Homemade Blueberry Muffins

This week, I tried a new recipe...homemade blueberry muffins.  It's silly, but I've never made muffins from scratch...I've just always bought the prepackaged mix and added milk.  I got a hankering for blueberry muffins the other day, and decided it was time for me to make some from scratch.  Fortunately, I found a Weight Watchers recipe (so I know exactly how many points are in each muffin, making it easier for me to track).  I already had all of the ingredients needed, except for blueberries, so I picked up some frozen blueberries from Walmart and tried the recipe on Tuesday.  They turned out great!

 The recipe actually makes 12 regular sized muffins, but--can you believe it--I only have a muffin pan for 6 regular muffins.  I have three jumbo muffin pans, and two mini muffin pans, and only one regular muffin pan, and it only holds six muffins.  Somehow at my bridal shower I ended up with a lot of large and mini muffin pans, but only one small regular muffin pan.  Anyway, so I made 6 regular muffins, and used the rest of the batter to make 24 mini muffins.  These were very good, and Billy liked them, too!  I will say they were a little dense, so I probably could have added a little more milk or something, but they were still very good.

Here's the recipe for Ultimate Blueberry Muffins (from Weight Watchers):

1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour    2/3 cup whole wheat flour    2 tsp baking powder    1/2 tsp table salt    2 Tbsp dark brown sugar, packed    1/2 tsp ground nutmeg    2/3 cup sugar, granulated    1/3 cup light butter, stick    1 large egg    2 egg whites    1/2 tsp vanilla extract    3/4 cup fat-free skim milk    1 and 1/4 cups fresh blueberries
Preheat oven to 400ºF. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper or foil liners. Combine the flours, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. To make the topping, combine the brown sugar and nutmeg in a bowl. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Beat in the egg, egg whites, and vanilla until blended. On low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and scraping down the sides of the bowl. Fold in the blueberries. Evenly spoon the batter into the cups. Sprinkle with the topping. Bake until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool completely on a rack.
This recipe is definitely a keeper for me.  I also printed another muffin recipe from Weight Watchers for apple cinnamon muffins.  I'm interested to see how those turn out.  I'll probably make them tomorrow, since we're having a very light dinner.  I tend to bake cookies and muffins on the nights when I've got a lot of points left over, since I can't live without yummy things like bread and chocolate.  Tonight, we're having lasagna, so there's no way I'll have any extra points at the end of today =).
That's all from me...almost time to wake the babies for lunch!

Milestones

It's been two weeks since my last post, and not much has happened around here.  I've only got one week left of babysitting, and then it's back to just me and Ellie.  It will seem so weird to be able to leave the house whenever I want--I've really gotten used to staying home all day with the two babies.  But I'm looking forward to having alone time with Ellie again...and going shopping at Target during the day =).  It's our favorite store.  I say "our" because Ellie gets super excited when we go into Target.  It must be all the bright colors.

Also, I'm proud to say that I've stuck with Weight Watchers for two weeks now and lost 9 pounds!  I'm officially at my pre-pregnancy weight, and I'm so excited about it.  I still want to lose a little more, so my new goal is 143 pounds (an additional 7).  At that point, I'll assess where I am and decide if I'm happy there or if I want to keep going.  I'm very happy with Weight Watchers and the type of program they run.  It works great for my lifestyle.

Other than that, not much has been going on here.  I've been cleaning a lot this week (although my house isn't showing it right now!).  I went through some of Ellie's things the other day and have been trying to make a pile of "to put in the attic" stuff.  She's outgrown or overused so many things in her short 9 months...like bibs.  She used to go through 10 bibs a day due to her excessive spit up.  Now, I put one on her out of habit, but she rarely spits up.  I probably threw away 20 bibs that were stained or just worn through.  Another thing we used to use a lot...receiving blankets.  They were our burp cloths, because the little ones weren't cutting it for protecting my clothes when I fed her.  Now, we rarely use them.  She has a ton, so I rallied up most of them to put in the attic.  


I braved going into the attic yesterday to pull a few things down, too.  Ellie is now able to feed herself the bottle, so I pulled out some of her small 4 oz. bottles we used when she was a newborn, since they're easier for her small hands to manage.  The Dr. Brown's bottles are great, but they're just too big for her to hold on to.  She's getting pretty good at feeding herself, but she has to lay on the floor or in my arms in order to get the formula out of the bottle (not sure she understands how to lean back without falling over yet).  I guess I should get the sippy cup out again.  We tried it about a month ago and she wasn't interested, but maybe now that she's feeding herself she'll try it again.  

 (Having her breakfast, all by herself!)

She also fed herself a snack this week, and I was so excited!  We've been trying to encourage her to feed herself the little puff snacks, but she just picks them up and throws them on the floor, or hands them to Shelley.  A few days ago, I gave her a freeze-dried yogurt puff, and she loved it.  I then handed her one, and she used her pincer grip and picked it out of my fingers and stuck it in her mouth!  You have no idea how happy I was to see her doing that!  

(The yogurt puff is in and she's realizing what she just did!)

I know I shouldn't worry, because all babies develop differently, but it has made me so paranoid recently when I compare her to other babies her age.  I worry that she's not pulling up yet, or crawling, or feeding herself.  We went to the doctor on Tuesday for her 9 month checkup (and to check out another ear infection) and the nurse told me not to worry, that she's in a transition stage right now.  She said that Ellie is developmentally fine, and that she'll just do those things when she's ready, and that it has nothing to do with intelligence.  I knew all those things already, but it made me feel better to hear it from a professional.  And now she's doing all these new things, and I'm so proud (and relieved!).



One last random thing...I got this package in the mail a week ago, and Billy asked me, "Did you order something?"  And I didn't, so I was kinda surprised...then I opened the box and found these!

 I entered a giveaway a couple months ago and never heard if I got the Glade scents package or not, but apparently I did!  They gave me 3 room sprays and a Sense and Spray (with a refill).  The Sense and Spray cracks me up, because it randomly sprays room freshener when I walk by.  I like it though...it smells nice.  And it locks itself for 20 minutes after it does an automatic spray, although you can still push the button to make it spray.  Anyway, I love anything that's free, so I was very excited to get some freebies in the mail!

We had a little visitor the other day....

 I found this squirrel in my hanging verbena plant on the porch!  He found something good to eat, because he stayed long enough for me to take a picture...then I ran outside and scared him off.  I'm all for sharing with the animals, but I really like my plants and don't want them destroyed!  Any ideas for preventing squirrels from eating my plants?

That's all for now...we have a big day today.  We're going to the airshow to see the Blue Angels fly this afternoon, and it's going to be super loud and super busy.  Looking forward to some family time, though! 

Weight Watchers

I have officially started Weight Watchers.  It's something I've been thinking about for a few months now, and decided it would be a perfect birthday gift from my Granny.  I signed up for a 3 month membership last night, so today is my first day on the program.  

First, I should explain why I joined.  I've always had body image issues, even when I wasn't overweight, and I've always felt the need to be thinner.  I used to exercise a lot in high school, partly because I wanted to lose weight and also because I had the time and resources to do it.  In my senior year of high school, I danced three days a week for at least an hour and a half every day, plus worked out at the YMCA 3-4 days a week.  I went through a very unhealthy period in my life that same year, where I tried to eat less than 1,000 calories a day and maintain that exercise routine every week.  I eventually got burned out and went back to my old eating habits.  


When I moved to Lynchburg for college, I was still at a healthy, acceptable weight for my age and height.  I maintained that until Billy and I got married, and then I slowly started to gain weight.  With being a full time student, and not working, it was hard for me to eat normal meals at normal times of the day.  In the first semester after we got married, I would go all day at school from 7:30 am - 4:00 pm without eating, then come home and eat a ton because I was starving.  I gained about fifteen pounds in the 2 and a half years of marriage before getting pregnant.

I gained 35 pounds while pregnant with Ellie, and lost 25 in the first few months after her birth, but can't get rid of this last 10 to go back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  I'm not strong or dedicated enough to do it on my own, so I decided to enlist the help of Weight Watchers to get me where I need to be.  I know several people who have done Weight Watchers successfully, so I know it's a safe, healthy program and it's something that will work for me.  I really NEED the accountability in order to reach my goals...doing it on my own isn't enough.  I love that I have to track what I eat every day and that it keeps track of how many points I've used.  It's a huge motivation for me...it's kinda like being in school again, and wanting to get an A on my work, so I'm motivated to do my best and not mess things up. =)


So this will probably be a new addition to my blog...talking about Weight Watchers.  I know not many people read this, but it's the perfect outlet for me to talk about what's going on in my life, and it makes me feel better after I get something off my chest.


My short term weight loss goal is 8 pounds.  My starting weight is 159, and so my first goal is to get to 151.  That will put me 1 pound over my pre-pregnancy weight.  Obviously, I don't want to stop there.  Ideally, I would like to eventually get to 135.  That's what I weighed when Billy and I got married, and I think it's a realistic goal for me.


It's been an interesting first day of my lifestyle change.  I totaled up what I ate yesterday, before I started Weight Watchers, just to see what my normal day of food consumption would add up to.  I consumed 70 points yesterday!  To give you an idea of how outrageous that is, my daily food allotment on the program is 29 points.  So today, I had to cut down by more than half.  It blows my mind to think that 70 points was the norm for me.  I felt fine this morning, but this afternoon I have been starving!  I was so paranoid to go over my points for today that I tried to make sure I left enough for dinner, and now I have 6 points that I haven't even used (plus 3 points I earned for walking today!).  I also tried a Weight Watchers recipe for dinner tonight: Orange Chipotle BBQ Pork Chops with Grilled Onions (minus the chipotle...I just used what we had on hand).  It was very yummy, and only 5 points (one slice of homemade pizza, by comparison, is 9 points).   I know it's going to take some getting used to...it's a drastic change from what I was eating.  But I know this is the best thing for me, and it's going to be a huge motivational tool for me to get where I need to be.


In other news, I turned 23 this week.  I had a great birthday and enjoyed spending time with family and friends.  I got lots of gift cards, which I'm trying to save until I actually NEED clothes (crossing my fingers that I can buy smaller sizes!).  Billy's gift to me is a trip to Busch Gardens on Saturday, which I'm really looking forward to.  Last time I went was two years ago, so I think it's been long enough so that I can enjoy the roller coasters again.  I find that if I go too often, it's not as fun.  Granny and Poppaw are going to babysit Ellie for us (thank you!!!).  It will be so weird for me...a whole day without Ellie!  The longest I've left her is for a few hours at a time.  I know she'll be fine and probably have a blast being spoiled, so I'm not worried about her...I'm worried about me!  In June, we're going to leave her for a whole weekend to celebrate our anniversary...knowing me, I'll probably cry.

So I guess that's it from me today...I need to get to bed so that I can have some energy for the babies tomorrow!  By the way, I took BOTH of them to Kroger today, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected.  Both Ellie and Emma were perfect angels.  The hardest part was trying to fit the groceries in the cart, because Emma's car seat was at the front of the cart (where a kid would sit) and Ellie was in the basket of the cart.  I had to stack the groceries around them (I even put a bag of noodles in Ellie's lap and gave Emma my wallet and sunglasses!).  =)

~Kristen

31 Days to Clean Ebook

I found this link to an ebook by Sarah Mae titled 31 Days to Clean: Having a Martha House the Mary Way.  I have been wanting an encouraging, Christian book that can help me get my house in order for sooo long.  I love devotional-style books that not only uplift my spirit, but also help me uplift my home life, too, so I think this will be an awesome book to help me get started in that department.

If you're interested in the ebook, I think it's about $5 (super cheap!) and you can read about it at 31daystoclean.com.  I read the summary and I think it sounds great--can't wait to read this!

Easter and Enjoying Nature

We had a great Easter weekend.  Saturday was a pretty lazy day (thought about planting in our garden, but decided not to), so we just went to Target and had lunch at Chick-fil-A.  We used two free sandwich coupons (from the receipt surveys from previous purchases), so we spent only $7 instead of the normal $12 or more...I love Chick-fil-A, I don't think that place will ever get old for me.

At Target, I found some great deals with coupons.  I bought all of this for $4.57:

 The dog food was free, and everything else was less than a dollar apiece.  I love going to Target...it's probably my favorite store.  I love getting stuff for cheap there, because it gives me an excuse to go there...otherwise, I feel bad asking Billy if we can go just to walk around. =)

On Sunday, we hiked Sharp Top Mtn. in Bedford.  We've hiked it many times before, but we haven't been since 2008, and I honestly wasn't sure I could do it after having a baby.  I'm not what I used to be, and I've come to accept that.  I'm not in the best shape anyway, so when Billy suggested it I was a little wary.  He invited one of his friends from school to join us, so up the mountain we went.  Ellie and Shelley came along, too, which was a new experience.  At first, I carried Ellie on my back in the baby carrier.  That lasted for about 20 minutes, then she started crying.  I thought, "Oh great...guess I should turn around now," so I took her out of the carrier and held her for a minute, and she stopped crying.  We figured out that she didn't like being in the back (not being able to see anything), so Billy took her and carried her in the front.  I thought that would be uncomfortable for a prolonged amount of time, but she was way happier being in the front.  

It took us about an hour and a half of huffing and puffing to make it to the top, but we made it!  That is such an exhausting hike on the way up, and I seriously had moments where I thought I couldn't go on and that I should just quit, but like all things, if you persevere it's worth it.  Once we got to the top, I fed Ellie, and we took a few pictures.

 It was a beautiful day.  It wasn't blazing hot or humid, and it was very pleasant and breezy at the top.  Ellie was a fantastic little hiker (although she did get carried the whole way...we'll see how she does when she starts walking!).  She didn't complain and seemed to have a great time looking at everything and interacting with the other hikers we met.  She even took a 45 minute nap on the way down, and stayed asleep even when Billy tripped and slipped over rocks...it's definitely not the smoothest trail (which is kinda the point of hiking, I guess).  I rolled my ankle and fell a tenth of a mile from the parking lot (haha!) but fortunately nothing serious.  Shelley, thankfully, broke my fall! =)

There were a lot of people hiking on Easter...for believers, it was a great day to enjoy God's creation and reflect on His son's resurrection. 

It's back to the daily grind around here, which means changing lots of diapers and feeding hungry babies, but after having a week off, I feel rested to power through until the end of May.  And Billy and I have resolved to take Shelley hiking with us more often...she was pitiful on Monday.  She hobbled around like Spot used to and had to be prodded to go use the bathroom...she was apparently very sore after our 3 hour hike.  I was sore, too, so I'm sure it wasn't any easier on her.  Thankfully she's back to normal.

My little one is waking up now, so that means it's time for me to go.  Hope everyone had a great Easter!

 

Spring Break!

This week is my spring break.  I love how I'm not even a student anymore and I still get spring break!  It's so weird not having an extra baby during the day.  I've gotten very used to our weekly routine, so it's been strange not following it.  Another interesting point:  Ellie has been napping a lot longer without Emma here.  She took a 3 and a half hour nap yesterday...normally, I probably would've woken her up to keep us on the schedule, but since I didn't have anything going on I just let her sleep.  I got work done and watched 3 episodes of Grey's Anatomy! 

I finished my first batch of envelopes from Mail America this week.  I took 500 envelopes and addressed them...my hand still feels a little cramped!  It wasn't bad, though....I would just do 40 at a time, then take a break, and then do some more.  My only worry is about how picky they will be when it comes time to check my envelopes.  They have a lot of handwriting rules, so I followed them as best as I could, but I don't have the best handwriting.  I'm always jealous of those people who naturally have great handwriting that is always even and neat.  My handwriting is very inconsistent, and I have a horrible tendency to angle my writing upward if I don't have lines.  Oh well...I figure if I don't get paid very much from this batch, I won't do it again.  I'm telling myself over and over that I don't have to be perfect, nor do I have to do this job....

In other news, Ellie is now 8 months old!  I can't believe how quickly she is growing up.  I'm so proud of my little munchkin for overcoming so many obstacles and still being on track with everything.

On Sunday I did my drug store shopping.  I try to do all of my shopping on Sunday since I don't have a lot of time during the week, but I didn't make it to Kroger, so I'll have to work that in either tonight or tomorrow.  I went to CVS because there were several things I wanted to get and some pretty good sales.  This is what I got at CVS this week:

 
I got 2 boxes of Stove Top stuffing, 3 bottles of toothpaste, shaving gel, John Frieda shampoo and conditioner, 4 bottles of Aveeno body wash, a shower loofa, and a green bag tag.  Without coupons I would have spent $49.35....I spent $12.52.  It was definitely a pretty good day for me.  I did two separate transactions:


1st Transaction:

• John Frieda shampoo and conditioner (on sale for $5 each, used $4 in coupons) = $6
• Shave gel (on sale for $3.29, used 55 cent coupon) = $2.74
• CVS green bag tag = 99 cents

Spent $10.44, got $6.49 back in ECBs.


2nd Transaction:

• 2 Stove Top stuffing (on sale for 88 cents, used 2 50 cent off coupons) = 76 cents
• 3 Colgate toothpastes (on sale for $1, used 2 $1 off coupons and one 75 cents off) = 25 cents
• 4 bottles of Aveeno body wash (on sale $6.49, got one free with coupon, then used another $5 in coupons) = $14.47
• Loofa = $2.99 (needed something around $2 to get my total close to even with the ECBs)
• Used  $17.77 in ECBs from previous purchases

Spent $2.08, got $10 back in ECBs for next time!

It was fun to go do another big purchase...it's been a while since I've done one, and I definitely wanted to stock up on body wash and shampoo for myself since I never buy the nice brands!  I almost always use Dove body wash, which is a more expensive brand, but I always ask for it for Christmas so that I'll have a little stockpile without having to buy any.  I've never used Aveeno body wash, but I love their baby lotion and I figured Aveeno is supposed to be good for dry skin (which I have and it's awful) so I splurged on it.  As far as shampoo goes, I can never find any that I really like, other than Tresemme.  I bought the giant bottles of Dove shampoo and conditioner from Sam's, which I'm still trying to use up.  It's not bad, but I think my hair just gets all yucky after using the same shampoo and condition for over a month.  I figured I would try out John Frieda and see how it goes. 

At Walgreen's, I bought 4 cans of soup and 2 toothbrushes...not too exciting, but I only spent $2.


After my shopping, I came home and started putting everything away.  We have a linen closet outside our bathroom, which is where I keep all of our toiletries and my stockpile.  After going through everything and reorganizing my tote box full of stuff, I realized that we have enough toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, body wash, hand soap, shampoo (for Billy), and shaving cream to get us through at least the rest of this year, and some items we're good on until next summer.  I knew I had a large stockpile, but I didn't realize how much I actually had.  I'm glad I won't have to buy toiletries for a long time, so I'm definitely putting a limit on my toiletry purchases.  I think the only thing I'm still "allowed" to buy is shampoo and conditioner for myself, since all I have in the closet is the John Frieda I bought on Sunday.


Sounds like Ellie is waking up...I can hear her scratching on her bouncy seat =). 

Learning humility (among other things) from my daughter

Since becoming a mom, I've learned many lessons the hard way (don't give a baby a cold bottle, be careful when wielding a baby spoon full of cereal--it might end up somewhere other than her mouth!).  The lesson of humility hasn't been an exception.

For the past few weeks, Ellie has been a "crab apple."  She's fussy, cries when she goes down for a nap, cries when she wakes up from a nap, wakes up after going down for the night, won't go down for the night...you get the point.  She's also been difficult when I try to feed her solids...she cries when I put her in her high chair, and cries while I try to feed her.  Sometimes she'll get over it and it's not a big deal, but other times I just have to throw away the cereal I mixed for her and give up on trying to feed her at that time.

The other day, it was this same scenario.  I put her in her high chair: she cried.  I started feeding her, and she still fussed a little but she ate a few bites of cereal.  Then she just had a meltdown.  Huge tears, red face, and lots of screaming.  I'm really not used to that at all...she's normally a pretty content baby.  Granted, she has her drama queen moments, but for the most part it's smooth sailing with her.  After she started screaming, I just lost my patience.  I got up and walked away for a few minutes just so I could calm down.

After walking away, I examined my heart...and I found anger.  It sounds terrible, and normally I don't think I would admit that, but I want to be authentic and not spare the details because of my own pride.  I thought about it and realized that I was angry at Ellie.  I was mad that she was crying so much, mad that she wouldn't eat when I knew she was hungry, and I was mad that I couldn't control her.

After I came to that realization, my anger dissolved.  I was ashamed at myself.  Here I was, sitting on the floor feeding Ellie cereal, and reprimanding her for throwing a fit, when I was throwing a fit inside my heart.  Before, I kept thinking, "God why can't she just be patient?"  After realizing my own faults, I heard God say, "Kristen, why can't you be patient?"  I was humbled after that.  I can't expect my daughter to show the fruits of the Spirit if I'm not modeling them for her.  And realistically, she's not even 8 months old...and she's not a Christian yet, so she can't exemplify the fruits of the Spirit if the Spirit isn't in her.  My expectations were embarrassingly high.

Motherhood isn't an exact science...it's a constant learning process.  I'm slowly realizing that in the end, it doesn't matter if you're baby is breastfed or bottle-fed, if she sleeps through the night or not, or if she's a baby genius and does everything early or if she's right on time (or even a little behind).  What DOES matter is that I've given Ellie my best, meaning that I've been an example to her of what I expect in the first place.  

My daughter humbles me every day (sometimes in wonderful ways, and sometimes in not-so-pleasant ways).  Her sweet smile and giggle remind me how blessed I am to have her in my life, and her crying fits and refusal to go to sleep remind me that I don't know everything, and sometimes the best thing I can do is just hold her.


In the mean time, I'm praying (a little selfishly) that Ellie is teething, and someday soon she will go back to being her normal, happy self.  But even if that isn't the case, I'm now living with a constant reminder that God, my heavenly Father, expects me to be patient, just as I (foolishly) expect a hungry baby to be patient.  It's not my job to have all the answers, but rather to just give Ellie my love, and continue to rely on God that everything will be okay.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.  Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.”  Galatians 5:22-26