Stir Craziness

Bryan's car wouldn't start last week. So after almost a week of barely leaving the house, I was about to go stir crazy. I could have taken Bryan to work each morning, but I love it when he comes home for lunch, and I could have dropped him off at work after lunch but that just didn't work out for one reason or another this week. What about Bryan's motorcycle, you ask? Some mornings it's been too cold and the one day that he did ride it to work, it started to rain. Staying at home seemed to solve all our dilemmas with transportation. This week though in particular Bryan was very, very busy. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights were filled with commitments away from home. So when I typically get lots of help and sometimes a much needed break during the evenings, I didn't get much of that this week, which added to the stir craziness.
After an uninterrupted seven hours of sleep, that's right seven hours, Seth and I were able to get out of the house this morning. We dropped off our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, we went by the bank, and made a quick trip to the library. It was so nice. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was enough to cure my need to get out of the house. Thankfully, Bryan was able to get his car (that he has had since he was 15) to run today. One day it's not going to be fixable, but we are hoping that day can be held off a little bit longer. In the mean time we are making do, and I am especially thankful that weeks like the past one don't happen that often.

My First Chocolate Pie

My First Chocolate Pie

A couple of years ago, I was given an assignment to write a personal version of the poem Where I'm From by George Ella Lyon. The beginning of mine went something like this:

where I'm from
by: Stephanie Tillery

Adapted from: George Ella Lyon

I am from chocolate pie,

from cornbread and West Tennessee barbeque,

I am from the table where every evening meal was spent together

filled with warmth and love.

I am from Grandma's blue hydrangeas,

the backyard apples trees, and the fuzzy pine planted

in the first few days of Kindergarten.

As you can see, chocolate pie has been a big part of my life. My dad is the chocolate pie maker in our family. Let me just go ahead and say it, no one and I mean no one else can make a chocolate pie as good as him. Well, I decided that I would try my hand at making a chocolate pie today using my dad's recipe that he so graciously shared with me the last time we were down to visit. I have seen my dad make a few chocolate pies in my lifetime. It wouldn't be too hard to replicate that chocolate goodness, or so I thought...
First, I only had a store bought rolled up frozen pie crust. I didn't let it properly thaw before trying to unroll it, so it cracked all to pieces which resulted in a very ugly pie crust and some of my edges browned too much while it was baking. Then, my chocolate took forever and I mean forever to slightly thicken using a double boiler which I insisted on trying since the original recipe called for that, even though my dad doesn't do it that way. I should have known better. For crying out loud, why didn't I just do it like my dad does it? I ended up dumping my chocolate into a regular pot and doing it like he does it after thirty minutes of stirring and finally it started to thicken. All the while I had my egg whites whipping in the stand mixer for the meringue. I am not sure what went wrong with them, but they ended up so not like my dad's. Maybe over mixing? Maybe it just wasn't his magic touch? I'm not giving up trying to make a good chocolate pie, but I know one thing for sure, I am going to have to do some major practicing to ever make a chocolate pie as good as my dad's.

2 Month Stats

Today Seth went in for his two month check-up and the first round of vaccines. We had an excellent report. He is a healthy and growing baby boy. Seth is up to a whopping 9 pounds and 14 ounces and he is 22 inches long. He was so happy during the exam and he even smiled at the doctor. When it came time for the shots he screamed bloody murder for about five seconds and then he was back to normal. I think I had a harder time than he did. As many of you know, I have a fear of needles and thorns of all kinds and it was so incredibly hard for me to see my baby boy being stuck with three sharp needles. That whole maternal instinct thing has really kicked in I think.
Seth will be starting a vitamin drop tomorrow and he can now take Baby Tylenol. I was told to give him some as soon as we got home to help ease the discomfort from the vaccines. Baby Tylenol was something I didn't think to get before today though. So on our way home we had to make a stop at Walgreens. (For all of you out there that have little ones on the way, make sure you put that on your list of things to buy.) We made it home and although the doctor said Seth could be very fussy, he hasn't been yet. He has mostly slept. It could be a long night, but if that means just holding my baby boy all night, I will gladly do it. He is only two months old once after all.
Speaking of sleeping, Seth has moved into his own room now. He started sleeping five or six hours at a time last week and we thought that was the perfect time to transition him to his own bedroom. Since we have done that I have only had to wake up one time each night to feed him. It only took 8 weeks for him to really realize people are supposed to sleep more at night than during the day. :)
In developmental news, our little man is smiling and giggling. He is not only smiling though, he is smiling back at us if we smile first. It is so exciting! He has just started the giggling and it just sounds like little happy grunts right now, not really continuous giggles, but it is such a beautiful sound regardless. He loves to try to hit objects and he really loves his new Tiny Love Classical Mobile. After noticing his fascination with the ceiling fan, we did some research and found this wonderful mobile. Seth loves it!
I tried getting a video of him last week when he just started with the giggles. I'm sorry it's sideways, I will try to get a better video in the next few days. I will know not to turn the camera next time. Excuse the hiccups, too. :)

Living a Dream

This week I have had several things to write about but I just haven't had a good opportunity to blog. I never realized how scatter-brained you become in the land of mommyhood. Every time I start something, my mind wanders to something else and so I start that and so on and so on. I had to be very intentional this week to finish particular tasks before starting something new in an effort to not leave a million unfinished tasks to be completed who knows when.
In amongst my very scatter-brained thinking I came to a realization. One warmer day this week Seth and I took a stroll around the neighborhood. I really enjoyed getting out and feeling the sun, watching the leaves blow, and listening to the sounds of nature. As we were walking, I thought about how much my days have changed. I feel like I am living a dream. I really felt like I needed to be pinched just to make sure I wasn't going to wake up. I am so blessed to be able to stay home and be with our baby boy. I love being a wife and mother. I love that my dream is a reality.

First Trip to Jackson

This past weekend Seth made his first trip to Jackson to visit with family. Seth got to meet Pepaw (his great-grandfather) and will hopefully get to meet Memaw soon. He also loved spending time with the grandparents. Bryan and I did too. :)

Here are a few pictures:

Meeting Pepaw for the first time

4 Generations

Nana, Pop, and Seth

Cooking Meat Like Crazy

Just so you know, I have been cooking meat like crazy. Yesterday and today, I utilized the crock pot. Man, I love the crockpot. What a great invention! Oh, and those Reynolds crock pot liners, they are amazing!
I cooked a pork loin roast which has been shredded, divided and frozen for three future meals. Today, during Seth's long nap and amongst my cleaning the house and preparing for tutoring I cooked a huge amount of ground beef. Again I divided the meat into three bags, I kept one pound raw for a future meatloaf, and I kept some out for our beef enchiladas tonight. Once all that meat was put away I shredded the roast I had in the crock pot for three future meals. So I prepared meat for ten different meals in the past two days. Before our trip to Jackson tomorrow, I will be rolling out meatballs for four different meals and dividing up some hamburger patties. All of this meat will remain uncooked but it will be ready for a quick thaw and easy cooking. I think it's been a pretty successful week in the kitchen.

Two Chickens, Five Meals

I have really gotten back into cooking again. I think part of the reason is because I have been cooking most of my meats ahead of time. I do have to take a little bit of extra time to cook the meats but it sure does cut down down the time for most meals since I can just add the cooked meat into whatever dish I am making.
I started cooking and freezing meat shortly before Seth was born in hopes to make my life easier once he arrived. I loved how much it simplified my life that I haven't stopped. We are so much less tempted to go out to eat if we know we can throw together a meal really quickly since the meat is already cooked.
I went to the store on Sunday and bought a lot of meat and I mean a lot of meat! I am actually hoping all of this meat will last most of the month if I plan well. I don't take one day to cook all of my meat though. I like to break it up through the week. So tonight I started cooking.
I could just pick up some chickens from the deli at Wal-mart, but I have found that they are sometimes rubbery, so I like to roast my own. If you have never roasted a chicken, it is super simple. I like to put a cut up lemon and some garlic in my standard roasted chicken. I salt and pepper the outside really well, tuck the wings under the body, and tie the legs together to make sure they cook evenly. It sounds complicated but it is really not, trust me. I cook my chickens at 400 degrees for an hour and thirty minutes.

Tonight I needed some chicken for Chicken Pot Pie so it was a perfect time to cook two chickens for future meals. I used one chicken breast and leg meat for our dinner tonight and I removed the rest of the meat and froze it for future meals like Chicken Enchiladas, Chicken and Dumplings, Chicken Tacos, and Poppyseed Chicken Casserole. So the meat from two chickens is going to provide meat for five meals and the nice thing about it is, the meat is already cooked. I put all of my cooked meat in quart sized freezer bags and label each one with what it is and the date that it was cooked.

On the agenda for tomorrow is shredded pork...

Avoiding Frumpiness

Before life in mommyhood, I never understood how hard it was to take a shower. I never understood how hard it was to dress nice. I never understood why taking care of yourself was so difficult. Now I completely understand. Because Seth has been somewhat of a night owl, we both sleep for most of the morning each day. We wake up in time to greet Bryan when he comes home for lunch and that is when we truly start our day. It's sad, I know, but hopefully that is coming to an end soon. I can say I have successfully managed to get a shower each day, but actually drying my hair and putting on makeup has often been overlooked. I have finally been able to fit back into my pre-pregnancy pants just this week. The good news is I can fit into pants I wore two years ago, a size smaller than my pre-pregnancy size. The bad news is, I only have five pairs of pants, two of which are maternity pants, because somehow my pants that I wore last year have disappeared. So it is very desirable to just put on pajama pants and call it good and the vast majority of shirts that I wear usually have spit up on them within the first few minutes of wearing them. I say all of this because it is very hard to avoid the frumpiness that is often associated with stay-at-home moms. I am trying though. I don't want to lose the desire to put on makeup or to wear my cute new $7 striped shirt from Old Navy. I want to take care of myself. I want to avoid frumpiness at all costs.

Our Little Pumpkin

Seth dressed up as a pumpkin, which only lasted a few short minutes, for his first Halloween. We thought he was the cutest little pumpkin ever though.