Mommy things

This week I'm learning how to cook baby food... in my ebay-won Beaba BabyCook!

It retails for $149 (ouch!) but I was able to get one second hand for $100. Already I've pureed carrots for Audrey's lunch and I'm about to cook 2 plums and steam them.

If you're looking for a good sight on making your own baby food check out this site.

I know there's a big debate about whether it's cost efficient to purchase and "extra kitchen item" to make baby food when you can easily steam food on your stove top. While it's obviously cheaper to make your own baby food it's not easy to decide how.

So, this week I'm going to be making baby food both ways: with the Beaba BabyCook and on the stove.

I would love to receive any tips and personal experience. Feel free to leave a comment!

Boeuf Bourguignon

So the meal went well, not as satisfying as all the work Michael and I put into it, though. Sunday night we cooked from 8pm to 1am and then cleaned up from 1am to 2am. Needless to say, we were both exhausted when 7:30am rolled around.



We refrigerated the food and served it Monday night to our friends Vinnie and Cambria. Cambria tried to guess what we had made and shouted and jumped up and down when we told her "boeuf bourguignon". "Julia Child's 'Boeuf Bourguignon!!!" She had been wanting to prepare it since she saw the wonderful movie Julie/Julia (as did we... )

The meat was a little overdone, and it just didn't taste as "amazing" as it smelled. Oh well.




On the other hand, Michael and I had such a good time cooking together that we felt like we got an inexpensive date night out of it. We danced around each other as the broth boiled and the bourguignon simmered. We rolled our eyes in delight smelling the brown braised onions. And even when we were exhausted and starting to get grumpy (that can happen at 1am) we still laughed as we scrubbed down the kitchen from our cooking escapade.

It was a wonderful night.

Monday, as well was a great time. Vinnie and Cambria are awesome and we thoroughly enjoyed sitting and talking for 4 hours. I don't know about them, but I wasn't ready for the night to be over when they left. Leaves me in anticipation for the next time we can all get together.



Lord, thanks for great friends, good wine, and wonderful days full of laughter.

Date Night

Boeuf Bourguignon!! Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon! Pray that it goes well!

~Katie

Mother Goose

The more time I spend with my wonderful, spirited baby girl the more of my childhood is brought to remembrance... Songs like "Baby BumbleBee" and "K-K-K-Katie!" are sung frequently in our house. I love it!

As I was sitting here the old nursery rhyme "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater" came to mind and I started wondering what it really meant. That's when I found this website. It amazed me how many of the nursery rhymes we sing have terrible origins. Would you sing "Ring a ring of rosies" if you knew it was about death and the Plague? Or that the crazy woman in "Three blind mice" was Queen Mary I?

It's good to know stuff... I laughed after seeing the irony of the children's rhymes I've been singing since I was little were about terrible things at their origins. Whatever.

Spring!

Happy 1st day of spring! Hope everyone's having a great day, enjoying great weather, and hopefully getting away from gloomy winter days.

What's going on in the Paulus house:

Michael's tackling his "honey-do" list
I'm cleaning, folding laundry, and sewing
Audrey's figured out fake coughing for attention
- We're trying not to laugh when she does it to not encourage her
Just got back from a beautiful (and much needed) vacation to San Diego
Bought to start spring cleaning (YUCK!)
We pick up my truck (!!!) on Monday


Still working on getting back to normal with Michael home. It's been great having him home, but I've definitely had to work on putting away, for now, my many hats. For the past 4 months I've been mother, father, husband, wife in our house. It's been harder than I thought it would be to relinquish some of my duties, and even harder to submit and allow Michael to serve and lead.

We'll figure it out... Thankfully God's got a hand in our marriage :)

Pics to be posted later of our vacation!

Ciao!

Sitting around

Saturday I did a lot of sitting around and waiting. For what? My husband!!! Michael returned from his 3 1/2 month deployment Saturday night! I love having my husband home. He brings such joy and stability to our house. Audrey has transitioned well to him, thankfully! She's not in the "mommy only" stage yet. Thank goodness.

And I have finally slept! While he was gone I would sleep through the night, but I'd wake up just as tired as when I went to bed, needing to sleep lightly just in case I needed to help Audrey or defend my castle. Now that my bodyguard is home ;) I fall into such a deep sleep that it's hard for me to wake up. Michael brought Audrey to me while I was in bed, he was on his way to work, and she and I snuggled and fell asleep for an hour! The tiredness is catching up to me. I have a feeling I might be like this for a while. Oh well.

So now, I'm sitting here listening to Audrey talk on the monitor while she tries to go to sleep and watching Michael file our taxes. It's a great day. My family is together. Complete. As it should be.

One of my favorite times of day...

SNUGGLE time! After I get Audrey out of her crib, but before I get her ready for the day we snuggle on the guest bed for a few minutes. She talks to me, practices her crawling, tries to grab my glasses. We play peek-a-boo. This morning she found her thumb and nestled in for a little nap. Oh the joy of being Audrey's mommy!

Just another Tuesday...

I'm sitting here sipping a mixture of warm water, 3 T apple cider vinegar, and 3 T honey to hopefully heal my sore throat and ibuprofen for my headache and ear ache... I hope it works. Mom's don't get "sick days".

On top of my sickness, my daughter is refusing to take a nap. She woke up extra early this morning (7am). Of course, the day that I could really use the sleep I only get 6 hours of sleep (I waited up till 1am for Michael's call... which never came through). Otto barking, Audrey crying, it's just been one of those mornings.

Oh well. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Until then, I'll try to rest and be cheerful. :)

Budgeting

Oh! I forgot to ask. If you have any tips for budgeting could you pass them on? Great websites? Saving tips?

I'm looking into PearBudget.com. Has anyone used it before?

Thanks, in advance, for the tips!

It's been a while

Sorry it's been so long. Kinda what happens when you're doing this whole parenting thing by yourself while your better half is deployed. Thankfully I won't be alone for too much longer (excuse me while I do my excited dance...)

I'm sitting here listening to Otto tear something else up in the backyard. He switches from the watering system to the cardboard box that holds our chiminea. Wonderful. More for Michael to take care of when he gets home... I've taken care of my fair share lest you think I'm leaving everything for him.

Audrey's just laid down to take her 3rd nap. She doesn't normally take that many naps... Oh well. More time for me to get things done around this messy house.

So what's been up with me. Well, I'm tired. It's been a long 3 months and I'm very ready for my husband to be home. I know I sound like a weakling. I've heard the "You're lucky you're not an army wife dealing with 18 month deployments." Yes, I am. But I also know that the Lord gives me the strength to press on through any deployment be it 3 or 18 months. And I've prepared for a 3 month separation, so it stands to reason that I'm ready for Michael to be home.

Audrey has kept me very busy in the meantime. She is on the go all the time! At 5 1/2 months old she's beginning to sit up unassisted (for a little bit till she comes crashing down on her face), she grabs anything and everything within her reach and immediately puts it in her mouth, she holds onto my fingers and stands up very well, talks, giggles, and blows raspberries. She's almost crawling... she gets up on her hands and knees, rocks back and forth, and then scoots... backwards. :) At least she's moving.

Children grow up so fast! Looking back at pictures Audrey's changed so much! You'd hardly recognize her. It's so hard for me to think of all the things I've seen her do while Michael finds out second hand. I sent him a video the other day and he replied that that was one of the first times he's ever heard her laugh! Come home, Michael and enjoy the joy that is our daughter!

I'm proud to say that this has been a productive deployment for me. I'll make a list to prove it:

Installed a security system
replanted watering system
fixed a broken watering system
organized our bills
spent 2 weeks in Texas
and 3 in Virginia
built 1/2 of my project desk (hoping to have it finished before Michael gets home)
made a meal plan
had windows installed in our VA rental
fixed Michael's credit score (with help, thanks Dad P!)
got Audrey sleeping through the night
and I've kept my sanity (for the most part)

What's left to do is another story:

clean the house
sew 3 large sewing projects
finish the desk
potty train Audrey (just kidding)
organize my pantry
and paint my nails...

Thankfully I have a few weeks left to do it. I'm contemplating whether or not it's really worth it to clean my house before Michael gets home... it's just going to get trashed again with all his stuff. Oh well. It'll make me feel better.

So there you go. Little ol' me. Workin' away. Keepin' busy and stayin' sane.