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While I am on the subject of food...

I found a new blog that is my current obsession. www.100daysofrealfood.com is a blog from a mom of two who decided to cut out processed food from her family's diet. In May 2010, she pledged to serve her family nothing but "real food" for 100 days (see her blog for her definitions). Now, two years later, she is still serving almost only real food. I wish that I had the desire and drive to make this happen for my family. For now, I am content with trying to eat better as often as possible. To that end, I tried this chicken recipe from her blog this week, and it was delicious. I used it the first night for soft tacos. Then, I made stock with the bones, and I served her chicken noodle soup the next night. Two great nights of food for less than $15, with very little work in the kitchen!

Spaghetti Squash Recipe

This blog is not really about cooking, but I just felt like I needed to share this recipe with someone! I adapted it from a recipe on allrecipes.com. Basically, I just simplified it a little and adapted it to my family's taste. If you have never had spaghetti squash, it comes out looking like spaghetti (hence the name) but it has a slight crunch to it. By itself, it doesn't have much flavor.

What you need:
1 spaghetti squash
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil, divided
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
3/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet with a little bit of the oil.
2. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and take out the seeds with a spoon.
3. Put the squash, cut sides down, on the cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes, or until you can easily pierce the skin with a fork. Remove squash from oven and allow to cool until you can handle it. (Use the cooling time to chop your tomatoes, garlic and basil.)
4. About 10 minutes before you are ready to serve, heat some oil over medium heat in a pan on the stove. Add the garlic and saute for a couple minutes. Then, add the tomatoes and heat through.
5. While the tomatoes are cooking, take a fork and scrape out the flesh of the squash. Place it in a serving dish.

6. Toss the squash with the tomatoes, basil and cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Delicious! It makes a great side dish to just about any meal!

Looking for a rainbow

On Sunday, we went over to Bill and Susan's house to hang out with Doug and Finn and eat an early dinner. We were there right after the hail storm and during the subsequent downpour. When it was over, a neighbor told us there was a beautiful big rainbow outside. After we finished eating, we took the boys out to look for the rainbow. We couldn't find it, but we did find some puddles!

8 month milestones!

Wren had her 8 month "birthday" on Friday, April 13! She is growing so fast, and time is flying by! I really can't believe it has already been 8 months since she was born. Apparently this is a big birthday (at least for Wren.) She had two big milestones within days. On Thursday, April 12, she crawled for the first time! She had been preparing for this for quite some time. She practiced what I called the inchworm for a few weeks, where she would get up on all fours and then flatten to her belly, then back to all fours. This was a very slow method of moving, but she did inch forward. Then on Thursday, she figured out how to move those knees. By an amazing stroke of luck, I caught those first movements on video! This is one reason I am so grateful to be able to work from home and have Wren home with me during this first year of her life!

Wren has also been teething for quite some time. I knew those teeth were ready to come soon, but had no idea when they would arrive. Tuesday, April 17, we went to dinner at Bill's brother's house (Doug and Megan). I had just finished telling Bill's dad that we hadn't seen any signs of teeth yet when Wren looked up at me and grinned really big. There I saw a flash of white. I stuck my finger in her mouth (this is not recommended with a teething infant) and there were, not one, but two teeth on the bottom poking through. I swear they were not there earlier that evening. That night was pretty rough, with several screaming wake-ups, but the days since then have been much better.

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If you give a mouse a cookie...

she might give you a hug!

Thanks, Traysie, for a great day at SCCT last weekend!

On the move! (almost)

As I mentioned in my last post, there are so many milestones coming up for Wren in the next few months. In the past week, she has started getting up on her hands and knees and rocking! I can't believe how close she is to crawling. Slow down!

And she loves her doorway jumper, too!

Let's compare

I am a little behind on this, but what else is new? Wren is six months old! (Well, she was on Feb 13) I cannot believe how quickly this time is passing. With every day, I am remembering how much I loved this stage with Wells. It seems like the stage from 6 to 12 months is filled with so many new things: learning to sit well, crawl, pull up, and maybe walk; learning to make those first words; and learning to eat "real" food. I cannot wait to see what these next few months have in store for us!

Since Wren was born, so many people have commented about how much she looks like Wells did when he was a baby. So, here is a new comparison.
Wells at 6 months: 16 lb, 3.5 oz; 27.5 in

Wren at 6 months: 14 lb, 10 oz; 26.5 in

So, what do you think? I still think they look a lot alike, but I also think Wren is starting to look more like me, where Wells looks more like Bill.

Also, I was going through pictures the other night, and I have to share this one. It is just too sweet not to share! This is from Christmas morning (again, I am way behind here. Don't judge.)

Home made baby food

When Wells was a baby, I decided that I wanted to make my own baby food. Like the decision to cloth diaper, this was at least partially an attempt to save money. But, I also knew that I didn't want to eat any of that food that comes in a jar. It looks terrible and smells even worse. So, if I didn't want to eat it, why would I think my baby would want to eat it? After making all of Wells' food, I knew I wanted to do the same for Wren. I thought someone else might benefit from knowing how it is done!

First, I stumbled upon a book called the petit appetit cookbook at a discount book store. It looked intriguing, so I bought it. It has been wonderful. It is full of information and "recipes" for different baby foods. I also really like the website http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/. It has great information, too, and you don't have to buy anything!

Here is what you need to make your own baby food at home:

Just an oven, a stove top, a pot with a steamer basket of some sort, and a food processor (you can use a blender, magic bullet, an immersion blender, etc). All of the foods that I have prepared, I either steam on the stove top or bake in the oven first.

I made applesauce last night. I started with apples.

Cut them into quarters and remove the cores. Place them in the steamer basket, with about an inch of water underneath (the water shouldn't come up into the basket and touch the apples). Bring the water to a boil and steam for 10-12 minutes, until they are soft to pierce with a toothpick.

Let the apples cool, and then cut the peels off and put the apples in the food processor.

Mix in a little of the cooking liquid if needed to get the right consistency.

When it is finished, I usually put a couple of days' worth in the fridge. The rest, I put in ice cube trays to freeze.

Once they are frozen, I move them to ziploc bags for storage in the freezer. Pull out a cube or two when you are ready to feed! So easy!

And, the result... Wren is happy! (And so is mommy!)

Lessons in Potty Training

Our latest adventure has been potty training Wells. So, I wanted to share my thoughts on the process and the products of potty training. Please keep in mind that Wells is the first child that I have ever walked through this process. So, I am certainly no expert!

First, the process...Many of my friends have recommended a three-day potty training "boot camp." I believe there are several versions out there that you can find. Some are free and some you will pay for, but they are much like this one. We did not use this method. Instead, Wells basically trained himself. How did this happen? We waited until he was ready. Mostly, this happened by accident. I bought a small potty for him when he was around 18 months old, and he would sit on it from time to time. But, that was also around the time I found out I was pregnant with Wren, so I decided I didn't want to work to get him potty trained and then have him regress after she was born. We decided to wait until after she was born to start "getting serious" about potty training. In the meantime, we would put Wells on the potty before bath time (some nights) and at other times when he wanted to. Sometimes he peed, sometimes he didn't. Over the summer (after his 2nd birthday), he started showing more and more interest. His friends at school started using the potty more, and that created a little peer pressure. By Christmas, he was using the potty at least once a day, according to his own initiative. Santa brought him some underwear for Christmas, which he really wanted to wear. Once he was in underwear, he has had very few accidents! Now, this was not exactly a quick process. But, it also involved very little stress on any of us, very few wet clothes, and no tears of frustration!

Now, about the products... this is the potty I bought.

It is a potty/step stool combination. It worked great at first. However, Wells is now learning to stand when he pees. I would much rather him stand at the big toilet, where he has less room for missing the toilet. However, he still wants to use his "little potty" which means a lot more clean up for me!

So, if you have a boy, I would suggest something like this instead:

It just sits on the regular potty, and you can move it when they start standing!

I wish I were a blogger

I really do wish I could keep up with this blog stuff. Obviously, it has been awhile since I've posted! Since then, we've doubled our number of children! Wren Delane Smith was born on august 13, 2011 at 11:10 am. Maybe one day I will post her amazing birth story. The Cliff Notes version is this: we hired a wonderful doula. My contractions started early in the mowning, and I labored at home (with Caryn's help) until about 6:30. We got to the hospital around 7 and I managed to complete my labor without any pain medication. I was only able to do this with Bill squeezing my hips during each contraction to help manage my back labor. Wren was born after only 10 minutes of pushing!

Here we are 5 months later, and life has changed a lot! Wells is a great big brother, and he loves his sister. Wren has been a bit of a challenge, with reflux and a milk protein intolerance. (I could have bored you with lots of stories as we tried to figure all of that out, but I was way too busy to blog!)

I'm currently sitting in the rocking chair with Wren asleep on my chest. Wells is napping in his bed. As crazy as it is, all is right with my world.