Sunday, September 20, 2009

Princess Playdates

Charlee had her phsyical therapist session and evaluation on Tuesday and Wednesday last week. They said that they see NO reason why the nurse practitioner even REFERRED Charlee to them.....you see, this is why I DO NOT LIKE this practitioner...but does the Dr office listen to ME?!?!!? Nope, sorry about my luck :(
They said the only thing that they could tell was wrong with her is that her social skills are a little lacking, but that is common in only children. They DO want us to get her hearing tested in her left ear, just to make sure there is nothing wrong there, but they said they think she just wasn't paying attentiont because she was busy playing :) Nonetheless we are going to have it checked when we go in for her check-up in three weeks.
Jessica and I were talking and decided that since we all had such a good time last weekend, we'll just starte setting up weekly playdates with the girls. That way, Charlee is getting the "social interaction" she needs and we can ALL have fun.
We went over there last night for about 8 hours. BJ grilled us some hamburgers and Jess made corn and a new homeade macaroni and cheese...which was amazing...think I'm going to have to beg the recipe :P Jess and I went shopping at Once Upon a Child, while the guys played Xbox360 and watched the girls. We came home, made dinner and BJ let John play Guitar Hero for the first time......and when they got tired of that game, we all got to play on the Wii.
Speaking of the Wii, this is what I'm begging Santa to bring me for Christmas.....I really enjoyed that :)

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Jessica's Recipe for Dump Cake

Jessica, BJ and Lexi all came over for dinner/ play-date for the girls on Friday night, and she brought this YUMMY YUMMY cake for dessert, I had it before once at John's aunt's but hers was even better LOL....so I had to ask for the recipe. She made hers with apple filling and it tasted just like a great apple crisp!!! It's so easy and I'm SOOO glad....we had it for dessert today when my grandparents came up from Kentucky.


DUMP CAKE

2 cans pie filling, any flavor (I've had cherry, but the apple Jess made was the BEST!)
1 yellow cake mix
1 stick butter, melted

Spray a 13x9 pan with Pam.
Pour in pie filling and spread evenly in bottom of pan
Pour dry cake mix evenly over top of filling.
Drizzle melted butter evenly over the cake mix.
Bake at temperature and times on cake mix box...or until cake mix is browned :)

Friday, September 11, 2009

Best Ever Coconut Cream Pie

MERINGUE:

1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup cold water
4 egg whites
1/8 tsp salt

*Heat oven to 350*
*In a 1-quart saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch.
*Stir in water.
*Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and then boils.
*Boil 1 minute. Cool completely while making filling for pie. (To cool quickest, put in freezer for a few minutes)
*In a large bowl, beat egg whites and salt on highest speed til soft peaks befin to form. Gradually add in sugar mixture until stiff peaks form.
*Spoon meringue onto hot pie filling. Spread over filling, sealing meringue to edge of crust.

*Bake 15 minutes or til meringue is lightly browned.

PIE:

Shortbread pie crust
4 egg yolks from large eggs (save whites for meringue)
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups milk
2 Tbsp butter/margarine, softened
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flaked coconut (I use the sweetened)

*In a medium bowl, beat egg yolks with a fork; set aside.
*In a 2-quart saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch and salt.
*Gradually stir in milk.
*Cook over medium heat. stirring CONSTANTLY (this sticks VERY easy), until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute.
*Take 1 cup of sugar mixture and add to egg yolks....mix well.
*DO NOT ADD EGGS DIRECTLY TO PAN AS THEY WILL SCRAMBLE!!!!!
*
Add egg mixture back to man and stir well.
*Boil mixture for 1 minute; remove from heat.
*Stir in butter, vanilla and coconut; cool filling slightly.
*Pour into pie crust and put in warm oven to keep filling warm.

.

Frostings :)

Fudge Frosting

2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup baking cocoa
1cup milk
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2-3 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla

*In a 3-quart saucepan, mix granulated sugar and cocoa.
*Stir in milk, butter, corn syrup and salt.
*Heat to boiling, stirring frequently. Boil 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
*Cool 45 minutes
*Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla with spoon until smooth. Frosts 8- or 9-inch two layer cakes or 13x9 cake



Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

1lb box powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter/margarine, softened
1 Tbsp vanilla
4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
1/4 cup milk

*In a medium bowl, beat sugar and buter on low speed until blended.
*Stir in vanilla and chocolate
*Gradually beat in just enough milk to make frosting smooth and spreadable. If frosting is too thick beat in more milk, a few drops at a time. If too thin, beat in a small amount of powdered sugar.
*Frosts an 8-inch 3-layer cake.



Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1lb box powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter/margarine, softened
2 tsps vanilla
3 Tbsp milk

*In a medium bowl, mix sugar and butter with mixer on low speed.
*Stir in vanilla and 1 Tbsp of milk
*Gradually beat in just enough remaining milk to make frosting smooth and spreadable.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

dahdedodah

So, I'm not pregnant again. I was really hoping I was, but well....we waited for 3 1/2 years to conceive Charlee, so...I promised myself I wouldn't get my hopes up, but well, it's hard not to.

Charlee is doing really well...she's talking our ears off. She'll take a few steps holding on to stuff...and loves to walk if John or I will hold her hands to do it...but she's terrified to let go and try on her own. She calls "Dada" and "Nana" a lot...and actually knows what they mean now. I, Mommy, am now important enough to be called by name too....sometimes...when she's really desperate LOL

I went shopping Thursday and bought the biggest part of Charlee's birthday decorations. I got the banners, invitations, and even a set of high-chair decorations. I found a little headband with a stuffed "tiara" on the front with a big "1" on it and a little "award" ribbon that says Birthday Girl on it. I got her a cute little pink and chocolate striped onesie and am buying a little pink tutu for her to wear over it :) I'm cheating and leaving her naked to eat her cake, and then will take her inside to dress her before we actually do any of the party stuff.....so we don't ruin the outfit.

It's so hard to believe that its been almost 11 months since I had her. I was looking through her baby picture on Myspace while ago, and it only seems like a few weeks ago that she was that tiny little 5 pound baby. It's been a rough year, seems like she's had SO many problems...but she's finally caught up on everything she needs to be.

We found out at her 9 month check-up that she's actually growing TOO MUCH in some areas. She is right at 50th percentile in her weight and height but her head is too big. The dr told us that her head is almost the size of a TWO YEAR OLD's!!!!
She has a tightening in the muscles on the left side of her neck and also favors her left leg. It was scary to hear them talk about her like there's something wrong with her. I think she's perfect...but I do notice these things now that they've told me.

So, on the 15th we have an evaluation with two therapists from First Steps. If she is behind more than 25% in any one developmental group, or 20% in two groups, she qualifies for free therapy, physical or otherwise. I hate to think about her needing anything...but I'd much rather find about some kind of delay NOW than further out in the future. I want to make sure everything is okay with our princess!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Update on Charlee

So, we spent 5 hours at Kosair's hospital yesterday. After spending the last three weeks arguing with our pediatrician over the phone...I called in about Charlee's problems, he kept saying it was nothing and wouldn't see her....and gee, lo and behold she was SICK!!!
Turns out she's about 3 weeks into pertussis. So, they did the nasal something-or-other test and sent us home with a prescription for whooping cough. It's pretty much a baby version of a Z-pack.
He says she's beyond the contagious stage, so now she just has to take her medicine for 5 days and then she has to stay at home for five more days afterwards. She can have visitors, just can't go out anywhere where she could be re-exposed to the disease. Since there is an "epidemic proportion" outbreak of pertussis in our area, she has to stay home for awhile. It's so touchy she's not even allowed to sit on the porch or go out to get the mail with me like she always does. Poor monkey can't understand why she can't go....she stood at the door watching while I went out to get the mail earlier..it was SO SAD!

We've finally got all but about one box unpacked (and that's just a junk box that really has nothing in it)...and everything except our room is straightened up. It's still pretty much a disaster, but only because we're getting ready to put a BUNCH of stuff in John's mom's yard sale in two weeks.
Mom and Nana came to see us last Saturday and Elise and Steven came up last Sunday. Now we're waiting to set a date for Jessica and her husband BJ and their little girl Alexis to come over for a dinner/playdate :) Charlee loves other little kids so much, but doesn't have an opportunity to be around others, so we're really looking forward to it.
Before we moved back up here, I took her to Brittany and Logan's house one night and she played with the twins. They're 3 so...older than she is, but she really hit it off with Noah and Brittany and I were laughing we're going to end up in-laws LOL
Well, off to do some more laundry! Oh joy!

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About Me

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SAHM to a beautiful, wonderful, miracle princess named Charlee Jean. Married to my high school sweetheart for over 6 years now, and expecting another miracle baby in October 2011