Thinking warm thoughts

Last week's warm weather seems like a tease now that I'm watching a few inches of snow fall outside. While I realize it is still February, I can't wait until spring rolls around!

Yesterday we had a great opportunity to experience some warmer weather for a few hours. Visiting with my great Aunt & Uncle afforded us the opportunity to go swimming in their complex's indoor pool. The water was super warm and just the smell of the chlorinated air made it feel like summer for a few hours.

Cori was a little hesitant to get off the ladder and into the water at first, but after about 10 minutes she was a fish. It took some prompting to get her out of the pool at the end.

As for the rest of the weekend, Dave and I got to have a date day - a full 24 hrs - on Saturday. We lounged, we saw a movie (The King's Speech - highly recommended!) and had dinner out at Siba. We won't discuss the hours we spent afterwards at Barnes & Noble looking at baby name books only to not come up with anything .

We've been struggling with our first born too lately, but in a different way. Listening & following directions have been horrible lately, and we are struggling with discipline. Luckily some great advise from friends has helped calm my mind and remind me that it's just a phase. And that consistency with toddlers won't be 100% but more like 80%. In those moments, it's very difficult to remember. For any other toddler moms out there, a friend passed along this article too, and I found it insightful. Make sure you click on the hyperlinks within the article to see 5 Tantrum Stoppers that work and 8 discipline mistakes parents make.

Small update

Just checking in since it's been almost 2 weeks. Just some small updates:

• Health wise, things have been a little nuts. I got sick on Superbowl weekend - caught the stomach bug that Cori & my mother in law had. Luckily it was just 24 hrs, and then I traveled to North Carolina for 3 days of work. That was fairly uneventful, and luckily Dave didn't get sick while I was gone (which was a fear of mine).
  
  Then Cori got sick again this past weekend with the stomach bug again. We can't seem to shake it fully but I'm holding out hope that we've finally kicked it to the curb.
  
• Pregnancy wise, I'm at 17 weeks now. Things are fine but I can't get over how different this pregnancy is from the pregnancy with Cori. First off, I'm down 11 pounds. Even my OB commented on it today. She confirmed that the baby is growing fine and will continue to take the nutrients it needs, so that is what is important. But losing weight?? And I've not yet definitively felt the baby move, which is kind of disappointing. I've had some questionable moments wondering if that was something, but I guess it's been long enough that I forget. Also baby's heart rate is a lot slower than Cori's ever was. Today it was 145 (totally fine, but Cori's was always high, like 170s.) Based on the old wives tales, this would indicate a calm little boy in there. Less than 2 weeks until we find out for sure!
  
• Sleep training is going to begin again soon. Cori has been sleeping surprisingly well lately with the exception of a night here or there. But it still needs to be done, and I'm still not looking forward to it! Overall Cori has been doing really well with school and such (we even have a parent teacher conference tonight - hee hee) so I'm holding out hope that this goes just as smoothly.

Mama mojo running high

I'm really starting to get into the whole Mom thing of doing some crafts and baking with Cori. Last night we made Steeler cupcakes for her to take into school today.
Steeler cupcakes are devils food batter for the black, yellow icing for the gold and of course chocolate sprinkles. Cori had a blast making the cupcakes; she loves to add the ingredients and to mix everything. She also likes to lick the spatula and bowl (some things are genetic and cannot be avoided I guess).


She also had to be the official taste tester and really got into that job:

Next week is her school Valentine's Day party. I really enjoyed putting together treat bags for her friends and valentines to hand out. But they asked that each child bring in a box or bag to collect their valentines. This is what I crafted. What do you think? I'm hoping she can use it for a few years, but even if she just uses it the once, I felt all mommy proud to be able to make it for her!

Mexican Skinny Lasagna

I thought I'd share a recipe for a meal that is both tasty and inexpensive. Bonus points that it is fast to make, you get 12 servings, and it is healthy! (And I bet you have half the ingredients in your kitchen anyways)

1 small onion chopped
1 green pepper chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
1.25 lbs ground turkey or ground chicken
2 T cooking oil

Add above ingredients to a skillet with high sides (or even a stock pot). Cook until meat is no longer pink; break up any large chunks of meat into pieces.

To the skillet, add a can of corn (drained), a can of black bean (drained and rinsed) and a can of diced tomatoes (drained of most of the liquid). Add about 1T cumin and 1T of chili powder. Stir and cook about 4 minutes more.

Now add 2C of pasta sauce and 1C of salsa and bring to a low boil. Cook about 5 minutes.

Spray some cooking spray on the bottom of a lasagna pan (13 x 9 x 2). Now add 1/3 of the lasagna mixture to the bottom. Take 2-3 large whole wheat tortillas and place them on top of the mixture. You will need to tear the tortillas to cover any bare spots, or cut them to fit. Then add another 1/3 of the mixture on top of the tortillas. Add another 2-3 tortillas on top of this - cut to cover and fit again. Finally, add the last 1/3 of the mixture on top of the tortillas.

Now add some shredded Mexican cheese on top of this. You'll use about 1.5 cups of cheese. If you'd like, add some parsley flakes or dried cilantro to the top for a pretty green effect. Cover loosely with foil and bake at 350 for 35 mins. Remove foil and bake another 10 mins. Let the pan rest for 10 minutes before you cut and serve. Depending how you cut, you will get about 12 servings from the pan.

Top your servings with some sour cream and fresh cilantro. Some corn cake would be a great side. And a margaretta would probably be really good to wash it all down. Enjoy!

Mis-mash

Welcome February, and happy early Chinese new year! We're a month closer to spring, and thank goodness, cause this weather is driving me stir-crazy! The anticipation of spring combined with some early nesting has been coming out in small ways around the house. I finally took down the snowman themed bathroom decor and put up more permanent decor.

What's kind of funny is that I like the the reverse side of these towels a little bit better than the "normal" side! Which side do you think looks better - the normal white with green & blue dots, or green & blue reversed with the white dots?
New front decor, thanks to Smith & Hawken (love that store - they really need one in Pittsburgh!)
A touch of spring flowers in the guest room to bring in spring.

As if the weather doesn't keep us cooped up enough, last week Cori got really sick and had to miss school on Friday. Early Friday morning she called to me over the monitor which is nothing new, but I went into the room and saw there was something on the sheets. I thought she had spilled her water sippy, but unfortunately she was vomiting violently. This went on for about 90 minutes. We'd get the poor kid cleaned up with fresh sheets, and she would just fall back asleep when it would hit again. Thankfully that was it, and after those 90 minutes, it was out of her system. But she still seems to have no appetite even now, and she must have been pretty traumatized as she still talks about her vomiting and says her tummy hurts and she is sick.

So far none of us have caught this tummy bug, and hopefully no one will! I'm already down about 10 pounds from the time I got pregnant and a stomach bug doesn't sound like a nice way to lose more! Speaking of the pregnancy, we're also exactly a month away from finding out 2.0's gender. I'm still getting a very strong "boy" vibe, though I'd love for Cori to have a little sister.

I think sooner than later we are going to have to start sleep training again. Cori is really, really in a "mommy" phase right now, and she requires that I lay with her to fall asleep. I hate to say "require", but if I am home, she will not accept anything other than me laying with her to fall asleep. But at daycare and at her grandparents, she naps fine without me obviously and by herself. And if I'm not at home, like traveling for work, she will let Dave put her down to sleep.

But if I am home, it is screaming and crying for 30+ minutes. I've pinned myself into a corner because after 30 minutes of screaming, I go in and tell Dave to leave and I'll just lay with her. I know it only reinforces the bad habit, but at that point, I can't sleep anyways and I'm frustrated and upset too. And it compounds it further in that when she wakes up in the middle of the night, she needs me to lay with her to go back to sleep. I've tried to sneak away and apparently no matter how ninja-like I am, she can tell I'm not there. So she cries out and here we go again. Last night it was 6 times.
.


I have a really comfortable bed, and I'd really like to sleep in it. This is going to be hard on everyone I think, as much as I know it needs to be done and in the end will be better for her. I won't subject Dave's uncle to the sleep training when he stays over shortly, so I guess we'll start after Valentine's day. I'm out of excuses (new house, new daycare adjustment, etc) and I'm pretty much out of patience. I just hope that I have to strength to make it through!

2nd trimester

Last week I officially entered my second trimester - whoot whoot! And while they say that I should start feeling more energy and less effects of things, that has yet to happen. If anything, I've entered a new phase where everything I eat has a horrible effect on my stomach. It's like I ate 3 dozen atomic hot wings, without the joy of eating the hot wings. I wish it was just heartburn, but it's more like stomach and whole body distress. Not cool at all.

We have our big ultrasound set for March 1st and hopefully baby 2.0 will cooperate. We do plan to reveal the baby's gender this time (assuming s/he cooperates), and then we can finally start thinking about names. Well, I've been doing plenty of thinking - Dave thus far has just been doing plenty of vetoing! We have some girl names we agree upon, but boys names are much, much harder. But until we know the gender for sure, Dave won't talk about names, he'll just veto everything I send his way.

Otherwise things are good here - not much else new. Same story, different day - rinse and repeat. We are anticipating some out of town guests in February which will be a nice change, and of course we are looking forward to the superbowl!! Otherwise, bring on spring!

Snow day!

Cori has been adjusting well to the new house, but day care has been a much harder adjustment. She goes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays - "School" as we call it to help her feel like a big girl. The first 2 weeks of January were rough - there were lots of tears at drop off (full out sobbing when I did the drop offs, which immediately resulted in Dave taking over that task). She isn't allowed a binky at school either, which we didn't know and were kind of taken by surprise. But we're rolling with it. Cori isn't eating much there at all - she is such a picky eater - but she is doing excellent at potty training and staying try throughout the day. It will be time for big girl underwear before we know it!

This week we rounded a bend in that no more tears at drop off, and Cori saying she is looking forward to going to school. The one thing she does love is Wednesday "Gym bus" days - she does 30 minutes of tumbling on the gym bus each week and loves it! Dance classes and such look to be in our future!


Sleep has been better (knock on wood) through Cori is getting her second year molars. She is drooling a ton and chapped because of it, and she's also starting to bite through her binkys and what ever else goes in her mouth.


These are some shots from a recent snow fall where Dave took Cori sleding in our back yard. I'm so glad Dave has the energy I don't these days! Cori loves being outside no matter what the weather - I can't say the same!



Perspective of the back yard - lots of room to sled!

Introducing.....

Meet Baby Sprague 2.0 !

Wednesday's first trimester ultrasound went well. Sprague 2.0 is growing well and the gestational sac size resolved itself thankfully. The risk for Downs Syndrome (based on the blood work and measurements) is extremely low and we were able to see some major organs, 4 limbs, the baby's brain and a well formed placenta and umbilical cord.

Baby's heart rate was 156 bpm - a little slower than Cori's was all the time (I believe she was always in the 160s / 170s). It is too soon to tell the baby's gender, but we invite you to place your guess in the poll over to the left. For what it's worth, the pregnancies have been very similar in cravings, sickness, etc except I am more tired. Maybe having a toddler and a new house has something to do with that.....

Dusting off the keyboard

Happy new year! I'm managed to muster enough energy to dust off the keyboard and make an entry. My intentions have been plentiful but it's been really hectic round these parts. And in the quiet moments, I have chosen to rest instead of keep things up to date. (And who needs clean floors or laundry either?!)

Cause for exhaustion....I think everyone who reads this now knows that we're expecting an addition to our family this July. As you can see below, Cori is excited too!

We "came out" at Christmas as only our parents and siblings and a few friends had known. At this point I'm 11 weeks and while feeling fine physically, I seriously have no energy. Zero. Zip. Nada. We're cautiously excited at this point - when I was released from my specialist, the last ultrasound (at 7 weeks) showed a strong heart beat and baby growing on track, but the gestational sac that surrounds the baby was measuring behind more than they'd like to see / was normal. Nothing can be done so it's a wait and see game. I have an ultrasound on Tuesday for my 1st trimester genetic screening and we're hoping everything is "normal" then.

I owe posts and lots of pictures on Christmas (which was wonderful!) and our trip to Atlanta over Thanksgiving (wonderful too!). And Cori started her new daycare which I'd like to write about. I'm hoping I'll get to it this weekend. But that may be a stretch; right now I'm staring down the Christmas decorations that are throughout our dining room. The house may be de-Christmased, but it's all still waiting to be put away. I swear if I had the time, the first thing I'd do with my genetics degree is figure out how to clone myself and it would be like Multiplicity around here! But right now, I think I am going to nap with Cori.

Cori update

Cori seems to be going through some sort of developmental phase because she is really clingy and cranky as of late. Right now I'm listening to her scream "MOMMY" at the top of her lungs going on 5+ minutes while Dave tries to put her to bed. We take turns each night and she is not happy right now. She is also over-tired from not sleeping well last night nor napping long today.

I think part of it is that she had her "trial run" at the new daycare on Tuesday. "School" we call it for her. They were really welcoming to her and even had a sign up on her room saying "Welcome Corinne" which I thought was adorable. I could go into details, but suffice to say she did really well they said. I initially hung out for 45 mins and watched her play; parting was tough but I think more so on me. It's amazing how that "mommy guilt" kicks in!

I was a bit worried because they do not allow binkys in the room - germs, confusion, etc. I figured she'd do well except for napping as she always seems to need it to sleep. But they said she laid right down on her cot like the other kids and went to sleep and napped well. When I picked her up later she was playing dress up with some of the other girls much to my chagrin. Things seemed fine until sleep time she she got clingy. And then she didn't sleep well. I guess it is a lot for her to process? She doesn't go back until Jan 3rd so maybe some time will help.

In her happier moments, one of the things she likes to do recently is to play ball in the foyer. This consists of one or more parents sitting on the floor (it HAS to be sitting of there are tears and tantrums) and Cori bounces the balls to us. Back and forth, back and forth. This can last up wards of an hour! I was able to capture some pictures last night.

In a totally random note, for you "Twilight" fans out there, I swear Cori looks like Rosalie (played by Nikki Reed ) in this shot! Or at least what she would look like as a kid. The pale face, the long blond hair, the red-rimmed eyes.... it kind of freaks me out!

From our house to yours....

Wishing you a Merry Christmas from our house to yours.

8 days a week

We've been here a little over 8 days and I'm happy to say that pictures are hung (all but a few) and 95% of the boxes are unpacked. Both cars now fit in the garage and the basement is even a little organized. We even decorated the outside of the house with white pine and lights - it looks really pretty but it is entirely too cold for me to venture out and snap a photo!

Here's Cori helping Daddy put the lights on the tree
Pretty soon we can start wrapping gifts and maybe even baking some Christmas cookies. It feels good to get most of this stuff done so we can focus on the holiday. Cori seems to like Santa and Frosty and Rudolph. I'd like to focus a little more on the reason for the season in "giving" and now with more time on my hands, I should be able to talk more about the true holiday spirit.


One thing still left to do is send out the holiday cards. At this point we may just wait and do New Year's cards. We'll see how it goes. I'm exhausted lately and we have yet to try and snap a good picture of our girl, let alone a decent family shot.

addt'l pictures

Here is the master bedroom. I am in love with the color - Sherwin William's "Rain"

Not sure why this one was so dark....

And here is the office area

Pictures

My dad hanging blinds in the master bedroom

The move in mess of a kitchen & family room.

Before:
After:

Dining Room

the room is really big & we hardly have anything in it

so my hutch looks super small!

Living RoomSara ironing Cori's curtains (even with her hand 1 day post surgery!)
Aunt Molly & Aunt Angie decorate Cori's room

After:
Guest Room
Cori relaxing in a very small moving box:

Lots of manual labor along the way:

The mess of our garage:

We still have lots left to do - you may have picked up on the lack of lamp shades, photos sitting on the floor and general boxes scattered about. But not too bad for not being here a week I think!

We're in

A brief post just to say we're in the house and mostly unpacked. The move went great and the weather cooperated. It was 2 long days for sure, but worth it!

Still lots of boxes around, things "missing" and trying to figure out some things. We're having a bit of a rough time in the evenings with Cori missing her Um-ma. Basically it results in a lot of limit testing and then asking where Um-ma is (since Um-ma is a softy in the discipline department).

The cat seems to think that Cori's bed is HER bed, which makes for some difficult bed time routines as Cori is falling asleep and the cat starts pawing at the door and crying to get it. Naturally it jars Cori and we're back at square one.

Tonight I finally got the security system & Internet modem to cooperate so we can get online and such. It's the little things right? Focus on the wins like this instead of how we can only park 1 car in the garage because the other half is full of scattered stuff.

Which by the way... when did we accumulate so much stuff?!?!

Pictures to come.

Buzzzzzz - busy as a bee!

Things have been super busy. We're in the home stretch for the home and had our final walk through this past Monday. Things look great, and now that the landscaping is in it looks really finished. I can't wait until there is grass in the spring. We didn't have our camera with us but I'm sure we'll have plenty of pictures next week!

I do have a cute picture of Cori napping on Sunday. Little did we know that she was going to wake up in pain that lasted a while.

She kept saying she had a bellyache but was holding her neck behind her ears. (I've now learned that she thinks all pain = bellyache) With no other symptoms and such a quick onset, I kind of ruled out an ear infection (esp since she has never had one in 2.5 years!) and thought it might have been a pulled muscle. Sure enough as the evening wore on, she would hold her head funny when she turned to the side. She also was fine until she went to transition from laying to sitting or standing, etc. I guess from some strain. Cori is fine now thankfully but we were thisssss close to taking her to the ER just in case since we are flying out this week.

Tomorrow we leave for Atlanta to see my cousin and her family and are really excited to see them. Hopefully the TSA procedures won't be too bad and the line will be bearable with having Cori with us. But she is really excited for her first plane ride and has been talking about it for some time.

With Thanksgiving in mind, we have so very much for which to be thankful again, but especially this year. We have our families, our health, productive jobs, food on the table, and our new house on the way. We also have a lot of things that many people don't have - running water, electricity, heat and working automobiles too. Last but not least, we have wonderful friends who our in our lives in the very best of ways! We are truly blessed!

May your Thanksgiving be full of joy and thanks in lots of ways big and small!

Final Stretch

The house is a few days away from being finished. We went by this weekend to check things out and there isn't much left to do. I wasn't able to take any photos inside as the painters were there finishing up and I didn't to be in their way. But here's the outside with the stone work almost done.

They still need to add the shutters around the windows on the first level and do the landscaping, but that is about it on the outside.

We haven't started packing yet, and can't really start since we're going to Atlanta next week. When we get back it will be crazy no doubt. But I'm looking forward to it all!

Patron Saint of... firemen?

There's long been a joke about a statue near my mom's house... I noticed it about 10 years ago. I thought it HAD to be a mistake, but no, apparently that is how the owner intended it to be. Near my mom's house on the main road is a statue of St. Francis of Assisi holding baby Jesus. But St. Francis is decapitated. And baby Jesus has a fireman's helmet on.

Yeah, I know. Weird huh? Makes you wonder if the owner ordered it this way? Or if the statue originally came with a head on St. Francis and the owner took it off, and added a red fireman's helmet on Baby Jesus. And I don't know which thought seems worse!

I guess at the very least, it's one of a kind.