Don't Look Now

This may be premature, but it looks like Butterfly is finally settling into a routine. For real this time. Introducing baby food has been the best thing for all of us. She now nurses, then eats baby food maybe an hour later, then takes a nap. The crying is so greatly reduced and my stress level is much lower too. Even better, she is sleeping in her crib at night! She goes right to sleep when I lay her down. However, during the day she is still in her car seat. It seems that it has to be dark for her to get the message to sleep in her crib. So for now we're still rocking the car seat. I just buckle the top part so she can't do something crazy like turn over or fall out. Also, and this will sound bad, but I stick her in my closet. It is dark and quiet in there and she sleeps for a good hour and a half. Again, I think the darkness is her cue to sleep. So I have no idea what we will do when she is truly too big for the car seat. But I'm not worrying about that now.

Now that I've posted this, she is sure to do a complete turnaround and wail for 24 hours straight.

Giveaway on Etsy Shop!

I want to win this necklace. I love its simplicity. You can try to win too, if you visit this blog and etsy shop.

There are hundreds of other giveaways going on too, here.

What's On My Nightstand

I'm joining the carnival at

Reading Into Everything. I love to talk about books and I'm always on the hunt for more, so this will be a monthly thing for me for sure.

There's a picture of my nightstand. The three books stacked up do not get as much of my attention as they should. They are my Catholic Study Bible with concordance, He Leadeth Me by Fr. Cizsek, and Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado. I keep them there so I can read a chapter or a day's entry at night or in the morning. But I rarely pick them up. It is something I'm working on improving.

The other book is What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman. I picked it up at the library. The title caught my eye and I read the jacket and it sounded interesting. And it is. And weird. It is the story of one woman who was abducted with her sister when she was 12 years old. She returns to the site of the abduction 30 years later with some issues, needless to say.

I read a lot of fiction. I always promise myself I will read more non-fiction, but it just doesn't appeal to me a lot of the time. I like memoirs and things that read like fiction.

So what's on your nightstand?

Thwarted!

I woke up this morning all excited about going to the gym and doing the crazy class again. I really enjoyed the variety of the class last week, even if I did hobble around like an invalid the next day. Just as I was getting ready to put on my workout gear the phone rings. Since most of my friends don't call me before 9:00 a.m. I figured it was Husband. I was sleeping when he left for work (I know I'm lucky) so we had not talked. Perhaps he had something to tell me. Well, he did. Just nothing fun. He forgot to take his briefcase, including his laptop, to work. Considering his laptop is pretty much his most essential work item other than a phone, this was not good. So I loaded up the kids and we drove 45 minutes to his office. I dropped off his briefcase and got in the car and returned home. Husband was in a meeting, so we didn't even get to see him. We were not green or frugal today with that little trip. Now I will have to get on the treadmill this afternoon. One month to go in our weight loss contest and I'm ready to win!

Oh, there was one good aspect to his call. He was given two tickets to the Rangers/Yankees game next Tuesday. Now if I can score some free babysitting we can have an almost cheap night out at one of our favorite places.

T.G.I.F.

Still drawing from a dry well, so here's a list of things I am happy about on this Friday morning.

• Dinner and hang-out time with college friends tomorrow.


• Brother in town today.


• My legs finally almost feel normal after Monday's carnival of pain.


• Butterfly is sleeping in her crib some of the time!


• My birthday is in one month (still a kid when it comes to the birthday).


• I actually got comments on my inane ramblings regarding the Food Network.


• Little boys in oversized t-shirts.

• Pictures like this:

Because I've Got Nothing Else

I'm still trying to post every week day, but I'm finding the well is dry today. So I'm resorting to talking about TV.

We are big fans of the Food Network around here. If we are not watching baseball, chances are we are tuned in to the FN. Of course we are watching The Next Food Network Star. It is only the second show/series I have intentionally recorded every week. I like watching it for a variety of reasons. For one thing, this is the chance to see people as regular people, rather than mythical cooking ninjas with their own shows. Also, at least this season, the contestants are nice and seem to pretty much like each other. You don't get the feeling that everyone hates each other. It is refreshing. Additionally, it is just fun to watch. I've learned a few things from watching it.

Another show I love is Ace of Cakes. Does anyone else watch this? Duff is greatness. His laugh is the most infectious laugh I have encountered. What he says may not be funny, but when he starts laughing you have to laugh along with him. Also, Geof is totally interesting to me. He seems to be the most laid back person on the planet. Husband and I have decided it would definitely be entertaining to spend time with Geof and some adult beverages and see if we could rile him up. We also think it might be fun to drop him in the middle of our home and flee, and see how he responds to the chaos that is our family. Especially at meal time. Perhaps I think too much about these things.

One bad thing about watching the FN is that we are always hungry. I could eat a full meal and sit down to watch Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and find myself instantly craving biscuits and sausage gravy or home fries. We have been inspired to try new things though and it gets us talking about places we would like to visit.

So, TV can provide topics for conversation. The quality of conversation may be limited to mumbling things like "mmmmm . . . donuts" but it's a start!

Wordless Wednesday: Nightcaps

For more Wordless Wednesday, go to 5 Minutes for Mom.

Tackle It Tuesday: Junk Drawer

I think most everyone has a junk drawer or cabinet in their house. We manage to keep ours limited to one drawer in the kitchen. The mess in it has been plaguing me for some time. When I realized you had to arrange the junk just so for the drawer to close, I decided we had to do something about it. So I cleaned it. Here's the before.

Here's the after.


For more tackles, go to 5 Minutes for Mom.

Also, a note on the bag of ketchup on the right. I always ask for ketchup when we drive through somewhere, even when we are going home to eat. I don't like cold ketchup on my food, so I always use the packets. That is why there is a bag full of it in our junk drawer. Kind of weird, I know.

Maybe Not So Bad

I have chronicled my ongoing issues with the treadmill. Sometimes I get bored. Okay, a lot of the time I am bored for the entire hour I'm on it. So when a friend from church talked about a class she attends on Mondays at the same gym, I thought of giving it a try. I told myself that I would do it today if my friend was there too. Sure enough, she showed up at the same time as me. So when she asked if I was going to do the class, I said yes.

And then I said goodbye to normally functioning body parts.

We started with a couple of laps around the parking lot. Easy as pie, since I've been jogging for the last three months. Then we moved to the street. Where we did sprints. Sprints. I don't sprint anywhere, except maybe the bathroom. After that bit of torture, we moved on to walking lunges. Not so bad. We did a few more things outside, then moved indoors, since our faces were melting in the absurd Texas heat.

I thought it was a little tough outside, but I had no idea what I was in for inside. We did a couple of stretching things (like my professional terminology?). Then we began the stations. Squats with medicine balls, lunges with a bar, jump rope, free weights, sit-ups and push-ups, resistance bands and other cardio worked in between stations. My legs felt like jell-o. I wondered if I would have to ask a trainer to carry Butterfly out for me. My friend wondered if I would be speaking to her.

It was great! So H-A-R-D! But fun to challenge myself in a new way. I plan on doing the class on Mondays and the treadmill two or three times a week. I had reached a bit of a plateau in terms of weight loss and motivation, so this seems to be what I need to kick it up a notch (thanks for the phrase Emeril).

Seeking Something

There is a void in my life. I want to fill it. I have no idea how to go about doing it. What am I looking for?

Passion.

I want to have a passion. I feel like there are things in my life that are important to me. There are certainly beliefs that I hold true. I enjoy doing some things. But I don't think I would call myself passionate about any of them. But maybe I really mean I want a hobby. I don't know. Clearly I could spend some time thinking about this and perhaps be more articulate about it. But I have thought about it. And I still can't make myself clear.

I read blogs, I talk to people, and I see that most people have something they do or something they care about that when they are talking about it, you can just sense the passion behind it. I don't think I have anything like that in my life. Well, I have kids and a husband and I definitely value them and can talk about them for hours. But that is not what I'm talking about here.

Maybe I should take the time to get to know my sewing machine. Maybe I have a latent passion for sewing. Perhaps I have a hidden talent I don't know about. And maybe that is what I mean--I want to develop a talent. Can you even do that? I don't know.

How's that for some rambling, nonsensical posting? Bet you are thrilled that you stopped by today.

Lessons in the Value of Money

Perhaps I should say lessons in the value of money and time. We've been giving the kids a commission for a few months now. They get a quarter for each job they complete. We keep a chart on the fridge and put a mark each time they do something. They get paid on the Sunday following pay day, so twice a month. They have spend, give, and save envelopes. We follow a rough 80/10/10 plan, rounding up since they are paid by the quarter.

The kids have been asking if they could take their spend envelopes to the store to choose something to buy. This past Sunday presented some free time, for me anyway, as Husband was golfing. My mom and dad were in town, so my mom went with me. And then our lives slowly drifted away.

I spent so much time in the toy section of Target that I'm fairly certain I could tell you the price of any item. The kids had different amounts of money, but none of them had more than $6.40, which wasn't going to buy them a lot. Still, I did not want to just show them what they could afford. I wanted them to start learning that we have to make choices with our money and that sometimes we have to wait for something we really want. So as they picked up the babies that do things and the big Buzz Lightyear, I explained again and again that they did not have enough money to buy it now, but that they could save their money and buy it later. Yeah right. Like that was going to happen.

Like winners of the lottery with so much money they don't know what to do with it, my kids went after the cheap stuff so they could take home something. So we ended up with coloring books and markers from the dollar spot. And they all have to save their money again for better toys. I'm not sure who is learning what lesson here. I know that I'll never get that time back. And yet, I was in Target again a mere two days later. The Bullseye has put a charm on me I fear.

Breaking the Rules

Elaine tagged me for a music meme. And because I'm trying to make a grocery list and plan my meals and feed my children, I'm going to do it.

Here are the rules: (because yes, there are always rules!)Instructions: List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now, shaping your summer. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

1. Great Things--Matt Maher I like this song because it has a good beat for working out. I didn't realize it was inspired by Mary's Magnificat until someone pointed it out. I'm dense that way.

2. Miracle Maker--Delirious Just a beautiful song.

3. Facedown--Matt Redman I don't make it to Adoration very often, but this song puts me in the presence of Christ any time.

4. Still Waiting--Stavesacre This song is a good workout song and makes me think of the summers when Husband was in a band and I was a "merch girl."

5. Shine Like the Sun--Matt Maher Also a great workout song.

6. Glory Revealed--Christy Nockels (I think) A beautiful song about God's plan.

7. Blessed Be Your Name--Matt Redman IndieGirl's favorite song and one of my faves too.

My kids are going wild. If you are reading and need blog fodder, consider yourself tagged.

Change in Plans

I had planned to write a post today about taking my kids shopping with the money they have earned doing chores. But that will have to wait.

Once again we have been blessed from out of the blue. Our kitchen table is small. It is intended to have four chairs around it, but we have been cramming six around it so that we could all sit together (except Butterfly). We knew we would need a new table, but that was at least two years away. Well, we can now take one thing off our list of future purchases. Neighbors called us yesterday and said they had an extra table they weren't using. Someone had given it to them, but it didn't work in their home so they were keeping their old one. They said they thought of us right away. We walked over and looked at it and of course said we would take it. So we now have a table that comfortably seats six, and can be expanded to sit up to ten people with ease. We're so blessed!

Another First

Butterfly is beginning the adventure of eating baby food. I was not planning on starting this so soon, since she is a breastfed baby. But she seems to just not be getting enough. She nursed for a long time last night and was still fussy, so I decided to just try it. She did great! She opened her mouth when I approached with the spoon as if she had been eating forever. She did a good job keeping the food in her mouth too. Usually babies will spit out the first few bites, as their tongue instinctively pushes forward, but she did not do that. So, I guess she will be eating cereal once a day now. Maybe it will help her sleep longer at night. It didn't seem to last night, but I have to cling to hope anyway.

Fightin' the Frump: Flip-Flop Fumble

I'm fighting the frump with Fussypants for the first time. I have an issue with flip-flops. Well, with some flip-flops some of the time. I love flip-flops most of the time. But ladies, we have got to realize what shoes are appropriate for what ocassions. I know many of you love the Old Navy 5 buck flip in its vast array of colors. And they have their place in a busy girl's life I suppose. But they are not all-purpose shoes. If you are going to the beach or the pool, then wear those shoes with pride. If you are going to be using a public shower, then knock yourself out. But, if you are going to dinner with the girls or running errands during the day, leave the rubber shoes at home!

I'm not saying you shouldn't wear flip-flops when you go out. I am suggesting investing in a few pairs that are a little nicer. If your meal costs more than your footwear, it could probably use an upgrade. I have a pair of black flip-flops and a pair of brown flip-flops that I wear when running around in the summer. They are still comfortable, but they look a little nicer. Ladies--we are all worth more than a 5 dollar pair of rubber shoes! So fight the frump and get some fancy flip-flops already!

About Sports--Feel Free to Skip This One

I have a deep and abiding love for sports. I rarely express that love here, and I don't know why. My love of sports probably began as a way to connect with my dad. I'm a poster child for Daddy's Girls everywhere. This love of sports certainly played a role in wooing Husband. Or at least I think it did. So, this post is going to be about sports. One in particular. I don't mind if you hate sports and stop reading now.

The Rangers are my team. Baseball is my first love. The Rangers were the closest thing to a hometown team growing up in East Texas. Now I live in the metroplex and they really are my home team. While our suffering as fans has not been as long and torturous as that of Cubs fan or Red Sox fans (although theirs has ended), it has not been easy being a Rangers fan. They have won a few division titles, only to lose in the first round of the playoffs while scoring only one run. I hate the Yankees. Anyway, right now is a great time to be a Rangers fan. Sure we are 6.5 games out of first place. And yeah, our pitching is as shaky as ever. But this team finds a way to win. And last night was one for the ages.

Josh Hamilton comes up with two outs and one runner on base. We are down by one run. He is facing the best closer in baseball right now. Hamilton had not hit a homer since mid-June. The Angels are in first place, the team we are chasing and can't seem to beat in the past. But not for one night. Hamilton managed to put the ball just out of the park to win the game. His run around the bases and arrival at home plate gave me goose bumps. Watching it again on Sportscenter repeatedly has not lessened the chills at all. For this day, we have hope. The second half has a story to tell and I can't wait to see what it is.

The photo is courtesy of Dallasnews.com. For some inspiration and to restore your faith in athletes, google Josh Hamilton and see that there are some good guys out there.

My Hero

We have settled into a morning routine here in the AMAWG home. At least on weekdays. Butterfly usually goes back to sleep after nursing in the morning. It seems that she finishes eating right around the time the big kids are waking up. Or close to it anyway. My awesome husband sees that I am snoozing too, sometimes with Butterfly in bed, but a lot of times alone while she is in her car seat. He gallantly handles the kids, getting them breakfast and turning on cartoons. He reminds them to play quietly and heads out the door while I am dozing peacefully. I am just enough awake to hear the kids should anything go wrong, but still resting. It is so nice! I am not a morning person at all, and Husband is not either, but he has grown into the habit of waking up anyway. I'm so lucky!

Scattered

I was hoping to have something to post every weekday. I want my blog to be enjoyable to read and I (vainly) want to grow my readership. That plan has already been derailed. I know I won't post on most weekends, as I rarely even turn the computer on. I'm having a hard time thinking of things to post about daily though. I have nothing today that is worthy of a whole post, so I'm going to write some snapshots of our life lately.

Butterfly has a cold. It is so sad to listen to her stuffed-up breathing and baby cough. Even her cries are raspy. And although I have five children, I still have a hard time determining when to go to the doctor. With a baby, I always err on the side of paranoid mom. So we went to the doctor and she just has a cold. Thank goodness.

Many friends/readers have suggested eliminating or reducing dairy in Monster's diet to try to stem the asthma symptoms. It will be tough, as he gets a lot of his calories from milk and yogurt. However, one friend said switching to raw milk worked for her family, so hopefully he will like it. We'll see.

I have lost 9.2 pounds! Yippee! I'm enjoying my workouts again. The knee pain disappeared. I think it was due to not working out for too many days and then doing too much. I could have lost more weight, but I'm still having a hard time eliminating the bad things in what I eat. I've reduced soda intake, but not as much as I should. I'm not stressing about it though. I'm in a routine that is managable and likely to be sustained and that is all that matters.

We're going to a wedding this weekend where I'm likely to see people I haven't seen since high school! I got a new dress that I love, but nursing in it will be a challenge. Butterfly will take at least one bottle. I'll probably have to go out to the car and have my mom go with me to help get the dress unzipped and me covered so I can feed Butterfly when needed. I was just going to wear a skirt and shirt, but couldn't find anything I loved and so I got a dress anyway. The girls said it was their favorite too.

That's all I've got today. What do you want me to write about?

Winner! Winner!

I almost forgot to choose a winner for the Pay it Forward contest. The winner is El-e-e at Hello, Self! Yea! I'll be sending you a package in the mail. Email me with your address and favorite color.

Breaking Through

I have hit a wall in my life. Actually, I know that there are several walls in my life that I need to push through. The one most obvious has to do with exercise. We've been doing our weight loss challenge for ten weeks. I have had some success. I could have more if I could really break my soda habit, as well as my fondness for fried things. I'm working on it. I'm having a hard time with excercise. I've gotten bored with my workout, but I'm also unwilling to change it. I know what I'm capable of and what to expect with my current routine. But of course, once I get to the gym and get started I'm glad I'm there. But now I have a pain issue. I guess I went too long between workouts, because my knee hurts after each workout this week. I can walk and jog for about 45 minutes before the pain starts to get noticable. And once I get off the treadmill, it hurts to take normal strides. But by the time I go to bed it feels fine. So I know I just have to work through the pain. I need to keep up my routine and I will get through this and will be capable of even more after the pain subsides.

How many other areas of my life are this way? I'll be thinking on this one for a while because I know there is room for growth in several areas.

Thoughts on Food

It is good. We should all eat some. Thanks for reading.

Oh, I kid. I kid.

I have had many food-related thoughts and discussions in recent weeks. Perhaps because our default channel on the TV is Food Network. Anyway, I don't know how coherent this post will be, but I'll try to make some sense.

I want to try new recipes. I know that I tend to stick to the same basic dishes. I have tried some new recipes lately, but they are essentially variations on the same things. Some kind of meat with vegetables and perhaps pasta as a filler. I especially want to broaden my vegetable horizons. The SteamFresh bags of veggies are a miracle, but my family would probably like to eat something else every once in a while. I would like to try some new main dishes as well. We need to eat fish, but I'm not a big fan and I have no idea how to cook it. I know we need to eat less meat, in general, and make the meat we do eat be a better quality.

So why don't I just go ahead and try new things? Well, let me tell you about my many questions, both rational and irrational. On the silly side, I don't know where to find some of the ingredients in recipes that catch my eye. I'm intimidated by things I'm not familiar with and besides, store employees are a rare and unsighted species in my travels. Also, what if I make something and we all hate it? That is a waste of money. First we throw out the awful dish, and then we have to figure out what to eat instead, which could quite likely end up being takeout of some kind. Also, I don't feel like I have enough experience to carry out some of the techniques called for in recipes. Trying to get a meal on the table with the regular evening chaos is challenging enough without throwing in things like "reducing" or "braising" or whatever.

Another food related discussion going on in my head (what, doesn't everyone do this?) relates to the organic issue. Or the natural issue. Or the twig and seed issue. Okay, it is not that bad I know. It seems that each new day brings with it some new information about how bad something is that we have been eating for ages. Everything under the sun has high fructose corn syrup in it, I'm discovering. Lots of things have added sugar for no obvious purpose. Produce is covered in pesticides apparently. It is all so overwhelming. We have tried to make small changes, but even those can prove difficult to stick with over time. Not to mention the money factor. When everything costs more, it is especially hard to commit to buying more natural, organic food. I have to drive to a store twenty minutes away to have access to a large variety of natural/organic/preservative free food, and it is not kid-friendly for us. It looks like I'm going to have to get more dedicated to this particular area though. Monster was just put on an inhaled steroid indefinitely for respiratory issues. We have been in the doctor's office at least once a month this year trying to conquer this problem. They haven't told me has asthma, but they sure have given us lots of asthma-related medication. I want to try to make dietary changes and see if that can stem some of the problem and reduce our reliance on medication. So you might be reading tales of woe from the natural food store in the future.

Of course, there are also the thoughts on the bad food that I love to eat and that I have got to eliminate. I have not lost weight the last two weeks because I have not kept my commitment to cut out soda and fast food. I will never give up my sweets, but I can go without the other stuff a lot more frequently than I do. I've become way too good at keeping the junk away from my kids but not keeping it away from myself. I will allow myself some indulgences on occasion, but I'm recommitting to trying harder.

I'll end with a food success. I had to cook dinner last night (no dinner fairy showed up, darn it). We had chicken breast, elbow macaroni, and some cans of soup and broth. I marinated the chicken in Italian dressing and grilled it on the indoor grill. I boiled the pasta. I mixed a can of cream of mushroom soup (I know it is not the greatest) with some chicken broth and a few shots of sun-dried tomato salad dressing (so delicious). I also heated up a bag of SteamFresh green beans. I diced the chicken and dumped everything in one bowl. It was so yummy! My kids ate some, and I devoured it when I returned from the gym. When I reheated it I added a little more dressing, just because I love it so much. So, yea, I made something up and it was actually good.

What are your thoughts on food?