Eleven Months

Micah is eleven months old today! It seems unbelievable; this past year has been the fastest of my life. He's so much fun and we enjoy having him in our family!
Micah's doing a lot of new things at eleven months! He's walking assisted, mostly behind his dinosaur. He has stood by himself and he balances quite well. He's also climbing. I'm so glad we don't have steps where we live because they don't scare him at all! He loves to jump! He'll jump on you and he jumps in his bed all the time. When he wakes up, he likes to stand up in his bed and bang on the wall. Everyone should know that he's awake! He babbles constantly. I really wish I knew what he was trying to say!
Micah doesn't eat any baby food anymore. He loves all the food we've given him, even brussel sprouts (which I thought were gross!). He eats a lot of food for his age, but maybe not so much for his size! He's taller than our kitchen table already!
He is obsessed with the steam from the food when I'm cooking. He'll sit in the floor and turn his head and watch it. He finds it quite entertaining.
I think my little boy is amazing! And pretty cute too!

Anne of Green Gables

I don't remember how old I was when my parents bought me these books but I do remember how much I loved them. And still do! These books are great! I recently started rereading them and I'm enjoying them as much now as I ever did.

She also wrote three "Emily" books that are amazing and if I ever find them, I'm buying them!

Cincinnati

Micah had a doctor's appointment in Cincinnati on Tuesday so away we went! We had to wake Micah up at 7 which is much earlier than when he normally gets up; he slept soundly with us standing beside his crib talking with the lights on! But he was his happy self after he sat up!We stopped in Richmond on the way up and got ourselves sausage biscuits and fed Micah oatmeal. Life's just not fair, is it? :) The outpatient clinic is actually in Kentucky so if you are there at a busy time you can avoid Cinci traffic completely! The doctor and nutritionist were thrilled with Micah! He's off the charts for his height and in the 90th percentile for weight. Not a small boy! They did some bloodwork and told us to bring him back after his birthday; they want to see party pictures! After that they are going to start spacing his appointments out to three or four months apart. We won't have results on the bloodwork for probably a week but assuming that all looks well they didn't make any changes to his diet. Micah does really well having his blood drawn. Those ladies up there are awesome! He doesn't even cry! Now if he'd only do that for shots....

We ate at Cracker Barrel on the way back. Micah had most of my carrots and then I took some bread and cheese for him. He really enjoys eating in restaurants, especially if there are ceiling fans! We stopped in Berea on the way back to let him out of his carseat to stretch his legs and drink his bottle. It will be nice when he can walk and we can actually get out the car with him. He was so ready to crawl around when we got home!

It's great to know that our son is getting such excellent medical care! God has blessed us with great resources to provide for him!

Happy Birthday!

And Happy Birthday to my fantastic husband! You really are the best, Darling!

Braided Pizza Loaf

We tried a variation on a recipe I found on Taste of Home last week and we loved it! Of course, chances are that if we didn't, you wouldn't be hearing about it :) We love pizza in all forms and this is very similar to a calzone, just fancier-looking!

Pizza Dough:

3 packages (3 tbsp) active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 cup warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup warm water
2 tbsp. olive oil
cooking spray

Combine first three ingredients in a 2 cup glass measuring cup; let stand five minutes. Combine yeast mixture, flour, and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl; stirring until well-blended. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead five minutes. Place in a bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place, about 30 minutes or until doubled. Punch dough down and knead lightly.

Now you can use frozen pizza dough if you want but by the time you thaw it and let it rise for an hour this is quicker. And you're going to have extra dough with this. So make two pizza loaves or throw half of it in the freezer for later!

Filling:
1 lb. ground beef
1 tsp. each salt, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, and basil
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper, optional
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 can (8 oz.)tomato sauce
any mixture of chopped pizza toppings
( I used mushrooms. olives, and pepperoni, but you could also use peppers, onions, Canadian bacon, etc.)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef with seasonings; drain well. Add tomato sauce and pizza toppings. Roll out 1/2 of your pizza dough into a 12 by 18 rectangle. Place filling down the center of dough. Top with both cheeses. On each long side cut the dough into one inch strips. "Braid" the dough across the top of the filling. Bake at 400 degrees until dough is golden, 12-18 minutes.

Enjoy!

And just as a side note, you can make great breadsticks with this dough recipe. After rising, spread dough in a cookie sheet and cover with garlic butter, mozzarella cheese, and parmesan cheese. Bake until dough is cooked and cheese is browned. Slice and serve! Amazing!!

Protein Recalculations

Today had an unexpected surprise! Micah's nutritionist emailed me and said they had attended a conference that discussed amino acid levels in different types of protein. They (I'm hoping for researchers and scientists here!) decided that there are differing amounts of leucine in different types of protein. In other words, the amount of leucine in a gram of protein from fruit is not the same as the amount of leucine in a gram of protein from meat. We had been calculating his leucine levels like this. 1 gram of protein= 90 mg. of leucine. Now based on his weight, this meant he got 800mg. of leucine or 9 grams of protein. But now it looks like this
Fruit = 40 mg. of leucine per gram of protein
Veggies = 50 mg. of leucine ...
Bread, Starches = 70 mg. of leucine ...
Meat = 80 mg. of leucine ...
Dairy = 100 mg. of leucine...
With this method, he can eat a lot more food. Just to see the numbers I added up his food from today plus what I planned on feeding him at dinner
Oatmeal (w/ fruit) 2.5 g. protein and 175 mg. leucine
Carrots minimal
Cheese 1 g. protein and 100 mg. leucine
Peas (1/2 jar) 2 g. protein and 100 mg. leucine
Bread (1 slice) 3 g. protein and 210 mg. leucine
Total: 8.5 g. protein and 585 mg. leucine
Now that's 8.5 out of 9 grams of protein, but only 585 mg. out of 800 mg. leucine! See what a difference that makes? So he ate a bigger lunch :)

And who would have ever thought I would be able to (or need to) calculate leucine levels? I feel pretty smart!

Trip to Kingsport

We traveled to Kingsport on Saturday to see our families. We left early in the morning and came back late that night and never stopped in between! It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed seeing our families. We spent the morning at Justin's parent's house. Here's a great picture of Micah with Justin's dad.

After that, we went down to my grandparent's house. They really enjoyed seeing Micah. Justin took some pictures but they are on his iPhone so I'll have to get them later. Then we went to my parent's house. Here's a picture of my mom with Micah. Notice Micah is looking up. There was a ceiling fan on and he has an obsession!

We did eventually get back on the road; Micah wanted to sleep but the potholes kept waking him up. TDOT had better get busy this summer! We stopped in Powell to get gas and feed Micah. He enjoyed this playtime in the front seat. He also kept honking the horn!

He was really excited to be so sleepy. The whole time he was in his car seat he said "da da, ma ma!" Maybe he was afraid that we had left? So I held my hand back there where he could play with it.

I do think he's a little young to drive but he seemed to like the idea!

We got home and got our stuff done and went to bed! Then church the next morning! We had a great day of services!

Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken last Friday and we got them back today! Valerie Tipton did a fantastic job! You can see our pictures by clicking HERE.