Meal Plans and Recipes!!

Below is the list of things I have made for dinner lately (except the roast & white chili, I'm making those later this week). My list is still growing, so I'll keep you all updated as I get new and approved dinners! We are definitely finding out though that with just the two of us and Tommy eating, we need to account for more leftover meals, or share with others!

Meals for Dinner:


1.) Chicken Fajitas & chips and salsa
2.) Pancakes/Waffles
3.) Homemade Pizza
4.) Soup (vegetable, potato, white chili, etc) & grilled cheese
5.) General Tso chicken and fried rice (lo mein)
6.) Baked Ziti & Garlic Bread
7.) BLT’s & chips/fries
8.) Chicken Tenders/Chicken wings & fries
9.) Chicken Parm, Garlic Bread, Salad
10.) BBQ & Mac’n’cheese
11.) Mom’s Sloppy Joes & Mac’n’cheese/corn
12.) Pot Roast & crescent rolls
13.) Italian Chicken, potatoes, carrots



1.) Chicken Fajitas!
This is one of our absolute favorites! Very inexpensive and fairly easy.
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts (we get the frozen Tyson chicken, I usually take out one large chicken breast, and one small, they differ so much in size, but that's the perfect amount for the veggies)
1 Package of Fajita Seasoning
1 bag of frozen Pepper and onion mix from Kroger ($1.29, no chopping or wasting of unused veggies)
1 bag of Mission brand Whole Grain tortillas (they don't taste weird, we usually don't get whole grain but can't tell the difference and it's healthier, that is until I fry mine :) )
1 bag of Rice Sides Taco Rice
Sour Cream
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Tortilla Chips
Salsa

Preparing: Thaw chicken, cut off fat, cut chicken into small slivers or chunks (I just use my kitchen scissors). I fry my tortillas in a small amount of oil, I think they are better that way, Kyle eats them the healthy way, nonfried. I do that first to get them out of the way and to skip cleaning the skillet in between items. Add a small amount of oil to the frying pan and cook your frozen veggies, once they are tender add in your chicken. Let your chicken cook through, then there should be enough liquid from the thawing of the vegetables to just add your fajita seasoning. (If it looks dry add some water to mix the seasoning). Let everything bubble, then let it simmer so it can thicken up. Make your rice in the microwave in between time. Then build your fajitas! DELICIOUS! Leftovers are pretty good but definitely better fresh!

2.) Pancakes and Waffles - we do the instant mix, Kyle LOVES chocolate chip pancakes and waffles

3.)Homemade Pizza (from Kelley Sisson)
This pizza dough is easy to make and so very cheap! I had tried other recipes and failed horribly and I didn't want a recipe where I had to wait hours to make the pizza. Thanks again Kelley! I cut her recipe in 1/2 and actually we even like to cut it in 1/4 b/c we like really thin crust. I'll post the 1/2 recipe (we use the 1/2 recipe to make 2 large pizzas, she uses the regular recipe to make 2 large)
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon yeast (1 of the small packages of yeast from Kroger, they come in a pack of 3)
1 Cup warm water
2 1/2 Cups flour (I would use a little less flour b/c I sprinkle the cutting board with it when I'm rolling out the dough, maybe do 2 1/4 cups)
1/8 Cup oil
1 Teaspoon sugar
1 Teaspoon salt

Mix ingredients, kneed until firm. Press and roll into pizza pan. Prick dough with a fork. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes. Brush edges with oil, top with sauce, cheese, and toppings. Bake for 15 more minutes.
*Be sure to spray your pan good so you can get the pizza off easily, for some reason I never spray it quite enough*

4.) White Chili (we also like veggie soup, taco soup, or regular chili) and Pepperjack Grilled Cheese (recipe from Sarah Lewis aka Critter!)
This is the full recipe which apparently even halfing this recipe makes a ton, but I plan to freeze leftovers. I will be halfing this, I just copied and pasted this recipe from an email she sent me. I will also be trying a few shortcuts: using canned chicken, minced garlic from a jar, frozen chopped onion, and I'll be adding some Fiesta Corn.
Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (boil for at least 20 mins)
1 clove garlic minced
1 cup chopped onion
4 cans ckn broth
5 cans Bush's Great Northern Beans (not drained) (also, I bought the store brand and they were just fine)
1 16oz jar salsa verde (in international food aisle)
1 can chopped green chilies
1 tsp parsley flakes
1 tsp oregano flakes
1 T ground cumin
juice of 1 lime (1/2 before cooking and 1/2 before serving)
1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice
In the biggest pot you got (seriously, i had to use my two biggest), brown the chicken breast in olive oil. (Or just boil and skip this step). Let chicken cool. Add chopped onion and minced garlic to pot with olive oil. Cook until onions are translucent (and smell really really yummy). Shred chicken (with hands is the easiest way) and return to pan with onion and garlic. Add next 8 ingredients to chicken mixture. Simmer for 1.5-2 hours if you have that much patience. (It will be find if it simmers for 45mins-1hr). Add rice and other half of lime juice. Cook until rice is tender. Another can of chicken broth can be added if soup is too thick. Serve with shredded pepperjack cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips. YUM.
 
5.) General Tso Chicken and Fried Rice (I'm trying to find Lo Mein)
We made this once and it was actually really good. Not quite restaurant quality but we're going to tweek it as people commented on the website. I'll post the link. The suggestion from them were to use less cornstarch in the sauce (I agree it got super thick), use brown sugar instead of regular (we also think this makes sense it may help make it a little sweeter). Some of our own tweeks will be to just bake the chicken instead of frying it (Kyle thought the fried taste was overwhelming and it took forever and was messy) and we didn't use the pepper they said we just put red pepper flakes in the sauce and it worked out great. For rice I just bought a microwave rice but next time I'll try something a little tastier.
 
http://www.food.com/recipe/general-tsos-chicken-164706
 
6.) Baked Ziti and Garlic Bread (used to use Chelsea's recipe but I lost it, this is similar if not the same)
This is also from a website. We cut this in half, unless we need to take a family dinner from church, b/c it makes a whole lot! We like to mix some Garlic Parmesan sauce with the marinara for the middle mixture - it makes it a little richer and the marinara sauce isn't overwhelming. Kyle prefers to have some chicken or ground beef on his portion but I like mine without it. Then we just make frozen garlic bread to go with it. So good!
 
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/baked-ziti-ii/detail.aspx
 
7.) BLT's and chips or fries (we use frozen fries) - pretty self explanatory
 
8.)Chicken Tenders/Chicken Wings and fries (all frozen foods, easy dinner)
 
9.)Chicken Parmesan on Garlic Bread with Salad (from Sarah Lewis)
Super easy recipe and it was tasty.
Ingredients:
Frozen chicken tenders
Frozen Garlic Bread
Marinara Sauce
Mozerella Cheese
Salad
 
Cook your chicken tenders, set aside. Cook your garlic bread (I topped our's with cheese). Put the tenders on the garlic bread, pour a little sauce over each one, and add cheese, bake for a couple more minutes (I took the bread out a little early b/c I wanted to melt the cheese on top and knew I would be putting it back in). Serve along side with a salad.
 
10.) BBQ and mac'n'cheese
Crockpot!
Ingredients:
3 thawed chicken breasts
BBQ sauce (our favorite is Kraft Hot BBQ Sauce)
Can of soda
Some onion if you have it
We add red pepper flakes (we like our food spicy)
Buns
Mac'n'cheese
 
Put your chicken, bbq sauce (I eyeball it, we usually use a whole bottle b/c we like it to marinate in it and the bottle is only $1), 1/2 can soda, onion, pepper flakes into the crockpot. I stir the sauce mixture. Turn your crockpot on high and cook for 3 hours or so. Once your chicken falls apart with the fork it's ready. Shred your chicken, you can use some of your sauce in the crockpot or if you have leftovers in the bottle (sometimes the sauce in the crockpot is really thin, that's why I say 1/2 can soda). It's delicious BBQ! Serve with Mac'n'cheese.
 
11.)Mom's Sloppy Joes! (from my wonderful mom!)
1lb Ground Beef (brown it first and drain fat)
Sauce:
1 1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon mustard
1 onion (chopped, I have found that buying frozen prechopped veggies at Kroger really cuts down on prep time, I also get the green pepper this way)
1 green bell pepper
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcester sauce
2 shakes of hot sauce
2 shakes of chili powder
And 1/2 stick of butter melted mixed with 3/4 cup brown sugar packed

What I do is melt the butter and brown sugar together in the microwave and then add all the other ingredients, mix them together, and pour it over the ground beef.  Add your onion and pepper, and let it cook on the stove top until everything gets bubbly, then let it simmer for 20 minutes or so to let it thicken up. You don't have to let it simmer that long, but it's better if you do. We eat it on buns, usually with mac and cheese. SOOOOO good! And the left overs are amazing too!

12.) Pot Roast, veggies, and crescent rolls (from Sarah Lewis)
I will be using baby carrots instead of big ones & I got a 2 1/2 pound roast, b/c roast is expensive, so it probably won't need to cook quite as long! So excited to try this!

Ingredients:
1 can (10 3/4oz.) Campbells Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 pouch (2oz.) dry onion soup & recipe mix
6 small red potatoes, halved
6 medium carrots, cut into 2" pieces
3-3.5-lb boneless beef bottom round roast or chuck pot roast

Stir soup, onion soup mix, potatoes and carrots in slow cooker. Add beef and turn to coat. Cover and cook on LOW for 8-9hrs (4-5hrs on high if you must, but it will turn out better on low). Super easy. Super yum.
 
13.) Italian chicken, veggies, and bread
I would recommend making this recipe on a different week then the Pot Roast #12, the vegetables are pretty much the same. So we're freezing our roast b/c we just had the chicken last night. But it's a cheaper alternative to the roast! I got this from a website as well and we were very pleased with it. I read the reviewers comments and used a can of chicken broth, cut my potatos small, added carrots, onions, and by choice only did 3 chicken breasts (and I just realized I forgot to add cheese, oops!). I'm guessing that my crockpot cooks hot, b/c it did not need as long as the recipe said. I think it took about 4 hours on low.
 
http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpotchicken/r/bl111c7.htm
 
LONGEST BLOG POST EVER! haha! Hope it gives you all some good ideas! I'll let you know when I find another! If you know of any good ones, please share!! And a picture of the minivan will be coming soon! I LOVE driving it!

Minivan

We got a minivan! We've been looking for a while now and couldn't find anything "used" enough for our price range in our area. Kyle had no desire to travel to look at a van possibility, b/c he was afraid it wouldn't work out and we would have traveled for nothing. But I prayed about it (maybe once or twice) and hoped we would find one. I never thought we would find one that we could afford. I thank the Lord that we did.

In other news, Tommy is getting lots of teeth. And that makes for one unhappy little man. I have been using baby orajel and occasionally tylenol. The orajel makes me nervous b/c you hear about how it can be a choking hazard, but it really helps and so far no choking at all. Right now he officially has four teeth and it feels like three more and working their way in. Tommy can now point to your nose and mouth when you ask him where they are. He randomly points to my eyes now, without me asking, b/c I have been trying to teach him where eyes are. He laughs now in response to us laughing. I love his sweet laughter.

Kyle will be taking three classes in the fall. He's glad we got the minvan too. He said he's always liked them. We've really been enjoying our time together this summer. Lately we've been watching some Redbox movies. Since I've been making more dinners lately, Kyle has been helping me out a lot more. He's playing with Tommy more, and deep cleaned the stovetop for me! He also has some kind of anniversary surprise he's working on for me. We'll have been married four wonderful years in August. I love him very much and I am so blessed to have him to help me with Tommy. Sometimes I tease him and give him a hard time for not helping me enough, but I can't imagine raising Tommy without him. Just the other day, when Tommy was extremely fussy, and I was worn out - Kyle stepped in and took care of me by taking care of Tommy. Kyle is becoming more and more helpful as Tommy gets older and I am very appreciative of that.

As far as the meal planning goes, I'm really really enjoying it! Kyle just made fun of me the other night for talking about how much I like it so often. I am keeping a list in a Word Document to keep up with things I like to make. It has really helped take a load off my mind to know I have options of what to make for dinner with all the ingredients (or most anyway I usually have to make a quick trip to the store every now and then to get a missing ingredient). My goal is to have around 25-30 meals on my list so we can have options. And we've found that planning for four meals a week seems to be best. Six a week was a little overkill. I'm also looking into making more crockpot meals so I can have easy options for busy days. This week we're having my Mom's Sloppy Joes (waaaay better than regular sloppy joes), roast, white chilie, and italian chicken. But first I have to go to the grocery store. dun dun dun. I hate going grocery shopping but it will be fun to do in the minivan!!!

Mushy Monday

My mushy moment for today was getting to have some time texting with my best friend. I miss her. She lives in another state but we try to talk every week. We usually end up talking all through out the week, whether by phone, texting, or the occasional skype date. Anyway she just has such a genuinely sweet heart and I am so thankful she is my friend. She had texted me just to see how Tommy was doing, if he was less fussy than what he had been a day or two before. So thoughtful! And then she mentioned how she wished she was closer so she could come give me a break when I need one. God is so good to provide such encouraging and uplifting friend in my life!

Also, I remembered a HILARIOUS memory this week and called her up to tell her about it. It may not sound as funny repeating it but if you were there you would laugh. And I will type it out so I don't ever forget it. So when Kyle and I had been dating for a couple of weeks we had our first kiss!!! AAAH! EXCITING! Well here's the first funny thing, we said we wanted to wait a little while before we kissed...that equalled two weeks! Any how, Kyle and I had a habit of hanging out really late, b/c we were in college, we liked spending time together and that's what you do in college. So he takes me back to my dorm and he had left his backpack up in my room earlier. So I went up to get it (he wasn't allowed to go it was after the allowed time for boys to go upstairs) and when I got to my room I was sooooo giddy, and low and behold Sarah was laying asleep in my bed. She wanted to tell me goodnight and had fallen asleep waiting for me to get home! Such a good friend! She is seriously like an additional sister to me (I have 3 biologically haha). So she gets up and looks at the time and asks if I'm just getting back. She's whispering while my roommate is asleep. Then I told her Kyle and I kissed and she fell on the ground and gasped! It was very dramatic, but funny dramatic (as it was intended). I literally laugh out loud when I remember this! Then she came downstairs with me to congratulate Kyle, I was Kyle's first kiss. That's also a WONDERFUL mushy moment to remember!

Anyway I love my friend!

Mushy Mondays

So I may try to post something "mushy" or sweet that happened to me on Mondays. We'll see if I can stick to it.

Anyway my mushy moment for today was when I was rocking my sweet boy to sleep and I looked down and saw his little red monkey pajama pants. It made my heart smile to think of how precious that sweet boy was in those funny, cute little pants. I know someday he'll be a big boy, too big for me to rock, and won't think it's "cool" to wear red monkey pajama pants. So I hope that by noticing those adorable pj's, it will help me keep that memory close in my  mind, especially for some day when he's all grown up. I love my baby boy!

What's Tommy been up to...

So I'm really bad at blogging. But the occasional update is still helpful and good to have for memory's sake. Tommy has been changing so much lately. He's as handsome as can be, looks just like his Daddy with his Mommy's coloring (aka - pale). He's looking more and more like an adorable boy instead of a cute little baby. I'm okay with that, I'm really enjoying watching him grow and change and do more things.  He can sit himself up and army/belly crawls. Tommy loves to eat pretty much everything. His favorite food right now is Club Crackers. He is getting more teeth. They aren't coming in the expected order, but that's typical with kids with DS. Right now he has his two front bottom teeth, two teeth at the top kind of in the middle towards the back, and there are a couple more coming in the bottom and possibly the two front teeth. Tommy's teeth are suuuper sharp and he has a heck of a bite! So I'm scared to feel around for new teeth.

I am so thankful that Tommy is finally belly crawling. We are still working toward crawling on his hands and knees but we'll take what we can get. And it just gives me peace of mind that he won't skip over a developmental stage. Like going straight from sitting to walking, skipping crawling. It has been soooooo much fun with him being more mobile. Tommy plays on the floor by himself for long amounts of time now and that gives me a lot more free time! It's been glorious!!!!! I feel like we're finally experiencing what a lot of other parents experience a lot sooner, a little more freedom. But there are also perks that come with this for us, it has definitely made the transition as he gets older a lot easier for us. And we definitely greatly appreciate his mobility, which I doubt we would have been as aware of before.

Playing all by himself

Tommy's favorite things these days:

-Club Crackers (as mentioned above)

-Bubbles

-Knocking down towers made of blocks (his blocks are his favorite toy, he used to hate them)
-The Remote Control (that's how we got him to belly crawl)
-His Nana Jan (she can get him to crack up laughing)
-Bath time (or shower time)
-Swinging
-Wagon Rides at Nana & Pappy's house
-Drinking cold water out of his sippy cup
-Playing Peek-a-Boo (still)
-Listening and watching Mommy sing songs (we do hand motions to a lot of songs)
-Discovering new things around the family room (mainly the air vents)
-Wiggling/sliding himself out of your arms, down to the floor
-Being held upside down by his Daddy
-Squealing/screaming suuuuuper loud and high pitched when he gets excited
-Pinching! AAAH! Wish he didn't love this, it really hurts!
-Playing with Mommy's hair (which is usually how I get pinched b/c he reaches back to find my hair and instead gets my neck)
-Making music (playing the piano, he has a drum full of toy instruments that our friend Stephanie got him for his birthday - he particularly loves the drumsticks and the "shaka shaka eggs")

He discovered the shelves and had fun making a mess (don't worry this was supervised, Kyle encourages me to let him explore)

BUBBLES! Or as Tommy says, "bub, bub, bub"

Things Tommy dislikes these days:
-Naps (he didn't need to much of crying it out as an infant but he does now)
-His Daddy trying to put him down for naps/sleep
-Getting his hair washed (he's very independent and wants to be left alone to play in the water)
-Not too big of a fan of physical therapy these days, once again b/c of his independence but he has a great PT who finds different ways to distract him & get him to work
-When people leave, even if I walk out the back door just to let the dog out, he starts crying; when Kyle leaves for work he cries; when Nana & Pappy left on the 4th of July - he cried
-That I choose his food for him; he is not a picky eater in general but there are certain times it's hard to feed him certain things...it's beyond me.

Some other things I forgot to mention before he is trying to say the word "more" & "bubble". He can turn a light switch off when you ask him to. He can point to your mouth if you ask where it is and your nose. Sometimes he gets a little confused between the mouth and nose - but they're so close together and he's only a year old. He has really really good "receptive language" which means he can understand and responds to a lot of what we say. But he doesn't say any words yet. He is starting to sign "more" pretty regularly now. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that he can understand things we say! However, the little stinker, is going to be a handful to discipline. He thinks "NO!" is funny. He found an extension cord under the couch and reached under, pulled it out, & I said, "No, No!" very sternly and he looks at me and gives me the most mischievous grin and one year old boy could ever give! I shook my head and obviously went and physically took his hand off of it and told him no and moved him away. I'm thinking we have our hands full! But overall he's super laid back and very easy to keep out of trouble. We are so thankful for our sweet boy & how much fun it is to watch him grow into a bigger boy.

Other new things - Kyle is now working a new job. So far it's going great. The schedule has been a little sporadic at times but it's a much better schedule for all of us and he is enjoying it. However, it leaves me without a car a lot and over time that makes me grumpy. I don't like being stuck in the house all day with no option of leaving and of course when Kyle's been working all day the last thing he wants to do is go out. And I really like and love my hubby so I don't want to leave when he's home. We're hoping to find a very used but in good condition minivan - so if you know anyone let us know please!

As for me and my updates there's not too much new, I'm trying to be more motivated around the house. I'm praying more often for a joyful and loving spirit to serve my husband and my son. I feel like I do a lot of internal complaining about having to do certain things. But I know that it is a joy and a blessing to have both of them in my life and to have the opportunity to serve them and I am ultimately serving Christ in those moments, not them. So I would hope that I would not internally complain about serving Him. I'm trying out a new thing this week, I wish I could be a menu person to plan out our meals, but realistically I know the day would come that we're supposed to have Vegetable Soup and grilled cheese (what we had tonight) and it would sound awful. So I made a list of 6 choices of meals (b/c we eat out once a week, almost always fast food) so we could choose when we wanted what. So far it's working out okay. It's nice to have options. It was more expensive at the grocery store. It has helped mentally, not having to feel like I'll have to scramble around trying to figure out what we're having. Our choices this week are homemade pizza(had it Monday night), Tuesday night out, Vegetable Soup and grilled cheese (had it tonight), Chicken Fajitas, Waffles or Pancakes, General Tso Chicken (new recipe to try for Kyle, he's obsessed with this chicken so I have to learn how to make it good), Ramen or baked ziti (which ever Kyle prefers and yes we love Beef Ramen!). We'll see how it goes.

That's all for now, sorry for being so random and scatter brained!

Mom Reminder

Every now and then something little happens that's a big reminder that I'm a mom. The other day I was cleaning up and I picked something up to move it and it lit up and started playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It was Tommy's glowworm and I just smiled b/c I thought how sweet it is to have all these little reminders of our sweet boy around the house. I'm so used to seeing most of them that I overlook them now. But before Tommy there weren't any toys that lit up and played music, so it's pretty fun when they catch me by surprise when I'm cleaning up.

Then just the other day Kyle and I had a date day, just the two of us, Tommy spent the night and day with my mom and dad.  Kyle and I really enjoyed it - the best part was I could tell Kyle was excited about our date day of going to lunch and a movie. He very very rarely gets excited about anything so that was my absolute favorite part about it, seeing him look forward to spending the day with me. It made me feel special. Anyway, back to the mommy moment, we were driving around, just the two of us, and we saw a duck in the road. And I said, "Oh look a duck..." and then I had to stop myself from saying, "QUACK, QUACK" hahaha! This made me laugh so hard and I told Kyle what was going through my head b/c here we were, two adults and I almost blurted out, "There's a duck, quack quack!" I read Tommy books with animals all the time and I always make the animal noises, well apparently it's rubbed off a little too much in my brain.

There are other things that happen from time to time that remind me I'm a mom too - like how I think about how disgusting underneath restaurant tables are, now that my son likes to kick or touch them and then put his hands or feet in his mouth. YUCK! (His hands or feet are always cleaned ASAP if I see this happen). I can't think of all the things that happen like this but I do enjoy the little reminders of how this precious boy has changed my life and role as a person.

In other news Tommy has been somewhat "stuck" in physical therapy lately. He hasn't been advancing very well - he's close to doing a lot of things but has been close for a long time. Our big goal is crawling. He's 13 months now and obviously most babies are crawling by now. But his big challenge was getting him on his hands and knees. He used to absolutely HATE it. He loves to play kneeling and he loves to be on his belly and push himself up high with his arms. But he doesn't like the two mixed. We'd get him on his knees, vertical, and then as we would bend over for him to put his hands down he would arch his back and start crying. He HATED it. And while this boy may have low muscle tone, when he doesn't like something he can fight, and he would definitely fight this. So slowly but surely, through much prayer and hard work. Our sweet boy is finally staying on his hands and knees for a long time, all by himself! I have to put him in position and have a toy in front of him to occupy his attention, but let me tell you I am one proud and thankful mama! It's one step closer to crawling. But I also know him even staying in this position for long amounts of time (by long I mean 1+ minutes, before long meant 10+seconds for this guy) will help strengthen his hands and arms. His DI explained it's very important to try and get him to crawl on his hands and knees b/c it will help a lot in the future with things like handwriting and feeding himself. Isn't crazy how all that stuff is connected and can help b/c it develops those muscles?! I'm glad there's someone around to tell me though b/c otherwise I'd have no clue.

While this may seem like a little deal, it's a pretty huge one for me. It's been a long and tedious road. It started with him tolerating being bent over & actually putting his hands down to support himself with our hand supporting his belly. Then we put a ball under his belly. And like I said he'd stay there for a few seconds and start fussing and fighting. Oh and he'd always keep his head horizontal, looking at the ground, he wouldn't lift it up for more than a millisecond b/c he felt unstable. And now the boy can stay on his hands and knees all by himself, head lifted high! I'm pretty pumped. When Tommy & I pray at night, I ask that the Lord would help him to crawl and He's doing just that. It's one step at a time.

We're pretty sure once he crawls he's going to take off though. He already LOVES to stand, he's been standing since 7 months and can now pull himself up from sitting on my lap to a toy all by himself. This little boy absolutely LOVES to be praised. He sometimes anticipates it, like when he pulls himself up to stand. Oh and another exciting thing is he is understanding so many words and phrases we say. He tries to imitate them or repeat them, but it's hard to tell if he's jabbering or really imitating - either way we eat it up. He knows the phrase, "I'm gonna get your belly" (he smiles and sometimes giggles and will block his belly). He knows, "Stand up!", "Sit down", "Push it", "Pull it", "Roll the ball", "Look at Mama" (this is usually when he's doing something he's not supposed to do, but he's very obedient and looks right at me), "Where's Dada? (or Mama)", "Turn the page" (one of his favorite things is turning pages in books and he's so good at it, he was a natural at this I can take no credit for it). Those are all I can think of off the top of my head. He does use a few signs but only when he wants to use them. He's an independent stinker. He will sometimes sign "more" & "all done". He is still a champion eater and is now very insistent he helps with the spoon when eating. Not so helpful with the bottle or sippy cup though - which I would really like him to be helpful with.  Oh and I don't know if I mentioned this in the last blog but he now gives kisses! And it's wonderful and so sweet. He's recently become more of a mama's boy and is acting bashful around people, burying his face in my shoulder when people talk to him. He is still very much a daddy's boy but at the moment he's favoring mama - I'm sure next week it will be different.

Speaking of his Dad - Kyle is now done with school until fall! YAYAYAYAY! I know Kyle is more excited about this than me b/c he's the one who has to do all the work. But I'm excited for him. Our goal (I say "our" loosely, mainly my goal) is to get rid of the cat and put up a fence this summer. I have been feeling overwhelmed a lot with having to care for every living being in our house - so we made some plans on how to make that easier. I told Kyle the reason I don't feel the rush to have another kid is b/c I feel like I already have multiple children (Kyle included of course, this boy is spoiled rotten). So rather than giving up his rights to be spoiled we came up with those solutions & I am very excited about them.

I'll keep you posted on the crawling & summer goals! Hopefully they will all happen soon :)

1 WONDERFUL YEAR!!!

In 2 days our baby boy will be a hold one year old! It has been an amazing, life changing, & fast year! I don't know how many people told me "they grow up too fast" before I had Tommy but you never understand what they mean until you have your baby and the time literally flies by.

So here is what Tommy boy is up to these days. He loves to play ball & has started to make the "buh" sound a lot. It's super cute b/c he curls his lips in and closes his eyes when he does it, it looks like he has no teeth (which he only has two but still if you saw it you'd know what I mean).  He loves his mama and his dada - still not saying mama but he's starting to put his lips together to try to make the "mmmm" sound when I do it to him.  He's beginning to try and mimic us more than he used to and it's really sweet. He loves remotes, cell phones, anything with lights and music.  He loves his dog Maggie - he reaches for her to lick his hands and sometimes will talk to her to try & get her attention. He pivots when he really wants to and he'll get on his hands and knees with assistance if there's a mirror on the floor so he can look at himself and mama.  He's a tough one to make laugh and giggle, he smiles really easy, but the laughs are hard to get. So no matter what it is that I do that gets a giggle, no matter how high pitched and annoying I'll do it over and over and over again until he gets sick of it and stops laughing. He is 19 lbs and 28 inches long. Tommy loves for me to hold him and jump up and down say "BOOM". He loves his daddy's ears and mouth - he stairs at them so close until he's cross eyed. He loves for Kyle to throw him in the air. He loves to eat - we're just starting to do more real food and are going to do less baby food; which I know he'll LOVE. He uses his sippy cup for juice and now we're going to work on using it for milk. His favorite song right now is the Itsy Bitsy Spider, I tickle him whenever the "down came the rain" and then the "dried up all the rain". He loves Peek-A-Boo and initiates playing it. He loves his gloworm and tries to share his paci with him. He's really good at reaching for people. He loves older people and instantly warms up to them - smiling and reaching for them. He loves his cousin Eliza - he was originally not too interested in her but now he smiles at her and strokes her hair. Speaking of hair...he LOVES long hair. He's a pincher and a cuddler. Overall he is just a wonderful, happy, sweet baby boy. I love watching his personality coming out and I love spending time with him.

The latest update on his heart is that the hole is still there. We could see it really well on the echo this time, the cardiologist said it isn't that the hole has grown it's b/c his heart has grown. Anyway the dr. doesn't want Tommy in the hospital during RSV season so from November to April. He said he wanted to see us back in six months & I reminded him that Tommy would be 2 next April (they want to do surgery before he is 2). So he told us to come back in September and he'd take pictures of Tommy's heart & send it off to the heart board. So if the hole is still there, which medically speaking, it will be we're thinking they'll do surgery in October. But we still pray that the Lord will close the hole and perform a miracle but if that isn't His will then to strengthen Tommy and to allow the surgery to be successful and safe. We'll learn more details about the surgery when it's being scheduled. We'll keep you all updated and would appreciate your prayers. I can't think about it too much or it makes me nervous and sad but I'm thankful when I remember the Lord is sovereign and in control.

My sister Julie called last Wednesday and reminded me in exactly one week Tommy would be 1! She asked what I was feeling this time last year - I was scared & excited. I remember thinking "how is this kid going to get out?" and I just felt like I'd be pregnant forever and he'd live happily in my belly; also I wanted to know if he was a he or she and what he looked like! We watched the video of Tommy right after he was born and Kyle said "Aww it's our little blue alien!" haha poor baby had a lumpy head and was a tad blue but he was the absolute cutest lumpy blue baby in the world! (by day 2 his head was perfect) He's such a handsome boy, especially considering he looks like his daddy. We love that kid, he is a joy!

Happy Almost Birthday Tommy!