Marshmsllow Turn-Out

My home made marshmallows turned out fantastic! I don't think I'll ever buy storebought ones again. I made vanilla ones and raspberry ones. I've also made some sugar-free ones, they weren't the greatest but I'm still working on the recipe.

Fun in the Kitchen!

For my adventure today, I will be attempting to make marshamallows!  I found a recipe that looks easy enough, so I'm going to try it out.  Azaleah and I walked to the grocery store this morning to get the ingredients.  I will let you know how it turns out.

Sorry for the long break

Well, hopefully I will be posting more often now.  Last week was my final day at my day job, I resigned so that I could spend more time with my daughter.  She is too important for me to spend so much time away from her. Right now our circumstances permit me to stay home, so I'm going to take advantage of it.

This is my second day home, and I'm loving it!  We went for a long walk yesterday, and today we have been playing a lot.  My daughter is just so amazing, and she's growing up so fast.  I can't believe it's almost been a year.  I wish I could have been with her full-time sooner, but I guess it's better late than never.

Azaleah loves it when I'm cooking, so hopefully I will be posting some of the great recipes that I have been trying shortly, and with pictures, too!

Thanks for reading.  I hope to offer more posts soon.

Winding Down Time

My husband just started a new job with a completely different shift.  He needs to be at work by 3:00 am!  That means he's awake by 2:00 and out the door by 2:40 (we live very close to where he works).  Since he's needing to go to bed so early, we moved the baby to her crib, since she's been sleeping in the bassinet in our room.  We didn't want her waking him up when she cries before falling asleep.  So when I wake up around 6:00 or so, I'm all by myself.  I never thought it would affect me so much, but it upset me for a few days.  But now I realize that since my husband goes to be by 7:00 and the baby soon afterwards, I have the house to myself for at least two whole hours at night!  It has been so nice, since I'm working and raising a baby I never have any "me" time anymore.  So I can catch up on housework, read a good book, watch TV, or just relax and wind down before I go to bed.  For this past week I have noticed that I have been in a better mood and am not so anxious any more.  The house is still messy, but it doesn't bother me as much as it did before.  So even though waking up alone isn't something I love, I am thankful for the time before bed to catch up on  taking care of myself so that I can be a better mother and wife when I am with my family.

Solid Foods

My Gloworm went to the Doctor's yesterday and now she can start eating solid foods.  Yay!  She has been wanting to eat all of the time, so hopefully this will help her with that.  I just can't get up every two hours at night to feed her all the time!  So she had her first bowl of rice cereal this morning.  She was a bit grouchy, but still seemed to enjoy that she was able to eat something with more sustenance than milk.  Now she is all curled up on my chest and half asleep with a nice full tummy.

For the past several weeks she has been staring at my food while I'm eating.  She can also hold her head up, open her mouth voluntarily, bring toys to her mouth, and doesn't have the reflex to stick her tongue out when you put something in her mouth.  So she showed all the signs of being ready to move on to eating solids.

I love to watch her grow up and progress.  Though I love her little, I want her to grow up and be a healthy, smart child and I don't want to hold her back by wishing she were still little.  I will love her no matter what size or age she is, she will always be my daughter.

Clean House!

It is SO NICE to wake up to a clean house!  With the new baby, a clean house has been a rarity.  I've had no motivation to clean.  This party yesterday really got me moving.  I cleaned the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, and the baby room.  Now I just need to tackle our bedroom and closet.  That will be a project.  I have clothes that don't fit anymore that I've been trying to sell on Craigslist and Ebay without success.  I really don't know what to do with them.  But that is all for another day.  I'm just glad that I have accomplished what I did and I'm going to enjoy my clean kitchen and living room.

Coffee Party Results

All the guests have just left my house.  The Bistro Baking party was a success!  I made a chocolate cheesecake with caramel sauce, devil's food cupcakes in my new Wilton heart shaped muffin pan, and homemade cappuccino mix.  I also had mini turkey & cucumber sandwiches so we didn't have all sweet things.  One of my guests brought a New York cheesecake, and it was delicious, too!  My Coffee-Mate sponsored party was a lot of fun and I enjoyed hosting it.  I think I will start trying to have more gatherings at my house after seeing how well this one turned out.