Cookfest in pictures...

Like I mentioned the other day, I had a cook fest this past week. (In fact I had to go out and buy more ice cube trays to freeze the food in) I made broccoli/carrots/sweet potato, plain sweet potato, asparagus/carrot/sweet potato, cauliflower/carrot/sweet potato, barley/applesauce, sweet potato chicken with grapes. Below is a picture tutorial of how I cooked the chicken dish. I pretty much double the recipe from the book.

Saute onions in a little olive oil

Add chicken and saute for a few minutes

Add sweet potatoes and no salt added chicken stock(I just happened to have some made in the freezer)

After it simmers for about 15 minutes, time to peel the grapes. Here I have peeled half of them.

In the food processor and ready to puree (It took 2 batches because I have a mini food processor. FYI the amount of stock you use when pureeing depends on the consistency you are looking for)

WAAAALAAAAA....spooned into ice cube trays in 1 oz portions, cover with saran wrap and freeze. Then store in a ziploc freezer bag.

Celery Time

I had a cook fest the other day and gave Kelsey a piece of celery to tide her over while I was busy. It kept her busy for maybe a minute or two, but it was cute!!

Biter Biscuits

I learned my lesson...

Never give your baby a biter biscuit (especially for the first time) while they are in the car seat. Kelsey made a mess of herself, her dress, and her car seat before falling asleep while chomping on a biter biscuit.

Reflections....

Memorial Day Weekend

We were at G/G McD's with my sister and her kids over the weekend. Kelsey had fun playing with her cousin Colin (albeit she did not really nap at all)

She also had fun with Brandy and Gramma McDonald and everyone else who was there with us.

Pigtails

Can you believe she has enough hair for high pigtails?? I decided for fun to try it out this morning and it worked. I didn't get a ton of good pictures because for some reason she is blinking her eyes shut now when the flash goes off....

My friend who does embroidery (and the bows) made this bib, along with a bunch of other ones. She's creating a website and soon as it is up and running I will pass it along!

I'm crafty...

WARNING.. this post has no cute pictures and/or videos of Kelsey. Stop reading if that's what you came looking for!

Check out what I made.....

The covered wipes case I got instructions from here . I could've figured it out myself, but it was nice to be able to make sure I was doing it right. The diaper case I made all by myself!! It's a little bigger than need be, but I can put a disposable changing pad in the top space. I love it because I don't have to drag my diaper bag with me everywhere. I just throw this in the bottom of the stroller and we are off!

She can use a straw

I had to go out and buy a few more sippy cups, as I was tired of constantly having to wash the 2 we use. I decided to get one that had a straw and see if she could use it. To my amazement it only took a few tries for her to suck up some water. She practiced for a few days and now she totally has the hang of it.

Craigslist strikes again!!

I've been thinking about getting a bounce and spin zebra for a while now. It's recommended for age 1 and up, so I've just been watching craigslist to see if one is listed for the right price. It retails for $50($45 at Target), and some people list it for $30-40 (not what I want to spend on something she may not even like) The other day someone in town posted one for $15. What a Deal!!! I emailed her and arranged things and then asked Lou if he would go with me (my little sister was around for that fun conversation that went something like "we don't need a zebra in this house. Where will we put it" "Yes we do, it's not for now, it's for a few months from now and it's such a good price. We can keep it in the garage till we need it" This went on and on and finally he agreed/gave in) When we got home, we put it in the garage for safe keeping until she's old enough. Yesterday Lou went out in the garage and cleaned it and cloroxed it all up and brought it in. We put Kelsey on it and she had fun. Today I took a video of her on it (we have to hold her on since she's really not big enough yet)



On her own she likes to go up to it and just bounce up and down and laugh. She does this while turning to look at you with this big grin and laughs. She never performs quite as well when the camera is on, but you'll get the idea!!

Dream Swing Set

In my dreams (really Kelsey's) this is what we would build for her and her friends to play on one day. I played on their website (so cool) but could not find prices. I'm sure it's like $10,000. It's always good to have dreams.... (LOL, even unattainable, unrealistic ones)

Weeeeeeeeeeeee

We were working out front so we brought Kelsey out in her walker. Our driveway has a slight slant, so we really had to watch her. Then I got the bright idea to "play" and this was the result....


She had a BLAST!! Too bad it was about 15 minutes before bedtime, woops!

Walker Video

Here's my little girl today on the carpet with her walking toy..... (she's growing up way too fast)

Caught Ya

Kelsey is getting more adventurous. She's trying to walk behind her walking toy all the time. On the carpet I don't mind, but when she gets on the tile I have to have a hand on her. She lets the toy roll far in front of her on the tile and then tries to take a step, but is usually too far and she ends up on her knees (or her face if I'm not there). I caught her after she walked it into Lou's chair and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't move anymore.

She's so proud of herself!!

Family Weekend

We definitely had a family filled weekend...

On Saturday we drove down and saw Lou's family to celebrate his 30th birthday (along with his twin Jennifer) and to celebrate mother's day with his mom. We always have a nice visit down there. Our nephews and niece are always running around and now that Kelsey is on the move we can see that she is anxious to join them. As always we bring our camera down, but failed to take it out of the back room. So the pictures are courtesy of Lou's sister Michelle (Thanks!!)

Kelsey with her Aunt Christine, Aunt Michelle and cousin Isabel

Lou's mom got him the perfect gift...a bike carrier for Kelsey to ride in. We are excited and look forward to taking family bike rides!

Sunday we went to my parents' house to spend the day with my family (my baby sis is home from college and my big sis came down with her family) Lou and I went on the waverunner while Kelsey was "supposed" to be napping. When we got back we took her in the pool with her cousins. She was just chillin' in the float (She loves the water)

Kelsey and cousin Sean
Kelsey and mommy

Kelsey playing with (near) cousin Colin

Stair Climber

(I'm a bad mommy..no pictures or video)
On Sunday, Aunt Kellie was keeping an eye on Kelsey while I was finishing (yes I am a procrastinator) a mother's day present for mom. We were in the sunken living room at G/G McDonald's and there are 2 steps up to the regular level. All of a sudden Kellie says "she just climbed up the steps" I was like whatever, Kellie doesn't know what she's talking about. So Kellie moved her out to where I could see and what do you know, she did it again! She stood up to the bottom step, put both of her hands on the step, bent her right knee and raised it up onto the step, then the left and then repeated it for the second step. I don't know how/where she learned this. Needless to say we were all impressed. Video to come next time we go over.....

I'm sooo cute!!!

Disney Take 2!!

Lou had a convention in Orlando, so we took Kelsey, along with her Aunt Kellie and her boyfriend (Kellie's BF that is) James up with us to go to Disney for the day. We had a good time, but it was a very long day. I did utilize the baby care center this time to nurse and feed her lunch, it's very nice and located near the entrance of the park. Kelsey took about a 45 minute nap during the afternoon and then slept for another 45 min later in the evening. She woke up for the parade and was then up until we got back to the hotel around midnight. And of course she did not sleep very well to top it off. Today she was all out of whack, hopefully tomorrow we can find some semblance of normalcy!!

When will the insanity end?

Last night I had a cooking night for Kelsey because all I had in the freezer was one lentil cube!! How'd I let my supply get so low...sheer laziness! Now that she is eating some finger foods though I do not want to go overboard on the purees. So the insanity began when I made lentils for my child and I had never had them myself. After looking through my new cookbook (First Meals) I decided to buy parsnips, leeks, and a rutabaga at the grocery store yesterday. Now these are all things I have never really had (leeks once in a soup) so I did not know what they looked like!! I found myself in the produce section looking for vegetables I had never seen before and then reading the price tag to see what it was called! If you are wondering... parsnips look like white carrots, leeks look like scallions on steroids and a rutabaga, well here's a picture of one:

I made duo of root vegetables (it's supposed to be trio, but I left out the white potatoes b/c I have some made already I can mix with them) with carrots and parsnips. I made plain sweet potatoes, and I also decided to try a recipe that has brocolli in it; sweet potatoes, carrots and brocolli. She had that for lunch today and it went well!! The leeks will be used in the recipe for First Chicken Casserole (chicken, carrots, leeks, potatoes, parsnips) and the rutabaga will be in the Mashed Vegetable Duo (rutabaga, parsnips, cheese). I'm enjoying being able to make her food, and I'm glad she's enjoying eating it, otherwise I might be discouraged and give up. So here's to the lesser known veggies...may she enjoy them all!!

Now you see it....

Now you don't!!

Kelsey is getting good at eating finger foods..it just takes a little longer!

Reflections...

I see myself, Wow
Uh oh.....
Mommy caught me!

Weekend in Gainesville

This past weekend was Lou's 30th birthday and he had to be in Gainesville for his MBA finals. Kelsey and I decided to go up wth him to celebrate. The trip up was LONG!! We turned a 3 hour drive into a 5 hour one. We left before dinner, so we had to stop to feed Kelsey, (Lou wanted to just feed her in the car to save time..that was FUN!)

then later stopped to get gas and food for us, then pulled off the side of the road for me to nurse her for a few minutes (she was insane) and then we pulled off at an exit so I could finish nursing her and get her dressed for night night. Saturday I had planned on going to the mall after dropping Lou off at school, and then trying to find a park to hang out at for a little while before naptime. My plans changed... Mr. Ford (Lou worked for him while he was in undergrad and we stay with them when we go up) told me he'd like to take me to lunch at the museum and then take Kelsey and I to the Butterfly Rainforest. Unfortunately I did not have my camera on me, but Kelsey had a blast. She was very intent on watching the over 100 butterflies that flew all around in this indoor butterfly garden. Mr. Ford took Kelsey from me and enjoyed showing her the butterflies, the wateralls and the coi goldfish. As we were leaving a butterfly landed on Mr. Ford's head, it was quite funny. We had a very enjoyable afternoon!

9 Months, how can it be?

Kelsey turned 9 months old this past Friday. Can you believe it, because we certainly can't! She had her 9 month well check today and all is ...well!! Our little chunky monkey has definitely slowed down her growing. She actually lost weight from her sick visit the previous week. She was 20 lbs on the dot and was 28 3/4 inches. I didn't get her head measurement but the doc said that all 3 of her measurements are in the 75th percentile. She spent the first 6 months of her life floating way above those charts and now has dropped down onto them. Doc said she's doing fine, meeting all the milestones she should. We talked about her eating and the things she can't have (strawberries, nuts, milk, fish and raw mango/papaya---ooops!!! broke that one already) She got a Hep B shot and a hemoglobin prick t test for glucose??? and lead. She's babbling all the time, says dada, baba, ahhhh, "fuh" (fan), "juh" (JJ dog), but refuses to say mama. It's killing me...She pulls herself up all the time and occasionally will try to move around the furniture while holding on. She pulls up on her walker and moves around a few steps as well.