13 weeks, 2 days

I went to see my midwife today, and I got to hear my little firecracker's heartbeat!  It was nice and strong in the 160's.  That has to be one of the best sounds in the entire world.

A few weeks back I went to the hospital because I got a stomach bug and wasn't keeping anything down.   I was concerned about dehydration, so I went as a precaution and got some IV fluids, and some wonderful nausea medication called Zofran, who is now one of my best friends.  While there they did an ultrasound to check on Firecracker.  The ultrasound tech was most definitely an ER tech and not an OB tech; she was there to do her job, get her measurements, and be done.  I got to see Firecracker kick (thank goodness I have some idea of what I was looking at, lol), but there was no pointing out which end was which, and when she took the heartbeat measurement she didn't even turn on the sound so we could hear it!  Anyway, my point is, it was so amazing to hear that little heartbeat going strong today, and I called hubby (he was at work) so he could hear it over the phone.  He said, "it sounds like another boy!".

We have been having a rough week with C.  He is working on his molars, and they are evil, let me tell you.  This poor kid's gums are so swollen and hot and tender that he screams in pain when I touch them to put some Orajel on.  I can't wait until this is over.

You might be wondering why I don't have any pictures of C lately.  Well, someone has our good camera right now (they're borrowing it for a safari vacation, yay them!), and when I try and take pictures with my phone they come out all blurry because he won't sit still long enough!!  Any photos I get are him asleep, or me being sneaky.  Here are a couple of our most recent ones:

He is trying to make a copy of my shoe.

Sweet, sleepy boy <3

Fancifying my blog

I don't know if anyone checks in enough to notice, but I've recently overhauled my blog.  I'm adding a menu bar, trying to make it prettier, and trying to make it easier to navigate.  I'm working on picking up some tips from successful bloggers so that someone might want to actually read this thing :)

I found some very helpful tips at a couple places.  Interested in finding out?  I'll provide links, you just have to read more ;)

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken and Lentils

This meal is so easy (like all the cooking I do), super hearty, full of protein, and C loves it!

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1/2 lb dry lentils (rinsed)
• *1 bottle BBQ sauce (18 oz)
• Chicken stock (1/2 quart to 1 quart)

Directions:

1. Put everything in crock pot
2. Cook. (high for 3-4 hours, low 5-6 hours)

It's that easy!!  You might think that there's too much liquid, but those lentils soak up a LOT, so you'll need more than you think.  This makes outrageously fall-apart-tender chicken and juicy lentils.  My one year old eats at least twice his normal portions when this is for dinner.  Enjoy!

*KC Masterpiece makes a corn syrup free BBQ sauce, and I found giant bottles for cheap at Costco!

Grilled asparagus!

Asparagus is one of C's favorite veggies.  He lunges towards the plate and gets mad when we make him wait so his mouth doesn't get burned!  It's a bit messy for him to feed himself, but he's either in a bib or just a diaper when he eats because it cuts down on stains :)

There are a million ways to cook asparagus, but we love it on the grill.  Pair it with some steak and you have the perfect summer evening meal!  Here's how we prepare it:

Cut bottoms off asparagus, the thicker stalks can get woody.  Toss in olive oil and spices.  I love Grill Mates Roasted Garlic & Herb seasoning and put it on EVERYTHING.  It's amazing and doesn't have soy or corn starch, which is commonly found in a lot of the pre-mixed seasonings.

Then you just put the asparagus on the grill until tender (sorry I don't know how long exactly, hubby does the grilling).  If there are some charred parts, don't worry about it, they're delicious!  When they cool off a bit, C just grabs pieces off the plate and goes to town!  It makes a mess because he has a hard time chewing the fibrous outside so he gets the mushy inside everywhere and is left with a gross stringy mess, but man, he can put some asparagus away!  Hubby, C, and I will go through 2 bundles of asparagus in one sitting.

A healthy, delicious, and allergy free vegetable side that my one year old will eat?  I'll take it!

1 Year!! (well, 3 weeks late...)

I can't believe my little baby is a year old!  It's gone by so quickly!  We've had a lot of stuff going on, so here we go:

The last week of April/first week of May, we were moving into our house.  I had about 3 weeks to get unpacked and the house in order before C's birthday party, and I juuust barely pulled it off.  The house is awesome; plenty of room for C to run around and explore (and make messes), and I even have a sewing room!  MUCH easier to do projects when I have space to do them, and then I can just close the door to keep all of the sharp, pointy things away from curious little hands.

Party update and pictures after the break!

Merging blogs!!

I have 3 blogs.  A mommy one, a sewing one, and a cooking one.  I've decided that since I'm lazy and can't keep up with one blog, much less 3, I'm going to consolidate them all!!  My other blogs will be moving here, so there will be an influx of new posts.

Once I get everything taken care of, I'll talk about baby C, how he's a year old now, and what's happening in our life.  It's only 3 weeks after his birthday, that's not too bad, right?