New Finster Man pictures

Look at these lovely pictures my friend Ashley took of me and my Fin at the Jason Upton concert a few weeks ago. Phoenix all strapped in the Moby so Momma could work (or walk around trying to find work to do LOL)

We also just got back the proofs from the photo session we did a few weeks ago. They look so great! I'll post some when I get them on CD.

No more milk milks for us

I am a grieving mother this evening. Today marked the end of one of my favorite moments with Phoenix...breastfeeding. I sadly put away the nursing cover, the boppy, the nursing bras (ok not real sad about that one), the extra calories, the pre natal vitamins. And out comes the liquor! Kidding, kidding...well maybe it will ease the pain a bit! But today I finally decided that Phoenix was not getting the nutrients from me that he needs. With starting real foods and being on formula my supply has just completely tanked. I tried fighting it for the last week and a half but I realized yesterday morning that he was just using me to snuggle. He'd suck for a few pull off and scoot off my lap backwards no less. Instead of stopping cold turkey I am going to continue to nurse him once at night before bed time just to keep that "connection" even if it's just for a minute or so. With the exception of supplementing with the formula I had a very pleasant experience with BF. No clogged ducts, engorgement (except when my milk first came in), no mastitis or anything.

So it is with great sadness that I watch my baby slip further and further away from me and into that cap and gown.

Is it time for another???

Video's for your viewing pleasure

I've been trying to upload cell phone video's to my blog for a looooong time, but every time I did it made the weirdest noises. For my push present (yes I asked for one) I got a new Gateway laptop. So it was only 8 months old, but last week it broke, it was a mess! So I got a new HP one that I LOVE but that was a hassle because the Gateway was a 32 bit and the HP was a 64 bit (whatever that means) so none of my work programs worked so I had to buy new ones, long story short the 64 bit is supposed to be better and I decided to see if video's would work now and guess what? They do!

Here are FOUR video's from this week. Sorry they are grainy. It's from my cell phone and you have to tilt your head to the left to see the other two. I'm not a cinematographer, but I'm tryin'. Now that I know this works I'm going to pull out my RCA Small Wonder will work.

Enjoy my screechy baby!

Recipe Rave!

I have to rave on last nights dinner. It was delicious!

It was a mock risotto and parmesan crusted tilapia. Usually I do tilapia with potatoes and just lightly season the fish with s & p and lemon juice and a little red pepper flake. But this is certainly going to be my new go to recipe for tilapia. I really wanted to look for some new side dishes. If it was up to my husband we would rotate between stuffing and mashed pototes every night

Mock Risotto
The changes I made: I added mushrooms, because I had left overs from Monday night, and I did not add peas. Before I met Shawn he didn't eat any vegetables, I've since gotten him to eat a few and only if I beg. But peas (and bananas) are something I can not even attempt to get him to eat. But he will eat snap and snow peas....weird. Oh and I also had to use purple onion, because I sent Shawn to the store for white onion...and that's what he came home with.

Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia
Changes: I added a few shakes of crushed red pepper and when it was done I just squeezed the lemon over top of it.

What boy's do

This is what little boys do....or at least mine anyway. He crawls into things then starts whining when he can't get back out

Pedigree for Babies now too?

If you've ever wondered how dog food taste, wonder no more. Just ask my 8 month old. That's right, my resident explorer decided to be the taste tester and enjoy a meal with Charlotte yesterday afternoon. Phoenix plays very well by himself and actually seems to prefer being by himself. He's an oh so cool loner. So most of the day he just crawls around exploring (or destroying) the house. So yesterday's he's crawling around and I hear him go into the kitchen, I start walking towards him and see him head straight for the dog food. I tell him to stop he turns around, looks at me and keeps going. I scoop him up and we go about our day. About 20 minutes later I hear Charlotte chomping on her food, and I say to myself 'Let me go make sure Phoenix isn't eating with her".....Sure enough there Phoenix is, sitting on his knees, food in both hands and food in his mouth! I screamed "No!!!" and he just looked at me, I scooped him up pulled the food out of his mouth and of course he cried. I called my mom to make sure he didn't need to have his stomach pumped and tried to wash the taste (and smell) out of his mouth with juice and Gerber Puffs! Of course after I realized he was fine I realized I should've taken a picture because he looked so cute! This morning while getting his breakfast ready he tried to scoot over there again....

Yesterday also marked the day he started tearing up the steps. So you know what I'm ordering today right? He got to step 5 before I took him down because he was waving and smiling and he was making me nervous. I was really impressed though because he just crawled right up, no hesitation, no fear. Nothing. This week he's also been able to get himself back down to the floor without falling when he's holding onto the furniture.

Italian lemon cake

Finally tried my Italian Lemon Cake yesterday. I think it turned out really tasty, but like a lot of things when I first started cooking, didn't look so Martha Stewart-ish.



1 white cake mix,prepared

8 oz. cream chees, softened
2 cups powered sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped to stiff peaks
3 tbsp. lemon juice

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup powered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 tbsp. butter

Directions

Prepare cake as directed in a 10" round cake pan or 10" round spring form pan.
Blend cream cheese, powered sugar, and lemon juice together. In a medium bowl, whip heavy whipping cream to stiff peaks. Gently fold into cream cheese mixture and blend by hand. Chill until needed.
Mix flour and powered sugar in small bowl. Crumble butter in and dribble in vanilla extract. The crumbles should be no larger than pea size. If you have trouble crumbling mixture, chill for a few minutes. Chill until needed.
After cake is cooled, cut in half. Spread cream cheese mixture, saving 1/2 cup, on bottom half and carefully place top layer back. Spread rest of cream cheese mixture on the sides of cake. Press crumb topping into sides gently. Chill for 3 hours. Cut into 12 pie shaped slices. Makes 12 servings.

Number of Servings: 12

The only changes I made (some accidental) was adding a few drops of lemon juice when I mixed in the heavy cream to the mixture. I wanted to make sure it was a LEMON cake. I also did not seem to get the crumbling of the butter right so therefore I could not spread it correctly. But I think next time I make this I may do something else for the crumble because it was to buttery for me.

It's a very rich cake so make sure you have a glass of milk to wash it down!

Silent Sunday

You're a wild one Mr. Man

What is it with men and those ridiculous ultimate fighter shows? Shawn's making me watch it, so I decided to post instead...I guess its the same thing as my "thing" with those ridiculous NY, OC, ATL Housewives on Bravo.


Phoenix is constantly in everything. I haven't ordered his gate yet, not for any reason really. I forget about it probably. I have bought him 3 pairs of Robeez this week, but no gate for some reason. I think I'll actually go get it this weekend. So since I haven't gated off his playroom yet I've baby proofed the rest of the downstairs (for the most part) and just let him crawl around all day screaming "Ah! Ah! Ah!". He is fascinated with the weirdest things. The little paint sample's for his room (which will hopefully be completed this weekend. It's all painted just waiting for the mural to be done) he carries around all day. He loves the empty boxes that are still sitting in our kitchen (are you seeing a theme here? We're procrastinators) and this week I've started packing up his too small clothes and he keeps pulling them out of the boxes and dragging them around. But yesterday was the weirdest thing. I was working and he was crawling around and I hear him near his baby chair. Then all of a sudden it gets really quiet....I peak around the arm of the sofa and this is what I see.....



He has some how managed to crawl into the basket on the bottom of his chair! I don't know where he thought he was going or what he was trying to do but I couldn't stop laughing. All the while he is still holding on to his little Asparagus Green paint card.

Did you see this week's edition of Silent Sunday?


He crawled into that's basket all on his own! He's only 8 months old and I already know that I'm in for it! I often find myself giving side glances to those moms with the like 4 year old being pushed around in a stroller as his feet dangle over and drag on the ground and I'm like "What the H?" but then I'm like "Who am I kidding? That'll be me!" I can hear me screaming "Phoenix no! That's glass! Stop it! No! Come back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" This kid is going to be wild! I knew he was even in utero (I love that word) but then for those first few weeks he was so zen that Shawn and I thought that's what he was gonna be...yeah. Nope! But I love it! He has so much energy and testosterone all ready. Even in his sleep he's wild and crazy. He grunts himself to sleep. He just oozes boy! I think having a little boy like Phoenix is going to be very fun.

I'm sure all of you are waiting with bated breath to hear how my cake turned out....Yeah not so great. I ended up adding three times the amount of cream cheese hoping it would stiffen and not adding three times the amount of the other ingredients because I didn't have enough. I've heard that baking is an exact science and all the measurements have to be correct. So all though it was semi good, it was not what I wanted. I'm reluctant to post pictures because the cake was lopsided and the creme/icing was runny. But I plan on trying again sometime this week. I will prevail!

Happy Resurrection Day!

When you're a new mommy you take pictures of all kinds of random things. I imagine Phoenix asking me one day "Mom, what did my first Easter basket look like"

Silent Sunday

* He did this himself *

The birds and the bees

Yesterday was yet again another thought provoking Oprah Show for me. Yesterday's show was about having the sex talk with your children (specifically your daughters). I came in a little late and didn't finish the whole thing, but I got just enough to bother me.

I thought all day about writing this post, but when I was recounting the show to Shawn I was just getting more and more annoyed so I decided to use my personal blog as my soap box.

Dr. Laura Berman was on the show giving tips about how and when to have the talk with your children. They had a mother on who (with the assistance of Dr. Laura Berman) had the sex talk with her 10 year old daughter. It actually was very informative and she seemed to be doing well....Then they get to the whole pleasuring part and how to explain to your freshman's about loving yourself. Her reasoning behind it was that if they learn they can do it themselves they won't feel like the feelings are specific to a boy, thus they may not have sex. They talked about vibrators and the whole thing. I immediately get inwardly outraged and here's why.

I think every child is different, number one. Some children may be ready for the talk at 10 some at 13. It's a maturity thing. I do believe that it is essential that children get this information from their parents and not their peers, television or even (dare I say it) teachers. I believe it's important to give your children all of the facts. I personally intend to teach my children abstinence. Some may think that it's an ideal, unrealistic, religiously driven, or just plain stoopid thing to teach. But nonetheless, abstinence in my opinion is the best. Granted my Phoenix showed up prior to me being married, I still longed to have waited and that's what my children will know. Remember as parents we want the best, better then what we had.

Moving on.

But what really angered me with yesterday's show was the emphasis put on teaching children or pre-teens about masturbation. I think it's wrong. That is an adult act and by teaching our children that we are taking away their innocence. They are children for a reason. They are children only for a certain amount of time. Just like a year or two back when middle schools in Connecticut maybe (I don't remember) wanted to give out birth control to middle school girls. Don't you think that's going to encourage sex between kids even more?! What has happened to this world? It bothers me. It bothers me that these children who are going to be taught this are going to be going to school with my children. Why is it that today's parents feel they need to be their children's friends? Your not supposed to be, you are parents. You are to guide them to make right decision. Correct their paths when they seems to stray. Give them better then what you had make better decisions then you did.

Teaching that particular thing to children awakens something in them way before it's time. Let them be...Just let them be children. Arm them with knowledge, yes. That is paramount in this world we live in. But just like you don't say "Sarah, Becky. Mommy and Daddy are broke. We have no money and we are going to be homeless and have no food if we don't come up with $XXXX by such and such date". Why burden your kids with adult stuff like that, why force them to feel responsible for something like that when they don't have to. Sex is a heavy, heavy responsibility. They have their whole lives ahead of them to experience that. But now they need to be focused on Hannah Montana and those adorable little Jonas Boys.

Stepping down now....

Becoming a baker

I think I have a little creative/talent gene in me. I've always loved to write, so therefore in my head I consider myself a "writer". I also have a knack for music. Not so much the writing portion of it, that would be my husband, but the singing of it I think I do very well. But I've always wished I was more crafty or more of a baker. Now even more so with being a mom I see tons and tons of craft and recipe blogs and long to be able to create clever things for my bebe to wear or tasty things for us to nosh on. I am a very, very, very good cook. I can make anything just give me a recipe and mine will be just as good or better. Just tonight I made lasagna, night before, homemade meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Night before that..Shrimp Scampi. But what I've always wanted to be able to do is bake. If for no other reason then to justify this purchase to my husband. So I have decided to start trying my hand at baking. Not just making my "special" cupcakes which is just buying a box of chocolate cake mix, icing them with cream cheese frosting and topping them with sprinkles. So this week I started with a recipe I got from my sister-in-law. They are Dump Bars. Shawn loved them but hates the name and wants me to change them to something else.

Tonight was supposed to be Italian creme cake, but I forgot whipping cream and tried to use milk which turned my creme into more of a liquid. So I popped it in the freezer in the hopes it would stiffen, so far it's been 6 hours and it's just really cold. So tomorrow I'll try again. Once it's complete I'll post a picture and the recipe.

I'm going to try a new bake good once a week, maybe every other week depending on it's high calorie sugar content and post the recipes for you.

Good luck to me!

Dump Bars

Dump Bar's

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 5 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup cocoa (Hershey's of course!)
  
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Dump all ingredients except chocolate chips in a bowl mix until all ingredients are all moistened. Spread in greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Do not stir. Bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes.

Secrets of Motherhood (WARNING: THIS IS A LOOONG POST)

One of the SAHM perks for me is being able to watch Oprah! Yay. My favorite topics are the sexually confused, gender switching ones. I am oddly fascinated with those stories. When I was working I would hate that I would miss all the great topics she would have. So most days I get a chance to watch it or at least DVR it so I can catch it later. Monday was a show about the Secrets of Motherhood. They had several women on the show talking about how hard motherhood had been for them and how there was all of these things they didn't expect. Loneliness, resentment towards their babies or husbands, PPD, hating their husbands, not wanting to ever have sex again, thinking "Why did I do this to my life", Who am I?, all kinds of things. Listening to their stories I stopped folding the laundry and thought "What did no one tell me about motherhood? What did I not expect? What has been hard for me?" and I honest to God could not think of anything. I thought to myself. For me motherhood has been a completely wonderful experience. I mentioned in one of my previous post about how it's like Christmas morning every single morning. Even those morning's that he decides to wake up at 5:30, get in my bed and proceed to kick and scratch me while he sleeps (this has been his "new" thing) I still wake up feeling more complete then the day before.

Some expressed that when they became mothers they didn't know who they were and that they didn't realize all the sacrifices they would have to make. To me sacrifice should be a babies middle name! And since becoming a mother I feel like I now have more of an idea of who I am. Don't get me wrong, I do want to eventually do and be something other then Shawn's wife and Phoenix's mom. I have dreams and goals that I would one day like to see fulfilled and in action. But if this is all I ever get to be you know what? I'm happy with that. I'm settled in my heart about that.

Motherhood does have it's moments but never once have I ever said "What was I thinking? Why did I do this?". I've said it aloud before but only after hearing other women say that and I just wanted to see how it would taste on my tongue, and it tasted gross. It wasn't me, it wasn't how I felt.

I thought to myself as I watched "What am I missing here? Am I not doing such a good job, is that why I don't feel overwhelmed and like I've given up my entire life?" So I talked to Shawn about it that night and together we realized that the highly religious background we both come from had a lot to do with that. Where we come from higher education was not something that you as a girl you should seek out. The girls I knew hoped instead of being doctors or lawyers, or teachers and business women, they hoped to be wives of Pastors and mothers, and marry young. For me my family was different and although my parents married young, they never made us feel like that was all we should ever hope for. It was the other authorities in our lives, but growing up hearing that kind of thing prepares you to be ready and waiting for a certain thing. Your taught to strive to be a praying dutiful wife and and a loving, caring mom, a warrior for Christ and nothing more. So that's part of where it comes from for me.

The other part for me is my own mother. I'm the oldest of 8, and all growing up I never saw my mom get completely frazzled or fed up (with the exception of the time that my dad was out to sea and my sister and I knocked down her birthday cake...she was a wee bit upset and cried about that one. But we made it up by buying her Windsong perfume from the Dollar Tree). She took motherhood and all that came with it in stride. Oh she got mad with us, but I never felt like she resented us or regretted giving up a full scholarship to Temple University to be a mother.

I also have a tremendous support system. I have a husband (and I am not just praising him so he looks good on my blog) who is the most amazing father. He has great connection with our son, he's just as in tune to his needs as I am and he is always, always willing to help me whenever or however I need it. I have great parents who encourage me to be a better parent every day. Parent's who are willing to offer babysitting services and overnight stays so that I can sleep or get work done. And of course I have a housekeeper who helps take care of everything else. So maybe I'm in the minority. But I feel very blessed.


I hope I don't offend anyone by this post, or make it seem like motherhood is the easiest thing ever in life. For everyone it's different. Everyone has different challenges. Non supportive family members, husbands, financial problems, overwhelming work loads. But for me these are just my feelings about what motherhood has meant for me.

Baby food time is ovah!

This past weekend brought us closer to the day that little Phoenix puts on his little book bag, waves and hops on the school bus. We started Phoenix on baby food at 4 months. We could instantly tell food was a pure hit for him. Nothing satisfied him and everything tasted good. At about 6 months we bumped the solid intake up to 3 meals a day and went to stage two baby food. Still after a whole jar of food and a nice serving of baby oatmeal he still didn't seem satisfied. Over the weekend we had Jason Upton come through our church (he was great. awesome. such a blessing) Shawn and I volunteered with the meetings because it was almost 600 people. So we get there 2 hours early and are kind of just hanging out. We had food for the band and after they were done there were leftover. Of course my husband and my pregnant sister and a few other make a bee-line for the food. I knew that the moment Phoenix saw anyone put anything near their lips he would flip so I decided to nurse. We sit down, have a nice little nursing session. Do you think this kid is full? Please! Not in the least. He sits up and starts reaching for his Dad, who always passes him treats. Then for his Aunt Abby who starts to feed him green beans and stuff. We eventually had to make him a plate because he kept going after every one's food. One lady even says to me "Wow, does he ever get full?" and I was like 'Nope! He doesn't!" He was making me look like I never fed him! So after an almost adult size plate I finally put my foot down and tell him that meal time was done and over. So we move on we go out and enjoy the worship service. Then his Papouli aka my Dad comes back and starts trying to feed him Fritos! I'm screaming "No!!!!!!" And again this is after a recent nursing session. So I go make him a bowl of oatmeal and fruit, feed him that. He starts flipping out when its over and so not to disrupt the people trying to enter in I give him ANOTHER jar of squash. When that's over he is STILL screaming! So to this my mom says "Al, I think he's done with this baby food" Later that evening we went out to dinner and order him chicken tenders, which he eats, along with Shawn's mashed potatoes. And starts screaming because we tell him it's time to go!

We went Sunday to Buy Buy Baby which I am soooo in love with. I mean seriously! Babies R Us has nothing on BBB. We bought him a new highchair and this great Skip Hop playmat. We are turning our new dining room into his playroom. Our new kitchen is HUGE. Big enough for my office, eat in kitchen and an island with bar stools so we really didn't need a formal dining room. We also are in the process of re-doing his nursery too. It's going to be really cute! Fun, Fun Fun!

Silent Sunday

8 months old today!

Today was my little baby cakes, my little monkey bear, my Finster man's 8 month old birthday...tear :-( Gosh I swear this time flies by so fast. One moment I'm cleaning gently around his umbilical cord the next I'm telling him no after he pulls at Charlotte's fur.

At 8 months old Phoenix has a plethora of tricks that he can do

• He can wave
• He can say Dada (and the other day I swear he said "Hey Ma!" after his Baby show went off)
• He can crawl. I'm talking full on crawl. Not army crawling or scooting backwards. Full on moving legs and arms. He's been doing this for about a month and a half now
• Pull himself up and pivoting to another piece of furniture.
• Turn the pages in a board book
• He has two of his bottom teeth
• He can crawl up a step
• He can throw a fit. If you don't give him what he wants pronto he does this little screech and tightens his arms and bring them in close to his body
• And he gives the best kisses ever!
• Give commands
• He can grab your face and turn it towards him
• He plays well by himself
  
• Call us into the room if we're not in there with him
• Use a big boy bathtub
• Pull himself up in the car seat
  

Basically in a nutshell he is growing up. He's mobile, loud, screechy, talkative and growing up way to fast!

Today Daddy surprised him with a cupcake. So we decided to let him practice for his big birthday cake in a few months (which will be a huge monkey with a guitar done by Charm City Cakes)...Here's what happens....




Success huh?