Toddles & Kisses

Okay, so don't be upset...but I've totally been holding out in you all....Carly is walking!!! Well, toddling for about 3 feet then plopping down. She took her first steps on June 8th, she was 9 months & 1 week old that day...and decided it was the time to take the plunge! She is now officially my little toddler! (*tear) I love watching her toddle around because she is SO happy, I mean, THRILLED. Carly was born ready to walk and I knew it was only a matter of time before she was taking those first steps. She was standing on our laps at 3 1/2 months...yea, our newborn phase was short-lived.

The reason I haven't blogged about her walking yet was only because I was hoping to get a good picture of her in action but she is so quick they all come out blurry (I've only tried with my iPhone camera). So, after a few weeks of no luck, I decided I needed to spill the beans-photo or not! 

That's about as good as the photos get!

She is also kissing now...oh my gosh she just melts me! I'm totally addicted to asking her for kisses now! We say, "Carly can I have a kiss?" while tapping our lips and she leans in, mouth open, and kisses us. It's just the sweetest thing in the whole world. 

Aaaaand she even tries to kiss Duke :) such a good boy, so tolerante. 

Her coordination with self feeding has gotten better & better! So most of her meals are finger foods which is a total mess, but the dogs love her even more now! 

"Wait! Did you just take my picture?! I'm a mess Mama!"

Her new favorite food: CHEESE. Lots and lots of CHEESE. Cubes of gold.

Her finger foods currently consist of about a 1/4 cup of any of the following, usually 3 served at each lunch & dinner: 

Cheddar cheese cubes

Mango chunks

Avocado chunks 

Peas

Banana chunks

Yellow squash chunks, steamed

Cooked pasta noodles (elbow)

Cheerios

Steamed carrot pieces

Watermelon

Garbanzo beans (cut in half)

And the occasional French fry when we eat out....she goes kind of crazy for a fry so we keep that to a minimum haha!

Crazy for the fries....

She isn't super picky, but she likes what she likes and rather than battling every meal with something new, I stick to her favorites while she is in this new self feeding phase. I'm also not super concerned about trying foods that my husband and I don't normally eat, because I don't really see the point. 

She is also becoming a sippy cup pro! Check out that hair....(real reason for the picture).

Sorry for the blogging delay! I hope everyone is enjoying the summer!

Carly's Amazing Father

There is nothing like watching the love between Dad & Daughter...and I am lucky enough to witness this love everyday. My husband has taken the role of father in stride. The job of a dad is not an easy one, even just 9 months in. It takes courage, wits, patience, limitless arm strength to play airplane, reflexes like a cat, and a strong stomach! My husband has got it down (except for the random diaper explosion that the poor man just can't handle alone...men, lol). There is a certain presence that he has mastered that Carly understands means business and it has rescued me a few times, love him for that. For those that are soon-to-be dads or maybe already are dads that need a little reminding, here is a list of Codes for Fathers of Daughters:

1. Love her child unconditionally. 

2. Push that stroller, no matter how colorful it may be. It's good for you.

3. Wear her because she loves being that close to your heart.

4. Take naps with her.

5. Embrace her need to explore- but never let her go.

6. Always kiss her goodbye & tell her you love her before you leave. Never forget.

7. Share your breakfast (lunch...or dinner) with her if it's her favorite.

8. It is your job to be the silly, funny, goofy one that makes her laugh.

9. Let her be girly- it's a good thing.

10. Most importantly, don't blink. She will grow up fast.

I love you babe, you are such a spectacular father. Carly is so so lucky to have you!

Happy Father's Day. 

Good Morning Sunshine

"Most important meal of the day" 

Let's talk breakfast! But before we start, a little background: I used to hate mornings (still do sometimes)  if they began before 10am...sometimes 11am, but of course that was cut off and forced to change against my will once Carly was born. Before Carly was on a good sleep schedule (and before I was a good mom and noticed her signs of tiredness), she would go to bed as late as midnight sometimes, which enabled me to sleep in until 9:30/10am sometimes! Woo! She also co-slept with me, so she slept a whole lot sounder and would not wake up early unless I physically woke her up. It was amazing...except for the achy back in the morning and occasional kick in the face in the middle of the night (little angel...). I wouldn't go back and change a thing because it worked for us, until it didn't. Once I stopped nursing Carly (mostly due to her disinterest and ever emerging teeth) and when it was just time for me to let go of the newborn status and embrace the infant-soon-to-be-toddler status, I began sleep training. Holy sleep training, Batman! I was not ready for this, but knew it had to happen. After one night of pure craziness followed by the earliest morning I had seen in 10 years (like before Starbucks even opens kind of early!), I knew I needed to suit up for battle. Ingredients for a superb iced coffee, stock pile of makeup removing wipes, MAC Studio Fix{this tired mug} concealer, and recipe for a delicious (worth-the-wake-up) breakfast. So here's what I came up with....

For my morning iced coffee I use:

 4 tsp. Starbucks Iced VIA Caramel (1/2 a packet)

3 oz. Silk Pure Almond Vanilla Almond Milk 

1 oz. International Delight Fat Free Caramel Macchiato creamer

1-2 handfuls of ice 

*Tastes very similar to a Starbucks caramel macchiato, which is my favorite!

For breakfast...

A tasty breakfast full of yumminess...so yummy I actually look forward to it! 

2 slices sourdough bread (I also use the wheat sandwich thins- both from Costco)

2 slices bacon (I use the pre-cooked so all I have to do is microwave it, heck ya!)

1 egg

1 slice Sharp cheddar cheese

A few slices of avocado

Salt & pepper to taste

A version using an English muffin and adding tomato!

Typical morning spread: my iced coffee, my breakfast sandwich, and Carly's oatmeal! I mash up half a banana into her oatmeal and then snack on the other half of banana myself.

It's delicious. Yes, I realize I could make a lower calorie version of this that would taste half as good blah blah, but I don't. This is how I like it and I've been back at my pre-pregnancy weight for a few months now so it must not be too bad ;)

I make this (or a version of this) every single morning. This combined with my iced coffee really helps me wake up and be in a good mood! I am not always guaranteed a good lunch, so I make sure that my breakfast is filling and most importantly, AWESOME. One morning, I was out of eggs...I was forced to eat cereal....lets just say that the rest of my day was ruined and just not as good as normal. 

Nine Months Old

It's hard to believe the title of this blog post....my little newborn baby is already 9 months old- she's turning into my little girl. I have been holding off on this post until I went to Carly's 9 month checkup so I could post her current stats: 29.25" long and 19.9lbs! Almost time for the big girl car seat (*sad face*). She has grown so much since her 6 month check up where she was 26.75" long and 16.13lbs.

Mama's little princess :)

 

Carly is a moving machine!! She crawls everywhere, and quick! She also pulls herself up on everything (including my leg while I am trying to do anything...), and just recently can stand for up to 15-20 seconds bouncing without holding onto anything- she squeals with delight! She also crawls over to her Sit to Stand walker and then proceeds to walk around with it. I know. She will be walking before we know it. We are SO NOT ready for that, however, I know she is so I will be happy when she accomplishes a little more independence (....I think....).

Someone just spotted Daddy coming home....

 

We have been pretty busy these last couple of weeks so that's what caused the delay in blogging (Sorry everyone!)- well that and Carly is teething again, causing loooooong exhausting nights followed by days where I am lucky to catch a nap only if she naps too (...haha...yeah. naps are a joke around here). So unfortunately, blogging has been the last thing I have time for when I've got a cranky baby on hand. 

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day! I didn't get too many pictures on Memorial Day because I was focusing on family time- not photo ops, but I can sum up our day in the few pictures I did get! We spent the day outdoors, enjoying some sunshine & quality time.

 Crockpot Buffalo Wings (I will post the recipe once I get my recipe page going)

 One of the benefits of having a lemon tree.....

Homemade lemonade!

 Simple and delicious! We might have added a splash of Malibu rum at one point...but who knows...

...and lots of relaxing in the spa :) Such a good day, enjoying each others company

and doing a whole lot of nothing!

 

Carly is getting better and better with her finger foods and that is what I have been incorporating daily to hopefully get her to the self-feeding point by 1 year! Love feeding her, but why selfishly handicap her when she does have to grow up sometime!

 Downside? It can get rather messy....

 But look at that smile! What's a little extra time cleaning up when I get to see that smile? I still feed her breakfast in the morning because that's oatmeal and I'm not crazy. She gets finger foods for snacks and lunch time, and then dinner (depending on what it is) is partially spoon fed, while also allowing her to self feed a little. Due to the fact that she is still learning to coordinate her actions to feed herself sufficiently, I spoon feed her two meals so I know that she is getting enough. Of course she is still getting 3-5 bottles a day so we are not at the 100% solids point yet- that won't be until about a year old.

Some of the snacks she gets are:

 banana

 cheddar cheese cubes

puffs (she likes these from Plum Organics)

 steamed carrots

 

We only recently entered the non-pureed food world (like only a week ago) so we haven't experimented with very many dinner options yet, but so far she has gotten:

 peas & carrots (amazingly she likes peas whole- she couldn't stand them pureed!)

 overcooked pasta with avocado

 cucumber & avocado chunks

 mashed potatoes

I am looking forward to trying other things, along with the ease of not having to puree everything before serving it, not that it's hard or time consuming, but it does create one more thing to clean up-and who wants that?!

 

Our most recent ABC girls play date was hosted at our friend Jackie's house and we spent the morning out by the pool enjoying some fresh air and discussing the latest, over a potluck brunch! Unfortunately, this is about as good as the pictures get these days- these girls just won't hold still for long! They are all so busy with their own agendas....things to discover and grass to taste!

 Our brunch was delicious, I wish I had gotten a picture of everything! We had mini quinoa quiches, coconut-lime-banana-nut bread, Greek yogurt parfaits with fresh strawberries, freshly brewed blueberry mojito iced tea (UH-mazing), and I brought a sort-of strawberry bruschetta. "Sort-of"?? Well, here's my thing: I prefer strawberries in the freshest state possible. The recipes I found for this all asked you to heat the strawberries with sauces and such, which I am sure all tasted amazing, but it just didn't sound appealing to me for a morning brunch. I chose to create my own thing using ideas from the recipes. I used a baguette (not toasted), goat cheese spread, freshly chopped basil, and freshly sliced strawberries. True, this was in part because I ended up prepping at Jackie's house that morning due to poor time management, but I think it came out very tasty!

 

In other news, Carly now gets into everything so I am being forced to babyproof, something I have been putting off, but I am now left with no other option.. For example she will not leave the poor dogs water bowl alone...

I know this isn't a super important one, but I would like to figure a way to prevent her from getting soaked every time she goes outside. I think we will get baby gates for the kitchen and back door. Back door you wonder? Well the screen door that goes out to the patio is one of those retracting doors that rolls up rather than swinging out like a normal door. So...because of the nature of this door, there is nothing keeping her from just pushing through the screen and it's SUPER annoying to always tell her to leave it alone (Duke has also ran through it a few times which although hilarious, not ideal!). We are renting our house so it was not something we installed, but I'm thinking that a baby gate will solve the issue and still allow us to have the door open for a nice breeze.

 

Which leads me to my next thought....

 Will I ever be able to shower alone again?