It's okay for parenthood to be hard

I had a friend recently post something about feeling sorry for people that think taking care of their kids is hard.  I immediately felt a pang of mom guilt.  I do think taking care of Dawson is hard.

I started to think about it and I wondered why that's not okay? Why would someone feel sorry for me? There are a lot of moments that I don't like parenthood.  There, I said it.  It doesn't make me love Dawson ANY less.  

I also think you can't judge another mother until you walk in their shoes. Every kid is different.  For example- Was giving up the bottle hard for us? Nope, quite easy.  That doesn't mean I should think less of a mom that struggles to take the bottle (or boob) away from their little one.  There are so many different factors about parenting that I don't think you can lump everyone into any one category. Some kids take things easily, some don't.  Same for us moms.  

Everyone has different struggles as a parent.  Some people deal with it with grace and a smile on their face and that's great.  I deal with it with tears sometimes and frustration.. and a call to my mom to shout "He won't go to sleep! I think he is trying to kill me!" Kidding.. but not really. 

So just because it's not easy for me, doesn't mean you need to feel sorry for me.  My life isn't miserable, it's just hard sometimes.  I wish as moms (and just as people, hello?!) that we could see that  it's not always black and white.  

A spin on a new favorite meal..

I found a recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole on Pinterest a while back.  We tried it as written from organizeyourstuffnow.com and while it was good, and I love the concept, I decided to mix it up a little.  Plus, my husband would probably think I lost my mind if I tried to feed him a casserole with rice (again.)

This is super easy to make and great if you have leftover cooked chicken and/or ham.  It's quick (I put it together in about 20 minutes, including cooking the pasta!) and delicious.. but probably not diet friendly! 

Here's how I made it! 

Ingredients:

8 oz pasta, cooked to package directions

1.5 cups cooked chicken (I used some frozen rotisserie chicken)

1 cup cubed ham, or 6-8 deli slices of ham cut up

6 slices Swiss cheese

1 can cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup milk

1 tablespoon dehydrated onion

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon parsley flakes

1/2 box of instant stuffing (I used 1/2 bag of Mrs. Cubbison's but Stovetop would work too)

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

1/4 cup chicken broth

Spray an 8 by 8 inch pan with cooking spray.  Spread pasta in the bottom of the pan and layer the chicken on top of that.  Next is the Swiss cheese, then ham.  

Mix the soup, onion, garlic powder, milk, and parsley flakes into a bowl and pour over the top of the ham.  Make sure to spread it well and to the sides, you want it to drip down to the bottom while cooking :) 

 Mix up your instant stuffing with the butter and chicken broth just until barely moistened and then spread evenly over the top of the soup mixture.  Pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Eat! 

I had to put a foil tent on top after about 15 minutes because the stuffing was browning, so you may want to keep an eye on that.  My family actually liked the crunch to it, but some may not.