7 Month Must Haves

So this is obviously late but I just can't seem to get my butt in gear! Things have been moving fast here. My office is moving across town so I was working from home this whole week. While Jack still went to daycare, because how else would I get anything done, working from a teeny tiny laptop at the kitchen table instead of my great office setup has been hard. But picking Jack up a tad early and enjoying some extra time home instead of driving in traffic has been the best!

Onto the MUST HAVES! This list might be a little thin but with Christmas coming we have been saving and waiting to buy things so we're making do with what we have until that special morning! :)

7 months was a lot of fun. Jack started "crawling" more, even though it's still army crawling and he started standing when we hold onto his hands. One day after changing his diaper I grabbed his hands to sit up on the changing table and he skipped that and went straight to standing and started walking towards me! I was so excited I screamed for Max. A gigantic proud mama moment :)

#1 Sippy Cup - These sippy cups are amazing. First we tried this one and he loved it but it got to be too small, it's only 4 oz. I wanted to try a small one first to make sure he could hold it but making two bottles because he drinks 6+ oz was getting old fast. So then we switched to these ones and they are great. We are a little biased because we use the same bottle brand so all the parts are interchangeable which is amazing. But truthfully they are great. They have the same "no gas" plasticy piece in them that the bottles have and the spout is in between a hard and soft spout. It also has a nice large opening for the liquid to come out which is great for Jack because he likes to do as little work as possible when he's eatting :). They are not spill proof but more "spill resistant". They don't gush liquid when turned upside down but they do drip some.


 #2 Hooded Towel - We have been using hooded towels ever since Jack was born but now that he's wiggly they are even better. I put the hood over his head and wrap the rest around him and I know it's going to stay in place while he moves and kicks and won't get his whole room and me wet. Seriously how does a tiny baby seem to get stuff everywhere?! I recently tried using a non-hooded towel and I'm sure I looked like an idiot trying to wrestle a tiny slippery baby into dry submission.


#3 Mirror - Again we have had this set up since he was born but only recently has he deemed it the greatest thing since birth ;). We've had the mirror since our first apartment but our closet doors are mirrored now so this one has been recycled in Jack's room. We laid it on it's side on the ground so he could get the full effect of his adorableness. He crawls over to it and slaps his reflection in the face; it's hysterical!


#4 Night Diapers - Jack is a tiny baby we all know this but his pee's are not so. He's just starting to outgrow size 2 diapers. But every night for the last week he has woken up covered in pee. Those little size two diapers were not made for 8-10hrs of 7 month old pee. Enter his night time diapers. These so far have worked wonders. Not a single drop of pee has escaped their soft swaddled grasp!

*UPDATE*

#5 Puffs - I totally forgot about these and if Jack found out he would kill me :). One day I was feeding Jack his purees when he started to get fussy and frustrated. When I looked down he was desperately trying to grab a glob of puree that had fallen off the spoon. It was too slippery and his pincer grasp just wasn't cutting so he got mad and started smashing it. All I could think of in that moment, when his face was beat red, was "HULK SMASH!" So we decided it was time to try some finger foods. But what to try for a baby with no teeth. Enter Puffs. They dissolve easily and he can grasp them no problem. He has never looked back. If I would let him eat the whole container he would, I now simply sneak pureed food into his mouth between puff bites.

Jack's 8 Month Update

 

Weight: ~17 lbs

Length: ~27"

Loves: He LOVES to be on his tummy, ever since he was born. If I sit him up on the floor and give him a toy, as soon as I turn around he's on his belly army crawling all over. He loves bath time just as much as before and probably more now that I took the butt stop out. He wanted it gone a few months ago but I wasn't ready yet :)

Hates: He is starting to be afraid of strangers. When someone he doesn't know comes around he pinches my arm and squeezes his legs around me and whines really low under his breath. He is also a little timid and shy so when he thinks I'm going to put him in a situation he doesn't like; for instance put him down or in his car seat, he'll do the same arm pinching and leg squeezes as with strangers.

Milestones: He's just starting, and I use that loosely, to figure out how to get into the sitting position from his tummy. Because he's an army crawler and not a "regular" crawler it take a little more creative thinking on how to get your butt up and and under you :). But he's getting there.

He can roll, sit, and stand all with ease. It's transitioning between them on his own that he is just now picking up on, sorta :). He can walk while holding onto our hands but DOES NOT like it when we let go to put his hands on the sofa or coffee table, it's us or nothing.

He's doing really well at picking up speech, while he obviously can't say any words on his own, outside of throwing dada and mama around like used rags, he intently watches us talk. He stares at our mouths, even grabs them and traces our lips as we talk. He also whips his head back and forth between Max and I during a conversation. If you say anything to him or ask a question he'll respond with a quick "Da?" or "dododo". He can also pick up tone. So disciplining has become a thing now. We can tell him "no" or "stop" and he'll understand, granted probably only for a few seconds before he does it again but he tries :)

We are now trying to teach him to kiss and wave. We aren't big wavers so it's as much training us as him :). Kisses I think he'll pick up pretty quick ;)

Sleep: He is a great sleeper! I usually put him down around 8:30 and I force him to get up around 6! On the weekends when he doesn't have daycare (or baby work as we call it) he'll sleep until 7 or 8! He's pretty amazing.

Eating: This is our constant struggle. But he's doing well. He still has 4 bottles a day 6 oz each. Then three solids, breakfast, lunch and dinner. He also graduated to a few finger foods, his favorite are the puffs. We've also tried broccoli, peas, and banana. He likes peas but he has a hard time chewing the casings with no teeth. Broccoli was so-so and banana was great except it would smoosh and squish out of his hand too easy. We're learning!

Teething: We're still on the Great Teeth Watch of 2015! At this point I have almost given up on him ever getting teeth :)

Advent Calendar How-To

Here's how I made that spectacular Advent Calendar ;)

What I bought :
1 - 3 Canvas Books
2 - Red and Green paint (I got Brick and Forest)
3 - Brushes
4 - Twine (Similar - I got mine in the $1 section at the front of Target so maybe check their first)
5 - Santa (I got mine in the $1 section at the front of Target)

This all came out to about $35. It wasn't the cheapest project because I had to buy everything and didn't have anything at home to use but I think it was worth it. And it's not that much more expensive than buying one and I get to have it exactly how I want it and that was worth it to me.

1 ) Take the rings out of the books and count out your pages. There are only 8 inner pages to each book which makes 24 so I cut the front/back cover piece in half and used it for the 24th and 25th since they are bigger. This left one inner page and 2 cover pieces.

2) Use one of the left over canvas pieces and practice your numbering.

3) I cut my foam brush to make it smaller so my numbers weren't so crowded. If you use a regular brush instead of a foam brush you may not have to do this. It's all up to you!

4) Paint a number on each canvas piece. I alternated between red and green but you can do it however you want!

5) Let all the paint dry, especially out of reach of tiny baby hands ;)

6) String your twine through each grommet on the canvas page. I did 7 numbers on each string but this can really depend on your space. Smaller spaces might have less across and more down. Large walls might need more across and less down. The great thing about this is that its changeable. Maybe you have a small apartment now and do it one way but in a few years you move into a giant house and you can do it another way!

7) Hang up each line of numbers.

8) Clip you're token on the right number and enjoy!

Christmas Decorating

On my birthday a few weekends ago now I started decorating the house. I put on Christmas movies and got all the boxes out. I got pretty much everything done and put up except for the Christmas tree ornaments because I wanted to do that with the whole family and not by myself, call me sappy.

So this weekend we all finally had enough time to decorate the tree. First we all headed over to the Hallmark store to pick out Jack's first ornament! We got one for our first married Christmas together so we had to get one for his first Christmas too. And I really wanted to pick it out together, Max indulged me and we picked out the cutest Whinne the Pooh ornament. We also needed to pick out a stocking for Jack so we walked over to Target to see what they had. Well they didn't have anything we wanted so that was a bust. But we walked around and enjoyed the time out of the house. I thought maybe we could do some stocking stuffer shopping for Jack but Max couldn't possibly do that with Jack around! I don't think he would have noticed but I guess it's the principal of the thing :). So we just a did a quick lap around the store to see if we needed anything and headed home.

Max was home for one of the first weekends in a long time and Jack was in a GREAT mood, what a Christmas Miracle. So even though football was on instead a Christmas movie we still had fun decorating. Jack "helped" me put his ornament on the tree and enjoyed looking at all the lights.

He wasn't quite sure about it encroaching on his jumparoo space though... :)

Max even helped with a few and picked out some spots for me to place things; for a guy who hates decorating more than anything this was big and it was really nice to do as a family. *Sappy mom alert*

The other thing I really wanted to start this year was an Advent Calendar tradition. My parents had this big book that folded out with doors on it. We would open one each morning to count down to Christmas. It was one of my favorite things. But over time the doors got less and less sturdy, they started to fall apart and wouldn't stay open or shut and it became more of a hassle than fun. So I wanted one that would be different and that would stand the test of time (hopefully). I searched all over the internet and couldn't find one that I liked so I made one!

Yes I'm that person :). A post on how to make this calendar to come! But I think it turned out perfect! It's simple but that makes it great for kids. In years to come they can each have their own trinket to move around the numbers, they can decorate around each number, we can hang it however we want, so many possibilities! I think it will be so much fun. Right now we are just watching Santa get closer and closer.

I hope your decorating went just as well! Feel free to post your wonderful decorations in the comments or link to your site. I would love to see them and maybe glean some inspiration ;)

Thanksgiving Weekend / My Birthday

Hi All!!

It has been a while, too long if I do say so myself.

The Thanksgiving weekend was a bit crazy so posting was down on my list of to-do's but I'm back now and all is well :).

Jack's first Thanksgiving was perfect! Max's sister Amanda was in town from Texas, and she hasn't seen Jack since August so he had a few new moves to show her :). And some of the rest of the extended family that came in for the holiday had never met Jack in person so it was really special. He got passed around and "ooed" and "awwwed" over.

I got to put him in what was quite possibly the cutest Thanksgiving outfit ever and we got to sit outside and enjoy the weather. It was a cool 50 something day here in the desert and it was amazing. We spent the holiday at Max's Aunt's house which is picture perfect. It's a gorgeous house with horse property, which means of course, horses! Jack got to meet the horses and touch them, he was so fascinated by the giant animals. Before this the biggest thing he's ever seen is Honey :). He also got to "ride" on their goat, Gracie. It was so much fun. I didn't get any pictures though because I was so busy trying not to drop him in horse poop or get him stepped on. But you'll just have to take my word for it that it was one of the most adorable things ever.

We took some great pictures and had some great food. His first real holiday was so much fun!

Saturday was my birthday celebration. My birthday was technically Sunday but who wants to celebrate on Sunday? This year I decided that all I wanted was a nice long date with Max. So we dropped Jack of with the grandparents at 3 and headed out. We were supposed to go to As You Wish which is a pottery painting place but it was all booked so we had to come up with a different plan. So we headed over to Dave & Busters. For those that know we had our wedding reception there and it was so much fun but I think that was the last time we were there (over 3 years ago now) so the games were a bit different and it was so much fun. After that we went to dinner at the Yard House and had some great food and conversation. We even split the greatest dessert, which we never do.

The last thing on my birthday to-do was a movie. Surprised right? :) We ended up seeing The Good Dinosaur which was super cute and a lot of fun.

I'm so glad Max and I got the chance to have a little alone time and I'm sure the Grandparents enjoyed every second of private Jack time; even if he was fussy the whole time :).


I spent my actual birthday decorating for Christmas which was perfect! I love Christmas, more than pretty much anything. And this is also Jack's first which made it that much more special. We still have to go pick out a good stocking for Jack and a "My First Christmas" ornament but it was perfect none-the-less. I can't wait!!!!

I hope you all had a great weekend too!

6 Month Must Haves

6 month's has been one of our favorites so far! He is so much fun to play and roll around with and I can't wait to see what he does next :)

#1 Rug - When we moved into our tiny rental house over a year ago I was so excited about the hard floors. With two dogs that shed like crazy and one that has made it his personal mission to dig up carpet, hard wood floors through out was a God send. But now with a sitting baby on the verge of crawling; I have come to despise them. They are constantly covered in fur, dust, dirt, plant bits, thorns, etc. from the dogs and thus Jack is covered in it all. Sure enough he slobbers all over his hands and then sticks them all over the floor and back into his mouth. Enter his rug. We bought a large area rug for his room so he can roll, sit, learn to crawl, etc without getting too grungy. It has been the best thing ever! If he tumbles over from sitting he's fine. He can roll around and play with toys without me hovering over him and constantly taking fur and other unknown outside bits out of his mouth. BEST.THING.EVER.


 #2 Abacus - This was a splurge buy. I can't resist baby things. I got this just after he turned 6 months and he started to sit better. I wanted something that was upright and would keep him from reaching down to his feet. Sure enough he would reach down to grab a toy and fall over. Even now that he's a great sitter and hardly ever falls he still loves it. I also love that it's a simple wooden toy with no fancy bells and whistles. It's quite which is great and he loves it which is even better.


#3 Alphabet Ball - This was a hammy down but they still have it in stores so it must be good. Jack loves to slap this and spin it over and over again. I also love it because it has multiple learning settings. You can set it to animals, letters, or the alphabet. I usually set it to alphabet because the other two settings sing while the ball spins and then once it's done spinning it tells you what you landed on but Jack doesn't let the ball stop spinning long enough to get to that part. So when it's on the alphabet setting it sings the ABC's while it spins and then makes the noise of the animal it lands on. After it makes the animal noise I always tell Jack what letter and animal it is and now he's come to expect it. When the music stops he looks up at me and waits for me to finish speaking before spinning it again. What a smarty pants!


#4 Bathtub Chickens - Ok these are technically ducks but with their small beaks and little feet they look more like chickens. Jack doesn't want to play with his multitude of rubber duckies, but only with these and then he has a chicken bath towel. I'm sensing a theme here :). Maybe for his birthday we'll have a barn yard chicken party!

Jack's 7 Month Update

 

Weight: ~16.5 lbs

Length: ~27"

Loves: He loves to roll around on the floor going in every direction. He'll pick up his hand and watch his shadow dance around on the floor; it's super adorable. He also smacks everything! He hits the ground when he's on his tummy, he'll smack your face if you get too close, he'll smack his toys. It's pretty hysterical.

Hates: He still hates being ignored. He also hates having a poopy diaper, he must be changed immediately. But really who wants to sit in their poop for very long anyway?

Milestones: He's an avid sitter and he rolls around like an old pro. He's trying to figure out crawling. If we prop him up on his knees he can balance for a while and rock back and forth before his arms or knees give way. But he hasn't figured out quite how to do it on his own. He can sorta get his knees under him but then he forgets about his arms and face plants. Or he'll get his arms posted and then his legs loose all function. But he's trying and that the goal. I think he'll be full blown crawling around Christmas.

Sleep: He is a great sleeper! I usually put him down around 8:30 and he gets up around 6:30-7! He's pretty amazing. I'm so used to it now that if he goes down at 9 instead of 8:30 I start to get mad and wonder what's going on with him haha.

Eating: He has been a real trooper (besides our crazy Dr. episode you can read about here)! He didn't seem to like the sweet fruits as much as I thought he would at first but he loves them now. We have tried apples, pears, peaches, and plums. We also tried beets and that was terrible! He hated them, the second time I tried to feed them to him he projectile vomited all over the kitchen. It was like a horror movie with purple/red beet vomit everywhere. So we left that for now and will try them when he gets closer to 1. And then a few nights ago we started Avocado. Now that he's getting bigger I'm trying to make his food a little chunkier instead of soupy and it took some getting used to but he's catching on quickly! I'm so proud of him and I hope all these foods will help him learn to love food and not be so picky like me :).

Teething: Nothing yet but his gums are looking thin and you can see a little white behind them! But they haven't poked out yet and the Dr. said they might stay like that for a while so nothing really counts yet. We're still on the Great Teeth Watch of 2015!

Park Play Date

This weekend was super busy but so much fun!

One of my old co-workers has a daughter who is almost exactly 4 months younger than Jack. While she no longer works with me we have stayed pretty good friends. And are bonded in first-time-motherhood.

We decided to get our babies together for a proper play date since they are both old enough to look around and enjoy company. We headed out to the park for a walk and a picnic. The babies did great!  They slept during our walk and were bright and alert during the picnic. We obviously took several pictures and enjoyed every coo and smile. It was also a really great chance to talk to another first time mommy. Every baby is different but there are some amazing similarities in motherhood.

Her daughter Ellie is so adorable. She is so wide eyed and loves to stick her tongue out at you! She is just starting to coo and makes some pretty funny spit noises. Jack on the other hand is 4 months older so he was grabbing her and rolling around everywhere. He also loved cooing and saying "dadadada" over and over again very very loudly. Ellie is also on the verge of rolling at 3 months so we were hoping she was catching on while watching Jack do his crazy barrel rolls.

 At one point they were holding hands and we reached adorable overload!

As we were packing up to leave I noticed the baby swings. And since Jack is really good at sitting now I knew this had to happen. He enjoyed it for a few seconds and then started chewing on it which was a no go so we had to stop. But not without getting some great pictures first! :)

It was a great park date! I'm really hoping to make this a regular thing :).


The rest of the day was spent at our other friends house for a Guy Fawkes party. "Remember Remember the 5 of November". It was a lot of fun. There were kids running around every where and Jack was really good not fussing or crying as the other kids were screaming. We of course also saw "THE LIGHT" that night. Which I guess turned out to be a military missile exercise over the pacific. It was sill pretty crazy to see no matter what it was.

Sunday was pretty typical. We went to swim lessons and Jack did so good! He didn't cry once even though he went under the water several times. This was his first time not having a melt down. I was so impressed. After that was nap time and menu planning for me. Once Max got home from his field trip (remember the reason we got new tires) I headed out to the store and got a whole bunch of new foods for Jack try and I spent the rest of the night making baby food; so you better like it all Jack!

Who knew what the inside of a papaya and mango looked like?! I do now :).


I hope you had a great weekend too! Check back for Jack's 7 month update and 6 month must haves. He's getting so big!

Feeding a Baby is Stressful - Part 3

Wait what?! "But you already made the switch to formula, you have gone through it all" you say...but this is motherhood and its not over until...forever. Dun Dun Dun!

As you well know feeding Jack has always been a struggle, you can read about it here and here.

Recently he has been eating 5 bottles a day each 6 oz, and 2 oz of solids at breakfast and at dinner. For some reason or another a few weeks ago he decided eating was over rated. He wouldn't take a bottle or solids. He decreased his eating down to two bottles a day and no solids. Every terrible memory of his first few days of life came rushing back. I wondered if he was losing weight, if he was getting dehydrated, if he would have to be re-hospitalized. My mind was traveling to all the worst places.

Thinking you are starving your child is stressful.

After about a week of barely eating Max and I took him to the Dr. He had no other symptoms, no fever, no rash, no soar throat, no signs of a cold, etc. so the Dr. didn't really know what to do or what was wrong. He still gained a teeny tiny bit of weight since his last appointment so she didn't seem too worried and told us to just keep an eye out and come back for a weight check next month. So we went home. I became a hawk again; downloading a new baby tracker app, measuring bottles down to the last drop and spending hours frustrated and crying over the health of my little tiny baby.

Trying to force a bottle nipple into a child's mouth while he smiles and spits it out is stressful.

Then that glorious day came. I picked him up from daycare and the babysitter told me he ate all his bottles and every bite of his breakfast. He even fussed for more. My healthy baby was back! The clouds lifted and I was so happy I cried the whole way home. He has upped his bottles to almost 8 oz and now scarfs down his solids. He has also started crying for food which he NEVER did before, we always had to keep track of the time and offer it to him instead of him asking for it.

Having a wonderful babysitter watching him and who is as worried as I am makes this a little less stressful.

Jack has started solids, as I'm sure you have figured out from here and here. So far he has eaten every thing I have given to him except beets. He hated them, the second time I tried to feed them to him he projectile vomited all over the kitchen. It was like a horror movie with purple/red beet vomit everywhere.

And now since he's tried a variety of foods we are starting to dive into combinations. How do I do that? Do I choose like 4-5 fruits and veggies and puree them and freeze them. Then take two cubes and mix them together when it's time to eat? I think so, that way we have many options. But here's another monkey wrench he's also getting good enough to start eatting chunkier (stage 2) foods. But if I make enough purees to last another 4 months then he's past that stage and I have a whole bunch of food he's past eating now. So is small batches the answer? But in small batches there isn't a lot of variety? It all seems so over whelming.

Digging through a pile of solid food suggestions is stressful.

Through this whole feeding process I have felt stressed and judged by myself, strangers, other mothers, co-workers, family, and friends. But the truth is nobody is the same, we all do things a bit differently. So why do we judge each other so easily? Why do we make assumptions and accusations when the truth is we are all in this parenthood thing together? So to all the breastfeeders, the formula feeders, the pumpers and bottle feeders, the solid food buyers and makers, and to all those doing their absolute best to feed their babies I APPLAUD YOU! What we do is not easy it is not stress free (See above) but is the best. Whatever you are doing, however you are doing it, it is the best. You are doing your best, and nothing is better than that.

Happy Halloween!

I can't believe Jack's first Halloween is already over! This is my favorite time of year...surprised? Who doesn't love this time of year? I like my old, lived in, cozy year as apposed to the new year. Nobody likes January!

Anyway...This year was extra special because it's all Jack's first holidays.

Saturday started off a bit rocky because Max blew out a tire while searching for a great camping spot to take his class on a field trip next weekend. Well one new tire isn't a big deal. But since he has an all wheel drive car you have to get four new tires so they are all the same and your drive train doesn't explode. So that was a rough hit to our budget. But we weren't going to let it ruin our holiday.

After I picked him up from Discount Tire we headed to the grocery store to pick up a pumpkin and some candy. Late on the pumpkin train...yes, but it's Max's family tradition to carve the pumpkin the day of and since I get to have all my Christmas traditions he can have this one. And it gets done either way so that's all that matters.

Jack obviously couldn't help us carve the pumpkin but he could play in the pumpkin guts like a pro! Isn't he the cutest!

After we got the JACK-o-lantern (See what I did there? :) ) carved we got all dressed up and headed out for some pictures.

Can you tell what we are?

The most depressing was when little kids asked me what I was when I handed them their candy at the door. When my answer of a 1960's girl and/or Austin Powers wasn't helpful, it made me feel really old :). But Jack made the best mini-me so it was worth it!

We didn't take him trick-or-treating since he's too little to eat the candy anyways and we wanted to make sure that we passed out candy to kids that could enjoy it. Besides once the sun went down Jack was out like a light anyway.

We stayed up watching Austin Powers (what else?!) and passing out candy. It was a great Halloween.

I hope you guys had as much fun as we did!

Adventures into Baby Food : Fruits

We have finished all the veggies and are moving onto fruits! I'm loving making food for Jack and this time my mom got to join in on the fun since they were in town :)

Things you will need:

1. Cutting board
2. Large Knife
3. Peeler
4. Pots
5. Produce (apples, plums, peaches, pears, beets, squash)
6. Blender (or any mixing device like a food processor or stick blender)
7. Spoon and Fork
8. Containers to cool food in before using the trays
9. Freezer trays

Step by Step How-To:

Apples:

1. Peel and cut the apples into chunks.
2. Put all the chunks in a pot and cover with water.
3. Boil the water until the chunks are soft and tender. You can check this with a fork.
   
4. When they are ready put them in the blender and puree. 
   
5. Remember - NEVER EVER add seasonings to your purees. I love me some cinnamon on apples but until your little one has tried and passed each food never add anything to them, that way you know exactly what caused any potential allergic reactions.
6. Then pour the puree into a dish to cool. Don't add hot puree to your freezer trays, they might warp or break. All the dishes I used to cool my purees are microwave safe and thus safe for hot items.
7. Once they are all cooled fill up your trays. Remember DON'T combine any purees into the same cube. You want a single fruit in each cube.
   

Pears:

1. Peel and cut the pears into chunks.
2. Put all the chunks into a steamer. I have a steaming basket for one of our pots but you could also use an actual steaming appliance.
3. Once the chunks are soft and tender put them in the blender and puree.
4. Then put the puree into a dish to cool.
5. Once it's cool fill up the freezer trays.

Peaches:

1. Peel and cut the peaches into chunks.
2. These can go straight into the blender and pureed. They don't need to be cooked unless you want to boil them to get the peel off but that just seemed like over kill to me.
3. Because they weren't cooked they don't need to cool so they can straight into the freezer tray.

Plums:

1. Peel and cut the plums into chunks.
2. These can go straight into the blender and pureed. They don't need to be cooked unless you want to boil them to get the peel off but that just seemed like over kill to me.
3. Because they weren't cooked they don't need to cool so they can straight into the freezer tray.

Beets:

I know what you're thinking; these aren't fruits but I wanted another veggie for him to try so here we are.

1. Peel and cut the beets into chunks. Also cut off and throw away the top greens you only want the bulbs at the ends like radishes.
2. Put all the chunks into a put and cover with water.
3. Boil until the chunks are tender.
4. Once they are soft place all the chunks into the blender and puree.
5. Then put the puree into a dish to cool.
6. Once it's cool fill up the freezer trays.

Squash: 

Also not a fruit but Jack's favorite so it's nice to have on-hand. I did it a little different then last time and it worked out so much better.

1. Peel the squash. This isn't as easy as it sounds because the rind is very thick. Keep peeling until it turns a brighter orange color, the light tan color is still rind. That part isn't edible so make sure to get it all off.
2. 
3. Scoop out the seed section like a pumpkin and cut the squash into chunks.
4. Put all the chunks into a pot and cover with water.
5. Boil until the chunks are soft and tender.
6. Once they are soft place all the chunks into the blender and puree.
7. Then put the puree into a dish to cool.
8. Once it's cool fill up the freezer trays.

I boiled and steamed mine all at the same time which was pretty nice. The apples were done first, then the pears, then the squash, then the beets.

How much does this all yield?

-Apples : 3 = 14 oz
-Pears : 3 = 12 oz
-Peaches: 3 = 20 oz
-Plums : 8 = 15 oz

-Beets : 3 = 13 oz
-Squash :1 = 20 oz

And this whole process still only took 2 hours. So I highly recommend it to everyone.

How much did this save?

Apples = $2.11
Pears = $0.60
Peaches =$6.85
Plums = $4.13
Beets = $1.99
Squash = $2.27

That's a total of $17.95. Since it yielded 94 oz then it's $0.19 an oz!! The store averages around $0.40 an oz so that's over a 50% savings! Or a savings of $19.65!!

This experiment has worked out so well for us and I hope it helps you save some money too. Because let's be honest you can always spend that extra money on baby toys ;).

I wish you all the best of luck in your baby food adventures.

Blog's 1 Year Anniversary!

Happy Paper Anniversary!!

One year (and a few days) ago I started this humble little blog. I wanted to document my pregnancy for out of town family and friends and have something for my growing family to look back on. I never thought it would be what it is today.

I now have readers all over the world and a wonderful mommy blog community. I want to thank all my devoted readers for following this crazy journey and for not judging my new "mommyhood" too harshly, well at least not out loud :).

I've really enjoyed writing for all of you and I thank you for reading every intense, crazy, weird, embarrassing, but especially nerdy moment.

Happy Anniversary! I appreciate each and every one of you.

Now let's ring in the new (blog) year!

5 Month Must Haves

#1 Jumparoo - This is amazing! I spent what felt like hours picking out the right one. I even put them all on the ground at the store and let Jack play in them for a little while to see what tickled his fancy. This is the one we ended up with. Of course it was the most expensive, but anything for kids right ;).

#2 Rattle Ball - This was a splurge buy. I figured since we were already at the store I might as well see if there were any sitting toys that were on sale. This was $10 at Babies-R-Us and Jack has fallen in deep love with it. He giggles at the rattle noise, chews on the dangly pieces, and tosses it around. The best $10 ever spent.

#3 Touch Books - Jack loves touching everything but especially turning the pages of a book. I sit with him in my lap and read to him over and over. He reaches out and turns every page. I try to stay away from regular books since those pages are likely to give him paper cuts so I hunted down some board books and ones that have soft things to touch and eat. The ABC one is our favorite since it's a long enough "story" and the pages are big and the pictures are bright colors.

#4 Freezer Trays - As you know I am making all of Jack's food. And these freezer trays are amazing! They have lids which is my favorite feature so I can stack them on top of each other and save much needed freezer space. They are also super easy to use. Just fill with puree and freeze, then when it's time to eat just run the back under hot water for a few seconds and the cube slides right out without defrosting the whole tray! I can't imagine making Jack's food with any other tray.

Jack's 6 Month's Update

*This is a little late but I wanted to wait until Jack's appointment today to fill out his stats.

 

Weight: 14.13 (7%)

Length: 26.5" (51%)

Loves: He still loves his bath time. He also loves his jumparoo and anything he can chew on. He has a growing fascination with my hair and facial features; though nothing beats him reaching out and giggling while he grabs my nose.

Hates: He hates being ignored, turn your back on him for a minute without distracting him with a toy first and good luck.

Milestones: He is a great sitter but he can't figure out how to lay back down or move once he's done. He has also officially decided that rolling over from belly to back isn't as bad as he originally thought. He has been an avid roller from back to belly but was hesitant to go the other way. But since Max and I have been very avid about letting him cry and always rolling him back over instead of picking him up he has learned to do it. Parenting win!

Sleep: He is a great sleeper! I usually put him down around 9 and he gets up around 6 and even 7 sometimes! We're spoiled now so he better not regress in anyway ;)

Eating: He has been eating veggies for a couple months now. We've tried peas, green beans, carrots, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes. He liked everything but the carrots and his favorite was the squash. It's so cute to see him try new things. We're going to move onto fruits and today we start a more breakfast, lunch, and dinner schedule!

Teething: Nothing yet but he chews on everything so we're keeping an eye out!

Jack's First Cabin Trip

Over the weekend the Thursday Crew, aka our nearest and dearest friends that we have dinner with every Thursday for the past 6 years, headed back up to the cabin! It has been exactly a year since our last visit. Last time I was only 10 weeks pregnant with Jack, and now he's almost 6 months old! Time flies when you're having fun :)

I took Friday off to pack up and get things ready, like I have done for all our trips haha, no surprise there. I basically packed exactly the same things I did for Jack when we went to Houston. Once we had everything packed we loaded up the car and headed out.

When we go on car rides with all of us including the dogs we usually put Jack in the middle and one dog on either side. Honey is a beast in the car, she pants super loud and throws drool everywhere. She also refuses to sit down and instead posts her legs against the seat back as if she's going to lunge out of the car at any moment. This results in her getting tangled in the seat belt we have her buckled into. Well about half way through the drive we hear Jack scream. We look back to find honey still buckled in but standing halfway over Jack, her nails digging into his legs. So I scramble into the back, try to unbuckle her so she can get off Jack and onto the other side of him with Gus. I finally get her unbuckle but now she's scared, so I have to push and wrangle into the opposite seat with Gus. Poor Gus just sat there staring at me as if to say "Why would you let her do this to me". So now two dogs are shoved into one seat, Jack in the middle, and me in the other trying to calm them all down. And Max is in the front alone. It must have been a scene for all those driving by :).

But about an hour later we made it up to the cabin and everyone was happy. We got everything unloaded and it was time to feed Jack. After his bottle I laid him on the rug to play and Max and I decided to wind down and read some books from the overstocked bookshelf. I can't even remember the last book I read so this was a real treat. And they even had one of my favorites, The Thorn Birds.

Later that night our friends trickled in and we just sat around enjoying the lack of internet, phones, tv's etc. and instead enjoyed each other's company and conversation. Oh and enjoyed playing with Jack too ;)

The next morning we all slept in, even Jack slept in an extra hour until 7, and then got up and had a nice big homemade breakfast. The boys then went off shooting and the girls stayed behind with Jack and the dogs. We decided to go for a short walk down the road, probably 2 miles in total. The dogs were great and Jack slept the whole way in the carrier.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing games. Because the girls got back first we sat outside on the patio and played various games while Jack rested in his bouncy chair. And when the boys came home they set up in the living room to play Risk. Each group could hear the other yell and scream and cuss as the games went on; it was pretty hysterical.

The rest of the night included dinner, more games, and of course libations. You could tell no one was going to feel good the next morning ;). Honey also tried to make up with Jack for the bumpy car ride. She laid down next to him and cuddled up while he played. She even let him grab and play with her ears and fur. Both of our dogs are so amazing with Jack and sometimes it even brings tears to my mommy eyes :). I don't know if Jack forgave her but I sure did.

We all woke up groggy and tired; except Jack. He woke up fussy and moody. Nothing seemed to calm him down. He guzzled his morning bottle and was still grumpy. I spent the rest of the morning dealing with him while everyone else tried to clear their hangover for the drive home. We had AMAZING pancakes (shout out to Sarah) and bacon for breakfast but Jack barely let us scarf them down before he was whinning again.  We got the whole cabin packed up and locked down and just as we were about to leave I decided to give Jack another bottle instead of pushing him through the drive. Sure enough he guzzled it down and then was perfectly happy. He was fussy all morning because he was hungry and now he's happy just as we are leaving :). Ah the joys of motherhood.

It's also tradition to make a diary entry, if you will, in the Cabin "log" book. Every trip you have to write a little something about your adventures. Since this was Jack's first time we  put him on my lap and I held the pen while he attempted to make a few scribbles. It was adorable. He is immortalized in the Cabin book forever :)

On the way home we decided to put Jack behind the passenger seat and let the dogs have the rest of the back seat in hopes that maybe Honey wouldn't freak out this time and try to jump/walk on Jack. This worked like a charm!! She stayed on her side and Jack on the other and then to top it off Jack slept the whole way home!

It was a great trip and can't wait for the next one in Spring when Jack is 1! WHAT?!