I'm Dreaming of a White....

...Chili


My big resolution of this year was to try to make one new recipe a week.  Basically it's to get me in the kitchen more often and become more comfortable while I'm in there.  Part two of this resolution is to journal what I've done.  Too many times I have made a recipe and then later can't remember for the life of me where I got it.  My solution is to keep track of each one,  documenting the changes that I've made and what I liked or didn't.  


In the past three days I've made three new ones.  Friday the snow made me want to bake.  It was a crazy urge, but I went with it.  I figured out that I had everything (sans a stick of butter that I borrowed from my neighbor) for chocolate cupcakes already in my kitchen, and no, there were no boxes involved.  That was an exciting discovery alright.  Then Saturday I made a delicious chicken parm melted my bad mood away.  I found that recipe on Pioneer Woman's website.  If you're not familiar with her, I encourage you check out her cooking site.  Tonight I made her white chili.  It was divine.  And that's a word I've never associated with my cooking.  To top it off, it was pretty easy to do and it didn't require $100 worth of groceries.  So far she's two for two in my book.  I haven't followed the recipes to a t, but I didn't go too far outside the lines and still came out super delicious.  


Since I am fighting the urge not to go into my kitchen and make myself a midnight snack of the stuff, I'm going to share the recipe instead.  Maybe I'll kill my hunger with kindness, or something like that...


Pioneer Woman's White Chili

Ingredients

• 1 whole Fryer Chicken, Cut Up (or 3 Cups Cooked Chicken)
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Diced  (I used yellow)
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 2 whole Cans Green Chilies, Chopped
• 1 pound Dried Great Northern Beans, Rinsed
• 8 cups Chicken Broth
• 1 whole Jalapeno, Sliced
• 1-½ Tablespoon Ground Cumin
• ½ teaspoons Paprika
• ½ teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
• Salt To Taste
• White Pepper, To Taste (I used black)
• 1 cup Whole Milk (1/2 buttermilk 1/2 2%)
• 2 Tablespoons Masa (corn Flour) OR Cornmeal  
• Grated Monterey Jack, To Taste
• Sour Cream For Garnish
• Cilantro For Garnish
• Guacamole (optional)  (didn't use)
• Pico De Gallo (optional)  "
• Corn Tortillas (warmed)  (cornbread was better)

Preparation Instructions

Cover chicken and cook for 20 to 30 minutes or until done. Remove meat from bones. Set aside.

In a dutch oven over medium-high heat, saute onions and garlic for 2 minutes. Add chopped green chilies, then rinsed beans. Pour chicken broth into the pan. Add sliced jalapenos. Season with salt, pepper, and cumin. Place lid on pot and reduce heat to low.

Cook for 2 hours or until beans are done (closer to 3 hours). Halfway through the cooking process, add 3 cups of cooked chicken.

When beans are tender, mix milk with masa (or cornmeal) and pour into the chili. Cook for an additional ten minutes to thicken. Check seasoning and adjust, adding cayenne pepper and paprika if desired.

Add some Monterey Jack cheese to the pot and stir to melt.

Yumm.  Maybe I'll post a picture tomorrow when I eat leftovers for lunch, that is if I can stand to look at it without eating for for a minute.

*UPDATE*  I know myself too well sometimes.  Grabbing the camera didn't even cross my mind as I was heating up my delectable lunch, not at all.  I can assure you, however, that it was either just as or maybe quite a bit more delicious for lunch and dinner the following day.
Must. make. again.

When life gives you snow

MAKE A SNOWMAN!

I had been feeling the winter blues lately and I've been wishing for the Spring and Summer to hurry and get here.  When the rumor of snow was going around, I wanted nothing of it.  It wasn't even supposed to snow today, just a chance of ice pellets.  What are ice pellets anyway?  At some point this morning I found out that it was snowing via a facebook status.  (and I had a window right behind me!)  In just a matter of minutes, it was coming down pretty hard.  GV happened to be napping, so I went out to take some pictures.  Then in the process the kid in me came out (oh wait, GV is already came out?) and I built a snowman.  I was really excited about this snowman, like really really excited.  I'm hoping that my neighbors didn't notice me through their windows, since I'm sure they would think that I was neglecting my baby.  Rest assured, GV was in a state of slumber the entire time.

This is the third snow of GV's life, which is odd since we're lucky to get a single snow here.  I just heard on the news that this is the hardest snow that we've gotten in 14 years.  This one is particularly beautiful, making me forget about my winter blues for a while.   It just keeps coming and coming, now much harder than earlier today.  I hope that next year GV's able to help me with a snowman; it wasn't that much fun doing it by my lonesome.  But trust me, he won't be in sandals.

My Three Months

As I was writing GV's three month update, I realized that I've gone through a lot of changes too. So here's my update.

Motherhood used to scare the bejeezus out of me. My planned out life didn't include children for another seven or so years. Since I figured that I surely wouldn't be the least bit ready until then. Babies were more intimidating than bank robbers or heights. And I really assumed that changing a diaper was one of the worst things that I person would ever have to participate in.


Did I say that I've gone through lots of changes? It blows my mind of how natural being a mom is. I never thought that instincts could take you completely over with no experience under your belt, whatsoever. On a daily basis I find myself wondering if the hard stuff is right around the corner, since I've heard over and over that babies are so exhausting. I'm not saying that having a baby is easy or anything, but for me, pregnancy was much more difficult than this. I also realize that I'm only three months in; but I had figured that this would be the most difficult time, assuming that I would be transitioning into my new role. Then I found I felt transitioned in just a few days. I just knew what I was supposed to be doing, without reading any books or having anyone tell me what to do.


I had also had this fear that I would have to fall in love with Griffin; that quite possibly we wouldn't connect. Then I was literally overwhelmed by the love that I felt for him. Immediately I found out what it felt like to love someone so much till it hurt. My heart felt like it was on the verge of exploding from the emotions that I experience at GV's birth, and I assumed that I was at the climax then. This was yet another misconception. I know have no idea when my love for him will peak. I have no clue how my love for him can grow on a daily basis when it already seems to consume me, but it does.


Looking back, the beginning wasn't easy. GV's needs took a lot of energy from both Dave and I, but every single thing was for him so it made it natural. Doing things that we normally did, like the dishes or laundry was more challenging since it took away from time with our new son. I learned quickly the sound of my baby's cry and could distinguish it in a crowd. It took a few weeks, but soon GV's cries began to tell us exactly what he needed. I knew his hungry yell from his tired whimper, and realizing that I had this gift made me feel even more capable as a mother. I was also nervous about feeding him in the beginning. I had heard a thousand horror stories before having him about how terrible breastfeeding can be on a mom. I had assumed that I would need to join some support groups to learn what I was doing. I had assumed that without the $40 cream that my doctor prescribed, my nipples would just fall off from the toll that feeding takes. But more than anything, I wanted to do what I felt best for my son. Not much intimidated me more and I prayed every night that I'd be strong enough to give it my all. And thankfully my prayers were answered. It took a little work, but I fortunately have no horror stories to tell. That nurturing feeling is an unbelievable one. It's one I get to feel several times a day. It's a time for GV and I to bond, when only I can provide his nourishment. The way GV thanks me warms my heart to no end. It's the way his little hand grasps my shirt, the way he looks right at me, or the smile on his face telling me he's satisfied. I am far beyond thankful that I made this decision and of how smoothly this has gone.

I could not be more proud of my little baby. Sometimes I worry that I'm driving everyone crazy as much as I want to talk about him, but he literally consumes me—all of me. In just three short months I have loved more than I ever felt possible, been stronger than I ever felt that I could be, and experienced a happiness that I couldn't have ever imagined. GV is my son for a reason and, for that, I can't be thankful enough. So after all, being a mom isn't scary at all and it has even proven itself pretty darn fun. Hey, even the diapers don't phase me.

3 Months

GV month by month

I am writing this in disbelief. Griffin is three entire months old. Three months—a whole season! Three months has turned out to be a very fun age; I think he should stay this way for just a while longer.

In a book that I had started, the author claimed that the first three months of a baby life was the fourth trimester. His point being, that the baby grows and develops so much in those months, but the personality doesn't really come out till around till the third month. This has been pretty true for us. GV really started interacting more like a little person about two or three weeks ago.


I have mentioned that he is smiling constantly now, and I might add that it's the most adorable smile I've ever seen! He's sort of giggling at times, and he's clearly a talker. We usually have several good conversations during the day. (And just months ago I was thinking that babies were just boring little blobs...ha!) He's batting at toys, and now grabbing them too. He can keep himself entertained with his toys for pretty close to an hour. He's holding his head up and looking around the room, and just the other day he was kicking his legs up as he was on his stomach. I think I saw signs of a roll. If he would just pull his arm in a little more, he would have flipped right over.


I was just reminded that GV did roll over while under Dave's supervision. GV was laying on Dave's chest looking up at him, and he kept leaning like he was going to roll. So Dave was curious if he would, and ready to catch him if he did. He did roll over and Dave did catch him (his words, not mine) but not before his little bottom barely touched the ground (still Dave's words). For about five whole seconds everything was fine. But then...WWWAAAAAAHHHHH! GV turned into a very angry baby. He furrowed his brow and refused to make any eye contact with his dad. He held this grudge for a good while, but eventually came back to normal. So, I don't really count this as his first roll; yet I hope that it doesn't scar him from trying again in the future.

His hands were discovered a few weeks ago too. Dr. S said that one of the developments by four months was bringing his hands to the center, not the most exciting one to watch, but still very important. His hands are his new pacifier. He never really took a pacifier that well, but now he's completely over it. (I hear this could change again.) I had some hesitation to giving him one in the first place, as I saw images of half grown children sucking away on them. But they did help for a while, since they were able to soothe him to sleep. But now I am quite happy; hands are cheaper than pacifiers any day.


He's sleeping close to eleven hours now. He's getting tired earlier and earlier, so I have a feeling we'll be at twelve hours any day now. He still likes to be swaddled, but even if he manages to break free, he's able to soothe himself with his hands. I love to watch him sleep, and lately I've wanted to bring him back to his bassinet so I can watch him when I can't sleep, but I haven't. He hasn't been back in his bassinet since we his two month birthday. He's still a hard sleeper too, and it takes him several minutes to wake up completely.

I know I've said it a million times, but GV is an amazing little baby. He contradicts every single thing that I thought of babies before. There isn't a day, no make that a second that goes by that I don't thank God for what He's given me.


This morning he weighed in just a little over 13 pounds, and we've been describing him as humongous lately. We are about to move to his 3-6 months clothes, but he's still comfortably fitting in most of his 3 month stuff.

Polaroid fun!

I found a fun application from polaroid.net.  Polaroids are so much fun.  Try it out.

I could learn from him

Every single day I realize how I have truly been blessed with an amazing little boy.  For the months that I spent pregnant, I prayed that my little bean sprout would have a temperament similar to our dogs.  They like to play, but for the most part they are very mild mannered.  I would joke at work that my baby would not know how to cry and that he'd sleep through the night and that he'd laugh a lot.  Even though they all told me babies like that don't exist, I got a baby pretty close to what I prayed for.  GV loves to sleep and has been really good at it, he loves to smile, and he's already making some little giggling noises that we hear often.

I'm beyond lucky, but I'm still having some trouble with typical new mom things.  But I'm the one causing them--ME, not my new baby!

I'm having a issue that I shouldn't be, yet I can't seem to stop it from happening either.  GV goes to bed around 10ish, 10:30 most of the time, and is out until 8:30 in the morning.  Ideally I would go to bed around 11.  But, no, I don't make it to bed till closer to 1:30 to 2.  I sadly cannot say that I'm up doing laundry or washing the dishes or anything really.  All the house stuff is done in the day, during nap time if possible, since I get pretty tired early in the evening.  I am either watching tv, which I don't do much of during the day, or tanning my face with my laptop screen.  Every time I try to go to bed earlier, the clock seems to speed up and it ends up much later than I had wanted.  When I do get to bed, I have a hard time staying asleep.  I wake up feeling like I haven't eaten in weeks or like I need to make a grocery list RIGHT then.  I eventually make it back to sleep, but 8:00 feels too early to get up and about after all that.

I realized my other issue just yesterday.  I made it a point to get out of the house and do some shopping with GV yesterday.  I have been out of the house with him on several occassions without Dave, but always going to a relative's house.  I told myself that I needed to get more comfortable with this scenario and GV is always great going out, so I should feel much better than I do about leaving the house with him.  We ventured out early during the day and GV was asleep as soon as we were in the car.  I found myself hoping that he'd stay that way for the entire duration of our trip.  At our first stop I pulled his carseat out and hooked it to the stroller, no problem.  Except that it was really windy and my bangs kept flying into my eyes.  This made me want to get back in the car and go home.  Crazy, I know.  Then there already a person with a baby stroller, looking at the baby sale stuff.  I immediately gave up on trying to look too.  We headed to the mall next, GV still sleeping, but soon after our arrival he woke up.  This made me nervous.  I just knew that he was bound to start crying.  And if he did, we would have to go home.  I have some illogical fear of baby cries in public places.  GV must know that I have this silly problem, because he sat there like a quiet little mouse taking in his surroundings with his big eyes.  The whole time.  But I was still nervous the whole time, ready to leave at the slightest noise.

Ugh!  I know that I'm blessed with an amazing little baby.  I even see that he seems to enjoy getting out of the house.  But I continue to act scared to go anywhere by ourselves.  I am hoping that I'll get over all this real soon, REAL soon.

Sidenote:  I would love to be able to do all of our grocery shopping before Dave gets home, like a nice stay at home mom.  However I have a handicap.  Our carseat carrier doesn't have that little notch that allows it to slide down onto a buggy/cart.  Our seat still sits on the cart, but a little higher than normal.  My handicap:  I can't see over the carseat cart combination.  I need to start wearing him instead, but I still have my phobias of carts and crowed isles too.

Thankfully GV is CRAZY over his crazy mom.

Batter Up!

I think it was about two or three weeks ago when GV began to notice the toys hanging from his bouncer seat. He would stare and stare at them, sometimes moving his little hands a bit, but never touching the toys. Last week as he would stare at the little squirrel, owl, and hedgehog; I saw that he was more excited, kicking his feet and raising his hands a little higher. Then today. Today I decided to hang some toys from his swing. Since it doesn't have a toy bar, I used my mom ingenuity to make a chain of his links to hang a few things from. (For a moment, I was proud of myself.) I hung his little frog toy on the chain and walked away. Then I heard a loud rattle! I ran back to see if I could catch the next one, and I did! He was swinging away and making lots of happy noises. This is so much more exciting than I ever could have imagined. I'm not sure who was entertained more, although I'm pretty sure it was me.

Developmently, so much has happened over the past few weeks. He has gone from smiling once or twice a week, to doing so whenever he is asked. He is also bringing both hands to his midline, which Dr. S told us to expect by his four month appointment. Who knew that I be getting a kick out of that?! Now he's interacting with his toys. I remember asking a few moms when this would happen, and now, it's happening now! He also has gone from disliking tummy time, to being able to hold his head to look at us for more than a minute. What's next? I'm beyond excited to see.

*Side note: Dave and I sadly realized that we didn't have any videos of GV as a newborn. We were busy taking so many pictures, we forgot to use the video function on our camera. :tear: Now, nothing worth recording is going to get by us; as we've both vowed to press record on our camera every chance we get.

He's got a lot to say.

Lately GV has been smiling much more frequently, and of course, this sends me to the moon!  In the last week he has basically been smiling whenever you smile at him and we'll catch him smiling for his own sake too.  He also started "talking" to me.  One day I was talking to him and when I stopped, he cooed and gurgled back at me.  We carried on for a while, almost long enough for my heart to explode with joy.

This morning we were having a conversation and I happened to notice the camera sitting next to me, so I captured it to share.  I apologize for the awful angle and tv noise in the background, I obviously didn't plan this one out.

Where Did You Come From, Baby Dear?

Where Did You Come From, Baby Dear?

George Macdonald

Where did you come from, baby dear?

Out of the everywhere into here.

Where did you get your eyes so blue?

Out of the sky as I came through.

What makes the light in them sparkle and spin?

Some of the starry spikes left in.

Where did you get that little tear?

I found it waiting when I got here.

What makes your forehead so smooth and high?

A soft hand stroked it as I went by.

What makes your cheek like a warm white rose?

I saw something better than anyone knows.

Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss?

Three angels gave me at once a kiss.

Where did you get this pearly ear?

God spoke, and it came out to hear.

Where did you get those arms and hands?

Love made itself into hooks and bands.

Feet, whence did you come, you darling things?

From the same box as the cherubs' wings.

How did they all just come to be you?

God thought about me, and so I grew.

But how did you come to us, you dear?

God thought about you, and so I am here.

**********************************************************************************
I received a little children's poetry book over Christmas from Dave's Gran. As I was flipping through it I found this poem that came pretty close to misting up my eyes. The last line tugged on my heart and put a smile on my face. Enjoy!

He Sleeps Like a Baby

I get asked often, "How's Griffin sleeping?"  So I am assuming that his is a common topic among parents.  Here's our story:

Since about a month and a half old GV has been putting himself to sleep.  At first he'd cry just a bit then fall asleep a few minutes later.  For a while now, he's skipping the late night cry and going straight to sleep.

At two months old we moved GV into the crib in his room.  This was a tough transition for me, but thankfully GV didn't seem phased.  We had been putting him to bed around midnight and he'd sleep till around 5-5:30ish.  However Dr. S said that GV should be ready to sleep a full 12 hours at night, and we were ready to jump on board.  His instructions were to lay him down around 11ish, then not go back into his room till 7 or 8 in the morning, then in the following weeks keep pushing his bedtime up by about 30 minutes. And TA-DA you're at 12 hours!  Right now we are in the third week of "sleep-training" and GV is going to bed at 10:30 and waking up around 7.  After he gets his last meal he is usually ready for what we call happy hour, then  right around 10:20ish, just like magic, he's a little fussy.  Dave swaddles him up, puts him in his crib, and the crying immediately stops.  Last night he slept 9 hours.  I had heard him crying around 6AM but he was quiet a few minutes later, then woke up about 7:30.

GV also takes two long naps during the day.  One usually around 10 AM and the other around 8 PM.  He normally lets us know that he's ready for these naps too.

His little seahorse helps him to get to sleep.  His belly lights up and he plays soft music.  GV will stare at the light until his eyes can't stay open any longer.  I bought that seahorse for GV for Christmas, despite hating the way that it looked. His Ugly Doll was on backorder, and we weren't getting him any other toys; after reading tons of reviews I decided to get one.  It really has become his little friend in his crib.

The reason I write all this is because I really thought that I would never be getting a full night's rest again.  Even in the beginning, I was figuring that he was always going to sleep for two to three hours at a time.  I'm learning as I go, but I really think our key has been a pretty strict routine.  Hopefully we'll continue down this road as he gets older.  Now I stand a lot more optimistic; I'm really believing that Griffin needs his routines more than I do.

Like Father Like Son

I absolutely love when Griffin sneezes.  There isn't much that is more adorable. I had thought that baby hiccups would be cute, but they have nothing on his sneezes.  Griffin has a "follow-through" for his sneezes.  It's the normal "ahchoo" sound, then comes the fun part, usually "oohh" or ewhhh", but always something.  These noises do serve a bit of significance in our house.  The second part of the sneeze is typically a little louder than the actual sneeze itself.  Dave has always made similar noises post sneeze I am assuming for fun, however I NEVER thought they were cute.  But the fact that Griffin does this makes my heart melt.  We've come to the conclusion that that's what Griffin heard while he was baking, so his little brain fired some chemicals to make his sneezes extra cute.  Yep...I'm sure that's what it was :)

Happy Twenty Ten!

I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be a fabulous year.  After all we're now living in the future, right?

Dave, Griffin, and I had a quiet night at home New Year's Eve.  Griffin was just a little cranky as his bed time neared, so we put him down.  But as midnight approached, I decided that he needed to celebrate with us, I mean this is the only FIRST New Years that he'll have.  He wasn't trilled about being woke up, but after a few dances with his mom his joy was rekindled.  We ended 2009 and began 2010 happy and dancing as a family, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

New Year's day we went up to Dave's grandmother's to celebrate her birthday and the New Year.  We stuffed ourselves with a delicious meal that included all the necessary things that you eat on New Years.

We've done a lot of celebrating over the last few weeks, but I think we're all ready to slow down and enjoy this new year.  It's going to be a good one!

"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man."

Benjamin Franklin

Griffin's First Christmas

Griffin's first Christmas proved to be the most exciting time of the year for us all.  At long last we got to meet our first little Nephew, Adrian, who was born just a few days before Griffin.  Dave's grandparents also came down from Oregon to spend their Christmas with us.  The house was full of people, but more so, excitement--lots and lots of it.  Not only was it Griffin's best Christmas yet, it was mine too.

After getting settled in, we all made a voyage out into the cold evening to look at the mesmerizing Christmas windows downtown.  Even though it was absolutely freezing, the company was great.  And as usual, Griffin slept through the whole trip.

Christmas Eve rolled around rather quickly.  We spent the afternoon with the Jeffers' side of the family.  Dave's mom made the most delicious Christmas dinner of standing rib roast and corn pudding and cranberry chutney...oh...I wish I could go back and have that meal a thousand more times.  After dinner we listened to the Christmas story got ready to open gifts.  Griffin seemed to have a bit of a tummy ache later in the evening, so he didn't care for much of anything.

For the last couple of years Dave and I had been celebrating our Christmas at midnight after we get home from his parents.  We found no reason to change that this year, so we continued on with our tradition.  Griffin was feeling a little better and was finally ready to play with a few of his toys.  Griffin and Dave made sweet music with his new little keyboard.  After a while of playing and realizing that it was way past bedtime, Griffin doozed off probably dreaming of sugarplum fairies and whatnot.  Being like I am, I found this to be the perfect opportunity to do this:

Early Christmas morning my mom and brother came over to celebrate.  Dave cooked breakfast for all of us and Griffin was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed.  Maybe he realized that there was something special about that day.

Around noon we headed to my dad's house to continue the celebrating.  There was a full house there as well. I managed to forget GV's diaper bag, therefore feeling like a terrible parent.  He slept through most of our time over there, so as luck would have it, I wasn't the worst mom in the world.  We woke up to play with his Grandad, his uncle, and all of his sweet aunts.

It was a long week, but well worth it.  Griffin got lots of awesome gifts and I'm excited to see him playing with them soon.  Like I have previously mentioned, family took on a whole new meaning this year.  It was so nice to celebrate as a little family of three this year; and it really felt so fabulous to be the mom of the greatest little gift I've ever received.  At the same time, it was unbelievably amazing to celebrate with the loving families to which we belong.

2 Months

Griffin turned two months old last week and as so far he's still growing like a weed, a chubby little weed.  


He is now interacting with us, and as it turns out, he's a funny little sprout.  We can tell that he's listening to our voices; it's so neat to catch him watching me as I am talking.  We're seeing him smile a little bit.  Although I think he's more frequently smiling with his eyes.  He's very expressive with his little face.  When he's excited his eyes will be as round as golf balls with his eye brows arching like (blonde) rainbows over them. 


One (of many) thing(s) that I'm proud of is how he's sleeping.  I am a lucky mom to have a son who lets me get a full night's sleep.  At his two month check-up Dr. S said that once a baby reaches 11 lbs he doesn't need to eat during the night anymore and should be ready to start sleeping 12 hours through the night.  TWELVE!!!  Griffin was already sleeping six to six and a half consistently.  He was also putting him self to sleep from being wide awake, which the doctor said was the hardest part.  We were instructed to put him down at 11 o'clock and not go into him  room until 7 or 8 the next morning.  (I realize that this may not sit well with some, but I trust my doctor)  This meant that Griffin would now be sleeping in his own room, instead of directly beside me in his bassinet, where I could see his precious little face with the street light that shines though our window.    The first night was a little rough for me and I kept asking Dave if we could just wait one more night.  I really hated a wall separating me from my little baby bird, but had to remember that this was better for all of us.  


That night he woke up around 6 and cried for a bit but went back to sleep, and he was fine when Dave went into his room around 7.  He did great for the rest of the week, and then we get to the last two nights.  He has slept for EIGHT hours for the past two nights!!!  I can't beat that.  Hopefully we can continue this trend; I hear that repetition is key.


I do feel so lucky to have Griffin as MY son.  He is such a wonderful little baby, and he makes me realize this more and more every single day.  I am so excited to watch this little baby grow into a little guy then into a bigger guy.


His two month info:
24" long--80 percentile
12 lb 3 oz--70 percentile
his head is in the 75 percentile.  
--So he is right on track to be taller than his Momma.