twobabiescloseupeyes

Life Update!

A little bit of a life update! The last few months I’ve neglected posting as we’ve been very busy, and going through some things as a family.

After Christmas, we spent a few weeks travelling around New Zealand to visit our friends and family! We spent several days in Hamilton at a family camp, then went on to Rotorua to visit our friends there, and then down to Masterton to see my sister.

Shortly after Christmas we found out we were expecting our second child, and in the beginning of February I suffered a miscarriage.

In January/February, my dad, Apollo, and Judah visited, and in February, Kalina came for a visit!

Now that we are back to ‘normal’ I want to get back to posting but it’s always weird trying to figure out what to say after being gone for so long.

So for now I’ll just share some photos I’ve taken recently!

At the Redwoods in Rotorua!

At Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre in Masterton with Adalia, Percy, and Monty!

We were all shocked when we arrived in Masterton to find that Monty, who is two months younger than Abel, is BIGGER than him!

I took family photos for Ben and Adalia. The colours were beautiful and somehow their outfits perfectly coordinated with the landscape – forget coincidence, let’s just say that Adalia planned really well. 😉 Of course, taking photos of toddlers isn’t always easy… Percy saw the trampoline and set his mind on jumping. He was pretty upset that we made him take a few photos first. After Ben got home from work we took a few more photos with him!

If you’re interested in family photos let me know! Check out my photography page for some other examples of my work.

That’s all for today… I better go take my husband some lunch and then come home to fold the piles of laundry on my couch…

Same Blog, New Website!

Hi friends! It’s been almost a month since I posted here, which I have to apologize for. We are still doing great and little Abel is now twelve weeks old! He’s growing so fast and I am so obsessed with him. I love being his mom!

The last several weeks I’ve been working on a new project which I’m so excited about! For months now I’ve been thinking about upgrading this blog by changing it to a new web address and I finally have!

The Canadian American Kiwi is still going strong but now you can find us at www.tillycutforth.com

I won’t be posting here anymore, so make sure you bookmark my new website so you don’t miss a post!

abeltwelveweeks-23

Abel: Four Weeks

Today Abel is four weeks old! At times it seems like four days, other times it feels like four months. He’s such a sweet little guy and we are enjoying him so much!

We’re learning the art of functioning on little sleep and using sheer willpower to stay awake rocking him back to sleep at 4am. This past week he has started smiling, and he smiles and laughs as he falls asleep! He’s also treated us to several explosive nappies, and wet through his clothes several times as well. He enjoys sleeping through church and takes about three hours to rock to sleep at night (okay it’s like one hour, but it feels like ages).

We’re starting to get into a routine and the first few weeks of constantly nursing have passed, so I’m hoping to get back to blogging soon! In the meantime, I’m posting regularly on Instagram, so if you want to see more photos of Abel, follow me there! My username is tillyvirtue.

Introducing…

Abel Brian Cutforth 💙 Our sweet little boy was born on Tuesday, weighing 8lb 15oz. His birth turned out very different than I’d hoped but we’re both healthy and happy! I’ll share more of his birth story later but for now just look at how adorable and chubby he is. He’s such a happy baby and is already nursing like a champ!

Maternity Photos

Since my mom is here and she’s an amazing photographer, she took some maternity photos for me last week. I’m so in love with them!

Of course we had to take a photo with the Alpha ute (Alpha Construction is Jared’s family’s business; he works for them, and I did too until a few weeks ago when I finished up since Kiwi is due soon).

Pregnancy Update: 39 Weeks

I’m now 39 1/2 weeks, and can’t wait for Kiwi to arrive! My mom is over from the States, and she got here on Sunday. Monday was a holiday so Jared had the day off and we went into town and went on a nice long walk and got lunch at a cafe.

Thankfully the weather was nice and sunny (although a little chilly) earlier this week, although today it’s decided to be rainy. Yesterday mom and I got groceries and then mom made us a delicious dinner of chicken tikka masala and naan bread.

Sonic is of course thrilled to have another person to follow around everywhere, and he loves sitting on or next to mom.

I really hope that Kiwi doesn’t go too far past his/her due date because I’m not even 40 weeks yet and already having a very hard time being patient. I’m so ready for Kiwi to come any day now! If next week’s blog post is late, well, don’t jump to any conclusions because I think that will be the third week in a row. Once Kiwi is here I’ll be sure to post an announcement on here within a couple days!

The last month or two of my pregnancy have been rather uncomfortable, but recently I’ve been feeling better, possibly from excitement and knowing that in just a few weeks or less, I’ll no longer be pregnant and instead be snuggling our sweet baby. I’ve also finished work which is probably a big factor since I have a lot more time to relax now. Whatever the reason, I’m still just as impatient to give birth because I’m so excited to meet Kiwi! Now that we really have everything ready, it’s easier to realise that we’re going to have an actual baby in our house soon! I do appreciate the fact that taking care of Kiwi right now is very easy, and I’m enjoying the last bit of my pregnancy knowing that soon everything will be changing! ❤️

I had to include this photo of Jared because he’s so handsome and he’s going to be the best dad! He already takes such good care of me and Kiwi and I know he’ll continue to once Kiwi is born. I can’t wait to see him snuggle our little boy or girl! ❤️

A Little Peek

At our new place!!! I took some photos of our house to show my friends. I’m still (yes STILL) working on unpacking the office/guest room… I can’t figure out how to put the bed frame together, and I need to go to the Warehouse Stationary and get some supplies to organise the ridiculous amount of paper that’s currently in stacks on the desk… agh! Besides that I’ve basically unpacked everything. Plus I’m almost caught up on laundry! And yes it has been two whole weeks….

One of my favourite things about this house? We can hang things on the walls! Honestly it’s a little thing but it makes a big difference. Having pictures in the walls makes it feel more like a home.

Normally, I’m not a huge fan of red… but as you can see that’s a bit of a theme in this house so I’ve decided I like it (what else is there to do…) I do LOVE that tile in the kitchen though! Plus the stove/oven works great.

We’re also in a great neighbourhood, and still nice and close to town. I took Sonic for a walk last week because I had to drop off some banking in town, and it was the first time I’ve actually taken him there! Normally I’m going inside a store or something so I don’t want to take him. He did really well and only growled at a few people. He’s pretty adorable anyways though so they didn’t mind!

I also walked to the library in the rain last week, which was fine because I have a nice raincoat. Except it was raining wayyyy harder than I realized and I was soaked before I got halfway to the library… don’t worry I kept the books nice and dry under my coat!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Weekly Menu

Hi guys! I know that Wednesdays I normally post a video on my YouTube channel, but today I’ll be in Auckland for most of the day, and yesterday I was really busy running errands and didn’t get a chance to film anything.

Since I actually planned out our meals for the week for once, I thought I’d share them with you! For lunch we usually do sandwiches or leftovers.

M: Crockpot Barbecue Chicken Drumsticks, rice, steamed veggies, salad. The chicken was so easy and so good too! Just throw some thawed chicken and some barbecue sauce in the crockpot on high for 3-4 hours and you’re good to go.

T: Sweet Chili Chicken, fried rice, salad. I have more drumsticks that I need to use soon, so I minced up a few cloves of garlic and a small onion, threw it in a pan with the drumsticks, and poured some sweet chili sauce and garlic salt on. Bake at around 400F (200C) for 30-45 minutes or until done, and there you go!

W: Chili con Carne, rice, steamed veggies. I bought a recipe base for chili con carne, so all I need to do is add a capsicum, mince (ground beef), a can of beans, and small ingredients like oil, and follow the directions on the package!

Th: Leftovers. Whenever I meal plan, I always end up skipping a few of the meals I had planned for one reason or another. This time I made sure to plan a day for leftovers, or if there are none, whatever I can whip up real quick.

F: Fettuccini Alfredo, garlic bread rolls, salad, carrot cake. Friday is Jared’s birthday, and I am making the BEST fettuccini alfredo! I found this recipe several months ago, and I don’t make it often just because it calls for parmesan, cream cheese, and cream, none of which I usually buy, but it is to die for and Jared loves it, so I knew I had to make it for his birthday! When I asked him what cake he wanted, he said carrot cake, so while I’m cooking dinner right now (Tuesday night) I hopped on the computer to find a recipe, and ended up starting this blog post instead, but hey I’m not disappointed.

Saturday and Sunday are left blank because I have moved recipes around and changed days a few times, so I was left with blank spots for those two days. It’s really easy to make a quick soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, or cheesy pasta, so I’ll think of something when it gets closer.

Speaking of which, that just reminded me that I recently learned how to make the BEST mac ‘n cheese! I never actually use macaroni noodles because I prefer the penne or spirals, but that’s beside the point. I used to just cook my noodles, add some cheese, butter, a splash of milk, and seasoning, and that’s it. BUT NO. This way only takes a few more minutes and is super easy. Get the recipe here, and trust me you will not regret it! It makes it about 70x better. The recipe says cheese is optional but just use cheese. Let’s be honest when is cheese ever optional…

Andddd in honor of Jared’s birthday on Friday, I have to share these photos!

Jared Collage

Thank You! {Free Kitchen Conversion Printable}

4,795.

That’s how many of you there have been. 4,795 of you have stumbled across my site, and viewed my posts. Some have read one post and never returned, some might have read a few and then moved on, but some of you have stuck around. Whether you’ve been reading my blog since September, when I was barely even posting, or if you’ve just found it recently; whether you read my posts regularly or if this is the first- Thank You.

Sometimes I wish that I had more readers on my blog, more followers and more likes on my Instagram. But then I remember that those numbers aren’t just numbers, but individual people. And I feel so honored that I get to write on my blog, post on my Instagram, and there are 50-100+ people each day who want to read what I’ve written or see my photos. However others may look at that number, I am grateful for it. For each of you.

Saying that, I wish I could do something for you. I hope in the future I can do a fun giveaway, but unfortunately there are bills to be paid and groceries to be bought, so I’m not able to now.

But there is something I’ve been working on for a while that I wanted to share with you, and I figured what better time to finish it up than now?

When I’m baking for fun, or cooking dinner, and one of my measuring cups is dirty or I have to use my kitchen scale, I hate having to pull out my phone and look up 1 cup butter in grams  or 6 Tablespoons to cups. I decided to get the information that I’m always looking up and put it together on a sheet of paper so I could tape it to the inside of a cupboard and easily find the answers to my kitchen questions!

I’ve already memorized ones like cups to pints to quarts to gallons, because growing up we had a magnet on the fridge with those, and other conversions. Those are easy for me to do in my head and I think most people learn those pretty quickly, so I haven’t included them.

I use these pretty much every day! Just click the link below the photo to get the printable PDF version.

Kitchen Conversions.jpg

Kitchen Conversions Printable

This is seriously a lifesaver for me. No more greasy phone covered with flour… well… I do still use my phone for recipes a lot. But at least now I just glance at it every now and then instead of trying to google my questions while in the middle of something! I hope that you find this useful and that it includes conversions that you need to use often as well.

Side note… totally going off topic… it’s cold right now! Yessss! After spring, summer, spring, summer, spring, summer, spring, summer, I am so ready for autumn! It hasn’t been very cold lately even though we’ve been in autumn for a month now… but last night and today have been really chilly, and I’m soooo happy about it! The trees are losing their leaves, it’s getting colder… life is good. I know you guys who are just coming out of a frozen winter are probably thinking I’m crazy and that constant spring and summer sound pretty amazing… and they are. But God made four seasons for a reason (in some parts of the world anyways… haha) and I love variety.

Plus life is SO WEIRD when you switch around the seasons. And do it again. And then again. It messes with my head! Getting older and growing up means lots of changes but I didn’t think that the seasons being switched around would really be that big of a deal… but it is just really weird. We’re going to celebrate American Independence Day in the dead of winter. Christmas here is barbecues. Life. Is. So. Weird.

Anyways… we’ll talk about that some other time! For now, I hope you enjoy the printable, and I hope that your weeks are off to a great start!

 

Vlog

Today I published a vlog style video! Last week I forgot to share my ‘Makeup of the Day’ video on my blog, so head to YouTube and make sure you check that one out as well.

Wanna hear a fun fact? Today I’m trying to figure out what/how to do my US taxes. As if it already wasn’t complicated enough, the fact that I got married and moved to NZ with my husband who’s never lived in the US I think makes it more complicated. Oh my. Well I guess it’s a learning adventure right? Also, I’m definitely asking my dad for some advice.

On a brighter note… well we are 3 weeks through this month of no sugar so I’m pretty happy about that! I think it’ll be a while until I do it again. Like a long while. But I’m glad that I am doing it right now because I loveeeee sugar and I normally eat way too much, so cutting it out for a month is definitely a good thing.

Oh and on Monday I took Sonic to the vet to get a microchip and get his first shots. He did so great, little guy! He weighs 1.35 kgs… which still seems tiny but he is so much bigger than when we first got him! He’s such a cutie. Still working on that whole potty training thing but he’s doing great. Super playful and happy as ever.

How is your week going?