Cream cheese guava crepes

It's been a long time since I've made crepes, and last week Louis asked me to make some but I got lazy, so this morning I decided I would surprise him with some sweet cream cheese and guava crepes. 

I had some left over guava from the cake I made my mom earlier in the week for her birthday and decided to use it as a filling. Plus what goes better with guava than a sweet cream cheese. 

Crepe mix

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp melted butter

3/4 cup warm water

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup flour

In a bowl whisk the eggs and milk together, next add in the melted butter, water, sugar and vanilla extract. Slowly whisk in the flour making sure there are no lumps. Heat a pan to medium low heat and spray a little non stick cooking spray on the pan, you will only need to do this once or twice while cooking the crepes. Spread 1/4 cup of the mix along the bottom of the pan, rotating the pan slowly to evenly distribute a thin layer of the crepe mix on the pan. Let it cook for a little less than two minutes or until the sides of the crepe start to come away from the pan, flip and let cool for another 1-2 minutes on the other side. 

Guava filling

1 tin of guava 21oz

1/3 cup of water

Open the tin and using a butter knife cut the guava into small squares, remove from tin and add it to a small pot. Add the water in and bring the mix to a boil making sure to stir. Once it starts to boil lower the heat and let it simmer. We are doing this to just loosen the guava and make it spreadable. Stir until there are no more lumps in the guava mix, remove from heat and let cool down a bit.

For the guava drizzle I just added some of the guava to a little squirt bottle and added about 1-2 tsps of water to the mix. Shake the bottle so the guava become a little more runny and use it to top the whip cream. 

Sweet cream cheese mix

8oz cream cheese softened

1/2 cup of powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup of milk

In a bowl mix the cream cheese with an electric mixer until it is smooth. Add in the vanilla extract and milk, next add in the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.

Whipped cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream

3 tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Add everything to a bowl and using an electric mixer whisk until it forms peaks, place in the refrigerator for it to firm up a bit while you assemble the crepes.

For the crepes add a thin layer of cream cheese, then a thin layer of the guava (the guava is pretty sweet so you don't want to add too much). Fold the crepe over and add the whipped cream and drizzle with a little bit of guava. 

Louis absolutely loved it, and it reminded me a bit of the Entenmanns guava puffs.  

Pumpkin spice Rice Krispies treats

I'm As I have said time and time again I love pumpkin anything. When me and Louis were out on Sunday for our 11 year anniversary we stopped by target to get some Halloween makeup for the boys. We happened to pass by their pumpkin section. I thought I was about to have a heart attack with all the wonderful pumpkin flavored goodies that lined the shelves. But what stood out was the pumpkin spice marshmallows, I had passed them in shoprite the day before but they were just pumpkin shaped, these bad boys were pumpkin spiced and I just couldn't pass them up. Today I was in such a baking mood making pecan pie tarts, a Dutch Apple pie and decided to pull out the Rice Krispies and the marshmallows to make these treats. The only issue now is trying to keep Jowell and Louis from finishing them all in one sitting. 

Pumpkin spice Rice Krispies treats: 

5 cups of Rice Krispies 

1 8oz bag of pumpkin spice marshmallows 

3 tbsp butter

Line a casserole pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. In a pot met the butter on medium heat. Add the marshmallows in and toss them in the melted butter. Mix with a spoon until the marshmallows are melted and smooth. Remove from heat, pour in the Rice Krispies and mix all together. Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole pan. Spray some nonstick spray on your hands and press down the mixture lightly to conform to the pan. Let cook for 10 minutes. Spray a knife with nonstick spray and cut into squares. It will make about a dozen depending on how small or large you cut them. 

Apple pancakes

Apples apples everywhere! Now that I got the ball rolling on making something out of this huge bowl of apples I have sitting on my kitchen table I thought that it would be a nice treat to make Jowell some apple pancakes this morning. We unfortunately ate them all except one before I could snap a picture of the last one left on the plate. 

Apple pancakes: 

1 1/4 cup bisquick 

1 egg

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp baking powder

1 Apple peeled and shredded

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk 

Butter or oil to for pan

Heat a skillet over medium low heat and melt a tablespoon of butter. In a bowl mix all the ingredients together. Pour 1/4 cup of the mixture in the pan and allow to cook, flip when bubbles start to form and pop. Flip and cook on the other side for a minute or two. 

Apple Butter

What's the best thing about fall? Any thing and everything pumpkin spiced...

With a bag full of apples from our outing at Maskers Orchard in Warwick NY a few weeks back I decided to finally getting around to making something with them. And since both my sister and my husband loved Apple butter it was the first recipe to get done on my list of Apple goodies. I found this recipe on my search a recipe I had used a while back. That recipe involved a crockpot and some patience. While some people may love their crockpot I on the other hand do not..or maybe I just haven't figured out how to properly use it because I have a habit of making a mess and some how burning anything I cook in it. So it is hidden in the far corner of my pantry closet buried under boxes to hide my shame of not knowing how to use maybe one of the easiest appliances in the kitchen {wallows in shame}.  This recipe that I have found how ever used a big ol' pot and the stove top which is more my type of recipe. Plus they used pumpkin pie spice so that was another plus in my book. I had a ton of apples so for me I tripled the recipe so I had enough for the family and some to put away in the freezer for later on when I craved a taste of autumn. 

Apple butter:

5 large apples peeled core and sliced (be sure to save the Apple peels so you can make homemade apple cider vinegar) 

2 cups Apple bcider

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt 

Add the apples, sugar and Apple cider, into the pot and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes.

Add in the cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract and salt.

Lower the heat and let it cook for another 1-2 hours until the apples start to break down and some of the water starts to evaporate, make sure to stir every once in a while. 

Let it cool for a bit and if there are still big chunks of Apple you can use an immersion blender or food processor to make it smoother. You might need to do this in batches depending on how much you have made. If the Apple butter seems to thin add it back into the pot and simmer on medium heat until 20 minutes or until some of the juice evaporates. It should also thicken a bit as it cools. Cool and store in an air tight container or in mason jars. 

Store in fridge for 10 days or freeze and keep for later. 

Original recipe from: http://apple-of-my-eye.com/2013/10/02/pumpkin-spice-apple-butter/

Pumpkin rice pudding

That's right, it's autumn and in my house that means the kitchen will always have the warm sweet smell of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. I still had a few ziplocks of homemade frozen pumpkin purée and a gallon of milk that was going to expire soon, with the air cold and crisp and me and my boys bundled up in cozy socks and sweaters (I refuse to turn on our heater yet) I decided the best route to take would be to make a rice pudding. As I made my original rice puddin recipe I just tweaked it a bit to give it the pumpkin taste. Louis came home and was delighted at the sight of a warm cup of rice pudding greeting him at the table. 

1 tbsp coconut oil 

2 cups rice

2 cups water

2 cups milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp pumpkin spice

2 tbsp maple syrup 

2 cups of pumpkin purée 

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tbsp orange zest

2 tsp vanilla extract

6-8 cups milk 

In a large pot heat the oil over medium heat, pour in the rice and pumpkin pie spice. Pour in the milk/water and bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil cover the pot and turn the heat to low, let cook until you can see the rice and only a small amount of liquid is left over. Now add in the sugar, pumpkin purée and vanilla extract. Mix it in and break up some of the rice. Add in the extra milk and stir it around so there are no large chunks of rice. Let simmer on low heat until it thickens (about 8-10 minutes). Serve warm and you can sprinkle with a little cinnamon and crushed graham crackers. 

Coconut rice

So let me just say I am obsessed with anything coconut. I just love the taste and smell, not to mention how healthy it is for you. I make sure to always have a jar of organic coconut oil in my pantry, you can use it or so many things from oil pulling, to washing your face with it (it works wonders to get rid of acne) to conditioning hair, to cooking or eating (make sure you aren't contaminating the jar of coconut oil, I put half the jar in a seperate container for cosmetic uses and the other half I leave in the pantry for cooking uses). My absolute favorite thing is to use it while making rice, you get the nice hint of coconut while getting the nutritional benefits. What is also nice is that it is not sweet as my husband first thought it would be. You can serve it with anything and you can also make it with brown rice, just add 1/2 cup more of water to that. It is a super simple and easy recipe, trust me once you make it that will be your go to rice recipe. 

coconut rice

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 cups white rice

2 tsp salt

1 can coconut milk (13.5 fl oz) 

1 cup hot water 

In a medium sized pot add the coconut oil and rice. Cook on medium heat for 4 minutes mixing he rice with the coconut oil. Add in the coconut milk, pour the cup of water into the can of coconut milk to get any extra bits of the coconut cream at the bottom of the can, pour it into the pot and add in the salt. Mix to incorporate and wait till the water starts to boil. Once boiling cover the pot and lower the heat to 2 (that's the notch that is on my stove). Let cook for about 15 minutes or until you can't see anymore water bubbling at the top. There will still be some cream at the top from the coconut milk, use a fork and "fluff" up the rice and allow to cook for another two minutes. Serve while hot. 

Pumpkin French toast with cinnamon cream cheese

With the official start of autumn right around the corner and the air being cold and crisp this morning I decided it was time to pull out some frozen homemade pumpkin purée I made last year. Last week Louis took me to Dairy Queen to get a pumpkin pie blizzard and let me just say it was like heaven in my mouth, if you haven't tried it you need to go out and get one...my mouth is watering just thinking about it! 

1 loaf of French bread sliced

4 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup fresh or canned pumpkin purée

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg 

1/2 tsp ginger

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp brown sugar

Butter for the pan 

In a bowl mix together the spices, vanilla, brown sugar, purée, eggs and milk. 

Heat the pan on medium heat and melt a tablespoon of butter in it. 

Dip both sides of the bread into the mixture I usually count to 10 then flip the bread and let the mix soak into the bread for another 10 second. Place on the pan and let cook for 2 minutes or until browned, flip and cook the other side. 

Cinnamon cream cheese

4 oz cream cheese softened 

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup honey

1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon 

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and top the pumpkin French toast with a tablespoon of the cream cheese mix along with maple syrup. 

Can't you just feel fall in the air? 

Original recipe: http://www.cookingclassy.com/2014/08/pumpkin-french-toast/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+CookingClassy+(Cooking+Classy)

Balsamic rosemary chicken with foil grilled veggies

Ok so I have to admit I have been pretty lazy these past few weeks after the wedding. I mean putting together a backyard wedding is hard work, thankfully I had the help of family and friends but after months of planning I felt like I needed a nice looooonnnggg break from doing anything productive.

So what have we been eating you ask? Well Chinese food, pizza, and I have made the occasional rice, beans and chicken, nothing too crazy simply because my brain was on vacation but now it's time for me to get back on the saddle. I need to cut out the Chinese and pizza {oh how I will miss thee} and start cooking and eating some real food, and I know Louis will have no objections what so ever, for the past week he has brought lefts overs from a sloppy joe casserole I made last weekend for lunch, it's safe to say he never wants to see sloppy joe again. 

Another thing is that we haven't used the grill much this summer which is a shame because to been a very nice summer, not too hot and not too cold but just right. My mother and law also gave us her grill because she moved to a nice new apartment so we actually had our own grill instead of borrowing my parents grill. I'm still terrified of turning the grill on {I always picture me accidentally turning the propane on to much and a huge plume of fire erupting when I light the grill and me saying bye bye to my eyebrows and eye lashes} so I just put everything together and make Louis cook the meal. Tonight dinner was pretty simple, grilled balsamic rosemary chicken thighs with veggies grilled in a foil packet, nice, easy and pretty healthy compared to the trash we have been eating {sorry body I know I have failed you with all the yucky stuff I have fed you, it was so wrong but it felt so right}.

Balsamic rosemary chicken thighs:

2lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs

1 cup balsamic vinegar 

3/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup rosemary (dried or fresh)

2 tablespoons lemon zest

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons minced garlic 

Salt and pepper to season 

In large casserole dish arrange the chicken thighs so they lay flat. Take a fork and pierce the chicken thighs a few times so that they absorb the marinade better.

In a seperate bowl mix the rest of the ingredients except for the salt a pepper. Pour the marinade over the chicken thighs, making sure most of the chicken is covered. Cover the casserole dish with foil and place in the fridge, let it sit for 1 hour then remove from the fridge and flip the chicken so the other side can marinate for an hour (so all together it will marinate for 2 hours but you can marinate for longer or even better over night, just make sure to flip them atleast once so they will evenly absorb the marinade. 

Preheat the grill on medium heat. Brush the grates of the grill with some olive oil. 

Remove the chicken from the marinade and season with salt and pepper. 

Place on the grill and cook for 6-8 minutes on each side. Remove from the grill and serve while hot. 

Jowell insisted that he was a big boy and wanted to help with the chicken. 

Original recipe from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/lemon-rosemary-and-balsamic-grilled-chicken-thighs-recipe.html

Grilled vegetables in foil:

1 green pepper

1 large onion

2 yellow zucchinis 

1 cup of baby carrots 

Olive oil

Seasoned salt

Pepper

Garlic powder

Foil

This recipe is super easy can the vegetables you use are interchangeable, these were just the vegetables I had on hand at the moment. Slice the vegetables and set aside. Cut 3 pieces of foil and lay them flat, they need to be big enough for you to put the veggies in the middle and fold both sides of the foil over with out the veggies spilling out. Spray the middle of the foil with olive oil non stick spray. Place the onions down first, then the green peppers, the zucchini and finally the carrots. Drizzle some olive oil over the vegetables and season with seasoned salt, pepper and garlic powder. Fold the foil up the middle first then fold the ends so tree is no way the steam can escape. Heat the grill to medium heat and cook for 20 minutes. Be careful when opening because a bunch of steam will pop out.

Ok let me just say trying to get a picture of this guy is a mission and a half. When I told him act natural this is what he did...yup that's my husband for you. 

Turkey meatloaf

Who doesn't love meatloaf? I know my family could eat meatloaf everyday if they could. To keep things healthy I make the meatloaf using ground turkey, I actually use ground turkey all the time in place of ground beef, I actually don't remember a time when I ever used ground beef, there is nothing wrong with it, so you could definitely use it in place of the ground turkey if that is your preference no judging here. 

Turkey meatloaf:

3 lbs ground turkey

2 eggs

2 cups Italian bread crumbs

3 tbsp worshtershire sauce

2 cups milk

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground pepper

1 onion diced

3 cloves garlice minced

2 tbsp butter

4 tbsp brown sugar

4 tbsp yellow mustard

2/3 cups ketchup 

1 tbsp worshtershire sauce

 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

Start off by melting the butter in a pan over medium low heat. Sauté the onions and garlic until the onions become translucent. 

In a large bowl combine the ground turkey, eggs, milk, bread crumbs, worshtershire sauce, salt and pepper and finally the sautéed onions and garlic. Mix together with your hands or with a spoon until all the ingredients are completely incorporated. 

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with some olive oil. Take the meatloaf mix and form a log on the baking sheet. 

In a small bowl combine the brown sugar, mustard, ketchup and worshtershire sauce together. 

Spread the ketchup mixture over the entire log of meatloaf. 

Place the meatloaf in the preheated oven and bake for an hour. 

After an hour I like to turn the broiler on in the oven and broil the meatloaf on high for 2 minutes just to caramelize the ketchup mixture a bit. 

Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes. If you cut into it right away it will completely crumble. It will still be delicious but it won't be as pretty. Slice and serve with your favorite sides. 

Jowell turns 3 today, reminiscing about his birth

Today my little munchkin is turning 3, it's amazing how much he has grown. He is such an amazing little boy, he is funny, witty, sweet, kind, and sometimes a little tough. He has changed so much through out the years but i can still recall the day he was born. 

I remember three years ago after going in for a baby check my OB had a worried look on her face and she told me she would be right back, rushed to the phone and later returned and said I had to go to the hospital in Danville immediately. I wasn't exactly sure what was going on, she said it's ok they just need to monitor the baby to make sure he is doing ok. I had just hit 31 weeks but I felt like part of my body was huge, my feet and ankles had been completely swollen my face and eyes were puffy, I remember that I kept getting headaches and seeing spots of light in my vision. I had heard the word preeclampsia thrown around here and there but I had no idea what it was or how serious it could be for both me and my little baby. Me and Louis didn't pack anything for the hospital since we assumed we would only be there and hour or two, part of me knew something was wrong but I was in denial so I turned to Louis in the car and asked "do you think we'll have the baby today? Or you excited or scared?" He just looked at me grabbed my hand because he knew how anxious I was and said "everything will be fine, god is watching over us."

After driving for 2 1/2 hours we finally got to the hospital we went to where the OB was but they said they didn't get a call from the doctor for us. She made a few phone calls and said "oh you're suppose to go to labor and delivery. Me and Louis froze a bit and Louis whispered to me "shit just got real...why are we going to labor and delivery, maybe we might have the baby today." So we went to the elevator and were welcomed by a nurse who told us to settle in because we had to spend the night. 

We got settled in, I changed into a hospital gown and sat on the bed. My palms were sweaty and they started to shake a little. "I really hope everything is ok" I said to Louis. He told me everything will be ok, our son is a fighter and his mother is even stronger. 

The nurses came back in and they were so sweet to us, they could see how nervous we were, at the time I was only 20 and Louis was 21, we had no idea what was going on. The nurse strapped a blood pressure cuff on me and told me she set it to check my blood pressure every 30 minutes, she said if they look ok we could go home tomorrow but if I get two high reading in a row I would have to stay there for the remainder of my pregnancy. I tried my hardest to relax but I could feel my heart about to jump out of my chest which I assume didn't help much with my BP levels. The first two were high but not in the range that they would be alarmed, but by 10pm that night my BP started to rise, the nurse said she was going to get the doctor so he could talk to us and let us know what was going on. 

He explained that my blood pressure was extremely high and I had preeclampsia, they had to keep me there for the remainder of the pregnancy and hopefully they wouldn't have to deliver me early and that way it would give my baby a chance to develop more. They put me on a magnesium drip which is absolutely dreadful, they put these weird socks on me along with a machine that would massage my legs to prevent me from developing any blood clots since I would no longer be allowed to get up once on magnesium because i might fall since it makes you extremely dizzy. 

The next day they had told us that they were going to give me an ultrasound to check that the baby was doing ok. They also started steroid injections to develop Jowell's lungs incase he did have to be delivered early {those burned soooo bad, it really sucked}. When we finally went for our ultrasound the technician seemed concerned but said that the doctor would discuss it with us. So we went back to our room and waited for the doctor. He had told us that my placenta had stopped giving Jowell nutrition and that has stopped growing so he was on the small side, he said if we would have waited to go to the hospital there was a chance he would have been still born. They said they will wait till the end of the week to deliver him so that he can develop his lungs more. 

The next day we went for another ultrasound and the doctors came back in and told us that we were going to deliver him in two days because he wasn't growing anymore so there was no use in waiting, plus my blood pressure wasn't going down and the only way to cure preeclampsia is to deliver the baby. I was nervous and excited all at the same time. Me and Louis kept praying that Jowell would come out healthy. 

Unfortunatly the next day when we woke up we were greeted by the doctors again, they said they had been monitoring the baby and my BP and they feel that the best course of action would be to deliver him that night. I didn't know what to say of how to feel. Everything was happening so quickly. I wasn't allowed to eat that day because they would deliver him via cesarean. We called our family to let them know and my mom insisted that they come, my cousin who was also my sons god mother also said she was going to come that night. We waited patiently but we were about to have a baby and we couldn't contain ourselves. I was still extremely out of it because of the magnesium so I couldn't fully digest what was going to happen. 

When my parents, cousin and uncle arrived you could tell that my cousin had been crying. She gave me a huge hug. They had been there only a few minutes before the nurse came in and told us we would be going to the OR soon. My mother started to cry now, I knew it was a scary moment but I had to be strong for my baby, I knew everything would be ok. I told them not to cry and that I would be back soon with a newborn baby. I gave everyone a hug and I was carted out of the room. We head into the OR and I see all these nurses and about 3 doctors. My nurse stayed with me the whole time and held my hand while they gave me the epidural. As is set in I felt like my body was freezing, and I started to get nervous. They set up the sheets and we waited for Louis to come in. Dressed in scrubs Louis walks in the room with a camera and gives me a kids on the forehead, he was just as nervous as I was and he kept biting his lip. "Ok Jollette do you feel this?" They were checking to make sure my anesthesia was working. "Ok we are going to get started" I held Louis's hand, we started talking about random things to try and get my mind off of what was happening. Suddenly I felt myself start to trembled and my lips started quivering, it was a reaction the the anesthesia. I slowly started to feel nauseous also and quickly told Louis to tell the nurse I was about to blow chunks, she grabbed me a bowl and I started gagging. I kept apologizing and she said it was ok. It's normal and a lot of people react that way. I started to get sleepy, not because I was dying but because I could hardly get any sleep while I was in the hospital but Louis started to get scared and told me I had to stay awake. I told him I just wanted to sleep, but he refused to let me. At 10:10pm the doctors told me "Ok Jollette you are going to feel some pressure now, this baby pushed himself into your ribcage" and suddenly I felt like my belly had just dropped. The nurses quickly took Jowell to the warming station. I couldn't see anything but I also hadn't heard a cry yet. I started freaking out "how is he, how is my baby...Louis is he ok? What does he look like? Wait why isn't he crying? I don't hear him crying. What's happening, is he ok! Louis tell me what's happening?!" He tried to calm me but right then we finally heard him start to cry. Our little baby boy entered this world and it was the most amazing feeling to know that he was ok. He was 3 pounds 4 ounces and only 14 inches long. 

Louis asked if he could take a picture but as soon as he got up the NICU nurses were rushing out of the room with him. Our nurse told us that he had stopped breathing and they needed to bring him into the NICU to attach him to the CPAP until his lungs were strong enough to breath on their own. I cried a little because i didn't know if he would be ok and I didn't get a chance to see my son before he was whisked off, what if I never get to him him in my arms, what if his lungs were too under developed? I told Louis to go and see if Jowell was all right. 

After they stitched me back up an wheeled me back into the room I felt exhausted. I was still numb so I wasn't in pain but I was so worried for Jowell. Louis, my parents and my uncle went to the NICU to see if they could see Jowell but the NICU nurse said that they were still getting him set up so only Louis was able to go in to see him quickly and snap a photo for me. When he came back to the room and showed me the picture that he took of Jowell. He was so tiny, but you could hardly see his face because he had so many tubes attached to him. Before I had Jowell I pictured meeting my first born as a magical moment, but I wasnt allowed to see him until the next day. 

The next morning I woke up and I could already feel the soreness from my insisson sight. I was told that I still wasn't allowed to get up from bed because I had to still be on magnesium for two more days plus it would be difficult for me to walk because of my c-section. I insisted on trying to stand up anyway, I wanted to see my baby no matter how much pain I was in. So I told Louis to help me up so I could go to the NICU. He knew it was a bad idea but he helped me up anyway. I could feel the dried blood rip from my skin where my stitches were and it felt like at any moment my stitches would rip open when I tried to stand up right but I bit through the pain and tried making my way to the door. The nurse came in and quickly ordered me back into bed. She told me she would cart my bed to the NICU so I could see Jowell. 

As we came to the NICU doors I was so giddy to finally see Jowell. Louis told me Jowell was all the way towards the back of the room. We passed a couple who was holding their tiny preemie in their arms, the mother wasn't dressed in a hospital gown and I wondered how long her baby had been in here or when she would finally be able to bring her home. I wondered how long we would be here, how long before me and my little one could snuggle together in our home. When they pulled me up beside his incubator my heart skipped a beat. He was so tiny, tinier than what the pictures made him seem. He had tubes and wires all around his face and body but he was perfect in my eyes. My little munchkin was beautiful, and precious, and amazing and most of all he was alive and healthy. I was so scared to touch him but his nurse told me he was sturdier than he looked. She told us that he would be able to come off his CPAP by the end of the day and that he was a little fighter. When she placed him in my hands I didn't know what to do with myself, it was so surreal that he was my son, the little baby I had been holding in my belly for 7 months. He was my little miracle baby and I was so blessed to have him. We spent the next 28 days in the Ronald McDonald house near the hospital. I would pump atleast 3 bags of milk a day for Jowell and little by little he grew bigger and stronger. When we finally left the hospital to bring him home he was only 4 lbs 14oz but he was so healthy so the doctors have us the go ahead to go home. 

I am so blessed to have that little man in my life, he has taught me so much about being a good mother and has shown me how to be strong. Happy birthday Jowell Luciano Del Valle, we love you!