A little video to help everyone start the weekend right:
3.31.2012
3.30.2012
conference.
As we prepare for conference this weekend I'm excited to let y'all know: we read/watched every talk from the last general conference! One of our 101 in 1001 goals was to read each talk from the conference before and we did it! We mostly read/watched separately, but some we read for family home evening. I read many of the talks during my lunch break while at work, and finished watching them while nursing Henry.
We are so blessed to have so many amazing men and women fill our home with the spirit, with words of love and encouragement, twice a year, every year.
I love this gospel.
We are so blessed to have so many amazing men and women fill our home with the spirit, with words of love and encouragement, twice a year, every year.
I love this gospel.
3.28.2012
parking
Remember that one time where I got my third parking ticket in three months? Yesterday was a fantastic day--we signed up for a little Women, Infants, and Children lovin, hung out with my friend, Danielle, and the sweet little one she's nannying, Garden, but then came back to the car with a lovely bright orange parking ticket.
Not only can Boston's parking tickets be a downer, they're neon orange, so everyone on the street, and their mom, knows you got one too.
…I vowed in frustration not to use the car for a week and will be promptly be breaking that vow this afternoon while we have our second play-date of this week (and of baby Henry's life. But I don't think he's too aware of what's going on. But I did realize that before yesterday he'd never met anyone younger than twenty! It's time this kid gets some friends!). And back to the parking thing--there's not neighborhood parking in the neighborhood we're venturing so we can park anywhere on the street and not have to pay a meter or find two-hour parking. Hallelujah!
In conclusion: Boston is awesome. But the roads are awful and parking is horrendous. That is all.
Not only can Boston's parking tickets be a downer, they're neon orange, so everyone on the street, and their mom, knows you got one too.
…I vowed in frustration not to use the car for a week and will be promptly be breaking that vow this afternoon while we have our second play-date of this week (and of baby Henry's life. But I don't think he's too aware of what's going on. But I did realize that before yesterday he'd never met anyone younger than twenty! It's time this kid gets some friends!). And back to the parking thing--there's not neighborhood parking in the neighborhood we're venturing so we can park anywhere on the street and not have to pay a meter or find two-hour parking. Hallelujah!
In conclusion: Boston is awesome. But the roads are awful and parking is horrendous. That is all.
3.25.2012
My baby is four weeks old! :picture overload:
On Friday we had our one month check-up and officially met our pediatrician. She rocks. And speaks fluent Italian. I would say that meeting her briefly at the hospital was what made us choose her (word to the wise, get a pediatrician earlier in your pregnancy--planning on doing everything your 37th week doesn't cut it when you actually have the baby on the 37th week…), but really it was that, and her fluency in four languages. So cool.
His stats:
height - 21 in.
weight - 8 lbs. 1 oz.
head circumference - ? I'll have to ask next time.
He's a little guy--some of our friends have had babies that are bigger than him now when they were born, but he's growing like a weed, feeding consistently and is currently verrrry fussy, which the doc said was very normal for babies from 5-7 weeks. He's finally getting a 3 hour stretch at night, but that's only coupled with the fact that he doesn't go to bed until 1:30 am and after his 3 hour stretch he'll sleep for maybe 1 or 2 hours after that. Whew. Don't you worry. There WILL be a blog post when he sleeps through the night (i.e. 5 hours). We'll be celebrating with Pinkberry that day, you can be certain of that!
We're in love with the little guy, and are so grateful to be a part of his life, fussy or not. And thanks to my parent's generosity I got an itouch for my birthday so that I could post a picture on instagram every day for my mom. And to show the world his cuteness. And I just couldn't resist posting a few (ok, a lot) of my favorites from the past few weeks.
His stats:
height - 21 in.
weight - 8 lbs. 1 oz.
head circumference - ? I'll have to ask next time.
He's a little guy--some of our friends have had babies that are bigger than him now when they were born, but he's growing like a weed, feeding consistently and is currently verrrry fussy, which the doc said was very normal for babies from 5-7 weeks. He's finally getting a 3 hour stretch at night, but that's only coupled with the fact that he doesn't go to bed until 1:30 am and after his 3 hour stretch he'll sleep for maybe 1 or 2 hours after that. Whew. Don't you worry. There WILL be a blog post when he sleeps through the night (i.e. 5 hours). We'll be celebrating with Pinkberry that day, you can be certain of that!
We're in love with the little guy, and are so grateful to be a part of his life, fussy or not. And thanks to my parent's generosity I got an itouch for my birthday so that I could post a picture on instagram every day for my mom. And to show the world his cuteness. And I just couldn't resist posting a few (ok, a lot) of my favorites from the past few weeks.
3.17.2012
a typical day
Want to know what I was up to today? Here's the low-down.
I got up a bajillion times during the night. It's a good thing this kid is cute and I want him to thrive. Breastfeeding sure is a trip, but the cuddling time is something I do love. I always want to take pictures of his face while he's nursing. But that's not exactly appropriate, so I just take mental pictures instead.
Ryan got up around 8:30 and left to clean the church. The morning is a bit of a blur (as is the last three weeks of my life) but all I know is that when Ryan got home around 11 I had just finished another feeding and was so ridiculously tired that I handed over Henry and passed out for two hours while they had some boy time.
I got up around 1, chatted with Ryan about his day, and finally took a shower sometime between two and three. That's my "start of the day" activity. Ryan had to leave around 3ish to go to a stake priesthood leadership meeting and then to stake conference so I turned on Les Miserables to watch for the rest of the evening (off and on, of course), gave Henry a bath, and made dinner (which took at least double the time it takes without an infant). Oh, and I even swept the kitchen and bathroom when I put Henry down after his last feeding.
It's almost 8:30 and I think I'm exhausted. I'm going to take a nap until Ryan gets home/Henry wakes up. Whichever comes first.
I got up a bajillion times during the night. It's a good thing this kid is cute and I want him to thrive. Breastfeeding sure is a trip, but the cuddling time is something I do love. I always want to take pictures of his face while he's nursing. But that's not exactly appropriate, so I just take mental pictures instead.
Ryan got up around 8:30 and left to clean the church. The morning is a bit of a blur (as is the last three weeks of my life) but all I know is that when Ryan got home around 11 I had just finished another feeding and was so ridiculously tired that I handed over Henry and passed out for two hours while they had some boy time.
I got up around 1, chatted with Ryan about his day, and finally took a shower sometime between two and three. That's my "start of the day" activity. Ryan had to leave around 3ish to go to a stake priesthood leadership meeting and then to stake conference so I turned on Les Miserables to watch for the rest of the evening (off and on, of course), gave Henry a bath, and made dinner (which took at least double the time it takes without an infant). Oh, and I even swept the kitchen and bathroom when I put Henry down after his last feeding.
And I feel like today was an especially productive day.
Although I didn't leave the house.
But that's on the to-do list for tomorrow.
It's almost 8:30 and I think I'm exhausted. I'm going to take a nap until Ryan gets home/Henry wakes up. Whichever comes first.
3.15.2012
Recipe roundup: taco soup, refried beans, chicken chili, green smoothies and choco/pb cookies
Before the baby came I was on a cooking rampage. (Post baby, not so much.) Here are a few notables in Jan/Feb that we loved to eat.
We made this taco soup and it was perfect. I found the blog through pintrest and it looks like it has some great go-to family recipes. Definitely doesn't trump my trusted and true Mel's Kitchen Cafe, but it looks promising. The soup was satisfying and a great base for mixing things up and adding or subtracting whatever you want. I made it meatless and added a can of rotel, doubled the diced tomatoes and didn't add the stewed tomatoes. I also used some Western Family brand taco mix that I saved from our Provo days, but I can't wait to make this using my fave taco mix--Trader Joe's. It's super powerful so you don't have to use a whole bag each time, and I think the mix is perfectly seasoned and spicy. Mmm.
I busted out the crockpot to make refried beans in the crockpot, using the same site as a reference point and they turned out SO good. I seem to have a thing for Mexican food as of late. I even made the chicken chili recipe from Our Best Bites earlier in the same week. Anyway, I modified their recipe by adding a whole jalepeno (de-seeded), and still using 9 cups of liquid but only 2 cups of that was chicken broth. We made bean and cheese burritos with the beans and they were so so good. I've made refried beans before, using the stovetop instead of the crockpot and both times they were just so much better than the canned stuff, I don't know why I even bother. Just make a big batch of this, use some, and freeze the rest for next time!
As of late I've been really into making smoothies for breakfast. I see "green smoothie" recipes floating all around Pinterest so I wanted to give them a try. I didn't want to use a recipe with an OJ base since I didn't feel like making any, so I used this Green Monster smoothie recipe. It was my first time making any sort of "green" smoothie (adding spinach) and with the addition of blueberries it didn't even turn the smoothie green! Either way it was delicious.
Also, the smoothie recipe makes 2 adult-sized smoothies, so Ryan and I ate them for lunch after church.
OH! And I made these awesome choco/pb/oatmeal cookies. Delicious. I haven't made cookies since we've been here in Boston (I know, I know, but I've made fudge and homemade hot chocolate, so that makes up for it kindof, right?!) and these were the perfect babes to start out with. I don't have a go-to recipe-there are just too many on Pintrest to distract me- but these may just become #1 (until another recipe gets my attention at least).
We made this taco soup and it was perfect. I found the blog through pintrest and it looks like it has some great go-to family recipes. Definitely doesn't trump my trusted and true Mel's Kitchen Cafe, but it looks promising. The soup was satisfying and a great base for mixing things up and adding or subtracting whatever you want. I made it meatless and added a can of rotel, doubled the diced tomatoes and didn't add the stewed tomatoes. I also used some Western Family brand taco mix that I saved from our Provo days, but I can't wait to make this using my fave taco mix--Trader Joe's. It's super powerful so you don't have to use a whole bag each time, and I think the mix is perfectly seasoned and spicy. Mmm.
I busted out the crockpot to make refried beans in the crockpot, using the same site as a reference point and they turned out SO good. I seem to have a thing for Mexican food as of late. I even made the chicken chili recipe from Our Best Bites earlier in the same week. Anyway, I modified their recipe by adding a whole jalepeno (de-seeded), and still using 9 cups of liquid but only 2 cups of that was chicken broth. We made bean and cheese burritos with the beans and they were so so good. I've made refried beans before, using the stovetop instead of the crockpot and both times they were just so much better than the canned stuff, I don't know why I even bother. Just make a big batch of this, use some, and freeze the rest for next time!
As of late I've been really into making smoothies for breakfast. I see "green smoothie" recipes floating all around Pinterest so I wanted to give them a try. I didn't want to use a recipe with an OJ base since I didn't feel like making any, so I used this Green Monster smoothie recipe. It was my first time making any sort of "green" smoothie (adding spinach) and with the addition of blueberries it didn't even turn the smoothie green! Either way it was delicious.
Also, the smoothie recipe makes 2 adult-sized smoothies, so Ryan and I ate them for lunch after church.
OH! And I made these awesome choco/pb/oatmeal cookies. Delicious. I haven't made cookies since we've been here in Boston (I know, I know, but I've made fudge and homemade hot chocolate, so that makes up for it kindof, right?!) and these were the perfect babes to start out with. I don't have a go-to recipe-there are just too many on Pintrest to distract me- but these may just become #1 (until another recipe gets my attention at least).
3.12.2012
it's the little things.
It really is the little things in life that make it so amazing. Don't get me wrong, getting married and having a baby…holy cow amazing and awesome experiences, but if it weren't for the little things in-between, life just wouldn't be so grand.
Like today at Costco, we got Fiber One bars instead of Nature Valley. Nature Valley bars are good, and cheaper, but they aren't my favorite. But Ryan made sure we got the Fiber One bars because he knew I wanted them more. And the beef jerky was on sale but so was some cheese so I went with the cheese as our "extra" purchase and held off on the jerky. Which, if you know me well, you know how much I like beef jerky, so it was a big deal.
I also baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies today. Which, with an infant, is really hard to do. But I managed, and still have a baby that likes me and an entire gallon-sized ziploc full of delicousness.
I know, happiness has a lot to do with food around the Mangum household. It's near and dear to me.
But for real, we just got the 25th anniversary Les Mis DVD in our mail and I'm super excited to watch it. I've never seen the musical all the way through, live or in movie form, and thanks so Netflix we get to watch it. Also, Nick Jonas is in it.
In other news, tummy time with the little one was a success today. I may be biased, but my almost three week old is pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. He's such a good baby with tummy time. And today we got the Dille's package in the mail--Dbacks onesies!! They're 12mos onesies, just in time for Spring Training next year!
See? The little happinesses aren't always related to food.
And speaking of happiness, Henry had his first bath last Sunday, while my mom was still here. This little guy sure is a gem and we're ever so thankful we have him in our little family.
Like today at Costco, we got Fiber One bars instead of Nature Valley. Nature Valley bars are good, and cheaper, but they aren't my favorite. But Ryan made sure we got the Fiber One bars because he knew I wanted them more. And the beef jerky was on sale but so was some cheese so I went with the cheese as our "extra" purchase and held off on the jerky. Which, if you know me well, you know how much I like beef jerky, so it was a big deal.
I also baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies today. Which, with an infant, is really hard to do. But I managed, and still have a baby that likes me and an entire gallon-sized ziploc full of delicousness.
I know, happiness has a lot to do with food around the Mangum household. It's near and dear to me.
But for real, we just got the 25th anniversary Les Mis DVD in our mail and I'm super excited to watch it. I've never seen the musical all the way through, live or in movie form, and thanks so Netflix we get to watch it. Also, Nick Jonas is in it.
In other news, tummy time with the little one was a success today. I may be biased, but my almost three week old is pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. He's such a good baby with tummy time. And today we got the Dille's package in the mail--Dbacks onesies!! They're 12mos onesies, just in time for Spring Training next year!
See? The little happinesses aren't always related to food.
And speaking of happiness, Henry had his first bath last Sunday, while my mom was still here. This little guy sure is a gem and we're ever so thankful we have him in our little family.
3.06.2012
Recipes
Main Dish/Sides/Apps
Apricot Chicken
Asian Chicken Wraps
Black-eyed Pea Dip
Broccoli Salad
Chicken Burritos
Chicken Chili
Chicken Cordon Bleu Bread Bowls
Chicken Noodle Soup
Sloppy Joes
Spicy Potato Curry
Spike's Village Fries
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Sweet and Sour Meatballs version 2
Taco Soup
Desserts
Banana Bars with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
Blueberry Banana Muffins
Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars w/ Streusel Topping
Cheesecake Bars
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Chip/Peanut Butter Cookies
Luscious Lemon Loaf
Peanut Butter Brownies
Peanut Crunch Brownies
Pumpkin Brownies
Pumpkin Muffins
Sour Cherry Slab Pie
Strawberry Shortcake Cake
Summer Strawberry Cake (Cobbler)
White Chocolate PB and J Muddy Buddy Mix
Apricot Chicken
Asian Chicken Wraps
Black-eyed Pea Dip
Broccoli Salad
Chicken Burritos
Chicken Chili
Chicken Cordon Bleu Bread Bowls
Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken Parmesan
Chicken Parmesan (the "skinny" version)
Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce
Chocolate Chip Cheeseball
Chicken Parmesan (the "skinny" version)
Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce
Chocolate Chip Cheeseball
Confetti Rice
Curried Chicken Salad
Fusili Alla Caprese
Lisa's Granola
Greek Salad
Green Smoothie
Gorgonzola Cream Pasta
Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas
Curried Chicken Salad
Fusili Alla Caprese
Lisa's Granola
Greek Salad
Green Smoothie
Gorgonzola Cream Pasta
Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas
Mangum House Salad
Mediterranean Omelets
Nutted Wild Rice
Orange Chicken with Broccoli
Pizza Dough (and topping ideas)
Mediterranean Omelets
Nutted Wild Rice
Orange Chicken with Broccoli
Pizza Dough (and topping ideas)
Spicy Potato Curry
Spike's Village Fries
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Sweet and Sour Meatballs version 2
Taco Soup
Desserts
Banana Bars with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
Blueberry Banana Muffins
Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars w/ Streusel Topping
Cheesecake Bars
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Chip/Peanut Butter Cookies
Luscious Lemon Loaf
Peanut Butter Brownies
Peanut Crunch Brownies
Pumpkin Brownies
Pumpkin Muffins
Sour Cherry Slab Pie
Strawberry Shortcake Cake
Summer Strawberry Cake (Cobbler)
White Chocolate PB and J Muddy Buddy Mix
3.05.2012
On tender mercies.
I've been in a bit of mourning today missing my mom. She left just hours ago, but I miss her like crazy. She's been such a great help these last few weeks teaching me how I can be as good of a mother as her. It's a hard thing to do, to even come close to her amazingness, but I hope I can be as great a mother as her.
As I've dealt with a fussy and hungry baby today, I decided to sing some Primary songs to Henry. And you know what? With every song came a smile from him. I'm sure it's just one of those baby-reflex things, but to me, it was a tender mercy that Heavenly Father knows me and loves me so much. Baby Henry hasn't even been with our family for two weeks, but what a tremendous blessing he's been to our family already. We love all of him, even his cute little (and sometimes big) cries.
3.02.2012
Downton Abbey
Thanks to my mom, we've watched the entire Downton Abbey season 2 this week. We finished season one right before Henry arrived and she was nice enough to buy season 2 after we got home from the hospital. We watched it every night while we ate dinner and now I'm afraid the dinner hour just won't be as exciting as before. I guess we'll revert back to Law and Order: Criminal Intent.
Either way, I highly recommend DA and I'm on pins and needles waiting for season 3. And crossing my fingers we'll be able to watch it online some way, somehow, this fall. All of you with cable…be grateful. We're super jealous of you.
Oh, and in case you wanted to see a picture of my adorable babe, here he is:
Either way, I highly recommend DA and I'm on pins and needles waiting for season 3. And crossing my fingers we'll be able to watch it online some way, somehow, this fall. All of you with cable…be grateful. We're super jealous of you.
Oh, and in case you wanted to see a picture of my adorable babe, here he is:
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