Recipes!

Here are the recipes for the delicious things Michael cooked this weekend!

It's not as hard as it looks/sounds. They took about 35-40 minutes together. YUMM YUMM!!

Grilled Chicken with Basil and Mozzarella

8oz mozzarella cheese

4lg chicken breasts

8 basil leaves

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 Tbs olive oil

salt & pepper

Cut mozzarella into 8 thick slices, set aside.

Slice each chicken breast horizontally without cutting all the way though (butterfly the chicken). Open the chicken and season wih salt and pepper.

Put 2 basil leaves, a few garlic slices, and 2 slices of cheese in each breast, then fold back over, pressing firmly together. Secure with toothpicks.

Brush with olive oil and cook on grill or grill pan for about 8 minutes or until the chicken is cooked and the cheese is oozing.

Linguine with Pancetta & Sage

1 cup peas

4-5 Tbs olive oil

1/3 cup bread crumbs

16 oz linguine

3 oz thinly sliced panchetta

3 garlic cloves, crushed

5-6 sage leaves, finely chopped

1/3 cup white wine

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Cook peas, drain and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in skillet. Add bread crumbs and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Set aside.

Cook pasta and drain. Set aside.

Heat 1 Tbs oil in a saucepan large enough to hold all the pasta later. Add the pancetta and cook, stirring, until browned, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring for 1 minute, don't let the garlic burn. Stir in sage and wine. Cook, stirring, until liquid has evaporated, about 1 minute.

Add pasta to the pan with the pancetta. Add the peas and 1-2 tablespoons of oil over low heat. Toss well to mix. Stir in cheese and bread crumbs.

Enjoy!!

Someone's in the Kitchen with Kristin

Every once in a while, Michael will cook dinner, but I'm usually the one one that does the cooking in the house. Lately, we haven't been cooking at all because we've been blessed with some amazing friends and family that have been brining us meals since we came home with baby boy.

Last night, we had Ray and Alicia over for dinner and we actually decided to cook! Michael and I started cooing the meal together, but I had to keep running between the food and the baby. Between feeding, changing, comforting, and changing more diapers, Michael ended up cooking dinner by himself. And it was delicious!! 

He made Stuffed Chicken with Basil and Mozzarella, Linguine with Panchetta and Asparagus. YUMMY!!!!

Fun times at the Fant's

Bryson made his first trip to Mama Mel and Papa John's house on Sturday.

We had so much fun! John made an amazing dinner (I wish I could cook like him!!) and we all just sat around and talked for a long time.

Bryson entertained us with tummy time. That's kinda his only trick right now :)

We all gathered on the bed (away from the 4 dachshunds on the floor) and watched B do his thing.

More Tummy Time

We all love tummy time!

It's such a fun time for Michael and I to spend with Bryson because he's so active and happy.

Bryson is getting stronger by the day and a lot more active. It's amazing to watch his development. I did a little tummy time with him morning since we skipped it last night and I caught this little cutie pie on video :)

This afternoon was Bryson's first trip to Target--my (and B's) favorite store! YAY! He did so good, he didn't make a peep the whole time we were there. This was my 3rd time to take him out of the house all by myself, and I'm starting to feel much more relaxed and confident about it :)

Baby Hands

I could kiss these little hands all day long!!

3 Weeks

3 weeks have already flown by? I can't believe it. I feel like I'll be saying that for the rest of my life.

Bryson had his 2 week check up last Tuesday (I'm slacking on updating, I know) and it went really well! He's  a big, happy, healthy growing boy!

He weighed in at 8lbs 9oz and in the 50th percentile!! He has already gained an entire pound since birth! They say that they want to baby to be back up to their birth weight at 2 weeks and he is above and beyond that! :)

He is 22 inches long now and in the 90th percentile for length. Maybe that means he's going to be super tall like the men from my mom's side of the family :)

His head is also in the 50th percentile, I forgot the exact measurement, but Michael was excited he doesn't have a huge head. Ha!

He did so good at the doctor, he didn't cry at all. Well, not until the mean nurse pricked his foot to take an enormous amount of blood to finish the newborn screening. Then he screamed for quite a while, poor baby.

He looked SO cute that several of the nurses asked Michael to bring him back over so everyone could see him! He's a ladies man already :)

Thank you for his precious little outfit, Stephanie!

Michael had to work on Tuesday and couldn't take Bryson to the doctor with me (he met us up there for the appointment though) and I was not ready to take him somewhere by myself yet, so my mom was really wonderful and went with us. I was tying to time everything out perfectly, feeding him, changing him, and getting everything together before we left. The timing thing never work out right, by the way. But anyway, we had about 5 minutes before we had to leave and I had to run to the bathroom really quickly. My mom was holding Bryson before we put him in the carseat. As I was walking out of the bathroom, my mom started yelling for me to come out there and bring towels.

Greeeat.

He spit up.

Oh, uh oh.

He did NOT spit up.

He had an explosive poopie diaper all over Mimi!! NOO!!

My poor mom had Bryson poopie all over her pants right before we had to leave for the doctor. She washed it off with water real quick and was so calm about it. Once a mom, always a mom. For sure!!

As for Bryson, he's doing great! He is such a calm and happy baby! We loove just hanging out on the sofa watching Bryson's many faces and listening to his sweet  noises. He is still a pooping machine. My goodness, this kid poops. A LOT! I have an application on my iPhone called BabyStats that lets you record the number of dirty diapers and feedings. A couple days ago, it said that Bryson had 16 feedings and 22 dirty diapers in a 24hr period. Goodness!!

For the most part, he's sleeping about 2 hrs during the day and about 3 1/2 -4 hours at night.  It feels like only a few minutes pass between feedings at night time. I get up and think, "there is no possibe way you're hungry again." Then I realize it's been 4 hours. It's exhausting for sure, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!! I really love the special time we have together when I'm feeding him. It's so wonderful!! :)

Bryson has also recently decided that baths aren't as terrible as he thought. He used to scream like it was the end of the world, but now, he's pretty calm and just lays there. We put a little space heater up on the counter to keep him really warm, cover him with a towel when we're not washing that area of his body and put him in a warm towel straight out of the dryer when bath time is over. Anything to keep him happy, right!?

3 weeks

We have loved every second with this sweet boy and can't wait to see what he has in store for us this week!!

The Words I Would Say

Be strong in the Lord

And never give up hope.

You're gunna do great things,

I already know.

God's got His hand on you,

so don't live life in fear.

Forgive and forget,

but don't forget why you're here.

Take your time and pray.

These are the words I would say.

"The Words I Would Say" by Sidewalk Prophets

**I had this song stuck in my head for the entire last trimester of my pregnancy and sang it ALL the time to Bryson. Even during every potty break in the middle of the night. :)

Out and About....Kinda

On New Years Day (before it was freeeezing outside) Michael and I took Bryson on his first walk in his stroller. He loved it! It was so nice to just get out of the house for a little bit.

It was a little chilly outside, so we wanted to bundle him up. A friend from school gave him this outfit and I really wanted him to wear it. But it was just a tiny bit big. :) Michael said he looked like the little boy from 'A Christmas Story' when he couldn't put his arms down. Haha! When we couldn't buckle his carseat, I realized we should probably change him into some other clothes.

We've gotten to go out a couple of times and now I really can't wait until it gets warmers so we can go walking alot more! Sadly, it won't be any time soon since it's supposed to be in the teens for the next few days. Blah.

New Year Resolutions

I can't believe 2009 is already gone. Michael and I were just talking about how wonderful 2009 was. We had some pretty HUGE things happen to us as a family.

**I found out I was pregnant, and was pregnant pretty much the entire year

**We celebrated 2 years of marriage and 7 years of being together!

**We went on our first big trip (to Boston) since our honeymoon

**We watched our best friends get married and 2 of our sisters get engaged

**Michael finished his Masters and graduated from SMU

**We celebrated the birth of our happy and healthy little boy!!

I don't know how it could get any better.

Oh wait.

Yes I do!

We have an entire year of  "firsts" to look forward to as a new family!! Last year was full of a few BIG things that happened and this year is going to be full of a TON of little things that are going to be so so special. :)

So, I've been trying to think of some resolutions this year. Michael and I have made some pretty huge resolutions/goals in the past. We went for an entire year without fast food, one year I gave up cookies (which was NOT an easy task for me), Michael gave up caffeine (I ended up doing this too since I was preggo), and we trained to run a half marathon and full marathon (for Michael).

I'm not doing anything huge this year, but I do have a few things I want to accomplish:

**Lose the rest of my baby weight AND get back in shape before Rebecca's wedding in April (Yes, I realize this might be unattainable, but I sure am going to try!)

**Commit to doing P90X every day with Michael (as soon as my Dr clears me to work out, of course)

**Keep the kitchen counters neat and organized. We have a masive counter that has turned into a "catch-all" counter and it is always full of junk. But not this year :)

**Spend as much time with the hubs and the son as

 possible!!

As for Michael, he has one HUGE resolution. A very selfless resolution. It's to only wath 1 hour of TV a day so he can spend the rest of the day spending time with his wife and son! How amazing is he!? I sure do love that man a whole lot!!

Let's see how well I kep up with my resolutions. Hopefully I'll be able to say I accomplished them all...or at least most of them! :)

Happy New Year!!

Question

Who's the cutest baby in the whole wide world??

I AM!!!