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!

Life With Dax...

Dax is 10 weeks old today! TEN! That is so crazy! Time has gone by so fast it's hard to believe. He goes Wednesday for his 2 month appointment and shots :(   I'm really sad about shots but looking forward to seeing how much he has grown! So since today is his 10 week birthday I thought it would be fitting to have this post be a run-down of the last 10 weeks. Here's how our life with Dax has been...
To be completely honest, the first month and a half of Dax's life was sort of a mess. He was quite the fussy little guy... if he wasn't eating or sleeping... he was crying. It was pretty rough on Daniel and I... the new adjustment to having a baby, Daniel being in school, a minor case of the baby blues, plus a fussy baby ment many nights of feeling helpless and questioning whether or not this being a mom thing was truly what I was ment to do (some people grow up knowing they're ment to be doctor, or ment to be a teacher.... I grew up knowing I was ment to be a mom). It took awhile for us to really realize that it wasn't something we were doing or not doing... that instead it was that Dax was hurting. We decided that he had silent reflux (he had all the classic symptoms) and had major gas on his little tummy. The two of these things equalled one very unhappy little man. We began using Gripe Water and like magic we had a new baby!
Starting at about 6 weeks life got much easier and happier in the Freno house. Dax starting feeling much better, baby blues were long gone, there were plenty of social smiles going on, feedings at night went from every 3 hours to every 5-6 hours.... needless to say, things were falling into place and the constant questioning and feeling helpless went away. Though it was a rough 6 weeks, I wouldnt trade it for the world. I feel that God used that as a slap in the face for me and Daniel... he wanted to bring us down to reality and realize that we didn't know everything about raising a baby. That no matter how much education I've had in early childhood and experience I've had with little ones... and no matter how much education Daniel has had... that being a parent isn't something you can be completely prepared for. You have to roll with the punches. It isn't by the books. We grew a lot as individuals, as a couple, and as a family during that 6 weeks and I'm so thankful for that blessing. I feel that we are now prepared for ANYTHING God throws at us.
After a crazy first 6 weeks... the last 4 have been just wonderful. He's been like a new baby and things are getting so fun. He's starting to talk and plays with his tongue a lot. It's hard work trying to figure out how to work that thing! In the last week he has really found his hand and has it in his mouth a lot... occassionally sucking away on that thumb! He's still breastfeeding which I'm so excited about and will now go 7-8 hours between feedings at night (with the occasional night being much longer than that). His little body is like clockwork! You can pretty much guarentee that after 1 1/2 hours he'll be ready to go back to sleep. He'll just play and talk for about an hour long at a time now which is really exciting. His absolute favorite thing in the world is this mirror that hangs above our couch... he'll break his neck to see it... and it can't be just any mirror, trust me, we've tried it.... it has to be that specific mirror. It drives Daddy and I nuts.  He also loves watching his OU mobile that hangs above his changing table. Dax's favorite thing to do though is be outside.. which is SO exciting to me! Daniel and I love being outside so we're glad he does too. He has been to the lake twice since he was born and is the happiest I've ever seen him when we're there... I think we have another lake baby on our hands :)
Well that's life with Dax... we've enjoyed it... I hope you did too :)