Pin-tastic Monday! tortilla soup

Linking up with AP again today for Hey, That's Pin-tastic!

This week I made a pinterest recipe for tortilla soup.

It was pretty good! Hubby LOVED it! He even said it could be added to the meal rotation! That's huge! So yeah! Win for pinterest!

It is a slow cooker recipe which I love! I cooked it on high for 4 hours and it turned out great. Just make sure you plan enough time for chopping. Like 30 mins or so.

  I used two thawed chicken breasts. I don't think I used 5 cups of chicken stock. We bought a mild green pepper not a bell pepper.

We used Santa Fe seasonsed tortilla strips. So yummy!! Let me know if you try it!

Super Mom!

Awhile ago I talked about doing a super mom link up and I’ve decided to do a weekly super mom blogger feature instead. All I would need from you is to answer 10 questions that I have come up with about being a super mom. Once you email me the answers back I will get back to you about when your post will be up. Leave me a comment or email me and let me know if you would like to join in the fun!

Sorry kiddo, can't pick your parents

There are a few things I want to talk about and I think this picture is a good place to start.

#1 the be a better housekeeper thing? Yeah, not going so well!

#2 This is a picture Hubby took of me trying to write my name and move my leg in a circle. We were cracking up trying to do this on Saturday night and I wanted to instagram a picture and Hubby was all don't take a picture of me, so I said fine take a picture of me then. He clearly doesn't know the rules of don't show the million toys on the floor in the background!

You know those nights when you and your husband can be silly together and laugh until your face hurts? It has been a few days and I'm still smiling on the inside from it. I can't help but think, "gosh, how long has it been since we've laughed like that?!"

Where I'm going with all of this is that I think maybe possibly after 18 months since our world got flipped upside down (Chase's birth) we are back to a good place. If you are a mom then you know how truthful the statement "our world got flipped upside down" is. It is so crazy to me how you meet a guy in college and think he's cute and would be a great husband and father but there is ABSOLUTELY NO way to really know how he will be as a father. You don't even know what you will be like as a mother. As a planner, I don't like all the unknowns. You can't plan what the kid will be like either!

Luckily, I did pick an amazing man. He's been so patient while I've figured out this whole mom thing. Like many of you I wanted my relationship with my husband to be the most important thing. We did date nights about once a month but the crying and needy human being you just created wins 99.9 times out of 100 over your technically should be self sufficient husband.

I read in one of the million parenting books that when your husband gets home from work you two should spend some time on the couch cuddling together and tell the kids that it is mommy and daddy time. Well, let's be realistic now people. When my husband gets home from work I don't even get the first kiss! Because our adorable happy little boy runs squealing over to him. I on the other hand am still in my pajamas slaving away over dinner and exhausted from my day. Probably crabby and ready for bed. Every man's dream!

We have had to learn how to communicate like never before. Because when the kid is hungry and tired and you are hungry and tired and you are at a pumpkin patch with 1,000 other hungry and tired parents and kids and all they are serving is hot dogs and nachos which your toddler can't eat you have to try not to lose your cool, next year. We have been in a lot of situations like that and I always seem to be the one to lose it. Have I told you that we went to a wedding 90 minutes away without Chase and my mother-in-law watched him for the first time? That was huge people!

So if you are reading this and you are planning on giving your husband the silent treatment when he gets home for whatever happened this weekend, don't. Maybe you should try the writing your name and moving your leg thing. Seriously, so funny. This kind of relates to my last post. We've worked on our marriage with our kid around and hey, that is good for him too!

I love that he was there to see us laughing like that. I'm sure he thought we were absolutely nuts but he knows this already. Sorry kiddo, can't pick your parents.

Breast is best

It is 1:20pm on November 1st and I just read this article. I'll wait to post this since I just posted about planning Hubby's 30th.

The article's title is "Breast is Best? One Dad Says No to Breastfeeding". When I saw that title I just knew it was going to piss me off. No one should be saying no to breastfeeding! But I gave it a chance and read it. It starts out, "In an article published on Wednesday in The Atlantic, one dad makes his case against breastfeeding, saying that the "breast is best" mindset added insult to injury after his wife struggled to nurse their son." Ok, I get that. I know breastfeeding can be difficult. I know that it isn't for everyone. In fact, you don't even want to try it? I'm totally fine with that!

About here is where the article takes a bad turn, "They turned to formula, and almost immediately their lives changed for the better. That meant that I could get up on my own and feed Thomas while his mom went for six hours of sleep. The advantages extended beyond quality REM sleep. I got to bond with my son. I got to sing him songs and tell him stories. Those hours of father-child bonding were a good thing. I got to take him to my parents' house for the day—without worrying about having enough milk or keeping it cold—and give Betsy an afternoon to rest. Betsy and I got to go away for a long weekend—to be together, to work on our marriage, something that was not just good for us, but good for the baby, too."

I think it is so wrong to discourage breastfeeding! Plenty of husbands can feed their children while the mom sleeps. It is called a pump people. You didn't want to have to worry about keeping the milk cold? Oh I'm sorry! That's just lazy. You can keep breast milk at room temperature for 6-8 hours. There are plenty of storage options.

You got to go away for a long weekend. That's nice. So because I breastfed my baby and we didn't go on a long weekend our marriage is at a disadvantage to yours? Why don't we take the whole formula/breastfeeding discussion out of working on our marriage!

This yahoo article also talks about a different moron that says, "watching his wife breastfeed ruins his sexual appetite. Infidelity is a side-effect of extended breastfeeding, and the positive effects of extended breast-feeding should be considered in light of the negative effects on the marriage." Are you freaking kidding me?! Infidelity is a side-effect of extended breastfeeding?! A man that cheats has no one to blame but himself. No one said you had to watch your wife breastfeed.

The yahoo article writer suggests, "Some women may feel that, when it comes to breastfeeding, dads shouldn't have a say at all". I disagree. My husband encouraged me to breastfeed. Without his support I might have given up. When he wanted another child a year ago and we were told that might mean ending the breastfeeding before Chase's 1st birthday we decided together to continue with breastfeeding and he has continued to be supportive of the choices WE have made.

People get so upset about the whole breast is best campaign. I think most mothers are educated enough to know the positives and negatives of their options. One of the most important lessons you learn as a mom is to stand by your choices you make for your family. It sounds like this man's wife is a great mom. Sucks for her she has a lazy husband that needs to have weekends away from their child to have a good marriage.

Hubby's 30th birthday party planning!

I decided last night for Hubby because he can't make decisions like thist that we would have his 30th birthday party at our house instead of going some where.

And now the planning begins!

I love to plan a party! I'm trying to figure out the theme right now. The two I have seen on blogs that I like are a grumpy old men party or a Jimmy Buffet themed party. For the grumpy old men party everyone gets old people clothes at thrift stores and we could pick out something just ridiculous for Hubby to wear. Maybe some Depends? Then his friends would come over and make him put the outfit on and take him golfing and maybe brunch. Then bring him back to the old ladies and have a bbq or something.

A theme I came up with on my own is having a party theme based on the tv show The League. It is his favorite tv show besides the real housewives of New Jersey ;). But I'm not really sure what that would look like. I know some of you watch it. Any ideas?

Easy, Quick, Healthy Halloween party munchies for kids!

Linking up again with AP for Hey, That's Pintastic! Monday. We had our 2nd annual kiddo Halloween party this weekend. I pin Halloween stuff to my Halloween party board all year long. This year I was just not really into the planning. Literally, the day of I went through my board to come up with easy, quick, and healthy halloween muchies for kids. The party was so much fun and Chase loved all the fun food. His friends were more interested in playing with his toys but Chase sat at the table chowing down most of the party. You don't get size 9 wide feet at 18 months without a love for food :)! So here are my pictures of the food we made. Everything was completely ripped off from pinterest. I would be nothing without it!

 

Mandarin jack-o-lanterns. So easy. I used a sharpie and I want to warn you that I just peeled one and the sharpie still comes off on your hands. I didn't let any of the kids touch them. Not sure if I did something wrong I just took them out of the bag and drew on them.

Mini pumpkin dip bowl. Buy a mini pumpkin, have your husband carve it and hollow it out. Put store bought dip in it. Voila! Chase quickly figured out how to dip his carrots in the ranch. This was his first time having ranch. He also learned not to double dip!

Fruit Monster! I bought a personal watermelon. Had Hubby cut it in half and hollow it out. Then he carved the "teeth". We kind of propped it up with some fruit. Then I stuck toothpicks in some green grapes for the eyes and a strawberry for the nose and then cut up the other half of the watermelon and the grapes and strawberries and voila! Chase kept pulling the eyes and nose off. Also, watermelon with halloween costumes wasn't the best idea but it is so cute!

Last, and certainly not least, a pic of my little lion!

 

Still no period

*Warning- talking about female things today or as we refer to issues in our family "plumbing".

Chase was born May 1st, 2011.We didn't use any medical interventions to conceive Chase. My cycles are a little longer than normal.  I haven't nursed Chase since August 25th, 2012. Today is October 23rd, 2012. My last period was July of 2010. I am not pregnant.

You might be shocked by this. I have been in a few mom groups on Facebook and there wasn't anyone else in my same situation. I was starting to get worried. I was hesitant to google becase Dr. Google always tells you that you have cancer. I did Google and did see messages from other people on message boards that were in my same situation.

I went to the doctor today for my annual exam and was anxious to discuss what was going on. As I expected, I was told that I was still in the normal range. I wanted to talk about this today in hopes that someone else in my same situation is comforted by the fact that they are not alone. Some women get their periods 6 weeks after their child is born even if they are exclusively breast feeding. Some women, like myself, nurse for a long time and might not get their period back for 6 months after weaning.

I guess I'll also disclose that we are not using any birth control in hopes of getting pregnant again. This complicates things a little because it is possible for me to get pregnant without ever having a period, though rare. If there is no recent last period date with a pregnancy they like to have an ultrasound done by 6 weeks to get the dates correct. Which makes this momma that didn't get to see her sweet boy's face until 13 weeks happy. Which means I need to be taking pregnancy tests like every 2 weeks. So I know you bloggers have already done the research. Where do I get the most inexpensive pregnancy tests?

The plan is if I am not pregnant by January and still haven't had a period, to go in and get a blood pregnancy test and a thyroid test and then jumpstart things with some progesterone.

I feel so much better after my appointment! I really think Chase will be getting to wear a big brother shirt in 2013!