not just a picky eater....

oh my poor LB!  We've been feeding her oatmeal for over 2 months, and she seems to be able to handle that (she couldn't handle rice) -- so we've added in  other foods... squash (she LOVES it), sweet potatoes, avocados -- she can't handle them :(   about 2 weeks ago, she went anti oatmeal... so i introduced barley.  It makes her super gassy -- but we can fix that with the magic fart juice -- Gripe Water! natural and wonderful! It's made with ginger and fennel and some other stuff.... Seriously -- it's a miracle in a bottle!


Anyways!  
She started rejecting the barley too!  I made some more squash for her yesterday, because I had one on hand, and she liked that one the best.  But she hasn't been napping well... and worse yet, she has been waking up at night  :(


I don't know what's going on...  I guess we're going to try apples next?
She's 7 1/2 months old, and I'm still feeding her 'stage 1' foods (for 4-6month olds)...  The doctor said I can start feeding her almost anything and everything (he even said ice cream!)


Today, she's on her 3rd "nap"... the first one lasted about 5 minutes, the next one was longer at 20 minutes - which is a regular nap for her when she's been sleeping well... and she just went to sleep now - - so I need to finish this post and get some things done!


Does anyone have any advice?
She usually goes to sleep between 9-10p and sleeps through until 8-9a... 
Last night (and the last 3 nights) she went to sleep as usual, but woke up around 3:30a--went back to sleep around 5a... and then was up again around 7/7:30a...  This makes for one tired mommy...


holy moley! She's awake already...  that was between 5 and 10 minutes :(
..at least she's not a fuss butt!!!   :)

My proof :)

*OH!!! AND the Banshee came back today!!!  Just what I needed with this monster headache!!! :)

Happy Monday Everyone!

...Next Top Model?

Our photo shoot was successful :)

While I was pregnant, we didn't know the gender of LB -
-so we called her Chimi (short for Chimichanga)-
a lady I used to work with made this blanket for us!
CUTE!

 ...and as promised, pictures of LB in her new tutu!

I love this picture! Jerk Face doesn't - but it's my blog, not his!
I win! 

The bow was an afterthought. It's the extra tulle strips that I tied to an elastic.
- I thought it turned out kind of cute -

Little Miss Diva!

On her rocking horse.
her belly's a little red from where JF was holding her
...we were nervous that she might fall off...

We took 88 pictures -- It's REALLY hard to only pick a few to post!!! I don't want to overwhelm anyone with her cuteness!  :)    ... but one more couldn't hurt!

..Is that a 'smize'?...

...and that's a wrap!

...Tyra - eat your heart out!

Tutu be or not tutu be?

Man! Am I a domestic diva this weekend, or what?!

Friday, I made some homemade bread and Saturday I made this:

Not the bunny, just the tutu....
LB was in bed by the time I finished this.

I am SO excited!! It turned out WAY better than I thought it would!  :)


(*side note* I'm watching Top Model and this girl, walking in her bubble, just fell off the runway and into the water... LOVE IT!.. I'm so mean.... She looked like she was in a hamster wheel when she was trying to get up!  ... Oh Tyra! What you make these girls do!...HA! There goes another one!)


Anyways, I was planning on sewing this tutu, but the tutorial I watched online was confusing! I'm not a seamstress (yet!), so I watched a no sew one-- TOTALLY EASY!  It's basically just 'knotted' around a ribbon!
It took me about 3 hours to complete... subtract about 1 1/2 hours to take care of LB and Jerk Face :) 


We are going to get LB's pictures professionally done with the tutu - - but I'm going to do an at home photo shoot tomorrow - - I think - - If we do, I'll be posting some!

Everything you need - I used 4 colors -
but you could probably use as many or little as you want.

Anyways - - It's after 11p... That's just about as late as we stay up on a Saturday night!

It's crazy how much life changes!

Good Night!

Momma makes the bread around here!

mmmmmm!  My home smells so yummy!  Fresh bread is the best :)

Here's the recipe I used:

French Artisan Bread

3 cups of lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt
6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Grab a very large mixing bowl, or a large container that you can cover. In it, mix the water, yeast, and salt. You don’t even have to heat up the water to a precise optimal temperature for the yeast. I’ve even used just regular tap water, and it’s worked well for me. Just let that sit together for a while (you don’t have to wait for the yeast to dissolve completely), then dump the flour all at once and stir with a wooden spoon. You don’t need to knead this, and you’re not looking to make it come together into a dough ball. You just want everything mixed well, with no streaks of flour left, and you’re done.

Leave it in your container, covered (but not airtight, or it’ll pop), for a few hours. When it has risen and then deflated a bit, your dough is done. It’s ready to be used or stored in the refrigerator.

To bake the bread, just grab some dough (they recommend a chunk about the size of a grapefruit). Dust your hands with flour to help prevent sticking, and gently pull the sides of the dough toward the bottom, rotating the dough, until you get a roundish shape with a smooth surface. It should only take you about a minute or less to do this. The dough won’t be entirely in the bottom, where it may look bunched up, but don’t worry about it.

Put it on a pizza peel that’s been dusted with cornmeal to prevent sticking, and let it rest for at least 40 minutes. No need to cover it. If the dough has been refrigerated, it helps to let it rest a little more, until it’s no longer chilled.

Twenty minutes before you are ready to bake, put a pizza stone in the middle rack of your oven, and put a broiler pan in the bottom rack. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Dust some flour on the top of your loaf, and make your pretty slashes, about 1/4-inch deep.
After twenty minutes of preheating, it’s time to bake. (You can put the bread in after 20 minutes, even if your oven hasn’t reached 450 degrees yet.) Slide the loaf onto the baking stone, and then quickly pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler pan. Then quickly shut the oven door to keep the steam inside.


Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until you get a nice brown crust. 

This makes a LOT of dough!

I thought it was going to come out of the dish!

'about the size of a grapefruit'

I was out of cornmeal, so I used flour.

This is how much dough I had left after making one loaf.

I probably could've left it in the oven just a bit longer...

The end result. Delicious!
Soft on the inside and crusty on the out!
Perfect.

Where'd she go?

I wanted to update you all on the banshee that lives in my home...   She's gone!  ...for now :)
...she is now clicking.
yes, clicking.....

(this is not a video of her clicking-just a video of her new dialect.)


I've been trying to get a video clip of the tongue click for you...
That will be my Friday mission... 
That and I think I'm going to make some homemade bread from a recipe that I found from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking

Happy Friday Everyone! Stay warm & enjoy yourself a nice cup of hot cocoa!  :)

Big Time

i was checking my blog stats to see how many of you are out there reading me -- and I've discovered that there are readers in Canada!  I'm going global!!!  :)
Jerk Face is trying to squash my joy by getting all technical and saying that someone could just have an ip address from Canadia but still be in the States... "because we're having an IP address shortage"
He just can't handle my success :)  hahahaha!  (All 4 of my followers - one of which is him!)

Hey Jerk Face:

Don't rain on my parade!

(Funny Girl)

<good movie - you should watch it>

Happy Tuesday Everyone!
...Americans AND Canadians!!!

...and the verdict is....

Okay - - so we ate the cake on Sunday for my Dad and brother's birthdays...
The cake was really good ....   ...  ..  .
I'm not so sure that fondant will be the best for LB's birthday cake.. I'm not sure that she would be able to bust through it to get all covered in cake? but I do have an idea that I will share later :)


I think I will still do some cakes in fondant because it's kind of fun :)
 ...and my sister-in-law was talking about taking some classes with her.. and I believe my cake boasts that I could use some help with my 'cakerating'! Hahaha!

Friday Night Cake-epades

Ok... So let me start off by saying that I have never tasted fondant before (that I can recall)...  I made my own using the recipe from here and as I was making it, I tasted it... and I think I lost some teeth!!! BOY! Is it sugary!


So! I spent my Friday playing with fondant and it wasn't as tough as I thought it would be...
However, I didn't color the frosting so it's an all white cake.. But it's just a birthday cake for my dad and brother -- so it doesn't matter :)  Just kidding!  ...but I'm sure they don't care :)


*side note* I just asked Jerk Face for a glass of h2o.. and he wouldn't get it for me.
                                                                                 (he told me to write that)  


Anyways: Here are some pictures of my adventure:

not the smoothest, but I'm okay with that

Oops! I messed up a little bit~~shh!

LB, showing off the cake :) 

The finished product.

I told you it was white :)  

White cake, white frosting, white fondant with white fondant circles :)

<I'll add some color with the 'Happy Birthday' writing.>

Just another shot of LB -- she can't wait until her 1st birthday!

Have a Great Weekend!!! 

                                       

Green Goddess of Horror!

I've been getting this salad dressing from Kraft called Green Goddess. I LOVE it!!!  It's really good... but it's not the healthiest...  130 cals & 120 fat cals and 14g of fat!


So, I decided that I would try to find the recipe to make the dressing, and see if I could make it a little healthier.  I could use a light mayo, greek yogurt instead of sour cream... but anchovies????   I had NO CLUE that there were anchovies in it!  I'm a little sickened by that! I never THOUGHT that I had anchovies! I'm pretty shocked! Maybe THAT's why the dressing also has 340mgs of sodium!




Anyways! I'll share the recipe with you... It is still really good.. maybe I'll try to make it sans anchovies and see how it turns out?

Green Goddess Dressing

2 oz. can anchovy fillets
1/2 cup chopped parsley
3 tbs. chopped chives
1 Cup Mayonnaise
1 Cup Sour Cream
2 tbs. tarragon vinegar
1/2 teas. salt
Dash of freshly ground pepper

Put all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend for about 20 seconds. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

I'll let you know if and when I make this and if it's any good with my planned modifications :)  TTFN (ta-ta for now!)

cake decorator extraordinaire....?

I've decided that I want to make LB's cake for her 1st birthday. I want to do something really cute for it... Any ideas?




I am going to try to learn how to use fondant frosting to decorate... I may not be the best at it, but I remember in grade school I made a bird's nest with eggs out of play doh or clay or something like that... and I thought it was pretty good then....  well.. at least 8 year old me was proud :)


I don't want to do anything extra girlie like princesses or something ... unless she loves them by then... but do 1 year olds know that they like things like that yet?  I have no idea!
Tweets, Bug, and Shug Boog (short for Sugar Booger, of course!) are my 3 top nicknames for her... maybe a play off of those?


My husband (Jerk Face) would probably vote for a Transformers
theme -- The 3rd (?) movie comes out this July (which is LB's bday month). Maybe a BumbleBee cake? Haha :)


In the weeks and months to come, I plan on making cakes to get a good flavor and try my hand at decorating. I will try to make 1 - 2 cakes a month... I will not eat 1 - 2 cakes a month though (I hope!)  I've pre-warned some family that I will be dropping cakes off :)   

Banshee Yell

**This is not LB being as loud as she can be... I think she was more excited in seeing herself :) Imagine this all day, everyday, for going on 3 weeks!  It's cute for a 30 second video - and most of the day.. but sometimes it's like: ENOUGH ALREADY BABY!!! but then you feel bad and start squealing with her -- which is pretty fun! :)

*Thank you Jerk Face for taking and sending this from your iPhone!

The Secret of Attractivemess

The following is a quote I came across.... Some words to live by :)

"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes,

seek out the good in people, For a slim figure share your

food with the hungry, For Beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it

once a day, For poise walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.

People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed,

and redeemed. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one

at the end of each of yours arms. As you grow older, you will discover

that you have two hands one for helping yourself and the other for

helping others." -- Audrey Hepburn

Living with a Banshee

I am living with a Banshee. Her name is LB. For the past two weeks (+) she has been screaming at the top of her lungs. 'It's a happy scream' as my mom said when we went to  Aztecas. Thankfully, LB was too busy checking everything out to get really loud!! (Like she did when we got back to my house and showed Grandma why I was getting really nervous!!!).
She had a previous bout with this squealing a few months ago - (it's weird to say that because a little more than a few months ago - she wasn't even here!!) - but she stopped her squeals when she learned to do zerberts (or raspberries). Now she just does both! It's quite funny :)  'aaaggghhhh - tthhhpppt!' ~smiles~
I've tried to record her doing this, but every time I get out the camcorder, she gets quiet and just stares at me... *bright idea* maybe I'll bust out the camcorder when I'm trying to watch a show! That's pretty good :) I just thought of that right now -- perhaps I'll try this new 'technique' tonight :)   If she continues to squeal, then I'll have it on video, if not ... then I can watch my show :)  Sometimes my genius even amazes me!

Getting started

Hello World!

  I am a stay at home mom...  and have lost touch with the world :)  

 Well.... only sort of...  :)

   

I will probably post mostly about my family, so I will get you acquainted:

LB
My daughter is 6 1/2 months old - and is just starting to REALLY scoot!  My cat Mojo had better watch out -she'll be trying to get him soon!  He doesn't get too close to her, and has realized that she can't get him --unless I'm holding her and let her 'pet' him.. which consists of her laughing in a beavis & butthead sort of manner and drooling all over him!  My poor Minja... he has no idea what is coming! 

Anyways, she is the reason I get up everyday. *Because she starts screaming if I don't.. hahaha! jk ppl! ...she'll scream either way ;)   I absolutely love her!

Mojo
My cat is about 4 years old. We adopted him when we lived in North Carolina. His original name was 'Angel'.. but we soon realized he was too much of a spaz to be an angel... so, we came up with the name 'Mojo the Great White Minja'.

Jerk Face
I have been married to my husband for about 5 1/2 years. We met when we worked together at a small factory in a small town. He joined the Marines, which is why we ended up moving to NC.. and then he was deployed to Iraq (twice - the 1st time 1 month after our wedding ~boo!~ and then again about 7 months after he returned from the 1st deployment). He is now out of the Marines and is working as a Network Engineer for a very good and growing company.
P.S. I told him that I would affectionately call him 'Jerk Face' in my blog :)