A weekend with our goof.

Caroline gets goofier every day. It's amazing! Not only is she getting more mobile (no, she's not crawling yet. BUT she's great at flopping over in our laps to eat our knees. Or tumbling herself over on the couch to grab a doggie tail), but she gets more and more personality every day. We're quite fond of our goofball; she fits in quite nicely with us :)

Anywho, we had a weekend of home/baby/vacation preparation! Saturday was cleaning day. Unfortunately, I didn't get as much cleaning done as I had planned, because a certain someone insisted on being held (no, not Josh, Wrangler, Ellie, Parker, or Tollie... a certain tiny baldy). Josh did most of the cleaning while I kept miss baby entertained. After cleaning, we headed out for a delicious lunch at Newk's, bought Joshua a wallet at Stein Mart, and bought me a bag from Shoe Station (wallet that will fit in his front pocket for him and a large over-the-shoulder zip-up bag for me... apparently the pickpocketers in Barcelona are pros). Joshua made us some tasty enchiladas for dinner and we watched a few episodes of Mad Men before I collapsed into bed.

Sunday, I was planning to pack. I did some packing... mostly toiletries and stuff. But I don't want to pack clothes yet to avoid those obnoxious wrinkles... so the hardcore packing will happen later this week. I went to Target and spent a depressing $130 on household items, dog/cat items, and Caroline items. I'm trying to make sure we have enough of everything for the parents. Sunday afternoon, I went to redeem my NailBar giftcard and got an eyebrow wax, a pedicure, a manicure, and two peach champagne cocktails. It was very enjoyable and a great gift from Caroline ;) I am SO awkward at nail salons, though. I can county the number of times I have ever gotten my nails done on one hand, and I have no clue what to do at those places. The lady doing my nails didn't speak very clear english, so I was even more clueless. Thank goodness for my delicious beverages to ease my social awkwardness a bit!

We ended the night with a dinner at Chili's, more MadMen, and a webcam chat with my parents. This weekend went by WAY TOO FAST (I'm not ready for my mortal enemy... Monday). I wish we could take this week off to prep. However, we have to make the money so we can afford to enjoy ourselves on this trip!

Have an amazing week everyone!! I will be spending my week trying not to stress too much about our upcoming trip to Barcelona :)

Foodie Post: Parmesan Chicken and Rice

Hello and happy hump day! You may have noticed I ended my weekly food updates. Honestly, they were annoying me. And, it's pretty embarrassing to admit that Josh and I will have a week where we eat grilled cheese and soup three nights in a row. Hey, when money is tight you do what ya gotta do. Pardon my grammar. I got carried away.

Anywho, I think I'm going to blog about food only when I think the food is worthy of being blogged about. My grilled cheese sandwiches may be the best thing since sliced bread (funny, because they basically are just sliced bread, but moving on), but they are not blog worthy. From now on, I will share recipes we like and I think you guys may like, too. 

This brings me to my point. Last night's dinner was delicious. It got the following reaction from my husband: "this dinner is a make again; no ifs, ands, or buts about it." He says he isn't picky, but I think otherwise, so I LOVE when dinners are labeled as make agains.

Last night, I made Parmesan Chicken and Rice, which was not only delicious, but was supposedly also "lite." Here's the recipe, guys.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon olive oil 
• 1/2 cup chopped onion 
• 1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms 
• 3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces 
• 1/2 cup dry white wine 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup uncooked instant rice
• 1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth 
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese 
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

PREPARATION

1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, thyme, and mushrooms; sauté 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Add chicken; sauté 4 minutes or until the chicken is lightly browned. Add wine, salt, and pepper; cook 3 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates.
2. Stir in rice and broth. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in cheese and parsley.

Bottom line: it was tasty! The prep took a bit, due to the chopping of the onion, chicken, and parsley. However, I'm the slowest chopper on earth, so this is more of a personal problem. It's a super easy weeknight meal that was easy on the wallet (I already had most of the ingredients) and simple to make.

Hello, I am food and I am delicious. Nom nom nom, everyone.

Sick baby, Father's Day, and Vaccinations, OH MY!

Welp, due to a busy morning at work, a trip to the doctor, and a clingy baby, my Monday update didn't actually happen on Monday. Mondays stink anyway and deserve no recognition, so Tuesday it is!

Let's start with Friday, shall we? Caroline had been a coughing snot factory all week, so we caved in and took her to the doctor Friday morning. By we I mean me, as Josh had court in the morning. Honestly, handling a six-month old alone at a doctor's office for two hours (yes, two hours) is no easy task. She is getting very independent and constantly wants to stand. She LOVES standing up. It was no fun, but she drank a bottle, "read" books, and played with that weird tissue paper crap they put on the tables. When the doctor finally came in, after two nurses saw us, she sent us to a radiologist to get a chest x-ray. Luckily, Josh was done in court so he met us at the radiologist's office so I could go back to work. Thankfully, I got a call later that her x-rays came back normal. Unfortunately, that didn't make her feel any better and she is still a coughing snot factory. But she's SUCH a cute coughing snot factory!

Oh guys, this story is FASCINATING.

Saturday, we had an adventure at the mall to get a tuxedo shirt and bowtie for Joshua for the wedding. We are going to look quite smashing in our fancy outfits. How do you know Caroline is sick? She slept in the carseat throughout an entire Target run and the whole time we were at the mall. This NEVER happens. She is the princess of cat naps and never naps that long. We woke her up for a bottle at Chipotle and headed home. We relaxed around the house for the rest of the night, had some deck beers, ate some butter chicken, and lazed around watching TV.

Life on my quilt is SO MUCH FUN.

Sunday, we celebrated Joshua's first Father's Day! Caroline was so excited to celebrate, she decided 6am was the perfect wakeup time! We gave her daddy his card and his lovely fingerpainted pictures. He then made us breakfast (I did offer to make it, but he insisted!). We had a relaxing morning drinking our coffee and hanging with our girl. We enjoyed some deck beers before heading out for lunch at Vertigo, a local burger joint. I got a shrimp creole burger, which was AMAZING, and we shared sweet potato fries, which were SOOOO GOOOOOD. We then had a Best Buy adventure, where Caroline decided she needed her lunch. We headed home and watched two movies. First was Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. Guys, it was SO BAD. Even Caroline fell asleep ;) After that was Warm Bodies, which we really enjoyed - I recommend that one! We ordered a pizza, chatted with my parents, and went to bed at an embarrassingly early hour... it was amazing. Joshua's first Father's Day was a success!

Hanging out with my daddy is SUPER COOL.

The creepiest thing ever happened as we went to bed Sunday night. Caroline had been in bed for about an hour. I laid down to to go sleep and Josh sat up to play on his phone for a bit before calling it a night. About 15 minutes into this we hear a SCREAM from Caroline's room. I mean, a horrific scream. I bolt up in the bed and Josh sprints into her room. He comes back and tells me she's peacefully sleeping. WTF, guys, WTF. It was clearly her voice that screamed, but she was fast asleep. I'm assuming she had a nightmare but it was honestly the scariest thing ever and we both had a hard time going to sleep. Poor thing :(

Monday, we went in for Caroline's six-month checkup. Her stats:

Height: 28.5", 98th percentile.

Weight: 18 lbs 3 oz, 80th percentile.

Head: 42.8 cm, 50th percentile.

I adore my giant baby!! Once again, it was just me and my gal at the doctor's office (husband had jury selection and a meeting with a Judge), and once again she was an unhappy, fidgety mess. We spent about 20 minutes just walking in circles around the room singing songs; that was the only way to keep her happy. She was great and all smiles during her exam. Then, the vaccinations came and she SCREAMED. However, unlike the other vaccine days, she was fine the second I picked her up. So, it actually went really well. We went home and sat on the couch together all afternoon. She got mad whenever I put her down, so there were many snuggles.

Mommy, why are we at the doctor's office AGAIN?

It was a great weekend; I just wish my little lady was feeling better :( Sick baby makes for a sad mommy and daddy.

An actual Monday update!

Look at me actually making a Monday update on a Monday. I'm all timely and stuff. I am trying to delay doing actual work for a bit, so I will blog! I would also like to remind everyone that Mondays SUCK.

Only a face like this can brighten a Monday.

So, what did we do this weekend? Not much, actually, and it was amazing.

Joshua had an archery tournament early Saturday morning. We got up early, before Caroline woke up, and Joshua made pancakes and we enjoyed coffee time sans baby. It was nice! Although, her presence was missed and I got excited when I heard her morning sounds on the monitor. Caroline and I headed out for an early morning shopping adventure. We were at Michael's by 9am and Old Navy by 9:30am. We then did Fathers Day arts and crafts (no details yet, as the husband has yet to see our masterpiece).

"Daddy, I missed you. Don't ever play archery again!"

We spent the afternoon webcamming with my family, going on a "run" around the block (mostly walking with tiny "runs" every once in a while... I'm really out of shape), and enjoying deck wine. It was a wonderful day. We finished the day with wonderful salads for dinner.

Grilled chicken, carrots, avocado, green peppers, spring greens.

Sunday, we ate pancakes and bacon! Caroline got some pancakes to "eat" but not a single piece made it near her mouth. They all ended up ripped to shreds and on the floor for Ellie to eat (Wrangler was too hypnotized by bacon to notice the rain of pancakes). Every single toy we give Caroline goes straight toward her mouth, but the second we give her food it goes nowhere near... odd.

I loves my new pancake toy, mommy!

We then headed to the mall to do some shopping! We bought a convertor for Spain and some new shoes for me (adorable sandals that I completely forgot to photograph. After the mall, we headed home for the rest of the day. We had more porch wine, more healthy salads, and watched a marathon of Storage Wars. We're the coolest family ever.

I LOVE MOMMY'S IPHONE A LOT.

Now that Caroline is sitting up so well, we decided to set up the playpen in the living room so that she has a safe place to play (two crazy doggies often come close to knocking her over. I have named this safe place baby prison. She loves it. We even put her in there this morning instead of the swing. She'll soon outgrow the swing, so it's good that we have found another place for her to be. She can be independent, yet still see us for reassurance. It works well!

Baby prison!!!

"Monday" Update!

Yes, it's Tuesday, but I'm still counting this as one of my "Monday Updates" because it's my blog and I do what I want, bwhahaha!

This weekend was filled with shopping adventures. Some fun, some horrible, some exhausting. I went to the mall three times on Saturday. We live between 20 and 30 minutes from the mall depending on traffic. Thus, this many trips to the mall are quite ridiculous, but were very necessary.

Trip one: The morning trip with Caroline

Caroline is usually a wonderful shopping buddy. The previous afternoon we had shopped at Stein Mart and a local store called Narcissus and she had been an absolute delight. Therefore, I saw no harm in taking her dress shopping at the mall while Joshua helped move his archery range. 

Well. It didn't go so pretty. We walk into the mall and I start grabbing dresses to try on. She starts crying, so I grab her out of the stroller and hold her while I grab more dresses. Then I catch a whiff of something stinky, ask the girl to please keep my dresses in the changing room, and go change the diaper. Awesome. Done, fixed, awesome. So, we go back to the changing rooms, I put my dress on the floor for her to sit on, and she squeals in delight for about five minutes as she watches herself in the mirror. As I'm standing there in bra and panties about to try on another dress, the squeals turn into screams. I make a bottle for her right there in the dressing room. It was a disaster. I finally had to let her cry for a minute so I could put my dress back on and move to a bench to feed her.

This should have calmed her down. We moved to the upstairs section of Dillards to shop around more. The entire time she had to either be held or needed to have the bottle in her mouth. I did all this while choosing more dresses to try on. We also lost her toy giraffe at one point which was a disaster, but luckily the sales clerk found it. We were a hot mess express. After Dillards we walked around the mall a little more, but the fussiness never went away so we headed home (of course, she fell asleep the second the car started).

Trip two: Just me, myself, and I

Joshua finished his archery stuff, so he watched Caroline while I headed to the mall on my own. He had no idea what he got himself into, as she was fussy for him, as well, but eventually fell asleep. I had a lot more luck looking at dresses on my own. I eventually settled for a dress from Macy's. It's teal, long, flowy, one shoulder with a studded jewel, and very comfortable. It cost me $100, but it's an investment. I now have a go-to black tie gown. Success!

Trip three: The whole family!

When I got home from my successful trip, I realized I could have donated $3 to charity to receive 25% off my purchase. It would have been nice for the girl to mention that after my first coupon attempt was unsuccessful. Anywho, we decided to head back to the mall to try to get that coupon, and to look at suits for Joshua. 

Joshua ended up getting a basic black suit from Penny's (he'll dress it up with a bowtie and tuxedo shirt). Caroline once again needed to be held most of the time, but was at least happy. Once we got his suit, I think we were all too tired to make the trek back to Macy's, so we headed home without trying to get the Macy's coupon, defeating the entire purchase of the trip. Epic fail, Brian family, epic fail.

Sunday, we went to DSW to find shoes that went with my dress. Josh ended up staying in the car to feed Caroline (until she went poopy and he had to come inside to change her diaper). I ended up finding a simple pair of silver Nine West shoes that will work great. It was a successful trip!

I have not been posting my food blogs due to the lousy food we ate last week. In an effort to be frugal, we ate grilled cheese and tomato soup three nights in a row. I figured that wasn't worthy of a blog entry. I did make some delicious pork chops last night, but the recipe had already been blogged, so it was also not worthy of a food blog. Oh well.

In Caroline food news: She hates peas (see exhibit A on the left) and LOVES LOVES LOVES peaches (see exhibit B on the right).

EXHIBIT A ........ EXHIBIT B

Giggles!

We finally have a giggler! She has been working up to it for months and months, has been getting close for a couple weeks now, and she finally let loose and giggled today. IT IS THE CUTEST SOUND EVER.

Four things crack her up:
1. Her own reflection,
2. Her daddy (I agree, Caroline; he's quite funny looking),
3. The sounds of her own giggles,
4. Our dogs playing on the deck!

I'm so happy that she has finally figured out that laugh. This is probably one of my favorite milestones yet!

Click here to listen! (link will be up soon; it's also on Facebook!)