Toddler Food Series

I'm so excited to share this post with you. I have been working on it for an insanely long time. I don't know about you but I am always looking for fun new foods and ways to feed Maggie. Fortunately she has always been an awesome eater. From the time she was 6 months she was wanting to eat whatever we were having. After a couple of months I realized I could use it to my advantage and I started making my own baby food. I would combine things like Carrots, Sweet Potatoes and Apple Sauce or Green beans with Avocado. I also loved it because I could play with around spices for flavoring and cut back on the sodium. It broadened her tastes so much. I can't say that I know too many almost 15 month old who's favorite food is anything Mexican because she loves spicy things. Now she pretty much eats whatever we are eating for dinner, and breakfast and lunches we get to be creative. 

She is getting to the stage where eating needs to be more fun, and not so much a chore. I have loved playing up her serving trays and giving her varieties of things to choose from. These are some of my favorites that we have purchased and want to purchase. 

 

1. Plastic Deviled Egg Tray

2. Landscape Dinner Plate

3. Start to Finish Plate

4. Ice Cube Trays

To give you an idea of what some of our meals look like. Breakfast I always try to include carbs or protein and lots of fruit. Some of our favorites are scrambled or hard boiled egg, eggo/ english muffin with cream cheese. Lunch always has a protein, veggie, fruit and some sort of treat like a fruit snack, or a handful of marshmallows. Dinner is almost always what we eat. Main dish, fruit, veggie, carb. I will be completely honest and tell you I am not a mom who focuses on non-processed, all organic foods. I do my best to make sure my child eats healthy, but when I'm in a bind, TV dinners and boxed Mac n' Cheese are lifesavers. 

1. Ham, Crackers, tortillas, cheese, raisins, marshmallows, pears, cheese puffs, peaches, flavored puffs. 

2. Blueberries, peaches, diced roast beef, turkey stuffing, dinner roll. 

3. Bow-tie Pasta with meat sauce, halved grapes and fruit smoothie. 

4. Mini pancakes, peanut butter, bananas, raisins, marshmallows, blueberries. 

 

5. Italian Chicken, corn, fettuccine noodles, cheddar biscuit.

6. Chicken and cheese quesadilla, guacamole, chicken rice and bananas.

7. English Muffin with strawberry cream ch., bananas, blueberries

8. Meatballs, butternut squash with cinnamon, and blueberries. 

9. Tortellini tossed with panko bread crumbs, hard boiled egg and kiwi.

10. Crockpot Italian Chicken, egg noodles, green beans and watermelon. 

 I hope this gives you all some fun ideas and that feeding time becomes a little more creative in your houses. Please comment and leave me your meal ideas too. I would love to add to our ever growing list of options. 

Wishing you a fabulous weekend. 

Happy Saturday! 

-Kelli

Gone Too Fast

I have so many Mom moments where I think to myself "Time is going by waaaaaay too fast!" It can be a good thing though, because those become the moments that get photographed the most and create the best memories. Those moments of stillness that are extremely rare with a 15 month old, become cherished. Lately Maggie has loved sitting in her rocking chair in her room flipping through books and looking out her window. Really though she just loves that she is big enough to climb up there all by herself. 

Then there are these moments, when they actually pretend to like each other outside of feeding time, when scraps are dropped to them from her highchair.  One day they will be best friends, that is if Maggie learns to stop poking their eyes out. 

The bad moments have to be documented as well, no matter how angry I was ten seconds before this picture was taken. I was cleaning our bathroom while Maggie was playing by the tub. I turned my back literally for 30 seconds and when I came back, she had gotten into a bottle of nail polish and attempted to paint pretties on her face. I knew something was up when I heard her going "mmmmmm" in the bathroom, and knew there was nothing edible in there. She knew she was in deep crap and refused to hold still for a picture. My Bathmat is now a piece of artwork with hot pink splatters on it, as are the pants she was wearing. 

We had a cousins birthday on Saturday. She wasn't sure what to think of all these hats on everyone's head. 

Friday we took her to the Zoo for the first time. She was just as thrilled to run wild as she was to see the wild. All of her stuffed animals came to life and she was so captivated. We wound up buying an annual pass so we will be going back often. 

Daddy's shoulders made an excellent means of transportation when her legs gave out. 

Somewhere buried at my parents are pictures of myself and all of my sisters drinking from this fountain. It's an absolute must have photo for all kids. 

What size Gorilla are you?!?!

The train was the coconut syrup to her Dr. Pepper! Heaven. She loved it and giggled the whole way. The giraffes were even kind enough to come out as we Choo-Chooed on by. She was so much fun to watch. 

We capped off our week of growing too fast by making a giant measuring chart. You've probably seen these floating around on Pinterest. They are a cinch to make. I purchased my already primed piece of MDF from Home Depot for about $7.00. I wanted something white rather than the stained wood. I just then just marked my tic marks with a yard stick and painted them on. I got my number stencils at Hobby Lobby. Seriously the whole project took maybe 2 hours. I love having it right in our Kitchen reminding us how quickly they grow and to make the best of each moment. 

I took the liberty of marking her 1 year old height...you know, for Good Measure ;)

This board will be so fun to look back at in twenty years and hopefully it will be filled with the markings of future littles, who I'm also sure will grow up way too fast. 

Happy Monday

XO-Kelli

Hump Day

School Starts in less than three weeks and our mornings will no longer be filled with laziness. They will however be filled with many more matching headband days like today. I'm loving making these knotted t-shirt headbands. What I love even more is that Maggie keeps them on. She thinks it's pretty silly when she sees we are wearing the same thing. I think I look pretty silly in this picture period. I tried so hard to get her to take a fun selfie but this was the best I could do. 

Lately we are spending more time upstairs playing in Maggie's room, pulling every stuffed animal and book out of their shelves, and attempting to put on every pair of pants in her dresser. She is all about trying to dress herself lately. I think we are going to be in trouble before too long. 

Wednesdays get even more exciting when packages come. I took advantage of some major JCrew Factory sales and stocked up on some Fall necessities. I am soo looking forward to rocking these with my favorite Boots. I'm so in love with the Jewelry tray. I can finally take my most frequently worn jewelry out of the tupperware container it has been housed in. 

We have had thunderstorm overload this week and I have been loving it. This is what every evening has looked like for the last several days. Doesn't get much better than this. 

Here is the best part. A successful test kitchen run in the middle of the week?....My work here is done. 

This was so easy and delicious, and it looked like I slaved for hours. Triple Win!

Here is what you need:

1 Roll of refrigerated crescent rolls. ( I used generic brand but wished I had used Pillsbury. FYI). 

1/2 a Bag of Frozen Meatballs

1/3 of a Jar of Spaghetti Sauce

1 can of Diced Tomatoes (mine had onions and garlic in them). 

About 1 cup of mixed cheeses. Anything will do really. I used Italian Blend, Parm, and Colby/Mont Jack. 

Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Italian Seasoning, Dried Parsley, and Pepper. 

Baking Stone. I used my Pampered Chef Stoneware Baking Sheet. 

Thaw your Meatballs out in a strainer with some hot water. No need to cook them. 

Roll your Crescent dough out into a rectangle. 

In a bowl, put your meatballs, can of tomatoes and about 1-2 cups of spaghetti sauce. 

Mix together and pour down the center of your crescent dough. 

Sprinkle with Garlic pwdr, Onion Pwdr, Pepper and Cheeses. 

Next take a pizza cutter or a knife and cut the excess crescent dough on a diagonal until you reach the filling. Pull the dough over the top, alternating sides to create a braided look. 

Top with Parsley and Italian Seasoning. 

Bake @ 375* for about 18-22 minutes, until brown and and no longer doughy to the touch. 

Makes about 6 servings. Don't worry, the brown was just the juices that browned onto the stone. It was perfectly flaky, buttery and delicious. 

Happy Hump Day. 

Baby Must Haves: Feeding

The second I found out I was pregnant (or approx. 2 years before) I was already researching baby products. What was considered the best on the market, and what could be passed aside. I also learned from experience though that some things could be scrimped on, all without sacrificing quality. I hope you find this list helpful as you plan for your little one. Feel free to leave questions or comments on what your Feeding Must Haves are. 

1. Tommy Tippee Closer to Nature Milk Bib: I loved these bibs. The moment we realized I would be exclusively pumping ( a story for another time), we realized that something needed to be done about all those milk dribbles that nestle into the many of the five or so chins that newborns have. These bibs quickly solved that problem with the pillow like feature around the neck. They are so soft too on a tiny baby's skin. 

2. Nursing Pillow: I had every intention of buying a Boppy for Maggie, I even registered for one. At my baby shower though, my sister surprised me with this Nursing Pillow instead. They have two options of either regular cotton fabric or a minky fabric in many different patterns and colors. At first I was skeptical because they definitely weren't as "fluffy" as a Boppy. As I started to compare them though, that is what I loved about it. The Boppy to me was almost too hard and not very comfortable. The nursing pillow is flexible and soft and great for nursing or for baby to use for tummy time or to prop up for self bottle feeding. Maggie still uses hers to this day as a comfort object at times because she loves how soft it is. 

3. Medela Small Bottles: Because I exclusively pumped with Maggie, we needed bottles, LOTS of them. I initially bought these to have as extras to pump into. I didn't expect to have them be the main feeding bottles, but we did and I loved them. Fortunately we never had to deal with reflux or gas issues or so I can't say how they would work with that. There is nothing really fancy about them. I really just loved the size and how convenient they made pumping and feeding all in one container. 

4. Avent Bottles: When we started to outgrow the Medela bottles, the Avent's became the next go to. I mainly gravitated towards these because so many family and friends used them and loved them. I loved having multiple sizes. We used both the 5 and 9 oz bottles. 

5. Tommy Tippee Closer to Nature Pacifier: I may cause some offense by saying this but...I hate binkies with graphics on them. I'm all about buying things like this to be gender neutral. When I saw these plain, clear binkies I fell in love with their simplicity. I also love their shape mimics the shape of a baby's mouth and helps prevent their top teeth from shifting. 

6. Medela Pump in Style: I strongly believe that every woman who plans on breastfeeding needs to invest in a pump. It is so important to get every last drop out to avoid clogged ducts and mastitis. A lot of times you produce more than baby can eat for the first several weeks. This is great because by pumping out the extra, it allows you to build up a stock pile in your freezer. If you are like me and wind up having gall bladder removal 11 weeks post pardom, and have to dump your milk for several days due to medications, you will be sooooo grateful you have a freezer full of milk to use. So here is why I loved my pump. First of all it's top of the line. If the Kardashians use it, then it's good enough for me right? But seriously, this thing has 5 star ratings at literally every place of purchase. It's extremely compact and discrete. The pump itself is about a 5x5x5 inch cube. The rest of the bag is strictly for storage of bottles and milk. It comes equipped with 4 bottles, and a small cooler bag with freezer pack. It can run on both a power cord or AA batteries for when you need to pump in the car, which believe happens more often than you think. It's so easy to use. I love it. There are so many places to buy these as well. Often times you can get them for a steal when Target has their baby sales. I actually got mine brand new off of Ebay for about 1/2 of the regular price. Definitely search around for a great deal. 

7. Up and Up Milk Storage Bags: If you are going to pump, you need something to store it in. There are so many options for breast milk storage. Most storage bags show the oz. and date. I don't know what it was in these bags that I loved so much... probably the price. I bought many, many boxes of these and never once had a problem with them leaking. I have never been disappointed with any of Target's store brand items. 

I hope take advantage of some of these products, because I know you won't be disappointed. 

Happy August 1st. Enjoy these last few weeks of Summer. 

Before we know it the leaves will be changing and the brisk Fall weather will be upon us. 

XO- Kelli 

Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head

It's a common known rule that when a July Thunderstorm hits...you dance in it. 

You take advantage of not having to water your plants. 

But most of all, you do the stinkbug walk!!!

And when that loud clap of thunder hits, you hightail it back into the garage and in the house as fast as you can. 

And finish watching the storm from inside. 

And when the Sun finally peeks through the clouds, you wish you were as smart as the neighbor kids and put on your swim suits to take advantage of the flooded storm drains. 

I have only seen this drain overflow flood one other time in the last five years. Usually it's completely dry, but today it was at least 5-6 feet deep. That's what a torrential downpour does on a July afternoon. 

With all these rain storms, we haven't been able to get outside much, so I decided to get a head start on some Christmas projects. We intend to get Maggie a play kitchen for Christmas, so I wanted to whip out an apron to go with it and use some of my scraps. 

Not to bad for having no pattern. I just used a small dessert plate to cut the curve in the body of the apron. 

Happy Tuesday

XO Kelli