Connor at Ten Months

It seems like I was just writing out Connor's nine-month post, but here I am doing the ten-month one already! Time flies when you're having fun. :) Here's our giggly, curious, sweet little boy at ten months!

Connor's Stats:

Birth Weight: 6 pounds, 6.5 ounces. Current Weight: 22 pounds, 6 ounces.

Birth Length: 19.5 inches. Current Length: 29 inches

Clothing: Wearing 12 and 18 month clothes and size 4 diapers! 

Likes:

Playing peekaboo.

Dancing.
Clapping.

Shadows and light reflections.

Being upside down.

The subway in New York.

Dislikes:

The NoseFrida.

Sitting still for long enough to drink a bottle.

When Mommy plays with other babies at playgroup.

New Tricks:

Walking around holding onto furniture or just one of our hands.

Climbing up a step or two on the stairs.

Lots of new words: duck, light, downstairs, all done, up, this, that, and yeah (still no sign of "mama" though!).

Following basic commands/questions like "Can you drink some water?" or "Can you turn off the light?"

Sleeping a full 12 hours at night!

Oh, and y'all... he's finally getting some hair, and it looks like it's dark dark dark, just like his mama's!

So now we're less than two months away from the big first birthday! It's hard to believe. It feels like Connor was JUST born, but it's also hard to remember what it was like when we didn't have him in our lives. We say all the time that he was just the most perfect little addition to our family. His little personality just fits with us so well, and Jeff and I are having a blast being his parents.

Happy ten months, little one. As always, we are so, so proud of you, and we love being your mommy and daddy!

Pumpkin Thyme Mac & Cheese

I love baking with pumpkin in the fall. I've posted recipes in the past for some of my favorite pumpkin baked goods: pumpkin pie, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, pumpkin spice bread, pumpkin chocolate chip scones, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin cream cheese bars (and more!). I decided the time had come to branch out and use pumpkin for something other than baking, and this recipe ended up being delicious! It sounds a little weird to use pumpkin in a pasta, but trust me - you should try it!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground nutmeg
pinch ground cloves
1 lb rotini pasta
2 1/2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 1/2 tbsp thyme
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 oz smoked gouda cheese, grated
2 oz white extra sharp cheddar, grated
salt and pepper to taste
Panko bread crumbs, to garnish

Directions:
1. Stir together milk, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a medium saucepan. Simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Sprinkle flour over melted butter and whisk together. Cook flour mixture for 2-3 minutes, then stir in thyme.
4. Whisk pumpkin-milk mixture into flour mixture until fully incorporated. Simmer over low heat until thickened, about four minutes.
5. In a separate bowl, mix grated cheeses and lemon juice. Stir the cheese mixture into the pumpkin sauce just until cheese melts. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Stir pasta into the sauce little by little and serve!

Pumpkin mixture simmering!

Butter + Flour

Adding thyme to the thickened butter/flour mixture...

Pumpkin mixture combined with flour mixture...

Adding the cheeses and lemon juice...

Ta-da!

Enjoy!