'Tis the Season!

While going about preparing for the festivities over the next month, don't forget to take care of yourself!  One way to do this is to get a flu shot!  You can get them at your doctor's office or through places like CVS, Walgreens, and Target without an appointment!  These places also accept insurance so it might even be free!  Much better than having the flu for a week and missing SANTA!

For more information on the flu vaccination visit the CDC website!

Saturday Breakfast!

Pancakes?  or Waffles?  Quite frequently that is the Saturday morning question in this household!  D loves waffles and I love pancakes... Big decisions on a Saturday!  Sometimes they are plain, sometimes blueberry or chocolate or walnut.  BUT this morning... it was a different kind of morning...

This was the morning of the ULTIMATE breakfast... perhaps you know where I'm going...

BACON PANCAKES!!

Yes, you are right... this has been done before.  But never by us!  So it was a pretty big deal.  

It's simple... fry the bacon until they are done to your liking (we went crispy!).  Then wiggle them around on the skillet some with the spatula to make all those separate puddles of bacon grease... meld into ONE BIG PUDDLE of bacon grease.  Then pour on your batter and cook as you normally would a pancake.  We used Arrowhead Mills Whole Wheat.... ya know, so it's healthy!!  ;)

Don't forget the maple syrup!

Tannie Time!

Last weekend D had to go to a conference in New York for three days.  I mentioned to my mom that I'd be all alone and she was able to re-arrange some of her work schedule so that she could come stay with me!  WOO HOO!  Girls weekend... plus a little sweet boy!  I tell myself that she was coming to visit me... but we all know that she was really coming to see this little man!

We had lots of fun walking to the neighborhood grocery and enjoying a Starbucks!

There was plenty of time for reading books!

And going out to eat!  I took Mom to Garnett's, a little sandwich shop that D and I went to earlier this month.  R ate like a champ and even tried some Curry Lentil soup... he loved it!  He was also thoroughly entertained by Mom putting drops of water on his tongue with a straw.  It made him so giggly, we were cracking up!  So, maybe we were the ones being entertained!!

We had lots of time to relax and play all kinds of games.  

By the time R made it to bath time each night he was ready to hit the hay!  

Mom and I hadn't had some quality just the two of us time since R was born!  9 months ago!!  We've seen each other quite a lot over the months.  Each visit revolving around some big even with lots of other relatives present... which has been so much FUN!  But I'm not going to pretend that it wasn't AWESOME to just be low key and do the everyday kind of things we'd do if we lived closer!  :)  Love you, Mom!

Happy Halloween!

Things were pretty low key around our house this year for Halloween... except for our front porch!  D loves Halloween.  Its one time each year that he can get really creative... with a good excuse!  He's made some sort of porch decoration each year that I've known him.  This year we *only* set out three of them.... + pumpkins + lights + Halloween wreath!

D really enjoyed showing R the spooky characters.... R was fascinated with all the lights and especially the fog!

Our house completely decked out!  We get a lot of trick-or-treaters each year.  It's so much fun watching all the kids check out our porch... they are always asking if stuff is real.  It's too funny!

R sporting his pumpkin butt outfit from Aunt Christina!

 Another couple came over with there sweet 5 week old baby girl.  They were dressed up as Little Bo Peep, a shepard, and a lamb!!

We didn't put too much thought into our costumes this year... so we kind of ended up looking like a box of crayons!

R was fascinated with his Daddy's Zero Suit.  It's like he's thinking, "now I know there are eyes and a nose here somewhere!!"

Hope y'all had a fun and safe Halloween as well!

Flannel Baby Wipes

Today it has been decided... it is time to give reusable wipes a try!  After reviewing different types of wipes, I decided to go with flannel.  Mostly because we have lots of those flannel receiving blankets laying around.  Other reasons to use flannel are because it's soft and stain resistant!  Which is super important when dealing with sweet baby booties and not-so-sweet baby poopies!  

I was trying to find a way to not have to use the sewing machine (again) but that didn't work out.  I read that possibly using pinking shears would help the flannel not fray, but I wasn't willing to risk it.  So, I ended up sewing a slight zig-zagged line and then using shears.  These wipes held up well through the initial washing.

I was able to get nine wipes out of each blanket.  The wipes are roughly 9x9... the blankets I had were a little uneven, but hey... these are wipes... perfection is not necessary!

I stitched two lines about a 1/4 inch apart from each other in order to only have to cut the fabric once. 

I really like how the edges came out!  I think they look real nice and I'm glad I put in a little extra time to not have to worry about frayed edges.  For now I'm just using a peri-bottle with plain water to wet them before use and see how things go with R's little tushy.  There are lots of ways to make wipes solution at home if needed so we will see how things go from here!

I was so excited to get this whole project done during R's 2 hour... that's right TWO hour morning nap!!  I took a quick break to reheat some leftovers from this deliciously simple recipe I've used a few times now... we like it with cauliflower instead of white potato and served over quinoa instead of rice!!

UPDATE: 2/19/2014  I ended up not loving the flannel wipes idea.  I think that using them while baby is completely breastfed would work much better.  Then you can just toss the wipe in the washer without having to clean off the solid poop!  Eww... too much poopie time for this momma!  Instead, I use the wipes for dinnertime clean up!