Surviving Teething

Here we are going on day three of no nap and this mum is about ready to pull her hair out or have a nervous breakdown, whichever comes first!



Liam, on the other hand, is running from one side of the room and/or house to the other. Never mind that he's overtired and cranky. Forget that he's drooling and running air grade fever. Ignore the five to six teeth he's currently cutting. Nothing will stand between a teething 17 month old and a good time!

It's been a long week. I'm anxious for all these teeth to come through. I'm ready for the sleep regression to end. I'm ready for quiet time to pay the bills and do the taxes. And if I'm 100% honest, I'm ready for a shower.

I know in a year I'll miss so many things about this age, even if I can't see it now. I'll just keep reminding myself of this until this rough patch called teething is done. Until then, one day at a time!

Wordless Wednesday: Motivation

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Scrumptious Sunday

On our way back from PA last week we arrived back home right around dinnertime.  Only one problem, our fridge and cupboards were just a little bare.  Fortunately on the way home we swung into the market and grabbed a picky chicken, aka rotisserie.  It made for a quick meal with some frozen veggies and 90 second rice, but what to do with over half a chicken we had left?  My husband loves corn chowder so it was an easy choice to make chicken corn chowder.  I'd made the recipe once before and it was a hit with the boys.  Plus, I didn't have to cook the chicken for it which made it much easier and quicker to cook!  Here's the recipe!

Chicken Corn Chowder

1 tablespoon butter
6 green onions
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper (I use a wee bit more, but we love pepper!)
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen corn kernnels, thawed
1 (14 ounce) can fat-free, less sodium chicken broth
2 cups fat-free milk
1/2 cup (2 oz) preschredded cheese (I forgot to add this last time, whoops!)

Melt butter in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium-high heat.  Remove green tops from green onions.  Chop green onion tops and set aside.  Thinly slice white portion of each onion.  Add sliced onions to pan; saute two minutes.  Add flour; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly with a whisk.  Stir in chicken, salt, pepper, one package of corn and broth; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, simmer five minutes.





While mixture simmers, combine the remaining corn and milk in a blender; process until smooth.  Make sure you have thawed the corn or it will remain lumpy and not get the correct texture. Trust me, I know! ;)  The outcome is a chunkier chowder vs. a creamier chowder.

Add mixture to pan; simmer two minute or until heated through.  Ladle two cups chowder each into four soup bowls.  Sprinkle green onions on top.  Top each serving with two tablespoons cheese. 









394 calories, less if you leave off the cheese, for dinner!  Pair it with a yummy salad and maybe some crescent rolls and you're good to go!

The Joys of Boys

Tornado Liam

2012 has kicked off with a bang!  I have two very busy boys who keep me on my toes.  The past couple of nights we've had these idyllic 1950's-esque evenings.  The Gunny and I have a drink while I finish up dinner as the boys play nicely together in the living room under our watchful eye.  It's great!  Then yesterday happened.  The fussbucket was, you guessed it, fussy.  He's cutting about six teeth right now so napping was not in his schedule, even if it was in mums.  Needless to say, not a lot got done around the house.  Instead it looked like a tornado had touched down in our living room and I was frazzled to say the least. 

My savior!

When my oldest finished his homework he took the fussbucket upstairs to play and for the first time all day a calm settled over me.  I wanted to sit and relax with my feet up, but somehow I mustered the strength to do dishes and bake banana muffins.  I have no clue where this energy came from, but it was one of those  moments in life where I thanked God that I have kids ten years apart.  Because yesterday I needed the sanity of a clean kitchen and my sweet boy gave me that gift.  (I'm pretty sure my husband appreciates it too!)

The fruit of my labor!

What's even better is that when the Gunny did get home from work as I was wrapping up feeding the fussbucket he noticed how tired I was and kindly offered to make dinner!  So I did get a little time to relax with a glass of wine to finish off the evening.  Living in a house full of boys is exhausting, but it definitely has it's perks!  I am blessed by each of my boys and their love for me.

Semper Gumby

I'm having a Semper Gumby moment.  Or two.  If you're a Marine Corps family member you already know what I'm talking about.  But for those who aren't, Semper Gumby is our way of saying, always flexible!  It is the motto we Marine wives live by.  (And a cute play on words for Semper Fi.)  You never know what adventure or challenge lies around the corner so flexibility is key!

A few days ago my Marine called and told me he was coming home early.  While I love those words, they are normally loaded.  And so it is that this morning he left for a training exercise only two months after he got home from deployment.  How's that for timing?

When I found out I worried about our oldest, as he is really at an age where he needs dad.  He sets his alarm early each morning so he can hang out with him.  He's started working out so he and dad can have male bonding time and has even put forth the effort to do it on his own to "impress his dad".  He wants him to shuttle him to football practice.  So how can it not break my heart that dad has to leave again when they're cultivating this new, different, more grown up almost relationship?

And then there's the fussbucket.  I know he doesn't know what's going on.  What I do know is that he runs to the front room and points out the window saying "da da" when he comes home.  That he rides on daddy's, and only daddy's, shoulders.  That da da tosses him in the air and gives him his bath.  So those moments that he loves are gone for a while.  Their budding relationship has to take a break so soon after being reacquainted. 

Being the supermom that I attempt, and coincidentally frequently fail, at being I try to have some fun things to do with the kids and focus on the positives.  So here goes...the top five reasons I'm glad my husband is gone!

5.  I have the bed all to myself!

4.  The sarcastic harassment will be kept to a minimum, if any, since our contact will be limited.

3.  I am the sole person in charge.  Yippee...

2.  No more cooking!  It's back to the frozen dinner diet!

1.  I have the remote all to myself!  Time to get caught back up on all my girly shows!

So, here's to TV dinners in front of the TV and having my kids undying love and attention...right???  Or at least to having that fabulous "first" kiss again soon.  Semper Gumby!

Scrumptious Sunday

Words cannot describe my love of all things pumpkin!  Pumpkin pie, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin muffins so why not pumpkin cookies?  With cooler temperatures this weekend actually making it feel like fall in Eastern NC, and the miracle of finding pumpkin puree at the market, I was craving something pumpkin.  I decided to attempt another one of Gina's recipes,  Low-fat Pumpkin Spiced Chocolate Chip Cookies. 

These were nothing but delicious!  Two thumbs up from everyone who tried them!  And yes, others did help me eat this tasty batch of cookies!  So, get thee to a market, snap up some pumpkin puree while you can and put these babies in the oven!  Then, enjoy each bite of yummy goodness!

The Times They Are A Changing!

We are slowly settling back into our "school" routine.  This year has been full of early mornings for middle school, football practice pushing back bedtimes and realizing the challenge of only owning one  "family" vehicle and a motorcycle.

L is, for the most part, at a very fun age.  He's into EVERYTHING these days.  He practically runs from one side of the house to the other, wants a piece of anything you're eating and points at everything so we can tell him the names.  However, he still doesn't say very many words and is now starting to push back or forgo nap time.  This is a little stressful for mama, but other than that, we're having lots of fun together.  We're back to laptime at the library and he's settling in, I hope, to childcare at the gym so mama can work out.  Mostly he is curious about everything and keeping me on my toes!

He's into everything, including this keg!

C, is a tween.  A tween going on 20.  He knows everything and seems to constantly be testing us.  He's still a great kid, but has been defiant and lied about some very small issues.  It makes me wonder why he would choose to lie about something so trivial.  I really hope he's just getting it out of his system and will return to our normal child soon.  It's frustrating to always seem to be on him about things and punishing him.  And since we're still dealing with issues I'm guessing the punishments aren't the most effective.  Overall, I know I don't have a lot to complain about, but he's our little boy and even though he's growing up I still worry about him.  It's our job to make sure he grows up into the best man that he can be.  One of the qualities I really hope he has is honesty.  The librarian who leads laptime offered me some hope saying her youngest son was a bit of a mess from about 12-15, but then one day it was like she woke up and had her son back.  Here's to hoping we survive the next couple years and we all come through loving and respecting each other at the end of it.

The mom you're annoying me, stop, look.

Sometimes I feel like super mom handling the curve balls my kids throw at me.  And other times I feel like I fail them and lose it too quickly.  In the end, I have two great kids.  Whether they behave or not, we are truly blessed.  I'll just keep doing my best to love them and train them up in the way they should go, whether they like it or not!