Fresh Veggies!

We have been taking care of my dad's garden while he and my mom are road-tripping out to Colorado and back. It's been a lot of fun picking the various veggies as they get ripe. Each day, Dax and I check the green beans and pick any that are ripe. So far we've had 2 :) They have been a great teething toy for Dax, they're hard enough on the outside that he can gnaw away, and then if the seeds on the inside pop out, he can mash them between his gums.





Here's the tomato plants, not quite ready to be picked - maybe by this weekend



The zucchini that is almost ripe - we've already eaten a few of them, yum!



And here's my little man eating the green bean...he loved it!

Adventures in Cooking

I like cooking. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that I love cooking. I enjoy being in the kitchen, eating food, preparing recipes, using new ingredients, learning new techniques, I just like the whole cooking/baking process. One of my husband's favorite dishes is lasagna. We haven't had it in a long time, so yesterday I decided to make it for dinner. This required me to boil the lasagna noodles in a large stock pot. Now, it's been a long time since I've been injured while cooking/baking. The last serious incident happened when I was in 4th grade and I pulled a pan of lemon bars out of the oven without hot pads. Although I was in a lot of pain, I was more upset over the thought of not being able to attend horse camp because of my burns.

Anywho - once the noodles were done, I took the large stock pot of boiling water and noodles over to the sink to dump into the strainer. With my height, or lack there of at 5'2", I couldn't really see the entire strainer, just the back end, plus there was lots of steam coming up at I poured the water out. Apparently the strainer shifted towards me, causing the water to splash out of the strainer onto me. My left leg took one for the team, and now it hurts very badly.



I now have a slight phobia of dumping boiling water into strainers....

Baby Fever

You could say that I have been hit with baby fever....you see, a lot of people I know are pregnant or have just had a little one. Blame it on the hormones if you want, but I've been getting sad lately when I look at Dax and see how fast he has grown over the past 9 months! He's now 21lbs 2oz and 28" long - when he first was born he was only 8lbs 4oz and 21.5" long. His little foot no longer is the size of my palm. He now requires 2 arms for carrying and rocking instead of 1. Diaper changes now require a certain finesse for speed and the ability to keep him entertained long enough to snap the diaper back on BEFORE he flips over - he used to just lay there not wanting to squirm all around. I love seeing my son grow and develop, I do, but I miss the itty bitty newborn stage. This was the first time I saw my former itty bitty (it's a bit blurry - my mom was taking the pics and she was a little choked up from seeing her second grandson be born)





So, if you're pregnant, or have a newborn, and somewhat close, I may or may not be bugging you to come hold your baby :)

Fun on a Swing!

Dax loved swinging in the baby swing at the park the other day. Every time he would come close to us he would crack up laughing, it was so precious.

Beach Day!

While house sitting for my parents, we've had the opportunity to take Dax to a place that is really special to me, Somerset Beach Campground (SBC). When I was little, my grandparents spent their summers at the campground, they had a more permanent RV and each summer we would make the trek up from Pennsylvania to Michigan, and would always spend about a week camping at SBC. I even worked there as a lifeguard for a couple of summers. Dax was able to play in the sand for the first time (he even ate a few fistfulls!), and had a good time on the infant swing!









He even went down the slide with Daddy!

Happy 9 Months!

Dax is 9 months old today. It is hard to believe that he is only 3 months away from being 1, when it seems like just the other day he was my 8.4lb newborn baby boy! He's now up to 21lbs 2 oz, and we haven't measured him yet, but that is on the to-do list for tomorrow. While he's not crawling yet, he is definitely mobile as of last friday. He has started doing "the walrus" and is pretty fast once he gets going.

He's still really only saying mama, but he's so close to saying dada or papa, I just know it! He loves smiling, laughing, and stealing the show everywhere we go. He continues to be such a great baby and a joy in our lives. I must admit, being a parent is nothing like what I had imagined. I used to think being a stay-at-home-mom meant hours upon hours of endless boring days, with a baby who just cried all day long. I used to think that I would feel that my life had no meaning or purpose if I was at home, and I would just waste away in boredom. It is the complete opposite! Every day is spent playing and teaching Dax new things, and each day I wonder if he'll do something new, or say a new word. The most current feat we are waiting to capture is him actually crawling - trust me I have the video camera on hand at all times these days! Here are some pictures that were taken this past week by a friend of mine.



(my newest favorite picture)


my little stud

Scrunchy face

Dax makes this scrunchy face - he scrunches his nose up, squints his eyes, and breathes in and out really fast. We have NO idea what it means because it is so random when it happens. Sometimes it is followed by crying, sometimes by laughing, and sometimes with a goofy smile. So far I have yet to capture it on video, that is until today hahaha. I was feeding him some lunch (bananas and peaches) and all of the sudden he started doing it. So I busted out the video camera, and he kept doing it and even said mama at the end. Enjoy!

Where did you go?

I've been pretty absent from the world of blogging lately, and I'm not sure why. I skipped a few days here and there and soon it became easier to just not update than it was to write a quick post! So I'm back and trying to be better about blogging somewhat regularly :)

We celebrated the 4th of July this past weekend by walking in a parade for a local campaign. Dax was all decked out in his red, white, and blue, including some blue flip flops that had stars on them!!


Dax went swimming in our neighbor's pool and LOVED it! He seems to be a natural in the water, he does really well kicking when he's on his belly, and he even holds still when i lay him on his back with his head on my shoulder. Of course, all of those years I taught swimming lessons to little squirts is coming in handy now :)





We also hung out with some of Derek's friends, and while they played a game of backyard baseball, Dax and I hung out in the shade.





Dax is now feeding himself finger foods (but we only give him the yogurt drops and puffs haha), and is obsessed with drinking out of his water bottles. Most of the time he won't let us help him with the bottle, and he loves that there is a straw in there!!