11 Month Update

11 months. That's 1 month away from being a year old. The amount a baby develops within the first year is insane. Think about if we continued to develop that fast our entire life. We would all be 20 feet tall, speak 10 languages, and would have already developed cures for the rarest of diseases. I look back at pictures at my 4 lb baby and have such a hard time believing that was really her. I can't even remember what it was like holding such a small human. Back then I tossed her around like a sac of potatoes, used to her small body. In my head she wasn't a porcelain doll. She was resilient. Couldn't be broken. Of course I was very gentle, don't get me wrong. But she was mine. When friends came to visit her right after her birth, so many were afraid to move their left pinky because they thought it would break her bones. One of our friends told us, "I have never been so scared to hold a baby." Some even refused to hold her because of her small size. But now she is 11 months and 20lbs. She is always been around the 35% for weight, which I am so proud since she wasn't on the charts when she was born.

It's true what they say. You really do think your kid is the cutest. The smartest. The most wonderful creature on earth. I could Instagram pictures of her all day long. Of course everyone else wants to see her because she is the cutest baby on the face of the earth, thinks every mom out there. So I try to remove myself from planet baby and back to planet earth and remember that not every person wants their feed bombarded with my little daughter. Don't get me wrong though. If you choose to follow me, you will see many pictures of that darling child :). 

We have been beach bums for the past week and Addie has conquered fear of sand, fear of seashells, and beginning to conquer fear of ocean...only to have that progress stripped away as we move to a landlocked country. Yikes. No ocean within 2 hours. No ocean within several countries. 

At 11 months, Addie is speaking full babbles. We have conversations with each other on a daily basis. Sometimes I wish I knew what she was thinking because I'm sure she is wondering why she has to repeat herself a million times...and I still misunderstand her and change her diaper when she is actually telling me she's hungry. I'm sorry my child, I'm trying to learn your language but I'm an adult and our brains don't work as quickly as yours. 

She says dada, mama, baba, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, va, and probably others that I'm forgetting

She also seems to be getting over bottles. I speak full babble now, mom. Bottles are for babies. She use to drink 4 full bottles a day, and now doesn't want but half of the bottle. She is loving finger foods! I fill her tray with food and she stuffs it down that tiny throat. At 10 months I started putting whole milk in a sippy cup for her to "practice" during meal times. I didn't want to go from only bottles straight to sippy cup and whole milk when she turned 1. This is her "new schedule" that we are going to try based on her interest in big girl food and not bottles.

7:00- bottle

8:30- breakfast/ whole milk

9:00- nap?...she sometimes wants it sometimes not

10:00- snack/ milk 

11:30-12- lunch/ milk

1:00 - nap/ bottle 

3:30- snack/milk

5:30- dinner/milk

7:00- bath/ bottle/bed

I'm going to move to 3 bottles and give her whole milk throughout the day. When she turns 1, hopefully then she'll be ready for no bottles and just whole milk!

So far she is loving to eat:

Turkey sandwich (whole wheat bread and turkey slices)

Spaghetti

Pasta salad

Feta cheese (plain!!)

Cheese in general

Cucumbers

Hummus

Lasagna

Broccoli and chicken casserole

Fruit...LOVES fruit (bananas, peaches, strawberries, grapes)

For snacks, many times I give her the organic squeeze packs

Many times I'll usually give her what we have for dinner unless its red meat, seafood, or fried food

Happy almost 1 year my little big girl!

               

                                

Moving update

I haven't forgotten about this blog at all, but I have felt too overwhelmed to write anything. There has been A LOT going on and to think about what to put on here...well, I don't even know where to start!

Last week our life was crazy. Our plane flies out on Monday, however, it will be leaving us behind. But let me not jump ahead, I'll get to that in a minute. It actually started two weeks ago when Eric kept saying, "Kelly, we should really start packing up the house. We have so much to do." Actually we don't. I mean we have to pack our clothes but we get to leave our furniture and decorations so really there isn't that much and when I put my mind to something I work super hard and super fast so really it's not a big deal and I could probably do it in two days and be done. These were my thoughts...they were nothing but calm, cool, and collected run on sentences. I was not one bit of stressed. We decided that it would be best if my MIL kept AG for a few days so we could focus on cleaning and packing so we could be out by our deadline of Aug 1. So once again, I was a not stressed-totally relaxed- fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl. We have so much time and Im really not worried bc your mom is keeping Addie for 3 days so that's plenty of time to do what we need to do so actually we should just play and hangout since we can't really be productive when Addie is here anyways. I am a stupid girl. 

Because I am so optimistic about my ability to work hard and get things done quickly, I decided to make dinner plans with some girlfriends on Wednesday, July 31. I just knew we would be done with our house since we had to be out by the following day. So here we go. We get a little bit done on Satuday, then Carlyne (MIL) gets here on Monday to pick AG up. We still have Monday, Tuesday, AND Wednesday to pack and clean so this will not be that big of a deal and we still have so so much time, thought the stupid girl. Thanks to Carlyne we get a lot done on Monday. We got to take a nice little break during the middle of the day for our church to snap some pictures of us so they can tell our story, but not such a stressful day. Then Tuesday. Oh Tuesday. Four years of marriage and Eric and I still find ways we are different. Me, I wake up and can go. I can go hard til around 4 or 5 then I am exhausted and burnt out. I'm done. DONE. Leave me alone, kind of done. Eric, well he takes a little longer to fully wake up. He really gets going around lunch time or maybe a little after then can work til 10 at night. Nope, not me at all. So lets just say the tension was running a little high in our household. And the meltdowns begin. It's Tuesday evening, I canNOT go anymore. I just can't. You can't make me. And we still have lots to do. But we still have Wednesday and I have my dinner plans so this will be a great day and we will get everything done. 

Wednesday. I don't even like to think about you anymore. I started working around 8 am.  Scrubbing refrigerator, vacuuming floors and two flights of steps, cleaning out every drawer that exists in our house, finishing packing bags, categorizing what should be checked, carry on, and/or go with us to the beach. Yikes. Our car won't start. Call AAA. Tow it to Toyota dealership. Oh great, works for them. They have no issue with our car. Kind of like being sick and then you finally go to the doctor and you're all better. Stupid car. And cue meltdown. Back to the house to continue cleaning. It's 5 o'clock. My body and brain is telling me IM DONE. I also realize there is no way I'm going to make dinner with my friends so I sadly have to cancel. It's 6 o'clock. Still working. Cue meltdown. 7 o'clock. I SERIOUSLY CAN'T GO ON.  Another meltdown. This process continues til 10 pm when I finally convince my night owl that we can come back in the morning to finish the last touches since we were FINALLY almost done. We were staying with friends and so we didn't want to roll in at midnight. Thursday morning we roll out of our friends' house by 6:30am. We have to be in Greensboro by a certain time so we needed to leave be 9:30am. When I think I am done, Eric says we should vacuum. AGAIN. Meltown. I am so burnt out. I hate our house. I don't think that is necessary. I think we are done. Since I am on the verge of a mental collapse, my sweet husband tells me that I should go ahead and leave for Greensboro. I agree and sprint to my car before he changes his mind and tells me to power wash the house or something.   

FREEEEEEDOM. Those days were the most stressful days of my life, besides having a newborn. I was so on edge, that it took me a couple of days to get back down of the cliff and truly rest. Lesson: start early! We did way too much in too little of time. 

If you are still reading, I'm impressed because this is long, I know. But now we are homeless and jobless and not leaving on Monday. Our friends the Nances have graciously opened up their home to us until we leave.  The government of where we are going has not yet issued our permission for visas. They are in the process of doing so, but taking a long time. Our international school has even had to postpone their start date to school, in order to give us time to get there. So please be prying for this situation. We believe that Gd is in control and are trusting in His sovereignty. 

Pictures of our car after we packed...bags to the ceiling and all the way up to the front two seats.

To come: our beach trip with both families, Addie's 11 month update, and Addie's "birthday" party with both familes. Who knows...we may still be here for Addie's real birthday party! Nothing wrong with having 3 parties, right?!

10 month photo dump

           

The Fourth and Friends

This July 4th was a productive one. We spent the day packing and the evening celebrating. At one point I thought it ironic how we were preparing to leave America on a day we are suppose to be celebrating living freely in America. Anyways, we still have a long ways to go on the packing, but managed to pack our "winter" bag.

That evening we went over to a friends house and celebrated with our sweet small group. We had a lot of fun together, consisting of tons of food, games, good conversation, sparklers, and those pop thingys (know what I'm talkin bout??). Two of the girls are pregnant (three if you count Jen and Brad, who moved away a couple months ago, we are sad!!). Elizabeth was past her due date, and Sarah is due in a month! Thankfully, Elizabeth made it through the night without going into labor, although I'm sure she would have been thrilled!

Thomas and Eric lookin' like twins in their blue vnecks and khakis

The boys

The girls. Two are pregnant: Elizabeth (left of me, and she actually just had her baby!) and Sarah (right of me, still pregnant)

This bad boy created some excitement

Cameron and Addie playing together. Cam is an older boy, and we looked over and caught him hugging on her. He's super cute and really sweet, so for now, we don't mind :)

 Then, on Friday, we headed to the lake to have a great weekend with two other couples. We have been friends we these guys for awhile, and Eric has known Robert and Luke for a really long time. They lived together in college, but knew each other long before then. Since we are moving in August, Robert wanted to get us all together for a weekend...and let me just say, Robert and Jessica (his wife) served us the entire weekend. I felt so loved on by these two, and they did such a great job planning everything. We love these two couples, and they will be missed by us a ton! Pretty bummed I didn't get any pictures, but we plan on making this a tradition, so I'll get em next time!

A Little Recipe Shout Out

I have been on my game the past couple of nights. I guess the post about cooking bland meals spurred me on to make ones that use more than one ingredient. I am pretty competitive so this could explain the sudden drive for super wifeness. The interesting thing is I am competitive with myself. Anyone else? A prime example. In high school, I would try to run a mile as fast as I could. Then, after a few minutes of rest, I would run a mile again and try to beat my previous time. Then I would throw up from pushing myself too hard. Then I would run it again. Weird, I know. Anyways, because all of that has nothing to do with the reason for this post, that leads me to two fabulous recipes I want to share. Both are super easy.

First up, this was given to me by my friend Jean Marie. She is an amazing cook. Sadly, I didn't take pictures of the finished product, so I would be surprised if you are still reading this post. One without pictures is pretty boring. But hang in there, my friend. Pictures come with the second recipe. You must try this out.

Peanut Butter Chicken Veggie Stir Fry
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup broth
2 tbs rice vinegar
2 tbs honey
1 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbs fresh garlic
2 tbs ginger
 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
sliced veggies (of your choice)

Cut into cubes chicken. Place in a skillet sprinkle salt and pepper, then cook until done. Add veggies to skillet. Mix peanut butter, broth, vinegar, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger in blender.  Add to chicken and veggies until heated through.
**Note: I remove the chicken from the skillet while the veggies are cooking so the chicken does not become overdone. I add it back at the end!

Up next was our dinner tonight. You must plan ahead as it takes 5-6 hours. This recipe was found by my friend, Google. After clicking on more than zero other sites, I found this one. It was the first up. And it was the first up for a reason.

Crock pot Pulled BBQ Chicken
To see full post click here. It's by Recipe Girl.

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup barbecue sauce (a flavor you like)
1/3 cup Italian dressing (reduced-fat or fat-free okay)
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons chicken broth
additional barbecue sauce, if desired
rolls, for serving as sandwiches
bread and butter pickles, optional

1. Place chicken in the slow cooker. In a medium bowl, whisk together the barbecue sauce, Italian dressing, sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 4 1/2 to 5 hours. 

2. Remove the chicken to a cutting board. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and chicken broth. Stir it into the sauce in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high until the sauce is thickened and heated through (10 to 15 minutes). Meanwhile, use two forks to shred the chicken. Return the shredded chicken to the slow cooker and stir. Add additional barbecue sauce if more sauce is needed or desired. Cover and continue cooking on low for 45 minutes. Serve chicken piled onto rolls. Add pickles, if desired. 

I came up with my own brilliant idea of using the best rolls in town to make sliders.  Sister Schubert. This sister can bake. Seriously you may want to give her rolls a try. You can find them in any store in the frozen section.

Eric said, "Great job Kelly!" But that's not saying too much since he praises me over baked potatoes and steamed broccoli. But I am a pretty honest person, so trust me when I say, these babies are worth the planning ahead!

I wish I could take credit! But really I just wanted to give these tasty recipes a shout out. So here I am, shouting. 

Super Wife

It is a GOOD day if I wash and fold laundry, straighten my house, make it to the grocery store, think of a dinner to cook, then cook said dinner. Especially if that dinner uses ingredients. INGREDIENTS. Such a fancy word. Because then this means I probably used a book to make dinner. How academic of me. Super wife here! Then you have those magical days where you can create an entire meal based on items you already have in your house. I am so creative these days.  It really takes some artistic talent to thaw chicken, steam broccoli, and stick a potato in the oven or microwave.  I feel like a true chef. So, most days I am THIS awesome. Of course I switch it up a bit. The following day could be a salad. In which I've really outdone myself on these days. I have sliced numerous veggies and combined them all to create a colorful piece of art. And when my husband sees my brilliance, I have a smile radiating from my face, waiting for a standing ovation and for him to proclaim how proud he is of me. Thank you, Thank you!

The thing is, I can cook. My mom is an amazing cook, so since cooking is an inherited trait, it's obvious why I can do it. But for some reason, the thought of creating an elaborate meal STRESSES ME OUT.  What I remember from growing up: Pot roast, cooked carrots and onions and potatoes, HOMEMADE bread, and green beans that have simmered for over an hour (which means you have to PLAN AHEAD). OMG. My mom was known for her cooking and baking. She sold cakes to a local restaurant. Did you get that? She sold to a restaurant. A RESTAURANT. Not to a normal person who likes to eat cake. But to a PROFESSIONAL COOKING ESTABLISHMENT.  Other kids in my high school would ASK me when they could come over and EAT. Not hang out with me. TO EAT. I was so proud. You want to come over and...eat?

My precious husband will eat anything. ANYTHING. Really. This is truly a gift. I don't think I have ever seen him reject food. And this makes it so easy on me. When I have labored over a baked potato and steamed broccoli, he simply say's "This is really good Kelly, thanks for cooking." Of course my sweet husband, do you expect any less from me? My elaborate cooking methods is also why I rarely post recipes. Because most of the time they are from a book and not from my brain. Every now and then I come up with a great idea, which of course I have to post so everyone can see how together I am. And how I am the most wonderful wife. And how I can DO IT ALL!!...Like how we are suppose to be these days.

But you know the best kind of books?

The ones that are created by local churches. Just a bunch of women who have put together a collaboration of their best recipes. These are the recipes you can use for the first time on guests. When you want to look fancy and have something super tasty but easy. And you know which ones I usually end up cooking? The ones by my mom.

Moving Update

Our plane tickets have been purchased! We will be leaving Monday, August 12 for a two day journey to our new country. The week before we leave, we will get to spend that time at the beach with my family, come back to Raleigh on Saturday, be commissioned by our church on Sunday, then leave on Monday. It will be a busy time for our family, so please keep us in your prayers!

Today as we began to clean out our house and think about what to bring with us, this thought occurred to me: We need so little to live yet we think we need so much. As we looked through our possessions, I began to think it silly that we have so much. Why am I keeping several posters that I had in my classroom here in the States? Oh, because I will PACK them and take them with me to my new classroom. Really? I get to take TWO bags, and so of course, I immediately think to bring POSTERS. Toss them. And then I see SO MANY TOYS. Why do I think Addie needs two cruisers, 60 books, 150 teethers, 30 lovies, 500 blankets? We should absolutely keep and store them for when we return because she will USE THEM ALL. Seriously. Pick two from each pile. Toss the rest. Now I should choose which pairs of jeans to take. Well, this pair is my fancy pair. These are the ones I wear with boots. Of course I need my skinny ones. This pair I wear with t-shirts. These are my fancier-casual ones. This pair is my grungy-fancier-skinny-causal-tshirt wearing ones. OMG.  And of course I let Eric know that we are going to need to purchase all of the BOB (stroller) accessories before we leave. Well Eric, Addie is going to need a tray that sits in front of her so we can place her cheerios and sippy cup on it while we stroll through the airport and travel around in our country.  And don't forget about the cup holder that attaches at the handle bar. This is a great place to put my latte so I can have a free hand to powder my nose and instagram a picture of said latte. Of course. 

 The more I think about packing and living overseas, the less stressed I am getting. Because I just don't feel the need for a lot at this moment. Really, I just hate unpacking, so I figure if I only take 3 shirts and 2 pairs of pants, that will take me 5 minutes, maybe 6 to put in a drawer. Then I'm done. DONE. Also, I really dislike doing laundry, and we have to HANG DRY over there. So logically, the less clothing I take, the less I have to hang. Winning. But in all honesty, what REALLY do I actually need? How much do I really need? Not much I think. Not much at all.

So, here's to trying to squeeze everything of mine (not including Eric's or Addie's) into TWO bags. Not sure if I can do it, but I would like to try. I'm excited to get away from excess for a little while. I'll keep ya updated.