Just plain cute!

We had a play date at the mall on Friday (which is where I think we picked up a virus and subsequent croup- yuck!!!) and I took this adorable picture of Jacob. He had so much fun playing in the play area with all his pals. He's such a sweet and handsome little boy. Love him to pieces!

Jacob - 10 months

Hi, I'm Kate.  I've been gone for awhile, in a dark cave somewhere... But I'm finally back! I feel like we really turned a corner in the past month.  Jacob is such a joy to be around, and is really starting to show his mellow, funny and curious personality.  I finally feel myself again, which is much in part to actually getting decent sleep and breaks during the day (thank God!).

Age: 10 months
Height: (we don't go back to the pediatrician until his 1 year visit)
Weight: (we don't go back to the pediatrician until his 1 year visit) 
Milestones: Jacob is a crawling machine! He's so curious and gets into everything. He pulls up on any and everything, too. My favorite is when he pulls up on the window sill in the kitchen to look outside- too cute! He occasionally stands on his own for brief periods of time, but once he realizes what he's doing, he drops down to crawling. 
Sleep: He's definitely improved in this department over the past month. I still nurse him once at night (usually around 4-5am), but he sleeps 7pm-7am otherwise. His napping has improved significantly as well. He's taking two 1-hour naps these days, typically around 10 and 2. Occasionally he wakes up at the 30 minute mark, but I just leave him in there and he eventually falls back to sleep. This has taken a lot of work in my part- I have been letting him cry a lot at nap time, and it finally seems to be paying off! Thank God! I'm really hoping to cut out the night nursing session in the upcoming month, but we will see! :) 
Eating: He dropped a daytime nursing session this month, so we nurse 4x/day and once at night. He also eats 3 meals and one snack. We introduced meat within the past month and he LOVES it! If I cook a healthy meal, I'll give him small pieces of our meat, but otherwise I just give him meat sticks. They're just like Vienna sausages, but made by Gerber for babies. He likes the chicken and turkey best. We've also started doing more table foods- like mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, full bites of banana, rice, perogies, etc.  
Clothes size: 18 months - 2T
Diaper size: Size 4. We recently switched from Pampers Cruisers to Huggies Movers Slip Ons and I can't decide if I like them better. They're certainly easy to whip on when he's crawling all about (they're basically like pull ups), but I think they're giving him a bit of diaper rash.We'll see. 
Best Moment: We celebrated Josh's 32nd birthday and March Madness together as a family- so much fun!!
Worst Moment: I honestly can't think of a bad moment. He's been such a fun baby lately! With him crawling and pulling up, he's falling a lot, so that's kinda scary. 
Favorite toy: He doesn't really like toys anymore. He'd rather get into the Tupperware or pots/pans. I generally let him play with whatever he wants, but am slowly establishing boundaries (i.e. my vases).
Teeth: We finally have teeth! Just as I suspected, he was teething. It honestly wasn't that bad though! (knock on wood) He cut his bottom 2 teeth on Josh's birthday, actually! It's so cute to see his smile with toofers! You can see the teeth in one of the below pictures.
Looking forward to: warmer weather and fun in the sun! We've been going to a lot of play dates outside lately and it's so fun! Especially now that he can crawl around in the grass. Loves! I've also started planning for his birthday party- EEK! 

 

 

Recipe - lemon-garlic chicken

I made this tonight and it was pretty good!! A little too lemony for my taste, but my husband loved it, so I thought I'd share!!


Ingredients
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 lemons, 1 thinly sliced, 1 juiced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 pound trimmed green beans
8 small red potatoes, quartered
4 chicken breasts (bones left in, with skin, about 3 1/4 pounds)

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a large baking dish or cast-iron skillet with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Arrange the lemon slices in a single layer in the bottom of the dish or skillet.
2) In a large bowl, combine the remaining oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper; add the green beans and toss to coat. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the green beans and arrange them on top of the lemon slices. Add the potatoes to the same olive-oil mixture and toss to coat. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, arrange the potatoes along the inside edge of the dish or skillet on top of the green beans. Place the chicken in the same bowl with the olive-oil mixture and coat thoroughly. Place the chicken, skin-side up, in the dish or skillet. Pour any of the remaining olive-oil mixture over the chicken.
3) Roast for 50 minutes. Remove the chicken from the dish or skillet. Place the beans and potatoes back in oven for 10 minutes more or until the potatoes are tender. Place a chicken breast on each of 4 serving plates; divide the green beans and potatoes equally. Serve warm.

Life lately

Jacob is ON THE MOVE!!! And I'm worn out! Hahaha!!! Here's a few pictures to describe our life lately...

Happy birthday, Josh!

I'm 2 days late, but happy happy birthday to my amazing husband!!! He's 32 this year- an oldie but a goodie!

Josh took off Thursday and Friday to hang out around the house, play with Jacob and mostly to watch the first days of the NCAA basketball tournament.

On Saturday, Josh's mom came up and watches Jacob while we went to dinner at Bob's Steakhouse. Bob's is always a good choice and we really enjoyed ourselves!

Josh watching the end of the Gonzaga game

On Sunday morning, Josh's mom took us to breakfast to celebrate on his actual birthday. Yummy!!

Sunday night, we ordered pizza (Josh's fav) and opened a delicious bottle of wine!

I was so sad on Sunday evening. We had such a fun 4-day weekend and I really didn't want it to end. Tear. Until next time.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven."

What a perfect passage for my heart today.

I've been dreaming of a Jamaican vacation for months now- baby-free, worry-free, responsibility-free. But know that it's obviously not the right time.

I posted a Facebook status: "I want to take a nap on a beach somewhere. That is all." My sweet sweet mother-in-law replied with this scripture and all I felt was peace.

She's right. It'll happen again one day, but right now- I'm raising the sweetest, cutest, most loving baby boy that I could ever dream of. I'm so lucky to call him my son.

Jacob - 9 months

Age: 9 months
Height: 29"
Weight: 21lbs, 13oz
Milestones: Jacob is a professional crawler now. It seems like as soon as he figured it out, he was off! He also started pulling up on everything.  I can't keep the boy down off stuff.  He learned how to clap last week, and boy does he love that trick!  Everything warrants a standing ovation these days. He has also mastered the sippy cup, but we only give him water right now. We also put the tray on his stroller, so he doesn't have to be buckled in and he is sooo loving that! He can lean up really far and watch the doggies or stick his head out and look back at me- too cute! He can also pick up small things with his thumb and pointer finger, like Cheerio's, and feed himself.  I swear the kid finds every speck of dirt on my floors.
Sleep: I reported a few weeks ago that he slept thru the night, and he's done it one other time, but most nights he wakes up and I've been caving and feeding him because I just can't stand to hear him cry and I'm tired!!! His naps are hit or miss.  I can usually get 1 good nap out of him (1-2 hours), but some days he takes 3x 30 min naps.  I am, however, leaving him in there for a full hour.  So nap time usually involves crying. :(
Eating: He's finally eating solids!! We're on a pretty great schedule now that includes 3 meals and 5 nursing sessions. He prefers blends with some sort of fruit and he loves yogurt! I noticed that when I stopped feeding him at night, his daytime eating improved.
Clothes size: 12 months - 2T(!), depending on the brand
Diaper size: Size 4
Best Moment: Definitely the night he slept thru the night - hopefully that happens more often in the upcoming months. His first Valentine's Day was super cute and special too. Having a baby to celebrate holidays with makes it so much better!!
Worst Moment: His ear infection and subsequent rupture- there's nothing worse than not being able to help your baby when they're in pain.  And forcing nasty antibiotics down their throat and sucking their nose every 2 hours definitely doesn't make up for it!
Favorite toy: Right now he's loving his ballcano and sports thingy we bought him for Christmas.  He loves pulling up on them and playing with the balls.  He also enjoys cruising on the couch and coffee table.
Teeth: None, but I do think we've started teething! Lots of drool, a little diarrhea and gnawing of the fingers.
Looking forward to: Daddy's birthday is in a few weeks- can't wait to celebrate with my 2 boys! They make my world go round...