Carter's cookies:

Okay I love baking and hate buying teething buscuits for Carter, these are more like cookies, a bit blan but are delicious in my opinion. They don't last long...usually because I can't stop eating them, but Carter totally loves them too! Probably more for older babies who can chew very well, I sometimes will break them up into pieces. And I know you know but I feel like I have to say it don't forget to watch your baby while he/she eats these :) Oh, and they freeze well!


One Cup Flour
One Cup plain baby cereal
Three Tablespoons cooking oil
Juice (approx. one cup, but add one-fourth cup at a time) I've done grape and just tried passion fruit---delicious!

I sometimes will add a hints of cinnamon(one-fourth teaspoon), and sugar and brown sugar(half tablespoon) depending on the type of juice. But you don't have to do this. I also always add a bit of ground flax seed meal to it to make it more healthy!
You can also use flavored cereal (or half plain and half flavored), and add water instead of juice.


Preheat: 425°F
Mix: Flour and baby cereal, then add oil, and juice (one-fourth cup at a time) until the mixture starts to pull away from the bowl and becomes doughy.


Roll out to cracker thickness and cut into fun shapes, place on ungreased baking sheet.


Bake: 10-12 minutes

          Have fun!

Dear Carter,

As we play I think about how you'll grow, who you'll be someday.

As we cuddle I think about how I always want you to love me, and know you will, and never be mad at me (You wont, I say Ha...right)

I really like it how you make my arms burn after a few minutes of holding you. 

I love the way you laugh when I tell you no, or act serious it reminds me not to be so serious.

I love watching you dance, I could do it all day you're so silly.

It's pretty funny how you hate rides in the car (But you are getting a bit better)

I absolutely love when we smile and laugh together.

I really wish you could remember these times as much as I will, because we're really having fun.

As I watch you sleep I think about how peaceful you look and laugh because I know of the little terror you are when awake.

You'll never know how lucky I am to be your mommy.

I love you always
Mommy♥♥

What Carter Loves

Whenever we read this is always the favorite------->
Where Is Baby's Belly Button? By Karen Katz. Carter goes crazy! especially over the last page.

Green Beans...he totally loves them, was the first solid he ever had, and now they're totally his favorite. I do agree with my mom when she said to give him a veggie first because if fruits came first...he might not want veggies as much. Made sense to me.

<---------He liked this book from the begining, right now he mostly just chews on it. It has bold black and white pictures for when they're little and then it can be a photo alum when they're older!

Polenta-I love it to so i'm glad he does too. We usually put it on the stove for a bit and then I chunk it up for him. 

I found this on craigslist and got it for 20$ (it was a bit dirty but I cleaned it and it's as good as new) you can find great deals on craigslist. It's a Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Jumperoo. He jumps and jumps away, He will even be crying and still jump like crazy. My favorite part is the little veggies (tomato, corn and carrot-so cute!)--->  

What he's afraid of:      

I was so excited when he unwrapped this for Christmas! But then I turned it on and he started trembling and crying. Hopefully in time he'll come to love it cause it's a pretty neat toy. The balls sometimes get a little stuck but i'm sure our little ones don't care about that and are trying to grab them anyways which solves the problem.--->

Dinner: Tandori Chicken

This delicious recipe is quite simple and definitely offers new tastes, the tumeric has many great health advantages (so they say) and goes great with some yummy rice!

Half cup+half cup--plain yoghurt
Two Garlic cloves, minced
One teaspoon ground tumeric
One teaspoon ground ginger
Salt+Pepper
Three-four chicken breasts
Two granny smith apples
One Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat oven: 475°F

Mix: Half cup yoghurt, garlic, tumeric, ginger, 2tsp of salt, and 1/4tsp pepper. Add: Chicken and turn to coat. Place chicken on a rimmed baking sheet (lined with foil for easy clean up if you wish!)
Bake: Until done 20-30 Minutes

Don't forget the rice!

While baking: Peel the apples then coarsly grate into medium bowl. Add then mix: cilantro, half cup yoghurt, then season with salt and pepper and you have your yoghurt sauce.

<---This is the yoghurt sauce (before mixing)

Enjoy!

Attached much?

Taclking things on your own can be hard, especially if it's taking care of a little person who needs you, for everything...and doing it all by yourself 99.9% of the time. My son is eight months and I thought he was attached to me before now...ha! I love it, totally love it, but I do have to say it is tough.

I think that the hardest part is trying to put him to sleep at night, although when someone is going to hold him for a bit, cause this chunker gets heavy!, he turns towards me and wraps his arms around me, melts my heart! He really knows how to "con me". Screaming his lungs out, for the full ten minutes I wait, hoping he'll just surrender to sleep, then walk in the room pick him up and again, tell him it's time to go to sleep, and it's like I just hit his mute button. Then I usually end up feeling so awful that I can't put him down to cry again. He's always super cuddly after his screaming ordeal, which is usally one of the only times he'll ever be this cuddly. He ends up going to bed...eventually but it definitely takes away from the tiny amount of me time that I get to begin with. I have to say this method does work a lot better in Austin when visiting grandparents :P. Our new bedtime routine is brush our teeth, get into our trundle (or sleep-sack), read a few books, say goodnight, and then...the screaming begins.

 

I have been researching sleeping methods (which I should have done months ago) and am finding there are a lot of them. They are all a bit defferent, and I'm positive that we need to try them until we find one that works with us best. Wish us luck! :)

Cupcakes!: Might Be My Answer

I'm currently well basically a single mom, and going to school, and have been trying to find a career where I can stay at home with my son (would be nice right?). I've looked at those online deals, and most of them seem like they are cheesy, fake, a scam, and too damn good to be true which is quite depressing.

I've always loved to bake pies, it's calming, relaxing, and makes me happy. But I was recently in Austin, Texas and went to a few cupcake places that were amazing Hey cupcake! and Sugar Mamas Bakeshop were two that are worth being posted (My top favorite was Hey Cupcake!). If you're ever in Austin definitely stop by and try these!  I was inspired by these shops, everyone loves cupcakes and there will always be people buying them. I am going to try and start selling cupcakes, it'll probably take some time to perfect recipes but I think it will be well worth it. Will it be successful? Who knows, probably if I work hard enough! I based my recipe off of this one, but did a lot of changes and additions to make a new recipe. So hopefully I find sucess and cupcakes will be the answer.

Happy Baking!

Quotes to make a better day!

"Children will not remember you for the material things you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them." - Richard Evans


www.justb-byou.com/quotes -Quotes said by kids, and are the best!


"I know how to do anything- I'm a mom" -Roseanne Barr


“It's not easy being a mother. If it were easy, fathers would do it.” - The Golden Girls


"I'd like to be the ideal mother, but I'm too busy raising my kids." - Unknown


“There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one” - Jill Churchill


I thought that this was a great website! Lot's of good quotes, facts, cute clothes, aprons (which I love!) and even has a blog :) --- www.nannydeprived.com/


Hope this made you smile, and your day a little better!

That's cool: What I Love

So I recently started making Carter's baby food (he eats a lot of table food now as well!) I couldn't live with out the Annabel Karmel masher --->

I put things like berries, bananas, cooked carrots, apples, lentils, pasta, soup, and tofu in it.

This website is the best for making, freezing and storing baby food: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

http://www.babysteals.com/ ---an amazing website where you can get things at great prices!

http://www.mamabargains.com/ is another great one I visit often.

I just recently made this diaper bag, and love it. So if you like to sew: http://www.make-baby-stuff.com/free-diaper-bag-pattern.html It's really easy and fun!

http://www.etsy.com/ ---Love this website, there is so many great creative items on here. Would make great gifts too. You can also sell on here to if you have a passion for making something! (We could all use a litte extra money right?)

This is probably the cutest christmas tradition ever! We named our elf Chester, and I can't wait for Carter to be old enough to know what's going on. You put the elf out on a shelf say..around Thanksgiving time and it comes from the north pole. It spys on your kids and everynight "returns to the north pole" and reports to santa. Each night you move your elf to a new location that he goes to after returning from the north pole. :)            http://www.elfontheshelf.com/

Target and Oldnavy---who doesn't love these stores?! I have gotten so many cute clothes for my son and myself there at amazing prices, like $10 for snow pants at Oldnavy, couldn't beat that...well I couldn't. 

Have a good weekend (No followers yet, so to anyone who maybe happens to  be reading this!)

Let's back up a little: The Begining

Wow college was fun…while I was able to live the “college life”. I have been shy my whole life, like painfully shy and finally I was just beginning to find the real me, and having the fun a teenager is supposed to have, not to mention loved life on my own. Someone “slipped-up” as my great-grandmother put it (although very excited at the age of 94 becoming a great-great grandmother) and I found myself starting motherhood at the good old (ha) age of nineteen, and moved back home. My son’s father, dad, whatever you want to call him lives three hours away (although planning to move here!), has been somewhat around…but really hasn’t done a whole lot. I truly believe he will be there, in time when he gets back on his feet, for both our son and me…but of course I do because wouldn’t that be just perfect? There will be a lot of lessons learned and shared on this topic…for sure!

If anyone reads this and has a good story of how they happened or went into motherhood, please share! I love to hear other’s stories as I’m sure a lot of other mommies do. So I’ve always wanted to write a book, and this will be better in ways like I can interact with other people, and maybe even make some friends/pen pals to talk about our crazy kids (I’m sure everyone’s are as crazy as mine).

No one ever told me that motherhood is this amazing!  Sure it happened a little too soon for me, but you have to accept what life throws at you and the decisions you make, right? I started getting pretty scared about labor and delivery with the stories and shows that are out there who wouldn’t? But it was nothing! I never went to a class and only read a few pages out of a book, which made me a bit more nervous, but the only trouble I had was pushing which took a bit longer than wanted (2 hours) but that’s okay once I saw him…it all went away, just as they say. Then, being a month early my son had to go to the NICU with breathing problems, I can’t even explain how hard that was. He was going to room-in with me, so I was totally disappointed that he had to be down the hall and other people that I didn't know were talking care of him…that really hurt.  This little boy (Carter, now eight months!) has made me incredibly happy! I feel more outgoing (actually have more friends now than in my high school days, crazy huh?), more motivated to do well, and am more grateful for everything I have…if only I could have been like this pre-baby as well! I have a son who is breastfed, hates to sleep, hates his car seat, loves table food, is NOT vaccinated (and might I say has never been sick in all his eight months) and loves to bounce.  I hope to share many adventures on here, I’m sure there will be many!

I love to craft with fabric, paper, glue, buttons, glitter, ribbon, wrapping paper, felt, fluff, paint, thread and needles and yarn. I’m currently in the process of making a diaper and wipes clutch and, if successful, I will post patterns! I also love to cook and bake so anytime I create something I love, I will most definitely share.

Thank you for reading, hope it was enjoyable! :) And I hope everyone has had a great New Year so far. (I feel like this is going to be a good one!)