More randomness

Miss Emelyn is enjoying the snow day today by taking a nice long nap so I thought I'd post another blog to anyone out there who is bored on this cold day. Here's the recipe for the Pork Tenderloin I wrote about in my previous post:
2 lbs pork tender loin
2/3 c honey
1/2 c dijon mustard
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
Place meat in large resealable plastic bag. Mix all ingredients together. Pour marinade over pork. Seal in bag for at least 4 hours. Cook in the oven according to package or in crock pot. (I placed it in the crock pot on low for 4 hours and put foil over the pot then put the lid on to keep the moisture in.)

My dryer has slowly over time gone from taking 30-40 minutes to dry a load to 70-80 minutes. After trying various things, I called my grandpa for advice. Five short minutes later, I made the "repair" (if you can even call it that!) and my last load of laundry just took 40 minutes to dry. Amazing! What's even more amazing is that I didn't actually talk to Grandpa - I called and left him a message, then he called me back leaving a message on what to check. Thanks Grandpa!

This is Jake and Emelyn one day this week over Jake's lunch break: I actually caught them both laughing at the same time!

Also, I left my Christmas wreath on our front door a little too long - now I have a dilemma. Notice what has made it's home in our front door? I really don't want to disturb these pretty little eggs, but I also don't want to open my front door one morning and have a bird fly into our house - or even worse, have someone come to our door and be attacked by a bird leaving the nest. Any suggestions?

Finally, I went back to K-Mart to buy some things for my sister (she sent me some coupons when she heard about the double coupon days this week.) My total BEFORE tax was($1.21) after tax I paid $1.03:

Friday Thoughts...

• It's suppose to be in the 30's this weekend with a possible chance of snow so I'm looking forward to a cuddly weekend at home with my favorite people.
• The entire month of March I tried to plan meals in advance and have (almost) successfully done it! It has been a lot of fun. Last night I tried another new recipe - Pork Tenderloin that had been marinated in a mixture of dijon mustard, honey and chili powder. Amazingly this was super delicious! I have some new recipes that I'm excited to try in the weeks to come.
• I rarely shop at K-Mart but I saw that they were doubling coupons up to $2 in value so one afternoon this week I had some free time and thought it'd be fun to see what I could find. Do you know how many things end up being free or next to free if you have a $2 off coupon that is then doubled (body washes, deodorants, cleaning supplies, baby wipes.) I had a fun time finding deals!
• Emelyn spit up a lot yesterday after eating the rice cereal Wednesday night, so I think we'll hold off for a while.
• I just started a study this week on the life of David. I have loved being in Mom 2 Mom since Emelyn was born, but I've missed doing a deeper study that really digs into the Bible vs a topical study on being a mom (NOT that I don't need the parenting study as well!) As I've been reading about David this week I was reminded that God has given each person certain strengths and weaknesses and that HE knows our hearts and HE judges accordingly. So refreshing! I love what the Lord told Samuel as Samuel was looking over one of Jesses's sons to know if this one was the one that was to be the next King "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." He went on to choose David - not the handsome, tall, strong son, but the quiet, meek youngest one. David yearned to be close to and to know God, and God called David a "man after his own heart." Oh how I would love for God to someday look back at me and say "Alisha was a woman after my own heart!"
• Have a great weekend everyone!

Scootin'

We tried rice cereal for the first time last night. We've had 2 appointments now where the Dr has said she has all the signs/developments of being ready for food so we finally gave in and decided to try. She was a pro! She opened her mouth right away and new how to push the food to the back of her mouth and swallow. She didn't think much of the taste, but it wasn't bad enough for her not to want more. We only gave her a couple of bites to see how she'd react. Nothing has happened yet. (Except this morning - she was sitting on my lap while I ate cheerios and a banana and everytime I took a bite she had her mouth open thinking I was going to her mouth.)

Jake calls Emelyn Scooter or Scoots all the time and you can see why in this video. She doesn't stay in one place when she's on the floor anymore!

A "new" evening

Before we know it, Emelyn will be ready to eat food with us at meals so we decided to sit her in her brand new high chair for supper tonight. She was pretty proud of herself! We had a regular high chair but it took up a lot of room so we bought her this little chair that straps to our dining room chairs. It is also foldable to take with us when we're away from home which will be nice.
On another note, it downpoured and was dreary most of the day, but around 5pm the "calm after the storm" came and it was beautiful out! So after supper we decided to go to the park for a little walk. It was so nice to see signs of Spring!

First Cooking Lesson

What better way to start Emelyn learning to bake then by making cookies? She clearly has some Broeckelman in her (our family business is homemade cookie dough :) Ever since I received a Betty Crocker calender in the mail (yes I use the old fashion calender to write everything down and to plan meals in advance!), I have been anxious to try making these Monster Cookies:

We invited some friends over for supper tomorrow night so I decided this was the time to try out this yummy looking dessert.
Spatula in hand she was ready to help (Don't worry, she wasn't able to reach the mixer!)

She seemed ready to do some "quality control" before starting the baking process...

And for those of you in the "Thin to Win" contest (and those of you that read about my New Year's Resolutions) I did calculate the nutritional info for these cookies. The entire batch was 5940 calories, and it made 35 huge cookies which makes each cookie only 170 calories - much better than most desserts. :) I'll be sending a lot home with our guests to keep me from eating too many! Have a great weekend everyone!

Stroller ride...

Yesterday, Emelyn and I spent some time outdoors in between naps and laundry and it was beautiful weather!! We knew Jake would be working late to get a project out, so we picked him up for lunch and walked to Lenny's Subs . Then, after her afternoon nap, we went around the block, and I put her in the actual stroller without the carrier for the first time. She loved it. I think she just likes to be able to see where we're going. Since she doesn't sit up yet, I'm still a little nervous to go on a very long or bumpy walk. It's suppose to be in the 80's again today so I'm sure we'll get out the stroller again!

I'm usually not a huge fan of screened tees, but this one from Aunt Donna is just too cute! It says "Cute little girl seeking adorable little boy. Must have hair and love strained veggies. No Momma's boys please."

Trip Home - Part Two

On Sunday we ventured over to my parents to spend the day with them. After church there was a potluck - it was so nice to see all of the people that had an impact on my life growing up again. Not to mention the food was wonderful. After this trip home I'm going to have to get back to eating better I'm sure! After church, Jake went to the farm with my dad, Joe and Joe Jr. (Or as Jake joked, with "Joe, Joe and Joe) and they were able to see 11 baby pigs be born. (Is that how you say that?) "The girls" stayed home (isn't it funny how when you're from a big family that you refer to each other as groups of people - the boys... the twins... the girls... the kids etc..)

Aunt Valerie loving on Emelyn

My grandma holding Emelyn - Joe Jr LOVED Emelyn and said "Hi Emelyn!" every chance he could (which was very often since we stayed with them and sat in front of him in church) Emelyn may have received more kisses from him alone than everyone else combined
My new neice Janessa. She was simply precious! At 2.5 months old, she's the size Emelyn was at 2 weeks old! On a side note, I feel like Emelyn is a big girl, but while home my mom gave each of "us kids" (there I go again!) our baby book and at my 4 month appointment I was over 17 pounds - Emmy was only 15 lbs, 4 oz at her 4 month.

The "grandkids" with a very proud cousin Joe!

This was one of my favorites. When Emelyn was in bed we put her upstairs in a bedroom and to hear her, had to get out the baby monitors. Joe carried around the receiver and every time he heard her, he'd grag the receiver and yell "Hi Emelyn!" into it and was so excited that they could "talk."

On a final side note, this is very sad, but one of the things I looked forward to about going home was shopping at Dillons (grocery store.) I even looked up their circular online before going home to make a list! My receipt says I saved 76% which included some Ensure that wasn't on sale and therefore no savings there. The biggest challenge was for Jake packing everything - 10 boxes of cereal, 6 boxes of granola bars, 6 boxes of potatoes, 10 packages of toilet paper, cheese, biscuits, cookie mixes, juices, lotions, body washes among other things. We made it though, and my cupboards are packed!

Trip Home - Part One

We were finally able to make it to Kansas this past weekend! We didn't have any specific events that we were home for, which made it nice to be able to visit family and relax without any set schedule. Friday morning we got up and went to Tulsa for a follow up appointment for Jake (all is well!) and then ventured on home. Poor Emelyn enjoyed the first 5 hours or so, but after that was SO tired of her car seat. We're definately going to have to rethink how we drive from now on. Saturday we spent the day with Jake's family. Once again - no set schedule so it was nice to be able to relax, talk and catch up with everyone. Emelyn had such a great time with everyone and didn't seem to get overwhelmed this time with all of the people!

An afternoon visit to Jake's grandparents. Our next trip home will be to celebrate his Grandpa's 95th birthday!
Jake's other grandparents came over after lunch to visit. Jake's grandma has been busy quilting and gave Emelyn another beautiful quilt!

Playing with Grandpa on the floor.

Playing with a new toy Grandma gave Emelyn in her Easter basket.

Having fun with Uncle Lloyd - Lloyd works for John Deere and is the source of all of Emelyn's fun John Deere toys and clothes.

Driving Home

More pictures will come, but I wanted to quickly post this video of the drive home. Over the past week or so, Emelyn has started talking A LOT. This is what we heard during the majority of our trip. The first 4-5 hours of hearing this was funny and kept us laughing. After a while, it wasn't so funny, and the talking turned into a high pitched squeal and eventually crying and screaming because the fun and exciting part of the road trip was officially over for Emelyn.

5 Months Old

Today Emelyn is a whopping 5 months old! So that I don't forget down the road, here are some highlights at this age:

• She loves to smile and laugh and seems to be a very happy/content baby.
• A typical daily schedule: wakes up at 7am; eats, plays for 1.5-2 hours, then sleeps 30-45 minutes then wakes to eat and continues this pattern all day. We're still waiting for the 2-3 longer naps to develop (if they ever will!)
• Jake gives her a bottle each night around 8pm and she goes to sleep afterwards.
• Rarely does she wake up crying. We usually hear her talking or playing (or lately, blowing raspberries!)
• No solid food yet; still not sure when we'll start that adventure.
• She's 15 lbs 3 oz. and slightly over 25 inches tall.
• She can do an amazing stomach crunch that any pilates teacher would be proud of. (Her head/shoulders and legs/feet are off the ground with her bottom being the only thing on the floor. She can hold this pose longer than I could ever dream of holding it!) She's usually trying to sit up.
• Anything and everything goes into her mouth.

I think that's about it. We had a very special visitor today. Our friends Emma and Lily came over to play. They are back in the States visiting for the next few weeks until they return to England. Last time I saw Emma, Lily was 5 months old and I was due any day. It has been so much fun to watch Lily grow. We have a lot of memories together pre-pregnancy, during pregnancy and now watching our little girls play together.

Speaking of babies, Emelyn will soon have many more friends to play with. In our Sunday School class alone, there is a new baby due in May, another in June, 2 in July, 1 in August, and 3 in September. We will be meeting Emelyn's cousin Janessa for the first time this weekend too... can't wait!

Emma and Lily

Pulling up on the wall

Trying to play with Emelyn

Finally - normally Emelyn likes the lights and music from this ball but lately she just likes to chew on it. Thanks, Grandpa and Grandma - it has more uses than we thought!

Pacifier

I have shared on here before that Emelyn has started using a pacifier when she's tired and it's amazing to see how quickly it puts her to sleep. Well... at least until recently. :) She's just realized that she can take it out of her mouth to play with as a toy, and well, as you can see, it's not as easy to put back in.

Warmer Weather

Friday morning we debated if we could walk in the morning...

...we finally went around the neighborhood in the afternoon and it was BRIGHT out (and warmer than expected hense the reason her socks are off)...
...back inside to cool off...

..so Saturday we decided to break out the short sleeve shirts - what better way to start than with her KSU shirt (Thanks Aunt Valerie!)...

This is "Miss Molly" a stuffed cow that Emelyn loves to play with/eat.

4 Month Check up...

Earlier this week I went to buy Emelyn some new sleepers and without knowing how big she actually is, thought it seemed logical to buy size 3-6 month since she's 4 months old. Long story short, either her feet would fit, or her arms would fit, but not both at the same time. So back to Target we went and bought 6-9 month sleepers.

After her 4 month check up yesterday, we now know why... her head circumference, height and weight were all the measurements of an average 6 month old. I've been slowly putting clothes in a box that she's outgrown (now including some brand new 3-6 month sleepers - ugh!) and I'm realizing her closet is slowly becoming more empty. I've been hoping to wait until it's nice enough for short sleeves so that I only have to buy summer 6-9 month clothes instead of buying both long and short sleeve outfits... we'll see if we make it!

The weather is slowly warming up here and I hope it lasts - it's 9am right now and 65 degrees outside. The last two days we have enjoyed walking outside which has been such a treat.

Stretching after her morning nap in her new sleeper

"Hey mom!"