Lauren - 1 Month

Hi there! Yes, we are still alive and I am woefully behind on updating our family blog. I know I don't owe anyone updates other than myself, but I really want to have these records to turn into baby books and family yearbooks for the kids! I've been reading back over my posts from Austin's first 2 months and its been helpful with Lauren and fun to remember :) 

I writing this at 6 weeks so am trying my best to remember Lauren's first full month.

Sweet Lauren, 

You have been such a doll baby! Your demeanor is so sweet and you really don't complain about much. You are pretty chill most of the time except when you are hungry. You don't give us much of a warning - you go straight to "hangry" as we call it around here.

You are a petite little bug and are in newborn sized clothes and newborn diapers. You feel so healthy and solid though and we can tell you are steadily gaining weight and are getting sweet little rolls on your thighs.

At your 2 week appointment you were up to 6lbs 10oz! At 2 weeks the goal is to be back up to birth weight (5lb 13oz) so you are doing awesome! Our next appt is at 2 months, so I'm not sure what you weigh now.

You pretty consistently eat every 3 hours and do fairly well at night, all things considered. I haven't been stressing about putting you on schedule which has made for a much more relaxed mommy this time around. At night you usually give me one 4 or 5 hour stretch between feedings and you seem to sleep more soundly during the first stretch of the night. I sometimes have to hold you to sleep from 4/5am on. You like to sleep with your head elevated so I've been putting you to bed in the nap nanny. We will try the bassinet or crib again in a few weeks but for now we are just doing whatever works.

For naps, you either sleep in the bouncer or in the bjorn or someone holds you. Since we are chasing Austin, running around a lot of the day, or having company, we've been relaxed about this.

I am so much less "by the book" with you and it's made for a much less anxious mama. I know we can correct any bad habits around 3/4 months once we figure out our routine and catch up on sleep a little bit!

When you are actually awake we hold you and talk to you, give you baths, which you really seem to enjoy, hang out outside while Austin plays and practice tummy time. You will hang by yourself in your bouncer or swing for a little bit, but you really prefer to be help. Maybe you are a little extrovert like your brother.

You love to snuggle and you love to be held! You are so happy in the baby bjorn or in the ergo or napping on any of us.


You've had lots of fun visitors this month! GranJan flew in from San Diego and helped us for a week and Aunt Robin was here for part of that time too! Miss Joy and Miss Melissa also flew in from San Diego and took your newborn pictures and spent the weekend with us! You also met your Aunt Laura, Uncle Shawn, Uncle Shannon and most of your Texas cousins! Doo Doo and Pa (my parents - Austin gave them their names) have been over a ton helping us with you and Austin and driving us to doctors appointments, etc!

Your brother Austin loves you so much and Dexter doesn't seem to be bothered that you arrived on the scene.

Little girl, you are so sweet and are such a blessing to us! We are looking forward to hopefully seeing that first real smile soon.

Bye Bye Cottage Way

So, we moved back to Texas...

It all happened so fast! Long story short, we got an offer on our house in Encinitas and it wasn't on the market. The timing seemed like it might be right, so we decided to just move forward and see if it all worked out. We LOVED our house and life in Encinitas, but we were running out of space in the house and my entire family lives back in Texas. Andy flew to Texas on his way home from a work trip to Miami (the same day the buyer came to look at our Encinitas house) and found a great house in Texas. He used his master negotiating skills to get a great deal and we went into contract that day. So, basically, we weren't really thinking about moving, then BAM, it all happened really fast. 

We are here in Texas now, but I wanted to make sure we saved the last round of photos from our sweet home in Encinitas. We loved the house, but we what we loved more were our sweet our Cottage Way neighbors. If only we could have brought them with us. Not to worry, we have lots of trips planned for them to visit us and for us to visit them in the next year(s).

Oddly enough right before we moved, we redid our kitchen counters, backsplash and updated the downstairs and upstairs master bath counters and mirrors. We did it for us, not to sell the house, but the timing worked out perfectly. 

Will post pictures of the Texas house once we unbury ourselves from boxes and get a few things up on the walls. 

Old photo, but one of the only ones I could find of the front of the house. 

  

These are the kiddos we miss so much! 

Austin lately

We are still here! Life has been busy and I have lots too updates. For now, until I can finally sit down and write, here is a spring photo update of our favorite little guy!

Recipe: Mint Brownie Bites

Here is the recipe for the yummy cookies that won the contest in our neighborhood cookie party. Thanks Anita!

I tried the recipe while in Texas over Christmas again and they were so yummy.

Not that you probably want any more Christmas cookies, but if you get a hankering for something chocolately and minty, I suggest giving these a try!

Brownie Bites

• 2/3 cup(s) all-purpose-flour
• 1/2 cup(s) unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) baking powder
• 1 pinch(s) salt
• 3/4 cup(s) granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoon(s) butter or margarine, melted and cooled
• 2 tablespoon(s) honey
• 1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
• 1 large egg white

Topping

• 1 cup(s) confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon(s) milk
• 1 tablespoon(s) butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) peppermint extract
• 2 ounce(s) white chocolate, melted and cooled
• 2 ounce(s) round hard peppermint candies, broken into chunks

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Directions

1. Prepare Brownie Bites: Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease large cookie sheet.
2. In large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. In medium bowl, whisk sugar, butter, honey, vanilla, and egg white until blended. Stir sugar mixture into flour mixture; then, with hand, press dough just until blended.
3. With greased hands, shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on prepared cookie sheet 2 inches apart; press to flatten slightly. Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until brownies have cracked slightly. Transfer to wire rack to cool.
4. Prepare Topping: In medium bowl, whisk confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Whisk in butter and extract, then whisk in melted chocolate until smooth. Swirl 1 teaspoon topping on each cookie. Top each frosted cookie with 1 candy piece. Store in tightly sealed container with waxed paper between layers at room temperature up to 3 days or in freezer up to 1 month.

Source: http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/mint-brownie-bites-recipe

December Rewind: Part 1

I am woefully behind on posting all of our Christmas festivities. I have so many pictures on my phone but no pics from our "real" camera. We had a few events/parties at home in San Diego before we flew out to Texas on the 21st for Christmas and New Years.

Here is our San Diego December rewind. I'll upload the Texas pics in a separate post.

Encinitas Christmas Parade
This year we went to the Christmas parade with Stone, Shelby and Knox (neighbors who also happen to be college friends), but just happened to bump into most of our street when we got there. We LOVE the parade and have only missed it once since moving to Cali. It makes Encinitas seem like such a small, cute, beach town and makes me so happy to live there.

2nd Annual Cottage Way Progressive Dinner
Once again, such a blast! Like last year, we moved between four different houses: cocktail hour, soup and salad, heavy appetizers, and finished with dessert. I think this is one of those things that is going to keep getting better and better every year. Love this group!

I helped Thuy with dessert this year. Truffles, butterscotch pudding(all Thuy), chocolate dipped raspberries, and cookies.

Girl's Bible Study Pajama Christmas Party
Sweet Sindie usually hosts all of us girls and our husbands for the annual Christmas party, but we changed it up this year. Since there are so many babies now, we left the husbands home with the kids and we had a girls only pajama party. My friend Kayla had a great idea for our gift exchange. Instead of a normal white elephant gift exchange, each person brought 3 of their favorite things ($10 or less each and wrapped). We each put our name in a hat 3 times and drew 3 names out of the same hat (just not your own). Then we each gave the gifts we brought to the 3 names we drew. It was so fun. I brought Essie nail polish and took home Trader Joe's Coconut body lotion, lip balm and really cool spatulas. Other good gift ideas: wine, gift card for Starbuck's inside of a red-cup with her instructions for her favorite drink written on the side for the barista, chocolate, etc....

Neighborhood Cookie Party
We hosted the annual neighborhood cookie party and kid's gift exhange this year. As always, it was so much fun. The kids actually sat pretty still while they all opened gifts and the cookies were yummy! We also had pizza and salad for dinner and a cookie decorating table for the big kids.

Next up...Texas Trip.