Eating like a man

For Christmas, Mo put this awesome mesh baby eating gizmo in his stocking.  I recently rediscovered it (upon some belated cabinet cleaning) and stuck it in the bag for our trip last weekend to Kansas.

On Saturday, Mac used it to eat half of a banana.

On Sunday, Mac upped his game and demolished an entire banana.

This is after nursing and eating pureed baby food.

I swear, he's going to eat me out of house and home before he's 2.

Last night, after nursing and eating chicken, pears, and green beans, I decided to give Mac some peaches.

 

 The kid ate FOUR (4) peach slices.

 And, man alive, was he thrilled about it.

I decided that he should try to eat them without the bag...and that went alright.  The slices disappeared a little quicker that way because he just gulped them down.  The bag helped him slow down and enjoy the peaches.

And, just to keep it real, here's what the living room looked like during meal time.

It's been worse.  I will point out that I used the yellow shirt on the couch as a rag to wipe up some peach juice.  

Then Mac sat in his chair and watched me do some Jillian Michaels.

Going to Kansas City, Kansas City Here We Come

 Over the weekend, David, Mac, and I traveled to Kansas City to spend time with my family.  We headed to Lyndon the first night, arriving at 11:30.  Mac happily woke up and played for about half an hour before going down for the night.

Thank goodness we have such an easy-going child.  He is nowhere near as high-strung and routine oriented as his mother.

Saturday, we hung out at the Vet Clinic for a while before loading up to go to Kansas City.  We had a nice lunch at my brother's house and then headed to David's grandparents to watch the KU-Mizzou game.

I napped during the game, but there was lots of yelling.  I believe David almost had a heart attack 13 times.

After THAT, we headed to the main event... the George Strait/Martina McBride concert!

Since David's grandparents were graciously watching Big Mac for the evening, David was driving, AND my father was footing the bar bill (hi, Dad!), I decided to let my hair down a bit and have some adult beverages.  That, paired with not eating dinner made me a happy camper...who might have texted a bit too much.

At any rate, we had AMAZING seats.

Martina was great... I felt like I was reliving my Junior year of high school, driving to work at the dentist office in my '89 Ford ranger, singing about girls who are beautiful (you know you are...wish upon a shooting star).  I probably rocked out a bit too much, because when Cher and I went to get some more beer, Kyle and David almost got in a fight from some guy who "didn't pay good money to listen to two effing a$$holes talk."  I'm pretty sure those effing a$$holes weren't Kyle and David.

Ooops.

So Martina wrapped up and George came out, all fancy and cowboyed up.

He sang two songs, apologized that he was sick, and left.

WTF.  Seriously, George???????

I didn't realize until the house lights came up that this was actually true and not some joke where if we cheer super loud he'll come back.  

Apparently, our tickets will be honored next Saturday, but there's no way that David and I can handle 10 hours in a car with a 7 month old 2 weekends in a row.

I'm a little sad, but we had some AWESOME pizza afterwards and I got over it.

7 months!

I'm more than a little behind on posting this, but Big Mac officially reached 7 months on Monday.

He's so big.  I can't believe it. 

He's teetering on adulthood, and it seems like he's preparing to crawl and drive at the same time.

This month also marked the appearance of his first tooth...which migrates in and out of view great regularity.

 I've purchased him TONS of toys...and this is his favorite.

 My old cell phone.  Cute.

Running

I ran through most of my pregnancy, even doing a half marathon at 28 weeks.  Then I started getting a crazy amount of hip pain and had to just walk.

After my 6 weeks of "rest" it still hurt to run.  And I was tired.  Any excuse worked :)

So anyway, I got lazy.

A while ago I bit the bullet and signed up for a half marathon.

Really, my only hope now is that I manage to be faster running a marathon 8 1/2 months post-baby than 28 weeks pregnant.

Go big or go home, right?

Love and stuff

Happy Love Day!

Yay, love and stuff.

David and I celebrated on Saturday, by going out to dinner and seeing a comedian while Big Mac stayed home wth his Aunt Danna.  Thanks, Danna!

It was really nice.  I can't think of the last time David and I went out to dinner together, alone.  We've been to see late movies after the kid fell asleep (don't freak out, someone else was home with him), but never anything that resembled a date.

Turns out, I liked it.  The dinner was yummy (steak!) and the comedian was funny.  We saw Tommy Johnagin (http://tommyjcomedy.com/), who is originally from the St. Louis area and I saw on tv at some point...from seeing him in person, I decided that he's short, but still funny.

Good to know.

At any rate, David and I decided that we shouldn't do gifts because we would rather spend our money doing THINGS together.  Then I got these at work today...

This is one of the few times when I'm glad David doesn't listen to me.


In other news, Mac's sitter had her baby TWO HOURS after arriving at the hospital.  My mom is spending the week with us to watch the kiddo, so she gets to join us in our Valentine's dinner of turkey meatballs and slow-cooker marinara over spaghetti.

Meal Planning and Freezing

I love to cook.  I always have.  I don't enjoy making things that have to look a certain way (like fancy cakes, etc), but I do love making meals and treats and watching people enjoy them.  David often tells me that one of the main reasons he married me so quickly was so that he could eat my food.

Yeah, and love and stuff.  But mostly food.

Since Mac came around, cooking on a daily basis has gotten significantly more difficult.  I pick him up at the sitter's at 4:15, chat for a while and get home about 4:30.  He nurses for a bit and then eats his solids about 5ish.  He's done by 5:30 (because, for reals, Mac loves his solids!).  David gets home around 6 and I go to the basement to work out...then we try to eat before Mac gets a bath between 7 and 7:30.

So, really, I haven't figured out when cooking fits in there.  I like my schedule, but there's not a lot of free time.

Then, I noticed that my friend Martha pinned something about freezer meals on Pinterest.  (BTDubs--I LOVE Pinterest.  It's amazing.  I love love love love it).  A few of my girls got together and exchanged freezer meals.  David and I have been eating on them and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.  It's bordering on obsession...because I checked some freezer meal books out of the library and have been doubling pretty much everything I cook on my own and freezing at least half for future meals.

For instance, here's our meal plan for the coming week.  David and I email on Fridays to figure out when we'll be home and what we're in the mood for.

Sunday: Tuscan Ziti Bake (I will make A LOT and freeze multiple meals for the future), Bread, and Salad
Monday: Beef Stir Fry  (I will prep meat on Sunday and use frozen veggies)
Tuesday: Turkey Meatballs (already made in freezer), Bread, Sweet Potatoes
Wednesday: Out
Thursday: Freezer Meal--Probably Turkey/Spinach Enchiladas
Friday or Saturday: Buffalo Chicken Chili (Again, I will make a huge amount)

So, really, I'm only cooking twice this week but we're eating homemade meals 5 times (plus leftovers at lunch) and I'm going to put 4-6 meals in the freezer for future use.  AND my kitchen stays clean.

Win. Win. Win.

Pieces

Lately, I've been trying to add some finger foods into Mac's diet.  He eats purees like a champ, but gets THRILLED when I give him some pieces.

I can't say the word "pieces" when referring to food without smiling a little bit.  My dear friend, Tara, refers to her cats' food as "pieces" and I can't think of a better descriptor for Mac's chunks of cooked carrots or over-ripe bananas.

He's beyond happy with them.

One thing's for certain: if my baby boy inherited anything from his parents, it was an appreciation for food :)

PIECES!

Photo Dump

Well, I failed at blogging this past week.  Ugh. 

It's really just laziness... I spilled water on my work laptop (4 WEEKS AGO) and the loaner they gave me is stupidly slow.  After battling that all day for things I have to do, I'm more than a little disinterested in coming home and blogging.

Sorry, friends :)

But things have been good lately.  Mac's growing like a week and getting cuter by the minute.  He pretty much lets me treat him like a little doll, as evidenced by our photo shoot of him wearing his pants on his head.

And no, those aren't just any camo pants...they're dinosaur shaped camo.  The hoody that goes with them says, "I'm a cute-a-saurus."

Hilarious.  I love baby clothes, mostly because they make me laugh.

With Mac, I've also mastered the fine art of tickling him while also taking pictures.

Geesh, I should have cleaned those carrots off his face before our photo shoot :)

Usually tickling works well, but sometimes he just looks crazy.

"TICKLING IS SO MUCH FUN."

As far as blogging goes, I plan to do better next week.  Really though, that promise could be totally empty :)  Mac's sitter is due with her second child on the 16th (I think) so she could really go into labor any second now.  My mom's coming to town to watch Mac in Missy's ONE WEEK OFF (yeah, she's crazy), so I'm really looking forward to that.  Maybe I'll have Mom write a guest post?

6 month checkup

Mac had his 6 month doctor's appointment the other day.  He officially weighed in at 17 lbs 11 oz and measured 27 inches.

The (new) doctor said that he's roughly in the 50th percentile for weight and the 75th for height.

Thank goodness--after that scary 4 month apointment it was amazing to know that he's made up for lost time.

And, yep, we got a new pediatrician.  After feeling like my original pediatrician wasn't concerned or responding to my concerns about Mac's lack of weight gain, David and I decided to change.  For me, it was more of a relationship and trust issue that medical skill...because, honestly, I have no idea how to evaluate if a pediatrician is a good medical professional.  I can, however, tell you if they make me feel heard.

Anyway, moving on.  I really like my new guy.  He came very highly recommended by some co-workers.  Mac seemed to like him, until it was time for shots.

Then Mac turned into a hot mess.

At least there aren't any more shots until Mac's 12 months.