Mini Pizza with big Flavor!

Yes, I’m still spending lots of time in the kitchen! I feel compelled to share good recipes with friends. So the other night I made mini pepperoni pizza. Not only were they tasty but they were fun to make too!
I feel so much better about actually making recipes instead of throwing freezer foods into the oven. So, for all of you that have little ones who like pizza or big ones that like pizza this recipes is worth a try.

Here’s what you need:

• 3-4 Tortillas
• A jar of marina or better yet pizza sauce
• Mozzarella cheese
• Mini pepperonis that you now see popping up @ your local grocery
• Italian spices like basil and dried oregano to spice up your sauce – I also added parmesan cheese to my sauce which enhanced the flavor.

Step 1:

1. Preheat Oven to 400 Degrees
2. Using the top of a jar – cut out circular crusts using the tortillas – I used the top of a Ball jar and got 3 crusts from one tortilla and I was using smaller tortillas too.
3. Place the bottom of your crusts in a muffin pan – they should fit nicely with a little tortilla covering the sides.
4. Add a spoonful of pizza sauce (with added spices for flavor) and parmesan cheese to thicken the sauce
5. Top with mozzarella and mini pepperonis
6. Cook until done – probably about 12 – 15 minutes (I can’t remember how long)

Wah-la! Delicous little homemade pizzas.

*I did not invent this recipes, I either read it in a magazine or on a cooking blog*

Eating Woes Continue

Here’s a little update about Mr. Meddler. Grey is healthy and active like any other 2 year old. He is still significantly underweight and I received a call last week letting us know that we have made it to the top of the waiting list for feeding therapy. Wow, that took about 7 months. And it is projected that it will take an additional 4 weeks for insurance to confirm that G actually needs the therapy – of course being born 15 weeks too soon isn’t enough evidence.

So, I’ll wait for the call from my insurance company. My expectations for this therapy are low; however, I’ll take the slightest gain as an improvement. We definitely have some work to do in the eating department. Grey is 27 months corrected and weighs 21.4 pounds. Honestly, it’s an everyday battle and I personally think we should qualify for family feeding therapy! I’d have to bring in Gigi for a much needed therapy session. Her dedication to Grey’s health and weight is endless.

I guess it’s important that we recognize there is a difference between being a picky eater and actually having a toddler with sensory food aversions. You might be thinking, so what are the symptoms of a toddler with sensory food aversions. I’ll describe some specific characteristics of Grey, which puts him into this category. G consistently spits out food, he is bothered by the textures of foods and refuses certain foods like purees. He’s disruptive a meal times and prefers to destroy his food instead of eating it. Many children with food aversions prefer a diet of sugary foods which is true for G as well – he’s always up for a cookie or a handful of M&Ms. I must interject here and say we have seen an improvement. He eats better @ Gigi’s when his cousins are present and eating. I usually put him in his highchair @ dinnertime and give him a few food items, which I know he prefers and I walk away and completely ignore him. He becomes hypersensitive in his feeding chair – doesn’t like anything to be on his hands, if I ask him a question he spits out whatever is in his mouth – this one drives me crazy. I find chewed up food balls all over my house! Lots of half chewed raisins and pepperonis.

Anyway – I hope this feeding therapy helps – I really do.

Here is a recent pic of G and Matt – they just happened to be dressed alike on this day so I snapped a quick picture.

Where's the flour?

I’ve been thinking about turning my blog into a baking blog! I'm not being completely serious but something about Fall weather drives me into the kitchen and I can’t seem to stop researching delicious baking ideas.

Recently I whipped up some mini snicker cheesecakes for Matthew and Grey. I made a mint cookie recipe for Matthew and I must say they were good! I’m documenting my baking trials so we remember our favorites. Below are some shots from the kitchen.

Finally Fall

Okay, so I’ve been a bit negligent on updating the blog – I apologize, especially to those who have sent me personal emails telling me to get busy!
We’ve been very busy lately. July/August is the most demanding time of year for me at work. Matt is also busy with home designs and a few side projects. It’s amazing how time slips by – I’m still startled that it’s September. However, I am excited that we are finally entering the fall season. I love everything about fall! Pumpkins, craft fairs, cool weather, and beautiful leaves. I truly enjoy walking across Vanderbilt’s campus in the fall – it’s gorgeous.

We just had Grey’s 2 year checkup and all is good, except, for his weight (not a big surprise). Grey weighed 22 pounds at this appointment – including clothes. It’s fair and accurate to say he is small. We are still significantly off the chart… I’m really starting to detest the growth chart. I’ve agreed to try feeding therapy again. I think I’m to the point where I would try anything. However, Grey does eat. He’s overly particular about his choices but really what 2 year old eats everything you introduce – I’m hoping very few for my own sanity. He’s particular and favor’s meats like sausage and pepperonis and likes fruit like apples and grapes. He’s a huge fan of mini reese’s cups and we allow them every day if he wants them. Yesterday he ate eggs and cheese – huge success! This morning Matt tried getting him to take a spoon full of coconut oil – fail!

Grey’s becoming more skillful with this mischief. He is truly an explorer. Yesterday we had him at the pool and he ran around exploring until he found something of interest – a friend’s camera. I saw the look in his eye – the camera was going to end up in the pool! I jogged through the pool water as quick as anyone’s legs can carry you in water – I caught the camera before it made a splash. Now these are the moments when I need “time out” to mean something.

He still favors the phrase “mine!” and his little voice is so funny that we’ve encouraged this impolite phrase with constant laughter. He also says “hooray, I did it” about very simple tasks like opening a box that he’s opened 100 times. My favorite is “where’s daddy” which is said 50 times a day. I must say that Grey is more tender than terrible. He still loves to cuddle and give kisses, which means the world to me. He’s a sweet lovey baby still.

Beginning to introduce the potty - more to come...

To the Mountains

Well – we took a little trip to Chattanooga to visit the aquarium and the creative discovery children’s museum. The penguins were the highlight of the aquarium and the “river play” was a blast at the museum. It was a bit relieving to have a few hours of acceptable hands on play. Grey is very hands on with everything, which causes Matt & I to constantly chase him down in stores and our home to remove potentially dangerous items. We also planned at visit to Rock City – how could we not stop when there are like 600 billboards along the way to Chattanooga marketing the tourist attraction – I felt like they earned my business. And wow, talk about nature’s beauty! I had no idea that I’d actually enjoy this journey. The ancient rock formations and breathtaking views were definitely appreciated… I do mean breathtaking if you are any bit uneasy of heights. I experienced an innate cautiousness at many of the amazing views. I couldn’t even focus on the famous “see 7 states” because I was to busy monitoring each foot step while holding Grey. One of my favorite memories will be Greyson whispering "monsters" each time we entered a dark cavern.



Grey giving the fake penguin a sweet hug.

Everyone say "Cheese" for our Cheesy moment!

Lover's Leap


I hope there's incoming teeth in Grey's mouth b/c he's back to eating his hands!

March for Babies!

Thank you so much to all the wonderful family and friends who supported our March of Dimes walk this year. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day – the weather was gorgeous. It is awesome to see so many families coming together to walk for stronger healthier babies!

After the walk I decided to come home and make an updated video of Greyson. Anything I do to encourage another family with a mircopreemie. There were many dark hours in the NICU when my faith was minimal and our future was grave. However, I never gave up hopes. I prayed for hours and poured out my love everyday… I remember sitting next to the incubator and thinking… I’m sending my love through those plastic walls and Greyson will feel it and know how important he is to us all.

Well, here’s the updated video:

Toot is Two!

Exciting things to report: Greyson is two! Yay! Another successful healthy year with our sweet boy. However, I am a bit nervous if I’m suddenly expected to hit a terrible twos patch in our lives. Grey is quite the handful as it is. Seriously, I’m not exaggerating at all. This baby keeps you on your toes every minute of the day. I received a phone call today from Gigi who usually reports on her daily thrills and scares produced by the one and only. Today Gigi was talking to a neighbor while G played in the yard. After getting a view yards away Gigi noticed Grey had climbed into the power wheel and was off! Speeding through the neighbor’s yard while rolling through their mulch and taking a quick right toward the road. Gigi immediately abandon her conversation with the neighbor and kicked off her flip flops for the sprint. Sadly, these stories are very typical. Matthew just sprinted down our hallway the other day when we both heard unexpected running water! Grey had climbed into the tub and turned the HOT water on full blast. He was soaked in his jammies and looking at us like we were the crazy ones.

We had our follow up visit at the preemie clinic on Tuesday of this week. Grey was evaluated by several people throughout his assessment every one of them commented on how he was “busy”. I guess busy is a nice way to say this baby has destroyed our evaluation room and unplugged every piece of equipment we use! Grey was given the Bayley assessment. Bayley scales of infant development are used to describe the current developmental functioning of infants and to assist in diagnosis and treatment planning for infants with developmental delays or disabilities. The test is intended to measure a child's level of development in three domains: cognitive, motor, and behavioral. Grey passed all areas, with our lowest score being 83 and our highest being 100%. Of course the 100% was scored in motor assessment. His fingers may look like little slugs but they are making things happen! And his dexterity is pretty impressive. Often times he is frustrated because his ambition outweighs his physical ability – like the determination to lift a heavy object.

The area of concern is weight – nothing new to the Stokes household. A constant everyday challenge is getting G to eat! He is still on pedisure – 3 bottles a day along with 3 meals and snacks. However, he still hasn’t reached the charts. He used to be in the third percentile for height but he has fallen off again. He weighed in at 20.6 pounds minus shoes. Not very impressive for a two year old. This past weekend he was wearing 6-12 month pants that were 3 inches to short! We actually received a referral from the clinic to see a feeding therapist/specialist. There have been some recent concerns – unexpected gagging and vomiting. Chewing foods and spitting them back out – which he has done for quite some time. I’m open to any advice or assistance in this area of weakness. It’s obvious he isn’t malnourished and he looks completely healthy to strangers but we were really hoping he would have closed the gap by now. Our dietitian recommended a different kind of pedisure that has more calories per ounce. She forgot to mention it is not on the shelves at any local stores and is cost $100+ for 24 cans, which would get us 10 days. We already pay over $100 a month in pedisure and this new form would cost a lot more. And this is where the frustration lies. I plan to place a call to BCBS tomorrow to see if my insurance will cover any of the expense but the typical answer for all this preemie stuff is no. I work hard and pay hefty insurance premiums and I find this so disappointing.

On a happier note, we are Marching for Babies on March 17th @ Centennial Park in Nashville. A wish that one day all babies will be born healthy. Please walk with us or donate to this wonderful foundation.