Oh, my gosh, I'm an adult!

I've never been the type to dread an upcoming birthday.  I spent most of my teenage years being told that I looked so much younger than I really was.  I never took it as a compliment when at 18 years old, people mistook me for a 15 year old.  Maybe, because of that, I've enjoyed getting older.  However, just the other day I realized that coming this may, Cam and I will have been married 7 years. 

Really?

7 years?

Already? 

I also realized that Cam will be turning 30 this August.  Thank goodness I'm a year younger, and don't cross that milestone for another year :) 

For some reason, the thought of those two numbers, has sent me into shock.  If I've been married this long, and we are approaching our 30's, then we can only be described as adults.  We are no longer young adults or newly weds.  Just, married adults.  How is that even possible?  I don't have all the answers yet.  I still call my Mommy for help all the time.  Surely, lacking those few things means true adulthood is still a ways down the road.  But, no.  It's here, looking all scary and intimidating.

Now, I realize, while I might describe my marriage of 7 years as a long time and 30 as a scary, old number.  To many people, we are still young pups, that have a lot of learning to do.  Which, I'm sure, is true.  In 10 or 20 years, I'll probably look back, reread this and just laugh.  But, at this moment, from my current perspective, I feel completely intimidated by the responsibilites I have created for myself.

But, ready or not, here we come.

Time to talk about Lexi

I was looking back over the last several posts, and realized that Lexi hasn't been the "star" of one of my posts since her birthday, a month ago.  How is that possible?  She is such a star here at home :)

She is still mostly crawling, but just today, she walked all the way across the room by herself.  I'm pretty sure she'll be off and running before too long.

She hasn't really started saying any words.  But she is trying to form the words "uh-oh" and "hello".

I'm not sure if she understands "NO" yet.  She sure acts like she has no clue what it's meaning is.  Example: everyday during bath time, she tries to stand up in the tub repeatedly.  And every time, I say 'Lexi, NO!  Sit down.'  This literally has been going on since she learned to pull herself to stand a month or two ago.  Yet, it still hasn't sunk in.  She is one persistent little bugger.  I've tried looking her right in the eye, with my most serious face, and in a stern voice saying, "NO".  Her response is almost always, a big smile.  It's like we are going backwards, the harder I try to get her to understand, the more fun she has pushing my buttons.  My only hope is that she truly doesn't understand the meaning, because if she is already defying me so openly, we might be in for some serious trouble.

She keeps me on my toes, all day, everyday, getting into everything and causing problems with Abby.  Pretty much, she's just a typical one year old, exploring and looking for new discoveries.  Luckily, she is so cute, very loving, and quick to smile.  It's near impossible to be upset with this little bug.

Some newly discovered, awesome recipes

First is a Honey Whole Wheat Bread recipe.  I love wheat bread (for the health benefits, and the taste) but hate the stuff they sell at most stores.  Great Harvest Bread Co. has some amazing bread, but it's expensive and a 30 minute drive, so that kind of eliminates that option most of the time.  Several months ago, I decided I could make a decent loaf of bread, I just needed to find a good recipe.  I found this one, and have made it at least once a month.  It makes 2 loafs, so I just freeze one till I need it.

1 packet active dry, yeast

2 cups warm water

1/3 cup honey or molasses

2 tablespoons soft shortening

2 teaspoons salt

5 1/2 to 6 cups whole wheat flour

In a mixing bowl place in order given all ingredients except flour.  Add flour gradually to make a stiff dough.  Knead on well-floured surface until smooth and satiny, 8-10 minutes.  Place in a greased bowl.  Cover; let rise in warm place until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Divide in half; shape into balls.  Cover with bowl; let rest 15 minutes.  Shape into loaves.  Place in well-greased 9 x 5 or 8 x 4 inch pans.  Cover; let rise until light and doubled, about 1 hour.

Bake at 375*F for 30-35 minutes, or until deep golden brown.

That's the official recipe I found on the back of a bag of whole wheat flour.  But I'm going to add a few tips and tricks I've learned over time.

What's the right temp for warm water?  My mom told me that usually the perfect temp is baby bottle temp or if you are letting the water run from the faucet, when the water just starts to feel not cold.

Add less flour than you think you need, especially in wheat bread (I think I actually only add about 4 1/2 to 5 cups of flour).  Knead for a long time.  The dough should have some elasticity if you stretch a small section between your fingers.

I use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer to knead the bread.  I mix all the ingredients with the paddle attachment, then once it's just come together, switch to the dough hook.  Let it run for 10-15 minutes.  My Kitchen Aid is a low end, cheaper model, so it's not as heavy duty and kind of bounces all over the counter during the kneading process.  I make sure to stick close by and usually hold the mixer in place to prevent it from bouncing right off the counter.

Second is Green Chile-Chicken Stew.  I think the recipe originally came from Cooking Light Magazine, but I found it on the Internet.

8 cups chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 pounds skinned chicken breast

2 bay leaves

4 cups (1/2 inch) cubed red potato

1 1/2 cups chopped onion (1 large)

1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot

2 teaspoons minced fresh cilantro

2 teaspoons paprika

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

3 (4.5 oz) cans chopped green chile's

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes and green chile's, undrained

1/2 cup evaporated fat-free milk

cheese

1. Cut meat into bite-size pieces.  Combine first four ingredients in a dutch oven.  Bring to a boil; cook for 10 minutes.  Discard bay leaves.  Skim off any floating fat from the top.

2. Add potato and next 9 ingredients to the broth.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 50 minutes or until potato is done.

3.  Remove from heat; stir in milk.  Ladle into individual bowls, and sprinkle with cheese.

I've fallen in love with this recipe.  It's got a little spice, but the milk and cheese cool it down just enough.  It also reheats nicely, so I'll make a batch, then eat the left overs all week.  And the best part, it is incredibly low in calories.  For one serving (1 2/3 cups) 120 calories.  Awesome!

Third, is Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookies.  Just when I had you thinking that I was some sort of health nut, I'm going to throw in some yummy chocolate cookies.

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 2/3 cups (10 oz pkg) Reese's peanut butter chips

1. Heat oven to 350*

2. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.  Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.  Gradually add flour mixture, beating well.  Stir in peanut butter chips.

3.  Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8 to 9 minutes.  (Do not over bake; cookies will be soft.  They will puff while baking and flatten while cooling.)  Cool slightly; remove from cookies sheet to wire rack.  Cool completely.

I made these one night for a dessert.  They were so yummy!  In order to not allow myself to eat the entire batch of cookies in a matter of days, the cookies that didn't get eaten that night, I sent with Cam to work the next day.  (That's my trick, eat a few, then give the rest to the hard working firefighters.)  Unfortunately, I could not get those cookies out of my mind.  For a couple of weeks, I CRAVED another one of the cookies.  I eventually broke down and made another batch.  This time, however, instead of giving them away, I froze the majority of the cookies, and just set out a few at a time to thaw when I wanted.  That was such a better idea!

Huge, so very huge

 21 weeks.  No, we are not having twins.  Give me a break, this is my third pregnancy.

Here is a picture of my "baby bump" although, I think I skipped the cute baby bump stage and went straight to huge.  Please forgive the awful picture, I haven't felt very photogenic lately, but I finally gave in and put a time delay on the camera and took my own picture.  Don't look at the picture too carefully, because you might notice the messy bedroom in the background.

Time for a change

It feels like Cam is going to be starting a whole new job almost.  Today, he moves to a new station and this year, Orem switched from working 24 hour shifts, to 48 hour shifts.

Every couple of years, the department gets switched around and everybody moves to different stations.  For the last couple of years, Cam has worked in the station located in Lindon (Lindon has a contract with Orem city to do their fire/rescue) which is also the slowest station.  That means that most days they only get a couple of calls, and spend most of their time training or doing PR stuff (i.e. tours of the fire station, visiting an elementary school).  It also means that he sleeps most nights without having to get up.  That has been SO nice, because he rarely comes home from work tired, and needing to sleep during the day once he is off of work.  However, this station that he is going to be working at this year is the BUSIEST station.  Which means, most likely he will be awake at least one of the two nights of his shift.  These next couple of weeks, I think will take some adjusting.  I've got to get more accustomed to Cam being gone for two days in a row (he already works two days in a row fairly regularly when he has shifts in Orem and Eagle Mountain back to back) and also to allowing him to get a good nap in once he's home from work.  It might get kind of interesting (read: grumpy) around here once the baby arrives if neither one of us is ever getting a decent amount of sleep :)  But Cam is really excited for both changes.  He's glad to be busier at work and has always wanted to switch to 48 hour shifts. 

I feel like we've been thrown into the deep end, and it's sink or swim time.  His first 48 shift has actually been changed to a 72 hour shift.  After working the regular 48 hours in Orem, he goes straight to Eagle Mountain to do another 24 hours.  So we won't see him again till Friday.  I'm sure we'll survive, and as always, we'll miss him till we see him!

Boy, oh boy!

I had my 20 week ultrasound yesterday, and we're having a...boy!  He looks really healthy and is measuring just right to join us around May 23rd.  I'm kind of unsure of what it's going to be like to have a little boy in the house, but I sure hope he likes the color pink, because, man oh man, do we have a lot of really cute baby stuff that's pink : )

The tech did a few pictures in 4-D.  That was really neat to see.

The tech said that the baby and I were a really good scan, I'd like to think that it's because I'm a lean mean fighting machine, which is a huge lie, but I think it had more to do with the fact that my bladder was so full that the baby was forced up and out.

I can't believe I'm already half way through, but I think this second half is going to be a slow and miserable 20 weeks.  When I went in for my first appointment after finding out I was pregnant, the Dr warned me that this pregnancy was probably going to be kind of rough on me because there wasn't much recovery time in between pregnancies.  Deep down, though, I was thinking: "Pshhh, whatever, I'm tough as nails.  I run 6 miles uphill both ways everyday (okay, not really uphill).  I can do this, no problem."  But let me tell you, I'm feeling it big time already.  I have so many aches and pains in my joints, and I think my stomach muscles have just given up trying to hold everything together.  And then today, during parts of the ultrasound when the tech was trying to scan the baby, she was literally trying to get up, under my ribs to see this baby.  I am caring him UNBELIEVABLY high.  I'm absolutely terrified for the pain that's to come when this baby gets a little a bigger and starts pushing my ribs out.  Ohh, heaven help me!

Of course, in the end, it's always worth it once the little one is born and we are together at last.

P.S  I will post some pics of my huge tummy soon, but Cam isn't here today to take a picture.  Plus, while the husband is away, I wear baggy sweatshirts and comfy clothes.  Not something I want posted for everyone to see.

My little fashionista

Abby is in a stage where she just has to wear dresses (skirts, if no dress is available) and most jeans just hurt too much (apparently, I forgot to cut out one of those security tags that are sewn into Old Navy clothing, and after SEVERAL months, she finds this tag just hurts too much.  Even though I have since removed the offending tag) so she prefers sweat pants or leggings.  She only has a few dresses that I will let her wear outside of church. I also make her wear pants under her dresses because it's to cold to go bare legged, and I don't want the hassle of tights because I know those suckers will never make it off in time in a potty emergency.  So, every morning we go through the options, and every morning I'm totally stunned at the bizarre outfits that she puts together.  If I know that we are going to be most likely spending the day at home, I don't put up much of a fuss as to what crazy combination's she comes up with.  But if we have any sort of errand to run, I'll try to steer her in a less embarrassing direction.    If, however, we can't seem to come to an agreement on an appropriate outfit, there is most definitely going to be a nice, dramatic tantrum (by her, not me).  Depending on my mood and level of patience, I'll decide whether the battle is worth it.  But, no matter the outfit, as long as it was clothes she picked out, she is always happy and proudly wears it where ever we go.  There are some days, though, that I wish there was a sign I could stick on her back that said "She put this outfit together.  Please do not think I created this ensemble."