Food for thought

What mom really has a lot of time to cook? I know I don’t! I have to say that I use the heck out of my crock pot! I use it at least twice a week! Making roast, enchilada filling, BBQ chicken, soup, chili and many other delicious things! Tonight I am going to share a couple of recipes. Also, do yourself a HUGE favor and get crock pot liners!! LIFE SAVERS!!!

This first recipe is for Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup. This one is a favorite in our house!

You’ll need:

1 Box Chicken or veggie Broth or Stock

4 Ounces of Sour Cream

1 Cup chopped celery

1 Cup shredded carrots

2 Cup Milk (or Heavy Cream)

2 or 3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

Noodles of your choice (I use Egg Noodles)

Salt, garlic and poultry seasoning to taste

I season the chicken with poultry seasoning, garlic and salt and put it in the crock pot with the broth, carrots and celery. I let that cook in the crockpot on high for 6 hours and then I shred the chicken, add the sour cream, milk and noodles… I cook the noodles before I add them to the soup but you can add a little more liquid to the soup and then put in the dry noodles to cook for the last hour (you can also use canned biscuits cut into quarters instead of noodles and have dumplings!).

The next recipe is another one made up and have played with over the years… Enchilada filling!

I get the biggest can of red enchilada sauce they have, a can or black beans, a can of diced tomato and 2 or 3 chicken breasts and cook it on high for about 6 hours or low for 8. Shred the chicken, use a slotted spoon to drain sauce off the filing and roll up in tortillas, use the remaining juice and goody to pour over the top, cover with cheese and bake at 350 until cheese is melty (about 10-15 min).

My last recipe isn’t crock pot but is sooooo yummy!!! Iron skillet cookie!!

You’ll need:

1 Stick Unsalted Butter
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Egg
1-1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in an 8 inch cast iron skillet on med heat on the stove, add both sugars and the vanilla and remove from heat. Let stand about 5 minutes and then add the egg to the butter and sugar mixture (you want to wait the 5 min so the egg won’t cook in the skillet before you add all your ingredients), whisk it well into the butter and sugar. next you’ll add your flour, baking soda, and salt, and (very carefully) stir until smooth and well-mixed. Lastly, stir in chocolate chips. Place in the oven for 15 minutes, or until starting to turn golden on the top and around the edges, but soft in the center.

I made this cookie tonight after dinner and there wasn’t a bite left! It’s really good with caramel ice cream on top.

Happy eating!

Agree to disagree

After a discussion with a fellow mom the other day I felt the need to step on a soap box for a moment…

Nobody is going to do things exactly the same way you do them. We all raise our children differently. There is nothing wrong with breast feeding or bottle feeding, cloth or disposable diapers, circumcision or no circumcision, making baby food or buying it, daycare or no daycare, turning your car seat around at the minimum requirements or waiting a little longer or even having your daughter’s ears pierced as a baby or waiting until she asks for them. As long as our children are growing and are loved, what is the big dang deal?

We all make decisions for our children hoping they are the right ones but chances are we will all make some wrong decisions. Zoey (almost 2) drank a little Dr. Pepper yesterday, this is a rare treat in our house, but it kept her awake half the night! Parenting FAIL!

I am a semi stay at home mom (I work 2-3 days a week) and I am fortunate enough to have family that keep my girls for me while I am at work. I am so thankful for that because a good daycare is really pricey! I wish I could stay at home with my girls all the time but that is MY preference and I surely don’t look down on moms with a different preference! Some moms have to go back to work and have to put their children in daycare while other moms chose to go back to work so that can provide more for their children and show them what a working mom looks like. These are all fine options!

I chose to breast feed my girls and I am so lucky that I CAN! I make enough to feed my baby (and even donate to a few moms and babies that wanted breast milk) and both girls had a great latch from the start! Some moms chose not to due to medication or preference while other moms try but have supply issues or baby just won’t latch. Formula isn’t poison.

With my first I had a mild PPD and for a while I thought I was just sad for no reason because I had a strong connection to my baby but I was so miserable if I didn’t have her with me (not just “oh I miss my baby”). That made going back to work full time really hard! Some moms have different forms of PPD and others are lucky enough to never have it at all! It isn’t my fault that I had PPD and if you are dealing with it, it’s not your fault either! Call your doctor and talk to some girlfriends that have dealt with it before. Maybe you can help someone that is dealing with it now if you have dealt with it in the past.

My point is, we all have different circumstances and do things differently but that doesn’t mean that my way is right and your way is wrong. Who am I to judge what another person does? We are all doing our best and rather than tearing each other down for things they do differently why not build each other up? As moms we have enough “mom guilt” on our own without things like the “iphone mom” post that circulated all over facebook a few weeks back. You’re doing the best you can and that is all anyone SHOULD expect from you! Remember, friends may come and go but your children will be in your life forever. Do what is best for them, love them and protect them as best you can because as they grow they will become our closest friends.

Big changes

So much has changed since my last post! Zoey started walking right after her birthday! She has learned so many new words! A couple of my favorites are "shone" for phone and "Cungle" for cuddle... The child loves to cungle! She loves watching Iron Man on TV with her daddy and it doesn't matter which cartoon or live action movie it is as long as it has Iron Man! She will pick up some random toy or object and pretend it is a phone by holding it up to her ear and talking. She loves to be read to and one of her favorite books is "Giraffes can't dance"! She loves to sing into her toy microphone. She cooks in her toy kitchen and sometimes she takes her paci over to the toy kitchen and "washes" it in the sink! She loves to color and paint! I make paint out of yogurt or sour cream and food coloring and she goes to town painting her high chair tray and her entire body! Below is a picture of a bath after a painting session.


She loves Beauty and the Beast! when Chris or I have a cup of coffee she BEGS for a sip! she loves to hide so you will say "where is Zoey" and she can jump out or pop up and grin! That baby girl brings me such joy each and every day!
Another big change, We have a new baby girl!! Isabelle Inara was born Thursday, January 17th at 8:24 in the evening! Weighing in at 8 pounds 5 oz an 20 & 1/2 inches long! Big sister Zoey LOVES HER!


This was taken the day we brought Isabelle home from the hospital.

We found out we were pregnant on Sunday June 14th, 2012. We got up early enough to go have breakfast as a family before church and I ordered the same omelet I always ordered from Susan's and I couldn't hardly eat any of it. I told Chris that I was feeling morning sicky and wondered if I was pregnant, he laughed and didn't seem too worried. After church we had lunch with his parents at Red Lobster and I couldn't eat my shrimp scampi so I made him stop at Walgreens on the way home so we could get a pregnancy test. Needless to say we were quite surprised!!
For the most part the pregnancy was pretty un eventful. There was an episode in October when the baby didn't move for 18 hours and I ended up in the ER for a couple of hours to be monitored. She was just having a lazy day and wanted to scare mommy.
On Friday, January 11th I started having pretty regular contractions that lasted all weekend but they weren't always consistent and were never super intense. I had them off and on from the following Monday until Thursday the 17th.
On the day I went into labor (the 17th) I had a doctors appointment at 8:45 in the morning. When Dr Reiter checked me I was at 3cm and between 70% and 80% effaced. He told me he didn't think I would make it to the end of the day. He offered to go ahead and have me admitted but I wasn't having contractions so I went home to get ready for work (I was working 11 to 3). When I got to work the girls surprised me with a food day!! We ate and I told them about my appointment and about how my contractions had picked back up around 10:00 and were more intense. I ended up going home at 1:15 and called Chris to come on home too.
We got to the hospital around 3:00 and I had progressed to 5 and a half cm! They had me fill out a pile of paperwork and stuck an IV in my hand before taking me to a room. I got my epidural between 5:00 and 5:30 and was about 7cm by that point.
My mom, auntie, sisters, brother and nephew came up to the hospital around 6:00 or so and took turns coming in to see me.
Close to 7:00 they put me on pitocin to get me from 9 to 10 cm. At around 7:30 the nurse had me roll over on my side because Isabelle's heart rate was slowing down during my contractions... That scared me but after rolling from my left to my right she did better!
By 8:00 I was feeling a major urge to push! I wasn't in pain (thanks to Dr. Taylor and his magical epidural) I just felt a lot of pressure and had to really fight the urge to push! I kept telling my nurse that I needed to push soon but she said that Dr Cunningham (the on call doctor) was about to be in surgery and I would have to wait a while... Uh no, this baby is coming! I told her I was really fighting the urge to push and she called Dr Taylor back in to give me more pain meds. When he came in he asked me if I was in pain and I said, "No, I feel pressure and I need to push! You might have to catch this baby." He and the nurse laughed and she told me that he had to be in that surgery too. Did nobody care that I was having a baby!? About that time Dr Cunningham came in and said something about the upcoming surgery and I said "I need to push NOW." The nurse checked me and Isabelle was less than an inch from crowning! Within minutes they were telling me to push. I pushed twice and she was out!
We spent Thursday and Friday night in the hospital before finally going home! I missed Zoey so much while we were at the hospital but she did get to visit twice.
Chris went to pick her up at his parents house after he dropped me and Isabelle off at home on Saturday afternoon. He sent me a picture of her at Walgreens while they were waiting for my prescription to be filled and I just broke down in tears because I had missed her so much! It was so good to have our little family all together!
In the past two weeks we have had so many friends come by to visit us and bring us meals and it has been such a blessing! We are truly a blessed family!!
That is all for now!


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One whole year!

My precious baby girl,
I cannot believe that you are already a year old! I never knew time could go by so fast! You are truly more beautiful and more fun every day!

We have had family in for your birthday party (held on Saturday the 19th), your great grandparents came in from Texas and stayed for a week! It was so nice to spend time with them. Your aunt Ayesha and your cousins came all the way from Georgia! They will be here for a couple more weeks! You love to pull your cousins' hair... They don't love it as much :-/
You are learning new things almost daily! Today you started making kissing sounds when I make them at you and earlier this week when I blew you a kiss you blew one back to me!!
You love the clock at Granny and Papa Cooke's and will say "clock" when it starts singing every hour!
Today I picked a doll up off of the floor at their house and covered it up with your owl blanket and you leaned down and kissed the doll on the face! So sweet!!
You wave at everyone and you love to clap! When I put you down for a nap you "sing" yourself to sleep.
You have been cutting some teeth on top (you have two on the bottom right now) and they are really bothering you :( you cry and cry all of the sudden and shove your whole hand into your mouth.
You hardly want to be fed anymore because you want to do it yourself! Big girl!!
I never in a million years thought that such a tiny person could hold such a big piece of my heart! You are a beautiful girl Zoey and I can't wait to share your childhood with you!
Mommy



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Nine months old

Holy cow!! Where has the time gone?
You are crawling now (and have been for a couple of weeks now).
You got your first tooth about 2 weeks ago without a whine or anything! Tooth number two has been a little harder on you though :(
You have been sick for the past few days. I took you for your first "sick child" visit yesterday and you saw Dr. McCoy. She was super nice and really checked you out well. It is just a virus but the drainage has made you lose your little voice so you just sound pitiful :(
I got a part time job closer to home so I can be home with you more!! I start in about a week and a half & I can't wait to be home with you more!
I'll write more later. Love you sweet girl!


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7 months and Christmas!

Sweet Zoey,
You are already 7 months old! Yeserday was Christmas and your 7 month birthday!You have had a cold since last week and I was afraid you wouldn't have fun on Christmas but I was wrong (thankfully). You got several new books and toys! When daddy went to wake you up for presents before Church you were face down in your bed with your legs sticking out of the rails! As soon as we sat you down beside the tree on Christmas morning you went for an unwrapped frog toy that makes noise and sings and then you didn't care about anything else for a while. You ended up with an activity center and a musical toy camera (I couldn't resist) and a little toy that plays about 20 different songs.
Two nights before Christmas, when I got home from work, you started saying "bug bug bug" and it sounded like you said "Ma ma ma" too but you were for sure saying "bug"! We will say it and you copy us! I will say, "Who is the besy baby?" and you will say "Bug bug bug" :)
As I said a minute ago, you have been sick. Last monday night you woke up in the night with a fever of 102.9 and you were so fussy! Your daddy and I gave you some tylenol and I held you all night. I stayed home from work with you for the next three days until you were fever free. You didn't sleep well for several nights and it just broke my heart. You have had a stuffy/runny nose but you have been seeping better the last couple of nights!
Your daddy is off work for the next week and I am so jealous that he gets to spend a whole week with you while I am stuck at work! It still breaks my heart to be away from you all week every week. I can't wait until I can stay home with you on a more regular basis!
I love you sweet girl!
Mommy

Six months old TODAY!

My sweet girl,
I can't believe you are SIX MONTHS OLD! My goodness how time flies.
You just started eating rice cereal this week (on the 23rd) and you did so well! You have been watching people eat with great fascination for about a month now and it has been so cute. You really seemed to know what you were doing and never got upset (except when we wouldn't let you feed yourself).
You have been sitting on your own so well for the last several weeks. You are trying to sit up when we lay you down and you are almost there!
You haven't started teething but I expect that soon. You have been really fussy the last several nights and not hardly sleeping for longer than an hour at a time. I am wondering if that is a sign that the teeth are coming.
Overall you are still a great baby. You smile and laugh a lot!
You have developed a really "nasty cough" that is always bad when you are wanting attention but it goes away when someone starts loving on you. Sometimes your daddy and I will be playing with you and we will "cough" and you will copy us.
You are slowly starting to reach for people, two weeks ago we were at lunch with Auntie and Granny Jordan and you reached right for Granny (she was thrilled)!
You think everything is a toy for you to play with and chew on! You reach for phones, coffee cups, the dogs, pretty much anything you can reach.
Your Mammie has been making caramel corn a lot here lately and you LOVE to watch the air popper pop that popcorn! You can hear it start up from the living room and your arms and legs start going! It is pretty fun to watch!
You have your 6 month checkup on Tuesday and your daddy and I have off the whole day to spend some time with you. I am really hoping you don't have to get shots this time because I hate seeing you so upset :(
You are such a sweet and beautiful girl! I enjoy every second I get to spend with you! I love you sweet baby girl! Happy half birthday!!
Mommy

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