Quick Banana Bread, But for Me, 3 Hours

Mother of an Infant, Recipe for banana bread:

I am at home more often now, and for some reason I think I have time for baking. It's chilly outside and I have a desire to bake and fill the house with a warm fragrance of baked bread. I have found it takes much longer than it should, but here’s a recipe for how to make Quick banana bread: in 3 hours:

1. Feed baby until she falls asleep. Good, she should sleep long enough so I can get some breakfast.

2. Find a good recipe while eating breakfast. I have a hankering for warm bread today, and I have overripe bananas to get rid of soon.

3. Enjoy breakfast and coffee, then I preheat the oven.

4. Baby is waking up. Change her diaper, give her a pacifier, cross my fingers and put her down.

5. Get out the flour and sugar. By the time they hit the counter, baby is screaming again.

6. Try the pacifier one more time.

7. Get out the measuring cup. Pacifier didn’t work, she’s crying again. Measure out the flour anyway.

8. Feed the baby. By now, the oven is preheated. Oh well, it will stay warm. I'm nursing.

9. Baby has fallen asleep after a bit. Try to put her down, and of course she wakes up again. Play with her, and give her the pacifier again. She may entertain herself for a couple of minutes.

10. Measure out sugar.

11. Get the new package of sugar from the pantry. At least I thought of this when I went grocery shopping 2 days ago (in one of her quiet moments). This infant is scheduling my life and has really helped me be more prepared! (Girl scouts aside ...)

12. She’s fussing again. Check diaper – has she pooped yet? I could tell she was working on it, and poor baby hasn’t pooped in 3 days.

13. Darn it. In the middle of baking, I'm disappointed baby doesn’t have a poopy diaper. How's that for new mommy thoughts, I'm thinking about poopy diapers, this is my life now?

14. Put baby down. Measure out salt and baking soda while I listen to her complain.

15. Put baby in sling. Turn off the music from her bouncy seat. Three months old and that music already driving me nuts, I realize one day she will be big enough to turn the music on herself.

16. Mash the bananas. I sure wish she were old enough for solids so I could give her some of these yummy mashed bananas. Fortunately she’s doing well with breastmilk (how did she suddenly get big enough for a 6-month outfit?)

17. Baby is squirming too much. Walk around for a few minutes.

18. Combine eggs and bananas.

19. Stir in dry ingredients.

20. Walk around for a while, baby is too squirmy in the sling. Try a pacifier.

21. Put the bread dough in the pan while singing the “pat it and roll it and mark it with a 'B' and put it in the oven for Baby and Me” song.

22. Put the baby down again. She’s quiet!

23. Put the bread in the oven, and bake for an hour.

24. Enjoy 15 minutes of silence while baby sleeps (and I start working on dinner).

Sleep when baby sleeps? How does that work?

Done

There is something bitter sweet about knowing that I just had my last baby/child of my life. I love my kids very much, but I cannot believe I am to a point in life that I know I'm done. Somedays, I think that I would flip out and go nuts with another 9 months of ever growing girth. Then there are days that my middle boy and baby are so sweet and both at cute stages of their life and I would love another baby.

But Seriously Folks, I'm done. Done, done, done having babies! I think I'm at an adult milestone. Wow! Now to focus on taking care of these three, forever. oy, yeah...I'm done.

These are the walls I started at for my 5 day recovery while in the hospital. My view was of a court yard/circular drive/ front of the hospital. How very nice it was. Inside my view was ...well, you see for yourself.

To my right a large window looking at the hospital entrance.
To my left was a rocking chair and a clock to make my day tick tock slowly. Behind the curtain is a large sink and work area with a small refrigerator.
And straight ahead of me. The TV storage unit. SO much fun to look at. I had no time to watch TV. What? Why didn't I watch TV? I'm not a big TV watcher and Hello...I was taking care of a newborn.
My door. I was asked to walk the halls to get me feeling better. I instead felt like being plopped in my wafer thin hospital bed.
my pink sassy boa wreath on my door, given to me by my Aunt.

This was a fun time in life. To be wheeled into the room to recover while holding baby newborn. To watch the bath and diaper changing. To have family fill the room and ooo and aahhh over baby. This room is baby's first home. From here we go home to family, never to return again....

Good Bye Room 217

Home Again

Baby girl made it home from the hospital. Everyone had to wear mask around us. My parents delivered us to the front door and took our luggage upstairs to the nursery. My darling husband bought candles and lit them around the house so it would look pretty when we arrived. He told me he wanted our homecoming to be special. How sweet is that? It was very beautiful and romantic and very thoughtful. But it was sad that I could not hug him nor could he hold his new baby daughter for a few more days. Seeing the special candles lit right then, I felt how nice it was to be home.

The baby and I lived in the nursery upstairs alone for a few days. My toddler didn't know that I was even home. We didn't want to torture him because he would not be allowed to be around the baby and I until his cough and fever was gone. It was lonely, but I texted my family and friends, and had around the clock baby care of a newborn kept me busy. Seems like lots to go through I know, but, I was glad to be out of the hospital.

We were warned of the risk to have me, a surgical patient and my newborn home with all three of them sick with swine flu, but we took all the precautions we could to make it safe for the two of us to be home. I'm so glad we did.

Look at this sweet angel.

Sleep, My Favorite Activity

Sleep is one of my favorite things to do. I really do miss it so much during the day. From the moment I wake up my mental clock starts to count down to the hour in which I can return to the full body sprawl in my soft comfy bed. All day I cannot wait to get back into the bed and sleep some more.

I love to sleep.

I miss sleep.

I crave sleep.

I have been sleeping for years, so why I can't I sleep anymore?

Have I just lost my touch?

I have now added the Tylenol PM Sleep Tracker iPhone APP to my life. I have also downloaded the "How to get ready for sleep" and "How to make an environment more inviting to sleep in" from that same website.

Sleep is what we do as humans, it's basic we eat, work, sleep, repeat.

One reason I want to get this lack of sleep under control is because I am 6 months pregnant with my third child, and I am quickly approaching the newborn boot camp survival training sleep depravation stage of parenthood.

(Nooooooooooo, I don't wanna.....)

I have been searching for a solution to cure my pre- slumber deprived days.

The following recipe was taken from Tylenol PM's advertisement to be added as a healthy sleep inducing snack. I'm gonna give it a try along with:

*buying a small fan to add white noise,

*buying a humidifier to add moisture, so I wake with no scratchy throat,

* turn or cover my clock,

* dim my lights a few hours before bed,

* take a warm bath,

* install dark curtains,

* buying an upgraded mattress,

* buying high thread count sheets,

* paint the wall soothing a color, (apparently, white noise is ok, but white walls are bad)

* buying upgraded pillows

and last but not least,

* birth this growing child who makes sleeping in any position a very hard thing to do.

I guess after taking all of their suggestions and things are still not working for me, or if it is just too much trouble to make all of those changes I can always just pop a pill... lol

First things first for a pregnant woman though, FOOD!

Lullaby Muffins

They claim that Between the honeyed touch of sweetness, these muffins are practically an edible lullaby. (I guess if the edible lullaby doesn't work then there is always their edible Tylenol PM pill right? hahaha)

2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/3 cup applesauce

2 large, very ripe bananas

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup milk or soy milk

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour (make sure it’s whole-wheat "pastry" flour or you’ll produce golf balls, not muffins), salt, and

baking powder.

3. In a blender, puree the bananas; add the

applesauce, honey, and milk. Blend well.

4. Pour the banana mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until

just moistened.

5. Line muffin tins with paper muffin cups, pour in batter, and bake 30 minutes or until tops are light brown and slightly springy.

Makes 12 low-fat muffins.

Seriously?

Ok, since finding out that we are going to have a girl, I've been looking up every online resource on crib bedding for baby girls.

This one is from www.dimplesanddandylions.com if you just wanted to buy it for me... ha!

I'm just now really understanding that a little girl around here will be fun. Someone to watch Cinderella 1, 2 and 3. I get to read American Girl Doll books and get a matching doll for us...I mean her... I get, again, she gets to wear the sweetest ruffle outfits and pink bows and such...

Who am I kidding... I still don't get that we are really going to have a girl. Seriously?

My neighbors have been so sweet and have delivered bags full of baby girl clothes and pink bottles and playmats to our door steps. Hubs and I just take out each item one at a time and just stare at it. Pink onesies, pink nightgowns, pink shirts with cupcakes, pink socks, pink pj's.

Wow!

I love pink... but seriously?

We are really going to have a girl!

Save on gDiapers with this code

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