Weekender

Hi friends! Hope you had a great weekend! We’ve had some pretty quality family time over here, so no complaints. Although….I could have gone for a little more sleep….

Friday: In typical Friday fashion, I started the day with a batch of protein pancakes and about a gallon of coffee to help get the sleepies out of my eyes. I cut up my pancakes because I had to feed Wes at the same time and with his grabby arms this makes it way easier.

IMG_1698

Oh, and it was Wes’s 9 month birthday! I did his monthly recap which you can read here.

IMG_1705

After his morning nap we headed over to the doctor for his checkup. He did great, but was just a bit chilly!

IMG_1702

On the way home, we swung by the grocery store to pick up a few necessities (one of which may have been Ben & Jerrys).

We had leftover pot roast for dinner once Tyler got home then headed over to Costco to stock up. The trip wasn’t too long, so we got home in time for Wes to have his bottle, but the kid was on CRACK and preferred to roll around and babble until he finally went down at 8:45! At that point, I was ready to go to bed myself, but we watched a couple episodes of Homeland.

IMG_1696

IMG_1708

IMG_1710

Saturday: I didn’t wake up until 8am (HOO-FREAKIN-RAY). I got dressed and had some breakfast before Wes got up. This doesn’t sound like a big deal, but man alive does it feel fantastic to have brushed teeth and a washed face in the morning. I quickly fed Wes then headed out the door to get to my hair appointment. Ummm…remind me never to go this long between appointments!

I got a lob cut and had the color brightened up a bit. It feels so great to have a fresh haircut I can’t even describe it. And the girl talk, HOT coffee and me time were the best!

IMG_1714

IMG_1719

The afternoon consisted of lunch, a trip to Home Depot, and taking the dogs for a walk.

IMG_1721

IMG_1727

We ordered pizza for dinner, finished Homeland and BOOM..out like lights.

Sunday: I woke up a walking zombie. Boo. Wes had another wakeup in the middle of the night which actually didn’t last too long, but I couldn’t get back to sleep. I think the worst thing in the world is when you WANT to sleep but your stupid brain won’t shut off.

I think about 4 hours later getting up I actually WOKE up so I made some BAE.

IMG_1733

I made Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, took a nap, worked out, walked the dogs, did laundry then BOOM time for bed.

IMG_1741

Also, can we please talk about how this type of telephone is pretty much obsolete for his generation?

IMG_1735

IMG_1738

How was your weekend? 

Wesley Arlo- 9 Months

Oh man, where do I start. Nine months. 3/4 of a YEAR. Whoa, that happened all too fast. This past month, I think my baby got on the big boy highway and I need him to slow down ASAP. (doesn’t every mom say that?)

wesarlo9months

Today, Wes had his 9 month check up and weighed in at 21.7 lbs and 29.1″ long. They’re not SUPER accurate, but at least it gives me a ballpark. (His next round of shots are at 12 months and they are way better at weighing and measuring him there!)

He’s in size 5 diapers (they’re huge, but he fills them. I bet he’s glad I told you that). Most of his clothes are in the 18 month range, but it depends on the brand. He hasn’t been going through sizes as quickly, so it has been way better on my wallet. But way harder on the washing machine 😉

IMG_1945

Eating: still breastfeeding 2-3x/day, 2 meals of baby food/puffs/smoothies, and a full bottle before bed. He’ll have some water here and there, too. We’re starting to incorporate more foods he can eat on his own, but I want to make sure he’s still getting enough calories for that big belly!

IMG_1947

Sleeping: A 45ish min nap at 10:30am and an hour-ish nap at 2:30pm. Bed is anywhere from 7/7:30pm-7:30/8am without interruptions. EXCEPT this past week where he has been waking at night for a feed (growth spurt?!). He’s used to being held until he falls asleep which usually takes no more than 5 minutes.

IMG_1966

Play: He’s still obsessed jumping in the jumperoo. OBSESSED. He’s also really enjoying a ton of new toys he got for Christmas. His finger dexterity is getting a bit better so he can actually play with the toys rather than smack at them…even though that’s what he does most of the time.

IMG_1963

Tricks: He will ‘hoo’ when his toy owl does, he can blow raspberries, and he uses his hand to blab with his mouth. Sounds boring, but I promise it’s super hilarious to watch as his mom :). He loves to take off his bib and chew on the velcro part. Or just wave it around like it’s the most interesting thing in the world.

IMG_1967

He has been trying to crawl lately! So far, he’s only managed to get one knee up so most of the time he’s rolling like a bowling ball all over the floor. Note to self: start looking into buying baby gates. Note to self #2: baby gates will also be great for the dogs. Why didn’t I get them sooner?

IMG_1970

And teething! Whoa. His front bottom right tooth finally broke through on Friday January 7th and the thing is razor sharp. No wonder kids have a hard time with teething- it’s like knives in their mouths! With teething comes drooling- as you may very well notice in most of these pictures.

IMG_1971

He’s still really good in the car and prefers to be carried in the Ergo as opposed to the stroller when we’re out running errands. I don’t mind it so much because it’s hard as hell to push a stroller through snow-packed parking lots.

He’s getting better and better with the doggies (and vice versa). Some mornings we have some puffs on the floor and Layla is his best friend. Reggie, on the other hand, has eaten entire canisters of puffs so he’s not allowed near us when we eat. BUTTHEAD.

I’ve noticed Layla will come in his room when I am in there with Wes, and Reggie will go in his room when Tyler is in there with him.

IMG_2013

IMG_2016

IMG_2030

IMG_2021

IMG_2024

He still loves being on the change table, although he’s about an inch away from no longer fitting on it. Still doesn’t love stuff going over his head, but giggles like a maniac when getting everything else done (diaper, pants, socks..).

He loves to be bounced around, thrown in the air, and swung back and forth between my legs. Basically, he’s fun-loving and adventurous. I can already see his dating profile now. No wait, he won’t ever date. He’s my baby!

IMG_1990

He’s mama’s #1 fan. Do you know how happy that makes me? VERY.

IMG_2004

He is so happy. Except when I have to use the snot sucker…then he hates me for about .000002 seconds. So I make it up to him with snuggles and kisses. And bath time is one of his favorites! We spend a good stretch of time in the tub with his bubbles and toys and floating books and he loves to splash. Side note: I actually got in the tub with him once because A) I was cold, and B) I wanted in on the fun, too!

IMG_2035

He’s so observant! Everyone we’ve met has commented on how much it looks like he’s soaking everything in. (And then they’ll try to hold him at which point he will cry until he’s back in my arms, but that’s a whole other story..) He can recognize the different rooms in the house, loves looking (and patting) himself in the mirror, and staring at his night light. Why he thinks me turning it off every morning is the greatest thing ever, I’ll never know.

IMG_2043

He’s the best little boy (ahh I said it…’boy’. He’s no longer a baby! I’m so sad. I’m crying. Please pass the wine) and I get all tingly just thinking about how lucky I am to have him. Borderline obsessed since I scroll through photos of him on my phone every night before bed.

I’d like to think that his next monthly update will tell of how he’s crawling and gobbling more foods, but then that means another month has gone by and it just needs to slows the heckkkkkk dowwwwwwwn.

IMG_1941

I love you Mr. Wes, you’re the best little guy! (He’s not reading this now, but I’m sure he will eventually…)

In case you missed it:

 

 

Random Things Thursday

I’m gonna quit saying I’m looking forward to the weekend because I could just let time freeze for now. I’m loving my time with my baby boy, I’m loving (shock and awe…wait for it) doing chores around the house, and I’m loving being able to run errands during the day and avoiding the wretched weekend crowds. Tomorrow my little man will be 9 months old which brings me even closer to my return to work and I am getting more and more sick to my stomach about it!

  1. Wes tried smoothies for the first time this week! The first one was a mixture of fruits, greek yogurt, oats and almond milk and the second had some spinach added to it. The LOVED the green smoothie- I had to slow him down! He uses this cup and it seems to do the trick in ensuring a slower flow. He’s also been able to munch of some rice husks which seem to disappear in the blink of an eye. This guy loves his food!

2. Thanks to Brie’s post earlier this week, I was able to take advantage of Victoria’s Secret sale- buy a sports bra, get a legging for free! I had a store credit, so it cost me nothing AND I rounded out my quick shopping trip with a stop at the used kid’s store and picked up some oldie buy goodie books for Wes.

IMG_1634

3. Dinners from the week have been pretty easy and super tasty! Monday: Slow Cooker Gnocchi in Creamy Pork Sauce (I used chicken) Tuesday: Mild Italian Chicken Sausage with couscous and sautéed zucchini Wednesday: Asian Turkey Meatballs with steamed broccoli and rice. I plan on making a slow cooker pot roast tonight with leftovers for tomorrow!

4. Monday and Tuesday nights have been tiresome! Wes got up at 5am Tuesday morning and 3am Wednesday morning to feed and each time it took him nearly 90 minutes to get back to sleep. I don’t mind because he rarely does this and I love the extra cuddles, but it really gets to my brain and body when I try to get some shut eye afterwards! It’s a good thing he’s cute.

The lack of sleep causes me to take some obnoxious (and cute!) photos of him 🙂

IMG_1911

IMG_1920

IMG_1924

IMG_1926

IMG_1928

IMG_1932

IMG_1934

5. I finished Making a Murder on Tuesday night and Ken Kratz is just super creepy to me. That is all.

kratz

6. I’m 90% sure about which day home we will choose for Wes. I checked out another on Tuesday and it seemed a bit too crowded plus the caregiver will be having surgery just as Wes will start there so I’m taking it as a sign it’s not meant to be. We are checking out another place today, but I think my heart lies with the place we checked out last week. It’s $$, but I think Wes will get better attention (which is the most important part!)

babysit

7. Tyler noticed that Best Buy OF ALL PLACES had Quest Bars on sale online…the deal (keyword DEAL: regular $39.99; sale $32.99/box) was up until yesterday. So I bought three boxes. These are on my short list of things I will splurge on. Also on that list: Sodastream CO2 canisters (I go through one every 2 weeks), Vega nutritional shake powder, Bio Oil, and anything for Wes.

questbars

8. To all my friends in the US: you can come visit me now. Do you know what the exchange rate is right now? Granted, most everything here in my expensive, but still…MORE MONEY IN YO POCKET! Seriously, come visit me. (hint hint: I’ve been here FOUR YEARS and only one person has visited!!!)

money

Tell me something random!

Weekender

How is the weekend over already? I swear to God it was only two seconds ago that I woke up and was excited to eat pancakes! Another low-key weekend for us..dang cold weather is keeping us indoors more than I’d like.

Friday: Pancakes in peace. Wes didn’t wake up until almost 8:30 so I was able to clean up the kitchen, make breakfast AND eat it in peace and quiet.

IMG_1533

I took a peak out the blinds and noticed how frosty white everything was! I opened the patio door to snap a pic and WHOA- it was pretty but FRIGIDLY cold out. Brr

IMG_1536

Wes’s first tooth even poked through! It’s very tough to see, but it’s there. So of course, photos were taken to celebrate. Love this sweet little boy!

IMG_1539

IMG_1537

IMG_1538

IMG_1540

IMG_1541

We braved the cold to run some errands- Co-op had a great sale on Vega so I had to make sure to pick some up. Wes wore his dino hat- I really need to take a pic of him in it because it’s so cute and I can’t help but laugh when he’s in it.

I was able to watch more Making A Murderer while Wes went down for a nap. BONUS: I had a Wild Rose Brewery Cowbell to enjoy while I watched! Tyler spent a good chunk of the evening painting all the trim we had picked up last weekend. Do home renos ever end? The guy is seriously busting his butt ALL THE TIME with something around the house! (PS: Thankful for that. I’ll stick to doing laundry and cleaning the bathrooms, tyvm)

IMG_1545

Dinner was super simple: Chicken roasted in Mums (<—SO GOOD), potatoes and broccoli. We watched a few episodes of Homeland then went to sleep.

IMG_1548

Saturday: Did I mention Tyler’s the best? He pretty much TOLD me to take a bath before Wes went down for his nap and to take as long as I wanted. I used one of the bath bombs he got me for Christmas and abused some me time for a whole hour. It was glorious.

IMG_1550

Meh- I just realized I took practically ZERO photos on Saturday.

During the afternoon, Tyler did more work on cutting and installing some of the trim while I took Wes grocery shopping. We played around for a bit when we got home, then I took the dogs for a walk while Wes napped.

IMG_1556

Tyler made lasagna for dinner- we stuffed our faces- then plopped on the couch downstairs to watch The Intern.

Sunday: The lasagna didn’t agree with me so well, and I wound up getting sick during the night (could’ve been the mix of that plus the prosecco I drank during the movie?) Yuck. I took a SUPER LONG nap in the morning then made myself a delicious brunch plate.

IMG_1558

The extra sleep + tons of water + food = much better feeling Jen.

We had the games on downstairs while Tyler was in/out of the garage cutting more trim. We’re a split household–> I’m a Seahawks fan and he’s a Vikings fan, so the game was pretty intense to watch. Not gonna lie though, I was sorta rooting for the Vikes because they have been having a pretty great season. Bummer ending…but my team’s still in it!

IMG_1568

During halftime, I decided to throw together my first ever batch of baked doughnuts! I chose to use this recipe– it was so simple to put together and they turned out GREAT. Like….super.freaking.delicious. Dare I say better than Tim Hortons? Yup.

IMG_1571

I will definitely be making this again in the VERY near future. And then all different kinds. I’m predicting a donut phase. Any flavor suggestions? Recipes to share? Send them my way, please!

IMG_1572

IMG_1573

IMG_1574

IMG_1579

IMG_1583

After these were done, I exercised extreme self-control by heading downstairs to workout BEFORE enjoying one…or two…of them.

We had Mucho Burrito for dinner (I’d much rather make food, but we were both STARVING and didn’t want to wait for meat to thaw. And we didn’t really want to cook either). Wes had dinner, his bath, then continued his weekend adventure of attempting to get on his knees to crawl but mostly managing to only roll all over the place.

The dogs got a walk before bed, but we sort of jogged it since I wasn’t much in the mood to be outside. Poll: Is anyone else guilty of keeping their PJs on under warm layers? I do it almost every time I walk the dogs.

Time to hit the sheets, I’m pooped!

How was your weekend?

From the Week

Well, I can’t say that I have much to share from the past few days. Wes has been teething like crazy and with that has come some yucky moods, lots of drooling and SNOTS-R-US. I feel bad for the kiddo, the tooth is taking it’s sweet time and he absolutely hates having his nose cleaned or wiped.

Monday: This was Wes’s worst day. He was really stuffed up and just a bit lethargic. I put him in his feel better jammies and they seemed to do the trick….at least for the afternoon. We had lots of cuddles and play time and he still managed to get in his two regular naps.

IMG_1426

IMG_1422

IMG_1435

IMG_1430

IMG_1433

Dinner was quick and easy: One Pan Honey Garlic Chicken and Veggies

IMG_1436

Wes went down at 7pm, so I took the dogs for a walk. When I came back, he was up again and Tyler and I took turns soothing a sleeping/screaming/hoarse baby until he went down for good again at 10:45. I felt SO bad for the little guy- he would fall asleep in our arms, but instantly scream murder as soon as we put him down. I guess he just needed some extra cuddles!

Tuesday: Wes woke up a bit better, so I was able to run a couple of errands with him in the early afternoon. I deemed it another ‘sick’ day and he got a lot more cuddles- this time from the pups too.

IMG_1439

FullSizeRender_1

FullSizeRender

And apparently it tired them all out..

IMG_1459

We had chicken quesadillas for dinner. Correction: I had guacamole for dinner- with a side of quesadilla. YUM.

IMG_1460

I was on some weird sugar buzz (didn’t know a handful of Skittles could produce such craziness!) and poor Layla fell victim..

IMG_1465

Our walk was cut a bit shorter than intended after we encountered (and by encountered, I mean we walked RIGHT INTO) a coyote. The dogs wanted to play and I started screaming and running. We must’ve been a sight for a neighbors.

Wednesday: Another stay-in-the-house-all-day day. Crap weather means any trip outside of the house is most likely to a store which means money will probably be spent. And that cannot happen, my friends. I need to save money!!! So, to kill time we had fun in the tub.

IMG_1476

IMG_1486

IMG_1493

IMG_1499

Then I decided…meh the heck with the cold weather, let’s go to the library! I bundled up the Mr. in his new snow suit and we walked over to the library (which is only a block away).

IMG_1503

Apparently the afternoon tuckered him out and he slept for a couple of hours. While he slept, I got dinner ready- we had taco macaroni casserole (I subbed greek yogurt for the cream cheese/sour cream and didn’t tell Tyler. He didn’t notice!). I could really see the white of his tooth when he woke up which got me all too excited so I wanted to commemorate with some pictures.

IMG_1871

IMG_1873

IMG_1875

IMG_1877

IMG_1876

IMG_1878

IMG_1879

IMG_1883

IMG_1519

But..the dang tooth still hasn’t made it’s grand appearance.

I ate the last piece of cheesecake that Tyler made, so I needed to replenish my dessert stash. STAT. Double chocolate chip cookies it was. I used this recipe, I used semi-sweet chips instead of white chocolate.

IMG_1520

I started watching Making A Murderer before bed and just as I thought- had the wierdest/scariest/worst dreams.

Thursday: I did my workout upstairs while Wes was still awake. It felt good to get it done earlier in the day than usual and Wes was syncing my jumping with his in the jumperoo. I’d like to think I burned more calories from laughing throughout my entire workout!

IMG_1523

Obviously the grump face is from the pic being taken PRE-workout. 

After lunch, I went to a prospective day home for Wes and I absolutely LOVED the woman- everything is exactly what I was looking for! It’s a great environment, I’m just nervous that it’s a bit pricier than what I can really pay. BUT- I would rather pay her rate than something less and have it be a crappy place, YA KNOW?! Kid comes first.

I’m still super jazzed about our meeting today, and I can only hope the stars align and she can take Wes starting April (Don’t get me wrong, I would MUCH rather stay home myself with Wes, but I would consider this woman to be a close second!)

PS: The outing required I humanize myself. Fashion sweats for the win!

IMG_1527

Tyler had to pick up some tools from a co-worker’s house on the other side of the city, so I had a makeshift dinner of veggies, quinoa and eggs.

IMG_1532

I watched more Making a Murderer and called it a night.

How was your week?! Best meal you ate?!

TGIF and have a great weekend!