Welp.. No new recipe today. I sat the chicken out too late.. by the time it was defrosted it was 5:30. The recipe called for an hour to marinade. Therefore we went out. Yup. Lazy.

We tried this spot called La Loma Grille in Litchfield Park. It was quite quaint. You go in, go to the counter and get your chips and salsas and menus. When  you are ready to order, you go back to the counter to do so. They then bring your food on paper and Styrofoam plates with plastic silverware. I am guessing they are lazy and cheap doing their part to cut down on water use because after all, we are in a desert.
We didn't mind that though. The salsa was good. The rice was good. I think you can tell alot about a Mexican spot by their rice. It's true. The food was good. We will return. Maybe today-YUM.

I  kid...I kid. But we will go back. It is worth a try if you like non fancy down home food.

While we were there, little boy was of course none too thrilled. I was wiping out his motorboat mouth of milk and came across... drum roll please... TEETH! Baby boy is getting his bottom two teethies!
So bittersweet!

***
This morning we got up and did some yard work. My husband has turned into such a green thumb since we moved to AZ. He is out in the yard doing something like 4 days a week.

In other huge baby news: guess who decided he was ready to start crawling?

This guy!

Again, so bittersweet. Six months old. So grown up.

Off to try a jello poke cake to take to the in-laws tomorrow.

Tish

meatloaf muffins

So I tried out a new receipe last night. I try out new recipes all the time actually. I just dont seem to post about them for some reason. The never ending question "What's for dinner?" is always a topic, right?

I went over to smashed peas and carrots and she talked about Meatloaf. She and I agree that meatloaf can be pretty gross. She had this recipe though and I thought it was worth a try.

The cast of characters:

1lb hamburger
1 box of stuffing
1 cup of water
about 3/4 cup of ketchup
and I put a smidge of Siracha on top of the ketchup for a kick

Mix up the hamburger, DRY stuffing and 1 cup of water (do NOT follow the recipe on the stuffing box). Get it all nice and smooshed.

Roll the meat mix into nice sized balls and smoosh (I am using smoosh a alot lol) it into greased muffin holes. Mine were kind of big, but you could probably have 12 muffin slots filled with smaller balls.

Put an indentation in the top of each ball and fill with ketchup. That is when I then added the Siracha.

Bake at 350* for 30 minutes. Take out and add some sharp cheddar cheese to the top of each and bake an additional 5-7 minutes until done.

I have to admit, these were pretty good. The meat was so moist and flavorful. The heat of the siracha added a great flavor pop.

Tonight I will try a new recipe from Ree over at Pioneer Woman ... I will let you know how that one turns out later on.

Have a great Friday.

Maddox is 6 months old

Maddox is almost 6 months old! I can hardly believe it.

Dear Maddox,

You are such a joy most of the time. You have your daddy and me laughing all of the time at your silliness. You are learning so much and growing so fast.
Sometimes when we put you in your car seat to go somewhere we both get a little misty eyed and comment on how big you have gotten. You aren't a "baaaaaby".. you are a baby. You know what you want and sometimes will yell at us to get our attention to it. You hate sitting in your car seat at restaurants. You like to be up in the action. When you are able to fully sit on your own, I think you will be much happier with that.

You are now in a size 3 diaper as of last week. You wear some 3-6 month clothes and some 6-9. You are long so you need the 6-9 more and more.
You go to sleep between 8-9pm and you wake up between 5-6am on average.
You take 2 good naps a day. Usually around 10am and 2pm.  You still like your second nap to be with mama. Your first one is in your swing.

You are eating alot now! You have oatmeal with fruit in the morning and at dinner we have lots of options. You like carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans and avocados so far. You do not really love broccoli yet. I think the broccoli is still too textured for you. We will try it later. You love to drink water out of your sippy cup. You also love to drink out of whatever cup mommy and daddy have. A lot. You fuss if we don't let you.

You almost crawl all the way. You get on all fours and kind of hop to where you want to go. Soon you will be crawling the old fashioned way all over. You are so fast right now, I cant imagine when you get the full hang of it. You love your walker and race all over the house! You love to be read to. You love your books. You will play with them over any other toy.

You love water. Baths and the pool. You have so much fun and just splash and kick. I call those your swimmy feet.

You laugh a lot. You are ticklish. Your laugh is infectious.

We love you so very much and often wonder what we did before we had you.
You are our heart and soul baby boy.

Love,
Mommy

Sleepy time is broken

Little boy has been rebelling against sleep lately. He is so tired. He rubs his eyes. He acts like he is on the phone while he rubs his ears. He is sleepy. He doesnt want to sleep. He is afraid he will miss something I guess. Last night, he was too excited about his new jammies to sleep. He looked like such a grown up in them! He has some long sleeved jammies with a top and pants and they dont look nearly as grown up.
*tear*

My mom says it's "the trials of motherhood" and "tomorrow is a new day".
OK. I can handle that. Yesterday I was questioning myself all day. I hate that feeling.

Vegas, baby.

I'm goin to Vegas. Me and baby boy are heading there. For the day. To visit. Did you know that I lived there for 10 years? I am so excited to see my friends and some family.

I kind of wish that the trip was at least over night, but a day trip is good to start.
We leave at 7am, and get back at 10:30pm.

This was part of our wedding festivity. 03-12-11

{photo by MA Photography}

xo, Tish

Design Schmine..

I. Am. Not. Pleased. With. My. Blog. Design.

You will likely see several over the next days.

My apologies.

Does someone want to create a free one for me? You can add your site to the attributions.

It was worth a try.

No cooking and Photo Op's

Friday afternoon my husband informed me that we were going out to dinner. OK... I can handle not cooking haha.
Got ready, ran our errands and then headed to the Black Angus for dinner. I had a glass of wine while we waited.. a Pinot, and I am more of a sweeter Reisling or Champagne girl. BUT it was good anyway.

My sweet little baby... has turned into a " hold  me while we are at the restarant or I will yell and scream till you do" baby. My husband and I  have decided that we will probably be making less and less appearances at restarants.
We came home, sat by the pool and watched Criminal Minds.

Saturday, I had an appointment for my car. UGH. During the wait time, we went to the Black Bear Diner-- will we ever learn? Luckily it was loud in there and no one paid attention to his screams of frustration. We eventually gave in though. Easier. OMG we are in trouble.

We did a little shopping and browsing and photo posing to kill time.

We came home after picking up my car and remember those 23 pounds of peaches? I froze them (what a pain that was) and the hubby took a bag out and made peach rum drinks. We sat in the pool and just chilled all afternoon. I dont know if it was the sun or the large rum drink or both-- but I didnt feel so well afterwards. Had to take a little nap.. was a little cranky... the husband laughed. I made enchiladas, the husband got The Vow and One For the Money for us to watch and we just vegged with little boy on the couch.

I relish those moments. Sweet. Comfortable. Home.

xo, Tish

Vets and Cranky Racecar Drivers

Don't you hate when you accidentally hit a button and delete your post thus far before it had the chance to save?

Me too. Ugh.

Yesterday was a tiring one. I woke up at 6. Was ready to be out of the house to run errands by 7. Went to the grocery store and post office and made vet appointments.

The vets office wouldn't take all 4 dogs at once, so I took 2 and 2. Let's talk about a mini workout! Whew. Sam escaped briefly. I ran after him, and luckily his pudgy self only slowly galloped and I got him right away-- after I lost a shoe under a car. That was a fun retrieval! Did I mention that I had already opened the car door, Zoey could have ran off but she is too scared. Maddox was in his carrier on the ground next to my car. He could have been stolen. It was a nightmare for about 25 seconds.

I about fell over when I got the $255 bill knowing that I had 2 more dogs coming in a half hour. Wow. I ran home, got the little dogs and brought them right back for their round of shots.

They went a little smoother though... Lola is a good car rider.. Meeko is awful.
My car is a furbie currently. I must get it cleaned asap.

Little boy was way off his schedule and was a monster of a crab apple because he was so sleepy. He finally calmed down and was a speed racer all around in his walker. It was  pretty hilarious. He just ran everywhere. Who knew a 5 month old plus a walker equalled a race car.

Speaking of 5 months... do you count babies by their weeks or a month on the day they were born? I am so confused about it and people keep doing both... SO.... He is 23 weeks old. He was born December 5, 2011. Would you count him 6 months next week or wait till June 5? On his first birthday you don't count weeks... and it may or may not be 52 weeks exactly... you say on Dec 5, 2012, he is 1 year old. A rant. Sorry.

This is how he "sits" right now. How funny is this?

First Mommys Day

My first Mother's Day weekend was eventful.

We planned to go see my husbands mom and dad on Sunday so we went to do our Mother's Day on Friday and Saturday.

What better way to start the weekend off than by going to see a baseball game! We
went out to see our beloved Diamondbacks take on the Giants. No win, but it was a fun night. Little boy was so sweet and in such a good mood. They had a fireworks display after the game and Maddox was entranced. What is it about fireworks that takes you back to being a little kid... where sparklers were THE coolest thing in the world.

My google-boo of a husband found a Peach Festival and a place called Schnepf Farm over near Queen Creek.

They have carnival rides, a country store with jams and breads, they serve breakfast and lunch (although we didn't have either because the line was ridiculously long). And then of course they had peach orchards that you could pick your own peaches. We wanted to go for that reason. We got our 3 empty bags and went to pickin. It was so much fun!

We loaded up and got three bags filled to the brim. At the 2 dollars per bag, we couldn't wait to get all those juicy peaches! We went to pay and low and behold: it was not 2$ a bag, it was 2$ a pound. WHOOOPS. 23pounds and $47 later we left the peach farm. We just assumed that it was per bag. I guess because the orange orchards were just per bag.

After we left there with our 23 pounds of peaches, we went for Mexican food. I love me some Mexican food. Then came home and swam and just enjoyed time together.

Sunday, we woke up early and made the short journey up to Prescott to see my hubs mom and dad. I had whipped up some yummy chicken salad and a to-die-for strawberry spinach salad with homemade raspberry vinaigrette. We sat that out with some other fixings and had a nice lunch with them. After, we watched the dbax on tv and his mom and dad enjoyed Maddox.

All in all it was a super (and busy) weekend.

My mini bell is ringing...

xo, Tish

Kellys Korner New Moms Link Up

I am linking up to Kelly's Korner SUYL New Moms.

I am Tish. This is my handsome 5 month old son and mini love of my life Maddox:

And here are both loves of my life:

I look forward to connecting with you all :)

xo, Tish

Day 4

Day 4 of healthy living was a success. I went on a walk. I am just at 1.5 miles but I will be creeping that up as the weeks go by. I made dr appointments. I am doin it ya'll.

I was at a play group with Maddox this morning.

We ran errands and as it was creeping into the lunch hour, I rushed home to avoid temptation. Temptation of a yummy fountain coke mostly. I think I could have "just" gotten the soda.. the large, non diet, soda - and been ok for a couple more hours BUT...Soda is bad. I have compromised with myself and will "allow" the treat of a diet soda now and again. Eventually, maybe I will also give that up.

On to other things... I am going to play around on Pinterest and find a cute southwest-y wreath to make. I was at Joanns today and put a wreath in my basket, then pride took over and told me that I could do that. I should do that. I let her win.

Had a yummy dinner tonight. Steak, zucchini, corn on the cob, cherry tomatos and croissants. The hubby had some rice but I decided that I would much rather prefer the warm bread. Ah. HEALTHY. Why is so hard? Habits I guess.

What are your healthy ways? What do you do-- besides "work out and eat right"... be specific.

New Girl and Private Practice are callin my name.

xo, Tish

Get Healthy.

I must get healthy. I will do my best to think of it as getting healthy and not a diet. The dreaded word... d i e t. Ahh!

I have no one to blame but me. I could make lots of excuses but that is all they would be.
I am the only one with the power. The P O W E R. Ahh!

A 2.5 hour walk around the swap meet on Saturday. A 1.5 mile walk today in the neighborhood.  I threw out junk. I didn't throw out the juice. Small starts. I found some more great recipes. I love skinnytaste. I pulled out the Zumba DVD that I have never once used. Tomorrow I will research doctors to find one and get checked out.

I am embarrassed to blog about this--but I need to be accountable. To me. To my husband. To my baby. To my family. For me. For my husband. For my baby. For my family.

xo, Tish

Kelly's Korner Link Up

Hi, I am Tish linking up to Kelly's Korner SUYL Friday.
I am a new wife, a new sahm mommy and new to Arizona.
My husband got his long awaited transfer when we were very pregnant. We came down, found a house and waited for our son to be born. We moved here 2 weeks later. It is now about 5 months later and I am looking to meet others in the area.

I am a normal girl. I enjoy going out for lunch, getting pedicures, spa days, cooking, reading, sporting events, wine tastings, country bars, dancing, traveling. Now that I am a mommy, most of that gets put on the back burner because my sweet husband and I have this new world to discover through the eyes of our child.

I look forward to connecting with some of you awesome ladies that also read Kellys Blog :)


xo, Tish

Swimming, Sleeping, and Walking

Maddox went swimming. He was such a trooper that little cutie pie.
We started with our feet and gradually moved to have our whole body in... he did a couple big gasps but was such a good sport.

We had to get out once because he got scared but then we eased back in.

Maddox boy was also a very big boy and slept in his own bed last night. I know. He is 5 months old and that was the first time. We do have good reasons... we are crazy AND his room is so, so far from our room. We will love that feature when he is older but right now, the other side of the house seems so far away. Mind you, we have an 8ft gate that is locked in the front of the house, every door and window is alarmed and we have 4 dogs: BUT I am a parent who worries and he is our first little baby. It was so hard on us. It was harder on mama I think than anyone. I moved 2 of the dogs into his bedroom and had the monitor on high... Maddox was fine. Mama barely slept. I had to keep going to check on him. I had to keep listening to him breathing.

Speaking of breathing.... As most parents do, we searched for "the perfect" bedding set for him. My husband wanted teddy bears so we searched (hard to find believe it or not) and since buying it.... we have used the bedskirt and we hung the blanket on the wall. The curtains, the pillows, the little hanging "art" and the bumper have all gone to an expensive waste. We went and bought a breathable bumper from Babies R US and have that in his bed and a sheet. That's it. None of the fancy stuff we wasted money on. Lesson learned for next time :)

Here is the little handsome guy in his bed:

He also got to play in his walker for the first time. He doesnt walk yet of course but he loves to "stand" and be "up".

He is just growing so much and too fast! Sigh....