raising him right

I can't believe I forgot to post about this, but it can't wait another day.

Asher took his first trip to Chick-Fil-A over the weekend!  I'm not a huge fan of fast food, but Chick-Fil-A is my favorite go to quick spot.  I love their grilled chicken sandwich!  But, I digress...

Drew and I were running some errands and decided to swing by for lunch.  We usually just drive-thru and take food home with us, but we were feeling adventurous and thought, why not...maybe Ash can handle sitting with us while we eat out.

It was fantastic!

Asher sat in the restaurant highchair {for the first time} in his Floppy Seat.  He loved looking at all the other people and just kept swiveling around to try and see everyone.

Of course, he also wanted some dipping sauce, my straw, to lick the table, and a whole host of other things that he couldn't do/have.  It will be much better in the future when I can distract him with some nuggets of his own.

As it was, we had an extremely successful outing!  Three cheers for Chick-Fil-A!

feats of strength

Apparently carrying an 18 pound baby around all day has really bulked me up.

{In, like, completely invisible ways}

This morning I was trying to pop the baby food that I made yesterday out of the ice cube trays and

SNAP

the crappy thing broke right in half!  Little pieces of plastic flew everywhere.  Thankfully Asher was in his highchair a safe distance away and I knew enough to turn my head -- saving myself a trip to the ophthalmologist with a lacerated cornea.  That would have been bad.

What's next for me?

Opening jars of condiments?

Lifting flats of soda from BJs?

Leaping tall buildings in one bound??

Tune in to see!

:o)

because i missed wordless wednesday

Look at this little gentleman sleeping with his ankles crossed.  So cute!

dairy free's the life for me

Back by popular demand, dairy free recipes!  Here's what Drew and I had for dinner over the weekend....

Pork BBQ and Cole Slaw

Yum!!

This is a great weekend meal because the pork BBQ is best when cooked low and slow.  Drew is mostly in charge of making the pork, so I'm working from his, um, loose directions.  He tends to be a little of this, a little of that kind of chef. 

Day 1:

• Dry rub the pork roast and refrigerate overnight

1T paprika
1/2 T brown sugar
1/2 T chili powder
1/2T ground cumin
3/4 tsp pepper
1tsp salt
1tsp cinnamon (this makes a HUGE difference, use it!)
1tsp garlic powder

Mix together and rub over trimmed 3+lbs pork roast

• Make the cole slaw and refrigerate overnight

1 bag Cole Slaw mix {salad section of grocery store}
1/2 C mayo
1/2 T apple cider vinegar
3T sugar

Pour Cole Slaw mix (cabbage + carrots) into large bowl
Sprinkle with generous salt and pepper
Mix remaining 3 ingredients to make the dressing
Pour dressing over cole slaw mix
{note: it won't seem like there is enough dressing, but the salt causes a lot of water to come out of the cabbage overnight.  Give it a stir the next morning and make sure it's wet enough for your taste}

Day 2:

Cook pork roast in the Crock-Pot on low for 6ish hours
Once cooked through, remove from the Crock-Pot and shred with forks/fingers
Put pork back in Crock-Pot and cover with bottled BBQ sauce
Stir up and cook on low for another couple hours

The pork is already fully cooked, so whenever you want to eat go ahead and dig in!

We like to eat our sandwiches 'Southern Style' by putting a big dollop of Cole Slaw right on top of the BBQ.

{I also like to have some on the side}

Drew also really likes to put raw onions on top of his BBQ.  Seeing as how raw onion is my kryptonite, I skip this step.

That's it!  I love that this recipe is completely dairy-free with no modifications.  It feels like I'm missing out on less when I can eat the whole recipe as it was intended.

Enjoy!

baby jaws

I knew we shouldn't have let Asher watch Shark Week.

Look what the little monster did to his crib.

In one of Asher's frequent bids for freedom he decided to try and EAT his way out between the bars.  How very Escape From Alcatraz of him.

Actually I just think his gums are bothering him.  He has been pushing everything into the way back of his mouth.  My guess is that he was trying to soothe his sore gums, but his two little teeth in the front got in the way and gnawed into the bars.

Poor guy?

Bad baby?

I can't decide.  But I'm leaning towards laughing.

Fortunately, I was able to cover most of the bite marks with touch up paint.  I had taken the breathable bumper down in the front section because his arm was getting caught between it and the bars, but now it's back.  He'll just have to keep his arms to himself.

Here's hoping he doesn't find a way to chew through the darn thing.  Otherwise we might end up wrapping his whole crib in receiving blankets.

Or chain mail. 

flying saucer

We finally busted out Asher's ExerSaucer!

He got this as a gift at my baby shower and we've been waiting until he could support his trunk really well before getting it out for him.

{That...and it was packed deep beneath our stairs and I kind of forgot we had it}

Anyway, it's out now!  Asher is...ambivalent.  He will look around at ALL of the stuff and play for a few minutes, but before long he's crying and reaching up for me to pluck him out.

I think the problem is 2-fold:

1) there's a TON of stuff on this thing.  I think it all overwhelms him a little.  He looks around and around and doesn't seem sure what to grab first.  I'm going to try to remove a few things and see if that helps.

2) Ash really loves his Jumparoo.  In fact, he loves to jump anytime his feet hit the floor.  This saucer says you can jump in it {but he really can't} and I think that's a major disappointment.

One funny thing about it, though, is that every time Asher's feet touch the plastic bottom he pulls them right back up.  He ends up leaning forward with his feet back and looks like he's trying to fly.

Super Baby to the rescue!

We'll keep trying it, but if the ExerSaucer ends up being a dud for us, oh well.  Not every toy is going to be a winner.  Maybe the next baby will like it.  ;o)

parched

Asher and I have been working on his drinking from a cup.  By 'working on' I mean that I offer him a cup and he looks at it disdainfully.

I've read that having your baby/toddler drink through a straw is preferable to the spouted sippy cups because the straw sends the liquid past their teeth and {if they are drinking juice} keeps any sugar from immediately coating the pearly whites. I don't plan on giving Ash juice any time soon, but we'd might as well be prepared for the inevitable and teach him to use a straw sooner rather than later.

Don't get me wrong...we have a whole cabinet full of sippy cups and Asher will undoubtedly use them at some point.  However, I found this great cup at Babies 'R Us that has a Camelback-style straw that is spill proof, but still a straw, so we've been trying to drink using that.

A few weeks ago, I filled the cup with water and started to offer it several times throughout the day.  Asher took a great big sip once and got a mouthful of water.  This experience was obviously disappointing because he just let it all dribble out and down his shirt.  Water is not tasty like milk. 

Sorry, friend.

Since then he would chew on the straw, but wasn't willing to suck up any water.

Until yesterday!

I guess rolling around, trying to crawl, and playing with his toys really makes a boy thirsty because once Asher caught sight of his cup he made a beeline for it and never looked back.  He drank and drank. 

So cute!

I've offered his cup a few times since then and he drinks a little each time.  He always "tells" me he's done by letting the water he doesn't want drip all over.  Or he raspberries it back at me.  Nice.

He still can't really coordinate well enough to hold the cup and drink from it, but we'll get there.  I'm not in a rush for any of this, just excited that he seemed to get it!  Plus, it's so hot out this summer I'd love for him to be able to have a drink while we're out and about. 

Way to go, Mr. A!

wordless wednesday: ride on

Asher got his first shoulder ride from Daddy the other day.

He seemed a little nervous.

But happy nonetheless.

Brave boy!

it's what's for dinner

I was really inspired by the recipes that B has been posting over on her blog, so I decided to put up some of my own!  B and I are both going dairy-free for our milk allergic babies, so finding good stuff to eat is especially challenging.

On Sunday, I made Bruschetta and Penne with Broccoli and Lemon.

Bruschetta:

6-7 plum tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1T extra-virgin olive oil
1tsp balsamic vinegar
6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 baguette + 1/4C extra-virgin olive oil

Parboil the tomatoes for 1 minute in boiling water that was just removed from the burner
Skin the tomatoes, cut into quarters and remove seeds (this keeps it from getting too watery)

Preheat oven to 450F
Chop tomatoes finely
Add tomatoes to garlic, 1T olive oil + vinegar, mix well
Slice bread, coat 1 side with olive oil, place oil side down on cookie sheet
Toast on top rack 5-6 minutes
Place tomato mixture on bread just before serving

This tasted sooo good!  It was fresh and delicious -- perfect for summer!

This main dish recipe is one that I tweaked a little to make it dairy-free, but I think it's just as good with or without cheese.  In fact, I usually just serve it with a side of freshly grated Parmesan and Drew is happy.

Penne with Broccoli and Lemon:

1 box penne
2-3 chicken breasts, chopped
6T extra-virgin olive oil
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound frozen broccoli florets, thawed
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 + 1/2 lemons, juiced and zest finely grated

Cook pasta + drain
Heat 1T extra-virgin olive oil PER chicken breast in skillet
Add chopped chicken breast pieces and saute until cooked through
Add remaining 3-4T extra-virgin olive oil to pan
Add garlic + cook until golden (1-2 minutes)
Add broccoli, red pepper flakes, + 1tsp salt
Cook until heated through (1-2 minutes)
Add broccoli mix + lemon juice to pasta
Heat through, sprinkle with lemon zest

The original recipe also called for 1C of Parmesan to be mixed into the pasta.  I thought this was overkill even before I went off dairy.  However, since I omitted the cheese I had to bump up the red pepper flakes to keep the flavor alive.  If that's too spicy for you {I like spicy} you can definitely cut it back to 1/2 tsp.

I also threw in some grape tomatoes that were in the fridge -- why not.

Think we liked it?

Good wine helps too.

teethifier disclaimer

I got a note from my blogging friend Jocelyn today asking whether the Teethifier I ordered for Asher cost $40 {because that's what they are currently going for on Amazon}.  If you'll remember, a few weeks ago I sung the praises of this little, yellow back-teeth-reaching chew toy.

However, I didn't sing $40 worth of praises.

I just wanted to clarify before someone else goes to look for one, finds this price, and thinks I'm completely out of my mind.

Or, worse, think that it might possibly be worth that much!

I paid $8.

I'd pay the $8, but there's no way The Teethifier is worth 40 buck-a-roos.  Not unless it also comes with a weekly cleaning service thrown in or something.

happy birthday erin!

Happy Birthday to my sister, Erin!

Erin and I are only two years apart, so we spent lots of time together growing up.  Even though it's been 10 years since I graduated from high school and officially stopped living with her full time sometimes it still feels weird not seeing her every day.

There are some things that bond you to a person, regardless of whether you're related or not.  Add in a very similar looking appearance and there's really no choice but to be close.

You might be wondering what some of these things are.  In my book they include:

Going to the zoo

{and stopping her from licking the sheep that licked her}

Rocking some pretty serious mullets at formal occasions

Being teenagers at the same time

Having the same Dad

Erin has been there for all of my big life moments. 

She's the best Aunt a baby boy could hope for.

She can appreciate a new couch and loves ice cream.

If she wasn't already married to a great guy this would totally be turning into a personals ad.

Alas, men of the internet, she's taken.

Everyone needs to hop over to her blog and wish this wonderful woman a happy birthday!

weekend on the farm

Drew and I met up with some of his work friends this weekend at a local working farm.  Can you believe there are farms less than 10 miles from Washington, DC?

 I couldn't either.

At any rate, here we are!

Asher got to see his first sheep, goats, turkey, chickens, and horses.

 He couldn't have cared less.  Oh well, I think it will be a little while before he gets into seeing animals.  Maybe the aquarium would be a better choice since the could get up close and personal to the glass?

 
Hello, Jeff and Kylie!

 Drew tried to let Ash pat the horse {despite my desperate pleas to 'move back, don't let him touch them!'}

Fortunately, Ash wasn't interested in the horses.  In fact, this was only minutes before his complete and utter meltdown.

We skipped his noon time nap, hoping he would sleep on the ride there {which, of course, he didn't} so he got very tired and irritable about 15 minutes into our farm adventure.  Does anyone else have a super sensitive baby who punishes you with any variation to his schedule?

I'd love to take him more places to do things, but if we have to be at home for naps right on time it really limits what we can do.  This is a major bummer, but I'm not sure what to do about it.  Having a screaming, inconsolable baby is no fun.

Despite those 20 minutes of crying we had a great weekend!  It was terrific weather here and we got out a lot!  For now we're just revving up for the coming week.  Hope you all had good weekends too!