3.18.2013

Lachlan - 15 months!

Well, I officially feel like we have a little toddler instead of a baby now...so is exciting, but also sad to see him growing so quickly!  Man, I thought he couldn't sit still and behave well for his 14 month pictures...those went WAY better than this month!  He is just determined to get those stickers pulled off and there is no way he is going to sit still and give a smile.  I can honestly remember back to the first few months of these pictures and having such a difficult time with them and thinking it was going to be so great once he was like at this age and all the cute pics I would get....ha, what a dummy!  Those were the easy days cause he wasn't moving all over the place!









Has a total of 12 teeth now!  All 4 of his first molars have came in...so maybe we'll be done with teeth for a while now.


Dr. Appt Stats
Weight: 27 lbs 6 oz (94%)
Length: 31.5 in (but he was having a meltdown, so am doubtful of this measurement-- 60%)
Head: 19.5 inches (99%)

Fine/Gross Motor Skills
  • He can now open all the doors in our house, so that has been a lovely treat!
  • He quickly learned how to climb the stairs and had no fear, so will just go all the way to the top no problem.  He can crawl down also, but usually just does it for a few steps and then wants you to carry him.
  • And he is full out walking everywhere finally!  On his 14 month birthday he got brave and took a step without holding on.  A few days later he was brave enough to walk between Dustin and myself taking maybe 4-5 steps.  Every few days it just kept getting better and better for him until about this last weekend he is really comfortable with walking...he will walk to get wherever he needs to go and never crawls anymore.
Verbal/Communication Skills
  • Says "Up" and points upstairs when he wants to go up there to play.
  • Says "more" when he signs it.
  • Says "Hello" when he pretends to talk on the phone.
  • List of words he says often: Up, More, Hello, Dada, Duck  (Still not hearing mama or hi with any real frequency lately)
  • Waves bye-bye
  • Very obvious when he wants you to read-- he'll usually bring a book over and shove it at you and then plop down on your lap.
Eating


He has been Starvin Marvin lately...it is seriously shocking how much he eats.  Last week at school, one day he ate 3 rib patties, full fruit serving, and full veggie serving plus milk at lunch.  Seriously?!  Then another day that week I have no clue what he all ate, but his teachers told Dustin at pick-up that they had to stop him cause was afraid he was going to make himself sick.  He just eats large portions at most meals, but then also needs frequent snacks on top of it!
Sleep
  • No change from 14 months.  Of course I always wish we could get the occasional weekend where he would go 12+ hours at night, but overall he has been a saint with sleeping.  On the weekends, can leave him in his crib for at least 30 minutes while he just sits and patiently waits for us to get him...I keep waiting for him to grow out of that and start screaming for us, but so far so good. 

Favorite Things
  • Still loves all the same things he did at 14 months.
  • Has really got into the iPad and iPhones.  Grandma came to visit and he got used to playing on her ipad each morning, so we have now downloaded some of those apps.  There is one called Music Sparkles where you can play a xylophone, but it also has background music to play.  He LOVES the banjo background music and will bop his head up and down to it.
  • We took the seat out of his fisher-price piano, so now he can stand in there.  He loves playing in there and clapping and bouncing to the music.
  • He loves when he gets to go bye-bye.  And he doesn't mind at all wearing his shoes now!
  • We had some nice weather and went to the park...he LOVED the swings and was so sad when he had to get off of them.
  • He has a new Sesame Street fire truck that makes a ton of sounds and he can push or ride.  He loves doing both.  It has a seat that lifts up, so he has had the time of his life loading random objects in there.  If I ever can't find something, that is going to be the first place I look!  As an example, he currently has in there some clips from our paper window blinds, some crumpled paper he took out of the trash can, and one of his books.  He really likes putting a sippy cup or snack in there and hauling it around too.

Typical Day at 15 months:
  • Exact same as 14 months! 

And here are some pics from the last month...
LOVES to bang on computers

He probably said "Hello" at least 25 times here






ALWAYS sits with his little feet crossed.
This was actually my old snowsuit (so is why it is a little girly)...the hat is his cause the hood on the snowsuit was cone-shaped and would not stay on his head!

Did not really enjoy it cause was basically sleeting out, so probably was hurting his little face

Not usually how he sleeps, but frequently find him in odd positions


Loved playing with the shredded paper or listening to me shred documents.
 

Wearing my shoes WITHOUT any tears!

Attempting to work his puzzle (and after his 2nd haircut)!













3.10.2013

Pinterest Food Reviews - Part 2

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta (C-):
I got this from Plain Chicken's blog and I usually like most of her recipes.  All of the ingredients in this sounded awesome...but they just didn't all come together in a way that grabbed me.  It was edible, but definitely not anything great.  This I would not make again. 

Here is her recipe:
INGREDIENTS
8 ounces penne pasta
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp dry ranch dressing seasoning mix
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup cooked, chopped bacon
2 cups cooked chopped chicken

DIRECTIONS
In a large pot, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

In same pot melt butter. Add flour and stir. Cook flour for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in milk. Continue cooking until sauce thickens. Stir in ranch dressing mix and cheese. Stir until cheese melts. Add chicken, bacon and pasta.  Stir to coat.

Yogurt Melts (B):
So this turned out really well, I just gave it a B because for some reason Lachlan will NOT eat these. He'll eat ice cream and he'll eat regular yogurt, so no clue what is wrong with these.  You can buy any type of yogurt for these- I used flavored Chobani greek yogurt.  Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper and just drop tiny dabs of yogurt on here and freeze for a few hours.  I then put them all in a container to store in the freezer.

Roasted Cabbage (A-):
I think I mostly enjoyed this since cabbage is not something we usually eat...so was just nice for a change of pace!  This recipe was very easy, so another bonus!  This is from Martha Stewart's site.

INGREDIENTS
1 green cabbage, sliced
EVOO
Caraway Seeds
Salt
Pepper

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Brush olive oil on the baking sheet and then put down the slices of cabbage.  Brush more oil on top of each one.  Sprinkle with seasonings- I used caraway seeds, salt, and pepper.  Bake for about 40 minutes or until tender.

Marshmallow Krispie Brownies (A):
I was so excited to run across these on Pinterest because my mom made these when we were kids.  They were just as good as I remembered...MMmmmmmm!


INGREDIENTS
1 box of brownie mix (recommend getting one with chocolate chunks in it)
Vegetable Oil (amount per brownie directions)
Eggs (amount per brownie directions)
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup Rice Krispies cereal

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 ºF. Grease bottom of 8x8-inch pan.  Prepare and bake brownies according to package directions. Remove from oven.  Sprinkle marshmallows on hot brownies. Return to oven for 3 minutes.  Place chocolate chips and peanut butter in medium saucepan. Cook on low heat. Stir constantly until chips are melted. Add rice cereal. Mix well. Spread mixture over marshmallow layer. Refrigerate until chilled.



3.05.2013

Pinterest Food Reviews - Part 1

Lately I've made a lot of recipes I've pinned from Pinterest and thought I'd give my feedback. 

Toddler Muffins (B+) :
Based on the overwhelming positive reviews on allrecipes, I had high hopes for these...I think too high of hopes!  They were honestly just kind of bland...didn't taste good, but didn't taste bad.  I will make these again, but will experiment with adding some other flavors.  Some of the other reviews mention applesauce, raisins, cinnamon, etc.  Lachlan didn't immediately take to them, but after eating them a few times he grew to LOVE them. I hope next time I make these with a few revisions they will be an A+ recipe!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, or to taste
2 large bananas, mashed
1 (4.5 ounce) jar baby food squash
2 carrots, grated
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oat bran
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 24 mini muffin cups or 12 standard muffin cups.
  2. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in the mashed bananas, squash, carrots, and eggs. Stir in the flour, oat bran, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt until just combined. Spoon the batter equally into the prepared muffin cups.
  3. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Store at room temperature for up to two days, or freeze.



Lemon Garlic Green Beans (C+):
These were really just "okay" but I did change up the original recipe.  They were fine to eat with dinner, but I don't think I would be jumping to make them again.  I'd definitely be up for trying out some other recipes instead.  We really love garlic and just couldn't taste it at all.  Recipe idea adapted from She Wears Many Hats blog


Ingredients:
1 large bag cleaned/trimmed green beans (think mine was about 2.5 lbs)
5-6 slices bacon
1 lemon
1 tsp garlic powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
 

Directions

1.  Prepare a large bowl of ice water and set aside.
2.  In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook green beans for about 3 minutes.  In large pan/skillet, fry bacon.
3.  Drain beans and transfer them to the bowl of ice water.  Once cool, drain beans, and proceed to next steps.
4.  Remove bacon.  Add green beans into the bacon grease tossing to coat and continue cooking over medium-high heat.
5.  Add juice from lemon, garlic powder, and salt and pepper.  Continue to toss and cook until desired tenderness and done-ness.  Crumble bacon and stir into beans.

 


Parmesan Broccoli Cauliflower (C+):
This was on same level as the green beans- just "okay."  I probably would not make again and in my opinion the veggies taste just as good roasted and are a lot less work!


Ingredients:
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/4 cups milk
4oz (1/2 package) cream cheese, cubed
1/4 cup plus 2 T parmesan cheese, divided
2 T butter, melted
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning, divided
1 pkg (16 oz) frozen broccoli
1 pkg (16 oz) frozen cauliflower
1 large onion, chopped
2 T butter (not melted)
2 T flour
 

Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix bread crumbs, 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons melted butter and 1/2 teaspoon of the Italian seasoning in small bowl. Set aside. Cut up any large broccoli or cauliflower florets into bite-size pieces.
  2. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in large skillet on medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir about 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in flour, remaining 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, garlic salt and pepper. Add milk; cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add cream cheese and remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese; cook and stir until cream cheese is melted. Add vegetables; toss gently to coat. Spoon into 2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle top evenly with crumb mixture.
  3. Bake 40 minutes or until heated through and top is lightly browned.


3.02.2013

Lachlan - 14 months

Blogging Frequency = Pathetic.  I know.  Unfortunately, I've had this post written up for a while, but have not been able to figure out how to resize pictures with Windows8....so since it takes a long time to upload full-sized pics, I'm just going to do a few in this post.

So, lately Lachs has been a little bit of what I describe as a "handful."  Evidence is trying to get his 14-month pictures.  It starts with numerous pictures and struggles with getting him to just leave the sticker on his shirt.


Next we tried giving him distractions such as the phone and some animal crackers, but that didn't help too much.  So I didn't feel like I got a cute smiley picture, but my pics sum up how he is at this age!


No change in clothing sizing.  We did order him a pair of shoes (think he is a 5.5).  Anyways, he screamed and did not like his shoes at all, so has yet to wear them.


He has got a ton more teeth.  His front bottom right tooth came in (to complete the set of 4 down there).  On his right side, both his top and bottom molars have started to come in-- the bottom one is really coming along!
Fine/Gross Motor Skills
  • Has learned to steer pretty well with his walkers.  He sometimes will get stuck and immediately goes into panic mode, but a lot of times we tell him to turn around and he will. 
  • Just recently will balance standing still for a short while (maybe 5 seconds or so)
  • ON his 14-month birthday he finally got brave and took a step without holding on to anything towards Dustin.
  • Will drop items into a Kleenex box or milk jug and then figure out how to get them out.
  • Not making much progress in the world of puzzles or his shape shorter.  But he has made progress in the classic toy that has 5 buttons/gimmicks that once you master a little animal pops up.  He can do the middle 3 now.  He likes the ring stacker, but does not understand there is a correct order.
Verbal/Communication Skills
There has not been a ton of improvement here and in fact I don't think we've heard "Hi" in the last month.  I do think he understands a whole lot of what we are saying.  I can tell him that Dada is sleeping and to go get him and he'll immediately head to the bedroom.  I can tell him to go get a book and he will bring me one, so I think he knows some of his toys.
 
Eating
Does really well eating all of the school food.  We give him about 15 oz. of milk each day.  We have to watch his dairy intake because of his constipation.  It gets a little frustrating at times because he'll love a food one day and then the next just refuses it and will dump it all on the floor.  He has got in a bad habit of putting his food on the floor when he doesn't want it....which makes me really mad cause then it just goes to waste and I can't save it to try again later!  Some days he will take 3 bites of a meal and then sign "all done."  I initially would get worried and try to force him to eat, but quit doing that and figure if he gets hungry he will eat and let me know.  He is very good with signing eat when he wants something. 
Sleep
Sleeping 10.5-11 hours each night.  Usually sleeping around 2 hours at daycare for 1 nap.  At home we've been trying to keep with the 2 naps cause seems so sleepy in the morning, but this is getting to be a struggle.  I think he naps so well in the morning that he doesn't really want to take an afternoon nap then.  So probably a matter of time before we may have to transition to one. 
Favorite Things
  • Jabbering a ton of nonsense
  • ANY book, but still loves the flaps the best
  • His zebra walker
  • Throwing ball back and forth; Throwing ball from upstairs through the railing into the family room and then we throw it back up to him 
  • Crawling into a closet, pantry, bathroom, etc and closes the door to play peek-a-boo 
  • Stuffed animals that talk/sing/move
  • My old rocking chair and Sesame Street table
  • Animal crackers-- we bought a huge tub at Sams and appears to be a mistake...he just LOVES them and I think is impeding with him wanting to eat dinner cause just wants animal
  • Disobeying...loves to completely ignore when we tell him "no" and will even look right at us when doing something he knows he shouldn't be.  He really likes to climb up on the fireplace or bang on the laptops.
  • Putting anything and everything in his mouth.
  • He likes covering his mouth on and off like when making Indian sounds.   He also will run his finger over his lips.
  • Still loves bath time, but he has graduated from his duck to the regular big boy tub!  He loves all the water and splashing.  He was always trying to stand up or crawl out of the duck, so figured it was time to say goodbye!  The duck now sits in his room and he loves just pointing at it and saying "duck"
  • Pointing at lights
  • Pretending to talk on the phone-- holds it up by his ear
  • Loves the wheels on the bus app on the iphone and watches that a lot.  He is getting better with pointing and swiping things on the iphone-- pretty amazing to me.
Typical Day at 14 months:
  • 6:45-7:00- Wake up, get dressed and in the car if weekday.  On weekend, will usually let him in the crib for 15-20 minutes and then get him out to play.  
  • 7:00- Prune juice with Miralax
  • 8:00- Breakfast (muffins, pancakes, waffles, etc.)
  • 9:30- Nap if at home (usually 1.5 hours)
  • 11:30- Lunch 
  • 12:00- Nap if at school  (usually 1.5 hours)
  • 2:15- Afternoon Snack
  • 2:30- Nap if at home (usually 1 hour)
  • 4:00- Afternoon Snack2  
  • 6:00- Dinner (Roasted Veggies, Meatballs, Peaches, Pears, Cheese-stuffed Shells, Lasagna)
  • 7:00- Bath every 2-3 nights (We have tried to move this up a tad earlier due to him sleeping so late)
  • 7:15-7:30- Read him a few books in the rocking chair and let him have his pacifier.  We usually read a Lullaby book with music, some Ernie/Bert Good Night book, and recently added in the Going to Bed Book.  He has started whimpering a little when we go to put him down, but he stops within 10 seconds of walking out the door.