Little Joys

After getting three hours of sleep last night that were not together from my insomniac baby, I received a, "Love you Mommy." when serving the Big R breakfast this morning. It definitely made my day have a good start! One of the little joys of being a parent. <3

Frito Pie Recipe Review

Ingredients:

• 1 can of chili (I use one with beans for some extra protein in the meal)
• 1-2 cups of fritos
• 1 cup of shredded cheese
• 1/3 chopped onion

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Spread out 1/2 of the fritos on the bottom of a pie pan (enough to cover the bottom)
• Sprinkle half of the chopped onion and half of the cheese
• Spread out the can of chili
• Sprinkle the rest of the onions and chili and fritos to cover the top
• Bake for around 20 minutes

This recipe is SO easy to make, SO cheap, and SO good!! Our family enjoys this meal and the left-overs are great too! It is an interesting twist between chili and tacos. I would definitely recommend adding this one to the menu.

I found this recipe on this meal website.

Recipe Review: Chicken, Broccoli, & Cheese Casserole

Prep Time: 10 Minutes    Bake Time: 30-50 Minutes    Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken cut up
• 3 cups corkscrew pasta, cooked and drained
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 bag (16 oz.) frozen broccoli flowerets, thawed
• 1 tbsp. Mustard
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• 1/2 cup of Italian-seasoned dry bread crumbs
• 1 tbsp. melted butter

Directions:

1. Stir soup, milk, mustard, broccoli, and cheese in a casserole dish
2. Mix in chicken and cooked pasta
3. Mix bread crumbs with butter and sprinkle over mixture
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until fully cooked

This was a very easy meal and very, very cheap considering that I only used about half of the ingredients that I bought for it. My husband said it was one of the best meals I have cooked for him. It was very filling for us too. I used half of the bag of broccoli and half of the bag of frozen chicken breasts that I bought for the meal. I can have more to make the recipe again this way. It was a good way to sneak in a serving of veggies because they were disguised by the cheese and noodles. I had to cook mine longer than 30 minutes for my chicken to be fully cooked, so be sure to check the meat when you cook it. Everyone in our family gives this meal thumbs up! :)

Our Sock Family.

Here is our family as sock people. These were a Christmas present I made for Chris to set on his desk. They are hand sewn and most are made out of two socks and some scraps I had in my collection. The body and hood are from one sock and the face is from another. The accents on Chris and I are from scraps. Baby sock is made out of just that-a baby sock! :) They were a lot of fun for me to make while I was pregnant and relaxing while I would wait for Chris to get home from work at night. I didn't know what color the baby's eyes were going to be so he has black buttons for his eyes. Anyway, just some fun :).

Birth Control.

Such a controversial topic and yet it goes by as normal from doctors and many people. Yet, it is not discussed much in the "Christian circle". It seems that many topics related to life after marriage are not discussed much which leaves me wondering what other people think and do about things-many topics in general. So here is one I have been thinking about...

What to do about it? What to think about it? This has been a thought-provoker and a struggle for us as we have tried to decide what our stand is on it. Last spring I got the book, "The Contraception Guidebook: Options, Risks, and Answers for Christian Couples." I would recommend this for anyone who is trying to research the different options out there about birth control.
I am stuck trying to figure out what is best and what is right. We know that we do not want to have more children at least for a couple years to let the boys grow, give my body some time to go back to normal-physically and emotionally, and save up more money to be able to provide for a larger family. However, what do we do?

 I have researched the different methods and although hormonal methods are the most common and most effective, it makes me sick thinking about taking it. (I am currently taking the mini-pill since I am nursing.) The reason it makes me sick thinking about it is because what they don't tell you often is that there are three ways it works and the third is the changing of the lining of the uterus. Which means it makes it a hostile environment so a fertilized egg cannot implant.  It is stated so simply. A fertilized egg cannot implant. I believe a life begins at conception and if something I am taking makes my body reject a fertilized egg, I am losing a child without even knowing it. It is so awful to even think about. Yet, what other options are there. I have researched the charting method, however with being pregnant or nursing since December 2007, it makes that a little difficult because there is nothing to go off of for detecting a change. I know there are people out there that will say to put it in God's hands, however, if we do not use a form of birth control, we will get pregnant: ie Logan. I was even on the pill when I got pregnant with Roman. That situation proves to me that if God wants a life, it will happen. However it is still a difficult topic. I am in a quandary. The guarantee of some options to not get pregnant for 3 or 5 years sounds very appealing, but the side affects do not and they also thin the lining of the uterus.

So my question to you is: What is your opinion on the subject?

^{Luke 23:28-29
28}Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹For the time will come when you will say, 'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' ³⁰

A sad picture of what is happening in our society.

The Lord Builds the House.

On my mind...

These are just some verses on children that I have looked up-they were actually in the stack of cards that I took with me into labor and delivery with Logan-I have had these thoughts on my mind the past few days and thought I would journal about it.

Psalm 127: 1-5

 Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

John 16:21

When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

Psalm 139:13-16

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Ecclesiastes 11:5

As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

Today I am frustrated as I remember times when we were criticized for having our children; criticized by people who are in the Church. It was very hurtful to us when we were at a time when we were very excited about the new life and potential to be criticized about something that was our decision. With Roman, it was that we were "too early" into our marriage relationship to become pregnant according to their standards. (We had been married six months when we found out we were pregnant.) Although Roman was not planned by us, he was planned by God and is not a mistake. With Logan, it was "too soon" after having our first child to be pregnant again. "What were we thinking?" We did plan on having Logan. We wanted our children to be close in age so they can have a close bond and friendship as they grow together. Also, last time I checked, it wasn't that unusual to have children a year and a half apart? I believe children are a blessing and should be celebrated for their new life, regardless of the situation into which they are born. Why criticize about a pregnancy when there is all ready a person growing? It saddens me that people that profess to be Christians could think bringing a child into a loving marriage should be looked down upon. This upset us greatly.I would not change one minute of having my boys for one without them being here. They are wonderful. Yes, there are stressful times, but it is worth having them!

 

What is wrong with the Church? Where are the genuine believers? I know there are genuine people in the Church, however, it seems like more and more it is being taken over by hypocrites; people who only care what people think of them and how they appear. They show up to church every Sunday with a smile on their face and wearing their nice clothes while their lives away from church are not matching up. Prayer requests become gossips and people that are truly hurting inside, don't get help because they are afraid of what people will think of them if they share what is really going on in their life. The sad thing is that the people who have treated me the worst in my life have been professing Christians. In these situations I trusted these people and they were hateful and deceitful and the bridges that were part of those relationships were burned. What is going on here? I'm tired of lukewarm living-around me and also in my life.

 

I'm not saying that we are the perfect Christians or anything close. In fact, we have been struggling with wanting to go to church for these reasons. We want something genuine; something real. We haven't found a church that feels genuine yet; that is not putting on a show. It is also hard to go visit new churches not knowing who will be working in the nursery or how safe the nursery procedures are for our kids. We have just been doing our own thing at home lately. We are going to a church with some friends this weekend and I am excited about it. Also just excited to spend some time with some new friends!

Sewing Projects

his weekend, I was able to do some sewing on projects I have been wanting to make for Logan for some time. I was able to finish making my baby wrap to carry him around in and also a nursing cover. I got the instructions from this blog. I altered it a little, but the basics are there.

The cover will make nursing when we are out in public so much easier because I always have trouble with just draping a blanket over my shoulder. I tried it out at home yesterday and I think it will work well :).

The baby wrap, I have been excited about trying for so long! I researched different baby carriers and wraps while I was pregnant and decided this was the kind that I wanted to use. It is supposed to be one of the more comfortable styles. It's made out of jersey knit and a panel of regular fabric in the middle for extra support. It is basically a looooong strip that you wrap around your body in a certain way and then there are many different ways to put the baby in it. I decided to just make it because I could make it easily for half the price of buying it online.

How I did it:

-4 yards of jersey knit fabric cut down the middle so I had two really long strips

-4 yards ended up not being enough so I added 1 yard of regular cotton fabric in the middle

-I just had to sew the two fabrics together because the knit doesn't unravel

-If you want just one piece of fabric with no sewing, I would suggest at least 5 yards to have enough to do the wrapping

I put Logan in it for the first time today in the newborn hold and as soon as I got him situated in it, he fell right asleep!! I think he likes it and it will be well worth it! I think it will help me with being able to hold Logan while I chase Roman around :).

Youtube has a lot of great videos on how to do the different holds and how to wrap it around your body. I based it off of the Moby wrap.

*Our Second Baby*

Here is the story of Logan's birth if you are interested in reading about it.

I had a doctor appointment on Thursday morning and my doctor thought I would be going into labor over the weekend, which had a snowstorm in the forecast. He thought we should get induced so I didn't get stuck in the snowstorm on my way to the hospital or stuck at home because I was so close to going into labor. We set up an appointment at the hospital for the next day at 9:30am. After the appointment I stopped in to tell Chris at work the baby was coming the next day and he was very excited!!
The rest of the night was filled with excitement and anticipation. I had all ready had our bags packed for the hospital so there wasn't much preparation to be done. Needless to say it was very difficult to get any rest. I think I woke up once an hour all night.

We woke up early to give us some extra time in case of snow on the roads. Chris and I woke up Roman so we could spend some time with him before we left and say good-bye to him. We were lucky that the snow hadn't started yet, but it was beginning to rain so off we went to the hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital it was just beginning to snow; which didn't stop for two days! We got all checked in and I got hooked up to the monitors and my iv and antibiotics and by the time we were settled in our birthing room, it was around 10:30am. We waited for the doctor to get to the hospital and get across town in the snow. He got to our room around 12:30pm and talked to us for a while and then checked me. I was dilated 3cm so he broke my water at 12:45pm. They also started me on pitocin at that time. The contractions immediately kicked in and were so strong! They were the most painful part of the labor and delivery because they were coming on top of each other. I made it a half an hour before I wanted to get my epidural. The nurse told Chris that I was actually in labor so I was having extra strong contractions from the chemicals in the pitocin and the hormones being released from me so they stopped the pitocin. She checked me and I had dilated to 7cm at 1:30pm and we waited for the anesthesiologist to get there. By this time, my contractions were so strong and so frequent that it was really difficult to sit up for the epidural. I also was feeling a lot of pressure and was worried the baby was going to start coming out because I didn't know what that felt like because I was all ready numb by that point last time. My epidural was in at 1:45pm and the nurse went out in the hallway to answer a phone call and came back to me blowing through my contractions and checked me again. At 2:05pm I was fully dilated! I started crying because I didn't feel ready and couldn't believe it was time all ready!!! I didn't get to lay on my sides to get the epidural going, and still had full feeling.

The doctor came in and asked me if I could wait for him to get his scrubs on and took one look at me and said we would just have the baby because he didn't want me to have to wait any longer. He rolled up his pant legs, put the booties on his shoes, and put a drape over his clothes and it was time to have the baby! Chris and I were in shock that it had happened so fast. I started pushing at 2:10, and 4 contractions later, Logan was born at 2:19pm!!! During the pushing, his heart rate was getting pretty low from everything happening so fast so they had to use the vacuum on him. The one they had in the room was broken so all the nurses were scrambling around trying to find another one. My doctor has a very mellow personality, so he kept telling them everything would be fine and the baby would be nice and healthy. While I was pushing and in between pushes I was able to make eye contact with Chris which helped me a lot compared to last time. (I was so worn out from 3 1/2 hours of pushing I couldn't open my eyes at all.) Since everything happened so quickly, my epidural never had a chance to kick in all the way and I just had some tingles which took the edge off along with all the adrenaline I had going. The actual delivery wasn't that bad to me and I liked being able to feel what was going on.

Once Logan was delivered, the nurses laid him on my stomach while they dried him off and Chris cut his cord. This was a really neat time and I couldn't believe I was all ready holding him! Then they took his vitals and did his check ups at the side of the room. Chris and I were able to hug and then he took some pictures of our little baby. When they were done with him I held him skin to skin for a while which was an awesome bonding time for us and it helped him be ready to nurse.

After an hour and a half of labor and 14 minutes of pushing, he made his arrival! It was such a whirlwind!! I'm still in shock at how fast everything went!

Here are his "statistics"
Weight: 8lbs. 1 oz.
Head: 14 1/2 in.
Shoulders: 15 1\4 in.
Height: 21 1/2 in.
Born at 2:19 PM on February 5th, 2010

We named him Logan Virgil. His middle name is after my grandfather who passed away this fall. We wanted to honor him and are excited for the day we can explain to Logan why he has that middle name. Roman was able to come to the hospital later in the evening with Christian's parents. He immediately came to my bed and snuggled with me while he drank his bottle then when they brought the baby into our room, he exclaimed "baby!" and waved and blew him a kiss!

The first picture of the three of us!

Christian was so helpful and wonderful throughout the entire experience. I couldn't have done so well without his support. He was there to get me what I needed, help me around the room, and support me emotionally. It was a huge bonding experience for the two of us and I am SO thankful for the positive experience we had with this labor and delivery. I am excited that all of the boys in our family have birthdays on a 5th now too!