Buffalo Chicken Braid Bread

If you're anything like my husband and I, I had you at buffalo chicken! We love anything with that spicy buffalo sauce so I decided to try something new. On Pinterest I found a bread filled with spaghetti and it turned out really good so I thought why not try stuffing bread with other things. Ding! Buffalo chicken!!

So to start off you'll need the following:

• Rhodes frozen loaf bread (a refrigerated pizza crust would work too)
• shredded chicken (about two breasts)
• buffalo sauce (we used Buffalo Wild Wings Spicy Garlic flavored sauce)
• Ranch dressing
• shredded mozzarella or co.jack cheese
• optional* shredded parmesan cheese

1. Thaw frozen loaf bread according to packaged directions

2. Coat your shredded chicken with your buffalo sauce. I used about 2-3 tbsp.

3. Roll your dough into a rectangle. To make things easier on yourself, if you have a slipmat, roll your dough on there and then you can just transfer the slip mat onto a baking sheet.

4. Using a pizza cutter or a knife cut strips along the long sides of the rectangle. The cuts should be about 2" in, leaving about 4" along the middle.

5. Spread some ranch dressing along the bottom of the bread. About 1/4 cup should do. Be careful not to put too much dressing or when the bread is baking you'll end up with a soggy bottom. If you want to add a little more flavor, sprinkle some pizza seasoning (oregano, basil, parsley..) over the ranch.

6. Add the coated chicken on top of the ranch dressing, then top with the shredded cheese. 

7. Starting at one of the ends, start "braiding" the flaps across the top of the pizza filling. Pull the left flap to the right side, right flap to the left side, etc...

8. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top, and again, if you want to be extra fancy you can add an egg wash on top to make it nice and golden brown when done baking. Transfer to greased baking sheet, carefully!

9. Let the braid rise for about an hour. 

10. Cook in a preheated 350 degree oven for 35 minutes or until bread is cooked through. 

When making this braid recipe, I only used 3/4 of the thawed bread dough (enough for my husband and I to enjoy two large portions with a portion left over for lunch the next day) and made buffalo chicken rolls with the remaining dough. In order to do this:

1. Simply divide remaining dough into equal parts and roll out into circles.

2. Fill dough balls with chicken and cheese.

3. Fold up the sides of the dough to cover the toppings, being sure to pinch and seal off the dough.

4. Place rolls, seam side down, into greased muffin tins. I topped mine with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

5. Let rise for an hour.

6. Bake in 325 degree oven for 20 minutes or until dough is cooked through. Dip in ranch and you've got a yummy snack!

I love this braid recipe because it's so versatile. You could add ham and cheese, pizza sauce and pepperonis, or steak and peppers for a Philly cheesesteak style bread. Like I said, endless possibilities!! 

Hope you enjoy! 

Jaxon's Rash

So about two weeks ago Jaxon started developing a rash under his chin/in the folds of his neck. I thought that it was just from drool and I tried to keep it as clean and dry as possible but that didn't stop it from manifesting into this horrible rash that took over his entire body. 

The rash under his chin was like red, raw skin with a lot of bumps. About a week after the rash started I noticed small red bumps all over his chest and stomach. We went to the doctor's office the same day (a Thursday) to get it checked out. The pediatrician said that under Jaxon's chin was eczema and on his belly was dry skin/beginning of eczema. I was told to put lotion on him and use hydrocortisone cream under his chin if he needed it. Well about two days later those little bumps spread to his entire body; I'm talking legs, arms, scalp, ears, even the soles of his feet. I did some more research online and found pictures of "prickly heat rash" and thought that looked exactly like what Jaxon had. So i stopped lotion immediately because if it was heat rash that was only making it worse. Well Monday came around and he still had the rash from head to toe so we went back to the doctors. Even a second doctor came in to look at Jaxon's rash and they told me they aren't quite sure what it is. It could be eczema, it could be viral. Great. You don't know, so I don't know what to do to help my son. By this time the rash had started making Jaxon itch. He even has a few scabs on his chest and back of his head from scratching so hard. Usually about twice a day it would flare up and get really red and then it would calm down again in several hours.

Well now it's a week after our first doctor's visit and the rash is getting better, but it's still not gone. His neck looks a lot better. It's still red with bumps, his chest and belly still have some red bumps and the rest of his body still have bumps everywhere except now they're flesh colored so you can't really see them. 

Jake and I have tried so many different things to help that I'm not sure which one is helping. We stopped feeding him his cereal, he gets lotioned/Emu oil every day, he gets a bath daily (but only use soap every 2-3 days), and we've been making sure he never gets hot. 

Luckily, Jax has a dermatologist appointment in a week for another laser treatment so I can ask the doctor then about the rash if he still has it. 

Here are some pictures from when it had flared up once:

It's so frustrating not knowing what is causing this, especially when Jaxon is so itchy from it. At least I can be thankful that he doesn't have a fever and is eating fine. Hopefully this resolves itself soon.

5 Months Old

Can you believe my little boy is 5 months old today? That means in a month he'll already be half a year old!! It really is true that time passes by way too quickly.

Jaxon went to the doctors today and he weighed 17.12 lbs. Can you say big boy?! Despite never getting his tongue tie fixed, he is still gaining weight like he should be and that makes me so happy!

Other great news, Jaxon finally rolled from his back to his belly. He did it for the first time in his crib and has become quite the rolly polly during bedtime. He'll do complete circles in his crib, roll around, put his butt up in the air... you name it, he does it! But this means that he is now a tummy sleeper and even though babies are supposed to sleep on their backs there is no way we can force him to do so anymore. For a few days before he could roll over he would sleep on his side but once he rolled all the way to his tummy he refuses to sleep any other way. Thank goodness for the video monitor!

So we can add rolling back to belly, finding his feet, finding his thumb and starting cereal to his 5 month milestones! What a big boy, huh?

I had a great first Mother's Day yesterday. Jake made me breakfast in bed, I got a couple gifts and then he made me a yummy filet and lobster tail dinner! It was delicious! I hope all you other Mommy's had a great day as well. I wish I could have been with my mom on this special day, but luckily only a few more weeks and I can see her and the rest of my family and friends!!!

I haven't taken Jaxon's 5 month pictures yet, so I'll do that once he wakes up from his nap. I'll upload those pictures later.

Here is a video of Jaxon rolling back to belly!


The countdown is on! See you all soon!!

Inspired by Pinterest

I got the sudden urge to do all things crafty yesterday. So where would I look for inspiration? Pinterest of course!

First, I put together a cheap bookshelf I bought from Walmart. To add some color, I used scrapbook paper for the back splash of the shelves.(I just used Mod Podge to "glue" in on and to finish it on top.) I figured I'd put this in Jaxon's room or my craft room. Oh, and I must give Jake credit for the scrapbook paper. He picked it out all by himself!

Next, I thought the house needed more decorations, so I picked a picture from our first dance at our wedding and blew it up to an 8x10 photo size. I found a picture frame at Walmart that had a matte in it and instead of leaving the matte white, I wrote the lyrics to our first dance around it.   Then by Brad Paisley.  :))

And if that wasn't enough, I also bought a decorative curtain rod. Installed it all by myself using Jake's power drill (it took me a while to figure out how to change out the bits) and then hung pictures from it! I'm not crazy about how the two pictures of the side hang, so I'm going to redo those later today when I buy some more ribbon.

I also am almost complete with another craft inspired by Pinterest. I'll add pictures of it later.

Here's a sign I made for Jaxon's room::

The baby is waking up so now I gotta go!!

Eating Cereal

Well, I did finally end up giving Jaxon cereal. It was a big debate that I had back and forth in my head whether I should or not, but ultimately I chose to do it. Mainly the reason I did was because I wanted to make sure Jaxon was getting enough iron in his diet and since I always have a lower iron count in my blood I was just being cautious in case he inherited that from me.

The good news is... he loved it! I chose to not feed him the rice cereal since of the recent arsenic reports that have been circulating in the news and instead he got oatmeal cereal. I believe the brand is called Earth's Best Organic. Jax only gets cereal once, during dinner, and I feed him right after to make sure he still is getting plenty of milk. We mix about a tablespoon of the cereal with a couple tablespoons of milk and he gobbles it right up!! He does SO well with the spoon. I thought it was something he'd have to get used to, but he opens his mouth as wide as he can as soon as it leaves the bowl and is heading towards his mouth. I am going to hold off on giving him solids for another month probably. I want his little digestive system to be more mature than it is right now and to make sure he can handle it.

Of course we took tons of pictures of him eating his cereal for the first time and I took a video but for some reason the video won't upload. Just imagine Jaxon kicking his little legs in the highchair while the spoon comes towards him and he's kind of grunting at the same time. He's so cute!!

Daddy feeding me

Uhh, Mom... why are you taking so many pictures?

Okay, I'll look at you Mom for the rest of the time.

Mommy feeding me. She's more messy than Daddy!

Yummy!

P.S.- Jaxon found his thumb the other day and now sucks on it when he gets sleepy. It's pretty cute!!

Hope you enjoyed these funny pictures!


Love,
Mommy, Daddy, Jax

My Baby is Growing Up Too Fast :(

It hit me today how much Jaxon has already grown up. It seems like every time I put him in his pj's for bedtime that they get a little more snug with each snap of the button.

Although I hate that he'll never be tiny ever again, it makes me happy that he is growing and learning new things every day. I love waking up in the morning to his smiling face and him talking away to himself. Jaxon has taught me to truly cherish each and every moment in life because in a blink of an eye they're all grown up.

Jaxon's personality is starting to show through. He has become such a little giggle monster! He loves to play peek-a-boo and laughs at every funny noise you can make. I can tell I'm going to have a man who likes to throw temper tantrums though. The past couple of nights at dinner time he keeps arching his back when I try to put him in his high chair and he starts to fuss looking at Jake and I eat. I spoon fed him some milk and he did a pretty good job with it! He'd open his mouth real wide when the spoon got near him. Even though more than half of it ended up on him and not in his tummy, I think he's ready to try cereal. When Jake gets back from San Francisco we'll give him some oatmeal cereal.

Jaxon is also becoming a lot more interactive. He can play with all sorts of toys and he loves his jumperoo. He can finally reach the toys on there and he likes to spin the color wheel and bounce up and down. He will tolerate sitting in his Bumbo seat for about 5 minutes at a time but then he wants out quickly after that time is up! And speaking of sitting, he can sit by himself for about 2 seconds until toppling over!! I just can't get over how big he is!! Oh and he LOVES bathtime now too! We took out the newborn swing that was inside of it and sat him in the tub and he just reclines in there and kicks his legs and splashes around. He doesn't cry anymore and it seems like he looks forward to baths now. Oh, Oh! And little man found his feet two nights ago. He won't let go of them now. It also makes changing his diaper more of a challenge because he is so squirmy!

Jax can now put himself to sleep! Sticking with sleep training took a lot of work and consistency. We had to change our method once when it seemed like what we were doing just wasn't working at all or just making him more upset. Now he rarely cries when being put to bed. Sometimes he'll fuss for a little bit but usually he just talks himself to sleep. It's so sweet, but it also makes me a little sad.

Jaxon loves to look at Mommy and Daddy! It's so cute because we'll all be sitting on the couch and he'll just look bath and forth at Jake then I then back at Jake.

My little boy is growing up so fast! He needs to slow down a bit because I'm not ready to let go of the baby stage.


Video of my giggle monster

Video of daddy and Jax playing

Video of Jaxon cracking up

Jaxon playing in his jumperoo a month ago

A little late

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted.

Since my last post Jaxon turned 4 months old! What a big boy he is becoming. We had the 4 month check up at the pediatrician's office and he weighed 15 lbs 13 oz and was 25 inches long. Jaxon did really well when getting his shots, he was just a little extra sleepy the rest of the day. Our pediatrician gave us the green light to start solid foods. I originally wasn't going to give Jaxon cereal at all because from my research it was used more as just a filler and I thought if my breast milk was satisfying him then there was no need to add cereal to the mix. Our doctor told us that my milk starts to drop in iron content around this time so if Jaxon doesn't take a iron vitamin then we should start cereal or real baby food because he could become anemic. That really made me think twice about cereal, so I went out and bought a box of organic brown rice cereal because to me that seemed like the healthiest option for him and had the most nutritional value... come to find out rice absorbs a lot of arsenic in the ground! I didn't want to chance it having even a trace amount so we're not using it. I'm glad the boxes of cereal are only a few dollars a piece! So maybe this week or next we'll give him his first taste of cereal and we'll pick up the oatmeal kind.

Jaxon has joined us for dinner now! We used to put him in his bouncy seat on the ground by our dining room table while we ate dinner but I finally put together his high chair so now he can see us better and can see our food. Now that he's higher up  he is SO interested in the whole concept of big people food. He watches us pick up our utensils and put them in our mouth. I gave him a little baby spoon to play with while we eat so it keeps him entertained and to feel a little included.

As far as milestones, Jax is right on track with his development. He's great at rolling over from belly to back and is starting to show interest in rolling from back to belly. He arches his back all the time now like he wants to go somewhere. I don't think I'm ready for him to be mobile yet! I like how I can lay him on his blanket now and know he's not going anywhere, but that will soon change. He has a lot better hand-eye coordination now and likes to put everything in his mouth. His fingers must be mighty tasty because they're always lingering around his mouth.  ;)

Jaxon is still being a pretty bad sleeper. I want him to be able to self-soothe and put himself to sleep. We had been nursing him to sleep and then slowly move him to his crib so he wouldn't wake up, but he really needs to go to his crib awake and be able to fall asleep on his own. Naps are even worse though. He will only nap while nursing so I have to hold him the entire time. If I move he wakes up and won't go back to sleep. If there is some miracle where he does nap by himself he wakes at the end of his sleep cycle which is between 30-45 minutes long so he is just never really rested enough. It's a vicious cycle of over-tiredness. Because of all of this I started sleep training him. It has been pretty awful so far. I haven't seen much of an improvement over the last 4-5 days so I think we'll have to try a new method or tweak ours a bit. I feel bad because Jaxon is asleep when Jake leaves for work and he's only up for maybe an hour when Jake gets home before we start our bedtime routine. So pretty much Jake sees Jax for maybe 10 hours a week (for weekdays) and I feel like a single parent doing this all on my own.

We have another laser treatment scheduled for Wednesday. I'm anxious to see how it'll effect his hemangioma. Last time it made the discoloration in the middle a bit bigger so maybe that'll happen again. We think it might still be growing though, as in puffing out more from his lip, not necessarily getting wider. The dermatologist isn't real accurate at measuring it so they wouldn't be able to tell. I just hope at the end of all this he doesn't end up with a disfigured lip since it's right there on his face. We get compliments all the time about how gorgeous he is but then they're usually followed up with questions about his lip.

I don't have any pictures for this update because Lucy broke the adapter that plugs into the computer so I can't upload any pictures from the camera. Anyone want an American Bulldog???

Until next time,
Alycia and Jax