Huge Catch Up!!

Wow, so the last time I did a real blog entry was almost an entire year ago!!  Talk about slacker...sheesh.  So much has happened since then.  Our little bean has turned into a little boy of 17 months and is walking, talking, and just exploring everything.  We sold our house and moved about 25 minutes east of where we were.  Now I have a whole new house to decorate! And life has generally just been pretty awesome.

As for the little one, he is just soaking up life and learning more and more every day.  He is so verbal (in a good way!) and is repeating anything and everything.  As of now he is limited to about two syllable words.  But we are working on putting together two word sentences ("big truck" "mama's shoes")  He is very big into possession right now, so everything belongs to someone.  It's very cool to see how he associates different objects with different people.  Some of my favorite phrases include: Love you, Bless you (when someone sneezes), 'Scuse you/me, More please, and Thank you.

He is also currently (I believe) finishing up a growth spurt.  The kid has been sleeping like a 17 year old boy!  Two days in a row he woke up after 11 am.  He has turned into quite the good sleeper (thank goodness!!)  and is normally sleeping around 12 hours at night and a 2-3 hour nap during the day.

We have also started weekly swim lessons.  He is progressing nicely and is now comfortable going to the instructor to sing songs.  Still not a big fan of water in the face though.  But we'll get there.

As far as the house goes...it was somewhat of a spur of the moment type of deal.  The housing market was good, we found a house we liked, and we just went for it!  Now, the whole "closing" process was probably the most drawn out process I have ever dealt with...but, I digress.  Fortunately, with the help of my parents we successfully moved and are loving our new house and neighborhood.  This is definitely a long term house, and we have so many "plans" and projects that we will stay busy!

So, I guess it wasn't THAT huge of a catch up, but in the interest of keeping you interested...here are some pictures :)

Still loves to read!

Apple Hill pumpkin patch

First Halloween as a Monkey!

First snow experience in Tahoe

First Haircut

Baby's first Christmas

First visit with Santa

First visit to the zoo for his birthday!

1 Year photos

Trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium

Bubbles and Belly Laughs

So I know it has been forever and a day since I have posted anything on this here blog.  But recently my in-laws came to visit and I was ever so gently reminded that some folks are not on Facebook!  Meaning, they actually rely on this blog for updates on our little man.  And then even more recently (as in tonight) John and I got the biggest, bestest, hardest belly laugh we have ever heard, and I got it on video!!

So, this is for you Tom!

I promise to do a huge catch up soon!  My computer is on the fritz so it's been difficult.

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!

 

 

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.

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!