Crispy Chicken Wraps

One thing that has changed in our life sense Elijah has been diagnosed is we never ever go out to eat any more. The crowd, the noise and social expectations right now are to tough on Elijah. We typically slap a $50 bill on the table and walk away thinking "That was totally not worth it" And although Elijah is improving by leaps and bounds, right now, we just stay at home and eat. Although, completely off topic, but kinda not, Elijah's therapy company is starting a new thing, where they will baby sit at head quarters and they are teaming up with a restaurant in the area and we will get a free babysitting and dinner in the month of may..so cool! I love that company, and am so thankful they always go above and beyond :)

Needless to say, i miss some of my favorites from these restaurants. There are things in life that i Love, God, My little Family, and Honey Mustered. I know, i know..but its true! I also love crispy chicken wraps, and my favorite restaurant for honey mustered and my favorite restaurant for crispy chicken wraps isn't the same one...imagine my dilemma! (haha..peril) And also, we as a family have been cutting back majorly on High Fructose Corn Syrup and Dyes, for about a year now. I refuse to give up on taste though :) I after all do love to cook! This is my recipe i came up with to satisfy all this. And OH MY GOODNESS GUYS! Try it! Its the best! I promise!..yes a lil unhealthy, but it was a treat..like instead of going out to eat we had these and Elijah loves just the nuggets, so its all one meal every one loves! Whoo Hoo!

First off the Honey Mustered:
1/2 c Dijon Mustered (no do not substitute, it wont work)
1/2c Mayo
3/4c Honey, or if you prefer more of a mustard flavor 1/2 cup then :) I did 3 equal parts and then added honey to taste and made a huge batch..its awesomeness!

Now My Yummy Chicken Finger recipe:
3/4 c all purpose flour
3/4c dry bread crumbs
2 Tbs grated Paresan cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk (i use 1 cup milk minus i Tblsp, plus one Tblsp of lemon juice..did you know you could do that?)
We used chicken tenderloin, and about 12 pieces cleaned up and cut to a preferred shape)
Canola oil for frying
in one bowl mix up the first 6 dry ingredients set aside, in another bowl combine buttermilk and egg

put chicken in batches, in the buttermilk (i will be honest, i did half and used a bigger bowl) then scoop out chicken and put in dry mix (again i did half in a big bowl) Make sure you coat well :) In an electric skillet heat canola oil to 375* Fry chicken for a few minutes on each side (i just did it until it was a pretty brown color) flip and repeat :) Drain on paper towel.

The Rest of the Recipe:
Romaine lettuce
tomatoes, diced
sharp cheddar
bacon bits (if desired)
Tortilla shells, warmed
Honey Mustered
The thing i love about this recipe, allot of the prep is done earlier in the day, i had the lettuce all cut, tomatoes diced, cheese shredded, bacon baked, They dry mix made, the butter milk made..at supper all i had to do was make a buffet of toppings and fry chicken and warm tortillas and assemble...and of course...Enjoy!

Entertainment Center

I couldnt wait until tomorrow, its finally done! And i am so proud! My hubby built this himself, the plans and all..in his head no less! Our living room is long and big and odd shaped..we need a corner unit that wouldnt take up space. I serched and look to see if we could find the perfect center and couldnt...I really liked this one...

Click here to see inspiration peice

But not white..and see that space/opening at the bottom? i didnt want that..to hard to clean! lol. And I wanted it taller and wide enough for our sound bar to set on...anyway....it turned out perfect. I am a "tad" proud!

How crazy talented is he? 

Why Hello there 3rd trimester!

Can you believe it?! I have arrived at the third trimester!! Whoo Hoo! 28 weeks!

Excuse the poor picture quality, Julia and i  took these this morning, in between waiting for the toast to pop up from the toaster..between me and her and the self timer of the camera we were able to sorta catch something in focus ;) I will not be showing you the out takes, they were horribly unflattering! This is what baby center says about 28 weeks gestation

Click here to follow link to baby center

If for some reason you cant follow said link, Basically the baby is 2 and a 1/4 lbs and 14.5 inches long...and i am in the home stretch! Whoo Hoo! (oops already said that ;))

This pregnancy is going fairly well, challenges have been trying to schedule appointments in buffalo and keep Elijahs therapy going. I will start going to the doctor every other week and i am hoping this wont become to much of an issue! The pain so far from my cercloge stitch has been the worst pain of all 4 pregnancy's, but i think that must have to do with having 4 cercloges and the scar tissue is pretty built up. I have an scheduled routine ultra sound next week and am looking forward to hearing that is indeed the case, and my cervix isn't trying to pull anything funny. Which i am sure it isn't, but i am a worry wart, so this ultra sound is perfect timing! Speaking of which, My best friend is coming out next week super early with some of her kiddos to baby sit a good chunk of the day so Kris can actually be at my appointment and the ultra sound, i love her for this since Kris hasn't been to anything in months and months! I have the best-est bestie, she lives like an hour away too..i am gonna totally owe her! If you are unaware of what a cercloge is hop over to this link (but if your a guy it may embarrass you)

Web Mds version of a Incompetent Cervix

It sounds pretty nasty, but i know nothing else..so this is status quot to me :) I never lost a baby as most woman do, but with julia's pregnancy i was 4 cmm dilated at 19 weeks pregnant and only given a 1% chance survival rate. But my God is bigger and had a plan, and i a carried Julia to term at 36 weeks and had a very healthy baby. My own miracle!

Mr Asher has been doing really well. He is a bee bopping around in mommy...daddy has yet to feel a hard kick, because every time he puts his hands on my tummy the baby settles down...lol...its a pain now but all my baby's did that and they all loved to be held by daddy and sleep on him out side the womb. We will keep trying though! Julia was the first one to feel Asher move and she is a lil obsessed with my belly. This pregnancy has been the one i have been the most nauseous, car rides are hard, and if i don't get enough sleep at night (which is my biggest trigger) i am for sure going to have an appointment with the toilet the next day. But really its been pretty decent pregnancy! I am enjoying getting ready for Asher, buying him some clothes and accessories and sewing for him. Being my 3rd boy he has pretty much every thing. We may buy him a cradle, not sure about that yet. All in all i cant complain, God has blessed us..all is going well and i only have a short amount of time left before i get to hold my sweet boy!

Man, I love these kids

My Bubby, Peanut, and Sharkie all messy on a weekend morning, watching cartoons, joined at the hip as usual,just hanging out with some of their favorite people in the whole world, they pretty much do everything together. They are each others best buddy's and i think they are adorable,one of those moments that made mommy's heart smile...walk in and they are just sitting there with their arms around each other..oblivious at how completely sweet they are.

I Love to Organize!

One more project crossed off the list! My hubby did a great job, and my measuring stuff is easy access, instead of floating in the deep abyss of my odds and ends drawer! Its the small things :)

18 months old!

Could my baby really be 18 months old?! If you know me i spend my children's half birthdays and birthdays depressed at how quickly they are growing..haha, i try to fake happiness though for their sake!

Titus had his 18 month check up yesterday, Baby boy is in the 75% for height..23lbs 10oz...and has a very tiny head! (haha..all my kids do, it comes from my husband..works well for me in child birth) He grows out of shoes and footed sleepers like crazy..,the kid is big foot..clearly again NOT inherited from his mother!

His favorite things? Bath time, getting his hair done..he often brings me the gel and his brush and says "pleease?" , Playing with his ever patient siblings, playing with dinosaurs and trucks, Singing while dancing to the veggie tales theme song (which he did yesterday for the doctors office..he also likes attention) laughing,  snuggling with his mommy, helping daddy fix things, and eating, and his pacifier.

Titus as any 18 moth old is is very active, likes to climb and is learning to talk at lighting speed! He has Daddy's personality, to the point daddy thinks he is hilarious because he can relate, and mommy thinks he is adorable and funny. He often tries getting out of trouble by smiling at you while you are discipling him, or kissing you...obviously he thinks he is charming.

18 months of pure joy to his mommy's heart. I am so blessed!

Please stop and think

Small list of what i hear about Elijah:

"Spank the child, he will learn". Only problem, what happens when you spank your child and it sends him into a seizure like fit?

"Autistic children are possessed by a devil"..haha..the stupidest one i have herd yet, obviously said by an uneducated  person who clearly knows nothing of developmental delays or anything about the brain

"We have never been close to him because he doesn't reach out to us" ..yeah because developing relationships is solely the child's responsibility

"sure i can baby sit, but will he be ok?" and then proceed to give me a 100 reasons why they clearly would not be a good choice

Trust me there are many many more, but i hate to think about them, because in my human flesh..it bothers me. People who do not care to try to see my son the way i do, or want to take the time to reach out.

They are out there and i encounter them all the time. It gets tiresome. Many parents get bitter when they have a autistic child, bitter at the world, who ,seems to constantly be judging them and obviously their poor parenting style. And its really hard sometimes. Because their is no greater judge of myself than me.  I just wanted to write this because i witnessed one of these happenings the other day, i watched it happen to someone else. I watched their shoulders slump, tears in their eyes and walk away defeated, because yes, part of what your saying is true. My child is "imperfect" and "different". But what you don't realize judgmental voyeur is, just to get my child to the store i spend 45 minutes dressing him while he kicks and screams, on the way to the store he falls asleep because he just spent 7 hours of therapy time that one day, which means i will be up until the wee hours of the morning with him. again. We are at the store shopping because my son is experiencing regression, and started eating (yes eating) our furniture and now we have to buy safe furniture, that will be expensive and non toxic so if he starts eating this furniture he at least wont be poisend. And by the time we get home we have therapy again tomorrow at 8am. So please, please, please before you judge, stop, don't open your mouth. because you don't know what those words will mean to a parent. Who battle every day to recover their child, who lose sleep, money and their life to meetings and therapy and being consistent and never allowed to be weak. Just stop, because God gave that child to that parent for a reason, and you do not have a special needs child for a reason. Just maybe God knew what he was doing.

I can not tell you how hard that was to watch, because its has happened happened to me...the first time it happened i burst into tears and ran out of the store with 2 kids in tow. And i cant bring myself to go back. So watch your words, your feeling all bold and cool now, but really your just a jerk.

Green Eggs and Ham

This little girl can fly through green eggs and  ham no problem, all 62 pages, 1st  time reading it! Mommy needs to find harder books! And allot of them, if she is anything like her mommy.

Is there anything cuter?

Is there anything cuter than a little boy after a fresh hair cut?

I highly doubt it!