7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 40)

1) Joseph has a serious fascination with our floor vents. He greatly enjoys taking them out of the floor and playing with them. Luckily only one toy has made its way down the vent so far, but I'm working on fixing the vent issue. I looked online for ways to baby proof floor vents, but the options were abysmal. I think we're going to go with nailing them straight into the floor. But that means buying new vents with screw holes. If anyone has any other ideas I'm open to them.

2) The whole vent issue has made me start using time out with Joseph. He knows full well that he isn't supposed to take them out of the floor which he makes clear when he looks to see if I'm watching before taking them out. Sometimes he'll sit and wait by the vent until I walk or look away then as soon as I'm not watching he's pulls it up. He's been doing the same thing with the diapers and wipes. He enjoys taking them all out of their bin. He especially enjoys pulling each wipe out individually so we have a nice pile of wipes on the floor. But, Joseph is a fast learner and already knows he has to stay seated until I come to get him out of time out. He occasionally has to be reminded (by my looking in his direction), but I no longer have to take him back and sit him down 20 times during one time out.

3) A couple weeks ago I took Joseph to participate in an infant study at the University of Maryland. Joseph quite enjoyed the play time before and after, but wasn't such a fan of sitting on my lap and watching the "show." He didn't seem to mind the cap they put on him too much though.
I've always been intrigued by studies done by psychologists and was thrilled to be able to participate.

4) Joseph's birthday party was a success. I spent a lot of time stressing about it (thanks, Pinterest), but it turned out great. I don't have any pictures of it (yet). I put my sister in charge of taking pictures since I was busy with everything else, but hopefully I'll be able to post pictures soon!!

5) One thing I will think twice about in the future is baking Joseph's birthday cake(s). Although the cakes I made tasted great I'm not sure it was worth the time and effort that I put into it. One of my cakes turned out looking like a disaster (but tasted amazing) and I couldn't even serve it at the party. The other 2 (the main cake and Joseph's crush cake) turned out well, but just took a lot of time to put together. And I'm not exactly the queen of icing either. We'll see how I feel about it next year, but I have a feeling I'll be leaving the cake up to the professionals from now on.

6) My sister is getting married next week! I can't wait to see her walk down the aisle. It makes me think back to my wedding. We had such a great day! Can you believe that she will be the third person in our family to marry someone they met on CatholicMatch.com? It's true. My oldest sister and I also met our husbands on Catholic Match. I'm pretty sure our family should be the poster family for that website.

7) Softball season (Part 1) is coming to an end. The play offs start this week for both of Will's softball leagues which means that he'll be home even more starting a couple weeks from now (until league #3 starts up in the fall). Joseph and I enjoy watching him play, but can't wait for him to be home!

Happy 1st Birthday, Joseph!

It was one year ago today that our sweet Joseph was born. I remember being told that this year would go by quickly, and I knew everyone who told me this was right but I am still amazed how much Joseph  has grown and learned in just one year.

[12 month picture coming soon]

At one year old he is walking around and trying new things every day. He enjoys a good chase and likes to tease us by coming toward us then - when he's a few steps away - turning around and walking/running in the other direction. He often giggles with delight during both of these games.

Joseph has also recently learned to put objects into containers. He'll take out everything from one box then put it all back before repeating the process. Sometimes he'll take the box to the next room before repeating the "take everything out then return it to the box"game.
He also enjoys pretending to give someone a toy then when they try to grab it he quickly takes it back. He'll do this several times before actually handing over the toy.

Joseph also has quite the sweet tooth (I don't know where he got that from...), so I took him for his very first ice cream cone today - he loved it!

Joseph is quite a talker, but still doesn't seem to want to say "mom" or "mama." His favorite words are "dada", "no" and "uh-oh" but he can also say "hi" and "yea." He has said what sounds like "mama" but not very often and not referring to me. We're working on it :)

Joseph is so much fun to have around and we are so blessed to have him in our lives. Happy birthday, sweet boy!!! We love you!

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 39)

1) We recently bought a freezer to replace the ancient refrigerator in our basement. I've been researching freezers for almost a year now and I finally decided what I wanted then waited for it to go on sale. I'm so excited to finally have space to be able to make (more than just one or two) meals to freeze. I'm also really excited to be able to stock up on staples when they go on sale now. So far I've only got blueberries and blueberry muffins in there, but I have big plans for filling it up.

2) Now that we have the freezer space, I've been contemplating buying half a cow from a local farmer. I don't have any farmers in particular that I'm thinking about I just like the idea. Although, I'm not sure where to go or how to figure out how much of each cut of meat to buy. When I think about it we seem to mainly use ground beef and beef tips, but I'd like to explore cooking with other cuts of beef. Do you have any tips for buying large amounts of meat from a farmer?

3) Joseph has a fetish for crawling into things...and these are only the times I've caught him on camera! It makes me smile every time I see him in a basket or container of sorts.

4) I started doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred a couple weeks ago in an attempt to lose these pesky 5 pounds that are keeping me from getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight. And, more importantly, I'd like to finally fit back into my pre-pregnancy clothes. It's going well so far, but I don't seem to have lost any weight. My clothes are fitting a little better though, but I'm still not quite where I was pre-pregnancy. Hopefully I'll see even more of a difference once I'm completely through the 30 days (or shortly thereafter).

5) Joseph likes that I've been working out, too. He especially enjoys playing with my massive 2-lb weights.

6) After poking around Jen Fulwiler's pins on Pinterest I decided to follow through on one of the pins. She pinned this idea for "Blessing Bags" where you put together bags of useful items for homeless people. You keep them in your car for any time you come across someone who is homeless and asking for money. I love this idea because I always feel like I need to do something, but don't really like to just give them money. I can't wait to hand them out, and I look forward to one day making these with Joseph.

7) Head on over to conversiondiary.com for more quick takes. Have a great weekend!!

10 month old Joseph

Joseph turned 10 months old a couple weeks ago (May 10). I finally got the pictures uploaded yesterday.
I had to take the pictures early in the morning before we got on the road to head to Knoxville for my sister's college graduation. I think morning may be the ideal time to photograph Joseph - when he's well rested and not crazy active yet.

Looking through these pictures makes me nostalgic for his "baby days." I realize he's still a baby, but every day he's looking and acting more like a little boy!

He's a full on walker now going from room to room. He's even able to turn himself around whenever he wants. And did I mention that he LOVES looking at his books?

Right around 10 months he learned how to wave and clap (he learned both within about a week). But he mainly waves to me and Will. We're still working on waving at friends (and nice strangers at the store).

One of my favorite skills that he's learned recently (within the past week or so) is the ability to use his "snack catcher." It took a few times before he understood that if he stuck his hand in he could get food out. He's pretty good with it now, so I don't have to sit there feeding him his Cheerios (or whatever) piece by piece now.

Happy 1st Birthday, Clare!

My niece turned 1 last month, and Joseph and I were fortunate enough to be able to make the trip out to Chicago to celebrate. Because I went alone with Joseph and we didn't have to worry about how many days Will would take off from work I was able to go for a long weekend.
Friday morning we went to the zoo.

Just a couple cousins hanging out at the zoo.

Wow, this bench sure is interesting!

While we were there we took the opportunity to get a few shots with the kids.

Julia, Adam and Clare

Joseph and me

At the zoo we spent our time in a building designed especially for toddlers and young children. It was awesome. We spent quite a bit of time in the greenhouse letting Adam water the plants - his favorite activity at the zoo.

Joseph watches Adam water the plants.

Saturday was Clare's birthday party. Happy 1st birthday, Clare!

She loved her cupcake...

...and was adorable when opening standing on her gifts.

Joseph, Will and I got her a doll stroller. She walked with it (with help) every chance she got :)

Sunday we went to the library where they had a really great kids section. Joseph loved it. Unfortunately, he had a wee accident on one of the tables - he busted his lip and chipped his tooth. Looking back I think it was because he wasn't used to the low table height (made for toddlers). On most furniture his face would have already cleared any obstacles by the time he was 1 foot from the ground (the approximate height of the table where he hit his lip), but because the table was so low his lip hit :( Obviously, he was upset and in a lot of pain, but I let the water from the water fountain run over his lip and he quite enjoyed that (and the cool water helped ease the bleeding/pain). We even went back for several more trips for him to enjoy the fountain before we left. By Monday you could hardly tell he had even had an accident (thank goodness!) and his lip didn't seem to bother him at all.

Monday was spent hanging out and visiting before we headed home on Tuesday. I'll end with one of my favorite pictures from the weekend.

Just a couple cousins hangin' out in their jammies.

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 38)

Hello! I'm back from a wee blogging break. The break wasn't intentional, it just kinda...happened. At first I was busy getting ready for a trip to Chicago for my adorable little niece's 1st birthday. Then we were there for 6 days. Then I was in recover/return to real-life mode. And by that point I had several ideas for posts and just didn't know where to start. So, today I decided to just dive right in. And what better way to dive back in than with 7 randomly scattered thoughts?

1) It seems that I change Joseph into a new outfit every time he's about to eat (don't ask me why). Then as soon as the meal is over the clean outfit is no longer so clean. You would think I'd learn not to bother changing him until after each of his meals, but I guess I'm a little slow on the uptake...or maybe it's just that I love doing extra laundry.

2) My niece (and Goddaughter!!) had her 1st birthday a couple weeks ago. Joseph and I headed to Chicago for her birthday weekend and had a wonderful time. We really enjoyed visiting with my sister and brother-in-law and their kids. We also got to see my younger sister, Alyse, and my parents as well as a couple of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was great visiting with everyone.
Happy 1st birthday, sweet Clare!!!

3) Speaking of my adorable niece. Check out this video of her....getting around. We have yet to figure out what to call it. It isn't a walk, and it isn't a crawl. And we can't seem to think of a good way to describe what she's doing. If you think of a good name for this please let me know.

4) It's May. You know what that means? It means I'm 1/3 of the way through my New Year's Resolution! That's right, people, I've stuck with my resolution for 4 whole months. How are you doing with your resolution? It's not too late to get back on the bandwagon.
I will say I greatly enjoyed my first day of sweets on Easter day. And (confession) I kinda sorta...adjusted my resolution to include all 8 days of Easter (although I didn't decide that until the last 2 days). So, I got 3 days of sweets instead of just one. And it was mainly so I could eat the delicious cookies I made on Easter day.
But, now I'm back to no sweets until Joseph' birthday. You better believe I'm counting down the days.

5) I've recently begun planning out our meals a week at a time. Before I did this I found myself at the grocery store at least 2-3 times a week (sometimes more). Although I often end up switching around what days we eat what it has gone pretty smoothly for almost a month now. It has been especially useful in planning when to try new recipes. I've been able to try two new recipes so far (thanks Pinterest!) and revive a couple old ones that I haven't used in a while.
I've also been able to cut down on our consumption of spaghetti and breakfast for dinner (not that we don't love those dinners!).
Before I began planning out our meals I would often realize at 6pm that my husband would be home soon and I needed to get crackin' on dinner. This usually meant I hadn't given one teeny tiny thought to what we would be having and thus wouldn't have thawed (or bought) any meat or other ingredients. This meant we were having spaghetti or breakfast for dinner...or if I really couldn't get it together we might order Chinese or grab some Chicken Out. This has only happened once since I began menu planning and that was in the couple days after we got home from Chicago and I hadn't had a chance to go to the grocery store. I am very pleased with how the menu planning in going, and am looking forward to (hopefully) staying this organized.
Perhaps I'll even join in on the Menu Plan Monday linkup one of these days...

6) I still can't get over Joseph's cuteness. He's walking even better now. He can take 10-12 steps at a time and tries to walk pretty much every chance he gets. He definitely wants to be able to walk at all times, so I'm pretty sure he's going to master this whole walking thing soon. Until then, he'll continue crawling and climbing to get where he wants to go...

Nomnom. The dishwasher is my favorite!

What? This drawer wasn't made for babies?

7) Today is my dad's birthday. Happy birthday, dad!!!

Sorry, mom. I realize that's not the best pic of you, but dad and the babies look so cute!

Have a great weekend, ya'll! Go visit Jen at Conversion Diary for more quick takes!

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 37)

1) Will, Joseph and I had a lovely Easter. We went to the early mass at 7:30am and Joseph seemed to enjoy that there were so many people (he's a little ham). We then relaxed throughout the morning - I was in the kitchen cooking and Will and Joseph were playing, relaxing and napping. Then we went to a friend's house early that afternoon for Easter dinner. It was a really nice, relaxing day - a great way to celebrate Easter.

2) Easter was the first time I've had sweets since the new year began. I had the whole day planned out before hand as to what I was going to eat, but when the day finally arrived I was surprised by how little I cared about eating sweets. Sure - I had a chocolate chip pancake for breakfast and I had some dessert after dinner, but my whole plan for the day didn't exactly come through.
But all day I had been wanting a chocolate chip cookie. So, around 9pm I finally decided I was going to make a batch. That cookie was delicious, and, surprisingly, I didn't even care to have more than one. 

3) Joseph fell asleep after nursing one night around 7:30. I didn't want him to sleep too long because bedtime was quickly approaching, so I figured it would be a good time to test and see if he would continue sleeping if I just laid him on the floor....

...yep. The boy just rolled right over and got comfy.


4) Joseph took 4 steps several different times last night. I think that officially makes him a walker. Watch out world - here comes our little guy!
My husband said I was like one of those overbearing parents who keeps saying "try again, again. You can do it. Just one more time." Even when the kid is clearly done trying. I kept having Joseph try so we could get it on video last night, but I think Joseph enjoyed it ;)

5) Giving up Facebook as part of my Lenten sacrifice made me realize how very little I got from it. Going mostly without it (I checked it briefly on Sundays) for 6 weeks brought into focus how much negativity the website could actually bring into my life. I am now trying to keep my Facebook time and interactions to a minimum. I think the main way I've done this so far is to simply hide people who don't enrich my Facebook experience. I have thought about deleting my account altogether, but I do like being able to connect with my family (both immediate and extended) and close friends.

6) Joseph started standing fairly well on his own right around when he turned 9 months old. Here's a picture from our 9 month photo shoot of him standing on his own.

7) Aaaaand I'll end with some cuteness :)

So serious.

Hi, mom!

Why yes, I do enjoy playing with Henry the ceramic (?) dog.

Happy Easter ya'll! Now go visit Jen at Conversion Diary for more quick takes.