Layla Raine (age 2 years, 6 months)

I have dark blonde, curly hair and blue/green eyes. My eyes change color in the sunlight.

Some new words I've learned are:
Delicious= Nee-nicious
Delicioso= Nee-nee-noso
Music= You-sic
Jonah= Donah 
Bicycle
Lady bug= Me-me bug
Butterfly= Obo-fwy
Wow!
Awesome!= Ooh-some!
"May I have something to eat, please?"= Want snack, peese?

Things I can do are:

• I can recite my ABC's. I recognize upper and lower case. I can identify them in and out of order. I love to point them out and show them to any one who will watch me.
• I'm starting to speak in sentences. I love to talk. I will go on and on because I have a lot to say and it's important!
• I can count to 12. I'm getting better at counting all the way to 20.
• I can identify various animals by name and noise.
• I can identify emotions (happy, sad, mad, surprised)
• I can say color names. I'm working on identifying actual colors.

Some things I love to do are:

• DANCE! I often ask my mommy to play "you-sic" so I can dance. I will dance to any song that comes on.
• Sing
• Read books
• Draw
• Brush my teeth
• Bath time
• Build blocks
• Climb
• Run
• Give "kiss-kiss" and bear hugs to my mommy and daddy
  
  

Some of my favorite foods are:

• Nutrigrain bars
• Applesauce
• Cookies
• Any kind of pasta
• Cheese sandwiches
• Bananas
• French fries/ tater tots
• Scrambled eggs
• Anything mommy and daddy are eating

I will try anything once. There isn't much I don't like but I'm not a fan of meat (besides chicken nuggets) or broccoli.
 
My favorite shows are:

• Bubble Guppies
• Peg + Cat
• Sesame Street
• Dora the Explorer
• Yo Gabba Gabba
• Barney
• Super Why

Some of my favorite songs are:

• Old MacDonald
• Wheels on the Bus
• Twinkle Twinkle
• Anything from my favorite TV Shows

And I think the biggest change of all would be...

that I have a little brother. His name is Jonah and I love him.

 

Eggless Edible Cookie Dough

If you're anything like me, when baking cookies, you'd much rather sit on the couch with a giant spoon and bury your face in the dough rather than making actual cookies but for fear of salmonella, you exercise self control and just stick the suckers in the oven, suffering in silence as you watch the deliciousness take solid form. Well, suffer no more my friends!

Thanks to Pinterest (once again), I discovered this recipe. EGGLESS COOKIE DOUGH. It looks and tastes just like "normal" stuff but you won't potentially get sick from eating it. Well, I mean, you might if you decide to eat the entire mixing bowl in one sitting... and you just may consider it. It is delicious!
 
This is the recipe I followed from centercutcook.com It calls for some specifics like "unsalted" butter, but I just used a stick of $.92 Blue Bonnet. It also calls for a mixer but oddly enough, I do not own one. I just mixed and mashed it with a large spoon and it turned out amazing.

What You'll Need:

1 stick of softened butter
3/4 cups packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

With your mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar. (Or just mix and mash with a spoon like I did.) Add in vanilla and salt, mix. 

Add in flour. The mixture is going to be crumbly at this point. 

Add in 2 tablespoons of milk and mix. Now the dough will look like the cookie dough you’re used to seeing.

Fold in your chocolate chips.

Store leftovers in the refrigerator. Freeze for up to three months.

And there ya go! Now cuddle up in a warm blanket with a Lifetime movie and enjoy! 

Green Bean Casserole Recipe

So yummy, I had to eat some first before taking this picture...
and then I ate some more.

I've used a couple of different recipes and tweaks for this simply delicious side dish so this is sort of a compilation that I use personally and it always turns out amazing. Enjoy!

What You'll Need:

1 (10 3/4 oz.) can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup
3/4 cup milk
1/8 tsp. black pepper
2 (14.5 oz) cans cut cooked green beans- drained
French's Cheddar French Fried Onions
1 tea spoon soy sauce (or one packet, if you have one lying around from left over Chinese food)

Directions:

Mix soup, milk, pepper and soy sauce in a medium sized baking dish. Mix in greenbeans and 1 1/3 cups fried onions.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Stir. Top with the desired amount of fried onions. Bake 5 minutes or until onions are golden.

Dig in!

 

Our Baby "Sprinkle"

Yesterday, our friends and family gathered at the causeway to celebrate our unborn son, Jonah Michael Christiansen, who is due in less than 7 short weeks! It was a casual, cloudless day with yummy food and a strong sense of togetherness I will cherish. I would also like to document this being the very first time I ever baked a batch of cupcakes without ruining them! That's kind of a big deal for me. Ah, yes, the day was special in many ways. I didn't screw up the cupcakes!

Looking through my camera, I didn't get very many pictures, which is bittersweet for me. The reason being because I was having too much fun to stop and pick up the camera. However, I would've liked to have gotten more shots of everyone who attended. Gladly though, the memories will always be mine. So, out of the handful of pictures that were taken by myself and others, I'd like to share my favorite moments from Jonah's baby sprinkle.

 This perfect uncle and niece moment.

My daughter and her tio mean muggin'.

 This precious candid of my sister-in-law and her daughter.

 This table clad with thoughtful gifts. 

My apologies for the clutter.

 This undeniably AWESOME diaper cake! 

Assembled by my dear friend, Brooke.

This accidental close up of two preggos.

Me and my friend, Brandy.

My kid just being adorable.

 This ridiculous Nutella cheescake!
Made by the ever lovely Nicki Hoitt, OMG.

 This darling mother-son duo ♡ Brooke and Tyler

This fishy face!

 This awkward, mid-sentence photo of my husband and I...

Yeah, he doesn't really "do" photos.

Me being all pregnant and stuff.
 

That Bud Light does not belong to me.

 This GRYFFINDOR ONESIE, WHAT?!

Courtesy of the magnificent Danielle and Michelle.

This proud grandpa with his youngest granddaughter.

Soon she won't be the youngest anymore!
 

...and lastly... this ♡♡♡
 

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who came. We love you. Now to patiently (pffft) wait for my tiny gentleman to make his debut. We're waiting on you, Jonah. 

Layla's 1st Cookie

There comes a time in every kid's life when they come to experience something so incredible, so amazing, so epically mind-blowing that their very existence will never be the same again. My friends that is, the chocolate... chip... cookie.

It's so beautiful...

We don't give my kid sweets. We figure if she doesn't know what it is, she won't miss it. I'm not saying that anyone who does is wrong. It's just simply something we have never done. Now, don't get it twisted. We let her indulge on occasion. If she's at a birthday party, have some cake! At the doctor? Sure, sweetie, take that lolly, you've had it rough today but as far as having candy or ice cream after dinner, we prefer to offer her yogurt, applesauce or fruit and she enjoys it just the same. However, a couple of weeks ago, after a doctor's appointment to check up on my little womb dweller, I decided to stop at a gas station to get myself a drink and passed by some individually wrapped chocolate chip cookies and thought, what the hell. I mean there's nothing wrong with a little treat every once in a while.  

"Where have you been hiding these?!"

Needless to say, she was into it but I'd also like to point out that briefly after her consumption of this delicious cookie, she proceeded to go bat-shit-stark-f***ing-crazy. Sort of went something like this...

It's hilarious to me now but at the time, I thought, "Great Odin's raven, what have I done?!" Michael and I were preparing to perform an exorcism but then decided that it'd probably be better to let it run it's course and she eventually fell victim to the inevitable sugar coma. KO'd! Made me happy to see her enjoy it... but maybe next time I'll break it in half... or something.

What GLEE Means To a "Loser Like Me".

In light of the tragic, untimely death of Cory Montieth, I'm not really sure how to begin this post because my heart is so heavy. So, I'll start by saying, "I love Glee." Never have I ever related to a television show on such a personal level. Growing up, like most of us and like The New Directions, I experienced my fair share of bullying for many reasons. I had braces. I was flat chested. I liked the Powerpuff Girls. I wore summer dresses with combat boots. At one point in the 6th grade, I attempted to trim my Peter Gallagher esque eyebrows... with a razor... and ended up with two Hitler mustaches on my face. Yeah, I was f***ing awkward and kids were not shy about letting me know. It sucked.

When I hit high school I started with a clean slate. My mom taught me how to pluck my eyebrows like a normal person. I learned how to use make-up and I developed a sense of style that worked for me. I remember on my very first day, freshman year, I thought from then on, it was all going to be different. I dressed to the nines, straightened my frizzy hair, and held my head high. This was it. As I made my way to my first class, my heart raced with anxiety and fear but I put one foot in front of the other and- FACE PLANT. Oh my sweet Jesus, NO. I tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and fell flat on my face. My books went into the air, my cute-but-not-so-practical messenger bag flew feet away from me, blood was trickling down my leg because I scraped my knee and all I could hear as I lifted my head were the indulgent cackles of everyone who saw it... and there were many. I remember vividly some shameless bitch even pointing at me, mouth agape just rolling like a hyena. Nobody helped me. They all just stared and laughed and I had never felt... so... alone.

Help... me.

It took me a bit to figure myself out in high school. There were good times and bad. I made friends. I lost friends. Boys happened. I was put in a "Burn Book". My parents divorced. People died. The road through adolescence isn't easy for anyone but luckily, I had something that I loved that I could lean on. Something I was so passionate about and something I was good at. Something that made the angsty, hormone driven roller coaster that was high school a lot less difficult. That, my friends, was choir.

Ever since I could speak, I could sing. I loved to perform, anything and everything. My mom has home videos of a pint sized me making up my own commercials complete with their own jingles or singing along with "The Little Mermaid" with my eyes closed using Mariah Carey hand gestures. When I sing, I feel invincible. I feel alive. I feel myself.

Other people who love to perform will tell you that it's a form of therapy and that couldn't be more true. Us choir kids deal with life by singing about it whether it's on a stage or alone in our bedrooms. It's a release and it feels good. To this day, if I'm feeling sad or angry, it's nothing that can't be fixed by turning up Carrie Underwood's "So Small" as loud as it will go and belting it all at the top of my lungs, arms stretched wide, shaking my head, stamping my feet because damnit, I am in it right now. 

To the general public, this may be socially unacceptable but the choir room was a place that made that okay. In the choir room, there were kids like me. Kids that expressed themselves through music. My teacher, Mr. Jomisko (my very own Mr. Shue), expressed himself through music and encouraged us all. He believed in us as a group and he changed my life by believing in me as an individual. Like The New Directions, we had a sense of family and a teacher who genuinely cared.

The Chantuers, Southeast High 2007 

These girls, this room, that man, and the piano you cannot see... whether they know it or not, they got me through some pretty rough times in my life just by singing with me. This is why I watch Glee. I know what it feels like to be the outcast... but it's not so hard if you have a place to call home.

I want to wrap this up with Finn's Harlem Shake scene because it makes me smile as Cory's character so often did. Perhaps a post with my favorite Finn Hudson moments is in the near future. We'll save that for another day. 

Rest peacfully, Finn Hudson. You are so very missed.

Outrageous Celebrity Baby Names!

Hollywood's royal baby has arrived!

On Saturday, June 15, Kim Kardashian and baby daddy, Kanye West, stopped the presses (heh) and brought into the world, a baby girl. Like a true Kardashian with theatrics aplenty, baby Kimye made her grand entrance 5 weeks early but, fortunately, is said to be doing well. Though the real controversy thrust upon this future paparazzi princess is not because of her dramatic delivery, but the unusual moniker she's been so graciously "blessed" with. North West.

 OMG, people are gonna be sooo pissed, LOL!

While it isn't quite what we were expecting (no "K" name?) and it's already managed a universal eye roll, you guys, it could have been so much worse. In honor of baby North West and her, uhm, unique name, I have compiled a list of my favorite crazy celebrity baby names sure to make you want to dropkick their parents in their perfectly primped faces. Seriously, WTF were they thinking?!

Gina's Favorite Deliciously Demented Celebrity Baby Names Of All Time

1. Pilot Inspektor Riesgraf Lee (boy)
Parents: Jason Lee and Beth Riesgraf

Apparently, this name stems from a song lyric by the band, Grandaddy. ‘He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s the Pilot'. If Jason Lee is a music buff, not only could this kid's name have been way more epic (I mean out of the billions of songs out there, really?), it could've come from a lyric that doesn't describe him as simple and dumb. Thanks, dad! You douche.

2 . Audio Science Clayton (boy)
Parents: Shannyn Sossamon and Dallas Clayton

W...TF. Is this a college course or a kid? Here's what Sossamon, best known for her role opposite Heath Ledger in "A Knight's Tale", had to say about her son's awkward name.  

"We wanted a word not a name, so my boyfriend read through the dictionary three or four times. We were going to call him Science, but thought it might get shortened to Sci, as in Simon." 

...I prefer Simon.

3. Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen Zappa (girl)
Dweezil Zappa (boy)
Ahmet Emuukha Rodan Zappa (boy)
Moon Unit Zappa (girl)
Parents: Frank Zappa and Gail Zappa

And he reasons as only Frank Zappa would. If it weren't for the fact that he's friggin' legendary, I personally, wouldn't be so forgiving of the name "Diva Thin Muffin". Not that the late, great Frank Zappa would care because Frank Zappa doesn't have to care about jack sh** because he's Frank-F***in'-Zappa.
 
"I knew that they were going to be unique anyway because of certain other attributes, so why not have a name that goes with it. They all like their names and the kids at school do too. They don’t make fun of them; in fact, most of them are jealous of their names. You know, it always amazes me when someone who is in my age group, or even younger, asks me a question like why did you name your children that. It’s a reactionary kind of question. Why the f*ck not name your kids something like that? They’re having a good time. Besides that, if they ever wanted to change their names they can do it. It only costs about $15." 

4. Rosalind Arusha Arkadina Altalune Florence (girl)
Parents: Uma Thurman and Arpad Busson

When I caught wind that the lovely Uma Thurman boarded the crazy baby name train, I shook my head in disappointment. Uma, you're better than this! Individually, I think these names are quite beautiful but it's like she didn't think she was going to have anymore kids and so she threw in every name she ever liked EVER in case she wouldn't get to use them later. Well, thanks to Thurman's other spawnling, Maya, that's kind of exactly what happened.

“Maya came up with the best excuse, [which] was that I probably wouldn’t get to have any more children, so I just put every name that I liked into [the baby's].” 

...And swish, point 1 to Gina.

5. Fifi Trixibelle (girl)
Peaches Honeyblossom (girl)
Little Pixie (girl)
Parents: Bob Geldof and Paula Yates

I just... I can't even...

The Best (or worst) of the Rest

• Rainbow Aurora- Holly Madison/Pasquale Rotella
• Amadeus Benedict Edley Luis- Lilly Kressenberg/Boris Becker (You're being obnoxious. Stop it.)
• Camera- Arthur Ashe/Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe
• Seven Sirius- Erykah Badu/Andre 3000
• Kal-el- Nicolas Cage/Alice Kim
• Moroccan Scott & Monroe- Mariah Carey/Nick Cannon (Those two together... still weird for me)
• Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily- Michael Hutchence/Paula Yates
• Hud & Spec Wildhorse- John Cougar Mellencamp/Elaine Irwin
• Buddy Bear Maurice, Petal Blossom, Poppy Honey & Daisy Boo- Jamie Oliver/Jools Oliver (Are you f***in' kidding me?)
• Zuma Nesta Rock- Gwen Stefani/Gavin Rossdale
• Princess Tiaamii- Katie Price/Peter Andre
• Pirate- Jonathan Davis/former porn star Deven
• Banjo Patrick- Rachel Griffiths/Andrew Taylor (Why are we naming our kids after objects?!)
• Sparrow James Midnight- Nicole Richie/Joel Madden
• Bronx Mowgli- Ashlee Simpson/Pete Wentz
• Ocean, Sonnet & True- Forest Whitaker/Keisha Nash Whitaker (Barf)
  

To end this post with fuzzy feelings, here are some celebrity baby names I absolutely love. Way to go famous parents! xo

 Flynn Christopher Bloom 

Orlando Bloom/Miranda Kerr

 Frances Bean Cobain

Kurt Cobain/Courtney Love

 Luca Cruz Comrie

Hilary Duff/Mike Comrie

Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt 

Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt

 Harley Quinn Smith

Kevin Smith/Jennifer Schwalbach Smith

 Everly Tatum

Channing Tatum/Jenna Dewan-Tatum

*fuzzy feelings*

Sources:

Pilot Inspektor Named After Grandaddy Song 

Shannyn Sossamon Defends Unusual Baby Name 

Frank Zappa 1975 Interview 

Uma Thurman On Her Big, Crazy Baby Name 

Pregnancy Problems Illustrated By GIFS

There's no denying that pregnancy is a beautiful thing. As a woman, being able to use my body to create a new life to love and nurture is the utmost blessing. With that being said, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes, frankly... being pregnant can really suck. Whether you're a first timer or a seasoned veteran, I'm sure we can all agree that there are some aspects of this magnificent part of life that we could really do without.

1. That moment when you sneeze, cough or laugh too hard and this happens.

2. That moment when you just ate but still you're like,

So, then you're like,

And hubby's like, "Can I have some?", and you're like,

3. When you're in the car and your hubby is driving all cray-cray and you're like,

4. And sometimes you get emotional for no reason like,

And hubby's lookin' at you all like,

5. That moment when a former pregster talks about how wonderful she felt and how she could eat whatever she wanted and not gain an ounce and never had any morning sickness ever, and all you want to do is,

 6. When you've dropped something on the floor and have to bend down to pick it up.

 7. When getting dressed means a clean pair of sweatpants and a shirt without holes in it and hubby's like, "You're going out like that?" 

8. When someone asks you, "Are you sure there's only one in there?"

9. When people feel it's their God given right to give me unwarranted advice.

10. When I wake up every morning

and then try to roll out of bed like,

 Whatever it is we're going through, mommies, we all know it's completely worth it and, as cliche' as it sounds, we'd do it all over again. We just have to remember to keep telling ourselves,

and girl, keep gestatin' like a boss!