Project 366: Day 47 [April 3rd]

Morning bloggers!! :)

Hope everyone is having a fabulous day today!!

Yesterday was a gorgeous day (minus a few patches of rain here and there!) I stayed inside most of the day with Kenton and Tayler. They absolutely love playing together and they are just hilarious! It was a pretty full time job in here yesterday with having to get caught up on dishes, their hungry appetites, getting myself ready for Tay's 1 year check-up, getting her ready, and getting Kenton out the door, hehe! He went to his Mommy's work for a little bit while I ran over and got her checked out. I figured it wouldn't be a long process since she was just getting a check-up and shots were not going to be until next week..

I have to show y'all a picture of Tayler at the doctor, haha! She will probably kill me when she's 16 for this, but seriously-- I think she looks so stinkin' cute it's unreal!

Does she not look ornery?? Yes-- I have to live with her every single day LOL! Hilarious!

Once we got home, it was picture time! She was wearing a really pretty soft yellow dress today and it inspired me since Easter is right around the corner! So, we were outside swinging and I was thinking about taking a few pictures of her for this beautiful holiday and I realized my mom gave us a sign that says, 'Easter Bunny Stop Here!' So I figured it was a prime photo session spot, haha! I took a few pictures of her and I was really happy with how they turned out! Like I tell everyone, I am not claiming to be a professional, but I am just trying to understand my camera a bit more and the editing software I have. Hope you all enjoy my sweethearts Easter pictures! 

Isn't she just precious?

She was 3 weeks old last year on Easter (I'll share that picture ON Easter this year, hehe!) and now she is 1 years old! Crazy, right? :)

Are you guys doing anything special with your children on Easter?

After that, it was dinner time. I think we were all starving. On the menu tonight was:

Two Timin' Pasta Bake.

Here's where I got the recipe.

What you need is a box of Penne Rigate, one jar of alfredo sauce, one jar of pasta sauce, and some Mozzarella cheese.

Start off by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Then cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box. I cooked mine for about 11 minutes and it was perfect!

While you are cooking your pasta, take your Classic Alfredo sauce and Pasta Sauce (I used Zesty and Spicy just because I wanted a little 'spice' to ours. Feel free to use whatever you would like!) And mix them together!

Once you do that, you'll have something that looks like this:

After it's mixed together, throw in about a cup of mozzarella cheese and mix that in as well! Once your pasta is done cooking, drain it, and throw it in the bowl with the mixture of the alfredo sauce and the pasta sauce.

Toss it to coat all of the pasta, then pour it into a 13X9 casserole dish. Spread it out evenly.

Bake it at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes or until bubbly. Mine cooked for approximately 21 minutes and it was ready to go!

We served ours with rolls with garlic butter, salads, and sweet tea :)

It was absolutely delicious! If y'all make it, I hope you enjoy!! :)

And we are on Day 3 of the 'April Photo a Day Challenge!'

Are you playing along? I sure hope so!

For Day 3 it was 'Mail!' And guess what we FINALLY got in the mail today?

Tayler's 'Yo Gabba Gabba' DVDS! We ordered these before her party and especially before her birthday so she'd have a present to open that day.. and they JUST showed up, haha! I was getting extremely frustrated, but they have arrived and she loves them! :) What was your picture today?

Hope you all had a wonderful day!

Cheers to Project 366!

Project 366: Day 46 [April 2nd]

Morning bloggers! :)

We woke up this morning and as always, it was a tough decision on what Tayler should wear, haha! I think I like picking out her outfit more than my own! ;) She just has sooo many cute clothes, dang it! But we decided on an outfit she got for her birthday from her Aunt Arena and Uncle Jon. It is just gorgeous!

What an ornery face too, right? *sigh* I love it! :)

And I decided to start a new challenge. Last month I did a prayer for my husband, but this month I plan on working on my photography skills by doing the:

Today's challenge was 'Your Reflecton.' I was in a hurry and took a picture with my cell phone to catch up.... and here's my interpretation of 'My Reflection!'

And today's challenge is: COLOR.

And well, you are in luck! I made meatball subs for dinner (pictures to come) and I chopped up some jalapeno peppers and a red onion to put on top, so of course, there was a great deal of color in that! Greens and purple and black...

Are you doing this challenge? I sure hope so!

Now, back to those meatball subs! I bought Italian style frozen meatballs at Walmart (I forgot to take a picture of them) and Hunt's Pasta Sauce (it came in a can and it is only a dollar!) We got the Mushroom flavored just to add a little somethin'! :) I also bought Italian style buns, jalapeno peppers, a red onion, and Mozzarella cheese to go along with it! 

At about 12:30PM, I threw the meatballs and spaghetti sauce into my crock pot and turned it on high. At about 230PM, I checked on them and they were nice and warm, but not burnt! Perfect! So, I turned it on 'keep it warm' and waited until E called and told me he was almost home! (We have a system, haha!) When he called and told me he was about 20 minutes from home, I threw shoe string fries on a baking sheet and tossed them in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

And voila! Meatball subs and fries! Simple and pretty cost effective!

Here's a picture of the sub prior to the cheese or the french fries.

And then, E decided to load his up and put ranch dressing on his fries! He's quite the messy eater, haha! :)

They were absolutely delicious if I do say so myself! I LOVE meatballs.. and I love spicy things so this worked out perfectly!

After that, I showed E how the guy stretched the carpet upstairs. Remember how I've been talking about all of the construction work E has been doing upstairs? Yes. He put a wall in so that we finally have two bedrooms! We had a HUGE bedroom when we first moved in. Here's a shot of that:

So, we put a wall up (how it originally was) and a man came over today to stretch the carpet to the wall... and the room is finally complete! Now we just have to decorate and bring Tayler's things over! She officially has her own bedroom! YAY! :)

(See the white to the right??) That's the wall! I should have gotten a better picture, but I was basically just taking a picture of the floor LOL!

After that, we sent Kenton on his way and we went to some shoe stores to help E find some new shoes. His feet have been hurting a lot at work, so he thought it was time! :) Here is E and Tayler at MC Sports waiting for E's tennis shoes to be brought out!

Aren't they cute?? :) I just LOVE these two with all of my heart!!

Once we came home, we watched our two shows that we DVRed... 'Once Upon a Time' and 'Awake.'

How crazy is it that they found Katherine's body at the very end? How did Regina get a heart that matches her DNA? I am so confused and anxious for April 22nd to get here already so we can figure out what the heck is going on! :)

And as for 'Awake'

I am so confused! Part of me really believes that he is dreaming in one life and awake in the other because how does the different things match up in each part? His wife is visiting the University of Oregon and that's where 'The Gemini' was headed next? How does that happen?? I love this show and it's mind boggling ways! What do you think??

We had a wonderful day today and I hope y'all did too!!

Cheers to Project 366!

One Year Later... Top 10 List!

My kid is 1..

which means we survived our first year of parenthood.

And in celebration of that amazing feat ;) I thought I'd document some things.

Here's a TOP 10 LIST of what I learned my first year of parenting :)

1. Spontaneity is out the door. You read that right, folks. If you are pregnant, expecting to become pregnant, trying to be come pregnant... be prepared. It's not a bad thing, just something you have to get used to. When someone calls and says, "Hey, want to meet up for some lunch in 20 minutes?" You immediately think: "She hasn't had a nap and is due any time, she hasn't eaten yet, I need to pack some diapers, what's the weather like, is she wearing the right clothes, does she need a jacket, where are my keys, lets fill up the bottles and sippy cup, where's the formula...." and you processed all of that in about 35 seconds ;) Then, you change her diaper, get her ready, pack the diaper bag, scrub off the leftover Sweet Potatoes off your shirt, freshen your make-up, fill bottles, and head out the door! It's all for love, but it is exhausting at times, haha! We were talking the other day about how when you used to go to ball games, you took your purse. Now, you take a closet ;)

2. DVR is your friend. Yes, once your child is old enough to decide that he or she enjoys a TV show, you WILL watch every episode at least 40x... maybe more. You will become aware of every character. You might even look on Wikipedia at their background story... And the days of you watching YOUR TV show could be out the window ;) That my friend is why recording shows is perfect. Because then while they're napping or preoccupied with a friend you can indulge on 'Desperate Housewives' or '16 and Pregnant' or 'Once Upon a Time.' 

3. Date nights are ALRIGHT and they are NEEDED. When I first had Tayler, I would feel terrible if we laid her down in her bassinet and spent time talking. I'd feel terrible if we left her alone to cook dinner. I don't know why, but I had in mind that that made me a bad parent... like I was neglecting her. So, you can imagine how difficult it was for me to actually leave her alone for a night out with Ethan. I struggled so bad. I cried prior to my parents arriving (they were her babysitters for the night!) I cried when we got in the car to leave. I texted about 20 times prior to our shopping trip... but after spending the evening with Ethan, I realized that it was needed. After having her, life seemed to get away from us. We didn't have time to just sit down and talk. We needed to reconnect.. and guess what? That's okay! Mommies and Daddies need that. And you aren't a bad parent if you take a night for just you and your significant other! In fact, I think that makes you a BETTER parent. You will be more stable and united if you do that. So, don't be like me-- don't feel like you're abandoning your child. Enjoy it! It's okay!

4. You will catch up on sleep when your children are grown! ;) Sleeping surely becomes a thing of the past, but that's alright! The key is: NAP WHEN THEY NAP. I was someone who had a hard grasping that concept when Tayler was younger. I spent her 'nap time' doing everything else in the house besides taking care of myself. I learned that sleep makes the whole house better. If Momma is happy, everyone is happy. Remember that ;) Even now, with Tayler waking up about once a night, I still take naps when she naps (sometimes!) because I know I need it. It's not all of the time, but when I am feeling exhausted, I know that I need time to regroup and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that!

5. You will learn to enjoy the outdoors. Remember when you were a kid and your parents told you to come in when the street light came on? Yea.. and you pitched a fit? Yep! You guessed it! Kids love outside. Kids hate coming inside. It's just simple math, haha! I have learned that you must distract as soon as you walk through the door to avoid that flippity-flopping on the ground! If I even move near the door, Tayler starts crying. Learn to embrace the outside and spend as much time out there as possible! It's healthy for you!

6. You have to quit listening to everyone else. Everyone does parenting different. You'll figure that out. Some don't believe in co-sleeping, some do. Some breastfeed, some don't. Some do cry it out, others don't. There will be different milestones at different times for every baby. If you keep listening to what everyone else says, you'll never follow your heart or your instinct. Do what is best for your baby! You will literally drive yourself crazy worrying about what everyone else thinks, so stop. Some women probably hate me. I co-sleep, I still rock her to sleep for nap times, I breast fed for only one month, she's a year old and still uses a bottle AND a binky, she watches TV, and she eats table food. BUT she also can say 11 words, understands and listens to the word 'No', loves to listen to us read to her, gets a bath every single night, is always dressed nicely, always has her hair done, has her fingernails clipped each week, is extremely social, loves kids, and loves us. To some, I might not be a good parent, but I know my kid is loved and I know she is happy and that is all that matters to me! That should be all that matters to you too! :)

7. He or she is going to get hurt. It's inevitable, y'all! They are going to fall down. They will get some bumps. They will get some bruises.. probably a few scraps and they'll bleed their own blood ;) (Nice reference, huh?) You can try and prevent it, but ultimately it comes down they're kids. They're ornery. They're brave. They'll try new things without thinking anything about it. They are fearless. And if it means running, falling face first, and getting scraped up... then so be it! Of course, they'll cry like you dumped their formula down the toilet for awhile, but it'll be alright. They'll heal. And so will you after that first traumatizing experience. Let them have fun. Don't restrict them because you are 'scared.' Never let your fears rub off on them! :)

8. Your priorities shift. Where once you were worried about what you are going to eat, what you are going to wear... your first thought is: 'Lets get the baby ready, figure out what they're going to be doing today, then I'll worry about myself!' I find myself going to restaurants and looking on the menu and deciding what I can have BASED on what I can share with Tayler ;) And guess what? You sometimes don't even realize you do this.. and honestly, you don't even mind. Because they are worth it! They are worth it beyond what you could even fathom. You take the time to break up their food before eating, making sure they have something to drink... all before even smelling yours. It's called love. :)

9. Saying 'No' is okay! When I first started telling Tayler 'No' I felt terrible. I didn't want her to be spoiled.. or a little brat, but I also didn't want to not give her things. She was my baby. I'd prayed for 39 weeks that she would be alright. I prayed that she would be healthy and happy.. and here she is! Happy! Why would I want to limit giving her anything? But it's needed. There are things she does not need to get into. There are things that can hurt her. She needs to learn to share, not to hurt other kids, etc. Telling them 'No' doesn't hurt them or hinder them.. it helps them and blesses them beyond belief!!

10. You will become someone you never thought you would be. And it is perfect. When I found out I was pregnant, I was scared. I was afraid of not being a good mother, of my relationship changing with my husband. I was afraid of it all. But.. one year later. I can't help but thank God above for all that He has done for my family. I love being a mother. I love the person it has made me. I know what unconditional love is now. I know what it is not to care about yourself. To give everything you have to another person. I know what it is to watch someone sleep at night and shed a tear.. just because they look so beautiful and peaceful. I know what it is to not just pray for myself, but to plead the blood over another soul.. and her future. I am thankful I have a man that took it upon his shoulders to take care of us. Ethan has become an amazing father and an amazing husband. Our love is on a whole other level. We had to learn what love was... not only based on the physical (a baby in your bed at night does that to someone ;) haha!) but we had to know what kind of love we had based strictly on our hearts. We had to know what we loved each other.. even when the tough times came. Being a parent has changed my life and I'm so thankful that God did it for me! I wasn't planning on having a baby, but I guess that's why God handles that stuff, right? ;) He knows what is best for us!

What is on your top 10 list of what you have learned since becoming a parent?? 

Photo A Day Challenge-- April

To better my photo skills, I thought I'd do this APRIL PHOTOGRAPHY CHALLENGE :) I will post a picture with my Project 366 each day, but right now.. I need to catch up on the one for April 1st, hehe! 

Here is a picture of the challenge itself:

And here is my post for day 1:

My 'reflection.' That's who people see :)

I took that with my cell phone, but the rest will be taken with my camera, hehe! I was just in a hurry!! Hope you all can join me in this!! :)

Project 366: Day 45 [April 1st]

Good morning sweet bloggers! Hope you are all having a great day thus far today! :)

When we woke up this morning, I swear.. we were in complete relaxation mode. It has been such a busy past couple of weeks.. so today, we had nothing to do until later.. and we took advantage of it! :) 

Then I made some strombolis! I was so excited to try this at home. I used to work at a pizza joint and making these were part of my job. We had three selections: meatball, all the way, and pepperoni. Today, we had something similar to the 'all the way.' :) It was pizza dough stuffed with pizza sauce, cheese, pepperonis, and ham. AFTER I finished the stromboli, I remembered I bought jalapenos and onions to put in them, but oh well, haha! Here's the starting process for the stromboli:

I purchased Pepe's Bakery Pizza Dough. It's in the frozen food section at Walmart. I also purchased Great Value Pizza sauce (it was $1).. Sugardale Pepperonis (my favorite!), a little thing of Buddig Honey Ham, and some Great Value Mozzarella Cheese! :) A pretty cheap meal when you're splitting it!

Start off by preheating your oven to 400 degrees and grease a pan! Then start on your stromboli :)

This is what it looks like when you spread the dough out, layer it with pizza sauce, pepperonis, ham, and cheese:

And then you fold it up from side to side..

Like so! :)

Flip it over and put it on your pan. I made about 7 cuts diagonally down the stromboli:

It doesn't look perfect, but it works and does the job :)

I put mine in the oven at 400 degrees for 17 minutes. It was nice and crispy when it came out! (Oh, and I covered it in pepper! I love me some spice!) You could also lather it in garlic butter if you'd like! 

We cut ours in half and served it on our plates with sides of pizza sauce and ranch dressing:

I need to do a better job laying out the dough next time, but I didn't have a rolling pin (mental note that I need to purchase one!) But hey-- it tasted good and that's all that matters right?? haha! :) Hope you all enjoy yours!

After awhile, we decided it was probably time to go to Ethan's softball game. He and a bunch of his friends started up a team together and they are doing really well.. especially for it being their first year playing as a team. A lot of the guys out there have been playing together for years, so I think it's quite an accomplishment that they are doing as well as they are :)

On the way there, we made a pit stop at Rite-Aid and guess what Ethan brought out for me?? A chair :) I always have to ask my mom to bring a chair for me, but Ethan purchased one for me. How sweet was that?? :) Here's a shot of me outside of the store. I posted this on the FB with the caption 'I love that his last name is on the back of my shirt!'

And I finally brought my camera to the ball field with me. I've been wanting to, but I've been really nervous to... but I said heck and risked it, haha! I think I got some good shots. Not really of the ball players ON the field, haha, but of them hanging out and of course, of my kid! ;) She's always getting pictures taken LOL

Here are a few that I took today:

And see that new logo?? 

I started my own 'Photography' page. This was my disclaimer:

Hello all! Just wanted to leave a little note here! I don't claim to be a professional, but I do claim to be someone that is learning! :) I have always had a passion for photography since I started my Project 365 in December 2009. I love capturing moments. I love remembering wonderful times. And I'd love to do that for others. I'm looking to schedule some FREE sessions for individuals so that I can learn more about my camera, about taking pictures, about editing, etc. I want to practice as much as possible. If you are interested in this, please let me know! :) We can schedule a time and a place! :) Thank you for helping me keep my passion alive. I love each and every one of you ♥

http://www.facebook.com/bayphotography1

Come check it out! :)

Hope you all had a fabulous day!

Cheers to Project 366!!

Project 366: Day 44 [March 31st]

GOOD MORNING BLOGGERS!

I'm typing in all caps because I'm super excited. Today is my baby's FIRST birthday! That's right y'all... Tayler is 1 YEARS OLD today!

Can you believe that?

I started off yesterday talking about my labor story and I figured I'd start off where I left off. I told y'all that by midnight, I had still made no progress. I couldn't get the epidural yet because I was STILL only dilated 2 (after being in the hospital for 12 hours!!) I was so disappointed and so frustrated. I just wanted my baby to be here. I couldn't understand how the contractions were SO bad.. but I was still hardly dilated. My doctor finally told me he was going to be back at 6AM to do a c-section. Not exactly the news I wanted to hear, but at least I had some kind of time frame, you know?

I laid back and tried to relax. But I swear, it felt like the contractions were just getting worse. I was in tears and just felt miserable. 

At 1AM, they checked my cervix because of the amount of pain and pressure I was feeling. And guess what? I WAS DILATED 5. That meant it was time for an epidural. I remember hearing Ethan telling everyone to please hurry. I was in SO much pain it was unreal. It felt like an hour had passed and the anesthesiologist was still not there. I remember my mom standing to my right. I was holding her hand and I kept telling her, 'Mom, I feel like I need to push.' And she said, 'Hunny, you're only a 5. You'll know when you're ready to push.' The nurse said the same thing. All I could think was, 'Just bring me that stupid epidural and I will feel better, gosh darn it!' But the pushing sensation just got stronger.. My legs were shaking. I had to do it! So I did.. and the waters started gushing. (Sorry, is that gross?) My mom said, 'Uhm, guys, something is going on down there!' The nurse ran over, checked me, and this is what I heard:

'OH MY WORD. SHE'S CLEAR!'

I said, 'What does that mean?!?' and she said, 'Hunny, you are a 10!!!!' I dilated from a 5 to a 10 in 10 minutes. Yes, folks. It was only 1:10 when they determined I was ready to have this baby,,, with no epidural! Like I said, we have always been on Tayler's time ;) haha! I remember hearing the nurse calling my doctor and saying, 'She's ready to start pushing.' He was in complete shock! He had just got home, haha! Poor fella! So, he said he would be back.

But the nurses got me started pushing immediately.

I felt like I only pushed for 10 minutes, but I pushed for about an hour. The doctor finally arrived at 2AM and I had Tayler at 2:22am. She was 6lbs 3oz and 20 inches long. She started crying immediately. The nurses took her over to start cleaning her off and I remember talking to her and they kept saying, 'She can hear you momma!' Every time I talked, she stopped crying. That made my heart feel amazing! They finally brought her over and Ethan and I got to see her clearly for the first time. It was such an amazing moment! I'm so thankful for my Mom and Ethan helping me through the 'pushing' part. And I'm thankful for my dad and Makala... sitting out in the living room sleeping, haha! :) It was late.. It was a long night, but it was completely worth it!

Here's our sweetheart... her very first picture:

And now.. she's 1.

It went fast. That's all I can say!

This is our big baby this morning, fast asleep in our bed:

She's so big :( Not 20" anymore, haha! I'll find out her true measurements on Tuesday at her 1 year old check up!

And then, she finally woke up and got a picture with Daddy:

Is she not the cutest thing? That girl loves her daddy! And look at that messy hair, haha! She had a rough wake-up, but we had to get moving because we were going to breakfast at 'Steak and Shake' with Pap and Gigi!

We got there and ordered our food. I got sausage gravy and biscuits and we bought Tayler some pancakes! She loves her some pancakes!

And she got her picture taken with her Pap and Gigi. They were so excited to see her:

They have been there for all 3 of us so much this past year. I can't even thank them enough! They gave us a place to live until we moved into our home, cooked us meals, have baby sat Tayler.. they are wonderful and I appreciate them so much!

We took Tay's picture by the giant ruler there too so we could remember her height on her first birthday :)

Looks like she's about 2 foot 8" which makes her: 32 inches tall! 

After that, we went home to clean up and get things together for visiting everyone from our home town :) That's where all of E's side of the family lives.

But not before we saw Makala first :)

Makala just adores Tayler :) And she just adores her!

But Tayler was having a rough time. She was soooo tired already! I guess waking up at 830am is rough, haha! She just cried and cried, but we said.. it's her birthday and she will cry if she wants to, right? 

Such a sweet baby :)

Then we were off to see her Grandma Carol, Aunt Arena, and Uncle Jon.

On our way there, we had to get baby wipes and I told Ethan to just stop at Family Dollar. He said, 'No, I'm going to go this way and hit the Dollar General on the way.' I said, 'Ethan, there is NO Dollar General that direction!' And he said, 'Yes there is! I'll show you.' So.. we went that direction. Here' where he said there was a Dollar General:

Thank God we went that direction. Because there WASN'T a Dollar General there LOL! So, we had to go back the other direction to the Family Dollar I originally told him about....

Here's Tayler with her Grandma Carol:

She wasn't interested in cuddling, haha! She wanted to walk around! So, Grandma let her!

She kept wondering around and getting into things that she shouldn't, haha! So Grandma gave her a pot and a spoon to make 'music' with :) she didn't understand the concept at first, but she soon got it!

She had a blast!! :) Grandma Carol bought Tayler 2 new outfits and 2 new pair of shorts! :) We had Taco Bell for 'linner' (a mix of dinner and lunch!) Tayler had a cheese quesadilla and she absolutely loved it :)

We saw Uncle Jon and Aunt Arena too today, but I didn't take pictures. I completely forgot :( But they bought her two new adorable outfits! Thank you guys so much!

And then Tayler got to hang out with her best friends: Bentley and Jaylee. Tayler thought Jaylee was just hilarious!

I'm not sure what was so funny, but she just kept laughing and laughing! I'm so glad she got to spend time with her friends on her birthday. I can't believe they are all officially 1! :)

And we could tell Tayler was getting extremely tired! We'd been going since 830AM and it was almost 6PM by the time we left. Needless to say, we didn't make it 10 minutes down the road and we saw that she was out like a light ;)

Poor baby had a fun, but tiring birthday! :) We even got 2 more outfits from her friends Kyra and Bentley! 

Thank you to everyone that made her birthday AMAZING! It means the absolute world to us! :) We love having our sweet baby girl and we love seeing her have a great time!

Once we got home, we grabbed something to eat, then got to work. Tayler played while I cleaned my messy house and did laundry and Ethan painted! :) We got everything done and headed to bed. 

Hope you all had a fabulous day!

Cheers Project 366!