Posting Goals and Big News

Okay, posting has been ridiculous for us, so I'm making a new goal to post at least once a month. We'll see. We don't have internet at our house because we live in Missouri. J/k. We don't have internet at our house because we live in rural Missouri (which is a very hard word to say and still sound educated), and we're too poor to pay $70+ a month for butt-licking dial up speed. So, in order to accomplish my goal, I will have to come to G&G Sorhus' house once a month or head to Kirksville (or, as we country folk refer to it, "town") with our lap-top where they have a fancy-dancy McDonald's with wi-fi access. Hold me to it.

Alright, now for the big news half.

1. Jaren has been accepted to Truman State University where he can finish his undergrad and hopefully get good grades and experience for Medical school.

2. Lochlan is a super cute kid

3. I think I figured out how to teach Lochlan to stop hitting. Here's my strategy. I have a theory about parenting and natural consequences. Mainly, parent with natural consequences, not "parent" consequences (i.e. grounding, curfews, etc.) Because if parents are the consequence, then as soon as parents are gone (kid moves out or turns 18) there are no consequences. That's one reason young adults make so many mistakes, I think. So, if you parent with natural consequences, kids understand that choices always come with a consequence. So, with this in mind, I was trying to figure out what we could do to stop Lochlan from hitting. We had tried finger-flicking, and it just really wasn't working. But getting your fingers flicked when you hit someone in the face isn't really a natural follow-up. Then I thought, why isn't ok to hit someone? Well, because it hurts them right? Bingo! So what do we do now when he hits? Milk it. We sob and screw up our faces, and really let him know that it hurts. Then he feels bad and rubs your face softly, and snuggles you, and one time, he felt so bad he started to cry. Anyway, it seems to be working.

4. I'm pregnant. This one seems to be going a bit better than the last, or at least not escalating as quickly. We are due May 20. I think it's gonna be a girl. We'll see!

Milestones

Baby rolled over for the first time today. Great job, Lochlan! We're so proud of you! I can bet the first rollover was the result of his hatred of tummy time. Well, at least we think it's the first time. When we check up on him at night, mysterious things have happened. For instance, there have been a few times when he has turned a good 90 degrees. that was the beginning. Soon, we saw that he had done a full 360. He will scoot to the other end of the crib until his head is mashed up against the head of the crib, but he's been doing that for a while--it's old news. Now he'll be rolling around in there. Our little boy is growing up!

Dinner

I am posting this last week's dinner menu for our family. Not all the items were made, but for the ones that were, I will include brief descriptions of the recipe (if you want it, you can make a comment or email me and I will get it to you), and a report on how good it tasted and ease of creation. Here it goes:

Monday: not planned :(

Tuesday: not planned :(

Wednesday: chicken fricassee (didn't actually make--discovered about a half hour before eating time that it takes a couple hours)

Thursday: usually Fend-For-Yourself night because Jaren has class until 9, but this week, he called and asked if I would make him something, so we had breakfast for dinner (eggs, turkey bacon, oatmeal, and toast).

Friday: it was Jaren's birthday, so we had a couple of friends over. We had Salmon (broiled with lemon juice and dill weed), roasted red potatoes (olive oil, rosemary, marjoram, and thyme), and a light cucumber salad (peeled and sliced cucumbers, olive oil, and dried or fresh tarragon). It was served with aloe vera drink and milkis (carbonated milk) from Korea. Very easy to make and quite delicious.

Saturday: Dinner at the Gala fundraiser in a mansion that cost $23 million to build. 28,000 square feet and 18 bathrooms. Nice.

Sunday: Meatloaf (1lb ground beef, one box of StoveTop stuffing chicken flavor, and two eggs; ketchup, honey and Worcestershire sauce for top. Bake @ 350 for an hour), instant mashed potatoes (Honest Earth brand--delicious!!!), and canned green beans (removed from can of course). Very easy and very good. Best meatloaf I've ever had!

I thought this might give you ideas for planning your meals. I know that the hardest part of making dinner is deciding what to eat. After that, it's a piece of cake, speaking of, I made some Crazy Cake this week too. Wonderful!