Pass the salt, butter, and steak sauce

Last night was MrC's company's holiday dinner. There  are only 5 of them in the Maryland office, so dinner had a grand total of 10 people and 2 of us were wives of employees. We got there 45 minutes late because his ma was 2 hours late coming to watch the baby. I was so mad but I remained the pleasant daughter in law that I always am. Dinner was at.Clyde's of Columbia and it was such an underwhelming meal. Not one person ate all of their food. The cooks clearly did not believe in salt or butter. My side dish was green beans and shredded carrots. Y'all, who serves shredded carrots on a plate? That is a salad topping not a side dish. I couldn't even get them on my fork so I only ate 2 carrot strings. Not a lick of seasoning was on either of them. Aside from the most bland meal I've ever had, the night was fun. MrC has only been on the job 3 weeks but 2 of the people are from his old company so they've known each other for 3 years. MrC is the only black person and when I say they love them some MrC, I really mean it. His coworkers wife knew all about us because her husband always talks of his travels with MrC. The other dude was telling everybody how MrC always picks the best restaurants and how he texts me a picture of his plate every time. They knew my name, they greeted me with hugs, and MrC got $100 in his holiday card. For 3 weeks of work, I say this company is a winner. MrC and I have had 2 date nights 2 weeks in a row, we getting real fancy around here!

(time to go back to bed now.j again, excuse any delirious typos)

Crafty

I have been in such a decorating/ crafting mood lately. Pinterest probably has a lot to do with that, but I tend to get like this around Christmas. I'm currently working on a chest I got at the thrift store for $24 and a picture I got for $4. I haven't quite decided which direction I want to go with the picture, I have 3 different ideas swirling around:
cork, fabric, chalk. Yesterday on pinterest I saw the cutest bracelet idea! You take a charm and tie a string to it and you have an instant bracelet. That's perfect for me because it doesn't dangle or make noise so Judah won't pull at it. I don't have any charms, but maybe I'll ask for some this Christmas. Speaking  of Christmas the only decorating I've done so far is making my wreath. Hopefully this weekend we'll get a tree and finish up making this place festive. I'm making some ornaments too if I ever get around to it. I need a nanny to take care of this baby while I craft (and sleep and eat).

I guess I found a good blogging time, when Judah is up way too early nursing (or playing or attacking). Excuse any typos, I'm about to go back to sleep.

Pictures to go with Yummy post

The last picture is Judah's reaction to prunes. We'll try them again tomorrow!

Yummy!

We had a pretty good weekend, how about you folks? Friday night we went to my company Christmas party. Obviously you can't see us very well in the picture, I wanted y'all too see those 2 ridiculous appetizer plates. We got there right as cocktail hour was ending so we missed the hors d'oeuvres and were a little bummed about it. I did defend my title as the first person in the buffet line 4 years running, so I was ok that I missed out on garlic fries. MrC asked the waitress if there were any fries or southwest rolls left and she had the, kitchen cook us a huge plate of both. The 2 of us failed miserably at clearing those plates, but it was tasty to try.

On Saturday I didn't get out of bed until 3 because Judah had a rough night. I had to do something productive with my day, so I went to buy a coat and get Judah's produce from the organic market. Judah and MrC really bonded when I left. I was putting him to bed and he was on my chest, MrC was next to us and his head was at my shoulder while he looked at tattoo pictures on his phone. Judah kept reaching out and stroking  MrC's cheek. He finally just flipped himself down there so he could see what daddy was looking at.

Last night I spent 3 hours making Judah's food for the month. I pureed prunes, apricots, pears, apples, plums, peas, green beans, potatoes, and squash. They're freezing in ice trays now and then I'll bag them up tonight. We have a good system going. He eats 2 cubes (2 ounces) twice a day. I take the frozen cubes out at night and put them in his little bowls in the fridge and they're thawed by the time he's ready the next day. I like using the ice trays because it's so easy to combine flavors and track portion sizes. 1 cube of carrots and 1 cube of peas and now he has peas and carrots. I can make any combination I want once I finish introducing each food to him. Making his food is fun and easy and since I do a bulk cooking session it doesn't require more than 30 seconds a day to get his food ready. This week his new foods will be prunes and apricots. Next week green beans, pears and apples are getting introduced. I'm allergic to melons, so I like to take my time when giving him new foods to make sure it doesn't cause him any problems. I'm praying we stay issue free!

6 months

My sweet baby turned 6 months on Thanksgiving. He had his doctors appointment yesterday and he's still 23 inches long and he weighs 10 pounds 14 ounces. We have an appointment to meet with a specialist to see why he's still so small. The Dr thinks he may have reflux since he spits up so much. Judah never seems uncomfortable after meals though and spitting up doesn't ever bother him. I've prayed over him, so I'm not worried about it. He does so well at the Dr. He got 4 shots and cried when he got stuck, but stopped as soon as it was over. He didn't get a fever and he wasn't fussy at all this time.
Over the past 2 weeks Judah has gotten super happy and independent. We can put him down and walk away and he'll play alone for a long time. He seems to think covering his face with blankets and bibs is a fun game. Even when I take it off, he just pulls it back. He's doing well with sitting up with support, and he can sit alone in the frog position for about a minute before he tips over. Judah acts like he's ready to crawl, he's pushing up and rocking so I'm keeping an eye on him in case he decides to take off one day. He loves eating peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash. He doesn't like bananas or avocados. He wouldn't even swallow the avocado. He made the "what the heck is this" face and spit them out. I gave him peas and he ate then right up and I tried the avocado again right after and he spit it out again.
I put him in the nursery at church for a bit on Sunday. They said he did well, but he got upset when a parent checked their child out. I guess he was ready to escape too.
He's guaranteed at least 3 thirty minute naps a day, but sometimes he'll go a little longer. Last night, he slept through the night! I put him down at 10, and I woke up at 5 and realized he was still sleeping. I had to pump because things got uncomfortable, but that's a good problem for me to have if it means more uninterrupted sleep in my future. He woke up at 6 and I'm feeding him now and I'll put him back in the crib to see how much longer he'll sleep.

Old man Judah

Judah sleeps like he just finished a 12 hour shift at a warehouse. I guess trying to snatch everything mommy has in her hands really wears him out.

Just a baby

I'm so behind on reading blogs and posting on mine. While I'm watching the end of Top Chef I'll take a minute to talk about my sweet laughing baby. He likes eating sweet potatoes, squash and peas. He likes to take the spoon and feed himself which leads to a very messy baby. I'm only giving him one tablespoon of food, but when he turns 6 months (Thanksgiving day) I'm going to allow him to eat for real. Right now I'm just introducing him to different flavors and getting him used to the process. He wants to sit up all the time now. When I put him in his boppy, he pulls forward and won't lean back. He can't do it without support yet though. We're working on going to bed independently right now. I'm going to miss holding him and rocking him every night, but I still have nap time! I just finished night 2 and he hasn't put up too much of a fight. He likes to flip over and play even when he's exhausted and I just have to keep flipping him back over so he won't hype himself back up. I am not a fan of crying it out, and I will not be making Judah do that. I keep telling him to chill out and just be a baby, but he insists upon growing up. Let me get some sleep now before bright eyes gets up.