Crock-Pot Chicken

Well here we go. As mentioned in a previous post, I am going to start sharing some of my favorite recipes on the blog. They will most likely be tossed in sporadically with my other posts but I promise to try and organize them somehow. As for this first recipe, I came up with it last week, kind of spur of the moment. Blake and I have been grilling chicken like crazy during this summer season and I was so sick of it! I had some chicken tenders on hand so I started raiding the pantry. This is a very simple recipe but it is so delicious. I was pleasantly surprised at how tender and moist it turned out. Blake usually turns his nose up to Crock-Pot dishes because a lot of the meats come out dry. However, he loved this one and I will definitely be making it often. I've shared this one already with a few friends via Facebook so I thought I would kick-start my recipe blogs with it. Enjoy!

Crock-Pot Chicken

You will need:
1 package (about one pound) chicken tenders, pre-trimmed
1 can Cream of Mushroom Condensed soup
1 can Chicken Broth

Place tenders in the bottom of your Crock-Pot. Season with salt and pepper if desired. Add the Cream of Mushroom soup and spread over the tenders. Add enough chicken broth to cover the chicken. You will probably only use half of the can of broth. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours.

Puny

That's the best word to describe Preston this weekend. My poor little guy is experiencing his first illness and it has not been fun. It started on Friday afternoon. Now we all know that my child does not like to sleep during the day and usually refuses all naps unless he happens to fall asleep in the car or while nursing. Being the determined mother that I am, I still place Preston in his crib throughout the day in hopes he will give in and fall asleep. This was the case on Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. He fussed for a few minutes and then silence. Yay! I'm hoping we might get a good 30 minutes to an hour. Well...4:30 rolls around and he's still sleeping. Hmm...a few minutes later he awakens and is "talking" just a bit. A few minutes later, silence. He is back asleep. We have friends arriving at 6:00 p.m. to have dinner with us and he is still asleep when they get to our house. Alright, what the heck is going on here? We wake Preston and I'm thinking once he has some food he should be a happy camper for the evening since he's had so much sleep. Wrong! He was very cranky and did not want to be put down. At 7:45 we are heading to bed. He was feeling a little warm so I gave him some Motrin just in case.

He slept all night until 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning and when I pick him up he is blazing hot. Temperature comes to 102.6. Holy cow! He has never had a high fever before. I gave him some more Motrin, nursed him back to sleep and called the doctor. We were at our weekly playgroup on Wednesday and one of the babies turned up sick the next day. Her doctor thought it could be the beginnings of Hand, Foot Mouth so I was concerned that he could have the same. His appointment was at 10:15 and we had to wake Preston just before we left because he was still sleeping. Yep, definitely not feeling good.

The doctor said his throat was red and that it may be a viral infection or still could be HFM so we would have to wait and see if anything happens. HFM is a common illness in babies that starts out with fever and a day or two later, red sores develop in their mouth, palms of the their hands and soles of their feet. I've heard it's very contagious and worse in adult form. Yikes!

So...my sweet Preston has just been kind of puny this weekend. His temperature went up to 103.9 on Saturday afternoon. I know babies typically run higher temps than adults do but it's still scary. Today has been an improvement though. He took a nap this afternoon and then played for an hour in the floor after he ate. I could tell his temp was very low if not normal. It started going back up by bedtime but I'm hoping we're headed towards recovery. No sign of any sores so I'm hopeful it is not HFM. I've included a sweet photo of Preston the day before he started feeling bad. I'm sure he will be back to his happy self soon! Two new posts below

Julie Elizabeth Reeves

I wanted to brag about my first NIECE! Julie Elizabeth arrived Wednesday, June 16th. Her proud parents are my brother Ryan and sister-in-law Dawn. She also has two big brothers that love her to pieces. She is the first girl grandchild in the family so we are excited to see a little pink :) On her birth day, Julie stopped breathing for a short period of time and was taken to the NICU for observation. She was overall very healthy and they are still unsure what caused it. But we are so thankful that God answered our prayers and this sweet girl only had to stay one extra night in the hospital. She and Mommy are doing great now! My pictures are taking forever to upload to I've just added a few. New post below!

Mommy's Kitchen

I have a new favorite recipe website, well it's actually a blog. It's called Mommy's Kitchen and it has some fabulous looking recipes. I have now added it to my Bloggies list so check it out! Blake and I made the Goulash recipe today and it was great. Blake loves goulash and devoured two bowls in a span of 15 minutes. She has lots of Southern-style recipes and old-fashioned traditional ones. I can't wait to try some of these out. Those of you who know me, know I absolutely love to cook and especially bake. Mommy's Kitchen has inspired me to share some of my recipes and meal plans on my own blog so stay tuned!

Daddy Day

Blake celebrated his first Father's Day today. I am so thankful for him and the role model he is becoming for our son. Preston loves to play with his Daddy and they have a great time together being silly and having fun. It puts a smile on my face just to sit by and watch them.

"Preston" made a personalized cup for his Daddy that has his handprints and footprints around it. And of course it's orange and blue :) Side note: Getting good handprints and footprints from a 7 month old is nearly impossible - especially with bright paint that you are trying not to get everywhere! It was worth it though. Blake also got a frame containing a collage of pictures of just him and Preston.

We spent the afternoon with my parents and celebrated my Dad's birthday in addition to Father's Day. I know everyone may say this but I truly have THE BEST Daddy in the whole world! He is so selfless and would go to the ends of the earth for his family. He is Preston's only grandfather but he couldn't get a better one. He loves to just walk Preston around showing him new things - he has endless patience when it comes to his grandkids. Little P loves his Granddaddy! And wouldn't you know, Granddaddy got a personalized cup too...in addition to a new lightweight fishing shirt.

All in all we had a wonderful family day...although it would have been a little better if I didn't have a stinkin' cold. Oh well!

Blake and "Daddy's Little Caddy" (On P's shirt)
Blake's picture frame
Daddy's Cup!
Footprints
Helping Granddaddy open his cup

Twenty-Five & 7 Months

On June 4th, I got to celebrate my first birthday since Preston arrived. I thought turning a quarter of a century would make me feel old but it wasn't so bad :) I spent the day with my sweet boy relaxing at the house. That evening my parents came over to babysit Preston while Blake and I went out for our first date night without Preston. It was so strange just being the two of us! I kept calling my Mom to check on him and we both kept talking about him while we were away. We missed our little guy! I really did enjoy our romantic night out though. We went to Firebirds (my favorite restaurant), grabbed a Chick-Fil-A ice cream cone (delicious) and did some shopping. My sweet husband also made me completely made-from-scratch carrot cake for my birthday cake. I had made the comment to him a while back that I always make people birthday cakes (baking is a love of mine) but I hardly ever get a homemade one for mine. Not that I'm not thankful for store-bought cakes! Anyway, he called me up on his way home from work the night before my birthday and said he was going to make me a cake for my birthday! Blake is not too familiar with the kitchen if you know what I mean so I was a bit surprised to say the least. It was very thoughtful of him. I had to stand by and give directions but he did everything himself including cleaning up the dishes. And the cake was DELICIOUS! I'm so blessed to have my amazing husband.

In addition to my birthday, Preston turned 7 months old. It's hard to believe another month has bypassed us. This first year of his life is flying by and I know we will be celebrating his first birthday before I can realize it! I don't know his exact weight but he's probably gained a pound or so since his 6 month check-up which would put him probably around 21 pounds. He's still a big boy! Here are some of this month's new milestones and fun things!

-He is "talking" so much now, trying to make new sounds. He says "DaDa" all the time so we're going to consider this his first word. He doesn't know what it means but it still counts!

-He eats baby food twice a day, usually half a fruit and half a veggie each time. He seems to like all the foods except peas. He shudders and gags at the peas. It's pretty funny.

-Anytime he's in his carseat or stroller, he strains to lift his head and stare at people. Nosy little guy!

-He loves to be outside and walked around. He's got his Granddaddy spoiling him by walking him around the yard or in the neighborhood as long as Preston wants too. He's got some wonderful grandparents!

-Preston had his first dip in the pool! Blake got in my parents' pool with Preston and they had a great time splashing around. He loved the floating toys better than the water though. He loved splashing around though. I think he thought it was a huge bathtub :)

-We are still working on Preston sitting up unassisted. He can do it for a short time but then he falls forward. Still needs a little balance.

I'm sure there are more but I can't think of anymore at the moment (it's around midnight and I'm pooped). Enjoy a few pictures of this month!

My carrot cake from Blake
My 25th Birthday
Birthday date night
First swim in the pool!
Loved the toys better than swimming
Loving his see-saw
Give me that camera, Mommy
Sweet smile
Just checking to see if it's tasty
Love this boy!