Thursday, December 30, 2010

Meet Colt

My dear friend, Shelby Ann, had her baby boy last night.
Colt Ronald West arrived at 10:31pm on December 29th weighing 6lbs 13ozs and 20.5 inches.
He is a lucky little boy to have Shelby and Jake as his parents.

Love him already!


Sunday, December 26, 2010

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!
Hope you and your family had a great holiday.
Luke 2:11"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."


pictures taken by our sweet friend, Lindsey Fusch.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Ho, Ho, Ho...

Bentley finally got to sit on Santa's lap after fighting the crazy lines at Northpark.

At first he was fascinated by Santa and checked him out for awhile.
But then realized he was NOT daddy!

Hope you have a very Merry Christmas!






Friday, December 10, 2010

10 months!

I remember telling Ryan when Bentley was born what a fun age he was going to be at Christmas. I can't believe he is 10 months and it's weeks away from Christmas.

I feel like this stage is my favorite. Every week there is something new and exciting to report. I love calling Ryan at work and saying "Guess what Bentley just did...?" I probably take a zillion pictures on my phone and email him. He says it's the best part of his day.

I haven't really blogged about our routine and was thinking I probably should so I'll have it on record for the next kiddo. I'm sure by then this will all be a big blur. Routine should be my middle name because I love being on a schedule. I think that is why being a stay at home mom has worked out so well. I keep my days pretty busy and try to stay as organized as I can.
Here is what Bentley's been up too...

Food:

We officially stopped nursing at 9 months. It was such a relief and felt like a million pounds was lifted off my shoulders. It really wasn't sad because we were both ready. I still have a good supply of diary-free breast milk in the freezer that Bentley is still getting. All of the pumping days are coming handy. It all expires in 2 months so I'm determined to use it all before then! On that note, Bentley has upgraded to Soy Formula. He loves it and doing very well on it. He gets 28 ounces a day (four bottles of 7 oz milk). He loves his bottles. It's probably his favorite time of the day. At 1 year he needs to stop the bottle and start taking milk from a sippy cup...oh I think it might be traumatic! I started introducing the sippy cup with water at 6 months and I think he is getting used to it. Hopefully when the big 1 year comes he will be ready for the change. At this point, he is eating pretty much everything. Anything that is cut up really small or mussy. He's eating alot of puffs, cheerios and Mum-Mums these days. I'm such a worrier about choking. It's crazy to see as a mom how fast the "worrying issues" change. When he has born I worried he wasn't getting enough milk and now I'm worried he is going to choke. I guess I will be worrying the rest of my life. :)

-Breakfast: 7 oz bottle, 1 tablespoon of rice cereal, 4 ounces of purred fruit
-Lunch: 7 oz bottle, 4 oz purred vegetable
-Afternoon bottle: 7 oz bottle
-Dinner: Finger foods (meat and veggie), 1 tablespoon of rice cereal, 4 ounces of purred fruit
-Bedtime: 7 oz bottle
*(I was told to continue small amounts of rice cereal until 1 year for iron)

Sleep:

There isn't much to report other than Bentley LOVES to sleep. He has always been an excellent sleeper. He gets an A+ in this category! ;) He started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks and hasn't looked back since. He sleeps 11 hours and takes two 2 hour naps. Since he has become more mobile we lowered his crib to the lowest level and took out his bumper pad. He kept getting his hands and feet stuck between the bars the first few days but he's used to it now.

Rise n' Shine: 6:30am
Morning Nap: 8:00am- 10:00am
Afternoon Nap: 1:30pm-3:30pm
Bedtime: 7:30p

Play:

We moved the coffee table and the back den is officially the playroom. The toys have taken over! Bentley is pretty good playing by himself for a period of time but then gets bored easily. We always have to be doing something so I try to make playtime as fun as I can. He's loves the basketball. He is pulling up, rolling around, and army crawling. He is much more interested in walking than crawling. He is pushing his walker all around and loves holding onto the edge of the couch to walk back and forth. We have had a few major falls but I guess that goes with starting to walk. He is "talking" alot these days and trying to form words. He's defiantly got "daddy" and "ma-ma" down. I feel like everyday he is doing something new. I'm glad I get to be here to see it all.

Here are some random pictures taken the last few weeks.










Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Easy as 1, 2, 3...

I have the easiest dinner recipe I have to share for chili!
Literally, it takes 5 minutes to cook and so yummy!
And the fun part is you can change it up so many ways.

Ingredients:
1lb of ground beef
1 jar of chunky picante salsa (or whatever brand of salsa you like)
1 can of drained white corn
1 can of Del Monte diced tomatoes with garlic and onion
1 can of Bush kidney beans
1 can of Bush black beans

Directions:
Cook ground beef. Add all the ingredients including the cooked ground beef in a stockpot and let it cook through. Add salt and pepper and stir occasionally. You can add any spices you have. I added chili powder I had in my pantry. And I topped the chili with diced avocados. Or you could add shredded cheese on top if that sounds good. Any way you can't mess it up. The ingredients are super cheap and it made enough leftovers for 2 days.

Enjoy!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

lil walker

Bentley has started taking his first steps on his own. We are some proud parents!

my first sewing class!

check out the pillow i made (red and beige striped).
a girlfriend invited me to attend a sewing class and it was fun.
other than sewing on buttons i've never sewed in my life.

i was afraid to see the final product of my pillow.
but i think it's good enough to display in my front room. :)