Max's moves n' grooves

For Grandma. (mostly)

I tried to get Max singing, he was pretty much done when I started recording him. And he was losing interest in his activity, so you get the tail end of his 'bobble bobble 'dance moves. But it's still cute!

If it's not one thing, it's your mother.

Or so it seems for Max these days. He's in real "mama boy" mode.

A few months ago, we traded the sleepless days of no naps because of an ear infection, to the sleepless nights of teething. And it stayed that way. Man, that kid gets on a routine easily, too, but only when it's his idea.

So James agreed to help out at night times with Max. He gets up about twice on average. And he hollers! Boy howdy. I think it probably took me some time to tend to him once or twice, and he got it into his head that is how to beckon mama, so he just skips all the in between and starts right off hollering at the top of his lungs for someone. James will go in and see him, lean over and hug him as he stands in his crib, then lays him down. He willingly goes back to sleep with no fuss.

But if mommy does it? He keeps popping back up after I lay him down. And skips the pleasantries and goes right for the hollering. Again. And again. So good thing James is willing to help out at night, because Max is cooperating for him. He doesn't want Daddy in the same way, so he doesn't care, he goes back to sleep easily.

How are naptimes now? Crap. Because James isn't here all day too, naturally. He is at work. And Max has decided to play the up and down Jack that won't stay in his box at naptimes now instead. And will holler despite what I try to calm him down. He is exhausted, obviously in need of a nap. But won't.give.it.up.

So I tried running the vacuum. It worked several times as a small baby. I vacuumed my whole house. And when I turned it off, I expected myself to be calmer from taking a breather of not being able to calm his screaming for anything. And I expected Max to be exhausted and asleep in his bed. You already know the ending... it didn't work. He was still standing in his crib, tired, mad, not reasonable, and continued to scream and holler refusing to nurse/fall asleep with rocking/walking/singing.

So what did I resort to doing? Turning on Yo Gabba Gabba and parking his butt in front of the T.V. for a minute. Yes, the electronic babysitter. And the little bugger gave it up and fell asleep on the carpet.

Quick trip outta town

I am no Kate-the-great, or Cara-extraordinaire-ah with the photos, but I'll post a bunch anyway from our fun weekend.

Fall colors peaked last week in Boone area of the Blue Ridge Mountains where we drove to, but we still enjoyed plenty! It was very cold too, and some snow flakes started to fall as we got out to stretch our legs at a few places.

Before we drove up to the mountains, we stayed the night at The Great Wolf Lodge, James's uncle works there and got us a killer deal ;) It was all decked out for Halloween, the kids had SO MUCH FUN, I think this will have to be a yearly tradition! They played hard in the indoor water park, exhausting James with their requests for "Again! Again!", after every waterslide. Max was a little hesitant and freaked out when I put him down to splash. But he gradually warmed up to it and started to crawl around touching the fountains around him. We sat in the "beach" area with a mock-shore that had simulated waves every now and then.

We dressed in our Jammies and headed down to the Clock Tower for the nightly presentation, and story time, only to sit there for 1/2 hour before someone said it was delayed on the weekend nights because of the trick-or-treating around the lodge. (Which we enjoyed doing that too!) So we said "Meh, forget it" and decided to call it a night.

We saw some family that lives 3 hours away, they have a new 3 week old baby. We learned that we didn't have enough movies for the road trip. We also learned that Kellan talks in his sleep, Max still doesn't sleep, and Maren will always be the first awake at hotels. And you can't hear the bear's snore when he sleeps in the bathroom with the door shut ;)

Sleepless in Monroe

I'm going crazy! I haven't slept well in months. My stress level is through the roof because of lack of energy.

So I moved Max's crib out of my room, into Kellan's yesterday. I have been trying to get Max to sleep through the night for a few months now before doing this. James has been sleeping in the living room to help with this process because his snoring is out of control! It doesn't help a baby learn a good sleep behavior. But I miss my husband sleeping next to me.

Let me just say, I'm not a fan of "Cry it out. " I don't agree with an unlimited time of crying to get them to exhaust themselves past the hysteria. I do, however give it a while and see what they do. I like the recommendation of 5 minutes plus one for each month of age much better. That time frame always worked with the older two kids if they got too irritable and just needed to cry sometimes to work out some energy.

Maren slept through the night at 3 months. Easy peasy! Kellan nursed round the clock every 2 hours until 11 months. Regardless of how much I fed him during the day. He's still a big eater even now. But he slept next to me, so it wasn't so draining on me to nurse him during the night.

But Max, oh Max. He didn't sleep well next to me, so he has been in his crib since he was about 8 weeks old. And I have tried cutting down his night time feedings, feeding him more during the day. He is totally topped off after meals, has no interest in eating more than he already does. A few snacks, several nursings. But during the night it's hard to ignore his growling tummy and say "You shouldn't need to eat right now." So I finally give in around 4 AM and only nurse him once during the night.

So last night, by himself in Kellan's room now, the first time he woke up I let him cry and see what he did. He screamed for almost a half an hour. We live in a small house, so no matter what "white noise" is on in Maren's room she's going to hear it. (Kellan was asleep in my room for this transition, but also got woke up.) After Max cried for a half hour, he layed down exhausted...for 15 minutes... and started it up again full force. After 20 minutes of round 2 I went and calmed him back to sleep.

Only to repeat it 2 hours later.

And then give in and nurse him at 4 AM.

James was *supposed* to help with this process of taking the need of mommy out of Max's mind... let's not get into that, and just say I'm doing this alone.

I need help. Advice. Sleep.

Tasty Tuesdays in Bulk!

All you have to do is say please :) And a few of my friends have, so here's what I've been cooking from just one small chicken. With the weather cooling off, and the fall leaves changing, I love the soups, so stock up- pun intended ;)

Dinner #1: Apple Basil Roasted Chicken

In a large crock pot, put one cup apple juice, 1/2 chopped onion, 2 garlic cloves minced, 2 granny smith apples peeled and diced, a pinch of sea salt and fresh ground pepper
.
Use heavy duty foil and crumple 3 tennisball size balls. These will act as a 'rack' to roast a chicken in your crockpot on top of!

Use 1 whole roasting chicken, 4-5 lbs cleaned and rinsed. Set on top evenly of the foil balls. Place 2-3 pads of butter on top of chicken, and 1 tablespoon dried basil sprinkled evenly. Set your crockpot to high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.

This was a yummy dinner served with garlic and dill red potatoes and sautee'd asparagus as side dishes last night for dinner. The white meat from the roaster fed my family of 5. I took the drippings in a small sauce pan, turned on medium high to boil, and whisked in a rue to make a gravy.

*Don't clean out your crockpot yet! Leave the rest of the drippings and residue for flavor of cooking your chicken stock.

Dinner #2: Chicken Pot Pie

After the chicken is cooled, pull the remaining white meat, and dark meat, add with some mixed vegetables and create a yummy chicken pot pie with your favorite recipe. I use a simple biscuit recipe and make them in individual mini bread loaf pans. *Put the chicken meat away in the fridge to use on another night, no need to prepare anything right now.


Place the bones of the bird you've stripped the meat off of, with the neck and insides (if it had any) in your crockpot. Fill with water almost all the way. (I have a 5 qt size cooker.) Turn to low and let it simmer overnight, 12 hours is perfect. After it's done, pour through a strainer into a clean large enough bowl to strain the bone pieces from the liquid.

Dinner #3: No Chicken Noodle Soup

1 & 1/2 quarts of the chicken stock (about 1/3 of the liquid) in a large tupperware with 2 cups egg noodles, 1 & 1/2 cup frozen mixed veggies, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper, 1 teaspoon garlic powder or 2 small cloves minced, 1 teaspoon dried onion powder, 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Grilled chicken is excellent in it, I always cook bulk of that ahead of time to add to salads, etc. But the soup is great without chicken. *Freeze in tupperware to use another day.

Dinner #4: Black Bean Soup

1 quart chicken stock, 2 tablespoons cumin, 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon sea salt, 1 can black beans (drained). Again, grilled chicken is excellent in this soup, but it's delicious without it! Top with mozzerella cheese and crumbled tortilla chips. Mmm. *Freeze in tupperware to use another day

Dinner #5: Easy Peasy Potato Soup

1 quart chicken stock, 6 large russet potatoes peeled and quartered, 1 can of Campbell's condensed cheese soup, 2 teaspoons sea salt, 1 & 1/2 teaspoons onion powder, 2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper, set your crockpot to high for 3 hours or low for 5 hours. Use a hand mixer to whip the potato soup until it's creamy. If you have too much liquid you can add some instant potato flakes a tablespoon at a time to thicken it, or corn starch 1 teaspoon at a time. Cook 6 slices of turkey bacon cooked and crumbled to top off the soup.

Happy Fall Cooking!

You've got 5 yummy recipes to fill up your

freezer and your tummies on a chilly day.

One is so FUN!

(I made a picture for Max's party, and Maren wanted to make a few too to decorate the door)

Maxi-moose, Max-attack, Mix-Max, Man of a Maxamillion nicknames turned ONE year old today!

He's such a content, easy going-with-the-flow kid. He really is a happy baby all the time. He doesn't like to sleep very much! But somehow (against logic) he remains happy anyway. He loves music- c.d.'s, toy drum, Baby Einsteins. We usually find him wiggeling and grooving along to the beat. Sometimes he'll look at me and start bouncing his butt, as if he's requesting a song to dance along to. So I of course oblige that cuteness with "You are my sunshine" or something of the like, and he proceeds to dance.

He has discovered giving kisses! My favorite thing is when he is on my lap, and is excited about something, he will turn and press his face against mine for a kiss/reassurance, and then continue being excited about whatever he is interested in.

His birthday was a lot of fun, he really loves the show "Yo Gabba Gabba" because of all of the music I'm sure. And he's familiar with several of their catchy tunes we sing around the house. So we had to go with it for his birthday! I think the Dancing "Brobee" was the biggest hit.