It is Possible to Pack Light!

Emmett and I just recently got back from our trip to Michigan for a late Christmas celebration and my dad's retirement party. We had a GREAT time, but wish Mark could have been there with us!

I will hopefully post more about the highlights later, but wanted to write a quick post about my proud packing job! We were gone for approximately nine days, and somehow I managed to pack for both myself and Emmett in just a carry-on and a large purse! How did I do it? Here's what I packed:

-only one pair of shoes (the pair I was wearing)!

-2 pairs of jeans

-4 sweaters

-2 t-shirts

-2 long sleeve shirts

-one zip-up hoodie

-a couple camis to wear under things

-socks and underwear

-a small Ziploc bag of toiletries

-for Emmett I only packed four outfits, which all fit in my large purse-bag!

Now, mind you, I would not have been able to make this work if it wasn't for my mom doing laundry several times. But, I would like to say that only bringing one pair of shoes for myself is completely unheard of!

I absolutely refuse to pay $50+ to fly my luggage! I think it's ridiculous to pay such an outrageous fee for luggage when it's already pretty darn expensive to buy a plane ticket alone! So I was determined to fit it all in a carry-on (one carry-on total for me and Emmett both), and I did! I must say it was quite a proud feat!

A Few of My Favorite Things

As a new mom, I thought I would write a post about a few baby items that I have come to love. Everyone will have their different opinions about what works best for them, but for me...these are a few of my favorite things!

Baby Einstein movies! I don't know what it is about these movies, because I find them rather mind-numbing...but Emmett absolutely LOVES them! Actually, until just recently, he only had one. Baby Beethoven. He has probably watched it close to 100 times. He usually watches it once a day while I need to take a shower or get something done. As soon as he hears the music, his eyes are glued to the tv.

Old Navy baby socks. I have had the hardest time keeping socks on Emmett's feet. So far, the socks from Old Navy are the only ones I've found that stay on all day! And they come in tons of different colors and patterns!

Target brand (Up & Up) diapers! We learned early on that Pampers do not work for Emmett. We tried several different brands including generic. These are the only generic brand we have found to hold everything in when Emmett lets it out:) They're cute too!

Chocolate Mint Cookies

These are Mark's new favorite cookies! My sister, Dee, gave me the recipe right after Emmett was born, and my mom made them for us. I have made them several times since, and they are delicious!!!

What you will need:

1 c. butter

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

2 c. flour

1/4 c. cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 pkg. Andes Mints (chopped)

1 c. vanilla chips

Mix together first five ingredients: butter, sugars, egg, vanilla

Oops! Don't do what I did and set the hand mixer on the side of the bowl. It caused the whole thing to fall on the floor and then I had a mess! I cannot cook or bake anything without making a mess!

Add next four ingredients: flour, cocoa, soda, salt (I didn't get a picture of this step). But after adding those ingredients and mixing, it will look like the picture below.

Stir in: 1 package Andes Mints (they make them in packages that are already chopped) and 1 cup vanilla chips.

Place on cookie sheet and bake @ 375 degrees. The recipe says to bake them for 8-10 minutes, but I only bake them for 6 min. It just depends how crispy you want them.

Enjoy!

My Pirate Baby

This will be Emmett's new look for the next six weeks. I felt so bad the first time we put the patch on, but now I think it's kind of cute...and it doesn't seem to bother him one bit!

We took Emmett to the eye doctor last Friday because we had been noticing for quite some time that his eyes would often look outward. The doctor confirmed our thoughts. He has what is called intermittent extropia, which is when the eye looks outward and the brain doesn't tell it that it needs to move back to the center. Emmett seems to have this problem about 50% of the time, which is why it's called "intermittent". Up close, it is not a problem, but when he looks at a distance we notice it quite often. For the next six weeks we have to do patch therapy for a couple hours a day, switching eyes every day. We go back to the doctor in eight weeks to see if the patch has helped. If not, then he will possibly have to have surgery. We're praying that the patches fix the problem!

I think he pulls off the look quite well...and apparently so do most of the women out there. We took him to the mall right after we went to the doctor, and we got stopped about 10 times by different women who were overtaken by his cuteness:)

While the pirate look may be cute now...hopefully it doesn't have to last for longer than six weeks!

Lesson From a New Dad

Mark learned an important lesson the other day about the difference between these two items:

I decided a couple days ago that I would try to start Emmett on some cereal because he has seemed extra hungry lately and has been getting up more often in the night. He is ready for it, but my doctor recommends that exclusively breastfed babies (like Emmett) should wait til 6 months to start solids if possible, because breastmilk is so good for them! I don't think Emmett can wait til 6 months...he's a big boy and is ready to eat something other than milk.

Here's the story...I told Mark I was going to go to the store to get some cereal for Emmett. I came back and set the cereal on the counter. Here's the conversation that followed:

Mark: "I thought you were getting cereal."

Cassie: "I did get cereal."

Mark: "Then what's that?" (pointing to the Gerber Rice Cereal)

Cassie: "That's the cereal."

Mark: "What?! I thought you meant you were going to buy cheerios for him to suck on!"

Cassie: (laughing)"You thought I was going to feed our 4 month old son cheerios?"

Mark: (laughing, but serious) "Well yeah...I really thought that's what you meant!"

Needless to say, we both had a good laugh and, luckily, Emmett did not eat any cheerios (that could have been a disaster)!

And...Emmett was not very fond of the cereal if you can't tell from the picture below!

We will try again in a few days:)

30 days of torture!

This is my ambition for November...30 days of torture (otherwise known as The 30 Day Shred)! I started yesterday, November 1st, so that it would be easy to keep track of the days. And after only one day, I am SORE!!! It's only a 20 minute workout each day, but it HURTS! Or maybe I am just a wimp. One thing I do know is that I am terribly out of shape! I may be thin, but that by no means indicates I am in shape! I wouldn't be able to run a mile to save my life right now!

I'm going to update my progress on here occasionally because I need accountability! Yesterday Mark just sat on the couch and laughed while I was doing the workout. He's not very good at keeping me accountable in the work-out area. He would much rather I bake him some cookies than take 20 minutes to work out:)

Who knows...if I can keep up with the workout, maybe I will have abs like that in 30 days!:) Wouldn't that be nice!

Overdue for an Overhaul

So...I got VERY behind on my blogging. More than five months behind! It could be due to the fact that my life has COMPLETELY changed in the past four months, and probably also due to the fact that we currently do not have internet at our house. Whatever the reason, my blog has been neglected and I am determined to get it up and running again. I have decided it is overdue for an overhaul. In the past, most of my posts have been updates on life and thoughts I was having. I want to make my posts a little more simple and fun. I am going to try to include recipes, things I have found helpful as a new mom, pictures, and still throw in a few longer, deeper posts as well.

For now, to catch you up to date, in case you didn't know by now...we have a new addition to our family! Well, he's not so new anymore! Already four months old and has two teeth!

Emmett Wesley Deering, born June 23, weighing 8lb. 6oz. and 21 3/4 inches long! He is extremely happy and healthy, and we are constantly in awe of this "not so little" blessing! =)

Check back often for new posts to come!