Cooking through the Pioneer Woman's Cookbook - Post 2

So I feel like it's been a good two weeks for me and Ree.  I successfully cooked four recipes and all but one of them turned out fantastically.  So without further adieu here is my recap!

Chocolate Sheet Cake

This cake was worth every calorie that I'm sure it contained.  I was even so in love with it I included it in my Recipe Wednesday so that the recipe would always be on my recipe blog.  The cake was pretty easy to make and then was fantastic for days afterwards.  It also makes a ton of cake so I was able to take a good chunk to some friends whose father died and to my brother and we still had PLENTY left over.  Make this cake today, you won't regret it!

Cheese Grits

I couldn't find the recipe for this on the PW's website, so if you want it send me an email and I'll pass it along.  I loved these cheese grits and I'm not a huge huge fan of grits.  I made them as a side dish and they were great.  However, this is only a HALF recipe of the grits so make sure if you're going to make a whole recipe that you have an army coming to dinner!  If you're looking for a good breakfast recipe that finishes in the oven this is a good one.  I'm going to use it the next time I serve a brunch.

Pico de Gallo

The recipe on Ree's site is a little different than the on in the cookbook.  I wish that I had checked out the website before I started this because it might have helped.  The recipe in the cookbook stressed putting equal amounts of onions and tomatoes in the pico and so I worked hard to do that.  But that made it really onion-y.  If I was going to make this recipe again I would work from the website version as opposed to the cookbook version because it looks more tomato-y which looks better.  Overall, this wasn't something that we absolutely loved and I probably won't try it again.

Macaroni and Cheese

So far this is my favorite non-dessert PW recipe.  This Mac and Cheese is fantastic! I made it a few nights ago to go with my BBQ Pork Chops and it was the perfect side dish.  Cheesy and warm and filling.  I've enjoyed it re-heated for lunch the past few days too and it's been just as good warmed up in the microwave.  Now, if Charlotte is reading this in 7 years she doesn't need to get her hopes up because I won't be making this Mac and Cheese every day -- or even every time she wants Mac and Cheese -- because it was a little time consuming and had a lot of steps but for special occasions this is definitely a keeper!  Yummy! 

 

We're in T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!!

Here's Charlotte pulling up by herself from the floor to her standing at her table today.

Loving being able to stand at her activity table all by herself!

Look! One handed! This child has no fear!

Trying to get Mommy's camera strap

Not so happy that I'm taking of a picture of her standing on her chair

Looking to see what we hide behind her chair.  Usually Luca's toys!

All I know is, things have changed drastically around our house this week!

Recipe Wednesday - Shrimp Pizza

I pulled this out of the September 2009 issue of Parents magazine from an article about making things that your kids will eat. (I couldn't find the recipe on their website.)  Kids, husbands, same thing right??? :)  I kid, Jason is a really good eater, but he loves shrimp so I thought that this recipe would be perfect for him and I like shrimp so good for me!  I made this on Monday night and it was fantastic!  It's more like an authentic pizza that you would get in Italy as opposed to something from a pizza delivery chain.  It was really good and I felt pretty healthy eating it since the recipe says that each slice only has 175 calories.  It was really easy to make and only took about 35-40 minutes from start of prep time until sitting at the table so that was great also.

Shrimp Pizza

1 14 oz can refrigerated pizza crust
2 T olive oil, divided
2 tsp minced garlic
1 lb Shrimp, peeled
5 plum tomatoes, cut into 1/4" slices
1/4 c fresh basil, slivered
1 c shredded mozzarella cheese
Pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425.  Roll out crust to fit a jelly roll pan or your pizza stone.  Brush crust with 1 T olive oil and sprinkle with garlic.  Top with shrimp and tomatoes; bake for 12 minutes.
2. Remove the pizza from the oven. Sprinkle it with basil and cheese.  Drizzle with the remaining olive oil.  Return to the oven just until cheese is melted, about 7 minutes (only took 5 in my oven).  Season with pepper and allow the pizza to cool slightly before serving.

Growing Up

Charlotte,

You are growing up more and more each and every day.  Some day's your progress isn't noticeable and then some days -- like today -- your progress amazes me! 

You've been scooching around on your belly since the beginning of December.  You get around fine and can move quickly.  You pivot yourself around on your belly when you need to switch directions and you can even carry something around with you as long as its small.  A week or two ago you started being able to pull yourself over my legs when I was trying to prevent you from getting one of Luca's toys or from getting off of the rug.  It wasn't a huge distance but it was a big deal!

Then a few days ago you figured out that you could basically crawl on top of the table part of your activity table so we put it up on its legs and have been standing you up to play with it.  You also got to where you could pull yourself up to the seat portion of your little pink chair.  You still can't do anything other than sit on your knees in front of it (at least you couldn't before naptime!) but you can pull yourself into a sitting position.

Yesterday was a big day because you figured out (consistently) how to get yourself from a sitting position back onto your tummy.  Previously you would try to get down but would end up falling a little bit and would start crying.  But yesterday you figured it out and, even though it still takes you a little bit of time, you've gotten good at getting into the position that you want to be in.

This weekend we moved your crib mattress down.  We haven't been saying that we needed to for a while, but you weren't able to pull up really until this weekend and that still wasn't very far up.  But we moved it down and I'm thankful that we did!

I put you down this afternoon for your nap.  You were whimpering a little bit which is totally normal and then maybe 10 minutes after I put you down you started crying.  It wasn't screaming or anything but its unusual for you to start crying when you've sounded fine so I went to check the video monitor.  And to my surprise what did I find?!?! A little girl standing up on her legs in the corner of the bed!! I guess we asked for it since yesterday we started standing you in front of your activity table and maybe you figured out that you could stand up but I was shocked!  I sprinted upstairs and wish I'd taken the camera but I was too scared at that point.  I ran in to your room and you just smiled at me.  I think you were crying because you had gotten yourself up there and didn't know how to get down. 

You looked like such a big girl standing there like that!  When we stand you at your little activity table one of us is always right behind you with our arms on the side of the table to catch you in case you fall, but there you were, standing by yourself, having gotten yourself into that position, and without our arms to catch you!  I know that soon you'll be able to do so much more all by yourself but this seems like a really big step!  But please, can you at least give me a little warning before you do something big like that again?!?! I think I took 10 years off of my life because I was so scared to see you like that this afternoon!!

love Mommy

Teeth!

We have known that Charlotte was close to having her first tooth since around New Years.  She was pretty fussy around New Years and we could feel a huge lump in her gums so we were hopeful that this tooth would come in before our trip to California so that Charlotte wouldn't be in pain.  However, our trip came and went and Charlotte became less fussy and her tooth never showed.  She would occasionally cry as if she was in pain sometimes and orajel would take away her discomfort so we knew that a tooth was coming it was just going to be a matter of how long it took to get here.

Sunday before last (the 17th) when we felt her gums we felt the razor sharp edges of her first little tooth!  We couldn't ever get her to open up enough for a picture (or even for us to see the tooth for a few days) but we could feel it and she was much happier.  My parents were out of town all week and so when my Mom saw Charlotte on Friday she pulled down on her bottom jaw to see if she could see the tooth and she told me there were two teeth!  That was news to me!  Jason had looked at her teeth Thursday night and there was only one so the second tooth must have come through Thursday night.  Charlotte was such a trooper with that one since we didn't even know it was coming and didn't give her anything before she went to bed Thursday night!  Here's a picture from Saturday with both of her teeth.  The left tooth (facing her) came in first and then the right tooth.

It seems like she's such a big girl now that she has teeth!  She has been chewing puffs, pancakes, really anything that goes into her mouth for a long time now but now when she chews I see little teeth working!  And Mom got her some new books and they already have real live teeth marks on them!  Here are some other pictures from Saturday when we were taking pictures of her teeth.

 

Eight Months

Charlotte Lee,

You are eight months of the way through your first year!  In four tiny months you will turn one year old and I don't want to believe that! 

This month has been so much fun for us with a lot of firsts.  You are so active now, you move all over the place and I constantly have to crawl after you to pick you and turn you around so that you don't get into something that you shouldn't.  But this month you've also become more cuddly than you used to.  The one thing that I dislike about Babywise is that there is no rocking you to sleep and so I feel like I've missed out on a lot of the snuggly time with you.  But this month you started wanting to sit in my lap more and the feeling of having you on my lap with your little head laid on my chest is indescribably one of the best feelings that I've ever felt.  I'm not sure if the change is because you've been teething this month and haven't felt as good or because you got used to so much time on my lap while we went to California but, whatever the reason, I am so thankful that we are getting to share these special moments.

I feel like you have grown so much this month!  You now hate to be in your jumper.  You cry when we put you in it but if we leave you there you will stop and start playing with the things on it.  But we better not leave you there for long or you'll start pitching a fit to get down.  You still aren't officially crawling with your tummy off the ground but you are great at "scooch"-ing around by pushing off with your knees/legs and pulling yourself forward with your arms.  I feel like this takes a lot more effort than crawling would but you don't seem bothered with it.  Memma said that I was the same way only with rolling and I didn't crawl until later so I'm guessing you're just taking after me.  But with all this moving you are quick to make a break for the doors to the patio or the door to the foyer.  I'll say "Charlotte" and you'll look at me and smile.  You know that you're not supposed to go there but you smile and then turn around and keep going.  Here you are with your beloved egg after I've told you to come back.  Do you look like you're coming back?!?! I don't think so!

This month has been a big one for you eating wise.  We moved to only nursing four times a day so that you are taking two two hour naps and you are loving your new schedule.  Daddy loves your new schedule because it means that you are up from the time he gets home from work until you go to bed (at 8) and so he gets to spend more time with you.  You are eating almost every baby food I can find.  You got over your aversion to green beans and eat them fine now.  The only baby foods that we've really found that you don't like are mango's and peaches and we haven't tried green peas again.  You love your puffs (any flavor) and will gobble them right up.  You started getting little itty bitty pieces of bread sometimes if we're out to dinner and don't want to feed you any more puffs.  And this week I started tearing up mini pancakes to feed you for breakfast.  Miss Kelly will be happy to hear that since I was previously feeding you a veggie and fruit in the morning for breakfast and she felt very sorry that you had to eat veggies in the morning.  You also tried some diluted juice while we were in California.  You don't drink it much at home but, despite this picture, you love your sippy cup and put it in your mouth the right way as soon as we give it to you even though there's never anything in it!

This month you started pulling up on things -- me, Daddy, your pink chair, your activity table top.  You can climb over anything that we set in front of you if one of Luca's toys is on the other side!  You will not be stopped!

You had a lot of firsts this month.  First Christmas.  First New Years (although we didn't do anything so you had no idea that this even was something).  First airplane ride.  First time to California or Texas.  First time to see the Pacific Ocean (you and Daddy had that first together!).  First National Championship game.  First trip to the Rose Bowl.  First National Championship win for Alabama.  First tooth.  You were busy!  And always such a trooper!  Despite being a baby who has been on a schedule practically since the day you were born (who am I kidding, since the day you were born) you handle change and disruption amazingly well.  See, here you are all relaxed in your crib!

In the past week you've also started consistently saying "MaMa" and "DaDa".  We love hearing that!  And you are great at throwing your arms up when we say "Up".  It is so cute watching you start to communicate!  And then sometimes you have to think about what you're going to say before you say it....

Charlotte, you are the best baby in the world and your Daddy and I are so thankful that you are ours.  We cherish each and every second that we get to be your parents.  Thank you for the blessing that you are to our lives.  We love you!

love Mommy

Right Where I Am

You know how sometimes God meets you right where you are?  That happened to me this morning.

Recently I've been feeling a little caught in a rut.  We've been traveling so much that when I get home I just want to veg and not do much so I end up spending my days sitting on the floor with Charlotte, not getting fully dressed until the afternoon (if I ever put on makeup), and mostly doing the same thing day after day.  So this weekend I determined that I was going to start getting up before Charlotte in the morning to read my Bible, think, pray, get things ready for the day, get dressed, etc.  If you know me you know that I'm not a morning person and I loooove my sleep so this was a big decision for me.  The past two mornings I have gotten up and done those things and I have felt remarkably better about what I'm accomplishing in the day by doing that.  But I have wondered whether I'll have the resolve to see this through.

Then this morning I was going through my reader and I read this post by Big Mama.  She talked about an ebook that her friend wrote that was "all about helping busy moms create an effective morning routine."  So I downloaded it (it's free) and while I was reading through it I almost cried.  It is EXACTLY what I need to help me stay focused and committed to this whole getting up early thing. 

I know that it shouldn't, but its times like this, when I'm still completely floored that the God of this universe cares enough about me to put this in my path at the exact moment that I need it.  If I had seen the link last week I probably would have skimmed over it and never gone to check out the book.  If I saw it in a few weeks I might think that I already have a routine down and I don't need it or I would have already given up and so skipped over it as if I didn't really see it.  But instead, Big Mama posted the link and I read it this morning.  Right when I needed it.  Amazing. 

So I wanted to share this story to remind you that God does care about every bit of your life and He'll help you figure things out in the most surreal way.  And I also wanted to share the link to the eBook in case you want to download the "Maximize Your Mornings" eBook.  Again, it's free and it's not just for Mom's.  It's for anyone who wants to set up a morning routine to get you back on track with God, excersize and planning your day.

Recipe Wednesday - PW's Chocolate Sheet Cake

I'm not going to feature a PW recipe every week but this one is too good to not feature so that I can try and twist your arm to make this cake because you definitely won't regret it! 

Chocolate Sheet Cake

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Cook Time: 20 Minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 24

Ingredients

• FOR THE CAKE:
• 2 cups Flour
• 2 cups Sugar
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• ½ cups Buttermilk
• 2 whole Beaten Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• _____
• FOR FROSTING:
• ½ cups Finely Chopped Pecans
• 1-¾ stick Butter
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Preparation Instructions

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.
In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.
In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.
While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.
Cut into squares, eat, and totally wig out over the fact that you’ve just made the best chocolate sheet cake. Ever.

It doesn't take much!

I'm loving the One Tale a Day concept because it's making me get out my camera and take pictures of the everyday stuff that we're doing around the house.  I feel like I've already forgotten so much about Charlotte's life because I don't have pictures of them!

Today I pulled out some tupperware containers and spoons so that we could have some drums.  Charlotte is a big fan of tupperware and loves playing with the small containers while she's in her highchair.  Today was no different!  She isn't really drumming but is going back and forth between playing with a spoon, the container, or both! 

I love this! I had put the bowls in front of her and she was trying to figure out how to get them.

 

 

 

Where's Charlotte??

I feel like I haven't blogged about real life in a while.  I guess that's because we haven't really been doing much!

At the beginning of last week it was super cold -- all of the snow at our house didn't thaw until yesterday!  Since it was so cold, Charlotte and I pretty much spent the first part of the week inside.  By Thursday I was going stir crazy and I'm pretty sure Charlotte was also so we packed up and met Caroline and Kelly at the indoor playground at the church.  It was so much fun to get out and see them.  I know that Charlotte will love playing on that playground next winter!

Then we left on Friday to go down to Tuscaloosa for the National Championship celebration.  We got up early on Sunday to drive back for Sunday School and then spent the afternoon doing a whole lot of nothing at home.  It was very, very nice to just relax together as a family.  Since today is MLK Day Jason got the day off of work.  Yay! So he and Charlotte have been having a mostly Daddy/Daughter day which has allowed me to run some errands by myself.  Like I tweeted this morning, I think I'm officially old since I thought it was so nice to be at the grocery store at 8:30 AM this morning without a child and in a pretty empty store! :)  Jason took some pictures of Charlotte while I was gone recently running errands and these are some of my favorites.

Charlotte's first tooth broke through her gums yesterday (it's the bottom right tooth).  She hasn't let us see it yet but we can definitely feel it!  I can't believe that we're going to have an eight month old on our hands as of Friday!

Celebration

This weekend we went down to Tuscaloosa for the National Championship Celebration.  On Saturday afternoon some of the Alabama faithful gathered to celebrate with our team and coaches.  Despite the rain half of the stadium was full and we had a good time doing cheers, watching new game promo's, and looking at the 2009 National Champions flag that has already been added with the flags from our other National Championship flags!  Roll Tide!

I'm not sure how this picture will work on the web, but hopefull you will be able to see the team and all of the trophies from this year's season including the National Championship trophies, the SEC Championship trophy, the Heisman, and the Butkus Award.

Cooking through The Pioneer Woman's Cookbook - Post 1

So, it's officially here.  The first of 26 posts jounaling our journey to cook through The Pioneer Woman's cookbook in 2010.  I honestly feel a little overwhelmed with this challenge which probably isn't great since this is the first post about it, but since we were gone ALL WEEK last week this week has been my only chance to cook and it's a lot of pressure to try and cook dinner every night.  (I mean, really, cook dinner every night?!?! Only superwoman does that right!?!?) So, I decided to just try and do four recipes this week -- one main dish (Chicken Spaghetti), one side dish (Cheese Grits), one bread (Buttermilk Biscuits), and one dessert (Chocolate Sheet Cake).  Two out of four isn't bad right?!?!?! :) 

My plan was to make the cake and grits on Thursday but they got better dealed to go out with our friends.  I think friends ALWAYS take precendence!

If you want to join this little challenge there is still plenty of time.  There are only 60 some odd recipes in the cookbook so as long as you make one a week and some weeks make more than one you've got plenty of time! 

I actually did learn some things making the two recipes that I did this week. 

Chicken Spaghetti
- PW (that's short for Pioneer Woman in case you didn't know) recipes always kind of scared me because there are SO MANY steps! But, you know what? Two of the steps in this recipe included cutting your bell pepper one way and the next step was to turn it the other way in order to dice it.  Such easy steps!
- I'm sure that The PW would be mad at me for saying this, but next time I'm making this I'm not using a fryer chicken (or fryer chicken pieces like what I actually used).  I think any type of boiled chicken (be it tenders or whatever) would be fine as long as you get it into bite sized pieces!
- Don't skimp on seasoning's.  The PW is reliable and she'll tell you what to watch out for in order to not make your dish too spicy, just make sure you put in all that she says is required and don't wimp out and think you know better.  Chances are good that you (at least I) don't know better than Ree!
Summary: The whole getting the meat off of the chicken bones was a little more effort than I would like but the result was a great pasta dish that was filling and didn't leave you feeling like you ate something really unhealthy.  Overall a pretty managable dish that lives up to the hype.

Buttermilk Biscuits
- I had never made homeade biscuits before so I didn't have a biscuit cutter.  I used an old trick from my grandmother -- an upside down glass.  Worked like a charm!
- Make sure you make your biscuits thicks.  Mine were too thin and so they looked kind of wimpy.  They don't really rise a lot.
- Make sure you use fresh ingredients.  I'm thinking that maybe flour that had been in the pantry for a while or baking powder that I opened over Christmas might have caused these to be a little drier and heavier than they were intended to be?
Summary: I'm going to try these again because I don't feel like I did them justice.  But my experience with them this week was that they weren't worth the effort.

One other thing that I noticed this week while looking through the cookbook is that I need a cast iron skillet.  And I found while making the spaghetti that I need a saucepan larger than the one's I have but smaller than the humongous stockpot that I have.  So I'm on a mission to find those things this week!  Thankfully I have great knives and most other things that I need from our generous wedding gifts, but make sure you have what you need before you get in the kitchen to cook a recipe!  That would be disappointing!

In case you're just jumping on the bandwagon please know that my bi-weekly updates probably won't be this detailed.  I just have some time during nap time to make this one so.  Our goal is just to cook every recipe in The Pioneer Woman Cooks in the year 2010.  The order doesn't matter nor does the number of recipes that you cook in a two week period.  I will be posting a post to link to every other week.  If you could link to your post about your current adventures on my post we can check them all out!

I can't wait to read about your Pioneer Woman adventures! Just add a link to your blog POST (not your blog, the static link to your post) in the MckLinky carnival below. 

Valentine's Day Card Outtakes

This morning I took the picture for Charlotte's Valentine's Day card.  Here are some of my favorite outtakes!

Recipe Wednesday - Hawaiian Sandwiches

This is not so much a recipe as an idea.  Since we were gone all week last week, I'm playing catch up with the Cooking through the Pioneer Woman's cookbook this week and am pretty much only cooking staple recipes that I've already posted or Pioneer Woman recipes.  So I thought I would give you the details about one of my favorite warmed sandwiches since this time of year is the perfect time to enjoy a warm sandwich.

The key ingredient is Hawaiian bread/rolls.  I buy King's because that's the only kind of Hawaiin bread that they sell at our grocery stores.  So buy either a package of small square rolls or a large round pan of the bread.  The sweetness of the bread is what makes it so good.  Then you can add whatever you want on the sandwich and then you heat it in the oven until the cheese is all melty.  My Mom used to make it with onions but I don't have that exact recipe so we just make a sandwich now.  We usually put two kinds of meat (ham and turkey usually), cheese (usually something really yummy from the deli like smoked guyere or smoked cheddar), mayo, and mustard (something tangy works best).  These are super easy and are really good.  And if you're making them for, say, a football game or an event their easy to make ahead of time and just pop them in the oven about 20 - 30 minutes (on 350) before you want to serve them.  So in summary...

Hawaiian Sandwiches
One large package of Hawaiian Bread
Mayo
Tangy Mustard
Ham
Turkey
Cheese

Cut sandwich bread in half.  Spread mayo on bread.  Add mustard to bread.  Add meats and cheese(s). Toast in the oven on 350 for 20-30 minutes or until the cheese melts.

Baby, it's cold outside!

We were so happy to see that there was still snow on the ground when we got home on Saturday night since we missed the last snow because we were in Atlanta for the SEC Championship game.  So first thing Sunday morning we took Charlotte out to let her play in it.  (Play in that sentance is a very loose use of the word!)  Thanks Abby for letting Charlotte use your snow suit from when you were a baby!

Charlotte's snow angel!

Overalll, she didn't seem to mind the cold one bit!  Maybe we'll have a little snow baby on our hands since it's already snowed twice during her first winter!  Most of the snow has melted by today but there is still some snow out there!  Here's hoping for a serious snowstorm this winter!

Travel 101

I thought I would put down some of the things that I learned while we took this trip to California.  I don't plan to fly so far with one so little again but just in case I want to have my notes down so that I don't forget!  And maybe they can help you also!  This list will be a summary of things I read elsewhere (Magnolias, Marriage, and Manhattan and We Just Got Back amongst others). 

1. Take more diapers than you think you will need.
One person said take 1 for every hour that you plan to be gone starting from when you leave your house until when you get to your hotel plus a few hours in case of delay's.  I definitely didn't use this many diapers but you would always rather have too many rather than too few!  The same goes for wipes!

2. Find a grocery store/drugstore where you're going and buy as much as you can there.
Packing with a child increases your load tenfold.  That's why you want to buy things like diapers, wipes, baby food, etc where you're going instead of packing it.  I guess this wouldn't really apply if you're going out of the country but if you're staying in the country there should be some type of store nearby where you're staying where you can purchase these things.  We even bought an umbrella stroller at Target and then donated it to the childcare center at the hotel before we left.  We did this with shampoo, toothpaste, etc also to save room on packing.

3. Feed baby food that's light colored (i.e. apples, pears) since they're the least messy.

4. Fold up paper towels and extra plastic baggies and stick them in your carry on to clean your baby's faace or contain a dirty diaper if you aren't right next to a trash can.

5. Get a GoGo Kidz TravelMate!
This is a great product that is so easy to use and so convienent.  It attaches to your child's car seat so that you can take it through the airport like a stroller.  We were thankful to be able to borrow a friend's (Thanks Brandi and John!) but it would definitely be a purchase that we would make if we needed to.  This also allowed us to have Charlotte's own car seat in the rental car which gave me an additional feeling of safety because we knew for sure that the car seat was installed correctly.

6. Use a baby carrier.
We found that Charlotte napped a lot better when she was in the Baby Bjorn as opposed to when I was just holding her.  I think it helps the babies feel more secure.  We don't use a carrier at home but have used a sling before for football games earlier in the season.  I was really impressed with the Baby Bjorn and how easy it was to get Charlotte in and out of it.  It was also pretty comfortable for me.  It did start to hurt my back after wearing it for about 6 hours at the football game but I think that long of a length of wearing it without a break would make my back hurt no matter what type of carrier we were using!

7. Take a sheet for the hotel crib with you along with anything else to make your baby feel more like they're at home.
This way your baby is sleeping on a sheet that smells like home (and you know that it's clean).  Make sure that it's a bright color or something other than white so that the hotel staff doesn't accidentally take it.  It also came in handy that Charlotte sleeps with a sound machine on this trip.  Since we were able to bring a sound machine with us her environment was as close to her own room as we could get without having her own bed!

8. Forget a schedule on travel days and do whatever you need to do to have a peaceful trip.
I had read a lot about making sure to have your baby drink something during ascent and descent since they don't know how to clear their ear pressure yet.  So I worked really hard to do that on Monday including waking up Charlotte once.  On Saturday when Charlotte fell asleep 20 minutes before takeoff we figured since she never showed any impacts of the pressure change on Monday that we wouldn't wake her up.  She ended up sleeping right through the takeoff and through half of the flight!  I feel like it's also ok to increase the number of feedings or have a supplemental bottle of juice or water to give them also in case they need to be calmed down during the flight.  And we found that feeding puffs was always a sure-fire way to calm Charlotte down!

Basically the most important thing is to do what works for your family.  I had read to board the plane last instead of first like they offer for families, but for us it worked to get on first because watching all of the other people get on the plane kept Charlotte occupied better than sitting in the terminal.  I'm sure when she's older that won't be the case but we did what worked best for us.  I found that Charlotte adapted pretty well to whatever we threw at her.  Have faith that your baby will survive and so will you!

Headed Home

On Saturday we packed up and headed home.  Charlotte did superbly on the trip home.  Even better than on the way out.  Even though it was freezing when we get home it was nice to be back in Alabama!  Our flight to Dallas had a lot of Texas fans on it but it was mostly Alabama fans flying out of Dallas.  That was fun and we did quite a few "Roll Tide's" before we took off!

We had such a great trip and made so many fun memories.  This was the first far away trip that Jason and I had taken since our honeymoon and it was so nice to have our first family trip to somewhere as fun as California! 

The REAL Recovery Day

We are so thankful that we scheduled our trip to go back on Saturday instead of Friday. After the LONG day on Thursday it would have been a nightmare to try and take Charlotte on a plane on Friday. So, instead, we had another recovery day! On Friday Charlotte did take all three naps in her crib and we spent most of the day at the hotel hanging out. We only got out to get some lunch and do a quick shopping trip on Balboa Island.

She was watching a plane fly overhead!