encouraging independence

Sometimes it's hard to encourage independence in little ones. I can't remember when I handed over the spoon at mealtime with Malakai for the first time, but last week I decided to give it a go with Desmond. It was some sort of fluke, he was a total natural and didn't make much of a mess. So daily I'll let him feed himself his yogurt, applesauce, etc. and he's done pretty good. It has gotten messy but yesterday morning took the cake.

His cereal was everywhere. I tried to take the spoon at one point when I realized he wasn't eating so much as playing and the kiddo swung it so hard and fast that the food starting flying all over the place. I felt like I was in some sort of cheesy sitcom, it was so dramatic. Des even growled...which is actually really normal for him. 

Anyway, I finally got the spoon back and I think I got all the food off the walls. Unfortunately he was so wild in the bath last night that I didn't end up washing his hair. Worse things have happened. 

Desmond: 6 months.

Yep, it's been another month and suddenly Desmond is 1/2 a year old (as of April 10th) and yes...I'm thinking about his 1st birthday celebration already. It'll be here so fast I have to at least have it on my mind and on my pin boards now!

At 6 months Desmond is super active. He is sleeping much less during the day which is a lot of fun for both myself and Malakai. He absolutely loves his big brother. My favorite part of the day is after Kai has been up a while and Des wakes, I'll bring him in and it's like they are reuniting after being apart for days. Kai says "Desmond! He's awake, I wanna see 'im!" Then comes right up to his face and says hi. Des lights up, giggles and wiggles his whole body with excitement. Every.single.morning.

{these look posed, but Kai totally just came up and did this on his own}

Des has been a drooling machine for the past couple of months, teething like crazy but nothing has popped through yet. He loves to blow raspberries and is babbling more and more every day. Lately he has been kind of growling/shouting and it sounds like he's angry but he'll be grinning and laughing all the while. We call it "testing his voice". Kai used to do something similar but he did high pitched squeals.

We just had Desmond's 6 month well-check this morning. According to Dr. B he's perfect...confirming what we already thought. He's 27 inches long (tall) which puts him in the 75th %, 22lbs 1oz. which is off the charts as he has been since about 2 days old. His head is 18 1/4 inches, big ol' noggin just like his brother.

At just 6 months he's growing out of 9 month clothes and fitting Kai's hand-me-down 12 month clothing which just boggles my mind. For those of you who don't know, Ben's younger brother is actually quite a bit bigger than him (Ben is 6 ft. tall and David is 6' 5") so we often wonder if Des and Kai will be the same in that regard.

At the end of March he started pushing up on to his hands and knees and sometimes onto his toes, lifting his whole body off the ground! He is one strong little man! Then he started trying to crawl towards toys but ends up scooting backward which really frustrates him. Late last week he actually crawled a tiny bit forward on his knees for Grandma Debbie + I! It was so exciting, but whoah it seems too early to already have a mobile baby.

He is also sitting upright really well, but I always put a boppy or other pillows around him because he'll randomly get excited and fling himself backward. He almost instantly figured out how to move from sitting to a crawling position on his tummy without any issues.

Unfortunately he has started crying more. He never really cried when he was upset, just got a bit fussy. He's been a good sleeper since he got over his first bout of colick around 1 month old. BUT once he started learning so many new things he started to wake more and get more crabby. The other night he woke up at 4am and wouldn't go back to sleep, which was a first. Big bro has always been our difficult one when it comes to sleeping, I'm hoping Desmond doesn't follow in those footsteps! Last night he did sleep unswaddled all night, but he was nursing pretty frequently and ended up staying in bed with us from 4am-7am. After chatting with Dr. B we'll be trying some no-cry solutions to get him sleeping longer and more independently.

We started him on "solids" over Easter weekend, just doing some baby oatmeal cereal and breastmilk once a day. We'll ease him into my homemade veggie and fruit purees soon and more frequent solid feedings by 9 months per his Dr's recommendation.

About once every week or two he had a couple of days of almost constant spitting up, but it never bothers him. When I mentioned this to Dr. B she laughed and said that "happy spitter" is a actual medical term, we all laughed. It was good to know that it's common enough to have a term and that it's not something to worry about.

Des is still quick to smile and easy to get laughing. He is so friendly and snuggly. He was smiling and babbling to the Dr and nurses during the whole visit. After his vaccines he quit crying as soon as I picked him up and nursed to sleep. He only recently is able to stay asleep during transitions from car seat or mama's arms to his crib, which has been really nice.

Overall he is a happy healthy big baby boy and we are enjoying the journey of watching him grow, both in body and in skills and personality.

29th

My golden birthday was the 29th of December and I've finally found some time to sit down and tell you  all about it!

On the 28th as we were going to bed I started to feel achey and had a bad case of the chills. I had a slight fever of 99.1 and felt pretty awful. I haven't had a fever for over 6 years! At 2am Malakai woke up with teething pain (no fever, thank goodness!) and my fever had jumped to 100.1 and Ben was at 99.5 degrees. I was sure we'd have to cancel all our plans for the next couple of days. We woke up late feeling achey but our fevers were gone and never came back.

Ben made us pancakes for my birthday breakfast. While he was cooking I decided to check my email and saw a tweet he had just sent linking to his blog. He had written this story for my birthday. It was very sweet and of course I teared up while reading it. Then he handed me our notebook that we write letters in back + forth (something we started while we were dating back in 2006!) he had written me a note for my birthday. I noticed that some of the letters were darker than others. He had hidden a message in it!

I figured it out quickly and the message revealed what our plans were for the afternoon. He was taking me to La Perla, a pizzeria we had always wanted to go to. It's run by the same owners of one of our favorite restaurants, Bepe & Gianni's. We got a bit of a late start, but at 1:30pm Ben's parents came to hang out while Malakai napped so we could go out.

We had a wonderful relaxed lunch. It was nice to get out just the two of us (it had been a while) and the food was awesome!

As we got in the car Ben told me to check my jacket pocket. In it was this clue...

and before I knew it we were off on a scavenger hunt! We went to the chapel at our alma mater where we first met. 

From there the next clue took us to Autzen Stadium, where we had gone to a football game on the day we found out we were expecting Malakai. 

Next was our first apartment together, which was my apartment that we lived in for a few short weeks before moving into a house.

 After that the clues took us to the starbucks drive thru where I had to use the internet to find out next clue, which took us back home.

All along the way the clues told me about my birthday gifts. One was an itunes download of my choice, another was some downtime while Ben de-clutters the house, and another Starbucks drink. The last gift was in our trunk and it was Chalk Ink markers for my chalkboard!

The whole day was very unexpected. I felt so special and was really proud of Ben for keeping it all from me for so long!

a first: turkey applesauce meatloaf

A couple of weeks ago, in an effort to find protein rich finger foods for Malakai I decided to attempt meatloaf. He had eaten meatloaf at his Grandma's before, so I though I'd attempt something of my own.

I adapted this recipe from one I found at Wholesome Baby Food, a GREAT resource for homemade baby + toddler foods. I always go back there when I need new ideas.

I adapted the recipe to use ingredients I had in my house.

Here's what I used:

1 lb. ground turkey
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 cup wheat germ
dash of dried basil
1 egg

I didn't actually have any breadcrumbs, so I toasted some bread + crumbled it up. Then I mixed everything together in a bowl and added it to a greased (olive oil spray) loaf pan.

Then I put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

I must confess that my first try was a bit interesting. I don't have a meat thermometer, so I cut into the meatloaf to make sure there was no pink before pulling it out of the oven. I also used more applesauce + forgot the wheat germ so it was a bit too juicy.

If you or your little one prefer more spice try adding salt + pepper or whatever your favorite spices are as this recipe is very mild, bordering on bland for the adult palette. Malakai enjoyed it, with some ketchup at first, but then he ate it alone. He needs ketchup every once in a while to coax him to try something new or just to eat in general.

How do you get your toddler to eat new foods?

nummies

I'm continuing to introduce Malakai to new foods. Sometimes it's not the type of food that is necessarily new, but the way it's served. Last night we had baked chicken breast, peas + carrots.

I put boneless, skinless chicken breast straight from the freezer onto individual sheets of tin foil. I hate thawing meat so being able to take it straight from the freezer works really well for me. I sprinkle whatever spices I choose that evening {last night was Italian seasoning + garlic salt} and fold the tin foil into pouches. I place the little pouches onto a cookie sheet and toss in the oven. Preheated to 425 degrees + bake for 45-60 minutes. I looove cooking chicken this way, not only because it's easy, but because it stays moist and very flavorful.

I also decided to toss some carrots into a pouch to bake with a small frozen half-baked potato from the freezer for Malakai + I. Ben doesn't like cooked carrots. Once there were about 10 minutes left on the chicken I steamed some frozen peas.

I took the potato + mashed it with some milk. It was soft, but way too dry on it's own. I even added a little of the Italian seasoning on Kai's chicken + potatoes as we slowly have him trying new flavors on familiar foods.

I had also planned on cooking brown rice, but got distracted playing with Malakai. I remembered the rice once everything else was ready to serve. Instead I hurriedly prepped some minute-rice for Ben + I which worked out fine, just not so healthy.

Anyway, this was Malakai's first time eating whole peas. I also mashed some up in case he didn't do so well with the consistency. He not only did great at chewing them up, but he loved them! Strangely though, he wasn't very fond of the potato, even though he's had it and loved it in the past.

My very favorite thing about meal times with Malakai is his new ability to interact. He has gestured + grunted when he wants something for a while now. We call food "nummies" and he now says "a num" or "mun-mun" when he wants more. 

We also had Malakai drink his milk from a regular cup, with Ben's guidance. He got a little over excited and put his hands into the cup. Milk spilled everywhere so Ben took him to the bath while I cleaned up the mess. Thankfully we had all finished eating. 

cooking for three

We started Malakai on table foods almost as soon as he turned one. We're definitely easing him into things to make sure he doesn't have an allergic reaction as well as holding off on too much sugar or spice. Cooking essentially the same thing for all three of us has made life just a tad bit simpler. It's especially nice in the hot month of August to not cook two meals or spend a day in the kitchen making baby food to freeze. I'm using what we have in the freezer and come fall I'll make some steamed veggies + other things that I don't want to have to cook new every evening.

Recently I baked some carrots + potatoes I bought at the local Farmer's Market. For the carrots I just went with a recipe I had for sweet potato fries. They were so easy, all I did was wash them, roll them in some olive oil and put them in a little tin foil pouch! Baked at 350 degrees for about 30-45 minutes.

They turned out pretty good, but the skin was a little...stringy. So I would surely peel them next time. Maybe that's a no-brainer but I wanted to see if I could skip that step. Luckily they turned out so soft and yummy that the it could easily be peeled off by hand.

I tried something out with the potatoes too. I put all but one in the pouch to see if they would cook differently. The one outside the tinfoil cooked better.

I didn't peel these either, just stabbed them through with a fork a few times. I cooked them all together. I'm obviously not a very seasoned cook. Once again, I tried to skip some steps since the carrots obviously cooked faster than the potato. The carrots turned out perfect but the potato was a bit undercooked.

This actually worked out really well for me though, as I planned to use some potato that night and then freeze the rest. I just cut up one potato, added some water and nuked it for about a minute to mash it to the desired softness for Malakai. Since then I've used the frozen ones too and they cook through just fine when thawing. Again, the skin peeled off easily, but I'll probably peel before baking next time around.

Ben, Malakai + I all had baked potato for dinner that evening. I'm now continually on the look out for easy dinners that will satisfy all three of us. Any recommendations?

naturally

When I was younger I never related much to environmental causes. I didn't see the sense in going out of my way to buy natural products or organic foods. I didn't think one person could make much of a difference. The only thing I really did do was recycle, in Eugene Oregon just about everyone does. It's actually weird not to recycle here.

Now it's much more convenient to buy natural products from cleaning to cosmetics. Organic produce is in almost every grocery store and Farmer's Markets and other local meat + produce merchants are easier to find.

Information about what pesticides + chemicals do to your system and what products contain them is more prevalent as well. We now know more about how these things do more harm than good. Unfortunately, harmful chemicals are used more than they were. My grandma made the observation the other day that foods in the grocery store are more widely imported from other countries than when she was raising kids.

However, for me, starting to live a little bit more healthfully + naturally wasn't inspired by availability, popularity, or even ease of use {although those things help!} but by wanting what's best for my son. Informing myself by doing research online and talking with other parents has really inspired me to take the extra step. This is why I chose to breastfeed, make Malakai's baby food, buy organic, use natural cleaning products.

I had a conversation with my cousin over email not too long ago {she's expecting her 1st baby in February} and she made a funny statement about becoming a "hippie mom". The choices we are making to lead more natural lives surely would have landed us in that category 10, even 5 years ago, but now it's becoming part of popular culture.

More people are choosing to save some money, live healthier, and feel better. Companies are using the trend to sell their products by using hot button words like green, natural, organic + eco-friendly. While this is a great trend to be taking place, consumers still need to be mindful of what they are purchasing. For example, with foods, things can be labeled as "Certified" or even "USDA Organic" but still contain traces of hormones, antibiotics, + pesticides. Had I not done my research + had the necessary conversations with others who had done theirs, I would have just assumed that if it said "USDA Organic" that it would be free + clear of anything unnatural.

In my effort to change things for my son, I've also started to introduce more organic products for myself + my husband. We started using vinegar, baking soda + even vodka as natural ways to keep our home clean. More recently we've been using Seventh Generation products. In my quest to use better products in our home, I've found that natural ones don't always work better. I've also discovered that in some instances I'd rather just use the cheap generic system because the benefit can outweigh the risk.

Recently I've wanted to try cloth diapering. I'm still working on getting Ben on board. After advice from readers + some twitter friends, the only thing that got him to say "yes" is if we got some products for free. Needless to say I have been entering giveaways like crazy! The more I read up on all it takes to cloth diaper {the initial expense of purchasing enough diapers, inserts, etc., plus laundering, special detergents, a diaper sprayer, wet bags, + more} I'm not sure if it will save us money, even in the long run. We buy Up + Up diapers for the daytime and use Amazon's subscribe + save to get a discount on pampers for overnight. This only puts us at spending about $350/ year on disposable diapers. If we switched to cloth I'd want to try a couple different kinds, plus the expense of a whole set once we chose our favorite would easily be $400 alone {I'm basing this off of an assumption that we'd go with some nicer AIO's} and that's not including all the extras I mentioned! I also know that babies are prone to a diaper rash at the onset and I don't know if I want to put my son through that discomfort.

So, while we're moving towards "greener" living, I just don't know if cloth diapering is going to be in our near future. However, I can totally be convinced otherwise if you give me some counterpoints {or some free diapers!}.

first summer days

Of course I avoided all the sickness our household went through just to get something else during the first weekend of real summer weather. It has been in the 80's here, sunny and beautiful and perfect for a day by the pool or a stroll through the neighborhood in the evening.

Despite being sick, I did both of those things. I know I'm bad and it probably didn't help to subject myself to the Willamette Valley's infamous pollens, but I couldn't help myself. This weather could turn at any moment and we could have cloudy rainy days for the next 3 weeks. {no, that is not an exaggeration}

On Friday Ben came home from work early as he already had enough hours and some over time and I was struggling with my cold. I sounded (still do) like a frog man. So he brought me some decongestants and some propel and I vegged-out on the couch while he took over the care of the house and little mister.

When Malakai woke up from his nap we decided to take him to the park down the street. We lounged on our picnic quilt in the shade and Malakai got to swing, one of his favorite past times.

Ben and I love going on walks. When we were dating we used to stroll through the neighborhoods behind his apartment complex and daydream about what our house would be like some day. After enjoying the park we took the scenic route home and explored parts of the nearby neighborhoods we hadn't yet discovered. Malakai fell asleep in the stroller while Ben and I talked about the houses and yards that we liked or what we would do differently if they were ours. The conversations are similar, but mean something different now that we have our own place.

Saturday we slept in {after a rough night up with Malakai, something about the weekends...} and I once again took it easy as the nights and mornings seem to be when I feel the worst. We went to my in-laws for a belated Father's Day lunch. Malakai got more adventurous in the grass than he'd ever been before.

Sunday we went to church and after Malakai's nap we headed out to my parents' place to visit and take advantage of their pool while it was still hot outside. Malakai went on a floatie {isn't that what everyone calls them?} for the first time and really enjoyed himself overall. I think his swim lessons may really be helping him get used to being in a pool, yay!

That evening my mom made spaghetti so we let Malakai dig in. Another first for him. It was a lot of fun to see him eat and get so messy. He LOVED the sauce, he kept sucking it off of his fingers.

It was a wonderful weekend and although I'm still pretty sick, I'm glad I took advantage of the great weather instead of staying indoors.

Today I'm sitting out for swim and taking pictures of Ben + Malakai in the pool.

Keep checking back this week for a featured retailer and giveaway that I'm sure you'll just LOVE!

EcoMom Baby Food WINNER!

Thank you all who participated in the EcoMom Giveaway. I was actually surprised at how few comments there were {only 40} compared to my first giveaway back in January {101 comments} but fewer comments means better odds for those who entered!

The winner of $20 towards Plum Organics or Revolution Foods baby food products from EcoMom is...

Genelle!

I'll be sending you an email, please respond within 48 hours to claim your prize. {If the winner does not respond in the allotted time I will pick an alternate}. 

If you didn't win, you can still take advantage of the exclusive discount EcoMom is offering to my readers. Get 15% off of your first order from EcoMom by using this code SBBL326. I'd also appreciate if you punched in my referral code while you're at it: SB003930.

Thanks to all who entered and thanks to EcoMom for the great opportunity to share their great products with you!  

EcoMom Review + Giveaway

{GIVEAWAY is now CLOSED. But the 15% off code is good thru June 30th!}


It has been quite a while since my last giveaway. I love saying thank you to my readers by offering the occasional giveaway and am happy to offer you $20 towards Organic babyfood from 

I had noticed EcoMom on some of the other blogs I frequent and even entered a handful of giveaways just like this one {and I actually won!}.

Recently we received Plum Organics baby food to sample. They come in adorable and really handy little packages.

We tried their purees: 

spinach, peas & pear

pumpkin & banana

sweet potato, corn & apples,

+ pear & mango

Malakai is a pretty easy going baby when it comes to food {so far} and really enjoyed all of them. This was Malakai's first taste of non-homemade baby food so I just gave him half to start with, which was about 2 ounces. Everything is obviously organic, but I also love that there are no fillers. The ingredients are the same as what the front of the packaging states the food is made of and that is important to me. I get so sick of reading ingredients and trying to figure out just what I'm giving my child. 

{spinach, peas & pear}

{After enjoying his first bite}

I tried them as well {as I do with all of Kai's foods} and my only disappointment is that all these foods are quite sweet. I think the spinach, peas & pear combo is great and probably works really well for babies who refuse bitter flavors, but I want to make sure that Malakai gets a taste for veggies on their own. They make "just fruit" purees and I think they should try to make "just veggies" next. 

We also received a box of Plum Organics Fiddlesticks

They are explicitly labeled as being for 12 months and up only but when I read the ingredients I didn't see anything that would pose a problem if he just tried a little. I tried them first of course, mostly to test the consistency as Kai has had trouble chewing other finger foods of this type. They are crumbly {and a bit bland} so I wasn't worried about him choking. He had fun eating them, but we'll probably save the rest for when he's a bit older.

I'm really looking forward to trying out the rest of their foods. EcoMom also has other products for babies, toddlers, older kids and of course moms. Plum Organics and Revolution Foods have products like high chairs, lunch boxes, and this special spoon made by Boon for the Plum Organics puree pouches  that I recently ordered. 

I may even take advantage of the EcoPass program. For just $99/year you receive 15% off of all your orders and free shipping on every order, no matter how much you spend!

As a special offer to my readers, EcoMom is offering a discount code for 15% off of your first order. Just enter SBBL326 at checkout. Good thru June 30th, 2010. {edit: Also, please be a love and enter in my referral code: SB003930.}

Now, to enter the GIVEAWAY...here are the details:

Win $20 worth of baby food from EcoMom!

For your first (and mandatory) entry check out Eco-Friendly Baby Products- EcoMom and leave a comment telling me what you'd order if you win! 

For additional entries (leave 1 comment for each fulfilled):

• Follow EcoMom  and me on twitter and tweet the following:"win Organic babyfood from @ShanLeAnn + @EcoMomCEO at http://bit.ly/abs2pY"  Please be sure to leave a comment that includes a link to your tweet. This can only be done once. 
• Become a fan of EcoMom on Facebook
• Join EcoMom's newsletter

Any comments that do not fulfill the details for each entry will be deleted without notification to the entrant. So please be sure to follow the instructions closely! Also, if you are not signed in to a google account with an email attached, please leave an email in your comment so I can notify you.

I'd also like to encourage you to take a look around and follow my blog if you're interested, but it's not necessary for the giveaway.

Giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. & Canada. Comments will be closed at 5pm (PST) on Tuesday June 8th and a winner will be chosen via random.org and announced on Wednesday June 9th. 

Disclaimer: While I did receive products from EcoMom for the purpose of Review I was not compensated for this or any review and the opinions stated here are solely my own. For additional details see disclosures.

As always, please feel free to contact me by email if you have any questions or concerns by click on the "Email me"button to the left.