Naptime Blog

When finished this is more like a thick soup with big potato chunks and Kielbasa! This was easy to make and very warming on these cool fall nights.

PREP TIME 15 Min
COOK TIME 1 Hr 30 Min
READY IN 1 Hr 45 Min
8 Servings

INGREDIENTS -

• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 2 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 pound kielbasa sausage, sliced thin
• 4 large russet potatoes, peeled and cubed

DIRECTIONS -

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). 
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together soup, milk, garlic, salt, and pepper.
3.  Stir in potatoes and kielbasa. Spoon into a 7×11 inch casserole dish. 
4. Place casserole on a baking sheet, and bake in the preheated oven for 90 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

 ENJOY!

-Chrystal

A new baby started at daycare, it has been so rough on Tristan. I am not sure how to get him out of his funk. For the first time ever I am rethinking my decision to be a working mother. I feel so bad about his personal stress. The first day the new baby was there Tristan sat on the floor at daycare and cried and nothing calmed him down. He was not hysterical it was just a whimpering with big crocodile tears. I left work early to pick him up and he didn’t leave my lap all night. Every morning we walk into daycare and Tristan runs over and hugs Mrs. Cora, then sometimes he snuggles or he goes and plays. The day after the new baby started he did not want Mrs. Cora and sat by himself, I felt so bad leaving him. Today is day three and Cora said he is more involved again. I hope this means his sleep gets better. Every night since the new baby started he has been having nightmares and he wakes up shaking and crying so I moved him back in bed with me. 

I think adding to his personal drama is the fact that Cora rearranged the play areas at daycare to accommodate the older children (2-4 years old) that she follows a curriculum with. Tristan does not like the new set up, I think he may be going through an object permanence stage. I hope all of this gets better so I can sleep again and Tristan is not so sad and stressed.

-Chrystal

Birthday planning is in full swing. I made the guest list, and sent the invites. We invited twelve families; we thought that was a nice rounded number. In talking we realized those twelve families are equal to forty people! WOW. I guess we are in for a full house. I made Tristan three, 9 feet long banners. They were so time consuming with every thing else I have going on but I am really proud of myself. Even more exciting is that my husband loved them and told me great job! I also want to make the cakes for his party. For Tristan’s smash cake I bought the #1 pan mold from Wilton, for the guests I am doing two 3-D race cars. One cake will be in chocolate cake and one in vanilla. I practiced this weekend and Tristan loved the little bit of icing I gave him. I hope I can get great smash cake pictures, a few of my friends said their children were not into it, but we shall see.

The menu for his party is simple, the weather should be good so we are doing hot dogs, hamburgers, BBQ shredded beef and pasta salad, potato salad, and cole slaw. I was thinking of making some desserts but my Mom thinks cake and Ice Cream will be enough. I might still make something else. I can’t believe we are less then a month away. My little boy is growing up. Time for number two I guess.

-Chrystal

I dislike bugs, I know boys love them. I thought I had a good four years before I had to worry about Tristan playing with them. Just this week I have pulled two daddy long legs, one praying mantis, 2 worms, and one cave cricket out of his hands as they were on the way to his mouth. I love my little one but I hate the bugs. The other day I was going downstairs to do laundry, above the door was a praying mantis. I in my typical helpless female role when it comes to bugs screamed bloody murder. This brought Rick running with Tristan. Rick was laughing at me so Tristan did too, I know he doesn’t understand why Daddy was laughing at Mommy but he did it anyways.

Tristan has another favorite hobby… taking his diaper off. It is so annoying, I was cooking the other day and I turned around to step in his cold wet diaper. Then I had to chase Tristan to get a new diaper on him. These are the fun times my Mom keeps telling me. I love my son but some days I really want a little girl that does not bring me bugs, a little girl that is calm and gentle. Tristan is like a storm, but he is also very peaceful at times. He has a habit of running up and giving huge hugs for no reason, and I love it!

-Chrystal

Oh my where does time go? Tristan is advancing so well, I often want to know where my baby went. He is down to 4 bottles a day, sometimes 3 and 3 solid meals a day. His weight is holding steady at 23 lbs and I am ashamed to say I have no clue how tall he is. All though he can reach the water on the front of the fridge, the dishwasher controls and the stove knobs, I did a ton more baby proofing. Tristan says a handful of words that include:

• Bop (pacifier)
• BaBa (bottle)
• Wim (swim, he brings me swim diapers)
• Baf (bath)
• Bite Bite (food)
• Ma, Mom (Me)
• Dad (Daddy)
• MaMa (daycare provider)
• Bwall (ball)
• Hi
• Bye

Tristan is also very good at sign language he knows:

• Mom
• Dad
• Milk (I use that sign for bottle its easier then the sign for bottle)
• Dinner (I use that for the general eating of solids)
• Ball
• Sleep
• Happy
• More

I love being a mother and I can’t wait for Tristan’s 1st Birthday party. The party is exactly 4 weeks away today. Tristan eats Parents Choice stage 2 formula with 1 to 2 oz of milk in it. I hope to have him completely switched to milk in his sippy cup by 13 months; I will still feed the stage 2 in his bottle until at least 18 months. For breakfast he eats adult steel cut oatmeal for breakfast with a jar of parents choice purred fruit mixed in. At lunch he eats a parents choice my little meal, I am not sure how long I will keep him on these. I love that they are a balanced meal, in my opinion daycare feeds way to many carbs for lunch and I want him to get the balance. For dinner he normally eats what we do, unless its spicy or not appropriate. Then he also eats a little meal.

Chrystal Oates
www.everydayoates.blogspot.com

*Don’t buy individually packaged items:

Everywhere you go now things are “convienently” packed for on the go eating, or a ceratain amount of calories. These products are often more expensive and they use more packaging that needs to be thrown away or recycled. Food such as yogurt, pudding, granola bars, soft drinks, juice, cereal, and snack foods may come in packages of multiple single-serving sizes in addition to larger, “bulk” sizes. So next time you shop, buy the bigger package and divide it up yourself.

*Bring your own bags:

Everywhere you look you can buy cloth grocery bags, produce bags and even snack bags. This cuts down on the plastic we use and you can save money at some stores. At the Giant in my state when you bring bags they give you money back. Yes its only five cents a bag, but that savings adds up. Plus my cloth bags hold a lot more and have never broken or been sliced open by a package. Also you can get cute bags and insulated bags. I love my pink breast cancer awareness bags.

*Buy store brand:

This isn’t so much a green tip as it is a money saving tip. Since we started buying store brand our grocery bill is cut by 25% and up. I have never noticed a difference in taste or quality. My inlaws have also started buying all store brand, it saves money and often the packaging is better. My store brand cereal comes in a plastic bag. When you buy national brands that same plastic bag is in a cardboard box. Why produce more garbage?

What are your tips on being a greener shopper and saving money?

-Chrystal

My husband always tells me even though Tristan is walking not to let him walk outside because he might get hurt. Well I didn’t listen and I let him walk in our front yard. That was a HUGE mistake; Tristan tripped and hit his head on the water main shut off that is in everyone’s yard. I ran inside and got a boo boo buddy (a gel pooh bear head that stays in the fridge). Tristan never cried and the cut wasn’t that bad. I was worried because the top was kind of rusted. So I immediately called his pediatrician and he said not to worry and only bring him into the ER if he needed stitches, blacked out, and acted different or vomited. Rick and I took Tristan in and cleaned the cut like we were told, on our way to his nursery he vomited all over me.

Off to the ER we went, the attending physician checked his head and wasn’t concerned. He decided to watch him for an hour and then he would make a decision from there. A few minutes later Tristan vomited all over me, then when the Dr. came in he vomited on him. An immediate CT scan was ordered, there was talk of sedating Tristan for the test. I am 100% against sedation unless it’s medically necessary. I didn’t feel that we needed it unless he was not still for the test. Tristan shocked and amazed all the doctors by laying still the whole time. He was the only baby at our hospital that didn’t need to be sedated. The CT scan was fine and the Dr. was not sure why he was vomiting. We got to go home and I learned that maybe I should wait until Tristan is a little more sure footed before letting him walk outside.

Chrystal

Last Sunday we went to a festival in North Beach, MD. It was called Bay Fest, as the name suggests it is right on the bay along a boardwalk. North Beach is a relatively small town so it doesn’t get over crowded and a fun time was had by all. Tristan tried Cotton Candy, French Fries, and Funnel Cake for the first time. He loved all of them. Tristan is such a ham, he waves now so everyone that walked by us got a “hi” and a wave. People just love to stop and chat with him. There were live bands at both ends of the festival, Tristan was delighted. He loves to dance, his version of dancing is a half squat with a little hip movement and he throws his arms up and waves them around. I will have to get it on video one day. 

We met up with a friend of Rick’s from High school, they have a daughter who is my nieces age so of course we had to ride the rides and get airbrush tattoos. At the end of the day we were exhausted but I love my family and friends and it was a perfect ending to the weekend. We picked up a great wooden rattle that was made by an American Indian, who was also playing a flute. Tristan was in awe of this man and his flute. It amazes me how Tristan pays attention to everything. I sometimes forget that he is only 10 months old because he often acts older.

 The picture in this post is of Tristan and Dee our family friend saying goodbye, I taught Tristan to rub noses and I call it an Eskimo kiss. I am not sure where the name comes from but it is Tristans favorite thing to do now.

-Chrystal

I am adding to my already hectic schedule. I get up at 5:30 am get ready for work and Tristan and I leave by 6:30 to get to daycare by 6:45. Then I have a 2 hour commute. I don’t get home until 7:30 pm. Sometimes Tristan is awake but most days he is asleep. I have tried to find a job closer to home but there are just so many out of work people that it’s impossible. Well I am adding finishing college to the list. I have 2 web only classes, and 2 web hybrid classes. So I will be in class Thursdays from 7:15 to 9:40 pm and Saturdays from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. I feel bad for taking more time from Tristan but I know in the long run finishing my degree is best for our whole family.

 Tristan is a full time walker and is understanding more questions and commands then ever before. Sometimes Rick or I will ask the other where Tristan is. This leads to Tristan either raising his hand or coming over. He is so cute and turning into more of a boy everyday.

Chrystal

Our whole house has been sick with the dreaded H1N1 “swine flu” and being sick at home lead me to think of strange things. So here is my wish list.
 
1. I wish Wal-mart delivered groceries like Safeway does.
2. I wish parents choice made toddler microwave meals like Gerber does. (These work in a pinch as a nutritious meal)
3. I wish parents choice made a beverage like pedialyte. That stuff is so expensive.
4. I wish Tristan would eat even when sick. Feeding a child pedialyte with a medicine dropper is no fun.

While we were sick I read a book called a year without China. It is about living a year with out buying anything from China, this led me to challenge my husband to do a year with out national brands to help save money. When we did our Safeway shopping to be delivered there was only two things my husband would not bend on.. The things he refused to bend on were toilet paper (he must have the red Charmin mega rolls) and Viva paper towels (not the pick a size it has to be the regular size).
 
Tristan got through and only lost a pound, so that is not bad considering there was three days straight that he refused to eat. At one point we were worried that he would be hospitalized but thank the lord that didn’t happen. Along with the flu we had two more teeth come in. My little man is growing up, 10 months old already and I can’t believe.
 
Chrystal