A List of Don'ts

List of things I should never do while pregnant and why:

1) Watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

  -Ty Pennington makes me bawl my eyes out when he shouts "MOVE THAT BUS" no matter how corny he is.  Also, emotional families make me cry.

2) Watch 7th Heaven

 -Oh Camden family, you remind me of weekends spent at my grandparent's house and of lost ideals.  You remind me of what I longed for in a chaotic chapter of my life.

3) Eat ice cream

 -If i don't show considerable self restraint I could eat an entire carton.  plus being lactose intolerant doesn't help. 

4) Drink milk

 -This pregnancy has made me lactose intolerant

5) Go into a pet store and look in the adoptions section

 -Makes me want to adopt all the animals!  examples A and B:  Chazz and Jimmy.  And to think, when I walked into that Petsmart, all I wanted to do was show Bee the animals! 

 

6) Eat McDonald's

 -Its a gateway drug.  Just look at pictures of me after having Bee for proof.

7) Read other mom's birth stories.

 -Really?  Do I need to remind myself of pain, pain and more pain? 

8) Go to the store without a list

 -I ALWAYS forget at least half of what I need to get.   

9) Worry about what kind of a mom I am

 -I figure they'll need therapy whether I'm supermom or not...so why drive myself crazy?

from my kitchen to yours

Since there are a few of you who were interested in my fantastic enchiladas casserole recipe, I decided to share it with everyone.  Its kind of high in sodium because of the canned goods, but otherwise actually lowish calorie wise.  I figured out the calorie content to be around 430 calories a serving, and that's with making 7 portions out of this dish.  

Leslie's Fantastic Enchiladas Casserole:

1. 4 1/2- 5 cups of cooked rice (I like to mix white and brown rice in my cooker for a little extra nutrition)
2. 2-3 cups (or more :) ) of shredded cheddar cheese or one bag of Italian cheese mix from the store
3. 1-2 pounds of cooked ground beef or shredded chicken (I only use 1 lbs but I know Josh would rather have more meat lol)
4. 2 cans of pinto beans drained and rinsed
5. 1 1/2 of the large green enchiladas sauce cans
6. 1 med onion chopped

(Josh likes to also add tortillas in the layering process, but since I dislike soggy tortillas and I make the casserole, I leave it out.  It is so lovely to scoop the casserole into a warm tortilla like a burrito though!)

Grease your large pan (9x13) and evenly spread half your rice on the bottom.  Then sprinkle about 1/3 of your cheese over the rice.  Evenly spread meat, onions and beans over the cheese.  Pour about half of your sauce over the layers and add another 1/3 of cheese.  Then smooth out the rest of your rice and add remaining sauce over the top.  Finally add the last of your cheese.  Bake in 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes to maybe an hour.  Basically you want the cheese browned and the sauce bubbling up around the edges.  

If you like the taste of enchiladas but not the work, I'd recommend this casserole as a quick substitute.  Josh used to always beg me to make enchiladas but I hated how much time went into making a dish that would be gobbled up so fast, so I came up with this idea and now he asks for this instead! 

sleep deprived and mean

These last five days I've been having a pity party.  Bee caught a cold, which wasn't all that bad except that she turned from an adorable, loveable, fun-loving girl into a whiny, not sleeping, not eating, bundle of terror.  Not even when she was teething in her molars was she this bad.  Basically she did all the normal things a sick 16 month old does.  But you see, Josh and I have become spoiled.  Especially me.  I thrive on consistency in certain areas, like sleeping and eating schedules, the little lists I make myself daily with chores and everyday items (lists make me feel important so things actually get done), and knowing that I can usually predict Bee's daily behavior.  Since Bee really is a good kid, I've been able to rely on these consistences.

I have learned 2 things with Bee getting sick.  One: that with a sick child, there is no such thing as consistency.  Except when it comes to crying, as crying is fairly consistent throughout the day. Two:  I am a mean person when I don't get more than 6 hours of sleep at night.

The first two days really weren't that bad as I was filled with motherly concern and compassion.  But by day three of 4 hours of sleep I was over it and started my very own pity party.  Mainly I took it out on Josh, my poor husband.  I was livid that he got to sleep 7 beautiful hours every night while I calmed Bee's screams every half hour.  I was also filled with rage at the thought that because he worked he got to take a free pass on parenting for the time being (none of this is actually true, I'll explain later).  

Then today, day 5 of Bee's miserable sinus congestion, I managed to catch 2 hours of sleep, and totally blew up at Josh.  Later, I went into town with a friend and was gently reminded that marriage and parenting is hard.  It made me think back on the things I had accused Josh of and blamed him for.  It was definitely a humbling moment.  I instantly felt so guilty that when I got home I apologized for my actions.  You see, Josh is a 911 dispatcher for Yellowstone National Park and works seven days in a row (then he gets seven days off) and each shift is twelve hours long (6pm- 6am).  He gets home at 6:30am and sleeps until 2:30-3pm.  His job requires him to be alert and fully awake for emergencies, which in the Park, happen quite often.  

Bee happened to get sick at the beginning of Josh's work week, leaving me with the majority of the "nursing back to health" business.  In my sleep deprived (downright mean) state of mind I started resenting him, instead of just telling him how I was feeling.  

After making things right with Josh I started to remind myself of all the ways I am blessed.  It's something I've done for a long time as a sort of "penance" to remind myself of how selfish and mean I can get, when really, I don't have it off so bad.  Here are a few of the blessings I had to remind myself of today:

1. I have a God who teaches me to be a better person.

2. I have a wonderful husband who readily forgives me when I've wronged him, and loves me in spite of everything.  And is a flippin' stud muffin if I do say so.

3. I have a daughter who 90% of the time is a freaking angel.

4. I have awesome in-laws for invite me over for dinner when I'm overwhelmed with parenting and readily babysit when they see I need a break.

5. I have friends who gently remind me of reality and teach me that its ok to be overwhelmed.

6. I have a fantastic enchiladas casserole recipe that never fails me and can be made in short time.

7. I have family that loves and supports me and my little family.

8. I have a little peanut bumping around in my womb to make me smile.

9. My blood pressure is WAY down and my health is on a good track.

10. My family and I have a great little house to call our own and spread out in.  

11. I have a ranger father-in-law who can get the dumb people who park on my lawn to move their vehicles.

12. We live in a freaking national park.

13. I have poppies and wild roses growing around our house that I didn't have to plant and they look beautiful probably because I didn't plant them.

There are many, many more, but I'm starting to lose steam on the writing front.  My main point of this post is that I was a jerk. A big jerk, but a huge part of life is trying to learn from your mistakes and moving on.  I'm choosing right now to look at all the positive aspects of my life and keep trucking on.  Bee isn't all better yet, but thank you Lord, it's just sinus congestion, and nothing serious.  Plus, Josh has only two more nights before his week off and I'm praying I make it without anymore pity parties.