Freezer Madness on a Hot Summer Day!

I'm so excited to start freezing!! I just went to the produce store and bought 6 cartons of blueberries, 8 160z packages of strawberries, a huge watermelon, 8 sweet potatoes, 5 green peppers, 1 red pepper, 3 zucchini, 5 onions, 2 lbs carrots, 2 lbs of mini carrots, 4 large mangos, two garlic clove bunches, 4 8 ounce cans of tomato sauce, a shaker of cumin and a shaker of curry all for... $45!

My plan is to make the Crock-pot freezer meals that I saw on pintrest (http://mamaandbabylove.blogspot.com/2011/04/freezer-cooking-with-slow-cooker.html) as well as the freezer smoothies that I saw on pintrest (http://www.thetidynest.com/2010/09/freezer-smoothies.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheHagans+%28THE+HAGANS%29). I will let you know how it goes! If all goes well I have have prepared 6 dinners and numerous breakfast smoothies. It will come in handy next month when I begin student teaching....

Slow Cooker Freezer Meals

So I was cruising around Pintrest.com when I saw a post that talked about making three kinds of freezer crock pot meals that would total 6 dinners, all for about 3 hours of work time. I was excited to start! After checking out her website (mamaandbabylove.blogspot.com) I realized that the only thing that could make this cooking adventure easier was a shopping list. I went ahead and created one for my own use, but thought it might be helpful to post as well. Here is the link to her slow cooker freezer recipes http://mamaandbabylove.blogspot.com/2011/04/freezer-cooking-with-slow-cooker.html

3 Recipe Freezer Meals for the crock pot

PRODUCE

o   5 sweet potatoes (may be a little extra)

o   5 Large green pepper

o   1 large red pepper

o   2 zucchini

o   5 medium onion

o   4 large beets

o   2 cups Carrots

o   6 garlic cloves

o   2.5 cups baby carrots

o   4 mango

MEAT

o   3.5 lbs chicken thighs or drum sticks

o   3 lbs beef stew meat

o    

SPICES

o   1 tbs yellow mustard

o   ¼ tsp salt

o   4 tsp Hungarian paprika

o   ¼ black pepper

o   4 tbs curry powder

o   1.5 tsp ground cumin

BAKING

o   2 tbs brown sugar

o   3 tbs all-purpose flour

o   Chicken bouillon

o   .5 C rasins

o   .5 C peanuts or cashews

SAUCE

o   1 tbs Worcestershire sauce

o   1 8-ounce can tomato sauce

o   1 6-ounce can tomato paste

DAIRY

o   ½ C dairy sour cream

PASTA

o   4 cups your choice noodles

Hope this helps!!

Personalize your own digital scrapbook

So I started to make my mastitis scrapbook when I came to a screeching halt MemoryBox wouldn't let me add anymore pages to my book. So now I'm stuck... do I start over using a different book creator? Do I make a second book (which sounds lame, come on who really needs TWO mastitis books..) BOO... Goodnight!

This and That

Emma's 3rd Birthday!!


My Emma Jean or Emma Chotsky or Puppet as my sister likes to call her celebrated her 3rd birthday with the family yesterday. She was treated to a slue of doggie treats and a trip to the dog park! I can't believe she is 3 years old already. I was living in Vegas when I began looking for a puppy to accompany me on hikes and other adventures. A friend of mine that I worked with said that she had one puppy left from her last accidental litter and she thought that I would be a perfect fit. I met Emma at a Petsmart store where I carried her nervous, squirming self around and fell in love. Her ride to the store that day was in fact her first car ride and she was terrified. I took her on a car ride everyday that weekend to different parks where we walked around. She quickly got over that fear and many others....

-She will now not only walk in puddles (she use to be terrified, wouldn't step in one even on a 100 + degree day..) but she will also walk in running water, and Connor's mini swimming pool.
-She not only got over her fear of walking up steps but she now will willingly and eagerly jump/climb any rock pile, boulder, wood border, you name it she will climb it (or fall trying).
-She has learned to dig quite well (and now that we have a garden I have to try to teach her not to dig...ugh what have I done...)
- She is an amazing flyer
- She is patient and gentle with children (even when they have kicked her, pulled her ear, pulled her jugular, yanked her leg and sat on her)

My first baby (which everybody finds amusing) is growing up! We love you Emma Chotsky! Emma has no idea what is in store for her when Connor begins crawling. Connor just loves watching Emma, he just smiles away at her. Emma loves kissing Connor!

I'm carrying Emma Chotsky before we cross over the scary draw bridge

Connor's Room

While Connor was sleeping the other day I untangled the tree that we had set up in Connor's old loft bedroom (which he never entered because we were only there for one night before we moved into our new house) and put it together in his new bedroom. Patrick was pretty impressed with my ability to untangle the mess that he was ready to toss.

While rooting around in his closet I found some safari stickers and I placed them beneath the tree along with the extra tree leaves.

The other wall of his room is coming along too. We have two shelves hung and some more safari stickers. Next we need some decorations and perhaps a picture in that frame.

First DIY furniture project

Inspired by various other DIYers and blogers along with our goal of saving more money and my goal of becoming more crafty we took on our first DIY homemade piece of furniture a window seat bench. (and by we I mean that Patrick did all the hard work, I simply modeled on top of it for now).

First we looked at pictures of various other window bench seats online. Our aim was to settle on one type of window bench seat that met both of our expectations. This meant that the bench seat had to be both functional and "pretty", Oh and cheap (however as many firsts go we were not able to stick to this last goal, instead it may have categorically been cheaper to actually buy a bench. But hey we have begun our DIY furniture making and we are mighty proud.)

After deciding on all the minute details, how do we want the trim to look? do we want cupboards? do we want cubby holes? do we want a trunk? hinges, no hinges? We drew a plan and Patrick was off to the hardware store. Final decision; three cubby holes and decorative trim.

Step two: Remove molding, remove the old phone jack from the wall and patch the hole.

While Connor, Erin and I had fun at the Battle Ground used book sale (you could fill a bag full of books for only one dollar! Naturally Erin and I were pretty excited, being the avid book lovers that we are.) Patrick stayed home to work without distractions.
Here is what was waiting for us when we returned home.

The Con-man was very excited for all of Daddy's hard work

Next step:
* finish adding the rest of the molding.
* Sanding
* Staining
* Then the BIG step, my part which involves learning how to use my sewing machine so I can make a pillow cushion for our bench.

For now reading will have to be done on the bare wood...

Connor has been working on a project of his own learning how to sit without assistance.

Perhaps he will master keeping his saliva inside his mouth next!

The nuts and bolts:

Money spent:
$ 44.97  1 sheet of 4x8 oak plywood
$ 34.96  2 8 foot 1x4 oak
$13.97 pine wood for the frame
$12.94 2 boxes of screws (plenty left over for future projects)
$3.49 10 pack of pencils (unnecessary in my humble opinion, I think that regular ones could have done the trick)
$9.97 stud sensor (another item for our tool box and future projects)
$4.97 steel square (useful for the future)
$6.47 1 box of 1 1/4" screws

Total : $170.61 (missing the cost of the trim)

Hours spent: 2 days

Keep checking back for pictures of the final result!

Lots to Say

This video was taken the other day while the family was laying on the bed talking to Connor. He decided that he had a lot to share so I whipped out my cell phone and took this video.

I only wish I had my camera around yesterday to capture Dad and Connor laughing away. While holding Connor dad took out a popsicle. Connor looked at the popsicle and laughed. This made dad laugh and then Connor. The two of them just kept laughing at one another it was possibly the cutest darn thing ever!

Trying Food!

Connor tried his first food, avocado on July 8th. Patrick fed it to him and he seemed to enjoy it.

Connor tried his second food, carrots yesterday. He was not such a fan of carrots. If he doesn't have any bad reaction to carrots then perhaps I will try mixing avocado and carrot and see if he likes that better. I am making my own baby food, so we now have the extra carrot puree frozen in cubes in a baggie. I think it is fun!

Other firsts...
Yesterday, while napping on his tummy (yes I know it is taboo) the Con-Man puled his feet up under his tummy for the first time.

I picked back up the book that I started to read forever ago, the baby whisperer and read the section on sleep. It has worked amazingly. Connor took all of his naps yesterday in his crib, in his bedroom. He even slept in there through the night and in the morning (which I didn't think I would be comfortable with until he was at least 6 months, but it worked out alright). He has been going down quickly.. he has caught on! The first nap yesterday took about 20 minutes and lots of crying. Since then there hasn't really been any crying just a little fussing. I have been laying him down awake too!

At his 4 month apt. on July 6th Connor weighed 16lbs and was in the 70%. He was 26" long, 83% and had a head circumference of 43.5, 80%. All in all a happy big boy! I get lots of comments from 50 year old men about how cute he is.Apparently men like a large baby.

Connor Patrick Roohan

An announcement by Smilebox

Thankful for Help

So the typical parents cliche of "I don't have enough hours in my day to do everything I need to do" is ringing true for us. Since the birth of Connor I have recovered from birth, learned to breast feed, enjoyed breast feeding, got a slight clot which turned to mastitis the next day.

Mastitis is an infection in the breast and there is no easy way out of it. From Friday morning until Monday night I was pretty miserable in and out of fevers, intense-severe pain, burning and feelings of I wish I had been warned about this prior to it happening to me were filling my days. I kept thinking if I had known how quickly people can get mastitis and how painful it is I could have been more proactive. Jackie had given me a lot of breastfeeding tips as well as some other people so I didn't encounter the bloody nipples or any of the other common misadventures while learning the art of breastfeeding. Mastitis, it came out of thin air at 100 miles an hour.  Monday night we picked up new antibiotics and new pain killers and since then the pain has been manageable. I am slowly able to get milk out with the pump, however that means that I can't sleep much at all. I wake to feed Connor and I also have to pump the left side regularly every 2-3hrs all day/night long. I have another therapeutic ultrasound appointment tomorrow so hopefully that helps. Enough about this, I live and think it all day long I shouldn't blog about it too.. sorry.

We are very thankful for our friends Andrea and Ryan they have been a huge help to us. Andrea has come over many times and looked after Connor while I slept, or showered, or pumped. Ryan has kindly taken my seats at the winterhawks games with Patrick (I can't wait until I can go to a game..). Connor, well he growing like a champ. I can't believe he is already 4 weeks old. He weighed 10lbs 7 oz on Monday. He enjoys bath time as long as he is submerged or has a washcloth over his exposed parts. He doesn't scream at every diaper change anymore, he actually seems to enjoy some. He is learning to fart without getting quite so upset. He is still sleeping good at night, usually 4 or 5 hours sometimes 6. He use to turn in for the night at 12 or 1 but now it seems to be 2... we will have to work on that. I'll see what pictures I can round up.

I can't figure out how to post video's from that camera that Maggie gave us.... I've been trying as soon as I do I will post some videos.

In case you haven't heard we will be making a brief visit back home in June the week of the 6th I believe. I'm not sure of the exact dates yet or how it will all work out.  Patrick is taking a class in Boston so we will only have to pay for one plane ticket. We will be visiting both families. You'll probably see more of Connor and I than Patrick because he will drop us off then go back to Boston for his class and come back when it ends.

Patrick and I running on empty and can't wait for our visitors!

Not so recent... but I will add the more recent ones later... like all my other "laters"....

Home!



Connor Patrick Roohan is no longer nameless or in mom's tummy. He was born March 2nd, 2011 at 6:13pm, weighing just shy of 9lbs and 20.5 inches long. We are all moved into our new house thanks to our friends Andrea, Ryan and Mebo and my mom.  Although things are still everywhere and there is much cleaning to be done we are quite happy here. Emma is enjoying her backyard and sunshine. I have to say I am enjoying the sunshine and daylight as well. Connor loves his parents arms and his swing from Aunt Jackie and Uncle John.



I have so much that I want to write about including the labor/birth story, Connor's first bath at home, 2 day doctor visit and the many surprises that Connor has given dad. We have taken some videos as well. One post at a time I guess.



We just love this little guy!

Baby's Head!

This morning in the shower I felt the baby's head! At our midwife apt. this morning the midwife Donna said that I was 1cm dilated. She was trying to find my cervix but apparently it is off to the right side of the baby's head. She said that labor will help to bring the cervix down to where it needs to be and if I do some squats that could help too. So I figure I will go to the new house today and do some cleaning in the squatting position, you know kill two birds with one stone! When we asked the midwife when she thought the baby would come she said she wouldn't say because she doesn't have a crystal ball and doesn't want to disappoint us if he doesn't come by the time that she thinks. She did say before we left that she would be surprised to see us at her next apt (next Friday). 

If he doesn't come by Monday I have a non-stress test scheduled. For those of you who don't know what that is I will tell ya... I will wear two belts around my waist; one that registers any contractions I may be having and the other that measures the baby's heart rate. It takes about 20 minutes and sometimes up to an hour. If the baby's heart rate increases when he moves or when I have a contraction then that means that everything with the baby is okay. 10 days past my due date they will repeat this test.

They will also perform another test at the apt. called the Amniotic Fluid Index which is an ultrasound that looks at the amount of water around the baby in my uterus.

My guess... I think he will be born before the test on Monday.... if not then I think that I will have at least started labor by then. Keep you posted!

Life As Three

I created the name for the website of this blog with the thought that when the baby arrives we will now be a family of four, Patrick, baby, Emma and I... However for the moment we are still life as three.  Baby has not arrived and he hasn't told me his plans for arrival so I guess only time will tell.

NEW HOUSE

So today we were given our keys to the house! Everything is final, we are now homeowners of a 3 bedroom, 1 loft house with a big backyard and garage. After collecting our keys we went to check out the house again. I began tearing out the old contact paper from the kitchen cupboards. Yesterday we finalized all of our appliance decisions ( thank goodness that is over!). Patrick began taping all of the molding so that he can start painting the living room tomorrow. After his run tonight he is going back to the house to spackle. Pictures soon to come!

                                        (Our new house keys!)

           (A yummy gift of pretzels from our "loan guy"... I do believe we finished them within two days)

***SNOW***

Winter in Vancouver, WA usually consists of continuous rain and the occasional freezing temperatures, but not today! Last night we got a beautiful coating of snow. Emma and I took a nice walk in the fresh snow at 12:30am.  During the day the sun (yes I said sun, we actually had some today!) melted the snow. Just as we left to go pick up our keys it began snowing again! Many of our neighbors built snowmen in their yards. I took a picture on my phone of one that I thought was particularly well done! He was at least 6 feet tall!



The Guessing Game

So I kind of feel like a kid who is excited for Christmas day, only there is a catch nobody will tell you when Christmas day is.  Some say it will be soon, others sometime this month, still others say perhaps tomorrow.  So the question is "where is this baby"?

I am really hoping that he decides to come out sooner rather than later but not for the reasons that most people hope this. I am actually quite comfortable and able to do things as I have been minus bending directly forward while in the sitting position. Now that I think about it putting on my socks was a much easier task a few months ago as well. All of this aside though, I like being pregnant. My concern is that he will decide to be born on his own a little too late and the midwives will tell me that I can't do the birth naturally. I really want to have the time to go through all of the motions of trying for a natural birth before having to receive any drugs or other interventions and I most certainly do NOT want a c-section.

So the guessing game continues... when will baby Connor Patrick, or Eli Thomas, or Caleb arrive?

Any guesses?

Beacon Rock

                                                    (Beacon Rock)



   

                                            (Mom and I at the Trailhead)

On Saturday night my mom flew in to visit us.  She will be here for two weeks and hopefully during that time she will get to meet her grandson. Also during that time she will become a much needed pair of helping hands for us, we will be keeping her busy, packing, cleaning, moving, cooking, etc. (we begin our move into the new house next weekend).

(Lots of switchbacks)

However, today my mom and I decided to take a potentially labor inducing break from our current list of to-do's and go for a hike while Patrick went to price out appliances, again. She has never hiked Beacon Rock a favorite of ours so I decided to take her there. It is a 600ft climb up and took us about an hour. All three little dogs hiked with us as well. There were many switchbacks but the weather was beautiful! Here are a few pictures.

                                                                               

(39 weeks and 6 days pregnant)

                                                  (Emma and I)

(Mom, Maggie and Peanut)



39 Week Midwife Visit

Here is a sideways video (I don't know how to turn it, sorry) of me while we were sitting in the doctors office today. My belly really does look quite big on this video a different perspective from my usual birds eye view. My belly measured 37 cm and I weighed in at 152lbs (to which I say bah).

You can't really hear me in the video but I was showing my crooked, brown line on my belly. Then I was describing how the baby is sitting in my stomach. First I pointed out his butt then his leg on the other side.

Blue and Black Cohosh

So I decided to try a little blue and black cohosh... not even remotely tolerable! Patrick thought it would be funny to tape my end reactions. Enjoy!