This crockpot recipe has been my biggest hit yet!  I got the recipe from www.sixsistersstuff.com.  It's really easy, and the compliments I received were endless!  The consistency is more like thick chili than soup.  Great for a party, or family dinner.

Picture belongs to Six Sister's Stuff

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean ground beef (or ground turkey works too!)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 package mild taco seasoning mix
• 1 (16 oz) bag frozen corn
• 1 (16 oz) can black beans drained and rinsed (you could use kidney beans or pinto beans)
• 2 (14 oz) cans stewed tomatoes
• 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 (4 oz) can diced green chilis 

Directions:

1. Brown meat and onion, drain. Let meat cool for a minute, then dump into a resealable gallon-sized freezer bag.
2. Dump the remaining ingredients into the bag, mix together, and zip bag closed.
3. When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours.
4. Cook on HIGH for 1-2 hours or LOW for 2-3 1/2 hours.
5. Serve with tortilla chips, cheese, sour cream, and guacamole.  Enjoy!

My last crockpot recipe of BBQ pork ribs was an absolute success with my husband.  Only problem was there were no seconds!  

To all my married ladies:

We love our husbands.  They are our heroes, our knights, and best friends.  We love them unconditionally... but let's face it girls, our husbands do things that just downright annoy the crap out of us!  So here's just a little bit of good humored venting.

10 annoying things husbands do:

1. Leaving dirty dishes: not in the dishwasher and not even in the sink, but on the counter or around the house. How about dishes with food still left on them?
2. Blaming negative moods on PMS: just because women are the more emotional sex, does not make our feelings invalid. Also not sure why some guys think telling us we're PMSing is going to help the situation any.
3. Not picking up after themselves: self-explanatory... who enjoys cleaning up after others?
4. Dysfunctional planner: If it's not forgetting an event, it's not coordinating an event well (like inviting people last minute, or not making reservations). 
5. Leaving the toilet seat up: self-explanatory... it's gross (or hazardous to someone who doesn't notice and goes to sit).
6. Forgetting how to be romantic: Most men must suffer memory loss. The art of flattery and planning dates become faint memories that seem to resurface only on certain occasions like anniversaries and birthdays.
7. Browsing their phone when out on a date: self-explanatory... it's rude! Can you hear me now?
8. Pretending to listen/zoning out: ever had that conversation with your husband while the TV's on?  Yea me neither...
9. Too much TV/Games/Internet: feel like your husbands hooked up to electronics sometimes?
10. Expected to be a constant babysitter/housemaid: being left on baby/child duty or cleaning duty too much is a recipe for resentment. 

Anyway, not all men possess these traits.  These are only intended for light-hearted teasing.  We love our men.  Our husbands have many wonderful traits that won our hearts in the beginning, and keep warming our hearts throughout the years.  To all you husbands out there, thank you for being our providers, our strength, good fathers (to those with kids), and best friends.

* just be sure to wine and dine us sometimes.  :-)

UPDATE:
This recipe was a success! My husband said this is his favorite crockpot recipe by far!  Just one little change I would make, is that 6 hours on LOW is the perfect timing - no longer.
.....................................................................

Time for a new recipe!  Being a mom to an 8-1/2 month old, my love for crockpot recipes has grown!  What's not better than dinner cooking itself, leaving you free to handle mom duties, or on rare occasions, relax.

Anyway, today I'm trying out a new recipe I found for slow cooked BBQ pork ribs.  I bought all the ingredients at Stater Brothers.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1-2 lbs. pork ribs
• 1-1/2 cups ketchup
• 1-1/2 Tbsp seasoning salt
• 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white vinegar

Bottled BBQ sauce can be used I'm sure as well, to keep things even simpler.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut pork ribs into reasonable parts (about 3-4 ribs per piece), and set aside.
2. Mix remaining ingredients to make the BBQ sauce.  I mixed mine in a large freezer bag to save dirtying a bowl.
3.  Place ribs inside the bag with the sauce, and let marinate in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight if you wish.
4. When ready to cook, place entire contents into a crockpot and cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours, or on LOW for 6-7 hours.  I prefer the low cook setting.
5. Enjoy!

 This recipe can also be frozen for a later date.  When ready to use, simply let it thaw in the fridge for 24 hours.

If you're like me, you've tried a taste of everything that your baby has eaten.  From formula to pureed green beans, and blended turkey & sweet potato.

In my opinion, I have no idea how babies manage to eat what they're given.  Formula would be the one item I don't suggest any parent to try.  Second to breast milk, it has everything a baby needs and is necessary... but between you and me, it tastes worse than sour milk.  My personal experience with a small sip nearly triggered my gag reflex.

Other than formula, I've tried quite a few of my daughter's pureed meals.  Most of the fruit tastes good, and the veggies taste pretty close to their solid counterparts.  It's when I get to the blended "meal" options that I begin to wonder how bland chicken and rice can taste so... unappetizing.  The worst would have to be the turkey meal options... let's just say they do not taste close to what's written on the container.

Of course, the wonderful thing about packaged baby food is that it's easy to travel with, convenient for providing your child with variety, and the fact that babies don't know any better means they're still going to get the nutrition they need and not complain. However, they pale in comparison to homemade baby food.

I've started making my daughter's pureed meals, and I was surprised just how easy they were.  Some of my favorites are: apple sauce, pureed pears, carrots, yams, butternut squash, and chicken and potatoes.  The fruits and vegetables are all prepared the same:

Pureed Baby Food: Fruits & Veggies
(note: most fruits/veggies have to be cooked; however, bananas/avocados can be pureed raw)

1) Cut/Chop your fruit or veggies into manageable pieces.
2) Place in a steaming basket in a pot of boiling water.
3) Cook until soft/tender.
4) Let food cool off a little, then place into a blender or food processor.
5) Blend to puree, adding some of the boiled water to thin to a desired consistency.

You can serve the food fresh, or freeze for later:

6) Place puree into ice cube trays and freeze.
7) Remove frozen cubes into a labeled freezer bag to store.
8) Allow cubes to sit in fridge overnight when you plan to use some the next day.

The difference between fresh made baby food and store bought is night and day.  I have a friend whose son didn't like store bought butternut squash, but then he tried the home made version and loved it!  If moms have the time to try making their own baby food, I highly recommend it!  Not only will you be able to make better tasting food for your child, but you will also cut costs on baby food at the store.  It's a win-win!

I'm finding that time management isn't just a valued skill when it comes to motherhood, it's a necessity!  These past few months, I have learned how to juggle taking care of a baby with moving to a new home, remodeling said home, arranging a surprise party for my husband's 30th birthday, and of course just handling the every day tasks of cleaning, running errands, projects and finding time to care for myself!

Needless to say, I've had plenty of excuses as to why I haven't been able to keep my blog more up to date.  Something I hope to remedy, now with life settling down in our new location.  Good thing is that I've had plenty of time to think of new topics and recipes to post, so I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things on here.

My daughter is 8 months old now, and it's hard to believe how fast the time has flown! She still hasn't cut any teeth yet, but is loving trying new foods I've been making for her.  She also hasn't mastered the art of crawling.  She loves to roll around, and stand in her walker.  I may end up being one of those moms whose child goes straight to standing and walking, and skips the crawling stage all together. 

I'm loving making her baby food, and I can't believe how easy it is! The best part of course is feeding it to her and seeing her reaction.  She likes pretty much everything except green beans - which I can't blame her... I don't like them either.  But for their nutritional benefits, I've been mixing them in with other vegetables she likes.

Anyway, it feels good to finally write a new post.  Now I just need to manage my time well enough to keep this updated!  Hope everyone is well, and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Well I'm finally 100% recovered! That being said, moving on.  Our daughter is almost 3 months old, and I can't believe just how fast time goes by.  She smiles all the time, has almost started laughing, and is discovering her voice and the use of her hands more and more each day.

Being a stay-at-home mom has been wonderfully exhausting and rewarding.  Trying to squeeze cleaning, cooking, laundry, and baby duties all into one day can be quite challenging.  I'm learning patience in a whole new way.  Life is finding routine again though.  At 7 weeks, Emilee slept through the night for the first time.  Now at 12 weeks, she sleeps every night from 8pm to 7am (hopefully this won't change once she starts teething).  Biggest challenge I have with her now is solidifying her nap schedule - she's a very light napper.

Despite her short naps, I'm loving her new baby stages more and more - each month is my favorite month, and she keeps getting better and easier.  Even with a rough labor, long recovery and those seemingly endless sleepless nights... I'm addicted!  It's no secret to my family and friends that I want more.

I have always wanted 2 kids, but for the first time in my life, I'm considering 3.  Even my husband who has always just wanted 2 is open to 3.  The thought of a house full of kids laughing and playing puts a smile on my face, and I'm so excited for those days to come.

I've primarily used this blog to share recipes, ideas and some life stories... but today, I just need to vent (be forewarned, this could get a bit TMI).

I found this cute project recipe in one of my parenting magazines and thought I'd share!  It's an Eco-Friendly Play Dough that you can make at home for your little one to play with.

Photo taken from Google Images

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup Salt
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1 Cup Flour
• 1 Tbsp. Beet Juice (or other natural dye)
• *Optional* A few drops of essential oil like lavender or mint

What new mom hasn't stressed over her newborn?  Over the last 3 weeks, I've had my share of concerns:

• Does this look normal?
• Are babies supposed to be this gassy?
• Am I producing enough milk?
• When will this umbilical cord stump fall off?
• What does this cry mean?
• What is THAT?!

Photo taken from Google Images (looks identical)

Yesterday my daughter officially turned two weeks old!  It's amazing how fast time flies as a new parent.  I can barely remember what day of the week it is.  Labor already seems like it was ages ago, as if we jumped forward in time.  Right now Emilee is napping, and so I want to take advantage of this quiet time to write.

In two short weeks, here is what I've learned about infants:

When they aren't eating or sleeping, they are going through diapers left and right (sometimes 2-3 in a row), spitting up, drooling on their fingers they've been sucking on, and even that little umbilical cord stump is an additional ordeal.  I've been pooped, peed, and drooled on... and yet, the statement "it's different when it's your own" remains true!  There's something about your own baby that makes all those things not so gross, just natural.  Your initial reaction to an explosive diaper isn't disgust, but rather to quickly clean your poor baby so you can make her comfortable and happy.  Sometimes all you can do is laugh when you hear that ominous rumble coming from your baby's bottom, and draw straws on who gets to change her next.

Infants aren't all mess and work though.  There's those moments when they are asleep, and all you can do is gaze at them in wonder.  So tiny, helpless and CUTE!  Then there's the wakeful periods of time where they are clean, happy, and just staring at you and the world around them.  My personal favorite is watching my daughter play with her facial expressions and make faces.  She doesn't quite have control of her facial muscles yet, but getting glimpses of her expressions is absolutely adorable!  These are the moments you cherish, and it makes all the messy diapers worth it.

I have been a new mom now for two and a half days, and as my precious daughter is finally asleep... I want to write my birth experience while it's still fresh in my mind (it's true that you begin to forget over time!).

First, I want to just say that childbirth has to be one of the most empowering things a woman can possibly experience!  I can't think of anything else that has come close to it in my life.  It is the hardest thing I have ever gone through physically and mentally.

Second, while I would love to paint this beautiful picture of a smooth labor, I must be honest and confess that mine was anything but smooth.  My perfect natural birth plan of laboring at home, eating popsicles, getting to the hospital with only a couple hours left to go... went out the window.  Please be warned that I'm going to be 100% honest, I don't intend to be "flowery" about labor. Here's my story.

Tuesday (March 20th) marked week 41 for me - a week overdue.  I was scheduled to go to the hospital for non-stress testing, to make sure the health of the baby was still good.  Signs indicated that my amniotic fluid levels were too low, the placenta had started to age and not function as well, and my daughter's heartbeat decreased during a contraction.  End result: I was admitted to the hospital for an induced labor that same day.  The Doctors felt it would be safer to go sooner rather than later.


Around noon that day I was started on Pitocin to get my contractions going.  Labor started off very easy, with mild discomfort.  Even as the contractions grew stronger, I had little trouble coping, that is until the hours started rolling by and Tuesday became Wednesday.  By 12am my labor pains were intense to the point that I couldn't talk through them, and had to focus on getting through each one.  I had been making pretty good progress up until then, and was 7cm dilated. However, things started going downhill from there...

For the next 3 hours, I labored in hopes to make the jump from active labor to transition.  But I remained at 7cm for those 3 hours, with no progress.  It had been about 15 hours of labor at that point, and my body was showing its exhaustion.  With progress hitting a plateau, I finally and reluctantly decided that I needed an epidural in an attempt to relax my body enough to dilate further - not to mention rest so I could push later.  Even though pain medication was the last thing on my birth plan, I was more afraid of not progressing due to exhaustion and ending with a c-section.

Once the epidural was administered, I did my best to try and rest.  And contrary to what I thought it would feel like, I could still move my legs (though they felt very heavy), and I felt pressure with the contractions.  Thankfully, as I hoped, this ended up being exactly what my body needed.  The rest and ability to relax jumped me from 7cm to 10cm.  By 7am I felt pressure to push, and the epidural was turned off.  Emilee however, was not in the right position (I had extreme back labor earlier).  So they had me labor in various positions with pressure points on my belly to encourage Emilee to move.  This was very difficult since they also didn't want me pushing.  This lasted a couple hours with the contraction pains increasing again.

Finally by 9am, they gave me the go ahead to push.  This was a relief, as the counter pressure of pushing helped dull the pain of the contractions.  However, Emilee's position was making progress very hard.  The nurse tried to manually shift Emilee to turn, and that is the only time I yelled out in pain (I sure hope I didn't scare any of the other laboring moms).  There was no luck, and after 2-1/2 hours of pushing the nurses were starting to look discouraged, and a comment or two of a c-section came up because of how long my water had been broken, my high blood pressure, and Emilee's health being stuck too long.

This is when I believe God gave me a second wind.  Out of no where, I suddenly couldn't take the pain anymore and found strength and determination to finish things.  Let me tell you, pushing is like running a marathon, I was surprised by how exhausting it all was.  Even with my new found energy, when Emilee's head was starting to get in view, another problem arose.  She was stuck and not crowning fully.  The nurse was suggesting a vacuum assist or episiotomy.  I remember saying "Not the vacuum! Please give me the episiotomy!" (I didn't want any further trauma to my daughter).  By this point another nurse had turned the epidural back on, but it was too late.  I received the episiotomy cut without anything to numb the pain, but thankfully it did the trick.  After three hours of pushing, Emilee's head came out (she was sunny-side up) and the nurse let me pull her out and deliver her on my own!!

That was the most thrilling experience of labor, and I will never forget seeing Emilee's face as I pulled her over to my chest.  Of course, the pain wasn't over then, I still had to have the placenta delivered and get stitched up.  Not to mention, I experienced postpartum hemorrhaging and lost a good deal of blood, but once Emilee was out, the relief of knowing I had avoided a c-section, and survived labor was absolutely astounding!  It is a right of passage to say the least.  My delivery nurse said that in her 22 years of work, my labor was one of the hardest she's ever assisted with.

While my labor sounds scary and unbearable, I do believe that it can be a beautiful experience too.  I want to end on a positive note and express that it was completely worth it!  Words can hardly describe the feelings you have after labor.  I wanted to cry out of joy seeing my beautiful daughter, I was proud of every stretch mark, and I was overwhelmed with love for both my daughter and my husband.  Seeing my husband holding her tiny hand in amazement is a snapshot in time I will never forget!

I also can't express enough how thankful I am for my husband and mom too.  They supported me throughout the whole process, and were just absolutely amazing.  I couldn't have done it without them!  For any future children, I pray my pregnancy is healthy to begin on its own - and that I can have my original birth plan; however, I am also very thankful for the medication that is available since it helped my body deliver Emilee safely.  And most of all, I'm thankful to God for a strong healthy baby!

We are a little over two weeks away from finally meeting our baby girl!  I can't believe how fast time flies, but let me tell you, I'm very ready to have my body back.  The last month of pregnancy has brought on swelling to my ankles and feet.  The added water retention has also caused me to have carpal tunnel syndrome (my fingers are numb as I write this).

God-willing, I'm hoping to have an all-natural birth with no pain-killers.  Learning about birth, I've realized that it's less scary and more beautiful than I originally thought.  Sure there's gonna be some gross parts, and the pain will be intense... but the outcome, challenge, and fact that my body's built to do it all seems like a right of passage.  Thank goodness for modern medicine in that should something be wrong, I can fully trust my Dr. to intervene.  I'm just praying they won't have to. :-)

On a different note, I have to confess how thankful I am for life.  Yesterday, my husband and I were getting ready to turn left onto the freeway on-ramp (might I add we had a green light), and this large black Dodge truck was barreling down the street towards us.  There was an instant where everything slowed down in my mind, and I knew if we kept moving forward, the truck would have hit full impact on my side.  I recall holding my belly, and thinking "No! They are going to hit me and my baby!".  I shouted out about the truck, my husband saw and hit the brakes, and the truck slid by, not even a foot away from us and not even stopping.

Looking at the back of the truck, I'll admit that I was angry they went by too fast for me to flip them off... but then again, road rage never helped anyone.  We got onto the freeway safely, where the shock melted away and I began to cry.  This was only the second time in my life that I had been scared to tears.  The thought of being injured, or possibly killed and losing our first baby was overwhelming.

I'm so thankful God watched out for us yesterday, and I pray for safer drivers... because there are too many people in a hurry, too many people drunk at the wheel, and not everyone escapes being a victim from a careless car wreck.