Memory Lane Tag

Melissa tagged me last week, and boy do I feel old after completing this! 

20 years ago I...
1. Entered the 9th grade at Ben Hill Jr. High in Tampa, big bangs, braces and all
2. Spent hours every day talking on the phone with my best friend Tracie Shelton (that was okay because we subscribed to a new technology called "call waiting")
3. Could be found babysitting on most weekend nights ($3 dollars/hour was GREAT pay for babysitting back then)

10 years ago I...
1. Graduated with my BS in Business from Brigham Young University
2. Moved to Denver and started my first "real job" at MediaOne Group
3. Met my husband, but wouldn't know it for a few more years

5 years ago I...
1. Married my best friend
2. Moved to Phoenix
3. Started a hobby of remodeling/decorating

3 years ago I...
1. Finished up an exciting three month long work assignment in London
2. Traveled all over the country for work, flying over 100,000 miles in the year
3. Wondered if I would ever get the privilege of being a mom

1 year ago I...
1. Traveled with Chris and our newborn son, Calahan, to Denver for our first family trip
2. Left my job at Time Warner Cable to be a stay-at-home mom
3. Found out Chris and I were expecting baby #2

This year so far...
1. We traveled to Hawaii for some R&R before baby #2

2. We welcomed our second son, Crewe, into our family
3. Calahan started walking and talking

Yesterday...
1. Calahan gave himself a swirlee while I was changing Crewe's diaper (I'm still laughing. Sorry, no pictures!)
2. Chris went to Costco so I didn't have to
3. I listened into a telephone townhall hosted by our US Congressman about the economic crisis

Today...
1. I took Calahan and Crewe to the library for storytime
2. Calahan's halloween costume arrived -- It's SO cute!
3. Crewe's developmental nurse came for her monthly visit and she said that he's doing great and put on 3 pounds since she was here just four weeks ago!

Tomorrow...
1. Calahan and I will go to kindermusik -- it's a "date" that I look forward to every week
2. My mom and Nana arrive for the weekend
3. Chris and I will be watching the season premier of "The Office"

Next year...
1. Chris will turn 40

2. We plan to make it back to Hawaii
3. We hope Crewe will get his trach out

Now, I tag Kate, Anne Marie, and Wendie

Chicken Philly Sandwiches

The cafeteria at Phoenix Children’s Hospital and I got to know each other well while Crewe was in the NICU. One of my favorite things they served there was a Chicken Philly Sandwich. I attempted to recreate it at home and it passed the test to make it into our meal rotation so I thought I’d share the recipe.

Ingredients

2 teaspoons  olive oil

3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into thin strips

salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 cup red bell pepper strips

1 cup yellow or green bell pepper strips

1 cup vertically sliced onion

1 1/2 teaspoons  white wine vinegar

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon Red Hot

4 sandwich rolls

4  (1-ounce) slices swiss cheese

Preparation

Heat oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Sauté 5 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan. Add red bell peppers, onion, vinegar and garlic to pan and sauté 6 minutes or until tender. Stir in chicken and pepper sauce and remove from heat.

Slice each roll in half horizontally, cutting to, but not through, other side. Place 1 cheese slice and 1 cup chicken mixture on bottom half of each roll, and gently press roll halves together.  Place sandwiches in the oven to heat for a few minutes or steam in a warm skillet. 

My Friend Amazon

Having two kids under two has forced me to be creative with some of my shopping lately. It doesn’t take too many trips to the store with Crewe and all of his equipment to realize that there’s not much space left in the cart for purchased items -- especially large items. And, all of you with kids know that diapers take up a lot of space.  So… I looked into purchasing diapers online (between Cal and Crewe, we go through 450-500 diapers every month).

What I found surprised me – I can purchase diapers for less than I pay at a warehouse store, not pay any sales tax (8% here in AZ), AND get them delivered for FREE! Amazon.com is the ticket.  I ordered diapers on Monday and they arrived at my front door today for about $15 less than I would have paid locally… and I didn’t have to haul them in and out of my car trunk in 100+ degree weather!

16 Months and Growing

Calahan is growing like a weed – both physically and mentally. He is getting taller, his hair is beginning to fill in, and he now has two molars. He also seems to be learning something new everyday and regularly entertains us with his new skills and attempts at new skills.

Calahan is a total organizer. In the bathtub today, he separated his rubber ducks from the rest of his tub toys. He also likes to be clean. He hates to have anything between his toes, and although he loves to go outside, he can’t stand to be outside barefoot.

He is also a multitasker. He cracked me up the other day when he climbed onto his rocking dog with his sippy cup in one hand and his hairbrush in the other hand and then proceeded to rock while drinking his juice and brushing his hair! He loves his sippy cups and can often be found running while drinking – I call it drunk driving!

Calahan loves books. His current favorites are ones with animals, different textures that he can feel, and flaps he can lift. He also loves any book that plays music or can be sung aloud. He can find almost any book by name.

One of his major accomplishments of the past few weeks is going to sleep entirely on his own (yipee!). We don’t have to rock him or sing multiple songs anymore to get him to go down for a nap! He will often tell us “night-night” and bring us his blanket to let us know he is tired. With a simple kiss and a “sleep good” he climbs into his crib and talks himself to sleep!

His vocabulary is growing.  He regularly says about 10 words: dada (his favorite word), mama, night-night, nana, bye-bye, baby, eat, amen, Jesus, cheese, nose, and no-no-no (with the accompanying pointer finger).  When he is not talking, he is signing. His favorite signs are more, all done, please, thank you, cracker, milk, drink, car, dog, ball, brush teeth, and wash hands.

3 Months Already

We can pause live tv and satellite radio, but where’s the button to pause life?  I’d love to freeze my boys in time because time is simply going by too quickly. Crewe has already grown out of his 0-3 months clothes and is on the verge of going to size 3 diapers.

Crewe’s personality is starting to come alive.  He’s such a happy baby, smiling whenever he makes eye contact. He loves to be talked and sang to and will gaze into my eyes as long as I’m looking at him. He also loves to sleep next to me.  He’s becoming more and more aware of Calahan and has reserved the “worried look” for him instead of his dad.

Tickling his head and patting his bum are sure ways to get him to melt like butter and go to sleep.  He’s a very sound sleeper, surviving the vacuum cleaner and even Calahan’s 5:00 meltdowns. Tummy time is still a favorite and he’s quickly gaining strength. He can roll from side to side, but doesn’t seem interested in rolling over yet.

Crewe doesn’t seem to know that he has any swelling in his face or even a trach. He is very patient whenever I suction his trach or clean around it and change the ties. His next procedure has been moved up to October 2. At that time he will have an MRI and laser surgery to remove some of the abnormal tissue around his voicebox.

A Man With a Plan

From the moment we get Calahan out of his crib in the morning he is directing us to what he wants to do.  His pointer finger must get tired because he uses it so much! 

This week he has insisted that we put on his sandals and a baseball cap as soon as he gets up – it’s quite a look with his PJs! Then, sometime in the morning, he fishes a swimsuit out of his drawer, finds the sunscreen and a swim diaper and brings them to either me or Chris and points to the front door. Lastly, there’s the signature “boy” behavior – he finds the remote to the DVD player and brings it to me and makes the sign for the signing time videos. Gotta love a guy who knows what he wants!

Summer Fun

The classic signs that summer in Arizona is coming to an end are here… the lows at night are beginning to dip into the 70s, the pool temperature is only in the low 80s, and the landscape is starting to get green.  Okay, okay, we really only have two seasons in Phoenix – spring and summer.

While this summer has largely been a blur with everything happening with Crewe, when Chris and I look back on it, we remember the many family members and friends who so selflessly helped our family during this challenging time.

Calahan especially received the royal treatment from a long list of visitors. It was such a blessing that we could leave Calahan with loved ones while we attended to Crewe. Here is a look back at Calahan’s summer in photos. Apologies in advance to Linda and Tara who were here during my meltdown -- I'm sick that I didn't get any photos of you... maybe you have some to share?!