Annie's 10 Month Update

This was a highly stressful month to get her to cooperate for this picture! 

Our sweet little Annie is 10 months old!  It’s hard to believe now since we are in 2015 that her 1st bday is right around the corner.  I’ve started the initial planning of her 1st birthday already; it’s going to be awesome!

What’s new?!  Walking.  She has been doing a step or 2 on her own for the last few months but this
month I would say she officially took her first steps.  Check out the video for yourself, that’s legit if you ask me.  She isn’t exclusively walking but I feel pretty good that by her 11 month update she will be.  Go Annie, Go! Check out her video:

This girl is a go-getter!  She’s feisty, she knows what she wants, and she’s not lukewarm at all about anything.  Laid back child she is not!  If this personality of hers continues {which I’ve grown to love}, I think we will have our hands full and things will always be pretty lively keeping up with her.

We’ve finally gotten into some good napping patterns with her.  Her naps are predictable and good.  Her bottles are stretching to 4-5 hours apart, and bedtime is consistent.  We introduced solids this past month and it started out great.  She seemed really interested in them and eating them fine at daycare too.  But then the last few weeks, she’s been not having it at all, purses her lips, refusing cheerios which she did love, and will even spit the food out if I manage to get it into her mouth.  Then she doesn’t cry in the high chair but she has learned the art of screaming.  She looks at me and screams loudly.  Like a ‘get me out of this chair NOW’ scream.  I usually can win for a few minutes by giving her a MumMum (the only solid she will eat – (rice crackers)) and then once that’s gone and I try with solids again, she starts in on her screams.  Told ya… feisty!  I don’t want to force her to eat anything she doesn’t like, but I don’t feel like that’s the case though so I have to keep trying and putting up this fight with her to try to get her interested again.  It’s a delicate fight though, I don’t want to make highchair or eating solids a negative association or something that feels forced upon.  So that’s our latest battle with our little Annie who is highly stubborn with solid foods out of the blue.  

She is really loving piggy back rides lately from Daddy

Annie loves Charley.  Too much.  On the weekends I feel like all I do is police those 2.  Annie crawls all over Charley and wants to tease Charley with the dog toys.  It’s cute for a while then it’s like okay you two, that’s enough.  It usually ends up with Charley downstairs behind the baby gate just to separate them.  I can’t tell if Charley likes it or just puts up with it.  I kinda think it’s a little of both at times.

Annie is the youngest in her daycare class.  We are so lucky to have a daycare we really love and Annie does too.  BUT… we are finding out that our little Annie, the youngest baby in the class is being a bit of a bully to the other babies.  She has a tendency to jump on the other baby’s backs and try to ride them around the room.  Why am I not surprised by this?!  Oh Annie! 

Other things worthy of mentioning is her top 2 teeth came in.  We had 2 icky back to back ear infections L.  She can wave ‘bye-bye’ (although it’s not mastered yet).  And crawling up flights of stairs. 

Although she is certainly feisty and stubborn in the most innocent of ways, she is SO beyond sweet!  She’s earned a very, very special place in Aaron’s and my heart!   We just love to watch her on the monitor after she goes to sleep, just see her all curled up, peacefully sleeping.  The way she can flash a big smile across her face just gets me every time.  Although she doesn’t like to be held much, she does give the best hugs ever.  Happy 10 months Annie, you’re so super sweet, a big ball of feistiness, and so darn loveable.  

Mac N Cheese and my Odd Encounter at Target Cafe

I had something bizarre happen to me a Target last week.  In my efforts to grocery shop only bi-weekly and in doing so after Annie goes to bed on a Thursday evening, I entered Target around 7:30 pm and was starving as I hadn’t had anything for dinner yet.  I decided to forgo my sugary carb-filled Starbucks pumpkin bread for a healthier (?) deep fried Target café option.  Here is what happened:

Me:  Staring at the menu.  “How are your chicken strips, are they lightly breaded or do they have lots breading?”  (I don’t like lots of breading).

Target Girl:  “Ya….. I would not order those if I was you.  They are pretty gross.  They are frozen and bake for 4 minutes and are pretty generic.” 

Me: “Wow, ok.  I appreciate your honesty.  I’m kinda a chicken strip connoisseur so that would have been a huge let down.”  Pause, as I looked at the menu more….

Target Girl:  “You are thinking about the grilled cheese aren’t you?  Don’t do it.  It’s even worse than the chicken strips.”

Me: “Are you serious?!! How can a grilled cheese be WORSE than the chicken strips?!!!”

Target Girl:  “It’s so nasty, the cheese is so fake and processed that it actually burns and doesn’t even melt.”

Me: “My Word!”  I’m standing here just shocked at this point, I start to stare at the pretzels, pretzels aren’t really my thing but I’m running out of options and starving.  I look up at this teenage target girl to gauge her approval over the pretzels and I get an unspoken ‘don’t do it’ look.  Ugh, what is safe?!

Me: “I’ll take the cheese pizza.” 

Target Girl gets me the cheese pizza and rings me up.  “ I’m so sorry but I can’t fake it when the food is that bad, I don’t mean to tell you that stuff but I can’t lie.”

Me: “I totally understand, just whatever you do, don’t tell me about the cheese pizza.  I’m starving!”

MMMKKAYY, how weird was that!?!  I’m not making this up, that really happened.  So I guess I won’t be eating at Target Café again anytime soon.  Guess I’ll have to resort to Starbucks pumpkin bread for dinner when I’m in a pinch again.  Wow.  Enlightening, really.

So I really am a chicken strip connoisseur but you know what I love more than chicken strips?  Macaroni and cheese.  I’m a total mac n cheese connoisseur!  Check my Pinterest board… you’ll see.   Have you ever noticed how most mac n cheeses use a secret ingredient and it’s usually Dijon mustard or just a dab of hot sauce?  Ya, not a fan.  I’ve made them with those so called ‘secret ingredients’ and it’s true that you can’t really taste them but I don’t like mustard and I don’t like hot sauce so even the fact that I can’t taste it but know it’s in there is just a turn off for me.   So when I came across this Mac N Cheese recipe, I was excited.   And it was A-MAH-ZING!  I added chicken and broccoli to mine to call it an entrée J.  It’s a MUST try!  I’ve tried many mac n cheeses and this one might be the leader of my favorites.   Enjoy this one, you are welcome my friends!    

You know you want some... it doesn't look cheesy but it was. Very cheesy! 

I may or may not of nibbled off this serving spoon.  No guests were contaminated by me doing so. 

If you eat anything high calorie with salad you feel like you cancel out and left feeling healthified.  True for me anyways. 

Ingredients:

• 1 16 oz package large elbow macaroni, cooked to pkg. instructions, but leaving them a little firm
• 2 medium heads fresh broccoli (14-16oz), but in small bite size pieces
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 small onion, minced
• 2 cups of whole milk
• 1 can chicken broth
• 2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• about 1/2 cup of extra cheese for topping
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• kosher or sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In large pot, boil water and cook pasta to instructions, but leaving pasta a little al dente. About 3 minutes before draining pasta, add broccoli to cook in water alongside pasta.
2. Grease a large 9 x 12 baking dish.
3. While pasta is cooking prepare the cheese and milk mixture. In large pot on medium heat, add butter and onion. Cook onions till soft, then add flour. Stir flour quickly to combine the flour and onion rue mixture. Add milk and chicken broth.
4. Allow mixture to come to a boil and sauce will thicken. Remove from heat and add cheddar cheese and Parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Drain your cooked pasta and broccoli and add to cheese mixture. Gently mix together and pour into baking dish. Add extra cheese and bread crumbs on top.
6. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted with a nice crust.

Chicken in Sun Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

This year, I really lack any good new year’s resolutions.  Every year it’s always the same… eat healthier, work out more, and become a more positive person.  I end each year better than I started, another year down peppered with lots of good memories, especially 2014 with Annie being born.  Although I must say the first half of 2014 was tougher than I anticipated.  What should have been one of the best weeks of my life, the birth of my daughter, ended up being a roller coaster of a week filled with a lot of highs and a lot of lows for me personally.  Those initial months, we dealt with an extreme case of baby colic that put Aaron and I into operating in a zombie state of mind and feeling pretty defeated most days.  Then the last half of 2014 was really super awesome, life got a whole lot easier, routines/schedules fell into place, colic disappeared and there were an abundance of really happy, joy-filled days the last half of the year.  When I look back at 2014, I’m really blown away by our year...what a year!  And what I’m most blown away by most is how BLESSED our family is.  I’m just completely overwhelmed by how blessed we are it’s beyond what I can fathom on most days.  2014 is certainly a year I will never forget!

I have a few unique ‘resolutions’ this year and will attempt to adhere to a little better than I have in the past, one being to spend less time at the grocery store.  Silly resolution, right?!  It’s really crazy how many hours I spend at the grocery store and it’s a little ridiculous that half of my Saturday’s can easily be consumed by such errands.  I want to spend less time and better planning so I can attempt to only make my big shopping trip every 2 weeks and not so much every week.  And it’s totally do-able!  2015 for me is all about being more efficient so I can spend more time with the family I’ve been blessed with.

So long story short, my last grocery run I was mindful of planning some meals to get us thru the next few weeks and in doing so, I came across some real yummy new recipes that I want to share as they were that good!  First one up for this post… Chicken in Sun Dried Tomato Cream Sauce.  This was tasty!  Totally worth buying a few ingredients I normally don’t have on hand.  The one down-side was that it took far more time that I really anticipated it to take, hence a negative point for not being efficient with my time; it took an hour from start to finish, I'm more of a 30 minute meal prep gal myself.   Although I do think it would be a perfect meal if you are looking for something special to whip up for Valentine's Day.  I served this with brown rice and broccoli, a total winner you guys!

INGREDIENTS

4 Chicken Breasts

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more, to taste

1 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup julienned sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, drained

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 cup basil leaves, chiffonade

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large oven-proof skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side; set aside.

Melt remaining tablespoon butter in the skillet. Add garlic and red pepper flakes, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, heavy cream, sun dried tomatoes, Parmesan, thyme, oregano and basil.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Return chicken to the skillet.

Place into oven and roast until completely cooked through, about 25-30 minutes.

Serve immediately, garnished with basil, if desired.

9 Months Old

9 months old, or aka the clingy stage!  For the longest time, I was just an 'ordinary' person to her.  Zero excitement when I would pick her up from daycare or coming back from our vacations, it was actually kind of embarrassing how she would cry and throw a fit about leaving daycare to go home with me!  I was really looking forward to this day when she would cling on to me… well here we are...and it’s not all it’s cracked up to be either!  I feel like I’m walking around all day with a baby wrapped around my leg and I’m dragging that leg behind me as I walk.  I sure do love her and love to feel wanted by her but it’s also exhausting!  When she clings on and I start to get a little tired from it, I try to just remind myself that I’ll look back and think this was such a short time and how someday I’ll wish I had these precious days back so for now I’m going to appreciate the clinginess as best as I can!

   

She has taken a few very brief steps on her own, so brief that I’m not really counting them yet but one of these days I know she is just going to take off walking.  I can’t tell if it’s a few months out yet or days away.   I’m guessing we are still a little ways out yet, although she has assisted walking down to where she is basically running down our halls, her balance is still pretty wobbly yet which makes me think it won't be quite as soon. 

This month she has become very drawn to Charley.  Charley is so good with Annie, Annie crawls all over her as if she is her personal jungle gym and especially loves to choke Charley by grabbing onto her collar.  Poor Charley just takes it.  The licking is out of control.  As soon as the licking starts, I separate them.  Let’s just say I caught some open mouth kisses between the two that made me gag and grabbing for a wet wash cloth to try to clean Annie’s mouth out.  Charley usually ends up behind the baby gate as I just can’t get Annie to leave her alone.  Lately, they've played tug-a-war and it is pretty cute, Charley gives her dog toy a little tug while Annie is holding onto the other end and that sends Annie into a ROAR of laughter.   Annie has this unhuman-like grip for a baby; it’s actually pretty freakish how strong she is sometimes.

Right before her 9 month bday, her two top teeth appeared!  Barely popping thru the gum, we joked that all Annie wanted for Christmas was her two front teeth!  Unfortunately though, at her 9 month appointment, we found out she had a first ear infection, in both ears, which my mommy intuition had kinda wondered if she did.  Let’s hope we can avoid those in the future.

This post is already a half a month late, and I’m going to try to stop there and save some to tell you about for her 10 month post.  Happy 9 Months Sweets!