The Mini Party

Chicken Noodle Soup for dinner tonight, yumm! Had to cook the chicken this time, usually we just use left over chicken from a whole chicken, but we haven't made a whole chicken in awhile so I just cooked up some chicken breasts. Should make Scott's "dinner duty" easy for him, all he has to do is throw in the cooked chicken and the noodles when he gets home from taking Connor to Karate.

So after the Children's Museum we went home and got everything ready for a "mini" party. Both sets of grandparents, the Moore's and Betty came over. I made BBQ Chicken Wings (3 different types of BBQ, the kind I made, Tastefully Simple's, and Open Pit), Honey Teriyaki Ribs (Tastefully Simple, but I can't find it on the website to add a link, so I think it may have been discontinued), some pasta, and Pat made some bread. I also made some cherry chip cupcakes with strawberry frosting for dessert. We ate dinner, then opened presents (a couple super cute outfits, a mini mouse, a bracelet, a stacking toy, a Barbie Jeep and from us - diamond earrings, clothes, a movie & a cute lady bug shapes toy) , then we had "cake"! Because we did BLW with Savannah, she was so use to just getting regular food, that she really didn't get that messy at all. It took her a little bit to even try it because she was confused as to what it was since she has never been given a cupcake before. Overall, I think Savannah's Birthday was awesome! And I have tons of pictures to show her when she's older!

5 Best Baby Items - "Big Ticket"

Can you believe Thanksgiving is just a little over a week away, which means Black Friday is just around the corner! Are you going shopping? I am! Walmart opens at 10 p.m. and you better believe that's when I'll be there! You can't beat $2 movies and $5 PJ's for kids! Will also be hitting up Kohl's at midnight and the mall by 5 a.m. Other stores are opening at midnight as well but so far there is nothing jumping out that I need from them.

So I was trying to come up with something to Blog about today and nothing was jumping out. Then I realized Savannah turns 1 in just 16 days so now would probably be a great time to showcase the 5 items I don't think I could live without this past year. In no particular order:

1. Medela New Pump in Style Original Breast Pump - I purchased this while still at the hospital with Connor and we have definetly gotten our money's worth. If you plan on breastfeeding but have to go back to work you need to get a good pump that will work efficiently and effectively. Other than the normal parts wearing out and having to be replaced, this has been a wonderful investment.

2. Fisher Price Bouncer - I had a bouncer with Connor but never figured out what happened with it, after a few months debating about buying a new one we finally went out and purchased one. It's great the first 6 months to have. Savannah loved looking at the animals and it made it easier for us to get dinner made with her being happily content sitting in the bouncer.

3. Fisher Price Swing - I received this from one of my baby showers when pregnant with Connor and I love it. Connor enjoyed it, my cousin's baby girl Lily used it for awhile and now Savannah uses it. Savannah likes to keep moving when she takes her naps so after I rock her to sleep I can plop her down in this and she'll take a descent nap in it. I'm glad I have it!

4. Fisher Price Booster - With Connor we used a regular high chair but with Savannah we decided against it. Why you may ask? Well since we did Baby Led Weaning with Savannah it was important that the tray wasn't to high up on her chest. With a regular high chair this is a problem and it can be difficult for a baby to grab the food easily so we decided on a booster seat - which is cheaper and it also "fits" her better. Plus it takes up a lot less room in your house.

5. Baby Carrier: BabyHawk - I really wish I would have known about these when Connor was a baby. Having to worry about a stroller is kind of a pain in the butt and if you're going somewhere like the Farmers Market Downtown with the huge crown they can be a huge inconvenience, but with a baby carrier you don't have to worry about the stroller. It is also nice when it's cold outside because it will keep you and baby warmer and there is a lot of other reasons wearing your baby is beneficial for your baby (but that's an entirely different type of post).

Yogurt

Connor had his 2nd to last swimming lesson tonight, I hope he passes this time! Not sure if he will, but I sure hope so! Savannah's finally getting a tooth! Connor got his 1st tooth at 7.5 months old, so she's about a month behind him. I can see a little white through her gums (that took a lot of effort to look at, lol), so I'm hoping it comes soon!

The other night Savannah got a new food, yogurt! I gave her a bread stick and a spoonful of yogurt on her tray and let her go to town. (she also had peaches & tomato's she dipped in as well). This was an extremely messy meal, and anyone who is a neat freak probably couldn't have done it, but it was a lot of fun. She seemed to love it and it covered most of her head when she was done. She went straight into the bath after that. She did seem to eat more than normal though, which ended up being good, cause she only woke up once that night! Don't know if it was a coincidence or not, but I'll take it!

Eggs & Potatos

Ran to Kohl's tonight because I noticed online they had a TON of clearance, so I wanted to see if the same was true in the store, and yup! It was! I spent $74.01 and saved $395.85. If there was an extreme couponing for clothes, that'd be what I do, lol, now if I could only do the same with groceries we'd save so much money.......but I'm not sure if it would work for us or not because we eat pretty cheaply as it is. Anyways, can't wait for tomorrow, taking Connor to Noah's Ark & I get to use my new waterproof digital camera!!

Since we haven't gone to the grocery store in over a week, food in the house is getting pretty scarce so Wednesday night we ate up the last of the eggs & potatoes, and we gave Savannah some. She seemed to enjoy it a lot, she definitely seems to be eating a lot more food recently, she ate probably 1/4 of an egg cut up and a few pieces of a potato, which is a lot for her. She's definitely getting the hang of this Baby Led Weaning Stuff, and I'm so glad we went this route with her. No fighting to get her to eat, most of her calories are coming from breast milk, which is now recommended for the first year to be the majority of the calories, so whatever she actually eats is just in addition to not in replacement of breast milk. If we have another baby after this, we will definitely be going this route again!

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Just got back from Aunt Missy's for dinner. We had some pizza, cheese bread & some wings. Yum! Called it an early night. Connor kept asking to go home, which is unusual....he fell asleep in the car.......guess he was tired, lol. Going to call it a night pretty soon here, gotta work in the morning (Scott's lucky he took the day off)

So last week we made Spaghetti & Meatballs for dinner, and so we decided to stick to the true meaning of Baby Led Weaning (when appropriate...obviously if we were having stuff with nuts, Savannah cant have that) and serve her what we were eating. She loved it! We gave her exactly what we had, the only difference is we put hers in the freezer for about 2 minutes to cool the meatball down so she wouldn't burn herself. We made sure to get her naked beforehand cause we knew it was going to be messy and it was! She went straight into the bath tub afterwards!

Plums & Green Beans

So I'm a few posts - that I want to share with everyone - behind.....oops! It's officially summer, which means are weekends are pretty packed full, and when we don't have anything going on I just want to sit and vedge and try to gain some energy back.......We're going to be having a crazy week, so hopefully I can keep up and keep you all informed on what's going on over here!

So Thursday night we started on the next food of choice, Plums & Green Beans. You know when you take a bit of something and you really don't like it, and you get the weird "yuck" shudder? Anyone know what I'm talking about? Well Savannah totally did it with the Plums. I think they were pretty tart. I laughed so hard after she did that, that I was crying. Did it stop her from eating more of it? Nope, she kept going back for more! She also seemed to enjoy the Green Beans, but didn't touch those nearly as much as the Plums.

Breakfast

So tonight I finished Day 25 of the 30 Day Shred.....only 5 more days to go! I should probably be doing Level 3 by now, but I'm not. I've done level 2 a couple of times, but pretty much have stuck with Level 1 since. It's a good work out without making me feel like I'm going to die....... I'll be finishing with it on Saturday, then taking June 26th-July 4th off, then starting all over again. I'll probably stick to Level 2 most of the time this round.

So Saturday was the first day Savannah got 2 meals during the day. For dinner she is currently on Bananas & Asparagus, so to mix things up for her we gave her Avocado spread on bread and Cheerios. I know she really can't pick up the Cheerios yet, but I figured this would help her work on her dexterity and eventually she'll be able to get them in her mouth. She still isn't swallowing a lot, but I know she got a little at least, there were a couple of times I saw the bread go in without it getting spit back out.

Asparagus & Bananas

So last night I completed Day 20 of the 30 Day Shred, which means this morning was another weigh in. And...........drum roll please.............From Day 10 I've lost another 3.8lbs, for a total of 5.4 lbs!! WOHO! In under 3 weeks (well......more like about 4 weeks since I took some breaks and stuff) I lost that much. Now only 10 more days to go, and 4 more lbs until pre-preggo weight!!

So tonight started a new variety of food for Savannah. Asparagus & Bananas. She did chew on the asparagus for awhile, BUT totally destroyed the Banana. Pretty sure she actually ate some of it to (she just recently started swallowing some of her food). This was by far the messiest dinner she's ever had, and probably the most fun! (it didn't help that the banana was on the end of it's life, so it was a little mushier than it normally would have been....just made it that much messier).

Broccoli & Pears

So tonight I finished Day 15 of the 30 Day Shred.......although now I'm paying for it. My ankles were feeling a little better, they were still sore, but not to bad.......well........now they're killing me......I'll probably end up calling the Dr. Monday and going to see if there is anything (other than resting them) I can do about it...

So tonight we started a new dinner for Savannah. Broccoli & Pears. I thought she would totally be all about the pears (she did try them a little), but NO she was in love with the Broccoli. I don't know if it was just because it was a new and different texture, or what, but she played with the Broccoli for a good fifteen - twenty minutes!

Sweet Potato Fries & Apples

So right now Scott & Connor are gone helping the Moore's bring home their new swing set, so it's just me & Savannah chillin at home. Next weekend I have my Tastefully Simple party, so I'm trying to get some of the cleaning done. I did manage to clean my entire bathroom, which desperately needed it!! If you are interested in ordering anything from my party, let me know and I'll e-mail you an invite to shop online!

So Friday we started our next foods of Baby Led Weaning. This time it was Sweet Potato Fries & Apples. The Sweet Potato Fries I made the night before, cooked them in the oven with a little bit of oil on top of them. The recipe called for Olive Oil, which I thought we had, but as I was making them Scott informed me he used the rest of it up when we had Asparagus the other night......so I used Veggie Oil instead. She seemed to like the fries, but the Apples were a little more difficult. I had just sliced them with my Pampered Chef Apple Slicer, but I think the pieces were to big....so I'll be making them smaller tonight, probably cut them in half.

Peaches & Carrots

Just finished Day 8 of the 30 Day Shred. I would love to think that I'm loosing weight, but after weighing myself after Day 4, and realized I had gained 1.4 lbs, I'm kind of scared to get on the scale again. I do know that my size 8 Capri's that I haven't warn since I was 20 weeks preggo fit once again, but that really doesn't mean much.......I gotta pull out my super cute size 3 shorts I'm holding onto just in case I ever get that small again.......maybe that'll be some motivation??

So Savannah has been getting food for a week now. Some days go pretty good and she seems really interested, some days she could really care less. We were doing Avocados and Cucumbers, but today we switched to Peaches & Carrots. I don't know if it is a coincidence or not, but today was the best day yet. She played for a good 20 minutes, actually gagged herself a couple of times on a carrot, lol, and overall just seemed to enjoy it today.

Savannah Gets Food

So this week has been especially long.......I just wish the weekend was here already! We're going to hopefully get a lot done outside this weekend (new railing for the steps out front, building the planter boxes, planting), and we also have a Pampered Chef party to go to and a Birthday Party. So a packed weekend ahead!!

So tonight was the big night, Savannah got food!! I was super excited to start Baby Led Weaning, For her first meal we had decided on Cucumbers and Avocados! Unfortunately I took all the skin off (not thinking), so it was very hard for Savannah to get at the food (since she's new to all of this and it was super slippery), so we ended up handing the food to her. But we followed the "rules" and did not force it into her hand or her mouth. She ended up sucking on the cucumber for a little bit, and getting some small pieces of Avocado in her mouth. I think she was a little confused by the whole experience, but I think she enjoyed it a little too, at least she didn't hate it! It was super cute, and I can't wait to try again tomorrow (this time with the skin on, so she'll be able to pick it up herself).