Sweet Things

This week, for the first time ever, Xavier gave me a kiss on my cheek.  And then, he kissed me again.  I have been thinking about it non-stop.  It was the most adorable thing.  The best part was that Steve caught it all on video!  Take a peek for some serious cuteness!

If you're not already addicted to Angie's popcorn, you should try some!  I'm a big fan of the kettle corn and just recently tried the Boom Chicka Pop because I like the bag :)  It's tasty, low in calories, and you can find it at Costco (you can get extra large bags here), Target, or Whole Foods.

We got Xavier a keyboard so he could pretend to be playing on his computer while we were.  Here we are watching some Noggin on YouTube, with help from X.  (Don't mind how I look. I was sick, tired, and cold yesterday)

I recently came across this recipe for Nutella Cakes and had to try it.  Ah-ha, another use for my Nutella that doesn't involve pretzel rod dipping!  I froze some angel food cake, cut it into itty-bitty squares, and layered some Nutella in between.  I frosted (generously) with Cool Whip, topped with sprinkles, and chilled it for a bit.  It tastes wonderful right out of the freezer.  It's the perfect, light, summery dessert! (not as perfect as the recipe pic, but frosting with cool whip is hard!!)

It's finally Friday!  It's been a rough week.  I'm on my 4,657th cold this year while having a tough deadline at work to meet.  My cold will NOT go away, and it infuriates me to no end.  I've been downing the Sudafed, Benadryl, and caffeine water this entire week.  So ready to relax and celebrate some Dad's day with the fam!  :)  I can't wait to show off what Buddy made for Daddy!

10 months (and more on finger food)

We survived another month!  Although juggling both of us working full-time, the baby, cooking a decent dinner, and all the grass cutting is getting a lot easier.  Probably because I now understand I will never have an hour of free time to myself again for a very long time.  Regardless, I love this baby age!  X is interactive with us, he gets excited when we walk in the room, and is starting to form his own opinions (this is fun to watch).  X isn't walking yet, but crawling just enough to get what he wants w/o needing me to bring him his toys.  Here are some favorites from months 9 and 10.  Although this list should probably also include cords, purse straps, our iPhones, and my DSLR camera.

Cheerios - We switched from Puffs to Cheerios this month.  It's one of the foods he consistently gets into his mouth.

Huggies Little Swimmers Diapers - Great for swimming and trapping the waste.  'Nuff said :)

iGuy - Helps Xavier to hold the iPad and it's cute!

Books! - The Pigeon books are my favorite.  They are absolutely hilarious!  But, basically all kinds of books have attracted his interest lately.  He's finally enjoying us reading to him (he looks up at me when I read aloud) instead of eating, chewing, or ripping the pages.

Baeba utensils - Perfect for when your kid starts eating the foods you eat.  Those shallow baby spoons just don't cut it anymore.  These are great for serving cut up spaghetti, casseroles, etc.

Dr. Brown Stackable Container - We used to prefill these with some dry oatmeal to mix in baby food with but now we put Cheerios, applesauce, or other fruits in them.  Great for on-the-go snacks and easy to find in the diaper bag!

Fisher Price Walker - Xavier loves this walker.  He sits up and spins the ball, flips the tabs, all while smiling and laughing at it.

You can check out all our Monthly Favorites by clicking the link at the top of the page!

Food Schedule:  We have entered an entirely new world of mess making.  Like 2-hour-old-avocado-smashed-in-the-hair mess making.  We tried Puffs and Yogurt Melts around 8 months, but it just frustrated him that he couldn't consistently get them in his mouth.  But, we tried it again at 9 months, and what an improvement!  He uses his pinchers and consistently gets the Puffs in his mouth!  I admit, the first few times he tried Puffs, I was worried sick!  I tore each Puff up into 5 little pieces, watched intently until he swallowed...  I now know that kids have this innate trait about them and they somehow know to chew and swallow.  He HATES yogurt melts, and usually cries when they start to dissolve in his mouth.  As he mastered Puffs, we switched to the less expensive substitute, Cheerios.  Have you ever looked at the ingredients in Cheerios?  They actually have a lot of nutrients in them.  He could eat Cheerios all day.

Not only is it cute to see the diaper hanging out, but if you look closely, you'll see the Cheerio stuck to it.  Haha!

We also introduced table food, slowly at first, like the tiniest pieces ever of watermelon, chicken, avocado, etc.  Even though he has no teeth, he can mash the food with is gums.  For a while the only thing he successfully picked up was the Puffs.  With practice, he can now eat a full baby-sized meal, usually whatever we are eating.  As scary as it sounds, the bigger the piece, the easier it is for him to pick up and eat.  He struggles a little picking up the slimier things, like bananas and mixed veggies.  Early on, I freaked out any time we introduce a new table food to him for fear he'd choke or be allergic.  But now, he's so used to eating our foods it doesn't worry me.

Eating his lunch like a big boy!

His pediatrician still wants his main source of nutrition to come from bottles, but wants him practicing table foods so he has the skill mastered by the time we wean him off bottles at 12 months.  I will be so happy to not have to wash bottles every. single. friggin'. day.

Here's his food schedule:

7am - has a 6 oz. bottle
9:00 - has pureed fruit mixed with 1/4 cup of multi-grain oats
9:30 - tries whatever daycare fixes for breakfast
11:00 - has a 6 oz. bottle
12:00 - tries whatever daycare fixes for lunch
2:00 - has pureed veggies mixed with 1/4 cup of multi-grain oats
3:00 - has a 6 oz. bottle
3:30 - tries the day care snack
6:00 - tries whatever we make for dinner
7:00 - has his last 6 oz. bottle

Sleep Schedule:  Usually, X wakes up at 7am, takes two 40-minute naps at 10am and 2pm, and goes to bed at 7pm.  He's a great sleeper.  Sleeps the whole night, even when he's battling ear infections in both ears (knocking on all the wood around me)!  Since his separation anxiety has kicked in, he has a session of crying it out that usually lasts 15-25 minutes each night.  Other than that, he sleeps great!

Signature Moves/Favorite Activities:

Pulling on my lips, nose, hair

Army crawling by mostly kicking off with his right leg

Sitting, to tummy, back to sitting, back to tummy, etc.

Pulling himself up over any wall-like structure to see what's on the other side

Halfway blowing kisses, getting his hair blow-dried after his bath
The Fisher Price Giggle Gang, Music Sparkle, and Read Me Stories apps, Noggin' on YouTube

Playing fort!

Things He Dislikes:

Going through the automatic car wash

When I leave the room.  Separation anxiety is at an all-time high these past few weeks.

Things regularly said at home that would be funny to say to X when he's a teenager:

"Uh-oh, there's the poo face!" *while he's sitting on the living room floor*

"Way to balance that purple ring on your finger!"

"Reeeer, reeeee-eeeeeer, reeeer" *while airplane feeding X his food*

"Open wide.  Say aaaaahhhhhh.  Aaaaahhhhhhh." *when giving X his medicine*

Table Food Likes:

Lasagna, Broccoli, Applesauce
Corn Dogs - atta boy!!! (take off the skin, too hard to chew)

Lemon muffin with avocado

Grilled turkey burgers, meatballs, baked tilapia

Table Food Dislikes:

Watermelon, Grapes, Corn, Rice, Cheese - All are difficult to pick up.

X's Favorite Books:

The Going To Bed Book

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Go Dog, Go

Brown Bear, Brown Bear
Leonardo the Terrible Monster

Mom & Dad's Favorite Books:

The Pigeon Finds A Hot Dog - This book is hilarious!  Plus, I love hot dogs!

I Love You For You - Daddy's favorite

Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss - SERIOUS tongue twister!!

Tips & Tricks:

-As I mentioned before, to solve the problem of bedtime leaks out the diaper, just use your regular diapers and go up a size or two.  Works great!

-To get your wiggly-worm baby to sit still for great photos, give him your iPhone, your TV remote or anything else he's not usually allowed to have that you use a lot.

-We are entering a new stage of fussiness with both ears still infected, separation anxiety, and X forming his own opinions about things he doesn't like.  If it gets to be too much and Tylenol isn't working, give him a bath.  It works like a reset button and will give you at least 10 minutes of happy baby.

Annnnnnnnnnnd...Some exciting news!  At 9 and a half months, we had our first glimpse of a tooth!!!  Don't ask.  There's no way in heeeellllll I'm getting a good picture of that.

Hands and Feet

In our neighborhood, it's customary for people to put unwanted items on their curb the weekend before trash is picked up in hopes someone will take it and save them from the $3 trash sticker that must be placed on items for the garbage people to pick up.  A very popular item is kids toys.  Last weekend, while driving around, I saw a house that had, I'm not kidding, 20 boys toddler toys neatly arranged on their curb.  All for free, just asking for someone to come take them off their hands.  Yes, yes, double yes!  I got a Little Tykes climber/gym/slide thing, a scooter, a buggy for the kid with a handle for us to push, and a foam play mat that puts together like puzzle pieces.  All too big for X right now, but perfect for the upcoming year.  I saved us like $300 in kids toys!

This post is a special tribute post to my favorite baby parts - handsies and footsies.  Oh how I love it when they are soooo tiny and chubby on the babies!  Here are some good ones.  Enjoy!

Looks professional, huh?

And P.S. - We used to struggle with night time leaks out the diapers.  Tried Pampers Nighttime diapers which were an expensive joke.  Just use your regular diapers and go up a size, people.  Works like a charm.

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  And, most importantly, Happy National Donut Day!  With pool-weather finally here, I wanted to share my list of summer related must-haves and all-around favorites.

 1.  This waterproof cell phone case is a must-have if you tend to find your phone covered up in dried up baby drool plan on doing anything near a pool or beach this summer.  And, this canvas tote would make the perfect pool/beach bag.

2.  Do you constantly find you have a phone needing recharged while you are out and about enjoying the sunshine?  This rechargeable battery pack charges your phone without needing an outlet.

3.  Keeping up with the pom-pom trend, I'm digging this swimsuit cover-up.  I want to redo our guest room in this pom-pom quilt bedding set.  I'm also getting some pom-pom garland for Xavier's 1st birthday table or a pom-pom cake topper from Etsy.  And, here's a tutorial on how to make your own pom-pom trimmed blanket!

4.  Ever get completely distracted at Target and find your basket loaded with things not on your shopping list?  This is a common occurrence for me, but it did allow me to find this awesome, EOS berry scented lotion for my purse.  It's in a somewhat large, bright colored tube, making it easier to find in my mammoth-sized purse.  I'm already a fan of the EOS chapstick, and am glad I gave their lotion a try!

5.  The color gold.  I am a recent fan of gold OPI nail polish, these gold Tori Burch sandals, this gold glitter belt, and this gold rimmed drink set from West Elm.

And, if you stopped by for the pictures, here are a few recent favorites.

Distracted by the sound of our neighbor's lawnmower (he can't see it, which makes this pic even funnier)

With my love on Mother's Day.

Because eating Puffs out of a muffin tin is waaaay more fun!

No clue.  We don't even own a dog.

Cheers to the weekend!

blankets & books

After dinner last night, we took Xavier to the library to pick up some new books.  I have totally gotten away from popular children's books over the years and am trying to catch up on what I've missed.  We received a tooooooooonnnnnnn of popular books at the baby shower (instead of cards, the invitation requested guests bring books and write messages in them instead) and have read almost all of them, but I'm ready to expand our repertoire.  The list of books I want to get for Xavier is huge, but I started with these popular favorites:

Colors by Orla Kiely
If You Give A Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff
Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Williams
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
Olivia by Ian Falconer
What Does the Fox Say? by Ylvis
Flo & Wendell by William Wegman
Gaspard on Vacation by Anne Gutman

Xavier had fun on his first trip to the library.  Here's proof.

Oooh, the better for me chew on....

Family pic in front of the silly mirror!

We seriously have so much fun wherever we go with this kid.  And today, we hung out in the front yard and read our books.

33 Things

I turned 33 this year, the day before my very first Mother's Day.  Since most of these posts are about Xavier and being a mom, I thought it would be fun to share some things about me.  So here you go, 33 things about me for my 33rd birthday!

1.  The house I grew up in had a treehouse, huge yard, front porch with tall pillars, none of which I have ever had in any of the homes I've lived in since being on my own.

2.  I have one sibling, my brother, who shares the same interests as me.  So much, in fact, that we both went to the same college, both majored in Accounting, both started our careers at Crowe Horwath, and both are CPA's.  Funny thing is, due to our age difference, we never attended the same school at the same time.

3.  I have an irrational fear of things that are 1 millionth the size of me.  Like ants and spiders.

4.  I get very excited about going to the beach.  It's all I can think about and I can't sleep the day before my trip.  But, when I get there, after a couple hours I'm bored and ready to do something else.

5.  My most favorite show ever is Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.  I cannot get enough of the girl drama.  I am also obsessed with Breaking Bad, Mad Men (before it got weird), Modern Family, and Friends and Seinfeld reruns.

6.  When drinking water at restaurants, I always order a straw.  When the glass is half empty, it scares me to think the ice might fall out onto my face.

7.  I always thought I wanted 3 kids, but can now say I don't think I could handle it!

8.  I am great at multi-tasking, am meticulous, and weirdly observant.

9.  I am the world's slowest reader.  I hate reading and will only enjoy it if it's a blog, celebrity gossip, or on the kindle.

10.  Finding a good deal gives me a high and I brag about it to everyone I run into that day.

11.  Scary movies are a huge no-no.  Even hearing scary music on something I'm watching makes me cover my eyes or turn my head down and not watch.  But, I'm always asking "What's happening?!  Is it scary?!  Tell me what's going on!"

12.  I can sing along to the entire Law & Order SVU theme.  I am married to a lawyer.  For a while, all my best friends were lawyers.  But, writing, using words properly, and public speaking, aren't things that describe me.

13.  One of my biggest pet peeves is people who cough loudly or honk when they blow their nose.  Add in that it's done by a female, and I just laugh.

14.  I refuse to eat warm and cold things together.  A warm brownie topped with ice cream (both of which I love separately) will get left on the table.

15.  I am a superstar at asking questions.  Guess it's my line of work (auditor), but I'm always getting told that I ask questions people have never been asked before (usually about products or services).

16.  On my first trip outside of the US, I went by myself to Bali to meet up with a friend who lived there.

17.  I used to play percussion in the band.  I also played the piano for a long time.

18.  Food & drinks on our back patio, with some good music and the torches lit, is one of the best things ever.

19.  I found my first gray hair at my first job out of college.

20.  I hate running.  Even at the gym, I'll do uphill walking instead of running on the treadmill.  I joined track my freshman year of high school to be with my friends.  On the day of our first practice, Coach said, "Okay, let's run a 3-mile warm-up."  I ran home and never looked back.

21.  My husband agreed to us having maternity pictures taken about a month before X was born.  Most people don't know this, but the photos we had done were all done by me, my tripod, camera with a timer, and a great photo editor software.

22.  My favorite city is Columbus, Ohio.  Whenever I'm on vacation, especially for longer than a week, I can't wait to get back to Columbus.  Cold weather, snow, hot/humid days and all!

23.  My husband and I met at a bar (Club 185 in German Village) while out with a group of mutual friends.  I picked him up while on a date with another guy.  He was currently seeing another girl and was flattered by my forwardness.

24.  My favorite season is the fall.  I love when I can start wearing hoodies again, bundle up on the couch with a blanket and hot chocolate, and the anticipation of the holidays just around the corner.

25.  I wear my hair in a top-knot 6 out of the 7 days of the week.

26.  I kind of hate the organic trend thing going on right now.  I refuse to shop at Whole Foods unless I'm going for a chocolate chip cookie or the wine tasting.  Ironically, we send Xavier to an organic day care.

27.  I can't remember the last two days in a row that I went without eating some kind of chocolate.  I have to have it daily.

28.  I adore fancy things - Louis purses, Louboutin shoes, Lexus SUV - all of which I own.

29.  There IS a perfect shade of grey, especially when it comes to paint, sweatshirts, and nail polish!

30.  I don't like Chipotle.

31.  I stalk celebrities.  I follow E!Online, TMZ, celebrity blogs, etc.  I even recently went to New York and spent a few hours on the trip walking by Jennifer Aniston and Sarah Jessica Parker's homes, grabbed cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery (where the SATC girls went in an episode), as well as tons of other celebrity sites/restaurants they visit.

32.  I document the crap out of events, vacations, our wedding, honeymoon, Xavier's life, and save it as scrapbooks, or in this case, a blog.  I love looking back and reminiscing.

33.  Creating a fun and happy life for Xavier and Steve are my number 1 priority!

So there you have it!  A little more about me!

Zoo Days!

We had another great weekend of weather, and I got a chance to spend all day Saturday with my little guy, since Steve had to work.  After an emotional trip through the automatic car wash, X and I took a short little trip to the zoo.

This kid doesn't discriminate.  The ground is just as exciting as the animals.

Spread-eagle.  That's how we roll.

He is such great company and I can't wait for another Mother/Son outing!  Here's hoping this week goes fast!