Two Months!

On July 15th, Dylan turned 2 months old!

Even though I don't want to turn this into a baby blog, I thought it might be fun to write little recaps on Dylan's milestones each month.  Plus I thought it might be helpful to tell you guys my favorite baby gear each month like I did here : )

Since I didn't do this last month, let me recap- 

In Month One:

Dylan basically ate every 2-4 hours

He went from 8 pounds 7 ounces at birth to 10 pounds 15 ounces 

He went from 20.5 inches long to 23 inches long

He absolutely loved taking his naps in the Fisher Price Rock N Play Sleeper

He had a love/hate relationship with being swaddled and his swing

His witching hour(s) was between 6-9pm

He started to really love bath time

He gets the hiccups all the time

I could only nurse using My Brest Friend

Month 2:

He went from 10 pounds 15 ounces to 12 pounds 8 ounces

He went from 23 inches to 24 inches

He started blowing bubbles and drooling

He started smiling!

(Is there anything better than a big gummy smile??)

He took a bottle for the first time! 

He sleeps in his crib at night in his room

He goes 6-7 hours between feedings at night (between 8pm and 3am)

He eats his hands...

He still has a love hate relationship with his swing

But he loves the Rock N Play Sleeper

He still gets the hiccups all the time

Top 5 Baby Gear of Month 2:

1. He LOVEs being swaddled in the HALO Sleepsacks (necessity for new moms)

He can't kick his way out because he is zippered in.  When we put him in this swaddle, he automatically knows it's bedtime

2. He LOVES watching his "TV"

We attached this soother to his crib and turn it on when he is overtired and cranky.  He is so mesmerized by his "tv" that his eyes shut and he falls asleep!

3. I love the Portable Boppy

It looks like a purse and turns into a portable boppy that you can use to feed wherever you are! Such a lifesaver for me.  Now I feel pretty comfortable nursing anywhere... especially with...

4. Nursing Cover

This has made me comfortable nursing in uncomfortable places.  In month 1, I barely fed Dylan out of the house unless I was at someone else's house.  Now I can nurse pretty much anywhere if needed!

5. Dr. Brown Bottles

We started bottle feeding this month and it was taking close to an hour using the Medela bottles.  When we switched to Dr. Browns, Dylan gobbled it down.  

 So there you have it.  My little guy is Two Months Old!

 Moms- What were your favorite items in the first two months?

Quick Fix Meals (QFM): Mediterranean Chicken Salad Sandwich

Ever since I started this blog, my close friends have asked me to write posts about healthy, quick-fix dinners with a short ingredient list.  I've wanted to create a series like this for a long time but never got around to it.  Mainly because before I had a baby, I didn't care about how long it took to get dinner on the table or how many ingredients I used.  Oh did I mention a baby? Does that mean I can post a baby photo or two? Okay - here is my gorgeous little man!

 Oops, where was I?  Right, Now I do care because I have a very limited time to get dinner together and I know a series about Quick Fix Meals will come in handy for me, and hopefully you too.

I've made no secret about my distaste for mayonnaise and most white creamy condiments.  So chicken salad is almost always out of the question for me.  But this week I decided to be creative with leftovers and the result tasted so good, I decided I had to blog about it.  You know it's good when your husband turns to you after bite one and says "This is a keeper."  I can see this being a regular part of our lunch time rotation.

One of my favorite things in the world is turning leftovers into something unexpected and delicious. On July 4th we had a barbecue party and I made kabobs.  We had some grilled chicken and grilled red onion leftover from the kabobs so I chopped both of those up and put in a bowl. Then I mixed it with two of the best ingredients in the world...

Both of these were impulse buys when I was at the grocery store.  But for 2 for $5 how can you go wrong?  I served about half of this for appetizers at the party so I had a ton leftover.  I added 2 big tablespoons of hummus and about a cup of the taboule to the chicken mixture, microwaved it for about thirty seconds, mixed it together and served it on whole wheat bulky rolls.  In under 5 minutes dinner was served. Microwaving the mixture made the hummus creamier and kept the whole thing together.

Served with some Pretzel Crisps, this was a simple meal to put together.  A healthier, tastier chicken salad done in 5 minutes flat.  Can't beat that.

Mediterranean Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Ingredients:
1 large chicken breast grilled and cut into small chunks (leftover from kabobs)
1/2 red onion, grilled and diced ((leftover from kabobs)
2 large tablespoons of hummus
1 cup of already prepared taboule
Bulky Rolls
Provolone Cheese (if desired)
Instructions:
Mix chicken, onion, hummus and taboule together and microwave for 30 seconds or so.  Mix everything together so the hummus acts as the glue that holds everything together.  Toast bulky rolls, add cheese and then a big scoop of the chicken mixture.  Close sandwich and enjoy!

What's your favorite Quick Fix Meal (QFM)?