Lately

Lately our house is filly with a lot of this....

Lots of naps whenever we can get them in. 


Jackson is doing better about naps. Just recently starting to have some trouble falling asleep on his own, but overall doing good with naps. Yay! I've noticed he's getting crabby the more tired he is. We love sleep, we must teach him this!

Oh my goodness look at how cute he is! We just got this bumbo seat a couple days ago and we're practicing sitting up by ourselves. Man is he good! He starts leaning forward after a while, but little practice here and there and he is doing well. 


He's loving tummy time more and more. Really moving those legs and arms. I swear one day he is going to take off!


He's also trying really hard to roll over. He has it at about 90% figured out. He loves laying on his side, and falls asleep that way :)


After his 4 month check up the doc gave us the 'ok' to start solid foods. So we're going to be introducing them slowly at first to see how he takes to the different textures. How exciting! Now to put my baby food making skills to the test!


The doctor held him up and had him stand up (with help obviously) and noted how strong his legs were. We do practice that too! Jackson loves to bounce on his legs when I hold him when I'm sitting so he can look around. I think we're going to have a runner!


Here are his stats at 4 months:


-Weight: 15lb 5 oz
-Height/length: 25 inches
-Head: 41cm


Goodness! For the %tiles I believe he's just below 50% in all categories (after looking it up, the doc didn't mention these). Overall, little bean stalk is looking good!

Jack Jack is 4 months old

Man how time has just flown by?! Hard to believe 4 months ago we were meeting this little guy for the first time. But how amazing these months have been and what joy it has been to get to know each other and grow with each new day.

His 4 month check up will be in a couple days so I'll have all his stats then, but this "little" guy is growing great! We're almost rolling over and sitting up with help. Napping much better, still with room for improvement, and sleeping through most of the night, though with set backs here and there.

I'm in love :)

A Year Ago.....

A year ago Wednesday January 11, I woke up to find out that we would be welcoming a little Dewey into this world. Hard to believe it has been a year already. On the other hand, having been pregnant for over 75% of the year I can believe it has been a whole year!

My pregnancy was a pretty good one. I had the nausea/morning sickness in the beginning until about week 14, which I thought would never end. I started having the braxton hicks contractions at about week 32. I had to stop wearing my wedding ring at week 28, boy did I have swelling! And our little Jackson made his entrance fashionably late (after all he is a Dewey!) 5 days past his due date.

Looking back, I thuroughly enjoyed my pregnancy. I'm so glad I took pictures of my progress so I can look back to see how I grew. And so my kids can look back to see what mommy looked like.

Here's to this year and all it holds!

Good Things to Come

There are so many good things to come this year. Starting off with some cool goodies I got for Christmas.

A food processor and spring form pans. I can make cheesecake now! And other healthier things of course. And Canning books and some essentials to get me started. Can. Not. Wait! I will be a food-making machine this year. I'm looking forward to making baby food when Jackson starts eating solids/mushy foods. Thanks to my beautiful Mommy and my wonderful Aunt Tracy!

Hey Little Muffin

Starting the new year off right, and also continuing to eat healthy since being pregnant, I'm making better choices about what we eat as a family. Well Jackson doesn't really have much food choice yet, but soon enough.

I'm also striving to save as much money as I can when buying groceries. So meal planning is a must. I'm trying to make ahead as much as I can and keep our freezer stocked with pre made spaghetti sauces and muffins. I like the idea of having healthy choices for a quick grab 'n go for breakfast that isn't drive through. We don't usually do fast food anymore anyways. Gosh, it's probably been months since we've had drive through food.


Whole wheat oat muffins
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
**optional: 2 tableapoons flaxseed


The flaxseed is the extra healthy kick and good for you too! The taste doesn't change much, just gives it more of a nutty flavor.


In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients, and flaxseed if you use it. In another bowl whisk eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Pre heat oven to 400°F. Fill greased or paper lined cups in a muffin pan 2/3 the way full. I used a small ice cream scoop to fill paper cups. Bake for 15-17 min.

I couldn't wait, they were just sitting right there, staring at me. Yum!

Have a great week!

{Life in photos}

Pictures. Some recent, some older. Random. Don't you just love pictures?!

This whole blogging from my phone is pretty handy especially since I take so many pictures of Jackson with my phone.

Wearing my baby

One of my favorite things to do with Jackson is wear him in my wrap. I love the feeling of having him close and cuddley and it's super easy to carry him!

He loves going outside, it's almost a calming effect. It usually puts him to sleep so it's a great tool for napping.

It took some practice to wrap it on me, thankfully it came with an instruction manual!

I love our cuddle time!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Whipped these up the other night to use up the bell peppers before they went bad. Wow!!
Ingredients:
3 bell peppers--I used green and 3, but had enough stuffing for more
1 lb ground meat--I used spicy pork sausage, and I recommend it!
1 box of stuffing--I used chicken flavored
Slice tops off bell peppers and de-seed. Cook meat until brown and make stuffing according to the package. Pre-heat oven to 350°. Place peppers in casserole dish and stuff with sausage and stuffing. Cook in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until peppers are soft/cooked.
A pretty quick meal and such great flavor! Since I only had 3 bell peppers I had a lot of filling left over, which was great by itself!
And by the way, publishing tthis from my phone to give it a try.

{my world}

Just have to share...

This little guy is going to take off. He's already kicking and moving his legs like crazy. Once he gets going, he's never going to stop.

He loves his little play mat/gym. He's grabbing toys and pulling things towards him. Interpret: House must be baby proofed ASAP!

He's munching on his fingers and drooling (has since early December). He sucks on his bibs/burp clothes. Teething anyone? He's been pretty fussy this week and not napping/sleeping/eating well. Teething? Growing? Little man seems to be uncomfortable. Poor guy. Just wants to cuddle with mommy. I can deal with that.

Thanksgiving...yes this is late I realize that!

This year for Thanksgiving it was just us three. I was still on maternity leave and Josh got the day off, yay! Knowing we were going to be heading to Colorado in just a week, I didn't want to make too much food. The left overs lasted all week. What great left overs!

Jackson and I were up at the crack of dawn, or an hour or two before that. I love watching the Macy's Day parade every year so we got to do that. I hope to keep this tradition for years with Jackson :)

I didn't want to make too much and what I did make I decided at the last minute to make, minus the ham. For not having all the ingredients, I'd say I did pretty good! This was Jackson's first Thanksgiving, though he probably won't remember it. Next year will be more fun for him.

Here is our day in pictures with a few recipes to follow. I think I need to make a batch of mini pumpkin cheesecakes to keep on hand :)

The appetizer spread: Raspberry jam & Cream cheese; Pesto & goat cheese, Pumpkin Pie Chex mix

Our Thanksgiving Dinner spread of food!

Sweet Potato Casserole

The FAMOUS Cranbery Casserole. Recipe here. This is a Thanksgiving tradition!

Made up my own version of Green Bean Casserole with ingredients I had. A new twist!

Brown sugar glazed ham

And my first attempt at cheesecake. Mini Pumpkin Cheesecake. WOW!!

Little guy was all tuckered out!

And here are a couple of the recipes I used. Definitely going to be making these pumpkin cheesecakes throughout the year!!

 

Individual Pumpkin Spice Cheesecakes

From Can you stay for dinner?
(recipe adapted from Cooks Illustrated)
makes 12
For Crust:
5 oz graham crackers (9 whole crackers)
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted (3/4 of a stick)
For Filling:
2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 egg yolk

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Generously coat each cup of a standard sized muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Grind graham crackers in a food processor. Or, smash in a zip lock bag :) Whisk in spices until evenly combined. Stir in melted butter and press mixture firmly into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool pan on a wire rack.
4. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the pumpkin, flour, spices, salt and vanilla. Add the eggs and yolk; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour over prepared crust.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until center is just set. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight. I did these overnight. Worked great!
6. Garnish the cheesecakes with a generous dollop of whipped cream if desired.

Sweet Potato Casserole
www.foodnetwork.com

Filling:

• 3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk

Topping:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Filling:
In a large bowl combine all the filling ingredients. Transfer to a buttered 1 1/2 quart casserole dish.


Topping:
In a medium bowl combine the brown sugar, flour, and butter until moist and the mixture clumps together. Stir in the pecans and spread over the top of the sweet potatoes in an even layer. Bake until the top is golden, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve hot.