Happy Birthday Doodle Bug!!!

Doodle Bug turned ONE today!!!! I can't believe I have a one year old! Everyone said that once you have a child, your "fast forward" button on life gets pushed. Boy is that true! This year has flown by...well, the first 6 months, I was just sleep deprived, but the rest has flown by.

Since Doodle Bug has a milk allergy, I decided I would make his birthday cake. As the "yes" RSVP's kept rolling in, I realized quickly that I'd be making 2 cakes for the 65 people that were attending! I was a bit nervous that the cakes wouldn't turn out, but everyone said they were great! (hopefully they weren't telling a white lie so as to not hurt my feelings ;o) Here are his cakes.

The theme to Doodles first birthday bash was from the Disney movie, Cars. We had a bounce house in the backyard for the "bigger" kids. However, I did see some adults in there towards the end of the party. Hubby even took Doodle Bug inside to jump around. He squealed with excitement the entire time!

Doodle Bug was spoiled with tons of great gifts! He opened a few, then grew tired and moved on to the next room to find some more excitement! While the gifts were being opened, the adults played "Blogger Trivia". I asked questions that pertained to this blog. My friend, T, won the trivia game. After all of the gifts were opened, it was time for cake. Hubby and I helped him blow out his candle and cut his first piece of birthday cake. Of course, we got the classic "cake all over the place" picture. He ate only a few bites of birthday cake, but enjoyed smashing it in his fingers much better than eating it.

Thank you to all of our friends and family for helping us celebrate Doodle Bug's first birthday. He had a lot of fun and is still recovering from all the excitement, sugar, and lack of naps :o) Thank you to all the friends and family members who helped decorate, set up, and clean. And a BIG thank you to my hubby, for all of your help and support. We love you all!!

Healthy Cooking

My friend, T, introduced me to the book, Deceptively Delicious, by Jessica Seinfeld. It's a cookbook that has recipes which hide veggies inside the meal. I thought I'd try out some of the recipes on Hubby and Doodle Bug and see what they think. The first meal I made was chicken nuggets with pureed spinach hidden inside. Here is what it looked like...nothing fancy!

Below are my two boys enjoying their "hidden spinach" chicken nuggets. They both approved!

The next night I made Ground Turkey Meatloaf with pureed carrots hidden inside it and a healthy version of Mashed Potatoes. The mashed potatoes were really just mashed cauliflower with a little butter and sour cream. Here is what it looked like...

The Mashed "cauliflower" potatoes were good...Ground Turkey meatloaf...YUCK!!!!! If you haven't tried ground turkey, KEEP IT THAT WAY! We thought the texture and taste of the turkey was not appealing!!! I think the meatloaf recipe with ground beef would have been good. I'll give it one more shot and let you know;o)

The cookbook also has muffin and dessert recipes with hidden veggies. I've made chocolate chip cookies with pureed chick peas and rolled oats. I thought they were good...and they were milk free!

FREE Food!!!!!!

Yeah!!!!! I just got $65 of free restaurant gift certificates!!!! How you ask? Well, instead of using google to do my daily searches, I've been using swag. When you do a search on swag, you earn points (swag bucks). I accumulated 40 swag bucks and traded it in for a $25 GC to restaurants.com. If you're not familiar with restaurants.com, it's a website in which you can buy GC at a reducued rate (for example you can buy a $10 GC for only $4). So I purchased $65 worth of gift cards to my favorite restaurants and I used my FREE $25 GC to pay for it. Follow me?

If you want to do the same, look for the link on the top right side of this website, click on it and sign up for your FREE account and start earning swag bucks today!

Just havin' FUN!!!

Time is just flying by! I can't believe my little Doodle Bug is already 11 months old.

He loves picture time!

He's watching a dragon fly in this picture ;o)

Doodles loves to feed himself. We've been slowly introducing finger foods: cheerios, french fries, carrots, diced potato, finely sliced chicken... Today, he had Milk Free French Toast for breakfast!



He loved it so much that he just kept shoving more and more into his mouth! I was worried he'd choke, but he just laughed at me and stuck more in his mouth!

Film Clip Friday!!!

Here Doodle Bug decided he wanted to help me clean the house!

The Great Escape!

Someone has been bitten by the music bug. Doodle Bug calls this the "But Scoot Boogie"!

Philly is a great baby sitter!

I think I've got a Chipmunk!!!

For the past couple of weeks, when I get Doodle Bug in the morning, I find him standing in his crib waiting for me. So that didn't surprise me this morning, however, I thought he must've had a growth spurt over the night because he looks several inches taller!!

In the picture below, you can see that his shoulders are above the crib rail.

Well, upon further exploration, he hasn't grown, he's standing on his toy!!!

So, the toy is no longer in his crib. Do you think it's against the law to put a door across the top of the crib? Hmmmm... I guess it would be called a cage then and not a crib! I worry that he is going to fall out. Boy do I miss the days when all I had to worry about was his rolling over!

In the pictures above, you've probably noticed the cloth cover across the front of the crib railing. Well, my Doodle Bug has turned into a chipmunk and chews on EVERYTHING!!! He started chewing on the crib rails about a week ago. We have the type of crib that converts to a toddler bed, then to a full size bed. So he is stuck with this bedding for many years to come. I did some research and didn't want to use the Gummi rails for 2 reasons: 1. they don't work so well on the thick rails that I have, and 2. when you peel them off, many people complain that it takes the varnish off with it. So, the Martha Stewart in me, decided to make my own solution. I used my sewing machine to sew 2 pieces of thick fabric together, sewed some ties, and tada...a rail cover that protects the rails from Doodle Bug's Chompers!!

Now I just have to make some for the side rails!!

Last weekend, we visited my Grandmother, aka, Big Red!! Above, is my father pulling the stroller behind him. He didn't like bending over to push it. Guess I have to invent the "Stroller Handle Extender" for tall people!

Big Red, Grandpa, and Doodle Bug walking down the scary hallway. I don't like visiting Big Red's place because it reminds me of a Stephen King movie!

Hubby and I bought Doodles a blow-up pool. Here I am blowing the darn thing up!

Of course, a man would use a tool to do the same job!!

Doodles loves splashing in his pool!

We're having such a fun summer!!!!!

Random Funny Stories...

I probably write a little too much, but I have a bad memory and I want to be able to remember Doodle Bug's first year...and my first year surviving Motherhood!

So it was 1:oopm, time for Doodle's bottle. I fixed up some formula and handed him the bottle. Usually, he picks it up and drinks it all in a matter of minutes. Today, he picked it up and took a few sips, then threw it on the floor. Hmmm, maybe he's wasn't hungry/thirsty. I put him on the mat with his toys and let him play for 10 minutes. Then I tried giving him the bottle again. Same thing happened. A few sucks, then thrown on the floor. His afternoon nap typically begins around 1:30, so I thought maybe he is just tired. We went upstairs to his room and I sat in the glider and tried giving him the bottle again. This time, Doodles sucked with all his might and the nipple was sunken in and making a funny sound. I also noticed that there wasn't any milk flowing into the nipple. That's when I remembered that I had forgotten to take the "No leak, round disc" out of the bottle before giving it to him. No matter how hard he sucked, the milk couldn't come out! :o) Do these things happen to other Moms, or just me??

Doodles being cute...

Hmmm...this might make for a good blackmail picture later on in life. Doodle Bug had a GREAT time playing with a bag of curlers. Don't know what to get him for his birthday, just find some old junk around your house and wrap it up...apparently, that is his favorite thing to play with. Wish I had known that before spending money on toys :o)

Doodle Bug loves to eat french fries...by the fistful!

Who ate my fry????

Doodle Bug has a goal to be walking by his Birthday party!! He's been practicing for the last several weeks. Last night, his Grandma stopped by and gave him a gift. It was a shopping cart for Doodles to hold onto and walk behind. We didn't have to show him how to use it. He knew right away what to do. He loves this toy!!! Of course, after I stopped filming, Doodles got back up, let go of the shopping cart, and stood (all by himself) for about 4 seconds. I was so proud of him.