Paw Patrol cake

Rubble on the double!

I thought I would share how I made my son's simple Paw Patrol birthday cake. Once he requested a Paw Patrol cake, I headed to Google to see what was out there. And out there was a whole lot of red, blue and yellow-frosting, fondant, actual cake. Every cake was literally dripping in artificial colors and dyes. Now I do allow artificial coloring every once in awhile, in moderation, but I just couldn't bring myself to make (or pay!) for a huge chemical cake. I decided to order a simple cake from my grocery store with vanilla and chocolate buttercream as the base. I bought my son's favorite character, Rubble and knew I wanted to have a "construction theme". I crushed up Annie's Graham crackers and spread them on top of the cake and inside Rubble's scoop! My son flipped for it and as a bonus-he got a new toy. The cake was delicious and I felt good that I wasn't feeding the kids Red40!

Vacation book for your toddler

Every night before bed I read Jonas some books and lately he always requests the Shutterfly book I made about our vacation to Mexico. He loves looking at the pictures and exclaiming words and things he recognizes. But the book is a little busy, I must admit. I decided to make a kid friendly book for him to read and to remember our trip by! I used Pinhole Press since I have used them before and was happy with the quality. Totally not a sponsored post, just a happy repeat customer!

Here are some snippets of Jonas' Mexico book :)

If you want to make one, it's the Mini Storybook of Names and Faces. Its a board book, but not laminated, so not suitable for the teething baby months. (Or is my child the only one that ate board books?) We made Jonas one for Christmas, with pictures and names of all our family members and he went bonkers!! A book we will for sure treasure for years and years. Can't wait to take another trip to add to his travel library!

Half Moon Bay

We recently took advantage of a photoshoot with one of our favorite photographers before she moves out of state. If you are in the Portland or Seattle area, check out Catie Coyle!

Jonas at 18 months, I can't stand it. Too much fun. 

(He's 20 months today!)

Around Here

A little peek into what things looked like this past Valentine's Day weekend. Hints of spring over here have me feeling pretty happy and motivated!

My little Valentine walked around holding a Pete the Cat book for most of the afternoon asking me to read it to him over and over again. It's slightly confusing that we have a cat named Pete.

As hard as the tantrums are and lack of real communication, seeing this look on his face (when he saw a fountain) makes it all worth it.

My flowers and our Valentine's day cards amongst our messy kitchen table. Sorry, all those Instagram photos you saw in your feed were fake. This is real life.

Delicious fresh juice made from kale, pineapple, ginger, lemon, apple and cucumber. Too bad the thing set me back $11. Yes, you read that right. Well, if I return the bottle I will get $2 back. That's the Bay Area for you.

 

 Brunching with my besties. My happy place is with a bloody mary and these three.

13 Months

 

Ham.

Ok, this is my favorite age. It's a good thing I didn't know when he was a newborn that they get super fun once they are 1. That would have seemed like forever away. But of course it went so fast, and I'm enjoying Jonas so much these days! And the explosion of development between 12-14 months is bananas. (Jonas turns 14 months on Wednesday) I like to keep a little running list of new things he is doing, eating, etc so whenever I get little pockets of time to work on his baby book I can just consult my notes. It would actually be impossibly to do otherwise. And the list I had made for 13 months was the longest yet!

At our family photo shoot earlier this month.

Speech. He says so much! Early on he said dada, mama and cat but now the list is 30 words deep. Of course these are in his own little language, usually just the first syllable. But last night he started saying the "th" sound in "bath", coming out as "ss"..."ba-ss". I died, it was really cute. Most are identifying people, animals and objects but some are directions and food so that really helps with communicating. He never picked up on sign language. He signed "more" but now he just says "mo", although I wish sign language worked for us. Oh! He has also started copying words that he hears Jon and I saying...uh oh.

Facing off with a turkey.

Demeanor. Jonas is such a goof. Loves to laugh and rough house with Jon. He has been dancing up a storm lately, which consists of bending his knees over and over. ;) And clicking his tongue, that is constant these days. He is always making us laugh.

 

Mini lumberjack

Eating. We are down to nursing just once a day. We were at 4 times a day and I weaned him down, thinking we were going to completely wean but I stopped at the morning nurse just because I couldn't bear to stop. I think Jonas would go either way at this point. He doesn't ask for it in the mornings but he also gets excited when he sees we are about to nurse. With that said, I do think the end is near. I'm proud of myself for making it 14 months. And as far as solid food goes, a somewhat picky eater has emerged! He used to eat anything and everything and now suddenly he is Mr. Opinionated.

Jonas turns ONE

I had to pop in to share Jonas' first birthday party. I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures as much as I did putting everything together! All photos by Mark William Photography.

Must have baby item

Ok, not really must have, but must want! Baby moccasins. Is anything cuter than a baby's chubby leg that goes into a cankle into a pair of moccasins? Gah! No, nothing is cuter. Its funny because if there was a chubby adult leg with cankles and a moccasin on, it wouldn't really work well.

I ordered mine from Freshly Picked when they were having a big sale. (Follow freshlypicked on Instagram to be notified of upcoming sales!) They are some definite coin but I value the way owner Susan Peterson sources her leather and how everything is made in the USA. Also, you cannot find a more highly reviewed and praised baby mocc!

I got Jonas some moccs in Butterscotch. I really wanted a more "fun" color but I knew this would be the only pair I buy and they have to be passed down to his future sibling(s) so I needed a classic color. He is a size 2 but I ordered a size 3 so he can wear these when he is actually walking!

So far they were very easy to get on and Jonas was fascinated by the fringe. ;) 

I can't wait until he grows into them. If money were no object we would be adding cobalt and gold to our collection!

Baby Popsicles

 

Baby popsicles are an epic mess. There is a reason why the pictures of them on Pinterest only show the popsicles themselves and not the kiddos eating them. The above mess got about 100 times worse and ended in me taking it away from him because he was so frustrated eating it, which resulted in a crying fit. Baby hands are not really a well-oiled machine yet, especially for this kind of a job. But hey, if you're up for it just puree a banana, avocado, mango and a splash of coconut milk to fill 4-6 popsicle molds.

#cornking

We have discovered the secret to enjoying our dinners together without Jonas running the show: give him a (mostly eaten) corn cob!! A few nights ago his first corn cob kept him happily busy for over an hour while we visited with friends in the park and last night we had friends over for an impromptu BBQ in the backyard and we were able to all sit down together and have adult conversation while Jonas happily munched next to us, for over an hour! People without kids: this is a big deal. This is the perfect teether for our little food obsessed guy since he can't choke on anything and this isn't going to fill him up since he basically gets about 5 kernels off each cob.

Milky! (And some thoughts on breastfeeding)

I've been breastfeeding Jonas for over 8 months now and am getting close to my original goal of 1 year. I recently read on someone's blog that she wanted to nurse for at least a year, but less than two. That sounded nice to me. After I got through the initial hump of breastfeeding (pain from improper latching and emotion-messing from the physical demands and invisible chain that is wrapped around you and your baby) I loved nursing. Especially since in the first 4 months during the rough seas of colic it was the only time I could bond with Jonas. Breastfeeding really peaked for me right around 5 months. I loved it so so much. I am lucky that I am staying home with him because I know pumping can be a real pain. I did it in the beginning so Jon could give Jonas the occasional bottle, but it was harder to find the time to pump.

Up until the last month, Jonas has been a champion nurser. Lately he has become super distracted and will pull my hair, scratch wherever he can reach, pinch my arm, look at Jon and smile, come off entirely and laugh, you get the idea. He is just so busy! He doesn't want to miss a thing. Also, he now has four teeth and while biting was only a problem for a week or two, it has become a problem again. His latch is so strong and he doesn't want to unlatch at the end of a session.

I am in a moment where I really want to make it to a year or past but I am just seeing how things go. And since he is eating more and more solids he is actually nursing less. So it is important that I keep my milk supply up. Which is why I was so excited when Need Brands contacted me to try out Milky! Milky is an organic herbal cocktail to increase milk supply and promote faster let-down. As most nursing mothers know, fenugreek is the herb that increases milk supply. I have been taking fenugreek pills from about 1 month out, just incase. The suggested intake is 3 pills daily and sometimes I forget. I also tried Mother's Milk tea but it was disgusting.

Milky! is delicious. Think of it as a little energy shot (quantity wise) that tastes nothing like its name suggests, it actually tastes like strawberries! I have been taking two a day and I look forward to it. It might have something to do with those cute little bottles I can just throw in my purse. Plus, it doubles as a baby toy. ;)

Added bonus, Milky! was dreamt up by Tia and Tamara Mowry. You know I used to watch Sister, Sister all the time, so this was a happy discovery. Love those girls. I am totally not being paid to say this and once my free supply runs out, I am actually buying this myself. Highly recommend!

baby wants what baby wants

{Jonas and his Zip-Itz Zeke doll}

File this under Things I Never Thought I'd Do As A Parent. I thought I would provide Jonas with only the highest quality, organic wooden toys with patterns and colors that were appealing to myself. But then I realized I wanted moments of silence and happy independent play. Enter the brightly colored toys that I normally would have cringed it. Yes, I caved and I totally don't even care anymore! After the very young stage where babies are obsessed with all things high contrast and black and white they are attracted to bright colors! They reach for it, they grab it and eventually put it in their mouth. Which is why Jonas loves his Zeke doll. Once he gets older he will be able to unzip those zippers, but for now he loves sucking on the star tabs. 

And other things that are rocking Jonas' world right now? 

Straws, spoons and tags (note to moms-to-be: Don't cut tags off anything, babies love tags!).

8 Months

I haven't done one of these posts in awhile and little man is growing and changing like woah. Time to document the latest!
At 8 Months his newest trick is waving! We had been waving at him constantly for about a week when he suddenly did it back! It was thrilling. (Spoken like a first time mama) And he did it several times later that day on separate occasions. Always with his left hand, and always freaking adorable. I totally cried the first time he did it and the second time he did it when I realized it wasn't random.

Jonas is eating more now during his breakfast and dinner solids. And when he is really enjoying something he slaps his left hand on the high chair tray anticipating (demanding?) the next bite! We also give him some puffs now to work on his pincher grab. And he is now getting lots of bites and tastes of whatever we are eating. Again, he hasn't met a food he doesn't like.

We definitely have a water baby on our hands. Our month of swim lessons went really well, Jonas loved being in the water with the other kids and didn't even cry or fuss when he would get dunked under water! He has since had fun with his buddies in the kiddie pool and at Jon's parents' pool, which is a big deal since both of those pools weren't heated like the one at the swim school.

He has just recently cut his 3rd tooth and the first one on top. So now he makes my skin crawl when he does his new trick of grinding his teeth together. Shudder! It isn't fully out but so far this tooth was so much easier than tooth #2.

Morning naps are still dependable and great, but afternoon naps are the new struggle. He just will not go down despite being very tired. It takes lots of patience to get through afternoons lately. And up until recently he never moved in his crib, always would stay on his back where we placed him. Now he flips over to his side or stomach and sleeps that way.

At 8 months this kid is just so much FUN! We get him laughing constantly and the sound of his laugh is one of my favorite sounds, ever. The other day I was holding him on my lap and he watched Pete jump onto the entertainment center and just started cracking up. It was hilarious how he found that funny?!?
He loves to stand but is still not super fond of being on his stomach which means there have been no hints to crawling anytime soon. He loves opening and closing drawers and the medicine cabinet, grabbing knobs, pulling towels off racks, pulling contents out of my dresser and playing with other adult and everyday things.
And he also just recently had his first cold and we used the Nose Frida for the first time. Despite a runny nose, some coughing and sneezing he was acting normal. And I can't believe it, but I am already thinking and planning for his first birthday. Which is around the corner, holy cow.