Latest pictures

Macy and I next to our baby snowman!

Both kids enjoying the Johnny Jumper.

What happens when Mommy feeds Matthew without a bib- what was she thinking!

Matthew pulling up on toys!

Macy and her boa she got for Valentine's Day.

My happy baby boy!!

What happens on long snowy days while baby brother naps- mom looses

her mind and brings the snow inside!

Macy showing off her V-Day outfit.

The latest on my two kids

So far this year I'm not doing as good of a job as I had hoped on

updating our friends and family on our family...

My goal is to get better at this for two reasons- so that in between visits home to see family everyone can see what is going on with our kids (and us too I guess!) and to keep a journal of cute and funny moments in our life. As much as I think I will remember all of the funny things Macy says or the cute things Matthew is now doing...reality is that I won't! How do I know this? Because I can barely remember what I ate for breakfast and couldn't tell ya the last movie I watched. *Sigh* I CAN however tell you the last time my kids pooped (and describe it in detail), what THEY ate for lunch yesterday, how much they currently weigh and the latest milestones they have achieved....sorry probably too much information...but that is where I'm at in life! :)

So latest milestones for Macy:

* We are 100% done with potty training!!!! Never thought I would ever get to say that but the big 'poop in the potty' moment happened about a month ago- I've never felt more proud! Ha!!
* Macy LOVES to ask questions and they are getting more detailed like "Mom, do we have any milk or do we need to go to the store and buy some?" or "Is Annie and Liam coming over on Friday or on Tuesday (she has no clue what days of the week are but she at least has the words figured out!)
* We have started a sticker reward chart giving her stickers for doing certain daily things - brush teeth, make bed (her choosing not mine), getting dressed ("All by myself"), sharing toys with her brother or friends, picking up, etc. This has really worked with her attitude on doing certain things. It is amazing what stickers can do. Mark wants to continue doing this until she is 18....but I really doubt bribing with stickers is going to keep her from staying out late with friends...maybe! :)
*We are reading LOTS of books and she is acting more like a big kid every day. When people say "kids grow up fast" man....they really mean it. She is just so sweet and so caring- and a great big sister.
*Macy will be 3 in almost a month- hard to imagine but she is! So we are working on a birthday party idea too.

The latest with Matthew:

*Matthew is almost 8 months old - and is finally ear infection free (for now anyway)!! He had an ear infection (right, then both, then left, then both) for almost 2 months. During that time I had some of the hardest 'Mommy moments' I've ever had. I really don't know how families with very, very sick kids can go through Dr appointments and medicine like that for months. Thank God we are done with all of that. Praying that they don't return or we could be looking at tubes. :( It has been so nice having a 'happy and healthy' Matthew to love and enjoy playing with!
* Pulling up on almost anything has become one of his greatest daily accomplishments. He looks so proud of himself. It is scaring me to death because I know crawling and walking are not too far away- yikes!
* We all have been getting so much sleep lately which has been great! Matthew is sleeping 11-13 hours at night only waking once to eat around midnight. It has been so nice for both of us. Although I do miss the little guy by morning and I'm itching to hug him when he wakes up. He really enjoys playing in his bed when he wakes up so that has been fun to listen and watch him do too. Such a great kid!

That's about all for now. Will try and post some pictures later...but must go check on my sleeping kids.

And one more

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/carrot_banana_muffins.html

These muffins make a great breakfast for just about anyone. I even subt. the banana with some applesauce and flax meal for the eggs!

Unique combinations, but so YUMMY!

Here are some links to some new favorite recipes that we have enjoyed over the last month.

Don't judge too quickly...just try it!! I used pureed pumpkin leftover from last fall and it was just so yummy! Your kids will think so too!
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/sweet_potato_peanut_bisque.html

A New Year

So we are now 11 days into 2010 and for some reason (like most beginnings) I have this renewed and refreshed view on just about everything - motherhood, life, church, relationships, etc. Maybe it's the beautiful snow outside or the beginning of a new year, or it might just be because my sick baby is feeling some what better and I'm getting more sleep- Who knows?! Either way it's been a good year so far.

View of our backyard after our big snow.

For Christmas and New Year's we went to Texas to spend time with Mark's family. We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone and seeing our old friends. We drove...yes...drove to Dallas which meant a long time in the car for both of the kids and us. For some reason I was dreading the drive (well, to be honest, for two reasons...a 6 month old and a 2 1/2 yr old who were just starting antibiotics b/c of sinus and ear infections) but once we were in the car it really went by fast...and we had a GREAT time! I guess you really can make the driving hours part of the fun. Another perk (besides saving tons of money on airfare) is that we got to spend some time with my side of the family in Missouri and stop and see some friends of ours in the Tulsa area. Plus with my brother's wedding after New Year's Day it just seemed like the easiest route.

Pictures of the kids opening toys.

Macy really got into Christmas this year- I think she opened up each and every present that was given to our family. It was so much fun seeing her eyes light up when we talked about Santa, leaving him cookies, and a carrot for the reindeer. Even more fun when she would open each present and look at if as if it was the best gift ever! Probably one of the sweetest things she did this year was wanting to take baby Jesus with her to bed each night. She got a Little People nativity scene and she just loved that baby Jesus in a 'hay box'. How could this mom tell her no? So baby Jesus spent most nights in her room right next to her in bed. Aww! Macy was also in Brian and Sarah's wedding. It was beautiful and Macy did a great job being a flower girl. It was her second time around and she did pretty good considering she was low on sleep and high on sugar!

Walking down the isle.

Matthew is now 6 months old. Poor kid has a double ear infection now and has had one since before we left for Christmas break. I sure hope this isn't a sign of what is to come this winter. I'm just not very good at diagnosing him and his ear infections. He is still a happy kid even when sick. Sleeps less...but is still a happy kid. We did celebrate his 1/2 birthday (just this time :0) when we got back with 1/2 of a cake. Something we did with Macy....can you see their resemblance? Too funny!

Matthew (top) and Macy (bottom) each at 6 months.

Mark starts in with Spring training next week- and the long hours and stressful days will be here until Spring Break. My how we live for breaks!!! He enjoys it and absolutely loves his job-- so it is all worth it. It's been great having him home these past few weeks. I think Macy and Matthew have really enjoyed their daddy home too. Who wouldn't? He is a great dad!

That's about all that is going on here. Hopefully now with the holidays behind us and the new year upon us I will be able to post more often. HOPEFULLY!! :)

Goodbye Halloween...Hello Baby Food!

Through out the month of October we accumulated 4 pumpkins through field trips, Sunday school and Halloween parties. I told myself when we got them that this year we weren't going to let them rot on the front porch until Christmas like we usually do. Nope! This year I (Well, I had my little helper too) actually turned them into something useful- Pumpkin puree! I love to cook with pumpkin and since it is in the squash family I know Matthew will be able to eat it soon too.


Why eat Pumpkin? Here is what I found...


"The bright orange color of pumpkin is a dead giveaway that pumpkin is loaded with an important antioxidant, beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is one of the plant carotenoids converted to vitamin A in the body. In the conversion to vitamin A, beta carotene performs many important functions in overall health. Current research indicates that a diet rich in foods containing beta-carotene may reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer and offers protect against heart disease. Beta-carotene offers protection against other diseases as well as some degenerative aspects of aging. " Gotta love the last part! :)


"First and foremost, the main healthful qualities of pumpkin nutrition are the large amounts of antioxidants and beta-carotene present within the pumpkin. Antioxidants, as most of us know by know due to increased awareness of the importance of healthy living, help strengthen our immune system. (With all this flu stuff going around this is a major reason why the entire family should enjoy pumpkin!) Beta-carotene converts to Vitamin A and helps reduce the risk of cancer and other dangerous diseases.Pumpkins by themselves are also very low in fat and calories, and high in potassium. They also possess a fair amount of Vitamin C and other nutrients, such as Niacin, Vitamin E, Calcium and Iron."

Why make baby food?

I really enjoyed making Macy's food- it was so simple, cheap, and I guess I figured it was healthier since it was fresh and no preservatives are used. It made me feel good anyway. Plus every time Macy would eat the store bought kind (if she would eat it) she would have major stomach issues (or lack of...IF you know what I mean) for days. So that is why we did it! I was even working full time then and found that it only took a few hours a month to make it. My daughter to this day will still choose to eat a banana,broccoli or apple over anything else. So very worth the time.

How to make baby food....

First check to find out when your baby can eat which foods. Their are some foods you should not try and make at home too. Plus each food is different and has different methods of cooking/pureeing and storage life. I will post more as I'm going through this journey again, but I thought I would start out today with pumpkin and how we made it.

Simple and easy steps to making pumpkin puree:

1. Cook the pumpkin (Wash before cooking) Remove stem, cut in half, use spoon to take out all seeds and other stuff, then put upside down on cookie sheet and cook in oven for 1 1/2 hours at 35o. I placed some water in the bottom of the sheet with foil on top to make a steam tent for the pumpkins.

2. Peel off skin of pumpkin and toss. Then puree the pumpkin with blender (No need to add water b/c pumpkins are full of it anyway)

3. Place in ice cube container and freeze for a 2-3 hours or until firm.

4. Pop out of container and place in ziplock bag (will keep for up to 6 months)

I had lots of extra puree so I measured it out and placed in ziplock bags in 1-2 cup servings for other recipes.

What to do with the puree...

One of the best things we have tried is peanut butter pumpkin spread (Thank you Erica for the idea!!!) It is great! Just mix the 1 Tbs Peanut Butter with 2 Tbs Pumpkin and you can add a dash of pumpkin pie spice if you want. It is awesome on toast or even as a snack with apples or graham crackers- Macy LOVES it!! You can't even taste the pumpkin and it is super creamy and smooth.

Here are a few links to some other great sites: http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Pumpkin-Recipes/Detail.aspx

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/pumpkin-babyfood-recipes.htm

http://www.eatingwell.com/ - By far my most FAVORITE website of all time. Just search by pumpkin and get tons of great recipes that are healthy too!

Hope you can enjoy your pumpkins more than just on your doorstep this year!

Where has this month gone?

So I just realized that this month is almost over and I've only posted 2 other entries. To be honest I started this with the intentions of updating my family on the kidos. Well, since both sets of grandparents have made visits this month I guess their was less 'updating' to be done. I still send about 50 pictures/week to them but just less journaling.

I'm not sure what has kept me away from the computer...never mind....I totally know what has kept me from the computer! MY KIDS!!! And I mean that in a wonderful way. We have had a great month- very busy with activities, walks, playtime and even making some crafts.

During a recent MOPS meeting our leader talked about purposely enjoying every minute of our life right now....b/c let's be honest sometimes it is really, really hard to do that. But I found that if I purposly just try and enjoy every minute of even the most stressful of days I ALWAYS find something that I try to imprint on my mind forever. I know someday my kids will go to school and leave me for several hours in a day and eventually go off to school and leave for several days (even weeks) at at time...and I'm okay with that...but these few years are all I'm going to have with JUST me. And I guess selfishly I'm trying to make the best of every minute of it. Then again, I don't know if it is the hormones (I can still use that for a few more months right? :>) or the sad death of a friend of mine's little nephew who died from complications from the flu. (He was perfectly healthy one day and then a few days later a mom had to say good bye to her little boy forever. Something that no mom should ever have to do.) But it has really got me thinking...you just never know what each day is going to bring...good or bad. So I guess you could say I've been busy trying to purposely enjoy each day- a very easy thing to do with 2 little ones around always making me smile!

Now I encourage you to purposely try and enjoy each day...no matter what stage in life you are in. It is amazing at what you will see!