No spoon yogurt / Moose&Bear

Well little Josh had a blast eating his yogurt tonight.  He usually does a good job eating with his spoon (always left-handed), but tonight he gave up the spoon for his hands.  Made for a messy dinner, but he loved it!

Over the past week and half, he also has grown super attached to his Moose & Bear (and sometimes puppy).  He always liked them before, but usually only had them in bed.  Now they are always by his side.  He cuddles with them all day and always wants us to give them hugs.  Super cute!  Thank you to everyone who gave him these.   Moose - Auntie Jo, Bear - Bingham Memorial Hospital, Puppy - My Parents -or- Grandma & Grandpa Hunt.  Funny that anything we've gotten him he isn't attached to any more.

in the kitchen: rest of january menu

Because I truly love to cook and have been trying a lot of new recipes, I thought I could begin sharing some of our recipes/sources with others.  I thought I'd start by posting our monthly dinner menu (just for the rest of January) and then for each month after that.   Then, I'll review the newer ones or some of our favorites.

January 25th - Creamy Chicken Tacos
January 26th - Crockpot Italian Chicken
January 27th - Baked BBQ Chicken w/brown rice and veggies - just bake chicken with BBQ sauce, pretty simple
January 28th - Beef and Bean Chimichangas
January 29th - Lasagna Soup
January 30th - Black Bean Burritos
January 31st - Breakfast for Dinner - whatever we're feeling.  pancakes, french toast, toast and eggs, etc
February 1st - Bunless-Burgers - burgers, no buns.  watching the carbs
February 2nd - Minestrone
February 3rd - Tortilla Pie

Creamy Chicken Tacos

This recipe is still under experiment, but in the past when we've made it it's been pretty good.

Creamy Chicken Tacos
4 chicken breasts
8 oz. cream cheese
1 - 1/12 cups salsa (depending on how thick you like it)

1 can black beans, drained
1/2 cup frozen corn

Add chicken, cream cheese, and salsa to crockpot.  Cook on low for 5-6 hours.  Shred chicken. Add black beans and corn and cook for an additional 30-60 minutes or until heated through.  Serve in tortillas with desired fixings*

*suggested fixings - rice, avocado, cilantro, sour cream, shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.

34 weeks

This picture was taken at 34 weeks, but I can't believe that I'm already 35 weeks.  Only 5 weeks or less and this little girl will be here.

I've still been feeling pretty amazing.  I've been getting more tired, which is to be expected.  But overall, considering I'm 8 months pregnant, I'm feeling really good.

The past 2 weeks have been really good preparation-wise for me.  Before that I was feeling unprepared, nervous and not ready by any means.  But with a little nesting, rearranging furniture, laundry and ordering some important items (carseat and stroller) I'm feeling pretty good about her arrival.

In preparation for that, I've started working on Hypnobirthing.  Now you are probably thinking, "hypnotism, she's crazy?"  because that's usually the first thoughts that have come to my mind when I think of hypnotism.  But as I've heard more and more great things about this program, I thought I'd take a look over it.  I borrowed a book/CD from a friend of mine, so we'll see how things go.  The more I read, the more I'm convinced that it actually might really help.  It's self-hypnotism and you have complete control over your body the entire time.  To me, it has felt more like a deep relaxation technique than what hypnotism has always sounded like to me. With that said...

These are my goals for this labor/delivery:

1. Labor at home for as long as possible
2. Don't be attached/laying down in a bed the second I get to the hospital
3. Safely deliver a healthy baby

So, I'm not completely adamant about going all natural with this one, but if the Hypnobirthing can get me there then why not try it out.  I didn't have a bad experience with my epidural with Josh, so who knows maybe I'll get one again.  But I've heard recovery time can be faster without an epidural and that Hypnobirthing can be a quick, fearless and painless (yeah right?) ordeal.  So, even though I'm still a little nervous about the delivery date, I hope to be more prepared with coping with labor than I was last time.

Wish me luck!  She'll be here before we know it!

snow week

Well, the white stuff finally made an appearance here this winter.  We've been pretty excited watching it fall down, but being as pregnant as I am, I'd be okay with the clear sidewalks and roads again.  Because I can't get out and do any skiing or snow play, I'm okay for it to stop.  It really was beautiful while it came though, so that's a plus.  Looks a lot better than gray skies and just coldness outside.

 

Josh can't really move in his snow clothes.  It doesn't make for the most pleasant of experiences for him. 

We decided to head out sledding one of the days, hoping that it would make Josh some what excited for the snow.  Boy were we wrong. This is what I had the whole time there...

So unfortunately it wasn't the best experience. For one, being 34 weeks pregnant I couldn't do anything and then top it off with this crying kid the whole time.  Oh well!  We did enjoy the company though.  We went with our neighbors the Williams and we also took our little neighbor Tyler with us.  Tyler enjoyed it so much!  Which I'm super glad.  It was his "Happy Day" (Birthday) and so I'm glad that he was able to enjoy a day out in the snow.  Here are some more snippets from the day.

Wedding

I was lucky enough to head down to Utah a week and a half ago to see the wedding/sealing of these two beautiful people:

My brother Enoch is a long time best friend.  We have always been really close and so to witness him turning from "my little een" to a husband of an amazing girl was a really great experience for me (a little emotional too).  They seem genuinely happy and I couldn't be more happy for them and their decision.  Welcome to the family Tacy!  You are both loved!

Because of his schedule, it wasn't going to be feasible to have Jake with me.  So, I left Joshua here with him and had lots of wonderful help from my neighbors.  I'm going to miss having neighbors like these when we move this summer.  Jake was a champ sacrificing so much of his time to watch Josh, especially when Josh was sick and a little out of sorts with his mommy gone.  They were both happy to see me return.  Here is what I was welcomed with at the airport...

  

I love my boys to pieces!!!

this kid...

loves his cars (he got a lot for Christmas) and he loves to line them up on the windowsill

he also loves fudgecicles.  but who doesn't right?

This kid has also been growing up, way too fast!  He is growing right before my eyes and it's crazy how quickly time flies.  He's just started climbing up on things, the couch is his most recent accomplishment and he claps for himself every time that he gets up there.  He learns more animal sounds every day and is doing really good with his signs.  He LOVES to dance.  If there is anything close to the sound of music going on, he's jammin' out and I love it!  So cute!

He's also going to be an excellent big brother.  I can't believe that this little one isn't going to be my only little one here so soon.  When he's around other babies he likes to give them binkies and toys and is fascinated by them, so hopefully that's a good thing.  We'll see how the adjustment goes.  Makes me sad that my little boy is all grown up and soon won't be my only baby. 

Here are some recent videos:

Big boy, feeding himself with a spoon:



Dancing to the Bare Necessities:



Daddy's little superhero copycat

new year's elf and the jensen's visit

A New Year's Eve tradition in Jake's family is "The New Year's Elf".  Each person in the family puts their shoes under the Christmas Tree and during the night the elf brings you goodies.  It's been really fun incorporating each other's family traditions into our own little family, especially this year as we enjoyed most of our holidays on our own.  Here is what the elf brought to us this year:

Luckily, we weren't completely alone for the entire break.  We were able to get a nice little visit from Jake's dad and two sisters.  They stayed with us for a few nights.  It was fun watching them play with Joshua, and watch how he has grown since they last saw him.  He definitely enjoyed the company as well.  This kid goes nuts for visitors!