Menu Plan: July 6-15

Welcome back! I have been absent all week due to issues with my laptop. We officially started our grain-free at home journey this month. Since we do not have any known allergy or intolerance to grains, we will still eat them if we are served them in other peoples homes, but will make wise choices when we eat out to avoid them as much as possible. The only exception to this, of course, is Julian, who will not eat grains until his first year molars come in. The way that we eat grains is grossly distorted from how they used to be consumed and I am convinced this affects our health as a nation. Considering the government still recommends a large portion of your daily intake come from grains, many Americans are consuming WAY too many and not the right ones when they do. But, I digress.

Here is our menu for the next week or so:

Breakfast

• Friday: Chocolate zucchini muffins and fruit
• Saturday: Coconut flour pancakes and bacon
• Sunday: Eggs w/ sausage and fruit
• Monday: Chocolate zucchini muffins and fruit
• Tuesday: Eggs w/ salsa and fruit
• Wednesday: Almond flour muffins and fruit
• Thursday: Eggs w/ sausage and fruit
• Friday: Almond flour muffins and fruit
• Saturday: Coconut flour pancakes and bacon
• Sunday: Eggs w/ sausage and fruit

Lunch 

My husband takes a packed lunch (or dinner, if he works third shift) when he is working at the hospital, which consists of peanut butter and jelly or honey between two pancakes, veggies, fruit and a dessert. If he is working at the office, he eats lunch out, much to my chagrin! Julian and I had been eating leftovers, but too many times we were finishing everything at dinner, which left us with nothing for lunch the next day. I am going to try doing snacky style lunches for him and I. We will have smoothies and veggies everyday and rotate between hardboiled eggs and beans with cheese. He is typically home for lunch on Saturdays and we eat lunch at church on Sunday afternoons.

• Saturday: Pigs in a blanket, veggies and fruit
• Sunday: @ church
• Saturday: Shrimp curry w/ quinoa and smoothies
• Sunday: @ church

Dinner

•  Friday: with friends, bringing a salad
• Saturday: Leftovers
• Sunday: Salmon patties, veggies and fruit
• Monday: Chicken and potatoes
• Tuesday: Leftovers
• Wednesday: Red-Red w/quinoa and sauteed bananas
• Thursday: Salmon, veggies and potatoes
• Friday: Chicken cakes and veggies
• Saturday: Leftovers
• Sunday: Pigs in a blanket and bananas

What are you feeding your family lately?

Scripture Study: Creating an Atmosphere of Worship

photo credit

Lately, I have found myself getting easily frustrated and quickly irritated with both Kerry and Julian. I could throw out a bunch of excuses in an effort to justify my behavior, but that is not the appropriate response. My behavior is not the fault of Kerry or Julian. It is the result of my own sinful heart choosing sin rather than grace.

I reflected on my daily routine to see if there was any way that I could carve out more time to spend with the Lord, more time in His Word and, while I realized that I often do have more time that I could spend with Him, sometimes that is just not reality. However, one simple change afforded me the opportunity to spend literally all day with the Lord and not allow my homemaking and child-rearing tasks fall to the wayside. I decided to listen to nothing other than praise and worship music during the day. I did this yesterday for the first time and I noticed a definite difference in my attitude and my response to both my husband and my son.

1 Chronicles 16:23 Sing to the LORD, all the earth; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.

Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Psalm 71:8 My mouth is filled with Your praise and Your glory all day long. 

 

According to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, the word worship shows up in scripture 114 times and the word praise 195 times. The word sing appears 99 times, most often in some variation of the phrase "sing to the LORD". It seems to me that worshiping and praising the Lord is an important thing to do. While I know that worship is not limited to singing, having praise and worship music flowing through my home during the day definitely adds to the atmosphere of worship I hope to cultivate in my home.

Another way that I am aiming to create an atmosphere of worship in my home is by committing Scripture to memory. I was blessed to come to know the Lord at a young age and memorized quite a bit of Scripture as a child, which comes back to me easily even many years later. I memorized Scripture in school, all the way through college where I memorized entire books at a time. I have let that go since getting married and having a baby, but that is something that I want to re-ignite in myself so I can be an example for my children.

I am planning on taking this challenge over at Intentional By Grace during the month of July.  
Will you join me? How do you create an atmosphere of worship in your home?

Submitting to Rest

photo credit

I am dealing with an unexpected case of mastitis. It came on suddenly yesterday and, as anyone who has been through this before knows, it wiped me out! I don't know about you, but it is not easy for me to accept the fact that my body needs rest. Rest? There is laundry to do, a cleaning schedule to maintain, not to mention an energetic 13 month old to take care of.

So today, instead of tackling my cleaning list, instead of finishing purging the house for a goodwill donation, instead of working on my seemingly never-ending to-do list, I am resting. I am basking in the glory of having my husband home from work and watching him (and cheering him on from my perch on the couch!) cook, clean and take care of Julian for me. It is HARD, though! I want to be up doing, serving, cleaning, preparing etc. Yet, I know, my body will thank me by healing itself much faster if I rest than if I just powered through and continued with life as usual.

This unexpected rest has afforded me the opportunity to catch up on some reading, write a few blog posts, spend lengthy time with the Lord (so refreshing!) and sleep, oh glorious sleep. I am hoping to hit the ground running tomorrow, but, for now, I am thankful for the rest that God gave me, despite the fact that it came via illness.

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Menu Plan: June 25-July 1

You may notice some repeats from the menu I posted last Monday. We were blessed to spend time unexpected time with our families this past week, which meant getting to go out to eat twice in one day. I, of course, ended up not cooking, so we had some meals to use up from last week. I made a HUGE batch of chicken and potatoes last week as well, so Julian and I will be finishing those up this week. We start our grain free month on Sunday, so I am trying hard to use up the rest of the grains in the house this week. Here is the menu!

Breakfast

• Monday: Fried mush, cantaloupe
• Tuesday: Sauteed brussel sprouts, bacon and cantaloupe
• Wednesday: Eggs w/ sausage, cantaloupe
• Thursday: Pancakes in a pan, fresh fruit
• Friday: Eggs w/ salsa, fresh fruit
• Saturday: Coconut flour pancakes, bacon and fresh fruit
• Sunday: Eggs w/ salsa, fresh fruit

Lunch

• Monday: Chicken and potatoes, cheese cubes
• Tuesday: Salmon patties, carrots w/ homemade ranch dip
• Wednesday: Leftovers
• Thursday: Olive Garden (taking a friend out for her birthday!)
• Friday: Snacky lunch (veggies w/ dip, fresh fruit, cheese cubes, beans etc.)
• Saturday: Family picnic (celebrating hubby's maternal grandparents 57th anniversary!)
• Sunday: Church potluck (celebrating hubby's family friends 50th anniversary!)

Dinner

• Monday: Italian stew, smoothies and organic sweet corn
• Tuesday: Brown rice pasta w/ homemade red sauce, smoothies
• Wednesday: Taco potatoes, smoothies
• Thursday: Leftovers, smoothies
• Friday: Curried brown rice pasta, smoothies
• Saturday: Leftovers, smoothies
• Sunday: Grain free pigs in a blanket, smoothies

menu plan monday 

May in Our Home

We experienced an unseasonably beautiful and warm May here in central Illinois. May was busy! It brought Julian's first birthday, my college graduation and my little sister's high school graduation three weekends in a row. We finally had a break to breathe Memorial day weekend and celebrated by simply relaxing!

We enjoyed Julian's birthday as a family by taking him on a picnic and playing at the park. A dear friend of our family gifted us a photo shoot for his birthday and we took advantage of the gorgeous weather on his special day by taking the pictures at her home and the nearby park where we picnicked. We have been blessed to cultivate friendship with her and her family over the past two years and are incredibly grateful for them! I am a big believer in practical gifts, especially when the recipient doesn't know any different :), so we gave Julian a floppy sun hat, a new amber teething necklace and a stainless steel sippy water bottle for his birthday. He has worn the necklace 24/7 since we put it on him, we have not had a chance to try out the hat and the sippy cup is a bit of a learning curve for this exclusively-breastfed-never-had-a-bottle child, so we are still working on that one!

We traveled to Chicago for my  graduation from Moody Bible Institute the second weekend in May. Although I officially finished up classes and graduated last May, I was too busy recovering from having a baby the week before to participate in the commencement ceremony last year! To be honest, I was not looking forward to the stress of traveling and staying away from home etc., but I am exceedingly glad that my parents convinced me to go through with walking in the ceremony. Besides having the satisfaction of actually walking across the stage to receive my diploma rather than just getting it in the mail along with bills and other day-to-day things, I was able to see my friends that I lived with for three years all together one last time before we dispersed, quite literally, across the globe to do the work the Lord has prepared for us. I was especially grateful to get to visit with one of my floormates and her husband who will be doing work in India this summer. She shared some special news with me that I would have missed out on had I not gone to commencement. I was able to encourage her and her husband in a special way that I would not have been able to do otherwise. I also spent some time with my roommate of two years and was able to meet her entire family for the first time. It is sobering to think that it is quite possible that I will not see some of these amazing women I lived with for three years again this side of heaven. I praise the Lord for the work He has called each of us to do and sincerely hope that we will all be reunited again on this earth!

With all the major events going on, I was afraid Mother's Day would end up an after thought. We had lunch with my husband's mom and her family, then came home and took a much needed nap. In the evening, my sweet husband gave me a handmade card and took me and Julian on a hike at the nature center near our apartment. We finished the night with frozen yogurt from a local shop.

My one and only sister graduated from high school the weekend after my college graduation. This was also a bittersweet ceremony as it marked for my parents the end of a seventeen year relationship with Peoria Christian School. The ceremony was beautiful and my sister even more so, of course!

We are looking forward to a summer filled with birthdays, our second anniversary, weddings, VBS, a big move and more!

Grain Free Blueberry Muffins

It was my intention to start posting our menus again, but I realized that I need to re-evaluate how I menu plan in light of the fact that Julian is eating more table food these days. We are not giving him any grains until his first year molars come in, so some of the food we regularly eat he cannot have yet. We are planning on doing a grain free month for the whole family in July to see if cutting out grains will alleviate some of the digestive issues both Kerry and I have. So, taking both of these factors into consideration, I have been experimenting with alternative flours lately. This muffin recipe is my latest concoction!

Grain Free Blueberry Muffins

6 eggs
1/4 c. milk (I used coconut)
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. coconut oil, melted
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. coconut flour
1 c. organic blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Mix together eggs, milk, honey, coconut oil and salt. Be sure to give this mixture a good beating, as the key to baking with coconut flour is making sure the eggs are well beaten. Add in the coconut flour and baking powder. Mix until the batter is no longer lumpy. Thaw the blueberries, if using frozen, and fold them in the batter. Scoop into lined muffin tins and bake at 400 for 15 minutes.

This post is linked up to Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop

Julian: 12 months

Our baby is officially one year old! I join with the chorus of every mom when I say that I can't believe how fast it went. I find myself often just staring at him in awe, so amazed and grateful that the Lord has given him to us to raise.

We had his party the week before his actual birthday so could spend the real day as a family. We had a lazy morning full of coconut flour pancakes (special so the birthday boy could have them!) and bacon. We went to the park and had a picnic for lunch. Our good friend Kelsey took some adorable photos for us to commemorate his first year. We finished the fun day by going to One World for dinner where Julian had hummus for the very first time (he loved it!).

He has popped one more tooth since turning one, rounding the tooth count to five now. He is working on two other ones, but they have yet to surface. He is enjoying all sorts of food now...scrambled eggs, ahi tuna, raisins and cheese, to name a few. He is still nursing wonderfully and sleeping not so wonderfully, but he will get that part eventually :) We are loving the beautiful weather we have been having and are taking full advantage of it by folding the laundry outside, eating lunch under the shade of the trees next to our apartment and going on lots of walks at the nature center by our apartment.

Weight: 18 lbs. 13 oz.

Length: 29 in.

Head circumference: 47 cm.

Julian turned UNO!

Although Julian's real birthday is May 5th, we celebrated with family this weekend. The theme for his party was UNO, the card game of yesteryear, and I had so much fun incorporating it in all the details.

The Invitations (Design: Randie Kocher ; Photo: Kelsey Sliger)

My good friend Kelsey took some adorable photos of Julian playing with UNO cards and my husband's cousin Randie came up with the awesome design. I fear I set a precedent with these invites and will have a hard time topping them in the years to come!

The Decorations (Dollar Tree and Party City)

I borrowed the color scheme from the UNO cards, so everything was black, red, yellow, blue and green. We had yellow and red plates, blue and green cups, yellow and green forks, red and blue napkins and black tablecloths. Each table had a bunch of balloons in the same colors. We scattered UNO cards throughout the house as further decoration. I also used mini UNO cards that we found at Party City as the cupcake toppers. My favorite part was the banner that my husband put together using the photos that Kelsey took of Julian playing with UNO cards and some vintage UNO cards from his mom.

The Memories (Book Design: Grace Lawler ; Materials: Scrapadoodle)

I borrowed this idea from my friend Kelsey, as well (...do you see a theme here? Kelsey has great ideas!) She made a small scrapbook that she gave me at the baby shower she hosted for friends and family to write notes to Julian in before he was born. I LOVED that idea, so I had my crafty sister make a similar one for Julian's first birthday since he won't be able to remember anything about it on his own.

The Food (Hyvee and homemade)

I served chips with homemade salsa, broccoli and cauliflower with homemade ranch dip, fruit and organic whole wheat chocolate cupcakes with sucanat buttercream frosting. My mom and I attempted to arrange the fruit to look like a UNO wild card.

The Outfit (Amazon and Jo-Ann Fabric)

I got the idea for Julian's party outfit from my good friend Kelsey. She introduced me to freezer stenciling at the baby shower she hosted for me a little over a year ago. Since I am really not crafty at all, she came over and helped me make the stencil on Thursday afternoon. Thanks, Kelsey!

 

 The Cake (Homemade)

 I made Julian a small cake version of the same cupcakes I made for the party. I used pineapple to make it look like a yellow UNO card. I don't claim to be a fantastic (or even mediocre!) cake decorator, but it was as healthy as sweets can be, which was the goal. He was not too interested in his cake, but we got some good photos of him playing with it!

 
The Family

We are so grateful the Lord saw fit to bless us with a healthy baby boy almost one year ago. We look forward to seeing how the Lord uses Julian to further His kingdom in the years to come!

Like Mother, Like Son

Some parents put safety locks on their kitchen cabinets...

not me...









and apparently not my parents, either!

Julian: 11 months

Our baby is eleven months old now! He still has only four teeth, crawls super fast and cruises around the furniture, but has yet to stand unsupported or to take any steps yet. I am perfectly fine with that considering walking will bring a whole new set of challenges for me! He has become a little more interested in table food over the past month. Most recently he has enjoyed turkey, pork loin, sweet potatoes, clementines, hardboiled egg yolk, chicken, salmon and catfish. He is still nursing wonderfully and sleeping not so wonderfully...but I only get this time with him once, so I am perfectly fine with getting up in the middle of the night to take care of my sweet little boy. We are looking forward to celebrating his first birthday at the end of the month!

Enjoying March

We have been experiencing BEAUTIFUL weather this week and I definitely hope it lasts! This week we have picnicked with friends, taken several walks at the nature center by our apartment, slept with the windows open all night long and played in onesies. Thank you, Lord, for the sweet blessing of warm weather right when the cabin fever was setting in!

Julian: 10 months

Julian turned ten months old on the 5th of March. He has been crawling since January, and is now pulling himself up and cautiously cruising along various pieces of furniture. He has four teeth and continues to nurse wonderfully. He is still not all that interested in table food, although we do offer it every meal. We had a terrible time getting him to look at the camera this month, but I do think the photo we ended up with is pretty cute!

Talking to his bear :)

Julian: Big Boy

I saw Julian pull himself up to his feet for the first time today! I am so proud of my big boy and yet a little sad at the same time to see him growing so quickly. Thank you, Jesus, for the blessing of this beautiful baby boy!

Babywearing

Now that Julian is almost ten months old, I am finally starting to feel like I have a handle on this mom thing. Just kidding...I still have no idea what I am doing! But, I do know that God has given me all that I need for life and godliness and that there is nothing new under the sun, so I press on and continue to rely on Him and His strength to do the job He has called me to right now. That being said, I do have one insight to share that has made the transition into motherhood much smoother for me.


 While there are many things that are absolutely necessary to purchase (or receive as gifts!) before having a baby, there are several that you may think are necessary that, in reality, are just nice to have or even completely unnecessary. I am not going to in depth on baby gear here, but, if you would like to know what I think is necessary, nice and a complete waste of money (and space!), feel free to ask and I would love to talk abou it! There is, however, one item (or three!) that I use every day, multiple times a day, and will talk about with anyone willing to listen:

My baby carriers.

When I first found out I was pregnant, I started doing all sorts of research. I knew some things that I wanted to do right off the bat (cloth diapers, natural birth and breastfeeding), but others I learned about as I began my research. Babywearing was one of those things that I knew nothing about prior to pregnancy, but I became increasingly intrigued by it as I read more. Kerry and I took a class at Once Upon A Sling in Bloomington and I was hooked!

I started out with a hybrid wrap that I used with Julian beginning the day he was born. I used this exclusively until Julian was about five months old. I loved this wrap, especially in the summer, as it was lightweight and easy to use. I wore Julian everywhere in my wrap. He went to weddings (and slept through them!), on hikes, to church, grocery shopping, baseball games and even to the state fair. I was able in the first few weeks of having him to still clean the house, make dinner and do laundry all without having to put him down. The benefit of this baby carrier is the ability to tie it on before leaving the house and pop baby in and out without unwrapping for diaper changes and feedings. It is versatile and very pretty, although not exceptionally user-friendly right away. I watched several videos, looked at the instruction booklet and called Anna at OUAS several times before I felt confident enough to wear Julian in the wrap outside of the house. Although I have not tried this, you can also wear baby on your hip and on on your back with this carrier. Side note: Some moms are able to breastfeed in their carriers, but I never felt comfortable (comfort wise, not exposure wise) doing this. It sure would be nice, though!

I was given a mei tai for my birthday, so I started using that carrier in addition to my wrap in September. You must put the baby in this carrier as you tie it on, so it does not lend itself to the ease of use as much as the wrap does. However, this carrier is made of heavier material than the wrap, so I found myself gravitating towards this carrier as the weather turned cold. This carrier also folds up nicely and, for me, fits well in the diaper bag. I wear Julian everywhere in this carrier as well, most notably all day long while we explored Chicago with friends in October. If I could do things over, I would chose a mei tai with a hood because of the ability to protect nap times with the sleeping hood, especially when doing a back carry. I believe I can purchase a separate hood for the mei tai that I have, but it would be infinitely better to purchase one with a hood already attached. I have used this carrier for both front and back carries and love it for either one.

 
My mom won my third carrier in a facebook giveaway (thanks, mom!) and it is a soft structured carrier. You need ample space to get baby in the carrier and I find it to be bulky, so I have not used it outside of the house by myself yet. I think the space issue will change as Julian gets older. It is my favorite carrier for back carries as it has a baby insert where you snap the baby in before putting the carrier on your back. This alleviates my worry about Julian squirming out of my grasp while I get him on my back. I use this carrier almost exclusively now when I need to get housework done and Julian wants to be held. He loves to ride on my back while I vacuum or do the dishes.


I LOVE babywearing for several reasons, but the biggest benefit to me is how free it makes me feel! I can do anything I need to around the house or out of the house and have my baby close to me. Housework does not suffer and neither does baby! 

Of Valentines Day and A Crying Baby

For those that know me well, you are aware that today is my FAVORITE holiday. I absolutely love Valentine's Day! It takes me a while to decorate for Christmas, and even then, I usually just get our little tree up and take it down as soon as Christmas Day is over. And I replace it with Valentine's Day decorations, of course! We have decorative towels for the kitchen and bathroom, door hangers and window clings. I even have a Valentine's giraffe, complete with little red hearts for his spots. It is a big deal around here. Thankfully, I married a wonderful man who indulges my love for this day.

This is the fourth Valentine's Day we have spent together and he has worked to make each one special.

2009
We were living in Chicago, going to school at Moody and had been officially dating for a little over two weeks. Since the 14th fell on a Saturday, Kerry planned a whole day long date for us in the city, beginning with a visit to the Shedd Aquarium. We had lunch at Corner Bakery on Michigan Avenue, took a walk through Millennium Park, went to see a movie at the huge theater in downtown and finished up the day with dinner at the Turkish restaurant where we had our first date a few weeks before.

2010
I was finishing up my last semester at Moody and Kerry was living in Peoria, working for the post office. The 14th was a Sunday, so I came home from school for the weekend. Kerry took me ice skating and out for coffee on Saturday afternoon and we made homemade pizza together at my parents house that evening.

2011
Our first married Valentine's Day! We were living in Peoria Heights and I was 6 months pregnant with Julian. My parents had given us a gift certificate for a bed and breakfast outside of Springfield for Christmas. We decided to use it the weekend before Valentine's Day, since the 14th was a Monday and we would be working and going to school. We left early Saturday morning and drove down to Springfield. We ate a picnic lunch at Subway (it was warm out!), visited the Lincoln Museum and went out to dinner in the tiny town where the B&B was. I brought homemade sugar cookies along and we decorated them with the owners of the B&B and just relaxed and enjoyed time away together.

2012
Our first Valentine's Day with a baby! We are still living in Peoria Heights and Julian is 9 months old. I made what were supposed to be heart-shaped cinnamon rolls for breakfast, but they did not keep their shape when they baked...they still tasted great, though! We exchanged cards at breakfast. Kerry planned a surprise for lunch, so we took Julian over to my parent's house for a few hours. We went to Thirty-Thirty for coffee, then headed to Chili's for lunch. Unfortunately, Julian was not having a good day, so we cut our lunch short, took our food to go and picked up Julian. Parenting is all about being adaptable! Julian fell asleep on the way home, so Kerry and I had a Valentine's Day picnic on our living room floor while Julian slept in his car seat. I would not trade the joy of being Julian's mommy for an uninterrupted Valentine's date any day!

Julian: 9 months

Julian turned nine months old on Sunday!

Weight: 17 lbs. 4 oz.

Length: 28 in.

Head circumference: 45.5 cm.

Since last month, Julian has popped his two bottom teeth all the way through, learned how to crawl and has continued to widen his food horizons! He loves yogurt, cucumber sticks, apple slices, soup and eggs. He still has a banana aversion, but hopefully he grows out of that. He is still nursing wonderfully, five or six times a day. He sleeps (most nights) about eight hours, waking up around 4:30 to eat, then goes back to sleep for another two hours or so. We are loving this new crawling stage! Yes, he is into EVERYTHING, but it is fun to watch him explore.

2012: January Goal Update

In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that when I wrote this post at the end of December, I may have been aiming a little too high. Certainly, the goals that I set were honorable and worthy of attempting to achieve, however, they were a bit too lofty for the season of life that I am currently in. When I first began to realize this, I felt like a failure. I felt as though I was not living up to my full potential, not doing the very best that I could do. It was at that point that my husband gently reminded me to take a look at the priorities that I set for myself. He reminded me that, although I may not have met each one of my specific goals during the month of January, I still stuck to the priorities that I set for myself. He also reminded me to extend some grace to myself.

So, in an effort to be open and honest, I am going to evaluate the goals that I set and share what worked in January, what did not work and how I restructured to (hopefully!) better fit this season of life.

Personal 

• Exercise at least three times a week { While this is still my goal, I probably averaged two times a week throughout the month of January. } 
• Read through the Bible in a year chronologically { I did not maintain this. See the new plan here. }
• Read twelve enriching books { I read Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. }
• Drink 1 gallon of water daily { While this is still my goal, I probably managed to do this 2-3 times a week, while getting 64-96 ounces a day the rest of the month. }
• Memorize 12 new Bible verses { Instead of memorizing individual verses, I have decided to memorize the whole book of Ephesians. This may sound more lofty than 12 verses, but I assure you, memorizing a book at a time is MUCH easier. I committed the entire book of Romans to memory for a class in college and found that much easier to complete than the individual verses for other classes that same semester. Plus, I think there is more spiritual benefit to memorizing chapters and books at a time rather than verses here and there. }

Kitchen/Home

• Attempt four new cooking projects { I attempted homemade greek yogurt. We did not like it, so, I continue to buy our yogurt. }
• Serve fish for dinner once a week { While this is still my goal, I only served fish three times during the month of January. }
• Continue to "green up" our cleaning and personal care products { I made our own laundry detergent for the first time. It works great and you can find the recipe here }
• Do a seasonal Craigslist/Goodwill sweep { I decided that we are going to have a garage sale in the spring/summer before we move, so we currently have a growing pile in our bedroom of garage sale items. } 
• Create and maintain a cleaning schedule { I have done pretty well with this, except for this week due to illness. I will be posting it soon. }

Marriage

• Once a month out of the house dates with my husband { While this is still our goal, it did not happen in January. My husband takes full responsibility, since January was his month to plan! }
• Once a week in house dates with my husband { We achieved this! We played a game together, watched a movie, made dessert together and had a "grown-up" dinner after Julian was asleep. }
• Read 5 books together { While this is still our goal, we did not start any of the books in January }
• Encourage each other daily { This is ongoing, of course, and has been fun for us to find creative ways to achieve. }

Children

• Have a weekly family night { While this is still our goal, we are finding that night is not the best time! We are taking advantage of my husband's variable schedule and finding family time during the day. We took Julian to the zoo and went grocery shopping as a family. }
• Read from the Jesus Storybook Bible together daily { We have achieved this! Due to my husband's work schedule, it does not always happen to be all three of us together, but Julian has heard from it daily. }
• Write in Julian's journal once a month { I wrote in his journal twice during January. }

Ministry/Friendships/Extended Family

• Have at least one family or friend over for a meal once a month { While this is still our goal, this did not happen in January due to extensive traveling on my husband's part. }
• Send a handwritten note/card to a friend or family member every other week { A more realistic goal is once a month. }
• Start and maintain monthly get-togethers with extended family { We achieved this! } 
• Continue to teach SS at our church { Still going strong with our 6 third grade boys! }

Financial

• Continue to tithe 10% of our income { Done. }
• Continue to support a missionary family { Done. }
• Have once a month budget meetings { Done and enjoyable! }

There you have it, my first goal update for 2012!

Julian: 8 months

Julian turned eight months old on Thursday!

He looks so old to me lately! We don't have a well baby check-up until February, so I don't have his current weight, but I can tell he is growing just fine...check out those adorable baby belly rolls :) Two bottom teeth are pushing their way through, but have not completely surfaced yet. Don't worry, I DEFINITELY know they are there! He is still nursing wonderfully, about six times a day, and eating twice a day. His current favorite foods are cucumbers and apples. He sits up beautifully and scoots/pivots using his hands and bottom. No signs of crawling yet, much to Kerry's chagrin! This chagrin is mostly my fault because I mentioned in passing something I read or heard (I cant find it now) that talked about the relationship between crawling and math skills later in life. Now he is fixated on Julian crawling! 

Here is one more picture showing just how big our little man is!

Menu Plan Monday 12/26-1/1

We had a lovely, albeit busy, Christmas. I can't help but share a picture with you all since it was Julian's first Christmas!

As for our menu plan this week, I did my usual routine of planning and shopping for this week last week, however, we were the blessed recipients of TONS of Christmas leftovers, so we will be eating through those this week and filling in the gaps with what I have on hand. I will be back to sharing our normal menu plan next week.

Here is a recipe that I brought to share at our family Christmas gatherings. I am sure it would be a hit at New Year's Eve or New Year's celebrations, too!

Sweet Potato Garlic Spread

(Makes about 8 cups of spread)

4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 tsp.lemon juice

1/2 tsp. oregano

1 tbs. parsley (fresh is best, but dried works great, too!)

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400. Place peeled sweet potatoes in a glass baking dish with a little bit of water in the bottom. Bake for 45-60 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes, then mash. Add garlic, oil and lemon juice and continue to mash. Sprinkle oregano, parsley, salt and pepper in and give it one final mash to combine everything. Refrigerate and serve with crackers or bread.

Julian: 7 months

Julian turned 7 months old on Monday. He is getting so BIG! We went to the doctor today to see the nurse for his second to last round of shots, so they did not do the full stats, but I was able to get him weighed. He weighed in at 16 lb. 13 oz.!

Seven months old

We officially started solid foods with him on Monday, as well. We are taking the baby-led weaning  approach to feeding him. Our mantra, as is the case with most baby-led weaning families, is "food before one is just for fun". The only traditional "rules" we are following is avoiding peanut butter and honey, especially since we eat raw honey, for at least the first year. I am still nursing Julian on demand, which comes out to be about 6 or 7 times in a 24 hour period. I am not at all concerned about how much (or, in this case, how little!) solid food he is actually eating. If he wants to eat what we put in front of him, he will! That being said, he has LOVED what we have given him so far. On Monday, he had sweet potato and roast at dinner. Tuesday he had a few chunks of banana at breakfast. Wednesday we gave him some ground beef and cucumber at dinner. I do wonder how much of it he is actually consuming, even though it doesn't really matter. I get my reassurance when I find little chunks of food in his dirty diapers :)

I will (and already do!) DEFINITELY miss the seven months of nothing but breast milk, particularly when it comes to his dirty diapers. They were much easier to clean up when he was EBF because I could throw the diaper, poop and all, into the wet bag and, subsequently, into the washing machine. Thankfully, my wonderful husband installed our diaper sprayer on Saturday. I know plenty of cloth diapering mommas who do it without a diaper sprayer, but this is one momma who is VERY thankful for the person that invented that contraption :)