Show Us Your Life - What is Your Day Like?

Update: Apparently Kelly's schedule slipped due to adding the show your ministry last week so this is a week early! Sorry! :)

As part of Kelly's Show Us Your Life I'm about to show you what Tuesday of this week (February 23rd) was like at our house.  Prepare to be amused (or bored, whichever!).

 

Wake up!  You wouldn't know from looking at her sleepy eyes that she had been awake and playing for 20-30 minutes by this time.  Charlotte used to be really good about sleeping until 8 am (I know, we're soooo lucky) but recently has been waking up around 7:30 and dozing and playing until 8.  It's probably because she's getting too much sleep but she gets so sleeping during the day and at night that we can't really put her down later at night or decrease nap times right now.  We're just going to move to a more fluid wake up time when Charlotte decides she wants to get up.

After she eats Charlotte gets her diaper changed.  She's wondering why I'm taking pictures of her!  Silly Mommy!

In her outfit for the day.  She loves grabbing her Very Hungry Catepillar stacking rings!

After getting ready for the day we come downstairs and play until it's time for breakfast.

At 9 Charlotte eats breakfast.  This usually consists of puffs, 1 1/2 mini pancakes (that's what she's eating right now), and fruit baby food.  She gobbles it all up!

  

Then we play again until it's time for her nap at 10:30.  Sweet Luca hangs out in his crate in the den with us because of his surgery.  We are looking forward to him being able to get out with us during the day.

Charlotte is still wondering why I'm taking all these pictures.  This is when I'm getting her up from her morning nap at noon.

After eating we play again until lunch.  Charlotte was playing in her room while I put away her laundry here.  She's so happy!

At 1 Charlotte eats lunch.  This is her spitting out the piece of pear I was feeding her.  For lunch she gets some puffs, veggie baby food, and fruit baby food.  I am also trying to give her some small amount of table food with each meal also.  I was, obviously, trying pears on Tuesday.  They weren't a hit.

We play after lunch until it's naptime again anywhere from 2:30 to 3 depending on how she's feeling.  This is the time of the day when I get out and run errands if I need to, like the grocery store, etc.  I didn't have any errands on Tuesday so we just stayed home and played.

Here I am getting Charlotte up from her afternoon nap at 4:30.  By this point she was totally over the camera in her face when she got up.  That's ok, the day's almost over at this point.

Around 5ish Jason gets home and Charlotte is always so happy to see him.  Here she is giving him a kiss.

Once Jason gets home he plays with Charlotte while I made dinner.  On Tuesday I made The Pioneer Woman's chicken fried steak and twice baked potatoes.  Yum!  Meals at our house aren't always this involved, trust me!

Charlotte eats her dinner around 6 with roughly the same thing that she had for lunch.  She sits with us at the table and plays in her high chair while we eat dinner.  Hopefully this is a routine that we will be able to continue as she gets older because I love getting to share that time as a family.

After dinner we enjoy time as a family with more playtime.  Charlotte loves playing with all of her toys.  It's nice to just be able to hang out and relax at the end of the day.  This is the time of day when we'll typically give Charlotte a bath.

Like I said, Charlotte was pretty  much over the camera by this point so I didn't get any pictures from bedtime.  We need to start a bedtime routine (you know, bath, books, eat, bed) but have yet to do that.  Most nights Charlotte's exhausted the last 15-30 minutes and we're just trying to keep her happy until it's bedtime at 8.  We do plan on starting to try a routine soon though.

My day isn't too extravagant or flashy but it is really nice.  I thrive in a routine and so I'm so glad that Charlotte was easily adaptable to the Baby Wise ideas that I introduced.  She is, truly, one of the happiest babies that I've ever seen and most days it is a joy to be with her at home every day.  I am so thankful that I get that opportunity.  I am really looking forward to it getting warmer so that we can get out of the house some between naps and go to the park or the pool or just go on a walk.  It will also be a little more exciting when Charlotte drops a nap (please not soon!) and we will have more time to be out of the house to explore.

I  hope you enjoyed seeing my typical day!

And Charlotte, I'm sorry for posting all of these pictures with your adorable bed head.  You probably won't think they're so adorable when you're a teenager, but, believe me, they are!

Nine month doctor's appointment

 

Today we went to the doctor for Charlotte's nine month well visit.  It was pretty much a fiasco with Charlotte practically screaming the entire time with big fat tears running down her face every time I would move anywhere close to putting her down.  It's never a good sign when your child starts crying when you take their clothes off at the doctor and there is nary a needle in sight.  But, obviously, it didn't traumatize her too much since I took this picture just a few minutes ago and our appointment was at 1:30.  

Other than the screaming our appointment went well.  Our doctor said that Charlotte looks great and he wasn't worried about anything at all.  I was a little discouraged to see that her weight was only 15 lbs 10 ounces (5th percent) but our doctor told us that a drop was totally normal for this time in a baby's life due to all of the increased activity between their 6 month visit and now.  She had grown 1 1/2 inches taller though to move to 27" tall (31st percentile).  And, not that anyone cares, but her head circumference was 45 cm (78th percentile). 

It is really strange that our next appointment will be her one year appointment!  This year has gone by really fast!  

And as an aside, for those of you who don't know (and I was one of those people until my mom brought it to my attention), there is apparently a resurgence of whooping cough due to children not getting vaccinated.  Therefore, it is being recommended that everyone between the ages of 11 and 65 get a new TDap to help contain the spread of whooping cough.  So check with your doctor about that.  I would hate to get something like that and pass it off to Charlotte without even knowing that I needed to have done something to prevent it.  I DON'T want to start a vaccine discussion though so please don't post anything about that.  It's everyone's own decision and I don't want to get in to it, I just wanted to make you aware of this new vaccine for adults in case you weren't previously aware. 

New Mother Cheatsheet

I want to write down some things that I remember, advice that I have, etc from when Charlotte was born so that when we have our next child I can remember.  Also, I figure, maybe someone out there is about to have a baby and it will help!  So, without further ado, here is my "New Mommy Cheatsheet". (As a disclaimer, just because it worked or didn't work for me doesn't mean that it will or will not work for you.  And, I'm still such a newbie at this most of this information could be wrong so take it all with a grain of salt!)

• If you have a C-section you aren't getting into your own pj's until the next day because you've got to wait until they take your iv out.  Therefore, don't pack pj's for the day of the baby's birth and be prepared to be in the hospital gown until the next day.
• Also, be prepared that they won't let you have the Diet Dr Pepper that you've just requested for a few hours after your surgery.  They aren't being mean, just trying to take care of you.  That being said, if you've had a lot of surgeries before and feel fine you might can sweet talk your family in to giving you one before the nurses would approve it, but that might cause you to get nauseous just as you have guests later in the afternoon which is a little embarrassing and uncomfortable.
  
• Don't let the nurses freak you out about something if they haven't talked to your doctor and you haven't talked to your doctor.  I had Charlotte on Friday and when the nurse came on Saturday night she told me that Charlotte had lost too much weight and that we would have to start supplementing her with formula.  I knew that we weren't having big feeding issues other than what was normal but the nurse made me so anxious about it I stayed up for a couple of hours researching things online to see how bad it was.  Then when our pediatrician came to check Charlotte Sunday morning we had to ask about her weight before he left because he didn't even bring it up! He said it wasn't a problem and he wasn't concerned.  I'm not saying that you should ignore what nurses say but if they tell you something that you haven't heard from your doctor yet you should definitely talk to our doctor before you let it stress you out!
• Make a plan for your first few hours after your baby's birth and make sure that everyone knows what they are.  These plans should be fluid but should set up ground rules for who you want in your room and when.  It was really important to me that no one other than Jason hold Charlotte before I got to so we told our parents beforehand that no one was going to be holding her during that time and that when we got back to the room we were going to have family time just the three of us first.  And then we would bring in our parents and my brother and then start seeing extended family after that.  It helped to have that spelled out beforehand so no one got their feelings hurt over unrealistic expectations.
• Try and take time to rest!  You are in the hospital after all and you aren't getting a lot of sleep at night!  It's so hard because we wanted to see everyone who wanted to see us but after a few days of waking up from naps to entertain visitors its really hard.  Try to set up some ground rules ahead of time as to when you'll be accepting visitors so that you can heal but you can also visit with people when you feel like it.  I don't know what this looks like since we didn't do it but I wish we had limited the hours and visitors so we could have rested a little more when Charlotte was in the nursery.
• Let someone spend the night with you once you get home and then when they do let them take the baby during the night.  I so wish that we had taken up offers to do this!  It's ok to need help and the help will only be there for so long at which point you'll still be up all night while whoever was helping will be asleep in their nice, baby-free home.
• It's ok to do things unconventionally at the beginning.  For instance, it's ok to let your baby sleep in their swing or car seat or whatever you need to let them get rest and you get rest.  The low vibrate on the swing worked wonders for us!  Your baby will, sooner than you think, go to sleep in their crib or bassinet, but until then you still need sleep and so do they.  Find what works for you and go with it.  That's how we started using the sound machine.  We tried it one night and she slept and now we don't put her down for a nap without it!
• Even if you're going to put your baby on a schedule (i.e. Baby Wise) the first few weeks don't really count.  Your baby is going to sleep ALL THE TIME and that's fine.  Don't stress out about following the book exactly.  Just try and do the best that you can and it will work out fine!
• Before you go to the hospital set up a season pass or series recording for a couple of shows that you like so that you'll have them.  Those shows in the middle of night and early morning and afternoon will be your lifesavers!  My favorites were 'Say Yes to the Dress' and 'Gilmore Girls'.  I had never seen 'Gilmore Girls' before Charlotte was born but ABC family shows them in order every afternoon at 4 pm.  True story, every time that the theme song comes on Charlotte's face lights up because she's heard it so much!  The series finale was yesterday on ABC Family nd I'm distraught thinking about what I'm going to watch now! :)  But especially in those first few weeks it helped to have things dvr'd so that when Charlotte finally fell asleep on me I could watch shows without having to worry about much.  They also helped keep me awake in the early morning's when she wanted to be up and I wanted to be in bed.
• If you're nursing, introduce a bottle around 2-3 weeks after your baby is born. I had heard horror stories about babies not taking a bottle but, thankfully, we never had that problem.  Make sure your husband gives the baby the first few bottles though so that they aren't confused.  This allowed us to go on date nights or have someone watch her while I went to the grocery store without having to worry about missing a feeding.  Although, you have to make sure and pump if you don't nurse so that's another thing to consider.
• We love going out with friends and family and we've always taken Charlotte along (case in point, the National Championship game).  Don't let your new baby change the things that you want to do.  The baby is a baby and he/she will adapt to the situation you put them in surprisingly quickly.  If you take your baby out to eat all the time it won't be a big deal for the baby to go out to eat.  That being said, if taking the baby out will stress you out don't do it.
• Mostly, do what feels best to you.  Each and every person is different.  You can get advice from your friends and family and you will want and need that advice.  But you're going to have to listen to your Mommy gut and decide what works for you.  At this point it's ok to be selfish and sleep during the day even if people are bringing you dinner.  If they've had a kid they'll understand why you're asleep and your Mom is accepting dinner from them.  And if someone offers to help, let them do something.  They just want to be involved and feel like they made your life a little easier.

Ok, I feel better.  I know I won't remember everything when the next baby comes along (in a long time, don't flip out anyone!) but maybe this will remind me of what I remembered to be important at the nine month mark.  Seeing as I can't remember anything since I got pregnant someone might have to remind me that I posted this whenever that time comes around!

Recipe Wednesday - Super Sloppy Joe's

 

In college I tried cooking some of Rachael Ray's recipes but I always found them too hard.  Too many ingredients that weren't common.  Maybe she could make those recipes in 30 minutes but it took me a LOT longer than that!  So I kind of gave up on her.  Until my aunt gave me her "Kid Food" cookbook for Christmas.  A few weeks ago I was looking for new recipes and I figured I might could find something in this cookbook so I pulled it out and I made Rachael's Super Sloppy Joe's.  And let me tell you, they were super!  We used to make Sloppy Joe's a lot in our first year of marriage when we were trying to stretch our grocery budget but it was always with the sloppy joe mix package from the store.  These homemade sloppy joe's were so good!  Please give this recipe a try, you won't regret it! (I couldn't find this recipe on her website but if anyone has the link please let me know!)

Super Sloppy Joe's

1 T extra virgin olive oil

1 lb Ground Beef (the leaner the better)

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 teaspoons Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick

1 medium Onion, chopped finely

1 small Red Bell Pepper, chopped finely

1 T Red Wine Vinegar

1 T Worcestershire Sauce

2 cups Tomato Sauce

2 T Tomato Paste

4 crusty rolls, split, toasted, and slightly buttered

1. Heat a large skilled over M/H head.  Add oil and beef to the pan, spreading it around to break it up.

2. Combine brown sugar and steak seasoning, then add to skillet and combine.

3. When meat has browned, add onion and red pepper.  Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.

4. Add vinegar, stirring briefly, then add Worcestershire, tomato sauce and tomato paste, stirring to combine.  Reduce heat to simmer and cook 5 minutes longer.

5. Serve on toasted buns

Happy 3/4th Birthday!

 

Charlotte,

Watching your personality develop this month has been so much fun!  You started doing so many new and exciting things!  Nine months sounds so much older to me than eight months did.  And you seem so much bigger.  Although I don't want you to have to get more shots, I can't wait to see how much you've grown at your doctor's appointment on Thursday.

Here are some of the things that you are loving at nine months!

You have developed your parents love of books, although you lean more towards Mama's preferred genre of fiction rather than Daddy's preferred genre of military history.  You definitely have favorite books like "We're Going on a Bear Hunt", "Where's My Sweetie Pie", "Twinkle Toes", "Peekaboo Farm", and Peek-a-Baby".  You also LOVE the soft nursery rhyme book that KayKay made for you.  You will lay on your back and "read" it to yourself.  I hope that you develop a love of books like I have!

  

You have learned all kinds of new things with your hands.  You now wave bye-bye like you're waving above to The Wonder Pets.  You can also give us a high five if we ask for one.  I can't wait for you to put your hand movement together with a "Hi!" or "Bye!"

Your gross motor skills have greatly improved this month!  You went from getting around quickly by army crawling to full blown crawling this month.  You still scooch around on your tummy but you are quite a crawler too!  We are letting you explore the house and you are having fun going into rooms that you have rarely been in!

 

You have become a master stander this month.  You still have a hard time getting down from the standing position except when you're in your crib, but you can pull yourself up on just about anything!  And you are pretty steady on your feet also.  We don't really worry about you toppling over any more like we used to, we just worry about you leaning over to get something on the floor and doing a face plant.  One thing you are is fearless.  I guess it means that you trust that we will be there to catch you but it scares us sometimes! You think nothing of letting go of whatever you pulled up on to grab at a toy or turn around and look at something.  You are so brave!  You have also started walking with us holding your hands or walking behind you walker.  You are still walking on your tip toes instead of your flat feet so that cracks us up.  I can't wait to see when you start walking -- we'll really be in trouble then!

 

You are such a sweet baby!  One thing that I think I've really noticed this month is watching you become more attached to your people.  The past few days you  have been not even wanting to go to Daddy, when he holds out his arms you'll just turn and bury your head into me.  You give the sweetest hugs and you give me and Daddy sweet kisses.  You are one of the easiest going, most happy babies that I've ever seen!  Memma and Papa G still kid us about how little you cry in comparison to how much I cried.

As of yesterday you are now taking two hour and a half naps.  You're still waking up early in the morning though so we're probably going to either move your bedtime back 15 or 30 minutes or permanently move wake up time up because you function a lot better with an hour and a half nap than a shorter one.  You are a fantastic sleeper and Daddy and I are so THANKFUL for that!  You might fuss for a few minutes or you might stand up a few times before you finally go to sleep but once we put you in your crib you are usually good to get yourself to sleep.

You are also a great eater!  We think that you might have a bottomless tummy!  You will eat pretty much anything that we put out for you.  You love finger food and feeding yourself even if you don't always love the things that we're giving you.  You've eating a lot of big girl food now -- green beans, baked potato, peas, pears, apples, tortilla, bread, etc.  You aren't a huge fan of most of it, but you will try anything once!  

We love you so much baby girl!  You are our pride and joy!

love, Mommy

Swingin'

It was hard to not take advantage of the beautiful weather yesterday, but we stayed inside to keep Luca company.  Today, we decided to venture down to the park and try out the swings.  I thought that Charlotte would really enjoy them and I didn't want to take her for her first time without Jason so today was the perfect day to go.  We had a nice walk to the park that was only a little unpleasant when Charlotte decided that she would rather have me hold her than ride in the stroller.  So as not to disturb the golfers I acquiesced.  I think she's decided that today is "only want Mommy" day.

When we got to the park I was kind of surprised at how big the swings were.  From the road they looked smaller.  So Charlotte was probably still a little small to really enjoy them.  She kind of just sunk in the seat.  It was also really bright outside and the sun was in her eyes.  She did enjoy it when the swing got going.  I think she'll love them this summer when she's a little bigger and we go later in the day or earlier in the morning when the sun isn't as bright and isn't directly overhead.  I did enjoy getting out.  We enjoyed a nice walk around the neighborhood on the way home.  The only thing missing was Luca.  :(  We did miss him since he is still barely walking and we had to leave him at home.  Hopefully he'll be well enough to come walking with us by this summer.

I kind of feel bad posting the picture of her crying, but it's so hilarious!  She wasn't in pain or anything, just wanted me.  Like I said, it has been an "only Mommy" day.

What a Week

Whew! I am so ready for this week to be over!  It seems like so much has gone wrong and it's been such an overwhelming week.  I'm praying desperately that this week is about to get better.

If you follow me on Twitter you will have seen that my aunt and cousins were in a car crash last night.  Normally I would call it a car accident but someone 100% across the line in the oncoming lane of traffic and hitting them head on isn't an accident.  Thankfully they were all treated and released last night and, although they are sore and shaken up today, they are all alright.

You will also have seen that we have had a scare with Luca.  On Sunday we noticed that he was lethargic and was fearful of jumping up on the couch or our bed.  However, on Monday he was pretty normal and even had fun on a long walk in the snow with Jason.  On Tuesday he was fine also but a little more hesitant to jump.  Yesterday morning after Jason left for work I saw that Luca was shaking pretty badly and so I called the vet and took him in.  After thoroughly examining him she found that he didn't exhibit any signs of pain during the examination but his stomach was tight and so the doctor felt like he might have eaten something.  She did some tests including a full blood scan and everything returned normal results and so she sent him home yesterday afternoon.  However, when Jason picked him up he noticed that he was limping very badly (he was walking normally yesterday morning).  Jason had the vet reexamine Luca but she felt like it was just his kneecaps (Yorkie's have kneecap problems) and so she gave him some pain medicine and told us to have him rest.

Last night Luca was limping but was getting around ok.  We laid him on a heating pad on our bed while we watched American Idol and while we knew he didn't feel good we thought he had just sprained his knee or something.  When Jason got up and took Luca out he couldn't really put weight on his right leg.  By the time I got back downstairs with Charlotte Luca couldn't put any weight on either of his back legs and I rushed him back to the vet.  After doing some contrast radiographs (??) she determined that he had a herniated disk and they referred us to a regional hospital for surgery.  When the vet told us she was hopeful that Luca would be able to walk again we really started to worry.

We are so thankful that my parents live so close and are so willing to come and take care of Charlotte.  Knowing that she was in such good hands today, while we took care of Luca, really helped ease our burden.  We took Luca over to a neighboring town where the hospital was and spoke with the vet there.  They performed the surgery this afternoon and Luca is currently recovering at the hospital.  They said that the surgery went very well but they have not minced words about the fact that his recovery will be long and hard.  We got to go and see him after his surgery and he looked so sad laying there under the towels trying to wake up from surgery and get warm.  They will keep him pretty sedated tonight and will wake him up gradually tomorrow.  We will go visit again after Jason gets home from work tomorrow.

There are so many things that we're thankful for.  For a regional vet hospital that's so close where the vet has performed 3000 of the surgeries that Luca needed.  For a vet that referred us quickly and told us exactly what we needed to.  For parents who can come quickly to take care of Charlotte.  For the technology to repair something like this.  For friends who bring you hot chocolate and bagels because you're having a bad week.  For such a great hospital that is staffed 24 hours a day and will let us come visit after office hours (we were so impressed with this facility!).

It has been a really stressful day to top off a really stressful week.  We are feeling better though now that Luca's surgery was successful and he is recovering.  We hope that since he's so young he will recover quickly and regain his ability to walk quickly.  Another blessing was that when I got home and tried to feed Charlotte this afternoon she started nursing again and so her nursing strike, hopefully, is over.  We had been planning on going to the coast this weekend to watch my dad get a very big honor and, sadly, we aren't going to be able to go so that we can be here for Luca.  We hate to be missing out on that but will definitely be there in spirit.  Hopefully today was the last stressful day for a while and things will be getting better quickly.  We so appreciate your prayers and thoughts over the past few days.  Please continue to pray for Luca's recovery and my ability to do everything for him that he needs during the day while also taking care of Charlotte to the best of my ability.  I'm a little nervous about how I'll be able to handle that when I'm here by myself.

The other day I mentioned that a negative about this technological age is that it's hard to avoid reading information/opinions that you don't want to read or that are false.  But I think the benefits far outweigh the bad.  It made me feel better this morning to be able to tweet about Luca and know immediately that we had so many people praying for us.  The same goes for blogging.  I've received numerous generous comments from my post the other day about Charlotte's strike and everything I read was so helpful and encouraging.  I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends in real life and in blogworld.  Thanks for praying for us, encouraging us, and sharing our trials with us!

Recipe Wednesday - Pineapple Zucchini Cake

A few weeks ago we joined Grow Alabama.  This is an organization that you can sign up with to receive a box of locally grown, mostly organic or working towards an organic qualification produce.  Each week you get a list of things for your box and you can eliminate items that you don't want and get an extra portion of items that you want.  We have found it to be a great way to introduce more produce into our diet while knowing that we are supporting local farmers and families.

The first week that we got a box we received zucchini in our box.  Since it had been too cold to grille and that's usually how I would enjoy zucchini I set out to find some zucchini recipes.  So I started out by searching typical recipe sites and then I went to The Pioneer Woman because I've found that she has great, go-to recipes.  And I found a recipe from her recipe website, Tasty Kitchen.  I had forgotten about Tasty Kitchen but I went and checked it out and if you're not using it for your recipes you should be!  It's full of reader submitted recipes that other people comment on and put their opinions.  It includes ratings and pictures.  It's a great resource!

Anyway, so I found Ree's post about Pineapple Zucchini Cake and I decided to try it.  It is similar to carrot cake so don't flip out too much about there being zucchini in it.  And the pineapple's make it moist.  It is a really delicious cake that's topped with cream cheese icing!  Go check out Ree's post about it which links to the original recipe on Tasty Kitchen or here's the recipe. (BTW, sorry about the quality of the picture.  All I had with me was my camera and it was kind of dark!)

Pineapple Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
    * 1 cup All-purpose Flour
    * 1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (can Use All White Flour If You Don't Have This)
    * 1-¼ cup Granulated Sugar
    * 1/2 Cup Sweetened Flaked Coconut
    * 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
    * 1 teaspoon Salt
    * 2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
    * Freshly Grated Nutmeg, To Taste (1/4 To 1/2 Tsp?), Optional
    * 1 Pinch Ginger (about 1/16 Tsp Or So), Optional
    * 3 Tablespoons Canola Oil
    * 2 whole Large Eggs
    * 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
    * 2 Cups Grated (unpeeled) Zucchini (*see Note)
    * 1 (20 Oz.) Can Crushed Pineapple In Juice, Drained (reserve In Case You Need It For The Cake Batter Or The Frosting)
    * FROSTING
    * 2 Tablespoons Butter, Softened
    * 8 Ounces Low-fat Cream Cheese, Softened (can Use Full-fat Cream Cheese)
    * 2 Cups Powdered Sugar, Approx.
    * 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
    * Splash Of Milk Or Pineapple Juice, If Necessary
    * Chopped Walnuts Or Pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare cake, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, coconut, baking soda, salt, and spices in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk.

Combine oil, eggs, and vanilla; stir well. Stir egg mixture, grated zucchini, and pineapple into flour mixture. Batter will be stiff and dry but keep folding it and it will all come together. If it still seems too dry, just add a little splash of the pineapple juice.

Spoon batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for about 33-35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs and cake is pulling away from sides of pan. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To prepare frosting, combine butter and cream cheese in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla just until smooth. Add a splash of milk or pineapple juice if necessary. Spread frosting over top of cake. You can garnish with chopped pecans or walnuts, if desired.

NOTES : If your zucchini are huge, scrape the seeds out of the center before you shred it so it’s not too watery. Also, I spread it all out on layers of paper towel to drain it and dry it off a bit. Then I measure out 2 cups. Not sure if this is critical though. Nuts can also be added to the cake batter if desired. This recipe makes a very generous amount of frosting.

And this recipe can be turned into a Carrot Cake just by substituting shredded carrots for the zucchini.

Fat Tuesday and other ramblings

There are a lot of things that I want to say and I don't really know how to go about saying them.  So much has happened over the past few days and I'm having a hard time processing.  So let's start with the lighter topics...

Snow.  We've got it.  Since Friday it has snowed in some fashion every day except for Saturday.  This is the fourth time since the beginning of December that we've had (as my weather-loving husband likes to say) "measurable snowfall".  We live in Alabama.  We usually don't see ANY measurable snowfall in a winter, much less this much.  It's beautiful, yes, but we aren't equipped to handle it.  Jason was off yesterday for President's Day but his work was delayed this morning because of the roads.  Jason and Luca enjoyed a walk around our neighborhood in it yesterday (see the picture above and yesterday's Tale a Day picture) but I haven't really been able to get out in it since Charlotte is still too young.  I hope that it snows like this in a year or two when she can actually get out and play in it.  Until then, I'm done with snow.  I would rather not see it any  more this winter. Come on spring!

Fat Tuesday and Lent.  In case you missed it, today is Fat Tuesday and tomorrow is Ash Wednesday denoting the beginning of the Lenten season.  Even though I'm currently a Baptist, I grew up Methodist where an emphasis was put on Lent and giving something up for Lent.  The idea is that you give up something that you are focusing on too much or something that is detrimental to you and when you are tempted to give in to that something during the next six weeks you focus on God instead of giving in to the temptation.  At least, that's what Lent means to me.  So starting tomorrow Jason and I are giving up chocolate (yes, I talked him in to it, but he did agree).  I'm also going back on the no soft drinks and fried food plan that I used back in the fall to help rid myself of most of my baby weight.  I'm hoping that I can really take my dedication to God to the next level over the next six weeks.  So, please don't tempt us with chocolate if you can help it and don't get offended if we refuse your kindhearted offers of chocolate!

 

  

  

Charlotte.  She's still not totally over her cold which is kind of freaking me out.  Her nose is still runny although she's not really coughing anymore.  She still hasn't had a fever either.  I was going to call the doctor to see about taking her in today but they're closed all day due to the snow/ice.  If she's still like this tomorrow I'll call.  She's acting normal (when she plays) but I don't think this should still be hanging on.  She also has decided to go on (what I've found is called) a nursing strike.  It's been pretty emotional for me since I've been nursing this whole time without incident.  Now we're trying to figure out if we can weather it and if she'll pick back up or if we should just wean her at this point.  From what I've read online babies don't usually wean themselves until their at least 18 months and when they do they're happy about it, not fighting against it, so I don't think this is her weaning herself.  I think she's just having a bad reaction to my reaction from being bitten or it has to do with her cold.  If any of you have dealt with something like this and have any advice or encouragement I would appreciate it.  I feel totally out of my element thinking about switching to formula just because I have no knowledge about what to do or how to mix it or anything (if you have advice about that I would also appreciate that).  The feelings of being in over my head in making the switch and trying to convince myself that Charlotte isn't rejecting me and that I didn't do anything and trying to map out the best plan for all of us has me a little (or a lot) overwhelmed and emotional.  I've also developed a cold over the past few days so I feel cruddy too which, I'm sure, isn't helping any.

The UAH shooting.  I'm still really heartsick over the whole tragedy.  Just thinking about all of the people affected and the families and children is tearing me up.  I know that when I don't know what to pray for the Holy Spirit intercedes on my behalf but I feel like all of my prayers now are like that.  It's hard to not get consumed in reading about the shooter and everything that's being said about it.  In one way that's why this technology age is so detrimental.  It's hard to get online and not be tempted to look at stories about it and people's opinions and some people are so off base that you just want to scream.  It's hard to skip over people who are being ugly and judgmental when they really have no clue about anything.  Please join me in praying for the situation and people affected.

Sorry that this was disjointed and possibly a little too personal at times.  Sometimes I wonder about how real I should be on this blog.  Not necessarily because of who out there in the yonder might be reading it but because of whether I want to be that honest with people who know me in real life.  But, I think that I will want to remember how I felt about things and I hope that someone else can identify with me and either help me or let me help them.  Besides, sometimes it's nice to remind yourself and others that you're not perfect and that you don't expect yourself or anyone else to be either. 

Valentine's....So Far

I know that it's early on Valentine's Day but I have a chance to blog so I'm going to take it.

We had a big weekend planned this weekend with a date night with our Sunday School class on Friday night and then a dinner and a movie with our best friends last night.  With Charlotte not feeling great all week it was nice to be able to get out by ourselves.  Although, I realized that we didn't take a picture of the two of us either night!  Isn't it funny how that changes once you have kids?  Previously we would always take pictures of the two of us and now, we never do.  We'll try and take one this afternoon.

Anyway, we were thankful that Jason's parents came over both nights to keep Charlotte.  I know that she had so much fun with KayKay and GrandDavid.  Thank you so much for driving over both nights to let us get out!!

On Friday we met our Sunday School class at a nice seafood restaurant.  They sat us in an isolated area which was so nice!  And we were also right next to their fireplace so we were warm and toasty on a very cold night.  This is before we left... Charlotte hadn't napped good during the day and so was a little tired.

 

 

And this is her reaction to us leaving.  Priceless.

Last night we went out to a new bar-b-que restaurant and then went and saw Valentine's Day which was really cute.  No pictures from the night though.  Sad.

This morning we woke up to a blanket of snow!  It wasn't even forecasted to snow until tonight so we were surprised to see it this morning.  Here's a picture of the HUGE snowflakes that we were getting at one point!

 

It has slacked up now but its supposed to pick up again later today.  I've heard predictions that we might get as much as 4-6 inches!  Who would have thought that Charlotte would see so much snow in her first winter!

On a sadder note, this weekend has been hard because of the shooting at UAH.  Living in Alabama, we are connected to the university in multiple ways and this incident has really reminded me to cherish each day with your loved ones.  Please be praying for the victims, their families, the students, the administration and officials, and everyone impacted by the shooting.  There will be a prayer service at 12 pm CST today so if you could especially be praying at that time it would be greatly appreciated.  I've read that there are still two people in the hospital in critical condition so they definitely need our prayers for a full recovery.  Thank you for remembering the community.  On that note here's Charlotte in her UAH onesie that Dr. Williams gave her when she was born.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cooking through the Pioneer Woman's Cookbook - Post 3

Sorry that this is delayed in getting up this morning.  With Charlotte being sick this week I didn't remember that I needed to post this until the middle of the night last night!

I'm trying to slow down with my cooking since there are so few recipes in the cookbook and I don't want to finish it in July and then not have anything else to blog about for the rest of the year.  So the past two weeks I just cooked two recipes, Breakfast Potatoes and Breakfast Burritos.  To me almost nothing is more fun than a breakfast at dinner meal and these two dishes helped me make that a reality.

 

Breakfast Potatoes

These potatoes were wonderful.  Flavored perfectly and (for the most part) crispy on the outside.  They weren't too hard to make either.  They would be great as a side for any kind of meal, not just breakfast.

 

Breakfast Burritos

I didn't use enough eggs in this and my meat ratio was too high but it was still good.   I was trying to half the recipe since it was just the two of us so I only used half of some ingredients (like the eggs) but I still used the whole recipe of meat.  Still, I feel like its hard to go wrong with breakfast burritos.  It's a good thing that Charlotte didn't come out as a breakfast burrito considering how many I ate while I was pregnant! It's hard to beat a MkyD's breakfast burrito but these are good.

Now, it's your turn! Let us know what you've made from the PW's cookbook these last two weeks! And it's never too late to join us! If you're just starting that's perfectly fine too!

Sick of being Sick

I feel like a pretty bad blogger.  I haven't written an actual post about what's going on in our life in a while.  I feel like I got stuck in a blogging rut back in the fall of only posting recap posts of what we had done that now, when we're at home most of the time, I feel like there isn't much to write about.  In reality, life with an 8 1/2 month old is always an adventure but most days nothing really out of the ordinary happens.  I'm excited about doing Kelly's Korner show us your life tour in a few weeks because it's "a day in the life."  That should be fun. 

Anyway, things have been good and bad with us.  Charlotte has had a cold since about Tuesday.  Which, I guess, is only two days ago but it seems like she's been feeling cruddy for years now.  She isn't acting like she feels too miserable, it's just that she pretty much only wants to sit in my lap.  I must have read every book that we own at least 10 times in the past few days and I've resorted to playing Cars on tv in hopes of having something occupy her attention for a little while.  It works for the time being.  She hasn't had a fever at all, just has a stuffy, runny nose and coughs occasionally.  She seems the worst today, congestion wise, that she has so far so I'm hoping we've hit the peak and are about to be on our way down.

When she wakes up though she's happy for an hour or two and during those times we've had a lot of fun.  Charlotte is doing so much these days!  She is a champ at pulling up on anything and everything now.  Last night I was sitting against the recliner and she crawled over to me and started trying to pull up on it.  Jason asked if she had pulled up on it before and I told him, honestly, that she hadn't and that I didn't think she could because the cushion doesn't have an outer seam or anything for her to grab on to.  As soon as I finished saying that she finished successfully pulling herself up on the recliner!  She is making me change what I say she can do every day!

 

She has gotten so good at standing!  We still have to be right there with her to catch her if she starts to fall, but she is a lot more steady on her feet than she used to be.  Last night I was remembering when we would put pillows around her when she was sitting up in case she fell backwards.  It's hard to believe that in no time at all we won't have to hover around her while she's standing just like we don't worry about her  now when she's sitting!

We are having so much fun with her right now!  She is saying "Mama" really consistently but has stopped saying "Dada" much at all.  I'm tickling her in the picture above...she is super ticklish and loves it when you tickle her.  Dad asked her to give him a high five on Sunday and since then that's been her new trick.  If you put your hand up and ask her to give you a high five nine times out of ten she's going to reach up and hit your hand and then kind of giggle at herself for doing it.  She is also good about giving Jason and I kisses.  If we pucker up and ask her to give us a kiss she will smile and then open her mouth and lean in until she hits our head.  Since she opens her mouth wide she's not allowed to do this with anyone else! :)

We've been getting reading for Valentine's day this week.  She wore her heart pants yesterday and had on her cute heart shirt today until she got food all over it at lunch.  We were so excited about a playdate this afternoon at Caroline's house but we didn't get to go since Charlotte isn't feeling good.  I was really looking forward to getting out of the house and having some adult conversation and I couldn't wait to see Charlotte since this time, as opposed to last, she would have been able to crawl around and play with everyone.  I'm thinking of hosting the next playdate, maybe for Easter?

 

Mrs. Kelly did go ahead and give Charlotte her goodie bag from playgroup and it included three heart bracelets.  Charlotte has loved those ever since she got them!  She doesn't let them go!  Thanks Kelly!  

Jason and I are hoping that Charlotte feels better tomorrow.  Mostly so that she feels better but also because we have big plans for the weekend.  We have plans to go out to eat tomorrow night and then to dinner and a movie on Saturday!  Hopefully Charlotte will feel good enough to enjoy some time with KayKay and GrandDavid and we can enjoy two date nights for Valentine's!

Bonus Valentine's Edition of Recipe Wednesday - Valentine's Petits Fours

Last year at Valentine's I channeled my inner Bakerella and made Red Velvet Cake Cookies.  They were a huge hit and have been a huge hit multiple times between then and now.  If you haven't ever made them then please go make them for yourself today.  Consider it your Valentine's present to yourself.

This year, I'm channeling my inner MckMama and Amanda to bring you Valentine's Petits Fours.

Yes, I made these myself and yes, I'm rather proud of them.  I had never worked with Fondant before and it was surprisingly easy and, with some vanilla added in, surprisingly tasty.  I've never been a big fondant fan, actually the one thing that I said about my wedding cake was that I didn't want fondant because it always makes cakes (that I had had in the past) taste horrible.  Please excuse me if your wedding cake had fondant on it, I'm sure it tasted lovely, but apparently the bakers in my hometown don't know how to flavor it and keep it from tasting like rubber so I try to avoid it.  That being said, despite how much I've maligned the fondant name in the past, I decided to try these because they were oh so cute and I figured they would look pretty even if they didn't taste good.  I followed Amanda's instructions from MckMama's blog and I think the end result was quite satisfactory!  I didn't get all fancy with the royal icing but the next time I make them I think I will!  Here's my condensed version of the previous post (the post has pictures, etc to go with steps so hop on over there for more detail).

Valentine's Petits Fours
Makes: However many you want to make

You will need:
Oreo Cakesters (my Target had the golden cakesters and they were probably better than original but its your preference)
A box of fondant (from Hobby Lobby)
Rolling Pin (from Hobby Lobby)
Red Food coloring (the gel kind from Hobby Lobby)
Colorless Vanilla extract (from Hobby Lobby)
Cookie Cutters
Royal Icing (if you are so inclined)

Instructions:
- Take a good chunk of fondant and put a little bit of vanilla extract in it and work it in until you feel like the fondant is pretty well flavored.  My precise measuring of the vanilla extra included maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of one of Charlotte's soft tipped spoons.
- If you are coloring it then add in some food coloring and do the same mixing that you just did before.  To make a deep red it takes a lot of food coloring but start with a little and work your way up to it.
- Break off a piece of the fondant and start rolling it out with the rolling pin.  I rolled it straight on to my granite because that's supposed to be best but if you don't have a stone countertop MckMama recommends rolling it out on wax paper.  Make sure that you bring the ends of the fondant up onto the rolling pin while you're rolling so that they won't stick to the counter making it hard to peel off.
- Once it's rolled fairly thin place the fondant on top of a cakester and use your fingers to gently press it down on the top and sides.  It really helps when you're doing this if you've see Ace of Cakes.  I felt like I was a professional from all of their episodes that I've watched.
- Once the fondant is pressed down on the sides cut around the cakester leaving a little edge.  Then pick up the cakester and using your fingers press the fondant down to seal the edges.
- Decorate as you desire.  I bought a paintbrush at Hobby Lobby and used it to paint water onto the top of the cakester and on to the back of the heart to fuse them together.

Recipe Wednesday - Chicken Parmesan

 

This is another Family Circle recipe and, like the last, I couldn't find the recipe online.  I found this recipe to be fairly simple to put together and it was very good.  The only thing that I would recommend is to carefully watch your chicken while it is browning in the skillet because mine didn't take three minutes per side -- that left my chicken pieces a little too browned!

Chicken Parmesan

Serves 6

Prep 20 minutes

1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten
12 chicken tender filets, about 1 1/2 pounds
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup bottled marinara sauce
12 fresh basil leaves
1 cup shredded four cheese blend

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees
2. Place bread crumbs in a shallow dish and egg in a shallow bowl.  Dip chicken pieces in egg, shaking off excess.  Coat with bread crumbs, place on a plate.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.  Add half the chicken and cook for 3 minutes per side.  Remove to a 9x13 inch baking dish.  Repeat with remaining 2 tablespoons oil and remaining chicken.
4. Spoon marinara sauce over a chicken in dish.  Top each tender with a basil leaf, then sprinkle cheese over chicken.
5. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes, until bubbly and cheese melts.  Serve with cooked ziti and marinara sauce, if desired.

Laundry

The problem with One Tale a Day is that some days I end up with more than one picture that I love!  Such is the case today with the pictures of Charlotte playing with the laundry basket!  So, enjoy!