Benjamin, you are thirteen months old!

I probably say this every month, but you have grown SO MUCH in the past month! It is insane! In January you were just starting to figure out what that walking thing was all about and now you are a pro! You are so good at walking, you're practically running! We've covered up all the outlets in the house so you can have more freedom without us worrying about you sticking your finger in a socket. You love this freedom so much and you spend your time roaming from room to room. It is so much fun, isn't it? Almost as fun as dancing to your Wiggles!



This is the side of you we happen to see most often. You are always climbing on stuff and running here and there. We are always having to chase you down to make sure you're not getting into any trouble. You like to wave your arms around when you walk and you love to climb onto your chair.



You love to eat. Simple as that. You have started bringing us food and asking for it. Today you brought your daddy a tupperware of cupcakes but when he wouldn't let you have that, you brought me a thing of applesauce. When that was all gone, you tried to bring me another! You are a very healthy little boy. You love your green beans and lima beans. You're not too hot on apples, but you love bananas and oranges! Yum!



You like to play outside and get dirty. You are 100% boy! You're interested in electronics as well, apparently. You walk around with objects and pretend you're talking on the phone, saying "Uh huh, uh huh!" You like making noise and yelling and singing too.



You are a sweetums with the sweetest voice I've ever heard! You say things like:

Thank You (Guh Goo)
Uh-Oh
Cracker (Cacker) - could also mean cookie? They are kind of one in the same to him.
Bible (Buh-boh) - Although he calls anything that remotely looks like a Bible this.
Dada
Mhm/uh huh

You've started shaking your head no a lot, too, which is always funny when we ask you a question. You always do it when we laugh after you do it once!



You are the friendliest baby I have ever known. You love to visit with everyone and always flash them your sweet little smile. You melt our hearts, Benjamin, with your bright blue eyes and your chubby little cheeks.



Did I mention that you are TOTALLY messy!?

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Benjamin turned 13 months on the 19th. I just now got around to doing this post! Better late than never, right??

a Busy Day

Benjamin took a nap yesterday, and apparently I should have as well. He ran around non-stop for about twenty minutes straight. Seriously.





That must have been one good nap!

Nun's Puffs

I got bored yesterday and decided that I would bake something. This is possibly a bad habit to get into. Baking when bored. Especially as most of what I bake probably aren't the best things to eat when you're trying to lose weight or shape up. Anyway, I pulled out my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and found a really simple and easy recipe. Would you like to know how to make this?:



yum. It's called "Nun's Puffs".

And here's what you'll need:

1/2 Cup Butter
1 Cup milk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
Honey (optional)

And here's what you do:

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Generously grease twelve 2 1/2-in muffin cups, including the edge and around the top of each cup (I used Baking Pam); set aside. In a medium saucepan, melt butter; add milk. Bring to boiling. Add flour all at once, stirring vigorously. Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball that does not separate. Remove from heat; cool for 5 minutes.



2. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute with a wooden spoon after each addition or until smooth. Divide dough evenly among prepared muffin cups, filling cups about two-thirds full; sprinkle with sugar.



3. Bake about 30 minutes or until golden brown and puffy. Remove from pan. Serve immediately. If desired, serve with honey.



And you bet that honey was desired. Well, for Hubby's. We ran out of honey so I put syrup on mine and it was fantastic. You can just see the honey dripping off of that puff... oh yes, I went there.

Mine turned out tasting rather eggy, so I think these would be absolutely glorious for breakfast.



Mmmmm....

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Oh, and just so you know. I'm absolutely PUMPED because sometime next week we will be getting new floors in our kitchen and so no more getting down and scrubbing nasty linoleum. I'm so excited!!

Happy Weekend!

I love a sleeping baby

Benjamin was sound asleep when I went in to check on him during his first nap of the day (he normally takes two). I was able to walk in and out a couple of times without him waking. This never happens. Normally he wakes at the smallest sound in his room. After I realized he was really out of it, I went to get my camera so I could capture a rare moment - seeing my baby peacefully sleeping.





I love him.

Benjamin's Waffles

I am taking a [well-deserved] break from my laundry endeavors to ask you if you like waffles.

So? Do you like waffles?! I love waffles! I used to eat the Eggo Waffles nearly every day! And for Christmas I received a waffle iron of my own, so not too long ago, we decided we'd give it a go. One of our favorite things to have for dinner is breakfast. So easy and inexpensive, and who doesn't love stuff drenched in syrup?! Yeah, that's what I thought!

Of course, Benjamin can't eat regular waffles as he is allergic to eggs. We like to make things that he can eat with us, since we all eat at the same time and Benjamin likes to do that little number where he reaches and oops! His hand just so happens to land in your plate, and he may as well go ahead and grab what he's touched. It always reminds me of the typical guy in the movie theater with his girlfriend, the yawn and stretch and oops! My arm's around your shoulders!

Anyway. I tried to do waffles from my eggless baking book, but that didn't end so pretty. Instead, I just took a regular waffle recipe and switched it up a bit so Benjamin could eat it.

We can call these "Benjamin's Waffles".

This is what you'll need:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup applesauce (substituting the eggs)
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup oil or butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Mix it all together.
2. Pour it onto your waffle grids. I used I think a cup of batter for each grid. Don't forget to use Pam on there, or your waffles may stick and be a real pain to get up.
3. Close the lid, and wait. I suppose it depends on what sort of waffle iron you use, but ours were done with the steam stopped coming out of the sides.
4. Take 'em off.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 until you've used up your batter...
6. Serve warm with butter and syrup if you'd like! You can even toss some fruit on there!




Of course, Ben's did not have syrup or anything on it. He ate his plain. But he still liked it! They tasted sort of like vanilla wafers.

Ta-da!

And, this is what Benjamin did while we cooked up brinner/deakfast!







Looks like we've got a future Neil Peart on our hands! :)

Good food, good fun! Happy Friday!

Tart Strawberries?

Benjamin is so fickle sometimes. Sunday, he loved Strawberries. Yesterday, he wasn't too interested. I think it must be a phase or something... Or maybe the strawberries were a little too tart?



Just a little side note. If you happen to notice changes with the way the blog looks, just know that I am always tweaking and playing with different things. I have always liked to tweak things like this so I suppose it's just something I do when I have the time.

Hope you all have a fantastic Friday tomorrow! What are your favorite Friday memes?

I {heart} Pilates

I am not a fitness queen. I hate fitness. I love being fit but I hate what it takes to get there. I always hated P.E. in school, and was so glad when I was homeschooled because I wasn't required to run laps daily. Since having a baby, though, I have become a lot more self conscious about my body and the way I look. I definitely don't weigh close to what I did at the peak of my pregnancy (thankfully!), but I don't weigh very close to what I did before, either. The pudge has settled into areas I have never had pudge before. At first I was really embarrassed by it. And then I was downright depressed about it. I whined and complained. And then I just sort of got over it. Mostly. Because then I started doing Pilates.

I always say I don't want to be skinny. But I'm going to be real with you. I'd like to get there again. Not as skinny as I used to be, aka freakishly skinny. But let's face it. I am 21 years old. A year and 9 months ago I weighed in at 109. Yes, 109. So going from that to where I am now means a lot has changed. My arms are still puny (I used to have a big issue with my arms), but there are a few areas that could use some shaping up.

I have accepted the way I look. Don't get me wrong - I know God made me in the image of Him, and that the outward doesn't matter nearly as much as the inside. But I would like to feel a little better about myself. Am I talking my way in circles? I do care, but I am happy, too. Does that make sense?

I apologize for my rambling, I'll get to the point:



Pilates = new best friend.

That's right! The self-proclaimed exercise hater has been exercising. We started doing Pilates back in January when the exercise DVD's were on sale at Target. It has been fantastic! We have gotten from the Easy DVD to the Intermediate DVD. I haven't quite mastered that, yet. There are still some exercises that I feel like screaming during.

Pilates has been relaxing, energizing, and dare I say it, fun! I feel better, and you may not believe it, but I look trimmer already! I can't say much for the numbers dropping but at least I feel like I look better. Pilates works on your core - you know, the one that is put all out of whack when you are growing a child!

I'm not endorsing any company with this. I just wanted to share this with any of you new mothers (or any mothers) who might be struggling like I did - and sometimes on my bad days, still do.

Do any of you exercise at all? What sorts of things do you do to keep in shape? Or, if you're a mom, how'd you deal with your new body?

Photo source: Here.