I'm moving to a new blog!

For anyone out there still listening, I'm moving over to a new blog. Still blogger, but my email account changed since I started this account, so now I have to change my blog. If you want to come over, it'll be here: http://imbritneyedwards.blogspot.com -- all of my old posts should already be there and I'm working on an updated one. :)

see ya soon!

some menu ideas

I am now providing lunches for Connor since we switched Daycare providers. It's good and bad -- good that I get to control more of what he eats and give him healthier meals, bad that it's alot more hassle to get him out the door in the morning. I've been looking for recipes that I can cook in the crockpot overnight to make it easy to grab and go in the morning, so I'm going to record the ones I find here for easy access later. I don't think I intend to publish this, (oops, I just did) but just in case, I've given a little intro. :)

Better yet, these recipes make alot, so I should freeze the leftovers and have them as backups later...



Foods ideas: Did it work?



Fajitas: Have to cook in the morning, but he liked it!



Split pea soup: great for CP, doesn't appear to be his favorite



hamburger/pasta: great for CP, loves this one! found the recipe:



http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/friendship-soup-mix-in-a-jar/Detail.aspx



Chili: great for CP (on high overnight). he its it pretty well.

Cream of potato/ham: good soup, not good for crock pot and not good for freezing... but he likes it. http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1648,133168-246196,00.html


chicken/rice (Costco frozen entree): fast to prepare, connor likes it OK.

Pork Chops: (layer in crock pot, chops, stove top stuffing, apple pie filling). try it!


Chicken/Dumplings: Connor loves pot pies, so I thought I'd try this as an alternative. He likes it, but not as much as the pot pie... (1 can cream of chicken soup, 2 cans chicken broth, equivalent of 2 cans of veggies, chicken chunks -- can be leftovers from another meal, 1 can biscuits, cut into 1/4's. simmer until biscuits are cooked).

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1612,158181-245202,00.html

Pork Chops 2, with potatoes and carrots: Good for CP, not sure if it freezes. Connor likes it OK.
http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1612,159180-244202,00.html

spaghetti: cook the night before? or CP?

Chicken cacciatori: need a recipe



Beef Barley soup: worked well in crock pot (barley was a little mushy). Connor ate pretty well. Will try to freeze (recipe: http://www.recipe-recipes.net/soups/beef-barley-soup-mix.htm)





frozen shredded beef chimichanga with peas on the side: he ate it all! perfect fast/easy meal.

Marie Calendar's Pot Pie: he ate it all! perfect fast/easy meal.

white bean and ham: need a recipe

Scalloped potatoes with ham:

Other Soup in a Jar recipes that might work: http://www.recipe-recipes.net/soups/soup-mixes.htm
other recipes: http://www.momadvice.com/food/slow_cooker_recipes2.aspx

My year in status...

Well, half of it anyway. There's an app on facebook that will give you your status updates counting backwards (but not counting posts with pictures for some reason). Anyway, here's my result all the way back through the end of July.

My Year in Status
0. Snow on the ground... too bad no one in Portland can drive in the snow.... :P
1. Merry Christmas everyone!!
2. I think I will finally get the ornaments on the tree tomorrow. Better late than never....
3. Connor just snapped his high chair strap by himself and then giggled. When I undid it for him, he did it again. Five times in a row without my help! What a smartie-pants!
4. Made a \"santa\" gift for a SIL from a sherpa throw -- SO SOFT -- Connor fell in love with it - I think I have to get him one now.... :)
5. Well, Christmas Sunday....
6. I love choral numbers on Christmas day!
7. Food oisoning or the flu? Hard to tell.... poor li\'l guy. :(
8. Connor \"helped\" me hang the lights on the tree... More like: he thought we were playing chase around the tree, and then magically the lights came on! :) (It was no easy chase, either, since the tree was hugging the wall.) Love that kid!
9. Thankful that God answers prayers (even the small ones)
10. Anyone want to come babysit from 8:30 to midnight tonight? C\'s already in bed so you can just watch movies all night... :) call me.
11. 8 front teeth + two top molars = 10 teeth! No wonder he\'s been so sad lately....
12. Tis the season.... I\'m feelin\' it!
13. Jus saw the cutest little pillowcase dresses that are sent to Africa on \"Sewing with Nancy\". I\'d wear one! :)
14. Connor was SO excited to be home that we almost had an all night laugh party in our bed. I finally had to break it up and send everyone to bed. :)
15. Heading back to portland, on time this time. Though, I didn\'t do my \"homework\" over break, so I\'ll be behind when I get back. :(
16. Heading to ID (late). It\'s going to be slick....
17. Anyone else up at this crazy hour? I\'m addicted to BF.
18. Gobble gobble gobble!
19. Connor\'s having a hard week! Mean mommie decided to start time outs in the crib... (about time if you ask me, but too soon if you ask ron. Good thing we balance each other out!)
20. Happy birthday gma betty! You are loved and missed!
21. 12 hour road trip + 15 MO = 20 hour road trip. Or so I\'m guessing....
22. Mmmmmmm, hummus! Or should I just say \"hummmmmmmmmmmmus\" for short? :)
23. Can\'t it be Saturday again? :(
24. I have one sweet boy from five pregnancies. Even so, I feel blessed.
25. Praying for our armed forces today, and feeling a well of gratitude for them! Where would we be without them?
26. Three rooms shampooed, two more to go....
27. Hunger headaches suck!!!
28. I updated the blog with some pics from HOW. I changed the settings to automatically post here, too, but I don\'t remember if I did it right. I guess we\'ll see in the morning. :)
29. If I\'m wearing a bright orange shirt with textured \"stripes\" on it, does that count as a \"great pumpkin\" costume for me? :) too bad I don\'t have a green viney/leafy headdress to wear... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
30. 2 rooms down, 3 to go. shampooing the carpet is easy, it\'s moving the furniture that\'s hard!
31. Connor said his first prayer today. It was so cute! I was snuggling him for bed, and said a prayer and ended with \"Amen!\" (kind of loud to emphasize). He popped his head up from my chest and said \"wizabevebe bevewena .... AAAHHH\". and then he looked at me, I said \"Amen!\" and he beamed from ear to ear. :) so CUTE!
32. Oregon Friends! Vote for Thomas Sliva for Soil and Water Director Zone 3! He is starting a viral campaign. He will hold government accountable for their dirt and water waste and make sure Big Water and Greedy Soil Corporations don\'t take away your land and water freedoms! Write in Thomas Sliva and return your ballot by Nov 2! (There is no current candidate, so Thom wants the job). Spread the word.
33. If I shampoo the carpets in the fall, is it still called spring cleaning?
34. connor\'s better today, but still running a temp without meds, and definitely not himself today.. *sigh*
35. poor connor has caught the stomache bug going around... fever of 100.4 and tummy aches all day! :( Dr mom has prescribed lots of rocking time and juice
36. Oregon has \'sunshine delays\' in rush hour... go figure!
37. nursing a migraine this morning... aaghh! someone turn out the lights!
38. Today Ron\'s brother blesses his baby -- Jared is borrowing Connor\'s suit. How fun to see it in action again! :)
39. Today\'s GC told us to be grateful. I am grateful for my husband even though we don\'t always agree...
40. C & I lasted all the way through SM and 1/2 way through SS before it got unbearable and we had to come home for Connor\'s nap. :(. Points for trying?
41. It\'s nice to have a chilly day, especially since it will warm up later. :)
42. What is the polite way to say to the guy in the cube next to mine, \"YOU EAT LIKE A HORSE!\" ???
43. Never thought i\'d have to say \"feet off the table\" to a one YO. It is his personal lounge chair....
44. I was going to have pot roast for dinner, but I am out of touch with my crock pot. Maybe I\'ll come back for a midnight snack....
45. \"Look at your status. Now back to mine. Now back to your status, now back to mine. Sadly, your status isn\'t mine. But if you stopped posting about other things & made this your status, yours could be like mine. Look down. Back up. Where are you? You\'re on Facebook, reading the status your status could be like! Anything is possible, when your Facebook status looks like this one. I\'m on a couch!\" Thanks, Mae! :)
46. Wishing I didn\'t eat ice cream for dinner.... :(
47. Dang cats woke me up at. 4am... :(
48. Connor has found one of those sproingy door stops, so guess what I\'m listening to?
49. I love my hubby.....
50. Days are getting shorter, fall must be here...
51. Ron: \"Connor, you need to chill out and be less grumpy\" Connor: \"NNNO!\" Ron: speechless...... Priceless. :)
52. Ok, ok, I have a great life. :)
53. When do I get my life back?
54. Did you know you can get a cloud burn? Well, in Oregon you can! (I just heard it on the radio so it must be true...)
55. I need a nap!
56. YAY! I am bottle and formula free at baby school!! Connor is doing great with the whole milk in a sippy cup. AWESOME!
57. Connor took a nap on the cots yesterday! He\'s getting so big! *sniff*
58. who picks the weekend of a heat wave to go to WA and help Ron with No A/C? Me, that\'s who. SO HOT!!!! Be careful up there Ron!
59. 23 lbs 10 oz (67%), 32\" long (98%), 46 cm head cir. Well, that\'s more of a status for Connor than me.:)
60. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONNOR!!! My big little boy! :)
61. The big debate: Cut his hair before or after pictures?
62. it\'s official today. The LO has decided to return home. Until we meet again....
63. Work, work, work. It\'s such a small part of our dreams but such a large part of our day...........
64. * The good, the bad, and the ugly * The good news: Last week I found out I was ~ 8 weeks along! The bad news: This week I found out the baby is in distress. Heart rate was only 84 bpm and irregular, and the sac appeared to be collapsing. :( The ugly: my puffy eyes. :\'( Any prayers offered would be greatly appreciated.... I guess we\'ll just have to see what God has in store for this one.
65. Sitting at the dr office :(.
66. we met baby Jared yesterday. His tiny little legs are literally about the size of my thumb! Still no answers as to why he was born so small, but he sure was cute!
67. I\'m in trouble. Connor fell asleep before I could get him home and eat dinner. He didn\'t wake up when I brought him out of the car. He didn\'t wake up when I put him in his high chair or tried to shove a bottle in his mouth. Still asleep-- does that mean I\'m going to have a 2am wakeup call? :
68. I gave connor a spoon to play with as I got dinner ready. I turned around and he was scooping himself up some soft cat food. Apparently the spoon was an invitation....
69. I can\'t do it... I know it\'s his time, but I can\'t be the one to make the definitive call.
70. Kitty is now on pain medication and anti-nausea meds, so officially on hospice? The meds seem to be helping. Poor guy...
71. Someone on my cubicle row is wearing EXTREME cologne and giving me a headache. C\'mon, people! Didn\'t we go through this in jr. High? Ugh!
72. We had a fun music lesson on the xylaphone earlier today, then playtime and mamie\'s fab green chicken curry after nap. I\'m trying to get in as many naps as possible.... :)

What's up with Connor?

My sister Mamie asked for some gift ideas, and the list I sent her turned into a pretty cute list, so I thought I would share it here. I'll post pictures later if I can find any to match.

here’s what Connor loves to do:

• Buttons. He LOVES to push buttons to find out what they do. Laundry, VCR (It’s lowest on our stack), phone, oven, oh and toys too. I’m trying to teach him not to push the dangerous (or inconvenient) buttons. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come back to do laundry and found that the load had been stopped in its tracks 2 mins after I started it. Argh!
• Music. He loves buttons even more when music comes out of it. He grooves to just about anything. I’ve gotta get that kid on video grooving to something – it’s SO CUTE! He’ll push a button for music then his head starts grooving and his whole body gets into it. Then he starts dancing toward me because he wants me to join. J I laugh every time. (PS he has THREE of those animals that you push the paws and they make music – presents from various people at Christmas last year, so that is covered!)
• Water. He loves water anywhere. He’s learned how to play in the church fountains, will spend 20 mins brushing his teeth, and LOVES bath time. When he hears the water running, he comes instantly and gets in the tub himself (even with clothes on). So far I have successfully stopped him from getting his clothes wet. But he figured out early how to climb over the tub wall and get in himself. (Also came in handy at ~8 or 9 months when I had to briefly leave the bathroom to get his towel across the hall and he didn’t want to be alone. He climbed over and slithered across the floor to find me.). Anyway, right now his bath toys are kind of scarce. He has some foam letters/numbers that stick to the wall, some plastic squirty sea life and a big boat that floats with blocks on top. Not that I need a ton of toys plugging up the bath, but a new one or two wouldn’t hurt. Or a water play table or toy or something.
• Dress up. Dress up for Connor is mostly hats. He loves putting stuff on his head, and showing me the sign for “hat” (see below for signing). Things I’ve seen on his head: hats (all kinds and sizes), tambourine, bowls, plates, blankets, stuffed animals, books, princess dress (at school), clothes, shoes, and I’m sure there are others that I can’t think of right now.
• Phones & remotes. OK, the remote is probably just more of the button thing, but he’ll turn anything into a phone, even without buttons. He’ll put it up to his ear and start talking. And, once he’s talking he’ll start walking around looking at the ground. (wonder where he learned that one from?). Things that are phones: bars of soap, small plastic gadgets, play phones (he has 3), pretty much anything that is rectangular and solid.
• Teddy Bear. He has a teddy bear that he loves to snuggle at night. He has other stuffed animals – lots of monkeys from mom with her monkey kick last year, some various sea creature puppets and a couple other things – but nothing so soft or squishy as his teddy. It’s cute!
• Sign language. It took him a while to start using the signs he knew, but now he gets a kick out of it – especially “Hat” (since he likes dressup so much). Here are the words that he has recognized or used in sign (Some he’s only done once, but it counts! Comes from Rachel Coleman’s Baby Signing Time DVD’s): Eat, drink, cracker, water, milk, all done, mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, more, bird, fish, cat, dog, baby, shoes, hat, please, thank you (synonymous with his blowing kisses – same thing J), sorry, car, train, airplane, boat, ball, wash hands, brush teeth, sleep, bath, laugh (so cute when he did the sign to mom at Thanksgiving), sad, hot, cold, yes, no, telephone, go, stop, bug (he didn’t make the sign, but giggled and looked at the bug when I did), wait (again, didn’t make the sign, but understood when I did), snow, rain, wind. He also points to his eyes, nose, mouth and head when directed. OK, there’s probably not a gift idea in here, but I thought it would be fun to share.
• Should I list words he speaks, too? Lol why not! (it's not as many) Mom, dad, kitty-cat, hat, ba-ba (not so much anymore now that he's on sippy's), mum-mum means "milk" or "nourishment" can also be synonymous with "mom":), hot, wet, "wha?" means what (can be distinguished from wet because wet has the "t" sound), this (i.e. pointing to things and saying "this"). There are more. I'll add them when I remember.... :)
  

OMSI with mom's coworkers

Intel tries to enable a work/life balance by having fun offsites with family and friends. We went to OMSI and watched the underwater sea life Omni-Max movie. Connor lasted almost the entire 45 minutes!

He's getting to be such a big boy!!


In the infant room, looking through the fish tank. He loves fish!


In the eagle's nest.



Connor loved chasing the light in the hallway that says "OMSI". :)

falls in the fall

We took Connor to the Multnomah Falls and to the Falls Lodge restaurant. We hiked up to the first bridge, and then back down. It's probably too far up to the top since Connor is so small.









Hanging out when we got back. :)

Halloween III

The night before Halloween, we went to the ward trunk or treat event. Since HOW was on a sunday, I didn't feel like we should go door to door for candy. Utah and Arizona still do it on Saturday, but Oregon sticks with tradition...

Here we are getting ready to get ready.




My friend Whitney saw from Facebook that I was going to the trunk or treat and wanted to come with. Her little guy Braxton is ~6 months older than Connor, so he had an instant trick-or-treat buddy. (In case you couldn't tell from the disguises, Connor is the giraffe on the left, and Braxton is Yoda on the right.)



Connor didn't quite get it. He wouldn't hold his bucket, since he didn't really know what candy was.... He never had any before! But once he tried a sucker, he got really excited!

He likes climbing, not really a good activity for a giraffe, but he makes it work.




I love my little cutie pie!