7 months old!

Christmas Eve we celebrated 7 months of having little Ephram in our lives :)

 

 

Someday I will get around to posting more than twice a month, I know I've dropped the ball lately, but at least I am remembering to do these little monthly updates!  It is something that I hope will be neat to look back on as our little mister continues to grow.

 

Here are some notable things from your 6th month of life, little man:

 

 

 

You said your first word, "MOM!" hooray!  There are many variations now, including "mama" "mommommom", etc...but you always get your point across- you want your mama!

 

You are rolling as a means of transportation these days.  Just recently I found you rolling yourself from your playmat to underneath the table. 

 

You LOVE your daddy & bounce up and down in excitement when he comes home from work each day.

 

You are still sitting up like a champ and becoming more adventurous each day in how far you stretch out your arms.  It is obvious you are wanting to become more & more mobile, but still figuring out how to get from place to place.

 

You love playing on the floor with mom & dad, singing songs & playing peekaboo.  On Saturdays you & daddy watch cartoons.

 

You are laughing more & more & learning to repeat an action if you get a good reaction out of mom & dad.

 

You also scrunch up your cute little nose these days & mimic mom & dad's facial expressions. 

 

You like apples, squash, bananas & blueberries, but are also willing to eat your greens.  You went through a major growth spurt this month, in part due to all these fun foods you've been getting!

 

We also had your first sick doctor's visit this month, for an ear infection.  :(  I think you handled it with much more ease than your momma!

 

 

We love making memories with you, sweet boy & cherish each new waking day that we have with you!

 

 

Its beginning to feel a lot like...

 

CHRISTMAS!

 

Ben & I were having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year.  It may have had something to do with our being sick for two days after Thanksgiving, thus rendering us unable to get our tree the day after Thanksgiving as we normally do.  Or it could have something to do with the 70+ degree weather we've been having, or maybe just simply that my mind was not prepared for the holidays to be here yet. 

 

Whatever it stemmed from, it just didn't feel like our favorite time of year.  We decided to make it our goal this past week & weekend to get a tree up & do a little decorating, really doing the tree was all we had planned to do.  Once we got started though, I think our spirits finally got caught up in the excitement of the season & we just kept going!  Holiday wreath, lights on the house, a trip to town to see holiday lights and this week I am working on our advent calendar.  We have the study we will be doing all ready to go.  I printed verses from here and I think we will go through the 24 Old Testement stories in the Jesus Storybook Bible (a fantastic children's Bible) that lead up to Christ's birth.  Ephram of course, is still too young to understand all of this, but I think it will be a great tradition to start now & to grow with as our family grows.

 

Once we finally were feeling festive, we remembered what a blessing it was to decorate and prepare for Christmas this week together as last year, Ben was deployed and little Ephram was still a wee little peanut in my belly :) I love having both my boys with me this year!

 

Here's some of the documentation from our week...

 

the naked tree

 

 

all dolled up with yarn balls & twinkling lights :)

 

 

 

our first time to light up the house...

 

a Christmas wreath to top off my husband's amazing light job...

 

 

scoping out the pretty lights around town...a favorite tradition of ours!

 (Ephram slept through most of it this year..hah!)

 

 

My two sweet men looking so handsome (and so happy!) in their holiday duds.

 

 

 

I hope to have some updates soon on our Advent study & calendar!  I am going to build the calendar as we go this year, as clearly, I dropped the ball on getting it made before Dec 1st! 

 

6 months old!

Sweet little man. Mom is a little behind on this 6 month post.  You will be 6 months & 1 week tomorrow, but mom & dad celebrated your half birthday from our sick beds with a stomach bug, so I am just now getting around to posting!

 

You turned 6 months old after Thanksgiving & celebrated with Lollie & Pop, who were way more fun than your nautious mom & dad that day. 

 

You just get more & more handsome by the day & we love every new little thing we learn about you as we watch your personality bloom :) 

 

Notable things from this month:

 

You have not one, but two teeth that came through in the last month & you handled it like a champ!  Minor fussing, and chomping down on teething rings, but overall quite a successful first round of teething.  Makes a momma proud :)

You are also sitting up like a pro these days, no more tripoding for you! Now you are getting more and more adventurous and lean forward as far as you can to reach new toys.  I can hardly get you to do tummy or back time any more, sitting is the bees knees in your book. 

You are also "bum scootching" while sitting, inching your way closer & closer to objects of interest.

When I DO put you on your tummy, you immediately roll over.  You like that trick. And apparently don't like tummy time.

However, when it comes to sleeping, you are quite the opposite.  I lay you on your back & you have started to roll over & sleep on your belly.  You know how to keep your momma nervous & on her toes. 

We've caught you studying your hands lately; it's quite cute.

You love your pacifier, car rides & playing with mom & dad & bob.

Your favorite song is "Jesus Loves Me"

I think you have discovered how to throw a temper tantrum.  You are letting mommy know quite certainly when you do NOT like something. 

You are getting more interested in playdates with little friends.

 

 

Hands down, you're the sweetest.  And I think we'll keep ya ;)



Powerpacked Pumpkin Smoothie {Dairy Free}

 

I know, I know, another pumpkin post.
They are all over the place this time of year.

 

I just finished pureeing about 12 cups of pumpkin so I am trying to come up with some creative ways to enjoy pumpkin this season!

 

I've seen several recipes for pumpkin smoothies on pinterest & such & decided to give it a go & came up with a scrumptious one that is also dairy free (which is hard to find!) to keep babycakes happy :).  You can easily substitute dairy back in for my dairy free items & I'm sure it would be just as tasty.

 

Not only was this delish, but it got extra points in my book for having some extra health benefits too! 

 

Pumpkin Smoothie Recipe:

 

1 cup pumpkin puree (frozen prefered)

1 frozen banana

1 Tbsp soy protein powder

1 Tbsp chia seeds

2 Tbsp soy vanilla yogurt (mine was the trader joe's brand)

1/4 cup almond milk (or other dairy free milk)

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

 

Blend all ingredients in a blender, adding a handful of ice cubes as needed (may need more if your puree was not frozen).  Pour yourself a glass & enjoy!

 

 

My Little Fledgling

 

 

This is my sweet little owl baby on his first Halloween.  Our squadron put on a little trunk-or-treat & although there will be no candy for E this year (not really sure if I ever want to start that tradition...I know, lamest mom ever), I couldn't pass up a chance to dress my little munckin up :)

 

What is it with babies & ridiculous costumes that make them all the more scrumptious?!  I don't know, but I love it. 

 

As I was deciding on what E would be, I wanted something that I could make for him myself, but with a very small degree of difficulty and involvement.  I didn't want to spend very much time or $$ on it. I mean, really, he will probably only wear it this once and basically just for the photo-op & memory.  I found this tutorial from the one and only, Martha Stewart & just eyeballed it (I mean really, who has access to a photocopier to print a template off at 375%), used some things I had on hand and came up with this. 

The little eye goggles were never going to stay around his eyes like the picture showed, so I opted to keep them out of the little guys reach, & atop his knit hat.  The hat, although missing it's owl ears, was perfect to help keep the little guy warm in the chilly weather we've been having.

 

Here's one more picture of this owl mama and her little fledgling :)  Love him.

 

 

5 months old!

 

 

A few days ago our little man turned 5 months old!  He's as sweet and handsome as ever and our love grows for him more and more each day.

 

Here are some highlights from this past month:

 

 

Giggles & squeals are an every day affair with you.  We are learning new ways to make you laugh each day & it's so fun to figure out your favorite was to play.

 

Peek-a-boo is one of your favorite games to play with us this month. We throw a little towel on your head & ask, "Where's Ephram?" and you pull it off & smile with delight!

 

It seems that every outing I take you on these days, people comment on how smiley you are!  You seem to be a very social kiddo & love to engage people :)

 

Just yesterday, we felt your first tooth (or maybe teeth) coming in on your bottom gum.  Today has been a little painful for you & you've wanted lots of momma cuddles.

 

You also ate your first solid yesterday...Bananas!  I think you're a fan :)  You kept reaching for the spoon to put it in your mouth.

 

You are an expert at rolling from tummy to back & have even rolled over from back to tummy once, so time playing on the floor is getting more & more interesting.

 

You are "tripoding" as I like to call it.  Sitting, with hands propped out in front of you for support- you love the new view it gives you.

 

We love you baby cakes!

 

Exercising + Motherhood

 

Ahh, such a sweet face. :)  But I'm actually going to refrain from talking about my little cutie pants boy to talk about exercise, more specifically, running!

 

During my preggo & pre-preggo days I was pretty active with soccer, yoga, cycling, any sort of group or team exercise--count me in!  I love social exercising & even more, I love the feeling of doing something active.  I was fortunate to be able to do cycling and yoga until I was 38 weeks pregnant and I can't say enough about exercising during pregnancy- it kept me feeling good & energetic (and there's the added plus of not gaining too many baby pounds!)

 

You can imagine the conundrum I was in 6 weeks post-baby when I realized I could no longer go to cycling class or yoga class with a baby in arm! What to do, what to do.  I considered doing a work out DVD, but can never seem to keep myself accountable to doing those consistently. 

I also considered running, but hated the idea.  Yes, I love exercising, but I hate running, or at least running just for the sake of running.

 

After spinning my wheels & trying to come with other things that would work for me, I eventually came back to running. It's something I can easily do with a baby, anytime & basically, anywhere & we have this really great jogging stroller that I hoped would fool people into thinking I was a runner, but had never actually used for running.  When I made the decision to start running, I immediately signed up for a local 5K (something I've never done), knowing that if I didn't have a goal like that to reach toward, I would never keep up with it.  I also enlisted the help of my husband, again, I knew I would need some extra accountability for this one.  He LOVED the idea & has always wanted me to run with him so he was all in!

 

We've been at it for about a month or so  now & I can now run for 30 minutes straight! Something I haven't done in I don't know how long.  It's been great so far, I can't say that I love running yet, but I do love spending time exercising as a family (such a blessing!) and I love the way I feel after finishing a run. 

 

 

3 more weeks 'til race day!  I'll keep you posted on how it goes.  In the meantime, if you're like me & having a hard time figuring out the best way to workout in the midst of life & all it's busyness & challenges, I just wanted to send some encouragement your way!  Set some goals, get some accountability & have fun with it!  This has been a huge part of our family time lately & has blessed us in more ways than keeping us healthy & fit.  :)