Holy Week for Kids

Easter is coming up this Sunday and I would love for my kids to know that it means more than a bunny and lots of delicious candy (that I will steal). Growing up, I only celebrated Easter Sunday so I am still to this whole "Holy Week" deal. I love the tradition of it all and want my kids to appreciate and understand the purpose of Easter. Last year our church had special services for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday (in addition to the Easter Sunday services) however, being a mother of two small kids, I didn't have the energy to trek them across Miami, so we had our own special services at home. If you find yourself home with kids, here are some things you can do. And please share any of your special family traditions if you have them.

Maundy Thursday

Supplies:
- Jesus Storybook Bible
- water basin and pitcher
- towels
- crackers or bread
- grape juice
- chalice or cups

This can be done after dinner as you are getting ready for bed. Together, read "The Servant King" pg 286. Once you reach the bottom of page 288, pause, and take turns washing each others feet. This will inevitably end up in a huge mess. Continue reading and as you get to the part where Jesus breaks the bread and pours the wine, do the same with your bread and juice. When you are finished you can ask your kids questions like "Why did Jesus wash the disciples feet?", "What is a servant?", "What do the bread and juice remind us of?"

Take a break to clean up, brush teeth, and change into pajamas if you haven't done so already. Then you can continue on with the last story, "A Dark Night in the Garden" pg 294. This story might stir up a lot of discussion for your kids. You can ask them "Why did Jesus go to the Garden?", "What happened in the Garden?", "Did Jesus do anything wrong?", "Why did the people want to kill Jesus?" Your children might not like ending the night with this story, but it's supposed to be unsettling. Pray with them and remind them that God is good and this is part of his plan to fix all that is broken in the world.


Good Friday

Supplies:
- 4 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups salt
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon oil
- paint
- pipe cleaners
- small cloth
- sticks for cross
- rock

The kids really enjoyed doing this last year. We didn't have enough flour or salt at the time and had to halve the recipe, so our hill was pretty small. I found the instructions on this blog. It takes about 4-5 hours to bake and then you have to paint it, so plan for enough time.

You can read the story, "The Sun Stops Shining" pg 302, when you are finished with your Easter hill. With the pipe cleaner people you made, reenact the story. Place Jesus on the cross, take him down and wrap him in a cloth, place him in the tomb, put the rock in the opening and place guards around it. Don't forget to ask questions, to see if your kids are understanding what is happening. "Was this a good day or a bad day?" or "Why did Jesus have to die?" You will want to place your Easter Hill in a place where it will not be disturbed but where the kids can still see it.

Easter Sunday

Supplies
- plastic eggs (6 per kid)
- items for eggs: bread crumb, cross, rock, strip of cloth, candy

Before your kids wake, remove the Jesus figure from the Easter hill. Fold the cloth, roll the rock to the side and put an angel on top. Begin the day by reading "God's Wonderful Surprise" pg 310. I didn't add any questions to this part because I felt that the story was sufficient enough. When you finish reading the story, have the kids check on their Easter hill if they haven't noticed it already.

Move on to their easter baskets. I found a pack of a dozen eggs for $1 at Target and labeled two sets from 1-6. The night before place the items in the corresponding eggs. 1- bread, 2 - cross, 3 - cloth, 4 - rock, 5 - empty, 6 - candy. Whenever you decide to open them (before or after church), do so WITH your kids and talk about what the items represent. Happy Home Fairy made this cute little guide with corresponding verses that you can print or pin.

Bringing new life into a broken world

I anticipated that some part of the birthing/newborn process was going to be emotionally hard for me, I just didn't know when it would hit. The last time I had a baby, my father was still alive. The last time I talked to him was on the phone at the hospital. The moment I woke up from my first night being at home with my newborn, everything changed. 

This is where I am now. The first night home with my newborn. And this is where I am facing grief head on. This is a whole new "first" for me. The first time I have brought life into world where my father doesn't exist. And I hate it. 

I hate living in a world where he doesn't exist. 

I tried to think of a different word to use besides hate, but I believe it's appropriate. Death is something to be hated. Brokenness is something to be hated. And I am more aware of that brokenness when I hold my newborn daughter and mourn the absence of my father in her life. 

It's all very surreal and weird. Even after three years, it's still hard to believe he's not here. In my mind, memories and dreams, he's very much alive and active. Because I knew him so well, I can picture exactly what he would do, what he would say, and how he would interact with our kids. I can see him now with my son, giving him music lessons or sitting at a table intricately building Legos together. I can see him with with my daughter (I guess I'm gonna have to start specifying which one) sneakily eating some kind of treat because she would have him wrapped around her finger. I see him with my nephew, laying on the floor playing with his trains. I see him with my niece, holding her and making embarrassingly goofy faces just to make her laugh. Because I can imagine these things, it makes the loss that more difficult. He would have been the best grandfather.  

It sucks and I hate it. I wish I could just sit here and stare at by daughters beauty without all these thoughts in the front of my mind. Without anticipating the next terrible thing to happen. I am so acutely aware of how fragile life is and how quickly everything can change, that I feel like I'm just waiting for the next bad news to happen. This is not where I want to be.  I want to be hopeful for the future and have joyful anticipation of what's to come instead of fear. 

My prayers these days seem to echo the words of my favorite Christmas hymns

"Come thou long expected Jesus

Born to set thy people free

From our fears and sins release us

Let us find our rest in thee."

"O come thou dayspring come and cheer

Our spirits by thine advent here

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night

And death's dark shadows put to flight"

Praying for a more hope-filled tomorrow. 

*DISCLAIMER: I am sleep deprived so if anything doesn't make sense, I apologize, just go with it. 

I'm Still Here and I'm a Terrible Blogger

Yes, I'm still around. It's been a couple weeks since I've written anything but that hasn't been from a lack of business. This is precisely why I have a love/hate relationship with blogging. I love that it gives me a platform and space to share my ideas and creativity but I hate how I often feel enslaved by it and feel like a failure when days or weeks go by without me writing anything. I don't really know how other people have time to document their life, edit photos, upload those photos and then write a cleverly written post about it. I told myself when I started that I would try to do everything from my phone because I knew that it would never happen if I had to transfer everything to my computer first.

So maybe you are awesome at blogging and post something every other day. Or maybe you're like me, who started a blog once and then life got busy and you didn't have time to update it. Good for you. I've learned that I need to be OK with being a lazy blogger. Sure I might not keep people's interest or might not generate a following, but that's not the point. I just want to share my thoughts and maybe encourage someone else to do the same.

Encouragement for the Failing Parent

Nothing makes you feel like a failure more than parenting. Especially when you are a new parent. You're never sure if you are doing things "right" and are constantly second-guessing your methods. Unfortunately for us, we felt like failures from the very beginning. Liam had colic and acid reflux for the first four months and didn't sleep through the night until he was nine months old. This was not because of a lack of resources or effort, that's just who he was. I remember crying all the time (both of us), reading books and blogs, trying to figure out what I needed to do differently, but nothing worked. Luckily, I was blessed with a very wise husband who told me I had to put away the books because they were causing more stress than help in my life. And he was right. These books and blogs created expectations about how a baby should act if you do A, B, and C, so I was really discouraged when I tried everything and it still wasn't producing the results I wanted.

I remember when Liam was teething and still not sleeping through the night, he had one fluke night and slept for like 9 hours. I attributed this to the medicine that I gave him and was convinced that this was the magic potion to get him to sleep through the night. In efforts to recreate this, I would give him the same cocktail every night. It didn't always work, but I was sure that it was helping. One night, before Dylan and I headed out the door for a date night, I realized that I forgot to give him teething medicine and started freaking out, "Oh man, he's for sure gonna wake up tonight!" I was so distraught that Dylan (the wise one) suggested we pray about as we were out on our date. I realized that I was putting all my hope in a little tube of teething gel (and my own discipline in applying it) rather than the God of the universe who is in control of everything. And you know what happened that night? Liam slept through the night. And the next night. And the next.

It didn't last forever but I was okay with that. Just experiencing the grace of God in an area that was so stressful was enough for me. It was his way of telling me to let go and and give him control. I relied way too much on my own intellect, logic, and parenting resources and not enough on the ultimate resource. I wish I could say I learned my lesson then, but that would have been too easy :)

So now I am in the throws of disciplining a three year old. For some reason I thought this would be easier but boy is it hard work. Every attempt at discipline fails. Time outs, spankings, quiet times, rewards, reasoning, etc., nothing works. The phrase we say over and over in our house is, "Please just listen and obey!" The most frustration comes with nap time and bed time. Liam will just not stay put no matter what we do and some nights it would take us over an hour to put him to sleep. Those are the times when I want to punch a hole in the wall and go on a long vacation by myself.

One day during what was supposed to be nap time, I felt completely discouraged and angry. I left the room and started reading my bible because I was fuming on the inside. God must have known because my mother happened to come by earlier than expected and was able to play with the kids so I could have some down time. This is when I was confronted once again with my control issues. I was upset because I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong and why Liam wasn't responding the way he was "supposed" to.

Over the last couple of weeks I've been collecting verses to encourage me during those times when I feel like I'm failing. Hopefully they will bring hope to you as well.

Gifts for Moms

I meant to write this post a while ago and had planned for it to look all awesome with pictures but, as my friend Sweet Brown would say, "Ain't nobody got time for that!" Now I realize that not everything I say is going to be applicable to all women. You know the moms in your life and their personal preferences. I'm just saying that, at least for myself, these are always good gifts anytime of the year.

1. Gift Cards to Specific Stores
Do not get a mom a gift card to Target or a Visa gift card. She WILL use that money on groceries and diapers. Instead, choose a specific store where she can only spend it on herself. Victoria Secret is a great one because moms never buy themselves good underwear.

2. Bath and Body Treats
You can never have enough bubble bath, hand soaps, or lotion. I'm always happy when someone buys me stuff but that also depends on the fragrance. If you don't know what their preference is (flowery or fruity) stick to the basics, vanilla or lavender.

3. Candles
No one wants to spend $10 on a candle, but we love when someone else buys them for us.

4. Pamper Her
Consider giving her a gift certificate to pampering services. Maybe a trip to the spa, a mani-pedi, or even a hair cut. It's hard to make time for these things, so maybe you could also offer to watch the kids while she goes and does these things.

5. Make Up
I don't know the last time I bought make up besides eyeliner and mascara. Everything else has been given to me. And it doesn't matter how small it is, I'm just as excited. Splurge and buy her something from a department store instead of the pharmacy store.

6. Stationary
Note cards, journals, and note pads are all great gifts. Anthropologie has some great ones or you could order some personalized sets online through many different companies.

7. Annual Passes for Kids
This might not seem like a gift for mom, but there are many days when I just wanted to take my kids somewhere to get out of the house. Passes to indoor playgrounds are a life saver for rainy days. Zoo passes are awesome when the weather is nice. If you REALLY want to splurge, Disney passes are where it's at.

8. Free babysitting
I think this is an obvious one. Babysitting is expensive and when we can get it for free, it's awesome. Instead of leaving all the initiating up to them by saying, "If you need a babysitter, let us know" take the initiative. Recently we had friends that just approached us and said, "We want to babysit for you this Saturday night, so make plans." We were forced to go out and we didn't have to do anything.

9. Pinterest Insipred
If you're thinking how broke you are to give any of these gifts, look to pinterest. Maybe you are crafty or are great in the kitchen and can make things. You could even stalk their Pinterest page and see what things they like and make them. I think you would have to know the person and whether or not they like making the crafts or would just like to have them. Instead of stealing their joy in making things, you could provide all the supplies needed. Kitchen gifts are great cheap ideas. Maybe homemade cookies, a spice rub, or jam.

10. Photo Gifts
No one prints out photos anymore so you could do a lot with this. Print and frame a picture, make a photo book, or a family calendar. I don't have a digital frame but maybe that could be a good idea.

*New 11. Magazine Subscriptions
I don't know how I forgot this. Two years ago Dylan got me year subscriptions to Martha Stewart Living and Rachael Ray for Christmas. It was great. I loved that it lasted all year long. There are so many options of magazines to fit everyone's taste. People - for everyday popular stories. Martha Stewart Living - amazing recipes and crafts. Relevant - faith an culture. Parenting - tips and resources. The great thing is that you can get subscriptions through amazon.com so they are good last minute gifts. Just buy them the recent copy and tell them the rest are on their way.
 


Again, these are my go to gifts that are good anytime of year but especially applicable for Christmas. Do you have any that you would add?

 

Food Wars

Right now the most frustrating part of parenting is getting Liam to eat normal food. I am not writing as a mom that has any answers in this area, just the frustrations that I have and maybe you have too. Maybe if you've had success, you can share that. And by success I don't mean tell me that your child has always been a good water and here/s what you did (Felicity is that so far). I want to hear from those who have had picky eaters and how they turned it around. 

Liam hasn't always been a terrible eater. Up until his first birthday he would eat every thing. I never had any problems. Then he got a stomach bug and didn't want to eat for a couple of days. Them he got his first molars and refused some of his favorite foods. Since then, he hasn't worked his way back up to what he used to eat. 

I write this today because I tried to give him a piece of cheese and he lost his mind (resulted in a 30 minute time out). Besides a grilled cheese and a quesadilla, this boy hasn't had a piece of cheese in over a year. That's right, a year! He used to eat cheese everyday as a snack. In fact, that was one of his first words, "chees". Now, he won't even touch it. Here's a breakdown of his current eating habits:

Has never eaten - rice, mashed potatoes, broccoli, lettuce, ground meat

Used to eat, now won't - cheese, mac & cheese, pasta, peas, green beans, beans, tomatoes

Sometimes eats - chicken, lunch meat, eggs, oatmeal, meat, carrot 

Will always eat - fruit, pancakes, french toast, PB&J, pretzels, crackers, cookies, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, yogurt

So you can see how challenging this is. Things are a lot better then six months ago, but we still have to pack a PB&J where ever we go just in case he won't eat what's there. How do we stop it? We've done the whole, "This is what's for dinner" thing, but we end up giving him something just so we don't have to wake up in the middle of the night with him cause he's hungry. 

Am I making a bigger deal of this than I need to? I just don't want a picky child. I remember picky children  growing up and I thought they were brats and their parents were push overs for letting them get away with it. But now on the other side, I sympathize with the parents cause sometimes you don't have the energy to fight it. And the way our life has been going lately has left me with very little energy to try. 

If you have any tips, share the wealth please.

The Long Awaited Birth Stories

I've been thinking of writing this post for some time, trying to figure out what to say. I actually already wrote Liam's birth story in detail but didn't publish it because I wanted to write Felicity's in the same post. After going back and forth, I decided not to share their full birth stories for a couple of reasons.

First, because I know the temptation for women to compare their stories with each other. I didn't read any when I was pregnant with Liam cause I didn't want to get freaked out, but I did read other stories when I was pregnant with Felicity. I found myself saying, "Please don't let mine be like hers" or "Please let it be just like hers". Guess what, I was disappointed when mine didn't go according to plan and envied everyone that had this perfect birth story. So for everyone's sake, I will share only what I think is beneficial.

Christmas in June

Liam and his Christmas Palm Tree

 We are officially six months away from Christmas. Monday was June 25th, and to celebrate the day Liam and I celebrated "Christmas in June". *FYI, no spiritual undertones, just silliness. It kind of came to me the day of when I put Felicity down for her morning nap and Liam was taking a self-initiated time out in his room. I wish I would have thought of it soon, cause I would have planned better. Oh well. We worked with what we had.

I tried to find some Christmas clothes to put him in but everything was long sleeved, so we went with a red and green tie-dyed shirt from his Tia Hannah. Next year I think I will have to make some kind of Christmas shirt or tank for them.  We created a Christmas palm tree from some brown paper bags I found laying around. Liam painted the star ornaments and I painted the trunk and the leaves.

While it dried, we watched Frosty the Snowman with our snowman ornament and cut out some snowflakes. Liam really has no idea who Santa Claus is. It's all about snowmen to him.

Watching Frosty

I couldn't think of anything fun to do for dinner, so we had breakfast for dinner but the main event was Liam's first hot chocolate. Well, it was really luke warm, but it still counts. He was really into the whipped cream and asked me to refill it about four times. I'll say it was a hit.

The main event

Liam's No Good Very Bad Day

Where to start. Yesterday Liam just fell apart on us. To start off, he woke up at 5:45 am. We know that he as been teething so he's been more fussy than usual. Yesterday was Evan's Birthday so we drove up to my mom's to spend a couple of days with them. When we got to their place it was around Liam's nap time, but he wouldn't go down without a fight. He cried and cried as we tried to put him down. Finally my mom and I just put him down (still crying) and walked out of the room. We just closed the door when we heard a thud followed by more crying. Sure enough, Liam had jumped out of his pack-n-play and hit his head on the floor. I stayed in the room with him for an hour trying to calm him down and put him back to sleep but no avail. So, he just didn't have a nap that day. Later that evening he started getting delirious and was playing on the couch, jumping up and sliding off. Well, that ended with a face plant to floor and a minor bloody nose and busted lip. He wailed and wailed once again for bedtime and we just left him in there. Eventually he stopped crying and fell asleep (waking up a few time). When 2:30 am rolled around and Dylan and I were trading off Felicity duty, Liam woke up screaming with a full on bloody nose. Dylan cleaned him up and put him back to bed. Then again at 6:30 Liam woke up with another bloody nose. He looked like he got in a bar fight.

I wish that was the end of his drama but that just happened in a 24 hour period.

The saga continues.

Feeding a Picky Toddler

Liam wasn't always a picky eater but the last 7 months have been pretty tough to get him to eat good things. What used to be one of his favorite food, Mac and Cheese, he will not even touch now. No pasta or rice. He doesn't even like milk. If he had his way, he would be eating fruit and carbs for every meal. So it's been a challenge to get him to eat protein, veggies, and dairy. In the last couple of days he has started to eat cheese again. He will try orange veggies, but green veggies, no way. And as far as meat goes, it just depends on what kind of mood he's in.

I kind of have been driving myself crazy trying to get him to eat a balanced diet. The main thing that was working was making him a smoothie in the morning. I would put milk, yogurt, frozen fruit, and spinach in it. That way I knew he got some calcium, protein, and veggies right from the start. Unfortunately Liam broke our blender last week, so there have been no smoothies. For other meals, it's like I have to trick him to get him to eat. Most of the time it just leaves me feeling defeated and him in tears. Searching for any kind of help online, I found an article from Dr. Sears website titled 17 Tips For Pleasing the Picky Eater . This has changed my whole approach. I can honestly say that I haven't been stressed out about it. He has been eating more real food and less snacks or organic baby food pouches. I made this card of some of the tips that I want to put into effect and have placed it on my refrigerator as a reminder.


I just need to relax and trust that he will let us know if he's hungry and as long as we commit to only offering foods that our good for him, he will be alright.


Now, we need to tackle the whole "discipline" thing.

Product Review - JJ Cole Swag Bag

I spent weeks researching for a new diaper bag. My main criteria was that it didn't look like diaper bag but more like a purse. I already have a Petunia Pickle Bottom backpack that I got for $40 at a consignment shop and it's great just a little big and boxy. So after reading many reviews and checking out prices, I settled on the JJ Cole Swag Bag. This bag has everything I was looking for and more. It's fashionable, waterproof, has lots of pockets, a changing pad, wristlet change purse, and stroller straps. I am very pleased with it and recommend it to anyone who is looking for a nice looking diaper bag. It comes in bronze and silver, but the silver is more like a pewter.

Two front zipper pockets and two deeper pockets


Two insulated side pockets


A zipper pouch in the back for the changing pad (and wipes)


The changing pad folded up


Changing pad unfolded. Not huge but covers a good amount of space.


It was hard to get a picture of the inside, but there are four pockets lining the walls and it's all waterproof


Here is everything I can fit into my bag and there it still room for more. So if you need it to hold a lot you can, or you can throw a couple things in and go.

New Quilt

My new project is making a quilt for the baby girl. There is a designer that makes the most beautiful fabric and I've been dying to use them. There are 12 different prints that are a mix a purple, green, blue and pink. Its not really baby girl colors but I'm hoping it will be something she uses for a while. All of my fabric came in this week and I've been endlessly cutting it up. I'm pretty excited to start sewing. Hopefully it turns out as well as it looks in my head.

Liam's Quilt

I meant to put these pictures up a long time ago since I finished Liam's quilt in February. I had great dreams of having this photo shoot with it so you could really see the the whole thing, but that hasn't happened and three months have passed. I said while I was working on this that I never wanted to do a quilt again, but now I'm having the itch. The learning curve was big, but I think I could do one again in less time. Also, maybe I need to make the next one bigger since this quilt only has room for Liam and I.

This was a trial run of laying out the fabric to see what it would look like together. This was before the solids were added.

Here is all the fabric with solids and my plan for attack. You are really supposed to do this at random, but I wanted all the colors to be distributed evenly.

My first strip sewn together. Only 9 more to go.

My collection of strips

Skip a few steps ahead and this is me quilting all the layers together. A very long process

A horrible picture of the finished product with black binding and a solid grey back. I like how it came out, just wish it was a little bigger. Oh well, maybe next time.

The Tough Transition into Motherhood

Last week I spent sometime evaluating different areas of my life and was really disappointed to find that I'm not doing so well. Once Liam came, life stopped and I hoped at this point I would be back to the familiar me, but I'm not. My life isn't much different than it was one year ago. The only area that I can see growth is in my mothering skills. Everything else, like my relationship with God, time with friends, doing things that refresh me, managing my home, etc., has taken a major downturn. It's like I don't know how to be me in this new role as a mother and keep up with all these other areas in life. I mean, I good day for me is Liam eating and sleeping well, beyond that, I make no promises. At this point I was hoping to be thriving again, having a deep relationship with God, enjoying my family, spending great time with friends, being healthy and taking care of my body, and having a clean home. I don't know how to merge what was true of my life before into this new role as a mother. It's not that I have high expectations on what my life should look like, I just don't know how to put it all together. I've been in survival mode for over a year now and I don't know how to move on to a more sustainable life.

1 Year Down

This was the scenario a year ago:
I went to bed on March 25th at 12am. At 3 am I started feeling my first contractions. After about 3 hours of rotating from our bed, to Liam's floor, to the shower, I finally woke Dylan up and told him that I thought today was the day. Actually I cried telling him, because I was so scared that it was actually happening. Then after a crazy day Liam was born at 5:05pm.

It is only by the grace of God that we survived this first year. In a way it feels like a blur but in another way it feels like soooo much has happened. There are so many people to thank for helping us get through this year. First off, my amazing husband. He has been the biggest blessing in my life. It's kind of like soldiers that have been at war together. They have this special bond because only they know exactly what it's like to go through what they went through. Only Dylan knows how hard it was those first couple of months and he was a trooper. Then there are our parents. They came to the rescue whenever we needed help. We were actually able to get out of the house because of them. They cleaned, fed us, and loved Liam well. We had lots of help and fun from siblings, our church, college friends, and crusade staff.

It's been a year of ups and downs, but we made it.

Happy Birthday Little Buddy! You make our world a brighter place

gDiapers

I had first heard of gDiapers from my sister-in-law. I thought that they were really cute and I liked the idea of them, but was unsure about trying them. After about a month or so of thinking about them I decided to give it a try. I bought a little 2 pack of the gpants, 6 cloth inserts, and a pack of disposable inserts. The great thing about the disposable inserts is that you can flush, compost, or throw them away. There's no plastic in them so they are much better for the environment. How it works is that you have the outer pants that really just keep everything together. Inside of that is a snap-in plasticish liner that protects the dirty cloths from the pants so you don't have to wash the pants every time you have a dirty diaper. And then you have the option of using the cloth or disposable insert.

So here's how it's been working for me. After the first day or two I realized that I probably should get more gpants because if I put the diaper on wrong it would leak on to the cover and I had to wait to wash it before I used it again. But then Liam got a stomach bug and was pooping about 4 times a day, so I had to retire my 2 cloth diapers for the week because it was getting nasty. Once my other set of diapers came we were good to go. Since I am home during the day I make a wet pail in the washing machine. Just fill it up, put a little Borax in it and toss each dirty cloth insert (after you dump the poop in the toilet) and snap-in liner as the day goes. At the end of the day I just run the washing machine and dry the inserts and we're good to go for the next day. Having the diapers soak all day helps with them not be so smelly and so stains don't set. The only downside I've had is that they aren't as absorbent as normal disposable diapers. I have to change him more regularly because if I don't he starts to get a rash. And he never ever got a rash with disposable diapers. At night I still but a disposable diaper on him because in case he goes to the bathroom, I don't him to wake up. When we go out to places like Church or Disney, I do put the disposables on him so we don't have to deal with that there. Maybe overtime I will be confident in using them out, but I'm not there yet.

So, that's my review of gDiapers. Check them out if you're interested. You can buy them online or at Babies R Us.

My Cry Baby

New Baby Food

Some of Liam's favorite food right now are blueberry pancakes and mac & cheese. The boy loves his carbs. I actually enjoy making these foods because I get to eat them too! I don't really follow a recipe for the mac and cheese, I just mix together pasta (ditalini), plain yogurt, shredded cheese, and toss a in few vegetables. For the blueberry pancakes I use the recipe from my Baby Love book.

Whole Grain Blueberry Pancakes

Serving Size:

Makes eight 2-ounce pancakes.

Ingredients:

For the pancake mix:

• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar

For the pancakes:

• 2 cups pancake mix (from above)
• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
• 2 eggs
• 1 pint buttermilk
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted (that is 1/8 pound)
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Method:

In a large bowl, combine the ingredients for the dry pancake mix. Store in a zipper bag or in a plastic container with a tight fitting lid.

Preheat griddle to 350°F. You can also use a large cast-iron pan or a nonstick pan.

Just let it preheat for a while on medium heat — you’ll have to practice a bit to achieve the correct and consistent heat. Pour the pancake mix and the flaxseed into a large bowl. Whisk eggs in a small bowl. Add buttermilk and then melted butter to the small bowl and whisk ingredients together.

Add the egg, buttermilk, and butter mixture to the pancake mix and the flaxseed.

Add blueberries. Slowly whisk together to just combine wet and dry ingredients.

You do not want the mixture to be smooth. Ladle mixture (about 2 ounces per pancake) onto the griddle and cook until golden brown. Flip and cook the other side until golden brown. This should take approximately 5 to 6 minutes.

Liam's Taggie Blanket

This weeks project was to make Liam a taggie blanket. Since I loved all the fabric I recently got I couldn't decide on one and just made a patchwork on one side. I loved the way it turned out, just wish the fabrics were a little softer. I also learned 1. that I can't sew a straight line and 2. working with soft fuzzy fabrics isn't easy.

All the strips laid out

The top all stiched together

The back was white minky fabric and I got all the ribbon from Jo Anns.

The contrast of the front and back

I attached some velcro to hold a pacifier or to attach to a stroller.