Oh Yea, Now I Remember...

I went in to get Leah from her nap the other day and snapped these pictures before I picked her up.  I think they show her thoughts...
Hi mom, so happy to see you!

Um, seems like I've forgotten something down there,

Oh, now I remember what it was.

Pursley!

Leah loves her Pursley!

Playing Outside

With this nice fall weather, Leah and I have been spending some time playing outside.
Here are a few pictures I took last week.

 I love the determined look.

Enjoy!

H is for Hives

Leah has had another hive outbreak.  While we've had a few other small outbreaks of hives since this time, they usually come and go pretty quickly, this time they've hung around for a little longer.  I think or thought I had it narrowed down to a milk/ milk protein allergy, but this time I'm not sure what is causing the hives and it's pretty frustrating!  My two main suspects for this outbreak are Gerber's Chicken Noodle dinner and some Wal-Mart brand puffs, neither of which list milk or milk products as an ingredient, so who knows! 
Last time she had an outbreak we went to see an allergist, which turned out to be a big waste of time.  They drew blood and the results came back that she's not allergic to anything,  (really?!?) but it turns out allergy tests before the age of 12 or 18 months aren't very accurate, so they suggested we come back when Leah turns one.  Up to this point, I was all ready to skip the allergist appointment when she turns one but now I'm not so sure.    I've been looking forward to her turning one to be able to feed her more table food and start her on milk, but looks like those plans might have to wait. 
I tried to get some pictures tonight, so here they are.  The hives are usually just on her arms and legs, but this time they're on her face too.  You can see they don't seem to affect her too much!

Letters to Leah Month 11

Happy 11 Month Birthday, Leah!
Wow, only one more month until you turn the big 1!
- I have no idea how much you weigh, we go to the doctor next month, so we'll have to wait until then.
- You wear size 3 diapers and mostly 12 month clothes, you have a few 9 month ones that still fit and have started wearing a few 18 month clothes.
- You're still a very busy crawler and love to walk behind your push toys, but no steps on your own yet.
- You can stand up without holding onto anything.
- You can clap and sometimes give fives.  We're working on waving.  You also know how to dance.
- You love to read books and can even turn the pages when we read.
- You have four teeth, two on top and two on bottom.
- You are starting to make more sounds and sometimes even make the same number of syllables for a word.
- You've become quite attached to Pursley, for the most part he stays in your bed, but occasionally you like to carry him around while you crawl.

 This was the only picture I was able to get before Leah was gone. 

Moving Right Along

Leah has been working on her walking, so I thought I'd post a couple of videos to show her progress.  She hasn't gotten brave enough to take any steps on her own, but I'm sure that's coming sooner then I'll be ready for.  She also likes to stop and clap for herself while she's walking along, it's just about the cutest thing!

This video was taken on September 11th with my iPhone.

This video was taken on September 18th with my new camera. 
Please excuse the big black blob in the middle of the video, she feels the need to be in the middle of everything.  

Leah loves talking around the living room with her little train, and loves "running" into Daisy.  

Look out Daisy you're not safe anymore!

Fake It and Make It

I always love new dinner recipes/ ideas so I thought I'd share this one.
One of the things I miss about living in Kansas was our location to shopping and restaurants, not that our location here is that far away or bad, it's just some of my favorites are further away now.  The one in particular that is further away than I'd like is Chipotle.  Chipotle and I got into a little routine last summer/ fall, where I ended up eating it every Sunday night.  Tim usually left on Sunday for work and I didn't want to cook for just my (pregnant) self and Chipotle was good, close and convenient, so it won out.  Now that Chipotle isn't quite as convenient as it was before, not to mention it can get pricey, I've come up with a solution to fix my Chipotle cravings, make my own!
I'm a chicken burrito fan so here's my version of a chicken burrito.
Chicken: I usually sprinkle a couple of frozen chicken breasts with olive oil and taco seasoning and bake for 45-50 minutes (or buy the fajita chicken strips), let the cool and shred.  (I usually do this sometime during the day before dinner and then reheat it just a little before serving.)
Rice: I cook minute rice according to the package directions and add a little cilantro and lime juice while it cooks.
Beans and Corn Salsa:  I think it is what makes it most like a Chipotle burrito, corn salsa. Here's the recipe thanks to my mom:
2 cans Yellow and White corn
1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
1 can green chilis
1 red onion chopped
2 tsp. cumin
juice of one lime
salt to taste
1/3 c. olive oil
1/2 c. cilantro chopped
Combine all ingredients and chill.
To make your burrito combine all ingredients in a tortilla and add sour cream and cheese.
Last time I made these, I modified this recipe I found off Pinterest as a way to heat them, it added a nice crunchy texture to the tortilla. 
Now if I ask myself "Black or Pinto Beans?" and "sourcreamcheese?" while I'm making these I almost feel like I'm at Chiptole. Almost.

Picture Dump

I feel like such a bad blogger, here I got a new camera and I still haven't been updating the blog. Here are a few pictures I took yesterday.

 Please excuse the messy hair

I'm scheduled to take a camera class this weekend to learn all about my new camera, hopefully it will result in even more pictures. Oh yeah and how about some comments?  Do you have a favorite picture? 

More comments = more pictures...

Have You Noticed?

Did you happen to notice anything special about the last post?  Go ahead check it out here.

If you happened to say more pictures? Correct. Better pictures? Also correct.  Over the weekend while my parents were here I bit the bullet and bought a new camera.  A camera has been on my to buy list for quite a while and it really moved up on the list after this happened.  I've always wanted to be able to take better pictures and hopefully this is the first step on the way there.  This might will help me accomplish #16 on my to-do list. I upgraded to a Canon rebel and I have to say I already love it, (hopefully you're enjoying it too!)  I purchased it from a local camera store that also offers photography classes and even offers a free class with the purchase of a camera, sign me up!
Here are some of the pictures I took this weekend, enjoy!

 Leah and Grandma Debbie

 Leah with Papa Greg and Pursley

 At the train station

 Waving bye-bye to Grandma Debbie and Papa Greg's train

Swinging

Most of these pictures are unedited, so hopefully with a little editing they'll look even better!  I've got a lot of learning to do!

An Apple a Day

I absolutely love this time of year... cooler weather, college football, windows open, sweatshirts, jeans, pumpkins, apples, soups, I could go on forever!  One of the events I've been looking forward to doing with Leah is going to the pumpkin patch and apple orchard.  While the pumpkins aren't quite ready, the apples are and we took advantage of the cooler weather and the apples this weekend.  The same place where Leah and I went strawberry and peach picking also has an apple orchard, so we headed there. 

 The farm where we went definitely knows how to draw a crowd and give people a good experience, their slogan is "Creating family memories" and we definitely made some memories!

My parents were in town and it was so nice to have someone to go with us because the last two times I've gone by myself and it's a little hard to pick fruit, take pictures, and handle Leah. 

 Leah had a great time and even found a favorite apple.  She gnawed on her apple all while we shopped at the market, ate our custard, and drove home, she loved her apple. 

 I captured these last few pictures of Leah and her apple before we left, so cute!

 

We had such a good time picking apples and I can't wait to go back to pick pumpkins!  We picked quite a few apples, needless to say I'll be eating an apple a day for quite a while!