A Weekend of Firsts

Sunday was Mr. Wy's first day at a park. I had to document it with pictures.

It was a weekend of firsts. Besides his first time to the park, Mr. Wy also had his first temperature. His first time parents freaked out and called the dr. and stayed inside...the entire weekend. Besides Wy's first 3 weeks of life, I've never stayed inside this long in my entire life. I thought I was going to go crazy. Hence our walk to the park.

What a great kid. He smiles even when he is very sick.

 We are blessed to have a GREAT big park 5 minutes from our home. When we arrived, we met a few other parents and a really cute 8 month old girl. It was like the entire neighborhood finally emerged from their homes after a long long winter.

Sick and all, Wy rode on a swing for the first time. And loved it. Besides heading to my dr. to get my toe's stiches removed, we are heading 1)back to the park (to swing again) and 2)to the pediatrician. I know Mr. Wy will have a lot more sick days ahead. He will have his first flu. He will have his first tummy ache.

I know these firsts are only a part of what it is to be a parent. And because I'm on this journey with Mr. Wy and my sweet husband and Lord, I can look forward to many more firsts.

Weekend Meals: Skillet Penne with Sausage and Spinach

This is one of the easiest America's Test Kitchen main meal recipes we've found. It's also very very tasty. If you need to make something fast for your family or impress your special someone, try Skillet Penne with Sausage and Spinach.

Yes, it's as good as it looks.

And after a long day taking care of a sick child, we finally sat down on the couch and ate our penne with one of these:

Recipe is found on Cook's Illustrated website. An online subscription is very cheap but completely worth it.
P.S. To make this a 'light' recipe, Tim used turkey hot sausage links and broke them into pieces. It's fairly cheap and much better for you then regular sausage.

Free Georgetown Cupcakes

If you haven't heard the news already, Georgetown Cupcakes is giving away free cupcakes today. One word: YUM. Tonight is the first episode of their second season: TLC's "DC Cupcake" so they are celebrating by giving away 1 free cupcake per person. If I didn't have lunch plans, I'd be tempted to head there this afternoon.
Who's going?!

Planning Early

I'm already starting to plan (in my head) for Wy's 1st Birthday party. I've heard that you go all out for the first and then as you have more kids, the parties get less and less creative. It's too bad.
As I've been looking for some fun pictures of childrens birthday parties, I've found some really fun ideas. What do you think?

 The popcorn is made out of fondant.

 Cotton candy on cupcakes? Beautiful.

 Tim loves Curious George so this might be a fun idea.

 These bottles are fun and look easy to make. You could even buy the jars at a local thrift store. Has anyone ever had Strawberry Milk?!

And who would've thought you could decorate gallons of ice cream so easily? This is just one little touch, but it really made everything else come together.
I want to know, who has the time to do this? They probably hired someone. Hmm...we won't be doing that! I love the vintage theme.

I'm dreaming of a warm (but not too hot) June 8th summer day on our new screened in deck with family and friends. P.S. It's never too late to plan early!

Beautiful Day

Wednesday was a beautiful day. Spring isn't here, but today we had clear blue skies and it made for a fun afternoon to take a few pictures. I'm really trying to learn my camera. Are you as ready for spring as I am?

 Plants in my office, catching the late afternoon sun.

Mealtime

I have no idea if I'm doing the right things with Mr. Wy. A friend came over the other night and asked, "Is that all the solid food Wyatt eats?" And it wasn't...but I admited to her that I didn't know if I was feeding him the right amount of milk and solids. At 8 months does he need more finger foods? And who tells you this stuff anyway? I have to laugh. Mr. Wy is just fine. He's growing taller and wider every day.

But in all seriousness, my friend asked a great question. So I googled it today. That search led me to my favorite baby website: Baby Center. I was a proud momma. Baby Center said that I was giving Mr. Wy the right about of milk and solids. I could breathe a sigh of relief. Too bad it only lasted a second. Reading on, I discovered  that it's important for 8 month olds participate in mealtime. A family needs to have a sit down mealtime. Oops. We've failed.

This is Wy's mealtime. Notice the messy family mealtime table in the background! What do you do when you live in a city that doesn't allow your husband to get home until 6:45 (and that's early) and your 8 month old baby needs to be in bed at 7?

Right now this 8 month old doesn't seem to mind...but his mom does. I'm starting to get a twinge of mommy's guilt. Ugh. Living in a big city has it's advantages, but getting home late is not one of them. On another note, my foot is better but I caught Wy's cold. I've never had so many colds in my life. I must be doing something right. :)

Eastern Market

Sunday was Mr. Wy's first time at Eastern Market. I loved seeing God's creativity through art, food, fashion, and His people. It was beautiful.

Weekend Meals: Chicken Tikka Masala

Tim and I love Indian food. And if we go out to an Indian restaurant, I get a veggie dish and Tim always gets Chicken Tikka Masala. Thankfully ATK has a great recipe for it. And although it takes quite a bit of work, it's worth it for a good Indian meal.

Because we had dinner guests on Saturday night, my husband let me watch Wy while he made the entire meal. Including homemade croutons.

My contribution: Keeping the kids happy and making dessert:

Email me if you want to try out this great but complicated recipe!

It's Not Nice To Stare

While Mr. Wy's dad was painting in the house last week, I thought Wy might like some time away with the girls. Ha. I called a girlfriend and told her that I had 2 free hours to do whatever I wanted. And what did I want to do? Go get frozen yogurt. What does that tell you?! My sweet friend sat in the back of my car with Mr. Wy while I drove us to Yogiberry in College Park, MD.

Mr. Wy didn't get any of my purple Taro yogurt. He had puffs.

Poor guy had to listen to conversation about make-up, fashion, men, and weight. I think he liked it. He even grabbed my friends blush brush.
And then all of a sudden...he started to stare. At college women from the University of Maryland!!!!

 It was so funny. Mr. Wy is too young to know that it's not nice to stare.

But these college girls loved his stare. They thought Mr. Wy was so cute. We all laughed so hard. Mr. Wy is already learning how to flirt. Oh no.

It was as if Mr. Wy went from being a 8 month old, to a 18 year old in a few minutes. So. Darn. Funny. This mom needed a good laugh.

Mr. Wy's Cousins

Today I'm going to deviate from my DC, Mr. Wy, food blog theme to show you some incredible pictures my younger sister took of her girls. I saw them this morning and the bright colors really impressed me. She used photoshop, but she has also used Picnik in the past. If you're not familiar with Picnik, you are missing out. It's a free photo editing website that I love.

The youngest was born 1 day after Mr. Wy. She is petite and has red hair with bright blue eyes. She's also almost walking. Mr. Wy is blond, greyish-blue eyes, tall, big, and rolling over. Ha.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I've had some funny stories walking into work with one sock and one shoe. I'll share more next week about my toe recovery. Spring is coming. I'm so excited!