Menu for week of 4/6

Since becoming a stay at home mom when Kiddo was born we had to do some serious work on our budget. And now that we have added Cheesecake to the mix we have to be very serious about the menu. However, Hubby just got a new job that starts on 4/6 and will be working days. This is huge since it has been since just over 3 years that he has worked on first shift. I am beyond excited! So here's what is for dinner!

Monday- enchiladas
Tuesday- spaghetti casserole
Wednesday- hot ham sandwiches
Thursday- taco pizza
Friday- lasagna and garlic bread
Saturday- meatball subs
Sunday- lawnmower taco

Birth Story #2

About a month after my oldest turned 1 we found out that I was pregnant with #2. We were excited and nervous about being parents of two. This is the story of how my little cheesecake was born.

I had another uneventful pregnancy and everything was smooth. I was due November 4th. On October 30 I thought I was starting to have contractions at 1230pm. I had one while at the doctor that morning. So we waited until 1 to see if I was getting more or not knowing that my first came pretty quickly. I had a few but they weren't bad or intense. However, because of Kiddo coming within 6 hours of me feeling them we decided to go get checked out. We dropped Kiddo off with grandma and went to the hospital. When we got there I was having some contractions but again not intense or frequent. Told the nurse I wanted to get checked since #1 came fast. I was checked and was only 4cm and 60% effaced. So they sent us on a walk around the hospital to see if that changes anything. An hour later, nothing changed so we went home. I had the opportunity to stay but my midwife thought I would rest better at home. And I agreed with her. So back home we went. Got back around 7p. Grandma said she would keep Kiddo in case for us overnight. So nice.

And so we rested and relaxed. I got to bed around 10p and slept until 155am when I was woken up by a contraction. So I decided to start timing them and see how intense they were. They were about 5 minutes apart and lasting anywhere from 45 seconds to 1 minute. Woke the hubby up and we left around 240am. Made it to the hospital at 315. This time I wasn't leaving. I moved to a room and got checked again. I was a 6 with 80% effacement. We told the nurse that this baby will more than likely be here quick since #1 came soon. Around 4 the contractions were coming harder and harder. I got upset and complained a lot more. But, it was nice because my birth plan was already on file at the hospital and so they left us alone while I labored. The one nurse we had just stayed by the bed and helped Hubby coach me thru it. Finally I couldn't handle anymore pain and asked for something. It was too late. So I got my oxygen that I pleaded for about 5am and like before with #1 I went euphoric and felt so much better. My contractions slowed a bit and I was able to take a small break between each one. With Kiddo I didn't have that so it was something new. At about 540 I felt like I needed to push and they called my midwife to come in. Well I again said I needed to push at 550 and no midwife was here yet so they called the on call OB to come up and hang out and I had to not push. Well that is a silly thing to say to a woman. So the on call OB sat outside my room and around 556 my midwife came to the room. And I started pushing. Lots of intense pressure and I remember saying I was really ready for it to be done.

Finally at 607am my little boy was born. I couldn't have been more in love. We got to hold him skin to skin for 2 hours after he was born. It was almost like I had him and my midwife cleaned me up and stitched me up and they were gone. I had torn in two places but it was only a first degree at both and so only required a couple of stitches. We took about 5 minutes again to name him as we couldn't decide. But we finally settled and started loving him even more. So from start of real intense contractions to the time he was born was just over 4 hours. The nurse who was there with us said she was impressed. She also said she had no doubt I would go fast since we kept saying I would.

So there's my story of #2 my little cheesecake being born. Life has been interesting since being a mom of 2. But hey, he will be 3 months at the end of this month and #1 will be 2. Cheesecake has already slept 12 hours a night and is just lovely to have. He is chilled and laid back.

My birth story

Let me first start off saying that I am not typical. I am a person who would rather be done with things sooner than later. I don't like long drawn out things. I am that person who wants to have things done now. Just my personality and that just means that if I have to be in pain, I'm going to try my hardest to get it over with as soon as possible. I did this with my surgery I had in 2008 when I was supposed to take it easy and rest. I went shopping 3 days later. My due date was Feb 5th.That being said...here's my story

Thursday Jan 24th (12 days away from my due date), I worked 10:30am until 7pm at my former job. I had said my see ya tomorrow's to most of my co-workers and it was just me. I felt fine and was just finishing up some stuff at work when it was time to go home. I worked in a call center and didn't get a call at 6:59 which is the dreaded time to get one because we were closed at 7pm. I had a 45 minute drive home, so I called my mother in law because she called me and we chatted a little. Told her that I was feeling good and was looking forward to my bed that night. She was telling me about my sister in law who was due 4/28 and how she was doing. It was a nice drive home. I got home. I was hungry, so I made chicken and noodles for myself, but added some peas to it just to make it more interesting. It was amazing. I must say I was quite impressed with myself. Of course after that my brain tells me that I need to clean. Which at this time, was completely fine because we had just moved into our house we are in now in December and it was time to clean up something. Well....lo and behold I cleaned. I went straight to our computer/mud room and cleaned. I mean I cleaned everything. I had my side cleaned off. I cleaned out the kitty litter box with my gloves and mask on and I scrubbed that sucker clean. I cleaned up the area around it. I even mopped the floor. Hubby called me at 9:30pm and we chatted. Jokingly, I told him that I was nesting and that it means we probably would be having Kiddo in the next few weeks. We laughed about that. It got to be about 10:30 I thought to myself I better get going to bed because I have to be at work at 8am the next day. So I laid in bed and just couldn't sleep. I was just restless. So off to the bath I went. It was about 11pm that I got in the bathtub and just laid there. Meanwhile Marvin, my oldest boy cat, started to pace the bathroom. Back and forth. I told him I was fine and that I just needed the bath to help me relax. He didn't agree with me, but whatever. I was rested so around 11:30 I got out and got into bed again. First contraction hit at 11:45pm. What the heck was that? I was thinking to myself. So I texted Hubby who was at work still letting him know that I had a contraction and I was going to time them, but just be warned. He had planned on going out like usual and I told him that was fine because I didn't think it was going to go fast. I had 12 hours in my mind. 

Midnight hits. I'm 11 days away from my due date. 

I suddenly had 3 contractions from 12 to 12:15. Texted Hubby again. Letting him know that he may need to come home. He said he would try to come home soon. 12:15 to 1 they settled into being 5 minutes apart and more intense each time. I had texted Hubby at 12:45 explaining that he needed to come home so we could go to the hospital to get checked out. He agreed and got home at 1:30a. By the time he got home, I was squatting next to the bed each time a contraction hit and couldn't talk. I needed to go to the hospital. I had nothing ready for this baby I told him in between contractions which were getting to be between 3-5 minutes apart lasting a minute and a lot more intense. So we quickly threw together a hospital bag of stuff.  I had a doctors appointment on Monday and she didn't check me because she likes to wait until 39 just in case that causes labor. So I had no clue about if I was dilated or effaced or anything. Got to the hospital around 2:40am and the contractions were just about 3 1/2 minutes apart lasting 1-2 minutes. So up to the birthing center I go. They check me and I'm fully effaced and 3cm dilated. I'm not going home. My plan was to do a water birth if possible. I ask about the tub, well, they can get it started, but won't let me in it until I'm 4cm. Ok. So they start the tub and say let's check you again. 5cm. Oh boy. So they let me get in while it is filling up which is probably around 4 according to Andrew. I don't remember the times well because well, I was in labor.  Well, during that time I'm pretty sure I cursed a few times that this was painful. And it was. The nurse checked me once in the tub and said I was a 9. They had called my  midwife, Jolene and told her that I was pretty far along.  After that I said I needed to push and she said not yet. Then all the sudden Kiddo's heart rate would drop and I had to move. So I moved, and still heart rate went down. So out of the tub I went because Kiddo's heart rate sank to 80. That's apparently really bad.  I think I told them if I was going to be out of the tub I'm getting an epidural. The nurse had called or texted Jolene that I was getting out of the tub and she should probably come soon. This was at about 4:50 they took me out of the tub, gave me the most painful IV I have ever had in my entire life and some oxygen. That is to the point where I felt euphoric. I'm not sure what it was but that oxygen was like a new me had come. When I got the oxygen I stopped talking and yelling and just laid there trying to push a little, but not a lot because my midwife hadn't come yet. They checked me again and I was 10.  At around 5:20 Jolene and her assistant Shelby walk in. Hubby says that even tho I was euphoric feeling my grip went from strong to super duper strong. He was a bit worried about his fingers, but said it was ok that I was doing it. He was awesome because the entire time he kept saying what a great job I was doing and was keeping the oxygen mask on. Jolene sees that the heart rate for Kiddo isn't good and needs to get out of me now. She makes me move in a bunch of uncomfortable positions. I started on my left side then went to hands and knees and then to the right side all the time pushing. Each time the heart rate would go down some but not after being ok for a little. Well she apparently had texted the doctor at one point and they had determined I might need a c-section if kiddo didn't come soon. This was at 540am. Well then a few pushes and pop out the head. Then one more push and out comes the rest! My mom tells me she was in the hall and saw the doctor come in to do the c-section and as he got to the door the nurse told him that baby was born and nevermind. So he turned around and went home. Back in the room they put baby on me and nurses are congratulating us and then Jolene says "wait.. What is the baby? They don't know what they had!" so they lift the legs and tada! We have a little boy! After that I was shaking so bad from the hormones and I kept saying sorry to Jolene and she just laughed and said it was fine. She then apologizes to me saying that I tore and usually they try to not let that happen but because of how quick they wanted kid out and also because I was so fast it couldn't have been prevented. She said it was a 2nd degree tear but it was on the lower end of 2nd and almost could have been a 1st. She also apologized for not coming sooner, but she thought I was going to be out of the tub a lot longer and getting an epidural. So that's my story. The nurses were all amazed at how fast I went when I told them this was my first. Like I said at the beginning, when I want something done, I do it fast. One nurse said to us, next kid you have, you better be at the hospital the first contraction you feel or you will be one of those that ends up having a kid on the side of the highway. Now, a little over 3 months and I wouldn't trade my labor/birth for anything. Kiddo is amazing and growing constantly. Stay tuned for more. I do have a more graphic version but, I decided family friendly is best :)

Restart

I'm going to start out by saying sorry. But I'm changing my thoughts on this blog and then will also share some recipes that I try as well. So not to worry about that.

I became a stay at home mom (SAHM) on January 25, 2013 to my beautiful baby boy, Silas. He has been such a treat being a mom to. Dad, Andrew, is working at the airport and taking care of us. So this is an adventure in not only motherhood, but also in 1 income life. So far so good. We have survived 10 weeks of life with Silas and mommyhood. I'm so proud to be a mom. I will share my birth story because it was an interesting experience in another post. But I wanted to just restart and introduce myself and my family again.

Me: Sarah, Stay at home mom. Lover of all things food. I'm going to be looking forward to this adventure of budgetting and mommying.
Hubby: Andrew, the dad and the moneymaker. He works at the airport as an airplane mechanic. He's a great dad too!
Kiddo: Silas, he's my little man who's 10 weeks old. At his well baby for 2 months he was 25 1/2 inches long which was in the 99th percentile. We'll discuss later. :)

So, HI! This is my family and my adventures!

Margarita Cupcakes

Surfing Orgjunkie.com on her Menu Plan Monday, I found Hoosier Homemade and her amazing looking cupcakes. Allow me to let you know that these are AMAZING. Made them for work as just normal cupcakes, but also made a cute one for the hubby.

Here's her recipe. I did pretty much the same thing. My frosting was vanilla frosting with lime juice added as well as green food coloring.

Lawnmower Taco

First things first. This is not my creation. I take no credit whatsoever for it. LifeAsMom was the one who created it. I just made it ;) You can see her receipe here But allow me to break it down and show what I used. When we ate it we just put taco sauce on top. But LifeAsMom says you can add other items too it too.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
yellow corn tortilla chips
2 cups nacho taco blend cheese
1 14oz can chicken broth
2 tablespoons taco seasoning
1/4 cup all purpose flour








Crunch tortilla chips.





Brown some ground beef (She says use turkey as an alternative)










Then add your taco seasoning and chicken broth






then the flour









Let cook for a little bit until thicken

Layer 1/2 meat, then 1/2 cheese, more chips, meat and then finally cheese. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly, then enjoy!

Menu 4/18-4/23

Now that I have a laptop maybe my menus will be posted with more frequency. I was pretty lazy before because it would mean having to turn on the computer and then because it has an error when it boots up have to make sure to boot the "master" and then sign my password because I have it locked and then wait for the computer to finally be ready to work. This was probably a 5 minute process. I'm just lazy. But now with my laptop I can now just boot it and sign my password and be ready to go in 2 minutes. What have I become ;) But the real reason for getting a laptop was because I'm going back to school. I'm pursuing my MBA with Grand Canyon University. It is an online school and I'm really excited about getting it! One of my life goals was to get a Master's. Any way. On to the menu! Be sure to check out Orgjunkie.com for more plans!

Monday - Stirfry veggies with rice

Tuesday - Pizza Pasta Casserole from the freezer

Wednesday - Lawnmower Taco

Thursday - Hamburgers on the grill, pending weather.

Friday - homemade pizza

Saturday - completely depends on what the weather is and what I feel like. I'll probably be working on Easter lunch stuff :)

BLT Bites

BLT Bites

I take no credit for these at all. My co-worker Karen from AZ made them once and I had to have the recipe! They are so easy and so yummy. I of course like both of those options :)




Ingredients:
1 pound bacon cooked and crumbled (or use Real Bacon Bits)
1/2 cup of Miracle Whip
1/4 cup chopped green onion
2 Tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
24 cherry tomatoes

Slice top of tomato and scoop out seeds. Mix together remaining ingredients. Stuff tomatoes and serve cold.

Menu 4/11-4/16

What happened to to this month! It is already in the middle. Oh well, that just means 1 more month till Farmer's Market and our CSA! WOOHOO! This past weekend was wonderful weather. upper 70s with sunshine. But the humidity was quite high. One thing I don't like about central IL. But at least there was sun. And the rest of the week is suppose to be 50s and cloudy and rainy. blech. But if it means summer is coming I'll live with I suppose. At least it isn't 100+ yet. Remember to go to Orgjunkie.com to check out more Menu Plans. They are awesome!

Monday - BLTs

Tuesday - Small group

Wednesday - Spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread

Thursday - crockpot baked potato soup

Friday - homemade pizza

Saturday - we'll see what we feel like.

Menu 3/28-4/2

Sorry for no posting last week but I was soaking up the sunshine in AZ :) It was wonderful! We had a blast seeing all our friends. We didn't get to see some, but it was only because we were so busy trying to see everyone! I did get to do some cooking last week which was great! Our friends Josh and Cheri who we stayed with were super awesome! We loved getting to stay with them. Plus she didn't mind having dinner ready a couple of the nights. This week I'm feeling a little lazy still and therefore we are going to be cleaning out the freezer. I plan on keeping stuff simple and easy. I am getting the spring cleaning itch and want to open the house up, but with highs in the upper 30's lower 40's we need to hold off a little bit...

Monday - diced chicken with Rice A Roni (chicken and broccoli)

Tuesday - fish and chips

Wednesday - meatloaf and scalloped potatoes

Thursday - Spaghetti and meatballs

Friday - pizza

Saturday - left overs or BBQ from freezer

Menu 3/14-3/19

It is suppose to be upper 40's here this week and even possibly in the 50's. WOOHOO! So excited. I'm just tired of being cold. This week we are going to be trying some new stuff. But we also are going to be getting ready for our trip to Arizona. Can't wait to be out there in the sunshine and warmth! Thursday we are going to have a family dinner with my mom and dad and possibly my brother. Be sure to check out more at Orgjunkie.com

Monday - Chicken with honey balasmic glaze*new

Tuesday - Gospel Community, I'm bringing salad

Wednesday - Orange Chicken with rice*new

Thursday - St Patricks Day! Crockpot corned beef with Young's Chocolate Stout, cabbage, new potatoes and a dessert. Can't decide between Irish soda bread or Guiness Cupcakes...

Friday - homemade pizza

Saturday - Eating with Andrew's mom before our flight out!

Menu 3/7-3/12

Yet another Monday! Today it is chilly and cloudy. I'm so tired of winter! I love the snow, but am ready for spring and sunshine! This week I'm working some overtime again. And also planning for our trip to AZ. Can NOT wait for Arizona :) have to plan a menu out there. Some of the nights will be eating out at some of our favorite spots, but we are staying with friends and I want to make them dinner some nights :) Plus we plan on having a get together the Friday night so we have to plan that out too. But on to this week! I didn't plan for 3 meals to be Mexican, but it worked out because that's what I had. Be sure to check out Orgjunkie.com for more ideas

Monday - Chipolte (Buy one get one free coupon for burritos)

Tuesday - taco ring (new receipe to try out)

Wednesday - enchiladas, black beans and cheese

Thursday - tomato soup and grilled cheese

Friday - homemade pizza

Saturday - leftovers or something I make up.

Clean up Junk Room

Yes we have a Junk room. It is because we are renting the house we are in right now from family. And we would have a basement to use if the house was ours, but right now it is full of Grandpa's stuff. Grandpa has been dead since 2006. Nevertheless we have our junk room. I'm happy to report it is now clean! :) it is one of 2 spare rooms we have. Most of the time if I keep my friends kids they get this room with air mattresses. So here with out ado is my lovely new junk room, which is also going to be my craft room :)

Before:














After:

Menu 2/29-3/5

I can't believe it is going to be March tomorrow! But I'm sooooooo very excited about spring. I never thought I would be but I'm beyond excited! I'm ready for warm weather and no more snow until November! Sadly I'm not ready for the humidity here in Central IL either. Don't forget to check out Orgjunkie.com to check out others

Monday - Broccoli and Cheddar soup with bread bowls

Tuesday - orange chicken with white rice

Wednesday - BLTs

Thursday - Pizza Pasta Casserole

Friday - Pizza

Saturday - leftovers.

Delay cleaning post

I had this done last week, but didn't get around to posting about it on Friday like I had planned. Rats. But I am slowly but surely getting thru my list of items to organize/clean up. This is my counter space. It is the place where everything gets thrown when I come home or when hubs comes home too. We toss our crap there. Every now and then I do do a good clean to it. BUT this time I'm sticking with it being clean.











And here it is finished! Woohoo! The small basket you see in the back houses our cell phone charger and some pens and paper. Not that we need them there, but they are there. Wonderful isn't it?

Menu 2/21- 2/26

Can I just start this post with an apology? I have been awful this past week with my menu and planning and getting it done. I had it all written up to post and I was exhausted on Monday and didn't even post it. And then to make matters worse I didn't even post it later in the week! I had been working overtime at work and I sure hope my paycheck reflects my hard work. On the plus side you get to see me now :) I even will have a post for Friday's clean up day. Remember, more menus at Orgjunkie.com

Monday - BBQ Pork

Tuesday - Broccoli and Cheddar soup

Wednesday - Parmesan Chicken

Thursday - tacos

Friday -pizza

Saturday - fish and chips

Menu 2/7-2/12

This week is going to be a very long week for me. I'm working overtime at work so I'll be working 8am - 7pm pretty much all week. Saturday I get a break and get to leave at 5pm. Still a very long week. Plus I'm doing a fruit flush for the first 3 days. I feel bad for my husband, but he can survive with a frozen pizza and corn dogs. I'm looking forward to Sunday for not working and just relaxing.

Monday - For me, salad with egg and olive oil. Hubby on his own

Tuesday - For me salad with egg and olive oil, hubby on his own

Wednesday - Salad with salmon for both of us.

Thursday - turkey in the crockpot and taters. (gotta make up for not eating :))

Friday - Lasagna roll ups from freezer

Saturday - pasta of some sort.

Menu 1/31-2/5

A day early even! Woohoo! I actually got everything I needed for this month minus one thing for one recipe. And I have 2 days right now that are blank because I don't know what to have those days. One day is when I'm going to be doing a freezer cooking day and the other is because I'm going out to lunch for my dad's retirement and we are going to Biaggi's which is a pretty fancy Italian restaurant. So not sure what will happen those days, but they are later this month. But on to this weeks!

Monday - Enchiladas

Tuesday - veggie soup from the freezer with bread

Wednesday - BBQ from the freezer

Thursday - Pizza Bowties with sausage (new recipe will post review later)

Friday - Pizza night!

Saturday - This is my dad's birthday and so we are going to take him out if he is feeling better. He has been not feeling so well the past couple of weeks. But hopefully he'll be well enough to go out with us. Or we might just have dinner here. Depends on what he wants to do. It is his day after all :)

Pantry decimation

I started today out with mentally preparing myself to do this by going out to eat with my friend Laura for breakfast. Then I played with my kitties with the hubby. Then went out to eat with my mom and brother to Flat Top Grill. Can you see how prepared I was ;) Then I went to Target and bought 3 new containers to house some stuff. Then it was time to tackle this....


Man, I can NOT believe it was so terrible. Stuff everywhere. Didn't have a system or anything. I did have some help from the kitties who decided everything and I mean everything had to be sniffed. Like they didn't know it was there before. I also got some help from WCIC which was nice to have in the background. I continued until it looked like this...


It hasn't been that clean since we moved in a little under a year ago. I continued. And now the final product! WOOHOO!


Now if you look hard enough you will see I have room for my KitchenAid Mixer and my coffee maker that I only use for making hot water. This is such a great feeling!!! I feel great now that it is done. And I also realize how empty it was...

Quick apology post

I want to say sorry for not posting my menu on Monday like I thought I would. I just have no excuse why I didn't. I had it written on my whiteboard. And honestly we didn't do a great job of staying to the meal plan either so it would have been a bust. I promise to update you for next week's.
Tomorrow I'm going to tackle my pantry for organizing. I am really not looking forward to it only because I know it is going to take a while. I am planning to take it a shelf at a time. Before I do anything I'm going to go buy some storage containers for my stuff. I did some searching at the dollar store and honestly nothing is big enough. So stay tuned for pictures tomorrow...