i need to clarify....

there is a reason i don't get paid to write my thoughts.

i have a very hard time conveying my full thoughts and i think sometimes just shooting out a portion of my thoughts makes me sound like an ass.

i don't hate all baby advice...and saying that i did - made me sound like a total jerk. I realized after the fact that a lot of credit should be paid to my friends, my sister, my mom and all the blogs i read too.

I stay away from annoying friends and annoying blogs - in reality, it just so happens that A LOT of what i know about babies and baby gear has been learned from other people. I actually forgot to mention one other book that i seriously read all the time - that has helped me to stay off of the psycho mom list at the pediatricians office....becasue without it - i think i would call that helpline 3 or 4 times a week. "What to expect the first year" is filled with facts that help you understand milestones and what you should expect as far as your baby's development goes...and knowing that stuff is important and not necessarily something that you just know on your own.

I really hope i didn't come off as a know-it-all mom.... i was only trying to make the point that books....and people..... that act like they know the one, only, and best way to raise your kid suck.

a good portion of all of my conversations with friends revolve around baby stuff.... and i love that. None of them are know-it-alls and i love hearing their suggestions. i also love reading about what other people are doing with their baby's online.

sooooo i hope that clears up my true feelings on the topic.

No more serious shit....my next post will be about my boobs.

:)

Stay tuned.

baby advice is annoying.

As of late, I am settling into my new routine as a stay-at-home-mom, but just this week started to integrate a few hours of work in as well. I have really lucked out working for some great people that are allowing me to continue working (on a much much smaller scale) from the comfort of my own little casa just so that i can kind of stay in the swing of things and have a few adult conversations throughout the day...all while wearing my pajamas and staring at ashlyn in the next room over of course! i am so fortunate for this situation, and i know it.

Anywyas, because i am now working a little bit I am focusing a little more on getting ashlyn on a schedule...a flexible one...but a schedule nonetheless. I had heard a ton about "babywise" so I downloaded it onto my kindle and i am about 1/2 way through it after the first day. Except for "what to expect when you are expecting" this was my first baby book. I was just looking for a bit of predictability when it comes to nap time so that i can schedule my work time accordingly.

I am soooo not the "i read books on raising children" kind of mom. Most of them i find to be so annoying and almost insulting to your intelligence - like it really freaks me out that someone had to write this stuff down because there are actually moms out there that just sooooo dont get it. But Babywise was sold to me as being a little different. It is about parents taking the lead and making decisions for their baby...but with some structure.

that was similar to my philosophy so i tried it.

Long story short.... it is what i was already doing but in a slightly different order.

the book tells you to feed your baby...play with your baby....and then let your baby sleep at 3 hour intervals.....except for night where you skip from feed to sleep.

Ummmm i go feed, sleep, play most of the time and it seems to work great, but apparently inverting the 2nd and 3rd activity in this cycle is where i go all wrong...according to the book if she was feed, play, sleeping she would be sleeping 9-11 hours straight at night.

really? i'm not buying it.

i just don't see how that little tweak will change her world.

i don't know though...maybe it will so i am (sort of) trying it....and i'll admit, i am trying it out of guilt.

Guilt sucks.

Ashlyn sleeps well right now - i get a five hour stretch from 10-3 and then she usually gets up to eat again at 5 and one last time at 7am. It is manageable and she goes right back to sleep when she does get up so honestly, I'm not complaining. i am not a zombie mom that is crazy that struggles through every day deprived of sleep. Our daytime routine is great too....even if she isnt napping she is super content to spend time in her bouncy chair while i make dinner, take a shower or sweep the floor (or whatever).

i guess i read the book for 2 reasons:

#1 improvement is never a bad thing

#2 i guess i wanted some kind of validation that what i was already doing was the best way

so i read the book.

bad idea.

not the book necessarily...but i realized that it is just soooo counter productive to look for validation anywhere besides paying attention to the fact that your baby is happy and content....And i think sooo many people make this mistake.

My feeling is that there should seriously be a disclaimer on all baby advice that says "listen to this only if you are smart enough and confident enough to totally dismiss it if it is going to make you crazy"

I have learned one thing after 3 months of being a mom that i care to pass along:

everyone (in the whole wide world) except for your baby will tell you that you should be doing something different and or better than what you have already done..... and it will make you CRAZY.

There. Thats it. That is my one piece of baby advice. My friend stacy told me this before i had ashlyn and it really was the one thing that made me feel super confident about being a mom. I do believe that you just figure it out. As long as you aren't some crazy meth head...as long as you have the desire to be a good mom....stay confident in your abilities, stay in charge....and you will succeed. Don't read books like they are the bible and don't pay attention to the crazy loads of unsolicited parenting advice unless you are truly ready to defend in your own mind that what you have already done is probably just fine. Oh, and learn to decipher between what interests you and what will just end up making you feel inadequate. forget the bad stuff and stay positive!

i am going to just keep doing what i am doing and hope for the best.

forget the books!... i don't have time for them in "my schedule" anyways lol...jk.

my boobs

yep you read right...this post is about boobs. They are the COO to my little CEO Ashlyn and they pretty much determine when and how everything happens in my life theses days.

i have not gone to bed, eaten breakfast, left the house, or brushed my teeth without first flashin a little boobage to the Boss...not even once in the last 16 weeks have they stayed put and behaved like they did for the 27 years prior to mommyhood. they were kind if useless and unimpressive before but i mean seriously...my life...and her life revolve around these puppies these days and that is why they are getting their own post on here.

my boobs have never felt so important.

And just to clarify, the boobs i am referring to aren't the old school boobs i used to sport - These are like big time boobs. They are the boobs i always thought i would spend $8,000 to achieve. They are a source of pride when i feel like i had to (at least temporarily) cash in the rest of my body so that i could have a healthy wonderful cute baby. Call me a weirdo but i do appreciate that when god taketh away a human sized waist he did giveth me with some bigger knockers to detract attention

They are little sources of nutrition for my baby and surprisingly artsy inspiration for me too ;)

After all the build up -I bet you want to see them right?

Well unfortunately for some - I am classy enough and smart enough to know that posting a picture of my boobs online is "bad" and not really my style. I'm just hoping (fingers crossed) that i haven't done something socially unacceptable by writing about them and posting this frosted version of "my other" boobs below :

Boobs are okay when they are artsy right?

yep. I did it. I bought flesh colored fondant and made boob cupcakes. That is how boob centered my life is these days.

Not because i am creepy and obsessed with myself.... but because i happened to handle the task of planning the menu and decor for my brother in laws Bachelor party that was hosted at my house a few weekends ago while i was staring at ummmmmmm my own boobs during a flashing/feeding session with Ash.

i struggled with finding what kind of decorations i could do that guys would actually appreciate and the answer was literally right in front of my face! BOOBS!!!! so regardless of the ridiculous tackyness of boobie cupcakes, i did it, and i think they liked them.

Bunny Baby

....And if delightful recipes aren't your thing, perhaps adorable bunny babies are:

here is Ashlyn modeling her bunny jacket and bunny boots....

....and here she is again in her bunny boots and bunny cape!

i LOVE these little girl outfits!...and i also love love love the little girl wearing them!!

Now we just need to find the perfect Easter dress to accompany all of these cute little things!

Chipotle at home...but better.

This little diddy was inspired by a Chipotle burrito bowl. I made it a little lighter though (no cheese, sour cream, or guacamole... and although i am sure all of those things would be great if added - this really was delicious as-is and so easy to make.

Basically i just trimmed the fat off of some boneless skinless chicken breasts (which i am PSYCHO about - seriously. I remove anything that comes within a half inch of touching fat).....and once the chicken was safely de-fatified- i salted, peppered and "sauced" the chicken in this sauce below.

annoying that it is sideways right???? i had a really hard time with the pictures today :)

in case you cant read sideways this was "Hot Squeeze" Sweet Heat Chipotle Sauce.... it is seriously good. It gives the chicken a really smokey (sort of spicy flavor) that is as they claim, actually sweet too.

the chicken went into the oven at 400 for about 40 min. Don't listen to my chicken cooking timeline though. I really like dry chicken and i have forced my husband to like the same. Weird I know. It has to do with the fat issue and juicy chicken just grosses me out. So anyways maybe you should try to do this at 350 and check it after 25-30 minutes?

While the chicken was cooking I opened a can of black beans, and a can of green chilies. I chopped those up along with some white onion, cilantro, and grape tomatoes.

I combined the beans, the chilies and the onion on medium heat in a pot. Let that hang out until the onion has softened. You probably want to season this a bit too.

While all of that is going on start boiling some water for rice. I used white only because i had it on hand. I am sure you could use brown too if you wanted to be healthier. Let the rice cook and when it is done squeeze the juice of a 1/2 of a lime (or more if you want) onto the rice. Toss in most of your cilantro too. This really makes the most delish rice ever. The cilantro totally changes the flavor and is probably the best part of this whole dish.

build your plate with rice on the bottom, the beans and chilies next then top it with the chicken and a tomato cilantro garnish.

My husband ended up mashing all of this together and eating it in a tortilla but whatever. It still tasted the same :)

Oh and for dessert, we had my dad's favorite....which i have posted on here before but it was too good to skip.

Fresh red raspberries with a little bit of heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar served in a martini glass.

so easy. so fancy...and sooo good.

....and fr the record my little superstar baby chilled on the counter top in her bouncer chair whle all of this was going down. I think she likes to "cook" too. She never freaks out during dinner prep time :)

My other super easy stuffed chicken recipe is coming next. Get excited!!! :)

My little Valentine

I had so much fun getting ready for Valentine's Day yesterday. I usually don't really care a ton about this holiday, but i for some reason i was feeling extra festive and i (of course) wanted to take advantage of a good excuse to get Ashlyn all dolled up.

We started the day off with an 8 week photo shoot in her room. I'll post pictures soon - but thank god for her shaggy pink rug. It was an excellent backdrop for the Valentines Day theme

After the photo shoot we went to the grocery store.

My car seat is awesome as far as safety ratings and cuteness are concerned....however it does not fit into the top of a grocery cart (safely) which totally sucks. Instead, i buy fewer groceries and Ashlyn gets to fill up the rest of the cart. This is very inconvenient, but i have my fingers crossed that it will somehow lead to me losing some weight... less groceries=less eating. If it works i'm sending Maxi Cosi a thank you card for sucking with their design.

p.s. - we kind of match. two red cardis. That wasn't an accident. wow katie - really?

Moving right along..... After shopping we went home and set a very pretty table for the romantic dinner with dad. I waited on all the cooking until Pat got home. He was a huge help and it was way more fun to get everything ready together.

I didn't set the table in our dining room because it is kind of "exposed" when the lights are on at night. Not like we were going to "do it" in there or anything, but i do have some nosey neighbors that have been known to report what they watch us doing inside of our house....so lights on at night was a little too voyeuristic for my idea of a nice private V-Day dinner. i opted for the dinner table in the back of the house instead

For the record there are few things that bring me greater joy than finding an excuse to pull out all my wedding presents. My monogrammed ice bucket.....the china.....my crystal champagne flutes...shiny chargers.....ummmm i die. SO anyways.. here is the before (above) and the after (below)

For dinner we had filet mignon with sauteed mushrooms and lemon garlic shrimp on the side. We had a party catered at the house the night before so, for sides, i also reheated some delish eggplant tarts and spicy stuffed peppers in the oven. I know leftovers don't sound very romantic, but hey they were beyond good and i didn't want to waste them. of course there was lots of Pink Champagne and brownie sundaes with fresh strawberries for dessert.

It's funny how everyone seemed to stay in this year for Valentines day. Obvi we did and really - i think this might have been one of my favorite valentines days yet. Something about your husband bringing home a teddy bear for his new valentine realllllly melted my heart too :)

hope you had fun ....and booooyah for 2 posts in one week. I am on a roll!!!

lately...

you know those girls that get a boyfriend and then they drop all their friends like a hot potato?

ummm. i am that girl now....and ashlyn is like my new boyfriend.

I hadn't left the house in 3 days (until today) and somehow i still find it super hard to return emails, phone calls...and ummmmm air mattresses. Sorry Carley. A month is a ridic turn time. its coming back to your house this weekend. :) i promise.

so anyways...i also suck at blogging. Which is weird becasue i think about blogs i would like to write all day. Some of the most recent "posts" include my commentary on the following (in no particular order - (and P.S. these are all somehow linked to tv watching....which IS something i have managed to find time for lately)

so anyways - here it goes:

1. Have you ever noticed how Rachel Ray used to be so cute and bubbly and now she sort of seems like she is dead inside? Like she hates her life eventhough she is the luckiest B in the world to have been discovered while cooking recipes in a grocery store??? Yeah i don't like her at all. She makes smiling look like such an effort these days.

2. HOW ON EARTH do all of the teen moms on MTV have the freaking cash to constantly get their nails done? i would love to have my nails done all the time and despite having a full time job, and tons of fiscal responsibility it still is not in the budget....and i wouldn't be getting the freaking air brushed unicorns and other shish these girls have going on so technically the manicures i would want would be even cheaper. I kinda want to shake them. Maybe if they saved their "manicure" money for something like ohhhhhh i dunno - rent, formula, diapers...birth control-- their lives wouldn't be so hard? just a guess though. o h yeah, and i want to kailyn to stop being such an ungrateful B and appreciate the wonderful home and support system that Joe's family provides. And i want to tell her mom that she is a pathetic human being.

3. I need to grow up and stop watching Teen Mom 2. for reallllllllll.

4. I want to be barefoot contessa. No seriously i want to be Ina. I love how her show is centered around cooking for the people she loves and just being a nice friend....And not that i want to be like "this" but i do find it fun to imagine what those friends really think when she drops off a fabulous picnic to her "girlfriend that had a bad day at work".....ummm if i had a bad day at work, i probably wouldn't want a reminder of how much cooler she is than me. I might even be secretly annoyed with my my friend because her only job is to cook delicious food, drive around town in her convertible BMW and shop at fun little delis and flower shops while sipping cocktails that she invented. yeah. thats how she rolls.

i don't want to make my friends feel bad, but i do kinda want that schedule/daily routine :)....and pat would love the fancier dinners.

5. Speaking of Pat and dinners....I'll admit- while i am normally a pretty good little chef - i do occasionally screw up with cooking (and when i t happens it isn't usually a little mistake). This week was the first time that i can remember though that Pat actually SPIT out the food i made. not very Ina-ish of me, i know. I tried to make Carne Asada. I failed. I really do think being mexican is a 100% necessary ingredient in making successful shredded taco meats. Not only do i suck at carne asada but i also suck at carnitas. ....but so do all of the mexican restaurants in Ohio so i don't feel that bad. i miss california mexican food...and apparently Pat just misses edible food.

6.I would like for Victoria's Secret to stop sending me their catalogues until all of my baby weight is lost. I have cried (more than once) after looking at this stupid thing.

7.HAs anyone ever tried Jackie Warner's workout DVD's? they are awesome and so cheap! Only $8.99 at Sam's Club. It kicks my butt and it is only 30 minutes...which means that i shouldn't have ANY excuse not to complete it. P.S. "shouldn't" was written for my own benefit. I need to keep doing this workout along with the elliptical if i ever want to wear non-yeti sized clothing again. ONe would think the prospect of only wearing yeti clothes for life would make you get off your butt right???

and now that i am thinking about it - i AM going to get up and go do this darn workout.

end of blog. Beginning of embarrassingly huffy-and-puffy workout :)At least my baby is cute ;)

tootles. Have a fun weekend!