3mo

Stella is 3 months old. She is getting VERY vocal and makes us laugh all the time with her funny...I'll call them, 'yelps'.

I took Stella with me to a baby shower, and it made me think about the shower for her not too long ago. Time sure is flying by.

Also, if you haven't commented on the travelin mommy post, please do! Keep those tips coming!

Travelin mommy

Okay so this weekend we will be taking Stella on her first airplane. Am I a little nervous? Yes.

We are traveling to Seattle (about a 9-10 hr travel day in total) Yipee! Dustin will be with me on the flight there, but I will be flying back to Erie by myself with the little one.

So...for all you travelin mommas, What advise do you have flying with a nursing 3 month old? Please share!

The big 3-0!

Well I am officially married to a 30 year old.

Stella got a little upset during my beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday.

Dustin sure has accomplished quite a lot in his 30th years of life, and I couldn't be more proud. Most proud of the fact that he is one great father, that's for sure.

Happy 30th old man!

The Latest

Stella is now 12 weeks old

At her 2 month check up a few weeks ago up she was 10 lbs 7 oz

She has discovered her fingers and would suck on them all day if I let her

She is sleeping better and had a 7 hour stretch of sleep last night (her longest so far)

She smiles and babbles all the time

She enjoys bath time now. Yay! No more screaming!

Dustin says she is a mommas girl, but I told him to give it a few years and I will be old news

She is lifting herself up during tummy time and even rolled over twice (fluke?)

And I am pretty sure babies smiling in their sleep is the cutest thing ever

As you can tell Stella has a birthmark on the bottom of her left cheek. It's called Strawberry Hemangioma. It started when she was about 2 weeks old and has gone from nothing to a large raised mark. It's pretty much guaranteed to get bigger before it will eventually start to fade and go away completely. As of now we will keep and eye on it and see what happens.

We finally had an actual snow storm. We do live in the snow belt so it's about time.

Family Pics

My brother-in-law Josh took these over Thanksgiving. Love them.

Cooking tips...

My parents definitely know their way around the kitchen, so in the spirit of cooking and food, check out my dad's cooking tips here.

...I need to get me a meat thermometer.

Pin It

Do you actually make the recipes you pin on pinterest? Or do you just drool over the pictures? I like to try a new recipe at least once a week. Here are a few I've tried that we have loved and a few misses as well.

Oh my, these biscuit sticky buns were way good, and sooo easy. Just a few easy ingredients you probably already have on hand, and there is no need to make ahead or let rise. I made these on Christmas day, and they sure were a treat!

German Pancake cups. I made these with a peach/syrup sauce that I threw together from items in my pantry. A nice change from the standard pancake.

These cookies were just okay. They were yummy enough to make once or twice, but not good enough to be a permanent holiday recipe.

Dustin and I love these little no-bake energy bites. PB, honey, coconut, flax seed, oats, and mini dark choc chips make up these convenient little snacks. I doubled the recipe and it ended up making 40 bites, and I figured the calories to be about 140 per bite. Keep in the fridge for a great little snack here and there.

Baked sweet and sour chicken. Really yummy, easy, but a little time consuming. We had people over for Sunday dinner and everyone went back for seconds and every last piece was consumed. Made with fried rice and pot stickers. Yum!

Chicken pesto filled shells. I wish these turned out as good as they look in the picture. After baking them the shells got really hard and tough because there is no sauce or moisture outside of the shells to keep them nice and soft. I made a double batch and freeze, so next time I am going to bake them covered with foil to see if that keeps them from drying out. Besides that, the flavor was good, and they are pretty cheap and easy to make.

I used a store bought pizza crust for this calzone, but a homemade dough would really make it amazing. Fill with your fave pizza toppings and bake!

And this baked penne with roasted veggies is on the menu for this weekend.

I was going to post the links to all these, but who has that kind of time? If you follow me on pinterest they are all on my board.

Happy cooking!