Baby Food

I'm trying to do a better job making Max and Claire's food.  Now that they are eating more, it is getting pretty expensive(to buy).  I have been buying the Plum Organics, Ella's Kitchen and a little bit of Gerber.
Last week I made chicken, sweet potatoes and carrots.  I have gotten good at making butternut squash and sweet potatoes...pretty easy!

But as many times as I have tried, I can't seem to get apples the right consistency.  I have baked them in the oven and I have steamed them.  The directions say it is one of the easiest to make.  What am I doing wrong?!
Yesterday I steamed apples and pears and even after steaming for 25 minutes, they were still pretty firm.

One of my favorites from Ella's Kitchen is a mixture of pumpkin and banana.  While at Earth Fare yesterday I was going to pick up a pumpkin - but they didn't have the pie pumpkins so I'll just have to wait on making that.

I have been slowly introducing more finger foods.  Our newest is toast and they love it!

What are some other good first finger foods?

East/West, North/South

Direction.  They are both moving and in opposite directions!  Max pulls himself (quickly) in all directions and Claire rolls.

and yes, I am still behind on baby proofing!

This morning they had scrambled egg (yolk) for the first time.  They loved it, although they wore most of it!

I also made dinner tonight. Go me!!  It was supposed to be like tetrazini, but I'm not good at following directions so it's my own concoction! 

2 chk breast (cooked)

1/2 lb noodles (half wheat, half not!)

1/2 yellow onion

mushrooms

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup milk

1/3c flour

1/3 stick of butter 

1/2 c parm cheese

-melt butter and add onion, garlic and mushrooms

add flour, chk broth, milk and bring to a bubble - add parm cheese

pour mixture over noodles and bake 350 for 30 min.

I served with peas ;)

And lastly, this picture of Max Man is the best!  This is his new party shirt!

Oh, one more thing.... Max waved(imitating me) for the first time today!  It was so cute!

p.s. i'm never talking again!

Max 8 Months

Oh, Max Man!  My big boy!  I can't believe I am already writing about your eight month.  You are now mobile.  You have been rocking for a while, but now you are pulling yourself along the carpet/rugs.  It's not quite an army crawl bc you use both hands at the same time, but it gets you where you want to go and fast!  This afternoon I left you and Claire positioned on the blanket what I thought was perfect positioning when I went to get the BOB out of the car and I came back in to find you at one end of the room and Claire at the other.  Oh.My.Word.  I'm in trouble!  You have moved your hands twice to try and do the traditional crawl.  Daddy and I have been cheering for you.
You love to give kisses (at least that's what I think they are!)  You will usually pull my hair on both sides and come at my face with an open mouth - sometimes you grab my cheeks to pull me in and do it with a huge grin on your face! it's the cutest.

You are the sweetest boy.  Daddy always says, "he's the Max Man"  Recently you have been babbling up a storm - mostly saying dadadada, although it's not to Dada.  You wake up with the biggest smile and sweetest voice*.  While we are on the waking up topic - you have been waking up entirely too early.  I'm not sure what your deal is.  Today you woke up at 5:15 and that is not ok!  I usually bring you in our room so you don't wake up Claire.  Your a pretty good napper and if you don't have your third nap, you get quite fussy- even if it's just a 45 min nap, you need it.  bath time is your favorite! You love to splash and play with toys.

You are a great eater!  We just recently started stage 3 foods and I have decided to be brave enough to feed you more finger foods.  Today at Costco, I gave you and Claire a sample of mac and cheese and you did great!  Tomorrow morning I might get real crazy and make you an egg yolk omelet!  We also just added breakfast to the schedule, making three meals a day along with your four bottles.  You love your bottle. Being a new mom, I didn't know to up the nipple size on your bottles, so until a few weeks ago, you have been at stage one!....which you like bc you never want your bottle to end!

You wear a size 3 diaper and most of your clothes are 9/12 months.  You are very long and the past couple of people to see you, comment about you looking like a toddler...but don't worry, you are still my baby.

*We love your sweet voice BUT you also whine.  Alot.  It's not cute and it's really annoying!  I'm on the lookout for a signing dvd so maybe that will help you tell us what you want instead of whining all the time!

Claire 8 Months

The Bear.  Oh Miss Claire, you are a mess!  We love you so much and talk about you ALL.THE.TIME!  You are growing up so fast and I swear you do something new each day.  Right now you are on the verge of crawling.  Usually, you roll across the floor.  I can't take my eye off you for a second.  I put a large blanket on the floor, but you would rather be scraping your hands on the carpet.  You are full of personality!  You have no problem letting us know how you feel.  Recently you have been a real Mama's girl.  The other day you cried when Big Ted, Lindsay and Parker held you.  I love when you want to cuddle with me bc that doesn't happen often.  You squish your nose up and have a "cheese" smile when you are happy or think something's funny.  Daddy loves it!  You smile more than people realize.  Actually you smile all the time, it's just hard to catch you on camera.

You love to eat.  I just started introducing stage 3 foods. The other night I made you chicken/sweet potatoes and carrots and you loved it!  I am going to try to do better at making your food.  You take four bottles a day and solids twice, although starting Monday we will do three times a day.  I also need to start giving you more finger foods.  You always put your hand in your mouth and reach for the spoon so I think you are ready.  You have had pieces of banana, avocado, puffs, yogurt melts and baby mum mums.  You get excited when you see the puff/melt bag!!

You sleep pretty well.  Usually you go to bed around 7:15 and wake up at 6/6:15.  You have been doing much better at naps which makes us all happy ;)  We still watch Baby Einstein in the mornings while I pump.  It holds your attention the best.  You and Max love the puppets so BeeBee went and got you some!
She also got you a swing for the back yard.  Unfortunately it has rained almost every day since we put it up, but we will definitely use it when it clears up.

You wear a size 3 diaper, although you probably could still wear a 2, it's just easier to buy one size and there is no way Max is going to wear a 2!  Most of your clothes are 6-12 mo and a few 9 mo outfits.  I think you are about 17 lbs now.  You have two bottom teeth.
You babble ALL the time!  I think your first babble was mamamama, but now all you say is dadadadada.  It's the cutest!

8 Months

8 Months......Already?

I swear each month goes by faster and faster.  I have noticed so much more this past month.  Their new thing right now is stealing toys.  We need to work on that.  It doesn't matter the toy, they are going to steal it - then comes whining and pouting....especially from the Bear!

They are both so close to crawling.  I keep my phone close by so I can video if they start.  There have been a few false alarms.  Max has been rocking for quite a while (close to 2 months) and Claire just recently started but she goes from seated position to all fours and isn't as afraid to move her arms.  Max still does a bunny hop with his knees - it's the cutest!  And recently he is pulling himself.. i guess kind of like an army crawl but with both hands at the same time.  They can still move their way around the room.
We really need to baby proof now bc we gave my brother and his wife our mamaroos that sat in front of the fire place.

They are in to EVERYTHING!

I am still pumping.  I dropped my midnight pump, so I am down to 4x a day.  After having the flu, my milk supply dropped drastically.  Hopefully I can make it to my nine month goal.

When no one is stealing toys, they are all smiles :)  The best is when they first wake up - which recently has been 6am.  I really can't complain bc they go to bed around 7:15.  I'm learning to adjust!

Taco Pie

This was one of my favorite dinners Mom made growing up.  It is easy peasy and oh so good!

Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef (or turkey) I used 93/7
tortilla chips (I use Snyders - they have the least amt of fat per serving)
1 can of  ff refried beans
1/2 sour cream (I used light)
1 cup of cheese (I used 2%)
1 packet of taco seasoning

Directions
Brown ground beef and add taco seasoning
Layer a baking dish with tortilla chips and pour meat on top
Spread beans on top of meat then spread sour cream
Sprinkle cheese
Crunch up a few handfuls of chips and sprinkle over cheese then add a little more cheese!

Bake at 350 for about 30 min or until heated through.
Serve with rice

*this time I got crazy and added 2oz of chopped green chiles and I think it was a great addition!

A first

It is rainy here today so I called the babysitter so I could go to the gym.  I haven't been much this summer bc we usually take two walks/run a day - no time for a gym when I can be with my babes!  However - I have a hard time being stuck indoors all day too!

*My First*
Today as I got on the treadmill and went to enter my weight, it was the first time I have pressed down on the generic weight that comes up!  It was so weird and made me realize what I have accomplished!!  I haven't pressed "down" since I have had a gym membership (around 15 years!)  And it was down multiple times!  Am I satisfied?  I should be. But I'm not.  I am proud, but there is still work to be done.  I need to add some strength training and work on the mid section.

I am proud of where I am especially since the BIG 30 is weeks away!!

Just the Four of Us!

We're back!  The four of us had a lovely time at the beach.  This was our first trip - just the four of us.  It was so quiet and relaxing!  Max and Claire did great and were so much fun to be with.  They are so funny all the time now!  The weather was eh, but that didn't matter!  We were able to relax and take naps and not have to worry about to-do lists and running errands :)

morning coffee on the porch

quality time with the Max Man

HA!  Personalities at their best :)

my two loves

the quiet cottage

morning runs not too bad with a view like this!

walks in the evening

I look forward to many more beach trips Just the Four of Us!

Hard Boiled Egg Chocolate Chip Cookies

Say that 10 times fast! I found these on one of my favorite food blogs.  Sounds weird, huh?!  Well, I must say they did not disappoint!

The only difference is I added a few m&ms!
http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/hard-boiled-egg-chocolate-chip-cookies-recipe/1/

We have decided a last minute trip to the beach.  The weather isn't going to be the best, but it will be nice just to get away.  This is our first family trip - just the four of us.  Got our sweats and a good bottle of wine :)

Have a good weekend!

How not to make cake balls!

Sunday night I had the great idea to make cake balls with my sister in law.  After having a delicious one this weekend made by a friend, I thought we'd give it a shot.  We decided on strawberry with vanilla icing.
Part I went great.
Make cake, then crumble and mix with icing.

side note:  since these are FULL of fat, I decided to try an old weight watcher trick - add diet sprite instead of butter/oil and eggs.  It still taste delicious and the only complaint I used to get when making it that way, was that it crumbled...i was doing that to it anyway so I thought what the heck!


Next roll into balls and freeze for an hour

After an hour put lollipop sticks in and put back in freezer - we did overnight

Here's where it went bad and NOT to follow!
Melt chocolate (use a bakers chocolate) then dip balls in and return to parchment paper

This is supposed to look shiny - not clumpy!  I think we melted to long and then did the biggest no no by adding some milk to thin it.  OOPS!!

these two were actually done before we clumped it too bad!

I will definitely give it another try.  They still tasted delicious :)  I'm thinking of trying some fun ones for Halloween :)

What we've been up to

I still have not downloaded pictures from our nice camera, but I have lots from my phone to share!

"Look, Mom! A present!!"

playing with Monkey

Max and Claire meeting Anella for the first time

ready for Game day even though we lost.... again :(

 Sitting up so big in shopping carts and high chairs!

:)

Finally!

As of 5pm today, we have our computer back!!  I still have to re install our camera program so I can upload those pictures, so cell phone pictures it will be today!

 first time riding in a cart together!

Sweetness!

But - I think he was apologizing for pulling her hair just moments before!

One week

That's how long it has been since we have had our computer. Ugh. I didn't realize how much I relied on the computer. I thought I would just miss being on Facebook and blogging - but turns out I was forgetting that all my recipes are on the computer, I can't upload pics, I can't check the weather radar (I could do from phone but it's harder), I use Internet as our phone book, shopping on etsy.... List goes on!

So this morning I took a USB to the computer guy to back up pictures, music and recipes but turns out the 8 gb USB that I took wouldn't hold the 26 gb I needed to back up bi think I had 6000 pictures (since 2007). Lesson learned - back up as you go. Really, I just needed the past year. There is no price for all the pics
We have.

So hopefully this will be the last post without pictures - then it will be picture overload!

Happy Wednesday!

Still waiting

We are still waiting to get our computer back. They have had it since last Thursday. I didn't realize how much I depended on our computer!
Hopefully we will have it tomorrow. I'm sure the guys are tired of me calling asking when it will be ready!

Luckily I have an iPhone and can still read everyone's blogs :)

greetings!

So, our computer is still in the shop and we won't be able to pick it up until Tuesday.  Luckily, they are going to be able to fix it, and it should be able to last at least until the new year.  I miss having the internet, but it is also nice not to have something to keep me up. 
Justin is off to Atl, for the first UGA game.  Max and Claire are having their first sleep over!!!  So far so good!!  Full recap on Tuesday when our computer comes home!!

Happy Labor Day!  Any fun plans?