My glow bug

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year?
-Having at least one room freshly painted in my home.
-A new sewing machine so that I can create mucho cuteness.
-A clean house!!! (a girl can dream)
-Cute clothes.
-Cute shoes that actually fit (its hard finding a true size 11).


2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received? Eek I can't choose just one. A beautiful scarf, jewelry, journal, and a quilt(actually it was a gift to my son).

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle? There are so many such as sewing a purse, making a quilt, and more intricate jewelry.

4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child? My first radio. I wish I could remember something more special than that but its all I can think of. I still use that radio actually. Its over 15 years old and still works great. :)

5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year? He's too young to wish for anything. Probably one of the easiest years. :)

6. What is your favorite holiday food? Anything with pumpkin!!! I do enjoy some good dressing.

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays? Hopefully a hat and fingerless gloves. We shall see.

8. What is your favorite holiday movie? Christmas Vacation hands down.

9. Favorite holiday song? O Holy Night

10. Favorite holiday pastime? Spending time with family, reflecting on the reason for the season, baking way too many cookies with family, spending time by the fire drinking hot cocoa/coffee, and enjoying all the Christmas lights.

Send us a link to your post via email: info@todaysmama.com with “Wish List Meme” in the subject line. You can even tag a few friends to participate in the meme. (Spread that holiday cheer!)

I tag whoever wants to do this!! :)

12 month check up

So much has been going on lately and I'm very behind on posting like I want to. I think I will post a few bullets on what I want to write about/post pictures of.

-Burning & Turning Festival
-Visiting the pumpkin patch
-Carving pumpkins
-Halloween
-My new haircut
-Grayson's first birthday
-Grayson's first birthday party

I will go ahead and post about Grayson's 12 month check up today. When we were called back I stripped him down to a clean diaper. I went to lay him on the scale and he wasn't much for it. He wanted to hold onto me while laying. I was able to get a few pictures of him on it. I still remember laying him on the scale when he was one week old and he weighed 8lbs 9oz. He was so tiny. Now 14lbs later he weighs 22lbs 9oz. My big boy. The nurse measured him and he's 30 inches long. His head circumference is 18 3/4 inches. He's in the 49 percentile for his weight, 49 for his height, and 80's for his head. He's actually when up for his weight. Usually he's around the 17 or 19 percent. He's went down for height but that's okay. Dr. Whit said once again I'm doing a great job. He said Grayson is looking great.

Prior to being called back there was a lady in the waiting room who asked how old Grayson was. I told her he was 12 months and she replied "Oh he is so small. I guess it because my little girl is so big." Her little girl is 9 months old. I was a bit put off by the comment. Grayson was her size when he was the same age. People don't think how their comments come off sometimes. She's also walking. I couldn't believe it when I saw her toddling. The mother said she started walking when she was 7 months old. Its amazing how all children develop differently.

Here's a picture of my little man awaiting to see Dr. Whit.

He was patting on his belly in this picture.

This time last year....

I was having some fierce contractions that were close together. It was 7:57pm like it is right now and I was laying on my in-laws couch breathing through it. I had a full belly from the yummy meal my MIL had made. It was also the most difficult meal I ever ate. I remember I had have to hurry and eat a bite before the next contraction. Some of the contractions were really close and almost caused me to choke on my food. Thankfully I was able to finish my meal.

A little after 8 Nathan and I went home. We went to bed for the night. I knew that Grayson was going to be coming soon. I slept for a couple of hours and woke up with more contractions. I kept track of how many minutes they were apart on my laptop. I held out a few hours before waking Nathan. The contractions were 5-7 minutes apart for an hour. I knew it was time to go the hospital. It took forever to get Nathan out of the bed. He didn't believe me. He thought I was in false labor like the night before. It was actually the beginning stages of labor. After each contraction I would yell at him to get up. He took his time getting ready. It was terrible. I remember telling him I was going on out to the car before I had another contraction. As soon I open the car door I have another contraction. Nathan finally comes out to the car and we leave. As soon as we drove out of our driveway my contractions were 4 minutes apart. We hit every railroad track on the way. I kept thinking through each break of how much closer I was to meeting my little boy.

Its hard to believe my baby will be a "toddler" tomorrow. I've been reminiscing a lot while planning for his party. Its truly bittersweet.

Recent dishes

Recently we have had some delicious new meals in our household. Unfortunately I was only able to take one picture of one of the meals.

I was reading a friends blog and noticed two recipes that she posted looked soooo good. One of them was Marlboro Man’s Favorite Sandwich. Oh wow its good! Not something you can eat often because of all the butter. Its a very tasty comfort food. Here's the picture of how mine turned out:


After seeing this picture again I'm craving these again. :) I think next time I will buy some provolone to go on top. The other meal I wanted to share is one I actually fixed tonight. We had Three-Cheese Baked Spaghetti. It was very yummy! Next time I'm going to add fresh garlic to the meat sauce and use less sugar. I have no idea how the lady was able to use an 8 inch baking dish. I made the same amount the recipe called for but had to use a 9x13 baking dish. It filled it full. We have plenty of leftover for tomorrow night. :)

This isn't a new recipe to us but thought I might share it. Its called Cabbage & Beef Soup. We are big fans of cabbage so this is a winner in our house. I usually add extra seasoning. Perfect Fall food.

Its that time of year...

for colds. I think I may be coming down with one. Time for extra Vitamin C and Echinacea.

Today we had planned on going to the pumpkin patch. This morning it was real rainy and now its really cold. I was excited about taking Grayson for his first time (mine too actually). Instead we're going next Saturday. Hopefully the weather will be better or at least not wet. Hoping I'll also be without a cold.

Instead I'm watching "27 Dresses", knitting some fingerless gloves, and nursing a sleeping baby. That makes it all better. :) It helps me forget that I still have to go to the grocery store for more baby food.

11 months and so much more

Grayson turned 11 months on October 6th. Its hard to believe my baby will be a year old next month. He is learning so much right now. He took his first steps Sunday October 11th and I missed it. :( I was sitting next to his Nana and he was holding on to the coffee table. He let go and took a step or two to get to her without holding onto anything. I was looking at something on the computer and saw him at the corner of my eye walk but I thought he was holding onto something. I couldn't hardly believe that he did it! He hasn't tried since then.

On Monday October 12th I was sitting in the floor with him and he stood on his own without holding onto anything. He stood up and then slowly sat back down. I was amazed! So far he hasn't tried anymore. I'm so proud of him!

Here's my boy at 11 months.


-Towards the end of September Grayson started holding his ball with one hand. He used to be able to only hold it with both hands.
-He has 8 teeth now.
-He still doesn't like textured food. He prefers Stage 2 baby food.
-October 11th he tried the soup part of chicken & dumplings. I think he liked it.
-He tried mashed potatoes and a mashed up pinto bean. He didn't like either one. The bean was the worst. He has a serious gag reflex.
-He can reach things I never knew he could. Today I found out he can reach stuff on top of our dresser. More stuff for me to move!
-He loves it when you sneak up on him.
-He loves to be chased.

He is so much fun!!

Since I never wrote about his 9 month check up I'll go ahead and post his stats now. His appointment was on August 7th. He weighed 18lbs 14oz. He was 29 1/2 inches long. His head circumference was 18 1/4 inches. He was in the 23rd percentile for head, 87 for length, and 80 for his head. I need to measure him soon.

He goes for his 12 month check up November 10th.

How Much Fabric? Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

How Much Fabric? Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!:

This would be awesome to win!! If I had this I might not always need to ask my MIL for help. :)

Giveaways!!!

My cousin Melody is having an awesome giveaway over at her blog Creative Radiance. She is giving a way a really cool plarn bag. Check her out for more details.

My friend Nicole is also having a giveaway at her blog Mashena. She's giving away The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. Check her out for more details.

I love giveaways. I hope I win!!! :)

Its been 3 months

I can't believe its been over 3 months since I've last posted. Wow, how time flies. I'm so used to writing elsewhere and have become lazy writing here. I really want to get into writing here again. I don't like copy pasting entries. I need to do something different here to make it more interesting. I regret not writing more about my beloved boy here. I will do my best to make up for that.

To anyone out there reading my baby will be 10 months old on Sunday. I have to say I'm not ready. That just means he's that much closer to being a year old. Then he won't be a baby but a toddler. However, he will always be my baby.

I will do my best to start updating this soon. Hopefully I can write more later and post pictures.

Update

I am so behind on updating about Grayson. Where to start?

May 4th-5th Grayson successfully put his feet in his mouth. I can't remember if it was the 4th or 5th because Nathan is the one who witnessed it. Since then Grayson can't keep his feet away from his mouth. He's quite attached to them now.

May 6th we went to Charleston. It was Grayson's first time to the beach. He put his feet in the water on Thursday at the Isle of Palms. He absolutely loves the water. He got so excited that he started to jump up and down. He loved splashing in the water. :)

We went to his Uncle Christopher's college graduation while we were there. He did awesome! So many complimented on how well he behaved.

May 13th Grayson tried sweet potatoes for the first time. He can't get enough of them. Nathan fed them to him and he was smacking those lips. I've never seen him stick out his tongue so far. He'd follow that spoon until finally it made it to his mouth.

May 16th Grayson got on all fours then rocked back and forth for the first time. He then lunged forward. Sadly I missed his first time doing it. Nathan saw him. I turned my head for one second and that's all it took. Sunday morning the 17th Grayson did it again while we were getting ready for church. I was so happy to see him do it. Since then Grayson is constantly getting on all fours then rocking back and forth. It probably won't be too long before he starts crawling. Usually he will get on all fours then rock back and forth then lunge forward. He repeats that process several time's until he gets to where he wants to go. He moves all over the house now. Its amazing to watch him!

May 23rd he went to his first birthday party. :)

Tomorrow he will be trying green beans for the first time. I hope he likes them as much as he does his sweet potatoes.

Solids

My baby boy turned 6 months old last Wednesday! I can't believe it! Grayson tried rice cereal for the first time. It went very well. He made the funniest face when he had his first bite. It was a scrunched up look. After the first two bites he took to it well. He knew exactly where that spoon was supposed to go. He'd open up that mouth real wide when the spoon was close. At one point he grabbed the spoon and started chewing on it.

His reaction after taking a bite.

6 month checkup

Grayson won't be 6 months until Wednesday but he had his check up today. My sweet little boy weighs 15lbs 8.5 oz, is 26 3/4 inches long, and his head circumference is 17 1/2 inches. He's in the 65 percentile for length, 17 percentile for weight, and 71 percentile for his head. He's a long slender baby. Although he does have chunky legs and dimples on his elbows. Dr. Whitt said he looks great and I'm doing a wonderful job.

On Wednesday Grayson will be trying his first bite of food. He will start off with rice cereal then the following week he will try baby oatmeal. I can't wait to see his reaction towards it. Nathan will be home that day so he will get to watch. We're going to tape it and take lots of pictures. :)

Grayson showing off his two pearly whites. I can't believe how fast the second one is coming in.

Thursday

For anyone new who come's across my blog here's a rundown/update on my life.

I'm Adrian and I'm 25. I'm married to a wonderful man named Nathan. May 21st will be 4 years. Time has flown by way too fast, but it has been great. We have a little boy named Grayson. He is the light of our lives. He will be 5 months old next Monday. He is the most amazing little boy.

I'm a SAHM and I love it. Its the best job in the world! I love being Grayson's Mom. He's the sweetest little boy. He's a true blessing. I recently joined some Mom groups on meetup.com. I'm hoping to make new friends for myself and for Grayson. I'm excited but very nervous. I've been wanting to join some Mom groups for a while but my shyness seems to get in the way. Hopefully I'll have enough guts to go to can actual meet up. I will say that Grayson has helped my shyness to can extent. I've talked to so many people since having him.

My husband Nathan works for a company that provides mug shot software for police departments. His job title is Hardware Engineer. He's really a jack of all trades when it comes to computers and anything electronic. He also builds computers on the side. Its great having a husband who can fix your computer for free. :)

I was going to write more but Grayson has other plans. :) Time for a diaper change!

4 months old

Grayson had his 4 month check up on Friday. He weighs 13lbs and 14oz. I actually thought he may weigh more than that. He's in the 42 percentile for weight. According to the nurse he's 25 3/4 inches long. I think he's an even 26 inches long. He's in the 86 percentile for length. His head measures 17 inches. He's in the 76 percentile for his head. The doctor said he's looking great and I'm doing a good job. :) He doesn't go back until May 7th for his 6 month check up.

Grayson has a tooth that will probably come in soon. Its in the bottom front. You can see it right under the surface. I have a picture somewhere that I'll have to post. You can see his tooth.

Grayson love's to try to sit up. Friday night he was sitting in his Papa G's lap and held onto his Papa's fingers. He pulled himself forward in a sitting position. Then he pulled himself to a standing position. I couldn't believe he did that! That was his first time. Grayson has done it several time's since then.

While we were at his grandparents house his Nana was holding him and he started grabbing his foot. She took his sock off and he was leaning towards his foot with his mouth open. It was so cute!

He's started to laugh more. I love to hear him giggle. He laughs so hard sometimes when I act like I'm munching on his belly.

Grayson really enjoys chewing/sucking on his fingers, hands, my hands, links, keys, anything soft. He loves for his gums to be brushed. One of his favorite things to do is jump up & down in your lap. He likes it when you lift him up & down. He likes to see EVERYTHING!!! He's not one for staying still. He's starting to grab at things now. He almost dived into my plate of oranges yesterday. He is one active little boy. He's learned how to make noises with his lips. I can't think of what you call it. He will make that noise with his lips and blow bubbles in the process. Another new thing he's doing is suck on his bottom lip. When he does that it disappears and he is left with the CUTEST expression. I have pictures to prove it!


Nathan and I love him so much! We're having a blast watching him change day to day. So far his smile is the best!

Cloth Diapers

Looks like I'm going to give cloth diapers a try. I talked to Nathan about us purchasing some after he gets paid. He's all for it. I'm tired of scrubbing the poo out of Grayson's clothes. He has leaks and blowouts pretty often. We have spent so much money on diapers. So why not put that money into something that can be reused?

We may start enough off with enough to get us through one day. I think I've decided on buying 6 Indian Prefolds, 2 Thirsties Diaper Covers, 2 Snappi Cloth Diaper Fasteners, and 1 bumGenius 3.0 One-Size Cloth Diaper. Hopefully that's a good number to start off with. The total will be $58.43 before s&h and tax. That's like 1 to 2 boxes of disposable diapers that you never see again (unless in a landfill).

Yayness!

I had to share a new milestone for Grayson. He rolled from his belly to his back!!!! Grayson was 2 1/2 months when he first rolled over.

Grayson was laying on his play gym and rocking. I left the room and came back to find him already laying on his belly. He was rocking back and forth. He kept "talking" as he wiggled. He finally moved so much he was turned side ways with his feet under the coffee table. I could tell he was about to roll over. I leaned over to get my camera to make a video and he already rolled onto his back! He looked surprised and exhausted. lol Nathan put him on his side a few times and he would roll to his belly then a minute or so later to his back. I'm still amazed.

3 Months Old

Grayson turned 3 months on February 6th. Where has the time gone?! He's growing so fast. I'm guessing he weighs around 13-14lbs now. I measured him the other day and he's around 25 inches long now.

On Tuesday I was clapping really loudly and Grayson was watching my hands so intently. Whenever I stopped clapping he put his hands together like he was going to try. It was so cute. He try's to mimic sometimes. He recently started coughing. Sometimes he will pretend he's coughing and then look at you. He loves to lay under his play gym and grab his toys hanging from it. He chews on his fingers all the time now. He always stuffs his clothes, bibs, and a few other things in his mouth to chew on. He grabs more at his toys. He also follows me. Sometimes it doesn't matter whose around he will just stare at me. :)

Here's some pictures and a video of my sweet little boy.

This is my new favorite picture of him.

Rolling Over

Last Monday night Grayson rolled over!! Sadly I missed it. I had laid Grayson on his boppy in bed and left the room to get something. I heard Grayson crying while I was getting a few things from the kitchen. I went back to the bedroom and realized why he was crying. I told Nathan to come in there and see. Grayson had rolled off the boppy onto the bed. He was holding his head up facing the boppy. When he noticed Nathan and I were in the room he started to giggle. Eventually he had enough and started crying again.

Tonight Grayson fell asleep on his boppy in bed. When he started to wake up he slipped off part of it. He was getting upset so I laid him on his back. He started rocking back and forth till he was on his side. Then he started rocking again and ROLLED over onto his tummy. He wiggled on his belly(sort of looked like an army crawl) until he got to my side of the bed. He found a good spot and went back to sleep. He looked adorable! I watched him for a few minutes and then I rolled him onto his back. I'm so glad I was able to see him roll over.

2 Month Check Up

Grayson turned 2 months old last Tuesday. So hard to believe. He had his 2 month check up last Thursday. I was curious to find out how much he weighed. I was guessing 10lbs 5oz. I was off. Grayson weighs 11lbs 7 oz. I couldn't believe how big he's gotten. He's now 23 inches long and his head measures 15 3/4". He's in the 42 percentile for his weight, 52% for his length, and 50% for his head. He's doing great. Dr. Whittenberg said I was doing a great job.

Grayson will follow you on a regular basis now with his eyes. He smiles even more now. Those smiles make my day. I love to see his dimples while he smiles. From time to time he will chuckle or squeal. I love it! There are time's where Nathan will sit Grayson on his chest and talk to him. Grayson will smile and squeal in delight. He likes to talk back to you. He tries so hard to get his point across. Its adorable. Grayson love's it when we let him stand. Sometimes he will be so upset but if you stand him up he will calm down. He grabs things more often now such as my neck. Boy is that painful. He is so strong! Early this morning I laid him on his boppy. He was propped up but the rest of his body was lying flat. I left the room for a second and then I heard him crying out. I went back to the room and noticed he was on his tummy. I realized that he rolled over!!! I was so surprised. I hollered for Nathan to come look. Since we were in there Grayson calmed down and started to laugh. After a few minutes of us watching him, he started getting upset again. Sometime after Grayson turned a month old he started to really find his hands. He loves his hands. He can hardly keep them out of his mouth. He almost put his whole hand in his mouth recently. Its really funny when he tries to put both hands in his mouth and realizes they won't fit. He did that recently and made the funniest noises. Grayson is doing so well and growing so fast. Here's some pictures:

The first three pictures are from the day he turned 2 months old.







His belly looks so big in this picture.







I love love this picture of him!
I love how it look's like he wants to give me kisses.

Grayson with my Dad. He was getting upset because he was ready to eat.
Grayson talking to his Aunt Korey.

Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta

On New Year's Eve we had friends over for dinner. I had planned on trying out this new recipe. Having an almost 2 month old can really shake things up. Instead of me cooking the 4 of us all had a hand in fixing this delicious creation. I highly suggest that everyone should try out this recipe. If you love pasta and alfredo sauce then this is the recipe for you. I wish I had pictures of the cooking process but there was no time. I will say the sauce will seem extremely thin at first. Once you add the linguine and let it sit, it actually thickens up. It says to pour the sauce over the linguine. Well, I added it all together. I quadrupled the recipe and had plenty for the four of us and then some. If you are on a diet then this is not the recipe for you!

Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta
25 min | 10 min prep

SERVES 2

* 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
* 4 ounces linguine, cooked al dente
* 2 teaspoons cajun seasoning
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1 thinly sliced green onion
* 1-2 cup heavy whipping cream
* 2 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
* 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. Place chicken and Cajun seasoning in a bowl and toss to coat.
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté chicken in butter or margarine until chicken is tender, about 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Reduce heat add green onion, heavy cream, tomatoes, basil, salt, garlic powder, black pepper and heat through.
4. Pour over hot linguine and toss with Parmesan cheese.