Young Love

I watch my friend's 19 month old little girl, Lola, three times a week. They are really starting to play well together. It is fun to watch them interact and it is nice to have someone besides myself to entertain Holden from time to time. ;)

I caught some good pictures with my phone yesterday. I think it is safe to say that there is love in the air. ;)

4 Days...

... until our baby is ONE.

How does a year go by so quickly?

I will admit that for the first couple of months of newborndom and new-momhood, I felt that time was slow moving.  I felt like Holden would never grow, that we would never be past the every-two-to-three-hour-feedings, that I would never again know what it felt like to sleep for 8 hours and to feel rested.

But then... they start growing.  They start interacting.  They smile.  Then laugh.  They make sounds and jabber.  They start playing with toys. They start sleeping through the night.  They eat oatmeal.  They eat baby food.  They start crawling.  Then pulling up.  They eat solid food.  Drink from sippy-cups.  Play peek-a-boo.  Give fives, wave, and clap.  All of these things and more.  They happen in such a short period of time.  "A blink of an eye."  "In an instant."

The first year.  A year full of firsts.  A year full of amazing growth and development.  A year of learning who your baby is.  A personality blooming. A year of thinking there's no possible way you could love your baby more... and yet, you constantly find yourself thinking that you love him more all of the time.  A year of thinking there's no way he could possibly be any cuter... but then marveling each month at how he's even cuter than the month before.  A year of wonder.

"The days are long but the years are short."  Cliché.  Overused.  So true.  

Randoms & A Recipe

Wow!  I'm making a blog post!  My apologies to those of you who are new followers- I have been a terrible blogger lately.  I have a busy body almost-one-year-old (!) these days who doesn't allow me to sit at the computer.  Naptimes are usually spent relaxing or doing housework.  I also watch my friend's little girl three times a week and she naps in the office... so the computer is unavailable during those naptimes!  We have a netbook, but I'm not a big fan of using it to blog.  I hope to carve out some time to blog more frequently.  I should have lots to blog about soon - a first birthday, a 12 month post, and a first birthday party top the list!

For now, some randoms.....

- Party prep + two master procrastinator parents = bad news.  It will all work out though.  We work best under pressure. ;)

- We painted the Jenny Lind style high chair that used to be mine today.  By "we" I mean the hubs painted it.  I cleaned it first if that counts.  We went with Rustoleum Painter's Touch spray paint in "fire orange."  It needs another coat of spray paint but it is mostly done and we're very happy with the results!  If you follow me on instagram (bethann1124) I posted a picture there!  I plan to post to the blog eventually, too.  The chair will be used in Holden's 1 year photos as well as for his birthday party!

- Holden is such a big boy lately.  He totally switched himself over to drinking from sippy cups instead of taking bottles.  So, now he drinks whole milk from a straw sippy cup and LOVES it!  He also is eating a lot more solid foods.  Shon and I just sit and watch him eat and drink.  We are in awe!  It seems crazy that he is doing so much by himself!  He's also clapping, giving fives, making a roar sound when you ask him how a lion goes, playing intense games of peek-a-boo, and other such things. Amazing.

Climbed in by himself and took a seat!

Lunch date with mommy during which he ate almost a whole kids cheese quesadilla!

- We recently got Netflix... just the streaming instant watch for $8 a month.  Since we ditched cable/satellite, we kind of wanted a little something.  I am officially addicted to "Parenthood."  I have been staying up WAY too late watching episode after episode.  So good.  

He goes to bed... mommy stays up too late watching "Parenthood..."

- Speaking of television, my shows will be back on soon!  Modern Family!  Grey's Anatomy!  Private Practice!  No DVR to record and watch.  I think I'm really going to start feeling the hurt of this no cable/satellite thing.  I'm telling myself that if I miss an episode, I can just watch it online.

- The weather here is great.  Low 70's and sunny.  We've been turning the A/C off and opening the windows!  I LOVE fresh air circulating through the house.

- Since the weather has been cooler, I made chili recently!  I have finally mastered a recipe for chili that we love!  It is SUPER easy.  Nothing to it.  Now, I know everyone makes/likes their chili differently.  My family always made it pretty thick, with beans, and no noodles.  However, in the school I attended growing up, they served chili that was more soup-like with macaroni noodles.  Shon's family used spaghetti noodles.  I recently also discovered from Instagram that not everyone eats peanut butter sandwiches with chili.  Our school served peanut butter sandwiches with chili and so did our families. It is so natural to us and it is almost unfathomable to eat chili without a pb sandwich!  SO GOOD together!  Yes, we even dip the pb sandwiches in the chili.  Apparently, that sounds absurd to some of you...but please try it!  It is delish!  Anyway...on to the recipe. :)

Easy Yummy Chili

2 cans chili beans - We like to get one can hot and one can mild or medium.

2 cans Hunts diced tomato sauce for chili - This is the secret ingredient to great tasting chili in my opinion!

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 packet chili seasoning - We like it hot ;) ... but that's up to you.  

You can easily adjust the spicy/hot factor of this chili through the beans and chili seasoning.

Brown your ground beef.

Combine all ingredients in crockpot.

BOOM.

Enjoy a hot bowl with a PB sandwich. :)

*It does tend to get thicker over time, so you may want to add a little water when eating as leftovers.

Key Ingredient!

Linking this recipe up with:

Hope you all are having a great week!

Holden {11 Months}

Holden turned 11 months old on August 27th!  (Yes, this is a later than late post.)

This was the first month that getting a photo of you laying on the blanket was a big fail!  There was no way to get you to stay still long enough.  You would immediately roll over and start crawling away.  I think we were lucky to have made it this far. ;)  So, we had to improvise... and even getting this was very difficult! ;)

Holden, at 11 months...

• You are in 9-12 mo./12-18 mo. clothes.
• You are between a 4 and a 5 in shoes!
• You still wear a size 4 disposable diaper.
• Eating is about the same - four 7 oz. bottles plus oatmeal/fruit breakfast/ veggie/meat/fruit supper (baby food) and snacks in between of yogurt/puffs, etc.  Yogurt is probably your favorite food.  You love it and hate when it's gone.
• You finally got a tooth!  You have about 1.5 bottom teeth! Teething was NOT fun!
• Night sleeping is usually pretty solid and is from 8:30-9:00 pm - 8:00-8:30 am.
• You started crawling on your knees (instead of army crawling) and you are FAST!
• You still walk along furniture and pull up on anything and everything... but no independent walking yet.
• No more swing naps!!!  We put the swing in the attic this month!  You were outgrowing it and didn't seem comfortable in it anymore.  You adjusted smoothly to naps in your crib and still usually take a long morning nap and a decent afternoon nap.
• You learned to wave and to clap!  When you clap you say, "Yaaaaay!"  ADORABLE!  "Yay" may be your first real word!
• You are still quite clingy to me.  It is a challenge for me to get things done these days!
• You "talk" all the time.  "Dadadada" is your favorite and you say it constantly.  "Mamama" is usually reserved for when you are upset/crying.  You also say, "Bi-tuh, Bi-tuh, Bi-tuh" (?) and make "ba" and "pa" sounds quite often.
• You spent your first nights away from home this month.  You spent two nights with your Uncle Stan, Aunt Lesley, and cousins Hannah, Logan, Stella, Ben, & Natalie.  Mommy had to go to her grandmother's funeral in Missouri and Daddy was working.  They said that you did great!

I feel like I am probably leaving some things out.  It seems like you learned so much this month.  I want to keep you a baby... but at the same time, every new stage seems cuter than the last!  It is so exciting watching your personality develop even more and watching you make new discoveries.  We love you!