Jaxon at 7 months

Where does the time go? I feel like I was just writing the 6 month update!

Jaxon is now wearing mostly size 12 months. His size 1 Applecheeks and Thirsties covers no longer fit. His legs are getting chubby and he has a cute little belly.

At six months he wasn't able to sit unassisted for very long. But now he's doing great with that. On the day he turned 7 months old, he pulled up in his crib. Since then, he's pulled up in his pack and play, too. I am still not sure how he did that since the sides are all mesh...not sure what he grabbed onto to pull himself up! I am not ready for this!

He was standing up but I told him he was too little to do that so he sat down.

He is into EVERYTHING. He moves quickly - very quickly. It is hard to keep up with him. I am having such trouble babyproofing this time around. This house we live in is challenging for several different reasons: baseboard heaters, multiple staircases, huge fireplace, to name a few. Then there are the older siblings who remove outlet covers and leave tiny toys laying around that Jaxon could choke on. It's easiest at this point to just keep him close to me.

He loves water - the bathtub, the pool, and especially the ocean. On our recent beach trip, he also loved the sand. He loves balls, cars, and anything electronic: computers, cell phones, remote controls, etc. He is a very happy baby. He's always smiling and jabbering - he makes such cute sounds! He also loves the swing at the park...and food.

He still doesn't have any teeth, but that doesn't stop him from eating. He loves things he can feed himself, like the Gerber Little Crunchies & Puffs. He also loves fruit in his mesh feeder. I made him some pears with cinnamon and he loved them. I also gave him some Happy Baby baby food that comes in the pouches and he loved sucking it out of the pouch. I've been giving him some sort of food every day at lunchtime and he is loving it.

He says Dada constantly. He looks at his daddy and very loudly and firmly says "Dada" when he wants his attention. It's so sweet (and it melts his daddy's heart). He says baba too - not sure what it means, but he usually says it when he wants to nurse.

It's very clear that he cannot wait to be up and running around with his siblings. I can wait. I like enjoying my baby...but I think he's ready to be done with being a baby! Why does my baby have to grow up so quickly?

Is he cute or what?

Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil Review

Tropical Traditions sent me a sample of their Gold Label Standard Virgin Coconut Oil to try. It came right before we went to Disney World so I just stuck it in the cabinet with intent to try it when we got back. Then our power was out for a week and various other things went on, so I finally just got a chance to try it this week. I wasn't sure what to make, though, so I went to their website, which is full of great recipes, for some ideas.

I think I've mentioned before that I don't cook very much. I love food, but I do not have a love for cooking. So first and foremost, I was looking for something easy. I was happy to find lots of recipes that only called for a few ingredients and that were easy for someone like me to make! I was going to make coconut balls -my husband loves coconut and I thought he might enjoy those, but I could not find any unsweetened coconut flakes at the store, so I decided to go with my daughter's pick instead: egg drop soup (recipe below). Alex loves egg drop soup, but I'm the only other one in the house who likes Chinese food, so we don't eat it very often. She was thrilled when I told her what I was making. 

I pulled the recipe up on my iPad, gathered my ingredients
 and got started. I went ahead and beat the eggs first.

Then I mixed chicken stock, water, and ginger in a pot and brought it to simmering. After it got hot, I stirred in some cornstarch to thicken the broth.

Once that heats up, you drizzle the eggs into the broth. This was the only involved part. I was scared of screwing it up so I didn't take pictures while I was doing it, but it was actually VERY easy.

The last step is to stir in the coconut oil. If you've never used coconut oil, you should know ahead of time that it doesn't look like vegetable oil unless it's warm. When it arrived at my house in the 100 degree temperatures, it was definitely a liquid. But at it's room temperature state, it's more of a creamy solid. I scooped it into the egg drop soup and it really made the soup. Before the coconut oil, it tasted like chicken broth with eggs in it. After I added it, it tasted just like egg drop soup from a good Chinese restaurant! I was very impressed. Alex loved it!

The finished product - YUM!

I am looking forward to trying out more recipes with this coconut oil. I think it will bring a lot of unique flavor to whatever its added to. 

Have you ever used coconut oil? What did you make with it? 

Egg Drop Soup with Coconut Oil

• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups water
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2-3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 4-5 eggs, beaten
• organic fermented soy sauce (or salt) to taste
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil

Pour chicken stock, water and ground ginger into a medium sized pot. Heat until hot but not yet simmering. Add a little water to the cornstarch to make a slurry and stir into the stock. Bring stock to a simmer, stirring constantly until it has thickened slightly.

Drizzle the beaten eggs into the gently simmering soup with a fork. Push cooked egg aside as you drizzle more in. Towards the end you can just slowly pour the rest of eggs into the soup.

Season the soup with a little soy sauce (or salt) to taste and stir in coconut oil. Serve and enjoy!

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Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product. 

A Magnetic Personality

When my first child was born, I began to have to interact with strangers a lot. It seemed everyone wanted to compliment her, talk to her, and even touch her. I thought it was just because she was a cute baby.

Then I had my second child, seventeen months later. I remember one of the first times I went out when he was a baby. I was at Wal-Mart and a lady walked over. I was sure it was to exclaim over how cute my newborn was. But no - she was there to interact with my daughter. This continued to happen as my second baby got older.  Rarely would people talk to my baby or compliment me on him. All of the attention was focused on my daughter. Not that my second baby wasn't cute - he was, see?

Photo credit: Ariel Nolan

For the record, he was a total mommy's boy who didn't like crowds or people in general. He was perfectly content to let his sister have all the attention. But it was puzzling to me. And that's when I realized that while he was every bit as adorable as his sister, he did not have the same magnetic personality that she did. She almost demanded attention (that part of her has not changed, lol). Even though she rarely smiled at people and was a late talker, they always wanted to interact with her. 

Fast forward to today. Jaxon also watches people, except that when people talk to him, he actually smiles. Or laughs. Or does something else that is cute and draws them in. And he flirts. Boy, does he flirt. His smile, blue eyes, and flirty nature make people want to interact with him. It's causing me to have conversations with strangers in restaurants, stores, and even bathrooms when I'm changing his diaper. People just can't help but talk to him. I don't blame them - he's completely adorable! 

What's especially funny to me is when people who have babies themselves want to talk to him or about him. I guess I always just assumed that the people who commented on babies were the people who didn't have a baby of their own to admire. Like the lady at lunch today who came over to hold Jaxon's hands and pat his head while he's sitting in a high chair at a restaurant. She barely looked at me -it was like she was captivated by his eyes. Or like the lady at Wal-Mart today who rubbed his head (twice, but who's counting?) and patted his arm, all the while talking to him. I don't even think she spoke to me or acknowledge me at all. All her comments of "You're so cute" were directed straight at Jaxon -she never even spoke to me! But so many people who have babies with them still want to talk to me about Jaxon. Like today. I'm in the baby department at Wal-Mart, checking out the clearance section to see what's been marked down. I normally wear Jaxon when I shop but I didn't need much today so I let him ride in the cart (for the first time). A woman walks up near me and I hear her say "Oh, how adorable!" And then I realize she's talking to me because she says "How old is he?" I tell her and she says "He's so cute!" So that turns into a whole conversation, and it turns out, she has a 3 year old and a 4 1/2 week old of her own. They were with her mother in another part of the store. And yet here she is, exclaiming about how cute my baby is! It is so funny to me!


But look at him - you would have to smile back at him, wouldn't you? He's just too adorable!

With his Daddy, the source of his magnetic personality.
Together, they are completely irresistable!

Disney World

Since I cannot seem to find time to post our Disney World trip synopsis, I thought I'd just share some pictures!

First day -welcome to the Magic Kingdom!

Watching the Magic Kingdom opening ceremony

First ride- Dumbo! Jaxon really enjoyed everything we rode!

With Cinderella

With Snow White

Like his hair? We spiked it up so he could meet the height requirement for Rock n' Roller Coaster! 

Teacups! 

Riding in the Ergo - he enjoyed this more than I thought he would. 
And I mastered nursing in the Ergo. It was a life saver since the hot days made 
Jaxon nurse much more often than he normally would.

With Ariel

Waiting out the rain at Hollywood Studios.
We brought ponchos, but had left them in the van for this visit.
So Daddy got soaked going back to the van to get them for us so 
we could continue our visit. 

With Belle

Enjoying a cream puff in Norway at Epcot

Meeting Mickey - Jaxon couldn't stop staring at the characters & he kept trying to touch them.

Meeting Minnie - that's our friend Kaitlin holding Jaxon

Meeting Pluto

Rainbow. Because it rained poured EVERY SINGLE DAY we were there. 

"Test-driving" the cars at Test Track in Epcot

Add caption

With Daddy at Via Napoli (yum) in Italy at Epcot

Wordless Wednesday

Watching the Applecheeks broadcast - he was very interested!

Bright Starts Having a Ball Alphabet Pop Top Review

As soon as I unpacked the Bright Starts Having A Ball Alphabet Pop Top from the box, Jaxon was interested in it and crawled over to check it out. Score one for Bright Starts for their packaging, which clearly appeals to babies! He was poking and pulling on the toy wanting me to open it.

Once we got it open and ready to play with, it became clear that this is a toy that we will get a lot of use from! The Alphabet Pop Top spins, plays music and lights up. The light up buttons teach letters, colors and objects, like the blue button says "B. Blue bird." When you push the plunger down 3 times in a row, the balls pop out. Jaxon cannot push the plunger yet by himself, but he has three older siblings who are happy to do it for him!

I typically have a love/hate relationship with electronic toys. They are usually great at entertaining kids, but as a parent, I often end up hating them. This toy wins over other electronic toys for a variety of reasons. 

1. It's not too loud. So many toy manufacturers seem to think louder is better (it's not). You can feel comfortable letting your baby play with this toy without worries of it damaging his hearing. 
2. It turns off on his own, quickly (instead of asking "Are you still there?" 10 times first like some of our other toys). But, it turns back on when the child touches it or starts playing again.
3. It comes with batteries!

The Alphabet Pop Top comes with 4 balls. These balls are Jaxon's favorite part of the toy right now. Whoever came up with these balls was brilliant. We have other balls that came with toys and Jaxon sometimes has a hard time picking them up and holding onto them, because they are too large or too smooth. These four balls are the perfect size for him to hold and their shapes and textures help him grip the balls. He can even throw them! He really loves them. We will definitely be getting another toy from the Having a Ball line of toys.

And just so you can hear (and see) what the toy can do, here's a short little video. As you can see, Jaxon usually grabs it before it can spin much!





Connect with Bright Starts on Facebook! Right now they are having a giveaway for 5 Having a Ball Get Rollin activity tables! Hurry - the sweepstakes ends September 16!



I was provided an item by Bright Starts for review. No monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own. 

Wordless Wednesday - Green Beans

Winners!

Congratulations to Mehera who won the Babybond giveaway! Congratulations to Julia who won the Lovable Labels giveaway! I hope you both enjoy your prizes!