Blake's first year of life--documented

40 weeks in Mommy's belly (wow I was big!)

Reset--1 day old outside the belly

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

 

4 months old

5 months old

6 months old

7 months old

8 months old

9 months old

10 months old

11 months old

12 months old!!!! What a little man you've become!!

Blakey, you have changed our lives immensely and we love having you in our family! We love your smile and your laughter and yes, and even your cranky days. You are making us rediscover the world and we hope you grow up to be a strong man who loves the Lord. We love you so much Blake Richard!

Watermelon!

My parents brought us a watermelon from their garden when they were here for Blake's birthday party. I called them last night to let them know that it has made my son a very picky eater--he's only truly happy when he gets watermelon!

They got a kick out of this, so I figured documentation was needed. Blake didn't get a normal afternoon nap, which is a disaster, so he was sooo upset at dinner. Well, we placed some watermelon on his tray, and he turned from monster into happy boy!



Thank you, thank you, thank you for the watermelon!
He usually shoves his mouth so full of watermelon, that when he bites down, water pours out of his mouth, so a bib is very necessary (and gets very wet).



Mmmmmm



I need more, even though I still have some in my mouth!



Check out this juicy piece! :)



He always takes the biggest piece on his tray and I really only gave him this one for a picture :)

Mmmm, halloween candy!

So, Scott and I are pretty strict on Blake's diet, right? We don't see any reason to give him sugary treats since they aren't good for him and he doesn't know what he's missing anyways. So, a treat for him is fruit and he loves it :)

Well, we did decide to take him trick-or-treating since it was his birthday and all. We actually had a lot of fun and he seemed to enjoy it, but we weren't about to give him any candy. Scott was eating some (of Blake's) candy last night and left the bucket on the couch. Since our little tyke is getting taller, he was able to reach it this morning. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a picture of him eating the candy, but this is the aftermath.

Yep, he had the whole Reese's peanut butter cup (bite size) in his mouth, wrapper and all. He had a second Reese's in his hand, which he was trying to bite at the same time that this was in his mouth. I'm pretty sure I got it before he actually swallowed any wrapper. So, I guess Blake got the best of us and got some of his halloween candy after all. Good for you Blake :)

(The only reason I discovered any of this before he ate the whole thing and started on the second was because it had gotten eerily quiet in the room where he was playing. I love that babies have tells which they don't know about yet :) )


The Halloween pics--happy birthday Blake!!! :)

Our Pooh Bear as a Bee



Pooh Bear with Daddy

Pooh Bear with Mommy

Pooh Bear still getting used to his big belly :)

Aerial view with antennae

WE LOVE YOU BLAKEY!!!

Comfort food

I was in the mood for comfort food last night and with limited options due to my poorly stocked cabinets, I decided for the first time to make a shepherd's pie. Well, we enjoyed it so much, I decided to share my recipe with you. It is based on the recipe from The Good Housekeeping Cook Book and revised by me :)

Shepherd's Pie

1 1/2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes*
1/2 cup milk
3 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Black pepper to taste
1 large onion
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 parsnip, peeled and chopped**
1 bunch swiss chard or spinach***
1 lb ground turkey or beef
2 Tbsp ketchup
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 cup frozen peas

Oven temp: 425 degrees

Boil potatoes until soft and add milk and 2 Tbsp butter and parmesan cheese, salt & pepper to taste. Meanwhile, brown meat and add veggies (except frozen peas) and cook until tender. Add ketchup and wine and cook til evaporated. Mix flour with some broth and add remaining ingredients--broth, thyme, pepper, peas until mixture is a stew type consistency, not runny.

Transfer meat mixture to a baking dish (something smaller than 9 x 13) and top with potatoes. Sprinkle lightly with parmesan. Bake about 20 minutes until slightly browned. May bubble over, so put a cookie sheet underneath.

* Obviously you can use any type of potato, but I find gold and red are more creamy than russet. I also recommend organic since potato crops have lots of pesticides.
Also, russet tend to be more genetically modified and "all colorful potatoes provide carotenoids (and some also provide flavonoids) that white potatoes do not. Carotenoids and flavonoids are pigments, and according to nutritional research, they provide us with many health benefits, including cancer protection."

**Why parsnips? Parsnips look like a white carrot and I think it really brings out a nice flavor in this dish. They have a pretty strong flavor, so I put just one in.

***Why swiss chard or spinach? Because it is so good for you and easy to hide in this recipe :) I have to do that a lot with my husband and him eating spinach, haha.

Oh, and since this blog is supposed to be about Blake, I will let you know that Blake loved this!! There were no complaints from him or food throwing :)

And lastly, no good blogger would give a recipe without a picture, so here is a picture of our cold leftovers, hahaha! :)

The eating dilemma & lefty??

I love that we are near a great farmer's market. Here's my second trip's goods :) The beets are huge and I was expecting them to be not as good, but they turned out to be delicious (Tasha can vouch for that, can't ya! ;)). I wonder what a care provider would do if they changed the diaper of a child that just had beets the day before, but they were unaware of that....they sure do color Blake's diaper red, haha!

 

Blake has been getting a little harder to feed lately. He doesn't want to eat his vegetables, and if he doesn't want something, he spits it out, or throws it on the floor. It makes for a fight at mealtime b/c I'm not going to just give in and let him live off of bananas, raspberries, oatmeal and cheese! So, I'm trying to gain control over his eating now and make sure he knows that Mommy tells you what to eat, not you!

 

After lunch today, we had a tantrum and he was so mad at me that when I tried to come and give him a hug, he cried so hard and tried to get away. This is the FIRST time that he's been like this to me. Well, I made an impression apparently. He must have gotten hungry later or forgotten our fiasco, b/c before his nap, I tried again with the veggies. I didn't want his nap cut short b/c he was hungry (those naps are precious)! Well, he ate his squash and green beans like he'd forgotten he didn't "like" them. I know he likes them, b/c he's always gobbled them up in the past, so he was just wanting his favorites...we'll see how the next lunch/dinner goes. At nap time, I think he was distracted and I was holding him while he ate, so the change might have helped...we'll see! :)

 

I'm also going to limit the number of times he gets fruit at the end of the meal. I think he's been holding out for the fruit and thus won't eat the main meal...

 

Clapping for himself :)

I believe he may be dropping food on the floor in this one.

 

What, me a picky eater? How could I be with this darling face?!?

Oh, also, did I mention that I believe we have a lefty on our hands?? He always favors his left hand when turning pages of a book and for eating. He "feeds" himself with his spoon with his left hand and almost always picks up the food with his left hand, while the right hand dangles by, unused. Interesting...didn't think I'd have a blonde hair, blue eyed boy, and also didn't think he'd be a lefty!! Not sure when the dominate hand starts showing in a child, but we're assuming now?

Madison--1.5 months

Well, we’ve been in Madison, WI for a month and a half now. It’s been a crazy time here as we’ve been traveling a lot. Our first week here, we went to northern Wisconsin to hang out with some college friends at a cabin. The week after that, Blake and I went to my cousin’s wedding in SW MN and spent some additional days at my parents. The week after that, Blake and I went to Rochester, MN and hung out with some friends, and I also went to a seminar to get some CPE credits to keep my CPA license active. The week after that, Blake and I went to MO to help Scott’s sister who has terrible morning sickness with her fourth child and immediately when we got back, Scott & I went out for the weekend for our anniversary. Our sister-in-law, Priscilla and Kelly came and babysat Blake! The week after that, it was our first full week at home. The week after that, a trip back to Indiana to see friends. And that brings us to today. As you can see, we haven’t spent a lot of time here yet!!

As of right now, Indiana seems more like home than anywhere else. Driving the streets was so familiar, hardly being able to get to the nursery at church because we were stopped by so many people wanting to chat, we hung out with dear friends, and just had a lovely time.

Conveniently, Scott had enough credits for a rental car for a day, so we rented a brand new loaded car, drove in style down to Indianapolis, picked up our old car, and returned back home. Well, we felt rich for a day anyways J

It is amazing the things a little mind like Blake’s remembers. We were at our friends house, which is decorated in disney and he just so happens to love that house (and it’s residents). When we arrived, he was beside himself excited and crawling around like crazy. Thankfully, he still went to sleep ok!! The next day he got a lot of attention and still remembered Debbie, who would always calm him down during our Bible study. She is the one person he will go to and forget that I am around. Well, things haven’t changed in that respect.

Blake is not yet walking, but he has taken two flying steps as he quickly tries to get into the arms of whomever he is trying to reach, ultimately falling into their arms as he finally reaches his destination.  I don’t think I’m ready for him to walk yet….I love the crawling stage!

He also remembered the mural on the wall of the nursery at church. He has always been absolutely mesmerized by this mural and if we are near the room, he will lean as far back in my arms as possible trying to get a glimpse of this mural. Well, I went in that nursery on Sunday to try and nurse him and give him a cat nap before lunch since he hadn’t had a nap yet. Well, that was futile b/c that mural was there distracting him. I even turned off the lights, but you could still see the outline, and that was enough to distract him. I’ve taken two pictures and plan to enlarge them to see if it has the same effect on him. See below:

Longing to play soccer with the big boys

So, Scott would like Blake to grow up to be a swimmer and I want him to play soccer. Both are great sports and not real hard on the body, as football would be. I think our friends were a little surprised that we don't intent to let Blake play football. First of all, I don't think he's going to be a real big kid, considering we can't seem to get him out of the 25th percentile for weight and height. Secondly, you can have life long issues after being hit the wrong way. In my opinion, a quality sport helps improve you physically, it doesn't hurt you. There was a guy in college I knew that made himself eat so much every day that he'd feel kind of sick. This was a normal thing for him b/c he wanted to keep up his weight. So, we have a sport that can harm you and teach you extremely poor eating habits. This is exactly opposite of what most sports should be doing for you. So there. Yes, we do not plan to let Blake play football. I've said it. We are terrible parents. :)



Blake longing to go play soccer with the neighbor boys--that's my boy!!!

 



Longing...once he saw them playing, he'd bolt for the window and stare at them for quite a while. They were out there a couple times and he did this each time. The funny thing was that one time, the boy looked at him, and put his finger to his nose making a pig face. When he saw me, he stopped. I believe Blake was doing his "door face" (see previous post). :)

Blake playing with a brown paper bag :)

Blake's door face

I absolutely love Blake's face when I step outside onto our patio and he's inside. I've captured a few of the faces that he gives me...

Mom? What are you doing outside?

 

I'm gonna come play with you!

Hey, I can't get to you through this glass!

Hmm, this is kind of fun!

La la

Ever wonder how glass gets all smeared from babies??

Haha, I'm silly! :)

Home "Sweet" Home

Ok, so home isn't quite as sweet as normal, considering we are still in the process of unpacking, but as long as my love's are here, it is definitely home. Madison is home for the next couple of years, and this weekend we experienced the first taste of how nice it is to be closer to MN.

Our first weekend "living" in Madison, was spent with some friends at a cabin in northern Wisconsin and it was only 4 hours away (as opposed to the 9 hours).  Yes, it was a hectic weekend, but it is always fun to get away with friends! After I got home, I realized that I only took pictures of the cute people at the cabin...

This is just the cutest picture ever. Blake and Addie loved her new shopping cart and Blake was quick to help push it around! Look how serious he is (and how carefree Addie is)!! haha

Having fun!

Trying to stay behind the cart without getting cut off by the couch!

Hey Blake, look at my cool iphone.

 

Oh cool, let me hold it!

 

How about I just show it to you?

 

Seriously!?

No, I want to hold it!

I don't think that's a good idea, Blake...

Give it to me!!

Ok fine, have it your way.

Wait, Blake! I still want to be friends!