Pumpkin Patch

Fall is my FAVORITE time of year. I love that it brings cooler weather, beautiful colors AND Pumpkin Patches! Even more exciting, this year we get to experience this season with Jase. I couldn't wait to get Jase to a pumkin patch to capture some great moments with him, Scott and I. We chose to go to Keemans Farm, it's family owned and in Elk Grove. I looked them up online and it reminded me a lot of Avila Farms on the coast, but much smaller scale.

We headed there two weekends ago and had a great time. I think we got ONE, yes ONE picture of Jase actually smiling and TON of his face soaking all the new in. He really enjoyed watching all the kids run around and LOVED the hay! We did not actually purchase a pumpkin as we were on a picture taking frenzy, but it was still a GREAT time.

Stay Tuned...

Jase's 6 Month Stats

Finally getting to this....

Jase had his doctors appointment last week where he got his normal check up and his 6 month shots. His doctor says he's growing great and on point for all his milestones! We asked about possibly introducing a less sensitive formula, but the doctor said he's growing great so no need to introduce anything else. She does want us to offer more solids. She wants us up to three times a day but we're only at two times right now. I'm still kind of following Jase's lead with this and trying to also listen to his body as well. So he gets some in the morning and evening right now. I am still making food, but he also gets the Gerber packages when we're out and about or traveling. Jase also took his shots like a champ, once again! Only cried a little for the last two. So, here are his stats:

Length: 27.5 Inches

Weight: 17 Pounds 12 Ounces

Head: 40 Centimeters

We have a Happy, Healthy, Growing Boy... Thank You GOD!

Stay Tuned...

Happy Half Birthday, Jase

How on earth has Jase been in this world for six months already?! Scott summed it up great by saying, "It feels like six days and six years all at once", I completely agree. Time has seemed to fly by, but at the same time I forget what life felt like without Jase in it.

Jase is growing and learning so fast these days. Daily, sometimes, it feels like he learns something new. Just a couple weeks ago he was sitting up for very short amounts of time and today he's sitting for SO long before he finally reaches for something and topples over.

Here's what has been going on with Jase lately:

Jase has eaten rice cereal, sweet potatoes, yams, avocado, bananas, carrots and prunes so far. Still only not liking the avocado. We don't do rice cereal anymore now that he has more options of food to eat. Jase has been a great eater as well. We've got into a night routine of eating "dinner" for him. We do some food in between evening time bottles before his bath. It seems this way he's not starving but has room in his tummy to have a little taste. Some days we eat food twice, but we have not made that consistent yet. He is also still drinking his same amount of formula as well. 

Sitting up alone consistently and playing with toys. He loves to sit and play and watch Abby run around.

Goes to bed by 8:00 PM every night. Jase is VERY picky about his bed time. It does not matter when he last had a bottle, bed time is by 8 PM and Jase reminds us of that if we have forgotten! 

Loves to play in his big boy bath. We still have to be right next to him because he kicks and will fall over in a split second. He does love to try and eat his bath toys and seems to be favoring his ducky. 

Sleeps in his crib all night. We have had some nights where we need to sleep in the room with him due to him waking often, but most nights are great.

Rolls tummy to back and back to tummy! (mastering that would be one of the reasons we needed to sleep in his room!) This means Jase moves around his crib all night long. It also seems he favors sleeping on his side. 

Jase has ONE tooth that popped through the day he turned six months! (Yet another reason for sleeping in his room) I have yet to capture a picture of this tooth, any tips on how to do that would be much appreciated! 

Jase still LOVES watching Abby and hearing her bark. It never fails to make him giggle like crazy. He also loves to reach out and "pet" Abby. We are working on telling him and showing him how to be gentle when doing so. 

Jase is wearing nine month clothes these days. He has definitely not gotten his hight from me!

I had so much fun taking picture of Jase this month. Watching him just sit and be so happy about his new view was fun to capture. Enjoy!

Look at me sitting. 

Abby, mom is taking my picture right now, not yours!

Oh, I think I'll knock this down! 

And... Down

Loves his dog, Abby

Twins

Stay Tuned for stat updates from his doctors appointment mid October...

Mama Blog: Homemade Baby Food

We have had the "go ahead" to start Jase on solids since his 4 month appointment and as excited as I was, I was not so much prepared! I knew I wanted to make Jase's food (or most of it, let's be real packages are convenient sometimes) but really had no clue where to start. I had the baby food processor and storage containers, but that was it. Well last week I got a lovely package from my great friend Courtney that contained TWO baby food books! It was like she was reading my mind and knew I needed a kick in the butt! Thanks Courtney!

I had been reading up on what foods are good to start with so I kind of had an idea on what I wanted to make for Jase. He has done well with rice but hated avocados. (see this post) Veggies have been known to be the best to start with so that's the direction I took. These baby cook books were a great tool to guide me in the right direction. They are broken up into food by age. Of course the first foods are simple, single ingredients. I choose to do Sweet Potato, Yams and Banana. Since Jase didn't like the avocado I thought a sweeter veggie would be nice and Banana was a good first fruit option. All three were in the "clear" for his age! 

The Baby Cooker we got is the Beaba. When I was pregnant I did a lot of research on different options/sizes/food processor vs baby cooker/ect. The Beaba seemed to be a good fit for our family. What sold me on it was that it is an all-in-one. It steams/cooks the food and blends/purees it as well. Now, you can also get just a normal processor, but this one was a little less expensive since it was a "baby" item and not a "kitchen" item. I also found on the reviews that when the larger one was purchased it was used after baby for adult food preparation too! I am so far pleased with this purchase! 

*Of course you don't need a fancy baby cooker to make baby food. The recipe books my lovely friend sent have recipes to follow that use the oven/stove and blenders. I choose a baby cooker mainly because of the appliances we did/didn't have... and this seemed to be a faster process*

So here is the breakdown of what I did start to finish:

Sweet Potato & Yams: these were of course were cooked separately and machine cleaned in between since we don't know if there will be an allergic reaction yet. Since they follow the same steps I'm combining them on here

1. Cut each into small cubes & add water per amount specified on your processor to steam

2. Place cubes in steamer part of processor

3. Steam - this took about 15-20 minutes for each

4. Dump steamed food into blender container and blend until consistency is what you want. *Note: I kept mine a little less smooth (meaning I didn't add additional water or breast milk/formula. I will do this once I defrost to serve)*

5. Put pureed food into containers to freeze (can store in freezer up to 3 months)

Sweet Potato

Yams

6. Freeze 24 hours and transfer into freezer bags and put back in freezer

Once I know what Jase likes I will be making more "bulk" to fill bags

7. Done

Banana:

Banana

1. cut banana in slices

2. put in blender part of processor

3. blend

4. follow steps 5-7 from above

This whole process took about an hour from start to finish for all three foods. I bought two types of containers for food to be stored in. The first are cubes that hold up to 2 oz of food and the second are ice cube trays with lids. Here's my reasoning for the different ones. The cubes have multi uses: Baby food, snacks when older, salad dressing or sauce containers for Scott to take to work for lunch, really whatever you want them to be. The ice cube trays are great for freezing and then transfer to bags for bulk. These too can be used for other things like freezing coffee cubes, homemade seasoning (ie: flavored butter) and so on! 

We are still working on getting a routine in for solids in. So far I've been offering at night with his "dinner" feeding before his bath. Sometimes he's super excited and other nights he wants nothing to do with it. Basically we're following his lead: always offer, but never force! I hoping with some more food options we can start to figure out what he likes to eat! 

Stay Tuned...

Jase: 5 Months

Holy Shit Crap!!! We have a 5 month old! How did that happen so quickly? Jase has grown so much over the last month and this mama is LOVING it! Based on my at home measurements he is around 17 pounds, 26 inches long and in his 9 month Jammies and some 9 month clothes! Not only has he grown physically but he has also learned a ton of new things and his personality shows a little more each day!

Jase had a couple of "firsts" this month as well. He tried avocado and hated it. He can now sit for short periods of time unassisted. He is a pro at rolling back to tummy (diaper changes have become a task due to this). He found out that Abby is around and she's pretty cool. He sleeps consistently through the night AND in his crib now. He went in the pool, finally after having many missed opportunities! It's so fun to watch Jase grow and learn new things everyday! What Jase loves right now: his exer-saucer, swing, bottle, TV, walks, blowing bubbles, his monkey or froggy at night, bath time, bedtime and miss Abby. There's not much Jase doesn't like at the moment. One thing he would rather not do is play on the ground by himself. If he's on his play mat someone needs to be right next to him!

Jase has brought our family SO much joy the last 5 months and I'm so excited to see what the future holds!

Mashed Avocado 

Lets see how this goes.. 

Not a Fan!

Daddy to the rescue to finish it! 

Of course Jase had to try it again after watching daddy eat it, still a no go!

Naked Baby in a Pool

Grabbing the Camera

Such a Handsome Baby

5 Month Photo Shoot at Home with Mommy 

He thinks he's so funny when he does this! Sticks tongue out and blows!

What a Ham!

Loves Abby 

Don't worry we washed his hands after this! 

He thought Abby licking his hands was SO funny!

Stay Tuned...