Halloween 2012

It was Durham's first halloween this year, and he was a SHARK!

ra and I took the boys to atlanta to have pictures made by one of her friends. Both boys were hams as always. I took him down to tanger to see my girls on the centers trick or treat night, but it was sooooo cold that I didn't put him in his shark costume because I couldn't get a coat over it. We walked around and he watched all the kids collecting their candy, a couple of the scary ones got the side eye from d. haha I bought him some glow in the dark skeleton jams at old navy and they are one of my favorites. Can't wait to halloween next year so I can dress him up again and eat all the candy after he goes to bed.

He's still eating...

...and I'm still making his food.

Someone asked me this weekend how long I was gonna be making Durham's food. I laughed. As long as he eats it. 

Hubs and I were both overweight as kids (and now too, boooo!) and we don't want that for Durham. We want him to love to eat healthy fruits and veggies and grilled meats. We still arent the best eaters as adults, so I want to make sure he always has good options. 

I've been getting questions about how we feed Durham and some things have changed since I last posted about it. He's been eating 'food' (other than breast-milk/formula) for 4 months now. And as a word of encouragement for those who are just starting, it does get easier. They will start to like the foods they initially refuse if you just keep trying, the prep and cook times will get shorter, and meal time will be fun.

The biggest question I get from people is how do I find time to make everything. Well, I don't make EVERYTHING just some things. and the more you do it, the less time it takes. Just this morning during nap time I made his food for the week. It took me less than an hour (and I still have time to write this post! haha). I'm not over here making homemade cheerios and goldfish people, I feed Durham store bought food, but fruits and veggies and meat I prefer to make fresh rather than buy a jar (or 2-3 jars per meal is what it would take to feed my fatty).

Breakfast:

Durham's favorite meal! He sleeps through the night (12 hours) and has 8oz of formula when he wakes up, then about 1.5 hours later he has breakfast. Some of his breakfast foods are bananas, oatmeal, yogurt, blueberry waffles, oatmeal bars (recipe below), frozen blueberries (his favorite), or toast smeared with apple sauce. On the weekend when dada is home we usually have turkey bacon or sausage and he eats that too. We haven't tried eggs yet, but soon!

Lunch & Dinner:

I try to include a couple veggies/fruits, a protein, and a grain. Sometimes I get them all, sometimes he will only eat grapes. But, I have found that if I continue to offer them at every meal, he will more often than not gobble them up. Veggies/fruits I buy weekly (sometimes bi-weekly depending on what we have on hand) and I cook a big batch of stuff at the beginning of the week. He can eat on that for about 4-5 days, he also eats whatever we are eating that is baby appropriate (tacos, hotdogs, pizza, chicken nuggets, and hot pockets are NOT baby appropriate). The other days when I don't have something especially prepared he eats fresh fruits, or frozen fruits, and I have a few Plum Organics food pouches on hand if I can't make it to the store because of work or something. He still eats 'some' puree, I've read that a lot of babies start to refuse being fed by a spoon around 8-10months but D still likes it, but most of his meal is 'bites' of food.

Snacks:

This is where I make my own goldfish. ok, not really. haha
I know that snacks can be a tricky subject, one mom I ran into a Target actually commented on Durham's 'junk food' as he was munching on graham cracker bunnies while we shopped. Calm down momma's... let other people feed their kids whatever they want. I don't say anything to you as you pour mountain dew into your toddlers sippy cup. Durham usually eats one snack a day, and a handful of cheerios if we are out shopping to keep him occupied. These are our favorites. He especially loves the Ella's Kitchen cookies but they are super messy so we only do them at home.

Making it & Taking it

I only make stuff that is not super hard/time consuming. I was making his applesauce at the beginning, but pealing, coring and then baking apples (like a million apples) took a lot of time. I confine myself to what I can make in one or two nap times a week so that my time can still be spent with D while he is awake. I steam veggies, and cut up fresh fruits. I cube grilled chicken breast, and do meatballs on the skillet. easy-peasey. Hopefully the hubs and I can overhaul our bad eating habbits in the next couple months so I wont be making as much separate for D, and what we eat will all be a healthy choice for him.

I have a love/hate relationship with food storage containers. I love them and I am always buying them, but I hate to wash them and they take over a big section of the counter beside our sink. I can't help myself. TJ Maxx and Publix both have a great assortment if you are looking for some. This one is my favorite. FIT FRESH. I have two of them and lots of other little containers that fit inside. I can pack two entire meals inside this one box (including snack and spoon) and throw it into the diaper bag. It is a must have!

From what I've read he will be on some form of sippy cup milk and no puree's at 12 months. I'm sure that will be harder on me than him because no bottle and no puree makes me feel like he wont be a little baby anymore. Any advice on how to transition would be awesome, thoughts and ideas are always welcome. I know that there are several momma's reading that are right here with me, or will be in the next month or two... how are you feeling? (Hey Callen, Joshua, Riley, and Cooper's moms!)


oatmeal bars (more like rounds)
1 1/2 cups oats uncooked
2 ripe bananas, mashed with fork until creamy
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix cinnamon into the applesauce.
Blend applesauce mixture with all other ingredients & let sit for 10 minutes

Drop dough, by spoonfuls, onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet & flatten cookies into rounds or squares.

Bake approx. 30-35 minutes, or until golden & done. (only about 20 minutes in our gas oven). YUMMY!!

three years

Sept 19, 2009

After 3 years of dating... we made it forever. Surrounded by our family and friends, with sand between our toes and the waves crashing to the left we held hands and exchanged rings. We promised to love each other and honestly... it hasn't been hard. Always doing what is right in our relationship and making each other a priority now that we have a cute little guy demanding our attention is sometimes hard, but the love is effortless.

 

as we stand beside the ocean, we commit to a marriage as strong, constant and unchanging as these waves flowing endlessly from the depths of the sea. 

I take you to be my partner in life and my one true love. I promise to love you more each day than I did the day before. I promise to give you the best of myself, to respect you as a person, and to bring joy and strength to our relationship. I promise to trust you and to honor you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving your faithfully through good times and misfortune, in achievement and failure and regardless of the obstacles we may face together. I give you my hand, my heart, and my love, from this day forward and forever.

YEAR ONE

YEAR TWO

I am so lucky to be married to the most wonderful husband and father. I am blessed beyond what I deserve and I am so thankful. Tonight we will celebrate with a date night. Dinner and a walk around Target. romantic. and perfectly us.

on a side note... I am totally sobbing at how little Jackson was when we got married. 

He was only 15months and Durham looks so much like him in these pics, you know, like a cute fat little baby! ::sniff sniff::

nine and a half months

That is how old fatty is now... 

I can't believe it. This year is flying by. 

I am knee deep in:

first birthday planning and work

baby snuggles and slobber

toys and little bites of food can be found in my bra and purse at any time

five tooth smiles and a hundred night time checks

I am knee deep and loving it.

I haven't written a true update in quite a while, so there is quite a lot to share. This blog is a record of our life, and I want to make sure I put it down so I can remember. These memories might seem small but they are all consuming to us.

mommy & daddy:

We are doing great. Hubs stays super busy providing for us, and I have no idea where he gets all of his energy from. He is still working full time & part time and in school for his masters! one.more.year. We are looking forward to celebrating our 3 year anniversary this week with a date night (our 3rd one since Durham was born). I'm still working and then racing home to be with mini-me. Over the past 2 months I have completely weaned off my PPD meds. I'm not perfect, but I am feeling again and it is rejuvenating. I have good days, and great days, and a bad day mixed in there sometimes but overall I am doing better than ever. My BFF is pregnant (she finally announced last week!) and I spend lots of brain power thinking about their new baby. We are having family pictures taken next month and then the crazy holiday season begins! I've been good at planning things so I can make it all happen, but I'm going to have to do even better with work picking up.

Durham:

Big boy is growing growing growing! At his 9month appointment he weighed in at 22.7lbs and was 30inches long. He had his first shot at this appointment and he did good... we both cried, but he didn't have any cranky days or fevers following so I'd call that a win. 

He wears 12-18 month clothes and has 5 teeth (four on bottom and one on top). He still loves bath time most, we do most baths in the big bath tub, but I sometimes use the kitchen sink because it is easier on my back. Either way he is always splishing-and-splashing.

Durham is so much fun right now! He is crawling all over the place (and fast too!) pulling up on everything and letting go.... standing alone for a second and then plopping down. His favorite place to be is standing next to the ottoman. He scoots around it all day and leaps from the ottoman to the sofa and to your leg and back again.  

He is still taking 2 good naps a day, one around 10am for 2 hours and one around 2pm for an hour or longer. We have weaned to 4 bottles a day, and he eats 3 meals of 'bites' and a snack or two. His favorite finger foods are blueberries, grapes, cheese, peas and waffles. He also loves applesause, squash, and yogurt.

D says 'mama' and 'dada' all the time (and knows who he is talking about when he says it!) and a couple of times we have heard him say 'bye'. His favorite book is 'B is for Bear' it's one of those touch and feel... we stay on the duck page forever because it is too cute how he pets the baby ducks fur. 
:: swoon:: 

We call him Durham, d-bo, fatty, turtle head, mommy's baby, baby-d, and d-bear... 
he calls me 'mama' and it is the sweetest most heart melting thing I have ever heard.