Reminiscing

While I was pregnant with Blake I was determined not to have a child who needed to be held all the time. I was planning on having him sleep in my bed/ bassinet next to my bed for the first few months of his life. This was extremely convenient when he was waking up every 90 minutes during the night, and I loved the cuddle time with him during the night. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to feed him when he was just a week old and turning to my hubby and telling him "I don't even mind waking up with him... I love him SO much!" I had chosen to nurse him, but we had some pretty big issues with that (a story for another time). The day we were supposed to leave the hospital my poor baby was starving, my previously very happy baby could not stop crying and therefor wasn't sleeping well. Finally we decided to give him a little bit of formula and he calmed down. While we were packing up to leave and putting him in his carset, he got pretty sad again (poor sleep deprived baby). The only way I could calm him down was to place my face against his tiny face and make shushing noises. When we got home from the hospital I spend a lot of time cuddling with my sweet baby. He has been very loved my mom, dad, grandmas, grandpa, lots of aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. I swear, my baby gets more kisses than any other human being on this planet. My point is, he got plenty of love. However, I also made a large effort to put him down. He spent time in his swing, in his bouncer, on a blanket on the floor, etc. It was very hard sometimes, but there were evenings I would have to let him cry in his swing for a little bit while I finished dinner (it was never more than a few minutes). As he approached his 3 month "birthday" I started putting him in his crib for naps so he would start to get used to it. Around this same time he also moved to being completely bottle fed. Shortly after that, he started to show signs of wanting to be set down to go to sleep. He was a lot less interested is cuddling, and eventually we got the point that we would just lay him down in his crib with his binkie and he would put himself to sleep. It was totally blissful! It made naptime seem so much longer when I no longer had to rock him to sleep and carefully lay him down without waking him. Unfortunately this came with a downside--he started to cuddle less and less. He is a very happy baby and loves to be with people, but he goes crazy if he can't constantly be on the move. I have gone over and over things in my head. Could I have done things differently to make him more interested in cuddling with me? Should I not have set him down as much? Would things have been different if I had been able to breastfeed for longer? But truthfully I know this is not the case. It has everything to do with his personality. This is the way he has been since before he was born. My belly moved CONSTANTLY while I was pregnant. He was happy to be held when that was the only way he could get around, but as soon as he figured out he could roll over at 2 months he would rather move around by himself. This has it's obvious downsides, but I also try to look at the pros. It has been nice not to have to learn how to do everything one handed. He is happy to hang out so I can get a few things done, and most morning I'm actually able to spend some time getting ready (although it takes at least twice as long to get out the door as it used to). So although I miss cuddling my peanut, I love his little personality and playing with him all day. Honeslty, I wouldn't have in any other way!

What's For Dinner?

I don't know about you guys, but I am always looking for new recipes! I feel like I cook the same 6 recipes over and over again with a new recipe thrown in their occasionally. I spend hours searching the internet looking for new recipes, but don't usually end up trying them because they ask for a 1/4 tsp. of some kind of abstract herb that I will never ever use in any other kind of recipe. So, I thought I would share some of my favorite very basic, very easy recipes.

Pasta Bake!

Okay, you guys have probably all made this before, it's not that creative of a recipe. But it is one of our favorites! Jon's favorite meal is spaghetti, so I am constantly looking for different ways to cook noodles and meat sauce. I got this recipe from one of my sisters when I went off to college. Since then I have made a couple of adjustments so it fits our family. It's not a gourmet recipe by any means, but it's great when you need a quick easy meal... so here is the recipe

Pasta Bake
1lb ground beef
1 jar (I use the 26 oz jar) spaghetti sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
1 box rotini (or whatever other kind of noodle you want to use)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (plus some extra for topping)
about 1 cup shredded cheese (more or less depending on how much cheese you want)

seasoned pepper (this is practically gold in Jon's family, it goes in everything!)
garlic salt
butter

Brown ground beef in a large skillet and season with seasoned pepper and garlic salt. While cooking your meat, boil water and throw in the noodles. Once the meat is cooked through, add your sauce. I usually add about 3/4 the jar and add the can of diced tomatoes (I have to say, I am not a fan of tomatoes, but love the extra tomatoes in this recipe!) Once the sauce and meat are mixed, add the parmesan cheese. Drain cooked noodles and add to meat sauce. Poor into 9x13 baking dish and top with shredded cheese (and I usually add a little extra parmesan cheese as well). Bake at 350 for 15 minutes (or until cheese is melted).

**note: I have also cut this recipe in half when I didn't want a ton of leftovers. But this is one of my favorite things to eat leftover

7 Months Old!!!

My little peanut is already 7 months old! I cann't believe it! His whole life has really flown by, but the 6 to 7 month segment has gone by incredibly fast. It's amazed me how much he has changed, but I think he has changed the most from 6-7 months. We took a trip to Ohio to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and their cute girlies over the week he turned 6 months, and I have found that to be a real turning point for him. When we left for Ohio he was barely starting to sit up, when we got home he was sitting up like a pro. When we left for Ohio he was showing interest in moving and crawling, when we got back from Ohio he started moving ALL over the place! He would roll/army crawl/scoot/push with his feet and could get himself anywhere he wanted to be. When we left for Ohio he was starting to say a couple of sounds, now he's a big ol' talker! It's all going by too fast, slow down Blakey!

7 Month Blakey Interview:

Favorite Food: Apple Sauce! It goes into just about everything I eat! Mom and Dad have to buy me a giant jar a week!

Favorite Word: "Da Da" Mom is offended that I don't say "Ma Ma", but "Da Da" is so much fun to say! Sometimes she gets her feelings hurt because she thinks I like to talk about Dad and not her, but I'm not talking about Dad, it's just something I can say. Truthfully, it's Mom and I's little inside joke. I just learned how to whisper and Mom will look at me and whisper "Da Da" and I will whisper it back. I love it when we can communicate!

Favorite Passtime: Crawling around and destroying whatever I can get my little hands on. Especially anything that lights up or sparkles (everyone says I take after Mom that way). My other favorite thing to do is sit on Moms lap while she's doing her makeup and play with all her makeup in her caboodle! Playing with makeup sure is fun, but there is nothing more interesting than whatever Mom has in her hand and is trying to put on her face.

Favorite Toy: Trash, junk mail, and empty bags (don't worry, mom won't let me suffocate on bags). Mom and Dad keep trying to buy me toys, but I would rather play with trash. Especially Dad's brightly colored empty starburst jelly bean bag.

New Developments: I've learned to crawl!!! I've been pretty mobile for a month now, but I decided it was time that I started crawling. That way, I can get into anything I want and pull myself up on things! I haven't discovered the stairs yet, but Mom is scared that I'm going to soon.

I sure am cute and have the funniest personality in the world! I am very social and like to have people's attention, and I know how to get it! I can be REALLY loud when I want to. I'm not really a cryer, but I've got the high pitched squeel down to an art. I don't like to be left out. If anyone around me laughs, I stop what I'm doing and laugh too. I'm not sure what's funny, but I like people to think that I'm in on the joke! I keep Mom busy and entertained all day long, she can thank me for it later.

(7 month pictues to come)

A New Chapter

I have decided to start a new blog! The last blog I started was one I put together in high school. So much has changed since then (umm, obviously). There have been a hundred times over the last couple of months that I have thought about blogging about my sweet baby boy and my darling family, but just never could find the motivation to do it. My old blog never felt like my family blog. And these days, my family is my whole life. So, I have started a new "family" blog. Enjoy!