Spring

This weekend was busy and productive.  We checked two very springy things off our list... Andrea did our taxes (yay!!!!) and I did hours and hours of yard work (finally!!!).  

In true new-parent fashion, our days started early.  I was out in the yard by 8:00am.  And to give Andrea the quiet time she needed to crunch the numbers, I had Elliot out with me for a bit.  While it did warm up and get really nice by Sunday afternoon, Saturday morning was still a bit chilly.

There's nothing I love more than a productive weekend, especially when I'm the one getting to do the yard work and someone else is doing the taxes!

I Like List

I like Elliot.
I like Andrea.
I like San Francisco.
I like fancy hotels.
I like flowers.
I like the ocean.
I like the color turquoise.
I like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
I like when Annika texts me, "I didn't make your 'I like list'? Come on now!"


Andrea has worked a lot with people with disabilities.  She's worked in a couple of group homes spending days at a time living with adults with a variety of needs, some frustrating, some hilarious.  One of her favorite people would request to write an "I like list" whenever she got upset.  She and Andrea would sit down and she would list of all of the people she liked (Andrea was always at the top of the list) and Andrea would write what she said.  It's a great coping mechanism.  One that we've laughed about and turned to many times over the years.


I've decided to condense the I Like Lists in the sidebar of my blog to just a few of Elliot's current favorite foods and a few of my favorite blogs.  There are so many great blogs that I follow that I plan to change out my I Like List weekly to give you a couple of new, inspiring, creative sites to visit.  


So, if you sat down today and wrote it out, what would be on your I Like List?

Love Cakes

One of my favorite blogs posted this song and wrote about making blueberry muffins for her and her cakies yesterday.  Well.... anyone who knows me knows how much I love cake!  Big ones, small ones, layered, sheet, or cup.  I love them all!  And now I have the most perfect song in all the world to sing as I make (and eat!) my favorite food.  Thanks for sharing this song, MamaCakie.  I absolutely adore it.


And... it just so happens that I was baking up my own batch of love cakes yesterday, too. 

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Frosting.  Yummy.  (Debbie: my first cupcakes from my book!)  Now, if you haven't clicked on the link to listen to the song yet, do it now!  You won't be disappointed, I promise.  


I'm off to lick chocolate frosting from Elliot's fingers.  No, we didn't feed it to him, but he does keep lunging for Andrea's as she's eating it.  The baby knows a good thing when he sees it! 

Baby Squared

I borrowed this great toy from work for a while.  It will get a lot more use at our house over the next month or two than it would ever get sitting in the corner of the lobby at the office.  So far the boys have shown only a bit of interest-- fingering the beads or watching them slide along as I push and flick them.  But today... oh wow!  They were pulling themselves up, standing, pushing the beads.  It was fun, fun, fun!

Morning Run

It was a beautiful, sunny, spring weekend in Portland.  So energizing! On Sunday morning we met Hilary down at the waterfront for a run.  It's a 2.5 mile loop if you go between the Hawthorne and Steele bridges.  It's not a lot, but we're working our way up to our next 5K--the Shamrock Run on March 14th!  We've got our running schedule mapped out between now and then and the breakfast-following-the-race menu planned (now all we need is for Annika to register to run with us!).  

A gigantic, huge, enormous THANK YOU to Hilary for making all of this happen.  What a fun thing for all of us to be doing together!

The three of us thought we were hot stuff -- good lookin' tough early morning runners.  Elliot, however, was not so into it.  A bit too cold, a bit too loud, a bit too long to wait for nursing. 

Hopefully he can play at Max's house on race day!

9 Months In, 9 Months Out

We are all in love with Elliot's pediatrician, Dr. Ruden.  And Dr. Ruden is in LOVE with Elliot.  Every visit he smothers Elliot in kisses.  His neck, his back, his tummy, his cheeks, Dr. Ruden kisses and kisses and kisses and says, "Oh, delicious flesh!"

This week Elliot had his 9 month well-baby visit.  Surprisingly, while he might look like a giant in the baby scale, he still hasn't broken the 25 pound mark.  Elliot weighed in at 24.3 pounds.  Seems his weight gain has slowed down dramatically.  But never fear, he is healthy, healthy, healthy!

Elliot and Dr. Ruden love each other.

The pictures of Dr. Ruden his office go way back.  So much fun to look at.  The black-and-white one says it's from medical school in 1976.  He told us he takes his granddaughter to the children's museum twice a week.  What a lucky girl!

Just before this visit, we were sent a developmental questionnaire to fill out on Elliot and return to the doctor for us to go over at his appointment.  It was so fun to look at all of the new things he has learned to do.  Some of our current favorites:

• Holds one toy in each hand and taps them together
• Crawls (luckily he's still pretty slow)
• Holds onto the straps on the bouncy seat and pulls himself up (Andrea calls this his rodeo trick)
• Says "baa, baa, baa," "maa, maa, maa," and "daa, daa, daa"
• Imitates you when you stick your tongue out or blow a raspberry
• Drops his hard toys on the floor over and over to hear the sound they make when the crash (and sometimes chuckles at it)
• Laughs at the Kitchenaid mixer every time he sees it, whether it's in use or not
• Prefers to eat finger foods
• Likes to sit on the soft bed and throw himself backwards, always landing with his arms out and a big smile on his face and laughing (not quite the same response when he tries it on the kitchen floor, though)
• Loves, loves, loves to give hugs

It took him 9 months to grow big enough to be born and another 9 months to learn how to hug. I can't wait to see what the next 9 months will bring!

Hike of the Month :: February

We did the Hike-of-the-Month again, as featured in the February issue of Portland Monthly. This month's hike took us to a forested area along the Willamette River that opened up to a marshy lagoon. The park is called the Mary S. Young Park.  It's relatively flat, more like a stroll, but beautiful all the same.

We were lucky enough to have one of our very favorite visitors joining us... BETHANY!!!  Up here from San Francisco, preforming with the Bay Area Derailleurs, she is an absolute delight!

                             

She took this (sassy) family pic.  (I think Elliot is the sassiest, with his SG coming in at a very close second.)

And the happiest!  Oh happy, happy, happy baby.

Especially when he's doing you-know-what.  And, yes, I am nursing while hiking with him in the Ergo carrier in this picture.  We passed another mom on the trail doing this and I had to try it.  Only in Portland!

Beauties...

Best friend beauties...

Sillies...
B: "Let's play Simon and Garfunkel in the bushes and have our picture taken!"
M: "Okay!"
B: "I'll be Simon."
M: "Hey, I want to be Simon."
B: "Okay, then I'll be Garfunkel."
M: "Wait, maybe I want to be Garfunkel."

It was a fun and silly time, as times usually are with Bethany.  All made extra special by her getting to meet Elliot for the first time.  We were so glad for her company.


My hope is to do the Hike-of-the-Month each month and have them list in the sidebar.  That way any local readers can take a look as maybe get an idea for a fun and silly time of your own.  Enjoy!

Love Day: Cookies For All

One of my all time favorite things to do is decorate sugar cookies (another shout-out to Mom for good childhood memories!).  And it doesn't hurt that they happen to be my favorite cookies to eat, too.  Mmmm.  So when Love Day rolls around, you better believe I pull out my heart-shaped cookie cutters and mix up a big batch of pink icing. 

Not wanting to leave Elliot out of the fun, this year's cookie-making also included heart-shaped teething cookies (recipe below).

We both LOVED our cookies --although he wanted to know why his wasn't covered in powdered sugar and sprinkles??  Totally not fair!

And Andrea's favorites, my family's traditional "scrap" cookies called Jam-in-the-Grooves (not to be confused with Jammin' the Grooves), made an appearance, too.  It is a special day, indeed, when Andrea gets a batch of Jam-in-the-Grooves.

I searched and searched for just the right teething cookie recipe.  I wanted it to be egg, dairy, and soy free and not be loaded with sugar.  Some recipes called for a cup of white sugar!  And one that kept popping up in my search called for shortening.  Not exactly what I was looking for.  So I was really happy to find this recipe, and even happier with the results.  The batter was beautiful and the cookie is wonderfully hard.  And as you can tell from the pictures above, Elliot loved them!

Elliot's Valentine Teething Cookies

Mix together with wooden spoon: 

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup maple syrup

3 T applesauce

When incorporated, turn out onto floured surface and knead for 3 minutes.

Roll to 1/4-1/2 inch thick and cut out shapes.

Place on greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes.

Cookies will harden as they cool.

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  A day dedicated to celebrating love is something special, for sure.  Here's to another year of finding a bit of Valentine in each and every day.  XOXO, Malia.

Lucky Us

Andrea's mom and dad are visiting from Boise this weekend.  Elliot has  L O V E D playing with his Grandpa and Amuma.  So much fun!

Love Day: Mixed Baby Greens

Here's a little something you might not have known... Mixed Baby Greens is actually more than just a cute blog name.  Mixed Baby Greens is the name of the children's clothing line that I made up in my head and created an Etsy store for.  Here's a link to my store.  The basic idea is to create cute, recycled baby outfits by using repurposed fabric and gently used clothing.  Click on the link to read more about the idea. 


Needless to say, the idea has stayed just that... an idea.  I have yet to ever put any items in my store.  The farthest I've gotten has been to make a few onesies for Elliot when he was a little baby and call them his "Mixed Baby Greens."  Oh, and I started a blog using the same name.  But actually creating the clothing line has yet to happen.  One day, hopefully.  It still really excites me and I would love to see what's in my head come to life.  I'll keep you posted!


For now, Elliot got a few new Mixed Baby Greens for Valentine's Day.  I even scored a Hannah Andersson shirt for two dollars at Value Village!  I think they turned out adorable (one isn't shown because I never got any good pics of it--it's a bright red sweatshirt with a big heart and a big exclaimation mark <3! ).  And there's a bit of room to grow in both things.  Which is perfect, because Love Day clothes are good to wear year-round!

(Park pics by Andrea)

And a little Mixed Baby Green for our friend, Max, too.