15 months!

Our little baby is fifteen months old! My, my how time is flying!

We had our checkup with Dr. G and everything looks great! Coco weighs 23 pounds 5.5 ounces and is 29 inches long/tall. *I think he's taller than this....? I need to mark him on his growth chart.

He spends most of the appointment pushing around the doctor's stool.

Hard work, being 15 months..

Just playing with cars... while holding onto a spoon.

It's really hard to get a picture where he smiles too.

We're introducing puzzles!

Fishing puzzles!

Car puzzles!

He can reach the counter tops now :-/

Even Superman needs a flashlight sometimes!

He's so goofy!!

Coco's sour face!

He had some rad hair one day!

Changuito!!

We hung out at the pool today. He found the shade quick!

Look at my little beach boy! 

He is so joyful these days. I just love this phase. He's trying to imitate us a lot, in our actions and in speech. As soon as he picked up on "no" we realized we have to watch what we say very closely. 

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. -Ephesians 4:29  

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. -Proverbs 22:6

Good reminders for parents.... or anyone! I'm making Cohen something pretty neat. I can't wait to show you once it's finished. 

His words so far: Dada, Mama, Nanana (banana), Go, No, Wow, Yea, Yay, uh-oh, oh no, ah-wah (agua/water), Juz (juice), Shh's (shoes), Wee-ooh (fire truck), Di-puh (diaper) ((which he brings us when he needs one!)), and Hi. He does sign language for down/finished, milk and hungry. He brings us lovey and blankey when he wants to nap. 

Slow down time!! :)

What's Cookin' Wednesday: A little meal planning goes a long way!

I tried a little meal planning for these two weeks. (We buy groceries in two week increments, as that's how I'm paid.) I'm pretty boring about dinner foods, so I took a look at one of my friend's (Katy's) meal plan. She does it every month and her ideas sounded fresh and new, so I borrowed a few! Check hers out. Thanks, Katy!

This is what our two week plan looked like.

-Spaghetti
-Greek chicken, spinach and feta puff pockets
-Chili dogs
-BBQ Chicken sandwiches
-Hamburgers
-Pasta salad
-Grilled chicken
-Lentil Soup (fave!)

Then we'll eat some leftovers and have sandwiches and sometimes we're not home. So, yea. You can definitely tell it's a beginner's plan. :) Hopefully I'll get more creative and search through my millions of cook books (thanks, Mom!) for some new staple meals, 'cause let me tell you, I'm tired of spaghetti! :)

But the point is, we save money by only buying the ingredients on the list, rather than a basketful of disjointed ingredients that I don't know what to do with when I get home.

ANYWAYS. I made the BBQ chicken sandwiches last week and they were divine. And SO simple.

All you need is:

3-4 thawed, boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or more if you want to make it last longer)
BBQ sauce, any kind (I used Sweet Baby Rays) :)
buns

I like my chicken LEAN... those are the scraps on the left.

Place in crock pot on low. Salt and pepper. 

Cover with BBQ sauce, generously.

After several hours, get in there with a fork and knife, and shred the chicken up. I added a little more BBQ sauce and let it cook for maybe an hour more.

There it is! It was delicious!

It actually tasted like BBQ pork or beef.. not sure why.. (looks like it too, huh?) It didn't need that extra hour though. It really was a good meal.. I was able to take some to work for one of my lunches, too! 

Give it a try!

New 'do.

So, it was definitely time for a hair cut for our little guy. It was IN his eyes all the time. And covering his ears. And making him sweat constantly.

I'm so bittersweet about haircuts for him. I love love love his hair. Not many babies get that, and I hope all of mine do. But anyways, it makes me so sad to think of cutting it off.

We took him back to the same place, Sharkey's Cuts for Kids. We like it alright. They have cool seats for the kids to sit in.. like Lightning McQueen, the Barbie Jeep, etc. Both times we've gone, Cohen has gotten Lightning McQueen. Too bad they don't have a Maximus horse from Tangled, he'd eat that right up!

The first time we went, an older lady (around 60?) cut his hair.. I was NERVOUS.. but she did ok. This time a lady, probably 35 cut his hair. She did pretty good. She was great with interacting with him and letting him feel the razor vibrate ("tickle") before she put it on his head, or blowing the blow dryer at herself before putting it on him, or spraying water on his arm before his head. Things like that. That didn't keep him from screaming. He didn't cry once the first time (on his first birthday). This time, after about one minute, he screamed and cried the entire time. Never mind that Sesame Street was playing just for him on the television to his left or that Cars was playing just for him on the television to his right. Nope. Not having it. He would barely eat the puffs I offered him. I had to back away to hide my own tears a couple of times. :(

BEFORE...poor baby has no idea what we're about to put him through

The next photos are during. Obviously.

Tears started coming..

How they cut their hair while they're writhing in that chair.. I have no clue!

Clutching the edge, trying to get away..

Probably scared of all that hair that was just on his head!

If  you're wondering why there are no more pictures of the actual haircutting, it's because I had to put the camera away to hold him down. We had to let him stand in the car and hug me, with his head pressed against my chest. It. Was. Awful. :( I kept telling myself, "he needs this, he needs this..." 

Here he is, post cut!

I think he's still handsome, just not in a baby way anymore.

I don't think haircuts are brutal. I just hate that he was so scared by it and wigged out so bad. 

We did say, as we were driving home, we don't think he'll have any more haircuts until he can understand a little better what's going on and that we're not hurting him. And perhaps when he can follow directions a little better. I don't want him to lose any bit of trust in us. 

So, there ya go! Freshly groomed Cohen!

Happy Easter!

Well, Easter was one of my minor holidays to work this year. I was supposed to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday, like normal. I ended up being forced to take PTO on Saturday (to avoid being cancelled without pay) so we were able to attend an Easter Service at Watermark! It was so wonderful!

Unfortunately, Cohen has yet to experience an Easter egg hunt. I'm hoping next year is the year. :)

Here is Cohen LAST YEAR on Easter, a mere 3 months old.

Before he could really move out of the picture :)

So, this year, we did Easter basket on Sunday evening, when I got home from work. Because I'm a little selfish and wanted to see him open it. :)

Easter Basket 2012! 

"Umm..what is this?"

There were puffs in all the eggs. :)

Jesus Loves Me book.

The contents: two summer outfits, sock monkey bunny, new sippy cup, book, chocolate marshmallow cross (I ate it), Peeps "sucker" (daddy and I ate it) and eggs filled with Puffs!

Isn't that cute?

Quite confused about why there's an empty cup being given to him.

Mama, you open this egg?

It was a wonderful Easter, though I was working. :) (getting used to saying that!) And we end the weekend feeling so blessed. And so thankful that Jesus defeated death and rose from the grave all those years ago. We're so unworthy, yet still He loves us.