my life

got out of bed to kiss the hubs goodbye.

noticed it was snowing outside.  mentally canceled our walk today.

ate breakfast.  never thought i'd say this, but i'm a little bored with eating lately.  why am i so hungry?

put together a puzzle with little e.  she loves puzzles.  i love hearing her say, "goes here" when she's holding a piece in her hand.

started a load of laundry.  which is a pretty big deal around here.

set up the card table in our mess room, which will serve as my sewing table.  hoping we can change it from a mess room to a craft room.

changed little e's poopy and got her dressed.  she even let me do her hair.

read some books with little e.

made some calls to get ready for new beginnings tonight.  be glad when it's over.  i'm not a fan of big activities that require so much planning.  and i'm not even in charge.

made oobleck with e girl.  after getting over the fact that her hands were going to be messy, she loved it.

had lunch.

ichat with the hubs.  yes, we do that every day.  he's cute like that.

thinking i'll go take a nap.  then a shower.  probably ought to do it the other way around, but i won't.

life is beautiful, don't you think?

happy tuesday :)

freedom

I quit a few of my jobs today.

For almost a year now, I've been babysitting to add a little cash flow.  At first it was great - the kiddos I watched were so entertaining and it was great for little e to have a playmate.  Just a couple hours each day and a few extra dollars to help pay our house off a bit faster.  The perfect set up.

But since October, I've been watching three different children.  Sometimes it was okay but sometimes I felt like I was on the edge of a breakdown.  I just wanted to have a bit of time for myself.  I'm sure my pregnancy, the winter, and little e's growing up all played a part in the change of how I felt.  It just wasn't something great anymore, but felt more like a burden - something that I sort of dreaded.

Last night I went to our RS activity and one of the speakers said, "Get rid of everything negative in your life."  Immediately I thought, oh my goodness, that's babysitting.  I'd been going back and forth for a while, but last night it was so clear.  I need to let that part of my life go, so I can be more emotionally, physically, and spiritually balanced.  I want to be a better mom and really focus on loving my e girl.  I want to give her all of me, not a distracted, exhausted, frustrated me.

So this morning I did it.  I let each of the parents know that this was my two weeks notice.  It was hard, because I love them all so much and I want to help them out, but I can already tell a difference.  I know my sweet girl will miss her friends, but maybe now I can make some friends :)  

It feels so good to know my life is my own again!  Looking forward to some extra special moments with my baby.

Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Jeffree had class on Valentine's day until 7:30 p.m., so I offered to babysit for a family in the ward.  If I can't get my romance on, I might as well let someone else, right?

The mom already had dinner ready for her boys when I got there, but she pointed out some leftovers in the fridge for me to eat.  Oh my heavens!  It was sooooooooooo good!  Hands down the best chicken wild rice soup I've ever had.  I borrowed the recipe, typed it up, and thought I'd share it with you. 

Chicken (or turkey) Wild Rice Soup

1 Med onion diced

5 celery stalks diced

½ cup flour

1 pkg Uncle Bens Long Grain Wild Rice

2 cups diced cooked chicken or turkey

½ tsp salt

2 carrots diced

½ cup butter or margarine

6 cups of broth (chicken or turkey)

2 cups heavy cream

1 tsp dried parsley flakes

¼ tsp pepper

In large pot, sauté onion, celery and carrots in butter until onion is transparent.  Reduce heat.  Blend in flour and cook until bubbly.  Gradually add broth, stirring constantly.  Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute.  Reduce heat, add wild rice (pre cooked), cream, meat, parsley, salt and pepper.  Simmer for 20 minutes.  Yield: 10-12 servings.

Try it.  You just might love it.

it's a...

It was 8 months before we got pregnant with Ember that I told Jeffree one day, "We're having a girl first."  He asked why.  My response was, "I don't know why, I just know that's what we're having."  We picked out her name that same month.  Ember Belle.  We just knew.  Once I got pregnant, I was less certain.  What if I'd been wrong?  But the ultra sound confirmed what I had felt long ago.  It was a beautiful, perfect little baby girl.

I was pretty sure we'd have another girl.  I think I told Jeff that when little e was only a few months old.  Since then I've rarely thought anything different.  When we finally got pregnant, I second guessed my intuition, but I'd been right with little e, so why wouldn't I be right with this one?

Jeffree and I were talking one night and I asked him, if it was a boy, what would we name him?  And I LOVED the name he told me.  That was the first time I could actually imagine having a little boy.  But I still entertained the idea of having a little girl for our sweet e to play with and was hoping today's ultra sound would confirm that.

Boy was I wrong.

So I've thrown motherly intuition out the window.  We're having a little man.  Wowzers.  I won't even know what to do with a boy around the house.

We are pleased as punch, and Jeffree said I was glowing or beaming or something like that.  I'm pretty excited for him to get his little boy.  I know he loves his e girl, but he needs another man around the house.

disclaimer: i refuse to flaunt my child's man parts to the world.  the only one who cares is his daddy, since "it takes a man to make a man"

Here's to baby number two - I'm sure he'll shake things up quite a bit around here.  And we'll love it. 

Bring on the blue!