Monthly Update: 7 Months!

Ezra turned 7 months on the 5th of March… okay, okay- I am two weeks late.

Growth: Although we haven’t had an official weigh-in this month, baby boy DID have to make a trip to the doctor’s to check a nasty cough he was battling for a few weeks. At that appointment, he weighed over 22 pounds! I can’t even believe it! He seems to be getting much taller lately, as I’ve noticed his pants running a little short. My baby is hardly a baby at all… and I really wish he’d slow down a bit!

Milestones: Still no sign of crawling any time soon, although he is rolling all over the place in an attempt to get from one place to another. I know he wants to be able to move so badly, but can’t quite figure out that he can get up on his knees. I have had a tough time letting him struggle through his frustration- man, it’s hard not to jump in and move him where he wants at the first sign of irritation. You’ll get it soon, Ezra!
My husband has been teaching him all sorts of new games. He’ll lay Ezra on his chest, close his eyes, tell Ezra he is going to sleep and start to snore. Ezra, almost immediately, will pat him on the face and my husband will yell “I’m awake! I’m awake!” They laugh and laugh, and then do it all over again. So freaking cute. He also gives high fives and tries to dance. Both absolutely melt my heart.
We also moved him from his infant carseat to a convertible. The seat seemed HUGE to me until I actually put Ezra in it… then I realized just how huge my kid is. Holy crap, buddy.

(That’s some seriously sweet bedhead, am I right?)

Sleep: Well, at one point he started sleeping a straight 12 hours… and I was SO excited to finally get some real sleep myself until both Ezra and my husband got sick.  The sleeping through the night thing lasted a few days and then as soon as the-worst-cold-ever struck our home, everything went down hill. For a solid week, Ezra was up every hour, some nights sleeping in my bed while I sat up awake staring at him. Every single time he would cough, he’d wake up crying. So, I held him all night and would rub his little head and “shh” every time he’d start coughing. I may have not gotten any sleep, but at least he did… that would’ve been an even bigger disaster. All that to say, now I KNOW he can sleep all the way through the night without needing to eat… so it’s gotta happen again soon, right?

Eating: Okay, whatever, I am so a first-time-mom about some things…  but after being totally paranoid about anything but mashed foods (the kid has the STRONGEST gag-reflex), I finally chilled out a bit and have been letting him explore larger pieces. He does so great! …mama on the other hand? I’m a nervous wreck at times. Okay, BLW- we’re on our way towards doing away with purees.

Favorite Moments: I think this might be one of my favorite moments EVER with Ezra: so, as I said in a previous post,  Ezra and I snuggle up and read a few stories from his “Jesus Storybook Bible” before I put him to bed at night. So here we are reading the creation story:

God said, “Hello light!” and light shone into the darkness. God called the light, “Day” and the darkness, “Night.” “You’re good,” God said. And they were.
Then God said, “Hello sea! Hello sky!” and a great space opened up, wide and deep and high. “You’re good,” God said. And they were.

The story continues by listing more things that God created and God saying “You’re good!” after each thing that he had made. Ezra, sitting in my lap, leans over and looks up at me so that he can see my face as I am reading and each time I read “Hello x” or “You’re good!” he gives me the biggest grin and let’s out the sweetest little giggle. Obviously, I am just about dying from so much cuteness but I tried to keep on reading in hopes that he would continue. This goes on for several minutes and it was SO PRECIOUS that eventually I can feel tears welling up in my eyes.. and I. Am. Sobbing. Seriously, I’m reading this book to him and tears just start pouring down my face. To make things even more perfect, he stops laughing and lays his head on my chest, closes his eyes, and goes to sleep… just like that. (sidenote: I’m totally crying like a baby as I type this out, baha!) I can’t even put into words how much I love my boy and just how much I enjoy being his mom.

Although that night was one of the most special moments since Ezra was born, this whole month has honestly been a treat. Despite sickness and sleepless nights- Ezra is really growing and developing into his own little self. I can’t imagine our family without him!

Most Difficult Moments: It’s ROUGH seeing your little one sick. During his horrible cold, we used a baby saline spray and a Nose Frida* to suck out all of his nasal congestion. He HATED it. At one point, we had to do it in the middle of the night. Poor guy was so confused. He went from trying to nurse in his cozy mama’s arms to lights on, mom holding him down, and dad sucking his face with a straw while he screamed. I felt so terrible. I could wait a LONG time before having to put him through that again.

Extra Comments: We had one sporadic warm day here in Nebraska and my husband and I were able to take Ezra to the park. He had SUCH a good time, and it was so nice to let him explore the outdoors. We are SO looking forward to some more of those days, hopefully in the near future (it’s still in the 40s… -_-).

Monthly Update: 6 Months!

Baby boy, I can’t believe you’ve been in our lives for half of a year ! What a joy it is to be your mama.

Growth: My BIG boy is 19.6 pounds and in the 90-98th % for weight, height, and head size. Not sure who he gets it from (my husband and I are both preeeettty petite) but I guess it means I am feeding him well!

Milestones: Ezra has been sitting up for awhile now. Baby boy loves to be upright so that he can look around and see whats going on. Although he is able to roll back and forth, he hates laying down, and especially hates tummy time. I am pretty convinced he will walk before he crawls, but only time will tell! We also decided to get some blood work done this month to check for allergies because he has TERRIBLE eczema and we’ve suspected some tummy issues since he was just a few weeks old. Fortunately, we finally got some answers: Ezra is allergic to both dairy and eggs. Although I was worried about the transition (I am nursing, so I have had to cut out pretty much all foods that I love), it has been much easier than I expected and well worth the sacrifice. Everyone we interact with tells me what a different baby he is. All along I had been feeling like his fussiness/clingyness/difficulty nursing was a personality thing, when in reality, he was uncomfortable and trying to let us know… poor buddy! Anyway, I feel like the answers to the tests are milestones in themselves, as our peanut is finally a happy baby.

Sleep: Ezra usually takes 3 naps a day: one morning, noon (ish), and late afternoon and goes to bed between 5:30-6. Unfortunately for mama, he does still wake up twice a night, once around midnight and once between 4 and 5 am… and wakes up for the day between 6 (AHH) and 7. We are pretty convinced that he will be sleeping a little bit better now that we’ve figured out his allergies, but we will see. My husband and I have been getting a kick out of Ezra’s recent nap time habits. For one, I usually sing him a song or two before I lay him down in his crib. Lately, we hear him on the baby monitor “singing” himself to sleep after I’ve left the room. It is one of the sweetest, most precious things I have ever heard. I’ve also noticed that he now rolls over onto his belly when he’s ready to sleep and wakes up with hand prints across his forehead… now sure how that would be comfortable for him, but it’s working out well…!

Eating: We started solids around 4 and a half months (I know, so early) because he would literally DIVE onto our plates of food, smack his lips any time he saw us chewing, and would do anything he could to get closer to whatever it was we had to eat. We had intended on doing baby led weaning but long story short, it was’t working well for our kiddo. So, I purchased a baby bullet and have been making purees. So far he has tried several different squash, avocado, blueberries, peaches, pears, apples, bananas, carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, peas, and beets. Unfortunately, he HATES avocado… even if I mix it with something sweet, the kid knows (smarty pants). His favorite is seems to be blueberries. He also loves using those mesh feeding bags! We’ve definitely introduced new foods quicker than you’re “supposed to” but he has done really well, so I am not too worried about it. He eats what mom and dad eat, and we are more than okay with that! I’ve also tried rice puffs and teething cookies… both totally freaked me out (here comes the new-and-paranoid-mama in me). Puffs definitely don’t “dissolve” as quickly as I thought they were supposed to and the teething cookies crumble (and by crumble I really mean that Ezra bites huge chunks off) to the point of him gagging after having either in his mouth for less than 30 seconds. No thanks, I’d rather not be paranoid about him choking  It’s been really great nursing a little less… I’ll tell ya, it’s a lot of work!

Favorite Moments: It’s difficult to only choose a few! As I said before, now that I’ve cut out egg and dairy from my diet, he is a new baby! Because his skin gets so dry, he’s never really been able to play in the bath (we make it super quick). One day last week, we set up towels on the floor and filled a big bowl of water with bath toys. Ezra and I sat on the ground and played in the water and he LOVED it. Splashed all over the place and made a huge mess, but it was so worth it. We also sit by the window and watch cars drive by and his face lights up every time! He is all about exploring lately, and the awe on his face is priceless! Dad has also been teaching him how to roll a ball and he’s trying so hard to be able to do it. He gets SO excited that he screams and laughs and flails his hands all around… but can’t get the ball to move… so cute! My favorite moments of all are night time cuddles, right before bed. I have never known a little one to love to cuddle so much. We curl up and read his Jesus Storybook Bible, sing songs, nurse, and then I just hold him for a bit before I put him in his crib.

Most Difficult Moments: Unfortunately, getting blood for his allergy tests was not easy. They tried both arms multiple times over the course of two different days at our pediatricians office and could not find a vein. Thankfully, they didn’t poke around, but he was very unhappy with three people trying to hold him down, poor guy. Finally, they sent us over to the children’s hospital. The lady there made a few comments about how the nurses at the pediatricians office “must not know what they are doing” and then I watched her proceed to poke BOTH arms several times while he screamed and cried like I have never heard him before. I was so thankful to have my husband there, because after seeing her (and I counted) put the needle in and pull it back out FOUR times… I had to leave the room. My poor baby had petechiae up both arms from the tourniquets being on so tight for so long. At the end of it all, the woman said, “Well kid, you made me look bad” and took the blood from his fingers… and he didn’t even flinch -_-

Extra Comments: His eczema is almost completely cleared up and his skin is smoother than it’s ever been! I think this has, by far, been my favorite month with our Ezra. He is growing and changing before our eyes and I am so proud and so thankful to be his mama!

I know, I know… It’s totally not even February yet. We had such a crazy Thanksgiving/Christmas season that I really didn’t get to decorate for the holidays so we are going all out this year, starting with Valentine’s Day. I got to crafting and voila! A lovely heart banner for Valentine’s Day!

I’ve been playing around with the idea of opening  up an etsy shop for some time now, but can never decide what in the world to sell. I am always making things, and with every “craft” my husband tells me, “YOU SHOULD SELL THAT ON ETSY!” …I think he just wants me to make some money from home 😉 Unfortunately, every time I make something it seems to be a project I could never make quick enough or cheap enough to make any sort of profit. So we’ll see..

For now, we are packing and preparing for a 4 day vacation with some friends. To be honest, I am completely dreading the drive-time with an almost 6 month old. It’s an eight hour drive to where we are going and I just might be a little bit uptight when it comes to Ezra’s schedule. So, for now I am just focusing on maintaining my sanity and trying to enjoy the opportunity for some time away with good friends. Hopefully my next post won’t be about any terrible disasters that will inevitably happen. 🙂

Week 2

There are many things that I said that I would be as a mother: always put together, always putting meals made from scratch in front of my family, a clean house ALL of the time, capable of doing it all- and still having plenty of energy at the end of the day.
Today, we played with our pears at breakfast. Ezra took bites and spit them out everywhere and we laughed.
I hid under his highchair with a camera and we played peek-a-boo.
He touched my camera with his messy hands and I didn’t care.
I scooped him up afterwords without even flinching at his mess all over the front of me as I carried him into his room to clean him up.
Being a mom is messy. It’s messy and it’s hard work… oftentimes so much so that it brings me to tears of frustration, and joy, and hilarity, all at the same time.
My home is a disaster. There are dishes piled in the sink, mountains of laundry that I need to fold, dinner was average- but I couldn’t have enjoyed today more.
I love being a wife and a mother- good days, bad days, days where I smell like spit up and pears. Days when my husband wants to cuddle and I haven’t had time to shower or brush my teeth. Days when I get peed on. Days that I am running on so little sleep that I don’t know how I’ll make it to the end of the day alive.
There are many things I said I would be as a mother… and a lot of those things are loosing their spot on my list of priorities, and I am okay with that.

“Mommy Brain”

It’s totally a thing. Just when you think you get to say goodbye to preoccupied pregnancy brain, you give birth and focus 110% of your thoughts on your new bundle of joy, even when you try not to. Most of the time the time this simply means I will forget what I am saying in the middle of a sentence or forget to take my vitamins. Other times, it can result in something much more… inconvenient.

 I think most moms would agree that it’s sometimes more work than it’s worth to leave the house with a small child. I’ve made a habit of planning my errands after Ezra’s bedtime so that I can leave him at home with my husband when I want to take my sweet time. When Ezra was just a few weeks old, I left the house one night for a grocery run. After deciding to make “just one more quick stop”, I exited said extra stop only to find my car was GONE. I, of course, panicked. The parking lot was almost empty… so I assumed it must have been stolen. I dialed my husband and started walking down the street.

Off in the distance, I saw a car that looked just like mine. A few people were gathered around, and as I walked closer, I realized it was, in fact, my car. I approached the group, made some embarrassing comment about forgetting my parking brake… all the while being completely oblivious to the fact that my car had rolled through a liquor store before bouncing back behind the curb. Yes, that’s right- someone had to POINT OUT to me that there was alcohol and shattered glass all over the ground and the entire front end of my car was bashed in as I was opening my door to just get in and drive home, as if nothing had happened. Talk about your mind being somewhere else. You can bet my husband didn’t think I was mentally stable enough to leave the house for a few days 😉

So today, just when I thought these ridiculous episodes were over… I was craving cookies. [Recipe: here]. My first problem: I was multitasking. Multitasking is something you have to do when you are a mom but probably shouldn’t do without supervision from a spouse or friend while you’re a new mom. Here I am, feeding and entertaining a baby and scooping my cookie dough onto a pan.
Only few short minutes into the cooking time, I notice a funny smell. I open the oven and this is what I find:

One. Big. BLOB. Of “cookie”, spilling over the edges of the pan and all over the sides and bottom of the oven. I start re-reading the recipe trying to figure out what I must’ve missed… FLOUR. I forgot to put FLOUR in my COOKIES! How does that even happen? I’ll tell you. You have a baby and you *temporarily loose your ability to use your brain in any and all circumstances where you are required to think about more than one thing at a time.

You’ll be happy to know that Aslan scraped the mush out of the oven and I successfully made another batch after the baby went to sleep. This mama really needs her cookies.

*I’ve been told it’s temporary. Although, I am starting to worry.

A First Trip to the Park

I have been waiting and waiting for a day warm enough to take Ezra to the park for the first time. Considering we live in Nebraska and it’s JANUARY… I didn’t think it would be any time soon. However, it was above freezing today and I figured if we bundled up, the three of us could really enjoy some fresh air! That was not the case. Ezra was shivering and less-than-impressed by the swings. I did manage to get a couple of cute shots though!

This kid is all too serious, let me tell ya!

Ezra’s Birth Story

My sweet little man is 5 months (as of the 5th) and I have been reflecting on his birth a lot lately. If you would’ve asked me 6 months ago what my “birth plan” was, I would have given you a detailed list of expectations for the big day. For starters, from very early on in my pregnancy, I began convincing myself I would be delivering two weeks early because of a “gut feeling”. This was most definitely not the case.

Aslan and I prepared in every way we thought we possibly could. I had every intention of delivering without an epidural or any other medical intervention. We took natural childbirth classes, I did prenatal yoga (and looked like a goofball, might I add) in our living room, took evening primrose oil, and the whole 9 yards. My due date came and went, and still no sign of baby. As time went on, I got more and more uncomfortable and on August 4th, I decided that I would try every single “natural” way to induce labor until that baby decided it was time. So, I woke up and RAN up and down the bleachers at a near by school, went out and had eggplant parmesan with my hubby, bounced on my birthing ball for what felt like hours, etc etc until eventually I somehow talked myself into taking *castor oil. (*side note: don’t try this ladies, so not worth it).

At this point, it was almost midnight. I had hoped that contractions would start in my sleep in get stronger by morning, after a good nights rest, of course. I went and laid down in bed and before I could even fall asleep I felt my first “real” contraction. Things progressed WAY quicker than I imagined they would and within the half hour, my contractions were roughly 5 minutes apart and a minute long.

Aslan tells me that I was laughing in between trying to breathe during each contraction. I, however, just remember trying to hold myself together as I got into the car to go to the hospital. Of course, Ezra was posterior and I had HORRIBLE back labor.. so I sat in the front seat backwards, hugging the chair. Thankfully, we live right down the street from the hospital.

After checking in and changing into my hospital gown, the nurse checked me and told me I was at a 5. Although contractions were already MUCH more painful than I imagined, I thought, “A FIVE?! I CAN DO THIS!!!” Now for some reason, which I am still unsure of, my midwife broke my water. No warning. Maybe it was an accident? Anyway, this made things MUCH more painful and Aslan and I spent the next 5 hours doing everything we could think of to hopefully ease some of the pain I was feeling. I tried EVERYTHING: bounced on the birth ball, got down on my hands and knees, and even went to visit a friend who was on bed rest at the hospital. My midwife tried helping me do laps around the labor and delivery floor and it was at that point that I felt like I just couldn’t take the pain any more. She tried talking me into toughing it out a little longer and helped me into the whirpool to hopefully take some of the pressure off my back and told me we would check for any progress and reevaluate from there.

People always ask what labor feels like… and it’s no wonder no one can really describe it. It really is like nothing I’ve ever felt before. I am told that you forget, and while I am sure that’s true- I don’t know that I will ever forget staring into the water and physically SHAKING from being in so much pain. My midwife checked me once more and said, “I think you’re at.. a 4? MAYBE a 4 1/2.” I had never felt so defeated. I couldn’t believe that not only had I not progressed at all, but I wasn’t even as far along as I was originally told. My poor husband, I practically threatened him before that day. I told him NO MATTER WHAT to not let me get an epidural. SO here I am, in tears, shaking, begging him to get me that epidural. Long story short, 30 minutes later the anesthesiologist came to the rescue.

It was almost 7 am and neither of us had slept. The nurses had propped my body up in such a way that it would hopefully flip baby (and it did, thank god) I stared at the monitor for a few contractions, and both Aslan and I went to sleep. Hours later, the nurse woke me up, checked me, and said, “YOU’RE AT A 10! Ready to push?!” And just like that, it was time.

I vividly remember the remainder of my labor. I remember having my eyes completely glued to the screen, watching my contractions  and pushing with every bit of strength that I had. Thankfully, it went by so quickly. I pushed for less than 30 minutes, and up until the last few, it was a breeze. I do however, remember thinking, “There has GOT to be another way… there is no way this is going to work!”

When he was finally out, they laid him on my chest for skin-to-skin and I thought for sure I would drop him! He was the most beautiful boy I had ever laid eyes on and he was ours.. and if I am being honest, for the first time it scared me. Just like that, I was a mama!

Our hospital stay was awesome. Anyone here in Nebraska knows this hospital is like a RESORT. The food is surprisingly amazing… and before we delivered there, one of our youth kids informed us that they always bring “the most delicious warm cookies” to the rooms, which is true! 😉 Ezra stayed in the room with us and, of course, I didn’t get any sleep because I had to “check on him” every 5 seconds of the night. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him then, and at 5 months old, I still can’t!

Week 1

Let’s be honest: I am terrible at blogging. Here I am, it’s been over a year since I last posted and to be quite honest, it looks like I hadn’t posted much in the first place.
My husband, Aslan, and I were talking the other day about the way that we see people through the lens of the internet. For example- we celebrated Christmas with some friends since our family is all out of town. Instead of having your traditional Christmas dinner, we all decided it would be fun to each bring a food that comes from your ethnic heritage. I, being an Italian who is honestly sick of pasta (this is a temporary thing, I assure you), decided to bring cannoli. Now, since I assumed that would be the only time I would ever make cannoli and I didn’t feel like running out and buying a cannoli shell “form”, I used ice cream cones (thank you Pinterest!!).
Well, I am all excited about my fancy dessert and decide to make it the night before to make things easier on Christmas morning. When finished I think to myself- this looks AMAZING. I should post a photo on Facebook and show everyone the Masterchef that I am.

The next morning, I proudly went to the fridge, reached for the cannoli…. and yeeeeeah. Absolute soggy MUSH! So, internet world… next time I brag about something fancy that I’ve cooked, recognize that it may have looked pretty, but probably wasn’t edible.

Anyway, I realized that last year, I decided I wanted to blog for the sole purpose of convincing people that I lived an exciting life, that my life was worthy of celebrating. The truth is- I really do. And I don’t need to spend my time trying to make other people believe it. Sometimes it’s really messy. Like, poop all down the front of me, laughing hysterically messy (another story for another day). Sometimes it’s completely uneventful. And sometimes- I am living a life I could have never even DREAMED of with a very flawed but very loving, patient, handsome man and CUTEST, and I MEAN cutest kiddo ever. So, here’s to starting to blog… aaaaggggain. Not for you, but for me…. so that I can look back on something and be reminded of how blessed I am, both for the good and the messy. 🙂

So, on another note- I have always wanted to do the photo for every week of the year. Since I have an adorable 5 month old who is growing like I cannot believe, I thought it would be fun to take a photo of HIM every week…. well, er… POST a photo of him a week. If I am honest, I spend half the day taking photos of him. I can’t help it that he is so cute!!

I took this on an early morning a couple of days ago. Ezra is going through this phase where he WILL NOT let me put him down for atleast 10 or 15 minutes after he wakes up from bedtime or naps. I don’t mind one bit! Me and my sleepy boy sit and practice our consonant sounds. His favorite, at the moment, is the ‘G’ sound. The kid thinks it’s completely hysterical when I say “guh-guh-guh-guh”. I am telling you, this sweetie is a dream come true.

Dessert for Breakfast

For the past year or two, I have been a HUGE fan of greek yogurt… specifically Chobani. I really like the consistancy of greek yogurt and I like that it is healthier than the regular (Yoplait) stuff. Working at Whole Foods is honestly changing my life. They have SEVERAL different kinds of yogurt and I have been having quite a few conversations with customers about their favorites. One of the most popular brands is the
Kalona Super Natural Organic Cream Top Yogurt.

I wasn’t quite sure how to feel about the “cream top” and to be honest my thoughts were leaning toward being grossed out. So, naturally, my first few bites I made faces and talked myself into thinking that this stuff was not as good as my usual Chobani. I’m not sure what I was thinking… but this stuff is delicious! I finally gave in the third morning that I had it for breakfast and decided I would never buy any other yogurt…. Until the next day when a customer told me that Brown Cow had a MUCH better cream top yogurt. And so, after work I went over to get some and found that Brown Cow has a GREEK cream top yogurt.

Oh my goodness. If you like greek yogurt, you will LOVE this. It is like a DESSERT! The downside- Whole Foods doesnt sell the large 24 oz size like Kalona Super Natural and Chobani. So it is a little more on the expensive side. The individual size is, however, too much for me. So, I’ve been thinking I may purchase a few of them and empty them all into one container… but then that delicious cream top will be all mixed in. Hmm.

Do you have a favorite yogurt?

Spaghetti Squash and Sunshine

I am curious to know how other bloggers photograph food. Unfortunatly, I don’t have windows or natural light in my kitchen so I am stuck bringing all of my food and supplies out onto the living room floor by our patio window just to get some semi-decent shots. I wish people could see how silly this is. I should have my husband take a picture of me the next time I do this. My cooking takes twice as long because I am back and forth throughout our home trying to not only cook in the living room… but make the living room look like a kitchen. Today I decided to drag our kitchen table over by the window so that we could eat in the sunshine. I must say, it was quite lovely. My dream home will have lots of windows in the kitchen and dining room.
Just in case you didn’t read my previous blog post… my husband and I are trying one new and unique fruit and vegetable each week. This week our new fruit was the honey rock melon and our vegetable was the Spaghetti Squash. Both of us were really, really excited to try this… but I have to admit I was a little nervous because I wasn’t quite sure how to cook it. I had recieved a few suggestions and read several recipes and threw together more of a traditional tasting (meat and red sauce) spaghetti. We loved the way it turned out!

It was actually really, really difficult to cut into this thing!

Just like a pumpkin on the inside! I had no idea.

Scoop out all of the goopy stuff…

Rub inside with olive oil and seasonings. I used garlic powder and pepper.
Then put your squash face down on a pan and bake in the oven at 375 for 35 minutes.

After you remove your squash from the oven, take a fork and start fluffing up the squash from the ouside edges toward the center.
This was the most exciting part. It really DOES look like spaghetti!
Then I topped the squash with cooked ground beef, pasta sauce, mozzarella, and parmesan and put the squash back in the oven for another 20 minutes.

Yum, Yum! Also, I can’t tell you enough how great it was to have dinner in natural light. It makes SUCH a big difference.
Look at our cute little table! 🙂

Oh, and I love my husband’s expression in the photo below.
This is the typical “Are you still taking pictures? Can I eat now?”

Anyway, I love our little life.
I am so very blessed.