Wednesday, July 24, 2013

9 months old!

My sweet boy turned 9 months old last week! *SHEW*!
3/4 of a year!





Weight: 18 pounds, 4 ounces
Height: 28
Clothing size: 6-9 & 9... 12 months for PJ's
Shoe Size: 3
Diaper size: 3 

Feeding: Liam LOVES FOOD. The kid will. eat. anything. Like, absolutely anything we put in front of him he eats. I haven't found a food he dislikes. We've been trying different finger foods everyday, and  most of the time he'll just eat whatever we're eating.

He still nurses about 4-5 times a day. I'm in the process of trying to wean him, and he had his first bit of formula this month. (I felt a tad bit of that 'mom guilt' but guess what? He lived to tell about it!) Ideally I would like to nurse to a year, but about two months ago, I got mastitis. Mastitis turned into a bad case of internal thrush, and I STILL have it. They say it's really hard to get rid of, especially in Hawaii where it's nice and moist. I've been through five cycles of an anti-fungal medication to no avail., and I'm afraid that my only hope may be to stop nursing.
Anyway, up until a few days ago, Liam would not take a bottle. At all! And we'd tried several different types.
Here's what we did that somehow worked: He woke up one night around 11, which he doesn't usually do. Keith was trying to calm him, but he only wanted me. Well, I'd had a few drinks, so I didn't want to nurse him. I made a bottle, and then held him in the position that he usually nurses in, but I had the bottle in place instead. He latched right on and guzzled it! I think it probably helped that it was dark and he was so sleepy anyway, but he's latched right onto the bottle for us every day since then!
These bottles came highly recommended for breastfed babies, and they are what finally worked for us!

Sleep: Sleep has been great this month. Liam normally sleeps from 9-7:30 straight, with the exception of a few random times where he'll wake up once in the night. I wait a few minutes to see if he'll go right back to sleep. If not, I nurse him for 10 and then I can usually set him back in his crib and he'll go back to sleep. 

Naps have been wonderful. I put him down for his morning nap around 9--he usually cries for 5-10 minutes and then zonks out, usually for 2-2.5 hours!
Afternoon nap is anytime between 2 & 3:30, whenever I feel like he's acting really sleepy, and it will usually last an hour to hour and a half.

Milestones: Still crawling all over, still pulling & standing on everything. The big one this month was that he starting cruising furniture and walking with his walker! He can also stand on his own for a few seconds, but he's very leery of doing so :)

Overall, a very fun exciting month! This is my favorite age!!
(But so far, they've ALL been my favorite. :)


Monday, July 15, 2013

Meal Planning Monday


Happy Monday!
I know I've not been blogging lately--
I've been getting a ton of custom design orders, (shameless plug here! Check out my Etsy shop if you need anything custom-designed! I've got lots of awesome pre-designed invites, too, as well as Save-the Dates, Nursery, Art, & More!)
Anyway so that, coupled with other day-to-day obligations, have become my priority!

I had a spare few minutes this morning though, so I wanted to toss up our menu for the week.


Looks amazing! I've never really used spaghetti squash, but I'm excited to give it a try.

Marinated Pork Tenderloin
We eat pork tenderloin a lot because it's a pretty lean cut a meat, is inexpensive, and really, really delicious. One of my favorite ways to do it is to marinate it in our favorite marinade or rub (I usually just buy a 'grill mates' packet from the spice aisle!) and then grill it! (Or broil if we don't feel like firing up the grill).

I loove me some Hawaiian Pizza, and I love making pizza at home because it's so much healthier.
My Mother-In-Law posted this recipe on her Facebook and it looks AMAZING. Fish tacos are one of my favorite things to eat EVER!

Who doesn't love chicken legs? They're super cheap and super easy to prepare? Again..A lot of times I'll just buy a bottled marinade (Lawry's are awesome!) and throw on the grill/broiler.

Never made it, but looks super delicious! I'm definitely a fan of these 'one-pot' meals where you can throw in pretty much everything you need for dinner.

Friday, July 5, 2013

Friday Fashion Diaries


Happy Friday! I hope your week and your holiday were both fantastic!
Ours was very festive, & full of lots of fun outfits!


Sorry, I don't know the brand of the hat!



(Sorry, I'm having a hard time finding collared onesies!)



(Janie and Jack is pretty much the only place I can find newsboy hats right now.)
I got the onesie in Target just recently, so it's a fairly new item. I can't seem to find it online. 



and 
Bib made by myself, available @thedappermister on IG


Bowtie made by myself, available @thedappermister on IG

Have a great weekend all!!

xoxox



Monday, July 1, 2013

Meal Planning Monday

Happy July & Happy Monday!



I was doing my meal plan/grocery list Thursday and I stumbled across my new FAVORITE blog/website for healthy meals...  

Awesome and awesome! SO SO many recipes you guys, and everything is organized so well by category over on the right hand side...I seriously did almost our entire meal plan for the next two weeks from this site. And I have to say...I'm suuper excited about some of the grub we're in for!!




Ok. I made this already. OMG. OMG. I can't even say how good it was! I'm actually really disappointed there weren't more leftovers... my husband LOVED it too. Like, really really really loved. 
It's soo healthy, too--so many fresh veggies, and you can really use whatever veggies you like best--red potatoes, but sweet potatoes would be awesome too, and the SAUSAGE, man the sausage. I used spicy italian turkey sausage and it was to DIE for. 
I ate mine with a small side of light sour cream.... perfect. 
(this whole skillet would be great for breakfast, too!)

Had last night. Also awesome. I really modified this recipe, though-- I didn't notice that the directions asked me to bake it for an hour, and I didn't have time for that, so I did it like a stir-fry. I cooked the chicken in a skillet, and then did a separate pan of fresh veggies--broccoli, zucchini & yellow squash-- and then served everything over brown rice with the sauce on top.
I didn't love the sauce-- it was really sweet for me, so next time I'll modify it with much less sugar. Or, just use your favorite bottled sauce!

A friend recommended this one, thanks Amber, and I can't wait to try it! It's not exactly 'healthy', but I'll use veggie pasta and serve lots of fresh veggies on the side to make up for it!

We love traditional Shepherd's pie, and we love sweet potatoes, so I can't wait to try this!

Like lasagna, but lighter and easier? SIGN ME UP!

We haven't made steaks at home for a while, so I'm pretty stoked about this one! 

Friday, June 28, 2013

Friday Fashion Diaries

'ELLO! (Said in a British accent)
Happy Friday!

I've been doing some prioritizing in my life lately, and the good old bloggity blog isn't on the top of my priorities list, but I'm tryin to get a few posts in here and there. 

I skipped FFD last week, so this week I'm throwin in some outfits from the past few weeks. :)



Similar Beatles shirt here
Jeans: I can't find colored jeans on sale right now, but here are some red jean shorts
(I always find great prices on Converse at the outlet store!)





I can't find this exact outfit, but Target has tons of Harajuku mini here. 



I can't find any of Babies R Us' swimwear online, but these trunks are Heidi Klum's brand and the rash guard is just the generic Babies R Us brand. 


Most of this outfit was older/thrifted/bought last season, but check out these red overalls from Gap...CUTE!



I have found that it can be difficult to find cute swimwear for boys! :/ 
There are cute little girl bathing suits everywhere, but it's more slim pickins for the fellas.
However, with that being said, I'm really loving the boy swim selection over at Gap and Oshkosh right now!


Hope you guys have a wonderful weekend!






Monday, June 24, 2013

Meal Planning Monday


Happy Monday!
I don't know how the weather is in your neck of the woods, but it's a bit overcast and rainy on the sunny island of Oahu today...And I'm very thankful for it! We rarely get overcast days, and it's a nice break from the heat we've been getting lately. 
It's nearly noon (Liam slept til 9:30 today...???) and we are all still in jammies! Even though I've been working all morning on some custom design projects that have a tight deadline, it's still been a nice, lazy start to our week. 

Here's what's on our menu for the week!
There are a few things that we were 'supposed' to have a few weeks ago and for whatever reason we didn't. I still have all the ingredients, so I added them back and hopefully we'll get to them this week. 



I've never made this, but my gosh it looks hearty and delicious!! While it's not 'technically' a crock-pot meal, I think it would work in the crock pot just as well. 

So I was at the grocery store last week and the lean ground beef was MAJORLY marked down... Like $1.50 a pound or something? So I bought at least 8 pounds, and now I'm looking for lots of yummy recipes that use ground beef. This was one I found that looks yummy!

One of those things we were supposed to have a few weeks ago. You're supposed to marinate the chicken like, overnight. Is it just me? Do you always forget to marinate too? SO hopefully I'll remember the night before this time!

A tried and true now! I make this pretty regularly. It's easy, and chock full of fresh veggies. AND my husband loves it too?? SIGN ME UP!\

Another meal that I was going to make a few weeks ago but didn't get to. I raaaved about these sandwiches because...well, if you've never had one, you just HAVE TO!!!

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

8 months old!

Another month has come and gone, and once again, I feel as if I blinked....





Weight: 17 pounds, 12 ounces 
(Liam has actually lost a little weight since he started crawling full force!)
Height: 27.5 inches 
Clothing size: 6-9 & 9... 12 months for PJ's
Shoe Size: 3
Diaper size: 3 

Feeding: I still haven't really found a food that Liam dislikes! He's tried lots of new things this month...new purees, and we've introduced lots and lots of finger foods. 
A typical day now goes like this:
He's still nursing, so first thing in the morning, he nurses for about 15-20 min. 
About an hour later, some oatmeal mixed with fruit, and maybe some cheerios.
After his morning nap, he nurses again (15-20) and then I'll usually give some type of snack-- usually just a small little finger food. I haven't really introduced solids for lunch yet, but some days, if I feel like he's acting really hungry, I'll give him a puree an hour or so after he nurses. 
After his afternoon nap, he'll nurse for maybe 10 minutes, and then an hour or so later, it's dinner time. I have started giving him cut-up veggies, cheese, deli meat, diced peaches/pears, bread, etc. Sometimes, he'll get some of what we've having. If I feel like he didn't eat a lot of it, I'll feed him a puree, too.
Then he nurses before bed time for 15-20 minutes.

Sleep: Every time we get into a good sleep routine, it changes!! We grew more teeth this month, so for the most part, he woke up about once a night. I think he was just uncomfortable and couldn't put himself back to sleep, mostly. I usually just nurse him for 10 minutes and he goes right back to sleep, and thankfully, so do I!

Naps have been a little easier this month, aside from a few rough days. He's actually started taking longer naps... (3 hours some days!!) which is unheard of for Liam! Up until now, he's never been a long napper. Anyway, I attribute it to growing, and I'll gladly embrace it! He usually takes two naps a day, the first one being 2-2.5 hours, the second one is always a little shorter. 

Milestones: Man.. SUCH a big month for milestones!! If you read my 7 month post, you'll see that he was 'mobile'... scooting, dragging, army crawling, etc., but not full on crawling on all fours. A few days after he turned 7 months, he just figured it out and hasn't stopped since!! Crawling EVERYwhere. And he's gotten FAST!!


(The dog food is his FAVORITE thing to play with/eat....)

He started standing in his crib a while ago, but around the same time he started crawling, he also started pulling up on everything. He just wants to crawl, crawl, crawl & stand, stand, stand!




He also figured out... completely on his own... how to climb the stairs... ????
So yeah, it's gate city in our house!


We've also grown two more teeth this past month (for a grand total of FOUR!) and almost learned to say 'mama'!! I'd say it was a very productive month.

Adventures: We didn't do anything huge this month, other than the typical beach trips & lots of playdates with other babes! Liam definitely got all his 'adventurousness' out by exploring every nook and cranny of the house.
Oh! But he did get to experience his first carnival, where he rode the carousel, went to the petting zoo, and watched a fun circus show. He loved every bit of it!
 Mommy and Daddy could not get through the month without: 
My gosh, those gates!! Lots of patience and energy, because we've been doing a lot of chasing!

And just for fun...
(He has definitely outgrown the blanket I used to take his photos on!)