Baby food

I have a confession to make. I LOVE little jars of baby food ... not to eat of course, but to look at and select at the store and line up all organized in nice little rows in my pantry. Weird, I know. Even when I don't have an infant in the house, part of me wants to go check out that part of the grocery store. They have so many interesting selections now ... cinnamon raisin granola; ham/pineapple/rice; and all kinds of fruit combos that sound really yummy. They even have apples and chicken. I have to say - that doesn't sound appealing but it somehow has gotten my kids to eat the meat that's in jars. They never really like the whole 'chicken in gravy' kinds of baby food.


However, I also REALLY like a bargain. And baby food is definitely not a bargain (although Redner's is selling Beech-nut @ 2 for .70 lately - not too bad). I really think that part of the reason I've breastfed each child is because I don't want to pay $20 a can for formula! Anyhow, when Audrey was little I made some baby food and I've continued to do it with each subsequent baby. I don't make a lot of varieties, because really - do I want to find peaches that are half decent and ripe, cook them down, and puree them? WAY too much work. BUT, carrots, peas, squash, etc. are all very easy to make. So this is what my freezer looks like right now:


If you have an infant and you haven't tried making baby food, I encourage you to try it out! Very little work ... and lots of healthy food. And to defrost, just take a few cubes out and nuke them for 30 seconds.

For recipes and ideas, go to this website: www.wholesomebabyfood.com

So far Chloe eats most anything I put in her mouth. Let's hope that continues for years to come!

7 months

Miss Chloe Elizabeth turned 7 months the other day. I almost missed it! The past month has gone by ... well, terribly slowly. Between all the sickness and all the snow (and more snow), there have been some loooooong days here in the Smith household. But I have been so preoccupied, I hardly realized that Chloe had passed another month by. But here we are.

So what are we up to these days?

Chloe is rolling both ways now - from tummy to back, and now from back to tummy again.

Chloe has a new "word" and she loves to say it over and over again -- "buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh ...." She sings it to herself when she's happy, she yells it out when she's upset, it pretty much means ... well, whatever she wants it to mean :)
PS - excuse the strange gag at the end of the video clip!!

We've found our feet. And they seem to taste really good!

Chloe is starting to do a little bit of what I call an "inchworm" crawl. But only when she REALLY wants to get to something. Usually something she shouldn't have, like the remote. What is it with babies and remotes, anyhow??

Chloe is taking baths in the "big" tub now. Audrey especially finds this a fun development. Now if I would only let her put makeup and nail polish on Chloe, her joy would be complete ... :)

Still only those 2 bottom teeth. But I can tell she's working on some more. I see the start of one on the top. 'Please come quickly', is all I can say about that. I'm finally getting a decent night's sleep over here!

Speaking of sleep, Chloe's sleeping pretty well now. Going to bed between 6:30-7ish and sleeping till 4-5am. Up for a quick feeding, and right back down till around 7:30 am. I'll take it! (Especially after dealing with sick kids and being up every hour or two all night for weeks on end ...) Sorry no picture of a sleeping Chloe. Never want to risk waking a sleeping baby around here!

Chloe smiles up a storm and charms everybody around. She really enjoys being around people, and really lights up around friends and family.

It sure is going quickly ... don't grow up TOO fast, little one.

The upside of having your birthday party canceled ...

... is that your birthday just gets extended way into February.

AND, you get to have a play date with some of your buds after being cooped up with just your sisters to play with for days on end!

You also get to have cupcakes over and over again!

Mmm, did we mention CUPCAKES?

Audrey & Abigail did their own thing back in Audrey's room. They were too cool to hang out with all the "little kids" ... ha!

Little kids ARE pretty silly.

Cassidy really did enjoy playing with Chloe. Really, she did. But how long can you hold a smile while waiting for a baby to actually look at the camera?

3 peas in a pod.

Thanks for all the fun, friends!

Hope floats

REALITY: Winter is here.


HOPE: Spring will come!


Not that I'm counting the days or anything ....

Snowiest Day. Ever.

Well, unless you've been hiding under a rock, you know there is a blizzard going on here on the East Coast. I just heard Diane Sawyer call it "Snowzilla"... Seems we are going to break a record here in Philly for amount of snow in a season.

Chad went out and shoveled off the driveway about 3 times. And guess what? Tomorrow morning ... he's gonna have to shovel again.

So what do you do on a snowy day like today?

If you're a cat, you take a nap. I think I might like a cat's life. ;)

Audrey invited me to a tea party in her room.
When I came to her "door" she had a special note for me. I quickly discovered that she also had an "agenda" for the party. First, we did Tinkerbell tattoos (sorry, no picture! haha)

Next, we had tea and snacks.

Chloe woke up and joined the party. The next agenda item was doing hair and makeup. If you look closely, you can see that Chloe is wearing a hairbow and has glitter on her head. (This is what happens when I leave the room...)

And this is why I left the room.
Yup, Carter is learning to use the potty.
I figure being stuck inside during a blizzard is as good a time as any to start potty training!

While the 2 little kids took naps, I made some cookie dough, and Audrey & I made heart cookies for Valentine's Day.

A back view of our snowman as the day draws to a close. It is still snowing and blowing out there, and school is canceled for tomorrow.

Audrey also has off Friday, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday. I think by then .... the pictures will be of a more frazzled nature. :)

Snowy Day

Yesterday morning we woke up to a winter wonderland! Over the course of the day we ended up with about 2 feet of snow.

A view of our deck

This little bird is managing to get some bird seed out of our feeder. Guess he wasn't going to find any on the ground today.

Carter out with Daddy while Daddy shovels, and shovels, and shovels some more

Audrey was out sitting on a snow castle eating snow. I chose to stay inside where it was warm and cozy. So did Chloe.

The snow messed with Carter's rescheduled-from-last-weekend friends birthday party.
So I got the idea to ask the 2 kids we had invited from the neighborhood over for cupcakes anyway ... along with their whole families. We ended up making homemade pizza and having cupcakes, and the kids had a great time playing together while the grown-ups talked. And Carter got to open his presents and have a "party".
Here are the kids "eating" (not a lot of eating took place, but they sure had fun giggling at the table!)
It made for a fun end of our snowy day. :)

I heard that we may get more snow on Wednesday. This is one of the snowiest winters on record in the Philadelphia area! I guess we're making up for the lack of snow over the past few winters!

Birthday Boy

Guess what? ....

Yup, Carter turned 3 on January 30th!

And this is how my poor boy spent his special day. Sick as a dog.
Note to all potential parents out there: If you can help it, do not have your baby in January. So far Carter has made trips to the doctor's office on 2 out of his 3 birthdays ...

The next day he managed to perk up enough to have some family over for some pizza, cake & present opening. He still was not "well" but we went ahead with it.

Carter is on a Dr. Seuss kick lately. And he also loves playing games these days. And of course, he still has his strong affinity for the alphabet. This game combines all 3 of those elements!

Grandma & Grandpa sent Carter this LeapFrog Text & Learn. Obviously they know of his love of letters!

This is one of Carter's favorite gifts ... a marble race.
I am starting to call it "the precious" (a la Lord of the Rings.... cue creepy Gollum voice) ... this evening he was throwing a fit when he had to stop playing and go to bed. Usually he's pretty cooperative but this game has a strange hold on him ...

Just had to throw in a picture of the littlest party guest :)

Taken from Carter's baby book at age 3:

Height: 40 3/4 inches ... 97th percentile

Weight: 37 lbs. ... 92nd percentile

[side note here ... where did this huge kid come from ?? He certainly didn't get his height from my side of the family! ]

Favorite foods: yogurt, applesauce, fruit, come to think of it, he has very few foods that he loves. He is Mr. Picky right now. :(

Favorite books: lots of Dr. Seuss - The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs & Ham, The ABC book

Favorite games: Candyland, Hullabaloo, and various computer games

Favorite toys: marble race, Hot Wheels cars, ball popper, trains, mega bloks

Favorite outfits: [hahaha] ... well, he prefers his car shirt and his football shirt. Other than that, don't know that he cares too much about what he's wearing. Except for dress clothes. He definitely does not like button-down shirts. If we put one on him he yells "TOO BIG!" regardless of the size ...

Favorite things to do: Hmm. Right now his favorite thing to do is go to the bus stop! Or go anywhere in the car. Can you tell we're stuck in the house ALL THE TIME?

Most amazing things you've learned to do: spelling short words and trying to sound out words; memorizing Sunday school verses ("be joyfully always, pray continually!")

Things we wish you hadn't learned to do: Boot up the computer, click on games, and start playing them. We had to put a password on the computer to keep you from sneaking on there to play!!

Happy Birthday, sweet boy! We love you so much.