Truthful Tuesday Confessions

It's been a while since I've done one of these. I've found that I don't always have as many ridiculous or light-hearted confessions as I thought I would. But here's what I want to tell you about today.

• Sometimes I am really proud of an outfit that I put together. I really want to show you guys what I'm wearing, because I like it so much. But I can never manage to take a picture that doesn't look like those cheesy-first-day-of-school pictures...except I haven't been in school for many years. So I've decided that Outfit posts on my blog is a bad idea. 

 Signs that your Toddler has been in your bathroom. Btw, the straightener wasn't hot

• I get papers in the mail addressing me as, "Reverend Michelle Sexton"...because I am a licensed minister. I'm not a pastor though, but I used to be the Worship Pastor at a church. After that position ended, I still maintained my credentials. 

 Nothing hits the spot like a rich chocolate cupcake :)

• Despite the fact that I've tried many types of sushi, my favorite sushi roll is still the California Roll.  So unoriginal, right?

 Ketchup art at Johnny Rockets

• My house has been in a continuous state of disaster since about Mid-February, which was a little after I found out I was pregnant and began to experience an extreme amount of fatigue. It's been cleaned several times since then, but I can't seem to KEEP it that way. Blah. 

 A failed attempt at a cookie cake, fortunately my family still thought it tasted good.

• My husband bought a Jeep in February. It wasn't until last week, almost a month after the temporary tags expired, that he finally got it registered and got a real license plate. We had a complicated series of events that prevented us from registering it sooner - failed inspections, a couple of unknown repairs to get done, even some paperwork. During that time, The Spouse and I were sweating bullets, hoping that he didn't get pulled over for an expired tag. Ha ha. 

 A birthday present from his uncle, it's too large for his head, way too fun.

• Blogging makes me feel normal. I like having to have a chance to tell you about the ridiculous stuff I go through, looking back, and laughing about it. And I've found that I'm not alone. 

 The Toddler finished our Chocolate Molten cake from Chili's. All. By. Himself.

• As I am typing this, The Toddler is up in his room, whining and fussing, because he didn't have a good nap. I told him that he could come out as soon as he stops crying, but apparently he wants to stay up there to whine. His choice. ;)

Now it's your turn. What do you have on your mind. Tell me something ridiculous about yourself!

2 Recipes for kids to try.

I've told you this before, but my kid is a picky eater! I find it annoying. I'm always on the lookout for fun recipes and food ideas that will peak The Toddler's interest in eating. Here are two that we've done recently.

These are Spaghetti and Meatball Cupcakes. They really aren't cupcakes at all, but since they take a similar form, the name suits them. I had a page open on the blog where I found these cute little cupcakes for about a week. Every time The Toddler saw the photo, he would ask me to make them, and tell me he wanted to eat them. Every. Single. Time. So when The Toddler actually asks to eat food, I definitely take notice. So I made them. You can find the recipe here.

Because I have trouble with my blood sugar levels (and consequently avoid sugar, and simple carbs), I modified the recipe slightly. Instead of frozen meatballs, I made my own and cooked them before I baked them in the spaghetti cups (btw - I added purred veggies into the meatballs - ha ha). I also used a sugar free spaghetti sauce (Hunts) and whole wheat spaghetti noodles. Since the meatballs were fully cooked before I baked them, the meatballs ended up drying out a little on the outside. I compensated by pouring additional warm spaghetti sauce and cheddar cheese over the meatballs once they finished baking (And they tasted fine).

I think my son actually thought these were cupcakes, so when I put it on his plate and he realized they weren't, he seemed disappointed. He tends to be wary of food with several ingredients. But once we encouraged him to separate the meatball, cheese, sauce, and noodles, he liked them. My husband and I loved these! They were fun to eat (yes, we are adults), and my husband loved the meat to spaghetti ratio. AND they are the perfect entree to pack in your lunch. I would say these are definitely worth a shot. :)

The other recipe isn't really a recipe. Well, sort of. It's just your classic, tried and true Little Smoky Sausage Wrapped in Crescent rolls. My son loves these. LOVES them. The problem is, they're kind of lacking in the nutrition department. So I changed it up, ever so slightly.

I used a tube of refrigerated crescent dough, like always. But after rolling it out, I sprinkled Wheat Germ (ok maybe doused, piled, covered, whatever) on top of the crescent dough and pressed it into the dough. Then I proceeded to cut each pre-cut triangle into 3 or 4 additional smaller triangles, and wrapped up the Little Smoky Sausages in the dough, starting with the flat edge of the dough and ending with the tip. Then I baked them using the baking time and temperature listed on the dough's can.

If you look closely at the picture below, you can see little grains of wheat germ sprinkled around the Little Smokies. This didn't seem to bother The Toddler. But if this does bother your kiddo, you can easily hide the wheat germ. I was too lazy to bother with this task. (Meticulous activities annoy me)

This was definitely a quick and easy way to make a not-so-nutritious food a little bit healthier. A little. And the family liked them. And ate them. Score.

A Sick Toddler & A Pointless Visit to the ER

Can I just say that parenting can be so exhausting sometimes? It is. Remember how I recently mentioned that I was sick last week? Well, I also managed to get The Spouse sick, and then two nights ago, we were up with The Toddler who also managed to get sick and acquire a pretty high fever. Blah. Dealing with a sick kid in the middle of the night is pretty much my least favorite thing about parenting. But who really likes dealing with sick kids in the middle of the night? I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this.

My day yesterday consisted of The Toddler laying on the couch for most of the day watching a serious amount of the Disney Chanel while I worked on stuff around the house, and also had a nap or two on the couch with the Toddler (still feeling the fatigue from first trimester). Although I had checked The Toddler's temperature often, it shot up while I was fixing dinner. The Spouse noticed it when he got home. It was ohhh....105! Not that I was panicked, but I was definitely alarmed since, this is the temp where you go to the hospital to avoid cooking organs and seizures. So we gave The Toddler a nice cold bath while he screamed like we were murdering him. (I was really hoping that a neighbor wouldn't come to the door while this was going on, because I'm pretty sure that you could hear my son's screams from outside our house. Pretty sure).

However, after the cold bath and a new dose of Ibuprofen, his temp was right back at 105, he was laying on the couch, and was completely listless. At that point, we decided that he needed medical attention, and since Urgent Care had already closed for the day, to the ER we went. Oh yay. I hate the ER. (And Urgent Care for that matter).

Before going any further, I would just like to add, that I was completely exhausted at this point in the evening, and The Spouse was still sick with the flu, despite the fact that he went to work that day. We were exhausted.

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After LOTS of waiting at the ER we finally got admitted into an exam room, where we wait for an hour, and The Toddler's temp drops all the way down to 101. Nice. Suddenly he was all over the exam room, exploring and playing. By the time the doctor examined him, he was just a kid with the flu with a mild temp. So after several hours and a handful of tests that came back negative, we were released. But not without paying an expensive ER co-pay...for nothing since The Toddler had magically recovered once we got to the exam room.

This is the second time this has happened with The Toddler. We also took The Toddler into the ER around New Years for a head injury after he started vomiting. By the time that the doctor saw him in the exam room, The Toddler was fine - walking around playing, no longer pale, and only a slightly elevated temp. I'm pretty sure the exam rooms in the ER have magical powers that will suddenly make your child better. 


Today The Toddler is still sick, but well enough to get into trouble. I just caught him trying to roll a basketball down the stairs.

Photo Session FAIL

Have you ever thought that you've just had the worst photo session ever? Unfortunately as a photographer, I have had a couple, all but two happened when I worked a children's photography studio. But this time not only did I have this experience as the photographer, but also as the parent.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my sister and her kids came for a visit. Her son and mine are only 5 days apart. Those boys are the best of friends, and the worst of enemies. On this particular day, the boys got into several continuous fights (and got in trouble) about 30 minutes before I took the pictures. Plus, my nephew was recovering from croup. Obviously this was not the best time to take pictures, but it was the only time we had. Literally.

Here are the results - aka the most uncooperative trio of toddlers you could possibly imagine:

 

 

Can you tell they weren't in a good mood? Lets just say that these photos won't be going into my portfolio.

Leave of Absence.

It's been almost a month since my last post. Honestly, I don't even feel bad about it. I've missed blogging, but last month was so busy for me, blogging was not an option I could manage to put any energy into.

So here's a couple things that took place during last month:
-My sister and her two little ones came to visit (her husband was traveling), before her family moved to overseas last week. This photo was a failed attempt to take photos of our little ones. More on that soon.

-The Toddler turned 3 and my sister, who is a cake decorator, taught me how to work with fondant frosting. She helped me make his birthday cake.

-I found out a week before The Toddler's birthday party, that he told the nursery workers that he was having a tractor birthday party. This was news to me. He got a tractor cake.
-Last week I had the flu. And then a sinus infection. It was amazing.

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-I have been overwhelmingly tired. It seems that all I have the energy to do is eat, sleep, and take care of The Toddler. And even that has been difficult. Because I am pregnant. 12 weeks, in fact.

I have a handful of blogs that I started writing, but lacked the energy to finish. Fortunately the first trimester is almost over, so hopefully the pregnancy fatigue will diminish soon...and I will have more energy to put into blogging. :)