Can you believe that I am typing a blog post on my phone while sitting on a bench at the park, watching the girls, and rocking Kye in his carseat so that he will stay sleeping? This is all written by one thumb, so please excuse any typos. :)
I had the very best intentions to blog weekly updates about the house, rooms we've painted, and things we have decorated. However, between painting all the rooms, taking care of three kids, not sleeping through the night, and worrying over a dog who is still not house trained, I just don't have time. Or energy. I have a list of things that seems to grow longer by the day instead of shorter.
Not to mention, I completely forgot about Kye's three and four month blog checkins. He's doing great. Still gassy, still not sleeping through the night, but I have never enjoyed a baby as much as this one. Note: I didn't say love, I said enjoyed. Of course I loved my girls as babies, but different life, different circumstances, and a different baby have made this last one so precious and enjoyable. Everyday with him is a good day. He is laughing all the time now, and not just little giggles but full blown belly laughs - which might be the best sound in the whole world. His first real laugh was also at me, with Steve's help I will admit, but at me nonetheless. Kyeson and I have a lot of fun together. :) A few other things I know about Kye is that he is overdue for his four month checkup, he has outgrown his 0-3 month clothes, he doesn't like loud noises or too much noise, and he still has a few of his original baby hairs on top of his head that are about 4 inches long.
That's all for now! Here's to hoping for more time to blog over the next few months - at least more than I've done the last few! :)
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Best Banana Bread Ever
I have to post this recipe to my blog because every time I want to make it I have to search for a few different recipes to get all the "restructions" as Berlin calls them. So, I am just writing this down because it's faster than writing out all the restructions by hand. PLUS, you should try this recipe. I am not kidding - best banana bread ever.
I took some ingredients from a few different recipes and made this up myself, so really this could be called Heidi's Best Banana Bread Ever, although I didn't totally make it up myself - I never would have thought to add the secretly weird secret ingredient. :)
Here goes:
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (secretly weird secret ingredient!)
4-5 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4-1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg, depending on how much you like the taste :)
1 cup 60% cacao Ghirardelli chocolate chips (the only kind you should ever use, ever.)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Stir in the mayonnaise, bananas, and vanilla. Stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and nutmeg. Blend the flour mixture into the banana mixture; stir just enough to evenly combine. Fold in the chocolate chips
.
Bake at 350 degrees F until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 50 to 75 minutes.
Try it. Seriously.
I took some ingredients from a few different recipes and made this up myself, so really this could be called Heidi's Best Banana Bread Ever, although I didn't totally make it up myself - I never would have thought to add the secretly weird secret ingredient. :)
Here goes:
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (secretly weird secret ingredient!)
4-5 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4-1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg, depending on how much you like the taste :)
1 cup 60% cacao Ghirardelli chocolate chips (the only kind you should ever use, ever.)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Stir in the mayonnaise, bananas, and vanilla. Stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and nutmeg. Blend the flour mixture into the banana mixture; stir just enough to evenly combine. Fold in the chocolate chips
.
Bake at 350 degrees F until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 50 to 75 minutes.
Try it. Seriously.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Best Boys
These are my best boys, my favorite men in the whole wide world.
Head scratch anyone?
I don't know which one is cuter.
I love them both so much.
Head scratch anyone?
I don't know which one is cuter.
I love them both so much.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
It's Fall
It's Fall. Obviously. But with the new house and everything that has happened in our lives since June, it will be amazing if I will even be able to remember this time of life a few years from now. With the lack of sleep combined with the amount of things there are and have been to do, I feel a little bit like my brain has been on auto pilot for the past four months. It was suddenly August and I was thinking, "We had summer? What? When did that happen?" and I feel like I was thinking that yesterday and now it's mid-fall. And someone was talking about November yesterday like it's coming up soon. And some darn company sent me an email last week saying there are only 8 weeks left before the real holiday shopping begins. Meanwhile, I think my brain turned off the day Kyeson was born, so all this time passing is blurry to me.
So, it's Fall. Not obvious to all of us I guess :) During the past 4 months the times that feel real to me, that stand out, are the days where we did something besides pack or unpack boxes or go from project to kids to project to kids all day long. Such as the day my lovely friend Becky suggested that we visit an apple orchard.
It was a perfect fall day. Between the three of us (Steve, Becky, and me) we took about 200 pictures on my camera. I've only downloaded 150 so far because - yet again - I have run out of room on my computer and need to delete more stuff before I can download more pictures. I have already deleted everything in iTunes so I could add more pics...and have now completely filled up that space. New computer? Yes, please.
Anyway. Here are some of my favorites from what I have so far.
A family picture? These NEVER happen for us, so I am super excited that we have one! Even if we didn't plan our outfits and Kyeson is in a sleeper (lazy bum). At least we have a picture of all 5 of us together that isn't the one of us sitting on my hospital bed! :)
These are two of my most favorite pictures of the day for sure.
This is funny. Steve told Berlin to put her arm around Tryn...who said it had to go around her back? Also, Trynie's cheek has a wad of caramel in it, so it's just all together funny cuteness to me.
Me and Becky, laughing at Steve :)
It was a great, great afternoon.
So, it's Fall. Not obvious to all of us I guess :) During the past 4 months the times that feel real to me, that stand out, are the days where we did something besides pack or unpack boxes or go from project to kids to project to kids all day long. Such as the day my lovely friend Becky suggested that we visit an apple orchard.
It was a perfect fall day. Between the three of us (Steve, Becky, and me) we took about 200 pictures on my camera. I've only downloaded 150 so far because - yet again - I have run out of room on my computer and need to delete more stuff before I can download more pictures. I have already deleted everything in iTunes so I could add more pics...and have now completely filled up that space. New computer? Yes, please.
Anyway. Here are some of my favorites from what I have so far.
A family picture? These NEVER happen for us, so I am super excited that we have one! Even if we didn't plan our outfits and Kyeson is in a sleeper (lazy bum). At least we have a picture of all 5 of us together that isn't the one of us sitting on my hospital bed! :)
These are two of my most favorite pictures of the day for sure.
This is funny. Steve told Berlin to put her arm around Tryn...who said it had to go around her back? Also, Trynie's cheek has a wad of caramel in it, so it's just all together funny cuteness to me.
Me and Becky, laughing at Steve :)
It was a great, great afternoon.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Differences...
I love it when I see very clear differences between my kids. It just makes them seem more and more like their own person and I like figuring out what their personalities are like.
Tryn continues to be fairly timid. For example, we wait at the bus stop every morning with two other mom's who have sons who are in second grade. When the bus pulls up, even if she is standing closest to the bus, Tryn will move out of the way and let the boys get on the bus first. She will not get on before they do. She's like that on the playground too. If a bunch of kids come past her while she is standing near a slide she will just move out of the way and let them all go ahead of her. She'll just stand there and watch them.
Berlin, on the other hand, was playing out in our front yard with Tryn yesterday and a neighbor boy rode by on his bike. Seeing an opportunity Berlin yelled out, "Hey! HEY! Do you want to be our friend?"
She also didn't seem to mind much as he just looked at her and rode on by.
A short time later he rode by again, "Hey! Hey boy! Can we be your friend?" I don't think he was very interested.
Later that night we went to a friends house and a boy the girls had never met walked up to them and said, "Hi! My name is Owen. What's your name?"
Tryn just stared at him and didn't say a thing, so Berlin jumped in, "I'm Berlin...and this is Tryn."
I can already see who is going to be looking out for who in the future. :)
Tryn continues to be fairly timid. For example, we wait at the bus stop every morning with two other mom's who have sons who are in second grade. When the bus pulls up, even if she is standing closest to the bus, Tryn will move out of the way and let the boys get on the bus first. She will not get on before they do. She's like that on the playground too. If a bunch of kids come past her while she is standing near a slide she will just move out of the way and let them all go ahead of her. She'll just stand there and watch them.
Berlin, on the other hand, was playing out in our front yard with Tryn yesterday and a neighbor boy rode by on his bike. Seeing an opportunity Berlin yelled out, "Hey! HEY! Do you want to be our friend?"
She also didn't seem to mind much as he just looked at her and rode on by.
A short time later he rode by again, "Hey! Hey boy! Can we be your friend?" I don't think he was very interested.
Later that night we went to a friends house and a boy the girls had never met walked up to them and said, "Hi! My name is Owen. What's your name?"
Tryn just stared at him and didn't say a thing, so Berlin jumped in, "I'm Berlin...and this is Tryn."
I can already see who is going to be looking out for who in the future. :)
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
And the chaos that followed...
We moved.
Moving is unnerving. It shakes the core of the rhythm of life - not to mention is completely exhausting. We only moved 5 miles from where we had been living for 4 years, but moving 5 miles in a city is like moving to another town that you've visited a few times. It's not like everything is foreign, but at the same time nothing is the same. Top that with the fact that Kyeson and I are still not sleeping through the night and it makes for some crazy days. For instance, shortly after we moved in here I ran with the girls to Target and got lost. I didn't get lost on the way to Target, I got lost in Target. The new closest Target that I run to is different in layout from all the other Targets that I usually frequent and I was so tired that I literally could not remember where the different areas of the store were. At one point I was standing in the cleaning supplies, and I didn't even know which direction to go to get to the front door. It was a crazy feeling.
We lived like this for about a month.
That whole month we didn't know for sure if we were going to be moving into our house, we didn't close until the day we moved. We just kept planning, hoping, and praying. August 30th the last paperwork finally went through, 2:00pm on August 31st we closed and at 4:00pm we got home and started loading the moving truck.
Chaos.
This is the new place :)
And then 5 days after we moved in Steve started a new job and Tryn started school.
So we had to adjust to new schedules, figuring out how to do the whole bus thing. The first few days found us running down the block to catch the bus - it was a great way to make a first impression with the other moms in the neighborhood.
Even though moving was a very positive experience for us - buying our first house!!! - there were days when all I wanted is to know where my socks were, to not keep opening the wrong kitchen cupboards, and to not feel like I was searching for a new proverbial needle every hour. We went from living in a one level 900 sq foot condo with no yard to a two story house with a basement on a double lot, which was grand, exciting, and more than I had hoped for. It's amazing. What is even more amazing however, is that every morning I know where my favorite coffee mug is and whether or not there is coffee in the cupboard. I can cook a meal with my dishes, which is more therapeutic than a massage and more necessary than the food itself. Normal is good, normal is comfortable. Things are starting to feel normal here. It is so good to feel normal in a bigger house with a great yard in a quiet and safe neighborhood.
Really good.
Moving is unnerving. It shakes the core of the rhythm of life - not to mention is completely exhausting. We only moved 5 miles from where we had been living for 4 years, but moving 5 miles in a city is like moving to another town that you've visited a few times. It's not like everything is foreign, but at the same time nothing is the same. Top that with the fact that Kyeson and I are still not sleeping through the night and it makes for some crazy days. For instance, shortly after we moved in here I ran with the girls to Target and got lost. I didn't get lost on the way to Target, I got lost in Target. The new closest Target that I run to is different in layout from all the other Targets that I usually frequent and I was so tired that I literally could not remember where the different areas of the store were. At one point I was standing in the cleaning supplies, and I didn't even know which direction to go to get to the front door. It was a crazy feeling.
We lived like this for about a month.
That whole month we didn't know for sure if we were going to be moving into our house, we didn't close until the day we moved. We just kept planning, hoping, and praying. August 30th the last paperwork finally went through, 2:00pm on August 31st we closed and at 4:00pm we got home and started loading the moving truck.
Chaos.
This is the new place :)
And then 5 days after we moved in Steve started a new job and Tryn started school.
So we had to adjust to new schedules, figuring out how to do the whole bus thing. The first few days found us running down the block to catch the bus - it was a great way to make a first impression with the other moms in the neighborhood.
Even though moving was a very positive experience for us - buying our first house!!! - there were days when all I wanted is to know where my socks were, to not keep opening the wrong kitchen cupboards, and to not feel like I was searching for a new proverbial needle every hour. We went from living in a one level 900 sq foot condo with no yard to a two story house with a basement on a double lot, which was grand, exciting, and more than I had hoped for. It's amazing. What is even more amazing however, is that every morning I know where my favorite coffee mug is and whether or not there is coffee in the cupboard. I can cook a meal with my dishes, which is more therapeutic than a massage and more necessary than the food itself. Normal is good, normal is comfortable. Things are starting to feel normal here. It is so good to feel normal in a bigger house with a great yard in a quiet and safe neighborhood.
Really good.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Today, A New Normal?
This is the first day since moving that we have had a semi normal family day. We actually hung out and did something together that was fun and not work - pictures to come later. However, this is what "normal" means right now...
Wake up. Feed Kyeson. Realize Tryn has 24 minutes left until she has to get on the bus and she is still in pj's. Get Tryn dressed and ready to go. Steve takes Tryn out the door as the bus is pulling up a few minutes early at the end of the block. Watch Steve pick up Tryn and run half a block with her down to the bus. Open up the fridge and coffee gushes out. Proceed to clean up 4 1/2 quarts of cold press coffee that leaked out of the container all over the inside of the fridge. Finally eat breakfast while holding fussy baby. Put Kye down for a nap. Drink a cup of coffee. Start laundry. Kye wakes up screaming after 20 minutes. Feed Kye. Go on a run with Piper. Shower. Make the family lunch. Eat lunch while, again, holding a fussy baby. Drive to an apple orchard with friend Becky. Have a really fabulous time picking apples and playing outside. Drive home. Start apple pie with Berlin. Stop making apple pie because Kye is freaking out. Put Kye down for nap. Make apple pie with Berlin. Start dinner with Tryn. Realize planned chicken dinner also needs to bake. Work out a plan to bake apple pie and chicken at the same time. Finish apple pie. Husband comes in and asks if I made two pies as he needs to bring a dessert to work tomorrow. No. We negotiate. I agree to make another pie. Eat dinner. Run to store with Berlin for more apple pie ingredients. Berlin spills a bag of almonds all over the floor at the store. We pick them up. Come home. Hold Kyeson who is having a rough and gassy day. Put the girls to bed. Start second apple pie. Stop making second pie to hold Kyeson who is not happy. Steve makes some pie. I make some pie while holding Kye in one arm. Finish pie. Remember I started laundry. Do laundry. Put Kye to sleep while Steve irons shirts. Eat a piece of pie. Sit down on the couch. Collapse.
And I told Steve just after dinner, "Today has been a really good day!" He agreed.
Wake up. Feed Kyeson. Realize Tryn has 24 minutes left until she has to get on the bus and she is still in pj's. Get Tryn dressed and ready to go. Steve takes Tryn out the door as the bus is pulling up a few minutes early at the end of the block. Watch Steve pick up Tryn and run half a block with her down to the bus. Open up the fridge and coffee gushes out. Proceed to clean up 4 1/2 quarts of cold press coffee that leaked out of the container all over the inside of the fridge. Finally eat breakfast while holding fussy baby. Put Kye down for a nap. Drink a cup of coffee. Start laundry. Kye wakes up screaming after 20 minutes. Feed Kye. Go on a run with Piper. Shower. Make the family lunch. Eat lunch while, again, holding a fussy baby. Drive to an apple orchard with friend Becky. Have a really fabulous time picking apples and playing outside. Drive home. Start apple pie with Berlin. Stop making apple pie because Kye is freaking out. Put Kye down for nap. Make apple pie with Berlin. Start dinner with Tryn. Realize planned chicken dinner also needs to bake. Work out a plan to bake apple pie and chicken at the same time. Finish apple pie. Husband comes in and asks if I made two pies as he needs to bring a dessert to work tomorrow. No. We negotiate. I agree to make another pie. Eat dinner. Run to store with Berlin for more apple pie ingredients. Berlin spills a bag of almonds all over the floor at the store. We pick them up. Come home. Hold Kyeson who is having a rough and gassy day. Put the girls to bed. Start second apple pie. Stop making second pie to hold Kyeson who is not happy. Steve makes some pie. I make some pie while holding Kye in one arm. Finish pie. Remember I started laundry. Do laundry. Put Kye to sleep while Steve irons shirts. Eat a piece of pie. Sit down on the couch. Collapse.
And I told Steve just after dinner, "Today has been a really good day!" He agreed.
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