some baby love.

I felt like looking through my children's first photos today and thought I would share with you some of the sweetness of all 3 of their births. Although I wish that I wouldn't have had to of had cesareans with them, their arrivals were beautiful moments for me. And you can also see the horrible mess I look after having a baby :)

Mason Alexander 1.25.05

My first time holding my first born

9lbs 15oz 23 1/2 inches long

London Rose, 9.5.07

7lbs 14oz 19 inches 

at the end of my 11 hours of labor with my failed attempt at a vbac with Rowan

first kiss with Rowan

first time holding rowan after 8 hours being in the NQU 1.17.09

I cried a lot because I didn't get to see him for 8 hours

And in 13 weeks I will get to meet my newest baby girl Betsey Jane

vote.

I feel so inadequate to have entered my blog in this, but it's basically a site for other baby blogs that the readers vote on and it places you by your stats and according to the other mom bloggers on there its a great way to meet other mommy bloggers so this is the site to click, Top Baby Blogs
and then you click again if you are a fan of i am content(e) and all of the non sense I blog about. Please vote, it will be good for my self esteem :)

randoms

this photo has nothing to do with this post but I found it hilarious

I thought it would be a little fun to post 20 random facts about me, I read something similar on Sometimes Sweet awhile back and now I am being a copy cat.

1. I am a compulsive bather, and I shower/bathe at least 2x's if not 3x's a day.
2. I have lived in Kings County my entire life
3. My favorite color is black.
4. I hate peas.
5. My secret rap artist crush is eminem, I even dreamt I was pregnant with his baby.....
6. I like to daydream about winning the lotto
7. I always buy things to craft/sew with and never use them
8. I hate HATE doing laundry
9. I am deathly afraid of spiders and sharks
10. Sometimes I really wish I was Mormon, because those moms seem to really have it together
11. I am part Turkish
12. I was raised by my grandmother since the age of 7
13. I hate heels, and I almost always am wearing flip flips
14. I secretly like reggatone music, oh gosh did I just type that out
15. I love to watch horrible reality tv except the bachelor
16. I love long acrylic nails but I am too embarrassed to wear them
17. I am 25 years old and I am scared of the dark.
18. I could never go hunting or kill an animal for sport
19. I love sweets
20. I once got stuck in a bath tub at 39 weeks pregnant and sat in cold water for 2 hours until my       grandma came home and helped me get out.

There you go, some really embarrassing and silly things about me, especially the last one...the doozy.

my late valentines day post

Dress : F21
Cardigan & Anchor Necklace: Anthropologie
Belt: Urban Outfitters
Jeggins: F21
Boots: Target

We really didn't plan on anything for Valentines Day. My husband surprised me with a rose to plant in my flower bed, a very sweet card that he said was filled with things that are not us but that he wants for us to be and I got him an Anaheim Angels picture to hang in his man cave. Other than that, we planned on staying home, but my grandma offered to babysit last minute so we had to take advantage of the offer. Knowing that every fancy place was going to be booked, and knowing that we just aren't fancy people we decided that dinner at our favorite thai place sounded great plus dessert at superior dairy afterwards. Dinner was delish, I ordered the yellow curry with jasmine rice and thai tea to drink, Joe got his usual tofu pad thai. I never noticed before the huge flat screen TV, but Joe noticed it and tried to take my seat as I was sitting down, and then I said to move and he said I can't sit by the wall I'm clausterphobic and then I looked up and saw the tv with ESPN on and I said very loudly in the very quiet restaurant " oh my God you are not watching sports during our valentines dinner!!" and everyone started laughing and so did Joe.

both of my babies needed to be photographed

I wish I would have taken more pictures, but frankly I was too caught up spending time with my favorite bearded man. I've been a bit emotional and moody lately, and we have been bickering so it was nice to talk it out over dinner, for us to apologize to each other and to well um.... make out I uh mean make up.

Brooklyn Pad Thai

My husbands favorite dish is a spin off of Isa Chaundras Brooklyn Pad Thai recipe. It's a spicy more flavorful version of traditional pad thai. This meal isn't really kid friendly because it's got some heat to it, but it's one of those meals that is great for 2 people to make together, and my husband I love to spend some time together in the kitchen cookin it up and have even waited to have a late dinner after the kids are sleeping just to make this dish together. When I do make this dish while the kids are awake, I'll normally keep with the asian theme, and do egg rolls and fried brown rice for them. Which I buy the egg roll wrappers pre-made and fill them with sauteed broccoli slaw and crumbled tofu that I seasoned with soy sauce then fry them in peanut oil. The brown rice is simply instant brown rice cooked, then I scramble two eggs, add the rice then sprinkle with ginger and garlic powder and season with soy sauce. Easy Peasy.

If you have never had tofu, or you have before and it was gross and spongey with some odd texture, do not worry because I do not make my tofu that way and my way makes even the most skeptics eaters love it.
Since I can hardly make it to Whole Foods anymore, ugh 45 minute drive, I have had to adapt it a bit for different ingredients that are readily available in good ole Lemoore.

Recipe:

1 lb rice noodles, but I usually use a box of linguine noodles and they turn out great
peanut oil
1 lb tofu, drained and pressed, cut small (check out photo)
1 medium red onion, sliced thinly
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 T finely minced lemongrass (we never use this)
2 C bean sprouts
8 scallion, sliced into 1-inch lengths
2 small dried red chiles, crumbled ( I buy a small bag of this in the hispanic food section)
1/2 chopped roasted peanuts
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
lime wedges for their beauty. oh yea, and flavor.

for the sauce:

6 T tamari (sold right next to the soy sauce in savemart)
6 T sugar (we use splenda)
2 T tomato paste
2 T hot sauce/asian hot chile sauce (sriracha!)
1/4 C rice wine vinegar (we used seasoned rice vinegar)
3 T tamarind concentrate (we use lime juice instead)



ok so first you need to press the tofu. Since tofu is held in water, it needs to be pressed out so it cooks evenly and doesn't crumble. What I do is take the tofu out of the package, wrap it in 4 sheets of paper towel and then in a hand towel and place under something heavy, I use my toaster oven. Let it sit there for at least 20 minutes, but up to an hour.


After that is done, start your water for your noodles and get them boiling.
Dice your onion, scallions and cilantro and have it sitting by.
Next slice your tofu in half, then in 1/4 inch slices and then cut an X on each to make little diamonds, check out photo

Next coat a pan with peanut oil and toss in the tofu and fry till golden brown, remove tofu and put in your garlic let brown for a minute and then add your red onions. Saute till soft, then add the tofu back in with the cilantro and scallions. Turn to low. In a bowl, mix your ingredients for the sauce then add them to the pan and stir to mix and cover the tofu and onions. Cover and keep on low if your noodles aren't done yet. If your noodles are done, then drain the noodles and put back in the pot. Add the tofu mix to the pot and then add the sprouts and peanuts on top and mix all together and serve! I'm a rebel and add extra sriracha to mine, I love spicy food and I rarely ever get heartburn while pregnant but I still popped a few tums just in case! And I totally devoured my food before I remembered to take a picture of the finished product, but trust me it's amazing!

finished tofu

tamari!

garlic and onions

thursday.

I made a list and I checked it twice.

I had an awesome and productive day.

I started it by waking up an hour early, took a nice shower blow dried and styled my hair before the kids were even done eating breakfast. oh snap.

The morning was easy peasy because there was no rush and we left for school with time to spare! It is amazing how great your day can go if you start it off smoothly.

After I took Mason to school, the kiddos and I headed to Lowes and looked at vegetable seeds, (still too early for what I wanted to plant) and bought some annuals to plant. I came home at 9:30 am, put on alice in wonderland for the kids, and I got down to business with cleaning both bathrooms and my bedroom. Isn't it sad that my room was the messiest? thats just pathetic. I picked up the kids rooms, and orange-glo'd my new hardwood floors. gosh that stuff is awesome. At 10:30 the kiddos and I headed outside, and planted our flowers, found a black widow GROSS, and pulled some weeds and had a lot of fun. And I had to put on sunscreen because at 10:30am at 65 degree weather in February, I would have burned! After we were done, we came in, I made mac n cheese for the kids, had a chicken green salad for myself and they went down for a nap at 1pm and I cleaned up the kitchen, relaxed a bit and then headed off to get Mason at 2:45pm. I got my house cleaned, my yard done, and my kids adored all in one day. I am a super mom, watch out.

here are some photos from my day....

first things first.

6 months preg

my list!

our little annuals

our renewed hardwood floors

a plan for tomorrow....

I have never been one to want to plan anything, not even my own wedding (I eloped!) but my days are getting out of control and I need to start making plans and some schedules or I will never accomplish anything other than a world record of facebook status updates! When I think of a schedule I automatically think BORING but if I ever want my laundry done my house picked up and quality time with my kids I better do something because right now I'm a slacker. big time. So right now as I am in the tub I am going to write out a list if to-do's for tomorrow and I will be signed out of facebook all day :::sigh:::: and blogger ::::double sigh::::: because of this "whoever is slack in his work is brother to him who destroys" Proverbs 18:9

23 weeks 2 days

24 weeks in 2011

                                              

this is me 24 weeks with Rowan in 2008

I guess I could have waited till the 24 week mark.
but I didn't want to. Those photos show how much bigger I am with this 4th pregnancy than my third, I guess it is true that you show faster and larger with each pregnancy

I am just days away from being 6 months along & just went to my midwife appointment on Monday and I am measuring right at 24 weeks, I gained 2 lbs from my last appointment putting me at the 12lb mark now. Baby girl is moving all the times, and I can see my stomach bouncing around and all of the kids and Joe have felt her moving. If I eat ice cream, she goes into a frenzy. Also, when I take a bath she moves like crazy. I'm sure all of these things happened with Rowan, but I don't remember because 2 years ago seems like forever. I can fit into 2 pairs of pre-pregnancy jeans still, but after awhile they wont stay up, so I have graduated into stretchy pants....yay. I don't have any maternity tops, but have raided F21 and Target for every long XL shirt they have, and I'm getting by plus it will be perfect for the gross not pregnant/still look pregnant stage after....wait, I was still in that stage still when I got pregnant, a year and a half later haha
My stroller and carseat have arrived, and we are still working on the dry wall in the girls room but the carpet is up and the hardwood is refinished and the base boards are purchased so things are on their way to being finished and I am so excited.

wah.

I just want this house to be done, just want to be able to decorate my kids rooms already, just want to have this baby already, just want to not have to wear pants with elastic in them, just want to have a normal "chest" size again, just want to lose this weight already, just ready man, just flippin ready.

my ikea finds

We haven't put together the kids rooms yet because we are still refinishing the floors, and have some drywall to replace and paint, plus baseboards and so forth. But we made an ikea run to Palo Alto yesterday and even though I was super hesitant to buy the girls bedding from there, everything looked so much cuter in person and I'm really happy I chose the duvets. The boys made out with a new bunk bed, new bedding, a new mattress for Mason and a new bookcase. We are going for a real modern look for the boys. For the girls, I already have furniture for them so they got new duvets/comforters. We will be reusing Rowan's crib for the new baby and will be painting it red, it is currently white and I have a vintage dresser I will be painting, not sure on the color yet, and using as a dresser/changing table. London's bed is new, with a matching night stand and bookcase and they are in antique white so everything should look really cute together and when it is done. I will still be making a quilts for each of the girls with the e-course I am taking via Smile and Wave. I will post pictures of course.

This is the boys reversible bedding

This bedding for the baby

This is for London

This is the "Kura" bed that we bought for the boys,  it is in white though, not blue and we will use it like the photo below

Rowan will sleep on bottom and Mason on top (photo via google images)

the bookcase for the boys room

This is a hanging rack for backpacks, and jackets for the boys

all of these images were found via ikea.com or images on google.com

like a fat kid loves cake.

This is the recipe for "London Cake" or a basic dump cake recipe. Super duper easy peasy and so so yum. It looks kind of gross as you are making it, but the end result is amazing and tastes like a cake/cobbler plus because it's so easy you can let your kids pretty much do everything but the butter so they feel like they made the whole thing.  And it is very easy to convert to a vegan recipe if needed, just sub out the cake mix for a vegan mix and some earth balance instead of butter.

you'll need:

1 box of yellow cake mix

1 can of crushed pineapple

1 can of cherry pie filling

2 sticks of butter

preheat over to 350

pour both cans into a 9 by 13 pyrex and mix well then smooth out. pour the cake mix on top and smooth out over the fruit filling. then slice the butter into thin slices and cover the top of the cake with it. put in the oven and bake for 30 min and then cool and enjoy!