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Making Baby food

This would be my first time making baby food. I randomly decided to start today, and used the food I had in the fridge, but it is NOT organic. I'm planning on everything I make from now on to be organic.





I started with carrots. Here is my set-up. A steamer in a sauce pan, and a peeler and cutting board. Oohh, fancy.




I peeled seven carrots under hot water, then cut them into small discs.



These are my best friends: A baby food processor (although you could use any processor) and baby food freezer trays with lids. I have two of them. I suppose you could use ice cube trays, but I don't like the idea of stuff getting into my baby's food.



I added about half of the chopped carrots to the steamer, added the lid, and let it go about 15-20 min. Then I checked a slice with a fork and it was done!



I blended the carrots in the processor, then added breast milk to thin it out.



I spooned out the carrots into the freezer tray to freeze. When it's frozen, I'll dump the 'cubes' into a freezer bag and reuse the trays for more baby food. It saves on storage space.


I then repeated the process with the remainder of the carrots, spinach, and bananas. I steamed the spinach and added breast milk. I obviously didn't need to steam the bananas. I didn't add breast milk to the bananas because they were already thinned out. I will freeze the spinach and bananas into the trays as well, once the carrots are done, but for now, I just put them in storage containers, and stored them in the fridge.

30 Day Photography Challenge

I've been trying to post more often, as well as take more pictures. So, I stumbled across this post and decided to take the challenge. I'm going to try to do most of the pictures about the bean or parenting, in keeping with my blog theme. Look out for Day 1 tomorrow!

Day 1: Self-Portrait
Day 2: What you wore today
Day 3: Clouds
Day 4: Something Green
Day 5: From a high angle
Day 6: From a low angle
Day 7: Fruit
Day 8: A bad habit
Day 9: Someone you love
Day 10: Childhood memory
Day 11: Something blue
Day 12: Sunset
Day 13: Yourself with 13 things
Day 14: Eyes
Day 15: Silhouette
Day 16: Long exposure (but I can't do that with my camera, so it's going to be 'Guilty Pleasure' instead. I hope you don't mind. :)
Day 17: Technology
Day 18: Your shoes
Day 19: Something orange
Day 20: Bokeh (Which I also don't think I can do, but I'll try.)
Day 21: Faceless-Self portrait
Day 22: Hands
Day 23: Sun flare (We'll see)
Day 24: Animal
Day 25: Something pink
Day 26: Close-up
Day 27: From a distance
Day 28: Flowers
Day 29: Black and white
Day 30: Self-portrait

Proud Mama Monday

My little bean looks so big! This was taken this morning while she was in her swing. She loves that cow sooo much! My brother-in-law's Mom gave it to her, along with a 'got milk?' bib. (They're dairy farmers). The wetness on her outfit is from a wash cloth she was chewing on earlier.




This one was last night after she finished a bowl of cereal and organic peach puree. (I love seeing that the ingredient list says one thing: organic peaches).

Why I love night time at my house.

It's me-time. Clara typically sleeps from 10-11 p.m. until 7-9 a.m. It's fantastic. She takes 4 or 5 cat-naps during the day. It makes for a very happy mama and baby. She's such a good little sleeper. She only woke up during the night in her first month of sleep, during which she would only sleep in her swing. I'm so happy that ever since, she sleeps in her crib for every nap, unless we're out on in the car. And she also sleeps in her crib every night. ALSO, she takes a long-ish nap around 11 a.m., so our mornings are fairly simple and laid-back. But man, does she wanna play when she wakes up. Jumping, and playing, and kicking, and eating her feet, and eating WHOLE BOWLS OF CEREAL! I'm such a lucky mama.

Breastfeeding & my sadness

Since I found out I was preggo, I decided I was going to breastfeed the bean for at least a year. I was so excited about giving my baby the best food that I could. Mind you, I was also very excited that breast milk is free (you know, besides the pump, nursing bras, etc.) and that it's always ready. No bottles and formula to lug around, and especially no bottles to wash!
I wouldn't even let formula near my little bean when she was born. I made sure that the nurses in the hospital nursery knew that she was to have breast milk only. Then we tried to nurse. Things were very rocky at the start. However, while I was in the hospital, I think I was too preoccupied with my own C-section pains and recovery to worry about breastfeeding. I knew that things would be tough at first, so I wasn't too worried when Clara would latch, suck for a couple of minutes, then pull off and fall asleep. I was sure that if she was hungry, she would eat. Wrong.
I know that some weight-loss was normal for babies, but Clara dropped from 6lbs 15oz to 6 lbs 4 oz in 3 days. They almost didn't let us go home. As we were leaving the hospital, they told us that Clara had a touch of jaundice.
Our first night home, Clara slept for 10 hours straight without waking up to eat. The next day, I couldn't get her to latch at all. I called the lactation consultant, and she had us come in right away. Mind you, I still couldn't drive or even lift her car seat. So, my birth mom was visiting at the time, and dropped us off at the hospital. I pushed Clara in her car seat in a wheel chair to the lactation wing, while a security guard pushed a cart with my diaper bag, the car seat base, and the boppy. I was in tears the entire appointment, and so stressed and worried about Clara's well-being. Half-way through, the consultant called down to the ER, and I was admitted for exhaustion. Needless to say, we were not off to a good start.
About a week later, I had to go back to the hospital for a CT, due to an infection in my uterus from the C-section. I had to have a contrast solution, and the doctor told me that I couldn't breastfeed for 24-48 hours! I, of course, didn't bring my breast pump, so I fed Clara as much as I could before taking the solution. A short while later, I cried while giving her the first bottle of formula. Then another, and another as the day went on. After that initial, horrible day, it became easier to pump, and have the BD feed her a bottle, since she had no problem switching back and forth. We went downhill after that.
At the end of May, I got back on birth control. I chose the Implanon birth control implant. It has been horrible. The gradual (but big) weight loss I was experiencing up until this point reversed, and my breast milk supply dropped DRAMATICALLY. I've taken supplements, drank special tea, and tried pumping every hour on the hour for a week. When that didn't work, I tried pumping for 20 minutes every time after Clara finished eating. When that didn't work, I pumped after, and in between feedings. NOTHING HAS BROUGHT MY SUPPLY UP. I'm getting my implant removed on Thursday, and I hope my milk returns. Right now, I only have enough to do 3 feedings a day. The rest is formula.
I'm so disappointed. It was tough to get the hang of, but once the bean and I found our niche, breastfeeding has been wonderful. I love that time with her. She looks up at me, and swings her arm around, grabbing at my face or my necklace. It's precious, and I don't want to give up this bonding experience.
If you know of anything that you've tried, or think will help us, PLEASE share it with me. I'll do anything at this point.

Interesting... thoughts?

I'm trying to come up with new blog topics. I mean, I could continuously write about Clara, or my weight loss, etc. But things aren't really that interesting on a day-to-day basis. Clara does interesting things and all, but probably things you don't want to hear about on a daily basis... such as the consistency and color of her poop... or her teething or sleeping habits.
So, I've been researching, and a few ideas have come up. But if you would like to hear my experience or thoughts on a topic (sure...?), or have any ideas for me, please send them my way. Thanks!