Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping

So in my quest to make the most of our money and my time and energy, I've created approximately five weeks of menus and hoping to have six total .  I make approximately four meals a week and with leftovers and maybe throw in an impromptu meal, we're set. My "rule" is to have one or two crock pot recipes for our long days when we need to just come in from the day and eat.

I've done menus before, but not to this extent. The difference with these menus is that I have compiled all the menus and created a GROCERY LIST to go with it.  So all I have to do is print off the grocery list section and add the "essentials" of milk, bread, sandwich meat, etc. It really has made the weekly grocery store trip and the day to day food prep much easier. 

This week Chad asked for Chicken Parm, his quintessential choice at any italian restaurant. As a rule, I try my darndest to make what he asks; not because he's the husband, but because he is always easy to please and hardly ever asks for anything special.  I've always made a recipe from a friend, but couldn't find it so I went on Food Network and found one and of course modified it a little.  I didn't particularly enjoy the sauce (easily fixed b/c I have a better sauce) but the chicken was to die for.  I've NEVER been able to do chicken like that, so I'm attaching a link to the modified recipe wit

30 Hours of Leisure

I was watching Dr. Phil (yes,  I know it's Dr. Phil) and the episode was on Dr. Robinson's study about how women have on average 30 hours of leisure each week. Now I don't quantify all the things that Dr. Robinson quantifies as leisure as true leisure. So maybe his leisure isn't my leisure, or maybe it is how I fill my time. I chose to have a son and still continue working. I choose to watch tv at night; stay on the computer for hours on end. I choose the priorities that I want to have and fulfill.  Although sometimes I choose to let the busyness of life creep in. However I think the thing that is my biggest hang up of all is that I let others' standards dictate what my priorities should be.  This has been my biggest struggle for a long time and I had really worked on overcoming it most of the time, but then I had Steven.  I sense this "competitive" side of me coming out whether he is gaining enough weight, sitting up early enough, saying words soon enough, cute enough; not if he is doing them, but is it early enough to beat the average and make him better than others. All of these things I have absolutely no control over. There was a time in the past year that I felt inadequate as a mother because he hadn't cut any teeth yet; now I really have all the control over that.

I ended up in an emergency session with my counselor last week because I just couldn't do it all.  I was frustrated because I could not get everything done and other people were not meeting my expectations in life.  Then I walked in the office and just simply sitting in her office made me think this is crazy there are people with serious issues and then she brought it all to light in that I need to lower the expectations for myself. I can do what I can do at work and that is all.  I have been working with this wonderful lady since July on allowing the unimportant things go while cherishing the moments with Steven, Chad and the dogs. So my house hasn't really been clean, but in the past month more than the previous months.  I haven't done as much with friends, but they seem to come and go beyond my control anyways. But what I have tried to do is spend time with my top priorities. It's such a struggle to look remember my true priorities and not let others dictate them, but Chad and I have had game nights and of course I've spent time with Steven.  I'm learning to put down the computer, turn off the tv, let the kitchen and house go, give up church on Wednesday nights and sometimes Bible study on Tuesday nights and enjoy this time because I won't ever have it back. 

So my leisure time may be spent playing with Steven, talking with Chad and letting the dishes build up in the sink, but I'll get to them eventually or maybe Chad will. I really probably have more than 30 hours of leisure each week, but maybe I should keep a time diary and found out. I'm just choosing to fill them with Steven and some with Chad, because it is my life to spend at my leisure.

Disciplining Steven

So, we really haven't had to do much in the way of disciplining Steven yet.  Usually we say no and then redirect him to something he can have or just let him have whatever it is for a few minutes since it was probably our fault for leaving it down in the first place.  A few months ago there was a sermon on parents not exacerbating your children and I've really been trying to determine in light of that sermon when it would be okay to discipline because it seems that he would be exacerbated more than any good at this point. Today however, I decided I was going to choose this battle and was going to make him obey.  He tries to eat dog food. I'm getting tired of having to run to the bowl and put it up or put the gate up and block the dogs out of that part of the house, etc.  We love our dogs; they are Steven's older brothers and have gotten slighted some in the past year, but are now allowed to have reign of the parts of the house they previously did even if it means Steven's toys have dog hair on them sometimes, eerr all the time. Well, Steven went for the dog food and I was trying to get work done so I said no, and he looked at me with a look like "I know you don't want me to do this but I'm going to anyways." Well, that's when I decided this was going to be his first lesson in obedience. I firmly said no again and he sort of gleamingly still went and put it in his mouth, which is really gross and he doesn't think it is.  I sat there looking at him for a second and said no again and gave him the raised eyebrows look for the first time. Oh, how that communicates I'm for real even when he's never seen it before.  He put his hand to his mouth and took the pieces of food out; at least it was dry dog food.  So, I guess that's a victory.  A little while later he went over to it again. I said no, he put it in his mouth and then I said no again and one by one he took the three pieces out; well, I thought there were three pieces and as he teetered away he took the fourth piece out of his mouth.  He didn't go back over to the food again, but I think it will only be a matter of time and the dog food war has begun! 

It is going to be a really hard thing to discipline Steven with that glorious grin.  He has started sayinng "see, See" and pointing to things that he sees whether it's in a book or an actual object.  I took a video of him teetering around quite well, but can't get it on the computer so I will take one with my other camera soon. He's such a precious joy even if I am going to have to discipline him. 

"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." 

I am now grown up....

So I have arrived at my childhood perception of what grown ups do....wake up before dawn even on Saturday and even when they don't have to.  Maybe this is just a fluke, probably is, but here I am awake; awake since 5:45 a.m. actually..what an ungodly hour. The dogs didn't even get up to go out when I got up! I tried to go back to sleep and couldn't because there wasn't a bit of me that was sleepy, so here I am blogging, drinking coffee, enjoying the quiet while trying to be quiet so the men in my life will stay asleep.

And I've arrived in another way, Steven has slept all night which he has been doing, but he's still asleep and I'm awake. So now he is going to bed before me and waking up after me; this is going to be great. I'm even going to get a cup of coffee in before he wakes up. This could be really awesome!

Now if only this will happen during the week when I need to get up and get ready for work....We shall see. Either way, I'm all grown up and off to watch CNN morning news, which is really a grown up thing to do.

He's the cutest thing ever, but this creeped me out a little.

So today Steven was at the office with me this morning. I was working and he was playing and interupting me working. I know Steven is the cutest thing ever and EVERYONE should want to talk about him, play with him and dote over him. We had an individual who was waiting to be seen for social security disability and to give him credit he wasn't the typical gross "social security" we typically have However, he was still a stranger and he asked if he could watch Steven for me so I could get work done. Maybe it's because of  this story or the fact of recent news of an individual who would have great potential but it has come out that he has molested children after being a victim himself by a former trusted someone, or any of the other stories I've heard, but it creeped me out.  Recently a friend and I were talking about how important it is to have childcare givers that are trusted; a part of that is whether the person pursues your child to be weary of it, so today when approached by a random person to watch my son it made me quite uneasy. I politely declined of course and went on about work. It was probably nothing, but was a reminder that you must always be vigilant when you are in public to protect and be aware of those around.

Having a One Year Old

So I woke up yesterday morning with a one year old and nothing was different. He's still the same precious baby he was the night before when he went to bed. One year old is just a number as is 29, which I will be turning in a few months. So even though I've got a few extra grey hairs, a little bit more aged skin and an achy knee; I'll still be the person I was the night before. And back to Steven; he is what it's all about these days....
His Cake

I really tried to keep it low key and this is what we ended up with.

The spread and decorations

Steven waiting on the festivities to begin.

Our sweet little family

Playing with his ball from Aunt Abby and Uncle Derrik

Enjoying lunch

Taking a break to celebrate Ace's 2nd Birthday

The PRESENTS!!!!

Eating his cupcake...Steven had the dog

And Madelyn enjoying her pig

Pushing Ace on Mater (Ace was saying "No, No, No" and Steven just kept on going)

Adam and Mary chillin'

Then the zoo...He wanted the flamingos

Mesmerized by the elephant

Pointing to the warthog saying pig

trying to figure out the giraffes and zebras

In front of the gorillas

Not sure about the panda

And he's still my precious little baby...

Then the petting zoo...he didn't like them so much

It was a wonderful day. Here's to another wonderful year....

Happy Birthday Steven!!!!

This somewhat captures Steven's first year, but I really don't feel the joy that he brings can be expressed fully. He wow's me everyday and makes life so much more worth living!!!!

What the Little Man is doing....

In four short days, Steven will be one years old.  I'm very excited, but scared to some level because we are entering a whole new level of parenting and requirements from us to really guide him in becoming a strong, godly young man.
So this is what he's up to these days....
Standing quite well
Taking a few steps
Getting into EVERYTHING!!!! (as soon as the fridge is open, he "runs" to it and we caught his hands in the toilet ewww)
Pointing
Eating everything and typically will have exactly what we have for dinner
Drinking whole milk instead of forumula
He's gotten two teeth in the past two weeks and about to have another.
Has learned to pet the dogs correctly, which means not pulling their hair
Gives slobbery kisses
He loves Ms. Betty at MMO
Playing with Ms. Kathy,Matthew and Madelyn 
Saying:

Hey

Bye

Dada

Dog

Kitty (I've finally come to terms with this)

Pig

Ball

Good (to anything he wants to eat)
Bite
Bath (maybe)
Read
and finally today MAMA!!! Well, he's said it before but not to me repeatedly)
He's the happiest baby I've ever seen!
His smiles are the greatest!
In one word he is JOY.....

My how time has flown by, but so excited about what is to come.....

Today was one of those days....

Today was one of those days as a police officer's wife you are reminded that you have to be patient and calm while knowing they could possibly be in a very sticky situation and know that plans will always be subject to change.  Around noon as we were getting ready to leave for a nephew's birthday party, he was called in to help with a situation. He's never been called in before so this was new.  So quickly we scratched going to the party together and  Chad got dressed to go to work while Steven and I got ready to go to the party without him.  I'm not a flexible person; in my mind I would like to be one, but am not.  I hate changes in plans. While he was scrambling around getting everything together there wasn't much time to think about worrying, just thinking how I had to get to the store to buy our nephew's gift, go to the party without him and later that afternoon wouldn't be spent looking for Steven's 1st birthday present. But then quickly after he left I started worrying.  Then before going down that detrimental path, I started thinking about how I must learn to trust God will take care of him, that he will do what it takes to come home and I will learn to patiently, calmly wait and be flexible in our plans for the day.  I've learned over the past few years how to remain fairly calm but there's always a mental pep talk about there's no benefit in getting worked up. It's hard not to even start down the path of worrying, though.  In the end, he wasn't in too much danger, but it was another reminder I need to work on remaining calm and never take a day for granted. I still don't like that our plans changed and I had to go it alone, but tomorrow's a new day and we'll be getting Steven's birthday present then.

.. and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

I judge people; judge them a lot. It’s not something I’m proud of or realize I’m doing, etc, etc. Then on Sunday I saw it before even the scripture was fully read at the beginning of the sermon…I don’t think I’ve ever seen that part of the verse before..and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Wow!!

I can say I’m just making observations; it’s just how I feel. Oh, the excuses I make to justify it and then most of the time I honestly don’t realize I’m doing it. Now that’s just another excuse, but I think it’s the truth about the matter. It’s easy for me for whatever reason to be judgmental. And sometimes I’m really brutal towards others. I’ll forget there is anything positive about the person or situation. And that’s how it will be measure to me. Gulp!! So, I'm trying to stop and I guess it's selfish, but it cut me to the quick.  For the three/four days since seeing that and hearing the sermon I’ve tried really how not to judge. But it’s hard. But I'm still trying. Change begins with me; but it has to be God doing the change in me.



Don’t judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Mt 7: 1-5