Three Quarters of the Way to One...

Yesterday, Judah had his 9 month check-up with the pediatrician. He was so good while we waited for the doctor and he "walked" over to the nurse when she was asking the routine questions.
Judah now weighs 24 pounds and is 30 inches long. He is in the 90th percentile in both weight and height. What is kinda' funny is the fact that Judah loves his veggies and usually acts like you've given him a lemon when we try to give him fruit. The doctor said he has heard that conversation so many time but under opposite terms. My DH said that Judah will be the most popular child in the lunch room saying "I'll trade you my cookies for your broccoli". Judah scored really well in the development test we did. He is right on track, which translates into Judah being interested in everything around him and now having the capabilities to try to check said items out. At least the falling over has slowed down ever so slightly.

I just can't believe my precious boy is 9 months already.

Tubes and Tunnels...

On Monday evening after dinner, we walked over to the playground by our house. Judah did his best to climb around.He tried out the tube slide and the tunnel tube. He was a big fan of the latter and he crawled back and forth from my DH to me and back again.
When Judah would get near the end of the tube, he would start holding one of his hands up for me to hold and then he would stand up as he exited the tube.
We also walked on the moving bridge thing (I am not sure what the real name of it was). Judah thought that it was fun and managed to keep his balance pretty well, holding on to my fingers of course. I can't believe how big he is getting.It was so nice to be out is the fresh air, even if it was a more than a little warm.

A Zoo Day...

On Sunday, we went for a family outing to the zoo.

It was extremely hot out, even though we tried to get there before the hottest part of the day. Here I am trying to bring sunhats back into style and avoiding a sunburn at the same time.
We think that the fish are Judah's favorite part of the zoo. He tends to recognize them and they manage to hold his attention the best.
We also figured out that Judah can last about 1/2 of the zoo. Before we were finished, he was zonked out.Matt and I did manage to get a pretty good self-portrait while the little man was napping though.

Mom aka Grandma...

My mom came for a week long visit over the Fourth. It was so nice to have her here and our time always flies by.
We got to brainstorm ideas for Judah's birthday and do a little bit of crafting. Of course, my mom (aka Grandma) also got to play with Judah as well.

We also went out to dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday, which was on the 11th. Judah helped her open her cards and her gift. We got her the Pioneer Woman Cookbook. I ordered one for myself as well so that we could cook some of the recipes together across the miles. Mine hasn't come in yet, but I can't wait to start cooking from it, I have heard so many good things about it.

I just love this picture, I think it is really good of both of them. I think my mom is so beautiful.

My Messy Office? Not Anymore...

I survived the office mess. To start with I thought that I might have bitten of more than I could chew, but I managed to get it all put away after all. Here is the after picture of the office. The lone box you see is my donate box.
For the record though, my house cannot hold another piece of furniture in it and I am pretty sure that all of the storage space is maxed out as well. My laundry/storage room is filled to the ceiling.
I did manage to keep my crafting stuff somewhat accessible, which my DH said was a must. He said if I put it all away in crates, I wouldn't touch again. So, with his help we reworked the bookcases in the office so I could put the books that were in the below bookcase out in the office. Then I filled the recently emptied bookcase with fabrics. One of these days I am going to start on that long list of projects I have to complete. For now, I am trying get crib rail covers sewn for my teething little boy's crib.

I also found some great sheets that I am wanting to use to redo our bedroom with. I am doing a room makeover on a tight budget and I was sooo excited to find some twin Ralph Lauren floral sheets (the same print as the comforter in the picture) for $8 each at Marshall's. I am wanting to make some pillowcases, a bedskirt, and some valances out of them. I was thinking about trying to find a queen sheet to make a shower curtain out of, but my DH said we might should do our bedroom first and make sure it isn't too much of the same print. I will have to put some before pictures of our room and then some after ones (once I actually change it up).

Speaking of before and after pictures, I had to wonder what possessed me to put up pictures of the office in such a mess. However, I figured out that it served to be great motivation to get the office finished. I needed to be able to post the cleaned up after pictures quickly so that my office didn't go down in blog-infamy looking the way it did in the before pictures. So, you just might see more before after pictures around here.

Flying Again...

Well, the office/laundry room is almost finished getting reorganized. In fact, the laundry room is done and now I am finishing up the overflow in the office. I hope that I manage to get the office finished by the end of the day and have pictures tomorrow.

This week, I am really wanting to get back to the basic FlyLady zones. I understand that I am not going to be able to go over it with a fine-toothed comb as I have previously done, but I do want to do the big things.

My mom is coming for a visit at the end of the week (Yay!) and I want the house to be nice when she gets here. My DH's parents will be here later on in the month, so I hope that I can carry on my zoning until they arrive. I just hope this little FlyBaby can manage to keep flying and get back in the FlyLady routine of things.

Judah is getting so close to walking. He is crawling all over the place and pulls up anytime he can. He is still learning that once he pulls up he can't just let go. I am learning that falls come with the territory, but I am hoping I don't have a heart attack before he gets the hang of it. I constantly feel my heart jumping into my throat and am always wondering whether or not the last little fall gave him a concussion. (Those of you that have gone through this, did you feel the same way or is it just me?) I am seeing how much Judah bases his reaction on my reaction so I am trying not freak out every time.
I am currently taking a little rest with my sweet little boy napping nestled right up next to me. He is having a snuggle day today. I think one of his top teeth is about to break through because he is kinda' unsatisfiable today. When I set him down, he just crawls over to me and starts pulling up on my legs. So, snuggle day it is and I am cherishing these moments.

Invictus Movie Review...

This past weekend, my DH and I had the chance to watch Invictus. I was completely unaware of the story that was portrayed, other than what I had previously gathered from the movie's previews. I don't want to give away too much information and ruin the movie for you, but here is a general overview.
The story is about the underdog South African rugby team, the Springboks, and Nelson Mandela's encouragement/inspiration to the team captain leading up to the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

In the development of the rugby story, the relationships between the English South Africans and the native South Africans come to life and how Mandela mediated between them.

The title of the movie comes from a poem that Mandela used as inspiration for himself and later passed on to Francois Pienaar, the Springbok's captain. The poem, titles "Invictus", was written by William Ernest Henley.

From a Christian perspective, the poem has questionable assumptions, primarily the closing lines (which are the summation of the movie).

"I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul."

These lines brought up a discussion between my DH and I about the validity of these lines. In regards to a Christian interpretation, I understand it to mean that an individual can choose whether or not to let a given situation be the cause of ruin for their life. In the case of Mandela, even though he spent 27 years imprisoned he didn't resign himself to being the victim for the rest of his life.

The movie wasn't without some bad language, but overall was had good content. To get a better review on objectionable content, you can go to Focus on the Families Plugged In Review.

I am curious if any of you saw Invictus? What did you think of it?

Mobility and Cleaning Out...

Around here, things have been steadily busy.

This last week, I work on cleaning up the bathroom closet and the hall closet. They are both catch-all closets and the hall closet was so full I couldn't get my vacuum cleaner back in it. Now they are cleaned out though. Here are a couple of pictures of the bathroom closet.A couple of weeks ago, I went through Judah's room and cleaned out all of the stuff he had outgrown because I was running out of space for current stuff. There is a nice size pile of stuff currently stacked up in the office. I need to condense my craft stuff so I can rearrange some of our stuff to get everything put away. Here is a before/current picture of the office and laundry room, hopefully I will have some after pics by the end of the week.
Judah, in addition to walking around in his walker, is crawling and regularly pulling up now. Judah has also hit that extremely busy and trying to get into everything phase. Couple that with the fact that he finds the stuff that he has outgrown, mainly his infant swing and moses basket, very interesting and you can see why it is imperative that I get the office back in order. Here are a couple of pictures of my busy little boy.

Caribbean Black Bean Soup...

Several months ago I discovered a new favorite soup recipe. It is really easy to make and tastes so good. The only downside to the recipe is that it takes a little more than 2 hours to cook, but because of that you don't have to cook the chicken beforehand like in most recipes. I usually make a double batch so I can put some extra meals in the freezer. It tastes just as good reheated.

The recipe is from the September 2008 issue of Southern Living. It has some orange juice in it, which gives it a hint of the Caribbean. It tastes great served with Lime Tortilla chips and some diced avocado on top.

Caribbean Black Bean Soup

1/2 cup diced onion
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 (14-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 pound chicken breast tenders
2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, drained
1/2 teaspoon salt
(Optional toppings - Lime Tortilla chips, diced avocado, chopped cilantro)

Saute onion and next 4 ingredients in hot oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes or until onion is soft and fragrant. Add garlic, and cook 1 minute.

Stir in tomatoes and next 4 ingredients until well blended. Stir in chicken. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook 2 hours. Shred chicken with two forks in Dutch oven. Add black beans, and cook 10 more minutes. Stir in salt. Serve with desired toppings.

You can freeze any leftovers in an airtight container to have later. If needed you can add water or chicken broth when reheating to reach desired consistency.

Banana Pudding...

This past weekend, the grocery store had bananas 4 pounds for $1. My DH and I both looked at each with the same shine in our eyes, the thought of banana Pudding.

So Sunday afternoon, I made Banana Pudding under Judah's supervision, of course. Being that the recipe makes many more servings than two people should eat, we made up several small batches and then delivered them to our neighbors.

I wanted to share the recipe I use. It is the one that my mom uses and I think she got it from my Gram. So to me this is the way that Banana Pudding is supposed to taste. Haha! This recipe does use a little sour cream, which adds to the richness of the pudding while also toning down its sweetness just a tad.

Banana Pudding

3 pounds of ripe bananas
1 small package of banana cream instant pudding
2 small packages of vanilla instant pudding
5 cups of milk
1 (8 ounce) container of sour cream
1 large container of Cool Whip, divided
1 box of vanilla wafers

Peel and slice bananas. Set aside.

Whisk together all puddings, milk, sour cream, and 1/2 container cool whip in a large bowl.

Layer banana slices, pudding, and vanilla wafers. Top with remaining cool whip, adding a few drops of cold milk for spreading consistency. Refrigerate until time to serve.