Catonsville and The Big Easy

It is hard to believe that almost 8 years ago Bryan and I were in New Orleans picking out an apartment for what was supposed to be the first three years of our married life together. Thank goodness things didn't work out for me on the job front down there. We really love Catonsville, our neighborhood, our friends, and our life here in MD. Who knows what would have happened if we had moved to New Orleans with Katrina. But that doesn't mean it isn't a great city to visit! Bryan has been in the Big Easy since Wednesday enjoying the weather, food, and southern hospitality! And we have been surviving up here in MD for the past 3 days. We definitely are excited for B's return tomorrow afternoon though!

Not sure how I score Indianapolis and he gets New Orleans for our spring business trips (or how his is spent getting paid basically to socialize and I actually have to work when I go away!) but Bryan has been having a great time. I am jealous of the beignets and gumbo he has been eating! Although pretty sure that wasn't on my diet!

Noelle and Kellen have been on pretty good behavior the past three days. Noelle has napped all three days. Kellen had a rough night sleeping last night (his first tooth is almost totally out and the second one is about to pop through) but besides that we have survived. And we spent a great day with friends today. Despite the windy cool day, we had a little mom's group cookout as part of a book drive for Baltimore Reads for lunch. And then this afternoon we hosted a playdate after naps. Evie, Isaac, Abbie, their moms, and baby Jonah came over to try some pinterest craft recipes. I made homemade puffy paint for the kids to paint pictures with (you just pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds after you are done and it puffs and is totally dry!) and we also made 3 colors of playdough. The kids had a great time and I spent most of the time talking about real estate, one of my favorite topics.

So while we have all had a good time the past few days, we are ready for our family to be complete again tomorrow! And I am ready to relax for a few minutes and hopefully take a nap!

Six Months!

Last Monday, we celebrated Kellen's half birthday! Well I gave him a shelf full of frozen purees as a present and told him he was six months old. I guess that is kind of the same thing as celebrating when you are 6 months!

On Friday we hit the Pediatric Center for Kellen's check-up and shots. I am always amazed at how long we spend there at each appointment, and I have to say that I was pretty proud my daughter behaved for the 75 minutes we were there. Thank you busy bags! Dr. Burke is out for a few weeks so we saw our friend who happens to be the nurse practitioner there instead. Bethany thought Kellen looked great. We were excited to hear his lungs sounded good (pretty much a first in his 6 months of life!), that we can cancel his eye appointment follow up (no surgery - yeah!), and that he is basically on track with his growth. Kellen's official stats:

27 inches long (50-75%)
16 pounds 5 ounces (10-25%)
44 cm head circumference (50-75%)

Kellen was one ounce short of doubling his birth weight. Considering he didn't gain for almost a month with his series of illnesses, this was pretty darn good. As long as he continues to catch up (likely, given the amount of solids he is consuming), we aren't worried that his weight percentile is a little lower than it has been. Kellen also got his 6 month shots and was a rockstar. And Noelle held his hand during the shots - what a good big sister!

Kellen has been eating solids for about 3 weeks now at dinner. He was eating two 2 oz servings each night and would have had more happily had we let him. This weekend we started feeding him solids at each meal so he is now having 2 oz of fruit at breakfast, 2 oz of veggies at lunch, and 2 oz of a mixture or bean at dinner. He loves to eat and pretty much only cries when he has a poopy diaper or when we take his food away. I am hoping his diaper displeasure will lead to early and easy potty training! Here is my little guy chilling in his high chair.

In addition to his solids, Kellen has three 4.5 ounce bottles of pumped milk a day and I also feed him before work, before bed, and once during the night. K still wakes up once each night to eat but goes to bed super well from awake and goes right back down after he eats. The nurse practitioner said we can get rid of the night feeding if we want so I am going to work on that over the next few weeks. Since we both go right back to sleep after and he is sleeping about 6 hour stretches it isn't too bad. Kellen sleeps from about 7:15 pm til about 6 am, minus the night feeding sometime between 12 and 2. On days I work, he actually sleeps later because I dream feed him while he is asleep around 5 before I get ready for work. Kellen is also napping much better. He normally takes two pretty long naps in his crib each day, although that can be tough if we are out and about with Ellie's busy schedule. He goes down around 9 and 2, and occasionally takes a power nap in the early evening. K's sleeping has really come a long way over the past month or so!

Kellen continues to be our happy, chatty little guy. It is hard to remember that this little guy was our serious newborn. He is hilarious now and is constantly cracking up laughing or talking up a storm. He particularly loves his big sister and laughs at almost everything she does. Kellen sits like a champ, is a rolly polly, and moves all over the place to get at his toys or our electronics. He would like to crawl but isn't there yet. K also has one little tooth bud that has popped through on the bottom. I think it is going to be followed closely by its neighbor and the top middle ones based on the gnawing and drooling he is doing these days.

K also loves to play with his toys. His favorites are his triangle activity toy and his plane but he also loves his soft blocks, balls, and pretty much anything he can put in his mouth. He has pretty good coordination and is strong - he can lift up some heavy things! He also has quite an arm, I think better than Noelle's now! Maybe he'll be my baseball all-star after all!

So that's the six month update in a nutshell! I love these little ones!

Picnic with the Hollywoods

Last weekend was absolutely beautiful - unlike this rainy, cold Sunday! On Saturday we had another great family hike, including a visit to the swinging bridge which Noelle loved (Maddie, not so much!) Of course I forgot my camera for the adventure. On Sunday we headed over to Lake Elkhorn for a walk around the lake and a picnic lunch with our good friends the Hollywood's!

Annabelle wants to play with Kellen (or maybe just Sophie the giraffe)!

 K flashes his grin under that pacifier. My pale baby is totally in the shade friends!

Mommy and Noelle enjoy some sun and snuggles though!

Dad, I think it is nap time. I'm getting so tired!

We had a great picnic lunch and the pups even behaved too!

A New Kind of Freezer Cooking

Since Noelle's birth, I have been freezer cooking at least once a month to keep our dinners healthy and at home and served relatively quickly after arriving back from work around 6 pm. On Saturday, I switched things up a bit. Instead of my normal chicken, flank steak, and ravioli recipes, I met with a friend from my mom's group who has a little guy two days younger than Kellen and we filled our freezers with baby food. In a two hour extravaganza of peeling, cutting, boiling, and pureeing we made quite an impressive amount of food for our little guys. I think K's food is more gourmet than our own!

On Kellen's menu for the next month:
White bean purée
Root Vegetable Trio (Sweet potatoes, carrots, and parsnips)
Carrot, Apricot, and Cinnamon Purée
Apple, Pear, and Plum Purée
Apple, Pear, Apricot, and Oatmeal
Carrot, Pea, and Leek Purée
Sweet Potato and Prune Purée

Easter 2012

My parents and Michael have driven to MD three times in the past 5 months (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Kellen's baptism in the beginning of February) so we decided it was about time for us to make the trek down to the OBX. So last Thursday we packed the Elantra (thank goodness my parents have a pack and play and tons of hand-me-down toys for my princess), stuffed the 5 of us in to my itty bitty car, and hit the road at bedtime. The trip wasn't very enjoyable with everyone heading places for Easter and some major road construction outside of Williamsburg, but at about 1:30 am we pulled in the driveway for a whirlwind 3 day Easter adventure!

We had a great time getting ready for Easter with Noelle's first egg dying experience!







We also enjoyed some time at the playground and dog park. Kellen enjoyed his first time in the swing (although I just made him sit there because I didn't think he was ready for actual movement!)







The Easter Bunny came to town!





And we had two easter egg hunts.







We also went to a very crowded Easter mass and tried to get a few pictures of the family dressed up in our nice clothes!







And of course we took several walks to and on the beach!





Happy Easter!

Sitting Pretty

My baby boy has really mastered quite a few skills in the past few weeks. First, he now moves like crazy. Rolling, stretching, throwing his body towards objects, anything to get the job done! We are amazed at how he turns himself in circle when we lay him on the floor these days!

Kellen is also quite an eater. He loves loves loves food. He has had quite a few veggies and unsweetened applesauce now, and I have started mixing several purees together for him to eat at once. This weekend will be partially devoted to making him some new stuff since I think he is getting tired of the limited options I am presenting! He eats solids once a day at dinner right now, and we haven't cut any milk out. After his 6 month appointment next week I think we'll add lunch in also. Kellen still has no teeth (could you please just break through already? This teething thing is getting old!) so nothing more substantial yet but I am thinking that will be by 8 months or so. Kellen is also holding his bottles now at daycare so I am hoping to try some water in a sippy cup in the next few weeks. I did this with Noelle and she now almost exclusively drinks water (almost no juice since whole fruit is so much healthier) and it also made the transition to whole milk at a year easier since she had been drinking her pumped milk in sippy cups from about 9 months on. I am still hoping to breastfeed my little guy for a year but I can already tell he is more of a biter so we'll see how that goes!

Finally, Kellen has become a great sitter! He can't get himself in to a sitting position quite yet, but if we put him down, he can stay upright almost indefinitely (unless Maddie or Noelle interferes!) He enjoyed inside and outside sitting time this past weekend at Grandmom and Pop Pop's. My little guy is getting so big!

Let's Get Busy!

Pinterest is my new obsession. Facebook just isn't keep my attention during all those feedings any more, so I spend time on pinterest instead. I think I have mentioned it before, but basically it is sort of like a storage area where you can break down website pages by category and store them for later use. My areas all have to do with cooking (freezer recipes, desserts, side dishes, etc.) or things for the kids. Busy bags are something a friend mentioned, and I have found tons of cool ideas that I have pinned to do later. Some of my mom friends were similarly interested in these cool ideas to keep kids entertained when you are waiting somewhere or need to kill a little time, so we decided to each make 8 of the same busy bag activity and then exchange them while enjoying some wine and snacks.

Here are the goodies I got. I haven't even pulled any of them out yet but I know Noelle (and eventually Kellen) will love them!

First up, a felt cupcake kit. There are felt cut outs that help you create the cupcake and then sprinkles and stickers to decorate with. It is hard to see in the bag, but here is Julia posing with her creation!


Next we have sensory balloons. These are filled with different items and the kids have to guess what is in them and try to match items. They can also work on colors when they are young. This activity is probably a little young for Ellie but she will probably still enjoy squeezing the balloons!


These are playdo mats with home made playdo. How can you go wrong with playdo?


Fourth, we have sticks with velcro on them. The kids can construct letters, shapes, or pictures with the sticks. Pretty cool!


This is a felt car mat. The kids can use the pieces to build the mat and then drive little cars around on it. This reads hours of fun to me!


Felt Monster Makers is one of my favorites. The kids make friendly, scary, or other faces from cut outs on their monster. So many possibilities!


And my creation was dyed pasta sorting and stringing. There are 5 different kinds of pasta with center holes that are dyed different colors. The kids can work on their colors or matching by sorting in to cups or string the pasta to make necklaces.


We are still getting one more item. One mom friend had a family emergency out of town and she did a clothes line with little felt clothes the kids can pin up and down and dress their little person with. It sounds so cute!

So if you are a mom, I totally recommend looking up busy bags! And if you want a new time suck (although much more beneficial one than facebook), check out pinterest!

Family Hike

One of the reasons we bought our house was how close it is to Patapsco State Park. And Maddie and I (and Kellen in the Ergo) have certainly spent a lot of time taking walks though one path in particular. We also are frequent visitors to the tire park and little nature room. But we had never really explored the majority of the park. Noelle has a great love for choo choo trains and had been asking to see them so two weeks ago we took a trail down to the railroad tracks. It was a little steeper and rockier than expected, and the kids were quite heavy in our packs, but it was a beautiful day for a hike and great exercise! We timed things perfectly and saw a train go by at the bottom of the trail. Then we looked at the river and Bryan taught Ellie how to skip rocks. It was a great little family adventure!

My Babies Ready for Our Hike




Maddie Gets in On the Action


Skipping Rocks


Family Photo

Yummy!

My little guy is a fan of food. He has now had avocado, baby oatmeal, and by far his favorite, butternut squash. On Saturday I tried to give him the squash mashed. He wasn't so sure.



But as soon as it was puréed, he was quite a fan!



And Sunday he ate two cubes of squash, was still hungry, and had a cube of avocado. When that was gone and I took his bowl away he had an actual meltdown. It was hilarious since he never gets upset over anything. I don't want him to have too much food, too fast though. We'll try puréed broccoli later this week and see what my little guy thinks of the Saxton's favorite veggie!

Eat Well and Exercise

Some members of my mom's group participated in a challenge from Thanksgiving to the first week of January called Maintain, Not Gain. The premise - most people overeat during the holidays and gain weight, so together we'd keep each other in check so that we at least maintained our current weight. I thought, no problem, I'll be breastfeeding and have most of my pregnancy weight still, I have this in the bag. And then I did the final weigh in. At the end of the 8 weeks and almost 3 months after having Kellen, I weighed the exact same as I did at the beginning of the challenge. Sure, losing weight during the holidays is hard, but I was dissapointed. Three months after having my son, I had only lost 12 pounds. Since he was over 8 pounds at birth, this was not great. My husband is awesome, and totally gains some sympathy weight with me during pregnancies. So we looked at each other and decided it was time to get serious.

Actually, Bryan got serious first. He did some research and found the best ap for us to use - myfitnesspal. It is also a website if you aren't iphone crazy like we are! This is a free program that helps you count calories. You put in your details, it tells you how much to eat, and then you get extra calories based on your exercise for the day. This program has been great. First, you can scan barcodes with your phone and it logs the food automatically for you. What a timesaver! Second, pretty much every chain restaurant has food already enterred in the program. Third, you can log your own recipes and it will do all the break downs for you. You can also use the program to track fats, sugars, carbs, vitamins, etc. This program has been a real life saver for us both and we both have been tracking for almost two months. Getting a sense of portion size has been really eye opening, and logging your planned food the night before helps you see if you need to add in more exercise, cut something out, or eat less the following day to make up for your plans. Want 3 pieces of pizza? Ok, but you need to do some extra running. Going out to dinner Saturday for burgers and fries? Yum, but you need to eat a little less on Friday and Sunday. This has really worked well for us and experts all agree that keeping some sort of food diary is essential to prolonged weight loss.

In addition to counting calories, Bryan and I have started exercising again. It has been hard with our two little ones and our schedule but we have been pretty dedicated. Bryan is actually pretty hard core - me a little less so, although I chalk that up to Kellen's sleep schedule more to my motivation! Belonging to a gym isn't practical given our schedules, so in January we broke down and made a big purchase that we had been talking about for years. We got a nice treadmill and it is awesome. We have both been running about 3 times a week and the majority of that time has been inside on the treadmill. We also have added some circuit training in to our routine. 3 times a week we do Jillian Michael's "30 Day Shred" DVD workout which combines strength training, cardio, and abs. The sad part of our workouts is that they occur in the basement at 5 am during the week. The happy part is that we are seeing results. We have lost weight and are getting more toned and are much happier about the way we look.

Bryan and I each have about 10 more pounds to lose to reach our goals, but I am happy to say all of the Kellen weight is now gone. It is amazing that I lost only 12 pounds from his birth to January and have lost 18 since starting this program in early February. Since we just joined a pool for the summer, I am hoping I'll be bathing suit ready by Memorial Day! Oh, and in case you are concerned, I get to eat an extra 500 calories a day since I am feeding Kellen. We are both getting plenty of yummy food!