Memorial Weekend Recap

What an awesome holiday weekend we had filled with perfect summer-like weather!  Over the past few days, I've read some personal stories from friends who have lost loved ones while serving.  My husband served twice overseas and personally knew several people who lost their lives while defending our country.  It's so sad to think about.

We spent most of the weekend struggling with Xavier's, unbeknownst to us until this morning when I finally took him to the doctor, ear infection (whoops).  He had a fever last week, a cold, and was not himself all weekend.  I had lots of fun summer things planned, but didn't get to them all because little X-man wore Mama out.  When he is fussy like that, he doesn't let me leave him alone or he cries.  He needed held a lot.  It was a tough holiday weekend, but Grandma Pheanis came to town and cheered him up a bit while Steve and I went to see Book of Mormon.

Eeeee!  Look how close!

Xavier didn't seem to mind his ear infection while Grandma was here.  They went to on a long walk and to a nearby playground.

We went to a friend's house for a picnic.  Xavier got to see some of his best friends.  He had a blast and I did too.  I like watching him interact with other kids.  He's in his element around other people and loved all the attention he received.

Only babies can decode this conversation.

On Memorial Day, we served up a red, white, and blueberry breakfast.  It would also be fun to replace the "white" with Cool Whip.  Mmm, dessert for breakfast!

We had some friends over on Memorial Day.  It was Xavier's first experience in the baby pool and he took to it well!  He was a little confused at first (which is common of all new things he tries), but had fun when Steve showed him how to pour water on his little toes.  And, the Huggies Little Swimmers diapers are a must for anyone taking their babies out in the water.  The water makes the diapers suck onto the skin so all his waste gets trapped in the diaper.  They are great!

Um, this doesn't look like my bathtub.

Ahhhh, the water tickles my toes!

Can't see it all, but his shirt says "S.S. Cutie - Captain Adorable."  Awww...

We roasted marshmallows (because what's a summer gathering without them?), drank some festive summer drinks, and listened to Lady Gaga's Teeth radio on Pandora.  

Make mine a double!

Could this picture be any more perfect?!

Steve makes some amazing Sangria (as shown in my freezer meal party spread here).  I've heard of people putting a couple cups of Fresca in their Sangria to give it a lighter, less alcoholy-taste, but I think it would work better for white Sangria.  For our red Sangria, we mix a bottle of Carlo Rossi Sangria with some wine, and add fruit - either a can of fruit (what we use) or fresh from the produce aisle.  We have been told, by friends who just returned from Spain, that our Sangria tastes just like the real thing!  The fact that we use the Carlo Rossi stuff can be our little secret :)

Summer Bucket List

For our first summer as a family of three, I thought it would be fun to put together a family-friendly summer bucket list.  Xavier is becoming more alert and observant, and one of his favorite things to do when we are out is to people watch.  If he is fussy or crying, surrounding him with people and a new environment solves the problem in no time.  He is instantly fascinated by new experiences and faces.

Even though Xavier won't remember any of this, at least it will make for good pictures and memories for Mom and Dad to make :)

1. Go on a picnic where we play with bubbles and feed the ducks

2. Watch fireworks and light sparklers

3. Make homemade popsicles

4. Splash in the baby pool

5. Make s'mores by the fire

6. Play with sidewalk chalk

7. Vinegar and baking soda in a bottle science experiment, outside

8. Look for bugs

9. Go out for ice cream

10. Take a trip to the library
11.  Look at the moon

In other news, Xavier's baby fat fascinates me.  I love to pinch it, squeeze it, smoosh it, kiss it, poke it...  He is the chubbiest on his legs.  The rolls on his thighs, calf muscles, and backs of ankles kill me!  I.  Heart.  Them.  This past winter, I would take his pants off and turn up the heat, just so I could play with it!  Obsessed is an understatement.

Finger Food & Merry-Go-Rounds

We got the O.K. from the pediatrician to start feeding Xavier finger food.  We introduced Puffs and Yogurt Melts around month 8, but he didn't take to them very well.  The coordination between getting food from the table into his mouth resulted in such a mess!  And, he was so frustrated he couldn't get them in his mouth.  We haven't fed him finger food since.  I also was a little worried about the Puffs and Melts dissolving as quickly as they claim.  

Well, now that he's a month older, all that has changed!  He is a pro at getting food from the table to his mouth.  The first few times he did it, we were so excited with the "yay"s and clapping I think we scared little X.  Granted, there is plenty of food covering the floor and surprising us during diaper changes, but there is so much improvement from the last time we tried it.  

We are entering a whole new territory in terms of meal time.  We now let him sample all the foods we eat (blueberries, blackberries, chicken, mashed potatoes, watermelon, avocado, broccoli (we steam the sh*t out of it), Fro-Yo, etc.)...  Oh, this boy loves FroYo.

He enjoys the new foods, but still prefers the Puffs because they are easier to pick up and aren't as slippery as some other foods we give him.  Eventually, we will switch to a less expensive substitute, Cheerios.  As much fun as this has been, it is a whole new type of mess making.  Like two-hour-old-mashed-avocado-behind-the-ear messy.  Be prepared for a few extra dirty bibs, face wipes, and swiffer pads.  His main source of nutrition is still coming from the bottles, but our pediatrician wants him to learn the skill and have it mastered by month 12, when we start to wean him off the bottles.

We took Xavier to a park downtown this weekend to ride the merry-go-round.  He thoroughly enjoyed it, and so did I, as I've not ridden on one for 20 years.

                             

Xavier is also babbling a ton now.  I swear the other day he said "hot-dog."  Most proud mama ever.  He also has taken to calling everybody "da-da."  Makes for funny moments when he does this to all of Steve's friends.

                              

Memorial Day Planning

Memorial Day is just around the corner!  A time to remember those who served, our Vets, and that our freedom isn't free.  We always celebrate Memorial Day with family and friends.  I am so excited to officially kick off the summer!  I love a festive outdoor party, so my ideas this year include streamers, string lights, s'mores over the firepit, bomb pops, sparklers, and lots of yummy drinks (with paper straws, of course)!  The idea of a s'more bar at the end of the night completely excites me.  And, I heard of someone putting crushed chips on their hot dogs?  Oooh, sign me up!

My husband got this way-cool cast iron skillet for Christmas and has been making the bomb pancakes in it ever since.  Maybe for Memorial Day, we'll kick it up a notch with red, white, and blue toppings on our pancakes!  Strawberries, cool whip, and blueberries?  Hmmm....

Below are some clothing ideas for your little guys.  If you plan to buy any of these items, better hurry!  Baby Gap is currently offering 40% off everything until 5PM tonight!
Hat -- Chambray Shorts -- Red Button Down -- Plaid Shorts -- Flag Tee -- Boat Shoes -- Canvas Slip Ons

I'm sure at some point, it will be so hot and humid that all we'll want to eat is Popsicles.  This Zoku popsicle maker is the best thing ever.  I can turn liquid juice into a Popsicle in just 5 minutes.  Add some OJ and bubbly, top with strawberries, and you have a Mimosa pop for breakfast in no time at all!  

For more ideas on how to festive-up your Memorial Day, check out this link..

9 Months

Best Friends

Holy Moly, the time is flying!  Little guy just turned 9 months old!  Time to start planning for the 1st Birthday (don't worry, I already have some sketches in the works).

Stats: 24 lbs. 7oz. (94 percentile), 30 in. long (94 percentile)

Personality Traits:  Happy, fun, curious, excited, easy-going, loves to laugh
Favorite Activities/Signature Moves:  Fake kisses, wind blowing through his hair, Momma's wiggling feet, whispering "da, da, da, da...", head-butting (he's a professional), clapping his hands, attracting attention at the grocery store, laughing at crying babies which is becoming very regular at day care, backwards crawling which results in him getting stuck under the dresser, and Daddy's claw hand.

Dislikes:  the sound of the vacuum cleaner makes him cry (and I laugh, haha!)
Dad's Proudest Moment:  It's been a difficult month with Xavier getting HMFD, Roseola, two ear infections, and a mysterious rash that won't go away, which at times made me want to snap my fingers and disappear bottle-feeding difficult.  I sometimes give up on feeding and Steve gives it a try.  On several occasions, about 5 minutes after I've given up, I'll hear Steve singing, "You can tell everybody... you can tell everybody..." over and over until I look at him.  [For those of you who don't know the song, it goes "Girl you can tell everybody, yea you can tell everybody, go ahead and tell everybody, I'm the man, I'm the man, I'm the man"]  Steve got Xavier to take that bottle. 

Mom's Proudest Moment:  I left Xavier on his play mat in his room while I took a quick shower.  I turned on his radio for him and Katy Perry's Roar was playing.  When I came out, he was sitting exactly where I left him, smiling, and shaking his shakers to the tune of "Talk Dirrty to Me."  Mama for the win.

An exchange while taking the photo below:  

Steve:  Walks in to X's bedroom

Alli:  You're blocking my light.

S:  Moves a little

A:  You're still blocking it.

S:  Moves a little more but now casts a shadow on X's face

A:  Ugh, seriously can you move?

S:  It is like LifeTouch studios every morning in this room! *in a very annoyed-sounding tone*
You know what I say to that?  Deal.  He's only little once :)

Camo Cutie - notice the curls making their debut above the ear.

I'm slacking this month and didn't get to put together a list of Xavier's 9-month favorites.  Hoping to include them in next month's post.  But, you can see all other Monthly Favorites HERE.

First Mother's Day Recap

I had THE BEST weekend celebrating my first Mother's Day and Birthday!  It all started Friday, the night before my birthday.  After we got home from work, we played with X and his play table on the living room floor.  Next thing I knew, our babysitter showed up at our front door.  Steve had arranged a surprise early birthday dinner.  He took me to the Lindey's patio, which we'd never been to, and it had the perfect atmosphere.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but here's a peek... 

After dinner, we walked to one of our favorite coffee shops, and on the way made a stop at the Garten Markt, where you can purchase a wooden salad bowl for $125 or potted plant for $25.  Granted, I'm sure they were of better quality than what I would buy.  It was kind of fun watching the people eye these goods with such awe.  We did nothing less than make fun of them (hee-hee, yea we TOTALLY didn't fit in).  Regardless, it was such a wonderful evening, especially since we topped off the night at Cap City with some spectacular peanut butter pie.

Saturday morning, on the day of my birthday, we spent lots of family time together, opening presents (Book of Mormon tix - yea!!), taking selfies, and treating myself to a facial.

This crazy fool loves to see himself in my phone.

That evening, a friend stopped by for dinner, drinks, and more drinks.  Steve is getting really good at this grilled fruit thing, by the way.

On Sunday, Steve arranged for us a special Mother's Day brunch on the patio at Cap City (can you tell I love this place?).  We took naps on the back porch.

Twins.

We took Xavier to his music class and met up with friends for dinner.  Little Xavier has himself a best friend (aww!).  Watching these two play together is just adorable.

To top off my incredible weekend, Steve prepared a mimosa bar especially for me!  I wrote about it in an earlier blog post and had no idea he would actually do it.  He threw in a special treat, the discontinued Philosphy Mimosa body wash.  He actually found it!  Mmmm, trying not to drink it:)

Nail Color:  Trout Pout by Butter

Ok, so I don't know if it was something we ate or drink on Saturday night, but Steve and I both woke up Sunday in a complete dizzy, fog-like state.  We thought food or naps might cure it, but this weird feeling lasted the entire day.  Anyway, here are some reasons why, on Sunday, we would not have received the Parents of the Year award:

1.  We realized at 7 AM that we were completely out of Xavier's formula, just in time for Xavier to realize he wanted his bottle 10 minutes ago.

2.  We were so foggy after getting Xavier dressed for the morning, we left him to play on his play mat while we went to lay back down.  When we came back, at some point, poop had exploded out the sides of his shorts, it was on his hands, feet, rug, clothes and toys.

3.  When feeding Xavier his lunch, he leaned forward, more forward, and more...  Oops, his space saver high chair was just sitting on the chair.  No straps were strapped.

4.  On the way to dinner, I completely passed by the restaurant I've been to a hundred times and seemed to still think it was 5 more minutes up the road.

4.  At dinner, we didn't take Xavier's diaper bag inside so when he made a mess all over himself, we dipped napkins in water glasses to wipe him and pretended we weren't hillbillies.

5.  While on the exit ramp, I looked back and saw Xavier's carseat laying at a 45 degree angle.  Wha?  Guess it's been strapped in improperly since 3 weeks ago when we took it out.

Aw, but it was such a good weekend!  I felt so loved by my guys:)  I hope all the mommies out there felt as special as I did this weekend :D

Birthday/Mother's Day Weekend Eve

Whew, it's already Friday and the end of the fastest week I've had in a while.  Is it just me, or does it seem like May is always a crazy, hectic month?  On top of cookouts, bike/stroller rides, and ALL the grass cutting, we also make time this month to celebrate both my birthday (Saturday) and Mother's Day (Sunday).  Now that I'm in my 30's, I've stopped throwing birthday parties for myself.  So, I have nothing planned!  However, Steve has big plans that he keeps looking at me and smiling about.  I have no clue what's in store, but I do LOVE surprises!!!  I am thinking there will be some family time outside and limited time watching TV/playing with our phones (eeeeee, the last one will be tough!!!!).

One thing is for sure though.  I'll be drinking iced tea like a boss.

To add to my good mood today, I received news that I am a nominee to receive the Employee of the Quarter at work!  The recipient of this award gets some nice gifts and 8 hours of paid time off!  Fingers crossed!

Hoping all the mamas out there have a wonderful weekend!

Grill Night!

Tonight, we feast on grilled fare.  

It was a perfect summer evening.  The smell of fresh cut grass filled the air, we tried grilled pears for the first time (definitely need more grilled fruit in my life), and Xavier and I took selfies on the back patio.  Xavier loves seeing himself on the camera.  He thinks it's hysterical!

Finally, the warm weather is here!  It's been a rough winter for us and we are due.  It's fun dressing up Xavier in shorts and little tank tops.  I especially love that he's showing more skin - makes it easier for me to kiss!  In this pic, he looks like a little basketball player!

MVP of my heart :) 

 Yesterday, I was browsing around Target on my lunch break and picked up a blow up pool!  I'm very excited to get in it and pretend I'm a kid again let Xavier experience pool fun this weekend.  He's got a pair of cute little swim trunks that I can't wait to see him in.  Pics coming soon!

Cinco de Mayo 2014

My husband tells me my vocabulary is not quite up to snuff.  He is an attorney, avid reader, and gets excited about new words (all of which I will never understand).  The other day we were talking about what to do to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, because in our house, now that there's a little one, we will celebrate every little holiday, ever.  Steve and I had an interesting exchange in the middle of this.  Here's how the conversation went:

Steve:  We are very fastidious (pronounced fest-tid-ee-us) people.

Alli:  I know.

S:  Do you even know what that word means?

A: ...yep.

S:  What?

A:  *very boldly* Festive

S:  *bursts out in laughter* Noooooo!  Not even close.

You know what?  I will gladly challenge him to a 10-key match.  Any day.

On Xavier's first Cinco de Mayo, we celebrated by drinking sangria, munching on tacos, and dressing Xavier in silly mustache faces!

Respect the...

I'm fan-tash-tic

Weekend Ramblings

Happy 1 week until Mother's Day!  Xavier is getting huge and we enjoy his baby chub to the max.  He is by far the happiest baby I have ever met.  Everyone at daycare compliments him on his smiley face and playful personality.  One of Xavier's favorite spots is the grocery store.  Xavier is enthralled by all the fun colors.  I do have to admit, part of me bringing him along is because I like hearing from strangers how adorable he is. :)  But, I also love watching him react to the new shapes and smells.  He's such a curious little babe!

He is starting to imitate me and watch more of what I'm doing.  For instance, the other day when I was holding him in my lap, I drank some water from a glass and when I went to put the glass down, he was staring up at me with those big blue eyes, watching my every move!  He also grabs for my phone anytime I'm using it.  And he is fast!  Once he gets a hold of it, it goes right in his mouth.

This weekend, I hosted a freezer meal party for the mom's group I'm in.  We had a personal chef come to the house, bring all the food we needed for 8 meals, and us moms got together to prep the food and put it in freezer bags.  It was a huge success and I can't wait until the next one!

And, of course, I can't have friends over without wining and dining them, so I prepped some goodies for us to indulge in while we worked.  Notice the pink decor.  It's one of the the few times I can get away with decorating in pink!

wooden trays from crate and barrel, fruit dish from anthropologie, cake stand from target, fruit infusion pitchers from BB&Beyond, and utensil organizer from pottery barn

And, finally, I got to spend quite a bit of QT with my little man.  We spent most of Sunday playing in the living room and taking lots of pics and Vine videos.  

Give this guy some hair to play with and he's a happy camper.

Crawling gone bad.

For your viewing pleasure, some cute little Vine videos:

https://vine.co/v/MrLHi6lQl57

https://vine.co/v/MrPe3OVd0hB

Can't wait to get through this week to celebrate Mom's day (with a facial, yea!!) and my birthday!

Mother's Day Gift Ideas

"If I didn't have you as a mom, I would choose you as a friend."

This year is my first Mother's Day and I couldn't be more excited!  Gift giving is something I love to do and I wanted to share some of the goodies I've come up with for gifts over the years, and a few that I wouldn't mind receiving.

--I am a huge fan of gifts with a theme.  How about throwing together some pampering items and wrap them up in a mason jar?  You can toss in Plumberry or Tart Deco nail polish and Flower Bomb rollerball perfume.  This is a subtle enough scent that any mom would love and totally safe to give as a gift.  Get the rollerball, it's cheaper!  You could include a variety of JR Watkins lotions (I love these!).  For an added chocolatey bonus for Mom, throw in my personal favorite, hazelnut truffles!  These truffles may (and should) be included in all the gifts below.

--If your mama is a coffee lover, you can't go wrong with a coffee press, cream and sugar jars, and a bag of her favorite Starbucks coffee.  Place in a gift bag, add tissue paper, and you're done!

--Or maybe a breakfast-in-bed themed gift?  You can grab a tasty jam, honey pot, and smoothie straws,  Top off with a fresh bouquet of flowers.

--If your mom is an herbs/spices fan, how about these herb markers, pizza seasoning, and herb mincer for an affordable, simple gift?

--Does your mama like cocktails (she and I should meet)?  How about creating a Mimosa Bar especially for her!  You can serve different kinds of orange juice in these fun containers, slice up some strawberries, peaches, and oranges, and top with some bubbly.  And, just maybe, she will share - score for you!  If you want to truly win her heart, throw in this Mimosa scented body wash for the perfectly themed gift (try not to drink it)!

Hope these ideas were inspiring and you find some unique ways to celebrate your Mama this year!

PSsssst.  Husband.  If you are reading, I'll take the mimosa bar!  We can pretend you thought of it all on your own.

HAPPY MAY DAY!!!!

Pajama Party

We have a serious jammie obsession in our house.

 I sometimes don't change him out of his pajamas...or sometimes I change him into a new pair for him to wear all day.

Morning snuggles in his yellow duckie PJ's.

Half-birthday gift from Grandma in Lewisberg - handmade PJ's

The jammies Xavier wore when he first discovered his feet!

The jammies he wore the first time he rolled onto his side.

We introduced Xavier to fall leaves in his Noah's Ark pajamas.

I actually have pairs of baby blue jeans, tags still on of course.  What was I thinking?  I don't even like wearing jeans.  I wish it was acceptable for adults to run around in cute footed PJ's.

Such an insightful post here today.  Happy Friday! <--- Whoa, I actually typed that, however, it is THURSDAY!!  These germs Xavier gave me have definitely gotten the best of me.