Videos

Before we became parents, I talked Kyle into getting a video camera to capture those moments where a still shot just wouldn't cut it. Kyle wasn't convinced I'd really use it and while I admit I'm not so good at remembering to use it all the time, I have captured a few cute milestones so far.

The bad part is they haven't really been viewed by anyone, so in a effort to show off our princess' milestones so proud grandparents can see her in action, below are a few recent videos of our girl.

Warning: Everyone might not love these videos as much as the grandmas, pas and great-grands, so I won't be offended if you don't watch them in full :)

Rolling Over

Hitting the highchair toy

(This was one of the first times in the highchair and she barely reached the tray)

Giggles with Mommy

(Don't be jealous of my videography skills in this one)

Sitting Up

Family Reunion of sorts

This past weekend we were able to get together with a lot of the family on my mom's side to catch up, celebrate belated birthdays and hang out with grandbabies.

We had 3 generations of cousins (all female except Blake) and a good time was had by all.

Cousin Shot 1

 Aunt Laurie, Cousin Christine and Mom

Cousin Shot 2

Me, Cousin Erin and Gretchen (and wiggle Blake)

Cousin Shot 3

Ellie, Blake and Lydia

(Ok... I know... this is a bad shot, but its hard to get them all 3 in a shot together because Blake would probably body slam hug someone into the ground)

Here is the closest Blake ever got to Lydia. Once she is mobile, maybe they can actually play together.

Lydia LOVES Ellie and thinks she is sooo funny

We tried to take a few family pictures to mark the special weekend. Somehow we ended up with mostly girl only shots (sorry boys)! Here are a few of my favorites of everyone:

To Swaddle or not to Swaddle

Before Bean starts really rolling I want to try and get rid of the swaddle. So far she has proven to be fickle.

We are 2 and 0 for non-swaddling at night. YAY! She has been able to sleep in just her sleep sack with arms free for the past 2 nights without any excessive waking or arm flayling.

Naps are another story. Everytime I try to keep her arms out for naps, she WILL NOT fall asleep. No matter how many times the mobile goes around, the paci is reinserted and she is repositioned. She just went down for her first nap of the day in a full swaddle and she's out in under 5 minutes. I would take a picture, but I don't want to jinx myself.

We aren't there yet, but this progress at night is making mama happy.

As she grows... month 7

Do I really have a 7 month old? Time is really flying way too fast for this mama. I was just getting use to the idea that she was 6 months. She is really starting to act like an "older" baby and I can't deny that she's growing up! SOB!

7 month (19 weeks adjusted) stats:

• 13 lbs 4 oz
• Around 23 in. (based on 6 mo check up)

Interests/Activities:

• Getting into the beginning stages of baby food.
• Tolerates oatmeal, but prefers fruits and veggies.
• So far loves bananas, sweet potatoes and apples. 
• Dislikes avocado
• Can almost roll back to tummy, but keeps getting hung up on what to do with her arms.
• Has gotten back into rolling tummy to back, but only when she's in the mood - otherwise she'll scream until I turn her back over.
• Tries to sit up when I put her in that position, but doesn't last long. Usually ends up looking like she's touching her toes in a stretch pose, but thinks she's pretty hot stuff like that.
• Speaking of toes, she loves to put her feet in the air and hold onto her toes or rip her socks off.
• Hands are constantly in her mouth...which drool is constantly dripping out of
• Enjoys watching mommy cook or work in the kitchen. She follows along like she's going to cook next time and gets really excited when new ingredients come out.
• She is getting louder and more expressive each day, both with her likes and dislikes. Other kids and babies bring out laughter and "talking" the most. She especially loves her cousin Ellie and I can already see lots of sleepovers in our future.
• Don't think she's really getting clingy to me, but when she's with someone else she watches to make sure she knows where I am at all times.... in other words, she's nosey! Same goes for daddy's whereabouts. When he gets home from work, she is all smiles for him.

Here are our little princesses 7 month shots:

My smiley girl

She really likes to smile for the camera now!! Yippie

Her "sitting" position

I think she looks so big in this one...

 

And just to compare from months past, here are her 6 month, 5 month and 4 month shots. You can really tell when comparing past months just how much bigger she's getting.



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!).