Meal Planning Monday

Here is my meal plan for this week. In no particular order :) Trying out a few new ones, as well as a few trusted entrees!

• Oven "Fried" Chicken Fingers with Honey-Mustard Dipping Sauce served with some steamed broccoli. I'll have a big salad and top with this chicken, and drizzle with LF honey mustard dressing if I have left overs! I am a big salad eater and adding the chicken with honey mustard dressing gives a traditional salad a yummy makeover.
• Thai-Style Stir-Fried Chicken served with basmati rice (no more than 1/2 cup if your watching your weight!) There is even this how to video on how to make this. Its only 2 min and was very helpful.
• Cuban Chicken Pizza's - looks so easy!
• Baked Penne made with whole wheat pasta and low fat cheese with a big garden salad (my portion is no bigger than the size of my fist and my salad is HUGE!)
• Build Your Own Burger Bar on Toasted Sandwich Thins. Basically I make burgers and create an assembly line of choices including slice pickles, tomatoes, shredded lettuce, sauteed mushrooms and onions. I also put out BBQ sauce, thousand island, mustard, mayo, and ketchup for condiment sides. Kay has fun with this because she can build her own burger, and everyone can get the burger they want! My burger usually consists of the burger (no cheese; an easy easy to cut cals and no ketchup; too much sugar) mustard, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and sauteed mushrooms/onions!  I usually serve burgers with some homemade oven baked potato and sweet potato fries.

What's Up With 14 Months?!

Can someone please tell me that? Because up until about a week ago, we were smooth sailing and now I have a toddler that's throwing herself on the floor, doing the back arch, and throwing tantrums left and right. I was thinking about this yesterday and it seems like at 14 months something happens. I have heard other moms mention it wondering if it was "possible for a 14 month old to start throwing tantrums, or if it was normal to start this early". So I think it seems to be a normal part of development around this age.

Maybe its because they cant verbally communicate their needs and wants? Maybe its that combined with growing independence? Or maybe they just don't like being told NO, or having something taken away and they don't know how to process it yet? Either way I think its a normal part of development and its all going down at our house! I am sure it doesn't help that she is getting 4 molars at the same time. They have all cut through the gums, but boy those suckers are BIG and MEAN and they like to take their time coming in.

Here is a fit in real time action:

Pulling Kay's hair..

How dare you!

All Done! This is actually her sign for all done..too funny.

Generally she is a very good baby, very loving, sweet, and happy. But right now if she if you have something she wants, she'll scratch you, slap you in the face, pull your hair, then fall on the floor like you did something to her! So we are working on teaching her to be "Nice and Gentle" to others. Kay doesn't help either because a lot of times she will tease her with something that she has, We are working ont hat as well.

I decided since she turned 1 that I wouldn't do her monthly update anymore, but rather do it every 3 months. So I thought I would jot down some things about Miss M now at 14 months! Because its not all bad ;)

-Last time we went to the Dr. when she was sick she weighed 20lbs. 10oz.
-She says Uh Oh, cup, mama, dada, cat, and she really tries to say Kay and thank you.
-She can now go down the stairs and get off the couch by herself. This is HUGE!
-She will blow when you wipe her nose, which makes things a lot easier.
-She understands simple commands. If you ask her to go get something, or put something she will do so.
-She is also learning her body parts. She knows her eyes, nose, and belly so far.
- As I stated before she has 12 teeth, including 4 molars.
-We are debating on whether or not she is going to have curly hair like her sister. Sometimes it curls right up, another times its straight.
- She has grown to love milk from her sippy, she drink at least 1 1/2 full sippies of milk per day with her meals. And she still eats everything!
-She really showing more and more personality and independence each day.

Twitter

My twitter page is pretty lonely.! So I thought you like to know the reasons why I think you should follow me!

1.) I don't always get to post on my blog, but twitter is at my fingertips on my phone so I'm always on there.

2.) I almost always post my daily meals on my twitter, with pictures!! Maybe I'm the only weirdo who likes to see what other people are eating, but I also love to see pictures of what people are eating. This is great is you are also dieting, because I eat pretty healthfully and it will give you a chance to SEE what I eat every day! For example; I posted a picture this morning of my breakfast which was scrambled egg whites with a side of black berries!

3.) I upload tons of pics of my girls that I don't post here.

4.) I also like to follow people who follow my twitter/blog!

5.) My twitter is public!

So if you are on twitter, follow me and I will follow you back! I do block spammers though, and speaking of spammers, why doesnt twitter have a better way to filter them besides going private? It's so time consuming to go thought and have to manually block people. I hate that!

Happy tweeting everyone!

Weekend in Pictures

Friday, we had lunch and did a little shopping with some friends...Doesn't she have the prettiest eyes?

Then we came home and hung out in Kay's room while she was at school...

But don't dare tell her that!!

Then that night I enjoyed a little Mom's Night Out dinner with some of my play group friends. We enjoyed ourselves with some great conversation and yummy food at California Pizza Kitchen...

Saturday we went to the gym and layed low at home because it was raining...

But Saturday night was one of my good friends birthday parties that I just couldn't miss! So I got a little fancy, tucked in the kids, left them with daddy, and went to help celebrate with a fabulous sushi dinner....

 And a few cocktails.... :)

 But  not too many, because a certain someone had to be up very early with 2 special little girls the next morning.

It was a fun weekend! I rarely ever go out, and never ever two nights in a row so it was defiantly out of the ordinary. But I enjoyed it! Everyone mom NEEDS that once in a while!!

My 500th Post!!

Can you believe it?! 500 posts!

500 posts about infertility, pregnancy, motherhood, my beautiful girls, and everything in between. It's amazing how far I've come since starting this blog. Where I am now is a far cry from where it all started and where I  was here, here, and here. 3 years ago when I had this idea to start writing my feelings outs, I would have never thought that I would still be doing it, or that it would mean so much to me, or that it would have allowed me to meat so many great people.

At first, I just looked at it as a place where I could chronicle my journey while dealing with IF. A place where I could let everything out. I'd could have never imagined that this little blog would then become a sort of journal to my life. And now mostly importantly my children's lives. I love writing, I always have. I love looking back through the archives and being able to have those memories at my finger tips. That is priceless!!

 I would have never imagined the people I would "meet" out there like me, the paths I would cross, and being able to experience the genuine encouragement and kindness from pure strangers out there....you the readers! So for that I thank you. Thank you to all of you who have been so amazing and that have supported me during the most difficult times of my life, and also helped celebrate some of the happiest times of my life!! It may have seemed just like a random comment on a blog, but to me it was more than that. Most of you I don't know IRL, some of you I have created "friendships" with, and I am sure there are people out there that read and never comment, and that's okay too. But I have enjoyed getting to know you over the last couple years, following your stories, and am grateful for the friendships this blog has allowed me to create.

Over the years, I have stayed true to my blog. (You all should read this post about how I feel about the business of blogging and going Bloggywood). My intentions have always remained the same here- no matter how many (or less) followers I have. I've never done a giveaway, never sold ad space, and never pimped out products for personal gain because my blog grew in popularity. I get numerous offers to do so, and absolutely no offense to those that have or do, but that's just not what my blog is about. And will never be. As stated in that previous post, I created this to document my life and that's how it will stay. I will never try to profit, or try to make any gains (besides friendships) from my blog. I keep it near to my heart and that's how it will stay. Whether 2,000 readers or 2.

It's not always easy, blogging. And sometimes I go through times where I put it on the back burner because I simply don't have time, but I am always thinking about it.  Moments I want to capture, pictures I want to share...but I have never given up and I am not sure if I could entirely. Mostly because I want to have these moments documented.

But this blog. My little space on the web I am grateful for. I didn't start out as "Pieces of My Life: Tales from a High Maintenance Mother of 2" it was Pieces of My Life: A Wife and Mother Struggling With Secondary Infertility to Have a Second Child". I am forever blessed that I got to change my title. My blog has given me a place, a "platform" if you will, where I can talk about infertility freely. It has allowed me to have a voice, even if just a whisper on the topic. I am grateful for the opportunities I have had to help people going through the same thing, or that just need  a little encouragement from someone who had success after infertility, and really love getting those emails.

SO here's to 500!! and 500 MORE!!!

Under Attack

Both my kids are very sick.  We've had a rough week around here, each day getting worse and worse. We will start with Miss M. This is her first real illness, besides just a little cold here and there. Then Kay ended up very sick. If you follow me on Twitter then you already know, but if not here is a break down of the crazy madness. Someone pass the vodka....

Last Sunday: Miss M was just fine, despite teething she was happy, no runny nose, nothing!

Monday: She woke up with a cough and runny nose. No biggie I thought, probably just a cold and she's teething.

Tuesday: She woke up with a fever, her cough turned into a nasty wheezing cough, and she was having a really hard time breathing. I still thought she was probably okay, but decided to take her in just to make sure she didn't have RSV since that is really going around right now. I'm glad I did because she not only have an ear infection that I had no clue about, but she also has bronchitis. They gave her a breathing treatment, a prescription for antibiotics, and an oral albuterol, and told me to come back if she got ANY worse.

Thursday: We woke up, and she was worse. She was having a very hard time breathing, heavy wheezing, still running a fever, and was just miserable. I immediately called the pedi back and brought her back in. This time, they gave her a new stronger antibiotic, and gave us a breathing machine to take home. We were told to give her a breathing treatment very 4 hours for the next 2 days, and then bring her back for a follow up.

Although the oral albuterol did help, the breathing machine worked much better! After 1 day on the new antibiotics, she was improving a little, which is so good because it was starting to get scary (her coughing and inability to breath). The breathing treatments were hard, mostly because she has to sit still for 5 minutes, but after the first few she got used to it. It was so hard to see her that way.

Saturday: Took M to her follow up appointment and she was feeling much better! Her ears had improved a lot, and although still wheezing, her breathing was better. We were told to be prepared to use the breathing machine for up to a week more, but that she was looking good.

If your keeping track this is pedi visit # 3 for the week.

So finally she is on the up and up, even though she also just cut tooth # 11 and 12, her bottom molars. I kept saying she didn't deserve all this because she was so sick AND was teething :(

All this time, Kay had a little dry cough- no biggie, and no other symptoms. I did my best to try and keep them from sharing germs but with 2 kids its almost impossible. The second after the Dr. told her not to share with her sister, she grabbed M's lollipop and put in her mouth! Impossible!

Sunday: Kay woke up with a scary 104.6 fever. She was on fire, her face beat red, and she was miserable. I immediately gave her a cold rag and a dose of ibuprofen and prepared to take her to the urgent care. That's a scary high fever to me, and according to the mom bible aka my Dr. Spock book- the higher the fever, the more likely an infection other than just a cold. I knew with a fever that high something else was going on. And I was right. They tested her for strep throat and she came up positive right away. Oh boy...

Keeping her fever down was a real challenge, but we managed with a mixture of ibuprofen AND acteometiphin. She's on antibiotic now too and woke up fever free today so that good! We've spent some time in the my steam shower to help with her hacking cough, and had a few fights over taking medicine...

But the poor thing had to miss school and her Valentines Day ice cream party today and was really really upset about that. But she seems to be improving a little with the help of homemade chicken soup and lots of cuddles, so she should be good to go back to school tomorrow.

So we've had just about every illness at my house this week; strep throat, bronchitis, and ear infections. We've got it all!


Oh and in case your were wondering, I've spent 243 dollars this week on co pays and prescriptions. Thank god we are financially okay, because that's a huge unexpected cost!! But hopefully the worst has passed and we will all be better soon. We've been stuck in the house, I'm exhausted, and I hate seeing my poor babies sick :(

M's Snowflake Themed First Birthday Party!

I am finally getting around to going through all of the party pics from M's birthday party and wanted to share. I think the party turned out fabulous!! We enjoyed every moment and we were happy to spend the day with our closest friends and family members celebrating M's first year of life!!

Sweets table with personalized favor bags.

Snowflake/M cookies

Cake Pops

Food: Everything small and prepared by me! I wanted it to be finger food, but be enough to fill people up. I ended up making mini cheese burgers, mini pigs in a blanket, and turkey roll ups (not pictured). I also saw this idea and loved it! Much cuter than a regular veggie tray, it was a huge hit! People could just grab a cup and go! So cute.

Caprese salad and fruit skewers (not pictured).

Smash cake!

YAY for cake!

Wordless Wednesday

1 Year!

 

Lets just call this is 1 year update, cause really my little lady is really 13 months old now :) and my oh my are we full of toddlerness. Is that a word? Toddler-ness? Because that what she is. And I am loving every minute of it. She is so much fun and learning and exploring new things everyday. She is always trying to keep up with her sister, and even though they are 5.5 years apart- they love playing together!  They read books, play house, build blocks, its great! Its what I laways dreamed of. And beleive it or not, they do fight already. Kay will have something that M wants, and she may be 1, but she'll fight for it! It's funny.

She still isn't actually talking much, but has learned to communicate. For example; when she is hungry or wants a snack she will go to the kitchen cabinet and bring you the box of cheerios, or animal cookies. It's adorable. Or when she is thirsty, she will go to the fridge and say "CUH, CUH" (her cup).  She's gained some iindependence, but doesn't quite understand what no means. She's always on the go and wants to explore the world around her. She's not shy, or easily scared but she's a "thinker" like her daddy I can already tell. She imitates a lot now, she will act like she's talking on the phone, or pick up a brush and act like shes combing her hair. Or she will mock her sister. Love this girl and love this age! WORD!

- She weighs 19.6 pounds (25th% and is 28 1/2 (50th%) inches long with her big 95th% head still. She dropped from the 50th in weight (she has always been 50th % for weight) down to the 25th and i was shocked! Literally shocked! This one seriously eats more than my 6 year old- she eats like a  moose! Dr is not concerned at all because she has been walking since she was 9.5 months and because she is such a busy little bee. He said it is quite normal for babies to have a dip from the 9-12mth range because of the increase in activity level. And she is VERY active!

- She wears size 4 diaper and 12-18 month cloths.

- She has 10 teeth!! 4 on the top, 4 on the bottom, and she just cut her top 2 molars! She's a teething machine I tell ya. See's getting ready to cut the 2 molars on the bottom as well. Any day now...

- He does babble, but doesn't say very much yet. She does say cup, cat, and mama on occasion, and Uh Oh when she drops something which is the CUTEST thing btw! y favorite.

- She has become very attached to her blankie over the last month or so. I promised myself that with this one, I wasn't going to allow her to take it out of the crib, that it would only be for nap and bed times because I have spent COUNTLESS hours in my life playing "find the blankie" including the most infamous time at SEA WORLD. Kay is still attached to her lovie (only at bedtime now), but boy it so stressful trying to get it from her to even wash it when she was little. But now, little M stands at her crib and cries for it, which is what I'm sure Kay did. So of course I gave in and let her have it. There went that rule. BUT because I learned my lesson the first time, I bought 2 of the exact same one and we rotate them equally so she doesn't know the difference! She like linus with her blankie : )

- We switched to milk in a sippy and ditched the bottles! I am so proud! She wasn't too attached to the bottle, nor did she rely on it to go to sleep so it was just a matter of doing it.  The first 2 days I offered her milk in her sippy at meal times instead of her usual water (which she LOVES btw), and she wasn't too interested at first. But by day 3, she was drinking milk out of her sippy with no problems. WHEW. What a relief!

- She gives kisses, and is very friendly and social with other kids. She will crouch down and get right in there face. So funny. And at Kindermusik, she likes to stand right in the middle of circle time ; )

- She eats EVERYTHING, but isn't a fan of scrambled eggs. That's the only things we've found so far that she doesn't "love".

- She sleeps from 7:00pm-7:30am and still takes 2 naps per day for the most part. Although, I see 1 nap in our future.

- She loves: blocks, stacking things, elmo, books, baby dolls, and Little People! She also loves cold water, music, other kids big and small, her blankie, being outside, necklaces, hairbrushes, and dinner time :)

-She hates: Getting dressed, when I leave, and when she cant play in her sisters room!

I started writing this post on January 19th btw... 

Wordless Wednesday