April 29, 2014

proud

For almost 15 months (plus an additional 9 or so for me), Nick and I have:

nurtured
clothed
nourished
cuddled
bragged about
soothed
encouraged
swaddled
been awed by
rocked
sung to
worried about
bounced
played with
kissed
tickled
taught
enjoyed
cheered for
protected
read to

and utterly and completely loved

our baby boy.

I am so proud of us.


From here...


















to here. 

I think we're doing a pretty great job :) 

much love, L&N

April 15, 2014

family photos: one year

I realized yesterday while I was typing a comment on our local parenting community's Facebook page that I had never shared the mini session we did with our trusty, go-to photographer, Anna at ai creative, to commemorate Alden's first birthday!

I am absolutely in love with these photos so I'm shocked that I never documented them here. These photos were shot in the Founder's Garden on UGA's campus on a gorgeous Saturday morning in February :)

A few of our favorites...










I just love that these moments have been captured on film (well, not really film anymore but you know what I mean :) . We are so lucky to have such beautiful memories in these photos. Anna, you have helped us capture our little one's first year and these photos are priceless. A giant thank you for your amazing work! 

much love, L&N


April 14, 2014

13 months

Hi everyone!

I guess I took a little blog break there for a while...

Do you ever have so much to do or say that you can't think of a place to start? It happens to me all the time, especially when I'm busy or stressed. I've been running into a lot of that with the blog lately, there's a lot I want to say and then I don't know where to start. So, I'm going to start with an update on our little man :)


We're not doing his monthly photos anymore, so I'll just include some snapshots from this past month instead. (It seems like I have a two-week blank in my photos right in the middle of March, though, so only a few photos in this post). We loved having his monthly photos in his first year but they were getting more and more complicated to do once Alden started moving around so much on his own. By the time we wrangled his 12 month photo shoot together, it was pretty clear that we were done with the monthly posed photos ;) I'd like to drop in and do another at 18 months and then one every year on his birthday after that.

Alright, back to the little guy!

walking! (and standing!)

1st pair of real shoes :)

Alden turned 14 months about 10 days ago so most of these updates are things that happened in his 13th month. It was a packed few weeks for him, so many changes in such a short time! If you follow me on Instagram, you've already gotten a taste of all the new things in our house. Alden took his first real steps on February 23 in our kitchen :) Nick and I were sitting on the floor with him and he took about 3 or 4 steps in between us...and then, kept doing it ALL day long! He would go back and forth between me and Nick and would get so excited every time we clapped or cheered him on. It was great fun!

I was starting to think that he would walk later since he wasn't standing unassisted yet and he really seemed overly cautious about actually taking those first steps. Even after we knew he could do it, I was expecting weeks of slow progress since he seemed to be so careful about jumping into the walking world. Baby boy surprised us again! He went from his first steps to standing unassisted and walking on his own for long stretches within a week or so. Then, it only took him about a week or so more to be walking the majority of the time, going up and down stairs, bending to pick things up while standing, etc. He is really a little toddler now! Nick and I think he's been really walking for about 3 1/2 weeks and there's no stopping him. He's even mastered keeping his balance while walking up and down the hills in our backyard! Seems like he may just be a perfectionist like his Mama and Daddy; waiting to do things until he knows he can really do them :)

I do have to say, though, that the week before he started walking in earnest was a tough one. He slept poorly, was especially irritable, fussy, and frustrated, didn't eat very well, and was in general not a particularly fun guy to be around. He was very clingy and just didn't seem to be in a very good mood. It's pretty common to see shifts like that right before a developmental leap but, at the time, you never know what's around the corner and it just feels like an alien has taken over your sweet baby!

My Mom and Dad came to visit for a couple days at the end of March and it was great to see them! They got lots of Alden play time, we had yummy food, and a nice visit :)


with my Mimi and PopPop :)

out to eat at Heirloom. I had a delicious lentil and walnut burger!

Alden has turned into quite the little bookworm in the past weeks! Pretty much all he wants to do is sit with us and read books. Before he started walking, he had a little routine for story time. He would start by grabbing a book off the shelf and half-crawling/half-scooting his way over to us, hand the book to us, then climb in our lap and turn himself around so we could read to him. I called his little scoot/crawl the Captain Morgan because he would always be on one knee while he scooted himself around :) It was hilarious! Now I know that he was just getting ready to walk/stand but at the time it seemed really random and funny. Now that he's walking, the routine is the same except he walks the books back and forth between our laps and the shelf- if anything, he wants to read more now! He definitely has favorite books and strong opinions about what we should be reading :) I think between the two of us, we've read Little Blue Truck and Little Blue Truck Leads the Way at least 200 times. We love the books but after 5 or 6 times in a row, you start to lose your mind a little ;)

We have been amazed at how much Alden understands what we're saying. Even in the past fews weeks we see a noticeable difference in his language comprehension. He knows SO many words, even though he doesn't say them all: outside, breakfast, lunch, dinner, water, milk, up, hot, dog, truck, bath, bedtime, night-night, apple, paci, etc. When we ask him where his head, nose, belly, and eyes are he'll point to them. He points to himself when we ask him, "Who's Alden?" and he loves for us to go through the letters of his name while he's on the changing table and can see his name on the wall.


before my 1st haircut


very well-behaved but very cautious :)
Alden had his first haircut last month, too! Nick really wanted to wait until he was at least 1 before we cut his baby locks so as soon as that birthday rolled around, I made him an appointment :) I couldn't stand the little mullet anymore. He looks so grown up now!

He's also started to really enjoy working on his puzzles and has gotten interested in cars/trucks more. We're pretty sure he can say "truck" now and since he figured out that word, he's been pretty into his Trucks book that his Uncle Kristoffer and Aunt Lea gave him for his birthday :) Thanks, guys!

Alden is getting better and better at feeding himself using his fork and spoon and we're working on not throwing food to the dogs :) He's been drinking almond milk every day for a few weeks now and he seems to really like it. It took him a few introductions to take to it, but now he drinks it like a champ. I'm happy we have at least one other milk source for him to get some of the fats he needs in his diet. Plus, I'm completely back on dairy again and he's doing great! We'll be re-introducing yogurt again this week now that his crazy skin issues are finally gone and since he's been eating baked-in dairy for a while and is doing fine so far.

The following photos may not seem like a big deal, but to us, they are groundbreaking! Buster (our beagle) doesn't handle change well and has only recently started to tolerate Alden at all. Lately, he's been letting Alden pet him if we give him enough warning and has started to hang out in Alden's room more. Then, the other night, Buster laid down for Alden to pet him without either of us saying anything! It was great and we feel like these two might be best friends one day after all :)




We also saw at least 2, maybe 3, molars cut through last month and we're already onto the others now. Boy, are those molars a doozy! We definitely had lots of nights with Ibuprofen before bed, paci in his mouth at all times, fussy, sad baby. It's insane how much teeth can mess everything up!

dirty garden baby booty :)




helping us get the beds ready for veggies





look how grown up he looks- this is the end of March

and this is the beginning of March. so much change in just a few weeks!

Hope everyone is having a great beginning of spring :) We're finally starting to get some pretty weather and we've been soaking up every second!

much love, L&N

April 8, 2014

VoxBox: Annie's Homegrown



I was so excited to receive a complimentary Annie's Homegrown family size frozen meal VoxBox from Influenster a few weeks ago! We never buy those family-sized frozen meals for dinner since they're really not that good for you and are full of preservatives, etc. So when I received a voucher for an Annie's Homegrown meal, I was ready to try it. Anything to make dinner a little easier AND that has organic, natural ingredients is a definite go in my book!



We grabbed our frozen meal at Target and cooked it up on a weeknight when we were feeling especially rushed. While it takes a little while to bake, it was definitely easier to just pop it in the oven and wait instead of being stuck in the kitchen preparing a meal. Our dinner was baking while we got Alden bathed and in bed and it gave me time to get a load of laundry going and the dishwasher running. Talk about efficiency :)

looks like a bona-fide homemade lasagna, right?!

In the end, the meal was really delicious (although a little small to be able to feed a whole family). We were hoping to get two nights of dinner out of it but we ended up eating the whole thing in one night (it's a little small and we may have been starving since we hadn't eaten lunch that day...). We rounded it out with some crusty baguette, red wine, and a homemade salad and had a great little-to-no-effort meal on the table in no time. We would certainly eat one of these again. I felt great knowing that there wasn't anything on the ingredient list that I couldn't have pulled out of my own pantry and, if there hadn't been cheese in it, I would have gladly given it to Alden as well.

bad lighting. good food. 

yes, we eat dinner while watching TV. and no, we don't feel bad about it ;)


The next time you're at Target, use the coupon HERE to pick one up for yourself and have a relaxed, "home-cooked" meal in no time! :) Bon appétit, everyone!



much love, L&N