nine whole months

Today makes 9 months since Owen's birth. I cant believe how fast the time is soaring by. 

He is such a sweet,  loving, and high maintenance little boy. Within the past 2 weeks he has had 3 teeth poke through. First he got the top right front tooth, a few days ago the bottom left front came in, and this morning i noticed the bottom front right one making its appearance. He has been a cranky little butt, but i cant blame him. We have reached 9 whole months of exclusively breastfeeding!!! 

i feel like throwing a party to celebrate-seriously... 

one thing i can say about my breastfeeding journey is that it has been a challenge. While it has been wonderful and rewarding it has also been tough at times. The important thing and the best advise i could offer to any mother is to keep trying. Don't let the trials overwhelm you. Dont let anyone pressure you into stopping. Mastitis is a beast i learned, but i continued letting Owen nurse even tho my doctor said women often stop because of the pain. After mastitis i had seriously lower supply but tredged forward anyway. My supply still isnt what it once was, but we are working on it day by day. 

Abigale and owen are the best of friends already. She adores him and loves spending time with him. She is an amazing big sister. 

He tucks his big sister into bed every night. 

yesterday we spent a little time at the park while the sun was out. My sister, ella, the kids, and i had a great time. They love playing together. Ella just loves owen too. 

abigale saw a girl from school and they just had to swing together. I love seeing her making friends. She is growing so fast as well. She is such a sweet child. 

It seems like i just had my little bubba and now so quickly he is wanting to walk and sprouting teeth! He is such a handsome little thing :) 

i cant say it enough...

i love bountiful baskets. LOVE it. it's been such an awesome thing for our family and i always get soooo excited waiting to see what we will get. I recently read a blog post that was pretty negative about BB and it honestly made me feel personally offended! it was like they were stabbing me instead of BB. I dont work for them, and have honestly never even volunteered to help because i have to work on pick up day. I think this last weeks basket is my favorite ever

from left to right (kind of) lemongrass, mint, cilantro, mushrooms, green onions, coconut, napa cabbage, lemons, garlic, red onion, some strange fruits, limes, dried red chillis, carrots, bell peppers, bok choy, ginger, radishes, strawberries, asparagus, celery, bananas, and leaf lettuce. 

WHOA! i think thats a lot of produce for $23 bucks! 

today i cooked the bok choy to send to work with Jesse in his lunch. I made my Rosemary and Lemon Pepper Chicken and green beans(his favorite) and the bok choy. i like to sautee it on the stove. 

first melt a few TBS of butter and a couple cloves of garlic in a pan over medium high heat

then add clean. chopped bok choy and stir it around for a few minutes.
I season with salt and pepper and a smidge of the minced dried chilli
cook for about 5 minutes or so until the white parts are tender and the leaves are wilted.
you dont want to over cook it, thats just not nice.

Yes, i forgot to take a pic of the stuff when it was done....sorry!

Now lets talk about butter. If you buy margarine i command you to go to your fridge right now and throw that crap in the garbage where it belongs! Stay far, far away! Ok, now that you are back here is an alternative to margarine that i LOVE. i know real butter is fattening, but the ingredient list in margarine is straight up scary.... I challenge you to give Challenge Butter a try, i promise you'll thank me! It's real butter made spreadable with canola oil. Check out the ingredient lis (below the pic) 

Ingredients: Pasteurized cream(made from milk), canola oil, salt,  vitamin A, beta  carotene, DHA  algal oil. 

I've taken owen to the park a few times recently and today he tried to eat a leaf.... no worries, i got it before he ate it...

 and when i took it away this is the face he made.... that poor tooth coming in is giving him hell and my sweet, happy, loving boy has turned into a severe whiny baby.

I am learning to be more frugal and i love it! Now  i just need to unlike all the WAHM pages on facebook  and tell all my friends not to advise me of sales... i set up a budget and worked on it all weekend then i come home, get on facebook, and now i have purchased, wool yarn, lip balm making stuff, knee wraps for jesse, baby legs for owen, tea from teavana..... OMG!!! AND i'm getting a new blender!! So much for budgeting!!

Think outside the box!

Abigale love's boxed mac n cheese and so do I! I stopped buying it maybe 2 years or so ago and i havent really had much mac since. i am always looking forward to christmas and thanksgiving because my cousin always makes awesome baked mac n cheese to bring to our family gathering. 

i decided it was about dang time to make some mac n cheese from scratch. Being from the south you would think it would be common practice in my home but i have honestly never made it before today! After talking to Darien i decided i had to use the recipe from iowa girl eats and  i am sooooo glad i did!! 

Talk about yummy!! Abigale actually thought it was from a box!! 

We had not box mac n cheese, fresh (not frozen) green beans, and BBQ chicken tenders! 

If you have never made your own BBQ sauce you should! It's not hard, and it'll be yummy!! 

On a completely different subject. I hate beer, like really hate beer but i need to drink/use it. Anyone have any tried n true recipes to use beer in? Or is there a beer out there for people who dont like beer?? Hmmmm.......

Also, i have discovered refrigerator oatmeal!! And while most people that i know who like hot oatmeal do not like the cold stuff, i love it because i HATE oatmeal. 

oatmeal and beer are both supposed to help breastmilk production and i need the help at the moment unfortunately :( 

8 months today

he wants to be standing at all times! The kid is gonna walk before he crawls!

his first bite of a french fry... it didnt end well at all. 

hi there!

he loves that little fish 

haha, Abigale was trying to scare him

crawling all over and up the couch! 

sleepy bubba

i just love his little hands 

and sweet little feet 

i just want to keep him so small and sweet.

two things i love!

Know what i love?? Tacos! Know what else i love?? Bountiful baskets!! Put them together and you get dinner!!

I'm a pretty simple gal. i like simple easy GOOD food. i love to cook, but i love to cook simple things. You wont find me making meals that take hours to prepare (unless its in a crock pot!) Tacos are my favorite for so many reasons! They are easy to make, easy to clean up, dont require utensils, and you can put just about anything in them!! 

if i use hamburger meat i do usually use that good ole packet seasoning, but i buy one that contains natural spices, no MSG, and no artificial flavors or colors (crazy that you actually have to TRY to avoid those)

Here are a few of my favorite preparations! 

Pictured: 

BB flour tortillas, ground beef with taco seasoning, mozzarella cheese, green bell pepper, onion, and lettuce 

*corn tortilla, chicken fajita meat, shredded colby cheese, black beans, corn, onion, and tomato

*corn tortilla, beef skirt steak, cilantro, queso fresco, tomato, and onion

*flour tortilla, fajita meat, spinach, bell pepper, onion, tomato, cilantro, and lime juice  

DROOL.... TEETH!!

It occurred to me the other day at Abigale's birthday party that my son is 8 months old (will be tomorrow) and still has zero teeth. He was playing with the adorable little miss Piper who is a few weeks older than him. She has 3 teeth, he has none. It's nothing to be concerned with as far as development goes. Some children get their teeth later, and actually from what i have read late blooming seems to be a good thing. BUT Owen has been teething, drooling, and fussing for MONTHS! He wakes up with his teeth hurting in the middle of the night, and teething tablets are a joke! He wont chew frozen teethers, or frozen rags, or frozen anything for that matter. When i have some, he likes chewing on celery and thick pieces of cucumber. He also likes chewing on my purse handle, but it's sad. He just whines while he chews. I feel bad for him. His teeth are beginning to make their way to the surface, i can see them under his gums. I see several teeth in there actually, and now i'm so afraid that they are all gonna poke through at once. The past few days he has been in super drool mode, and super whine mode. Unless he is being fed he is whining (or thats how it feels anyway. Unfortunately it looks like he could potentially have 8 teeth coming in at the same time!! OMGGGGGGG I'm trying to keep my sanity and think that if they all do happen to come in at the same time i will at least get it over with!!!

George Jones

George Jones is playing a farewell tour and just so happens to be coming to greenville to play downtown. i wish Mamaw were still here to see him. She loved George Jones. I have all of her old records and she had a TON of his albums and they're all signed. i wish they weren't in storage so that i could post a picture. I've never necessarily been a fan of his, but now that he is coming and mamaw is gone i keeping feeling like i want to go just for her. i miss mamaw. I miss dinner at her house, black eyed pea cornbread, mashed potatoes, and meat loaf would be so good right now. So many things remind me of her, and of the times we spent together. i know everyone has a time, and she lived a long and hopefully happy life, but it's hard not to be sad sometimes. She was such an amazing grandmother to my sister and I. i hope i am half the grandmother she was to us.