Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm only a couple days late but better than never...

I'm most thankful for my family. All of them. My daughter and husband especially. It's hard to remember life without Hanley. She is so magical to me, I can't get enough of her! I'm also thankful for how hard Michael works so that I get to spend all my time with our girl. Also thankful for each and every day of our 7 years together and knowing we have a lifetime more!

We had an all around great day. We started out going to Michaels parents house first, around 11am. We ate around 1 and then headed to my grandmothers house to see my family. I am the exact opposite of a gluttonous person on Thanksgiving, it's hard for me to eat a lot when the day is busy or there are a lot of people and commotion for some reason. I will always choose ham over turkey, stuffing over potatoes and the relish tray over everything I already mentioned! It was nice seeing Hanley actually get to enjoy some of the food this year, and if we're lucky, Hanley will actually have some teeth next year so she can enjoy all of the food!

Every year I have high aspirations for making something festive for Thanksgiving but it's just not the easiest when you have multiple houses to go to and the day usually creeps up on me and I'm ill prepared so I just forget about it....one of these years, maybe...

My oldest brother and his family are in from Chicago for just a few short days. Hanley is in the stage where she steers clear of "strangers". They've only seen Hanley last year around Christmas time and obviously she was just barely a mere 3 months old. When my niece met Hanley last year, she was 2 at the time and called Hanley "her baby Hanley". It was the cutest thing!

Thanksgiving day for Hanley was rough near the end. She is used to taking a nap every single day, usually around the same time (depending on the day) and for 2-3 hours. She got to sleep in the car for maybe 20 minutes. So the last few hours of the day she spent clinging onto me, being a little fussy and not going to anyone else.

We aren't Black Friday shoppers, never have been. But since my niece and nephew were in from Chicago, we took all 5 cousins to get their pictures taken. A few of them turned out really nice and my mom just wanted one good one of them all together so ultimately that goal was accomplished.  After pictures we all went to lunch then to visit my other grandmother who is still in the hospital with her brain cancer. 

What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving dishes??

We Went to the Gym Yesterday

Michael has the week off of work. He had some days he had to use up before the end of the year.

We went to the gym yesterday morning (Hanley and I haven't been in a week because she was sick and wanted to make sure not to spread any germs there.) So we took her into the child care and she screamed bloody murder when we tried to leave her. Poor girl. Usually in the evenings when we would take her, there's tons of kids running around and commotion to divert her attention but not this time. There were no other kids and unfamiliar faces for the staff. We tried to get her interested in some toys and run out while her back was turned but once she realized we were gone, she would just scream.

We were going to just jump in the pool but I didn't pack a swim diaper because we had no intentions of swimming so that was out.

We ended up going into the gymnasium and playing basketball and running around. It's nice because all the doors were closed to the court so Michael and I played a few games of horse and she played around with a volleyball and screamed a lot because of the acoustics making her voice echo. Michael and I both did some suicides to get our heart pumping.

We will be trying again today, after Hanleys nap, hoping for a successful trip. We have to continue to try putting her in the child care or she will never be ok with it. If she resists again, I'll just take her to the pool and then try again tomorrow. lol

{Recipe} Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Homemade broccoli cheddar soup; it's what's for dinner!! 

Michael and I went to Panera Bread for lunch one day last week and he always gets the broccoli soup and ever since then I've wanted some more!! This was so last minute but luckily I had all ingredients on hand already. I decided to give it a whirl and make it from scratch without a recipe. A lot of thicker soups are made a similar way. I added the extra veggies but you could certainly omit them if you don't want them or like them.

Ingredients

6 tbs butter

1 large carrot, chopped

1 stalk of celery, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk (I used a cup of skim and a cup of whole)

3 cups chicken broth

1 head of broccoli, chopped

2 - 2 1/2 cups of cheddar cheese

I melted the butter in a large pot and sauteed the carrots, celery, and onions until mostly tender. I then sprinkled in the flour and stirred it all together. It's not going to look appetizing at this point, kind of clumpy and weird. Then I added the milk and then the chicken broth. Brought that to a brief boil then added the broccoli. I let it simmer for around 20 minutes, or until the broccoli is tender. Finally, I added the cheese. This recipe serves a few people so you may want to double the recipe if you need to serve a bigger family or maybe even for seconds!

You could probably just throw everything in a crock pot and let it simmer away all day and it would probably turn out just as good if you prefer it that way. I love soup so much! I like it chunky but if you would rather a more pureed texture you could just put it in a food processor. I wanted to make some homemade bread or biscuits but I decided to make the soup at such last minute that there was no time for bread so I just popped some crescents in the oven.

And of course I had this little monkey rolling around on the kitchen floor being silly.

Grandmother

I'm asking for positive thoughts, well wishes, and/or prayers! My grandmother was diagnosed with a brain tumor just yesterday and today they are doing a very risky biopsy to find out which kind of tumor it is. It's deep in the middle of her brain and if the Neurosurgeon knicks any blood vessels she will have a stroke. I love my grandmother very much and I know she will pull through this! Thank you in advance!

Body Composition

After our first week at the gym we decided to have body composition testing done. Weight, body mass index, blood pressure, and body fat percentage. It's nice to know where you started and how far you've come.

This body composition testing comes with a personalized workout regimen tailored specifically to you and where you want your numbers to go.

Even though I am thin and 10+ pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight I still have a few spots of cellulite that I am working on so I was very pleasantly surprised at my body fat percentage.

I am less than 1% away from being considered very lean with essential fats. That's the lowest category on the body fat percentage chart for females. Yikes!! Who knew?!

So my goal is to spend more time with weights and less time with cardio even though I'm loving being a runner!!

At the end of the 12 weeks when we get tested again, I'm hoping to get my body fat percentage down just a little more!

Even with visible cellulite and stretch marks I've always had a pretty good body image. Sometimes I really don't realize how thin I am but I think all (or a lot) of females have that problem sometimes. It's so easy to focus on the areas of your body that need work or that you don't like but that doesn't mean it's always what other people are focusing on. What about all the great things about your body? Why not focus on them instead?

We've started eating pretty clean in the past several weeks. A lot of lean chicken and lots of green vegetables. I've nearly stopped buying anything processed and I'm making a lot from scratch. My best friend Angela got us familiar with meat markets so we actually buy our boneless skinless chicken breasts by the 10 pound bags now. They last us nearly 2 weeks and aren't filled with any broth solution or rib meat and are never frozen (like the bags of frozen Tyson chicken at the grocery store, yuck!)

I've always been fairly active and it's important to us to raise Hanley with a healthy body image and self respect. If we continue at the Y and make exercising fun, like swimming, racquetball, and fitness classes, it will be second nature to her and she can lead a healthy life!

So here's to focusing on drinking copious amounts of water and this being a journey with no destination!

{Recipe} Kale Chips

Another unconventional/unmeasured recipe...

I had left over kale from last weeks garlic kale hummus I made (recipe here) so I decided to make some kale chips. I have seen the suggestion around on pinterest but never actually read up on any of them. I decided to just wing it.

I had one bunch of kale (with only a handful missing from the hummus) so I rinsed and cleaned it up. I separated the leaves from the stems and put all the leaves in a bowl. I tried to dry the leaves a little with some paper towels but didn't worry too much about them being a little wet. I also just kind of left the leaves in whatever size they came off of the stem as. I poured roughly a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in the bowl and some coarse sea salt and mixed everything together with my hands.

The oven was preheated to only 270 degrees F. I placed the kale on a baking pan and set the timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes the kale was still partly soft so I actually raised the temperature to about 350 degrees F and set the timer for another 10 minutes. I should have taken them out after the timer went off but I decided to let them cook for another 10 minutes. They weren't terrible after the entire 30 minutes but I think they would've been the best after just the first 20 minutes. They were so well done after the 30 minutes that they kind of just disintegrated in your mouth.

Overall they were very good considering fresh kale is very bitter. I would highly recommend them as a healthier snack. They are very versatile also, you could make them sweet with a little cinnamon and sugar or make them a little spicy with cayenne and/or cajun seasoning.

I didn't get a picture of the end result but just imagine dried up kale leaves. Also, the leaves really shrink down and 2 to 3 bunches of kale would've probably been more ideal.

after washing the kale

after separating the kale

11 Random Facts About Me

1. I'm still nursing my 13 month old. We are down to one time a day; bedtime.
2. I'm addicted to flossing my teeth. I've only been a 'flosser' for about 6 months but I am now a 'lifer' and wish I would've started flossing as a child.
3. My dream job would be a party planner and/or wedding coordinator.
4. It's a rare day if I leave the house without dangly earrings on, (I leave the house without my wedding ring more often) which is sad but true.
5. FRIENDS is my favorite show and I watch it every.single.day without fail.
6. I have a thing for house plants.
7. I have never second guessed being with Michael, he is the other half that makes me whole.
8. Mexican and soup are my favorite foods.
9. I have major OCD tendencies when it comes to where certain things in my house are placed.
10. Pumpkin is my most favorite scent but I can't stand the taste.
11. I love getting dressed up and/or looking nice and wearing heels but if you come over during the day, I'll most likely be found in sweats/pajamas.

Poor Sicky Girl

The last few days have been the first time my little Hanley has ever been sick in 13 months. I'm so happy she's always been such a healthy girl because yesterday was absolutely no fun! Thank goodness Michael and I were both home with her all day.

She's been waking a lot at night because she can't breathe. We set up her humidifier near her bed and give her these cold tablets that seem to help a little with her snotty nose. I also brought my scentsy warmer to her room and mixed water with Vicks Vaporub and had that on for just a few hours.

I've read a lot of places that putting Vicks Vaporub on your feet with socks helps a lot so I did that as well before bed.

Yesterday she would literally just cry and cry and cry. At one point her little hands and feet looked veiny and purple so we actually took her to the urgent care. Once we got there, she was walking all over that waiting room like a brand new girl. Happy, talking, exploring. So I filled the paperwork out for them to keep on file and we spoke with a nurse and doctor briefly but there's really nothing they can do for a cold more than I've already been doing so we decided to just take her home and I gave her a bath with Johnson's Soothing Vapors wash.

After a very short nap, she woke crying again so I decided to do some sensory play to try to make her happy. I took one individual container of vanilla yogurt and divided it evenly in 4 little glass bowls. I mixed a drop of food coloring into each bowl of yogurt then placed the yogurt onto her highchair tray and let her go to town with it. She enjoyed it even though she looks pitiful in the pictures. You can actually see her hand print over her left eye from her nap lol.

I found this sensory play idea on Pinterest and plan on trying out some more ideas for her. Sensory play is all about exploring, examining, and learning. It's important for developing senses and inquiring minds.

She's also been feeling much better today, thank God!! Do you have any tricks or tips when your little one is sick?

It Snowed!

This past week was the first real snow fall of the season! It's not much to look at but I can't wait to take Hanley out to play. We didn't have time that day since I was rushing off to class. I already know she will just try to eat it all since she already was eating chunks of snow that came off the bottom of my boot from walking outside then back in the house lol. We will just have to steer clear of the yellow snow left by the dogs =)

There are a few good hills near by and I plan to take her sled riding! Hopefully on a day that most kids are in school so we don't get run over by all of them, it can get pretty crazy out there on the sledding hill! I can't imagine we will go down more than a few times but I still can't wait! She seems pretty tolerant of the cold weather so far, although I bundle her up pretty good.

Grinding Her Teeth

Hanley has been grinding her teeth lately. It makes my skin crawl!!! Not to mention, she only has 4 teeth, front two on bottom and front 2 on top (that aren't even all the way out yet). So she's grinding her 4 teeth together. STOP IT!!!! I didn't know exactly what to do to try to make her stop so I looked it up and I read it's common for teething children because of the pain, which she certainly is. I also read her grinding her teeth shouldn't harm her teeth, which is what I was most concerned about. Does your little one ever grind their teeth??

She also got the 2nd half of her flu shot this week, such a big girl that she didn't even cry! I was a proud momma! Which reminds me I need to remember to go get my own flu shot. After being in this microbiology class, I'm shocked I even leave the house anymore. Everything is disgusting and infected!!

And now some pictures from the week...

This was a very serious and reckless little girl talking on the phone while driving her car. Uhm, naked of course!

 She was insistent on bringing her cell phone to bed on the right picture and by golly she napped with that phone in her hand the entire time!

We don't have any trees that lose their pretty leaves (thankfully) so Nonni and Papa had a nice big pile waiting for their girl when we went over to visit. She wasn't exactly a huge fan of them but at least I got a couple cute pictures. Also, her Papa is her most favorite person, I love watching them together.

 Patiently waiting her turn at the doctor office, telling the same 3 people in the waiting area "Hi" over and over and over. That necklace she is wearing was my mothers or my aunts when they were younger, my grandma thinks it's around 40 years old. She wore it all day long.

She finally discovered my jewelry box... She loves digging through and putting stuff on. This is mostly all old stuff that hasn't been worn in a long time. This is her go to spot when we play upstairs now.

Gym Journeys

So we started going to our local YMCA as a family. Originally, we went to the YMCA one evening to enroll Hanley in some swim classes for her birthday as a gift from my best friend, Hope. Infant swim classes were already a few classes in so we had to wait to sign Hanley up for a few more weeks for the next class. The lady asked us if we were interested in some information on memberships and so we took the information, went home and looked it over. With no intentions on attending the Y, we decided to give it a go and a week ago we headed for the gym.

We were members of the old Y downtown years ago but it was such a dump, we ended up slowly phasing it out of our routine. The pool was a major seller to us especially with an entire kid friendly area and the fact that winter is upon us and having to be cooped up in the house for months.

Michael was planning on going to the brand new Planet Fitness and we decided it wouldn't be very beneficial for me to go as well because they don't offer child care and it would just be too big of a deal to both go. I was fine with that decision, I can exercise effectively in our own living room and had been on and off for awhile.

It was a big deal for me to stick Hanley in the child care center. I've only ever had family watch her and I was nervous she would just cry as we walked away. Well wouldn't you know, she couldn't care less. The staff is VERY nice and great with her, we were extremely surprised. Now she just walks in the door, goes around the gate and starts playing, its the most comforting feeling knowing she is fine. We also decided to wait a little while before signing her up for swim classes to get her more acclimated to the water (she's not a huge fan of water). The staff of the child care also deemed Hanley their official greeter. She waves and says "Hi" and "Bye" to everyone that walks in and out. She's the sweetest!

{Recipe} Garlic Kale Hummus

Happy Monday!!

I never really get the 'Monday blues', maybe in part because I get to stay home with my baby girl!

My mother in law comes over every other Monday to watch Hanley while I go to class. This morning she brought me a package of pita bread she had left over at her house that they weren't going to eat. I instantly started thinking of options to use it up. I remembered I had a can of garbanzo beans in the pantry so I started thinking of a recipe for some hummus!

Hanley likes to help mommy, dig around in the fridge when it's open. I apologize for the rough recipe but I didn't measure a thing! It's just so simple, there's no way you can screw it up. We just went to the store a few days ago and have a few bunches of kale and I figured I could throw some of that in the food processor and see how it goes... You could honestly add just about anything to change it up. Pureed black beans would be good, roasted red peppers, tomato and basil, chipotle seasoning and/or hot sauce!

I got out my food processor and threw in a handful of kale, 2 splashes of lemon juice, and 3 gloves of garlic. I turned it on and let it chop up the kale for a few minutes while I opened the can of garbanzo beans and drained them. Parts of the kale were still in whole pieces so I added about a 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil and about 1/8 cup of water and then started adding the chickpeas. I added about a 3rd of the can at a time. I also added a few dashes of salt. After everything was pureed together I tasted it and it was good but I felt like maybe it needed something extra and so I added 2 [small] spoonfuls of plain Greek yogurt.

I cut up some of the pita bread and started snacking on the hummus and Hanley kept wanting up so I let her try it, thinking she would spit it out because the garlic is pretty strong but she loved it. She kept wanting more and more, my baby is such a good eater!

Garlic Kale Hummus

1 can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas) drained and rinsed
1 handful of kale
2 splashes of lemon juice
3 garlic cloves (more or less depending on how strong you like it)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/8 cup water
3 dashes of salt
2 [small] spoonfuls of Greek yogurt

Yummy! You've got yourself a healthy little snack! I was lucky to have all these ingredients on hand. If you don't have pita, it would be good on crackers or on a sandwich also; its very versatile!

Enjoy!

Lastly, some random pictures from our weekend...