I'm Thankful for

Yeah, that sounds like a Thanksgiving post title, doesn't it? Thanksgiving was over a week ago you say?


Becky with Will trying to lick Jack's ear on Thanksgiving.

I feel so un-blogivated (motivated to blog) lately. I don't know why; I love blogging. I missed my "links of the week" and "what I cooked last week posts," I blame Thanksgiving for really throwing me off my schedule. I didn't even write my Thanksgiving post. Haven't been doing much blog reading lately either.

Oh well. Instead of trying to make up for the missed posts, I think I'll just resume them this week. Except "links of the week" might be more like "links from the recent past."

I will tell you what I'm thankful for though. This year, I'm most thankful for The Baby Whisperer. We started trying the "Pick-up/Put-down" method from this book again the night before Thanksgiving and it has gone really well! We had tried it before when Will was 4 months old and it did not work at all, but this time has been great.

Previously, it was normal for him to wake up 5-8 times during the night and sleep for a maximum stretch of 3 hours (if we were lucky). The first night we tried this (well, Shawn did the work), if I remember correctly, he only woke twice! Or was it once?! That we can live with. It wasn't easy by any means, but it's getting better. The first night it took about an hour and a half to get him to sleep, the second, an hour, and less from then on. Some nights Shawn hasn't had to pick him back up at all. Now it's normal for him to wake once or twice during the night (once for milk) and go back to sleep fairly easily.



Naps are a different story though. Will was a good napper before this, but he was napping in the carseat, so we had to stop that and it was hard. Naps are my territory, since I'm the one home with him during the day, and I don't deal with his crying very well. For the first few days I was doing his naps, he didn't nap at all. Or, if he did nap, it was in the afternoon and just for 45 minutes, then I couldn't get him back to sleep. One day, he was so exhausted from not napping that he fell asleep in the highchair after lunch. This does not happen, he is not a fall-asleep-anywhere baby, I was in shock.

Friday, I think I broke the nap curse. Really, I think I just figured out the right amount of time that he can handle being awake for so that he's tired enough, but not overtired. Both naps were around 1 hour 20 minutes that day!

He's napping as I type this, praying to sail past the 45-minute mark today as well! But hey, 45 minutes is better than nothing. Update: Didn't make it past 30, but I got him back to sleep for a few minutes.

What I cooked this (last) week: Thanksgiving

Here is where I try to remember what I cooked last week since I should have posted this sooner.

As far as I can remember, I only made a few things and they were all one-dish meals.



I know there was a pasta bake. I mixed elbows and shells, added some jarred sauce (Newman's Own Sockarooni, I believe), ricotta, Italian cheese blend, mozzarella, parmesan, and some extra seasonings. It all goes together on the stove, then I spread it into a baking dish, top with cheese, and bake until bubbly.

I also made this "Hawaiian rice" dish that I've been making since I copied it out of my text book for cooking class in 9th grade. It's cooked rice, onion, soy sauce, salt, pepper, scrambled egg, cooked bacon (crumbled), and green onion. I mix it up a bit sometimes, this time I added toasted sesame oil. Sometimes I add chicken, I've also used chicken sausage instead of bacon and replaced the green onion with bell pepper. Peas are good in it too.

While browsing through a magazine (I want to say it was Rachael Ray), I spotted an ad (don't remember what it was for, Hillshire Farms maybe?) that had this pasta dish with sausage in it; it looked good so I did my own version with items I had on hand. Elbow pasta, asparagus, mixed frozen veggies (green beans, yellow beans, carrots), beef polska kielbasa, salt, pepper, parsley, what little Italian dressing I had left, and olive oil. All of the ingredients were cooked and then combined. It's kind of like a warm pasta salad. It was a hit.

I also made stuffing for our Thanksgiving meal. The recipe I used was "Mushroom and wild rice stuffing" from the Thanksgiving issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray.

And then there were left-overs.

Oh, and here's a tasty treat:


Peanut butter banana open-faced s'mores.

Links from last week: Thanksgiving edition

I haven't done as much web surfing this week but I still came up with what I think is a pretty good list of links for you to read. These pages are mostly Thanksgiving themed, with a little Christmas in there.

• I bookmarked this Babble post on DIY Christmas tree skirts for myself. I don't have a skirt for my tree, poor girl went bottomless last year, it was cold too. I just couldn't find one I really liked. This year I did find one at Hobby Lobby but it was a little pricey, maybe with 21 to choose from here, and my new sewing machine, I can make one?
• Inflation jokes aside, here's a good read on how balloons get chosen for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I'll give you a hint: money.
• Here's another Thanksgiving Parade related post from Mental_Floss. Did you know there used to be an agreement that stores wouldn't put out there Christmas fare until Santa arrived (at the end of the parade, that is)?
• Before you stomp down some 80 year old woman to get the last dancing Elmo, you may want to read this return policy guide. Useful stuff there folks.
• This one's not holiday related, but I think it's especially useful this time of year when you may be more likely to have family and friends over to your house and need to tidy up a bit. Or maybe you need to find a place in your home for new items you get for Christmas.
• And then there's this. Don't do this people, just don't.

I hope you enjoy these links and have a great Thanksgiving. Will you be watching the parade tomorrow? Or stocking up on sleep to hit those black Friday sales?