6 months old!

Preston turned 6 months old yesterday. He's turning into a fun little boy with a sweet personality. He's such a flirt and smiles at anyone who looks at him, especially the pretty ladies. He has the cutest laugh which always gets attention from anyone within earshot. I get comments on him every time I take him out which makes my heart melt. I'm so thankful to be his mommy.


He can now flip over from his back to his tummy. He doesn't like being on his back and rolls over immediately. Makes changing his diaper quite a challenge! He now will only sleep on his tummy - just like mama. And, we don't swaddle him anymore at night and he sleeps for about 11 hours straight. That's nice for all of us!

I made homemade applesauce for him to try on his big day. He really liked it. I'm sure that's a nice change from the drab rice cereal and milk he's used to. I'm loving making his food from scratch - it's fun for me and I know it's good for him. I bought a food mill recently and used it the first time on the apples. It worked great. I'm looking forward to watching him try new foods.

YUMMY!

I also bought him a sippy cup to try out. I spent half an hour at the store looking at all the different styles and colors - there's a lot to chose from! Don't let the cute smile fool you, he didn't like the cup one bit! I tried water at first, but that didn't go over well so I tried milk and he took one look at it and tossed it on the floor - LOL! I'll keep trying.


He has his 6 month check-up at the dr. tomorrow. I can't wait to see how much he's grown :)

First Easter

We celebrated Preston's first Easter yesterday. I know he's still too little to know the meaning of the holiday and can't eat the candy (mama will help him out!), but we still had fun buying goodies for him and spending time together as a family. Next Easter will be really fun for us and him! I bought him a new outfit for Easter - new shoes, new overalls (it had a picture of a bunny on the front and said "Somebunny Loves Me"), and a new bunny hat. We also drew whiskers on his cheeks for added cuteness :)

Bird's nests for Easter

I made these bird's nests for my hubby's co-workers. They were very easy to make and they taste really good!

Bird Nests

Butterscotch chips
Coconut
Chow Mein Noodles
Jelly Beans
Peeps

In a large bowl, melt a bag of butterscotch chips, add some coconut and about 3 cups of Chow Mein Noodles. Mix it all together and form into nests (I used gloves). Add jelly beans before the nests harden so they stick. I like how the Chow Mein noodles look like sticks....and the coconut looks like grass.

HAPPY EASTER!!!

My little fishy

We went out of town last weekend and Preston went swimming for the first time in the hotel pool. He LOVES taking a bath - his feet kick like crazy and his hands slap the water so I was hoping he'd enjoy the pool experience which he did! I bought him a pool floatie, swim diapers (duh!), swim trunks and a sun hat. The pool was indoors, but he needed to look dapper for the ladies :) He wasn't too sure what to do at first but then started kicking and splashing and laughing. He got lots of attention from the hotel guests.


We stayed at a new place this time and were most unimpressed. It's a big name hotel (starts with an 'H'), but we prefer our usual place (Best Western). Our usual place was booked full so we had to find something else that was close to the college campus and the 'H' looked nice online. It did have some good features. We were on the 8th floor (there were 9 total) and had a good view out of our floor to ceiling window. I dread elevators, but I wasn't going to walk up and down 8 flights of stairs multiple times a day carrying a baby and 5 bags. The lobby was gorgeous though - there were white lights in the trees and water fountains all around. The best part was the Starbucks on site - they offered any grande drink for $1.50 with a student ID. We took them up on that offer - yum! We won't be staying there again, but we'll definitely go back for another caffeine fix. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I do love froo-froo sugary liquid in a clear cup with a green straw....especially at a killer price! :)

BRAND NEW CAR!!!!!!

I went to Home Depot to look at refrigerators and came home with a brand new car....not from HD though ;)

The car dealership was across the street so I impulsively drove through the lot on my way home to just 'see what they had'. Next thing I knew, I was test driving a new car. The smooth ride, the new car smell, the barely driven 16 miles, the leather seats, the shiny exterior, the fancy dashboard....I fell in love. We got a great deal on it. I turn into another person when I'm buying a car - I don't know who she is or where she comes from, but she gets the job done and gets what she wants!

We got a 2011 Mazda CX-7 Touring. I still need to go refrigerator shopping though :)

Hamburger cookies

I made these hamburger cookies for April Fool's Day. They were so easy and so fun to make....and they're vegetarian!

Hamburger Cookies

• Nilla wafers


• Mint cookies (I used Keebler)


• Coconut


• Red and yellow frosting


• Green food coloring


• Water


• Corn syrup


• Sesame seeds

Place Nilla wafer flat side up on cookie sheet. Add mint cookie and put in oven for a minute just to soften the chocolate and adhere it to the Nilla wafer. Tint coconut green with food coloring and a few drops of water. Sprinkle on chocolate cookie while still warm to make 'lettuce'. Add red and yellow frosting for 'ketchup and mustard'. Brush top of Nilla wafer with corn syrup and sprinkle on sesame seeds for the top bun. Press onto frosting.

5 months old

Our little buddy is now 5 months old! We decided to do 2 big events on his big day.

#1 - we gave him his first bites of rice cereal. I made it myself using whole grain brown rice. He seemed to like it ok, but he was more fascinated with the spoon.

Yummy! Spoons are cool!Oops! Stuck the spoon in too far! ((GAG))

#2 - we started a sleep learning method called "The Sleepeasy Solution". We've been rocking him to sleep every night and we decided to teach him how to fall asleep on his own. I have a friend that used this with her son and it worked like a charm so she let me borrow her book so we could try it. It was also approved by our pediatrician at our last visit. We put him in his crib at 8:40pm (yes, I know that's too late!) and he cried off and on for 3 hours - yikes!!! It wasn't a frantic cry, more of a wimper. We've always swaddled him when he goes to sleep so we think he'd fall asleep and then move his arms and wake himself up and start crying again. After 3 long hours of this, we decided to quickly swaddle him and put him back in his crib. It worked and he didn't make a peep after that. I wish we'd done that earlier! We'll slowly start to unswaddle him as the days go on so he doesn't become dependent on that to fall asleep. Hopefully tonight will go smoother :)

Here's a cute picture of him playing with his feets. He's just started grabbing them and he can almost get them in his mouth.

Mega blister

I went for a walk with a friend a little over a week ago for the first time. I was excited about getting out in the beautiful weather, chatting with another adult and spending time with our 2 babies that are about the same age. I decided to wear a new pair of socks because they looked extra cushy and I thought that might be beneficial on a long walk. I won them several years ago at a healthclub and have never worn them. They were low-cut but were higher in the back which is supposed to prevent the sock from sliding down into the shoe. We started our walk and all was good. Then a few minutes later, it felt like I got a small rock in the back of my sock. I causually tried to shake my foot as we were walking but it wasn't going away. A little fact you may not know about me: I don't like to show that anything's wrong. I will hide pain. And this time was no different. I never said anything to my friend, but when we stopped to cross a street, I reached down and tried to brush away whatever was in my sock. For the next hour, I was in pain, a lot of pain. We talked and walked and she never knew anything was wrong (I'm good like that!). We went back to her place and I drove home. I took off my shoe and sock and found the mega blister. I've never had a blister this bad and have never seen one this big. It HURT!! I threw the cushy, new socks in the trash and got bandaged up my my army medic husband.



This was the blister a few days later. The fluid inside turned blackish/purple. I taped a quarter above it just as a size reference. I put a special blister band-aid on it and when I took it off, it broke the blister open. It's much better now and I can wear tennis shoes again as long as I keep a band-aid covering the raw, open hole.

I'm going for a walk today with a different friend and different socks :)

Irish Dinner

This is the dinner I made for St. Patrick's Day this year. I just love making themed meals. We had a little leprechaun as the centerpiece :)

• Shepherd's Pie
• Steamed cabbage
• Irish soda bread
  
  
  
  
  I've never had or made Shepherd's Pie before so I looked up several recipes and then combined several of them to make something that sounded good. It's basically ground beef (I used soy), veggies like carrots, peas, onion and celery and then potatoes on top. We all liked it! I used a pastry bag to pipe the mashed potatoes on top to make it fancy and then put it under the broiler to give it color.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Preston got all dressed up in green for St. Patrick's Day. I bought this outfit way before he was even born - we're not Irish, but we like to celebrate the holiday.

Talking of Irish...

I made homemade Irish Cream Brownies with Irish Cream Frosting (http://www.littleshamrocks.com/Irish-Cookie-Recipes.html#IrishCreamBrownies) and delivered them to my hubby's work today. They were yummy! I'm making an Irish dinner for tonight. Shepherd's Pie (never had it or made it), steamed cabbage, Irish Soda Bread and some of the brownies I kept for us.