Yay for football!

Hey ya'll! Just a quick post to let you know how excited I am about football season! woohoo!!!! Go Titans! (I don't care if you ESPN analysts think we aren't going to do so well) Go Vandy!!! Seeing that we will probably be moving in the next few months (who knows where?!??!) but it looks like we might get a new team to cheer for too! I don't mind...the more games to watch, the better.

I can't believe my little monster is almost 10 months old! The time flies by.... He's crawling so fast and getting into everything! I was mopping a few weeks ago and left the room for 5 minutes. Well, that was enough time for him to spot the bucket of water and decided he just had to explore, crawl to it, and pull it over! Water was everywhere...on the tile and carpet and all over him! Poor thing....mommy learned that babies move fast! The next day, we had him blocked in the living room where he can't get into much. He is pulling up on whatever he gets his hands on, including my pants! He actually pulled my sleep pants down the other day....ha! Now that he can stand, when he wakes up at night, we find him standing in his crib saying "mamamamamama" (he really is saying "mama" b/c if Cory goes to get him he cries for me...so sweet, yet so annoying) Here's a few pics to catch you up...

standing in his crib...

just to remind you of how tiny he used to be. I think this was taken when he was a month old. This is a Titans onsie :)

And now.....ready to watch football in his jersey! Thanks Nana!!

Cory making him hold a football...

Will and his Nana!

Making baby food...SO EASY!

For all the controlling/protective/do it yourself/organic/money saving mommies out there, making your own baby food is extremely easy and gratifying! I really want Will to eat as healthy as possible (none of those stinkin perservatives...) AND I want to introduce him to ALL types of food (cauliflower, white peaches, yellow squash from his Great Nana's garden :), etc.)

Seriously, it is SO easy, especially at first b/c it takes a while before they eat more than an ounce in a sitting. All you need is fresh fruit/veggies and a food processor. Advertisers will have you believe that you HAVE to have a "baby food maker"...but you don't.

Here's the process in a nutshell (pictures and details below): Steam, bake, or boil the fruit/veggies. Transfer them to the food processor and puree, then scoop the food out into ice trays and wrap them in plastic wrap. When frozen, pop them out into labeled freezer bags. I put the date and food on the freezer bag. And presto!.....Homemade organic baby food!

I will admit, I do not make ALL his food. I don't like making bananas, so I buy them for now. When he can eat bigger chunks, I'll start mashing them up for him. I have bought foods to introduce them into his diet. The first foods I introduced to him were peas, sweet potato, and butternut squash. I gave these foods to him "out of the jar" first, and when I was confident he was tolerating them, I made these foods.

Today, I'm going to take you through the steps of making butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and yellow squash...get ready, b/c after you see this, you'll want to make your own!

This is to show you what the finished product will look like. These are apples and pears that are in my freezer now. When you first start giving your baby solid foods, he probably won't eat a whole cube, but it won't take too long before he's eating 3 cubes!! Mine is 8 months now, and he eats 3-4 ounces for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

First - Butternut Squash!

One butternut squash goes for about $1.29 at my lo

cal grocery store. One squash ends up making about 30 ounces of food, which would be roughly $6.50 of the store bought stuff. Already saving money! It's important to remember that most foods, even fruit has to be cooked before pureeing.

Rinse the squash. Cut the butternut in half long ways, scoop all the seeds out, and lay cut side down on a baking sheet. TIP: use a baking sheet with raised sides b/c you have to put about half inch of water in the pan.

Bake the squash at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until you can stick a fork in it pretty easily. The top of the squash will take longer b/c it's thicker, so check this part with the fork. Your house will smell pretty good while it's baking :)

Doesn't it look good???

Let cool then scoop out all the goodness into a food processor. Depending on the size of the squash and your food processor, you might have to do two rounds of pureeing. DO NOT discard the cooking liquid, this will need to be used to add to the puree to make it the right baby food consistency. You might have to add a bit of water on top of the cooking liquid. No worries if you don't get the consistency exactly right, you can always add a touch of water to thin it out when you thaw it later on.

Once pureed, scoop out the puree into ice cube trays. You can buy the fancy silicone ones with the lids, or you can buy the cheap ones (I did) and wrap plastic wrap around it. Each cube holds roughly an ounce. Wrap it up, and stack it in the freezer. I always let it set up overnight. The next day, take it out of the freezer and let it sit on the counter for about 10 minutes. This will help it pop out into the bags easily. And you're done! Now you have baby food in neat one ounce cubes on hand to thaw for your baby :)

Second - Sweet Potato

I can never remember if it has an "e" on the end...ha! I can't remember how much sweet potatoes are, but I know they're pretty cheap. I'd get 2 or 3 for your first time. I think 2 should make about 20 ounces.

Rinse Potatoes. Take skin off with veggie peeler.

Cut into chucks, and make sure they are similar sizes so it cooks evenly.

Steam potatoes until tender (do not overcook!). You can use a steamer basket or whatever works for you.

When done, remove from heat and scoop into the food processor along with some cooking liquid.

Puree until smooth!

Follow freezing directions from above!

TIP: you can easily make squash and sweet potatoes the same day to save some time.....here's how.....wash veggies, peel potatoes, cut and scoop squash, get the squash in the oven, get double boiler ready and heating, cut up potatoes, get squash out of the oven, puree potatoes and put in ice trays while squash cools, rinse food processor, puree squash and out in ice trays, wrap all the trays, and put in freezer! Takes about an hour total, maybe a little longer your first time :)

Third - Yellow Squash

My Nana (Will's Great Nana) has a garden and she brings me yellow squash from time to time. How awesome that Will gets to eat home grown veggies?!?! Cost--free!!! I think I used 4 or 5 small yellow squash and it made about 16 ounces total.

Scrub the squash with a veggie scrubber. Your baby will end up eating the skin, that's why you scrub it. Cut into slices.

If using small squash like I did, just cutting into slices will be good enough. If you're using larger squash, you might have to cut the slices in half.

Steam until tender.

Scoop out into food processor and puree (seeds included).

I made this for Will a couple weeks ago and added butter to the puree....yummy!!! I made some with butter and some without butter. I did this b/c you should introduce butter like you would any other food. For example, I gave Will plain yellow squash for three days, then I gave him yellow squash with butter the following three days. Since he can now eat butter, I can add a touch to other foods like sweet potatoes! Once pureed, scoop into ice trays and follow the above freezing directions!

Now you're ready to start making your own baby food! Please let me know how your baby food adventures turn out and if you have any ideas or advice!

What I'm loving...Parties!

I am totally obsessed with my son's upcoming first birthday party...I know, it's 5 months away. BUT, you have to think WAY ahead on these things or you won't have time to plan, calculate costs, then plan again b/c what you want costs an arm and a leg...

My theme is "Will's Wild Wild West". I love the idea of little cowboys and cowgirls running around all dressed up! I think it will be so cute to have Will in a cowboy hat and a little sheriff badge! I LOVE searching Etsy to see what goodies I find to match my theme...let me know what you think and if you have ideas for me to incorporate!

I really want to have someone take pictures for me! I am no good at taking pics and I think a first birthday deserves good documentation. Of course I want the normal pics, but I also want to have a western style backdrop for families to take pictures in front of.

This? I found these two in an Etsy store called LollipopBackdrops. The first one is $50 (measures 3.5 x 3.5 feet) and the second is $85 (measures 4 x 6 feet). Here’s a link to her shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LollipopBackdrops?ref=seller_info

I found some fabric that is wood grain patterned, so I guess I could stretch it over canvas to make my own? But who has time for that? Maybe I can talk my mom into doing it for me…ha!

And how about these photo props?? I think I’m going to get cowboy/cowgirl hats for all the kids that come. Ha! Can you see parents holding up a mustache on their baby with the cowboy hat on?!?! How cute! The idea is to have the pics posted on a common website so that the families can download/buy the pics. These are from the Etsy shop FunnySideofLife. $24 for a dozen! Pretty good and well worth it! Here’s the link to their shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/FunnySideofLife?ref=seller_info

How about this for food? I love this idea! Chili is both easy and cost effective. And doesn't this cornbread look delicious?!?! I probably won’t end up using the mason jars for the chili b/c I don't see me making 50 of these! Hello paper bowls! Maybe red bandana patterned?

I’ve been thinking about favors, and I would like to do a cloth bag, maybe several different patterns, some western, some geometric, maybe some burlap mixed in? Or maybe these simple bags with something cute stamped on? I want to have folks fill their bags with candy from a candy bar, which will be located in The General Store J.

Yes, I want to have a mock General Store! Imagine this sign saying General Store. I also want to have a Saloon where the beverages are! Since I won’t use the mason jars for Chili, maybe I’ll use them for lemonade?

ok...enough for now! Please let me know if you have any western type ideas for me!

Britt

Wonder Woman....

Today, I feel like I can conquer the world! I haven't felt this good about myself in a long long time.

Before I was a mother, I don't think I realized how much a woman can do.....I mean really, I take care of the baby all day (and if it's a cranky baby day...whew! Tough!), keep the house cleaned, make my son's baby food, cook for us almost every night, cook meals ahead and put meals in the freezer, find time to exercise, go on mommy adventures with other mommies, and I still have time to work on my paper stuff! Mommyhood has given me more internal power and self worth that I ever thought possible...Hello Wonder Woman!

Ahhh...Superman...My super man's name is Cory Darling! I know, I know....so cheesy...but so true.

Counting Calories-aka-STARVING!

Like I need one more thing to keep up with during the day... Yes, I have decided to start counting my calories. Yes, I am crazy. Yes, it is hard. No, I really don't feel like I'm starving, but it was quite a shock to actually eat just one serving of cereal. Did you know that one serving of Honey Nut Cheerios is 3/4 cup?!?! Whhaaaaa? That one serving is 110 calories. Once you add 1 cup of milk (110 calories), you're up to 220!

This has been my breakfast for the past two mornings. Yes, I actually measured it out. If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right! About an hour after my cereal, I eat a yogurt...110 calories.

Let me back up and tell you why I started this in the first place... I do not think I am fat. I'm back down to my pre baby weight but it is not distributed like it was before...ha! So, I do have a few pounds that I would like to get rid of. My eating habits as is aren't that bad. I don't eat a ton of sweets (I would if I bought it, so I don't even bring it in the house). The overall goal is to have a healthy relationship with food and a good understanding of portion size and what my body really needs to operate from day to day.

Let's face it, too many of us eat until we're full and then some, especially if it's a meal outside the home. Restaurants are the worst if you're trying to loose weight! And snacks, don't get me started on a bag of Lays...they will be gone within a couple days once opened. Throw in the famous Shelley Darling dump dip (this dip is fabulous...it has cream cheese, ketchup, and Catalina dressing...you mix it all up in a food processor and...BAM...heaven in a bowl!) and you have a real weight disaster! I love snack foods, pretzels, cheezits, salted peanuts, chips, anything really!

The thing is, if you think "hmmm....I want a snack, maybe white cheddar cheezits!" So, you go grab the box, sit on the couch, and start chomping. How do you know when you've eaten a serving? When do you stop, when half the bag is gone? In case you didn't know, one serving of white cheddar cheezits is 25 pieces and is 150 calories. Once you count them out (yes, for the past two days, I have been counting out servings of my snacks), it doesn't turn out to be too many!

So, the plan is to document my calories for the next two weeks. I'm allowing myself 1,500 per day. Supposedly, someone my age and weight burns about 1,300 calories a day just by doing nothing. I got this info from the Biggest Looser website. Since I am active, I'm allowing a little more than the 1,300. I'm being very strict about my snacks. In the morning, I'm counting out my pretzels, peanuts, and cheezits and putting them in sandwich bags for the day. I've noticed that it's harder for meals that I cook. But, I'm going to try my hardest to be as accurate as possible!

I'll update you guys in a couple weeks with my results! I challenge you to do the same...and let me know how it goes!

Britt

I heart couponing!

Hi! I just want to say that this couponing thing is really fun! I actually enjoy looking through all the coupons in the newspapers and online and comparing them to what's on sale in my local grocery store!

On my last shopping trip, I saved $48.02! This is using the stores sales along with coupons. I even got a couple items for free! That's the most I've EVER saved, and I was super proud of myself! Woo hoo! I told my husband that I'm taking it up a notch and buying 10 papers this weekend...ha!

Look out Bi-Lo, Brittany's coming!

Invites for Liz

I'm so excited to show you what I found! I have Hobby Lobby adventures at least every other week to see what treasures I can find in the paper department, and today did not disappoint!

I was looking for oranges and burgundy's, either together or separate. See below for a few ideas for your invites... And, keep in mind any of these papers can be used for your favor tags or as a background for your out of town boxes/bags. I've shown all these papers with craft paper envelopes (I LOVE using these! They make it look so unique).

I apologize for the picture quality....I am no photographer.... :)

Butterflies...I love "nature" related paper. It has some orange, but not any burgundy, which is why I show it with the orange paper.

Burgundy! The lighter color is cream...If we used this as the liner, I would use solid burgundy with cream on top for the invite (like your wedding invites).

Orange! If this were the liner, I would use orange as a background with cream on top for the invite.

I found these three...the polka dot one is super cute, but I don't know if you want the "cute" feel to the invites. The other two are shown in pictures below with envelopes.

I really like this! There is a little burgundy and some orange (it does not match exactly to the orange your using, but you can't really tell) But, I would use burgundy paper with white on top for the invite. Or just white.

This is probably my favorite...I LOVE the pop of orange! This paper really incorporates the orange and burgundy in a classic way! I would do this with an orange invite. The orange in the picture matches your orange :)

I actually think this paper would be perfect for tags with a layer of orange on top! Or the paisley pattern...both would look SO good!

Let me know what you think!