My Secret Remedy

In our journey through introducing solid foods, we have come into a little bump in the road. One that is common, but not one that everyone wants to talk about. Constipation. I have been giving Carson his sippy cup with water during every lunch time meal to make sure he washes it all down good, and he gets plenty of fluids from breastfeeding all day. However we still were not able to escape this inevitability. 

Carson did not poop for over 5 days!! Day 6 I was in a panic searching all over the internet trying to find a good remedy, without having to give him any sort of laxatives. We had already tried apple juice the day before, and it seemed like everything else was saying just feed him fruit (pears or peaches) which is what I had been doing anyway!!! No help there. Then I started reading a post on a website just for parents to ask questions and get advice. As I read through the comments, I wasnt impressed with what I saw until one of them. A lady responded saying that a while ago a nurse had told her an old secret that no one really likes to use because its bad for teeth and was just kind of forgotten about. BUT she said it was a guarantee success. Those were the words I needed to hear!!

Brown sugar & water!!! 

Just sugar water? YES!! I swear by this remedy!! And as far as being bad for teeth, I do not mind going to clean gums or brush teeth right after use if it can help my baby get over this misery!! Poor guy just cried and cried, so I got right to mixing up a bottle!:)

50mL of Water

1/4 teaspoon Brown Sugar

Heat it up and serve!!

The VERY next day, Carson went!! YAAY!! He was happy the rest of the day!! I have used this twice now and each time, just wait overnight and it clears the system!! Good 'ol sugar water :)

Meatball Bubble Biscuits

I had never been a fan of cooking...maybe because I was just terrible at it! Only less than 4 years ago, my specialty was a box of Kraft Mac'NCheese. Sad I know! Over the past few years however I have been steadily working on my kitchen skills, and am actually learning to even like this room of the house! Hahaha! I have tons of cooking books that I began to wipe the dust off of and actually read through. Then I found PINTEREST, and oh boy...:) Now that I am a stay-at-home momma, I have been more determined than ever to be the mom/wife who everyone talks about. I want people to be jealous of what my hubby gets to come home to! I want all of Carson's friends to love coming to our house because of whats in the oven! Sounds goofy I know! Now i am no where near what alot of people can do in the kitchen but I am just a beginner...I will have a massive cookbook of my own to pass down the family in no time!!

I will start with what we had for dinner last! Meatball Bubble Biscuits! These have definitely made it to the top of my favorite things to make and eat list!! And super quick and easy for those nights that i just havent found the time!

Meatball Bubble Biscuits

You will need:

1 can Pillsbury golden layers biscuits - each pulled into 2 layers

10 frozen fully cooked Italian style meatballs - thawed and cut in half

2 sticks string cheese - cut each into 10 pieces 

1 T. parm cheese

1/2 t. Italian seasoning

1/4 t. garlic powder

Heat oven to 375.

Separate biscuits into 2 layers. Place 1 meatball half and one piece of cheese into each biscuit, wrap dough around it and seal edges.

Place seam side down into 9 inch round cake pan. 

Sprinkle with parm cheese, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning.

Bake 18-20 min or until golden brown.

Serve with marinara sauce, or like I did, along with spaghetti and veges!!

This recipe is D E L I C I O U S!!!

Anniversary Lovin'

My most recent little project was for my hubby for our 2 year anniversary...Cant believe its been only 2 years! We have created the most amazing beautiful family! I love him so much for all he does! If I had the money, I would buy him the world <3 Since I do not actually get a paycheck for the work I do, it was time to get creative of course! I found the perfect thing I knew he would like and appreciate!

A COUPON BOOK!!

Front cover slips into folded crease with a ribbon to hold it all together!

Open it up to see actual coupons I printed out with a little message on the other side, making it a card for him too!

He received 4 coupons total, that he can rip out and use whenever he wants!

1. BACK MASSAGE x2 (he always wants one!)

2. MOVIE NIGHT of his choice

3. FREE WISH of whatever he would like!!

He absolutely loved his gift! He has already used two of them, and it has been a lot of fun for both of us using this idea! It dorky, but gives us a good laugh and he benefits! Cheap? Yes. Does that make it any less special? No, I actually think it makes it a little more from my heart!!

PLUS, he loved the brownies I pulled out from their hiding place after I made him his favorite dinner! ;) hehe

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABE :)

Lets Get Creative

I thought I would start sharing all of my little arts and crafts on my blog too..including creations for holidays, gifts, and even projects my son Carson does or we do together! 

I have always been creative and crafty...loving to show my imagination when I was little! I drifted away as I became older, but now I am a Mommy. Which means a part of me gets to relive childhood!! Of course the other part of me getting into my inner crafty heart, is the fact that I am a stay-at-home Mommy now, income is down to one, and I have to get creative with gifts, household needs like Febreeze, and of course activities to stimulate my little ones mind. 

I am so excited to show off all of my creations! My boyfriend thinks I am a dork, but I know he loves everything Carson and I make! 

Store Bought Baby Food

Carson is doing great at his solids for lunch time...its so funny how excited he gets when he sees me pull out his bowl and spoon! hahaha Such a smart boy!!

His Grandma just bought him a bunch of baby food (even though I am and will be sticking with making my own). I decided however to let him try it out, heck I even wanted a taste! I am not kidding when I say that he really does like my food better!!! I even like my food better!! I tried the store bought pears (pears being his favorite) and gross! I am not by any means a hippy tree-hugging type of mom, but this food tasted so processed I could barely tell what kind of food it was supposed to resemble! I just want to say how happy I am that I have decided to take the road of homemade baby food for my Carson! It saves us money which is a huge plus, its healthier, and it just tastes THAT MUCH BETTER!! I am willing to go the extra mile for my little growing man! <3

Store Bought

VS.

Freshly Homemade

Month-to-Month

In Carson's baby book, there is a section of his month to month progress and a spot for a picture to see how hes grown. Well I thought it'd be a good idea to have his progress shared on here too!! Here is my handsome son!!! I cant believe how fast hes growing!

1 day old

2 weeks

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

Avocados

We have a new food on the menu! ;)

Yesterday we tried some avocado, and Carson liked it up until he realized it was something different than Ive been giving him LOL He was so excited to get in his highchair especially when he saw I was coming towards him with his bowl and spoon! He opened his mouth right up and gobbled it up...and this this for the next few bites...then the realization kicked in and he started making the funniest faces! I dont think I caught any of them on the video below but it was hilarious :) It will take him a couple times Im sure to get used to our new menu option, just like it took a bit for the sweet potatoes, which he now LOVES by the way! All in all, I say it was a success!

Getting Into Position!

As you may or may not know, Carson began sitting up on his own before Christmas, which put him at about 4 1/2 months old. From everything I have read and heard about, this is very early for a little man his age! Which we are so very proud of, but honestly saw it coming when he could practically hold his head up since birth!

His Boppy pillow was perfect support until he really got his balance!!

 

Now that his balance is almost perfect, it is his favorite way to play! Well I have still been working on "tummy time" frequently too and began to notice how strong his arms were getting. So just a few days ago, I helped him get on his knees in the "crawling stance". He held it for a second, then fell down. But today (looking at the clock yesterday really) I put him in position, and he held it! Actually concentrated really hard as if he knew that if he mastered this, he could really start his trouble making years!! LOL Time is flying by let me tell ya!

uh-oh!! getting his practice in!! here comes trouble!!!

using that arm strength to play at "tummy time"

he just woke up from his nap:) my strong little man!!!

^Getting into position!!!^

Introducing SOLID FOODS!!

I have read up a lot on the subject of when to begin your baby on solid foods and read the longer you wait the better. Babies digestive tract has a lot of developing to do to be ready for such a change. However I also read that once he starts showing interest in what your eating, it might be time to start experimenting  Well folks, its time! :)

We actually started to have him try out solids on Thanksgiving 2012 when he was about 3 1/2 months just out of curiosity to see how he liked it. Plus, its a holiday just for eating, so we thought it would be appropriate! We are always told how much Will liked bananas (and still does) so that was first. I, by the way, am making all Carson's baby food from scratch. It saves us tons of money and is healthier. So using the Magic Bullet I bought specifically for making his food, I pureed up some banana and mixed it with breast milk. He actually didnt do too bad I guess, I just remember him not knowing what he should do when the spoon came to his mouth. I never have thought about how babies need to learn to open their mouths for a spoon...very cool to realize i think:) Since Carson's been around, its all of the little things in life I enjoy! 

THIS WAS THE STAGE WHEN ALL CARSON WANTED IN HIS MOUTH WAS HIS FINGERS!! :)

Our next attempt at experimenting with solids was Christmas 2012, which made Carson about 4 1/2 months old. For a gift, we received some homemade and jarred applesauce, so thought that would be a good next taste. Well Carson hated it LOL Im guessing it was just a little too sweet...plus he was still getting the open mouth for food deal. The day after Christmas, we went to my Aunt Tisha's and I told her about our trials with solids. She went to grab some fresh jarred pears for us to take home and try! Maybe a week or so later, I popped open a jar and whipped some up. Oh man, Carson was in love! He did great! 

This puts us to right about now. Carson is a little over 5 months, and once I saw him lovin' on the pears above, I knew it was time! Plus since then, he has been so interested in whatever we were eating, I had to give him a little something of his own! :) I have been giving him solids almost once a day right around lunch time, just to get him a little more used to the fact that hes digesting more than just milk now. And let me tell ya, his poop? SMELLS LIKE DEATH, VOMIT, AND BOOGERS ALL MIXED TOGETHER hahaha but seriously, I miss breast milk poop ;) 

To date, Carson has now tried/eaten bananas, applesauce, cereal, pears, peaches, & sweet potatoes.

The sweet potatoes he wasn't too fond of at first, but the past couple days, he has been gobbling them all up! It was a first time experience for me to actually buy a sweet potato, and then bring it home and peal (Will helped with that), chop up and steam it. Actually a very good feeling to be making my own baby food I must say :) Since there was so much extra, I found a great idea that I am loving on Pinterest to use an ice cube tray to freeze the extras and make little cubes to just heat up whenever hes ready to eat...i LOVE it! Especially since making it is a little more time consuming and messy than just buying it at the store. I then just put the cubes shown below in a freezer bag and they are ready whenever I need them! :)

SO PROUD OF CARSON EATING HIS YUMMY SWEET POTATOES ALL UP! ESPECIALLY SINCE MOMMY THINKS THEY'RE GROSS! lol

Im seriously so proud of Carson and amazed at how fast he is growing! I love watching him open his mouth now for another bite! Its amazing to see a little human being developing, growing, and learning right before my eyes. I hope to post some videos on here too as soon as I get a little more organized with them! 

Next I think we will be trying avacado! :) 

Bumps & Bruises

Today Carson turned 5 months old (looking at the time i guess technically it was yesterday!) I made the day all about him giving him my undivided attention; or so I thought. I decide to take him down to the creek about 500 feet from our house to look at the water and take his picture like I do every month on his "Month Day".  I brought his awesome little camping chair down with us and began snapping away. I even got the dogs in on the fun! Right when I was setting up the camera so I could get in on the pictures to, I look over to see Carson do a hard nose dive face plant into the frozen ground below! I drop my camera (not realizing or caring that I broke it) and jumped to the rescue! I pulled him close, scared to even look to see the damage done to his face!! This was his very first hard fall! I know I have many more to come, it will just be a feeling I will have to get used to I guess. I finally pull him away to look at his face to see what was done and even though I know it wont be the worst I will see for the next 18 years, it definitely was heartbreaking! He is such a tough little man though that the crying only lasted a minute and he was happy the rest of our day. Needless to say I stopped taking pictures of him after that knowing his battle wounds would overtake the photos! lol We will see how his face looks tomorrow, and since I am fearing he will have a black eye, I will have to try and take a picture to have on file for his first nasty fall! Below however is a couple pictures I did happen to take for his 5Month shots:)

Our Little Grease Monkey

(December 28, 2012)

I just posted about Carson and I hanging out with Daddy in the shop yesterday. Well, Carson started to get tired of just sitting and watching him, so I took him up to the truck and stood him on the front bumper so he could look under the hood just like Daddy. Well he of course loved it and just wanted to touch everything he could. I told Will to come over so I could take a picture of both of them together. He held onto Carson asking him if he was "helping Daddy" when he noticed he was grabbing a cord.wire cover (dont know what the heck its called) and pulled it straight out! Turns out it was a piece left over and forgotten from the last time! We joked the whole rest of the time that Carson knew it wasnt supposed to be there so he pulled it out LOL just like his Daddy, already knowing how to work on trucks at only 4 months!!

MY GREASE MONKEYS!

Quirky Little Boy!

(December 28, 2012)Starting yesterday, Carson and I were hanging out and watching Daddy work on his truck in the shop. As we were sitting by the fire just goofing around and talking to Daddy, Carson started to look up;and not just with his eyes, with his whole neck arched back! It was the funniest thing! When I asked him what he was doing he just smiled:) He did it a bunch more times and today I caught him doing it again! What in the world?? LOL Just a little memory I have never heard any mother talk about. Will says acting like a goober is what Carson gets from me :)