning like everyone else. We missed Bob, but we trudged on and did quite a bit by ourselves too.

Friday night, I walked the kids over to McDonald's for a little mom and Calan date as Maisie slept in the the stroller. I have done this a couple of times. It gets us out of the house and it is nice to walk over there. Calan gets apple slices, yogurt and a few chicken nuggets. I like not having to cook and do dishes for just him and I.

Saturday, we did our normal farmer's market shopping and trip to my favorite coffee shop. It is a bit harder having to hold the groceries and push the stroller without Bob, but we make due. Calan is such a people watcher. He just loves being out in public. Maisie, on the other hand, just sleeps.

After the kids' naps, we did a little shopping for me. I am realizing that being pregnant two winter/fall seasons in a row has left my wardrobe less than desirable. Calan got a bit impatient as I tried on clothes, but let's be honest, what kid or guy wouldn't. Overall, he did great. And yep, your guessed it, Maisie slept. After clothes shopping, we went grocery shopping. By the time we got home, Calan was ready for a nap.

After his nap, we played for a little while then had dinner and then I decided we needed a little Dairy Queen in our lives. It was 80 degrees here in Michigan this weekend. Absolutely gorgeous and absolutely perfect weather for a Pumpkin Pie Blizzard. YUMMMM.

Sunday, I thought I would try something a little different with Calan before church. Lately his naps are going from more 10:30 till 11:30 instead of 10 to 11:30. This is an issue because for church I need to wake him up at 11. This Sunday, when I got up with Maisie at 7, Calan was still pretty much dead asleep. I decided to just let him sleep to see how long he would go and if we could just skip his morning nap. He slept until 9 a.m.! If I hadn't needed to get up with Maisie, I would have loved to sleep in. He did great at church without a morning nap, but the rest of the day he was pretty crabby. Not sure if it was a success or fail, but it was worth a try.

When we got home from church, Bob was already back. (They canceled some Sunday activities because the men were too tired from all their Saturday activities.)

I was pretty happy to see Bob home and ready to co-parent again.

I know that I can do a lot of things with the kids by myself, but I am so happy that I don't have to. I take care of the kids, but Bob really does do an amazing job taking care of me.

Three sleeping babies. One in his crib, one under the blanket, and one sprawled out. 

And yep, that's my pretty girl pretty pissed off that I put her on her stomache

My view as we all walked to Dairy Queen. 

First ER visit

Yep ... I knew that it would happen at some point, but no mom wants this first milestone. Last Thursday, Calan fell head first into our fire place hearth and split his head open needing three stitches to close it up.

Like any mom, I can replay the moment a million times in my head, but the outcome is always the same. He fell,  I couldn't catch him, and he hit his head. I knew that we needed to add bumpers to the hearth, but I was a little lazy and trying our luck. Luck ran out and my not so coordinated son got his worst boo-boo yet.

While the whole experience was pretty traumatic for me, he seems to have moved on. He cried for a bit at first, but then after maybe 3 minutes he only cried when I tried to put pressure on it, which he was having none of that. Luckily it stopped bleeding pretty quickly. It only gushed for a brief second. Thank God.

I, however, was shaking and trying to call people on my iPhone. Not so easy to hit the right keys when you are shaking. It was so frustrating. But once I got the right numbers, I got Bob's sister to come over to be with Maisie and Bob on his way home to drive us to the ER.

This time it worked out that one Bob's sister was already coming over that night and two Calan's cut didn't continuously gush, but it did make me wonder what I would have done if it was gushing and I needed to get to the hospital. It would have been horrible trying to get both kids in the car with Calan bleeding and me shaking. I am not exactly sure what I would have done, but I think that in that case I would have called 9-1-1. Would that have been the right thing to do in that scenario? I am not sure, but I am super glad we didn't have to do that this time.

This morning Calan had his stitches out, so he is already on the mend. The fireplace hearth has bumpers around it that Calan has already figured out how to take off. (Yeah ... grumble, grumble.) Hopefully, we won't see the ER again for awhile. My fingers are crossed.

15 month / 2 month update

Another month has passed and seriously where has the time gone? I can't believe that Maisie is 2 months. It is amazing to me how quickly time flies with children. They grow and change so quickly that every time I sit down to reflect on their growth I am amazed at how quickly everything is happening.

I decided that I needed to organize my updates a little better, so I am going to break it down into a few categories so that each month I am looking at the same things and can easily look back later and be amazed.

So here is what we have been up to and doing:

Sleeping

• Calan - He has been sleeping pretty well. He still takes 2 naps and I don't see that changing too soon. He sleeps for about an hour in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. About once a week, I would say he misses a nap and it is usually on the weekend. My guess is that because the weekend isn't normal routine and he just loves being around his dad that sleeping is not a priority for him. But one nap battle a week seems like no big deal after dealing with a month of battles. I am so glad that I stuck with it and didn't give in to him not napping. He wasn't ready and I could tell. And the fact that he is taking great naps now is just proof. At night, Calan has been waking up a little in the middle of the night. Most of the time he wakes and goes back down by himself after about 10 minutes. I think that his teeth that are coming in are the culprit of his wake ups. He goes to bed at 7 p.m. each night, but probably takes about 30 minutes to fall asleep and he wakes up in the morning at 7. He has been doing this weird crib rocking thing to fall asleep. He rocks hard against the side of the crib till he basically falls over asleep. He isn't hurting himself, and I would love to know how to stop it, but it is what it is for now.
• Maisie - Overall, Maisie is sleeping pretty well. At night, I have no complaints. She usually wakes up once at about 3:30 or 4 in the morning and then is up at 7 a.m. As for naps, she is a little hard to get to sleep, but once she is she takes great naps. The biggest problem, and it is most definitely my fault, is that she likes to nap with a blanket over her head. Yep, one of the biggest mommy no-nos. I found that Maisie is pretty light sensitive. She doesn't seem to care about noises, but light really affects her. She also likes to be super warm to nap peacefully. Because of this, she naps basically all the time in her bouncy seat by me. I am hoping that she grows out of this habit easily and I don't have to break her of it in order to get her to sleep in a crib at some point.

Eating

• Calan - He eats a ton. Calan is pretty adventurous with his food. He likes flavor. I do have to hide some veggiatables in order to get him to eat them, but he does eat them. He just would not pick up a plain green bean and eat it, but add a little cheese or some seasoning, he will at least try it and 70% of the time, he will eat it. He loves breads and fruit. I have yet to find a fruit he won't eat. He devours them and since they are so easy to prepare, he eats them often. He is eating 3 meals and 1 snack each day. He has completely transitioned to eating table foods and drinking from cups. He is still eating from a high chair, and I don't think that we are going to transition him to a booster seat till he is closer to 18 months.
• Maisie - She is a nursing champ. She eats well and usually just eats every 3 hours during the day. She hasn't had a lot of bottles, but she takes a bottle without any issues at all. The medicine seems to have really helped her reflux. She still spits up a lot, but the pain seems to have disappeared. We are treating her for a mild case of thrush, a yeast infection in her month common among nursing infants. At her 2 month appointment, the doctor thought she might have it and to be on the safe side, we are treating her for it. If it was thrush, I didn't want it to get worse and affect her eating. Hopefully, it clears up quickly and we can go back to just giving her one medication.

Milestones

• Calan - Calan is really starting to communicate more with us. He is understanding simple commands and enjoys being asked to do little tasks like turning on and off the lights. Probably the cutest thing he is doing is saying please and thank you with sign language. He gets to say please when he is asking for something, but thank you is basically just done when we ask him to do it. He also getting to know his body parts and likes to show us his head and nose. We are working on the rest. He also likes singing and while he isn't exactly saying the words, he kind of says some the right tone and sounds for a few of his favorite songs. For example, R sounds for "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." He loves working on puzzles and stacking blocks. He really concentrates and focuses and cheers himself on. On the negative side, we have started tantrums too. He clearly gets upset when something he doesn't like happens.
• Maisie - I am completely amazed that She is rolling over from her stomach to her back. Because of her reflux, I have not been able to put her down on the ground for most of her life. It has only been over the last 2 weeks that I have really been putting her down for about 15 minutes a day. And a few days ago, she rolled over. I thought it was a fluke, but she has done it everyday since, so not a fluke. She is smiling a ton and cooing up a storm when she isn't pissed off about something. She is holding rattles when placed in her hand also. So, she is doing great for 2 months. And I feel like she is growing up so quickly.

Activities

• Calan - He loves to read, look at pictures, dance, hit golf balls, and chase our dog Elle. He loves to go for walks and play at the park. However, he also learned to climb the jungle gym at the park, so it has gotten a little difficult to take the 2 kids to the park by myself. Chasing after Calan is a full-time job. He has learned that there is more to the house then our family room and likes to explore when he can. He still does about 40 minutes of playtime in his pack and play each morning and I have just started blanket time again. It was a little hard to do blanket time while I was really pregnant and while I was nursing a lot, but now, I can give more attention to it and hope to have him sitting and playing on a blanket happily for about 15 minutes by the time he is 16 months and playing for 30 minutes by 17 months. We shall see if it works. Like everything, I think consistency will win out
• Maisie - I have just recently felt comfortable enough to lay her on the ground for an extended period of time, so she has just started playing on our floor mat. She seems to like it and looking at the lights blink above her. She loves being talked to and smiles and coos and focuses on me when I talk to her.

Schedule

• 7 a.m. - Everyone wakes up. Maisie eats and Calan drinks some milk.
• 7:30 a.m. - Calan eats breakfast and finishes milk
• 8:00 a.m. - Calan has independant playtime in his pack and play. Maisie starts her nap.
• 8:40 a.m. - Calan playtime/reading time
• 9:45 a.m. - Calan naps
• 10 a.m. - Maisie eats, we play together
• 11 a.m. - Maisie naps
• 11:30 a.m. - Calan wakes up
• 12 p.m. - Calan lunch
• 12:20 p.m. - learning time
• 1 p.m. - Maisie eats, Calan has some blanket time/ play time
• 1:30 p.m. - This time changes from either a walk, errands, or sibling play time depending on the day
• 2:30 p.m. - Calan and Maisie nap
• 4:00 p.m. - Maisie eats
• 4:30 p.m. - Calan wakes up / snack
• 5 p.m. - free time or errands
• 6 p.m. - dinner
• 6:20 p.m. - bath time
• 6:40 p.m. - Calan gets ready for bed; drinks milk
• 7 p.m. - Calan bedtime/Maisie eats
• 7:30 p.m. - Maise bedtime
• 10:30 p.m. - Maisie eats
• 4 a.m. - Middle of the night feeding for Maisie

Overall

• Calan - He is still an overly happy little guy, who loves learning and exploring new things. He makes us laugh and smile with pure joy. He is always up to giving you a kiss or a hug.
• Maisie - We are starting to get to know her more. I can figure out her cries better so she doesn't escalate into an uncontrollable mess. She can be a bugger, but her smile will soften any heart.