at 5:30 pm on . . .

March 30, 2010

March 30, 2011

Happy 1st Birthday Jacob!

Our precious little boy is celebrating his first birthday today!He wanted to go to Chick-fil-A for lunch (well, his brother did) where he received a special birthday balloon, mini-moo and coupon for a free ice dream. This evening we will have a small family dinner celebration at our house.
At 1 year old, Jacob is:
*Walking everywhere and getting very good at it.
*Eating like a champ which isn't really a new development. But, we have transitioned him to eating everything we eat. In the past couple of weeks he has tried (and loved) baked beans, chicken, sloppy joes, tater tots, lasagna, risotto and tilapia. He is also drinking whole milk.
*Still getting into everything. The shelves are bare and the floor is littered. Daddy, Joseph & Mama spend quite a bit of their time putting magnets back on the fridge and books/puzzles back on the shelves.
*An early bird. He goes to bed at 8 pm and wakes up between 4 and 5 am almost every morning. Every once in awhile he'll surprise us and sleep until 6:30. Of course, once he has his milk and is snuggled on the couch with mama, he usually catches another little snooze. He's not much of a snuggler otherwise so Mama kind of enjoys those early morning snuggle times.
*A big fan of his big brother. Jacob follows Joseph everywhere and thinks he's pretty awesome. The feeling is mutual. Joseph loves to make Jacob giggle and Jacob loves the attention. They are beginning to have a lot of fun - especially in the evenings when they chase each other around the ottoman.

We can't believe that we've had this sweet little boy in our family for a year already. His little personality is starting to shine through and, as all parents know, it's the most amazing thing to watch. We love our darling Jacob!

children's concert 3

M&M children's concert 2

Moms & More children's concert

the sound of brothers playing together . . . .

House Party

Recently I hosted a House Party to promote Philadelphia Cream Cheese's new Cooking Creams. House Party sent me a very fun party kit including a GreenPan, oven mit, coupons for the Cooking Cream and goodies for my guests.
Last Friday I hosted some of my young mom friends and their babies for lunch and tried two of the recipes included in the kit. We loved the Santa Fe Chicken Casserole and the Sausage & Vegetable Calzones. (Side note - we had a few calzones left over and ate them for breakfast topped with an over-easy egg. sooooo yummy.)
My absolute favorite part of the party kit however, was the GreenPan! I have used it almost every day since I received it and am thinking about buying additional pieces.

long, long overdue . . . .

Here are pictures of some of my recent (and not so recent) sewing projects.

Our new Christmas Tree skirt.My sister's nursery bedding.

Baby gifts for a friend's Ireland Rose.

Christmas kitchen towels.

The quilt I made for my mother-in-law out of her baby/little girl clothes.

A dress-up lab coat I embroidered for a Dr.'s niece.

Christmas/baby gift for Baby Warren.

getting better!

Wye Mountain - Daffodil Field

baby steps

some highlights from our latest roadtrip

in no particular order:

taking Joseph to his first professional hockey game.
watching Jacob learn to walk - he's up to about 5 steps in a row!
lunch with a best friend - and always picking up right where we left off.
happy hour with more good friends - who are more like family really.
seeing family - and having some quality time with my sisters.
hugging my sweet niece.
throwing a really great baby shower for my sister and bro-in-law.
seeing my dad's pictures from Africa.
shopping at the Notre Dame catalog fulfillment outlet store.

just some cuteness

introductions

Joseph - introducing himself and his family to the other kids in the waiting room at the dentist:

"hi. this is my baby. his name is jacob. this is george. he goes to bed with me every day. my parents are mama and daddy."

11 months old

Since Jacob's birthday is on the 30th of the month, he falls into that weird "when did he actually turn 11 months old?" in February. Today is March 1 so we're going to go ahead and say that he's official.

At 11 months old Jacob:

-has 8 teeth. Joseph had 8 teeth at a year old so I guess he's right on par.
-is cruising everywhere. He is also great at making the transitions between crawling, pulling up, cruising, lowering back to the floor.
-is a tornado of destruction. I'm constantly finding new things to baby proof and trying to figure out how to detour him from the things I can't. Like - you would think that a cable nailed to wall would be safe. No. He has pulled it (and all of its staples) out of the wall. Twice.
-has brown eyes! He has had his beautiful dark brown eyes for several months now but I keep forgetting to mention it. This kid is like his mama.
-is talking. He hasn't added any new words with regularity but keeps using the ones he already knows. He is also great at mimicking sounds.
-is no longer breastfed. I was a little sad to give it up completely although we had been supplementing for a little while. However, we're going to be leaving the boys overnight twice in the next month and it'll be a lot easier on their nana & papa if they don't have to deal with that!
-eats just about everything we put in front of him and lots of it. He usually has a whole bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. He is also eating grapes, strawberries, eggs, breads, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, lentils, potatoes, rice and is rather fond of pizza crusts. :)