Birth Story of Titus

So I had another kid.... not that anyone on this blog would know! Something about having tons of little children running around the house that makes blogging drop to the bottom of the priority list. whatev.

I cherish the birth story that I wrote for Isaac (my third) and totally wish I had written the details of my first two births. So, naturally I'm going to write about my fourth lovely birth! If you enjoy birth stories read on...if not - why are you reading this far? weirdo. 

TITUS' BIRTH 

If you've read my story about Isaac's birth or ever talked to me about my labors in general you know that I go FAST. In the back of my mind I was envisioning giving birth in the Jeep or my bath tub. Seriously. 

For the last two weeks or so of my pregnancy I was on high alert - just anxiously awaiting my water to break or something. Just like Isaac I had a false alarm - I thought I was in labor (and was scared to go fast) so we went in to check things out. And got sent home. BOO. I hate that. 

The next day I had an appointment with my midwife (my 39 week appointment) and she was surprised I was still pregnant! As was I. She offered to sweep my membranes (don't we love that word? No, we don't) and I said "go for it". 

This was on Tuesday. I went about my day. No baby. 

Then came Wednesday. I went about my day. Had some contractions (just like I had been for days). Still no baby. Wednesday afternoon my mom offered to bring me with to her massage and have her lady give my feet/legs a good rub. Ummm yes.please.thankYou. 

After a nice relaxing massage we went home and I noticed my contractions we 'maybe' getting different. Nothing that hurt and not close together but a tad 'different'. I didn't make a big deal of it and went about my evening. Had dinner, put the kids to bed and got cozy on the couch to watch middless TV. 

Around 11pm-ish I told Joe I think it'll be tonight and that they felt a little different. They didn't hurt (at all) and weren't getting closer together but something in me said they were different. So we stayed up to monitor. 

Things weren't getting harder, closer, or anything exciting. But I was getting tired. The last thing I wanted was to go to bed and then wake up having to push (and then birth a baby in bed). *Yes these are the crazy thoughts that go through my mind!* 

So I phoned the midwife on call and chatted with her. We talked about how they're not hurting, not close together, blah blah BUT my history of going fast once things got rolling. We mutually decided it'd be wise for me to go in (to avoid a RUSH to the hospital if/when things picked up). 

Joe and I left our house at 11:50pm with no urgency to head towards the hospital. We made two stops on the way (I wasn't in any pain at all and was actually questioning our decision to go in) and got checked in our room by 1:30am. 

All settled in our room and the nurse checked me: 3cm (meh - not too far along but at least things were moving). 

Joe and I hung out for a while and chatted, watched TV, passing time along... contractions still there and same distance apart. 

They offered to check me again at 3am - I agreed (not anticipating much change) and I was 4cm. Meh. 

During all this I was off the monitors and every-so-often they'd hook me up to check things. They started to notice that Baby's heartbeat would drop during a contraction. 

My midwife offered to break my water since it was RIGHT.THERE. and we both knew that it'd get things rolling. 

I pondered it and agreed. Let's do this. 

At 6:00am my midwife broke my water (hello gush!) with me on monitors - they wanted to keep an eye on Baby's heart rate since it was still dropping with contractions. 

To aid Baby's heart rate they had me lay on my side and gave me a mask to hold with yummy oxygen...Mmmm. They also decided to give me an IV of fluids to help Baby - I don't like IV's. Bleh. 

All this is happening and I'm chilling on my side. Then I have a contraction that HURTS. Ouch. Here's a glimpse in my brain:

Contraction ONE: "That hurt. I hope they all don't feel like that now!" 

Contraction TWO: "Crap. It still hurts....Is that pressure already???" 

Contraction THREE: "YES that is pressure! Tell them now!!!" 

"Ummm I have pressure already - should I push??"  I ask my midwife....

"Sure sweetie, you can push if you feel like it. Listen to your body" says my wonderful midwife. 

Contraction FOUR: (feel the pressure and PUSH) "I AM POOPING!" I yell. Totally serious I said that. Kinda embarrassing now but it was funny at the moment. 

My midwife senses my urgency about being uncomfortable with pooping on the table decides to take a look and says:

"Sweetie, that's the baby - you're not pooping! Let's turn you over and do this!" 

What? Ok. I turn to my back and push (and vocalize...ie: yell) - they ask me to take a breath (to unwrap his cord I later discover) and then push out his body. 

They put my lovely, gooey baby on me! Ack! What? Didn't she just break my water?? 

Here's a breakdown for you to prove that I go fast:

6:00am Break my water (I was a 5cm/6cm) 

6:38am I proclaim "I'm pooping!" 

6:39am Titus is BORN! 

Ha. Good thing my water didn't break at home. 

It was perfect. No tears, no stitches, minimal bleeding. THREE intense contractions. Not bad at all! I felt absolutely AWESOME after. I become a chatty chic after giving birth and am soooo hyper! I love the endorphins you get from the rush of it all - crazy I know. 

There you have it! I'm glad we decided to go in when we did - I'm not a fan of the fast-drive-to-hospital deals. My midwife was joking with me that I didn't give her a chance to scrub up for delivery I was so fast! She never checked me to see if I was 'ready' or complete - I love that she just lets me trust my body. 

We're adjusting to our family of SIX well - the big boys love their littlest team member! 

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken - aka the BEST dinner ever.

I've raved about this recipe a few times already...here's the original link where I found this gem.

My family gobbles this up like no one's business - I don't blame them. I'm in on the shove-as-much-as-you-can-in-and-get-seconds-FAST game.

I normally double or TRIPLE the amount of chicken the original recipe calls for (remember, I said my family likes it??) - If I double my chicken I keep the sauce amount the same but if I triple it I will make more sauce....totally up to you. Joys of cooking!

The only CON of this recipe (which really isn't a con...it's just proof that I'm a tad lazy) is that it takes TIME. It takes time to coat the chicken, it takes time to sauté the chicken and then you babysit it in the oven for an hour (stirring every 15 min) - BUT it's TOTALLY worth it. Do it. You'll thank me. I accept chocolate and flowers. Or Caribou. Or all three. I digress. Here's the How-To....

BAKED SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN

Start with thawed chicken (I've done it with chicken breasts and a different time with chicken thighs - use what you want - or whatever's on sale) and cut into bite sized pieces.

Get your coating stations set: Cornstarch in one bowl and Eggs in another bowl...

Take your chicken (a few pieces at a time) and toss in cornstarch - then transfer to the eggs and swirl around...then set in a pan (with oil and heated at Med-High) to brown...repeat until your pan is full

Let your chicken hang out in your pan until each side is nice and browned (not cooking it all the way through)....you may have some stray pieces of egg that will fry - no worries. Just take them out when you transfer your chicken to the pan.

This step is the most time consuming for me....probably because I have a small-ish frying pan and I do SO much meat. I normally have to do this process three times (washing my pan in-between). Even though this is the longest (and therefore annoying) step it's a necessary step to create that 'take-out' taste and feel to this dish. DO IT.

Back to making dinner....

While your chicken is browning away on the stove (remember you're not cooking it all the way - just crisping the outside) make your sauce..

It's a super-easy sauce. If you're anti-ketchup (I'm personally cool with ketchup...I know some are not...) you could always make your own. 

Remember how I said this is a 'time consuming' recipe? Well, in my house, when I do a dinner that might require some extra time I normally get to re-organize my kitchen. AKA: my baby takes everything out of my cupboards and I get to put it away....TOTALLY worth it for this meal. Plus he's cute. And sitting on a mini-muffin tin.

So, once you're done browning your chicken put it in a GREASED dish. Since I do a ton of meat I use my 9x13 pan and my glass pie pan. Make sure you spray it. Pretty Please. You'll thank me later. 

POUR your sauce over the chicken (once you've browned ALL your chicken and it's ALL in your dishes) - I normally split it 50/50 between my pans. 

POP it into a pre-heated 325* oven, uncovered. 

Take it out every 15 minutes and STIR your chicken around. Do this FOUR times (grand total of 60 minutes cooking time). 

I have issues remembering to stir things if I don't set a timer. So, set a timer for 15 minutes and go about your business. 

THIS is what comes out after 60 minutes --- gorgeous!! 

See why I said to SPRAY your pans? Can you imagine what it'd look like without spray? Ugh. Spray those bad boys.

Oh this is so good. I don't know what does it...maybe it's the sauce? Maybe it's the coating? Maybe it's the fact that you worked in the kitchen for over an hour? Whatever it is...it's AWESOME.

Eat Up. And fast - go get seconds!

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken 
Adapted from life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com

Ingredients (as I do it):

3 lbs chicken (breast or thighs) *3-lbs will fill two pans - use 1.5-lb if you only want one pan* 
1 cup cornstarch
2-4 eggs (start with 2 and add more if you run out)
Vegetable Oil

Sauce:
3/4 cup sugar
4 Tb ketchup
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 Tb soy sauce
1 tsp garlic powder

DO IT: 

1. Cut chicken into bite size pieces and toss in cornstarch and dip in beaten eggs.

2. Heat some oil over med-high heat and cook chicken till browned (not cooked all the way though).

3. Transfer chicken to SPRAYED dish (9x13 or glass pie pan).

4. Repeat steps 1-3 until all chicken is browned.

5. Make sauce - mix sugar, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce and garlic powder.

6. Pour over chicken.

7. Bake in a 325* oven, uncovered, for an hour. STIRRING every 15 minutes (four sets of 15 minutes).

8. ENJOY!

**Let me know what you think when you try this! I know you'll love it. **

Oatmeal Mini-Cakes for Breakfast

Yep. Cake for breakfast. That's how I roll....well, not really. I'm all about being healthy and passing on that lifestyle to my kids! This breakfast recipe feels like you're cheating and eating CAKE for breakfast but it is oh.so.healthy for you - and suuuupppeeer easy to boot. *I just typed 'to boot'. Ugh. Turning in my cool card....* 

I was inspired by a pin I found on Pinterest here and tweaked it just a tad to fit my liking - here's my version of it...

**like those little feet on the top of the pic? It's really not MY baby - just a cute stuffed bear they were playing with**

Oatmeal Mini-Cakes 
*Adapted from ChocolateCoveredKatie

- 2.5 cups oats (I like old-fashioned)
- 1 1/4 c mashed banana (the brown-er the better!)
- 5 Tbsp sugar or sweetener of choice (honey, agave, etc)
- 1 1/3 cup water
- 2 Tbsp oil (veg or coconut)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup chocolate chip (or nuts, raisins, dried fruit, etc...)
- 2 Tbsp water + 1 tsp baking soda

I prep mine the night before and store it in the fridge - this way the oats can soak up all the yummy goodness and they become easier to digest...and it totally cuts breakfast prep in the morning! 

In a bowl combine banana, sugar, oil and vanilla. Add in oats and mix well - Add in water and stir together.

Put a cover (plastic wrap, press-n-seal, etc..) and pop in the fridge over night.

In the morning -- 

Preheat oven to 350* and prepare a 12-cup muffin tin ready (I like to use paper liners and SPRAY them)

Take your bowl out and notice most of the liquid is gone (soaked into the oats). Mix about 2 Tb water with 1tsp baking soda and ADD into your big bowl. Mix well.

At this point you can mix in your choice of add-ins! I normally pour 2-3 muffins without chocolate for my littlest guy then mix my chips in for the rest. Fill up your muffin tin and pop in the oven.

BAKE 18-21 min depending on your oven. They should puff up a tad and smell amazing.

**I like to eat mine with a fork...it's seriously like CAKE! Mmmmm.

I make these probably twice a week and we eat the leftovers the next morning warmed in the microwave.

Kids review? THUMBS UP! They love 'em!

Baby review? Well, I went to take the pic and it was gone. Like...he inhaled it in .5 seconds. I take that as a GREAT review! 

One time I made these I was lacking in the banana department *gasp!* so I used the banana I had and applesauce for the rest to get a grand total of 1+1/4 cup. Those were delish! I'll probably do that again on purpose. Mmmm.

Save yourself some time tomorrow morning and whip up the batter for these tonight -- you won't be disappointed! I know what I'll be making tonight for tomorrow's breakfast...CAKE! Well, sorta. My healthy cake:)

Ethan the Chef

I promised you a story about my little chef....promise delivered. Read on and enjoy the warm fuzzy's you'll feel from the massive amount of cuteness I'm about to throw at you...

So - my smart Kindergartener E recently created a 'cookbook' of sorts. He was flipping through a SpiderMan coloring/activity book of his and got super excited when he found a recipe in there. Then he found another - then another. These exciting discoveries were the first of many entries in his 'cookbook'. We ripped out the super-hero recipes (Think: SpiderMan Stromboli and Sandman Slushy), put them in page protectors and secured them in a handy-dandy folder (you know - those sweet ones with the metal clips inside?). E also found recipes he liked in random cooking magazines, ripped them out and put 'em in page protectors.

Then one day while I was cooking, E got the idea that he wanted to CREATE a recipe of his own.

So he did.

And it was awesome.

In the morning we (E and I) sat down and wrote the recipe. He drew the picture and dictated the steps to me (which I wrote word-for-word of course!) - said recipe went in a page protector and into the ever-growing cookbook folder.

*This is the recipe for Darth Vador Pizza* 

When lunchtime rolled around E proclaimed that he was going to make us lunch! Yes, please.

He started with cutting up mozzarella cheese with his knife...

**did I make you nervous?? It's a butter knife I promise**

He ripped up some delicious salami (I was too busy staring in awe that he was making me food and forgot to take a picture -- I'm sure you can imagine it).

Then he laid out the crescent rolls in triangles and topped them with his meat and cheese...

And then into the OVEN it went! E made it very clear to me that I had to do that part since it was HOT. Smart kid I tell ya. 

As his little Darth Vador Pizza's were cooking away, E went digging in the fridge to find something to go with it. As a result of his searching the DARTH MAUL SALAD was born. 

*Mmmmmm veggies*

Carrots, celery, sweet peppers and cherry tomatoes were the ingredients Chef E combined for our salad. I love that he didn't put lettuce in...lettuce in a salad? Sooooo expected. 

Beep. Beep. Pizza's done! 

Ethan plated up our lunch and enthusiastically explained to us what we were about to enjoy:

Darth Vador Pizza 

Darth Maul Salad

R2D2 Oranges

And you know what? It was really good! 

Thanks E for the great lunch! Can't wait to taste your next new recipe :) 

Six months really?

Happy St. Patrick's day!!!

My baby is SIX months today! Oy. Time is flying...I feel like a broken record saying that so much but it's oh so true.

Like how I haven't blogged in like two months? Yeah I'm cool like that. I seem to remember when Judah was around 4-6 monthish not blogging much either:)

I'm going to try and blog more. Write down all those cute things my boys do and I want to remember...hold me to that k? K. Deal.

So, I've been meaning to document Judah's and Isaac's last doctors visit stats - here they are for your reading pleasure.

Judah (from his three yr check)

Height - 2'11.25" (3.97%)

Weight-28 lb (17.52%)

Isaac (from his FOUR month appt...he's now six months!)

Height-1'11.5" (4.97%)

Weight-12 lb 1 oz (3.77%)

HC - 40.6 cm (10.67%)

I need to set mr. Isaac's six month appointment soon, I'm excited to see how much he's grown in the past two months!

I want to show you how cute my kids are but I'm having issues adding them...hopefully we can create some picture-posts for ya soon.

In other news I ran my first 7k this morning! It was so fun - I set a goal for myself to run at a pace of 10 min/mile and I beat it! I ran at a 9.56min/mile (I am fully aware that it's only a 4 sec difference but it was still FASTER than my goal so I'm claiming it!)

Hopefully I can find more time to update this and record all the cute things (and boring stats) from my family!

Clean Up

I decided to follow my littlest guy around the other day...he went on a cleaning spree! First, let's put the clothes in the dirty laundry....Let's put this in the trash...hey mom - can you unlock the trash door?
Put these books away....do I have to do all the work around here? humph.
At least I'm HAPPY about it! CHEESE!
Time to get the laundry basket.....
Put the towels in the basket....
Pat pat pat...
Looks pretty good...
Climb on in....cheese! Do I get to go in the washer too? Bath time?
Well, there's a little peek at my little man! He loves to help out - that was all his own idea too! Can you tell who he watches all day? ME. ;) You copy what you see right?

10 on Tuesday

1. I'm constantly doing laundry. Constantly. I have to go switch a load now....

2. Ok- I just switched a load....Now hopefully I have motivation to fold it later. Have I ever mentioned I hate folding laundry? I do.

3. I told Ethan we would make cookies last night and when we went to make them I found we were out of eggs! Thank you, handy google, for a delicious egg-less chocolate chip cookie recipe!

4. We went to the orchard on Sunday for my mom's 50th birthday - it was beautiful weather and so much fun! I'll post more pics and details later:)5. My mom went for a motorcycle ride with Tyler for her birthday party too....
6. I've been using http://www.pocketyourdollars.com/ to find coupons for my groceries the last few weeks. I LOVE IT. I think I'm going to start tracking how much I save when I use coupons...watch for posts on that! So far I've saved $20 on my first order and $14 on my second...yeah!

7. The DG national conference is this weekend...I am so excited! Hooray for great speakers and a fun hotel room!

8. Ethan loves to read! Just like his daddy:)
9. Ethan also loves his school work! (which involves a lot of books) - he's been cruising through his workbooks....completed like 2 weeks worth in one sitting today:) I find it humorous that he gets mad when I tell him it's time to stop!

10. I can NOT believe it's almost October. Time is seriously flying around here.

Puzzle Maniac!

-Is my new nick name for Ethan. That kids loves them! He seriously sat and did puzzles for over an hour this afternoon - great for the brain:) I'm personally no good at them so I am so impressed with his skill...plus throw in there that he's 3 and it's stinkin amazing. I'm just saying.He's past those toddler-wood-put-in-the-spot puzzles (Judah loves those now) and onto the big boy kind! We are 'borrowing' a 3 pack of puzzles from my parents (they had them on the boat and Ethan discovered his love of puzzle-ing with them). They range in size and number of pieces...his favorite is the "hardest one!" (48 piece - shown below)
He can whip the 'hardest' one out in like 10 minutes...wow. I wish I could do that:) Maybe I should practice with him - I bet he could give me some pointers:) It's so cute to hear him articulate what's going on in his brain..."here's part of the red firetruck; where's the other parts of the red firetruck? Oh there's the red part! Does it fit here....oh here it goes! I need to find the little mouse; where's the mouse? Oh there's the mouse piece!" and on and on.....

I sit and stare and smile:)

Rain Rain

Nothing like a good walk in the rain and jumping in puddles!

10 on Tuesday

1. We're in full fall swing now! Routines are changing and so is the weather. Cooler weather is moving on in.....

2. Ethan is SO into drawing right now! We have a chalk board and he loves to create!

3. I went to the Farmer's Market today and love getting fresh produce! We walked away with apples, butternut squash, sweet carrots and a big head of garlic...hmmmmm.

4. I am getting over a cold (boo.) and I finally caved and bought a Neti Pot. It took me a few tries to get it to work (plus I think my nose was too stuffy) BUT now it works and it is weird. Good weird I guess:)

5. Joe brought us drums over to the bed the other night so the boys could play.....they (all 3) had a blast! I was making dinner and had wonderful (loud) background music:)
6. I'm (sorta) back into reading! I picked out a Christian fiction book from the Library and surprisingly finished it in 3 days! Once I got going it was hard to put down - now to get more books:)

7. I dyed my roots last night myself - my normal colorist (Joe) was too tired so I did it....it turned out pretty well...I was smart (not) and started with my normal part and then went about the rest of my roots...then started timing. Well, the roots at my normal part got quite a bit of time so they are really dark. EASY FIX: I changed my part today. I win.

8. Ethan made a 'raft' the other night that we could read our books on; of course the book had a raft in it:) Our raft was 2 pillows with a blanket over it.
9. Ethan can write 'MOM' and is getting close to writing his name:) ummm..weren't you just a baby?
10. MY BOYS ARE TOO CUTE. Seriously, it's almost too hard too much to handle.....

Transferring

This morning I tried out a new homeschool activity with the boys; we did spoon transfers with KIX! I gave each kid a bowl of Kix, a spoon and a muffin tray (Ethan got a mini muffin tray to make it a little harder)
The instructions were to take one Kix on the spoon and move it to one spot on the muffin tray; gradually filling up the whole tray!

Ethan showed me how many he had left to fill.....
I love the teamwork! Judah: "put that one there"
And of course there were some taste testing!
What a fun activity!