Thursday: baby food

Well, I wanted to document some of my experiences with making baby food.  And I thought maybe someone else would want to see.  A "1" is hard or low while a "5" is easy or good.  edit: cost effectiveness refers to making the food vs. buying a similar, premade baby food.  n/a means that there wasn't anything close enough to compare it to.

mashed food and purees.

	easy of making	cost effectiveness	notes
apples	2	3
asparagus	3	n/a
avacado	5	n/a	freezing seems ok
banana	5	5	only from fresh
carrots	4	3	don't bake
cauliflower	4	n/a
chicken and parsnip	3	n/a
pears	2	3
peas	n/a	n/a
plums	2	4
potatoes, mashed	3	n/a	reheat with water
squash, butternut	4	5
sweet potato	4	5
watermelon	2	n/a	too runny
zuchinni and summer squash	5	n/a

finger food

	easy of making	eating	cost effectiveness	notes
apples	n/a	n/a	n/a	haven't gotten soft enough yet
avacado	5	4	n/a	messy
banana	5	5	4
black beans (from soup)	5	5	n/a
blueberries, fresh	5	5	1
blueberries, frozen	5	1	4	too red… ok with quinoa
carrots	4	5	5
cottage cheese	5	4	n/a	messy
kiwi	5	5	n/a
peaches, fresh	4	5	?	bake to remove peel
peaches, frozen	4	3	?	kind of hard
pears	2	4	2	messy from frozen
peas	5	5	5	canned
plums	2	1	?	too red
raspberries, frozen	5	1	n/a	messy
rice	3	3	n/a	keeps Isaac busy, only half ends up in mouth
shredded cheese	5	3	n/a	keeps Isaac busy, only half ends up in mouth
spagehtti	4	3	n/a	keeps Isaac busy, only half ends up in mouth
squash, butternut	4	5	5
sweet potato	4	5	5
zuchinni and summer squash	5	3	n/a	one batch good, one batch skin too hard

Wednesday: shopping for Isaac

Today Ben went shopping for Isaac.


It looks like he found a good one. :)

Monday: Ben

Tonight we celebrated Ben's birthday.

We went to Wild Chef for dinner.  Isaac seemed concerned about the flames, but didn't have any problems.

Sunday: yesterday

Yesterday we put up the Christmas tree and I haven't taken a picture of it yet.  Isaac was rather uninterested in it.  While it was kind of disappointing it will probably be a blessing as he won't try to yank it down.  Also, the little amount of snow that we had all melted today. :(

Saturday: more pictures

Ben's aunt took some great pictures for us on Thanksgiving...

Friday: weeks 45-47

Isaac is still growing!  It's harder to get pictures of him some weeks...he moves too much.

week 45:

week 46:

week 47 (pajama day!  It meant he couldn't take off his socks, although he still tried a few times.)

Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  It has been a week of reflection for me...and feel amazingly blessed by God.

Today we had dinner with Ben's family.  As always, Isaac was amazing.  He completely missed a nap but stayed very happy.  He seems to enjoy being around people.  (Although he was thrown off a little bit at night due to a late nap.)

Isaac thoroughly enjoyed Thanksgiving food, especially the fruit.  I went back for seconds three times!  Where does he put it all?  He also had a little bit of turkey, some mashed potatoes, and a roll.  He tried sharing his roll with his cousin, but since he had already put the piece in his mouth we discouraged it.  We'll have to work on what is appropriate to share.

With Great-grandma

Trying out his basketball moves.  Ben did a quick let go a few times and Isaac hung on to the hoop by himself. :)

Tuesday and Wednesday: quilts and stairs

I made a quilt for Grandma and we delivered it yesterday.  :)  I'm hoping it'll help cheer up her room for a little bit.

Today Isaac crawled all the way up the stairs (twice)!  I guess something just clicked because last week stairs didn't work for him at all.  Today he just scooted on up...he was chasing a can of black bean soup that I kept moving one stair higher.  

Monday: Ben and Isaac

First we have a video of Ben and Isaac doing random things.


Then today Isaac was watching Ben practice drums for quite a while.  (Also, do you know how hard it is to get a non-blurry picture of a baby and a drummer???)

Sunday: ramblings

Today was a pretty normal Sunday for us.  We went to church.  The last several weeks have been about social injustice.  The reality of how much we have, take for granted, and think we need has really hit home.

After that we bought some new shoes.  No, the irony of sitting through a church service talking about how much we have and then buying new shoes was not lost on me.  (Is irony the correct word?)  (We also made Christmas lists tonight.  I've been thinking of things all year and trying to do a better job of writing them down when I thought of them so I felt like we had longer lists (i.e., more to choose from) for once...but again, here was a list of things that I would like when I don't need any of it.)

Isaac and I took naps, Ben and I played darts, we all played together...fun times.

Saturday: water buffalos

Last week I picked up a "Silly Songs with Larry" (VeggieTales) DVD from the library.  The songs are still regularly coming back to Ben and me, including "Everybody has a water buffalo."

Today Ben sang, "Everybody has a water bottle-o" as Isaac was playing with a water bottle.  Isn't he funny. :D

Friday: happy baby

This morning I went to a little quilting thing.  There were several people there that were going to take classes or quilt all day, but with Isaac I decided just to go to the short opening meeting.

The ladies from the quilt shop held him for most of the meeting and wouldn't give him back. :)  I went up to get him once and came away empty handed.  But Isaac stayed happy and enjoyed the attention.

Thursday: racquetball

Tonight Ben and I started a three day trial at a local gym.  The only other place besides Hope that has racquetball courts.  It was really nice.  They have really nice amenities and classes.  And child care.

But they're more expensive than Hope.  And at Hope Isaac would get to see Dad and Ben more. It might be a difficult decision.

What a rough life we have. :p

Wednesday: sleep

Ah, more sleep stories from our household.

Isaac slept until almost 8am this morning.  It meant that I woke up all cheery and proceeded to talk Ben's ear off.  First we talked about my elbow that I had really banged on the door frame last night while going to check on Isaac.  It didn't bruise, but it hurts enough to feel like it should have.  Then I told him about my dream about saving a short (~2foot) person from drowning in a sink.  And this random person that thought I should be wearing more make-up.  She said she spent 45 minutes to 4 hours getting ready.  I thought that was hilarious, but she proceeded to cake on her make-up.  Then she painted her ankles with makeup.  It was with a clever paint roller that managed to get paint smoothed on even with all the bumps in ankles.

Then Isaac took a 2.5 hour nap.  He woke up after a half hour and so I had to go help. :(  We ended up napping on the couch for the rest of the time.  The couch is really comfy for sleeping with a baby.  It fits just right.

Of course, he had a hard time getting to sleep too.

Tuesday: first snow

Last night was our first snow!  There wasn't much this morning, only a dusting, but it was still the first.  I was really happy because the weather forecast didn't have any precipitation in it for the next ten day and I was sad I'd have to wait for snow.

Monday: groceries

Do you have a bored Isaac?  Give him some groceries to play with.

(This was from a month ago.)

(This was from today.  He pretty much ignored me for a half hour, even when I got down to play with him at one point.  Unless I started to put the tea bags back in the box.  Then he paid a lot of attention to me.  But I was just trying to help him so he could take them out again!)

Sunday: Bagger Daves

Today we went to Bagger Daves for lunch as it is a new burger place in town.  We figured it might take a little longer than normal because it's only been open for a few weeks, but it ended up being ridiculous.

We waited for about forty minutes, after being told it would be 20-25 minutes.  They took forever to get our order.  They took forever to bring our food.  They took forever to bring the bill.  We ended up leaving two hours after we got there.  (As always, Isaac did amazing though...he was very hungry when we sat down overdue for a nap but wasn't too cranky ever.)

But...the food was good.  Not two hours good, but still good.  We filed a complaint on the website and might go back if they're nice to us.  Once the opening rush slows down.

Saturday: racquetball

We played racquetball again today with Dad.  I took some pictures of Isaac at the gym so that if he does decide to go to Hope he can have pictures of himself there as a baby wearing his Hope socks.  I'm sure he'll care.  Maybe it'll at least be a conversation starter.

Friday: Dad's so funny II

Ben and Isaac watched the following gif last night.  http://www.quick-break.net/c/2012/09/26/Water_balloon_pops_on_squirrel.gif  (If you don't watch it, it's just a squirrel breaking a water balloon.)

Then Ben started narrating it.


I said the same thing today a few times and got the same reaction.  Apparently it was really funny.

Thursday: ahh

Yesterday it felt like for every step I took forward, I took one step backwards.

*I got dressed!  And realized that I needed to do some wash.  But I didn't do any wash.
*I laid down for a nap!  But was sleeping with Isaac because he had a little cold so didn't sleep very well.
*I got groceries!  But forgot to get the prescription at the same store.
*I made dinner!  But then the kitchen was a disaster.
*I made Isaac's dinner!  But found out that the new cottage cheese I got wasn't sealed properly.

Today was much better.  Things got accomplished.  The kitchen is cleaner.  The wash has been started.  I returned the cottage cheese only to find that the new one I got has the same problem.  I'm annoyed, but I suppose I'll survive.  It'll just be added to the errand list tomorrow. :)

Wednesday: rball

Today we got back on the racquetball courts.  Dad played with us, so whomever wasn't playing could watch  Isaac.

It was good exercise.  The first two games I played weren't very close (scorewise), but then the third one was 15-17.  I almost won.

Tuesday: election day

Isaac and I proudly displayed our "I voted" stickers.

...until Isaac tried to eat them.

Monday: a matter of perspective

Is the cat trapped behind the door?

Or are the kids held back by the door?

I think they watched each other for about five minutes...an eternity in kid time.

We also had our annual ham and squash, which for some reason I always take a picture of.

Sunday: time change

Well, we've survived one day of the time change.  Isaac slept until 7 (woo-hoo) and we ended up going to the early service at church because every was awake.  He was fighting sleep on the way home and was turning pages in his book with his eyes closed.  It was cute.

He went to sleep earlier than normal (but later than normal if the time change is taken into account).  Aunt C was babysitting him and said he did pretty well until 7pm.  We were home shortly thereafter and put him to bed.  I know...exciting news.

We also put up the dart board.  Ben and I each won a match.

Saturday: sleep

So, this morning Isaac ended up sleeping in until 8:00am (with one feeding)!  Hooray!  He's often been taking only two naps instead of three and I'm wondering if that is helping.

We are trying to slowly change Isaac's sleep schedule since Daylight Savings Ends tomorrow.  The last few days he's stayed up about fifteen minutes later and we were going to try for a half hour tonight.  Except that Isaac pretty much had a meltdown.  Ben and I have never seen him like that before...usually if we pick him up and/or do something with him he'll calm down.  But not tonight.  We skipped the bath and ended up back at his normal bedtime.

Tomorrow will be fun. :(

Friday: 44 weeks

I said last week that the heart was Isaac's favorite toy, but this week it was these jingle balls.  Originally marketed as cat toys, Flurry wanted nothing to do with them.    Isaac loves them.  It's nice because we can hear were he is and there are six of them, so they've spread through the house.  But if you give Isaac three of them he's entertained for a while since he only has two hands and keeps dropping one to pick up the third.

Trying a new pose...I'm not really a fan, but we didn't get many pictures that turned out this week.

And cuteness in a box.  Why are kids and pets so cute when they're in boxes?

Thursday: sleeping in

Today was a lovely day.  Isaac slept in until 7:17.  I think it's funny that I now consider 7:17 to be sleeping in.