Mawwiage

I really like being married, and I really like talking about it. If you want to read some things I have to say on the subject, head over to Jen's blog to read a guest post I've written!

Eli Thursday

49 weeks

This cheap bubble machine is one of the best purchases I've made. It's also apparently the most amazing thing Eli has ever seen.

I love that little pointing finger.

Spring in January

One of the perks of living in Arizona is that Spring starts "springing" up as early as January.

We took the beautiful weather as a sign that we should go to the park and enjoy it while it lasted, which was wise considering it is cold and rainy now. 

I (tried to) read my book while Eli wedged himself between the book and me and proceeded to eat my snacks. Clearly he was enjoying them too... little nut. 

Eventually he went back to playing, but not for long once he realized how much more there was to explore besides our blanket on the grass. 

So we headed over to the swings, which was obviously a big hit. Pure joy right there!

As much as I love cold weather (no really, I do!), I'm itching for longer days and warmer weather and for the January blues to be over and done.

Easy Chicken Curry

We are major curry fans around here. This recipe is from an uncle of mine who lived in Thailand, and it is seriously delicious and so easy to make! It's a staple at our house, and I hope you love it as much as we do!

Yellow Curry with Chicken

Cook/prep time: 30 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 can coconut milk

2-3 tablespoons of Mae Ploy yellow curry paste (I buy mine here on Amazon, and I'm sure you could find it in some Asian markets too)

Around 1 cup of chicken breast, cut into bite-sized chunks (I cut and freeze large batches of raw chicken at a time which makes this really easy!)

1 potato, chopped into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces

1 yellow onion, diced

1 tablespoon fish sauce (optional)

Rice (I like to use jasmine. Make sure you start cooking this before you begin making the curry!)

Instructions:

Spoon the cream off the top of the can of coconut milk and place into a medium saucepan. Add curry paste and mix until it is thoroughly combined with no lumps. Heat for a minute or two on medium, then add chicken. Cook until the chicken is no longer pink on the outside. Add the rest of the can of coconut milk, the potato, and the onion. Return to a boil and cook until the chicken is cooked through and the potatoes are tender. Add fish oil, if desired. I have made it without and it turned out just fine, but it does add a little bit of flavor, and doesn’t make it taste fishy. Serve over rice. 

Eli Thursday

48 weeks

I've started bathing Eli almost every night. It's partially for fun, and partially because this little boy is already turning into a dirt magnet. 

Annnnd it's also partially because his little baby self is so darn cute, especially when he's trying to figure out what's going on with the bubbles on his toesies. 

Currently...

Loving: This beautiful warm weather. It feels like Spring here and I love it so very much! 

Looking forward to: The AZ blogger meet-up next month, assuming I get the guts to actually go since I hardly feel like I qualify as a "real" blogger. I'm such a wimp. 

Thankful for: Baby tylenol and ibuprofen. Last night was pretty awful with a very sad teething baby, and I don't even want to think about how bad it would have been without pain relievers. Poor kiddo.

Working on: Redecorating and rearranging and painting and reorganizing all the things. If only a certain someone would take longer naps so I could really make some progress...

Dreaming about: Plane tickets and Italy. I've got the traveling bug big time, and it doesn't help that I found tickets for all three of us to go next month for $1700. I so wish that were in the cards for us. That's such a smoking deal that it kind of makes me crazy that we can't take advantage of it. Also I should probably (definitely) stop stalking Expedia and Travelzoo, but let's be honest... that won't happen. ;)

Laughing about: This video of Eli and I reading a book last night. Such a silly goose. 



Watching: Friends. It's funny, but just makes me want to watch Seinfeld again. 

Reading: Wonder by R.J Palacio. So far so good! 

Eating: Banana and Nutella toast, all day erryday. It's on my homemade whole wheat bread so that cancels out the Nutella, right? If I'm wrong I don't want to be right. 

Eli Thursday

47 weeks

Two of his favorite pastimes combined: emptying the dirty clothes hamper, and playing peek-a-boo. 

He finds fun in everything, and it makes me so happy.

11 months

Only one more month until you are a year old! You are turning into a little boy right before my eyes, and I love seeing you grow, even though it also makes me sad. You are so much fun to have around. You keep your daddy and me laughing and we love hanging out with you every day! We think you're a pretty cool little dude.

Stats:
Around 16.5-17 lbs
Size 9-12m clothes
Size 3 diapers
6 teeth
A little more hair... but not much

New tricks:
You can stand up by yourself, but as soon as you realize you're doing it you sit down. You just aren't interested in standing or walking at all yet, probably because crawling and cruising along furniture is working out pretty well for you still.
Sleeping through the night! Hallelujah... now pleeeeease keep it up!          
You can say "more" and "mom"

Likes:
FOOD. All kinds, pretty much. Your recent favorite are mom's bread, blueberries, bananas, strawberries, veggie straws, and anything mom doesn't want to share. ;) Of course, you still love your milk too!
Playing with your cousins
Going on walks
Opening cabinets and drawers
Playing peek-a-boo
Books (eating them and reading them)
Stacking things
Bathing in the big tub
Visiting dad at work
Watching mom
Storytime at the library
Taking off your socks
Carrying things around in your mouth like a puppy

Dislikes:
Naps, which is okay as long as you keep sleeping at night!
Green beans
Carrots
Putting your brace on at night

Eli Thursday

46 weeks

Looks like he is going to be a pyro like his parents. He was completely mesmerized by these sparklers. 

Eli Thursday

45 weeks

They were getting a little stir-crazy today, so I squished Eli and cousin Levi in the stroller and took a little field trip to get the mail. There was much giggling and no eye gouging, so I'd say it was a smashing success! 

Decked Halls

I took down all the Christmas decorations today. It's a heck of a lot more fun putting them up, that's for sure. I thought I'd post some pictures of what Christmas looks like around here 

^^ I have 6 of these ornaments that I bought in Russia, and they are my favorite Christmas decoration. I probably love them more than I should.

^^ The presents that looked like a 5-year-old wrapped them were done by me. Not my talent, and I'm okay with that.

^^ Fun with bokeh! 

Eli loved playing with this Little People nativity I bought. I can't wait until baby Jesus is more meaningful to him that a chew toy. Haha. ;)

^^ I keep this one up all year long.

^^ I've always loved this style of wreath, so this year I decided to make my own. All the clippings are from my yard, and I used this frame. It was so easy and I love how it turned out! Gonna have to make this a yearly tradition. 

I'm dreaming of a white... New Year?

We may not have had a white Christmas, but a white New Year is the next best thing, right? We got hit with a pretty good storm and it was so nice to hunker down in our cozy, warm home for a few days, especially since Dallin didn't have to work on New Years Day or the afternoon of New Years Eve. It's all pretty much melted now, but I sure loved it while it lasted. These are just a few of the many pictures I took from our windows (my telephoto lens helped with some of these). 

Eli Thursday

 44 weeks

We introduced Eli to snow. He was not impressed. 

Eli Thursday (and Merry Christmas!)

43 weeks

I think his favorite part of his first Christmas was the piles of wrapping paper. Silly little dude!

Eli Thursday

42 weeks

Eli loves playing the piano, and it's even better on Daddy's lap. 

Merry Christmas!

I still can't believe there is less than a week left until Christmas. It always comes and goes too quickly! Although there are lots of traditions I probably won't get to this year, we did send out Christmas cards and ate all the cookies we were planning on giving away, so I'm calling it a success. 

Merry Christmas, all! 

Sleep is a wonderful thing

Something miraculous happened last night. I went to bed at 10pm and didn't wake up until after 6:30am when Eli woke up hungry. As if that weren't amazing enough, he went back to sleep for a good hour and a half after that.

I can't tell you how wonderful this was. 

Eli hasn't always been a terrible sleeper. There were a couple months where he would at least give us a solid 5-6 hours straight, but lately he's been waking up more often than I really care to discuss. It's been lousy. I've been exhausted. My house has been suffering. And I've been feeling grouchy and overwhelmed. 

Until this morning. 

When I woke up this morning, birds and angels started singing when I realized it wasn't some unholy hour like usualy. I felt like a brand new woman! For the first time in a long time I woke up feeling motivated and ready to go. And this is what I did with all that energy:

• Got dressed and ready for the day before Eli woke up
• Ate breakfast
• Did a load of dishes
• Went to Home Depot for supplies for my Etsy shop, which has been keeping me very busy lately... yay!
• Put Eli down for a nap
• Sanded and prepped Etsy signs 
• Replied to emails and messages 
• Threw together a terrible lunch since I lost track of time... but hey, we ate something! Even though it may or may not have been leftover mashed potatoes, some frozen waffles, and blackberries. (Note: must go grocery shopping tomorrow.)
• Mailed off most of our Christmas cards
• Mailed off Etsy packages
• Put Eli down for another nap
• Stained a bunch of signs
• Baked up some of the peanut butter kiss cookie dough that was left over from last night... YUM
• Ate too many cookies and watched some episodes of The Mindy Project
• Did not make dinner (see above) (hashtag: #noregrets)
• Cleaned the almost all the carpets upstairs
• Wrote this blog post 

I feel so accomplished. It's amazing what a difference it makes to be well-rested, because I'm pretty sure I got more done today than I did all last week. (Seriously though.) And now I am going to sleep and pray that Eli does too! (Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleeeeeaaaaase!)

Eli Thursday

41 weeks

He's always, always, always trying to "help" me type on my computer. His busy little hands are sure cute, but sometimes I really need to get some things done, you know? Today I had a stroke of genius and dug up Dallin's old, broken computer for him to play with. He was in heaven... And maybe a little confused when I didn't stop him from banging on the keys to his heart's delight.  

Also, he loves to pull off his socks, which means there isn't a corner of the house that isn't hiding stray little baby socks. Silly dude.

Santa Baby

Eli met Santa today. It went something like this:

First, curiosity...

...then rejection.

Apparently he's not a fan. 

At least we got some terrific pictures out of the experience, eh? And to be honest, I might love these even more than a picture-perfect smiling face. I'm such a great mom... heh heh. ;)