Dear People Who Make Baby Clothes…..

Dear People Who Make Baby Clothes,

  I just wanted to write and tell you that I ADORE the darling Mock Turtleneck Sweater you came out with this winter, I really do!  Also, love your Zip-neck Fleece Sweatshirts!  But, can you please take into consideration, that some babies have NO NECK?  This makes things particularly difficult when trying to dress my child in items that were terribly cute on the hanger, but once on? Well, it just looks a bit funny. 

Also, while I have your attention, could you make cuter boy clothes?

I am weary of seeing monkey’s and dinosaurs all over my sons clothing.  That being said, I LOVE the Argyle Sweater Vest & Blazer thing you have going on this season, nice touch! 

Well, thanks for your time and your thoughtful consideration of this very important manner. 

Sincerely, A Mom of a Baby With No Neck

Dear People Who Make Cute Hats,

Thank you!

Sincerely, This Hat Makes Me Giggle EVERY Time My Baby Wears It

Creamy Chicken Enchilada Casserole

I know you thought you were getting on here to read a recipe, and you will, but first things first…….

Guess who is CRAWLING?!

Yuppers, my lil’ Paxton!!!!

I thought I’d have to cry that my last baby was mobile, but I totally didn’t, just clapped and enjoyed the moment.

He was pretty dumbfounded that he was moving FORWARDS after weeks of backwards crawling/scooching, and was so proud of himself!  Of course, by the time I got the camcorder out he was done with the show and crying, super offended I left him in his moment of glory.

The best part is, he does this funny little crawling method, unlike any of the other kiddos:

He moves arm, arm and then moves both his knees simultaneously and hops. This makes his little boofus bump up in the air and is the CUTEST inchworm impersonation you ever did see! We were cracking up!

This is the part where he got distracted by the string of drool coming from his mouth…..

Then he lay down and decided that was enough crawling for the morning.

Awwww, sweet baby Pax!

So on to dinner.  I grew up eating this casserole, and I love that my children ADORE it too!  It is creamy, it comes together easily and is oh-so delicious!

I apologize for this photo. I was lucky to get a shot before dinner was devoured by my family who was just “STARRRRRRVING”.  Trust me, this dish is all kinds of good. Creamy, flavorful and just YUMMY all the way around!

CREAMY CHICKEN ENCHILADA CASSEROLE

(click title to print)

½ cup onion
2 T. Butter
2 cans cream of chicken soup
16 oz. sour cream
3 cups shredded cheese, divided
1 can green chilies
2 cans mushrooms, 1 drained
10 large tortillas (I do half wheat and half white)
3 cups cooked, diced, chicken

 Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a large family-sized skillet over medium heat, sauté onion in butter until tender. Add all of the remaining ingredients except tortillas, reserving 1 cup of the cheese for topping.

Heat on medium low until cheese is melted. While it’s heating, cut all of the tortillas into 4 pieces, this can be done quickly by cutting 5 at a time, using a pizza cutter. Remove soup mixture from heat once the cheese is melted and everything is heated through.

Spread a small layer of chicken cream mixture in the bottom of your 9×13 baking dish, followed by a layer of slightly overlapping tortilla triangles, about 10 of them. Repeat layers for a total of 4 tortilla layers, ending with the chicken cream mixture.

Add the reserved 1 cup of cheese to the top and bake at 350 F for 15–20 minutes.

Serve with chips and fresh salsa. Yum!

Happy Cooking!

~T

Big Blue Ball

  Today is a milestone in the life of The 4 Little Ferguson’s blog!  Drum roll please…….

 

  This, my friends, is my ONE HUNDREDTH post!

    Unfortunately for you, I have nothing inspiring, or over-the-top AMAZING to write about today in celebration of this being post #100.  But, this is a blog about my life, and in keeping with the 4 Little Ferguson’s theme, I have a Paxton story for you.

That’s fun, right?! 

 No?

Yes? 

Either way, it’ll have to be good enough for today, because I have a fussy baby who needs his Momma, 3 of the 4 little Fergusons have been getting up several times a night (each), I am beyond tired, and I am not feeling inspirational at the moment!!! 

Sorry. 

Grouchy moment passing….ANNNNND WE’RE BACK TO SUNSHINE! 🙂

 Just the way I like it! 

  Next we’ll throw our arms around each others shoulders, and sing an inspiring round of Kumbaya! YIPEE SKIPEE!

  Ok, not really. 

Without further ado, mood swings or campfire songs, here is my Paxton story:

My darling 4th little Ferguson has a new obsession with my big blue exercise ball. 

  It’s probably not even fair to CALL it an exercise ball, since no exercise has ever been done on it.  The kids think it’s a cool toy to play on.  Tylan in particular likes to play the “run as fast as you can and roll superman style across the top of the big ball until you crash into the chair” game.  Avery gets out her pink ball to play too.  The big one is too “Scawey” for her.  (read that “scary” in 2-year-old talk) 

  I find it quite humorous that Paxton is obsessed with this ball, since it was purchased specifically for my pregnancy with him.  I spent many, many hours on it, rocking back and forth to relieve my backaches from lying around all day.  (6 1/2 months of my pregnancy were spent lying in my recliner, having contractions & missing out on life outside these 4 walls.) 

  In fact, I’d be willing to BET my big blue ball, that the stretching and rocking I did on said ball the night before Paxton was born, was what put me into labor!  I seriously felt it happen people; I felt him move off my pelvic bone, and knew it’d only be a matter of time.  4 AM the next morning, POP POP, I heard my water break and 5 hours later I was holding my darling little (BIG) 10 pound 3 oz. baby boy. (thus the nickname: “Tank”). 

  Trust this 4th time momma, and go buy a big blue ball before your next pregnancy, you will  LOVE IT, and your aching back will thank you!  Besides that, all the labor-inducing benefits of walking are achieved while sitting and swaying on your soft smooshey comfy ball.  All this while watching a girly movie on tv in your air-conditioned house….now really, how can you go wrong?!   Plus, here’s an added bonus: you can pretend you will use it to get back into shape AFTER the baby is born.  Worked for me! (the pretending that is)

    Back to the Paxton part of all this.  I ADORE how big Paxton’s eyes get as this GI-NORMOUS ball is rolled towards him.  He gets super excited, breathes really fast, and reaches his arms as WIIIIDE as they can go, trying to get them around the ball to bring it to his mouth. (Everything goes in the mouth at this stage you know.)   So stinkin’ cute! 

I have outlined the process in a series of photos below…..

  Have I mentioned that my 6 month old little man is SO close to crawling?

  It’s an outrage I tell you, these baby’s that refuse to act their age!

Silly lil’ Tank, don’t you know your supposed to be my baby FOREVER?

Happy 100th blog post!  Thanks for stopping by to peek into my world each day, it’s an honor to welcome you to my home.

Total visitors since October 2010?? 

10, 563. 

Wow. 

You guys ROCK!

~T

 

Paxton’s 6 month old Photo Session

  Pax turned 6 months old February 17th.  The theme of the month is “SAVE SAVE SAVE”, so I decided to do his 6 month photo session myself.  I also did Tylan’s 4 year old photos, which I will share tomorrow.

  I know I say this a lot, but HOW CAN MY BABY ALREADY BE 6 MONTHS OLD?

  These are by no means professional, but they will serve their purpose in capturing this precious time in my baby’s life!

  Such a precious gift from God, this little one….

~T

Some Paxton Firsts

  Hopefully you aren’t getting tired of Paxton Posts, but come on people, he is my LAST little Ferguson, and this first year is so full of fun stages, just bear with me, ok?!

  Paxton has experienced a few firsts lately….

Like Avocados for instance. 

  Great choice for babies, easy to prepare, rich in protein, provides all of the essential amino acids, is an excellent source of vitamins and is considered a healthy fat to boot.  Sold! 

  So, will he go for it??????

  Yeah, not so much. 

  I usually do 1 food for the week to really allow baby to get used to it, but I ran out of fresh avocado after this, and we will just have to wait until the next trip to the grocery store to try again.  Lucky him!

  Another first was the beautiful weather we had last week!  We took him outside to play with us, rather than leaving him sleeping inside with the monitor on.  I plopped him in the baby swing without much to-do about it.  He was a bit shocked at first.

Then got so mellow he about fell asleep.

  Well, not being one to give in to sleep THAT easily, he quickly remedied the situation by grabbing the rope, and pulling himself to a sitting position.

   At that point, he decided the rope looked delicious and tried desperately to put it in his mouth, to no avail.

The other side didn’t reach his mouth either.

  About that time he gave up, leaned back and just grinned:

“You’re funny mommy! Why do you always have that black clicky thing in front of your face?”

  Another first we’ve recently experienced is quite sacred…..passed down from generation to genera…..

 No that’s a lie.  But we’ve done this with each child as they grow hair…….

It’s the “Unca Chad Fo-hawk” in honor of their favorite Floridian Uncle.

(Let’s just hope they don’t start LOOKING like him!)

FIRST FOHAWKS

Destiny:

Tylan:

  Ok, ok, you are right, that’s not a fohawk.  That’s Tylan after his big sister played “Barbie Beauty Salon” with him.  But for real, he wore a fohawk for quite some time until his curls came in, and it was darling.  Please don’t make me go dig out an album and scan it, just TRUST me!

Avery:

  Again, not really the official fohawk picture, but it’s good enough, RIGHT?! See how the wind is kinda blowing it into a fohawk? Squint your eyes…see, told ya!We did her fohawk picture in the tub, like big sister’s, but again, I don’t wanna go find it. (it’s LATE people, I need my beauty sleep)  {no smart comments here}

    Paxton’s first fohawk….. 6 months old. 

My little sweet cheeks!  I just wanna smooch him, MUAH!

~T

Paxton’s Latest

  Paxton is such a happy baby. He is really good at entertaining himself, which is good since sometimes I have to quickly lay him down on the floor in a totally random spot, while I go deal with his squealing siblings.  Out of boredom of being left in this manner with no toys, he has discovered that his feet are super fun.  He sticks his legs straight up in the air and grabs them and just hangs out there. 

He makes cutest little ‘U’ you ever did see….

Front View

Back View

A-stinkin-dorable! (If I do say so myself….) 

  He thinks he is big stuff now that he can sit in the tub instead of lay like a baby.  He splashes as hard as he can to try to get his bath toys to move closer to him, it’s quite effective!

  We also got out the Johnny Jump Up since Pax practically springs himself off our laps when we hold him.  He loves it!

    As of last week, he gets up on his hands & knees to rock, and as of last night, scooches across the floor backwards.  What?!

Why oh why is my last baby so determined NOT to be a baby? 

   He starts over on his blanket, playing with toys and checking out that stud muffin in his floor mirror…..

  Then, slowly but surely, he creeps backwards….

  Until he is miles away from where I left him…..

(Ok, not miles, but a LONG way in baby land!)

  Further and further from his toys…

Until he has nothing left to play with!

Scooching backwards sure is exhausting!

<SIGH>  It’s hard to believe my baby is nearly 6 months old!

And eats cereal 3 times a day.

And weighs nearly 18 pounds.

And wears the same size diapers as his 2-year-old big sis, who weighs 24 pounds.

That’s my sweet lil’ Tank for ya! 🙂

~T