Engaged

This afternoon I attended a small engagement party for my newly engaged friend, Brianna! I took Ryan along with me to the festivities at Chevy's in San Jose.

Here I am with the beautiful bride-to-be.

My friend Jesselle was also there....unfortunately Ryan was feeling camera shy at this point.

And downright crabby by the time Zach (Jesselle's hubby) tried to pose for a picture with him.

Congratulations Brianna!

Toe Fuzz and Letting Go

Ryan took his first bath in the actual bathtub last night. I realize I probably should have done this a lot sooner, but I had good reasons for waiting this long.You see, it required me cleaning and scrubbing the bathtub to make it clean enough to take a bath in.

I thought Ryan might be afraid, but he loved it.
I, on the other hand, had a death grip on his arm the entire time. Hey, it was a lot of water for a little guy!

"Mom you can totally let go now"Those dark spots floating around are Ryan's toe fuzz. And yes it is really hard to hold your baby upright in the bath while taking pictures with your other hand.

Foodie Friday: Falafel

We had a big fat greek feast for dinner last night. I made falafel! Or as Adam called them, "cow patties".

I love greek food but Adam has never tried it. So I tried this recipe for Baked Falafel. They weren't quite the same as ones I've eaten in restaurants (I used to work near a Daphne's Greek Cafe). But I'm pretty sure this is because my version was baked and not fried. And pretty much anything tastes better fried, right?

I used my mini food processor to make the batter.

And then made 8 patties. I realize they are pretty ugly, but I promise they are tasty.

After baking for 20 minutes:
Stuffed in a toasted pita with tomato and lettuce, and smothered in Tzatziki sauce that I bought from Trader Joe's. Yum. I love Tzatziki sauce.On the side we had carrots and spicy hummus.And some leftover Israeli couscous.

I'm using the term "we" loosely. Adam took one bite and then ate cereal for dinner. Oh well. I really liked the falafel. I guess I'll have to make some man food for Adam tonight.

Napper Napper!

That's right folks.....I officially have a napper! My son, who is about to turn 10 months old, has finally figured out how to nap.

Over the past few weeks he has started to actually fall asleep at consistent times throughout the day.....and stay asleep in his crib! I do have to nurse him to sleep, but I am fine with this as long as he will sleep in his crib. His new routine is to go down about 2 hours after he wakes up in the morning, and usually sleep for a solid 30 minutes. Then I can usually get him down again sometime in the afternoon for another 30 minute nap. That is a total of one glorious hour!
What this means is that I can actually get some things done. Send emails! Take a shower alone! Read a book! Play with the dog! Blog!

Ryan is also pretty excited about napping.

Sun and Grass

We've been outside enjoying the sun today. Two of my nieces and one of my nephews are visiting this week. Ryan loves to see his cousins!

Ryan also loves being outside. I remember when he was really small and colicky. Often the only thing that would make him stop crying was to walk him around outside. (I am SO glad that stage is over). At almost 10 months old now, he still loves being outside. He really seems to enjoy our daily walks, and grass is one of his new favorite things to play with.

Kleenex Anyone?

Ryan has had a runny nose for the past 4 days. I haven't yet decided if it's a cold, allergies, or a result of teething. Either way he's not happy.

What I Learned This Week

I can take 7 steps in a row without holding on to anything!

And more importantly, it's really fun to throw my puffs off the side of my highchair and watch the doggy eat them.

New Highchair

Babies R Us is having a promotion right now where you get 25% off a new highchair, carseat, stroller, etc if you bring in a used one. So guess what I did yesterday?

Operation Cozify

I made that word up, cozify. Do you like it? I want to "cozify" our family room. It is a fairly large room, 20 ft x 30 ft I think. It has hardwood floors and overhead lighting, so at times it feels more like a big studio than a cozy family room. I feel like it's lacking some warmth and I'm not sure how to decorate it to achieve this. I'm really bad at having a vision of how something should look, and thus I'm not great at interior design. So right now my only ideas for this room are to add curtains, throw pillows on the couch, and some sort of green potted plant somewhere. I need some other ideas! Preferably things I can add that don't cost much money, if any. Here is our family room. Excuse the shop-vac and broom....Adam just finished trimming the windows. Don't they look nice?

So what do you think? Do you have any ideas for adding color/warmth/coziness to this room? Know any interior designers who work for free? I want a room that looks like a page in a catalog. Is that too much to ask for?

Just for fun, here is what it looked like before we moved in.

Pretty sad. That balloon should have been frowning.

I Love.....

how every time I take Ryan out his highchair, he has a pile of Gerber Puffs stuck to his bottom.

that Adam wants me to keep Ryan up late when he works late, just so he can tell him goodnight.

the way Ryan laughs when I pull sock fuzz out from between his toes.

Adam's desire to finish the projects he starts. Window trim in family room is done and looks beautiful!

when I wake Ryan up by taking him out of his carseat and he looks at me and then falls back to sleep in my arms. He feels safe in my arms.

when Adam tells me I'm beautiful, even when I have dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep and I haven't showered in 4 days.

I love these guys.

Swinging at the Park

Ryan met his friend Joselyn at the park today for some swinging fun.
Ryan really knows how to have some fun!

Foodie Friday: Spicy Tomato Soup

I got together with my friend Jesselle the other day at her house. She made us soup for lunch, based on a recipe she had seen made on TV. She wrote it down as best she could and it turned out really well! What I like about this recipe is that it contains ingredients you would keep in your pantry. I made it last night and didn't have to make a special trip to the store for anything. I think the key to making this soup taste like you've slaved over it all day is to use a good jar of spaghetti sauce. Try to pick a brand that contains minimal sugar and a short list of ingredients.

Spicy Tomato Soup

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 carrots, chopped

1 can of cannelini beans (drained and rinsed)

1 jar of marinara sauce

4 cups chicken broth

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 cup small pasta

Saute onions, carrots and garlic in olive oil until softened, about 10-15 minutes. Add beans, marinara sauce and chicken broth. Cook 5 minutes, then add red pepper flakes and pasta. Cook until pasta is al dente.

Enjoy! I served it with grilled cheese sandwiches. Yum.

Puff Addict

Ryan has finally started to figure out finger food! Except there's only one that he likes....Puffs! He loves his apple cinnamon Gerber Puffs, as long as they are broken in half. Sometimes I stick him in his highchair when I need to get something done, and just give him a little pile of Puffs to play with.I decided that eating straight off of his highchair tray might not be sanitary, so I bought him his very first plate.This morning I let him try it out. He picked up all the cheerios I placed on the plate and put them onto his highchair tray. He then picked up his plate and threw it at me. I guess I need to buy the kind that suction-cups to the tray.

I need suggestions of other finger foods I can feed to Ryan. Cheerios are still a bit hard for him, even when I break them in half. He gags because they don't disolve in his mouth fast enough. I hate just feeding him the Puffs because they seem so processed and fake. I was thinking about trying rice next. What do you think?