10 months old!

Baby Boy!

You are ten months old!

You are so, so much fun!

We still go on lots of walks and you enjoy them.

You have been taking amazing naps - usually at least an hour long! Hooray!

The fire alarm went off in the middle of the night during the ice storm and you slept through it for an entire hour!

You and I have been having "cradle roll" class at home. I love to do the songs with you and see you interact with the toys. You held the flower up over your head when we sang that it "grew and grew and grew!"

One of your very favorite songs is "God Made the Big Round Sun".

You turn pages in books now on your own and point at things with one finger in books.

We thought you were trying to dump out your water cup at mealtimes but then we realized that you were turning it just far enough so you could see the pictures printed on the cups and then pointing to them. Cute but messy.

You went with Mama each Tuesday to Rosa's to eat tacos and have lunch with the women from Ladies' Bible Class. They all enjoyed you and you liked them.

We had dinner with Miss Tiffany and you had fun playing with her hair, coat and purse.

You *love* the vacuum cleaner!

You began clapping this month.

You say "Dada" and you began saying "Mama" and "Nana". I don't think you know that nana has any association with a grandma or a fruit yet but you will learn.

Your very first word was "hi" but that was several months ago now.

When we let you down outside you try to eat the dirt, leaves, grass . . . whatever's handy.

You like to spend time with your mama and daddy. It is fun to be able to do things as a family.

You are "on the go" and taking it outside. Sometimes we sit out on the balcony together watching for Daddy to come home.

You had to have blood drawn for your allergy test and I hated it. But you did *such* a great job! I was so proud of you! You didn't even cry when you got stuck. You only began to fuss at having to be confined while the blood was being drawn because you wanted to be down exploring.

You are such an explorer that I now put you in the doorway jumper so you can watch me while I'm getting ready without getting into things like the trash can or the toilet brush holder and in the jumperoo so you can watch me iron but you are safe and sound away from the cord.

This month we took a big family trip to Central Market to get foods for all of us to eat since it seems you are allergic to milk, egg whites and wheat. We enjoyed a few samples too.

You crawl over *super* fast whenever the dish washer gets opened! You love to stand at the dishwasher and explore. This keeps us on our toes!

You also turned off a light switch all by yourself this month while I was holding you. You used one finger. You are getting so good at that. The one thing you're really a hold out on is the mini blinds. You do not want to touch them with one finger, you want to attack them!

You really experienced your first snow. Your very first snow was when we were in Colorado at Thanksgiving but Mama tried to take you out for a picture and it was cold and blowing and you wanted none of it.

This month it snowed & iced in Dallas and we got to have Daddy home with us for four days off of work because of the crazy winter weather. Mama decided this time to bring the snow in to you.

hmmm . . .

you explored

and of course tasted!

You learned to make the weebles go down the slide on the treehouse all by yourself! So exciting!!

You can now pull up wherever you please! Again, this keeps us on our toes.

We cheered for the Steelers.

You ate your first whole apple. Mama took a couple of bites out of it to give you some starting places and handles but you took it from there. You worked and worked on that apple and ate it down to the core!

Daddy had to take it away while you were a little distracted or I think you would have eaten the core, seeds and stem too!

You also started feeding yourself with a fork and with a spoon this month. We're very proud of you.

You still love to eat beans and rice and peas.

You tried some frozen mango today and loved it.

Sweet potato and meats, especially ham are other favorites.

Sometimes you still wake up for a feeding in the 4 or 5 o'clock hour or sometimes you will stretch it into the 6 o'clock hour! You almost always go back to sleep until sometime in the 7 or 8 o'clock hour and *every* once in a while until the 9 o'clock hour.

We went for a play date at Mrs. Jenny's house and it was such a warm day that you got to sit outside in the backyard in their high chair in just your diaper and eat your banana before we got dressed in some summery clothes that they let us borrow to go to the park and take a walk.

You and I went to visit Sweetie and our extended family.

We flew all by ourselves and you were a champ! You slept on the flight down nestled up against Mama and you didn't sleep a wink on the way home. You were pleasant though and we kept from disturbing our seat mates *too* much.

You are very attached to your mama. The other day when you stayed home with Daddy while I went to Mrs. Jacquie's, Daddy told me that when you woke up from your nap, you crawled over to the back door and sat fussing at the door. You wanted me to come home.

We went to storytime at the library with Mrs. Betsy with our friends, one of the ladies Mama used to teach with and her daughter and then for a play date at their house. We also went to night time story time with our other friends from church!

You learned to open drawers!

It's a skill you're proud of!

You and I played "chase" this month for the very first time, baby boy! You were crawling around on the floor and you kept acting like you wanted me to chase you. When I crawled after you, you squealed with delight!

You weigh a little over 18 pounds.

You began getting your third tooth right here at the end of the month.

You've started sitting cross-legged which is really fun.

You drag things with you when you crawl now. It is fun and funny.

Mr. John and Mrs. Sarah baby-sat you so Mama & Daddy could go on a Valentine's date to Starbucks and Half Price Books.

We enjoyed a Valentine's date out as a family

and you and I hosted a little Valentine's party at our house where you were the only boy.

You treated all the girls nicely and shared your toys and snacks with them.

You got several sweet Valentines from your friends and family and you got to wear the red and gray striped shirt that Mrs. Erin bought for you *last* Valentine's day when you were still in Mama's tummy!

It has been a great month. You seem to get more and more fun by the day, sweet boy!

We love you very, very much!

Mama & Daddy

paper vs. fabric

You guys are truly the greatest, greatest, greatest!

Thank you for all of the great comments, encouragement and advice on sewing yesterday.

Keep 'em coming!

Your comments, e-mailing with my grandma and a phone call with my mom have me set to try to adjust the tension. I had e-mailed Erica back after her comment asking her how to adjust the tension but after talking it through with my mom on the phone I do believe I at least have a starting point having identified that other knob on the front of the machine. (I was so proud of myself for figuring out the first knob could take me from straight stitch to zig zag stitch!)

I did not actually sew anything on Wednesday. Just blogged about sewing.

This little bag was one of my projects on Tuesday though.

We will be taking dinner to some friends soon who recently had the sweetest new baby.

When they brought dinner to us when David was born there were cute baby napkins and baby blue tulle wrapped utensils in addition to the amazing quiche. I decided that a cute bag to bring the food in would be a fun project for my sewing experiments. Plus I know my friend will not be judgmental of my less than expert attempts.

I used a straight stitch on the lavender card stock to sew it onto the purple origami paper. As you can see I have a section where I have holes and no thread . . . um? . . . and a piece where I got carried away and didn't think ahead about the width I wanted my border to be. Oh well.

I think the top zigzag sewing the origami paper onto the red card stock (to cover up the store logo on the paper grocery sack) turned out cute but the bottom one (which also turned out blurry in the photo unfortunately) leaves some to be desired.

I then just glued the red card stock to the grocery sack because at least I did think ahead on that one and realized that it would sew the grocery bag shut.

**************************

You may be wondering why I am sewing on paper rather than on fabric.

You see, paper and I are friends. We have been friends for a long time. I am used to paper. I know how it works. And it doesn't slip slide around and you don't have to pin it.

I must admit I dread pinning. Do you pin when you sew? I'm sure it is the best thing to do but it just seems so time consuming and I'd rather just try to hold the fabrics together to be honest but I'm sure that would probably cause a big giant mess-up.

So tell me, do you pin?

Kelly

p.s. is sewing on paper going to dull my friend's machine's needle all up? Can I buy a new needle for her? How does that work?

sewing

Thank you for your sweet and encouraging comments and e-mails about sewing.

Once I had the heart garland under my belt I was game to try more.

Jacquie suggested I borrow her sewing machine for a week or so and see what I could do. Isn't that so nice? I was afraid I might mortally damage it or something but she said she didn't see what I could do to it to hurt it really so I said okay.

I remember reading a suggestion that if you want to sew you should set your sewing machine up where you can leave it out and then sew everyday.

The photo above is my little temporary sewing station where I can sew even when my little guy is sleeping. I made the heart garlands on Sunday, didn't manage to sew anything on Monday being busy with some Valentine's celebrating and all (more on that later, looks like that post that I hinted at yesterday with the rice chex in the hearts isn't going to happen quite yet), sewed several things yesterday and need to figure out something to do today.

Here is the first thing I made yesterday.

I know it is far from perfect but I am just happily experimenting right now. I loved Ashley Campbell's post about crafting and sewing more like McGyver than Martha Stewart. I feel like that is me exactly. I like things to look nice but at the same time I don't have a huge amount of patience for figuring out "the right way" to do something. I just like to strike out and see what comes out of my effort.

All that said, I really would like to figure out this sewing thing a bit better. I don't envision myself taking a class right now or sitting down to read a book but perhaps a painless way for me to learn a thing or two would be to get some advice from you.

See all of those knots and things above? Is that machine error or my error? What can I do to help that not happen?

So, I'd like to know, do you sew?

Kelly

heart garland

I was clicking through Meg's Happy Things list

and clicked on "marshmallow milk?!" (um, yum!)

and then wanted to see what they were up to now and found this!

hearts and circles sewn together . . .

they made me happy. i wanted to make some.

I do not own a sewing machine nor do I profess to know how to sew. But there is no time like the present to just go ahead and tackle something, right?

I called up my friend Jacquie and asked her if I could come over and use her sewing machine and if she would show me what to do. She was so, so gracious and spent a couple hours of her Sunday afternoon with me helping me as I tried to get that sewing machine needle to pick up the thread from the bobbin over and over and over again.

Finally I sewed! I did it. I sewed all of these paper circles I'd punched together and the hearts that I traced and cut. It was fun. I was so happy and proud to bring them home and hang them up.

A shot of the cuteness mixed with chaos today . . .

and a little sneak peak at what will hopefully be tomorrow's post.

Have a great night.

Kelly

family date day

Beginning with our first married Valentine's day, Adrian and I have taken a day to just spend out together, no computers, no set plan, just kind of exploring and finding interesting things along the way. We decided to continue the tradition with a family date day now that we have our little munchkin to tag along. Adrian took a day off of work last Friday and the three of us hung out together.

First up, pancakes (gluten free, dairy free and egg free) with black cherry syrup and a helper in the kitchen and beyond.

We hit up the post office, a thrift store and a really cool ministry at Irving Bible Church called Tapestry that has lots of resources for adoptive & fostering families, including Tapestry Kids Closet where families can get supplies, toys, equipment, etc. that people like you and I can donate. I love knowing that baby stuff that we are ready to pass along can go to such a specific and wonderful use.

How appropriate to see "Love Drive" as we were driving around on our Valentine's date.

We enjoyed lunch at Cafe Express where the employees were extremely helpful in assisting us with our allergy needs and chocolate sorbet at Paciugo's.

Remember David's first time to sit in the grass? We went back to the same park and explored the playground.

It was a wonderful day which we concluded with Gloria's for dinner. I'm on a big plantain kick. Yum!

I hope you have had a lovely Valentine's day whether you have celebrated with family, a special someone, friends or just treating yourself.

Kelly

getting ready

ten on ten - February 2011

ten on ten "gone visiting" edition

"Hi Sweetie!" "I see you, Sweetie!"

being entertained while eating breakfast

ready for an outing

rocking chairs

out to lunch with the girls

"Bye-bye Sweetie. Thank you for letting me come."

cancelled flight

ready for take-off

going down

home again, home again, jiggity jig

TEN ON TEN

THE IDEA

Take a photo every hour for ten consecutive hours on the tenth of each month. Document a day of your life and find beauty among the ordinary moments. Then share your beauty with us!

Thanks, Rebekah, for the great idea of documenting our days this way.

Go Steelers!

drying . . .

in preparation for an attempt at baking tomorrow

Kelly

breakfast

Don't worry, this isn't going to become a blog just about food allergies but since this is where we are right now, it's on my mind and hopefully what we discover can help others just as I appreciate all the advice I've gotten by those who have traveled this path before me.

Breakfast has been harder than other meals to figure out. Most everything I used to eat for breakfast contained wheat, egg or milk!

I realized that I could eat granola (as long as it wasn't a kind that added one of the "forbidden three") and we got this pumpkin granola at costco. I had had it at my in-laws' house before and it is so yummy! The morning these photos were taken I used coconut milk with it.

I don't know if you can tell from the photo but coconut milk is pretty "thin". It was a little like eating cereal with colored water. Next I tried it with unsweetened almond milk and that was better.

" . . . for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need . . . " Genesis 33:11

Kelly

you'll leave your heart . . .

Well, I didn't leave my heart in San Fran but we did go there on our honeymoon nearly 2 1/2 years ago. My sweet friend Emily gave this to me right before our wedding! So creative and fun, huh?

Thank you to all of you who prayed for her and who have asked about her since. She is doing MUCH better I am happy to report! Praise God for hearing our prayers and being at work in her life!

Continuing to celebrate heart month with another snow (ice) day today . . . cabin fever is setting in for my gang a smidgen. Any ideas for beating cabin fever?

Kelly

sweet and sour pork

We had Sweet and Sour Pork for dinner last night. It was SOOO yummy!

The reason I am up and blogging about it in the middle of the night is because our fire alarm began going off about 40 minutes ago now and apparently it is something to do with the extreme cold like a pipe burst or something and there have been three brief periods when it turned off and then came right back on in it's piercing brilliance.

Now somehow and wonderfully so, my sweet little baby is sleeping right through this and believe me I've gone in and put my hand on his back more than once to be sure he's still breathing and fine and he stirs and keeps right on sleeping! Greatness! We'll take it!

So, back to the Sweet and Sour Pork.

We got the recipe from this book that I got for Christmas.

We have now made two things from this book and they were both GREAT!

I know the author. It is really fun to be able to say that. She is my adopted grandma. I roomed with her granddaughter in college and I got to go with Deborah to "the farm" many times. Glenave is the woman who taught me to make a pie crust from scratch. She knows her stuff.

I got permission to share the sweet and sour pork recipe with you!

1 1/2 lb. boneless pork, cut into 1-inch cubes

salt & pepper

3 T. flour (we used cornstarch instead and it was no problem)

2 T. oil

1/2 c. barbecue sauce (we found one without modified food starch! yea!)

1/2 c. pineapple juice (reserved from the can of pineapple tidbits below)

1/4 c. vinegar

2 T. soy sauce

1/4 - 1/2 cup white or brown sugar (half and half is good)

1 T. cornstarch

1 20 oz. can pineapple tidbits, drained; reserve juice

1 green pepper cut into 3/4 inch chunks

1 medium onion, cut into chunks

Sprinkle meat with salk and pepper. Toss cubes of pork in flour (or cornstarch). In a Dutch oven, heat the oil on medium-high heat until a cube of meat will sizzle. (Sizzle is such a fun word!) Add about half the meat and brown, stirring often until lightly browned. Repeat with other half of meat, adding extra oil if needed.

Mix together barbecue sauce, pineapple juice, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and cornstarch. Stir into pork; bring to a boil, cover and simmer about 35 minutes. Add pineapple, green pepper and onion and simmer 10 minutes longer. Serve over rice.

Yield: 6-8 servings (perfect for a meal for the three of us - David loved everything but the rice, go figure - with plenty of leftovers for me to use for lunches!)

We really liked it a lot. We may add cashews next time for fun.

Hope you are sleeping peacefully right now and hope I am back to doing that soon. Fire alarm still going off at an hour, six minutes and counting . . .

Kelly

edited to add after Mindy's comment: This is my 3rd time to be woken up by a fire alarm in the middle of the night. Thankfully there has never been a fire. The first time was in high school, like Mindy mentioned at a girls' retreat with our church. The second time was in Montreal when Adrian and I went for New Year's as our Christmas gift to each other the first year we were married. On New Year's Eve at about 4 in the morning the fire alarm started going off and the announcement in French sounded like "pot of gold". Just last night before bed I said to Adrian, "do you know the last time I wore my long johns? . . . pot of gold" (meaning Montreal). An hour later . . . eeeeeeeeeeeee the shrill sound of the fire alarm going off again. Craziness.

happy heart month

Happy February 1st!

We have a snow day around these parts today!

How about you?

Thank you all so very, very much for your input about our new food sensitivities.

It helped me so much to feel like I had support and ideas to try. Thank you for your prayers as it has been easier so far than I expected although there have been hard moments here and there. I know the ease of it so far has been because of God's faithfulness to us in and hearing our prayers.

Following Mindy's advice I went through my recipe box and pulled all of the cards that had recipes with only ingredients that we can have right now. I also went through and marked two cookbooks and one of my Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazines. That definitely gives us starting places. We made a trip to Central Market on Saturday which is always a treat but usually a pricey one so not something we've done in quite some time. We picked up ground flax seed that my sister-in-law told me is good for an egg substitute, "all purpose" non-wheat flour, a chocolate cake mix that is wheat free (I have a Valentine's plan in mind for this!) a couple different varieties of almond milk, etc.

I'll keep you posted.

Have a wonderful day!

Kelly