16 months

Ezra turned 16 months a few days ago. He is turning into a little boy before our eyes. Here are some things about Ezra lately:

-He is pretty dramatic lately. He is in a clingy, needy phase, and if I am doing anything around the house and not paying attention to him, he is right below me, grabbing my legs and not letting me walk anywhere, wanting to be held.
-He is sleeping well...12 or so hours a night, still two naps most days. Lately he has been waking up earlier than I would like (before 6:30) so it has worked a couple of days in a row to go in and tell him it's still night time and to go back to sleep (it is, after all, still dark outside).
-He loves to say new words, but his favorite these days is "BYE" over and over again, especially if Chad is leaving for work or we are going somewhere.
-His little personality is developing...when we go out to the grocery store or run errands somewhere, he loves to play shy with anyone who wants to talk to him, squinting his eyes and smiling really big and then hiding his face in my shoulder, and eventually saying "hi" to them over and over again.
-These days he enjoys an audience. If he sees that he can get a laugh out of you, he will act really goofy and weird. I'm sure he inherited that directly from Chad. Ezra has been hanging out a lot by the Christmas tree, because the Christmas tree room is also his play room. I thought about not putting ornaments on, but then I decided it would be fine. Most of my ornaments aren't really breakable or something I would be devastated if they got messed up.
One day he just got in his chair and looked at the pretty lights on the tree.
My dad came to our house for Thanksgiving.
One day I was in Ezra's room straightening things up and getting his laundry, which is kept in his closet. He saw the hangers and the little shoe shelf and decided that would be a nice little spot to sit. There is a video below, but I thought his proud little smile in this picture was so cute.

A couple of videos: I tried to download this one with the videos from October, but I was over my vimeo limit so I had to wait. This is from the same trip that Chad and Ezra took to Palo Duro at the end of October:

Ezra's first hike from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

In the Closet from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Monthly menu-December

It's been months since I've posted any menus or recipes, and I'm sure no one has noticed, but I have decided to start posting them again, if for no other reason it is an easy way to refer back when I am planning another month's menu. When we got back from camp I was excited to cook again but soon got in a rut. I realized that I didn't like the menu planning part. I actually enjoy grocery shopping, especially if I get to be alone. So I came up with a solution: plan once a month, shop every week. I bought myself a dry erase month calendar at Target and now I write down not only each daily meal but also our other commitments. Here is my menu for December. Many of these you have probably seen on my blog before. Also, most of the time I don't write down a side dish--I just alternate between a roasted veggie of some kind (asparagus when in season, broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes, etc.). I love getting ideas from other websites and blogs, so maybe I can give someone else an idea to get out of a menu planning rut. Oh, also, I am going to put a star by the recipes that I think are exceptionally good.

12/1: *cheddar baked chicken (thanks Hollie for this delicious recipe!) and corn spoonbread
12/2: Slow cooker Sloppy joes and sweet potato fries
12/3: Pizza (I got an idea from my mom to buy the frozen bread dough loaves and use it as the crust; just let the dough rise as usual and roll it out to fit your pan or pizza stone. Also, we love Newman's Own marinara sauce on our pizza) I have instituted Friday as homemade pizza day in the Montandon house
12/4: Mexican crock pot chicken tacos
12/5: take-out for lunch, leftovers for dinner
12/6: Thai lemon beef served over rice noodles
12/7: Don't know yet
12/8: *Cheddar chicken chowder with biscuits (frozen)
12/9: Leftovers
12/10: Pizza
12/11: *Marcella Hazan's roast chicken with lemons and roasted vegetables
12/12: Take-out for lunch, church class party
12/13: Southwestern chicken and corn cakes with avocado cream (using the roasted chicken from Saturday on this and 12/14's meal)
12/14: *Sesame noodles with chicken
12/15: Potato bacon torte
12/16: Sticky chicken
12/17: Pizza
12/18: Spaghetti
12/19: Takeout for lunch, leftovers for dinner (are you seeing a pattern for Sundays here?)
12/20: Cayenne-spiked drumsticks (these are from a weight watchers cookbook and they are yummy. I couldn't find the recipe online so I will post it later).
12/21: *Creamy chicken enchiladas
12/22: *Marinated grilled flank steak
12/23: Orange chicken with brown rice (from the Best Light Recipe cookbook, will post recipe later)
12/24: Pizza
12/25: ????
12/26: ????
12/27: ????
12/28: ????
12/29: Almond-crusted chicken
12/30: BBQ Sausage (no recipe: buy smoked sausage, grill, use STUBBS and only STUBBS barbecue sauce)
12/31: Pizza

Happy planning, cooking and eating!

(16-month post for Ezra coming soon.)

Where's your bellybutton?

Where's your bellybutton? from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

November so far

November hasn't been quite as eventful as October was, but Ezra has been up to a lot. First, he has started learning to feed himself. It's messy, but he has to learn sometime. He prefers dipping the wrong end of his spoon into his food and eating it that way. Hey, whatever works. Sweet boy.
Sometimes, you just have to get the food in your mouth FAST.In the front of our house is Ezra's play room. Most of his toys are in there, and his chair and a small TV with a built-in DVD player. When Ezra wants to watch a DVD, he walks in the blue room and sits in his chair. He is mesmerized by Praise Baby and Baby Einstein, so I really have to be conscious about limiting his watching. But, it is GREAT for when I need to clean up in the kitchen or do any housework really, or if I need to make a phone call. He is silent.
Ezra seems to be doing new things and saying new words every day. At 14 months, he learned to walk, but it took another month or so for him to be really steady, and to be able to stand up again from a sitting down position without crawling over to pull up on something. He says lots of words, mostly repeating what we say, but some of it is identifying objects and people. "Hi" and "Bye" have become favorites, along with the waving. If he wants us to play with him (chase him) sometimes he'll say "Getchyoooo" or "BOOOO!" His comprehension is really good. I can tell because anytime I say anything about changing his diaper or brushing his teeth, interrupting whatever fun thing he is doing, he runs away from me.

BYE from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Ezra can read! from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Using a spoon from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

As far as the other two people in our house, Chad is super busy with his job and school. He is taking 3 master's classes right now, which he has never done before, so his workload is pretty heavy. The good news is that he just registered for his last two classes in the spring, and then in the fall he will do his "capstone experience," whatever that means. I am finding myself pretty busy these days too, hence the lack of blogging. There is always something else that needs to be done. I like the writing part of blogging, but the picture uploading takes forever and it's not one of my favorite things at all. Anyway, we are doing well. I am excited about the holidays and started decorating for Christmas tonight, although I will wait until I have more help to put up the tree. I guess I'll just put the ornaments on the top half so Ezra can't reach them.

That's it for now.

Trip to Tyler

We went to Tyler last weekend to spend time with Chad's parents since we won't be making it there for the holidays. Thursday night Chad got canceled at work, so we decided to leave in the evening, hoping that Ezra would just sleep the whole way. Well, he fell right asleep when we got on the road, slept for about 4 hours, and then was awake for the last 3. We got to Tyler at 2 AM and Ezra did NOT want to go to sleep. So Chad was up with him for most of the night, and I took over around 5:30. Then Ezra was up for good at 6:30. Lovely. Friday was my birthday so Chad and I got to go out to dinner while Gramme babysat. The rest of the weekend was spent with family and friends, and in between, Ezra fell and busted his face (Friday) and then had 102 fever (Saturday). After the poor kid had a couple days to return to normal, we jumped right back in the car and drove home. This was the 4th weekend in the past month and a half that we have been on the road, so we are VERY glad that we are staying home for Thanksgiving and not going out of town again until Christmas. Other than the rough start Ezra had, we had a great visit in Tyler and as always we wish we could have spent more time with everyone.

Ezra after his face plant :( (sorry, I forgot my "real" camera so these pictures are from my phone)The dump truck was a hit...anything that Ezra can put something in, and then dump it out, he likes.We went to Mercado's for my birthday. This little boy never met an ice cream he didn't like.

A couple videos...

Ezra tries to play the pitch pipe from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Chad's mom has a little chihuahua named Max that Ezra really likes. He is actually pretty good with Max, probably because the dog can outrun him, but even when Ezra gets close enough, he doesn't pull his tail or anything like that. Max is very sweet with all the grandchildren and puts up with a lot from them.

Chasing Max from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

The rest of October

I've been out of town every other weekend for the past month and a half so there is quite a bit to catch up on.

Ezra's spot...we make the papasan chair into a big bowl and he sits there with toys and books. He can spend a lot of time there, and now if we put an ottoman on one side and slide the chair up next to the couch, he can climb down himself too. On Halloween we went to Trunk or Treat at church. Ezra's costume was a hamburger. He did a lot better in it than he did in the dress rehearsal the other day (see a previous post). He walked around saying "hi" to everyone and taking candy from whoever would give it to him.
A lollipop for each hand...a boy after my own heart.
Ezra with his best bud Aiden aka Yoda (I think Aiden is a little jealous of Ezra's dumdum)The last weekend in October I went to Arkansas for my cousin's wedding and the boys were on their own. Chad decided to take Ezra hiking at Palo Duro. Though I know it wasn't his first choice, he documented very well. Thanks honey.




This video is sideways but I thought it was cute.

Solo hike from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

15 Months

Ezra is 15 months old today! We just got back from the doctor and he is 21.5 lbs and 31 inches long.

A LOT has happened in the past month. For starters, he is finally walking! He is able to be steady on his feet for a while before losing his balance. We're still working on getting back up without pulling up on something.

At 15 months...
--He is a lot more verbal. He can identify furry four-legged things as either "daw" or "kee kee," repeats "thank you" and Chad and I are pretty sure we heard him say "NO Ezra" this afternoon...wonder where he got that from? He also says "milk," "dadDY", "mama," and "hieeeee" (you'll see that in one of the videos). He "talks" pretty much constantly, from the minute I get him out of his crib in the morning. He is also great at giving kisses on request.
--Along with the talking, he points at everything. Many of the pumpkin pictures I took last week were of him pointing at something. It's cute to watch him point and talk, like he is really trying to show us something, or get us to take him somewhere.
--Ezra is a GREAT sleeper. He still usually takes two naps a day and sleeps for 12 hours a night. He is also much better about his flexibility. We can run errands or be out later at night, and he is so interested in everything that he tends to not notice that he is tired.
--I am 90% sure he is left handed. In the videos you can see that he holds everything in his left hand, and when he eats or if you hand him anything, he almost always uses his left hand. I don't know how early you can tell something like that though.
--He is so sweet and friendly. He always smiles when people talk to him when we're out in public and today he started waving and saying "hieeee" to strangers. In the past month he has stayed with two different sets of grandparents and has loved every minute of it. He loves Bible class. We still haven't gone through much separation anxiety or stranger anxiety, and for that I am thankful.
--He's still pretty picky about what he eats, but if you serve him non-suspicious food, he is a great eater. He eats pasta and string cheese at least once a day, lots of fruit, green beans or corn, waffles or pancakes, and scrambled eggs on a regular basis. If you offer him a food that he doesn't want, he will squint his eyes and put his fists up in front of his face: a formidable barrier to getting that weird food in his mouth.
--He is so fun to play with and read books to, but he is also great at playing by himself. His favorite things to do are pull all the tupperware out of that cabinet, play with his magnets on the refrigerator, and put small things in other, bigger things.Ezra in the morning...this is my favorite time of day with him. Ezra is a hamburger for halloween. This was a costume I found that didn't have a hood or anything he had to wear on his head, and when I tried it on him, he was okay for a little while...It's really a very cute costume. :)
Today I put Ezra in a sweater that my dad got for him right after we found out we were having a boy. I remember thinking, "It will be FOREVER before I will be able to put my little boy in this 18 month sweater!" And yet, here we are.

I take a lot of videos...most aren't worth sharing, but I thought these were funny. Apparently, Ezra thinks I talk on the phone a LOT (which I don't, because he is constantly trying to grab it from me) and that when I talk I say "Hiiiiiiii." So lately, he'll pick up pretty much anything and "talk" on it. Makes me laugh. He is a lot more into imitating us these days, and I guess being on the phone is what he picks up on from me. The third video is just one of Ezra playing with Chad. He gets so high-energy when he plays with Chad, and it is the cutest thing. He loves to be "gotten" and chased, and in this case peek under the chair. Enjoy!

Talking on the hair dryer plug from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Talking on the diaper bag from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

More playing with daddy from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Month 15 was the best month yet...I can't wait to see what happens in month 16 with our precious little boy.

Pumpkin Patch Pictures

We had a good day taking pictures in a pumpkin patch at a church here in town. Compare with last year, where I took approximately 80 pictures that were a variation of this: And here are this year's pictures. I took almost 200 and I realize I have a hard time narrowing down. I also realized I have a hard time putting the subject of my photo anywhere other than the left 1/3 of the frame.

Random pictures from October

Aiden and Ezra didn't want to share Ezra's chair.
This is okay, I guess. I love these "Life is Good" PJ's that Ezra got as a hand-me-down.
Granny came to take care of Ezra while we were at our race. He loved having her read book after book to him.
Buds at the park during play group.
Tall enough now to snack all day long if we leave any food on his high chair tray.
Dressed up like a true Texas boy: Sleeveless shirt and jeans tucked in to his John Deere boots.

"Helping:" Yard work edition

This is what happens when Ezra "helps" Chad with his yard work...

Our half marathon

I have a lot of pictures I want to post but I figured I'd start with the most recent thing. We ran in the "Marathon to Marathon" last weekend. Chad and I both ran the half, a first time thing for both of us. The town of Marathon is tiny. More about that later. It's close to Big Bend, east of Alpine if you know where that is.
Proof on my GPS watch that I actually went the full 13.1 miles.
At the finish line. Chad ran a lot faster than I did...under 10 minutes per mile. The marathoners started 26.2 miles outside of Marathon 30 minutes before our race started. I was crossing the finish line just as the first marathoner was finishing. That means he ran twice the distance I did in 30 more minutes. That is impressive. The best part though about finishing at the same time as the first marathoner is that everyone made a big deal out of him (sirens, cheering, etc.) and I just pretended it was for me because I was right before him.

We stayed in the Gage Hotel, which is a cool old historic hotel in the town. Our room was in the "historic" part of the hotel which I guess meant "no bathroom in the room." Lovely. There was one restaurant that stayed open for dinner. Here's a funny dialogue from the night that we went to eat dinner there (the same day as the half marathon). One thing you need to know is that when we walked through the patio to go to the hostess station inside, the patio was almost completely empty, as were the tables in the restaurant.

Us: Table for two please.
Hostess: Name?
Me: We didn't have a reservation. Did we need one?
Hostess: Yes. What time would you like to come in?
Chad: Now?
Hostess: (looks at reservation list) How about 6:30?
Chad: (looks at watch, which says 6:27) That would be great.
Hostess: Follow me please.

It was totally a "Seinfeld" episode. I am sure I didn't do it justice but it was really funny. The hostess wasn't trying to be funny at all.

So, that was our weekend. Although at the time the half marathon was really hard, and I told Chad it was physically the hardest thing I have ever done, including giving birth, I would like to do another one soon.

And...he's off!

Ezra walks from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Ezra has finally started walking! He is 14 months, 1 week. Many of his friends around his age (and younger) have been walking for a while now. I like to think that this is an indicator that he will not give in easily to peer pressure. :)And here's just a random picture of one of Ezra's newest pastimes, sticking a utensil in his mouth and crossing his eyes to look at it. Goofball.