Stroller Club

Wow, It's been forever since I posted and Austin is 3 months in a couple days!! We are really enjoying the business of life and are in the process of getting ready for our first craft sale, my newest craft is puppy face washcloths which in my opinion would be a hit for toddlers, they are pretty adorable, maybe I'll post my pattern for them on here someday, they are super easy and I whipped them up as my first pattern when I couldn't find anything online that was even remotely similar. The show is on the 20th so we have about 15 days left to finish up some last minute stuff.

I am also helping to start up a stroller club for mommas in my city. It started from a post I read on ebrandon, this lady wanted to start a walking group at the mall and I was the only one who was interested, but I mentioned it to a couple of my friends and they said they would be interested so I thought I would make it BIGGER! So I made up a Facebook Page Brandon's Stroller Club and some flyers to hand out to moms I see on day to day and we'll see where this goes. Eventually I would love to see it be a play group or something. I think it's a really great opportunity for people who essentially have nothing in common except that they have kids to get together, break outside the box. And I've been asking God for opportunities to love other people and I think this is just great timing for an opportunity to do that.

Austin is born!

So after a couple months of being away, I've decided to start catching up on my life's events. The biggest being, my son Austin was born August 6th after a long, induced labor. I pushed for 3 hours, during which he flipped over sunnyside up and my cervix was closing to 8cm from 10. Even vacuum didn't work. So my 6.4 lb baby had a c-sectioned birth. Maybe sometime I'll post my whole labor story which my doula is writing, I'm quite interested to see it. :P She says it's beautiful. (The only reason I agreed to inducement was that on top of my gestational diabetes I was developing pre-eclampsia)

I loved having a doula, there was two times that I was in completely delirious pain (after my doc broke my water...without asking!!, and after he flipped and I was having crazy back labor) So it was really nice to have someone else there to support me through it, it was probably really hard for my husband to watch me go through everything. It meant alot to me to have someone just holding my hand through those really painful periods. My contractions were a minute apart so it was all I could do to try and prepare for the next bought. It was really special to me too that my cousin was my doula and I watched her give birth last december. I'll probably ask her to be at all my future births and if she wants me to, to help her at hers.

Life with a newborn was definitely more challenging than I thought it would be...you can't just give them back at 5! Getting over a c-section and a frustrating birth experience doesn't help either, the hardest part has been continually forgiving my doctor for breaking my water, I much would've preferred to go home and let the contractions diminish or pick up on their own. My body was just so not ready. But what's done is done, and I am doing good, and Austin is doing good so I am loving my life currently and enjoying my beautiful baby.

Easy Chili

1 can kidney beans
1 can tomato soup
1 can black beans
1 can mushrooms
1 can corn, carrots or chop up zucchini
diced tomatoes
chopped onion
4 cloves garlic
red pepper flakes
Ground beef browned

Mix it all up and cook it. Top with shredded cheese and sour cream.
Make sure to freeze your leftovers. Yum!

Ambrosia ( Fruit Salad)

I had to find a classic 70's dish and this is what I came up with. This fruit salad is so good as is, but next time I'll need to make it with Splenda or try it without the sugar.

Use fresh or canned
-cherries, grapes, pears, bananas, peaches, pineapple etc

Dressing
1/4 c pineapple juice (from canned pineapple)
1/4 c lemon juice
1 c whipped cream
2 eggs
1 c sugar

Beat eggs, add pineapple, lemon juice and sugar. Cook in double boiler stirring constantly until thickened. Cool. Whip cream and fold into mixture before serving. Reserve 1/4 c for topping.

Asparagus with Ceasar Dressing

This is frickin amazing asparagus!

Steam your asparagus.

Mix together 2 tsp garlic
1 Tbsp Dijon
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp grated parm

pour over asparagus. Sprinkle with cheese, s and p and toasted sesame seeds (0ptional)

Creamy Dill Fish

One of those easy last minute suppers...

Bake fish with olive oil, lemon juice and cajun spice according to directions.
I always bake on tin foil so it's easy to clean up after.

In the meantime mix sour cream, mayo, chives or green onion, fresh chopped (or dried) dill, and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve fish with cream sauce.

- this sauce is also good on cooked greens such as asparagus and green beans. Or on a baked, or pan fried potatoes.

Japanese Noodle and Cucumber Salad

This was a great salad, sorry I forgot to take a pic when I made it all pretty even. Hubby didn't like it but I thought it was great. As usual I didn't follow the recipe exactly, it looks like it would make alot of sauce so I just make enough for us and guessed at amounts. I also added chives instead of green onions and served it with a couple of snap peas and cucumber sliced on top.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1843,154171-224202,00.html

5 or 6 oz. dried vermicelli or bean thread noodles
6 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 med. cucumber
4 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. thinly sliced green onions
1 1/2 tsp. sesame seeds for garnish

Cook noodles in boiling water until just tender. Drain and rinse in cold water. Drain thoroughly and transfer to medium sized bowl. Add vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and salt. Mix well. Cover and chill until cold.

Peel and seed cucumber. Cut into quarters lengthwise, then into thin pieces. If not serving right away, wrap the cucumber pieces in plastic bag or wrap and refrigerate.

To serve, divide noodles among 4 serving bowls. Top with a small handful of cucumber slices, a few slices of green onion and sesame seeds. Serve cold.

Makes 4 servings.