Sweet Potato Tutorial

So... lets be honest... making baby food isn't hard -- yet I own a cookbook for it. It really cracks me up since all recipes really boil down (pun intended) to 3 steps:

1. Cut up into small pieces
2. Steam
3. Puree

But I got this nifty little all in one baby food cooker from my sister, so decided to try it out. I forgot to take a picture of the sweet potato before I cut it up, but who doesn't know what a sweet potato looks like, right?

The nifty machine tells you just how much water to add to steam the food of choice

It then turns itself off when done

Add the blades and the water from the steaming process

My assistant is amazed at how easy this is...

Done!!!

My 1 large sweet potato made 10 oz of baby food. I labeled and froze for future use

The critics give it 2 thumbs up!

Thankfully she loves sweet potato. We tried avocado, but she wasn't into it yet. We'll have to try again later.

Overall, I love the ease of the all in one baby food maker. It is easy to clean and really doesn't take long. Plus, its really no fail since it tells you the right amount of water to use.

The one drawback really is its size. It just barely fit one sweet potato and when I tried apples in it later, I again couldn't fit more than one in at a time. So, if you want to make a lot of baby food at one time, it might be better to steam on the stove top and then use to puree, but is perfect when trying new fruits/veggies and don't want to make large quantities.

Last Beach Trip

Labor Day weekend marked our last beach trip for the summer! We had a great time visiting with Kyle's family and meeting GiGi (Great Grandma Dorothy) and CiCi (Great Aunt Carolyn). Somehow I ended up with zero pictures of them with her (bad mommy), so I need to get some copies.

Here is a little summary of our trip with pictures....

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise every morning

Watched the first Gator Game of the season in style

Celebrated Gary's birthday with the family in our gator gear... though Gary was shocked to learn I didn't own a Gator shirt. Thankfully Keily had one for me to borrow. I won't tell him that Kim also doesn't own a gator shirt either... hee hee

We played at the beach. Here is Bean enjoying the water before a big loud wave came and scared her. She prefers to "sun bath" in her tent to playing in the water. I'm sure that will change by next summer. I better start getting in shape now to chase her around!

Had to take some family pictures before we left. Here are the Hammacks

Bean slept through the entire picture event - ha! She loves to cuddle with her daddy.

Noah looking so dashing in his hat

The Edwards crew. My hair was blowing like crazy. I had to scoot really close to Kim to keep my hair from completely blowing in my face.

Pretty Mom and Daughter



We hated saying goodbye at the end of the long weekend. Can't wait to see everyone again soon!

I love bananas

At our last well baby visit our pediatrician told us we could start some solids with Bean whenever we wanted. I didn't want to start too early, but I started to notice she was staring at every bite I would take during dinner, as if to say..."Give me some of that mom. Pretty please!!". So I decided she was ready and started her on a little oatmeal.

While she didn't really seem to mind oatmeal and would eat a little bit, she really is in love with bananas. She'll open up her mouth really wide and is always ready for more.

Next up in the line-up:

- Avocados

- Sweet Potatoes

Beyond that, I haven't really given it much thought, but since you have to try each food for 2-3 days before adding another one, then that should last us a while. Hoping she's as in love with the Avo and Sweet Potato as she is with bananas. Fingers Crossed!

My goal is to make my own baby food, but so far I've just mashed up a banana, so I don't think that really counts. We'll be breaking out the fancy baby food maker my sister found on clearance at TJMaxx for under $10 that normally retails for $100 (what?! Now that's a bargain!).

As she grows.... month 6

Happy Half Birthday!

I cannot believe my baby is 6 months already! That means in just 6 short months we'll be celebrating her first birthday!!! Ahhh... I can't think about that yet.

This post is a few days late as we just went to the Dr today and wanted to add her official stats.

• 6 months (3.5 months adjusted)
• 12 lbs 5 oz
• 22.5 inches

• Favorite Activities/Milestones
• We officially are on the normal growth chart at 1% for height. This is a great accomplishment for a preemie and can take a long time to get here. Granted it's only 1%, but we are proud parents nonetheless.
• You are our little social butterfly - smiling, laughing, cooing and flirting with everyone you meet.
• When you laugh, it makes us feel like real comedians. I especially love when you break out that belly laugh and toothless grin.
• Tummy time still isn't one of your favorite activities (who really loves it anyways), but you've gotten pretty good at it and can hold your head up 90 degrees.
• The Bumbo might be your new favorite toy as it allows you to sit up and you think you are hot stuff in it giving us a squeal in delight.
• Along the same lines, if you are awake, you enjoy sitting with us at the dinner table in your highchair. No food yet, but you have fun playing with toys and watching Mommy and Daddy talk.
• You can now grasp toys and love to shake your rattle, hold onto the little rings on your play mat and try to eat your lovie.
• Teething! We figured out you are teething with the constant drool and hands in mouth 24/7. Just how many fingers can you fit in at one time?
• The Dr is pleased with your progress and said you have great head control and is happy with all the milestones you've hit so far.
• Daddy and Mommy love watching you grow and learn new things every day. I can't wait to see what the rest of the year holds.

Here is a look back at how you've grown since coming home.





5 months
10 lbs 2oz



4 months
8 lbs 11 oz, 20.5 in

 



3 months
6 lbs 6oz

2 months
5 lbs 5 oz, 18.5 in

Chicken Crock Pot Crack

So I've recently become addicted to Pinterest. Though I have to admit I'm a better pinner than a follow-througher on doing some of these fabulous pins.

Recently I pinned a "Chicken Crock Pot Crack" recipe and thought since it looked so darn easy I had to try it. It's now one of my favorite recipes because it's 1) Easy - hardly any prep unless you count rinsing black beans as prep and it cooks itself, 2) Cheap - 99% of the time I have these ingredients in my house - with maybe the exception of cream cheese, and 3) Makes enough for left overs - enough said. And lastly, 4) SO GOOD!! It really is Crock Pot Crack!

I was too lazy to take picutres myself, so I'm borrowing these from the original blogger that I found this recipe from via Pinterest. (see link above). She gives more detailed instructions, but it's basically this:

(copy)

• Dump the following contents into your crockpot:

1. Bag of Frozen Chicken Breasts
2. Can of Rotel
3. Can of Corn (drained)
4. Can of Black Beans (Drained and rinsed)
5. 1 Block of cream cheese (any kind but fat free)

• Cook on low for 6-8 hrs.
• Let stand for 30-45 mins
• Serve over Rice

(copy)

You can shread the chicken or leave whole. I shreaded it and then served as nachos the next night topped with cheese. Yum!

Ramblings on Motherhood

While my little princess takes her morning nap, I thought I'd share some of the random things that go through my head while I'm home with my girl.

- If I mention sleep on my blog, will she regress again? She had a good week or 2 there where she slept from about 10:30 - 7am and then for no apparent reason started waking up again 1-2 times a night (YAWN!). For a baby with reflux, that means it's about a full hour of awake time for mama, so she won't spit up her meal. Then suddenly this week, she's back to sleeping from 10:30 - 7am (YAY)! This is the 3rd day in a row, so hoping it's not a fluke and that I don't jinx myself by blogging about it.

- Rolling over comes in spurts and she will go several days without attempting... is this normal?

- According to Onnie (my mom) Bean is teething! Can you believe it? I started noticing she was sucking on her ENTIRE hand over the past week or so and just thought it was an alternative to the paci, but realized when she rejected the paci for her fingers or would clamp down and try to chew on the paci that she is indeed teething!

- Love how yoga pants and a nursing tank can double time it as PJ and acceptable daywear (at least in my head)

- Bean has started to take an interest on what's on our plates, though I still think she's a little young to try any herself. We did set up her highchair so she can see what's going on at the table and think she gets a kick out of this view.

- And finally I'll leave you with a picture of my cuteness. After visiting the Pediatric Opthomologist for a quick check up the other day, she got to wear these super cool sunglasses and surprisingly kept them on - haha

She's on a roll

Miss Priss seems to learn something new every day that amazes her mama and daddy. Sometimes it's as small as an enormous smile that makes us beam and sometimes its a bigger milestone that reminds us she won't stay itty bitty for long.

Sunday afternoon, Kyle was playing with Bean while I took a nap and she uses this opportunity to hit one of her first milestones - she rolled over!

After I woke up, Kyle tells me "I think she can half roll over." I'm wondering to myself, what does "half roll over mean" and he puts her on her tummy to show me and after a few seconds, she decides to throw her head to the side and rolls onto her back. While she is 5 months now, I really didn't expect this to happen so quickly, since her adjusted age was 12 weeks to the day. She did it over and over again on Sunday, but come Monday, she didn't want to perform her little trick on command, but has continued to roll when it strikes her fancy and has gotten faster each time. I tried to upload the video, but apparently its not going to happen for me today. I'll have to try again later - or just check out my FB page.

Once she's able to coordinate this with a back to tummy roll then we are really in trouble.