at home with ann

Way back in the beginning of January, my little boy turned 2.  In the blink of an eye he's suddenly a whole grown up person.  He's hilarious, a ton of fun, and full of opinions.  I hear a lot of "What's this, Mommy?," "I can do it myself.  Colin does it!," and "Oh, dump truck, I love you so much, would you like to play trains with me?"  That last one might not be typical two year old behavior, but it's pretty funny to hear.  To celebrate his birthday, we had a brunch with family and friends.  This year's theme was trains, as the birthday boy loves "chookin chookin."  He is also of the opinion that it's not a party without balloons and cars, so both were included in the day.  I didn't do a good job taking pictures of the food or the dining room because I was a busy bee and enjoying the celebration, but here are a couple glimpses from the day. The menu had some repeats from last year, and a couple new items.   ...

I make these recipes for Colin, but grown up people might like them too! Colin was never big into baby food purees.  I fed him one jar of food back when he first started eating solids, mostly so that I could have the cute mini jar to use for lotion.  I think those "complete meals in a jar" are kind of creepy.  Chicken dinner puree?  No, thanks.  For the most part he has eaten fruits and vegetables, either raw, steamed, roasted or sauteed.  A few things have been big hits and I use them as staples: broccoli and roasted sweet potatoes.  He's big in picking things up himself.  We can get into ruts, however, one of which resulted in his eating an entire roasted butternut squash over a two week period. He likes to help in the kitchen, which means he wants to see everything that's going on and touch it.  Cooking with one hand while holding him with the other can be a bit of a challenge.  Sometimes I can convince him that the view from his c...

This was, by far, the best year of my life.  Every single day I woke up (sometimes quite early) to a smiling face, and felt my heart get a little fuller.  I feel truly blessed and lucky to spend all my time with my amazing baby.  To celebrate Colin's first birthday, we had a little family party.  After considering several options, I decided to go with a "C" themed birthday brunch.  Thanks to the generosity of our family, we are now well-stocked with new toys! The menu (I will admit a few of these were a bit of a stretch...): C innamon French Toast C asserole C rustless Spinach and C heddar Quiche C ream C heese, Bagels and Smoked Salmon C arved Ham and Rolls C hicken Salad Wraps C ut Fruit Salad C heese and C rackers C ider C hampagne and Orange Juice or C ranberry Juice C arrot C ake C upcakes with C ream C heese Frosting I'll be sharing the recipes for the Cinnamon French Toast Casserole and Carrot Cake Cupcakes soon, bit in the meantime, ...

Hello, AHWA readers!  Colin here, sharing my perspective on life at 9 months old. I know I'm 9 months old because my mom whispered it to me when we were spending some quality time together at 3:48 AM on October 4th.  She does this every month, I wonder if she's ever going to stop.  At least it's not every Wednesday anymore.  My day usually starts with Daddy coming in to get me out of bed.  IT IS SO EXCITING - I LOVE DADDY!!!  This is usually our only time together during the day so I am very chatty and giggly.  We all head downstairs and eat breakfast.  I have only recently started eating breakfast, but I can gobble down fruit like none other.  I did not care for oatmeal, and made that clear. After Daddy heads to work, I play for a bit and then it's time for my first nap.  When I wake up, I jump up and down in my crib and sing until Mommy retrieves me.  This is when we head out for our first adventure of the day.  Somet...

I should call this the 7 1/2 month update, because that's how far behind I am! We have been having the best summer!  Seeing lots of friends and family and bouncing from one beach to another.  We were lucky enough to spend a few days with my best friend and roommate from high school, Megan, and her two little kids, who are 3 1/2 and 1.  They are adorable, and it was great (if a bit crazy) to hang out with all the kids together.  We've visited with both sets of grandparents, and spent the week in Maine with my parents, my sister and her family.  I spend considerably less time on the beach baking in the sun and more time cleaning sand out of Colin's mouth, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  Colin loves the beach.  He likes to be held standing at the edge of the water and stomping his feet, he likes to sit in tide pools and splash, and most of all he likes to eat sand.  The delicious organic peas I lovingly steamed and mashed for him, he does ...

Six Months?!  I know I say this in every update, but it comes as a complete surprise to me that I have a six month old baby.  I think back to when Colin was first born, and we would talk about things that happen at six months, it seemed like ages away.  I think back to last July, when I was just out of my first trimester, finally able to eat things other than egg sandwiches or pb&j, and sharing the news of my pregnancy.  This month has been a busy one.  Little Mr. Roly Poly never stays in one place anymore.  This made for a couple rough weeks when he would wake up in the night, and then instead of going back to sleep, rolled over onto his tummy and yelled at me until I rescued him.  I'm happy to report he has now also mastered the front to back roll, and things are going much more smoothly.  I don't feel as comfortable leaving him lying on our bed for very long anymore, though, because he rolls and scoots and I'm worried he's going to fall o...

And just like that, we have a five month old baby.  Here are some highlights on what is new, what is awesome, and what is slightly less than awesome. Colin wants to eat everything.  His hands, my hands, my hair, his blankets, toys, books, the signs I make for his weekly photo shoots, photos on the fridge, my camera, and anything I'm eating, for starters.  Along with wanting to eat things, he wants to hold them.  This means that I haven't worn my hair down in months (he pulls hard!), and have had help with such important tasks as spilling water while I'm trying to drink and pulling my camera off the desk.  Fortunately I have very fast hands, but I've learned to be a little more careful about where I leave things. After last month's monumental back-to-front roll, he has shown less interest in flipping over and more interest in scooting.  If I put him on his tummy and leave him to his own devices, he will scoot and pivot around in his spot, all 360 degre...

Four months have gone by since we welcomed this tiny guy into the world. He's much less tiny now (up to 18 pounds!), and has a whole personality that lights up the room.  I spend my time with a little wiggly, kicky, almost rolling, baby cooing, toothless grinning, chewing on everything, giggling bundle of joy.   Although I could certainly go on and on about how wonderfully amazing he is, and how he brings me immeasurable happiness every moment of the day, this month I wanted to share some of my favorite baby items.  I know some of you are expectant moms, or have friends who are, so these might be baby shower ideas! Baby K'tan - This wrap is probably the single best baby item I own.  As Colin has gotten a little bigger and more independent, I don't rely on it quite as much as I used to, but there were many weeks when I wore him in it for the bulk of the day.  I would wash it in the middle of the night because I couldn't be without it for even...

We're taking a break from our regular food chat today to talk a little about what life has been like for the past 2 months with Baby Colin.  Don't worry, I can't go more than a few minutes without talking about food, so we'll touch on that, too. If you are sick of hearing about babies, feel free to skip over, I'll be back with recipes soon.  Colin is two months old.  The fastest two months of my life, but at the same time I can barely remember what life was like before he was in it.  On Sunday morning at 4 AM I told him about the night he was born and how I didn't think I could ever be happier than I was in that moment, exactly two months ago.  I was wrong, because every day he makes me happier.  I also can't believe how much he's grown!  My little 7 pound 13 ounce peanut is now pushing 14 pounds.  We have already packed up all the newborn and 3 month clothes.  We like to eat around here.  He's changed so much, his suspicious newborn l...

It's been a whole month since I've checked in, I hope a few of you readers are still around!  I took my little guy to his one month checkup today.  He's in the 84th percentile for weight, this kid likes to eat!  Just like his mom.  My sidekick doesn't always feel like hanging out in the kitchen, so I've been doing a lot less cooking these days.  I have been doing a lot of one-handed eating, however.  New mom tip: Drink your soup out of a mug.  Don't bother trying to mess with a bowl and a spoon, you'll never get to eat lunch. Yesterday I did a little cooking for the Super Bowl (we will not be discussing the outcome...).  On the menu was buffalo chicken nachos with blue cheese, pico de gallo and guacamole.  Sadly I didn't get a chance to photograph the nachos due to the aforementioned sidekick who was feeling a little fussy, but they were delicious.  I made the chicken in the crock pot.  One package of chicken breasts into the ...

The best thing we've ever made.  Freshly baked on January 4.  We'll be on a brief hiatus until I figure out how to cook with one hand.  In the meantime, Jon is showing off his kitchen and takeout ordering skills.

It's a bun!  That's right, sometime on or around December 24th I'll be having a baby!  I can't begin to express how excited and happy we are. It's been tough keeping this secret off the blog for the past 4 months, although a couple of my friends said they had their suspicions during the weeks when I only ate egg sandwiches and smoothies.  Sorry about that exceedingly boring blog time.  I'd also say it explains why I've been eating so much ice cream and cheese, but let's be honest, I'd probably be doing that anyway. I will likely be getting an email from Jon telling me I'm embarassing him, but he has been wonderful and I am so lucky to have him.  He has patiently sat through many, many doctors appointments, and put up with quite a few crazy pregnancy things from me, including but not limited to: -Those rough weeks in the beginning when I couldn't walk through the kitchen or smell food, ate only egg sandwiches, smoothies, and peanut butte...