Sunday, January 30, 2011

Yummy Cereal Yogurt Bars

I am always looking for new snack recipes for Asher to try. I found this one online (wholesome toddler food) for Yogurt Cereal Bars. These are primarily a "toddler" food, but they are not too bad for adults either! They are super easy, and Asher loves them. 

Ingredients: 
  • 2 c corn flakes
  • 3/4 c flour
  • 1/4 c brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 c butter or margarine 
  • 1 c flavored yogurt (I like strawberry banana)
  • 1 egg slightly beaten
  • 2 T flour

Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine cereal, 3/4 c flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. 
  3. Cut in butter or margarine until coarse crumbs form.
  4. Press 1/2 the mixture firmly into the bottom of a greased 8 inch square pan.
  5. Mix yogurt, egg, and 2 T flour into another small bowl.
  6. Spread yogurt mixture over cereal mixture in pan and then sprinkle the remaining cereal mixture on top. 
  7. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown; cut into bars when cooled. 

The finished product!
My little taste tester! 

Thursday, January 27, 2011

This Is My Buddy, This Is My Pal


Asher and I have become best friends. We spend all day, every day together and are best buddies. We play together, go on walks together, eat together, laugh together, and sometimes even cry together. I love that we are so close and that he is "mommy's little boy." I love that he loves me so much and thinks I am the best thing in the whole world. Cause I will admit it now, he will not always think that way of me. I love this boy more than anything, and he is the light of my life.
Being a first time mom makes me wonder if Asher is getting enough, or any for that matter, social interaction. How important is it for him to be around other children his own age? Is it healthy that Chad and I are his only friends? Back home he was always around his cousins; but he doesn't have that here. I have sometimes even contemplated putting him in a daycare for a couple mornings a week just so he will have interaction with other children. But I swore I would never put my children in daycare. I know I shouldn't worry, but it's what mother's do best, right?! I just always want what's best for my son. And I will continue to seek guidance and wisdom from the ONE who does know what's best.

Monday, January 24, 2011

He's There, and I'm Here

I knew that moving here would mean that I have to make sacrifices. But I didn't know it would be this hard. Just yesterday my sister Lindy had a baby. I became an aunt for the 9th time, to a beautiful baby boy. That makes 6 nephews and 3 nieces...boys are popular in our family :) His name is Slade Verlyn Stuit, and he weighed a tiny 5lbs 4oz. He was a month early so that is why he is such a peanut!
I got the call from my mom and missed it! So I had to hear over voicemail, "It's a BOY!" I then skyped in with my family at the hospital and got to hear Ben (the daddy) give some details. It was definitely not the same as being there in person, but at least it was something. But, as if that wasn't hard enough, I had to see my sweet nephew for the first time over facebook. My heart hurts with the realization that I will not get to hold my new nephew, hug him and kiss him and love him; all because he is there and I am here. This is a sacrifice for me and it is hard. I am hoping that the next 5 months go by very fast. Until then, pictures and skype will have to do.

Look at that blonde, curly hair! 

I think I just died and went to heaven. 

No words to describe how sweet this baby boy is. 

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

16 Month Milestones


I can't believe another month has passed by and that my baby boy is 16 months old already. Again, I am just amazed at each new stage that develops in Asher's young life. I LOVE watching him learn new things everyday. He really is turning into such a little man! I've decided that since these blogs can be turned into a book, I would document Asher's monthly milestones. Again, these were taken from http://www.babycenter.com/0_milestone-chart-13-to-18-months_1496589.bc, which is a wonderful website I might add!

I know that grandmas and aunties will especially appreciate this since they don't get to watch him grow before their eyes. I hope this helps the "missing him" part a little easier.

Mastered Skills: Turns the pages of a book, has temper tantrums when frustrated, becomes attached to a soft toy or other object.
Emerging Skills: Discovers the joy of climbing, stacks three blocks, uses spoon or fork, learns the correct way to use common objects (e.g. the telephone).



Advanced Skills: Takes off one piece of clothing by himself, gets finicky about food, switches from two naps to one.

Okay, so Asher knows how to do MOST of these things. In the mastered skills, he has not become attached to a soft toy or other object. But I am not sure I would qualify that as a skill :) And in the advanced skills, he has not quite learned how to remove an item of clothing, unless his diaper counts because he knows how to do that!
Well there you have it. Our little boy in a nutshell at month 16. Once again, I praise God for such a healthy baby boy. I am so proud to be Asher's mommy and I fall more in love with this little boy of mine everyday.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

I'll Make It Myself

Flavored creamer is hard to come by here. And if you do find it, it is only the powdered kind. Well, if you know me at all, you know that I need creamer in my coffee. Coffee just isn't worth drinking if it doesn't  have a little flavor. So this is quite a predicament for me to live in a place where it's rare to find. 
You can imagine my excitement when I found some french vanilla creamer at one of the two grocery stores that I go to. And you can imagine my sadness when I went back to that same grocery store and found none!  What was I to do? I need coffee! Especially now that Asher keeps me awake during the night. How could I ever function without it?! 
Well, I decided to take this into my own hands and make it myself. I did some digging online and found a recipe to make a liquid french vanilla creamer (www.thecoffeehousenuts.com). Not only is it easy to make, but it is delicious as well! 

All you need is 3 ingredients: 1 1/2 cups of reduced fat milk, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, and 1 Tablespoon of 100% PURE vanilla: 


Mix the three together...



 ...and you have your creamer. Ahhh, can you taste the goodness?! 


Wednesday, January 12, 2011

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

Whoever said that the whole "sleeping thing" will get better once they are older was seriously mistaken. Yes, Asher has his times of sleeping through the night and I can remember the times where he went a couple of months without waking in the middle of the night. However, Asher has never been the best sleeper when it comes to bedtime. He takes great naps during the day, which I am very thankful for, but nighttime is a different story. He wakes up at least once a night, and sometimes more. And I am not talking about 'awake for 20 minutes, rock me back to sleep' kind of awake...20 minutes I can do. But this is 'screaming at 12:30, mommy pick me up and hold me in your arms for 2 hours until I fall back to sleep' kind of awake. See the difference? Sometimes I am so done with it that I have to just let him cry (for like an hour!). This is not easy and it breaks my heart to do this. But I am at a loss and I don't know what else to do.
This has been a very frustrating and difficult time for me. When Asher doesn't sleep, mommy doesn't sleep. And if you're a mommy, you know what NO SLEEP can do to you! I have wracked my brain trying to figure out what it is that wakes him up. Is it too dark? Is he having nightmares? Is he too hot? I just cannot figure it out. I wonder too if he is just going through a phase. But shouldn't phases last like a week or two? At 16 months shouldn't he be consistently sleeping through the night? I guess I am a first time mom so this is all new to me. I have also been praying up a storm, wondering if God is trying to teach me something. I ask for guidance, wisdom, patience, strength, and energy. This has been a huge test for me. Sometimes I get so angry at God for not answering my prayer of just letting him fall asleep already. I try to remind myself that "this too shall pass," but that is not an easy thought when you are awakened at 2:30 in the morning by a screaming baby! So my prayers will continue and so will my thought of, "I'll sleep when I'm dead."
Ahh, the days of when he slept. 
It's a good thing he's cute!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Home Away From Home

Well, we are officially back in Honduras, our home away from home. For those who don't know, the three of us made a quick 10 day trip back home to Lynden over the New Year holiday. It really was a last minute decision, but one that I am so thankful for. Many people have been wondering, "why the quick trip home?" Well, because we are not Honduran residents, we are required to leave the country every 90 days. And it's not just a skip, a jump, and a hop either. We have to go two countries over from Honduras, so just crossing the border won't work. We had originally planned to go to Houston (in January), where they have a Honduran Embassy, to try and get our Honduran residency. Our tickets were bought and we had even planned on meeting our parents there for a visit. However, Chad did some research and discovered that we didn't even have to go to the embassy but only send in some paperwork to Olympia. Included in that paperwork were our birth certificates and marriage license, which we didn't have with us..another reason for the trip home. So since we had to leave the country anyway AND we needed some paperwork, it only made sense to come back home. Of course seeing our families was a huge blessing and the best part of the trip for me!
Our visit made me realize just how easy life is back home, especially in the perfect little town of Lynden. I am so amazed at the conveniency of everything and am sad to admit that I took much of it for granted while living here my whole life. I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with family and am so thankful to both of Asher's grandparents for giving me some much needed mommy breaks..something tells me they didn't mind too much :) I will treasure the memories made while back at home and look forward to our next visit.
Asher is used to 80 degree weather so he was a little cold when we got home.
Asher got his first zhu zhu pet for Christmas from great grandpa and grandma. 
Asher's cousins were thrilled to see him! They kept wanting to play with him
and were always calling him their little buddy.