crusin'

Yahoo! I found out Monday that Jonathan and I are going on a cruise for our anniversary! I'm so excited, first we haven't been on a trip together in a long time and second I've never been on a cruise. In celebration I went to Gap and bought 3 new swim suits ( they were all on clearance).

Here's the other thing I'm excited about: we're getting a new fridge! Our other one will live in the garage and hold all the cold drinks! What room we will have, I can see it know, a whole watermelon, diet coke galore, a place to put leftovers, a place to put more frozen stuff! Yipee!

Do do pee doooo!

School is over
School is over
School is over, hey, hey ,hey, hey!

We had end of the year breakfast this morning and everyone's favorite part is when they draw names for $100 bills! Yes my district gives out 20 ben franklin's to employees whose name is drawn and are present. Last year I won one of the bills, it was the best! I had just had Bowen three weeks before and I used that money to go buy some clothes I could fit in, it made my year!
I went to a bar with some school friends last night and had such a great time! I love my friends but it's so fun to make new ones, new friendships are so exciting, you get to tell about yourself and learn about others lives. If you think about it, as an adult, you don't get the new friend opportunity as often as in college, I like it.
I can't wait to start this summer!

Do do pee doooo!

School is over
School is over
School is over, hey, hey ,hey, hey!

We had end of the year breakfast this morning and everyone's favorite part is when they draw names for $100 bills! Yes my district gives out 20 ben franklin's to employees whose name is drawn and are present. Last year I won one of the bills, it was the best! I had just had Bowen three weeks before and I used that money to go buy some clothes I could fit in, it made my year!
I went to a bar with some school friends last night and had such a great time! I love my friends but it's so fun to make new ones, new friendships are so exciting, you get to tell about yourself and learn about others lives. If you think about it, as an adult, you don't get the new friend opportunity as often as in college, I like it.
I can't wait to start this summer!

Thought we had made it...but not really.

I was silly for me to assume our family was in the clear for sickness till school was out. I was even thinking that I had a sick day left and I could take it and have a day at home just to chill. You know what assuming does right? Bowen wakes up this morning and I go to get him. He has throw up all over him, he must have barfed during the night and wallered in it all night long. So he gets a bath and I'm praying that he's OK, he lays on the couch and drinks his morning bottle and pretty soon said bottle is all over couch after coming out his mouth. Gross. He also has a snot like substance coming out his nose, no that would make sense, really it's coming out his EAR. Ick. So he's on antibiotics for that. I'm hoping that the hurling is due to congestion and not to a stomach bug in addition to an ear infection. Anyway I'm at home today washing sheets and couch cushion covers.
I had a great Mother's Day, I'm eagerly awaiting my gift, it's a cool razr phone that's PINK, how cool is that! I also received a present from Jonathan before Mother's Day that consisted of diamonds to wear on my neck. Jewelry for the body that includes sparkley things is never the wrong gift. Jonathan said it was a putting up present, a present for putting up with him since he broke his leg, what a guy.
My pitiful boy just woke up so, off I go!

Thought we had made it...but not really.

I was silly for me to assume our family was in the clear for sickness till school was out. I was even thinking that I had a sick day left and I could take it and have a day at home just to chill. You know what assuming does right? Bowen wakes up this morning and I go to get him. He has throw up all over him, he must have barfed during the night and wallered in it all night long. So he gets a bath and I'm praying that he's OK, he lays on the couch and drinks his morning bottle and pretty soon said bottle is all over couch after coming out his mouth. Gross. He also has a snot like substance coming out his nose, no that would make sense, really it's coming out his EAR. Ick. So he's on antibiotics for that. I'm hoping that the hurling is due to congestion and not to a stomach bug in addition to an ear infection. Anyway I'm at home today washing sheets and couch cushion covers.
I had a great Mother's Day, I'm eagerly awaiting my gift, it's a cool razr phone that's PINK, how cool is that! I also received a present from Jonathan before Mother's Day that consisted of diamonds to wear on my neck. Jewelry for the body that includes sparkley things is never the wrong gift. Jonathan said it was a putting up present, a present for putting up with him since he broke his leg, what a guy.
My pitiful boy just woke up so, off I go!

Birthday Pictures!

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

It's official Bowen is ONE! I spent most of today thinking, one year ago today I was __________. Mostly I filled in the blanks with things like, getting my water broken, getting the epidural placed, getting the epidural placed again, pushing, pushing, pushing, holding Bowen. I'll have to say I love Bowen today more than I loved him one year ago, I hope that's normal. I'm so glad that Bowen is a boy, when we found out he was indeed a he, I was worried I wasn't sure what i would do with a boy. All my fears washed away when I saw that baby! And he has grown on me ever since! There were a few times I thought I might put him out in the yard, but I didn't and he has grown out of his reflux and his tubes are working great so he is a MUCH happier baby now. He loves me lots too, I never knew a snuggly baby before Bowen but he loves to be near me and love on me. I used to think it was just my nice rack, but now I know it was just me! I Love You Bowen, Happy First Birthday!

Aaaaaaahhhhh! Son of a...

Today is one of those days where i have felt the weight of having two children. Laine was invited to attend a birthday party of Jake who is the son of a teacher at my school and the brother of a girl in her class. I considered not going but in the end guilt won and we hurriedly got ready to go ( I didn't even take a shower or wash my hair so we could get there sooner). So we're ready and Bowen is crying because he is sleepy so I start looking for my keys so we could go and he could just sleep in the car. So I looked for my keys, more looking, looked some more, and looked again. OK picture this in your mind: Baby crawling around behind you crying while looking for keys. He is stopping every so often to put his head to the ground and let out a louder more frantic cry. This goes on for ohhh so long. Finally I just gave up and sat down with Bowen, he immediately went to sleep and I had to break the news to Laine that we couldn't go to the party because Myrtle could not go anywhere without keys. Poor Laine. As a conso lation about 20 minutes later after lunch she asked if I would paint her toenails, I said yes and she came running back with my keys! They were in the box I have all my nail polish in?! I would still be looking for my keys if I hadn't agreed to give a pedicure!
About that time my friend Julie called because we were going to go over and decorate our friends' house who are bringing home their adopted baby today! Woohoo! I asked if I needed to bring anything, she said no just the cookies...I spoke in my most normal voice "OK see you in a bit". Then I hung up and started making the cookies I forgot to make, luckily they were the frozen pre-measured ones I just had to make some blue icing to go on top. Eeek. What a Saturday, Bowen hasn't been happy all day because he's working on his top two teeth, hopefully they'll poke through before his party.

Prom

Jonathan and I attended prom on Friday night and it was a lot of fun! My favorite public passtime is people watching and both did I have lots of that to do. It was great being around high school kids, they are funny and mostly care-free and they all had a fabulous time. Besides that our weekend was relaxed. Jonathan got his cast off today! He has to use crutches for another month but he can drive and ride bikes or swim for exercise. He was bummed about the crutches but his doctor said his tibia fracture wasn't healed enough to support his full weight. I know he's so relieved that he can rely on himself to go places instead of everyone else. He does however have a hotdog leg because his ankle is so swollen from not having the cast on it, it looks pretty funny. The countdown to Bowen being one has begun, I'm so excited for his party and just happy that he's a good and happy baby!

Easter Pictures!

Way past my bedtime...

Yes this is way past my bedtime, but I'm just not sleepy tonight. Just wanted to let ya'll know that I'm still alive and kicking! Let's see Bowen had Roseola last weekend, of course we didn't know that's what it was until I took him to the doctor after it was done being contagious. Poor Bowen he's had a rough first year, but I'm not even getting into the year old thing right now, I'll have to say though he has gotten better with age! God had been granting me such peace the past week or two, I felt great about my life in general, very satisfied, patient, just really good. Then, poof, today satan snuck in and rained on my parade. I think he tries to get you with the little things sometimes, or maybe he tries to rattle you with $52 in the checking account and payday isn't until NEXT FRIDAY... what the heck. I'm so excited about going to Abilene this weekend, God wins because that makes me feel peaceful again!

Tits McGee and Bowen McButterpants reporting...

Well weaning has gone fairly well, the pain was the worst on Friday and Saturday. I pumped a little off each night so I could sleep then Sunday everything leveled off. Bowen is great with the bottle and when I didn't have to lug my pump to school today, I felt great.

OK, so Bowen has been waking up at night and he hasn't done that since he had his last ear infection. So I finally called the doctor today and took him in. I was concerned because he was spitting up frequently, I thought his reflux might be getting worse instead of better. Dr. Lewis was also concerned and asked lots of questions about his behavior, # of times he was spitting up, she looked at his ears and felt his tummy. Then she asked, how much formula is he eating? Ummmm, he has about 5 bottles a day with 6-8 ounces in each one. I could see that that was it. She was so nice and told me that his formula or breastmilk requirement was 24-26 ounces, maybe a little more because he's so tall. Blink. Blink. So, she told be to cut back on the formula, obviously. So he wasn't spitting up because of his reflux, it was because he had so much liquid in him it was eeking out his mouth! To my defense, he w's spitting up before I weaned him too. So now our plan is to add more solids and take away one bottle, yikes, at the rate I was going he really would have been a Bowen McButterpants.

We also had one giant leap for mankind at our house tonight! Bowen has had some issues with finger foods, basically before tonight he would eat cheerios, bananas, and crackers. Everything else would either come right back out or make him gag. Now we can add greenbeans to his repertoire, yipee, maybe I won't send him to kindergarten with a luchbox full of cheerios, bananas, and crackers!

Kicked off the tit...

Well I made a last minute decision to wean Bowen yesterday, I couldn't find our nursing equipment and had to give him a bottle. I told myself that if he took the bottle well and didn't wake up I would wean him. He took the bottle like a champ, fell right to sleep, he woke up once but I didn't count it because he just needed his pootie. So that was it. I was down to nursing twice a day and pumping once, so I have cabbage leaves on my boobs. Yes, you read that right, cabbage leaves. I read that they help with engorgement and drying up your milk supply. Even if they don't help with the milk, I'm keeping them in the fridge and they feel great on my ready to explode boobs. Yikes.

I am going to be sad to see my big boobs go, I really did enjoy them. What will take they're place is so small and limp that it makes my eyes water. But as I was drinking my second Diet Coke of the day without guilt, it was pretty nice! Well I hope I can sleep tonight...Benadryl is a drying agent, I think I'm going to take two and some advil and hit the sack.

Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to meeeee...

Yes today is my Birthday, 31 years ago today the wonderful and sweet Heather Lorien was born! Let's see I got to go pick out my own present from Jonathan, a pendant from James Avery, oh and some earrings too. Mom got me my tattoo and some new makeup, Bare Minerals, it's great. Then we'll finish out the day by eating at Mi Cocina, yum!
I LOVE birthdays, I'm not picky on whose it is, it's just a great and happy day! So, saying that what is your greatest birthday memory?
I think mine would be my 16th birthday, my mom and dad got me a convertible VW rabbit. It was SO COOL, I loved the orangey-red color and the black top. They totally surprised me by driving it in front of the house then luring me outside.

My favorite~!

Shauna posted her favorite recipe so here's mine, it's not fast but it's easy and GREAT!

Oven-Roasted Beef Brisket:
from Perini Cookbook

2Tbsp. Chili Powder
2Tbsp. salt
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. onion powder
1tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. dry mustard
1 bay leaf crushed
4 pound brisket
1 1/2 c. beef stock

Make a dry rub out of the dry ingredients. Season brisket on both sides. Place in a pan and roast uncovered for one hour at 350. Add beef stock and water to yield about 1/2 inch of liquid in pan. Lower oven to 300 and cover pan tightly for three hours or until fork tender.

I'm telling you this is the best brisket I've ever put in my mouth.

So last night Mere and Ryan came over to see Jonathan. Laine and Mere started coloring and in a little while I hear Laine say "but she's going to be mad" so I look over and see Laine with kitty whiskers and a kitty nose in green marker on her face, Crayola washable markers, mind you. So we all have a good laugh and I take a picture so I can get her in the tub to wash the kitty face off. You'll see above the kitty face.
Then we get in the tub and I wash her face. Wash, wash, wash, scrub, scrub scrub. I take a look and there is still a kitty face on her face. Icall Mere and tell her it's not coming off, we laugh. I get lotion, still a kitty face. I get fingernail polish remover, kitty face. Alcohol, kitty face. Call mere this morning and tell her her niece is going to school with said kitty face although it has faded a bit. Faded kitty face picture above. So, Aunt Meredith,I can't wait until your first child is born!

The first pic is of Jonathan's incision, I tried to move it down so it wasn't the first thing you saw but I couln't make anything on this dang blog work tight tonight so there it is!

Tortolini Soup

Ingredients:

1 carrot
1 zucchini
a little onion
1 can diced tomatoes
4 cans chicken broth
8-9 ounces of cheese tortolini ( I use frozen)
1 tsp. oregano
1tsp. parsley

Saute diced carrot, zucchini, and onion until soft. Add tomatoes, chicken broth and oregano. Bring to a boil and add tortolini and let boil for two minutes. Keep simmering for about 6-7 minutes and add parsley in the last two minutes of cooking. Sometimes I add more broth if I'm feeding more people or I add more veggies if I haven't eaten any that day. This soup is great with Bisquick Garlic and Cheese biscuits.

Cowboy Stew

This is great with sweet cornbread.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
2 cans minestrone soup
2 cans ranch style beans (or one of the big cans)
1 can rotel (can be mild)
a little corn if you want

Brown ground beef and drain. Add all other ingredients and a can or so of water. Let simmer for a while. Yum! This is a good soup to take to someone who has just had a baby or surgery.

Tomorrow, tortolinni soup.

Mandarin Chicken

Linda asked me to post some easy recipes, so here's the first one!

Ingredients:

Chicken Breasts
Can of Pineapple
Can of Mandarin Oranges
Envelope of dry Onion Soup Mix


Brown Chicken Breasts in skillet until done. I use about 3 breasts and season them with S and P. Add can of pineapple and oranges with juices to the skillet. Add dry onion soup mix. Let simmer for about 20 minutes. While the chicken simmers, cook rice to serve with chicken and sauce. This is really yummy for those who like fruity stuff.

Tomorrow, Cowboy Stew.

Cute Kids!

News Flash:

Jonathan actually broke BOTH bones in his leg, he has to have surgery. The doctor is going to put in a metal rod and screws. He won't get a hard cast after that he'll wear one of those walking boots, but he won't be able to walk on it. Please pray for him and his quick recovery. Please pray for me that I can assume some of his responsibilities with patience and ease.