Baby Food 101

A few have asked how I make baby food, it's SUPER easy and well worth the small amount of time it takes to make it, so I thought I'd share.

What You'll Need:
Ice Cube Trays
Steamable Frozen Vegtables (I'd start with peas, carrots, green beans)
Thawed Breast Milk, formula or water (your choosing)
Blender, smoothie mixer, Ninja, or food processor. (I use a Cusinart Smoothie Blender thingy)


First thing you do is microwave/steam the frozen veggies. Usually about 7 minutes/bag. I would microwave it for the most time that it states on the bag to make the veggies very tender. Next, put the veggies in the blender container (if some water drains in that's fine too), and add approximately 3 oz of breast milk (give or take an ounce or two depending on how chunky/runny you want it). Next, blend her on up. I It takes about a minute in mine to get pretty smooth across the board. After you have it blended ( I use the blade with the 4 blades, though I have used the 2 blade one before too and it works fine), I add the mixture to ice cube trays and freeze. Each ice cube is 1oz. So, you'll always know how much your baby has eaten.

A couple of tips.... I also freeze breastmilk this way. It's an easy way to thaw out a couple of ounces without wasting a whole bag of frozen breast milk. Once veggies and the milk are frozen in the ice cube trays, I empty and bag in freezer safe baggies. I also always add some rice cereal to the veggies. This makes it thicker and you can control the consistancy. Veggies are the easiest to make this way. Fruit can be done also, and for the most part the same way.

It's easy, cost effective, and a great way to take to restaurants or to the babysitter! Happy Baby (food) Making!

OH Ella

Oh ella.

Ella Grace, you push my buttons and touch my heart like no other person I know. The last couple of nights have been challenging with you. Last night, I mentioned around 5pm that it was bath night and after bath I was going to cut your bangs as a small hair cut was much needed. During bath, you got pulled out before I could even wash you due to your naughtiness of splashing water all over the bathroom (ugh). While you were drying off, I was tending to your crying brother when all of the sudden I heard you exclaim, “Yeah Mommy I did it!” I turned around to face my worst nightmare, you holding pieces of your hair in your hands. Luckily, it’s not too bad, could have been a whole lot worse. I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better though as its going to grow out and stick up in all the wrong places. Shortly after that, I said, in a second we’re going to brush your teeth and go to bed. Again, turning to deal with Briggs, I turned around and you had opened my makeup bag (from a recent over night stay in Chicago for work) and had toothpaste EVERYWHERE including a teeny tiny bit on my toothbrush. MENTAL NOTE: don’t ever tell Ella what we’re about to do or going to do. She is 2384 steps ahead of me. Seriously child. I couldn’t really be mad at you.
Tonight after some whining and plea bargaining, I took you upstairs for bed which as of late is always a challenge. It started off okay, but as per typical, you started flalling around when it was time for a diaper and jammies. Kicking, screaming, etc… SO, I put you in a holding time out. Where I hold you on my lap until you want to “Listen & Obey” (our key words). Let’s just say that I am still praying with diligence that the neighbors did not hear you (though I’m not sure how they could not) so that no one would call child protective services. Hopefully, most of the parents reading this would agree that their child has on once (or please say more!) occasion had an episode like this. Holy Buckets, you would have thought I was killing you. The thing about it is that I warned you, and warned you again, and warned you again, threatened you, let you get away with more than you should, let you get away with some more and then realized, you were not going to start “listening and obeying” unless I gave you consequences.

Finally, after you calmed down and I was patting your back and you were giving me hugs and kisses saying “Sorry mommy, it’s otay mommy, otay” I realized, this is how God feels about us. He leads us in the right direction, we veer, veer some more, He leads us in the right direction again, we don’t listen, and then we are faced to deal with our consequences all the while asking God, “Why?” And while God is a loving God who loves us unconditionally (meaning it doesn’t matter how much we don’t listen, He still loves us), this challenges me to be more understanding of Ella’s situation. Yes, I can/should have more patience, BUT, I shouldn’t put up with wrong behavior. You choose the behavior, you choose the consequence. A hard lesson for a 2 year old? You betcha. A hard lesson for a 30 year old? No question.

Happy Green Day

We celebrated St. Patty's Day in style this year. Early on, Kimberly & I decided to have a picnic downtown near the parade route and then watch the parade. I made shirts for the kiddos, dressed everyone in green, made green noodles, rainbow cupcakes. Kimberly brought green plates, cups, green milk. We.Went.All.Out. Mark my words: NOT WORTH IT. At least not today, maybe one day ? It had disaster written out all over. Kimberly and I were in charge of getting 3 kids ready, lunches/bags packed, car loaded and out the door on time. The guys were in charge of going disc golfing (which they pulled off successfully). The green lunch started out cool, until the kids saw that the adults had Doritos with their lunch. Forget the nice clean shirts I made, Doritos were EVERY.WHERE. Then insert drunk people. EVERY.WHERE. It was like a Disney World nightmare only with drunk people. The parade finally (and I mean finally) started and the coolness was cool until the no nap meltdown began. At least there were lots of suckers to use as bribes. Parents of older kids were rude, my kids didn't understand the point of what was going on. Bottom line, I hope one day the kids appreciate all we did to pull this off, because I'm not sure it will happen again anytime soon. At least the kids looked cute doing it :)

Details on our green menu:

Green Noodles -Put dry egg noodles in a baggie with green food coloring and 1-2 Tbs of vinegar. Let it sit for 4-6 hours, and then put it out on wax paper and let it dry overnight. Cook normally.

Rainbow Cupcakes-Take a white cake mix. Divide it up into cups. Use 5-6 different cups depending on how many different colors you want to make (or have). Mix a different color into each up (making the color very vibrant). Add a tablespoon or so to each muffin tin, layering the colors. Very important- do not spread, just "plop" on top of the next color and bake normally! Enjoy!

5 Months Old!

Well Briggsy boy, we made it to 5 months. I cannot believe you are that old. You are SO not a baby any more, which makes Mommy very sad. You sit up on your own; you roll EVERYWHERE and put everything in your mouth. You have cut your bottom 2 teeth and they are starting to stick up. You LOVE to stand on your feet, you love to crawl, yes, I said it, crawl. It’s unreal. You absolutely 100% without a doubt love love love your sister Ella. You smile the biggest and laugh the loudest when she’s around. You belly laugh more than any person I know. You get sooo fussy when you are tired and can’t fall asleep. You have a really hard time falling asleep. You love peas and carrots and green beans and didn’t even flinch when we tried them a couple of days ago for the first time. You loved the swimming pool and didn’t even make a funny face when we got into the coooolllld water. You love your swing that Daddy put up outside for you this weekend. You seriously spent an hour in there last night. You like to be a part of the action whether it’s at our kitchen table, the TV or at 5:15 this morning when Daddy was getting ready for work. You love your mommy the most. You follow me with your eyes everywhere I go. You hear my voice and perk up, as long as you can see me, you’re the happiest. You love Daddy a lot too, but you love your mommy. You love eating your feet and playing with toys including your binkies! You love to put paper in your mouth or cheerios, depending on what you can get to quicker. You love to have your mouth open. Every once and awhile we will see you close your mouth so you can try and blow bubbles, but for the most part, your mouth is open ALL.OF.THE.TIME. It’s hilarious. Briggsy boy, you make our days happy and our nights full of joy. We love sitting at the table as a family. Ella in her big girl chair, Briggs in the highchair, and mommy and daddy in between. And you know what? You love it to. LOVE it. You love all of us to be in the same place laughing and smiling. We’re so excited that you’re a part of our family and so amazed at all you can do already. You’re an amazing little boy! We love you more than words can express!

Good For The Soul

Ah, the feeling of being refreshed, of being anew. That’s how I feel this week after visiting with good friends and having somewhat of a “college reunion.” It was good for the soul and frankly, just what I needed! My best friend Bria, her wonderful husband Kris & beautiful baby boy Kaden came to visit this weekend. Right behind her walked in our hilarious and life-loving friend Jamie, her awesome husband Nick, and their beautiful bouncing baby boy Nolan. Right behind them, came some of our dear friends Aaron and Katie, and my awesome sister Marie & my awesome BIL Brad. Our house was packed full of friends, family, babies, food and fun and I couldn’t have been happier. As I looked around, I sighed a deep breath of satisfaction. Back in our college days, this is EXACTLY what we dreamed for. Husbands, babies, a satisfying life full of friends and blessings. We are living our dream, all of us. Yes, there is a lot of snot, poop, worrying about money, house projects, job struggles, house projects and whether or not we are raising our kids up right or royally screwing them over, but all in all, this is exactly what we longed for.
I often say that I miss college. And it’s true; I do miss it a lot. BUT, I don’t think its college so much that I miss as it’s these wonderful people that traveled the college journey with me. I miss the idea of a slumber party every night. The thought of Bria helping me dissect some work problems and giving me a new outlook on things. The way that Jamie encourages me.
While Bria was here, we had a busy few days. We went out to dinner with the group above, came home, ate some pie and drank some wine, ate breakfast, ate lunch, took the kiddos to a waterpark, slept in, worked a bit, had another good college friend over for dinner, worked some more, went to the park and stayed up late talking and laughing. The weather was perfect while they were here. Spring started and the air is fresh and new providing a positive outlook on life, much like my soul feels after having a long weekend of visiting with good friends. Here’s to seeing the Jones Family and the Goins Family again soon. Let’s not wait so long to do this again!

4 Months Old

Briggs, today you are 4 months old! What a wonderful, wonderful kid you are. You are so delicious I could eat you up all day long. You have turned into the happiest, sweetest baby. You rarely whine, fuss or cry. You have started REALLY liking your binky (what a difference a month makes!) and now when you want your binkie you make this cute face with your tongue and roll your tongue all around. You love love love your sister, and she loves you. Just last night Ella was gone from you for a couple of hours and when I saw her, the first words out of her mouth was, “Where’s Briggs?” followed by a “Hi, Mommy.” When she climbed in her carseat next to yours, your face lit up and you were all smiles as she held your hand and “danced” with you and smiled at you. You two are going to be two peas in a pod! Last night, we took you grocery shopping. You LOVED being in the moby seeing everything I saw, you were so good, you didn’t let out one peep. Imagine how awful I felt when I finally made it up to the checkout, I looked down only to notice you were asleep!! I felt horrible because I have no idea how long you were asleep for! The second we set you down, you roll over. You are a moving machine. You roll from front to back and back to front and all around. You love Mommy’s hair and pull on it and everything else you can get your hands onto. You laugh out loud at the funniest things. We caught you on tape this last weekend laughing when we dropped a diaper on your face. You started cereal this month and the first full week we tried it, you just let it drip out of your mouth, you wanted nothing to do with it. NOW, you can’t get enough of it. We are basically shoveling it into your mouth to appease you! You started to sleep through the night on a regular basis last week, that all changed again this week with a growth spurt. Mommy is ready to get sleep, but, she knows her nights of cuddling up next to you are limited, so I’m not in any hurry. You still don’t love to take a bottle. You really don’t like to take one from Daddy when you’re at home. I’m pretty sure you know you’re home, and you think I should be there, but you can’t figure out why I’m not feeding you. You play with toys now and sit in your saucer. You sit up for the most part, toppling over after a minute or so, but you are VERY, VERY strong. Daddy and Mommy have seen you up on your knees a couple of times acting like you are trying to crawl. Boy, I am not ready for that! You use your voice all the time to coo at us and talk to us. You are on a pretty good wake, play, sleep, eat schedule cycle. You still love baths and love your mommy. You follow my voice with your head all around the house and keep dibs on me all of the time. We are so in love with you and so very happy you are a part of our family. Life wouldn’t be complete without you and you fill our hearts with joy everyday. We love you Briggs!

Sleep Issues

We’ve been dealing with a few sleep issues in our house as of late, here’s the run down:
#1-Dan snoring. This has been a problem for the last almost 7 years we’ve been married. I’ve grown accustomed to it, but when you’re awake feeding a baby for the 14,328 time, and your spouse is snoring logs next to you reminding you of the sleep you wish you were having, it becomes a tad annoying.

#2- Briggsy boy. Let’s just say that the boy likes his mom and his mom’s goodies. A lot. Especially at night, during sleeping hours.

#3- Ella sleepwalking/sleep talking. All of the sudden, Ella’s had a few sleep issues of her own. It started out with crying out in the middle of the night to which was easily solved by us going in her room and patting her back. Then we heard the footsteps…in the middle of the night. Scary the first time or two, yes, but, now we are secured with gates and latches, so we’re more prepared and less scared. Then, last night happened.

Let’s start out by saying that 2 nights ago, I “cleaned out” her bed, you know, books, blankets, miscellaneous toys and shoes that had made their way in her bed. What’s that you say, miscellaneous shoes? 12 of them. Count 6 pairs, 12 total shoes, hidden in my kid’s bed. She’s obsessed with her shoes. I put them all away and didn’t hear another word. UNTIL LAST NIGHT AT 3:12am. Ella started screaming out in the middle of her sleep, I ran in there and Ella was yelling, “Shoes, mommy, shoes, please, my shoes.” So what does any good mother do? I ran to her closet and gathered as many shoes as my hands could find in the dark and brought them to her bed. As she held onto her shoes with both arms and I covered her back up and patted her back, you could hear Ella say as she was falling back asleep, “Thank you mommy, my shoes. Thank you mommy.”

Wonder what we have to look forward to when she’s 16?!