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Friday, November 1, 2013

6 Months!

The Bean's 6th month was a fun one!  My dad was able to take some 6 month pictures for us and they turned out great!  Who knew our little guy was so photogenic?

At 6 months Luke weighed 19 lb 14 oz and was 26.5 inches long.  Still a bit on the short chubby side, but that's ok... we love the chub!  He was a champ with the shots and only cried for about 15 seconds. 

This little guy is seriously a disposal of food.  I would say garbage disposal...but that implies we feed our baby garbage.  Not the case.  He does eat everything he's given though, including but not limited to:
Squash, zucchini, broccoli, avocado, carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, green beans, apples, mangos, pears, peaches, bananas, and cantaloupe.  We will be starting meats in month 7. Stay tuned...

Lots of new tricks were learned this month.  Luke is now getting himself to a pretty spectacular plank position, and just a week or two ago learned to get himself into a sitting position.  Despite this being very fun and useful during waking hours and play time...it can be quite frustrating at 2am. Nevertheless, we are thrilled to be able to watch our little boy grow and learn new things on his own.  We clap and cheer like proud dorky parents. 

Towards the beginning of the month, we had a great week long visit from Grandma Barker.  It was great to see her and Luke really enjoyed spending time with his Grandma!

Since the fall season is upon us, we took the bean up to Apple Hill so that we could get the mandatory baby pumpkin patch pictures. 

We also got to dress up the bean as a little monkey for some pre-Halloween fun.  We attended a trunk or treat and he did great.  Of course on actual Halloween, he was asleep before the trick or treating really even started...but that's ok.  He made the cutest little monkey! 

We are looking forward to what month 7 will bring!













Monday, October 14, 2013

Picture Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies




I had been dying to make a recipe using cream cheese for a while (lingering pregnancy craving maybe??).  Finally I found this recipe on Pinterest and decided I needed to try it.

These little beauties came out literally picture perfect.  They were so perfectly formed, and fluffy, not to mention delicious...definitely blog worthy.

You really can't taste the cream cheese, but they give these cookies such a unique texture, it's awesome.  These are a new favorite!







Here is the recipe:


Yield: about 28 medium-small cookies
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Total Time: 3+ hours, for dough chilling

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup cream cheese, softened (use cream cheese in a block or spreadable, don't use fat-free, light or whipped)
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste
2 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks

Directions:

  1. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, cream cheese (measure it by smooshing it into a 1/4-cup measure), sugars, egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until well-creamed, light and fluffy, about 5 minutes (or use an electric hand mixer and beat for at least 7 minutes).
  2. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, optional salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
  3. Add chocolate chips and chunks, and beat momentarily to incorporate, or fold in by hand.
  4. Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping mounds (I made 28). Place mounds on a large plate, flatten mounds slightly with your palm, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter.
  5. Preheat oven to 350F, spray with cooking spray and place mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet). Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if slightly undercooked, pale and glossy in the center. Do not bake longer than 10 minutes as cookies will firm up as they cool  Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.
  6. Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.

Friday, October 11, 2013

5 Months Old!



5 months old brought a lot of new milestones.  Baby boy has learned to sit up on his own without any support, although sometimes he gets pretty excited and topples backwards.  But for the most part he is pretty steady.  He also began the oh so fun stage of teething.  He now has two tiny little bottom teeth and they are adorable!  I was pretty sad to see my gummy little smile go, but this next stage is just as cute :)

He has also started consistently rolling from his back to his belly over his right shoulder.  And despite our best efforts to lay him down to sleep on his back, we can't keep our little roley poley on his back!
 
We have also started some actual solids other than rice cereal.  We chose to begin with vegetables.  I have been making all of the purees for him so far and those have included squash, zucchini (from our garden), sweet potato, pumpkin, avocado, broccoli, green beans (also from our garden), and carrots.  So far he has enjoyed everything except the squash.

We also took our first road trip down to LA to visit Aunt Heather and Uncle Jason!  The bean did great in the car and was such a good little road buddy.  Many thanks to Nana for coming with me and helping out since Daddy was out of town.  


Hanging out at Aunt Heather and Uncle Jason's


Hugs for Mama

Sitting like a big boy!




4 Months Old




Holy smokes it has been a long time since I posted!  My camera sort of took a turn for the worse when the battery charger stopped working.  It took me a while to finally getting around to sending the darn thing in to Nikon.  Without a functioning battery, I couldn't even get the pictures off of my camera!  Hence, because of my battery charger fail, and my procrastination getting the best of me until recently...no posts.

But, we are back in business now!  And on to the 4 month old post!

At 4 months old Luke rolled from his tummy to his back twice in a row.  I don't think it was entirely intentional still...but nevertheless...it counts!  Once he rolled, everyone in the room started to clap and cheer, which scared the little guy and caused some tears.  Hmm..maybe that's why he hasn't done it again....

We believe teeth are in our near future because everything that is within reach, is promptly in the mouth.  And his little fingers are his favorite chew toy at the moment.  He is learning his hand/eye/mouth coordination and realizing that his hands are in fact attached to his body.  It is a lot of fun now that he interacts with us and his toys. 

It is getting easier to get belly laughs, but this causes us to have to be creative.  This little man does not like to laugh at the same thing twice!  Apparently he needs new material to keep him entertained. 

We got the go ahead from the Dr to start some rice cereal and other solids, and what fun that was!  The first few times were a complete mess!  But after getting the hang of it, he has become a champion eater! 






Saturday, August 17, 2013

We Use Cloth



Yes. We use cloth diapers.  I know that to a lot of people out there, hearing that brings up images of giant cotton rags, huge safety pins, and plastic pants.  In other words, the way our parents used to diaper us.  But, the days of the pins and the plastic are no longer!  Cloth diapering has come a long way and the Fluff Fever is catching!

There are multiple reasons why I chose to cloth diaper.  One being money.

Since we had our little bean, I have chosen to become a PAHM (Play At Home Mom).  While we couldn't be happier with this decision, it also meant we went from 2 incomes down to 1.  We are extremely fortunate to be able to make this change, and in the mean time I wanted to do my part to try to save us a little moolah.  Enter, cloth diapers.  Now starting out your "stash" as its known in the CD (cloth diaper) community can be a bit pricey especially compared to buying a couple packs of newborn diapers.  However...that stash, can/will last you throughout all of your diapering days, even with multiple beans!  So instead of buying another pack of diapers every week at the store, you simply do a load of laundry :)  There are lots of websites out there that will tell you how much the average family spends on diapers a year compared to the cost of cloth.  You can google it :)
Side note...you must have some will power not to buy every cute diaper you see, because that would sort of defeat the purpose of the whole money saving thing.  It's hard, but I'm learning!

Now, the second reason that we use cloth should be the environment...but let's be honest, my number two reason is that they are so stinkin' cute!  Cloth diapers these days come in a huge variety of colors and patterns and prints, the possibilities are endless!  I am definitely an accessories kind of gal, and now that I no longer have a need for high heels and purses, fluff has become my new accessory.



And third, yes, I do care about the environment.  So, cloth diapers mean less disposables in landfills and that's a great thing!

And as with any new endeavor, there are lots of things to learn.  Some of it is trial and error, some of it is personal preference, and some of it requires some research.  I will do some follow up posts that go into these more when it comes to quantity of diapers, styles of diapers, and washing diapers.  




Monday, August 5, 2013

3 Months Old!



Our little man turned 3 months old on June 28th.  There are so many developmental changes that he is going through and it is so fun to watch!  He is our little chunk man and his rolls just keep getting bigger and cuter!  His hair is definitely coming in more now, and those big baby blues are still blue! 

This month the eye contact and facial recognition has become much more noticeable.  He definitely knows his mommy and daddy and has infinite smiles for everyone!  He is such a smiley baby and knows when people are talking to him. 

He has found his hands and loves to chew on his fingers.  He can see his toys and grabs at them.  He attempts to stuff everything in his mouth, although the hand eye coordination is still a little lacking. 

The sleeping stuff is also a little lacking.  But, we'll get there. 

This month we took our first airplane trip with the bean.  We went out to Indiana to visit the hubby's fam.  This was the first time meeting his 3 cousins, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Nathan, as well as a whole bunch of other family.  He also got to meet some of his pen pal buddies (kiddos of some of our close friends).

We also hit a milestone of rolling over!  The bean rolled from his tummy to his back while we were out there.  Just once, and then he was done.  Guess he just wanted to get us off his case!  He performed this little trick twice more when we got home, and has not shown any interest since.  

Meeting his cousins Tucker and Tessa, and Aunt Sarah!

Hanging with his buddy Grant

Cousin Trey

Cuddles with Grandma

Strong boy with Papa


Monday, July 8, 2013

4th of July Fun

This past weekend was a nice long 4 day weekend for the 4th of July.  We had record temps here...the most days over 105 in a row.  Gross.  But we took that opportunity to let Luke have his first pool experiences!

I went to Target and found a fun little 4th of July swim shirt on clearance, and a little swim hat.  And I ordered an Applecheeks swim diaper from Amazon.  Yes, we use cloth/reusable diapers and I plan to do a post on that in the near future.

It was a fun and very busy weekend.  Thursday we went to a friends house for a bbq/pool party.  It was about 110 degrees that day, so the pool water was about 87.




And then on Saturday, we were invited to another bbq/pool party of a former co-worker of mine.   




The hat is a little big...even for that 88th percentile head!  All in all, a very fun weekend.  

Hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th!