New Mom advice...

I went to one of my sweet friend's surprise mini baby shower yesterday and at one point our friend who organized the shower said she had hoped to create little note cards for all of us to write our advice to her on. I wasn't sure if anyone would be offended by what I would have written... here it is:

The best new mom advice I ever got after having Dax...

Ask when you don't know or are worried about something BUT
if your gut tells you something else, listen to it.
Sometimes the best advice is to NOT listen to every other Mom telling you
what she did, didn't do, would never do or thinks every mom should do.
Sometimes the best advice is to be YOUR child's Mom and figure it out for yourself.

I believe this came from my Mom during one of my crying fits. :)

While I have a very sweet friend who is my 'go to' with Dax questions or pretty much any quesiton under the sun, I have learned over the last two and a half years that really, truly it is best to go with what your gut is telling you when it comes to baby 'things.' I have heard too many stories about how a parent listened to their internal voice and saved their child from getting much sicker or even their life. I think my problem is I have always had an anxiety problem and whenever anything out of the normal comes up, I immediately think the worst-- I have been blessed though to not have my major anxiety attacks anymore. Those were the worst... okay getting off subject...

Being a Mom or Dad is hard work. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. While it is full of hugs, kisses, snuggles and silly stories to tell, it is also full of tantrums, scrapes, bruises, talking back or not listening at all. It's full of HARD decisions every day but it is also the most rewarded job around.

 I am so blessed to be part of a team raising Dax. Dustin is the best and when I am about to lose my mind he seems to always swoop in with either his Daddy voice or his big arms to scoop Dax up and redirect him. THIS is why we're supposed to be with a partner when raising children because doing it on your own would be very, VERY hard! Not impossible, of course, but much harder.

I am blessed. I love my family!

RIF

I've started this post several times over the last few weeks but each time I started it I would get to a certain point and hit delete. Why? Wanting to not admit out loud what I fear may happen and because of that word 'may' and 'might' and 'hopefully not.' I'm trying very hard to be optimistic but my optimism keeps waning.

Our district is facing a possible RIF or basically releasing some of us from employment. It's scary. It makes my stomach hurt and for the first time, it makes me cry. Come June I will have completed my 5th year with our organization.

 I've been a teacher for 5.4 years in June which blows my mind but I also can't believe that after 5 years I'm now facing not having the job that I have grown so accustom to. Facing instability that I thought I had avoided by staying in one spot and not trying out other positions. There have been other teaching jobs that have come up and I haven't even glanced their way because why would I leave a stable job? Sometimes I wonder where I would be if I had left a few years ago. I don't want to leave though. I love having a job that allows me to work full time while also watching my son grow in front of my eyes. Heck, I love having a full time job.

I am not good at being unemployed--- since I was 12 years old I've had some kind of employment- babysitting, retail, office assistant, lifeguard, substitute teacher and classroom teacher. I don't know how to be unemployed and having a child makes it that much scarier to me. I am thankful there are programs out there that can help me insure that he will have health insurance. I know that we will be able to have food on the table and a roof over our heads but the things we don't expect like illness and injury scare me. That part makes me want to cry that much more. I feel like if I lose this job that I will be failing to provide the life for Dax that I want so badly for him. I know that he will always be loved, fed, dressed and safe but it's those silly things like- I want him to have new toys and new clothes each time he grows out of the old. This is something that I will have to work through and get over.

The good part of a RIF? I've been trying to come up with those just to give myself a positive spin. So here goes... more time with Dax unless I find another full time job, subbing- I love being a substitute teacher and have missed the classroom so much over the last few years, exploring the possibilities of a new career or occupation (not sure this is all good but could be), maybe going back to school to add an endorsement to my qualifications or to learn a new trade, and having lots of free time... The other perk to being a teacher is that I will still have a pay check until August. This gives me a couple months to concentrate exclusively on finding new employment-- when I'm not snuggling with Dax.

If you're still reading this, thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to 'listen.'

I won't know anything for sure until May 15th (possibly earlier but that's highly unlikely) will update when I know something for sure.

4 on 10

Darn it!  I just can't get my act together to do a REALLY good job at these 10 on 10 things. Yesterday on March 10th my reminder went off on my cell phone while I sat in the parking lot of ESD 101 waiting for a class to start. I was on the south hill by 7:50 in the morning- for those of you that don't know, that's like an hour and half drive from my house plus about 30 minutes to drop Dax off with Gigi and Papa. I was up at 5:30! I also spent more time driving yesterday that actually moving around or taking fun pictures for sure. I should have been better, lord knows I could have and should have taken more pictures but 4 is an improvement over last month... sorry they aren't more exciting... but here you go... BRING ON THE CELL PHONE CAMERA PICTURES :p

7:54am this morning called for a BIG Starbucks drink! Sitting in the parking lot of ESD waiting for Lynnette to get there so I didn't have to walk in by myself 

 10:22am In class at ESD- BEST CLASS I've taken in a LONG time! Lynnette and I almost jumped out of our seats a couple times because we were so excited about how we could use what we are learning!

11:39am  I WON a door prize! I never win anything :) Discovery channel own Discovery Education which is the streaming program we went to class to learn more about! So cool! Can't wait to put what we learned to good use!

5:25pm This is Dax and Great Grandma Gregerson looking at his 'fishies' at GiGi and Papa's house. Dax just loves them because he controls the stream of bubbles. I got a very sweet picture of them from behind too but like this one the best. :)

That's it... I'll try to be better about this in April... one step at a time right? 

TODAY is my Grandma Gregerson's birthday! I feel so very grateful to have my grandmas still here to be able to watch Dax grow up. Last night we did a lot of talking about grandparents around my Mom and Dad's table. It was a great reminder of how blessed we are to have three living great-grandmas to love Dax. Is it silly that I didn't REALLY know my great grandparent's names? We always call them Great Grandma and Grandpa Gregerson and Great Grandma and Grandpa Gilberts. I knew George and Minnie's names but for some reason had no idea grandma's parents were Oscar and Bessie. I love sharing stories from my Dad's childhood and Mom's too. I did get teared up a couple times thinking about how much I wish Grandpa Gregerson (and the other grandpa's and grandma) had been there to share his memories and to have Dax sit on his lap. At least Dax got to snuggle with Grandma Gregerson last night :) I do love that!

Happy Birthday Grandma! Here's to many, many more!!

March 2012 Menu

What this Mommy did while her two year old was down for a nap:

THIS is what we're having for dinner for the month of March

If you click on it, it gets bigger. :) or at least it's supposed to...

There are many blank dates this is because there are going to be nights that 'what's for dinner' doesn't sound good or I forget to pull it out early enough or INSERT EXCUSE HERE (ha!) so we end up having something else -- which means there will be 'leftover' dinners that need a new home.

I really try to do a lot of make ahead meals because it just makes my life easier throughout the month and if we don't eat that dinner it can stay in the freezer for the next month.

See some code on there you don't understand? What, you can't decipher my writing? Silly you! ha! Here you go :

**=in the freezer/make ahead

online = I have book marked the recipe on my computer for easy access- for me. Look below for links to recipes for you

FFF= recipe came from the book Fix, Freeze, Feast. I found this one on Amazon! Love it!

PT= recipe came from Pinterest and is saved on my FOOD :) board. WHAT you aren't part of Pinterest? Then message me and I'll invite you. Silly you!

Most of the time I 'wing' the sides each night because we always have frozen corn, veggie blends, garlic bread, rice and such on hand. This month I did put some ideas on some of them.

I try to do my shopping for THE ENTIRE MONTH in one shopping trip. This usually amounts to 1-2 hours in Winco. WITH Dax. He's an angel and doesn't usually loose his cool until we get to the bakery where I then bribe him with a donut for the ride home. :) It's his little, cheap reward. :) Yes, he even gets one if it is dinner time. What angel shouldn't get this kind of spoiling once a month. :) haha!

I promised you links, here they are:

Easy Mexican Casserole:
http://www.plainchicken.com/2010/10/mexican-casserole.html

Honey-Sesame Chicken (this recipe is actually calls for skewers but I use chicken breasts. Still yummy!)
http://makeaheadmeals.blogspot.com/2008/03/40-honey-sesame-chicken-skewers.html

Saucy Chicken Enchiladas:
http://www.heatherdriveblog.com/2008/12/saucy-chicken-enchiladas.html

Pioneer Woman Fettuccine Alfredo
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/07/fettuccine-alfredo/

Pioneer Woman Frito Chili Pie:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/09/frito-chili-pie/




Give me your feedback. Was this helpful, will you use this? Should I keep doing this each month? :)
 
PS if you're on a diet, these recipes probably aren't for you... I <3 food!

Meal Menus

So I'm starting to gear up for planning another month of dinners for my family and I got to thinking that maybe I should try to figure out how to post them on here. I have two thoughts behind this: 1. I can keep track of what I've planned before-saving time in the futre and 2. maybe someone else out there would find it useful too.

I am hesitant too because I am a very picky eater and...well... let's just say there aren't a lot of 'greens' on my menus. Ha! So NO teasing! :)

Any thoughts??? Anyone read this? :-p

Oops!

So apparently I can't get my act together to do a 10 on 10 post... next month it's a Saturday... hopefully that helps. I did take one picture of Dax eating pizza for lunch and watching his DVD playing. Work days are hard to take any interesting pictures. :)

There really is nothing new to report on our front. I wish I was a better writer to be able to turn the mundane, everyday activities of our family into something more exciting... yeah not that good by any means. :)

Hmm maybe next year my resolution will be to write about 'boring' things :) Too late for this year, right? :-p

10 on 10- January

WELL.... this didn't work so well.... I made it until Dax woke up from his nap and then stopped snapping pictures... oh well... here's what I tried to accomplish yesterday :)

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Look at me! I'm actually doing a 10 on 10! Impressive! haha :) This will be in reverse order since I going to build it throughout the day as the pictures are taken. Hoping this will help me COMPLETE this task. Please excuse the blurry cell phone pictures.

2:40pm Oh sunshine, how mean you are to be shining so brightly while I am working????


1:34pm FedEx dropped off our fantastic new hotspot and then me being the AWESOME teacher that I am, did not read all the directions like I ALWAYS tell students and parents to do so it took about 20 minutes longer to activate than it should have! Stupid!


12:38pm Nothing like a boy and his tractors



11:45am Holy Wind batman! Dax and I both about jumped out of our skin when this big 'ol branch hit our front door! So glad it hit the bottom metal part and not the top glass part

10:33am this is what our living room looks like when Mommy is too busy working to make Dax pick up his toys between tasks :) yes, those are empty Keystone boxes-- Daddy has made Dax a whole outfit out of them. I can't throw them away :)


9:45am Dax watching Mickey Mouse Club House in his jammies, yes it's a little late in the day to still be in jammies