Corn Chowder Recipe

What You'll Need:

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

1 1/2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 cups chopped, pealed potato

2 cups fresh or frozen whole kernel corn

1 4oz can chopped green chile peppers (drained)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 cups low-fat milk (I use 1%)

2 tablespoons flour

5 ounces cooked chicken cut into small pieces

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro or 2 teaspoons fresh oregano (I use the cilantro, YUM)

Directions:

1.In a large saucepan cook onion in hot butter for 3 to 4 minutes or until tender.  Add broth, potato, corn, chile peppers, and black pepper.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat.  Simmer, covered about 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.  Stir occasionally.

 2. In a screw-top jar combine milk and flour; cover and shake well.  Add to potato mixture.  Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.  Add chicken and cilantro (or oregano) Heat through.

Start to finish takes approximately 40 minutes.  Makes 4 servings, 300 calories per serving.

Side note: I never put chicken in mine, out of pure laziness and because I don't think it makes a difference in the taste at all.  When I used to add the chicken I cooked it while the soup simmered, that way it was already warm when I added it at the end.  Also, I never EVER measure(except the milk and flour), so mine probably has more potatoes than it should.  And of course, I add shredded medium sharp cheddar cheese!

I hope you all enjoy it as much as Scott and I do.

My Fun Little Life

Lets avoid some Rochelle drama and have a look at some pictures, just for the fun of it.  

Here Echo is planking.  If you don't know what planking is, you aren't alone. (Its a stupid trend where people lay flat across surfaces, I don't get it either). I didn't know what it was until recently, and I honestly think its one of the stupidest things I've ever heard of, but Echo was being silly and looked like she was trying to be hip by planking, so I took a picture.

 Here's my cute Ivy girl "breastfeeding" her baby (affectionately named helmet baby).  Its so cute because I remember doing this when I was little.

 Trying to snap a picture of Echo's scrunchie-nosed smile.  Its hard because she's so wiggly.  Sorry its blurry.

 Corbin lost his two front teeth about twelve hours apart about a week ago. If you look closely you can see that one of the new ones was already growing in and pushed the baby one out of the way!

 This is a picture of some seriously DELICIOUS corn chowder.  It makes me so happy.  Its my absolute favorite meal right now!  Of course all my kids hate it, but that just means more for me.  Oh man, just looking at the picture makes my mouth water!  Did I mention I got it out of a dieter's cookbook? Its good for you! Although, the recipe didn't call for cheese, I added that because I gotta have cheese! So freakin' good!

This is Dexy and Corbin by their new reading lamps (Thanks Grandma Marde). This pic is actually from Christmas time, when Grandma was still in town, but I forgot to post it.  I love seeing these little guys reading in their beds like little grown ups!

 And finally, my saving grace.  Delicious, nutritious, nausea-relieving grapefruit.  For the last 10 days or so my morning sickness has taken over my life and forced me to neglect many of my regular duties.  I forced my green-faced self to the grocery store to buy diapers on Thursday and as I passed the produce I could smell the grapefruit, and it is the ONE AND ONLY thing that sounded good to my raging pregnancy hormones. I bought a bag of them. When I got home I peeled one (instead of going the more traditional slicing-in-half route) and ate the whole thing.  It made me happier than I had been in days.  I've had one everyday since.  Grapefruit relieving morning sickness! Who would've thunk it?!

Dear Old Dad

Dear Dad,
Happy 65th Birthday!  I can't believe you are 65!  I'm sorry if that sounds rude, but when I was a kid I thought 30 was old, now that I'm 30, I think 65 must definitely be old!  You've been a lot of things in your 65 years.  A son, a brother, a sailor, a husband, a plumber, a father, a grandfather, and a grumpy old man (and I wouldn't have it any other way).  When we were kids you were the perpetual teaser.  Tickling us like crazy, until we screamed, cried or peed our pants, or until mom got annoyed with the noise and forced you to stop.  You were our protector and saved us from spiders (remember when you killed that one in your hands when it was an inch from my face!), and kept us safe from drunk neighbors who stumbled into the wrong house.  You were our  provider, and never put your needs before ours. You yelled at the Jazz, and called sitcoms stupid (even as you laughed).  You read books constantly while Cockatoo slept in your lap, and fell asleep anytime, anywhere.  You were and are a great dad and I hope you have a fantastic 65th birthday!  I love you so much.
Love,
Chelle

Advice Needed/The making of a Companion Cube

So now that I'm carrying around a sesame seed sized baby number 5, I've decided to get some things under control with baby number 4.
1. Sleeping through the night.  Echo has never slept through the night.  She's a little spoiled I guess.  Its been frustrating, but I've dealt with it because, I thought she was the last.  That's no longer the case, and now, I'm freaking tired.  I can't do it anymore.  I can barely keep my eyes open at 2 in the afternoon and 10 in the evening.  I need more sleep at night.  I can't keep getting up every three or so hours to nurse.  I've been trying to let her cry it out, but its hard.  Any suggestions?
2. Drinking from a bottle/sippy cup.  I'm still nursing. I didn't even know you could still nurse while pregnant.  Well, you can and I am, because Echo refuses to go anywhere near a bottle. If she even sees it she flips out.  Even when its filled with breast milk.  We've also tried the sippy cup, but she only takes small sips of water from one, and that's not helping. This is turning into quite the dilemma because since becoming pregnant, I'm pretty sure the breast milk supply is decreasing, which may be contributing to her sleeping less as well. I'm trying to fill her up on other things like baby food, cereal pieces, yogurt, biter biscuits, etc, but she mostly just  wants to nurse (which I'm okay with, I just want her to get enough food, and I don't think she is).  Any suggestions on this one?
3. Sitting in the Car seat or Stroller without screaming like a psycho.  I don't really know if this is something that is fixable.  But Echo HATES her car seat and the stroller.  She does not enjoy being tied down.  She screams and cries almost non-stop every time we get in the car or in the stroller to take the boys to school.  The last two weeks I've resigned to putting her in the snuggli to take the boys to school (which I haven't used since Dexter was a baby), she actually likes that and doesn't cry at all.  The only problem is that it hurts my back (which is why I haven't used it in so long), and when my belly starts to bulge it won't really work anymore.  So how do I get her to be happy in the car seat and stroller?  Any suggestions on that guys?

Corbin took this picture of me and Echo after school one day.

*************

On New Years Eve I started working on a project for Scott's geek friend at work.  His birthday was on the 18th, and he was dying for a Companion Cube from the video game Portal.  It looked hard, so I procrastinated it and decided to make Chell first to go with it (the actual character you play in the game).  I finished her up quickly and easily, because she wasn't much different than other dolls I've made, and she sat on our entertainment center for about two weeks before I even got close to finishing the cube.  Ivy was so confused about her.  She wanted to play with her, because she thought it was me (I told her its name was Chell, which is one of my nicknames, so she immediately started calling it a Rochelle doll, and didn't understand why she couldn't play with it).

  Anyway, I finally started on the companion cube and got it all done pretty easily except those corners.  They are a weird shape, and I couldn't figure it out.  I let it sit for days while I thought it over (which is something that actually helps me figure out ways to do odd shapes.  If I don't work on it for a couple days and try different things in my head, I can usually come up with a genius plan).  Next thing I knew it was the 17th.  I needed to finish the corners that day.  So I sat down, tried some different things and finally came up with something that worked.  I finished it that afternoon.

 Chell and her Companion Cube.  Reunited and it feels so good!

 

Like Winning The Lottery

Do you ever have that feeling like, I'm so lucky, I could probably win the lottery.  I actually think that a lot. I live in Idaho.  Its legal to play the lotto here.  I should really purchase some tickets.

On January 1st I was supposed to get my period.  I'm sorry if this is too much information for you, but I'm a woman, its something that women deal with, and I'm not ashamed.  Anyway, my periods are like clockwork.  The first of  every month.  Always.  January 1st came and went.  No period.  I didn't fret.  No big deal.

A week went by, still no period.  Scott joked that I was pregnant.  I spoke with my mom on the phone.  She joked that I was pregnant. I shrugged them both off.  "I'm not pregnant!"  I said, with complete certainty. "I have an IUD, its 99.9% effective.  Its from stress, or a side effect of the IUD.  No big deal."  I didn't give it a second thought. 2 more days went by. Still nothing.  ***Ps..An IUD is an intrauterine device, to prevent pregnancy, mine is made of copper and contains no hormones. Just in case you're confused.

 Is it a side effect of the IUD?  I secretly thought to myself.  I had done my research on it before, I didn't remember seeing Missing a period as a side effect of the brand of IUD I got (The Paragard, in case you're curious).  I decided to look it up on the internet.  It wasn't a side effect.  I started to worry.  I typed Pregnant with Paragard into the google search engine.  A bunch of forums came up.  I began to read, and nearly lost my dinner.  Lots of women had gotten pregnant with the exact same IUD that I currently had in place.  Fear settled into the pit of my stomach.  Have I just been going through denial?  I felt sick.  I sent Scott off to the store to pick up a pregnancy test. I barely slept that night.

January 10th.  My period was officially 10 days late.  I peed on a stick first thing in the morning. I knew with certainty that it would come up negative, but a steaming cloud of fear was starting to fog over my mind. The plus sign appeared before I could even pull my pants up.


Pregnant.

I started shaking. "Crap!" I said to Scott (I'm not lying, I didn't swear.  You'd think I would have, because I've been known to do so, but I really said crap, weird right?).  I started chanting This can't be happening! in my head over and over.  Scott, smiling like a school boy, asked if I was still going to love him, and wrapped me in a warm hug.  I held back tears.  Echo is just 8 months old.  Dexter is a nightmare at times.  Ivy is supposed to have surgery this summer.  I can't be pregnant.

And yet.  I am.

Apparently when I dreamed last week that my mom was pregnant, it wasn't just totally random and weird.  I think my body was trying to drop some hints.  I was just in too much denial to notice.

99.9 PERCENT!  That's what the Paragard website says. Somehow I made it into the .1 percent bracket?  This feels familiar.  Like Ivy's rare heart condition, and the rare liver thing I had while pregnant with Echo.  Apparently if its rare, its going to happen to us.  The odds are in our favor.  (We better win that HGTV Dream Home Sweepstakes!) I was such a glowing advertisement for my IUD.  I told all my friends about it.  I told them how totally great it was.  I loved my IUD. How could it betray me like this?!

The freaking out began immediately.  Well actually not immediately.  I was in a state of shock.  I managed to get the kids and myself dressed.  Carted Corbin off to School, and Scott off to work.  Then drove over to Ivy's dentist appointment.  I called my OB's office from the parking lot.  I couldn't wait any longer.  We set up an appointment for that afternoon.  I would need an ultrasound to see if the IUD was still in or if it had somehow come out. I was shaking again when I hung up the phone.

I feel like I was in a fog for the rest of the day. I couldn't believe it.  I was embarrassed sitting in the waiting room of the OB's office.  People kept looking at me with my 8 month old baby and my 3 year old daughter who appears to be 2 years old.  I know what they were thinking.  What is that lady thinking having a baby again so soon?  I'm not on 16 and pregnant with a loser boyfriend who is just too lazy to use a condom.  I'm a grown woman in a stable, loving relationship.  I know how it works.  I took measures to prevent pregnancy.  I started to wish this experience on them for judging me, until I realized I was actually judging them, and they were probably watching us because Ivy is freaking adorable and kept doing this ridiculous dance while holding her shirt up and playing the drums on her tummy.  I'm such a jerk.

I felt sick to my stomach during the ultrasound, and it wasn't morning sickness!   They showed me where the IUD was, and where it was supposed to be.  It didn't make any sense (still doesn't).  Somehow my IUD moved to the right wall of my uterus and is barely hooked on by a tip.  The rest of it is just floating in my abdomen.  WHAT! THE! CRAP?!  How did it do this.  Do physics allow such a thing?  Its seriously the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.  Did it grow legs and walk there?  Because that's the only way I can imagine that it moved that much.

Doctor provided drawing of where the IUD is located.  Sorry its hard to see.  It is written on a paper towel.

Anyway, having an IUD while pregnant has some risks, of course.  The biggest is miscarriage, but they can't remove it right now without hurting the baby.  So it shall continue to float around in outer space (otherwise known as my abdomen) until after I either miscarry or have they baby.  Magic is there tool of trade for removal, just kidding, it'll be with laproscopic surgery. At the same time they remove it they said they could do a tubal ligation (tie my tubes).  This is an option I've never really considered before, but after this experience is looking pretty darn good! I'm still thinking about it.

I know how this happened. (Duh, Scott and I like each other a little too much!).  No, what I mean is, I know why this happened.  Heavenly Father heard my mind thinking that 2 boys and 2 girls was perfect.  We don't need a 5th child.  And he said, "Nope, you have a 5th one up here, and I'm sending him/her now before you can completely change your mind."

I'm seriously still a little frazzled by this whole thing, and I have some fear of having a miscarriage, but I know that Heavenly Father would not send me a challenge that I cannot handle.  I can do this.  I am happy and blessed that I even have the ability to have children (when I was told at age 12 that I couldn't).  I just didn't think I'd have so many, so quick.  Apparently Scott and I are the two most fertile people on earth!  (Either that or Scott is freaking Superman or something)

Ps.. People keep asking me if I had any indication that the IUD had moved.  No, I didn't.  I had no pain, or cramps or flutterings in my tummy, and I didn't hear it hailing a cab.  Nothing.  It just snuck off one night when no one was looking.

The Arch Nemesis of a 7 Month Old Baby

Would you believe that little Echo has enemies?  Well she does.  Baby food.  She hates it.  She dreads it.  She spits it out, gags on it and even glares at it.  She's disgusted by it.  And honestly, who can blame her.  Does this look appetizing to you?

 But those little meltaway puffs, she loves.  She's even got her little pincher fingers grabbing them like a pro.

 I wish I had a picture of the face she makes when I force her to eat baby food.  She gives me a look of death as spits, gags and drools out the entire spoonful.  She refuses to close her mouth. I don't think any ever gets all the way to her stomach. Anyway its too hard to take a picture when I'm busy with damage control from the spitting.  But here is her super cute happy face when she ate one of the puffs.

 The other night Scott and I were snacking on some carrots and gave her one to gnaw on.  She LOVED it!  She hates baby food carrots, but apparently thought real carrots were fantastic. ( Her one teensy tooth could barely shave off a little from the side, and we watched her super close, so please no messages about her choking! We had the situation under control.)  Today at lunch I forced her to gag her way through some squash, then gave her an apple (she saw me eating it and wanted to share), I dare say she liked it more than the carrot. (BTW she's also tried applesauce baby food. No dice there either).

 Yummy apple.  I'm with ya Echo.  Big people food rocks, baby food is fun for no one!

I Resolve Not To Have A Resolution...Wait, that doesn't make sense.

Don't you hate New Year Resolutions.  I do.  They seem so forced and by February people are back to their old ways.  So I'm not making a resolution this year.  Nope.  I'm just going to do things in life differently (alright, alright, Its the same thing, I know!)

For starters...I have given up soda.  This is no easy feat.  I am totally in love with soda, and its been my crutch for years (or decades).  Especially pepsi and mountain dew.  This may be the hardest thing I will ever do.  Can you go to rehab for soda addiction?

Second...I'm working out.  FIVE days a week!  That's right, I'm insane.  I'm going from periodically working out whenever I feel the urge to working out five days a week.  I have a plan in order to not get bored, and I'm really hoping that this isn't the resolution life change that disappears come February.

Third.....Nightly family prayers.  We are terrible about this.  I don't know why.  We read to all the kids every night, this should just fit in too.  But what can I say?  We're lazy, and by 8:30 pm I'm SO DONE with kids.

Fourth.....Paying our tithing.  I'm not ashamed to admit that we struggle with this. Okay, I'm a little ashamed.  Its hard for us when we are financially struggling to give away 10 percent of our hard earned money to the church which isn't struggling financially at all.  We really need to work on this.  Its so hard.

And finally....I need to work on being nice.  This sounds stupid when I read it out loud.  But seriously.  I don't think I'm very nice.  I'm mean.  When my kids start to get on my nerves, I'm mean.  When people I come into contact with say things that I don't agree with or just seem ignorant, I'm mean (maybe not to their face, but I definitely think mean things).  I don't want to be mean, so I'm going to be nice.

If  you have any advice for me on how to keep up with my life changes I'm open to it. Also,does anyone want to work out too? Then we can be held accountable to each other!  We don't have to live near each other (since I don't live near anyone) Just make a daily or weekly report or whatever.  LMK.

Happy 2012!  Here's to hoping the Mayans were wrong!