Babies, Babies, and more Babies!

So sorry for the blogging delay. I have no good excuse. Just exhaustion.

I have so many things to update this week though! Hopefully the cute pictures I have will make up for it:) My nephew, Brady, turned 1 September 23rd! We were able to go to LA for his first birthday. It was so wonderful to be back home and see friends and family. Brady has grown so much! He is constantly moving and has started using quite the collection of consonants for communication. His speech therapist Aunt is so proud. Here are a few pictures from his birthday...

The weekend after Brady's birthday bash, our niece and my goddaughter, Landen, was baptized! She is growing too fast! I think she's almost ready for a weekend sleepover with Aunt Katie and Uncle Ryan. Almost.

And now for a baby update on baby McCormick. I will be 20 weeks on Monday! I had an appointment this past week and the doctor said that everything looks perfect so far. No, I do not have any belly pics yet. Sorry. Taking pictures of my expanding stomach is not on my list of priorities when I come home at the end of a long work day. We do have an announcement that will hopefully make everyone happy. We have officially chosen our names! If we are blessed with a baby boy, his name will be Hayes Patrick. And if God gives us a girl, her name will be Piper Lee! We won't be finding out the gender before...we haven't changed our minds:) But, we will be taking a poll! So cast your votes! Will we have a Piper, or a Hayes? You have until February!

We have an ultrasound scheduled on Thursday! Be looking for Hayes/Piper's latest picture!

Geaux Tigers and Go Irish!

17 Weeks...

Today marks 17 weeks. 17 weeks of our precious little baby growing inside of me. 17 weeks of my body slowly expanding. 17 weeks of a constant need for sleep and a changing appetite. 17 weeks of resisting the urge to inhale a 5 lb bag of starburst jellybeans in one sitting. Wow. I can't believe it's already been 17 weeks. Time flies when you are growing a baby.

This week we are getting ready to celebrate the first birthday of my adorable nephew, Brady. I imagine it will be a weekend of excitement. And shrieking. Mostly from Brady of course.

Happy Monday!

Lasagna and Week 16!

We made some delicious Pioneer Woman lasagna tonight:) Lasagna is one of those meals that is best prepared on weekends. This dish from start to finish takes close to 2 hours to complete. And it is so worth it! It also makes tons of food so you will have plenty of leftovers for the week. This recipe came from my Pioneer Woman cookbook.

PW Lasagna

10 oz lasagna noodles
1 tbsp olive oil
1.5 lbs ground beef
1 lb spicy ground sausage
4 cloves minced garlic
2 14.5 oz cans whole stewed tomatoes
2 6 oz cans tomato paste
salt and pepper
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups low fat cottage cheese
16 oz mozzerella cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese
10-12 basil leaves, chopped
1/4 cup parsley, chopped

And now we begin the long process of a delicious dinner. Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package. When they are done, lay them flat on a piece of foil.

Cook the ground beef, sausage, and garlic until the meat is cooked. Drain off the nasty fat. Add the cans of stewed tomatoes with their juice, the cans of tomato paste, and salt and pepper to taste. Allow this mixture to simmer for approx 45 minutes. Stir in herbs.

Combine eggs, cottage cheese, half of chopped herbs, and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. So when I was buying cottage cheese, the measurements were stupid and I ended up with 2 containers that had 2 cups each in them. Since we don't eat cottage cheese ever...I just used all 4 cups in this mixture and it still tasted delicious.

Now to assemble this monster. Grease a deep 9x13 baking dish and line with half of the lasagna noodles. Cover the noodles in half of the cottage cheese mixture. Sprinkle on half of the mozzerella cheese. Add half of the meat mixture. Repeat the layers and top off with the remaining parmesan cheese. Bake for 35-45 at 350 or until bubbly. Try not to eat too much in one sitting:)

Now for pregnancy related matters:) I had an appointment this past week and I got to hear our little baby's heartbeat again! I think it's one of my most favorite sounds ever:) This week it was a strong 153 bpm. Everything else is looking good so far. I got some fun maternity clothes this weekend. This bump on my stomach has exploded the past two weeks and my tops just aren't fitting the way they should:) I will post pics soon..promise! The names are an ongoing debate and just might not be revealed until our baby's birthday. Who knew picking a name for a person to use for their entire life would be so difficult...

Now I must return my attention to the ridiculousness that is the VMAs. Goodnight!

Week 15!

My mother pointed out that I am not being very diligent with blog posts. Sorry mom:) This pregancy brain combined with fatigue does not result in much productive activity. I'm still waiting on that burst of energy in the second trimester...

So besides pregnancy brain and fatigue...life has been pretty easy so far. Ryan has been wonderful. He has no problem with my frequent naps...probably because it means uninterrupted ESPN time. One of my pregnancy websites told me that I have 175 days left. That doesn't seem like much time....

Still no baby name updates. We have our girl name picked out, but the boy name is giving us a hard time. Ryan has his favorite, I have mine, and we are having a hard time compromising. I told him tonight that our boy name might be decided the day we give birth to a boy:)

I have a little bit of a bump going on...although the general public probably thinks I'm just fluffy. I will post a belly pic soon for those of you who keep asking. I promise:)

This past weekend was fun. Dan, my brother-in-law, introduced me to an amazing new dip! Well...he told me about it, gave Ryan the recipe, and Ryan made it. My husband is the best! So, this dip calls for chicken, 1 cup ranch dressing, 1 block cream cheese, and 1 cup of Frank's red hot sauce, and 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese. I think you are actually supposed to bake this dip, but Ryan put it all in a crockpot on low and it was amazing! It was everything I was hoping it would be and more. I think it's our new tailgating dip.

Another fun thing happened this weekend....I am going to be Landen's godmother! For those of you who don't remember, Landen is my beautiful little niece who was born on August 6, 2010. This godparent adventure is new for me and I am so excited about it! I'm planning on being the best godmother ever....I'm sure Landen will think so:)

To finish up...a picture of Landen during her first Notre Dame game!

Good night from the McCormicks!

Hot trends in the McCormick house...

There are a lot of new trends at the McCormick house these days. We will start with food. Snacks to be more specific....

Fresh peaches and chocolate milk. Trust me, it's delicious.

Next trend...new curtains!

I made these this weekend for our guest bedroom and I love the way they turned out!

Next trend...beauty products.

This lotion is amazing! Leaves your skin so soft!

And finally...my favorite...books! These have been my latest reads and I highly recommend them.

Oh and if the hot trends haven't given it away yet, we're pregnant:)

We found out on Father's Day:) It was definitely our most memorable Father's Day ever! Our little baby is due on February 28th and I have never been more excited for the worst winter weather month! We can't wait to keep everyone updated on the adventures this pregnancy brings us!

Our adventures so far include lots and lots of naps. All mine of course. I have had the biggest cravings for Starburst jelly beans...wrong time of the year for those. Mood swings....just ask Ryan:) The room is painted and now has curtains. We have decided we won't be finding out the gender so the gender neurtal decorating extravaganza has begun. The names are still an ongoing discussion...but we will reveal them soon:)

I think this post is full of enough excitement for tonight...more later!

Amazing Pasta

Ok, how often do I blog about amazing pasta? I feel like the answer to that is fairly often.... But what's a girl supposed to do when that Pioneer Woman keeps shooting out pasta recipes that knock your socks off? She's supposed to make them, eat them, and write about them.

The most amazing pasta dish for today....Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta.

Grilled Chicken
Chicken Breasts
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp dijon mustard
fresh basil
Combine all ingredients in large plastic bag and mix. Allow to marinate for 1-24 hours. Grill!

Lemon Basil Pasta
1 lb pasta (cavatappi is my favorite!)
4 tbsp butter
3 lemons, juiced (I substituted with pre-squeezed lemon juice)
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup half and half
1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
fresh basil
Cook pasta according to package until done and drain, reserving 1 cup pasta water. In the pasta pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add the lemon juice, whipping cream, and half and half. Stir until hot. Add cheese and stir until melted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add pasta water if needed to thin out sauce. Add pasta and fresh basil to sauce and combine. Serve with chicken!

This pasta dish was perfection and I will tell you why. It has such a light flavor perfect for this time of year....and it is very filling. And it tastes amazing. And it's so quick and easy! How can you go wrong with those ingredients? You can't. We ate it so fast there was no time for picture taking...

The newest family member!

Our beautiful niece was born on August 6, 2010! We were able to be in Delphos for the weekend of excitement...and of course I have pictures!

Meet Landen Rose McCormick!

I am definitely Landen's favorite aunt. Some people may point out that I am her only aunt. I really think that point is irrelevant. I am still her favorite.

Landen and Uncle Ryan

Check out that cute face...

The happy family!

Ok...one more face shot. She just looks so cute smooshed against my shoulder!

So...no food is as interesting as that little face right now...but I am trying out a new pasta recipe this week! I will have to blog about it later:)