Resolution Update! (Feburary)

Feburary update....As some of you know I am apart of Mommy and Me of CNY. This is a great group of local mommy's, that do various things with there kids or sometime alone all together!

We also try to help out by making meals for mommy's in need (i.e. having another baby, hospital stays, deaths in family etc..) I am apart of this board.

I decided when I had Michael and a very good friend of mine (shot-out to Miss April), did this for me, that I would do this for others. She made quite a few dinners for me (all freezer ready) so I could use them as needed! What a blessing and help that was! It doesnt seem like much but it IS!!

One of the mommy's had another baby the 15th of Feburary and called in reinforcements. I made my dad's FAMOUS and I do mean famous Chicken Shells. (I have included the reciept at the end of this blog) for her and her families.

These are a rare treat in our house because just as good as they are tasting, they dont have a lot of good things in them. Being that I try to find a good excuse to make them...they are a great comfort food and it rained all day yesterday so they where perfect.

It turned out nice, the husband even recognized me from my cousins facebook, they had, had her do some photography work for them (tarapolcarophotography.blogspot.com).

Anyways adopt an eldery neighbor or a busy mom and when you make dinner make a double batch. It will make very little difference to you and the world to them!!

****Lew's Famous Chicken Shells****

*now as with all of my dads receipts they were not written down only by momery, so tweek this to fit your need and please bere in mind I am still trying to figure this the best I can.

2--boxes of jumbo pasta shells (prepared)

3--boxes of chicken stuffing (prepared)

chicken breast cubed or shredded (any amount is good I usually use left overs or a couple cans of canned chicken breast)

1/2c-1c of mayo (NOT miracle whip--I had to throw out a whole batch because of it one time) You can use light mayo though

1-2 cans of condensed cream of chicken soup mixed with 1/2 can of water - to each can

Parmesean chesse

*optional and veggies you like

1-Mix stuffing, chicken, mayo, and veggies all together (i usually use the pan I prepared the stuffing w/ so use a bigger pan

2-take 2, 9x13" pans pour 1/2 of the chicken soup mixtures in the bottom of these pans (yes this make a lot but it is the only way I can get it to work, you can cut it in half but use 2 boxes of stuffing and you will just have some extra. Mike and I use the broken shells for these ;)

3-one by one take a shell, stuff it with the stuffing mixture and place into the pans in a row. Continue this with all the shells

4-pour the rest of the chicken soup over the top and sprinkle w/ parmesean cheese

5-Bake at 350 untill golden and bubbly and serve about 20-30 minutes

I wanna stress my dad (Lew) would have said just eyeball it, if you like mayo add some extra, if you wanna use turkey so be it! Dont over think it and have fun with it!

ROCK BOTTOM

"Well I am thinking or at least hoping I have hit rock bottom. " At approx 7pm tonight this is what is going through my head.

I am at the 24 hr Kinney Drug store waiting for a few presciptions for my boy, sitting next to a lovely gentleman, and this I kid you not, drinking a beer (yes in the store) talking to his son on speaker phone (of course) about how no you can not have pancakes that is a breakfast food, "I got you some chips" the man explained.

Then as a "lady" aka baby mama of this gentleman yelled over from aisle 12 asking about getting a potty chair for the baby, he very "calming" explained to her "why cant the child use ther s**ter like everyone else".

What led me to this? Why I am I not home with my husband and son on a Sunday night watching the few and only shows I typically watch on a semi- regular basis i.e. baby allowing??

Let me take you back a few days, as most of you know Michael has been fighting an ear infection for about 3 wks now, which 1 wk ago became a double ear infection (see previous blog for more info ;). Thursday/Friday night WE didnt sleep all night or day and I say that with very little exageration! Saturday we recieved from the tooth fairy count them 2 shiny new pearly whites. In the midst of all of this!

Now that in and of itself hmm..not to bad. We have also had a nasty little cough getting progressively worse over the week. The dr. assured me just post nasal drip (with no running nose??) This led to Saturday/Sunday night being yet again restless. Anywho that led to my 10 month old not breathing this afternoon and a quick trip to urgent care said yup like mommy and a few of his aunite's Michael has Asthma and had just had an attack :( (Try giving a 10 month old a breathing treatment, one who hasnt sleep in pretty much 3 days).

My only saving grace is that it WAS a weekend and daddy was home to help. As much as he could Michael only wanted mommy. That being said Mike told me Saturday that it was pretty much life or death that we go on a "road trip" this weekend. Life or death to the engine in my car (dont ask me, what does he know about cars). Cant be next weekend hmm??

So Saturday afternoon we piled into the car and drove to Old Forge for some lunch. It was actually really nice and sunny and the baby got a little sleep. Of course that wasn't enough so we did some on the through way too on Sunday. Thank goodness mom took Michael for those couple of hours.

Despite all of this (or because of it who knows), I have never had so many laughs with my husband in 1 weekend! I am hoping that for today the worst is over but I guess even saying that is begging for it...Any ways I hope this makes me a more seasoned Mommy and must say pretty proud of myself!! I know this is part of the job and will take every minute of it especially when at 6am after being up since 1:30am when Michael put one hand on my cheek smiled and gave me a "kiss" (mouth wide on my nose) I knew I would take a million more of these nights for one more of these kisses.

I am going to bed!

P.S. - it sounded so good, we had pancakes for dinner :)

A Day In The Life of Michael

7:00am--wake up
7:00-7:45am- play in crib(pull everything out of the hamper next to my crib)
7:45am-wake mommy up (by screaming as loud as I can)
8:00am-eat breakfast (mostly, what I dont like I give to nikki, the doggy)
9:00am- get dressed (usually includes a fountain show for mom)
9:30am-play, or go to Y with mom (and play there)
11:00am-eat some more
11:30am-take nap (maybe)
1:00pm -wake up and play(pulling everything out of drawers, cupboards, moms purse, ect..)
2:30pm-play (with the dog bowls)
3:00pm-maybe run arrands with mom (probebly grocery shopping, I help by unloading all of the fruit out of the cart [and onto the floor])
5:00pm-take another nap(maybe)
7:00pm-wake up and eat (daddy's now home!)( I.E. ignore mommy)
7:15pm-play (again)
8:30pm-eat dinner with mommy and daddy (well I eat, they are the entertainment)
9:00pm-take bath (I help get mommy and daddy too)
9:20pm-story time with daddy while mom massages neck and shoulder (for tortacollis)(ahh..the good life)
9:40pm-bottle
9:45-10:00pm-fall alseep while mom rocks me :)

REPEAT

***INTERVIEWERS NOTE***
I dont know very many people who could handel such a rigourous schedule, but by all means give it a try!! ;)

POOPFEST Winter 2009

Well the s**t hit the fan today! Michael is on a antibiotic that as usual causes some extra poopy. (we had 6, count them 6 outfit changes on sunday, including 1 in B.J.'s). On top of that it makes it a lovely shade of red (sorry I know T.M.I.). So today being Wednesday is my normal day off so I gladly spent it with my sick baby snuggling and loving on him.

I DID NOT however gladly spend cleaning not only his, but the cat and the dog's behind as well.

That's right my cat in the bathroom....the one where her litter box is, you ask??? Of course not! Oh on the nice easy to clean tile then?? NO! On the 1 square foot of rug that I purchased (and spent WAY more than I should have) when we redid the bathroom. Wasn't that nice of her??

The dog spared me, pooped (and pee'd) on my kitchen floor, only after she stepped in it!

My animals do not usually do this sort of thing. A weird alien intestant parisite?? A early April fool's joke?? A hidden camera show maybe I dont know...I do know that this day however, will go down as our first (hopefully not annual) Poopfest day :)

Thanx for listening to my vent!!

My Bug!

WARNING POSSIABLE NUDITY MY FOLLOW!

My Bug!! Is helping me do everything. We are currently crawling and cruising and I can bearly keep up. What the h**l am I gonna do when running and walking!

He is pretty much getting into everything and thinks it is hysterical when we yell or say no :) So I am constantly picking up the dog food and water bowl and everything appox 27" and down. I am not complaining dont take me wrong this is exactly what I signed up for and am loving every 9 out of 10 minutes of it.

Happy B-day to Me!

So I had a bigg b-day last weekend (25)! My good friend works a great hotel and got Mike and I a suite with a jacuzzi tub, we went to my favorite resturant (Ichibans).

Mike w/ some help from my mom, had my favorite chocolate cake w/ chocolate frosting waiting for me at the hotel with 3 dozen roses! This is pretty much the 1st time I recieved flowers w/out bugging for 3 weeks ahead of time!!

Thank you for everyone involved in making my birthday great!

New Year Resolution Update!

Ok so I finally have done something towards my resolution(see early Jan for more info)!! In doing my resolution I am trying to come up with things that have little to do with $$$, and more to do with time and effort. On Jan. 29th I gave blood to the American Red Cross. This is actually pretty hard since I truly hate needles :(

The process is pretty easy, you start by signing in your name and reading a small booklet about the process and making sure your eligable (you cant do it if you are on certain medicines, dont weigh enough (haha) or any recent tatoos, peircing ect..). You then get taken back and you get a finger prick to test your iron, fill out your personal information, name, adress, age, weight, ect.., you answer yes or no to a series of about 50 Q's and then your off to give blood.

Even though you will be there for about an hour (less if you have done it before) the giving blood part takes about 5-10min and they get a pint or unit of blood. Only the intial pinch and then the rest doesnt hurt. The best part is after you get to eat some cookies and juice :) (helps with you blood sugar) all in a days work!! You can do this every three months or so.

I encourage everyone to do it. This was something my father did for years. He did pharesis, which is when you can give blood every two weeks. They take your whole blood out of one arm, run it through a machine to take the part they need, platelets, white blood cells, red and they put the rest back in your other arm, so your body can recover faster!

Anyone who is interested in doing this or if you have Q's or need contact info, contact me!!