April Showers Bring May Flowers

Well it's another rainy day here in Boise so I figured it would be a good idea to update this blog before the crazy month of May begins! It's been a very interesting couple of weeks, lots of good sprinkled with the all too familiar hectic side effects of a busy life. It's funny; most days I think to myself, how in the world did I ever accomplish anything when I was working full time? Now I'm only working about 16 hours a week and I still can't seem to keep up. It also baffles me that even though I make half as much money than I used to and we are paying double in rent, we are still doing perfectly fine. Odd how life works. Well Titus is 15 weeks today and I'm pretty sure he's up to 10 pounds. He's comfortably in size 1 diapers and 3 month onesies, but he's still wearing his newborn pants. He's got this little waist and short legs, not unlike his mother! The little waist is nice, the short legs, not so much! But he is doing great and even rolled over for the first time a couple weeks ago.

I was hanging out with the Bassett clan last night and Titus was on his tummy and Jess (who is almost three) asked, 'Why is he on his tummy?' I told him, 'because he wants to show everyone how he can roll over now.' He responded, 'I can roll over! It's easy!' And started rolling all over the floor, it was very cute. Earlier in the night, Titus was sitting in his car seat, content to just watch all of us. The cousins wanted to play though, so Beth and Jess pulled up two boxes to sit on right next to him and played and talked right there so he could be included. His eyes were wide as saucers watching them moving around and talking to him. It was so sweet.

When the weather is nice Eric and I have been going on walks when he gets home from work, and I usually try to go on one with Titus earlier in the day too. I'm proud to say I'm officially under my pre-pregnancy weight, though much curvier now. I guess that's a good thing though, I always wanted hips! And no that's not sarcasm; the first thing I said when I tried on my wedding dress was, 'It makes me look like I actually have hips! I'll take it!' The only bummer is I was sure I was done loosing weight a couple weeks ago so I went out and bought some really cute work clothes that are getting baggier and baggier by the week.
Kinda sad, but I suppose there are worse things than having to go shopping again! Tomorrow starts the often busy month of May. With mine, my mom's, my Pookie Bear's and Nichole's birthday all back to back (not to mention mother's day), it feels like we're partying all month long! Of course Garrett's birthday kicks off the festivities in the middle of April. This year Cole and
I got him Flo Rida concert tickets for his birthday, and I was flattered when he asked if I would want to go. The opening bands were...intense! But the band right before Flor Rida had so many hits from when I was in high school; I was dancing like a crazy woman and having a good time, then Flo Rida, wow! He is an amazing performer. He was running around so much I couldn't believe he was still able to sing! At one point he was only about 10 feet away from us. Garrett and I rushed up to try to touch him, but unfortunately weren't fast enough. Just knowing he was that close was
pretty cool though. The night ended with a sore throat,
sore feet, and some good eats from Burger
King. It was a lot of fun! I love spending time with Garrett and
am looking forward to some fun times this summer with him.

Well that's about all I have for now! Have a wonderful last day or April and first day of May, and hey, let's pull our prayers together and get some sunshine in Boise. Happy Blogging!  

Our Carnival Conquest 2011

One year and three months later and this video is finally finished! I started working on it about a month and a half ago, and even though I hit a lot of unexpected rough patches I learned a lot about putting together movies like this. Eric was of course a huge help and I'm just so excited to finally have this done and be able to keep these memories alive forever!! 

 

Click on 'YouTube' at the bottom of the picture so you can actually go to YouTube and watch on a much bigger screen!

Getting Organized

The past couple of days I have been really worried about finding a new place. Our lease will be up in four months and we will more than likely be moving again as they are going to be raising our rent by about $75 a month. I'm actually a little disappointed; sure there are little things about this place that aren't the best but I feel like we are really settled here and if the rent would have stayed the same, we probably would have stayed for another year. But it's looking like a move is in our near future yet again. I always get anxious around this time and I scour my rental websites and apps trying to find the perfect place, four months too soon, mind you. Of course I am always worried our 'dream place' will slip right out of our fingers while we are still tied to our current lease, which usually leads to us either breaking our lease or paying double rent for a few months, neither of which is cheap. I sat looking at houses that I wanted but couldn't afford and houses I could afford but certainly didn't want. After a few hours of this somewhat depressing activity, I looked around and realized I hadn't even fully decorated this place yet. In fact, I've never fully decorated or unpacked at any place that we have lived. I've never made anywhere 'home.' So I set to work! First, I reorganized every single cupboard and drawer in the kitchen, including our 'pantry.' I ended up with four empty shelves, awesome! Then I decorated the kitchen using things I already had that were hiding under the sink and above the fridge, vases.

Next I tackled the coat closet, the entertainment center, Titus' closet, and our closet, again 

ending up with a ton of extra space. After all that reorganizing I had a couple boxes that 

needed to go into our storage space....

Yea, that pretty much says it all. 

So I got to work organizing that too!

All in all it was a wonderfully productive day and instead of dreaming of all the nice places that I wish I could afford, I tried to make our apartment the best it could be, which turned out pretty darn good I think. It's incredible how a couple empty shelves, organized closets, some pictures, and a few vases can make a place feel so much more like home.

 Happy Blogging!

March Madness, Minus the Madness

Wow, the weeks are really flying by lately! It seems like there is so much going on and so little all at the same time. I started working about 6 more hours a week which doesn't seem like much but it is definitely making the weeks go by faster. It's been nice though, Dawn watches Titus for us on Monday's now. I love that her and Titus get to spend some one on one time together and I'm not going to lie, I like getting to see her every week too. It is nice getting to work more but it's hard being away from Titus, just one of those things that takes some time to get used to I suppose. Titus was blessed two Sunday's ago. It was a busy, crazy, fun weekend.
My dad and Wilson family came in from Utah and we were able to spend a lot of time with them over the weekend. It was so much fun getting to see my dad hold Titus, his first grand kid. And Titus of course was very interested in all the new people at the house. The blessing was perfect. Eric's grandparents also came in from Utah, my parents were both there, Nichole and Joey, along with many many Bassetts, and even some friends
were able to come! Eric's prayer was beautiful and I was fortunate enough to get it all written down so we can read it again and again and give it to Titus when he is older. After a 'packed full of family' Sunday, we were very exhausted here at the Bassett house but we also felt extremely blessed to know that Eric and I and Titus are loved by so many. As far as the little man is concerned; Titus is up to about 8 pounds, 5 ounces. I can't believe he was half his size now when he was born. Looking back at pictures and videos from those first few days still brings tears to my eyes. What a strong little man we have. As far as sleeping goes, it really depends on the night. There really isn't any consistency yet but we're working on it. I'm also having to get used to sleeping in my bed again. It's just been easier so far to sleep on the couch with Titus so Eric can get a good night's sleep since he works such long hours. But I have decided that it's probably a bad habit for both mommy and baby so instead of sleeping together and falling asleep to the TV every night, we (try to) make Titus sleep in his crib and I am trying to figure out how to share a bed with a full sized person again. Most nights Titus ends up in his Boppy in between us, but hey, baby steps! I have also taken up a new little hobby that I'm sure could become annoying if I'm not careful, but I am loving putting together videos and pictures to make mini movies. Right now I am actually
waiting for our cruise video to finish uploading so I can post it on YouTube. And yes, I said cruise video! I know it's been over a year, but hey, better late than never right?! Nichole and I also went to the Kelly Clarkson concert which was awesome!! She is so amazing; a truly talented vocalist and performer. Matt Nathanson was also there, and let me just say, he is hilarious!! Also a great vocalist. Seriously, there was not a flaw all night from either of them. It was a very fun girl's night out, and very much needed.

Well, I think that's pretty much it. The Bassett's March adventures in a nutshell!

                            Happy Blogging!

Watch Out Recipes, Here I Come!

Maybe it's because I have finally gotten over my phobia of touching raw chicken or perhaps I just feel more accomplished when we sit down to a meal that took longer than 10 minutes and boiling water to prepare, either way I'm feeling great about cooking!! So far I have mastered individual chicken pot pies, chicken fettuccine casserole, chicken rice burritos and my own version of potato soup. Yes, yes I know
that's a lot of chicken recipes but I'm taking baby steps. I'll get to the bigger meats later, for now it's chicken and the occasional steak that Eric grills up for us, yum! I have had such a good time learning these recipes and trying my own spin on them. There have definitely been a couple failed meals but luckily Eric isn't that picky and I gave the recipes a second chance with my own take on them to make each one perfect for our family. I never thought that I would be that good at cooking or that I would enjoy it so much, but I have really loved getting to experiment the last couple of weeks. The first time I made the chicken fettuccine casserole I took it over to Nichole and Joey's. Crash and burn.
OK so it wasn't horrible, it just lacked flavor, completely. The next time I made it I added some Parmesan cheese and garlic to the sauce, and wa la, flavor! And a delicious meal that I have made many times since for us and once for our upstairs neighbor that just had her baby. The chicken rice burritos were pretty much perfect from the beginning, other than horrible serving sizes. So, I bought medium tortillas instead of large, and again, wa la, a wonderful meal! The potato soup was a fun one. Eric had a sore throat and was seeming to get more and more sick so I decided to whip up some soup, I used some guidelines from a cookbook that Nichole got me, but I mostly just added things until it was just right. At the end I added another scoop of flour to make it a little less runny, big mistake, kind of. The soup ended up so thick it was more of a potato and mixed vegetable dish with a delicious cheese sauce over the top of it, it was so thick I ate mine with a fork. Even though it wasn't soup it was still terrific! And our new house favorite, individual chicken pot pies. I'm pretty sure we have these at least once
a week now and every time it is a different experience. We use the recipe as a guideline but add new ingredients every time. Mmm mmm! Seriously, Eric and I both decided we could eat these every night for the rest of our lives and be perfectly content! Now that I have these new recipes down I am so excited to scour the internet and my cookbooks for a few new ones to conquer. I feel so good when I can have a nice meal ready for Eric when he gets home and now that we have an actual table to sit down at, it makes the experience that much better. Happy cooking!

Titus' Birth Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcSHXcFwLPU&feature=youtu.be

The Swing of Things

Wow, what a crazy couple of weeks! It seems like Titus and I almost have our non-schedule down pat. I say non-schedule because the only two things on the agenda are church on Sunday and work on Tuesday. Going back to work has definitely been interesting, I only work on Tuesdays and I'm usually there for about 11 hours. It has only been three weeks of this so I am still adjusting, and so are Eric and Titus. I am phoning home less during the day though and Eric is sending me more picture messages, which seems to help! I love being out of the house and contributing to the income but I sure do miss my boy. Eric has Wednesdays and Sundays off, so we get to have a lot of family time. The rest of the week Eric works and Titus and I get to do whatever and go wherever we please. I have never had such a flexible schedule before and it has taken some getting used to. Last week, for example, I completely over did it. There was not a day that we didn't leave the house and on top of that, half the nights people came and saw us. By Monday Titus and I were both an over exhausted mess. Note to self: just because you have free time and truly want to spend time with family, doesn't mean you should at every opportunity! Moderation, moderation. This week has been much more relaxing, we have left the house a couple times and seen a couple people but it has been more spread out with more time to rest in between activities. I'm still trying to get a handle on this whole 'stay at home mom' business but I think I am finally finding a grove that works for me and for the little man. I am so blessed to have a husband that has a great job that can support us, yet he understands my want to work and encourages it. And I am so blessed to be able to be with Titus pretty much all the time, and really be able to take all of him in; seeing him grow and develop little by little every day. This really works for us, for now. Inevitably though change will come. But that's the exciting part; figuring out the different steps and stages of life together and really making them work for our family. 

Until next time, happy blogging!