2 Years Old

May 8, 2013May 8, 2013 ~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

Gasp, what has happened to the past 6 months, wasn’t it just Christmas?

We had her two year old well-check and stats are in. Weighing in at 21 lbs. and just under 3 ft, Kaili is a long ways away from a professional career in wrestling. She is low in weight but nothing dire, she just gets to keep on keeping on with the whole milk and fatty foods. Foods we wish we could eat, ya know?

She is obsessed with Mickey Mouse. She can say “mick” sometime she will add the “ey” but not always. She will start chanting “mick, mick, mick, mick” in the car once she senses we are getting close to the house. It’s bad y’all.

She drinks milk and water only, except for juice, wine and beer on occasions. Just kidding, let’s keep CPS out of this. Her grandpa did put water in a beer bottle and gave it to her…in public. I can just imagine the head shaking, and judgement going on if anyone saw. It was short lived.

She is a good eater, but not a big eater. She still favors berries and pasta and turns her head at most meat. She digs clam chowder and cheese, all sorts of cheese. Oh and french fries with ketchup or I should say ketchup with french fries, that is more accurate. She loves that shit.

Bedtime is 6:30, wake up is 6:30. She goes down for nap around 11:30/12 and sleeps for an hour and a half, 97% of the time. Since she starts school in a month, all of this will change and I will push nap and bedtime forward an hour. Love my alone time at night but also love the later wake up, can’t decide which one I like better.

The house is quiet once again. All of our visitors have gone back home and my houseguest Kiah has left the nest. On my own again, but since I start work soon I will cherish this time with her. Every.Single.Second. Even when I am tired of changing all her diapers and feeding her all her meals and giving her all her baths. I will remember how lucky I am to be home with her all day, everyday. Can’t get tired of looking at this face.

A Week In Photos

May 7, 2013 ~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

We have being going, going, going since Kaili’s party. I finally did a phone dump last night, here is a glimpse into the past week.

I had a little turtle, his name was Tiny TIm.

Blue Water Seafood, worth the wait in line.

Rainbow Cake

May 1, 2013 ~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

When planning Kaili’s birthday party I came across a picture of a 6 layer rainbow cake. I knew at that moment I had to attempt my hand at it and that is why she had a rainbow party.

I was totally going to use Martha Stewart’s recipe but as the day got closer and I realized how much crap I was actually going to have to make, I decided to make it easier on myself and I followed this recipe.

I took matters into my own hands when it came to the frosting. I decided that coconut cream cheese frosting had to happen. If you haven’t had spoonfuls of coconut cream cheese frosting first thing in the morning than you are failing at life. It pairs perfectly with coffee, just saying.

I baked all six layers of the cake the day before the party, wrapped tightly in in plastic wrap and threw them in the fridge. I also went ahead and made the frosting. The kitchen was already a disaster, might as well add it. I used this recipe but doubled it.

All of the layers baked perfectly flat except one, I just cut off the funky top and it was good as new. Oh make sure to use gel food coloring, the color is MUCH more vibrant. There are no measurements for the colors just eyeball it, but remember when making orange you need a lot more yellow than red.

I was really impressed with how straight the cake was once all the layers were stacked. The cake was super moist so frosting it was kind of a pain in my ass but it all worked out better than I imagined.

The cake got rave reviews and I don’t think anyone could tell it was from a mix, the frosting is SO good that it doesn’t even matter.

The 2 on top was a last minute decision. I quickly traced the number two onto some cardboard, cut it out and laid it gently on top of the cake and dumped the sprinkles on. Super easy.

I also baked up chocolate cupcakes with regular cream cheese frosting. I wanted a back up dessert in case the cake didn’t make it, plus everyone loves cupcakes!

Rainbow {2} Party

April 30, 2013 ~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

My baby is now 2 years old. What the hell happened? . Super proud of both my endeavors, Kaili and the cake.

She got so much loot I had to hide some of it.

All our close friends and family came out to celebrate the birthday girl. Never a dull moment!

I can’t believe the little embryo that we viewed under the microscope 2 years and 10 months ago turned into this amazing creature.

Happy Birthday my sweet child!

What Did I Get Myself Into?

April 26, 2013April 26, 2013 ~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

The last I left off on the preschool hunt for Kaili was that I found a place I really liked but I hadn’t ruled out my old school. Well I got an offer I couldn’t refuse… I am going to go back to teaching for a little bit. A teacher friend of mine wants some time off so I have decided to take her class part time. Kaili will be joining the 2 year old class while I teach the older kids, right next door…sigh. I am excited, anxious and will admit a tad nervous, for all of us involved.

I am happy to be getting back in the classroom, ready to get out out of the house and talk to anyone other than Kaili, her conversations skills just aren’t cutting it for me. She really needs this, socially, emotionally and cognitively, so I know it will be great for her. Her speech teacher is also recommending one-on-one speech therapy throughout the summer. Being alone with me is making it too easy for her not to use the language that I know she has. Now she will be forced to communicate.

I am nervous, nervous about having her see me throughout the day but not be able to be with me. It’s me and her 98% of the time, all day everyday. This is sure to be hard on both of us. I am also really anxious about nap time. She is still in her crib and showing no signs of trying to crawl out so I am in no hurry to transition her to a toddler bed. At school she will be napping on a cot, god help those teachers. She doesn’t and hasn’t slept anywhere but her crib or her pack n play. I planned it like that and my strict routine has made for easy breezy naps and bed times. Here is where the hard part will come in and I have laid awake thinking about this.

I have watched other mothers go through this for years so it isn’t new stuff to me. But other peoples children don’t pull at your heartstrings, so in a way, it is all new to me. I’ve got a month to sort myself out before we jump in with both feet.

Philly Cheese Steak Wrap

April 24, 2013 ~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

I have never been to Philadelphia so I have never had a proper Philly cheese steak. What I have had throughout the years has left me unimpressed with the whole idea of them. When I asked the hubs what he wanted for dinner he said “you know what sounds good? A Philly cheese steak.” Umm, hmm, OK. I wasn’t terribly thrilled with the idea but he actually told me what he wanted which is a once a month occurrence so I went with it. Then I was even less excited about it once I started browsing recipes. Yes, I needed to search recipes, don’t judge. I knew it wasn’t a complicated thing to make but I didn’t want a big sandwich and I didn’t want some bland meat topped with bland cheese. Sue me!

I came across Bobby Flay’s Philly cheese steak recipe on Food Network and thought, now that sounds good. It would be even better wrapped in a tortilla. Bingo, this is a winner winner chicken dinner.

I switched out rib eyes for the loin strip and used bell peppers and a poblano. The aged provolone cheese sauce is amazing, eat by the spoonful amazing, but it’s very rich. I am ashamed to admit I have never had aged provolone, it is so good. It’s sharp and robust flavor is enough to stand on it’s own and I don’t think it’s necessary to make it into a sauce. So the next day when I had this for lunch I made a quesadilla for K with the cheese sauce and just grated some of the aged provolone into my wrap. Same great flavor but less calories. The sauce would be good as a fondue served with apples or pears, but for this dish, the cheese can stand alone.

This is sort of a pain the ass the make because Bobby made it more complicated then it needed to be, but he put out a good one here, so I guess I can’t argue with his madness.
Once all the components were cooked I piled them on a whole wheat tortilla and wrapped it up.

excuse me, my mouth is full.

Next time {because there will be a next time} I will wrap them all up like cute little burritos, lay them on a baking sheet and bake for a few minutes. Kind of like Philly Cheese steak meets baked burrito? Hmm, will have to come up with a name for them.

See Bobby’s recipe here.

A Week In Photos

April 22, 2013 ~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

I took a few days break from blogging since chaos and horror was happening in the country. Here is a look back on the week.

Booster seating it at Cafe Calabria.

Coffee tasting at Coffee + Tea Collaborative

Digging her mango smoothie.

This guy put down a 1 lb. peanut butter and jelly burger at Slaters 50/50.

Lavender scone?

Party planning.

Go big or go home.

Fresh and local.

Kicken it at the Strawberry jam fest.

Playing in the kids area at the Station Tavern in South Park.

Nom nom.

Snyder wine.

Monday Things

April 15, 2013 ~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

1. Wowza, have you seen this latest gun control ad?

2. Ain’t this the truth?

3. This made me want to lick the screen.

4. Anyone in the market for a new tattoo? Some of these are really awesome and almost make me want to get another one.

5. I love this idea, hours and hours of outdoor fun.

6. A birth wreath? Ridiculous. She explains it spot on.

7. Have you tried these? I am very curious.

8. A crostini party, why haven’t I thought of this before? This. Will. Happen.

9. Some of these are pure genius, some a little silly. I love the shoe shopping idea and the swing idea, definitely thought up my a man.

10. Kaili’s future room? So bright and colorful, I could live in there.

Tropical Rice

April 12, 2013 ~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

Every time I buy a pineapple and cut it up so it can be easily accessed I seem to be the only person who ends up eating it. I love it but there is only so much I can eat and I don’t know if it’s just me but after I eat it, my tastebuds seem to change. Then everything else I eat afterwards tastes off. SOooo I needed to do something with the leftovers. After asking my awesome FB friends I decided on adding some pineapple to coconut rice. I love coconut rice, well I love anything coconut but that is a whole other story. I never thought to put pineapple in my rice but now I may never not put it in my rice. It was that good.

Kaili was helping scoop rice, doing her own thang.

I found this recipe and kind of followed but not exactly.

Ingredients

2 cups jasmine rice

1 1/4 cups chicken broth

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup diced pineapple * see note

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup finely chopped green onion

* I threw a cup of pineapple in my magic bullet and blended it until it was not quite pureed.

In a medium pot heat sesame oil over medium heat, add the rice and sautee until lightly toasted.

Add the rest of the ingredients, stir to blend and bring to boil on high heat. Once boiling, turn the heat to low, cover with tight fiting lid and let cook for 20 minutes. Turn off head and do not open lid. Let sit for 10 minutes.

With a fork, fluff up the rice and check to make sure there is enough salt for your liking. Top with green onion.

Painting With Pom Poms

April 9, 2013 ~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

Painting with craft pom poms is a lot like painting with cotton balls but the poms hold up a lot better in paint. If you use a clothespin you save little fingers from getting drenched in paint. The choice to use them is yours, some kids like it getting messy, some moms don’t.

Pinch a pom pom with a clothespin..