Where in the World?

The other night, Sydney passed gas. I said, "Oh! What was that?" She replied, "A hiney pop!" Where in the world does she get this stuff?

Happy Spring!

I temporarily lost my mind and thought it was a good idea to take the kids to get their pictures taken. This was not a good idea. First, I think it is impossible for Sydney to sit still and follow directions when we're in the portrait studio. I've tried everything from bribery to timeouts. As for Cole, he used to be good at it. He'd just sit there and smile like an angel. Well, now he can crawl and stand. So - we get him exactly where we want him, and he takes off. It's like herding cats. Anyway, here are the two best pictures from this shoot.

'Tis the Season

Often, I am reminded of how lucky I am to have so many mommy friends. Three years ago, right after Sydney was born, Nina suggested I go to the Loudoun Hospital new moms support group. In my wildest dreams, I could never have guessed that that group would lead me to meet such wonderful mommies and create long-term friendships - not to mention great little friends for Sydney! Our group is still surprisingly active (I think most groups tend to fizzle out after a year or so). We have about 30 members and continue to meet on a regular basis for playgroups, mommies' night out, and other activities. Along the way, most of the mommies have had second babies (some are working on number three!), and we have continued to be a support group for each other as we raise our second children together. Anyway, because we all joined the group at about the same time, our first children have birthdays very close to each other (within four or five months). And 'tis the season for birthday parties!

Over the past several weeks, we've been lucky enough to be invited to some birthday parties. Here are some of my favorite pictures from these awesome celebrations.

Cupcakes - Sydney's favorite part of birthday parties.

Even Cole gets to have fun at the parties!

This party was especially fun - here's Sydney "racing" cars.

Complete exhaustion - mommy's favorite part of birthday parties.

Happy birthday to all our BFFs! Here's to many more years of celebrations together.

Lemon Garlic Tilapia

A couple weeks ago, a friend suggested I should use the microwave to cook fish. I had never heard of such a thing. I mean, I realize it could be a possibility, but I never seriously considered using the microwave to cook fish - or really any other dinner entree for that matter. Anyway, on her suggestion, I purchased a package of tilapia fillets from Wegmans last week. The fillets are frozen and individually wrapped (about 4 ounces a piece). For lunch, I took one of the fillets and put it in a bowl of water to defrost. It was defrosted and ready to be cooked in about 10 minutes. At that point, I put it in the microwave on a plate and pushed sensor cook for fish. It was ready in about a minute. That was about the easiest thing ever! The fish was well cooked, delicious, and the kids loved it!

Tonight, I continued my fish party by making lemon garlic tilapia. This was so good, it is possibly the best fish I've ever had. We'll definitely be making this again - soon.

4 T butter
Juice of 1 lemon
2 t garlic
parsley
2 tilapia fillets

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Salt and pepper the fillets and place them in a baking dish. In a saute pan, saute the remaining ingredients. Pour the saute mixture over the fish and bake for approximately 14 minutes. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Aunt Jodi

Aunt Jodi's birthday was this week, and again she didn't want to celebrate. But - we made her, and I think she may have enjoyed herself. Although the party itself had been planned ahead of time, the timing was a little last minute (surprise!). We had Jodi's favorite: sloppy joes. And - although I didn't have time to make her preferred ice cream cake, we did have devils food cake cupcakes with mint cookie ice cream. Yummy! Sydney colored Aunt Jodi a very nice card and made her a series of video happy birthday messages. Sarah got her mom some really nice pansies... I almost had to keep them! Happy Birthday Aunt Jodi - we love you!

3-Year Check-Up

I still can't believe I have a three year old! Just look at those long legs! We headed to the doctor's office this week for Sydney's 3-year check-up. She is such a chatterbox recently. She'll talk to anyone and everyone. Usually, she starts off most conversations by informing whoever it is she's talking to that she is a princess. Anyway, when the nurse called her from the waiting room, Sydney immediately informed her that she's a princess. After that was established, she weighed in at 31 pounds. I nearly passed out! I didn't think there'd be any way she was going to break the 30-pound mark. Then, she was measured and came in at 39 inches tall, which wasn't so surprising - she tends to be among the tallest in her group of friends. The visit was pretty boring after that - except that the doctor confirmed that Syd's recent coughing, dripping nose, and watery eyes are from seasonal allergies. He also said that she's a pretty healthy kid given that we only visited him once since her second birthday! Not bad!

A Sample Menu

We've made it almost a week giving Cole a rotation diet. Here's how it's gone:

Wednesday: Chicken and wheat
Thursday: Beans and rice
Friday: Pork and oatmeal
Saturday: Beef and quinoa
Sunday: Egg and barley

For proteins, we still need to try lamb and fish. For grains, we need to try millet and flax seed (although I need to double check with the allergist on this one). I guess we could also do buckwheat. Anyway, switching up the protein and grain at least every three days is not as hard as it sounds. I can give him unlimited fruits and vegetables, so that makes things a little easier. I have a couple questions into the nutritionist about how I can use beans. Although I'd love to use them as a protein on bean protein day and a vegetable on other days, I doubt I can... but I asked the nutritionist just to be sure. This is definitely a learning process!

We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, here's a picture of my sweet, sweet boy: