1/2 Birthday

About a week ago, ButterBean turned 6 months old. It's hard to believe how fast a half of a year has gone by and how much he has grown in that amount of time. Today he had his 6 month check up (boooo for three shots!!!) and he's still above average but slowing down in the height department. At 28" he is 89th percentile instead of the 95th, which he was at 4 months. He was so cute at his check up and kept opening his mouth wide so they could give him his oral rotavirus vaccine. He cried worse than ever though for his shots - it didn't help that this nurse took an e t e r n i t y between each of the 3 shots. He has revived though and is currently rolling around the living room, jabbering up a storm.

My big blue eyed boy

Last week, because I love baking and because I'll find just about any excuse to make a cake, we celebrated ButterBeans half birthday with my family. The cake looked a little lumpy-bumpy, but still tasted good.

Note the diagonal candle representing the "half". He's not 12, he's a "half". Gatsby gave me much grief about this :)

 ButterBean was not allowed to have any of his own cake - cruel mother that I am! He still had a great time though!

The hubby, Gatsby, is already nervous for what I have in store for his first birthday if I'm already making cakes for his half birthday. Don't worry dear, I'll try to contain myself!  It's a good thing we aren't bursting at the seams with money or I could go overboard! I love planning parties.

Nap Time!

Monday was a glorious day for many reasons!

1) I had the whole day off

2) ButterBean and I went on a 6 mile walk in the beautiful sunny and 75 degree weather

3) ButterBean took a NAP!

A baby taking a nap might not seem monumental or glorious to most people, but in this house it is a miracle! Usually we are lucky if ButterBean takes a 20-30 minute nap. We have resorted to car and stroller rides to get him to take a nap. But, I think we have made a break through. TWO days this week he has taken a TWO HOUR NAP! Unheard of!

This is how it happened: We watched a little bit of the movie "Tangled" together on my bed while he drank his bottle. And just like that, he was asleep! I couldn't believe it! I didn't want to push my luck and try to move him to his crib, but the little guy is a rolling machine and I was scared that he would roll off the bed. So, I finished watching "Tangled". Yes, I watch kid movies and I'm not ashamed!

There is nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby!

I had to document his nap. It could be that I'm so sleep deprived that a nap sounds exciting enough to take pictures of.

Would you look at that face!? I had to restrain myself from kissing those little soft lips and cheeks!

Yeah for nap time!!! Now if only I could figure out how to get him to sleep through the night....

ButterBean's Bath Buddies

ButterBean's Bath Buddies! Isn't that fun to say?
ButterBean looooves bath time.

Little ButterBean when he was only 1 month old

At 4 months

He loves splashing and kicking and sucking on washcloths. I get a kick watching him splash like fish!  We'll see how funny all of his splashing is when he's older!!
He's just now getting into playing with toys in the tub.

6 months

Meet a couple of his bath buddies:

 

Just chilling with a starfish

 

He is now imitating his friend, the purple walrus!

Tonight he took a 1/2 hour bath and probably would have stayed in longer had I let him. He became a PruneyBean!

5 months

He used to hate being dried off and REALLY hated having lotion put on him. Now, he's used to it and doesn't usually put up a fuss. I love my wet, soggy, splashy "little happy one"!

Farmers Market

Minneapolis has great farmers markets and residents love them! Maybe it is because we only have a few months to spend outside. Maybe it is due to the push to "eat local". Whatever the reason, the Minneapolis farmers markets are bustling with people!
We have a couple small ones close to our house, but I've been exploring some others in the city. 
Last month, while Gatsby was out of town, ButterBean and I went to the Kingfield Market. This little gem was packed with people! I really enjoyed the variety thy were able to fit in a small space: veggies, herbs, handmade candies, a couple bakeries, cave-aged cheese, and a few food carts offering options like Thai food, gyros, and coffee. And a stage was set up with entertainment for the young shoppers. I haven't made it back there yet, but I plan on it.

ButterBean had fun with our Farmers Market Finds

Lettuce, and kale, and beets! Oh My!

One of the blogs I follow, Bogart Loves, has a stand there selling baked goods. She makes amazing macarons, and if you read my last post, you already know that I love macarons!
The main market down town has rows and rows of local vegetables, flowers, eggs, breads, and meats.  Saturday our little family ventured out in search of sweet corn!

Starting veggies early

We found it! We got a 14 ears (they threw in an extra 2 just in case we got a dud in there) and grilled some with my parents that night, We also got red and gold potatoes and white, orange, and purple carrots! I haven't decided what to do with the carrots yet, but the colors were too fun to pass up. I was also tempted to buy every tomato that we passed, but I'm hoping that the tomato plant in my back yard will give me a few of those. So far I've had lots of tomato flowers, but no actual tomatoes.

He actually does like carrots!

I love going to the market - you'll probably see more of ButterBean surrounded in produce. Hehe!

Sweets Bakeshop

Mmmm! Cupcakes and French macarons: 2 wonderful goodies that I could eat in large quantity. Today I treated myself to both. I had to run an errand into St. Paul, which conveniently brought me close to Sweets Bakeshop, a tiny little bakery that makes pretty much just cupcakes and macarons. I picked up this little beauty

A S'more cupcake! A chocolate ganache filled graham cracker cupcake topped with toasted meringue. Yum yums! I even ended up with some "marshmallow" on my cheek like I would with a real s'more. And they come in such a cute little to-go-box! Here's a look inside

These cupcakes aren't very large, so you don't have to feel too guilty eating it! But, because it was small I figured I could sneak in a little macaron too. I'd show a picture of the perfect little salted caramel macaron, however I popped it in my mouth as soon as I got in the car. Hehe!

Speaking of sweets...

I could eat him up!

Sitting in the Grass

It seems that ButterBean learns something new every day! His latest accomplishment is sitting up by himself. He was having an especially cranky moment and I needed something to distract him with. It was a beautiful evening, so I took him into the backyard to discover something new: grass. 

At first he needed a little assurance in his new environment

But soon he was enjoying himself and was very entertained by one stalk of grass 

 

And then as all things in ButterBean's grasp - it ended up in his mouth

Things were going great, but he was getting tired and tipping over, so I laid him in the grass to see if he'd like it

Swing and a miss! He wouldn't move or open his eyes! Other than that, it was a great way to entertain him for 20 minutes or so, which for ButterBean is a long time!

Our nice weekend

This was last weekend - it's taken me a week to get to write about it
After having finished the grueling month of July, we had a very nice weekend together as a family

We went to a friend's birthday party where plenty of people fawned over ButterBean

It was super muggy, so the pants had to go!

"Star" of the party (besides the birthday guy of course)

We enjoyed a delicious BBQ with my family: Beef kabobs, grilled shrimp, and salad.

ButterBean was able to swing for a couple minutes before we ran inside to prevent ourselves from melting in the heat

We also had a BBQ with some dear friends P&T. They made us bacon cheddar hamburgers (organic, no less!), grilled corn and asparagus, watermelon, and key lime pie! I waddled out of their house waaaay to full!

Nice weekend!