Learning the Wind

Friday, March 8, 2013

Better late then never...

With a little encouragement from my wonderful MIL, I decided to make Imogen's solid foods. A endeavor I never expected to take. Some of the first things that came to my head when it was brought up...

I have NO time. She would never have any food to eat.

I'd just buy some at the store, due to excuse above, so it'd be a waste of money purchasing equipment needed.

I have NO time.

I have NO time!

HAH! Like I'd have time to do that!

But with our increasing desire to save more money these days I reconsidered and decided that I do have time I just need to make it available.

So I did a little research online about what the best baby food maker was and I ended up with this one.

It's the Kidsline Baby Chef Ultimate Baby Food Maker. It steams on one side and processes on the other. Here you see I've already started the carrots.

I ended up getting 2 baby food cook books (Yes, I need a cook book on how to puree, lol, I am that intimidated) The original book I got didn't have a great "beginner's" section but did have a great "older" section and had great ideas for my toddlers/preschoolers as well. So I decided to get a second book this time looking at the reviews better. It ended up being exactly what I needed as a beginner. (i.e steam 1/2 cup carrots and puree, makes 4 servings OR this much broccoli and this much cauliflower is a good mix)

Continuing on...

Pureeing

To my surprise it wasn't hard to get it to the consistency and thickness I wanted.

SN: Homemade carrots are WAY smoother and taste SOO much better then store bought! WHO KNEW? (obviously not this girl!)

steaming the pears :-)

Remember that part about not having time? Yeah it's because of this guy (and 3 others) who absolutely NEED my attention. They beg and pine and WHINE for it at every convenient and inconvenient moment (and I completely love that) So with a little help from a family iPod I got this attention greedy turtle satisfied for a little while. He still stayed close as you can see :-)

Pears! They are one of the reasons I was SOO glad to have the 2nd book. It told me that I wouldn't need to use the excess water drained from steam since the pears would have enough by themselves. If I wouldn't have known that these pears would have been thinner then water!

My MIL had the great idea of freezing the food in ice cube trays for portion control and to manage less waste. She's a smart cookie!

Here is the finished product! I am so happy with them...

It was quick and easy. I look forward to making other foods once Imogen's palate grows

I also got 2oz glass containers to use when I defrost the food cubes. I'm not one that likes to microwave plastic so they were the perfect answer. They are also great for freezing food too. I'll use them for both!

Pictures are sure to come of Imogen's first experience of solid food :-) It's a milestone I always look forward too.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Sweet Innocence

The baby.

True to her name, Imogen, the last born.
She fills the territory with exemplary talent as if she was chosen specifically for the position. She has become the affection of everyone's heart. Aidan takes care of her tending to her every need. His favorite is holding her hand while in the traveling in the car. Teagan dances with her and loves to kiss her. Killian, the last Tabb she won over, calls her "sister" and is starting to pick up on her needs. Lastly she has all the attention she wants from MaMum and Daddy, but of course.

She only is up once during the night, around 3am, for a feeding only to return to her crib without a fuss. She goes to bed the same time the others do. She's a quiet baby during the day too, observing her brothers and sister as they cause chaos around her.

She's 5 months tomorrow (05Mar) and it's already hard to imagine life without her. We have been very blessed.

She has found her toes and plays with them at every chance.

It would be nice for her to keep those blue eyes, but none of our Tabblets have yet to keep them

She loves to hear the sound of her own voice.

She can get anywhere she'd like to... backwards.

She is very much her mama's baby and her sister's twin. However, we're thinking she favors my mothers side of me whereas Teagan favors my fathers side of me.

We are definitely looking forward to knowing what this sweet innocence becomes.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Fun in the Snow

Last week we went sledding. It was our first time sledding with the Tabblets so we were all anticipating a great time. We took our time picking out a good, sturdy, large (for mulitple Tabblet runs) plastic sled and headed out to "the sledding hill".

You see I had been told by a very dear friend of THE place to sled, so when I looked up the address online I ignored the name of the place put the address into our GP. Off we went.

As we approach said "sledding hill", I start to get a little nervous as I cannot see the sledding area. Josh comments on how he didn't know there was a skiing area just outside of town... That's when we both realize that it's indeed a ski-lift, with no bunny hill. There was no way we were going to take our first timers down the size of that thing. So I sent my friend a silly text because I love her and think she's crazy that she takes her sweet little girl down that thing and we resort to going on base to find a much smaller (in distance and in grade) hill to start on.

This is what we found. It ended up being perfect!

(Don't forget this is their FIRST time ever)