Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Crock Pot Dishes

I've mentioned before I never used the crock pot much since my husband thinks it's bound to burn our house down if we aren't home. Well, now that I am home I decided I need to start using this handy little gadget.  Last week I tried out 2 Pinterest recipes and both were AMAZING, and of course easy.  I thought I would pass them on for yall to enjoy! :)


First off I tried this Cheesy Tortellini Soup.  After I already got the ingredients, I read the comments and saw how a lot of people added sausage to it.  I am definitely going to try that next time to add a little kick.
 
 
Ingredients:
 
16-19 oz bag of frozen tortellini
1 small bag of spinach  (I used fresh spinach)
2 cans (15 oz) Italian style diced tomatoes
1 box (4 cups) Vegetable broth
1 block (8 oz) cream cheese
Salt & Pepper to taste

 
 
Put all ingredients in the crock pot (breaking up the cream cheese) except the tortellini, and set on low for 4-6 hours.  I think I did closer to 6.  The last hour is when you will want to add the pasta so it doesn't get too mushy.  This made enough for us to have dinner, 2 more days of lunch for me, and a big Tupperware bowl to freeze.


 

 
 
 
Next, I tried out these Smothered Pork Chops.  I only got a finished product pic here because Tilly was waking up so I was just throwing everything in quickly! haha
 
 
Ingredients:
 
4 pork chops (I used boneless)
1 envelope (1 oz pack) Onion soup mix
1 (14 oz) can low sodium Chicken broth
1 (10.5 oz) can low sodium Cream of Chicken soup
1 envelope (1 oz pack) Dry Pork gravy mix
Garlic Powder
 
Mix everything into the crock pot except the garlic powder and stir well.  Sprinkle both sides of each pork chop with the garlic powder and place in the crock pot.  Make sure all pork chops are completely covered with the sauce.  Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours.  I did around 7 hours.
 
These turned out delicious, and I am not a big meat eater! We ate 2 for dinner with some seasoned butter beans, and then reheated the other 2 the next night.  They were just as good reheated as they were the first night!
 
 

 
Enjoy! :)
 
Any other easy crockpot favs you want to share?  I am always looking for new ideas!!
 
 

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Tilly - 6 Months

 

 

 
 
and we're down... 
 
 
Oops, we found the sticker.. and want to eat it! Photo shoot is over! :) 
 







Month:  6 - December 21, 2014

Height:  25 3/4th inches - 50%

Weight:  13lbs 9oz - still Ms Itty Bitty in the 10%. But she is staying consistent, so all is well! :)

Diaper Size:  Size 2

Clothes Size:  Moving on up! PJ's & pants are all in the 6 month range.  Onesies can be anywhere from 0-3, 3-6, or 6 month.. just depends on the brand.

Sleep:   She is still our little champ here, thank goodness.  Bedtime is around 8pm and she sleeps 11-12 hours at night.  Then she takes around 3 naps a day that range from 45-an hour and a half.  She is also a belly sleeper now.  Once she made that first flip, she must've realized how much she liked it!

Eat: Her morning bottle is between 5-6oz, and then mainly 5oz bottles throughout the day around every 3 hours.  An average day now is 24-26oz.  We also started solids on her 6 month with some sweet potatoes.  She loved them, and sucked down a ton!

 
 


Likes: 
She still has to have something in her mouth at ALL times. No teeth yet, even though everyone that sees her says "Oh, she's teething!"  No.. she's not.  The doctor checked this morning and still no signs!

Also, I mentioned before she had only rolled once or twice, well literally on her 5 month she became a super roller and never stopped! She rolls every way possible.  Now she loves to roll herself over and over across the whole floor.  You can't leave this baby for long by herself anymore unless she is securely strapped into something, or you don't know where she'll be when you get back. She is FAST!  If she sees something she wants, she'll roll her way right to it.. it cracks me up!

Oh, and she loves to grab at your face and hair.  I guess we shouldn't have let her get so excited by pulling Lance's beard, because now she wants to pull on and slap everyone.. including other babies. Not good.

While we were in MS, my brother's girlfriend let us borrow her nephew's Johnny Jumper and oh my goodness.. my crazy baby LOVED it.  We skyped Lance to show him, and he said we were definitely getting on of those ASAP. Well, we got one as soon as I got back and Tilly is in baby heaven in that thing. I'm sure it's because she loves to constantly move, so she goes to town in that thing! It's perfect when we are eating dinner because we just hang her in the kitchen door and let her have her own little dance party while we eat dinner.. win, win for everyone!


Dislikes:  I can happily say that she no longer hates her crib during naps, and all sleep happens in the crib.. woohoo!!  Still hit or miss with the carseat.

Firsts: 
Rolling. As I mentioned before, it was game on when she started.

She also can push herself up now on her arms and knees! She's got the rocking motion going on, so I am wondering how soon crawling is.. ah!  I asked the doctor this morning and she said some babies that are super rollers like her sometimes skip crawling because they can roll to what they want, but since she's at the rocking stage it might be soon!  She will start rocking and then you can tell she gets mad, so she'll just lay down and roll to what she's trying to get at.  Silly girl.

Also, she is doing so good at sitting up! She still gets excited and will push her self backwards or try to stand, but she can sit there for quite a while now all on her on.  Such a big girl! :)

We had our first long car ride (6 hours), and first plane ride.  Luckily, both went very smoothly!!! The car drive didn't take any longer than normal, just one potty break where we fed and changed her and then on our way.  Our almost 16 year old dog did worse than she did! ha  She got to meet a ton of her family while in VA. Then the plane ride went soooo smooth.  Unfortunately she was pretty cranky on our trip back to MS from traveling and not getting her naps in, sorry to everyone who met her for the first time and she just cried if you held her! lol  I hate that she is such a happy, playful baby at home and then when she met so many people, she was the complete opposite.  She definitely does better in her own environment.  She is for sure a mama and daddy's girl when she isn't feeling good or tired.  It was so good to see everyone back home and have Tilly meet all her little boyfriends!! (ALL my friends with babies now have boys!!)  Middle of next year though, she will have a sweet little girl to play with back home.. I'm so excited Lauren just found out she is having a GIRL!! :) :)


On the plane ride! haha

With my best friend and her 3 boys
 

Knox and Tilly.. future Mr. & Mrs. :)
 

My brother's girlfriend, Claire, my mom, me, and my Grandma
 

Tilly, Knox, and Jameson
 

Oh, I can't take the cuteness! Tilly loves Mr. Knox
 

Tilly and some of her buds. Knox, Canion, Harber, and Jameson


And of course.. we met Santa! She did so great and I'm so happy she didn't freak out!

 
 
Sadly, she also had her first little cold the past week, but luckily things are much better. I got the NoseFrida, and as gross as it seems.. that thing can suck some major snot out! haha Between that, Baby Vicks, and her humidifier, it's moving on out!!  The doctor checked this morning and everything in her chest sounds normal, and ears look good! So it didn't spread anywhere.. yay!


Extra Updates: 

I can't believe my little baby is half a year old! Ah! She had brought so much joy to our lives and is so much fun.  If this baby is awake, she is moving and grooving. She keeps us on our toes for sure!! She is still babbling a lot, and lets out a few Mama's and Dada's here and there, but I don't think she really knows what she is saying! haha

She continues to grow and show improvement almost each and every day. She reaches for toys now, grabs them and pulls them to her, throws them down and then picks them back up, etc.  She's rolling, pushing up, and getting better at sitting up.  It's amazing to watch her learn so much and become such an independent little baby.  She loves to just lay on her mat now and play with all her toys.  We are suckers and have given her a lot of the stuff we got her for Christmas, because we were too excited to wait. Plus.. she won't even know what's going on anyways that morning! I did wrap quite a few things, so she will get to enjoy ripping all the paper off! :)

Oh, and her reflux has been HORRIBLE lately and the doctor let me know it is at it's peak now (ugh), but hopefully should be gone in the next 2-3 months.. I sure hope so!!  This baby spews constantly and we all need a break from smelling sour. Eh.

Overall things are going wonderful and we have a healthy, very happy, yet sassy and a bit of a drama queen little princess!


Oh, look at her grow!
 

Happy 1/2 a year Ms. Tilly!!!!!

Monday, December 22, 2014

Holly Jolly PJ Party

 
Today I am linking up with the Christmas Pajama Party!!
 
 
 
Tilly has a few Christmas PJ's, so I thought I would share a few pics from my phone, plus her in her snowmen ones this morning. Cuteness overload! :)


 




 
I'll be back tomorrow with her 6 month update once we get back from her doctor's appointment!
 
Merry Christmas!!

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Tilly's 1st Christmas

 
 
Shopping for a 6 month old for Christmas can be a bit tricky since they aren't asking for anything yet.  Since Tilly has most of the "big" items she needs right now, here are a few of the small things on our list for her this year. Between us and family/friends we have gotten most of these so far, and I am still deciding on the others.  Any other infant favorites you recommend for the 6 month age group?





Baby Christmas