Gil at 12 Months

Baby Gil is 12 months old, a year!

Gil continues to be a little guy.  He went to the doctor at 11 1/2 months and he weighs 17 lbs, 9 1/2 ounces, is 28 inches long, and his head is 17 1/2 cm in circumference.  He is still wearing 12 month clothes very comfortably.  He wears size 3 shoes, but it's super hard to find shoes in that size for walkers.  Most babies have bigger feet when they begin walking.

Sleep has been so good this month!  He takes two great naps, a day, usually about 2 hours long each.  It is a rare night that Gil doesn't sleep through it.  He goes down at 7 or 7:30 and sleeps until 5 or 6.  He nurses on one side and then will go back to sleep until 7 or 7:30.  

We have started the weaning process.  By next week, we should be done nursing!  I am proud for having nursed both boys for a year.  I'm not trying to be hurtful--you have to do what works best for you and your family, and this is what has worked for us.  But that doesn't mean it hasn't been hard at times, and I am glad to have made it to my goal with both boys.  Gil now takes 3 bottles of whole milk a day and then nurses in the morning.

Gil is still loving food.  He eats a couple of pouches a week (usually if we are out and about), but he mostly eats table food with us.  

Gil does not slow down, ever!  He loves walking and is constantly on the move.  He learned to clap this past month and he is always showing off his new skill.  He's not much of a talker and doesn't say "Mama" or "Dada" that regularly.

He loves to play with toys.  His favorite is a little wooden car ramp that my brother gave Jack when he was little.  He has figured the toy out and he loves to push the cars down the ramp.

Gil is a funny little guy.  He loves to cuddle and sit on laps.  He loves to be held.  And he loves to laugh.  He has a very dramatic personality.  He is either VERY happy or VERY upset.

For his birthday, we went with a few friends to a local apple orchard.  I brought some pumpkin spice cupcakes and we sang to Gil before picking apples.  I don't think he really knew it was for him, but the rest of us had fun!

Likes: food, making a mess, Jack

Dislikes: not getting the toy he wants!

Happy 1st Birthday, our sweet little Baby Gil!  We love you so much!

5 on Friday, Food Edition

I thought I'd switch up 5 on Friday a bit this week and go with a theme.  I'm almost completely unpacked and we have a somewhat normal schedule again.  Which means I've been doing a TON of cooking!  I have some cookbooks, but I end up getting a good amount of my recipes from pinterest.  It's just so easy!

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Jack and I made these pumpkin cream cheese muffins the other day.  They were incredible!

I actually already blogged about them, but wanted to share again.  They were the perfect amount of pumpkin and great for breakfast.  We ate them throughout the week.  In fact, I am going to whip up another batch this afternoon.

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We eat a lot of veggie only meals in our house, and we all love tacos, so this meal seemed perfect!  I made these Honey Lime Sweet Potato, Black Bean and Corn tacos last week and we were all fans.  

They were really filling and had great flavor.

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For Gil's birthday, I made an old favorite, Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with cream cheese icing.  I first made them in 2009, and I've made them every fall since.

Everyone in our house loves these cupcakes...they are always a win!

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If you aren't following Skinny Taste on Pinterest or on her blog, you are crazy.  I even have her cookbook, I love her recipes that much!

I have cooked MANY of her recipes and I have only once not liked the food.  Her recipes are healthy and low cal, but really filling and full of great flavor.  Her Crock Pot Sesame Honey Chicken was another success!

Even though I used less chicken than the recipe called for, we still had leftovers.  I used some of the meat to make a quesadilla the next day and it was great! 

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I am big fan of chipotle, the restaurant and the spice.  Again, we eat a lot of meatless meals, so I knew I had to try to make this Burrito Bowl with Creamy Chipotle Sauce.

These were SO good!  The chipotle sauce was the perfect amount of spice.  Bech and I both loved these and then used the leftover sauce for the next two days.

Even though I've been cooking some pumpkin flavored items, I've steered clear of my regular fall recipes thus far.  It's going to be 86 degrees here today!  But by next week, we should be down to the 60's, so I'll start making soups and chilis soon!

5 on Friday!

Woohoo!  Another Five on Friday, another end of the week, and that means the weekend!

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I'm finally catching up on things! 

I got up to date with Gil's Month Updates.  Which is good because Gil turns 1 on Monday.  Seriously, I know it sounds super trite, but what?  How did that happen?

I also finished Jack's 4th year photo book.  I've posted about this before, but every year I make a photo book for Jack.  I put all my pictures on Shutterfly and then make a cute book about his year.  

This year was by far the easiest, because I put the Shutterfly app on my phone about a year ago.  Every month or so, I do a photo dump onto the app and onto Facebook.  This frees up phone memory space AND means all of my phone photos are already on Shutterfly.  I also do this with my DSLR.  When I upload them to the computer, I also upload them to Shutterfly and Facebook.  

So all of my photos were at the ready.  I think it took me maybe 3 hours total to make this years book and it's SO cute!  I need to start working on Gil's (maybe next week) and then I will order that one too. And Jack just loves looking through his year photo books.  

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Jack starts school today.

Praise. The. Lord.

Seriously, Jack and I are best buds.  We are a lot alike.  But that also means we can drive each other crazy.  Plus, he has been really disobedient as of late.  Of course, I realized that he hasn't seen his best friends in a month and a half (and he doesn't have the luxury of texting them like I do).

Here's the little turkey himself.

I think he is going to be SO happy to be out of the house and playing with kids his age.  I can't wait to hear all about it!

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We went camping this past weekend.  We had a blast, and I realized camping is a lot more fun when you know you have an actual home to go to when you leave.

We went with some oldish/newish friends (we knew them from before, but not well) and had a WONDERFUL time!  We went to a "dispersion" campsite.  We were in a national park, but we weren't in a typical campsite area.  We were really far away from any one else, there were no showers or bathrooms, and we didn't have to pay to camp.  But we were able to "car camp" (meaning we didn't have to hike to a spot with our gear).

Bech and I are learning what we do and don't need, gear wise.  We have used two borrowed tents thus far, so we need a tent.  And we want a cook stove.  And we NEED sleeping bags.  We just slept on a camping mattress with blankets, thinking that would be fine because it's been pretty warm/hot in Vermont lately.  But we didn't factor in that we were in the mountains so it got cold at night!

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Have any of y'all read The Nesting Place?

My sister gave it to me for my birthday last year and I LOVED it.  The author has lived in a lot of rental properties, and she talks about how to make places, even temporary places, your home.  Since we also have lived in a lot of rental properties, the book really resonated with me.  The last two places we've lived, I have made little to no effort, especially in this last place.  It was super tiny, I was very pregnant when we moved, and then I had two little boys and no decorating budget.  

I still don't have much of a decorating budget, but I at least have a little more energy and time!  And I have been going hammer crazy.  The Nester talks in one chapter about how we get so worried about pictures being hung perfectly that we don't hang them at all!  I am conquering that fear and just going for it.

Here's the boys room so far.  I need to paint Jack's headboard white and we need to find some sort of dress up clothes storage (any ideas).  But thus far, I am liking it.  It's sweet and bright and calm (all at the same time).  I like that toys and books are easily accessible.  Their clothes are all organized in the closet and there are a few more toys in there.

But here's my real pride and joy.  I have been collecting prints for the past couple of years, but most of them have been sitting in plastic sleeves.  I rounded up my prints, bought some frames from Michaels (combining current sales with Michael's app coupons), and hammered away.  The wall looks even different today.  I switched around some and added more prints.  It's totally my happy place!

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I haven't talked about this on here yet, but I've been trying out some of those home delivery meal plans. Thus far, I've tried out HelloFresh and BlueApron.  My second HelloFresh box comes this next week.   

I really thought I wouldn't like them.  In fact, I only tried because I got free weeks for both.

Here are the reasons I thought I would not like these services:

- I am cheap.  I can get things for cheaper than the cost of the delivery.

- I actually enjoy meal planning and shopping.

-  I can be a picky eater and was worried about not liking what they sent.

Here's how I feel now:

- I can buy meals for cheaper.  But these were really fun.  Fun to make, fun to eat.  And they were a bit of a stress release.  I am going to get one every 3 to 4 weeks.  We eat a lot of veggie meals, so I think I can make our food budget stretch to include a box or so every month.

- Like I said, these were so fun to make!  The HelloFresh meals took 30 minutes or less to make.  The BlueApron meals were more like 40 to 45 minutes.  I got to use some new (to me) ingredients and techniques.

- You get to pick your meals from a couple of options, so if there was anything that I didn't think looked good, I didn't chose it.  But some of my favorite meals were ones I wasn't so sure about!  Go figure!

I'm definitely no food photographer, but here are the shrimp and grits from BlueApron.  I love shrimp and grits.  And these were amazing.  Sure, maybe not as good as City Grocery's, but yummy nonetheless!

Thus far, I would say Bech and I like the BlueApron meals just a tad more.  But we liked both sets of meals a lot.

If you want to check out HelloFresh, use the referral code "QHCEJ7."  You'll get $40 off your first week and I'll get $30 credit.  But if you do it, I suggest making sure you pause the next week or two after your first delivery.  That way you can make sure you like the service before you get another week automatically sent to you (and get charged full price!).

Have a wonderful weekend!

Gil at 11 Months

Baby Gil is 11 months old!

(Yes, he turned 11 months old 1/2 a month ago.  But this info is all based off of that!)

Gilly man is still a little shrimp.  He weighs about 17 1/2 lbs (what Jack weighed at 3 1/2 months!).  He wears 12 month clothes and will probably be able to do so for at least another couple of months.  Throughout this crazy move, he's been wearing disposables full time, and he wears size 3.

Sleep this month has been rough!  The first two weeks, while we were still in our apartment in State College, was good.  He had a few nights where he would cry in the middle of the night or wake up, but he was pretty much sleeping through the night.  But then we moved and he was sleeping in the bathroom of our one room guest apartment.  He was waking up 2 to 3 times a night!  Now that we are in our apartment, I am praying things get back to normal sleep wise.

He is a good little napper, though.  He still takes a morning and afternoon nap, which are each usually 1 1/2 to 2 hours long.

He is still a great little eater.  One of his favorite foods (honestly all food is his favorite) is tomatoes.  He loves to eat tomatoes!  He's gotten really good at feeding himself finger food.  We still give him pouches but I would love for him to be almost fully on "table food" by 1.   He can definitely do that, but sometimes it's easier to give him a pouch if we are eating sometime spicy.

He is officially walking!  He started walking on July 31st, as we were cleaning up our apartment.  When Jack had just turned 11 months, we moved and he started walking during our move too.  What is it with my boys and walking during moves?  He is still shaky and isn't a full time walker, but he can do 8 or 9 steps at a time before falling down on his booty.

He started saying Mama this month, which is fun!  

Gil is hilarious.  He loves to be tickled, held, and cuddled.  Both my boys are so snuggly!  He also has a very dramatic personality.  If he's happy, he's SO happy.  But if he's grumpy or mad, you better watch out!

But he has been very flexible (other than sleeping) with this move.  He was pretty good in the car ride.  We have done lots of outdoor activities (summervale, the farmers market, old (before the move) and new playgrounds), and he has smiled through it all.

Likes: eating, walking, tomatoes

Dislikes: not getting to do what he wants, sleeping in his pack and play in the bathroom (wouldn't you?)

Happy 11 months, Gilly Man!  You are our "favorite favorite!"

Gil at 10 Months

Baby Gil is 10 months old!

We were a month late on his 9 month check up (because of traveling down south), so I actually know his weight and height.  He is 17 lbs 10 oz (11%), 29 inches (57%), and his head is 44 cm (14%).  He is still a little guy!  He has a few 9 month outfits he can wear, but he is almost totally into 12 month clothes.  He is still in size 3 diapers and his one size diapers are still set pretty small, although we are in the second size of Thirsties DuoWrap covers.

Since we got back from vacation, sleep has been pretty good.  He takes two two hour naps a day.  He goes to sleep so easily!  He is getting really close to sleeping through the night.  Okay, I'll go ahead and say it--he is mostly sleeping through the night now!  But that happened the day after he turned 10 months old, and I'm a few days late on this post.  We had to do some cry it out to get there, but I have dropped the dream feed.

Gil LOVES food.  I still can't even believe that.  He prefers the pouches to being spoon fed.  He sucks those things down and likes all of the different flavors.  He also loves to eat real food.  We break off little pieces of whatever we are eating (as long as its not spicy or doesn't have avocado--he has reactions to avocado), and he loves it.  

He is moving all over the place.  He has started standing up by himself for several seconds at a time.  He can go from sitting to standing and then back down again, without holding on to anything!  Jack started walking right when he turned 11 months old, and I have a feeling that Gil will be similar.

This month he said his first word, Dada (why is that always the case?!?).  He still has yet to say Mama, but hopefully it will come soon.  He also likes to wave, but isn't a fan of clapping.

He is starting to show his little personality.  He wants to play with whatever big brother is playing with.  He does not like if you stop him from doing what he wants to be doing.  He loves to snuggle and give kisses.   He is our sweet, silly Gilly monster!

Likes: cuddles, playing with Jack's toys, food!

Dislikes: not getting to do what he wants

Happy 10 months, Baby Gil!  We love you!

5 on Friday

The fact that I have the time and energy (and internet connection!) to do this post means I am getting closer to a new normal! 

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We are almost all the way unpacked!  I would say we are 95% of the way unpacked.  Now we are left with that last little bit, the couple of boxes that are just so hard to find places for!

I am really excited because we are kind of doing some different things in this new place.  I got some bright curtains for downstairs.  We ordered hairpin legs to add to the tabletop top that Bech built.  We have a new gray couch.  So lots of new colors and looks going on downstairs.  Once I feel like it's somewhat put together, I'll add some pictures. 

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It's almost fall!  It's no secret that fall is my FAVORITE.  Seriously, I love fall a lot.

So I've turned to my Fall Food Pinterest board.

I made these pumpkin cream cheese muffins and we all snacked on them all week.  So yummy!  It was the perfect mix of sweet and pumpkin-y.

Sidenote, check out what's in the stores already?  Frosted Sugar Cookie coffee creamer!  That stuff is absolutely amazing.

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I've talked before about my love for Louise Penny.  She's a Canadian mystery writer, and I love her books!

The past couple of years her new books have been released in August.  I've been pre-ordering them so I can read them right away, and this year was no different.  The new book is SO good!  If you like mysteries, you should check her out.

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I'm going to be honest with you all right now.  I swore I wasn't going to watch Bachelor in Paradise.  I promised myself I wouldn't.  I mean, c'mon, it looks pretty trashy.  But then I read Pinterest Told Me To's blog recaps.  Y'all, if you watch this show or Bachelor, you should read her recaps.  They are HILARIOUS.

Anyway, after reading her recaps, I couldn't resist.  I've been catching up on the series.  Anyone else watching?

I do have a question:  What am I not seeing in Jared?  ALL of the girls wanted to meet him and date him.  I just don't get it?

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Jack starts school next week!  Yay!  

I love my little Jackie boy, but we both need a break from each other.  We have been together NON stop for a month.  Jack does really well at school and with other kids.  He has always thrived in those kind of situations.  

And I am glad to get some one on one time with Gil and, while Gil naps, some me time.  I still have so much to do around the house and I am looking forward to grocery shopping with just one little boy!  

So be on the lookout for first day of school pictures next week!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend!