Starting Solids: Stage 1 Oven Roasted Bananas

Considering my obsession w/ banana sticker boobvertisement I felt that it was only fitting that little Ori's first solid food be bananas. And shush he's 5 months 3 weeks... I think that one week isn't going to make much a difference. That being said for the past month my dear youngest child has been fascinated by all things food; staring intently as people ate or chewed, reaching out and trying to grab said food or utensil, and sometimes managing to grab the a fore mentioned utensil which successfully led to food being tossed. Bottom line? He was ready. Which is something that I think is important; all babies are going to think the new experience is a little weird but you shouldn't have to force them into eating solids. For instance, Teijah, who is finally becoming an avid eater really didn't eat consistently till after he was one - he was indeed my little veal chop and would avoid solids at all costs.
Wait what was that? What about rice cereal? Well it turns out studies have been revealing that grains may not be the best things to start little people off on where digestion is concerned, a better choice for first foods may very well be easily digestible things such as fruits, orange veggies, or avocado(yum). So on to the bananas!

First (depending on how you currently choose to nourish your little one and how you are planning on storing your homemade baby food) you'll need to pump some booby milk.

Tah-dah! Did I mention my deep sympathy for cows? Ah, what was that, can you use frozen? No. No, you can't. More on that later.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Choose your banana *lol*
Of course I chose by sticker but you can choose however you would like.(Set sticker aside for later use.)
Next, cut your chosen banana into small uniform pieces. You can do them like this:
or this (but add five minutes or so to your cook time):
Then line a pan, (cookie sheet, cake pan, whatever) with aluminum foil *note to self: buy that non-stick aluminum foil for future baby food making endevours* You want to avoid greasing it, spraying it with Pam or anything like that because it's important that babies first food are simple and single ingredient to keep track of any allergic reactions. I suppose you could also eliminate the aluminum foil.. if you like to scrub dishes but I myself am bad at hate to clean so I try to simplify the mess and as a bonus aluminum foil is recyclable.
Place bananas in a single layer on foil.
place pan in oven *duh* and cook for 15-20 minutes. Get out trusty mini food chopper/processor thing. I got this Chef Mate one at for $9.99 at Target.
I'm not sure how great it will be at grinding up grains and legumes later on in our baby food making adventure but it certainly does the job for now.Place slightly ugly bananas into mini chopper.
Remove aluminum foil from pan, roll into a ball, and toss it into your recycling bin/basket/whatever... just recycle.
*A note about roasting: Roasting does not always render the prettiest fruits and veggies but it does concentrate their flavours (i.e bananas are banana-ier, sweet potatoes- you get my point)and make them extra yummy without added salt or sugar - or anything really, and you get all this with minimal alteration of the nutritional value of said foods.Blend banana into a smooth puree. Now here's were you start to have options. Here's what I did this time: Add a couple of ounces of booby milk to thin out bananas to an easy to swallow consistency.
Decide you don't want to add anymore booby milk, i.e: liquid gold into these stupid bananas and decide to thin out the bananas more later. Then place roasted bananas con booby leche into reuseable single serving sized containers I did 2 TBSP per container.

Place extra servings and booby milk safely in you refrigerator.

Place reserved banana sticker on babies head in commemoration of this momentous occasion.

Take bad picture with camera in one hand and baby food container and spoon in the other but love it anyway because it's documentation of your baby's first bite.

Offer baby water every few sips to help him wash down his yummy bananas.

When baby decides he (or she) is done clean him (or her) up and let them experiment with there newest feeding tool.

Yes, I do ♥ the colour orange. Now sometimes new experiances can be alarming, even for the most ready babies.

I imagine they may even worry if they will ever have their booby again. So it's important to comfort them, reassure them, and even offer them a booby.

After all that work baby may even take a nap, giving you a break to, you know, clean up after all the other children who probably had a cereal fight when you were having your booby time with your youngest.

*About breast milk: Now these bananas definitely need something to thin them out. Breast milk storage guidelines still apply so if you use frozen breast milk you can not freeze the bananas baby food cube style, and if you use fresh breast milk keep in mind that microwaving or cooking the bananas pretty much kills all the extra benefits the breast milk adds so if you plan on making large batches and freezing you'll have to defrost the bananas under running warm water (just like breast milk). For more information on this and pretty much anything else you want to know about making your own baby food visit my new favourite website: wholesomebabyfood.com

Tah-dah

guess who is sitting?
I suppose he was the only guess...


I was actually going to post this the other day but Mckmama beat me with a similar post, Little Mckmuffin is also a proud sitter. *ahem* of course she does not have to borrow a stingy persons laptop.


He's been able to balance himself like this for about a week and a half or so. But of course (as babies who are in a hurry to be BIG often do) he one-uped himself today and figured out how to sit up all on his own! Very exciting and at the same time very troublesome! All this scooting around mobile independence (+ my stupid tile floors) means that we have entered the era of the Ori boo - boos.Dun DuN DUN!

Not Me Monday Thursday!

Yes, My Love apparently did not learn to share as a child; and yes, he is addicted to Myspace Poker and Mobsters; and yes, he certainly thinks that his playing them is much more important then my blogging. (Even if it is my only outlet since I never get to talk to real grown ups. Ever.


Now that I've got that out of the way welcome to my much belated Not Me Monday Post! This Bright Shiny (*note to self: stop it shiny does not have an e*) Blog carnival is hosted by our fearless leader the magnificent MckMama, *giggles* who is actually taking the week off. No worries though you can go here to see all MckMama's Not Me Monday Post ever, or you can head over to Mama4Real's blog to see what she has not been doing this last week. Or you can do both and make with the comment love.

I do not have a deep sympathy for cows so when I realized that the heavy whipping cream and the milk were slightly passed their date almost expired I did not make whipped cream and serve it on everything that day from french toast to bananas, and I certainly did not contemplate serving it as a dip for PB&J's (I was not trying to figure out a way to work it into dinner either.) until My Love said he would eat the rest which deprived rescued the children from being forced to eat whipped cream with every meal. I did not buy Hershey's chocolate syrup the day before and then only allow the children to drink chocolate milk in order to save the cow's milk from being wasted.


A few months ago when I discovered a weird manly strength B.O. under "little" Ori's left arm I did not affectionately start referring to him as baby stink pit. I am however, happy to report that baby stink pit Ori seems to be loosing his very random case of man stink and we will not be needing to research gentle deodorants to help him avoid being "the stinky kid"

And I would never put my boys in head bands... nope not me!

MisAdventures in Cloth Diapering

Ha Ha! I finally got my hands on my loves laptop! Trust me it is a great accomplishment... he is so computer stingy. Seriously when my laptop wasn't broken and his was he had mine constantly. *grins* okay moving on..

(from 5.21.09)So over the course of the last month I have become completely disgusted with disposable diapers and pretty much everything about them; the way they leak, they way breast milk poo gets on his clothes, my clothes, my bed, my arm, and pretty much anything he's sitting on when he decides to "poo sideways" or get excited and frantically waves his arms and legs - which happens often and is usually followed by something else I'm so over: the way he pukes when he gets excited which (I will say again) is often, but that's a different story for a different day.
I also hate the way that all these disgusting, unattractive, disposable diapers seem to get randomly scattered around my house... (usually Teijah is the culprit. He is still in a diaper at nap and bedtimes and tends to take them off and toss them where ever he happens to be standing when he remembers diapers are gross and for babies and he does not want to or should not be wearing one because he is a big boy.) and how when I am working they seem to pile themselves on my side of the bed. I seriously fantasize about exacting my revenge by stuffing My Loves pillow case with a days worth of diapers... but then I remember he sleeps next to me. The whole thing just baffles me because he's so ridiculously neat and tidy when it comes to everything else... which makes me think that perhaps he's doing it on purpose to make some point about something..
So after a ridiculous amount of obsessive research and then settling for "cheaper" fabrics, much more obsessive research, and a slightly embarrassing Paypal mishap; our brand spanking new cloth diaper stash is in route to our sweet little boys deserving bottoms. Personally I can't wait for my diaper stacker to be full of bright, shiny (ok so they aren't shiny), colourful cloth! *heh* and if they get left around the house I know a few boys that are going to be wearing them on their heads.

Yay!

In exactly one month from today my real classes start! To clarify; by real I mean face to face as oppoosed to online - which is how I have been attending college since baby #2. Of course my schedule still has to work around My Love's so I have one "coffee class" (Psychology) on Monday's, Tuesday's, Wednesday's, and Thursday's from 8:30 a.m. (*gasps* hence the "coffee class") to 10 and then one night class (Nutrition, which I totally &hearts) on Tuesday's and Thursday's from 5:30 p.m. to 8:40. *lol* Just in case you were curious! ;p I will certainly not be seen serial blogging on said days and times... Not even from my iPod - like I am now.

Banana Sticker Boobvertisement

These two have seriously got to be my favourite so far!












*lol* the best!
In other news, He seems to be turning my predicament and my coffee induced dilemma around quite quickly. My Love's dad came today to drop off our fourth (well technically My Love's third and my adopted) and when hearing of my educational woes; told My Love to just use some of the money he owed him from his financial aid to pay for my minimum 6 credit so I will be attending the summer B semester despite the fact I've been McFired. Thank you Jesus, God, Bruce and everyone in between. Awesome.
I have also decided (due to said coffee induced dilemma) that I am officially pledging my allegiance to Starbuck's.. who cares if it costs more... McCafe can bite me. Hm I wonder if they will give me a part time, only on the weekends, break for pumping job... *lol* Maybe I should aim higher, but they do give you a monthly *free* pound of coffee of your choice allowance... and apparently I like coffee so much I'm willing to get fired for it. Just kidding.

hey look what i can do!

:)*lol* before taking this picture I told him "okay baby we only have one picture left so you have to make it count!" and this is what he gave me. Awesome.

because it makes everything better...

and apparently also births fairies :)and *lol* that is not a headband... and even if it was it's a boys headband... I swear.

Oh fudgesicle sticks...

*heh* that's how my mother used to avoid swearing... because she didn't until she got around all of us - teenage potty mouths because that kind of thing seems to be contagious... I feel I should also add that she rarely does - but if she does you know someone has really pissed her off. Anyway, this is not a post about my saintly mother. It is just one of those times where swearing really is called for - except I'm quitting so fudgesicle sticks are in high order.
One hour and forty-five minutes ago I was (in front of all three of my lovely children) fired from the McJob that I was over qualified for but is nonetheless the job I go to when pregnant and/or breast feeding because it is one of the only jobs a person can go to with very picky availability and still get hired on the spot. The McJob that I was only keeping until I was done with school, and the McJob overqualified me could have never gotten fired from... well apparently that is not the case.
So what was it that unfirable, over qualified me did that rendered the unthinkable firing?
I grabbed a couple of coupons... you know the free promotional coupons, those ones where every time you buy a coffee you get a stamp and when you get so many stamps you get a free coffee (yes coffee I am rarely seen eating at said McJob in my free time)well apparently I was "seen at 'other McJob location' using" said coupon. And apparently taking free promotional coupons is considered theft, and as of today I am considered fired.
I do not deny grabbing said coupons, but I do not feel that I stole from anyone... I think that the whole thing is a little screwy and obviously I would not have taken said coupons if I had ever thought that it would be viewed as theft... because stealing is wrong, it's one of the ten commandments - that's how wrong it is... even God says it's bad.
So, I called the McFranchise office to ask if what I had done was in fact stealing, because as far as I was concerned it was not and I would at least like to know if what I did was actually wrong. The McStoreSupervivior is supposed to be calling me back because the receptionist had no idea how to answer my frantic questioning.
How hard is it for a person that has been marked with the scarlet F to get a job? I mean seriously in this economy? Someone who can only work certain hours, someone that needs breaks to pump... fudgesicle sticks.
I have been feeling very stuck and unfulfilled lately, not to mention the whole completely unaware of my purpose in life and what I want to be when I grow up thing... I have also been praying for some insight or relief from it all - that God would do what was necessary to put me on the right path, that I would have the strength to let him...
Is that what this is?
Seriously God?
So I have decided to take this opportunity to seek out another job, one that is not the easy way out... one that could perhaps show me what I am being called to do. Hopefully it pans out soon because with this whole firing thing added to this things are really going to be ridiculously tight around here. *heh* but I guess now I definitely have time to clean the house...

Enter: Sippy Cup

Ori &hearts's Water!
I loved how he kept utilizing his feet to get the cup to his mouth. I was also terribly ecstatic when I found this Avent Magic Trainer cup that was orange and had chickens on it! He's been staring down anyone and anything that has to do with eating, or drinking... he's obsessed with it! He still has another month before he'll get to try any "real" food but seemed pretty pleased to finally get to try some of what everyone else has been getting!

Not me Monday!

Alright kids it that time again! Not me Monday!, the fantabulous shame-free confession platform blog carnival orchestrated by the equally fantabulous MckMama. Take a moment while not hiding from your children in the bathroom and check out her blog to see what everyone else has not been doing.
My wonderful children have not been having day time slumber parties in the living room all week.

It did not start because the older children wanted to be like the baby.

The event did not lead to far too many hours of said wonderful children zoning out in front of the tv.

And no, those are not chips crunched under my couch. Chips were not the only food Teijah would eat dump out, dance on, and then spread all over my floor all week.

Despite what you may have heard, I do not base which bunch of bananas to buy on which bunch has the best sticker to advertise booby milk, as opposed to which one has the best bananas. (I do not sometimes switch stickers.) And I certainly would not upon eating perfectly stickered banana, place sticker strategically on (tastefully) exposed booby to advertise.

:)
Some of my favourties have not been: Tastes best fresh & I'm full of vitamins.

So, I suck at life... apparently.

Well something like that. It appears (without so much as an email notifying me.. bastards) my appeal for FA was denied... so I am officially (temporarily) not a student. The difficulties that come along with child baring, rearing, and really just about anything God made women for are not good enough reasons to completely fail classes... but ADD will be. Hopefully I'll secure a diagnoses in the next week or so. I have not exactly decided how I feel about taking amphetamines while nursing, or how I would feel about kicking the baby off the boob at exactly 1 year so I can take drugs; but I do know that I can't just not go to school, keep working at my crappy job, or really just keep sucking at life. So I'll pay for summer B, and then hopefully I'll have a diagnosis and get my full FA back for fall... maybe I'll get lucky and get reimbursed for the courses I paid for but I doubt it.
I'm going to try to get a joint appointment and have Rory evaluated as well - no amphetamines for her though, we'll try the natural methods first.

let the logs fall where they may....

Breaking news... or something like that.
Moments ago I noticed that The Boy was lost (most likely in my room) for much too long. I jumped up and darted into my bedroom, sure he was there. I had only recently got The Baby to sleep, or really I should say finally; he's been doing this annoying fighting sleep thing which is understandable, I mean seriously he can finally do something besides just lay there. Knowing that The Boy likes to climb up The Baby's crib and do other uncalled for things, there was certainly need for me to be in a hurry. I quickly scanned my room, the crib, the swing... no boy. Ah, but then I was greeted by a all too familiar smell; I rushed through my hall way to my bathroom and there it was. I prepared my self to go through the usual routine when my missing son reemerged in his usual two year old naked glory. He strutted out of the toilet room with a square of toilet paper in hand, then before I could say anything he marched over and using said square of toilet paper; picked up his recently deposited log and then ran back to the toilet where he then tossed his poo and flushed it down. The he simply said, "Ew Mom", and... well what do you do when something like that happens? I laughed, made sure butts were wiped and then a good hand washing... no scolding though - it just wouldn't have been effective with all the laughing that was happening.
It was nice, for once, to not be the only poop picker-uper, but I have to wonder how much more poo I'm going to have to endure.

Not me Monday!

Well it's come that retched time of the week again my work weekend is over, My Love goes back to school... and I never got to sleep in. Ah, but Monday also brings Not me Monday!, a spectacular blog carnival, composed by the truly amazing MckMama. Take a break - or at least pretend you are while juggling children and stop in to her blog to see what she, and everyone else has not been doing!


I absolutely could not have been spotted at 4:45 a.m, sitting in the dark, compulsively window shopping Etsy, and completely throwing disregard to my lactose intolerance (and the fact My Love sleep with his head under the covers) as I shoveled ate birthday cake ice cream out of the carton... I'm also not currently finishing off said carton of ice cream.

And,
Of course, since I was not up so late last night I wasn't completely caught off guard when My Love was up bright and early because apparently his class started this morning, and I was not going to be able to sleep in - who needs to sleep in when you go to bed on time, right?

Luckily I was not absolutely exhausted when I laid down with the baby to share some booby and put him down for his morning nap. The girl did not keep constantly intrude, every time we the baby started to fall asleep, waking us him up, and making me - who was of course absolutely alert - lay down much longer then necessary. She is after all banned and knows better then to disturb the baby nap time process. Since there was not an exhausted mommy that was forced to lay down way too long, there certainly was also not a mommy that completely passed out leaving the boy and girl to run a muck through out the house.


Of course I was absolutely awake and doing school work, like I was supposed to be so I was not awakened by the boy rummaging through my room (as he often does) for whatever goodies he could find. I also had no idea the found one of the many packs of gum (and anything else kids shouldn't have) that My Love seems to like to leave in the reach of little hands. Since I was studying I could not have seen him take said pack of gum and decided that I was too tired to care and or chase him and that the girls complaining that he had gum and she didn't would be easier to deal with then chasing him down and listening to him scream "hey" repeatedly at an some un-recordable decibel.

And, since I was never sleeping, I didn't finally get up - not to end the gum battle, but to feed the children lunch so I could put them to sleep. I do not &hearts naptime.

Want to join in on MckMama's Not Me Monday blog carnival? Go here for rules and details and then you can be Not Me-ing too!

Well it's product placement time!

Well not really - but kind of. Let me just say that I &hearts Garden Fresh Gourmet. They make my absolute favourite (other than my own of course, but it's a close match) salsa. This little company managed to become "America's #1 Award Winning Fresh Salsa" despite the fact their product is only available at a few stores. Their stuff really is amazing! They have a special delivery system to make sure the product gets to retailers as fresh as possible and (as the website boasts) Annette and Jack are still making the salsa in 5 gallon buckets and only using the freshest ingredients... really you should check them out. So I'll get to the point of all this free advertisement: Like I said, Garden Fresh Gourmet has fairly exclusive availability so when My Love forced me to go to the store even though I had to be at work in less than an hour sent me to the store to get a few things I was happily surprised when I saw their salsa hanging out with the cottage cheese. Being highly distractable I stopped for a minute to contemplate why the salsa was fraternizing with the cottage cheese, it's normal home is usually in the produce section... usually next to my favourite hummus (okay the only hummus I deem fit for eating because i don't make my own - yet) What was the salsa doing here and in such questionable company... seriously cottage cheese? Then I realized people were staring at me snapped out of it and noticed that not only did Target now carry said salsa but they also carried a few other Garden Fresh Gourmet products. I quickly decided to steer clear of anything with mayo and decided guacamole was the way to go and man was I pleased! It was super yummy and fresh, and made from simple natural ingredients like I had just made it myself: Hass avocados, tomato, onion, cilantro, salt, and garlic. It was pure avocado bliss! I do recommend eating it within the first day it seems like as soon as you taking it out of it's special stay fresh bag it starts going down hill. :) But that's all the more reason to sit and finish it off in one sitting... sharing of course.

Not me Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama, one of the few mamas who's blogs I have been obsessing over following lately. You can visit her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Let the carnival begin! *lol*

I will start by making it perfectly clear that when "that woman" stared at my stomach this weekend I did not contemplate voluntary anorexia, just so I could be skinny and then stare at her stomach and ask when she was going to loose the weight, and I absolutely did not think it would be much funnier if I (instead of starving myself) just blurted out "yes, I am pregnant again" (even though it would be a lie) just to get a reaction out of her.

I also did not blow a whole semester of school... and upon finishing said semester I did not receive an email letting me know that I was not being put on probation (like i had thought) instead I was completely losing my financial aid and that unless I appeal before the next semester I plan on attending... (that one I'm registered for already that starts Wednesday) I will be required to pay back the full amount I received for the last semester...

I most certainly did not go to the store to make a nice healthy fresh dinner for the children and me, only to come home and decide cake and ice cream would be fine, and of course I would never eat half a mini lemon creme cake all by myself...

I am not currently - or never will I be plotting to make my children cry and plead: "please let mommy go to school" when we go to my college for absolutely no reason tomorrow, and I am not planning on going to sleep early just so I can avoid telling My Love about the absolutely nothing that is going on with my financial aid, and I am of course not in constant silent prayer that it will all work out.

I have also never had to clean up poop.... three times in one day that was completely filled with Styrofoam balls (and I didn't misspell Styrofoam 10 times)and I would never get down on all fours to inspect said "seedy poop" upon it's first deposit. It also would not take me until the last poo clean up to realize that it was not in fact pepper seeds and that it was the result of a certain little man who shall remain nameless - Teijah, chewing - or apparently eating Styrofoam. After not cleaning up this nonexistent poo I did not go on a rant about how dogs poo around the house and chew everything up - not little boys and I don't like dogs in my house, and I did not secretly think the Styrofoam poop was hilarious, because that would just be wrong...