Delurking Week!

My BFF Merritt informed me that this week is the annual Delurking Week in the blogosphere! I've never participated in delurking week before because my blog used to be password protected so I thought I had an idea of who was reading.
So....if you are reading this blog and you never comment, you are a lurker! And this is your week to come on out, leave a comment, and let me know you are reading. And the best part is you don't have to comment again until next January when annual delurking week comes around again.

Don't make me start calling names.

New Year's Resolutions

I haven't ever really made new year's resolutions before. Maybe its a fear of commitment or a fear of failure or maybe I'm just lazy and don't get around to it.

So this year I am making a New Year's Resolution. My resolution is:

To keep my car clean............................................. by paying the nice people at the BS Car Wash to wash it for me!

They have ladies' day on Tuesday so Kiran & I decided to get started on this new year's resolution. It was so nice to have a clean car! ON THE WAY HOME FROM THE CAR WASH, Kiran sticks her fingers down her throat and makes herself throw up IN MY CLEAN CAR!!! My nice, clean, fresh car now smells like Toddler Throw Up (yes she is def a toddler Mert). And it would not bug me so much if she was truly sick and hadn't done this to herself.

Has anyone dealt with a bulimic toddler before? The past few days she has been sticking her fingers down her throat and gagging herself but today was the first time she actually threw up. I hope this is a one time thing but I'm scared its not.

And of course this happens on the very first day that Jonathan started his night classes for his MBA. Its going to be a long 2 and 1/2 years.

You Can Stop Your Begging (Erin G)

Here is the recipe for Thick Potato Soup (I think I called it something else the other day). Its not like I made it up; I got it from the Busy Woman's Slow Cooker Cookbook that I borrowed from Lauren Peters since she doesn't use her crockpot because her cat likes to chew through electrical wires while she is at work. This has been my fave cookbook lately. I've made this soup, bbq chicken, best bow tie pasta ever, and salsa chicken and have been pleased with both the ease and taste of every recipe.

Thick Potato Soup

Ingredients:
2 pounds potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 (10 3/4 ounce) cans cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sliced green onions
1/4 teaspoon red pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk

In a slow cooker, combine potatoes, soup, green onions, and red pepper. Mix well. Cover. Cook on low 8 to 10 hours or high 4 hours. Add cheese, sour cream, and milk. Mix until cheese melts. Cover. Cook 15 minutes. Makes 6 servings.

I thought it was quite tasty. I even liked it the next day reheated on the stove. So did Kiran, who is a picky toddler.

Baby Appt

I have my 14 week appt today and I kid you not I was in and out in 18 minutes. 18 minutes. Including check in, blood pressure (118/66), weight (you think I'm telling??? Just kidding +7 so far), finding the heart beat (160bpm), seeing the dr (you taking baby aspirin? yep. Ok keep taking it. See you in 4 weeks), going to the dr's office to see a picture of his friend that he swore I was the spitting image of, setting my next appt (Feb 4) and the BIG ultrasound (feb 19).

While the nurse was trying to find the baby's heart beat (isn't that the most nerve wracking thing ever?), she kept finding it and losing it. She chuckled and said, "This baby is moving around." Oh good. Kiran was very active in the womb (all the ultrasound techs would say, "You have a very active baby" when trying to get measurements) and hasn't really stopped since she was born. I told the nurse today that sometimes I catch myself wishing I could feel the baby move and kick, but then I remember that I'll have 20 weeks to enjoy those lovely bumps, hiccups and esp kicks to the ribs. I'm trying to enjoy the last few weeks of peace.

Since J's parents drove half an hour to watch Kiran for me and she was sleeping when they arrived, I thought that would be awfully unfair for me to show back up just 40 minutes after I left. So I went to Target. And spent all of my Christmas gift cards. Plus five dollars and one cent.

Big Lots

I didn't know there were so many things in Big Lots I need.

I went to Big Lots for only the second time in my life last week. The first time was when KT took me in Boone a few years ago. Anyhow, I heard they had good prices on storage containers and I'm getting to ready to make a hefty storage container purchase to get us or-gan-ized. But I digress. I walked in and the employees were rearranging the furniture and I thought, "People actually buy furniture at Big Lots?"

I got suckered in to the Christmas half-off sale. For the record, I got 9 rolls of Christmas wrapping paper for $5 and a welcome mat for the door. That was it. For the Christmas sale. While we were in there, Kiran wanted to put everything in her mouth. I kept telling her that we were past the oral stage but that didn't seem to stop her. Finally I stuck my finger in her mouth and discovered her top two molars had just broken through and her bottom two were bulging. That explains a lot about the last few days.

AND I found this nifty sponge holder for my kitchen sink that I was drolling over at the container store website the night before. I came home and did all these hand wash only dishes we had stacked by the sink. I think it was due to my energy returning.....Nah it was totally due to how much I enjoyed putting the sponge back in the sponge holder after washing every dish.

anyone hungry? for potatoes?

Is she my daughter or what?

Blood Draws

We had Kiran's blood drawn today for hopefully the last time for a while. She had taken iron for a couple of months so we were checking her hemoglobin and riticulitis (sp?) counts. Everything went well at the hospital and it was less than two hours later when her pediatrician's office called to tell us the results were normal and that no further testing or intervention is needed at this time.

Am I Allowed Back Here?

Hi.

Whew. Its been a while. I have a lot of things to blame my absence on..... but truthfully, it was just the first trimester energy drain. I just haven't had energy to blog or take pictures (I took a total of 5 pictures during our 4 Christmases and honestly, I handed the camera to J so he could take them). You know its bad when I'm not up for taking pictures.

Anyhow, last Saturday I rounded up all of Kiran's toys and separated them into three bins to rotate through on a weekly basis. Sometime during that I realized that I felt pretty good; I didn't need to lay down for a minute (or twenty) and I was thrilled. Since then my energy is slowly reappearing. I've made dinner two days in a row (both in the crockpot but hey it counts- creamy potato soup is in my brand new huge crockpot RIGHT NOW!) and Jonathan is estastic about that.

Speaking of Jonathan, he rocks. He's cooked and cleaned for the last 8 weeks plus taken care of both Kiran & me when we had the stomach virus at the same time and run to CVS for _________ multiple times. So props to you Jonathan. Taking a cue from Jill's dad, I'd say I have good taste in men.

So I have a lot to blog about- I think going back to um how embarrassing is this? THANKSGIVING. But I'm up for it. Let's just start with the present- our photo shoot today. Actually Kiran was begging to play outside and taking my camera was the only way I could forget about the cold for 15 minutes (this child was laughing in the cold wind on our way into Ingles yesterday- it was a wind chill of like 20??? She is so not an Indian baby).

I love love love the big red poofy jacket my mom found at our fave consignment shop (have I blogged about that? Maybe I shouldn't- then you can't run down there and buy all the good stuff). And I love love love that we found matching red/pink hat and mittens at Old Navy. It makes me really happy. Even if it is 34 degrees outside.