Quinn

Quinn is doing so good. He's now 2 1/2 months old. Crazy huh. He's such a happy baby and smiles all the time. In fact one of my favorite things is putting him back to bed after his nighttime feeding. I swaddle him up and he gives me these huge smiles, I give him a kiss and he goes to sleep ALL ON HIS OWN!!! It's so great. He's not much of a cuddler so he's put himself to sleep from the very beginning. At his two month check he weighed 11 lbs 10 oz and was 23 1/2 inches long. That's the 75th percentile!!! GO QUINN! (Kyler is still under the 10th percentile)

Our favorite nick names for him are Quinnickers, and Kyler's Quinny Quinn. Here are some of my favorite pics of him ranging from 7 weeks to just a few days ago.

New Bed!

We finally took the initiative to get Kyler into a toddler bed. YEA!!! I've been reluctant to move him out of his crib, just because I'm worried nap time will go away, and we WOULD NOT be surviving without nap time. So far (today's nap time) he has done fine. So lets hope he continues to take naps....here's to hoping.

We got the bed from some friends of Brian's brother. It was in perfect condition, came with the mattress and was a stellar deal. So it's been sitting at Phillips house until we were really ready to make the switch. Kyler LOVES it! He was so sad this morning when Brian explained to him that he couldn't take it down stairs with him, but that it had to stay in his room for sleeping times. :) He went to bed just perfectly last night. He loves the light that really works in the front, and the toy box up front as well. So far this change has gone smoothly....lets hope potty training in a few weeks goes just as smoothly.

The Zoo

We have a membership to Atlanta's zoo, so when the weather was BEAUTIFUL last Saturday we jumped at the chance to spend it outside as a family! We love the zoo, Kylers favorites are of course the carousel and the train. Quinn did so good, I know this picture is terribly overexposed, but it was the only one we got!

Inspiration

So I have been inspired by many of my friends by blog and facebook to eat better and work out more. For some reason, when I know that other people are sacrificing to spend the time to exercise or are doing more to eat right it makes it easier for me to do so also. In this quest to eat better I have found it incredibly difficult to find good low fat recipes that I can feed my family. SOO in an effort to inspire others and help make it easier for you to find low fat recipes I'm going to occasionally post the low fat recipes we have tried and liked. Keep in mind these aren't chicken enchiladas, or grilled cheese sandwiches, but they are "make agains" for us in our effort to be healthy. In turn if you use the recipe and like it, and are inspired to try some recipes of your own and like them, I'd love to get some recipes in return. Here goes!

Mango Chutney Chicken

1 ripe mango seeded peeled and sliced

1/4 cup craisins

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

2 Tbs Cider Vinegar

2 Tbs Brown Sugar

1/2 tsp crushed mustard seed

1/8 tsp salt

1 lb Boneless skinless chicken

1 tsp five-spice

In medium saucepan combine half of the mango slices, the craisins, green onions, vinegar, brown sugar, mustard seed, and salt. Bring to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer covered for 5 minutes. Remove the saucepan from heat.

Meanwhile chop the remaining mango slices, set aside. Rub both sides of the chicken with five-spice powder. Grill Chicken until no longer pink int the middle.

To serve stir the chopped mango into cooked mango mixture, serve on top of chicken.

Nutrition facts per serving:

205 cal

6 g Fat

2 g fiber

17 g protein

We used a fresh mango because I happened to find one at the store but you can also find canned mango these days in the produce section.

Enjoy!!!

1 vs 2

Well it's been 7 weeks, and we have semi started to get used to our schedule. I say semi because we started bottle feeding yesterday and it has thrown us for a little loop, but in general we've acclimated to normal life, minus sleep :)

I spend a lot of time thinking about the differences between having one and now having two. I love having two for many reasons, and think that the adjustment to two isn't NEARLY as hard as adjusting to your first. Here are the reasons why.

1. Even though my epidural never kicked in, I now know I can have an enjoyable birthing experience. Kylers was horrific, Quinns was painful but quick. Now I won 't be so terrified if there is a third :)

2. Life is busy, which is SO good. With Kyler all I thought about was Kyler...why wasn't he sleeping, why didn't he eat well, am I playing with him enough, is he learning what he needs to. With Quinn I don't have the time to think about most of those things. I still wish I had more time to play with him, but when it comes to eating and sleeping, I do the best I can and don't worry about the rest because I have Kyler to be with too, and that helps take the stress out of things.

3. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. This time around I haven't read any books (except what to expect the first year). And I LOVE it! I was so stressed out that Kyler wasn't doing what the "books" said he should be doing. I enjoy Quinn so much more when I just let him do his thing.

4. Family time. It's been so fun having family time. Having both boys in the tub as Brian and I play with them, then we BOTH get to be apart of bedtime and it feels like family time instead of a chore because we're both tired.

In short, I was scared spitless for Quinn to come. I wasn't sure I was cut out for two kids. But now I'm SO glad we took that leap of faith and prepared for Quinn when we did. It's shown me that babies can be a joy, and that I can follow my heart and things will turn out right. Good luck to all my friends who are expecting baby one, or two, in the next few weeks!!!

What Kyler's Been Doing

He loves to hang out with Quinn. He is a really good big brother and is very protective. When we go places and people want to look at Quinn he gets in the way and says "My baby Quinn!" We are still getting a lot of rain. Brian went out and jumped in the puddles with Kyler. He loved every minute of it.

Hair cuts, hair cuts, hair cuts. Kyler continues to get a hair cut every 4-6 weeks.

This was our favorite! Brian brought this box home from work. Kyler had a BLAST! It was better then a ball pit. It made a HUGE mess of course. All fun things do.

At last but not least, watching TV with Quinn. He loves to push the stroller into the living room and hold Quinn. It really is the cutest thing ever.