The Blog Post that Almost Wasn’t and a Greek Chicken Crockpot Recipe!

Well here we are again…three months have passed with no blog posts after I specifically wrote in my last blog post (and the one before that, and the one before that…) about how I was going to try to post more. I’m going to specifically NOT write that this time…although it’s still a secret goal!

As it is for everyone, life has been busy and my time management skills are constantly being put to the test. Babies tend to do that to you I suppose. Most of my time is allotted to this sweet girl who is somehow already nine months old.

9 Months

I’m honestly not sure how that happened…science I guess. Amelia keeps me quite busy but we have fallen into a weekly routine which works quite well for us. Her two naps provide me with a respite to shower/eat/clean/do laundry/cook/work from home and occasionally do this. Most days…getting it all done is a distant dream, but we somehow manage to hit all the important parts at the right time. We haven’t yet resorted to wearing dirty clothes or only eating take out.

Amelia eats real people food now which has been a little scary (gagging…ugh), mostly funny (she looks like a squirrel with a nut) and incredibly messy. And although we are still doing our fair share of Hello Fresh for convenience, it has also inspired me to cook more. We started out just feeding her breakfast and lunch but have recently added in dinner. Robert works late so most nights, I feed her random things before he comes home but occasionally, when the stars align (aka when I use my crock pot), we are able to have dinner as a family.

 

Shame on me for forgetting how wonderful a crock pot can be. I can assemble meals during her morning nap and voila, dinner is ready when Robert walks in the door! Now I know why my mom used hers so often when we were growing up. Crock pots are also great when you are feeding a baby because everything comes out soft, which is still necessary for her despite the fact that she has EIGHT teeth already. We don’t listen to the song “Baby Shark” but I imagine it was written about my child, although she seems to be over her biting phase thank goodness.

Amelia

I called this the blog post that almost wasn’t because despite rediscovering a love for my crock pot, I can’t claim to be overly inspired by most of my go to crock pot recipes…at least not inspired enough to share them. Also I think we can all agree that crock pot meals don’t photograph particularly well. This particular recipe was shared with me by my friend Rebecca. I in turn told my sister about it who asked me to share it with her. I figured if I was going to send it to her I may as well write a post (which I’ve been meaning to do for ohh, three months) and send her that instead. I mean a recipe with pictures of your niece embedded is preferable to just a recipe, no?

This chicken recipe is so easy and flavorful. I serve mine over a bed of brown rice to which I add; a can of black beans, a diced and sauteed red onion, a diced avocado and crumbled feta cheese. Other delicious additions to up the veggie factor would be roasted red peppers or even sauteed zucchini.

Chicken

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Post Holiday Update! A Christmas Card Craft and a Detox Side Dish: Roasted Winter Salad

Happy New Year! Well technically happy January 4th but close enough! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Ours was fabulous, full of family and joy and FOOD. My parents and sister came to town to spend Christmas with us and having them here along with Robert’s whole family was really a special treat!

They got to experience some of the fun Christmas traditions we do with Robert’s family like his mom’s fun Christmas Eve Birthday Lunch where everyone wears Santa hats.

And the most beautiful Christmas day dinner hosted by our Aunt Vanessa.

V's Table

Her place settings included a special ornament for everyone which was so creative and thoughtful!

After being told at my 36 week Dr’s appointment the Friday before Christmas that I was already 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced and that they wouldn’t be surprised if the baby came within the week…we are still waiting and not much appears to have changed :/

On the bright side, it did cause us to hurry up and get all of our baby gear assembled and hospital bags (half way) packed. So we are “ready”, and now we wait…and wait…and wait. Luckily I have found plenty of ‘nesting’ activities to keep me busy. Besides the usual laundering and cleaning, I put all of our Christmas decor away and completed an easy Christmas card craft!

Card Tree
My card tree

I LOVE getting Christmas cards from family and friends, especially photo cards! I also hate the thought of tossing them out post holiday, it seems like such a waste! So a few years ago I came up with this idea to save my cards…just in case I ever get extra nostalgic and want to flip through them all (which I do every year!).

All you need for this craft is a hole punch and a set of loose leaf rings. I bought mine in a pack from Michaels but I’m sure you can find them at Staples or on Amazon.

Rings

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A Winter Wonderland Shower <3 & Homemade Pumpkin Gnocchi!

Merry almost Christmas! Wow, the holidays seem to come quicker every year and with the baby due so close to the new year this Christmas has really snuck up on me! We’ve officially got less than 4 weeks til baby and I am not so sure I feel prepared yet. I have yet to pack a hospital bag or get the carseat out of the box but thanks to two fabulous baby showers, we have got a beautiful (almost done!) nursery and plenty of baby gear!

My sister threw me a darling baby shower in TN over Thanksgiving and just a few weeks later I was lucky enough to be treated to a second shower at home in HHI by my sweet Aunt Vanessa. The theme was Winter Wonderland and it could not have been more beautiful.

I aspire to entertain as well as Vanessa does someday as she truly outdoes herself with each event! The food was to die for, a beautiful brunch spread complete with a low country shrimp and grits station and egg cups with caviar!

The decor was beautiful and the little details, like this sweet Christmas tree and the elephants tucked away everywhere were absolutely precious!

Tree

I knew with Vanessa at the helm that the shower would be wonderful, but it truly couldn’t have been more perfect.

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A Thanksgiving Shower and Homemade Pumpkin Puree

Happy bi-week! I think that’s a football term for an off-week which is pretty much what this week is right? The week between Thanksgiving and December. AKA time to shop til you drop, get all of your Christmas decorations up and get so sick of leftover turkey sandwiches that you vow not to eat it again for another year, or at least until Christmas.

For once my family avoided turkey overload and didn’t eat a single leftover. Why you may ask?

Ren

This guy….

My parents and sister both own small dogs and therefore aren’t accustomed to “counter surfing”. Unfortunately for Renly, his efforts proved to be for naught and he didn’t actually consume any leftover turkey either.

Robert, Renly and I traveled to Tennessee for Thanksgiving this year. My grandparents were also attending and it was our last trip before baby (hallelujah because riding in the car for long periods of time is getting less comfortable for me by the day). After we ate our Thanksgiving meal at my parents house we went over to a friends home to visit and have dessert. Upon returning we discovered that my mother had inadvertently left the lid off of the tupper-wear container she had put the leftover turkey in. She also left it sitting too close to the edge of the counter. The tupper-wear container was now flipped over onto the ground and pushed into the corner of the cabinets. I didn’t take a picture at the time but it looked something like this…

Turkey Tupperware

My theory is that Renly, at the urging of the little dogs no doubt, flipped the open container onto the floor with his head and it landed perfectly upside down, with all of the turkey still trapped inside. They then probably all took turns pushing it around the floor, trying to get to the meat inside until they pushed it into the corner and it became stuck.

Turkey that has been used to sweep the kitchen floor isn’t high on my list of things I’m willing to consume so thus, no leftover turkey for any of us…or the dogs, although it is likely that my father the notorious dog feeder snuck them some without my knowledge.

The rest of our Thanksgiving was lovely; we did lots of relaxing, watched a few movies, I got all of my Christmas shopping done (hooray), spent wonderful time with family and friends

and to cap it all off my sister threw me an adorable baby shower!

Gifts

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Lemongrass Pork Burgers

Happy Friday! What a week it’s been. Watching the devastation caused by the flooding from Hurricane Harvey in Texas has been awful. It’s crazy to think that not even a year ago our own beautiful island was turned upside down by Hurricane Matthew. It was awful and the flooding in Houston looks so much worse.  I didn’t think Hilton Head would ever look the same, but almost a year later, it almost does. It’s amazing how people came together and so many wonderful incidences of compassion and aspects of humanity emerged from such a terrible storm. I know the same thing will happen in Houston, but the process will be long and heartbreaking for so many who lost so much.

As hard as the Harvey coverage has been to watch, Robert and I had something to celebrate this week as well. We are officially half way through this pregnancy, a milestone that seemed unimaginable at the beginning of it all. Hitting the half way mark this week also meant we got to experience our anatomy scan, which was indescribably amazing. Modern medicine is nothing short of miraculous, and watching an anatomy ultrasound is the perfect example of this. We saw tiny fingers and toes, the ventricles of the brain, two tiny kidneys (which honestly just looked like little black spots to me), a long spine and ribs, and best of all the 4 chambers of a rapidly beating little heart ❤

baby feet
Precious Baby Feet

I was apprehensive going into this ultrasound since we opted not to do any genetic testing prior to this appointment. A few days before the test I wondered if that was the right decision and if we would get shocking news once the ultrasound began. Thankfully, all appears to be well, and the doctor reassured us that anything life threatening would have been picked up. I’m sure I’ll find brand new worries in a few days but for now I am feeling thankful and relieved.

We also got confirmation that we are having a little girl. Or as the doctor referred to the picture, “yep, three lines, that’s a hamburger!”. Awkward.

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