Baby Led Weaning

Well, we just got back from a week long vacation that included visits with lots of family members.  One of our stops was to Justin's sister's (Sarissa) home in Minneapolis, where we learned about "Baby Led Weaning" since she has chosen this method for her son Gavin.

Claire & Gavin

Basically, in this sense, the term weaning means "adding complimentary foods" and letting the baby, starting at 6 months, feed themselves appropriate sized foods...no more mush!  We loved the idea right away, since healthy eating/natural eating is very important to us.  With Ethan, if I didn't make the baby food myself, then we were buying the all-natural, organic stuff...which is expensive.  With this new method, Claire gets to eat what we eat.  While we were visiting Sarissa, we let Claire eat avocado, kiwi, watermelon, bread, lettuce, pulled pork and since then, she's had sweet potato and more.  Basically we cut everything into "sticks" that look like a french fry.  This way she can hold them all by herself and either eat or just suck on the food.  I wish we'd discovered this with Ethan!  We love being able to feed her fresh fruits and veggies straight from our garden, and there's a sense of relief in knowing what she's actually eating.  

eating kiwi

eating sourdough bread

eating sweet potato

                                               

Sarissa told us that her 8 month old has already had pears, with the skin on (apparently they will work off the skin and spit it out), tomato, onion, sweet potato, peppers, steak, etc.  The research on it says that a baby's gag reflex is up higher in the mouth than a normal child or adult, so if there is a problem, they will gag and spit the food out well before a child or adult would.   Here are some great links for more information on it....

http://www.babyledweaning.com/

http://community.babycenter.com/groups/a351935/baby-led_weaning

  

Thirsty Thursday ....creamy summer dream smoothie

1/2 a mango chopped & frozen
1 heaping handful strawberries (frozen)
1 banana sliced & frozen
2 Activia peach yogurts

Place all ingredients & blend until smooth...if too thick add a splash of apple juice to the blender.

Friday Family Faves...Butternut Squash-Carrot Soup

Ingredients:
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4c diced onion
1 butternut squash
1 c. peeled & sliced carrots (~5 large carrots)
2 chicken bullion cubes
3 c. water
Light sour cream (optional)


Using potato peeler, peel your butternut squash, clean out seeds, and roughly chop (larger pieces will prolong cooking time), Set aside.  Peel & slice 1 cup carrots and set aside.

In large pot, sautee onion & garlic in olive oil on medium heat for ~2 min, stirring occasionally.  Add squash, carrots, chicken bullion cubes, and water.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Drop heat & simmer until squash & carrots are tender.  Pour or laddle into food processor or blender and puree until smooth.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream.  Enjoy it chilled in the summer, and serve hot in the fall and winter.

Celebrating Fatherhood

We kicked off Father's Day Weekend with....DATE NIGHT!!!!  We were so grateful that our friends offered to watch both our kiddos so we could spend some quality time together.  Justin decided he just wanted a low-key night at home, so after a nice quiet dinner at Arnie's we hit up a local redbox and watched a movie on our couch...just the 2 of us.  It was wonderful!  Sunday, we made Justin breakfast in bed....bacon waffles with a side of...well, bacon :)  The perfect Dad breakfast.  Justin then opened gifts and we headed to church.  That night I made him a homemade strawberry pie with our fresh picked strawberries and Justin used his new Weber grill fish basket that Ethan got him for Father's day, to grill us some delicious lemon dill (from our herb garden) grilled fish.  Then we had our traditional Family Home Evening that included family puzzle time and strawberry pie.  We followed that up with some "steamroller daddy", "ride the daddy horse", and "climbing the daddy hill"...well Ethan did anyway, while Claire and I just laughed at their silliness.  What better way to spend Father's Day, than being silly with your kids.  We topped the night off with family snuggles while watching Harry Potter in Mom and Dad's room per Ethan's request ("Snuggle, watch Harry Potter" is what he says.  So sweet.  Don't worry we skip the scarier parts).  All and all, a great way to celebrate what an amazing Father Justin is.  I amazed daily at his ability to work so hard on so little sleep, without complaint, and still manage to spend quality time with his family...especially silly playtime with Ethan.  I am so grateful for him, everyday.  I'm grateful that he puts his family first, I'm grateful that he's willing to sacrifice "nice things" so I can be at home raising our children, I am grateful for what an amazing Father he is...I know Justin truly understand the divine, eternal calling of Fatherhood!   XoxoXoxo

"We hold in our arms the rising generation. They come to this earth with important responsibilities and great spiritual capacities. We cannot be casual in how we prepare them. Our challenge as parents and teachers is not to create a spiritual core in their souls but rather to fan the flame of their spiritual core already aglow with the fire of their premortal faith."

~Neil L. Andersen 

Bacon Waffles with a side of bacon for breakfast in bed...I made them with  wheat flour and canola oil at least :)

Opening presents...Justin's only half awake & can't really see yet, but he really did like his gifts :)

Ethan enjoying the Father's Day card he picked out for Daddy.

Getting Ethan ready for church.

Claire, helping out in her Johnny Jump up

Ethan "helping" Mommy make Daddy's strawberry pie.

Justin using his new fish basket from Ethan and his new  grill tool holder from Claire.

Family Snuggles, watching Harry Potter.

Friday Family Faves...BBQ Chicken Pizza

We love to make our own Pizza at the Peterson's.  It's one of those activities that gets the entire family involved, especially the kiddos.  Here is one of our favorite pizzas to make and eat....BBQ Chicken Pizza.

The Dough

    We love to make our own dough, but you can choose to buy your dough, or crust, or make it from scratch.  I use this Bread Machine Pizza Dough recipe I found on "Allrecipes.com" 

7/8 c warm water

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp white sugar

3/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 c flour

2tsp active dry yeast

Add ingredients to bread machine, in order suggested by manufacturer.  Set to dough cycle.  When finished, spread dough over greased pan (sometimes we'll thrown a little cornmeal down before putting the dough on the pan).  After topping with favorite sauce and toppings back 15-20 min in 400 degree oven.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

1.  Cook 5-6 thawed chicken tenderloins in a skillet that has been drizzled with olive oil.  Add 1 tbsp minced garlic.   Cook thoroughly.  After cooling slightly, cut chicken into bite-sized pieces.

2.  Spread prepared pizza dough on greased pizza pan.  Top with 1/4 c. Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce and spread evenly.  If you prefer more sauce, then don't be shy.

3.  Top with chicken

4.  Cover with 1 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese (use more or less depending on your preferences).  Sometimes we'll use Italian blend cheese or a mix of the two...if we're feeling really crazy, we'll even use cheddar cheese.

5.  Bake according to your crust.  If you use the previous bread machine crust, then it's 15-20 minutes on 400 degrees.

Life or Something Like it

Ethan...

We finally got Ethan his big boy bedding.  He loves it...now he's excited to go to bed because he wants to lay in his "Thomas Bed"

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Ethan put these sandal feet on his Potato-head and said "Look!  It's Jesus!"  Justin and I burst into laughter.  Funny what kids pick up on....no one ever told Ethan that Jesus wore sandals.  But, our family home evenings this year are centered around pictures of Jesus to make the lessons age-appropriate, so we'll show him a picture of the Savior and tell him a story about that picture, apparently he's started noticing every picture he's wearing sandals.

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Having a backyard picnic

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The son of a friend of ours decided he wanted Ethan to have his old bike!  So they walked it over to the house the other day.  Ethan LOVES it!  We let him ride it in the house, neighborhood, and just to get the mail.  He's finally figuring out how to peddle by himself...such a big boy!

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Claire... 

Her 5 month photo

Hanging out in Ethan's bed 

Hanging with Zeddie

Eating cereal for dinner...I turned to help Ethan with his dinner, when I turned back she had grabbed her spoon and was feeding herself!

We start them early in this house :)

The Results

Ethan's MRI results showed the spot on his nose is actually a cyst.  We'll be meeting with a surgeon as recommended by the dermatologist to discuss a possible surgery.  Obviously we don't want Ethan to have a surgery if it is unnecessary, so right now we're in the process of gathering more information and lots of prayer....as my step-sister would say "praying for wisdom and discernment".  Since the Dermatolgist had her PA call us with the results and not herself (telling us it's a cyst and they're scheduling us an appointment with the surgeon with little to no explanaition of what that actually means), we're still a little confused on necessasity of a suregry.  Extra prayers are definitely appreciated!