So our first Thanksgiving with bug was the best!  She is right at that age where she curious about everything and jabbers non stop so she [and everyone else] had a ball playing through out the day.

We were up way too early to head to my mom's to help her finish cooking for lunch at my grandparents house.  We arrived there around 11 to eat lunch around 11:30.  It was so good to see everyone and to watch Bug and Kenzee "play", its more like Bug lays there and Kenzee crawls around her lol but its still adorable to watch.  We left there around 2 to head back to the house to cook for Thanksgiving dinner at our house with Spencers parents.  We ate dinner at the house around 5:30 with them and then just hung around the house for the rest of the night.  It was overall a pretty laid back holiday for us as we gear up for the madness of the Christmas season.

isnt she the cutest <3 she was in the middle of her sentence when I snapped this

So in favor of Black Friday I thought I would post some of my favorite outfits for bug and I for the holidays.  I did some major damage on OldNavy/ GAP.com this morning.  Gap was running a 50% off sale and Old Navy had 15% off.  I'm also really into cable knit right now so I picked us both up several pieces and I cant wait to be obnoxiously matchy matchy with my sweet girl.

bow shirt dress || navy tights || cable knit sweater || cable knit onesie || knit scarf || sweater dress

 

 

Bug's Christmas Wish List

So What do you buy a child that 1. has almost everything she needs and doesn't know what she wants and 2. that can't really do anything....  I'm convinced that after Christmas our house will officially look like a circus with all the bright colors and toys everywhere.  I do want to get her some educational, fun toys, a nicer snuggle blanket and some fun plush toys.  So I did some research by searching other moms blogs with children similar in age mixed with some googling and the below is what I have come up with.

 



Elefun Ball Popper || Splash the Cat ||Rock a Stack || Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube || Bambi Deer Doll || Anywhere Chair 

 

I'm positive she will also get some things like new books and way too many clothes but I just also wanted to get her some things that would be fun to play with while helping her reach those next milestones... or for her to chew on- which lets be honest will be the more likely scenario.

Bug is 5 Months

So this actually happened last week but to put it mildly last week was pure madness.  We've been trying to prepare for the holidays [Thanksgiving before Christmas of course] and working crazy work schedules so it was nice to have this bit of normalcy amongst the craziness.

She is practically laughing out loud and "talking" like a little chatter box!  We're listening closely because it wont be long until she spits out a word and were fighting/ betting over which she will say first, mama or dada.  We both get in her face constantly repeating each one over and over to which she just giggles.  She has found her feet and how to put them into her mouth.  She also rolled over on November 2nd and now every time you put her in the floor she automatically does it.  She also started a little bit of solids- cereal and some carrots- and she loved sitting in her highchair at the table like a big girl.  She can put quite a bit of weight on her legs and loves to stand for short periods of time and she's a pro at sitting up assisted.  She loves to giggle and she's very ticklish- she has the sweetest baby laugh.  She has also learned how to scream in this little shrill voice.

 This is what I have to work with trying to get one good picture each month haha


                     

 

hello.

 

snuggling aunt Gwen

 

matching in camo

 

ill just chew on my foot while I watch Mickey

 

 

 

covered in drool

 

what they do best

 

 

 

matching aunt Gwen and no pre-planning was involved

 

 

 

first food

 

loving the high chair like a big girl

 

 

Halloween 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go Vols!

 

 

 

 

 



Making Baby Food: Take One

So I decided to try to make my own baby food.  I have been pretty passionate about Bug being strictly on breast milk and I love the fact that I know what she's getting so I thought what better way to continue that than making her food myself.  She has been so interested in our food lately and has done really well with sitting up [assisted] so I thought she was ready to test the waters a bit.  I did a little research before hand and decided we would start with sweet potatoes and apples; I know you're supposed to start with a veggie but we sometimes bend the rules.  So I started off with 4 medium sweet potatoes and 4 red apples.

I washed everything and then preheated the oven to 400.  I wrapped the potatoes in aluminum foil and threw them in the oven for around 40 minutes.

I then cored my apples, peeled them and cut them into cubes.

I boiled them for around 12 minutes then threw them into the blender and puréed them for a minute or so. 

I poured the puréed apples into an ice cube tray and popped them in the freezer.

I then scooped out the potato and put it in the blender.  I had to add about 1/3 cup of water while blending it to make it smooth.  I then poured the potatoes into ice cube trays and put them in the freezer.

So here's the cost break down:

4 apples yielded 16 servings: .28 per serving

4 sweet potatoes yielded 28 servings: .08 per serving

In all it took me about an hour but it would be easy to add a couple more of each, like I said we just want to test the water ;)  So I then just popped them out of the trays, put them in gallon freezer bags and put them date on them.

 

Next I think we will try carrots and maybe peas which I'm just positive she will hate ha-ha

 

**Bug did try a little of the apple that night and she did really well with it, probably confused on the texture and the spoon, but over all I think she will like starting solids.

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One Pot Beef Stew

Spencer got on this kick a couple of months ago to start eating healthy... I'm talking body building healthy.  I was apprehensive because I didn't want to compromise good, flavorful food for something that was technically better for you or lack luster in taste.  If you know my husband you also know that he's really hard to please with food, I have all but failed to win him over with ever recipe I have tried off Pinterest.  So he found bodybuilding.com and their recipe database.  Almost ever recipe that I have tried from this site he has loved and I do have to admit they're usually pretty flavorful and easy to put together.

I found this recipe on their site and made some very minor adjustments to satisfy our tastebuds.  I'm not even kidding when I say we have this at least once a week and there are no leftovers.  Since I brown hamburger meat in advance and freeze it I can usually have this on the table from start to finish in about 20 minutes.

We [meaning Spence] like things a little spicy so I just use hot picante salsa but you can definitely use mild and it would be just as good!

One Pot Beef Stew

Serves 4

I lb hamburger meat

1/2 cup water

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup salsa

I can tomato soup

1 cup diced onion

1 1/2 cups carrots

1/2 tsp minced garlic

2 tbsp minced onion flakes

Brown hamburger meat and drain off excess grease.  Add minced garlic and sauté for 1 minute.  Add in chopped onion and carrots and sauté for additional 2 minutes. Add in the rest of the ingredients and cook on medium high for about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cover for 10 minutes or until carrots are tender, stir every couple of minutes.

**The original recipe called for 1 cup mushrooms so I added some extra carrots instead and it called for 1/2 cup shredded cheese which I omit all together.