Cinco de Mayo

So I love Cinco de Mayo! I have a party pretty much every year because it's a great excuse to eat Mexican food, pretend to know how to dance bachata and pretty much just hang out with awesome people. Well I have to say the fiesta this year did not disappoint! We had a bunch of friends over, and the food turned out so amazing I thought I just had to share the recipes with anyone who wanted to try them. Each one is seriously delicious. I was so happy that Levi let me cook and bake by taking two long naps during the day! Yay! PS. He loved being able to hang out in his swing and watch all the action when we had people over. Kept him entertained for quite a while. :)

So yeah. Here were the culinary delights of the night!

http://www.platingsandpairings.com/slow-cooker-carnitas-street-tacos/

These fantastic carnitas. I was a little wary of them at first, having never bought pork shoulder before and not really sure about the idea of using a crockpot to cook them but they turned out sooo good! I am definitely excited for the leftovers I now have in my fridge!

http://ohsodelicioso.com/authentic-mexican-rice/

This Mexican rice. Again, I was going out on a limb a little with this one. It involved using my really pathetic blender as a food processor so I wasn't sure how it would go but it actually worked perfectly fine! Yay crappy blender for the win! Haha. Also I definitely just used regular rice from our 25 pound Costco bag meaning I used a little more water than the recipe calls for. Also I used frozen peas and carrots because why would I chop up carrots into tiny little pieces when I can just open a bag and pour? Haha.

These mini 7 layer dip cups. Ok so I may have accidentally bought tall cups instead of cute short ones so these didn't turn out quite as planned. Whoops! But thankfully we had long chips so it was all good.

http://thedomesticrebel.com/2015/05/01/churro-cupcakes-2/

These churro cupcakes! Seriously amazing. Only we don't have frozen churros in the grocery stores around here so instead of topping them with churros as the recipe calls for I made churro chex mix the night before and used that to top them instead. Soo good!

Here's the chex mix link:
http://sunnydayswithmyloves.blogspot.com/2014/04/churro-chex-mix.html
So really the churro mix recipe was just an inspiration for the churro chex mix because my store also doesn't have cinnamon chips. So I looked online as to how to make your own cinnamon chips and kind of followed one of those recipes with modifications.

Here's what I did:
1) Melt 1 stick of butter in saucepan with 1/3 cup of sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tbsp of corn syrup.
2) Pour over 8 cups of rice chex.
3) Mix 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar with 2 tbsp of cinnamon and pour onto chex. Shake it all up.
4) Pour 1/2 c granulated sugar onto chex. Shake it all up again.

For beverages, we had jarritos and a friend of mine brought horchata. With the super yummy food and drinks, and the excellent company it was a wonderful night!

Good news

Yesterday I took my last antibiotics! Yay! I am feeling a ton better and excited for all of these health issues to be wrapping up. Now I get to start re-introducing foods to my diet (ex: dairy). If all goes well, hopefully soon Eric and I will finally be able to go out to dinner for my birthday!

 Also, when I went to my OBGYN last time the midwife didn't even have to remove any stitches because they had FINALLY fallen out/dissolved on their own. And the part that was being stubborn and not healing had finally closed on it's own so no silver nitrate was necessary.  Hallelujah! 

In other news, Eric has returned to work full-time which means he is definitely feeling the effects of night-time sleep deprivation even more than I am. This exchange from two nights ago cracks me up:

I come into our room after putting Levi down for the night and find Eric passed out on the bed. I shake his shoulder to wake him.

me: Hey honey are you ready for bed?

Eric: I am if you choose me.

me: ... No, honey, did you already get ready for bed?

Eric: I am if you choose me.

me: That doesn't make any sense.

Eric: yeah it does.

me: .... ok. 

Also, Levi has been smiling more and more every day! He is showing so much personality and I absolutely love interacting with him! He makes my day and I can't believe he is almost two months old now! :)

So I started putting mittens on little man while he's nursing to keep him from pinching and scratching me. He just gets very enthusiastic about his food. Can't believe I didn't think to do this earlier!

So cute I can't even handle it!

He's looking so grown up already!

So That Just Happened

There have been several moments over the past few weeks that have made me make this face:

Say What?!

For example:

That time during my second post-partum visit when the provider tells me: 

"So basically you have a crater in the side of your vagina so that will take some time to, you know, fill in." 

Yes, I had a CRATER folks. Not the most reassuring thing to hear.

That time when our washing machine broke and I stepped out into the hallway and found it COMPLETELY flooded. Then two days later after we had had our carpet all ripped up and big fans running 24 hours/day and the maintenance guy had supposedly fixed our washer, and it happened again! (On the plus side we now have a shiny new washer!)

This delightful experience at the DMV:

So I decided to finally get an Oregon Driver's license, you know, I've only lived here a year now right? But primaries are coming up and I figure I should get a license and register to vote. So I bundle Levi up and head to the DMV. I walk in and get my number. 27 people ahead of me in line. I'm not surprised. I take a seat and say a silent prayer that baby will stay asleep while we wait for however long this takes. 40 minutes later I notice that the number being helped has skipped from 353 to 358. I'm number 354. Of course. So I go up to the counter and explain I've been skipped. After a little more waiting, I get called up.

DMV lady: "How can I help you?"

me: "Yes, I need a driver's license."

DMV lady: "From where?"

me: "Well I'm from Utah.." (not really sure what she means by this question)

DMV lady: "Oh that means you have to take a test"

me: "Yeah I know" (hello that's why I'm here)

DMV lady: "Well our computers are broken and we aren't sure when they will be fixed and we stop taking testers at 4." (it's 3:40)

me: "Well I've been here since 3."

DMV lady: "Well we don't know when the computers will be working. You'll have to come back tomorrow."

me: "....." (staring at her in disbelief)
me: "don't you think you should maybe make an announcement about that so that anyone else who's waiting to take a test can, you know, leave?"

DMV lady: "Oh yeah! Ok."

They make the announcement as I'm walking out the door. Seriously?

The many times over the past few weeks when I have come to the realization that although my husband may seem awake, he is in reality, quite asleep still. For example:

me: "Hey babe will you change Levi's diaper while I go to the bathroom before I feed him on the other side?"

Eric: Does not change diaper. Instead swaddles baby and attempts (unsuccessfully because baby is still quite hungry) to put him back to bed.

me: (while nursing) "Hey Eric, will you go get me my water bottle please?"

Eric: Leaves bedroom. 

Many minutes pass and he does not come back. Eventually I finish feeding Levi and go looking for Eric. He's asleep on the couch.

me: (while nursing) "Hey hon, will you go grab his swaddle blanket?"

Eric: Leaves bedroom.

Many minutes pass. Eventually he reappears in the doorway empty handed and looking confused.

me: "Honey did you forget what you were looking for?"

Eric: "I think so."

Folks this is my real life. It never ceases to surprise me. And I'm sure it will just get more interesting from here!

In other news, here are some more pictures of cute baby Levi from the past couple weeks:

Love my sweet baby smiles!

Just chilling

He wishes he could talk already

Got out of the shower one morning to find my boys like this. Life as a new baby and as a new dad is exhausting!

Ready for our walk one chilly morning

Love the activity mat/ball pit for Uncle Eric and Aunt Katie!! (Although Levi is still more interested in looking at people than toys)

Levi loves second breakfast!

He thinks Daddy is pretty cool. :)