my new alarm clock

I shot this video the other afternoon, but this is exactly what I wake up to every morning now. He learned how to make this noise and has WAY too much fun with it :)

Luck of the Irish

We had a great St. Patrick's Day here...how about all of you? I had the day off so I got to spend lots of time with JJ and it was a gorgeous day. Oh, and we watched lots of basketball! It really is one of the best days of the year. Beer, corned beef, and basketball. Yes, please!

Here's my little leprechaun...

I started preparing for the holiday last weekend. I bought a 7 lb. brisket and brined it for 4 days. Making your own corned beef is 100x better than buying the packaged one from the store. It's SUPER easy too. It's beer, water, salt, sugar and pickling spices. Then it sits in your fridge for 4 days. The only strange thing is it doesn't come out red, it comes out looking like brisket! Imagine that. I then split it in half and made it two ways. The traditional boiled method with cabbage, potatoes and carrots. The other half got slathered in cloves, hot mustard and brown sugar. Then it got put in the oven for 2 hours and folks, this is the way to make corned beef. It's really wonderful. Tender and flavorful. I sauteed cabbage and onion to go with it.

I used the recipes found here:

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/corned_beef_and_cabbage

Ok, it isn't pretty, but damn it tastes good!

Now I'm off to make corned beef hash. MMMMM good. But first, it's time to lower the crib mattress. Someone learned another trick this week...

Lift off!

Ok, folks...we have a crawler! An honest to god crawler. First there was the rocking (humping?) motion. Then it was almost a marine crawl...a dragging of the legs type thing. Now, a real crawl! JJ is on the move...so, watch out world!



As the end of the video demonstrates, child proofing has become a new priority. He can find everything. Especially wires that he can choke himself with. That seems to be a speciality. I swear those wires didn't even exist a month ago, now they are everywhere! *sigh*

So what else is going on. Hmmmm. I've been meaning to post for ages. I'm like a broken record on that, right? If only I could stop this break neck pace at work which results in me coming home so spent. I have energy to be with my little man for a few hours and that's about it. Oh and laundry. I swear, it's my new hobby. Can one baby really create this much laundry? I dream about getting a professional launderer one day. Launderer? You know what I mean...

I promise to do a St. Patrick's day post. PROMISE! I have my corned beef brining right now, so we're doing it up all homemade style this year! CAN NOT WAIT! Plus, JJ has not one, but two outfits. So necessary.

I'm going to de-wire my apartment now! Look for an update on Thursday :)

So close...

Yet so far away.

(Please say I'm not the only one singing Hall & Oates now...I'm looking at you Stephanie! Help me out here!)

This is quite an interesting time for a baby. JJ is right on the edge of a few milestones! It's very exciting. As you all saw earlier this month, he's very close to figuring out the crawling thing. He's also working on feeding himself. Just two weeks ago he had zero interest in these puffs...now he loves them! He realized that...hey! These taste good! And if I pick it up with my fingers, I can put them in my mouth. Occasionally. His average isn't all that good, but I'm sure Marley is loving that :)

This video just cracked me up because he was working so hard and got that puff in there. Only to have it come right back out! Better luck next time baby!



Oh and can we all just agree to watch my videos on mute? God, I sound so silly in them.

footprints

I wanted to post this weeks ago. But I had some technical difficulties. I am simply not capable of turning something from pdf to jpeg. *sigh*

Look at these little feet! I have footprints from the hospital too and I really can't wait to do this again when he's a year old. Sad thing is, I never would have known how easy it is to do this if we hadn't done it at Gymboree! It was such a fun thing to do...and that poor teacher really looked like she needed a drink after spending the day doing footprints for countless babies. They let us bring in whatever we wanted, in addition to this cute little poem they provided...so we all took full advantage of her generosity and she paid for it!

My baby boy is getting so big! It's especially crazy considering that he is at the very bottom of that damn growth chart. But he's 15 pounds now! Tripled in size. Can you imagine?

Victorious!

Dear sea horse -

For 7 months, you have entertained me and lulled me to sleep. I have watched you closely and hoped to reach out touch you. But you were always just out of reach. Until today! Today my arms are juuuust long enough to reach out and not just touch you...but TRY AND RIP YOU DOWN!

Watch your back octopus. You're next!

Sincerely,

JJ

Putting the pieces together

It's so interesting to watch him put all the pieces together in his head. Last week he realized he could get up on his hands and knees. Then he would collapse a moment later :) Now he's doing this cute move...



Not much longer until he's crawling, I'd say!

It was a big week for JJ. He had 2 doctor's appointments which put him all out of sorts. The first was his 6 month check up (with all his shots, which is what got him all screwed up). Then he visited a gastroenterologist. He's a tiny little guy and we're keeping a very close eye on his weight gain. It's gotten better, but he had stopped gaining at a good rate back in the fall. We realized around christmas that he definitely has reflux and between being treated for that and the super duper calorie rich formula he's getting, he seems to be doing much better! I was hoping they would say we could stop with the super duper calorie rich formula because we go through formula at a break neck pace and lord almighty, that can break the bank! Both Scott and I are so relieved after 2 good doctor visits though. A king's randsom in formula is a small price to pay for a healthy baby and restful sleep for mom and dad :)

BTW - might I say again...he had his SIX MONTH appointment! Six months! Crazy.