Baby Food

I finally started making some baby food for Henry. I had the very best intentions of making ALL of his food. This was while I was pregnant. So much changes when you actually have the baby lol. I decided I would make things for him that weren't readily available as prepackaged.
So I made him some roasted red peppers with goat cheese, and zucchini. I also froze some canned pumpkin and added some cinnamon to it. I pureed some black beans and froze into cubes as well. Protein is so good for babies! He doesn't get very much meat yet, so I figured beans would be a nice alternative.

 

Peppers are part of the "dirty dozen" Try to always buy organic. I forgot so I did the trusty vinegar and water soak.

 

I roasted these peppers at 400 for 30 minutes. Looking back it would have been easier to roast bigger pieces because the skin chars while roasting and needs to be peeled. Hence...the roasted red pepper.

I pureed with a few good size chunks of goat cheese and Henry gobbled it up!

 

I roasted the zucchini at the same temperature and purred. It comes out the PERFECT consistency. I didn't need to add any water. Zucchini's are naturally watery veggies, so that's probably why.

 

Once pureed, I just spread the mixture into these silicone ice cube trays. I froze them overnight and then put each food into a labeled zip lock bag.

4th of July!

We had a great 4th this year! I think next to Christmas this is my favorite holiday. I love celebrating being an American!!! We traveled to Morrison this year. It was our first trip from the lake to Morrison. The journey was LONG. Henry was on a hunger strike and it took us almost 8 hours to get there. We stopped almost every hour to see if he would eat. It should have taken us around 5 or 6 hours. Oh well, we arrived safely and that's all that matters. We shared time between both sets of grandparents and were able to visit with a lot of people. Here are some photos!
I didn't get a chance to take as many photos as I wanted. I wish there were some with Grammy and Grandpa Deets and well as Henry's Great Grandpa Beckstrom! My Mom has one on her iPad though so I'll be sure to get my hands on that. Henry is lucky to have 4 Great Grandparents!

 

Much love from Grandpa and Grandma Beckstrom!

 

Is it me or does it look like I'm holding a toddler? He's huge!

 

Grammy!

 

He's so patriotic!

 

Visiting Great Grandma Shaw! 4 Generations!

 

Visiting Great Grandma Deets! 4 Generations!

 

This is just a photo that I took of the flag on our balcony at the lake. I love what our flag symbolizes!

 

Sleep Training

We just completed week one of sleep training Henry. Let me tell you this is not for the faint of heart, but if you are desperate for sleep like I was/am then its worth it. Our sweet baby boy started sleeping through the night when I went back to work. He was 3 months old. I felt so blessed, but at the same time I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Ever heard of the 4 month sleep regression??? Well, we experienced it. Pretty much like clock work at 4 months Henry forgot how to sleep through the night. Horrible timing with going back to work and all. On a good night he was waking up 3 times. On a bad night, between 5 and 6. It was so terrible! I was getting on average around 4 hours of sleep. It was so hard to function during the day. I had been so proud of myself for giving up caffeine for 4 months. That came to a screeching halt. I was back on the "sauce" hard core. Anyway, enough about me. I'm not sure if it had something to do with Henry's horrible napping at daycare or what, but his night sleep majorly went down the tubes. I can't share Henry's personal sleep plan because we paid a sleep consultant to design it specifically for him, but I will tell you it involves a strict nap and feeding schedule as well as a controlled crying it out method. I was totally against cry it out before, but when I started only getting 4 hours of sleep that all changed. I will share the controlled crying method because anyone can Google that. When we put Henry down for his nap, he must be awake and he must stay in his crib for an allotted time regardless if he is crying or not. Once he starts crying we start the timer for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes if he's still crying then we go into his room briefly and replace his lovey and pacifier and then walk out. We repeat this every 15 minutes until he is asleep. The idea is that Henry is learning to self soothe and not to rely on others to put him to sleep. We are also giving Henry the opportunity to sleep. He has to stay in his crib for the time designated for each nap. He has three per day. I highly highly recommend introducing at lovey at 4 months by the way. Henry uses his to fall asleep for naps and at night. The point of this post is to more or less share with you that I am an advocate of sleep training and controlled crying it out. It is NOT easy. I hate listening to my sweet baby boy scream, but Zac and I decided that we didn't want him to rely on us or anything else to get him to sleep (we had previously been feeding him until he fell asleep). Clearly that was not working. Additionally, we firmly believe that you can teach your children to be better sleepers. I hope this sets the framework for Henry to be a good sleeper as he gets older. No guarantees though. There are always going to be road blocks and every child is different. What works for one will not always work for another. We are still having some major struggles with naps, but his night time sleep as improved greatly. He is sleeping around 12 hours every night. We put him down between 6 and 6:30 and he sleeps until 6:30am! He usually wakes up once to eat, but that's all and he goes right back down. I can handle once. We are hoping for continued success. I'm not trying to push my opinion onto anyone either. I just hope that if other parents are having sleepless nights that they seek out help or read the different methods that are out there. Sleep is so important for both parents and baby!

Encrusted Salmon Fillets

Courtesy of HyVee Seasons Magazine

I'm on a mission to eat more seafood. I absolutely love it and don't eat enough. I'm not a big beef eater so I mainly nosh on chicken and pork. That's starting to get old. I guess cooking with seafood intimidates me and that's why I don't do it more. I've been searching for fast and easy recipes and I stumbled across this at the local HyVee. PS- I LOVE HyVee! I wish they had them in STL.
I think I'm going to shop there from now on while we're living here. The people are super friendly and the prices are decent. The Seasons Magazines are free at your local store, so I highly recommend picking one up.

4 (5 to 6 ounce) salmon fillets
2 T Dijon Mustard
Black Pepper
1/3 Finely Chopped Walnuts
1/3 Panko Bread Crumbs
3 T Chopped Dill
2 T Chopped Parsley
4 tsp olive oil
1/8 tsp salt
4 Lemon Wedges

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On a foil lined baking pan, place salmon, skin side down. Brush top of each fillet with 1/2 T mustard; sprinkle with black pepper.

In a small bowl, stir together walnuts, bread crumbs, dill, parsley, oil, and salt. Divide mixture between fillets and pat firmly onto top of salmon.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until crust begins to brown and fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve with lemon wedges.

Balance

Not one single update since Feb 9th! I am such a slacker. Well, not really, but things have been a bit crazy. There are so many things to say. Where do I begin....?
Long story short, 12 weeks of maternity leave, followed by 2 months of work, and now I'm back on maternity leave... permanently. What an emotional roller coaster. I was devastated when I had to return to work. Henry was 3 months old and I was terrified. It was a rough two or three weeks. I almost quit more than once, but I promised to give it one month. I'm glad I did because I realized that I did in fact want to be a working Mom. Henry transitioned nicely in daycare and I fell in love with his caregivers. I was finally comfortable. Finally some stability!!! Zac was set to be working on the new Shriner's hospital in STL for the next couple of years. One day he came home from work and told me that he no longer was going to be working on the hospital, but he was being sent to Osage Beach. What!? Where is that??? Lake of the Ozarks, he said. I freaked out. That was way too far. Turns out its only 2 hours from our driveway. Huge bonus, but still too far to commute. Separation with Henry is not an option. Not to mention the fact that we have been separated for almost our entire marriage. So I resigned from my job and we have officially relocated for 14-16 months. I honestly don't know how I feel about all of this. The word balance comes to mind. Although, I had decided I wanted to be a working Mom, I was not happy about the amount of time I was separated from Henry. I dropped him off at daycare at 6:30 AM and didn't pick him up until around 5PM. In short, it felt like his daycare caregivers were raising him. Even though I LOVED his daycare. It broke my heart. We only saw him for a little over an hour in the evening during the work week. That is just not ok. I realize that this is reality for so many families. Ideally, a part time job would bring the best of both worlds, but that is not always an option either. Child care, even part time is astronomical. I feel incredibly fortunate that Zac is able to financially support us so we can all be together. I am enjoying being home all day, but is has certainly been an adjustment. I just hope that I can provide Henry with exactly what he needs. I of course hope that my sanity stays in tact as well. I miss my friends so badly it hurts. I do feel a bit lonely here, but I know that its only temporary and this time with Henry is absolutely priceless. If we are going to be outside of STL for a year or so, this is certainly not a bad place to be. Here are a few pictures from our lake adventure thus far. We haven't had a chance to venture out much. We are in the middle of sleep training (will post about this later) and we're still adjusting. There's a lot to be done around the condo. We finally ordered couches. We are currently sitting on camping chairs. As we speak, I'm typing this post sitting on the floor, my computer is attached to the Ethernet cable. We forgot the wireless router. Ohhhh we forgot so much. Moving sucks, but I better get used to it I guess. I'm learning Zac's job equals travel. Sorry this was so long. Like I said, it has been a while. Hopefully now that I'm not working and will be getting more than 4-5 hours of sleep a night, I will have the energy once again to blog. Please read so I'm not doing this for nothing. Ha!

We're Officially Parents

Wow! It has been a while since I have looked or even thought about looking at my blog. One of the reasons I started this blog was mainly because I wanted to share our lives with family and friends and post stuff about food. I love food. Well, now I think I have something that I love more than food... Henry. Yes, he finally came! 1 week late on January 2nd. When he gets older we may have to raz him a bit on how we missed out on the 2012 tax deduction. Oh well ;)
Many of you know my birth story, so I will spare the specifics, but I had to be induced because little Henry was apparently too comfortable hibernating in my belly. I was three centimeters when they started the pitocin at noon. By 9:30 PM I was 9, almost 10 and it was time to push!
Well, that was an experience. Thank goodness for drugs. I pushed the "button" multiple times. I loved my epidural. LOVED it. I have nothing to prove. I'm still a tough mama even though I didn't do it all natural.
I pushed for over an hour when Henry's heart rate started to drop. Additionally, he was face up instead of face down. Way to go Henry... ; ) My doc decided that we needed to do a c-section. I was now living my worst nightmare. I have never been in the hospital let alone had surgery...EVER.
I was TERRIFIED. Luckily, I have the most amazing doctor in the entire world. I began the journey to the OR with some serious tears and arrived with dry eyes and an attitude that I could do this.
God, she is a blessing. Zac was nothing short of amazing. He kept telling me I was strong and that I could do it. He was right. I could do it. They cut me at 11:25 and Henry was out by 11:28. The cord was wrapped around his neck, so either way I would have ended up having a c-section. My doctor spared me MULTIPLE hours of pushing with no result and I appreciate that. A lot of people have been telling me that I need to mourn the loss of my "ideal birth" There's no such thing. The ideal birth is our son entering the world 100% healthy. End of story. And really...I was able to experience both. I pushed for a while before they told me to stop. The ONLY thing that makes me sad to this day is that I was not able to see him for around 30 minutes after he came out. That felt like an eternity. I did get to hold him while they were wheeling me into recovery. He hasn't left my side since.

 

So cute, even fresh out of the womb.

 

 

Wow, I look stunning... hehe and look at him sucking on his hand. He was ready to eat the second he came out! What a chunker.

 

 

After the 5 days in the hospital, we ventured home. Some days I miss the hospital. They took such good care of us and Henry. It was "easy" in the hospital, with the exception of the pain from recovering. I cried everyday the first few weeks. Probably more than Henry. No one can truly prepare you for how hard it is to take care of a newborn baby. They do not come with instruction manuals. I wish they did... luckily my mom was here for a week taking care of me and helping Zac and I with Henry. Kris (my mother in law) came the following week and helped as well. We were incredibly lucky. Zac was able to stay home with us for 4 weeks! I'm not going to lie...that spoiled me. The first week he went back to work was rough. I didn't like taking care of Henry by myself, but now I have started to adjust. I feel like it took a solid 5 weeks for me to feel more comfortable and actually feel like I am getting the hang of this parenting thing. I'm gaining more and more confidence everyday and I think that helps so much. Henry and I go back to the hospital twice a week and attend mommy group as well as a breast feeding support group. That has helped a lot too. He LOVES going to class and I have been able to receive a ton of support and knowledge from these groups.

That's another thing. NO ONE prepares you for how difficult breast feeding is. I wanted to quit everyday for several weeks. Now, I feel like I have settled into my role as the milk cow.

Right now our issue is the bottle. He won't take it. Why would he?!? The boob is the best. One of the reasons breastfeeding, well feeding in general has been so stressful is reflux. Henry has severe refulx, but we started him on Zantac and he is a completely different baby. If you suspect your baby has refulx, make sure you let your doctor know and if they say no, to the medicine. Fight for it. Its totally worth it. He went from screaming in pain every single day to being happy. It hurt my heart everyday to see him in so much pain. On a happier note...Henry is sleeping wonderfully at night and has since day one. He gets up once usually between 2 and 3AM and then sleeps again until around 6 or 7. We are really really blessed on that end of the spectrum. I can't imagine what it would be like to be really sleep deprived like most parents. Don't get me wrong, we are tired, but we fully recognize that we could have it much much worse.

Henry fights naps a bit during the day, but I'm usually able to get two solid two or 3 hour naps out of him. One in the morning and one in the late afternoon. I have been using Baby Lite. A wonderful app on the iPad that helps me coordinate his eat, sleep, poop schedule. Many people told me not to put a newborn on a schedule. Umm yeah, sorry. These people don't know me. I need schedules. I need structure and I totally believe that Henry does too. Children, even babies like and and need structure. In my opinion, it helps them feel more secure. Being adaptable is important too, and I fully recognize that, so I need to work on deviating from the schedule once and a while without freaking out.

I plan to post a TON so family and friends from afar can catch up with Henry's happenings, but as you other parents know. It can be next to impossible to get anything done. I promise to do my best. 

I'm going to enjoy the next half hour or so while Henry is napping just doing nothing. I forgot how enjoyable it can be to just do nothing.

 

PS: Henry is 5 weeks old today. He will be six on Wednesday of next week and is currently 11 lbs. He's in the 75th percentile for height and weight.  He's going to be huge :)

 

I snapped this picture when he turned one month and plan to use the calendar each month. I think its a cute idea (thank you Pinterest) It might be harder once he is mobile. Hmm... didn't think that one through too well. Hopefully I will be able to get him to stay on the calendar. I'm sure we can figure something out.

 



Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Thank you Pinterest and Bakerella!!! Whoa baby, this pie is amazing. Super easy and it made for a great dessert tonight. Hopefully I can just force Henry out with food.

This recipe is courtesy of Bakerella.

Ingredients:
1 unbaked 9 inch deep dish pie shell ( I used Schnucks brand) located in the freeze isle
2 large eggs
1/2 C flour
1/2 C granulated sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
3/4 C softened butter
1 C semi sweet chocolate chips
1 C chopped pecans

Directions:
Thaw pie crust and poke holes with a fork into the crust so it doesn't bubble up while baking
Preheat oven to 325
Beat eggs in a the mixer until foamy
Beat in flour, sugar, and brown sugar
Beat in butter
Stir in chocolate and pecans
Pour mixture into pie shell
Bake for 55-60 minutes
If you notice the top getting dark, cover with foil and resume baking
Cool on a wire rack, but serve warm with a scoop of ice cream

YUM YUM YUM!!!!