Ison's Birthday

 Today is Ison's birthday! He actually took the day off from work so he could relax a little on this special day. Actually, he originally planned to clean out the garage from his most recent project and organize our storage closet, but the weather is freezing! In the past 4 days we have had 3 winter storms bringing snow, cold, and wind. Today has been the coldest so far and we have even had a phone call asking us to drip our faucets so they do not freeze. One bit of good news with this wintry weather is that Ison's class has been canceled tonight! What a great birthday present.

This morning, unfortunately, Ison had to take our TV into Best Buy to hand over to the Geek Squad...the screen keeps turning off when we are watching something, although the sound remains. We are TV-less for about 5 weeks now! Whatever shall we do!?!? Well, we can hang out in the office and watch movies and Netflix on the computer...we do have a couch in there.

When Ison got home, he was able to spend some nice time with Ike. They watched American Chopper together on the computer while I made a tasty birthday treat: home-made oreos! They were so good. I am so happy that they turned out good and Ison said they taste better than store-bought oreos. I am quite glad they did.

 

Our little guy is now 6 1/2 months now. Where has the time gone? Two days ago I noticed a little blood on Ike's sheet and when I felt in his mouth, there was a tooth! His very first tooth! I am so excited. He has become so fun and interactive. He also now eats solids at least a couple of times a day and, as of yet, has not rejected anything I introduce him to. I really hope this means he will not be a picky eater.

  

I normally am the one who puts Ike down for a nap, but Ison did it this afternoon. Ike likes story time and tries very hard to grab whatever book we are holding and shove it into his mouth. We are very careful when the pages are paper, but he can grab the board books as much as he wants to. The more he likes books the better!

 

These oreos were so delicious! Very rich, though. The recipe made about 25 cookies and Ison and I only had 4 each, but we are sure to have more later. I found the recipe on Pintrest from this blog: http://www.sweetpotatochronicles.com/wordpress/

Here is the recipe:

Homemade Oreos 
Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies
For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa (Fry’s Cocoa Powder will work in Canada)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg
For the filling:
1/4 cup room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.
2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. (I started off with loonie sized chunks of dough which was too big. It’s more like the size of a quarter. Remember, you’re aiming for 50 to 60 of these individual wafers!) With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
4. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. (I don’t think it’s entirely necessary to use a pastry bag. You could just spoon some icing on and squeeze between two wafers.) Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.

We Have a Roller!

Ike now can roll back to belly and belly to back! He somehow has snuck in the belly to back...I have missed it when he has done it every time, which is not very many times yet. It might be because I have been furiously working on getting my CEUs done for my sign language interpreting license. I kept putting off getting them done, but now I REALLY need to get them done. Luckily there are on-line workshops that I can stream onto my computer, so I don't need to go to an actual workshop! Fantastic! And this is definitely helping me out with a lot of review for ASL structure and being able to understand various people's signing.

Back to my roller...I love it! And Ike loves it, too! He really enjoys his new-found strength. He is also becoming a pro at pushing up onto his forearms and...his hands! It truly is amazing how fast he has been growing and how quickly his muscles are developing. He also enjoys to sit up and stand. Even though he falls over most of the time when I prep him in a sitting position, he loves to try to do it on his own. Before I know it, he is going to be sitting staring and laughing at me instead of doing it from his back or belly! And I know crawling isn't that far behind, either.

He has been playing with his voice recently. He will lay there and make the same sound over and over again, and then make it go up, down, stop, and then make bubbles while he does all the above. What a fun, playful little man I have!

Ike really loves to play with me. I sing him songs and make him move along with the songs. One fun song that he responds to well is The Wheels on the Bus, especially when the people on the bus go up and down. I'm not sure if it is because I am making is body and arms go up and down or that my voice goes high for up and low for down, but he gets a huge grin on his face and giggles every time. I just love trying different things to make him laugh.

His vision sure is improved recently. He watches me from a distance, watches the dog play fetch, the cat roam around meowing, the fish in the aquarium swim around, the TV...I'll have to keep an eye on that last one...he already likes the TV too much...

I have been taking pictures and videos, but have not uploaded them to the computer yet...hopefully once I get my CEUs completed and faxed in to get credit for them I can feel I have time to do that.

Enjoy conference this weekend!

First 3 Months in Pictures

Being a Mother

This is the most amazing thing I have ever done. I have a child. A beautiful little boy. He was born May 21, 2011 at 3:06am, a wonderful 6 pounds 3 ounces and 19 inches. I am in awe of what a wonderful blessing he is to me, that Heavenly Father made this how it is supposed to be. To be married to my wonderful Ison and for us to have a son. A family of 3 now.

Ison Clarence Tenney - Ike

 I quit my job at the high school in March to be home for the last part of my pregnancy and am now full-time and overtime Stay At Home Mom. I couldn't have asked for anything better. I have always wanted to stay home to raise my children and we are in a position where that is possible. What a wonderful blessing to have the means of raising my own children for work!

 Lots of learning has been happening here in the Tenney home. Ison has had lots of experience with babies, having 8 younger siblings, but I have had very limited experience with it all. I have had to learn to dress Ike, change diapers, burp him, bathe, soothe, etc. I am happy to tell you that I feel like, not necessarily an expert, but an experienced mother now. I know that there will be much more to learn with Ike and with each child we have, but it is comforting to know that I am handling it quite well.

 With being a mom for 3 months, I have been peed on, pooped on and spit-up on, I have had to deal with inconsolable screaming, multiple late night feedings, early morning wakings, and much more. With all these things, I have also experienced singing him to sleep, morning smiles, moments when only mommy can calm him (much to daddy's dismay), excitement when he sees me come into view, knowing he is growing well with my milk, and letting him fall asleep in my arms. I love watching him grow and develop. He is observing his world and can't get enough of it! Words cannot express the joy I feel and the love I have for my little Ike, and I cannot wait to see him grow up.