The Text That Made My Day, and the Hallway Transformation

Yesterday, I went to work oh-so-early, long before the sun, Pat, or Kateri woke up. As I drove to work shivering in the dark and waiting for the seat warmer and heater to kick in (oh poor me ;), I kept thinking of how badly I missed the two of them! It is so darling to see Kateri early in the morning. She often wakes up and reads a little book we put in her bed, and she is always in such a happy mood. So, once I was fairly sure Pat would be awake, I shot him a text asking him to send me a picture of Kateri before my mom picked her up and he went to work.

Not long after eight, I got this text:

"Forgot to send you a pic of K-bear, so here is an awkward one of me and The Newest Model."

(With the ultrasound picture!)

This text made my day! I can't help but smile every time I see it!

Pat has a great love of music and sports (primarily baseball and football) as anyone who has spent more than 0.1 seconds talking to him can testify. He finally had a chance to put up some of his treasured pictures in the hallway downstairs post basement flood.

Pat spent a lot of time carefully measuring out every picture and painstakingly planning where each one will go, and, after much effort, revealed the final product:

Many of his favorite things are here . . .

Among them,

(Pat does believe. And hope. And pray)

No wall of Pat's would be complete without the Bears. And this new favorite courtesy of Mikey~

Or his favorite band of all time, Cowboy Mouth. . . Next time you see Pat, ask him how many times he has seen them live. It is not a small number!

And of course, Pat cannot leave out this famous band:

So, just remember, if you ever need someone to organize and hang the pictures in your downstairs hallway, sports-bar, or music venue, Pat is the one to go to!

Ideas to Break the February Doldrums

You know what sounds really good right about now?! This:

Beautiful soft breezes, clear blue waters, palm trees, hammocks. Oh and a really good book. And one of those beach-tents that Kateri will nap in (totally realistic, I know!). And you know what the most exciting part of it would be?! No layering kiddos in layer after layer to keep them warm! To borrow a phrase from Jeanne, 'Perfection in a nutshell.' This just sounds beyond wonderful right about now. Plus I can't wait to take Kateri to a beach to see what she thinks of the ocean, and those waves look perfectly manageable, even by an almost one year old.

But, reality check. We just entered February. The doldrums of winter for sure. This month always seems to last sooooo long. Even our forbears showed remarkable brilliance in making this month the shortest of all, even when we have to add a day. The mud, the brown grass, leafless trees. Luckily we have a few things to break it up and brighten it up, such as Kateri's first birthday! But, until then, we will be doing some summer dreaming.

The other day in Costco we came across this adorable beach set, PERFECT for Kateri this summer and, eventually, her little brother, right?!

Kateri sure thought it was pretty amazing. Beach babe in February, right here.

She made sure to catch the eye of as many passer-by's as possible.

So we keep on summer dreaming!

Today, Pat is building the grill that he got for his birthday. Yes, yet another exciting thing about summer~ grilling out! Though we definitely plan to start using the grill long before the summer is officially here. That way we will get a taste of summer, at least.

And until then, we are hoping to come up with some fun activities to fill the days! Here are some of our ideas:

1. Feeding birds/bird watching at the water treatment plant. Yes, the water treatment plant. My mom showed me this the other day (and my aunt showed her the day before that). There is a big lake and all sorts of birds, so it is perfect if you want to let your inner ornithologist out (bring binoculars!), or if you just desperately need to get the kids out of the house and see something new. Maybe we can even have a picnic if the weather is just a bit warmer . . .

2. Frying Pan Park- I bet there will be some new baby animals soon, plus it is always fun to go and see the animals anyway. Another picnic! But likewise, we will need at least slightly above freezing temperatures for this so we shall see!

3. Work on the garden- desperately needed anyway! K-bear will love being outside, I know. We just need to be on eating-everything-prevention duty.

4. Chick-fil-A indoor playground. I pretty much never do this (mainly because Kateri really hasn't been old enough to enjoy things like this yet), but desperate times (like February) call for desperate measures (for me anyway!). And, despite (or I guess because of) all the fomites, Kateri will love it.

5. I also keep thinking of taking Kateri to some museums. But the thought of expending all that energy on an almost one year old just doesn't make sense. So I think I'll cross this one OFF the list!

Hmmm. That is all I can come up with right about now! Any other ideas?

Diaper Cake

When I was expecting Kateri, my friend and co-worker Julie C. made me a beautiful diaper cake, and the center of it was a bottle of champagne! I LOVED this touch because at the end of the pregnancy nothing sounded as refreshing as a nice cold mimosa, and I really cherished the idea of having one post delivery. Speaking of which, that sounds pretty good right about now!

Corinne, Pat's lovely sister, is due with a darling baby girl in mid-March. This Saturday is her baby shower, so I decided to make a cake for her, complete with her own bottle of champagne in the center.

I am debating adding some more decorations (hair bows/headbands) but perhaps it is better simple . . . What do you think?

Quinoa: Complete Protein, Meat Free and Gluten Free

On the recommendation of my dear friend Mary, we recently bought this at Costco:

Mary has made a bunch of delicious meatless meals and sides with this quinoa for our Friday Rosary Night Dinners. Everything she has made has been so good! I will be making this dish for Rosary Night tonight.  You can find the recipe here.

Quinoa and Black Beans

Pat's Rating:
Tee's Rating: 4.5/5 stars. I really like the flavor, and because of the cilantro and the corn it is not heavy. It is also not overly time-consuming to make. I definitely want to make this more often!

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

     

1 onion, chopped                                                                        

3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

3/4 cup uncooked quinoa                                                    

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth                                                    

1 teaspoon ground cumin                                                    

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper                                                    

salt and pepper to taste                                                    

1 cup frozen corn kernels                                                    

2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained                                                    

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

 

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat, sauté the onion and garlic. I used extra-virgin olive oil instead, it tasted delicious and one really can't taste the olive oil at all in the final product. I also waited to add the garlic until the onion was done.

 

 

 

2. Add the quinoa and vegetable broth, as well as the spices. I ended up adding about 2 or 3 teaspoons of cumin, I don't have cayenne pepper so I just skipped it. Bring to boil and then cover and simmer for 20 minutes

 

 

3. Stir the frozen corn into the pan, simmer for about 5 minutes until heated through. Haha this is certainly not the most appetizing picture!! Flash would have been better.

 



 

6. Stir in black beans and cilantro.

 

 

I opted to add the cilantro separately to taste.

 

 

And then add some sour cream to top off the dish:

 

 

All in all: easy, healthy, and delicious! This can be a side any day or a main dish on Friday. I bet it will also taste delicious with chicken and/or fresh tomatoes.

Fly Lady and Baby Steps in Organization

Because baby steps are what I desperately need right now! With the thought of a second baby coming in just a few months, I have realized I need a plan to both maintain the house and keep two children alive, fed and relatively happy.

Last week, mom came over for a bit and showed me a new app she had just downloaded on the recommendation of the beautiful and amazing Christine. It broke down chores into daily/weekly/monthly routines. Everything was bite-size, organized, and easy to follow! It looked perfect. So I immediately searched my app store to find it, but tragically the app was only for mac and my android couldn't use it. Sad sad day.

But, as we searched, we came across Fly Lady. She also has an app, but it is for android~ and guess what else~ it is free! Perfection! You can look over her methods and see if they would work for you here.

I love her approach because it breaks housekeeping down into nice small chunks that aren't completely depressing and overwhelming. She starts by dividing the house into different zones, for instance: the kitchen is one zone, the bedrooms another. Then she allocates a certain number of days each month to each zone. So by the end of the month, you will have worked in each area of your house. And the wonderful part is you only spend five to fifteen minutes per day! So do-able!

I certainly downloaded that app as quick as I was able. And things that were seriously never getting done are actually getting done around here! Things like dusting the top of fans or clearing off the top of the fridge.

She even has some extra little tips that have really helped me. For instance, yesterday I cleaned out my fridge. I usually put this off because the thought of emptying that entire thing of the good, the bad, and the ugly moldy mess, then taking out each shelf, drawer to wash, and washing the inside is so overwhelming that only a huge energy reserve plus an entire day of Nothing Else will enable me to do it. Which means, never ever ever does this happen. So you can imagine it did sound nice when she recommended simply spraying the shelves down, one by one as you clear them. Although skeptical at first, I can say that it went significantly quicker than it ever has before and the end product looked quite nice. I also did not get half way through the project and contemplate driving to the airport and buying a ticket to Barbados. Score!

Another thing she will do is encourage you to treat yourself, light a scented candle, set up some flowers, read a magazine. Easy to forget when there is a little munchkin requiring constant attention, but those little things make you feel human and grown up and like a person again.

So here are a couple pictures of some baby steps around here:

1. If you opened our TV side-cabinets, they were crammed full of DVD's we never watched, CD's we never listened too, and various pieces of junk that did not belong there at all. No before picture, but here is the post:

2. Last night, I decided to tackle our junk drawer. How can it be possible to fit this magnitude of stuff in one drawer? I found so many things I had no idea were there including a firework (yes! maybe we will have to set it off for Kateri's birthday in a few weeks) 4 flashlights, five lighters, three large lighters that you would use outside, 4 or 5 packs of gum, multiple toys, 6 or 7 rolls of tape, several screw drivers and much much more. Here is a photo of some, only a portion, of the contents of that single drawer.

How did we fit all of that into one drawer? I honestly do not know! But we definitely purged and organized and put things where they ought to go, and here is the end result:

 

I think I will purchase another organizer. It seriously does the soul so much good to see the junk drawer looking like that! And now it's functional, beyond just a place to stuff things I don't know where else to put!

 

3. We have been trying to figure out a good way to handle bills, coupons, and receipts. These things tend to get shoved in out of the way places during quick clean ups and subsequently forgotten, then taking more time as we search for them in all the hidden out of the way places. So we have been on the lookout for an easy way to keep them organized and give them a place to go. Yesterday I found this at Marhsalls:

 



At first I was planning on using something more vertical, but I opted for this one. This is why: we will put the bills right on the top which means that they are always visible until paid! Inside the drawer we will store receipts on one side and coupons on the other. Good because they are hidden!

So those are a few of our baby steps! We have a long way to go but we are on our way!

What are your methods for organizing/keeping the house clean? Any favorite tips?

A Study of Kateri in Her Natural Envorionment (i.e. Among Toys)

 Kateri loves her toys, but what she loves doing most is emptying the bucket of toys and spreading them throughout the house. Wrigley gladly lends a helpful hand (paw . . . well, mouth, I guess) and carries some of them over to her spot. I have to say my favorite thing about toys being all over kingdom come is that in the span of 5 minutes the house goes from looking like a disaster to looking clean! And having a basket for toys has been an absolute godsend. It is a huge blessing to my sanity to have an easy quick location to throw the many toys that have been accumulating of late!

And now for some pictures of our precious girl:

 

 

 



 

In Which Kateri Has Her First Professional Photo Shoot

These days have been just flying by! I completely lost track of what gestational week I'm in, and forgot I had an upcoming appointment. Pregnancy brain strikes again! Providentially, while I was rifling through a gazillion papers in the car over the weekend, I came across my reminder card that I had a doctors appointment today Monday at 8:30. And thankfully this happened over the weekend and not tomorrow!

So off we went to see Dr B this morning. Pat couldn't come because of work, and so I was solo, with Kateri. Which, honestly, seemed like an impossible and insurmountable task. Where on EARTH would I put her while we were listening to the heartbeat? Holding her is out of the question, and she really can't sit and crawl around on the dirty floor (gross gross gross).

Last night, Laura gave me a good piece of advice: bring a stroller!

So we left this morning in the torrential downpour. It really was crazy how much water was on the roads, but we got there, and on time too. I grabbed Kateri, my coat, her cow-blanket, my big diaper bag/purse loaded with multiple distractions for Kateri, and a stroller. And yes, I carried everything . . . even the stroller, because it was pouring and I didn't want to take the time to open it (and get drrrrenched in the process! No thanks!!).

As I staggered in to Tepeyac with everything clutched in my arms , I could tell the full waiting room was staring and thinking, "Crazy Lady has arrived."

We survived the waiting-room wait (waiting room waits are pretty painful regardless, but I am beginning to realize that a waiting-room wait with kid(s) is it's own special Purgatory).

When Dr B came in to the little room, I snapped Kateri in her stroller and piled some honey grahams on her lap. She, meanwhile, smiled immediately as he walked in the room and looked thrilled to see him. Dr B smiled and after interacting with her for a bit, said, "Do you mind if I take a picture of her?"

And he pulled out his phone to snap a shot. Kateri happily obliged with another endearing smile, like a perfect model.

Whenever he would direct his attention to me, Kateri would talk louder and louder until he would look at her, and then she would wrinkle her nose and beam. She was enjoying this doctors visit way too much!

Dr B asked Kateri if she wanted to hear her brother the train (yes. that is what he said). Then, when we heard the heartbeat, he said, "Choo Choo!!!" (btw the heartbeat sounded great, regular and in the 140's. Also I found out the placenta is posterior, which is also good news).

Dr B said, "She is too cute! Can I take another picture of her?"

Me: Ok.

Dr B: "Would you mind if I use her picture in some of the power points I am putting together for presentations?"

Me: "Oh no, I wouldn't mind at all."

I wish I had asked what categories the picture would come under . . .

Maybe . . .

"Cute babies CAN happen, despite crazy moms!"

-or-

"Babies just LOVE going to Tepeyac!"

-or-

"All babies LOVE Dr B!"

Who knows. As I was about to leave, I thought of taking a picture of Kateri so I could put it on the blog and you could see one of Dr B's future slide presentations.

. . .

Kateri was Not Impressed. Not even with my best attempts to convince her to smile. And she gave me no beaming grins, and not even a half hearted smile-grimace. Just a blank stare with eyebrows slightly raised and a slightly pitying expression. I almost ran to get Dr B to make her smile again so you could see it, but he was probably in another patients room by then. Nevertheless, that is the face that will soon be gracing a presentation somewhere!