Faces of The Lil One: He's 6 Months Old!

Since we [even though I pushed his big little head out without any meds (still can't believe it! although I did think about it ;-)), it was nothing but a team effort] just gave birth to him a few weeks ago, we're not sure how he is 6 months old (on Dec. 11th)! It does not seem like that much time as gone by.

He is such a good baby! Skip over this part if you don't want some proud Mama moosh, feel free to skip straight to the plethora of pictures. Seriously, he is such a good boy. He is the happiest little guy. He is an energetic, smiler, who loves to be held, play on the floor (he lets us know when he's had enough=)), and adores watching his big bro - with wide eyes of admiration. He smiles anytime one of us walks in the room.

What's He Doin'? and 6 Month Picture Overload [we couldn't choose! gotta record all of the memories!]

He has the cutest little babbling conversations. bababa, dadadada, ahhhlalablaaa, ggggu, bbbuuu. It is sweet music to our ears! He passes toys back and forth from hand to hand. He smiles and laughs almost every time we sing to him (BabyBoy included!) and happily grabs for books as we read to him.

He is 17 pounds of chunky sweetness. He is wearing size 3 diapers and knows how to explode any diaper! Yes, you say, try a bigger size? Bigger (out the sides), smaller (out the top), right in the middle (pick one), he's very James Bond, he can find a way=). He's wearing clothes from 6 to 12 months!

He sleeps from about 7:30pm - 7:30 am and takes three naps during the day. He'll occasionally wake up early, but we either go in after a little bit and pat his back in his crib and quietly say, still time for your nap or night night, or just let him fall back asleep completely on his own. That's how we stretched his naps and night time sleep too.

He started solid food! He's had avocado, rice cereal, and sweet potato. We wait four days before starting a new food (we've gone a few more than that so far just because we've been out of town too =)) and we can't wait to add so many more foods to his little rep. He sits in his excersaucer while we eat most of our dinner but is sure to let us know when he has had enough play time and wants to be held and eat too!

He is such a mover. He loves to stand and is sitting like a champ. He tries to crawl and actually is on his way. He moves around his crib like nobody's business. We just put his bumpers back in because he bonks his little head on the bars or an arm pokes through. He gets up on his knees, we rock and say rock rock rock baby, and he starts rocking and smiling. He's taken some knees forward too!! Uh oh =) You cannot put him on any surface and even think about walking away, and changing diapers, oh, he rolls to his side and reaches and grabs for anything he sees. You have to get everything ready... and go, change it quick =).

I just love all of the little expressions in every one of these pics =)!

Happy 6 months sweet love!

Quick Hello and Update

Hellooo! Thank you all so much for your comments and suggestions on our 1st travel of 2010, we're so excited!

What have we been up to for the past forever since I've posted or read any blogs (so sorry friends! you know I love you)... I'm not pregnant, I did take one test in the last month, it was negative;-)...

[1] Spending precious precious time with all of my boys. This is an extra focused time needed kind of time. We have one heavy "data collector" of a BabyBoy=). I'm such a blessed and lucky girl that my Hubby works from home the majority of the time. Wouldn't trade it for anything!

Before you look at this pic! You must know... I have on zero makeup, hello real me, this is what I look like the majority of the time we're at home, yikes, sometimes with glasses instead of contacts, don't worry those pics are staying in the vault. This pic was taken in complete darkness! Can you believe it? Love the new camera. We were cuddling before bed, oh it was the best, and Hubby snapped a couple pics of the cuddly fun action=). The curtain in the background is not one that we put up, I will replace it with a cute one that matches his room soon!

[2] We started hosting and leading a new small group at our church near our new (err of 7 months) house and are sooo excited about it! It is a God thing. Post to come! We have 6-7 couples plus us. Had a small group potential members meetup at church Sunday night. Had our first meeting at our house last night. Awesome. We wanted to invite more friends but the group is already at it's capacity!

[3] Last weekend my Mom came over and spent the weekend with us! We love it when she comes! For so many reasons, including that she says Hubby and I can come and go as we please. We can run an errand, grab lunch or dinner together, and we just make sure we're back in time for me to feed Next Edition (tried a pumped bottle a couple times=)). Current point... we ate so much last weekend, I'm just now getting back to the weight I was before the weekend! Hello Body Pump and elliptical.

[4] Everybody, except Hubby (lucky him and poor him, haha) is a little under the weather. The little sick boy at storytime who coughed when he walked by us twice is the culprit. Don't get me started on mommies who bring their sick kids to confined places. Oh there's more on that issue, but I won't go there... now. =) Next Edition got it first, not bad at all though, he's still his happy smiley little self (for the most part=)), BabyBoy's nose is taking a beating today from the tissues. I'm not too bad either, hopefully it'll be gone in no time.

I hope you have a great weekend!!! We'll be having a relaxing low key one=)

Pack Your Bags 2010 =)

I am so excited about some traveling possibilities we have this year! It looks like Hubby might have some business trips all over the states. Guess who's going to tag along to play and visit friends?? No we don't have a puppy yet, maybe soon, but more on that in another post ;). Your other guess... yes! Me and the boys! Ok, that was cheesy, but I'm excited!

I know some people dread the thought of it, but I love to travel. Well, I love the excitement of it all, getting to a new destination, seeing fam or friends we love and don't get to see often enough, having fun along the way, getting a special coffee or some yummy food. A flight itself, not so fun, too much waiting, among many other things; packing and unpacking, not so much either.

I [almost=)] always overpack, I need options. =) When I arrive at fun destination, I might not want to the wear Planned Outfit #3 one day. I might be having an extra fat day, I might not want to wear orange that day, whatever the reason, this lady needs several pair of pants, tops, scarves, shoes, accessories to choose from, a straightener, maybe the gigantic case of hot rollers just in case a date is in order... =) I only fill one piece of luggage, although my bag might weigh 60-150 lbs. Any recommendations on lightweight, sturdy, cute luggage are welcome. It's tough to fit more than our bath bag one of our suitcases without it hitting 50 lbs (airline limit)!

We, I mean, he ;-) might have trips to... CA, SC, CO, UT, AZ, WA, FL, NJ, GA, AL... and MI (my cousin is getting married next summer!) I've really been wanting to go to Colorado and Washington, I just keep hearing they are gorgeous!=)

The planner, organizer, excited Type A in me is already starting to plan! Mr. NCF is secretly thinking of how easy most of these business trips would be solo while I am excited about exploring and visiting friends! I jest but he is excited about showing us all of the neat places that he's already been. =) (yes, I said neat.)

So first up, at the end of January we're driving to South Carolina (and hopefully through Georgia and onto Alabama to visit wonderful friends, we're trying to make that work!)! Hubby has meetings in Charleston for a few days, and then I'm looking forward to my possible second bloggy meetup. The boys and I are so excited=).


If you've been to or know of some fun things to do in Charleston, South Carolina, I'd love to hear any suggestions you have for me and the boys while the Hubs is in meetings, and for all of us once he's done for the day. We've heard great things about the carriage rides through historic downtown and if it's not too cold, that would be an interesting and fun family morning!

Do you have any fun or business trips coming up?

Inspired Craftiness

I love following your blogs and twitter, you girls are so inspiring and fun!

It's been a while since I've sat down and done a craft. I've thought about them. =) I used to scrapbook a little, still need to finish our honeymoon, umm 6 1/2 yrs later ;-). I am almost done with a cute apron... yes, it's from many months ago, we moved, it's almost done!, and made some other really fun projects that'll I'm going to start again and share soon! I am excited to start some new fun projects again now that we're pretty settled in our new place and after having our second sweet little guy!

Inspiration for Project #1: my fab friend Rachel at In No Simple Language: DIY Ornament Wreath

She made a beautiful colorful wreath and I was instantly inspired. I was so excited to get some ornaments at all of our beloved Target when they went 50% 0ff and then I couldn't resist going a leeettle overboard when they went 75% 0ff. I am weak for great sales. I stay within our budget, but I love a good sale. =) Also a great way to prepare for next year, fun projects, the tree, to decorate around the house with, I mean the options are endless for some pretty and classic ornaments (with some sparkle, love some sparkle=))! Just sayin'.

So I clicked over to this site, fired up ma glue gun, and layed out dozens of different sized ornaments... glittery ones, shiny ones, matte, and ones in between... still cleaning up glitter, btdub! =)

Here's how mine turned out - even with a few snags along the way, we like it for a first try:

Inspiration for Project#2: another sweetfun friend Megan@Tales of the Trees: Scrapbooking Christmas Cards

I loved this! We love getting Christmas cards from friends and fam and what a beautiful keepsake! Here are some of our pages and I added the ones that I found (so far=)) from 2008 too. I am excited to add the new cards each year and look back to see how everyone's little families have changed and see new friends added as well.

ETA: ours is in there too, love to see each year too=)

[I used little photo sticker squares to adhere the pics to the scrapbook paper (one on ea. corner or just two on some) and then for those that had letters I was able to slip them underneath the card. Then, for ones that had a note written on the back, were a card, or had other pictures on the back, I used photo corners, so we could take them out to look at the back whenever we want.]

Now that I'm getting back into scrapbooking and crafting I couldn't pass up this bag! (4o% off at Michaels ;)). It has 4 good sized sections and one large center section inside and tons of pockets all around the outside. Love it.

Keep sharing all your projects! I love fun new ideas (as I do new recipes ;-))! I still want to make a wonderful DIY headboard that my sweet friend at All Things Fluffy Fashionable and Famous posted about! and a super cute kitchen curtain project that the very talented Sweet Simplicity posted about too!

Hope you're having a wonderful week. We're having a very nice one so far and have 1-4 possible playgroups/events this week=), we're meeting lots of new friends, and hanging with wonderful old friends too! I can't wait to share some more exciting things that we (and God [we think ;-)]) have planned for 2010!

just for the fun, pretty, and cute of it

Sometimes I want to look just for fun, get some inspiration, see what's new. Sometimes we just need to see some pretty. And sometimes we definitely need to gaze at some cute (no bias on the definition of cute here ;-)).

For fun and some pretty...

(Ann Taylor. 1st dress would be a little short for me but give I think the style is cute)

Nordstrom Ruffle Back Satin

Target

Gap

Loft

I would love any suggestions for long sweaters, dresses, or anything you love to go with leggings!

Cute... (maybe soon ;-))

(all [available to be adopted] are rescues from Petfinder {dot} com=), I'm sure there are some cuties in your area too!)

More cute but not available for adoption... (I mean, not being bias at all ;-))

Happy weekend friends!!!

It has been soooo long since I've been able to catch up on blogs! I have 948 unread in my reader! I've needed to focus a little more on other things lately =) But I'm looking forward to visiting you very soon and I hope you are doing so well!!

NCF 2009!

I can't even count the number of times I teared up looking at and reminiscing over all of our pics throughout the past year, seeing the cute little videos of BabyBoy, we can't believe how big he's gotten, pics throughout the pregnancy with Next Edition, we can't believe how big he's gotten already! =)

Here are some pics and highlights from 2009!

Beginning of 2009... =)

(I was newly preggy (about 6-8 wks) and quite sick in this pic=))
(and 23 wks preggy=) I had quite the belly at this point already=))

and right at the end of 2009 =)

I love seeing and hearing summaries of the past year (and decade!). It is not only fun to look back at pictures and remember of all the happenings, but it is necessary reflection and reminder of all the blessings that God has given us, no matter what our situation. As I wrote in our Holiday Card, 2009 was filled with wonderful moments and trying times but God is amazing through it all. Cheesy, maybe... True, yes! =)

Here are some NCF (well NCF w/ coffee added for Mommy [and Daddy now=)]) highlights from 2009...

note: you should be able to click on any of the links below and they will open in a new window, so you don't have to worry about your page being taken over then having to click back=)

January --I was preggy and a sicky sick on my back for about 2 months. But Hubby still took me to see Celine Dion! Don't laugh, she sings more than My Heart Will G0 0n! And the concert was fab.
March --Hubby admitted having man crushes on Justin and Keifer. --We traveled for work and fun, had a fun date night, a wonderful party with my fam, and so much fun with BabyBoy.
April --We hiked it up. We loved all of the hiking we got to do! --Upon inspection of a second big sonogram at 28 weeks bc of our high risk preggy with BabyBoy we found out the doctors didn't have any concerns with Next Edition! --We had quite the process of preparing to move, buying, selling, renting our house out. It was a continue to fully trust God reminder =)
May --We moved across the country. --We drove across the country (over 30 weeks pregnant!)! And visited friends (and one more we didn't get to post=)) along the way. We had a wonderful time on that trip. We loved it!
June --Our sweet baby boy turned 2 and I was 38 weeks preggy (and more fun social events).
July --We did as many house projects (and tons of painting) as we could before Next Edition came including the Family Room and Dining Room. --Next Edition was born on July 11th! We were so excited and thankful that I had a natural-no drugs-though crazy 1 1/2 hour drive laboring to 8 cms-incredible God stamped birth. --We continued to take plenty of pics of our sweet boys!
August --I had so much fun making my first fondant cake for BabyBoy's bday party=) I'm hooked now!
September --Had lots of everyday fun with the fam, a visit from my Dad, baking, and lots of picture taking=)
October --Took a family trip to visit my fam in AZ and had an amazing time! --Hubby turned 30! (and had a surprise bday party for him later=)!) --Next Edition/Little Boo turned 3 months old =) --Went on a fantastic family beach trip, had my first bloggy meetup with wonderful girls, and more fun times with friends and family!
November --Had Hubby's surprise bday. --Started our obsession with the Wii.
December --Decorated for the holidays (haven't posted the rest yet=)). --Had tons of snow. --Fun times with our fam of four! --And I had my first attempt at leggings=)

Here's to a fabulous 2010 fam and friends!!!

A Spicy New Year's 2009

We had a wonderful NYE. We had a couple friends and new friends over and had such a fun time. There were 7 adults and 6 kids [three 2 yr olds and three babies all within a few months of each other, respectively =)] and rocked it out until 9:30pm!

We chilled, we ate, the kids played, the adults played, broke out Apples to Apples, and shared lots of laughs [including that J0hn Trav0lta kept showing up even though his card kept being discarded, Hubs said he was going to start showing up behind us in all our pics, haha!].

I made what ended up to be a big... big pot of chili!, cornbread, and spinach and artichoke dip. And our friends brought salad, brownies, and some other yummy healthy appetizer goodies.

Documentable story, I have to document for the fam =): How the chili for a small army (I come from a Jewish family, we have to make sure everybody has enough food even if one extra person is coming over=) yes, that stereotype is true) ended up being multiplied to chili to feed the five thousand...

BabyBoy LOVES to help me and Hubby cook now!

Anytime he sees one of us starting to make something in the kitchen, he runs to the kitchen table and as quick as his little legs can take him, two-handed grabs one of the chairs, and starts vigorously pushing it into the kitchen chanting, "I'm going to help Mommy cook, I'm going to help cook, I'm going to cook!" It is sooo cute, although many times it's not so helpful, especially when time is against us, but I always try to find something for his eager little self to help with.

In this case... spicing.

Chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cumin, crushed red pepper... A little of this, a little of that, turned into a ton of Crushed Red Peppers aka Cayenne Pepper aka if you don't like spicy, you may need a hose supplied with milk.

So the chili became a little spicy. It was exactly how I used to make it, before we had little ones that ate the same meal as we do. =) I knew at least one in the group didn't like spicy and the babies, the babies needed to eat it too.

What to do, what to do. Add to it!

Another can of beans. Still spicy. Another can of tomatoes. Uh oh still spicy. More ground beef. Yep, still spicy. Oh no! Another round. More beans, more meat! Still worried about my guests and the children! (Hubby said it really wasn't fire hydrant spicy but you know me, I wanted to make sure my guests would be ok!). ETA: I kept being laughed at for every can or spoonful of meat that I added.

Now, I was out of pink and red kidney beans, out of tomatoes, and meat, but I did have some black beans. I normally don't put black beans in chili but I asked the crowd and they said sure sounds yummy. So I added one can. Still worried for the crowd and the children. So I added one more. I was out of everything. And the chili was now doubled from a pot to a vat. But it ended up yummy and with a little sour cream, cheese, and onions, that can fix any unwanted spice too=).

[just picture this chili w/ black beans]






[taken at the end of the night, I have no make-up left, picture outfit with black boots=) and don't mind my rockin' hair do, didn't really end up having time to do it=)]

Hubby initiated our own little toast right before everyone left at 9:30pm, so we clinked, said Happy New Year, and goodnight. And the kids were amazing. They were up waaaay past their bedtimes but all of them were soo good (and very cute =)).

It was a very fun night. After the toast with our friends, Hubby and I just hung, played some Wii Mario Kart, kissed at midnight (played some more Mario Kart, watched a little late night)... it was a wonderful night. 2010 is going to be a great year!