inhaaaaaaaaaaale. exhaaaaaale.

Josh just came home from work and said he had a crazy question for me.

"What would you think of moving to Reno, NV this month?"

I'm kind of freaking out a little bit.


(Josh and his boss are toying with the idea of us moving out there)

I really don't think it would happen, but the idea of it is bananas.
B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

Yummy Thighs

nom nom nom

Had a doctor appointment today for Kaius. The doctor said he is the height and weight of a nine month old. (He's 7 months, for those of you who arent keeping track ;)



I just love his face.

that paper was torn to shreds by the end.

Cafe Rio Recipes

(Pictures on previous post)
Pork Barbacoa
5-6 lb. pork roast

21 oz. Coca Cola (or Dr. Pepper, do NOT use diet soda...Diet soda pretty much turns poisonous when you cook it)
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
7 oz. can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
6-ish oz. red taco sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Place roast in crock-pot, cover half-way with water and cook on low for 12 hours. After 12 hours, drain pork (retain liquid if you want sauce for burritos, simply mix with a can of verde enchilada sauce).

Mix remaining ingredients until sugar dissolves. I didn’t use the actual chilies, I dumped the can into a bowl and added enough Coca Cola to get all the sauce off of the chilies, then I tossed them. I also rinsed out the can with Dr. Pepper for more adobo sauce. Use ALL of the sauce you can get from it. I think thats what makes it taste like Cafe Rio's. Mine turned out with a pretty good kick to it, but if you want it really hot just throw 2 or 3 chillies in the blender with everything else. (the adobo sauce tends to stain plastic, so use a glass or metal bowl).

Creamy Tomatillo Dressing
1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix
3 tomatillos (remove papery skin), rough chop
1 cup mayo
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup (or more) cilantro, rough chop
3 cloves garlic
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp green Tabasco sauce
juice from 1 lime
dollop of sour cream

Dump everything in a blender and blend until smooth. Refrigerate in air-tight container (or your entire fridge will smell like garlic and cilantro).

Spring has Sprung!

For Easter we had my Mom and brother Ryan over for the weekend.



We dyed Easter eggs


My half hour masterpiece

All the tie dyed eggs



And for Easter dinner we had homemade Cafe Rio.
let me know if you'd like recipes




Creamy Tomatillo Dressing...yum.



Pork Barbacoa...

Even Kaius got to have some pureed rice & black beans...he LOVED it

Blessing Pictures

Our first family picture



Kaius, Me, Sarah, Deanna, Theresa, & Liz



i LOVE this picture. so special.

Its Sunday, 8 pm and Josh and I are asking each other what we should do for dinner.
"I dunno", I say.
"Well, I made lunch today, so..."
"hahaha! Nice argument!"

Josh made microwave burritos. I just thought it was cute and really funny, cuz I think he was serious!

FYI, I always make dinner, and love it, but I'm still recuperating from waking up for 9 AM church and now I will get off my lazy butt and cook some DINNER

Kaius' Baby Blessing

No, it didn't happen recently. He was about a month old when he was blessed. I've been waiting for pictures from people, since I had my mind too full to remember to bring my camera. But I've only received one so far, but I gotta get this post up!

Moseley, Aidan, and Kaius...what stud muffins! (Melinda, how I wish Oliver was in this pic!)
My In-Laws have the CUTEST 4 generation pic of Kaius, Josh, his Dad Doug, and his Grandpa Dale...sitting on stairs, ascending from oldest down to youngest. It even sounds cute. Just imagine for now.

Here are the deets on the blessing weekend:
I don't remember a time in my life where I have ever been so stressed out.
I had way too much family in town, for the time I had, I didn't feel like I gave ample time to each person/group.
Along with that came the anxiety of everyone wanting to hold Kaius. I was very afraid of him getting sick. Everyone that had a baby around the same time as me was told by their pediatrician to wait til the first of the year to have their babies around crowds/take the baby to church. Um, I guess I didn't get the memo!
Next baby I want to wait til they are at least three months old to do the blessing, but Josh probably wont agree with me on that. I may or may not have pretended that Kaius was feeding sometimes but really he was just sleeping under my hooter hider (nursing cover). haha juuuust kidding. That kid didnt get chubby by skippin' meals.
However, during the sacrament meeting, somehow Josh and I were sort of secluded and just he and I took turns holding Kaius the whole time. Normally the baby is getting passed around, but I was so grateful that no one asked to hold him. And the blessing...I cried. It was amazing and I can't believe how lucky I am to have such a wonderful husband. Josh's Grandpa Dale was sitting in front of us and one time when it was during a hymn he leaned over to his wife Liz and said "This music is too LOUD!" it was sooooooo funny. Josh and I looove visiting them in Wyoming cuz they make us laugh with the stuff they say. I laugh just thinkin about it.
And Kaius didn't cry at all! I made sure I pumped some milk for him to drink right before so he would hopefully stay happy for 5 seconds without food ;)
Another reason why I was stressing out, we were moving the next weekend. I wont even get into the details of that, I typed some out but erased them, cuz, thats just ranting. Like I ever do that.


Another thing I didn't get the memo on, this is for you first time pregnant friends, after you have your baby: CALL YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY AND GET YOUR BABY ADDED TO YOUR POLICY (I think you have to do it within the first 30 days after you give birth)
I don't know how nobody told us that. Not friends, not pediatrician, not insurance company, not employer.
And the pediatric bill came FOUR MONTHS after Kaius was born. Waaay after we got our Aflac check and thought we were done with medical bills. I argued with the insurance company saying "Um, hello....If you're seeing claims come through for a C-SECTION, and FOUR DAYS IN THE HOSPITAL ROOM, uh, don't you think that something/someone resulted from all that???" They explained the responsible party to tell us to add the baby to the policy was the employer...well, Josh started a new job the month after Kaius was born!
What a mess.

HA!

Are you kidden me?



Yeah, I can see why shipping would be free... yuck (the price)



That "Claire's" looking belt is all you get?
Laughing Pineapple (<--name of seller) will be laughing all the way to the bank if that ever sells.


Um, some etsy sellers are on crack. Ain't nobody payin that much. Especially "in this economy" (oooooooo I hate it when people say that. Not that it isn't true, it is just said WAY too often) Anyway.

I've felt a lot better about having more kids because of all of your words of support. Plus, I found this blog: theidearoom.blogspot.com (my friend Alli blogged about her son playing with homemade bathtub fingerpaints...I can't wait to do it with Kaius)
And she has a lot of cool ideas about rewarding her kids, organization ideas, laundry tips crafts, and so on. It just made me kind of excited to have a house full o' kids! ha ha...ha.

advice?

I just read my whole blog starting with my first post. I freakin crack myself up. I blogged the day Obama was elected president and I happened to be blogging "80 things about me" and the last thing I added was "I can't believe our president's name is Barack Hussein Obama. America what the #$#@$ are you thinking. You'll be sorry someday"
Haha, well that day came didn't it. ;) haha ok that is not what I wanted to post about. Just one of the many things that made me laugh.

Reading back on all the memories of the first few weeks of Kai's life...I remember how physically and mentally tough that was for me.
My boobs were so raw that even water in the shower touching them was excruciating. I was so exhausted that I almost fell asleep twice will rocking Kaius to sleep-oh and I was STANDING both times. I got mastitis and all the pain I was already going through and then on top of it...flu-like symptoms?!

I remember a few days here and there where Kaius wouldn't sleep or eat therefore I didn't sleep or eat and that is just a recipe for disaster.
The lady in the ward that coordinated my meals must have never had a baby or never had major surgery. She made me feel so guilty for continuing to say yes to meals being brought over (she asked me THREE times the last week, "would you like someone to bring a meal friday?" and I said YES the first two times...then the third time she asked it was like, oh well thats code for: "I don't wanna have to find someone to do it so suck it up and get some take-out, broad." So I said no.)

My house was a huge hot mess so I felt like the worst wife. Dinner was not easy to make. I felt like the most un-sexy creature ever. Hormones are raging and I'm crying at everything. Clothes aren't fitting like the scale says they should. I never thought things would be normal.

Things are definitely normal now. I am so grateful for the things I have. I don't know what I did to be so blessed.

Having the flood of emotions back from those first few weeks got me thinking...

How will I do it with baby #2? Will I have no energy and will Kaius be completely neglected? Am I robbing him of my undivided attention by not spending a few years with him alone? While pregnant will I turn into a couch potato and not want to play with him? Will I love baby #2 as much? Will Kaius think I don't love him as much for having another baby? If I'm still breastfeeding Kaius and then give birth, how does that work? does colostrum come back? wont my supply be too much for a newborn? How will I deal when I have no sleep the first month or so of baby #2's life....how will I deal with a toddler getting into everything? They say to sleep while your newborn sleeps but you can't sleep if you've got a toddler toddling around.
No, I'm not pregnant, but I'm thinking about it. Can I do it? Am I strong enough?

If you have ANY advice, please offer it. If you have two kids close in age please give advice.

Having said all that...we moved twice in 4 months, once when i was 7 months pregnant and once when Kaius was a month old. I think I'll be better prepared with how the recovery of getting a C-section will be. I've heard from many moms that each C-section gets easier to recover from.

I taught Kaius to Kuddle!

So my baby boy is not a cuddler. He's cuddled with me once or twice (awake) ever. He cuddles with Josh more, and cuddled with him first. I was JEALOUS. But I got a picture of it, it was during the superbowl:


But I got the idea from Josh. The other night Josh was giving Kaius a drink of water from a water bottle. Kaius loves playing with water bottles, but he loves drinking from them too...but he doesn't yet have the fine motor skills to do both of those things at the same time without a getting soaked. So usually I hold his arms down while I give him a drink.
Well, Josh would go to put the bottle to his lips, and if Kaius raised his arms to grab for it Josh would pull it away. After about three times of pulling it away, Kaius would leave his arms down and just take a drink.
I was absolutely amazed. I didn't think he would/could respond to that!
So, tonight at about midnight, Kaius was still awake but didn't want to be alone in his crib (I guess). So I had him on the couch with me, on my lap. I started faking like i was asleep, still holding him firm but my head back and my eyes closed. At first he batted at me (like he does in the mornings), but my face was out of his reach so he didn't scratch me :)
(I don't co-sleep...well...He always wakes up when Josh leaves in the morning so I just pull him in bed with me for a few hours. Just a short "nap")
Finally after a minute or two he leaned forward and rested his head on my chest. I immediately hugged him and rocked with him, and he almost immediately shot back up to see me awake. But I was already "asleep". After a few minutes of watching me, he would rest his head back on my chest and I would respond each time by rubbing his back and rocking back and forth with him. After about 20 minutes of this (with each of the cuddle times increasing) I finally showed him I was awake. He looked so happy to see my eyes open.
We cuddled for about 20 more minutes until he fell asleep. It was so precious. I never want to forget this night.