Warm Pasta Salad

So last night, I wasn't sure what I should make for dinner... I was thrown off by locking Zeke in the car and by the time that was all done and I relaxed for a minute, Nate was almost home. So, I needed something fast! Here's my creation that turned into something quite amazing if you ask me.

Warm Veggie Pasta Salad

1 lb uncooked pasta (I used Penne)

1 chicken breast (you can use more, but that's all I had and mine was precooked)

1/2 a shallot diced

2 cloves garlic diced

pepper to taste

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 Tbs Olive Oil

1/4 cup vegetable broth

1 bag frozen broccoli florets

1 bag frozen green beans

1/3 cup Newmans Own Family Recipe Italian Dressing

1/4 cup shredded pepper jack cheese

1/4 cup parmesean cheese

Cook the pasta. In a large sauce pan saute the shallot and garlic in olive oil on low heat until tender. Add the bay leaf, pepper, pepper flakes and chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces. Add broth, broccoli and beans to the sauce pan. Increase heat and put a lid on it. Once veggies are warm through, remove from heat and remove the bay leaf. Put the cooked pasta in a bowl. Add half the dressing then add veggies. Add the remaining dressing and the cheese and toss. It's awesome.

I didn't measure anything... I'm just guessing on the measurements. Good luck!

Just some updates on our life

No pictures today... mostly because I don't want to search for any. Yes, I'm feeling lazy.

Ezekiel is finally getting it!

A couple nights ago, I was sitting on the couch and Zeke walked up to me and started pulling my shirt up. Then climbed up on the couch and started rubbing and resting his head on my belly. It was so sweet! Then he started saying stuff into my belly (to his brother) like "toys" and "share". After a while of this, he decided he wanted to read a book to his brother so he plopped down right next to me and put his arm over my belly as if he was putting his arm around a friend and started looking at books... shouting out exciting things that he saw like trains, tracters and airplanes. I cried. I'm so thankful that Zeke is starting to understand what is happening. It's not just Momma anymore... His brother is in me too and boy does he love his brother!

Pregnant brain!

Yesterday, I had just parked the car outside the house and was getting ready to come in so I threw the keys in my purse, opened the door, locked and closed it... instantly I realized that I Zeke's door was also locked. I tried all the doors and windows and then in a panic ran to my neighbors house to see if I could use her phone. Thankfully she was home so I called Nate who reminded me that Joe (my brother) had a slim jim kit! so Nate called Joe who thankfully lives close to us. He was home alone with his son Kaden so they came over and tried to get the doors unlocked. It didn't work. Joe tried forever, but it wasn't working so then he was able to get a triangle window open and he had a long hook he could use to dig in my purse to find the keys. That worked! By then Zeke was pretty upset... it was 45 minutes after the door was locked! Zeke was sweaty, but thankfully it wasn't too hot outside so he wasn't suffocating in there. Joe is my hero and so is Laurie (my neighbor) for being home, letting me use her phone and sticking around for moral support and so is Nate for remembering that Joe had a lock kit. It took me a while to recover... It's hard being a Mom and trying really hard to be strong for your kid when you feel like a complete idiot for doing something like locking him in a car.

Humor

Zeke is now getting a pretty developed sense of humor! A couple nights ago, we had Jem & Heath over for dinner and Zeke entertained us all night! He thought Heath was hysterical and laughed at almost anything Heath would do. Then today he was pointing at things outside and giving them the wrong name. Like pointing at a bird but saying Grandma! Then I'd say "no silly!" and he would laugh and laugh! Then he'd do it again. Sometimes he gets in a crazy mood and crouches down and walks around the house like a monkey, then he shouts something and runs off to his room! silly kid. I love seeing what he does next.

That's all for today. At least it's all I can think of. Hopefully I'll blog better next month! We'll see!

Midwife appointment and other adventures

This morning Zeke and I met up with Jolene and Kaden and went for a walk/hike to Whatcom Falls Park. It was pretty fun! Zeke liked the waterfall and got to play on the slide and on the swings! He had a great time. Unfortunately on the way home, Jolene got a headache and Joe was called in to the rescue. I hope you feel better Jolene!

Zeke and I stopped at Haggen and Starbucks for a treat and then headed home. Once we passed Woburn St., Zeke decided that he wanted to walk, so he walked all the way home! That's over a mile of walking for the little guy! He did awesome! He was walking and running, jumping in puddles and asking his favorite question "whats that?" He heard frogs and birds and made friends with a cat and a couple dogs on the way home. He did great by staying close to me and never running out towards the street. I'm so proud of him! He's growing up way too fast.

In other news, my midwife appointment was today. I'm measuring a little bit big and my midwife said that she felt a walnut sized calcified fibrous tumor (tumor meaning it's a foreign growth in my body... nothing serious). She said that 40% of pregnant woman get them. Sometimes they're in the uterus and sometimes they're outside... Mine is outside and on the top of the uterus. She said that there is nothing to worry about, it just happens. The heartbeat is strong and he's kicking all the time! I'm a little anemic, but hopefully that will be remedied with some extra iron supplements. All is well!

We also found out this week that my insurance doesn't cover home births. Which was pretty hard for me to swallow at first, but we decided to go with the Birth Center instead of paying an arm and a leg to stick with the home birth. I'm starting to get excited about having it there... Mostly because it's pretty much exactly like giving birth at home... it's just someone else's home. I don't have to clean up after and if it's the middle of the night, we don't have to wake Zeke up, we can just have Grandma & Grandpa Allen come over and sleep on the couch while we're out. There are definitely positive points to doing it at the Birth Center rather than at home.