Wordless Wednesday -- Christmas Edition

I know Christmas is a week away, but I doubt I'll blog next week.  So Merry Christmas from my snuggly bear.

How do you keep an infant occupied?

Jason and I were both off the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of Thanksgiving, as well as the weekend following.  How did we manage to keep Tyler entertained that whole time (especially while Mama was in the kitchen cooking)?  The easy answer -- any way we could think of!  Here's the more drawn-out answer.

Boppy Time
There are several things we got from showers that have been lifesavers, but I'm a big fan of Boppies (we actually have two, one for upstairs and one for downstairs).  After it was no longer needed to help with meal times, Tyler now uses it to prop up for a change of pace.  Hey, as fun as lying down is, everybody gets tired of it eventually.

We've now started using it for some of his tummy time, too.

Watching some "Barefoot Contessa" while I made pies and the turkey brine

Jiggles and "Sit Ups"
Tyler loves sitting on our laps, but hates sitting idly on our laps.  He LOVES being jiggled either on our knees or while sitting on our lying-down bellies.  Lots of smiles, lots of giggles...

He's also getting interested in sitting up.  We would pull him up by holding his hands.  Over Thanksgiving break, he decided he wanted to initiate things.  Very awesome, but very scary if you weren't paying attention (because he can initiate, but can't actually sit up unassisted).

We also tried the Bumbo seat, but our, um, big-boned boy is already a bit too big for it.  I think the circulation was cut off to his little chunky thighs!

He also spent some time in his monkey chair.  He likes it more now than he did at first, but he does NOT like being in it while Jason and I are eating.  Even when we pay him attention, he still gets mad and arches his back to show us he wants to get picked up.  The only thing that can stop his fussing (other than picking him up, which we try not to do) is dancing around like a fool to his monkey chair's music.  Ah distraction, you are a parent's friend.

A few monkey chair pictures from Thanksgiving before he got fussy.

He has also gotten good about playing with the toys above his pack-n-play after he wakes up from a nap.  I have no pictures of this, though, because he's content playing -- until he sees Mama or Daddy.  And then his toys are HORRIBLE and his pack-n-play is HORRIBLE and all he wants is to play with us!  So yeah, I keep my distance during that time!

We do all kinds of other stuff, including making crazy sounds at him to get him to laugh or smile (ah-BOO! is a winner), walking him around the house to check on everything, showing him things outside the window, etc.  Distraction and variety is key.

Here's hoping we can keep him occupied over Christmas break!

Pure Joy

We celebrated Sawyer's 3rd birthday a bit early by driving down to Southern Pines on November 29. I love the look of pure joy on Sawyer's face:

I also love this shot of Sawyer going in for cake slice #2.  Busted!

Pumpkin Cream Pie

Everything  I made at Thanksgiving was a known recipe except for dessert (and the turkey, but I've already talked about that).  Thanksgiving is a time for either pecan pie or pumpkin pie.  Your family may have other traditions, but those are the ones I equate with T-day.  I'm a pecan pie girl.  Jason's not a fan, and I wasn't going to make a whole corn syrup pie (let's face it, it's mostly corn syrup, not pecans) just for me.  I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin pie, but I do like pumpkin-flavored stuff.  So I looked for a recipe for no-bake pumpkin cheesecake.  This is what I made:

Ingredients:

8 oz cream cheese or Neufchatel

1/4 cup each sugar and brown sugar

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 tsp each vanilla, cinnamon, ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

8 oz thawed Cool Whip

9" graham cracker pie crust

pretty basic ingredients (cream cheese and pie crust not pictured)

Steps:
Cream together the cream cheese and the sugars.  Stir in the pumpkin puree and the spices/vanilla.  Fold in the Cool Whip.  Spread into the crust and chill for two hours before serving.

It was super easy to put together.  The best part?  Licking the spatula!

The final product was tasty and light, the perfect 4:00 snack with coffee after eating a big heavy meal for lunch.

I may tweak the recipe in the future, but it was actually quite tasty.  The only problem I had with it was the name -- pumpkin cheesecake.  The texture wasn't cheesecakey at all!  The Cool Whip makes it light and fluffy, not dense and cheesy.  Once I got past the name, I could actually enjoy the pie, so I'm now calling it Pumpkin Cream Pie.  Problem solved!

Play Hard

Tyler is really getting into "playing toys" (as Jason calls it) on his activity mat.  He played so hard the other day, that this happened:

Life is rough for a little boy...

Wordless Wednesday -- Thanksgiving Edition

Thanksgiving 2013

Jason and I decided to avoid the hubbub of traveling for Thanksgiving.  This could only mean one thing -- I would try to cook a Thanksgiving dinner.  I wasn't too worried (after all, it was just me and Jason eating, so not trying to impress anyone)... except for the turkey.  Oh man, I was worried about cooking that turkey.

Wednesday night, I brined the turkey, which wasn't too bad except that the cavity was still frozen and the neck really didn't want to come out.  Oh yeah, and my child was upstairs screaming while Jason tried to comfort him.  Not sure WHAT was up with that!

Thursday morning, I rinsed off the brine, stuffed the turkey with apples and onions, and slathered it with butter (which should have been room temp, but oh well) and herbs.

Two hours later, the final product:

Yum!

Other things on the menu: dressing, gravy, mashed sweet potatoes, corn, green beans, cranberry sauce, crescent rolls

Double Yum!

In the past, I have written about Thanksgivings at my parents' house.  We usually have quite a crowd (up to 14 one year).  Here's all the attendees at our shindig:

"Mama, are you really going to eat ALL that food?!?"

Someone got a bit fussy, so I picked him up.  I know, I know, but it's hard to resist that face.

Family Photos

I'm ba-ack!  Jason and I have been taking a million and a half photos, and we've both finally had time to edit them.  Now, if I can just find time to write about all the things that have been going on!

A few weeks ago, I noticed that all three Selfs looked decent (and mildly coordinating) as we headed off to church.  That afternoon, I asked Jason to take some pictures of us.  This wasn't a formal photo shoot or anything (if so, I would have fixed my hair, and Tyler would have probably been in something a little more formal), but just some quick shots of our family.

Jason, as usual, did a fantastic job, especially because Tyler wasn't too thrilled and I kept talking or looking down at him to see if he was smiling.  Sidenote: Megan-talking shots look rough, really rough.

I think they turned out great.  Here's a few of my favorites:

not bad for Jason having to run to get in the shot

I can picture Tyler saying, "Mooooooom, this is booooooring"

"Ooh, what's that in the trees?"

A Love Letter to Cardigans

Note: My intentions were to document my clothes for a week or so prior to posting this so you could see just how much I love cardigans.  Since I leave the house at 6am, that plan never came to fruition.  So, you get a picture-less post.

I love several articles of clothing.  I love my reversible belt that keeps my pants up whether I'm wearing brown or black.  I love my camisoles that keep my girls from being shared with the public.  But there is nothing in my wardrobe that I love more than my cardigans.

Oh cardigans, how I love thee!

Cardigans cover a multitude of sins.  

When I was pregnant, I was able to wait until four months before I started sharing the news with the world, all because of cardigans.  They break up the front of my outfit, which hides any belly bulge (and up-top bulge that was also a result of pregnancy).  This is even more helpful right now, since I'm back in pre-baby clothes but don't have my pre-baby belly back yet.

Cardigans make any outfit a little dressier.

How can I make tanks and tshirts a little more work appropriate?  Throw on a cardigan.  Teacher chic!

Cardigans make my wardrobe stretch all four seasons.

No need to pack away the sleeveless tops come wintertime.  I just put on a cardigan.  What to wear to the chilly movie theater in summer when it's 95 degrees outside?  I wear a tank outside and bring along my cardigan for inside.  That's some bang for my bucks!

Oh cardigans, you are my friend.  I love you.

Mornings

I've mentioned a little before about mornings around the Self household these days (you can read about it here and here).  Now, I finally have the pictures to back it up.

the set-up

love this boy!

determined to punch that giraffe

Who can work when there's a cutie like this nearby?  The answer?

Not Jason!  He said he had a really hard time concentrating on work.  I can see why!

Now, we've slightly modified Tyler's schedule so that I feed him a little later in the morning (usually around 5:00) and then put him back to bed.  Jason starts work at 5:30 now, and Tyler sleeps in til about 7:30.  Jason just stops working at that point so he can focus on feeding, changing, clothing, and playing with Tyler.
I'm so jealous.  Tyler is definitely a morning person and wakes up excited to face the day.  I'm sad I don't get to see all his smiles and hear his laughter, but the few mornings I have been around when he's awake, it's been really hard to leave him and go to work.  I guess leaving in the mornings when he's sleeping really is the best solution.

Wookie Cookies

I don't get to do as much blog-reading these days, but I still try to keep up with Crappy Pictures, a parenting blog where the writer draws "crappy" pictures to illustrate her stories.  While her posts always make me laugh, yesterday's really did.  So for today's blog, I'm sending you over to her blog.

Tea Party Invitation

Hope you enjoy as much as I did!

Photo Shoot

Jason took pictures of Tyler in his skeleton Halloween outfit.  He hasn't edited them yet, but I couldn't help but snap a few pictures during their photo shoot.  I love this one, where Jason stopped taking pictures long enough to talk to Tyler and get him to smile.

Love my boys!

More Tyler Fire Pit Pics

I have to admit, Jason and I are more excited about the fire pit than Tyler...

"Ok, this is boring"

"Hey Mom, look, it's my fist!"

"What's so great about that fire?"

*sigh* "When are we going back inside?"

Fire Pit

Jason and I have been wanting a fire pit for a while now.  This fall, we finally got one.  We've done a few hotdog or s'more nights, but we also just enjoy sitting by the fire and enjoying our back yard.


Warm Day:

Cold Day (Tyler and I were all wrapped up.  Jason still decided it was shorts weather):