Tips for Hiking with Baby

This past Saturday was our big hike...the one I've been nervous about for months. Not only was I worried about the physical strain of the hike, but also how Landon would handle 5 hours in a carrier. He was fussy at points, but overall we had a great time. I can't say that I loved the way my legs were feeling afterwards though. I am still sore today... five days later! This hike was probably the most physically challenging thing I've done in two years and my poor body paid the toll. That being said, I can't wait for our next Adirondacks hike next year!

New Favorite Baby Product-Munchkin Grippy Dots

When Landon transitioned from the baby tub to the "Big Boy tub", it was so scary for him. Every time he tried to reach for a toy, he'd slip on the bottom of the tub (don't worry, Mommy or Daddy were always there to catch him).

So I went to Buy Buy Baby on my lunch break one day to buy a bath mat. All of the mats they had were licensed products, which I'm not a big fan of. Since we share a bathroom with the little guy, I don't really want to wake up to Winnie-the-Pooh or Cars every morning.

But then I saw these Grippy Dots by Munchkin

Image from Munchkin.com

First Family Vacation Photos!

I'm so glad we took advantage of the long weekend to have our first family vacation. Traveling with a 9-month-old is no easy feat. Besides all of the packing you have to do for every single scenario, you have to be prepared to be surprised by the unexpected. The unexpected being Landon's new found hatred for the car seat. Thank goodness there were two of us in the car, because I spent nearly the entire ride there and back in the backseat with Landon trying to distract him.

The unfortunate chauffeur of the trip

Landon, pre-car seat-hate

Sweet Tooth Sunday-Americana Berry Cocktail

I hope y'all are having a wonderful holiday weekend. Let's not forget what we are celebrating this weekend-those who have laid their lives on the line for our freedom. What better way to celebrate our freedom, than by spending time with family and friends. 

Road Trip!

This weekend marks our first family trip! We'll be heading up to Lake Placid for some relaxation and hiking! Lake Placid is such a charming place. This will be the fourth time we're going.

One of my life goals is to become a Daks 46-er. A Daks 46-er is a person who has climbed all of the high peaks in the Adirondacks. I've been pursuing my dream for about 5 years now, but I took the last two years off to get married and have a baby. Now it's time to start up again! We've hiked three of the top five peaks. This year we will be doing a super easy (I hope?) hike to the summit of the 36th highest peak, with baby in tow. And maybe a side trip to another peak if we are feeling up to it.

Here are some photos of our last trip:

I realize this isn't an attractive photo, but I think it makes us looks like awesome  kickass hikers

At the summit of Algonquin

Stopped at lovely waterfalls on the way down

I've packed our life away into a billion bags. I'm just hoping that we didn't forget anything!

This is Landon's first trip and I'm so scared for the car ride. I'm really hoping that he sleeps for a decent amount of it. We'll be taking 1 or 2 pit stops. I just hope he doesn't feel too cooped up in his car seat!

Another Favorite Baby Product

Today I stayed home with a sick baby, this time with a mild case of bronchitis. My poor little man never wins. With all the coughing he was doing, it was tough to get him to take a nap. Luckily, I found my new favorite baby product on the iTunes store!

image courtesy of Amazon.com

Niece or Nephew? What'll It Be?

Yesterday was an incredibly exciting day in our family. It was the Gender Reveal party for my brother and sister-in-law! The third grandchild for my parents. Wow, they are really racking them up!

So is it a boy or girl?

Find out below...

Sweet Tooth Sunday-Cherry White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

This weekend was a family-filled weekend for sure, culminating today with a wonderful Gender Reveal party for my brother and sister-in-law's new baby (pics to come tomorrow). Since the cake was the star of the show today, I decided to make a small and easy treat for us to snack on. 

Adapted from the Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, behold the Cherry, White Chocolate, Macadamia Nut Cookie. 

Here Comes Trouble

Since I updated you last, Little Man has become a professional crawler. All he wants to do all day long is crawl.

Sweet Tooth Sunday (Monday Edition)-Strawberry Lemonade Bars

This is the second Sweet Tooth Sunday I did yesterday, but was too pooped from all of the Mother's Day festivities to post it!

This is a recipe I found on Pinterest from K&K Test Kitchen . It was great for a hot day like yesterday. The cool bars were crisp and refreshing! Reminding us that summer is right around the corner!

Happy Mother's Day

Better late than never, but HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the mom's out there. Especially to my mom who is the greatest in the world! She has done so much for us this year in helping us and being there while we were adjusting to our new roles in life. It has made our lives so much easier!

Being my first Mother's Day, Bartek wanted to make it incredibly special for me. He's been treating me to something everyday this week, including a surprise dinner on Friday night, complete with babysitting by our friends! It was awesome!

We also had a beautiful day with our families today. We had a barbecue at Van Saun Park. Here are some pictures from our great day.

Sweet Tooth Sunday-Strawberry and Blueberry Hand Pies

It was an incredibly busy weekend for us! We looked at some apartments yesterday and had a river-side picnic. Then today we had a big family picnic at a park. And somewhere in between all of this, I had time to do two Sweet Tooth Sundays! I had to do something special for Mother's Day, but the exhaustion is starting to hit me now! I'll post the second one tomorrow.

The first treat I made were hand pies. We all remember Drakes Fruit Pies, right? I feel like I was always begging my parents for these when we would go food shopping. Well, today I made a healthier version of them. Or what I would like to think is a healthier version. This is based on the recipe I found here.

Nutshell Library Throwback

Today marked the passing of one of the greatest children's book authors of all time, Maurice Sendak. While he's mostly known for Where the Wild Things Are, my favorite book (or actually books) was this mini library Nutshell Library.

 Image from Amazon

It's a collection of four books: Chicken Soup with Rice, Pierre, Alligators All Around and One Was Johnny. I know almost every word in each of them....because I performed them! I'm not sure what it was, maybe Girl Scouts or some drama thing my mom had me do when I was in kindergarten. In the 70's, the stories in the Nutshell Library as well as The Sign on Rosie's Door were made into an animated TV special called Really Rosie with the songs sung by Carole King. We based our play on this TV special.

The one that I remember the most was Chicken Soup with Rice and I can still kind of remember the dance moves we did to it.

I also remember Pierre, the bratty boy that always responded "I don't care" to his parents. I guess Mr. Sendak was great at portraying terrible children!

This is one of those great childhood memories that I have and I was so happy to remember it today with the passing of Maurice Sendak. The little library is still at my parents' house, the covers tattered from years and years of reading. I can't wait to look at them again the next time I go home.

Really Rosie, part 1
Really Rosie, part 2

"Baby K"

....was what we called him for the entire 9 (or 10, really) months he was in utero. Landon was nameless to the public the entire time, except for a few slip-ups by Bartek that weren't caught. Luckily! We had decided on Landon's name about a month before he was due, but we didn't want to tell anyone. That was our little secret. 

Sweet Tooth Sunday-Toasted Coconut Rice Custard

I almost didn't have it in me to do Sweet Tooth Sunday today. I was horribly sick this morning, after catching a stomach bug that Landon had Friday and Saturday. I spent the first half of the day in bed, thanks to my darling hubby who watched Landon all morning. It took a lot for me to go out food shopping, but I did it and I think the fresh air did some good. 

I was thinking about doing a rice pudding, but then I came across this recipe for Coconut Rice Custard and it was the coconut that sold me. Yum! 

Toasted Coconut Rice Custard
1-13.5 oz can unsweetened coconut milk
1/4 c. water
1/4 c. plus 2/3 c. sugar
1 c. long grain white rice
3 c. half-and-half
5 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. coconut flakes

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

In a saucepan, combine coconut milk, water and 1/4 c. of sugar and bring to a boil. Stir in rice. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until the liquid gets absorbed, about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, warm the half-and-half in a separate saucepan, but do not boil.

Whisk together eggs, 2/3 c. sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl. Stirring constantly, add the half-and-half to the egg mixture. Skim off any foam that rises to the top. Then stir in the rice.

Transfer to a 9.5-inch baking dish. Place the dish inside a larger roasting pan. Add hot water to the pan so that it comes half-way up the side of the baking dish. Bake until the custard is set, about one hour.

Before serving, toast coconut flakes lightly in a pan until they turn slightly brown. Add them to the top of the custard. Serve warm or chilled.

It's very rich and creamy! Delicious!

Check out last week's Sweet Tooth Sunday:
Lemon Cookies with Citrus Filling

Nine Months Old!

Landon has really changed so much in the past month. He has such a personality now. He definitely inherited the "skutch" from my side of the family (I'm not sure if other people use this word, but it means purposely being a brat). So Landon likes to push our buttons by making us nervous with his standing or by pulling on his framed map above his changing table.

He's a daredevil now and pulls himself up to standing on the coffee table, dining chairs and his jumperoo. He's also a crawler and can make his way across the bedroom. He has six teeth, four on the top and two on the bottom. He says "mama" all the time and maybe he does know what it means, it's kind of hard to tell. Besides that, he babbles like crazy. Just like I said last month, he's really growing like crazy!

Prepping for Baby, Part III-The Mom-to-Be

I've talked about preparing your pets and your home for the new baby in your life. Now it's time to talk about the big one, maybe even literally, with that huge bump you might be carrying around...YOURSELF!

My First Pinterest Project!

I've been using Pinterest mainly for food gawking and finding recipes for delicious desserts, but there are some projects I've pinned too.

I know a lot of people make fun of Pinterest as a huge to-do list of things that never get done. But I'm here to prove them wrong! I've made something I found on Pinterest!