So, What's Your Deal?

Every year, after everyone had stuffed themselves silly with my mom's Thanksgiving meal, we would slowly roll ourselves off the couch and away from the football games, and the Christmas music would begin.

My mom loves all Christmas music that she can sing along to, whereas my dad loves the John Philip Sousa marching band. He says it reminds him of the Navy---sure, Dad. Even though my parents have been divorced since I was 8, we would spend our holidays together and Thanksgiving was no different.

Cue the Christmas music, and out would come the boxes and boxes of Christmas decor. We would trim two tree--the family "pretty" one with white lights and fancy ornaments, and the "kids" one with whatever we wanted. We would set up two nativity sets--I would carefully place my baby Jesus in his manger, and my brother would make his cows and mules battle.

It's always Thanksgiving that makes me think it's time for Christmas, but not a day before. This is one of my favorite family traditions, and I plan to carry it on with my own little family, although this year we'll have to wait a few days since this Thanksgiving will be with the in-laws.

So, what's your deal? When do you put your decorations up? Are you an early celebrator, as in, they're already up? Or maybe you wait until it's actually December?

Let's Talk Books.

A while back I asked your opinion about some books for me to read, and they are all on my Christmas list. Eli has a list of his own for Santa, and you better believe this English-teaching momma put books on my baby's wish list. Hopefully Santa (his grandparents) will pull through. :)

Actually, I plan on order most of these used through Amazon, and I can't wait to snuggle down with my squirmy boy and attempt to read them to him. Hopefully, he'll learn to love them as much as I do. I absolutely love reading, and I'm a firm believer that if more parents read to or with their children at home, our schools would be a much better place. They not only expand vocabularies, but they also encourage and inspire creativity and imagination in young minds. Can you tell I teach English?

Here's a few on his list:

All those "click to look inside"'s are deceiving. Sorry. You can view them all on amazon.com.

Now, you tell me, what are some of your favorite children's books?

6 Weeks!

6 weeks until Christmas--that's crazy!!

Here I am, supporting shutterfly this year, because guess what? If I blog about this promotion, I get 50 free cards!! They also have free shipping over $30 right now, and 20% off all cards...quite the deal!

Besides getting free cards, I happen to already like Shutterfly! I order huge quantities of pictures from the every couple months...I'm talking, like 400 at a time--yes, Eli is the firstborn baby and grandson on both sides. I hear the amount of picture taking dwindles after the first. For now though, I order my prints from Shutterfly. I also ordered my birth announcements from them, and loved them!

That picture of my tiny 3 week old is still up on my fridge today!

I just have to choose my card and plant a family picture on the front, and mail them off to you sweet friends!
I've been having a hard time choosing a card because a lot of them are cute, but here's the link so you can peruse the options yourself! http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

My faves?: Oh holy night, Christmas 2010, Shimmer sparkle shine, Peace and love, and Family Wall Noir.

Go check out the form for yourself and then send me a cute picture of your family!
http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/

The Post in which I Vent.

Can I vent for a second about doctors? Why oh why does my child get diagnosed as not gaining sufficient weight when I talk to or read about a handful of other moms whose babies have the same stats as my son?

Their children are considered perfectly healthy from their pediatricians while I get questioned on feeding habits over and over again. I feed my child. As much as he wants. All the time.

How about his height?

How about genetics?

How about his activity level?

How about his constant smiles and giggles and apparent happiness?

Geez Louise, I think it's time to switch doctors. A second opinion is long over-due.

Did You Know?

I have a seven month old named Eli? Excuse me, seven months? That's over the hill toward his first birthday--oh me, oh my!

At seven months, my little barracuda is:
                                                    sporting two teeth.
                                                    sleeps from 8:30-8 with one wake-up (usually)
                                                    loves his momma and bawls if she leaves.
                                                    giggles his head off at peek-a-boo with daddy.
                                                    can crawl!
                                                    can sit unassisted
                                                    can pull himself to standing
                                                    has learned to bite. (yep, ouch!)
                                                    drinks 4 bottles of BM a day (4-6 ounces)
                                                    eats 3 meals a day of OM w fruit or veggies
                                                    is still on stage one homemade purees
                                                    needs his crib to sleep...p n' plays= no sleep
                                                    which means...travel = no sleep
                                                    is WILD.

Whenever we are around friends with Eli, they eventually ask: "Is he always...that...active?" And YES, the answer is YES...all over the place, all the time. The boy doesn't ever relax. So, momma and daddy don't relax. This stinging bee keeps us on our toes!!
                                                  

After trying free GDiapers, which were okay, we have moved onto expensive
BumGenius's, which are great! Invest now, save later!

Do you see why my momma calls me a barracuda? I'll bite you if I don't feel like eating...ouch! Weaning may come a little earlier than expected!

Check out my momma's new obsession--tiny shoes!

See those little scrapes on my face? I rub my eyes when I get tired, but refuse to let clippers come near my nails...even when I'm asleep!

And of course, here's where the shoot ended, as usual, with a good fuss and a nap!

A Little Flair.

You can never have too much flair. Which is why I finally decided on a high chair. I ordered the Boon Flair high chair with a gift card to Babies R Us. I had been saving the last of our shower gift cards for this specific purchase, and I wasn't sure I wanted to spend that much money on a high chair. Well, I definitely didn't want to, but I'm very glad I did. This high chair is awesome!

It's a cross between a barber chair and a space ship. It has a pneumatic lift so I can lower Eli to join us at the dinner table (if we ate there). It has wheels so I can roll him from room to room. It's one piece, so it's super easy to clean, and it has three trays, so if I get lazy, there's always a clean one. :) You can't tell from the picture, but the chair is really really light blue, and the inner seat that comes out is white. Eli loves it, well...if I don't strap him in. He hates straps, which is why I avoid the car like I avoid germs.

Today at a Target outing, I ran across the clearance section. What did I see? Miss Petunia Pickle Bottom. That's right--my new diaper bag!! I never bought a diaper bag, because all the ones I liked were $100 or more!! So, I went and bought a $10 Gap bag and stuffed everything in there. The only problem was: I learned why people use diaper bags. They have pockets and pockets galore for things like diapers, bottles, ice packs, pacis, burp rags, toys, wallets, tiny tubes of aquaphor, etc. All that used to be jumbling and jingling around in my one big bag. Now it's all organized nice and neat!! And, clearance meant I scored mine for $35!!

So there you have it friends. Two new purchases this week, and it was all baby related. When do I start purchasing for me again? Probably never. Like everything else in my life, it's all about my sweet boy now!! :)

Confessions.

Do you have these days? Where a million thoughts run through your head? Please say you do. What are your confessions? Or am I alone here. :)

1. I am ready to start playing Christmas music. Is it too early?

2. I wish we could have Thanksgiving and Christmas with my own little family this year. Is that weird and anti-social?

3. I am already thinking about a theme for Eli's first birthday. I didn't think I would ever be that prepared as to be a mom who plans big birthdays. But it's his first!! :)

4. I finally just got Eli a sleep sack at consignment for $2.50, and why in the world did I wait so long? I feel 100x better knowing he is warm all night and that blanket is nowhere near his face. And Matth likes that I don't make him get out of bed 5 times to check and make sure he's okay.

5. I still think it's really funny watching Eli poop. TMI? Definitely.

6. I have a bright orange outfit for Eli almost done. I made it for football games, but we aren't going to one. I made it for Halloween. Missed that occasion. Now I'm "making" it for Thanksgiving. Please let me finish before he outgrows it.

7. I need to work out. I don't want to.

8. I need to have my hair highlighted. I went last in July. I don't want to do that either.

9. I could buy Eli cute clothes all day. Just not for me. I am too cheap to spend money on myself.

10. I'm getting my camera for Christmas. matth's grandparents are gifting it to me; they just don't know it yet. They are extremely generous, and I will be able to buy it with their gift of a big check. I can't wait. I'm still trying to convince Matth I need it BEFORE the holidays so I can document his first Thanksgiving and Christmas properly. :)

Pretty Dish.

Now that the weather is changing, and we can't grill every night, I am back in charge of dinners. I get bored pretty quickly, and I'm not a huge fan of casseroles, so I am always looking for good, fast meals to make while bouncing a fussy baby during his witching hour. :)

I made this last night, and it's becoming one of my favorite pastas. Now, here's the warning: it's not good for you. There's heavy cream involved. Yep, I said it. Heavy cream.

Now that we're past the bad news, here's the good news: heavy cream makes meals delicious. I love it.

First, cook about 4 slices of bacon until crisp in a large pan. Set them aside for later. Reserve about 1 TB of the bacon grease in pan, and add about 1/2 cup of pine nuts and 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms. P.S. Pine nuts can be expensive. Get a pot of water boiling for the noodles at the same time.

After you saute those around until the mushrooms look tasty and the pine nuts are golden brown, add the chopped bacon slices, 1 1/2 cups of the heavy delicious cream, and a dash of salt and pepper.

Bring that sauce to a boil, and stir until the sauce thickens just a little. Turn the stove down to low and add 2 medium chopped tomatoes. The recipe says to remove the seeds of the tomatoes. Some I did, and some I didn't. I'm lazy like that.

Now that the sauce is ready, add 8 ounces of dried spinach fettucine to the boiling water. It takes about 3 minutes to get tender. Drain and add to the sauce. Mix.

Transfer to a dish ( I prefer a bowl so I can practically drink up the cream) and add a little shredded (we used grated) parmesan cheese and more S & P if you want some.

Last note: I sauteed up some chicken in the pan and added that to for my meat-loving husband, but I like it w/o the chicken.

That's it! Pretty easy, and so very good! Matth says it's one of his favorite pastas, so hopefully you will like it too! Let me know if you try it. And I wish I had a picture for you, but I made it last night, and it's about 7 in the morning and I forgot to take any pictures. Trust me--it's a pretty dish.