New outfit #2

Atti wore today's outfit to HEB. He looks like such a big kid! Outfit by Rocawear, size 12 months.

Things you learn as a parent

Wow! It's been forever since I have blogged. I think the last time was right after Atti's first tooth arrived. As of today, he has 5 teeth with the sixth one well on it's way and he will turn the big one in two weeks!

Right now, all three babies have been snoozing away for almost two whole hours and Will is still working so I have found myself with some free time. I know, that hardly ever happens!

We recently came back from visiting our families for one whole week. During our vacation, Atticus made out like a bandit in the clothing department! I am going to dress him up in one outfit each day for a photo shoot. This way I can ensure he gets to wear everything at least once. All of the clothes are from my parents, Atti's Grandma and Grandpa.

Remember wind suits? I know there are a ton of pictures of me (which will never surface) in wind suits. I had no idea they were back (still?) in! Here is Atticus in his fancy Tech wind suit.

Atticus story of the day:

One of Atti's newest things is putting things back from where he got them. This has been great and has helped kind of with cleaning up in the evenings. Sometimes, though, it doesn't help. This afternoon, I brought Atti into our bathroom with me while I was fixing my hair. Atti entertained himself by pulling out my nail polishes, putting them in his mouth, and then putting them back. Then he found our q-tips and you already know what happens next. Yep, he sure did grab handfuls of q-tips, put them in his mouth, and then put them back. Oh boy. Cleaning our ears is going to be quite fun!

Hope you're doing well!

Tooth!

That's right, we have a tooth growing! Atti's bottom front left tooth made it's debut on Tuesday, July 10th! Will and I have thought Atti was on the verge of teething for months now, with nothing to show for it. And now that there is a tiny tooth growing in there, suddenly I feel like I'm not ready for this to happen, like he's too little and I can't believe my baby is getting so big and etc. But really, how else is this kid going to have a steak some day?

So far, he has not been fussy, no screaming bloody murder, and no fever! I have heard horror stories about teething, but so far so good.

Atti testing out his new tooth while eating a banana teething biscuit.

Adventures with Solid Food #13: Cucumber

This sums it up pretty well:

http://flic.kr/p/cnYD2C

Cucumbers were the easiest puree to make -- you peel and seed them, then throw them in the blender! I will say to double the amount of cucumber. I bought 2lbs, but after peeling and getting the seeds out, I wasn't left with much. Atti does not like cucumbers by themselves, but really likes them when mixed with peaches.

Up next:

Zucchini

Adventures with Solid Food #12: Eggplant

The twelfth food for AMD is eggplant. I have really been lagging on the blog posts as of late, as I have been making DIY pore cleanser masks that made me break out (all over!), and doing all kinds of other things - like raising a baby!

Back to the "meat" of the post - eggplants. Every time I think about eggplants, I think about the movie The Coneheads.

I have never really had any cooking experience with eggplants, so all of this was new territory! I only used one eggplant and had to peel it and then cut into cubes. I had no idea that they had tiny seeds in them! The recipe said to leave the seeds in, so I did. After cutting them into cubes, I cooked them on the stove with some water until they were tender. Then I blended them up and they were good to go! One eggplant made a little over 24 oz.

http://flic.kr/p/ch9qkC

Review:

 

 http://flic.kr/p/chaUXQ

Meh, they're all right. They are pretty bland, but Atti eats them up when we mix in eggplants with other, more delicious foods.

Up next:

Cucumber

Roasted...again!

I am glad I wrote down the recipe for this roast nearly four years ago, because I keep referring back to it when I want to cook roast. Today I am making it again, only this time I decided to formalize the measurements for the seasonings. You know, to make things more repeatable. Atti's still young but in a few years he'll be helping us cook, so it will help for us to have clear recipes.

To start with I collected all the vegetables, meat, and concentrated soup as noted in this post. I did add more garlic, perhaps six cloves total. (What's the difference between a garlic clove and garlic bulb?) The meat I used today was a two pound shoulder chuck roast.

Here are the precisely measured spices:

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp dried oregano

These are all experimental amounts, so after we eat it I will see what I need to add (or remove).

No time to cook overnight, so today I'm cooking it on high for a few hours so it will be ready in time for dinner.

Homemade pore cleanser review

Thursday morning I tried this:  http://petitelefant.com/how-to-pore-strips/

I was really excited about it and had to try it out right away!

The only ingredients needed are one envelope of unflavored gelatin (right by the flavored JELL-O gelatins), and 1 tablespoon of any kind of milk (we have 2%). You mix these up, put it in the microwave, then put this wherever you need it on your face -- FAST!

I have had lots of skin issues after the birth of Atti Murph. I have tried all of the stuff that I can safely use and it was nice that I didn't have to shell out lots of money to get my face some help!

So, yesterday (Thursday), before Atti woke up, I got down to business with this cleanser! Something I didn't think about when reading the instructions -- when you put things in the microwave, they get hot! So, after giving myself second degree burns (okay, it wasn't that bad, but still - ouch!), and piling this stuff all over my face (yes, I need that much help), it was ready to dry. And yes, you do have to move fast - by the time I was at my chin (the last part), it was already starting to dry in the cup.

Unlike other face masks, this one doesn't smell too great. And I piled this stuff all over my face so I had to smell it for 15-20 minutes while it dried. Yuck.

When I couldn't move my face anymore, it was time to peel the mask off! The good thing about waiting until after Atti was born was that I had labor to prepare me for the pain of peeling this thing off. Talk about ouch! This hurt like a beast and I immediately regretted putting this goop all over my face. I read from the writer that afterwards she had a clean, pore-free, and hairless face. No kidding! What she doesn't mention is that you are probably also peeling off a small layer of skin to boot! You know those tiny hairs at your hairline that never grow by your forehead? Yeah, a few of those were yanked out as well.

The main thing I wanted sucked from my face were the giant blackheads on my nose. Kind of TMI, but that's okay. This mask didn't really get those suckers - of course! After all of that torture, it didn't do what I really hoped it would do. So afterwards, because I hadn't suffered enough, I put on a Biore nose strip and that got some of them.

Overall, I have to give this a C for a hot, smelly, painful mess!

I have three more envelopes of unflavored gelatin if you want them.

Deep Pore Cleaner

Are you on Pinterest? No? Don't start! I spend too much of my time on Pinterest that it's kind of sad, actually. But, some good things have come from this site, like the most amazing chocolate chip cookies ever! I found this DIY deep pore cleaner mask. It's supposed to be way better than those Biore nose strips we all spend too much money on. Atti and I went to HEB this afternoon and bought the gelatin and this is my project for tomorrow! I'll make sure to post how it goes!

Source: petitelefant.com via Linda on Pinterest

Adventures with Solid Food #11: Mango

http://flic.kr/p/cdDfNh

Believe it or not, Atti Murph has had eleven different kinds of solid foods! Compared to the disaster that was the prunes, mango puree was a walk in the park. I bought 2 12 oz bags of frozen mango chunks. Prep work done! All I did really was put both bags of mango and some water into a pot and cooked them until they were soft. Then I pureed them in our fancy new Ninja blender for only a few minutes and they were done! They made about 3 cups or 24 oz of food. I have learned to not fill up the ice cube trays to their maximum capacity and to leave room for the cubes to expand. This has made getting the cubes out much easier and I end up saving more food in the process.



Review:

 

 http://flic.kr/p/bWf5Ge

Will and I were both pretty excited to have Atti try mangoes. We thought for sure he was going to LOVE them. But his reaction was really more of a "meh" than anything else. Maybe it was also because he woke up earlier than usual. Who knows, but hopefully he warms up to them. Otherwise, I may have to keep these mangoes for myself!

Up next:

Eggplant

Random:

This is post #500!

Mother-Effed

You have to watch this! Too hilarious!

Adventures with Solid Food #10: Prunes

Oh, prunes. I have never really been a fan of prunes. But they were on the first foods list, and I want Atti to be a not picky eater, so I made them. Making these prunes into puree became the bane of my existence. I started with a regular 18 oz can of pitted prunes from HEB. There seems to be really no measured amount of water to put in, you just have to keep putting water in to thin the puree. So here I am, blending, adding water, blending some more, adding more water... you get the idea. Suddenly, there's this smell in the kitchen. I'm not sure what or where this is coming from, but I know that it's not good. Then, the blender stops. Craps out. Dies. Dead.

Dead. Dead.

Yep, the prunes killed my blender.

Meanwhile, I have some Granny Smith apples on the stove to make applesauce and they boil over. The prunes with water are still in the dead blender and are not finished...

What to do?

We have to buy a new blender.

Crap.

So, I get online and read reviews for all of these different blenders. We finally decide on one and find it at Bed, Bath & Beyond. The three of us jump into the car (we did manage to put a onesie on AMD before jumping in), and found ourselves a fancy new blender. We get home and I unpack everything, read how to put it all together, wash everything, and finish making the flipping prunes.

In all of this madness, I only took two pictures of the process.

http://flic.kr/p/bVhYJP

http://flic.kr/p/ccEeAS

And our new Ninja blender! Atti enjoys his Ninja food!

http://flic.kr/p/ccEi8W

Review:

http://flic.kr/p/bVmjme

He seems to think prunes are all right... sometimes he likes them, sometimes not so much.

Side note:

The prunes are pretty gooey. Even frozen. I don't know. We'll see how the next batch comes out.

Up next:

Mango Tango!

Have you seen this video?

It's a must! Best proposal ever. Ever.

Adventures with Solid Food #9: Sweet Potatoes

http://flic.kr/p/c6kPBs

I am trying to blog about the foods faster, so here we go! Today, Atti tried sweet potatoes for the first time! I made these about two weeks ago and they have been sitting in the freezer just waiting for Atti to try them. With frozen purees, from what I have read, they can last up to 6-8 weeks.

I used the book 201 Organic Baby Purees again, it's the only book I have and it's pretty good. This recipe took the longest, because I had to heat up the stove, bake the sweet potatoes, peel the skin, cut into small pieces, and then finally blend the taters while adding cooled boiled water to thin the puree.

http://flic.kr/p/c6DiZW

As you can tell from the picture, these two fat taters made a TON of food! I shelled out and purchased these fancy ice cube trays from amazon. These babies were made in New Zealand and I really like them. They make 1 oz food cubes, which we really like since our previous ones were only 3/4 oz. The only con I have is they can be somewhat tricky to get the cubes out. You can't twist the trays, you have to press one side of the cube for it to slide out.

http://flic.kr/p/c6DMmf

 

 Review:

 

 http://flic.kr/p/c6pefy

He really likes them! He is also now a big pro eating with the spoon. We have increased his spoon feedings to twice a day! Woo hoo!

Side note:

You may have noticed that Atti has been sitting in a different seat to eat. First, we sat him in our high chair, but he is too small for it and kept sliding all over the place. Then, we put a cart cover inside the high chair and that helped a little bit, but it also made a huge mess and I washed that cover every single day. Not kidding. So Atti and I went to Target and bought the tray for his Bumbo seat and it has been working great! We don't have to worry about him sliding all over the place which seems to make feeding times easier for everyone. As a bonus, after breakfast/lunch, we can just wipe down the tray and put some blocks there and viola! Instant play time after a meal. We now feed him in the living room after putting down a table cloth on the carpet (because, really).

Up next:

Prunes

As always, check out our flickr page for all of the food and Atti pictures here:
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindarenee/

Adventures with Solid Food #8: Pears

This time I'm going to do something different:  blogging about making pears the lazy way -- through photos! I used this recipe from simplybabyfoodrecipes.net found here: http://www.simplybabyfoodrecipes.net/2010/07/simply-pear-puree.html

Ms. Gardner also has a facebook page called The Baby Chef found here:
https://www.facebook.com/thebabychef

I had no idea I could just link her recipes! Here are some pictures of the process:

http://flic.kr/p/c6D6VL

Review:

http://flic.kr/p/c4HW4b

He really likes pears! So far he's a pretty good eater and likes most things.

Side note:

The pears came out pretty runny after being pureed in the blender. They did great in the freezer and were really easy to make!

Up next:

Sweet potatoes!

Body

"You control your body, don't let it control you." 

This is one of the last things said on the burn workout today. The power of words! I think this is going to be my new mantra. It's hard to change your mindset, but this is my goal starting today. Have a good Monday!

Adventures with Solid Food #7: Peaches

I decided to take a tiny break from veggies to start with some fruits before Atti's SIX month check up on the 23rd. I think the only veggies we have left are sweet potatoes, and those are in the pantry waiting for me to get to this week.

Someone asked me why I use frozen foods instead of fresh foods. "Don't y'all have farmers markets out there?" Yes, we do, but really, frozen foods are just as good and all of the prep work is already done. All I have to do is get them out of the bag, cook them, and viola! They are ready to be pureed. And as a new mom, I realize that time is not something I have an abundance of these days. So basically, I use frozen foods because it gets the job done faster! Can you go to farmers market and buy fresh fruits and veggies? Absolutely! With everything else, you do what is best for YOU and your baby.

Now, on with the show (or blog, rather)!

What I used:

1-16 oz bag of frozen peaches (peeled, sliced, and ready to be cooked!)

4 tablespoons water (I always use filtered water versus tap water when cooking his foods)

Blender

Ice cube trays

What I did:

So, like any other time I'm ready to make some baby food, I just turned the bag of peaches over to see how much water I needed and how long I needed to cook them. This time, however, I turned the bag over and found this:

http://flic.kr/p/bWfDzW

Hmm. I know how to thaw peaches, sure. But how do I cook them? I know, I'm probably putting too much thought into this and making it overcomplicated (have you met my husband?), but I really want to do this the right way and didn't want to overcook the peaches... not like that would be the worst thing ever, but still. So I pulled out my new book, 201 Organic Baby Purees by Tamika Gardner, who is also the author of simplybabyfoodrecipes.net (go check her out). I know what you're thinking, "I thought you weren't doing organic foods?" I'm not buying ALL organic foods, meaning, I'm not shopping at Whole Foods and only buying the organic foods (have you seen how expensive that stuff is?). I guess I am going the organic route in that I'm making my own baby food versus buying it?

So I followed these directions, only with frozen versus fresh peaches:

http://flic.kr/p/bWfEyC

The peaches with 4 tablespoons of water only made two cups, which again, does not fill up both of the ice cube trays.

http://flic.kr/p/bWgp6d

 

 

http://flic.kr/p/bWgqaq

Review:

 

http://flic.kr/p/bWMfTs

 

Atti LOVES peaches! He loves them so much we had to heat up a second ice cube because one just wasn't enough for him! I think they are his new favorite OF ALL TIME!

Side Note/Funny:

This is how I labeled the bag of frozen peaches:

http://flic.kr/p/bWgrdo

You're welcome!

Up next:

Pears

Adventures with Solid Food #6: Yellow Squash

Can you believe Atti has had six different kinds of solid foods? Me neither! Time flies for sure!

Here we go:

What I used:

1-16 oz frozen yellow squash

Blender

Ice Cube trays

What I did:

I again just followed the cooking directions from the bag. Usually, the instructions give you a range of cooking time, depending on your preference. I always cook the maximum time to ensure the food is extra tender for the blender.

http://flic.kr/p/bSYV1k

http://flic.kr/p/bE5bkU

The 16 oz bag with 1/2 of water made about two cups of puree. Unfortunately, two cups doesn't go very far. The puree didn't fill in all of the ice cubes in the trays.

Review:

http://flic.kr/p/bEYuVC

Atti likes the squash all right. They are pretty bland, so when I mix the squash with another food, he can really only taste the other food. He is getting to be such a good eater! He is also such a distractable guy!  In the video, he keeps looking at Will. I'll go ahead and blame Will for Atti being so distractable.

Up next:

Peaches!

Friday favorites

After a long break (almost 6 months), Friday favorites are back! Now I can't guarantee I will post a Friday favorites every Friday, but I will do it when I can. Right now Atti Murph is still snoozing away (it's 10:30am) so I have time to blog.

Without further ado, here are my favorites:

BodyRock.tv's 30 day challenge

Yes, you have heard me go on and on and on about this, but really, I cannot tell you how good it feels to be back working out and getting my body and mind in shape so I can be healthy and able to run after my little rascal when he becomes mobile. I am not a morning person by any means, but I got up early (7:45am), had a snack and some water, watched the workouts and got on with it! This morning I did the BodyRock Flow from yesterday, those Bikram Yoga moves are no joke! Then I did the Day 3 workouts, which are the burn and sculpt. It's not easy at all, but I am learning where my limits are with this post-baby body I have, and am starting to push my limits little by little. I have noticed that by working out in the morning, I have a lot of energy for the rest of the day, and with Atti Murph, I need lots of energy for sure!

http://www.bodyrock.tv/

Reebok ActiveVibe energytech Shoes

My feet grew half a size while pregnant and stayed that way. That's fine because that means new shoes! I bought these shoes back in March and love them! They are great for working out and going on our walks. They are really light and comfortable. And of course, now they are on clearance at Academy.

Medela Pump In Style Advanced Breast Pump 

This might be TMI, and if it is, feel free to skip this section. Back in December, I bought the Medela Swing Pump and it crapped out after three months. I called the Medela customer service and they replaced it for free. I received the new one the next day! But then that one crapped out after maybe a month. Basically, it just wasn't meant to be used as often as I used it I guess. So the last time it crapped out, I had to make an emergency trip to HEB (yes, really) and bought this fancy double pump. It's expensive! But it's great and it takes me half the time as it did with the Swing. I don't mind paying so much since we are saving a ton by breastfeeding versus buying formula. I read somewhere that buying formula for your baby's first year costs around $3,000 - $5,000. So a $300 pump isn't so bad after all. I do recommend you buy a hands-free bra to use when pumping, it's a lifesaver!

Bonus :  Tom Morello

For the past few days and this morning during my workout, I have been jamming out to Rage Against the Machine. How awesome is Tom Morello? He makes the band (Sorry Zack).

http://youtu.be/_cEeCsduGdo

 And there you have it! Have a great weekend!

Happy International Star Wars Day!

Source: Uploaded by user via Linda on Pinterest

May the Fourth be with you!

Atticus Murphy

 

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjxhxyZg

Almost 6 months ago, my life completely changed due to this little guy! It was love at first sight!