Merry Christmas!

God give you blessings at Christmas time;
Stars for your darkness, sun for your day,
Light on the path as you search for the Way,
And a mountain to climb.
God grant you courage this coming year,
Fruit for your striving, friends if you roam,
Joy in your labor, love in your home,
And a summit to clear
Myra Scovel

Friday Favorite {The Shape of a Mother}

Happy Friday! Dylan is both teething and going through a bout of seperation anxiety at the moment. This combination has resulted in extra naps and snuggling to keep the kiddo happy. Needless to say I have had lots of downtime to piddle on my phone while he sleeps curled up next to me. I often run across great articles and super cool websites that I would love to share!! I don't know if I'll be able to update my favorites every Friday, but I'll give it a shot!

The Shape of a Mother

http://theshapeofamother.com/

This is an awesome website about embracing the beauty of our postpartum bodies! It is an open forum where women can share photographs of their bodies and what they look like after they have had babies - the site was created to let women know they are not alone and to embrace every sag, stretch mark & scar.

"Founded by a woman who was tired of women hiding their not airbrushed and non-surgery-enhanced bodies under baggy clothing, the site invites moms to upload photos of their post-pregnancy body parts (nude or clothed, anonymously or bylined) for the world to see. The resulting collection of self-portraits, and the stories behind them are both empowering and inspiring."

(p.s. NSFW, check this site out when you are at home!)

Happy Half, Pickle!

Dylan is 6 months old! I can not believe that half a year has gone by! I can honestly say that things are getting more and more fun each day. He is gaining SO much personality!! His giggles are turning into full on laughter, we have found his ticklish spots, he sucks on his top lip and does a fish face (I think mostly because he knows it'll make me laugh out loud), he is learning that if he drops something it will magically re-appear (so he does this often!), he knows his name now and will turn and look at you when called, his new favorite chew-things are raw carrots & silicone spatulas (who needs toys??), he loves watching us dance like fools, he has perfected a fake cough to get attention, he loves sitting up on his own on the couch between us while we eat dinner, and he :LOVES being naked! It is a blast watching his personality shape him as he figures out his likes and dislikes.

We had such a fun week/weekend celebrating his 1/2 birthday! 

Here is the little rabbit with his new favorite teether...

Once we take off his clothes he gets giddy and happy. When we take his clothes off before bath time he immediately starts squealing with delight!

Can you count the rolls?? Yep, thats 5 rolls in his left arm...

Love that little tushie!

We went to visit Daddy & Grandpa at work!! It was so much fun introducing him to the office :)

All smiles with Grandpa

Daddy doing a different kind of work!

Funny faces from my boys

On Saturday we celebrated Dylan's birthday and...the completion of Daddy's MBA!!

Dylan helped him submit his very last final - EVER!

Cara came over for the celebration!

Silly faces

Auntie Cara brought him some sweet gifts!! He got a cool book called Gallop, a fuzzy elephant & A sweet Baby's First Christmas ornament.

Elated to be nakie with Cara before bath time

Birthday hat & Birthday suit!

His first taste of pureed apples...he wasn't so sure about the weird texture

Sour apple face!

Cara read him a bedtime story

We are so excited to see what changes happen in the second half the year - I look forward to all the fun we are going to have :)

MMM Solids!

There are many milestones to look forward to, but feeding Dylan solids has always been one that we have been excited for! A few weeks ago Dylan and I were playing and I was eating an apple. He stopped and watched me intently with each bite. I put it up to his mouth and much to my surprise he opened his mouth and went for it! I got the giggles watching him go to town licking the apple & grinning at me. I excitedly showed Ryan when he got home, and we gave him rice cereal for the first time that night.

Rice cereal day two! Starting to get the hang of things. Still a few unsure funny faces :P

Dylan has been eating rice cereal every day for a few weeks. I plan to nurse him as long as I can, so we weren't too keen on the idea of giving him a bottle with milk and cereal at night. While it has been recommended to help babies sleep longer at night, I enjoy our nightly feeding routine too much to forgo it for a few more hours of sleep. We chose not to put it in his bottle to "fill him up," but to feed it to him with a spoon so he could learn & be ready when we start on real food.

We knew right away that we wanted to make our own baby food! Ryan and I did lots of research on baby food makers. We were really leaning toward a specific device, but changed our minds at the last second. While it is nice that they are multi-tools in the way that they steam, pulverize & warm...and is much more cute on your counter than a huge steamer, we just couldn't see the practicality in only making a few cups of food at a time. So we ordered a Black & Decker steamer that we can use for both baby food & our food as well. It can fit up to 7 quarts of food! There is even a flavor center in the middle where you can add herbs and spices, which we will eventually do for both Dylan and ourselves. Once the food is steamed, I put it into a deep tupperware and use my immersion blender and turn it into mush!

While we decided against the Beaba BabyCook, we did purchase a few of their silicone freezer containers! They make 7 "pods" of food and each pod is at least two or three meals for a baby just starting on solids. We love the Munchkin soft tip spoons - easy to hold & soft on baby's gums.

It is recommended for the first introduction of solids that you do as plain and bland as possible so if the baby is allergic, there is no mistaking what you shouldn't feed him/her. I have been having a blast whipping up (literally) a few different foods...and I can't wait to do more! Shown here is sweet potatoes, apples & carrots.We fed Dylan the sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving so he could join in on our feast!

He still seems to prefer the rice cereal for now, but this weekend on his 6 month birthday we are going to start adding a bite or two each day. I can't wait to use the baby food cook books when we are ready to feed him delicious concoctions! Ryan is definitely the chef in the house, but this is some cooking that I look forward to!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall is here and I couldn't be more excited! I love this time of year so very much.
There are so many things I love about this season!!

• The cool crisp air that comes at the same time as the beautiful sea of colorful leaves
• Wrapping up in a warm, snuggly blanket
• Bundling Dylan up in cozy buntings & miniature hats
• Scarves!!
• Warm, savory soups simmering on the stove
• Boots and sweater weather - ooh ooh and mixing the two...sweater boots!
• Deep, saturated reds oranges and yellows - the colors of fall
• The delicious smells of cinnamon, pumpkin, nutmeg & cloves
• Ryan letting me warm my ice cold toes on his legs
• Sipping hot chocolate, tea, or coffee
• Cozying up in front of the fire
• Family galore - fellowship and love with my favorite people

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Dylan had his first Tgiving extravaganza :)
We had two scrumptious feasts this year - the first was at Grandma & Grandpa's house with Ryan's side of the family. It was perfectly LOUD with screaming, laughing children...oh how our families are changing!

Dylan had his very own taste of the season - he ate his first taste of sweet potatoes. We got to watch him make an array of funny faces before he clamped his mouth shut in refusal. It was fun while it lasted! He loved watching the kiddos run around the house. He got fussy as it got a bit later, and we went upstairs and he took a nice long nap while Grandma watched over him.

 

 

The cold weather blew in on Thanksgiving day. Ryan and I woke up and snuggled with Dylan in bed and watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was perfect! That evening we had dinner at Scott & Meggan's home - it was so much fun! They prepared a delicious dinner for us. We had fun catching up, laughing, looking at old pictures, reminiscing, & playing with D. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving - it reminded me what wonderful things in our lives we have to be thankful for.

 

 

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food,

For love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson