Vegetarian Lasagna

This is a delicious and EASY dinner that Kyler and I love! It originally came about from my mother’s Cavatini recipe, but I altered it a little bit based on the ingredients I had at home, and it has quickly become a favorite. The prep time is quick and it only takes 15 minutes to bake. It’s awesome!

1 box Large shell or bowtie noodles

1-2 T. butter

1 Green pepper, sliced or diced

1 Onion, chopped

Mushrooms – Pieces and stems (canned-the smallest size)

About 36 oz  Spaghetti Sauce

½ cup Parmesan Cheese

2 cups Mozzarella cheese

Cook the noodles like you would spaghetti.  Drain. 

Add the butter and let it melt, stirring occassionally.  Mix the sauce and parmesan cheese together. Add the rest of the ingredients in with the sauce, and then add the noodles and mix together. Pour into a 9x13 baking dish.  

Bake @ 450 for 15 minutes.  Add the mozzarella cheese & bake for another 2-3 minutes until it is melted. Bon appetite! 

Henry's Six Month Update

6 months. I can’t believe my Henry Joseph is 6 months! Time really flies by.

Well, this baby boy is so big these days. He's just under 18 lbs, and he can roll over like a professional from his back to tummy and tummy to back. He can almost sit up by himself as well, which is really exciting! He just seems so grown up to me now.

 We started him on solids at 5 ½ months. Our doctor told us we could start that soon if needed. I was pretty sure I’d just wait until he was 6 months, but then he started waking up a bit at night and it seemed like he was really hungry. I don’t think milk was enough for him anymore. We started feeding him rice cereal and that helped with his sleep for a little while. Then after a few days he continued waking up around 4 or 5am, so we tried feeding him rice cereal twice in the day, and he has gone back to sleeping 12 hours. I think our little chubbs was still just so hungry!

He is a regular ol’ screamer. Lately his patience is wearing quite thin, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s just the teething stage. Normally he is an incredibly happy, easy going little guy. Every time he’s super fussy, Kyler or I will rub his gums or give him a teething toy and that seems to help him calm down. I think he is in a lot of discomfort in his mouth. Growing teeth for the first time is probably pretty painful! My doctor said he could be this fussy for month before a tooth actually pops. Oof.

He loves these toy rings he got from Grandma and Grandpa McCarty.

We could bounce all day long! He doesn’t like it if I take him out before he’s ready.

Lately he is at the stage where he wants me to stare at him all day long. Even if he is happily playing with some toy, he needs me to be RIGHT THERE beside him, or else he loses it. It makes bathroom breaks or getting food a little tricky.

He has started getting nervous of strangers. Sometimes when other people hold him he will pull out his bottom lip pucker face and he’ll get really sad, especially if people are very close to his face. I think he is just like a regular human and wants his space at times. :)

He dropped his last nap. This was a complete surprise and out of nowhere! He just wanted to play and jibber jabber. :)

His decision to stop his third nap was kind of tricky because until recently he couldn’t really stay awake for more than an hour and a half. It made visits and outings really difficult because after feeding him, we would have one hour to go out and come back before nap time. However, now he can stay awake and happy for around 2 hours. I am just trying to follow his cues. If he has been awake for 3 hours and is as happy as can be, then I don’t feel the need to put him down for a nap yet. But if he’s fussing and acting tired, then I don’t take much prodding to put him down so he can get the sleep he is telling me he needs. I am trying to figure out a good way to spread out his two naps out without him feeling too tired in-between. Luckily his first nap is around 2 hours, and the second nap is 2-3 hours. His bedtime is around 7:30/8pm.

He nurses SO QUICKLY!!!! Hallelujah people! Ten minutes. It only takes him 10 minutes to eat now. I do nurse him for maybe 5 minutes before nap times (oops, bad habit. Have to squeeze in that extra meal time somewhere though eh? If he’s hungry, he won’t sleep longer than 45 minutes.) But really, that is such an improvement from the sometimes over an hour feedings we were doing months ago. I am really enjoying nursing and am grateful it is still working out at this point. Because Henry had been waking up more at night, he ate through my freezer milk stash pretty quickly so we have needed to use formula again for any extra feedings. I am so grateful to be able to nurse, but I am so grateful that formula exists so that I can still feed my son!

It’s crazy to look back 6 months ago and think of my tiny little Henry. He was so small and squishy and sleepy. Now he is a wiggly, expressive, happy little baby. Kyler and I love him so very much. 

 And then Henry decided we were done taking pictures. :)