Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Christmas pictures

Christmas this year was truly magical! Like I said in my Thanksgiving post, it's so very fun to share the holidays with Camden! Even though he doesn't know what the big deal is, I know he can sense the excitement and he soaks up all the attention. It makes me so excited to see how much he loves the holidays as he gets older and can understand what's going on! It's just going to be the best.

This year, we had the privilege of getting family pictures taken as a Christmas gift from one of my best friends! We also had a professional photo shoot of just Camden with a different photographer. Anyone who knows me knows that I loooove pictures!! I take a lot of them. Pictures are the perfect way to capture moments to cherish forever. As you can imagine, I was thrilled to get all these pictures taken! They came out so beautiful, I just have to share some of them here.






(Family pictures by Chris of Duffro Photography)




















(Camden pictures by Jenn of Jenn's Photo)

I love.love.love how all of these pictures turned out!! Camden was surprisingly well-behaved for all the photos. He did great. I'm beyond happy to have these beautiful pictures to commemorate Camden's first Christmas! :D  I'll try to write up a blog soon about Christmas day with the little guy! I have lots of pictures of him trying to eat all the wrapping paper, haha. I hope you all had an absolutely wonderful Christmas!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Camden's First Thanksgiving

First of all, can I just say how this time of the year is exponentially more fun with a child?! It's seriously the best! I love the holidays to begin with but having my own son to share them with makes it all that much more fun! It's amazing. I feel like a kid all over again. The excitement. The newness of it all. Obviously Camden doesn't understand what the hoopla is all about but it's still so neat to share all these "firsts" with him. Plus, Jacob was deployed for the holiday season last year so it's awesome to have him here to enjoy it all, too! It's so special. I am nothing short of thrilled to be celebrating the holidays with both of my guys! BOTH my guys! Gosh, I feel so blessed just typing that! :D

I know I'm a little late posting about Thanksgiving, seeing as Christmas is next week (WHAT?!) but I wanted to recap Camden's first Thanksgiving. Overall it was a gigantic mess success! Camden surprisingly slept in until 10:30am so we missed a lot of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which I was a little bummed about. But I was sick the day before Thanksgiving so being able to sleep in was a huge blessing. Camden had some puffs and cereal for breakfast before playing for awhile and going down for his morning nap. I snuck in my workout and a shower while he slept then we all sat down for our Thanksgiving meal together! I set aside some boiled white potatoes and sweet potatoes as well as a few steamed carrots and some turkey (that we pureed) for Camden's meal (I didn't want him to eat all the butter, milk, salt, and whatever else usually goes into our mashed potatoes and other sides so he had them au natural!). I think Cam was most thrilled to be able to make a mess of eat his meal with his hands! He loved squishing everything between his fingers, haha. We put some bites in his mouth for him and let him take the lead feeding himself after. He was NOT a fan of the turkey! He's eaten turkey before- mixed with sweet potatoes, apples, or something else- but he didn't like it plain. At all. His reaction was hysterical! I caught a video of his reaction (which can be found on my Facebook and Instagram) and watched it over and over. I love how honest his expressions are- if he doesn't like something he makes a face and doesn't hesitate to spit it out! It's just so funny. He doesn't know to care about what other people will think. The innocence is refreshing and sweet. I regress. He didn't like the turkey but he enjoyed the potatoes! His carrots ended up getting rubbery so we didn't let him have those. He did have a couple bites of a roll as well. We all enjoyed watching him eat and make a mess. Camden definitely stole the show at the table! My little goof. Also, in celebration of Thanksgiving, Camden cut his first TWO teeth!! I had a sneaky suspicion he was going to cut two at once and that they were coming soon. I found them while we were eating! His two bottom teeth. What a festive boy! Haha. Clearly, this calls for many, many pictures of Camden's Thanksgiving feast so here we go!














Gosh, I love this boy so much! I can't wait to share Christmas with him! It's going to be magical. I hope you're all enjoying the holiday season with your loved ones! :]

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Feeding Favorites

Now that we have entered the wonderful world of solid foods I thought a "feeding favorites" blog was appropriate! Here are some of my favorite things that make the feeding adventure a little more fun. Enjoy! :]

Feeding Favorites


1. Boogin Head Squeeze 'Ems. Reusable, dishwasher safe food pouches. You know the plethora of easy to-go food pouches for baby? These amazing pouches make it possible to create your own! I love making the majority of Camden's food from scratch. I like knowing exactly what goes in it and honestly, I think it's fun to make his food! If I anticipate an afternoon of errands or we're planning a road trip, I fill these pouches with homemade baby food and we're good to go! Plus, if any of you have seen the viral video going around Facebook of the Earth's Best food pouch that had maggots in it (EWWW!!!) you can appreciate making your own pouches to avoid such a disgusting surprise. I would highly recommend these to any parent who plans on making their own baby food! 

2. Tommee Tippee catch-all bibs. These things rock! Camden LOVES to eat Cheerios and puffs and these bibs help to catch all the strays that don't quite make it to his mouth. It helps insure that the floor doesn't lay claim to nearly all of his finger foods. The pouch catches what is dropped and it's still good to put back on his tray for a second attempt at eating. Genius bibs. They look a little weird but they get the job done. And the rubber material is super easy to clean! Double win. 

3. Gerber soft bite spoons. To me, these are classic for baby feeding. These small metal spoons have silicone covered tips so that baby's gums don't get hurt when they (inevitably) bite down. They're small, perfect for little mouths. And they're cute! I obviously have the "boy" colors and I love how vibrant they are. Also, the fact that the silicone coating resists stains makes me very happy! Otherwise I'm pretty sure they would all be orange by now thanks to my son's love of carrots ;]

4. Baby Bullet. Like I said, I enjoy making almost all of Camden's food from scratch. I love how easy the Baby Bullet makes it to do so! I also have the Turbo Steamer and together I can make a bunch of baby food in a short amount of time. The "bullet" part blends everything down so smoothly. The steamer cooks basically everything without a fuss. The little pods are the perfect size for storage and the freezer tray makes it even easier to store anything that won't be eaten right away! I use this for every food I make for Camden (besides applesauce, which gets cooked in he Crock Pot). I know there are a lot of different baby food makers on the market and this is the only one I've tried but I really like it and would recommend it! 

5. Boon grass. This isn't exactly a feeding item but it is a very helpful accessory! This drying rack is super cute, doesn't look horribly tacky and ugly on the kitchen counter, and holds all the little bits and pieces that come along with the whole baby food adventure. This is the exact set I have- the grass, white flower, and white tree. Everything stays nicely organized while it dries. I also like that the grass part keeps things upright without warping and allows for airflow under item to prevent mold/mildew. I know the whole drying rack thing isn't really a big deal but I just like this piece a lot. 

6. Gerber rest easy spoons. Apparently I have an affinity towards Gerber spoons, huh? Haha. These are the only spoons we use other than the soft bite ones. These are a bit bigger than the soft bite spoons, have a longer handle, and more of a rectangular shape. I find that the food slides off these spoons very easily and Camden gets bigger bites (we only recently started using them now that he's used to solids). The "rest easy" aspect is simply a built-in bump on the back of the spoon that keeps the tip of it from resting on the table when you put it down. If you're a slight germ-a-phobe like me, you'll appreciate this simple feature. Of course, the "rest easy" part does not help if your baby happens to grab hold of the spoon and violently throw it on the floor. Sorry, momma's ;]

And that's all I've got! The only other item worth mentioning was on my last "favorites" list: the Fisher-Price space saver highchair. Camden eats all of his meals from that seat and we love how it doesn't take up much space at all. But since I referenced it on my last post I figured there's no need to rewrite it onto this one. When I was getting ready to introduce solids to Camden, I have to admit, I was a little sad. Selfishly, I didn't want him to need/want/like foods other than breastmilk! I've so loved nursing my little guy, I was sad to see that whole dynamic change as solids were introduced. However, as I've ventured through the feeding process with Cam, I've found it to be so very fun! I enjoy making his foods. I enjoy feeding him everyday. I even enjoy plopping globs of food on his tray and letting him make a huge, sticky mess with them! He loves food. He's so willing to try anything and usually he eats all that I offer him. We've worked up to three "real" meals a day, plus nursing sessions in between (which I now treasure more than ever!). He's a great eater. And we're both having fun! I hope this list helps some of my momma friends who might be preparing for the solid food adventure with their own little ones! :]

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

And then...


I was always the type to say that leggings were not pants, and then... Camden

I had no idea how strong my body really is, and then... Camden

I didn't think I could survive waking up every hour for a month, and then... Camden

I wasn't big on naps, and then... Camden

I wouldn't go out in public with messy hair that hadn't been washed in two days, and then... Camden

I didn't consider a day to be productive simply because I clipped someone else's fingernails, and then... Camden

I never made up silly songs about menial tasks, and then... Camden

I was great at remembering things, and then... Camden

I blogged regularly, and then... Camden

I took my time making a delicious dinner every night, and then... Camden

I didn't consider sitting down to eat a meal a luxury, and then... Camden

I never sniffed another person's butt, and then... Camden

I kept up with my favorite TV shows, and then... Camden

I didn't know exactly how much could be accomplished with a baby on my hip, and then... Camden

I didn't think I'd say things like "you can't eat the wheel of your stroller" or "good toot!" and then... Camden

I was spontaneous, and then... Camden

I didn't walk around singing Disney Junior theme songs, and then... Camden

I had no idea I was such a good multi-tasker, and then... Camden

I never got peed on and found it funny, and then... Camden

I never took two days to actually finish the laundry, and then... Camden

I had a personal library that consisted of books other than baby books and children's stories, and then... Camden

I danced without looking like an overdramatic spaz, and then... Camden

I wore necklaces without fear of strangulation, and then... Camden

I never celebrated 5 straight hours of sleep, and then... Camden

I could easily carry everything I needed in a small purse, and then... Camden

I shaved regularly, and then... Camden

I could easily get up and out of the house in an hour flat, and then... Camden

I didn't regularly use words like "nuh-no", "pajama time", "boo-boos", and "poopies", and then... Camden

I had never caught a head-butt square on the nose, and then... Camden

I didn't think I'd ever find Cheerios stuck to my legs or pasted to my bed sheets, and then... Camden

I was always on time, and then... Camden

I had no idea how bittersweet it was to watch someone grow up, and then... Camden

I never used my phone's entire memory on pictures and videos, and then... Camden

I couldn't grasp the ferocity of a mother's love, and then... Camden

I never knew how much love my heart could hold, and then... Camden

I had no idea so much was missing from my life, and then... Camden


Sunday, October 20, 2013

Baby favorites (4+ months)

With Camden now passing the 7-months-old mark I thought it was time to update our list of favorite things! As always, there are too many things to list them all, but here are a few of our most favorite things for our little guy lately!

Baby favorite (4+ months)



1. Fisher-Price Go Wild Jumperoo. Camden absolutely looooves this thing! My mom bought it for him as soon as he could hold his head up but it didn't become a favorite until he was about 5 months old. He likes to bounce and jump all over the place in this! Plus, it's really helping him develop strength, coordination, and balance. I give this a good bit of credit for how awesome Camden is at bearing weight on his feet/legs.  

2. B. One Two Squeeze Blocks. These blocks are the best! Hands down. We love them! They're soft and squishy which makes them perfect for chewing on (obviously a top priority for a teething baby, haha). Camden loves playing with them- we'll build and he'll knock down. These are definitely one of his favorite toys right now!

3. Munchkin Orajel Teether. Speaking of teething, this is Camden's favorite teether. I know it says for back teeth but he seems to love it! My little guy has been teething for monnnnths now and has yet to cut a tooth! Poor thing. We keep this is the fridge and bring it out whenever he gets fussy from mouth pain.

4. Sassy Teething Feeder. These things are genius! We love putting chunks of (peeled) apple in them for Camden to gum to death! Not only does it feel good on his sore gums but he also loves sucking the juice out of the apples, haha. We haven't tried any other fruits/veggies in them yet but I'm sure we will.

5. Johnson's Hand and Face Wipes. Now that Camden is crawling and making a mess with eating real foods, these are perfect. We used them from time-to-time when he was newer to clean his little neck rolls of milk. But now we use them to clean him up after every solid food feeding, and to wipe his hands down after he's been crawling around on the floor. I like the light, fresh smell and he likes to try to eat them (of course). 

6. Pajama Time! This is our most favorite bedtime book! We've read it to Camden just about every night for months now. In fact, all we have to do is tell him "it's pajama time!" and he gets all sorts of excited! It's a cute, short, catchy book that we've all come to love.

7. Fisher-Price Space Saver High Chair. Now that Camden is eating some solids we love having this space saver high chair strapped to one of the regular kitchen chairs! It's very convenient! It makes Camden sit at the perfect height for us to feed him (since we sit on one of the other kitchen chairs to do so) and it doesn't get in the way. Plus, the tray is dishwasher safe and the cover (shown here in the design we own- Coco Sorbet) is machine washable. Win.

That's all for now! I'll *try* to update more frequently... It's just a little more difficult to make time to do so with baby Hildreth outside of my belly instead of inside ;] We're so busy having fun! But I am overdue for a good baby update/milestones/photos blog. That'll come soon, I promise! 

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Half a year of amazing!


Hello friends! It's so hard to make the time to sit down and write a blog lately! Camden is crawling now which means he is into eeeeverythinggg! Even when he's having some solo playtime I still need to keep a watchful eye on him to make sure he doesn't eat my flip flops or anything equally as disgusting, haha (yeah, it happened). Obviously I never leave him completely unsupervised. It's just that now he's starting to require a little more watching. And he still isn't much of a napper so I don't get much downtime during naptime. He's quite a handful these days but gosh is he FUN! He's 6 1/2 months old now so I guess I should take the time to recap some of his developments (this might take a few sessions, haha)... 
  • Like I said, he's crawling now! He started scooching (is that a real word? haha) around a couple months ago and has not stopped moving since! He hasn't perfected his real crawl yet but he is a master at the Army crawl. He's mighty good at getting around these days!
  • Still no teeth!! He's been teething forever. For. Ev. Er. But seriously, Camden is drool city, stuffs anything and everything into his mouth (including my flip flops, mommy fail), and gets really fussy while grabbing at his mouth. He has all the signs of teething, some days worse than others, but he has yet to cut a tooth. Part of me is happy because I loooove his gummy little grin! But another part of me just wants him to cut a tooth already and get some relief. I feel bad for him! 
  • Camden has perfect hips. I know, this sounds so weird and random, haha. But at his 4 month well-visit his pediatrician told us that the fat folds on Camden's legs were asymmetrical which could be a sign of hip dysplasia. He said it was rare and I shouldn't worry about it but c'mon, I'm a mom now! I worry about everything having to do with my son's health and well-being. We had an ultrasound done to check everything out and were told that his hips are perfect! And he was a total champ during the ultrasound, he didn't fuss one bit. Yay for good news!
  • We started Cam on some real food after he turned 6 months old. We were told we could start at his 4mo visit but I wanted to exclusively breastfeed for 6 months. The first food we tried was baby oat cereal. He wasn't a big fan. We fed it to him for a few days and he really didn't enjoy it. So we took a little time off from the real food before deciding to try avocado. He wasn't a fan of that, either. Avocado mixed with oat cereal and breastmilk? Nope. Didn't like it. Then this week I decided to make homemade applesauce (simmered all day in the Crock Pot!) and mix that with oat cereal and breastmilk. WIN! He loved it!! He couldn't eat it fast enough! He was diving and reaching for the spoon, fussing at me while I paused to reload the spoon, and basically just going crazy for this new concoction! It was awesome. I was sooo happy to see him actually enjoying real food! I don't blame him, I love apples, too. He also loves to chew on chunks of apples in his handy little mesh teether things. It's safe to say that apples are his favorite real food at this point :]
  • He absolutely loves being outside! My mom and I take a walk with Camden in the stroller just about every morning. He usually stays awake for about 20 minutes then naps until we stop. He loves looking around and listening to our conversations. It's so cute. I'm going to be in trouble once the cold weather sets in and we can't walk outside anymore!
  • Camden's motor skills never cease to amaze me! It's like he learns something new everyday! He passes toys between hands very easily now. He grabs his feet and hair all the time. Actually, mister sticky fingers will grab anything he can get his hands on! He's also starting to clap which is beyond adorable. 
  • Camden's baby talk gets better everyday, too! He says "mama" "ada" "baba" and a range of other sounds. Even though he doesn't really know that I'm "mama" and Jake is "ada", it still melts our hearts to hear him say it! Lately he has started making singing sounds, too. We sing to him/play music for him a lot. The past couple weeks at church he has made sounds like he's singing along to worship! It's beautiful and we all love listening to him! 
  • He's learned to reach up when he wants to be picked up. I wanted him to learn this early on because I think it's adorable and helpful. So when he started to get better control over his arms I tried to teach him to reach when he wants to get picked up. I reinforced it by picking him up every time he reached for me. Now he has made the connection and reaches when he wants to be picked up! It's nice because it lets us know if he's done playing and wants to be picked up when he gets fussy or is he's just frustrated about something. 
  • He can sit up now! He isn't the best at sitting up on his own but he's getting better everyday! For awhile we would hold him in a supported seated position until he was strong enough to stay sitting up on his own. He doesn't stay seated for very long but I think that's mostly because he prefers to be on his belly so he can crawl around. I'm waiting for him to learn to pull himself up to sitting from his belly but that hasn't happened quite yet. I'm impressed at how strong he is and how much he can do!
  • At his 6 month check-up he was 27.75" long and 16lbs 10oz! He's in the 90th percentile for height/length and the 40th for weight. He's so long and lean! I'm sure he's over 17lbs now. The little guy is getting heavy, haha.
  • He loves to log roll. Everywhere. Before he was a champ Army crawler, Camden's preferred method of getting around was log/barrel rolling. He'd just roll himself from one end of the room to the other, haha. It was very funny to watch! He still rolls around a lot but he favors crawling at this point. 
  • Camden is getting better at nighttime sleeping. No, he still doesn't sleep through the night. But he will give me a long stretch of sleep (4-6 hours) almost every night (technically, 5hrs is sleeping through the night so I guess he does some nights!). The only reason he wakes up is to nurse most nights. I mean obviously babies wake up for other reasons- gas, teething pain- but for the most part he's really maturing in his sleep habits! And the best part is, we haven't resorted to cry-it-out at all! I'm really happy with the way we've been able to handle Camden's high-needs with his sleep. We're still working on the napping aspect of his sleep. Boy, does Cam like to fight every nap and make it as short as possible! Haha.
  • Overall, Camden is an extremely happy baby! He's so smiley! And he laughs all the time. It's beautiful. His personality is showing more and more these days and we love it. He laughs at things he finds funny, like silly faces and noises. He's super curious and tries to touch everything he can reach, and usually put it in his mouth as well. He's just so in-tune to everything around him. It's really neat to see! He's growing into this amazing, inquisitive, adventurous boy right in front of our eyes!! 
This is all that I can think of right now. Camden is truly a tremendous blessing and I thank God for him everyday! Some days I feel sad that he's growing up so quickly but I'm cherishing the moments and every stage with our sweet boy. Time is a precious thing. I'm thankful for all the time I get to spend with my son! Now I will leave you with the most perfect picture ever of my pumpkin patch baby :]


(Three days! This took me three days worth of here-and-there blogging sessions, haha. And the last bit was typed one-handed while Camden sleeps on me. Oh I sure do love being a momma!)

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Skinny pumpkin scones


Happy fall, everyone! I have to say, I'm sad to see the summer end. I love the summertime. And with this being Camden's first summer it was extra special!! I tried to squeeze in as many "firsts" as I could with the little guy this summer. Needless to say, this was one fabulous summer! But now it's over and fall is upon us. The best part about fall, in my book, is hockey season starting! Football bores me half to death so I'm all about preseason hockey right now. And upcoming playoff baseball! But aside from that I have to say that I loooove fall foods! I already busted out the Crock Pot and made some turkey pumpkin chili. It's nice to work some comfort foods back into our weekly menu! Pumpkin flavored everything seems to make the end of summer a little more tolerable. For the past couple weeks I've been dying for a good pumpkin scone (I blame Starbucks) but I wanted a healthy, homemade version. Anyone who knows me knows that I love to bake homemade goodies! And scones have recently become one of my favorites. So I set out to find a good "skinny" pumpkin scone recipe. And you know what I found? Nada. Nothing. Well, nothing that passed my "skinny" test. I'm sorry but if a recipe calls for 6+ Tablespoons of butter it is not skinny. After the initial frustration I decided to make my own recipe! I looked up some basic skinny scone recipes then improvised one of my own. I was very pleased with the results! These scones are moist, almost cake-like as my husband described them. They aren't overly sweet or full of fat and they have the good pumpkin flavor I was looking for. I considered making a glaze for these but decided against it. Although I'm sure they'd be great with a pumpkin spiced fat free cream cheese glaze!

Now here's what you really came to this blog post for. The recipe.

Ingredients
  • 2 cups white whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur)
  • 1 Tbsp baking powder
  • 1 Tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (more if you'd like)
  • 1/2 tsp salt (I used sea salt)
  • 3 Tbsp very cold butter, chopped up
  • 1/2 cup fat-free buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (make sure it isn't pumpkin pie filling)
  • 1/4 brown sugar, packed (I didn't want these overly sweet but feel free to add more if you like your scones sweeter)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract (or more to taste, I used vanilla bean paste)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, OR silpat, OR spray lightly with cooking spray.

In a small to medium bowl blend together the buttermilk, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. Set aside.

In a large bowl mix the first 5 ingredients (flour through salt) thoroughly with a wire whisk. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender. Once the butter has been completely cut into the flour mixture, add the wet mixture to the dry. Stir until all the dry ingredients are absorbed (batter will be a little sticky). 

Lightly flour your surface and hands. Place dough on floured surface and knead six times. Move dough to prepared cookie sheet and press/shape into a large circle, about 3/4-1" thick. Use a sharp knife to score the circle into 12 pieces. 

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes (more or less depending on your oven, keep an eye on it!). Once the scones are golden and the tops look dry and cooked (it can be hard to tell if they're "golden" because the pumpkin puree makes them a beautiful orange color) remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Separate scones along scored lines and serve. They're best enjoyed warm with a cup of coffee! Store leftovers in an airtight container. I hope you like them! :]

Nutrition breakdown:
125 calories
3.6g fat (2g saturated)
19.2g carbs
2.7g fiber
5.2g sugar
3.8g protein