Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Things That Make Our Lives Easier


We have a two story home so running down to the laundry room when Emmy has an outfit change (bath time, poopy diaper gone wrong, spit up) gets old FAST. We finally decided to keep a laundry basket in her room to quickly toss her clothes/burp cloths in there as we change her. At the end of the week it gets taken to the laundry room and is the same one that comes back up with her clean stuff. So helpful!
I never know when Tony is going to work late (oh the hours of an engineer!) so sometimes I'm alone on bath time. This coupled with a cranky and tired baby can make things super chaotic. I finally wised up and on Sunday night I now lay out everything I will need for each bath time. I put a pair of pjs, a diaper, and a wash cloth for each night of the week. This way I'm not running back and forth from her room to the bathroom while I should be tending to her. This picture was taken on a Monday night so one set was already used on my sweetie! She's almost 4 months old (tomorrow) and I just came up with this idea recently...so silly! I'm sure there is a prettier way to organize it, but this works for us for now! :)

Make This NOW!

Disclaimer: mine is not as pretty as it could be because Tony doesn't like cherries so this one was plain jane but still DELICIOUS!

Ingredients:
1 box Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix
1 1/3 cup Pineapple Juice
1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
3 large Eggs
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
2/3 cup butter
1 2/3 cup brown sugar
1 (20 oz) can Sliced Pineapple
Maraschino Cherries
Preheat oven to 350.
In a small sauce pan melt the butter.
Pour the butter into into a 9 x 13 pan and sprinkle the brown sugar over the melted butter.
Arrange the pineapple slices in the pan in nice little neat rows. Add 1 cherry in the middle of each pineapple slice.
In a mixer bowl, mix cake mix, pineapple juice, oil, eggs and vanilla on medium speed for about 2 minutes.
Pour the cake batter into the pan over the pineapple.
Bake for 30-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cook in the pan for 5 minutes. Invert onto your serving dish.
DIG IN!

This was so moist and wonderful! The last time I had pineapple upside down cake was immediately after I delivered Emmy and it was hospital-cooked. I was determined to have it again without having to go through childbirth for it! If you make it, let me know how it turns out! :)

Sunday, April 10, 2011

The Sweetest Sound in the World

Today we went to the garden center near us and on the way I tried to catch Emmy chatting it up with me. She started doing this yesterday afternoon after a visit to a friend's house. So sorry for my annoying high pitched voice-I read that the best way to get a baby to respond to you is to talk in question like sentences...the voice just seems to work with her also.

Enjoy!


Our Little Gilligan



Is so much fun! This Thursday she'll be 15 weeks old and man on man is it flying! Now that she has good head control we are facing forward in the Baby Bjorn and it has opened up a whole new world for us! Now we're taking afternoon and weekend morning strolls and she loves to just look around. She's WAY more happy in her car seat which lets us use the stroller sometimes 2-3 times a day and yesterday on the way home from a friend's house she just chatted it up with me the whole time in the backseat! Tony and I were in LOVE listening to her laugh and talk to us.

Sleep-eh, we've had some regression but it's not her fault. Because of her reflux she had been sleeping in her swing to keep her head elevated at night. She was sleeping from 8pm-2am and then about 2:45-5am and then 5:30-6:45. She has sadly outgrown the swing for comfy sleep so we've transitioned her into her big girl crib. The past two nights she's woken up either at 1am or 12:30 and the rest of the night has been off and on, but we know it'll take some getting used to. She's busting out of her swaddle at night and we've found her sleeping in the silliest positions.

It is true what they say-the sleep-not so predictable and there are days where I'm so tired that I feel drunk. Seeing her smile and listening to her talk and play make it all melt away and the energy comes from some unknown source. However, with that said, we are looking forward to the night where our little angel sleeps for a longer stretch.

She's taking about 6 ounces every 3 hours with a longer stretch at night. She's a little chunky monkey with a full little tummy!

It's crazy that this time last year her room was unpainted and empty, but God was giving her life and we were unaware. Each day life without her gets a little foggier and foggier and I look forward to all the days to come with her. She makes us laugh, makes us cry, and makes every day different.

I ordered this book from Scholastic during one of my last book orders and it is a favorite of ours already. We love reading this one to her, although we have yet to make it through the book without a few tears. It is so beautiful and here is a passage from it:
“Someday, a long time from now, your own hair will glow silver in the sun. And when that day comes, love, you will remember me.”

We're so blessed to be with her!