Chocolate Chip Bars

We pretty much grew up in the kitchen. My mom is a great self-taught cook and wanted to pass on her love of food to her 4 daughters. One of my favorite things she used to make all the time are these fabulous chocolate chip bars. Chewy, chocolatey, delicious. These are a great treat any time of the year. Oh and they freeze really well! Try them, you won't regret it.

3 Eggs
1C Brown Sugar
1C Sugar
1C Oil
1Tsp Vanilla
2C Flour
2C Quick Oats
1Tsp Salt
1Tsp Baking Soda
1Tsp Baking Powder
6oz. Chocolate Chips
1C Coconut or Nuts (or 1/2 C each) OPTIONAL - I don't add either of these

Combine ingredients and spread on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes. Do not overbake.

Enjoy!

(PS...pictures to follow)

How to Make a Little Sister...the 7th month

It's unbelievable to me that I'm already in my 7th month of pregnancy with my 2nd child. I mean, I always knew I would have more than one child, but the end of this pregnancy is drawing near, and I'm a little freaked out at the thought of having the pitter patter of 2 sets of feet running around the house. And if we're being honest...I didn't exactly LOVE the newborn phase. Does this make me less of a mother? It was difficult with E$ at first because we were brand new at being parents...and, well, she was brand new to the WORLD. There were definitely more than a few sleepless nights and and we were cranky parents on more than one occasion. But all of that gets better with the 2nd baby, right? We should know what to expect by now, and shouldn't be so uptight and nervous...right? Yeah...I'm still a little freaked.

Anyway, I'm in the 7th month now, which means my baby looks like a big round squash...with arms and legs. My how she's grown! It seems like just yesterday she was the size of an eggplant.

Ok...Now what?

E$ is finally at the age where we have to start thinking about potty training. Or, as some people say, "potty learning". We HAVE to be politically correct these days as to not offend someone, you know. Anyway, we went out yesterday and bought her this fancy new potty chair (pictured above). It's a potty, a training seat, and a step stool all in one!! And it was only $15...What a deal! So...eager toddler...CHECK. Potty chair....CHECK! Super cute big girl panties...CHECK! So now what? We set it all up last night and put it in the powder bath downstairs and she's been exploring it. Last night she even had her baby doll on there going "poo-poo" as E$ walked her through the process. She's not really ready to sit on it herself yet. She is very interested though. So now I've got to do some research on how to potty train, since I've never had to do this before. As my husband put it, "As far back as I can remember, I've been pooping on the toilet". He has such a way with words. This should prove to be a very interesting adventure!

A special kind of stupid

Nobody tells you that when you get pregnant people can say whatever they want to you without much regard to your feelings. You'll get parenting advice, labor and delivery horror stories, inappropriate comments about your size, and of course the unsolicited belly rubs. So just for giggles I thought I would compile a list of interesting things that have been said to me thus far in my pregnancy. Here we go!

*Upon finding out we were expecting our 2nd bundle of joy, we received many of the "You know how that happens right??"'s. Um, yeah, and we were doing plenty of it, thanks.

*Upon finding out we were having another little girl, we received many "Oh...I'll bet daddy wanted a boy"'s. Um, actually we're really excited about E$ having a little sister. Seriously, can a family really be less than perfect if it doesn't have an equal number of males and females? Get a hobby.

*Upon finding out that we are having our 2nd December baby, one nice lady, who has her own December child, said "OMG, if I found out I was having another December baby, I would shoot myself in the head!". Seriously? You need therapy. STAT.

*I told a family member that due to having gestational diabetes and being on a semi-restricted diet, that I have actually only gained 1 lb (at the time). They said, "So what do you weigh now?" Yeah, nice try.

*A family member saw me about halfway through my pregnancy and commented on how nice I was looking. "You look great...I'm sorry, but when you were pregnant with E$, you didn't look very good." Wow. A compliment and an insult all in one sentence. Thanks Mom.

And these are MILD compared to what some women are subjected to during pregnancy. Got a story about when you were pregnant? Share it here!

What a spectacle!!

I ordered my new glasses today. YAY! They're really nice and I think they look pretty good on me. Of course anyone would look good in frames with non-prescription lenses. But me? Yeah, I'm farsighted. And you know what that means right? That means that when I wear my glasses, my eyes appear larger than they actually are. And because I'm particularly awesome, my left eye is way worse than my right eye. Mmm-hmm. Are you giggling? You're giggling. Perfect. I know why you're laughing. You're laughing because not only will my eyes look twice their normal size, my left eye will appear twice as large as my right eye, making it approximately 4 times the size of my normal eye. I rock. I rock so hard that my eyes are literally bugging out of my head. Or so it appears.

How to Make a Little Sister....Week 28

Well I had a great OB appt on Thurs. YAY for good appts! haha

First, we had an ultrasound to check Little Sister's growth. She is a perfect 2lbs 11oz and measuring right on track. We got to see her little face and she is just beautiful. We think she looks like Emily...of course that's just from looking at a 2d u/s. She does have some perfect little lips though. She and E$ get that from their daddy.

Then, I got weighed and everything and I've lost 3lbs, which is fine for me since I've got it to lose. Doc says everything looks great which is always nice to hear. I got a flu shot, which I expected, and she does want me to get the H1N1 vaccine when it's available as well.

I mentioned my pubic bone/pelvic pain and while she was very sympathetic, she said it's pretty much to be expected in subsequent pregnancies. She said that typically the 2nd and 3rd (and so on) pregnancies are more painful than the 1st. She said to just take it easy.

I go back in 2 weeks...yay! Oh and there was a number written on the top of my check out paper....it said 12/27...wonder if that's a foreshadowing on when Little Sister will make her grand entrance? It's a Sunday though, so maybe not! haha I'm pretty sure my doc does surgery on Tuesdays.

Here are some pics of our little C-Diddy. (Sorry so crappy...it's a pic of a pic
because we are cheap and have no scanner)

Sticker Time!

Aunt Sissie bought E$ some stickers before she was born and we just found them the other day! So we got out some drawing paper and I gave her the stickers to play with. She needed a little help getting them off the sheet, but she did really well sticking them on her paper. Then we colored!

E$'s Joke of the Day!!!

We were laying in bed trying to get E$ to go to sleep and she decided to work on her stand up routine...

E$: Knock, Knock.
Daddy: Who's there?
E$: Fishy.
Daddy: Fishy who?
E$: Fish.
Daddy: (pauses) That wasn't very funny.

Well it's a start at least!

All tuckered out...

I was tidying up the living room as E$ was finishing her lunch. I noticed the lack of noise and I peeked into the dining room and this is what I found:



I guess eating that last bite just took it all out of her. Little sweetie.

More Counterproductive Conversations with my Toddler

E$ comes up to me holding a plastic hanger

E$: What's this?
Me: Its a hanger.
E$: What?
Me: It's a hanger.
E$: No, it's not a paci.
Me: I didn't say it was a paci. It's a hanger.
E$: .....
Me: (points to hanger) What's this?
E$: It's a paci.