In Maddie Jane Month by Month

15 Months Update

Yesterday we took Maddie Jane to her 15 months well visit, so I figured it was about time to update the blog on our girl!! I love going back and reading the monthly updates, so trying to get them in every couple months now that she is one. Really at this age, I could do them weekly with how FAST she is growing and learning!! 
Dr. Yazdani said she was aboslutely perfect and is hitting all the right milestones. She is still our tiny girl and can't quite get over that 20 lb hump (Ha!), but is finally starting to catch up to other kids her age in the height department. 
Height: 2' 5" (24th percentile)
Weight: 19 lb 14 oz (28th percentile)
Head: 18.7" (90th percentile) 



DEVELOPMENT
I don't even know where to start!! She has been walking since 10 months, so by now we are at a full on sprint. And she has two speeds - on and off. She is a huge climber.. on the couch, in and out of a box, in the bathtub. Little girl never slows down. She has several words now and she is starting to pick them up faster and faster.. staples around here are "No", "Ma" (Molly), "Shoes", "Bye", "Hey" (which is always "Heeeeeeeyyyyyyy!"), "More", "Mama", "Dada", "Night Night", and more recently she is starting to say "1, 2, 3", and "A, B, C"! She is a nut!! She knows she funny and will do anything to make you laugh. She is great at playing independently and the toy of choice is always a book. She is always down to "re" (read) and "rock rock". She has songs from daycare that she knows motions to and little girl is on point with the dance moves. Clean up is her favorite game - she is always down to help put her toys in the basket. She's devious though.. she knows what is off limits and loves to see juuuust how close she can get! And she thinks it's hilarious! She will take off into the bedroom with something she's not supposed to have and cackle all the way!! She is really "getting" the world around her and it is so, so fun. 



SLEEP
Well Maddie has been sick the majority of 2017, so sleep has been hit or miss. She has been coughing her head off so much that I have been really relaxed with the whole no bottle in the middle of the night thing. Fingers crossed she gets to feeling better and we can get back on track before the cruise!! She always gets one really good nap a day.. sometimes she crashes at 9am, sometimes it isn't until noon and sometimes we get two naps in. We try to stay on schedule and at least have quiet time twice a day.. I think she is inching closer to dropping down to just one nap. 



EAT
Not much has changed in this department.. girl loves to eat!!! She walks around all day, every day signing and saying "more!!" If it was up to her, she would eat exclusively fruit. Now that she finally has teeth, there isn't much we don't give her off our own plate! She does get distracted eating though.. she wants to play or feed Molly, so all too often she is picking off our plate later in the evening or sucking on a fruit/veggie pouch while running around. We are trying our best to eliminate this habit!! A typical day looks something like this:
6am: Whole milk
6:45am: Breakfast.. bananas/waffle/etc
9:00am: Snack.. cheese cubes/ham/cherry tomatoes
11:00am: Lunch.. strawberries/mac & cheese/green beans
1:00pm: Whole milk before nap
4:00pm: Snack.. mandarin oranges/crackers
6:00pm: Dinner.. whatever we eat
7:30pm: Whole milk before bed

Dr. Yazdani told us we have to ditch the bottle by 18 months, so pray for us!! Not looking forward to this. It's totally a comfort thing.. She has it at nap and bed time. She doesn't use a paci or suck her thumb, so little girl is probably going to have to find some self soothing techniques the hard way...



LOVE/HATE
When Maddie loves something, she REALLY loves it. She grins from ear to ear, does a little dance, and taps her feet until she gets it. Those things include brushing her teeth, going outside, squeeze snacks, her blankie, and iPad time. And little girl is OBSESSED with shoes and purses and jewelry. For the longest time, I thought she was going to be a tomboy, but no way, Jose. She is all diva and so much sass. The more bracelets, the better. We struggled with the temper tantrums around a year, but we've definitely turned a corner. She does still get big crocodile tears over taking her tooth brush away, when anyone goes outside without her, and sometimes the car seat. 



Oh Maddie Jane, we love you SO much. Every single day you change a little bit and I just wish time would slow down. Every single week I notice huge changes in your understanding of the world around you. You're fun girlfriend. You light up any room you're in. We constantly get compliments on your huge smile, bright eyes, and great manners in public. We could not be prouder of the little girl you're becoming. We love you BIG Maddie Jane, don't change a thing.


Some of my favorite pics from the past three months...












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In Ares Family Maddie Jane Weekends

Life Lately

Sit tight... this is a long one. I'll try not to talk too much :) 


Miss priss loves some iPad time. But only for about 10 mins and she'e over it, and it has to Barney, or else.


A couple weeks ago we wore our brightest colors for Baby Brett. Her short little life was not even a year in length, but she touched SO many. And her Mama has been a shining light too. If only we could all have the faith to move mountains like The Boyers.



I had a rough/long week, and AJ had this waiting for me one afternoon. Not sure what I did to deserve him, but I will be forever, and ever thankful.


Maddie girl is getting the hang of this coloring thing and we are loving having it at restaurants! 



We had a our weekly sushi fix at a new place last week and we were all fans. 


Especially of the gigantic fish tank!! 


These two! Make my heart freakin burst. I love them so.


Bubbles have also been a new thing around these parts. And we can't.get.enough.



And teeth brushing!! Maddie Jane LOVES to brush her teeth. And cries every single time I take the tooth brush away.


MJ tapped on her Louisiana roots and celebrated Fat Tuesday! 



We've been rocking the piggies, and I can not get over how BIG she looks!!


My girl. The one who made me Mama. All the heart eyes.



We have had some pretty crummy weather in SoCal. It has rained more the past two months than the entire 3.5 years we have lived here!!! So Friday when we had some nice weather, we immediately took advantage! 



THAT. FACE. ahhhh 


On Saturday I participated in Cycle for Survival. It was such an inspirational event! (And really makes me want to get back into cycling daily!!)


Ares raised over 55k and was the number one fund raiser in all of Southern California!! SO Proud of team HR!


We had 10 bikes so everyone cycled for an hour over 4 hours. This is a lot of the 9 & 10am shift. Rare cancers really get underfunded, therefor research really lacks. If you want to donate where you KNOW 100% of your money goes to cancer research, please visit my link! It's open till April 1st! 


Sunday Maddie Jane completely refused to take a nap. All.Day.Long. So this was my face when we were headed out to a pre-planned dinner... 


Fortunately, the restaurant was PACKED with wild and crazy kids, so Maddie spent the entire time taking it all in and eating her mac & cheese. (All the Mama's said amen.)


And that's it for life lately.. We are counting down the days till Gigi gets here (FRIDAY!!!) AJ and I cannot wait for our first date night since October!!!! Like I can't sleep I am so excited. 

Happy Tuesday, y'all.


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In Blue Apron Recipes

Blue Apron!

For quite some time we have been debating about getting Blue Apron (or really any meal service of the sort.) We have been wanting to spice up our meals and have some fun in the kitchen. So we KNEW this service would do that, but we were pretty weary about the cost. So one night when we were talking to to Bruce about it, he sent us an offer code for a week free (no strings attached), and we said, "Why not!?"

We were pretty skeptical.. We are really good shoppers, pretty good amateur chefs, and do a great job with meal planning. But last Tuesday when we got our first box, we got REALLY excited about it! I pretty much have been talking to anyone who will listen to me about this service.. So here is a little recap of our experience. 

You pick your delivery day and they send you three meals that feed two people in an ice pack box. Every single ingredient you need (beside oil, salt, pepper) comes in the box, wrapped individually, and measured perfectly. 



Night One:
Lamb, Beef & Mushroom Stew w/Parmesan Potatoes and Chives

Each meal comes with a recipe card including every ingredient you will need and really easy to understand directions. And if there is something you don't understand, they have tutorial videos with each meal on their website! It is really 100% fool proof. They also give you wine pairing suggestions (or you could include the wine in your shipment for an extra charge!) 


At first, I was concerned with the amount of food.. I thought there was NO way this was going to feed the two of us. But boy was I wrong. I had so much that night, I was still full at lunch the next day!! (Side note: Blue Apron is sorta health conscious too.. Each one of our meals were under 500 calories!) 


This was my favorite meal of the week!! I would never buy lamb at the grocery store.. it isn't my meat of choice, and it's always so expensive!! I loved all the cooking techniques, and was totally reminded me how I should just add chives to everything! 



Night Two:
Tempura Fried Cod w/ Thai-Style Vegetable Salad & Jasmine Rice

This was my favorite protein.. least favorite side. Tempura frying just seems so daunting and messy, and something I wouldn't ever put on our menu. But these guys made it so easy! And crispy capers... YUM. The side salad was okay.. I'm not a huge fan of raw carrots.. 


Your biggest labor in all of this is chopping vegetables. Seriously every thing is measured out and packaged perfectly. And this really gave us the opportunity to try spices/oils we would have not bought otherwise. Because who needs 10 oz of tamarind concentrate in their pantry??? 


When you are selecting your services you can add in your dietary restrictions and/or pick vegetarian options if necessary. You can also log in before you meal is delivered and throw in a few vegetarian / non-vegetarian options if you want! Don't want it that week? Going on vacation? You can always simply click skip delivery, and you won't receive food or be charged. 



Night three:
Seared Chicken & Pearl Couscous w/Crispy Capers & Blood Orange Sauce

This was just some regular old seared chicken that I would do any time, but that cous cous and the blood orange sauce was out of this world!! We definitely get in cooking ruts.. seared pork chops and sauteed squash is a staple around here. So it was really nice to take a classic and really umpf (is that even a word??) it up! 


There were layers, and layers, and layers of flavor with this dish. It was absolutely restaurant quality, but wasn't that hard at all! I think this service would give some serious confidence to those of you who get nervous or uncomfortable in the kitchen. And it's not that timing consuming.. They promise it will take less than an hour start to finish. It took us around 30-40 minutes each night. 


The service is around $60 per week with shipping.. so you are roughly coming out to $10 per person, per meal. Now this is WAY more than I normally spend on dinner.. I can get meals down to just a couple dollars for the both of us!! (I'm savvy, I tell ya..) But for people that eat out often, this would definitely be a money saver!! So while we aren't their target audience on cost savings, it did get us in the kitchen together. And since our date nights are VERY feeewww and ffaarrr between, this is getting us some quality time together at night, not staring at our phones! 



So we have decided to do the service every other week.. I'm sure we will get burnt out.. Or the recipes will eventually get repetitive.. but for now we are LOVING Blue Apron. And I want you to love it too!! I have three free weeks to give away! First three people to send me an email or FB message, it's yours! 

P.S. I wasn't paid, nor did I receive any free food for this post.. but I totally should be their spokesperson, right!? Someone tell Blue Apron!! 

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