What a Day

(Note: I added a recipe to the bottom of this post so I wouldn't forget it after my original post, so if you saw it earlier without the recipe, you may want to check it out)

So much for not having to go to the hospital. I must've jinxed myself by writing that. Tuesday night Laura went to bed with a stuffy nose. At 5:30 am on Wednesday Laura came into our bedroom coughing so hard she was throwing up and nearly stopping breathing. After a frantic call to my parents who ran to our house to be with Sara (Thank you, Thank you! This is why we live close to family!) and a lot of coaching and hugging of Laura, Jason and I took her to the ER. You would think the 6 month old would be the scary one with RSV, alas, it was the 4 year old that gave us a fright.

Laura's oxygen levels were fine when we got to the hospital, but she was still coughing so hard she was throwing up. An old family friend (of both Jason's and mine) was her Respiratory Therapist and got her feeling much better. They gave her some steroids there to open up her airways and sent us home with five nights worth of the same drug. That is a wonder drug for our poor girly!

They treated her awesome at the hospital. She got her own bracelet (she used to always wear mine after I went in with Sara), a pink barf bucket, some Sprite, and a little teddy bear to hug in addition to hugging Mommy.
Needless to say we took it easy for the rest of the day, but there were two things Laura really wanted to do; she wanted to bake and take a bath in Mommy's tub. We made brownies together while Sara was napping. I'm not sure why Laura loves to bake so much. It could be the pink apron, the chocolate she eats, or perhaps just spending time helping Mommy and being the center of my attention. Regardless, she loves it.

While Laura was taking her 45 minute bath, Sara played in the jumper. She had a GREAT time. She jumped all 45 minutes. Her legs are getting some serious strength. And, I love the nostalgia of a kid in the master bedroom in a jumper; that's where my mom put me when I was a munchkin in a jumper.

One of the best parts of my day was how well my dinner cooking experiment turned out. I used an old recipe a roommate found in the newspaper and seriously simplified and modified it. Before I write down the recipe, let me first say that pretty much every time I grill chicken, (or Jason grills) I grill an extra piece to use in something else (salad, etc) throughout the week. This was an experiment to use some of leftovers.

1 16 oz package Penne (or other hearty noodle) pasta

1 can diced Italian Tomatoes

1 15 oz jar of Alfredo Sauce

1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained - I used the pasta colander to drain the spinach to cut down on dishes)

1 cup leftover grilled chicken in small chunks (mine was marinaded in Italian Dressing)

1 cup milk

1 cup parmesan cheese

1/4 cup flour

1 tsp onion salt

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Preheat Oven to 350. Cook pasta to al dente. Drain and leave in the colander. Pour Alfredo Sauce, tomatoes, chicken, and spinach into pasta pot over medium/high heat. Pour the milk and flour into the Alfredo jar, shake vigorously, then pour into the pot. Add in 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, onion salt and Italian seasoning. Mix it all together. When sauce is simmering, add in the pasta and mix again. Pour the entire mixture into a baking dish and sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup parmesan on top. Bake for 20 minutes.

As a side note: it makes TONS, but Jason says it is even tastier as a leftover.