My where the years have gone...

Its been a while since I updated.. A really.long.while. Like, I've had a whole other baby long while...

Brycen Maddox Kastner was born on 8/8 at 12:44 a.m. I feel like it was just yesterday, but my sweet boy is already almost 3 months old!!!!!! He smiles, he laughs, he rolls over from tummy to back.. He's all full of tricks! He is still very much like a newborn though, still very wobbly holding his head up, still sleeps alllllll the time, not very much eye contact.. He was 5 weeks early, so i'm sure that plays a part in it :)

Bryleigh and Brooklynn have spent their days trying to discover what else they can get into :) They have turned into quite the little team. When they arent fighting, they are very quietly working together to deviate a plan that will cause mommy the biggest heart attack. I really think that they put a lot of thought into their plans. Like stacking boxes on top of each other so that they can reach the top of the kitchen counter, to get the cookie jar, regardless of how the cookie jar comes down, and cracks, they will get the cookies, together. Eh, at least they are learning teamwork right?
Brooklynn is talking a lot now. Pretty good sentences. I cant believe she will be 2 in December! The time really does fly by.
Bryleigh never stops talking. She talks like shes 15. ME- "Bryleigh its time to take a nap" her -"Umm, no thanks"....ho hum...

Our lives are about to change drastically. We are only a few months away from moving back to Virginia. Hubby took orders to the Eisenhower, which is in Norfolk. I am thrilled. I am sad for deployments, but other than that, i am THRILLED. I cant wait to buy our new house in January. I cant wait to see the last box go into the moving truck. I cant wait to get in that car and honk the horn when we are cross the state line and smile because I know that I dont have to return to Missouri in a week, or a year. or um, ever? maybe.

I am excited for these new things to come..

Well, its time to go, Today we are going to build a pink space ship out of LEGOS! The joys of being a mommy :)

Move over Duggars!

Well, here I am... pregnant again.

I hear a lot from people about how we are crazy, or how we will have our hands full, or even one person said we were "ambitious".... Call it as you may- but we call it blessed. We are thrilled, and are so thankful about the fact that in 7 months we will have another precious, beautiful little baby in our home.

Ever since I was a little girl I dreamed of a big family. No we dont want 10 kids, but 3 or 4 kids- that sounds like a lot of fun :) What I think is crazy, is waiting until my kids are in school before having another one. I LOVE them close together, it works for us. I LOVE the fact that I am still finishing my degrees, and that I will get to stay home with new baby for its first year of life. I LOVE the fact that Wes wont have to go on deployments for its first year of life. Quite frankly, the timing for our family couldnt have been much better.

Another reaction that I get a lot is "I HOPE ITS A BOY"... For those of you who have all the same gender children, you probably also heard this a lot. I'll be honest, I will probably smile at you when i hear that reaction, or say thanks, or something else, but what i'm thinking is this---

there is a baby in my tummy. God has already decided if that baby is a boy or a girl... I want THAT baby. Its gender is one of the least important things to me. I dont know, i guess when you are a mother you understand... I love that I was able to give Bryleigh something I always wanted, a sister. And you better believe if i am able to give both of my girls TWO best friends- how lucky will they be to have that?! So three girls, or two girls and a boy- whichever...

I dont know.... i guess to me when someone says they hope its a boy- I always think about people saying they hoped brooklynn was a boy. So the baby I had, is that not the one people hoped for? Because Brooklynn has been the sweetest, easiest, most adorable little girl I have ever known. So anyways, whichever gender I get will be the gender I want... because thats the baby I love :)

Long weekend..

I really enjoyed the last 3 days. Wes was actually home with us for 3 DAYS STRAIGHT!!! Crazy.. We are used to only getting 1 day a week with him, so that was a nice treat! We tried to use all the time we could just laughing and playing and having fun with our babies. We went "simming in de poo" as bryleigh calls it... She is such a water baby. The YMCA that is about 30 minutes away from us has this extremely nice indoor waterpark with a lazy river, slide, little beach for toddlers and everything! so much fun! Bryleigh loves that she can play in the beach part and not have to be held or in a float. She loves "splash splashing" and then swimming around the lazy river while i hold her hands and she kicks her feet as hard as she can.

Saturday night we went to a harvest party at some of wes' old friends that he grew up with house. There was a lot of food and a hay ride. Bryleigh loved the hay ride, Brooklynn however, didn't.... She cried, and cried, and cried... And just when i thought it was coming to an end, they said they were going to go for 20 more minutes. I thought I was going to cry. I do not like when my babies cry. Especially Brooklynn... Not because I love her any more than Bryleigh, she is just my easy baby... She does not cry...ever... Which is why I think we have such a hard time when she is upset. She is such an easy baby, that we never have to really soothe her from being so upset... Of course we give her snuggles and rock her and cuddle her every chance we get, but its rarely to try to calm her down... So when she is upset, shes really upset.. and she wants nothing lol. She just wants to cry. which like i said, is rare... like once a year.. lol

Then last night was of course, halloween... I didnt let wes see it, but i definitely shed a few tears when Bryleigh went up to her first house, knocked, and so proudly stuck her pumpkin bucket out for some candy... It was one of those bittersweet moments and I was such a proud mommy of my adorable little monkey. But it never failed that at every house we went to when i told the candy giver thankyou, Bryleigh loudly yelled "YOUR WELCOME!"

And there was the few times that when Bryleigh got to the persons door she was trying to give some of her candy to them... and she got very upset when the person at the door would not take her candy from her.... oh my child.. my sweet sweet girl.

I dont feel like putting up pictures, but I have some really cute ones to put up... Those can wait til tomorrow... I'm going night night!

super mom

I like to think or should i say.. pretend... sometimes that I'm supermom.. that i can get it all done. I try to tell myself so that maybe if i tell myself enough ill convince myself and become, indeed, supermom...

I wish I was the mom whose house stayed spotless, laundry stayed done AND folded AND put away, dinner was always ready at dinner time with the dishes already in the dishwasher, special learning activities already planned for the next day, happy kids all the time...... but im not...

i'm the car has old cookies on the floor board, crums in my purse from who knows what's snack from who knows when, try to plan activities but they often fail, my kids wear pajamas all the time because we go no where, kind of mom...

I am having one of those nights tonight where I want to be home.. in virginia. Virginia would make things so much better. Not virginia as the place, but virginia as the people. I have such a wonderful support system in virginia. So many people there ready and willing to help me, so many people that see my struggles and would be there in a second to lend a helping hand, or a quick pick me up... my troops..

I have these kind of nights when i start to feel overwhelmed. When the laundry gets too high, the kitchen is a mess from dinner, the toys are scattered everywhere, homework is so piled up that i dont even know where to begin... i get so overwhelmed that i shutdown...

Wes works so much that every chance i get i use it to just be lazy.. I steal minutes here and there that i should put towards doing a little of this thats productive and a little of that... and instead i use it to just lay in the silence..

I count down the months until its time to go back... once we hit the 1 year left point i will start counting down the days.

I cant wait til i can take my kids to my aunt Julies for a playdate with Isaac,

or to go to my cousin stacy's house and just have a nice long talk with her about the latest gymboree line while our kids play who knows what..

. I cant wait to have a night where I am sad, and call cecily to get in the car with me and go out for a drive to the beach at 2 a.m. ,

Or to be able to call Amy just to go get our nails done, or do dinner just because...

I cant wait to have my mom so excitedly and willingly beg us to let her have the girls for the weekend

I cant wait to be able to go drop by my aunt barbaras unexpected just because, and always know that I am welcome there..

I cant wait to snuggle and kiss my new niece that I havent got to meet yet..

I cant wait to sit on the beach with my husband late at night just looking at the stars and talking about all our goals and dreams..

I cant wait for my girls to start little league the same place that I played at for 13 years...

I cant wait to eat at Kyotos.. oh how i long for some kyotos..

I cant wait to go to the place where there is so much love.. so many people that love my babies.. so many people...

I know life will get hard there too. I know that once we get back to virginia means deployments for wes... But the deployments dont worry me, because I know everything will be okay. I know that I have so much family there that will be there for me through those deployments.. Family that will be so excited when we get home. Thats a good feeling.


Supermom doesnt get overwhelmed.. super mom never needs people.. supermom wants to be around her darling kids 24/7 and always has a smile on her face when she does it..


Sorry for my big long rant.. Having no one to talk to out here is kinda a tough thing.. I guess I feel like my blog is my therapy session, my chance to talk to somebody, anybody.. even if the blog doesnt respond.

terrible twos..

Lifes not always rainbows and butterflies... Sometimes its temper tantrums, half eaten cookies in the couch cushions, laundry pilled up to the ceiling, down right madness..

The toddler tantrums have really been getting to me lately. Bryleigh is such a strong willed child.. She always has been... seriously.. since birth.. (see picture --> )

Bryleigh takes a "my way or the highway" approach at life... She thinks she rules this house, and there is nobody that can tell her different.

I blame myself. I try and try to be consistent with her. I. try. so. hard. She thinks that everything is hers. If I have a drink, she tries to snatch it while yelling "ITS MINE!" or "NO NO MOMMA ITS MINE".... Then I put my drink back on the table out of her reach, and tell her that is not nice, and she does her very angry whiney voice until she finds something else to get into...

I feel like lately I cant do anything with her that is fun because she just gets mad... I feel like if i plan an activity, where its just her and I doing something special, the majority of the time I am getting on her about her attitude...

I know this is part of having a toddler.. I know that this is going to be the hardest toddler I probably will ever deal with.. I know that my sweet sweet Brooklynn does not have this same attitude so that gives me some hope that I wont have to go through this twice.. I know that Bryleigh is extremely intelligent, and I think that plays a part in her extreme desire for control... (I see her and Brooklynn being very much like pinky and the brain one day)...












I know that everything will work out.. And I know that I love Bryleigh so much for who she is, strong willed, independent, free spirited and all...


Even though my toddler throws tantrums.... I often find cookies in the couch cushions, and sometimes laundry gets piled up very high.... sometimes, life is rainbows and butterflies...



(Bryleigh picked out this outfit) and decided the skirt looked really nice over her head...

Today my girl..

I had a paper to write today so the girls spent a few hours at Aunt Cheyannes... As nice as it is to have someone to call on when I need the time to do something, there never seems to be enough time to get it all done.. But I am learning slowly that being a mom isnt about getting EVERYTHING done on time. Being a mom means sometimes putting work aside and sometimes missing deadlines, to make sure that your kids get your undivided attention. Just because I am trying to finish school, I dont want their few years of me being at home to be remembered as late nights writing papers, or stressing about the laundry.. I want it to be remembered for all the good times we had, the things we did together, the time we spent....




When the girls got home, Brooklynn was ready for a nap so that gave mommy and Bryleigh some time together. I think she enjoys this special time. She acts like she doesnt like to have her picture taken, but I think deep down she loves the extra attention.




This is her "sweet, I just got busted" face... She is not supposed to be in this cabinet. She knows that this cabinet holds the machines that change the channel to the TV, so if something is on other than Elmo or Caillou, she immediately goes for it..


Bryleigh is starting to really like her puzzles. I love to hear her say all their names... Zebra, Buppo (Hippo lol), giraffe, Bors (bears).... I am trying to teach her to be patient and take her time when she tries to force them into the holes... Thats easier said than done with a 1 year old!



And finally.... I just thought these were cute...

I want...

I have been doing a lot of reading lately.. crafts, cooking, baking, loving...

I am inspired.

I want to be the kind of mom that goes the extra mile to do the fun things with her kids. To build those memories for them, to teach them, to love them with every thing I have.

I want to constantly improve my bond with my girls. I want them to have fun, to really enjoy their childhood. I want to give them not only memories in their minds, but memories through photography, and my writings..

I want them to be close. Sisters who are best friends. I dream of them having conversations one day with each other complaining about their husbands, or sharing recipes. Calling each other at 3am for advice about something that really doesnt matter. Being there holding the others hand when they are having their first child. Standing next to them at the Alter holding their bouquet while they marry their prince charming...

Thank you God for giving me TWO daughters. Thank you for that amazing gift that you have given each of them, a sister. Thank you for teaching me to love with everything that I have, so that they may also learn how to love. Thank you for the opportunity to raise such sweet, perfect, beautiful little girls.

Weekly Meal Planning.. It begins again..

Monday: Healthy Chicken pot pies.. I found this recipe for single chicken pot pies, so i think it will be a good excuse to use my little dipper bakeware for rachael ray. these pot pies are approx 500 calories a piece, which is great for a full dinner meal.

Tuesday: Hamburger buddy.. I found this recipe on one of the recipes i get ideas for kids recipes on.. I want to recommend this to those of you with picky toddlers, my toddler loves it, and it is full of veggies, and only 326 calories per serving! not to mention, wes and I love it. I dont food process the veggies, i just chop them nice and small.

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/hamburger_buddy.html

Wednesday: white chicken enchiladas... big time family favorite.. 628 calories per serving.. not bad, a little higher than we aim for, but ya gotta cheat once in a while :)

Thursday: Chicken on the grill, brown rice, broccoli

Friday: Hamburgers on the grill. I have been craving hamburgers since I had my surgery... I hope by Friday I am well enough to bite into a nice juicy big grilled hamburger!!!

Saturday: Potato/sausage skillet meal. This one is yummy and includes spinach. We dont like spinach much, but in this meal you dont even know its there. 530 calories per serving.

Sunday: Chili

As you can see, most of the meals planned are soft.. lol. Thats all I can eat. Hopefully by next weekend I'll be good as new!

Back to the drawing board.. part 2

Another positive thing that has come from my surgery is weight loss. Not my most recommended way of losing weight, but hey, whatever works i guess... I was at 167 before I had my surgery, I am now at 158. I was 153 lbs before I got pregnant with bryleigh, and have always been about 147 my whole life... I gained a few lbs before i got pregnant with bryleigh lol.

I am now more motivated than ever to lose that last 5 lbs. I can see the finish line, and oh man i want it so bad.

Here are my strategies:

Since the surgery, I have been weaned off of soda. All i drink is water, and the occasional gatorade, and 1 warm tea a night to help my throat. The tea is not caffeinated. So i plan to stick to these drinks. I like water now.. wierd. I figure in this way I will be saving at least several hundred calories per day.

We found a perfectly working exercise bike on the side of the road that someone was giving away. It has the time/calories burned/ etc. program on it too! I plan to start riding it 20 minutes when i wake up, during naptime, and before i go to bed. That will be an hour per day, which calculates to about 400/calories burned.

Lastly, I plan to start working on our meal choices better. I cook everynight, but sometimes what we have isnt as healthy as it could be. So back to the drawing board. Back to meal planning, and only buying the healthy stuff at the grocery store.

Well, wish me luck!

Back to the drawing board..

I had my tonsils and adenoids taken out on 10/7.... I am on day 11 and still in remarkable pain at times, and other times im okay. There is a spot behind my tongue that doesnt seem to be healing. Everytime i talk or swallow, the sore comes open again, shoots pain through my ears, and i have to hold my face/ears for at least 10 minutes curled up, trying hard not to scream in agony.

Anyways, thats the negative part..

The positive part- I have beeen able to rest, and sleep, a lot.

As most of you know, I had a really hard time with my mom the first year we were here. She has a pretty bad personality disorder, and the doctors were not able to find a good balance of meds to have her on. It was making her life really hard, and in turn, she was living at my house. So i had to take care of my babies and her. Anyways, it was rough.

Well, since she moved back the last time, back to virginia, she has landed a great job, gotten her own house, bought a car, and found the right doctors. Her meds are excellent, and she is doing so great. I cry to think how proud of her I am.

She flew down here the day before my surgery to help me the week after. She was such a huge help. Cooking, cleaning, taking care of the girls. Never complaining or upset that i wasnt able to spend much time with her, although i felt terrible that i couldnt see her as much as i wanted. I cried when i said goodbye to her. I didnt want her to see me cry, i just knew that I had my happy, healthy mom back, and it felt really good.

I am so thankful for all that she did while she was here. I could not have got through that week without her. I pray that these meds continue to work, and she continues to stay happy.

ch chhh chhh changes

Big changes are coming my way. BIG changes....

My cuddler, my sweetheart, my easy easy easy child, my BABY is now crawling. My baby. It still melts my heart everytime to see her going, because shes like a new baby learning how to walk with her crawling, she falls over, and splats face first into the floor, and tries so hard, and everytime she finally gets where she wanted to she looks at me with the biggest grin to make sure I was watching. Oh I love that kid. So now that shes crawling, she has also mastered getting herself into the sit up position. And since shes been able to pull up on things for a little while now, now that she can do the two things that were supposed to come BEFORE pulling up, she can actually put it to use. Every morning when i go to get her up she is standing in her crib smiling just waiting for me. Brooklynn says momma, dada, and byebye. I think she is trying to say quack too because shes always gotten really excited to hear a duck quack on a cartoon, or if we say quack to her she laughs so hard. So recently when she hears quack she says cack a few times.

As much as i wanted her to start crawling, a part of it saddens me. When Bryleigh started crawling, it was all over... Her baby-ness was over. She was crawling, and soon after was walking, and now shes almost 2 going on 20. Brooklynn is mommas little baby... I just cant believe she is getting so big so fast. I feel like I just had her. Soon she will figure out that with her newfound ability to crawl she can get into everything... soon after that she will be walking, and talking...

Todays Funny Story:

The other day brooklynn was sitting by the kitchen watching me cook. Bryleigh had on footy pajamas that were slippery on the kitchen floor. She ran through the living room and into the kitchen and wiped out. She fell down so hard just right on her butt. While Bryleigh found this to be a terrible traumatic experience, Brooklynn thought it was HILARIOUS. Brooklynn laughed SO hard, like ive never heard her laugh before. I was trying so hard to console Bryleigh but couldnt help but laugh a little at Brooklynns amazing "little sister" ability.

Today... a typical Friday?

Not even close.......


Tonight was about as close to an adventure as we ever have in our household... Once you get passed all the chasing, changing, feeding, playing, crying and laughter that goes on with having two small kids in the house, life around here is pretty boring... I like boring.. Boring is routine and predictable, boring is always safe..

Today was different from the very beginning, wes was off work...

Once a year Independence Missouri has this huge fair called Santi Caligon.. It is a celebration of Independence Missouri being the starting point of the Oregon Trails. Its this huge even with TONS of venders that sell the crafts/clothes/food they make, concerts, a carnival, and TONS of yummy food. It is jam packed, and a ton of fun. I love the feel of the small town life that it brings about. Everyone is happy and acts like they all know each other there. People travel a long way to come to this thing, and it is by far one of the coolest events ive ever been to.. It goes on for 4 days.

It opened at noon today, so we made sure to get there right at noon to walk the tents and have a good time at santa cali gon. I bought a casserole in a bag for chicken almond casserole, and a steak/chicken rub that tasted pretty delish. They had a lot of cute baby things, but I am too cheap for the stuff they were selling at such high prices.

We got home at 2 in time for my nieces to get here. I have been having a lot of trouble with the youngest niece Nova who is almost 7 months old. She has been exclusively breastfed since birth and is now getting switched to bottle fed which she is not liking very much. She was pretty much refusing to eat at all the past few times I have had her, so she screams forever. She is a very loud screamer also.. So if I have got 3 out of the 4 babies to sleep, and she starts to scream, the whole house wakes up. This happens everytime she is here and it makes me cry. Well today she did really well. She only screamed for about 30 minutes instead of 2 hours, and took a really good nap. She even drank a little of her bottle.

After the girls left is when our adventure began. I cooked dinner, and then asked wes if he wanted to go to the local bowling alley because they were having 99 cent games. We went and bowled 2 games and it only cost us 4 dollars to bowl. I thought we were having such a great family outting. Bryleigh did great at the bowling alley, she walked back and forth with us while we bowled yellling HOORAY, YAHOO, or OH NO if we missed.

We got to the car to leave with our two babies, and found out that wes had locked the keys in the car. We called OnStar and they couldnt help us because we never activated it. This was rough. We had our two babies, and we were stuck at this ghetto place at nighttime with no car. ArGH!
A while later we were rescued by Wes' brother and we came to the house to get our extra key.

This is why i like routine.... Crazy stuff always happens when we try to take the girls out. Next time I will know to just stay home and play parcheesi.

I think its that time..

Its been a while since my last post... I have a few minutes now to myself for a change, and figure i would update my blog.

THis has been such a busy summer... May 31st was our anniversary and Wes and I took a 4 day trip to Los Angeles to celebrate. We try to do that once a year where just him and I get away for a few days alone... We love our kids, and the minute we are away from them we miss them like crazy and they are all we talk about, but I think the time alone for the two of us is important too.

In June we went to Florida so that my dad and Florida family could meet Brooklynn, and see us and bryleigh as well. It went okay. I really enjoyed seeing my step sister Kayla. I hope one day we can see each other more.

In July I went to Virginia with Brooklynn for a week. I loved this trip. I missed bryleigh SOOOO bad it was rough, but great to see friends and family at home.

In August Bryleigh and I went to Delaware to see the girls from olive branch play in the little league world series!!! I was SO proud of those girls. What an accomplishment!

Next week the four of us finally all get to take a trip together. We are going to Branson Missouri for 4 days just to relax and spend time together as a family. I look forward to the pool time, and taking Bryleigh to the aquarium so she can see the "shishies" thats what she calls fish.

It has been a busy, eventful summer. I have had a lot of fun, but look forward to the weather cooling off and routine coming back our way. My girls have really gotten older and smarter this summer.

Bryleigh has so many words added to her vocabulary each day. She pee pees on the potty every now and then. Not consistently, but i think she is getting it. She is still young so i am not forcing anything, just let her decide when she wants to. I ask her every couple hours if she has to use the potty.. Sometimes she says yes, sometimes she ignores me. She is sweet and has become a lot more loving towards Brooklynn. When brooke cries bryleigh tries to give her cuddles and kisses to make it all better.

Brooklynn has really been starting to do things lately. In the last couple of weeks she has started to get up on all fours, pulls up on her crib bars and stands, gets herself to a sitting up position, and rolls allllllll over the place.. she rolls wherever she wants to go. and she is quick too. She now says momma and dada, and is still as sweet as she can be.

Wes is still working crazy long hours, and even working all day today which is a saturday. blah. I cant wait til we can be on a ship again..

Well, thats all I got... Hope everyone has enjoyed their summer!

Throw it in

Today I had ground beef thawed out. I had been thinking off and on all day about what i wanted to do with it. By dinnertime i still hadnt decided, so i decided to just throw things together, and hope foro the best. I went to the garden and picked 5 carrots, and a medium sized onion.. cut some oregeno leaves, and some parsley.... decided id just go with it. This particular recipe i was able to keep trying it until it tasted just right.. and boy did it turn out delicious.. It took about 35 minutes, but that was only because i was trying to feed two babies, cook, and all the other fun stuff that comes up while youre trying to do something with 2 kids!

Its another one skillet meal i have named: Throw it in the pan!

Ingredients:

3 large carrots sliced pretty thin, (I had about 5 smaller ones from the garden because our garden carrots havent gotten THAT big due to be planted so close together)
1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion
2 cups of instant white rice
2 beef bullion cubes, or 2 cups of beef broth
2 cups of water if using bullion cubes
good sprinkle of oregeno
good sprinkle of parsley
salt

1) put ground beef, carrots and onions into skillet until hamburger is brown. Drain pretty good to get the excess grease off. Return to skillet

2) add rice, oregano, parsley, 2 beef bullion cubes, and two cups of water to skillet, stir VERY good often

3) you might need to add a little more water if all the water gets absorbed before the rice gets good and done

4) once all rice is done, sprinkle with salt to taste, and stir really good.. and walla..


We are really big rice eaters, so everyone in this house loved this meal. Bryleigh especially. I can always judge a meal on if bryleigh sits in her highchair saying NUM NUM NUM after every bite. She even ate the onions lol

Ashleighs Recipes

I have set a goal for myself for the next week. Every night of the week, *other than Tuesday because i have a 4 hour class* I am going to create and prepare a new recipe that I have never made before.

I am going to create these recipes myself, and i expect there to be nights where we decide that i should add something to them, take something out etc. I try to come up with quick, easy recipes with normal items most people have at home. I also try to make everything that a toddler would eat too that way i dont have to cook twice for us, and bryleigh. I am going to type these recipes in here, and for those of you that follow this, if you decide to try it, let me know what you think...

I started this new goal this afternoon while the babies were sleeping. This is a one skillet meal called...............

Cheesy Chicken and Potato goodness

Ingredients:

Two golden potatos, scalloped. (sliced VERY thin)
2 chicken breasts, sliced into approx 8 pieces per chicken or so
a cup of green beans- I like the french style canned green beans, but im sure any would do.
2 slices of bacon cooked and cut up into very small pieces
3 tablespoons or so of oil
salt and pepper
sage
2 1/2 cups of water
1/2 cup of milk
1 cup of cheese of your choice. I used cheddar and jack.
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

sprinkle sage, salt and pepper onto chicken
1) heat oil in a large skillet and cook the chicken until its done.
2) Add milk, water, and sliced potatoes to skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for about 7 minutes.
3) Add cheese and garlic powder, stir very well.
4) let cook on low until cheese is nice and melted in the mixture, and potatoes are tender.
5) Add cooked bacon, green beans or corn or vegetable of your choice and mix well. Let cook another 3 minutes.

SERVE.

It might sound kind of odd to some, but it was actually delicious. Wes loved it, Bryleigh loved it, and I loved it. What i would do differently is add corn and green beans, and some onions.. probably green onions. I would definitely cook this again. From start to finish it was about 30 minutes.

The Brookie Monster

My beautiful, sweet, cuddly baby girl turned 6 months old yesterday. She still has one of the most calm, easy going temperments I have ever seen in a baby. She is learning something new everyday it seems. She has really mastered the art of picking things up with more her thumb and pointer finger, and passes an object from hand to hand really well. She sits up with no support at all for several minutes before toppling over, (Poor girl has a big head, it weighs her down lol). She loves to look at people and socialize. Everyone is funny according to Brooklynn. She smiles at any stranger she sees.

There are several things that Brooklynn is not doing that Bryleigh could do at much earlier stages. I find myself thinking about this more than I should. Not so much worrying, just unfortunately comparing. All babies are different. I know. But sometimes, when it comes to YOUR baby, you worry. You forget to relax, be patient, and trust. Brooklynn will NOT do tummy time. I do tummy time everyday since she was born, and everyday she screams. It is the only thing that really upsets her. Now that she has mastered rolling over, when i put her on tummy time she immediately, and i mean immediately rolls to her back. I have learned new techniques to keep her on tummy time. Such as rolling her on a big ball, etc... At this age Bryleigh was able to get on all fours, or crawl position. Brooklynn could care less about crawling. Oh well, all in her own time! There are so many things that she does that bryleigh did not do however. Brooklynn goes to sleep foro naps without screaming for an hour. She sleeps great, cuddles, smiles and laughs everyday. She has been exceptionally easy, and I would not trade her for the world!!!!!! I would take the ease of Brooklynn over those simple milestones early any day! I wouldnt trade Bryleigh in for anything either obviously lol. I guess I have the best of both worlds! I have decided that brooklynn is just lazy and content, and will move when she decides shes bored enough. She does reach foro everything, and if she cant get it, she rolls to it. So maybe she will just be a roller.

We are starting solids officially tomorrow. The same day we will be starting "potty training with bob 101" for mommy. This is going to be interesting for me and bryleigh. I've never potty trained so much as a puppy much less a child. This could probably make for good entertainment.

Well all my rambling you could probably tell I havent had much sleep. So goodnight

Bryleigh the singer lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfUMmMZnHuI

how fast it goes

Recently i discovered something else.. My daughter speaks english now. Crazy to think about how much better she is communicating. I am so proud of my little girl. She surprises me everyday with how much she understands and everything she has stored in her little brain. I wish i could learn that fast. She is 17 months, and she can already tell me what a monkey, dog, cat, duck, cow, bird and horse says. She knows where her eyes, ears, mouth, nose, toes, tummy and bellybutton is. She knows the difference between cats, dogs, monkeys, bunnies and several other animals. She can count to 3, and will repeat me up to 10. She can hum the whole tune of elmos world, and a lot of the sesame street theme song. She knows that she is supposed to pee pee in the potty, but i dont think shes quite got the bladder control for it. She can say 3 word phrases (example: thats not nice), along with understand a lot more than i think she does. Today daddy said come give me hugs, and she came and gave him hugs with her arms wide open and a big grin on her face. She tries to put diapers on all her stuffed animals lol.

Anyways, Im so proud of her. I hope that in life she never settles for less than brilliance. Because i will always see her as brilliant.

Where is home?

I had a realization the other day. It was a random moment, an Ah Ha! moment... Wes, me, and the girls drove to walmart, and on the way home he started talking about something that he used to do on Noland road... and he kept talking, but i was away in never never land thinking... Thinking about how just last year i wouldnt have known what or where noland road was.. or who he was talking about..

I used to joke with people at the casino where i worked that the only place i knew how to get to was the Walmart... which was true for the longest time.. I didnt go anywhere.. I hated everything out here except my husband and daughter. (pre brooklynn time).. But now i feel like i can get most anywhere... I'm more comfortable.

I thought about how I didnt go to bed sad anymore from hating it here so much. There was a situation going on out here for a long time that kept me extremely sad. It made me insecure towards everyone because i didnt know who all was buying into all the crap going on, and who wasnt. Now that that is gone, everything has been steadily getting better.

I realized that night that this is home now. I'm much more comfortable here. I have learned who I can trust, and who to distance myself and my family from. I have learned where the drama comes from, and i stay away from it. I have developed a great friendship out here, and that makes it a million times better. My relationship with my mother in law is great, and i wish it could have been that way the whole time. It was hard to see who is who when you have shut everyone out altogether because of everything that was happening.

Life out here has become very easy, and nice.

Home will always be wherever my husband and my babies are. Theres no where else id rather be at the end of the day than in bed with my husband, or with my girls. That can be here, Virginia, or Kenya. I dont care...

On that note.. goodnight

Lately I have been having a struggle with Bryleigh. Ever since we got back from our trip, she has been acting different. She has been fussy, angry, and aggressive. This is not the baby girl that i left before our trip to california. We have done a great job getting back on schedule, but when she is awake she is acting like a terror. I wish she could put into words whatever it is that is bothering her. I hate feeling like I constantly have to tell her No-no, or be nice.

This morning she kicked brooklynn twice, hit her twice, and wacked her on the head with a book. I have made it very clear to Bryleigh that this behavior is not okay. She will look me in the eyes, and at the same time very carefully put her foot over brooklynns head, and try to step down. I of course am able to get to her and stop her most of the time before she does this, but none the less, she still tries. None of my tactics were working today so finally i put her in her crib for a little while after one of her incidents so I could feed Brooklynn a bottle. When i got done, i got bryleigh up from her "time out" and she acted perfectly fine, like a little angel. I think the jealousy is really starting towards Brooklynn. She has never had a problem with this until now. I try everyday to make sure i am spending a plenty of one on one time with Bryleigh, but even when I am just focusing my attention to her, she will find brooklynn and try to hit her, or bite her, or kick her. Whether I am staring at her or not, she doesnt care. I am assuming she is testing her bounderies, over and over, and over again. I try to redirect her, but she is always a woman on a mission. She is very determined, and whatever it is she is trying to do, she WILL go do it once she has made it a goal. Ho hum. Bryleigh has been a very strong willed child since birth, and i know this is only the beginning. I tell her how good she is being, and praise her often. I try to make sure I am praising her more than the negative words like "no mam", or "thats not nice". I let her touch brooklynn, and show her how to be gentle. She tells her sister "nigh nigh Dookynn" every night and gives her a kiss. I know she can be a gentle, loving, sweet little girl.