It's Been So Long

A couple of weeks ago, I realized it had been a year since we were told Edward wouldn't survive the pregnancy.  We all know how that turned out, but a few of you have asked what has been going on since his big debut, so I'll give you a monthly play-by-play...

May
Elliot turned 2!  Can you believe how old she is?  It makes me so sad :( The day before her birthday, we went to Chuck-E-Cheese's for pizza and games, and to our local cupcake confectionary, Buttacup for a birthday treat!

For her birthday, we had a small shindig at the house.  We were going to have a backyard BBQ picnic, but with the terrible weather forecast, we had to move everything inside!

Cake and cupcakes by Christina's Cake Creations

This is what my niece did the entire party.  It was precious!

June:

June was full of lots of firsts for both Elliot and Edward!

At the beginning of the month, we went to Pop and GiGi's (Jarrod's parents) house where he got to meet his MawMaws for the very first time.  They HATE babies...can't you tell?! ;)

A couple weeks later, the kids and I went to Pop and Mimi's (my parents) while Jarrod had training for his new job!

Elliot + Zeus = BFF

doing the water sprinkler

Pop and Edward.  I'll treasure this picture forever.

Seriously.  How gorgeous is their back yard?!

July:

For the fourth, we went to the beach with Jarrod's entire family.  It was one big, crazy, time of your life, pull your hair out BLAST!

The end of the month wasn't quite as fun as the beginning.  The opposite, actually.  On 7/22, my daddy was in a cycling accident (we know there wasn't a car involved or that something medically didn't cause it.  Other than that, we don't know what happened.) and hit his head hard enough to crack his helmet and cause some serious brain damage.  After an entire week of ups and downs, Daddy lost his fight and passed away on 7/28.  Looking back, we are grateful for the way God had been preparing for this for several months.  God has also done some spectacular things since his death, and while we are thankful for those things too, I think, for now anyways, we would much rather have him here with us.

August - September:

August and September were fairly quiet, with trips to the zoo and Chick-fil-a (I'm seriously addicted) and play dates with friends.

Feeding the giraffes is her absolute favorite!

I don't even know...

Showing his sister who's boss!

Hanging out at the zoo.  Seriously, zoo memberships are the BEST!

First day of dancing!

That's about all I have for you today!  Hopefully soon I can update you with Halloween...and all the reasons we don't give Elliot candy!

Until next time...

jsquared & esquared

Freezer Food: Chicken Fajitas

Hey all you freezer food fanatics! (You'll have to excuse me...I'm working on no sleep, and my 5th cup of coffee!)

Here is our recipe for chicken fajitas.  They were delicious, easy to prep and cook, and Elliot loved them.

TRIPLE WIN!

Chicken Fajitas
( 5-6 servings)

·         2 peppers sliced (your favorite - I used one green and one red)

·         1 onion sliced

·         1 1/2 pound chicken breast

·         1/2 cup chicken broth

·         taco seasoning packet

·         1 tsp. chili powder

·         1/2 tsp. paprika

·         1 tsp. salt

You will also need tortillas*, cheese, sour cream cream, etc.

Directions

1.     Put all the ingredients in a large freezer bag. (Make sure you label the bag with cooking instructions.)**

2.    When it’s time to cook it, dump it all in your slow cooker and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 5-6 hours.

3.    When it’s cooked, shred the meat and add it back to the pepper mixture and serve on warm tortillas and your favorite toppings.

*I froze the tortillas right next to the fajitas so I didnt have to worry about them expiring.  Once we nuked them, we couldnt tell they had ever been frozen!

**I divided the recipe into two quart size bags, and it was just enough for Jarrod, Elliot, and me

Freezer Food: Chicken Pot Pie

Last night, while I was serving dinner, Jarrod told me this, "I'm really glad you found this recipe and tweaked it.  Not meth tweak, but made it your own tweaked it."

Seriously.  Thanks for the clarification. ;)

Anywho, here is the recipe as promised. :)

CHICKEN POT PIE

Ingredients:

6 CHICKEN BREASTS

3 ONIONS

6 CARROTS

6 CELERY STALKS

4 TBS. BUTTER

3 CANS SWEET PEAS (drained)

42 OZ. CHICKEN BROTH

3 CANS CREAM OF CHICKEN

3 PILLSBURY PIE CRUSTS (each box contains 2 crusts and is good for one pie)

TO PREP:

1.)    Put chicken breasts in a pot of water and cook on medium-high for 30 minutes (or until chicken is fully cooked.

2.)    Chop onions, carrots, and celery.

3.)    Melt butter in a large sauce pot and add all chopped veggies.

4.)    While the veggies are sautéing, shred the cooked chicken breast and set aside.

5.)    After about 5 minutes, add chicken broth to the pot with veggies  and let simmer over medium-high heat until reduced by half.

6.)    When chicken broth has reduced by half with veggies, stir in chicken, peas, and cream of chicken.

TO FREEZE:

1.)       Divide pie fillings among three gallon size freezer bags.

2.)       Remove all air and lay flat to freeze (it thaws quicker this way).

3.)       Freeze pie crusts in box.

TO COOK:

1.)       Take out pie filling and crust, and thaw 24 hours in fridge (or you can do like me and run it under hot water for 5-10 minutes).

2.)       Spray pie plate with Pam and line with one crust.

3.)       Put in one bag of filling.

4.)       Cover with second pie crust, cut three vents in top with a sharp knife.

5.)       Bake for 45 minutes on 350 degrees (or until golden and bubbly).

This is one of husband's favorite freezer meals, and he requests it often.  One problem we've found is that it's a bit bland, so we just add a bit of Tony's.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do, and I'll be posting more recipes soon!

Until next time...

j squared and e squared

Number 2: Newborn Pictures

Once again, we were able to con Shelley into taking pictures for us.  She spoils us too much! ;)-

First official Conner family picture!

Edward and Elliot have the same yawn.
You have no idea how happy that makes me!

sweet baby face

I love these little moments.

You can't tell in this picture, but Edward is totally wearing a Texans onesie.
Get jealous.

And because we stuck Elliot in this bowl for her newborn pictures, we had to do it to Edward too!

Number 2: An Introduction of Sorts

Well, it's been nearly two weeks since we brought Edward home from the hospital, and I'm pretty sure Jarrod and I couldn't be any more in love with him and his sweet sister, Elliot!  I'm sorry (not really) it's taken me so long to introduce you to him, but before I do, here's the obligatory birth story!

Throughout the pregnancy, but especially once I hit the third trimester, my OB and I played around with the idea of inducing at 38 weeks, especially with my entire pregnancy contractions, and the complications we had with Elliot.

(3/25) At my 36 week checkup, when she saw how big he was in the ultrasound, we went ahead and set the date for April 8 with the understanding that if I delivered after 5pm, she wouldn't be able to be there.
(3/30) I have to go to the hospital because of more bleeding.  After an hour or so of being there, it was pretty much determined to be a fluke, and as she was about to release us I all of a sudden vagaled out.*  (This is the first time Jarrod realized E2 was taking everything out of me.)  After an IV and some blood work, we were sent home where I had to take it easy (and eat crawfish).
(4/1) 37 week checkup.  Tell my doctor about hospital visit.  She doesn't seem too concerned.  We confirm for the following Monday, but neither one of us are completely comfortable.  She wasn't, because she was nervous about me delivering after she had to leave for the day.  I still couldn't tell you why I wasn't.  After my checkup, I called Jarrod to talk things over with him.  He told me to take my time and think about everything and just make a decision by Friday.
(4/2-6) I nearly pass out 4 more times, each one of them being worse than before.  Decision has been made.  Take this baby out of me NOW!

APRIL 8
7:00 - Call doctor, and she sends me to L&D at hospital
8:30 - Arrive at hospital. 3cm, 70% effaced, and -3 station.  Jarrod predicts Edward will be 8lb 3oz, and I say 8lb 2oz.  My nurse tells us there is absolutely no way there's an 8 pound baby in my body and tells us he'll be closer to 7lb 6oz.
9:30 - Pitocin IV started.  I pass out again (contrary to the nurse's belief, it's NOT because of the needle)
11:00ish - My contractions are REALLY strong and 1:30 apart, so the nurse turns down the pitocin.  I beg her not to...I'm seriously ready to deliver this baby.
12:50 - I jokingly tell my nurse I'm toying with the idea of getting my epidural BEFORE my water is broken. It's still very fresh in my mind what happened last time, and I'm okay not ever experiencing that again!
12:55 - Dr. comes to check on me and breaks my water. She also makes the prediction that Edward will be 7lb, 12oz. after telling me there's no way he's even close to 8 lb.**
1:43 - My epidural is in and proven itself mostly effective.  I feel human again.  The nurse checks me one more time - 7cm, 100% effaced, and +2 station
3:00ish - My nurse tells me to let her know when I feel pressure so she can check me again.
3:07 - I tell my nurse she might want to check me.  She does...the baby is falling out.  Dr. is called.
3:15 - Dr. arrives and has to help the nurse finish setting things up.  She's joking around about something that happened early and how priceless my face was.  I kindly warn her to stop. :)
3:23 - Start pushing
3:25 - Our world is changed forever!

8 pounds, 3 ounces
20.5 inches

His face was so blue from coming out so quickly, it scared my dr.  It wasn't until he had been screaming for a bit, and the rest of his body was pink, that she realized he wasn't oxygen deprived, just beaten up.  After everything was cleaned up and put back in its  place, Jarrod brought Elliot in so they could meet for the first time ever.  Her reaction to him was priceless as she couldn't stop kissing him and calling him "brudder" and "Ehward!"

That's about all the story you're going to get, and hope I didn't scare you with an overload of information you did NOT want to know!  I'll post a few of his newborn pictures soon, but here's a teaser for now!

Thank you to each and every one of you for your love, support, prayers, and encouraging words you have shared with our family from the very beginning.  Each one of them and you  means the world to us!

Until next time...

jsquared & esquared

*People with vasovagal response are typically recurrent, usually happens when the person is exposed to a specific trigger. Prior to losing consciousness, the individual frequently experiences early signs of symptoms such as lightheaded, nausea, the feeling of being extremely hot or cold (accompanied by sweating), ringing in the ears (tinnitus), an uncomfortable feeling in the heart, fuzzy thoughts, confusion, a slight inability to speak/form words (sometimes combined with mild stuttering), weakness and visual disturbances such as lights seeming too bright, fuzzy or tunnel vision, black cloud-like spots in vision, and a feeling of nervousness can occur as well. The symptoms last for a few seconds before the loss of consciousness (if it is lost), which typically happens when the person is sitting up or standing. When sufferers pass out, they fall down (unless this is impeded); and when in this position, effective blood flow to the brain is immediately restored, allowing the person to regain consciousness. Fainting occurs with the loss of oxygen to the brain.

**Dr. later told us that at the rate he was gaining weight, he would have been close to 10 pounds had I waited until the due date.  Needless to say, I'm thankful we didn't!

Number 2: Maternity Pictures

I know, I know.  No.2 has already made his appearance, and I'm JUST NOW posting our maternity pictures.  Don't be mad. :)

We wanted something intimate with the three of us.  Sure, we'd like a few pose pictures here and there, but mostly just some of us hanging out in our living room...with a photographer of course!

This picture about sums up our entire session!

I love this man.

Not sure if he's kissing my ever growing gut, or the baby inside!

We took these pictures in the same field as Elliot's 1 year pictures.  We also almost got kicked out of said field by a couple of Pearland's finest, who thought we were up to no good...in their defense, we usually are!

"Nose Kisses" are my favorite :)