Foodie Friday

So food this week was not very exciting for us. We were out of town last week and Monday took Dax to the doctor to find out he had an ear infection and asthma. So needless to say we were pretty much on survival mode this week so there wasn't much time to get creative with food.  But here are a few of our favs from the week...
Monday we had some sweet potatoes and peas we needed to use before they went bad so Dax had sweet potatoes, peas, and pasta seasoned with parsley.

Little man loved this. It's possibly 3 of his top 4 favorite foods so he cleaned his plate fairly quickly!
Wednesday I wanted to get Dax a variety of veggies in but also wanted to try and get some protein in. So we tried sliced chicken (think thin sandwich meat) for the first time. It was a BIG hit... and he quickly picked out all the chicken and then moved on to the veggies.

And a third big hit this week was done by me having nothing prepared for him ahead of time and just throwing whatever I had easily available together. But luckily, my little piggy thought it was delicious! We again went with the sliced chicken, threw in some shredded cheese, and broke some whole grain crackers up into bite size pieces. Yum yum

 

We have been slowly weaning Dax off of formula over the past couple weeks and we are now down to 2 bottles of formula a day, one first thing in the morning and one before bed. The rest of the time he is drinking organic whole milk from his sippy  (at all snacks and meals) and water throughout the day as he needs it. He's really doing so well with this and luckily has taken to milk and water really great. He's totaling about 10oz of whole milk a day and 3oz of water. And this has nothing to do with food... but he is officially a walker..... and it terrifies me! Yikes!
I promise this week we'll try to get a little more creative on our food..... try :)

Introducing....

So a couple of the other blogs I follow do something called Foodie Friday where they highlight a few of the things they cooked that week for lunch or dinner. I love reading these…. but Lord knows I have no ability in the kitchen other than baking or making finger foods for Dax. I also think it's really fun to hear/see what other people with little ones are feeding them and to share ideas with them. So from there, I've decided to do my own version of those oh so fun blog post. This week I'll actually list Dax's entire menu from the week so you can get a feel for how food works for us. But in the future, Foodie Friday will online highlight a few of the things I made that week.And if you have any questions on anything I listed please ask!! It will make my day :)
I've made Dax's baby food from the time he was 5 months old and have had so much fun doing it! But now that he's on finger foods I'm having even more fun coming up with fun combinations of food and watching him try them out. Despite the fun, I am constantly worrying about making sure Dax is getting all the vitamins and nutrients he needs (ok… so I may be a little obsessive with that… but it's not a bad thing right?). Daniel reassures me that I'm doing great and I'm starting to feel pretty confident in the foods I"m feeding him. So here goes nothing…. Foodie Friday: Toddler Edition

Saturday
Breakfast: Half of a whole wheat bagel thin with a really thin layer of low fat cream cheese cut into bite size pieces & sliced strawberries. This is probably Dax's favorite thing to have for breakfast!
Lunch: Butternut Squash
Dinner: Yogurt & Plums

Sunday
Breakfast: Bagel w/ mixed fruit
Lunch: Carrots & Cauliflower
Dinner: Pasta with hummus cut into bite size pieces. Dax loves pasta and we have a lot of hummus that needs used so I thought I would try it out. Dax loved it!

Monday
Breakfast: Oatmeal & papaya
Lunch: Pita with hummus and peas and bite size pieces of red bell pepper. I found mini whole wheat pitas at Target so I spread hummus over those. I also wanted to get another veggie in there so I spread pureed peas on the pita with the hummus. We also had some steamed red bell peppers left from making the hummus so we cut those into bite size pieces as well. He absolutely loved this meal!

yum yum yum... he loved it!

Dinner: Yogurt & applesauce

Tuesday
Breakfast: toast & pears, mango, & plum
Lunch: Butternut squash & apples
Dinner: Pasta w/ asparagus & parmesan. I had some whole wheat penne  and parmesan in the fridge but wanted to get a veggie in there somewhere so I mixed in  some pureed asparagus. Dax LOVED this and we'll def. be making it more!

Wednesday
Breakfast: Oatmeal w/ pears & papaya, strawberries
Lunch: Pita w/ hummus & chicken
Dinner: I wanted to get some dairy, fruit, and veggie in with dinner tonight so we tried something new. I have seen those premade pouches of baby food with things like spinach & pears on it, and I looked on the homemade baby food bible for things that mix well with yogurt and found that it suggest carrots & mango. I was out of mango so we went with a combination of yogurt, pears, & carrots. It was delicious (sort of tasted like a creamy sweet potato) and Dax loved it!

Thursday
Breakfast: Egg yolk & parmesan omelet. In one of my baby cookbooks it has a recipe for egg yolk, asparagus, and parmesan omelets that we've had before and Dax loved. We are out of asparagus so I just followed the recipe without the asparagus and make one for each of us for breakfast! Yum! And Dax gobbled it up really fast!
Lunch: Carrots, cauliflower, peas, & eggplant
Dinner: Yogurt w/ papaya & pear

Friday
Breakfast: Bagel w/ cream cheese and blueberries

The blueberries always leave quite the mess...

Lunch: Whole wheat pasta w/ parmesan, carrots & asparagus
Dinner: Yogurt & apple/strawberry sauce
 
And just a side note about Dax's meals. He still, at 11 months, doesn't have  a single tooth! So almost all of our finger foods are steamed so that they're super soft and pieces of bread and pasta and strawberries are cut small enough for him to gum and not choke on. We only feed him whole wheat/whole grain pasta and bread and we go by the dirty dozen on organic fruits and vegetables. We also usually give him yogurt at dinner which may seem weird, but yogurt has a ton of protein in it and your body uses that protein to help you grow most while you sleep so we figured it was a good time to give it to him. Our little man also has a pretty sensitive tummy, with a lot of things giving him gas. Because of that I try to give him something I know will be easy on his tummy before bedtime and we try all of our new things at breakfast or lunch. Snack usually consist of fresh fruit or veggies cut up and occasionally organic puffs, and he has a sippy of water out all day he can get a drink from as he needs it.

That's it for our first Foodie Friday! I know this one was super long but from now on it def. won't be! I'm excited.... and I hope you are too!

So I know it's not the normal time for updates on Dax (usually once a month) but he has done so much in the last week that I feel the need to write about it... in particular to keep our family updated on his life. So if you're not ready for a little mommy bragging than I would skip over this post ;)

* He "dances"! WOOHOO!! It's not quite the stand up dancing yet but he holds his arms up in the air and flaps them while he bounces his body. It's pretty cute. It's also his go to anytime he gets really excited.... which lately has been a lot.
* Walks with his new walking toy! He does so good.... when he wants to. He has now figured out that he can push it around while on his knees so when he's feeling lazy that's what he does. He gets really excited while he's doing it and talks/screams the entire time. I highly recommend this toy at target for $17.

* Our little dare devil will now let go while he's standing up and stand all alone for several seconds. It catches me off guard and I get way excited everytime. He also tried to take a step while doing this a couple days ago.... was unsuccessful... but tried. I'm afraid we're going to have a walker before i'm ready! He also was squatting on the ground the other day and stood up without touching anything. Wowzer...
* He's really into cars and makes a car sound now when playing with them! He especially loved this little dump truck we had and would try to put toys into the back of it but it was so small they wouldn't stay. So today we bought a BIG dump truck at Target and he's in loading heaven!
* Naps are sooooo much better! We switched to 2 naps, one at 9:30 and one at 1:30. They last anywhere from 45 minutes to 115 minutes. This is huge improvement from his previous 30 minutes naps. Those were not working for momma or baby.
* He's eating everything! He has done absolutely amazing with table food and I'm so proud of him everytime he eats! I was really worried the first few times b/c it seemed he didn't like any table food but puffs.... but he will now try anything and loves it. As far as finger foods go he has had, pasta, peas, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, cheese, strawberries, peaches, mango, and butternut squash. He has also tried kiwi and bananas but isn't really a fan of those. He'll eat them purreed.... but not at finger foods... it must be a texture thing :)
* He might be a bit OCD... like his mommy :)  He has an obsession with putting toys/food/whatever he can get his hands on into buckets/bowl/dumptrucks. For example, I had layed out 6 pieces of butternut squash on his try. He put them all back into the bowl and then ate them. And like I mentioned earlier... he loves to load up his dump truck with toys.
* He absolutely will not go to sleep if his feet are covered up. This has been going on for awhile but has become even more evident lately while putting him down for nap. He will kick and kick and kick until he gets the blanket off of his feet.
* He has finally got the stage where he puts everything, and I mean everything, in his mouth now. I have taken away plastic, grass, leaves, fuzz, paper, and the skin of garlic and onions. I.Am.Terrified.


Well that's it for the mommy bragging. Lots of exciting post coming soon with all of my arts and crafts activities I've been working on lately! Get excited!

Our 18 Month Anniversary

Well yesterday my little man officially became nine months old! It was sort of a big deal to me because  nine months is how long this precious little miracle grew inside me, and now he has spent nine months eating, sleeping, talking, learning, and exploring in this world we share! We have had a beautiful 18 month relationship and I can't wait to see what the next 18 hold.
Here's a little update on what our nine month old little boy is up to these days...

* Crawling like a mad man. He's super fast and gone in the blink of an eye. He has also decided to branch out and explore on his own now and a couple times I have found him wondering into the kitchen or bathroom all on his own.
* Pulls up and tracks like a pro. He's been pulling up for awhile but he has just now mastered getting down. In fact, it's pretty much is favorite thing to do now.... stand up, get down, stand up, get down. Oh the simple things. He is also tracking between pieces of furniture and has started getting brave and doing it with only one hand. I'm afraid he'll be walking before we know it!
* He is just fascinated with drawers, doors, and cabinets.... leading to lots of smashed fingers! :(  He doesn't get into the things in the drawers or cabinets, just simply opens and closes them over and over.
* He really enjoys the game "I throw everything on the ground and watch people around me pick it up". Mommy is not such a fan.
* His favorite toys right now are a shape sorting cookie jar (that he loves opening and closing), a rubber spatula (lol), the dog bowls (eek), and his little wagon that he really enjoys flipping upside down and investigating the wheels.
* He's really into books right now and loves looking at them. He's a boy after my own heart <3
* Sleeping is going great. He sleeps from about 6 or 7pm until about 6am without making a sound!  Right now he takes about a 45 minute nap at like 9am, 1 1/2 nap at around 12pm, and a 30 minute nap at around 3. I'm hoping to start trying to get into two naps here before long... but we'll go with the flow and right now his flow is screaming for 3 naps :)
* Food, oh food. It feels like all I do is feed this boy! He has fruit and cereal or toast in the am, veggies for lunch, and yogurt and fruit for dinner. He also munches on puffs, yogurt melts, or mum mums when he needs a snack. We're starting to do a few finger foods now because all signs from his little body are saying he needs to! So far we've done banana, kiwi, toast, and cheese. He does absolutely awesome with them and deciding what to do and when is so stressful!
* He says "more" and "momma" and knows exactly what they mean! I love it and still get so excited when he says them! He knows what "all done" means but hasn't signed it himself yet and he also knows who "dada" is but hasn't said it yet. He is making some of the funniest sounds now and I love listening to him "talk"!

That's all the updates I can think of now but I'm sure I'll come up with more as soon as I sign off from here :)   Look for a post soon on how we're settling in and some pics of how the house is going!

8 Months!

Well in three short days Dax will be 8 months old! Wow! We'll be in Bixby painting the new house then so we're doing his 8 month update now :)

* Boy does this little man love his food! He's having a 6 oz bottle every 4 hours, 2 cubes of fruit and cereal for breakfast, 2-3 cubes of veggies at lunch, and a protein for dinner. The protein switches between tofu and a veggie, or yogurt and a fruit.
* He also munches on Organic Mum Mums and Organic Puffs, both of which he LOVES. We're working on picking things up with his finger and thumb and actually getting it to his mouth. He picks it up pretty good... but getting it in the mouth isn't quite there yet.  He does really good with the Mum Mums and will hold it all by himself and take bites off of it.
* He's drooling and fussy at times like he's teething... but no teeth poking through yet!
* Sleep is going really great! He's been going to sleep at about 6:30 or 7:00pm and sleeping until anywhere between 5:45-6:30am. He'll usually wake up at about 4:45am but the desperate side of me wishing for one more hour of sleep before I have to get up for work puts him in bed with me and he goes right back to sleep.
* He's officially a crawler! He's so stinkin fast! He still rotates between the lizard crawl and actually crawling but whatever he does it's quick. If I want to see him crawl all I pretty much have to do is open the front door and he takes off as fast as he can to it! This includes climbing up a small step from our living room to entry way! I was way impressed the first time this happened... who am I kidding... I'm way impressed every time this happens!
* He likes to spit now. lol.  Another little one in his class at daycare started this and now Dax does it all the time! It's really cute right now but I'm sure the first time he does it with food in his mouth it wont be so cute anymore!
* Makes all sorts of crazy sounds... but still has yet to say Dada, and only says Mama when he's crying.
* Naps are going awesome and all of them are in his crib now! We turn on his sound machine, pat his butt for a couple minutes, and he's out for the count! We actually just packed the swing away and it was sort of a sad day :(
* Dax wants to stand up all the time! He has pulled up successfully a handful of times on his own but is constantly trying to pull up on anything and everything he sees! Even when he's crawling he gets his legs under himself and tries to stand up.
* Bob Marley still works miracles for him...
* His favorite toys right now are baskets that his toys go in, plastic Easter eggs that I put beans in and sealed, Scout (of course), his sensory bottles, and a small tin bucket I found the other day. Who needs all those fancy expensive toys when you have things like buckets, baskets, and water bottles??
* He has had mango, pears, applesauce, peaches, banana, plums, avocado, butternut squash, sweet potatoes,  tofu, parsnips, zucchini, green beans, peas, broccoli, yogurt, and blueberries. Up next are honeydew, carrots, and some new fruit... any suggestions??
* He's in 6-9month clothes and size 3 diapers during the day and 4's a night. His pants are starting to get a little short... but the next size up are still too big in the waist... so lets just say if a flood comes through Dax is prepared :)
* And possibly the most exciting part for me.... I def. recognizes when I sign "All done"!!  A couple days ago when I signed it he automatically started reaching for me to get him out of his seat. I thought that maybe it was coincidence... but he has done it a couple more times since them! yay!!!

 Well the next couple weeks are going to be sort of nuts for us! We'll be making trips to Bixby this weekend and next to paint and clean the house, next week is my last week of work, I'll have one week at home to finish up getting things done, and then the big move! Eek!   Continue keeping us in your prayers as we face all of the changes coming our way!

Happy Wednesday!!!

An Update on Life...

So I realized that I haven't had a real, solid update on our lives lately... so here's a quick run down on Dax, work, family, moving, and life in general... enjoy :)

Dax-man

Dax had his six month check up yesterday. At 6 months and 22 days he now weighs 18lbs, 5 1/2 ounces. He's 27 inches long and head circumference is 45cm. He's 59% in length, 56% in weight, and 85% in head circumference (big head lol). He has had a cough for about 2 weeks now and for the last several days had a runny nose and runny eyes. We had also noticed a couple days prior to his appointment that he was playing with his ears so we were unsure if he had an ear infection or had just found his ear. Well come to find out he has an ear infection AND an upper respiratory infection. yuck. The poor little guy just can't breath and has a horrible cough.  He is now on antibiotics, Tylenol for the pain from his ear, and breathing treatments as needed.
Other than being sick, Mr. Man is doing so good and growing just way too fast! He now can get up on all fours for a few seconds... but then falls back down lol.  Rolling around is still his main form of transportation. He is exploring with his voice so much and I just LOVE it! He currently has two favorite sounds.... a real high pitch screech that he does with his mouth shut, and this really fast, chipmunky giggle. lol They're both pretty awesome and I'll have to try to catch them with the camera to share with you guys. Our wiggle worm still refuses to sit up for longer than 30 seconds at a time. He much rather be rolling around or standing. If you try to sit him down he'll instantly start turning or he'll stiffen out his legs so that he stands up. I think it is very likely that he'll crawl... and possibly stand... before he decides to sit up on his own.
Sleep.... oh sweet precious sleep... has FINALLY returned to us! You can't hear me but I just sighed really loud after typing that.  He isn't quite as awesome as he was at 8 weeks... but is WAY better than he has been the past few months. He is now going to bed at 7:00pm and waking up at 6:00am. Usually during the first hour or two after he falls asleep we have to go in there a couple times and give him his paci back, and some nights at about 3:30am we have to do the same thing. Those times literally take like a minute though so it's not so bad. Much better than the every hour he was waking up before.
Dax is on this amazing schedule that he does NOT stray from and I love it! We didn't really push him into a schedule, it just sort of happened with our daily daycare/work routines. It is really pretty nice to be able to know what he's going to do at what time (for the most part). We even went out of town for four days this past weekend and he still stuck to his schedule.  Dax's day right now looks like this... Wake up & bottle at 6:00, get to daycare at 7:00, cereal & fruit at 7:30, bottle at 8:30, nap at 9:00 for about 30min- 1 hour, veggies at 11:00, bottle at 12ish, nap around 12:30 for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, bottle at 2:30 or 3:00, get home from daycare at 3:30 and play until about 4:30, then a 30 minute nap. Bottle at 5:30, cereal at 6:30, and start our bed time routine at 7:00.    I love it and it works out SO well for us.

Work

All but two of my precious kiddos! The cutest 8 girls and 4 boys you'll ever meet!

Work is so great and I absolutely ADORE my kids! They are truly a group that LOVES learning and it's amazing to watch them. I do a name writing sample each month with them and they have amazed me looking at the difference in the past 5 months! The last couple weeks we have been talking about Going Green and they have just taken off and ran with the idea! I love hearing them remind one another to "take care of our Earth"... it literally melts my heart... and I love seeing them run to the recycling box with their paper, put it in, and look so proud of themselves! Three and four year olds are amazing and I don't know if I'll ever be able to teach another age!  Almost every child in the class can now properly identify all uppercase and lowercase letter of the alphabet and numbers 1-20. Many can also write those letters, and several can tell you the sound that each letter makes. I get a little sad each day when I think about leaving those little stinkers in a month and a half :(  May 6th will be my last day there and I can pretty much guarantee there will be tears.

Family

For the 100th time..... I have the best family in the world! We recently all just spent 4 days together at the lake and it was just perfect! We spend the entire 4 days playing games, laughing, talking, and just simply hanging out together. There's never a dull moment. I also really love the lake b/c I get to spend quality time with my nieces and nephews that I wouldn't get to otherwise. My nephew Kole spent a loy of time haning out with Daniel and I. He is becoming such a GREAT young man and I know there are big things in hid future! My niece Brinyn is so great with the younger kiddos. No matter how old she gets she still finds time to spend with and hang out with them doing things they love. I think she'll make for a great teacher one day. My niece Cheyenne is the biggest diva around.... that can also talk more smack than a grown man when playing games! She is just hilarious to watch! And my nephew Zain is one of the most lovable, ornery, hilarious little boys you'll meet. He's fully of hugs and kisses all the time... for no reason whatsoever. One of my favorite moments this weekend came when his mom (my sister) was nagging him for picking at his sister. He leans over and kisses my sister on the cheek and says, "there, will that make you shut up?"  I laughed SO hard! It was simply brilliant!  I love them all!


Moving

Well, I can't same I'm glad and happy and excited about it... but I can say I've come to terms with it and am preparing myself and family for the move. I know it's for the best and I am glad I get to support my wonderful husband in reaching his dreams, but it's still hard for me. Prayers would still be appreciated.



Well... that's life... I hope you enjoyed :)

Half a Year Old

Well if there was a 30th in this month, Dax would then be 6 months old! Where has the time gone?!?  It seems like just yesterday I was feeling him move around in my belly and today Daniel and I sat here watching him wiggle and roll across the living room floor. Everyone always tells you that the time goes fast but you never really understand it until it happens. Tomorrow we are taking him to get his 6 month pictures done and I can't wait!  Here's a little run down on where little man stands today...

* His 6 month appointment isn't until March but as of two week ago he was right at 16lbs
* He grew super fast. He was a little guy for so long and grew so fast that he was only in his 3-6 months clothes for a month. He now fits perfectly into is 6-9 month close.
* He STILL is not sitting up on his own.... and I don't think he will. ever. lol  He is def. strong enough, he just won't sit still long enough to sit on his own. He moves CONSTANTLY.
* We've up'ed his eating to 3 times a day. He got to the point where he would get REALLY mad if he saw us or the other babies in his class eating and he wasn't so we went ahead and started giving him more and it helps. He's eating about 25-30 oz of formula a day, multi grain cereal for breakfast, a veggie for lunch, and and oatmeal for dinner.  I think we're going to add a fruit in soon.
* So far for his food he has tried butternut squash, peas, green beans, avocado, and broccoli. His favorite is the butternut squash, he loved the broccoli but it made him gassy :( , he hated avocado,  green beans were ok, and he didn't like peas at all (until I mixed it with the squash and then he liked them). I'm still making all his food and it's so  much fun!  Zucchini and sweet potatoes are my next venture.
* He's not crawling... but he def. gets around! He alternates between rolling around like a Rollie Pollie and wiggling across the floor like a caterpillar. Also in the past week he has learned to use his stomach like an axis and go in circles when on the ground. He has the crawling motion down pat with his legs, so I think once his little arms get a little stronger he'll be all over the place.
* Sleep is still sort of a mess. It's better than it was about a month ago... but def. isn't as good as it was when he was 2 months old.
* He loves his Bounce Bounce Baby and could sit in there forever. He knows how to spin the seat now so he just sits there and goes in circles playing with each of the toys and then moving on to the next. It's pretty darn cute.
* He has started being really lovable... and I'm in heaven!! When you pick him up or hold him on your lap sometimes he'll bury his head into your chest and just laugh. He'll also just lean his head against your face sometimes and has also starting giving what I like to pretend are kisses (I'm sure they're really just him trying to eat your face but I can wish right).

Saturday relaxing with Daddy!

 Yesterday getting ready for cousin Ryans bday! Such a big boy!

 Today at Babies R Us... it's a rough life ;)

This evening... ready for our walk!

So Domestic

I did it... I made my first batch of baby food with my Beaba!  I have to admit.... I did not expect it to be THAT easy. And it was a lot of fun for Daniel and I to make it together.  We picked Butternut Squash for Dax to try first... simply because it was the veggie that looked the best at Walmart lol. I'll now be making weekly trips over to Target to get veggies to make that weekend. We decided that on Saturday mornings we'll spend an hour or two making food, that way it can freeze all day Saturday and I can bag it on Sunday for the next week.   I took pictures of our first baby food making adventure so enjoy :)


Step 1:  The Butternut Squash

 

I had never actually had butternut squash and was pleasently surprised. It looked and smelt a lot like pumpkin, and tasted like a mix of pumpkin and sweet potato. We'll def. be finding some recipes for adult uses of butternut squash.

Step 2. Cut it into small pieces.

 My wonderful BFF had warned me about the pain that was cutting up a butternut squash, so I recruited my wonderful husband to do this part... besides, my family doesn't have the best history with sharp objects so Daniel tends to not let me cut things anyways :).  This was byfar the most painful part. It was like cutting a pumpkin... just in a more awkward shape.  

Anyways, we cut it in half and took out the seeds. Then diced it up and removed the skins.

Step 3: Steam it.

The Beaba made this SOOOO easy! We filled it with water to the level 3 mark, pour it into the babycook, placed the cubed butternut squash into the steaming basket, turned the dial, and continued on with our lives. It was that easy! After 15 minutes they were perfectly steamed! We then poured the water that was used during the steaming into a cup to use to thin the puree if we needed to (the water has a lot of the nutrients from the squash in it so don't waste it!).

Step 4: Puree

Again, SOOO easy! You pour the steamed butternut squash from the basket into the bowl and puree it until you get it to the right consistency. I probably did it for maybe a minute TOTAL. That includes stopping half thru to add some of the water to it.  I still can't believe how easy it was!

Step 5: Pour into trays for freezing.

You spoon the squash into your trays. Regular ice trays work as long as you have lids for them. We use the BabyFresh trays. Set them in the freezer and let them set until fully frozen. We filled 2 whole trays and 2 more spots on another tray from this one squash!

Step 6: Put into freezer bags.

Once they were completely frozen in the trays we popped them out and put about 6 cubes into a pint size freezer bag. Make sure you label it with what it is and the date... frozen food is good for about 3 months... meats, 1 month.  This makes for easy storage and makes it really easy to just reach in and grab out what you need each day. We do two cubes at a time for our little piggy :)

Step 7: Clean up.

No picture here, but I felt it was worthy of a step b/c it was SO easy! I am not a fan of washing dishes at all... and will do basically anything to avoid having to do so. It is a rare occasion that I ever use our blender, George Foreman Grill, or Coco Latte machine simply for the fact that I don't want to have to wash it when I'm done. Cleaning the Beaba was SO easy! I was once again shocked. And having it all in one little machine was very handy. The only dishes that got dirtied up were a knife, cutting board, small cup, spoon, and the Beaba bowl and basket. So easy!

Step 8: Feed the happy baby.

 Haha!! In case you couldn't tell... he LOVED it! This was the face he made when he wanted more... he would reach for it and move his tongue in and out! He loves his cereal but he has never done this with cereal... I would say the Butternut Squash was a hit!

To sum up my first baby food making experience... I'm addicted!  I've already made green beans and I can't wait for this snow to melt so I can get down to Target to buy some organic produce and make more! Not only was it easy and allows us to control what gets put into Daxton's little body, but it was so cheap! We got about 13 servings out of one squash! That would have cost us at least $9 to buy organic baby food... and it only cost us about $2!!  I'd say homemade baby food is a success :)

Single mom... no thanks!

Well I'm full of new updates since my last post.... so here we go!

This last weekend was my first weekend alone with Dax... meaning no Daniel, all weekend long! I would be a single mom for the weekend...EEK! Daniel had a conference in Houston and I would be alone with Dax... just us... for 3 days and 2 nights. Lets just say I was terrified! I'm not a fan of being at home by myself at night anyways.. and with a baby in the mix that just pushed me over the edge! I was VERY tempted to just put Dax in the bed with me for those two nights but I held it together and resisted the urge... that would have been a two night mistake that would take a week to correct. I must say though that the weekend went great! Dax was sort of a fussy boy Saturday but I handled it like a champ if I do say so myself :)  Things I learned while being alone with Dax for the weekend.....
1. Make bottles and have them prepared in the refrigerator ahead of time.  There is no one to distract a hungry baby while the other one makes a bottle when it's only you at home with the baby. After Dax would go to bed for the night I would make bottles for the next day. I still nurse Dax during the night and first thing in the morning... but the rest of the day is formula so having it ready was a life saver!
2. Go to sleep the second that baby goes to sleep. There aren't two of you to take turns waking up with the baby during the night.... so if you want any sleep at all... you better get to bed when that baby does.
3. Prepare the night before. Dax and I went to church with mom Sunday morning and having everything (clothes, bottles, cereal, diaper bag, etc) all set out and ready for us Saturday night made life much easier come Sunday morning.
4. Daniel is my security blanket.  I don't sleep well AT ALL if Daniel isn't home... and this just jumped to a whole new level with a baby in the house.
5. Being a single mom... no thanks!  While it was very empowering knowing that I did great handling everything on my own... I gained a whole new respect for single moms that I don't think I would EVER want to get familiar with... not that that would ever be an option anyways... have you seen how amazing my husband is??  :)

In my last post I mentioned Dax trying to roll from his back to his tummy.... well he mastered it Sunday night! YAY!  Now he really enjoys rolling back and forth from back to belly, belly to back, etc.  I'm pretty sure he'll be crawling much sooner than I would like to admit :/     He also gets two bowls of cereal a day now and LOVES it. The Dr. recommended cutting back the ounces in each bottle and giving him some cereal to help with his acid reflux so we've been doing this for about a week now and it's working pretty good.  He does so great with cereal and I can't wait to start feeding him food in a month! Speaking of food....

WOOHOO!!! My new pride and joy!  My Beaba was delivered this weekend and I'm SOOOOO pumped to start using it! With it I had delivered some trays for freezing the food, labels to label the food, and a babyfood cookbook! Last night we bought a Butternut Squash to make this weekend and I couldn't be more excited! We also got some glass bowls with lids for babyfood at daycare so it can be thawed in the microwave if necessary. Wouldn't you think they would sell glass bowls for baby food somewhere...  no... only plastic... despite how bad it is to head plastic. We just settled for some small pyrex bowls with lids that should work perfectly. I'm so excited about starting this chapter of ours and Dax's life! I feel so passionately about this and hope that it's something I can stick with!
More VERY exciting news that we got last week... I'm pregnant!! just kidding just kidding. lol  I couldn't resist ;)    The exciting news is that Dax will be starting daycare at the center I work at Monday!  We love where he's been and will miss Lora.... but having him literally right next door to me will be soooo amazing!  I'll be the one getting Dax ready every day now and will be able to take him to work with me and take him home with me when I leave. I'll also be able to peek in on him whenever I want... and probably be able to hear him scream through the wall when he's in a mood :)   We'll be paying more than what we do now but the convenience of it all will greatly outweigh the cost issue. Daniel will be able to spend more time studying for school and boards (he has his first licensing exam in June.. eek!) and will save me an hour and fifteen minutes of driving everyday (45 minutes from my work to his current daycare, and then 30 minutes back home).  It's going to be so perfect. Not to mention I LOVE Dax's new teacher. I'm so excited about this new adventure and all the new doors that will be opening for Dax from it. Now just send prayers our way that the new transition goes smoothly for him!
Life for me and Daniel is going good. He's staying busy with school... starting to gear up for test block (yuck) and I'm staying busy with work. Since starting back I've been reassured that I'm in the right career. This point about a year ago I was unsure. A mixture of pregnancy hormones, stress from school, and absolutely insane class at work made we question whether or not I was really meant for a career in early childhood. Now that life is back to normal for me and I have my own classroom again with wonderful kids that are a year older than what I was previously teaching I know that I love what I'm doing. I get so excited when I see my kids learning (and my how much they are learning!) and actually love going to work everyday!  I have wonderful students and parents in my class, an afternoon teacher that is just wonderful, two wonderful bosses, and did I mention the wonderful kids in my class?? Hugs from the each morning make my day so much brighter and I instantly forget about the lack of sleep I got before or any other stresses in my life. Hearing them ask me about how "baby Dax" is every day melts my heart and hearing these sweet little words, "Mrs. Kandice, will you be here everyday?"  from one special little girl before I leave everyday erases all the worries I have. This week I have been sick and getting hugs and kisses to "make me feel better" and hearing them ask me everyday if my body is feeling better yet, really does make me feel a little better.  If you can't tell... I sort of love my class <3

Off to nap again before Mr. Man gets home from daycare... I've been sick the last few days and in case you didn't know... the job of being a mom doesn't stop when you're sick.... you still have to wake up all night and you still have to have the energy to deal with a 5 month old... it's a whole new learning experience that I'm having the pleasure to experience for the first time. But his little smiles and laughs remind me that it's def. all worth it :)

Have a good day :)

Questions Questions Questions

In my four months of being a mom I've learned a lot. I've learned that I actually can function on only 4-5 hours of sleep a night; that family members are no longer excited to see me when we get together, instead Dax; that baby socks, particularly Dax's right sock, needs to be glued on; that before having a baby I had WAY too much time on my hands; that I am now ambidextrous (due to circumstances like feeding a baby with right hand and feeding myself with left, etc); and the one that probably came as the biggest surprise... that people are full of questions and opinions...

"Why are you doing this?"  "Why are you not doing that?"  

"Why would you do that?" 

"We did that and we turned out fine." "That's just a silly thing to do/not do."

When I hear all these questions I instantly want to respond back with the quick snap of, "because we want to."  But instead I try to explain our reasoning usually only to get back another smart remark or opinion or a simple nod with the look of "you're absolutely crazy" written across their face. 

Daniel & I are different (as our close friends and family can attest to :). We don't do things just because it's what always been done, or because it's what other people say to do, or because it's the easy way out. We put a lot of thought into the daily choices we make in our life and consider the long term effects of our choices.  Yeah we may do things that the normal everyday person wouldn't do, and yeah we might find things very important that other people blow off, but whatever it is we're doing you can guarantee it wasn't just done by chance.  

* Yes, we are doing sign language with Dax.

* No, we don't let Dax watch TV and won't... not for a LONG time

* Yes, we buy vegetarian and organic food, and plan on doing so with Dax as much as possible.

* Yes, we plan on making homemade baby food for him.

* No, we will not let him cry it out. 

* No, we aren't feeding him food yet. We are waiting until 6 months and will then start with our HOMEMADE, ORGANIC baby food :)

I don't mind answering questions about the choices we make if you are genuinely and sincerely curious about it and willing to look at my response with an open mind... but if you plan on responding with a smart remark or silly look upon your face... just save it for another day :) 

 I highly recommend this book for anyone that has even the slightest thought of signing with your little one. I LOVE it and it will probably be my new gift to all of my expecting friends :)

 One Love <3

Dirty Diaper.... Check!! :)

We'll start this post with a "You know you're a mom when.." joke...

You know you're a mom when you get extremely excited over a poopy diaper...

That is me today! I had a very unhappy, very constipated baby boy the past couple days and today, with the wonderful advice of my BFF, I now have my happy little man back! The absolute best part of having two of my great friends (Sam and Melissa) with little ones pretty much the same age as Dax is that I'm able to run to them with questions and advice and tips for things with Dax.  We started Dax on cereal about a week ago to see if that would help him get back to his regular sleeping at night (he use to go at least 8 hours at night between feedings... well ever since he got sick about a month ago he's been waking up every 3 hours at night to eat :/  ).  Well he did absolutely great with cereal and loved it.... but it resulted in him being constipated which come to find out happens pretty often. So needless to say I think we're going to put a stop to the rice cereal for a little while. I think it was just too much for his young digestive system to handle.  So now we're trying to decide whether to just stop everything until 6 months like recommended by our doctor and other health organizations, or to switch to oats/barley cereal, or to just go straight to a vegetable.  Apparently from what I've been reading the latest trend now is to not do cereal at all.... just start straight up with vegetables... which makes sense to me... I'm just not sure what to do... Any advise???   All of these decisions that being a mom requires is definitely the hardest part for me. I'm possibly one of the most in-decisive people on the face of the planet and that does not mix well with being a mom. Even the simple decision of whether or not to stay home from work today to try to ease the constipation problem or to go to work took me forever to decide today... but I have to say I'm very happy with the decision I made. Work is important and we need the money.... but being there for my little man to help him feel even the slightest bit better is way more important. Luckily I have very wonderful bosses and co-workers that allow me to be with my little man whenever I need to.

Well since my last post the holidays have come and gone and a new year has begun! Dax's first Christmas was absolutely amazing. We are blessed with an amazing family and Dax definitely got way more than he needed... but we are very thankful for it all. We spent Eve Eve with Daniels family, Christmas Eve with my siblings, nieces and nephews, and my parents, and Christmas Day was split between time at home enjoying each others company, seeing Daniel's parents, and the annual Wilson family gathering for the first time at my grandparents new "apartment" (assisted living center). Daniel enjoyed playing Santa... even though Dax could really care less, and we were very excited to open gifts as a family Christmas morning. It was absolutely perfect!

The last month has also brought a lot of reflecting upon our last year as a family too. The day after Christmas was exactly a year since we found out that our family would be getting a new addition, and New Years Eve was a year since we told our families the wonderful news. Having a baby was something that we had wanted so bad. Only a couple people new at the time, but we had tried to get pregnant for five months before succeeding. I know that is absolutely no time at all compared to the struggles that many people have to conceive but to us that five months felt like an eternity. So reflecting on that day when I took the test and woke Daniel up to tell him that we were finally pregnant was such a sweet memory.  Our entire 2010 was spent thinking, talking, and living baby and will be a year that I know I will forever remember and treasure.  I look forward to what 2011 holds for our little family.