9 months and Counting

I have mentioned to a few of you that I've been going a little 'martha' lately. Here is a sample of the spoils from my canning escapades (pickled beets, chili sauce and a variety of apple sauces.)

But this post isn't about me trying to hone into my domestic diva-ness. I've been putting other things into canning jars. I've been keeping track of some of the things Holden does at this point in his life, or some of the milestones he's passed through October. He hits the nine month mark today, so I thought I'd jot a few of them down.



Holden's a big traveler (California, Seattle, St. George and we just returned from Boston)...he always travels 'first class' (ok, this is actually a coach seat-- my seat -- but his legs are so short it's like 1st class to him.) His car seat is next to mine, but we hit some clear air and decided to give the guy a little breathing room. He was much happier out of his seat. I was scrunched on the floor next to the bulkhead. We cashed in SkyMiles for three REAL tickets and I can't tell you how much I love NOT traveling stand-by.

Holden likes Monsters - well, the Green Monster at least. Here he is in the famous seats at Fenway park, and a money shot(?) of our family at the stadium.

Holden likes to drink from a straw... he prefers straws and cups (real cups, not 'sippy' cups mind you) for drinking (water mostly, sometimes milk.) Here he is at an Italian restaurant in Boston's historic North End. We would return to Little Italy the next day where he flirted with a table of 50-something ladies with thick New England accents who wanted to eat him up like matza balls.

Holden loves his Daddy. He lights up when he hears the door open at half-past-five on the weekdays signaling that "Daddy's Home!" Here the two boys are our first night in Boston. We were getting ready to leave the Marriott and take a stroll on the waterfront.
Avocado - Holden shows his ethnic roots (yes, I am one-quarter Hispanic) with his love of guacamole (or organic avocado - same thing when you're a baby, right?) The kid loves it - I put it in applesauce, with pure pumpkin...he's a green fruit lovin' machine!

And as I mentioned, with his avocado he loves pumpkin. But truthfully he just loves pumpkin (period). The Nelson's (of the apple picking fame!) gave us a few cooking gourds from their farm, so I've been serving it naked to Holden (the pumpkin that is, I wear clothes when I feed him, obviously). Here's my favorite 'punkin.'
Big Boy Bed: I've been trying to figure out if I should just lay this out, but you may as well know... Holden's been trying out a "big boy bed" because he doesn't like his crib, and I have weird issues with them (personal choice for our family, but it's not helping the situation)... Plus, we used a cot for nap time for him in Boston and he seemed to do great in it. So we took apart the crib, gave it back to my sister and laid a twin mattress on the floor in his nursery. He can climb in and out of it - we had pretty much baby proofed his room anyway, but it makes nap time super easy and has been a great natural extension and transitional 'tool' for our cosleeping journey ("Don't you judge me Earl.")


Holden likes peace rallies for a greener planet earth... he 'tolerates' his *stroller.

Other things Holden's into:

Late July crackers... they look like Ritz, and taste like Ritz, but they're (drum roll please...) You guess it! Organic! He can feed them to himself which is nice because they are a lot less messy than avocado-applesauce puree.

Cruising - not on State necessarily. But apparently 'cruising' is the official pediatric developmental word for holding onto stuff while standing up and moving from thing to thing...

He's doing great with his 'potty training'. My grandmother-in-law remarked that in her day they called it 'training the mommy' which I think I have mentioned before; but I am fine with him training me. We are getting better at reading his signals and he is getting better about understanding what the toilet is for... he even crawls to his Baby Bjorn sometimes to let us know 'it's time.' We're not ditching his diapers any time soon, but it is awesome to use the same one for multiple cycles... he's so green.

At the Zoo, he dug the zebras, muskrats and some odd looking chipmunk...

Oh, and he LOVES brooms and the vacuum. He is crawling so fast, I used to be able to vacuum around him. It's getting more difficult to dodge his little piggies.

The rest of the Boston pictures can be found on Facebook... you don't have to be a member to check them out. I have loaded the pictures, but will be editing the captions etc over the next little bit.

In other news, I feel like I am FINALLY finding a 'flow' in motherhood and staying at home. I love it, but I am not the best at it... though I feel like I try really hard. Danny is patient with me, and Holden is VERY forgiving.

Love you both!


*This was out last evening in Boston, and we had been wearing him the whole trip in the Ergo Baby. His diaper leaked on the pack so we thought 'a little time in the stroller would be fine'... but of course it was 90% cobblestone and outside of our jogging stroller he really doesn't spend much time in his stroller. Plus Boston is 'the walking city' not the 'stroller city' so we laughed about our weak attempt to use a pram (did I mention Danny ran into a couple of things?). Holden was a good sport though.

On the same token, I've shared our Zoo pictures...we carried him in the pack for most of that experience too. My mother-in-love, like many a mother- is a lover of strollers...so she asked he'd like to sit in it as we were nearing the end of the excursion (I like to bring a stroller to carry purses, coats, the diaper bag --great at airports-- etc.) At that point I thought that his diaper was wet, so I figured I'd just hurry and change in pants in the stroller (it's one of those Graco ones where the seat can lay flat - so it's nice for a quick pants-change.) So we decided to change his pants and then we could try out the stroller (though, I was still a little apprehensive. It's not like we're practicing tribal continuum parenting, but still )... So we go to change his pants, which turned out not to be wet - and as soon as his diaper came off he pee'd -- all over the stroller, partially on me and on the sidewalk of the zoo (I tried to direct his aim away from my clothes but was a little too late.) So we decided he could do with out the stroller ride for a bit...

Check out our Boston Adventures Here!