Making My Own Baby Food

I have been making Max's baby food since we started and I am loving it. I love that I know exactly what is going in to his food. Thanks to my dad and grandma who got me the Beaba baby food cooker for my anniversary/early birthday present. It is so easy to use and helps tremendously. 

 You start with your sweet potato and just peel 

 And cut into cubes

 Fill your water to the proper line (3 for sweet potatoes) and pour it in the water chamber to the left for the steamer mode.

 In about 10-15 mins your potatoes will be soft

 Time to puree with the leftover water from your steaming

I like to make a bunch of batches at a time and as you can see just with that 1 sweet potato I was able to make 2 go arounds and it yielded over 12 oz of food (2 each container).

 All done!

 I would highly recommend this food maker to anyone looking to make their own baby food. Check out one of my friends websites who has great tips and baby food recipes over at Nurture Baby. 

Girls Nights Out

Although my time is now spent feeding, playing and taking care of Max there is still time to hang with the girls (thanks to my wonderful husband and mom for watching the baby). I've been meaning to post on this, but I love getting together with the girls. 

Leah, Lacey and I met up a bit a go at Noche for some yummy food, good drinks and girl chat. Since we don't see each other every day (so sad) it's so great to catch up.

The fun doesn't stop there, David and I went to a wedding a few weeks ago and I had fun hanging with more fun gals. 

Shout out to Carrie, Erin, Dana and Jenny. 

Congrats to Angela! and here she is with her MOH and sister Kerry (love this photo). Such a great wedding.

We also recently went out to see Magic Mike with some more fun girls. We went to Movie Tavern where you can order food and drinks right at your seat! It was awesome and a lot of fun! 

Wordless Wednesday- love my baby boy

David's New Job

Today David starts a new job! He wasn't even looking for one, but through past connections it was brought to his attention. He went through a vigorous multi-step interview process and beat out engineers with many more years than him. He is now the Senior Environmental Engineer at Norfolk Southern. Congratulations to David! The job is going to be very interesting and a new challenge for him.

New Camera!

We have been lucky enough to borrow the Nikon camera we've been using from Darrin and Stacey and had planned on giving it back a while ago. We thought we'd have picked one out way before Max was born but all my research kept saying that newer models were coming out Feb/March so we decided to wait until after he was born.

Well Canon kept announcing that it was coming, but didn't officially release it until June. The only reason we wanted to wait for the newer model was in hopes the video feature was improved on the camera so we wouldn't have to get 2 types of cameras. We ended up going with the Canon Rebel T4i. It arrived a few weeks ago and we are loving it so far. We haven't utilized or trained ourselves in it that much, I'm adding it to my never ending to do list. Our favorite feature is the touch screen display. You can pinch and grab just like with our phones.

With a face like this, I better learn how to use it!

Max is 5 Months Old!

Stats- We went a few weeks ago and he was just about 14 pounds (23%),  Height- 24 1/2" (27%), Head Circumference- 16 3/4 (51%).

Personality- He is a happy little boy. He loves to smile especially when you smile at him. He will smile at strangers if they talk to him. He does still love his voice and I have been calling him a pterodactyl (dinosaur) because he just screams (usually in a happy loud way, but he can turn on you). It's funny, he always makes us laugh. He is happiest in the morning after he wakes up. If he gets fussy, I have been using the moby wrap and having his face forward, he loves to look around and I just walk around the house. He also really loves his stroller. We have been using it without the carseat and we can go pretty much anywhere now if we have him in it and he will be happy. He doesn't fully fit in it, but good enough to be strapped in. 

He really is just the cutest little thing. We love him so much. 

Eating- He is still breastfeeding every 3 hours. We tried to move to a 4 hour in between schedule, but Max runs the show here and that was not in his plans. He is always on the go and def. has my metabolism so he is a hungry boy all the time. He is still loving rice cereal and we have slowly started introducing some pureed baby foods that I make. He is so interested in foods and loves everything and wants more. We have tried pears, apples and sweet potatoes. I wasn't planning on starting till 6 months, but he really seems like he needs something in addition to the breast milk and he eats like a champ. We are doing 2 oz of baby food in the morning and evening along with about 2 TBS of rice cereal in the morning and some evenings.

Sleeping- Or as this photo says, sleeping!?! I'm suppose to do that? Just kidding, he's getting a little better. Finally slept through the night a few times recently so I think the additional food is def. helping. He's going to bed around 7:30/8pm with a dream feed at 11pm and he wakes up at 6:30am. He does still wake up hungry 1 or 2 times on a bad night, but how can you get mad at that sweet face. 

 He naps 3-4 times a day for about 45mins-1 hour each and sometimes we can get a 2 hour one on a good day. He is still napping in his swing a majority of the time. Yes, he's getting too big for it. We just got some darkening shades for his room so it's not so bright in there during the day to try to get him to nap in there more.

 Development- He doesn't sit still.... Ever. Example above... and below.

 He is ready to G-O. Anywhere and everywhere. He rolled over from his back to stomach on June 18th and does it every time he is on his back. He just doesn't love being on his stomach once he gets there. 

He loves his car walker and can now almost run all around the downstairs. I am so glad we have wood floors on the whole bottom level. He loves it. 

If you hold something out in front of him he will grab it so well and bring it straight to his mouth. He is still so drooly and wants everything in his mouth. We use bibs all day. He is also very interested in Molly. He follows her in the car and just stares at her. Molly doesn't mind because of the food remnants he has to offer. 

                                                 He loves playing with toys with his feet. 

 He still prefers to be standing rather than sitting if you are holding him. He looks like he's chillaxing here. 

 Randoms- He is in Pampers swaddlers size 2 diapers

-I have officially moved him to 6 month clothes

-He still has cradle cap on the top portion of his head.

-No teeth yet, I check every day

-I haven't found a job yet so I am loving being home with Max right now. It still takes two of us (Gigi-my mom) and I to take care of him and I am thankful she is here! Max loves his Gigi!

 Max still has blue eyes... I am pretty sure they are staying. He's just so adorable. I am so lucky to be his mommy. 

 Here are a few comparisons to last month. We got a new camera (more on that later) so the coloring is diff. and of course I don't know how to use it, but you get the gist of it. 

He's filling out, what a big boy! Precious baby. 

Keeping it real. This is what the house looks like with all Max's contraptions. The one closest to this text is a rainforest jumperoo that he doesn't love yet. I just got it at Kids 2 Kids store.

Drum Roll...

Michelle here again (Jen's twin sister if you're new to tuning in) and NO people I am not starting my own blog, that is why I make guest appearances here!
We are now ready to announce baby girl's name. We have actually known her first name for a while now and just wanted to get used to it. The middle name we agreed upon when we were in Vegas (couple weeks ago). The first name I came up with while playing around with switching/adding some letters to a name James really wanted that I wasn't fully on board with. I wanted her middle name to be something Italian so she could represent some part of me. Also, let me say, that the name is firm and final. Meaning NO OPINIONS :) Just praises haha I honestly don't care what anyone thinks because James and I really like it. So without further ado, I introduce to you.....

James really liked the name Hailey, but I knew several friends who had Hailey's and I've taught some (I always said I would not name my child from one I've had in my class). So I was playing around with switching some letters and came up with Hadley! As it turns out, apparently that's actually a name people are using these days? Who knew, I've never heard or known anyone with that name. James actually came up with Emilia just kinda thinking about Italian girls' names. He also liked it because of the pilot reference (Amelia Earhart) but spelled differently. Our Emilia is pronounced like the start of Emily (EM). That is the history of baby girl Hadley Emilia's name.

Stay tuned for further blogs about nursery/bedding ideas, HINT: the color scheme may or may not be portrayed above :)

Mother's Day Date Night at Fish Tales

This post is from Mothers day weekend, but I forgot to blog about it. I am sorry I am slacking on the blog. I am trying to focus on Max during the day so most days just get away from me. I told David that I just wanted to go to dinner for my mothers day gift so he surprised me and found a great place on Lake Lanier to have dinner. We went to Fish Tales at the Hideaway Bay Marina.

They are known for their bucket drinks and the voodoo is their specialty. Check out the ingredients, it has 5 different type of rum. Needless to say we split it and made sure we had extra milk saved up. 

Yum

It was a nice day for dinner outside

They are known for the grouper, you can get it grilled, blackened or fried. It was superb. We've been back since and it was just as good for lunch. They also have live music some days so check it out if you are local. 

Michelle's 20 week pregnancy update

Hey Bloggers, it's Michelle and WOW it's JULY already!! 
Today I am 20 weeks pregnant!! I can't even believe it. I think I spent a good 13 weeks not really believing that I was pregnant, I think it's settled in now. I have been doing very well and can't really complain about a thing! 
The baby's heart beat was 143 and is 9 inches in length weighing 11 ounces (last week). The baby is about the length of a banana! 

Total Weight Gain: I have gained about 10 pounds from start till right now. So I'd say I'm doing pretty well. I thought it was getting crazy, but I didn't gain as much as I thought I was going to at the last appointment, so bring on the desserts!

Sleep: I get up to use the bathroom probably 3-4 times a night still! I got the sleep body pillow from my sister and that thing is massive! Maddie (my little yorkie) LOVES it and circles up right in the good spots. It's working well keeping me laying on my side, but I'm hating being restricted. I'm a stomach/back sleeper and it's getting uncomfortable not being able to sleep like that. 

Symptoms: Nothing really big going on. I still get occasional headaches, but those seem to be rare. I get hungry a lot (but again nothing new). This baby is cooperating very well so far. 

Cravings: still want SWEETS, I feel like I have to end every dinner with a dessert or it's not complete :) I got fat free ice-cream (because I thought I was gaining too much weight) and fyi it's NOT good..... I'll go for a regular ice-cream next time I'm at the store. I just love the waffle cones, I eat them without ice-cream (nothing new though).

Aversions: Mexican's still not that interesting to me, but it's not that bad to think about

Gender- IT'S A GIRL!!! Turns out my immediate family pretty much all knew it was a girl! James and I were convinced it was a boy so we were very surprised. I will say, both gender ultrasounds we had, they're just so unexcited. They just say, ok yup it's a girl and move on quickly.... guess that's what you get when you do that all day long. We have a girl name picked out and middle name, but I don't know when we'll reveal it. We've told some close family, but not all. I kind of like keeping secrets :) 

Maternity Clothes: I did wear some low riding stretchy jeans my sister gave me out of her maternity stuff and I liked them a lot. I officially fit in none of my shorts and can't even ZIP them. I bought a couple pairs of shorts a size up, the maternity shorts just don't strike my fancy. I have been using the belly band also to keep pants up. 

Best Moments so far: Seeing baby girl TWICE on an ultrasound and hearing her strong heart beat. We had a great anatomy ultrasound last Wednesday and got to see all her little parts. Everything was measuring right on schedule for a November 18th delivery they said. We also got a new camera (canon t4i) and we're really excited to have pictures that are not blurry to use when she gets here.

What I'm looking forward to: Feeling baby girl move! I feel like I've been pretty patient, but now it's time! I'm 20 weeks and this is right when I'm supposed to feel her so let's go. Every ultrasound we've seen she's moving around a LOT and even seems to be kicking me-but no luck yet. I'm also looking forward to our house selling! I don't want to jinx anything, but we have some serious things going on at the home front :)

That's all for now! Hope you enjoyed my update.