Stuffed Peppers

So my sister was telling me about making stuffed peppers and I forgot how much I love those! They are so easy to make and I just kinda threw whatever I had in there and they were seriously so delicious!

Here's what I did:
I cooked ground turkey meat with some olive oil, onions, minced garlic. I added dried Italian seasoning and salt and pepper. Also added a small can of tomato sauce.

In a mixing bowl I added some wild grain rice (cooked-I buy the bags you just microwave for 90 seconds-love those) and 1 tomato diced. And I threw in a handful of Parmesan/mozzarella cheese mix.

I added the meat mix to the rice mixture and just stirred and stuffed the peppers. I could have made about 8 peppers with the amount of stuffing I had though.

I used some cooking spray in a bread pan-put them in there so they would stand up. Baked at 350 for 30 mins and then sprinkled on some Cheddar cheese and cooked for about 5 minutes. These were so Delicious I am SO making them again...and again :-)

I think corn or black beans would be good too, you could even do a small pasta, maybe add some basil, cilantro just about anything!

First Food

We tried Gerber Organic Oatmeal today, Easton wasn't sure about it, he basically just wanted to chew and suck on the spoon!

So freaked out....

 Kinda smiling....

 Focusing on the task....

Nap Time

I know this is probably against what they say in some book about how to get your kids to nap , but I REALLY don't care. Easton is now taking a 2-3 hour nap every afternoon as long as he is in our bed laying on his daddy's pillow and sometimes I snuggle with him. I love every second of this!

Happy 4 months Easton!

Our sweet boy is 4 months old now! He weighs 15lbs 12oz (85th percentile) and is 27 inches tall (97th percentile). He is wearing 6-9 months clothes because he is so tall! We are still loving every minute with him.

He is now waking up a few times a night (ugh!) after 2 months of sleeping 10-12 hours it has been brutal on me! We are now letting him cry it out and it does work- he falls back asleep but my sleep has not been great. Hopefully soon he will stop waking up (fingers crossed)!!! But other than that we are doing awesome and looking forward to February- and my33rd Birthday!

Ferber method.....

I'm trying this starting tonight....

Number of Minutes to Wait Before Responding To Your Child
Day 1 - 3 min (1st wait); 5 min (2nd wait); 10 min (3rd wait); 10 min (subsequent waits)
Day 2 – 5 min; 10 min; 12 min; 12 min (subsequent waits)
Day 3 – 10 min; 12 min; 15 min; 15 min (subsequent waits)
Day 4 – 12 min; 15 min; 17 min; 17 min (subsequent waits)
Day 5 – 15 min; 17 min; 20 min; 20 min (subsequent waits)
Day 6 – 17 min; 20 min; 25 min; 25 min (subsequent waits)

Day 7 – 20 min; 25 min; 30 min; 30 min (subsequent waits)

Wish me luck!

Easton Update

Easton and my sister Ryann (aka his personal clothes shopper)

 He is loving to try to stand up!

 He loves to sit up in his bumbo!

 You can kinda tell here but he is getting more hair- its white blonde, I think he's gonna be a toe head :-)

 He has rolled over 3 times now! From tummy to back only and only for me, he hasn't showed his dad his new move!

 We started putting him in the jumperoo and he loves it! He doesn't bounce alot b/c he's too short (we put a towel under it hoping he will bounce soon!) but he gets to sit up and play with new toys so who wouldn't love that!?!?!?

We are clearly still working on smiling for the camera....hopefully that will start soon! He'll be 4 months later this week and We are loving life with him!

Parenting Failures

I think the BEST advice I received before becoming a mom was from my bosses wife. She had quit her successful career to stay at home with her babies too. She said, "you will feel like a failure everyday!" I said, "what?!?!?!" She said, "yep, I know in your job now you never fail, but when you are a mom you do on a daily basis". I wasn't sure what she meant but now I know! Do any other of you moms feels this way?!?!

Parenting failures of the week:
1. Forgot to give Easton his Vitamin D Drops one day...FAIL
2. While on pinterest, I think he was watching TV, for I don't know, 20 minutes..FAIL!
3. Didn't get him to take an afternoon nap twice.. FAIL!
4. We go to the gym every morning and I put him in the daycare, it feels selfish...FAIL!
5. Forgot a hat for him and its freezing....FAIL!
6. I think he pooped and I fell back asleep...FAIL!
7. Forgot to vaccum, do dishes etc...FAIL!
8. Easton has two big scratches on his face because I forgot to cut his nails...FAIL!

I know these are all minimal but its pretty amazing how she was right and I feel like a failure at some point, EVERYDAY!

One Year ago....

One year ago today I found out I was pregnant! What a day it was...my Gram had passed away the night before. I woke up feeling like I was pregnant, for some reason I just knew. It was an emotional time for my family having just lost my dad as well. Finding out I was pregnant was exactly what we needed, to have a new life to look forward to after losing two people we loved so much just months apart from each other.

I remembering praying for the following:
1. Have a good pregnancy
2. Have a healthy baby
3. To be able to stay at home and quit my job
4. For my dad and Gram to watch over us and  akem sure this baby is okay

All my prayers came true, what a change a year makes!

Best Snack Ever

I have been snacking on Larabars for years and have introduced quite a few people to them. Not only are delish and have amazing flavors, they are just fruit and Nut! The don't have any weird ingredients!
One of my favorites is peanut butter cookie and the ingredients are: dates, peanuts and sea salt..... That's it, isn't that great!

Here are other flavors, I have had them all and they are all great!
Lemon Bar
Key lime pie
coconut creme pie
Chocolate Chip cookie dough
peanut butter chocolate
apple pie
cashew cookie
banana bread
carrot cake

Weekend in pictures....

We have had such a nice weekend relaxing and spending time together as a family! I miss Justin when he's working all week. So I wanted to blog while Easton naps and Justin cleans my car :-) Friday started with a visit from my sweet friend Camille and my sister came over for dinner that night. Saturday we babysat my friends Melissa's 5 year old daughter Kendall  and today we ran errands. We also have gone on long walks both days and are loving this sunny cold weather, its like we live in Central Oregon or something!!!! As you can see above Easton is doing great with Tummy time and is really getting good neck strength! I put him in the Bjorn (which he loves now, yaa!) facing out when I go shopping and he loves it, and it makes shopping easier for me!

Lots of catnaps this weekend......

 Favorite thing to suck on....his hand!

 Kendall and Easton. He loved her , she made him laugh so hard, it was great!

 His new Monkey toy from Kendall.....

 I love his Navy blue eyes staring at me here!

 I had to take this because I know one day Easton will be 6'5 and we will laugh at this picture of him sitting on his dad!

 And here is his stealth move of trying to watch the damn TV!!!!

 Showing some Cougar pride!!!

2010 photo book

The last 2 years I have made these custom photo books online (shutterfly) and I LOVE THEM! Its our year in picures....I just ordered my 2011 book, I order the large ones 12x12 , they are great coffee table books, and I love that I don't have to make a scrapbook (I rather shoot myself in the foot) and have lots of envelopes with picures laying around the house! I work on them through out the year so I never get behind and never have to spend more than 5-10 mintues on them. I wanted to share my 2 books I have made- enjoy!!!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.

2011 Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create a gorgeous, high quality wedding photo album at Shutterfly.com.

Gym Time!

Time for me to get back after it! I worked so hard to get in great shape and lost if all while I was pregnant, so its time to get my body back! Food is obviously such a big part and I have a plan for that so now its time to work out!

I went back to my gym today after a 6 month 'vacation' (yes I have been walking and working out at home). The sweet guys at the front desk were happy to see me and meet Easton. I signed up for daycare- $30/month for unlimited 2 hours per day! Seems like a good deal to me. I was very reluctant to leave Easton with strangers...but after meeting the girls and talking to other moms I felt good about it. I did 20 mins on the elliptical- then checked on him....just chillin in the carseat...then I lifted weights and checked on him again...still just chillin. She said she thought he pooped- so I changed that and since it was a beautiful day (and my ipod was dead) I took him and walked a mile on the track outside. The girls were really sweet and I feel good about that daycare. I had a pretty easy workout but I don't want to overdo it and be really sore, then I won't want to go! So I plan on getting more intense each week.

It felt so good to be back at the gym! My husband doesn't understand why I don't work out at home- (we have a treadmill, stairmaster and weights- that he uses and workouts with every week night). But I love gyms, and the energy that everyone has there. Plus on days where I have no errands to run no shopping to do etc...it will get me out of the house!

So no booze, no carbs and no sugar til my Birthday....in hopes I will be able to FINALLY get my damn wedding ring back on! I miss it!