A Perfect 10 (Pounds, that is)

Ian's two-month well-child appointment was this morning, and it went very, very well! Our little man is up to 10 pounds, 5 ounces, which means he gained 5 pounds in 6 weeks. He doubled his weight! Now I understand the perpetual feedings! I was thrilled to see the number on the scale, and equally as thrilled to learn he's also grown 3 whole inches in 6 weeks! Ian is now 22.5 inches long and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. Grow boy, grow!

Not everything was fun and games, however, as our poor boy also got five - yes, FIVE - pokes to the thigh and one oral "cocktail," all for vaccination purposes. He tolerated them well, only crying for a mere moment after they were administered. He received two circular Tweety Bird band aids (or "boo-boos," as Ava calls them) and lots of kisses from poor, suffering mommy. I think I was more affected by the shots than Ian!

I also discussed Ian's rapidly progressing reflux/gas issues with the pediatrician. Several treatment options were mentioned, from medication (Zantac) to switching to a soy-based formula. She recommended trying the Zantac first, and if that isn't good enough, switch the formula. Ava was also on an antacid until she was nine months old, so here we go again. But I'm happy to do anything to help Ian feel better as soon as possible. Feedings are reaching the 45 minute mark, and not only are they lengthy, they're also very painful. At the doctor's office, I had to feed Ian before going inside. I fed him in the front seat, and after about 10 minutes, a car pulled into the space in front of mine and the mom in the car began feeding her baby boy, too. Our eyes met briefly, and we smiled at each other with that "so-this-is-what-our-lives-have-become-now" look. She began feeding her baby, and 15 minutes later, she burped him, put him back in his car seat, and took him into the office. Just like that. Fifteen minutes, a burp and done. What?!?! Meanwhile, I am still fighting Ian to drink the rest of his bottle and keep it down. It's a fight I lost badly, and I got so frustrated. So I'm hoping the Zantac helps, at least a little bit. Poor Ava just doesn't understand why feeding baby brother takes so long and why I need to hold him all the time. Please Zantac, work.

But other than the reflux and gas, we have no complaints. Ian is healthy, thriving and developing right on schedule. Praise God for a healthy baby boy!

Recipe of the Week: Spaghetti Casserole

Because I enjoy cooking, I thought I would use this blog to share my passion with those who read it. But because I am a new mom of two, my definition of "cooking" has changed drastically during these past two months. I can't afford to be in the kitchen for hours on end, preparing homemade French Onion Soup or my famous 5-Hour Gumbo from scratch. These days, it's all about getting dinner on the table quickly. My good friend Mandy also got me hooked on freezing meals, too, so that dinner is especially easy on those days when it's 5 p.m. and I have yet to get out of my pajamas. As recipes become staples in our home, I'll share them with you, because they are quick, easy and yummy. This week, it's Spaghetti Casserole, from The Dinner Doctor by Anne Byrn. This cookbook has become my right hand in the kitchen. If you're looking for a new cookbook, this one is a dandy! This meal freezes well, so if you make a batch, make double and freeze one so that you have it ready for next time. I serve it with a green salad and freshly baked breadsticks a la Pilsbury. Enjoy!

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 lb Ground Beef
1/2 Cup Chopped Onion
1 can (10.75 oz) cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 cups of your favorite tomato based pasta sauce
1 cup shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
4 Cups Cooked Spaghetti (8 oz uncooked)
2 Tablespoons Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 F

Place the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Crumble in the ground beef and add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring and breaking up the lumps of meat, until the beef is brown all over and cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the beef to a large mixing bowl. (If there is a lot of fat in the pan, drain the mixture in a strainer before transferring it). Add the soup, pasta sauce, 1/2 of the Cheddar Cheese, the cooked spaghetti, and 1/2 cup of water and stir to mix. Transfer the spaghetti to a 3 quart baking dish and sprinkle all but 1 tablespoon of the remaining Cheddar Cheese and 1 tablespoon of the Parmesan over the top.

Bake the spaghetti until it bubbles throughout and the cheese has melted, 18 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of each cheese and serve at once.

Serves 8

Ian is Two Months Old!

Happy two-month birthday, my sweet little man.

Two Months and on a Schedule

Incase anyone's been wondering why it's been a week since my last post, it's because we are working on getting Ian on a schedule. It's been tough, primarily because we also have a 2-year-old who has her own schedule. It's just not possible to keep the house peaceful and silent during the day so I can rock Ian to sleep for his three daily naps. And it's even tougher to keep the little man awake when he's so accustomed to sleeping whenever he pleases. Bath times and bedtimes are a challenge for now, as Ava is used to long cuddles and four+ stories, but Ian is exhausted and waiting for his turn in the tub. So we've been experimenting with different times and schedules, and I think we've finally got our groove. Ian is doing pretty well with adjusting. At first, he wasn't sleeping well at all during the day, and this made for an exhausted and stressed mommy who wasn't very nice to be around. But one afternoon, against my comfort level, I put Ian on his tummy for his afternoon nap and relished in 3 hours of peace and quiet. I know every pediatrician in the world would have a fit if they new this, but babies really do sleep better on their tummies. And the best part is that Ian is good about getting himself to sleep on his tummy. So I can put him in his crib awake if I need to, and he'll drift off to dreamland all by himself. He's still on his back at night, but I'm not sure how much longer that will last because I am getting exhausted with these two-a-night feedings. Some nights, he gets up only once, but this is not habitual yet. Most doctors would say twice a night at 2 months is fine and expected. But here in the Blum house, the quicker you're sleeping through the night, the happier mommy is. I am just one of those people who needs a lot of sleep to function properly.

So we're getting the hang of things, but we forgot how difficult of a time this is. Getting a baby on a schedule is a tough job, but it pays amazing dividends once he gets the hang of it.

Our Sweet Little Valentine

Ava loves saying "Cheese!" for the camera these days, but she gets so excited about it that she can't sit still. So most of the time, I get a lot of pictures where she is smiling, but she's either blurry or not even looking at the camera. I did manage to get a couple good ones on Valentine's Day, however. Ian was fussy during picture time (come to think of it, he was fussy much of the day), so he didn't get his picture taken.

More Ava Pronunciations

This post is a continuation of one I published a couple of weeks ago. As Ava's vocabulary expands, I try to write down her new words, as well as how she pronounces them. Although her vernacular far exceeds what I capture on paper, I can't help but post the best of the bunch.

Ellie-fanny = elephant

Jurass = giraffe

Abbledee = W

Ahmeer = oatmeal

Seerwer = cereal

Wogurt = yogurt

Ahnmoose = animals

Pennay = pudding

Dorsey = story

Care-fer = careful (said after she trips or takes a tumble)

Bass = bath

Our Budding Southpaw

Ava is a lefty. After several months of favoring her left hand over her right to do tasks such as coloring and eating, Stefan and I have determined she's going to take after her father for one more trait. Stefan is beaming with pride over this one, primarily because left-handed people are so few and far between. She joins good company - other than her father, of course - which includes Albert Einstein, Oprah Winfrey, President Barack Obama and her very cool Uncle Bo. Just one more thing to illustrate how much Ava is her daddy's girl!

Just Another Day in Paradise

We had high hopes for Saturday. It was going to be Ian's first outing. We were going to select and order Ava's big-girl furniture. We were going to have lunch out as a family and celebrate. We accomplished one of those things: Ian did get out of the house.

After two disappointing trips to local furniture stores (one specifically for children), we left empty handed. We found nothing that looked good enough to buy, and certainly nothing that seemed appropriate for Ava. My problem is that I am looking for something very specific, and that basically translates into me settling for something I dislike after searching for years and never quite finding what I'm looking for. Just look at our TV in our family room... it's still sitting on two night stands as I am on a quest to find the perfect media cabinet. So we decided to just head home because it was too early to eat lunch. We figured we would regroup and try again next Saturday. So on our way home, we're stopped at a red light and cop lights begin flashing behind us. Crap. My tags. They're still Utah tags... and they're expired... since last July. Sigh.

Stefan's driving and pulls over. The cop comes to the window and explains that our tags are expired (we know) and that we should have gotten the car registered in Georgia within 30 days of moving here (we know this, too). So he disappears to his car for what seems like forever and returns nearly 20 minutes later with TWO citations: one for driving a vehicle with expired tags and another for failure to register the car in Georgia within 30 days of moving here. I'm just glad Stefan was driving because at least he has his new Georgia driver's license. I still have my Utah license and would have gotten busted for that, too, should I have been behind the wheel. Stefan tried to explain that I went on bed rest very soon after moving here and it has been difficult to get this stuff done and blah, blah, blah. He didn't buy it. We looked at each other and knew that we were simply busted. We didn't get things taken care of and ran out of luck. It's our fault and we knew this. But I'm not kidding when I say "emissions and register cars" was on my to-do list for this upcoming week. Oh, the irony.

During our marathon routine traffic stop, our two little angels became very restless and hungry. So we decided to stop for a quick bite at McDonald's. It wasn't quite the celebratory lunch we were hoping for, but Ava got fed (and a Hello Kitty watch) and Ian also got fed. During lunch, Stefan and I just laughed. We drove 30 minutes one way to not buy furniture but instead reel in Lord-knows-how-much in traffic citations. Here in Georgia, you don't know how much you owe when you get the ticket. Instead, you have to call after 10 business days to find out just how steep the fine is. I guess they like to see you sweat for a couple of weeks. What started out to be a fun family morning turned into a dismal sequence of events that left us wanting to hit the rewind button and start the day over... all before 11 a.m!

To add insult to injury, on the way home, Stefan gets stuck behind a truck carrying a trailer full of trees. We're driving at a snail's pace and cars are passing us like we're standing still (it felt like we were). Finally after several miles, there was a break in the passing traffic and Stefan pulled into the passing lane to get past this tree truck. Well, just as he pulls over, I look to my right and see our exit. I looked at Stefan and said, "Really, honey?" So we got off at the next exit, turned around, and headed home. I have never been so excited to pull into our driveway.

Portrait of a Family

Last weekend, we had some pictures taken of Ian for his birth announcement. But what we ended up with far exceeded a few simple shots of our new little man. We got some stunning shots of Ava, too, as well as a few candids of the four of us. The backdrop was our own dining room, which is currently empty, and the photographer was a family friend (www.darbyrosephotography.com). She did an amazing job of capturing the simple beauty of our babies and the warmth of our family. We love the pictures, and this blog is studded with them. For a complete yet brief slideshow, please go to www.darbyrosephotography.com, click on Slideshows, then on "Introducing Ian..." There is music, too, if you'd like to listen along.

If you live in the Atlanta area and need some portraits taken, you have to go with Darby. She is wonderful and keeps things simple. Thanks Darby!