Ezra update

It's been a while since I've posted pictures, hasn't it? A lot has been going on around here. We saw some family over the holidays, went to San Antonio for our anniversary, and my mom came here. Paul and Carolyn visited a few days after we came home from my mom's at Christmas and brought some gifts for Ezra, including the LOUDEST.BOOK.EVER...which he loves, by the way.

Ezra was looking dapper in his shirt and tie on Sunday morning. He thought the tie was yummy.Ezra is on the verge of sitting up on his own. We've noticed that he's the kind of baby that CAN do a lot of things physically, but doesn't necessarily want to. He can roll from his back to his tummy easily, and he can roll back to his back, but he would prefer to whine about it instead. He can stand straight on his legs, but that is too much work, so he tends to let his legs buckle beneath him. After bath...He has recently really enjoyed looking at himself in any mirror. It is so fun to watch him smile at himself and talk to himself.The other night I was cleaning up in the kitchen while Ezra was playing on his mat before bed. He had rolled himself over and was fussing (which is completely normal for him when he's been on his belly for too long) and all of a sudden I heard silence. I looked over and the poor little thing was so tired that he just fell asleep face-down on his mat. I took this picture and then I put him to bed. Mmmm...mom's hair tastes gooooood.Hanging out with granny.We've started Ezra on veggies. Here is his first pea experience. He wanted to do it himself. Not so sure at first...Turns out he likes peas...he ate every bite and then licked the bowl. He started carrots today and enjoyed those as well. We have also started introducing him to straw and sippy cups. Here he is with his straw cup...And last but not least...His FIRST TOOTH!

What not to buy

This is my post of things that I think are highly "optional" when it comes to having a baby...or things that I haven't really missed if I don't have them. Now, I am the first one to admit that a lot of the things I use on a regular basis are definitely luxuries...the video monitor for example. But if I use a luxury item a lot, that makes it a necessity to me, and so things like the video monitor (and 3 different strollers...haha) are necessities! Please add to this list in the comments section of things you think new parents don't need...or if you disagree with something that I deem not a necessity.

1. An expensive high chair. I alternate between the Bumbo and Ezra's Ikea high chair to feed him. The Ikea chair cost $20 and my lovely sister bought it for me. It is a great chair. It also has an inflatable insert for smaller babies who don't "fill out" the whole chair. It is small. It is easily disassembled, so I can take it out of town with me if I need to. Expensive high chairs are extremely unnecessary, in my opinion. Spend your money on a video monitor. :) Also, I only have the Bumbo because it is on loan from my sister-in-law. It's nice, but for the short amount of time you use it, I wouldn't spend the money (especially with the play tray, which is how I use it.) I've also heard a lot of people say that their babies don't like it because it smushes their stomach and makes them spit up. I also think this would be a good alternative to an expensive high chair.

2. An expensive carseat. We got a Graco Snugride32 with the travel system (rated highly in Consumer Reports, and also rated for 32 pounds/32 inches) and while it is a little heavier than some of the more expensive carseats, they are all heavy when your kid weighs 16 pounds and you are still lugging them around. This isn't the cheapest car seat, but it isn't the most expensive...kind of middle of the line, but it has great features. Look for safety and value, and something that you won't have to replace sooner than you'd like. I know the Chicco brand is also good. If you want to skip the infant car seat altogether, you can go with a convertible car seat, but you won't have the option of transporting your newborn around in their car seat if they're sleeping, which is a big plus to me.

3. A million blankets. I guess I just thought I lived in an arctic tundra when we registered. I registered for flannel receiving blankets, waffle weave blankets, a really soft fuzzy blanket, cotton knit blankets, etc. etc. Then, when you have a baby, people also give you handmade crocheted blankets and quilts. Register for maybe one really soft "furry" blanket (we use this with the carseat all the time), one set of receiving blankets (good for around the house), and a little lovey (which Ezra uses to sleep with). That is plenty, considering the handmade items you will receive as well. We used the kiddopotamus swaddle me instead of swaddling with receiving blankets, so if you decide to go that route, you need way fewer blankets. Oh, and if you think you are not going to swaddle your baby, you might want to have the kiddopotamus on hand anyway. I think it costs about 10 bucks, and it was worth every penny. Unless your baby hates to be swaddled, it will make him/her (and subsequently, you) sleep so much better because they can't hit themselves in the face with their out-of-control hands.

4. The fanciest pack-n-play. A good pack-n-play should have the bassinet so you don't have to bend all the way down to put your baby in and get him out (when they are little), but I have not missed the diaper changing part or any of the other bells and whistles. Ours is a Graco and cost around $65, but they can easily cost twice that or more. Most of the places we go (our parents' houses) already have a pack-n-play, so you may not really use your own that much anyway. Other people who have the nicer pack-n-plays might disagree with me on this.

5. A bassinet. If you are going to have your baby sleep in your room when he is first born, just use your pack-n-play (if you are getting one), or borrow one. Ezra only slept in our room for about 3 weeks when I realized we were going to his room multiple times a night to change diapers and feed. I borrowed a cradle, but if we had spent money on a bassinet, it would have been a wasteful purchase. Obviously I am a proponent of borrowing as much as possible, because then if you find you don't use it, you aren't out the money.

6. Baby washcloths and baby hooded towels. Buy these for washcloths. They are awesome. I use a regular towel with a hand towel sewn as a hood for Ezra's towel. When that's dirty, I just use a regular towel. The baby towels that you buy at Target are just too small, thin, and don't absorb anything.

7. Fancy bottle warmer. The basic one (Mine is The First Years brand and cost around $20) works great. You don't need a bottle warmer, but it is mighty handy for warming up bottles of refrigerated pumped milk, since you can't microwave it. We also have a car bottle warmer too and although that is definitely not necessary, it is mighty handy as well.

8. Sleep positioners, mobiles that play music, bumpers, other crib things. Let's face it, when you are traveling with a baby, you already have to bring a ton of stuff. If you think your child is dependent on these things to go to sleep, you'll have to lug them with you everywhere you go (or take them to their day care). The fewer things you implement into your baby's sleep routine, the better. There is a lot of information about bumpers and sleep positioners in relation to SIDS, so just do research on any of these things before you use them. We do have this crib toy tied to the side of Ezra's crib, and he seems to really enjoy it. I see him smiling in the mirror and playing with the little bugs attached to the mirror before I go in and get him after he wakes up. It's a good diversion for him while he's waiting for me to get him out of his crib.

9. Dishwasher basket. I never use this, because I have to wash bottle parts, pacifiers, etc. a lot more often than I run a load of dishes.

10. Wipes warmer. No explanation necessary.

11. Nasal aspirator. Yes, you need one, but don't buy one. The only kind that works for us is the one we got at the hospital. The ones at BRU and Target that we actually spent money on did not work at all. If they'll give you more than one at the hospital, take 'em.

12. Humidifier. I know some people swear by these. We don't have one, and when I researched them, I found that some of them can make allergies/asthma etc. worse because the wet air harbors the growth of mold and dust mites. Since Chad and I both have respiratory issues and Ezra probably will anyway, we opted to not put a humidifier in his room.

13. Don't buy a bunch of diapers, especially newborn diapers, ahead of time. At first, before we started using the cloth diapers, Huggies didn't work for Ezra. Pampers did. He grew out of the newborn diapers in just a couple weeks (and if you have a bigger baby, they might go straight into size 1), and then the Pampers stopped working too. Target diapers are great and soooo much cheaper. Don't be afraid to try the cheap diapers on your baby. You'll save a ton of money if they work for you, and the worst thing that can happen is they'll have a blowout, which will happen anyway, even if they're in the most expensive brand.

14. Something to sterilize bottles, pacifiers, etc. quickly is handy to have. Get something that you can put a little water in and steam sterilize in the microwave. I have this and these. I use the bags more. The Dr. Brown's sterilizer is great too because it can sterilize a lot of stuff and can be stored in a cabinet and doesn't have to sit on the counter all the time. BUT, you can also boil some water and stick everything in there and it works just as well if not better than a sterilizer. P.S., you won't be sterilizing every day. Electronic sterilizers can be really expensive, take up space on the counter, etc. etc.

15. Don't buy a swing that runs on batteries only. If your baby loves his swing (which you REALLY hope he does), you want a swing that plugs in. What you DON'T want is for your fussy baby to finally fall asleep in his swing and be taking a great nap when the batteries die on his swing. I have this one and it is GREAT. You might assume that all swings plug in, but unfortunately, that is not the case at all. Check before you buy.

16. Extra car seat base. A lot of my friends have these and find them useful. We just have the one car seat base that came with the travel system because we never really take Ezra anywhere in the other car. If we did, it seems like it would be pretty easy to put him in the other car using the seat belt. Bases can be pretty expensive, so unless you know you'll be driving your baby around in both cars pretty equally, I'd skip it.

Other things I thought of since I originally wrote this post:
17. Impractical diaper bags. Pick something BIG that can hold a lot of stuff. Pick something that you don't have to dig down to the bottom to find things. Pick something that has a lot of pockets/compartments on the inside, and something that has a couple pockets on the outside that can hold things that you need to get to quickly (bottle, pacifier).
18. Dreft or other kinds of special baby laundry detergent. I have always used our regular detergent and Ezra has never had a problem.

Okay...that is all I can think of for now. I'd love for other moms to chime in about what new parents shouldn't spend their money on. What did I forget that should be on this list? Is there anything on my list that you disagree with? What did you buy (or receive as a gift) that you thought you'd use a lot but never did?

These are a few of my favorite things, 3-6 months edition

Time for a new edition of my favorite baby things since 3 more months have passed. See this post for the first edition. I still love and use all that stuff with the exception of the Kiddopotamus swaddleme. We stopped swaddling Ezra at just shy of 3 months old. So here are a few more of our favorite things that we have started using in the past 3 months...

1. Baby Trend Walker We put Ezra in this all the time and he really likes it. He isn't quite strong enough to roll around, and he's not completely sitting up on his own yet, so this is a great toy to allow him to sit up and play so he's not laying down all the time. The toy bar across the front is great to hook toys onto, and he LOVES the two bears on the sides of the toy bar. I have seen some very expensive walkers. Don't waste your money. This one is less than $40 and works just as well for the few months you will be using it before your kiddo starts walking. It also folds down and we take it anytime we go out of town.
2. Praise Baby CDs and DVDs...the CDs are great for playing when we are on the road and trying to get Ezra to take a nap. I am not a huge fan of the "kids' songs" CDs, especially with the annoying songs that get stuck in your head, so I like these because they are just the songs we sing in church. We have 2 CDs and one DVD. The DVD is kind of like Baby Einstein in that it shows other babies, objects, nature scenes, etc., but the background is praise music. If I need to cook dinner or get a chore done, I just put Ezra in his walker and pop the DVD in and it's a great distractor for him.
3. Kiddopotamus posh pouch carseat/stroller cover...I use this in place of a blanket over the jogging stroller when I take Ezra out in cold weather. It is awesome and another use for it is that it serves to block the sun when the visor on the stroller doesn't. I don't think it's available on Amazon anymore, but if you can find it somewhere, get one. Another great feature is that it keeps in pacifiers/other blankets/toys inside the stroller if Ezra drops them.
4. Speaking of strollers...I have started using the Evenflo umbrella stroller for short outings with Ezra when I don't need to store a lot of stuff and when I don't need him to take a nap. I couldn't find the exact stroller I have, but it was around $40 and I love it. We have three strollers: the Graco one that the carseat snaps into, the Kolcraft jogging stroller, and the Evenflo. I use all of them on a regular basis. I know it seems excessive to have three strollers, but they all have a completely different purpose and the most important thing is that all of them get used, often.
5. Grandma's secret spot remover...this stuff is awesome. It takes all those nasty baby stains out of clothing. You can get it at Bed, Bath and Beyond or buy it online.
6. Dr. Brown's bottles...these are the only kinds of bottles we use, and I've never really used another kind so I can't speak about them, but these don't leak, and Ezra doesn't have a problem with really bad gas bubbles.

I've also been thinking lately that I wanted to put together a list of clothing essentials for a baby boy. I had no idea how many onesies, pants, shoes, etc. I would need for a baby boy, so I really overbought before Ezra was born. The result was a ton of clothes, many of which he never wore or maybe wore once. So, here is my list of things I think are essential for an infant boy. I should also say that I thought I would put Ezra in the impractical clothes a lot more than I actually do, because let's face it, most days we are just home and he will end up getting slobber all over it anyway. Another thing that didn't occur to me was that I would be doing laundry a lot more. I do a load of laundry every 3 or 4 days at least, so Ezra's clothes get washed often and he really ends up wearing my favorite things over and over again, and a lot of stuff doesn't get touched. Also, I have learned not to buy way ahead of time. I also recently discovered Once Upon a Child and will be purchasing most of his clothes there from now on. Babies grow so quickly that it is silly to spend a ton of money on their clothes. So here's my list...obviously in the winter you would need more long-sleeved stuff and outerwear, and vice versa for the summer.

Short-sleeved onesies: 7-8
Long-sleeved onesies for fall/winter: 5-6 (in different, solid colors: white, red, navy, brown, green)
"Nice" pants like jeans, cords, khakis: 3 pairs
"Athletic" pants (fleece, sweatpants, windsuit material): 3-4 pairs
Outerwear (zip-up hoodies are my favorite...easy to get on and off, and not too bulky for the carseat): 2 (or just 1 for summer)
Footed sleepers: 5-6. I use these all the time and sometimes I leave Ezra in them all day (he sleeps in them every night as well). My favorite brand of these is Carter's and a good price is around $6-$7.
Church outfits: 3 (I mostly just put Ezra in his "nice" pants and then a sweater or button-down shirt).
Socks: 6-7 pairs
Shoes: 2 pairs...one athletic and one nicer pair that he wears to church.

About the onesies...Ezra is in mostly 6-9 months for shirts now, and he tends to outgrow onesies really fast because he has a long torso. I've started to prefer just regular t-shirts for him, and that makes it easier for diaper changes as well. I think he'll get more wear out of the shirts that way.

Let me just say that I definitely realize that I'm obviously not an expert. I just hope that I can help someone who is expecting their first baby not feel so totally overwhelmed about all the things they think they need. Other moms (and dads) out there...anything you would add to this list?

I'm also thinking about a list of things that I thought I needed (and got) before Ezra was born that I really haven't ever used...things I think that parents can definitely live without. I'll get back to you on that.

Weekly weigh-in and recipes

I lost 2.2 pounds this week. I'm prepared to not lose any this week because my scale was being weird. Earlier this morning it said I had lost .8 pounds, and then a few minutes ago I weighed again (multiple times) and it gave me the lower number, so naturally I went with that one. :) So that first one may have been right. I'll weigh again tomorrow and adjust accordingly I guess. Oh, and I almost forgot...my dear friend Sara is getting married in June, and she asked me to be a bridesmaid last week. If that's not motivation to lose the rest of the weight, I don't know what is!

Here are some recipes I made this week. The taco soup was good. The nutritional information for a serving (1 1/2 cups) is 281.5 calories, 10 grams of fat, and 8.5 grams of fiber, so 6 WW points per serving. The chicken recipe came about because I was looking through my Best Light Recipe cookbook for something that I had all the ingredients for, and this is what I found. It turned out really good and it was a little bit different than the typical chicken dish. I served it with sweet peas and spicy sweet potato fries. I originally had a recipe for the fries but now I just do my own thing, so I've improvised a recipe below. The SP fries are my go-to side dish and they are so good. We just eat them with ketchup.

Spicy Taco Soup

1 lb Ground Beef
1 Onion, chopped
2 14.5 oz cans Diced Tomatoes with Green Chiles
2 15 oz cans Pinto Beans (drained)
1 15 oz can Black Beans (drained)
1 15 oz can Cream-style corn
1 package ranch style dressing mix
1 package Taco Seasoning
1 Cup Water (or broth) Optional

Directions

Brown beef with onions in a medium soup pot. Drain excess grease. Add remaining ingredients, stir and simmer for 20 minutes. If it seems a little thick you can add some beef broth or water to it while it is simmering.
This is great with cilantro and a dab of sour cream!
8 servings of about 1 1/2 cups each
Number of Servings: 8
Changes: I substituted one can of diced tomatoes for a can of Rotel, and it was still spicy enough.

Spicy Orange Chicken skewers with apricot-orange dipping sauce

Chicken
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed
2 T minced fresh parsley leaves (I left this out from both the chicken and the dipping sauce because Chad's not a fan and also because we didn't have it. I think it was just fine without it.)
1.5 t salt
1/2 t grated zest from 1 orange
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1/2 t paprika
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t ground black pepper
1/4 C apricot preserves

Dipping sauce
1 C apricot preserves (I ran out, so I mixed what I had left with orange marmalade and it was good)
2 T red wine vinegar
1 T minced fresh parsley leaves
1/2 t grated zest from 1 orange
1/2 t salt
1/4 t red pepper flakes
1/8 t ground black pepper

1. For the chicken: Slice the chicken breasts across the grain into 1/2-inch-thick strips. In a large bowl, toss the chicken with the parsley, salt, orange zest, red pepper flakes, paprika, garlic powder, and pepper. Add the apricot preserves and toss to coat. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the flavors meld, about 30 minutes.
2. For the dipping sauce: Puree the apricot preserves and vinegar together in a blender or food processor until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer to a small serving bowl and stir in the parsley, orange zest, salt, red pepper flakes, and pepper. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until the flavors meld, about 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, adjust an over rack to the top position and heat the broiler. Line a broiler pan bottom with foil and top with a slotted broiler pan top; spray the broiler pan top with nonstick cooking spray. Weave each piece of chicken onto individual bamboo skewers; lay half of the skewers on the broiler pan top and cover the skewer ends with foil, making sure not to cover the chicken. Broil until the meat is lightly browned and cooked through, 5 to 8 minutes, flipping the skewers over halfway through. Transfer the skewers to a serving platter and serve immediately with half the apricot sauce. Repeat, broiling the remaining skewers and serving with the remaining dipping sauce. (Changes: I prepared the skewers by soaking them in water first so they wouldn't burn, and then Chad took them out and grilled them. I don't have a broiler pan so we improvised. The chicken was still really good, maybe even better grilled than it would have been broiled).

Spicy sweet potato fries
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch sticks
2 T olive oil
1 T kosher salt
1 t cracked black pepper
1 T cumin
1 T chili powder
1 T garlic powder

Preheat oven to 400. Place sweet potato sticks and all other ingredients in a large ziplock bag and shake until the fries are coated with all the spices. Place fries on a non-stick cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray (preferably one with sides) in one layer. If you have too many fries for one cookie sheet, use more than one (you don't want to have more than one layer). Bake for approximately 20 minutes, checking every once in a while to avoid burning.

Weekly weigh-in

I lost 2.4 pounds this week. I did everything right and worked hard, so I am proud of myself. I worked out 5 days, and we went out to eat every meal this weekend since we were in San Antonio for our anniversary, so I just made good choices and it paid off.

There is one recipe that I wanted to share. I know I've mentioned before that I'm not a fan of the "diet" recipes so I try to modify regular recipes to make them healthier. One thing I love to make at home is homemade pizza, so I thought I'd share my recipe for pizza dough. The major modification is that I substitute half of the flour for whole wheat flour, and that makes a lot of difference in the "healthy" department because of the fiber content of whole wheat flour. I actually have two recipes for dough...one is from the California Pizza Kitchen cookbook, which I love, but it is more time-consuming (as in, you have to make it at least the day before you are going to have the pizza). This one is the fast and easy version and is still pretty good.

3 C flour
1 envelope yeast
2 t sugar
1 t salt
1 C warm water
2 T olive oil

Mix dry ingredients. Add water and oil. Knead for 10 minutes (I use the dough hook on my kitchenaid mixer and don't usually knead for a whole 10 minutes). Rest for 20 minutes.

Last week when I made pizza I just used things we had on hand, so the sauce was Newman's Own marinara sauce, and I usually do Chad's half of the pizza different than mine. He gets more cheese and sauce, and we didn't have pepperoni so he just got cheese last time. My side had artichoke hearts and red onions on it. I put the pizza stone in the oven at 500 degrees while I'm making the dough, and I roll out the dough and make the crust and then put it on the stone and add all the toppings. I leave the oven at 500 to cook the pizza. It cooks really quickly.

I am 5.8 lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight. I want to thank all of you who have seen me in person and told me that I look good. As anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows, that means a lot! I have a couple more months to go but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Anniversary weekend

We are back from our weekend trip to San Antonio. It was GREAT! We drove down on Friday and dropped Ezra off at dad and Ginny's house to stay the weekend. I thought it would be a good first weekend away from the baby if we were in the same town in case of an emergency, but still got to have the weekend to ourselves. On the car ride down there and back, Ezra did AWESOME. He seems to really like the lull of the road now, and he will take 2 hour naps. He never does this at home. So on a 6-hour car ride, he might sleep for 4 or 5 hours. It's great, unless you want to stop, because then he wakes up. The other good thing about Chad and I in the same car with Ezra is that one of us can feed him while the other one drives, so we don't have to take 30 minute stops every three hours. Anyway, I digress. After we dropped Ezra off, we checked into our hotel, which was the Omni La Mansion Del Rio on the Riverwalk. It was very nice. We had a great dinner at Saltgrass and then drove down to watch the Mavericks beat the Spurs. It was a great game!

Saturday we both slept in as late as we could and then grabbed brunch at Zuni Grill. After a stop at the Alamo we headed over to the San Antonio Zoo, and it was a perfect day to go because people in San Antonio do NOT like cold weather, so we had the place to ourselves. I love zoos so anytime we are in a city that has one I always want to go. We had lunch at a place called Mad Hatter's tea room and then headed to the Market where I got some Mexican vanilla. After that I decided that I really wanted to go to Anthropologie since I've never been to one before, I just get the catalogs. It did not disappoint. I didn't buy anything there but it was a fun experience. After Anthropologie we went to dinner at Boudro's and had a great (understatement) meal there. I think I go to this restaurant every time I am in San Antonio and everything I've had there is great. Chad and I both agreed that this was one of the best meals we'd ever had.

Sunday morning I was ready to see my baby! We drove to dad and Ginny's house in time to pick Ezra up and drive north to Georgetown to worship with Shawn and Emma. When we walked in the door, Ezra smiled so big and started laughing when he saw us. I think he was excited. He seemed like he had a great time and I think dad and Ginny did too. (I hope!) So we drove up to Georgetown and we were going to drive back to Lubbock yesterday afternoon but we decided to spend the night at Shawn and Emma's instead. It was a lot of fun...they hadn't seen Ezra since he was about 2 weeks old. Elle and Ava loved Ezra, but Ava looooooooved him. They were so sweet with him and will be great when Levi arrives in April. On our way back today we passed through Brownwood and were able to have a late breakfast with Michael and Jan McCoy. We had a wonderful weekend! Thanks again dad and Ginny for taking such good care of Ezra (and for letting us borrow the GPS! :)

6 years

Today is our 6 year anniversary! I was going to post some pictures of the summer we met, almost 10 years ago, but I would have to scan those in. One of these days I will though, because some of them are quite entertaining (to me at least). Pictures of our wedding can be seen in this post from our 5 year anniversary, in case you've joined us since then.

Happy anniversary Chad...I'm still glad I married you!

Weekly weigh-in and recipes

Well, I wish I could say that since the last time I posted I had lost more weight, but I am about 4 pounds up from that. I can't say I'm surprised since I ate pretty much whatever I wanted over Christmas. Now, I'm back to really eating right and working out almost every day. I still have about 12 pounds to go, so I am not in the homestretch yet. The good news is that now I'm back to eating right and exercising a lot I feel great and I have a ton more energy.

For Christmas my mom got me the Best Light Recipe cookbook. This is a compilation of recipes from the people who do "America's Test Kitchen" on PBS and Cooks Illustrated magazine. All the recipes were delicious, albeit somewhat preparation intensive (still easy, though). I guess that is what happens when you use a lot of fresh produce in your cooking--lots of chopping involved. I found two of the recipes online, but the other two I couldn't find. They were good, trust me, but I just don't have time to type the whole thing out.

-Stir-fried tofu with bok choy and ginger sauce...Chad and I both liked this a lot. It tasted like Chinese food that you'd get in an actual Chinese restaurant. You could substitute chicken or flank steak for the tofu.
-Chicken enchiladas...these were yummy. This recipe calls for 50% reduced fat cheddar cheese. The kind I found is Cabot brand, and it was surprisingly good.
-One-pot chicken, rice and broccoli with cheddar...Paul and Carolyn were here when I made this and they gave it the thumbs up as well. I used fresh broccoli instead of frozen, and next time I will use brown rice instead of white.
-Wilted spinach and orange with pan-seared scallops...this was delicious. It tasted a lot like the scallop salad at Macaroni grill. Chad didn't try it as it didn't sound very appealing to him, which is fine with me because now I have leftovers for lunch today. You can find frozen scallops in the frozen seafood section at wal-mart, and they were surprisingly good.
-Carrot cake pancakes from my Cooking Light magazine...sounds good, right? Wrong. These were not good at all, don't try them.
-The last thing I made wasn't really a recipe, it was just something I threw together because I am not going to the grocery store this week. I had a bottle of Panda Express orange sauce (the kind that they use on their orange chicken). I cut up chicken breast into bite-sized pieces, patted it dry, seasoned it with salt and pepper, and then pan-seared it and put some of the sauce and some scallions with the chicken. Then I served it over brown rice cooked with chicken broth. It was yummy and soooo easy!

Here's to a better week of being healthy and going in the right direction on the scale. :)

5 months old

Today marks 5 months since Ezra was born. At 5 months, Ezra...
-has started eating rice cereal recreationally. We don't give it to him every day, because honestly, it's a lot of trouble at this point. I'm going to wait for a while to make it an every day thing. I'm hoping in a couple more weeks he'll get the hang of eating off of a spoon better.
-sleeps an average of 10-12 hours a night, with the occasional waking up because he has flipped himself on to his belly and can't get back over.
-rolls from back to belly on a regular basis. I've seen him roll from belly to back once or twice, but most of the time he just gets frustrated and starts crying.
-laughs and smiles a lot
-has just started sitting up in the "tripod" position for short periods of time. We're working on sitting up.
-loves the taste of his fingers and hands
-likes to grab on to anything in his sight, which usually means my hair or necklace
-likes to talk to anyone who will listen

The past 5 months have been wonderful. We love our baby boy more and more each day.

A Very Merry Christmas

Giving kisses (and if you think it looks like I just woke up, you'd be right)...Like mother, like son...We are enjoying our first Christmas with our precious baby boy! Hope everyone else has a great day too.

Ezra's first snow

Looking at the snow this morning from the safety of the house...
...and braving it for just a few minutes this afternoon:"If my grandparents were here, they wouldn't make me sit in this stuff."

Brrrr!

The good news: it's snowing on Christmas Eve! The bad news: we were supposed to drive to my mom's house today in the direct path of the snow storm.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I realized today that it's been a couple weeks since I posted any pictures, which I know is all anybody cares about anyway. I haven't taken as many lately so here are a couple of the latest: We are dealing with some chapped cheeks around here, probably because I take Ezra out quite a bit. I just can't stand to sit at home all day long, and he likes to be outside. Anyway, I am slathering on the aquaphor and petroleum jelly, and that seems to help. We are also dealing with a very snotty nosed little boy. Let me just tell you how much he loves it when we get out the bulb syringe.
I just thought it was cute one day when Chad was clipping Ezra's toenails and he was sitting there so compliantly.

Here is a video that I took the other day of Chad making Ezra laugh. When Chad starts to laugh, Ezra gets really straight-faced and serious. Granted, I would be scared of Chad's maniacal laughter too if I was a 4 month old baby. Obviously I thought it was funny because I can't keep the camera still.

Not amused from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Everything else is going well. Ezra is still sleeping better, he is a happy, content baby, and we are excited about our first Christmas as a family of three, even though he doesn't have any clue what's going on. I hope everyone has a good Christmas...I am excited that we will be spending Christmas at my mom's house on the farm, right across the road from my grandparents' old house where we spent so many Thanksgivings and Christmases growing up.

Sleep, glorious sleep

I feel the need to blog about this because my blog is my way of "scrapbooking" and keeping an accurate record of everything, so here it is...for the past 5 nights, Ezra has been sleeping an average of 9-11 hours a night! It has been awesome. I wish I could say that it just happened, but let's just say it has required a little bit of "training" on our part. I'm speaking in euphemisms for my mom's sake. Once I finally knew that he was for sure getting enough to eat, and he was mostly waking out of habit at night, coupled with my complete exhaustion, I decided that enough was enough and that we all needed to start getting more sleep around here. Anyway, I think we are well on our way to him sleeping completely through the night on a regular basis (he slept once for 11 straight hours without a peep, and the other nights were 9 or 10 straight hours, waking up at 4 or 5 in the morning if you can call it morning, and then going back to sleep until 7 or 8). There have been a couple nights that I think he would have gone back to sleep more easily except he has started flipping over to his belly and then getting upset because he can't flip himself back over--one morning I went in and he was asleep on his belly. I don't want to jinx this whole thing, but I did want to keep a record of it. Of course I still feel exhausted most mornings, but I think that has to do with the over 4 months that I was waking up multiple times a night. I think the total time I was awake during Ezra's first four months of life equals about 10 full days of being awake. So it'll take a while to feel normal again. The working out is helping.

So, that's our big news for now.

Weigh-in

So, it's been a while. My main reason is because the battery in my scale died and I had to go get a new battery. So there's my excuse. But the good news is I lost 3.8 pounds since I last weighed in. So, I'm still getting there slowly but surely! I have been working out more, but I am going to have to get more creative with my workouts because I had to go to the chiropractor yesterday for a (non-workout related) neck injury. It hurts pretty bad, but I think it's getting better. Anyway, you can see on the right side of the blog that I am in the single digits of pounds I still have to lose to get to that "magical" number, although it would be even better if my old clothes actually fit when I get to that number, which I heard doesn't necessarily happen. Anyway, let's not rain on this parade quite yet. It feels great to be less than 10 pounds away when I gained almost 50 pounds with our little bundle of joy!

19 weeks

After today I'm going to stop blogging by Ezra's age in weeks. We're going to start doing months. Hope everyone is okay with that.

Mmmm...food.Baby Einstein Lullaby DVD...works great for 4-month-olds and their 28-year-old dads.

Random

Tired after churchHe's found his feet (very helpful during diaper changes)

Our little foodie

We gave Ezra his first taste of rice cereal yesterday. It was unsuccessful to say the least...we took a video, but he cried the whole time and I seriously felt like the worst mom ever, so I am not going to post that for everyone to see. So today was actually the second time. I thought it would be good to try it when he was really hungry yesterday so he would eat, but that wasn't the best idea because he just wanted his milk and he wanted it NOW. So, we tried again today, and here's what happened:

Rice cereal, take 2 from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

He ate his entire helping and was a member of the clean bowl club. I can't believe that in just a few weeks we will be feeding him veggies. What happened to our little newborn?

Here's one more picture that I thought was cute. I love this new outfit:
And a video of Ezra laughing at Chad:

More laughing from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Weigh-in and a couple recipes

So I haven't blogged about my weight loss in a while, probably because I haven't been as diligent about weighing myself (or trying to lose weight for that matter), plus there was Thanksgiving, etc. etc. Anyway, since the last time I updated, I've lost another 1.4 pounds. My goal is to at least stay the same through the holidays. I am still exercising, but since it has gotten cold, I've slowed down a bit. I even went running on Thanksgiving at my mom's house, so I was pretty proud of myself about that.

It's hard to remember what recipes I've made because I haven't cooked much lately. A couple weeks ago I saw Paula Deen make a Bacon, cheddar and apple grilled sandwich, and it was about to be lunch time, so I used her idea and made those for lunch and they were really good. I didn't make the roasted onion mayo that she did but I bet that would be good too. A couple days ago I made Pecan Chicken a la King, minus the pimientos and with onions in place of the celery. Again, just to use up stuff I had around the kitchen. It turned out really good even though I had to serve it over pasta instead of rice because that is what we had. I haven't cooked much else between Thanksgiving and having Emily's family at our house when our menu consisted pretty much of hot dogs and chicken nuggets. Tonight I will be making this (I have a lot of pecans and chicken right now). Sometime this weekend I will make beef stew and cornbread. I never use a recipe for beef stew so it comes out different every time, but it's hard to mess up.

Stay warm!

4 months old

Ezra was 4 months old on November 28. It seems that he has just developed and grown by leaps and bounds in the past few days. Do I say that every month? Anyway, today he started making very obvious consonant sounds, and he is still trying to roll over but hasn't quite gotten it yet. We went for his check-up today and he is 14 lbs. 6 ounces, so he has doubled his birthweight. He is also 25 1/4 inches long. Both of those were around the 50 or 60th percentile. I don't really remember. Also, his doctor said we can start rice cereal, and after a few weeks of that, start him on veggies. We're going to try the cereal tomorrow and of course I'll get some video. Two nights ago Ezra woke up 4 times, so I am hoping that once he starts getting more food during the day his tummy won't feel so empty at night. Here is a video of Ezra talking to me. Hope everyone had a good day...we enjoyed cold weather and snow!

Ezra loves the sound of his voice from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.