Karlie - 9 Months

As of October 4, Karlie has been outside of me longer than she was inside of me.  It's weird to think that this time last year, I had only been feeling her little kicks for a couple of weeks.  Now I'm feeling her, but in different ways.  She loves to tug my hair, grab onto my arms with her tight little grip (which feels more like she's pinching me), and every now and then she uses me as a teether.  But the hugs, kisses, and little pats I get from her even everything out.

Here's the run-down since she's turned 9 months.

October 24 - 9 month birthday!

October 26 - She pulled up to standing by herself

November 1 - We began the weaning process.  Rough first few days but we made it through.

November 2 - Karlie began walking along furniture. ("cruising")

November 7 - She said "mama"

November 11 - We discovered her third tooth (which explained a short spell of food refusal and middle of the night wakings that we were confused about).  She also learned how to wave and say "bye-bye" (hopefully a video will follow soon)

Karlie is a wonderful little girl.  She naps twice a day for 2-3 hours and sleeps 10 hours at night.  I still nurse her first thing in the morning and right before bedtime.  We dropped her 2 middle-of-the-day nursings and substituted 1 bottle of formula right before her afternoon nap.  We went through 3 different types of formula before we found one that didn't make Karlie miserable.  The first two gave Karlie horrible tummy aches resulting in horrific diapers (with diaper rash) and severe vomiting.  After a very disappointing call to the lactation center, I finally spoke with a nurse at our pediatrician's office who gave me her personal advice (I think having 4 children definitely counts you as qualified) and the formula she recommended worked like a charm.  

Now that she know how to wave and say bye-bye, she knows no strangers.  While we're grocery shopping, people will slow down to smile at her and she will just grin and wave.  She's such a charmer.

She gets that from her daddy...along with those blue eyes.

Crispy Cheese-Stuffed Bellas

**Courtesy of Rachael Ray
**This recipe can also be used as an appetizer by substituting the large portobello mushrooms with 16 baby portobello mushrooms.

~ 4-6 large portobello mushrooms
~ 1 pound ground chicken or turkey breast
~ 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
~ 1 small onion, finely chopped
~ 3 cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped
~ Zest of 1 lemon
~ 1 cup shredded Asiago cheese
~ 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
~ 1 box (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and wrung of excess liquid
~ salt and pepper
~ 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
~ 1/4 cup pine nuts or chopped almonds

1.  Wipe the mushrooms clean with a damp cloth. Remove the stems and finely chop.
2.  Pre-heat the oven to 400ºF.

3.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground meat, fennel seed, onion, garlic, lemon zest, half of the cheese, the chopped mushroom stems, breadcrumbs and spinach and season with salt and pepper. Season the mushroom caps as well with salt and pepper, then brush them lightly with EVOO and stuff the mixture into them.
4.  Arrange the stuffed mushrooms on a baking sheet or in a baking dish. Leave some room around each mushroom to prevent the caps from getting steamy. Sprinkle the remaining cheese and nuts on the caps and transfer to the oven.
5.  Bake until the mushrooms are tender and the filling is cooked through, about 25 minutes. 
6.  Serve warm.
*Personal touch - We used ground turkey...it's cheaper than chicken and usually easier to find.  We used chopped almonds for the same reason.  The only pine nuts I could find were somewhere around $14.00 for 1 bag.

** We rate this recipe a 5 star!  We ate it by itself and it was so filling. 

Grilled Smoky Cheddar Potatoes

**Courtesy of Ms. Betty Crocker
**We used this recipe as a side to Grilled Portabella Mushroom Sandwiches

~ 4 medium potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks
~ 1/2 teaspoon salt
~ 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
~ 1 cup shredded smoked or regular cheddar cheese
~ 2 tablespoons bacon bits
~ 2 medium green onions, sliced

1.  Heat coals or gas grill for direct heat.
2.  Place potato chunks on 30x18-inch piece of heavy-duty foil.  Sprinkle with salt.  Cut butter into small pieces; sprinkle over potatoes.  Sprinkle with cheese and bacon bits.
3.  Wrap foil securely around potatoes; pierce top of foil once or twice with fork to vent steam.  Cover and grill foil packet, seam side up, over medium heat 45 to 60 minutes or until potatoes are tender.  Sprinkle with onions.
*Personal touch - JP and I did not add the green onions.

** JP and I rate this recipe 4 out of 5 stars.  It was difficult to tell when the potatoes were tender and it took longer to cook than we liked.

Grilled Portabella Mushroom Sandwiches

**Courtesy of Ms. Betty Crocker

Lemon-Herb Basting Sauce

~ 1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil

~ 1 tablespoon chopped fresh (or 1 teaspoon dried) thyme

~ 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

~ 2 tablespoons lemon juice

~ 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Sandwiches

~ 4 fresh large portabella mushroom caps

~ 1 medium red onion, cut into 1/4 inch slices

~ whole wheat hamburger buns

~ lettuce leaves

~ tomato slices

1.  Heat coals or gas grill for direct heat.  In a tightly covered container, shake all basting sauce ingredients.

2.  Brush mushrooms and onion slices with basting sauce.  Cover and grill mushrooms over medium heat 5 minutes.  Add onions.  Cover and grill about 5 minutes, turning and brushing mushrooms and onions with sauce occasionally, until vegetables are tender.

3.  Brush sides of buns with remaining sauce.  Fill each bun with lettuce, mushroom, tomato and onion.

*Personal touch -  We added a slice of pepperjack cheese to each mushroom while on the grill.

** JP and I rate this recipe 5 stars.  (out of 5)

Karlie - 8 months old!

 Our little Karlie-bean is 8 months old today!  Happy birthday sweet pea!

1 day old

4 months old

8 months old

My oh my, how time flies.  It seems like last week we were spending all our time on the floor, trying to teach her how to roll over.  These days, we're still on the floor, but this time we're encouraging the crawling process. 

Her 8-month birthday has proved to be a very exciting day.  Today we noticed her first tooth breaking through her poor little gums!  Once it's really coming through, I'll get a picture of it. 

She's still loving her big-girl food.  Since this list, we've added:

~ kiwi

~ cucumber

~ pluots

In an attempt to spice things up here on the blog, I'm going to start posting some DIY projects, maybe some housework progress/tips, and our new recipes that JP and I are adding to the ol' cooking notebook. 

First up, recipes for the grill, to go along with the hopefully upcoming cooler weather!