What I'm Loving Wednesday

I am loving my new nail polish that my brother's girlfriend gave me for Christmas-Panda-monium Pink. I finally got the chance to paint my nails on Sunday and I must say I do like OPI. I have never bought it for myself but it goes on really nicely and we will see how long it lasts for.

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I am loving these baby smiles I have been getting this week!

Poor picture quality from my cell phone but obviously
that's the only way to catch them these days!

I am loving my coffee every morning!

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My new vacuum! Gets up all the dog hair!

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And I always love some fun pins!

Source: decorpad.com via Elisa on Pinterest

Source: potterybarn.com via Elisa on Pinterest

Source: crookedbrains.net via Allyce on Pinterest

What are you loving this week? Head on over and link up!

The Current State of my Cooking

Not only have my blog posts taken a turn in topic due to my big life change but mostly I have just been pretty embarrassed at how my cooking "talents" have taken a turn for the worse so I haven't been too motivated to post any of my kitchen adventures. I guess by posting mistakes I am being real though so maybe I just need to get on it. I am not bragging and saying I am some gourmet chef, wife who whips up something amazing every single night. However, I enjoy cooking, I enjoy trying new things and I do have my stand by recipes as well. My husband generally likes what I cook and appreciates a home-cooked meal.

The first week Ben went back to work after a week home with us and a week's worth of eating other people's cooking whom had been gracious enough to bring us meals, I decided to put a roast in the crock pot. I put some vegetables, some broth, salt, pepper, etc. I thought, Ben will be so impressed on one of my first days home, I am able to get a meal done. Not that I try to impress my husband and this thought was half sarcasm but whatever. I got the roast in a little bit late for the time I thought we might eat so I put it on high for a while and was going to turn it down. Well, a while turned into basically the whole time. I don't know what I was thinking. I wasn't really. Ben arrived home, we chatted, dished up dinner, he commented on how good it smelled and then started eating. Something was on TV so he was watching that and I took a bite of my roast. I looked over at him and said, "This is terrible! It is so dry. How are you eating this?" He replied with, "Yeah, not  your best." And then proceeded to eat.

I was so embarrassed that I had screwed up a crock pot roast. How does that happen? Crock pot=easy dinner, does it not? Apparently not for me in this case.

A couple of weeks later, I put a chicken in our dutch oven and it turned out okay. The last chicken I had made in the oven had turned out so good.

Next up, this past weekend, on Friday night I was half paying attention to one of our favorite shows, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and saw a dish I wanted to try: pasta carbonara. I told Ben this when he walked in the door and he asked if I had recorded the show. I replied that it looked really easy, I knew the ingredients and I didn't need to have the show to be able to make it.

The next night, I set out to "throw" this dish together. I figured I would make the sauce ahead of time so that we could just heat up the pasta and eat whenever we were ready because nowadays around our house there is a certain little lady who dictates when we eat our dinner. Well, this was a big mistake. I assembled the ingredients just as I remembered in the order I remembered them putting them in the pan: bacon, garlic, white wine, lemon, cream, cheese and egg white. I mixed it all together, tasted it and it tasted good. I left it on the stove on low and went about watching a movie with Ben. Our Idiot Brother was a pretty good movie. It was kind of quirky which made it easy to watch.

Anyway, back to dinner. I went into the kitchen and peeked at my sauce. It had curdled/lumped up/turned into a scrambled mess and my shoulders just slumped. I deemed this inedible and Ben tried to re-create it. What a nice husband. He knew how much I wanted this dinner so he tackled it. The problem is that the sauce is meant to be eaten right away. Not left to simmer on the stove. Lesson learned. Ben wasn't too impressed with his dinner but I thought it was good. It is definitely on the rich side but I guess that's what I was in the mood for.

Moral of the story: I don't know what is wrong with my cooking. I need to get my groove back or I may lose my job. I think my mom hat has risen about my chef hat and they maybe need to gain a little more equality.

Any simple recipes out there I could try to gain some confidence in the kitchen back? Any kitchen/recipe blunders you would like to share?

Room Updates

I have never posted a "home tour" on this blog, mostly just bits and pieces of the house. Someday I will get around to that. However, there are a couple of rooms that I would like to show our progress on and that is the nursery and the office.

I am so, so happy with the way Eleanor's room turned out and I hope she will enjoy it too. I will have to use words to explain the transformation because we didn't take a picture of this particular room when we first moved in. All the trim in our house was wood, so the chair rail was wood with a bluish-gray paint on the top and a navy blue on the bottom. Very depressing and dark. We had company coming to stay just a couple of months after we moved in so we needed to brighten this room up ASAP. Cue in me thinking ahead and choosing the gender neutral bright, cheery color of yellow. We painted the trim a shade of white and painted the walls yellow. Instant happy.

Fast forward three years later and we are getting ready for a baby. The yellow had become just a little too bright and I thought it needed a little balance. We painted the bottom half of the wall under the chair rail gray because after I had painted the office gray (more to come on this) I loved gray.

Over the course of my pregnancy, the look of the room developed and evolved. We mostly chose second hand, borrowed or handmade items. I feel this made the room very personal and I enjoyed the project while trying not to obsess and count the minutes before we met the baby girl. We also chose to stay fairly neutral on the colors instead of choosing the traditional "girly" pink so that we can re-use items if I ever decide to pop out a boy. Or, wait, I guess the dad chooses gender...? Anyway.

Here she is in all her glory (she and her being the room):

The frame collage has a Corinthians bible verse, scrapbook paper, a picture of Ben and I (separately of course) as little kids, and two maternity pictures. I love how it is coming along. There are a couple more additions I have in the works.

Moving into the room next door, we have our office. I am embarrassed to say that I reported on beginning to update, rearrange, paint and decorate this room last year in February. I wouldn't say we have made tremendous progress, but I definitely enjoy the room a lot more. We painted the room Valspar's Notre Dame and when it was finished I absolutely loved it. We painted the trim different that the rest of the house because we realized white pops more than the other color we had chosen in the rest of the house. It looks so clean and nice up against the gray.

The decor on the walls is aiming for a hodge podge but I think if we keep it organized enough, it will look good on the gray backdrop. Right now all we have are Hub's Spurs flags and our college diplomas. We have a picture hanger and Hub's grandpa's flag to hang up. You can see that sitting on the corner of the desk.

As far as my "craft corner" that I had discussed organizing, it kind of just got shoved placed on the top shelf of the closet in a bin for now. I haven't been crafting too much lately but it is easy access in case I need it. We got some shelves for the closet which helped a lot.

I am embarrassed proud to say that most of that is Christmas decor. It may look messy, but it is way better than it was, it is nice to have shelves that house multiple tubs and it is pretty organized in real life.

So there we have it, a lot of progress over the last year in the rooms that were basically "catch alls" that housed a lot of junk we never used and had icky carpet. Oh, that's right! We got new carpet in both rooms. We were pretty sure the carpet in those rooms had been there for about 20 years. The age of the house. It was so nice to get new carpet in those rooms. 

Very happy with our results in both of these rooms.

What has taken you almost a year to update? What room updates do you have going on lately? Do you fall in love with a paint color and want to paint everything that color?

One Month

My Dear, Sweet Ellie Bear,

You turned one month old on New Year's Day. I cannot believe it has already been a month. I am sure I will say that every month but really, this one has gone by quickly.

 This month was all about learning. For all of us. You and I have had to learn all about each other. I have started to learn your different cries. I have learned that just because you are snorting, grunting, breathing, squeaking and squawking at night does not mean you are waking up and I need to sleep through it. We have learned about breastfeeding. We are not all the way there yet but we have made some great strides. Dad is great at changing diapers, giving us support when we are feeding and awesome at knowing just when I may be giving up at putting you to sleep.

You seriously are an easy baby. I am a little scared to type that for fear of jinxing us, but it's nice to be able to remember that for the first month you were very easy. You go to sleep at night pretty easily. You eat during the day every 2-3 hours and at night for the past couple of weeks you have been going about every 4-5 hours. I think for a four and a half week old baby that is pretty good. Dad and I are learning to adjust to our "new way" of sleeping. Even though we are getting quite a bit of sleep, it is still broken and not as sound but that's okay. We are adjusting.

We gave you a bottle of breast milk for the first time this past week and at first you gulped it down too fast and it came back up. You then got about an once down and kept it down. We tried again another day and you took three ounces like a champ and Mom and Dad learned that we need to pace you because you won't pace yourself just yet.

You are a little long for some of your newborn outfits. I am still fitting you into your newborn size white, long sleeve onesies but it is getting to be a stretch. At exactly 4 weeks old you weighed in at 8 lbs. 7 oz. Today, we went to the pediatrician for your one month check up and you weighed 8 lbs. 15oz. and were 21 inches long. The doctor said you are perfectly proportioned. Well, obviously I already knew that. ;)

You are such a sweet girl and love snuggling with Mom and Dad and sleeping on our chest with your face in the crook of our neck has got to be your favorite. You are sleeping in between us in bed and you definitely favor being snuggled up against one of us.

Mom was an idiot about two weeks into this whole thing and accidentally bought size 1 diapers instead of newborn so you have been fitting in size ones for about a week and a half now. They are a little big but not too big.

We have started doing more tummy time which you like for a few minutes and show us your strong neck muscles. You have started tracking our faces when we move back and forth in front of your face. You like to be in your swing for about an hour's worth of a nap. We took you out for a walk this week and you loved your stroller so much you fell asleep. You like the car. You have had 2 baths and loved both of them. during the second one, you loved dangling your foot over the edge of the bath sling and wiggling your toes in the water. You like a lot of stuff actually!

We love you so much, Eleanor Grace, and have loved this new adventure. You grow and change everyday and although it makes us a little sad to see how quickly the time goes, we are always eager for the next day.

Xoxo,
Momma

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I have not linked up for the Wednesday fun in awhile so I thought I would join in on this dreary, rainy, Washington day.

I love that it's a four day work week for Hubs. Only two more days until the weekend!

I love that my high school alma mater is going to be on MTV's True Life  tonight with a profile on the wrestling program. My best friend's dad has been the coach forever and he is a great coach and they have a great program so it will be really fun to watch. 

I love this sweater I got for Christmas from my parents. I haven't left the house much lately but when I have, I wear it!

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I love these jackets I came across on the Nordstrom site. I used to have a slight obsession with coats. Maybe I still do I just don't indulge anymore.

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And I have always loved this style of coat.

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I love that we have started planning our group vacation for this September. Such a fun group we go with and this year will be a little different since we have added three babies among the group. I assume we will have a walker and maybe even a couple of crawlers!

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And of course I love this girl.

Head on over and link up!

It's Almost Time...

...To begin our cloth diapering adventure. The Bum Genius diapers we have start around eight pounds and we tried one on the little Miss the other day and body wise they fit okay but her lil' legs still need to fill out a bit. I am actually getting really excited to start using them. We have gotten the diaper routine down, she isn't poo-ing every time she eats, I don't feel completely overwhelmed by washing diapers every day to start, I am tired of our overflowing garbage and let's face it, the cloths are much cuter.

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I have poured over blogs over the past few months, well, basically my whole pregnancy knowing this is the route we wanted to take, and I think I am ready to start. By the time we start, we will have eleven diapers and eventually I hope to get more but I think this will be okay to start. Obviously I'm sure it will take some time to get used to since disposables are pretty easy and quick.

We made the decision to cloth diaper based on cost and to be honest, I like the idea of not producing as much garbage. We are not just going to have one child either so we will have the diapers for future offspring. That also came into play in the decision-making. I will be the primary care-taker for the baby so we don't have to worry about a day-care opposing the idea or anything like that. I hope to get comfortable enough to use them all the time but I'm sure there will be times, maybe when we are on a outing in the beginning or if we travel somewhere that we are unsure of the ability to wash, that we don't.

I think we will definitely be making the transition within the month so we will see how it goes and I will keep updated on our adventure. I think it's good that I'm going into this with the mentality that it's an adventure, right?!

On another note, yes, I realize that the majority of my posts since December 1st have been baby/child related. That is the main topic of my life right now, however I assume that will simmer down a little and I will get back to recipes, crafts, etc. The blog world is so nice with topics that are baby-related, though, because there are so many moms out there. So, with that said, if you have headed down the cloth diaper route, what advice do you have? What is your routine/supply/diaper preference? Are there any special secrets that I need to know?!

Lately...

Everyday I think of topics to blog but then I never do. Either I run out of time in the day, I can't quite get a whole, cohesive post together or I just don't pick up the computer when I do have a moment and then that moment is gone. So, here is a throw together post of my thoughts and what's going on lately.

I am always happy to welcome a new year but then I do get a little sad taking down Christmas decorations and feel like our house is a little bit bare again.

Tomorrow marks Ben's start back to work after a very flexible work schedule in December. We realized that he only actually went to work 6 days in December, worked from home some days, took a few vacation days and used one week of paternity leave (he saved another week to use in March). It was awesome.

It will be interesting to adjust to taking care of the baby without Hub's help but I am definitely quite a bit more confident that I was after the first week when he went back to work for a few days.

With parenthood and a new baby, we have realized that it is kind of a few steps forward and a step back. We may have a few great nights of sleeping and eating schedule and then a not so great night. I may have a few days when I feel like, "Wow, I'm really getting this whole 'Mom' thing down," and then a day where I get frustrated and feel like I will never get it. (Not to a severe extent, you know, we all just have 'those type of days.')

I've realized that it may take 5 times microwaving and until about noon to drink a cup of coffee. But I am happy to be drinking a little bit of caffeine again.

Days. Fly. By.

We don't have too much on the docket for the next couple of months due to Hub's busy season of work so it will just be the little lady and I during the weeks and then happy to have Dad home on the weekends. We will look very forward to his week off in March.

We have taken a couple of outings. We have been in a couple of stores. On New Year's Eve, we went into the city and visited a few friends. Baby E did great, we had to feed and change the diaper in the car but it worked out. Here we are at our "rockin'" NYE party:

I am thankful that I have some dinners still stored in the freezer for days when I just may not get it together in time to fix dinner. I am sure there will be 'those days.'

I have realized that I have a really hard time focusing on TV. Maybe it is just because it has been on a lot over the past month just for background noise or out of habit but I just don't pay attention. Maybe this will make it easier to finally cancel the cable.

Breastfeeding makes me endlessly thirsty. And pretty hungry, too.

The time has come to crack down on our budget and it stresses me out a little. But it will be okay.

Sorry for the randomness of this post but seriously, my brain is all over the place lately. Hopefully I will gain some focus and write some real posts soon!