Baby Food...The Homemade Kind

For some reason I love making baby food! I made all of Cole's food when he was a baby and I plan to make most of Lily's as well. I say most because one problem we ran in to with Cole was that he refused to eat store bought baby food and that made traveling tough. We had to take a cooler full of ice with us to Kansas City one weekend and it was a huge hassle. Anyway...I love it. It is so easy, and cheap and most importantly healthy. I was going to start Lily Kate on sweet potatoes but Cole really wanted her to try carrots first so I went with that. If you have a baby and you have never done this I suggest you try it. As she gets older and the meals become more complex it does take some time but these stage 1 foods are so simple! Needless to say she loved the carrots! She made a few funny faces right at first but soon caught on that they were yummy and ate them up! Cole still loves to help us feed her and loves that she sits next to him to eat. She is now eating 3 meals a day. Oatmeal for breakfast, carrots for lunch and carrots and oatmeal for dinner. Along with that she is drinking about 24-26 oz of formula a day. I'd say she is doing great!!! This is such a fun stage and I am so excited to try every new food with her. Thursday = sweet potatoes and then so on. Cole has a list made up in his head so if you are ever curious what Lily will be eating next just ask him :).

Morning Smiles

My cup runneth over with love for these two little sweethearts! Have a great day!

"No Cavities!!! Wait, What?"

awesome and huge fish tank

movie room

video game station

toddler games

Today marked a first for my Cole....his first trip to the dentist! Let me tell you, we both had a total blast! My dad is a dentist and although I grew up in a dentist office Cole had no idea what we were going to do today. I made Cole an appointment at a pediatric dental office in our area and Rhonald and I have been talking it up ever since. I was nervous that he would be afraid but as soon as we walked in I knew I had nothing to worry about. The waiting room was filled with cool things to do and things to take their minds off of being at the dentist. While we waited Cole looked at the fish, watched Scooby Doo and played video games with some bigger boys. When his name was called he was so excited!!! Miss Whitney took us back to the X ray area and was so sweet and fun that Cole jumped up and let her take X rays of his teeth with no problem. Next she polished them, flossed them and put fluoride on them. Cole was amazing. He loved that there was a sign with his name on it at his seat. The only thing that he was not too sure about was laying on the table but Miss Whitney let him sit up and play with all of her tools and warm up to the place and then he was fine. There was a TV above his chair and he got to wear headphones and watch Toy Story 3 the entire time. It was so cool! Then Dr. Jerry came over and counted Cole's teeth and talked with me about some things and still Cole watched his show. It was so cute - when Dr. Jerry told Cole that he did not have any cavities Cole was super excited and said, "No cavities! yeah! Wait, what are cavities?" After we all had a good laugh Dr. Jerry explained it to Cole and then he bragged about it to everyone! He was beyond thrilled to get a Diego toothbrush but declined the Spongebob toothpaste since he is not allowed to watch that show. That's my boy! He had such a great experience that he is already excited to go back! Thank goodness for places like that...it made both of us feel at ease.

Young Love???

We got to spend some fun time with the Stearle boys last week. While Jackson and Cole were busy playing trains, Lily Kate and Ethan were busy getting to know each other. Ethan is 8 months old and loved crawling over to Lily. She loved him just as much. It was so super cute to watch!!! I feel so blessed to have so many friends with kids that are both Cole's age and Lily"s age. It makes play dates all the more fun.

Food, Glorious Food!

We let our sweet little lady have her first taste of baby food tonight and I think it is obvious from the pictures that she loved it! We started with baby oatmeal because Cole always had a hard time with rice cereal. She was so funny. We thought it would take a long time for her to get the hang of it but she learned very quickly and ended up eating quite a bit. As you can see from her face she enjoyed every second of it. At first she did not know what to think but once she had a few practice bites she started reaching for the spoon and opening her mouth. She madea big mess of course but that is all part of the fun! Cole made the whole experience though - he was jumping up and down next to her swing chanting "go Lily go!" the entire time she ate! He was so excited for her. Before we started he told her," Lily, you are really going to like eating food. It is just as good as milk!" He loved that he got to pick out her spoon and bowl too. I was kind of dreading this milestone because it makes Lily Kate seem like such a big girl but after tonight I am excited about it. I can't wait to see what she thinks of "real" food since she enjoyed this so much. I made all of Cole's baby food and I plan to do the same with Lily. I am even excited about that. After she was done eating I let her stay in her swing and she was so totally relaxed. Rhonald and Cole were playing and watching the NCAA basketball tournament and Lily was just zoned out happy as can be. Sweet girl - she is such a joy!

8 Years

"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for you, I always pray with joy." ---Philippians 1:3-4

Rhonald and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary last Tuesday. I cannot believe it has been 8 years! We had a wonderful dinner out - you know, the childless kind that lasts for 2 hours and you get to talk about grown up things and take your time. It was so much fun - we actually spent most of our dinner remembering the past 8 years. We laughed and laughed over memories that had not been thought about in a long time. It was such a great night of reconnecting. I am so blessed with such an amazing and loving husband. We have gone through a lot this year - moving, job changes, a new baby and through it all we have laughed together and grown closer to one another. It truly is an honor to be Mrs. Rhonald Searcy!

It's 5:00 Somewhere

I saw this cute idea for a post on another blog - what does your house look like at 5:00 on any given day? Well, I am usually just starting dinner about that time and I usually have my 2 helpers in the kitchen with me. Yesterday Cole was busy building towers and other things with his Lego's and Lily Kate was busy chewing on various toys. We were listening to Pandora and singing along with the songs that we knew. It was perfect! So...what happens at your house around 5:00?