Homemade Baby Food ...Organic Deliciousness!!!

I absolutely could not wait for my little guy to turn 6 months old so we could try solid foods with him!  At first he wasn't too fond of solid food.  He didn't hate it, but he didn't love it.  So we only gave it to him occasionally.  I think the main thing is finding out what food and textures your baby likes.  I would introduce a new food to him every week and after about 2-3 weeks we found out what little mr likes LOVES to eat!

His favorites so far are avocados (a boy after my own heart), sweet potatoes, bananas, applesauce and peaches.  You definitely need to be careful with bananas and applesauce because they're very "binding" and your little one will get their first case of constipation ...like my little guy did :o(  LESSON LEARNED!!  Now I only give him bananas and applesauce once a week and I always mix it with another fruit like peaches or prunes.  Here's a nifty tip ...pretty much any fruit that starts with a 'P' will help keep your little one "regular".  So if you find that your baby is a little "backed up" feed them fruits that start with 'P' for a few days and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate and that should get them back on track ;o)  Because we all know that a constipated baby IS NOT a happy baby! LoL

Ok, enough of that ...lets get down to business!

Today I spent the first part of my morning making some delicious organic baby food for Hunter!  I made peaches, plums and avocados.

Avocados are SUPER easy to make and are also a great first food for your baby!  All I do is cut up 2 avocados and put it in my magic bullet (any food processor/blender will do) and add a little bit of water.  

Then blend until smooth and creamy (adding more water if necessary).

My little taste tester was in the kitchen with me while I was making his food.

Judging by his "avocado stache" I'd say he likes it ;o) LoL

Now all you have to do is transfer it into an ice cube tray and freeze for about an hour.

Now the peaches and plums will take a little bit longer because you have to cook them.  Cut your peaches and plums in half and take the pits out.  Lay them face down on a baking sheet with an inch of water and bake them in the oven at 400° until you see the skin start to pucker (about 40 min).

(PS ...Your house will smell AMAZING after baking these yummy fruits!!  BONUS!!!)

After they're done baking, I cut each piece into 1/4 and put it in the bullet with a little bit of water.

Then blend until smooth and creamy (adding more water if necessary).

Delicious peach puree!  Seriously, this tastes amazing ...I might just make some for myself later ;o) LoL

Again, transfer into ice cube trays and freeze.

(the one plum only made 6 cubes, so if you want to make more, I would buy more than one plum)

After you're done freezing you can move them into a tupperware container and keep it in the freezer for up to 3 months.  Any length of time after that and your food won't have any of the good nutrients that your baby needs.  They recommend trying to use up your frozen baby food within 1 month (which isn't a problem for us the way that my kid loves his food!) to get the most nutritional value out of your food.

See, I told ya it was easy!  Now you have your very own homemade delicious baby food!  

So stop wasting your money on expensive glass jars and packages of baby food and go out and make some yourself! :o)  I hope you guys are having a fantastic week so far and Happy Friday Eve!

Summertime Favorites!

Here in Florida it's practically summer almost the entire year, which I'm sure you "Northerner's" must think is an absolute dream come true ...FALSE!!!  While it can be fun, it can also be complete torture!  Especially when your favorite season is fall and it pretty much doesn't feel like fall until January/February!  But, I digress ...here in the good 'ol sunshine state we need to be prepared (especially with a baby)!  So, I've compiled a list of some of my summertime favorites for our little guy.

one . two . three . four . five . six . seven . eight

1. Badger Chamomile & Calendula Baby Sun Cream SPF 30 ($16).  We found this little treasure at Whole Foods and saw that it was on sale so we decided to try it out.  We absolutely LOVE it!!  It provides great protection and goes on nice and thick, but it's so smooth and easy to rub in (which if you have a child, you know it's not fun trying to wrangle them down to put sunscreen on them)!  I find that I only have to apply it once every 1-2 hrs which is super nice and it smells like chamomile tea ...BONUS!!!

2. Carter's Sunglasses ($4).  I picked up these cute little sunglasses at Target (shocker)!  They don't bother Hunter at all!  He will keep these on all day without whining or trying to take them off of his face.  They are a super dark tint which is very important to protect my little guy's baby blues :o)  And you can't beat the price ...gotta love Target!

3. & 4. iExtreme Infant Rashguard ($13) and Circo Infant Boy's Swim Trunks ($8).  These super cute summertime essentials were also purchased at Target (I would seriously go there every day if I could!)

5. Baby Banz UPF 50 Adjustable and Reversible Bucket Hat ($19).  I actually received this awesome hat as part of my July Stork Stack.  They're called Baby Banz because it "Banz" the sun's harmful rays from your little one's noggin!  Talk about adorable!

6. Huggies Little Swimmers Swim Diapers ($10).  These little swim diapers are awesome!  They are super easy to get on and off and they don't bulk up and explode onto your child like regular diapers do.  I especially love to use them if we're just getting into our pool for a quick dip and don't feel like trying to pin him down to put on his swim trunks! LoL  And if you go on their website you can get a coupon to save $1!  Score!

7. Swimways Sun Canopy Float ($15). TARGET!  TARGET! TARGET! LoL  This float is just great!  Hunter fits in it perfectly and it supports him great on all sides because of how wide all the sides are!  I never have to worry about him leaning too much one way and tipping over.  It also has a removable plastic sun canopy for extra protection!  I love watching him in this float because his little legs just start kicking away and he takes off all around the pool!  He's like a little duck! LoL :o)

8. Baby Einstein Exersaucer ($90).  This was actually a "hand-me-down" from a friend.  We love to take the boat out on the weekends and this is great for the boat!  We just sit him down in it either in the boat or on the sand and it's hours of entertainment for him ...which is a nice break for this momma's arms :o)

He seriously LOVES this thing!! :o)

So what are some of your favorite summertime essentials??  I hope y'all are having a fabulous and relaxing weekend!

Chalkboard Art

I've had a few people asking me to do a tutorial for my chalk art.  So ...here it is!

I've had my 4th of July chalkboard up for quite some time, so I decided that with it being almost August (craziness!) that if I was going to do a "Summer Chalkboard" that this would be my only time to do it, because Fall (MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR!!!) is just around the corner y'all ;o)

In this tutorial I'm going to show you how to clean your chalkboard, how to get rid of "ghosting" (as best as possible) and how to draw on your chalkboard and make it oh so pretty :o)

So here is my chalkboard...

Cute right? LoL :o)

So to begin cleaning my board I just took a regular old washcloth and wiped it down.

Pretty bad right?

So, then I took that washcloth and wiped it down with warm water.

It looks great wet, but then it starts to dry and looks like this...

No bueno!! The "ghosting" from my previous masterpiece is showing through pretty bad.  So I researched online (God bless the world wide web!) and found a simple solution of warm water and vinegar that gets rid of most of the "ghosting".

You mix 1/2 c of vinegar with warm water and wipe off your board with a microfiber cloth (to prevent leaving lint on your board).  I washed my board twice with this solution and it came out pretty good!  There were still a few marks left, but not nearly as bad as before!

So, now that your board is clean figure out what you want to draw.  I got my inspiration from a pretty little picture of someone else's chalkboard that I found on Google images (the old school version of Pinterest LoL).

So let's get started!  To make your drawing bright and vibrant just dip the tip of the chalk into a glass of water.  When you first start drawing it's going to look like its barely showing up, but don't worry you're doing it right.  When the chalk dries it will show up super bright!  The first thing I like to do is draw out my border so I know how much space I have to work with.  

Once the border is drawn out, I take a ruler (or a ridiculously long yardstick because I can't find my ruler) and draw a faint line to help with the lettering.  I do everything free handed.  And even though I'm somewhat of a perfectionist, I find that the "not so perfectionism" of doing everything free handed adds to the charm and character of chalk art :o)  I think that's one of the things I like most about chalk art is that you can play around with it, tweak it and make it your own (even if you're copying someone else's chalkboard art)!

Once I'm finished I like to get a wet q-tip and erase all the lines I made for the lettering and for the little mistakes I've made along the way to clean up my board.  And the q-tips are great for getting in those small spaces!

And viola!  Now you have your very own personalized piece of art that you can change year round and for all occasions!

So hang that bad boy up on your wall and be proud of it!  Because you my friend are now a master at chalk art ;o)

What type of things do you like to draw on your chalkboard? If you have any tips and suggestions about chalkboarding I'd LOVE to hear them!  Happy "Hump Day" and I hope you are all having an awesome week!

Summer Fun!

Well, another weekend has come and gone :o(  These weeks seem to be going by faster and faster now that it's summer!!  Our family is constantly out and about and doing something outside ...even though it's starting to get seriously hot down here in FL!  We've found that the best way to beat the heat is to be out on the boat and in the lake :o)

(Yes, we're Floridians but it's the beginning of boat season!  So, please forgive our whiteness!! LoL)

  

This is our first year having a baby out on the boat and thankfully HE LOVES IT!!  We definitely have a water baby on our hands :o) 

I was surprised at how much he LOVED being in the water!  He would start whining when we picked him up!   I'm guessing he probably liked the feeling of being weightless :o) LoL

When we go out on the boat we are always making yummy food on the grill!  My hubby is pretty much the grill master ;o)  He has a way of cooking chicken to perfection!  Putting BBQ sauce on this chicken would be a sin!  His chicken is perfectly cooked through, never dry and always super juicy and delicious!! :o)

We gave Hunter a chicken bone to gnaw on and he went CRAZY!!!  This little boy thinks his daddy's chicken is pretty tasty too ;o)

My hubby loves to snorkel while we're on the lake to look at all the fish and see what he can find on the bottom of the lake floor.  

This time he found a $20 bill!!!

All the fun on the boat wore him out!! LoL

I'd say it was a pretty great day on the lake :o)  What are your favorite things to do during the summer??

I hope you all are having a great Monday and that you have a wonderful holiday week filled with summer fun with friends and family!

Stork Stack {June Review}

We've received another delivery from the stork and just like the others it is AWESOME and does not disappoint!

This month's theme was Picnic Party!  Since the first day of summer is in the month of June, it's the perfect theme!  In my book, summer is all about the picnics, BBQ's and outdoor activities!!  

So lets took a look inside and see what we got :o)

Animal Jalopies

This super cute wooden turtle is from Tree Hopper Toys. They are a family-owned toy maker on the outskirts of Chicago. Using American hardwoods to handcraft their line of distinctive toys that curious children love!  I let Hunter try playing with it, but this toy might be a little too hard for him to play with now. He loves to hit himself in the face with every toy right now ...really hoping that's a phase! LoL 

Moisturizing Cleansing Cloths

These luxurious moisturizing cleansing cloths are from Susan Brown's Baby and are designed to give you the ultimate in gentle cleansing. They're enriched with First Skin Emollient Complex, a dermatologist tested array of rich botanical moisturizers including shea, moringa, coca, and jojoba butters.  They are also oil free, chlorine free, dermatologist tested and hypoallergenic!!!  That definitely gives this organic momma peace of mind using them on my sweet little babe :o)  Besides all of that good stuff, they have been able to bottle up the smell of a newborn baby and package it into these wipes!!!  I just love the smell of a new baby ...who doesn't?!

Teething Feeder

I was super excited when I saw this little teething feeder from Sassy Baby in our stack!  Hunter will be starting on solid foods within the month and I can't wait to try it out!!

Baby Paper

Whoever came up with this next toy is an absolute GENIUS!!!  As soon as I took it out of the box I thought to myself, "Baby Paper?!  Now this is one of those ideas I'm mad that I didn't come up with!".  It's something so simple, but something that babies absolutely love and will provide hours of endless entertainment for them!  It's small enough for little fingers to grasp and made of a soft material that has a crinkly, paper sound when touched.  This is definitely Hunter's new favorite toy :o)

Roasted Seaweed Sheets  

A special treat just for mom :o)  These snacks are from GimMe Health Foods.  Their daughter came up with the name GimMe because "gim" means seaweed in Korean and because everyone says "gimme more!" after tasting these delicious little treats! LoL  These snacks are the first and only seaweed products on the planet to be certified organic and verified Non GMO.  I haven't personally tried them yet, but I absolutely LOVE seaweed salad, so I have no doubt that I will love these as well :o)

This concludes another AWESOME Stork Stack!  I look forward to the beginning of every new month, not only because that's when my little guy turns another month older and I get to watch him learn and grow even more, but that I also get another wonderful delivery full of goodies for both of us from the amazing people at StorkStack!!  It's seriously worth the membership and believe it or not, I think it actually helps me save money by not going out and buying Hunter new toys all the time :o) 

I hope you all are having a great start to the week!!

Got Milk? {Update!}

Ok, so in my last post I was raving about the wonderful little miracle supplement that is Fenugreek.  Well, I have a very important update!  Buyer beware!  Apparently my son is one of the rare cases where his stomach can't tolerate my milk with the Fenugreek :o(  Unfortunately I had to find this out the hard way.  

A couple of weeks ago I was putting my son to bed and I thought he felt a little warmer than usual so I checked his temp and it read 98.7 and his normal temp is around 96.4.  So, he was a little bit warmer than normal, but nothing to be concerned about ...or so I thought.  He woke up screaming around 12:30am and by the way he was screaming I knew something was wrong.  I rushed to his nursery to pick him up and he was BOILING HOT!!!  I immediately went into freak out mode!  I grabbed the thermometer to check his temp and he was 101.4!!!  I rushed down the hall to wake up my husband and tell him what was going on.  He's a paramedic, so it definitely helps calm this momma's nerves!  He said the best thing to do was to undress him and get him under a fan to try and cool him down and lower his temp.  Thankfully after about 30 min we were able to lower his temp down to 99.7 ...not great, but not over 100.  I nursed him and was able to put him back to sleep.  I camped out on the floor of his nursery for the rest of the night.  

The next time he woke up was about 1.5 hrs later ...not usual.  I checked his temp and it was still at 99.  I checked his diaper and he had pooped ...which he rarely does at night, so I thought that was odd.  My son's normal poop pattern was about once every 3-4 days since he was about 3 months.  So, I changed his diaper and rocked him back to sleep.  He woke up again within the hour and he had pooped again ...oh no, it's diarrhea!!  His poop was now super runny, green, smelled horrible and had mucous in it (sorry for the gross details)!!  Immediately we started doing research!  Unfortunately with babies every symptom they have could be a number of about 1,000 different things that could be wrong with them.  We narrowed it down to possible teething and the new supplements that I had been taking.

When you take Fenugreek supplements they are in fact magical because you can feel them working right away (or at least I did).  As I said in my last post, I doubled my milk supply within the same day that I started taking them!  But apparently the milk you start producing is more of the front milk (the sugary stuff) instead of the hind milk (the good fatty stuff that makes babies stay full and sleep longer).  It's funny because even my hubby had noticed a difference in the way my milk looked!  It looked more blueish/white (like skim milk) instead of a creamy yellow.  Poor little guy had his tummy full of sugar milk and he did not react well to it!  Now, this does not apply to all babies!  Some babies do not react to this at all, which is awesome, my little guy just wasn't one of them :o(

After about 2 days of my little guy's tummy being upset he FINALLY started acting normal again!  Before when he was sick we would talk to him and try to get him to smile, but he was just get the saddest look on his face and start crying :o(  When he woke up on the 3rd morning he was smiling and talking to me as if nothing had happened!  Talk about a sigh of relief for this momma!  The bummer was that I went back to only pumping 2-3 oz :o(

So, I started searching for alternative methods to increasing your milk supply.  The more I researched and read the more I learned that breastmilk is all about supply and demand!  Your baby tells your body how much milk he needs and while my baby was getting what he needed, I want to pump extra to have some stored up in reserves for him.  Thankfully I had a wonderful friend tell me about this wonderful little secret called power pumping!  It's a little demanding, but totally worth it!  What you do is hook yourself up like a cow to your breast pump for about an hour (best to do this at night or during nap time) and start pumping!  The trick is, you only pump for 10 min at a time.  Pump for 10 min, then break for 10 min ...pump for 10 min, then break for 10 min, and so on and so forth for the next hour.  It doesn't matter how much milk you're able to get in that session, but it helps to stimulate your glands to produce more milk!  After just one day of power pumping twice I was able to pump 6 oz on my own without any supplements!  Your body is truly an amazing machine that God designed!

Please let me know if you all have any questions about any of this!  I've done a TON of research and would love to help someone if they need it!  I'm pretty sure I'm going to look into becoming a lactation consultant because I really do have a passion for breastfeeding, other momma's and their babes!  I hope you all are having a fantastic week and Happy Friday Eve to all you working momma's out there (PS... I have no idea how y'all do it! LoL)