it was meant to be

I had exactly .72 cents in my wallet this sleepy Friday afternoon.

Gas station fountain diet dr. pepper here I come.

how could i forget???

We went to the Cardinal's game this past Wednesday night (thank you friends for inviting us!)

So it was Graham's first baseball game.  Baseball is a huge thing in St. Louis.  And even though I go to enjoy a kosher hot dot and do some people watching...I enjoy the game as well.

And for the love of blogs...how in the world did I forget my camera?!?

Bummer.

G did great.  He just sat/stood on our laps watching the crowds and of course did some flirting with the couple behind us.  He's such a charmer.  Poor kid...woke up from his nap around 3ish and somehow made it through the whole night, all the way home and had a bath before totally melting.  He instantly fell asleep at 11 pm.

I did get a cute picture of Graham and me using my camera phone.  Maybe there's a way to get it from the phone to the computer?!?

stalking

Confession.

I blog stalk.

Like, alot.

Yes, most of them are my friends, but, on occasion, I've picked up new blog friends from my real friend's blogrolls.

And so I sit, after Graham is in bed, dishes are done, face is washed...and read all about friends' and strangers' lives alike.  I laugh, I cry, I try to make Matt interested...and only half the time do I actually know these people.

I know I'm not the only one.  I'm talking to you, you blog stalker. 

Also, I know some other friends who do this too.  We actually share new blogs that we find with each other.

So, I don't write this to condemn blog stalking by any means.  I'd just love to know who reads my little blog about my little life.  And if you have a blog, I'm sure I'd love to read it.

Happy stalking!

part time + part time = no time

It's true.

Remember this little store?  Well I've started working there.  And I get to take little G with me sometimes, it's super fun.

Pros?  Discount, discount, discount!  Plus, the people are so nice and I'm learning so much more about cloth diapers and other fun little baby things.  Also, there is some serious Graham/daddy bonding time going on when I don't take him with me. 

Cons?  Discount.  Plus, more stuff added to my schedule.  I don't think I realized how hard it would be to add a couple of shifts to my week.  What with all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, diaper laundry, target runs, nap times, play times....it seems obvious that there isn't time for another job.  But I took it.  I like it, it's fun, and now it just means a more productive use of my time and less day-time-trashy-tv-watching, sniff sniff. 

And apparently my blogging has suffered as well.  I apologize.  I know you wake up and, before even having your breakfast, turn on your computer to check this blog, and I've let you down.   I'll try and be better.

On that note, some little updates in our world:

Graham has 6 teeth and a new smile complete with a little scrunched nose to show them off. 

He's sooo close to walking.  We find him standing on his own sometimes after cruising around if he's really studying a toy in his hand.  Speaking of hands, the boy's got a death grip on his toy of the day.  Yesterday he crawled and cruised around with one of my spatulas for 2 hours straight.  Never once put it down.  It was a little sweaty when I pried it out of his hands to change his shirt.

I'm having so much fun with him these days.  He's so chatty and smiley and occasionally snuggly.  He's so busy exploring everything and learning new tricks.  Usually before his afternoon nap he's actually sweating from all the playing...

Ok, back to G!

nap-over

Some friends came to play and nap today.

Will woke up just before Graham and we let him join him in the crib.

Graham wasn't so sure there were supposed to be 2 babies in his bed.

Will loved it.

Most of the time...

(sorry it's fuzzy...they were jumping!)

I think Graham shrieked and scared him.  Why is my child so loud?

Then they were friends again.

This is going to embarrass them some day...

Then, just as I discovered that I should have had my flash on...they melted.

Both of our babers are on the wild and crazy side but like to be snuggled right after naps.  It's sweet!

canned

Inspired by the peach jam, my mom and I decided to tackle salsa this week.

We loove some cilantro.

I tried some today...yum!

I'd share the recipe but my mom and I definitely doctored up the one we started with, so who really knows what the final recipe looked like.

10 Months

Is it that time already?  Again?  I feel as though the months are zooming past me...

Graham turned 10 months last Saturday.  He is so much fun these days!  Well, at least since those last teeth came in.  He is crawling all over the place, cruising around the furniture and along walls...babbling all the time...singing in his falsetto voice (you know if you've heard it, you laughed at the shrillness...)  Also, recently he's adopted this "butt spin" move.  Before he learned to sit back up from crawling around, he'd spin around on his belly using his hands to get to his different toys.  Well now that he can sit up, he uses his feet to move him in a circle on his tooshie.  It's awesome.  It's especially funny when he's either really excited or really mad as he's either crying or shrieking with delight.

We're pretty sure he's waving.  But only if I get him and the diaper bag and go into the study to tell Matt bye.  It's like he's figured out that means we're leaving and so he flaps his arms when we say bye-bye.  But only in that setting...

He has 5 teeth officially.  The top 4 were all coming at once and three of them have broken through.  We are super thankful.

Food is also becoming more fun for us all.  I can't complain, he is an awesome eater now that he's interested.  He eats whatever I put in his mouth, even the "great greens" mixture which is spinach, green beans, mango and brown rice.  I use that one as the example of the weird mixtures because that one smells like sea weed.  Gross.  I'm trying to finish up with the pureed things I have because he's moving on to the finger foods.  If he sees me eating blueberries he shrieks and zoom-crawls and starts gumming me.  I think he could eat blueberries and raspberries all day long.  In that regard, he is his father's son!

We thank the Lord for him every day, for his continued health and for this precious time together!

Also, I think he's made his first attempt at saying a word!  I noticed the other day that he turned his head and craned his neck to see where the dog was after hearing some barking while saying the "da da."  I know...it's a stretch right?  Well, the other day he was at my parents' house and playing away when he heard a dog bark in another part of the house.  He stopped playing and started turning to find the dog while saying the "da da" sound.  My mom noticed it and so I feel slightly more justified.  Ok, so maybe it's not a word...but it's an association.  It's a start right?

We went to this park nearby, Tower Grove, with some friends last week.  They have these fountains and little pools where the neighborhood kids can come play.  It was so much fun!  It'll be even more fun when Graham can actually get to the fountain before it turns off!  He'd see one and start going for it but by the time he got there and sat up it was gone...so sad...

Here are some pictures from our fun afternoon!

I love these girls laying in the pool, so cute!

Little Blaise just turned one!

William is 2 weeks younger than Graham.

I love this one of all 3 of them soooo excited for the water.

living the outdoor life

You see, we thought it would be a "small project."

Boy were we wrong.  Way wrong.

Just digging up the back yard took an entire afternoon...

Then we went to price the materials.  Big mistake.

Our "small" project was in fact, quite large...

20 bags of gravel...

64 bags of concrete...

I don't even want to know how many gallons of water...

Many thanks to our dear friends, brothers and dads for their hours of labor.

The major work was done on a Saturday and all of them were pretty sore the next day.

And of course we had to get some footprints from this little guy.

It was, after all, a project for him.

We are so pleased with the finished product!

On the first day of the patio's existence we had some friends over to break it in.

The babers (Graham and his girlfriend Kate) broke in the pool.

While the adults enjoyed this...

Seriously, thanks to all our friends and family for helping us finish this project.

I'd say we learned our lesson about home projects...

But thanks to this amazing weather we've enjoyed our patio every single night this week!

coming soon...

Much going on in our little world with little time to post.

Many thanks to the top four for finally making it through and for returning my sweet baber to his old self.

Thanks to the husband for finishing the patio.

Thanks to end of season clearance sales for the patio set and umbrella at unbelievable deals.  They were practically given to us...

Thanks to the the weather for some amazing temperatures and breezes allowing us to spend practically every afternoon and evening outside on said patio.  Also for all the running and walking that's been able to happen!

And coming up this weekend will be a date with said hubs (thanks uncle B for babysitting) and probably like 5 overdue posts with pictures.

I promise!

makes me feel domestic

My mom and I made some peach jam this past Monday.  We started with fresh and healthy....then added twice as much sugar and the end result is pure delishousness....

Peach Jam:

One package of pectin in a big pot

Add 4 cups of chopped fresh (and peeled) peaches and simmer until reaches a rolling boil.

Stir in 7 cups of sugar.  That's right, 7 cups.  Also, I added about a teaspoon of cinnamon in one of the batches just for fun...

Continue to boil until reaches a heavy boil.  Boil heavily for 1 minute.

Remove from heat and scrape the foam from the top for 5 minutes.  Just discard the foam.

Scoop into warm jars leaving 1/4 inch at top (fill jars with warm water while the peach mixture is boiling).

Clean rim of the jar and add lid and band.

Put closed jars into boiling water for 10 minutes to seal.  Remove from heat and let cool for 24 hours.

I think we ended up with about 20 jars.  So if you're sweet to me....

Yum.  You'll find me with one of these babies and a loaf of bread.

Where was Graham during this whole event?  Napping for most of it....but then he woke up and wanted to participate.

He's pretty much always adorable.  In my opinion anyway...

chocolate chip banana bread = my life

This recipe is the best one I've tried...and I've tried a.l.o.t.  It's very easy for this beloved bread to go wrong.  Doughy middle is usually the main problem.  I mean, I love some good batter, but the doughy middle of a loaf of bread is sort of gross.

Anyway, I digress...I borrow this recipe from one of my old college room mates and make it at least once a week.

Hope y'all enjoy this as much as we do!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread:

2 sticks of butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

Blend.

Add 3 bananas, either over ripe or frozen then thawed

Blend.

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

Blend.

Then stir in by hand either 1 cup mini chocolate chips or 1 cup pecans....or both.  Go crazy.

Bake on 350 until firm and dark brown.  It's usually 1 hour for one loaf or when I make my 2 it only takes about 45 mins.

Just wait long enough to not get burned by removing the bread from the pans and enjoy!