Getting It Together

I've literally haven't had the energy to do anything lately. A lot has gone on in the past month since my last post.

Grayson started in-home care on April 6. Mrs. Karina is the best! Grayson tries to test her with his attitude and resistance, but she stands her ground. He has gotten physical with her at times but it's nothing she can't handle. He's getting so good with the things she has him do though. He's a pro at putting any kind of puzzle together that's at his age range. Puzzles are his favorite. They keep him busy for a long time. We love Mrs. Karina! Grayson will be starting speech therapy soon. We did a STAT test to determine if he has autism and that came back as not at risk. We'll be doing a full evaluation soon as well. Grayson has a major curve in his development when it comes to his communication. He doesn't talk and when he does, it's gibberish. You can understand certain things he's saying but his words all run together where you'd have to be paying real good attention to understand him. So Mrs. Karina is teaching him and I ways to communicate where neither one of us is getting frustrated. She's also teaching him more sign language. She's all around just so wonderful!

We started Grayson on Melatonin on April 10 to get him to go to bed at a reasonable hour and it's going great so far. I literally tried everything to get him in a schedule since he was 9 months old and nothing was working. I was so against Melatonin because of the things I've heard about it. It just felt like I was about to drug my child although it's made from natural herbs. I went to his pediatrician to see what we needed to do about his sleeping habits and he suggested Melatonin and his pediatrician has never steered us wrong before. He hasn't had any problems with is so far. He's been going to bed at 9:30 every night and that time gets earlier and earlier as the weeks go by. This week he's been in bed by 8;30 and although he still gets up and comes to our bed in the middle of the night, we're ok with that because at least he's sleeping and not wanting to stay up. He sleeps 12 hours still but hey, 9:30 to 9:30 is way better than 1:00 to 1:00.

Grayson turned 2 on April 23rd. We went to the park that morning and ate breakfast there. We played for about an hour and he had so much fun! There were so many kids there, mainly little girls and boy did Grayson live that up lol. He kissed every single little girl there and they told him how much they loved his curly hair. He grinned from ear to ear. That boy's gonna give us trouble when he's older with swooning those girls. Ha! After the park, he was just full of himself and just wanted to act bad and grown haha! He wouldn't give kisses to anyone for 2 days and wanted to be all independent especially going up and down stairs lol. We had his birthday party on the 25th at our house and boy I didn't know we could fit that many people in our house haha! He had a blast!

I'll post pictures from the past month as soon and I can and I'll be posting more recipes. I literally haven't made any new recipes since my last post that's just how tired I've been. I just haven't had thr energy to do anything lately. It might be time to start taking my iron pills again. It's just been a very hectic month and it'll just keep getting more hectic but we've got this :)

Stuffed Bell Peppers & Caesar Salad (With a Twist)

I used to HATE stuffed bell peppers when I was little although I had never eaten them. I guess the mention of peppers just made me run as a child thinking they were hot and spicy. Boy, was I wrong and boy, did I miss out as a kid! Lol! Because I LOVE stuffed bell peppers now! And this Caesar Salad, oh my goodness, to die for! It was my first time making homemade Caesar dressing let alone a Caesar salad and I was pretty proud of myself and y'all know me, I always have to make a recipe totally different than someone else's so that's why it's called "with a twist" lol so here we go! I made this tonight and TC was pretty satisfied. Grayson doesn't like these kinds of things although he LOVED the rice mixture for the bell peppers. But he ate chicken nuggets and sweet potato fries lol

Stuffed Bell Peppers:

Ingredients:
- 1 box of Zatarain's jambalaya rice mix (again, I didn't follow the original recipe where it said to use regular white rice. I just love the Zatarain's rice since it gives the stuffed bell peppers more flavor)
- 1 can diced tomatoes (do NOT drain)
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/4 cup shredded Mexican-blend cheese (divided)
- Sour cream for topping (optional)

Directions:
- Follow the directions on the back of the box and cook the Zatarain's rice mix
- Brown your ground beef and drain
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Cut the tops of the bell peppers off and scoop out the seeds and membranes
- Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray
- Place bell peppers in baking dish
- Mix together ground beef, rice, diced tomatoes, onion, 1 cup of the cheese and Worcestershire sauce in a large bowl
- Spoon mixture into bell peppers
- Bake for 30 minutes
- Top with sour cream and remaining cheese

Caesar Dressing:

Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise (or 2 egg yolks)
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove (pressed)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions:
- Mix together all ingredients and voila! Lol I used a mixer to mix everything evenly :)


Caesar Salad:

Ingredients:
- Romaine lettuce (I bought the package stuff that already had the carrots and everything in it lol)
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup BBQ sauce
- 1 cucumber
- 1 handful grape tomatoes
- Croutons (DARN IT! I just remembered that I forgot these haha dangit!)
- Cheese (since we all know how much my husband LOVES cheese lol)

Directions:
- Grill chicken breasts (I borrowed my grandma's handy dandy George Foreman grill lol I need to invest in one of those!)
- After your chicken is done, cut into cubes (or just shred it into bite sized pieces)
- Place in a Tupperware container with a lid
- Pour BBQ sauce over chicken and shake the Tupperware container to evenly coat the chicken
- Peel and cut cucumbers
- Again, mix together all other ingredients plus the Caesar dressing and voila! Lol!

Y'all that salad was so good you're gonna wanna slap yo momma (please don't lol). The chicken probably would have been better if I marinated the chicken first, but I got my days confused which n return made me confuse my meal plan day so I was in a rush especially having to thaw out the chicken AND the ground beef for the stuffed bell peppers.

Hope y'all enjoy and let me know how y'all like it everything :)
Also, I didn't have a picture of my ingredients for everything since I was rushing trying to get dinner done lol

BBQ Chicken Casserole

This recipe called for Buffalo sauce and it's supposed to be called Buffalo Chicken Casserole, but we're not a fan of spicy and hot stuff and boy when I first tried the Buffalo Chicken Casserole, I had heart burn so bad and my mouth was on fire! It's sad when both TC and I had a glass of milk with our meal and took a gulp with every bite of that casserole lol so I changed it to BBQ sauce and it's SO good! TC requests that once a week lol :)

BBQ/Buffalo Chicken Casserole:

Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 package bacon bits (or packaged raw bacon. I just don't like all that grease so I use bacon bits lol)
- 1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican-blend cheese
- 1 bag baby gold potatoes (quartered)
- 1/2 cup sliced green onions (or just a regular or sweet onion)
- 1/2 cup French-fried onions (the stuff you put on green bean casserole for anyone who didn't know what those were lol)
- 1/2 bottle BBQ sauce (or a 1/2 cup Buffalo sauce)
- 1/2 cup ranch (I don't put that much ranch in mine. I put maybe 2 tablespoons and then let TC put more on his if he wants)
- Chives (I didn't measure lol)

Directions:
- Preheat over to 400 degrees
- Cut potatoes in quarters

- Microwave potatoes for about 2.5 minutes where they're almost done but not quite since you want them to cut the rest of the way in the oven where they don't become burnt and shriveled
- Cut raw chicken into small cubes
- Slice green onion or chopped regular/sweet onion
- Put potatoes, raw chicken, onion, BBQ sauce (or Buffalo sauce) and ranch dressing in a Tupperware container that has a lid
- Shake Tupperware to evenly coat everything with the BBQ sauce (or Buffalo sauce)
- Spread mixture in a baking dish
- Bake for 25-30 minutes
- If you're using packaged raw bacon, cook bacon
- The last 5 minutes of baking the chicken/potato mixture, top with bacon bits (or cooked bacon), French-fried onions, chives and cheese.
- Bake for those last 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the French-fried onions are golden

We really love this recipe! So good! Hope y'all enjoy and let me know how y'all like it :)

One Pan Chicken, Green Beans & Potatoes

Ok, so I've tried this before and decided that the chicken would be better to marinate over night and cook in a separate pan...so that kind of beats the purpose of a ONE pan recipe lol BUT I'll give y'all both recipes :)

One Pan Chicken, Green Beans & Potatoes:

Ingredients:
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or however many you need to feed your family)
- 2 cans green beans
- 1 package baby potatoes
- 1 stick butter
- 1 packet dry Italian dressing mix

Directions:
- Preheat over to 350 degrees
- Wash potatoes and cut in halves or quarters (I did quarters)
- Melt butter in microwave until fully melted (about 30-45 seconds)
- Drain green beans and place in a single layer on one side of a baking dish
- Place uncooked chicken in a single layer in the middle of your baking dish
- Place potatoes in a single layer on the other side of your baking dish
- Pour melted butter and sprinkle the packet of dry Italian dressing mix over your green beans, chicken and potatoes
- Bake for 1 hour

So simple and easy and SO delicious!

If you want to marinate your chicken first and cook it in a separate pan follow this recipe:

Marinated Chicken:

Ingredients:
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or again, however many you need to feed your family)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup oil
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup white distilled vinegar

Directions:
- Whish brown sugar, oil, soy sauce and vinegar in a medium bowl
- Place mixture and raw chicken in a ziplock bag
- Marinate over night
- Once marinated, do the same steps with the one pan recipe for the green beans and potatoes but place the chicken in a separate baking dish
- Bake every thing for 1 hour at 350 degrees

I really liked the marinated chicken better than just putting melted butter and the dry Italian dressing mix over the chicken. To me, the chicken with the melted butter and dry Italian dressing mix was just dry and bland, but the marinated chicken was SO good! I could definitely eat this recipe every day! Lol! Hope y'all enjoy and if you try it, please let me know how y'all liked it :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Also, Happy St. Patrick's Day! Haha I swear I'm losing my mind and kind of forgot it was St. Patrick's Day! Lol

Grayson and I have been working on some art work for St. Patrick's Day! I'll post pictures tomorrow. But here are a couple of pictures we took yesterday :)

 

 

Determined

I'm determined to blog every day or at least every other day. Between photoshoots, taking care of Grayson and our dog Bacon, cleaning house, running errands and just so many other things, I'm finding myself not having any time to sit down and just write/blog. I'm behind on so much. There just aren't enough hours in the day for me to do everything I want and need to do. I've recently picked up my camera every day where it's not just to do photoshoots for other people. Last night, Grayson and I sat down and read a bedtime book. I took some pictures of us doing that. I don't want to have my camera out all of the time where it takes away from enjoying time with Grayson, but it is nice to have those simple pictures that mean so much to me. As cheesy as it sounds, it really is the little things in life that mean the most, and I want to capture that. The past two afternoons after dinner, Grayson and I have ventured outside to take pictures and just enjoy this weather. I really love this time of year. Not only because we can enjoy being outside without sweating our behinds off or freezing our behinds off, but also because of the fact that it's daylight savings time and it gets darker later instead of it being dark while we're eating dinner and we eat a pretty early dinner (5:30-6:00). So it's been nice to just go on an adventure and take nonposed pictures.

I'm really excited to share my recipes I've done the past week. So be prepared for an overload of those lol. As of right now, Grayson and I are taking a break from his color boxes and stuff. I'm trying to search for activities we can do outside instead of being cooped up indoors. I so wish we were a little closer to a beach. I don't like swimming in the ocean and I bet that water is still cold, but I bet that breeze feels amazing! I can't wait to go this summer! Last year was a blast but now that Grayson is a little older and he can walk now, it's going to be even more fun!

Keeping it short tonight since I'm about to post recipes and I have to get back to editing pictures before Grayson is done eating his snack. But here are a couple of pictures I've taken of Grayson the past couple of days. I love my sweet boy so much! And he makes the perfect guinea pig! Haha ;D

 

And here's our dog, Bacon :)

BabyNet

We had Grayson's BabyNet appointment yesterday and it went great besides the tantrum Grayson threw but even then I was glad he did so. We got answers and help and Josh (the guy who evaluated Grayson) was wonderful! Grayson has gone from maybe having a very mild case of autism to a medium case along with a Sensory Processing Disorder meaning his numbers have gone up in his evaluations and he's gotten worse. We were trying to explain to Josh how Grayson throws a tantrum for 30 minutes to an hour straight. Well Josh couldn't really HEAR what we were talking about...until he witnessed it first hand. Grayson wanted to shake Josh's file cabinet. Well of course that's a no-no and I had to sit in front of it. Grayson threw a 30 minute tantrum. We tried EVERYTHING to calm him down. We gave him toys, we talked to him sweetly, we tried to do something funny, we tried everything and Grayson wasn't having it. I even tried to give him candy andddd nothing! He was throwing himself back, hitting me and TC, screaming, crying, the whole shebang! All he wanted to do was shake the file cabinet. This will be the first time I EVER say this, but I'm glad he threw that tantrum so Josh could witness the severity of them that he does quite often. Josh said that wasn't normal. Usually when a toddler throws a tantrum, you can distract them enough to where they calm down and forget about the tantrum and give them things where they completely forget about the object they wanted that started a tantrum in the first place OR when you ignore them, they eventually stop where a tantrum doesn't last more than 10-15 minutes....not Grayson. He will literally throw a tantrum from 30 minutes to an hour with no chance of calming him down. He was tired of being in that cramped room and he quickly got tired of the many toys Josh had. I'm glad that we were done with the evaluation when Grayson pitched a fit. It was embarrassing, it was frustrating, everyone in that building heard him including my aunt who works there. But I'm glad he did it. I'm glad he showed them his true colors. Now he doesn't act like that all of the time. He's a fairly sweet child who listens and is a good boy...the majority of the time. He just has his moments. Grayson doesn't do very well with men either only because he's always been around women more than men.

Josh gave us a packet of facilities that can come to our house and help whenever Grayson gets diagnosed. Josh will be calling us Monday to set everything up for an autism screening and more testing. It's going to be a run around process and I hate it but as long as Grayson gets the help he needs and fast, I don't care how many people we have to see. I am going to see if Grayson's original developmental pediatrician can do the screening like she said she could instead of getting him a new developmental pediatrician and then another doctor involved so we're eliminating as many people that Grayson comes in contact with so he doesn't get confused.

This doesn't change my child. He's still the same sweet, loving, fun-filled child he was before. This doesn't upset me in the slightest. I'm worried, yes but not because I'm worried about how we are parents are going to handle it. I'm worried about the process. I'm worried about getting him the help fast. This isn't the end of the world. It's just going to involve some help. As much as I'm beating myself over the fact we should have changed things when he was younger when it came to teaching him things instead of being on our computers and phones as much....I know I'm a good mommy. I know this can be "fixed" and controlled where he probably won't have any problems once he's in school because we're catching it early where we can reverse it. And if it doesn't reverse itself, so be it. We'll handle that. This isn't a matter of being upset. This isn't a matter of beating ourselves up over this. Only Grayson matters and this isn't anything to be upset over.

I've tried so hard to teach him shapes, colors, numbers, letters....it's just harder for him than it was for me to learn. And that's what these facilities will help us with. They'll give us tools to teach him in a different way that we don't even know yet. Preschool will always be a life saver to him because they also teach differently. Josh and Dr. DiBattisto say that this evaulation and even a diagnosis of autism will have nothing to do with him and Preschool. He'll still be able to go just as if he was a "normal" child. So I'm relieved about that. This whole thing is a big deal but it's not at the same time. It's just going to take more time and patience and it's not the end of the world.

This week has been very stressful. Not because of Grayson's appointment although we were anxious about it. Certain things are happening and it's just been very stressful. The other night, I put Grayson in our bed and this has been a nightly routine for a few days now. I love our time together. A lot of people tell me that he needs to sleep in his own bed and in his own room because if I don't do it now, he'll forever be in our bed. Because of course he'll be sleeping in our bed as a teenager lol NO! Anyway, Grayson knew I was stressed. He just cuddled me. We kept whispering back and forth so we wouldn't wake TC. When Grayson thought he had woken TC up, he rolled over towards TC to check and then patted TC like he was telling him, "there, there!" Lol! He then grabbed my arm, whispered me a song, rubbed up and down my arm, and just stared at me until I fell asleep. He was singing me to sleep and as he's seen from daddy, he knows that rubbing my arm or my back or playing with my hair gets to go to sleep. He knew I needed that. As much as I felt guilty for that because I don't want him to sense that I'm stressed and try to fix me because that's not his job....I was proud of him at the same time. He shows more compassion than an adult could ever dream of. And a lot of that is innocence because he doesn't understand how much compassion is taken away from people when they've been taken advantage of or have had wrongdoing against them. He hasn't experienced that. I love his innocence. He loves to run around outside barefooted. And boy does he run with no fear that he may step on something that could hurt his foot. Me on the other hand? I walk outside barefoot like I would if I was walking on fire! Lol! I wish he could keep that innocence forever. I wish he could stay little forever. I know I can't, but I wish I could protect him from the hatred of this world. I know I can't do that but at least I can teach him to handle negative things in a positive way. I won't be one of those smothering mothers although I wish I could lol.

It's been a crazy week and we haven't done any color stuff and I haven't cooked any recipes. It's honestly been a spaghetti, tacos, hamburgers, frozen corndogs and frozen pizza kind of week! Haha! It's honestly been like that for the past 2 weeks since we were sick. But this coming week, it's on like Donkey Kong! Lol and I can't wait! :)