Great Moms Think Alike Wednesday

It's Great Moms Think Alike Wednesday over at The Unexpected Mom and today's prompt is what would you say in a letter to your pre-kiddo self...

Dear pre-kiddo self,

You will hate being pregnant. You will worry that there is something wrong with you because you hate it so much.

Your OBGYN for your first child will be a horrible person but, you will find a wonderful doctor mid-pregnancy who will deliver you at 29 weeks.

It will be very scary and you will spend 47 days by your son's side in the NICU.

You will realize that you are a thousand times stronger than you think you are.

You won't lose your pregnancy weight after your first child.

You will get pregnant with your second child before you are ready and you will hate being pregnant AGAIN.

You will realize the symptoms of pre-eclampsia earlier than your first pregnancy and will spend 2 weeks on bed rest.

You will lose your pregnancy weight after your second child...yay!

You will love your children more than you can ever imagine and they will amaze you every day.

You will throw yourself a private party when your husband volunteers to get a vasectomy.

Snow Day Chicken Chili

We had a snow day here today which only happens in Texas because no one knows how to drive when that white stuff starts coming down. It was really fun having Mark home with me and the kids and also a nice break for me.



When I first saw this Chicken Chili recipe over at The Cutting Back Kitchen I wanted to make it right away. But, last week it was 70 degrees and no one wants to eat chili when it's 70 outside. I knew it was supposed to be crazy cold this week so I decided I would make it today. This turned out so well, it's definitely a keeper. One weird/cool thing is that the black beans turned the chicken purple. So, this would be great for all of my TCU tailgating friends! I adapted this recipe from Katie at The Cutting Back Kitchen, if you want to see her original recipe click here.


Chicken Chili

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked and cubed
3 cans (or one bag dry) black beans
32 oz chicken broth
16 oz jar of salsa
8 oz shredded Colby jack cheese
2 tsp cumin
1 small can green chilies ( I have awesome in-laws that bring us real green chilies from New Mexico so I used these)

This is so easy! Place all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours and then on low for 2 more hours. Scoop into bowl and add some shredded cheddar or sour cream. I served it with tortilla chips.

If you use a bag of dry black beans be sure to sort and soak them over night and then put them in the slow cooker on high by themselves for 2-3 hours before you put the rest of the ingredients in.

Yumm!

Dear Makers of Jeans

Dear Makers of Jeans,

Just because I have big hips does not mean I have a big waist and thighs. Just because my backside is small does not mean that I want it to look like I have a flat back side. It doesn't make sense that my jeans give me muffin top but I still have to pull them up. Although I am in my 20's I don't want my butt to hang out the back of low rise jeans. Even though I am a mom, I don't want to wear mom jeans. Please make a pair of jeans that fits a normal person.

Thank you.

Organizational Fail

So, this week my plan was to reorganize the kids drawers. Right now, the dresser/changer holds all of C's clothes and there is a dresser in the closet that holds K's clothes as well as a bunch that are hung up. I wanted to go through and pack up all of the clothes that they had outgrown and make more space in the dresser/changer.

Once I packed up all the old clothes I was hoping to have some extra space to pull some of K's clothes into the dresser/changer so they are at hand when I'm changing her instead of across the room.

Well, this week was not the week to get this done. K spiked a 103 fever on Sunday through Monday night and the week went downhill from there. So, the new plan is to get this project done next week and if I can get some vacuuming done before Sunday I'll be a happy person. Wish me luck!

The Two Scariest Words Ever... Potty Training

Eeek! C is now 2 and getting bigger by the day. Changing his diaper has become an exercise in torture with the kicking and screaming. One of my non-resolutions for this year is to have him potty trained. I wanted to start right after Christmas but, I'm procrastinating because although I hate changing his diapers, I'm afraid of all the work were going to have to do as a family to get this done.

A lot of my friends are about to jump on the potty training band wagon as well. So, we've all been researching and reading and updating our facebook pages with where we are in the process. And everyone has a different approach. With all of the information out there I've heard about "Oh Crap Potty Training" more than once. Jaime, the author, tells it like it is with a sense of humor which I really like because for those of you who know me outside of bloggyland, I'm pretty straight and to the point. So, I'm pretty interested in this e-book.

Shannon over at Milk & Cuddles has been using it and considers it 1 of her 4 tools for "Potty Training Success" and she's doing a giveaway right now for one lucky reader to win this book and a 1-hour consultation with Jaime! This is an awesome prize for all us scaredy cat potty training mommas. So hop on over and enter to win!

Just Had to Share

Something I've been waiting for for the last two years finally happened today. When I walked in the door C called me "Mama." I almost cried.

Many of you know that C was born 10.5 weeks early and spent several weeks in the hospital before he could come home. We were told that he could experience developmental delays and we were thrilled when he caught up to his peers more quickly than anticipated. But, there was one area that we have had major delays and that's speech.

At 1 year C didn't have any words. He was "talking" like crazy but, in his own language. I wasn't really worried about it knowing that eventually he would catch up. At 18 months he had maybe 5 words, neither of them were "Mama" or "Dada." It was starting to get a little bit frustrating. At his 18 month developmental appointment we learned his speech skills were categorized at around 12 months. Our doctors had us get his hearing tested and we started working with Early Childhood Intervention.

All this time we kept hearing people say he'd have a breakthrough and that their children just started talking one day, or he'd talk when he was ready. I'd been pretty patient with not hearing "Mama" from my child but, deep down that's what I really wanted.

C turned 2 last month and still wasn't using more than 5-10 words but, over the last two weeks he has started saying more and more things. I almost fell out of my chair when he said "please" for more milk. And today was the best day ever for me as a mom when I walked in the door and he looked at me and said "Mama." I almost hugged him to death!

I know we still have more progress to make but, I'm just so excited about this accomplishment I can go back to being patient again.

Make Your Own Baby Wipes

When someone first mentioned this to me I thought "that's crazy! what can work like store bought baby wipes??" But, with going down to one income for C's first two years and Baby K coming along and having to go back to work we needed to save some money. So, one day I was out of wipes and I thought, "okay I'll give this a try and maybe I'll save some money. How hard could it be?"

Actually, not hard at all, and it does save you money. I've been doing this for almost a year now and I thought I would share it with you.

There are a ton of "recipes" for home made baby wipes around the internet but, this is the one I use that works for me.

1 jumbo roll Bounty paper towels (these are really thick and won't disintegrate)

1 1/2 cups hot water (if you use a regular size roll of paper towels you'll need less water)

1 Tbs baby wash (I have used Johnson & Johnson and also generic Target brand baby sensitive)

1 Tbs baby oil (whichever you prefer)

You will also need a container to keep them in. I use an old ice cream tub that has a handle on it.

Ingredients

1. Cut your paper towel roll in half and remove cardboard cylinder. You can save one half for your next batch.

2. Heat your water in the microwave for 2 minutes. Place your halved paper towels cut side down in your container.

3. Add baby wash and baby oil to water and stir gently to not create bubbles.

4. Pour mixture over paper towel roll. Put lid on container and flip upside down for 5 minutes to let mixture get all the way through.

5. Use wipes!

Easy! This usually lasts me a week or so depending on how messy the kids' diapers are, if you only have one child in diapers it would probably lasts 2-3 weeks. And you still have the other paper towel half for the next batch. This is also a great idea for babies with skin allergies because you can use whichever baby wash and oils your baby is able to tolerate. And if you're really creative you can decorate the container and give these as a shower gift with the recipe attached.