Jacob Says

Yesterday I woke up to Jacob playing in his crib as I do most days. As I made my way from my room to his, I heard over the monitor,

Daddyyyyy. Biiiiiiiig poo poo. Yooooooooo. 

Family Shoot

I had one of my best birthdays this year. 27 started off great! We started the day with some of our dear friends who also happen to be fabulous photographers. We had been wanting to document our little family for a while now and I am thrilled with how these images turned out. I think it might be a bit excessive to post all 158 photos here, so I will trying to narrow it down as best I can 🙂

Boy Humor

Here I am!! This whole mom blogger thing is way hard. Yesterday on a walk I thought back to when my sisters babies were born; I am so impressed that she was able to stay on top of blogging and documenting those first few months. I envy that type of diligence – how did you do it Em? I’m stumbling along as a new mom, trying to find my way. And as soon as I grow accustomed to a phase and think I have this whole thing down, everything changes and I am back to square one. It’s humbling. I do want to look back and remember milestones. Jake has discovered so much and is doing so much. I’m overwhelmed with the amount I have to catch up on here.

But I guess there is not a rule that says if you haven’t blogged in “x” amount of time you can’t start again. So here I am again-hoping to be better. Here’s a story:

Yesterday we went to Target. As we walk through the entrance his little “whoo whoo whoo” started as he jumped up and down in my arms. The kid loves Target. I think it’s because the safety strap is a little more loose and he spends the majority of the trip trying to flip around and ride in the cart “I’m king of the world” style. It’s great fun, really.

As we rolled through the isle I looked down to find him making farting noises (very loudly) on the handle of the cart. “What in the world are you doing?!” I exclaimed. He looked up and started belly laughing, like he knew he had just made a really funny joke. I laughed out loud, all by myself in the middle of the store. What a boy!! It’s such a joy to watch his little personality form – fart noises and all.

style

Bring on the hair product. I figure that I may as well take advantage of being able to style my boy’s hair while he lets me (or doesn’t know any better). I love his little baby punk rocker look.

La Playa

We took Jake to the beach for the first time on my Mom’s birthday back in April. Sadly, weather sent us packing about 10 minutes after dipping our toes in the sand. Two weekends ago we took him back. We were met with warm (er) water and wonderful sunshine. The water was still not to biggest hit, but the sand. Oh the sand. How we love sand! And how I love this sweet memory of the beach with my guys.

Bruschetta Chicken

 

This isn’t my photo. Its the the photo I’m borrowing to tell you you have to make this. I originally used this recipe but I’ve modified it a little so I’m sharing it with you here. This stuff is so super easy. And quick. And GOOOOOOOD. And it makes, count em, TWO dishes. If you are coming to my house for dinner and I ask you what you would like me to make, say Bruschetta Chicken. Or just make it for yourself and I’ll make something else :).

If you are a weight watcher, one serving is 10 points. I know this because I may or may not be trying weight watchers and P90X to loose the last of this dang baby weight.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Olive oil

onion powder

garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon-ish salt

1/2 teaspoon-ish pepper

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup crushed garlic croutons
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Store bought Bruschetta (in Publix they keep it near the hummus)

Directions:

In a gallon freezer bag combine olive oil, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Cut 1-2 slits into each of the chicken breasts and place in bag. Shake to combine and let marinate for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. The longer it marinates, the more the flavors will be absorbed.

When you are ready to make the meal, preheat the oven to 375. Combine butter, parmesan cheese, and croutons in a bowl.

Grease a 9×13 baking dish and place chicken breasts in. Spoon crouton mixture over chicken breasts and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove from the oven, spoon the bruschetta over the chicken and return to oven for another 5-7 minutes or until bruschetta is heated through.

Enjoy. I usually serve this with some sort of roasted veggie.

Randoms

Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the thought of writing a blog post. Life is busy. Crazy some days. And before I know it I have three weeks worth of events to talk about. Thats overwhelming. But if I think about it as if I were sitting down with friends and catching up over some coffee its not so intimidating. So here I am. Jake is bouncing (and squealing in delight) in his jumper next to me. I have a full cup o joe next to me. So lets chat, shall we?

I’m so frustrated with my hair. No one told me after you have a baby all that gorgeous full, shiny, thick hair you grew during nine months of pregnancy all falls out. FALLS OUT. Everywhere. Biotin has been helping. But I’m tired with it. The cut. The color. All of it. I still (after almost three years) haven’t found a hair dresser that I love as equally has my Tallahassee girl. Anyone in the area know someone who will look at me and say “You would look great with (fill in hairstyle)”?

Jake wore a bow tie on Easter. And I swooned. I have found that you have to be a little more creative when accessorizing baby boys. My friend Lia sent Jake this bow tie right after he was born. And now I want her friend to make a bajillion more for him.

We have started on solid food. He’s doing great. So far just rice cereal. We will probably start with some veggies next week. Any suggestions on what we should try first?

David and I have been on a bit of a house hunt. We haven’t found anything just yet. We’re lucky because we aren’t in any rush. We love our apartment. Love the neighborhood. Our landlords are rockstars. (Not really, but we really love them); and they are letting us go month to month.

A bit of a tradition that has formed for our family is weekend walks to a coffee shop at the edge of our neighborhood. They have amazing breakfast sandwiches. Even more amazing coffee. And we pretty much always see friends while we are there. Its another reason we are not in a huge rush to leave the neighborhood.

In the mean time, we are little by little revamping our current apartment. Nothing huge. Just reconfiguring a bit since we have a new member of the family. As much as we love our apartment, in order to be able to stay here with a little man who is becoming increasingly more mobile we have to make a few changes. First step was new pillows. Pillows carry no weight when making the house more baby friendly;  it was just time for a little living room face lift.

Jake is an awesome sleeper at night. That, however, makes him mediocre at napping during the day. I’m often dealing with a smiley goof ball during nap time.

When its time to get serious though, there is nothing like the Ergo Baby Carrier to knock him out. Thanks for letting us borrow it Aunt Emily!

I’m feeling so super blessed lately.

 

 

 

 

 

Teeth!!!

With each new development Jake reaches I find myself obviously excited, but also sort of sad. Its so fun to watch him grow; but I love this baby. It makes me sad to think I will never see Jake with a big gummy smile again, as cute as these two little teeth are. Hopefully we will have more babies in the future and will love to see them with their gummy smiles. See them roll over. Figure out that they have two hands; and those hands can reach for things and be useful. But this is the last time we will see Jake discover these things. Such a bitter sweet feeling. It blows my mind to see how fast my boy is growing up (and he’s only five months old).

I have discovered a whole new universe – mommyhood. There is no way I could have understood or identified with it before Jake was born. Its joyous,tiring, exciting, scary….so many things. I look at my friends and family who have been moms for a while in astonishment. I had no idea they were experiencing these things. I feel as if I have been let into a whole different dimension of their personalities. I look at their children differently; I look at them differently. I guess they probably look at me differently too. Its really one of the coolest things I have ever experienced.

I want to cherish each second of time with him. Somehow, I want to remember every single day, every single thing. I don’t know how to do that; and that stresses me out. Maybe it would help if I were a little more faithful to this little bloggy – sorry for leaving you looking at a picture of my water bottle for over a month. Ooops 🙂

Tervis

z

This is my Tervis. He is 20 oz. My goal is to drink 6 tervis-fulls per day. That’s just under 1 gallon of water a day.
I’m not notoriously a big water drinker. But I’ve been doing some reading and apparently drinking a gallon of water a day is super helpful in flattening your tummy. So you mean a gallon if coke per day isn’t helpful in flattening your tummy?!?! No! I was surprised too 🙂
Also, drinking lots of water is helpful for keeping your milk supply up which, ehem, is important to some of us around here. Especially because I’m going back to work this week and will have to be pumping a lot more in order to feed the babe while I’m gone. So I will have good ole Terv along with me at work. I’m not supposed to have a drink at the nurses station, but I don’t know how I’ll drink a gallon of water without having it near by me. Boss lady, if you’re reading this, my water bottle is being hid somewhere in the unit. I promise I won’t get caught by the big wigs.

Rainy Saturdays on the Front Porch