New Beginnings

I started this blog before my oldest son Max (who is about to turn 6!) was born mainly to keep in touch with family and friends about my pregnancy while I was traveling with my husband and living his dream of playing professional baseball. 

It has been so long since I've written a post even the background I used has been discontinued. Please bear with me over the next few weeks as I bring some life back into my previously abandoned blog :) 

Recipe for Beef Stroganoff

This recipe is an altered version of Paula Deen's Beef Stroganoff. Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 pounds cubed round steak, cut into thin strips (or stew meat)

All-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium yellow onion, sliced
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 can vegetable broth
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2-3/4 Can water (mushroom can)
1 cup chianti wine

1/2 Packet Sazon seasonings

Rub for the meat: Compose a small dish with salt, pepper, garlic powder (4x as much salt than the rest of the spices)

DIRECTIONS:
-Season the steak strips with the rub, then dust with flour.
-In a large skillet on medium, medium/high (I used a ceramic pot) add butter and oil
-Add meat and brown on all sides
-Remove the meat from the pan
-Add the onion slices and mushrooms to the pan drippings and saute for a few minutes, until the onion is tender.
-Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon flour more
-Put the steak back into the pan with the onion and mushrooms
-Deglaze the pot with the Chianti until half the liquid evaporates
-Add the mushroom soup, broth, water 1/2 cup first (add more if needed later) and sazon seasoning
-Cook over low heat for about 30 minutes, covered (or until meat is tender)
-Serve over cooked noodles.

Fab Mascara

My hunt for new mascara is over! Yesterday I purchased Maybelline's XXL Curlpower and I love it! It actually curled my lashes and didn't make them look un-naturally full. Next time you're in the market for new mascara keep this one in mind :)  Fabulous Mascara



Little Man Walks!

This evening Max was rummaging through the hall closet and found a back scratcher which really excited him (he likes baton objects). I moved him out of the closet and set him down on his feet. He usually sits down but this time he was so excited about the scratcher, he took off after Brody with it! He took at least six steps before falling down. Max is turning into such a little man!

Whole Lotta Love

Max gave me a kiss tonight when I asked him to give mommy kisses!! Not once but three times!! My heart melted, I am so in love with him!

An Afternoon In The Gulf

We can now add splashing in the Gulf of Mexico to Max's summer adventures. The trip to the beach also had a first for me...getting pooped on by a bird. GROSS!! Thank goodness the water was nearby-credit to Courtney for cleaning it off me...eww enough about that. Here are some pics:

Giggling at Grandpa Tim blowing bubbles :)

Working on my photography skills

Skyway Bridge

9.11

This year marks the 10th anniversary of 9.11. At the time, I had just started college at UM. My suite-mate Melissa came into my room and told my roommate and I to turn on the news. We saw one of the twin towers was ablaze. Glued to the TV we all watched as the second plane hit the towers. I remember thinking this couldn't really be happening. I called my best friend Jackie to make sure her dad was ok (he worked in the city) and she was hysterical; away at college as well, she couldn't reach him. That was the last time I got in touch with her for a while because then the towers crumbled and the phone lines were no longer working. Classes were cancelled. TV's were set up in the common areas of the dorms and there were students everywhere glued to the news coverage. I felt so far away from my family and friends. What happened was unimaginable. Still today, every time I watch something about 9.11 I can't help but tear up.

Recipe for Steak Sandwiches

Chris was home for the first Hurricane Football game so I wanted to make something special and manly. I made what Chris calls a Melly Steak Sandwich :) I made cheese fries to go along. This recipe was super simple and tasty. It served 2

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 green bell pepper
1/3 medium onion
1/3 package onions (I buy whole & chop myself)
2 bakery subs
4 slices provolone cheese
1/2 pound beef round steak/flip steak (it was sliced thin, I used 1/3 pound-kinda small)
Vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS:
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees
-Heat oil in a skillet over medium to medium high heat
-Add peppers and onions and saute until the onions are almost translucent
-Add mushrooms and cook until browned
-Remove veggies and place in a bowl
-Using the same skilled, cook the steak a little less than your desired doneness (thin steak cooks fast)
-Assemble the sandwich using 2 slices of cheese on each & put in the oven for 5 minutes or until bread is toasty looking and cheese is melted.

Max's First Beach Visit

While we were in Chicago for the family trip earlier this month, my friend Johanna and I took Max to the beach! He enjoyed playing in the sand and even crawled over to another family with better toys to play with! He splashed around in the lake and even crawled through the water by himself . He is such a brave little boy. Here are some pics:

I Know I Should Be Packing, But.....

**Interesting Commercial:

I saw this commercial on tv the other day and thought to myself, is this for real?? I think if a kid activated their alarm while being bullied, they would for sure get beat up. And I don't think this would deter a predator...although I do carry a whistle, Max will not be wearing this backpack.

I Can't Quit You Baby

Hello everyone, I've been determined to resume my blog again before one year elapsed...so here we go!

MAX: Max is 11 months old today!! It seems like just yesterday I was holding him in my arms taking him home from the hospital; a helpless little baby. But as I look at him in his monitor, I know that little baby boy is quickly turning into a little man. He is nearly walking by himself and his babble is almost comprehensible. He eats real food and points at what he wants before crawling over to it. He is an entertainer and loves to be entertained. (Up to this point, pictures are on kodakgallery.com-I will post some here going forward)

ME: Motherhood has really been an incredible experience for me so far and I am so happy that I am able to spend time with Max and be there for him when he does something new, giggles, or cries. It is exhausting, but so rewarding. Now that he is eating regular food, I've started cooking again, which I'm really enjoying.

A couple weeks ago I dreamed that I ran, and ran, and ran and it felt so good in the dream I woke up telling Chris I was going to start running again. So this past Monday I took Max and went for a run! Not quite like in my dream but it was a start. Today was my second run...correction JOG. I was sore today from Monday's run and felt like I was hardly moving but I'm going to keep at it and build up to running a 5k race by the end of the year. I am tracking my progress on RunKeeper.com so hopefully that and your help will keep me motivated.

BASEBALL: Another baseball season is winding down and it has been a great one so far. The team has taken us for quite a ride and Chris has definitely been an important part of that. It would be incredible if the Indians can find their groove again and take us into the post-season, after all, they've made it this far. But as usual, I have to be prepared for anything and today I began making our arrangements to go home to Tampa. I'll be packing some things we're done with here and shipping my car back to Tampa next week. Max and I will fly to Tampa for 10 days or so during Chris's long road trip in September and return to Cleveland to make the final push and to start the celebration of Max's 1st birthday!

That's all for now! Stay tuned for product reviews, recipes, pictures and more!!

Belly Pic 5 and more

Starting on the left, the pictures are from weeks 31 and 33 (last Friday). As of now we have less than 7 weeks to go! I'm feeling great besides some tingles and swelling in my right hand.

My Golden Birthday was great! Chris gave me beautiful jewelry and an unforgettable card. The other wives made a fabulous dinner and cake for me and spoiled me with presents. It was really nice! I'm so thankful for the wonderful women I've met this season. I couldn't have asked for more.

September is going to be a very busy month for me. I'm flying back to Florida in 2 days with Brody, so my least favorite activity is here....packing! Today my friend Julie is coming over to help me get all packed up; seems like things get done so much quicker when someone else helps guide you along, so I'm grateful that she volunteered for the job!

We're closing on our new home in Tampa on Sept 10th. It's about 10-15 minutes east of our current home so there's even more packing in my near future. The movers are going to take care of most of the packing though, thank goodness! We've had great memories in our old home however short our stay there was, but the new house is amazing and we're looking forward to having everyone over and starting our new family memories there.

And then of course there's getting ready for baby Maxwell! So much to do...so much to do!

An exclusive interview with two Chris Perezes

This is an exerpt from a blog posting by Indians writer Anthony Castrovince. It's hilarious...click on the link after the excerpt for the full blog post:

"A long, losing season needs its subplots and surprises to keep things entertaining. And if you've been following the 2010 Cleveland Indians on Twitter this year, you've probably found entertainment in the recent creation of closer Chris Perez's Twitter alter ego, @PureRage_Perez.

The real Chris Perez is on Twitter at @ChrisPerez54. But as of this writing, the real Perez has 54 less followers than the fake one.

Thanks to the cooperation of both Chris and Pure Rage, I was able to gain unprecedented access into the minds and lives of both men, and it is my pleasure to share the results with you here. Below are 13 questions I posed to each Perez, followed by their respective answers."

http://castrovince.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/08/an_exclusive_interview_with_tw.html

Recipe for Chicken & Shrimp Paella

Last weekend some of the other Indians wives and I went to dinner to celebrate a birthday and had so much fun we decided to have dinner together more often and rotate cooks. One of the other wives and I were hanging out a few days ago and were checking out the menu from a Spanish restaurant nearby her apartment and drooled over the prospect of having paella. Naturally we scheduled our first dinner and put paella on the menu! Tonight was the night so we went to the West Side Market this aftenoon for some fresh chicken, shrimp and veggies and went home to cook. The paella was delicious and none remained after dinner so I've decided the recipe is post worthy. It served 6 ladies.

INGREDIENTS:
7 chicken thighs - bone in and skin on
1/3 pound cooked shrimp - medium sized
1 1/2 cups saffron rice
2 cups Swanson less sodium chicken stock
1/2 can of diced tomatoes-no salt added (14.5oz can)
1/2 cup frozen peas (optional)
1/2 sweet onion chopped
1/2 red onion chopped
1/2 small red pepper
1/2 small orange pepper
1/2 small green pepper
8 garlic cloves minced
1 lemon
Vegetable oil (or olive oil for taste)

DIRECTIONS:
-Heat approx 2 tbsp oil large skillet over medium-high heat to get the skilled hot
-Add chicken skin side down and brown 4 minutes
-Flip chicken and brown 2 minutes on the bottom side
-Add onions and garlic to the skillet and cook 3 more minutes
-Add rice to the skillet and stir to get rice coated with oil and juices
-Let the rice brown a little (stir as necessary)
-Add the diced tomatoes and a good amount of liquid from the can
-Allow to cook for a minute or two and do not stir often
-Add chicken stock
-Turn heat to medium-low and simmer covered (add salt if desired now or add later)
-In the meantime, heat 1 1/2 tbsp oil in a pan over medium-low heat to saute the peppers
-Saute the peppers until cooked but firm
-Check on the paella after 15 minutes or so to make sure there's enough liquid to cook the rice (if not, add more chicken stock)
-When the rice is almost finished, stir in the cooked shrimp, frozen peas and sauted peppers and re-cover until the rice is finsihed-approx 5 minutes (if the rice is already finished, then remove the skillet from the heat and let the paella flavors mix and cook by the steam from within)
-Leave covered until ready to serve and before serving, squeeze half the lemon over the paella
-Place a few lemon wedges or slices over the paella and serve!

*Note: Will likely need salting-I added some salt when I cooked the rice but it needed more when served-do not oversalt while cooking. We salted as necessary ourselves when eating.

Trivia

I just played the License Plate Game to test my knowledge of random information. With a score of 80% I guess something has sunk in on all of my road trips! Click on the link below to see how you will do! Post your score in the comments section below :)

The License Plate Game

Score: 80% (12 out of 15)

That's The Way

This past Saturday was the baseball wives joint baby shower. We received so many wonderful gifts for Maxwell - he wont go naked after all ;) I am one of 6 pregnant wives this year! 2 women had their babies within the last couple of months and the rest of us are due between September and January. Baby boom?? It's pretty incredible to be going through the ups and downs of pregnancy with so many friends; all of us experiencing similar feelings and watching each other grow and prepare to be mothers. [Pics below - baby shower]

Chris and I also spent some time with his family this past weekend. Uncle Bobby, aunt Millie and cousin Lyndsay drove up from South Carolina making stops along the way at hot spots from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. They treated Chris and I to brunch at another spot on their food tour, Lucky's Cafe, here in Cleveland. I shared deliciously thick waffles with Lyndsay although I must say the breakfast burrito Millie ordered and let me taste was surprisingly delicious! Needless to say, I am now a total addict for Lucky's Cafe. Chris and I made a return trip four days later and shared Mac and Cheese and grilled cheese with caramelized onions....YUMMMMMM! I want it again now just thinking about it!

Following brunch we toured the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and its archives. It's amazing how much memorabilia they hold in the archives. Clothing, shoes, instruments, photos, letters, lyrics, childhood items and more! They alternate the items on display but I don't know that they will ever really show all of the items they have! Having a close up look at the musicians clothing really puts into perspective their size. They are so much smaller than they appear. It was also really cool seeing the musicians hand written song lyrics; to see what they first thought and wrote down, and then crossed out to rewrite the lyrics to some of the most popular songs we know today. Billy Joel's "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" was really written while he was eating at an Italian restaurant! Sauce on the paper and all! I wondered what the Hall of Fame will have to show for current and future artists who write their lyrics on computers? Time will tell... [Pics below - family at the Hall of Fame & Chris signing the Wall of Fame]

Belly Pic 4: Welcome to the 3rd Trimester!

Here are the latest pictures - from the left: 26, 28 and 29 weeks (outfit is still the same at 29 weeks but the picture and color quality from the webcam have nothing on a real camera). Anyway we're moving right along, 2 trimester's down and 1 to go! Pregnancy mood swings are in full effect and worst in the evenings, so try to avoid me if you can...(so sorry Chris). I know that I'm being a witch but I just can't stop myself :( It's awful.

We've been calling the baby Maxwell Alexander for about a month or so and it seems to have stuck, so that's most likely what he will be named when he arrives. His movements have been more frequent, strong and predictable and at times he rests his bony tush right up to my belly so that part of my belly is very firm! Last weekend I hardly felt him move at all so the doc set me up with a stress test and ultrasound this past Monday & Thursday. Thank goodness he's doing just fine and back to normal. I don't really have any good ultrasound pics to post - they're hard to make out so hang tight until the next one. He is 3 pounds already...might just be a big baby after all!

Belly Pic 3 (Updated July 2)

I'm sorry for the delay of pictures - its been a while since Chris was home on a picture day (Friday) but here's the latest. For your comparison pictured left to right is 19 weeks, 21 weeks and today 25 weeks (July 2). I'm larger and more uncomfortable as the weeks go on! I started swimming a few weeks ago and love it. It feels so good to be in the pool and moving around. The baby seems to really enjoy it also. He has been moving more frequently this week and Chris has been able to feel him squirm, especially today :) It's great being able to share this experience with him in any way I can.

Evermore

I rang the doorbell and heard the familiar buzz granting me access into the house. I went up the staircase lined with black and white wallpaper which is still in perfect condition, not an edge in sight peeling. The door opens and the white tile is sparkling. Everything looks just like I remember. Aside from a new stove top the kitchen is the same, the carpet is the same-worn on the staircase where me and my siblings slid down one too many times, couches still perfectly preserved in plastic. Grandma Barbara hands me some photo albums to look through with my sister Mindy while she cooks up some of her delicious food. When we finished looking through all of the albums I put them away and noticed some toys that we used to play with as kids: the Bingo wheel my brother and sisters would spin, the building set we would fight over to make towering masterpieces, the hanging curtains I wore when I pretend married my childhood crush. It's all still there. Even though I hadn't been to my grandma's house in a while before that visit, it felt like I had just been there yesterday and that no time had passed at all. We live in such a fast paced world where everything changes so quickly and were constantly looking forward to the next great thing, its easy to forget how sometimes the unchanged can be so nice.

Ultrasound 3 - 19 weeks 3 days

Our third and "big" ultrasound was May 24th. Chris was finally able to join me so I didn't have to feel like a single mom! I really enjoyed having him there to share the experience and was hoping he could see the baby squirm around like it did last time, only the baby slept through the entire ultrasound :(

So it's a boy and he is growing so quickly. I can't believe I'm more than halfway there. This pregnancy is flying by...I'm sure in 10 weeks I am going to be saying the opposite!