Baby (food) Makin'

The following is my experience with making baby food. DISCLAIMOR: I am a total novice in this department; and do it as simple and easy as possible! This is just me sharing what has worked for us.

How I started: I never thought of making baby food for Caden. If I am being totally honest I only thought that was the kinda thing that hippies did. (right up there with using cloth diapers!....although that is SO not a jab to those who do that; I applaud you--and I am sure you save tons of money:) Anyways; with Charlie being the second child, I went to get him some food out of the pantry and "oops" no food. at.all. awesome. I got a banana and smashed it up and BAM it was easy and he loved it. Then, I called one of my girlfriends who makes her baby food and asked her about; she lent me this book. and that is how I started. (i skipped everything in the book and went straight to the "recipes" in the back.)

Why I kept doing it: It saves a LOT of money. simple as that. When your baby starts eating 2 containers/jars of food 3x a day it doesnt seem like much (it is about $1 for 2 things of baby food) BUT add it up and that is $21.00 a week. I spend $20.00 on fresh produce and it is enough food for over 2 month.

Here is my super-easy-cheapest-quickest way to food:

Step 1: Peel it

Step 2: Cut it

Step 3 & 4: Water it (2 tblspns. of water). Cover it (w/plastic wrap)

Step 5: Cook it. (depending on the food microwave anywhere from 8-12 minutes)

Step 6: Puree it. (I just use my blender)

Step 7: Pour it.

Step 8: Freeze it.

Step 9: Bag it.

There are a TON of variations of adding spices, etc. but we just keep it simple!

My "new" Chairs!

I am not crafty. or handy. but my friends are crafty and my dad is handy; which means I now have "new" kitchen chairs! Woohoo! My super crafty friend, Melissa, gave me a fabric scrap that I LOVED and it matched the colors of our house perfectly; so I went and purchased more of it. Then my dad came over and recovered my kitchen chairs for me. We have talked about getting a new kitchen table; but there is just something I love about ours and I have not been able to part with it. With new chairs covered (and cleaned!) its ridiculous how much better I think my kitchen looks. We are thinking about doing the same fabric/cornice bored above the window/curtains...what do you think?

old chair

new chair

the window we are thinking about doing the cornice board/fabric on...what do you think?

Only Me:)

I will admit; I am not the best driver in the world. I have wrecked a car, totaled another car and banged up a third car....see this post. So earlier this week I was just having one of those days. You know, the kind where I should have expected something to happen;) Well, I was on my way to Bible study (mind you, the one thing I do for myself each week) and I was feeling pretty good since I had just unloaded on my friend, Rachel. (quick note: we recently traded in my car for a truck and an SUV). I was driving the truck and am definately still getting used to it. So I made sure I found a parking spot that had two cars on either side (not SUVs). I pull in and there is really no other way to say what happened other than I got stuck. Seriously?! I somehow managed to perfectly maneuver the truck so that if I reversed/went forward I would definately do damage to the car next to me. oh.my.word. I call Chris (in a panic who just got to Community Group with the boys) and tell him he has to hurry up and get up to church. He gets there; starts laughing at me;) and tells me how impressed he is that I could do something like this. It is pouring down rain. I climb to the back seat, get out of the truck and then proceed to interrupt every Wednesday night Bible study taking place at FBC. We found the owner; somehow he managed to move his car; resulting in NO damage. miraculous. I don't know if the pic captures it but here it is:

GMS- What is it?

No; the title of this post is not a typo. What is GMS? I will give you 3 guesses. (1.....2.....3.......) okay it is Guilty Mom Syndrome.

definition: the name created for the irrational guilt moms (at least this mom!) feel all to frequently! ( I googled "guilty mom syndrome" and got 75,000 hits!)

Every day I wake up with the best intentions. Today, I will play with my kids; they will each get an equal amount of my undivided attention. I will teach them, laugh with them, be patient with them and love them like crazy. Then my kids wake up. We go through the grind of what is known as every day life. and dont get me wrong, we enjoy eachother and make memories and laugh and love and play; but somedays we do good just to survive:) Then as my babies are fast asleep the guilt/doubt/second guessing comes quietly creeping in. No; it hits me like a ton of bricks.

"You didnt spend enough quality time with Charlie"
"Caden didnt learn anything at all"
"You were way too impatient, checked your email too much, didn't make the right choice when it came to disciplining, __________________ , and on and on and on and on....

It has gotten much worse with 2 kids. the guilt. the "how can you say you want more kids when you cannot even handle the 2 you have?" Where does this guilt come from? I honestly believe that it is nothing more than Satan coming and attacking me where I am weak. where it will hurt the most. So how do I combat it? I pray. hard and often. I constantly remind myself of biblical "truths," I call my (best) friends and cry to them and unload on them. thank.God.for.friends. I call my mom.

If you are suffering from GMS; there is just one thing you can do. Keep loving your babies. Love them hard. And on days when it is really bad; pick them up snuggle them, hug them, kiss them, pray for them and just be with them. because at the end of the day; all that matters is that our children know they are loved.

My Favorite Muffin

In honor of Charlie being (almost) 9 months old; he had some muffin this morning--I will let you decide what he thought of it...

I may be bias but he is so cute! Don't you just want to take a little bite of those yummy cheeks?!

Positive Reinforcement

Okay y'all-- I am looking for some advice and creative ideas. We are big believers in positive reinforcement (if you read this blog or know us you also know we are big believers in discipline); I feel like reinforcing positive habits or behavior really help build up a child's self-esteem and also encourage them to continue making good choices. I believe things like going on the potty; saying yes m'am without being prompted, sharing, obeying the first time, etc. sometimes deserve something that says "that is awesome" or "I am SO proud of you!" I know words make a huge impact so if Caden makes a good choice I do use phrases and excitement to let him know that that is great and I am proud. But, sometimes I want to do a little more; or offer a little extra. However; I do not want to offer food as a reward (you will get a _____ if you do _____) because I do not want our focus to be on sweets; and I also (very rarely) want to offer a new toy. Here is an example of something that is kinda crazy but worked.

We are potty trained(ing) and I told Caden when you poop on the potty you may have a cupcake (what a hypocrite! I know I just said no food:)

Well, he went and when I went to make good on my promise he asked if I would put a candle on it....lightbulb--what if he was just excited to get to blow out the birthday candle and he actually forgets about that cupcake?! Well, go figure it worked! So blowing out the candle was something he thought was cool and motivated him a little more to go on the potty!

Other ideas: stickers; one mom told me she used a dry erase more and when she wanted to do something the kids thought it was cool to write on the board....I really want to hear some of you ideas!

What do you offer your kiddos to make them feel a little extra special?

Look Like Denim. Feel Like Pajamas.

I am a sweatpants kinda girl. Seriously. I can usually be found in sweatpants and t-shirts. When I saw an infomercial for pajama jeans I really started to laugh out loud. Maybe it is because I am tired; but have y'all seen this commercial? Maybe it is the serious "look like denim; but feel like sweatpants" vibe; but I mean really? I am not the kinda girl that can even pull off the "strechy" jeans. Nope. I need the real-life; stiff out of the dryer walk around and do lunges, 100% cotton-made to fit your figure kinda jeans.

Wordless Wednesday

One day....

he will kill me for this....