Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Snapshots

October was a full month!  Here are some of our highlights (mainly of the cutest Hargather :) - 


Hammond's learned to say "cheese" for the camera

loving on our sweet neighbor-dog, Tucker

spending quality time with one of my favorites,
in one of my favorite college towns

date night selfie

yard work with daddy

the cutest little monkey I've ever seen

with his strawberry friend, Harper


neighborhood official Halloween social

playing around with daddy's wig

Halloween night with friends

We have been busy, but having a great time! And the little baby in my belly is certainly growing (maybe one day I'll actually take a photo…poor second child!).  

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

pumpkin...everything

Y'all know as soon as the weather gets just a little below the sweltering heat of summer, I go crazy for everything pumpkin.  Here are just a few recipes I've tried (and would totally recommend!).

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies 
- recipe by Lindsay (so, it's a much healthier version!)


Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Pumpkin Bread
I used the pumpkin cake bar recipe, but substituted oat flour for regular flour (and baked it longer in a loaf pan).

Pumpkin Croissants 
(if I'm honest, not my fave...not quite sweet enough for me!)

Pumpkin Cookies
These were actually made by my friend, Laura, and were amazing...good enough to share!

Yum!!!

Friday, September 27, 2013

Baby H.2



We're excited to tell you that Hammond's going to be a BIG brother!


Little brother or sister Hargather is due April 14, 2014 (or 4.14.14...lots of 4's!).  


And we won't know whether it's a boy or girl until April, so I guess we're calling this one Baby H.2?  

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Hammond update

Our little man is 1 1/2!  I can't believe it.  Some days I look at him and think "he's a little BOY." 

He's been walking since right at 12 months, and now the boy is RUNNING.  
He's also climbing everything!  And up for trying almost everything.




Such a talker/babbler!  When I can understand what he says...
Hi and Bye are still his favorites.  
He also says MammaDad (not daddy)
Hottttt (and puts his hand out toward hot objects)
Woah (at everything...it's hilarious)
Truck (at every large vehicle)
Tooo Tooo when he sees trains
He also can repeat most of what we ask
And we're working on Ham-man (for Hammond, of course).  

The video below is him showing off all his best animal sounds...



He's loving water :: splash pads, the pool, and the tub.




He's definitely attached to mommy, but does love his daddy, too.  

And the kid is FRIENDLY.  I mean, the pun is intended when I say he is a ham!  When we're out to eat, walking around, or at the grocery, he says HI to everyone.  It cracks me up.  And most of the time, it cracks up the other people. Bye is also his best word.  Loud and emphasized.  

Since a month ago, the morning nap is gone!  [Insert happy + sad face here.]
And he's taking a ~3 hour afternoon nap.
Still staying in his crib from 8pm - 8am at night.



He's eating like a toddler.  By that, I mean, one week he is super picky.  The next week he's eating me out of house and home...and eating everything I put in front of him, including veggies (thankfully this is one of those weeks!).  

Loves other kids!  They're our greatest form of entertainment and fun.

Loves stuffed animals.
Loves toy trucks.
Loves books.
Loves real animals.



He's mostly a happy baby.  But, the temper tantrums have begun.  It's amazing (not the good kind).  Yeah...we're working on that.  


have I meantioned it's almost always over food!

Now is the time that I want to hit the pause button and just freeze time.  He is so adorable, entertaining, and curious.  Hammond, thanks for continuing to bring us so much JOY and so much LAUGHTER.  We love you!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

feeding a toddler

**I must give a disclaimer to this post!  I have no expertise on babies and toddlers, I'm just writing notes on what has been working for us.  Feels like I need to preface that given that everyone has opinions lately :).**

One of the hardest transitions we've had yet was getting off the bottle/formula, and moving Hammond solely onto solid foods (we don't do milk at all, just water).  We had been weaning him off the last few months of his first year, and on his first birthday, he had his very last bottle.  

Possibly even harder than all of that?  Coming up with creative, tasty, and healthy meals!  That he'll eat. :)  I'm totally not that mom that has to feed him all organic, homemade food.  However, I do feel a big sense of responsibility for what goes in him and making sure he gets all the nutrients he needs.  Afterall, I feel pretty crappy when all I eat is junkfood.  I don't want to be the source of that for him.  Anyhow, here are some of our favorite foods that we've tried, broken down into categories...

Breakfast
Eggs - we eat scrambled eggs every morning...all 3 of us!
Toast
Oat Pancakes - we make ours with bananas
Yogurt

Lunch/Dinner 
Veggie Burgers
Turkey/Chicken Burgers
Turkey bites
Smoothies - with lots and lots of spinach thrown in
Grilled chicken 
Farro
Cous cous 
Rice - cooking grains in chicken broth makes all the difference in the world
Dr. Pregur's frozen spinach and potato bites
Chicken & apple sausage
Quinoa mac n' cheese - I added loads of kale
Black Bean & Spinach Enchiladas - add chicken
Turkey Meatloaf


Snacks
Muffins - zucchini, apple + carrot
yogurt (frozen + reg)
Raisins/Craisins/Golden Raisins
Mum-Mums
Oat pancakes
Pretzels
Black bean dip
Squeezable fruit purees

A few things I've learned...

- One week he will love watermelon, and the next he's spitting it out of his mouth like it's cardboard.  Who knows why?  So I make it a point to try things again a few weeks out.

- Teething affects everything (for us), including meals.  He needs softer textured food

when teeth are coming in (guess it makes sense).

- As stated earlier, if I can make him a healthy, homemade meal I'm all over it.  But if it's a busy week, and I find myself pulling stuff out of the freezer for every meal, I don't stress about that either.  For me, it's all about balance.  

- I've had Hammond on a pretty tight schedule since he was about 6 weeks old.  Given that, I can either make sure to feed him on time OR expect a fussy boy.

- Ketchup usually helps him eat anything. :)

- I am now trying really hard to feed him what we eat.  That doesn't work out every meal (sushi?  timing?), but I'm trying and finding it's much easier for me.

- I try to be prepared when we're going to be around other kids with snacks.  If someone's eating, he wants to be eating, too.  So, I always try to have snacks on hand!

All in all, Hammond is a great eater (possibly too good, as he's going to eat us out of house and home with his appetite!).  But new challenges arise all the time.

Any other moms out there that want to share good recipes for toddlers?!  I'd love more ideas!!

Monday, August 5, 2013

splash pad

Whoever came up with the concept of a splash pad is brilliant!  Hammond's chance to run around and play like a mad man in the water, and mom and dad's chance to sit back and just watch!  There are a few around the city, but we decided to make an afternoon of it in Piedmont Park.  










Tuesday, July 16, 2013

June snapshots

I've been a terrible blogger, and I'm not going to tell you that we're so busy that I just never have the time.  What I will tell you is that I've been prioritizing, and getting on the computer to update a blog just hasn't been one of them.  I'll try to be better, but no promises.  

[Sidenote: If only blogging were as easy as Instagram.  Or at least easily updated via phone!  They should think about it.  Because I'm a pretty good Instagrammer :)]

Here's a look at our summer so far - 


a Raleigh family wedding

hanging out with cousins

and playing in their new pool!



celebrating this amazing father


Father's Day 2013


our redneck pool and our naked baby...
endless entertainment on a hot summer day
(when it isn't raining!!)

catching up with this beautiful friend

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Aunt Kelly's wedding

We've had a busy summer with lots of fun things going on!  One of most fun was being a part of Aunt Kelly (aka Jamie's sister) and JP's wedding!  It was such a fun weekend, and a great celebration of the start of a new family.  Even Hammond got to be a part of it all.  

Here are a few photos from the weekend - 

the rehearsal

the bride & groom!

the beautiful bride with the nieces and nephews

some of our favorite friends

and my very favorite guy

the Hargather/Hayes kids

and of course one picture with the adorable ring bearer!

Monday, June 3, 2013

videos

Here are two videos of the little man...

His big pool splash here - 



And his latest tricks here -
(The first 25 seconds are me trying to get him to do his tricks, so fast forward to there if you get tired of my voice :)



Wednesday, May 15, 2013

nursery projects

We've had a few projects going for the nursery, due to Hammond's new skills and to his ever-growing toy collection.

The first was this chalkboard wall above his crib.  If you remember, we'd had these framed prints (from Guess How Much I Love You) above.  One day I came in to find this....



And the next day, I heard a big thud and found one frame had been pulled off the wall.

So I knew it was time for a change.  I'd seen something similar at a friend's house, and decided to try it myself.  I used Martha Stewart's super simple tutorial so that I could make it whatever color of my choosing.  I used a hot glue gun to glue a rope as a border, and voila.  Should last us at least through the next year of seasons...I hope.




I also bought some super cheap rubber band gliders from Amazon that I strung from the ceiling...kind of like my own make-shift mobile...to fill some dead space above the new baskets that are housing all of our fun, new big(ger) boy toys.