Monday Musings

The other day I had pulled my hair back in a hair clip and Brittany said, "Wow, Mom, you have a lot of gray hair underneath there!"

**Note to self: Do not wear hair in hair clip.

Monday Musings

Bethany, the sweet little just-turned-six-year old, has been a thumb sucker since she was just a few months old. I can't seem to get her to give up the thumb. However, that is not the strange part. The strange thing is this girl has always wanted to stick her hand in my armpit! She likes to grab that wad of flesh that's just between the back and the arm. I'm not sure what it is with her. When she was an infant, and David was in Cuba, I'd let her sleep in my bed, because she refused to sleep in her own. So if I was to get any sleep, which I needed because I got pregnant with Brooke when she was just four months old, then I'd just let her lay by me. So, as a little baby, she'd lay curled up right at my back with one thumb in her mouth and one hand rubbing my arm/armpit. I'm constantly saying, "Bethany, get out of my armpit!" I suppose one day when I'm old I'll miss it.

Monday Musings

I've noticed that Thomas really enjoys playing with cars. He just seems to favor those over the other toys. And he does that vroom sound effect that boys are inherently born with, the one that girls just can't do. So, I guess it's no surprise that his first words (after mama, of course) would be "beep" and "go". Althougfh he said each word in a totally unrelated to cars situation, I was just thinking about that yesterday and chuckled to myself when I thought about it.

Poor Thomas isn't feeling so well today. His lower lip and cheek are swollen. I took him to the doctor, who wasn't sure what caused the swelling. He had a small scratch or bite (that I noticed on Sunday morning) on his chin that likely got infected and spread on the inside of his mouth. He had a low grade fever and a mild cough. The doctor seemed to think it was all related to the scratch/bite. I'm not sure. But, anyway, he put him on antibiotic. I hope that will clear it up for the poor little guy.

Tasty Thursday

Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese- Light version

2 1/2 cups skim milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. salt
dash of pepper
3 cups low fat cheddar cheese, shredded
8 oz pkg. macaroni cooked al dente

Combine all ingredients except macaroni in slow cooker. Cook on high for 1 hour. Add in macaroni. Cook on low 4 more hours.

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday, March 9th, was Bethany's 6th birthday. She invited two friends over and we made these cute little compacts out of candy mint tins. You paint them and paste some faux fur on top, glue a small mirror onto the inside lid. and fill them with hairbows and lip gloss and such. They had a great time. She begged to have a treasure hunt, so I just hid a few clues that led them to the treats ofr their compacts. I didn't have the boys make one, and then then I saw a cute idea for a boy-themed idea. You paint a candy tin and glue on a small lizard, or some other such icky boy favor, and their you have a tin for your coins. Oh well. Always the good ideas in retrospect.

Bethany's birth story.......

I had my typical first trimest feel-like-throwing-up-for-three-months-but-never-actually-throwing-up feeling. I usually don't have any real medical complications, fortunately, but I do have my share of typical pregnancy discomforts. My weight gain was just fine, I thought, until one evening we went out to dinner. Our waitress was asking when I was due. When I told her at that point I was about 7 months, she said, "Oh my sister is 7 months, too. But, she's not as big as you are!" Can we say, "NO tip for you?"

We were renting at the time, and had closed on the house we were buying just two months before she was due. I was seeing the doctors at the same practice as the midwives, but was not familiar enough with the midwives at that point, so I had just chosen to see the doctors. I was actually due on March 7th, then early in the morning on March 9th I started having contractions. We took the 30 minute drive to the hospital. Things were progressing very quickly- I was almost 10 centimeters by the time we got there. But, of course, they have to call the doctor and needed to give me the antibiotic since I was Group B Strep postitive, so they didn't want her out yet. I had previously decided that I wouldn't get the epidural, but then told the nurse that was probably a bad idea. She was very encouraging and said that I was almost ready to push and that I could do it. I was very thankful for that. When I think back and remember her birth, it seems like everything was so calm. No extraneous people going in and out, everything was quiet- very peaceful. So, I decided that maybe I could do it and about an hour and a half later, at 6:50 am we had a Bethany. She was small for our babies, only 8 lbs. 3 ounces. She was so pretty. She had a full head of dark hair with these light brown highlights at the tips. I recovered very well and so did she. I couldn't have planned for anything to have gone any better.

Tasty Thursday

Southwest Club Wrap with BBQ Ranch Sauce

4-6 large flour tortillas
3/4 cup ranch dressing
1/3 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 head iceberg, very thinly sliced
handful of cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 pound pepper jack or monterrey jack cheese, grated
1 ripe avocado, thinly sliced
1 cup pitted black olives, chopped
1 cup red bell peppers, chopped
1/2 pound smoked or buffalo style turkey, thinly sliced

Warm tortillas in microwave, griddle or oven. Combine the ranch dressing and BBQ sauce in a small bowl. Working with one tortilla at a time, layer each ingredient on half the tortilla. Start with a bit of sauce, then add the lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, avocado, olives and peppers. End with a piece of turkey. Fold in each side of the tortilla and begin rolling the wrap from the end with the filling. Tuck in the filling as you roll. Slice each sandwich in the center, on the bias with a sharp, serrated knife. and serve. If there is extra sauce, serve on the side.

A Trip to The Zoo

Riverbanks Zoo offers free admission on Fridays in January and February. To Richland and Lexington residents only though- only because some of our property taxes go to the zoo! So instead of buying a pass we just wait and go on Free Fridays. Some of these pics are from a few weeks ago when we went with our Spanish class. Can everyone say "el tigre"? And some are from last Friday when I took the kids alone. We loooove Riverbanks!