7 Months Old

Zander is 7 months old! Thought I would share some pictures from this past month.

Here he is modeling a swim diaper at Gigi & Bum Bum's house on Father's Day. This picture cracks me up on so many levels! His "speedo", dimpled thighs, rolls around his ankles..I could go on and on...(my mom was holding his hand but you can barely see her, baby was safe)

Smiling with Mama for a quick pic!

He's got 2 teeth now! You can sort of see here in this 2 week old picture.

Someone sharing their tea with him. He loves tea!

Collage of him feeding himself Gerber Puffs for the first time. Try clicking to make bigger!

He now weighs 19 lbs. He has started to crawl on all fours but is way faster at the army crawl. He climbs everything. We have to barricade him into the living room with pillows and bean bags. But he crawls over those too!

I've been making him homemade baby food. His favorite is pureed pasta with carrots and monterey jack cheese. We give him fruit (usually store bought) with cereal in the morning then he nurses every few hours until dinner. At dinner he gets 3 cubes of frozen baby food with cereal. Then he wants to nurse most of the night until he passes out. I think he's too busy exploring during the day and then realizes his tummy is hungry at bedtime. That or he's having a growth spurt.

Matt got him to say Da Da a few days ago. His voice is so precious! Can't wait for him to say those magical words.."Ma Ma" to me!

Yummy Honey Chicken Kabobs & Coconut Rice

Yummy Honey Chicken Kabobs~We tried these kabobs out for dinner last night. Matt has I think a charcoal grill? anyway, we haven't had it long but the chicken got some charred spots. Still, we enjoyed our dinner and that's all that matters.

Yummy Honey Chicken Kabobs~adapted from allrecipes.

4 T. olive oil
4 T. honey
4 T. teriyaki sauce
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 cloves garlic
3 boneless chicken breast- cut into cubes
1 white or yellow onion, chop all the veggies into chunks
1 zucchini
1 red bell pepper
wooden skewers (let them soak in water for a couple hours to prevent burning)

1. In a medium sized bowl whisk together the first 5 ingredients.
2. Put chicken in a plastic baggie and pour in some sauce to marinate.
3. Put veggies in a separate baggie and pour in sauce to marinate.
4. Save some of the sauce to baste onto the kabobs while grilling.

I let it all marinate in the fridge for about 3 hours.

5. Make your kabobs and grill for 12-15 min. or until juices run clear.

Coconut Rice

Coconut Rice~ recipe by me.

1.5 T. coconut oil
1.5 cups of long grain white rice
3 c. water
1 tsp. salt
1 c. shredded unsweetened coconut flakes
low calorie spray butter or oil

1. Warm up the coconut oil in a pot. Add the rice and lightly toast.
2. Pour in 3 cups of water and 1 tsp. salt. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Spray a pan with butter and put in the coconut flakes. Carefully toast under a broiler.
4. When rice is done. Turn off the burner. Keep the lid on! Let sit for 5 minutes.
5. Stir half of the coconut flakes into the rice. Sprinkle more on top to make it pretty!

A hot day at our house

Little Z hanging out and clutching the popular Sophie the Giraffe. His favorite "chew toy".

Violet loading up her squirt gun!

Taking a dip in the water table.

They don't know how happy they make me!

Our Family Portraits 2011

We had them done by Lauren Marie Photography. She is based out of DFW if you need some awesome pictures done! She's a Mansfield girl and went to school with my sisters. Violet and Zander did so well. We had them done at Trinity Park in Fort Worth if you were wondering..

Zander cracks me up

He has so many funny faces!

His big, happy grin!

He's saying "Haha, Violet I got your toy!" She's already tattling on him, ;)

"You lookin' at my booty?"

5 A Day Books

New Challenge! I found this great idea from The Imagination Tree. You pick out 5 books and read those 5 books every day to your child for a week. Check out Imagination Tree for more info.

Here are Violet's picks for Week One~

If you take a mouse to school
There were ten in the bed
Overboard
Baby Bear, Baby Bear
Kittens

I know Violet will enjoy this! My husband reads her a book before bed every night while I'm getting baby Zander to sleep. But 5 books? Yep, will be a challenge :)

Stay Home Slump

I have this overwhelming feeling that I'm doing everything wrong today.

Let me first say I love being a stay home mom. I play with my kids every day. We always have food on the table. We have a happy home. But some days I wake up and just want to escape!

Last night I stayed up too late to finish a book. Guess I was selfish to do that. Then today has been off. Zander is super fussy. I think he's cutting his second tooth. I went running to see if that would help my mood. Don't think it did because here I am now typing this blog. My husband watched the kids while I went to run and then I took a quick shower. But I'm always rushed. A day like today makes me wonder what it would feel like to send both kids to daycare, just for a day...Maybe I would finally tackle the long to-do list that is always running through my head.

We have too many clothes. All 4 of us. I know the problem could easily be solved if I would just sort through them and put some in trash or give away. But I'm sure it would take hours so I don't. I'd rather get the kids out of the house to do something fun.

It's so hard to get anything done around the house. My little boy loves to be held. He's only 6 months and I love that he wants to be snuggled all the time. But it sure makes for a messy house. Guess I could be cleaning right now as he naps but I'm in a slump. Praying I snap out of this soon!

Zander is 6 Months

Stats~ 17lbs and 12oz , 27.5"

On May 23 he turned 6 months old. He sits on his own pretty well. He does his own version of crawling. We think he looks like a frog swimming. I wonder if he will ever do the traditional up on all four's crawl. He's very fast doing his "froggy" crawl and can find shoes to chew on in the blink of an eye!

Happy 6 Months Z !

Little Miss Sassy Pants

Yep, this girl right here. VIOLET.

Now picture her yelling in a monster voice, "CHOCOLATE MILK!" Then she sniffs it to make sure we put chocolate in it. "I CAN'T SMELL THE CHOCOLATE!" Some days it feels like we live with a moody pregnant lady. Daddy has named her Sassy Pants. When did she get too big for her britches? Seems like yesterday she was my little baby attached to my hip.
All joking aside she really is a sweetheart. Just this past weekend we went to swim at my mom & dad's. Violet looked at my mom and said, "Gigi I love it here! Does that make you happy?!"

Violet, YOU make us happy!

(the moody pregnant lady reference was about me. Sorry family I know I was a brat)