February

I have one amazing baby. Today I went in her room to wake her up for the day. She has been severely off schedule lately, so I didn't want her to sleep in late. When I peeked in her room, I was surprised at the sight! Kaitlyn was naked from head to toe, fast asleep in her bed! Sure enough, she had taken off her pj's and thrown them out of the crib, and to make matters more interesting took off her diaper and left it at the end of the bed.

Two things shocked and surprised me. The first is that the pj's were still zipped up, and snapped shut. She had to have carefully climbed out the NECK hole! Second, I could not believe it but HER BED WAS DRY! She hadn't even wet the bed! I really hope she doesn't pull anymore shenanigans, but I guess no harm was done so I let this one pass.

Danelle is an amazing kid too. One thing about Danelle is that she LOVES to talk. Whenever she is home, she is following us around talk talk talking away. She always has something on her mind. You can almost see the thoughts reeling through her head.

The other day, she was watching me exercise on our new/used treadmill we found on KSL. She was pretty excited to see me "get sweaty." I put the TV screen right in front of the treadmill for entertainment when I run or walk, but this day Danelle was talking away, asking questions, and actually making me more tired and out of breath answering her. Finally, I said in a nice way, "wow you like to talk a lot!"

Danelle laughed harder than I expected. She said, "well - I have a lot to say!" I couldn't help but smile and I realized I love her talking. She is so smart and always thinking and feeling something. I love that she can talk to me about anything. She can talk talk talk all she wants.

Life has been changing lately. Shayne is in his last few months of school. This means he has to go on campus and is gone an extra four nights out of the week.

It's been a BIG adjustment to our lives. Now that Shayne has school in the evenings, I am now fully responsible not only for the girls mornings, but bedtimes too. Bedtimes have never been my favorite. I am proud to say though that amazingly enough, we have developed some wonderful new routines and everything is going much more smoothly.

I have to tell you too, I am feeling so GREAT lately. Winter always depresses me. I miss the sun, I miss warm, and the usual yearly expected weight gain depresses me too. Well, like I mentioned earlier, we got a treadmill. It is doing WONDERS for me physically and emotionally.

I started a Jillian Michaels FROM COUCH TO 5K program, and am following it strictly (only adding extra walking time). It might not sound like much but after a week and a half, I can run four minutes straight now. I add another minute tomorrow and will be up to six by the end of the week. The hope is to be able to run 30 minutes straight by the end of the program which is 10 weeks long. I am so excited and proud to be getting more healthy.

My family is benefiting from the treadmill as well. Danelle walks 15 minutes four days a week, and Shayne is also doing the couch to 5k program. I am already noticing him losing weight. It's inspired us to eat better too. I love it. I am so proud of my family.

Kaitlyn is getting healthy too in her own way. We have been trying to get her to a healthy weight. She is small for her height, only being at 2% in her weight... yikes! Her doctor suggested we power pack her food with extra calories and start giving her Carnation Instant Breakfast with her milk for nutrients. She might not be eating more, but she is taking extra calories with every bite and every milk she drinks. I have been giving her V8 Fusion as well for vegetables and extra nutrients. One of these days, I should get a juicer and make my kids homemade healthy drinks.

So there you have it; an update on our family. I am so happy to have February out of the way. January and February are my most difficult months of the year so once they are over I like to celebrate. "Birthday season" is fast approaching and then another fun packed summer. I am still so excited about 2012. :)

Crazy About My Carbs :)

My favorite adventures in the kitchen involve making bread and I LOVE my bread machine!!! I love the smells of bread baking, the taste of a warm slice, and the many varieties of bread there are to choose from. When I first got my bread machine as a wedding gift, I was thrilled and made many tasty breads with it.

Now that I consider myself an "intermediate" baker (still learning) I use the bread machine for DOUGH and bake the bread in a bread pan with the oven. It makes it more homemade looking, and I think the loaf itself is cooked better. For example, sometimes when I cook Cinnamon Raisin Bread, the raisins in a bread machine cooked loaf are all at the bottom... if I pull out the dough however, I can knead it evenly all together.

Making bread with the bread machine dough cycle is easy... I put the ingredients in the machine and set it to the dough only setting. About 90 minutes later, the dough is ready. Lightly flour your surface, and spread out your dough. Roll it kind of in a rectangle shape, and roll it up tightly and pinch in the ends. Tuck the ends over, and set in a greased bread pan. Let rise until double. Bake 30-35 minutes. Then, I usually brush melted butter on the top to finish it up.

Here is a recipe from the Betty Crocker Bread Machine Cookbook.

Raisin Cinnamon Bread

(1 1/2 Pound Recipe)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
3 cups bread flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine or quick active dry yeast
3/4 cup raisins

Place all ingredients except raisins in bread machine pan in the order recommended. Add the raisins at the raisin/nut signal.

To bake in the machine, select the basic or white cycle. Otherwise, choose the dough cycle and continue with directions above.

The Moment it Hit Me

Danelle was a very anticipated baby. We were only married a year when we found out we were pregnant and so excited to be first time parents. I had a pretty easy pregnancy with Danelle in comparison to Kaitlyn's. I had just had a successful normal delivery, and although I was a mom now, it hadn't really hit me yet.

Danelle was one day old, and approaching her second night. Up until that point, I let the nurses take her when I needed to sleep and they fed her when needed (although I was trying to nurse) and always changed her diapers. I had it pretty easy. It was getting dark now, and Shayne was asleep when I smelled something bad coming from the baby. I know the smell of poop, so I beeped my nurse from the button on my bed.

The nurse rang in, "can I help you?"

"Yes, I think she needs a diaper change," I said very matter of fact.

My nurse spoke back, "there are diapers and everything you need in her bassinet."

I was taken back a minute. I expected this nurse to come running in and change her diaper! Then I felt really sheepish to have even asked. I remembered thinking to myself, 'of course I should change her. After all, I am her mom!' It was a big moment for me to change that silly diaper because it was then I realized that I REALLY was a mother now. This is MY baby and it's MY job to care for her.

Looking back, I have to smile at how clumsily I changed Danelle's first diaper. Changing diapers was somewhat of a game after that, at least the first few days until the newness wore off. By the time Kaitlyn came around, I was a professional diaper changer and didn't ask much of the hospital nurses at all.

Sometimes I wish I could relive these memories. I am so happy to be a mom. I wish they could stay small and in my arms forever. I love you Danelle and Kaitlyn!