Easy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Here is my recipe for banana muffins that I make all the time!! You can make regular size or mini muffins just adjust the bake time.

3 or 4 Banana's (mashed)

1/2 cup Sugar

1 Egg

1/3 cup melted Butter

1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 cups Flour
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 package of Milk Chocolate
Chips (optional)

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix all the wet ingredients in one bowl and mix all the dry in another.
• Add the dry mixture to the wet
• Add chocolate chips
• Bake for 15-20mins (I usually only keep them in for 15mins max)

Enjoy!!!

Cake Smash Pictures!!!

A few months back I heard about an awesome idea called a Cake Smash Photo Shoot! Although it kind of seems self explanatory, for some reason people are still like "what the heck is that?" Well....for your child's first birthday pictures you set them in front of a cake and let them smash it!! It makes for VERY cute pictures and I knew this is what I wanted to do. So, here is a peek at what it looked like!! I can't show too much since I will be displaying these pictures at her party and don't want to ruin the surprise!!! :) Enjoy!

Although it looks like she is having fun...she cried about 80% of the time. She just HATED the feeling of icing on her feet, legs and hands!! She wouldn't even try the cake so I had to force her to eat some!! Great mom right?? lol BUT then she seemed to like it and ate some herself.... followed by more crying after she realized that she is still covered in this pink stuff! Ahhhh the things we do to our children!!! ha ha but Michelle (the photographer) did such an amazing job and was very patient even though she had one tough customer hehe!

Travelling with two small kids

WOW! It has been a long time since I was on here...oops!! Well we just got back from our very long trip and I thought I would let you all (I so badly want to write y'all but who am I kidding, I can't pull that off LOL) know how it went. We headed 17 hours East to visit my dad and step mom and we were driving since I have a slight (again who am I kidding an EXTREME) fear of flying. The drive was going well until Blake asked "are we there yet" (at this point I was asking myself if it was okay to drug your children to make them sleep...jk of course!) and it had only been about 45mins! And don't let that picture deceive you, it took him 6.5 hours to actually fall asleep lol! Chelsea would sleep for the first few hours then she would be awake the rest of the drive and the only thing that would keep her from crying was holding my hand. Now just picture bending your arm in a weird way to the back seat and around a car seat that is rear facing ....for 5 hours!!! Ouch my arm was killing me! We stopped half way which landed us in Quebec where folks don't like to speak English...great! Our hotel room smelt like BO but at this point it was midnight and we were tired!!

The next morning we got up at 6:30am had some breakfast that the hotel offered and we were off. I REALLY wanted a Tim Horton's coffee but then I quickly remembered that "Oh ya they probably wont speak English" and from my experience last year with McDonald's and a cashier that could not speak or understand English...it's not fun. I drove first because again, I knew Chelsea would sleep the first few hours then need my hand. So we left the hotel at 7:30am and we arrived at 4:00pm (But really it was only 3:00pm "our" time...darn time change) we got changed and we off to my cousins wedding! And that was the quick and dirty version of what it was like travelling with two small kids :) Oh and I left out that we did make gas stops which only took us a quick 40 mins each time haha but I guess we had to let the kids stretch, go to the bathroom and get some food :) But the trip was all worth it!! We had a blast :)

Basement Reno

We have not had use of our basement since my brother in law moved in with us (to go to school) almost two years ago. This past weekend he moved out and we are excited to finally be able to do something fun with this space. We have decided to make the basement a family/playroom and also have it be a place where guests can sleep when they come for a visit. So here is our plan and check list and I will keep you updated as things get done :)

• Prime the walls
• Paint
• Replace the carpet
• Buy a new couch/sofa bed
• Decorate
• Bring on the toys! :)

Breastfeeding, Teething, & Weaning

Today has been one trying day! Chelsea is cutting 2 bottom teeth and has been very cranky these past few days. Putting her in her own bed at night has gone out the window (thanks to teething) All she does is scream her head off until we take her out and even then she still cries. I'm still getting clogged milk ducts, in fact I have one right now but that was my fault since I went too long between feedings on that side. I am Tired! Just so tired! and I know I've said this many many times but I am starting the weaning process again!

I have such a problem with making a plan and sticking to it but my plan this time around is to only pump during the day and offer the bottle. I have a feeling that part of the reason she wont take a bottle is because she is not hungry. Unlike most 9 months olds, Chelsea is drinking all night long (thanks to bed sharing) and she probably gets all the milk she needs at night. During the day she is not too interested in nursing any more anyway. I feel like most of the time I'm "forcing" her to nurse and she just ends up sucking a couple of time then pulls off. The only bad thing about pumping is that I feel like my pump doesn't fully empty me out. I can feel my breasts getting full after just 2 hours but I am hoping this might help reduce my milk supply. This is going to be such a challenge but if I truly want to wean I need to stick to it! I'm tired of feeling so unhappy all the time, I'm tired of being stressed out. I only have a couple of months left before I go back to work and I want to enjoy this time with my kids and not have to worry about my breastfeeding issues anymore! Okay that's all for today! Thanks for listening to my venting! UGH!

Breastfeeding Update

I never thought that we would make it this far but here we are 9 months in and still breastfeeding. This has been one tough journey. I knew that breastfeeding wouldn't be easy but I thought that was only for the first few weeks. I on the other hand struggled for the first 8 weeks then things were great! Breastfeeding was amazingly easy and I loved it. Then, at 4 month in, I got my first blocked milk duct and they kept recurring after that. I have probably had 10 or more.

My original goal was to BF for 6 months but when we got to 6 months Chelsea was WAY too attached and would not take a bottle. We tried to wean a few times but having a baby that will not take a bottle makes it very difficult and we would give up every time. Every time I get a new blocked milk duct I break down and cry and say I'm DONE!!! but how can I be done when Chelsea wont drink from anything but me? I feel so alone! I feel like the only person going through this and I have no support. It's funny because in the beginning I fought SO hard to increase my milk supply to get Chelsea to be OFF the bottle and now here I am wishing I could go back in time and do it all over again. If I knew then what I know now, I honestly would have stopped BF back then. Breastfeeding has now become a negative thing for me and I never really loved it in the first place. I don't feel the wonderful bond it brings because all I can do is worry. "I wonder when I will get another blocked milk duct" "I wonder how long it will last" "I wonder if it will become worse" "I wonder if there is something else going on" "why is it only happening on my one breast"...those are just some of the things that constantly run through my head.

So here I am with another blocked milk duct and taking antibiotics for possible Thrush but nobody really knows if that's what I have. It's frustrating not having answers. I have some symptoms for Thrush, Blocked milk duct and Mastitis but no idea what one it could be (if any). It has been a week now since I started feeling the pain and I really hope it goes away soon! As soon as this is gone I will be starting the weaning process again by taking away the "dinner time" feeding. Chelsea now drinks every 4 hours and all night long, so my goal is to only be nursing at night and then hopefully cutting that out too by the time I got back to work. Wish me luck! I need it.

Easter Picture Frames

A few weeks ago we had the kids pictures taken for Easter and I thought it would be fun to make picture frames for their grandparents to display them in. We made a trip to the dollar store and bought everything you see here (minus the hot glue gun) and we purchased the frames from the dollar store as well. So this project was very inexpensive and very fun.

Blake picked what and where he wanted things to go and I put the glue in place. They turned out so cute that I wish I would have got him to make one for me :)