Shame on me!

Well, since almost an ENTIRE year has gone by since I've blogged, I figure it's time to pick it back up again.  I might have to go back and cover some events I missed blogging about, like Riley's trip to NY last June/July and.. Oh, his FIRST BIRTHDAY. Oh yeah, when he started crawling and walking. He has teeth now too. 10 in fact. 

But for now, I'll briefly catch up with our most recent great news!

Jonathan will be moving to first shift next month!  The first shift sergeant moved to the PD and so that position was open. He, along with a couple other guys, took a test and did an oral interview a couple weeks ago. From what I understand, they also took into account experience and stuff in their personnel files.  Last week Jonathan found out he got the position. YAY! It will be super nice to have him home in the evenings. It will be a big change and take some getting used to (because you know, I have my shows to watch! LOL) but it will be awesome.

Another big change coming up: Jonathan's mom is moving to Winfield! We're not sure exactly when, but sooner than later. It will be wonderful for Riley to have 2 of his grandmas nearby. She will also be able to help out with Riley once Jonathan moves to 1st.  All of us here in Winfield look forward to having Julie around!

Ok, that's enough for now.  I promise I will blog more often! Can you believe it though? Riley is 17.5 months old!

Time Of

I have this whole week off.  So far, it's a very good thing I do as yesterday Jonathan started getting sick. Today he is worse.  He's napped TWICE today. That's a rare thing for him.  We got him in to see Dr. Heger. He got an antibiotic prescription and a script for a wrist brace. He has beginning signs of carpal tunnel.

This past Saturday, I hung out with my theatre group for a Memorial Day BBQ.  We had brats and kebabs and other yummy food. Riley came with me and enjoyed himself as well. :) We also had kitty visitors and Bundy, Gypsy's dog came along.

Calvin was hanging out and causing mischief. He kept jumping up on the food table.

 I decided to take Riley's stroller so he'd have a seat of his own and so I would be able to eat without him on my lap.

Some of the group

Mel

Vicki (Who ran the grill)

Mary, with her new hair. She said she'll help me highlight my hair. YAY!

Gypsy and Bundy. He looks a lot like Sandy.

And he thinks he's a lap dog, just like Sandy.

Riley loving on Bundy.

Sunday brought D&D day with the gang which also happened to be Sandy and Mocha's birthday. That's right, my "babies" turned SIX on Sunday!  Where the heck does time go?? I baked them a cake too.

Cosmo kept stealing chairs.

Me and my baby. :)

Cosmo chose to love all over Gypsy. Wouldn't you know, she's allergic?

Birthday cake!  It consisted of flour, veggie oil, honey, peanut butter and shredded carrots.  The "frosting" is cottage cheese.

Can you tell they were excited?

Mocha's a hoover.

Sandy just HAD to take hers to the carpet. Yeah, cottage cheese on the carpet. Lovely!

 So that was Sunday.  Yesterday Jonathan and I (mostly Jonathan as I took care of Riley when he wasn't sleeping or didn't want to play by himself) did an overhaul on the kitchen. We cleared out cabinets and reorganized. We threw a LOT of stuff away. I should have more counter space now. YAY!  Just have to clean the counter tops and stove next.

Today, since Jonathan is sick, I decided it was time for a batch of homemade chicken noodle soup.  I hadn't made this in a couple of years and I have to say it is pretty dang tasty.  I got the recipe from a friend several years ago. If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll post the recipe.

Now, Riley is in bed and Jonathan and I just watched The Voice. I'm considering going to bed here fairly soon. I think some cuddle time with the dogs is in order first. :)

Oh What a Week!

This week has felt like one of the longest weeks ever!  It wasn't a bad week, just tiring.  I worked every day this week from 8 - 4:30, so I didn't get my midweek day to sleep in, which really was ok. It was nice to be home before 8:30 on Wednesday!  It might not have been so bad, except for one reason or another, I couldn't get Riley to sleep until nearly 11 every night! Silly boy.

So, Monday started out interesting at work to say the least. It started with a bit of unexpected change, but it'll be ok. Monday actually went by really quickly at work. Then I had a nice evening at home with Riley and Jonathan. I blogged about that.

Tuesday..  I barely remember it. LOL  Work was working on getting things wrapped up for the school year.  I had dinner at Mom's , I think, and got home to watch Biggest Loser and Glee.

Wednesday went on just as well as earlier in the week.  I hung out with mom after work. I had pizza while we watched Tuesdays American Idol.

Thursday we had a staff meeting at work. We went over end of the year stuff, stuff for summer and stuff for next year. Then we took time to walk down to our new building for the fall. I am so excited to move!  We have so much more space at the new place! After that we ate lunch at Nieve's, or however it is spelled.  Yeah, I was reminded VERY quickly why we never eat there.  El Maguey is SO much better, service wise and food wise.

Last night, Riley and I hung out at home after I picked him up.  We played on the floor some, had some food.

Looking at the dogs

Working on rolling around.

Pushups!

Watching Oprah.

Yes, Oprah. That's one thing I did last night. I recorded all of Oprah this week. I had to watch the last show. I'm glad I recoded Monday and Tuesday as well. What a surprise they put on for her!

Today was a good, busy day at work.  I managed to stay awake with as tired as I have been. LOL  After I picked Riley up, I got Subway for Jonathan and I.  After Riley ate and I ate, we took a stroll through the park and around some nearby neighborhoods.  We stopped to see Mrs. Billingslea, who used to live across the street from mom and dad. You know who she moved across from when she did move away?  Jennifer, my best friend! LOL  Mickey (Mrs. B) was in the nursing home with Grandma for a little while, while she recovered from heart surgery.  You know, when I was a wee tot, I asked her why she had wrinkly knees. She never let me live that down.. :)

From our stroll...

He was watching people we went by.

He was chewing on the tray.. LOL

How cute is he?

I don't even know... LOL

Tonight he tried parsnips:

 He liked them! I was kind of surprised as the flavor seems a little strong for me

Here we was enjoying some puffs.

 How about some water? :)

It was a good evening.  Thankfully he went down to sleep pretty easily tonight. I look forward to sleeping past 6 tomorrow!

Bring it on, Summer!

Monday's with Daddy

Mondays are one of Jonathan's days off. Riley gets the day with him until I get home and then it's family time.  Yesterday was a good Monday too! :)

On my lunch break, I put dinner in the crockpot.  Thanks to my friend Theresa (Coffee Beans and Kisses), I found this recipe: Chicken Parmesan.  Theresa does a lot of crock pot cooking and always shares her recipes and that's what led me to that blog. :) Yay! :)

When I got off work, the crock pot was done. I just needed to make noodles.  I put water on to boil and put Riley down for a nap.  Dinner turned out VERY tasty!

Riley napped for a good hour and fifteen minutes. He is finally started to consistently take at least one nap longer than 30 minutes!  He woke up like this:

 He likes to work his way out of the swaddle. This weekend we're going to start to try and wean him from the swaddle.  BTW: I have to thank Theresa for this swaddle me (and lots of other stuff her youngest little one grew out of)!

Then it was time to laugh at daddy. :)

Then I decided we needed a picture of Daddy and Riley:

 And then of course Riley and me!

Then we had some play time in the nursery later on in the evening.

Riley is getting really close to crawling. He'll get up on his knees and rock back and forth.

I can't say I'm ready for him to be quite that mobile yet, but it is time, isn't it? LOL

We even had a fun bath time. :)

BUBBLES!

Really, Dad? Really?

One of Riley's new favorite toys is plain old cups, btw. :)

Well, that was our Monday. Next Monday we get the WHOLE day off all together!  :) Now I think I have a diaper to change... :)

Saying Goodbye...

It's never easy. A friend of mine lost his father just the other night.  It had been a battle with cancer and he just couldn't beat it anymore. Thankfully Adam got to tell his dad goodbye. This reminded me of when my dad's dad, Grandpa Bird, passed away.

I know I talked about this sort of a couple of blogs ago.  But this got me to thinking about the time I got to say goodbye to Grandpa.

As I mentioned before, Grandpa died on May 9th, 1992.  We went to Nebraska for Easter that year. It fell on April 19th, so that was the last day I saw Grandpa alive. We knew this would be the last time we would see him as well, so before we all climbed into the van to go home, we each went in by ourselves to tell Grandpa goodbye.  I remember giving Grandpa a hug. We talked a little bit. What he said to me before I left has never left me.  He said, "Thank you for loving me, Susie."  I feel blessed to have been able to have loved that man.  Grandpa was absolutely wonderful. He was a hardworking, loving family man.  You should see the work ethic all of his kids have.

I was lucky to have that last talk with Grandpa as well as a last talk with Grandma McLain. Unfortunately, I won't get to have a last talk with Grandma Bird, at least nothing meaningful, as her mind is mostly gone.  I feel so blessed to have the memories of times spent with her though. I am lucky to have memories with almost all of my grandparents. Then add the times I am getting to spend with birth grandparents now.. Heck, I'm just lucky to have the family I do, birth and adopted.

And now I have a son of my own to pass on things I have learned.  Well, that's all for now. Riley has been chilling in the exersaucer and now it's bath time.

1 week!! 1 week left until summer "break." I say "break" because I will be working some over the summer, just not a whole bunch.

Oh What A Night...

It has been a busy week.  I had 2 late nights in a row due to graduation being last night.  Graduation was really nice.  A student that I’ve worked with almost all of my time here graduated.  I know I talked about her already, but she is such a special person.  She is also serviced by CCL here in town as she has some disabilities. But you know what? She did it. She took her time and persevered and she got her high school diploma! Nights like last night are one of the reasons my job is so wonderful!

So, that was the good part of my night! LOL  I picked Riley up a little after 8 last night.  He was in good spirits, rolling around on the floor with my nieces with Grandma and Aunt Robin looking on.  He was the entertainment for sure last night!  We got home in good time and hung out for a bit before nap time.  He chewed on my new teething necklace (yay Jana!) and had some peach flavored puffs. 

Bath time went just fine and so did his nightcap (that’s what I call his before bed nursing session).  He even went to sleep just fine last night. I got my shower done and laid down in bed. I surfed facebook for a while and then I noticed my nightstand was wet.  What???  Oh no!! The humidifier is leaking!! What the heck?!

So, in attempts to not wake Riley, I take the tank off and set it on the bed. It’s not leaking itself.  Then I manage to unplug the unit and get the bottom part on the bed while I mop up the water.  What happens next? I move the wrong way on the bed and get a lap-full of COLD water from the bottom part of the humidifier.  YEEGADS!!!  So yeah, I’m trying not to scream in frustration as I frantically search for my cell phone, hoping it didn’t get doused in water. Thank God it didn’t!  Then I go grab more towels to mop up the water.  As Jonathan said later, it’s a good thing I didn’t spill the water on Riley. Hooooo boy, that would have NOT been good!  So… I get the water mopped up and pull off the sheet and the mattress pad (thankfully the water didn’t get on the pillows or blankets) and get another sheet on.  All while Riley stays asleep.  Go me!

So, I’m still awake with Jonathan gets home. I let the dogs down and go sit on the stairs to tell him about the humidifier debacle.  We both got a little giggle out of it, although my giggle was much smaller as it was getting close to 12:30 and I knew my alarm would be going off at 6:05 (TGIF, btw!).  Before going to bed I gave him the wet sheet and mattress pad to put in the wash. It was probably time to wash the sheet anyway (we only use our fitted sheet and blankets, no top sheet).  

So, I get to sleep after 12:30, no big deal, except I wake at 4 to find Riley broken out of his swaddle (Little booger!!) and on his belly in the bassinet. I get him swaddled back up and wait, where’s the pacifier?!?!  Yeah, he had thrown it out of the bassinet before I woke up. LOL  So I had to find that and rinse it off.  Needless to say, Riley spent the rest of my night snuggled in between mommy and daddy. If only I hadn’t had to have gotten up so early this morning! It was a PERFECT morning to sleep in.  Thunder and rain… I LOVE sleeping during a thunderstorm! Maybe we’ll get some more this weekend when I CAN stay in bed!

Food for Baby!

I had never ever thought about making baby food for my kids until we were visiting friends in Oklahoma a couple of months after we found out we were pregnant.  Andy and Jess are friends from the army. Actually, the story with them is quite funny!

Jonathan and Andy met at AIT in the Army. Then Andy went off to Germany and Jonathan went off to Ft Riley.  Fast forward a couple of years, Jonathan gets back from Iraq to find Andy in his platoon.  He had come to Ft Riley while Jonathan was still deployed. Then they get all moved in to the barracks and they live just down the hall from each other.  So then, after Jonathan and I got married there was a Battalion Ball (I think it was Battalion…) and we got to meet Andy’s girlfriend, Jessica.  Well, come to find out, Jess graduated from OU (ew!) in Music ed, was a saxophone player AND was a member of the music fraternity for women, SAI.  Need I tell you that all of the above pertained to me as well? Well, obviously not the OU part, just switch that to KSU and we’re good.  So, once Jonathan and Andy were both out of the Army, we all kept in touch.  A year ago we went to celebrate Andy’s graduation from college with them and I was preggo and Jess started telling me about how she made most of Alex’s baby food (all but the meats. I plan to tackle meats!).  So, that, my friends, is what set the ball rolling!

If you want, you can make your own rice cereal and oatmeal for baby. I have just bought the Gerber cereals. That way, Riley definitely gets the iron he needs.  People have different views on whether baby really needs the extra fortified iron cereal or not, but our doc said it’s good to have.

After Riley started with baby cereal and downed it really well a few times, I decided it was time to try some other food. The first thing I made was carrots, after avocado that is. Avocado is easy though. Cut in half, scoop out green stuff, mash with a fork!

First off though, things you will need to make baby food: pot, steamer basket, pan, blender or food processor (I use a Magic Bullet) and ice cube trays.

The first batch of carrots I made I actually used a ziplock steamer bag. If you’re in a rush, those are a GREAT thing to use!  Then I put the carrots (I used bagged baby carrots) in my Magic Bullet, added some water and pureed away. Depending on how runny or thick you want your puree to be depends on how much water you add. I’ve found I need to add a wee bit of water to help with pureeing on most items. Once your puree is done, pour or spoon it into ice cube trays, wrap and freeze. Then you can pop them out into labeled ziplocks and store them in the freezer.

The second time I made carrots I steamed them on the stove. The third time I made them I boiled them. If you boil carrots, don’t reuse the water you boiled them in because of the nitrates.

He loves his food!

Anyhow, Riley loved his carrots and gobbled them right up! If they’re too runny, add rice cereal or oatmeal or whatever cereal you choose.  I’ve found Riley prefers his food a little thicker.

Other things I have made:
Sweet potatoes
Pears
Apples
Peas
Green beans
Acorn squash
Butternut squash
Zucchini
Banana (peel and mash!)
Blueberries

I’m thinking of trying broccoli soon and I have some frozen mango I need to prepare soon.  All of this stuff is so easy to make. I roasted the sweet potatoes, pears, apples, and squash. That’s easy to do. Chop in half, clean out any seeds/cores and put on a pan and in the oven for 45 minutes or so, usually at 400.  If you want, you can peel the apples and pears.  Once everything is done, put it in your blender, add some water and puree!  The squash and sweet potatoes you just scoop out and the apples and pears are ready to pop in. I have to cut mine to fit in the Magic Bullet, but that’s no biggie.

One of these days I’ll try meat out. I’m not sure when I will introduce that to Riley, sometime after 8 months definitely.

If you have any questions, ask away. I may or may not have an answer.  A good website for baby food is http://wholesomebabyfood.com/. I’ve gone there if I’ve had questions about what baby can eat at what age and if I’ve ever needed to know how to cook something.  A good book reference is Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron (http://www.amazon.com/Super-Baby-Food-Ruth-Yaron/dp/0965260313).

When we take our trip to NY, I will probably end up buying jarred food as I don’t know if I’ll have the resources or time to make food.  I want to enjoy time with family and not worry about Riley having solids to eat.  While we’re on that subject, I really need to figure out the whole nursing in public thing before we take off!