doggie love

This is how Charlotte fell asleep tonight... she curled up to her "do". Her love for Ava is amazing, and Ava is beginning to show affection back as well! (Not just tolerate her hugs and chasing around the house and taking her toys.) I love that Charlotte loves animals from such a young age and recognizes "do's" in any picture book or magazine or walking down the street. Ah, puppy love! I need to remember this when I get frustrated with being a dog owner and all that comes with it.

Menu Plan - September 28

We have been sick. It is amazing how I take my health for granted until I am sick. And then all I can think about is being healthy again and how miserable it is to be sick! We have been dealing with this "respiratory flu" that seems to be really common right now. We all had it, but when Charlotte got sick, I decided to go in to the doctor with her. I got in right away (I love my doctor!) but Charlotte and I both had to wear masks. (The extra precautions they are taking right now.) This was fine for me, we purchased individual masks at the drugstore. They did not have masks for children or babies and it was a bit ridiculous trying to keep this huge mask on Charlotte. Thankfully, Tim was able to come with me (one HUGE benefit to being your own boss) and he took her in the hallway while I waited to be called. Anyway, it turned out Charlotte had the beginnings of an ear infection along with the flu, so she is on medication and the doctor told me that I could have antibiotics, but it was probably better to just wait it out. (Did I mention I love my doctor??) Anyway, Charlotte is teething in the midst of all of this and pretty miserable. Hopefully those teeth will come through and she will start to feel much better.

SO - menu planning. Ha! Basically I have been focusing on getting rest while I can, and trying to ignore the loud banging and drilling in the basement. This has been our make-shift menu for the week:

Monday - Omelets (with broccoli, leeks and cheese)
Tuesday - Lentil Brown Rice Casserole
Wednesday - Corn boil with our small group
Thursday - Bruschetta and baked chicken
Friday - Enchilada bake

Check out Organizing Junkie for great menu planning tips.

Jody's Enchilada Bake

1 Pound cooked ground beef
1 onion
2 cups chunky salsa
1 can black beans
1/4 cup Italian dressing
2 tsp chili powder

Mix all of the above.

6 tortillas
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup cheese

In a shallow baking pan, layer tortilla, meat mix, sour cream times 2.
Top with a layer of tortilla and cheese.

Back at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes (covered). For the last 10 minutes, take the covering off.

diaper rash

Yesterday I was fraught with mommy guilt. I had gone to the accountant's office for a meeting, came home and changed Charlotte right away. Then Tim's mom offered to help with the salsa I have been meaning to make now for two weeks. The tomatoes were slowly going bad on the counter and I knew it was a good opportunity to get this job done! Plus she had experience bottling things, and I had none (except for one jam experience with my mom a few years ago). So, away we went, chopping and stirring and sterilizing. What a job! (And the salsa turned out AMAZINGLY good, but only 6 jars out of 15 sealed.)

In the meantime, Charlotte was fussy (as she has a cold) and needing lots of attention and love. She also spit up all over herself and me, which required new outfits and a diaper change. When I went to change her, it had been about 2 hours, I was horrified to see that she had been dirty (probably for a little while it seemed) and I hadn't noticed. Her bum was bright red. I almost started bawling as it hurt her to be changed. I held it together (mom-in-law was still in the kitchen after all) and cried that night while giving her a bath!

We have had almost no diaper rash at all with Charlotte, and I think it is probably due to the frequency that I change her. I honestly can't remember the last time we had to use diaper rash cream. I try to keep her dry as much as I can. Plus the cloth diapers help, because I can notice right away when she is wet. (With fitted, anyway.) Ugh, I felt so horrible about this, because of me she has to deal with a sore bum on top of a nasty cold :(

I guess I need to count it as experience and move on. Any hints for dealing with mommy guilt out there???

Menu Plan Monday - September 21

It's official!! Tim is done with his former employer and has started his OWN company! His boss put him in charge the last three days he was there, which speaks to the trust and reputation that Tim has worked hard at building these past four and a half years. (The boss was away.) We are all excited, nervous, anxious, overwhelmed... and crazy busy trying to get everything put together. He is working at finishing a few quotes, and is taking these next two weeks to work on our house and get it in better shape. More insulation is needed before winter and topsoil is needed for the yard. The list is endless, but what am I MOST excited about? (Besides a finished bathroom.....) The FREE dishwasher he found on kijiji and picked up tonight! Whoohooo! A dishwasher will be a huge help to me as I find that doing all the cooking and all the cleaning quite time consuming at times. Having a dish washer will really help me have the time to put into the business. I am doing the books, filing, appointments, phone calling etc. It (hopefully) will be a lot of work, because Tim will have a lot of work to do!! The next few weeks are full of appointments, running around, lots of work on the house and getting Simply Accounting up and running. (For some reason, it won't open on our computer.)

Anyway, a well planned menu is key for this week! Here is the plan:

Monday: Enchilada Bake (the same one I made for a friend, it smelled so good in the oven!)
Tuesday: Broccoli soup and rolls
Wednesday: Pesto Chicken Packets with Wheat Penne Pasta
Thursday: Roast in the oven with potatoes, carrots and parsnip
Friday: Leftover Buffet

On Sunday, I made Broccoli Mac'n Cheese and it was YUMMY! I didn't have the broccoli and cheese mix, so I just used plain broccoli with a little cheddar cheese. It was a little dry, so I think I'd try it again with the mix.

Check out Laura's blog for many more menu planning ideas and recipes.

milk

I've been thinking about milk lately. When should I introduce cow's milk? Should I go with organic? Should I research local farms and get it straight from the cow? (If that's even available here?) Should I look into goat's milk?

What did you do?

She still breastfeeds... a lot... and I believe that's best for her! But should I give her something else besides water in a cup?

(Now I need to stop perusing the internet and focus on the kitchen... and supper...)

Menu Plan - September 14th

Here we are again... is time flying by or is it just me? DH informed me yesterday that we have a very limited budget this week for food and it's going to be this way for a while as he is starting his own company and this week is his last week of work for his boss. Scary.... and exciting all in one. So I am going to do a lot of research on frugal menu planning and hopefully come up with some yummy meals we all love!

My thought for this week was to use the package of homemade hamburgers in the freezer because that would save money on meat for the week. Tim froze a whole bunch all in one big package, so they all have to be cooked at once (as it was impossible to break them apart). So there is a lot of hamburgers in our menu this week!!

Monday - Hodge Podge (fresh veggies cooked in butter and milk) and bbq homemade hamburgers
Tuesday - Tacos (beef from the hamburgers) with homemade guacamole
*I am making an enchilada bake today for a friend who needs a meal!*
Wednesday - Corn on the cob and more hamburgers!
Thursday - Hot Broccoli dip (Pampered Chef recipe) and chicken
Friday - leftover buffet (hopefully with homemade salsa and chips!)

My goal for extras this week is to make homemade salsa to use up the piles of tomatoes we have for the garden. This will be a first for me, I have never done any canning before. I'll let you know how it goes!

My favorite recipe from last week was the Grilled Honey-Lime Chicken Sandwiches. These were FABULOUS... I would make them again and again. The combination of ingredients made this so delicious. Careful not to over-marinate, it would make the flavor way too strong.

Check out Organizing Junkie for more menu planning ideas! The Pesto Chicken Packets with Wheat Penne Pasta look amazing....... definitely on the menu sometime soon.

kindermusik!

Today we had our first session of Kindermusik which I won through fredkid.com. Kindermusik is a great program, and I highly recommend it for babes of all ages! Check out this site for more info on Kindermusik in Freddy. Megan, our teacher, is wonderful, so great with the babies. The session we are doing is called "Feathers" and there are all kinds of fun songs and rhymes to learn. We are listening to the CD that you get right now! We also got a board book, art banners and a chime ball! Charlotte is quite busy.... the only walking baby in the group, which is difficult, because she wanted to get into the diaper bags more than hang out with me. That's okay, Megan is good at stating that the kiddos can wander around instead, it's just tiring for me! I kinda wish we had done a class earlier, when Charlotte was much younger. If we continue, I will probably enroll her in "Our Time", a class for 1 1/2 year olds to 3 years. (When she is old enough, that is.)

Click here for a banner that you can click on to try a free class!

vaccines.....

Charlotte had her one year doctor's appointment this week. The good part is... she got weighed and measured! As we don't have scales at home, it is so interesting to see how much she has grown when we visit our doctor. She now weighs 21 lbs and 5 oz and is 30.3 inches long! She is slightly under the 50% line for weight and high on the charts for height. Another good part of the visit.... we have a wonderful nurse and family doctor! The nurse was all smiles and words of support when I said I was still breastfeeding... yes! She said, "you must be very busy!" Which is true, because breastfeeding does take up many hours in my day. The doctor asked me if I had gone back to work, and I said that I was staying at home and working with my husband on his new business (more on this later!!) and she said... "Charlotte is very lucky! It's wonderful that you can stay home."
It is so great to hear this encouragement from professionals and I left the appointment feeling very good about my life choices! I know I have made the right ones for our family, but with most of society raising questioning eyebrows, it is encouraging to hear positive feedback from people!

The bad part about the visit.... vaccinations. They are never fun for parent or babe. She had two vaccinations this week... MMR and Meningococal C. At one year, they are scheduled for three, the thid being Varicella (or the Chicken Pox vaccine). Personally, I wasn't comfortable giving her that vaccine without doing some more research and I wanted to separate this vaccine from the other two. If you separate them, you have to wait one month or more for Varicella. She is scheduled to go in, in two months.

Vaccinations are one of the most controverisal topics in parenting circles right now. I am neither totally pro, or totally against vaccines (obviously, because Charlotte has gotten hers!). I am pro education about vaccines though. We delayed Charlotte's first Hep B and she did not get it until 2 months. This was kind of a last minute decision in the hospital, without a whole lot of prior research. After doing some reading online and in my Mothering magazine, I have decided to look into vaccinations in more detail. I purchased "The Vaccine Book" by Robert W. Sears as Chapters yesterday and I am looking forward to getting into it. It is supposed to be full of information, without pushing parents one way or another.

The Momversation video regarding vaccines is more pro-vaccine, check it out here. Check out this article on mothering.com regarding aluminum in vaccines which is an excerpt from "The Vaccine Book".

What do you think? Have you thought about vaccines at all? Did you vaccinate your child? I know this is an extremely senstive and controversial subject, so let's be sensitive in our discussion!

Menu Plan - September 8th

We had a wonderful weekend away by the ocean and it took all day today to get back in the swing of things. The laundry is in the washer and dryer, dishes are done and babe is sound asleep. I feel like things are starting to come together for another busy week! I completely forgot about Charlotte's doctor's appointment today as I use google calendar and it only reminds you right before the appointment! For some reason, 20 minutes before I had to be there, I remembered!! Anyway, neither menu planning or grocery shopping happened today.

Plan for this week:

Monday: Dinner at Tim's sister's house with her family. (Delicious Hodge-Podge with fresh veggies from her garden... I will be trying this again sometime soon!)
Tuesday: Chicken breast with Italian seasoning, new potatoes and garden salad (with lovely lettuce and peas that SIL sent home with us!)
Wednesday: Grilled Honey-Lime Chicken Sandwiches
Thursday: Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Friday: Dinner with friends, I am bringing salad (perhaps this one?)

I also hope to make delicious Chocolate Zucchini Loaf (my sister's recipe) and Whole Wheat and Honey Zucchini Bread.

This is ambitious for me, we will see how it goes!

Thanks to Laura at Organizing Junkie for all of the fabulous recipes this week. Three were taken from her site this week!!

homemade cleaners

I have been trying to make cleaners when I find recipes and hear of good ones to try! Here are three that I use on a regular basis:

The bottle on the left is my vinegar and water bottle. I usually put 1/3rd vinegar and 2/3rds water. This is not really from a recipe, but just from suggestions from others. I use it for all kinds of general cleaning! Floors, windows, sinks, etc. I tend to grab it for bathroom cleaning, and for spills on the floor. The bottle was free from the Home Show last year! (from the co-op)

The middle bottle is my home-made wipes solution. I LOVE this recipe, and didn't try any others on the site because this one worked so well.
It is recipe #1 :
2 Tbsp Baby wash (I use a natural/organic one from Wal-Mart)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 cups water

I have to shake it before I use it because the oil separates. I usually wet one of her wipes with water and then spray it a couple of times. The bottle is from the dollar store.

The third bottle is the newest recipe I have tried, it is for homemade eye glasses cleaner. We usually refill our bottle at the eye glasses store in the mall, but I rarely go to the mall and hate to make a trip, just to refill the bottle! So I googled it and found this recipe. Basically, I put 2/3rds rubbing alcohol and 1/3 water. And I used the bottle we normally refill at the store.

***I do not know if this recipe is safe for anti-reflective coating on glasses. My glasses are over 3 years old so I am not too worried about it as it is probably worn off anyway. ***

Do you make any homemade cleaners? Please share your recipes!