6 months..and favorites

Can you believe it! Six months already. Half a year.

It's been amazing, and it goes so fast. As we age as adults, our lives speed up, but its hard to quantify until you have a child, and you literally watch them age before your eyes. I'm trying to enjoy every second I can with my little dumpling before she becomes too independent for her mama.

Milestones:
*Rolling all around the room to get a toy/mom/dog/cat that she wants to play with.
*Sitting up unassisted
*Pushing up on front arms, and scooting backwards. {Arms are ready to crawl, knees havent figured it out yet}!

It's amazing the amount of pride you can feel when your little baby does new "tricks"!

Here are the things we couldn't have lived without up to 6 months:

1. Vulli Sophie the Giraffe teether. We've had this teether since day one, and cute as it is, she didn't care one bit about it. Until now! She loves to bite Sophies head and "give her kisses" on her nose and whack the giraffe against the floor to hear it squeak. Adorableness.

2. Bounce Baby Activity Center. We keep this near our kitchen so when I'm cooking I can plop her in it, talk to her, and keep her away from cooking splatters. So far she is excited to stand in it and bite everything on it, the monkey, the lion and the leaf are her favs.

3. Boon Squirt Spoon.  Awesome travel spoon for a baby who is eating solids! You put the baby food in the handle and squirt it into the spoon. We were using this one morning out at breakfast and a man at another table commented how genius it was. 

4. Jeep Umbrella Stroller.  Little miss chunky is getting too heavy to be in the sling all the time. I snagged this jeep umbrella stroller at my favorite consignment store in N.Raleigh, Uptown Kids, for $15 and its perfect. Lightweight, folds easily, and is normal 5'6" person height (another one I bought must have been for short people), and Lucy loves to look out at the world in it.

5. Ocean Wonders Seahorse Rattle.  This little thing is one of her favorites. She shakes it around like a little tambourine and gives the seahorse kisses. Its precious, really.

6. Jenny Jump Up. She has recently started getting bored with rolling around on the floor all the time and likes the change of scenery of standing, so we put her in the Jenny Jump up, and while she doesn't quite jump yet, she does twirl and look around and is usually all smiles while shes in it.

6 month bloopers reel {because shes adorable even when shes coughing or throwing a temper tantrum}:

kale salad with chili lime vinaigrette.

Yep. 

I'm cooking taking pictures of my food again.  After having lunch at this amazing little cafe and shop in Raleigh called Zest Cafe, and trying their "eat more kale" salad, I was determined to recreate it. 

And do exactly as it said, eat more kale. Like, every day if possible. 

This salad is amazing. And I can say that because I didn't make it up. Make it. Eat it. Love it.

Kale Salad with Chili Lime Vinaigrette

2 cups kale, chopped

1 tsp salt

1 cup spring mix

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 avocado, sliced into cubes

1 orange, peeled and cut into segments

1/4 cup rasins

for the vinaigrette:

1 tsp sesame hot chili oil 

1 tsp ancho chili powder

juice of 1/2 lime

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp dijon mustard

Put kale in large bowl, pour 1 tsp salt over kale and massage with clean hands for 1-2 minutes until kale reduces in size and is more tender. Add spring mix, cheese, avocado, orange and rasins. Add vinaigrette and enjoy!

march ten on ten

Happy March 10th!

Linking over to a bit of sunshine to share ten beautiful pictures found in the ordinary moments of the day.

running late to church bc daylight savings is confusing... 

worship

signs of spring... and weeds.

trying to cheer up a crankpot (ain't nobody got time for naps).

Hanging with Glamma

Baby shower planning/eating/prosecco-ing. 

{Don't be fooled by that napping baby. It was a 45 second long nap.}

Raising the roof for some milk with nana and papa.

Too big?

Bathtime with cousin.

Getting cozy for the night.

easter mantle

I'm super excited about Easter this year! Even though Lucy doesn't really know that she gets an Easter basket full of goodies in a couple of weeks, she will.

And I have a feeling she will love her goodies. (Mostly because she's already started playing with them.)

I'll share more on her Easter basket later.

In the meantime, let's decorate.

egg garland: Target

And here's an early easter gift for you! A free Easter printable:

making baby food: fruit

Remember when this was a cooking blog?

I had all these yummy recipes I was making and taking pictures of and talking about.

Well, in the words of Sweet Brown, "Ain't nobody got time for that." {Please watch Sweet Brown's video-you must. You must.}.

Now that Lucy is here, dinner time is crazy...Between cooking, and checking on baby, and "Hi, honey how was your day?" with my husband, and trying to eat, while trying to convince someone that she can wait 30 more minutes to go to bed so we don't wake up at 5 in the morning, there is no time for leisurely cooking and taking pictures, and maybe not even blogging about it.

But we'll get there my friends, one day again.

In the meantime, I can show you an easy-peasy recipe for pureed baby fruit. This would be good for apples or pears.

Step 1: Cut apple into cubes of even size.

Step 2: Put apples into a saucepan with about 3/4 cup water. Bring to a boil, cover pan, then reduce to simmer. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until apples are fork tender. Take off heat and leave pan covered for 5 minutes to cool apples. (If you leave the cover on the pot, the water is less likely to evaporate so you can use it for pureeing.)

Step 3: Using a food processor, puree apples with some of cooking water until you get to desired consistency. 

I then store the applesauce in these super cute Baby Magic Bullet containers or put in ice cube trays to freeze and store in Ziploc bags. I've found that 1 apple makes 2-2oz. containers of baby food.

Happy baby food making!

stork stack:march.

My March stork stack arrived! March is my third and final stork stack from the gift I received for Christmas and I'm sad to see it go.

This is such a sweet and thoughtful gift to give to a mom. Thanks again Jamie!

wimmer-ferguson soothing silicone teether: This could honestly not have come at a better time. We think Lucy is working on her two front teeth and she loves to pick up this teether while she is playing on the floor and drool all over it and bite it. She also likes to stare at the rainbow of colors. This has been her favorite teether of all we own!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? One of my all-time favorite children's books.  I had actually been reciting parts of this book from memory to Lucy when playing and telling myself "I need to get that book." Stork Stack did it for me! Lucy loves all of the colorful animals in the book. We say "mommy mommy what do you see-I see a Lucy staring at me" and add our own ending to the book.

Weleda Baby Calendula Diaper Care: We currently use Destin brand, but are always open to trying new diaper creams! We haven't busted this one open yet-but it has great reviews on amazon.

Simple Squares Nut&Honey Confection: These are little granola-like protein bars. I'm not a huge coconut fan unless its unsweetened-and these are pretty yummy! Lots of protein and fiber-a good snack for mom.

weecantoo baby finger paint: I am the most excited about this edible finger paint! It's made from real pumpkin and if baby decides to put her hand {or hands} in her mouth {which is Lucy's new favorite game} while painting, its completely safe. We can't wait to try this one out!

five months.

Oh time, how you have gotten away from me! How in the world do I have a 5 month old?

I was thinking about doing the normal monthly favorites like I did for one, two, three, and four, but the only new things we have used are baby food! And we have had so much fun with it.

I even started making our own food. It's a lot easier than it sounds.

I'll fill you in on the details later.

So far, my hungry little hippo likes everything. {Except her first bite of peaches. Please don't be fooled by the face below, she wolfed them down afterwards.}

So far we've successfully tried:
Oatmeal
Green beans
Sweet Potatoes
Bananas
Peaches
Carrots
Applesauce
Pears
Avocado
Peas

Phew. I keep waiting for her to dislike something I give her, but if its food, and you are scooping it in her mouth, she gobbles it up.

She is kinda over oatmeal though.

I don't blame her. Its flavorless, and has no color to stain her bib, her bumbo, her highchair, or her mom with. Who needs it?

Happy 5 months little darling!