outside

We've had great weather here lately and it has been our goal to soak it up. It's nasty out right now and is supposedly supposed to get cold again for a few days. To remind me of the warmth here are some pictures of our family out on the front porch.




Don't you just love those button eyes



the doctor said she is getting rolls in all the right places :) I love a chubby baby

Thank you Lord for Spring and sunshine!

4 mo

We celebrated 4 wonderful months of life with Lydia on Monday.

I took her to the doctor on Tuesday for her 4 month appointment. She received her second round of vaccinations. I got teary eyed but overall did better than last time. She did great. It was rough at first but calmed down once I nursed her.

Every time I go in to the dr I have a list full of questions. Our doctor is great and really takes her time answering and reassuring me.

I've just started spreading out her feedings from 2 1/2 hrs to 3 hrs. Now I'm trying to figure out the rest of her schedule. She used to sleep great for a full 1 1/2 hrs but lately she's having some trouble. She wakes up often needing her pacifier. Up until this point we were still swaddling her. The doc said I have to stop. She said her arms and legs are her little exploring tools and I'm trapping her. Well she's not used to that and keeps her self up with those swinging arms. I tried last night to leave her unswaddled but she woke up 5 times in the first hour. I decided I wanted to sleep and swaddled her up. She slept great and we worked on being unswaddled today during naps. We'll see how it goes tonight.

Lydia now weighs 13 lbs 5 oz (70th %tile) and is 24.5 in long (50th %tile). Her little head is literally little (7th %tile). They think it measured so small because it is a little flat on the back. We are working on that tummy time.

I feel like we are working on a lot right now. :) I'm having those common doubts about my mothering skills. I've often heard moms say that as soon as they feel comfortable in a schedule it changes. Guess that's what I'm experiencing and should probably get used to it.

Recipe

I'm pretty much stinking at blogging and I feel like it's going to continue to be this way until the end of the semester. Any way I tried a recipe a few weeks ago that I said I'd post. I'm following through. I made this again tonight. It really is yummy and super easy. It's from a college friend who responded to my post about being in a cooking rut. Thanks Amanda!!!

Here is her message to me with the recipe:

Italian Honey Lime Chicken

-8 Fresh or frozen boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins (or breasts that have been cut in smaller strips
-3/4 cup Italian dressing
-4 tbsp honey
-1 tbsp lime juice (I use the concentrated stuff that comes in the little lime shaped container)
-Stainless steel frying pan (I don't think this recipe will work in a non-stick pan)

Place chicken in frying pan on medium heat (you don't even have to thaw it out first if it's frozen). Pour Italian dressing, honey and lime juice over the chicken while it's cooking. Do not cover the pan with a lid. The chicken juice needs to evaporate so that in the end, all that is left is a carmelized glaze from the honey and dressing. Once the chicken is fully cooked, I turn up the heat to "high" to evaporate more of the juice and also to transform the dressing and honey into more of a glaze. It spatters, so I wear an oven mitt while I'm cooking at this point. It doesn't take long before the dressing is a nice deep brown and it thickly coats the chicken. I use tongs to rub the chicken around in the pan to get all the glaze on it. My husband says it tastes better the darker the glaze gets, but it will burn quickly if you don't watch it on high heat. We usually make mashed potatoes to go with it and I drizzle the leftover glaze over my potatoes for a different taste. It's really yummy!

If you try this let me know. Thanks again Amanda!

ghetto fab

sorry for the poor quality... taken with my phone

catch up

So Patrick has the computer with him at school a lot during the week. I'm finding it hard to find time to blog. He is in bed (old man) early tonight and since I have to wait up to feed the girl her last feeding I figured I should take advantage of this time and do a little posting.

Lydia is 3 1/2 months now. She is an absolute joy to be with. Today she giggled at me. Her smile is so sweet. She opens her mouth as wide as she can and grins from ear to ear. Her eyes light up and, oh, her innocence just melts you. It has seemed like she was so close to just letting out a squeal of laughter and today she did it. I tried to call Patrick and put him on speaker phone. He barely heard her. Then when he got home we tried again and she did it even better than this morning. Show off. She knew her daddy was watching.

After we went to the doctor around 3 months and saw the scales I decided it would be okay to drop that middle of the night feeding. It was time to make her sleep through the night. We have been at this for 2 weeks now. She woke up the first night a few times. I went in and put her paci in. Second night she went a little longer before waking up crying. Third night a little longer. Fourth night... slept all the way through with out waking up (10:30-7:30). Praise the Lord! Fifth, sixth and seventh night woke up like five times crying. Sheesh I was getting more sleep before. I gave in one night and just fed her. I could hear her belly growling. Poor thing. Well she's gotten better and has slept through the last 4 or 5 nights. I am thankful. I feel like this is a big step. Now I feel like we could leave her with grandparents overnight without feeling as burdensome. Who really wants to wake up in the middle of the night to feed a baby who isn't even their baby? (Even though I know both my mom and his mom wouldn't mind at all but still I'd feel bad)

I tried a recipe that someone sent me and I loved it. Super easy and super good. Will post about this soon.

Happy birthday tomorrow Mar 10th to my bro Jordan. He's the big 26!! Very thankful for those 26 years the Lord has blessed him with. Also very thankful for how He has grown and matured him in the last year. Love you JP.

untitled

in a rut

My mom is a great cook. She's taught me everything I know. I can usually come close to making everything she makes pretty much just like she makes it. If I'm not sure how she makes it, I call and ask.

My Dad is not terribly picky but he knows what he likes and how he likes it. Because of this, my mom usually stuck with the things she knew Dad really liked. She wasn't always introducing new recipes for us to try. Occasionally she would but for the most part she stuck with the old tried and true.

I've noticed myself in a rut with cooking. I have probably 10-15 meals that I make over and over and over. I don't have a picky husband. Patrick will pretty much eat whatever I put in front of him. He may make a comment like "this isn't terrible but I'm ok if you don't make it again," but he'll eat it. :)

I've decided to try out one new recipe a week. It may just be a new take on an old classic but it will be something new. I want to grow in my ability to cook and create meals. I'll be letting you blog readers know if I find any gems. I'd also love to know if you have any recipes that are staples in your house. You can leave them in the comment section or email them to me... I'd love that!