Rhubarb Streusal Muffins

There was a lot of cooking and eating this weekend.  A lot.  I tried my best to take pictures of all of it, but by Monday I started slacking.  So there are no photos of the massive cookout that happened on Monday. 

(Someone is figuring out how tasty hands can be)

These muffins happened because for Jeff's birthday a strawberry rhubarb crisp was made.  I asked Jeff to pick up two cups of rhubarb from the store and two cups became two pounds.  So... we had a lot of rhubarb left over, enter these muffins. 

And I will say they are actually tasty, and I don't care for rhubarb.  But the rhubarb has a nice tang to the sweet muffins.  And they are topped with streusal, just like more desserts should. 

Spinach and Potato Hash

Sometimes it is nice to have breakfast for dinner, and this dinner is delicious, filling and not full of sugar like most breakfast items. 

I really liked this meal because I am loving anything with sausage or fennel seeds.  That flavor is just amazing. 

Awake baby

This past week Leland has become more alert and awake.  He smiles a couple times a day, usually in the morning.  I am trying to get one on camera but I am usually too late or the camera is not near me.  And he is sleeping better at night.  It is crazy to see how much he is changing and how quickly it can happen. 

He is also getting better at holding his head up, he really likes to do it when he is laying on your chest, versus on the floor during tummy time. He is also starting to use his arms to push himself up a bit when on his tummy. 

Craigslist

As I said yesterday I found this great deal on craigslist.  I am now an avid craigslist stalker.  I check it at least a couple times a day to see if there is anything worth while being sold, only baby related items though.  And the same day that I found the awesome deal on the BabyBjorn, I found an awesome deal on baby clothes.

All of this for 30 bucks!

95 pieces of clothing, 11 pairs of socks and 14 pairs of shoes.  All the clothing ranges from 6 months to 2T, with most of it being in the 12 month range.  This means with this lot and the items from the garage sales I am set on clothing for about a year.  I probably need a few more pieces of 6-9 month size but overall I am set.  I cannot believe the awesome deal I got on these clothes!  And I am happy that some of the shoes are soft sole for when he starts walking.

Baby Carriers

Leland loves to held most of the day, besides a little bit of play mat time and tummy time.  And he naps the best when he is sleeping on me, so insert baby carriers here.  Our friends let us borrow their moby wrap and I really like it but once I have to take him out (to eat or change) I have to re-wrap it before I can get him back in because it gets stretched out.  But it is really nice, comfortable and he loves it. 

(I did the actually wrapping on this, Jeff just stood there.  The moby can be a bit daunting at first if you don't know how to wrap it.)

But I was hoping to find a carrier with a bit more structure so I could easily take him in and out without having to re-wrap or adjust every time.  I figured this would be helpful for outings and traveling.  So I started watching craigslist like a hawk for a couple of days. And yesterday I found an awesome deal: a BabyBjorn Active for $20.  20 bucks!  I could not believe it (they are normally around $100), so I quickly responded to the post hoping I was the first and I was!

The lady I bought it from was super nice and made sure I understood how to use it and put it on before I left.  I am so excited about this purchase.  I also got another great craigslist deal, I will post about it tomorrow. 

The best thing about these carriers is that when I know he is tired (once he becomes fussy and has been fed recently) I just put him in one of these and he falls asleep within a couple of minutes.  Best way for him to nap and it allows me to do what I need to around the house.  Maybe someday he will actually sleep in a bed by himself for a nap or nighttime, maybe.  

Cloth Diapers

I am very glad I have finally figured out how to use these cloth diapers so that we don't have leaks.  It took me a bit of time to figure out which ones work best at night and which ones are best during the day. 

I use four types: FuzziBunz, BestBottoms, BumGenius and SunBabies. 
For us, SunBabies with two inserts work the best at night.  Especially now that Leland is really just peeing at night now, and he pees a lot, hence the double insert.  All the others work great during the day.  Bum Genius are great for when we go out since they are velcro and no snaps are involved. 

At first he wasn't big enough for them, then they fit but I wasn't setting them up right to fit perfectly and we were having lots of leaks.  It was very frustrating but I just kept trying different snap options until I finally found what worked best.  While I was still figuring out what worked best at night we had to use disposable for nights and cloth during the day.  But even disposables didn't solve the issue, we still had leaks. 

And so I am glad it has been figured out because the last couple of days we have had some impressively pooped filled diapers.  And I am almost positive that it would have been an exploding diaper if it have been a disposable one. 

And he looks super cute in them.

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

My current late night snack for when I wake up to nurse and my stomach is begging for some food. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/3 cup honey

1 egg

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups rolled oats, quick cooking

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

3/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup milk chocolate chips dark chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Beat first 5 ingredients until well blended.
3. Combine oats, sugar & salt; add to peanut butter mixture and mix until sticky batter forms (about 1 minute).
4. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Press into a 13" x 9" pan coated with cooking spray. Use a piece of wax paper to help press it into an even layer in the pan.
6. Bake 12-15 minutes. Cool completely and slice into bars.

Garage Sales

The past two weekends we have hit up garage sales in the area in hopes of finding baby clothes.  And we have!  Last weekend I found a good amount of clothes and a Little People farm set and a toy drum.  This weekend I got a massive stack of clothes (34 pieces to be exact) and a Little People airport set. 

Yesterday after going to a couple of garage sales, which will be a regular weekend event this summer, we went to the library and a Jazz festival in Five Points. 
Then in the evening a couple of friends came over for Jeff's birthday dinner. Pretty much we wore this little baby out.

And he was such a good baby for the day.  He usually sleeps when we are out which is very helpful.

One month

Leland is a month old today!  It is crazy to think a month has gone by, some of it seems to have sped past while other times have dragged.  But overall time is going by really fast. 

Chunky is still growing and eating a lot, he is currently working on some rolls in his upper thighs.  My guess is that he weighs 9.5 pounds from his rate of gaining weight and how much he last weighed. 

He has been working on smiling lately, yesterday I got a few smiles out of him while he was looking at me.  A couple of them were during a singing of "this is the song that never ends".  Usually he just smiles in his sleep but now they are actually him responding to my smile.  He also likes to do the half smile often. 

He still has not rolled over again but when he does tummy time he really rocks his hips back and forth.  He is getting better at holding his head up but no where near to doing it consistently.  He also is staying a awake more during the day, and starting to sleep longer periods at night, 3-4 hour stretches are becoming more common.  

And here he is at one month:

Summer of Reading

Since I am lucky to not have to work or go to school for the next three months I plan on doing an extreme amount of reading this summer (and maybe some exercise in there too).
Currently I am really into young adult fiction and have started three series and plan to finish them this summer. 
The series are Artemis Fowl, Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, and The Ranger's Apprentice. 
If you have any suggestions for a good summer read, let me know. 

Tummy Time Update

Yesterday during tummy time, Leland rolled onto his back twice! The first time I didn't believe what had happened so I put him back on his tummy and then soon enough he was back on his back.  After that I got the video camera ready but of course he did not want to do it again after that.  The second time it happened he was getting upset about the situation and then somehow managed to roll over and he was much happier.  I think he was in shock of what he did.  Hopefully soon, I will be able to get it on camera so I can post it. 

Heart Murmur

On Tuesday we had an appointment to check out Leo's heart murmur.  And the doctor said it is just a normal heart murmur that babies can have.  He was a very good baby during the appointment.  The doctor had them do an ultrasound on his heart and he just sat there for the 20 minutes staring at the ultrasound tech.  We have to go back in four months to make sure it has cleared up, which the doctor said 98% of murmurs do, so I am not concerned.

Also while we were there he was weighed and they checked his length.  He has gained another pound, that puts him at 8 lbs 13 oz and 20 inches long.  He is going to be a chunky monkey.  Here is a picture showing off his super cute man boobs and frog belly. 

First Bath

So last week sometime his cord stump fully came off which means we could give Leland a true bath.  Well that happened last night. 

He didn't care too much as long as I kept pouring warm water on him.  He did not like it when he got cold. 

And look at his super cute belly button. It is a nice deep one just like mine.

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful first mother's day thanks to Jeff.  He cooked up a meal of my choice which was clams and linguini, caprese salad, homemade french bread and caramel brownies.  It was all delicious. 

And in the afternoon we went to a brewery in Denver with some friends and I enjoyed a beer while Leland was a very good baby and slept for two hours.  He must have liked all the noise that was going on.

He has a concerned look on his face fairly often, I am thinking he is going to be a serious baby.

Cuddle baby

So Leo officially likes to be held all the time.  And I am perfectly fine with that but I do still need to eat and use the restroom and make sure the house is not a complete mess so it is difficult at times.  If I put him down he either wakes up or begins to cry and wants to eat.  I feel bad but I do need to grab breakfast or lunch occasionally.  This also means I smell bad a lot because showering has to work into when Jeff is home.  

Since he likes being held at all moments it means that while I am eating I tend to drop food on him a lot.  This also means he sleeps when I am holding him and at night he sleeps in the bed with us.  And it is so cute when I lay him down next to me and he immediately rolls onto his side so we are right next to each other face to face. I have to place rolled up blankets under his armpits so he stays on his back at night. 

So I need to learn how to do everything one handed or get better at putting on the baby carrier alone.  It has been really nice being at home. 

Nursing continues to get easier, but I still have yet to master the laying down position.  Once I get him latched and I start to slowly lay down he for some reason unlatches and it is hard to get him back on in that position.  I think this will become easier though as he gets older.  He also refuses to burp most of the time, but he doesn't seem to get upset after the fact so I eventually stop trying to get him to burp. 

We have officially started using cloth diapers.  I am still trying to figure out how to use them properly, it is hard that he is still a tad bit too small for some but I am forcing it to work.  But he looks so cute in them with his big booty. 

For Grandma Patty

There are also a few other videos on our YouTube site. 

Grammy and Poppy

Grammy and Poppy visited over the weekend to meet Leland.  We did a whole lot of nothing, which is really nice.  I am enjoying these lazy days of feeding and cuddles. 

Jeff went back to work today.  He missed his baby.  But I still won't be alone for another couple of days since my sister will be here Tuesday and Wednesday.  But come Thursday we are officially on our own.