Baby Eats

Charlotte is my daughter. She loves to eat. Like mother, like daughter.

She eats peas, haricot verts, avocado, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, her hands, my necklace...she eats it all. Did you know that if you eat too many sweet potatoes, carrots and butternut squash, you can turn orange? My sister told me that. I believe everything she tells me.

Auntie and Neice!

Melly introduced me to Smitten Kitchen Baby this week. It's a food blog about baby food by one of my favorite food bloggers. How did I not know about this before?!? Reading the blog makes me feel guilty for not feeding Charlotte pretty carrots with leafy green tops. I bought the 10 pound bag of carrots from Costco. That makes a lot of baby food. Here's how I did it.

1. Start with some baby food containers. I always have some containers of the Gerber First Foods around the house. But I also think that their plastic containers (which are bpa free) are the perfect portion size when I freeze portions of Charlotte's baby food.

2. Steam your vegetables (i.e. carrots, broccoli, green beans) until it is tender. I actually overcook it a bit to make the pureeing step a bit easier.

3. Place the cooked vegetables in the food processor (use the blender if you want a finer puree), adding some of the cooking liquid or whatever milk baby is drinking. The amount of the liquid depends on the consistency that your baby likes.

4. Divide the food into single-serve portions. Let it cool completely before freezing. Frozen baby food is good for two weeks.

And if you're looking for more recipes, I actually bought Top 100 Baby Purees. It has a lot of pretty photos. :)

By the way, did you notice that I said haricot verts instead of green beans? But don't worry, I'm not pretentious or French. I love spam and vienna sausages a/k/a potted meat.

Oh, and one more thing. Charlotte had her 9 month doctor's appointment today. 27 inches long and over 18 pounds. My little preemie isn't so little anymore. :)

A photo of Charlotte just a few days after she was born in Flagstaff, Arizona. Remind me to tell you that story someday. :)

Sleepy Memories

Back in the day, both Charlotte and I got sleep. :)





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

September Showers

I love showers.  Well, yes, I love the soap and shampoo variety for a little peace and quiet at the beginning of the day.  But I'm talking about the baby and bridal variety, where we get to shower the mommy or bride-to-be with love and support.  I especially love the little details that go into making those celebrations special.  Maybe it's the menu.  The invite.  The table setting.  Or the games.

I dream...fantasize about throwing parties that would be worthy of a feature on blogs like Hostess with the Mostes or Celebrations at Home.  While there was still so much more that we could have done for this party, I still had a fantastic time helping put together this bridal shower together with AB for our dear Ann.

This is the invitation - cupcakes and tea!

Well, there wasn't actually tea.  But there was curried carrot and apple soup served in beautiful teacups!  Does that count?

And to finish off the menu, we had...

Fruit, cheese and crackers

Crab and mango salad in homemade wonton cups.

Mini onion and two cheese quiche.

And it can't be a cupcake and tea party without the cupcakes!!!!  Snickerdoodle cupcakes (since snickerdoodle cookies are the brides' favorite) with brulee-ed seven minute frosting.

I heart my Martha Stewart whiteware cake platters.

And thanks to Jenn, we played the BEST bridal shower game EVER.  A bridal pinata.  Filled with lots of bridal stuff.  Who said pinatas were just for kids?

And where was Charlotte during the festivities?  With Daddy. (Come on, you didn't think I'd have a post without at least one photo of Charlotte, did you?)

Blogging Lessons

So I read this blog post from the Pioneer Woman a few days ago called Ten Things I've Learned About Blogging.  Number two on her list is: Blog Often.  She writes: "Consider your blog a precious bloom that requires daily nurturing.  And watering.  If you water a plant every two weeks, it will shrivel."  Sadly enough, I was that girl who killed her bamboo plant in college.  Yes, a bamboo plant.  You don't even need to water that thing - just stick it in a glass of water.  But I was too lazy.  I let it shrivel.  And die.  I didn't throw it out until it got moldy. 

Hopefully I don't treat this blog like that bamboo plant.  Life just gets so busy sometimes and it's easy to make excuses.  But if I'm gonna commit to this, I need to make a better effort.  So I'm sorry for abandoning you for the past few weeks.  But I'm back.  And I have watering can in hand.

Charlotte is growing up so fast. 

She's starting to crawl and really does improve every day.  She went after my chicken taquitos today.  I put the plate on the floor to get a glass to water.  By the time I turned around, she was trying to eat a taquito.  Smart little girl.

 
She has friends.  I didn't have friends until I went to kindergarten!  I thought everyone in the world was a cousin of some form.  And everyone spoke Vietnamese except for Big Bird and Cookie Monster. Here she is just hanging out with her buddy! 

She can go grocery shopping.  We took her to Dudleys Bakery a few weekends ago for some tastilicious bread.  She grabbed a loaf of jalapeno cheddar from the shelf and wouldn't let go. 

She can hold onto a cup, kindove. 

And most importantly, her hair is growing...out.  My little girl has a mohawk.  So proud.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!  I love you so much.  As soon as you walk into the room, I turn my head to see your smile.  I love it when you tickle me and when you throw me up in the air.  You're the best at changing my poopy diaper and tucking me into bed.  I love you and I can't wait until I can eat birthday cake.  Maybe next year.

Sleepy Time

Oh what a weekend.  So starting a few weeks ago, Charlotte decided to stop sleeping.  She would be up 4-6 times every night and I felt like I had a newborn all over again!  I was tired and grumpy and didn't know what to do.  Some of my friends told me about "sleep training" but the thought of letting Charlotte cry to sleep was just unbearable.  Then on Friday night, exhausted and without any answers, Justin and I somehow agreed to try our modified version of sleep training.  Justin would be in charge while I sat on the other side of the house with the TV on.  Even with the TV muffling the sound of Charlotte's shrills, I still cried. It's night number three and we're still in the process of "sleep training" our little girl.  Justin insists that she's getting better and at the end of this whole process, it will result in a happy mommy and happier baby.  But this weekend, Charlotte was definitely pissed off at us.  She was mad. 

She was especially needy all weekend, demanding to be held the entire time.  She would glare at us a little bit more and require a lot more entertainment before she would even crack a smile.  Ugh, it was terrible and I kept thinking to myself - is this all really worth it?  But I spoke with my sister tonight and she said, once you've committed to sleep training, you have to stick to it.  And yes, she said, Charlotte is definitely pissed off at you and needs reassurance that we still love her.  Oi.  Please tell me I'm not a bad mommy...will keep you posted on how it all works out (i.e. if I crack and let her come back to sleep in our bed).

Anyways, lots of photos to share this week. 

So our good friends, who have a little boy only a week younger than Charlotte, moved this weekend.  They're having a year-long adventure in Europe!  So sad!!!  But thankfully, they were able to squeeze us in for one final play date after the movers packed up all their stuff away.

Charlotte and baby Jackson.

 

 

Charlotte is definitely sitting upright now.  Now she just has to figure out crawling.  She can roll over like a rock star and can scoot herself backwards.  No forward movement yet though.

Charlotte sitting up!!!

And Charlotte had her very first experience in the pool this weekend too.  She started enjoying the bath a lot more so we figured it was a good time to take her for a dip, since it's been so hot.  She seemed to enjoy it, especially splashing around.  She was done after about 10 minutes though.  :)

Baby Bulldog

So this weekend wasn't as jam-packed as the others, which was a welcome change.  There was still lots to do though.  There was an extended family bonfire at Coronado Beach (which we only attended for about an hour before Charlotte insisted on going home).  We had a family photo session at Balboa Park (after the second time my photographer rescheduled on me).  My little brother flew back to college so I sent him away with some fresh baked white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies.  And daddy installed a brand new ceiling fan (painted to match the walls) in Charlotte's nursery.  Wohoo!!

But the real reason for this post, I needed to show you photos of Charlotte in her baby bulldog onesie.  Bulldogs, woof, bulldogs, woof, bow wow wow...Eli Yale!!!

My little bulldog!!!

Look at how happy she is to be a bulldog!