Create Cook and Play

Sound Asleep

2009-09-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

Becoming a new mother is hard. I've learned it's even harder to become a mother of two. My first is 2 1/2 years old. The second is 7 weeks old. It turns out you get no sleep with two. Just when I think I might get a nap in during the day, it turns out I'm wrong. I try to get them to nap at the same time, but newborns tend to make their own schedules, and my little one's schedule is the complete opposite of his big brothers. Fortunately, I am finally getting a little more sleep at night which makes up for the lack of sleep during the day.

We've also been struggling with getting the 7 week old to fall asleep on his own. He prefers to nurse himself to sleep, which I don't like to do because it's no fun being a human pacifier. I've let him cry for just a few minutes, then I go in there and pat him for a while to calm him down. Well, nothing seemed to work for about two weeks of doing all different strategies. Finally though, in the last two days I've laid him down really sleepy and a miracle occurred. He fell asleep on his own. I don't know how it happened, but I hope it continues to happen because it makes my life so much easier.

It's hard to be a new mom, but extra hard to be a mom of two.

No More Bed Rest

2009-08-04T15:39:00.000-07:00

I'm officially off of bed rest. That is because I finally had the baby about a week ago. This one is wonderful compared to the first. He actually sleeps most of the time, my first hardly ever slept. Now we just deal with the normal little problems. My first son is a little jealous, but not too much, he does like to be mommy's helper with the baby. My main issue is nursing. I really want to nurse my baby and most of the time have no problems. Sometimes I have a hard time with let down, I'm not sure why. Usually this is in the middle of the night when I'm so tired. He eventually ends up screaming because he's getting no milk and I want to scream because I'm getting no sleep. So the last two nights I've had to give him a little formula, something I really don't want to do. I'm hoping with time it will all come easier and we can all get a little more to eat and sleep.

Finding Things to Do

2009-07-16T14:48:00.002-07:00

While on bed rest, I've been extremely bored. I decided to try crocheting something, even though it kills my arms after a little while just because I have to lay on my side the whole time. I did end up crocheting a beautiful basket. I got the pattern here. This is the picture of theirs.

They used silk yarn, but I just used some acrylic pink yarn that I had laying around. I've been trying to use my scrap yarn for various projects lately. Anyways, I love the stash basket. I'll try and get a picture up in the next couple of days. Since I was able to complete that in a couple days I decided to start a new project. I'm crocheting a baby sweater for the new baby. Hopefully I will have it done by Christmas. You never know how long this bed rest thing will last. I'm hoping not much longer, although I've gotten to see a lot of movies I've been wanting to see lately.

2009-07-16T14:48:00.001-07:00

Bedrest and Preeclampsia

2009-07-02T13:03:00.000-07:00

So here I am 35 weeks pregnant and I've been ordered to bedrest for the last week. Apparently, I'm on the verge of preeclampsia. At first I thought this is going to be easy, no problem at all just laying around. Keep in mind that I happen to be a very active person who loves to stay busy and I hardly ever watch television. Now I'm having to lay on my side for four hours a day and do nothing but watch television or read a book. It's not so bad until you start thinking about the fact that you can't get up at all except to go to the bathroom. Oh well, I guess it's all for the well being of me and the baby.
The worst part for me is I planned on working for another three weeks, so I already have to use my vacation, which is only two weeks. Hopefully, the baby will come soon and I won't have to worry about this anymore. All I wish for is a beautiful healthy baby.

Cute Things Kids Say

2009-06-08T14:48:00.001-07:00

The other day I was changing my sons diaper and said, "pee-you, you are stinky."
He said, "not pee-you mommy, pee-me."

Reusable Sandwich and Snack Bags

2009-04-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

So, I've decided that with all the waste we all contribute to every day it is time to make a change. That's why I opened my new etsy shop Little Green Pea. Right now I have all different styles of reusable sandwich and snack bags available, and also a couple of bulk food bags. What better way to save the landfills than using stylish reusable bags to tote your snacks, cookies, chips, and other things in. I have had lots of friends get one just to store their lipstick and purse items in too. I also think the snack bags would be perfect for toting around a set of crayons and paper for the little ones.

I will be adding lots of new things to my shop over the next several weeks. If you would like to help save the earth, but at the same time look stylish doing it you need to look at my shop Little Green Pea. I'm sure you'll love the bags especially after trying them. I know I do and so do all the people I know.

Funny Things Kids Say

2009-03-26T13:43:00.001-07:00

So I thought once in a while I'd just share a quick little funny thing that my son has said.
Today it is about potty training.
When he was sitting on the toilet the other day he said, "Look. See it. A tail."

Tamales

2009-03-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday my mom and I decided to get together and make tamales. I've gotten a lot of tips on this excruciating long process from some of the ladies I work with. It took us a total of 8 hours, only because we'd cooked the meat the day before. Even though it took the entire day I think it was well worth it. Now we both have a few dozen tamales that we can eat over the next several months, they're still good after being frozen.

We got our recipe from a website on line that says it's an authentic recipe. We also made a red chile sauce to go in some of the tamales, which was delicious. The ladies I work with say to either put red or green sauce in your tamales.

These wonderful tamales will come in very handy when the new baby arrives and I'm too exhauste to cook. That was one of the reasons for making so many. I highly recommend the recipe, it's delicious.

Funky Birthday Cake

2009-03-14T19:05:00.000-07:00

So, it's my mom's birthday tomorrow and I volunteered to make her a cake. I've taken a few classes through the community college in our area, but I am by no means an expert. In fact, I had to make the chocolate ganache filling twice because I beat it too long and it separated. Nevertheless, I'm quite happy with the end results. I got the recipe from the book, The Whimsical Bakehouse, one of my favorite cake books.First I started by melting white chocolate, and adding a few different colors. Then I piped them onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet to create round discs for the topping.
This is my second attempt at the chocolate ganache. It is coming along nicely, it didn't even separate the second time, and it tasted so good. Yummy.Here is the final product. The cake is a chocolate chip pound cake with chocolate ganache filling and a chocolate icing. I also decided to put colored sprinkles around the bottom.

I sure hope my mom like it. Even though she's trying to eat a bit healthier lately, I know she will have a slice of this beautiful cake. My little boy loved it. By the end of cleanup he was covered in head to toe of chocolate and had it spread all over the counter. A little guy after my own heart.

Big Boy Bed Transition

2009-03-06T19:32:00.000-08:00

So we've been working on the transition to the big boy bed the last few weeks. I wanted to wait a while, but one night my son showed me how he could climb into and out of his crib. He was quite good at it, almost as if he practices during the night when we're sleeping. From that point on we decided it was time to make the transition to the big boy bed just for his safety. We went out and bought him Thomas the Tank train sheets thinking that would help, even though he has no idea who Thomas the Tank train is (we try and limit TV watching to daycare only). Regardless, he loves the sheets because he loves trains he just doesn't always like to sleep on them. The first several days he would sleep by the door. The only way we were certain about this is when he woke up he had evidence of a carpet pattern imprinted on one side of his face. It just doesn't seem like the floor would be comfortable, but apparently he doesn't care. He even takes his blanket down there with him to sleep.

After we made the transition he was suddenly waking up once or twice during the night screaming uncontrollably. Up until this point he's slept through the night for a year and a half now unless he doesn't feel well. We thought this was due to his cold or the possibly a fear of sleeping is this new bed, maybe it was a bit scary. Then it got better. In fact, in the last week he finally started sleeping all night and through the night again for three nights straight. Then there was last night. He woke up screaming again. It's unlike any other times when he usually wakes up crying because he needs comforting. He wakes up screaming at the top of his lungs for either milk, mommy, or daddy. So now I'm beginning to wonder if his little mind is starting to dream during the night. Possibly he's having night terrors. I've read they're more common in boys than girls, so it's a possibility, and he's about the right age for them to occur. Needless to say, this is a big change for him, and I hope soon he sleeps every night through the night so I can finally get a good nights sleep for a while.

Welcome to Create Cook and Play

2009-03-01T19:44:00.000-08:00

I want to welcome everyone to my new blog. I wanted to start a blog about things I love to do and really enjoy. I am an avid crafter and love to sew, so this blog will highlight all of my favorite creations and I will try to even have some patterns available eventually. I also love to cook, especially with the help of my little boy. Together we will share our favorite recipes and lots of new creations with you. I love to play and have lots of fun with my son. I'll try and sharea variety of fun things that we do together and hopefully it will give you some great ideas to do things with your little one.

I am a hard working mother of one very energetic little boy, with another child on the way. I've been trying for a while to find a way to make some sort of income from home. I desperately want to be a stay at home mom to my two kids, but so far no luck. This is my reason for starting my etsy shop, Little Poppy Shop. Here you will find some of my lovely creations for babies and little ones. I really enjoy sewing, so my shop is a lot of fun for me. I also love to see what my son thinks of all my creations, so far so good.

You will be hearing a lot about my son and all the silly things he does and the struggles we go through with him. He is the light of my life and my inspiration in everything I do. I'm sure you will all get a few good laughs from some of his silly moments.

Welcome to my new blog and I hope you really enjoy it.