Baby Food

So I have been asked a few times why I am choosing to make Rylie's baby food instead of just buying it. First of all, I am not a crazy health food person (I love my Taco Bell!) so no, I do not think that store bought baby food is terrible or anything like that. I just always thought that making your own baby food sounded, well, fun! And that is crazy if you know me at all because I really don't love to cook or bake or do anything in the kitchen just for fun.

So yes, I make all of Rylie's food. Some of the reasons that I am still doing it is because I love that I can give her new and different foods to try that are not very common or never found in store bought baby food (ex. avocados, blueberries, honeydew to name a few). She will eat anything right now, so it is fun to give her as many different flavors as I can. Second of all, I believe it is substantially less expensive than store bought food (more on that in a minute). It really doesn't take me very long, and yes, I do like that I am actually seeing exactly what is going into her mouth (it is amazing how much I watch what food I am feeding her when I really didn't watch that closely when it was just Brandon and I). So here is what it looks like for me to make Rylie's food!


I found this great farmer's market that is always open (Superstition Ranch Market for anyone in the East Valley) and is actually in a building so it is open even in the summer. Minus the frozen green beans and peas (which I got at Wal-Mart) everything else is from there. And it is probably some of the best produce that I have ever tasted! Everything is so delicious! My grand total, including my Wal-Mart purchases, was only $14.45! This will last Rylie about a month.


Peeling and chopping the pears.


Yellow squash is a new one for her this time, so we will see how she likes it! All I had to do is wash it, cut it into chunks so it could be steamed, and then I pureed it in a blender.


Pears in the blender. I was going to get a food processer, but so far my blender has worked great!


I pour the blended food into ice cube trays to freeze. Each cube is approx. 1 oz so it makes it very easy to keep track. When they are frozen, I put them in marked freezer bags and just take out as many cubes as Rylie needs per day.


Rylie enjoying some frozen honeydew while I made the rest of her food. :)

Places to go and people to see!

So Rylie has had a few major accomplishments in the last few days. She started crawling and she got her first tooth! We have thought she was teething so many times since she was like 3 months old and nothing ever happened. Well, I just happened to notice something looked a little bit different in her mouth when I was feeding her lunch today, and what do you know! A tooth! No symptoms, nothing different, just poof! There's a tooth! :)

Lately...

Life has been filled with work and normalcy after our crazy Holidays, so I haven't had much to blog about...until now! Rylie started sitting up on her own a few weeks ago, so now this is what I am greeted with every morning or after nap time. :)



I love walking in to a huge smile and arms reaching up for me! :) (You may have noticed the nice little shiner on her forehead. She took a digger into the hardwood floor at my mom's attempting to crawl. The first of many bumps and bruises, I'm sure!)

We have been taking full advantage of our amazing weather (read 75 degrees!) by using our zoo pass. It is so fun to go as a family, with my mom, or with friends. Rylie loves to be outside and just cruise in her stroller. Did I mention that I love the zoo? :)


Riding the endangered animal carosel with Grandma




Hanging out with Jack (my good friend Kristi's little guy)

Now that Rylie can sit up, she will often play by herself in her crib or pack & play before she goes to sleep. I peeked in on her one time at my mom's and she was happy as a clam playing around...the next time I peeked in, this is what I saw:





Apparently all of that playing is exhausting! So much so, that it was too much effort to lay down, so she just decided to fall forward to sleep. :) By the way, this was exactly the breech position in my stomach that she was in at the time of her delivery. Oh, to be that flexible! :)

High Chair Life

I am loving having a high chair in the house! And, I am still so proud of Brandon for making it for Rylie. :) Rylie is so much easier to feed and also loves sitting up high close to us.

I picked up some "Mum Mums" for her and she loved them! (Seems to be pretty much the norm for her...she loves anything she can eat! Like mother, like daughter I guess :) )





I love this next picture! I know that this is one of those pictures you just have to get of your child...asleep in the high chair! :)

8 Months

Rylie turned 8 months old on January 2nd! Talk about time flying! Here are some of the things she has been up to:

*She had her first ear infection this month. :( Her weight at that appointment was 17 lbs. 9 oz.

*Still no teeth! Who would have thought with how much she puts things in her mouth and knaws on everything in sight!

*She wears 6-9 (or 6-12) month clothing.

*The new foods this month was blueberries, squash, peaches and turkey. She made the funniest face ever with the turkey, but she kept eating it! :)

*Her favorite toys right now are her Jumperoo (I guess that is considered a toy...she loves this thing and actually tries to jump in her stationary activity centers as well), her soft blocks and her keys.



*She is really starting to love books (even different ones now, not just the "Little Ladybug" book!).

*She loves music and will start dancing and moving all over the place when it starts playing. She will sit through a church service until the music is done and the sermon starts. :)

*Rylie is so close to crawling...I think it will be any day now!

Happy New Year!

We were still in Pinetop for New Year's this year and it was still snowing. :) A bunch of family was there so we all got together to eat and play games while we waited to ring in the New Year. I love spending the holiday this way! (oh and it was -5 degrees outside at midnight!).