Our dining room table!

My wonderful husband made this! Isn't he talented? It took him a week and now we have a beautiful, affordable table. And I just love that he made it!

What a guy!

Who's in charge here?

This is what awaited me after I put Moses down for his nap. Has anyone else been struck with just HOW messy their house is when nap time arrives? It simply had to be chronicled.

Your Daily Mo

Just seeing how cute he is in his FuzziBunz makes all this cloth diapering worth it!

Look at him go!

The REAL baby signs video.. I think..

Baby signs

I just realized this is the wrong video! I will *hopefully* get the right one up soon!

We have been working on signs for a LONG time, and Moses just recently decided he was ready to use them. Part of the problem was that I had a hard time figuring out the "Mo version" of the signs, but now I am catching on! It sure makes life easier!

Cloth diapers!

We have entered the world of cloth diapers! So far so good! Don't get me wrong.. it's no fun dealing with, well, you know.. but the savings are so, so worth it. We decided on the FuzziBunz One Size and are also using liners to make diaper changes a bit more tolerable. Moses didn't mind the transition at all!

And they are just so much cuter than disposables!

I thought about making the switch not long after Moses was born, but just got motivated (and brave enough!) and I wish we would have done it sooner. We plan on using them on Baby Girl, too!

More Hayes Happenings

Life around here has been interesting.. and kinda yucky. Last Saturday (the 9th) Moses came down with the stomach flu. This is what he did for the next 7 days:

The blanket was down to cover the area rug. There were blankets everywhere. I found it is much easier to clean up a blanket than the floor! We had a trip to Albuquerque planned for Monday the 11th. My sweet friend Bonnie had taken 3 days off of work and I didn't want that to be for nothing.. and I couldn't pass up a trip home with help so we headed off. Well, Monday Moses and I both got really sick and Jeremiah, who we had left in Farmington, came down with it, too. Bless Bonnie's heart. What a wonderful friend! Not only did she help when I needed it in the middle of the night, but bright and early on Tuesday she drove us home... only to come down with the funk the next day. Oh Bonnie, I'm so sorry.. and you're the best!

As soon as we got home we headed up to Durango (with my mother-in-law in tow - we needed another healthy person to contaminate) because the pediatrician wanted to see Moses. Now that was fun. Two parents with the stomach flu and a sick baby. I do not care to repeat that experience! The pediatrician sent us home with some ideas to help sweet Moshe. Unfortunately, nothing worked and we ended up back at the doc's two days later and were sent to the ER for IV fluids. Which looked something like this:

I am grateful for some numbing cream that made it easier on Moses, but the whole experience was pretty awful. Another thing on the "do not repeat" list. Moses spent the rest of the day like this:

(Please excuse my pregnant body.. and cankles..)

This was totally weird for my little guy. He is not, at all, a cuddle bug. Over the course of the last week, however, all he wanted to do was lay on his mama. Poor little fellow.

I am glad to say that the IV fluids and anti-nausea meds really helped and we are now getting back to normal. Thank you Lord for normal!

Mama's little helper

Moses is always so interested in what I'm doing in the kitchen so recently I decided to let him in on the fun. I let him watch me mix and stir and sometimes sit on the counter and 'help'. Today is bread making day around here. While Moses has helped with the dough making process before, he has never helped with the shaping. That ended today!

I was making challah and Moses helped me shape the strand on the far right. See the little finger prints?

"This one's not quite right, Mama."

Helping. And eating. EATING it. I did not see that coming! Since the dough has raw egg in it, I had to put a stop to it, but he loved it! Weird.

He loved sticking his hands in the flour!

Here's hoping that one day he will be baking ME bread! Hey, anything can happen!

Be blessed!

Lunch with the Mo-man.

This kid just keeps me laughing!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Your Daily Mo

Going old school!

Your Daily Mo

Who knew breakfast was so fun?!

Your Daily Mo

A month of meals!

Jeremiah had some things to do this evening so I have some free time to blog my heart out.

Here is our month o' meals. Each week follows the same basic pattern: Monday - frozen meal, Tuesday - breakfast for dinner, Wednesday - frozen meal, Thursday - help yourself night, Friday - big casserole to feed 10-12 people, Saturday - leftovers, Sunday - pizza night! I stock my freezer with frozen veggies for side dishes and since casserole eating isn't the healthiest option, I try to make sure we eat a lot of veggies with each meal.

Also, I have all the breakfast foods we eat stocked up (eggs, tortillas, cereals, yogurt...), lunch foods (lunch meat, veggies, bread, cheese) and snacks. We snack on fruit a lot, so I will have to do a produce run to keep us stocked next week.

Here goes nothin'!

January 1 - Beef stroganoff, fresh bread (made fresh, but it would freeze well minus the noodles and sour cream)

2 - Leftovers

3 - BBQ Chicken Pizza

4 - Chicken fried steak, potatoes, veggies, left over bread from Friday (this meal was not frozen, made fresh)

5 - Breakfast for dinner (biscuits, gravy, eggs - Trader Joe's has a great multi grain baking mix!)

6 - Huevos

7 - Help yourself night

8 - Enchiladas (on Fridays, someone else brings a side and a dessert, so it's not on my list)

9 - Left overs

10 - Pizza - topped with ground beef and turkey bacon (the toppings are ready to go, in the freezer)

11 - Out of town

12 - Out of town

13 - Burgers and fries

14 - Lasagna and veggies

15 - Meat loaf (2 recipes worth)

16 - Left overs

17 - Miah's spaghetti

18 - Chicken Potato Casserole

19 - Breakfast for dinner

20 - Hot dogs and fries

21 - Help yourself night

22 - Potato soup (will be made fresh)

23 - Left overs

24 - Pizza night - topped with turkey pepperoni and green chile

25 - Goulash and veggies

26 - Huevos

27 - Burritos

28 - Help yourself night

29 - Stouffer's lasagna

30 - Leftovers

31 - Tortellini with cream sauce

After doing that I am fairly certain I won't be putting up recipes or a shopping list. I just don't have that kinda time! :) But if anyone has any questions on anything I made just let me know! I can also email my shopping list.. I have it on the computer divided by aisle at the grocery store :)

When you do the shopping for a month you may be able to fit it all into one cart as you gather it, but once the food is bagged you will need two carts to either be prepared to do that yourself or bring a helper!

I buy chicken thighs in bulk and then put them in the crock pot overnight with water and seasonings. In the morning the chicken is ready to be shredded and I cool the broth, drain the fat and freeze it for soups. Works great! You can also freeze it in smaller portions to use as needed.

On the day I will be doing all of the cooking I start with a clean kitchen and empty dishwasher. I lay out each recipe and put the ingredients for each recipe on top of it. I figure out how much cooked ground beef I will need and I cook it all at once. I chop all onion, garlic, etc. for all of the recipes so that I don't have to do that each time I start a recipe.

As for storing everything, for right now I use those disposable aluminum trays, Tupperware, and freezer bags. I make sure I have lots of freezer paper, heavy duty aluminum, and labels. Each recipe has a label on top that tells me what it is, how long it needs to cook and at what temperature.

Sometimes for a larger recipe (like lasagna, for example) I divide the recipe in half because my little family can't finish and entire recipes worth!

Happy shopping!

Your Daily Mo

Managing the chaos.

Man, things have been nuts around here! The main contributor to my craziness has been fatigue, I think. A one year old plus being 24 weeks pregnant makes for one tired mama! As a result I have been trying to find ways to streamline my life. I want to make sure I manage my home well, and get the rest my body so desperately needs. It has been trial and error, but I have found some things that work. If anyone is interested, here is what goes on around here on a daily/weekly basis!

Bills - they get paid right as they come in the door. No waiting around on them or I will simply forget!

Meal planning - This month I am trying something new. I planned my entire month's meals at the beginning of the month, purchased what I needed and made everything ahead that would freeze well. I will have to go to the store occasionally to buy milk and fresh produce, but that's it! I'm hoping this will cut down on cost since everything was bought in bulk. We shall see! Sometime this week I hope to get our meal plan, recipes and shopping list up. I will also try to post how I streamline the whole process, too.

Cleaning - Oh cleaning. Darn cleaning :) I am half joking, but man! Being a SAHM means that I clean things that get dirty in minutes. BUT I will stop the complaining before it really begins. Each morning I try to get up before Moses and make the bed, wipe down the bathrooms and empty the dishwasher. If a load of laundry needs to be thrown in, I do that, too. Things I don't do: wash bottles and sippy cups until the end of the day and I do not pick up toys until Moses goes to bed. No way, Jose! :) Mondays - floors. Tuesdays - bathrooms. Wednesdays - kitchen. Thursday - bedrooms and laundry. Friday - prepare for the guests that come each week. Saturday and Sunday - I just enjoy my family time! *Disclaimer! This list serves me, and not the other way around! If I'm not up for cleaning and need to rest, that is what I do!

I have also been trying to fit exercise in each day. Not much, just 20-30 minutes on the treadmill and some weights. I try to do this while Moses naps and then I take a quick shower and spend the rest of nap time off my feet! It is a perfect time to fit in some Bible reading and a short nap.

Alright, that's it! I'd be interested in how you other SAHM's manage your days!