Pesto Chicken Gnocchi

Ingredients:

1# cubed chicken

1 tsp minced garlic

bacon bits

1 pkg gnocchi

refrigerated pesto (1/2)

Instructions:

Cook chicken in butter with minced garlic in a skillet over medium heat.

In a separate pan boil water with salt and add gnocchi-cook according to package.

When chicken is cooked and gnocchi is done, add pesto and bacon bits. Mix well and serve.

Wordless Wednesday

Too fast!

Make it stop! I want my baby back! Now before you start going huh? What did I miss? Don’t worry, nothing happened really…just my baby is getting too big for her own good! Madelynn won’t be 7months until June 1^st and she is already sitting, rolling, crawling, pulling up and today she decided that walking the length of the couch would be her next task to check off her to-do list! Miss Moo has become such a little go getter and I have a love/hate relationship with this idea. I love that she is so independent, curious, and content learning about the world around her, but she’s so little!

I wasn’t prepared for my little 4month old to start crawling.

I wasn’t prepared to have to drop the crib down 2 levels for my 6month old!

I wasn't prepared to discover Madelynn's newest trick of pulling up on the couch today...Joshua didn't do this until he was 9months old (then within a week he was taking his first steps!)

This little girl is turning my hair grey, as if the 100 white hairs I have weren’t enough L Now don’t get me wrong, I love that she’s so independent. I love that she’s content playing by herself and she’s able to fidget with things until she figures out how they work. I love that she’s persistent and keeps trying after countless fails…I love all those things, I just wasn’t ready for my baby to grow up-this fast! I do not know if we will have more babies, so I wanted to be able to cherish all of these things with my little girl-but she has different plans it seems. Oh well, what can I do?!?

Sprinklers, Cousins and Parks-oh my!

This past Sunday was hot and humid (TOO hot and humid for my liking) and Joshua wanted to get outside and play! So we decided that the best was to spend the miserable day would be with the cousins!

We headed out to Monticello, MN (about 35mins away) and the kids had a blast! When we first got there, the kids wanted to run through the sprinklers, so we got Joshua suited and sun screened up and sent him outside from some fun! My sister’s kids couldn’t believe that this was only Joshua’s 3^rd time in the sprinklers-in his life!! Living in an apartment complex, sprinklers are not an option (plus they run their automatic ones at night) and when we head over to GaGa’s house, she has a pool so there is no need for a sprinkler!

The kids had a blast running around, the sprinkler, in circles until they fell over! Joshua just kept laughing and laughing and laughing. Everytime he fell down it took a few attempts to get back up because he was laughing so hard.

After the kids ran around in the sprinkler we came in for a yummy dinner (meatloaf, homemade garlic mashed potatoes, buttered rolls, and green beans)!. After dinner was over and all the cleaning was done we took the kids up to the elementary school and played at the playground. Oh the kids had a blast! Joshua loves his cousins! The boys (8 and 9) are so good with Joshua and I love it! I can’t wait to play again soon!

Favorite Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe was taken off of the Duggar's Favorite Family Recipe link from their website, though we add butterscotch chips instead of chocolate chips! These are so yummy, and SO addicting...I can never eat just one! I hope you enjoy.

Favorite Oatmeal Cookies

1 c. butter

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. white sugar

2 eggs

Cream first four ingredients Together,

Now add:

1 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2 c. flour

3 c. oatmeal (or just a little less)

1 1/2 c. butterscotch chips

Mix. Shape into balls on pan, then flatten with hand.

Bake at 350 for 10-15 min.

Meet the Roo

Let me introduce you to Joshua.

Joshua Daniel is 26months old right now. He's funny, smart, super lovable. He's a mama's boy, he loves baths and books. He loves to go outside, chase birds, pick up bugs.

He communicates about 90% in ASL and loves the Signing Time! dvds. He loves music, loves to swim, climb, and be a boy! He still sleeps in a crib, still takes a pacifier, still wears diapers.

He is a true delight! When you ask him where Jesus is he will do 1 of 3 things: a.) roll his eyes because you asked him a question you should know the answer to, b.) point to his heart and scream 'der' or c.) ask you to pray.

Every night I climb into his crib-yes INTO-and read him 3 stories. The last one is always Good Night Moon. He loves to lay on my chest while I read and on occasion he'll put his fingers over my lips to hush me, and lay there listening to my heartbeat and breathe. We always end our 'cribside cuddle sessions' with prayer.

Joshua loves to help me in the kitchen and around the house. He is not a picky eater, will eat almost anything green! He will only eat homemade chicken nuggets or the ones from McDonald's. He will dip any meat you give him into A1 sauce, and isn't a huge fan of ketchup. Joshua could eat Honey Dijon Mustard by the spoonful-and has on occasion. He is a milk-aholic! He loves ice cream and freezies (he made up his own sign for freezie) and knows how to get anything he wants from his GaGa. He is such a love-a-bug!

Today I gave him his first BIG BOY haircut! This was my first attempt of cutting his hair, and only my second time cutting hair (I cut Dan's-his daddy-hair a few weeks ago) and I think it turned out great. It makes me so sad to see how big Joshua looks now, I want my baby back. Luckily it is just hair and with a little bit of time, it will grow back...until then I'll have a BOY in my baby's body!

So there you have it-Mr. Joshua- my Little Mr. Roo!

Meet the Moo

Let me introduce you to Miss Madelynn.

Madelynn Rene' was born at 12:13am on November 1st, 2009 Madelynn weighed 7lbs-9oz and was 19.75" long, though she looked so tiny! From my very first contraction until he birth it was only 11 hours and active labor was short. 6pushes and Miss Maddie Moo entered this world with a set of lungs on her :) Madelynn had 5 'suck blisters' on her hands and wrists due to the sucking she did on them while I was pregnant. Moments after being placed on my chest she was sucking her thumb. She was a natural sucker and has never had an issue with breastfeeding.

At about 5weeks old Madelynn developed what I would consider colic. She would cry almost nonstop from 4pm-9pm and the only thing that offered any relief was to put her in my Moby Wrap and get it very snug around her. I'd dance and bounce around the house and she'd finally give it up. When it wasn't those hours, she was happy and very content just watching her brother. She flashed her first smile December 12, 2010 and it is always on her face. The picture about was her very first smile, that I happened to catch on film. This next photo was one of her sweet smiles 2weeks later.

Madelynn, aka Maddie or Maddie Moo, aka The Moo has been a pure joy! She is so full of wonder and very curious about everything that is going on around her. In January Madelynn took a HUGE liking to Tummy Time and started holding her own head and chest up off the ground with ease. She loved being on her tummy, and would get fussy rather quickly when placed on her back.

Since birth it was very apparent that Madelynn wanted to suck She took to breastfeeding wonderfully and I quickly became a human pacifier. She would suck on anything you put in her mouth and by the end of January/early February Madelynn had discovered his thumb and fingers...sucking on them almost constantly. When she wasn't sucking her fingers, Joshua was usually forcing a paci into her mouth anytime she made a sound-she has the BEST big brother ever!

March came along and The Moo turned 4months old. Her colic was gone by the end of the month, but somewhere in the beginning of the month, Madelynn learned a new trick...how to scoot and army crawl. She would roll around (started rolling over the end of January/early February) and scoot if there was something in clear view that she wanted...look out world, Madelynn was on the move!!

Then came April...Madelynn was 5 month old, and now she is crawling on her hands and knees in addition to the army crawl. She could get to anything she wanted to get to if given enough time. Baby proofing has taken on a new meaning in our house, as I was not prepared for a mobile baby this early. Joshua didn't crawl until he was 8.5months old and was fully walking by 10months, so I figured I would have more time, but Moo proved me wrong. Now my house was safe, wires tucked away for the most part, but I wasn't prepared for the lack of understanding that Madelynn would have once mobile. Telling her 'no' means nothing, and at 4/5months you can't do much other than moving them countless times a day away from that which they should not have. I love this photo and the look of determination on her face :)

Ok, and now here we are...May and Miss Madelynn is now 6 months old. What can I say about this little beauty? She's a mess-and I love her more than I ever thought possible! Madelynn can sit, army crawl, crawl on her hands and knees and will occassionally throw in a 'bear crawl'-moving on her hands and feet with her body completely off the ground. She loves to torment her brother, taking away toys or books he's reading and or playing with, but she's a pure joy and Joshua adores her! She started eating solids this month and she loves almost everything she has tasted with the exception of rice cereal. To date she has had: avocados, peas, carrots, pears, green beans, apples and sweet potatoes. She also eats oatmeal instead of the rice. She is typically up 1-2times a night to nurse. She goes to bed around 6:30/7pm and wakes up in the morning (for good) around 7-7:30am. This was taken today, as she discovered the only space she could get through to leave the living room :)

So there you have it...Madelynn in a nutshell! Now we can begin tomorrow with current things :)

Take 2, or is it 3...

...of this whole 'blog' thing. I believe it is take 3. I started blogging in 2005 shortly after Dan and I got married and some friends of ours moved away. They had started a blog and I became an avid follower and decided that I would give it a try myself. I did really well, for about 2 months, and it slowly died. Well it wasn't slowly...actually, I killed it! Plain and simple-I just stopped! I had no time, I was working full time and time just got away from me.

The second time I 'started' blogging was when we found our we were pregnant with Joshua. I wanted to keep everyone in the loop and I found it very relaxing for me to sit at the computer and share our journey with anyone who came across our page. I did well with it, I think, for a while (nearly 2.5 years) but then Madelynn was born. Do you know how hard it is to blog when you have 2 little ones only 19months (well 5days shy of 20months) apart? Needless to say, I killed it once again. I believe my last entry (in my last blog) was in December 2009 and it was a post of Christmas presents that the kids had received from their Nana, Papa, Auntie, Uncle, and Cousins. So needless to say, it's been a while.

So here I am, take 3 at this blog thing, but this time I have help! I met an AMAZING lady here in the blog world who helped, no scratch that, who designed this blog for me and also my business blog! She's amazing and she can be found here. She's been such a blessing to me, and I have only know her just over a week-I think! Dates are not something I am good at keeping track of since I don't usually go anywhere that requires a deadline/date. I usually am only aware of the date when it is payday, which means I have bills to write checks out for. But the time doesn't matter-she's been awesome!

After she designed my business blog (you didn't know I had my own business? Well you should! LOL, I'll post more about that in a bit) I decided that I really wanted her to create a personal blog for me as well. She accepted my plea and here we are :) It is still in the works, so stay tuned!!

Ok, my business! Here is my blog, that is also a work in progress. Sometime in March 2010 I met a lady online via chat through Signing Time! I found out that she lived here in Maple Grove, MN and she was a Signing Time! Instructor and she encouraged me to look into teaching infants and toddlers ASL. As many of you know, ASL and the Deaf Culture have always been a passion of mine and both of my kids are exposed to it and have been since birth. Joshua, now 2, knows over 100signs and he helps teach Madelynn to sign-even placing his hands over her hands when she is eating to help her sign 'milk'...so sweet!

Ok, focus Autumn, focus! Ok, so I met this lady and we chatted on and off and then life got busy and I hadn't spoken to her for a few weeks. Then I saw a post on facebook of Rachel Coleman (the co-founder of Signing Time!-I am a follower) that she was coming to Maple Grove, MN to do a performance on April 30th, 2010. After a lot of debating, begging, and praying I decided to take both kids to this performance and I am so glad I did. Rachel Coleman put on an AMAZING show and Joshua loved it! I'll post videos of him enjoying the show at another time. After the show I met the lady I had been chatting with and she encouraged me to join the Signing Time! Academy team.

She had encouraged me the month prior when we first began talking and I knew, even then, that I would love to teach other parents/caregivers to love ASL and to share with them the value of communication that they could have with their children who did not talk yet. After some prayer and all the stones falling into place rapidly, I took the step of faith and joined the team! As of May 10th, 2010 I am now a Certified Baby Signing Time! Instructor, able to teach parents/caregivers and children under age 3. I am so excited. This is pushing me outside of my personal comfort zone-I'm not the most outgoing face-to-face person, but using ASL to teach others has always been a passion of mine. So here we are!

Blessed By Signing (my business name) sums up, for me, what Signing Time! and ASL has done for me. I am truly blessed by signing as it has given Joshua the tools to communicate when he doesn't have the words. He uses about 90% of his communication with us in sign, though he is starting to add more words and sounds into his vocab. We are so blessed to be able to share this with Joshua (and Madelynn too) and I pray that others will be blessed by signing too!

So there you have it, Take 3, of this blog and some business information! Wow-I think I just wrote a book! Sorry. I promise not to make all my blog entries this long...I just had so much to share-and I didn't even go into depth about the kids yet ;)-to get everyone up to speed, so now that you are...I'm gonna end this entry!! ;D

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