Our Little Helper

Yesterday, the day started off with me trying to get our things together to head out to run some errands. While I was doing all this Hugo was finishing off his milk and decided to spill some on the ottoman (this might be Curious George's fault). He quickly walked over to my jacket & scarf (which I had put on the couch to make things easier and quicker) and he grabbed my scarf and went back to the ottoman and started to quickly clean up his milk mess - what a great helper we have ... only problem is I needed my scarf to be dry when we went out. If only he had used his washcloth like he normally does. I guess the scarf was way more handier and quicker.


Later on in the afternoon (same day), Hugo was having his blueberry snack and he dropped one, as a result, it rolled under the couch. He laid down and peeked (like the photo below except to the other side) to see if he could find it and was trying to reach it but couldn't. I told him "Mommy will go get a book and try and reach it buddy, hold on." So off I go to grab a thin long book out of his bin.

In the mean time, he was back on the floor trying to get his blueberry himself (very persistent). This time though, he was using his mini Elmo board book (which is thick) to try and get it out - he even opened the book in half to make it longer, but the book was to think & too short. I was shocked to see him doing this and that he did it all on his own at not even 16 months (he will be 16 months on the 27th of this month). I guess we really need to be careful with what we do now around him, as he picks up quick on stuff that he sees us doing!

There's A Fire in Our Kitchen ...

... oh wait ... Byron is just making our Family Day dinner!

This past weekend was family day and we had a lovely weekend. Our weekend consisted of Chinese food for dinner Saturday with Byron's parents and sister. Sunday afternoon we had a visit with my parents and sister and on Monday afternoon my Goddaughter (Hugo's Godmother) came over for a visit. We spent lots of time with family and ended our weekend with a wonderful dinner prepared by our personal chef ... my wonderful husband. 


For our Family Day dinner Byron prepared Beef Bourguignon.

First Byron fried the bacon in the Dutch Oven.

I believe he then used the bacon fat to brown the meat and then sauteed the vegetables.

And then the fire occurred ... Byron added the cognac and lit it on fire. I must admit, it caught me a bit off guard. I wasn't expecting the flames to be so high, and as a result, I didn't snap a photo of the entire flame. I was too concerned with the fire that was going on directly under our microwave range.

 The flames were almost reaching the microwave {insert panic face}

 

 



 

Thickening up the Beef Bourguignon

 

 

 

The delicious end product served on toasted garlic bread



The recipe is from foodnetwork.com - Beef Bourguignon, if you want to give it a try. I know Byron made a couple changes -- he didn't use mushrooms, he used fresh onion instead of frozen onion. I am not sure what other changes he made. [If you would like to know what exactly he did, let me know and I will try to get him to reveal his secret method]. It turned out really good and was very tasty. Byron had it the next day for lunch and said it is not good as left overs.

I can't believe that two years ago (on family day weekend 2011), we found out we were expecting a little miracle who would change our life forever and make us a family of three ... our little man Hugo. Where have the last two years gone? We are so blessed to have such an amazing family!

Simply Traditional Lasagna

I must admit lasagna is a bit time consuming to make. First you have to make the meat sauce, then assemble the whole thing, then pop it in the oven ... but I find it is soooo much better than the store bought stuff. For this reason I am willing to have it less often, but make it from scratch.
 
I went on a search online and found the following new recipe for Simple Traditional Lasagna. I didn't follow the measurements exactly and I made a couple revisions but it tasted delicious. This one is definitely a keeper.
 

 
I completely blanked and forgot to snap a photo of a slice of lasagna. I mixed a package of de-thawed frozen spinach with the ricotta cheese.
 

 
 
 
The recipe is from allrecipes.com - Simple Traditional Lasagna, if you want to give it a try.
 
Simple Traditional Lasagna
 
Original Recipe Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

** My revisions

1 pound ground beef

1 pound bulk Italian Sausage
1 ½ cup warm water **
1 cup sliced black olives **[I omitted these]
1 pinch basil
2 tsps garlic powder
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 ½ tsp dried sage
2 tsp dried black pepper
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 medium sized onion, chopped **
1 medium sized red or green pepper, chopped **
1 (300g) pkg of de-thawed frozen chopped spinach **
2 (14 ounce) jars Pasta Sauce
1 (16 ounce) pkg oven ready lasagna noodles **
8 Ounces Ricotta Cheese [** used a 300g tub]
454 g mozzarella cheese, shredded [** I used a bit more]
** I added a pinch of nutmeg to the meat sauce when cooking**

Directions

Brown the ground beef and Italian sausage in a large skillet with ½ cup of water over medium-high heat. Drain excess grease. Stir in the rest of the water and season with basil, garlic powder, oregano, sage, pepper, minced garlic, chopped onion, green or red pepper, and nutmeg. Simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the pasta sauce, and remove from the heat.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Mix the de-thawed chopped spinach with the ricotta cheese in a bowl and set aside.

Place a layer of the meat and sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover with a layer of dry noodles. Spread a thin layer of ricotta cheese and spinach mixture over the noodles, and sprinkle with a little mozzarella cheese. Cover with another layer of sauce, and repeat layering ending with the meat and sauce on top. Reserve about 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese for later.

Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven, but check after 30 minutes depending on how thick the lasagna is. Lasagna is cooked when you can easily stick a knife into it. Sprinkle the reserved cheese over the top, and return to the oven for about 10 minutes for a nice melted cheese topping.

 
I had some of the meat sauce left over so I threw it in the freezer to mix with a jar of pasta sauce for dinner another night. This week we had it with spaghetti. Dinner was delicious again.

7/52 - Valentine's Day Kisses

This past week I tried to snap a couple pictures of Hugo in his adorable little Valentine's Day shirt his Godmother gave him for Christmas. It is so cute ... the shirt reads "Handsome Devil - Valentine's Heart Breaker".

I made the following sign, put it in a frame and gave it to him and watched his reaction. I thought the sign was a very fitting touch, as Hugo has recently started to give us kisses {more so in the last week}. He puts his face against ours or goes for our lips and blows with his mouth {making a farting sound} and then gives us a big WET KISS. He also likes to blow kisses to people as they leave after coming over for a visit. He puts his hands to his mouth and blows on them {it melts my heart}.

This is how our mini shoot went ... everything was runny smoothly ...

I just want to pinch those chubby cheeks.

He was fascinated with the sign ...

Kisses ... get them while they last!

... but then ... he was on the move ...I think it's official to say Hugo is now walking!!! Another milestone to cross off the list!

 He started walking to the camera to check himself out.

 

It is amazing watching him get around. One second he is in the kitchen and then before I know it he has walked into the living room.

 

Roxy doesn't know what to do with this recent development though. She gets extremely excited and starts running around him trying to protect him I guess. We think she is worried he is going to fall and hurt himself so she is trying to keep him safe. It is really frustrating at times though. I am so afraid she is going to make him fall and hurt himself.

 

You can see Roxy's tail in the picture below. I think Roxy was in 90% of the pictures I took {arrrrrr}. She loves having her picture taken, which also didn't help.

... at least I was able to capture a few keepers of just Hugo!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hugo checking out if his Kissing booth sign is Proper.

 

 

We hope you enjoy your day with your special someone. 

 



I came across this quote on amazon and it reminded me of our wedding day ...

October 4, 2008

And then I remembered the following ...

Photo Taken By Nat Caron

 

... Last month I was on pinterest and I came across a very cute idea - - on every wedding anniversary you take a picture with your husband and then you can watch yourselves grow old together. I wish I would have seen this 5 years ago because I love this idea. I have to see what photos I have taken in the last 4 years and go from there. 

The above photo is from our engagement shoot with Nat Caron from Nat Caron Photography. If you are looking for a photographer in the Barrie area, we highly recommend her. She took our engagement, wedding and first family pics when Hugo was born. She has an amazing ability of capturing the moment in her beautiful photographs.

I also came across this photo recently and thought I would share it ... this is no longer true once you have kids ...

Our Wedding Day - October 4, 2008

(Shirts were a gift from Byron's Cousin - We Love them!)

Came across the following quotes on pinterest and thought today would be a good day to share them, because they are so very true ...

... and this one too ...

 

I couldn't decide which picture I liked most, so I decided to post both ...

 

 



 

Remember Valentine’s Day should be everyday ... always begin and end your day with "I Love You"!!

Mardi Gras = Pancake Tuesday!

Today is the one day of the year that we have pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon for dinner. It's Pancake Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. I can't believe how early it is this year ... means Easter will also be early! I remember a few years back when I forgot while grocery shopping to grab pancake mix {still have to find  a go to recipe I can make from scratch}, and on pancake Tuesday off I went to the grocery store after work to grab what I needed. The only problem was they were  sold out of both the Aunt Jemima pancake mix and the generic brands {insert pouty face} and I ended up having to go to about 3 stores before I found it.  I guess everyone was doing the same thing as me. Well let me just say ... lesson learnt and I have not forgotten ever since.

On another note I also wanted to blog about an issue we have been having with Hugo. Up to about 3 weeks ago, Hugo kept waking up at least once throughout the night. Not sure what the culprit was - teeth {he's been teething non-stop since the summer}, hungry, pain, who knows, but it was waking him up and preventing him from falling back asleep. This was going on for months. I don't remember a day were he would sleep throughout the night consecutively {there was just the odd day once in a blue moon}.   To be honest I couldn't remember the last time I slept through the night without having to get up with Hugo at least once throughout the night {I can't sleep through the night, my ears are always listening for strange sounds coming from my sons room -- I'm a mother and I want to protect him 24/7}. But to just have a few days were I didn't have to get out of bed throughout the night, would be so nice, especially for my head. I'm a migraine sufferer and the interrupted sleep sure does take a toll on my head and my body. Don't get me wrong, I'm a mother and it's part of my job -- the nightly wake ups and I would not change it for the life of me.  

 

On January 18, 2013, {one of my most challenging days as a Mother to date, if I may say so}, Hugo woke up just before 4:30 a.m.. He was wide awake and wanting out of bed.  I got up with him, did my usual thing and then put him back to bed. BUT he refused to go back to bed and stayed up until 9:00 a.m., when I was finally able to put him down  for his nap {insert tears}.  Byron was on the afternoon shift this day, but was called into work earlier, so it was just a grumpy Hugo, Roxy and me. Somehow we got through the day and by 10:00 p.m. I was done and ready for bed {with a major headache} and off to bed I went. At 11:00 p.m. Hugo woke up again crying. I still had a massive headache and thank goodness Byron was home {and still up} he went and checked on him and managed to get him back to bed and he slept through the entire night {Wow}. After  our January 18th episode, Hugo started to sleep through the night {some good came of the whole episode}. We figured out that if we gave him a light snack and a bottle of milk before bed, it seemed to hold him off for the entire night ... what a miracle! We thought YEAH, Hugo is now going to start sleeping through the night ... there's a light at the end of the tunnel .... NOT!!

This only lasted for a couple weeks. As of mid last week (February 7, 2013), he is back to waking up throughout the night again {insert super sad face}. Now, he wakes up more often and stays awake for awhile crying before he falls back asleep.  I just wish I knew what was going on so I could fix it, but for as long as this may continue I will ...

 

If you have any suggestions on any solutions please share it with us in the comments section. I would love to read it!!

 

6/52 - Putting Senses to Use

What do you get when you give Hugo the above blackberries for the first time ... a very funny little man to watch. One that uses 4 of his senses to investigate whether they are good to eat.

Here's how it went down ...

  

First he looked at them very closely (Smell) ...
 

Then he examined the feel of them (Touch) ...

 

Time to lick it ... [this makes me laugh every time I see it]

OK to take a bite (Taste)

 

Had to get some near his nose for a sniff (Smell)...

 

 

 

Better get the little bit on my finger ... yum ...

 

They are good ... finger linkin' good ... !



Hope you enjoyed -- Happy Monday!!!