Last Weeks Craziness / Baby Andrews #2 - Week 14

Well, as most of you know, last week was complete chaos over here. My father got very sick, and actually ended up in the hospital. So most of our days started very early with a drive to Ann Arbor, lots of time spent in the hospital, and late nights with long drives back home. He did finally get released and is feeling much better now. So many friends and family members came through with such nice and kind words, thoughts, and prayers and we were so thankful for that. With that being said, the madness of attempting to entertain a toddler in a very small family waiting room, since he wasn't aloud in the intensive care unit at all, was a battle in itself. Surprisingly he did so well, and I'm so grateful to my husband who called of numerous days of work to go with me and to help out with our little man. The week was hectic and crazy, and I took this past weekend to finally get caught back up with our normal lives and daily routines. I had a messy house to clean, too many loads of laundry that needed to be washed, dried, and put away, and too many other things I was dreading. It was a busy weekend, but we got everything done. I made a new snack, be sure to check out my next upcoming post to see what it was! Here's a picture at 14 weeks:

How far along? 14 Weeks

Total weight gain: Last time I checked I was down 10 pounds, but judging by how I look and feel, I would say that's changing quickly.
Maternity clothes? Not yet.
Stretch marks? None yet, just the couple I have still from Easton.
Sleep: This week I was especially tired, but I think that's understandable.
Best moment this week: Easton was watching tv and fell asleep while he was laying on my tummy.
Miss Anything? The feeling of having energy. 
Movement: Every once in awhile I feel movements, mostly at night when I lay down and attempt to relax.
Food cravings: This week I wanted stir fry. I made some at home and it was yummyyyyyy!!
Anything making you queasy or sick: I have some sinus drainage that has made me feel pretty crappy, but nothing related to foods or smells.
Gender: We don't know yet.
Labor Signs: None.
Symptoms: Good to go.
Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy.
Looking forward to: Our appointment next week!! 

Thanks for reading! Don't forget, I'll be posting a new recipe soon so watch out for it! 

Xoxo,

Christine 

Big Changes & Exciting News!!! :)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

We had such a great day. This morning, I made a huge homemade breakfast complete with fresh strawberry pancakes, bacon and sausage. My mother in law was nice enough to watch Easton this afternoon so Jake and I could have some time as a couple. We enjoyed a yummy dinner at Olive Garden, and we went to see 50 Shades of Grey (which Jake did not want to see but was nice enough to sit through it with me). It was so nice to have time as a couple, to sit at a table and have adult conversations, and laugh a lot. But on the drive home, we both agreed that it was awkward that Easton wasn't with us, and that we are definitely not ready to go on a vacation anytime soon because we would miss him way too much!

This year, Jake got me beautiful flowers and a card that said such nice, sweet things in it. I got him a card and a huge bag filled with all kinds of candies and chocolates and treats that he loves. We got Easton a gift bag filled with toys, gerber cookies, new bath stuff, two new outfits, a balloon (that he LOVES) and a Scentsy stuffed animal pal. We all had such a great Valentine's day. We also got one more gift, which just so happens to be the best gift of all........

WE ARE EXPECTING "BABY ANDREWS #2" IN AUGUST!!!!!

We are so beyond happy and thrilled! We had been trying for quite some time, and are so happy that God has blessed us with another wonderful little life! We can't wait for Easton to have a sibling and a new built-in best friend! Our family is expanding and we are to the moon with happiness! Life will have its challenges with having "two-under-two" but we are ready to experience every step of it! We have known for awhile, but decided to wait awhile for the announcement. With Easton, when I found out I was expecting, I calculated myself to be around 8-9 weeks pregnant. When we went for the first ultrasound, nothing was showing and we were told that I most-likely miscarried. This was obviously devastating for us and torn us into pieces. A week later, my friend, who was also a doctor at the place I worked at, told me she wanted to do another ultrasound because she just "had a gut feeling". I was so hesitant to do this, but finally agreed. And sure enough, there was our little baby boy in there, plain as day. We went through a roller coaster of emotions, but in the end, everything was completely worth it. So when we found out this time around, we were quite hesitant and very careful about what we did and who we told. We told our close, immediate family and friends on Christmas, and that was that. Now that we are definitely in the clear, we couldn't be happier to share! As most know, my father lives with us. (He has a lot of health issues, including being legally blind and kidney failure so he is on dialysis three times a week.) Obviously, in our situation, adding another baby in the mix will have its challenges. We already have a toddler sleeping in bed with us, our condo is filling up very fast with toys, and we are running low on space. Although our lease is still for another year and a half, I am going to re-read that contract and look into getting out of it. We definitely need a space upgrade, not only for us, but for the new baby as well, and for my dad. We have two full flights of stairs in our house now, and with someone who is legally blind, this has caused some challenges. It's time to move! Who knows if we will actually move, but we will see what God has in store for us and what his plans are!

With this pregnancy, and since I have a blog this time around, I WILL document it. I wanted to keep a blog when I was pregnant with Easton, but time got the best of me and I didn't. Now that I look back at it, I wish I would have. It's so cool to be able to look back on it, and I can't do that. So this time around I am. So expect some weekly photos and survey updates! Here's some from the beginning:

And here is today at 13 weeks, 1 day:

How far along? 13 Weeks

Total weight gain: I'm actually down 10 pounds, but my doctor said this is normal, especially since I lost this much at the beginning with Easton. (I know; impossible to believe since my stomach is already huge!)
Maternity clothes? None yet, but I loveeeee my yoga pants!
Stretch marks? None yet, just the small few left over from Easton. But I've already started with my cocoa butter and my bio-skin.
Sleep: I'm so tired all the time.
Best moment this week: I felt our little one fluttering around inside!
Miss Anything? I would really love a margarita, but it's going to have to wait another year or two.
Movement: flutters every once in awhile, but nothing consistent.
Food cravings: Sweets and fruit. The best: fruits dipped in chocolate. Yummy!
Anything making you queasy or sick: No, thankfully that's stopped for now.
Gender: We don't know yet.
Labor Signs: None.
Symptoms: Overall, feeling pretty good, just very exhausted and tired.
Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy most of the time, but my tiredness gets the best of me sometimes.
Looking forward to: Our next appointment that just so happens to be on Jake's birthday. Maybe we will be able to convince our doctor to check up on our little one and see if it's a he or a she!



Keep checking, there will be a lot more posts of our new adventure!
xoxo,
Christine

Sweets and Stress!

As most of you know, my husband is a firefighter. And not only is he a firefighter for one department, but he's on two seperate departments on top of a good handful of special teams including Tech Rescue and Hazmat. His job is unbelievably scary all the time, but I'm so proud of how dedicated and how much he truly loves his profession. It gives me a good, warm, heart-felt feeling knowing that he is such a great role model for Easton. With that being said, he works a TON. His radio is constantly going off with calls during the day and night. Plus, he has trainings Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and most Thursday nights. With him being gone all day at one job, and rushing home to eat, shower, change, and give Easton and I another kiss goodbye; that doesn't leave much room for family time, long conversations, or anything revolving romance, during the week days.

So yesterday Easton and I ventured out in the cold and ran plenty of errands. One of them consisted of the grocery store. My biggest fail: I went shopping before we ate lunch so my hunger got the best of my shopping cart. Which means it was filled with my latest cravings; lots and lots of fruit. Meijer happened to have strawberries on sale 3/$5 so I was all about that. Anyways, we stocked up on lots of goodies. As I came upon the baking aisle, I went right for the chocolate. I will be the first to admit that in that moment, I had no intention of doing anything but eat each small little morsel one by one while watching my DVRs.

Last night after a quick dinner, Jake ran out of the house to make it to the station for a call, and he had training shortly after so I knew he wouldn't be home for awhile. I was sitting on the couch while Easton was playing, reading another blog, while I came up with the idea to do something nice. I try to do nice surprises for my husband all the time but he has this weird way of knowing what I'm up to every single time and he always ends up ruining the surprise. When that happens, I tend to get kind of sad that I couldn't catch him off guard. But tonight, I was determined. 

I headed to the kitchen and cut up plenty of fruit; including strawberries, bananas, and apples. I even cut up some pound cake that I got on sale (that also looked good and I had been craving it for awhile now). After chopping away, I pulled out the container of melting chocolate. It was somewhat bittersweet because I loveeeeee me some chocolate and I knew by doing this nice, generous surprise, it meant that I would have to sacrifice, most likely all of this chocolate. But, like I said, I try to do nice things. So I melted the chocolate. Here's what I used:

After I melted the chocolate; it's real simple. Dip your fruit into it, and place it on something to cool. Everywhere says "place it on waxed paper to cool" but I didn't have waxed paper so I ignored this step. My advice: DON'T ignore this step! Our chocolate ended up sticking so it was a battle to get it off. Luckily my husband doesn't care if it looks pretty; we both love chocolate and as long as it tastes good, that's all that matters! I placed it in the fridge in our garage because I didn't have room in our kitchen fridge, to cool down and harden. 

Then I texted him and told him I had a surprise. Of course, he had that weird way of knowing what I was up too and my surprise was ruined. Oh well, it's the thought that counts right!?

Easton fell asleep shortly before Jake came home from training, so we got lucky and didn't have to share our chocolate goodies with him. He is exactly like us; if it has any type of chocolate in it or on it, he's eating it. But our mini little romantic date filled with chocolate covered goodies and DVRs of renovations on hgtv, did not last very long. 

Which brings me to my next topic. Being a mom is amazing. But it does have it's days. I've never been a very patient person until I had Easton. I've learned to be patient, and with a newborn, you don't really have a choice. Most of the time, it's as though you are on your child's clock - not your own. And God has a funny way of testing me. Jake and I were just talking in the car the other day about how we are so thankful that I didn't struggle with any post-partum depression or the blues. We know how serious and scary it can be, and how deep you can get into a dark rut, and during my pregnancy, it was a huge worry for both of us. And we are both so very thankful that we didn't have to tackle that mountain. But that certainly doesn't mean we haven't had any huge rivers to cross or any long grown fields to trench through. These past couple of nights have been a battle within itself with our little man. God has definitely been testing us and it hasn't been the easiest road. With one front tooth that just popped through, a moler coming in, constipation from his new diet change, and the fact that I'm just not producing as much breast milk as I used to - has made for one extremely irritable baby. The days are good, some are great, but once night falls, we're in for one crazy ride. He sleeps in intervals of maybe 2 hours, if were lucky. Awakening in full on cries and screams, refusing to nurse, refusing to take a bottle, he wants no snacks or nothing to eat, we change his diaper and he's even more mad, he wants nothing to do with rocking or walking or sitting or standing. We turn Mickey on and it doesn't even phase him (which our kid is Mickey-obsessed and it's usually the cure for just about anything). He just cries and cries. We take turns holding him, trying to comfort him, and whenever we switch, it causes him to go into an ever bigger scream-fest. They last roughly for a good 15-20 minutes before he settles down a little to a normal consistent cry, and that lasts another 20 minutes. We go around and around with this pattern for usually a good couple of hours before he will randomly stop and fall asleep. When he wakes up in the morning, he's happy as can be. This has happened every night this week. By Wednesday, I called his doctor. She said it's just a phase, to continue to offer him things that might make him happy, and to have lots of patience. Needless to say, Jake and I are past the point of tiredness. This morning though, we were put to the ultimate test. Because of the crazy cold temperatures today, Jake had the day off. After Easton's little rampage last night, he woke happy and ready-to-go this morning! We ran a couple errands and were back home by 10:15am. I decided I wanted to eat a bowl of cereal, so I put Easton in his high chair, gave him some cereal pieces to munch on, and he was one happy camper as I sat on his left side eating my cereal, and Jake was on his right side reading through some emails. He ate his cereal just fine, babbling away and laughing at who knows what.

Out of no where, he started to get fussy so I took him out of his chair - and this sent him into a full blown temper tantrum. He was not having anything after that. He took Jake and I both off guard because he usually only goes through these fussy times in the middle of the night, never during the day. Never - until today. He wouldn't take anything and yet, he wouldn't stop. 15 minutes into the breakdown, Jake's radio went off. We've always agreed that unless it's a holiday or someone is seriously hurt- he always goes on calls. He looked at me, I looked at him, thought about the stack of bills sitting on my desk, and reassured him to go. I thought to myself "he can't be upset for much longer, I can do this." So I heard the front door close and I was alone, face to face, with a very angry toddler. I swear, I tried everything. I even tried giving him things he normally wouldn't be aloud to play with (like the tv remote and I even opened the fridge and tried to let him open the drawers - which any other day these would have been BIG no-no's). Did anything work? Nope. At this point he was thrashing all over the place. Kicking, punching, smacking, pulling at anything he could get his paws on, including my ears and he attempted my eye. I had recently had a conversation about these little outbursts with my mother in law. Thankfully, and like always, she reassured me that this happens. Jake used to do this as a baby and she would place him in his crib and let him cry. After a couple times, he didn't do it again. I knew this must have been very hard for her since she was somewhat of an attachment parent just like I am. But she is an amazing mom and Jake is great, so I knew she did good. So now, after an hour filled with unhappiness, I took a deep breath, walked upstairs, kissed my screaming, crying son, and placed him in his crib. I laid him down, covered him with his blanket, even though he tossed that off in 0.2 seconds, I turned around, and walked away. He cried for maybe 5 minutes before he stopped. I sat downstairs, starring at the baby monitor, watching him sniffle as he played with a toy. I thought the madness had subsided. Unfortunately, I thought wrong. The quiet sniffles lasted a matter of minutes before the anger started back up again. My first instinct was to go up there and get him. But I told myself no. I don't want him to think that temper tantrums will solve everything. I don't want to cave. Just as I began "convincing" myself that he isn't throwing a tantrum and that he needs me (yup- attachment parent right here), I watched on the monitor as he started throwing, with anger, toys and stuffed animals out of his crib. He grabbed the rails on the side of his crib and was jumping, while screaming. At this point, I knew this was a full blown temper tantrum. At this point, it had now been an hour and 45 minutes of madness. I had to leave to run some errands, which I had a time crunch. I hoped, that if Easton got into his car seat and I started to drive, that his tired little self would call it quits and he would fall asleep. I wasn't so lucky. Five minutes after pulling out of the garage, I found myself speed-dialing my husband, and the second he picked up the phone I was begging for help. I felt the tears welting up in my eyes, and he reassured me that he was already on his way back home. I turned around and started heading back that way. One minute out from our house, the screaming settled to a fussy cry with his eyes closed. As I pulled into our sub entrance, I glanced in the rear-view mirror and Easton was passed out, fast asleep, mouth wide open. I was shocked. I pulled into the driveway and before I even got the car in park, Jake was already walking out the front door equipt with a filled bottle, snacks, and several toys in hand. He was ready to tackle more of this battle with me. In that moment, I was forever grateful for my husband. God threw us a curveball and it was a hard one. My parenting was tested, my strength was tested, my faith was tested. But we got through it. I took a moment to myself and I prayed. Prayed for more strength, for forgiveness, I thanked God for believing in me and for giving me such a supportive husband. 

Easton woke up from his nap still a little bit fussy, but much better than before. While he smiled at me without a care in the world, I know my face was tired. I look and feel exhausted. I'm tired and drained. At some points, I felt defeat and failure. But I'm coming out on top at the end of the day. I'm still a good wife. I'm still a good mom. I'm still a believer that my God has reasonings for everything, even if I don't understand them. I'm still breathing. And for now, there's peace. Tonight is another night, and tomorrow will be another day. But right now, I will kiss my son and remind myself that this phase will pass. For all you other mamas battling this battle, have patience. For everyone else who isn't, enjoy your sleep! 

Xoxo,

Christine 

A long weekend followed by even longer nights....

It's an understatement to say that the Andrews family has been busy these past couple of days. Our weekends are usually always jam-packed with things to do because Jake works all week, but this weekend was especially busy, and long. Very, very long.

Friday we had a busy morning and afternoon filled with plenty of errands that I needed to get done, and I couldn't put them off any longer. Dinner prepping for the following week, grocery shopping, the post office, doctors appointments, four other stores, and the bank - all with a baby who did not want to cooperate. Friday night, we cleaned a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean our whole house. Laundry was also done, which sometimes feels never-ending. And it was a successful bath night for little man. Saturday morning we all ran around like crazies getting ready for our family photo shoot. No matter what time either of us set an alarm for, or say we are going to have enough time to do things, something goes wrong and we're always running late - which also happens to be one of my biggest pet peeves. The photo shoot took much longer than we expected, and it was outside, and very, very cold. Shuffling Easton in and out of the car so he would stay warm made it difficult for anything to be done quickly, on top of the fact that he had no desire to have his picture taken, and wanted nothing to do with walking, let alone in the snow. Let's just say it was a battle within itself, and I'm very curious to see how they will turn out. After that, we picked up a desk that I bought. It wouldn't have been a problem if I had actually measured the back of my car like most people would have. Instead, I "guestimated" and continuously reassured Jake that it would fit in my car. Low and behold, it didn't. So I had a very frustrated husband loading a desk into the back of my SUV, and strapping the half of it that was hanging off down with some straps. It was exhausting just to watch him so I could only imagine his frustration. Once we got it home, our lovely cousin (who also happens to be our cousin LOL) was so generous to fight the battle with Jake to get it upstairs and into the spot that I wanted it. Once again, I should have measured, and it was a little big for the area that I wanted it in. At that point, after the battle of even getting it into the house and into the spot where I wanted it, there was no more battling with my husband. It is in that spot for now, and most likely will stay there. Lesson learned: MEASURE! After that battle of a move, there was now more cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. I was so exhausted and tired that by that point, I was done. My mother in law kindly brought over pizza so 1) I didn't have to cook, and 2) I didn't have even more to clean. Everyone sat down to watch a movie after that while I ventured upstairs and took Easton to bed.

Sunday morning was another bright and early morning. Last minute cleaning and everyone had to get ready. Off to church we went, and this week was extra special! We did a baby dedication for Easton at our church! We go to an amazing church in Brighton called The Naz. It's a non-denominational Christian church that we've been going to for awhile now. One of the things we love about our church is that they strongly believe that YOU should choose when you want to be baptized. For children, this means that they can decide to accept God into their hearts once they have a true concept of him and our religion, once they've learned about God through our great children's ministry, and when it's on their terms. We're so happy about this because we want our son to WANT to do it on his own, himself, when HE is ready - not because someone else made the decision for him or someone else has decided it's his time. So after birth, and so forth after that, up until a baptism is performed, at our church they do baby dedications. This is when you ask special family members and friends to come forth and make the promise that they will, along side us parents, help guide our children down the right path, help them with their learnings with God, and show them positivity, good faith, and strength. I love this especially because I truly believe that it takes a village to raise a child. Plus, it would have been very difficult for us to narrow it down to just one set of God parents, because there are so many people we love and care about, who also love and care about Easton, and we couldn't just pick two. So we selectively asked those closest to us who meant the most to us to come share this day with Easton. Our pastor then asked all of us to come to the stage with Easton, he said some beautiful words, and then asked our family and friends for their blessings in helping us and assisting us with our son. After that, he held Easton and said a beautiful prayer. It was such a heartwarming and wonderful experience. We are so grateful for it and so thankful to have so many loving people not only in our life, but now in our child's life. It truly is a blessed feeling to have!!

Afterward our ceremony at church, we invited everyone back to our house to a lunch (which now explains why so much cleaning and organizing was done all weekend). We all laughed a ton and had such a great time, but I was so thankful when I looked at the clock, it said 4pm, and everyone was gone. Jake and Easton both took naps, but as for me, it was time to clean up. For some reason,  I can't stand to have a messy kitchen. As an adult now, I can thank my mother for that. She was always a stickler about having a clean kitchen growing up and back then, I couldn't stand it. Now though, I'm thankful because I always have a clean kitchen lol. But by the end of the night, I was beat. Jake turned on the new episode of The Walking Dead (yes, we love it and watch every single episode), but five minutes into it and I was passed out on the couch. Next thing I knew, Jake was waking me up, telling me to head upstairs and go to bed, and that's exactly what I did.

And that brings us to the start of this week. It's only Tuesday and I'm already dreading the rest of the week. That's horrible to say, especially since this weekend is Valentine's Day and Jake and I actually have plans. Just to clarify, I'm not dreading that, I'm actually looking forward to that. But this week has already been a challenge in itself. Although Easton is still nursing, he isn't nursing nearly as often, and almost never during the day. Because of this, his doctor has switched him to 18-24oz of whole milk a day, on top of three meals and snacking. The switch happened pretty quickly and Easton took to it right away. So the eating part has been great. He loves yogurt or cereal in the morning, he loves veggies and meats and he's been trying and loving tons of new foods. The downfall to all of this - major constipation. He has been having serious trouble going number two (TMI - but he is literally crying hysterically and screaming at the top of his lungs when he is trying to go, his stool is very hard, and I know he's having a very difficult and painful time trying to pass it). So after talking to his doctor, he's now also on natural stool softeners, which is a switch on-and-off of apple juice and prune juice. It takes a little while for this to kick in, so the past couple of days with little man, have been rough. On top of that, another bottom tooth has officially popped through, a second one is rooting and making its way, and two big molars are coming in. Lots of crying, fussy moments, and lots and lots of drool. With all of this, he also has been having quite the time at night. His first initial fall-asleep is quick and easy, just like any other night. But the past two nights, and especially last night, have been rough. He wakes up around 2-3am and is just one unhappy baby. He won't nurse, he won't take a bottle, he gets a diaper  change and is still unhappy, he doesn't want to be walked around or rocked, he simply just cries. It's almost as though he's over-tired but is refusing to fall back asleep. It is not fun, by any means at all. Last night, I went to bed at 8:45pm because I was so tired from the night before. Usually, I never ask Jake to help me with Easton at night because I know he works all day and I'm home with Easton, so he especially needs his sleep. Easton woke up at 2am last night, and I knew it was bad when Jake woke up at 3am and decided to try to make an attempt and making him feel better - which did absolutely nothing except send Easton into a massive, screaming uproar for a very short period of time before he handed him back to me and he went back to his subtle but still upset cry. I'm thinking (and hoping) that this is a phase, and it is a combination of an upset belly, a painful tushy, a big heaping handful of teething, and an over-tired and exhausted baby. The doctor said that this phase is normal, and that once the other teeth pop-through it should get better. But basically until then, you tough it out. I finally fell back asleep at 4:30am this morning, and at that time, Easton wasn't crying but he was still rolling around somewhat awake and Jake was up with him. I am so grateful and thankful to have a husband who does that, and then wakes up and goes to work two hours later and doesn't complain at all, but simply kisses me goodbye and tells me that he hopes I have a better day today. I couldn't ask for a better support system.

I will gladly take these rough days with my little boy though. They make me learn SO much. It is a constant reminder that I made this beautiful human being, and while he may be growing and learning and exploring more and more each day, he is still helpless, and depends on me for so much. He needs someone to give him a bottle, to change his diaper, to feed him meals and give him snacks. He needs to feel my heart beat in the middle of the night, when he has woken in the dark, scared. He needs the comfort of nursing because, well, he's still a baby. He needs the attention and love from his parents, and he deserves every second of it. He is growing, and someday he won't need me for these things anymore. These things that seem like, at the moment, just a time consuming thing. I get it. Some days are long, and you're tired and exhausted, and you don't want to crawl around the floor and play, you don't want to read endless amounts of books, you don't want a 45 minute nursing session. Sometimes you just want to go to bed and be done for the day. But those days don't exist, and they shouldn't. In those moments when I just want to be done for the day, I remind myself that these days run shorter and shorter, and they will end sooner than I can ever imagine. There will come a day when he won't want me or need me anymore. A day when friends, or another woman, will fill that comforting place and I won't be the first person he turns to. I cherish these moments, even when it's hard to see through the fog. These moments are the times when I thank God the most for allowing me to be this little boys Mom. For choosing ME to carry him into this world, to care for him and watch over him, to experience all of lifes "firsts" with him, to love him and laugh with him, to explore with him, to teach him and to hurt with him, to show him how truly amazing life can be. Becoming a mom IS the greatest and hardest, yet most wonderful job there is. I will take every single long, upset, tiring, tear-filled night with pleasure. Because yesterday morning, Easton snuggled up with me and watched TV for an hour happily on my lap, before he drifted off into his morning nap. With a one year old who now is crawling, walking around everything, and can barely sit still, that moment was priceless for me. Just like so many other moments I share with him.

Sometimes it's easy. Sometimes it's hard. In the end, it's always worth it. God is good, Family is good, Parenting is good - that, I can promise you.

xoxo,

Christine

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

I will be the first to admit that I am no Betty Crocker. I took cooking classes all through high school (which is where Jake and I first met) and I even competed in some cooking competitions. I worked in restaurants in the back as side chefs, but I never quite got a handle on baking. I swear, every time I try to make something sweet, it never fails that something will go wrong. I've even messed up cobbler, and that only has a handful of ingredients.

Lately, I've been really have a sweet tooth that I can't kick and nothing at the store seems to be helping with it. My mom always made banana bread when I was growing up, and I love it! I always buy a lot of fruits and veggies when I go shopping, and I hate to waste things. Well this time around, Jake didn't eat the amount of bananas he usually eats so I had two that were turning pretty dark. I looked up tons of recipes online and in my cookbooks for banana bread but most of them were banana nut bread, and they all called for a ton of ingredients. I didn't have everything and although I do have to go to the store later today, I wanted to get my baking done during Easton's morning nap. So, I basically winged it, taking measurements and ingredients from one recipe to another, and I seriously prayed and crossed my fingers that it would come out okay. To my SHOCKING surprise, it did! My house smelled so yummy that I was counting down the minutes to when the timer would go off and I could take it out of the oven. I'm no dessert chef but this was delicious. I guess I will have to wait and see what the final verdict is once Jake gets home later on and tries it. I swear, he's the biggest food critic so if he says it's good, then it must be! I'm sure Easton will have no problem gobbling some of it up since it does have chocolate in it, and as for me, well I will have to work on my self control and remind myself to share! Here's the recipe I used, and thankfully I wrote this one down as I went along. I like to read the whole recipe first, gather all of my tools and ingredients, and then get going, so that's my suggestion for you!


Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

1 1/2 cups All purpose Flour, plus more for flouring your pan.
Baking Spray for your pan
1 cup + 1 tablespoon Sugar
1 tablespoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 cup Oil (I used vegetable oil, but coconut oil would be delicious I bet!)
2 Eggs
3 Ripe Bananas
1 cup Hershey's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (you can use any kind of chocolate chips, I just always buy Hershey's)


First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. I read on numerous recipes to be sure to place your oven rack in the center of the oven, so I did that as well.

Spray and/or flour your pan! I used a Tupperware UltraPro Bread Pan, which is suppose to be non-stick, so I didn't spray or flour my pan. I definitely should have, because I had quite the trouble getting it out. So even if your pan is suppose to be a non-stick, make your life a little easier and spray or flour it right from the beginning!

In my Kitchen Aid, I put all of the flour, one cup of sugar, all of the baking soda, and all of the salt, and I mixed that for a minute or so to make sure they were all well blended. In a separate small bowl, mix together the cinnamon and the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar. Place half of the cinnamon sugar mixture into the dry ingredient mix and blend together. Into the dry ingredients, add the eggs and oil. Mix well. When I did this, I was very nervous because my mixture was very crumbly and wasn't coming together. If this happens, it's okay! Trust me! On a small plate, I pealed the bananas and coarsely chopped them. Then add the bananas to the rest of the bread mixture and mix well. You should notice now that the batter looks the way that it should. Now fold in the chocolate chips. You don't have to beat them in, just do it by hand and only a couple mixes, flips, and turns, and you should be good to go - just until they are mixed with the rest of the batter.

Now pour all of that gooey yumminess into your bread pan. Then, take the remaining cinnamon sugar mixture and sprinkle it on top. This made a yummy crispy top, but it is optional. You could put all of the cinnamon sugar mixture into the matter if you don't like the crispy edges, or you could go without the cinnamon mixture all together. Either way I'm sure it's delicious.

Place in the center of your oven rack and set your timer for 60 minutes. Once that timer goes off, take it out and knife-test it (place a butter knife into the center of the bread, if it comes out smooth, you're good to go. If it comes out sticky with batter still on it, it needs some more baking time). I noticed that 60 minutes wasn't enough time for mine, so I placed it in for another 15 minutes. Be sure to check your bread each time! Every oven and pan cooks differently so you never know.

After those last 15 minutes were up, I did another knife-test and it was ready. I pulled out the bread pan and let it sit on top of my stove for another 10 minutes. After that, I battled to get it out but finally got it out and onto a cutting board, to cool down some more.

The end results? YUMMY, delicious, moist, EASY banana chocolate chip bread. A good snack, an easy breakfast grab, and some dessert for after tonights dinner. I will be the first to admit that I very much doubted this recipe that I concocted up, and I was almost expecting it to fail. If I would have known it was going to come out good, I would have taken pictures along the way. Buttttttt I didn't, so all I have is this one picture of the finished product. I swear, I'll get better at this as I go. Since this came out so good and my confidence is at a peak right now, I just might try my hand at making something new for dinner. I'm thinking Sticky Honey Orange Chicken Legs? I better get to researching while Easton's napping right now. Stay tuned for that recipe! What are some other recipes you'd like to see?? Let me know!

xoxo,
Christine