What Ben Wore

Benjamin mostly wears onesies and sweats when we're playing around the house but lately we've been getting out more, running errands, visiting friends and family, etc. Tonight we'll be attending a Night of Worship at church and this is what he's wearing. 

The Specs:

Elephant onesie from H&M. Comes with striped leggings and cap for $12.95! The entire outfit is super cute and comfy and he lives in it around the house. We love these jeans by Koala Baby for Babies 'R Us. They're perfect for the long and skinny babies and they're on sale right now for $6.98!! It's still pretty chilly here in Atlanta so we're layering a lot with cardigans or flannels as cardigans. This particular one is Koala Baby and was purchased on clearance. If he were wearing his green pants (see below) we would pair it with something like this long-sleeve chambray shirt from Gap. I am a HUGE fan of chucks and have had them in many shades and styles over the years. Ben received a cute pair of black high tops from his cousin that he hasn't grown into yet. Benjamin is moving into size 2 shoes so we just got these aqua blue infant slip on Chuck Taylor's by Converse. We're loving this color too! They'd be perfect for Spring/Summer.

Ben Also Wore:

Three Months

Dear Benjamin,

Oh my love. If I wasn't completely taken with you before this last month, I certainly am now. I blinked and the last 5 weeks sped on by. Boy have you been busy growing and learning this month. At your last doctor appointment at 9 weeks you weighed 12 lb. 13 oz . and measured 26 inches. Two weeks ago at GG and Papa's I weighed you at 14 lbs. 9 oz. Mommy wanted to get your measurements today, at 13 weeks (I'll spare you the saga) but it's going to be a little bit until I have an opportunity to weigh you again. My guess is you're somewhere around 15 lbs. We shall see!

You continue to fill out and I just love your little breastfed baby rolls. You have been wearing 3-6 mo. clothing for a while now and have already worn several 6 mo. + outfits. When I manage to open your still stiff fists I tease you about letting them air out a bit (pee - u) and give your palms kisses. I am still loving that crazy head of hair you have although I haven't the slightest clue what to do with it. You have developed a bit of cradle cap and I think it's taking some hair with it when it falls out (womp womp) because I've noticed your hair thinning out a bit. It's also lightening up a little and is a lot like mine. The top continues to grow and hasn't decided if it should be curly or straight yet. 

This month you have developed in leaps and bounds. You spend a lot of time on your tummy and when you're there you rest on your chest and stick your head as far up as you can. Sometimes you move your legs like you want to crawl so I put myself up to your feet so you have traction and something to push off of.

You've become a bit of a wiggle worm as evident by the picture below. You are the most comfortable sleeping on your side and now you spend a lot of your wake/play time that way too. You twist your body around and are so very close to rolling over! This would be the most exciting thing ever except you get your best practice in while Mommy is trying to change your diaper. It makes for quite the challenge because you are incredibly strong! We knew that by how firm your grip was but now you bear weight on your legs and abdomen. GG bought you a Bumbo and you've been sitting it nearly every day for the last two weeks. Your balance is pretty good now and you can already sit up on your own for several seconds at a time!

A couple of weeks ago you found your hands in a big way! You have begun reaching for things that you want provided they are right in front of you. You immediately bring your prize to your mouth. You're obsessed with [loudly] sucking on your fists and spent a couple days last week sucking on your forefinger then two fingers at a time. You are forever cracking me and Daddy up with what interests you. These rings and seahorse are definitely your favorite and most entertaining toy. We've been taking them everywhere these days to appease you. Your other current favorites are your Teddy lovey from Nana and Giraffe from Auntie Heather. Whenever I hand either of them to you, you immediately put them in a choke hold bring them to your face and begin sucking on them! Haha. They're nice and crusty now thanks to your slobber. I think that's just the way you like them.

The last week has been tough because you're going through a growth spurt. Mommy wasn't sure what happened when all of a sudden you became Mr. Cranky Pants, were eating constantly, and not sleeping even though I knew you were exhausted. Some Mommy friends of mine pointed out that at twelve weeks you're expected to go through a growth spurt. I've more or less had to embrace it to keep my sanity but that means co-sleeping most of the night so that I could breastfeed you side lying pretty much nonstop. I'm not gonna lie - I'm kind of exhausted and definitely looking forward to moving past this stage. Nonetheless, we have celebrated many nights of you sleeping 3, 4, even 5 hours at a time. The sleep when you first go to bed is always the longest span and then you wake up two or three more times a night to nurse (all rules go out the window when you're busy growing).

Something we are [*mostly] loving is your voice! You've been experimenting with it a LOT lately. You started off by cooing, "Oooh" and "Agoo". When we would repeat and encourage your talking you would get incredibly excited! Then one night about a week ago Daddy said something that made you laugh out loud! It was music to our ears and so very exciting! I was so happy that we were both able to hear it. Thank you for that. You've only laughed like that a couple of times so far but I love it. I think our reactions have encouraged you because you've taken to SCREAMING. I've always noticed your tendencies to screech, squeal, and scream but this is something new entirely. *I said mostly earlier because this scream of yours?? It's a wonder CPS hasn't been called already. You don't know anything about Jurassic Park yet but you sound somewhat like a Velociraptor. You're happy yelling at us all day long in this high pitch scream! In fact, I was just telling Daddy how you woke me up this morning by screaming in my face only to grin from ear to ear when I opened my eyes. You crack me up, son.

This month you had your first stroll outside and we've since gone for several walks around the neighborhood or park. You've also had two play dates already with friends right around your age. You flew on your first plane and were absolutely perfect! We reunited with Daddy and moved into our new apartment in Atlanta, Georgia. Mommy and Daddy got married!! This month has been so full of love and happiness and you're at the center of it, sweetheart. God has truly blessed us with a beautiful, healthy son who brings us so much joy. You are such a good, happy baby. You're very serious and observant but definitely have that giggly silly side (it mostly comes out in your time with Daddy). We're settling into a nice little routine here. I love that you have your special things and ways with me and Daddy. You make your mama feel incredibly loved.

     week one     |      week thirteen

I'll love you forever,

Mommy

Simply Smitten : Dream Catcher Baby

You may have noticed Benjamin's super cute wedding get up in last week's Bits + Pieces. I could not have been more excited to find a baby bow tie this cute (and so well made!) to match my wedding heels. I learned of Dream Catcher Baby after stumbling onto the owner, Jessica Swenson's, Instagram feed. (If you didn't know by now, I'm somewhat obsessed with Instagram!) Jess was an absolute peach to work with and I seriously cannot recommend her shop more. I was concerned about shipping time but she had this out to me immediately. I was able to give her Benjamin's measurements and everything. He definitely stole the show in it! 

At Dream Catcher Baby you can also find the most adorable handmade dresses and bows for girls! If I didn't just have a baby, move across country, and get married this dress would be mine. I would have added it to my beautiful "someday I will have a girl" collection. Yes, I have one. But alas, it is not to be mine. It can be yours however! Jess is about to close up shop for maternity leave but you still have a few more days to snatch it up! Go get it. You know you want to. 

Read more about Jessica and Dream Catcher Baby on her blog. ♥

On Cooking + Baking Dairy Free

It's been just over a month since I went dairy free for my son who we discovered has a dairy intolerance. Since then I have also cut out eggs and beef. Just FYI, cutting out eggs makes cutting out dairy seem easy breezy! I've more or less had to adopt a Vegan diet except that I still eat chicken and fish. So, that's not very Vegan. I'm sure there's a name for it? Anyway, the truth is I haven't been 100% in the whole deal. We've gone out to eat with family and friends in the last few weeks and I've let things slide a bit. Benjamin hasn't had a flare up or anything but I don't want to take any chances. I'm hoping that if I'm more vigilant now that he'll eventually grow out of it as so many children do.

Growing up I was a very picky eater. It wasn't until a few years ago, really, that I opened up about eating. I realized I didn't even know that I didn't like something because I was too afraid to even try it! And then there is the issue of never really having cooked before. Save for a few favorite meals and baked goods from a box I just never tried. The funny thing is I love food. Being a photographer I have always loved and appreciated food photography. I've been following food blogs and collecting recipes for years. Recently I started accumulating dairy free recipes over on Pinterest. If you haven't been using Pinterest to find new and interesting things to cook or ways present food (hello, party hostess!) then you're missing out!

This week I buckled down and chose some simple recipes to begin with. You'll notice that my dinner meal photographs are taken with my iPhone. I just don't know the trick to taking good nighttime photographs of food using natural light. Or at least natural looking light and not the yellow that the kitchen/living room lights project. But I digress. I'm not sure how often I'll do this - it may become a regular feature here, it may not - but I decided to post my efforts with links to the recipe if they're available, as well as any changes I've made to make them work for us. As always, thanks for reading! ♥

Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Chips & Apple Pie Dip by The Peach Kitchen. Could not be a more simple dish to make and super yummy too! I could eat these chips all day long. I guess I should have paid more attention to the name of the dip because after eating it I felt it would be better suited as pie filling. Duh, Joleen. A little too sweet for me to use as a dip but am going to make this filling sometime when I make these mini apple pies.

This is one of those aforementioned favorite, easy dishes I've been making for years. I use Trader Joe's Frozen Organic Brown Rice, fresh green and red bell peppers, and organic boneless chicken. I normally marinate in Bragg's Liquid Aminos, of which I am a huge fan, but I haven't been able to find any at either TJ's or Publix [I've since been referred to Kroger and Whole Foods] so I picked up a stir fry mix (I can't recall which, sorry.)

This baked oatmeal by Deliciously Ella is one of my favorite things I've ever made! It smells divine and is absolutely delish. The only changes that I made to her recipe was to use about a cup and a half of blueberries (vs. one), dried cranberries instead of raisins, and a tablespoon of brown sugar instead of agave syrup. I'm already salivating over the possibilities with this simple, nutritious breakfast. Peaches and honey! Citrus! The possibilities are endless and I foresee a baked oatmeal obsession coming on.

15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta by oh she glows. We had this for dinner last night and I really liked it! The recipe calls for 1-3 cloves of garlic. I used 2 this time but in the future will probably only use 1. I love how simple (sensing a theme here?) and quick this meal was. I was able to prepare, cook, and scarf it down in about 20 minutes flat. Just in time for my baby to start screaming that he was hungry too! Gotta love growth spurts.

Peanut Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies found on Recipe Newz. I had to cross out one of the "peanuts" because I didn't have an peanut butter chips. I made these for my husband (I like the sound of that. My husband.) because I know he likes oatmeal cookies and peanut butter. Neither of us could recall having PB oatmeal cookies in the past. Apparently, if I had they weren't very noteworthy. I liked these cookies enough. Maybe the PB chips would have made more of a difference but they weren't peanut buttery enough for my liking. Also, I'm just getting to know our oven and had to cook these for quite a bit longer than the recipe called for.

Edited to add:

Ok, so I already published this post earlier today.. BUT! I just made these egg and dairy free cupcakes and had to share! You may be wondering why this little cupcake would have me jumping up in down in excitement?! I have been craving cupcakes like crazy and I just can't believe I made these from scratch and they're actually GOOD! Haha. 

So, let me tell you about them. It was really hard to find a cake recipe that was both dairy and egg free but I found this one at Milk Allergy Mom and only altered it slightly with what I had here to make vanilla cupcakes. After all was said and done here was my recipe:

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vinegar (A little secret. I used balsamic vinaigrette. HA! No lie. It was all I had. I was worried they'd come out tasting like a crouton. *wink*)
2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 cup cold water

Directions: Coat muffin tray really well with coconut oil. Combine ingredients and pour evenly into tin. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes. 

Lemon Buttercream Frosting: I know when you're brand new at cooking and baking like I am you're not really supposed to fudge it and make stuff up along the way but I'm not the most conventional person (duh) and like to take such liberties. I couldn't find a frosting recipe that would work for me (based on the ingredients in my cupboard) so I read several and gave it a shot. 

Ingredients:

1/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup "butter" (I use a non dairy spread)
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon
1 med lemon grated (zest)
1/2 med lemon, squeezed (juice)

Directions: Beat coconut oil, "butter", vanilla, lemon (all three types) until smooth. Slowly mix in confectioners sugar and beat until light and fluffy. 

In order to give you an accurate "review" I had to eat two cupcakes. The first one was with frosting and the second without because I wanted to really taste the cake. The frosting is *very* lemony, which I like but you may want to tone down a bit if you don't love lemon. The cake was moist and fluffy and I couldn't even taste a hint of the vinaigrette. Teehee. I could definitely taste the "whole wheat" flour and I think that overpowered the vanilla but I liked it. Overall, I think they're really quite tasty and will definitely make them again! ♥

If you know of any great dairy/egg/beef free recipes or an amazing food blog, please share!!

These Two Weeks, Oh the Love

Oh, friends. It's good to be back among the internet-inclined. I have missed you. But only a little bit, I hope you understand. It has been two weeks and two days since Benjamin and I moved to Atlanta. I can't even describe to you how much life has been lived in this time. How much love has been shared and celebrated. I knew it was going to be. You see, Ben and I had a little secret. Well, not a secret secret, but  more like a "I'm only telling you if you ask me about it" type of thing. The plan was that we would elope, civil ceremony style, once my parents got to Georgia with my car/our belongings. I planned the whole thing from California and it seriously could not have gone any better! I promise to dedicate an entire post to it next week sometime.. and then again once we have our official photographs from our awesome photographer, Nina Parker.

So, below you will find a snapshot of how we've filled our weeks. We've enjoyed family outings thrift/antiquing and found a really cool vintage bookstore. We've gone to church and to brunch. Ben officially proposed to me in front of the Woodruff Arts Center where we had our first date at the High Museum of Art and saw the Picasso to Warhol exhibit. Baby Benjamin found his hand and then his fingers (can't wait to write his three month letter next week!). Nom nom nom. I had two of the sweetest guys for Valentine's. WE GOT MARRIED! ♥ Benjamin and I met his daddy's best friend and his Godfather, Chris. I started cooking and baking dairy free. (More on that yumminess, soon!) We've had visitors and play dates. Benjamin met his paternal Grandmother and maternal Great Grandparents and Great Great Grandfather! How cool is that? We've slowly been moving into our new apartment which Mommy loves. Daddy did a good job! Things are really quite good. Enjoy the peek! xo,  Mrs. Pete thankyouverymuch

PS - We dropped down about 10 spots on Top Baby Blogs while I was away. Womp womp womp. Will you show us a little love and vote for us today? Please and thank you!! You're the best. You. We love you!