Weekly Family Photo #10

We are running out of trees with leaves for backdrops.  :)

Weekly Family Photo #9

Reed: 5 Months Old

I can’t believe this little guy is 5 months old.  There’s a reason everyone says the time flies by: we are trying hard to savor every moment with this beautiful baby.  It seems there’s always something new and fun going on with him and TJ and I absolutely love watching.  

May 5, 2017

One month old

Two months old

Three Months Old

Four Months Old

Five Months Old

The day Reed turned 5 months old we were leaving for Lake Powell, so I took pictures in the morning when the lighting was terrible.  I couldn’t help but laugh as he worked so hard on sitting up, but then leaned too far and fell on his face: we were done with pictures after that as he wouldn’t stop screaming.  :)

After we spent the day driving to Powell (Reed did so well on the drive, sleeping about half the time!) we hiked down to Horseshoe Bend and got some more pictures.  It was a beautiful evening and, though we had been in the car all day, I'm so glad we took pictures (I'll do another post with more of those, because boy we took a lot!)

Three weeks ago (a week before his ACTUAL 5 month birthday), TJ and I spent a few minutes during one of his naps journaling things we want to remember about right now.  I’ve thought of a few more that I’ve added (and I’m making a mental note that I should do another list with TJ soon: so much changes over four weeks!)

Things we want to remember:

• The way Reed continuously grunts when he’s tired.  TJ calls it his “I just really need you to know I’m tired right now” noise.
• How he lifts his arms off his body when he kicks his legs.  Kicking is a full body dance.

• Reed LOVES his crib.  It’s squeaky, which makes for lots of great noises when he’s kicking.  In spite of being super tired, sometimes when we lay him down he’s so darn excited to be kicking he can’t sleep.  When we lay him down in his crib his eyes often open wide and he smiles as he realizes where he is: then the kicking starts.  :)

• Sometimes when we’re having prayer he just stares at TJ, wide eyed and silent.
• When we hold him and he’s tired he turns his head from side to side against our shoulder: over and over and until he finds the perfect spot.  He actually does this in his crib too: sometimes more than a dozen times, as he looks for the spot that’s just right for that nap.
• He has found his toes!  And he loves sucking on them.  

• Reed loves the kitchen.  We put him in his little chair (that we call his throne) on the island and he’ll contentedly watch us working for quite a while – probably as long as an hour at times.

• We have a play mat with toys above his head (little jungle animals).  He loves that thing.  We call it “playing with your friends.”  The butterflies are his favorite: he pulls them off their hook over and over.  He has a love/hate relationship with monkey, who never lets go of his rings!  He gets so worked up about it that we have to move him away from his friends sometimes.
• He’s great at listening to/looking at books.  We read together almost daily: Pajama Time; Barnyard Dance; Click, Clack Moo; Sophie’s Squash; Chrysanthemum, and lots of library books.

• When we hold him he loves to be up and walking, not sitting down.
• He still does multiple sneezes: almost always 2-3 at a time.
• Reed really enjoys music.  We keep renting a CD of Pixar movie songs that we listen to often.  He loves the music in his swing too (he loves his swing in general, though it is very pink) and when we want to calm him in the car we turn on Classical 89 or David Tolk.
• Reed ADORES new sounds.  He listens super intently when he hears new noises, to the point that he’ll stop screaming if he hears something new.  He often blinks to new noises.  It seems TJ is always finding new ways to move his mouth for Reed’s entertainment: a few days ago I overheard him say, “Okay, Bugga, this is the sound a single light saber makes.”  :)

• Whispering is fascinating for Reed.  He will listen to us whisper in his ear, holding completely still, for about a minute.  It doesn’t matter what we say, he just loves being whispered to.
• He really enjoys being outside.  He is happy as can be to sit on the front porch, wrapped in a blanket, to watch rainstorms.  When it’s nice we sit on a bench in the front yard and look around, listening to the birds.  Reed really like trees and – I think – the sound of the leaves in the wind.  When we’re on walks he’ll turn his head to watch the trees as we pass them.  When we’re in the house his gaze is often focused out the window: I wonder what exactly he’s looking at.

• Recently he started noticing shadows and is pretty captivated by them.  I can use my hands (out of his line of vision) to make movement in the shadows and he watches pretty intently.  I’ve noticed him seeing shadows in different places inside and outside.
• We almost always call him Bug or Bugga.  Over the past few weeks I’ve started calling him Doodlebug.

• He adores the shower: it’s one of our last resorts if we can’t calm him.  He’ll happily stay in there for thirty minutes.
• We’ve started bathing him in the big bathtub which is so FUN for kicking.  We – and the rest of the bathroom – get pretty wet.  A few weeks ago TJ gave him a bath and Reed was splashing so much that TJ’s eyes were closed as he held Reed’s head.
• He still hates being cradled/held like a baby.  He wants to be up on our shoulders, almost exclusively.  Sometimes he likes to lean off to the side (like this picture shows) - not sure if he's more comfortable?  It's far less comfortable for us.  :)  TJ can sometimes hold him in what he calls the “face down football hold,” but it’s pretty infrequent.

• After a period of exclusively screaming in his car seat, he’s been tolerant of it the past month or so.  We’re so grateful. 
• He has been TERRIBLE at night.  At four months he was sleeping through the night about half the time and we were pretty excited.  Then we spent a week at Lake Powell on two different occasions and, after picking him up at the slightest peep to let everyone else sleep, we seem to have ruined his ability to sleep through the night.  It’s awful: for three weeks now he’s been getting up to eat TWICE every night.  We’ve got some work to do.

• His eyes are a gorgeous deep blue.  We can’t get enough of them.  We get lots of comments about how beautiful they are. 

• He is constantly sucking on things: his hands, a burp cloth, my hair, a blanket, a toy, our hands.  We call him a drool monster, as he often has drool all over his face and frequently wetting his shirt.
• Probably tied to the drool, his first two teeth are in!  They came at the same time – the two bottom middle teeth – at almost exactly five months!
•  Reed is really a good baby.  His smiles are to die for and he’s most often content.
• He’s learning to laugh and we’ve captured quite a few adorable giggles on our phones.  It cracks us up.  It’s a lot of work and currently it’s about 50% grunting and 50% giggling.  It’s also inconsistent: what makes him squeal with laughter in the morning is no longer funny by the afternoon, so we’re constantly trying new antics.

• Nanny told us that he loves the nursery rhyme “To market to market to buy a fat pig,” and she’s right!   He almost always smiles to that.

• A new huge development: on Friday, October 13 he rolled over for the first time!  It was a bit of a fluke, of course, but over the past five days he has become pretty good at it.  He can only go from his back to his belly and gets upset soon after he finds himself stuck on his stomach.  He can also only roll over his right shoulder, but he’s getting mobile: the days of setting him down and knowing where he’ll be in five minutes are coming to an end!  It has been so fun to see him start moving.

Clearly, we can’t get enough of this kid.  Can’t wait to see what six months brings.

Weekly Family Photo #8

Good News Tuesday

Last night we returned from a week in Lake Powell.  Glorious, stunning Lake Powell.  That place makes for lots of good news!

1. We got lots of family time.  All of TJ's family was there, which doesn't often happen, so it was fun to have time that we could play games and boat and dote on all the grandbabies.

2. We got in the double surf run.  This was a first-time deal and it was pretty exciting.  :)  Thankfully Kipp is a wicked good surfer.

3. Reed has stunningly beautiful eyes.  They are so, so blue.  I am always trying to capture their hue in a picture and it just seems so impossible.   BUT last week I think we finally got them.   Don't these just blow your mind?  

4. We were able to go in to church in Page while we were at the lake.  In all my frenzy for packing for family pictures (more about those later), I entirely spaced packing church clothes.  So, Sunday morning we put on our nice jeans and headed to church, where not a single person commented or even looked at us for not being in "Sunday best."  TJ and I both had a fantastic experience at church and left feeling so uplifted.  That ward was just oozing love and understanding and kindness and friendship.  It was so enlightening to be there.  We were so grateful we could go and meet, albeit briefly, those amazing people that taught us great messages in three short hours (far more by their actions than by their formal lessons).

5. Family pictures!  We got new Morris family pictures (it had been two years) and boy was it a hassle!  But we got them.  And they're going to be so beautiful I can hardly wait to see them.

6. On our drives TJ and I made a conscientious decision that we'd discuss our goals and how we're doing to plan.  It was a great conversation.  We were able to cover a lot of ground, discussing where we want to be, wins we've had, and also areas we're struggling.  It was great to meet as a couple and talk about improvement and dreams and what we want to work on together.

Weekly Family Photo #7

Monster Cookie Bars

There are probably no less than a gajillion recipes for monster cookie bars online, but over the past couple months I've been playing around with one my sister gave me and we think it's practically perfect.  For us.  Hopefully it will be for you too.


One time I cooked these too long and it was terribly disappointing.  In an attempt to try to help you avoid the same, I took the batch I made last week out of the oven and straight to the table for pictures.

See how the edges are just barely starting to brown?  And do you see my shoelace in the bottom left hand corner?  This is almost as good as an I Spy book.

Here they are raw, spread out in the pan.  I just use my hands to mash them down and fill the pan.  It doesn't have to be perfect.

Monster Cookie Bars

Yield: one cookie sheet 

Adapted from my sister, Holly

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup packed brown sugar 
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter*
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups quick oats**
• 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats**
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mini M&Ms
• 2 cups mini chocolate chips (we use semi-sweet)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Grind your oats to flour (I just put them in our all-powerful blender and let it run until it's all ground).
3. In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, peanut butter, and butter.  Beat with a hand mixer on medium for two minutes, until it's fluffy.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla extract.  Blend together.
5. Add in the salt, baking soda, oats, chocolate chips, and M&Ms.  If your beaters are strong enough, mix this whole batch with that, otherwise grab your rubber spatula and start stirring.  Stir until well combined.
6. Spread the mixture on your lined/greased cookie sheet.
7. Bake 16-18 minutes.  The edges will be very lightly browned and the middle will still look a bit underdone, but it will finish baking as it cools.

The recipe I was given says to let them cool for at least an hour so they can firm up, but...I usually last about 15 minutes and then we cut into them and get chocolate all over our faces while we eat a quarter of the pan warm.  I recommend that route.

NOTE: as usual, we freeze these.  They're great.  TJ likes them straight from the freezer to his mouth but I usually set mine out for 20 minutes or throw it in the microwave.  

*Recently I've found Earth Balance Coconut Peanut Butter and we're pretty in love with it.  (It's cheaper in our grocery store than on Amazon, but now you know what it looks like).  It's extra great in this recipe because their 16 ounce jar is the exact amount you need, so you can just empty it out without fiddling with a measuring cup covered in peanut butter.  And...now that I typed that I realize you could just use any peanut butter jar that comes in 16 ounces.  :) I've used other kinds and they're good, but this coconut one is our favorite. 

**If you want this to be gluten free be sure you're using gluten free oats.


Recipe adapted from my sister: I blended the oats, changed the butter to be unsalted and added salt,, and changed the amounts of M&Ms and chocolate chips.