Tonight I rocked my baby to sleep

Tonight I rocked my baby to sleep.  I haven't been able to do this since he was a baby.  Dexter is really hard to put to sleep some nights, and here lately that means most nights.  Dustin usually lays down with him, because I am to uncomfortable here lately to be tossing and turning with him.   This used to work okay and Dexter didn't give us much trouble falling asleep.  However, here lately, he has been fighting sleep well past 11 o'clock every night.  It has been getting really old considering Dustin has to work in the mornings and he's the one laying down with him.  Tonight I heard Dustin getting Dexter in trouble for not laying down, etc. so I decided that I would give Dustin a break.  I sent him to bed and told Dexter he was to not get out of his bed.  About 5 minutes later he starts hollering I need go pee pee.  We get up and go potty then back to bed with the same instructions.  While I am in the kitchen cleaning up supper I hear his door open.  So, I start to go towards his room and by that time he has already climbed back into his bed and started crying.  When I get in there he says he needs to wipe his nose and he wants daddy.  I wipe his nose and tell him that daddy is in bed and he needs to go to sleep too.  I then return back to the kitchen and I hear Dexter still crying.  After about 5 minutes I decide that I will go in and calm him down and explain that he needs to go to bed and that it was bed time.  Well, I get in there and get him on my lap where he automatically places his head on my shoulder and is crying.  So, instead of this talk I was going to have with him I just decided to hold him.  I then turn him around and hold him like a baby with his head on my arm, and I rock him.  It was such a sweet moment because he had his arm draped across me like he didn't want me to let him go (pull at my heart strings).  As I was rocking him so many emotions just flooded me.  I guess it was because I could feel the baby moving inside of me and then I had this (giant) toddler in my arms that I love with everything in me.  It was so special because I knew that very soon things will never be the same.  In a very good way they will never be the same.  Soon after I feel Dexter start to relax and he drifts off to sleep in my arms.  It was such a special moment for me.  I can't remember the last time I was able to rock him to sleep.  My baby is not a baby anymore.  He is a toddler and I know that time will not stop for me or anyone else so I need to cherish each and every moment that I can get with this boy!  Same goes for everything in my life.  It's so strange how I have only been a mother for 2 1/2 years, but I feel like I have been his mother forever and more.  I love him more than words or actions could every describe.  I love my little family and they bring joy and peace to my heart in good times and bad.  I am so blessed and very very very thankful for it.

Enjoy!

Lets get real

I am 36 weeks pregnant.  Today I am feeling like crud.  This past weekend I came down with a small cold, and the effects are still lingering around.  Stuffy/runny nose, head feeling woozy, congestion, and Saturday night I even ran a small fever.  I have heard an old wives tale and read stories of so many women coming down with cold like symptoms before they went into labor... hmmm..  I'm going to test that theory out.  You'll have to wait around to see if it comes true.  I had Dexter 1 1/2 weeks from now.  He was born at 38 weeks.

The closer it gets the more nervous I am getting.  I had to be induced with Dexter for medical reasons so I don't know what it is like to go into labor on my own besides my pre-term labor with him that had to be stopped.  I keep wondering if I will go into labor on my own and if so when will that happen.  Will I go past my due date and have to be induced.  Will my water break at home before labor actually starts (usually this doesn't happen).  I keep wondering if my labor this time will be painful.  I have been having braxton hicks contractions for a while now and they are painful.  We are talking take my breath away and lets stop talking at the moment painful.  I had them with Dexter, but they were never really bad like that. I'm also nervous because I know that I will want an epidural and my last one caused me to have a spinal headache afterwards.  I don't want to feel that pain again.  If I remember anything being horrible after the birth of Dexter it was that.  I can't begin to describe the pain I went through and also the emotional pain of not being able to take care of my little one for the first couple of days afterwards.  At least with this one I will know to take the blood patch right away.  I'm still scared.

Status update with this pregnancy is that things have gone a lot better than they did with Dexter.  Besides a few hiccups along the way it has been a great pregnancy.  I also realized last night that so far I have gained 20 pounds or so less so far with this pregnancy than I did with Dexter.  I know that has a lot to do with the swelling.  I swelled so bad with Dexter.  I gained a total of 47 pounds with Dexter and he was born a week and a few days from where I am now.  With this pregnancy I have only gained 22 pounds so far, but I still have 3 1/2 weeks to go.  The thing that shocks me is that with this baby all I have wanted is sweets and sour stuff(candy) throughout the pregnancy. My main meals have always been on the healthy side.  However, with Dexter my snacks were always strawberries and grapes.  I ate much better with him and gained a heck of a lot more weight too.  This pregnancy has definitely showed how different each pregnancy can be.

No, we do not have a name chosen yet.  We have a few we're tossing around.  We may not even make a decision until after baby is born.  Who knows.

Last night I made another one of my favorite recipes.  I was craving pasta with an alfredo sauce.  I made the mistake of making homemade chicken alfredo one time and now whenever I go to wanting some the alfredo in the jar just doesn't do it justice. Since I was craving it I decided to make some last night. Find the recipe Here .

I do not make this recipe exactly like it says.  Instead of using dried tomatoes I use cherry or grape tomatoes and just saute them a little before I saute the mushrooms.  I also do not use artichoke hearts.  If those things appeal to you then go ahead and make it like it is.  It still tastes amazing either way!
  

Enjoy!

Quick dinner

Hello.  It has been a while so to fill you in Dustin and I are expecting our 2nd child here in 4 short weeks.  These past few weeks I have been so exhausted. With that being said, I have found that at the end of the day when it comes time to make dinner I just stand there and stare into an open fridge and think what can I do that will be really easy and fast. Tonight while I was staring into the fridge I found some chicken breasts that I was going to cook for chicken pot pie, but I decided that was to much work.  Instead, I decided to just cook them up and serve some sides.  If you are looking for a quick delicious chicken meal this is it.

First I started off by taking my chicken breasts and placing them between saran wrap and beating them with a meat tenderizer (the flat side).  This flattens them out and cuts the cooking time way down.

                                          (Before)

                                                           (After flattening)

I season my chicken breasts on both sides with a cajun seasoning (pictured above).  Then, I place them in a searing hot pan for about 2 minutes on each side to brown them up.  After they have been browned on both sides I pop them in the oven on 350 for about 10 minutes or until they are done.  It really depends on how thin you beat your chicken breasts down to.

After they have cooked I will take some sliced colby/monterey jack cheese and place on top and let melt and add bbq sauce on top of that.  It is delicious!  I have found this is my go to recipe when I have chicken breasts that I don't have a plan for.

This is Dustin's plate.  I had already started eating mine when I realized I didn't take a picture of the finished product.  I realize I served two starchy sides, but didn't realize until I was 1/2 way through cooking them and didn't feel like fixing something else.  Normally, I would serve some kind of green to go with the mashed potatoes, but who cares as long as it tastes good, right?  

I hope that you decide to make this for yourself one day because it is really easy and quick.  You could also put a variety of other cheeses on top.  I just happened to have the colby/monterey jack cheese on hand so that is what I used.  

Enjoy!

Felicia Inman