Helmet Graduation!

Jackson's helmet and head mold now serve as a "unique" (and expensive) accent on his dresser.

After 5 months, Jackson is finally done with his helmet! I am so, so happy!! And so is Jackson! In the last couple of weeks, he seemed to be getting pretty sick of it and even figured out how to unvelcro the strap (he probably would have figured out how to take it off before too long). Best of all, his measurements all ended up in the normal range! Woo hoo!! Here's a before and after look at his noggin'.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I guess it's kind of hard to see the difference with all of Jackson's hair, but this printout from the orthotist clearly shows the progress Jackson made. The inner (somewhat lopsided) circle is what his head looked like before the helmet and the outer circle is what it looks like today.

 

Isn't that amazing?! The whole process was easier than I imagined at the beginning, mostly because Jackson adjusted to it so well. That being said, I am still over the moon that we can put this "stage" behind us. No more daily helmet washing and no more fear of getting a black eye or tooth knocked out from a blast to the face with it. I am also looking forward to kissing that sweet little head whenever I want (and without it smelling like a dirty sock). I'm also relieved that we won't be met with stares and sad faces and from strangers wherever we go. Although, it was somewhat amusing to hear what people assumed the helmet was for:

• "Oh, did he crack his skull?"
• "Did he have brain surgery?"
• "Did you guys ride your bike here?" (ummm... no it's the middle of winter...)
• "Does he have epilepsy?"

After several questions like these I began to understand why people would look at Jax and I with such pity. I also became increasingly thankful that the helmet was not for any of those reasons- it definitely put things in perspective. Some of my favorite comments were from kids. Many of them were curious and would ask me (or their parents) why "that baby" was wearing a helmet. Even more of them were jealous and would say things like-"look at his cool helmet!" or "I want a helmet like that!" While cruising around Uptown one evening, a young woman approached us and told us how she had to wear a helmet when she was a baby and proceeded to show us how round her head is now. (Although, she said her dad still calls her "block head"). She said that he'd thank us one day. I also appreciated all the mothers and grandmas that would stop me and tell the stories of their kids or grandkids that had to wear helmets. They would all reassure me that we made the right choice and that it made a huge difference for their loved one... You've got to love the camaraderie of mothers! Especially when articles like these were coming out in the midst of everything. All in all, I am definitely happy that we decided to put him in a helmet and am very pleased with the results! Bring on the cute winter hats!!

Chicken Wild Rice Salad

This is a delicious make-ahead recipe from Lunds & Byerly's that's perfect for lunch or dinner!

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup low-fat mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 3 cups cooked chicken
• 3 cups cooked wild rice
• 1/3 cup finely sliced green onion
• 1 can (8oz) sliced water chestnuts, drained
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup green grapes, halved
• 1 cup salted cashews

Directions:

• blend mayo, milk, lemon juice, and tarragon in small bowl
• in large bowl, combine chicken, wild rice, green onion, water chestnuts, salt, and pepper
• stir in mayo mixture until blended
• refrigerate, covered, 2-3 hours
• just before serving, fold in grapes and cashews
• garnish with clusters of grapes

Enjoy!

DIY Dog Silhouette

I've been wanting to do a gallery wall above our couch for quite sometime. While I love my hubby's artwork, our current ledge situation is in need of an upgrade! (Notice KG's favorite napping spot- how fitting that he will soon have his very own picture on the wall behind him).

Santa brought me some beautiful frames and I've been scouring pinterest for ideas. Today, I decided on a layout and the artwork for one of the six frames that will be included in the gallery. Baby steps...

I was inspired by this DIY dog silhouette on glitter guide, which was inspired by artwork from Anthropologie (my all-time favorite store). Following their guide would have made this project ridiculously simple, but I wanted the silhouette to be of our beloved KG (not some random greyhound). The project is still very quick and easy (the hardest part was finding a good picture of KG). Plus, I had all of the necessary supplies around the house. And, most importantly, you can customize the pattern and colors of the dog silhouette and background to match your decor! Here are my directions to make a silhouette of your own pet!

Supplies:

• frame (I used the espresso wood gallery frame from Pottery Barn)
• scrapbook paper
• cream card stock
• scissors
• sharpie
• pencil
• glue stick
• tape

Steps:

1. find (or take) a profile picture of your favorite pet
2. edit the photo, as needed (I zoomed in on his profile so it filled the picture and printed a 4X6 size. The silhouette worked perfect for my 5X7 frame.)
3. print silhouette (I just printed a fast draft on regular computer paper.)
4. outline your dog's silhouette with a sharpie (it makes the next step easier)
5. cut out silhouette
6. trace silhouette onto card stock and cut out (as you can see, I traced the silhouette onto the back so the pencil marks wouldn't show on the front)
   
7. trim a piece of scrapbook paper, in the pattern of your choosing, to fit your frame
8. glue silhouette to the corner of the scrapbook paper
9. insert paper into frame

Voila!

Stay tuned for the completed gallery wall (don't hold your breath, though, this could take awhile)!

10 months!

Happy New Year my love! We have had a crazy busy, but fun-filled month. (I think that just about sums up every year around the holidays, though). Either I was a bit off on your measurements last month, or you've shrunk. At your doctor appointment last week you were 20 pounds and 30 inches long. Still, right around the 50th percentile for weight and the 88th percentile for height. Your nurse predicted that you would be taller than her by your fourth birthday. We were happy to confirm that you are perfectly healthy and doing well developmentally. Woo hoo!

We did have one disappointment this month. You didn't get your helmet off, as expected... When we went to (what I thought was going to be) your last orthotist appointment, your measurements weren't quite where they want them to be. They also determined that you still have a tiny bit of growing room left in your helmet. So, six more weeks it is (well now it's only another 4 weeks). I've actually been pretty thankful for the helmet due to all your new mobility. It has definitely saved you from some bumps and bruises!

You have made some big strides this month! One day after your 9-month birthday, you started crawling-crawling (as opposed to army-crawling). Right around this time you also started to pull yourself up on EVERYTHING.

You are now practicing walking along the furniture and often try to go from one piece of furniture to the next (which usually ends in you falling). You don't let this deter you, though, and are back up and at it the next second. I don't know why, but you love to pull yourself up on something and then fall back onto your bottom. It cracks you up every time, which of course makes us laugh. You make us laugh a lot, actually! You are developing a very silly little personality.

In other development news, you are working on teeth 6, 7, and 8 (two more on top and one more on bottom). They haven't quite poked through yet, but it should happen any day now (judging from all of your drooling). Your eating and sleeping routine hasn't changed much since last month, however we have been offering you more finger foods. I even made a baby meatloaf recipe with ground turkey, apple sauce, wheat bran, and carrots. I was very proud of it! That was until you had your first taste and made this face:

It is the first thing you've ever disliked (go figure). And you didn't just dislike it, you flat out refused to eat it! I was determined to get you to like it, but to no avail. You would swat the spoon away and make the above face, accompanied by gagging sounds, when I managed to get some in your mouth. I guess I don't need to feel guilty about not making more homemade food. It seems as though you much prefer the store bought stuff...

Much to KG's delight, you have figured out how to throw his ball (albeit only a few inches)! You think this is the best game ever and giggle when KG brings the ball back to you. He has finally met his match! He actually tires of this game before you do. You constantly hold balls out for him in an offer to play. It's adorable!

The first big event of the month was your baptism. On December 11, you were baptized surrounded by your grandparents, great-grandmas, aunt Nicole (your godmother), and uncle Sam (your godfather). Even your great-aunt Nancy and Alex came. It was a very special day!

The Christmas season was just as wonderful as I'd hoped. It was such a joy to experience Christmas through your eyes, pass on family traditions, and start new traditions. We celebrated with the extended Hacker family in mid-December. On Christmas Eve, we went to church in the afternoon. We didn't bring you to the nursery and you made it through the service surprisingly well. You sang along to all the Christmas carols and made friends with a little girl in the pew in front of us! That evening we went to the Thompson's for dinner. You opened your stocking and all of the presents Santa brought you on Christmas morning and then we went to grandma Hacker's for a delicious brunch. That afternoon we went to grandma and grandpa White's for an amazing dinner. And I, of course, took hundreds of pictures along the way to document your first Christmas. Here are some of the highlights:

   

Being the only baby on both sides of the family, you were spoiled rotten! You have so many new toys that you can hardly decide which one to play with- you jump from one to the next and the next...

Daddy was off the week between Christmas and New Year's (so mommy got a little time off, too)! I had a list of projects (such as making a playroom to house all of your new toys) that I wanted to get done with all of the extra time I thought we'd have, but not much got accomplished. I didn't even take our tree down until today! Instead, we just kind-of bummed around and enjoyed some low-key family time, as well as your first zoo experience. We received memberships to the Minnesota Zoo and Sea Life Aquarium and were very excited to take advantage of them. You loved looking at the animals and fish! I think your favorites were the otters because they stood up and barked at you- you barked right back! I'm not sure what you were talking about... You also really liked the penguins and monkeys.

New Years Eve was, not surprisingly, extremely low-key. In fact, I am the only one who even made it up until midnight.

Looking back on the year, I am astonished by how much we've accomplished as a family. I couldn't be more proud of 2011 and am even a little sad to see it go. It was the most life altering year for me, thus far- the year that I gave birth to my beautiful, baby boy and became a mother. The year I experienced a deeper love than I knew was even possible...

Happy ten months, peanut!
Love, Mom

Baby's First Christmas Crafts

These adorable keepsakes are the result of a crafting playdate with one of my mom groups. We foolishly thought that we'd be able to make our crafts while the six 8-10 month olds "played" with eachother. Ha!! All I got accomplished at the playdate was outlining Jackson's hands and feet on paper (I finished the rest at home after Jax went to bed).

Supplies:

• baby hands and feet
• pencil
• cardstock
• scrapbook paper
• gluestick
• scissors
• googly eyes (is that the technical term?)
• gem embellishments

General Directions:

• trace baby's footprints and handprints onto a piece of cardstock (while this may sound simple, it is by far the most complicated step- at least with my squirmy little guy)
• cut out footprints and handprints to make templates
• use templates to make as many hands and feet as you need

Reindeer:

1. adhere two handprints to a larger piece of scrapbook paper for the antlers (I used a brownish-gold cardstock)
2. adhere footprint for the head of the reindeer (I used cream cardstock)
3. add googly eyes to the footprint (I used self-adhesive ones from JoAnn)
4. adhere red gem for the nose
5. add baby's name and date (I used stickers initially, but they came off right away so I ended up just writing the name and date with a red sharpie)

Santa:

1. adhere one handprint for Santa's beard (I used white cardstock)
2. adhere Santa hat (I happened to find this in a dollar bin at JoAnn, but you could easily make one with scrapbook paper or felt)
3. adhere googly eyes
4. cut out oval and adhere for Santa's nose

I'm planning on framing one, or both, to display every year during the holidays. These would make great gifts for grandparents, too.

9 Months!

Well, my little man, you are now topping the charts at about 21 pounds and 31 inches.  You are a very busy guy and it's almost impossible to get you to sit still for your monthly photo shoot.  Your favorite activities these days are swinging cabinets and doors open and closed, climbing, poking and prodding KG, playing with electrical cords, and pulling lights and ornaments off the Christmas tree (so, pretty much anything that could harm you).  You sure keep me on my toes!  Some other favorite past times include:

removing everything from the console in the living room

 watching cement trucks with KG (they're building a new house down the street, so there has been a lot of action out our front window)

...and riding on daddy's shoulders.

 

You have developed a pretty predictable eating and sleeping pattern (at least for now).  Most nights you sleep from about 7:30 to 6:00 and you eat four 8oz bottles at around 6, 10, 2, and 6.  You also are up to two jars of food each day, plus some finger foods.   You're getting much better at feeding yourself.  In fact, I think more ends up in your mouth than on your lap now.

Naps are still all over the place, but I'm going to try to straighten those out after the holidays, once our Rolly Pollies class is over...  For now, I'm just going to enjoy the fact that the only way you'll nap longer than 30 minutes is if I'm rocking you (even though that means I don't get anything done).  Snuggle time!

You currently have your fourth cold of the season.  I've heard the average is 12 colds!!  I sure hope that's not the case...  They've just caused you to get a runny nose- no fevers or ear infections, thankfully.  This one is coupled with more teething, though, poor thing!  Just in the past day your 3rd, 4th, and 5th teeth broke through (one more on the bottom and two on top).  Hopefully, you'll get a little break now!

At your last orthotist appointment we got some great news!  According to your scan, your cephalic ratio was a 92 (which was a vast improvement from the 99 where you started).  The goal is to get it below a 90, which will hopefully happen by your next scan on December 21.  Your doc said that it will probably be pretty close, but even if it's not below that you will most likely have outgrown your helmet by then anyway.  We're keeping our fingers crossed!  This is the silly cap they make you wear when you get your head scanned (and the cool toy they distract you with).

Of course you experienced several more "firsts" this month.  We had the first snowfall of the season on November 19.  It was the perfect opportunity to try out your new snowsuit!

You loved sitting in the snow and hitting it with your hands.  Then you fell backwards (your balance was a little off with that puffy snowsuit on) and some snow landed in your face.  You thought this was hilarious.

Then, you fell forward and face planted in the snow, you did not find that to be as hilarious and we quickly went inside to warm up.

I found this ridiculous turkey head gear and couldn't resist making you wear it on your first Thanksgiving.  I know you'll probably hate me for it someday, but look how cute you are!!

 

We celebrated Thanksgiving at your great-aunt Char's house with grandpa White's side of the family.  Unfortunately, you weren't able to eat any turkey (or lefse), but you did eat several bites of mashed potatoes and cranberries.

(you were eying great-uncle Jim's lefse)

 

We tried to put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving like we usually do, but when we plugged it in this is what we got:

 

At least you still were pleased with our defective tree.  Daddy and I stayed up past midnight stripping all of the lights off of the "pre-lit" tree.  We bought some new lights and decorated it the next day.

 

The most exciting event of the month had to have been when you got to meet Santa last weekend.  

Okay, maybe you weren't quite as excited about it as I was, but at least you didn't cry!  Another first, that had been a long time coming, was your first overnight babysitter!  Dad and I went to the Foster the People concert at First Ave. and then stayed at a hotel downtown.  Grandma White, very graciously, took Monday off from work and stayed at our house with you.  I have to admit that I shed a few tears as we pulled away from the house, but we ended up having a great time.  You and grandma had a great time, too.  You even slept through the night for her and didn't seem mad at us when we returned home the next day.

Finally, we lost another dear family member this month.  Your great-grandma Vose passed away on November 18.  This is the first time you met her (when you were 11 days old).

I'm so thankful that you were able to spend some time with her, but am sorry that you didn't get a chance to know her better.  She had so many great stories- we'll be sure to tell them to you some day.  Losing both great-grandma Vose and great-grandma Berg over the past two months has made me realize how short life is and the importance of slowing down and appreciating each moment...  You make that easy.

Happy nine months, peanut!
Love, Mom

Pinterest = Crack

Hi, my name is Erica, and I am addicted to Pinterest.  If you haven't already checked it out, I strongly suggest you do.  Browser beware because soon it will be three hours later and you'll wonder where your day went.  I know you're probably thinking "just what I need, another waste of time," but I promise you pinterest is so much more than that.  It took a few weeks (of crazed anticipation) to get an invitation after I requested an account.  (I have some invites left, so message me if you're interested).  It sounded up my alley, but I had no idea how quickly I would become obsessed with it.  Back in the old days, I had to actually cut out pictures in magazines that inspired me to cook, redecorate, or make a project.  These scraps of paper would sit in various corners of my house until they mysteriously disappeared my husband threw them away.  (Needless to say none of those things were ever created or cooked).  With pinterest you can do this with a click of the mouse.  Anything that strikes your fancy (as you're surfing the web) can be added to a board for you to reference later.  Or, you can repin any of the amazing ideas that are being shared every second.  You can create as many boards as you like of anything that interests you!  Some of my boards include home decor, recipes, DIY projects, and gift ideas.  I have to admit that my boards are quite scattered as I'm learning how best to organize all of my pins.  Nevertheless, I have been cooking and crafting way more than usual.  (Which isn't really saying much, since I didn't do either very often in my pre-pinterest life).  Now, I have a whole slew of DIY projects that I have been meaning to blog about.  Ironically, I haven't found the time since I have been crafting so much (oh, and taking care of my baby boy).  Just this weekend I made these cute little wintery decorations in about 2 minutes!

Plus, I found all the materials (mason jars, epson salt, and candles) around the house so it didn't cost a thing!  Thank you pinterest!

I will do my best to add some of my other projects in the coming weeks- stay tuned!