If you know me well, you know I have firm and CrAZY food hoo-doo beliefs. I will skip the lecture and just get straight to the good part which is making all of peebles baby foods myself. I was thrilled beyond measure to get the Beaba as a baby gift from my generous shower hostesses and have been just itching to use it! (you can click here for a previous post on baby food gear reviews)

   If you don't have a Beabe, don't sweat it.. you can use a food processor. The beabe steams as well as purees , so with a food processor you will need to steam your items separately and then puree in the food processor.
Beyond the process, will be food rules , stages and recipes!

Storage:
You can keep home made baby food in the fridge for about 3 days and in the freezer for 3 Months so basically just like Breast Milk!

You can store home made baby food in a variety of containers. You could use old baby food jars, buy some BPA free plastic cubes from Green Sprout, or use ice cube trays and free little cubes and then transfer to a ziplock bag!

Click HERE for a list if items that freeze well.

Opinions differ about when babies should start solids ( 4 or 6 mos) but our Pedi says 6 so ... Peebles will be starting with Stage 1 foods now.





 Click HERE to download a spreadsheet with a meal plan for introducing solids. I got that info from wholesomebabyfood.com

I plan to post recipes regularly! Stay tuned!

 Not much! I have had BF's cold all week and can honestly say that I have not minded much. Seeing him sick put everything in perspective. I would MUCH rather be sick than see him sick. I know children need exposure to strengthen their immune systems, but I can tell you that I will not be letting a germ come near him for the next 6 months if I can help it! When they are so young, they cant take medicines and they don't sleep well, and its really an awful helpless feeling to endure.
Although I took him to the doctor twice, they said he only had a cold or possibly RSV. He never got any medicines, just told me to give him tylenol and later when his temp got higher, they allowed me to give him Infant Motrin.
The nose slime never seemed to bother him much, but if he had a fever he was very fussy. He wouldn't nurse so I gave him cereal several times a day to make sure he wasn't starving.
It took about 8 days to pass, and he still has a slight cough every now and then. I had to hold him to sleep a lot so he could stat elevated. We also put a book under his mattress and a humidifier in his room.

 His little face was swollen and red eyes and lots of drainage. I tried to keep aquaphor under his nose so it didn't get raw. I about drove him crazy with that nasal bulb.He would cough so hard his whole body would shake and tears would come out of his eyes,and sometimes he would throw up. It was absolutely terrible to watch.
I also used ALOT of boogie wipes. They really do help! Thanks to Emilie for suggesting the "fresh scent" ones cause I love the way they smell!

I did some reading and it suggested that moms, just like nursery workers, wipe down toys and play centers often, and every time they have been shared because even if someone doesn't seem sick at the time, they would still be carrying the germ. I now am VERY diligent about wiping down all of his toys and shared items , and I don't feel so bad anymore when I tell random kids in stores not to touch him! My friend CB suggested telling random kids "just touch his feet" which is smart and less rude that " get your grimey paws off my precious baby" HA
The site I read also suggested washing fluffies and things of that nature in a delicate items bag in the washing machine, and hard plastic toys in the dishwasher. You can make a spray of 1tsp clorox in 1 quart of water and spray down things like exersaucers. Let the spray sit for one minute before wiping down. New studies suggest NOT using anti-bacterial stuff due to chemicals left behind. Regular ole soap and water is best!

Quick Stats:
We go for our 6 months well baby check up on Feb 1st but for now:
Weight: 21lbs and 3 ounces at last weigh in
Height: Approx 28 "
Clothes Size: 12-18 months depending on what it is. Pants are very tricky. I have just started putting him in pants and they are all too small in the waist! I want some elastic waist cords in nice baby colors. Anybody know where I can purchase those?


New tricks: At 6 months he is like a new baby, or a tiny person! He can see hear and notice things so much more. He LOVES to be talked to, he loves his doggles, he likes to touch everything he can, he can roll over from tummy to back lots ,but have not seen him go the other direction. He gets very close but then flops back on his back. He will grab the side of your face with both hands and try to "kiss" you which means open mouthing you. He can sit up for a minute but not like really great.
My friend's mother hand knitted this precious roll neck sweater! I ADORE it. It is so soft and is much cuter in person. He kept moving about making it scrunch up.
Sleeping: We are still not sleeping through the night. Christmas break>Arizona>sickness means we are WAY off track!  I need to work on this stat, but it is so hard!  He does really well about going to bed on his own every night about 6:30-7pm, but after midnight he tries to wake up ALOT.  I put him in his bed, awake now for all naps and sleeping at night, turn on his soother and give him his fluffies which he LOVES and he eventually falls asleep on his own without trying to make a scene. This peaceful sleep routine is much easier on mom and babe. We are still using a sleep sac at night, since he cant sleep with covers yet. He does all sleeping in his crib.He generally stays awake now for 2 hours at a time and by 1hr 45 mins I go ahead and put him in the bed, because if you miss that window, he gets cranky and its quite a process. If I notice him yawning or rubbing eyes anytime before then, I go ahead and take him to bed.
Toys & Baby Gear: 

• Exersaucer is the new swing! He LOVES That thing and if he is not in it, he will eye it from across the room or try to get to it when doing tummy time.
• Baby Einstein and Yo Gabba Gabba DVDS. He loves BE Neighborhood animals, and Baby Santa the best. He has just started showing interest in Yo Gabba, and that show is WHACK ya'll. I walk around singing about the party in my tummy and cleaning up my mess all the time now.
• He likes these baby Einstein toys I bought him, especially this one, (the ipod.)
• Stuffed animals
• High Chair is now part of the every day
• Due to the size of my large peebles, we will be getting a stage 2 car seat soon! ( tips or recommendations anyone?)

So crazy that it has been 6 months, and as sad as I am to see him get bigger, he is so much fun now. So I have mixed emotions about him growing up! On the mom front I am doing much better. After Christmas, I finally gave up on waiting on my hormones and all to even out. I called the doc and got some medicine for baby blues. I was never actually "blue" but was always so tense and stressed to the point of crazy.  Now that I am much better, I regret waiting so long! I am sure everyone has opinions about this, and ya'll can just save that for yourselves and your own situations.
I think that motherhood is hard! Hard enough without any judgement or competition and since I am sharing every detail of my journey with you all, I wanted to be honest about what that has included and what has worked for me/us. If you are curious about this and breastfeeding you can read all about that HERE on the Kellymom site.

I live and die by my GPS, so when we were in Arizona and didn't have it I was stressin'. I took to the app store to solve that dilema and came up with Motion X. I was looking for a cheap app with turn by turn voice prompts.
There are several GPS apps that are in the $50-60 range like the Garmin, which I would love to try but it had bad reviews and that's a lot of money for an app!!
Motion X GPS was 99 cents and you can try the voice prompts free for a month. After that you can purchase them by the month ($3) or buy the year ($20) which after using the free service, I can tell you it is totally worth the $20 a year for portable, reliable GPS navigation. (Last I checked a GPS rental from rental car places is like $7 a day, so once trip and this app would pay for itself.)
Anyway, Check it out in the App store if you need a good GPS app!
Motion X GPS .99

January is the month for organizing and most organizing stuff is on sale this month so stock up if you need anything! I hope to get lots of pictures up of all the cleaning going on at Grizaland. I am in a mood to PURGE! I have had some messes sitting around here since before I was pregnant! So as Peebs sickness allows I am organizing this house from top to bottom!


I randomly stumbled upon these on overstock.com recently and had to share as I have been looking for something like this for YEARS. I didnt know they existed and have never seen them in any store. They are made for scrapbook organization for stickers, die cuts etc. I have quite the scrapbooking sticker collection and now it is FINALLY organized! I also use them in my Franklin Planner for things like stamps, stationary, gift cards, etc.

Since BF ( baby fenn) was born, I have wanted him to have some sort of security item like  a blanket, lovey, animal etc and have had no luck, until recently. @courtney2681 gave BF some books with a stuffed pig, and he has been enjoying that pig a lot, swinging him all over the crib, chewing on him and snuggling him. I thought maybe he might like some more friends so I started putting some of his other animals in there and he was VERY excited.

And that is cute and all, but the importance of this is that now, the bed is a fabulous fun place to go. When it is time for him to nap, or go to bed, I lay him down, turn on the soother and hand him all his fluffies and he grins and kicks with anticipation and excitement, swings them all over the place until he falls asleep ( usually about 10 mins) and there is no crying involved!

I have long noticed that he sleeps better when he falls asleep on his own, and is not "boobed to sleep". So this also helps with that because now anyone can put him down for naps or bed, not just momma. And it takes about 5 seconds to put him to bed instead of 30 mins etc. What a relief and an accomplishment!

See how excited he is to be reunited with his fluffies!

I just have to make sure that the fluffies don't have any removable parts like eyeballs etc so he wont get choked and if they are all one piece they can join him in the bed!
I saw this stuffies bean bag at my discount store and kind of wish I had bought it. It's a great way to store stuffed animals.



Now babies are game changers, just when you think you have it mastered they switch it up on you, so this could all change next week! I will keep you posted!


Since turning 5 months old he has been staying up for 2 hours at a time. Still, no schedule, we just stay up for 2 hours, nap either for 45 mins or 2 hours then up again, but not at particular times of the day.  I wish it were more predictable like at" 9 am he naps for 2 hours " but we will have to work on that. Christmas + Arizona + sickness has really wrecked our schedule work.

Dining Room Table:
Banister:
Mantle heart topiaries ( way too small now for new mantle)
Glitter words from Target Dollar Bin:
Hall Bath ( more target dollar bin from last year)
Bowl of foam glitter hearts ( hearts target dollar bin)
Valentime dish towel from @courtney2681
Heart Pillow in Peebs Room
I have also some heart wreaths and flag flying outside but its too cold to go take pics!

 This weekend Macon Babies came and played with us and she wanted to go check out all my discount baby stores! We had a fabulous time shopping as well as a great weekend. We both found some great deals. I found the highchair I was telling you guys about last week for 50% off! I had not really made my mind up about what color I wanted to get but above is the color I found and I was fine with it.
You can see @maconbabies feeding letta in it here! (She requested I cut her out of the pic before blogging!)

Baby Fenn enjoying a nice rice cereal snack in his new chair. He enjoys it and kicks his feet in anticipation whenever I put him in the chair.

Someone told me that you will use the highchair 3 times a day, and so its not really something you can put away so make sure it looks good and you like it alot, also make sure its easy to clean since you do that 3 times a day also. I love the look of this chair but it also has several practical features as well:
- Pneumatic Lift so he can adjust height quite easily to sit at tables, bar, countertops, couches etc.
- The tray is removable and comes with 2 tray tops which are the perfect size to fit in the dishwasher or sink. I love having 2 so you always have a clean one on hand.
- It is very easy to clean because there are no cracks and crevices for food to hide in.
- It has wheels and a foot brake so you can move it from room to room quite easily.

Below you can see a picture of it sitting at our dining room table with the tray removed which will be helpful in later years.

A great thing to do with all baby gear is look for a video review of it at BabyGizmo.com Real moms who have several children review tons of gear and make alot of points you may not think about without having actually used the stuff. Below is the Baby Gizmo review of this high chair if you are interested in watching.
Boon "Flair" High Chair Review:


** Has 5 stars on amazon.com, was on Oprah, and The Doctors for top high chairs!**

I have had a few emails asking me about diaper bags, and believe it or not, I cant find the perfect one. I have, however found 2 pretty good ones. Bags are my THING. I love bags of all types and sizes so I have high expectations.
Here are some good diaper bag qualities ( IMO):
- I like a unisex bag or a bag that doesnt scream BABY, like a solid grown up color
- a bag that has a easy to clean outer and inner layer.
- insulated pocket of some kind for bottle or food spoon ( this eliminates extra insulated carriers and makes the overall bag more streamline)
- a paci pocket ( if baby takes paci you always wanna have it easy to reach and an extra on hand
- i personally prefer only one major compartment, because say you are digging for something in a hurry, if you have a split bag, you wont know which side its on and it makes overall navigation difficult, especially if you are digging with one hand, which you will be 9 out of 10 times.
- I like a mom pocket, which is essentially an outside pocket that holds mom stuff like wallet, keys and cell phone
- bonus would be a great strap that you can adjust to different lengths, shoulder carry/cross body carry/ or attach to stroller handles.
- an included diaper changing pad, that ideally has pockets attached to hold diapers and wipes ( because more times than not, you just wanna grab out that insert to go change a diaper and not haul the whole bag with you)
- an interior zipper pocket for medicine , toiletries etc.
- some great interior slip pockets for other items like burp cloths etc.
- light weight bag when its empty, which is why I favor Nylon

So in my research, these are some bags that make the cut :

The Columbia Diaper bag at Babies R Us $38

Kate Spade Diaper Bags (prices vary)$$$


The main differences in the 2 are price, and the Columbia bag is daddy friendly , while the kate spade bags are a purse/diaper bag combo. My girlfriend has a beautiful Burberry diaper bag which is also great because its not only functional, but beautiful and can easily pass as a purse and be used for either boy or girl child.
Skip Hop is also a very popular brand and THIS bag gets pretty good reviews. My qualm with it was the materials it was made from were not my fav.

Now for Diaper Bag Contents.
I am sure this is different for everyone, but just to be thorough, I shall list out what I carry around on a daily basis for all you new mommas who are thinking about such things.
 My philosphy is to have anything I could possibly need in there, because the times I have tried to carry light, I regretted it. Once I went with just diapers in my purse and peebles had a diaper blow out, in a restaurant, and I had no extra clothes for him. Totally embarrassing.
Another time, I needed some Mylicon, but had packed it in his suitcase, in the back of the car, so it was not easily accessible without stopping the car on a road trip. Lesson learned.

Zipper pocket carries:

• Trial Sized Aquaphor
• Trial sized sunscreen
• nail clippers
• brush ( because one day he will have hair :)
• Orajel
• Boogie Wipes individual packets
• Mylicon
• Children's Tylenol
• Bottle top and Nipple ( for the breast feeders, it is very easy to grab some bottles of milk from fridge in a hurry and COMPLETELY forget to pack a nipple and top, so best to always keep one on you)

Main Compartment Holds:

• Wipes and diapers go in the changing bag insert
• Nursing shawl or cover. I HIGHLY , COMPLETELY recommend this ONE. You just roll it up and stick it in one of the interior pockets. It can also be used as a baby blanket when in a pinch.

• Burp Cloth goes in an easy to access outside pocket.
• Bib and change of clothes. If you are traveling, pack double. I learned that the hard way on our flight to Arizona.
• 4+ months means you need to have a toy or 2 on hand. I got 2 great ones as gifts, one is a set of keys which is small and easy to keep in there, and one is a stuffed animal duck that has all sorts of textures, colors and noise making on it and it has a clip which is easy to clip to your diaper bag strap. Sophie is a good toy to have in there as well, or teething rings.
• Bottles and or boon spoon with food goes in insulated pockets. I'm not to snacks yet but one day I'll be toting those too.
• I like to have facial wipes by Johnsons or Mustela ( because I am a freak about his skin and don't like baby wipes (too harsh) so these are much better.  and if flying its always handy to have antibacterial wipes to wipe down chair arms, window, food tray etc.
• a wet bag for soiled clothes or cloth diapers ( this could be a gallon zip lock bag) and some sort of disposal bags for dirty disposable diapers. You may not be somewhere where its easy to contain the smell and trust me, you don't want to be the lady who stunk up the place with dirty diapers. They make little canisters of diaper trash bags just for this purpose.

So what am I missing? I know things will change with age so I would love to hear from all you other ladies out there about how you handle this. Do you ever carry a diaper bag or just put some things in your normal purse?

Unfortch. I have to report that my booboo has his first sickness. UGH. I honestly, and maybe naively thought that exclusive breastfeeding meant no sickness. I really.FIRMLY. believed that.  But alas, here were are, with a cold. He got it on our trip to Arizona on the plane on the way home ( I am guessing) even though I took sanitizing wipes and cleaned our entire seat area on the plane.
We have been back for a few days now, and every now and then during the night I would hear him kind of cough, but I thought he was either getting choked on a little drool, which he manufacturers by the bucket full, OR I thought he was trying to trick me into coming in there and saying hi.
Today though, his cough sounded "productive" and he did it when he was in his saucer and not just lying flat. He also made a weird swallowing noise a lot, which was from drainage I believe. He does not have a runny nose, but I have had to use the nasal bulb alot (I'm a real pro with that thing and because I have been using it since day 1, he tolerates it pretty well).
Anyway, he is not completely miserable, but he is not as happy as he normally is and he has not napped well, and I erred on the side of caution by taking him to the doctor. Doc checked him out and said he was fine just has a cold, and not a major one at that, suggested we use saline spray and tylenol and a humidifier at night.
(Sidebar: ladies if you are working on your baby registry, register for a nice humidifier. I wish I had registered for THIS one)  anyway...
I will tell you it totally stinks when your baby is sick. I have indulged his every whim today which included a lot of snuggling,  nursing and Baby Einstein and little napping. When I was little and sick my mom would let me lay on the couch and my dad would always bring me surprises home on his lunch hour like cartoon movie rentals, coloring books, etc.  I plan to do the same to my kiddles.
I am thankful that we already had infant tylenol, humidifier, saline spray etc on hand so we didn't have to go anywhere other than the doctor today.
Everybody say a little prayer for my piggy that his cough goes away!! Thanks!

I love this stuff! Let's face it,.... nothing Mustela is cheap but it is great quality! This hydra stick is so perfect for diaper bags and toiletry kits and smells delish! It is also paraban free.
I preen over peebs like a monkey always making sure he has clean and pretty skins, I just cant help it.
Rice cereal is like a skin enemy! It dries out their little faces so bad!  If you don't believe it, next time you are dishin up some rice cereal, put a little on the back of your hand and see how it feels after a few minutes. Blehk. So after each rice cereal meal, I have to wipe peebs face clean instantly and then moisturize! This stick is fabulous for that! It is also good for winter weather to protect cheeks from windburn!

Thanks to Ginger, I have made my blog available for Kindle subscriptions! I have not figured out how to make it available for the ipad kindle app yet! Still working on that but you can check it out by clicking HERE or searching for "Grizaland" in Kindle Blog Store.

Out with the old and in with the new! I made a promise to myself when I was pregnant to not keep acquiring things in my closet, so when something comes in, something must also leave. This is true for all clothes, shoes and bags! I am slow to get them listed but working on!
Thanks to my new fancy diaper bag purchase, this similar style purse must go!






It is a beautiful Kate Spade bag. Black Nylon with black patent leather trim and gold hardware. It has a zippered pocket down the center zippered pocket on one side and 2 slip pockets on the other side. The lining is navy with gold polka dots. I do not have a dust bag for it, sorry. Measurements are approx 15" x 10" x 5" so big enough to carry books, like a spiral notebook or using as a work tote.
$100 + shipping! Email me if you are interested! lg2006@mac.com

Since we have been home I had had tons to do! Today's goals were to wash all of our clothes, unpack all the suitcases and get the blog back up and running! Check, check and Check! whew!

Here are some more pics from Scottsdale:
The fellas watching highlights of the game on ESPN
Downtown Old Scottsdale was very pretty at night! I loved all the lights
This joker here is a back breaking 21lbs and 8 ounces right now! Can you believe that? He is sooo sweet and full of smiles and laughter these days.
He charmed about 87 million women while we were on our trip! He did great on the plane never cried or cared about it at all. I will say that he has slept like a CHAMPION since we got home though! It's exhausting being so charming all the time!

Then the next morning after we came home, Aunt Julie came over very early with the pups because Ralpy was having an emergency rash situation. Thank GOD for Uncle Louie! He always saves the day and had to administer some butt shots to ole ralph!
See his sad rash! I guess this whole family is full of sensitive skin!
I promise to do an after baby body post soon. A lot has changed lately so I will get to that this week!
War Eagle! It was a great trip and a great game! we loved seeing all our friends out in Arizona!