No, I have NOT fallen off the face of the earth...

Y'all, I'm so sorry I haven't blogged in so long.  Whenever I would have a little bit of time to blog, I felt so overwhelmed by the fact that I would need to backtrack and update on all I missed.  So I'm just not going to do that.  I blog for fun and to keep our family and friends updated, not because I have to.  I'm not going to go back 3 weeks and talk about all that has happened in detail.  I will, however, give you a quick rundown of what we've been doing.  I kind of touched on this, but at the end of October, Mandy came for a visit.  She got here the last Friday of October and left the following Wednesday.  The last time we had seen here, Robby was about 4-5 months old, so he had definitely changed!  Mandy's trip here overlapped with a business trip for Tim.  He left for Dallas that Sunday.  After I dropped Mandy off at the airport on Wednesday, Robby and I headed up to Dallas to spend a few days with Tim.  Towards the end of his week, he wasn't as busy with meetings and dinners, so it was perfect.  We left on Friday morning and headed back home.  The next week, my parents came for a visit for a couple of days.  They got here Wednesday night and left Saturday morning.  Tim had Friday off for Veteran's Day, so it worked out perfectly the way their trip fell.  Right now, Tim is in the middle of a pharmacy remodel.  Yuck!  He got home about 9:30 on Friday night because they had to clear out the entire pharmacy after they closed at 5.  Thankfully, everyone worked hard and got it done as quickly as they could.  He was supposed to go in for a little bit this weekend, but it ended up getting taken care of without him having to go in.  It was wonderful because we had the whole weekend just to ourselves!  This week, they have merged the BX satellite pharmacy (where Tim works) with the clinic pharmacy.  It is going to be crazy to say the least!!  He gets Thanksgiving day off, which will be nice, but then has to work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to get the pharmacy all put back together and make sure they are ready to be up and running on Monday.  After this week, things will hopefully start settling down a little for Tim.

Robby is doing great!  He is standing on his own for long periods of time and there have been a few times he has started to take steps on his own but then grabbed for something to hold onto.  If he is distracted, I know he can do it, but when he focuses on it, he decides he needs help!  He is eating table foods.  He likes chicken in little bites, as well as potatoes, pinto beans, black beans, corn, and avocado.  He is not a fan of feeding himself peas, carrots, or bananas.  He doesn't like anything with a slimy texture.  I'm just going to keep giving them to him and hope he eventually takes them.  I've started giving him whole milk, as well as yogurt with whole milk.  He's been taking a bottle with half formula and half milk.  He is loving it so far.  And I'm loving the fact that we won't be spending $100 a month on formula, only about $15ish on milk!  This morning he had some waffle.  At first I tore it up for him in small pieces but he wouldn't eat them.  He just tossed them on the floor for Annie.  Then I just decided to hand him the bigger piece that I was using to tear off pieces.  He took it and nibbled on it for a while.  He was so excited about it!  Speaking of excited, I posted the video a few weeks ago of him clapping.  Well, while my parents were here, he started associating "Yay" and "Good job" with clapping.  So anytime we say those words, he drops what he's doing and claps.  Talk about precious!!  He has also started saying "r" and "y" words (sounds).  And his jabbering is now a combination of a lot of different "words" instead of repeating the same sound over and over.  He sounds like he's really having a conversation, we just don't know what he's saying!  :-)  He's so fun right now and we are extremely excited about the upcoming holidays with him.

I have several topics and ideas I want to blog about, let's hope I actually do them!!  :-)

Wordless Wednesday: What's going on out there?

New Developments

I'm sorry that I've been away from the blog so much the last week and a half or so.  We've been busy.  I'll post about everything in the next couple of days.  But instead of waiting to post this until I backtracked, I thought I would just go ahead and post it tonight.

I expressed my concern to Mandy while she was here last week that I hadn't taught Robby to clap because (this is sad) it never occurred to me that I needed to do that!  I don't really clap a lot for him, so I never even thought to teach him this important skill!  It took Mandy one time of straightening his hands and clapping his hands together for him to get it!  Now, he's doing it all the time.  I will just look over at him while he's playing and he'll be clapping.  I can't help but smile at him when I see it!  Here is a video I got of him today clapping.

Also, over the last several days, he has started walking just holding on to one of my fingers with him leading and setting his pace.  He's also standing for longer periods of time on his own.  I know walking on his own is right around the corner, I'm just not ready for him to grow up that much yet!  Crawling is one thing.  That's a baby thing.  Walking is a toddler thing.  I don't want to think of him as a toddler yet!  Enjoy this video of him walking, too!

What to do for dinner?

Yesterday I was really craving something Italian.  We make homemade pizza usually once a week or so, but that's not what I was wanting.  I make lasagna frequently, but again, that's not what I was wanting.  I texted Tim and told him I was wanting something creamy and garlicy, but wasn't quite sure.  I looked at what I had in the fridge and the pantry: spaghetti noodles, garlic, cream, and ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan cheeses.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I started with making a basic alfredo sauce.  Then I mixed the ricotta cheese with some parsley, salt, pepper, shredded mozzarella and an egg.  I cooked the spaghetti noodles.  Then I just mixed everything together in a big bowl, dumped it in a casserole dish, topped it with sliced mozzarella cheese and baked it for a bit.  I didn't know how it was going to turn out, but all the things I put into it sounded good at the time!  The result was what Tim called the best Italian dish I have ever made.  I think I will need to come up with a name for it because I think it will be a regular in our meal rotation!

This week has been nice for us.  Tim has been home before 6pm every day, which has been absolutely wonderful.  Monday night I started having some major contractions.  I drank extra water, walked around, changed positions and nothing helped them go away.  Finally about 3am the next day they went away.  I was pretty uncomfortable for a while, but I eventually got a bit of rest.  Robby has been sleeping and napping so well.  The past two days I've had so much energy.  I don't know where it's coming from, but I'm taking advantage of it while I have it.  I organized Robby's closet and got clothes ready for Charlie to be able to use.  I also organized my desk and our pantry.  I'm on top of all the laundry and cleaning, which is really nice.  I guess the nesting has just started early this time!  When Robby is awake, he is moving.  He isn't satisfied sitting and playing with any toys now.  He's either crawling around following me, or walking around every piece of furniture.  Usually he does this but is happy taking a break to play with things.  Not this week!  He's definitely keeping me on my toes much more than usual!

Mandy gets in tomorrow morning.  I'm so excited for her to be here!  We always have a blast when we're together and it's always nice to have her help with Robby.  We have some Groupon movie tickets that expire next week so she and I are going to the movies tomorrow night and Tim and I are going Saturday night.  We haven't had a date night in well over a month and a half.  It will be fun to have some "us" time!  Tim is leaving Sunday for a meeting in Dallas and will be gone until Friday.  Mandy will be here until Wednesday, so I only have to be by myself for three days and two nights.  I'm so thankful for that!

I didn't get a 21 week picture taken but I will get a picture-less 21 week pregnancy highlight post up soon!  I hope everyone's week is going well!

Wordless Wednesday: Little Poser

Coupon Code Giveaway

Scoot on over to my sister-in-law's blog and leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for a coupon code for Shutterfly!  We have used their cards at Christmastime and love the gift options, as well!

Robby's First Trip to the Zoo

This morning Robby and I met up with some other moms and kiddos to go to the zoo.  it was Robby's first time.  He did great!  He enjoyed the fish the most, I think, because he could see them so much better. It was hard to get pictures of him looking at the animals because by the time I got out the camera or my phone, he got distracted by the plants or other kids!  :-)  I think next year we are going to get year passes to the zoo.  Robby and Charlie will both be free, so we can go as much as we want.  It might be a nice thing to just get out for a little bit with them.  Plus, we won't feel bad if we only make it an hour or so!

I have other pictures, but I am having issues uploading them.  Oh well!  I hope to be able to go back with Tim so we can explore more and get some better pictures!