spade

dear valentine,

I want this.... pretty please. green and navy. my favorite. the critters are throwing me over the edge.

daycation lacey

full frontal

gotcha. The only full frontal going on around these parts is Ollie's car seat. Grandma Grace was kind enough to give Ollie his birthday present a little early. Jake installed it last night and so Ollie got his first forward facing ride to school today. It took about two minutes to hit the snooze.

We encountered another new daycare ailment yesterday -- pinkeye. Oliver woke up with a very red rimmed eye and some major gunk that just kept coming back.

We hit the road for immediate care and he was seen by a very sweet PA who confirmed the pinkeye. Ollie got a free day at home with momma. Poppa came to my rescue and occupied Ollie why I tried do do some work from home. Ollie loves his poppa. Ollie also got a new hat when we picked up his prescription from Target. That's the cutest little penguin I've ever seen!

One thing that will throw me into a tailspin is UNEXPECTED events. I do okay with thought-out, planned scenarios. Doctors appointments, the dentist, vacations, etc. I do not, however, like to call into work with "emergencies." Thank goodness I have a very understanding, family focused employer who understands that sometimes you need to work from home with a sick child. The pinkeye was gone this morning so off to school/work we went.

walk this way

Oliver likes to take his time. He took his time sitting up (7 months old), he took his time crawling - knees, not army (11 months old), pulling up (11 months old) and now walking. There is no walking in sight. He can pull up like a champ but hasnt fully grasped the concept of lowering back down. He mostly falls over if there is nothing present to hold on to. He likes to cruise the couch and the coffee table and his crib. This is killing Jake. He wants Ollie to walk by his first birthday. Every night he makes him practice (we aren't winning any parenting awards here folks!). I call it baby walking boot camp. Its very serious business. The fact that Ollie is not ready to walk does NOT bother me at all. I know that once the walking begins my days of containing the beast are over. So for now, I just enjoy him racing laps in his walker around the island while I make dinner. The only thing I have to do in return is jump and shout "boo" when he rounds the corner. Its Ollie Andretti I'm tellin ya. He likes a high five too. That's his new thing. High fives for all. Smart baby.

Walk this way. Yes we are still sportin Santa jammies... that's how we roll.

On a side note, I think baby walkers are outlawed now. We got this one from my mother in law. It's kind of dangerous - especially for mother's toes, ankles and appliances.

this is what excited looks like

When Oliver gets really excited... like, daddy just walked through the door after a long day at school and is about to pick me up excited... Oliver makes a face. This face to be exact.


excitement

I love this face. I love that my dearest son gets this excited throughout the day. Ollie is going through a daddy love phase right now. Along with separation anxiety. Its been an interesting ride. I've had my feelings hurt on more than one occasion when daddy is the only person Oliver wants, which is most evenings these past few weeks. I guess I should be glad that Oliver loves his dad so much. They have been bff since the beginning. Since I had a c-section, Jake was on baby duty while I was in recovery. My mom said that she watched Jake with Ollie through the nursery window and that Ollie had his little teeny hand wrapped around Jake's finger during his exam/bath/monitoring. My heart explodes at the thought of that. My darling Jake meeting his son and watching over him, holding his hand, loving him so instantly... how powerful.

As we approach Oliver's first birthday in three short weeks, I can't help but get emotional over the last 11 months of my life. The introduction of Oliver into our family, the long sleep deprived days, the most intense love I have ever felt. It's all so surreal watching him go from baby to infant to budding toddler. I get weepy going through the pictures I am printing out for his birthday party. I miss his little three month old giggling self but am so curious and excited to see him grow into a walking talking little child. So excited in fact, I am making the above face.

addictions & chicken pot pie cups

I realized why I don't blog that often. My list of addictions is growing:

1. Oliver (and those kissable cheeks)
2. Pinterest
3. Facebook
4. Blogs
5. Dexter marathons


Can I just say. wow.


At first, Pinterest was a complete overload of fabulousness. I immediately logged out on my first session. I was like ohmygoh. I started to ease myself in a little here and there. Now I log in with intent -- specific search topics. If not, I can easily spend 2+ hours doing absolutely nothing.

On to more pressing matters... I have been challenging myself to get back into a dinner groove. I took about a three month hiatus (okay make that four). I was trying to work through our fridge and freezer and now we are done to nothing. If you open our fridge today all you will find is two drawers of bottled water, Sprite, Coke Zero, numerous bags of shredded cheese, yo baby yogurt and a rogue container of OJ left over from Christmas brunch. It ain't pretty folks. I don't even think we have ketchup. Yea, its that bad. Like Pinterest, I am easing myself back into the reality that I have to provide dinner on a daily basis for me, husband and now, eating just about anything, child. It's hard I tell ya. I found a new recipe (on Pinterest of course) for Chicken Pot Pie Cups. Quick, easy and healthy -- you can't beat that. The nice thing about these cups is you can make different versions for each family member. Jake is a huge meat eater where as I can go veg a few times a week and not balk. I made all the same version for this first batch but plan on changing things up a bit moving forward. I'm adding this to my two week dinner rotation for sure.

CHICKEN POT PIE CUPS

Ingredients:
1 can of refrigerated reduced fat croissants (Pillsbury)
1 can of reduced fat cream of chicken soup
1&1/2 cups cooked chicken (more or less depending on your love of chicken)
1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes (or fresh)
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
veggies of choice - I used peas, carrots, corn, lima beans and broccoli

Heat oven to 400, spray muffin tin with cooking spray. Take croissant triangle and stretch just a bit to form a "cup" in each muffin hole. Mix all the ingredients together and spoon/fill each cup. Lace edges of croissant over the top and bake for 12-15 minutes. Super easy. Based on the above recipe, each cup was around 225 calories. 

The combinations for this are endless and cleanup was a snap. Loved the built in portion control. Husband approved -- he ate four.

new year

Happy New Year! I have a lot of catching up to do. As we all know I am the slackest blogger on the planet but one of my resolutions is to be a more frequent poster during 2012. So to recap the last part of 2011, here we go:



Ollie sink bathing at Gramma Grace's house

 The weekend before Christmas, Ollie and I went to visit my mom for an overnight visit. Like at all Grandma's house's, Ollie got a bath in the sink and thought that the avocado green measuring cup from 1974 was the greatest toy ever.

While we were at mom's we got our cookie baking on. We made a huge batch of sugar cookies and mom and I decorated them together. I haven't done that in a long time and it felt so nice to spend time with my mom with Ollie playing at our feet. My mom makes the BEST sugar cookies of all time. Another goal for 2012 - learn Grace's super secret sugar cookie making skills (including homemade frosting) and have Ollie decorate for Santa. We also whipped up some homemade chex mix, popcorn balls, chocolate sea salt bark and fudge. Yum Yum.




cookies for Santa - 2011



Santa made a visit to our house. Ollie wasn't exactly sure what to think. He was not interested in opening any of the wrapped presents so --- this is awful -- I put them away and are going to give them to him for his birthday in a few weeks. Don't you worry, he got plenty of toys from Grandmas, aunts and uncles and cousins. Our house looks like ToysRus and its driving me crazy. I need to figure out some sort of storage solution for all of Oliver's new found treasure.


Santa was here - 12/25/11

We had our traditional brunch at our house and it was a hit. You can't go wrong with French Toast Casserole and lots of coffee!

Jake and I were back to work a few days in between Christmas and New Year's. On the eve of the new year, Oliver was acting really fussy and at bedtime got so upset he threw up. The throw up is another story completely. Let's just say I am on the hunt for a new area rug for his room because his current is starting to smell.Yuck-o! His "episode" took me back to September and his first bout of ear infection so we packed up the car and headed off to the pedi in Raleigh. She diagnosed the poor goose with ANOTHER double ear infection. It was a beautiful morning and we had some time to kill for his prescription to be filled so we headed over to Pullen Park. Pullen Park recently underwent a complete renovation and I was so excited to go. I used to go there in college to study. It was a perfect day for the park -- We had the best day!

waiting in line for the carousel

Ollie loved riding his horse. He screamed when we made him get off.

NYE 2011 - Pullen Park - Raleigh, NC

Happy New Year!

I love this time of year. I love fresh starts. I am excited for all the fun and adventure 2012 has in store for us!