We are having the most amazing weather! It is unREAL. Late June in south Texas and we have had mostly in the 80s weather- plus the next 10 days are forecasted in the 80s also!! We have had at least some rain most days. Some it has really poured! I am very thankful for the coolness but the rain has produced some nasty mosquitos! Poor Andy just can’t tolerate them at all- he takes WEEKS to heal from the bugger’s bites and for more than a week they look awful. 🙁
And where was this beautiful weather last year when I was biggo preggo with swollen feet to my calves and BEGGING for a break???

I am making “huaraches con puerco adobado” tonight. DH and I listened to a food podcast last week and they talked about them. They are masa mix cakes (think pancakes) shaped like little sandals (huaraches means sandals in Spanish) and panfried in a small amount of oil and then topped with chile and lime marinated pork balls and fresh salsa made from garden tomatoes and no heat jalapenos (this is my first batch!) and onions, lime juice and cilantro.
I also made a reduced sugar Peach Creme Cake. My own invention but heavily inspired by this kraft recipe. I’m taking Cinnamon graham crackers and lining the bottom of a 9×13 pan with them. Then I am covering them with a filling made with SF vanilla pudding mix, 3/4 cup pureed peaches, 1 t apple pie spice, 1 cup milk and a container of SF Cool Whip (mix that in last). Another layer of graham crackers, another of filling, another of grahams and a thin top layer of filling. Cover and refrigerate 4+ hours. The grahams are supposed to soften and resemble an eclair type dessert with peach filling. YUM!
I was only able to do this much today because Andy is currently fascinated with the sippy cup cupboard and Brendan with playing at washing dishes in the sink. 😉

Oprah mentioned her smoothie recipe on her latest Bob Greene epsiode. I tried it this morning (except I used vanilla soymilk and chocolate syrup). It was okay but I can detect chemically tastes much better than most people (I can also smell things before other people, I wonder if it’s related?) and soy is one of them. I can hack soy in soy rice cakes and soynuts and if spiced really well, soy protein like fake hanburger meat. Apparently I can’t hack soy milk though- even vanilla flavored in a smoothie.
Hungrygirl is always touting Almond Breeze for her smoothie recipes. I think I’ll make Oprah’s recipe again except I’ll use unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze + Splenda instead of soymilk. I’ll let you know. Otherwise, it was a very good recipe.
I used 8th Continent brand. Does anyone know if Vanilla Silk is any better? Leave me a comment!

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Bren: Knock knock…
Me: Who’s there?
Bren: Orange
Me: Orange Who?
Bren: Giggle, giggle.
Mimi has been trying to teach him knock knock jokes. 😛
Apple Jack’s 6th tooth peeked out yesterday and popped through today! Upper tooth to the left of the front two. So he has 3 top teeth to mash down on his 3 bottom ones. He has yet to pop out any on the right of his front teeth. 😀
Andy also clapped in response to me telling Brendan “Yay!” He’s made the connection between the word and the movement, not just the mimicking!

It’s not often (ever?) that I am wowwed by anything marketed as a meal kit. I have to say though that this time I was. Tonight I made Wanchai Ferry’s Spicy Garlic Chicken. The kit came with seasoned cornstarch to toss your chicken in, jasmine rice, a sauce packet and a can of bamboo shoots and water chestnuts. It came out perfect!! The right amount of sauce and really delicious.
At first glance I was tempted to not buy it because I hate cooking rice. It takes forever and doesn’t come out right for me. And even though I would add 1/4 cup more water and cook the rice 2-3 more minutes it didn’t seem a chore because all of the other preparations and cooking took up that time exactly.
It was spicy but just at the right level for our family. And as an added bonus for us- no onions, celery OR mushrooms to pick out. Brendan scoffed at his plate but once he tried it he ate it right up. He likes spicy stuff though. This dish would be good with a few cashews tossed in at the end or maybe even use orange juice instead of water for the sauce. I can’t leave a recipe alone.
Go visit their website… there’s a $1.00 off coupon! And don’t believe the box… it really only serves about 3. Maybe 4 for a small lunch. I can’t wait to try the other 3 varieties!

Andy took his first 3 crawling “steps”, sat up for the first time sit-up style (rather than from belly to crawl position to hiney) and pulled up to a standing for the first time on my leg as I sat on the couch…all today. Wowee!
I’m gonna miss his army crawl. 😛
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I am now on day three of AF (after only 3 weeks??) and it’s the big bad one. Haven’t had a true period like this since November 2005. LOL. Guess I’m due.
Andy is on a formula/milk/water strike. He will not drink anything hardly by bottle or sippy cup except some gatorade or juice. This has been going on about 3 weeks now and it is so frustrating!!! I even tried adding some chocolate milk and serving it warm and cold. Nope. He just doesn’t like it and will hit the cup/bottle away with a wild, wide, fisted swing.
What can I do? I still nurse 3-4x a day and he gets at least a few ounces that way. Not sure how much but he only has very small wet diapers afterwards. He’ll drink a few ounces gatorade or juice here and there.
He eats food so well that I’m not worried about nutrients except for calcium and maybe vitamin D. I bought him some YoBaby yogurt and I’ll have to step up the cheese. Perhaps he’ll drink formula if I add a full amount of chocolate syrup.
I hate to do this AGAIN. Brendan is this way and I have been fighting it with Andy. But he won’t drink more if he’s really thirsty. Sigh… at least Brendan drank water.
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Did I mention Andy snaps his fingers? Real honest to goodness popping snaps. It’s amazing. LOL.
Brendan has been amusing himself with an X-Box snowboarding game. It’s fun! He calls it the “Splashing Guys”. Haha.

Andy claps his hands now!! It’s kind of wild looking but there! He also snaps his fingers (without the “snap” though, lol). He is getting really close to crawling but he’s pretty quick with the belly scoot now. He is also fully into size 18 month clothes- I packed the 12 month clothes away yesterday- and is getting close to needing size 4 cruisers. Did I mention he popped out his 2 center top teeth? Can’t remember.
So far, okay on the diarrhea. He did have one questionable diaper today but also a good one and yesterday he was fine. He is drinking from a Nuby soft spouted sippy now. You have to be careful how you assemble it- the spout has to be just right in the 2 side notches and it be tightened not loose but not tight either or it leaks. It’s pretty much a bottle with a different shape but from the public eye I guess it is a cup. Baby steps.
Going to the in-laws for a long weekend. I’m trying to convince myself to stick to the diet while away but I’m not being successful so far. :/ One fried chicken meal with a really rich dessert would be heaven right about now. LOL.

The almond extract is what makes these special. Vanilla would work fine too though. They are about 300 calories each. I know I’ve posted a shortcake recipe before but it was full of cream, butter and sugar. I don’t miss it at all with this recipe.
Sugar Free Strawberry Shortcakes
Makes 5 or 6
Mix together:
2 c flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 c splenda
1/4 c canola oil
1 c milk
1 t almond extract
Spoon onto greased cookie sheet in 5 or 6 mounds. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until bottoms are browned. Split warm shortcakes in half and fill middle and top with toppings.
Toppings:
Splenda sweetened fresh cut up strawberries (or try light peach pie filling or canned peaches with Splenda)
sugar free strawberry gel (found next to store bought sponge cake)
sugar free cool whip

Bren update- last night he was finally able to tilt his head upwards. That was the last to heal. It took 4 full days. It’s been hard keeping him from bouncing all around.
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I’ve started weaning Andy and I am about 80% fine with it. I’ve seen it coming and have slowly come to terms with it. I didn’t absolutely adore BFing in the beginning. Without the late night sessions I might have. But lately, it has been quite nice. He’s so cute holding my shirt and rubbing his face with it, playing peekaboo with it. He obviously loves breastfeeding. He always has. But the past month has been very difficult- I am just not producing enough for him. His diapers have not been wet enough at all. Instead of always wondering if he is getting enough to drink, I’d like to just know. It’d be a relief. So I have been giving him about 3 bottles during the day. He will sometimes take 4-5 oz but mostly just 2 oz at a time. That’s fine.
I just want him to be okay with the formula- not get sick over it. The past 2 days he has had bad diarrhea. I don’t know if it is the extra formula on it’s own (he’s never had trouble before) or if he is sensitive to lactose or what. It also could be that the past 2 days he’s had Similac instead of Good Start. I bought him some Isomil DF (soy formula for diarrhea) that worked wonders for Bren once. It is already helping. The real test will be when he’s done with it and back to regular formula. If it makes him sick again we’ll have to go visit the dr.
I still nurse him at least 3 and most of the time 4x a day. That’s how he falls asleep and I know I have at least a few ounces in the morning for him. It does me good to see wet diapers again. I waited far too long but I had to try to work through the dry spell.
It’s only 12 or so more weeks until he is 1. That has always been my goal so I did well. I don’t know when I’ll fully wean him. I waver between wanting to be done with it and not wanting to have to train him with a new method of falling asleep. His sleeping is really great right now- he sleeps in his crib for at least 1 nap and all night now without fuss, for the most part.
I really, really hope he doesn’t have milk sensitivities though. My family is fine with milk but I have no clue about the donor’s issues. Soy milk- blech! 😉
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Bren has really interacted with Andy the past few days. I hope I got a good picture of the 2 of them. 😀 It is very hard to get them both smiling and both in the frame together!!
Also, Andy opens his fingers now when you move his hands together in a clap. He loves clapping and rolling a ball around. He also startled me by snapping his fingers 3 times the other day. I’ve since seen him try to do it again but couldn’t make the sound. He has been watching DH, lol. He also has the teensiest bit of both his 2 top center teeth popping through.
Brendan is moving up levels with his video game skills. He has been playing on Nickjr.com and Noggin.com, etc. Some of the games are hard! He especially loves Scooby-Doo and Diego games right now. The SD game uses the keyboard to move around and the Diego one involves switching back and forth between Diego and Baby Jaguar and utilizing each ones special skills to collect bottles in odd locations. I’m impressed! 😀