She's Walking! (with a little help)

She's getting there!

Great day! Bad camera!

We had such a great day on Saturday!  I tried taking pictures of everything that we did but I was using  our smaller camera with an old SD card and it was having some major malfunction issues.  I was so bummed :(  So I only ended up with 3 pictures, one of them being blurry.

SO anyway I started out the day with some "Candi" time.  I got a pedicure (that I was in desperate need of)  it was so nice being able to just sit and enjoy being pampered.  I used to get mani-pedi's all the time but when the  finances changed, that was the first luxury to go.  So I really enjoyed it.  And I love having pretty painted toes :)  I took a picture but somehow it was deleted.  Then I went to Pennys and shopped around a bit, I was looking for shoes but no luck.  

Then it was back to the house to get Shane and Savannah and we headed to the "Taste of Pine Island"  just a small festival of food vendors, produce, and other things for sale.  They also had live music which would have been more enjoyable if it wasn't SO loud.  I mean c'mon! But there were a couple of other babies there that Savannah got to visit with.  It's so cute watching her interact with them. (again, I took pictures of her playing but those are gone too) Here's the pictures that didn't get erased..

So cute in her hat

Just chillin'

The weather was gorgeous, so we were all happy to be outside.

After about 2 hours we left and headed home so Savannah could take her nap.....and so we could too!

Then it was time to get ready for our nephews 16th birthday dinner.  Eli turned 16 last wednesday, which just seems crazy to me.  He was only 9 or 10 when Shane and I started dating, it's amazing how much he has grown.   So we put together a "first car survival kit" for him.  Just all the stuff you need for your first set of wheels.  It turned out cute and I think he liked it.   We meant to grab the good camera before we left but we both forgot, so we were still stuck with the crappy one.  Here is the one and only picture that came out.

Funny right?

Then we headed home, put little miss to bed and enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine while watching one of our favorite movies....It's Complicated.  We have it on the DVR,  it's so funny...if you haven't seen it, you should!

A great day indeed!

Clap, Clap, Clap!

Sick Baby

Our sweet girl is finally starting to feel better.  She came down with a cold last week; she was severely congested and had an awful cough.  We did everything we could possibly do to help her but honestly Im not sure if any of it helped.  We bought the saline nose drops, the homeopathic cold tablets, vicks on her chest, and the vicks vaporizer.  After all that her cold is still lingering today.  I called the doctors last Thursday to see if I should bring her in....so I explained her symptoms and they said it didn't sound like an infection and was most likely the cold/flu thats been going around. They said to try all the things we were already trying and would probably just have to wait it out.  Besides being a little more fussy, her mood was still pretty good.  It's so hard as a parent seeing your baby sick, remember this is all new to us.   They are so helpless, she can't blow her nose or tell us what to do to make it better.  The hardest part for me was the fact that she couldn't sleep. She has always been such a great sleeper, sleeping 10-12 hours a night.  But hearing her just coughing and crying through the night was very difficult, but there wasn't much more I could do for her.

So thank god it seems that it is starting to pass.  I just can't believe I haven't caught the sickness that has taken over our household for the past month! Shane was sick right before Savannah got it..  I always get it!  Guess "they" knew I needed to be well to take care of my babies :)

Here are just some pictures from the past week....

Showing off her new jammies (I remember buying these thinking
"these are so long, it'll be forever before she fits into them"

So happy in the morning

At the fleamarket

Checking out the birdies

I can't keep a bow on her anymore so I just put it on, snapped a picture then she pulled it off.
 She sure does look cute though :)

We LOVE Target!

Playtime after shopping 

This is how she crawls

I had to show off her new Minnie jammies :)

Oh my goodness - 9 months old!!

Our little munchkin turned 9 months old on Monday! Let's see, 9 months old equals 39 weeks (in pregnancy world) which means she has now been out of mommy's belly exactly as long as she was in!

She is doing great! She had her 9 month check up yesterday and her stats are:

16.5 lbs  and 27" long.

We have been working with her on standing by herself, she'll go a couple of seconds before sitting but she's getting there.  I've also started practicing clapping with her and she's doing great with it.  She's still a very easy going little girl, with an adorable personality.  She loves to eat more solids than drink her formula these days.  She is very curious and loves to follow me around the house, she gets around fast! She seems to be teething but no teeth yet. We look just about every day but none yet.

We have her on a pretty tight routine, 2 naps a day and in bed between 7-7:30.  We feel very blessed that when it gets close to bedtime we (usually daddy) gives her a bath then we give her a bottle then we just lay her in her crib with her projector & lullabies on.  No fussing, screaming or crying. She knows it bedtime and she's ready.  She's been like that since the beginning so we just hope she's always that easy.

She's very happy and content and so are we!

smile!

every month she is more and more distracted

happy 9 months baby girl!

Candi's Cooking - The Winners & the Losers

Monday morning I decided to plan our dinners for the week and make my shopping list....healthy style.

For the most part, when I cook and eat at home it's pretty healthy.  (Thats why I should do it more often) But it's getting pretty difficult now that Im working 4 nights a week.  On those nights I usually end up not eating at all or stopping and picking up something.  Not good.  So I need to have a plan in place, which is cooking something during the day and bringing it to work or at least having it ready so I can eat when I get home.

I was off Mon & Tues but I have to work the rest of the week.

Monday night - Oven "Fried" Chicken with Sweet Potato Fries & Summer Squash

Let me tell you I have tried so many oven fried chicken recipes in the past and have never cared for any of them BUT this one was a hit! I loved it!! So I have to share the recipe...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/oven-fried-chicken

What I did different:
I used garlic flavored bagel chips
Left out the Cayenne (because I didn't have any)
I used regular Mayo (because I didn't have the light)
And we only cut up 2 chicken breasts (because there was only 2 of us)

The sweet potato fries were great as usual, but they only need a small amount of oil (note for next time) and sprinkle with a little salt.  I cooked these right in the oven with the chicken.

And for the veg I just sliced up a summer squash and sauteed with some oil, garlic salt & pepper.

YUM!

Last night was "healthy" Meatloaf, Cauliflower Mashed "potatoes" and corn.

Here's the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com ellie-krieger/new-classic-meatloaf

I made this just as it says and honestly I wasn't loving it.  I've made healthy meatloaf before with spinach and that was way better.  The texture was a little weird and I really didn't like the molasses in the topping. So make at your own risk.

The cauliflower mashed with good.   I really liked them but just not with the meatloaf.  Maybe with steak next time.
Here's the recipe I used as a base.  But left out the garlic, used 1% milk and light sour cream. and just a handful of cheese.

http://www.foodnetwork.neelys/mashed-cauliflower-and-cheese

By the time I got to the veg I was feeling lazy and just opened a can of corn.

While my meatloaf was cooking I whipped up some of my favorite muffins from my favorite blogger Roni -

http://greenlitebites.com banana-oatmeal-cups-with-chocolate-chips/

I've made these many times in the past and I always love them! The texture is definitely different and may take a bit to get used to.  Oats are used instead of Flour so they are more dense but I love the fresh banana flavor mixed with a bite of chocolate. This time I added some blueberries since I had some in the fridge that needed to be used. They turned out great!

The only thing I did different was use 1% milk instead of almond and I added 1 packet of sweet & low.

I have to work the rest of the week so Im going to make a Veggie Lasagna for Shane to pop in the oven tonight then I'll have some when I get home.  (i'll post the recipe later) and Thursday Im going to try a Lightened up Chicken Pot Pie recipe.  I'll let you know how that goes.

Cheers!

Guilty as Charged

Reading Roni's post last night made me realize I am totally guilty of this! I don't even know why because when Im out in public I usually smile at people as I pass them or if Im in the check out line and someone talks to me first, I'll definitely talk with them.  (I admit, Im usually not the one who starts the conversation)  Although I will say that having a baby with you is definitely a great conversation starter.  I've never talked to so many strangers before! Anyway, at the gym I find myself not even smiling at people as we pass or make eye contact.  What is that?  Is it because Im just so focused on my workout?  I don't know but Im definitely not the only one who does this, no one (besides the staff) ever seems too friendly or approachable at the gym.  

So I think I will join Roni and try to be a little more friendly during my workouts, what could it hurt right? 

Un-Inspired.

I haven't been inspired by much of anything to write about lately ...so I'll just share some pictures; those are always fun :)

Sleeping Beauty

Visiting GiGi 

Still making homemade baby food

I've started adding chopped pasta, rice and chicken

She's still chewing on everything, but no teeth yet 

Time to mow!

Lunch at Chilis with Gram (my mom) and she's trying some rice

Picture time with Gram...and OT

Just playing in her room

waiting for Daddy (the car was parked)

just look at that face

Happy Birthday Papa!

checking things out

Savannah Smiles - Cookie Style

We saw on the news this morning that the Girl Scouts are coming out with a new cookie for their 100th anniversary and it's called.......Savannah Smiles

How cute are they?! I love them!

Which means I have to remind you of this post......

burnleybabybundle.blogspot.com--savannah-smiles

My Favorite Pictures of 2011

2011 brought a lot of firsts; my first pregnancy (even though that started in 2010), giving birth, bringing our daughter home and going through all of her exciting firsts.  It's been a great year with our sweet Savannah.

January - 1st day of my 3rd Trimester!

February - Now were ready for baby!

March - Pregnancy Pictures 

April - It was hard picking just one for this month, so I went with our 1st family picture

May - Shane loved this

June - 1st smile that I  caught on camera

July - Happy Birthday Daddy! 

August - This is still our very favorite shot of her

September - Pool Day!

October - My Sister & Maddie's 1st trip down since Savannah was born

November - Just us

December - Our 1st Christmas

Can't wait to see what 2012 will bring! 

Happy New Year!