This is for you Brandee! (and anyone else who loves Cafe Rio)

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork
4 lbs. pork roast 4 tsp cumin
5 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce 4 cups Dr. Pepper
3 cloves garlic, chopped 1/2 tsp salt
3 cups brown sugar Pepper to taste
4 tbsp molasses

Cook in crockpot on high 4 hours or low for 8 hours. Shred meat an hour or two before finished and then let finish cooking in sauce. It makes a ton, so half if not making for huge crowd.

Cafe Rio Lime Rice
2 tbsp butter 1 lg. lime
1 1/4 cups uncooked rice 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
2 1/4 cups chicken broth 1/4 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp salt

In a skillet melt butter with rice, add liquid and other ingredients, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook for 20 minutes.

Cafe Rio Dressing
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
16 oz jar La Victoria green salsa (mild)
1 pkg. ranch dressing mix (I use western family)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 cup sugar

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. This makes a lot of sauce, half the recipe is more than plenty for our family.

The Baby Whisperer and other things

This book here has been my saving grace! It has saved my sanity and given me back my sleep! Gage was such a bad sleeper at night - he would wake up in the middle of the night and would be awake for 3-4 hours at a time, or he would literally be up every hour! It was killing me, and I was desperate for anything, so my neighbor let me borrow this from her, and it has honestly made a world of difference. He now only wakes up once at night and sleeps in until 9. There are some things in it that I don't completly agree with, but you just kind of figure out how rigid you want to be with it. Anyway, I had to blog about it because I am so excited not to be such a zombie all day. If there are any moms out there with newborns, and are dying for sleep, it can't hurt to read it!

On another note, Gage is growing and getting so chubby and cute! He is already over 11 pounds, I can't believe how fast they change.

Is this a weird picture? I know, but I love his little chubby legs. They were so skinny when he was born, we thought he would just have Matt legs, but they are chunking right up!

I was trying to get a picture of Ella and her hair (we can actually put barettes in it now!), but this was all she would give me! She is impossible to get a good picture of

My sweet little family (well, I guess this is a cute picture of Ella, probably the one and only I have right now!)

Update

It's crazy to me that Gage is already 3 weeks old - he has changed so much over these past weeks, and we are finally adjusting to life with a newborn and a toddler. Ella is doing so much better than I ever thought she would - occasionally she runs over to him and smacks him on the head, but I figure if thats the worst, I'm okay with that! Mostly she will just walk over to him and say "hi baby" and then go on her way playing again. Gage is such a good baby and I just can't get enough of him. I kept having mini panic attacks every time he would get fussy, thinking it was going to turn into colic like it did with Ella, but so far, he is still so content (thank goodness - I don't think I can handle that dang colic again) Here are some random pictures of the past few weeks - so glad by the way that I am no longer pregnant! I finally feel like I can breathe again!

Ella thinks that all the babies things are hers now - she tries to get in his carseat and swing too - she's small, but not that small!

The poor little guy had jaundice and had to be under these stupid lights for a couple days - so glad that is over!

He's Finally Here!

Gage Matthew Reynolds
July 21, 2008

7 Lbs. 12 Oz.
21 Inches

He finally came yesterday around 5:00 at night - we're so happy he's here and healthy. The delivery was such a different experience than with Ella, but he is so sweet and I can't believe how much I have fallen in love with him already. We came to the hospital around 8 in the morning, and was started on the pitocin at 9. I was stuck at a 4 forever, and the nurses kept calling my doctor to come and break my water because they knew I would go fast once he did, but for some reason he never showed up. Around 3:00 the nurse was checking me again and accidently broke my water, and then 2 hours later he was born. It was so crazy because I got my epidural early in the day becuase they thought the doctor would be there to break my water, but because I didn't actually go into hard labor until around 3, it wore off and I started feeling everything. They kept upping the dosage, but nothing really worked again, and I ended up delivering him feeling pretty much it all. I honestly don't know how people do the natural thing willingly, it was not a fun experience! Anyway, its over, and he is healthy and the sweetest little thing, so all is well now!

We both look so swollen and so tired!

Right after he was born - he looks so much like Ella did when she was a newborn, its crazy!

I was so excited for this one to come and see us, but this is what she did the entire time! She didn't really want anything to do with me or Gage, she just sat in this chair and gave me the stink eye! It made me sad, but she did give me a big kiss before she left, so hopefully she'll get over it fast.

Matt and his little guy. He has been so cute and excited to be with him. He is such a good dad.

We're so happy to have this little guy a new part of our family!

Happy 4th!

We had a fun, relaxing 4th this year. We just hung out with family, barbecued and watched fireworks. Perfect for me, I can't handle too much excitement these days!

She loved the sparklers

Dad had to hold her at first, not quite sure what to think of them!

A little side note, Ella's new thing is to put my shoes on, only my heels, and walk around the house in them. I don't know how she walks in those heels, but she loves to wear "mommy's shoes". So stinkin cute!

Baby Update

Just a little update on our new baby, I went to my doctor today and he finally scheduled an induction date for me. Yay!! I will be induced on the 19th or 21st, depending on how busy they are on that Saturday. I'm dilated to a 2 right now, so I'm sure I won't be going into labor before the 21st (but I will keep praying). 3 weeks though, I can make it 3 weeks. At least I know that I won't be going over 3 weeks - I can do it. Being 9 months pregnant in the dead of summer is probably not something I will strive for ever again!

I also finished the nursery, nothing great, but the best I can do for now. We are sure getting excited to meet this little guy - I'm starting to have these sad feelings for Ella though because I know that it is never going to be just me and her ever again. We've had so much fun together. I'm so excited for the baby, but a little sad to know that this is probably going to rock Ella's little world for a bit. I hope she does better than I am thinking, but we'll just deal with whatever happens. She is such the center of our world right now, I'm sure its going to be hard on her. Anyway, enjoy the heat - I see all these fun summer activities everyone is doing with their kids, but I'll just continue to be inside for the rest of the month too woosy to even take my child out to the pool!

Not sure why I'm posting this - I'm already regretting it. I think my nose seriously gets bigger with each pregnancy.

Yay for Grass!

Not much going on with us lately - we finally got our yard in and are so happy!! It is so nice for Ella to have a place to play outside now, besides in the yucky dirt. Now that our yard is in, our next project is getting ready for the new babe. I've been working on the nursery, so hopefully it will be done before this little guy arrives! Not much time left (thank goodness)! Maybe if I'm brave I'll post some recent pictures of my belly. I'm humongeous(?) - every where I go people ask me if I'm due any day now. Nope - still like 5 weeks left. So sad

Nothing to do with this post, but today I walked into the room and found her reading my People magazine like this! Yeah, I think she is pretty much my daughter! She woud turn the pages and say "cute" and "oh so pretty!" I think I've created a mini-me - I hope its not as bad as it sounds!