For the Love of Pumpkin

Those who know me know that I have a love of pumpkins. What's not to love? They are very versatile and oh-so-tasty in cooking, their seeds are a great snack, and I think they are cute! If I had more time right now I'd do some fun pumpkin crafts:

Rhinestone Web

Lacey Pumpkin

Glitter candle holder

So, I was a proud Mama when my own little Punkin' displayed his love of pumpkin. He has already tried pureed pumpkin and ate it like a champ. I made some pumpkin bread the other day and I while I was eating a piece ButterBean was going crazy trying to get at it. I gave him a nibble, which caused instant leg kicking and arm waving. I gave him little bites in between his "Hunhh, hunhh!" for more. This boy is definitely his mother's son!

Pumpkin-Head

Hello pumpkin!

Tonight, in the Halloween spirit I will be making Penne-Pumpkin Pasta, which I made last autumn too. I don't have any cream on hand, so it won't be quite so creamy, but still yummy! I feel no guilt with this because it's basically just whole wheat pasta, shallots, sage and pumpkin! I can't wait!

My little Pumpkin Monster

Happy Halloween!

Surprise Visit

Last weekend I was given the pleasure of a surprise visit from my best old pal, Little Stay at Home Momma. We hadn't seen each other in a ridiculous 2 and half years. Waaaay too long! It had been so long we each had a child that the other had never met! That's what happens when you live 12 hours apart, have kids and crazy lives.

It was sooooo good to see her and her cutie-patootie girls even if it was for only a couple of hours.  I miss you already!!!

I also made this discovery: Chia

 This was a fun drink I picked up at Lakewinds- it's chia seeds that have been hydrated and it turns into a drink that feels like watery jello with tiny crunchies in it. Definitely different, but definitely yummy.

 It looks like something you might see in an alien movie. Or something great for a Halloween party!

8 month favorites continued

5-8 of my favorite Butterbean-isms

5. His "persistence": My mom told me I had a "persistent personality" as a baby and I think this has been passed on to him from both Gatsby and me. If he doesn't want to sleep, he doesn't want to sleep! He'll rub and rub his eyes, thrash from side to side, and wear himself out until his body falls asleep despite what he tells it to do. A favorite move of mine is when he lies on his back with his eyes shut and shakes his head, stops, kicks both legs a few times, stops, shakes his head, stops, and on and on until he falls asleep. The version of this on his stomach is to lift his head, slam it on the bed, lift head, slam on bed, until he falls asleep.

Rubbing eyes

after much bouncing

fell asleep in the johnny-jump-up

 6. His need to grab everything and see everything going on around him: If an object is near him, he will grab it. This is typical baby stuff, but I love it. His favorite objects are remotes and cellphones. If action is going on around him, he will swivel his whole body forcefully from side to side just to make sure he doesn't miss any of it. And if you turn while holding him, he will crane his way around to see behind him. When being held in the standing position, he performs a continuous pivot/twirl to get a 360 view. He never stops.

Gimme that!

Hey, what's going on back there?

7. His cuddles: This boy loves his cuddle time. I hope it stays that way. There is nothing like lifting a baby out of the crib and having him bury his face in your neck. Mmmmm!!

looks like I need to get a recent cuddle time picture

8. His SMILE

Happy Autumn!!

Look at me! I'm 8 months old!

8 months

It's true. The ButterBean turned 8 months yesterday. I shall celebrate by listing my 8 most favorite things about my sweetie pumpkin boy! I'll give you four today and four tomorrow.

1. His cheeks : they drip off his face

2. His hair: not only because it is my color, but because it grow so fast, when the wind blows he looks crazy, there are about nine long scraggle hairs in back that for some reason I haven't cut

Then...

...and now

3. His tongue: I've written before about how goofy his tongue is. He can flip it upside down by twisting it sideways, he loves to let it hang out, he makes spitty noises with it. And one of his latest tricks is to suck up his upper lip with it and smack his lips. You get something like this:

Flipping his tongue around

4. His growl: My baby doesn't talk so much as growl. To say hello, it sounds more like "hhhaahhh!". He makes a lot of noise.  When he's just chilling out and having a chat, he makes lots of grunts, and "ggnnnhhh" sounds. There are plenty of "dadadada", "yayaya", and a few "ma"s thrown into the mix. 

4 more reasons to love this guy tomorrow!

The Post-Anesthesia Post

I'm going to start an ongoing post of all of the things I want to do when I have time. AKA- The Post-Anesthesia Post. Everyday I think of something that I'd like to do, but don't have the time and/or money to do it right now. I don't want to forget about all of these great ideas, so I'll keep track here on the blog. It's a bit of a bucket list, I suppose.
Today's idea:
Write a children's book
I have the characters in my head already and have ideas for illustrations. I can't draw, but I like the style of Shirley. 

 I have a fondness for old kids books because the illustration is so different than books today. My favorite out of my collection is Captain Kitty, illustrated by Elizabeth Webbe.


 
The illustrations are adorable and the poem is sweet: 
"Oh Captain Kitty, where have you been? 
I've been sailing the ocean blue

And Tabby came as my first mate

And Pearly and Mew were the crew!"

I used to have the whole book memorized.Thanks Ma for reading me this wonderful book! Butterbean better get ready, because he's going to hear this one a lot!

One of my favorite illustrations from the book

Remembering

About a year ago I saw this image

 

My Butterbean

I knew you were going to be adorable!

Bad Sleeping Habits...and a tooth

 First things first - ButterBean officially has his first tooth! Yeeaaahhh! There won't be a picture of the cute little toothie because whenever he opens his mouth, his ridiculous tongue is hanging out.

I've already chronicled how the ButterBean despises sleeping. Nap time is getting better, but he still needs coaxing, a bottle, and snuggles to go down for a nap. He used to be a pretty good night time sleeper, with one or two whimpers requiring a pacifier reinsertion. Now, we have a problem. It could be the teeth, but I think it's genetics. I shall explain:

I had to bring the sleep-deprived babe to my mother-in-law's house today for a couple hours. I had some 'splaining to do because my sweet boy has two big bruises on his forehead!! I don't want any rumors going around that I'm a bad mama, so I filled her in on our bad night. ButterBean went to bed as usual - reluctantly. Then at 1am he was up screaming. Little bottle, little snuggle, back to bed. Unfortunately, the stinker wasn't so keen on being put in the crib. We've talked about letting him "cry it out", so we tried it.

not. good

There was thrashing, screaming, and gnashing of tooth. And apparently smashing of heads into the crib rails!

We gave in and brought him in our bed so we could get some sleep. Of course, he went to sleep fine when snuggled between us.

In the morning when I woke up, there was my boy with two bruises on his head. Guilt!!

Anyway, after I explained Bean's forehead, my mother-in-law told me how my dear hubby, Gatsby, behaved at about this age. Apparently, Gatsby threw such fits and jumped around in his crib so much when he was supposed to be sleeping, that he broke the mattress (this is why I say it is genetics). Their solution was to let him cry it out in a pack-n-play. It worked. Sooo, a pack-n-play may be in our near future. But tonight, around 1am, there will be a baby in my bed.