Good Monday Morning

Up early today ... Zumba class in 1/2 and hour, baby still sleeping (made it all night - yea!), hubby & other kids, too! Good start to the week.

Monday munchies will likely begin later, so perhaps a recipe is in order!

Savory Pretzels (compliments of my friend Shannon)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees

Place the following in a large zip top bag being careful not to get any on the seal:

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp dill weed

1 envelope fiesta ranch dressing mix (a spicy ranch mix - found in the salad dressing aisle of the grocery store)

Shake to mix. Then add

1 lb bag of pretzels (the traditional pretzel shape works great)

Seal & shake the bag like crazy until all the pretzels are well coated.

Empty onto a baking sheet (or 2) and bake for one hour.

Once they're done, you'll have a wonderful savory & lightly spicy snack. This one is a bit high on the salt content, so be sure to have a tall glass of water or other beverage on hand! Or you can try adjusting to a different mixture w/less salt!

Enjoy!

Time to Blog

I've been reading a bunch of stuff on the best mommy blogs out there, and I've had a chance to visit several of them over the past few days. All I can say is "Wow!" I wish I could do that!

I'm in constant amazement at what other moms seem to be capable of. It's not even the big stuff that gets me - I mean, getting your blog into the top 10 or 50 out there is awesome, but I'm even amazed that anyone with little creatures in there house has any time to write, much less make it that good!

Maybe it's just my own lack of time/organization, but I find it nearly impossible to sit down at my computer and write. I think I have plenty of good ideas, but between baby time and big kid time and husband time, I can't seem to get in enough writing time. I know a lot of people will use nap time to write (that's what I'm doing now), but little Scooter isn't consistent enough with his naps to allow me to luxury of having both hands free for a reliable amount of time. Daddy put him down today, and he's doing great, but Daddy isn't always available and I'm still struggling with the whole sleep thing (see previous posts).

But it's liberating to be able to put even a few thoughts down on paper - well, I guess it's more accurate to say "in computer" - and I hope I have more frequent opportunities to do this in the future. Even if it takes a while, perhaps I'll get enough going to make me feel like I have a real blog! That would be fun!

Sleep, Sleeep, Sleeeeeep!

So I just re-read my post from October, and all I can say is, "oh well." My little Scooter (not his real name) got the hang of going to sleep on his own, then the holidays came, we travelled, and it looks like we're back to square one.

Each night brings all the anxious & hopeful feelings of successful sleepers everywhere right into the baby's room, and we begin the bedtime dance. Some nights he goes to sleep just fine, other nights ... not so much. He's better at doing it on his own than he used to be, but I still find myself praying to the sandman each night to help him drift off peacefully and sleep through the night.

My husband is much better at letting him cry for a little while and then helping him go back down on his own. It's like he works some kind of magic in there that I haven't figured out yet. I'm just a sucker for the little guy and he knows it, so the desperate cries and theatrics generally get the better of me after a while. I know ... I have to be strong and keep in mind that it's better for him in the long run if he figures out how to go to sleep by himself. I'm trying. For now, I just have to KEEP trying and toughen up against the sweetest little guy in the world. Put in a good word with the sandman for me and wish me luck!