Let's try this again.

I've been wanting to blog for quite some time. I have good intentions and then, well, I just don't. Josh is supposed to be making me a custom .com but he's busy and I'm tired of waiting. We all know patience is a virtue that I don't possess. Let's play catch up.

Cohen is now 16 months. Already? He's currently getting his bottom molars and is a cranky beast. He doesn't want up, he doesn't want down, he doesn't want to play, blah blah blah. Cranky toddlers suck. He likes to eat, follow me around, and play with Pierre.

Ellie is going to be 3 in two months. Again, already? She's a typical middle child, full of sass and energy, snuggles and smiles. She's pretty cute, especially when she's not throwing a fit. She enjoys following Emme around, whining, "helping" me cook, and snuggling.

Emme just turned 5. She had her birthday party at a gymnastics studio and all the kids had a blast. I made her some super cute rainbow cupcakes.

We decided to combine birthday gifts for the girls this year and we went with a swing set. They have (had) so. much. stuff. and didn't want to play with any of it. We bagged up 3 trash bags of toys and decided no mas. They get to keep the "classics" like their doll house, kitchen, books and puzzles but other than that, it's all gone. Can I get an "Amen!"? Josh is being slowly killed by the swing set assembly but it should be done Friday, just in time for a nice weekend to stick them outside. Em is finishing her last year of preschool at St. Matthew's. She absolutely loves it and so do we. It was a good switch for us, no doubt. She's learned so much and has made a few really great friends. I'm excited to send El there next year. I enroll Em in Kindergarten in just a few weeks, I'm not sure I'm ready to let her go. I'm not ready for her to lose her innocence. Not to mention, I'm not ready to have to watch shows like iCarly and Hannah Montana.

I've been enjoying some great new recipes lately. Have I ever mentioned how much I love food? Well, I do. A lot. Here are some great things I've made this week.

Braised chicken thighs and mashed cannellini beans. This meal was superb. I think next time I'll make a slurry and thicken the braising liquid. I'll also double the beans- they were the perfect accompaniment.

BBQ Beef Shepherd's Pie. I made this for us and some friends that just had a baby. I really enjoy this dish because it's hearty, comforting, and has BBQ sauce. I live in Kansas City so loving BBQ sauce is a requirement. I served this with a fresh spinach salad.

Southwest Sloppy Joes w/ honey lime coleslaw. Ummm...yeah. Delish. And easy. I don't put the black beans in my sloppy joes because Em detests beans so I serve them as a side, jazzed up with some cumin, chili powder, garlic and onion powder, and salt and pepper.

I also made a yummy mushroom risotto last night. I made some extras to make into risotto cakes this weekend. You just take your leftover risotto, add some egg, cheese, a few more herbs, coat in panko and pan fry. Risotto is so darn cheap and can turn into such a decadent meal. I highly recommend 'er!

Well, I've got the girls set up at the kitchen table with bowls and assorted ingredients letting them "cook" so I'd better balance the budget while they're occupied.

Cohen Joshua Swank
11-21-2009
3:23am
8lb. 14oz.
21"

We got no decent pics of the girls from Halloween. Oh well. 'A' for effort, I guess.

I went to the doc today and am still a 2 and 70%. I'm going to buy some evening primrose oil and raspberry leaf tea this weekend. I'll be getting membranes stripped next Friday and I plan on walking the mall and getting a pedicure afterward. I'll spare you the rest of the details. :) Of course I'm still feeling huge and fat and sooooooo ready to not be pregnant. I can't wait to fit into cute jeans and tops again. And cut off my hair!

Ellie has her speech evaluation tonight for speech therapy. Hopefully she will qualify!

Wow. I'm tired. No, beyond tired. Utterly exhausted would be good to say. I can hardly get anything done and our meals have been...well, less than divine. Sorry, family! But I'm like 20 months pregnant now and Cohen is huge so everyone needs to suck it up.

I hope he comes soon. I'm contracting like crazy and just need him o-u-t. I went in for a NST the other day and was only hooked up for 20 minutes. In that 20 minutes I had 4-5 contractions and 2 of them were off the charts. I'm 36 now but only 2cm and 70%. Better than nothing I guess! Next week I should be able to get my membranes stripped.

Here is a pic of the nursery Josh worked so hard on. We don't have any Red Sox decor yet but at least it's painted and clean.

I've been beyond tired lately. It's getting a little ridiculous, honestly. That being said I've pretty much completely slacked at cooking this week and after a few days of eating junky stuff, I'm ready to peel my lazy butt off the couch and cook dinner. Or as ready as I can pretend to be.

Saturday-Saturday, in no particular order:

The Pioneer Woman's lasagna with caesar salad (making an extra for the freezer)
The Pioneer Woman's steak bites with baked potatoes, and green beans
BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, broccoli slaw, and baked beans
The Pioneer Woman's pan fried pork chops, broccoli, and salad
Leftovers
Grilled brats, corn, and Lipton pasta side in the cabinet
Beercan chicken, peas, and another Lipton rice side in the cabinet

I don't care if it's Thursday, I have to do a "Not Me!" post. It's just required. And because I'm so not computer savvy and don't have any earthly idea how to add the link to my blog post, know that I got this idea from MckMama.

It was definitely not my child who tried to poke the poor dogs eye out earlier this week. Definitely not Emme.

Emme absolutely, positively did not try to set the house on fire during nap time by melting a plastic tube of cold sore medicine on Josh's nightstand light. Nope, not her.

Nor did she wake up at about 5am today because of the thunder and lightning, proceed to come in the living room and turn on the lights, pull all the blankets and pillows out on the floor, make a bed for herself next to the dogs kennel, take off her pull-up and put on a swim diaper, get all of her Play Dough out and spread teennnnyyy tinnnnyyyy little pieces all over the carpet (all while using her new kids cookbook, of course), and spill a huge cup of water on the kitchen floor. She totally didn't do that. I have such great mommy senses that I always know what my children are doing, even at 5am.

And I'll go ahead and assume Ellie just did not shove half of her snack cup of Rice Chex into Josh's speaker. Sorry, Babe.

Here is the other blog/group I own with 2 other ladies. We originally started on babycenter.com (and are still there) but we keep getting blasted (in a good way!) with new arrivals asking the same questions. Hopefully this will serve some purpose for all the new parents dealing with the reflux, allergy, MSPI, etc. roller coaster. It's a long, sucky one, that's for sure. It's got everything you need to know about medication, dosing, formulas, reflux, MSPI (milk-soy protein intolerance), procedures, oral/feeding aversions, etc. Check it out if you're needing some help!

In other news, Grandpa passed away peacefully about 2:30am Saturday morning in the comfort of his own home. My mom, grandma, and his sister got to be with him in the end. I got a text from my mom about 3:10 and went over there to be with them for a few hours. Left Grandma's about 6am, went to the grocery store, and eventually took a nap. Services are going to be Monday and Wednesday this coming week. Oh, funny story. We were going for a viewing of him last night with the family. The whole way there we were explaining that Papa is up in heaven now totally healed and feeling better again, so we wouldn't see "him" necessarily (try to explain that to a 3 year old!). We get there and she's sitting on Josh's lap, she looks over at my Grandpa laying on this table all done up, looks at Josh utterly confused, and says, "Is THIS heaven, Daddy!?" Lol! It was the cutest thing ever!

I'm in the mood to bake again. Not that I haven't been the past few months, it's just that doing anything other than a quick batch of cookies is pure hell. Really. I feel like I'm standing in the depths of hell smoldering. See, it's hot in Missouri, err...usually. It's been uncharacteristically cool this summer and the next few days the highs are in the 70's! And since the lady at the gas station already told me I looked like I was "going to pop" (read: freaking huge), I'll give up any glimmer of hope I had at keeping my weight gain under 30ish pounds this time. And because I like to do things the right way, what better way to exceed my expectations than making cinnamon rolls!? (I'll let you know how they turn out.)

So I lied, a salesmean just came by and awoke me from my sweet slumber. I'm too lazy to fold the laundry sitting in the basket right next to me and it's too early to work on Meg and Rob's dinner. I get a little bored browsing Babycenter and answering the same old "is this reflux? does my baby have MSPI?" questions in my spare time so I thought I'd finally update the blog. (It's kinda funny that I'm so bad at this whole blog "thing" because people who have known me for a few years will know I'm addicted to my computer.)

There has been a lot going on. Less than two weeks ago we found out my grandpa was diagnosed with the big "C". A few days later we learned that it wasn't just in the adrenal glands and slightly on the liver like though, but literally all over his body. Eesh. He's been home for almost a week (tomorrow) and is slipping faster than you can make a gooey s'more. (My life revolves around eating, ok!?) It's really sad to see but we all love seeing him uncharacteristically sweet and loving. I mean, he's always a nice guy, but he's like me (or I'm like him- whatever); sarcastic and dry. We've all been praying that he'll go Home soon, seeing him suffer is awful. Thankfully after a few bouts of "escaping" they have a 24 hour nurse there to help him with whatever he needs.

I'll spare everyone (all 2 of you) the boring details of Ellie's latest battle but gooooodddd Lord! can it be taxing dealing with her. It started off with a reaction to chicken (yes, chicken) which then turned into a Total Elimination Diet (where she can only eat 5 things for at least two weeks) which turned into an ear infection from all the drainage. Think that was the end of it? No, no, that'd be entirely too easy. Then she decided (ha!) to have a reaction to the medication she was rx'ed. Finally after getting the meds right and her food under control, she's on her way back to semi-normal. Whatever that is for Ellie. And over the weekend she though as if her constant fussing/whining wasn't enough, she learned to throw temper tantrums and fall on the ground over every little thing that doesn't go her way. Ohhh...the joys of toddlers. (Can you believe that she's a toddler now!?) So in between stepping over her and tossing her in the crib to scream to her hearts content (yes, I'm a mean mommy like that), it was a long weekend. But, she's still ubberly cute. And I still want to gobble her little cheeks up! Yummy! Oh, and she started clapping for herself when she takes her medicine. It's the cutest thing! We'll open her Nexium cap (for reflux) and tell her "medicine". She opens right up, takes the meds, and then claps for herself. She also occasionally says (not signs) "all done" at dinner. And she shakes her head no (too often). She also says dog and hi and is thoroughly excited to wake her Big Sister up in the morning.

We had a rough few weeks with Emme also. She was having a really, really rough time with obeying and having a good attitude. Hey, who can blame her, I hate it when people tell me what to do, too. But that's another post...and she's 3. We've really been working on first time obedience and answering when she is called/spoken to. Surprisingly these two things have really helped her not have a red bottom like before. She just adores to help me in the kitchen. It's probably her favorite thing to do and it always reminds me of being a little girl and helping my grandma. She's been a great, great helper with picking things up before Josh gets home and singing a song "clean up, clean up, eh-body share" over and over and over and over and over and over (really). It's cute but after hearing that line 55 times my blood starts to kinda simmer. She's obsessed with all things Princess and has entered the I'm-never-my-real-name phase. She had Parent's as Teachers yesterday and the lady agreed that she seems stuck in a 5 year olds body.

And because I haven't shared meal plans in ages, here is what I have for the next two weeks (Saturday-Friday):

Potato-Bacon Torte with salad (same thing I'm taking Meg and Rob)
Roast (I do mine like a roast beef with gravy, not the classic veggie one)
Tortilla soup w/ spanish rice
Eggs w/ bacon, potatoes, and tomato slices
Multi-grain pasta w/ meatballs and salad (I just use the meatball recipe)
Leftovers x 2
Parmesan and herb tilapia w/ brown rice and fried corn (without sausage)
Chili w/ cornbread
Beer and onion chicken w/ sauteed green beans and homemade bread
Grilled cheese on homemade bread w/ tomato soup
Grilled chicken w/ steamed, mixed veggies and mushroom rice
Salisbury steak w/ mashed potatoes and broccoli

I will post someday soon. Really, I will. Until then, look at these sweet eyes and delicious cheeks!

Oh, while stopping at the gas station for Pepsi and Aleve, a lady (with two children of her own, mind you) informed me that I look like I was "going to pop". From there she proceeded to ask if I was 8.5 or 9 months along. Thanks a lot, lady. I'll enjoy this King Size Snicker's bar even more now.

This girl is efficient!

Embarrassing things Emme has said recently:

An African American lady was checking us out at Target and Emme proceeded to tell her she had a funny nose.

A lady was checking my receipt at Wal-Mart and Emme asked why she had those two big "molds" (moles) on her face.

Tonight at dinner we ran into an old family friend we hadn't seen in a long time. Emme then asked her if she had a baby in her tummy...

Please tell me how you parents make it through these beyond horrifying things...

Well, Ellie officially failed her milk trial. It's unfortunate to say that the makers of Neocate will continue to rob us blind. Eesssh! These kids. I did buy some coconut milk today and she's been drinking that pretty well. Hoping to get some extra calories in her! I've gotta head back to Nature's Pantry or Whole Foods and just browse the aisles for some snack-y things for her.

Went to the doctor today and he confirmed my fears that he thinks Cohen is going to be freaking huge. See, I had a Level 2 sonogram on July 22. According to my very first sonogram, I should have been about 20 weeks and 5 days at this time. He was measuring closer to 22 weeks measurement-wise and 23 weeks for weight (17oz). And this was 3 weeks ago...For those of you that don't have kids and this means absolutely nothing, just take it as I'm afraid...very afraid. I got an email last week saying "your baby should be approaching one pound now" and I literally start to panic! "He was over a pound two weeks ago! What is this going to mean!?"

I did mention that Josh is a chronic ITPer so he's calling the perinatologist (again) to see if we have to do an amnio. Just when I though I was able to escape this awful test! I guess if he does have elevated platelets (which we have no reason to think he does) that will mean c-section because vaginal births are very traumatic on ITP kids. I'm just choosing to not focus on possibility of having an enormous needle stuck in my stomach.

Ellie started kissing us today! How sweet! I asked for a kiss and she just leaned down and kissed me (open mouth, of course)! Emme ask for one and she leaned over and kissed Emme, who happened to be more than grossed out that she stuck her tongue out. :P Ahhh! I love sweet, slobbery, baby kisses!

I wish I had some great excuse as to why I haven't updated in over a month but I don't. I mean, I do have two small children, two puppies, a house, a husband, and am pregnant again so that should count for something, right!?

I had my 20 week u/s done on July 9 and found out it is indeed a BOY! I was so excited I accidentally shook the poor tech! He was not shy about showing us his "parts". (I think modesty is something we need to work on in this family; both girls were spread eagle for us, too.) He (Cohen Joshua, by the way) also measured quite a bit bigger, somewhere around 21.5ish weeks then. They did find a small cyst on his brain so I had a Level 2 done last week. Everything looked fine and sure enough, he was still a big boy, weighing about 17oz.! Because I didn't have regular cycles my dates are so up in the air, we should have a little guy somewhere around the ladder part of November. Josh is thrilled to say the least. We're starting to plan the nursery (Red Sox theme) and I'm hoping to get a jump on it within the next few weeks!

Ellie started walking a few weeks ago. It's taken her until now to get used to being on her feet and learning to balance but she's doing really well. She got in a fight with my hot flat iron last week and burned the heck out of her upper right arm. I know, I know, bad mommy. In my defense, the flat iron was off and the cord was on the counter- she just stepped on the scale to wrap her little finger around enough of the cord to pull it down. She's got one really nasty burn and then a smaller just-as-nasty one below it. She seems to be healing well and it doesn't seem to bother her. Her reflux and allergies have been under control lately and we're even starting to trial an ounce of Alimentum in her bottles to see if she can tolerate trace amounts of milk yet. *crossing fingers*

Emme is at the best, and worst, age right now. 3 is so fun because she can use her imagination, have conversations, be a helper, etc. 3 is not so fun because she can talk back, whine until she's blue in the face, and throw a fit like you've never seen before. Granted she's learning rather quickly that throwing fits in this house = horrible idea. Her favorite thing to play is Mom and Baby. She likes to play the mom and we have to be the baby. She likes to get us medicine, sing us songs, and read us books. It's rather cute. She loves to play outside, help cook, watch Bob the Builder (Josh is convinced that is on repeat in hell), and play with her babies.

Josh and I are going with 9 (?) other couples this coming weekend on a canoe trip. I'm terrified to say the least. I've never done anything outdoors before! I mean, I can sit on a beach with no problem. Floating down a river, sleeping in the woods, and walking to the bathroom in the pitch black? Not so much. I know it's going to be a blast just because of who we're going with but I'm still scared. Wish us luck!

I don't have long to post (I really should be folding laundry before everyone gets up!) but wanted to report that Ellie's weight gain wasn't great. Again, just a few ounces. We're seeing a nutritionist on Friday at Children's to get some ideas on how to fatten her up. Hopefully they'll have some ideas for us because honestly, I'm lost on what to do.

Meg,

Here is a reason why to not leave your clean laundry in baskets on the floor.




Emme was searching for her Cinderella costume and Ellie thought it'd be a great idea to throw the rest of the clothes out.

Ellie is now one! I can't believe it. Her birthday went well and the carrot cake with rice milk icing was delish! Really, it was! I think I actually prefer the rice milk icing vs. cream cheese icing because it's not as rich. She was a little crabby Friday because of the wheat but we made it though! She started saying, "Hi, dog!". She just adores the puppies. She's always at their kennel talking to them and if she gets the chance to play on the floor with them, she's just as happy as can be! She's getting 5 more teeth (those will make 12 total). She's eating me out of house and home these days! These girls can e-a-t! But I guess that's the way it goes when you can't have carb-filled food. We can also add peanuts on our allergy list. Whoops! We went to Five Guys a week ago and they cook their fries in peanut oil. I said to Josh in the car we can't give her any fries and as soon as I get home, what did I do? Yep, gave her a fry. I swear...We have her one year checkup on Friday so we'll know more about weight gain then (pray she's gained a decent amount- she was stuck at 17# since January!).

Emme is awesome! She's just cracking me up with all she says. She's entered the monsters-under-my-bed phase. She's also completely and utterly terrified of thunderstorms- she stays awake the WHOLE time it's storming. She's really into playing dress-up/pretend these days. Today she is Cinderella, I'm Princess Eric (supposed to be Price Eric from The Little Mermaid), Josh is the king, and Ellie is Michael (the little boy from Peter Pan). She almost always refuses to take off her costumes so off to Target/Walmart/Hy-Vee we go with the costume and glass slippers on. She loves to help cook anything. She enjoys playing outside as much as she can. She likes to torture, I mean play with, the puppies. She is definitely a Mama's Girl!

3 new additions!

Yes, everyone, I wasn't lying! There are 3 new members in the Swank household! Let me clarify: 1 real member and 2 furry members! Yay!

I'm 14 weeks prego with #3. I don't know why I've waited so long to post it- I guess I just get so busy and forget! We told our immediate family on my birthday. We had a onesie made for Ellie that said:

I'm a big sister!
No, it wasn't a surprise.
Yes, my parents are crazy!

Needless to say everyone was shocked! I think everyone thought we were done. done. done. after this past year with Ellie, but we refuse to let her "issues" take over our life. But we will for sure be done after this. I've already got written in my charts I want a tubal at the hospital! Ha. As far as the sex goes, I'm totally lost. Our boy name is Cohen and our girl name is Eisley (pronounced Eyes-lee). Her nickname will be Izzy. I'm feeling great so far- not sick, not too tired. I go back to the doctor next week.

As far as the two furry members, Josh got suckered into 2 free puppies yesterday from a lady at work. They're brothers and are 8 weeks. Their mom is 1/2 Pom and 1/2 Dockson and their dad is Jack Russel. Janet (from Josh's work) got them on a really good routine so you know I'm thrilled! So far they've been doing great! Their names are Pierre and Jack. See, when Josh was 3 he asked his mom and dad for a dog. They asked what he would name the dog and he said Pierre. Now that he has his own dog, it was just a must!

Ellie is turning one next week (already!?) and we're planning on having our immediate family over for carrot cake cupcakes with "safe" icing (made from powder sugar and rice milk) and sorbet! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

I swear I feed her. Really, I do!

Ellie is doing well overall these days. It's so refreshing! We haven't been to the doctor in a whole entire month! She's crawling and pulling up on everything. She desperately wants to walk and run after Emme but I think it'll be another month or so before she's off and going. She started waving and saying "bye bye" a few days ago (but she says "bababababa"). Her eating has finally started to take off and boy!, can she eat! I've found that most of Nature's Goodness foods (Walmart generic baby food) are milk/soy free so that's been great. I've also had to make a trip here and there to Whole Foods to get her some "safe" snacks. All in all she's doing really well. We were also blessed with a month of free formula from the Fox 4 Love Fund for Kids. So if you've ever donated to them, thank you!

Emme is doing great. She says the funniest things. It's a great age...most of the time. She calls me "Babe" now. I don't remember the last time she said Mommy/Mama. She's totally and completely obsessed with anything Cars, The Little Mermaid, and baseball (Rex Sox). In fact, the other night, Fever Pitch was on and she looks right at Josh and says, "Hey! Dad! That's the Red Sox!". Do you think we watch too much baseball in this house? She's also learning the players names. It's hysterical. We're taking her to her first game of the season tomorrow night and she is beyond thrilled. We're going with some people from Josh's work and will tailgate before the game. I'm just praying with all that I am that she'll be totally enthralled with the game and make it until the fireworks. Lord help us all when the meltdowns kick in because she'll be so overly tired (and she never goes to bed late)!

Guess this is all for now. I've got a lot to get done today before my baby sister (one of them at least) graduates tonight! Yay for Halsey!

Saturday:
L: Big Momma’s
D: pizza, salad, corn
S: whatever you can find!

Sunday:
L: Chef Burger
D: Sandwiches, steamed veggies, fruit
S: banana/cheese and crackers

Monday:
L: Lean Cuisine
D: BLT’s, macaroni
S: apple/oven chips

Tuesday:
L: grilled chicken Caesar salad
D: tacos/nachos, guacamole/salsa
S: fruit snacks/cheese

Wednesday:
L: sandwich, chips, banana
D: roasted chicken, hash browns, steamed veggies, salad
S: cookies/strawberries

Thursday:
L: leftovers
D: steak, corn, rice, garlic bread
S: banana/baby carrots with dip

Friday:
L: whatever we need to use up!
D: Halsey's graduation party
S: fruit/at Hals' party