Gabriella's 1st Birthday

That's right! My daughter is officially a 1 year old!

Gabri is such a quiet laid back little girl. She's content just being held and carried around. She also enjoys trying to keep up with her busy brother.

I found out I was pregnant with Gabriella when Jayden was 5 months old. My pregnancy with her was so easy. I had morning sickness for about 2 weeks, which was nothing compared to the 2 long months when I was pregnant with Jayden. I craved fruit with Gabriella and only gained 30 pounds, compared to the 50 pounds I gained with Jayden. My pregnancy went by so fast with Gabriella, I remember at the end of it I told Jordan, if something happened and I wasn't able to get pregnant again, I would be so sad because I didn't take the chance to completely enjoy being pregnant with Gabri. In fact, I forgot I was pregnant on multiple occasions. I think chasing around a little toddler all day long had a lot to do with that.

Even my labor and delivery with Gabri was super easy. I was induced 1 week before my due date to prevent having a large baby (Jayden was 9lbs 8oz). We went in to the hospital at 8am and they started pitocin, at 11:45 I got an epidural (I wasn't in pain, but they were about to break my water and I didn't really care to experience hard contractions so I got the epidural early) at noon they broke my water, by 4pm I was fully dilated and I started pushing around 5:10 and she was born at 5:28pm. Gabriella Jael weighed 8lbs 7oz.... Gabri was still considered a large baby because she was born 1 week early.

While I was pregnant with Gabri I felt like she would grow up to be a preacher of the Gospel. It was the same feeling I got when I was pregnant with Jayden that he would be a worship leader. Gabriella means, "The Lord's messenger" and I think she will grow into the meaning of her name beautifully.

The week before she was born I was sitting in our living room playing with Jayden when I started to cry as I realized I would bring another child into this world and honestly, I didn't know if I would be able to truly love her like I love Jayden. There is such a special bond between a mother and her first born. The miracle of being a mother is that God expands our heart and we possess a deep love for our children.. no matter how many we have, 2 or 19. :)

24 hours after Gabri was born the nurse noticed a redness around her umbilical cord. The doctor was notified and before I knew it I had 2 NICU nurses sitting in my hospital room telling me that Gabriella would have to stay in the NICU on antibiotics for 72 hours to keep the infection from spreading into her blood system. I cried as I sat in the rocking chair holding her because I was so confused... I had already been discharged because I was anxious to get home to Jayden who I hadn't seen in over 36 hours, they offered to let me stay in my hospital room but Gabriella would have to stay in the NICU. I could only have 4 visitors, excluding Jordan. I wouldn't be able to see Jayden for another 3 days...

I left the hospital that night without my newborn in my arms. I cried uncontrollably all the way home. All I could think about was how I was failing at least one of my children. Gabri was only 24 hours old and I was already leaving her alone in a hospital over 20 miles from our house. Jayden was super sick with a sinus infection and he was getting his molars. Both my babies needed me but I couldn't be in 2 places at once.

Thankfully, the infection didn't spread to her blood stream and we were able to bring her home Monday morning. (She was born Thursday evening). Of course, I cried uncontrollably the first day she was home. Every time I saw both of my children together my heart would just overflow and I would cry... haha!!

One year later we celebrated this beautiful little girl. We had our families over for presents, chili and cake! My dad's birthday is 3 days after Gabri's so we celebrated his 57th birthday as well! It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed being able to spend this special day with the ones we love. I baked strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting (recipe by Sprinkles) for Gabriella and a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for my dad. I also made orange muffins and vegetarian chili. It was all very delicious!

Dad, Gabri and Mom :)

My handsome dad

I made Gabriella's tutu for her birthday

She got 7 baby dolls and LOTS of cute outfits!

New Year's Resolution... update

At the beginning of 2010 I made a couple resolutions...

1.) Not get pregnant
2.) Learn to cook

Those are the two that I actually remember. These were the 2 that I really took to heart and have tried to keep.

You might think the first one is kind of silly... or even a joke.. but it's not! It's a very serious thing! :) I realized the other day that this is the longest I have ever gone not pregnant since Jordan and I got married!!! I'm not gonna lie- I'm very happy that it's been almost a full year of having my body at a normal size! Now as soon as Gabriella is done nursing I will be completely free!!!

Now the second thing is also very serious! I've always wanted to be a good cook. My biggest challenge is being willing to try new things. I hate when you want to try a meal and you go out and buy all the food for it and it doesn't turn out right... or maybe you burn it and end up throwing it away. It's never a good feeling when you fail at something. Luckily for me, I was blessed with a husband (and kids) who don't mind eating food that is less than desirable.

My first few times ever cooking chicken I made Jordan completely sick!!! I made chicken enchiladas and didn't realize that you're supposed to COOK the chicken before you roll it up in the tortilla and put it in the oven.... yeah, not good! The next time I cooked it on a skillet and I'm pretty sure I didn't cook it very long because I thought it would finish cooking in the oven. By the third time Jordan asked me not to make him chicken enchiladas anymore. While we were in Guatemala I learned that browning beef is very easy and I am capable of doing it. I also learned boiling chicken is pretty easy as well!!! So if there is one thing I should probably work on, it's cooking meat.

I have a terrible habit of getting into a rut of always making the same thing, week after week after week. I have a hard time being creative and breaking out of the "norm". We eat a lot of pasta.. spaghetti, alfredo, and vodka sauce. Other stuff we eat/ate a lot is lasagna and shepherd's pie. Yep... pretty boring.

So this year, I broke out of that rut. Some of things I made were; taco soup, actual tacos, hamburgers, manicotti, chile rellenos, rice and peas, Mexican chicken casserole, cornbread corn casserole, chicken and rice casserole, homemade mac and cheese, stir fry, black bean soup, vegetarian chili and pot roast! Some of these turned out better than others and some I've only made once or twice. I'm pretty proud of myself for trying new things and experimenting and learning.

One website that I used A LOT is allrecipes.com

I've found that I really enjoy baking. Cookies are probably my favorite, as well as Jayden's! I've been a vegetarian for 12 years and there's one thing that has been consistent my whole life.. I love sweets!!! We eat dessert probably 6 out 7 times a week. Since I don't want to sit around and become a cow, I pass my "goodies" on to my great neighbors.

So what are some of your favorite recipes?? Please, pass them along!!!! The year is NOT over yet and I since the holidays are coming up I'm going to need some delicious dishes to share with family and friends!

Black Bean Soup

I've been wanting to use a bag of dry black beans that have been sitting in my pantry for a couple weeks and thought black bean soup would be a perfect solution with the cool fall weather we've been having. So I wanted to share the recipe with all of you! This was my first time make black bean soup and it turned out really well. Great flavor!

1 pound dried black beans
6 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
1-1/2 cups chopped onions
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1 large carrot, chopped
1/2 cup each chopped green, sweet red and yellow peppers (I didn't have peppers so I left them out of my soup)
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup tomato paste
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon peper
3/4 teaspoon salt, optional
chopped tomato, optional

1) Place beans in a Dutch over or soup kettle; add water to cover by 2 in. Bring to a boil; boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat; cover and let stand for 1-4 hours or until beans are softened. Drain and rinse beans, discarding liquid.
2) Return beans to pan; add broth and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour or until beans are almost tender.
3 Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute the onions, celery, carrot, peppers and garlic in oil until tender. Add the tomato paste, herbs and seasonings to the bean mixture. Add the sauteed vegetables; bring to a boil.
4) Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour or until beans are tender. Discard bay leaves. Garnish with chopped tomato if desired.

Yield: 12 servings (3 quarts)
Nutrition Facts: 1 cup equals 191 calories, 4 g fat (1 g saturated fat) 0 colestrol, 484 mg sodium 30 g carbohydrate, 7 g fiber, 10 g protein.

Lacrae

Jordan found this rapper awhile ago named Lacrae. The first time we ever listened to his CD we were both sitting in the car almost in tears at the lyrics to his songs. I should first tell you all, I am not a huge rap fan... but this guy has an incredible story and powerful lyrics!

Jord recently downloaded Lacrae's newest CD "Rehab". It is loaded with great music, I highly recommend it! My favorite song is #12 God is Enough.

Just in case you're wondering where this guy came from, here is his story:

This post might seem kind of funny coming from a white girl from the suburbs, but after doing ministry with Metro Ministries in the inner-city of Dallas I really got a heart for kids growing up in the projects. Lacrae not only gave his life to the Lord, but is truly making a difference with his music.