5 on Friday

1.  Asa had his check up on Wednesday.  We tried a new pediatrician here in town (we went to one when we *first* moved here and Asa had croup.  He was nice but just not the right fit for me).... and the verdict is GOOD!  I think she's as close as we'll find to Dr. Kelly up here in Ohio without actually visiting every pediatrician in town. :)  She had a great bedside manner with Asa, completing her exam with him in my lap the whole time (check!), she did not make me feel rushed at all or stupid (check!), she was receptive to how we've handled vaccines (check!), and she was super complimentary about Asa (check check! ;) ).

2.  Speaking of which, Asa is doing GREAT!  He is up to 22 lbs. 2 oz. (he has gained exactly 10 lbs. since we found out about his tongue tie the end of January/beginning February!  So 10 lbs. in 8 months vs. gaining 5 lbs. his first 7 months!  Improvement?  I think yes!  He's also gained just shy of 4 lbs. (3 lbs. 14 oz.) in the last 3 months!  I love the math!  Praise the Lord!).  His height has taken longer to get on the upswing with his increased intake, but it's finally catching up as well (just short of 30").  He is more the size of your average 12 month old, but ever since he fell off the curves his size has been about 3 months "behind" his age.  He is chipping away at that difference though and slowly closing the gap.  We are SOOOO thankful!  The doctor commented on how talkative he is and said his vocabulary is already what she'd see in an 18 month old, and she noted how developed his fine motor skills are.  That was fun because every doctor has commented on that from the very beginning. :)  They gave me an infant gown to put on him while we waited.  Asa looked at me like I was crazy when I was putting it on him, and he kept tripping on it as he tried to walk around the exam room.  I couldn't help but take a picture!

3.  We also had a big morning in Wednesday (the doctor appointment was in the afternoon).  We went to our first Bible study here in Ohio!  The women's study at the church we've been attending started last week when we were visiting family out of town, so this week was our first chance to go.  We are studying Cynthia Heald's Becoming a Woman of Simplicity.  Asa was in the nursery with 3 other "under 2s."  He did GREAT!  He cried when I left (to be expected), but he was already calming when I left the nursery corridor AND he played happily the whole 2 hours!!  During church he's only in the nursery for 1 hour max (we keep him in with us for worship until the sermon begins), so this Bible study nursery was a huge step (and praise!).  I love the head nursery lady at the church.  She already knows us by name and could not be sweeter to Asa.  She even told me on Sunday that she missed him not coming last Wednesday!  The first hour of Bible study is a whole group "teaching" time, and the second hour is broken down into small, consistent (yea for getting to know people!) discussion groups.  My group had 3 other ladies in addition to the leader.  I'm definitely the youngest person in the study, and most of the ladies are old enough to be grandmothers, but that's okay!  I'm just so thankful to be there and have the opportunity to learn and make friends!

3.  I have been on a roll with dinners this week.  On Monday I made the teriyaki burgers, Tuesday was the oriental chicken salad, Wednesday was a yummy pot roast with loads left over for another dinner in the freezer, Thursday was not mind-blowing but ham and veggies is turning into an extra freezer dinner of scalloped potatoes and ham from the leftovers--yum!, tonight was homemade pepperoni and artichoke heart pizza, tomorrow is peachy pork chops, and Sunday is chicken tortilla soup.  I am racking up lots of meals for the freezer which I love. I'm hoping to always have a week's worth of dinners in the freezer this winter in case a snow storm keeps me homebound when I'm low on groceries.

4.  Matt's new video game (Halo Reach) was released this week.  He's excited to say the least. ;)

5.  I broke out my serger today!  I wanted to make some little cloth bags for storing some of Asa's toys when he's not playing with them (namely some awesome alphabet blocks Holli & Todd gave us and Asa's toy cars), and I figured the serger would make strong reinforced seams that would withstand the tugging of an active toddler. :)  Thankfully, my grandmother left the serger completely threaded for me, so all I had to do was plug it in, turn it on, and refresh myself on a couple levers and buttons.  The I was off and running (thanks for the lesson, Grandma!).  I have a dedicated craft space in our room now (I used to sew in the dining room in FL which was easy enough to keep Asa out of when needed.  Now we have a medium-sized great room Asa is in all day long... not conducive to sewing with all the needles and scissors and such spread out, much less that my sewing mess isn't great for the dinner table ambiance ;)).  Our bedrooms is huge and I have taken over the far side with Matt's blessing and encouragement. I have a bookshelf of sewing books, 2 sets of cubbies--one for sewing materials and one for misc. craft items, a desk for sewing, and a table for cutting, the serger, whatever else have you.  I am LOVING it. :)

So this is not the crafting center in our room, but it IS our new bed frame, as promised :)

New Recipes!

I have 2 new recipes to share.  One is a copycat recipe of a delicious salad at Applebee's.  Next time you're there, try the oriental chicken salad.... or just make it at home!  YUM!


Oriental Dressing
3 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil

Salad
chicken (fried, oven "fried," whatever suits your taste)
3 cups chopped romaine lettuce
1 package cole slaw
1 tablespoon sliced almonds
1/3 cup chow mein noodles

Directions
Blend together all ingredients for dressing in a small bowl with an electric mixer.
Put dressing in refrigerator to chill while you prepare the salad.
 Prepare salad by tossing the chopped romaine with the cole slaw.
Sprinkle almonds over the salad, then the chow mein noodles.
Cut the chicken into small bite-size chunks.
Place the chicken onto the salad forming a pile in the middle.
Serve with salad dressing drizzled over it or on the side.


Secondly is a recipe from the Southern Living at Home Easy Weeknight Favorites cookbook.  We just tried it for the first time last night, and it was delicious!  These teriyaki burgers were soooo good.  The flavor is also extremely close to the filling for lettuce wraps (another recipe I hope to try soon).  You won't be sorry you tried them! :)

Hamburgers Teriyaki
1 1/2 pounds of ground beef
3 Tbsp teriyaki or soy sauce ( I had soy on hand)
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
hamburger buns
Lettuce leaves (we had some tasty crisp romaine)

5 on Friday

1.  I made my phone calls!  I'm not a huge fan of phone calls, in general.  I'd been putting off a phone call.  I always worry I'll be bothering the other person or it won't be a good time to talk or I won't make myself clear over the phone.  Anyway, I made my calls so I have one, hopefully final, call in to Asa's Florida pediatrician about all his B12 stuff, and I made a reservation for Sammy for a possible upcoming trip home. :)

2.  Teething is hitting another peak.  This time a molar is working its way up, too!  I didn't think we'd be facing the infamous first year molars yet as Asa only has 6 teeth. :)  And yet, there it is, bottom left, trying ever-so-hard to break through and robbing us of restful sleep and non-clingy days. ;)  Only 3 more to go (for now)!! hehe  Teething sure is a lot of work for something you do NOT remember when you grow up!

3.  Asa loves saying, "Hi!" to any and everything he come across.  It's precious :)

4.  I am trying another pizza dough recipe today, and we're having alfredo chicken pizza with roaster red peppers.  YUM (I hope)!! :)

5.  I am almost ready to put Asa's scripture lamb together.  Stay tuned for pics! :)  I am really excited about how it's turning out so far, especially the fuzzy lamby ears. :)

Five on Friday

1.  Yesterday I tried a recipe for homemade wheat bread.  I used half the dough for a loaf of delicious bread Thursday night and half the dough for homemade pizza Friday night.  Both were AMAZING.  There is more bread and pizza dough in our future. :)

2.  Asa took 2 "falling" steps on Thursday night!  The first step was not falling, but the 2nd step was.  He did it twice, walking between Matt & me.  He is also getting quite proficient at walking next to you just holding your index finger.  It won't be long now!

3.  Tooth #6 has arrived!  It popped through this week.  It is on the top to the right of center (when you are looking at him).  I was actually expecting the top, left of center to be next, and I'm sure it won't be far behind!

4.  Asa is all about clapping these days.  I have been listening to a Paul Baloche cd when we've been playing in the living room.  It's a live cd, so you can hear the audience clapping after each song.  Whenever Asa hears the audience clapping, he stops whatever he's playing, grins, and claps.  It's often a very polite-looking golf clap. :) hehe

5.  I made a Bama themed wallet for a friend who is headed out for her first year of college soon.  It was a fun gift to make, I loved the pattern instructions, it was quick to complete, and I can't wait to make more!  Here it is-- I hope she likes it!

Fresh From Florida Kids

Awhile before we moved, I saw a blog post online about the new Fresh from Florida Kids program.  If you were a Florida resident with a child under 24 months old, you could sign up and receive some great "freebies" to aid in feeding your child healthy, fresh foods.  Sign up I did!  I make all of Asa's food anyway--the only store bought baby food he gets is cereal... and I could make that myself, too!  But not even one jar of baby food has passed through our doors (or his lips).  I was excited to see what the program would send.

Unfortunately, the kit did not arrive before we moved.  I figured it would get forwarded, but I wasn't exactly sure what would happen.  The post office did forward the package, but it arrived in Ohio postage due since it was a parcel and not just a letter.  I made it to the main post office (the one closest to us!) this afternoon, and I'm so glad I went to pay the postage and pick it up!  I guess I didn't read the site very thoroughly, because I wasn't sure what was included in the kit and if it would really be worth the postage I paid.  Was it ever!

We received a bib, apron, plastic bowl with lid, toddler fork and spoon, tupperware with a keep-cool freezable lid (!!!), recipe book of ideas for fresh meals (yea!), a Munchkin brand food grinder (!!!), a mini chop-chop cutting board (!!!), and 2 reusable shopping bags (one just like my favorite Publix ones even!!!).

Here's the loot!

Opening the box was definitely a fun surprise!  I can't wait to add these new items to my baby food making stash. :)

Ten on Tuesday

1. God has been so gracious and merciful as we have sorted out Asa's growth. 2 weeks ago his tongue tie was corrected and during that week his weight gain returned to "normal" for a baby his age (about 2 oz.). This past week he really kicked the solids up into high gear and blew us all away! He gained TEN ounces in one week!!! Matt, our pediatrician, and I are ECSTATIC! Not only is he gaining how much he "should," but he is also gaining some "catch up" weight making up for lost time. We are thrilled and FILLED with praises!!

after a bath tonight... do you see his tummy sticking out?!?

2. Asa is starting to play around with pushing and pulling up to a stand. He often plays sitting up on his knees when he's at his little lego table or crawling on Daddy or Mommy. Once he sat next to the couch and looked up with a wondering look on his face like he was trying to figure out how to see what was on the seat cushion. And today he was sitting next to the coffee table, reached up with the biggest grin, and got up to his knees. He tried to get a foot under him to stand but couldn't quite figure it out. He pushes up on everything, but that was his first time to try to pull up. UH OH! :)

3. I had the pleasure of hosting a baby shower for our dear friend Lauren on Sunday. We met her and her family through church and our small group. She has a 2 year old daughter who is oh-so-sweet to Asa (and calls all her baby dolls "Baby Asa"), and a new little one is due in a month! Lauren and her husband are waiting until the baby is born to find out if it is a boy or a girl, so we did a pretty yellow and green color scheme. And since they have all the baby basics already, we did a gift card shower. People who wanted to bring a gift brought gift cards for things like Target, Publix, and even Dunkin Donuts. :) It was so fun! We packed close to 20 people into our living room. And all the food people contributed looked scrumptious. The 2 other hostesses came up with a baby/Lauren version of Balderdash (you try to get your team to guess a word, like "baby," but there is a list of words you cannot say in your clues, like "infant, newborn, mom, dad, pregnant). There were lots of good laughs, and I think Lauren had a good time. :) I loved getting to use our home to be hospitable--that was a huge reason for us in making the leap to buying a house so soon after we married.

the night before, setting serving pieces out

sweet Lauren with her mom and sister

decorations

flower arrangements I put together from Michael's

baby themed sweet tarts

I couldn't resist making some burp cloths
("handle with care" hedgehog and "lucky duck" duck)

4. Matt was an ALL STAR during the shower. I had to feed Asa before it started, so he finished putting together little finger sandwiches for me (Sister Schubert rolls with provolone and prosciutto). Then he was planning on going out to play with Asa but got blocked in the garage. Instead they played in the backyard and took a walk a couple blocks down the street to look at the plants at a nearby nursery. And then when everyone was heading out and we hostesses were cleaning up, Matt fed Asa his dinner (peaches + pears). I am so thankful for him and his servant heart. All I had to do was ask (for whatever I needed) and it was done.

the sandwiches Matt helped with

5. Our temperatures here made it to the 70s today! I guess spring really IS going to come!

6. We will be repeating Asa's basic blood work next Monday and then seeing our doctor again on Tuesday. She should have the results of his blood work back by then (fast turn around!) and we'll weigh him again. If everything checks out okay, we won't have to go back until his 9 month well visit!

7. Asa is teething! Those two top front teeth are giving him a little bit of a hard time. I will be relieved for him when they finally break through and he gets some relief.

8. Asa's G-Ma is coming to visit next week! Woo hoo!!! We can't wait to see her. :)

9. We made a head board for our guest room bed. I covered canvases (super on sale!) with fabric that coordinates with the bed quilt. Then Matt hung them from me as if they are a head board. I love how it make it really look like a bed instead of a mattress and some pillows. And I love the bright, happy colors.

before

after

after

10. Asa is EIGHT months old today!!!

10 on Tuesday (a day late)

I have not been very good about updating our blog. I think my days are just so filled with Asa, and in general I talk to my family a lot, so they are up to date on our happenings. But I would love for this to be a fun record of Asa's growth and our family's events, so I want to update more frequently (I love the blog --> book companies like blurb and would love to have this turned into a book one day). So, I'm going to try posting 10 tidbits on Tuesdays, even if I don't post anything else that week. I'm a day late this week, but hopefully not a dollar short. ;)

1. Love at first bite
Asa LOVES peaches! We finally found a food our boy loves and will hold his mouth open for. He even makes little sounds sometimes if you don't have the next bite ready and waiting for him when he finishes the previous bite. :) We are SOO very thankful to have found a food Asa likes. It led us to try pears as well, and he's a big fan of pears too! As an added bonus, he is now eating baby oatmeal again--when I make it with peach and/or pear juice. Our ped is a big fan of that "mommy creativity." On one hand, I know that juice is packed with sugars and it gave me pause initially. But this is Asa we're talking about! He can use a little extra. ;)

2. On the move
Asa is starting to "up" crawl. He's been doing all sorts of crawling maneuvers since the end of November. But now he's starting to throw a few real crawling "steps" in as he motors about the house. When he wants to go fast, he drops down to his tummy and army crawls. But he's really starting to coordinate the up crawl. And he is SO proud of himself when he gets to what he wants.

3. Praise upon praise
We think we have figured out the source of Asa's funky blood work! We met with a lactation consultant who checked his mouth before she did anything else... and she discovered he was "tongue tied." The frenulum ( tissue below your tongue) extended too far forward underneath his tongue, preventing him from nursing very efficiently. They were able to correct the tissue length right in the office during our appointment, and the following week Asa's weight gain was NORMAL for a baby his age! PRAISE THE LORD! I am doing a lot of pumping and taking some herbs to get my supply up to what Asa will be able to take in now (apparently he got worn out and would stop too soon before the tongue issue was corrected). He is doing so well! The LC also said that from the outside, he looked like he was nursing perfectly so there was no way I could have known anything was wrong since I didn't have any pain (I guess nursing pain is common when there are tongue issues). We are hopeful everything is back on track and will repeat Asa's blood work a month after it was first done, which is in two weeks.

4. Handyman
Asa's hand control is amazing. Seriously. He is already working very hard on developing the pincer (thumb and forefinger) grasp. He can pick up tiny pieces of "scrot" (dirt, etc.) from the floor--Mommy has to vacuum a LOT these days! He picks up small pieces of food. He grabs and moves his toys with SUCH intention. We often play a game of putting his little people on TOP of their school bus. He carefully brings his hand near and plucks them right off the top. It took about 3 days for him to refine his approach and do it successfully. He is definitely on the verge of getting into EVERYTHING.

5. Brrrrrr
It is cold in Florida. The weather reports said it was on its way out, and then they said it's here to stay for awhile. Brrrrrr. But at least we're all getting to enjoy our wintery clothes more than usual this year. :) Normally they are out for all of 2 weeks! Ha!

6. Will you be my Valentine?
Matt and I had fun doing little things to celebrate Valentine's Day (and going out to dinner the week before when G-Ma was in town). I got him 2 necessities: a new pair of jeans and a new dress shirt; and a silly something: this crazy stuffed figure he always picks up and laughs at when he sees it at Target. He got me some really cute Hoops & Yoyo notepads and a notepad holder, some dairy free candy :), and a card entitling me to a head massage, foot rub, dinner cooked by Matt, diaper changed by Matt, etc. whenever I want. :) It was really sweet. He also gave me a card from Asa. Inside he had printed of several funny pictures of Asa and made "thank you" cards from each of them. For instance, one said, "Thank you for changing my diaper" and inside was a picture of Asa pouting on the changing table. Then the next one said, "Even when they are bad ones," and the picture inside was Asa crying on the changing table. It was very sweet and we both cracked up. :) I made Asa a special Valentine's shirt for the weekend, and he had a "My First Valentine's" outfit G-Pa and G-Ma sent him to wear on Sunday.

7. Sleep
Starting solids has not affected Asa's sleep, at least not in a positive way! Before solids, he consistently slept a 4 hour stretch the first part of the evening. Now it's a 3-3.5 hour stretch. He is NOT sleeping any longer than he was before he started "real" food. It's mostly every 3 hours all night long. So, throw that "conventional wisdom" out the window, at least for my baby! He is also in the process of dropping his 3rd nap. That is hard when he's super clingy (we're in the midst of separation anxiety right now), but it's fun when he's feeling playful. :) It also resulted in a TWO hour long 2nd nap yesterday, and it would be AMAZING if that became the new norm!

8. Babies
I am hosting, along with some friends, a baby shower on Sunday for another friend, L. I am so excited! The only snag is that Asa is currently refusing a bottle. If we can't get him to take one before Sunday, Matt will have to swing by with Asa when it's time for him to eat and I'll have to sneak away for a few moments to feed him and then send the men back out on their merry way. :) Thankfully there are a few of us sharing hostess duties (but it's at our house), so they can keep things running if indeed Asa keeps refusing to take a bottle. The refusal is also crazy right now because I'm pumping a ton, but I have no way to get the pumped milk into him (he doesn't like baby oatmeal made with milk). We're not giving up though! :)

9. Feeling crafty
I made Asa a new floor blanket yesterday. I still need to hand tie it, but then I will post a picture. It's super cute. Matt thought I had bought it when he saw it. :) I'm also ALMOST ready to make my "quilt sandwich" for my first quilt! I just need to piece a strip into the backing and I'll be ready to get started. I am so excited to see how it turns out!

10. A place for everything....
...and everything in its place. We bought a great storage unit for the living room (behind the couch) for my sewing things. I LOVE it! It's one of those cubby shelves you can put canvas drawers in. I have a drawer for patterns, one for notions, two for scraps, one for embroidery items, one for trims, etc. And my sewing machine sits so nicely on top. It's GREAT and everything stays neatly out of sight when I'm not using it. Thank you, Matt, for approving it!! :)

That about covers it. I am hoping to upload some video of Asa soon. But if time gets away from me, you can expect 10 more tidbits next Tuesday. :)

4 weeks old

Today Asa is 4 weeks old!!

I took his weekly picture this morning with Snoodle dog. :)

We also had a fun visit from our friends Holli and Marin.

I even made dinner tonight! I made a chicken pot pie and poked a number "4" into the top crust to celebrate this week's milestone. :) I felt all homemaker-y when I put the pie together during one of Asa's naps and stuck it in the fridge until it was time to cook it.

• You did a great job eating today. I felt confident your sweet belly was full!
• You took your best nap in days! You were out cold and I even had to wake you up to eat again.
• Your tummy continues to bother you around 5 in the morning. You are like clock work! I was up with you a bit after I fed you then. I'm glad your tummy mostly settled down the rest of the day.
• You also took a good nap while I held you when Holli and Marin were visiting.
• We received the link to your newborn photo shoot proofs! The photographer will actually add a few more in the next day or so, but she said she didn't want to delay the proofs any longer. We are LOVING looking through them and can't wait to see them in person--they're even better than the low-res images online (hard to believe they could be any cuter though ;)).
  

Take THAT Target!

I noticed in Publix's weekly add that they had THE Huggies wipes on sale (the ones I got the EVIL eye for trying to buy with a coupon Target) for $5.99... that's the same price Target had them for. I was headed to Publix anyway to pick up a few things, so I decided to be brave and try again. Lo and behold, just as I thought it shoud, the coupon WORKED! I got two triple packs of wipe refills for 99 cents each after the coupon. And I have TWO more coupons to go back and do it again tomrorow. I felt SO vindicated! :) :)

The alternate title I considered for this post (both of these titles formulated as I wove my way up and down the aisles) was "Oh sweet morsels of cocoa, how you tempt me." We've caught parts of Willy Wonky (the original) on tv flipping through channels the last 2 weekends. When I happened to walk down the candy aisle and see the giant bars of Hershey's chocolate, the movie immediately came to mind. And then I remembered how much I miss chocolate! And THEN I passed the cookies and saw the chocolate and marshmallow pinwheel cookies... oh my goodness. Last year on spring break was the first time I had eaten them in years, and it was like finding a long-lost friend. My mouth started watering. But I resisted.

My reward for no chocolate and no nuts while pregnant is that once, Lord willing, I have a stash of milk in the freezer, Matt's going to take me to PF Chang's for the Great Wall of Chocolate dessert(or maybe even a Publix chocolate ganache supreme cake) and somewhere else for some delicious peanut/peanut buttery something (yet to be determined). It's going to be glorious. :)

In the meantime, I'm off for some delicious-fresh-from Florida-strawberry shortcake. :) Mmmm, if only the strawberries were dipped in chocolate... ;)

Yum! (just not for me)

Last night we had some friends over for dessert and to play games (Ticket to Ride and Settlers + Seafarers). I made the chocolate chip cookie dough brownie recipe that has been popping up on blogs lately. It received rave reviews, looks and smells delicious, and it could not be easier to make!

Ingredients:
1 box Betty Crocker Original Supreme brownie mix
1/3 c. veg. oil
1/4 cup water
2 eggs
1 pouch Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookies mix
1/2 c. butter/margarine softened
1 egg
1 container Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy chocolate frosting

Directions:

	Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease bottom only of 13x9-inch pan. Make brownie mix as directed on box, using oil, water and 2 eggs. Spread in pan.
	Make cookie mix as directed on pouch, using butter and 1 egg. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls evenly onto brownie batter; press down lightly.
	Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out almost clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Frost with frosting. For brownies, cut into 8 rows by 6 rows.

**Tip I tried yesterday: cutting brownies and other dense treats goes MUCH more smoothly with a *plastic* utensil! It made SUCH a difference--no delicious brownie stuck to the knife and creating a mess!**

I can't wait to try it some day! ;) I have not knowingly had any caffeine (I ate one tootsie roll before I realized they have chocolate in them) since we found out about Asa. Caffeine is one of my migraine triggers, and I didn't like the thought of taking migraine meds while pregnant. The two migraines I have had while pregnant (not related to caffeine) were enough to convince me to stay FAR away from any of my migraine triggers--yikes! So I look forward to trying these some day, but for now, you can finish the pan for me. ;)

I also have some pictures of Asa-related things. :)

1. Matt received this adorable tackle box! It has a little bait bucket, fish, pole with bobber, and a worm inside. Asa's ready to start pretending to fish with Daddy! :)

2. We went to a local consignment store on Saturday and found 3 small things, including a beaver to begin our woodland creature transformation in Asa's room!

3. Overalls that have a truck on them (Matt liked them instantly)

4. A sweet puppy outfit.

Lastly, I have a picture of myself for you. I admit, I'm self-conscious to post it. I told myself I wouldn't be that way pregnant, but yet I find myself thinking the stereotypical "I just look like I ate too many cookies!" comments to myself. I feel like it's not nearly as cute as pregnancy pictures from ladies who start out thin, but thankfully God gives babies to mommies of all shapes and sizes! He's just starting to pop out above my waist.

Having shown you this picture, I must tell you my pre-pregnancy skirt was a tad tight and accentuated the little bump. Also, if you saw me *after* church in my jeans and favorite sweatshirt, you would have been NONE the wiser to little Asa. At least this is a start, though. :)