And I thought it was a good day…

It started out perfect, coffee brewing, someone had already gotten Nico his breakfast, Grandpa was here, what more could a mommy want?  Well, for Nico to poop in the potty of course.  Shortly after breakfast he says, “I feel like I have to poop.”  So, he goes off to the potty, but nothing.  Then I just strip him down hoping that tactic will work.  Well, a few minutes later he says the same thing, goes in the potty and shortly after that we all hear a flush.  I am thinking, no way, this was too easy, too good to be true!  So, I had to do a little private detective work and well “check” to make sure he had actually pooped.  The evidence was strongly in his favor on this one, so he got his poop fire truck, his poop candy bar, and got to watch his favorite show.  It was a joyful morning indeed! 

Then came nap time.  I put him in a pull up, put him down, and about 45 minutes later we hear him yelling.  Now, he did the same thing yesterday and had apparently thrown up a little bit.  He is fighting a cold so I think he was yelling, started coughing, and made himself gag.  Well, the same thing happened today!  Perhaps he has learned a new way to get out of naps.  Anyway, he comes downstairs and not 5 minutes later has pooped in his pants (pull up, thank goodness).  What do you do?  I can’t take back the candy, but I did take back his fire truck and said he could get it when he pooped in the potty again.  I am hoping he was just confused, wearing a pull up, still not used to doing it in the potty.  But, needless to say, it was disappointing and disheartening.  I thought we had crossed a major hurdle and now I feel like we are back at the starting line.  We shall see how tomorrow goes. 

So, May 23 started out great, but now I am not so sure.

Just had to add this…

So, I was told I should share recipes.  Here is what I had for lunch today, and it is easy and yummy, and I have to admit, I got the recipe from my sister in law who I believe got it from her brother in law who got it from who knows where, but anyway, here you go:

Chicken lettuce wraps

any amount of chicken, depending on how many you are feeding.  I used about 1/4 pound of chicken tenderloins for myself and have some leftover.

boil chicken, let cool, then shred
mix with hoisin sauce (you can find it in your grocer’s asian foods section)
cut up some green onions (the top, green part) to your desired amount and mix with chicken and sauce
scoop into romaine lettuce leaves and enjoy.  You can also wrap them in rice paper wraps, but I prefer just the chicken and lettuce myself.

Serve with some spring rolls and you are good to go!

This is also a GREAT make ahead meal, you just make up the chicken and you can have it whenever you like!  Great for taking lunch to work or even for a picnic.  

By popular demand

Ok, by one friend who actually enjoys reading my blogs, I am going to try to blog almost daily and include recipes, things the kids are doing and saying, and pretty much anything else I feel like saying.  If nothing else it will be a fabulous way to keep track of my life and I can look back and be reminded that laundry and vacuuming aren’t the only activities I do in a given day.

I am afraid that these blogs will be short and slightly boring as my days are pretty much the same.  Today was different only in that Joe was up with the sun for some reason, I was not, and the kids slept in, well, slept until 6:40 or so, which is sleeping in for them.  So it was a nice quiet morning, they ate breakfast and got ready for school as usual.  Our roomba (robot vacuum) hasn’t been working and that causes a major headache for me as it seems as though none of our other vacuums (yes, I have two, one upstairs and one downstairs) seem to work very well.  I guess you could say our vacuums suck in the sucking arena.  So, I took roomba apart, changed one of the brushes and set him down to see if he was working.  Well, Dom and Nico really got into finding cheerios and other bits of things to put on the floor in front of roomba to see if he (yes, it is a he) would suck them up or not.  He appears to be working fine, but I might use this tactic as a distraction in the future as it wasted a good 20 minutes.  Oh, I should probably tell you that due to Nico’s lack of desire to poop on the potty I have taken away TV and snacks.  But this means that in the mornings and pretty much anytime he is awake none of the kids can watch TV since we only have one, so, we are making due, but it does make the mornings a bit long, I will say that.   I will give it one more day and see if I can break him.  Yesterday he would throw a fit then find something else to do and not care anymore, so I am not sure if I have found his breaking point.  But the house was definitely more quiet and peaceful yesterday with the TV off, that is for sure, and all three kids ate ALL their dinners and then some since their was no afternoon snack. 

Speaking of dinner, Tues night I made one of our family’s favorites, chicken in lemongrass sauce with jasmin rice.  It is one of the few meals that even the kids loves so I make it a lot!  I want to be assured I have leftovers for lunch the next day.  (It is one of those meals that tastes even better the second day).  The recipe is so easy and so yummy and your house will smell soooooo great while you are cooking!  Here is a link to the recipe:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-in-Lemongrass-Sauce-103906

Try it, really, it is awesome.  Last night was pizza night and I am lucky to have a family that actually prefers homemade pizza.  I make the dough in my bread machine and then all I have to do is put it in the pan and add the sauce and cheese.  I would share my dough recipe, but it is kind of a family secret.  You will just have to come over if you want to try it!  But that is where the secrets stop, I use whatever pizza sauce is on sale at the store and buy pre-shredded mozz cheese. 

Alright, all this food talk is making me hungry.  Let’s move on to wonderful things the  are doing and saying.  Nicolas is what we like to call, full of it.  And “it” isn’t what you think.  He is full of life, full of humor, and full of wonderful things to say.  The other day at breakfast he was eating and said, “hey mom, you should make cheerios for the brothers.”  They had already eaten, but I thought it was sweet he was concerned.  Then he disappeared for a minute or two and when he came back I asked where he was.  He replied “I was playing with my  brothers.”  Sweeter words have never been spoken if you ask me.  This morning it was time to take Dom to school and I was rounding the boys up to get shoes on and he walks into the laundry room and stands at attention and salutes me and says “what do you both need?”  See what I mean about being full of it?  Such a character. 

I am still training for a half marathon in June which means I am at the gym most every day and running around our very hilly neighborhood on weekends.  Luckily Nicolas LOVES the gym childcare and can’t wait to go.  As of last week I developed shin splints, which are no fun.  Luckily they kind of disappear while you are running, once the muscles get warmed up, but as soon as you stop, wow, they don’t waste any time seizing up.  So, I have had to take it easy lately, not running as much but doing other things while at the gym, which I hate.  I realize any training or conditioning will help me, but I just have it in my brain that I HAVE to run, that is the only way I will be ready for the race.  So, I think my shin splints were my body telling me it is ok to do other things, like bike ride, or even walk.  They are feeling much better now, but it was a rough week last week training wise.

The big boys are just that, getting so big.  Anthony has been working on his first “report” at school.  He had to research and animal (he chose tiger shark) and write about various things, he had to make a diagram of the animal, then he had to mount all of his information on a tri-fold board and make it look nice for the presentation he will do at open house next week.  He worked so hard and was so proud of himself, and I was proud too!  It is neat to see your kid excited about school and learning and wanting to do their best.  Anthony has also been doing great at soccer.  I was reminded by his Auntie and Uncle that he used to be afraid of balls, would cry when you rolled one to him, so to see him running and chasing and play goalie, well, it is fun.  And Dom, he too is loving soccer, sometimes a little too much.  He tends to get really upset about losing, and even though they don’t keep score in his league, you better believe HE keeps score and they didn’t win last week.  But, he pulled it together which was a huge step.  I mean, the kid cries when he plays a video game and can’t pass a certain level.  That is how deep his competitive drive goes. 

So, that is our life over the last few days.  The next few weeks are proving to be full of family visits, marathons, and school ending.  I will do my best to keep things current, but blogging might have to go by the wayside in order to keep my sanity.