Bringing Up Baby

I'll readily admit it - "I don't know nothin' bout birthin' babies, Miss Scarlett." I also don't know nothin' bout babies in general. I have held a total of 2 babies in my entire lifetime. (And that includes my niece and nephew - who I have never held) Most of the time Thatboy has swooped in and held whatever infant we're with. He loves holding babies and he doesn't always trust me to hold them anyway.

I babysat when I was younger, but not infants. I'm a hit with toddlers and "kids" but babies are a whole different ball game. So the past month-ish Thatboy and I have been taking as many classes as we can to learn to everything about babies.

We started with Infant and Child CPR - which really is a good idea for anyone who is around kids. I haven't been certified since my babysitting days and it sure has changed!

Next came a 2 day birth prep class. Which was good for those of us who know nothing bout birthing babies. And those of us who wanted to see where it all takes place. We certainly appreciated the hospital tour which gave me a much better idea of what's going to happen.

Last week was breastfeeding, which felt like a ton of information in a very short amount of time. But alleviated a bit of fear and gave us some good resources.

This week was our last class - baby care basics.

A lot of my friends with kids rave about "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and apparently our hospital agrees since we got to watch excerpts of it in class - learning the 5 S's (swaddle, side, shush, swing, suck). Since we don't have a baby at home, we've been practicing with Thatdog. Who LOVES being swaddles, shushed, and swung. Guess he is our baby after all.

The classes were worthwhile, but time consuming. These were not the "date nights" I was referring to earlier. And it's nice to be done with them and have our evenings back. Because frankly rushing home from work, grabbing some fast food on the way over, sitting through class and getting home just in time to climb into bed is not nearly as fun as it sounds.

It also means I'm not getting nearly as much food in the freezer as I was hoping to do. I made up for it tonight! Since I didn't have to work late I could actually get some stuff done! Chicken tenders, lemon cake, and corn fritters all got made and frozen. Chicken pot pies in muffin tins are cooling on the counter. The muffin tins are perfect for freezer meals because you pop out what you need and defrost. But if you're looking for a homey, comfort meal for dinner, you don't need to worry about making individual portions - just go ahead, grab your pie plate, and load up.

Chicken Pot Pie
6 Tbsp butter
6 Tbsp flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper
4 cups chopped cooked chicken
12 small cooked white onions
3/4 cup cooked peas
1 pie crust, unbaked

1. Preheat oven to 425. Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour for 2 minutes until it's a thick paste.
   
2. Slowly pour in the broth, cream, salt and pepper, stirring as you add them in. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring till thick and smooth.
3. Put the chicken in a pie plate and cover with the sauce.
   
4. Stir in the onions and peas.
5. Put the pie crust over the top of the chicken and veggies and crimp the edges.
6. Cut vents in the top of the crust and bake for 30 minutes.