Recently, my brother-in-law Nick moved in with us. If you’ve been reading for a long time (thank you!), you may remember Nick from our days in Orlando. He decided to be closer to family and headed up to Charlotte, and he’s staying with us for a few months. I think, generally speaking, having in-laws live with you is a recipe for disaster, but it’s been great. Not only is Nick awesome, but Henry loves him. And Nick enables my coffee addiction, which is obviously a good thing. If I had a dollar for every time he called out, “Heyyyy – does anyone want a cup of coffee?” Um. Me!
We were both up and in the kitchen this morning, sipping on our coffee cups, when I suggested making coffee oats. I think I blew his mind.
Yes. Coffee oats. With a cup of coffee on the side – that’s double time coffee.
The secret? A tablespoon of instant coffee.
On the stovetop:
3/4 cup oatmeal
1 ripe banana
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon instant coffee (added at the end)
Toppings: brown sugar, coconut, pecans
Oh yeah.
In other news, we had an cool baby development take place yesterday. So, when babies are born, they don’t really care to touch much. Babies literally don’t understand that the flailing things in front of their face are their own hands – they actually smack themselves in the face at night and wake themselves up (which one reason why a lot of parents swaddle babies to sleep).
Then, over time, babies begin to touch their face and clasp their hands together. Hand sucking comes next. They also reach out and begin to touch their food source (breasts or bottle). And then – one day! – they start to hold onto toys if you put it on their chest. But reaching out to grab a toy? That takes a while.
Yesterday, Henry was in his jumper while the Husband and I were caulking some crown molding we put up, and I looked over to see…
Henry has officially figured out how to reach out and grasp toys. Cue the waterworks. So proud!
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{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
Hated the face smacking! But I think my happiest moment so far is when my 6 month old started putting the binky in her mouth by herself
WIN!
awww how fun! It is so great to watch kiddos develop. Also – coffee oats? I’ll be over in 10.
Why have I never heard/thought of coffee oats before?! Amazing!!
Yay for baby achievements!!! I’m glad things are working out with your in-laws. I wish we had family close by. It really does make things better…sometimes. The times they bring you coffee = awesome!
Coffee oats? I am currently eating steel cut oats and drinking coffee. It would save time to just combine them both. Interrrrresting!
Totally unrelated to your post, but do you have any recommendations for nursing bras? I just had a baby and I’m so frustrated trying to find a bra as a bigger chested girl!
Unfortunately, I really do not. I never found any great nursing bras – I hate mine!!!
have you looked at a pea in the pod? i never needed anything besides target bras but i have a friend that highly recommend some she found there. although, they are definitely more expensive but you get what you pay for
http://www.bravadodesigns.com/
Not sure you’ve looked at these but I find this brand phenomenal!
I have four of The Body Silk Seamless Nursing Bra & just adore it but they do have other types too. I’m average sized but they may have large chested ones too, take a peek.
I was looking at the Bravado ones! I wasn’t sure if they were worth the price! Good to hear that they are well liked. I tried target a few different times and I can’t find anything in the right size
Yay Henry
completely unrelated to babies – but where did you get that spoon? i’ve seen lots of bloggers with them and i love them. henry is adorable, btw. love how you show both positive and negative experiences on the blog.
thank you
it’s from crate and barrel!
i remember the 1st time we realized our daughter had pulled the toy on her bouncy seat on her own. my husband and i were in the kitchen and heard the music start to play and we looked over and she was hanging on it. it was hilarious how excited we got
i always love when they start to hold their little hands together. so cute!
Every milestone is SO special- go Henry! My son Sam is 5 months and he had his first giggle fit yesterday. It was amazing!!
good job henry!
1 – I LOVE coffee oatmeal. So good!
2 – Go Henry, go!!
That’s awesome! He’s getting so big!
Yay Henry!
So cute! I know about mommy pride – my son is only a week or two older than Henry. My daughter is 3 and the milestones and parental pride is never ending.
Question for you – With both pregnancies, I have had some separation of the ab muscles. Not enough to be diastasis recti, but enough that I can feel the separation when I do heavy lifting exercises. It took about 10 months with my first to get less than 1 finger separation, and it never got better than that. I’ve been waiting to see if you were going to do a post on this to get more ideas on how to fix this sooner and not create a bigger separation. Have your stomach muscles realigned completely already? Do you think cardio was enough to do the job?
I am not sure if this has happened to me. Honestly I can’t tell… my doc said my abs were back enough but I guess my stomach still pooches out (not sure if that’s normal or what). I occasionally bang out some situps… Prob not as dedicated as I could be.
I had twins in may and I had a significant diastasis recti- about 3 inches wide. I read about the Tupler Technique and ordered the splint and exercise program- and it has really made an improvement. Google ‘Tupler technique’ and you’ll find the website.
I forgot to say the way to check for a diastasis is to lay down on the floor on your back, knees bent, place your hands over the center of your abdomen – one above your navel and one below, then lift your head and shoulders up off the floor just a bit, and youcan feel a gap in between the muscles if you have a diastasis.
Aww! Yeay Henry! He looks so presh in his little bouncy seat!*
That is so exciting! I almost cried the other day after I handed Maddux a rattle and looked over and saw he had switched hands. You don’t think about it, but that has to take so much effort for a baby.
Coffee oats sound incredible! And go Henry!!!
Yay Henry!!
He’s the cutest and that is just so incredibly exciting!
My son, Emmett is about a month behind Henry and just starting to smile, each and everyday brings something new and it all just warms my heart. I love your posts, it makes me excited for what is to come!
awwww he’s growing up! And I keep meaning to make coffee oats, but I never have instant coffee!
that bowl of oatmeal looks SO GOOD! and i’m basically obsessed with coffee so… twice the coffee = twice the happiness
We have the same bouncer and my son (almost one… squeee!) still loves it. He’s technically over the weight limit (huge kid) but I can’t deny him. Hands down the best investment (he too started using it early because he was so strong in the neck– doctor ok’d it before any lectures arise)
It isn’t until you become a parent that you realize the enormity of all these tiny little milestones! It just keeps getting better and better (not that I don’t miss the days of putting my kid in one spot, being able to run to the bathroom and he was still in the same spot!)
Yay Henry! My daughter is 7 weeks, she’s still not convinced that her hands are part of her body, but she has started holding on (sort of) to my breast or her pacifier. We have a play mat with all sorts of dangling things, I’m waiting for her to start batting at her toys! These developmental milestones are so much fun
Now, I need me some coffee oats…
Now that is clever!! I have to try that! Works in my world.
Henry you are getting even cuter!
Go Henry Go!!! YAY!
I love putting granola on coffee fro-yo! Oats and coffee are as delicious as peanut butter and chocolate to me. I have been planning to add coffee powder to oatmeal cookies!
He looks so cute and focused! Aww. And my goodness, I’ve seriously been considering quitting coffee cold turkey (not because I think it’s “bad” but because I drink it for emotional/habitual reasons, not ’cause I really want/need it), but this post made me feel like that just ain’t happenin’ any time soon! Coffee oats=genius.
I can’t believe how big the little guy is getting! So cute!
Awhhh.. Hooray for milestones. I clearly remember the first time my wee fella reached out for a toy. You’d think he’d won an Olympic medal
enjoy.
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