Chock Full o' Photos

Hi all.  Haven't featured many Mitchell pictures lately.  Just finally got around to loading all the software from my new toy and transferred all my images to the ole hard drive, so I thought I'd give you a little TGIF treat.  Lots o' pictures of Mitchell....isn't that why most of you are here???

Without further ado...a foto-feature of our last couple weeks.

Woke up one Saturday morning with what looked like pink eye.  A pediatrician visit, eye drops and antibiotics later, we're all doing fine.  Also, don't you love the 'do?  That's how he rolls most mornings, to be honest.  I have stopped trying to fight it.

All boy - the more you mess with him the better.  Don't you love that grin?

Lots of eating.  Loves green peas.  Didn't get it from his daddy.

New favorite pose.  He's either practicing for his future modeling career or waiting for us to come feed him grapes and fan him with palm fronds.

Sitting up all on his own for minutes at a time.  Can even get to a sitting position by himself, through a rather complicated set of contortions.  Mighty pleased with himself these days...

And as always, he just continues to grow and grow.  As evidenced by:

delicious chubby cheeks; and

even more delicious, chubbier legs!

He's really moving at the speed of light these days.  Look...

never a dull moment around here.

And one last picture, of our other child.  I took this picture of Dixie the first night I had my new camera, and this was how I knew I was truly in love!  I never have a good picture of Dixie because she never sits still long enough.  With this baby, it's not even an issue!

Cheers!

Le Creuset Giveaway

If you love Le Creuset, click on the link below to enter a great giveaway contest!

You get two stoneware dishes (10.5x7 and 7x5) in a choice of 7 great colors!
http://ks-waiting.blogspot.com/2010/01/le-creuset-stoneware-giveaway.html

Good luck (but I hope I win)...

Bedtime Bath

I'm going to take a page from my friend Reeves, The Product Mama, and provide a product review of a recent purchase.

My bottle looks different from this, but I did get it on clearance at Babies R Us, so maybe the packaging change is the reason for the clearance price I got.  (As a side note, I'm a total sucker for a clearance price; I'll buy anything if it's on clearance.  Definitely something to work on, budget-wise!  So I bought this, naturally...)  We were out of bath wash for MKM and I was going to get Aveeno, but I decided to try this instead.  You see, I was intrigued with this claim:

"A nightly routine that includes a warm bath using JOHNSON'S BEDTIME BATH, followed by a massage with JOHNSON'S BEDTIME LOTION, and quiet time, is clinically proven to help babies fall asleep easier and sleep through the night better. " (emphasis added by me)

This product apparently has something called "NATURALCALM" essences that apparently, when released, help soothe children and make it easier for them to sleep.

Ok, most of you who read this probably know this about my child:  he's not a sleeper and he's very rarely calm.  So I really didn't hope for much in the sleep department.  I don't really believe that a certain type of bubble bath can make him sleep better.  This routine encourages a warm bath and a soothing massage with the accompanying lotion before your child goes "quietly off to sleep".  I think that sound like a lovely evening and is certainly a goal of mine for Mitchell's nighttime routine. 

As it is now, our routine is slightly less serene than that.  Bathtime usually consists of Mitchell beating whatever toy I've given him repeatedly on the water and gleefully enjoying the splashes.  Then the drying off/soothing massage portion of the evening more closely resembles a wrestling match, usually involving both me and John trying to dry him off, put a diaper on and hopefully slathering some lotion on various parts of his body which we can haphazardly cover while he thrashes around.  That is followed by one of us quietly trying to read him a book or two, while he sqirms out of our arms or lap, trying to get the nearest page from the book into his mouth.  It's hardly a relaxing time for any of us.  My only hope each night is that he will calm down enough while he's nursing that he'll go to sleep once I put him in his crib.  Some nights he does; some nights he doesn't.  So, pardon the bad pun, but I kind of felt that whatever calming effects that this product purports would be, for us, ahem...a wash. 

Having said that, the scent of this stuff is sublime.  I actually found myself sniffing Mitchell's hair when I was laying in bed this morning feeding him.  I like it so much more than the fakey lavendar scent that some of the other washes and lotions have.  It is not exactly floral, but has a very clean, fresh, yummy scent that will make you want to eat your little one right up (even if they are acting like a wild banshee).  I'm even going to go so far as to say that I'd put a few squirts of this in my own nighttime bath just so I could smell like this all the time.

So, in closing, I can't really endorse this product for it's sleep enhancing properties, but I'm going to keep using it, and keep working towards that lovely, ideal bedtime routine.  Whatever the outcome, at least I can take comfort in the fact that my child smells heavenly in the process!

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Edited to add: I meant to post a link to a $2 off coupon to this product if you want to try it.

http://johnsonsbaby.com/Sleep/default.html

Amen, and a Way to Help

I have a heavy heart about what's going on in Haiti right now: for the people who are trapped, or who cannot find loved ones; for the relief efforts that are being slowed by problems with infrastructure; for so much.

I was so saddened to hear of Pat Robertson's comments about why this happened.  I was outraged, quite frankly.  This article helped calm me a little bit; maybe it will you too.

http://donmilleris.com/2010/01/13/1513/

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There are so many ways to give; I hope you will all help in some small way if you are able.

My friend Rachel sent me this info on how to create a health kit that can be sent to victims in Haiti and other disaster areas. 

Catchin' Up in the Kitchen

So, that whole thing about posting what I've been cooking on a weekly basis hasn't really panned out, has it?  What a shocker, especially if you know me (and especially if you know me lately).  It probably wasn't that wise to "commit" myself to something like this just before the holidays, when I knew we'd be busy and traveling.  As it was our fridge was mostly bare for a good part of late December, so dinners were interesting, to say the least. 

Instead of trying to hold myself to a standard that I clearly couldn't keep, even for a week, I'll just try to post periodic updates for recipes worth your time.  How 'bout that??

Let's see.  Since my last update, I've made:

• John's favorite chicken enchiladas twice
• Spanish Spaghetti - very good; a nice variation on the traditional spaghetti with meat sauce.  Next time I will up the spice and saffron a bit based on our preference for a bolder flavor.  I also didn't have time or interest in purchasing actual sherry, so I got some sherry vinegar and just put a couple of splashes in as an alternative.  Worked for us.  I made it with whole wheat spaghetti; I usually try to do this with most any pasta these days because there are so many better-tasting options available now.  A lot of times I cannot even tell the difference in taste, so why not add some fiber and whole grains to your diet while you're at it?!?
• Turkey meatloaf.  No recipe, just used a pack (usually about 1 1/4 lb) of 99% fat free ground turkey, chopped up half a green bell pepper very finely (since the 99 turket can get dry in a hurry), a couple of tablespoons of dry breadcrumbs, handful of grated parm cheese and seasoned with garlic powder (out of fresh garlic), seasoned salt and some grilling pepper that is in my pantry, which is basically seasoned pepper.  I also added a couple tablespoons of some crushed tomatoes that I had in the fridge and a few glugs of my favorite barbecue sauce (Rudy's, linked to it previously in one of my recipe posts).  I mixed about half of that combo into the meat and saved the rest to spread on top.  Mixed it all up with my hands and put in a loaf pan, topped and baked at 400 for about 30-40 minutes (didn't really pay attention to the time, just until it was done in the middle).  I actually prefer doing turkey burgers with the 93/7 ground turkey, but I have a hard time finding it sometimes.  The 99 worked and really it was a totally delicious outcome for such a hodgepodge process.
• Ina Garten's Baked Penne with Five Cheeses - it was decadent and tasted awesome, but I'd maybe tweak it a bit becuase the sauce stayed a little too soupy for my liking.

I've certainly made other things; just nothing to write home about.  I hope to start taking some food pics with my new toy that John got me for Christmas - yay!