Life with two

A day in the life of a breastfeeding, cosleeping, homemaking mother of two.

She wakes to a head butt, her day has begun; hopes coffee is brewing, she's forgotten again.

Change diaper, change pull-up, start oatmeal for him; breastfeeding while cooking, she's at it again.

Change diaper, fill milk cup; "Here honey, your spoon."

Blows oatmeal, spills milk cup; "Hope nap time comes soon!"

Mascara is sticky, when stuck to his face, his look in the picture just can't be replaced.

Her makeup is flawless despite his attempt; the price, a stubbed toe, on the step stool he tipped.

"No Sweety, not yours," a fit then insues; have patience, breathe deeply, watch out for that shoe. 

Throws himself down, bonk goes his sweet head; she kisses his boo boo, "Let's play cars instead!"

The dishes will keep and the laundry can wait; she knows if they play he won't stay up too late. 

"Outside!" He requests, and he runs to the door, "Wait Baby, your shoes, over there on the floor."

The baby starts crying, think she's pooped again; change diaper, pop boob out, she's at it again. 

So outside they go, he runs off in a flash; dog trailing behind him, then she hears a splash. 

Dog bowl, he dumped over, all over his shoes; just breathe mom, he's happy, like messes are news...

The sand box, left open, his target for sure; her eyes roll, his aim's true, what's one more mess more?

She settles the baby, her lap, perfect bed; baby cries, she moves baby, her shoulder instead. 

Remembers her coffee, grabs his snacks as well; "Here Baby, your cracker. Not that one, it fell!"

His shoes are all muddy, thank God that is all; "Here Baby, come inside, be careful, don't fall!"

She changes his clothes, settles him down for bed; baby cries, he's awake now, changes diapers instead. 

His eyes ringed in redness, her temper flared up; "No Mommy, not tired!" "Here Sweety, your cup."

His tummy, all full now, she rocks him to sleep; baby cries, let's skedaddle, hope his sleep is deep!

Her break time draws near now, sips coffee, it's cold; "To your bed, dog!" at least someone does as they're told. 

Baby bouncer, a blessing, and her work day begins; reheat coffee, babe cries, pop a boob out again. 

The kids are asleep now, the silence is deafening; she puts some good tunes on, her stresses are lessening. 

Her mood quite improved and her courage restored, she sips at her coffee, sees a mess by the door. 

Washing dishes is soothing, methodic and slow; her thoughts start to wander, "Is there time for my show?"

Realizes she's starving, makes her lunch on the fly; a sandwich again then, third bite, baby cries. 

Sweet baby is lonely, she snuggles her close, takes a bite of her sandwich, crumb falls, baby's nose.

Nap time goes by quickly, and then he's awake; there is poop on his back, how much more can she take?

She gets him cleaned up, dressed & fed at the table; cleanes while he's confined there, and she is still able. 

Her day goes by quickly, chaotic and crazy; one kiss from that boy & it's all worth it baby!

The clock by the door says their daddy's home soon; cooks supper, smells yummy, and the boy licks the spoon. 

Everyone's eaten, he helps her clean up; then bath time, pile up now, "Can you turn that up?"

Boy's eyes are all droopy, he's fighting it hard; he'll snuggle one second, then hit mom with his cars.

Baby is fed & tucked under mom's arm, daddy wrangles the boy, makes it not look so hard. 

The kids are asleep now, the moment divine; those faces, the beauty, "Can't believe they are mine!"

His hand finds her shoulder, so warm, makes her heart swell; "I so love our family," he says, all is well. 

Lanie's Kitchen- Chicken Noodle

Why make Homemade Chicken noodle when you can buy it in a can?
As a kid, I lived off of Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup. When I got a little older, I realized how little sustenance was in that little can and eventually I also caught on to the fact that canned soup is Horrible for you! I've always been prone to migraine headaches, and according to some random article I read somewhere and my own trial and error experiment results, canned soup does tend to cause them, especially whenever you eat it as often as I did then. You can avoid all the processed junk, and even fill up your freezer with quart freezer baggies of healthy chicken noodle for easy, quick meals if you just put a little time aside to cook this lovely meal.

My Disclaimer for this and all future recipes I share is this: I frequently look up recipes to gain ideas and knowledge about cooking, but seldom follow them. I've found, what works best for me is to look at a few different recipes of something and then come up with my own spin. I mostly taught myself to cook, so I rarely do things the way "most people" would, so some of the "Instructables" may sound strange and since I remember being new to cooking and not knowing what anything meant, I also tend to over explain things. Another quark to my cooking is, I rarely measure things before cooking with them... Please bear with me... It's just how I roll dawg.

We started this adventure with some great tunes and air guitar (or butter knife guitar...), provided by my little rocker!

It's always a good idea to set a good tone before you start cooking. I think that's what gives the food that "Made With Love" taste... js

Ingredients:

1- 3lb bag Boneless Skinless Chicken   

1- Sweet yellow onion 

1- Bunch of celery 

1- Bag of Carrots 
1- 1lb bag of Wide Egg Noodles

Knorr Hispanic Granulated Bouillon 

TexJoy Steak Seasoning (optional)

Lawry's Garlic Salt (optional)

Instructables:

First off, Boil the Chicken in enough water to cover it. Sprinkle in enough Knorr bouillon to have a thin layer across the water. I also use the TexJoy at this point, and it doesn't take more than a good sprinkling. You'll know the chicken is done when you can cut into a large breast and the inside is white and the juice runs clear. (Officially you should check with a cooking thermometer, but I've never owned one, so I'm no help there)

While your chicken is cooking, scrub and rinse your veggies to prepare for the pot.

Whenever the chicken is finished cooking, drain it into a colander and leave to cool in the sink while you cook the veggies. DO NOT save the broth from this, unless that is the flavor you prefer. Although chicken noodle is my favorite meal in the world, I HATE the smell of boiled chicken and so I discard this broth and just make more with the Knorr bouillon while I'm cooking the veggies.

I like to Chop the Onion and Celery first so I can get those cooking, and they're soft by the time I add the carrots. Add the chopped onion and celery to the pot and add enough hot water to cover them, then sprinkle Knorr chicken bouillon so that there is a layer over the water and add a light sprinkle of the TexJoy Steak Seasoning and Lawry's Garlic Salt. I've included pictures of the chopping process because I'm one of those "texture" people and if my food isn't chopped certain sizes and cooked a certain way, the texture can make the whole meal seem "off." I know not everyone is as OCD as I can be, but here are some detailed pics anyway!

cut in half, sliced thin, and quartered

whole carrots with the skin, quartered lengthwise and diced

After the Onions are starting to turn clear around the edges, it's time to Add Carrots to the pot. At this point, the bouillon broth should be thickening some and it should all smell Amazing already! Always taste your food as you go, so you can make alterations as needed, but keep in mind with this meal that the juice Should taste too salty at this point in the process. This is because we still have to cook the carrots and noodles, which will soak up a lot of that flavor and the recipe is actually intended to be more like a condensed soup, so you are able to add water as necessary, to your individual bowl. I prefer a lot of flavor in mine, but some people water theirs down.

I use this recipe as a freezer meal, so the more condensed the soup is, the more portions I'm able to put in a quart sized freezer baggie, to defrost for easy family sized lunches later.

When the onion's edges start turning clear, it's time to add the carrots

So, you've added your carrots and patiently waited for those to soften... At this point, you should be able to easily slice through a bigger chunk of carrot with a knife. Now you can Add the Egg Noodles to the pot, and you may need to add some hot water to the pot, for the noodles to be covered enough as they soak up water. These you will boil until they are not quite done, because the pot is going to stay hot for a while and unless you like noodle mush it's best to kill the heat at this point.

Starting to look lovely and smell heavenly! 

While the noodles boil, Chop your (now cooled) Chicken. Trim the chicken well before chopping, so nobody has to gag on chunks of fat. For optimal texture and chewability, I also recommend you first cut the chicken across the grain (this means you look at the tiny lines that run across the chicken breast and cut so that you're making a plus sign, for those new to cooking), then cut into bites.


I can't stand to waste, so all the trimmings from the chicken went to our first child, Zeus.
I'm a Big fan of feeding the help... Don't let that intense look fool you, his tail was beating a hole in the floor and he was drooling all over himself!

You've done it! If you made it this far, I hope you have something that looks a little like this!

Serve with some Sweet Tea, Whole Grain Saltines and a chunk of Mild Cheddar Cheese and prepare to taste a little bit of Heaven!

Love at First Bite!

Please share any suggestions of ways to improve the food, or if you try this out, please comment below on how it turned out!