Fooooood

Excited for our menu this week, the evenings are supposed to be a touch cooler (like in the high 70s!), so I definitely want to utilize the grill.  Cody Partin, grill master extraordinaire, is hobnobbing it in the fancy Braves seats for a work thing on Monday night, so I chose that as the veggie-heavy/vegetarian dinner of the week, I think I'll roast the veggies this evening after our Fantasy Football Draft (family league, wooo!).

Monday - Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables
Tuesday - Fish Tacos with Peach Salsa
Wednesday - Grilled Chicken, Grilled Zucchini and Couscous
Thursday - Grilled Marinated Flank Steak, Baked Sweet Potatoes an Green Beans
Friday - Chicken Tikka Masala and Jasmine Rice
Saturday - Dinner with friends
Sunday - Homemade Pizza (and by homemade, I mean not from a restaurant. Crust will be courtesy of Publix Bakery)

We also did some serious Charlie shopping today.  The boy is about to turn orange from eating so many sweet potatoes, so I feel compelled to get some better variety into his diet.  Here are things we have tried:

Sweet potatoes (obv) (loves)
Peas (tolerates mixed with sweet potatoes)
Carrots (makes him gag)
Squash (likes)
Applesauce (likes)
Peach Applesauce (likes)
Pears (likes)
Banana (tolerates)
Blueberries (used to dislike, now seems to like?)
Avocado (likes)
Green beans (tolerates mixed with sweet potatoes)
Oatmeal (likes mixed with his morning fruit)
Mangoes (loves)

We also tried yogurt for the first time this weekend.  I got some organic peach yogurt by Yo Baby and figured that would be good.  I gave Charlie a few bites and he was loving it.  I took a taste myself and immediately could see why - it was super sweet!  Sure enough, a quick ingredient check showed sugar as the second ingredient!  Ooops.  I tracked down some organic, plain, full fat yogurt (no easy feat), and mixed pureed mangoes into it for our second yogurt attempt.  His eyes didn't light up the way they did with the sugar, but he ate all of it and seemed to enjoy it.

At Charlie's 6 month appointment, the doctor gave us the go-ahead for any fruits, vegetables and grains.  So here are some things we got today that we'll be trying soon:

Apricots
Spinach
Brown Rice
Quinoa
Papayas
Broccoli
Lentils
White beans
Peach Rice Pudding

I've been sticking almost strictly to fresh frozen purees for Charlie's meals, plus little tastes of things when we go out.  We have tried and liked Tasty Baby Organics and Happy Baby Organics frozen foods, so I will update my food reviews soon.  Hopefully we can get the little man to broaden his horizons a little bit - I truly love food so much, I want him to enjoy it all as much as I do!

Revenge

After resting yesterday, we headed out to Snellville for Anthony and Steph's wedding shower, officially putting us in the Atlanta burbs for more time than we have spent outside the perimeter in the last few years combined.  It was fun!  Charlie was pretty good at the party.  Around his bedtime we changed him into his jammies and strapped him to Cody's chest so he could snooze.  He obliged, allowing us to stay at the party until around 8:30pm - late night!  He fell asleep on the way home and we had a pretty good car seat to crib transfer, he only woke up for about 10 seconds right when I set him in the crib. He cried for those 10 seconds and was back asleep until this morning (5:30 to be exact, way too early for me - luckily he want back to sleep until the more reasonable hour of.....6:30).

The title of this post is Revenge - you may be wondering why.  Remember when I babysat for Aaron and my long-legged little man did some uninvited kicking of our guest?  Well, little Aaron C. has grown since we last saw him, and he was ready for revenge.

Charlie: Dude, that's my collar

Aaron: And this is what you get for kicking me!

Charlie: Mommy, this kid tried to strangle me, are we sure I should be playing with him?

Aaron: Is this supposed to be fun? I'm not sure it's so fun....

Cody: Say cheese!    Charlie and Aaron: uhhhhhhhhh

It's okay, when the boys grow up, they will be much more mature. Kind of like Uncle Anthony.

Nice Little Saturday

Our morning started early - somebody was hungry at 6:20 this morning and just didn't want to go back to sleep!  It worked out okay because we had big plans for the morning - breakfast at J. Christopher's and a trip up to the Farmer's Market at Marietta Square.  We have officially retired the infant car seat, so Charlie was riding in his big boy convertible seat.  This has presented new challenges in figuring out what to do with him when we are out and about.  No more popping out the infant carrier and bringing it with us to a restaurant, or setting it in the Snap N Go to stroll him around.  At our first stop, J. Christopher's, he had his first experience in a big boy restaurant high chair:

Sitting up in the high chair!

Yummy mangoes!

Of course I started making funny faces right when Mommy was screwing around with her camera settings

Okay, so I know they make fabric covers you can tote around and put on top of restaurant high chairs.  I wonder if that is really necessary? I wiped it down with one of those anti-bacterial handiwipes, I'm thinking that's good enough.  This is where all of our parents and parents' friends roll their eyes at crazy new parents and their germophobia.  I did read an article recently that hypothesized that overly sanitary conditions in infancy may be to blame for the rise in child food allergies - who knows?  He was only happy in the germy high chair for a while anyway, then he wanted to sit in the booth like an even bigger boy.

Chattin' it up with Gram

Coffee talk with Daddy

Charlie ate his mangoes and his bottle with us, and also sucked on blueberries from his Gram's plate and gnawed on Mommy's english muffin.  Yum!  Then it was off to Marietta.  I think I've had some not nice things to say about the Atlanta burbs in the past, so let me eat my words a little bit.  The part of Marietta near the Square is super cute!  It was like kid-mania.  Of course it is still 20 hellacious, trafficky miles away from where we work, so don't think we'll be heading out to the suburbs any time soon, but still an adorable weekend outing.

Cody wore Charlie - it was only in the 70s while we were there!

About to head into the market

Family fun time!

There were approximately one million children crawling on, around and near this train - and also one million strollers parked nearby

I think lots of the mommies were doing this yoga class on the Square while the dads were watching the little munchkins nearby

Linda, carrying our haul

It was all just too exciting for Charlie, he needed a little snooze time.

Four juicy tomatoes, one basket of zucchini, one basket of snap green beans, a bag of fresh blueberries and a bunch of beautiful, bright flowers later, and we were back on the road.  We drove around a little to see the area before heading home and it was very nice.  Now we are home, Charlie is napping, and we will join him in resting up for our evening plans.  It is Anthony and Stephanie's wedding shower this evening, so we'll be heading up to Snellville.  It starts at 5pm, so we're hoping that Charlie takes a little rest in the car and can be his happy-go-lucky self for a couple hours at the party.  Then I plan to change him into his jammies and feed him before heading home so that we can hopefully just let him fall asleep on the way and transfer him to the crib.  We'll see how that goes!

Halfway Done

Day Three of work was good and means I am over half way through the first week!  Here are a couple other new things in our house to go along with my new working mom life:

This is Linda's cat Deuce.  Now that Linda is living with us*, so is Deucey!  I was a little afraid he wouldn't adjust to the move (you know how particular some kitties can be), but I needn't have worried a bit.  He has adjusted quite nicely, has had no problem using his litter.  He's a very sweet cat and listens to Linda almost like a dog would.  He and Junebug know each other well from all the time Junebug has spent visiting Tennessee, so they alternate between ignoring each other, tolerating one another and playing together.  It appears that Junebug has finally truly accepted Charlie as a member of her pack.  Every time Deuce gets anywhere near Charlie, Junebug has to go and plop herself between kitty and baby to protect him.  Or to show Deuce that he is her baby!  Pretty sure Charlie doesn't need any protection from Deuce though, he has been very tolerant of baby pets.  Junebug has also generally been more affectionate with Charlie lately, so I think she realizes he is here to stay.  We are just one big happy family here!

This is me and Charlie at 7am this morning.  Charlie's cuteness is the only reason I am ok with posting this pre-shower, bedhead picture of me in my robe.  I am not much of a morning person.  Luckily Cody is, so when I was staying at home, Cody (or Linda if she was visiting - they are a family of early risers!) would often take the early morning shift and let me sleep in until 8 or 9.  This was great, especially when Charlie was still eating in the middle of the night.  Now that I am working, I want to take advantage of the morning hours to play with Charlie.  He is in his best mood in the mornings, so I really love spending that hour with him while I drink my coffee and try to join the land of the living.  As it gets close to 8am, I hand him off to his Gram so I can get ready and then try to get out the door by 8:30am.  Charlie has been waking any time between 6:45 and 7:15am lately, so I get just about an hour of cuddling and play time in before hopping in the shower - so nice!  I guess when you have a baby it doesn't matter if you are an early bird or a night owl - you *must* become a morning person at some point!

* Linda is living with us temporarily while we are crossing our fingers that we are able to close on a short sale house right in our neighborhood.  It's a phenomenal deal, and it would be awesome to have Charlie's Gram just around the corner.  Short sales, however, are a looooong process, so it might be awhile.  In the meantime, it is pretty amazing to have Linda stay here and help us with Charlie.  People say all kinds of nasty things about mothers in law, but I guess I won the in-law lottery - everything is going great and we are so happy to have her here!

The Music Class

Charlie started school today! Well, he started The Music Class, as it is so creatively named.  His Gram took him to a program called Music Pups:

"Developed by Rob Sayer, Music Pups features fun music and movement classes for young children with a parent or caregiver designed to nurture the musical development of young children. Through teacher modeling, play, parent education, our acclaimed CDs, and the joy of our classes, Music Pups® helps you create a stimulating musical environment for your child." 

Arriving in style in his big boy car seat

The class is for babes from birth to age 4 (the infant-specific class for babies 0-12 months didn't have enough babies enrolled), but I worked with the class coordinator to find a class with babies close to Charlie's age.  There are a couple of 8 month old boys and three slightly older girls in his class.  Linda said that Charlie sat up through most of the 45 minute class, chewed on the baby instruments and watched the grown-ups sing and dance for them.  When the kiddos are older, they participate more.

I think Linda and Charlie both had a good time. Little man snoozed on the way home and was playing happily when I got home from work.  Linda said the other moms all commented on how straight Charlie sat through the class - I hope this means his posture will be better than mine.  Here are some pictures of Charlie in class, maybe the older boys will inspire him to crawl!  One of them was crawling for the very first time today.

A Case of the Tuesdays

Well yesterday was like the adrenaline fueled excitement of the first day of school. New shoes, fresh, empty notebooks, a clean slate and seeing old friends.  Then reality sets in, right?  After work last night I did the meal plan and grocery shopped.  I unpacked my pumping gear, pumped, and repacked it all for today. Cody washed and prepped bottles, and did the dishes.  We stumbled to bed after 10, and I was exhausted.  Of course, the moment I got into bed it really hit home that those precious few hours I spent with Charlie were the only ones I was going to get. Sad! I cried for like an hour before I made myself go to sleep so I wouldn't be like a total zombie today.

I woke up feeling fine.  Generally, I am fine with going back to work. I went to school for a long time to do a job that I enjoy, someone is willing to pay me to do it, and I have loving, reliable childcare. I know it doesn't get much better than that, and honestly, I think that Charlie will get the best version of his mommy if I work part time.  So it's all good, but still just a hard adjustment.  That little munchkin has been attached at my hip for 6 months straight - I am so used to being with him all day and seeing all his little quirks and triumphs.  I am sure it will just take some time to adjust, and all will be fine.

I also need to get into a good routine.  I got about a block away from our house today before I had to turn around because I forgot my pump - oops!  I also haven't had time to pre-pack my lunches like I did before Charlie was born.  I was slammed at work today and, because I didn't have my packed lunch, just skipped it all together.  I was a little hangry by the afternoon with only a bag of pretzels for lunch at 2pm.  It is a definitely a transition, but I am hoping that getting organized over the weekend will help some.  I have to say, I am thankful for committing to weekly menus, or I'd still be starving right now!

A Girl's Gotta Eat

Cody said we know we are working parents now because I got home from the grocery store at 10pm.  I couldn't get it together to do my meal planning before I left for California, so I had to do it today, plus the grocery shop.  Now I'm tired.  Here it is, officially the easiest weekly menu of all time:

Monday - Cheese tortellini with marinara sauce
Tuesday - Turkey avocado burgers, corn on the cob
Wednesday - BBQ sandwiches, coleslaw, broccoli
Thursday - Breakfast for Dinner (Cody's egg and biscuit specialty)
Friday - Leftover BBQ sandwiches, coleslaw, green beans

Trying to make good use of the grill and summery favorites before we head into Fall, with its heartier dinner choices (my fave).  We have dinner plans for the weekend, so that is all!  Off to sleep...

Working Mommy

Today was my first day back at work, and it went very well.  Cody and I woke up before Charlie (miraculous and probably jet-lag induced) and made coffee.  The babe woke up at 7am to nurse, and then we played for about 30 minutes.  Cody took the little man while I showered and then Linda took him so Cody could shower.  I was able to get ready for work so much more quickly with my new short hair cut, it was great - I just can't be a slave to the hair dryer AND my little one, and the baby trumps.  Charlie had breakfast (Peach-Applesauce and Oatmeal, yum) while I got ready and then we did some snuggling and playing before I packed up my stuff and was off to work! 

Quick family photo before heading to work

I got out of the house around 8:30am and was sitting in my office at around 8:45 - not bad.  It was a good day of catching up with colleagues, going through hundreds of emails and even doing a little bit of work.  I pumped twice while at work, and it was no problem, only slightly annoying.  I gave myself permission to leave early if I needed to, but I stayed all the way until 4:30.  On the way home, I got so excited to see my little guy!  He is very comfortable with his Gram, and she knows all of his routines, so I was not nervous at all to leave him today.  I also got text message and photo updates, so that helped to see that he was doing great.  I don't think he missed his old mommy at all!

Hanging with Gram before I left

I walked in the door just before 5pm and we had such a happy reunion! Charlie was playing upstairs, so I sneaked into my room to change into my machine washable mom clothes before heading up for a hug.  It was very gratifying when he looked so happy to see me!  We cuddled and played and fixed his dinner (the ever popular sweet potato - green pea combo).  Then Cody came home, more playing, bath time and bed time routine.  He was asleep at about 7pm tonight and it was a struggle to even keep him up that late with his baby sized case of jet lag.  Cody fixed dinner for us and now we are settled in to watch the Titans!

California Baby

We just got home from an action-packed trip to California.  We had a great time, and Charlie was a sweet little traveler.  He didn't cry on either flight and took 2 naps in each direction.  I'm pretty sure by the next time we fly he will be moving around and not nearly so content to sit and be quiet!  He charmed everyone at Auntie Em's shower and flirted with all the ladies at his Nana's office, and adjusted to Pacific time really well - now let's just hope he can adjust back.  I don't have much time to write, since I am getting everything ready to go back to work tomorrow, so I will just post some pictures of our adventures, narrated by Charlie.

Got to visit with Nana

And play with Grandpa

 

I ate yummy pears

And sweet potatoes - my favorite!

I took my first big boy bath, holding Mommy's hand

And took a seat on the purple Yahoo! couch at Nana's office

Got to go to Auntie Em's baby shower, hosted by the lovely Laura

And visit with my family - Mommy, Auntie Emily, Great Aunt Tina, Nana, Great Grandma Flores and Great-Great Grandma Blair!

We gave Auntie a camera so she could take lots of pictures of my baby cousin

I played with Ralphie

And my friend Reidun - Reidun's mommy is Auntie Em's friend, Sue

It was all so exciting I needed a nap in my Ergo half way through the shower!

I can't believe they took a picture without me in it!

Did I mention I got to wear my big boy tiger jammies?  Good night!

Six Month Well Check

Today was Charlie's six month well visit with his pediatrician.  He weighed in at 16 lbs., 2 oz. (27th percentile) and was 27.25 inches tall (78th percentile).  His head is still quite large at 45 centimeters! (82nd percentile)  The doctor said he was healthy and that his weight was fine.  He said we would keep an eye on it, but that he wasn't overly concerned that his weight gain had slowed down - it tends to happen around this age.

We talked a lot about solid foods, and Dr. L said to give Charlie as much as he wants at his two meals per day - so if he finished his bowl and keeps opening his mouth, we're supposed to fix more.  We are also supposed to transition him to 3 solid meals per day in 3-6 weeks.  He suggested introducing the sippy cup, which we have already done, and finger foods also in the next 3-6 weeks.  We will probably start with puffs or a teething biscuit.  I tried giving the little man tiny pieces of avocado the other day and he just stored them all up in his little chipmunk cheeks!

Then we had Charlie's vision screening, which he failed.  Evidently his left eye is not as strong as his right eye.  He was also perfectly calm while they were testing his right eye, and squirmy and crying while they tested his left eye (he was squirmy and crying because the nurse ripped the adhesive eye patch off his left eye to move it to the right eye - she was not gentle).  Add that to the fact that the pediatrician said that 2/3 of babies who fail the screening have nothing wrong with their eyes, and I am not too worried.  We do have to take him for further testing at the pediatric ophthalmologist in a couple weeks.  It is a 2 hour test, so I will take him on one of my Fridays - should be a blast.  They will do some tests to make sure he doesn't have a lazy eye.  He clearly doesn't have a lazy eye.  But Just In Case, we will do the testing that is not covered by insurance.  Can you sense my frustration?  Of course we will do what the doctor suggests, but I have a feeling it will be a monumental waste of time and money. 

If he does indeed have a lazy eye, it will be easy to correct at this young age.  He would have to wear a patch!  Of course Cody and I had the same reaction - baby pirate for Halloween!  We go see the specialist on September 10, so I will update then. 

Finally, the appointment ended with vaccinations of course.  Charlie cried a bit, but not too much, and then he conked out in the car.  He napped like a champ today and was generally very happy and sweet - no after shot crankiness this time luckily.  We got the go-ahead to use infant motrin for any injection related discomfort and for teething pain.  I hope Charlie doesn't need it, but am glad motrin is now a pain relief option.  Dr. L and other mommies say it is a wonder drug for teething and illness because it lasts so much longer than baby tylenol.

After the appointment, Linda and I took her car to Safety Village (yes, this is what it is called) to get the convertible car seat checked by an installation tech.  We put the convertible seat in her car because we think Charlie is about to grow out of his infant carrier anyway - we plan to put the convertible in my car next week since the infant carrier is just too heavy to take in and out anyway.  The safety technician was super impressed with Cody's car seat installation skills.  She had to make zero adjustments and said it was perfect!  She went through what to do when we flip it to forward facing, which she strongly recommended not doing until Charlie is 2.  He looks like such a big boy in his seat! 

I should add that we received the car seat as a gift from some friends who are type-A parents like us, which saved me having to do any research at all on this issue.  It's the one they used for their kiddos and I just trusted that they picked a nice, safe seat, which they did - the car seat lady said it was a really great seat - extremely safe and very plush and comfy.  I have to say, he does look like he's chillin in a really comfy recliner!  I didn't get a picture today, but will make sure to get one soon, he looks so cute!  He also seems to like it better than the infant carrier.  He can see out the window and the straps are much more padded and comfortable.  It is a Britax Boulevard CS, and I just ordered us one for my car - he'll be riding in style next week.  I'm glad he likes it, since he will be riding in it until he's 65 lbs. - years!

Tomorrow we head to California - I will try to post some updates while we're out there, but may be too busy running around.  On the agenda: Emily's baby shower, Stanford Golf Course with my dad, chopping my hair off, Nana and Grandpa time, and showing off the cutie pie to every friend and family member my mom can think of :-)  Will surely have lots of photos when we return!

Six Months Old!

Today is Charlie's half birthday!  I can't believe my little man is six months old already, time certainly does fly.  At six months, Charlie:

Weighs a little over 16 lbs., official stats from doctor tomorrow
Sleeps about 12 hours straight every night
Wears 3-6 month clothing in most brands
Eats 7 times a day, 5 milk meals and 2 solid meals
Has eyes that change depending on what he wears.  They can look blue, gray, green, hazel or brown!
Has two teeth!
Takes 2 longer (over an hour) or 3 shorter (under an hour) naps per day
Only takes a paci in his crib for sleeping

New Skills:

Sitting unassisted
Shrieking
Kissing
Eating solid food
Putting his knees underneath him on his belly like he might crawl someday
Doing the bridge pose (yoga pose where one lies on one's back, knees bent, feet on ground, bottom off the ground - hilarious! see photo below)
Blowing razzberries in the air
Putting his own paci back in his mouth the right way
Learning to drink from a sippy
Trying to steal food off Mommy's plate

Loves:

All the same things he loved at 5 months, plus...
Sweet potatoes for dinner
Pears and oatmeal for breakfast
Avocado
Chewing on his bibs
Shrieking
Playing with all the toys on his jumperoo
Pulling hair
Breaking Daddy's glasses (2 pairs and counting, was funny, now just expensive)
Junebug licking him on the feet
Grown up things - my blackberry, Cody's iPhone, the computer, the remote controls

Not a fan of:

Riding alone in the back seat of the car
Mommy and Daddy paying attention to other things while he is with us
Startling and unfamiliar noises: ice hitting a glass from the ice maker, paper crumpling or ripping, the hair dryer, the vacuum, drilling, lawn mower, etc.
Mommy leaving the room
Junebug licking him in the face (see photo below)

And some outtakes from our half-birthday photo shoot:

Sitting like a big boy for my photo shoot!

On my way to a face plant, luckily on the nice soft bed

It's ok, I landed happily on my belly!

Junebug had to join in the fun

Bridge Pose - I am a zen yogi

Weekly Menu

Short weekly menu this week, since I will be heading to California on Wednesday afternoon.  After last week's menu planning, we ate home cooked dinner 7 days in a row.  Even though I had put one dinner out into the plan, we ended up with more leftovers than anticipated.  I seriously can't remember the last time we went an entire week with no dinner out or take out - in fact, I'm not sure it's ever happened before!  It felt good though, and we celebrated by eating at Chipotle tonight :-)  So, for this week:

Monday: Turkey, Mushroom and Sweet Pea Farfalle (a la Giada, one of my faves)
Tuesday: Cheesy Salsa Chicken with Black Beans and Rice

I chose both of these dinners because they keep well and always make a lot of leftovers, so hopefully Cody won't have to eat at Arby's or CFA every night while I am gone (sorry Cody!).  I'm going to have to do my menu planning for next week tomorrow or Tuesday so that Cody can do the grocery shop on Sunday morning.  We don't get back from California until Sunday afternoon, so we will have to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening getting unpacked and organized for me to start work!

Yes, it is a little crazy to travel across the country for the 5 days leading up to my return to work, but that's just the way it turned out.  I am planning only to go into the office for a few hours a day that first week to transition anyway.  It will take me a few days to get through emails and mail, check in on all my old matters and gather up some new things to work on, so I plan to be at my full schedule starting August 30.  This is probably as much as you will read about my job here, as I have no intention to blog about it.  My best (general, non legal) advice to employees considering blogging about work is Just Don't.  And now I've already said more than I intended, so that is that!

I do hope to keep up with the blog after I go back.  Obviously there will be a shift from blogging about Charlie's daily activities, to more milestone and weekend outing posts.  I'm sure it will be a little (lot) harder to find the time, but I do want to keep writing about my little sweetpea and his adventures in growing up.  I've been woefully inadequate when it comes to the baby book, so this blog will just have to do.  I'm sure Charlie will be so embarrassed to read it when he is older...

And a photo from the weekend.  It was low key - here's Charlie hanging with Daddy,who is very intent on his video game.

Big Kisses!

For Mommy:

And Junebug too!

Take a Seat

Charlie is getting better at sitting every day, staying upright a little longer, looking a little steadier.  He is now sitting steadily for long enough for me to grab the camera and not have my hands around him so he doesn't face plant.  He looks like such a little man!