Mommy Help

We are well into feeding Brody solids and he is doing extremely well, but I do have a question... When we take the spoon out of his mouth to fill it with more food, he whines and/or screams. So my question is, do I hurry up and shove some more food into his mouth or do I wait for him to calm down before giving him the next bite?

Pics from this past weekend

my Sister, my dad, Brody, and my Grandpa

Brody playing with my dad

I love to put my hands in my mouth!

Cutest face EVER!

Solid Food = SLEEP???

We have started Brody on solid foods and he is doing really well at eating from a spoon as long as I can control his arms and hands from getting into his mouth or the dish and what ever I am serving. He has only eaten rice cereal and peas. I am going to be making his baby food for a couple reasons...1) I know exactly what is going into his little body 2) I can choose to buy organic or frozen 3) it seems to be cheaper and 4) it's fun! I have the Babycook from Williams Sonoma and it works great! Here is my messy little guy after eating peas.

(Sorry for the blur- took this with my phone)

I have been seeing a trend with him eating solids...he sleeps 12 hours straight!!! I really hope I am not jinxing myself but I had stopped solids for about a week and he was waking up 2-3 times a night. Glad I have figured it out for my own selfish reason of sleeping! Off to make one more batch of peas and then we will start green beans next week.

California

We had a great time in CA. Brody was pretty good on the flight...I am probably a little more critical because I am always so worried about everyone else's experience around the little guy. He is so active, it ended up being a little challenging to keep him confined in a 3x3 space! Here are a few pics from his 1st plan ride. BTW he napped for 20 minutes going up and 2o minutes going down! The rest of the trip (2 hours) he was happy to be awake! Lucky us! ;)

This trip was a little different than the last few we have been on, for obvious reasons...but it was still extremely enjoyable and we had a nice time visiting with Gabe's side of the family.

Friday, we window shopped on Roberston and went to the Dodger game (Brody's 1st baseball game). He was soo good at the game. The first 5 times the crowd cheered Brody's face would change from happy to sad in slow-mo. It was the saddest, cutest thing! It scared him!!! He eventually warmed up to it and had fun. Everyone around was admiring his cuteness.

Saturday we headed to Malibu so Brody could go to the beach for his first time! We ate at Gladstone's since Gabe's dad had never been there, and it is right on the beach. We drove through the Pepperdine campus, which Gabe and I had not seen...BEAUTIFUL! And ended our night at Koi.

My delicious dinner of Kobe steak, since I don't do sushi.

Sunday did not go as planned, thanks to Gabe! ;) This should sum it up!

(A little scary at first, but turned out to be ok. While we were waiting for the EMT, we sure did see a motorcyclist run into a truck...good thing for helmets. We think he is ok too.)

We were able to do a small bit of shopping in Santa Monica - thanks for being a trooper! Love you babe!

Monday we headed home. On the flight home, one of the flight attendants really took to Brody and was kind enough to walk him up and down the aisles to entertain him for a little bit while mommy and daddy took a much needed break.

First Flight

We are leaving for California on Thursday and taking Brody-man! Any tips for flying with a 4 month old??? I am a little nervous and hoping he does well. We are excited about the trip. There will be lots of firsts for Brody and we are definitely looking forward to it!

Free Six Flags Ticket

Anyone want a free ticket to Six Flags? I have one free admission ticket valid through August 9th (Sunday). If you want it please let me know in the next day or two. I got it from my school and will not be using it. Just came across it and want to put it to good use if I can! It also comes with a 25% off retail purchase of $10 or more.

It can be yours free if you want it. I will mail it to you, or we can meet depending are where you live.

Yummy Recipe

My MIL gave me a cookbook a couple years ago titled, Top Secret Recipes (The Super Secret Restaurant Collection). We have made a few things from it and I decided to make a dish tonight for dinner out of it. Boy was it yummy and spicy! Granted, I have not tasted this from the restaurant itself, but my version was pretty tasty and wanted to share with you, in case you are in the mood for a spicy chicken and pasta dish!

TGI Friday's Spicy Cajun Chicken Pasta

4 tablespoons of butter (1/2 stick)

1 cup green bell pepper (chopped)

1 cup red bell pepper (chopped)

1/2 white onion, sliced and quartered (1 cup)

1 clove of garlic (pressed)

2 skinless boneless chicken breasts

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 medium tomato chopped

1 1/4 cup sliced and/or chopped mushrooms

1 cup chicken broth

salt

1/4 teaspoon of the following spices

cayenne pepper

paprika

ground white pepper

dried thyme

4 to 6 cups water

1 12-ounce box of fettuccine (or any type of pasta will work)

2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley (optional)

1. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium high heat.

2. Saute the bell peppers, onions, and garlic in the butter for 8 to 10 minutes or until the vegetables begin to soften slightly.

3. As the vegetables are cooking, cut the chicken breasts into bite sized pieces.

4. Prepare a medium sized pan over high heat with the olive oil. When the pan is hot, add the chicken and cook, stirring for 5 to 7 minutes or until the chicken shows no pink.

5. When the vegetables are soft add the chicken to the large skillet containing the vegetables.

6. Add the tomatoes, mushrooms, chicken stock, 1/4 teaspoon of the following spices: salt, cayenne pepper, paprika, ground white pepper, dried thyme and continue to simmer for about 10 to 12 minutes until it thickens.

7. In the meantime, bring a pot of water to a boil, add salt if you like, cook the pasta until done. About 10 to 12 minutes.

8. When the noodles are done, drain them and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to the hot pasta. Toss the noodles.

9. Serve the dish by dividing the noodles in half onto two plates and top with the chicken and vegetable sauce. Top with parsley.

**This made more than 2 servings for me and Gabe.

Hope you enjoy it!

3 Hour Nap

Brody has been napping for 3 hours and counting!!! Yea!!! I do LOVE spending time with my precious baby boy, but I also love to get some chores done around the house (and blogging is one of them!). The longest nap he has taken to date was 2 hours, so needless to say I was starting to get a little concerned. I laid him down at 11:30 after waking up at 9 and he has been fast asleep ever since. I keep walking in to make sure he is still alive ;)

I know he will be starving when he wakes up so I better get prepared for a screaming hungry baby!

A new pic

Here is the latest picture of Brody. I am relying on my family members to take pictures of Brody because we STILL have not unpacked the charger. Hopefully we will find it before we leave for LA in 10 days! My dad, step-mom, grandpa, and sister all paid us a lovely visit on Sunday afternoon. Always nice to spend as much time with family as possible.

Free Stuff

I have heard a few advertisements this week and thought I would share:

Tuesday:

Free Pastry at Starbucks with purchase of a beverage

From Opening to 10:30 am

You must print and bring the invitation when ordering your drink of choice.

Wednesday:

Free Roast Burger from Arby's with purchase of a soft drink

You must join the Arby's e-club in order to get the Wednesday Freebies

Thursday:

Free Tea at McAlister's

Just show up and get some free tea

Enjoy your free stuff!

New Fav

This is Brody's new favorite thing! We have so much fun "driving" him around the house! Thank goodness for wood floors and stained concrete, where we can do donuts (since we are without our dining room table as of yet)! It might be more fun for me and Gabe but Brody sure does smile when he is in his red convertible! He enjoys licking the steering wheel while being pushed around by mom and dad!

Big Brother 11

Is anyone else watching this show? Gabe and I have been huge fans of this show for YEARS and we are so glad it is back on! Gabe says he will be on this show one day...I'm not so sure of that. I believe he is all talk! ;) Anyway, they have re-vamped it for this new season and it is all about high school and it really does seem to be taking them all back to HS. It's hilarious. If you aren't watching you can pick it up at any time. It is a commitment though since it is on 3 days a week. Gabe and I already have our favorites and are definitely pulling for them! We were sad to see Braden go...what a goofball!

4 Mo. Stats

Well Baby Brody is definitely small! Here goes:

Weight: 13 lbs 5 oz (21%tile)

Height: 24 1/2" (36%tile)

Head Circ.: 16.25 (26%tile)

Love, love, love our pediatrician!!! If you live out this way, Stonebridge Pediatrics is the way to go. We never feel rushed, all of our questions are always answered, he is so gentle with my little man, and friendly as can be! We will start feeding Mr. Brody rice cereal this weekend. Interested to see how he will do... He has cradle cap, which we knew, but good thing all that all that crazy hair covers it up. Dr. Alvis gave us the suggestion to try to wash his hair with Selsun Blue Shampoo to see if that takes care of it. Brody was given 3 shots today (took them like a champ!) and he has been out like a light ever since Brooke and I left McAlister's. I was able to wander around Bed Bath and Beyond for a long time and then went to Babies R Us to exchange and walked around for a bit there too. Now we are home and Brody was up to eat and get a diaper change and now he is sleeping again! Hope he will continue to sleep so he isn't hurting from the shots, but also want him to continue sleeping through the night! I love my child.

It is amazing how many people will stop me while I am out shopping to comment on Brody's hair. 90% of the time they continue to have a conversation with me, while I am always polite, I am not always interested in talking with complete strangers for 5-10 minutes. Guess it is a good thing I am usually not busy! Better get some things done and be productive while I have the free time!

My Little Man

We are beginning to believe Brody is the most active infant in the world. He is determined to hit all the milestones and does them early, or at least we think he is. He started rolling over at 2 1/2 months and the average time period is month 4. We are now unable to control his rolling. I will turn around for a minute and he is across the room from where he was laid down! He is getting really close to sitting alone and the average time period is 8 months. He is also working extremely hard at crawling! He was practicing by scooting (hiney in the air, on his toes) around the perimeter of his crib last night and stopped only because he was overcome with exhaustion. Avg. age for this is again 8 months.

We have our 4 month well check up tomorrow. He should be getting 2 shots, so I am not looking forward to that but at least Gabe will be there. I am always anxious to get his stats and should post them tomorrow. Wondering if he is still on the small side?

Our camera is done! Dead! And we haven't unpacked the charger. Oops! As soon I as I do, I will get to snapping some more photos. I have a pic from last Friday when my Grandpa (Brody's Great-Grandpa) was over. He, by the way, adores Brody more than life itself. He is the most adorable, precious man in the world and the way his face lights up when he is with Brody just melts my heart.

Three Month Pictures

Cherie did another fantastic job photographing my baby boy. He did such a super job during the shoot, I was impressed! It's tough being a model and in those hot lights all the time. If you are interested in seeing them head on over to Cherie Marie Photography. Click on Clients. The password is "brody 3"

ENJOY!

Time for an Update

Sorry- nothing exciting here. We have just been so busy unpacking, trying to get this house in some kind of order. Good News...we finished Brody's polka dots! I am going to wait to post pics until his whole nursery is complete. We are waiting on the stinkin' dresser to get here, which by the way, we ordered at the beginning of MAY! Gabe worked so hard at getting this house ready for a small party on Saturday, I on the other hand helped a tiny bit. I am beginning to think that I am getting lazier by the day! I know I have an almost 4 month old to take care of with the help of my husband, but I still feel pretty worthless, like I am not contributing anything (even though I know Brody's life, growth and development is so much more important than any job!) I am so blessed to be spending so much time with him and be able to have the time to do so. Anyway, back to the party...We had 3 other couples over, 2 with brand new babies, and one preggo couple (with twins). Thanks Shane and Kelly for the delicious brisket tacos! Thanks Amber and Adam for the yummy new recipes! And thanks to Brooke and Steve for bringing the added yummies for the tacos! We are so lucky to have such great friends so close.

GAVIN AND BRODY

MOMMY, BRODY, DADDY

That's it for now! I am taking Brody tomorrow to get his 3 mo. pics, even though we are 10 days away from being 4 mos. Oh well. A little scheduling problem! :) I can't wait to see the adorable pics Cherie takes tomorrow!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July and hope you all have a marvelous week!

Moving

We finally closed on our house late Wednesday and have been busy moving ever since, hence the huge delay in posting. We have gotten so much done, but still have so much more to do. The kitchen is the most completed room in the house. We are impatiently waiting on our new living room furniture, our new bedroom furniture and Brody's dresser/changing table to arrive. Once we get these pieces in which will be delivered sometime between the 1st and the 17th, we can being placing the rest of our decorations. We do have a few items on the walls, but not many. The house is already warm and "homey" but I think it will feel even more so once more decorations are placed around the house. It's hard finding new homes for the decorations from the old house. We still need to get a dining set and furniture for the upstairs room, but I am going to finish the other rooms before tackling those two. Gabe and I had our master painted the other day and it looks great! We have been looking for someone to paint polka dots on Brody's walls, but not one is committing, so we have decided to do it ourselves...yikes! I think it will look good, just hope I don't screw it up. Pics to come later...

Good Night!

Seahorse

My friend Amber has this glow worm type toy, except it is a sea horse that plays soothing music. She has been talking about it for weeks now, and I finally saw it last night. I was able to hear the music and now I am obsessed with it and have to go get it tomorrow for Brody! I think it will be his new BFF.

PS- I do not know this baby! It was the only pic I could find of this super cute product!

Left Handed?

Brody seems to be favoring his left hand a little bit. It will be interesting to see if he turns out to be left handed. Can you tell so early on? Does it matter when they are so young?

I guess we will find out...

3 Months!

Baby Brody was 3 months yesterday and we couldn't love him more. Here is my new fav pic of him.

All about Brody:

~ He is grabbing things

~ He is reaching for things

~ He only fusses when he is hungry, and then he gets angry! ;)

~ He has been sleeping through the night most of his short life

~ He is "talking" all the time

~ His smile is to die for!

~ He is working on his laugh

~ He is bashful at times, which again is adorable.

~ He is beginning to entertain him self

~ He LOVES to be outside!

~ His paci or his fingers/fist is in his mouth at all times

~ He is able to roll over from tummy to back with ease

~ He is practicing rolling from back to tummy

~ His favorite songs are the ABC song and The Itsy Bitsy Spider

~ He has the biggest blue eyes

~ He has the BEST baby hair of all time!

Wow, I could go on but I must have some self control! He is the sweetest baby and I am beyond thrilled to have him in my life. I only hope he knows how much he is loved.