Welp...

I was hoping to have before and after bathroom pictures but it's just been one problem after the other. Fingers crossed the entire bathroom will be put together by Tuesday, minus trim and a door, but for now I wanted to share our disastrous adventure!

For starters the pipes for the tub weren't run correctly. The tub/shower we had was one fiberglass piece so it stuck out from the wall a bit, and the new one we got was a tub and then 3 walls that mounted directly to the studs. Well with the way the plumbing was done the faucet handle was sticking out since the new walls were flush with the studs. So my dad and husband tried everything they could think of to fix the problem sans plumber, and then Pat decided he would try to sweat pipes so they could relocate how they were run. That was a no go, so it was finally decided that we would just have to deal with the faucet handle sticking out. The surround was installed and then the dry waller came out to do his thing.

After the drywall was done it was time to do tile, which has been the only thing so far that's gone correctly, other than the fact that I got red paint in the grout!

Paint time! It took 3 freaking coats of red. I will never, for the rest of my life paint anything in my house red! EVER! We bought the Valspar paint with the primer built in... biggest piece of crap ever! It ran so bad, as soon as I was done paining one area I would turn around and the previous area already had runs in it! I will never be using Valspar again either.

Next the light was installed and the bottom part of the electrical box has sunk into the wall so the bottom screw in the light fixture isn't coming out of the fixture itself, so we can't screw it into place. On top of that the new light fixture is oval and the old was square so now I have to get out the paint again and do some touch up... ugh...

Medicine cabinet was installed but it was bigger than the old one so we had to cut out a chunk of drywall, no biggie.

On to the vanity. We replaced our old 2 door vanity for one that has one door and three drawers. Well one of the pipes was over so far that it was hitting the drawers so we either had to move that pipe or move the vanity over and have a gap between the vanity and wall. Pat's dad came out today and fixed the pipe problem so now our vanity is flush with the wall. The next problem is that the pipe coming out of the wall and the pipe going from our drain to the wall are two different sizes. We've yet to fix this issue.

Toilet... we opened the box and the tank was busted. I mean like busted completely in half. So Pat packed it up and I exchanged it at Sams. However, when Pat tried to install it and tighten it down it wobbles, so we're not sure what to do about that yet either.

He swears to me that the tub/shower will be working tonight, which will be great, but I cannot wait until this horrendous nightmare is over. I will never buy a house that needs work done to the bathroom. This has been a never-ending problem... and Pat and I are just wanting one freaking thing to go right. I can't wait to put this renovation behind us! Please cross your fingers that I can share before and after pictures by the end of the week!!!

more for me

Kimber,

You are getting your first tooth. I noticed Monday, as you were chewing on my finger, that I could finally feel a toofer! You had a tiny open space and in the past two days it's made it's way through your gums and is barely visible. I want to look at it so badly but if my hands go anywhere near your mouth you think they are to be inserted for you to chew on.

Tonight you were too cute. While trying to feed you to go to sleep you weren't that hungry so I sat you up to burp you and you immediately laid your head on my chest. I love putting you to bed now because it's the only time you ever really attempt to cuddle with me. After you realized your head was on my shoulder you tried to pick it up but every time it seemed like your head was too heavy for you to lift and it quickly fell back into place.

You constantly roll around. It's like you can't sit still for two seconds. Sometimes you get up on all fours which makes me think crawling is in our near future, then I know I'm in trouble. You are so curious about everything already. If I have mail you want to play with it, you want to touch everything you can get your precious little hands on, when we sit outside you like to watch every single car until it's no longer visible.

You constantly amaze me, I love you to pieces and it's been a joy watching you grow. All I can hope is that one day you will look back and say that I was a pretty good mom. I try so hard to put your needs above everything else and every decision I make is based on what is best for you. You've taught me so much about being a parent, and about myself in general. I cannot wait so see what the future has in store for you!

Love,
momma

Nicknames

Kimber aka:
Mini poop - Pat and I used to (and still do) refer to each other as poop. For instance: Me (jokingly) "I hate your face." Pat "You're poop!" So since Pat and I are poop it only fits for our baby to be Mini poop.
Mini - We shorten it to this if she's being good.
Poop - We shorten it to this if she's being bad.
Boogers - I started calling her this recently since she constantly has had a runny nose since January 1st.
Boo-ba-loo- No idea where that came from!
Boo-Boo - Again, no clue!
Kimberlena - I'm convinced we should of named her this, or at least had her middle name be Lena b/c that's what we call her all the time!
Kimberdoodle - MIL calls her this.

Pat aka:

Poop - see above

Penguin - I have a penguin tattooed on my wrist and he has the word 'penguin' tattooed on his ring finger. The explanation for this I will save for another post.

Sparkie - Just something I said one day that stuck.

Spubby - Combination of Sparkie and Hubby.

Shmily - We read this book and the husband and wife would leave a note with the word Shmily on it. Shmily stands for: See how much I love you.

Cuttle Fish - He took me to see the movie Under the Sea at the Science Center and they had a section about cuttle fish. Well... me being a dork seriously thought they were saying cuddle fish so I started calling Pat that when I would make him cuddle with me at night. It took a few weeks for him to realize I was saying cuddle and not cuttle and corrected me. I still say it wrong though :)

And of course we can't forget the generics: Babe & Honey

So what are your nicknames for you kids or spouse/significant other?

Leaps & Bounds

Kimber napping at Grandma's with her Lovey from Uncle Josh

I can officially say we are sleeping through the night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! About three weeks ago Kimber was going to bed at 7 then getting up at 9 or 10 to eat again, which was fine since we weren't asleep yet. She would then go back to sleep for the rest of the night. I was super happy about that, and never thought she would ever sleep from 7 pm to 6 am but people we are sooo there! 

I will admit there are still some nights that we get interrupted sleep because now that she is good at rolling over she does it in her sleep. I guess when she wakes up on her stomach she doesn't realize all she needs to do is roll back over, and instead cries until we come in and put her on her back again. I am so glad that I didn't force anything to get to this point. If she was having a rough night, she slept with us. If she got up in the middle of the night at 4 1/2 months old and wanted to eat we fed her. We never let her just cry until she fell back asleep and I am so thankful that I trusted that mommy gut and soothed her when needed. She is even putting herself to sleep at night too. It does happen, we are proof! It took 5 1/2 months but we are there, and I could do cart wheels I'm so happy!

Another note worthy milestone is that she will play without me (or Pat) having to entertain her. Not for long periods of time, but yesterday I put her in her exersaucer and was able to eat lunch quietly all by myself... with BOTH HANDS!!! Ahhh the little things in life!

My new favorite picture of mini.

The Definition of an Epic Fail

Well the tub is put in, the drywall was hung, mudded, and sanded, the floor was tiled and now it's time to paint. We picked this fab red color so I gathered up my painting supplies, and proceeded to get the painting underway.  I painted the biggest wall first and had Pat get me a ladder so I could get up close to my ceiling with the roller so I didn't have to cut very much and that's when it happened... the epic fail:

Yep, that's right folks, that would be red paint in our brand new grout work!!!

While reaching up to paint the top of the wall, I neglected to hold the paint tray flat and instead tipped it to one side allowing red paint to spill all over our brand new freakin floor!!! At first I thought I was in the clear because I only saw it was on the tile but as soon as I pulled the ladder away I realized in that moment that my husband was going to KILL me!

I screamed for Pat to come help, fully expecting for some cursing to ensue but he calmly tried to clean it up the best he could. God love him, because if I worked that hard on something I sure would be super pissed at whomever messed it up! Luckily, our neighbor across the street is a floor guy so Pat is going to ask him what he can do to fix my screw up... I guess it's kind of unlucky for me because now the neighbor will know how dumb I am!

Ugh, I totally feel like the worst wife ever!!!

New Cleaning Supplies!!!

When I got my first apartment when I was almost 20 I was giving a hand-me-down vacuum from my aunt. It worked great but now, 4 years later, it no longer locks into place when you stand it up and the cord has been chewed on by the dogs and it is time for it to be retired. I made a deal with Pat, he could buy a set of tools if I could get new cleaning stuff.

First I went out and bought the Rubbermaid Reveal & Shark 2-in-1 Hand and Stick Vacuum.

I had a Swiffer mop and it was ok. I don't like that it takes batteries, I constantly had to buy pads and solution, well, with the Reveal you can wash the pad and use any floor cleaning solution, it even has the water to solution ratio on the bottle, pretty nifty! It's going to be a huge money saver!

We have laminate and tile floor through most of the house (everywhere other than the bedrooms) and I was really tired of the broom and dustpan but couldn't find anything that really worked well at picking up all the dust and junk. My mom bought the Shark and told me it's a must have, now I know why! It has super powerful suction and the coolest thing is you can take off the canister and it becomes a little handheld suction machine! I'm also a fan of the bagless on this because I'm constantly vacuuming up dust bunnies and don't want to spend an arm and a leg for bags all the time.

Next was my big purchase. A new vacuum! I was overwhelmed at all the options but I knew I wanted something light, and used bags (I know, totally contradictory from what I just said about the Shark). I read tons of reviews and truly considered splurging and getting a Dyson but then I came across this jewel:

the Hoover Platinum Lightweight Upright Vacuum with Canister. Swoon!!! I originally found it on Overstock with amazing reviews for almost $300 and I was just not willing to pay that much. I then decided that I was on a mission to find this fantastic vacuum for cheaper and in comes Amazon. Right now it's on sale for $214 with free 5-7 day shipping. I could swallow $214 for basically 2 vacuums! I placed my order on Wednesday and it showed up on my door step yesterday!

I cannot wait to use the canister on the stairs as I've been searching for an easier way to clean that monster! I quickly put it together and went and vacuumed Kimber's room and I'm in total vacuum love! It is ridiculously lightweight (like 12 lbs) and has massive suction ability. It even automatically adjusts to the height of whatever you are cleaning at the time. We have frieze carpet and it looks kind of worn in high traffic areas but this magical device brought it back to life.

I highly recommend all these items!

Truths...

1. There are such things as ugly babies. You will never think your baby is ugly, and you possibly won't think it about a close friend's addition to their family, but you know as well as I do that you've seen ugly babies before! Not all babies are created equal and some are just cuter than others.

2. Strength comes from over-coming something that you didn't know you could. I've been thinking about strength a lot lately (probably b/c I'm getting it tattooed sometime soon), and I realized I am stronger having gone through things and experiencing things I never thought I would. I think I surprised myself at how strong I was through the birth/infection experience.

3. Men cannot multi-task. This has been a very hard truth to comprehend. Probably because all I do is multi-task all day long. It's become so apparent now that we have Kimber, and Pat cannot do anything else if he is watching her. While I can literally cook dinner one handed now, he can't even make a bottle. I'm not saying this to be mean to him because #1 it's the truth and #2 it's not a fault, I seriously think it's something all men cannot do. (Or if they can they either rarely do, or aren't good at it.)

4. Whatever you make your priority will consume your life. I was talking to a girl at work today and we were discussing babies, families, dating, etc and she made a comment about being dedicated to her job. I think that's the problem. She is so consumed with work she has no time for anything else. Again, not a bad thing, making your work a priority is a good thing, it makes you a valuable employee... however, if you want to date/start a family/etc. then make that your priority.

5. None of the good stuff comes easy. Marriage/Love/Relationships are hard work. Pat and I are constantly trying to come up with ways to make our marriage better. No, we're not struggling or unhappy, we just want to strive for better. I don't want to be stuck in the same rut with our relationship, I want it to continually grow. Being a parent, probably the most rewarding thing you can ever do, it a whole lotta hard work. Anyone can (and will) tell you that! School, careers, savings, home ownership, etc... all these things require hard work, but  I think they're all worth it in the end!

FUMING!!!

Since we are re-doing the upstairs bathroom we are forced to use our nasty nasty half finished downstairs bathroom. The entire downstairs is just out junk pile right now and currently I am thanking my lucky stars that we haven't finished it yet.

Pat went down to take a shower and was greeted by this:

And this...

Please ignore all the 'crap'

He filled a trash can with water!

The City of O'Fallon will be getting a very nasty call from a very pissed off home owner tomorrow! They sent out a guy to change our water meter and now we have this new fancy one, that apparently wasn't installed properly:

They replaced the old water meter on 2/25 and everything was fine until Pat was cleaning up from the tile work this evening and turned on the outside hose to clean up. We're guessing that triggered a massive leak downstairs. It seriously feels like one thing after another! However, at 11 o'clock at night, after being a single parent for going on 5 days (due to Pat working on the house), I can't even get mad. I'm too exhausted, but I guarantee it will all set in tomorrow and City of O'Fallon better make this right! 

Baby Food 101

Hopefully we have more children and in that case I want to always have this information that I worked so hard to organize. Maybe it will help simplify all this for someone else because, like I said before, all the information is pretty stinkin overwhelming!

I've compiled information from the website I talked about in previous posts, and I think it's a pretty good reference guide for what to feed you 4-6 month old, and 6-8 month old. There are a few things I want to talk to my pediatrician about next week, because that website that you can feed chicken, tofu, etc. at 6-8 months and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. Also some recipes have spices and/or butter, which I don't know that I would feed a 6 month old. So for my purpose I omitted them from my lists.

4-6 Month Foods

Veggies

Acorn Squash, Butternut Squash, Green Beans, Sweet Potatoes

Fruits

Apples, Avocados, Bananas, Pears

Acorn & Butternut Squash:

Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds.

Place in dish, face down, and put about an inch of water in dish.

Bake at 400 for 40 minutes, or until skin is wrinkly.

Green Beans (frozen):

Cook green beans according to package.

Sweet Potatoes: Pick potatoes that are not bruised and without brown or soft spots.

Wash and poke holes in potatoes with a fork, wrap in aluminum foil.

Bake at 400 for 30-60 minutes, or until soft.

Cut potatoes in half and scoop out ‘meat’ to puree.

Apples: Firm with no squishy indentations, no skin discoloration or cuts or bruises.

Core and leave peel on apples.

Place apples upright and fill pan with 2-3 inches of water.

Bake at 400 for 40 minutes or until skin puckers and/or fruit begins to bubble.

Avocados: Dark green color with bumpy texture, firm yet yielding with gently pushed.

No need to cook.

Roll avocado on counter to help separate meat from shell.

Bananas:

No need to cook.

Peel, mash and puree.

Pears:

No need to cook because ripe pears are soft and easy to make into a puree.

To ripen leave on counter or put in brown paper bag. Ripe pears will gently yield to the touch when pushed. A soft pear is likely over ripe and may be close to rotting.

Make sure to only give one new food at a time for three days to make sure there is no food allergy. Once you’ve given all the above foods to your baby, you can start mixing foods following the below recipes.

Rice with Apple and Butternut Squash Puree:

1 squash – acorn, butternut or other winter squash

1 or 2 cups cooked brown rice

½ cup applesauce*

Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds.

Place halves face down in a pan and cover with an inch of water.

Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, then scoop out meat.

Place squash meat into your choice of appliance for pureeing.

Add cooked rice and applesauce and blend.

Add water/breast milk/formula as necessary to achieve a smooth, thin consistency.

*If buying store applesauce it is okay to get an ‘adult’ jar of Natural applesauce. Make sure you buy Natural Applesauce however. Read the labels if you are unsure. The only ingredients should be apples and water or just apples. A few companies may add ascorbic acid (vitamin C) or citric acid to their Natural Applesauce, this is fine.

Sweet Potato Apple Mash:

Steam or bake apples and sweet potatoes together until tender.

Puree as needed, adding water to thin if required.

Sweet Potatoes and Squash:

Steam or bake winter squash and sweet potatoes together until tender.

Puree as needed, adding water to thin if required.

Applesauce:

5 – 10 large apples : try Macintosh, Gala, or Braeburn

Peel, core and cute apples into slices/chunks

Place slices or chunks into a pan with just enough water to slightly cover apples.

Boil/steam until tender; be sure to check on the water level and stir.

Apples may be mashed with a potato masher to achieve a smooth applesauce consistency. If your masher will not achieve a puree type of consistency, then follow the following steps.

Reserve any left over water to use for thinning out the apples.

Place into your choice of appliance for pureeing and begin pureeing.

Add the reserved water as necessary to achieve a smooth, thin puree.

Add cereal (if desired) to thicken up the applesauce.

Mixed Apple Puree:

½ cup water

5 medium apples: 1 Macintosh, 1 Granny Smith, 1 Braeburn, 2 Fuji

Core, peel, and dice apples.

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a gentle boil.

Lower heat and simmer until ‘sauce’ like consistency is achieved; ensure that you check on the liquid level.

Mash, strain, and puree the resulting ‘sauce’ as needed.

Baked Apples for Baby:

Core apples and leave peel on.

Place in shallow baking or roasting pan with a bit of water – about 2 inches.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until tender; be sure to check on water level.

Once baked, allow to cool and then slip off the skin. You may either cut apple into little bits and serve as a finger food or mash as directed above in the applesauce recipe.

Baby Food Recipe for Oats & Apple Cereal:

Peel, core and cut a small apple into small dices.

Place in a pan with ¼ c ground oats and ¾ c water.

Bring mixture to a slow boil. Simmer covered, checking frequently, until apples are soft and oatmeal is cooked.

Be sure to stir and mash while cooking.

Mix in formula or breast mile to thin if needed – puree if necessary.

Creamy Banana-Cado Baby Food:

Peel and de-pit a ripe avocado.

Cut ‘meat’ out and mash with a fork.

Peel and mash 1 banana.

Place in a blender or food processor and puree until desired texture is achieved.

6-8 Month Foods

Veggies

Carrots, Parsnips, Peas

Fruits

Apricots, Mangos, Nectarines, Peaches, Plums, Prunes, Pumpkins

Carrots:

Peel carrots and cut length-wise into thick slivers.

Oil a glass casserole dish with Olive Oil and then place carrots into glass dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until carrots have turned for tender and have changed to a dark orange.

Puree, adding water as needed.

Parsnips:

Wash and peel then cut length-wise, in half. Lay on tinfoil and drizzle olive oil over them.

Close tinfoil and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, or until tender.

Peas (frozen):

Cook peas according to package.

Apricots:

Halve the fruit and remove pit, place 'open' side down in a pan filled with 1 inch of water.

Bake at 400 degrees until soft and tender or puckering of the skin appears.

Mangos:

Does not need to be cooked.

Peel, deseed, and mash mango until smooth.

Nectarines & Peaches:

Halve the fruit, pit and place 'open' side down in a pan filled with 1 inch of water.

Bake at 400 degrees until soft and tender and/or puckering of the skin appears.

Peel skin from fruit and remove pits if you did not do so prior to baking.

Plums:

Halve the fruit, pit, and place 'open' side down in a pan filled with 1 inch of water.

Bake at 400 degrees until soft and tender or puckering of the skin appears.

Prunes:

1 small bag of dried prunes

Soak dried prunes in warm water until they plump up or steam gently.

Once plump and tender, toss into food processor and begin to puree.

Add liquid without sparing any. Prunes tend to become a pasty gluey consistency when pureed and the more water you add, the easier it is to puree to a texture your baby will tolerate.

Like apricots, prune puree will not freeze into a solid block. The skins should not pose an issue however do be certain to keep a watch for baby's adverse reaction to the possible texture. You may wish to mix the pureed prunes with a beloved food for the first try.

Pumpkins:

Halve the pumpkin and de-seed.

Place halves face down in a baking pan with approx 1-2 inches of water.

Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until skin is puckery and/or wrinkled.

Make sure to only give one new food at a time for three days to make sure there is no food allergy. Once you’ve given all the above foods to your baby, you can start mixing foods following the below recipes.

Green Bean Salad:

1 cup steamed green beans
1 cup steamed carrots
1 cup steamed Summer squash

Dice all veggies into small bite-sized pieces and combine.
Puree or chop as needed for your baby's taste and texture preferences. Serve warm or as a cold finger food snack.

Baby's Yummy Avocado Fruit Salad:

3 or 4 ripe avocados
3 or 4 ripe bananas
3 or 4 Pears (steamed)

Peel, de seed and slice fruits as needed.
Place in a blender or food processor and puree until desired texture is achieved.

Peachy Avocados:

3 peaches
1 avocado

Peel, pit and cut peaches into chunks
Peel, de-seed and cut avocado into chunks
Steam peaches gently until tender if needed

Place fruits in a blender/food processor and puree until smooth or mash with a fork and let baby try to use a spoon or her fingers.

Pumpkin, Banana, 'Cado:

½ cup pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)
1 avocado, peeled seeded & diced
1 ripe peach – peeled, pitted & diced

Combine all foods (steam peach together if need be) and mash or puree if needed.

Peary Tasty Avocados:

2 ripe pears, peeled & cored & diced

1 ripe avocado

Mash the pear then mix in the avocado – puree if needed.

Parsnip and Sweet Potato:

3 parsnips and 1 sweet potato

Steam or bake parsnips and sweet potatoes together until tender.
Puree as needed, adding water to thin if required.
You may also chop or dice for a finger food salad.

Mixed Mango Tango:

1/2 cup mashed mango

1/2 ripe banana - peeled and mashed

1 ripe peach - pitted and mashed (remove skin)

Add fruits to a large bowl and mash together.

Add water or another liquid if your baby needs a thin consistency.

Serve as is or mix into baby's cereal or other grain.

Peachy Bananas:

1 peeled & pitted peach

½ ripe banana

Steam peach if needed, then mash.

Mash banana into peach.

Puree if needed to your baby's desired texture.

Peaches a la Squash:

2 peeled & pitted peaches

½ cup pureed acorn or butternut squash

Steam peaches if needed and puree or mash. Mix the pureed peaches into the squash and serve.

This pairs nicely with chicken as well as stirred into rice or oatmeal cereal.

Apple Pumpkin Puree:

1 sugar pumpkin
3 Apples, peeled & cored (use Macintosh, Gala, Braeburn or Granny Smith)

Halve the pumpkin, peel and de-seed it then cut into cubes.
Slice the apples.
Add 3 inches of water to a pot and then insert a steamer basket - add the pumpkin cubes and apples.
Bring water to a boil and then steam gently until soft and cooked. Be sure to check on the water level.

Puree or mash as needed for your baby.

Yummy Bananas and Pumpkins:

1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 small bananas

Mash 2 small bananas and add the pumpkin puree
Mix thoroughly, blend if needed for your baby's texture preferences. Makes a yummy addition to baby's cereal or yogurt.

Baby's Pumpkins and Pears:

½ cup pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)
1 pear, peeled & cored & diced

Mash the pear and then mix in the pumpkin – puree if needed.

Pumpkin, Banana & Peaches:

½ cup pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)
1 pear, peeled & cored & diced
1peach – peeled, pitted & diced

Combine all food (steam pear and peach together if need be and mash or puree if needed.

And here's our Calendar for introducing food:

ETA: I don't know why the font changed half way through the post, but I can't change it :( Super frustrating!

ramblings

This has been such a strange weekend. First, I was pretty much kicked out of my house for the past two days while my dad and husband worked on the bathroom. All I've gotten out of them is that it was one problem after another, and they mentioned something about 5 trips to Lowe's today alone. Yikes!

Kimber and I hung out at my mom's house (I'm going to throw this in there, I hate that my computer underlines 'Kimber' like I misspelled her name, ugh!) all weekend, and it definitely messed with her schedule. My mom has dogs, like lots of dogs, and they kept barking and waking Kimber up while she was trying to nap. It made for one frustrated momma! On the bright side though, she was tired at 7 tonight which is her normal bedtime. I thought her routine would be messed up from daylight savings, but I guess no significant nap today put her right back on track for our bedtime routine tonight.

The strangest thing of all was that my biological father's wife requested to be my friend on Facebook. Ummm, no. I don't think so. Then she messages my brother's fiancée and told her that she wanted to reconnect with me but it wouldn't let her send me a message on Facebook, so to pass along a message to me that she would love to make peace. Just an FYI, you can't send me messages on Facebook if you aren't my friend anymore because my half-sister was sending me nasty messages! I have no problems being civil with this woman and her family, however, that does not mean that I want her or my biological father to be a part of my family's life. I have agonized over this decision for hours in lengthy conversations with Pat and have come to the conclusion that I will do whatever it takes to protect my family. I won't let these people back in our lives because I don't want to give them a chance to hurt any of us. I would never forgive myself if my daughter got treated the way I did by them. There were even issues before I found out about my brother, but the way they handled that situation just showed me their true colors and I would rather not associate with people like that.

One last random thing. My mom, sister and I took Kimber on a walk Friday night around my mom's subdivision and found an old firetruck parked in front of a house. I told my mom I had to get a picture with Kimber on it, so I unstrapped her, handed her to my sister who ran over and plopped her down on the truck. I'm still thankful the owner didn't come out and yell at us!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I'm so not looking forward to going to work tomorrow!

Making Baby... Food :)

My current go to website for baby food.

I had been interested in cooking my own baby food when my pedi told me how easy it was at Kimber's 4 month appointment. She made it sound so easy peasy, and maybe I over thought it, but it's a little more difficult than she let on. I did a little research and discovered that the jar baby food is heated to temps so high that all nutrients are pretty much gone. That made my decision for me. Currently I have no idea if it's cheaper or not but it makes me feel better knowing she is getting the veggie/fruit and only that. Plus I think it will be easier to transition to table food because the food I'm giving her now tastes more like what it should than jar food. Oh, and it really makes you feel like a pretty awesome mom to be able to say : I make my kids food!

All my knowledge in making baby food came from the website above. As I was talking to Pat about said website I was frustrated because it has SO MUCH information but it's all over the place. I had to finally step back and figure out what foods she can have at four months (green beans, winter squash: butternut & acorn, sweet potatoes, apples, bananas, pears, and avocados), and then go back to the website to figure out how to cook everything.

I really was overwhelmed with all the options and different ways to puree, cook, steam, and bake all the foods. I hope that this post will encourage at least one person to try it, because I was scared of it at first but it's proving to not be as hard as I thought. I think the most confusing parts are when to introduce what foods, and when to combine foods, and of course how much to feed, and how often.

I started with acorn and butternut squash. I knew I wanted to start with a veggie, but I was scared to start with green beans because they can be stringy and hard to puree, and the store I went to didn't have sweet potatoes so that left squash. I picked out one of each and headed out.

First cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds.

Next place them face down in a pan and put about one inch of water in it. Bake at 400 for 40 minutes.

When they are done cooking the skin is sort of wrinkly.

Scoop out the pulp and place in a food processor or blender. You can either add the water from the pan the squash was cooked in (any nutrients lost while cooking are added back in if you use the water), breast milk, or formula to the puree to get the consistency you want.

Place in ice cube trays and cover with plastic wrap.

Side note: I had no idea how much baby food the squash would make so to give you an idea - The orange stuff on the right is butternut squash and the one I bought was 1 1/4 lbs and it made 9 oz of baby food.

After you freeze it, I put it in Ziploc freezer bags and put dates and what was in the bag on the front. I've read that baby food is good for up to three months in the freezer. That's another reason I wanted to make my own, I could make like 2 months worth and then not worry about it for a while!

I have a little piece of advise if you do decide to take this on and that is: If you have a blender from say the 1900's, that you've never used and was a hand-me-down... Stop being a cheap skate and go out and buy something else! I started with this stupid blender and at first the buttons wouldn't even go down to puree! Last night I went out and spent a whole $24 on a food processor, and made another batch of food today. Let me just say that today's batch was much easier!

As soon as I put the processor together, that poor old blender just didn't need to be taking up space in my kitchen so it found it's way into our trash can.

So now that you have all your amazing frozen baby food, all you do is take a cube or two out in the morning, throw it in the fridge to thaw (in a covered container) and you're good to go for dinner!

Easy peasy!

History of Us

Since we've hit the two year mark (and I've finally had time to blog) I thought I'd go back to when we first met because we all know how much everyone loves a good love story... barf...

Well we both had Mustangs and hung out with some of the same crowds. The first time I met Pat was at a party of a mutual friend. I of course was seeing someone, but I was very interested! When things ended with the other guy I was determined have Pat as mine.

The 'car people' hung out at Sonic on nice nights so I text him asking if he was going to be there. His response 'No'. Then my friend was having a party to I text him and asked if he was coming, and again he said no, that he was working on his car. At that point I had no doubt that he wasn't the least bit interested so I kind of gave up. To my surprise he said he was coming to one of my parties so I had to try one last time. I went out and got a new outfit and new jewelry and tried to make myself look nice:

He ended up spending the night and we were together ever since. We joke now because I went to my room and closed the door to change for bed and he made himself comfortable on the couch. When I came back out I told him he could sleep in bed if he promised not to cuddle, and now, I'm the one that loves my nook!

A couple months later we went camping with my brother, his g/f and some friends of theirs. It was on that trip that we started dating, or at least labeled it that. We had a great time:

We moved in together a few months later, and then just 7 months after we started dating he proposed! I was at work and received a fax from him with a map and instructions on what to do the rest of the day. It told me to go get my nails done, get lunch and come find him at 4. I found him in the heart shaped walkway at Laumier Sculpture Park and that's where is proposed. We even went back there for some wedding pictures:

And as they say 'the rest is history'. We got married, bought a house, and had a baby. All that in 2 years! I can't wait to see where we are in the next 2 years!

Only one day late...

Happy anniversary baby! It's been an amazing two years and I hope for many more to come!

You and mini are my whole world and I'm so lucky to have you both in my life. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for our amazing little family!

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It's almost that time...

We're renovating the bathroom starting next weekend!!! I cannot wait to show you before and after pictures but for now I'll give you a little taste of what we're planning.

Of course we're getting a new nice 6 panel white door and white trim and a new toilet... boring, so on to the fun stuff!

We are painting it Radiant Red by Valspar:

I read on a decorating blog to have at least one room in your house a vibrant color so I thought, why not the bathroom? I am too big of a chicken to paint a large room red, but both the husband and I like the red, black and white color palate so I decided to do it in the bathroom.

Next we are getting this vanity from Lowes, but of course they don't have the exact one on their website that we are getting but it's like the one below only ours will be espresso:

Next I will be buying some artwork from the same amazing lady that did the prints for Kimber's room. We're looking at these:

I took the picture from her etsy site. You can see her entire shop here. She's so freaking awesome and I would fill my entire house with her art if I could! If you're needing art, please check her out. I cannot rave enough about how cool this chick is.

Here's some of the hardware and faucets we bought:

And then our new light fixture:

All of the pictures came from Lowes.

I cannot wait to see it all come together! Next weekend they are ripping out the bathtub and putting in a new tub and surround. Then Monday through Wednesday a guy Pat works with is coming to put tile down and then that weekend the guy is coming to do drywall. Then I can paint and we can put the vanity and toilet back in. I'm going to sorely miss using my upstairs bathroom. The downstairs bathroom is a joke, so I really hope that the renovation is done in two weeks like the plan is now. Cross your fingers for us!

probably the coolest party ever

A friend of ours who Pat worked with moved to China land last month and of course she had a gigantic going away party, but more on that later...

She's probably one of the top 5 coolest chicks I've ever met. Heck, she brought Pat some decent coffee when I was in the hospital when Kimber was born, and even though I am not a coffee drinker I know Pat was thrilled by her visit (they were coffee buddies at work)! Not only is she, apparently, the best coffee buddy ever, she is just so freakin sweet. Like it's almost sickening how nice she is to people lol She's one of those people that you feel like you've known your whole life. I didn't get to hang out with her as much as I would of wanted to while she was here but I'm thankful to have gotten to know her through Pat.

I joked with her that I've only left my baby for her, which is totally true! The first time I spent the night away from her (other than when I was back in the hospital) was for Kristin's Halloween party and the second time I spent the night away from the babe was for her going away party! She should feel very special :)

So on to the part about the coolest party evar... her going away party was a Rubix Cube Party! What is a Rubix Cube Party you ask? Well let me explain... Guests (other than Pat and I b/c we're lame and didn't participate) were to wear one article of clothing for each color of the Rubix Cube, then once the party started you were to trade clothing with others so by the end of the night you were wearing all one color. Totally awesome, right??? It was super entertaining to watch everyone bartering colors, but I'm pretty sure my favorite part was TJ wearing an orange thong as a head piece!

I'm going to really miss her epic parties (among countless other things) so hopefully the year goes by quickly, so I can again have reasons to send Kimber to spend the night at Grandma's :)