Minneapolis

I am away from my loves for 5 nights and 6 days!  This seems like an eternity.  It is crazy!  I hope they do well.  I woke up this morning super early and was worried about how Todd is sometimes so hard to wake up and whether Lawton will be running wild on his own and hurt himself or drown in the toilet.  I am sure neither of these will happen, but its so hard to be away.  Its also hard to be away and not sleeping!!! 

We had terrific extremely unexpected news this morning and I am still on cloud 9 about it!!!  I am such a happy girl, hope all goes well. 

We had a very happy Halloween and just stayed home and passed out candy.  Lawton refused to wear any form of a costume and we just rolled with it.  He was awesome handing out candy, it was great!  Here are some pics of him sorting "bones" and playing with his Halloween-themed sensory box.  I've already made a fall themed one and I need to get some pictures of it.  It is so fun to play with him and watch him explore in these boxes!!  He is a hoot!

We are loving his learning tower.  I think Lawton loves it every bit as much as we do.  He gets to be at counter level and participate in everything going on.  We have already baked apple pies together and eat breakfast up there every morning.  I am so glad he can safely be part of meal making and always be close, it makes me love working in the kitchen so much more.  It was definitely an investment, but so worth it. 

Well cant wait for an update from the bachelor's at home!  Miss them so much!!!

News for me

Hello!  I got the best news last night and Todd was out of town and it was just me and the Boo.  He was in this incredible mood where he is just so calm and inquisitive so we just played and loved together until it was too late for him to be up and Mommy put him to bed.  I love him so much.  He learned how to Cheers! his cup at dinner the other night and its so sweet.  I love it.  We Cheers! over and over and over again.  It never gets old for any of us. 

Weaning is exhausting

This is an excerpt from an email I sent that I thought had a lot of my thoughts on this process as it has been happening, which I would like to save.

Since Saturday we have been working on night weaning Lawton.  It has gone much, much better than I expected.  On previous attempts I lasted all of 15 minutes before I caved in and said “screw this!” and nursed him.  All week we discussed that the nursing was going to go night-night and he would have to wait until the morning to nurse.  On Saturday night he woke up around 1am I held him and sang to him until about 3am until he was out enough where jostling him did not wake him back up again.  Two hours seems long, but he didn’t cry much, just had a hard time falling asleep soundly.  Last night it only took about 45 minutes for him to go back to sleep, but he woke up a second time at almost 4am and I could not get him to go back to sleep until I nursed him around 5:30.  He got very close, just not totally asleep.  I would really love to nurse longer,… but we are talking about baby #2 and my body doesn’t seem to want to make that happen (ie still have not had a period) unless we get Lawton to cut back a little on nursing.  It’s hard because he knows sign language and he makes the sign for nursing (he still does not say many words) but it just melts me when he starts signing.  Funny, in previous attempts I have had Todd go to him and that’s when he started screaming like he was being scalped and I would cave.  This time, I decided to be involved (I previously thought I would be more stressful for Lawton if I was involved, like I was taunting him with a carrot or something) and that did the trick for calming him.  Even if he couldn’t nurse, he was much happier if I was there and singing/holding him.  I hope tonight goes better.  One wake up and even less than 45m would be divine!   We’ll see.  It’s been an experience. 

Risotto

We have acquired a ridiculous amount of rice (specifically of the Cajun variety) during our little experiment with local eating and getting twice weekly $25 food boxes from Hollygrove market.  Usually we get a bag containing a solid pound of either Cajun or popcorn rice, fish fry, or grits in each of our boxes.  As you can imagine, you have to get creative with rice to use all of this.  We have essentially eliminated pasta from our diet and eat rice with almost every meal.  Lately, I have been making rice pudding as a special snack.  recipe here!Todd says it is the best oatmeal he's ever had.  Last night, I learned the definition of patience by deciding to make a risotto out of long-grain Cajun rice.  The result was still slightly al dente but still delicious.  recipe here!  Of course, we were lacking on carrots and celery, so I substituted beets for carrots and leaks for celery and I still have to say, it was tasty delicious and the pepto-bismo color I feared never materialized as it turned an earthy deep brown read as the beets turned into soft melty deliciousness with the rice softening.    I forgot to get a picture, but will take one of the leftovers.

Weekend Kohlrabi

We made this recipe this weekend,..  http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/11/shredded-kohlrabi-quick-pickle-recipe.html?utm_source=March+24th+Box+Email&utm_campaign=Newsletter+Results&utm_medium=email  With a Kohrabi that was gigantic!  I got to taste them a little and they are delicious.  Can't wait to start snacking on them.

We took the baby to Tulane's Crawfest only to find out there was no crawfish left.  Oh well.  It was fun walking around with a baby on campus in a Dino hoodie (the kids couldn't get enough of that) who kept losing and carrying his shoe around.  So funny.

On Sunday, I  went to Dr. Lara Doyle's wedding shower.  She was beautiful and a fun time was had by all.  So excited to get home to my boys and pick up some crawfish.  We enjoyed some good times on our porch as Lawton played with his water table and ate crawfish as they were pealed for him, in a drive-by fashion.  you had to watch your fingers as he zoomed passed and indulged in the salty, spicy, deliciousness.

A fun time had by all!!!  Right before bed, we put on the squeaky shoes and a new outfit that made Daddy think that I was dressing Lawton up like a girl.  Oh well, what's so bad about that? 

Pool and other fun

We went to the pool last night.  Lawton is so much fun in the pool and now he loves to get on the side of the pool and jump into your arms. He is also exploring how to jump in head first and I am sure soon he will master this, once he gets a little better at swimming.  I love that I swam with him everyday while he was in my belly and now he is a swimming & water fool since he has been out.  He has never once been in a pool or bath tub that he did not like.

We came home and I gave him a bath in my bathing suit, which was a fun way to give him a bath and avoid the inevitable constant request to nurse if I am naked.

He has slept much better since we've been home from Colorado, think the hardest part of teething is behind us.  We will definitely be trying to start night weaning, soon!

 

Whole Foods

Last night we went to Whole Foods.  We marveled at Lawton who decided he wanted a box of organic hamburger helper and carried it around for three aisles.  In true Tara fashion, I decided that I needed to go back to the aisle where the hamburger helper lives because I needed something on the other side of the aislenand Lawton put the box back in the exact spot it came from.  Then he grabbed the Tuna helper.  Guess he was needing some omega-3s and wanting to avoid unnecessary cholesterol.  Man, this kid rocks. We met a cute mom who has a little one a few months younger than Lawton and works for Tulane.  Her husband is out of town for 3 years!!  Three years!!!  That is crazy.  I am going to email her and find out if she wants to go to Craw-fest with me!  New friend!!!