R.I.P.

On Monday, September 27, my crock pot died. She was taken from me before her time since she was only a few years old, but she went peacefully in her favorite spot in the cabinet. She is survived by the coffee maker and the toaster. She will be missed. R.I.P Smart Pot.

So sad.

What's even MORE sad is she died while I was trying to make stew and it never cooked. I didn't realize this until I went to serve the food and not only was the food cold, but (obviously) all the veggies were crunchy. Unsalvagable at this point ... such a waste of time and food!

I was pretty organized that day so I was able to get all the food cooking early in the morning. Kudos to me. I had plently of time so I cooked it on low, something I never do. I assumed that the crock pot just didn't get very hot on low so I didn't think much of it when the soup wasn't bubbling like it does on high. Devon and I are both sick right now and I was really counting on that soup! He has a cough and I have a cough, congestion and today I officially lost my voice.

This is my life in a nutshell right now:

I am sick. I need soup. I make soup. Crock pot dies while making soup.

FML.

2 months: Audrey (September)

I feel like I start every post with,"Audrey is such a good baby." but it's true! She is so laid back and easy going. She doesn't really cry and on the rare occasion that she does cry she's easily and quickly calmed down within a few seconds without the aid of food or a pacifier.

She is really starting to fill out her cheeks and has forearm and shoulder creases from putting on some extra weight. Let's not even talk about her thighs ... OK LET'S because they are adorable and chunky ;)I seem to call her baby, little lady, the girl or chunk-o. Everything BUT her name. I did the same thing with Devon. I think I called him "baby" for 6 months.

Oh, big stretch!

I read that the youngest siblings get the shaft with naps and are less likely to get full, restful sleep during the day due to the older siblings schedule taking the priority. It also stated that the youngest siblings also tend to adapt with older siblings' schedule when they are included in the activity in some way. With that said, Audrey is starting to get into a regular sleeping schedule, but is happy to go along with activities that I take Devon to and sleeps right through them. On the rare occasion that she wakes up she just watches from her super comfy pouch and snuggles into Mama. Can we all please take a moment to notice the pony tail on the top of her head. How adorable is that?

She does an 11:00 pm feeding and will sleep until 4:00 or 5:00 am. A quick snack around 9 then sleeps until lunchtime and doesn't get up again until 5. She is starting to stay awake til her 11:00 feeding then it's lights out. It's pretty awesome because it allows me to spend most of the day just with Devon and he gets all my attention, but in the evening when she is awake Joe is home to help with Devon so we get to all be together. It makes for a tired Mama, but that's just how is goes sometimes.

I call this chair " the beauty parlor" because I put her in it to do her hair since it gets her sitting up so I can comb her curls and put in pony tails. Doing her hair is definately the fun side of having a girl. Oh, and her knee-high socks that look like shoes, pink dresses, hair bows with flowers, make up, prom dress shopping, etc ;)

She is starting to open her eyes more and look around. She is smiling quite a bit more lately, but it's not yet to the point that you can get her to smile on demand. It is so amazing to see that first glimpse of her sweet, awake and happy face.

All clean. Fresh from the bath!

Maya, Aunt Crystal and Bella posing with Audrey at the Smith Labor Day dinner. What a bunch of pretty ladies!

Devon is going through a new phase with this little girl at the moment, but in spite of how he feels he still wants to be a helper and brings her diapers. (I moved her up to size 2 diapers today. Sad face.) He throws them in her crib as well as pacifiers, quarters and toys. He doesn't seem to have a problem with the baby, but he does get upset when I nurse or hold her. In his one-year-old-way he tells me to put her in the bed with a blanket so she can sleep and we can hold hands and play cars ;)He even brings me a blanket and takes me by the hand to guide me to her crib. I keep a close eye on him when he is around her and he is very gentle and ever so eager to help. He gives her kisses and fist bumps on a daily basis.

I haven't had Audrey sleep in bed with me much, but if I lay down for a nap or if I or Joe sleeps in the guest room I have her in the bed with me and I. Love. It. There is something amazing about waking up next to my beautiful, sleeping baby and being level with her sweet face that fills me with awe for this little person.

Audrey is the one person in my life that does not cause me any stress ... at all. Even getting up with her at 4 am is lovely because I get to be with her one-on-one and enjoy the quite of the house. Is there anything sweeter than a nursing baby? All my time with her is so precious and she is just this tiny, little girl who just wants me to hold her and make her feel better. She is truly a treasure.

Freezing day!

Now that I got my fancy new deep freeze freezer I have started putting it to use. I made broccoli, cauliflower and carrot purees and I started on my frozen dinners.

I made a double batch of stuffed pasta shells the other day and I have to say, for some reason (I can think of a few actually, but you know what I mean) my food never tastes as good when I double it. I think from now on instead of doubling the recipe I will just make it "as is" and freeze half of it once I assemble it or cook it. That way I won't be throwing out leftovers we couldn't eat. Most recipes serve 6-8 people. Since there are only 2.5 of us eating real food (I count Devon as the .5 because he eats so little) there are many occasions when I throw out food because we couldn't eat the whole thing over the course of 3 days. I will also freeze lunch portions in bags for easy, go to meals.

Joe is not too excited about my foray into freezing food. He said, "I don't want fresh food. I want REALLY fresh food." That's why he has a garden. The idea that I would take perfectly good food and freeze it doesn't appeal to him. He wants to pick it off the vine and eat it, so to speak. To that I say ... times have changed!! I want to give my family quality attention and play with them as well as make healthy food. It's impossible to play when I am trying to make mushroom stuffed pork tenderloin en croute ;)I know that I can cook and play, and on most days that's what I do, but a girl needs a break from time to time ;)

Devon slept for 3.5 hours yesterday and I was able to make chicken pot pie and meat loaf with herbed potatoes. I doubled the both recipes and it was a PAIN!!! I'm not sure if it's worth the aggravation of simultaneously trying to cook two meals at the same time with a 7 week old strapped in a pouch so I can cook and nurse her (talk about multi-tasking!), but only time will tell.

On the plus side, now I don't have to cook AT ALL today and that means no dishes or evening kitchen clean up and all of that sounds pretty good right now. Is one day of cooking/cleaning aggravation worth one day of none? I guess, it's really 2 days of cooking/clean up because I made 2 meals. This is sounding better and better ;) At the end of cooking Day 1 I have pot pie for tonight, froze one pot pie, 2 pot pie lunches and 3 meat loaf lunches.

OK, I take that "no cooking" part back, but it's easy cooking. Cooking Day 2 is just cooking chicken, shredding it and freezing it for enchiladas. The meat part of a recipe is usually the most time consuming and I think frozen, shredded chicken will taste fine fresh or otherwise. I may make up a whole batch to see if it's OK.