Yummy Lasagna!

For our New Year's Eve dinner party (that unfortunately didn't happen because our friends and their kids got sick), I made my famous lasagna. I have always loved lasagna and it has become a bit of a specialty for me. It can easily be converted into a meatlovers meal, but considering we're vegetarians, this is how I make it:
1. Use whatever veggies are available in the fridge and need using up.
- Today I used 2 large cloves of crushed garlic, half of a large onion, the rest of the red and orange peppers (a bit more than half a pepper), 3 carrots, and 8 ounces of mushrooms. Soften veggies in the frying pan with a bit of oil.

After the vegetables are soft, add the marinara sauce.

2. Boil 12 lasagna noodles and drain when soft.

3. Mix cheeses together with one egg - I used a tub (15 ounces) of ricotta cheese, 2 cups of mozzarella/parmesan/italian cheeses with whatever was left of the cheddar I shredded and put in there too.
4. Layer the lasagna
- Put sauce on the bottom
- 3 lasagna noodles
- 1/4 of the cheese mixture
And continue with the layers (4 layers total = 12 noodles)


Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour.
ENJOY this yummy, delicious lasagna in large quantities!

Christmas 2009

Here's a belly picture of me and "baby sister" on Christmas Eve - I'm 20 weeks in this pic!

Christmas Eve we spent as a family of three (and a half). We went to church at 5pm and then came home to make a yummy dinner. We opened our Christmas Crackers (an English tradition in which we pop open a cylindrical tube to find a paper crown, a small toy, and a usually not-so-funny joke to share) and read the Christmas story in Luke 2.


Chloe and Daddy after we popped open our Christmas crackers on Christmas Eve

Christmas Day we opened presents with Will's family via Skype. They got to share in the enjoyment of watching Chloe open all her fun presents. We even got a special treat - we got to talk with Chloe's great-grandparents!


Chloe looks so sweet all dressed up for Christmas!

After Skyping with Will's family, we headed toward my hometown. My mom's side of the family is so large, the only place we'll all fit is a rented hall so that is where we celebrate Christmas. The kids had fun running around and we even had a visit from Santa! Chloe was not so happy with Santa and said, "No yike Santa," and "Santa's scary." Needless to say, she did not sit on Santa's lap this year :)


Chloe playing with Grandma!

Later in the afternoon, we headed toward my parent's house. The roads were icy, so it took us a while to get there. That was fine with Chloe - she napped until we arrived at Grandma and Papa's house! Christmas evening, we opened presents and had a fun time with my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew!




Hugging Madeline - a gift from Grandma


bath paints from Auntie


Very excited about Elmo bubble bath!


Trying out Papa's new winter hat!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

We trudged through the snow, which was a big task considering they hadn't plowed our street yet, and made it for our scheduled ultrasound! The baby was moving around a lot during the appointment (could it have something to do with the Christmas cookies I consumed before leaving??) so the pictures are a little blurry. Nevertheless, we got to see pictures of our precious little one. She has 10 fingers and 10 toes, her heart, kidneys, stomach and mouth all look great, she weighs approximately 12 ounces and the estimated due date is May 13th. Because of all the movement, the tech couldn't get a great shot of in between the legs so she had me go to the bathroom to give the baby more space to move. That did the trick! When I came back, the baby was in a new position and we got to see that she is a girl!!! I was so sure it was going to be a boy, it took me a couple of hours to digest this news, but I'm glad we found out now rather than when she arrived in May! Wow, another girl! I can already picture my little girls in tutus and tights preparing for their dance recitals :)












Have a wonderful, warm and wintry Christmas!!

15 week check-up!

I realize I've been neglectful of the blog since I started my new job, but I will try to post more often now that we've all gotten into the routine of things! A few things to look forward to:
The Yates' visit to the US - pictures to post
What it's like being a mommy with a full-time job outside the home (the good, the bad, and the in-progress)
The fun things Chloe is doing!
And updates on the new little one. We should find out the sex in 4-5 weeks!

After work today, I went in for a 15 week check up. Most mommies don't go in until 16 weeks, but with next week being a holiday, I decided to go a week early :)
Despite very few of my regular clothes still fitting, I have only gained 3 pounds. I'm not sure how the math on this one works out considering the massive amount of food I consume in one day and the fact that I have to wear prego pants, but according the the scale, I'm only up three pounds. My blood pressure was higher than it normally is (even during my pregnancy with Chloe) 124/74 but still in the normal range. I had a salty lunch so that may be the cause of the higher than normal for me BP. My fundus is measuring 15cm so the expansion of my middle is right on track! And then, for the most amazing sound, I got to hear the heartbeat of the little one!!! It's beating about 152 beats/minute. The only complaint I have is these headaches that won't seem to go away. My doctor suggested that the source of my headaches is dehydration and I think she's probably right. I don't get headaches on the weekends because I'm on my own schedule and can have all the water I want and go to the bathroom whenever I want. Unfortunately, as a teacher, I don't have that privilege! But, I will try bringing two water bottles with me during the day to see if that improves the pain in my head!
The very last part of my check up was the H1N1 vaccine. Even though I probably already had it, the doc said it wouldn't hurt if I got the vaccine just in case. So, a poke later, I got to leave.
Look for another baby update in four weeks!

H1N1?

Sunday evening, driving home for our old/new church, I got hit with the nasty virus! Chills, fever, bodyache, sore throat, and ready to conk out, I had a few bites to eat for dinner, filled the hot water bottle, and went to bed. Monday morning, very very early, Will flew to the east coast to do some filming which left a very weary me home with Chloe. Thankfully, daycare is already paid for, so that's where she went for the day. I, however, watched an episode of Gilmore Girls and slept all day, getting up in the afternoon to shower and then have another rest.
I took off work Monday and Tuesday and will hopefully be back at work tomorrow. So, does this mean I have H1N1? And if I had H1N1, then do I have to get the vaccination?

A bit of an update

So, how did I get myself into this situation? It all started on Wednesday, Aug. 26 when I was going out of my mind crazy with two uncooperative toddlers running around my house. Then a phone call from a school wondering if I was still interested in the reading teacher position. YES! I am still interested, thank you for calling! So, how about an interview tomorrow? Ummm.. well, my in-laws are flying in and I need to coordinate with my husband and I have two toddlers to keep in mind....so sure! Let's say 1pm, enough time to put the girls down, drive to the school, interview and be back in time to kiss my husband as he walks out the door to drive to the airport to pick up his parents. Whew!
Thursday comes and the interview goes very well. The in-laws arrive on US soil safely, although wearied from their long journey. I give the heads up to the family I currently nanny for about the job interview and potential outcome.
Friday morning 8am: I get a phone call asking if I'm still interested in the job because they thought I was a perfect candidate and wanted me to join their staff. Yippie!!! But, you want me to start when? Monday morning? I have two toddlers to keep in mind. And my daughter's birthday is on Tuesday and we already bought our tickets for the State Fair so I'll definitely not be in that day. But okay, why not?
The hunt for daycare begins. Unfortunately, the place we had in mind that we found in the spring no longer had an opening. Crap. Now what?
Monday comes and I go to work for the first time in over two years. Strange. I can't remember the last time I was away from Chloe for this long. Definitely bittersweet. Blessing #1: Thankful to have a job, one that is really a dream job for me, but missing my baby.
Blessing #2: to have my in-laws here! They were super at volunteering to watch Chloe during the day. We had to give them a lesson about how to put on a diaper (it had been a few years....) but once they figured that out, they were ready to play! When I got home on Monday, they were exhausted. They were definitely not used to chasing a toddler all day!
Blessing #3: the family I nanny for already had childcare set up for this week and then they were going on vacation at the end of the week.
Frustration came and doubts were flying in my head about if this was really the right thing to do especially as we continued to call and visit daycares/preschools and either they had no space until January or we visited and it didn't feel right.
Blessing #4: Two weeks into my job, Chloe finally started full-time daycare at a place we love and it's close to our house.
She is adjusting well and flourishing in her new daytime setting. She has already made lots of friends and her vocabulary is already expanding. She gets along well with everyone and is such a loveable little sweetheart. The only bump we've faced is naptime. Today and yesterday she finally took a decent nap but prior to these two days, she had only been sleeping from 40-60 minutes and by 6pm was a total bear!
Oh, and with all this other stuff going on, did I mention that I'm taking a Tuesday night class to finish my reading license?

JOB!

Yes, that's right, I finally got a job! The classes I've been taking at Hamline to obtain my Reading Specialist license have paid off and I am now a full-time primary reading teacher!!! I applied for the job about two weeks ago, got a phone call on Wednesday, Aug 26, interviewed Thursday, was offered the job Friday and started Monday! Thankfully, my in-laws have been visiting this week and along with my husband's lighter work schedule, they have coordinated taking care of our sweet little girl. I'm very excited to start working with the first grade students on Tuesday!
Now, there's an issue of daycare/preschool. What a task! We have called what feels like hundreds of places and have visited several with no prospects. We're visiting a Montessori school tomorrow and two Christian daycares on Tuesday so hopefully one of those works out as we start school on Tuesday....