Baby Bella

Bella Faith was born 11.13.11. and is a tiny little baby girl only weighing a little over 5 pounds!!! I ordered her the sweet little butterfly hat and so with the permission of her momma I got to use sweet Bella as a photography object! Here are just a few of my favs from the time I got with her! Loved it! I think I could get into this as a hobby! 

Sadie and Landry

With all the excitement of the arrival of Landry into the world, my first baby, Sadie, got moved down the totem pole of importance a little.  She is still very much loved, and still a big part of our cute little family.  She adores Landry, and has been very protective of him even before he was born.  Since Landry has transitioned to his crib, she sleeps in his room directly in front of his crib.  She wants Landry to play with her so badly, and she doesn't quite get it why he can't throw her toys for her to fetch yet.

Landry tugs at her fur now, and Sadie could care less.  Sadie licks Landry, either across the face or on his feet, and Landry doesn't seem to care either. Here are some sweet pictures I captured of their interaction while I was trying to take Landry's 5 month pics.

Always has to be right by him, whatever he is doing, watching and protecting.

Licking his foot :) 

precious

trying to get him to play tug-of-war with her toy! 

Happy 5 months

Mr. Landry Tate is 5 months old and growing by the day! He went to the dr around 5 months and weighed 16 pounds, they didn't measure his length, but I am sure he is much taller than he was at 4 months.
Here are his 5 month pictures!

Sitting like such a big boy!

Happy baby!

One flexible dude! 

LOVES chewing on his feet

A few things this boy is up to these days:

Sitting - He has really perfected sitting. He can sit like a pro for up to 5 minutes without falling over!

Eating- He started some solids at 4 months (cereal, bananas), but he has just recently started enjoying a variety of foods! And he likes to grab my hand holding the spoon and "help" me. He would much prefer to probably do it himself, but mommy isn't quite ready to let him.

Jumping - He has really figured out how to use his jumperoo and bounces non-stop, even when he isn't in it! His legs were already very strong, this new skill will only help those legs even more for crawling and walking.

Peek-A-Boo - Little man loves to play and puts and pulls the blanket on and off his head himself to play the game. He also love Pat-a-cake and this little piggy.

Reaching - He reaches for people, especially for mommy.  The other day he reached for mommy in church when she sat down beside him, and then he gave her a big hug. :) Melts my heart.

Gospel Bath Hour- Daddy loves to bathe Landry, and it has become their special time at night after dinner before bedtime.  They sing gospel songs, and sometimes other crazy songs, but there is nothing better than the sound of a daddy and son splashing and playing and singing at the top of BOTH of their lungs while mommy works on homework or cleaning the kitchen after dinner.

"Nana-care" - Mommy started tutoring part-time up at the high school, and we are very blessed and fortunate that Landry's "Fredericksburg grandparents" have volunteered their time and effort to watch darling boy.  So far, he loves it (obviously, he gets to ANYTHING he wants there), and I think they love it even more. What a blessing to get to leave my child with 2 people that love him like their own.

I am sure there are many things I am forgetting, but those things stand out to me as his 5 month milestones. Still waiting on a full night of sleep, but that will come, maybe Santa can bring that to our house for Christmas :)

Homemade Baby Food- the process

Here are my directions for making bananas, avocados, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes.  What I did is prep the butternut squash and sweet potatoes for baking and get them in the oven first, and then worked on pureeing the bananas and avocados while those were baking. Time wise, it turned out really efficient and I completed the entire process in about 2.5 hours from start through clean-up. 

Bananas:

1. Peel and put them in the blender. I used 4 and filled up 14 - 1 oz portioned ice cubes. In order to avoid the bananas browning, I also added a few drops of lemon juice to the puree. This is a natural preservative and doesn't change the taste of the food.

2. My ice cube trays come with a slide on cover.  If you don't have a cover, just cover with saran wrap to avoid freezer burn. Put in the freezer for 2 days.

3. Pop the portions out and place in a zip lock freezer bag.  

4. A day before needed, I put 2 cubes in a bowl with lid and place in the fridge to thaw. They are ready to serve the next day. (You can use the microwave to thaw, just zap for 10 seconds and mix well to avoid hot spots)

 Avocados:
1. Peel and de-pit the avocados. I used 4 avocados and filled made 20 - 1 oz portions.
2. Blend. You can either add water during the puree process or add to each individual portion before serving in order to create a puree consistency.  I would recommend during the puree process, I did not and the frozen cubes were harder to get out. So from now on, I will add water during the blending process. I also added a few drops of lemon juice as well in order to avoid browning.
3. Cover, freeze for 2 days.
4. Pop out the cubes and put in a freezer zip lock bag.
5. A day before needed, I put 2 cubes in a bowl with lid and place in the fridge to thaw. They are ready to serve the next day. (You can use the microwave to thaw, just zap for 10 seconds and mix well to avoid hot spots)

I also invested in these 2 oz freezer safe containers for when we are on the go. They come with a base for easy storage and these are BPA free and dishwasher, freezer, and microwave safe.

Very easy to toss in the diaper bag and use whenever a meal comes up

 Butternut Squash:
1. Cut the butternut squash in half and scrape out the seeds and strings.
2. Fill a baking dish with about 1 inch of water and place the squash face down and bake for 45 minutes @ 350, or until soft.

 3. Scoop out the inside and place in a blender. 

4. Blend and add water until it is a puree consistency. 

5. Place in ice cube trays, or in freezer safe containers! I used 1 butternut squash and it made 12 - 2 oz portions. 

Butternut squash, halved and placed face down in 1 inch of water

Ready to scoop out!

Sweet Potatoes:
1. Cover sweet potatoes in foil, take a fork and poke holes in the covered potatoes.
2. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes @ 350, or until soft.
3. Scoop out the insides and blend.
4. Add water until it is a puree consistency.
5. Place in ice cube trays or freezer safe containers. I used 3 sweet potatoes and it made 14- 2 oz portions.

Here are the 2 oz and the 4 oz containers. What I plan to do with the 4 oz portion is put one in the fridge to thaw when needed, and scoop out half and put in a bowl, and use the rest the next day.

My sweet little helper :) 

Homemade Baby Food - the facts

Being a stay-at-home mom has freed up a little time (although I find I am actually busier now than when I had a full-time job, go figure), and among trying to be more domesticated (which is not a natural trait for me), one of the things that I began researching and looking into was making Landry's baby food.  What I found really amazed me.

1. The cost -- with having our income cut in half in order to allow me the joy of being 100% available to our precious son, this certainly got my attention.  Right now, Landry is only eating a small amount at lunch and dinner, so it doesn't seem like that big of deal right now, but I know later it is going to be amazing the savings we will get from me making his baby food. Let me give you the mathematics so you can see the savings.

Baby food ranges in cost from $.40 - $1 for a serving of food, depending on brand and organic vs non-organic. So as of right now, Landry would be consuming about $2 worth of baby food a day, which totals to about $60/month. When he's older, I assume that might increase from anywhere between $4-5, which means we could spend an upwards of $120/month. Yikes. 

I went to the store the other day and bought $7.49 worth of fresh produce including avocados, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and bananas.  Out of this I was able to make a little over a month's worth of baby food.  $60 vs. $7.49 .... That is an amazing amount of savings. In just one month, I recouped the cost of purchasing the products I use to portion and freeze it in.  

2.  It's healthier -- Store bought baby food has a really long shelf life, and looking at the nutrition labels on the back of them shows why. Non-organic baby foods are full of preservatives in exchange for the long shelf life, and organic costs an arm and a leg. Giving an infant the chance to taste the food at its true taste by eliminating preservatives seemed pretty convincing to me.  And it's fresh. Frozen baby food is only good for about a month in the freezer, so although you can only make a month at time, it is well worth it to offer fresher tasting foods that don't have all the yucky preservatives in it.  I am by no means a health nut, and those of you who know me know I love my fair share of junk food, but this was an added perk I found in making my own baby food. 

Before deciding to commit to this feat, I had a few concerns that I will share that could help someone reading this that might have the same questions.

1. I wasn't sure how to make everything. ---I would not consider myself a cook at all, so I needed step by step directions on how to prepare the different foods. My solution: www.wholesomebabyfood.com/momtastic

This website provided great age appropriate recipes with detailed directions on how to cook, store, and thaw the foods. 

2. The upfront cost --- It doesn't take an expensive food processor to make baby food, all you need is a blender and containers that are freezer safe. I spent about $40 up front to purchase the trays and portioned containers I use to freeze and store the pureed baby food. These are BPA free and are freezer, microwave, and dishwasher safe. While this is an up front cost to consider, you will see that in just one month, the cost is recouped for these products. 

3. TIME--- This was probably my biggest doubt/concern, because let's face it... spending hours upon hours slaving away making baby food is not on my list of favorite ways to spend my time. It took me about 2.5 hours to make one month's worth of food, and that was my first time, so I assume it will only get faster from here on out.  All you have to do is just devote one afternoon, or evening after dinner one night and that's it! 

Well, that's the facts, my next blog is going to show you a photo diary of my experience and steps to making it. 

Solids!!

So when we went to little man's 4 month dr. appt, the doc gave the green light to start him on solids, especially since he seems hungry all the time! I have been carefully researching the past couple of weeks on how to make our own baby food for 2 reasons:

1. It's much healthier (fresher, no preservatives, more true to the taste of the food), and
2. It's waaay cheaper. (example, I pureed 4 bananas and got 12 -1 oz servings out of it, and the bananas cost less than $1. At walmart, a 2 pack of gerber bananas cost $.88)

I ordered a few products to help me in this endeavor, and am eagerly waiting for them to come in so I can get started!  I will do another blog on making his own baby food later because I think I'm going to really enjoy it, but I decided to start with rice cereal (with some applesauce mix in) after talking with the dr. to see if that helps with his reflux since we had to up his dosage of reflux medicine. I actually was planning on skipping the cereal initially, but I'm hoping this more natural route might help with his reflux.  He did great! He made some hilarious faces, and of course had some initial trouble with learning how to work his tongue, but after a few nights of this, he does much better and is quickly getting the hang of it. Way to go buddy! Here are some pics from our first adventure eating solids.

Here we go.....

mmmmm...yummy.

then again...maybe not.

Here we go...take 2

Success!!! Next up, table manners...no playing with feet while eating 

Happy boy. 

Solids attempt success!

Happy 4 months!

Little man is 4 months old!!! Here are some of his 4 month growth pictures and milestones! At his 4 month checkup, he weighed 14 lbs 10oz and was 26 inches tall! Growing boy! That is 2 pounds heavier and 2 inches taller than at his 2 month appointment.

He loves grabbing his feet!

He doesn't stay on his belly long these days, he flips himself right over 

I think that this picture actually looks like me when I was a baby

Happy 4 months sweet boy!

Some things that he is doing now:

1. laughing--- what a sweet sweet sound, right now it takes some effort to make him laugh, but it's so worth it!

2. chewing... on EVERYTHING---  fingers, fists, shoulders (I have the hickey to prove it), toys, sadie's toys (oops) ...you name it, it goes in his mouth

3. cutting teeth--- I can see the tooth shaped holes on the front bottom two teeth where they will pop through, which means lots of fussing lately. 

4.  hugging--- well, i qualify it as hugging, he loves stretching his arms around me and burying his head into me. it melts my heart.

5. grabbing... EVERYTHING--- again, like with chewing, you name it, he grabs at it. toys, hair (Ouch!), anything in his reach. He figured out his jitterbug toy on his carseat handle, so I will be driving down the road and hear him pull it and it jitter, over and over again. 

6. singing --- i know it sounds far-fetched, but he really does "sing." I noticed it one day a few weeks ago when he was really sleepy and I was rocking him, he began talking as he normally does, but in a different way. He was stringing his sounds together and making his voice go up and down and was doing it very softly, much different sounding than his normal talking voice. He sings himself to sleep quite a bit now, and it's the sweetest thing because it is so tender.    

He is doing great developmentally, he smiles at people he recognizes, talks a lot, and is really starting to understand the concept of "playing."  Still no progress on the sleeping, although he is napping has improved a little bit. It will come in his own time I suppose. 

Our trip to Cali

We just got back from our first out of state trip with little man to California.  About a month ago, our close friends Chris and Hannah Koch experienced one of the most devastating things a couple can experience...the loss of their unborn child late into their pregnancy.  Precious George Joseph Koch was born sleeping, and is in the arms of Jesus right now. God gives, God takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord... Jake and I have sat back and watched this couple and their families praise God through this hard time and I can tell you pretty confidently, I don't think that I would be able to handle it as beautifully as they have.  I admire them so much, and to everyone around them, there is no doubt their faith is placed in Christ.

I felt the Lord telling us that we needed to pay them a visit. I will admit I was very hesitant to take Landry and originally planned to visit by myself just because I wanted to be sensitive to the situation, but Hannah insisted I bring him, and so we began making plans.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to make it to the funeral, but they had the service recorded and we got to watch it while we were visiting, and it was beautiful, heartbreaking, and pointed to Christ throughout.


Day 1
Here we are at the airport, Landry's first time flying.. He did awesome on the flights!

When we got to San Jose, we rented a car and drove 2 hours to Dos Palos where Chris, Hannah, and Hannah's family were and we got to eat a wonderful meal of Tri-Tip!!!

Day 2

we got to go swimming in Hannah's grandma's pool... We had a blast just relaxing that day with them.

 Jake went with Chris later that day to "help" him coach his water polo practice and me and Landry went with Hannah to run a few errands. We all joined up together with Hannah's family and got to enjoy a fabulous dinner, and then went with Chris and Hannah to their bible study group they are a part of.

Day 3

We went to Fresno for my birthday to spend the last day together having a great time! We went to the zoo!  Here are some photos from our adventures there.

Elephants! 

Giraffes

Love Chris' face here...creepin on the birds!

the birds

Kanga!

This sign cracked me up... the proper ways to feed sharks and stingrays, for those without common sense! 

The guys feeding sharks and stingrays...they really are 2 peas in a pod

Landry woke up in time to see the last couple of exhibits... 

the gang. Love them all!

We then forced the guys to take us shopping ;) and when we got home, we enjoyed some homemade chicken fried steaks and visiting with everyone, exchanging hilarious family stories :)

Day 4
we woke up very early to head home :(.... we had a great trip.  traveled all day and Landry did great again on the flight home.. Here is a pic from the airport on the way home. Sweet boy checking out the airplanes!

It was wonderful seeing our friends, even though the circumstances were not the greatest. I don't have many friends that I have remained extremely close with over the years so I treasure those friendships. Hannah and I have been friends since we met at Hidden Falls Ranch my freshman year in college around 8 years ago and God continues to grow and bless our friendship.