Going private….

Ok, I understand how annoying private blogs are. I myself have done an occasional roll of the eyes when I must “log in” to see a quick update on those I love. But the number of asian people, from countries I can barely pronounce, that are interested in our family blog has reached unnerving proportions causing me to eat crow and close the curtains to our online “journal” . I had a very scary experience recently with someone getting private information from my facebook account, linking it to my blog, and then contacting my grandparents pretending to be me, in an attempt to scam them out of a ridiculous amount of money. My wonderful grandpa was all ready to sell the farm (figuratively speaking) in order to bail me out of “jail”. Thankfully someone started questioning what was going on. But to keep those I love most, safe… our blog will be going private as of August 1st. And after all, if you are family then you don’t care too much about a little thing like “having to log in” to see what the kids are up to, right? lol If you would like access, let me know! Love you xo

Cankles, Heartburn, and Bedrest :)

So I know I have taken a hiatus from blogging for the last couple months. A lot has been going on. Just this last week I started “thinking” about blogging again and almost instantly raised the back of my hand to my forehead in a dramatic attempt to tell myself that it is just too overwhelming to create a post that accurately details our absence, so I’m not going to lol. Instead I’ll just start current and let you all know how a little thing called “pregnancy” is going. I’ll start by telling you that I have always wanted lots of kids. 4… 5… maybe even a crazy 6th. I loved being part of a big family growing up. Always having someone to hang out with and holidays being a blast. However, about a month ago while spending a good hour trying to get into a comfortable position, through tears and a clenched jaw I growled at Jared, “ONE… we should’ve stopped at ONE!” Of course I was not being serious but that should let you know how this post is going to end up lol.

This pregnancy has been almost unbearable for me. My pelvis is separated, my pubic bone is dislocated, I am swelling like a baby whale and gaining an obscene amount of weight even though I am hardly eating. (Seriously… I look like I have rhinoceros blood in me.) I have major TMJ (locked jaw) from all the baby hormones, causing my jaw to remain clamped shut every morning when I get out of bed and then causing a lot of pain every time that I chew. I have been getting very regular, excruciating charley horses in my inner thighs, and insane round ligament pain on both sides of my uterus that is more intense than anything I’ve ever felt before. The baby is measuring 39 weeks even though I am only 35. They can’t figure out what the heck is going on lol.

I’ve been seeing a wonderful chiropractor 3 times a week for several weeks now trying to relieve some of this pain and get my pelvis back in place before delivery. However, after numerous valiant efforts, I have burned wrinkles into his forehead, leaving him also baffled. He cannot budge my pelvis, pubic bone, or sacrum. They will not move…. period. I also feel an intense “pulling” sensation every time I stand up and it gets me instantly lightheaded and short of breath. They have tested me for every possible condition (preeclampsia, toxemia, liver infection, kidney infection, gestational diabetes bla bla bla) and I have been negative for all of them. As far as the tests show, I am normal lol. It is confusing them.

I went into hardcore labor two weeks ago which lasted an entire night and half of the next day. They examined me and said that my poor body was literally suffering from extreme exhaustion and dehydration and that is what brought on labor. I was ordered to bed rest, which Sammy will not allow me to do, so instead I call it “couch rest” , and told to drink gallons of water lol. I am currently in so much pain though that it isn’t hard to stay put. It is so incredibly difficult though. If you’ve never experienced bedrest, imagine being tied to your couch or bed. You’re thirsty but can’t get up to quick grab a glass of water. You notice a layer of dust on your dresser but can’t quick wipe it clean. Your baby comes waddling up to you with outstretched hands and a big grin, wanting you to pick him up and doesn’t understand when you won’t. Your husband tries to be a trooper and pick up some of your responsibilities in addition to his own but can’t do it all and frequently gets irritated by the stress of it all. You’ve never watched “mess” accumulate so quickly in your home without you able to do a thing about it. You are having a baby in less than a month and cannot prepare anything for the event. No baby clothes washed, no nursery readied, no crib assembled, no diapers put away. You simply cannot realize how much you do in any given day, until you can no longer do it and on top of everything, your entire body literally starts aching when you are confined to one spot for so long. So I am pretty much out of commission until after this baby comes and maybe for longer, depending on how long it takes my pelvis to recover.

I have so many appreciated offers for help. My ward, 2 or 3 family members, and a couple close friends have been my saving grace! I feel very blessed to have them. I have very kind neighbors whose generosity never ceases to amaze me. They have just started bringing us dinner 3 times a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) and stopping by every once in a while to give Sammy someone to play with during the day. I couldn’t be more grateful!! My sister came up the other night to clean my house for me and I wanted to cry I was so appreciative lol. I also have a couple friends and inlaws who have continuously offered their shopping services to me, which means so much. I have found that the hard part is taking people up on their offers . It is so uncomfortable to immediately jump in with a task that you really need done in response to a polite offer to help. It catches people off guard lol. It is even more humiliating though to call someone up on their casual offer to help from 2 weeks ago. You just have to pray that they were sincere when they mentioned it and not care about losing all your dignity lol. But seriously, someone asks me what they can do for me and I go blank. What do I say?? I can’t say, “YES! Thank you!! Could you go clean my bathroom?” or “I’m so glad you asked! Could you go fertilize my yard?” “How bout doing my dishes, going through my mail piles, dusting my furniture, sanitizing my toilets and doorknobs, pulling the weeds in my yard, cutting back the grass that is going to undoubtedly take over my flower beds, caulking and painting the new doors we have on our nursery, getting out all my baby stuff and washing it, moving an entire bedroom from one room to the other to make room for the baby, installing the infant car seat base in my car, feeding Sammy 3 meals a day, feeding my husband 3 meals a day lol, getting my mail, taking out my trash, etc. etc. etc. The list never ends.” You can’t ask people to do those things. They would hate you lol. It is pure insanity to not be able to do your normal daily tasks.

We have been planning another home birth but in light of my pelvic trauma, I talked to my old OB doctor and asked about the possible option of having a c-section. I am scared that if I am in this much pain while I am stationary, labor and birth will cause permanent damage and possible shock.  But I was told by the doctor that it isn’t an option unless there is some reason why my pelvis WON’T allow a baby to come through it. Pain is not a reason because they can medicate. However, I don’t want to deliver in a hospital, just to be medicated (meaning I’d have to deliver on my back… meaning I would most likely break my tailbone again) during labor, only to experience months of tailbone recovery with two little ones to care for. So I can “come in” and have a doctor look at my pelvis but I don’t know if I can arrange that with me being unable to move lol. And to be honest, I don’t have high hopes that it will pan out to anything because the whole reason that I am in pain is because my pelvis is separated, leaving ample room for the baby to move through it. We’ll see. Grrr I want to have my cake and eat it too please. I want to have an easy pregnancy, painfree labor, not break my tailbone, and be immediately ready to function after the baby is born. Is that too much to ask?

Pregnancy. It is just destructive isn’t it?? My only hope is that is will all end well and when I hold my sweet new little one, this 9 month long nightmare I have been living will just be a faint, fuzzy memory of the past… It helps to look at the pictures of our little guy, like this one, that were taken by ultrasound several weeks ago. During that ultrasound, I couldn’t help but cry as I watched him, all curled up, in amazing detail (we did a 4-d ultrasound). It was like he was here already. I watched him suck his thumb, yawn, and hiccup, right there in front of me. That amazing hour long video of my baby tugged at all of my motherly heart strings and made me forget, temporarily, how miserable is has been to get him to this point lol.

So there u have it! I’ve gotten several scoldings from family members who have just recently learned that I am on bedrest and are upset that they weren’t informed at the start, but all of this isn’t exactly the kind of thing that you just call people randomly to share lol. So I’m sorry. This is my way of making amends. Now you are all up to-date. Lots of love, Cor xo

Sammy's First Steps!!!

Ok, I fully realize that this is not even a tenth as exciting to anyone other than Jared and I lol, but I was just beaming with pride when he stood up by himself a few days ago, and then almost had a full on emotional breakdown when he took his first NINE steps unassisted yesterday! He was so proud!! It has been hilarious to watch this progression. For the last month or two, instead of crawling, he has been doing what we call, a “Mogli walk,” on his hands and feet. It made me laugh every single time that he did it. Then from there, he just shifted his weight back onto his hind quarters and carefully stood up lol. I know I say this all the time, but I cannot BELIEVE how fast he is growing up. Where does the time go?! Well, here is the evidence so you can all clap with tears of joy as you watch.

The Mogli Walk


Learning To Stand


First Steps


Now it’s time to Charge

My Kitchen Helper

About a month or two ago, Jared decided to hire someone to help me with the housework. Only there is a slight problem… my new help is so so SO cute that I can’t stop watching him! It more than DOUBLES the time it would take me to do it on my own, but I just don’t mind. When he smiles at me, my heart melts. I want to spend the rest of my life with him. I love him so much that I don’t even mind when he helpfully takes every dirty dish OUT of the dishwasher, to inspect it, as I put it there. He is so dashing that I don’t bat an eye when he impressively cleans out the refrigerator and throws all of its contents on the ground, requiring a 15 minute pick-up and occasionally cracking glass condiment bottles. He is so charming that I can only smile dreamily as I watch him re-wash my clean glass patio doors with his tongue, creating a blurry mess that I then have to re-clean. And I love the fun game that he creates for me, where he takes every kitchen tool/appliance/utensil that he can carry and carefully organizes them for me. In fact, he organizes so well that I often can no longer find them, even after several days of searching. Ahh, I am smitten. He is by far, the BEST housekeeper that I have ever had. I would recommend him to others but I’m afraid I’ve hired him full time for… well forever. My life is good.

First Snow Of The Year

A few weeks ago we got the first snow of the year. It started out of nowhere and kept on coming. It all melted by the end of the day of course lol, but I took Sammy outside to have fun. He was quite thrilled, just like his mommy!

On Hallows Eve….

What a fun Halloween! Our icy, frigid weather let up for a night and was just the perfect amount of warmth to let the kids stay out longer, and chill to keep the sweat off their brows during the workout that they experienced. We got to have Riley for this Halloween!!! Yay! We don’t usually get to have him when a holiday arises so this one was extra special.

We carved fabulous pumpkins, about which Riley said, “wow, we are REALLY good at this” lol. We all gutted, Jared drew the faces onto the pumpkins, and I carved them. It was a real team effort lol. We made a Halloween treat, Almond Roca Bars, that Riley said was “quite possibly the best thing I have ever tasted!” lol. We watched “The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” and then wondered why we watched “The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.” lol It is a classic cartoon that teaches kids way too many fun “names” to call each other, like “stupid”, “idiot”, and “blockhead.” Which we get to hear constantly all throughout the film. Plus they just yell at each other the whole time, mercilessly tease each other, and are really mean. I don’t think that will be one that we watch with our kids every year lol.

We allowed the kids to steal the spotlight and look fabulous! Riley dressed up as Shaggy and I was completely SHOCKED at how many people knew who he was lol. Sammy was a gorilla and made me laugh every time I looked at his tiny hiney. We snagged a family picture and in it, you can see Sammy going crazy over the blinking, red, self-timer light on my camera lol.

Sammy didn’t exactly go “trick-or-treating” per say, but he did get dressed up and we joined his cousin Max for a walk to grandma’s which resulted in a dum dum sucker. I think Sammy thought he had died and gone to heaven lol. He had it in his hand (wrapper still on) and I turned around, took a couple of steps so that I could get a picture, and he had already put it in his mouth and sucked completely THROUGH the wrapper lol. After he tasted “sucker” it was all over lol. He refused to look at me for any pictures or pay attention to absolutely anyone around him. When he sucked the sucker right off the stick, he cried and cried that I wouldn’t let him keep sucking on the paper. It was so cute. So after a quick 45 minute neighborhood jaunt, Sammy and I came home, I peeled off his now-soaked-with-drool-from-his-sucker costume, and I snuggled him to sleep while dad took the first shift and set out with Riley on the longest Halloween night of our life. They took our neighborhood by storm and came back after a respectable 2 hour mission, only so that us “parents” could swap places and then go back out for another 2 hours lol. Riley came back with more candy than I have EVER seen a child get in one night. His bag must have weighed 25 pounds! You couldn’t wipe the grin off his face for a million bucks. He was beyond proud. But instead of racing home to “dig in”, he raced home to “count” his candy lol. Such a great kid we have! He carefully counted for what seemed like hours and then proudly proclaimed that he had a total of 275! Halloween sure is fun when you have kids.

Scarecrow Festival

Last week we checked out the Scarecrow Festival at Cornbelly’s (Thanksgiving Point) and it was so much fun! Definately recommend worthy. All sorts of activities for kids and ample carnival food for the dads.

They had what was called “the giant pillow” that all the kids could jump on. Riley and dad took their turn and then Sammy wanted to join them so dad took him up there as well. He smiled cautiously the whole time but then when dad brought him back to me, he immediately threw up all over himself and me lol. Poor little guy.

We got to watch piglet races, baby goat races, fall down slides with our legs crossed lol (we all laughed really hard that Riley was crossing his legs the whole way down), find our way through the corn maze, eat the biggest hot dogs I have ever seen in my life (I opted out of that one ), and take a hayride out to find the perfect halloween pumpkins that we could take home with us. All in all, a great day! I just LOVE fall!!!!

FREE adorable nursing covers!!!

This post is dedicated to all my expecting friends out there! My wonderful sister in-law shared this amazing deal with me and I had to pass it on. Good karma and all. For a limited time, you can go to this website: https://www.uddercovers.com and add one of their gorgeous nursing covers to your cart (normally $32 each) and then when you checkout, enter in the coupon code “1FREE”. It will automatically take $32 off of your purchase. All you pay for is shipping, which is $8 and something cents. You can only get one free per order, but you can make several orders if you wish. I got two. Even if you aren’t expecting, they would made fantastic gifts and at only $8, that is cheaper than the material would cost to make your own. Enjoy!

The Miracle Cure For Mildewed Laundry!

I messed up this week. Big time. I swear sometimes I’m losing my mind… one day at a time. It’s like watching reruns of a TV show you have seen millions of times and finding new parts in it that you have never noticed before. It’s not funny… it’s almost disturbing. You KNOW this show. You’ve MEMORIZED this show. You’ve acted it out with your siblings. How can there be a whole scene that you have no recollection of??? Well I don’t know how but the older I get and the more times I get pregnant lol, somehow I just can’t hold firm to the once brilliant memory that I used to maintain. The victim this week: laundry. Not just any laundry. My baby boy’s ENTIRE wardrobe. That’s right. Everything he owns. I had put off doing his laundry for so long that finally I opened up his closet and there was nothing in it. I pulled open each and every drawer, just to find a toothbrush that Sammy had chosen to hide. No clothing. Then the lightbulb came on and I excitedly remembered a small box on the floor of his closet that contained a few articles of clothing that were one size too big. Those would certainly work until I had cleaned his other clothes.

So, I dressed my son in a long sleeved t-shirt that was enormous and a pair of new jeans that wouldn’t stay up, both had the cuffs rolled several times , while I gave in and finally threw everything he has ever worn, into the washer. This is where we enter the twilight zone. I immediately forgot about the clothes in the washer. Not as in, “I knew they were there but just got side tracked.” I forgot about the clothes in the washer, as in, “I had NO recollection of ever putting them there.” I still don’t. But I had to have. Jared certainly didn’t do it. I’m not even sure that he knows HOW to do laundry. And there they sat for almost a week. 5 days to be exact. I know because 5 new, way-too-big-for-my-body, t-shirts are what Sammy wore through until I finally started wondering, “where the heck is all of his clothing!?” So on day 5, I ventured downstairs to see if I had taken all of his clothes down yet. They weren’t in the laundry bin? Well where on earth are they!? As a reflex, I opened the washer and gasped as I saw a massive load of wet, mildewy, mini-sized clothing sitting there sadly.

The smell was horrible! I panicked. Had I really just ruined every single thing that I dress my son in, in one fail swoop? So I washed the load again in a desperate attempt to save hundreds of dollars worth of clothing. I washed it on HOT. When the buzzer sounded, I optimistically opened the door and all of my enthusiasm went down the drain. The smell would have stunned a horse. So I ran upstairs and grabbed the baking soda. Started the load again, this time added an overflowing cup full of baking soda. No dice. The smell remained. I repeated the load again, this time adding more baking soda. But the wretched smell stubbornly stuck around. Determined, I ran it again. Can we please not pay attention to the gallons of water that I am wasting on this project? Still nothing. So to my computer I ran! With Jared wondering how on earth we solved life’s problems before the it was invented. I searched high and low for laundry cures for “poor housekeeping”.

Most of the articles I found though were simply scolding us lowly housewives for doing such a pitiful job and reminding us to IMMEDIATELY remove clothes from the washer. Information that I already knew. I wasn’t trying to find out how to get your clothes to smell like mildew… I was trying to find out what do do once you’ve already accomplished that step. But finally I found an article that recommended using white vinegar, so I gave it a shot. Did ANOTHER load, this time adding 1 cup of white vinegar. When the buzzer sounded, once again I ran enthusiastically to the washer but only to sink into despair at the lingering scent. In one final ditch attempt. I decided to combine my efforts. I filled the washer for the 7th time and this time poured a cup and a 1/2 of baking soda over top of my load, ALSO filling the liquid bleach dispenser with a cup of white vinegar. When the end-of-the-wash signal was announced, I slowly sulked towards it, not expecting much. But to my gleeful surprise, that horrible, nasty, terrible smell; that for the longest day of my life had served as an awful reminder of my lacking household skills; was completely gone!! The clothes now smelled ever so faintly of vinegar lol, but that is SO MUCH better than mildew! I was so happy that you couldn’t have wiped the smile off my face for a million bucks. Ok maybe a million. So as a standing ovation to my dedication, I ran the load just one more time. This time with normal Dreft baby detergent and 20 minutes later, “Voila!” my baby’s entire wardrobe is back to smelling wonderfully of chamomile and lavender and now is also incredibly soft lol. You would be too if you have just sat through 8 baths.

So the solution if your clothes smell mildewy…. do 2 loads. 1st load- wash with 1/2 cup – 1 1/2 cup (depending on your load size and the seriousness of your stank) baking soda poured over top of them, as if that is the detergent. Also fill your liquid bleach dispenser with 1/4 cup – 1 cup of white vinegar. When the load is finished, run a second regular load with your normal detergent and you should be good! And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone that you are faltering on your household responsibilities.

Borderline healthy, yummiest chicken burritos ever! lol

There are several parts to this recipe but I promise it is all worth it! These burritos are a layering process: tortilla, then rice, then beans, then chicken, then dressing. Roll up and then cover in the green burrito sauce and a top with a dollop of sour cream. Want to know how to time-manage this one? Here ya go: Assuming you want to eat dinner at 6pm, pop the chicken in the crockpot at 1pm and forget about it. At 5pm is when dinner prep begins. Shred the meat and then put it back in for another hour. At this point, make the rice. Then while the rice is cooking, make the green burrito sauce (Unless you are going to buy the pre-packaged option I listed below and then you get to skip this step!). Blend up the dressing during the last 5 minutes of chicken cook time, and voila! Everything gets finished at the same time and dinner is on the table at 6pm!

For the chicken:
- 5 lbs chicken breasts
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 TBSP cumin
- 1 TBSP chili powder
- 1 small bottle Kraft Zesty Italian dressing

directions: combine all ingredients in a crockpot on low for 4 hours. Shred meat. Then cook for another hour.

For the rice:
- 3 cups water
- 4 tsp chicken bouillon
- 4 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 of a bunch of cilantro
- 1 can green chilis
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 TBSP butter
- 1/2 onion
- 3 cups rice

directions: blend cilantro, chilis, and onion in a processor. Bring water to a boil. Add rice, cilantro mixture, and remaining ingredients. Cover and reduce heat to low for 30 minutes.

For the dressing:
- 3 large munches of cilantro
- 1 cup oil
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 6 crushed garlic cloves
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/4 onion
- 2 jalapenos, seeded
- white pepper
- salt
- water

directions: blend vinegar, garlic, egg, onion, salt and pepper (to taste). Add water 1 TBSP at a time until desired consistency is reached.

For the Green Burrito Sauce:
- 3 lbs husked tomatillos
- 1/2 onion
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 TBSP chicken base (NOT bouillon or stock)
- 1 jalapeno, seeded (optional)
- 1 can green chilies (optional)

Roast tomatillos @ 400 for 20 minutes. Then squeeze each one (like you do a lemon before juicing it). Combine tomatillos, onion, and garlic in a saucepan, covered with water. Boil until soft. Then put all contents in a blender and blend until smooth. Return contents to pot and add chicken base to taste. Simmer until well mixed and warmed through. Add peppers and chilies.

****** NOTE: If you can’t find chicken base or don’t feel like making the Green Burrito Sauce, there is a prepackaged salsa that is delicious in it’s place. It is called “Salsa Verde” by Pace. If you can’t find that, you can use any green burrito salsa that you can find in your grocery store but make sure it is tomatillo based and not chili based.

Other remaining ingredients:
- 1 can of black beans
- tortillas (if you make these yourself they are SO MUCH better!!! But I suck at making tortillas and for some reason they never turn out… so instead I go to Beto’s or Cafe Rio and just buy a couple of their tortillas hot, they are delicious) ENJOY!