Dillon {8 months}

Where to begin? 8 months already??  The little baby we once had is not so little anymore!  Dilly boo, you are quite the character and so much fun to be around every single day. Here is what you have been up to the past month:

You weigh around 20 pounds(a guess since we haven't been to the doctor in a while, thank God) and feel like a brick with all your big muscles and big head, haha just kidding. Almost time for a big boy car seat!

You are doing so well with your cloth diapers! You have been eczema free since you started wearing cloth diapers. Mommy and daddy are sooooo glad we found what was causing you to be so itchy and unhappy!

You are sleeping 11-12 hours at night and take 2 naps a day. You love your sleep!

You went on your first trip with just mommy to visit Mimi and Papa and the rest of your aunts, uncles and cousins. They spoiled you and said you were such a well behaved, happy baby, which you are!!

Here is what people have been saying about you lately- "What a good baby, is he always this well behaved?" "He is such a happy baby!"  "Look at that beautiful red hair and big blue eyes!"  "Where does the red hair come from?"  "He is such a long baby!"

You are such a little ham and love to laugh at mommy and daddy. You also like to make mommy and daddy laugh by being a silly little boy. You love to talk to us and your doggie and you make the funniest expressions.

You show some attitude sometimes when you don't get what you want but you are learning you can't have everything you get your hands on!

You are moving a lot and need to expend a lot of energy during the day. You like to roll around, scoot/crawl and play on the floor. You get into things you shouldn't so we need to baby proof some more!

You love to wave and give mommy kisses, which just melts mommy's heart.  :)

You are getting really good at feeding yourself snacks of cereal or small pieces of fruit.

We love you so much, little one and we are amazed at how much you are learning and growing every day. You make mommy and daddy so proud!  :)

Chicken Enchilada Ring

I wanted to try something new for dinner tonight and I've had this recipe on my mind for a while. It turned out great and Evan loved it too!

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked chicken
1/4 cup chopped black olives
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 small can chopped chilies, undrained
1/2 cup sour cream
1 package taco seasoning
2 rolls of crescent rolls
1 small chopped tomato
1 lime (juice)
2/3 cup finely crushed tortilla chips



1. Chop chicken and add olives, cheese, chilies, sour cream and taco mix. Seed and chop 1 tomato and add 2 tablespoons lime juice; add to chicken mixture. Reserve 2 Tblsp. crushed chips and add remaining chips to mixture.


2.Unroll crescent dough and separate triangles. Arrange on round baking stone or cookie sheet making a circle with wide ends OVERLAPPING in the center and points toward outside. ( I did lightly spray oil on the cookie sheet I used). There should be a 5 inch diameter opening in the center.

3. Spread chicken mixture evenly onto widest end of each triangle.

4. Bring points of triangles up and over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at the center of the ring.

Sprinkle with 2 Tblsp. crushed chips. ( I put shredded cheese all on top!)

5. Bake @ 375 for 20-25 minutes. Garnish with tomato and serve with salsa and sour cream.

*(Recipe and photo courtesy of Kelly's Korner blog)

Giggles and Legwarmers

In the crafting mood

Over the past few weeks, I have had the craft bug. It only comes at certain times and when it does, I just can't stop!!  I find myself sewing buttons or cutting patterns for hours and next thing I know, its 1am!  For this round of crafts, I wanted to try a couple new things, baby things of course, what else? I really need to expand from baby crafts, but they are just so cute(and usually easy)!  The first new craft on the list is shortalls. Who doesn't love a little baby boy in his summer Jon Jons? Mr Baby is growing fast, and his lower half is larger now because of his cloth diapers so I figured I would make him some cute summer outfits he can grow into for August and September. There are no baby model pictures since he needs to grow into them, but here are the two I have finished so far...

( Ignore the wrinkles, I ironed them about 10 times and they are still wrinkly!)

They definitely have their flaws, but that just makes them unique! As long as they don't fall apart, we should be okay, haha. I have some blue seersucker material left, so there is one more to make. I also want to have them monogrammed, appliqued, or both.
The next project was a simple solution for toys or cups that fall on the nasty floor at restaurants or on the ground. A Velcro strap to attach a toy or cup to Mr Baby's stroller or high chair while out and about. I haven't tried it out yet, so hopefully the Velcro will hold! I saw one of these at Buy Buy Baby and thought it would be easy to steal the idea create myself....

 (Once again, not very pretty with the stitching, but hey, it took about 5 minutes to make!)

And last of all, just a cute bib for the cute baby....

I love big single letters and might try some on shirts and onsies too! Other than a couple presents for a baby shower and birthday, I think I will be done for a while!

4th of July Weekend

We had a pretty low key holiday weekend with friends and family. The weather was AWESOME and Mr Baby was praising Jesus for the very low humidity for a few days! Since it was nice out, we took advantage of the pretty weather and joined some friends at their pool for a birthday party cookout. It was so nice to be outside and not sweat. Pretty rare for June!  We took Mr Baby for a little swim and he loved waving to kids who swam by. I think he would float all day if we let him!

For the 4th, we cooked some burgers at MorMor's and I made my favorite 4th of July dish-
Layered Jello Yumminess. I just came up with that name because it doesn't have one, haha. Here is the recipe:

1 cup crushed pretzels

2 tbsp sugar

3/4 cup melted butter

1 cup sugar

8 oz cream cheese(light or reg)

9 oz cool whip(light or reg)

6 oz or 2 small boxes of rasberry or strawberry jello

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1 large pk frozen strawberries

4-5 ice cubes

~Mix pretzels, 2tbsp sugar and butter in 9/13 in pan. Bake at 375 for 8 minutes.

~In a separate bowl, mix 1 cup sugar and cream cheese, add cool whip and spread over cooled crust.

~In a separate bowl, mix Jello and hot water. Stir until dissolved. Thicken with frozen berries and ice cubes. Once thick, pour over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate and enjoy!!   :)

Thank you for my balloon, MorMor! It keeps me entertained for a long time!  :)

For the Sake of his Bum

Our poor child has had some major skin problems these past few months thanks to his mommy and her not so nice genes. The first time he had a "break out" was around 4 months old and the docs said it was baby eczema, told us not to worry because a lot of babies and grow out of it. We sure hope he grows out of it because it has only gotten worse, especially with the  #$%* weather this summer!!!! The flare ups usually start with bad diaper rash or on his legs and quickly spread to the rest of his body. A couple weeks ago he even had it around his eye. It keeps him up at night and he is constantly scratching his skin. Some preventative measures we take are keep him moisturized, not bathe him as much, keep him cool, and keep him from scratching. During his last flare up, his cute little hiney was bright red and peeling for a good 4-5 days. We have tried numerous things like changing his diaper brand, cutting out fruit, changing his laundry soap, etc but none of those have really "helped" a significant amount(and by helped I mean reduce the number of flare ups and lessen the severity). SO....for the sake of the poor baby's butt, and ONLY for the sake of his butt(sorry, Earth) we are now using cloth diapers. I never thought we would ever use cloth diapers, I am just not the cloth diaper type of girl. BUT I will try anything to help Mr Baby's skin. And go figure, it is a lot easier than I thought( of course, we haven't had a big blowout in one yet, so that might be a different story, haha).  If you are interested, I recommend Fuzzi Bunz, they are so easy to use!