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 :)