Pain in the....

Well I had a lot of posts planned out for Thanksgiving; things I'm thankful for, fun with family, tasty treats but unfortunately things didn't go as planned. We had planned to go to PA and things were going better than planned. We left early, traffic wasn't too bad except there were a lot of accidents. 

Yes, things were going very well until we crossed the Connecticut border. I'm not sure if you're familiar with a Chevy H.H.R. but the dome lights are pretty much in the trunk area. I had just set up Amber's feed bag and was trying to turn the lights off. My arm was on the drivers seat under the head rest when we hit a bump and I fell into my arm. At least I think I did I don't really remember, the only thing I do remember is a really intense pain and not being able to move my arm or straighten up.  

We changed courses and headed straight for the nearest E.R. I was convince I had dislocated my shoulder blade (if that's even possible) it felt like my ribs were trying to pry my shoulder blade off the rest of my skeleton. 

After much poking, prodding and very painful x-rays the verdict is a strained shoulder or possibly a pulled ligament. It's been almost a week and unfortunately my ribs are still trying to get rid of my shoulder blade, my entire right shoulder/side hurt and it feels like my funny bone has been hit/my hand goes numb when I move my arm certain ways. Thankfully I'm on good pain meds, unfortunately that's why I haven't been posting. Tomorrow I see my Dr and hopefully everything will get straightened out!

I really miss being able to take care of Amber : ( 

She's in good hands,

but I still miss snuggling with her : (

I'm very thankful for my wonderful mom and husband who have been taking great care of Amber and I, believe it or not we're not that easy sometimes! 

Typing isn't really easy but don't worry we've been taking lots of videos so if all works out  it will be mostly picture or video posts until things get fixed. 

And She's Off!!

Last week was kind of a drag. After being advised by her cardiologist we've decided to not go ahead with heart surgery for Amber. It was a tough decision to make and I'm having a hard time with the fact that there is nothing we can do for her.

For good we got the ok to start giving her baby food again! She was kind of skeptical of it the first day but now she's loving it again. We'll also be changing up her feeding schedule again. In the next couple of weeks she'll be moving on to big girl formula during the day and pedialight at night. We've discovered that when she has pedialight at night she's much more active during the day and looks a lot better. With this new schedule she'll be getting more food by mouth and it will be a higher calorie so it will even out any extra calories burned by mouth eating.

The best news I have for you which totally makes up for such a crappy week last week is; Amber's therapist dropped off a baby walker on Friday! She tried it out on Friday and loved just being able to stand! The therapist told us it would probably take a while before she started moving in it. We didn't get a chance to put her in it all weekend but today we put her and guess what.....she walked across the kitchen floor! We were totally shocked! I could not be more proud of her!

Sorry it's sideways I was so excited I didn't even think that I wouldn't be able to flip it. Hopefully the tech guy can work his magic and fix it for me.

I could watch this over and over again! She went all the way back twice before she got really tired out but her face is priceless! She is so happy to be able to move around. Pretty soon she'll be all over the house.

Reminiscing

Amber is getting to be a big grown up girl. 

She loves talking on the phone.

Watching Sesame Street videos.

Chatting our ears off.

It seems like years ago that she was my little lump.

So tiny and precious with that new baby smell

Hardly saying a peep 

She still makes adorable faces and loves to be snuggled, that I am very thankful of.

I do miss hats and swaddling.

I really miss all those new baby things but I do love seeing her become her own little person.

Can you tell I was going through old photos today?

9*15*08

 Two years ago I married my best friend. 

And I would say "I DO" again in a heartbeat! 

I loved you then and I'll love you forever.

Happy Anniversary!

And some day I'll get around to looking at our professional wedding pictures!

The Best Burger Baby!

Yup this is another cooking post! I've been on a cooking kick lately to make up for a few really bad weeks where all I ate was candy and pickles. I'm an emotional eater and I figure if I'm going to be eating a lot I might as well be eating good things! So here is another easy, tasty recipe!

We'll be more witty this time and call it the...Bunny Burger!

The truth is it's not that pretty.

What's In It :

• Put your hamburger in a bowl
• Dump about half a jar of salsa in 
• Grate one carrot on top of it (I used the medium side but I think next time I'll use a smaller side so you don't see as much carrot in it)
• Dump some grated cheese in not too much though (I'll confess I used the rest of a bag of Mexican cheese I had in the fridge)
• Mix it together and form your patties
• Throw them in the pan and cook it up like you would any other burger

To Serve : 

• Put them on a bun with whatever condiments you like (not toothpaste!) I suggest the usual ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, ranch dressing and I haven't tried it yet but I bet sliced avocado would be great on top! 

There you go another quick and easy one for you arsenal! I don't know about you but I'm excited to see what I come up with next! I also promise to get back to talking about Amber too!!

Olive Garden Eat Your Heart Out!

It's very rare that I can actually make an edible dinner. By chance I happened to make this very tasty combination. Twice actually so I think it's safe enough to share with you!

We'll call it....Lemon Chicken Pasta.

I'm not great with timing in cooking, as in when you should start things so they end close together. I'll tell you how to make each part but it's up to you on what you want to do first. I also eye ball things (usually why it's not edible) so I don't have the exact measurements to give you.

Chicken: 

• Put some oil in the pan (maybe about 1 TBS) roll it around to cover the pan
• Shake out some Rotisserie Chicken spice and Mrs. Dash original blend 
• Squeeze a lemon slice over the pan, sometimes this spits a lot 
• Shake the spices and squeeze lemon over the chicken before or after you put it in the pan is up to you
• Cook it till it's cooked!

Pasta:

• Boil your water and cook your pasta like you usually do
• Add some lemon, salt and garlic to the water

To Serve:

• Scoop out the pasta onto your plate
• Pour a little olive oil over the pasta so it's not stuck together
• Put some cheese on it if you like
• Stir in some peas or just leave them on the top
• Then put your chicken on top!

It cooks up pretty fast and tastes really good! If your up for it I even have some additional sides that go really well.

Lemon Asparagus:

• Pour some olive oil in the pan
• Squeeze some lemon in
• Shake some Mrs. Dash
• Cut the hard butts off the asparagus and then throw them in and cook till they're soft 

Easy Quick Garlic Bread :

• Turn your oven on to the Broil setting
• Lay some bread on a cookie sheet (it doesn't matter what kind you can even use halved hot dog rolls or hamburger buns!)
• Butter the side facing up and sprinkle garlic powder over it
• Put it in the over for a few minutes till they're light brown 
• Take them out carefully flip them over 
• Butter the new side facing up and sprinkle some more garlic, if you like you can even put grated cheese on this side (don't do it to the first side or it will stick to your pan when you flip them over)
• Put it back in the oven for a few min (watch out this side will brown up quicker!)

That my friends is a very easy, quick delicious meal that tastes like you put a lot of work into it and that's what I'm all about! 

Thank You For Your Service

'In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"'

I would like to thank all of our military veterans for their service and personal sacrifices so that we can have the country and lifestyles that we have today.

 I would especially like to thank my three favorite veterans :)

 My brother (who is going to kill me)

My father

My Grandfather 

I would also like to thank all of my other family members who are serving or have served I really appreciate all of you! I don't want to forget to thank the families of the veterans to, especially the mothers and wives, you keep our veterans strong while they are keeping us safe.

If you want some great history on veterans day please go here, it's also where I got my quote at the top.