The Star of the Show

So this year we weren’t able to make it down to Southern Oklahoma where my aunt and uncle lives to celebrate Thanksgiving with them. I think we were all sad, but sometimes life gets in the way for everyone and you have to do with what you can. So hubby and I decided to do dinner at our house Thursday night with my parents and his parents, that way we could go to his dad’s that day to see his family.

A couple years ago you may remember that we did the Bacon Wrapped Turkey… YUM!

Circa 2012

We discussed how to cook the turkey this year. One thing that was proposed by hubby was just to buy a Turkey Breast and do that, but then my mom said that they had a turkey already and suggested smoking it.

Not going to lie, I kind of had my heart set on the Bacon Wrapped Turkey again, so I asked/suggested doing a Bacon Wrapped Smoked Turkey. Hubby said we could probably handle that. Now a few years ago we did a dry brine on the turkey but this year he decided to do a wet brine.

Our brine consisted of:
Dissolving 1 cup Kosher Salt in 3 cups of water.
Then we used a quart bottle of Cabela’s Marinade (that is no longer made but hubby bought a whole bunch of….), about 15-20 cloves of Garlic, 1 serving Mandarin Oranges and juices, 1 serving peaches and juices, about 2 tbsp Rosemary, about 2 tbsp Black Pepper Corns and 1 cup of Sugar.

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The Peanut Post – Month 5

Stats: At your 4 month appointment (a week after you were 4 months) you weighed 14lbs 4.4oz and were 24 3/4 inches long. You saw the Nurse Practitioner and she said that you were in the 60th percentile both in weight and height and that you looked great. She said that you were proportionate for your height and weight as well. She was very pleased.

Wearing: You’re wearing 3-6 and 6 month outfits for the most part. There are a few 6 month outfits that are too large for you, but for the most part you’re wearing 3-6 month outfits. Diapers are still size 2. Shoes… well you still don’t like shoes nor do you like socks. Shoe size is like a 2-3 for what I put on you but again you don’t keep them on so I don’t fuss with them much, yet.

Sleep: Your nightly routine is shower, food, bed. You’re sleeping about 7 hours through the night for the most part. You fight sleep, especially for nap time and I’m not sure why. A lot of times you like to try and do cat naps (10-20 minutes) and they seem to make you more cranky than if you sleep about an hour. When you get tired you start crying, a lot, and you get mad at poor effelhump (your elephant) or your binky fink or a towel or whatever is in your way. What I’ve read said you should be sleeping just shy of 16 hrs per day right now and we’re not getting there sadly.

Behavior: You’re not afraid to let us know when you’re hungry or tired. There is a difference in the screams too. You still love to kick your legs and even stick them straight up in the air if you’re laying on your back. I think your feet are your favorite toy. You love to sit up and you also love to play with the baby in the mirror although the other day I think that baby made you mad. lol.

Eating: The nurse practitioner gave you the go ahead to start trying to add solids to diet. You eat about every 3 1/2-4 hours. We’ve started you with the rice and you’re just okay with it. We’ve also tried sweet potatoes. You seem to like the taste but don’t seem yet to know what to do with it.

Appearance: Your daddy found a stork bite on the back of my neck so finally you and I have something in common. The nurse practitioner verified you have the stork bite. You appear to be long legged like your mommy. Your hair is still bouncing back and forth between the red/strawberry blonde/blonde. Your eyes are still blue and at times almost a steel gray color. That was the color of mommy’s grandpa’s eyes.

Likes: You like the outdoors. You like to smile. You like car rides for the most part. You like playing with your feet. You like sitting up. You like to be a part of the group. You like Christmas music. You do like to chew on everything in sight. You like the baby in the mirror (when she isn’t upsetting you). You like your swing. You like the new play center grandma got you. You like to help mommy with homework or at least help her push buttons. You like to be held all the time (even when we can’t).

Dislikes: You don’t like to lay down all the time. You don’t care for new people at first. You don’t like to be by yourself. You don’t like playing by yourself after a short while.

Milestones: You rolled over on the floor (although mommy missed it because I walked around to the other side of the bed for just a minute… dang it!). Standing in the new play center you got and playing with all the toys. You can almost hold yourself up in a sitting position. The nurse practitioner said you might be an early developer… we’ll see.

Mommy: I can’t stand when you’re upset but I’m having to let you try and self sooth which is killing me. I still feel like I’m doing things wrong all the time. People are trying to make me feel guilty for the way I raise my baby but you are mine and I am the one around you. You are mommy’s shuggy bear! Mommy isn’t a morning person but you smile at her and it makes her morning much better, even if it is 5:30am.

Daddy: Daddy loves spending time with you. He loves to snuggle with you and lately you guys have been playing, especially right before shower time a lot. You stick your tongues out at each other and spit at each other (don’t know the best way to describe this… it’s where you have your tongue stuck out and blow air across your tongue and out of your lips…). Sometimes when you are upset, daddy is the only one who can calm you down. You are still his baby squirrel.

Other: I think you got mommy’s hair when it comes to being crazy but it grows a lot like daddy’s hair. You have this swirly area on the crown of your head where one part goes this way and another that way and yada yada. You’ve cried bloody murder at your Aunt Liss and at Memaw. I’m not sure why… When you’re eating, you like to rub your head on both sides and run your fingers through your hair. You’ve been known to sleep with your hand in your hair and the other with on your foot which is up by your face. You really like your feet.

Letter: 

Dear baby girl,

Tomorrow we’re getting ready to celebrate our first Thanksgiving with you. It just brings tears to my eyes when I think of all the first we’re about to experience with you. You break mommy’s heart every time you cry and cry and won’t quit for anything. You’ve stayed the night with grandma and grandpa a few times and I miss you when I wake up in the morning and you aren’t at the house. While we’re kind of on that topic, you need to learn that sleep is okay. You dream a lot and sometimes whimper in your sleep. I’m not sure why. I would really like to know what you’re dreaming about.

I can’t imagine you not in our life. It’s crazy how you go from a life without you to a life with you in no time flat. But I guess I better go because this crying thing we’ve been addressing, you’re doing it. Oh it’s hard to be tough but you need to start self soothing. You’re really tired, I wish you’d take a nap. Stay sweet and remember that mommy and daddy love you!

Love,
Mommy

T-posts… who knew?

This post is not for the faint of heart.

Saturday night hubby and I were cleaning the house and my phone rang. I answered and it was my mom asking where I was. I told her standing in my kitchen, why? She kind of had this panic in her voice. She said that Colonel had been hurt and could hubby or I one come help her? I said well of course. Hubby put his bibs on and grabbed his coat and he was outta here. He told me that he’s pretty sure 2 of his wheels didn’t hit the road going up my parents driveway (there is a curve in the driveway).

I asked him how bad it was when he got home and he said it wasn’t great. The one vet has been out of commission since June/July when he had surgery and his daughter (also a vet) wasn’t able to come so they told us what to do and that they’d be there first thing Sunday morning since my dad assessed the situation and they all decided he’d be okay over night.

Sunday we went over to help and I finally got to see what happened. Colonel has a huge hole in his chest that goes straight up and Dr could put her fist in it. Yikes!

We weren’t able to sew up the hole, and it would have needed a drain anyway. Vet said the best thing was to cut off the hanging skin (not much and it wasn’t salvageable) and he should heal up just fine. Especially since it has the perfect drain since it’s straight down.

Then hubby and I went on search of what poked the hole. And here’s the culprit. We think that one of the mares was teasing him (he is a stud after all) and he went to mount her and met the T-post instead.

T-post-1, Stud-0

365 – Midmonth photos 62-76

I felt like this month breaking the 365 project up just a bit so you aren’t totally bombarded with photos at the end of the month, so here’s 1-15 also known as 62-76.

62/365 – Having our “chili” at the Chili Cookoff for the Newton County Firefighters Christmas for Kids tonight. Btw, my big sissy won!!


63/365 – Another victory for the Chiefs today with a score of 24/10 against the New York Jets. And Tbug got to experience her first game with a win!

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KC Chiefs Recap vs Seattle Seahawks

I sooooo have to do this post just for my friends that are Seattle Seachicken Seahawk Fans :). You will be interested to know there are Seahawk fans in the greater KC area that came to the game so yey :).

I also think that we all have a screw loose for going to this game in 20 degree weather… what were we thinking? Oh wait, we were thinking FUN! (I’m not a cold weather person… lol). You will notice this is the temperature we experienced at 1:35pm… I’m not sure I want to know what it was at 6:30am when we got up. Don’t worry, baby girl stayed home in the warm house with grandma and grandpa! She was the smart one… lol :).

We got up Sunday morning and got dressed. While I was getting dressed I stuck my hand in my pocket because there was a lump and I found one of baby girls socks. ha!

This was a noon game so tailgating started around 8am. Our food for this game was Ham and Potato Soup and Chili. At least it was warm food 🙂

We put a pot of water on the heater to warm water for hot chocolate. It’s Deb’s special mix… btw, she wasn’t with us. She chose to stay home. Probably smart! Hey I couldn’t feel my feet most of the day. We put those hand warmer things that are made for feet on our feet around 10:30am and mine finally started working once we were in the truck headed home around Lamar (which is like 2 hrs from KC or something like that…)

mmmmm Ham and potato soup. (Recipe coming soon!)

I love Nancy’s boots. Aren’t they cute?

The night before Dan and hubby went to Academy and got me this hat. I’m soooooooooooo glad they did because even though my head was cool, it could have been soooooooo much worse!

Tbug got to go to this game with us. We asked her after the game if she was glad she went or if she’d have rather stayed home… she assured us she was glad she got to go.

KC really missed the snow that was predicted but we still had a small amount on our seats anyway. I sat in it, but not with my jeans… nope… we sat in sleeping bags to help with heat. Hubby used blankets and decided that sleeping bags were the way to go. (Tbug and I had the sleeping bags). Yeah you’re standing on the concrete in sleeping bags so don’t use good ones, we got these for $9. But you aren’t constantly having to readjust your blankets around you from all the up and down.

This was the Chiefs Veterans Day game. This flag was friggin awesome! The Marine Corp choir sang the National Anthem. The arrowhead flag was replaced with this one, but that’s okay!

She swears she’s glad she went but she looked like she was ready for -40˚ weather. She said the only thing cold on her was her nose/face and her toes. Not to bad huh?

Hiya!

It apparently snowed back home on Sunday. We drove home with clear roads and hit the snow around Nevada. We got somewhere around 3″.

And the game…. OH goodness the game was an edge of your seat game which really are the best. KC won 24-20 over the Seahawks.

Wordless Wednesday

Okay maybe a few words… This last weekend was the start of Deer season in Missouri. There was youth season 2 weeks before but this was the official Deer Season. Tbug was with us and has wanted to go hunting with her daddy. Now she needs to go through Hunter Safety before she’s allowed to hold a gun but she got up early Saturday morning and went out to the deer stand with her daddy to see if she’d even be interested in going through the Hunter Safety classes. They saw 2 deer but it might have been the same deer. Daddy says she wouldn’t quit talking through and it wasn’t a very big buck. Then grandpa’s cows came and scared away any other chances they might have had. She still seems interested though… next up… Hunter Safety.