Evelyn - 6 months

When we had Lily, the first year went by so slow because we struggled with so much - physically, emotionally, mentally. People would say "it goes by so fast, doesn't it!" and I would just burst into tears! This time I want to burst into tears again but for the opposite reason. It IS going by so fast. Evelyn refuses to be a baby. She wants to GO and she is determined to do just that. She keeps me on my toes!! 

Right now baby girl is rolling, army crawling, very close to regular crawling, sitting and almost able to get into a sitting position on her own. She laughs, is ticklish, says "MAMA" and is starting on her Ba's. She has tried a ton of food: sweet potatoes, avocado, apple, peaches, watermelon, corn, carrots, and rice crackers. She is in cloth diapers full time. Nurses about every 3-4 hours. Wakes about 2-3 times a night. Goes to sleep between 6-7 and sleeps until 5-6am (really!) She is almost outgrown her 6mo clothes! She loves her sister and constantly watches her with a big smile on her face. She is LOUD - happy loud with lots of screeching and just regular hollering ;) 

She is a JOY and such a happy addition to our family. I look at her and thank the heavens above for her.

Updated with 6 month stats:

15lbs 15.5oz (45%)

25.5in (30%)

Always ready with a smile

Fascinated by Layla. She loves to watch her and screech at her :) 

Loves to stick out that adorable tongue!

Sitting. And SO CLOSE to being able to get into a sitting position on her own.

Into EVERYTHING

My sunshine

Evie Eats

Most of you probably remember the struggles I had with LB when she started solids. There was a lot of wasted food, gagging, throwing up, tons of laundry and lots of tears. Turns out poor baby had reflux pretty bad and she got better after getting that and her diabetes insipidus under control. 

This go-round I decided to be more laid back about eating. I wanted to enjoy it. I wanted Evie to enjoy it. She didn't need the extra calories like LB did, so it was more a matter of experimenting and discovering food than counting what is going in her mouth. And it helps that this girl likes to eat! She is constantly trying to grab food off my plate or out of my hand (like the watermelon she jacked from me at the farmers market yesterday!) She will not do purees. She tolerates steamed veggies and fruit, loves avocado but she really enjoys to eat what we eat. I struggle with that because, c'mon, she's 6 months old! But again, laid back. It's been pleasantly surprising so far! 

Eating steamed carrots. I made purees the week before and she gagged and spit most of it out. I steamed these up and she immediately grabbed them and put them in her mouth. Little stinker.

All the carrots!

Avocado is the front runner right now! 

Enjoying the corn cakes

Letter O

This week LB chose the letter "O" to practice. So I decided to craft an orange octopus and make an ocean in a bottle. It was fun!

I attempted to let LB practice cutting with scissors. Mistake. That takes WAY more patience than I was capable of yesterday. (And those snowman scissors led to a big tantrum about watching "Frosty the snowman" on the 1st day of JULY!)

Gluing 8 legs

Lily's Orange Octopus

This is an activity I'd seen on pinterest a lot and something I'd been meaning to try. I thought it would give LB a little break after the frosty-trantrum. It wasn't as fun as she wanted it to be. In fact, she got frustrated that the colors weren't mixing more. 

LB has weaker hands so mashing these around was hard work. I think we'll try it again but hand it on the window. I hung it up during lunch time just to get it out of the way and the colors were SO pretty. I think it would be easier for her and a good OT exercise for her arms. 

Ocean in a bottle!

Making Waves

Recent Recipes

I often post pictures of my vegetarian dinners on facebook and instagram and I'm always asked for recipes. I keep most of my recipes tidied up on pinterest on my "Tried and true" board. I try to keep up with that and add little notes to each recipe. But I'll also try to add them here!

Vegetarian Pizza - I just used the veggies I had in my fridge (zucchini, sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms and frozen spinach) I always make my own pizza sauce with just tomato sauce sprinkled with oregano, garlic powder and onion powder (sometimes red pepper flakes) I made this crust for this pizza and it was phenomenal! Definitely will make again.

Roasted Veggie Tacos - For me, tacos are all about the toppings. As long as there's avocado, salsa and cheese - I'm chowing down and happy! Lately I've been roasting chickpeas which are amazing. Here I roasted sweet potatoes, red bell pepper, mushrooms and onions using my own taco seasoning (usually just sprinkling on a heavy amount of cumin, and small amounts of chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder and oregano) I loosely followed this recipe.

Caprese Quinoa Bake - I'm always trying to find new ways to try quinoa. Den is kinda "eh" about it and I'm still wavering on whether I like it enough to afford it. This was good - the fresh mozzarella was key. It definitely needs more basil and more balsamic vinegar but overall I thought it was good.

Baked Falafel - Amazing. Served on a bed of crisp romaine with greek yogurt mixed with cilantro and cucumber (poor mans tzatziki) I ate the leftovers for lunch in a tortilla the next day. YUM. I'm thinking of doubling the recipe and freezing some next time.

Blueberry Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies - Seriously. Love chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Love blueberries. Put them together and BAM - Yumminess. My cookies took A LOT longer to cook, perhaps because I always make my cookies ginormous or because I crowd them so as not to use two pans. Either way, I'll try to be better next time. They were definitely messy and moist so napkins need to be handy but overall they were delicious!

Corn cakes and potato crusted quiche

Last week I was scrounging around for dinners and lunches while trying not to spend any more money. You know what that means: Frozen veggies, using up that 10lb bag of potatoes and pasta! Thus the potato crusted quiche was born. 

I had my best friend, Alexis, and her kids over and I wanted to treat them to lunch. It was a collaborated effort on our parts. I made the potato crust. Alexis provided the fresh spinach and tomato (pictured at the bottom.) I loved it so much (and we ate all of it) that I decided to remake it for dinner this week along with the corn cakes. I was fresh out of spinach so decided to use broccoli and cheddar. I used frozen broccoli but I suggest defrosting it or using fresh as mine was a bit watery and didn't set as well as I'd have liked. 

It's so deliciously beautiful

What You'll Need:

For the Crust:

- 2 russet potatoes, scrubbed clean

- 1 egg

- 3T flour

-  A hearty sprinkle of Salt Free Italian Seasoning

- Preheat oven to 450. Shred the potatoes, with skin. Wring all the water out of them. Mix all ingredients together and pat into a greased pie pan. Bake until golden brown. Honestly, I didn't time it...I just smelled it - But I would set a timer for 10-15 minutes and then check it. 

- Drop the temp to 350.

For the Quiche:

- 3-4 eggs depending on how you like your quiche

- Splash of milk

- Cheese (I use cheddar for the broccoli and feta for the spinach)

- Broccoli OR Spinach (If you use frozen, defrost, and for the spinach, if frozen, make sure to wring out water.) 

- 2 green onions, sliced

- S&P

- Optional sliced tomato/feta up top.

- Lay your produce of choice down over the potato crust. Layer with cheese of choice. Sprinkle green onions over top. Whisk eggs and milk together and pour evenly over veggie of choice. Layer tomato, if using, and sprinkle with feta. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until set. 

Quiche for dinner

And here is the recipe for the Corn Cakes

The original creation with fresh spinach and feta

Summer fun

Summertime can be daunting, trying to fill the spaces that were once filled with carpool, preschool, and hoping to get errands done. Now I'm lugging 2 kids around trying to get errands done, making up preschool activities and just hoping to get through the day without too many time outs. But through all the craziness, we are actually having fun! Here's some things we've been up to so far:

Evie's first time on the swings!

Getting a much needed push from her big sister :) 

Ready for a "Wacky" playdate complete with FOUR braids, tutu, necklaces, and mismatching shoes ;) 

Best friends all "wacked" out for the playdate!

Swimming at Papa's pool. Evie's first time in the water!

Marbles!

The day was long so water play was needed!

Evie sleeping on our nature walk

Fresh air for us all - perfect reset!

Getting fresh air and exercise

Pool day with Aunt Stacey!

Summer learning

I decided to try to "teach" Lily Belle this summer through arts and crafts and experiences. I will say that this requires days where my patience level is at an all time high. I wait until Evie is down for a nap and then I come up with a craft for the "Letter of the week." We don't solely focus on one letter all week but we do the letter craft and try to come up with words that start with that letter. I then try to do an activity with that letter. 

To be honest, I don't plan ahead. I should! But most of what we've done I've come up with on the fly or by looking at pinterest two minutes before getting the craft box out. So far, so good though. 

The Letter "T"

Fresh brewed sweet Tea with Triangle Toast for our Teddy Bear Tea Party

All the Teddy Bears came for some Tea and Toast

Lots of "T" words!

The Letter "L"

Practicing her L's with snack time

Lady Bugs and Lemons! 

Today we're practicing Letter "O" for the week. Stay tuned for what we do to explore the letter O!