9/16/11

I'm going to start a post now, but think I will have to finish later.
I have a feeling I will be getting interrupted shortly, and won't have much privacy to write.I hate when I feel like someone is watching me or staring over my shoulder while I am doing things online. Even if it's not something secretive or anything, I still just hate that 'being watched' feeling.

Well my aunt came to visit to stay with us for just a couple days to help out. My dad's surgery is today at 2. He's having a resection done to take out several inches of his intestines at 2pm.

**this is where I had to stop earlier**


Okay, continuation!
His surgery is done, things appear to have gone well. He is in recovery now! He will probably be in the hospital until at least Tuesday.


Okay, what else to catch up on?
Our trip?
We left for NJ at about 9:15am on Friday 9/9/11. My mom, myself, my husband, and both kids. Overall the trip wasn't too horrible. Although it can be challenging managing the diaper changes and diaper bags in and out of restrooms or restaurants. It's like change one kid, okay, now let's switch kids so I can change the next one! Then okay, this person hold a kid so this adult can pee, etc, etc.!
So we stayed at my Aunt Lynn and Uncle Marty's house. It was nice to have a chance to visit and whatnot, although I wish we could've stayed longer.
The wedding was Saturday afternoon at a church, and was very nice. And the reception followed a couple of hours later at a Point Pleasant Yacht Club. The reception was awesome, Danielle and Andrew did a great job. They had a really nice cocktail hour with hot and cold passed hors' deurves, and a little made to order pasta station, a little made to order stir fry station, and an cold station with crostini and bruschetta topping, olives, fresh mozzarella
Then for dinner they did a buffet, which was actually really great! Buffets get a bad wrap, but when you go to a wedding you want to eat and drink and celebrate!! And I did go up twice, no shame here! They had some kind of like a sweet and sour pork, which was okay, a DELICIOUS filet mignon espagnole, a specialty dish of the club called chicken crystal, eggplant rollitini which was delicious, spanish paella-I'm not big on seafood, so I just took the rice and veggies, and it was really good!, some kind of delicious roasted potatoes. There were other things too, I just can't remember! Their cake was also delicious. One of the best wedding cakes I've tasted. I've been to several weddings where the brides said they were having these amazing cakes, and they were pretty gross/bad. Cake matters a lot to me, since I do so much baking and was/am a cake decorator.
Then Sunday we just visited with some family and friends. My aunt doesn't allow smoking in her house, so even though it was a little drab and dreary, we let Logan go outside when some adults were outside smoking. He managed to fall off/knock over on himself a very heavy outdoor bench. He cried, but seemed okay afterward. Well the next day he was walking funny. I took him to the urgent care/hospital as soon as we got home Monday night, they did X-rays, and said it looks okay, but if he was still walking funny in a week to take him to his primary care doctor. Well, he's still walking funny, and now isn't walking flat-footed, only on his tiptoes. So I think we will be making a phone call to the doctor on Monday morning. Never a dull moment-I tell ya!!

Dinner tonight is just a simple pot of italian sausage meat sauce, and I have a pot of hot water on. Whenever my mom comes home from the hospital I will throw the pasta in. We figured this was an easy meal that could just sit on the stove to cook until whenever we were ready to eat. Both kids are currently napping (yes! at the same time!!) which has given me a nice break to catch my breath and get a few things done. I wasn't sure I was going to get that lucky though, since Logan didn't sleep well last night, got up early this morning, and fell asleep in his playroom early this afternoon!! He didn't sleep long, but I thought "oh crap,  if he slept in the playroom, will he still take a real nap in his crib later?!" Well, he went down late, but it seems to have worked!!

ughhhhh

Things have been crazy. I will barely even have time to update right now, but wanted to jot down a little something since it's been so many days since I last wrote.
We left Friday for NJ, to go to my friend Danielle's wedding, it was beautiful, I'll write more about that when I have time. We got back to Ohio about 7pm-ish on Monday. The kids were pretty good for the most part. And my family was awesome about watching them.
Came home to a bit of a dirty house/chaos. Then to top it all off my dad is sick again/still. They admitted him after my mom took him to the ER today. They are going to do surgery Friday to do a resection, in hopes that they can contain/cut out the bad part of his bowel/intestines to get the diverticulitis under control.

9/9/11

I haven't slept very well the last 2-3 nights, but I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight! I am anxious/nervous. I feel like a little kid the night before Christmas.
We leave in the morning for our trip to NJ for my good friend's wedding on Saturday. I would like to leave at 9am, but our goal is NO LATER than 10am. Wish me luck.
I'm a little nervous taking both kids on a trip that is 8 hours long. I think we will be okay though. We have a portable DVD player for Logan, and he is generally good on car rides. So as long as Meredith doesn't get needy and want to be held, I think we will be okay. It will be me, my hubby, mom, and the 2 kids. The car is pretty much packed except for the last minute items. And when I say packed, haha, I mean PACKED! That bad boy is stuffed with 3 suitcases, a stroller, 2 pack n plays, a booster seat, 2 big bags of snacks/toys, a bag of the babies food, a foam changing pad, a cooler, and all the other little stuff!! I think we will be okay, and I don't think we've forgotten anything major.
So hopefully all will go as planned! I'm going to try and relax and go with the flow, but I always get a little anxious about the kids misbehaving or forgetting something of theirs. I hate to be that unprepared mom!

9/8/11

Crazy day today.

My father has diverticulitis. It has been causing him a LOT of problems recently. He's been to the ER 7 times since May. Either just because of the extreme pain, or a few times because of passing out (from pain/dehydration). Well, today made trip #8. I was woken from a dead sleep by a loud thumping noise from upstairs (I slept downstairs on the couch since Meredith fell asleep on the first floor). I knew immediately what it must've been since, just hours prior we got my father to admit he hadn't been feeling well since Saturday. Then I heard what must've been my mom jumping out of bed. So I went downstairs to get my brother to assist (my husband was already at work). And lo and behold, yes, he had apparently gone to get up out of bed and lost consciousness for a minute (also not good when that happens because he has extreme back issues). So I called 911 for an ambulance, because we're never sure anymore if we should move him or not. Late this afternoon they decide to admit him. His PCP and his gastro doctor decided to keep him for observation. Usually all they can really say is that it's a divert. flare-up, and they give him IV fluids, and put him on antibiotics to help clear it up. Well, usually it seems shortly after he goes off the antibiotics, he gets sick again. So no one really ever has any answers!! And this is all just on top of another huge pile of mess, because my parents have no health insurance. My dad found in January that he was both losing his job, and that he had kidney cancer. So he became unemployed, and short one kidney. And things haven't really seemed to get better at all so far this year. I feel like we could really use a break already. I can't dare express any of these feelings on a network like Facebook, because some ass always ends up being a jerk and saying all I do is complain, or how it could be worse. Obviously it could always be worse.....but right now it's pretty bad. *sigh*

9/6/11

Yesterday was another kind of blah day.
Didn't have a whole lot planned.
Went with my sister and my mom to get my mom something to wear for the wedding this weekend. Was REALLY disappointed in the selection at kohls. They had items on mannequins that they didn't even have left in stock! The store was a mess. The dress selection in general sucked.
We had a turkey picatta with fettuccine for dinner yesterday, another new recipe. It wasn't terrible, but I think if we make it again I may adjust some of the ingredients.
Today my sister and my brothers girlfriend went home. They were both visiting for the weekend. It always sucks when my sister has to go back to Indiana. I wish she lived closer. My sister lives in Indianapolis, and Katy lives in Canal Winchester, which is about halfway to our house, so my sister just picked her up on the way here, and dropped her off on the way home.
I've really been loving on my kids and thinking a lot about them lately.
I found out over the weekend, that this girl my sister went to school withs infant daughter died last week, supposedly from SIDS. I met her, and her daughter Jordyn once. And the fact that this sweet 3 month old baby is actually dead is consuming me. I have always had issue with death, and dealing witness it. And the fact that a baby I was smiling at, and was making faces at me, just 3 weeks ago, is now.....not here....is just a hard concept to grasp. I can't stop thinking about it. I can't stop thinking about a dead baby. Is that sick? What is wrong with me? I feel like I couldn't handle something like that. I don't know how i would go on if something happened to one of my kids. I don't think I am built strong enough for something lie that. Since Meredith was born especially, I have had nightmares, and thoughts about something bad happening to my kids. Does that make me a freak? Is it normal to have bad dreams about bad things happening to your kids? I love them so damn much I can't even explain. The thought that anything ever, could happen to them frightens me dearly. I know, I know, this is all just part of being a mother. But i have become overly paranoid about something happening to them. I suppose it can only subside with time. I know I'll always worry about them. But i hope some of this anxiety goes away soon.



Completely random sidenote-Tonight's dinner was eggplant parm and pasta. I think tomorrow will be a free-for-all night since we've been doing so much homemade cooking lately. Time for a break

9/5/11

So today was a bit of a blah day.
I haven't really gotten much/very good sleep the last say 5 nights or so. So I got up with the kids this morning, got them situated/fed breakfast, then told my hubby i pretty much HAD to go lay back down. I've been pretty tired lately, and sometimes I am getting these pretty bad headache/migraines. I'm not sure if it's even related to being tired, but they are just very random and weird. So I laid back down at about 10am, and bless his heart my hubby didn't wake me up until 1pm!! It was only 3 hours, but it made a HUGE difference. I was like a new person. I slept SOLIDLY the whole 3 hours. It was nice.

I did feel a bit behind when I got up though. Even though we didn't really have much planned or to do. My sister and my brother's girlfriend are visiting, so I had planned to make a nice dinner. It was a first time recipe, so I was pretty nervous. We definitely ate a lot later than I had planned, but I'm happy to announce the food came out good. It was a modified recipe I had seen on the food network for Tarragon chicken. It was delicious. You basically brown the chicken in oil, after you dredge it in flour/salt/pepper, then remove the chicken, then cook some pearl or cippolini onions and sliced garlic in the pain, then deglaze it with white wine, add chicken broth, tarragon (I used dry-not fresh, and didn't use as much as they suggested), cook that down to reduce. In the original recipe you return the chicken to the pan, while the sauce simmers and reduces. But I was making such a large batch of it, I had put the chicken on a tray in the oven to finish cooking, and it still turned out good. You simmer the sauce a little while, then add a few tbsp of flour to 1/3 cup of chicken broth, whisk it together, then add it to the sauce to thicken it, then add a few tbsps of butter!! I also made fresh green beans, which I never have before. Boiled them in salted water. Let then dry/drain in a colander. Then you brown some sliced garlic in olive oil, add the green beans and saute for a few minutes. They were delicious. I also made broccoli with cheese sauce, and a chicken flavored rice. So happy it came out well and everyone liked it.

Then I also made a gooey butter cake after dinner. I tried a small sliver, and it's good, but VERY sweet. If I make the same recipe again I won't use as much powdered sugar in it. Oh well though, you live and you learn.

Meredith's been a little fussy again lately. Not sure if maybe it's still just her body (IE-constipation/gas) adjusting to the new foods, or if it's teething. She's been drooling a lot, but we can't feel anything cut through the gums yet. She's just a little over 6 months old now. I think by now Logan had already had a few teeth cut through the gums. I've been wanting to pull his baby book out and check. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

9/2/11

Well, didn't succeed at getting a real dinner on the table yesterday, oh well, it happens. Everything I kind of looked at real quick to defrost and make, we were missing some of the ingredients for, and I wasn't wanting to go shopping. So it was a free-for-all night. I did make the hubby some beef potpies (homemade from months prior, but i vacuum sealed them and froze them) for when he got off work.
Tonight though, we had a real dinner!! And it was good! First time, new recipe.
I doctored up a recipe I got on the back of a Reynolds Wrap Bags box.
I uses the plastic Reynolds cooking bags, (place it in a large baking dish) and a 2-3 lb bottom round roast. Put that in the bag, along with 1.5 lbs of those tiny re potatoes, a 1 lb bag of peeled baby carrots, and slices one large onion, separated the slices and sprinkled them around the bag. Pour in 1 cup water. Then sprinkle over the roast and veggies in the bag, 2 envelopes of onion soup mix, and then sprinkle over it all 1/4 cup of flour. Add about a 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of pepper over the top as well.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 2 hrs.
It came out delicious!!
The veggies were tender but not mushy, and coated in the flour/onion soup mixture and almost had a caramelized flavor/texture to them! The meat was a little over done, the original recipe called to cook for 2.5 hrs, And I cooked mine about 2.25 hrs. So that's why i suggest only cooking it for 2 hrs. I served it with some Knorr sides beef noodles on the side, and peas to round out a full large meal. Not too shabby.
Took Logan and hubby for haircuts today. Logan's only had about maybe 5-6 haircuts in his life so far. He was okay at like his first 2 or so. Then the last few times we took him, he really threw a fit, cried and everything. I was so proud of him today though. He did awesome. No tears. They put the apron thing around him, and he started whining a little bit. And I remembered on the tv show Max and Ruby, try put a cape on Max, and were calling him super bunny. And that day I loosely tied a blanket around him, and called him super bunny too. And he loved it, thought it was hysterical. So as soon as the stylist was getting him ready, I started talking about Max and Ruby, and talking about super bunny. He seemed to get distracted enough, stopped getting upset. From there on out he was so well behaved! She used both the clippers and scissors and he was fairly good the whole time. Such a relief. And he looks so handsome and grown up with his hair freshly cut.

9/1/11

Here we are, into September already!!
In Ohio our Winters are long and cold, so we beg for summer. And Summer came with a vengeance. It was HOT. And we all complained of course. But now that Summer is slowly coming to a close I find myself a little sad and wistful of it's impending absence. I will try to enjoy Fall a little better than I did Summer!

Today was kind of a lazy day. I feel like I didn't get a whole lot done, but I guess feeding and changing 2 kids is a chore in and of itself. Logan had pizza (and half a chicken nugget) for lunch and made a total mess. I caught myself getting frustrated for a minute but quickly and easily let it go. And I went the cheap and easy route for dinner. Hamburger Helper. I'm not proud, and it sure doesn't really go with my concept of trying to get a homemade dinner on the table more often. But it was dinner. It was an italian shells and cheese one. And Logan loves pasta, so I thought he'd be all over it. But he wasn't. In fact he was being a bit of a brat, and I'm not even sure if he tried one bite! So I heated up some leftover chicken nugget. He took a few bites, but mainly played with them. In the end, he asked for a banana, and actually ended up eating 2 whole bananas. Which, coincidentally is also what his sister had. She just finished up her 3rd day of bananas. Tomorrow we are moving onto peaches.
Logan has been interacting a little bit more with Meredith lately. And if she sees him dancing or making faces, she always laughs. It's so cute. This morning he was doing this dance, from Yo Gabba Gabba, this Get The Wiggles Out song, and he dances like crazy and she cracked up. It was great. I'm hoping to catch him doing it on video. Then at lunch, he tried to feed her a chicken nugget and his pizza. She was sitting right in front of him, on grandma's lap, and he put it right up by/on her mouth. It's so sweet and heartmelting and precious you can't even yell at him. We tried to explain she's too little, and he didn't seem to get upset. I'm just hoping he won't try to do anything like that if they are ever alone together. I worry constantly about things like that.
Meredith was really playing around with her bedtime bottle, and doing this thing she does while on your lap, where she like pushes her feet against you, and like pushes her head up and off your lap. Almost like so she can drink with her head upside down. I found myself getting extremely aggravated. I just wanted her to finish so I could get her down for bed, since we've been trying to get her in bed a little earlier and adjust her schedule. And right as I was about to get really ticked off, she started laughing at me. I mean totally cracking up. My angry face must've been pretty funny. I HATE when I get upset or frustrated with her. And after I do I feel so terrible. She is growing SO fast, and I already get upset about her newborn days being gone. How can I get upset with her?? I spent way too much time when she was a newborn with her colic being upset and frustrated. I won't let myself do it now. I already wish I could redo her infancy. I would shut up and stop complaining. I would get over the fact that I was tired and just deal with it and drink another cup of coffee!! Because now it's gone. And I feel like I missed out on her newborn days. I feel a little cheated because of the colic, but in a way it's partially my own fault for letting the colic win. C'est La Vie I guess.

My sister, Heather is coming home to visit from Indiana this weekend. She lives and works there, where she got a job after college at Ball State. I'm excited because I have to give her her long overdue birthday gift. Her birthday was 6/27, but finances were a little tight then, and I had already decided I was buying her a Kindle. So I waited, and was able to get it the first week in August. I didn't want to take the chance on shipping it out there though, so I just waited, knowing she'd be home again this weekend.


And next week, my mom, husband, and both kids and I are making the drive out to NJ for my good friends wedding. Should be interesting! I'm a little nervous. I think we are well prepared though. We already packed the kids suitcases though for the most part, just a lot of little odds and ends last minute type stuff to throw in the night before/day of. It's just worrysome traveling with a toddler and a baby. Although I know, I know, most things, if forgotten can be bought at the store. I think as long as we have my son's blanket, we will be fine!! That I couldn't replace. :-)

I should probably get to bed, it's pretty late. I actually took a nap today though, which is probably the only reason I'm even awake right now!
I haven't pulled anything out of the freezer or decided what to make for dinner tomorrow. I can't seem to make a decision. Maybe it will be a free-for-all, can of soup or frozen pizza type of day. Laziness strikes yet again. Not totally my fault though, we really need to go to the store. I'm out of what I consider to be essentials like potatoes, and onions. We've also eaten a lot of ground beef lately, so I feel like I shouldn't cook that. Or this weekend, my brother's girlfriend is coming here with my sister (she's friends with her also), and she doesn't really eat red meat, so I think we're having chicken on both Saturday and Sunday (I have been dying to try a variation of a Tarragon Chicken I saw on the Food Network or Cooking Channel, I forget which). So I feel like chicken is out for tomorrow. We have some pork, but we're getting a little low, and I was too lazy earlier to dig through the freezer and see what was in there. Perhaps if I get up early enough I can dig through and defrost something. We shall see.