Life Lately

We have been crackheads busy lately!

I am really going to work on not blogging once a week. However, life happens. I have not updated you all since last Tuesday. Sorry friends!

Last Wednesday, the pediatric ophthalmologist checked Emma over. She has a case of moderate farsightedness. Nothing major, praise the Lord! I am still worried and sad that it took us this long to discover it. I feel so bad for her little eyes. I hope there is not too much damage done from not knowing until now. Note to self: if your child ever has crossed eyes after infancy, please get their eyes checked. She will most likely be in glasses/contacts until her early teen years. From there, it could get better and begin going away, or she can have lasik if she wishes. There is no way to know right now.

On Saturday, we took Emma to Windward Eye Care to get her prescription filled. All of my visions of cute glasses went right out the window.

First of all, as I expected, Emma was NOT a fan of glasses being on her face. Nor did she care for the optician helping us. Bless his heart. She was ripping off every pair I tried on her. Finally, he suggested going with "plastic" glasses until she gets used to the sensation of actually wearing glasses.

Then he pulled out these puppies. And, I cried. Full on tears in the eye care center.

Emma's new glasses

They are so NOT what I pictured or wanted for my baby's first glasses. I wanted these precious Disney tortoise shell glasses with wrap around things for the ears. Y'all.

I realize this could be so much worse on so many levels. I am so thankful it is "just" farsightedness.

I have been trying to talk myself down from the vanity ledge for 3 days. I am starting to come off of it.

I feel like a douche for even getting worked up about this.

I am super worried about people making fun of her. I just want my baby to not have any problems in life.

So, I'm getting myself together and steeling myself for next Saturday, glasses pickup day.

Jason keeps trying to impress the fact that the wearing of the glasses is going to be super difficult. I'm trying to not worry about that. I've heard both good and bad glasses wearing stories. I'm just praying for her to "like" them because she can see. Y'all say some prayers for my sanity. She has to wear them all day except when bathing or sleeping.

I have read that at first you should ease them into wearing the glasses for an hour or two at a time. Do any of you all have experiences with toddlers or young children wearing glasses? I would like to hear if you agree with this "easing" period.


Moving on, we've had the stomach sickness up in here. Emma and Jason have both had a sicky puke virus. That has been interesting. I've been banished to the guest room so as to not get the sicky germs. The maids come Wednesday to disinfect, so I can go back to my room! I'm not sleeping in there till they strip/bleach/boil the sheets. The thought of puking/pooping at 24 weeks pregnant makes me nauseous!

Another thought I've been having is regarding a vBac. I would love to hear from people who have had a vBac. I am nervous about the thought of total foof destruction, however, I am also nervous about life after a second c section with Emma. I think recovery will be harder and it will be more difficult for me to care for her. I know I will have family here to help, but still. I want to hold and snuggle my boo and won't be able to do as much. My first c section was a SUPER easy recovery. As in, I was doing laundry/vacuuming about 7 days after coming home. I was good to go. So, any thoughts, advice, or past experience with vBac? Please share!!!

Finally, someone tweeted this blog the other night, and now I've been stalking it NON STOP. She is my blog life partner-I mean organizing, cleaning, etc. Really, when can you move in? CHECK IT OUT if you like to clean/organize/have OCD. Even the name sounds clean: A Bowl Full of Lemons! J'adore!

The rest of this week holds an OB check up, dental appointment, parent/teacher conference (gag me) and normal life "stuff." I cannot WAIT till the weekend (already). I was super busy with sicky husband and all my other emotional dramz last weekend. I am planning NOTHING and can't wait! I will however hit up Gap to return the ripped crotch maternity jeans and Sephora for some new Korres!

I hope life finds you all well! I'm about to hit up my Google Reader and see how you are!
xoxo

Winner and Total Randomosity

Okay everyone, it's finally time for the CSN winner announcement!
According to random.org (screenshot below), my dear Jenn from Wanting What I Have is the lucky winner! Jenn, email me at southernsass30@gmail.com for your code and other info! Congratulations!

I have loved visiting all of the new blogs from new friends! Thanks for following along, I hope you will stick around!

  (Screenshot of excel spreadsheet) 

What have you all been up to?

We have total randomosity in these parts! Bullet style list please.

*Emma is going to the ophthalmologist tomorrow for an eye check-she has been having some "crossing" of one eye over the past few days, and it is wigging us out. I'm scared that it's strabismus, and hope it can be corrected via glasses or something else. Please say a prayer for her!!!

*I have a FULL DAY field trip tomorrow-yikers! I'm not looking forward to all day outside with 22 kids and pregnant feet.

*I have 30434 loads of laundry to do from being out of town. And fold, and put away. So much chaos right now, that when the maids called me to schedule for tomorrow, I said, "No way! Call me later!"

* I talked to Ruby Turtle Hippie Times IRL last weeks. She was dying over my Southern accent. I guess that seems so funny to me b/c I don't think I sound that Southern. I need to record myself and listen to it.

*Blogger convench in ONE MONTH! In Michigan! Yayayayayay!

*Girl Scout cookies came in today-alllll six boxes. Oh sweet Lord.

*Emma had blueberry juice today. I picked her up at 5:15. She had diarrhea 3 times before 6:30 and 1 time in the bath. Fun times.

*I found the stroller of my dreams this weekend! Cannot wait to go get it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look at all of the possible positions! I'm going with black, and sister let me borrow her lime green Peg Perego infant carseat. I have a brown/blue Graco infant seat. That will not do. :) I can't wait to get my grubby paws on it! We went to Buy Buy Baby in Birmingham this weekend and put baby Scarlet (9 months) and Emma in it simultaneously. It was presh!

*March may be the professional death of me. I have thrid quarter grades due, spring conferences, state writing assessment, and prep for standardized testing. Oh, and my professional appraisal. FREAKING YIKES!

*Weight Watchers "green machine" smoothies are GOOD. I'm trying tomorrow's shake with some baby yogurt in it. The original recipe is 1 C fat free organic milk, 1 banana (frozen and cut up), and 1/2 C chopped frozen spainch. Plus 2 sweet n low packet things. Thank you @maconbabies for that tidbit!

*I think I'm going to bed now. Sorry for the randomosity!

Hope you are all having a great week so far! :)

Hey Y'all!!

Let's play catch up, a la bullet points and lotsa pictures, shall we??

Sure, we've been eating Mexican on a weekly basis. Heck, our kid probably thinks dinner comes from a restaurant after this weekend. A high chair is her second home.

Here she is LICKING the salsa off of tortilla chips.

And my dessert: the Chick Fil A ice dream cone. What? I'm pretty sure it's low fat.

SHUT UP. Seriously. It is good.

                            Awful pic of me, but how cute is my girl in her purple/green toile dress!

Ummm, my girl Shannon from work, dressed as Ariel for a birthday party.

Oh darlin, let's keep our day jobs, shall we? :) It was a hoot though!

Again, SHUT UP. Godiva has my heart (part of it anyway). Salted caramel milk chocolate. This was husband's chocolate part of his V Day treat. I ate half of it. The other was so so. The salted caramel ruled.

Emma's Valentime's Day treats: an Auburn dress, a monogrammed bow (not shown),

some puzzles, a book, coloring book, and a raspberry peep (not shown cause she ATE IT!)

On a side note, we went to Applebee's last night for dinner. I got the Oriental chicken salad and Emma actually ate like 4 pieces of chicken from it! Holy cow, this is big people! Even though she is 18 months old and eats LENTILS/lasagna/pork, etc at her babysitter's house, she eats hardly ANY real people food in front of me. I am at the point of, "You eat what I give you, or else..........." She just finished her Augmentin for the ear infection, so it's on. I bought her some gluten free, organic "chicken nuggets" to try out. They are real chicken. I was scrutinizing that label fo sho! She also ate about 1/4 of a banana this weekend. I am so envious of those people (ahem, Sarah) whose kids will eat ANYTHING! It's got to be so much easier/cheaper than still buying/feeding them BABY FOOD for the love of 18 months. End rant. 

J's Valentime's treats: Auburn shirt, Auburn SI, cards, he had a Reese's heart, peep, and 2 Godiva bars, but those were removed when junkie Emma discovered chocolate was divine.

I do have to mention that my husband got Emma and I a GIANT, beautiful bouquet of yellow daisies! Soooo pretty! We did Valentime's a day early because his parents were here, and I wanted to be able to see Emma's reaction to her goodies since I don't see her in the morning. Who knows, he may have something else up his sleeve. No pressure, right babe? :) I'll let you all know how that goes!

OMG-22 weeks. I look like I'm 32 weeks. Have mercy.

And let's see what else. I have a MASSIVE on going to do list for Emma and the new baby. I am so overwhelmed right now trying to get a lot of stuff done. We are going to Birmingham this weekend, so I've gotta get all that together. I'm looking for black out curtains, a new crib, booking Emma bear pictures from our photog, setting up HME newbie pics, Easter baskets from PB, daybed for new playroom, a storage unit for all of our CRAP that has to come out of our house, etc. The list is huge! And then I need to deal with everyday life.

The awesome CSN giveaway is going to end this Friday, February 18th!! I will put the entries in random.org and post the winner that weekend. If you entered and your email is not available, I will have to choose another winner.

Thanks for entering, by the way! I have "met" some wonderful new followers and am so glad you came by, even if I did lure you in with a giveaway!

More random will be following this week for sure. Lots going on! I miss you all! Let's chat. What have you all been up to? How was your *Valentime's Day?



*coined by Laura in college!

Giveaway!

Everyone in the blogosphere has heard of, shopped from, or entered a giveaway with CSN Stores, right?

Every time someone has this giveaway on their blog, I jump on it! I have seen some seriously cute stuff come out of the CSN Stores sites.

With 1 super active toddler and another one on the way, I need to find some ways to tire out Miss Emma. We have a great back yard for playing! When we're not dodging the dook bombs from the pups, it would be awesome if we could grace the yard with  swing sets for kids!

After cruising this site, it makes me think of my old, rusty, blue swingset that had two swings, a slide and a rad seesaw. That thing was tetanus on wheels. I think it eventually bio-degraded in our backyard.

Anyway, the swing sets of the present are much nicer and safer!

Moving on, I am in decorating heaven looking through all of the rugs and other cute touches for Emma's big girl room! And the prices are not bad y'all!

You know how I've been searching for a double stroller-we are going this weekend to test drive some. But I am finding all kinds of other options at CSN. Look at this!

I'm not real sure of how you would work it out with a clip in carseat, but that can all be figured out! I am in love with the price point.

Another drool worthy piece is this chandy:

Y'all. I need it. Emma needs it.

Okay, basically y'all know CSN has the goods. Do you want the goods? The goods include a $45 credit to CSN! Well, if you are interested, here is the drill:

*You must be a follower of my blog.

*You need to leave me a comment telling me something you would buy from CSN.

*Tweet about this giveaway for an extra entry! Just mention @edwardsedition and the giveaway!

So, who's in it to win it? Spill!

It's a................................

I still cannot believe it!

I thought boy for so long with Emma, and was obviously wrong. I kept thinking this was a boy, and thought the doctor would say girl!

Emma is going to have a little brother!!! His initials are going to be H.M.E. Family name, no sharing yet! We are beyond thrilled! He looks perfectly healthy and weighs a pound already!

I on the other hand need to lay off the eating. :) I have gained entirely too much weight. Back to grilled chicken, rice, and veggies. Blech. I DO NOT want to feel guilty about wanting something "bad" but I need to remember that pregnant women only need about 300 extra calories per day. Time to reign it in. Lucky for y'all, I'll complain fill you in on the way of my new food journey. If I end up with Gestational Diabetes, I will definitely have to get the eating under control!

Anyway, I am super excited and now need to know allll about little boys and where to buy the cute smocked longalls and all that jazz. Cause boyfriend is gonna be wearing it!

Yay!

On another note, who can recommend a place/site/etsy store to get Emma a shirt that says, "I'm the big sister!"

xoxo

Cake, a Sickie, and Tomorrow!!!

First of all, this cake is so random. A girlfriend at work made this cake, and it was so good and easy, I tried it. Now, I am NOT, I repeat NOT, a baker. I generally throw ingredients in the pan all willy nilly, no measuring, just what looks good.

However, I decided since the cake only took the following ingredients, I would try it.

Seriously.

1 can crushed pineapple with juice (20 oz.)
1 box angel food cake mix

(What is freaky is that I searched Bing for 'angel food cake box images' and this came up as an image. This is EXACTLY what I bought.) It is from this blog. The recipe is copied from the blog, and I did it almost exactly the same way.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. (I used a silicon bundt pan sitting on a cookie sheet and I didn't grease it.)  With minimal mixing, combine entire can of crushed pineapple with angel food cake mix. (I had to mix it quite well to get the powdered mix to absorb the pineapple/juice.) Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. (Mine took about 30 minutes.) Cake should be lightly browned and center tested done when fully baked. Cool inverted. (I don't know what that means, so mine just sat out on the counter while I grabbed pieces off.)

One of the best parts (besides how easy and GOOOOOD it is) is that it's fat free and I'm sure SUPER low in WW points. Which is important, especially when you eat 1/4 of it for breakfast the next day. What? It's like pound cake. That is clearly a breakfast food.

Moving on, Emma is a total sickie (term from Katie). Girlfriend had a 102.4 fever last night and a mild cough. I dosed her with some intermittent Motrin hits, and she was fine this morning, fever free. Obvs, we kept her home from her babysitters (where alllll kinds of crud has been going around). Jason took the morning shift, I went off to work to prepare my classroom for the afternoon shift. I left at 12 and came home to take over. All seemed fine, no fever to be had throughout the day. She was and is a little cranky and clingy (not normal for her!), and she was eating okay. Jason talked to the doc this morning, and since Emma is scheduled for her 18 month checkup tomorrow, they said to just wait on bringing her in since she was sleeping and eating.

She took a 2 hour nap this afternoon, and I thought we were good to go. Then, I felt her before bath, and she was burning up. Fever was 101.4. What?? We took a lukewarm bath and got jammied up. She was walking around talking about "DoDo" (Dora) and "reading" her new Dora book/waiting for Dora to come on at 7:00. She wasn't really into taking her milk.

I noticed that she had some flush in her cheeks, and I immediately wigged out that she had 5ths. I don't think that is what's going on though. SO, I guess we are doing the split shifts again tomorrow and going to see the doc. My poor monkey is sad. I couldn't even take a decent picture to capture her unfortunate-ness.

Speaking of tomorrow, it is THE BIG DAY!

We are going to (hopefully) find out what this baby is. If you read Brittany or Brittany, you know that both of their gender reveals were less than ideal, with their babes (both girls???) not totally giving up the goods. I'm sure they are girls though!

So, at 1:45 tomorrow, we are going to see if we are having an HME (boy name) or a girl. No name disclosure, don't even ask. :) I will direct you to a post as soon as I can!

Jason has to go back to work, and Emma's doctor checkup is at 3:15, so I will have to keep up parenting business as usual. Not a lot of time to dilly dally and write a post now is there? :) I won't keep y'all hanging too long!

What's been going on in your lives? Please fill me in. I feel removed from y'all!

Also, Emma sends some hugs and kisses to all of her grandparents, especially FeFe who is sick right now! Get well soon!

xoxo

Weekly Menu (and recipes too!)

EDITED TO ADD: I had this scheduled for Tuesday morning, but it never published. What is going on with Blogger? This is the 4th or 5th time a scheduled post never happened! Rah!

I'm not sure what night we are eating what, but I made two of the casseroles on Sunday and froze them. They are big, so they will last for several nights. That may throw off the timing of when we eat the other meals.

However, I love seeing what people are eating, and I espesh heart getting new recipes!

Hope you can find something you like!

Menu:
Weight Watchers Italian Sausage and Pepper Pasta
Rigatoni with grilled vegetables, served with "stir fried" carrots
Weight Watchers Chicken Spaghetti with salad
Baked Lemon Pasta with salad
Crockpot Chicken Stroganoff with broccoli



Weight Watchers Italian Sausage and Pepper Pasta
1 package raw turkey sausage, casings removed (I buy Honeysuckle brand in hot)
2 tsp EVOO
2 medium bell peppers (I used 1 colored and 1 green), cut into strips
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1/2 C red wine (I omit this and use broth instead)
1 1/2 T minced garlic
28 oz crushed tomatoes-canned
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
kosher salt
8 oz uncooked fusilli pasta (corkscrew-and I use the whole box of pasta)
fresh, chopped basil (optional)
grated parmesan (optional)

This was off the old WW points plan at 5 points per serving. Not sure what it would be now.

Boil noodles. In a large nonstick pan, cook sausage, stirring and breaking up until cooked through. Remove to plate. Heat oil in same skillet. Cook onions and peppers about 5 minutes. Add wine and garlic-cook until most liquid evaporates. (I use broth here). Add canned tomatoes, pepper flakes, salt, and browned sausage. Bring to a boil. Simmer on medium low for 10 minutes until veggies are tender. Add sauce to noodles and mix well. Can add basil and some parm.

Rigatoni with grilled vegetables and "stir fried" carrots is from Food Network website, Sandra Lee. Click the blue link to view it. It is amazing and I LOVE IT! I have featured this recipe several times here before. The carrots are just diagonally cut carrots sauteed in sesame oil with garlic. Add in some soy sauce and cook until tender enough for you. It was originally a 1 pt WW recipe-I just took out the sugar snap peas and scallions this time since we were having crap loads of veggies with dinner already.

Weight Watchers Chicken Spaghetti  (originally I found this on a WW "support" website-no clue if it is legitimately a WW recipe or just called that)
8 oz cooked, shredded chicken (I use two breasts)
1 Lb spaghetti
half a block of Velveeta light
4.5 oz can chopped green chiles
1 can 98% FF cream of mushroom soup
1/2 C chopped onions
1/2 C bell pepper

Cook and shred chicken. Cook and drain noodles. In a large non stick skillet, melt Velveeta with soup and chiles. Add the onions and bell pepper. Stir together. Add chicken to the cooked, drained pasta. Pour Velveeta mixture over all and stir well. (This is the hard part. Trying to stir a box of pasta with a bunch of cheesy goodness.) Pour into greased 9 by 13. Cover with foil and cook on 450 for 10 minutes, or until heated through.

I freeze mine. You could also portion it out into smaller casserole dishes. When we want to eat it, I thaw it out in the fridge in advance and cook it as normal.

The nutrition facts that came with it are: 221 cal, 4.3 g fat, 4 points per serving on the old WW system.  Oh, and PS, I use a whole box of pasta and 5 oz more Velveeta b/c I make the big casserole dish to have for 2-3 nights worth of dinner/leftover lunches. So my recipe listed above calls for 8 oz Velveeta instead of 3.


Baked Lemon Pasta
This is one from my mom. I like it a lot b/c it can be simple and great by itself with a green salad, or you can add all types of things to it to make a major casserole. (Like chicken, shrimp, mushrooms, other assorted veggies).
1 Lb thin spaghetti
4 T butter
3 T EVOO
2 cloves minced garlic
1 whole lemon, juiced and zested
2 C sour cream (I use 1/2 FF and 1/2 light)
kosher salt
lots of shredded Parmesan
flat leaf parsley (I use dried)
extra lemon juice

Cook spaghetti. In a skillet, melt butter and EVOO. Add garlic. Squeeze lemon juice into pan. Turn off heat. Add sour cream and stir. Add lemon zest and salt. Pour mixture over drained spaghetti, stirring to combine. Pour into oven safe dish. Cover with foil on 375 for 15 minutes. Take off foil and cook for 7-10 more minutes. Don't over bake or it will get dry. When you remove from oven, squeeze more lemon juice on top, then top generously with Parmesan and parsley.

I also made this as a casserole. It will last for 2 nights. It's freaking good.


Crockpot Chicken Stroganoff
Another tried and true WW recipe from a "support" site, this joker is GOOD and EASY!
1 pack frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts
16 oz container fat free sour cream (I know it sounds gross, but you cannot tell!)
1 can 98% FF cream of mushroom soup
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 jar sliced mushrooms (you can use fresh, but add them later in cooking time)

Brown/white rice or egg noodles (I use 2 bags of Success brown rice-easy and healthy!)

Place frozen chicken breasts into crockpot. In another bowl, mix sour cream, soup, onion soup mix, and mushrooms. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 7 hours.

4 points per serving on old WW system. Add the "bottom" layer of rice or noodles and top with the heavenly mixture of slow cooked strog. It ROCKS! There is always left over rice and "sauce" and it's good for lunch even without the chicken.

Hopefully you found something that struck your fancy or inspired you!
Happy Tuesday!