Hey, Hey, Heyyyyy!

Something crazy happened, overnight it seems that December arrived and it's now the 10th.

Holy smokes, Batman! It's hard to believe 2015 is right around the corner, but we're pretty pumped about it!

So what's happening in the Rodgers household?

Meal planning
Who am I? I'll tell you how this started. . .
One Saturday when Baby M actually decided to take a nap, I found myself cleaning watching Pioneer Woman. She talked about how busy she was and how vital meal preparation is in her household.
Then my mind started to wonder and my tummy began to growl . . . Then it hit me, I wonder if I too can board the "meal prep train." Well I went to the grocery store one Saturday morning and bought enough to feed an army. For starters, I only try and go to the grocery store to actually shop - once a month. So because I knew Baby M would wake up around 8 am, I needed to shop quickly and prepare the meals quickly. I left my house bright and early and to my amazement, Kroger doesn't open until 6 am . . . Kidding me right? Luckily, I had some other errands to run before lovely Kroger peeps were open. So I shopped for everything on my list - and was out the door at 6:30 am, no joke. I get home and immediately start unloading, petting Boomer, telling Boomer to stop barking and then finally start to cook. I made a list of everything I hoped to cook and I also made sure I had the containers to store the prepared dishes.

When I finished the meal prep, Baby M was yawning and waking up in her crib. Yes, that's right, before sleeping beauty woke up, I had prepared our meals for the entire month! Most of the meals were casserole type dishes, but I was able to properly store meats for tacos, chili, spaghetti, chicken and dumplings, etc.

The outcome . . . is fantastic. We literally thaw these meals and heat them at night, takes no extra time! So, if you're interested in meal prepping for your family, do it! I am forever a fan and plan to make even more meals before Baby J joins our party!


Cloth Diapering
What, that's gross! Save your words! I tried to cloth diaper months ago and failed. I was using the worst inserts available and luckily my friend Jenn helped a sista out! Shout out to Jenn!!

So I immediately bought better inserts, more diapers, more inserts, better diaper pail and .... low and behold, we're celebrating our month anniversary this week & I just bought Baby J's entire stash of newborn diapers yesterday!

I feel quite foolish for not seeking advice sooner, all the money we've wasted on disposable diapers, ugh, pains me to even think about it.

I chose to use pockets, one size for Baby M and I love them. Sure, the diaper + prefolds makes the baby's bottoms a lot more fuller, but I'm forever a fan of cloth diapers. I think C is still on the fence about the diapers, but I'm sure he's appreciating the savings!


Thanksgiving
We were able to spend most of Thanksgiving with Cody's family. It was pretty great to see his cousins, eat amazing food, and watch Baby M perform for all of the adults. I still wish I had taken a plate home with me, lawd, that dressing was amazing. The ham, tasted like nothing I've ever had in my life ... it was Heaven.

The week of Thanksgiving,  Cody's dad and step mom stopped in for a visit from Texas, God's country. It was great to see them play with Baby M and I think Baby M wanted them to stay, because who else would give a baby sweets at 8 pm? I guess that's what grandparents are for. . . it's payback since I'm sure C was a handful.

Martinez Christmas 
Every year my family gets together sometime before Christmas, to celebrate Christmas and birthdays together. We have family in Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma and Colombia - yes out of the country. So while the closer states get together often, the MI and MS crew tend to only see the family once or twice a year. It's always a blast, drama filled, food feast and calorie overload good time! When we arrived, it was about 1:30 am on Friday morning. Baby M was set up in her very own room and C and I were in one of the guest rooms. In my mind, I imagined setting up the baby monitor, walking to our room and catching some Z's before Friday's party. . . Baby M had other plans. She wanted to party in the guest room with us and she wanted to play slap-punch-kick us in the face. I wish I could say the next two nights were magically filled with sleep, but no, that would be a lie. Baby M wanted nothing to do with her pack and play and we wanted to nothing to do with co-sleeping.

Despite Baby M's sleeping fun, the weekend was a blast! The aunts and uncles went above and beyond for the nieces and nephew's visit. We went to the museum, the boys played football, dodge ball, we spent some time with Santa and opened mounds of presents. When we left, our entire car was full of all sorts of things, no joke. My sister even bought Baby M the girl and boy elves, don't worry, I'll cover these in a bit. Keep reading. 

The cousins 

Maggie at the Museum 

Play dough sesh with the best 

Birthday Celebration Part 1

My sister Fran always captures the best moments

Christmas 

We have such a large family, we have amazing friends - just really blessed with so many awesome events and fun around the holidays. So we do Christmas all throughout the month of December. The day after returning from Oklahoma, we hosted our church party, this Saturday we're hosting a gingerbread house party and then on Saturday C is also going to another Christmas party . . . so we love us some Christmas and good times!

Now, onto the elves. When I first saw the elves I laughed and thought, how creepy. Then we welcomed Baby M into the house and I wondered . . . What will we do about these elves and Santa. I mean, who doesn't love an adorable picture to show M's future husband Baby M when she gets older? Well the elves are adorable, but the whole story about them watching you and reporting back to Santa, seems like a story I heard off Dateline. . .

So, yes we have the elves and yes, she went to visit Santa, but we put no importance in either. In fact, we're keeping the elves out all throughout the year because she loves to chase our dogs with the elves. I mean come on, even Blue and Boomer are deathly afraid of these little devil elves . . .what does that say? As for Jolly Ole Saint Nick, no thanks. I think he's a great guy, but he's creepy too! I can't teach our kids to believe in a weird reward system around the holidays. "You act nice and this large, beardy, strange man will come bring you presents, down a chimney we don't have." I just can't and we won't. Now, with me giving you my opinion, sharing with you what we won't do, I'll also add ... that we do not judge our friends or family for bringing these traditions in their home. That's 100% a okay with us, trust me, we're fine with Santa and the elves, its just not something we're going to put a major focus on. With that being said, if you need someone to play Santa aka eat cookies for you, sign me up for that gig. I'll take one or three for the team. #teamplayer

Growing up, Christmas wasn't about the gifts, the food or about Santa, it was really about the birth of Jesus. From the beginning, I hope I've shared enough for you to know that our faith in Jesus may grow weary, but we're big fans of him and his works. : )

In case Baby J comes early, or in case I fall into a food coma, I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I pray you are surrounded by loved ones and that wherever you are, that you know you are loved!

Many blessings to you and yours!

New, faster way to open gifts 

Oh, don't be alarmed if you don't receive a Christmas card from us, we've got something special in mind for the New Year! No, we aren't sending you elves.

Until next time, stay classy amigos.

Mercedes