New York Style Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

There is nothing better than a nice, creamy, smooth bite of decadent New York style cheesecake dripping in a tart raspberry sauce. Okay, there might be a few things that are better, or at least equal. But boy oh boy, do I love me some cheesecake.

Like seriously. I could probably eat an entire piece of cheesecake myself. Maybe I shouldn't admit that.

LINK: New York Style Cheesecake

LINK: Raspberry Sauce

Delicious Cafe Rio

I absolutely LOVE Cafe Rio. Unfortunately, it is only an occasional treat for me because the nearest location is in Great Falls, Montana.

Don't panic. This is where Pinterest comes in handy. You can find a link for pretty much anything on Pinterest. Well, I was able to do just that. I found a link to a blog featuring recipes for every component of Cafe Rio's Sweet Pork Salad (which is my favorite, and in all honesty, the only thing I have even tried). Trust me, it's delicious!

Although it is not a quick meal to put together as there is a bit of prep time required to make each of the parts, if you do what I do, which is make it in advance, then putting everything together right before you want to eat is actually quite fast.

LINK: Erica’s Complete Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salad (Copycat Recipe)

Rhett's Nautical Nursery {Reveal}

Considering Rhett is already six months old, I figure there is no time like the present to show off his adorable nautical nursery!

Hanging on the back of the crib is the quilt that my mom made for Rhett. This was were my inspiration for a nautical themed room came from. As soon as I saw the fabric in the store, I fell in love with the idea of a nautical nursery for a little boy (at the time of finding the fabric, we still didn't know what we were having. My mom was just preparing for either). I also made the bed skirt using leftover fabric from the quilt. I just sewed three sections of fabric together and then using velcro, attached it to the crib under the mattress.

 Here are some close up pictures of the quilt.

I made the wreath using a circle foam form from Michaels, then just wrapped red and white yarn around it and finally added some jute along the outside edge. I also made the bunting using  some jute along with some leftover scraps from my moms quilt. The cute anchor pillow was a random find from Jysk.

Bought these display boxes from Jysk then spray painted them blue. Filled them with some sand dollars, star fish and sea shells that my mom had from a trip we took to Oregon when I was younger.  The red nautical vase was a sweet find from Ross that I found on one of our trips to Great Falls.

The adorable quilt on the back of the chair was made by my best friend Mandy.

The window valence was made using a piece of wood, covered in quilt batting and then finally with some of the left over fabric from the quilt (that also matches the crib skirt). And just to the right of the window you can see a really neat canvas with string art on it of a  boat in the sea. It was something out family friend Torrie had made a few years ago, and when she found out that I was doing a nautical nursery, she offered it to me.  I think it looks great with everything else in the room.

I bought four matching picture frames from the Salvation Army and had Bryan spray paint them blue. Then I filled them with some nautical images that my mom had bought the clip art for from an Etsy shop.

Six Months - Happy Half Birthday!!!

I am a few days behind, but happy half birthday Rhett! Six months old! I can't even believe it! I feel like I say this too often, but time is going by way too fast! That being said, I am thoroughly enjoying the moments now, where Bryan and I can actually play with Rhett and he can respond to us and our actions.

6 months - 15 pounds, 13 ounces

As always, this was a busy month with a lot of milestones. I'm thinking that every month for the first year will be fairly similar. Before we dive into Rhett's six month though, I am going to quickly share some photo evidence of those two little chompers that made their appearance last month. Luckily I have escaped being bitten by those suckers so far. And let me just say, I absolutely love the toothless grin that babies have. But I almost love Rhett's little 2-tooth grin even more. It is just sOoOoOo adorable!!! (I think I am probably a little biased as well).

We also spent a lot of time with family and friends this month, visiting, playing games, doing fun activities and just enjoying each others company. We went swimming at the beginning of February with my mom and my sister and her kids. Mandi sat on the side with little Maea but the rest of us got in and had a blast! Rhett continues to enjoy the pool and Alyssa, Abbott and Aedan had a blast with Grandma Marie and Uncle Bryan. We had so much fun swimming that 2 weeks later, we all went to the skating rink for another fun family activity. Rhett slept in his car seat for most of it but we brought him out and pulled him around with Aedan on the sled for a few minutes at the end. We were also lucky enough to be able to coordinate two games nights with our really close friends. They live out of town so we don't see them as often as we like. We took turns driving to each others house and had supper and games and got to play with the babes before they went to sleep for the night (they have a little girl, Brooklyn, who is just 4 months older than Rhett).

The Dreaded 'C' Word...

Croup.

This past weekend marks the very first time that Rhett has been sick. Unfortunately, rather than starting off with a mild cold, the poor little guy got croup.

It started sometime last week, just a mild, occasional cough. No big deal.

Boy, was I ever wrong!

On Saturday night, he had woken up and as I was walking into his room to nurse him, he started coughing. But this cough was different. It was more like a bark. I picked him up out of his crib, nursed him and put him back to sleep.

On Sunday afternoon, I put him down for a nap and decided to take a nap myself as I was quite tired. Next thing I know, it is almost two hours later and I wake up to Bryan yelling my name from the living room. I get up and go out to see what he wants. He is sitting on the couch holding Rhett who had just thrown up all over himself and Bryan. We get Rhett out of his clothes and gave him a bath. Once he was dressed again, I nursed him and as soon as he was done eating, I sat him up and he threw up again all of himself, me and the couch. Got him changed again, only to have him throw up all over himself and me AGAIN!!! Honestly, I am not even sure what connection the vomiting has with croup, but it is just part of the timeline of events.