3/26/11 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA DURAN

Today is Christian’s birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful husband! The big 2-7...LOL.

Amelia and I woke him up bright and early and gave him his birthday present. On the other hand, Olivia decided to sleep away the morning today…apparently we should go play with Andrew more often! Once Olivia was up, we all just hung out for a little while and relaxed. Then, Christian was off. His mom is babysitting Amelia tonight (thankfully, even though she works in the morning), and part of her stipulations for doing so was that Christian had to pick her up from work today because his dad had to work. So, he was off to pick her up, and grab us some lunch from a little hole in the wall Mexican place in the cities. YUM.

I jumped in the shower quick, fed Amelia, and got her down for a nap. Then, I was off to drop Olivia off at my mom’s for the night. It’s easier for us to get out, and stay out a little longer, this way…so we can just quick grab Amelia on our way home, and Olivia gets a good night’s rest. I rushed home to finish getting ready, and we were off. Christian’s mom and sister surprised him with a few gifts when we dropped off Amelia, so that was nice. Finally, we were on our way! We picked up our friend Gini, and headed to Chatterbox for the night. We love that place…they have all kinds of unique food, and board games to play and it’s just a really fun atmosphere. We weren’t sure in the end who was going to be able to make it out…but much to our surprise, all of our friends were able to make it out, at least for a little while. Man, that was so great. We never get out any more, and it’s so rare that we see ANYBODY, let along all of our friends, in one place. We caught up with everybody, chatted, laughed, joked around, played some “Would You Rather”, had some beers, and just had a good ol’ time. It felt like old times again.

It started getting pretty late, so we bid farewell, and were on our way. Amelia was great for his mom, she took her bottle and passed right out until we got there. Hopefully my late night doesn’t come back to bite me in the butt….I’m not holding my breath on this one!

Here are some pictures of our night. One of JUST ABOUT the whole crew and one of Nate, all on his own, because he’s always late to the party! LOL, so fun!

3/25/11 – Almost 8 Months

It’s FRIDAY! And, my Friday home. I’m ashamed to admit, I started off the day a bit bitter. Tomorrow is Christian’s birthday (which is why I’m posting Amelia’s 8 month post today). We are going out with some friends to celebrate tomorrow, but his co-worker wanted to go for dinner and a few beers with him after work tonight, which left me home with the girl, all day, and all night, all by myself. Ay, talk about a long day. Don’t get me wrong, I know that’s the daily case for many people in the world, but not me, and I definitely don’t have the patience for it!

But, we made the most of it. Olivia and I were up before Amelia, so we hung out and did “puzzles” (aka, played on the iPod) for a while. Once Amelia was up, we all had some breakfast and played for a while. Finally, I got the girls dressed and we were off to Target. I haven’t really had time to shop for Christian. For the longest time we didn’t even exchange gifts, but we’re trying to resurrect that. Unfortunately, I just had no idea what to get him this year. So, I decided to just wander around Target and see what I could find. I grabbed a couple shirts and some random necessity things I found around the store. And, if you didn’t catch that, I took the girls, to Target, all by myself! This is the first time I’ve taken both of them anywhere like that on my own. Amelia was so difficult, for so long, it wasn’t worth it for me (or fair to the general public) to bring her anywhere. Thank goodness things are getting better in this area! I do get the strangest looks though when I walk around with her in the sling! I think a lot of people just think it’s pretty cool, some people maybe thing I’m weird. Whatever, it’s the easiest way to get two kids out shopping!

After Target, we all ate some lunch and the girls went down for naps (very late naps). However, Amelia decided that she did not need a nap and woke up a short time later. So, I gave in, and just brought her downstairs. We hung out, played and watched some TV while Olivia got a nice long nap. Finally I was so sick of being at home, I guilted the BFF into letting us come over for dinner and playtime with Andrew. So, as soon as Olivia woke up, we packed up our bag and were out the door. It was much needed too…adult talk, and Olivia wore herself out silly running around with Andrew. She passed out as soon as we got home. I stayed up for a while watching some TV, and contemplated waiting for Christian to get home, but that definitely did not happen.

In other news, Amelia turns 8 months old tomorrow!!! Man, I can’t even believe it. Seriously, where does the time go? I think it’s even crazier to me just because she’s so small; it’s hard to believe she’s really 8 months old. She’s been doing great lately. She still thinks sleep is for losers, but other than that, we’re making constant improvements. Her first (front) tooth is finally all the way in, and the second front tooth is trying with all its might to poke through. She can crawl without any issue, and often ends up trying to go faster than she physically can, and face plants. She can sit herself up and pull herself to standing no problem at all. She can even stand all on her own for a few seconds now! She’s been doing downward dog for weeks now, trying to stand up, and the other day she actually did. Just for a tiny millisecond, but she stood herself up. We couldn’t believe it! She is still eating fruit and veggie purees only, but much chunkier than they were before. I plan on starting meats very soon. On the milk front, she is still 100% breastfed, and we’re going strong. No cereal, no finger foods, no sippy, no other liquids.

While she exhausts me, and I could do with a few less late night parties with her, she still amazes us every day. So much energy and ambition in such a tiny body. She is so focused, always learning, taking everything in. She mimics our facial expressions, she can copy a few sounds, she can play with toys, use her hands, no problem at all. She is our little energizer bunny, ready to go, go, go!

Here is her 8 month picture! Love her!

3/21/11 – 3/24/11 – Oops

Well, I made it just over a year, posting every day, and I pat myself on the back for that. Unfortunately, my streak has come to an end. Things have been so crazy that I haven’t had the chance to keep my posts up to date. Top that off with the sleep deprivation that makes it impossible for me to remember what I do from day to day, I just can’t recall enough to provide a decent update for this time period.

But, here are a few pictures to make up for it! Olivia has been doing so well drinking from a regular cup lately, VERY exciting! My mom sent home ribs one night this week (for Christian)…Olivia got a hold of one, and ate the entire thing! A cute one of Amelia crawling around, and another of her trying acting like she’s in jail at the top of the stairs! Of course, Olivia had to join in then. Gotta love these girls!

3/20/11 – Adventures in Baby Food - Broccoli

Of course, another busy Sunday around the house for us! The girls had us up nice and early today, BUT, for the first time in days Amelia only woke up once, so that was a nice gift. I was surprised they were up early though…it had rained all night, and was still raining, so it was nice and cloudy, so I thought for sure we’d get to sleep in. Apparently, they knew there was a lot to do today!

We had some breakfast, hung out and relaxed for a little while, watched some movies on TV amidst doing a little picking up around the house. It was finally time for me to tackle my main task for the day….baby food! Our freezer stash was just about depleted, so it was time to cook, cook, cook! I made apples, pears, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, peas, carrots and a NEW food, Broccoli. This task took me all day, on and off, and I still have lots of freezing to do, but it’s all made, so that’s good! Christian kept the girls busy and entertained most of the day, and got them down for their naps. We ate some random leftover our of the fridge, and I cleaned up the kitchen between batches. I also managed to get a couple loads of laundry done throughout the day…of course it’s not put away though!

Christian ended up taking the girls over to his parents’ house to hang out for a little while around dinnertime. I was nice to get a little peace and quiet and time to myself.

As I mentioned, today I tried out a new food…broccoli. Broccoli is very high in Vitamin C and is a great source of soluble fiber. This makes broccoli wonderful to add to baby food recipes. Soluble fiber is the fiber that helps loosen up the bowels as it changes its form as it passes through the digestive tract. An overabundance of soluble fiber in a diet may produce diarrhea. Insoluble fiber does not change its form or make up and simply helps to add bulk and too much of it may cause constipation.

Broccoli is not a good choice for one of Baby’s FIRST vegetables as it may cause gas and may be a bit hard for a young infant to digest. Broccoli is best given to an infant between 8-10 months old. We started it slightly early, because it’s one of the vegetables that we often eat, so it would be nice to have the finger food option for her soon, as she gets ready for that. If your baby has had any digestive issues, it would be best to introduce broccoli into the diet later rather than sooner. I purchased a bag of frozen broccoli, steamed it on the stove and pureed it for our batch. Super easy. Now, will she like it…that is the real test!

Cost Savings:- 1 Bag of Frozen Broccoli = $.89 – Makes Roughly 10 Jars- 10 Jars of Gerber Stage 2 Broccoli (Which I’ve Never Seen) Would Be = $5.95- Cost Savings of $5.06

Here are some pictures of the baby food making extravaganza!