Bread Blog

Tim and I started a bread blog this year. We wanted to do something different and fun together. So far, we have done a few bread recipes and have really enjoyed each one. We have loved both the process of making bread together and definitely eating the fruits of our labor. =)


Check it out: whatweknead.blogspot.com

We have been pretty busy lately. It has made the time go by quickly. Lots to do. I'm really glad we're all over the cold too. It was good for us to relax in the beginning of the year, but it's nice to be able to do stuff again without feeling so eHh. We're actually enjoying the sunny days now. Miles is doing well- not coughing anymore. He's been "singing" louder nowadays. It's pretty funny to listen to. He also gets more emotional if I take away something he likes. His little pout is just so adorable though!

Clap Your Hands!

Miles is really picking up a lot of new tricks lately! I am just so amazed at how much he is learning, it's so fun to see. I've been clapping with Miles a lot, and he would sometimes lift up his hands and just be in awe. (Really cute!) But yesterday, we were just playing around in the living room and I asked Miles "Can you clap?" and I clapped my hands and he instantly brought his hands together to do 1 clap =) I was so shocked to see him react so quickly. I was so excited. And from then on, I can ask him to clap and he will happily do it. It's so adorable.


Miles is also really good at putting things in to other things... a ball into his helicopter toy, a toy in a box, and today, a cupcake into the hippo's mouth (a stuffed animal I have) =) I will have something in my hand, and I'll say "put the ball in" and do the motion.. and after a few times doing it in front of Miles, he does it when I ask him to. Sooo fun! =)


I have also started to give Miles little pieces of food to pick up from the table. He likes this puff snack I give him. He is actually good at picking up 2 pieces with both hands - 1 in each hand - versus having 1 snack to pick up. When I give him 1 piece, he will usually just play with and watch it slide off the table. (He loves dropping stuff when I he's sitting in his table chair!)

My Smart Little Cookie

Miles is getting really good at following instructions and finding stuff! I'm a proud mama! =)
Can't believe our baby is 9 months old today. Pretty soon, my baby will turn the big 1. Sheesh, time is going by so quickly! 

A New Year

It's a new year. I hope everyone had a safe New Year's celebration. We stayed at home and celebrated with some homemade bread and other treats. Tim and I want to make bread weekly this year and we started a new blog to document it all =) Hopefully we keep it going! It was nice to just relax at home for the NYE countdowns (for Eastern and for Central time) We had a mini countdown for Miles before we brought him upstairs for bed too. =)

 

Miles has been such a happy sicky baby lately. I've been very thankful that he's not too crabby...even with a stuffy nose and an annoying cough. Such a good boy! =) I've also noticed that Miles is getting better at following some simple directions from me. (It's really cute!) He has a little helicopter toy that you can drop the balls in it and he can do it when I tell him to. He also has a bunch of bowls that stack that he got for Christmas from his Aunt Katie. I would hide a little ball under one of them and put 2 or 3 bowls in front of him and ask "Where's the ball, Miles?" and he finds it each time! I was so amazed! =) It's amazing to see how much babies learn. Incredible. I'm excited to see all of the things he will learn this new year!

I read Miles a new book he got from Christmas today and he was laughing so hard. It was too cute! I decided to record us reading it again, to see if he would react similar ... he did. =) Enjoy the video! And Happy New Year!!

Miles' 1st Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We enjoyed our first Christmas with Miles this year and that in itself is the best present ever. We got back from our trips on Christmas Eve and spent the holiday at Tim's brother's. It was fun to hang out with Kareem and Dina and the kids. We went to church with them on Christmas Eve, Dina made lots of delicious meals for us, we played a little bit of ping pong, and we played a pretty intense game of Trouble on Christmas night. That Trouble game would have been entertaining for anyone to see. hah! It was a really enjoyable time.

California & Honduras Trips Recap

Traveling, being sick, and taking care of sicky people has gotten me to be a little late on my posts. We are all at home now, just relaxing and trying to get better for the new year.


So, to recap... Miles and I had a great time in California. He had fun playing with Lily and Ian. He loves listening to his cousin Lily sing =) During our short trip there, we got to go to a restaurant on Diners Drive Ins and Dives .. (I love going to restaurants featured on TV shows, haha) and also to Universal Studios. This was my first time going inside Universal Studios - I've only gone to CityWalk a few years ago. Grinchmas was the theme for the park at this time and Lily & Ian were very excited about that. They had real snow at the park. It was pretty ironic that we got our first sight of snow of the season in California rather than in Illinois. We spent the day at Universal Studios and got to do the Studio Tour. That was actually really fun. After playing and walking around the park, we hung out in CityWalk - very fun and busy. I brought Lily and Ian to the center where many people were dancing. They had a great time just dancing around and seeing themselves dance on the huge screen above. It was cute and reminded me of mine and Tim's first time dancing together (which was at that same spot on New Years Eve 2004). It was a really nice vacation. I got to relax a lot more since my family helped out in everything with Miles. It was also fun to have a little pre-Christmas celebration before Miles & I left. We got to watch the kids open some Christmas presents =) Miles is loving his new blocks! Thanks Ninang!

We also hung out in Santa Barbara one evening and took some nice pictures on the beach. 

A little recap of Tim's trip - Tim enjoyed his time in Honduras. He went scuba diving with his buddy, Ruchir. They got to swim with sharks (which made me very uneasy!). They went diving everyday.This is Tim's 3rd time scuba diving - and 3rd country to do it in. I wonder where he'll scuba dive next!

Playing with California Cousins

Miles & I flew to California on Sunday night while Papa flew to Honduras for some scuba diving adventures. Before heading out, we spent Saturday night at Tim's brother's house. It was nice to spend some time with the kids. We even got to attend church and watch Gabe's Christmas Program on Sunday. Miles had a lot of fun playing with his cousins in Naperville.


Miles & I have been having a nice time in California so far. It's been relaxing to hang out at my sister's house. I even got to sleep in a bit while my family watched Miles (yay!) =) The weather is nice and mild here - which beats Illinois weather! Miles did great during our travel. He was such a happy baby at the airport and entertained lots of people. On the plane, Miles did great too! Tim got us an upgrade seat, which made it more comfortable to hold Miles (who is very fidgety nowadays!). On the plane, Miles was either asleep or happy happy, so it was a relaxing trip.

So far, Miles has been playing and having fun with everyone. He seems to be "talking" a lot more now. He's been saying "Mama" and "Tata" a lot, and he tends to respond with a certain sound whenever you say his name or get his attention. It's really fun to hang out with Miles. He's been cracking us up. Miles, Ian, and Lily have been playing a lot. And Miles loves to laugh whenever the other two laugh. Miles really enjoys seeing dancing, so he loves watching Lily and Grace twirl around. Grace was dancing for Miles when we were in Naperville. Miles' laugh for whenever his cousins twirled around sounds so so cute =)

These three little kiddles sure love the iPad! The 2nd picture makes me laugh. Miles and Lily were looking at the camera and Ian would not look, so I told Lily to get Ian to look - this was the result. =)

Playing with Inay & Tatay

Ever since Thanksgiving, we have had guests at our place at different times. My parents spent time here during Thanksgiving & the Baptism, then headed to New Jersey & Michigan.. and then headed back to our place. Miles had a lot of time to play with my parents and when they left the first time, I could tell Miles was looking around the house for them. When my parents came back, he was very excited. He really enjoyed seeing them each morning. He was always full of smiles whenever he saw them. 


While here, my parents had friends over one day, and they got to play with Miles too. And later that same day, my friend dropped off her son to play with Miles so she could go to her doctor's appointment. It was a busy and full day. Miles loved having so many people to play and interact with. He is always so smiley and laughs a lot while everyone else talks or laughs. It's really cute. He wants to be a part of the conversation.


It's always interesting to see Miles the next day... when everyone has left and it's just me and him. He seems to be looking around a bit more .. trying to find everyone he played with the day before. It's so cute and sweet. He tends to be more fussy and clingy the first day after everyone has left too.. I guess he doesn't want me to leave either. =P


I'm really glad Miles got to spend time with Inay and Tatay. He loved talking to Tatay. It was really cute to hear them talk to each other. =) Tim and I even got to enjoy a night out alone while my parents watched Miles. (Very rare!!) =)

Homemade Baby Food

I have been feeding Miles solids for a few months now and he is really enjoying them. While pregnant, I got the Top 100 Baby Purees cookbook from Tim's high school friends and I really like it. It organizes different recipes for different age ranges. Most of the recipes are fairly basic (they are baby food after all) but some can be legitimate dishes, with several ingredients. It's a great book to look through while pregnant and during the early months, to get a good idea of what foods are good for what ages..


I cooked a chicken dish from the cookbook for the first time a couple of days ago. It was called "Chicken with Sweet Potato and Apple" and Miles really enjoyed it. The recipe makes a decent batch, so I froze them in these Ball plastic containers I found at the grocery store. I am a fan of these plastic containers. They are a good size, freezer-safe, and when I'm done with making/freezing baby food, I can use them for other things. I have tried freezing the pureed foods in ice cube trays and that has worked out all right, but I like these containers a lot better since they have their own lids. For the ice cube trays, I would use those Glad Press & Seals to cover them while they sit in the freezer. I definitely love being able to make food for Miles and to see him enjoy it is probably one of the most rewarding feeling I have ever felt in my life.


"Chicken with sweet potato and apple" Recipe from Top 100 Baby Purees


1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped onion
4 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped
1 large sweet potato (12 oz), peeled & chopped
1/2 apple, peeled, cored, and chopped -- I used the whole apple since I didn't feel like saving it for later nor eating it at that moment...
1 cup Chicken Stock


Heat the butter in a saucepan, add the onion, and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the chicken and saute for a couple of minutes until it turns opaque. Add the sweet potato and apple and pour in the stock. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Puree to the desired consistency.

Scooting Around (A Little)

Miles is turning 8 months old this Friday. I can't believe it and I've said this every month! hehe It's so unreal that 2011 is almost over.. 2011 was such a life-changer and it has flown by so quickly! At this time last year, I was (very) pregnant and couldn't even imagine what life was going to be like right now.. Life is great though. =) It's so rewarding to watch Miles grow and develop. Miles is sitting well now. He's pretty content while sitting.. and has started to scoot a little bit on his butt to reach his toys & books. It's really cute to watch. hehe I don't think he'll be a crawling baby... but we'll see.


After a busy and great time with family, we are trying to get back to our norm, for a little bit. This Thanksgiving vacation was such a great one. I'm so glad Miles got to spend some time with his cousins, Lily and Ian. And I'm glad he got spend time with his Khoury cousins during his Baptism. I want Miles to know his family and to be close to them growing up...


Miles is getting good at recognizing people now (which also means he knows they are not Mama). When I ask him "where is Inay?" or "where is Tatay?" - he knows to look around and try to find my mom or my dad, respectively. It's so great to see him learn and explore.. he has this curious expression that I love to see whenever he sees someone or something new. He also enjoyed listening to Lily singing and cracked up often when Ian would talk to him. I'm glad they had a few days to hang out together. And it was also nice that my parents got a chance to attend KinderMusik with me and Miles. They got to see him laugh and dance around with me. =) It was cute.