elliot weekly: week 28

so happy at 28 weeks

What we've been up to this week:

Outdoor Lady: Elliot has really been loving her outdoor time this week.  We had a few rainy spells, but other than that we've been spending a lot of time outside at work and home.  I'm fortunate to have a yard at work where we can sneak out for play breaks.  We have to keep an eye out for the rogue chicken or two (I always take a broom outside with me for protection---makes me feel like I'm on Little House on the Prairie).  Elliot loves looking at everything, feeling the breeze, pulling up all the grass around here and promptly trying to eat it.

Raspberry Central: Elliot is all about blowing raspberries these days.  She'll take a huge breath and just blow/dribble away.  Her face turns so red that I feel like she might pass out or something!  I have to say "Breath Elliot!"  The distraction makes her stop; she'll look up at me and laugh---its so sweet.  We caught a clip on our friend's video camera---we hope to share it soon!

Ears: Elliot has found her ears!  She been "playing" with her ears, flicking the cartilage back and forth.  At first I was nervous that she might be pulling on her ears and was worried about an ear infection (rumor has it that I had a ton of those as a baby). But, she is often smiling when she's doing it, so I'm not too worried.  She's also discovered my ears.  I haven't been wearing dangly earring for a while, fearing that she'd pull them out with her incredible baby strength (sidenote: babies are seriously strong, can I get an "Amen!" on that??)  But even on the days were I'm wearing small post earrings Elliot just wants to flick/tug/poke my upper cartilage.  We may have a future ENT doctor on our hands.

Growing Like a Weed: Elliot had a little growth spurt this week.  Over a span of three days she took a full extra feeding, was a little more fussy and slept a little more poorly.  We are entirely too spoiled with our sweet girl, because when we have something as totally normal as a growth spurt I totally freak out like "why is she wanting so much milk?  why did she wake up at 1am? why is she fussy?  is she getting teeth?"

Toothless Wonder:  Elliot is officially 6.5 months old with no teeth in sight.  She keeps her fingers in her mouth a lot these days, but I'm pretty sure she's just playing with her tongue (also a recent discovery!)  I'm not rushing her into teething, but every time she's fussy I think "oh! maybe she's teething??"

real life tom and jerry

I went over to my friend Marywinn's house a couple of days ago.  Her daughter (my friend Cora) is coming into town this weekend and she wanted to freshen up Cora's room.  Marywinn's house is the coolest; its a two story yellow-with-white-and-green-trim Victorian house.  They've added a few modern luxuries (amazing on-suite master bath with heated floors and towel warmer, yowsa!) but the house still has so many fun and eclectic original pieces.  I love that every room has a coal burning fireplace, the stained glass and that Cora's room has a secret little play-room tucked away.  Marywinn has done a fabulous job of displaying the old (she keeps her mom's vintage jewelry in a shadow box that has a hinged door so she can still use the jewelry!) while enjoying the new (stainless steel range and granite counter tops in the kitchen.)

Marywinn's children are all grown and married, so she doesn't spend a ton of time upstairs.  When she went to go look in Cora's room, check out what was waiting just under Cora's vanity:

Its a real mouse hole!  While it might be a little eeeek-inducing, I thought it was funny.  I mean, doesn't it look just like a cartoon mouse hole??

I just couldn't help but giggle.  I told Marywinn not to worry, that it was just where Jaq and Gus lived (remember the mice from Cinderella?!)  She was worried that it was a rat, but I assured her that it was certainly a sweet, song-singing, dress-making, princess-coaching cartoon mouse that lived there.  Or that it was a wiley, prank-causing, teeny mouse that would terrorize her dog.  Either way, the mouse is definitely a cartoon...and that's my professional opinion.

craft it: monogram it!

I recently received these vintage kitchen towels from my friend Marywinn and this dress for Elliot from my mom.  They were both super cute....but definitely needed a little extra sass. 

I wasn't quite sure what to do to them.  applique? screen print? my crafty brain was stumped!  So I took them uptown and had our local monogramming lady work her magic!

I like that the monogramming lady used a number on the dish towels.  I told her that I wanted something a little different than the normal "married couple monogram" look.  I also think she did a great job on Elliot's dress!  I wanted a little less "girly" monogram and Chelsea suggested getting it done in gray and I loved the idea--of course Chelsea would have the best eye for that, have you checked out her blog??  She's styled my entire closet for me (it was like a what-not-to-wear marathon) and she always has the most  unique ideas.

So a sneaky little crafty lesson....when in doubt, have someone else do the planning and the doing of a craft.  I guess I just "managed" this craft.  Oh well, that's the life of a crafting mama...sometime you feel the urge to craft but have neither the time nor the ideas.  Hahahaha. 

cook it: ginormous biscuits

 Josh and I have been cooking at home more lately.  I'm not sure if its the cooler temperatures, night falling a little earlier or just spending more time at home---but I love it!  I love bumping into him while we cook, talking over our day and making something together.  We've been extra inspired by our Tupelo Honey cookbook lately.  We were actually looking for a dinner recipe (tomato pie, definitely will share soon!) when we came across their famous biscuit recipe. Josh made them on Sunday morning.  I'm not sure if it was using bread flour or the insane amount of butter, but these babies were delish!  Make some coffee and get out some blackberry preserves, these biscuits are yummmmm!

Tupelo Honey's Ginormous Biscuits

Makes 6 Biscuits 

2 cups bread flour 

1 tablespoon baking powder 

¼ teaspoon baking soda 

2 tablespoons sour cream

1 teaspoon plus ½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup unsalted butter, frozen 

½ cup buttermilk 

1 tablespoon butter, melted 

1) Preheat the oven to 450F. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sour cream, and ½ teaspoon of the salt in a large bowl. 

2) With a cheese grater, grate the frozen butter using the largest holes; quickly cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or fork until the mixture resembles coarse meal. 

3) Add the buttermilk to the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Do not overmix. 

4) On a floured surface, turn out the dough and roll out to a 1-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch biscuit cutter, cut the biscuits and place on a rimmed sheet pan. 

5) Cook on the top rack of the oven for about 20 minutes, or until light brown, and remove from the oven. 6) Brush the melted butter on top of each biscuit and return to the oven for about 5 minutes longer, or until the biscuits are golden brown.

craft it: jewelry display

I have some super fun pieces of jewelry.  Some were gifts from my sweet sisters and friends.  Some were impulsively purchased while others caught my eye for a while before I indulged.  But the results were always the same: a big ole dusty mess on top of my dresser:

The site is anything but inspiring folks.  I ended up just wearing my wedding bands and the same necklace every day.  I love my wedding bands and the silver everyday necklace, but I wanted my jewelry to speak to my fun personality....because all my wear-the-same-darn-thing-every-stinking-day look was saying about me was that I was boring.  And I'm not.  Trust me.  I really quite fun.  Really!

Anyways, back to the issue at hand.  I scoured Pinterest for ideas but couldn't find any that were really "me."  I felt like the whole frame-backed-with-chicken-wire was great, but a little over done.  And, as you can see in the picture above, I was trying the whole jewelry-tree idea----but was really going to need a jewelry-forest to get the problem fixed.

In walked inspiration:  a $1 bin of old cabinet inlays at a yard sale!

I had some off-white paint in the garage.  I wasn't even sure if the paint would be good...but I figured that the cabinet inlays were only $1, so I wasn't really ready to splurge on new paint.

The inlays cleaned up pretty good!  After arranging the panels in the order I thought I'd hang them on the wall, I added hangers to the back

 Next I used a little rub-n-buff to add a little interest to the panels

 You always need an assistant while crafting.  How cute is mine?!?!

 Yikes.  Its looks like I got a little to interested in my assistant and didn't quite see the mess I was making!  Word to the wise---rub-n-buff dries QUICK! 

 Fortunately, it covers pretty well too!  Here's a look at the edges

 Next up: drilling pilot holes for my hooks.  I covered the area with painters tape to reduce wood splitage and paint chipage.  Yep, made up two words right there.  You can do that with a blog.

 Now I had to find a spot to hang them up!  This is the wall our bed faces.  The door on the left is the door to the bathroom and the door on the right is the door to the hallway (where our media wall is!)  I chose to hang the jewelry display to the left of the bathroom door.  Why?  Because we leave that door open a lot and it would hide the display most of the time.  Hey, I married a man who for some reason doesn't want to see my jewelry all the time.  what?!?

couldn't quite get josh or elliot out of the shot. oh well!

 But, that sweet jewelry-display-hating man did actually help me measure and hang the display.  Bless him.

 I wanted to do as little damage to the wall as possible.  These furniture pads should help eliminate scratches.  The display will "rock" a little bit when taking bigger pieces of jewelry off.

 Oh.  Be still my heart.

 So fresh and so clean.  Just waiting to be filled with so much awesomeness.

Oh, my.  My name is Blair.  So nice to meet you.  You look fabulous.

 I want to get my ears pierces 204982 more times so I can wear all of you at once!

 Even after 68 hooks, I still ran out of room for my headbands and stud earrings.  Oh well.  That's a little better!

I will say that my jewelry organization has already helped my accessorizing immensely.  Its also caused more jewelry-buying though.  Eek.  Good thing I have a few more panels left over---might need to add one or two more!

elliot weekly: week 27

Elliot loves Con Queso---she smiles SO big when she sees him!

What we've been up to this week:

Smack Those Lips: Elliot has been making this funny lip-sucking-but-smacking sound this week.  Its been funny to see her learn to do something new.  She'll learn a new skill (like smacking her lips) and not do an old skill (like making funny noises, grabbing her ears, etc).  It is really wild to watch her learn all of this stuff.

Back to Front:  Elliot has finally been rolling over!  She's rolled over several times this week and even got stuck on her belly during a nap.  The whole stuck-on-her-stomach fiasco wasn't so exciting, but I'm glad that she seems a little more interested in rolling around.  She'd still rather have you pick her up or grab a toy for her--and honestly, who am I to complain, I pretty much love holding her. 

Outdoor Girl:  Elliot has been loving her outside play time lately.  I took an old quilt to work with me and we've been having a blast playing outside.  I have to keep an eye out for the wandering chickens, but other than that we're having a great time.  Elliot seems to really enjoy all the noises (birds, breeze, cars and trains) as well as watching the chipmunks and squirrels run around.

Sitting Pretty:  The bumbo has been quite handy!  I really think its helped Elliot do a better job of sitting up.  She needs to kind of have her legs in a "v" shape and have some toys in between, but she's doing ok.  If she sees/hears something interesting to her left or right, she'll face-plant for sure! 

Sound Asleep:  I'd like to say our little babe is officially sleeping through the night....although, I'm not going to say that....because as soon as I do, she'll be up all night!  But it seems that the combination of quitting the pacifier and the Ferber method of falling asleep have worked great!  A friend asked me if I'll use a pacifier for our next babe.  Truth is, I'm not sure!  The pacifier was great and horrible....I'm just glad she kicked the habit quickly! 

Fair Life:  This week the fair was in town....and we took full advantage.  I love people-watching at the fair.  I make up names for people and create full dialogue.  Its kind of amazing.  Here are some family pictures:

elliot....not so interested

elliot was MUCH more excited once she got her overalls on
thanks hef for the sweet outfit! elliot totally loved it :)

!

love my sweet baby girl!

cook it: back bean and sweet potato soup

go ahead and drool.
i promise this meal is worth it!

I loved the cool weather this past weekend!  It made me so excited about soup season this fall.  I found this recipe on Pinterest last week and thought it sounded like the perfect quirky alternative to regular old vegetarian chili.  I don't know if its the blend of spices or the addition of sweet potatoes, but this soup is great!  This recipe serves about 8-10, so invite over a few friends and enjoy!

ingredients:

1 1/2 onions chopped

2 gloves garlic minced

1 poblano pepper diced* (optional)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 1/4 teaspoon cumin

1 tablespoon chili powder

28 ounces petite diced tomatoes (in juice)

8 cups of broth (i make my own veggie broth)

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 large carrot peeled and diced

1 large sweet potato peeled and diced

1 cup frozen corn

2 cans of black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup fire roasted salsa

1/4 cup corn starch

directions:

1) heat olive oil over medium-high heat, add onion and saute for 5 minutes (until tender and golden)

2) add garlic and poblano pepper and saute for another minutes (until frgrant)

3) add cumin and chili powder and saute for another 2 minutes

4) lower heat to medium-low and add tomatoes and broth (save 1/4 cup broth), make sure to loosen any browned bits in pan

5) add all remaining ingredients except cornstarch and reserved broth

6) in a small bowl whisk together cornstarch and remaining broth until smooth.  add this to the chili pot and stir until well mixed.  bring to a boil for 2 minutes.

7) simmer over low heat uncovered for 1 hour. the continue to cook with a lid for 30 minutes.

serve topped with fresh cilantro, monterrey jack cheese and crusty bread.