Our ABC Book

I saw this pin on pinterest a couple weeks ago and knew I wanted to make one for my kids! One of Levi's favorite books is "Curious George's ABC's", so I'm hoping he likes our own ABC book just as much. Luckily, we had a coupon for a free photo book from Shutterfly so the only thing we had to pay for was shipping. The book should be here next week sometime.

I went through and made a list of things I could use for each picture and then searched through the photos I had already taken (some are from 3 years ago). For some of the letters I had go out and take pictures.

Take a look!

             
                                      

U was "underwear" which I didn't post for obvious reasons. 

Strawberry Cupcakes

Have you ever been to a Sprinkles Cupcake store?? They're the most incredible cupcakes ever. You may recognize the founder Candace Nelson from Cupcake Wars on Food Network.

When I lived in Dallas my former boss took me and my other two co-workers to Sprinkles for a random afternoon treat when they first opened. We were lucky enough to watch Candace give an interview about her business while we waited in line. I made many more trips to Sprinkles before we moved back to Colorado. 

I sometimes have a craving for these cupcakes and unfortunately Colorado doesn't not have a Sprinkles, so I do the next best thing.... BAKE MY OWN! 

The internet can be a beautiful thing!! Between Martha Stewart's website and youtube interviews I was able to come up with the Sprinkle's Strawberry cupcake recipe! I've made it several times and it is absolutely delicious!! Try them out for yourself... you wont be sorry! 

(From Gabriella's 1st birthday party)

Strawberry Cupcakes

1 ½ c. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. Baking soda

¼ tsp. Kosher salt

4 oz. Unsalted butter

1 c. sugar

1 large egg

2 egg whites

¼ c. whole milk

¼ c. strawberries

1 tsp. vanilla extract 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.
2. Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
5. With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.

Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

Strawberry Frosting 

1/2 cup whole frozen strawberries, thawed

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold

Pinch of coarse salt

3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

          Directions-

1. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners' sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended. Do not over mix or frosting will incorporate too much air. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream

source

Welcome Back!

Actually, I'm welcoming myself back. I've taken a loooong break from the blogging world. I came to a point this past Spring where having a blog was not a priority in my life and I needed to cut it out. I feel like now I'm in a better place and I'm ready to start it up again.

Please be patient with me as I'm trying to figure out how to design a blog... (something I know nothing about!)

I plan on posting: activities I do with the kids, recipes I'm trying, my journey as a wife/mother and anything that God might be doing in my life.

Our Little Getaway

Since Jordan's job follows the school district's schedule, he had all last week off.. paid!

We've been busy refinishing our kitchen (pictures to follow soon!). But we wanted to do something memorable and fun for the kids with his time off. We thought about going to Santa Fe, NM to meet some friends, but it didn't work out.

We knew we wanted to go on a little bit of a road trip starting Thursday afternoon and come home Saturday at some point. Well Thursday morning came around and we were still clueless. We're extremely blessed to know an incredible travel agent. So when Levi woke up at 6:30am I texted her and after she told me tons of fun things to do in Colorado, we settled on Colorado Springs and by 2pm we were on the road. Colorado Springs is about an hour and a half from where we live, so by the time we got there the kids had taken a pretty good nap.

We took them swimming in the hotel swimming pool, had dinner at Chipotle, drove around the area a little bit and then ate Oreo Klondike bars back at the hotel room. They were excited to be sleeping in a hotel so it took them a little bit to fall asleep.

The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel. They had a great breakfast buffet! We took the kids to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo as soon as they opened. I was expecting it to be busy because it's Spring Break, but when we got there there weren't very many people there... of course we got there 15 minutes after it opened. (Side Note: when I was about 9 years old I spent the night at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo with my Girl Scout troop!) We had such a great time there! Our favorite part was definitely feeding the giraffes!

As we were leaving the zoo it really started to get busy with people. If the main parking lot is full it can take up to an hour of sitting in your car in a huge line, just to park. So I was really glad we got there when we did.

For lunch we went to a really cool restaurant. It's actually a plane from WWII that you can eat inside. The kids were able to play in the cockpit and explore the rest of the plane. It's extremely kid friendly and the food was great. I highly recommend The Airplane Restaurant to anyone going to Colo. Springs.

That night we took the kids to their first sushi restaurant. I've only had sushi once before when I was about 12, so I was a little nervous to have it again. It was good though and a fun experience. Jayden ate all of his food, but Gabri wasn't too sure about it all.

Saturday morning we checked out of the hotel and went to Garden Of The Gods. We took the kids almost two years ago and they just rode in the stroller most of the time. This time Jayden walked and Gabri sat in the stroller while Levi rode on Jordan's back. We hiked around for over an hour and half. Jayden LOVED climbing on all the rocks. I on the other hand was a little freaked out by the whole idea. My boy is quite adventurous already!

Our timing was perfect with all the things we wanted to do. The kids enjoyed themselves and so did we. I realized by the end of our trip that I was actually relaxing and enjoying myself. Sometimes with young kids it's easy to get stressed out and not enjoy yourself even on vacation.

How I Got My Milk Back

I felt really silly for sharing my last blog about breastfeeding on Facebook. I didn't think anyone would read it or that people would be offended by it... However, this was not the case. I found that there are several other breastfeeding moms who have been in a similar situation, or women who are pregnant and wanting to breast feed successfully, or women who have been successful that wanted to offer their support, encouragement and advice.

Here is how I got my milk back. It was a Friday when I decided I wanted to go back to exclusively breastfeeding. I was down to only a couple feedings and they were mostly during the night. I was pretty empty on milk. I had a few bags of Mother's Milk Tea in my pantry so I was going to start with those. I'm cheap and I wanted to stretch the tea bags as far as I could. I would steep the bag in the biggest mug I have (covered for 10 minutes, just like the instructions say) and then I would get a small mug and steep the same bag in that mug for another ten minutes. The instructions on the box say to drink 3-5 cups a day... so I used 3 different bags a day, but got 6 cups total. I drank the tea for 3 days.

Then one of my dear friends let me borrow a tincture that contains 6 different herbs: fenugreek, fennel, nettle, goat's rue, blessed thistle and raspberry leaf. Not gonna lie, it tastes nasty! So I started the drops Sunday afternoon. I did 3 or 4 droppers full (mixed with a tiny bit of water just to wash it down) four times a day. I used the drops for 5 days. After the five days I was back to exclusively breastfeeding.

During the five days I had to wean Levi off formula. It made the most sense to me to drop one feeding a day. I wasn't comfortable just cutting it out completely and expecting him to be satisfied with what little amount of milk I was producing. I did offer the breast as much as possible to get the stimulation my body needed to keep producing.


Exactly one week after my decision to go back to exclusively breastfeeding my fenugreek capsules came in the mail. I read on kellymom.com that I could take up to 12 capsules a day. So I was taking 3 capsules 4 times a day. One side effect is that your sweat smells like maple syrup... well I wasn't smelling anything! After taking the herb for about 2 weeks I finally started smelling the maple syrup.. ha! It's not that I wanted to smell like waffles, but I heard that that's how you know it's actually working.

Levi had his 6 month check up last week. I had decided that I wasn't going to freak out about his weight or allow the doctor to freak me out. It was a true test of where I stand on my decision. When I put him on the scale he was 10oz less than what he was two weeks before at our wic appointment. I felt God's peace and didn't freak out. After the nurse left I fed Levi on one side and when the doctor came in we weighed him again and he was up 10oz... I know he did not eat 10oz off ONE SIDE! Even the doctor said the scale malfunctioned. Needless to say, I'm not trusting scales anymore! :)

So although he hadn't gained any weight in two weeks, at least he's not losing weight. His length is great (70th percentile) and his head is growing great as well. He's active and healthy.

I would like to say, I'm not ignoring my doctor's expertise. She's a very intelligent woman, but at the end of the day, he's my baby and I have to do what's best for him.

Taking A Stand - Breastfeeding

Here goes another blog about Levi's weight and breastfeeding! :)

These last 3 months have been quite a challenge for me. I've really struggled with what to do as far as formula vs. breastfeeding a small baby. There are so many opinions out there and I've had a hard time making a stand on what I'm going to do. I've been wishy-washy because I'm afraid of making the wrong choice.. I'm just like any other mom who wants the best for her baby... but I'm struggling to decide what is "best".

Around Thanksgiving I really started bumping up his formula intake, but then backed off a little bit, then around Christmas went back to giving him a lot of formula. I thought if I could do half breast-feeding and half formula things would even themselves out, like the best of both worlds. It was ideal.. in my head. I started noticing I wasn't producing very much milk and last weekend had a good cry as I decided I would wean Levi completely off the breast.

I was still nursing at night and whenever I felt "full" during the day. I had him weighed on Wednesday and according to the growth chart he's still in the tenth percentile. So I got down right mad. Why am I giving up breast-feeding to formula and getting the same results?! Because I wanted to make everyone happy; my husband, the lactation consultant, the doctor, my family and friends...

So I've decided to take a stand. I want to exclusively breast-feed. The trouble now will be getting my milk supply back up so I can be successful. I've done some research and talked with some friends and family and found that fenugreek is a great herb to help increase my milk. My wonderful husband ordered 5 bottles of the capsules offline today! (Some website was having a great sale!) I might also be able to try Motherlove special blend to help increase my supply. This is totally different than anything I've done before, but I'm excited.

I'll post an update in the next two weeks to let you all know how the herbs are helping.

A Pat On The Back

Yesterday we planned to take a trip to IKEA today. We got up and got ready this morning with the goal of getting to IKEA and shopping and then eating lunch in the little cafe. I was pleasantly surprised when everything went according to plan. I like having a plan and following it. The kids were great and behaved wonderfully! By the end of our shopping time they were getting hungry and a restless. The line for the cafe wasn't too bad, but all the seats were taken. I stood by with Levi in my arms and the older kids, the umbrella stroller and all our items (including a rug) filling up the double stroller. I watched for the first sign of someone finishing their food to pounce on a table (yes, I was that person..). A family left a ton of trash and very dirty table behind so after finding a place to park the stroller I got  the kids in their chairs and started to clean up someone else's mess. Jordan got all the food and brought it to us, and then of course Jayden needed to go potty. So I ran him to the bathroom and when we came back I had him take off his coat. As I was going to put it in the stroller another family who had no chairs was trying to stand by the table I had the stroller parked near. I apologized for my stroller being in the way and told her if I could find another place for it I would move it, but there just isn't anywhere for it to go. She complained to her husband that I was hogging two spaces and after he apologized to me they left. Not gonna lie, it took a lot for me to just shut up and go back to my table. As I stood and ate my food I noticed a man sitting alone at a table full of drinks and cinnamon rolls. We ate our food and again the kids were doing great, so we got them the ice cream cones we had been bribing them with all day. A woman sitting near us complimented us on how well our kids were behaved. She told us that "we run a tight ship"...

Before I had kids I kind of knew I would be a strict parent. It annoyed me when kids misbehaved and didn't obey their parents. I can't stand when kids are disrespectful to their parents! I would watch other parents with their kids and make mental notes on things I would do and wouldn't do. Since we became parents at 21 years old, I feel like we have something to prove to people. It's been a struggle for me because when someone praises us for doing a good job it boosts my pride a little bit, but when someone looks down on us for the way our kids are behaving it knocks me down twice as much. 

Back to IKEA... as we were cleaning up our mess and getting the kids ready to go the gentleman that was sitting near us stood up and shook Jordan's hand. He told Jordan that he had to congratulate him on how well behaved our children were. He has 4 young kids of his own and knows what a handful they can be and just wanted to tell him we are doing a good job. Then he gave Jordan a pat on the back.

It felt so good for a complete stranger to acknowledge all our hard work. Parenting is hard... Discipling is hard.. Keeping our word is hard... But today just showed me how it will all pay off!!