Grow.Make.Brew.Eat

Augie is just over four moths old now! Wow how time flies and how he continues to change. He's had a cold and a bit of a cough but that seems to be dissipating. He's such a little ball of fun. He almost mastered rolling from back to stomach. He still loves to grab things and is now reaching to hold items with both hands. Daycare continues to go well. Sleeping was improved for a while, but with his cold and with his four month shots, our/his "schedule" got all discombobulated. We are still trying to get back to longer sleep times at night. Overall the little man is happy, which makes us happy too! Our food adventures continue. I have pretty much cut out eggs now and am eating as little processed foods as possible since I have no clue what chemical ingredients are in things (even though there are ingredient lists on foods there are still those phantom ingredients that might not be listed). I've been reading more about the Paleo movement (eating like the cavemen u...

Over the past several weeks I've changed my diet drastically. The wee one is a gassy little man and as I have adjusted my diet, I've noticed things have changed for the better. There is a lot of information floating around about eliminating certain foods from your diet which can irritate babies digestive systems. The major players that can affect infants are dairy, wheat, soy, eggs, beans, broccoli, spinach, peanuts, and citrus fruits, among a few others. I have cut all of these out of my diet except for eggs. This means no cheese, greek yogurt and other good things that I love to eat....however I've noticed that with cutting these things out, not only is Augie's digestive system happy...so is mine. It's a win win. Of course I still miss eating a few of these things (specifically cheese, greek yo and peanut butter!), but I feel pretty good with the whole process.  So, with undertaking this adventure we have embarked on some new dishes in the kitchen. We are still...

Week 4 into the back to work/daycare adventure and we are doing pretty well. I'm getting the hang of a loose morning routine and Augie is excelling at daycare. At the end of each day I get a sheet telling me when he napped, had diaper changes, ate (and how much), etc. The sheets also have an area for the child's disposition (i.e. fussy, happy, etc).  Up until last week nothing has been circled. I think everyone was still getting an idea of his personality. Last week Augie came home with three papers stating that he was cheerful! Awe...love it. I thoroughly enjoy having a smiley kiddo. The past week was  Week of the Young Child at the Ryan Jury Center and nationally. The theme: "Early Years are Learning Years." To celebrate the week each different day had it's own dress up theme, which not only did the kids participate, but the teachers did too. Here's a run down of the days: Monday-Pajama Day Tuesday-Team Day -We aren't so into sports teams, so ...

Our current favorite morning meal is McCann's steel cut Irish oatmeal with a slew of goodies added in. Supposedly McCann's only processes steel cut oats in their mills. They can't claim to be gluten free because of possible contaminants in route to the plants, but they haven't seemed to cause any issue for us so we'll keep eating them. I like the taste..no funky aftertaste like with some other oats. We've opted for the 5 minute quick oats out of convenience. We have tried making them at night and storing in the fridge in jars for quick heating up...this works too, but we like it freshly made. This morning Andy toasted the oatmeal before cooking, along with some almonds & walnuts with a bit of cinnamon and sugar. Then he cooked up some bananas with cinnamon on the griddle. I've been obsessed with chia seeds lately and have a healthy scoop on top of my oatmeal each day. I really like Bob's Red Mill chia seeds . Chia seeds are said to b...

Not much innovative cooking has been going on in our kitchen over the past several months. Andy has been amazing at whipping up dinner on most nights since our evenings have been unpredictable. It's been wonderful and he's a great chef, but we've stuck ourselves in a bit of a rut out of convenience mostly. And based on the fact that I have basically gone gluten free and dairy free & cut out many other foods due to Augie's sensitivity to them, we've run out of options.  It's been a challenge to make sure I'm eating enough throughout the day, since my old staple snacks of cheese & crackers, peanut butter & pretzels, etc are now out. We tend to eat a lot of corn chip taco bowls with a variety of different proteins and veggies and a lot of Asian inspired bowls with rice noodles, veggies & egg. They are great, but we are looking for a little change.  The past two weeks have been great as Augie has fallen into a pattern of going to bed between...

Last week Augie turned 12 weeks. Just this week, on Monday, was his 3 month birthday. He has changed sooooo much since he was born and we continue to notice new characteristics and personality traits on a daily basis.  Easter 2012 Last Monday, after a full weekend of Easter activities, I went back to work. Augie went to daycare, or as my Dad calls it, Baby College.  Andy was nice enough to take the week off work prior to my return. We had some things we wanted to do around the house...including doubling the size of our garden (post to come on that soon).  And we eve made a trip to Madison to visit friends.  It was nice to be able to prepare mentally and physically and spend some quality time with my favorite boys.  Augie is the newest member of Room 3 at the Ryan Jury Center, Swedish American's Daycare. He's the youngest infant in his room and he is definitely the "Ladies Man" (thanks Greg, Angel, Alexys & Morgan for the cute...

Monday Augie turned eight weeks old. Technically Friday he was 2 months (if you are going by the date...). He's turning into such a little man. It's absolutely incredible to watch him grow. He's had a lot of family visitors. It's normal to have both sets of Grandparents, his Aunt Boo Boo & Cousin Lehnie stop by frequently.  Mimi Lehnie is going to be a big sister in May so she's getting a lot of practice too. She think's he is soooooo cute AND prefers to call him by his formal name, August.   Cousin Lehnie Grandpa Alan came by for a visit last week. Someone was a little fussy and is still getting a hang of the bottle. We currently give him about one a week to make sure he is used to it when the time rolls around for day care when I go back yo work (just about 3 weeks away now). Yesterday he had two bottles from Dad and they were much more successful. In the next few weeks we'll practice a little more. Grandpa Alan Augi...