2 weeks old!

Abigail had her first doctors appointment yesterday. She's doing great and she weighs 8 lbs 11 oz. What a chunk she's turning out to be. I think she's going to compete with our oldest for baby chunkiness. Amberlin was our pudgiest baby so far. I should post a few pics to show you.



That's my baby!

I'm still working on that collage and a photo of all the kids. Been kinda busy around here!

Chicken burritos

One of my favorite sites to check out, Happy to be called Mommy aka Bethany, had posted a thread about homemade burritos. Well we had to try to, cause we LOVE burritos. After getting some great ideas from some of the other ladies who replied we gave it a go. Here's what we did, and they were DELICIOUS!

Here are a few links about the burritos from Bethany

http://bethany.preciousinfants.com/2007/05/21/lots-of-burritos.aspx

http://www.titus2.com/Maxwells-burrito-recipe.htm

First we went shopping and this is what we ended up with

A 3 lb bag of boneless, skinless chicken breast (Walmart $6)

2 onions

Peppers (I have a bag of frozen mixed peppers in the freezer)

1 can mushrooms (or fresh ones washed and sliced)

2 pkts chicken taco seasoning

Burrito size tortilla shells

Shredded cheese (we use the Fiesta blend from Walmart)

First I boiled the chicken with some water and seasonings.

Chopped the onions and sautee them with the peppers

Cut the cooked chicken into small pieces and added to fry pan

Added a can of mushrooms, drained (save the juice)

Stirred and fried this all a little

I than added the seasoning pkts.

instead of water as the instructions say, I used the mushroom juice and broth from boiling the chicken

I simmered this all for a little and was ready to stuff the shells

Place a spoonfull in the center of the shell, than top with some cheese. I'd say it took about 3/4 cup of chicken and 1/2 of cheese? I didn't measure, so just eye it. Than I folded the sides in and rolled them.

We of course had to try some right away, so I put 3 in the oven for about 15-20min on 350. We than topped them with lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream.

The rest I put in bags and put in the freezer for later.

Tomorrow I'll tackle some beef and bean burritos.

Easy Homemade Gravy

I've been meaning to post this for a few days now, but like everything else, it's not been the most important thing going on around here. But I'm getting to it now!

Last week I made some mashed potatoes and grilled chicken, well grilled chicken doesn't give you much for gravy so I had to make some. What good is mashed potatoes without gravy????

Well here's what I did and it turned out pretty good.

In a saucepan I put

1 can chicken broth (the bouillon has lots more salt, so opt for the canned if you can)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
various seasonings, herb blend (Mrs. Dash, salt free), thyme, sage, seasoning salt blend. garlic
onion, chopped or sliced.

I just simmered it all together until it was good and mixed and just thick enough. It doesn't make a ton, but enough for 4 ppl. And it was more like an herb gravy rather than just plain chicken flavor. You could very easily use beef broth and omit the sage. Add oregano or basil instead. You can also use left over broth from boiling some meat as well. I often times will save the liquid from boiling chicken for frying or soup and freeze it. This would work too. If you try to stay away from the processed canned foods, you can use the flour and water mixture to thicken it as well. Right now I'm all about quick and easy!

As far as the chicken goes, all I did was poured some italian dressing in the bag and stuck it in the freezer to marinate till supper time. Than I pulled them out and put them on my new (used) electric grill. Even frozen they cooked up really well. I added some of the herb blend to this as well.

A tip I recently heard on a cooking show (yes I love watching cooking shows LOL). If you want to marinate meats, do NOT add the salt until right before you cook it. Add all the other spices you want, but the salt will dry out the meat instead of letting all the spices and flavors go into the meat. Also if you put it in the freezer to marinate it also helps pull the flavors into the meats and make them even better! You can than just take out what you need and leave the rest in the freezer for when your ready too!

So for what it's worth, there's my cooking tip for today!

JenD

9 days old!

I weighed her again and she is 8lbs. 4 oz. She's gained more than a pound since birth. Here's the latest picture. I love compring pictures so I'm working on a collage of all my kids baby photos. I'll post it when I'm done!

And here's a video of her. I hope it works. I should add it is a silent movie, my camera doesn't do sound only picture.

At home with baby photos

I know, i've been home for 5 whole days and haven't put anymore photos up here. I've been planning on it, really. I've just been a little busy, to busy according to my doctor. Having 4 kids is tough on your body, and it takes longer for it to recover, imagine that LOL. But as promised, here are more pictures.

When Abigail was born, she weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz, when she left the hospital she weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz. It's not unusual for them to loose a few ounces after birth. Well I weighed her on Wed. and she was 7 lbs. 14 oz. she gained more than a pound since she came home LOL. She's filling out her wrinkles and already grew out of her tiniest clothes. She actually fits into newborn clothes a week after birth. My other kids didn't yet. I know she started out bigger too.

Enjoy some more photos.

2/10/08 3 days old, at home with Mom

2/11/08 4 days old

2/15/08 8 days old

She's finally here!

Well she finally made her arrival. In a snow storm no less.

Abigail Star

born on Thursday Feb 7, 2008

3:17 am

weighing 7 lbs. 2 oz

19" long

She was born healthy and with no complications. I can't think of how the birth could've been any more perfect. In the midst of a blizzard we headed to the hospital at around 10 pm (OK, so maybe we would change that part LOL). We dropped the kids off with family in town on our way. We eventually made it to the hospital at around midnight. My contractions were now 4 min apart, but I was still only dialated to a 3. Well my doctor, having delievered our last baby, knew that you just can't trust me LOL, and we headed right to labor and delivery. Well 3 hours later, she was here.

Squeezing in a nap, while waiting! And below, admiring her new sister.

The nurse was great, my mid-wife was awesome. They asked our oldest (who was there for the birth) if she wanted to put Abigails first diaper on, and of course she did. That just thrilled her to no end. They also stamped her foot print on her arm, that was very neat too. Papa got them on his arm as well. They were all very kind and just stood back and let us do our thing. I never felt pressured to go against anything my body or mind was telling me. It was all perfect. No I don't do any medication, meditation or hypnosis or such, I just relax and breathe thru the contractions. My MIL, who has been to all my births is such a great person to have there. She is great about reminding me to breathe and relax. My hubby was there of course and he was the one who got to get his hand squeezed to a pulp LOL.

After she was born and cleaned up, we of course tried to get some sleep, but they come in quite often. Later some family came up and hubby went home to get the kids and some sleep. They came up later in the day. You know before I left home, David was the baby, even though he was 2, he was still little and the baby. When they came up to the hospital, he looked so huge LOL, and old. I was worried he would have jealous issue with the new baby, but nope. He took a few minutes, but than he hopped up on the bed and wanted to hold her. He didn't want to let her go, this was "my baby" he says. He just loves her to death. Even now at home, he likes holding her and tries to take her from me. He seems to be adjusting fine.


He found her feet peeking out and was intrigued by how small they were.

Our second oldest, son is the typical 6 yr old big brother. He's very glad she's here. He thinks she's cute and all, and he likes holding her, but it's nothing to go Gaga about. He is happy she's a girl, cause he won't have another baby in his room that way, LOL. She will bother Ambers stuff, not his. But he is a proud big brother.

And Amberlin, she is over the moon. She practically sits on my lap constantly, waiting to hold her, kiss her, just see her. She changed her today and thought it was great. She keeps saying she can't wait to teach her to walk LOL (she doesn't realize that it means she'll also be chasing her too LOL).

A very proud big sister


Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes. We have been blessed with another Angel to raise and I can't say enough how thrilled and excited we are. I sit here looking at her, and am amazed once again at how beautiful and perfect and what joy such a little bundle can bring. I love being a mom, it truly is one of the best things that has happened in my life. I still can't believe we were blessed with another little Angel.

I promise I will post more pictures. I make very good use of my digital camera and will be sure to share.
God Bless!