What I have been reading

 I know I love reading books my friends highly recommend. So in the spirit of reading. For I hope you share the love of books that I do. Here are 5 books I have recently read, a brief intro to what they are about with out saying too much, and how I felt about them!!

I am the Messenger.  This book was about a young man who is receiving playing cards just the aces. On each card is a list of names, addresses, or clues. He has to do something for each person on the list...But how he goes about doing it is up to him. This book was often intense and made you think about what was going to happen next, and had a very different story line than I even thought it would. It was a very easy read and a fun one!! I would recommend this book to anyone who wants an interesting new book to read.

Agenda 21 This is quite possible one of the few books that I would say DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY IT COVER. Because if you know anything about politics you can see that first name on this book and go running, because your probably thinking great a book by a person with strong political values, no thanks. BUT if you were to do that you are very much missing out on a good book, this book is NOT written by Glenn Beck, I repeat NOT written by Glenn Beck. It is written by Harriet Parke. There is a little thing in the back of the book that he wrote, but it is after the story. This story was sooo well written. One of those books where I stayed up all night reading it, it was so hard to put down. You just crave knowing what is gonna happen next. I can't really tell you much about what its about without giving away the story but if you want an intense on the edge of your seat book, this is one for you!
 

The Vow. I am sure a large amount of you have seen this movie. If for no reason but to watch the adorable Channing Tatum. But of course as most cases are, the book was about 10x better than the movie. The movie got the point across but the book told you all the details of this true story. It was a very sad sad book, I did cry a few times, but it was such a sweet love story.

Sister to Sister Trilogy-Virgina Smith. This trilogy was one I picked up because the first book was free on Amazon, and when you need something new to read that is a go! But after starting to read the first book I fell in love with the characters. It reminded me so much of my life, and my siblings. These books are written so personally that you begin to think you live with them or are their neighbors at least. Great stories that follow 3 sisters through 3 different challenges we all face and how they got through them. Forewarning, there is a religious undertone so if that isn't your thing you may not like these books.

 

The Book Thief. One of my favorite books I have read in sometime. I may have had such a major interest in this book due to the fact it is about WWII here in Germany. I find these things interesting living here in the place all of the action was happening. I love historical things and learning more about them. But this book was about white Germans living through the war, and holocaust. Very detailed but also a good story. Hard to say too much, but this book is a must read.

Yummy Pinterest finds!!!

So as one of my goals for the rest of the year was to try some new recipes...Well its only the 1st of July and I have already found 2 recipes that I wanted to put on my blog because they are THAT GOOD!  And really pretty healthy!! I didn't remember to take a picture of the first recipe as the girls and I were super excited to eat it!!

Chicken and Avocado Enchiladas in Creamy Avocado Sauce

Chicken and avocado enchiladas in a creamy and spicy avocado sauce.

Servings: makes 4 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup salsa verde
• 1/2 cup sour cream (or Greek yogurt)
• 2 avocados
• 1 jalapeno, coarsely chopped (remove seeds for less heat)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 teaspoon cumin, toasted and ground
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 handful cilantro
• 1/2 lime, juice
• 4 cups cooked shredded chicken
• 2 avocados, diced
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2 cups monterey jack cheese, shredded
• 8 (7 inch) tortillas

Directions

1. Puree the chicken broth, salsa verde, sour cream, avocados, jalapeno, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper, cilantro and lime juice in a blender or food processor.
2. Mix the half of the sauce with the chicken, avocado, green onions and half of the cheese.
3. Coat the bottom of a large baking dish with some of the sauce, wrap the chicken and avocado mixture in the tortillas and place them in the dish.
4. Top the enchiladas with the remaining sauce and cheese and bake in a preheated 350F oven until the cheese has melted and the sides are bubbling, about 15-20 minutes.

 Found at www.closetcooking.com 

Comments: The amount of time it took to prep was longer than 10 mins, that is very inaccurate as it does involve a lot of cutting. But it was so worth it. I did a double recipe and put 1 whole Jalapeno, and one with the seeds out and it was like the perfect amount of spicy!! I made 8 for the 4 of us, and 2 kids. And we all only had one each, the avocado and chicken is very filling.

The other recipe was something I made for Kyra and I for dinner tonight. It was amazing, and very simple to make!! If you saw the pictures of both recipes you would laugh I guess I was feeling green, both are very green meals. I was also lucky that a good friend of mine brought me fresh lettuce from her garden!!!

Baked Chicken Stuffed with Pesto and Cheese (Updated Version)

Ingredients:
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 T Basil Pesto with Lemon or your favorite commercial pesto
2 T low-fat sour cream
2 T grated mozzarella cheese
(I used heaping tablespoons of pesto, sour cream and cheese)
2 eggs, beaten (or if they're large eggs one will probably be enough)
3 T finely grated Parmesan cheese
3 T almond flour (or almond meal, but almond flour is better for this because it's more finely ground)
black pepper to taste

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Spray a small casserole dish with non-stick spray. Trim any visible fat from chicken breasts, then put them one at a time inside a heavy plastic bag and pound with meat mallet until the chicken is as thin as you can get it. Don't worry too much about the shape or whether there are some loose pieces, you can tuck them in when you roll up the chicken.

In a small bowl mix together the basil pesto, sour cream, and grated mozzarella. Use a rubber scraper to spread a thin layer of this mixture over each chicken breast, stopping about 1/2 inch from the edge of the chicken (so it doesn't run out so much as it cooks.) Roll up the chicken breasts and secure them with a couple of toothpicks. (I roll them so the finished piece is as thin as I can get it so they will cook quickly.)

Prepare two bowls, one with the beaten egg and the other with the grated Parmesan-almond flour mixture, seasoned with black pepper to taste. Dip each chicken breast roll first into the egg mixture and then into the Parmesan-almond flour mixture, patting it on so the chicken breast roll is well-coated with the mixture.

Put chicken breasts into the casserole dish and bake until the chicken is firm and lightly browned. (Start checking after about 25-30 minutes; total baking time will be 30-35 minutes.) Serve hot.

Comments: I made the pesto with the pesto packet from the seasoning section at the grocery store, mixed with sour cream and water until it was all mixed in and smooth! Than I added a handful of the cheese. It worked out well, and Im saving the left over sauce for a toasted turkey wrap later this week.

Have 3 months really already passed?

Nicknames: Kyra Bug, Bug, Bunny, Fluffy Butt, Butterfly

Clothing Size:  Pretty much all 18 months with just a few 12 months here and there.

Personality:  I can't even describe how much fun you are. Often during the day I catch myself saying aloud your the cutest kid ever!! You make my heart smile watching you learn and laugh.

Things I Could Do Without: The waking up in the middle of the night you have been doing lately. Mommy needs that time to finish homework love.

Item/Toy We Love The Most: Wreck it Ralph!! Still your favorite movie, and nothing calms you down quicker than slipping that in when you are tired or cranky.

Item/Toy You Love The Most: Seems as tho lately you have been playing less with your toys and more with getting into anything you can reach!!

Things I’m Loving Most Right Now: Watching you learn! You are so smart and seem to amaze me everyday with the little things you do. I love when you grab my cellphone and walk around the house having a conversation with imaginary people on it. I can only imagine in 14 years from now when I am writing these when I see you on a cell phone how my thoughts will be the exact opposite.

Things You’re Loving Most Right Now: Playing with your best friend Shade. Its apparent that she is your favorite toy! You even pick up her toys squeak them and throw them for her to bring back!! You often can be found climbing into her kennel with her also just to hang out, or her into your cardboard play house with you!!

Fathers Day 4 day weekend!

Well it has been over a week since the 4 day came and went. But I am finally getting around to writing this blog. School and a little girl who has been ever so cranky and more and more of a handful as she gets older gives me less and less time to myself to write. But I thought the two really fun experiences we had over the June 4 day weekend were worthy of being told about. If for nothing but a great organization of the pictures and documenting our memories for us to look back on!

The first of the 3 fun days we had was a Renaissance fair in Oppenheimer let me tell you. It was quite the adventure no doubt. This was the first of the sort that either Dustin or I had ever been to and didn't really know what to expect. First thing we noticed: These people take this very seriously. Hahaha I would have to say about 80 percent of the people at the festival were fully decked out in costume. It really made me jealous as it would have been so fun to dress up.

Next being culturally aware of how lazy AMERICANS can be when we parked near a shuttle stop we immediately thought: Na, we can walk it can't be that far. Not thinking about the fact that Europeans are generally more active, so when they suggest a shuttle TAKE IT. So after getting to where we had assumed it would be and finding well it wasn't there we chose to follow people in costume because surely they were headed in the right direction! Along our (I would say 2 mile hike uphill) way we passed by 2 other stops for the shuttle but still ignorantly pushed on insisting in our minds that it couldn't be that much further. Needless to say we got our exercise in including a nice little off-roading adventure through a section of forest area!

Finally we reached the top and the really cool old castle ruins that they had the festival set up in. At which point I was totally glad I was in Jeans and a t-shirt instead of the long hot robes everyone else was in. It was about 6 euro for adults and free for children under the height of a great sword.... This was the only thing cheap here. We got a soda to share, 2 brats, and a little bowl of Mac and Cheese for Kyra. And barely had enough to buy the cute flower head dress thing I had wanted to get for Kyra. So sadly we weren't able to buy anything else but I think any day trip outing like that shouldn't cost over 40 euro so I was alright with that.

Castle Ruins and part of the show.

More of the castle

Just a door way

A band that was performing!! I felt like I was in GOT

I totally wanted to buy some stuff from this stand!

My Mid Evil Princess!!

This Ladies Costume was so cool, Kyra liked her was just being shy

Men on stilts!

Handmade leather bracelets

The love of my life and I!!

My neighbor was totally enjoying her time!

So was her beautiful daughter!!

Kyra and I had a blast

Old Guard Tower

Few from halfway up forgot to take one at the top top!

Short cut...NOT Stroller friendly

Large church in Oppenheimer

Don't you just love the Rustic feeling of small towns?

Baby girl was worn out from all the fun

Another guard tower this is where we thought it was going to be near...boy were we wrong.

The second fun adventure we went on was also a close to home adventure. Mainz the town just down the road from us was having a Rodeo American. Haha any reason to pull out and dust off the cowboy boots is a good one to me. And since neither Kyra nor our neighbors had been to a rodeo yet we were extremely excited to cowboy up! We went on Sunday when they had all the family stuff out with great booths selling cowboy hats, and "American ice-cream" pretty much anything you would see at a regular rodeo. And they had pony rides for only 1.50 euro!!  So we got Kyra on her first horse!! Starting her our young, and she LOVED it! After running around and getting good and dirty it was time for the show.

For those of you used to the big rodeo's with scores, and competition you would have been a bit disappointed as Dustin and I were. But if it was your first rodeo it was a pretty fun show. It was more for the Germans who don't really know any different and had some very fun bareback riding, bull riding, and pole bending. We only made it to the intermission because it was hot out with no shade cover. And past Kyra's nap time and she was making sure we knew it. But I am glad we left when we did cuz my shoulder and Dustin's newly bald head were both really burned.

Cristina and Lillia Cowboy'd up!!

It may not look like it but she was smiling the whole time!

My loves hanging out in the sunshine

We were having a great time :D

The last fun thing we did was since it was also Fathers day weekend. I thought it was fitting to go to a pretty park on the other side of town, and take some Father + Daughter pictures!! Here are a couple of my favorites along with my favorite from last year!!

Project 52: Water

At the same park as the beautiful pond with the ducks up the hill a bit was a just as beautiful creek that ran into the pond. It had little waterfalls in it and thought what better place to do the water topic? I love that you can see the bridge and the grass and everything in this picture, really captures how beautiful this park was!

For complete list of all pictures from my Project 52 follow this link to Resolutions which has links to all of my project 52 blogs.

Breastfeeding Adventures Part 3

    The final installment of my breastfeeding stories comes from a dear friend Sarah. She is an amazing mother, and does everything to make her daughter Zoey's life awesome. She wrote her story to show that even if you aren't able to make it to you goals that the fact you tried is all that matters. And you children will be happy for anytime they were able to bond with you on such an intense level.


      When I found out I was expecting, the choice to breastfeed was not hard to make. It didn’t require much thought. She was my first child and she would be given the very best of everything that I could provide for her, and it started with breast milk.
 
     At 29 weeks I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and had to follow a strict diet, monitor my blood sugar, and attend NST’s every week. This being my first pregnancy and not knowing much about gestational diabetes, I was frightened and overwhelmed by all of the information and orders being hurled at me. I wanted to do the very best for my child, I wanted her to be healthy and happy and when I found out I had gestational diabetes, I felt like I had failed right out of the gate. She wasn’t even in the world yet, and I had failed her.
   
      Despite my growing disappointment with myself, I altered my diet and exercised daily. My blood glucose levels were being controlled and I would not require medication. Still, when my healthy, nearly 10lb baby girl was born into the world, her blood sugar levels were frighteningly low because her tiny body had been producing extra insulin to compensate for my body’s inability to create enough. She was very slow moving, very quiet with no cries, and they wouldn’t even let my husband or I hold her. The nurse kept telling me things like “she is going to have to go to NICU” and “you won’t be taking her with you to the recovery room”. I was beside myself with anger and sadness. I wanted to hold my child. I wanted my husband to hold her, too. Finally (five hours later) the doctor from the NICU came to evaluate her and told me that the best thing to do is to feed her and try to get her glucose levels to rise. He told me that she was alert and looked very strong and that there was no reason to take her from me.
   

    When the nurse brought her to me, I put her to my breast and she latched on like a champ. I was so shocked at how well she did her first time. She looked at me like “This? I’ve got this, no problem!”. After I fed her they monitored her glucose levels for 24 hours, while I continued to breastfeed her as frequently as possible. She was getting stronger and her body was adjusting and after 3 days in the hospital, we were pros at breastfeeding and I took my darling girl home.

    I continued to breastfeed her with great success until she was 6 months old. She began to cut teeth and bit me a few times, and I attempted pumping and bottle feeding her with not so much success. I planned to breastfeed her for an entire year at least, and when my milk began drying up, I felt like a failure again. Once again, my body was failing her and there was nothing I could do about it. Was it because I took her from the breast and began pumping? Was it due to the stress of my husband being gone for seven months? Was I not eating/drinking the right things? I tried everything from Mothers Milk Tea to breast massaging to pumping immediately after breastfeeding to help create a bigger milk supply. Nothing I tried seemed to help. She was growing so much, and had more than doubled her birth weight by 6 months and was no longer satisfied with the amount of milk my breasts could offer her, especially since it had started dwindling. I was calling and visiting the doctor’s office and lactation consultants so frequently that they knew my name, my story and why I was there every time.

    I was eventually advised to introduce formula, even though I was completely against it and did not want it for my child. She was not getting what she needed from me, and it was the only option left to ensure that she continued to be healthy and strong. I started her on formula with much reluctance, and to my surprise, she had no issues with it. She was finally getting a full meal in her belly, sleeping through the nights, and wasn’t fussy and crying to be at my breast all the time anymore.
It was hard to give up that bond of breastfeeding. It is a feeling unlike any closeness I have ever felt. I am glad I was able to do it for the short time that my body would allow me to, though. I know that I gave her the best start I possibly could, and that I had tried everything in my power before giving in to formula feeding and I was glad that we had made it 6 whole months because some mothers don’t even make it that long. It is a hard pill to swallow when your body doesn’t do what it is designed to do, especially when it comes to your child’s health and well-being. There are some things in life you can’t make happen, no matter how hard you try. I had to make myself understand that it was not my fault and that ANY amount of time spent breastfeeding was better than not doing it at all.

     It blows my mind when I hear women say that breastfeeding “creeps them out” or isn’t something they are even willing to try. I understand to each their own, but I cannot wrap my mind around those who aren’t willing to sacrifice being uncomfortable so that their child is given the very best they can offer. I envy those who have made it a full year and beyond. I will try again with my next child, and I will give it all I have to make it work just like I did with Zoey.

   If you enjoyed reading these stories, come back and visit again. My blog is filled with fun parenting adventures, and there are many more on the horizon. Also you can enjoy my familys adventures as we travel through Europe, and occasionally a fun craft or two that I indulge myself in. It has been great seeing new faces checking out my blog lately and hope that I can continue to bring you interesting stories, and pictures!!

Here is the link for Part 1 if you and Part 2 if you missed them! 

Breastfeeding Adventures part 2

    Here is part two. I was so excited when my friend Amber said she would love to tell her story on my blog. Her story is so different from mine, and so amazing!! Her and her daughter are great together and they are growing to be quite the pair!! Feel free to leave any questions and comments and I am sure she would love to give you some answers as far as Full-Term Breastfeeding!

      My breastfeeding journey is a journey of open-mindedness and education. My daughter is 26-months old and our journey is still going, though if you had asked me 27 months ago I would have said (and did say) that we would be breastfeeding until 1-year of age. At that time, I knew nothing about “extended” breastfeeding, or as is better called, full-term breastfeeding. I didn’t think anything of it, I didn’t know the benefits, heck, I didn’t even really know it existed!

    Our journey started out as a beautiful bonding experience for a new mother and her first baby. After attending a few Le Leche League meetings while still pregnant, I felt we were fully ready to embark on our journey. We didn’t have many bumps in the road; no discomfort (aside from minor nipple pain), no plugged ducts/mastitis, no food intolerances, etc. It was as easy as breastfeeding could be. My daughter was always a “booby baby” and was happiest on my chest and at my breast and this is where we spent the first few months adjusting to everything. She gained weight like a champ and it was amazing to see that not only was my body capable of growing this amazing human being in-utero but also sustaining life exclusively with my breast milk and I took great comfort in watching her thrive.
As our journey continued and we met other mothers who were breastfeeding children over the age of 1 it became natural and something I was okay with doing. I decided at some point that I would be okay with following the WHO’s (World Health Organization) recommendation of “at least 2 years or as long as mutually desired” and go until age 2. Somewhere in that second year after the age of 2 became a real and probably possibility as my “booby baby” is nowhere near the self-weaning phase as she still finds a lot of nutrition and comfort at my breast.

    There are some days when I’m more than ready for her to wean when I need some space or want to take a vacation alone with my husband but there are other days when I am thrilled we still have this advantage in our lives. One of the times I’m most grateful for this is when she is sick. It’s so easy to comfort her and hydrate her with my body versus trying to get her to suck down water when she wants nothing to do with it--this has kept her out of the hospital. It’s nice to be able to hold her and nurse her to sleep when she’s feeling awful and wants nothing else--this has kept me rested enough to keep us both going. It’s nice to give her my immunity and keep her from getting sick or if she does get sick, keep her from getting it as bad as us adults are getting it. Another amazing benefit we give each other is lessening each others risk of many different cancers. The longer I nurse her, the less chance I have of contracting different cancers--the longer she nurses, the less chance she has of contracting different cancers.

     Full-term breastfeeding isn’t for everyone but it has a lot of wonderful benefits and should be explored before being pushed aside for what is a better known American-cultural norm of “up to the age of 1”. America is one of the few countries that know of the wonderful benefits yet choose to ignore them and it saddens me. One day our journey will be done and I will take comfort in knowing I gave her the best I could give her as long as she wanted it.

Click here for Part 1
Click here for Part 3