Before and After: Living Room Edition

FINALLY! Our living room is now picture-worthy... and we've not even lived here for a year! That's pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Anyway... here's a glance at our living room.

Before:

Those curtains were so disgustingly dusty... they smelled.

Such a gross pale seafoam green.

After:

I love all the baby toys in here!

There are a few odds & ends left to do. But, for such a long & awkward room, it's not too bad!

Now... if we can ever get curtains hung in the kitchen, I will blog about it.



Sophia Claire: Four Months Old

Wow. Has it really been four months since this little girl blessed our lives with her presence here on earth? Our little alien has become such a human in the past four months. She has changed SO MUCH and has learned even more.

Some of her new tricks include...

Grasping toys. As you can see, she doesn't let go... not even when she's sleeping.

Cause and effect. She knows if she pulls a toy down & releases it, it will vibrate.

Growling. She sounds like a gremlin.

Shouting matches. If she is talking & someone tries to out-talk her... watch out! She can and WILL get louder and louder.

Eating solids. She is a pretty awesome eater! She loves her daily cereal.

Babbling. She talks... and talks... and talks. Loudly. Do you see a trend here? Yes, this speech-language pathologist has a very vocal daughter.

Hugs. She is starting to hold on when we hold her. It's almost like she's hugging us back. It is absolutely precious... and makes it much harder to go to work.

Kisses. Open mouth & slobbery. We can thank her friend, Chloe, for that one! Chloe is exactly a year older than Sophia & they adore each other. They swap kisses all day long. I like this trick ;-)

Painting. She is quite the artist! She has painted several pictures at school.

Baby Bjorn carrier. She is finally a fan! She loves to ride along on Daddy on our walks.

Her toes. She has found them! It's pretty cute too. I love watching her pull them to her mouth.

Laughing... like a super-villain. It's too cute for words.

Rolling over. She's pretty good at it! I have yet to see her roll from tummy to back (like a lot of babies do first), but she's definitely mastered back to tummy.

Being awesome... but, I didn't have to tell you that. ha!

She has many, many, many more tricks, but these are what I could think of off the top of my head. She has her well-baby appointment next week, I will post back then with stats! Until then... have a good week!



Chicken Fajitas

Since moving to New York, we no longer can enjoy good Mexican food. There are very few Mexican restaurants here, and the ones that are around aren't very good. So, we tend to crave Mexican dishes. Well, I came up with a concoction that is absolutely delicious. In fact, Andrew has requested it that we have it once a week. When I told him "no" because I didn't want us to get burned out on it, he requested that we have it every night. Ha! Yes, you read that right. Anyway, they are SUPER easy to make. Let me share...

Ingredients:

1 large green bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 medium onion, thinly sliced (rings are fun!)

1 can chicken breast, shredded

1/2 cup grated pepperjack cheese

1/2 cup salsa

2 tablespoons olive oil

8 dashes hot sauce

Tortilla shells

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation:

Put bell peppers and onions into pan. Drizzle with olive oil and splash with hot sauce- mix well. Saute until tender, although don't wait until they are thoroughly cooked. When they are becoming tender, add the chicken and salsa- mix well. Cook until the chicken starts to brown and the vegetables are cooked throughout.

Add mixture to a toasted tortilla shell. Top with pepperjack cheese. Serve & enjoy!

This recipe makes four servings.

From start to finish, I would say this meal took me 20 minutes to make. The most time was spent cutting vegetables. It is SO simple, and as the working mother of a new baby, I need SIMPLE!

Hello, solids!

Well, the day has arrived. We introduced solids this evening. She has been hinting for several weeks that she is ready for solids. I ignored her pleas. Finally, this weekend, she not-so-subtly let us know that she is READY! So... I sucked up my pride & decided that I wasn't going to make her wait until closer to 6 months. She definitely knows what she wants. She is pretty much a champ when it comes to eating solids!

While she napped, I got everything ready. Ironically, this adorable bib arrived in the mail today from a dear high school friend. It says, "I'm a hoot"... how appropriate.

This is the most grown-up she's looked thus far. Bittersweet!

First bite!! She loved it! We did not get the horrible reaction we were expecting. She acted like she was born to eat from a spoon... maybe that's why she hasn't fed well until now.

She's still liking the idea of this. I think her eyes are as big as the owl's.

Ok... now we get a sour face! For as much as she likes eating from the spoon, it was NOT going fast enough for her.

So, after taking a bottle, we tried again.

She devoured the entire bowl in minutes. She did SO well! This speech pathologist mommy sure is proud!

Full belly = happy baby.

Wow. How did she get this big?!



Mother's Day

Now that I'm a mom myself, I have learned a thing or two about Mother's Day.

Mother's Day is not about the card, gifts, flowers, or restaurants. Mother's Day is not about the recognition, sentiment, or production. Mother's Day is not about commercialism.

Mother's Day is about...

... her.

Seeing her eyes light up when she hears my voice... watching her smile back at me... hearing her super-villian laugh when I do something that she thinks is funny... snuggling her close when she's sad... rocking her softly to sleep each night... putting forth my best effort every single day (even when I'm "too tired")... seeking God's will for her life.

She deserves to have a mom who puts her family first... and strives to be a good wife... and works hard to be a great mom... and seeks God's will for her own life. She deserves a mom who gives everything she has to the job unconditionally. She deserves a mom who will pray for her, with her, and with her dad. She deserves a mom who will love without holding back. She deserves a mom who will teach her to find the joy in the little things... a mom who will model life lessons for her. She deserves a mom who reflects Christ.

She deserves the world.

Today, we dedicated Sophia to the Lord. We made a promise to seek God's perfect will for her life- no matter what that may be. Publicly, we promised to provide for her, teach her, and set an example for her to follow.

Today, we promised to give parenting everything we have.

To me, there is no more perfect way to celebrate Mother's Day. You see, today is about her and what I can do as a Mom to provide her with everything she deserves.

Today, I thank God for the sweet blessing of motherhood. I pray that I use every tool He has given me to be the best mom I can be.



Sophia's 1st Nursery Experience

After last week's shenanigans, we decided that this week would be Sophia's first time in the nursery at church. After signing her in (they took pictures of all of us!) and dropping her off, we had a wonderful church service. I missed having her with us, but it was also nice to just focus on the music, sermon, and worshiping God. We were anxious to pick her up afterward and to hear how she did.

They said she was an absolute "angel" and that she had them laughing so hard. Apparently, two little boys who could walk tried to push her in the swing. The two teachers said she gave them a death stare that screamed, "Do it and die!" when they came over to her. One of the teachers checked her paperwork at this point to see how old she is and was shocked to see that she is only 3.5 months old. They pretty much couldn't believe that such a little girl could have such a huge personality. They were still laughing about it when we got there to pick her up!

We can only imagine the look she gave them. We've received similar looks from her before. I can imagine it looked something like this...

We have laughed all day about her nursery experience. My question is, at what point does she become the nursery bully? I mean, this was her first day, and she already thinks she is the boss. She tends to think she's the queen of whatever situation she's in. When do we reign her in. Coming from someone who was labeled at "saucy" as an infant, I am not surprised our daughter is an absolute mess. I am pretty proud of her bold personality, and I hope it saves her from ever being stifled throughout her life.

I am positive there will be many more nursery stories in the future...



15 Weeks: Sophia's Latest Tricks

Sophia is 15 weeks old today! Could it really be true that we've had her for 15 weeks? She continues to bless our lives far more than we deserve, and we are loving every minute of parenthood.

What she's up to...

She loves to roll over from back to front. She's good at it.

She also loves to wiggle... and she ends up at the opposite end of her crib, halfway off of the rug, and many other funny situations.

She laughs like a super villian. It's hilarious.

She LOVES daycare. She has friended a 15 month-old girl (who is actually exactly a year and a day older than her). They love to swap kisses apparently.

She loves her Jumperoo, but she uses it as a swing instead.

She loves to practice sitting and standing.

She face-plants during tummy time because she is trying to crawl away. If only those arms would work properly...

She talks constantly. Her daily notes from daycare always say that she enjoys telling stories. I've also been told to watch what we do at home- because she tells EVERYTHING.

She is still sleeping in her crib. I have stopped crying myself to sleep.

She smiles ALLLLLLL the time! She is such a happy baby.

She reaches for, bats at, and shakes her own toys now.

She loves to chew on EVERYTHING. Teething?

Overall- she is so wonderful. She makes being a parent so much fun. She changes each and every day, and we are soaking up every single moment!

Roasted Vegetable Casserole

This is such an EASY & healthy recipe! A co-worker of mine brought in the most delicious looking vegetable dish yesterday, and I just had to try it out on my own.

Ingredients:

Vegetables of choice

Two cans beans of choice

Light olive oil

Salt & Pepper

Preparation:

Cut vegetables to taste

Place into a lightly sprayed baking dish

Drizzle with olive oil

Sprinkle with salt and pepper

Toss vegetables

Bake at 375 degrees until vegetables are cooked throughout

I served it over brown rice which I lightly flavored with teryaki sauce.

I tried to keep oil, salt, and sauces to a minimum to keep this dish as healthy as possible. It was delicious, and like I said, SO easy! All you have to do is chop & mix. That's my kind of dinner.