Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Guilty Pleasures!

Thanks for the idea "Midnight Oil Mama" on this post! I enjoyed reading your guilty pleasures and I have been trying to think of a good blog title that wasn't a family update so here it is!
So here are some of my guilty pleasures! feel free to join in on the fun and tell us some of your so we can all have a little laugh!

1) Sugar Addiction - I love sugar and it doesn't matter what the food is. If it has sugar in it I will probably like it. People think that I never eat crap because they know I used to be a personal trainer, but they are so wrong! I probably eat my weight or more in sugar ever year! Horrible, I know, but lately I have had a hard time saying no to it!

2)"Desperate Housewives" - I almost chose not to put this one down since it is probably my biggest guilty pleasure. I got hooked on it watching re-runs on Lifetime TV when Jake was a baby when I had nothing to do during the winter afternoons. Every time I watch it I feel like I have to justify watching it by telling myself there is no harm in watching a little night time soap opera, but then the show took a turn for the worse and since then I have stopped, but I still wonder who "so and so" ended up with and whether or not Susan and Mike moved back to Wisteria Lane.

3) My Big City Girl Roots! - I would rarely admit it but I am proud to be from a big city like Chicago. Sure there is traffic, rude people, loud planes are always flying over your house and you can literally have a conversation with your next door neighbor while each of you are sitting inside a part of the house since the houses are built 10 feet apart. I remember catching our creepy, old and cranky neighbor watching us from her window while we played in our back yard. (we got used to not having any privacy).
You get used to all the negative things about living in the city. In a way I feel like being a city girl thickened my skin a little. You just learn to deal with all the stress the city throws at you. I love city food, even the crowds of people at times, and if I paid any attention to sports what better teams to love than the Cubs and Bears! In some way it makes me happy to hear people tell me that I still have a little bit of my Chicago accent left in me! Of course I would never move back to the city but I am still proud of where I come from.

4) Twilight Saga - Yes, I too love the Twilight saga. Besides Harry Potter(which could be another one of my guilty pleasures) I have never read through a series of books as fast as I did Twilight series! The books are thrilling, and leaves my heart pitter pattering as I read about the the strong love relationship between Edward and Bella. Okay I will also admit that I started out rooting for Edward but ended up switching sides and falling in love with Jacob. I don't know exactly why but I guess Ware wolves just seem a little less gay than a blood sucking, pale white and scrawny vampire.

5)`The smell of Weed - not just weeds as in, the weeds in your yard, but the stuff you smoke. Okay, now you are wondering how I know what weed smells like. Yes I have smoked weed before and I will not be doing that again. I was dumb in high school and we all do things we regret, whether it was talking bad behind someone's back or lying to our best friend. It made me very sick and I am glad it did cause I never did it again. But I do love the smell of it and one of the best places to go too to get that wonderful smell stuck in your clothes is any kind of rock concert. I remember going to two different Creed concerts in college and there was a lot of weed smoking going on during those concerts. I didn't wash my sweatshirt for weeks after that concert! It was like sitting around a campfire when all that wonderful camp smoke soaks into the fibers of your clothes. Some people would think I am crazy to like the smell of camp fire smoke. Now you think I am even more crazy for liking the smell of an illegal drug! Whatever... you can judge me if you'd like, but hey, at least I don't go and smoke it just so I can get a wiff of it!

6) Rice - that's right! I love that starchy carb more than any other. I could eat a whole pot of it in one sitting! I love it almost as much as I love sugar! Why? I don't know. I ate it a lot as a kid so maybe that is why.

7) Christian Bale - OKAY let me first explain that Joe and I had a conversation one day about our movie star crushes and we agreed to allow the other one movie star crush that the other couldn't get jealous about cause we both know neither one of us would ever have a chance, nor would we ever leave each other for our movie star crush(wow. was that a run on sentence?). So my movie star crush is Christian Bale. I loved him in Newsies and when I found out he was going to be the new Batman I was very excited. He is the perfect Batman! I only wish he was in more musicals since he has a great singing voice! Joe's movie star crush is Carrie Underwood in case you were wondering, but since she got married she is spoken for so now I don't know who her replacement would be?

I do have more but they really aren't worth blogging about.

I think that about does it! This was fun! Now I want to know some of yours!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

If you like Coconut, try this cake!

Coconut Cake

Bake a box of white cake mix and let cool completely. With a fork, poke a bunch of holes in it and pour a can of Eagle's Brand sweetened condensed milk all over the cake. Put in the fridge and chill.
For the frosting mix a tub of cool whip and 8 oz of coconut cream(found in the non-alcoholic section of the alcohol aisle). Make sure you mix the can of coconut cream before you mix it in with the cool whip since the liquid sits at the bottom of the can. Spread all over top of cake and sprinkle with sweetened coconut flakes(opt). Serve cold! It is soooooo yummy!

Friday, April 8, 2011

First week with Two

Wade is a week old today! It is so sad to me how quickly babies grow up. Sure he is still a little guy but I can't believe how fast a week goes by. I have to admit the first couple of days without my family here helping me out was a little scary. I remember being pretty emotional when I had Jake after my mom left. Having a new baby is no simple task the first week, especially when you have a toddler who is so used to having you all to himself 24/7. It has been even more of an adjustment for him than for me. I felt guilty the first couple of days when I had to put Wade's needs over Jake. Jake is my number one pride and joy and I missed it when it was just Jake and me. I don't feel that way anymore but let me tell ya, the first couple of days I literally felt like a bad mom for telling Jake he had to go play by himself because I had to feed Wade...again. I think he is starting to get it now. Sure he still whines about it from time to time, but I think he understands that Wade gets hungry and needs me to take care of him.
Wade is a great baby! He still sleeps a lot and that has been wonderful. I hope he keeps it up! He has been an easy baby to nurse and so far no issues with throwing up like Jake did. From day one Wade has been sleeping about 5 hours into the night before he wakes up to eat. Getting up once throughout the night is nothing to complain about. I think Jake was more of an every 3 hours at night baby for the first several weeks. I am wondering if Wade has been able to go longer since he was a whole pound heavier than Jake when he was born. Anyway...it hasn't been that difficult. My pessimistic side actually expected this week to be worse than it was. I am relieved that I was wrong.
For just having had a baby a week ago I feel absolutely fantastic! I have healed very quickly and love it that I can wrestle around with Jake once again! Thanks to everyone for all your words of encouragement. I am very blessed to have such a supportive group of friends!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Wade Robert's Birth Story

I am now a mother of TWO! Woa! I don't know what I am going to do with two yet. I can't comprehend what my friends go through who have twins! You parents are super parents!
Well I better get this down while it is still pretty fresh in my mind!
Wednesday night I was enjoying my favorite TV show, Survivor, when I had a really intense contraction. I literally thought I needed to poop so I quietly walked to the bathroom and nothing happened. I didn't want to make a big deal about it since we had two of our interns from camp over and I have had a lot of contractions the last couple of weeks.
Exhausted from a long day of playing with Jake I chose to head to bed early. My day was rather horrible so I had a feeling that I was going to hit hard labor sometime in the night and wanted to get as much rest as possible.
I had two strong contractions at 11:30pm and then again around 1:30am. I got up to go to the bathroom both times and felt better. Sometime between 3:30am-4am I woke up with pretty painful contractions so I began to time them and by 5am they were 5-6 min apart, sometimes closer. I labored for that hour or so without waking Joe. I wanted to make sure that this time it was for real since I had two nights of labor with no progression. By 5 I knew it was the real thing. They were starting to really hurt. I called my mom and dad in Chicago and told them to get here when they could. My mom was going to try to make it for the birth! Next I went to the bedroom and told Joe it was time to have a baby. He called the midwife, gave her the heads up and told her we would call her when we needed her to come. Knowing how long I had labored with Jake I was not expecting things to move along so quickly. Boy was I wrong, and so glad too! We had a friend come pick up Maximus(not supposed to be around when the midwife is here), and then had another friend come pick up Jake around 6:30am and by that time my contractions were intense and on top of each other. I was still able to walk around in between them, but once they hit I would collapse on the bed or couch and try my best to relax every muscle in my body. I decided then it was time to jump in the tub and see if the warm water would help numb the pain a little. 30 min later I was feeling like I needed to push! I couldn't believe I had dilated so quickly! Joe called our midwife to find out where she was and by the time he hung up the phone I couldn't wait any longer. I had to push! After my first push Joe asked, "was that a push?" I don't remember answering him. I just gripped his hands and pushed again and felt the head coming down. A third push and his head was crowning. It was so cool to reach down and touch his head while I waited for that last push. I told Joe to get ready to catch the baby and with one more push Wade was born in the water in our living room and without any help from our midwife. She actually walked in the door about 3 min late and she took over from there. I was able to deliver the after birth without any trouble and Wade took to nursing like a pro within 20 min of being born! I went straight to my herbal bath to get cleaned up while the midwife checked all of Wade's vitals, AGAR score, and measured and weighed him. Joe came to the bathroom to tell me our boy weighed 9 lb 2 oz! I thought it was an early April Fool's joke! I was for sure that he was going to be around 8 lb or less! I must say I never thought I would deliver a baby over 9 lbs. Is it wrong of me to feel proud?
My parents arrived about two hours after Wade was born and I was up and moving around within a few hours with no more than a back ache. Water Births are amazing! I wouldn't do it any other way ever again! I highly recommend them!
The last couple of days have been so easy compared to my first time having a baby. I have had no swelling, very little pain, and had a very small tear. My back has been about as sore as it would be after a hard weight lifting workout.
Wade has been a fabulous nurser and has slept great the first two nights. Jake loves his little brother as much as an 18 month old can understand. He is able to say Wade's name and calls him Bubba as well. I think these two are going to hit it off rather well. I have fallen love all over again! Babies are so precious and a gift from God. Thanks for all your prayers and words of encouragement as we all were waiting for Wade's first appearance. Feel free to come by and visit us!