adventures in baby food making

Top o' the evening to ya! Happy St. Patty's Day! How cute is that little leprechaun?!

I've always said I wanted to make my own baby food once we had a baby. It seemed really easy, much cheaper, AND I like the idea of controlling the ingredients. When I got the iPad, I downloaded the book, Top 100 Baby Purees, by Annabel Karmel. It breaks it down in to stages of your baby. I love it...and everything seems simple & most of the purees are freezable. This week I started making solids for the babe & will definitely continue!

I spent around $5 and made apples, carrots, and broccoli. Not bad! I don't have an actual steamer, so I just added a little bit of water to my pots and simmered until my veg/fruit was tender. Pop it in the food processor and add your simmering water until it reaches the consistency you want. Um, yeah, doesn't get much easier than that!

3 ice cube trays of food later...we are in business & ready to start solids! Carrots and apples were a huge hit. Broccoli, not so much. Ha. No big surprise there!

As you can see, more of the broccoli ends up on him rather than in him.

In other news, my spring break begins tomorrow! {insert a big "holla!!!"} G and I are heading to Atlanta to see my fam and friends on Saturday. It's my first road trip with just baby. Actually, baby #1 (Jack) will be riding in his carseat shotgun while baby #2 (G) rides in the back. Yes, Jack has a carseat. duh. Here's to hoping that we have a quiet car ride! I'm a little bit nervous!

tidbits.

This past weekend was superb. I love love love having my husband home! The time change was my friend too. Grayson has gone from waking up at 5:30 to waking up at 7:00! Here's to hoping that lasts!

Ben's dad can build just about anything. He made a great dog house when Huddy was (GASP!!!) an outside dog. Now that house is used as a perch for Hud and Ellie:) Well, he made a toy box/shelf for all of G's things! I love it! He even stained it to match the pottery barn furniture on the opposite wall of the bonus room.

I think Grayson approves. By the way, CHECK OUT THE CUTE TOOTH!!

"see mama, all mine!"
I think it's neat that Grayson and other future May babies will have a piece of furniture from their Pops. I know those shelves will be full in no time!

I had grand jury duty today (which by the way, I love.) so I was finished for the day at 1:30. I had so many things I could do before I picked G up from school, but I decided that I wanted to make my first batch of baby food. Post on that coming soon! Anyways, I think big boy liked his solids!
He is growing up so fast...I can't even deal! He is now officially rolling all around in his sleep & stressing me out. He sleeps 12 hours and I am waking up all night looking at the monitor stressing about him being on his tummy. The pediatrician told Ben today that he is fine to sleep on his tummy now. Why does that make me so nervous??

a boy and his dog(s).

Our dogs were our first babies. I've had Jack since I was 19 and then Hudson & Ellie followed a few years down the road. They've been terribly neglected on the blog recently, but I assure you, they are still ridiculously spoiled. I was really nervous before G came along about them acting crazy and being jealous. But, I have the best dogs ever and they love Grayson. Well, Hud & El love Grayson. Jack ignores him...that's what he does best.

Grayson loves his brother, Huddy! This is what happens after a long day at school.

Grayson squeals and screeches to Huddy, telling him all about his busy day with his baby friends.

See? True love. Hudson is the sweetest, most understanding, and patient dog...ever.

I'm so glad that all my babies get along so well. He's definitely my child!

grass under my feet.

It's weird to me that Grayson hasn't experienced some of the simplest things in life. It's been fun seeing things through the eyes of a baby and watching him explore new things. Today he felt grass for the first time.

It was in the low 70's today here in Nashville and we spent lots of time outside! After sitting for a few minutes not sure about what to think of grass, G decided that a taste test was the best way to see if he did indeed like the outdoor elements.

He was a serious boy checking everything out.

do. not. smile. for. mama.

He was pretty unsure about the whole situation.

Look at his hair!! It's so long that it now blows. Again with the seriousness! He was all business today.

Hopefully the nasty cold & rainy weather is gone for good and we can play outside!...but not in the grass, obviously.

nom nom.

I have said before that I love Publix. They are by far my favorite grocery store and it pretty much rocks that we have one in our neighborhood. Spoiled, I know. Each week they have great recipes that I try out. Last week was bbq! We don't have a smoker, so I got really excited when I saw that this recipe used the crockpot! I just made this tonight...it got 2 thumbs up from hubs!

Memphis-Style Pulled Pork
1 3.5lb Boston pork butt roast
1 32 oz. box of beef broth
1 onion
6 cloves garlic
1 18oz. bottle of memphis style bbq sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup cider vinegar
3 tbsp water
2 tbsp cornstarch
fresh cracked pepper

Slice onion thickly and chop garlic. Lay on bottom on crockpot. Add broth, bbq sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, and pepper. Add roast. I cooked mine on low all day long because my crockpot is notorious for getting supper hot. Take the roast out and add your cold water/cornstarch combo to the sauce to thicken it up. Add pork back in and shred. I bought buns from the deli (yay for yummy bread) and we served it with waffle fries.

So good! If you like bbq...try this recipe!

i live for the weekend.

I was so ready for spring and spring clothes...and then I woke up this morning to 40 degree weather! Boo! Now that I am getting skinny-ish, I am ready to go clothes shopping. Nothing from this past summer will fit (thank God, I was 8 months pregnant and swollen like a water balloon) and nothing from the summer before that will fit. For once, clothes not fitting will be a good thing! I only lost .4lbs last week--is that even possible??--and I maintained this week. Now it's time to get serious. I say this as I drink a glass of red vino...ha! No really, me and that baby WILL be at the pool this summer and I don't want to be wearing a bathing suit that the Duggar girls would wear. Biggest Loser Max Results...here I come!

Speaking of shopping, I really want to go to Forever 21. I don't buy expensive clothes. Ever. I love TJ Maxx, Target, anything on sale, and Forever 21. They always have longer shirts that hide that stupid below the belly button pooch...love that! I can't deal with the fact that the models look like they are 16 years old and are like a -AA. I will not look like that in those shirts...not by a long shot.

If you are a working mama, I am sure you will agree that you begin living for the weekends. I love having all day to hang out with Grayson. I feel like I miss out on so much when I am at school! He is plastered all over my walls and computer desktop at work. When I turn on my smartboard I always hear "awwwwww look at Grayson!!" coming from 19 six year olds:)

We did nothing this weekend and it was glorious. It was cold and rainy which was a good excuse to stay in my yoga pants most of the time. Lots of sleeping happened this weekend...yay for teething?
It is so fun now that G is sitting up. He can play with his toys so much easier & is now starting to reach for/grab everything. in. sight. We ate lunch at Puckett's yesterday and I made sure to bring Sophie, a ball, and his keys. What did he want? Ben's ridiculously large knife. Typical.

Yesterday we also went to Kid to Kid and got a new baby einstein dvd & 4 spring/summer outfits. I have a problem with jon jons and bubbles. It's more like an addiction. I'm glad that G was a boy because we would be in big trouble if we had a girl first! I can't wait until we can play outside in the sunshine!

guess what?

I have big news to share!

Mama said I got my first tooth this week! I even got a certificate of achievement at school. I'm a pretty big deal. The award tasted pretty good!

Mama kept trying to pry my mouth open to get a picture of this so called "tooth." I wanted nothing to do with that mess! I have better things to do...like roll around on the couch, laugh at my dog friends, and try to grab and eat everything in sight.

What's the big deal over a tooth anyways?

Fine. Here it is. You gotta look closely!

...okay, time to go tell all of my baby friends!