Since the weather has warmed up, we try and get outside more with Melody. She loves being outside, but it is a lot of work sometimes! Once she is walking, it should be easier. Anyhow, we are hoping to spend more time outside over the next few months. Check out some of the recent pictures below!
Melody was eleven months old on April 25th! She has become mobile extremely quick, and she is truly into everything. She is super happy, and we are super blessed! Check out her pictures below.
Brad absolutely loves manicotti. If we go to a restaurant that serves it, he will usually order it. I had never tried it until I had it with him. His mom also makes it on occasion. Well I wanted to find a semi-easy recipe to make for him. I found one online and decided to give it a try. I did use more spaghetti sauce than the original recipe called for, but I like it with more sauce personally.
Sadly, I only have a baby for one more month, then I will have a TODDLER! So the timing of Melody's schedule hasn't changed any from her nine month schedule, but what we eat surely has!
Easter weekend started out with an Easter Egg hunt at my in-law's country club. This was Melody's first Easter Egg hunt, and since she cannot walk yet, it wasn't much of a hunt! Brad took her around and let her pick up a few eggs though.
A friend shared this recipe with Brad many years ago. It is really, really easy. The chicken itself tastes really good too. The only struggle I have with this recipe is how to serve the chicken. I have tried it with salad, wraps (below), and hamburger buns. So far my favorite is as a salad, but you may like another way!
On our February 2017 trip to Disney World, I wanted a cute countdown that wasn't too involved. I had just returned from a trip to Disney World with my mom. Therefore, the countdown would need to be fairly short. Since Melody was so young, she really wouldn't be involved in this countdown. So I came up with just an easy countdown that begin 12 days out from our trip. I used the monorail as inspiration and Pinterest too! See below.
We had Melody's Easter pictures done prior to Easter, but I wanted to share them with you all today. We took her to my aunt's sessions and she had a live baby lamb (so precious!). Happy Easter!!
Most weeks we get together with my best friend and her husband. We take turns cooking dinner for each other. It is definitely easier when we use our crockpot! I love making and eating Mexican food, so I found a super easy recipe for chicken tacos in the crockpot. Check it out below!
Melody turned nine months old on February 25th. I took our regular nine month pictures of her myself, but our photographer (my aunt) also took some formal pictures. Below are the shots she was able to get!
Melody was baptized at our local church, Asbury United Methodist Church, on February 19, 2017. Since I was not baptized as a baby, we did not have a gown that she could wear from me, so we found a gorgeous one at a local baby clothing store. Both fortunate and unfortunate, we purchased this dress for 40% off (fortunate), but the store is now out of business and was selling everything at a discount due to this (unfortunate). Brad parents actually bought her dress as a gift to Melody.
On our recent trip to Disney World, we knew we would be using our stroller A LOT due to having an 8 (almost 9) month old! If you have ever been to Disney, you may have noticed the sea of strollers. You are required to park your strollers a lot. You cannot take your strollers in most lines at the park or inside of a lot of the buildings. And in that sea of strollers, they all can start to look alike. We decided to make a stroller tag that would at least give it some distinction.
Infants are tricky when it comes to Easter because they are much more limited on the toys they can play with and the food they can eat. Instead of buying a pre-made basket (although I found some cute ones at Target in their baby section), I decided to make one. I made both Melody and her best friend, Lydia, baskets. Check them out below:
Melody was ten months old on March 25. It is so hard to believe that! Time has truly flown by. I really can't believe my baby will be a toddler in less than two months! Cue the tears!
I love going to Disney World during the Flower and Garden Festival. It is absolutely gorgeous at Epcot. The first time I attended was during our honeymoon in 2013. I actually did not really know what it was, but when we arrived, it was stunning. We went back for our 2nd anniversary as well. They also used to have Star Wars Weekends, but they no longer do that anymore. We have found May to be great because it isn't very crowded, but the weather can be fairly warm. I have written two previous posts regarding what to wear to Disney World in January and in September. I find May to be very similar to September. It is actually a little bit cooler in May, but not by much. The highs are usually in the mid-to-upper 80's, and the lows are usually in the high 60's. Generally I recommend shorts/skirts, short sleeve shirts, or dresses. Below are some of the specific outfits both Brad and I have worn. I hope this helps if you are planning a trip around May!
How in the world do I have an almost TEN month old!? People always tell you time flies after you have kids, but I honestly don't think you fully understand how true this statement is until you have kids in your life. Sometimes we get to the end of a day, and I am wondering where the day truly went. It is so crazy how this happens. So with that, how about her nine month schedule? Well very, very little has changed. We have started increasing her solids with the hopes of decreasing her formula. We have also started feeding her more table food and 3rd foods from the baby food aisle. Other than that, very little changed from her eight month schedule.
I absolutely love eggs benedict. Whenever we eat breakfast or brunch somewhere that offers it on their menu, I will order it. My favorite local restaurant that offers brunch on the weekends is called Grille 29. They serve a crabcake eggs benedict that is to die for. We also have a local bakery, Edgar's Bakery, that serves a similar version. I most recently had it while staying at the Opryland Hotel. While Brad was off work during the holidays, I really wanted to try making it myself. Unfortunately we never got around to it. So a few weekends ago, I decided I wanted to make it, so I bought all the ingredients and attempted it. I found the recipe on Food Network's website. I had never made poached eggs before, so this was definitely a new adventure. I also cut the recipe in half.
In February 2017, we traveled to Disney World with Melody for her first trip. We decided to stay at a value resort because we are planning to return to Disney World later this year and stay at a nicer resort. This trip was meant to be a short trip so we didn't want to invest the same money in this one as our one later. This was Brad's first stay at a value resort. I have stayed value many times with my mom and parents. I have stayed at every All Star resort, but we most commonly stay at the All Star Sports Resort. With Brad, we have stayed at The Contemporary, Saratoga Springs, and Port Orleans Riverside. This was going to be a big change for Brad, but he was on board with it.
This wraps up my trip reports for our February 2017 Disney World visit. It was Melody's first time at Disney World. You can read about all of our days here (one, two, three, four). We did not visit a park on this day. I had contemplated it since our flight wasn't until that afternoon, but seeing that we had Melody with us, I thought it would be too difficult. If it were just Brad and me, I think we could have easily visited a park on this day.
