Cabin Fever Log:

It's been 3 days since Jackson & I have left the house. I have de-cluttered and organized more things than I ever care to do again... The overly clean & organized side of my husband has to be overjoyed at the "what" aspect of this situation! If it hasn't given him a reason to permanently revoke my driving privileges so I'm stuck at home to keep this up then I will be completely surprised {totally kidding, but seriously! He has to secretly be thrilled at the lack of clutter in this place!!!}.

Jackson's room is the first thing on today's agenda. I folded all of his laundry yesterday so I need to put it up as well as organize some more of the toys. I'm trying to figure out the most effective way to divide the toys between both boy's bedrooms. Oh what I could do if we only had 100 more square feet!! Then it's on to finishing up some laundry & organization things in our room. SEE!! I'm going mental!!!

I think Jackson is starting to feel a tad bit confined himself. He asked to go bye-bye twice yesterday, "talked" to Teagy on the phone all day and then cried to play with Abby & Ben at bedtime. At least James is off on Thursday and we're going to my follow up doctor's appointment & maternity coordinators visit... It will get us out of the house for a little bit! :)

The side effects of the Procardia are still getting me... It took me 40 minutes to open 5 cans of beans & diced tomatoes, a package of frozen corn, chop an onion and cut up 3 chicken breasts. That may or may not seem like a huge deal but for me, that's a long time!! We planned this dinner because it had minimal prep and it was all thrown into the crock pot. I didn't anticipate that the crock pot itself would be heavy & awkward to lift out of the cabinet or that even the few things that I had to open, chop & cut would make me light headed and short of breath. It's all definitely worth it, but I'm excited for the medicine to work and me to be off of it in a week and a half-ish... I have only had a small handful of contractions since Thursday but I've had a TON of Braxton hicks, which the medicine won't stop... Woo!

I am getting more and more anxious about Cooper's arrival. Abby is having Audrey tomorrow & I plan on visiting Thursday. Hopefully that will help my baby fever a little bit ;)! I am so super excited for her, Brent and Ben!! I can't wait to meet Audrey! My doctor says that after 35 weeks he is definitely okay with delivering Cooper, so I'm okay with him coming then too. I can't wait to hold him and see Jackson love on him <3.

I guess I'll head off to start my to-do list now while Jackson is playing quietly and contentedly all by himself. Thankfully he is a very wonderful, independent player and doesn't require constant entertainment!!!

Hope you're enjoying your snowy weather :)

My word of the day...

Today just so happens to be a very passionate feeling day... There are many things, feelings, life occurrences and opinions that I'm passionate about and I kind of feel like going off on a little spiel about them. 

Guess you could say that "passion" is the word of the day in my world.

LOVE

I am very passionate about this word. It encompasses everything whether your referring to a romantic love to the love of your favorite food, item, etc.. 

I should mention that my cheesiness factor is off the charts today too! I just had to post a little clip from Moulin Rouge, I just HAD to! 

Love is passion. No matter who/what you love, love them/it passionately and wholeheartedly.

FAMILY

I absolutely love my family! I am so incredibly lucky to have such strong, highly opinionated and extremely supportive people in my life. To top it off, I married into an equally amazing family. I wouldn't be the person that I am today without any of them and while there have been times that I've contemplated trading them {be honest, you've thought about it too at times!!}, you better not mess with them... I'll mess you up back! Yes, that is a threat! haha

They have taught me so many important lessons in life and I feel as though they have prepared me to be a better woman, wife and mother. 

FOOD

Food is my second love. Food is my passion. Food is my hobby. Food is me. 

Pregnant or not, the kitchen has always been my "place". Some woman take hot baths, get massages, or whatever and while all those things are wonderful and lovely things to do when you want time to yourself, nothing makes me quite as happy as preparing a wonderful meal, dessert or snack. THE most rewarding part is watching my family or friends enjoy the deliciousness that I've created.

There are fewer things more satisfying, to me, than the feeling of mixing, molding, mashing and combining different flavors together just to taste my creations in the end. I'm assuming it would be the same feeling as climbing to the top of Mount Everest or something... Food is my Everest. 

I may not have trained professionally, gotten a degree, or cooked in the finest of restaurants but I know what food is supposed to taste like. I know which flavors will pair well with others. How? I was ALWAYS allowed to watch, learn and experiment in the kitchen and I have been watching TV chefs do it for literally my whole life. I was just lucky enough to have been able to cook all the foods that even I didn't want to eat when I was a lot younger.

I truly hope to instill this passion, or part of it, in my children. This leads me to an opinion that I'm 100% passionate about...

NEVER TELL YOUR CHILDREN "NO, YOU WON'T LIKE THAT" OR "THAT'S YUCKY" WHEN THEY ASK TO TRY SOMETHING!
{unless of course its inedible and they really shouldn't be eating it... I've said these things in those situations too!}

Just because YOU don't like it, doesn't mean they won't like it either!

Open up their worlds to different tastes, textures, flavors and cuisines from the beginning. Setting them up to enjoy food will lead them to make healthy and positive food choices in their own adult lives. 

I dislike kiwi, but I don't keep Jackson from trying it. He's allowed to taste anything and everything, within reason- nothing raw or anything, when I'm cooking. If he spits it out because I doesn't like it, I don't get mad at him. He has started this crazy little habit of spiting out one bite of food because he'd rather eat another at dinner time and THAT irritates the snot out of me, but I don't punish him for not liking something from the very first time he tries it. 

Just because they didn't like it the FIRST time, doesn't mean they won't like it after 10, 20, 100 times!

Allow them to taste things again. What is the absolute worst thing that could happen? They spit it out again? woo hoo... WHO CARES! Let them taste it again. YOUR taste buds change occasionally don't they? YEP, theirs do too!!

Let your children experiment in the kitchen too!

Bake with them. Cook with them. Let them play in a small bowl of flour. Give them another small bowl full of water and watch them make dough. Let them dip their carrots in ketchup if that's whats going to make them happy.
There is a time and a place for "no" when it comes to the kitchen and food, for sure. Pick your battles and let them have fun too!! The last thing you'd want to do, even by accident, is to let your child grow up thinking that they aren't allowed to safely be in the kitchen. Those thoughts and feelings will stick with them forever and could negatively effect their opinions... maybe even for the rest of their lives. 

A little mess today may seem like just another inconvenience in an already busy life but it isn't even a speed bump in the grand scheme of things!

OH!! And you don't have to have a lot of money {because we sure don't} and you don't have to be a stay-at-home mom to broaden your child's horizons. You just have to be OPEN MINDED and WILLING to do so!!

FRIENDS

One would think that this is self explanatory, but is it? How many TRUE friends do you REALLY have? I have hundreds of acquaintances and I know a lot of people but would they be there when I really needed them? Honestly, NO, probably not. 

I have a small handful of great friends. Friends that would be there for me any time that I needed them, without question and regardless of why I needed them. My life wouldn't be the same without them either. I love that some of them have children that my kiddos are close in age to and can grow up playing together. I love that one of them doesn't have children so I can leave Jackson at home and have "grown up" time if I want to, but she's totally okay with hanging out with him as well! 

I think its important that James and I are friends too... we are polar opposites in social settings. I thrive and he hides lol. I'm working on opening him up a little bit, but he just takes a while to warm up to people... If you were to see him with his friends though, you'd never believe me!! BOY can they get loud and rowdy at times! We balance each other though. He makes me laugh and he laughs at my stupid jokes too. We do silly things together {Ninja James, anyone?} and always try to have fun. Just because we're married adults and he's 10 years older than me doesn't mean we have to be a boring married couple. Hopefully our boys see that we always tried to have fun when they grow up and get married. 

That seems to be all I have for now. I was clearly side tracked from my to do list by my little spiel, so I better get back to it!

Live your life with passion and you will love your life!

:)

This week should be my last ridiculously crazy week/weekend until D-day {Delivery Day}...

Alysha's baby shower is on Saturday :). I have had SOOO much fun planning a girly little party and I can't wait to officially post about it. Until then you only get to view sneak peeks since I'm trying very hard to make it as big of a surprise as possible for my sister. 

Yay!! It's going to be super girly and cutesy for sure but Miss Marley is totally worth it. I have a few other decorations and activities planned as well as a super adorable cake up my sleeve!! I'm super duper thankful for Ashley, Crystin and Jessica's help with my projects... Sisters and best friends, what would a girl do without 'em?

As if I'm not already crazy enough, I've been crafting and sewing up a storm. I made a few wonderful things for Abby and Alysha but my most favorite projects have been for my Littlest Mister!!

It all started with the little pillow for the rocking chair:

I've made pillows before but I tried to get all "fancy" and make it like the pillow shams from our bedding set. 

The only problem is the fact that I didn't account for the "displacement" (not sure what the technical term is) that the pillow would cause... so instead of the fabric overlapping, it gapes a little. I'm not worried about it, its in the back! 

So then I tackled what I thought was going to be my most complicated project to date. 

See that ^? Yeah, that up there ^!! That's a gray and white striped crib sheet... I MADE THAT. In fact, I made two!!! It was beyond, BEYOND easy. I followed this tutorial and didn't have a problem. 

Unfortunately, it wasn't until after I started my next project that I finally asked for help with my sewing machine settings. It was all sorts of wacky and it was causing all of the issues that I had been/was having with sewing.

Regardless, I followed this tutorial to make a crib skirt. I made it into 3 separate panels for a few reasons; 1- I would have had to piece my fabric together and because of the pattern it would have been a pain in the butt 2- The location of the hooks that adjust the mattress height are in a weird location 3- This way was just easier for me J. I’m very happy with the way that it turned out. I found a gray and white checkered cotton fabric at Joann's the other day and I think that I want to make 1 or 2 sheets out of it as well.

Crib sheet after I cut it from the pattern that I made.

Please excuse the toys under the crib... Jackson has been playing in Cooper's room :)

Soo cute! I'm going to take the two shades of blue/teal and possibly the orange to make curtains with... If I decide to make them.

I think that I am going to figure out what I need and how to make curtains next… wall art is needed as well, but I’m going to need some funky tools to help me accomplish one of the décor projects. 

Can't wait to have my Littlest Mister here!!! 

The Occasional Vegetarian

{this was just hanging out in my drafts so I'm just picking up where I left it off :)}

So far, we've gotten pretty lucky in the "food allergy" department. I'm the only one that has any food issues and they are only soy related. The world is basically our oyster... :) and we LOVE food. All kinds of food. Meat. Veggies. Fruits. Chinese. Italian. Greek... Sorry... the preggo was daydreaming about food ;). Even though we don't have a medical reason to eat certain things over others, I still like to keep it as healthy as possible. Simple little switches like eating whole grain bread rather than white and fresh fruits and vegetables instead of canned will make a world of difference. Sometimes it is fun to make meatless meals just to switch it up...

 I made these AMAZINGLY SPECTACULAR roasted vegetable tostadas last night for dinner. 

They were so incredibly easy too!

I didn't alter the recipe itself except for not using the cooking spray since it calls for you to toss the veggies in oil anyway.

Shallow frying the corn tortillas in a little olive oil.

I did make a super simple guacamole {I would even just call it an avocado mash since I only added salt & pepper to it.}and I put black beans on there too {drain and rinse a can of black beans, put in a skillet and heat with a little bit of lime juice so they're nice and warm too}

This was the perfect example of a meal that I initially plan on having leftovers of for another night but its devoured that night. I think I might have had enough to eat a tostada for lunch the next day, but that was it!!!

I highly recommend this recipe. It has to be the best vegetarian meal that I have made to date!!! :)