Dinner and a Reunion

Last night we got to meet up with Leah, Kyle, Emery and Lacey for dinner at Mellow Mushroom.  Kyle's job requires him to come back to Atlanta for business and Leah tags along sometimes.  I am so glad she does because I have missed seeing her!

I also miss Lacey since we don't work together anymore, but we have lunch dates every couple of weeks since I work close to our old company.  It's great to catch up and see the kiddos.

Emery is almost 2 now and Max is almost 1 so it was cool to see what kind of things Emery was in to.  She knows all her colors really well and is doing a lot of talking.  It was past Max's bedtime so he wanted his pacci towards the end of the evening.

How cute are these little ones.  Do you think Emery would date a younger boy when she is older?

I'm glad we got to bring the husbands with us.  Usually one of them is traveling so it was nice to all catch up. Leah and Kyle have recently bought their new house in NC so they are renovating a ton.  It was great to hear about all their new house adventures. 

Emery is such a girly girl.  She wanted to get her necklaces out because Lacey had on her red necklace.  It was really cute.

I'm so glad we could all meet up.  Miss you guys! 

Smash Cake Photo Shoot Ideas

A local photographer is offering valentines day mini-sessions for a great price right around Max's 1st birthday so I asked if I could incorporate pictures for his 1 year birthday.  She suggested a smash cake session and I am SO excited about it!  I went looking for some inspiration and this is the look I am going for.

Photos from here.

I love how he is just wearing jeans rolled up. I also love the cake with lots of sprinkles. 

Hopefully Max cooperates with the cake. I really don't know what he'll do with it, but he does eat anything. 

 How cute (and messy) are those feet!! I love it.

Photo from here.

 Precious little sprinkle hands.

Photo from here.

I'd also like to find either a big 1 or these letters to incorporate into a few shots. I couldn't find any at hobby lobby so guess I will try the others.

Have you had any luck with a cake smash session or 1st birthday photo shoot? I'd love to hear/see your ideas.

Max's Where The Wild Things Are 1st Birthday Invitation

The party prep is underway at our house for Max's 1st birthday party in a few weeks.  Here is a sneak preview of Max's Where the Wild Things Are birthday invitation designed by the fabulous Lacey.  

Since our little guy is still our little monster and we love the theme (since we decorated his nursery in it as well) we thought it was fitting.  Did you see Max's face in the Max character spot?  How cute is that!?!

We practiced the smash cake and started on some tissue poms this weekend.  I am also getting treat bags ready to go.  I figure if I do it slowly the next couple weeks it won't be so crazy last minute since Max keeps us so busy all the time.

It's Official: Max is Walking!

On January 22nd Max officially took multiple steps by himself.  He has been toying with it, but really started going for it last night.  We always knew he would probably run before he walked because he is always going so fast and he definitely walk/runs.

I wanted to get some still shots as well as video just to document.  He's so cute the way he puts his hands up and he giggles the whole time.

Off he goes!  Yes, we bribed him with all sorts of things from our phones, ornaments (not sure why we still have it out), and his pacci. 

Love him!

Take 2 Take 3

Do Babies Need Cow's Milk When They Turn 1 Year Old?

As Max's first birthday is approaching I have been researching what is next on the milk front.  Of course we all have heard that as soon as your baby turns 1 year old you are to give them whole cow's milk.  But why do we do that?  Well I've always heard for fat and calcium.  I sought out to figure out if it's really necessary.  Of course I am going to talk to my pediatrician first, but I wanted to share with you some interesting research that I found.

I started following a few blogs that focus on healthy eating and a lot of plant based foods. Whole Food Mommies has a GREAT post on the International Dairy Food Association (IDFA).  Did you know that milk and dairy products (in particular butter and cheese) are the major source of saturated fat consumed by Americans…and saturated fat has the most powerful causative relationship with heart disease and cancer? (Disease Proof Your Child, Dr. Joel Fuhrman).

Milk is convenient-Milk provides a convenient source of fat, protein, calcium, and vitamin D for growing bodies. But, in today’s average food lifestyle, these building blocks can be more than adequately supplied in other areas of a balanced diet. (source)

Myth: Babies Need Calcium That is Found in Milk- Let's explore calcium in whole milk. Please read their other post here about where to find other sources of calcium. When you eat  healthy whole food plant based foods (fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds) it is IMPOSSIBLE not to obtain sufficient calcium. Everything that grows from the ground has calcium in it- in particular our green vegetables.


Our body absorbs the calcium differently from different foods and absorbs calcium most efficiently from VEGETABLES.  Only about 32% of the calcium in milk is absorbed (most of the calcium is lost in the urine- see below for more details), while 53% of the calcium in broccoli is absorbed.

CALCIUM found in common foods
Raw Almonds (1/2 cup)    180 mg
Broccoli (1 cup)               180 mg
Orange (2)                     120 mg
Sesame seeds (1/4 cup)   350 mg
Spinach (1 cup)               244 mg
Milk (Whole) 1/2 cup       145 mg (but only 32% is absorbed)

(Disease Proof your Child, Dr. Joel Fuhrman)

She also goes on to talk about Osteoporosis. "Osteoporosis is usually not a condition of inadequate calcium intake. Rather, it is a condition of overly rapid calcium loss. (The Cancer Survivor’s Guide, Neal D. Barnard
Epidemiologic studies have linked osteoporosis not to low calcium intake but to various nutritional factors that cause excessive calcium loss in the urine.  I have stated this before, but it is worth repeating:

Osteoporosis tends to occur in countries where calcium intake is highest and most of it comes from protein-rich dairy products. 

What About the Fat Babies Can Get from Whole Milk-
From WFM: Our brains are mostly made from DHA fat.  For our brain to work at it's best...we need to have the right ratio of omega-6 and omega-3 fats.  When our children consume the right mix of these EFA's they maximize their brain development.  (Check out her last blog here for details about omega-6 and omega-3 fats).

The following WHOLE foods provide our bodies with the needed FATS to produce DHA:
FLAXSEEDS,  WALNUTS, SOYBEANS & LEAFY GREENS. Other great sources are avocados, nut butters (like tahini, which is raw sesame seed butter), and hummus.


She has great recipes which I'll do a separate post on to get these seeds and other leafy greens into your childrens food on a daily basis.

What Am I Going to Do With This Information-
At this point I am going to be giving Max Almond Milk with meals or in smoothies (he already is having these). I will be trying my own homemade almond milk.  I will also try to incorporate those good fats and greens needed for Max (and us). I will be looking into a vitamin D supplement, too.

Other discussions on milk and linking to cancer can be found here. Information on a Vitamin D supplement found here. 

What are your thoughts on this?  I am really interested to hear from you, especially if you are already implementing some of these with your kids.

Weekend Randoms Instagram Style

This weekend we did a little bit of everything.  If you follow me on instagram (jens871, and you should) then you have already seen some of these.

David came back in from out of town Friday evening and brought me home yummy chocolate (brownies, cookie, chocolate covered pretzel and a smores something or other).

David and Max have been having daddy and son mornings out the past couple Saturdays. Sometimes they go to home depot or Walmart and get some things done. I am loving it because it gives me a chance to sleep in and David really likes to hang with Max one-on-one. They even made a big breakfast for us on Sunday, too.  Love my boys.

Max and Kerry

We had some friends over for dinner Saturday night and enjoyed the nice weather Sunday. We also print, cut and got Max's birthday invitations ready to mail.  Too bad no mail goes out today, guess I could have slowed down.  Wait till you see how cute they are.

My mom has also started to watch Kinsley a few days a week and Max is loving having a playmate.  Kinsley on the other hand is not too sure yet.

Happy Monday.  Hope you have a great, fast week!

Live on the Web and in Print

I know you have heard about Max having photos taken for my last company's baby gifts.  I love all the photos, but it is very cool to see him on their website and in their catalog.  Lacey is still their graphic designer and did a fabulous job with the catalog and website design.

This is the homepage and you can see him a few times on there and in the rotating flash picture he is wearing the golf big dreamzzz outfit as well.

 I love the blend of the catalog and how Lacey put it together.  This is the cover, the bow is a raised in person and has a glossy finish to it.

Lion Hooded Spa Robe 

 Monster gift set

 Goft Layette Set

 He even got an intro spot as the starter to the section

 I love the little cowboy.  I thought the cowgirl was adorable so I kept her in to show you. 

And he's ending the baby section of the catalog.  I have a few copies that I will save to show him one day.    Even though I don't work there any more I'm glad we had these done. 

Oatmeal Breakfast Bake

I haven't posted a recipe in a while so I thought I'd change it up a bit today.  I've had this in my drafts (you can tell because it's my old house, man I do miss those granite counter tops) and I could really go for this right now.  This is a semi healthy breakfast (it does have chocolate chips, but that makes it fun). 

This recipe comes from Inspired Taste. 

Baked Oatmeal with Bananas, Strawberries and Chocolate Chips.

Ingredients
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats (not the instant ones)
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 teaspoon Chinese five spice (They have this in the spice isles, but you can use cinnamon and cloves if you can't find it.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup walnut pieces, chopped (I left these out)
1 cup sliced strawberries
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups milk
1 large egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ripe banana, peeled, 1/2-inch slices

Instructions-
Preheat oven to 375°F and generously spray the inside of a 10-1/2 by 7 inch baking dish with cooking spray and place on a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sugar, baking powder, orange zest, Chinese five spice, salt, half the walnuts, half the strawberries and half the chocolate. (Save the other half of strawberries, walnuts and chocolate for the top of the oatmeal). In another large bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, butter and vanilla extract.
Add the oat mixture to prepared baking dish. Arrange the remaining strawberries, walnuts and chocolate on top. Add the banana slices to the top then pour the milk mixture over everything. Gently shimmy/shake the baking dish to help the milk mixture go throughout the oats.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until the top is nicely golden brown and the milk mixture has set. For an extra tasty top, sprinkle a tablespoon or so of extra brown sugar on top then place back in the oven under the broiler and broil for 20-30 seconds. Serve warm with an extra sprinkle of sugar or drizzle of maple syrup.

She has great tips for the recipe on her site for making this ahead of time and other substitutes if you want less sugar or no eggs.

Decorating and Remodeling Inspiration

I've been browsing pinterest looking for inspiration for our basement remodel (and every other room I want to make over) and I've been noticing a lot of the beautiful rooms I like are coming from one source. It's called Houzz. "We are a collaborative platform for home remodeling and design, bringing homeowners and home professionals together in a uniquely visual community."

You can browse photos of any room imaginable.  Professionals upload their work (interior designers, home re-modelers etc.) and you can ask questions about the room in comments.  Most professionals are so friendly and accommodating answering anything you can imagine from paint colors used, to where they got the furniture.  It's awesome.  You can also save things to idea boards.  I think I'm going to pin everything I like eventually just to have everything I like in one spot though.  You can also search by a certain paint color and see rooms done in that color (be specific like Benjamin Moore xxxx).  They have great articles, too.  If you are looking for some work to be done you can connect via someone on there and read reviews.  I got my sister hooked on it and she discovered their apps.  They have a separate one just for kid's spaces.  Search for me by my name or if we're friends on facebook you should see me on there.  Check it out.

Here are just a few of the basement inspiration photos I've found while browsing houzz.

I love the floors for a tile/wood look in the basement-

 Contemporary Staircase design by Detroit General Contractor M.J. Whelan Construction

Basement in-law suite layout-

 Traditional Basement design by Other Metro Kitchen And Bath RTA Cabinet Store

I was looking for root cellars and they made a whole canning room. That's awesome. 

Contemporary Basement design by San Francisco General Contractor Cairn Construction Inc

Eclectic Wine Cellar design by New York Artist And Artisan Arrowsmith Forge

I love how this playroom/kid space has so many diff. things to do. 

Eclectic Kids design by Other Metro General Contractor Gabriel Builders Inc.

All the furniture is kid size. So cool 

Traditional Kids design

*These are all my opinions and no one told me to write this.  I just really like the site.

Max is 11 Months Old!

Our wild man is 11 months old! Next month he will be 1. Where has the time gone. Doing the 2012 year in review was a nice look back because I really got to see what we did the past year.

Stats- Nothing new to report here. We don't go back for a check up until after his 1st birthday. 

New Development-

Max LOVES to dance.  His activity center has so much music and sounds that he'll just crawl over, stand up, press the button and start wiggling his butt. My brother posted about it and included a video here.  He'll dance when any music comes on TV or our phones, sometimes it's just putting his hands up in the air and moving them in a waving fashion. 

Personality- He is just a happy, fun boy. He loves to smile, laugh and get into trouble.  He likes when we sneak up behind him as he's crawling while making loud noises with our feet like "we're going to get you."  He laughs a huge uncontrollable belly laugh and thinks it's the best ever. We love listening to him.

Don't worry, I lost the monthly stickers AGAIN. I have 2 sets somewhere, but in the move they got lost.  I'm sure we put them somewhere to keep them safe so we could find them easily and we have no clue where that is so I made my own. That'll have to do (I know it's too small, but oh well).

He does great with standing up and cruising the furniture to get what he wants (usually Molly).

We caught him climbing the back of the couch using Molly's toy cube.

 He is fully off the ground here. Strong little boy. 

His hair is still a dirty blonde color and his gorgeous blue eyes just melt you every time.

He also loves his pacci now.  It's his new best friend and he goes every where with it. If it keeps him happy, we're fine with him having it.

Eating- He loves to eat still which we are so thankful for.  He eats anything we give him. He is still bf'ing morning and night and once I am done feeding him he is constantly eating until his first nap.  It's usually cheerios and banana for a snack and baby oatmeal and fruit mixed in for breakfast.  We've tried introducing a little yogurt and he also loves my smoothie I posted on friday.  For lunch it's usually leftover dinner from the night before.

His favorites are avocados, black beans, chicken, lunch meat, bread and carrots (steamed).  Dinner is whatever we have cut up in pieces for him to pick up.  He has started feeding Molly when he is done eating, he'll toss some off the side of his tray and then go back to eating and rotates.  Molly is thankful. He is now signing "all done."  He has gotten really good with it except he started doing it with anything he wants.  If he wanted water he'll do the signal for all done as well.  We're getting there though.

Sleeping- He goes to bed around 7:30pm still after his bath and sleeps until around 6ish.  He started doing in the 5am a few days last week but we've been back in the 6:15-6:30am lately. He naps twice a day still with the morning nap usually lasting 1.5-2 hours (on weekends, shorter during the week) and the afternoon around an hour.

Favorite toys and activities- He loves riding in his car, playing with legos, stacking cans, playing in his plastics cupboard, his activity center and Molly.

Randoms- He is in size 12 month clothes and PJ's. 

He still only says Dadada and Dat (for dad and molly), no mama still.  He loves to "help" David when he puts anything together or fixes things.  It's adorable.

No new teeth yet.

Size 3 Diapers

His legs look so long here, probably because it's been so cold he hasn't shown his legs that often lately.

This was seconds before our photo shoot ended because someone toppled over the chair and onto the floor. He was okay, but that was enough for me.