Fried egg and cheese sandwich

Here is a little twist to the classic grilled cheese sandwich. It is simple and adds a little extra taste.

Here is what you need:
2 slices of bread
1 Tbs. butter
1-2 eggs
pepper (or any other seasoning for the eggs)
1-2 slices of cheese

First cut a whole in the center of a slice of bread. You can do this to only one slice or both slices. I do both, but my husband only likes it in one slice.
Next heat up the butter in a skillet over medium heat.
Place the slice of bread with the whole in it into the skillet.
Crack the egg into the whole. Add seasoning of your choice. I like pepper, and my husband like Tabasco sauce.
Cook until the egg solidifies enough to flip it. Cook the other side to desired wellness.
If you want two eggs, repeat these steps.
If you only want one egg, proceed like a normal grilled cheese sandwich.
Butter the slice of bread without the whole and place it into the skillet.
Put cheese and anything else you like (ham, turkey, bacon) onto the bread.
Top it with the egg slice of bread and let it melt all together.

Xavier's Birth Story

On October 19, 2011, 2 days after my due date, I had my doctor appointment. My doctor checked me and told me I was 3cm dilated (I don't remember how much effaced). She then hooked me up to the fetal stress monitor and informed me that I was also contracting, which I couldn't feel at all. The monitor showed that Xavier's heart beat dropped with every contraction. This was cause for concern as it meant he was under stress, so she sent me to the hospital to be induced and monitored.

I went back home first to get Drake and my hospital bag. We arrived at the hospital around 11:00 am. I got all checked in and settled in my room and at noon the doctor came in and broke my water and put me on pitocin. The contractions were very painful, but I chose to go without any pain medication. Drake stood by my side the entire time I was in labor. Our families got there around 6:00 pm. Eventually my body was contracting enough on it's own that I was taken off the pitocin. Since I didn't have to be monitored anymore I went to take a bath to try to relax a little bit and ease the pain. I stayed in the water until it was cold.

When I got back to my room I was put back onto pitocin. They had me on it off and on for the remainder of my labor. I tried to sleep, but had little luck. At about 2:30 am I felt like I was ready to push. We called the doctor in, but when she checked me I was only at 9cm. She said it was almost 10 and she could stretch it. So I started pushing at about 2:35. At 2:55 am on October 20, Xavier arrived weighing 7 lbs 14 oz. I got to hold him right away and was so amazed to see such a little person in my arms-my little person! I ripped in the process, so I was being stitched up while Xavier was being cleaned. Drake and I got very little time to ourselves with our son before his visitors came in to see him. Everybody was very excited to see him. Here are just a few pictures.

Update 11/22

I survived the week! Isobel let me take all my tests this week! Now I can relax and enjoy my break, well sort of. I will need to study a bit and do some assignments over the break. At least it isn't all due at once! I am 29 weeks now and impatiently awaiting the arrival of Isobel. I gained 2 more pounds and her heart beat is still in the 130s. It takes her about and hour now to get her 10 moves. My belly button is still not sticking out and I still have no swelling. This week I have been experiencing pretty bad sciatic nerve pain. It was so bad at one point on Wednesday I had to stop walking and sit down. My doctor gave me some stretches to do that helps some (mostly just in the morning). I think I was having some false labor contractions yesterday. The pain was worse than Braxton hicks, but not so bad I had to stop what I was doing. It went all the way around to my back and all over my tummy (not just the front/bottom). The pain lasted a minute or 2, then happened again 2 hours later. Nothing has happened since. We cleaned up her room and sorted her clothes this morning (finally), so we are all set and ready for her to come!

39 weeks!

Xavier got scratched on his cheek earlier this week. He was sitting on his own minding his own business and a little girl came and scratched him. It doesn't seem to be bothering him. He got to spend the day with mom and dad today. Drake was off of work and I only had one class. My class was during his nap, so he didn't even know that I was gone. He loved it that we were both home. He got to cuddle and play with us both. He even helped with little sister's room. Drake has to work all day tomorrow so mom and X get to do crafts all day. Look for those posts tomorrow night.

Family update 11/16

Wow it has been two weeks since my last post. It is the end of the semester and I have been extremely busy! Everybody got over their colds fairly quickly and luckily I didn't get it! We haven't been spending much time together as a family these past couple weeks. Mostly because I have been studying and doing homework, but also because Drake has been working. We eat dinner together when he is home, but that's about it.

Xavier has been spending a lot of time on his own (I feel terrible about it). But I still read to him when he brings me a book and play with him when he asks me to. I set aside one day of the week for mommy son time. We play, do art projects, and watch movies. This gives me a break and lets him know I haven't forgotten about him. I try to make this day on a weekend so that we get as much time as possible to do things between my studying. Last weeks art project was an "all about me book" that we made for daycare (they requested it). You can read more about it and see pictures here. This week we did a fall tree craft which can be seen here.

Baby girl is trying to escape! That's how it feels anyway. There is no more room for her in there. I am 38 weeks now, just 2 weeks away from the due date. She may come early, but I hope she waits until at least Thursday afternoon (after all my tests this week). I guess we will see. We got to check on her on Thursday. She is still head down and I am pretty sure she has dropped (the doctor didn't say anything about it, but I feel like I can breathe easier). Her heart beat was in the 130's and she is moving less. It takes about 40 mins for her to move 10 times now. I gained 2 more pounds from my previous visit. I still have not swelled at all with this one and the braxton hicks are getting stronger (I can actually feel them now). We are getting so close!

38 weeks

Fall Tree Craft

This week's craft was a fall tree. It was a simple one because I had to study all day. I glued a bare tree (made out of napkins because we don't have brown construction paper) to the background. I let Xavier help me squeeze some glue out for the "leaves" that I had pre-cut for him. I told him to glue the paper onto it, but I don't think he understands yet. He grabbed handfuls of the cut paper and just put them all in one big pile on the glue. I had to show him how to spread it across to all the parts of background that had glue on it. He put clumps of "leaves" on the paper until he could no longer see the background. After shaking off the excess, here is how it came out.

The leaves are falling off the tree into piles on the ground. The important part is that he had fun!

Xavier's "All About Me" Book

Xavier's daycare requested that the parents do an "all about me book" with their kiddos. We had a lot of fun with this! I sat down and planned out all the pages and made sure I had all of the supplies ready to go so all he had to do was put it together. I don't have pictures of the supplies or of us putting it together (I was alone when were doing it-Drake had to work), but here are the pictures of the finished pages.

I chose this picture because he is having so much fun!

I probably should have taken another picture, but this one was just so cute

He absolutely loved doing this page! He loves his stickers!
(Please disregard my misspelling of lightning!)

The picture is hard to see, but he is putting his train tracks together.

He made his own little book.
He wrote (scribbled) on all of the pages.

He sings this song anytime he is bored.
In the car, while waiting for food, during bath-anytime!

He had too much fun with this one!
We glued actual dirt to this page, but he got more on himself than the page.

Here is a recipe for his favorite dish-pizza!

Update 11/1

This week we carved pumpkins and went trick or treating. For pics see my post titled Halloween.Xavier has been sick all week. It started with a runny nose last Friday. By Saturday afternoon he got a pretty bad cough. We took him in to urgent care where he was diagnosed with croup. We got him all his medications right away and the croupy cough subsided within a day or two. He still has a cough now, but it is more normal. He is still getting medicine twice a day- morning and night. His daycare gave me a blank booklet to decorate with him-all about me. I plan to put some pictures in it, let him draw/color in it, and maybe put some feathers or grass in it to represent outside (he loves to be outdoors).

Xavier also got Dad sick. Drake started feeling sick around Monday. That is usually how it happens. Xavier catches something at daycare and passes is to Drake almost immediately. Xavier usually gets over it within a week, but Drake usually stays sick for a few weeks. Sometimes I will get sick too, but usually not as bad as either of the boys. Hopefully this time follows that pattern!

I have been so busy! And it just gets worse. I have a test every week until Thanksgiving break- talk about stress!! I can't afford to get sick! I have been trying my hand at organization this week. I have started making  a"dinner menu" for the week. I planned out dinners for everyday of the week and went shopping for everything I needed at the beginning of the week. I really liked it and will try to stay on top of it. It was nice knowing what I was making that day and knowing I had the ingredients to make it!

Isobel will be here in 4 weeks! That's right I am 36 weeks pregnant as of yesterday- officially in the third trimester! I have gained a total of 12 lbs. Isobel moves 10 times about every half hour. At the last check up (Tuesday) her heart beat was in the 140's. When the doctor felt my tummy to see where Isobel was, she noticed I was having a braxton hicks contraction. I didn't feel it at all. I had to take out my belly ring today because it was hurting so bad. I think it was starting to get infected. The bottom was red and hurt bad, even if it was barely touched. I am no longer a cool young person with a pierced naval. I have traded up to a classy young mommy. ;)

We also had a family night this week. Drake brought home chocolate covered peeps and Monsters University after work on Wednesday. We ate dinner while the movie started and then ate our dessert as the movie finished. We all enjoyed the movie and the family time. Xavier really liked the movie! and the peeps of course! Drake and I enjoyed each other's company (our schedules have still been off). I enjoyed all of these things as well, but mostly I liked that we were all together as a family.

36 weeks!

Family night

Halloween!

This Halloween was another success. Both Xavier and Drake were feeling sick yesterday. By about 6 they were both feeling a little better so we decided to put costumes on and go trick or treating. Xavier went as a little soldier- camo attire and a gun (nerf gun). Drake went as deadmau5, and I was a redneck with the beer gut hanging out. We went to the same neighborhood as last year, but to our surprise not very many houses had candy. The street we decided on had two houses with porch lights on on one side of the road and three or four on the other. That was it! Just six houses passing out candy. This worked well enough for us with the boys not feeling that great. Xavier was done after five houses. He asked me to hold him, so I carried him to the last house. I put him down so he could say trick or treat one last time this year. He was excited to eat his candy when we got home (we only let him have one piece).

Last Saturday we carved pumpkins with our good friends Margo and Ella. Ella decorated her pumpkin with stickers, lots and lots of stickers! Xavier wasn't very interested in the stickers. He put two stickers on his pumpkin and decided he was done. He enjoyed cleaning out the pumpkins much better. He went from person to person to help clean out the pumpkins. He reached in and pulled out all his little hand could hold. Once that was done he sat next to Ella and watched her as she continued to put stickers on her pumpkin.

We let them sit outside too long...

Redneck with beer gut, little soldier, deadmau5

Update 10/25

I have been neglecting my blog lately. We have been very busy! Well, mostly it is just me that has been busy. I have been busy with school and Xavier's party. We invited all of his classmates from daycare, but none of them showed up. I still think it was a success. He loved all of his gifts and having his grandparents here. Pictures of the party are below.

I am 35 weeks pregnant as of yesterday. Only 5 more to go! Isobel is doing great! She is getting bigger every day (and crushing my insides in the process!). I have gained 12 lbs total and am measuring right on track. Her heart beat was steady and strong at 140 at our last visit. I have been feeling extremely thirsty these past few weeks. No matter how much water I drink, it never seems to be enough. My body is getting ready for her to be breastfeeding. That is my theory anyway.

This was 34 weeks

Xavier is now sleeping in his own bed again AND sleeping all night! We bought him a lightening McQueen poster for his room and had him help us rearrange it. We also got him a night light which I think helped the most! I did a stamp chart with him that he absolutely loves! We let him pick out the stamp and the color of ink pad. He chose a soccer ball and red ink. He gets one stamp for sleeping in his own bed and one for sleeping all night.

Drake's pumpkin spice beer is completely finished. The alcohol content is that of a normal beer. He is pleased with this and the taste. He says it is delicious. For more details you can visit his facebook page or website. So far he is the only one who has had some of it, but he is taking it to a party tomorrow night. He also started a batch of cherry mead. He will be getting more hours at work the next few days because a coworker's girlfriend just went into labor. This will be nice for his next check, but it also means Xavier and I won't see him as much.