Nana's Apple Cake

     Our friend Mary sells Tastefully Simple products. It's like Taste of Gourmet and Company's Comin'. If you are unfamiliar with these, they are a semi-homemade person's best friend! They usually consist of all the non-perishable ingredients to a recipe-you add the perishable. One of Jim's favorite is Nana's Apple Cake offered by Tastefully Simple. {See Mary's site here}

Really, this is all you need!

The mix, 2 cups of chopped apples (any type) and 2 eggs.

There are lots of options listed on the side panel that make different versions, but I went for simple!

I used Golden Delicious Apples, it only took about one and a half apples to make 2 cups.

Mix all ingredients, pour into 8x8 dish and bake for 45 minutes on 350.

I scooped out a spoonful of delicousness, topped it with some cool whip and toasted pecans and drizzled melted caramel over the top!

Visit Mary at Tastefully Simple to see what else they have!

     

Our Family

These last two weeks have been fun, yet exhausting. But, I have had a very helpful little "Big Helper"---Taylor! He has been the best helper. I've taken this time to teach him that he is his brother's keeper. For instance, when his little brother sticks the Mr. Potato Head ear in his mouth {exact reason I don't allow them to play with these un-supervised} Taylor is quick to snatch it from him!

Or when Carrie Ann is fussing, he'll sit down in front of her and pile tons of toys on her to see which one it is that she wants.

 He's picked out every Barbie doll there is for her. When she got her Valentine cards from his cousins, he asked me what would happen if Carrie Ann didn't like princesses?

They like to pull their chair up right in front of her swing and "look" at her! Yah....I was washing dishes and looked over and saw the swing seat about to do a complete 360...They don't get to do this anymore! 

This is how we spent our Valentine's Day...relaxing!

  And this is what I ate!....well, not all of it...Jim got one piece!

Finally, I blog again!

     Yes, finally! I put a cake in the oven {for Jim, hehehe}, sat down to nurse the baby, the Daddy put the Middle Child down for bed, and played with Bigger Boy, while nursing...looked over at the Daddy, told him I missed My Lemonade Stand...funny---he said he noticed today I hadn't gotten to blog in week!
     The baby fell asleep while nursing, the oven beeped-cake is done. Yum, Nana's Apple Cake smells sooo good. Put sleeping baby in swing, put Bigger Boy down for bed, convince him he doesn't need a lamp to sleep. I return to the living room and I push the power button on my computer. Wow, haven't done that in a while. The Daddy retrieves the cake from the oven. I get all the dressings out for the cake- roast some pecans, cool whip, make some caramel topping, stuff like that.
     That little stinker of a Baby is awake and screaming...OH MY WORD... She has sucked me dry so I made her a bottle. I picked her up to find she had pooped. Upon further inspection, I see that her diaper failed and she's gonna need a sponge bath! Once cleaned, she drinks her bottle, burps and I hand her off to Daddy. I return to the kitchen to find my cool whip had melted on the cake...
    Melted, schmelted! That stuff was good! Wouldn't you know it, as soon as I picked up my computer, typed the word "Finally," and that Baby Girl would start suckling on her daddy's chest...OH MY WORD....I do remember something about a growth spurt around 2 and a half weeks...
     So, if you are wondering how it's going...well, my vacancy from the blogosphere should explain it all. This is it! It's going great! I'm being mommy and wife with very few distractions and very short to-do lists. I've been busy, to say the least, but it's been a good busy. So as I type this out, I have figured out how to rig this Baby Girl up on the left side at the same time...yes, I know...ever the multi-tasker!
     This Baby Girl has been my best nurser, which is great for so many reasons. One, being the best, most natural weight loss plan God ever designed!!! Only problem...all the desserts people keep bringing us! {Don't stop bringing them, oh no...I'm just sayin' is all} 

My Demise

Thanks Lori!

Oh Happy Day!

     My 19-month old, Andrew, just wimpered, he's waking up from his nap, early no less, and my milk let down! Oh, I do love my babies! Ca..razy!
     My mind is fadunkled {I made that word up} today.  God has blessed me immeasurably over my life and especially more so over the last 2 weeks. I gave birth to our third child 10 days ago. That's 3 in 3 1/2 years. Jim and I have decided that now, with three, we are certified nutcases parents...not that one doesn't make you a parent, but now we feel like pros! {Who are we kidding...we're a circus act about to make it to the big top!} We'd like to be done having babies, but we all know Who's really in control of that.
     My friends here in Tupelo, and those from afar-via email/facebook, have gone above and beyond blessing our socks off with their love, generosity and cooking! It looks like Reynolds wrap threw up in our fridge! No lie! I haven't had to crack a pan since I came home from the hospital...except Jim did make me breakfast in bed for my birthday on Sunday. They've come to visit, sit with me, play with my kids {they just want to hold the baby, I know how they are!} remind me that the world still exists even though I am too chicken to leave my house! It's been so great and so wonderful. I can't thank them enough! You girls know who you are! {Cris, Deanna, Tammy, Sandy, Anna, Jennifer, Bebbie, Rebecca, Martha...and the list continues!}
     With new chapters, new changes get to occur. This spring Jim and I will be in the middle of some 180 degree changes in our life, we'll celebrate our 5 year anniversary, new professions, new roles...and me...I've got a new plan! I'm going to slow down.
     I thought Jim was going to spit his chocolate pie out of his mouth last night when I told him that I have loved not getting out, not having any plans, no demands of things to do {this coming from a very task-oriented person}  If bedrest and pregnancy didn't keep me down...being strung out on pain meds {not really, but I was last night}, no sleep and nursing around the clock will! Because I've sat still, my house has been cleaner, Jim says I'm nicer {??}, I've gotten to play on the floor with my boys, concentrate on nursing more.      
     I've made new goals...daily goals...
Like...today I will shower; tomorrow I will empty the trash; I'll do only one load of laundry a day; vaccuum the floors today. So far, it's felt great to mark off on my to-do list...even if there was only ONE thing on it!

    Well, now both of my boys are standing in front of me squalling, with eyes full of tears...I have no idea what they are crying about...don't think they do either...so guess I gotta go save the world!

Playroom Makeover

This disaster is was our playroom.

This is the playroom when it was in somewhat of an orderly state...

With some convincing, Jim let me sell the couch, and it's matching loveseat, woohoo!

This wasn't a room on our original home plans. It was the space for the dining room, and just a column where the corner is. We had the area walled up and added french doors so we could use it as a study or playroom. With a tight budget, I am well on my way to making it a fun playroom for our kiddos as well as a warm, cozy place for Jim and I to come be alone and watch t.v.

We  {Jim was out running and I was supposed to be doing something I'm sure a lot less straining...I did do this 2 days before Carrie Ann arrived!} I started by cleaning out the room.

The floors in this room are great, but we are carpet people and I want it to be warm and soft for the kids.

For $48 I bought a carpet remnant from a local carpet company that was just a foot larger than the actual size I needed. I also purchased carpet padding to help soften up the feel and to help protect the hardwood.

Andrew didn't think it was a good day for a nap and thought he'd help his pregnant mama instead.

Using a tape measure, scissors and Jim's {haha} new rotary tool set, I cut the carpet remnant to fit. I shewed Andrew off to the living room to play with his un-assembled train table.

Back when I made my trip to IKEA the day after Christmas, we got this really cool shelf on the super inexpensive side. Now, had I been aware of Ana over at Knock Off Wood: How to Build Knock-Out Knock Off Furniture, I would have built and customized it myself...but I didn't so I got this shelf for $69!!!

The shelf to the right is also an IKEA piece, that we bought before moving to this house.

And, Wahla!!!  And yes...it stays this perfect all the time. Gotta go pick out a cool lamp for the far left, to finish out the look. The big black bins are all sorted with different toys and I intentionally put the heavy stuff in them so the boys wouldn't pull them out!

This room is..To Be Continued...because I got interrupted by labor...but that is okay. As soon as I am fit and able, I will go lamp shopping at none other than my mecca...Hobby Lobby...  At the opposite end of the room, beside the window will sit a big comfy chair and ottoman. I will visit my favorite fabric store..PHI Fabric Wholesales here in Tupelo and get some fabric from their clearance reems to make curtains for the window and for the french doors. {just in case we ever have a house full and need to use it for sleeping!} On the right wall, I intend to use magnetic and chalkboard paint and make a big chalkboard/fridge door for the boys...they love the chalkboards in their rooms.

It's still a work in progress, but Jim and the boys have been very pleased with how it has turned out so far!!

To be continued....

The Baby Blues

     Ugh... The baby blues. I put them right up there with the awfulness of labor itself. And they get worse with each subsequent baby. They, along with the thought of another miserable pregnancy and labor, tempt me to ask God to be done with me in the baby making department. Surely there's another use for me! I mean surely!
     I think 90% of my emotional drama is none other than- you guessed it- Jim! The thoughts of not having him here with me to keep things focused and on task just drive me batty! The doubts of not being able to actually do anything outside my house, in civilization makes up the rest. I don't think I'd be able to breath without my BFF right by my side! My emotions have been so rampant this week, the night before he was to return to work, I gave him permission to snore! {not that he needs my permission, he freely does it every other night!} but I wanted him to know that I'd rather have his snoring skinny-legged self than not have him at all... Yah he was just going back to work 10 minutes from our house, not the moon, but seriously, at that point, to me, he was already strapped to the rocket and headed to the moon- forever! Yes, I know, I'm nuts, but this is what having babies does to you!
     I know, I know, this too shall pass, I have survived it twice before, I'm not gonna die over it. However, I might die from dehydration from all the tears. But as long as I stay in the Word, curling up in my Father's lap for His peace and not shutting myself off from my friends and life beyond these four walls- I'll live!

     And yes, Jim did snore that night! I thanked God for keeping him breathing, then kicked him in his skinny leg to shush him up. Ooh, that sounds mean when I read it. Really it was more of a nudge.

~~Sweet Carrie Ann~~

     I had every intention of writing this during my little mini-vacation in the hospital, but I didn't even turn my computer on until the day before yesterday. It's been a whirlwind this last week and by now, Carrie Ann is a week old. Here's how it all started out!
     Monday morning started like many other mornings over the last few weeks...waking up to contractions at an obscene hour in the morning, {3:38 on this particular morning, to be exact} timing them, and then finally heading to the tub to soak to see if they would go away. On this particular morning, however, they did not go away, they just slowed down. They were very sporadic, going from 15 minutes, to 6, to 3, then back to 8 minutes apart. By the time Jim was ready to leave for work, I felt awful, had straigtened up the entire house, made all the beds and had Carrie Ann's and my bags packed and sitting on the foot of the bed. As Jim put on his tie, I sat in the bedroom floor, folding a load of laundry and through tears, told him I was DONE! That I couldn't take not having any sleep, I was done with pregnancy, I hurt, I was miserable and I miss getting to be all that I could be to the boys. {sounds like an army ad!} I was giving up having painful contractions that seemed to me to be in vain. I had a doctor's visit scheduled for later that morning and I asked him if it was alright if I asked the doc to induce me if I wasn't in labor...seeing my bags packed and my pitiful self almost in tears, he abliged!
     When dropping the boys off at our friend's house, I cried as I drove away, thinking that I might not see them for the rest of the day. Low and behold...I really was in labor! See, not every pregnancy is the same! I had dilated to 2cm and had every other signal that labor had begun, so to the hospital I went! Nervous, anxious and scared to death. Doc told me not to go get Jim, go straight to hospital to get IV started and all the other drugs that speed along labor...Guess she was thinking I would go fast since it was my third baby to send down the shute.
     At 11:30 I got my IV...bunch of fluid the epidural guy wants you to have so you don't dehydrate or something. Then they started the P-tocin {sp?} At 12:30 the doc came in to break my water and from that point on...I wanted to die! Literally!
    I had to intake the entire bag of fluid before I could get my much anticipated epidural and I must say, it wasn't an easy-peasy wait like I had planned! To help me along in my pain, my nurse gave me Stadol...all I knew is that it was a narcotic, it would not take away the pain, but  it would help me not care about it.....All I got to say is...now I know how people can get hooked to pain meds....not sure why they would want to feel like that all the time, but oh my goodness was I so incredibly loopy, beyond the normal point.
     When the epidural guy got there, oh, was I ever glad to see him, he said...oh, we'll give you this such and such type of epidural...you'll go fast...third delivery...yah, gotta get it started quick...sign your life away right here and by the way, this is our student epidural guy right here, he'll be administering this such and such type of epidural today...okay, let's get started....Remember, I'm on Stadol...and thought I was dying....next thing I hear is, tell me if you feel a shock....ouch!!! I did! Oops, sorry, I hit a blood vessel. Oops? OH MY WORD....I know at some point I asked the student epidural guy what was taking so long...he seemed to be taking forever...he responded--you have some tough ligaments back here...Yah right dude...get on with it! We were great friends by the time the such and such type epidural began and I had forgiven him for hitting a blood vessel...I even had the nurse take a pic for you to see the student epidural guy's nice handy work! {really, thinking that this might be my last pregnancy ever, I wanted to make sure I remember it all}

     Finally, relief!!! I could relax!!!

     Ya'll this was like two hours after the doc had broken my water...in the mean time, I threw up, heart rates went up and down, a lot. I actually had to use that pink pan.

     As long as it was, I do have to say, it was one of the more relaxing sweet, deliveries I've had. There was just the doc and my nurse and just before Carrie Ann came, her own nurse came in. Then there was Jim, my friend Melissa and my mom.  Now, Melissa has a super duper camera and took some pictures to document this for me...I mean, she really captured the essence of labor and delivery! I am so glad I got my hand on the delete button before Jim saw any of the pics.  

     The star of the show took her own little time coming out. She was turned face up and when I began pushing at 5:30 p.m., she had no intentions of budging below some bone of mine.  When I had no energy or grunt left to push, the nurse and doc tied two knots in a sheet and we played tug-of-war...really...the nurse pulled one end and I the other with each contraction. I pushed every minute or so for like 55 minutes before the doc was able to get Carrie Ann turned face down and wouldn't you know it, once she was turned, she came out with only 2 contractions...go figure!

Beautiful, I know, but gross.

Carrie Ann Marie Brown, born Monday, February 1, 2010, 6:26 p.m.

7 pounds, 7 ounces and 18 inches long

 

 

 

I survived! 

And look a there!

 

We're home...today Carrie Ann is 1 week old, sleeping and eating well. My lovely varicose veins are taking their precious time leaving, with all that pushing and stuff, so I am healing, resting and enjoying my very blessed little family.

I was one of Dr. Turner's first patients here in Tupelo. I am so blessed to have had her deliver all three of my precious babies.

 

 

 

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement throughout this pregnancy, labor & delivery and the time since. We covet more of your prayers as we enjoy this new glass of lemonade the Lord has made for us!

  

 

Whew...It's been a busy last 7 days.....

I'm sorry...I had to take a short break from the Lemonade Stand. But, oh, how I have needed it's releasing powers! We've had a busy last seven days....to start, last Saturday, we

Completely Re-Did the playroom (it's not finished...we got interrupted)

Before:

After:

On Sunday, I successfully made a chocolate pie! (tutorial to come)

Then on Monday...February 1, 2010 at 6:26 p.m., God blessed us with this precious little girl--

Carrie Ann Marie Brown

Weighing in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 18 inches long.

This little girl took her time, and no matter what anyone tells you, just because it's your third delivery doesn't mean it will happen any faster! Needless to say, after a 14 hour labor and pushing this daisy out for an hour, I am still exhausted, still healing and still crying my eyes out! So between nursing, sore everything, Taylor & Andrew (who love her to death), staying close to my Father, trying to sleep and a thousand visitors (which I've really needed and enjoyed), I am slowly getting my story together! It'll be here before you know it! Til then, enjoy these pics I've captured over Carrie Ann's first few days!

Thank you all for your prayers and encouraging words...keep 'em coming!!!