Turkey Taco Pile-Up

A slightly healthier twist on a regular meal for us. It's super quick & super easy.

1 lb. lean ground turkey
1 bell pepper, chopped (I like to use 1/2 a green pepper & 1/2 a red one!)
1/2 small onion
1 can Ro-tel
1/2 t chili powder
1-2 t ground cumin
1-2 t minced garlic

Saute peppers and onion for about 5 minutes. Add all other ingredients. Cook in skillet until meat is done. Drain extra liquid and return to skillet. Serve over tortilla chips with grated cheese on top & guacamole if you're really feeling festive! (Matt prefers soft tacos, not taco pile-up. It's just a matter of opinion.)

Crawling Video

Here's the evidence! He's still learning but he is starting to use crawling as his main method of transportation now. Last week he was only experimenting with it and still mainly using rolling and lunging. It's beginning to shift now. It's pretty exciting to watch. The crazy thing is that he wants to stand so badly. For a while we thought he was going to skip crawling and go straight to walking. He is pulling up on everything from the coffee table to window sills and now even on flat surfaces like the front door! He has even learned not to pull things over onto himself when he's pulling up. It's pretty incredible. (To us anyway.)


In the way of food news, Connor is experimenting with some "real" foods lately. For example, we gave him a little bit of a dry (meaning no syrup) waffle on Saturday and he seemed to enjoy it. This morning he had some blueberry muffin, but he didn't really care for that. I might try some cheese today or maybe some cooked pasta. We'll see. Hmm, he's also had some peeled grapes, which he turned his nose up at. He loves graham crackers but they require a lot of supervision because he can easily choke on them. He is using his little mesh pacifier thing a lot lately with cantaloupe, mango and peaches. He devours the fruit. He didn't care for the grapes in there either. I guess they're too sour. Well, that's all I can think to tell you for now.

Yes Please

Lately Connor has taken to agreeing with us when he eats. Check out the video to see what I mean.

Getting Rev'd Up

Connor has been trying for weeks, maybe a couple of months to crawl. He is very mobile and gets around without a problem but over the last 48 hours he has really begun to crawl. We haven't caught it on video yet, but we will soon. He is still pretty shaky and stops to sit up a lot but he is hands-and-knees crawling. It's pretty fun to see him learning and developing.

Evidence of his capabilities:

"Look what I found, Mom!"

The Oasis

From time to time we like to take advantage of our Fridays and head South to Austin. We like to enjoy restaurants and shopping we don't have in or around Copperas Cove. Today we just such a Friday. We left after lunch and ran a few errands in North Austin, did a little shopping and ended with dinner at the Oasis.






If you haven't been since it's reopening (it burned down a few years back) it's totally redone and very nice. They've really upgraded somethings, but kept the good stuff just the same. The views were beautiful and the food was just as good! Connor was a joy all day long! He was laid back, content and took cat naps in the car so he was perfectly happy to play in the highchair or his stroller. I couldn't have asked for a better turn out from him today.

Baja Fish & Rice Bake

A few of my friends have started posting recipes on their blogs & since I cook on a daily (yes, truly I cook just about every day!) basis, I thought I'd share a recipe I made last night. In fact, I just finished off the leftovers for lunch!

3T vegetable oil
1/2 C chopped onion
1/2 C chopped celery
1-1 1/2 cloves minced garlic
1 14oz can diced tomatoes (with juice)
1/8 t red pepper
1 t lemon pepper
salt & pepper to taste
1 box long grain & wild rice (I use the quick cook 90 second one.)
1 lb fish fillets (I use tilapia, but any mild fish will do.)

Heat oil in a large skillet, saute onion, celery & garlic. Stir in rice & saute about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, lemon pepper, salt & pepper, red pepper. Remove from heat. Place fish in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Spoon rice mixture over fish and cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes (or until fish is done) at 400. Enjoy with fresh green beans or a mixed greens salad!

Progress

I went to get Connor from his nap one day last week and found him sitting up all by himself in his crib. He is not even crawling yet and is now pushing himself up to sitting all the time, like he's been doing it forever.

Then, yesterday I found him like this:

Standing! How do I keep up?!

And finally, I found these mesh pacifier things at Target that you put fruit in & baby can suck the juice out. My mom got one for Connor this week and he loves it! All he's had so far is cantaloupe but we'll be more adventurous soon.

July 4th

Well, everyone else has posted pictures of their kids from the 4th of July, so here are mine. We made a quick trip to Wimberley to see Matt's family. Actually, that was on the 3rd. We really did nothing on the 4th, therefore we took zero pictures. Sorry!

Stats

We went to the doctor today & at nearly 8 months old (just 4 days shy) Connor weighs 24.1 lbs (95%) and is 28 1/4 in (75%). He went to town on the butcher paper they cover the table with. He kicked his legs all around (picture windshield wipers) and gathered the paper in his arms, tore it all apart and then began to eat. At one point Matt gave him a tongue depressor to look at and Connor stuck it in his mouth and just kept playing with the paper. He looked like a little puppy. We were quite amused. The doctor kept saying how healthy & active he was. She was impressed with how badly he wanted to go go go! Obviously I've never had a baby before so I don't know what is average and what is not. Apparently Connor is far more active & wiggly than the average baby his age.

He is not crawling yet but let me tell you, he is dying to! As I type he is on all fours rocking back & forth. He is beginning to dig his toes into the floor & launch himself forward to get something that is just out of reach. He is still rolling everywhere and spinning around on his belly. His latest and greatest accomplishment however, is that he will now get himself from laying to sitting all by himself! He started doing this on Tuesday morning and has done it repeatedly since then. Matt got really excited tonight when Connor went from sitting to being on all fours in a very smooth/easy transition. Like he's been doing it for weeks or something. I'm not dying for Connor to be crawling yet because that means a lot more ouchies and boo boo's but Matt on the other hand is waiting with baited breath to see his boy crawl.

Here are a couple of pictures from the day. We went to the pool again, which Connor loved, and I forgot my camera. However, he wore his pool robe & a dry diaper home.
Look how cute he is!

Connor really loves Avery. Notice the fear in her eyes though.


Then at dinner Daddy got 'creative' with a Cheerio.

'My dad is the silliest!'