Dr. Appt, Grease, and a Meal

My little munch has be sick for going on 2 weeks now. I typically like to let his little body get over these things on its own, but his fever was getting a little out of my comfort zone, so we decided a trip to the doctor was necessary. For all you mommas out there, the nurse practicioner told me that you don't really have to worry until the fever gets over 105. Who woulda thought?! I also learned that ibuprofen is more effective at bringing a fever down in a infant that tylenol. I know I am a wealth of knowledge today! ; )
Crewe has been sneezing and couching up a storm. Oh and you are not considered cool in our house unless you walk around with a noodle on your shoulder. In case you ever come over you have been warned.

Chillin with Scout, waiting for the Dr. to call us back.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming. Playing with his Nemo sticker.

Who me?

Telephone outlets are the new "it" toy in case you didn't know. Keeping an active baby happy in a germ infested place is no easy task. Yes I am THAT mom. :)

Another important tidbit of information I must share. Have you ever tried these little gems? 

No? Well let me tell you, if you are a chip fanatic like myselft, but don't like that one serving of cheetos is only 13, these are a game changer. You can eat and entire container of these for same amount of calories in those 13 measley cheetos.

See for yourself! Momma has polished off serveral of these containers, in 1 sitting, by myself, since Crewe started solids. 

Onto the Grease, aka: your skin has never felt so gloriously soft. Our skin is so dry this time of year and I have never figured out a lotion that can not only treat it but also prevent it, UNTIL I stumbled upon this little concoction. All of this can be purchased at the Dollar Store for only $8.36. You know they really should rename that store to the Three to Five Dollar Store, since hardly anything in there is a dollar anymore. Anywho, this will last you a while and is definitely worth the money.

Crewe LOVES helping his Daddy make this stuff. We usually end up finding lotion strung all over the kitchen before we are finished.

Just dump it all into a bowl, mix together, and get ready to say hello to the softest skin ever. It works best to mix with an actually mixer rather than a spoon.

He always gives us this look when we let him do something he normally can't touch.

We try to be as economical as possible since I have started staying at home, so we just scoop it all back into the original containers. It is really too thick to put into any kind of squeeze bottle. Crewe gets lathered in this every night after his bath and smells delicious.

Pinterest has changed my life when it comes to my cooking abilities. I literally went from despising cooking to your everyday Better Crocker in days. My hubby would most definitely agree. I NEVER used to cook.

I made this yummy recipe and it is sure to please even a picky eater. An added bonus, it is a Weight Watcher meal. I have never followed weight watchers myself, but know some people who have had incredible results thanks to it. It is 9 points for 3 shells if anyone is interested.

I also modified the recipe just a bit by using a rotisserie chicken. Anything to save time when you only cook during naptime.



(Source)

12 jumbo pasta shells

1 1/2 c pasta sauce
2 large egg whites, gently beaten
1 1/2 c part skim ricotta cheese
4 oz. chicken, cooked and diced
1 c frozen spinach (chopped) thawed (drain all excess water)

2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp chopped basil
3/4 c part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/3 c grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350
Cook shells in boiling water according to the directions on box.
Rinse with cold water and set aside for later use.

Lightly spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and spread 1/2 c of pasta sauce evenly over the bottom of the pan. Set aside.

For filling: Stir together egg whites, ricotta, chicken, spinach, garlic powder, basil, and seasoning. Stir in 1/4 c of mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese.

Fill each shell with mixture and place filled shells in the baking dish on top of the sauce. Spread remaining sauce on top. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 30 minutes.

Pinterest and other blogs have given me so many new ideas for cooking and making it healthy. I think I might start posting a recipe a week to share with anyone who reads my blog. What do ya'll think about that?

Stream of conciousness might have been a more appropriate title for this post seeing as how jumpy it is! :)

Get ready for a walking post becuase my boy is a walker!

 Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday!

How to put it nicely

I am going to get on my soapbox for 1 blog post. It is something that weighs on my heart and I feel makes everybody have just a tinge of insecurity about themselves. I have fallen quilty many times to comparing my life, marriage, parenting to other peoples through social medias, to the point that it has effected my daily life because I wonder what is wrong with x, y, or z in my life.  I have never been able to figure out why everyone always feels the need to act like their life is perfect. So many people constantly only post the positive and don't get me wrong I think trying to be positive is always good, but I don't get the vibe that is their intention. It is as if they want everybody to think they are not human in how perfect they make their life out to be. The perfect marriage, house, job, kids, you know the people. I think we would all feel a little more secure in ourselves if everyone, who chooses to expose their life whether it be through facebook, blogging, twitter, etc..., was honest about their life.

 I just think people have stopped acting REAL! What is so wrong with other people knowing you have struggles in your life?!? Life can be joyous and life can be hard. I would much rather have people around me in the joyous and even more so in the hard than try to keep up with the perfect persona and be isolated when life gets hard.

I can't tell you how many times I have read something that I completely relate to that somebody has posted and it makes me feel a little more secure and normal in the person I am. It is my goal in 2012 to find my balance in between being honestly happy and honestly real. For people to feel like they can relate to me and know I have my struggles in my marriage, in parenting, and there are skeletons in my closet too.

Here is where I will start. I struggle sooo much with my body image. When I was pregnant I was obssessed with not gaining to much weight and gave myself a 12 week window after delivery to get back to my pre pregnancy weight. I have been like this as long as I remember. Body image has always been one of the tops things on my list. Sometimes when I look at myself it breaks my heart a little that it is soo important to me. In my head I know there are so many more important things in life than body image and my goal in 2012 is to let go and focus the energy that I am no longer using on obssessing about my body image to reading the Bible, playing with Crewe, and being okay if I miss a work-out.

Ok I am steppin down :)

I would love to hear about goals you have set to make you a better you.

And just so I don't have a post without a picture.I Love, Love, Love when this little guy sits with one leg tucked up and the other sticking straight out.

Monthly Stickers: Say What???

Can I tell you I totally failed at the cute stickers you can buy from etsy to put on a onesie to show how many months your little one is. TOTALLY FAILED!!!! I missed the first 2 months because I did not have them yet and maybe achieved months 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 and 11! Mom of the year right here! Now that I am looking I am more than a failure at it. What would that be? An uber failure. Either way here is proof that I have kept up with him even though he doesn't have cute little ties on all his shirts to prove it.

Month 2, mommy is still a little frazzled from the lack of sleep and her bra straps are hanging out.

Month 3, Momma is starting to slowly feel like a momma and not like the hospital was CRAZY sending me home with this little human.

Month 4, you are actually starting to act like you like me and that I am not just a dairy cow. Sorry but that is how I felt the first 4 months.

Month 5, your daddy is starting to show more and more in your personality, which is a good thing, because your momma can be a little up tight and organized which might not make you too popular in school if you take after me! 

Month 6, MIA

Month 7, Looking as precious as ever

Month 8, MIA

Month 9, finally starting to get the hang of being vertical.

Month 10, first experience at the fair. Don't worry your momma ate enough for 3 grown adults.

Month 11, actually remembered to put the tie on you and man do you look like a little man here.

Month 12.5, you are officially looking and acting like a toddler. Fits and all. 

Sooooo, I offically remembered to put 3 out of 12 ties on this little guy. Hopefully I will be more successful with my next babe. Love your smile little boy!

DMV = H E double hockey sticks

So I have now been married for almost 4 months and had yet to get my license updated because I have horrible memories of what the DMV can be like when you go by yourself, nevermind trying to accomplish this task with an infant.Well Friday I set out to get this done, after all I am a Moran now. Crewe's naps didn't quite pan out how I had hoped but darnit I was going to cross this off of my to do list. I wholeheartedly function off of to do list. When I say Crewe's naps didn't pan out that means he slept a whole 15 minutes for his morning nap which is usually 1.5 hours. You need to know that to get the full effect of the situation when we walked into the DMV at 2 pm with literally 100 people waiting and people commenting how they had been waiting for 2.5 hours. I tried to get a picture of the waiting room, but decided it might seem a little creepy for me to take a picture of 100+ strangers. Crewe really did remarkable well considering we were scrunched in a small space.

I kept him entertained for the first 30 minutes by letting him put gum in and out of a packet. He thought it was the best.
 

This is about the point that I started sweating more than the average female. He was getting antsy and tired. The gum had lost its aura and he was ready to go. I was wishing I hadn't worn a gray shirt as well

He started launching the gum at people and it crossed my mind that this would be so much easier if he was still in my stomach than an active 1 year old. I think I have already mentioned how social my little guy has gotten in the past month and has gotten quite determined that he does not need to hold on to anybody when he walks. He sooo still needs a hand when he walks. Literally 100+ people where watching me chase him around (sweat stains and all) the DMV and probably hoping I would not sit next to them.

I made a comment to the lady next to me for a nano second and when I turned back to Crewe he had walked himself over to a gentleman that looked rather gangster (sorry if that offends) and was trying to feed the guy his yogurt puffs (crossed my mind to take a picture and then common sense kicked in).  I was mortified and had to remind him, not everyone wants to be his best friend. In all seriousness the guy ended up being super nice. Anywho, 2.5 hours later our number was called, FINALLY, we got up to the counter, Crewe spit up all over the place, the lady looked at me like I was digusting, we had our picture taken and I am officially a Moran (was that a run-on)?

Hope everyone had a great week~

Party for 2

It is so neat to be able to be a momma with my sister even though we don't live in the same city we definitely try to make up for lost time when we get the boys together. I remember taking baths with other kids when I was small. Sidenote: some of those other kids are full grown men now with wives and kids so it kind of creeps me out when I see them to think I used to take a bath with them when we were small, end sidenote. Either way, Wyatt and Crewe took a bath together one night while they were here and it went pretty smoothly. At the first mention of it I had visions of Crewe getting dunked in the tub, but Wyatt proved me wrong. In fact it was Crewe who made bath time come to an end.

Poor Mr. Wyatt had to were a girl diaper after, if I recall correctly, having a blowout and no back up.

They both look a little concerned about what is going on.

 Putting pajamas on two active boys is no easy task especially when one of those boys was not at all happy about his sweet cousin spitting up in the tub causing bathtime to end way before he was ready. Sorry Wyatt!

This has nothing to do with cousins taking a bath, but I came out to this after putting Crewe down for bed and a husband doing laundry. Really did I get that lucky! The note made me laugh out loud.

I cannot believe it is a new year!

Nested Egg!

I will get to the title in a bit. My honey and I are currently sitting on seperate couches throwing a toilet paper roll back and forth to wipe our runny noses, watching a Christmas movie, refusing to accept the fact that Christmas is over and we have to wait another 10 months for the season to start again because I put up our decorations the day after halloween ; ) ( was that a horrible run-on?) I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and everyone remembered the reason for the season and had full hearts and homes. We were so blessed to celebrating with a bunch of 18 (13 adults and 5 kids). Lots of stocking and of course 24 hours of "A Christmas Story"!

Can I get a bit more serious and let you know I struggle with trusting God? Got serious fast, huh? It has been struggle of mine for years. I don't struggle with knowing Jesus is our Savior; however, I have had my moments of "what if none of this is true". My honey always brings me back to reality when I doubt. I stuggle most with fearing that if I trust God with every fiber in me, something bad will happen to me. I have been really praying hard about this, because I know the only way to unconditional happiness is total surrender to God. My biggest fear is something happening to Crewe.

ALLLLLL this to say a really neat thing happened through all of my prayers. I have decided that God wants us to pray about the big events and happenings in our lives as well as the little and I REALLY wanted to have a white Christmas so I starting praying for snow and low and behold this is what I woke up to Christmas morning. This is Lubbock Texas, by the way, so we are not known for having a white Christmas!

It was such a gentle reminder to me that God hears ALL of our prayers and I know if he listened to a prayer as small and insignificant as a white Christmas, he is listening to my pleading prayers for trust. In his time not mine, is another hard one for me.

On to the title and something a little more light. I found, yet another, recipe on pinterest that is fantastic and easy if you are feeding a large bunch. The recipe name is Bacon, egg, and toast cups, but we felt it needed something more, so the honey and grandma starting throwing out names. The worst was Poached pigs feet and the best was Nested Egg. How cute is that?

I forgot to take a "final product" picture. Luckily there was one left over. I sprinkled a little cheese on top and think this one is a keeper. I think I ate 3! You can find the recipe here.

Finally it was time to open up presents. I think it is sooo hard to buy gifts for your spouse when you share a checking account. I mean how are you supposed to make a large purchase and them not notice. Luckily I have a small job on the side that pays cash and my honey has been wanting a Citizen watch for a while now and NEVER ask for anything, so I decided is was time for a surprise and starting hiding (saving) my cash so he would have no clue. There was so much anticipation for giving him the gift and then I forgot to get a single picture. Bummer!!! Here some others of our Christmas.

Crewe practiced his walking.

An abundance of presents were opened by all.

Christmas lunch was a hit by Crewe's standards. (He reallly slept through lunch and ate after everyone else). Who wakes a napping baby? Not me!

Drinks were enjoyed, juice for the kids and peach bellini's for the adults.

The boys played and adult version of nerf wars.

And to all a goodnight!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!