Happy Anniversary

My Love,

It has been a wonderful journey over the last five years. In some ways it seems like yesterday, and in others ... well you know. ;-) You have made the last five years adventurous, exciting and memorable and I wouldn't want to travel through this life without you. You are a very caring and loving husband and father. Your love for your son and me is more than I could ever hope for. I love you. Here's to the first five and many more to come.

Love,

Your Wife

Year Four

Our fourth year can be summed up in two main events: pregnancy and house-buying. Those were the big check boxes that our team decided to tackle for our fourth year of marriage. Year three was out of country travel ;-) Year four we had to kick it up a notch and buying a house and getting pregnant seemed like good things to accomplish in year four of our union.

Our fourth year was started out pretty status quo, my work situation was becoming increasingly ridiculous and a change was on the horizon there "any day" every day. I eventually quit less than a week after we closed on our house. After finding out we were pregnant, I chose to start my SAHM duties early and kept myself busy at home.

For several weeks prior to quiting, our lives were consumed with house hunting, paperwork, inspections and all the good festive headaches that come with buying a home. Then they were quickly transitioned into the appliance, carpet, paint buying and decision making mode. Then we moved in. :) The first thing we did when we moved in was put up the Christmas tree. It was past Thanksgiving and I was dying. I always ALWAYS put up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving - and to have to wait an extra 5+ days was torture for me. We had no furniture in the house, but we had a tree :) We moved in officially a week later. And a few days after that we confirmed that I was pregnant.

We spent Christmas proper in So-Cal with my family and it was a delightful time. Especially announcing to everyone that we were going to have a baby in August 2008! It was an exciting, yet nauseous time for us me. Well he was excited - but not so nauseous. 2008 was riddled with doctor's appointments and many firsts. First heartbeats, first movements, the ever expanding baby belly. Loving Husband was ever so attentive during my pregnancy and took wonderful care of me and our son.

We wrapped up our fourth year by celebrating early in case Aiden came at one of our favorite places to celebrate our anniversary - the lodge by the falls. It was an enjoyable and relaxing time for us. It was our final anniversary as just the two of us. We were weeks away from embarking on a challenging and most rewarding endeavor: raising our son!

Year Three

Our third year of marriage was actually the first year that we spent the entire year together! We ease into things ;-) just kidding. Our third year of marriage was a wonderful one it included our trip to Roma. It was wonderful, but I'm getting ahead of myself as that was near the end of our third year together.

Year three started out with me getting a job at law firm, which for a while was a wonderful job. I was happy to be working again. We hosted Christmas at our home for both our families, everyone but my brother and his wife were able to come. It was a full house, but such a great time.

We moved in January of that year again to a different rental, a smaller place - but we fit comfortably and the cats adjusted to their smaller indoor haven. We were both really busy with work and studying for much of the first part of 2007, but after that season passed we enjoyed some fun. During work in the winter of 2007 I studied and took the bar exam again. Working in the law firm 40+ hours a week and studying was pretty grueling but it was effective as I passed the bar exam. I was sworn in at a private ceremony hosted by my bosses, it was a really special event - that I still appreciate to this day. My mom and Dawn were able to fly out and be there and of course Loving Husband was there!

The summer was wonderful as we spent it in Roma (ok we were only there for 10 days)! It was our first time in Italy and I fell in love. It was a wonderful trip to spend just the two of us. We took a trip with a group of friends to the beach shortly after returning from Roma and spent the weekend there. It was a lot of fun. We celebrated our third anniversary by seeing a dinner show Teatro Zinzanni and it was awesome! It was a wonderful way to celebrate our third year together.

Year Two

Our second year of marriage started back in Southern California after a nice anniversary in Washington. I surprised my husband with a trip to the local mountains I grew up near, as he had never been there. I found a cute little bed and breakfast and reserved the "presidential suite" for the weekend. We celebrated his birthday and enjoyed another nice weekend away after spending several weeks apart.

I started teaching at That College in August and became the director of Forensics and Loving Husband was very helpful assisting with the debate team.

Our second year of marriage was a hard year for me in general, I lost both my grandpa and my dad within two months of each other. LH was my rock during that and was very helpful and loving through that.

At the end of 2005 Loving Husband received a job offer in Washington, however I was under contract at That College through the end of May. So my husband and I prepared and began a six month separation while he began his job in Washington and I wrapped up our lives in California. We saw each other about once a month and talked every day. While a challenge it was good. I moved to Washington in June.

For the first time in... forever I didn't have anything to do. My job at That College was done for the summer. I was planning to teach some online courses for them, but that didn't begin until August and so I found myself alone in a new state with only my husband and our two kitties. I slowly made friends and sorta (not really) studied for the bar exam again.

It was so nice to be in the same house again and to enjoy the beautiful summers that exist here in the northwest. We were reunited with our kitties and enjoyed spending time as a family together. We celebrated our second anniversary at the Space Needle for dinner. It was wonderful, we walked around the area before dinner and Loving Husband won me a prize at the carnival :) It was a nice way to celebrate another challenging by wonderful year together.

Year One

Our wedding day was beautiful. The weather was perfect, the ceremony was late enough that no one felt rushed, and my wedding started on time (that was my only brideism that I was a bit crazy about) we had a beautiful and simple ceremony, not too long. Be Thou My Vision played during the signing of the marriage license and we were surrounded by candlelight. The reception was very nice and I ate my entire dinner (some brides forget to eat, I wanted my filet - I was going to eat) we cut the cake and tossed some things and headed off for our honeymoon.

Our honeymoon was a surprise to me. Loving Husband had kept it a secret. In part our honeymoon was a several week extravaganza because one of LH's friends got married the Saturday after ours - so we had a mini honeymoon in Washington and then our real honeymoon in Jamaica! The entire time was wonderful to relax and just spend time with my new husband. I loved the warm waters of Jamaica and the resort was wonderful.

We came back to reality and my third year of law school and work at the law firm. LH went back to work. We enjoyed our first halloween as a married couple going as a bride (I wore my runaway dress) and he came as my ball and chain -- wearing a ball and chains. We enjoyed Thanskgiving in Southern California with both our our families. His parent's came down and we all went to my grandma's. It was a nice time. Our first Christmas together we began our tradition of exchanging stockings.

I graduated from law school in May and moved to Washington for three months to study for the bar exam and to live with his parents. We knew that we were moving to Washington in the near future, although at the time the date wasn't set, but I had to take A bar exam and so I decided on Washington's. During that time we acquired a kitty (Tort) by the end of the summer we adopted his brother (Nick) who orignally was LH's mom's cat... they couldn't be seperated. They had to stay in Washington though for a while until we moved back to Washington. At the end of July, after the exam, Loving Husband came to join me and we celebrated our first anniversary at the same spot we had enjoyed phase one of our honeymoon - at the lodge!

The Beginning

Loving Husband and I met in August 2002, I was volunteering at my Alma mater (that I just just graduated from that previous May) as a debate coach and he was a transfer recruit to the debate team, he was a junior. I was instantly smitten, but had just come out of a long term relationship and so I wasn't really interested in dating - but I was very much interested in spending more time with him. His best friend had been on the debate team with me (also a junior now) and him and I had been friends. So hanging out LH wasn't very hard to do. We spent a lot of time together. We attended church together, often just the two of us, we rode together in vehicles to debate tournaments, we spent a lot of time together and I had a MAJOR crush. He seemed oblivious.


In November of that year my mom asked why don't you just date him and my response was that I could never date him, I'd only marry him. My mom found that weird and confusing, but it made perfect sense to me. We continued to be friends that saw each other more than any one else - I dated someone off and on in between for a while since LH was showing little interest, but LH still held my attention more than any other.


As time went on we continued to spend time together, everyone on the debate team thought we were dating - we continuously corrected them - because while I secretly harbored that desire - I didn't want to be third grade about it and have a bunch of people (yes boys included) giggling about it. Fast forward a bit to April when LH and my paths were nearing a brink or a break almost - in the fact that he was maybe going to NY and I was going to Northern California... after prayer, reflection, and some terse words to other parties - we began dating. Now as we told people we were dating, no one believed us - but eventually they all saw it to be true and were as happy as we were.


I spent those first few months of our dating relationship in Northern California, I had a job in a law firm. I wasn't going to give that up simply for a new dating relationship with a boy - although I knew that this boy would be my husband - I was clear from the get go that I wouldn't date him, I would only marry him. He had the same thing in mind. We "survived" our long distance relationship just fine and I moved back home.


In November 2003 (a year after my mom had asked why don't I just date the boy) LH took me on a cruise to Mexico - and on that cruise on the last day we were on the boat, he woke me at sunrise and took me to the back of the boat to watch it and proposed to me. He had had my ring made from a design he drew. I was in love (with him) and I was getting married. We decided on July 31st, 2004.

Cold Turkey

I have allergies. The one that I currently find most obnoxious and problematic is my allergy to pineapple. You see it isn't a common food allergy. No one is going to get slapped with a multi-million dollar lawsuit if they fail to acknowledge pineapple is in something. Dairy, nuts, whey..... all of these gems that cause terrible side effects are well documented on labels. Pineapple, not always. Often? Yes. Always? No. And so I was struck by the evil fruit (which ironically used to be my favorite fruit, stupid late onset allergies!) about a week ago. I had some coconut rum that had it in there, because by nightfall of drinking it, my entire top lip inside and out was erupted in cold sores and canker sores. DELIGHTFUL! I did my very very best to avoid my son with my mouth or my hands if they had been near my mouth. No sharing food, nada. We had managed to avoid any previous potential catastrophe earlier this year when I was exposed by an jelly belly! Who knew jelly bellys contained REAL pineapple?! Siiiigh.

Today we awoke to see a little red dot on our son's lip. Oh no. Now he had fallen the evening before and busted open his lip very near where this dot was. However, the blood yesterday was on the inside near the top of his bottom lip and this dot was on the outside at the bottom of his bottom lip. Could it be a bruise? It seemed to be circular - a blister didn't seem to be there exactly, but (while we could hold him still) it did appear to have a white dot.... Oh no! So we took him to the walk in clinic. The doctor was of little help. Not so much to his own failures of medical knowledge but because the red dot didn't really have much of a blister - he said it could be a cold sore, it could be a clogged pore due to the heat, it could be from where he cracked his lip the night before. Siigh. He took a swab but was not confident that since there was no real blister to speak of that it would yield a positive result. He said if a blister did form over the weekend to bring Aiden back in and he'd simply swab it again - no appointment or waiting required.

Also while we were there Aiden got to stand on the big boy scale for the first time ever. He did very well ... until he tried to step off while mommy was answering the nurse's question and stumbled into the wall as he toppled over. However, we did find out that he weighs 19.2lbs now. Then while Loving Husband and I were waiting with Aiden in the room, Aiden busted the other half of his bottom lip open trying to retrieve Nemo who had fallen to the floor. The step to get up onto the table caused said resistance to his lip. Poor kid, take him to the doctor to get better and ends up with a bonk on the head and a fat lip.

The doctor decided that since there is a chance, albeit a slim chance, to spread cold sores to a nipple that breastfeeding was out of the question until we got a) the negative results back or b) the cold sore goes away. Excuse me?! No breastfeeding? Do you understand this is my son we are talking about? The no bottle, barely solid food boy? Are you MAD?! In addition to that my last few experiences with pumping have been a struggle. GREAT! Now to Aiden's credit he has been in the last few weeks taking a bottle every now and again and in the last two weeks has been enjoying some goat's milk out of them. So I'm glad he's finally gotten on the bottle train or today would have been a real nightmare.

Yes, my son had to go cold turkey from the boob. After leaving the doctor's office, we went to BRU to purchase some formula. Worried that my pumping problem would persist (say that 3xs fast!) we thought it best to have it on hand. As it turns out - Aiden HATES formula, he drank maybe an ounce and would not touch it after that. However, goat's milk was a decent alternative most of the day. He drank about 7oz. of goat's milk and solid food on his regular schedule. The only real challenge was nap time. I put him in the Ergo carrier and the poor boy tried to root around on my chest, there was about an hour of fussing and sadness, but eventually taking the bottle and conking out on me for his standard 45 minute nap. Not the most comfortable for mommy, but it was ok - it was a special time for him and I.

The whole potential pumping problem? Not so much of a problem after 10 hours. Yah since Aiden's last nursing session was 7am - come 5pm I HAD to pump. Since I am hoping that this is only a temporary cold turkey situation and that I can continue to nurse after the sore is gone, I am not wanting my milk to dry up. I want Aiden to naturally wean - this is not natural for him or me. This might very well be how we transition from nurse all day to early morning/night only though in the long run - but for now I'd like to still produce the same amount that I currently am. Considering that's only really occurring in one side. Yes in less than 20 minutes I pumped 12oz... out of one. An impressive feat. Aiden enjoyed 6oz over the course of the rest of the evening and the other bottle ready for the nighttime wakings. I pumped again at 10 and gathered an extra 6oz in case he's super hungry in the night. Then we'll revert back to goats milk for a while in the morning.

Overall, Aiden is doing ok with the cold turkey. He's been sad a few times and his dad had to get him to sleep tonight without me because it broke my heart. Tonight will be the first time when my little boy wakes up sleeping next to me that I will not simply roll over and let him nurse. It breaks my heart and it hasn't even happened. Perhaps tonight will be the night he sleeps through the night and I don't have to deal with watching his semi-sleeping-self root around desperate to find his midnight snack and instead being meet with a bottle. Perhaps in a few hours the 'cold sore' will disappear and merely be a bruise from the first fat lip he receive and I can pull my baby into my side and let him nurse till our hearts are content.

I hate you pineapple. I really do.

Summer Favorites - Our Anniversary

This year we are celebrating our 5th anniversary! It's hard to imagine that 5 years has gone by when I said "I do" to the love of my life. We have enjoyed many celebrations of our anniversary. This next week leading up to our anniversary, I will have a post on each of our five years together.

The below picture is one of my favorites from our wedding day. Mostly because my husband is whispering to me that he hates pictures, but loves me. So my smile in this one is very real.

Eleven Months Old

What a month it has been for my little man. So many adventures, so much excitement, such a FAST month. Weren't you just turning double digits? Are we really into the final moments before you turn ONE YEAR OLD?! My goodness - where does the time go?

Well for Aiden's eleventh month of life we enjoyed a few more firsts: Roseola, first trip to the zoo, first 4th of July, his first time being babysat, his first trip to a water park, his first taste of goat's milk.

We round out Aiden's 11th month with 6 teeth fully in. One of the teeth looks like it has a chip, but I believe it was never "damaged" on the outside, I think it might have malformed under the gums since it was pushing against another tooth. Although who knows! He's a busy boy running around, climbing stairs, biting rocks (siiiigh) it could have happened anywhere. We will be making his first dental appointment soon.

Aiden has (for now) reclaimed his enjoyment of solid foods and we are routinely eating about 1 to 1.5 jars of food over the course of a day. Every other day mommy tries to let him explore the idea of feeding himself dinner - followed promptly with a bath. That's another thing, we've graduated out of the baby bath tub and into the big boy tub! There's no turning back now. Additionally, he's added goat's milk into his diet - he's taken to it very well and there seems to be no signs of an adverse reaction. It has made mommy's ability to go out whenever much easier as planning and pumping do not need to be involved.

In the learning department, he hasn't added too much to his vocabulary, occasionally he mutters in a repeat fashion "red" and also 8 out of 10 times will point to the color red when we ask him to. He does ok with yellow too but that is after a lot of repetition so the remembering that association I don't believe is quite there yet. However, I am confident that he knows the color red. We continue to work on colors and numbers. Those currently are some of his favorite books. His ultimate favorite book though is his Jesus Storybook Bible. Almost every night Shon reads it to him and almost every morning I read some to him right after we wake up. He will often walk over and try to pick up the book himself. It's really cute to watch. He's getting more and more comfortable simply sitting (still!!) in our laps and reading about one to two pages before he feels we should move to another page or a different room entirely (aka the wiggles start to break free of his tiny body.)

Aiden is walking without issue now, even with a bit of a jog to it at times. He is enjoying the outdoors whenever we will let him escape out there and loves to climb up the stairs. He doesn't like shoes in the least which is a-ok with us and now that he's more independent with his movements we've been able to take him to fun places like toddler cafes which look like giant play lands for kids and the water parks. He's really enjoyed the freedom that walking gives him.

My little boy is growing so fast, but I'm loving this new phase of him learning and advancing everyday. His world is expanding around him and he's learning new things daily. Although some of those do include learning how to open drawers and get into cupboards, but that's ok - because it's all a part of growing up. Enjoy your final month before the years set in baby boy, they'll go so fast after that.

*** He was just waking up for these pictures, and his pants really do fit, apparently just not when he's sitting. *****

A New Adventure!

Having an 11 month old - my adventures are pretty limited. It's ok, I'm enjoying whole-heartily the adventure of watching my little boy grow. However, every now and again the downtime creeps in and the piercing void of something to do takes over. And so coupled by many different motivations, I have decided to embark on an additional blogging endeavor. Don't worry, The A-Priori Mommy isn't going anywhere, she's just splitting her personality into the Amature Foodie as well. Yes, I have started a new blog. As you may have noticed button on my left column that has been there for a few days, I created a new blog, a new adventure.

While The A-Priori Mommy will remain true to our daily life and the happenings and milestones of Aiden and a few fun giveaways every now and again, like THIS one that is currently going on; Amature Foodie will be my outlet and accountability for making dinners and the inspirations to drive me to a culinary adequacy. Yes, you read correctly. I'm not seeking to be the next great food blogger, just someone that cooks semi-regularly in this house. :) (shameless begging, self-promotion, and unjustified guilting are imminent) So if I have people reading (Pllllllleeeeeeeeeaaase!) and following my food blog and reading what is happening in my kitchen then the more likely things are to happen in my kitchen (guilt in 3, 2, 1...) and then my family will be fed good and healthy home-made food.

Ok ok, yes my family will still eat even if people do not read my new blog, Amature Foodie, but if you are interested in what we're cooking up at our place, please do stop by and check it out. I plan to post recipes, and links to great and better blogs than mine that I've found that have wonderful recipes. I do hope that Amature Foodie additionally will become a good resource to find good things to create in the kitchen.

Thank you to all of you whom read The A-Priori Mommy, I would write about my son and his adventures all day long, even if there was no audience to be found - but it's such a delight to know that other people take some joy from hearing reading about and seeing my sweet baby boy.

Wordless Wednesday - Water Park Fun!

I Heart Faces ... er Feet!

Time for another installment of I ♥ Faces and this week they are focusing on FEET! So really this week I ♥ Feet is showing off all the piggies. Of course I am very fond of my little man's piggies. In fact they are my button for this blog! However, we've all see those feet day in and day out, so perhaps a more updated picture of piggies are required.

This picture was taken after Aiden had crawled around the cherry blossoms back in April. He was seven months old at the time. Hard to believe this week he turns eleven months old!

Check out other people's piggy pictures here.

The Joyful Organizer Book Review & Giveaway

Who doesn't love to be organized? No one. What we don't love is getting or staying organized. Nope often we get buried in tasks, or paperwork and the ideal of organization at that point seems like a four-letter-word. Now add moving into the mix and selling your home and most people's heads are close to the exploding point. It's overall a frightening disaster. If you are sitting there saying "what's the big deal?" Then this isn't for you. If you're sitting there reading and nodding with a few amens every now and again, well then keep reading there is a solution!

The Joyful Organizer is a company that offers professional organizational help. The founder, Bonnie Joy Dewkett has been a life long organizer, some people are just born with that knack, the rest of us live our lives constantly digging ourselves out from under clutter and piles. :) The Joyful Organizer also offer IN home help, yes they will come to your home assess your room and then organize it for a fee! Personal shopping is also involved! Yes, The Joyful Organizer will go to the store and purchase (at your expense) the supplies necessary to organize, it just sounds magical, go to work to your messy office there, come home to a beautifully organized home-office. Although I think my favorite part is they are willing to work with children to teach them how to be organized! A list of their services can be found here. Anything else you'd like to know about this company can be found here in their FAQ section.

I reviewed The Joyful Organizer's Guide to a Happy Move and it is chalk full of details and advice from preparing your home for open houses to getting your vet records (if you're moving out of town) there are several helpful print out sheets that contain checklists to help keep yourself organized and it is wonderful to just be able to go the book to double check details. After moving 4 times in the last 5 years, I completely understand the frenzy that it can be and how things can get lost, forgotten or left undone. This book honestly would have been helpful during some of those moves. It was well written in easy to understand sections. Lots of bullet points so you don't get lost in the dredge of too many words on a page. There are some things that are in the book that seem pretty obvious, but overall I think the point that it all boils down to is that it CAN help you to get organized and if you're moving that is the KEY.

Win it! The Joyful Organizer has kindly donated one digital copy of The Joyful Organizer's Guide to a Happy Move

How to Enter
1. Leave a comment! Your first entry it's that simple! (1 entry)
2. Visit The Joyful Organizer and tell me something I have not mentioned here. (1 entry)
3. Blog about the giveaway with a link to The A-Priori Mommy and leave the URL to your post in the comment. (2 entries)
4. Follow me on blogger. Already follow, you count too! (1 entry)
5. Follow me AcesMomma on Twitter AND Tweet about this giveaway. (1 entry)
6. Add my button to your sidebar. (1 entry)

Please leave a separate comment for each entry (i.e., if you blog about this giveaway, leave three separate comments stating that you did. Your comments are your actual entries.)

This giveaway will end August 6th at 11:59 PM PST. Winner will be chosen via random.org. Winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize before a new winner is chosen.
Worldwide entries accepted!

Babysat

Yes, ladies and gents! Aiden has for the first time, just a week shy of being eleven months old been babysat! I know for many parents this does not constitute such a grand announcement, only a mere blip on the baby advancing radar (often times a lot sooner than eleven months!) However, for us it was a big deal. Between the boy that won't take a bottle to the boy that only semi-often will entertain a jar of baby food, having Aiden watched by a third party truly has not been an event I've been willing to subject on someone. Aiden often doesn't get watched solely by his dad either for the same fooding reasons. I am the food - therefore... ipso facto... I cannot wander far.

However, Aiden is growing up. He's a big boy AND he has started to entertain a bottle (a little) and we recently started him on goat's milk. Not much. No more than 4oz a day at this point, but he seems to be taking it pretty well. And Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince came out at 12:01am on Wednesday morning and it was Saturday and I had yet to see it. Issue or no Issue, I was going to see that movie before it was out on dvd. ;-) (Please see legal definition of "issue")

Pop Pop and Grandma eagerly volunteered to be the first to babysit! They were excited and happy to do so. So we set out this morning to ensure Aiden got a decent nap in, was fed and happy when we set out for our three hour adventure! We are told that he did excellently! No massive crying at all! Woohoo! Perhaps we'll try this again in the near future.

Do you know, this was the first time since having Aiden that I've been in my husband's car? Yep, it's true - a two door sports car is not ideal for a carseat, so we are 100% of the time in my vehicle when we have our little man. This is a picture of us backing out of our driveway, on our way to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince! Yippee!

This is Aiden on a fairly warm day (hence the (non)wardrobe choice) toddling in the backyard, while Grandpa captures their adventures in pictures with his fancy iPhone.

Grandma smiling at her boy, Aiden sharing something with his Pop Pop. Thank you so much for watching Aiden and taking such great care of him for the 3+ hours that mom and dad were gone!

Fortune Cookie

Aiden enjoyed his first fortune cookie. His fortune: You will have an opportunity. He enjoyed that cookie till it was a soggy mess. He was perfectly pleasant at the restaurant. (Yay!)

Winner

Thank you everyone for entering my latest giveaway. Check back in the next few weeks for a NoThrow, another children's book and a book on organization, for the mommies and non-mommy readers! The winner of the Brain Child Book is: #26!

MoziEsmé said...
Would love to win this for my daughter! janemaritz at yahoo dot com
July 11, 2009 5:29 PM

Stop by to congratulate the winner!

Our Book Club

I have hosted a book club at my house for almost two years, I named it after the Gilmore Girl's hometown: Stars Hallow. Rory loved to read, and it was the final season of the show, it seemed appropriate. September will mark two years officially, and last night was probably one of my favorite evenings. Sadly only about half of our group was able to join us due to some scheduling conflicts - summers are always hard - but it of such a fun evening because we read A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg the author the blog Orangette.

For a simple review of this book: I LOVED it. Molly tells her life story in such a great and charming way, and it was a delight to read and salivate over each and every recipes. I highly give this book 'two thumbs up' '5 stars' it was a great read, and it doubles as a cookbook!

I find it amusing that after my last post where I get on camera and tell you I rarely cook dinner, that I would follow it by THIS post in which I talk about cooking, and loving a book about cooking, but as you'll recall, I do love to cook when I have inspiration and Molly's book (and blog!) have in recent days provided a great deal of inspiration.

Our book club usually gathers once a month to discuss the book of choice which most often are fiction books, but we chose to make an exception for this book because it was just that good - and one of our book club members had the great idea of turning it into a potluck of recipes out of the book! Ingenious! And indeed that's what we did. Our menu included:

Doron’s Turkey Meatballs with Golden Raisins and Pine Nuts
Bread Salad with Cherries, Arugula, and Goat cheese
Banana Bread with Chocolate and Crystallized Ginger
Macaroons, coconut with Chocolate Ganache

B & D of the Ravenna Girls brought the salad and the bread, and oh my they were delicious, I was a little sad to see the bread go home with D. :( But I did enjoy some! I prepared the meatballs and macaroons - and there were no meatballs left (although I was nice and saved a few for the husband.) I MIGHT just make that dish again tomorrow. It was that good. Really every book club should be that good. Oh my it was delicious. And I have macaroons still in the fridge. YUM.

Chick Chat

Yes, it is finally my turn to participate in Chick Chat hosted by Three Bay B Chicks! I'm so excited. This is my debut vlogging experience, so forgive my atrocious use of fillers ("ums" "uhs" and "so") the communication professor in me is beating me senseless for such a terrible display of nonverbal cues. Siigh. Do as I SAY not as I do, right? I digress! Enjoy

Today we're talking about What's for Dinner?
Myself, Jenni from Jiggety Jigg, Kim from The Ungourmet, Denise from There’s Always Room for One More and Heidi from Sacred & Profane, are all a chatter about our dinner habits! So please stop by their places after you've watched my vlog!

The intro-title page somehow managed to be 10 seconds, so I apologize for the long black screen - just think of it building anticipation! ;-) Or just fast forward a few seconds.

Bebe Au Lait Hooded Towel Review

Often people wonder why it is important to have baby towels. Some would argue it is because they are softer than the regular towels that we adults use, and that's true - often times they are. However, the feature that I love most about a baby towel is the hood that comes with it. However, I have been less than pleased at my earlier experiences with hooded baby towels. First of all the standard three pack that you can buy at Target (you all know what I'm talking about) are super thin and the hood is "built in" to one of the corners of the towel. BOO I say, because once your child is older than a few months, those towels just do not work! They barely wrap around your baby, let alone that tiny "hood" fitting on their ever growing noggin'

That's why I was so excited to review Bebe au Lait's hooded towel. I love their products. Often most identified by their nursing covers, they also have an expanded inventory beyond that including: reversible bibs, burp cloths and these hooded towels. These towels come in two sizes: Baby and Toddler. I am seriously contemplating the toddler one for myself. I'm small, it might just work. Why? Because I am IN LOVE with this towel. It is super thick and plush, of course is available in a wide variety of their adorable fabrics, and the best feature in my opinion, the hood is not attached to the corner of the towel, it is on one of the sides! Finally! Someone who understands the mechanics of wrapping a baby in a towel effectively! In the toddler version of this towel, there is even a magnetic "clasp" at the base of the hood! That's just awesome.

If you can't tell, I really like this product. My son not only gets to be covered entirely, but he gets to be warm from head to toe! I believe my sister-in-law with her little one on the way might be expecting one of these in her near future, because it is just that great.

Would you like to own one yourself, or perhaps give it as a gift at your next shower you have to attend? Stop by Bebe au Lait and get one (or two!) If you like the towel that Aiden is modeling, that is Bebe au Lait's Shrine Aqua Baby Hooded Towel

Walking - Phase Three

I should have posted a phase three of walking a long time ago. Aiden has been cruising around the house and parks on his own for weeks now. But I just took a fresh video today to show his speed he's picking up and the slight jog he's even attempting. We had a good weekend, lots of outdoor time for Aiden, who is now sporting a farmers tan!

Summer Favorites - Outdoor Fun!

One of my favorites of summers is the ability to be outdoors. Particularly here in the northwest. There are so many great parks around to go to. They always keep their grass so nicely green and soft, whereas our grass here at home starts to get brittle and brown after while (we're too cheap to keep it THAT green.)

Going to the parks is not only a great way to get out of the house, but also to get some great vitamin D! I have been so excited that Aiden can get the real deal and not the drops these last few weeks. And yes we are off today to enjoy a trip to the park! In fact we are off to celebrate my friend's 30th! What fun!

My favorite thing to do in a park was to sit in the shade of a tree and read a book... while I won't be able to do that this season as I am busy chasing a busy boy around, I certainly will enjoy the warm weather! So enjoy the sun everyone! What is your favorite outdoor activity in the summer?

Transition

It is official, my baby is really not a baby anymore. I no longer can shop in the "baby" section of clothing (at least at JCPenneys.) He has graduated out of MOST of his 9 month clothes, or is in that "in between" phase where yes the 9 month fits ok and 12 months is a tad baggy, but why buy one when he can "grow into" the other. For a long time now I've watched my infant slowly fade away into the little boy he is now. But my last shopping trip was a tad traumatic for me. Ok traumatic is a tad much, but it certainly did not go unnoticed. On the latest trip to JCPenneys - I ventured into the toddler section. Their baby section goes from 0-9mos. Aiden is now officially into the "toddler" section there.

This is just crazy, yes I'm aware he's almost 11 months old, so of course that's the natural course of things - but when did he become 11 months old (almost)? Seriously, wasn't I just watching Law and Order: CI, laboring away awaiting his arrival ... 30 hours later? Wasn't I just holding him for the first time, yesterday smelling the top of his what looked like SUPER curly hair? Wasn't it just mere moments ago that we realized that he didn't have curly hair, but just a massive amount of it? Wasn't his "newborn" outfit baggy on him as I packed him into his car seat for the first time? Since when am I shopping in the toddler section?!

He's gone from scootching across his play mat at a week old, to practically running across rooms. He's gone from a full head of dark brown hair to a full head of blond. He's gone from 8lbs to 18lbs, and yes he's gone from size "NB" to "12m" and that apparently graduates him to a whole other section of a store. Oh my. Slow down baby boy. I can't handle the speed, but I am loving every second.

My little racoon

Yes, Aiden is a good helper in the kitchen, but of course the place he finds most fascinating is the recycling. The trash can doesn't yield too much entertainment because it is closed, but the recycling is just an open bin and always yields something fascinating. I took these pictures a few weeks back, because the shirt he was wearing was too priceless as I caught him once again rooting through the bins. :) Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

MOH - The Dress

Probably the key ingredient to being in someone's wedding is the dress. Never has there been such an item of potential controversy that cause women to go from being BFFs to being cats in a bag. Women are so excited to be in the wedding, and often offended if they are NOT in the wedding - but goodness gracious the fights, grumbling, and NONSENSE that exists once the discussion of the bridesmaid dress begins. Wow.


Luckily! I have a fabulous bride. She only had a few requests that we all choose a dress the same length (knee, tea, floor...) and that we get it at David's Bridal (so the color matched: peridot.) I can handle that. Not a problem! So I took my color option to David's Bridal while my mom was in town (helpful to watch my little man) and started trying on my options. And I found the one that best fits my body, you see my little man only is eating on one side.... (nuff said) and this dress does best to downplay that fact, and as a bonus it's cute!

Sent a picture to the bride-to-be and she said she loved it! YAY! How easy was that! Whew. I never had a doubt, Bec is so easy going and we have similar tastes - well maybe not similar but we know what looks good on the other one. We've been friends for 19 years. :) So the dress has been decided and will be purchased in a few weeks. It will look delightful with my new shoes!

Our Fourth of July

We had a great time on the 4th. Aiden did wonderfully with his first pyrotechnic holiday. I survived the fireworks and found an outlet with the camera and catching some fun shots with that. Aiden actually fell asleep during some of the lighting of the fireworks, which was impressive since it sounded like a war zone, and he handled being up late just as well. Hope you all had a great Independence Day!

A Trip to the Zoo

Finally! Yes after two failed attempts to visit the zoo, the third time was the charm! We found a very nice parking spot and ventured into the zoo on Thursday around 11am. This was Aiden's first visit to the zoo and he did wonderfully considering he was getting over being sick. It was wonderful to have his grandma join us on this adventure!

Aiden spent a good amount of time on his dad's shoulders taking in all of the sights. It was a feeding day at the zoo - as a special Fourth of July weekend attraction, so Aiden and his dad were even interviewed on camera for a local segment, sadly they didn't make the cut - so Aiden will have to have his television breakthrough at a later date.

It was a warmer day so sadly the animals were not as active as they might have been if it had been a standard northwest afternoon, but that's ok - it was decent weather to walk around in and we all appreciated that. Not sure that Aiden had a favorite animal at the zoo - at least nothing that he squealed particularly louder at anyway. But he did certainly enjoy looking at all the furry things move around. The monkeys/gorillas were the most active so we spent the most time observing them. It was a delightful time.

Summer Favorites - Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you all have a happy and safe experience today. Pray for me, I'm going into a war zone to a friend's neighborhood to watch drunken men who think they know everything about pyrotechnics family friendly folk set off volatile explosives fireworks. I don't like amateur fireworks and you can read all about in last years rant post.

I don't want to pass on my fears to my son, but I my fears have been well ingrained in me. I prefer the professional shows, but sometimes the company and friends win out - so while I will be despising ever second of the pyrotechnic nonsense - I will enjoy the company that I am with. Happy Fourth of July, while the amateur fireworks are not my favorite - I do love this holiday and what it stands for. God Bless America!

Grandma came to visit!

Yes, on Monday my mom flew in from Cali to come and visit her only grandson! Her pride and joy, oh yah and as a ride to and from the airport bonus she got to see me, her only daughter. Yes there's no hiding the fact that my mom is in love with our little boy, but then again, who isn't?

I was so glad that the weather was nice. The last time she was here, THIS was the weather she enjoyed. In fact she left the day before they closed 80% of flights in/out of our fine airport. So I was so hoping that the weather would be nice so that we could do stuff during her visit. And the weather was fabulous - high 70s couldn't ask for better weather.

However, we could have asked for a less sick and teething baby boy. Yes poor little Aiden developed roseola while she was here and was actively teething - in fact two teeth broke through while she was here visiting. He now has a total of 6 in his mouth, 3 on top 3 on bottom. However, with those teeth and the roseola rash also came a very understandably fussy and not so happy baby. Always wanting mom - not so much his grandma. Bad timing.

However, Monday and Tuesday were good days, before the rash developed Aiden took to his grandma again very well. He had seen her last in March so it had been a few weeks, but he seemed to recognize her well enough and warmed up to her pretty early. They read books on Monday and played around - and then on Tuesday we ventured out and about.

We went to visit the falls that we love so much and show those to my mom. While we were there I found an excellent spot to grab some pictures of Aiden - and he sat in that one spot for 18 minutes (timed from the first shot till the last one) in fact he probably would have stayed there longer, but I was done with that location. We had a nice time walking around the area near the falls and checking out the shop nearby, although we cut our adventure out short when we noticed the rash developing. We took him home and my husband and I took Aiden to the doctor while my mom stayed at the house. Roseola was the diagnosis and nothing major, but once that rash started to develop he wasn't terribly happy.

Wednesday we ventured out to try on my bridesmaid dress options. Also on the plan 'menu' was a trip to the mall to walk around. However after a semi-disastrous trip to David's Bridal and Aiden wanting no one but me to hold him - we decided to skip the mall and spent the rest of the day in the house. In fact Aiden nursed literally most of the day. I'm not joking. So we sat around the house and just watched some tv.

Thursday, Loving Husband took off work and we all went to the zoo - and it was a lot of fun. Aiden's rash was certainly subsiding and his teething seemed to be through the worst of it - so we had a lovely time at the zoo (stop back on Sunday for a full post all about it!) we then headed home and watched Aiden play in his little pool. Our plan for while my mom was in town was to take Aiden to the big pool and so grandma could see all his new skills he had learned in swimming lessons, but due to the roseola being contagious as long as the rash was present we opted out of that adventure for the health-safety of other kids. So the kiddy-pool on the deck would have to do. Aiden had a lot of fun splashing around and getting mommy's jeans soaked.

Today we spent the morning just hanging out and then a trip to Walmart and then onto the airport. It was great to have my mom here for a while and to have her enjoy more time with Aiden. I'm so glad that even though she lives 1200 miles away that we are going to be able to see her every month through November this year!!

Roseola

Goodness gracious! The month of June was just been a whirlwind of doctor's visits for Aiden. He had the pneumonia bronchiolitis in the early part of the month, then he had a spot develop on his leg that we were worried that was ringworm. Whew, dodged that bullet with a diagnosis of eczema. And now the latest: roseola.

Last week for three days he ran a relatively high fever. He was seemingly miserable, but actively teething. Two more bottom teeth have broken through the gums and are fighting for space. See when both my husband and I were little our baby teeth overlapped. We are a dentist's dream for all things orthodontic (and a parental checkbook nightmare!) I digress. Aiden's going to have some bad genetic history working against him when it comes to things going his way in the teeth department, and therefore when he was running a fever and super fussy I merely attributed it to the two teeth fighting for space as they made their way through the gums.

However, Tuesday while out and about with my mom - we noticed a rash on his neck and back. Hmm, I had noticed a little on his right temple when I was feeding him breakfast, but he was throwing a fit about eating, I just assumed he was flush. Apparently not, and now it was spreading. Yikes. By the time we made it home it had consumed more of his little person (I know a tad dramatic) and so we called the doctor and they fit us in. The doctor took one look at it after us explaining he had a fever 2 days ago that lasted for 3 and said with confidence that it was roseola. Yes a viral illness that is relatively benign with the fever being the worst of it. The tricky part is that it incubates for about 12 days and you're contagious before you even show symptoms - so who knows where he got it from - but apparently according to the doctor it is going around the community. Delightful, wouldn't want to miss something coming to town. Or perhaps we would, yes I'd say that I would happily have missed this newcomer to town.

They say that once the fever is done with that the worst is over, but man is Aiden still super fussy - perhaps now it is the teeth that are affecting him. Siigh. Either way. We spent much of Wednesday at home - after we attempted to venture out and at our first stop it was patently obvious that being out and about was the LAST thing Aiden was interested in participating in. So we spent the beautiful, sunny day indoors. Sorry mom. You're destine to soak up every detail of my living room whether it be mid-June or dead of winter December.

Wordless Wednesday - Grandparents

Winner!

Thank you for all whom participated in my giveaway for the pair of BabyLegs! Don't forget to enter my latest giveaway: Brain Child Books. The winner of the pair of BabyLegs is: #25!

News Around The Blogs said...
great giveaway count me in!
June 20, 2009 2:05 PM