Max the Raccoon & Caleb

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I'd like you to meet Max the Raccoon. I think Max is much like Pumpkin the Raccoon - cute, curious, and good tempered - so he's allowed in the house and around Caleb. In fact, he's been Caleb's friend since day 1. I know their friendship will continue over the years (or at least I hope so, Max is a such a cute stuffed animal).

Max was born at Hazel Village. I found out about Hazel Village through a blogger I follow (but for the life of me can't remember which one). I also noticed these cuties on our favorite photographer's site, Kristen Honeycutt. I knew when I had a baby, I would want one as well. 

Max took on a big assignment...to be the buddy to compare Caleb's growth. Max has taken this assignment seriously and has posed in photos for 16 weeks. After 16 weeks, he's agreed to do it for each month's birthday. He's a good sport.

To give you an idea, Max is just about 15 inches long. Caleb was born at 17.5 inches. 

Max also visited Caleb when he was born at the hospital - and helped snuggle the few days we were in the Special Care unit.

And he's just been around for snuggles...and nap time. What a pal! 

And here's Caleb growing next to Max.

It's darling to see how Caleb went from just lying there next to Max to hugging him at the end. It'll be fun to see him grow more! Yikes, it's going so fast. 

Daily Dinners: Spinach & Goat Cheese Pasta

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Surprise! I'm not doing a post about Caleb. I thought I'd go way back in time and bring back a Daily Dinner. Remember those? Yea, it's been awhile, and I'm sorry. I just ate this dish on Thursday and remembered I had photos already for a post. It was funny because I took the photos January 2015 (and nope, that's not a typo on the year). So it's taken me over a year to get to this post. The good news is, I think you'll like it. It's quick and easy - so quick and easy, in fact, that a mom with a 4 month old baby can manage it (part of it was with him in the Ergo carrier because he didn't want to nap). So here we go...

Technically, the name of this dish is Caramelized Shallot, Spinach and Goat Cheese Garlic Butter Pasta. However, that's a mouthful and too long for a blog title.

If you put either caramelized or brown butter in something, I'm immediately drawn to it. This recipe has both. Don't let the butter scare you if you're trying to keep things light - in my opinion, it's not a lot of butter and it just adds a deliciousness to the dish. Also, this has my favorite cheese in it: goat cheese! And the topping on the cake...it comes together in 30 minutes. Boom! Dinner is served.

It requires a few different pots to happen, but other than that the clean-up isn't too bad. First put the pot on for the pasta, then get the caramelized onions going, and the last one to start is the browned butter. Then you stir it all together and you have a delicious, quick, healthy meal.

Caramelized Shallot, Spinach & Goat Cheese Butter Pasta

Recipe adapted from How Sweet It Is

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1/2 pound pasta (about 1/2 a box of pasta)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 shallots, sliced
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons brown sugar
  • 12 ounces fresh spinach
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 3.5 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
  • 2 sausage links or a few pieces of bacon, chopped into bite sized pieces (optional)*
  • Parmesan cheese for topping
  • A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Bring water to a boil for pasta and prepare according to directions. (Keep in Mind: You'll want to save about 1/2 cup of the pasta water before you dump it!).
  2. While the water is coming to a boil, heat a large skillet over low heat and add olive oil. Add the shallots and salt, stirring to coat. Cover and cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the brown sugar and cook for 3-5 minutes more. Be sure that the pasta is cooking by this time.
  3. Add the spinach to the skillet with the shallots and toss. Stir continuously until the spinach is wilted, about 3-5 minutes. 
  4. Heat a small saucepan over medium heat and add the butter. Whisk frequently until the butter begins to brown. The minute you see brown bits appear in the bottom of the skillet, remove it from heat and whisk for another 15 seconds. Add the garlic powder to the brown butter and give it a good stir.  
  5. Strain the pasta from the water when it's done cooking, and dump the pasta back into it's pot. When straining, keep about 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Add the spinach and shallot mixture to the pasta along with the garlic brown butter.
  6. In the pot that you used for the spinach and shallots, cook up some sausage or bacon (or whatever meat you'd like). Once cooked, dump it into the pasta pot as well. You can skip this step if you want to keep it vegetarian. 
  7. Crumble the goat cheese into the pasta and stir. Add the pasta water to loosen it up until you reach your desired consistancy. Sprinkle with the crushed red pepper if you want some kick and some parmesan cheese. Serve it up! 

* For the sausage I like Trader Joe’s Garlic Herb Chicken Sausage or Al Fresco Roasted Garlic sausage (from Safeway)

Joining the Mom Club

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I feel pretty darn privileged to join the mom's club this year with Caleb's arrival. I had no idea what being a mom would feel like, but it's the best. thing. ever. My heart bursts with the love I have for Caleb. I can't imagine my life without him now. In fact, I can hardly remember not having him. If I am driving around without him (Josh watching him as I run an errand, for instance), I keep looking back in the mirror to check on him. I also have picked up this rocking motion, which I'll do even if I'm not holding him. And you know what, if he splits up or poops on me, I am actually okay with it (ok, so the latter only if I know he's hurting from tummy aches). I just can't believe how the love keeps growing every day.

Even though I feel like the greatest gift is just to be Caleb's mom, I still got treated royally for Mother's Day. (Am I getting mushy enough for you?). My in-laws were in town, so I got to celebrate with my mother-in-law, too. It was a wonderful day! 

It started with a banana muffin and french press coffee (yea, yea...I made the muffins). Then we went to church, which was a big thing on it's own actually. It was the day we did Caleb's Baby Dedication. I'll do a separate post on this later once I have more photos (my father-in-law took them and is going to share them with me soon). So for now I only have this photo with Caleb eating my arm.

After church, we enjoyed brunch at Tilikum Place Cafe. I had the best dutch baby pancakes - savory ones with broccoli, bacon, and Beecher's cheese. Yum! Josh was a good Dad and took Caleb out at the beginning when Caleb was crying/fussy. He got Caleb to fall asleep and brought him back inside...and Caleb slept the rest of the meal. Yay! 

While at brunch, we opened gifts. I got a gift certificate for a massage from Josh (oh yea baby! my shoulders/neck are KILLING me from lifting Caleb and the car seat). I got this very cool multi-use nursing cover from my in-laws plus some macarons. Caleb got me a cute t-shirt with a mama elephant with a baby elephant. I just loved all the cards, too.

We made a pit-stop at home and then went shopping at U-Village. I was gifted some cute things from my favorite store, Evereve. Here's us at the mall.

We ended the day with take-out from Tigerly Ox since this mama didn't want to cook. Not to mention, I love Bun. Oh, and I got my super favorite pumpkin cookies for dessert. SO GOOD. This was from a friend who was visiting Eugene and brought them back from Palace Bakery for us...isn't that the nicest! 

I couldn't ask for a better day. I felt so special! And Happy Mother's Day to all my mother friends out there. xoxo

Caleb's 4 Month Update

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Here I go again with my time complex. I just can't get over how fast time is going by. Someone told me that by having a child I just speed up time by at least 2x. I believe it. 

Anyway, are you ready for photo palooza? I must say Caleb is a pretty patient guy with all the photos I take. Although, he is now very interested in my iPhone cover and stops whatever cute thing he is doing to stare or grab at it. Sigh. Sometimes I grab my regular camera now since he doesn't recognize it as much. 

Let's get to it...

Gosh, I have so many ways to show how old he is - blocks, stickers, his friend Max the Raccoon (more on Max soon).

Now that we're at four months old, I think I'm going to stop with thing the weekly photo thing. When I was out and about the other day, another mama told me her baby was 32 weeks the other day. As a mama myself, I keep track of the weeks, but when you get so high up its hard to really know what that number really means. I end up trying to do math in my head - "well, if I divide that by four, I'll roughly get somewhere near how many months that baby is" - but who wants to do that. So, I think I'll just do months from here on out...

Over the past four months, here's what we picked up on Caleb's personality / life...

He is a Curious Guy

He gets this little mischievous look that is the cutest. Lately he loves to poke is head out from the Ergo carrier to look at the world. He's interested in leaves, lights, faces...it's all new and he's totally curious about it.  

He's very Playful

It's amazing how much more alert he is now. He loves playtime. We have a activity matt and he just rolls around on it and grabs at the toys. He is also starting to teeth a bit so anything and everything goes into his mouth. Oh, and he's ticklish! I love to be the Kiss Monster and I kiss his belly and sides and he just laughs so much...I love it! 

Our little Snuggler

He loves snuggling. This he gets from his mama. We're snugglers. Wrap us up in a blanket and we're happy.

Enjoys the Outdoors

Now he's more curious and alert, the outdoors are fun! Here's something you non-baby friends should know: when you have a baby, you'll suddenly go on many, many more walks. I would like to thank Seattle for the sunny weather and less rainy spring this year. 

Cute as a Button

When Caleb was born, I saying he was a little button. The nickname has stuck: button. We think he's just cute as a button (yes, buttons are cute).

Already Making Friends

With PEPS and some other mama friends I've made, Caleb has some good baby friends. Oh, and Asha is a friend too. She likes to give him kisses in the face and his feet. 

There you have it. Four months. A quarter of a year. Ah, crazy! I love this guy so much!

Insta-Caleb

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I know I've said it before, but I really can't help myself. I take photos of Caleb everyday. My photo stream on my devices (phone/laptop) is exploding. But I ask you this: how can you not take photos of this little guy? 

I want to capture everything - his smiles, his feet, his laughs, even his cries. I know in a few years I'm going to want to look back at these magical moments. Heck, I'm already looking back at his newborn photos. I'm sappy like that. I now cry at Hallmark commercials...okay, it hasn't gotten that far...yet. 

Rather than letting the photos sit on my computer to be seen only by me, I have been sharing many of them on Instagram. Correction: I have been sharing a LOT of them on Instagram. I want to be sensitive to my Instagram followers and not post too many, but it's really all I take photos of these days. #sorrynotsorry. But before you stop following me, hear me out. I have a purpose for all this baby posting (besides the memories I just mentioned). I want to make a book at the end of the year. Yup, you can do that. I am probably going to use either Blurb or Artifact Uprising. They both have tools to make Instagram books. I think this will be pretty cool to have to remember our first year with Caleb. 

So please bear with me and all the Caleb photos, or if this sounds exciting to you to see then start following me on Instagram. Below is just a snapshot of my Instagram photo stream. Yup, 6 out of 9 photos are Caleb. ;) I hope you find the photos cute at least! 

What I'm Watching

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One thing in our life that has changed with having a baby is that it takes 2-3 days for us to watch a movie. That's right, no more watching a movie all in one sitting - either we get interrupted or we get tired. This is our new normal. However, this makes TV shows perfect for us since they generally are shorter and we can usually get through a whole episode at once! #smallvictories. Here's what we've (or just me) have been watching lately. 

Gilmore Girls

I love love love this show. I started it when Caleb was a few weeks old. It become my nursing TV show. You just fall in love with the characters and the small town, Stars Hallow. It's so warm and fuzzy. Also, did you know Melissa McCarty is in it? I didn't realize it until I started the first episode. Ha! I have only a few episodes left before it's all over...tear. Luckily, I hear there is a revival of the show coming later this year. Hurray!

Fresh off the Boat

This is one Josh and I watch together (nope, he doesn't watch Gilmore Girls. I know, huge surprise). There are quite a few 90s references that make us chuckle - and other good humor in the show as well. It's light and fun, so it's easy to watch and doesn't take much brain power (you need these kinds of shows). 

Parenthood

Apparently I like any show with Lauren Graham in it (just kidding, I just looked on IMBD and some of it looks pretty bad, but she scores high points for this and Gilmore Girls). This show is heart warming, and the family and events are so relatable - sometime too real life, really. Josh even watches this one - score! I saw this trivia on the IMDB description: "In almost every episode, someone makes pancakes or waffles." Now that I think about it, it's true...love it.

Here's some other shows...

Check out some of my past TV watching posts: Couch TV, On our TV, and Jolly Good British TV.

Now tell me, what are you watching these days? Any recommendations? Do tell! 

8 Perfect Days: Babymoon - St. Augustine

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I've told you about Charleston and Savannah, so let me wrap up our babymoon adventure with our final stop: St. Augustine.

We took the A1A Highway down from Savannah, which was longer but more scenic. It was a beautiful drive. We saw the landscape slowly change to a more beachy feel.

We thought St. Augustine had a distinct feel than that of Savannah & Charleston. For instance, it was definitely a more tropical climate. Also, as far as the history goes, Charleston and Savannah had the history integrated into the town, but St. Augustine was more preserved and really honed in on the "we're the oldest city" tourism thing. We still enjoyed it, but if you twisted my arm and forced me to list the cities in order of how much we liked them, I would have to say: Savannah, Charleston, and then St. Augustine. We're glad we went and did enjoy our time there. Let me share...

What we Did

  • Castillo de San Marcos - Being history buffs, we both enjoyed touring the fort and learning it's story. Apparently, it's the oldest fort in the US (also of note: St. Augustine touts itself as the oldest US city as well). I found all the various occupants of the fort/town interesting - first it was the Spanish, then the British came along. Then Spanish returned and then ultimately the Americans settled. Visiting this helped us learn about the city's past and I would recommend a stop when in town.
  • St. George Street - This is the main street in town with stores, restaurants, and some historic sites. It's a nice stroll, but it has some hokey shops so we didn't really buy anything along the way. 
  • Aviles Street - This is the artsy street in town with galleries and shops. It also says it's the oldest street in the US. We walked along this street in the morning, and I enjoyed the quaintness of it. 
  • St Augustine Distillery - Yes, I know, this is a odd (almost cruel, in my opinion) place for a pregnant lady to go but we enjoyed our visit. We got a nice tour - learning about how they make their spirits and also how it went from an ice manufacturing plant to a distillery. At the end of the tour, they did a tasting of some of their spirits (I smelled them). Funny enough, this was our favorite activity in St. Augustine. 

Where we Ate

  • Catch 27 - We really enjoyed our dinner here - it was chill and fresh. I would highly suggest going here if you visit. I had the rustic flounder and Josh had their fish tacos. We finished it off with a yummy key lime pie.
  • Kookaburra Coffee - OMG, I loved this coffee. I had never heard of an Aussie coffeeshop, but that's what it is and they got me hooked on the pumpkin & honey badger lattes (yes, we went more than once). I might return to St. Augustine just for their lattes.
  • The Floridita - Oh sad, Yelp is saying this place has closed. We really enjoyed it, so that's a big bummer. We had a pleasant lunch on the patio before we left (and ended our trip, tear). Check my instagram photo! 
  • The Bunnery - We had breakfast here and honestly it was alright - nothing to write home about. We got the green chili burrito & egg sandwich, which I where I think we went wrong. I think the thing to get here is the baked goods. Next time, I would totally get something like a biscuit or some pancakes. 
  • The Hyppo - These were perfect on a hot, tropical day. They had some unusual and delicious flavored popsicles. Of course, I got the pumpkin pie flavor (it was October...it makes sense). 

Where we Stayed

This was the only stop on our trip where we didn't use AirBnB. We just couldn't find a good and affordable place on it. Instead we stayed at a traditional hotel - crazy talk, I know. The Casa Monica Hotel was very pretty and fit St. Augustine perfectly. It was very grand feeling and nicely located in the center of town - we could walk everywhere! It was a nice place to say and put our feet up at the end of the day.

And that was our final stop on our babymoon. This was such a memorable trip for us. We often reflect back on it now. And although babymoons sound trendy and silly, I would totally recommend couples take a trip (even if it's a short, nearby trip) before their first kiddo. It was so necessary to have this quality time with Josh before Caleb arrived - and I suggest this even more now that Caleb is here. 

Sigh, good times, good memories...

8 Perfect Days: Babymoon - Savannah

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I am majorly behind. I don't know if I told you this, but I was planning on taking the week before my due date off from work. I had grand plans for getting some posts written up and doing some other this-and-that's around the house. Well, surprise, Caleb came early and I didn't get to any of it. But now I realize I have a backlog of things to share - some are pretty old now, but I figured it would still be worth sharing. 

For starters, I never finished sharing our babymoon trip. I wrote an overview of the trip and shared the Charleston part of the trip. However, we also went to Savannah and St. Augustine. Would you like to hear back those places, too? Okay, good! Because I have been thinking about this trip a lot lately. I just finished up the lotion I bought and have been wearing a t-shirt from the trip, which keeps reminding me of our adventures. So many good memories. Let me tell you about Savannah!

Savannah was charming. Compared to Charleston we felt it was more approachable and we loved how it was old meets new. We enjoyed all the squares throughout the town as well. We even meet the major of Savannah, Edna Jackson, as we roamed the city. This was our favorite stop of the trip. I would highly recommend visiting!

What we Did

  • Carolina Cider Company - We made a pit stop here on our way from Charleston to Savannah. We're so glad we stopped! They had yummy cider and local goodies. Worth a stop for sure.
  • Beaufort - This was another stop as we traveled to Savannah. It was a quintessential Southern Lowcountry town with cute shops and a nice waterfront. We found these piers not from from town that went out to the water, which were pretty cool (see top row in photo collage). We didn't stay long, but we enjoy a stroll around town and lunch at Lowcountry Produce Market & Cafe. I got a t-shirt at a cute shop, Scout Market, that says Deep South which is great to lounge in right now.
  • Forsyth Park - If you've read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil this park might sound familiar. It's a lovely park in Savannah with moss draped trees, a fountain, and beautiful houses/mansions (see middle row of photo collage). We walked through this several times and really enjoyed it. There was also a wedding one evening that we really wanted to crash!
  • River Street - This is just as it sounds, a street along the river. It had some hokey shops, but it was fun to see the water. Not worth a ton of time, but we enjoyed a quick jaunt through in the morning before everything else was open.
  • City Market and Design District - This is the part of town with cute stores and artsy things. I could have done some serious shopping damage at Terra Cotta, but managed to limit myself to one top. There was an Anthro type store called Paris Market and Savannah Bee Company (buzz yum!).
  • Free Savannah Tours - Josh and I really enjoy tours as it helps you learn the history of the city and see things you may not have found on your own. Daniel took us around town and gave a great introduction to Savannah. We started at Johnson Square and went to a a bunch of places - Oglethorpe Square, Gordon Square, Owens Thomas House, Colonial Cemetery, Lafayette Square, Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Andrew Low House (Juliet Gordon Low) - and then ended at the Chippewa Square which is the bench scene of Forrest Gump.
  • Bonaventure Cemetery - This is a bit outside of the downtown area, but worth a trip. I know it's weird to visit a cemetery, but it was so cool. It's exactly what you think of when you think of a old, mysterious Gothic cemetery in the South. I took a ton of photos - old gravestones with moss draping. 
  • Tybee Island - This is where folks must go to hit up an afternoon at the beach. Too bad for us because we didn't have bathing suits. We were hoping for a bit more of a cute town, but it was more like corny shops with junky souvenirs. We did enjoy a walk on the beach, fun seafood lunch, and seeing some beach houses though.

Where we Ate

  • The Grey - Although it's a tough call, this was probably our favorite meal of the trip. The restaurant ambiance and decor was super neat - it was an old Greyhound Bus Station. We sat next to a lovely couple and chatted for a bit. We got some delicious food including Spicy Roasted Eggplant, Seafood Boudin, Roasted Chicken, Smashed New Potatoes, and ended with an Apple & Pear Fruit Crisp.
  • Foxy Loxy Cafe - This was near our AirBnB and we enjoyed a breakfast and afternoon snack here. They had horchata lattes and kolaches. I bought a t-shirt here and have been wearing it as a PJ top and brings back good memories.
  • Flying Monk Noodle Bar - We were roaming around town, hungry on our first night in Savannah. I did some Yelping and found this awesome place. These noodles were sooooo good. I had the Na Na Noodles and Josh enjoyed the Five Spiced Pork and Rice. It was a nice change of pace from all the Southern food, too.
  • Byrd Cookies - These little gems are worth a stop. They are crunch little cookies and we bough several bags to take home. I can't decide which were my favorite, pumpkin spice or key lime. Hmmm.
  • Leopold’s Ice Cream - We had a nice afternoon pick-me-up here and shared a scoop together (flavors: pumpkin spice & honey almond). It's a classic ice cream parlor with tons of flavors. You could tell it was popular with the non-stop line out the door, but it was worth it.
  • Blue Door - This was another place near our AirBnB and we shared nutella & strawberry waffles and had brown sugar lattes. Good, but if I had know about Back in the Day Bakery I may have skipped this place and gone there twice instead. And yes, it had a blue door.
  • Back in the Day Bakery - This was such a cute bakery. In fact, my notes from the trip say, "cute, cute cute!" And delicious! Great baked goodies like banana muffins and biscuits. The coffee was great as well. 
  • Collins Quarter - We enjoyed a nice afternoon coffee to get a rest from all our walking. The food looked good, but we just enjoyed some tasty beverages.
  • Local 11 Ten - This is where we celebrated Josh's birthday. I tried to get reservations for The Grey for his birthday, but they were closed that day. This place was good for sure, but compared to all the other great food on the trip it wasn't our very favorite. We enjoyed the tasso-rubbed pork loin with creamed carolina rice & bussels sprouts, beef bourguignon, mac n cheese, and then topped it all off with an after dinner drink on roof top porch (Josh did at least, remember I was preggo - sadly no cocktails for this lady, such a shame).
  • Cotton and Rye - And this is where we should have gone for Josh's birthday dinner. We were kicking ourselves afterwards. We decided to get dessert somewhere other then Local 11 Ten for Josh's birthday treat and landed here randomly (thanks Yelp). It had only been opened three months, but we loved the atmosphere and food. We sat outside on the patio and devoured the banana white chocolate bread pudding. Good memories.

Where we Stayed

We stayed in a historic Suite AirBnB, which was quite nice. It had a comfy bed, a spacious bathroom, and a kitchenette. It was pretty walkable to the downtown - although, it wasn't crazy crazy close, but if a pregnant lady can do it then so can you. ;) Check out the video tour...

Savannah Historic Suite Tour

Caleb's 3 Month Update

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Snap...that's how quickly these first three months have gone - just a snap of the fingers. It's been such an awesome three months and it's incredible how much Caleb has grown and developed.

The growth is unreal. It's been so cool to see him grow and grow. 

You know I love taking photos, so I tried to narrow some down a bit. Here's a look at the last three months...

Spending time with mama and papa.

Caleb is developing so much!

We see him sticking out his tongue (he'll mimic you if you stick your tongue at him, too), Lifts his feet into the area, sucking his fist, getting some good head lift and control, trying really hard to roll over form back to tummy (we got the tummy to back roll down, though!), and grabbing everything.

Hanging with Friends.

We've been going on lots of fun walks with other mama and baby friends. Luckily the Seattle weather has been pretty good lately, too! We also joined PEPS (a new parent's support group) and Caleb has met a bunch of there baby friends.

Being Goofy!

Look at Caleb do the superman core exercise pose! He also likes to chill next to mama as she's on her computer in the morning.

Smiles and Giggles!

Yup, he laughs out loud now. He also coos and gurgles in conversation. But nothing melts my heart as much as his smile. 

And now we move towards 4 months - ahhhhh!

P.S. I post a lot of photos on Instagram. If you want to see him more, follow me - I'm hjoneill. 

Spring Visitors

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Now that Caleb is here, I think my parents will be visiting more often - yay! My mom got a Seattle raincoat so she's all set. If it comes between rain vs. Caleb, Caleb wins. Those San Diegans, I tell you (ha, I say that like I wasn't born & raised there - shh don't tell anyone). 

It's amazing how much he's grown since my parent's first visited Caleb. Back then he was 3 weeks. This time around he was 10 weeks. The difference is crazy! He pretty much doubled in size and was totally more aware and alert. So for this visit, we got to get out and about much more. 

This time Aunt Lindsay came along as well, so we had the whole O'Neill family together. Here's all of us...

I love spring especially when the cherry blossoms are in bloom. We enjoyed the cherry blossoms at University of Washington. Apparently, it's a thing here to go to the UW quad and see the trees. I was my first time going since moving to Seattle, and it didn't disappoint. They grow all over Seattle, but when there are a bunch of them together it so pretty. I think the O'Neill clan enjoyed the flowers, too.

Of course, we took some photos of ourselves with the cherry blossoms. We didn't want to take Caleb out of his car seat/stroller as it was pretty chilly outside. My sister kindly held a flower up to the seat, though, so we got a photo of him with the flowers.

We also went down to Georgetown and took a Taste & Tour at Fran's Chocolates. They first took us in the back where we got to see all the chocolate in the making. They were hard at work with Easter chocolates. We even got to see Fran herself in action (see the lady in the black jacket below, that's Fran). My favorite was watching the lady make the chocolate eggs. She hand designed each egg, which is amazing. Check out my video of her pouring the chocolate and making the design. Then they did a little tasting of 5-6 different chocolates. Needless to say, we weren't too hungry for lunch afterwards. 

Of course there was a rainy day and we had to go indoors. We headed over to Mohai to learn about the history of Seattle. There was also a hip hop special exhibit. 

There was some good eats, too. We enjoyed some tasty meals at Little Water Cantina, Giddy up, and Cascina Spinasse (one of my favs!).

Good fun, good food, good family. Life is good! 

Every Morning is Easter Morning

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Every morning is Easter morning from now on... (hear it here)

This song is forever ingrained in my memory from my childhood church. I totally remember driving around with my parents and they would belt this song out. It wasn't Easter without it. Naturally, I find myself singing it today. It's the only Easter song that I can think of actually, which is funny because there are tons of Christmas songs. Isn't Easter just-as important (nay, more important!) of a holiday than Christmas? If you know any good Easter songs, let me know! 

Anyway, it was a good Easter here in Seattle. It was special for us since it was our first Easter with Caleb. He was handsome in his little Easter outfit. I can't wait until he can go on Easter egg hunts - his mom loved Easter egg hunts as a child.

We started with church this morning. We got into our Sunday best...

And then we enjoyed some tasty food. I made a mini Easter feast for us. We had Whole Foods glazed ham, scalloped potatoes, brown butter roasted asparagus, deviled eggs, cardamon rolls (from Byen Bakeri), and carrot cake oatmeal cookies for dessert. And because I'm crazy, and had more shredded carrots from the cookies, I made carrot-spiced oatmeal muffins for tomorrow morning.  Boom...Easter feasting. 

In other words, this Easter we dressed up, went to church, sang, cooked, and ate. Pretty good Easter if you ask me!

A Onesie - Then and Now

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I took some photos of Caleb today - ok, I admit, that's everyday. But today I got to put him in short sleeves since it's so sunny and (somewhat) warm today. I picked the "Heart in Seattle" onesie. Remember it? Yup, the very one we used to announce the pregnancy. 

It's so crazy to think back to the onesie before we knew Caleb. Oh sure, I knew a baby was on the way, and it was real (to a certain extent), but now it's very, very real...he's wearing it!

I was talking to another mama this morning, and we were saying how weird it is to think back to being pregnant and the little baby in front of us was the little being kicking and making all the fussy. Now, they are here in front of us. Blows my mind!

Well, that's all I wanted to share. Just so neat to see him finally wearing the onesie we bought last year. 

Capturing Caleb in Photos

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I wanted to share some of the photos we had of Caleb as a newborn. We had Kristen Honeycutt come over and take some beautiful shots of our little man and our family when he was just two weeks old. You may recall Kristen did our wedding photos and my maternity photos. Basically, she's now our family photographer - haha. She really does a great job!

Before I share, I want to spout out some thoughts on photos. I really think they are made for sharing, hence one of the reasons for my blog. I hate that so many photos sit there on your computer and/or phone and never get shared; it's just such a shame. Although, one problem with photo sharing is you don't want to share too many photos or you'll start to bore the person. Are you with me? I could look at photos of me or relate to me all day, but if you're an outsider it can get get sorta blah looking at other people's photos for too long. It's a fine line. 

One thing I hope to do is to make a book at the end of the year to capture our little man's growth and development. Then put it out on the coffee table for visitors to just flip through. I always like that when I go to someone's house and see a photo book. I might also do this with Instagram, so I'm sorry (but not all that sorry) about all the baby photos I've been posting there lately. 

Anyway, I'll stop blabbing and start sharing. Hopefully you enjoy these photos as much as I do!

Gosh this little guy melts my heart!

Caleb at 2 Months

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It's hard to put words to our life now that we have a baby. It's surreal, really. Josh and I look at each other sometimes and say, "we have a baby!" It really blows my mind; all in the most wonderful way possible, though. 

Caleb just turned two months last Saturday. Can you believe it?! It feels like time has been both crazy fast and super slow. It's hard to think that Caleb only just joined us eight weeks ago.

Now that Caleb is here, our (especially my) everyday has done a 180. Folks aren't kidding when they say everything changes. 

Here's a bit of what I do each day:

Tummy Time - I try to get Caleb on his tummy for a little bit each day. It's supposed to help them gain neck & shoulder strength. His favorite part is looking in the mirror. It's too cute! He's able to lift his head up and turn from side to side. Pretty soon he'll stop being a boggle head and have total head control! Oh, and as you can see, Asha always wants to join in the fun, too.

Grocery Store - This isn't everyday, but once a week we head out for groceries. I've tried putting the car seat in the cart, but then that leaves no room for the food. Then I tired the stroller with a basket, but the basket get's too heavy. Next time I'll try the Ergo carrier. Livin' and learnin'. 

Naps - Caleb is a good sleeper (so far & knock on wood). I need to be a better napper (as in actually take a nap). Caleb is the cutest when he naps - his arms usually like to flail out into different positions (often up by his head). He looks so angelic & peaceful when he sleeps.

Walks - We tried to get outside each day, so long as it's not pouring rain. Usually we can find a break in the weather. Caleb, Asha, and I all go strolling together for fresh air.

Cook - Sometime between feedings and naps, I have been finding a way to prepare dinner. I even baked a few times and experimented with some new foods like ricotta cheese and english muffins. Boom, the baker is still in the kitchen. 

Mama Time - I have some friends that have kids/babies, so I try to meet up with friends during the week as well. We might get coffee or go for a walk. It's nice to get sometime with other mamas. And coffee is a MUST.

Watch TV - I have been binge watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix while Caleb nurses. I hadn't seen it before, and just love the show. It's perfect for those 2am nursing times with Caleb. I'm also watching Harry Potter movies, Ina Garter, and various other shows. Caleb doesn't seem so sure about the one I was watching in the photo below (it was Alton Brown).

Laundry - This is less exciting, but it's something I do way more often now. Babies produce a lot of dry clothes! Sorry, no picture - didn't think you'd want to see dirty clothes. 

Faces - I can just sit there and look at Caleb. I could do it for hours if I didn't have anything else to do. He makes the funniest expressions, but his smile it what melts my heart. The past week we really have seen a personality start to show. We love to sit down and make faces at each other...it's the best.

There you have it...life with Caleb at 2 months. Time just keeps moving along - it's crazy!

Baby Stories: Caleb's Birth

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Here I am again. Finally. Everyday I say to myself, "today is the day I'll get to a blog post." But then I get distracted by diapers, feedings, crying, tummy time, groceries, dinner, dog walks, dinner prep...you get the idea. 

So, today I'm going to share some more about little Caleb. I promise this blog isn't going to just become a Baby Caleb blog, but it will certainly include much, much more about him. Think about it...my life basic centers around the little man now 24/7 (watch this video, #worldstoughestjob). I totally understand now why mom's Facebook and Instagram accounts are all photos of their babies/kids (Exhibit A: my Instagram is all Caleb these days. #SorryNotSorry). You are constantly with them; its just the two of you, plus you are in love with the him/her, so what else do you do but take photos. Lots and lots of photos. I just counted the photos in my photo library and it's 1,010. That's just two months of his life. I think I'll need to get a new computer or external hard drive at this rate. 

Today I'm going to rewind and tell you a bit about the day Caleb was born. I'll keep it PG, don't worry, and do the abridged version. My full version is probably pages long since for me it was probably the craziest day of my life. 

It all started at dinner on New Year's Day - I was 37 weeks & 5 days pregnant. We were eating at The Ballard Annex when I started to feel some cramps. I remembered my mom mentioning contractions feeling like cramps. But I thought to myself this is way too early for labor, these must be false contractions (but secretly I started to freak out just a bit inside). I mentioned it to Josh and he (also secretly freaking out inside) asked if there was any pattern. I couldn't tell, so I tried to start to track it to see. 

When we got home, we packed our hospital bag and put in the car seat...just in case. These were things we were planning to do that weekend, but the "cramps" motivated us a bit more. The "cramps" didn't stop by 10pm, and I thought there may have been a chance that my water broke earlier that day, so I called the on-call doctor. She wasn't sure of my status from the call, so they had me go into the hospital.

They assessed my situation and determined that I was having slight contractions, but they could go away and I could not have the baby for a few days or if he did come it wouldn't be until at least a full day away. So they sent me home with a shot to help with contractions and let me sleep better.

I woke up around 3am shaking uncontrollably, so we headed back in. Again, they assessed and said I was only 1 cm dilated and it wouldn't be at least until the following evening. But, they let me sleep there for a bit to get some rest. 

Around 7am, we were out of the hospital again and headed home. I was still having contractions, but they were bareable so we made a stop at the coffee shop for a latte and treat. When we got home, I just chilled on the couch ready to deal with a long labor.

Then at 11am the glider chair delivery guys called saying they were on their way. I headed to the bedroom to get out of the way since they chair was going to be in the living room. As they were delivering it, my water broke. Then the pain hit me. Josh dealt with the chair and we were on our way to the hospital - for reals - this time. 

The drive to the hospital felt like an eternity but really only took 5 minutes (thank goodness the Ballard bridge wasn't up as that would have been disastrous). As we walked to the Labor & Delivery center, I paused on the skybridge bracing myself - omg, this is pain. I was in another world, and Josh had to convince me to keep moving. But we made it to the center and I was ready. Yup, I was ready to deliver the little man pretty much as soon as we arrived. 

We were rushed to a room and things started (skipping details to keep this PG). I asked for an epidural - please, oh please - but apparently it was too late to be any good. WHAT?! So, yea, no epidural my friends and an hour later - at 12:39pm on 1/2 to be exact - Caleb was in my arms. 

First Days at the hospital

Caleb was born a happy, healthy, little baby at 5 Ib, 5.9 oz. The next day was pretty routine, but when it came time to start the discharge process there was a hiccup. Caleb failed the car seat test - required for smaller, early babies. Apparently his heart rate dipped a few times while in the car seat. This turned into a four hour monitoring of him in the car seat, which resulted in more heart rate dips coupled with some dips in oxygen. 

We were transferred to the Special Care nursery to investigate the issue. Monitors were hooked up and we spent the next couple days running tests and Caleb on 24 hour monitoring. By Wednesday, things were looking much better, and it was determined it was just him being a wee bit premie. He passed the car seat test, and by Wednesday evening we were home sweet home. 

Days in the Special Care Nursery

We walked into the house after five days in the hospital and looked at each other and said, "now what!?" We have a baby! Ahhh!

First days at home

A Few Firsts for Caleb

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The blog is alive! Sorry I've been MIA, but I think I have a fairly good excuse...I just had a baby. It's a under statement when they tell you that having a baby is a lot of work. It's one thing to hear it and another to experience it. But, it's worth it! 

Now, I'm left wondering where did January went and how can it already be February? I'll chalk it up to the baby time warp. Yup, baby time warp. I have discovered that there is this time warp with babies. It seems you have all the time in the world, but really you have no time at all. You just get sucked in and suddenly time has zipped past. I've been told by friends with kids that the days are long, but the years are fast. I can totally understand now.

So it comes as no surprise that Caleb is already a month old - 6 weeks tomorrow, actually! It's been an exciting, wonderful, tiring, <insert every emotion you can think of> month. Let me share some of it with you...

Caleb's first day in this world, January 2nd.

Caleb's first bath (at the hospital).

Bringing Caleb home from the hospital.

Caleb meets his grandparents.

Our first family walk including Asha!

Here's a few firsts - starting top left and going across. (1) Our first outing from the house. We went to Vif for breakfast. (2) My first shopping trip with Caleb. (3) Caleb's first church service. (4) His first burrito at Gorditos, which has a special "baby burrito" that size of your newborn. (5) Caleb first meets Asha. (6) My first time wearing Caleb with the Ergo carrier.

Some of Caleb's first visitors (unfortunately I don't have pictures of some of our other visitors - boo). Plus, our first visit to co-workers. 

Caleb's first smile and first time noticing himself in a mirror. And a tummy time photo for fun.

The first month flew by! 

Welcome Baby Caleb

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I would love to introduce to you our son, Caleb. You might recall my due date being mid-January...well, he decided to join this world a bit early on Saturday, January 2nd, taking both Josh and I a bit by surprise. We were released from the hospital on Wednesday after a few days in the special care nursery due to some heart rate concerns. Fortunately, he proved to be healthy and we headed home to start our new life as a family.

Now, he is already a week old - can you believe it?! Josh and I are still settling down and figuring out the parenting thing, but Caleb has already captured our hearts. 

I'll share more details with you soon since writing a whole post right now is probably not going to happen given I keep starting a task and only halfway completing it and/or falling asleep. So for now I wanted to share some photos from the hospital. 

And a few more...

Isn't he the cutest? Expect many more photos of this little dude. ;)

Best of 2015, Looking to 2016

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Happy New Year!

First, happy 2016! I can't believe its here already. But before we head into the new year, let's do a quick look back on 2015.

If you're an Instagram junkie, then you most likely heard of the 2015 Best Nine. It's a site that picks your top photos from 2015. I did it and it gave me this collage, or just see it below. 

While I like the collage it created, I felt I could make a collage that better captured our year. Here's what I came up with instead.

This collage captures 2015 highlights - the pregnancy, the new rental home, our little pup, the trip to the South, my baking and blog, and family for the holidays. 

2015 was such a wonderful year. I can't believe all that happened, but 2016 is going to be even BIGGER! I can't wait for all the exciting adventures 2016 will bring.

My only 2016 resolution is have this little baby and figure out how to raise him! 

Happy New Years!!!!

Christmas Everything - A 2015 Recap

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Wow, the holidays flew by faster than Santa and his sleigh on Christmas Eve (do you like what I did there?). Our holidays were jam packed and full of merriment. I thought I'd share a holiday run down through photos. Let's do it...

My parents and sister flew up for Christmas and a few additional days. It was so wonderful to have the whole family here and to spend some quality time together.

Even though I had a million other things happening in my life, I just had to get a tree! I think this was our tallest tree yet.

Josh picked out the pig ornament. It makes me think about the dog trainer telling us to read the book, When Pigs Fly: Training for Impossible Dogs (ehh, that's encouraging...NOT). And so I dedicate that ornament to Asha's first Christmas with us. 

Of course, one of my favorite things is getting all the holiday cards and greetings from friends and family. This year I had a little ribbon to display them all.

There should be a Christmas song about Christmas cookies. Well, I bet there is one really, but let's start our own. "Oh Christmas cookie, how sweet thou art. You fill my tummy with happiness and glee." Uh, that needs some work. 

I kept the cookies simple this year - no macarons or pepakakor like years past. But these were delicious! Here's what I made this year:

Oh and for Christmas Eve dessert, I made a delicious Salted Caramel Apple Pie with a crumble topping. Oh man, so good!

I also organized a cookie exchange at work. I had organized it last year as well and it just so much fun to swap cookies and get new recipes. Lots of deliciousness. Let's sing that cookie song again.

And to round out the sweetness of the cookies, we enjoyed some delicious savory meals. Being preggo for Christmas, I opted to have us go out for dinner. Christmas Eve we celebrated at Bastille and Christmas Day at Rays Boathouse. I did manage a Spinach & Cheese Strata for Christmas morning brunch, though! 

Of course, we went to our church for the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. This is always a favorite of mine, probably because we get to sing so many Christmas songs. 

Presents! Gifts! Oh boy! Apparently we were all very good this year. ;)

And do you like my wrapping paper. I think it's the cutest!

Then we opened all the gifts. Look at those Christmas smiles!

As you know, I was pregnant this holiday season. This little guy will be the greatest gift - a bit late for Christmas, but I'm sure he'll ring in the new year.

This was also Asha's first Christmas with us. She was a good dog and didn't drink the water out of the tree. I do think she wondered why we brought the tree inside, though.

Well, that was one mighty fine holiday. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well. 

Merry Christmas 2015

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Merry Christmas!

I can't believe it's here. This is the fastest holiday season I have ever experienced. EVER. 

I hope this season finds you in good health, cheery spirits, and bright tidings. It has been a wonderful year for us - a new home, a dog, and a baby on the way! We would to share it with you. Check out our Christmas letter. 

Please keep in touch in 2016, my friends. I just know it'll be another great year. XO, Heather