Cookin up a storm

After everything that happened last week/last month, my mom decided to come help me for a little while on Wednesday. She was going to get up and leave for work the next day when they called her and told he she didn't need to come in, so we spent the whole day cleaning and cooking. We baked mint cookies for Danny, banana bread because my bananas were going bad, homemade chicken noodle soup, and then I made balsamic-glazed pork cutlets for dinner.

We also got the carpet pulled out of the basement. I tried to get some of the snow/ice/water out of the walkways and away from windows, but when those are the low points on the property it doesn't take long for them to fill back up. I'm just hoping we can get through the rest of the winter with no more water in the basement and then we'll get some preventative work done this summer.

Danny has been working non-stop this week. He gets up and goes to work a couple hours early, works all day, comes home, eats dinner, and goes out to his shop for at least 5 more hours to work some more. He has been so tired this week and I just wish there were more I could do for him. I have been making sure he has dinner ready when he gets home, so that's a little bit of a help.

Some of the new recipes I tried last month are:

Farmhouse Chicken Chowder

 Creamy Pasta with Lemon-Pepper Chicken

 

Sweet Potato Soup with Bacon and Chives

 

Two-Bean Chili

 

Balsamic-Glazed Pork Cutlets

 

and Cheddar-Crusted Chicken with Garlicky Spinach

 

I have been counting calories again (I know "they" say not to lose weight while you're nursing, but I found a calculator specifically for nursing mothers and I figured losing while I'm nursing is a whole lot better than gaining 13 more lbs.) I have lost 8 lbs. so far and it's going really well. I have my information all set up on a spreadsheet this time instead of in my notebook, so it's a lot easier to be flexible, but stay within my calories for the day. I make up a weekly meal plan and then try to stick to it as much as possible. I feel like a total nerd sometimes, but it works for me. I should be at my goal weight by Annistyn's birthday.

Kleyn took three tests with his reading this week. He is doing great and I think he's getting a little bit faster. He just doesn't like to do it. His big tooth is coming in and he's convinced that it's causing his other one to be loose. I can't really tell, but I know it'll happen sooner than later. His new nick-name for Annistyn is Sunny D.

Kaleb loves to make Annistyn laugh. He's always doing something that makes her giggle and he's the only sibling that can get a really big laugh out of her. Kleyn and Dannika make her smile and give little laughs, but she is so entertained with Kaleb.

Dannika is getting to the point where she wants me to cut her hair, but Danny still says no. I think I'll just get it trimmed so it will be more even. If I were better at doing her hair every morning and getting it out of her face I don't think she would mind it as much. I'm terrible at doing her hair. I'm not that creative.

Annistyn likes to growl a lot. It's usually when she can't get something that she wants to when she's trying to get down from a sitting position. She really wants to crawl, but she has figured out how to angle her rolling so that she can get to where she wants. When she's sitting on the floor and wants to be picked up, she opens and closes her hands and then nods her head.

We are doing a lot better this week and we are looking forward to this month. I totally dropped the ball on a Super Bowl party. I forgot that it was this Sunday and I made dinner plans with some friends and told another friend that I would watch her kids for the weekend. I hope "the guys" will forgive me.