our little life

Stuffed pepper dinner!

2011-06-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

heres my recipe for homemade stuffed peppers!

what you need:
* about 3cups Spanish brown rice
* 2 orange bell peppers (fresh)
* 2 yellow bell peppers (fresh)
* 1 red bell pepper (fresh)
* 1 jalapeño (fresh)
* 3 cups ground beef or grilled chicken (if using chicken skinless breasts cut into strips and then cubed works best)
* 19oz can chili
* 19oz can nacho cheese (usually found by the Mexican foods like canned jalapeño, hommes etc)
* chips

* tomato sauce

* dried basil

* pepper

* cheddar cheese

first start your rice since it will take longer then the meat. while the rice is cooking chop and dice 1/4th of a red pepper and toss it into the rice, the rice will absorb alot of flavor from the pepper.

next cook your meat, if your using beef brown it and drain it, put it on the back burner on the lowest heat so it dosent burn but stays warm.

while the rice is finishing up start the chili cheese, add the nacho cheese and chili together in a sauce pan and stir together add 1/2 jalapeño chopped and diced and 1/4 red pepper, once its blended set on the back burner to keep warm.

take two yellow and two orange peppers cut the top of and take out the middle to create a bowl, wrap in foil (not to tight) and put in the oven at 350 for about 8mins (this helps soften and give it a more smoked flavor because yes its a edible bowl!)

while the peppers are in the oven in a medium bowl add the meat, rice, 1 cup tomato sauce, a pinch of basil and a dash of pepper together and blend together.

take the peppers out of the oven spoon in the rice and meat into the orange pepper (orange peppers have a slightly sweet flavor to off set the savory taste of the meat).

top with cheddar cheese (or any cheese you like)

spoon in chili cheese to the yellow pepper (even tho its more of a dipping bowl you can eat it to as it is or use chips! the yellow pepper has a tangy sweet taste which will make the fresh jalapeño pop!

plate and your ready to dine!

My trick to toddler oral care!

2011-06-06T07:16:00.000-07:00

my 2yo isent the greatest brushes and often needs some encuragement but i found songs typically motivate her soooo heres the little song i came up with! its simple and easy to remember!
this is to the tune of "row row row your boat"

"Brush brush brush your teeth
brush them till there clean
brush brush brush brush brush brush brush brush
brush them till there clean"

My little lady

2011-06-06T06:23:00.000-07:00

Every day my little girl shows me something new she can do, And she shows me the inocence of childhood, and purity of imagination. Its hard to imagine its been almost three whole years!

Today we had a pic-nic out side for breakfast, somthing the kids always enjoy. and she got down to go run around some, but comes back saying "mommy oh no bug owchie!!!"So I go over and sure enough it was a little beatle that was hurt, so without being promted she runs and gets leaves and mkes a nest of sort and give him a peice of her doughnut and says "I love you bug, no die" and starts to cry!! How does she understand the concept of deth? No clue lol

she loves animals, and bugs and anything that breathes aside from flys.
she loves hugs and kisses and snuggling.
she loves playing outside and pretending inside.
she loves reading her books and being red to.
she loves her trains, and baby dolls.
she loves to sing and be sung to.
she loves her brother even tho she can be mean.
she loves her family even tho their hardly seen.
she loves the moon and the stars at night.
she loves the birds that fly by at dawn.
she loves loveing other and being loved and thats just what she is, truly loved and adored even by thos who have never met her.
she says please and thank you, your welcome and excuse me.
she says "i love you" and "i love you too" in the sweetest voice iv ever heard.
and when shes feeling grumpy or sad a cuddle will always cheer her up.

they say when you have more kids you devied your heart but really you just gain more, a heart for my husband and a heart for my son and heart just for luna and all her love <3

The "eww" factor of cloth

2011-06-05T07:25:00.001-07:00

its one anyone who cloth diapers hears. "i cant cloth diaper its so gross" "i dont want to wash poop and pee" "what if it touches me ew!"

and? so i supose these ew factor people also throw away any clothes that happen to get poop, pee or thrown up on? i mean ew right? i cant imagine the thoused people spend on th esposies alone but then replaceing everything from their cloths, the babys clothes, carseats ect. And how strange must there carpet look with all the little squares cut out! i mean eww who would want to clean poop off the carpet!

alot say only poor people cloth diaper..and i this point i will say i must be dirt poor becasue i cant afford to replace my carpet and wordrob every month lol

my dd was in spoises for half th etime she was in cloth, and we had major blow outs! im talking pass the shoulders kind of thing, now a few things did get thrown away, but because i had to cut them off her or they were white lol but shes in undies now and still has accedents poop and pee..do i throw them away? hell no! there are 8 year olds that still have accedents do you trow awy their clothes? no

so please explain the "ew" factor to me ;)

A new light on diapers

2011-05-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

so i decided to make some more diapers today after discovering a few had died...and i mean completely kaput lol shot elastic, snaps riping right out! sad sad stuff.

well i decided to do a snap in liner BUT its a pocket! sooooo if i use it for at home day time i put something less absorbent if its overnight or going out i can put something more absorbent!

so what do you think?

My review on Tantrums cloth diapers!

2011-05-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

The lovely owner miss lexi of tantrums cloth diapers ran a contest on her Facebook fan page(http://www.facebook.com/TantrumsCloth) and guess what?! I won! woot woot.

Ok ill start with the basics!

First and foremost this woman is incredibly nice, has awesome communication and super fast about shipping!

this is a OS (one size but dosent have any snap down sooo im thinking more of a large/medium)

great quality stiching

lovin the enclosed elastic, iv had more then my share of dipes with loose elastic and they always leaked

plenty of snas

one downside is unhidden snap backs

double wing snaps which i love! but i would want at least one more row and maybe even a snap over option, we had

"wing drop" after a few spins and jumps lol
i love the double bamboo liners they are so absorbent even after just a few prep washes! plus i love the minky backing, its alot easier on sensitive buns (like my two lol)

ok now are you ready for some action!
first on my 24lbs 18 month old son!

and now on my 30lbs 33 month old! (both kiddos are on the smallest setting!)

Over all reveiw:
PROS:

Quality stitching and serging
absorbent
great communications
great weight maximum

CONS:

wing drop
unhidden snaps on belly
lack of wing snaps

My rating 4 out of 5

Why?

i think there are some things that could be improved but see a ton of potential for a even more awesome diaper!

Do i recommend it?

yes! i defiantly would, over all i think its a great dipe and works great now, i can only imagine how it will be a year or so from now.

Healthy living starts early!

2011-05-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

How do you get active with your kids? Is it important to eat healthy and exercise?

Growing up we always took public transportation so there was a lot of walking, as i got older i would bike or skate anywhere within a one hour riding distance. I think that probably helped me maintain a healthy wait and energy level.
my kids have never been on a bus or train (tho we will be taking a train for my daughters birthday since she loves her choo choo ;) ) so in essence they dont HAVE to do much physical activity. So iv put together a great "work out" schedule for me and the kids! we walked around our neighborhood today and then went to the park to relax with some cold water! tomorrow we will play whatever the kids come up with with 3 balls!
heres our little adventure this morning!
luna decided to ride!

Kazu was trying out the new insoles i put in shoes

cooling off with some nice water!

the top is from last year!

kazu says EXERCISE

I asked some moms and heres their response!

"Buy a good stroller and get in the habit of taking evening walks. Good exercise PLUS it calms the baby."

"Make as much of your food from scratch as possible. Because my mom did it, I do it, and that means less sodium, lower calories, and more nutrients in your meals. Plus, food tastes better! You know what's in your food! You can also teach your children about proper portions sizes and how to make healthy foods for themselves and making healthy choices through time together in the kitchen. It's never too early- my son is 2 and he "helps" me with dinner many nights, as well as with other meals."

boys and toys

2011-05-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

Iv never pushed any gender specific toy on either of my two kiddos. I just follow their cues, and while my son does enjoy playing daddy

he also loves his cars!

and same goes with my daughter :)
she can be very nurturing

but shes also a fan of soccer!
so my question to you as parents or parents to be is. what is your veiw on toys that are typically gender specific?

bubbles, dogs, and kisses galore!

2011-05-15T13:51:00.000-07:00

saturday my sister and her girlfriend came over to visit! we hadent seen them in what felt like FOREVER! but it was a absolute BLAST!

bubbles are the best!

some puppy love!

snack time! he chowed down on those cheetoes!

and whats better then side walk chalk!

and at the end of the day there sure to let us know ;)

The "REAL" diaper debate

2011-05-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

you dont really realize just how much there is to choosing the diapers to put on your baby, theres a dozen different disposable brands, hundreds of WAHM brands and commercial cloth brands.

What it really boils down to tho is what do you want to put on your sensitive little bundle of joy?

Most think that disposables are "real" diapers, their main stream and used by allot, cloth is more of one of those things only crazy hippies must use!

but honestly you dont wear paper panties? we dont consider (ok most dont consider) paper or plastic plates and cups formal dinner wear? so why on this earth would you consider paperery plasticly diapers to be "real" over cloth!

i for one can defiantly say if i EVER have to wear diapers, i would much rather wear REAL cloth diapers! sorry guys no literally crunchy grandma here lol

heck there are even mama cloth and crochet tampons!

ill make you a deal, YOU walk around with a disposable diaper on (oh and you cant change it till youve pee'd as much as it will hold like iv seen soooooo many spoise lovers do), paper cloths, shoes, ect. for a whole 24hrs and ill stop yakking about how grand cloth is! deal? good! now go on strut your crunchy spoise stuff!

soooo whats real? and whats not?

inside a spoise...EWWW much?

inside cloth...uh duh more comfy cloth!

one of the leading brands in spoises pampers

and a much cuter and comfier cloth!

tree hugging and bloody lips

2011-05-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

I'm not the most crunchy of moms but i do raise little tree hugger's! My two love being outside! and what kid dosent!?

most parents shout "stop playing in the dirt!" "put that bug down!" ect

but me? no by all means embrace your world!

i hate that i never see kids playing out side anymore :/ its all about video game this and video game that. or TV or some BS. now i played games when i was a kid but only 30mins a day hardly ever watched TV. my days were comprised of skating rinks, or creeks or parks.

i remember when 15 was to young to have a fancy "cellular phone" lol and now 7 year olds have them? i sound pretty old right? well would you believe im only 21?

and on an off note this is what happens when a toddler gets too excited about going outside :P

A full run down of all going on!

2011-05-13T18:17:00.000-07:00

Oky dokey (does anyone still say that? lol) i know i have allot of friends and family always wanting updates on the twinkies ( seriously these two might as well be twins!) so here it is everyone!

Ill start with Luna!

she has a speech eval with ECI (early childhood intervention) on June 2nd. reason? well she has 99 words in her vocab (yes i keep a list) BUT shes got a good track recored of gaining a bunch of words then suddenly regressing! so were hoping with a constant stamp and reinforcement (other then us) she will keep the words. next up is a MRI at children's medical center on the 22nd. back in march we saw a neurologist in our search for some answers, and after going through her entire history the one thing she could say was "autism" but she wants to rule out all else, before actually documenting and putting it in black ink so to speak. we've ruled out genetic disorders (MD muscular dystrophy) and are now moving on to brain issues. one red flag is the strange bone structure of her skull. it could be nothing but it could be something.

now on to kazuya!

kazu has a speech, physical and occupational eval same day as Luna. with his feeding issues his verbal skills are lacking and they just want to make sure it dosent end up being hinders. occupational and physical will help with his podiatrist (once we find one) to check the bone structure and growth on his legs, ankles and feet.

now the grand part of this is we dont have a reliable pediatrician. we have however put on the notice to change insurance groups and pediatricians (back to our old one who was the best we have seen) so lots going on just all depending on one thing or another :P

iv been told im pushing the autism diagnosis and no im not BUT if shes anywhere on the spectrum it would explain aton and give some peace of mind and a new game plan as far as schooling and behavioral goes.

so there ya go lol im sure iv missed something though :)

Parenthood without a plan?

2011-05-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

I remember seeing the plan parenthood commercials and gerber commercials on tv as a young teen that said "having a baby changes everything".

i always shook my head and laughed at it, how could something so little change everything so much? right?

as i got older i became pregnant and saw them again and still laughed to myself.

but after she was born and month by month flew by i started to notice it really does start changing. becoming a parent changes the way you look at the world, the way you react, and the you have a new feeling of over powering love. slowly they start needing new things your not use to buying, shoes, for walking, dress and summer, new foods for their fast growing body (my toddler is a bottomless pit!). before shopping was a random trip and we picked up whatever lol now its well planed out down to exactly what i cook for each meal each day! my life revolves around play dates, doctor appointments and outings. birthdays hold a much greater meaning.

with so many teen's getting pregnant and opting to keep their child we have alot of examples of how bad things can be when their is no plan. take alot of the girls from 16 & pregnant! their prime example! i dident have anyone to teach me th eropes, i had to figure it out on my own, and were your typical family now, just a good 10yrs younger then most lol

why in this day and age with all the advancements in technology and governing, have we lost touch with those giving birth to our future! in a age of "no child left behind" alot of our youth have certainly been pushed under the rug, simply because of a few poor choices!

how to rock a gerber prefold!

2011-05-10T22:18:00.000-07:00

Here is my step by step guide to using a gerber prefold!
Im always hearing how horrible they are all, and sure there are better diapers out there BUT if your on a budget or need some cheap back up diapers they are a great option!

step 1: gather what you need
* snappi or pins
* 2 gerber prefolds
* cover
* and a baby!

step 2: unfold one prefold lay in second prefold (tri folded and folded in half)

step 3: fold over front

step 4: place baby on prefold make sure the middle stays over-lapped

step 5: pull out corner from the first side

step 6: pull over back corner

step 7: put first side of snappi on

step 8: streach and repeat to other side

step 8: strech snappi down to create a "Y" shape

step 9: SHOW IT OFF!

toddlers are a heart attack waiting to happen -_-

2011-05-10T19:12:00.000-07:00

I think nay mom to a toddler has had at least one experienced where they felt they were going to have a heart attack lol
my daughter just gave me one...
imagine a potty training two year old roaming naked of course. sits on her chair watching Olivia the pig. you glance over to make sure everything is ok..its never a good thing when toddlers are quite!
and what do you see? a roundish brownish shiny wet ball of something. then your mind clicks and you fall to the floor to pry what you think is a ball of poo from her hands only to finds its a ball of cookie dough she stole from the fridge...
ahhh the joys of toddlers. anyone else have such lovely experiences?

kazuya's birth!

2011-05-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

My ob decided to induce me at just over 38 weeks because he had stopped growing. 7 hours after induction i was holding my cute little guy! my ob was surprised and said "that was the quickest delivery and cleanest iv ever had" it only took one push lol
he was 7lbs7oz and 20" even!

he breastfed great! and slept a ton! we had to secedual a appt with his pedi becasue of a heart murmer. but after a trip to the cardiologist they said it will close on its on but we will keep an eye on it.
but at just 8 days old he came down with bacterial meninigitas.
he started sleeping more, wasent as responsive, and seemd in a daze. i went to change his diaper and his whole body felt like it was on fire.
mind you hubs keeps it at 67degrees. i took his temp and under the arm it was over 104! i called the pedi, iv never delt with a high feever in a newborn and shes had always been helpful. she told us to bring him in asap, we lived only 2 mins away thank god. as soon as we pulled up she had a nurse waiting outside and helped us up to teh third floor, she took his temp and it was almost 105 she yelled at her nurse to give us instruction and ran faster then iv ever seen to call 911. he was rushed by ambulance to the nearest hospital and air lifted to childrens legacy hospital, nearly an hour from our home. they had a ER team waiting and took him back as soon as we arived. while doing stats he became unresponsive and the hooked him up to an IV and monitors and admitted him. the ER doctor came in to asess him and off the top said meninigitas, but that he wasent sure which form. so they started him on two antibiotics just in case, and started running blood tests, urinallisys, and did a spinal tap.....it was the most horible thing iv ever had to deal with...ever.

>

after testing the spinal came back pos for meningitas but they had to do another to find out which one exactly. i had to go home to our then 14mo dd and it was so hard to leave him. when i got home all i could do was think about him. we set up a little candle light prayer in our booksehlf

and i started pumping, every 20mins, they told every two hours would be fine but i just felt i had to pump, so he would have more. so i did and filled a bag to take to him. when i got there he was under qurenteen so i couldent see him or nurse him, but they were all excited about all the milk i brought and he had his own freezer and i filled it up within a few days lol. he had some ups and downs, and was on a vent for a few days.

he was tiny for a 1 month old, he had lost alot of weight and was down to 5lbs 6oz. but getting stronger!

finally getting ready to leave he was looking much better!! the attending ER doctor that first saw him came by to say bye and called in his team (everyone who was involved with my little guy) and he said how he has seen older toddlers and older babies with the same meninigitas DIE and the only diffrence was that my son was breastfed. he was the talk of the ward and everyone knew him. a nurse made him a blanket. we still have it too :)

TO BE CONTINUED!

lunas arrival! before and after!

2011-05-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

I first found out i was pregnant when i was 17 and just a few days after Christmas. it was quite the shock but my amazing now husband stuck with me. he got a job and we did the best we could. when we went for our first ob visit i was 7wks and my edd was 8/25/08. well never the less she was born 4:10pm on 8/25/08! weighing in a 6lbs 11oz and 19.3" she was beautiful and labor was easier then i thought. i got to 7cm and decided on an epi, just 30 mins later and she was born! kicking and screaming lol
she was absolutely beautiful!

the first few days were amazing, even with the major lack of sleep. she was very alert and attentive.

at around 2 months old though she was switched to a special formula becasue she was allergic to both soy AND milk based formula! but was a much happier baby!

she sat up at 5mo
crawling at 7 months

>
in the hospital with a UTI :(

walking at just over 8 months
before her MRI at 9mo

her first birthday

>
even at just 13 months old she was a crazy climber! (this started as soon as she started walking tho!)

luna got her first little brother at 14 months old!

after a long day of helping mommy and daddy move into the new house (15mo)

18 months old!

a few hours after getting her tubes! (23months)

on her second birthdya

and most recently!

baby commercials vs. real life

2011-05-10T17:29:00.000-07:00

as a mom of two, im no stranger to how the baby days are.
has anyone else every notice the baby commercials? you know the ones. the moms looks like shes never missed a nights sleep, let alone just gave birth. the house is spotless, and everyone is cheerful, and simply bliss... my oldest is almost 3 and iv yet to look that good and have that "perfect bliss".
now sure its encouraging to moms to be, but its also misleading to the gullible lol
in real life even with help you will be tired, with a nice muffin top. a big tip i give all my mom to be's is "let the house go for a while" "dont expect more the 4hrs sleep if that" you see where this is going.
in essence, be real, while there are those blissful moments dont expect them to happen as such.
and for the record my kids are 2 and 1 and iv yet to see my spotless house!

why not cloth diaper!!

2011-05-10T17:24:00.001-07:00

Seriuosly why not?
I hear allot of people say "its too expensive to get started", or "ewww cloth is gross", or "its not convenient".
....but it IS easy to get start and dosent cost an arm and a leg, its NOT gross, and the extra time is sooo worth it!
here lets tackle things one by one!
"its too expensive" ---People often assume you have to just dive right in and toss all your spoises out the window, oh and then all the assesories! Im happy to say YOU DONT HAVE TO! they do sell alot of little things and say "oh yu must have this" but really you dont! all you need is some free and clear lundry soap, and most prefer to own a washer and dryer ;) and you dont have to go out and buy 20+ dipes that day. stick with spoises and just buy a few at a time when you can afford it and slowly cut back on buying spoises, once you have enough for 2 days you can stop buying spoises and every time you would normally buy spoises buy another dipe till you have a good enough stash!
"cloth is gross" -- ok changing any diaper is gross! but what do you do when you get pee'd on, or pp'd on or thrown up on?? do you trow out your shirt? nooooo you wash it! same for cloth! you can even wear dish washing gloves!
"its not convenient" -- true..it does take a little more time, but its so worth it! you wont spend even a fourth of what you would spend on spoises! spoises take at least 450 years to decompose!!! you can buy a wetbag for outings and just toss dirty dipes in it! cloth has NO chemicals!
"you have to change them more often" -- yes and for good reason! with spoises they have chemicals that "absorb" wetness..but its still in contact with their skin, hence why sooooo many babies get rashes! (yes some are just simply allergic to the chemicals). while cloth depending on dipe is very absorbent they still have their limit but weather useing spoises or cloth a baby should be changed at first sign of pee or poo. you wouldent like to sit in your on waste..would you??????????????????????? dident think so!

if anyone has any questions feel free to message me and ill add your question or anything you'd like to have in the post :)

get in on the great giveaways and reveiws!

2011-01-12T20:12:00.000-08:00

follow this link and fill out the form awesome place awesome products!!
http://www.fabulousfamilyreviews.com/p/giveaways.html

so its been a while :)

2011-01-01T17:09:00.000-08:00

But here i am, with a bit of peace and quiet. the kiddos had a play date today and are now asleep :D
man time has flown by, the past 4 years have gone so quick and so many things have changed. just 4 years ago i was a average geeky teen, playing card games and skateing. now im a mom of two, a wife, and out of my moms house...

but lets see what about just from 2010 to now, 2011...
this time last year we had just moved to our new house, i was in surgery, had a 6 week old son and 16 month old daughter waiting at home. i was still trying to figure things out, how to balance, kid time, adult time and me time. so many things have changed not visably but in me. im a bit more confedent iv learnd a ton, and givin my all to be who i am. iv battled the loss of certin people tho they are still alive, iv welcomed new friends and tried to get along as best i can with the "family" i know have...though even after all the years i dont feel like im family...im always the odd one out...

but a few from our play date today :D

the crew! luna 28 months, kazuya 13.5 months, and sage 10.5 months!

Cookies, and all the jazz

2010-12-25T16:01:00.000-08:00

mmmmmm who dosent like fresh baked cookies! finally they came out good!

And just to be a little show off my new sewing machine! Sadly my first project will be repairing diapers :P

Oh the fun we all had!

2010-12-25T11:01:00.000-08:00

The kids had a blast and loved every bit!

luna getting ready to go

so funny to see my 13 month old next to his 3 month old cousin!

and the opening of presents!

and my master present!! a must watch!!

All i want for xmas..

2010-12-24T23:11:00.000-08:00

So the day was yucky, and rainy and just plain ugly, the kids were restless, and i couldn't even make my goodies. we dident get snow, nor have a ton of presents to give out, alot of things dident happen.
But as i sat watching my little ones slowly drift to dream land i realized in that moment of silence..i got everything i wanted. i got to see their faces light up, the excitement the pure joy! Next year will be bigger, but as long as i have my beautiful children and wonderful husband, it could never get any better <3

twas the day before christmas

2010-12-24T12:31:00.000-08:00

and all through my house not a creature was stirring..except for the mouse!
the stockings are hung, but the counters are bare. for theres no baking today with no eggs to be spared (thanks allot you know who you are). so here i sit in my chair waiting for the day to go by.
ba-hum-bug is a bit much im sure but when your all alone with two sleeping children and nothing to be done..well ba-hum and bug!
its rainy and cold, and just dressing as could be.