Saturday, December 20, 2008

Distracted by the Holidays


Well it's been a while since I posted, and it will likely be a little while longer before I do again. We're off on Sunday to our hometown to showoff the monkey and celebrate the holidays. On one hand I'm looking forward to it and the other I'm a little nervous about how it's going to upset the monkey's schedule. Just like he surprised me at the Christmas party, I'm sure he'll be fine but it's going to be 12 days of running around...I'm praying for decent weather.

Mother nature dumped a load of snow on us today, and originally I was taking our two dogs to their kennel 1.5hrs away but called ahead and ended up taking them on Thursday. I could not have imagined driving that long in the storm--just me, the monkey and two whining dogs. Ed was superb during the drive, he fussed a bit before falling asleep on the way there. I nursed and changed his bum after dropping the dogs off and monkey was asleep again before I hit the highway home.

The other bummer is that I'm sick, mainly a head and throat illness and I'm fairly certain Ed has it too. He's been fussier today and coughing more (knock on wood no stuffy nose yet), sleeping like a champ most of the time. I'm really hoping we're fine for the Sunday flight and that nursing through the ascent and descent will be sufficient...I'll be dropping our entire dish of hard candies into my purse.

We aren't having a tree this year because of going away, I'll post last year's because I was and am so proud of it. For those of you who get a real tree, the thing I love the most about them (except the lovely scent) is how you can pick up any ole tree that the lot has left and regardless of how haphazard it looks, string some lights and splash some decorations on it and VOILA!! Amazing!!!

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holidays!!!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Breakfast Lasagna

I cut this recipe outta a magazine and I think it looks scrumptious. I haven't actually made it yet, but figured I'm straightening up and instead of having the recipe laying around I'll post it here to share as well as immortalize it on the internet for future reference.

Ingredients
12 slices of bread, crusts removed
10 slices of Canadian back bacon
10 slices of sharp cheddar cheese
6 eggs
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 cup minced onion
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 cups milk
dash Tabasco
1/2 cup unsalted butter
crushed Corn Flakes

Directions
-Set 4 slices of bread into an 8x8" buttered ovenproof baking dish. Layer with slices of bacon, followed by cheese and finished with 4 more slices of bread.
-Repeat to make another layer and then top with the last slices of bread.
-In a bowl, beat eggs and pepper together. Add mustard, onion, Worcestershire sauce, milk and Tabasco.
-Pour over layers, cover and refrigerate overnight.
-In morning, melt butter and pour over top. Cover with crushed Corn Flakes and bake uncovered for 1 hour at 350F. let rest 10 mins before serving.
-They also say you could serve with Hollandaise sauce (with a dash of lemon and black pepper) for a zesty finish.

Serves 8.

I really hope it's as good as it sounds and that my stomach can handle the eggs. I haven't tried any since being pregnant and they didn't agree with me after just realizing that I like the taste of them since I hated eggs as a kid.

Enjoy!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

My Men are Party Animals!

So I am in disbelief right now, DH's Christmas party was this evening and both of us were prepared for the worse as it was Ed's first time out after dark, let alone his bedtime. We were certain we'd be heading home after an hour or so...but here it was 12:11AM when I pulled outta the driveway to come home. I'm uncertain as to how I am going to pay for keeping him out so late, but we'll wait and see :) Eddy gave a stellar performance, he cranked a few times but nothing unresolvable without a bit of dancing/walking or swaying to the incessant tunes of Madonna blasting over the stereo. He was able to chill out with his friend Joey and Aunty Sarah :P His outfit was a hit, just like Daddy.

Just like in the crowded family washroom at Dufferin Mall on Thursday, it was so loud and crowded at the party Ed had a hard time nursing, in fact, he was so distracted and overstimulated he just wouldn't latch at all for any length of time, I ended up packing him up and moved to the car which I started up for heat and he was finally able to eat in peace to the lovely sounds of his World Lullabies CD. I also got in a diaper change which I'm sure helped ease his mood.

The party was at Tappo, the food was amazing, the decor was fabulous, the servers superb and the night was great...with the exception of the 7 consecutive Maddona songs they blasted after supper finished. Apparently, we were originally supposed to eat around 8:30pm but I think it the end it was closer to 10pm. I'm glad I got DH to make me a grilled cheese earlier in the evening before we left. For appetizer I ended up with:

ANTIPASTO FREDO - trio of cheese, cured meats, marinated olives, roasted peppers and vegetables.
--It looked great, but unfortunetly I only like 2 of the cheeses, lol...I let DH take whatever else he liked :)

BISTECCA AL AMARONE - dry aged "USDA " beef striploin nape with an Amarone wine reduction served with roasted garlic whipped potato and daily vegetables
--Oh man, this was amazing...I really could have eaten two of these plates with twice as many potatoes...so good!

and a super yummy Tiramisu for dessert, which I almost missed because it arrived while I was out in the car with Ed but luckily DH saved it for me when I got back in, what a super guy!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

It's 10PM and I'm snacking on oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!

Yummy!!! We co-sleep and Ed is finally getting into a deep enough sleep that I can actually leave his side, thank goodness considering the swing just isn't cutting it anymore. I had to get outta bed, DH is in there playing Fallout3 on the PS3 and every time he shoots someone I cringe and look at the baby...is he going to wake up? It's better not to put myself through that, so here I am :)

In our family I handle the finances, I'm a saver and DH is a spender. Even though he worked at the bank when we first started dating he has no interest in handling our finances and he doesn't mind that I do. Okay, so I say I'm a saver, but I still like to spend but I make sure that our savings are covered first...you know that whole "Pay yourself first" stuff. Prior to having Ed I was a bit obsessive, we have a budget and I have an Excel spreadsheet I created for tracking the next three months' expenditures (plus a bunch of other finance-related tabs). I used to carry the file around on a USB key on my keyring so I could access it from work or home, now I just need it at home but I've since moved to OpenOffice's Calc program (it's free and it's pretty much exactly like Excel, and i couldn't find my MS Office cds). I even visited a plethora of PF blogs, aka. Personal Finance blogs. My favorite were/are:

http://www.milliondollarjourney.com/
http://www.four-pillars.ca/
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/

The first two are Canadian and both dads (they have baby related finance entries) and were very helpful in teaching me quite a bit about a variety of personal finance issues. Of course, now a days I don't get the chance to visit them and my days are filled with other things or I'm on a baby website or Facebook instead.

Since Ed I've gotten so lazy with keeping up, so much so I paid interest on our Visa for the second time in my entire life because I missed the payment date by like 2 or 3 days...darn!!! And of course prior to Ed we had a card with rewards (that we can't even use anymore - free movies from Scotiabank...movies in a theatre?!, pssshhh, maybe in like 3 years or so) and a high interest rate....but only because we never paid interest. I probably should have called and see if they would have given me a break but I coudn't be bothered, my loss. At least I'm keeping up on the utility bills :D and since my payment lapse I make sure I get online and pay them as soon as they come through the mail slot or to my email inbox now...crying baby or not ;)

The other thing, finance-related, that I have been wondering about and being hounded about by telemarketers, is starting up an RESP for Ed -- even if I was going to start an RESP it wouldn't be from some insistant telemarketer. They threaten me with the likes of "he's going to have to pay $75k for education when it's time for him to go to school". I'm so torn on the issue of starting an RESP and more specifically on entirely funding my child's secondary education. I went to school with so many people who's education was funded by their parents and they basically pissed away several years at university. Myself on the otherhand, worked to get a scholarship and worked throughout university. I think DH and I have agreed that we would definitely offer to help out Ed with school if we were able...but I'm still uncertain as to whether I want to start a fund now. I think I'd rather have the house paid off first. Time to revisit my favorite finance blogs and see how the PF gurus weight in on the issue :)

Monday, December 1, 2008

It's Ed's 3mos Birthday Today!

We celebrated by hitting up the Junction Parent's Stroller Fit this morning, I was so close to not going, Ed had fallen back asleep and I woke up at 8:30am just in time to finish getting us ready and out the door to get there in time (something I haven't been doing the past couple times we've gone). Mind you, I think every morning "I am so close to not going", lol :)

Ed's sleeping at the moment, not sure how long that will last so I'm using the time to check up on email and the various websites I go to. I know once he wakes up I'm going to try a few of the new leg positions in the Ergo. Lindsay's Urban Hiking for Families meetup is tomorrow afternoon and we're hitting up Yorkville and Rosedale. It would be pretty cool if I could use the Ergo instead of the wrap.

I was supposed to meetup with my friend, Sarah, this afternoon but unfortunetly she's under the weather and we don't want to risk bringing the illness into the family. What am I going to do this afternoon...I have a library book ready for pickup at the library. I assumed it was another sleep book, I've gone through No Cry Sleep Solution, Dr. Sears, Ann Douglas, Baby Whisperer and am waiting for the Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child...but it's not, it's two books on baby signing! So much more fun than sleep books ;)

Juntion Parents are having a Intro to Baby Signing session on Friday this week and even though most people don't start with the signs till 4mos, the lady who runs it is signing people up for the classes in January. I really wish Scott could come though but he'll only be able to make it if it's a weekend thing. It just seems like it would be so much easier for him to attend than me relay all the info back to him...if he doesn't go he won't seem as interested in doing it with Ed at home.

This can't be very interesting for people to read?! I think that's why I hadn't gotten into Blogging before, I had always though of doing it while I was pregnant because I was real bored at work and had lots of time on my hands, but then again we'll see how long this lasts. I'm easily distracted :) Time to try and get some christmas lights out, it was supposed to happen over the weekend but it didn't, the closer I get them to the door the more chances they'll go up :)