Crockpot Turkey Breast and Whipped Carrots

This was a big win! The most delicious crock pot turkey breast and a new fabulous side of whipped carrots. Heavenly! A little preview of Thanksgiving in the Parish household, both these dishes were a big hit!!!

Turkey Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 Turkey Breast
• EVOO
• salt & pepper
• Fresh Rosemary
• Fresh Thyme

Instructions

1. Turn your slow cooker on high.
2. Place your washed Turkey Breast inside your slow cooker & pour a generous amount of EVOO (about a half cup or so) over the Turkey. Spread EVOO around with your hands or a basting brush.
3. Salt & Pepper the Turkey depending upon your preference. Poultry usually requires quite a bit.
4. Chop some fresh Rosemary & place on top of the Turkey.
5. In addition, use about 2-3 twigs of Rosemary & place on the Turkey as well.
6. Place fresh twigs of Thyme & sprinkle all over the bird.
7. Add more EVOO if needed
8. Cook your Turkey for at least an hour on high. (I cooked it for 1 1/2 on high)
9. Then place your slow cooker on low and cook for about 8 hours.
10. Once your Turkey is completely cooked, carefully remove from slow cooker & place on carving board. Cover with foil & let cool or stand for about 10 minutes.
11. Carve the turkey & serve.

Whipped Carrots

Ingredients

• 10-12 large organic carrots
• 4 TBS pastured butter, ghee, or coconut oil
• 1/2-3/4 cup pastured cream, whole milk (preferably raw), coconut milk, or coconut cream
• Real salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp)

Instructions

1. Steam (or boil) carrots until tender.
2. Place drained carrots in blender with salt and cream or milk of choice (start out with less liquid and add as needed) and blend until smooth.
3. Season to taste and serve.

Elijah is 18 Months Old!

We are officially halfway through Elijah's second year of life outside Mama! And I have to say, the first five months were on the tougher side but this last month, he has really blossomed and matured.  His attention span is increasing by leaps and bounds, his verbal expressions have exploded and through it all, his sweet, generous, loving and affectionate disposition has not wavered. He still stops what he is doing several times a day to come over and give me hugs, kisses and snuggles.  He does the same with his Daddy and the dogs and is happy to shower his grandparents with love as well!  He thrives on hugs and kisses and I just love it!

A few months ago I had some concerns about Elijah's speech development, mostly because he hit all his milestones incredibly early (walking the day before 8 months, sitting unassisted at 4 1/2 months etc) that I think I had unrealistic expectations of his verbal skills. My Aunt Cathy is a child speech pathologist and was a great resource to me, and was very reassuring that Elijah was advanced for his age and that his speech would probably "explode" by 18 months. Well, she was right! I was also unaware that sounds for things count, such as a cow says "moo" or "mmmm" for yummy food. So far, this is Elijah's vocabulary:

Mama - Mama or Mom Mom
Daddy - Dada
Pop- Pop (this is what he calls my Dad and the first person Elijah to call by name besides Mama and Daddy. Needless to say, Pop is tickled)
Up please - Up Peez
Down - Down
Go- Go
Bye Bye - Bye Bye
Ball - Ba
Baby - Ba Ba
Good - Gooooood (He uses this very appropriately when eating something tasty, if I asked him how he slept etc)
Bath - Ba
Yum - Mmmmmmm Good!
Boat- Boat
Banana - Nana
Duck - Du
Elmo - Um Mo
Night Night - Ni Ni
Eat - Eee
Bonnie - Ba Neee
Bubble - Bubble
Uh oh - Uh oh
Dog - Gog
Book - Boo
Bird - Bir

Animal Sounds: I have read this counts as words
What does a cow say - Mooo
what does a sheep say - Baaaa
What does a dog say - Arf!
What does a cat say - (very gently) mooooowwww (This is our favorite because he lightens his voice for this one)
What does an elephant say - pft! (mama taught him that one!)

He can identify his: According to Aunt Cathy this also counts as words
Eyes (by blinking)
Nose (by wrinkling it up and breathing in and out of it really hard)
Tongue
Mouth
Tummy
Feet
Piggies (toes)
Head
Ears

Signs - Chip and I chose not to teach baby sign to him and to instead focus on verbal skills but his Baby Babble video has some sign in it and he picked it up on his own. He does the following signs

More - He uses this to mean more food, do again (like if we are playing a game) or just if he wants something in general. This has become basically his request sign.

All done - he made up his own sign for all done

Eat - he picked this one up from the video just today. I happened to look over and see him doing it but I'm not sure if he will use it consistently, especially because he can actually say "eat".

Elijah's favorite things are bananas, Elmo, Bonnie and Wrigley, Granmumsy, Pop, Grandmother and Granddad visits, sitting on Mama's big belly (I usually have to scoot him down),brushing his teeth,  helping (with anything!), his daily smoothies, going bye bye, playing at the part, his little tikes playhouse, his new airplane ride, baths, books (he has lots of favorites that Mama and Daddy read several times in one sitting)  and swimming.

His dislikes are when Mama leaves the room (though the separation anxiety is getting MUCH better! He actually loves going to the nursery at church now. He used to cry.), being told no when he wants to watch Elmo, plain coconut almond milk (I'm having to get creative to get his calcium intake up!), when it is too hot to play outside and when Wrigley steals his food. This has really started to upset him. But he still LOVES his Wrigley!

In the month of October, Elijah got FIVE new teeth, pretty much at once! I think he is getting a teething break right now which we are enjoying because I know teething makes him pretty cranky. Hey, bone pushing through the soft gum tissue would make me pretty miserable too! But through it all he remains my sweet and loving boy and now that those teeth are through, I have my happy boy back!

I can't express how much I love mothering this little boy. These past 18 months have been the best of my life and I still, at times, cannot believe he's actually my child. I am very excited to share him with his new little brothers and we spend time every day talking about the babies in Mama's tummy and loving on them(he gives them kisses and snuggles on my belly), talking about how cool it is to be a big brother and just enjoying Mama's big belly.

My baby boy just continues to grow up before my very eyes.  His Daddy is often taken back by pictures I send throughout the day at how much he looks like a little boy and how little he looks like a baby.

We spent the days leading up to Elijah's 18th month day with my parents in San Antonio and I got a TON of awesome photos of Elijah so I decided to use that as his 18 month birth photo shoot!

We went to a pumpkin patch while we were in San Antonio and Elijah wore his Halloween costume (Elmo!) so I could get some cute, festive shots. 

My sweet little Elmo

Elijah had a blast frolicking among the pumpkins!

Sweet smile!

I <3 that smile!

Bright eyed boy!

Having fun as always!

"I spy something ORANGE!"

So many pumpkins to choose from!

Love how cute this costume is, even from behind!

He picked one!

Elijah had a great time as always on our visit to Sea World!

Enjoying the ferris wheel

One of Elijah's signature faces

Having a great time!

Such a sweet little laugh

We made sure to catch the Sesame Street show and Elijah enjoyed lots of attention!

He just loves the characters!

Enjoying the Halloween themed show!

Nothing cuter than a little boy on overalls!

Hugs from Abby!

One happy little boy

We brought Elijah's Elmo costume for the photo op!

Big Elmo and little Elmo!

Such a cool photo!

Some fun at home with Pop!

Looking handsome with Pop!

Love my preppy boy!

So handsome!

Trying on Pop's glasses

"Up please!

Looking quite studious!

Silly guys!

Pop loves him so much!

23 Weeks Pregnant.......Mothers Of Multiples......And Other Fun Stuff!

This pregnancy is moving right along. I cannot believe we are already nearing the end of October, belly keeps growing and my feet are starting to disappear. We have had a busy couple of weeks with no signs of slowing down.

Babies' Update: Patrick is definitely making his presence known more and more. Although I still don't feel him move nearly as much as his acrobat twin bother, I am feeling some pretty big movements coming from his side of my tummy. I'm not sure which twin is doing it but one of them is very entertained by poking at my belly button pushing it even further out and back in. It is funny and so heartwarming to watch all these little (and sometimes BIG) movements just below my surface.

Mama Update: Feeling pretty good actually. Tired. Less energy than non pregnant me but really pretty good. I keep thinking the monstrous heartburn I experienced with Elijah is coming back....the heartburn that used to wake me up from a dead sleep in tears......but every time I have an episode and think it is here for good, I find that it resolves as quickly as it came. Such a blessing because that was the hardest things about my first pregnancy, and something I expected to feel fully with two babies inside me. We still have a ways to go but by this point with Elijah, I was already fully aflamed.

I have been really diligent about doing my baby positioning exercises that I learned from our Bradley Method classes and Elijah even gets down on the floor and helps me do them. He did this on his own, holding my back for me as I do pelvic tilts and stopping every once in a while to walk to the front of me and give me a hug. I cant help but think what a great birth coach he will be one day for some lucky lady. ;) When I do squats he thinks it is funny to stand in front of me so I can kiss him every time I come down. Such a Mama's helper! We have also been very good about our walks and continue to add time to both the morning and the afternoon walks. My goal over the next couple weeks is to thoroughly research twin positioning on Spinning Babies Website and make sure to incorporate those suggestions so that my boys have the best chance at a natural beginning!

This week I also joined a new moms group North Houston Mother's Of Multiples.  I am so excited to be a part of this group! My mother in law (a mother of multiples herself!) told me of such a group and I have been excited to join our local group ever since. They meet once a month and it is Moms of twins and triplets+ of all walks of life, ages etc. I really appreciate being around moms that will be able to relate to the special concerns of twins and learn from their experiences, share frustrations and joys and just mingle with new friends. I am so blessed to have so many different groups of moms that I count as friends, many of them walking into my life just since this pregnancy. The fellowship found in this group (and the few others I belong to) is priceless. After the monthly meetings, the moms of multiples are invited to what is called the Moms' Meltdown where they all go to a restaurant for refreshments and more socializing. Due to some scary occurrences in our neighborhood recently, I have not been sleeping well so I skipped this part of the evening but I look forward to joining in next month for the Mom Meltdown!  I think it is so great that I am able to get this kind of "twin support" before my little sweetheart babies even arrive! I anticipate totally healthy children born healthy and ready for life outside Mama but if there is one thing my first birth taught me is that things don't always go as plan. And it is nice to know that I have lots of support.

Bola Ball: A couple of weeks ago, I got a small package in the mail that i was really excited about. My Bola Ball necklace! I had seen a post on one of my pregnancy boards about these necklaces that are popular in Spain and Mexico that Mama's wear when they are pregnant. The necklaces are very long, down to their belly and they have little bells in them that are supposed to emit a calming sound for the baby. I found mine on etsy through a seller in Spain on Etsy:

 The history of this unique piece of jewelry is several 100 years old. Here in Spain people call this kind of jewelry pendants "Llamadores de Angeles." They are very cute and the sound is really really nice. 
By wearing the pendant is told that the delicate sound of our angel caller calls our guardian angels and they come to our side.
In ancient India, pregnant women wore the sound ball around the waist and the sound is said to promote early childhood development and help women to relax.

Each color has their own meaning: I chose green for my babies. Although it is one of my favorite colors and I wear it often, my reasons for choosing it are the meaning behind the color.....

GREEN: People more down-to-earth prefer the color green. Green stands for hope, health, balance and honesty. It is the element of security and presents the beauty of nature. Green controls hope and illusion. This color is nature-flavored and lives of its own energy: water, air and sun.

My pretty new Bola Ball Necklace

I'm thinking of getting something to extend it so it falls a little lower but it does it the top of my growing belly. 

23 weeks and feeling great!

Still fitting into Maternity Smalls, even with that giant belly!  Yay for low carbs!

Love my twinsicles. :) (That is what my cousin calls them)

Baby bump love

Elijah was all ready for his turn!

My cutie cracking up as always 

Kisses for Mama......love his affection.  I hope that never changes!

This week.....eggplant! I held them facing down to let the twins know THIS is how I want them positioned!

Elijah and Mama, marveling over how big the newest Parishes are getting!

I'm not sure if Elijah is kissing the eggplant or trying to eat it. He definitely enjoyed it when I cooked it for dinner later that night!

Elijah and Mama holding our "babies"

Fun boy!

Daddy had a turn playing with this week's produce!

My boys dreaming about our new additions!