Monday: Southwest Turkey Melts served with Fruit Salad

Tuesday: Curry Chicken over rice served with Egg Rolls

Wednesday: Pumpkin Muffins with Sausage Egg Squares

Thursday: Pork Chops served with Veggies & Creamy Cranberry Salad

Friday: Tom gone for dinner-eat whatever

Saturday: Order Pizza (I'm so excited!)

Sunday: Broccoli Wild Rice Soup served with Homemade Bread

New Glasses!

Here is a picture of Jordyn's new glasses. I think they look pretty cute on her. Some day I am going to get her a pair of really wild/stylish glasses... I think it would be so funny! I also included pictures of Jordyn, through the years, wearing glasses.

Monday: Blackened Chicken & Beans served with Jasmine Rice (recipe from last week, but never got around to using it)
Tuesday: Eating at my Cooking Skills Class (family eating leftovers)
Wednesday: Girls Night Out
Thursday: Southwest Pasta Bake served with green salad
Friday: Pumpkin Pancakes served with scrambled eggs
Saturday: Church Halloween Party & Potluck (We're taking Chocolate Caramel Bars)
Sunday: Saucy Tarragon Chicken served with green beans

Bored

These photos don't really have anything to do with my post. I feel like I have to include some kind of photo to make my post a little more interesting. I took these photos of the kids recently and thought they were cute. I think Evan looks so grown up in his photo. And Jordyn wanted to show everyone her new trick, biting her shirt. I will walk into the room and find her just sitting like this now!

We are all sick and staying home from church today. I think we are all getting a little bored too, from sitting around for two days. Jordyn has had a "flu bug" since Wednesday and the rest of us have sore throats and colds. I decided the #1 most annoying thing about being a parent is having to clean up vomit. I hate it! I hate that you never know when or where your child is going to throw up. Every little sound or movement Jordyn makes, we're saying,"Agh! I think Jordyn is going to throw up!" You just never know. Jordyn was sad because she had to miss her first primary program today at church and at school she missed seeing a visit from the firefighters. Tom said to Jordyn," I think mommy is the one who is really sad about not seeing the firefighters at school." Maybe he's right, maybe he's not.

Last night we watched Evan Almighty and today we watched the second disc from the Planet Earth Series. If you haven't heard of this DVD you should watch it. We even used it as our Family Home Evening lesson last week and talked about the beautiful world God created. It just makes you realize all of the amazing places and animals that are on this planet. We are always in awe of the animals it shows you from far away countries that you have never even heard of or seen. I wonder if people from other countries see animals from our country and think they are so strange? When we started watching the first disc, we were a little worried because it started out talking about Emperor Penguins! Please, I don't want to watch anymore movies or shows about penguins! Luckily it didn't talk about them too long. Anyways, Planet Earth is a 5 disc set, and we are getting it from our Blockbuster Online membership. It will take us 5 weeks to watch all of the series and we plan to try and watch them on Sundays for something to do.

This past week, before Jordyn got sick, she had a few doctors appointments. First she went to the eye doctor and got some new glasses. The eye doctor said that because Jordyn's eyes aren't crossed permanently, there is nothing they can do. Surgery can actually make it worse in some cases. So, glasses may help and she needs them for farsightedness. I will pick the new pair up this week and will take some pictures of her.

She also went to the Developmental Pediatrician. He specializes in kids behaviors and also finding a diagnosis for their developmental delays. He told us that when he walked in the room, the first thing he thought of when he saw Jordyn was Rett Syndrome! What is it with this disease? It won't leave us alone. He said he does not have any new tests or ideas because she has already had such extensive testing. Then we talked a lot about her "bad" behaviors: hair pulling, kicking herself, not sleeping well at night, irritability, these strange "episodes" she has (they are too hard to describe). After talking to me for awhile, he thought most of her behaviors might be stemming from her not-so-consistent sleeping habits. So, we have one month to try and get her on a strict sleeping schedule. If she starts sleeping well and none of these behaviors are improved, he said we could talk about medication. Now I am pretty dedicated to following our new sleep schedule so that she doesn't have to start on some new medication! Our plan to get her sleeping better is not really new information. We should have been doing this all along. We are supposed to start her bedtime rituals one hour before bedtime (snack - including an over the counter sleep aid called Melatonin, bath, quiet playing/reading) and anything we come up with to help relax her and calm her down before bed. Then, put her to bed at the same time every night, in a very dark room with relaxing music or something that she likes. Wake her up at the same time every morning and have her take a 3o min. - 1 hr. nap at the same time every day. We have been doing these things for one week now and it is going pretty well. We'll see how she does this week when she isn't sick anymore. I actually really like the "hour" of getting the kids calmed and ready for bed. We turn off the TV and play quiet music like Michael Buble, Chris Botti, Enya, or others. It's a great time to relax and just spend quality time with the kids.

The three recipes that I provided links to are all from Light and Tasty... my favorite cooking magazine. I have already made them all several times and we really like them!

Monday: Turkey Tetrazzini served with Salad

Tuesday: Out to dinner.

Wednesday: Lasagna & Steamed Broccoli

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Tom gone for dinner... eat whatever I can find.

Saturday: Hearty Beef Barley Soup served with homemade bread

Sunday: Blackened Chicken & Beans served with rice

Baby Bybee Boy!

I finally got to have my ultrasound this morning and we are having a boy! Of course, we are very excited and are happy that Evan will have a little brother to play with. And Jordyn will have two brothers to protect her! Everything looked great on the ultrasound & I even got to see an "up close" shot of the baby open his mouth and stick out his tongue. It was probably the coolest thing I have seen on any of my ultrasounds because it was so clear and up close. Now we just have to come up with boy names.... I think we will leave the name a surprise, but would love suggestions. Now that we know we are having a boy, I feel like I need to get ready! It is also starting to feel like I don't have too much farther to go, which is always great!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Yesterday we went on a field trip with Jordyn's preschool class to a pumkpin patch. Jordyn got to ride the school bus with her classmates and Evan and I met them there. They did a hay ride, picked pumpkins, walked through a maze, colored & ate snacks. By the time Jordyn got back to school, she was asleep in her wheelchair. It was a fun field trip except it was extremely windy and dirt was flying everywhere! We still had fun!

Below: Jordyn getting pushed through the maze by her teacher & her friend.
The little boy pushing her is also in our ward and is so sweet to Jordyn, as
are many of the kids in her class.

I LOVE this picture... it makes me laugh. Jordyn is taking her
coloring VERY seriously. She's probably thinking,"Leave me alone! I'm coloring!"
Also notice that she is holding onto the crayon all by herself!

Family photo. We are holding the pumpkin that Jordyn picked.

It's Time / Menu Plan Monday

Conversation between Tom and I tonight:

Emily: Do you want to start eating healthy again?

Tom: Sure. Why, did you just weigh yourself?

Emily: No! I'm going to post on my blog that you said that.

Tom: You are?

(Note: I did not take offense to anything Tom said. If you understand his sense of humor, you will know that he was joking around & just teasing a fat pregnant lady)

Well, that was the most entertaining part of the conversation. We have decided to start eating healthy again. I blame all of our recent bad eating habits on my being pregnant. Now that I am feeling much better (in the area of morning sickness), I look at what we are eating and I feel like we are not eating so great and that I am gaining too much pregnancy weight. I had in my mind that I would eat what I wanted (but not eat extremely bad) and just start all over with eating well after the baby is born & when I get the ok to work out again. But, I started thinking today, that would be in 5 months! I can't wait that long. And neither can Tom. Both of us are always saying how gross we feel and how we think we are gaining too much weight. (It might be because we sat around the house all weekend and ate about a million graham cracker cookies!) We are going back to our rule of having one bad eating day a week. Our menu may not look too much different from before. Most of the changes will be in how we cook the food or changing/altering the ingredients to make it "lighter". We are going to cut out as much fat as we can (we will buy most everything non-fat or low-fat) & avoid greasy, processed, & non-whole wheat foods. Now if I can just get exercising a little, things will be even better!

Monday: Scrambled Eggs & Toast (I won't be able to go grocery shopping until Mon. night or Tues. afternoon, so we are eating what is left in the fridge!)

Tuesday: Spaghetti served with green salad.

Wednesday: Pork Chops w/ Dijon Sauce served with Scalloped Potatoes & Cottage Cheese

Thursday: Wild Rice Chicken Bake served with green beans

Friday: Lentil Soup served with home made bread.

Saturday: (bad eating day) Sour Cream Enchiladas (half pan) served with Spanish Rice

Sunday: Hamburgers served with Corn on the Cob

Good Luck Marathon Runners!

I had to wish my sister, Susan, and brothers, David & Joel, good luck this weekend for the St. George Marathon! The time has flown by and I can't believe the race is this Saturday. I was just thinking yesterday,"I can't believe I COULD have been running that marathon!" I can't wait to run a marathon in a few years and be able to ask all of them for their wisdom and advice. So, good luck guys and I know you will do great! I wish I could be there to watch, but I will definately be thinking about you guys all day!

It seems like the only things I have been blogging about lately is food!

Here is our menu for the week:

Monday: Herb Chicken served with Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Frz. Vegetables. (This is a recipe from last week, which we didn't end up using.)

Tuesday: Macaroni & Beef Bake served with green salad

Wednesday: Grilled Steak served with pasta shells and steamed broccoli

Thursday: French Toast (on Cinnamon Swirl Bread - Better Homes and Garden Cookbook) & Turkey Sausage Links

Friday: Chicken Curry served with Carrots in Dill Butter (carrots from B.H. & G. Cookbook)

Saturday: Pot Roast served with Crescent Rolls

Sunday: French Dip Sandwiches (using leftover pot roast) and french fries