Thursday, January 20, 2011

TV Dinners...YUMMY!

Tonight, Sam had to be out of town, so the kids and I were on our own for supper. Normally, I would jump at the chance for take-out or pizza, but since Sept-Jan is a VERY expensive time of year for us with EVERYONE's birthdays and Christmas, we are really trying to stretch our dollars a little right now. I had just gotten groceries and just happened to grab some TV dinners that were on sale for really cheap. I NEVER buy them, but I thought they might be an easy lunch or something someday, so I let the kids each pick one and got one for myself, inwardly congratulating myself on being thrifty and economical.

Today was a busy day. I had a dr appt this morning where they test for gestational diabetes, so it was a long one. Usually I take the kids with me to the dr but since I would have to sit and wait for a while, our awesome babysitter Amanda was hanging out with them. I took advantage of my freedom and did some errands all by myself (YAY for that!!) so it was about 2:30 when I got home. Claire and Darren both took exceptionally short naps, and Ellie really needed one, but I wasn't going to make her take one when both of them were up! *SIGH* ANYHOO, long story short-no hubby, little to no naps, and Children's Meetings in Stout equaled needing something fast, easy and delicious for supper. AH HA-my TV dinners! I KNEW they would come in handy! So, I pop them in the oven, get everyone's clothes laid out, pull out my innner drill sargeant to get the troops to pick up our tornado house, and lo and behold, the timer beeps-Dinner is served!

Well, we got the fast and easy part at least. Oh man, was I reminded why I never buy them. Those things are DISGUSTING!!!! The mac and cheese was like rubber, the potatoes were...I don't know what they were, but they weren't potatoes, and the corn was so overgrown and overcooked, it was pretty much inedible. Claire Bear summed it up best: "Moma, dis yucky. No yike it." I completely agreed with her so we each found one thing in our meal that wasn't disgusting. I ate part of my chicken, Ellie ate her ckn nuggets, Darren ate his chicken and dessert, and Claire had an extremely overcooked, hard as a rock, brownie for supper (which she loved btw!). Way to go SuperMom! Thank goodness tonight was pizza night at Children's Meeting! :)

Moral of the Story:
Self, there is a reason those suckers are .50 and why you don't buy them. Please remember this the next time you are tempted.
Thank you kindly, Your Taste Buds

I think I need to go rock.....

Monday, January 17, 2011

Baby Questions and Library Books

Due to the influx of baby-related questions in our household, we made a little trip to the Cedar Falls library today while we were in town to get some groceries. We asked the smiley librarian where the books were about Mommy's with babies in their tummies and she showed us a whole section, much to our delight!

I have to tell you, this is about the most fun pregnancy that I've ever had. The kids have brought a whole new aspect to it and it's a BLAST! While pregnancy is never "ho-hum", after a while you can forget really how amazing it is. Since I've done this a time or 2 (or 3 or 4...) now, I am not so nervous about every little thing and overall, I feel great, which helps a LOT! The questions that the kids ask also remind me of the wonder of creating another little person in your body!! We're, thankfully, past the "How did that baby get in there Mom? Are you sure it wasn't thru your belly button? Did you eat him to get him in there???" phase. Our current "obsession" with 60 gazillion questions is with the umbilical cord. I'm honestly not sure why, and have stopped trying to figure it out. Darren is the main one who just can't seem to ask enough questions. I think he might be just trying to figure it out and asking the same questions over and over is his way of understanding. Although, in his mind, that hamburger and baked beans I ate for supper the other night went to his brother straight thru that "combilcal cord"as a hamburger and baked beans, so now he's a little confused about if Little Man has teeth to chew it, and why he can't eat a hot dog when he comes home from the hospital....*sigh*

SO, based on the above mentioned questions, we decided to check out some books from the library that would help little people understand a pretty confusing subject, without being too graphic of course. There were some GREAT ones, and it really made me smile, seeing them all lined up looking at their "baby books". The books do a really good job of explaining things in ways that kids understand (and make a question-tired Mom think 'WHY on EARTH did I not think of that????'). We even have one that has lots of pictures of umbilical cords! :) We had checked out one when I was pregnant with Claire for Ellie about Mommy being in the hospital and I honestly think she was very at ease there because we had read that book NUMEROUS times, so she wasn't scared to see me in a hospital bed, wasn't scared of all the machines, she knew what the special baby bed was for, knew why she needed to be quiet, and lots of other things that I wouldn't even have thought she might be worried about, but they turned out great.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE it that I can find information from people that are much smarter than me and my kids EAT it up! You would be amazed at how fast they got their jammies on tonight when I told them we would read "baby" books for bedtime stories! :) I love it that they can ask me questions in the privacy of our home where we can help them understand and they don't need to be ashamed. They don't ask too many embarrassing questions at this age, but it's nice to have to time to fully explain and know they understand rather than a quick answer and that's that.

It's funny the things they worry about too. Darren had been asking me a LOT lately if Dr. Rellihan is going to take the baby out when I go in a couple days for a check-up. I told him no, it's just a check up and it's still a while until the baby comes out. He just kept asking and asking so finally I asked him why he was so concerned. My sweet little boy finally told me "Mommy, I don't want your tummy to break"!!!! Awwww....he's such a sweetie! My belly isn't really that big I don't think, but it is DEFINITELY growning, so I guess in his mind, it was just going to break open one of these times, so the dr. better take that brother out!!!! I reassured him that wasn't going to happen, and I haven't heard about it since!

In other pregnancy news...there is no news! I am feeling great-tired and achy back, but that's pretty par for the course! I'm 28 weeks now, so it's coming up FAST! We did some rearranging in Darren's room to make room for a crib, but it's not done yet, so I'll post some pics when it's done. I think the nesting phase is kind of starting, so I'm ready to get some stuff in order so I have a little time to catch my breath before he actually gets here. I am pretty sure this house isn't meant for 6 people, so it's going to require some major organization, but we're starting and i think it will be ok once it's all done.

Guess that's the highlights for now. I am going to try and update my blog a little more often now that the craziness has calmed. Holidays and birthday parties are over, my classes are done, I'm finished filling in long-term at the bank, and life is slowly getting back to normal (soon to be un-normal in a few months-YAY!!). Thanks for reading and have a wonderful night!! :)