Big E - 10 Months

My baby turned 10 months.  Ahhhh!  Where is the time going?  Holy Moly.  I bet you parents are rolling your eyes at me thinking, "No DUH, woman!"

He is such a joy.  I can't wait to hug him every morning...even if it's 5:30 a.m. and he woke up twice in the middle of the night.  He continues to resemble me in looks; however, more and more of Bergstrom are coming through in looks and personality.

At 10 months Elliott:
- Has 7 teeth, soon to be 8
- Loves his Cheerios in the morning
- Wants to climb over everything
- Plays a mean Peek-A-Boo
- Crawls quick as lightning
- Is fascinated with whistles, remotes, doors and Baby Einstein puppets on TV
- No words or signs yet
- Has only slept through the night twice within the last month. (insert sad face)
- Waves 'Good-Bye' and gives occasional high fives.

Two months away from the big O-N-E!

Belated Birthday Present/New Year's Gift

Well, hello February 19th!  When did you get here?  I feel like quoting Frank from Father of the Bride, "Uh oh!  HELLo!!"

I'm usually pretty good about doing January blogs since January is, sort of, our month: Anniversary, Bergstrom's birthday, my birthday...but let me tell you, there was NO WAY I was going to have the time to blog.  Too much going on.   Which leads me to talk about my new year's resolution.  Actually, let's not call it a resolution, but rather my 2013 creed: Grace.  I'd like to focus on giving and receiving grace for myself and for others I encounter.  Grace towards myself when the house, my outfit, the car, whatever, isn't 100% perfect.  Grace towards Bergstrom when he parents Elliott different than me.  Grace towards family and friends when they need it.  Grace for everyone.  I just want to pour out grace.  I'm exhausted with the way we have placed it upon ourselves to be the best at everything.  Who can keep up?

(deep sigh)  So, I say, yea, to 2013!  And as a belated birthday gift/new year's present I would like to present to you, my beloved reader, a gift that will last a lifetime, kind of, sort of: a recipe.  This recipe came from a cookbook and I have since tweaked it to taste.  It is our "go-to" side dish when we aren't trying to be healthy.  I have stopped measuring, so please forgive my estimates on ingredients.  These potatoes will rock your world.  Trust me, you'll thank me later!

Bergstrom's Parmesan Potatoes

Ingredients

- Small, red potatoes (roughly 1 - 1 1/2 per person; I buy three for the two of us)

- Grated parmesan cheese (don't measure, so let's say, a cup)

- Butter (hmmm, once again, don't measure so let's say, 2 tbsp)

Directions

- Preheat oven to 400.

- Melt butter (I'm lazy, so I melt it in the casserole dish in the microwave to not dirty a bowl)

- Dump and coat cut potatoes that are bite-sized into dish with butter

- Dump and coat potatoes with parmesan cheese

- Bake for 45 in oven.

And...you're welcome!

Happy Thanks

We have so much to be thankful for!  I'm truly blessed.  Truly!  My hope and prayer is that I continue to be thankful each and every day, as corny as it sounds.  I'm not sure if this statistic is correct but a co-worker said that he read if you make over $40,000 a year, you are in the top 1% of wealthiest people in the world.  Isn't that amazing?

One specific thing we're thankful for this past year is the reuniting of Jason with his estranged father and, not only that, but the marriage of his father to his mother.  After over 25 years of being divorced, they were married for a second time on November 26, 2011.  It was an amazing wedding.  Jason and his brother, Josh, walked their mom down the aisle and my sister-in-law and I were bridesmaids.  (Not to mention, we were both pregnant at the time.)

So, it's been a year and to commemorate the first anniversary my awesome brother-in-law made this video.

Wasn't that such a great video?  Would you believe 1)he self-taught himself videography, 2)he never once got an actual shot of the wedding but you swear you were right there, 3)he was IN the wedding and still got so many shots despite all he had to do.  Yeah, we pretty much hate him for giving them such an awesome anniversary gift.  We just got them a card. (sigh)  Major fail!  Just Kidding.

Happy Anniversary, Sam and Belinda!  Love you!

P.S. Josh, we seriously hate you!

Big E - 7 months

The little man is 7 months today.  SEVEN!  And as is monthly tradition, Bergstrom and I take a photo of him wearing a onesie and "monthly" sticker which I got on Etsy.  We lay him on his prayer quilt which was made by my good friend's mother for E's baby shower.  I absolutely love it.  It has prayers and well wishes on it from family, friends and dear ones.  This little 7 month old is loved, loved, LOVED!

At 7 months, Big E can:
- Sit up unassisted
- Sucessfully grab and reach for anything and everything
- Eat solids (Pears and carrots are top favorites)
- Put his pacifier in his mouth on his own
- Sit and be happy for 45 minutes during our commute (Big Accomplishment Here!)
- Grow two huge bottom teeth
- Sit in the big tub
- Do raspberries just to hear the sound and see spit fly (Not too excited about this one.)
- "Crawl" in the sense of moving and pushing backwards and get on all fours for a half a second
- Wear 9 month clothing

And because I missed a WHOLE bunch of months on the blog, here's a collage of his past 6 pictures!

The Acorn Attack of 2012

We've been living in our house for almost a year and a half now.  I love our little abode.  I still get excited when we pull up into the driveway.  And particularly during this season, it just makes owning a home that much more special and cozy.  (Come on, folks...my favorite movie is Wizard of Oz.  "There's No Place Like Home!")  Bergstrom and I have pretty much figured out the small ins-and-outs of this house and with the minor help of family occasionally, have taken pretty good care of it, I must say.  (Insert small pat on the back.  But for the record, we still don't know half of what we're doing!)

All this to say there has been a PLAGUE UPON ON OUR HOUSEHOLD! 

THE ACORN ATTACK OF 2012 HAS HIT THE BERGSTROMS!!

Acorns are everywhere.  The past two nights we've listened to them fall on our house as if Santa and his reindeer had arrived early.  What's even funnier, rather not so funny, is that they are so loud that they are being picked up in Elliott's monitor.  My mommy ears are so sensitive I'm not only waking up because I hear them fall near our bedroom window, but I hear them over near E's room.  THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!

And, seriously, are we suppose to swipe/rake up all of them?  Good Grief, Charlie Brown!  We don't have the time or energy to do that.  So, instead of mean, bad acorns that are attacking us with their presence, I've looked up on Etsy nice, beautiful acorns.


 from MagicRabbitPatterns            from PinwheelStudio


from Goodthings88                         from Barnswallowpress

Good night from the acorn apocalypse.  I hope to dream of a million squirrels ridding our yard of all the nuts.  Actually, scratch that, that is one - scary - dream!

Here's a story....

....of a lovely lady...who was pregnant with a little, baby boy...

Ok, I'm not going to rewrite that song.  It's getting late and I don't think I can be that clever right now.  I decided I should blog about Elliott's birth.  It's only altered my entire life and changed it upside down.  Just a little worthy of a blog, wouldn't you say?  So, here it goes.

My due date was April 10th but it looked like this little one was not budging.  He kept getting bigger (as did I) and I just wasn't progressing at all with each doctor's visit.  My plan was to go as far as I could without meds but with Elliott taking his time, I was scheduled for induction on April 18th because my doctor didn't feel comfortable with me going over 41 weeks.  After a huge Olive Garden meal, Jason and I headed to the hospital at 9 pm on the 18th.  Thus the waiting began with the fam...

By the morning, contractions were strong enough that I needed to call in the epidural.  All day was spent monitoring my progress, but let me tell you, it was a slow process.  Elliott just did not want to come.  I got to 17 hours of labor/8 centimeters and the doctor said, "If he doesn't come in an hour, we're going to have to do a C-section."  Now, this was not my favorite option but since everything was already not how I planned it, might-as-well.  It was the best choice for Elliott at the time and that's what was most important.  I will have to say my sweet nurse was wonderful and did try all her "tricks" to help my labor progress.  She even had me push a little right before they wheeled me into the OR.  Sweet, sweet lady.

Flash forward to 5:13 p.m., Elliott Ryder came into this world weighing 8lbs 3oz.  He cried so loud when he came out, they said they heard him in the hall.  His Apgar score was a 9.  Jason and I cried our eyes out the moment we saw him.  It was unbelievable!  Next to walking down the aisle towards my love, seeing Elliott's face for the first time can pretty much take the cake for "Best Moments of My Life!"  And in case you're wondering, Elliott is my brother's middle name and Ryder is Jason's brother's name.

Mom.  Eek!  I'm a Mommy!!

I miss you, blog!!!

I miss blogging.  I really do.

I miss posting pictures and thinking that my thoughts/opinions are out there, in cyberspace, for the whole world to enjoy...or hate...either way. :)

Almost every day I read the blogs that I follow and a million ideas are born.  "OH, I could blog about that..." "Elliott did this, I should blog..." "I'm going to blog to see who still looks at my blog."

DO people still look at my blog?  I wouldn't be surprise if no one did. 

But I guess I'm taking these five minutes to say to you, YOU, who are reading this right now that I appreciate you still having hope in me.  Having hope that I'll write again.  And I will.  I promise.  I have so much to share and so much to tell.  I'm dying here!!

All I can say, beloved blog reader of mine, is thank you.  Hang in there.  I'm coming back.  And as a peace offering, I leave with you my favorite picture of my muchkin and me.  Enjoy!