Just Austin

Sitting like a big boy
Can you see the drool??
He is pushing up so far
John thinks this outfit is girly, but I think its so cute!
His elephant was being mean :)

Austin rolled over

We have been hoping Austin would roll over for MONTHS. Most babies roll over by the time they are 3 months old. Austin used to hate tummy time, so he was never on his belly except when he was asleep. This made it difficult for him to get enough time to practice rolling over. We would put him on his belly and he would put his head in the floor and scream! So anyway, not much fun.
All this changed last week. He has gotten SO strong and has started to push his torso up. Then on Wednesday I went into his room after he woke up and he was on his back! The only way this could have happened is if he rolled over. Unfortunately we don't have one of those video monitors so neither John nor I saw it. Wednesday night John was watching Austin while I played volleyball and Austin did it again in his crib. Again neither of us saw it.
Today Austin did it again in his crib. AGAIN we didn't see it. So we took him into the living room and now he has rolled over at least 6 times in the living room AND we saw it and video taped it! Yay! It took him until he was one week shy of 6 months, but that is ok. He seems to wait until he has the strength to do it easily. He doesn't want to struggle on the floor to do it. He rolls over with such ease :)

Baking

I have been in a baking mood lately. Good for my taste buds, not for my hips :). Anyway we went to the store last weekend and bought a ton of lemons. So I've been making any kind of bread or dessert that has lemon juice. I NEVER knew how much better things tasted with real lemon juice instead of bottled lemon juice. The most recent thing I made came from a blog I subscribe to. The blog is: http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/
She is a Texan who lives in New York and she is constantly putting recipes up on her blog. This is the first one I've tried even though I've been reading her blog for months. I have to say I will DEFINITELY try more of her recipes.

Here is the recipe.

Sour cream pound cake with ruby red grapefruit
Ingredients:
1 cup butter (2 sticks), room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ruby red grapefruit zest
1/4 cup ruby red grapefruit juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 eggs, room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Powdered sugar

Method:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and lightly flour a 12-cup tube pan.

Using a stand mixer, cream the butter until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar, and beat until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the grapefruit zest, grapefruit juice and vanilla extract and mix until well combined.

Add the eggs to the batter, one at time, mixing each one until it’s well incorporated. Slowly pour in the sifted flour and mix until the batter is smooth and fluffy. Stir together the sour cream, salt and baking soda, and then add to the batter, mixing until well incorporated. Pour batter into the pan and bake for an hour and 30 minutes, or until an inserted knife pulls out clean.

Cool the cake for 15 minutes and then invert onto a platter. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.

Yield: 16-20 servings

Note: This recipe can be divided in half and baked in a loaf pan. You can also flavor this with lemon, orange or lime juice, using the same amounts. For a bit of crunch, you can add to the batter 1/2 cup chopped pecans or 1/4 cup poppy seeds.

Date Night

John and I went to a neighborhood restaurant called Hot Chocolate. It was SO good. It was so nice to get out. This was our second date since Austin was born. My friend Patty watched Austin. I had dark hot chocolate with soy milk for my drink. It was amazing. Then for an appetizer John and I had the special at Hot Chocolate which is their homemade pretzel bites with cheese fondue. I had scallops and John had salmon for dinner. We also ordered a side of their famous mac n cheese. Then for dessert we had creme brulee. I have to say when we leave Chicago I will miss being able to walk to places like that.
Anyway, John and I had a great time together. One side note though. John almost had a bad night. Haha! This is because I had been asking him for a week to make a reservation. He calls Wednesday night and they only have a 5:45 available. He didn't take it. He calls Friday night and they don't have any openings. Patty got here at 5 and we left the house a little after 5:30 on Saturday. When we got the the restaurant around 6 they said there was an 1.5 hour wait for a table but we could take the last two seats at the bar. THANKFULLY you could eat food at the bar or I would have been so mad! I HATE when John procrastinates. Oh well, it all turned out great.

Snow Removal

This is how Chicago removes snow. This is taken from my living room window.

My Little Valentine

I love his little faces! He has such a personality.

Peapod vs. Jewel

John and I have been getting groceries from Peapod, an online grocery store that delivers groceries to your house, since I was 8 months pregnant. We have been wondering since then if we were spending way more money than we do at our neighborhood grocery store Jewel (Albertson's for people in the south). Well I ordered groceries on Saturday night and when I got to the screen on Peapod where I chose the delivery time, they didn't have any left for Sunday. I had already put all our items in so I knew how much we would have spent. It was $72 before tax and delivery (which is $6). I didn't want to wait until Monday so I told John "Lets go to Jewel on Sunday and see if Peapod is way more expensive than Jewel". So yesterday Austin and I walked to Jewel and John drove. We were getting too much to bring it all back in the stroller thats why we needed the car. The weather said it was 45 so I wanted to walk. BAD idea. Although it was the first day in like 3 weeks that we were above 32 barely any of the 2.5 feet of snow had melted. I was walking on the sidewalk and there was a path dug out, unfortunately for most of it my stroller was wider than the path. Anyway, needles to say we didn't walk home and we won't be taking a walk until the end of the week when HOPEFULLY the majority of the snow has melted!
So we walked up and down the isles and Jewel. I pushed the cart and John pushed the stroller. We get to the checkout line and the total was $76. So basically Peapod cost $4 more (when you include delivery) AND you don't have to go to the crowded grocery store AND we (John) don't have to carry it up four flights of stairs AND we don't have to fight for a parking spot AND we don't have to go out in the cold... you can see where I'm going with this. I LOVE PEAPOD and have now convinced John that we NEVER EVER have to go to Jewel again! Yay! From now on we shop at Costco and Peapod only.