A visit to the Oak Park Conservatory

During the weekend we try to get out at least once a day, but that can be challenging during the winter. Now that Jake has mastered walking and is almost running, we've been trying to take him to places where he can get some exercise and explore. A trip to the grocery store is no longer exciting for him... unless it's free sample day at Costco...

We live close to the Oak Park Conservatory so we checked it out last weekend. I wasn't sure if Jake would enjoy it because he doesn't understand yet that you're just supposed to look & not touch the plants, but he really had a fun time! 

A parking cone warned of a crack in the walkway. Jake thought the cone was pretty cool. 

Jake was able to walk around the first room where the sidewalks are level. The back two rooms have winding sidewalks & some "hills" so we'll explore those next time when his balance is better. 

His favorite part was walking through the plastic doorway curtains that separate the climates in each room. He thought it was so funny and was going back & forth so fast that I couldn't snap a picture of him doing  it. 

I'm happy that he liked it so much and I'm sure we'll be back soon. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from this little fluff butt. 

We hope you have a great weekend! 

Make This: chopped thai salad with sesame garlic dressing

A friend shared this recipe with me on Pinterest and I tried it pretty much right away. 

My modifications: 

The baby kale is already in small leaves so I just did a rough chop on that and called it a day. I didn't bother chopping it all into strips. 

I used grated fresh ginger in place of ginger (or lemongrass) paste because I couldn't find the paste in 3 different stores. 

As the recipe suggests, I stored the dressing separate and this lasted about a week in the fridge. We even still have some dressing leftover. 

Try it! 

photo cred: pinch of yum
http://pinchofyum.com/chopped-thai-salad-sesame-garlic-dressing

Flash Forward

It's safe to say that a lot has changed since my last post...
We got a new computer and I have finally gotten around to uploading the photos from our camera and figured that this blog could use some attention.

A quick recap of the past 6 months:

At 9 months old, Jake started sleeping through the night. I remember we were at his 9 month appointment and his pediatrician asked about his night waking (which at that point was once per night) and briefly mentioned a couple methods of sleep training. She "wanted him to be sleeping through the night by 12 months". I wanted him to sleep through the night at 12 weeks old, if I'm being honest, but he didn't and wasn't and I had adapted. He has always been on the smaller end of the growth chart and I didn't want to take away that middle of the night feeding before he was ready. But, a day or so after his appointment he slept through the night. Then he did it again. And again. It was 2 full weeks before I mentioned it to anyone because I didn't want to jinx it.

Between 9-10 months, Jake started crawling. He also developed an odd little butt scoot crawl with one leg to the side. He looks like a crab when he does it and I pray that we caught it on video.
(Yes... downloading the camcorder videos is on my to-do list.)

Also at 10 months, Jake's first plane ride (to Buffalo), first time at the cabin, and first pumpkin patch visit.

Jake was a dragon for Halloween and it was really cold out.

Then this guy turned one and got a good taste of cake.

The holidays were celebrated. 

And the New Year brought chocolate chip pancakes.

chocolate face ;)

I hope to share life on here with a bit more regularity, so stay tuned :) 

learning to grasp

We started setting out puffs or little pieces of fruit on Jake's highchair tray so he can learn to grasp. 

He does a pretty good job of picking them up but he has a hard time getting them into his mouth. 

But every now and then he gets one in there!  

our yard & garden

4 months ago our yard had more dirt than grass. 

It looked similar to the way it did in this photo from last summer. Except with even more dirt patches from where Chris dug up weeds & raked the dead grass. 

from 2013

 We put down grass seed in March and watered religiously and it started to grow! 

Now our yard looks like this. 

Much better!

We planted a garden along the South side fence. 

We're growing green bell peppers, jalapeno, 2 varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, and several herbs. 

I didn't realize how much the cucumber would spread... so we might have a ton of them!

cucumber

cucumber

parsley

sage

 

the sage is huge!

sweet 100 tomatoes

8 months!

Happy 8 months, Jake!

Jake has been very busy rolling around & scooting on his tummy. He can make his way across his bedroom to get to a toy or to the rocker or basically whatever he is interested in. 

When he's not babbling or yelling, he is making a sucking noise with his mouth & lips which he finds hilarious. 

He is still a very happy baby but he's figuring out how to throw a mini tantrum when he doesn't get something that he wants (usually this has to do with food). 

I've heard that he also gets jealous at daycare when it's the other baby's turn to eat or get a bottle. 

We installed his convertible carseat- which he can use through toddlerhood- and he seems to like it much better than his infant bucket seat. It looks pretty comfy to me & it even has cupholders!

Jake still loves his bouncer, sitting on the couch and playing with his box of toys, eating & going for walks. He also really likes his quiet time in his crib just playing with a blankie & relaxing. 

He has become a very good daytime napper at home and is starting to get used to napping at daycare. 

At night, he usually only wakes once to nurse somewhere between 2-4am. He usually wakes for the day around 7am. 

He does not like when we put sunscreen on him or when we wipe him down after he makes a mess eating. He also hates getting his nails trimmed.  

Recently he has also started to protest during diaper changes. It's like changing the diaper on the tasmanian devil. Not fun. He rolls & thrashes & it's near impossible to get the diaper fastened. 

So he has started to get a firm "no" from me when he does this and I try to change that thing as fast as I can. 

going for the camera

Our next doctors appointment is at 9 months- can't wait to see how much he's grown!