Quinoa!

I love this little grain! First had it in the Mountains of Peru while hiking the Inca Trail. It is SO good for you and very versatile. Introduced it to Abraham yesterday and I was disappointed b/c he seemed a little put off by the "curly" texture, but I think after a few more tries he will love it. If you haven't tried it you should!

One of the greatest things about it is that it cooks in 15 minutes! It is also a great replacement for rice/couscous/pasta and is great hot, or chilled in a grain salad. One of my very favorite recipes with it is turkey/quinoa meatloaf...I never thought I was a meatloaf fan, but the recipe I found is really flavorful and makes me feel satisfied. There are a bunch of quinoa recipes on you tube, you should check 'em out!

Happiest Little Mr!

We are beginning to wean! I cannot believe that Abraham is getting so close to being a year old! We have cut out the last feeding for the night and he doesn't seem to miss it. He has always been so active that it is hard to keep his body still enough to remain latched on. At least with cups and bottles he can move around quite a bit! Here he is working on sippy cup proficiency. If he had it his way the milk would come out when he CHEWS the spout.

Abraham is fully crawling now and carries on conversations with his toys, himself, and us in very conversational sounding gibberish now. It is adorable! Most of the day he does this hiccup-like laugh Ahuh, Ahuh, Ahuh....mmmmm. (the mmm is when he smiles as if he would burst if he was any happier) He is the happiest kiddo I have ever known.
( I tried to attach a video, but it is just processing forever and I have tried it 4 times, so you'll have to check it out on FB I guess!)

Here he is with Jack & our friend Andy, we were treated to dinner @ their house last Fri night and had a fantastic time!

He was playing like this on the stairs for about 5 minutes and didn't seem uncomfortable, do you think he has a little bit of my gymnast blood coursing through those little veins?

With his snake for size comparison, but now he SITS, and CRAWLS off of that guy!

After a few pics he came after the camera.....

He thinks the light on it is really intriguing and wanted to see it up close....

Whenever we get him naked to change his onesie, he grabs his tummy...I would love to think he is giving us the "bath" sign, but I really think he just likes how it feels!

OH, he is getting so BIG!

Fun, fun fun and cool stuff!

Oh, our "little" mister in his gap jams for the last time before they are retired into the too small bin! As you can see they are stretched to the limit and his white onesie is peeking out all over the place! He LOVES to stand.

Same jammies, 40 days old!

Last Saturday Jack suggested we go to the Zoo!
We all had a great time and decided to get a zoo pass that includes guests, so when y'all come to Memphis you can go with us! It also includes passes or discounted fares for many other zoos around the US including the Charles Paddock Zoo in my home town of Atascadero!! Can't wait to go back there and see it in April.
1st stop-Gibbons! They were very silly and go to the windows of the restaurant that is adjacent to their enclosure. Pretty RAD!

Taken from inside the restaurant.

Had to have a picture with the animals that inspired my hat! Abraham was very in tune to these guys as well. I think he likes the strong stripes that accentuate their faces.

snow leopard

It was National Polar Bear Day, and we spent quite a bit of time at their exhibit.

Abraham sitting on a polar bear skin. I am pretty sure I was more excited then he was. Can you say dork? It was very cold that day so we brought hats and lots of warm clothing but only 1 mitten by mistake. Hence Abraham looking like a Michael Jackson wanna be.

More shots of the polar bears swimming by. They are awesome and I am amazed at how God creates all of these beautiful and diverse animals!

Jack & Bram in the primate area.

One more picture before we leave!
They have these great sculptures of various animals at the entrance.
The next day was sunny again so we went to the park. Abraham actually seems content to wear his shades. I guess he knows that cool dudes wear shades.
This morning just before Dad left on a business trip.
CONSIGNMENT SALES!
I am a little obsessed with consignment sales and they do them WELL in Memphis! Today I went to one at Germantown United Methodist Church. Here is SOME (I already have about 6 pieces in the wash) of the haul I got this AM for just over $50, and the best thing about it is that the proceeds support other Moms and families as well as MISSIONS! (I am stoked about the airplane pants and other preppy and unique digs. The army green shorts have rainbow stitching and I got 2 G diapers for $7!

42 WEEKS OLD!

We had another few inches of snow a few weeks ago and Dad worked form home, so we ventured out in it for a few minutes. These were taken in our driveway.

A few shots of Abraham @ 41 weeks. He has developed a "squinchy smile", I am not sure it is my favorite, but it does make me chuckle!

He still has a sweet smile, too.
Now he likes to "destroy" his gymini.

He is much more efficient with those chubby fingers now, but still misses his mouth about 30% of the time!
His favorite way to eat is to get something to stick to the end of his pointer finger and then balance it into his mouth. He spends a lot of time "poking" all the food items on his tray before grabbing them to see if they will comply and stick to his finger. Usually the only foods that cooperate are cheerios and veggie puffs, but he keeps trying!

Exhibit A:Eating cubes of tofu and sweet potato, the pointer is at the ready

I realized this week that if he is 42 weeks old, we only have 10 more weeks before he is a year! The fact that 52 weeks is a year has been cemented into my brain from years of teaching Kindergarten children that fact each morning as we did the calendar.

I thought I would just take a few moments to record some facts about his development.

Eating-so far, Abraham is a very easy eater. He will usually make a face when introduced to new foods and maybe even push the spoon away a few times, but will usually eat anything by the end of that meal. The only thing he rejected for two days straight was beef baby food. Jack supported Abraham in full force claiming the beef tasted like cat food, but after a few days of mixing it with other foods he likes and making mini beef squish sandwiches on very thinly sliced bread, he actually ate it straight as well. I read that babies/toddlers often have to try a food 10 times before accepting it! That is an encouragement to me because picky eaters are a HUGE challenge.

Crawling-I have been thinking our little man was going to begin crawling for the last month and a half and he has yet to move forward or backwards on his hands and knees. He just gets up and rocks and just when he gets to the point where I think he will extend an arm or leg, he throws his hips down and swims...silly Mr!

Talking-The repertoire expands quickly and he is constantly chanting Dadada--well, kind of a cross between dada & dodo (Short o's, like the sound o makes in Oz)


We took a "Babygarten" class for 6 weeks at the Collierville library. Sang songs, read books and made friends. Here are a few photos:

These other little friends were really crawling and getting around and would come over to Abraham & "play". Mostly, they would reach for or put their mouths on each other.

9 months! 2/6/09

I still look cute naked...
...although I've got my eye on you.
Suckin' in my gut
...and letting it out.
Ah, much better now that I'm dressed...

Here's mom...
And dad...
And all of us together.
Yup. I'm constipated.
Ahhh.... much better.

Christmas!

My Mom's recipe won best tasting cookie in a VERY competitive cookie exchange!
Here are the winners!

Here are the many beautifully packaged cookies I got to bring home.

Teething on that thumb

A few fav's from our family Christmas Picture Photo shoot...

Went to Mom & Norm's place in Tacoma, WA

Abraham was baptized on December 27th!

Mom did the honors, Norm is his God Father, Michelle is his God Mother.

My God Father is glowing!!

Abraham LOVED the cats and since Zoey is deaf she is not afraid, even when he squeals!

Here kitty, kitty!

Then to AZ to be with the Watkinsons. Getting a whole group shot is a challenge with only 3 kiddos...so three kiddos are the guinea pigs.
and Jack is removing a paci just in time!

We try outside, too. Abraham is a big fan when Jack does the Mexican Hat Dance

We got lots of fun cuddle time with our cousins!