We have been....

Eating homemade Popsicles! This one she's eating is an orange Popsicles....mandarin oranges with slightly diluted oj and you've got a healthy Popsicles.....with no artificial sugars and NO high fructose corn syrup.....and it's super yummy! Just ask Audrey! I also made some banana peach smoothie ones. Also a big hit! These guys also allow me to say "yes!" to her pleas for Popsicles much more often! sporting pigtails and playing in our jammies....oh those eyes!

and doing a little Mother Daughter Matching for church! I made my skirt and Audrey's dress, and I must say, we do look cute together.:)

sprinkles

Audrey stopped eating yogurt for a little while. It's good for her though and I want her to eat it, so one day it dawned on me to make yogurt more fun for her to eat....I put a few sprinkles on it and she gobbled it down with delight!

Genius, right!? ha!:)

A few colorful sprinkles and she eats her yogurt and asks for more of it!

So....if your kid is resisting eating something they once loved or you really want them to get....try shakin' it up a little! :)

2 things she loves...

Audrey loves lots of things....but she really loves coloring............ and brocolli. :)

She loves having her chalkboard easel on the floor in the dining room. She can stop and draw anytime she wants.

She also loves helping me cut up fresh brocolli. She sits on the counter and I cut while she moves the florets to the bowl or pot. She makes sure to have a small :) nibble every so often. This particular "nibble" was rather large!

Also....how cute is her Panda shirt from the San Diego Zoo!? We were excited when GiGi and Grandpa brought it to her from California, as the San Diego Zoo was one of Patrick and I's favorite things we did on our honeymoon. It's also got a cute Panda tushy on the back.

Catching Up

It seems like life has been so busy lately, there has been so much Audrey news to report on, but so little time to do it!

Patrick is mowing/landscaping again, so after a long day of teaching and mowing for him, he's not home until well after dinner most nights; which leaves me with teaching all day, picking up Audrey, dog duty, making dinner, cleaning up dinner and the house from the morning rush and all the while corralling and entertaining an active toddler. I am loving the one on one time I am getting with her and we are falling into our slightly different routine.....but it leaves little time for blogging, or reading, or catching up with friends on the phone, or much of anything that doesn't involve my little side kick. Love that girl!

Except of course the occasional day Patrick gets to come home after school and the days Mom is here keeping Audrey....the days she's here, my house is spotless when I come home! Amazing, I know! She's awesome!

Audrey...who is approaching 17 months...what?, is now sitting and eating most meals in a booster seat at the table. She LOVES this! She feels like a big girl and to my surprise doesn't make any more of a mess than she already did in her highchair. She even asks to sit up there to play sometimes, and it's providing a safer place for her to color and play playdough. For a little while she insisted on standing on a dining room chair at the table to play with her dough and color. The booster is a much better solution! It's nice and soft, it's a COOSHIE booster seat and she seriously thinks she's hot stuff. :)

She has been coloring a lot lately, and as she does she has been telling Patrick and I what it is that she is drawing! Seriously! She's narrating her drawings, which, as an art teacher, for a 16 month old to be doing this....is pretty amazing! Many of her drawing are bird related.... which leads me to my next topic.....Audrey LOVES birds!

She has become an avid bird watcher and loves to talk about what they might be doing.

"Birdies fly outside" "Birdie eat" "Birdie sleeping" "See birdie ball outside" (we made a bird ball out of some small scrap fabric and felt I had. we hung it outside for the birds to get little colorful scrapes and soft pieces to add to their nests.:) ) "Audy (audrey) see birdie outside"

She loves to count and can count to 6! She does often skip four, and especially loves counting to 3. We also hear this a lot:

Me: "What comes after 3?"

Audrey: "GO!" :)

Too funny!

She's not thrilled with the sudden cold snap we are having and is begging to go outside and play. That taste of sunshine and nice weather grabbed ahold of her and she is ready for it to come back....Mommy too!

She is learning her ABC's a little at a time and loves to start the song "ABC..." then throw in a letter here and there as we sing, then she finishes up with "WXYZ".

She still loves Sesame street and has come to really like the Cat in the Hat cartoon that comes on PBS. She also loves all the Dr. Seuss and P.D. Eastman books. Especially Green Eggs and Ham and Are you my Mother?. We read those two over and over. Goodnight Moon holds steady as her night time favorite and she loves the page, "goodnight nobody, goodnight mush". She anticipates it coming and says..."nobody...noooooooobody! Mush!"

She is so funny and sweet and joyful. She is at times wishy washy and stubborn, but will then lay her head on my shoulder and rub her sweet little hand on my back and dissolve all frustration with one precious look.

15 months

Audrey was 15 months old yesterday!
At 15 months,out beautiful girl is talking up a storm! She has an extraordinary vocabulary and amazes us and leaves us laughing hysterically every single day with how smart and well spoken she is.

She has really started eating a lot lately and we are sort of wondering if maybe she's going through a growth spurt...or maybe she has a hollow leg. Either way the girl is loving food and is also loving pretty much anything and everything I make for dinner these days. It's a beautiful thing!:) She loved the homemade turkey pot pie I made on Saturday so much she walked around talking about it all day..."mmm pot pie" she said.:)

She is fearless when Mommy or Daddy are around and will do anything, including climbing up on tables, standing on her chair and sliding off the front (while standing)....with total confidence that we will catch her. I'm glad she knows we'll take care of her....but I gotta tell you, she makes me a little nervous.

She is so sweet to the dogs and we often hear her giving them directions...."go...go" (while swinging her arms, trying to coral Molly out of the kitchen or dining room). "say" (stay). "eh dow" (lay down) while pointing to their beds. She runs to them when we get home and lays her head on their backs and wraps her arms around them. They are equally excited to see her and determine if she has been anywhere with other dogs or food.

She is an all out Abby Cadabby and Elmo fan! She requests them daily and dances and claps as she watches. We are already making plans to attend Sesame Street Live! when they come to the salem civic center in December.

She has been dolling out lots of kisses lately and though I certainly get my share, her Daddy is the main recipient of her kisses. It's very sweet and he totally melts into a puddle on the floor.:)

She loves to play playdough and was very excited that I made her a batch of homemade Playdough over the weekend. She has a little playdough kit that I put together for her and she is great about putting all the playdough back in the container and placing all her tools back in their storage box when she's done playing. I included in her kit: a plastic pastry cutter, one of my cute cheese spreaders, plastic cookie cutters, stampers (which I made by hot gluing fat beads to the end of wine corks! works great! and it's a perfect size for her chubby little toddler hand!), there is also a sea shell, and a few other little things that she can push into the dough to make an impression. It's a big hit!


Two years ago exactly is when I got pregnant with Audrey. February of 2009 was a good month and every February since has been with out sweet little valentine!

A few random thoughts..

A few random things that I have been meaning to post about lately.......
I do have a ton of photos to share...but for now, just some words...


-Audrey is still loving to color. She chooses colors and scribbles away, making more and more lines each time she colors! She also loves taking all the crayons out of the box and then putting them all back in.

-She is also loving play-doh these days! Such fun!!! I try to make little pinch pots and coils and things to show her, but mostly she just squishes it...which is all part of the learning and exploring.

-I have the supplies for finger painting, but I haven't yet braved that! I'm not sure either of us are ready....maybe soon though!

-Audrey loves grapes!!! She could eat grapes all day, everyday. She also loves loves loves broccoli and green beans! She is starting to eat a lot more of what we eat for dinner, which is nice! She also loves cheerios with milk(my milk) in the morning for breakfast! It can sometimes be challenging to keep her meals interesting, for her, while still avoiding eggs and cows milk....they are in SO much!

-Audrey shakes her head No these days, and has a definite opinion....oh toddlerhood! She will even sometimes shake her head no (that she doesn't want another bite), while opening her mouth and eating it. We try to avoid power struggles, stick firm on the ones that are important to us, and let her win a few too.

-She knows several animal noises and makes that animals noise anytime she sees the animal in a book, or a toy animal or if she sees it outside. She really likes following the dogs around and barking; "woof woof", she says. Mom taught her to make a fish face, and it's too funny! She actually sucks her cheeks in and everything! Adorable!

-She has moved up to her new car seat! We bought her a really nice and super safe seat (we read a ton of reviews and safety listings, and decided on a Britax) and she is so thrilled with her new big girl seat! She is still rear facing, she's not quite 20 pounds, but we will likely keep her rear facing for a bit even after she hits that 20 lb. mark. The new recommendations are to keep toddlers rear facing as long as possible....they say it's just so much safer. She seems so comfy in her new seat and falls asleep in it often...it must be comfortable!:) And it has some really convenient luxuries for Mama, that make it very user friendly! Every little thing helps!

-Audrey loves her Little People nativity and talks to and about "baby sesa" (baby Jesus) all the time. And let me tell you...baby Jesus has seen all the nooks and cranies of our house, I find him everywhere (except in the manger). He even takes rides in Audrey's Little People Bus pretty frequently, along with the sheep from the nativity, a few peeps that belong on the bus, and generally another random toy or her shoes....all taking a joy ride around the house. You never know what you'll find in that bus....it's generally my go-to when I'm looking for something she had, but I can't find.

-We have taught Audrey what Santa says....and when you ask her, she'll smile so big and say "Ho Ho". LOVE IT!

-Audrey is such a little girl! She LOVES to wear hair bows and headbands especially! After we get dressed in the morning, she reaches for her bows, clips and headbands, and I generally let her pick one to wear. I'll put it on her and she'll go straight to the mirror to check herself out and smile so big. She pats her bow with pride, smiles at her reflection (outfit complete!) and goes to show Daddy. I'm not kidding....she really does all that! It's so funny! She woke up from her nap yesterday, and after hugging me, pointed to her bows, and when I took her over there, she picked the biggest green bowed headband and wore it around all afternoon. I could just eat her up!

Well, there is an Audrey update....pictures to come....she's getting so big and learning so much...she amazes us everyday!

Gourds are yummy

Audrey loves, I mean, LOVES pumpkin! The girl is all about it! Pureed pumpkin is her new favorite food. She likes it plain, she likes it with a dash of cinnamon, and she likes it blended with a little fork mashed butternut squash. We are gourdarific these days! :) I have some acorn squash I need to make soon and I'm hoping she'll like that too. Normally to make the acorn squash I just cut it in half, spoon out the seeds and bake the halves in the oven with a little brown sugar and butter. Sometimes I also add some chopped pecans....once it's done I just scoop out the tender pulp, discard the "shell" and we eat. I will probably do half with the pecans and half without...for Audrey.

Audrey also loves steamed brocolli florets. They are a great finger food for her and she eats a ton of them....and the best part, is they are a steam and eat food. They require very little work on my part!

Tiding you over

Since I still haven't uploaded the pictures I have been promising, I am sharing a few of Moms pictures......:) Audrey LOVES the dishwasher! She likes to "help" unload it. Such a silly girl! Hello Kitty Shirt!:)

Also...a homemade baby food update!

Audrey is eating like a champ! She has had several new foods and still loves her old favorites. The girl can down some avacado...she loves it!

She also loves black beans, which is great because they are easy for me, great protein for her, and wonderful practice for her little fingers. :)

Also! I bought her some soy yogurt to try, since she has the milk allergy, and she loved it! I bought the Whole Soy and Co. brand in peach and raspberry flavors. They are kind of pricey, for yogurt, but it's so good for her, it's worth it. Plus, one container is 2 servings for her, since I give her other foods with it. Yay!

So, none of that is "homemade", but they are all good things for my girl! I still make most of her meals and we don't(for the most part) give her jarred baby food. There is the exception of prunes. I have not gone to the trouble of rehydrating and pureeing and straining prunes! Geez! So I just buy her the baby food prunes....it's just prunes and water though. So...good enough for me:) It's too funny, because she actually really likes prunes, especialy mixed with applesauce.

Audrey is signing "all done" when she is finished eating, pretty regularly now. Occasionally she'll do her version of "more".

She has gobbled down most of the food I stocked up making before school starts, so I have been replenishing supplies a little at a time. She is eating far fewer food cubes though, and is starting to eat more and more finger foods. I still like to give her a few cubes at every meal though, no matter what finger foods she is eating because I feel like I have a better idea that way of what she's actually getting in her tummy. The finger foods are a little harder to measure since some go in her mouth and she swallows, some go in and come back out, some end up in her highchair seat under her rear, some on the floor and some smashed beyond recognition in her hand or on her tray. :)

A meal with an almost 11 month old.....is entertaining!:)

Stocking Up

As summer draws to an end...*tears*...I am trying to think ahead a little bit....at least as far as Audrey's homemade baby food is concerned.
We went to the grocery store last night and I stocked up on fresh fruits and veggies so that I can spend the next few days baking, steaming, mashing, pureeing, and freezing as much as I can for the coming months. Homemade baby food can be frozen for up to three months.

Have I mentioned my method for thawing and serving? If not...here it is:
In the morning, I decide what Audrey will have for lunch and dinner. If those things are frozen baby food cubes, normally her veggies for dinner are, I get them out of the freezer baggie, place them in a small dish, cover them with plastic wrap and place them in the fridge. By dinner they are thawed. For lunch she occasionally has a frozen food cube, but usually she has oatmeal with fresh bananas, applesauce, avacados, or something else I have fresh at the house. The frozen cube isn't always thawed by the time lunch rolls around, so sometimes I have to sit the bowl in a bowl of hot water, which works quick with a fruit especially.

Anyways, I will be doing my best to fill the freezer with staples that Audrey loves, so that I won't have to worry too much about making food the first several weeks of school. My kitchen is loaded down with sweet potatos, carrots...a HUGE bag of carrots, I should really be peeling instead of typing right now, peaches, squash, apples, bananas (i'm going to make more peach banana smoothie blend) and lots of other foods waiting on me to fix them up for my girl.

Blends We're Loving

So here are some blends I am making right now:
-Avacado and Applesauce. I am now buying jarred Applesauce for Audrey. I couldn't keep up with her and how much applesauce she wanted to eat. You have to buy the Natural Applesauce though...the rest has High Fructose Corn Syrup in it. Read the label! I just mash some fresh avacado, mix with some applesauce...the girl loves it!!!

-Squash and Carrots. I am pureeing and blending as well as steaming and cutting up for finger foods for her. They make a nice pair.

-Squash, Zucchini and Carrots. I had some left over shredded zucchini that I used to make zucchini bread (which is yummy but Audrey cannot yet have...whole eggs! no egg whites for babies!) and I mixed some of those in with pureed squash and mashed carrots. Colorful! and a nice texture too.

-You know about the banana peach blend. Audrey is loving that mixed with some oatmeal too. Yum!

We are experimenting with some other food blending and discovering some yummy flavors! Of course I taste too!:)

Toast and Beans

Audrey has really been rolling through foods lately and I am getting a little less fearful (is that the right word?...maybe nervous is better!) about giving her new foods. It's HARD! for me to give her things that I didn't make myself. Really hard for me! But....I gave her some whole grain oatmeal bread, toasted, the other day....she loved it. She gummed the heck out of it and clenched her little fist around it. She wasn't about to let go of it.
I am reading ingredient lists like crazy these days and really choosing carefully.

Audrey has also enjoyed black beans this week! I love love love black beans, and since I haven't given her meat yet, I thought the protein from the beans would be good. She likes them and they don't seem to bother her tummy. I read up on serving beans to baby and I went to the CoOp and got some organic black beans. I soaked them over night then put fresh water in the pot for cooking...this is suppose to help with cutting down on the gassy-ness beans can cause.

Audrey is also loving some cantaloupe these days! Those little bottom teeth are really helping with the munchin'!:)

Finger Food Fun

This is a fun stage of baby feeding too! Audrey really likes to feed herself and her coordination is getting really good. I started giving her pasta this week and she loves it. I boiled some elbow noodles (not al dente...more done than that!), drained them, then tossed them with just a little olive oil in the bowl so that they don't stick together. I still cut them in half for her before putting them on her tray. She can pick them up beautifully and chew/gum them. I am also giving her avacado now without fork mashing it. I'm just cubing it and she's able to pick it up and eat it with ease.

On that note.....Audrey has 2 adorable teeth now! Both her bottom teeth have popped through and she is so cute with those little pearls! :) She keeps flicking her tongue across them, getting used to feeling them in her mouth. It's crazy how big my girl is getting!

More Adventures in Baby Food!

Well, I attempted to introduce Audrey to yogurt yesterday.

NOT successful!

I have read several places that it's safe and healthy and even suggested that you introduce yogurt to your baby. Some people even do it as a first food....seems early to me, but whatever.

Anyway, I bought the Yobaby brand, which is special organic yogurt, just for babies.

Are you disappointed I didn't make my own!? I read about how to do it, looked at the picture instructions even, but decided that was not worth my time. And a lot of time it would have required...geez!

First of all, Audrey hated the taste of it, she gagged, made a funny face, closed her lips tight and turned her head....she wanted to make sure I knew she DID NOT want anymore of that.

So, I decided I would offer it to her again in a few days (they say sometimes you have to introduce foods up to ten times before a baby will decide they like it).

As I stirred some breastmilk into some oatmeal for her to have instead, she broke out in hives!

All over her chin and hands! Anywhere the yogurt touched!

Thankfully Daddy had just gotten home, so he took her bib off, undressed the girl and gave her some water from her sippy cup while I called the doctor and got a washcloth soapy to wash the offensive yogurt from her skin.

I left a message for the nurse, and we watched the her closely, and the hives went away within about 30 to 45 minutes, with no other type of reaction at all...

thank gosh!

The doctor says that she must have an allergy and to hold off giving her yogurt again until after her first birthday. I am considering holding off on all dairy until then....I had been thinking of giving her cheese soon, which is also suppose to be safe.

Unless your child is allergic and you don't know it, of course!

Lunch and a few tricks

I have started feeding Audrey solids at lunch now too and she and I are both enjoying it! It's nice to sit down with her and we both eat lunch, rather than me trying to eat lunch and between nursing time and play time. It always ended up that I ate my lunch while sitting in the floor with a little wiggle bug crawling all over me. That was ok too, but this is nice!:) She eats about a tablespoon of oatmeal (organic Earth's Best infant oatmeal) with some fruit in it. I've mashed banana in it a few days and mixed in her homemade applesauce other days. She still wants to nurse after she eats, which is good, because breastmilk is still suppose to be her main source of nutrition. She has started eating a little more at dinner too, finishing off at least two food cubes, a little finger food (diced cooked carrots, diced ripe banana, apple smash) and if she acts likes she's still hungry, I go back to the fridge and dish out another teaspoon of food for her and she eats it to. She's a growing girl! and it's no wonder she is hungry, she plays so hard all day long. The girl just doesn't quit. She is always moving in one way or another.

Speaking of moving...she now waves Bye Bye. It's this cute little arm flap followed by a wrist twist. She has done it in the past, but it's much more consistent now and she knows why she's waving....usually!:) I got her out of her crib today and she looked down into the crib at her bear and waved at him and said "byebyebye".

Audrey will kiss her baby too. I hold her baby to my face and give it a kiss and then hold it to her face and she kisses it too! It's really cute!

Our girl is full of tricks and is learning something new everyday it seems like. She has been very chatty lately....seems like I say that a lot....maybe she is just chatty all the time. That must be it!:) She just babbles away constantly and laughs and cackles when we tickle her. She is one silly little girl!

Audrey likes to take control of the spoon. She's pretty coordinated with it, but at times....it can get messy!

I made some baby food today and introduced a new food as well. I steamed summer squash, then pureed it in the food processor. Since squash is so seedy, I had to push it through a mesh strainer, but that worked great and it turned out really nice. I introduced it to Audrey for the first time and she loved it. She is so good about new tastes....although new textures throw her a bit, but she generally just rolls things with a different texture around on her tounge then spits them out. :)

I also steamed and pureed a bunch of organic carrots and she had those with her squash. She's had carrots before and likes them. I have a bunch of carrots to freeze into food cubes for later use.

The banana is in the picture because I usually give her a little slice of banana cut up to help her practice with finger food, and also to entertain her while I am getting her dinner ready while she sits in the high chair.

In food news...

I introduced no new foods this past weekend. I was planning on it, but Audrey was sick with a cold and wasn't too intersted in eating food anyway, she just wanted to nurse, so I figured it wasn't a good time to offer her something new.

But here's the low down on a few staples of Audrey's diet...
Avacados keep Audrey regular....very regular. And it's so smooth and creamy she always eats it. It's my go to food for her. I have frozen some cubes, but fresh is best!!!
Applesauce is yummy...but only when eaten off of Mommys finger. She really won't eat it off the spoon.
Peas are delicious....peas and carrots together....just ok.
Sweet potatos are the best food ever.
Rice cereal alone...blah....rice cereal with bananas.....oh yum!
Green beans...no thank you. I think it's the texture.

I am planning to give her a few new ones soon, including, pears, oatmeal and squash soon. If I have time I may attempt spinach....I say attempt, because I'm not sure how it will puree, so it will be an experiment. I will definetly be taking a little time this weekend to whip up those new foods, as well as replenish my stock of sweet potatos, peas, and applesauce. I got a new steaming basket at Target and it's working great. My food processor is doing a great job and I am loving the ice cube method of freezing. It makes it so convienient and easy to have little perfect protion cubes waiting in the freezer. I have been giving Audrey more than just two foods at dinner lately. For instance, last night she had a whole food cube of peas and carrots, a half a cube of applesauce and what was about a have a cubes worth of fresh mashed avacado. I think she likes the variety.
Her thighs are getting super chubby, which is proof that more food is getting in her mouth than on the highchair, bib, face, hair, up the nose, etc. Although, from looking at all those things....you would never know it!

Audrey is learning to use a sippy cup. She only gets water in it....no juice. She loves to drink out of our water glasses and water bottles and is actually pretty good at it. The girl may master a regular cup before she masters a sippy cup.

Baby food blend

Now that Audrey has sampled a serveral different foods, I am going to start combining a few once in a while when making them. Today I steamed, pureed, and strained peas and carrots together. The color is not nearly as pleasing as the peas alone, but they taste good and I think she will like them. This will give her a little something different to taste while providing her with two good for you veggies that she likes on their own. One bag of frozen peas and carrots makes an entire tray of cubes! I kept some out for the next couple days and froze the rest. She is having the peas and carrots tonight along with homemade applesauce. yum!

In food news.....

Audrey continues to love peas. I thought maybe the first time having them, when she loved them and gobbled them down, may have been a fluke, but so far, she is a pea lover.....Yay! I am hoping she continues to love food that is good for her, I am going to do my best to foster this love of healthy food!

Upcoming foods I plan to introduce to my girl...
-Apples
-Squash

Last night I served Audrey the last of the frozen sweet potato cubes, so I will be making more of that this week as well. I still have several other foods(veggies and fruits) to introduce, but then I will start introducing meats.....which to be honest, I am not looking forward to. The idea of mushy chicken is gross to me, but we'll see how it goes.

Perfect Pea Puree

I must say...I am getting good at this whole homemade baby food thing! I made Audrey peas last night and they turned out beautifully....perfect, smooth, creamy goodness. They are this lovely kelly green that makes me want to go out and buy a shirt in the exact color.

Audrey loved the peas! I wasn't sure she would, but she ate it all. Yum!:)

For anyone iterested, below is how I made the pea puree....if you're not interested, stop reading now:)

After steaming them, I took out a helping for myself and for Patrick onto our dinner plates (and added a tiny bit of salt to ours...none for Audreys), then immediately ran cold water over the rest of the freshly steamed peas. This helped the hulls detach from the centers. After dinner I drained them and stuck them in the food processor with a little splash of breastmilk and turned it on for a good minute. Then scraped the sides and turned it back on for another minute or so. I did this a few times before scraping the puree by spoonfuls into my fine mesh strainer (I love Pampered Chef!). I used a metal spoon to push the puree through, every once in a while scraping the bottom half of the strainer into the bowl below....that's the good stuff.

I scooped out tablespoons of my perfect pea puree into my ice cube tray, leaving one portion in a dish for Audrey for the next day and froze the rest. Cover, Freeze then remove to a freezer bag and label! Done!

We have had a full week and the weekend promises to be full as well. I have a bunch of pictures of Audrey to share from the week, and I will do that this weekend, most likely during nap time, while I am running around my house trying to get other things done as well....showering, cleaning, cooking for the week ahead...thank gosh my mom did all my laundry while she was at my house this week with Audrey! What would I do without her!?

Audrey has been enjoying her daily "solid" food meal and we have moved on from avacado (click on this link to read about why avacado is such a great first food for baby!) to green beans. I'm thinking maybe sweet potatos next....yum! I am going to try to make as much of her baby food as possible, and so far that is going well. I'm sure for some things I will just buy premade baby food, but I want to make as many fresh things for her as I can. That way I know exactly what is in them and exactly what I am putting in her. I've made a few batches to freeze, but I am reluctant to freeze too much at this point, because I want to be sure she doesn't have an allergy to the newest food before I make a ton of it. There is a ton of info. out there about homemade baby food if you are interested. I also have a great book that a friend has shared with me, The Super Baby Food Book. It's teriffic and has tons of info. and recipes. More on this later!

Patrick and I are going to the Martina McBride and Trace Atkins concert Sunday night. My parents will be watching Audrey and putting her to bed....I'm rather sad that I will miss putting her to sleep, that is one of my favorite times with her, and I have never missed it, but I will be there when she wakes in the middle of the night to nurse, and Patrick and I need a night out together. This should do us for another 5 months or so!:)