Greatly Dissapointed and Two Week Menu

Okay, I know that someone reads my blog. I know that and it made me so sad that no one, not a single person commented on my last post. In anycase, if you wanted to know what the picture was about- Celia was playing baseball in the snow with the noodle. It actualy worked and we had fun.

Okay here is my two week menu, that no one will read again...

We didn't eat the sweet and sour chicken on last week's menu, I forgot some ingredients at the store so we settled for some turkey manwich instead- I had all the ingredients on hand. So here is the next 2 weeks.

Saturday- Plum Island Clam Chowder- the best clam chowder ever!!! I will try to find a link.
Sunday- Turkey Pasta Fagioli
1 lb lean ground turkey
1 minced garlic clove
1 c each diced onion, carrots., celery
1 can kidney beans, undrained
1 can great northern beans, undrained (or soaked dried beans)
2 - 15 oz cans tomato sauce
1 can low sodium chicken broth
(1 T vinegar, 1 ½ t salt,1 t Italian seasonings)
8 oz small shell pasta
Brown turkey along with onions, carrots, celery and garlic for 10 min on med. Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT pasta. Simmer for 30 min. Cook pasta al dente. Add to soup and simmer. I think this is more like a pasta dish rather then soup, I haven't made it in awhile. I may try it in the crockpot (adding the pasta 20 min. before serving)
Monday- Lasagna Roll-ups (frozen meal)
Tuesday- Brushetta Chicken Bake
Wednesday- Calzones (frozen in freezer, we didn't eat them last menu)
Thursday- Leftovers
Friday- Spaghetti
Saturday- out/ freezer item
Sunday- White bean and sausage soup
Monday- Creamy Chicken (frozen meal)
Tuesday- Skillet ziti and veggies
2 cups pasta sauce
2 cups water
8 oz ziti
1 package stir-fry veggies
Shredded provolone or mozzarella (about 3/4 c)
Combine pasta sauce and water in a skillet, boil. Add pasta and veggies, cover, lower temp, and simmer for 15 min. or until pasta is tender
Wednesday- Leftovers
Thursday- Blue cheese and dried cherry meatloaf

I have recipes for everything else, if anyone wants a recipe I haven't provided then leave me a comment and I will post it. Though no one comments when I ask. I do appreciate the few comments I have received. It is always cool to know that people are reading!!!

We have a somewhat busy weekend, at least for us. We are going to Longwood tonight to see the lights and then tomorrow Celia and I are going to my aunt's house for a few hours to get together with some relatives. Celia has not even met some of them!! As for me though I need to pack in cleaning, lesson planning, christmas stuff, and some exercise in there. I did (with Pete's help) 3 loads of laundry last night. So only the Sunday sheets and towels wash tomorrow.

This is what I like

Showing my shadow my beautiful belly

Making the wind chase me

Playing with friends

And shedding crayons of their clothes

And sitting on Mommy's lap while I help yet another crayon listening to "I can only imagine".

Growing up

Two Years Ago (okay a little less then 2 years ago, this was Sept 2nd)

One Year ago:



This weekend:

No she wasn't talking to her boyfriend, it was grandpa. She took over the conversation that Pete was having with his father and wondered over to her chair. Can you picture her as a teenager??? Last year around this time our neighbor gave us that chair. I said yes to her gift but thought, ugh another big item for our tiny house. I admit now I was stupid and ungrateful. That little chair has been Celia's favorite thing. She loves it still a year later and I imagine even for a few years to come. It is fitting because she loves the family that gave it to her. Some gifts that have been unexpectedly cherished throughout the two years: Her baby stroller from Grandma and Grandpa, her baby from Mom Mom, her turtle (Milo) from Aunt Vickie, and a blanket from a certain neighbor. The last one I cringe about and Pete is probably the only who understands it. Oh and my Mom gave her the Leap Frog activity table that still entertains her 18 months later, she now thinks she is a DJ and makes the music play while she dances. Oh my goodness and how could I forget the trunk of gold coins!! Pete won this trunk of gold coins filled with cash prior to Celia's birth. The trunk looked cool, so I left it out as a decorations. I think Celia was around 6 months when she discovered them. They now entertain any child who comes in the house, go figure!

We took her crib down this weekend, Daddy is having mixed feelings. Celia has mentioned it a couple times but she has been sleeping in her twin bed for over a week now. She started back to daycare today, she will only go 2 days this week and next week, then start back the next week. I wanted to start her out slow. She didn't want to go this morning and it broke my heart. Once we got there, she was okay. I am interested to hear how she does with the potty. I am going to pick her up around 2/2:30 today.

What are my plans with the freedom?- going to home depot, cleaning the crud off the bottom of our shower door, putting in a new shower head, dusting the guest room. You know, fun!!! Oh I might do some sewing, I am back into the groove of sewing- you know, 2 weeks before I start back to work.

Back from the Beach

This was Celia showing off one of her 6, 7, or 8 swim suits, I have lost count. I didn't buy her a single one- they were all given to us! The beach was nice and relaxing, despite getting off to a very rocky start. I read through my last email and I should have clarified that I was not allowed to swim- I certainly can swim. I was a competitive swimmer for 15 years, I can swim. Swimming was a "no" for about a week after my surgery. Friday I could have chanced getting in and I did, but didn't really swim. I went in with Pete to test out the great sand bars, but discovered that the water was so very cold that my feet were going numb. I did take Celia in with me at one point and we had some fun. But I decided that it really wasn't worth chancing a side effect if I wasn't truely ready to go in the water, especialy if the water was that cold!!

Pete enjoyed fishing everyday and even got in a 1/2 day fishing charter. We were not really equipped to eat the fish, so it all was thrown back. I was tired during the week but got my energy almost back basically by Friday- the last day, go figure! Celia and I enjoyed a long walk Friday morning. I wish that we had been able to do that everyday. We really debated on bringing our BOB stroller with us. It is my favorite baby purchase and I really hate any other stroller, yes I am a stroller snob when it comes to the BOB. We used it more then just Friday, but I as I was walking with Celia and BOB, I thought that it was worth a cramped car just for that walk. It is so smooth that Celia just relaxes and enjoys the trip.

It is back to real, reality for Pete. He goes back to work tomorrow. I go back to work to as a Summer Stay at home mom! I did have a break for a bit as my Mom helped us out tremendously over the past 2 weeks. We really can't thank her enough. School starts back for me in 4 weeks and I am not looking forward to it. I enjoy my little girl tremendously and I really hope she likes daycare this school year as much as she did last year. I am exploring some part time options still but I think I will utimately be going back to work fulltime for the school year.

The trip to the outerbanks was wonderful, I only wish it was a shorter drive!! Now we get to think about next year's vacation. Hopefully Miss. Celia won't have to pee so very often next year. She is doing amazingly well with toilet training- only 1 true accident the whole entire trip, actualy that was the first in 4 weeks.

Stellan

The blogging world is again praying for little Stellan. He is not doing well and it is a question of how to treat him next. Please send some thoughts his way.





We are supposed to be on our family vacation right now however Celia and I are with my Mom and Pete is in the Outer Banks. The start of our vacation has pretty much sucked. I had to have unexpected surgery on Friday (may explain at some point) I was discharged Sat. morning. In anycase this has altered some plans for the future which is frustrating. So tomorrow my Mom, Celia, and I are headed to the Outer Banks for the week. I might not be able to swim but I am going to get as close to swimming as possible. Hopefully by midweek I will be able to swim in the ocean. That is my whole reason for loving the beach. Pete and I, I guess need some happy thoughts sent our way. Things are going to be fine, just rough for a bit.

I will have to say though that after seeing Stellan's update when I got back from the hospital, our issues are definately minor.

"Ogurt"

I made some home made "ogurt", that is what Celia calls "Yogurt". I actualy think she is currently made of 1/4 yogurt with the amount she eats. Making it was very easy actualy!

I put 1/2 gallon whole milk into the crockpot on low for 2 1/2 hrs. After that, I let it rest for 3 hours. I then combined 2 cups of the milk with 1/2 cup yogurt (I used Trader Joe's whole milk vanilla). I then put the mix back in the crockpot, wrapped the crockpot in a damp towel over night. In the morning, there was yogurt- pretty easy!!! I actualy just might try making it in my little dipper. It makes a huge amount, well it makes 1/2 a gallon worth. It keeps for less then 2 weeks. With it that easy, I could make it frequently. I don't imagine that my yogurt buying days are over, but perhaps we won't be going broke by Miss. Celia's yogurt obsession. She sometimes eats 3 containers of "yobaby" a day. If you price that out, a 6 pack of that stuff is sometimes 3.99 in our area! I made less then $2 for the milk and I had the starter yogurt on hand. Now I can use the yogurt I made as a starter. Now I do have to flavor it. I put just a tiny amount of honey in Celia's and I combined some frozen fruit with mine. The yogurt is a bit more runny then what we are used to but neither Celia or I really minded. I also made a smoothie with it this morning, yummy!

So on a side note. A close friend of our family was involved in a terrible accident. I don't know the details, but his neck is broken. It sounds like he is not paralyzed but from what I was told that could change. In anycase, send some thoughts out there. He is a very active man, enjoying retirement, golfing, grandkids, tennis, etc.

Celia has finally cut out her morning nap and Pete is having a difficult time with it, a very difficult time with that reality. I am okay with it honestly. It alters the day some as it isn't as convenient as her previous nap schedule, however most babies change to only 1 nap at age 1, we had nearly an extra year. Of course she didn't nap for the first 8 months of her life, so we disserved the extra time.

Savoring Celia and Fears of Ahead

I know I had snow pictures before but I had to add this, I think this is a sweet picture of Miss. Celia. She has had a somewhat rough week, at least the evenings have been rough. It has had to do with naps missed or naps cut short, teething, and a diaper rash. However in between of the moody blues she has been really funning and talking even more. I look so forward to seeing her after work. Once my students leave, I can't wait to get to daycare and give her a hug. For the first time, she is very excited see me. She was always happy to see me but now she runs to me and gives me a big hug! Of course then the fit starts when I try to put her coat on. She wants to do it herself. She gets mad when she finds out she just can't do it herself- but she tries. Celia hasn't bonded yet with the new afternoon teachers/staff that in her room. Her teacher Miss. Jen leaves at 3, or it might be 2:30. In anycase someone different comes in. The regular afternoon girl started Student teaching in January, Celia really loved her. I think that she is actualy missing her and doesn't know how to express it.

We had an interesting day on Wednesday when I discovered that Celia's daycare was closed due to snow. The roads were fine but they follow the area shool district and they closed late. So there I was stuck, needing to go into work and no where for Celia to go. My great neighbor Maria volunteered to watch her. So I took a 1/4 day and Celia spent the afternoon with Maria and her daughter Amber. She didn't get an afternoon nap however she did sleep a bit longer then normal for her morning nap (of course she doesn't get morning naps at daycare).

Celia is saying short phrases now like "Where'd it go?", "Don't touch", "G'bye ____", "Good Girl", etc. It is really neat. I still have tough afternoons with her because she wants to be permanently attached to me and I have things that I need to do. Everyone says, savor it because she won't want to be held pretty soon. They told me that when she was 6 months old, they told me that once she starts walking she would not want to be held... Yeah right.

So what are the fears ahead??? The same that is what everyone is worrying about the stupid economy. It is scary. Pete and I are blessed, we both have jobs. At this point it is making me want to work longer then I thought I would. At least I have the summers with Celia. But I am trying to cut costs, especialy grocery costs. It is tough. I really don't believe the people out there who claim that with proper coupons, etc. that you can cut your grocery costs in 1/2 or more. It doesn't happen for me. One thing I am going to try is to unplug more things around the house. There are alot of things plugged in that we don't use on a regular basis. Of course it is hard when you aren't on the same page as your spouse! I understand it too, it isn't as important to Pete and there is no way to force someone to care about the same things as you. I wanted to try making my own laundry soap. I know some Moms who do and have great success. Pete threw a fit! It would be a cost of about 3 cents a load, that is quite a deal.

A Year in Review

January

We celebrated Granny's birthday and you started sitting in your big girl booster chair. We started cloth diapering this month, yeah!! No more red bum for little Celia!

February

We went to visit Emmett and Katie for their birthdays. We also cheered Mom Mom up after her knee replacement surgery.

March

We celebrated St. Patty's day with no heat! It was fixed fast enough but it was a chilly St. Patty's day. You started really loving our library storytime! Oh and guess who crawled and is crusing along the furniture??

April
You wore the sweetest pink velveteen dress and white knit stockings. Remember those stockings. You started getting very, very, silly this month and it was super cute. The baby monitor was your favorite thing.

May
Beautiful Mother's day pictures. We are having fun with our small playgroup and still enjoying our friends at the breastfeeding group.

June

We went on vacation and you saw the beach for the first time!! Oh.. and Mommy started a blog!! Your favorite thing in the world was your little green ball.

July

Brush, brush, brushes... We thought that we kept losing your brushes. However little Miss smarty pants pulled out three from a hiding space when Mommy was searching and searching for one of your brushes. Little Miss Celia has become very, very chatty. She has perfected apple, da da, and ma ma. She is signing away too. Guess who has two new teeth?? You and not a peep of complaining.

August

Guess whose walking??? That's right you are little girl. You would have been walking much earlier if you hadn't been a scaredy cat. Mommy and Daddy both caught you taking steps but you didn't want to show off until August. It only took you a few days and you were off. Mommy was so thankful for that as she returned to work at the end of this month, big sob. You got your first illness, from Mommy, on her second day of work- the stomach bug... Ugh, Mommy felt so sorry for you and all she wanted to do was cuddle all day long but she had to go to work. So Mom Mom took over. Oh 2 more teeth little one without a complaint again.

September

You started daycare and boy do you love it!! You were a Chatty Cathy prior to going daycare but your language just takes off. You have your own little friends- Olivia (Ahh!! is what you call her), Mae Mae, and Addy in your class. Mommy thinks that her students are going to kill her but she is happy that you enjoy school. The teeth keep coming and you are still an amazing teether.

October

Halloween. Boy did you like going house to house with your little trick or treat bag. Well daycare has been great for you but you have been sick. Not primarily from daycare, but from Mommy bringing germs home from work. No new teeth, you get a little break!

November

Mom Mom gave you a new (to you) coat and Mommy got you a new hat. You are so, so into shoes now. "Shoe shoes" is what you say when you see them and you insist upon wearing them all around the house. Your feet are still tiny (the size of a 9 month old) but growing slowly. You are 21 lbs and 29 inches- 15% for both.

December

Goodbye 2008. We had a great Christmas in Lancaster but we missed Granny. You especialy loved the stroller and cabbage patch doll that Grandpa and Grandma gave you. We then went down to Virginia to see Aunt Vickie, Uncle Jack, Katie, Emmett and your favorite- Mom Mom. There are not many people that you prefer over Mommy however the entire time it was not "Mommy" that you called, it was "Mom Mom" actualy you yelled "Ma Ma" for her. You were not too fond of her cat Thomas but when you saw him you said "Meow". Your language is so amazing, over 40 words. You dance and chant "Hey Celia" which cracks us up. You have said some sentences "I see Celia" and "I see a dog". Oh and also you are saying "Oh shit"... Really you are and we are not proud, perhaps that is another blog post. You know most animal sounds and are eager to show them off!! You love to give hugs and blow kisses. You love your books, especialy "No David". You are such a big girl that we gave up sippy cups this month, now we are moving on to straw cups. Oh and remember those stockings?? Remember them, the ones you wore when you were 4 and 6 months, they still fit... Your short little one! Oh well I love you tiny, I wish you would stay there forever. Mommy is back to thinking that her students might still do her in, but she thinks they are alot of fun too!!

So that is that, Celia's year in review.

Some Prayer/Thought requests

Sweet Granny

A Friend who lost her Mother

A family who is dealing with a 2nd child who has cancer- a 10% survival rate

Baby Stellan who is doing better but still needs some thoughts

My students' parents when I tell them that we have no school next week due to a massive water pipe bursting.

Pete who doesn't believe he is getting up tomorrow with Celia while I sleep in for the first time in months, changing her poopy diaper, and feeding her breakfast.

Thankful

My family has so many things to be thankful for, really. In this horrible economy, we both have jobs that pay the bills. We can afford a sweet daycare in which everyone genuinely loves our little girl. Our little girl loves that daycare so very much that she looks out the window and asks "school?". She doesn't want to go home on some days!! Not only that but I know that I can give some credit to daycare for her advanced vocabulary and social skills.

We are healthy, goodness I want to say knock on wood. But the truth is that besides catching little colds, stomach bugs, etc. we are healthy. We have a cozy home with heat and water. We are doing fine. As of next week we will also have someone who cleans our house once a month. I feel frivolous for this but it will give me a week (okay maybe 2 if I can stretch it) of relaxing about cleaning. Pete doesn't understand why we need one. Okay we don't need one, I want one. I want to have a week in which I can cuddle Celia and play with her in the afternoons and not have this nagging feeling that I really should be doing something around the house.

We have a wonderful extended family that we don't get to see enough but we at least get to spend the holidays with them. My Mom has been so amazing since Celia has been born, we literaly would not have survived without her. She has been helping with Thanksgiving prep this year and with Celia. Not only that but she is giving Celia her Christmas gifts now so that she can watch her play with them. That is so sweet. Celia loves the gifts but really she just wants "Mom Mom" and she is satisfied. Pete's family (sadly his sister has to work) will be joining us for the feast tomorrow.

Celia had her Thanksgiving holiday show today and my Mom was able to go and see it. Celia was a chef and had a little shirt on that said "Kiss the cook". She sat in one of the buggies but my Mom said that she really would have liked to have been able to dance and join the older kids.

Okay well Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Anyone up for Black Friday shopping? Mom and I are off for some shopping on Friday, Celia is staying with Pete this year. Last year she was comfy in my Moby wrap while we shopped. Last year I was getting up at least 3x a night to nurse her for an hour each time!! I watched so much Fresh Prince of Bel Air... It is on at any hour of the night.