Yummmmmmmy

So you all know I am on  a diet and I've lost 7.8 pounds so far!!!!!

But, I am soooooo looking forward to eating some carrot cake this weekend. It's my favorite!!!

I wanted to post the recipe I am making.. It's from the Pioneer Woman and everything she makes it always AWESOME!

I'm gonna have to workout hard on Sunday! Ekkkkkk!

Carrot Cake

Ingredients

• FOR CAKE:
• 2 cups Sugar
• 1 cup Vegetable Oil
• 4 whole Eggs
• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 2 cups Grated Carrots
•  
• For Icing
• 1 stick Regular Butter, Softened
• 1 package (8 Oz) Cream Cheese
• 1 pound Powdered Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla
• 1 cup Pecans, Chopped Finely

Preparation Instructions

Cake:Preheat oven to 350F
Mix together the sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl. In another bowl sift together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add to first mixture and combine. Then add carrots and mix well. Pour into a greased and floured (Baker’s Joyed) pan (bundt, sheet cake, 9 x 13 pyrex) and bake at 350F until done, 25 (sheet cake) to 50 (Bundt pan) minutes, depending on the pan you use.
Cool completely.

Icing:In larger bowl, cream butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and vanilla and blend, then mix in the nuts. Spread on cooled carrot cake.

Eat. Faint. Repeat as needed

Maddie's angelversary

Sometimes I wonder if Maddie's angelversary  or birthday will ever be any easier. I think the answer is no. It's always going to be hard. We will always miss her...always. Those special days without her are unbearable and always will be.

It's  hard looking back on those days. I remember how very sad I was. Jackson of course made us all laugh and smile. Praise God, for him. He is truly the glue that keeps us together.

Here are some pictures from Maddie's 2nd angelversary on February 17th, 2013. We went and visited her spot then went to my moms house and sent her balloons.
 

We love you Maddie. Miss you so so so much!!

And he's off

We have been working so hard at PT and at home to teach Jackson how to crawl. I was told it was going to take him longer then most babies.

Yesterday, Jackson proved us all wrong....he started crawling! He is army crawling and its so darn cute!

I'm one proud Mamma!!! We have all worked hard for this moment.

I have tried to get it on video but he only wants to do it when HE wants to (which is not often). Hopefully I'll get it soon.

Go Jackson Go!!!

(Jackson is 10months and 16 days old)

My new journey

After I had Maddie I think I lost all of my baby weight before I even left the hospital. No tummy, nothing. GONE!

Well, this time it has been a struggle. I breastfed Jackson until he was 7 months old. I didn't want to exercise because it could jeopardize my supply (remember I have horrible supply issues?). Well it's time to stop with the excuses. It's time to get back into shape.

For the past week I have started to watch what I eat, count calories and exercise. Let's just say it's been hard...like I feel like I'm starving..hard! A few times I wanted to give up. I always start this and 2 or 3 days in give up! Well it's been a full week and I'm still going strong! It's going to be a long journey but James and I are doing it together. I hope at some point  I will feel like I'm not starving. lol

Is anyone else doing something like this? If so, what are you eating. Do you have any tips or recipes to share?

Good Bye 6.6 pounds I hope I never see you again!!

Watermarking

I have had a lot of questions about watermarking.

Yes, I do think you should water mark your pictures. It's easy and if anyone gets a hold of your pictures it will make it a tad bit more annoying for them.

This is how I watermark pictures. I have lighroom. Lightroom is a photo editing software like Photoshop but WAY easier to understand. I just import my pictures, edit them and export them with the watermark, then add to blogger. I have researched and haven't found a way to watermark in Blogger. If anyone knows a way please comment and tell us!

Just wanted to share a quick picture of Jackson and I. He is getting SO big!

Still here

Thank you all for the encouraging comments!

This particular incident actually happened a month or so ago and it is still bugging me. There was a lot to it and I don't care to post about it just due to the fact someone might read about it and do it to someone else! I have been watermarking Jackson's pictures since the incident can yall not see the watermark?

I think I have come to a decision.. I am going to keep blogging but it may be less often due to the fact that Jackson is pretty mobile now and I'm chasing his around a lot!!

Can you believe his first birthday is coming up? I can't! Where did this year go? This is such a HUGE milestone for our family. I'm so excited!!! His birthday party is going to be a HUGE bash! I can't wait to show you everything we are planning.

Blogging.

I have had a really hard time lately with wanting to blog.

Not long ago I found out someone did something horrible with pictures of my babies. So I've been kind of put off from blogging. I want to blog. I love looking back and reading all the happy memories, but when something like that happens it kinda makes me resent posting so much.

So hang in there with me. I may be back. I may not. It make take some time. I am just not sure.

10 months

Jackson,

 You are 10 months old! Wow! Just 2 more months and you will be a year old. I just can't believe it! I am in full party planning mode. It's going to be here soon.

You are up to so much this month:
- You wear size 5 diapers (We just moved you up)
-Weigh around 23 pounds
- Wear 12-18 month clothes
-Your hair is so long! We can not spike it anymore. We are planning on getting you a hair cut soon.
- You are such a content baby. You love to play with your toys but if they are to far away you just find something else to play with (usually the rug).
- You are getting better with sleeping. You go down about 7:30pm and sleep until 5:30am-6:00am. We have been working very hard with you on not getting up at night. You are getting better!
-You are still not a napper. Sometimes I can get you to nap in the morning but most of the time you don't. I'm not sure if you will ever be a real napper.
-You still LOVE your bottle. This month you started holding it on your own. You drink 7-8oz about 4 times a day.
- You are doing great with solids. You eat three solid meals a day. I try to mix up your meals and introduce a lot of different foods. So far there isnt much you do not like. You love to eat!
-You are trying so hard to crawl. You want to so bad!
-You are not pulling up yet. We are working on that at pt along with crawling.
-You are such a happy little guy! You LOVE people. You are so happy when I take you places. You smile at everyone.
-You have 6 teeth. The top 4 and the bottom 2.
-Bella is your bff. You love to play with her. You must think she is a toy.
-You love being outside. You love the wind and the sun!
-You are great with a sippy cup. You love them actually. You love to drink your water out of them. If you see your sippy and I do not give it to you, well you get MAD!
-You are such a sweet boy. You love mommy so much.
-I love watching you and daddy together. You love when he tickles you.
-You are so smart. You know when I am trying to take your pictures and you are starting to not want to smile. Silly!!
-You LOVE bath time! I can not wait to take you swimming this summer.
-You have started to grind your teeth....mommy doesn't really love that sound...ahhh!!!
-You started to chew on your bed. Daddy moved your mattress down and you stopped.
- Everyone loves you so much buddy!

I love you so much. We are so lucky to have to in our lives!

Love,
Mommy

We have a beaver!

We have a beaver in our house...his name is Jackson!

Seriously ya'll. I got him out of bed the other day and I noticed he chewed the bed all up! We haven't lowered his mattress yet because he isn't pulling up. Well it's lowered now.

I know there are those hard plastic things and the soft things you put on the crib to protect it from being chewed but are those safe? Please let me know if you know anything about those. I have a feeling once he can pull up we are going to have the same problem!

Jackson's BIG 10 month blog is coming up...can you believe it?????

Recipe

This recipe is SO easy and YUMMY! 



Cream Cheese Chicken Chili

1 can black beans
1 can corn, undrained
1 can Rotel, undrained
1 package ranch dressing mix
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 8 oz package light cream cheese
2 chicken breasts

Drain and rinse black beans. Place chicken at bottom of pot, then pour out whole can of corn (undrained), rotel, and black beans. Top with seasonings and ranch mix. Stir together. Place cream cheese on top. Cover with lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir cream cheese into chili. Use 2 forks to shred chicken. Stir together and serve.

Recipe from The Plain Chicken

Boy meets dog

Jackson is on the go!

He is not "crawling". He log rolls everywhere, then sits up and eats whatever he can find. The kid cracks me up!!

Yesterday I caught him eating the dogs leg! Yes, THE DOGS LEG!!! It was so funny I had to take a picture.

 

Of course I  washed his hands and brushed his teeth after that. 

I need to make a list of things he has tried to eat:

-our living room rug

-Bella

-our scale

-my pants

-every toy in the house

-the wood floor

-the carpet

-my leg

-my arm

-the high chair

-car seat

-living room tables

-my necklace

I'm sure the list will go on and on.. 

Jackson,

   You are so silly! I love you so so much!!!

Love,

Mommy

Yummy

I have been cooking some yummy recipes. I wanted to share this one!
I didn't make the tarter sauce so I'm not sure how good it is.

Follow me on Pinterest! 

Panko Crusted Tilapia & Tartar Sauce

Ingredients:

Tilapia:

Nonstick spray

2 tablespoons melted butter

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

1 to 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper ( I used 1 and it was spicy)

Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Two 6-ounce tilapia fillets

Tartar Sauce:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons pickled relish

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Dash hot sauce

Directions:

To make the tartar sauce: Mix the mayonnaise, relish, dill, mustard and hot sauce together in a small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour before serving.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place a heavy-duty baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray in the oven to heat.
Mix together the melted butter, Dijon and dill in a pie plate. In another pie plate, combine the panko, cayenne and some salt and pepper. Dredge the fish through the melted butter mixture and then through the panko. Place on the hot sheet trays in the oven and bake until cooked through and lightly golden, 12 to 15 minutes.
Slightly Adapted from The Food Network