Really, Santa??

We have been talking about taking Eden to see Santa for the past week, and today when we were at the mall, we walked past just to take a peek of what he looked like. Not too bad. Then, we looked at the prices. $22.99 for the CHEAPEST "package." Really?? For a photo with Santa?? Then they have their "personal camera policy" up which I found entertaining. Basically, it says, "We have to really stick it to you in order to 'bring Santa back' every year," so no using your own camera. Needless to say, we're rethinking that trip to see Santa.

Pumpkin Pop Tarts

Yes. Pop Tarts makes a pumpkin pie flavor.....and yes, I tried them. YUM!!! I had 1 as an after dinner dessert. Looks like I know what I'll be having as dessert for the next 15 nights! They only had the big pack which I didn't really want, but now, I'm not so sad that that's all they had!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Need I say more?

Adventures in Food

We started giving Eden food after we got back from our weekend in Maryland, and so far we've had: rice cereal, oatmeal, and apples. Would you believe that she isn't a fan of the apples? I'm not sure if it's the taste or the consistency, but she didn't seem to be a fan. I'm sure she'll get used to it after a few times, but the look on her face...well, you'll see.

Here's our experience with rice cereal. It's yummy, but I think I like oatmeal just a little bit more.




A few days later, Daddy let me lick on this prune. I didn't hate it!



Apples......EEEWWWWW!

We Made It!

My child is amazing. She did so well on the ride here. We only had to stop twice and made the trip in just 8 hours. I'm so incredibly lucky to have such a good baby. She impresses me every day! I don't know if the shots helped because she still isn't quite herself yet or she is just that good. Don't get me wrong, she got a little fussy here and there, but no giant screaming upsetments. Yay! It's 10:30pm and she is sleeping, thankfully. She didn't want to go to bed until almost midnight last night so I was exhausted today. Speaking of, I think I'll take my butt to bed as well.

Prepping and Packing

I swear if we never go anywhere for the next year I'll be happy. I'm packing us up for our journey tomorrow to Maryland for the JFK 50 again. It's not until Saturday, but since we have a baby in tow this year and he has to pick up all his stuff Friday, we are going down tomorrow. I'm a lot nervous since its an almost 7 hour drive and I'm not 100% sure how Eden will do considering she just got shots Tuesday. Time will tell, but my money is on that it will be ok. She has been beyond amazing every time we have traveled, so I'm hoping that is the status quo.

Trying Something New

I decided a few days ago that I was going to try a new recipe out of my Hungry Girl cookbook and make it for dinner one night this week. Well, last night, I did just that. It was called "Southwestern Surprise" and I was surprised that with all the diced tomatoes in it that I actually liked it! It was categorized as a soup, but is pretty thick and hearty (especially the next day!!) that reminded me of chili. It was SUPER easy to make and makes a TON of it. We both had a big bowl of it, I had a mug of it for lunch today, and there is still a big container of it that I stuck in the freezer. And what's better, is that it's not super fattening or high in calories. If you make it according to the recipe and only use 4oz of cooked ground sirloin, it's only 1 gram of fat and 168 calories for 1 cup of it. I browned a pound of ground sirloin and put it all in instead of just 4oz so I know the calories and fat are more than what it should be, but it still can't be super awful.

We also found Pumpkin Spice bagels at Walmart that are made by Thomas...DELISH! I had one for breakfast this morning and it was really good. I didn't put anything on it. Just stuck it in the microwave for 15 seconds and ate it plain. Reminded me of pumpkin bread mixed with bagel. Yum yum yum!!

4 months old

My precious angel is 4 months old today!! I don't know where the time has gone and can't believe how quickly she is growing up. She's so damn cute!!

Badtime Routine

No, that isn't a typo. Our bedtime routine feels like a badtime routine these past few days. We handled the time change great, but it's starting to feel like we lost an hour rather than gaining one. Eden is not going to bed until 11:45pm, and although she usually sleeps until 10am and gets up once usually during that time for a bottle, sometimes more which is a quick fix of a binky...but it's getting exhausting for me. There are nights where I would like to be in bed by 11 or earlier, but with this new thing she is in...no such luck. I know that to fix this I'm either just going to have to get her up earlier in the morning or just stick it out until she gets it figured out and back into her old routine. It doesn't help that she has a cold, so that may be part of the problem...or maybe the time change did screw with her a bit. Who knows. But she's so damn cute, I could never be upset :)

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

There are two things I love....ice cream from Stewarts here, and just about anything pumpkin. Wouldn't you know that while I was in Cincinnati, John discovered that Stewarts came out with pumpkin pie ice cream. Let me just tell you....it's sinful. I swear it tastes just like Frisch's pumpkin pie in ice cream form. Thankfully, it only comes from behind the counter so you can't buy an entire half gallon (and yes, it's a true half gallon, not those tiny wanna be expensive quarts or whatever most places sell these days), but you can get them to make you a hand packed pint. It's SO good! Damn you Stewarts for being so delicious!!

Back on the Horse

After 2 weeks away from the gym, I finally got back on the horse today. It felt so good! I love going to personal training, but it's expensive and because of that...I can't do it for as long as I'd really like to do it.

Thankfully, my trainer said that I could join a group training session which would cut the cost down from what I pay per session to what I'd pay for the two days a week. The only downfall is that it's at 9:30am and I currently go at 11:30 on Monday and 12 on Wednesday. I choose these times because A.) the Y isn't as busy then and B.) my kid sleeps late and I damn sure don't want to get her into an early bird routine. However, if joining a group will allow me to go that much longer...I just might have to suck it up on those two days. I like having something to look forward to and having to actually BE somewhere.

Crisis Averted

Last night, we averted a potential crisis......poop in the tub!

It was nearing bath time and Eden had yet to poop. I was hoping that maybe she was going to wait until after her bath or overnight/in the morning, unfortunately, as we were at the end of bath time, I smelled poop, then looked to see little bubbles coming from her butt and then heard her grunting. Here's how our conversation went as it was happening.

A: "AHHHHHH!!! Poop in the tub! Poop in the tub!! She's gonna to poop in the tub!!"

J: "Well....what do you want me to do?"

A: Get a towel, get a towel!! I don't care if she poops all over the towel, I just don't want her pooping in the tub! Hurry hurry hurry!!!

John threw me a towel and I hurried up to get E out of the tub. As I reached in to get her, I saw a little bit of poop floating and when I got her out, just a little bit on where she lays. Oddly enough, she never really pooped that much afterwards. I thought for sure she'd go in the middle of the night, but thankfully she waited until the afternoon.

Whew!! Crisis averted....for the most part :)

Finding My Way Back

It's been WAY too long since I've posted and I hate myself just a little bit for getting away from it. It's just so hard because I have 5 million other things I want to get done in the short times that Eden naps during the day, and at night...let's face it, I want to go to bed. I figure if I shoot to post at LEAST once a week, it's better than nothing.

We are still mildly recovering from our trip to Cincinnati. We got home on Tuesday afternoon and although we're settled, I still feel a bit out of sorts mentally. We enjoyed our time back home, but it was equally exhausting. Trying to split my time between my mom's house and my sister's house, not having a vehicle, and just packing everything of Eden's for when I made the switch between houses was nuts. It really made me not want to go home for Christmas and do it again, not to mention, add his family to the mix of people we need to spend time with. It won't feel like Christmas if we stay here, but attempting to drive home makes the trip that much longer and will probably make me that much bitchier.

Aside from all that, Eden was a great traveler, and as always, got lots of compliments from everyone on how cute she is and what a good baby on the plane she was. I think the one thing that cracks me up when people say is, "Oh, she's so alert!" Umm....well yeah, she's almost 4 months. She's not a newborn, she should be alert. It doesn't annoy me, just makes me laugh...like, DUH!

When we were home, a friend of mine who is getting into photography came out to my parents house to do a shoot of us (more of Eden than me, but I wanted some of her and I too). She text me 3 preview pictures which I will happily share here. I LOVE them!! It's killing me to have to wait for the rest of them, but her stepdad who has been more of her dad than her real dad, just died of pancreatic cancer so I know it's going to take her a bit to grieve and then get back to editing. I'm thankful she could take the time out to take our pictures, and whenever she can get the rest to us...I totally understand. Have a look! Forgive the quality since they are uploaded from my phone.





And finally, my favorite "non-professional" picture taken by my Aunt Phyllis! It helps too when you have the cutest kid ever :)