Douglas Mountain

View from the top..this doesn't quite capture it!

The group

Henry loving his pears

Yesterday was a perfect fall day here in Maine and Henry and I took advantage of it! We headed out to Sebago (hour drive from Portland) and met three other moms and their babies to hike Douglas Mountain. It was great! We hiked up and reached the summit at noon in time to have lunch! The views from the top were gorgeous as the foliage is at its peak. The babes had so much fun looking at all the beautiful leaves and trees and the moms got to chat about "mommy" things. We are going to make it a weekly thing, choosing a different hike for each time. Should be a good way to stay active and out and about even as the temperatures get chillier.

Henry is eating lots of solids these days...pears are a hit! He liked the lentils and rice we gave him the other night, and didn't like his bananas this morning as much. Enjoy the photos from the hike yesterday!

Henry is 6 months!

Happy six month Birthday (yesterday) to my little angel Henry! I feel so fortunate to have Matt and Henry in my life...I love them both beyond words. Today we visited Dr. Phan, Henry's pediatrician and he said Henry looks great! He was impressed with Henry's long legs and smiley nature. Here are his six month stats:

Height: 27 inches (50th percentile)

Weight: 15 pounds 12 ounces (25th percentile)

Head circumference: 17. 25 inches

After the visit I ran to the ladies room and the nurse offered to hold Henry. When I got out of the restroom the entire staff of nurses was huddled around Henry and he was flirting with each and every one of them..they thought he was quite something! He was just smiling and cooing and they were in heaven.

Henry had a couple of shots, but handled them very well. We came home, rested and Henry had pears for lunch..yumyum!

Fun Weekend with Family!

Beautiful couple!

My new bomber hat...I can be twins with Daddy now!

Yummy lobster lunch

Mommy and Momo love Henry

QT with Momo

"You are my good boy, Henry!"

I love my aunties!

I don't know what to think about this whole "fiesta" thing

Mexican Fiesta!

Thank you Auntie for coming!!

In my new high chair that Auntie put together

On Saturday morning Momo and Auntie Robin arrived in town. This was Auntie Robin's first trip to Maine so we had lots of fun taking her to all of our favorite spots. On Saturday afternoon, after a lovely lunch at one of our favorite spots on Commercial Street, we walked around the Old Port and went in all the neat little shops. Saturday evening we cooked a Mexican Fiesta and had yummy homemade sangria! Henry stayed awake for half of the party! Yesterday we went up to Freeport and had lobster at Harraseeket Lobster Co. and then hit up the outlets. We had such a good time with everyone and were sad to say goodbye this morning. Henry is looking around the house wondering where everyone has gone and why it is so quiet and boring! It was a perfect fall weekend and we are looking forward to seeing Aunties and Momo again in a few weeks. Thank you for visiting and we love you!

Auntie comes to town!

Mmmm..Auntie feeding me rice cereal for dinner

Auntie and I at story hour

Trying on my new boots that Auntie gave me

Playtime..

Auntie arrived last night right before Henry's bedtime. He was so happy to greet her! We put Henry to bed and had a nice salmon dinner here at 239. Henry had a good, full night of sleep, probably because he was so worn out with excitement! This morning Auntie and I took him to the story hour at the library. After the library we decided to head to the mall because it was raining cats and dogs. It was such a pleasure to actually try some things on while Auntie watched Henry! It's been a while since I was able to go shopping:) We ended our shopping excursion with a nice lunch out. This afternoon Henry has been fighting his nap and more interested in playing and smiling at Auntie. Hopefully he'll sleep well tonight. Matt and I are going out for a "date night" while Auntie puts Henry to sleep. We are going to see a movie, something we haven't done since Henry was born! It will be a nice rainy night out. Thanks to Auntie for all of her help today! So glad she is here.

Bananas and Blankets

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ...we sang!!

"Hey mom, I like this blanket!"

Yum for bananas

Taking a break from chewing on the spoon to smile for the camera

Big boy!

Happy Monday! As I was cleaning this morning upstairs in our living room/Matt's studio space/storage, I came across something I had been thinking about for a while now....the ABC blanket that my dear grandmother Cordelia made for me when I was probably Henry's age. Minus a few little stains and spots, it looks great. I immediately put Henry on it and told him all about his great grandmother Cordelia and how wonderful of a person she was. I told him how when I was little I used to teach my "students" the alphabet by pointing (of course using a teacher's pointer!) to the letters on the blanket as I read them aloud. I think he likes his new blanket and I certainly enjoyed seeing something so sacred to me being passed on to my son. I hope he teaches his little friends using it as well. I also came across my childhood collections of little china tea sets and miniature figurines. I don't know how excited Henry will be about those, but you never know! A few more years before I pull those out.

Henry was eyeing me this morning as I sat down to have my coffee and bagel (post-run carbo loading-ha!) so I decided he should eat while I ate. I gave him some yummy banana and before I knew it he was taking the spoon out of my hand and practically feeding himself. He's really into spoons! The banana ended up all over him and his seat but he had fun eating his breakfast and I had fun watching him.

Tomorrow Auntie Lauren arrives. We can't wait! I keep telling Henry that tomorrow "Auntie comes" and he smiles. Auntie is so good to come all the way up here on her vacation...we will have a fun time! Hopefully she won't mind waking up a little on the early side, since Henry has been an early bird lately.

I am a huge fan of Asian anything... I love Chinese, Japanese and Thai food. So, I am sharing my recipe for my homemade Pad Thai..that Matt swears is better than the restaurant version (he's a nice guy!) No picture, but enjoy!

Quick and Light Pad Thai

8 oz. rice-flour noodles

1/4 c reduced sodium fish sauce

3 tbsp. brown sugar

2 1/2 tbsp. reduced sodium soy sauce

juice of 1 lime

1 tbsp. rice wine vinegar

1/2 tsp ground red pepper

1 tbsp. sesame oil, divided

4 oz. firm tofu, cubed

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 egg+2 egg whites, lightly beaten

4 c bean sprouts

4 med scallions including green tops, thinly sliced

1 c. cilantro leaves

(optional 2 tbsp. chopped unsalted peanuts)

Soak noodles and set aside

Whisk together the fish sauce, sugar, soy sauce, lime juice, vinegar, pepper and 1 tbsp.of oil in a small bowl-set aside

Heat remaining 2 tsp. of oil in wok over medium heat. Add tofu and cook, turning once until light brown-add garlic and cook 1 to 2 minutes. Add eggs. When just set, stir and gently push to side of pan.

Add sprouts and stir gently. Stir in drained noodles, scallions, fish sauce mixture and simmer just until liquid thickens slightly-5 to 10 minutes.

Serve garnished with peanuts and cilantro. Enjoy!!

Good day for a run...

It was a great morning to run the Portland 1/2 marathon. This was my fifth time completing the Portland 1/2 and I love it every time! Henry and Matt woke up early with me and walked me down to the start. It was a chilly 44 degrees when we started, but I warmed up quickly. Matt and Henry cheered me on as I came through the finish. It was a fun day! I am sure we will all sleep well tonight.

Beautiful view of back cove..where we started and finished

My number 1 fan!!

The start...

Toys and more toys

I love hydrangeas at this time of year

Fall is in the air...

This is one of Henry's favorite things to do during playtime...peek-a-boo?

Henry's toy box is getting pretty full

I love to make noises while I play

One of my new toys

Mom puts LOTS of choices out...

I am quite the reader already

Since Henry has officially hit the "I am interested in toys and anything I can put in my mouth" phase, we've been accumulating lots of different kinds of objects and toys for him to explore. This morning we went to a class called Learning through Baby Play that the local hospital puts on. It's a four week series and we are going to learn all kinds of ways to support Henry through his play. Some of the neat ideas from today were: put scarves in tissue boxes and have the babies pull them out for fun, use cups as toys and put out different kinds of toys each day (like balls one day, books the other, etc). I also learned that it is important to give Henry different kinds of play each day- play and interaction with us and then time for exploration and free play. I am hoping that some of the new toys we've picked up this week (many from a second hand children's store) excite Henry and allow his imagination and senses to soar. We'll see...

Last night I went on a "MNO," which for those of you who might not know, stands for "Moms Night Out." About fifteen moms met a local watering hole for good food, drinks and conversation. It was really fun! I left right after Henry went down and stayed out for a couple of hours. I am definitely going to do more of those! It's important to get away and have some "me" time every once and a while. I find it really rejuvenates me and makes me a better mom and wife.

This afternoon we are going to our weekly playgroup with some of the moms and babies that we have met in the last several months. It is amazing how many friends Henry and I have made since April. They all bring such wonderful experiences and wisdom with them and I have really enjoyed making so many connections with such great moms. There is nothing more helpful than to talk to someone who is going through the exact same things you are.

This weekend is the Portland 1/2 Marathon so I will be lacing up my sneaks and getting pumped for that. It is on Sunday and the forecast is great-50's and sunny! Should be a beautiful morning for a nice, long run. It's good to be back.

Hope you are all enjoying the last of the rain, at least for now.

Oh, and rain makes me want to bake so here's a classic...

Maine Blueberry Muffins

Makes 1 dozen

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups fresh blueberries

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Generously butter a standard 12-cup muffin pan and dust with flour, tapping out excess; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Working over the bowl, toss blueberries in a fine sieve with about 1 1/2 teaspoons flour mixture to lightly coat; set aside the flour mixture and the blueberries.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using a handheld mixer, beat butter and 1 cup sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Mix in vanilla.

With the mixer on low speed, add reserved flour mixture, beating until just combined. Add milk, beating until just combined. Do not overmix. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the blueberries. Divide batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups. If desired, in a small bowl, mix together remaining 1/4 cup sugar and nutmeg. Sprinkle sugar mixture on top of muffin batter.

Bake, rotating pan halfway though, until muffins are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center of one muffin comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes. Turn muffins on their sides in their cups, and let cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Blueberry Muffins Recipe - MarthaStewart.com

mmm..homemade blueberry muffins..nothing like it...