Thanksgiving and Weekend Update

How was everyone's Thanksgiving?  Thanksgiving morning we woke up to Rylie's right eye swollen like someone had punched her in her sleep.  We called around (to her pediatrician and the one's that treat her at Emory) and decided on Benedryl and monitoring it.  Thankfully it lessened during the day...what a way to wake up on Turkey Day!  We spent the morning finishing off our lunch contributions (mashed potatoes and Jason's yummy Mac n' Cheese) and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, it's really just background music to our TG morning.

We went to lunch at my Nana's house around noon and I grabbed baby Elliot for awhile before anyone else had a chance to.  He is so amazingly delicious.  I'm pretty sure a bomb could have exploded 2 feet away and he would have continued sleeping.  Just look at this precious little man!

I love him more and more everyday!  Rylie had a ball playing outside in the leaves with my parents, Grandpa and Aunt Amy.  It was a beautiful (warm) day and she just wanted to sit in the leaves and play.

We had such a nice day eating and visiting with family.  It was low key and relaxed.  We went home around Rylie's naptime, all came home, took naps and woke up and went back to Nana's for a little more food and fellowship.  It was a great day.  Rylie even got close enough to Elliot to kiss his tiny little feet (if you know Rylie you know she loves feet...so how could she resist these tiny feet?).

The day after Thanksgiving we slept in (no Black Friday craziness for us) and we woke up to find Rylie's other eye (left one) swollen shut and the right eye was fine.  After talking to the after-hours nurse we decided we needed to find a solution to this issue.  My Mom and I went to 2 different acute care places that had 3+ hour waiting times (and they'd JUST opened) so we decided we'd hit the Pediatric After Hours when they opened up at 1.  When we finally got there 15 minutes early they were FULL up.  So my Mom let Rylie play out in a huge waiting area and I sat in the packed (germ filled) waiting room.  By about 3pm we left with a diagnosis of sinusitis and conjunctivitis (Not pink eye...this was all sinus related! She got Jason's sinuses apparently).  We came home and put her in bed and went to Target for her prescriptions and did a little Christmas shopping while we were at it (yay!).  Since my Mom had put up with our huge sinus ordeal all day with me (I thank God for her...what would I do without her?) I decided to make Potato Pancakes with all my leftover mashed potatoes.  If you have leftover mashed potatoes you MUST try this. If you're super weird about exact ingredient amounts then disregard my recipe and google one, when I cook I guesstimate.

April's Potato Pancakes

2.5-3 cups of mashed potatoes (these were the Pioneer Woman's recipe)

2 eggs

3 green onions chopped

1/2 cup milk (only b/c my mashed potatoes had thickened significantly)

1/3-1/2 cup flour

All purpose seasoning

Cajun Seasoning

(generous helpings of both of the above spice blends)

Mix all of the above ingredients. 

 Heat a cast iron skillet with olive oil (or butter). 

Drop potatoes by heaping tablespoonfuls into the cast iron and smash down with your spoon. 

Give it a few minutes until you can tell the sides are brown and then flip over.

Let cook a few more minutes and then let cool.

Serve with ketchup or sour cream.

This week I'll be focused on getting up my Christmas tree and organizing Rylie and Rowan's drawers.  Jason finally set up most of Rowan's room.  I think it looks great so far. I'm looking for some finishing touches...and then we'll add the essentials like diapers, lotion and all the other stuff you need in a little baby room.  I'm also looking for a space/rocket themed rug and maybe more art.  Besides that I have MOP's on Tuesday (hope I can make it), Rylie has school on Wednesday, I have an NST and OB appointment on Thursday and Rylie has a check up at Emory (in Atlanta) on Friday.  So it's another crazy week.  I hope everyone had a great and relaxing Thanksgiving!