Whole Wheat Banana Muffins

I saw this recipe last night on the really great blog Heavenly Homemakers (another Matt and Laura couple!), and thought it would be perfect to make this morning, as I had 2 VERY ripe bananas that needed to be used. I added a few extra spices, and I think they would be even more delicious with either nuts, mini chocolate chips or raisins (if you're a raisin type of person...which I'm not). Emily especially loved them!

1 and 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2-3 bananas)
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs

Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, mash bananas, and add honey, melted butter and eggs. Stir into flour mixture.

Spoon batter into 12 lined muffin tins. Bake at 400 for 18 minutes.

(Please excuse my food photography. The photo above shows one muffin cut in half with butter melting on it. It looks much better in real life!)

Marbled Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

I had a leadership meeting for my MOPS group last night and I signed up to bring dessert. I thought it would be fun to try a new recipe from my new cookbook. Anna has this cookbook, and we made a few recipes from it when I visited her in the spring. She gave it to me for my birthday and there are approximately 500 cookies, bars, cakes and breads that I need to make in it! Anyways, these brownies did not disappoint! I do have 2 little pieces of advice: #1 when you are marbling the brownies and cheesecake batter together, do it several times. I didn't "marble" enough, in my opinion. #2-don't eat these brownies until they are 100% cool. Even better, make them one day, and don't eat them until the next day. I know that sounds weird, but I ate one warm, and was sad that they didn't turn out very well. But I ate another one a few hours later and it was delicious. I ate one today and it was devine! So here's the recipe:

Brownie ingredients:
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 and 1/2 squares unsweetened chocolate (1.5 oz)
2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream (I used yogurt and it was perfectly fine!)

Cheesecake Ingredients:
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tblspn vanilla (yes, NOT teaspoon)
1 cup (6 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:
1. In small saucepan, combine the water, butter and chocolate; cook and stir over low heat until smooth. Cool.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Add eggs and sour cream; beat on low until just combined. Stir in chocolate mixture until smooth.
3. In another bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla; set aside. Spread chocolate batter into a greased 15x10x1 in baking pan. Drop cream cheese mixture by tablespoonfuls over batter; cut through the batter with a knife to marble. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.
4. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 min or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

(And here's just a picture of Emily being cute.)

Catching Up!

It's so difficult to believe that my tiny little Emily baby is now 1!! We had a little party on June 11, and I think we all had a great time celebrating Emily's birthday and watching her eat an entire cupcake (strawberry with cream cheese frosting). Her well baby appointment went well. The best part was that she got to stand on on the big scale. She looked especially tiny and cute standing there in just her diaper :) Her 9 month and 1 year stats:

9 month: weight-18 lbs, 5 oz (40%), height-26.75 in (23%), head-17.5 in (63%)g

1 year: weight-20 lbs, 6 oz (38%), height-28.25 in (23%), head 17.75 in (50%)

Emily has changed dramatically in the last couple of months. She started crawling when we visited the Letvin's in North Dakota when she was 9.5 months old. Once she figured out how much fun being mobile was, she didn't want to stop with crawling, and took her first steps right around 11 months. Now, she is walking all over the place, and sometimes even tries to run. She is a much happier baby now that she can get where she wants to go! Emily also "talks" constantly these days. The only actual words she says are "uh oh", "hi" and "dada" but she has her own version of a few other words like "diaper" and "thank you." Her biggest frustration these days is when she wants something and can't communicate what it is. She still does a few signs (more and milk), but hasn't started doing any others, even though we've been working on a handful of them for months. She has her own little language and just jabbers non-stop! So cute to hear her little voice!

We are down to nursing just in the morning and before bedtime. Emily isn't a very big fan of cow's milk, but she loves yogurt, cheese and cottage cheese, so I think she will be able to get a good amount of calcium, fat, protein and vitamin D, even if she doesn't drink much milk. She's still a great eater, and is pretty open to trying new foods. She loves all fruit, cheeses, and breads. She also does pretty well with chicken, pasta and some veggies. Peas, carrots, green beans, squash and sweet potatoes are her favorites, but she isn't a big fan of avocado, broccoli, or tomatoes. We'll keep trying!

Emily has become quite a good sleeper (yay!) She sleeps anywhere from 10.5-11.5 hours at night, and takes two naps that usually total 2.5 hours. She is starting to show signs of going to just one nap a day, but I don't think she's quite ready yet. So funny thinking back to the first 3-4 months of her life and how most of my life revolved around getting her to sleep and to stay asleep. I'm sure there will be other sleeping issues over the next few years, but I'm glad we're well past the newborn sleeping!

Well I've written a mini-novel, so I'll call it good for now! Matt and I are loving Emily's cute little voice and personality these days--she cracks us up every single day! We feel so blessed to be her parents!

Making Baby Food

One of my favorite things to do these days is to feed Emily fruit and veggies! I started giving her food when she turned 6 months old. It took about a month for her to really seem to enjoy eating from a spoon. Now she likes pretty much anything I give her (though she did balk at green vegetables at first). While I have bought some commercial baby food, I have also made some myself. Some friends have thought this is a bit crazy, but I have found it to be really fun, plus it saves a little bit of money. So far, I've made mostly vegetables- sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, and green beans. Apples are the only fruit I've attempted. I decided I needed to expand my horizons and make some more fruit, so I made a quick trip up to our new Whole Foods store and bough one bag each of frozen peaches and mangoes.

Peaches are one of Emily's favorites, plus they have a good amount of vitamin C and are great for easing constipation. Emily really likes mangoes as well, and after reading about their anti-viral properties, I thought it would be especially beneficial for her to eat them during this flu, cold and RSV season.

Even though making baby food seemed a bit intimidating to me at first, you really don't need very many items to make it. A steamer basket (baking or steaming seems to be the best way to cook the fruit/veggies to retain the most nutrients), large pot, a food processor or blender (the Magic Bullet is SUPER easy and fast!) and ice cube trays.

Since I know Emily likes both peaches and mangoes, I thought it would be fun to prepare them together. (Adding yogurt and maybe a little fresh banana sounds like a very delicious and nutritious breakfast!) I added about 2 inches of water to the bottom of my pot then inserted the steamer basket, followed by both bags of frozen fruit. Then I covered and steamed the fruit for about 15 minutes.

After the fruit was tender, I put about half of it into the large Magic Bullet cup. Since I had previously read that both mangoes and peaches could be pretty runny when pureed, I didn't add any water.

After blending for about 20 seconds, the puree was creamy and the perfect consistency and texture for mixing with oatmeal cereal or yogurt.

I then spooned the puree into ice cube trays. There was exactly enough to fill both trays with some left over to give to Emily right away. The ice cubes are about 1 oz each, and Emily eats 1-2 oz mixed with oatmeal each morning. For her afternoon/evening meal, she has 1-2 cubes of veggies.

While I cleaned up the kitchen, Matt fed Emily the peach/mango (meach? pengo?) combo and it was a huge hit!

I calculated that the cost per oz was approx. $.24. Since these were organic fruits, the cost to buy commercial baby food would probably have been about $.40/oz. So the savings for this batch was approximately $4. While that doesn't sound like much, I believe I've saved at least $25 so far by making my some of my own food. If I was better about buying the fruit/vegetables when they were on sale, the savings would be much higher. Vegetables are definitely cheaper than the fruit! I have given Emily both organic and non-organic food, and have tried several different brands of baby food. I just think it's fun to try lots of different things right now! I also bought frozen blueberries and peas, so I plan to make those this week.

Favorite Things of 2010

After reading my friend Meredith's post, I started thinking about what my "top 10 list" for 2010 would be. These are not in order, but these are all items that made my year much better/smoother--especially with the addition of a new baby! (I made sure that all of the items were not baby related!) Sorry there isn't a picture for every item, but frankly it takes too long to upload pictures, and none of these are obscure items!

1. Itzbeen Timer-from the first days in the hospital after having Emily, until she was was about 5 1/2 months old, I used this thing EVERY single day to keep track of how long it had been since I last fed Emily, changed her diaper, or when she last went down for a nap. It was also helpful if Matt was going to take over her care-he easily knew when feed or change her, and I didn't have to write out instructions. I would say this is MUST have with a new baby!

2. Baby Jogger Citi Mini Stroller (with car seat attachment)-the lightweight design and easy fold of this stroller is what intially drew me to this stroller, and I have not been disappointed. It fits SO easily into my small trunk, and it is easy to maneuver and is very smooth. The car seat attachment was purchased separately for our specific car seat, and is very convenient.

3. Boppy pillow (with slip cover)-I use this pillow every time I feed Emily. So it has gotten TONS of use, and will be used for quite a while longer. Now that Emily is sitting up, we put the pillow around her, so if she does tip backwards, she has a nice soft cushion to fall onto.

4. Diaper Champ-though this hasn't been as "necessary" as the first three items, it has worked great to contain diaper odors, and is very easy to use. I love that I don't have to buy any special trash bags for it, but I can just use regular kitchen trash bags.

5. Denver Mattress Doctor's Choice Pillowtop King-Matt and I decided to purchase a king sized mattress on January 1st, and we are both so happy with it! It was great during the last few months of pregnancy (when it was starting to get hot outside) that I could toss and turn to my heart's content (and get up to use the bathroom countless times), and I didn't have to worry about disturbing Matt. He doesn't wake up now when I get up to feed Emily in the middle of the night. It's super comfy, and we both love the extra space!

6. Blackberry-though I've had my phone for 2 years, I didn't really use the extra features until after I had Emily. In the first few lonely months of adjusting to a new baby and being a stay-at-home-mom, I was able to e-mail/text/Facebook/look things up on Google with one hand, while holding/nursing Emily, and I felt much more connected to the outside world.

7. Old Navy "The Dreamer" bootcut jeans-These jeans are comfortable, very reasonably priced and fit like they were made for me. I usually have a pretty difficult time finding jeans that fit well, and after having a baby, I was NOT looking forward to jeans shopping. I was SO happy to find these. I just got a 2nd pair of a darker wash for Christmas.

8. Loreal Go Clean 360 facewash-I am not very loyal when it comes to face/body/hair products. I buy what is on sale or what catches my attention in a commercial. However, after I bought this facewash the first time, I think I'll stick with it for a while. It doesn't dry my skin out and has kept my skin clear for the past year. I don't use the little scrubby thing every day, but I use it a few times a week for exfoliation, and my skin always feels smooth, soft and clean!

9. Folger's 1/2 Caffeine coffee-I discovered this when I was pregnant and have kept drinking it since I'm nursing. It's nice to be able to drink a cup (or two) of coffee in the mornings and not have to stress about drinking too much caffeine. It tastes great, and I can still get a little pick me up in the mornings without passing on coffee jitters to Emily!

10. Panasonic HDC-TM60 Video Camera -Matt bought this a few days after the birth of Emily, and I'm SO glad we had it from her early days. It's very easy to use, and I've tried to record little clips of Emily fairly frequently. It's already pretty amazing to compare what she looked and sounded like when she was one week old vs. 6 months old! Plus, it's fun to post videos to Facebook so friends and family who live far away can see what she's up to.

So what are your favorite things from this past year?

Six Months and Beyond

Emily in her Christmas p.j.s from Nonna


Emily napping!

Doing a push-up

Christmas Baby!

It is pretty difficult to believe that Emily has passed the half-year mark! She is changing and learning new skills very rapidly these days, and I know this will continue for quite some time! Below are her stats from her 6 month checkup:

Weight-16 lbs, 7 oz (59%)

Height-24.75 in (17%)

Head-17 in (70%)

She grew in all three areas-especially the head circumference! Her doctor actually said she was going to remeasure her head because she said she didn't think it was accurate for it to have grown that much so quickly, but she didn't get around to it. Emily had 4 shots at her appointment plus the oral Rotavirus vaccine. She did NOT like the oral one this time around, and wasn't too fond of the actual shots either. I'm glad her 9 month appointment will only be a finger prick for an anemia test.

In order to keep this post a somewhat decent length, I thought I would just list out the new things she is doing these days as well as things that I just love about this stage of her life!

*rolling over back to front

*sitting unsupported (yay!)

*starting to eat solids (she has had rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, sweet potatoes and pears. she isn't too fond of cereal, but really seems to like the pears and potatoes)

*laughing when I tickle her or make funny high pitched noises

*laughing when I dance around (like a crazy person)

*her two bottem teeth made their appearance on December 28th

*naps have finally gotten a bit better when I started putting her on her tummy in our bed. her short naps are now 40 minutes (instead of 15), and she will take up to 2 hour naps sometimes!

*she still loves taking walks, and now sits in the main stroller part, instead of in her carseat attached to the stroller

*Emily LOVES the cat and wants to touch her whenever she sees her. This includes grabbing and squeezing her skin/fur, hitting her body, getting a handful of whiskers, etc. So far, the cat has been fairly tolerant. Matt and I are pretty sure the cat will be the motivation for Emily to crawl.

*shaking anything that rattles is SO exciting

*night time sleep is usually about 11-12 hours (7:30pm-7ish am) with one nighttime feeding around 3-4am

*socks will never stay on for very long, so I'm constantly pulling them back on, or searching around the house to find the missing sock

*Emily LOVES to drink water out of our cups. We bought her a sippy cup, but she pretty much just chews on it.

*Emily reaches and grabs EVERYTHING she can. She will work and work to get things that are just out of her grasp, and seems pretty proud of herself when she gets the item!

*She likes to look in the mirror and she immediately smiles at her reflection and reaches out to touch it.

*When she gets excited, she makes a squeaking noise...kind of a mix between a mouse and a pteradactyl.

*Matt and I dedicated Emily to God on December 5th. Along with this is our committment to raise Emily in a Christ-centered home and to teach her about God's love and faithfulness.

Ok...that is all for now, I'm sure I'll think of some other really cute things later! Matt and I are having so much fun with Emily. We are always finding new ways to make her laugh (and we usually laugh at ourselves as well!). Our first Christmas with her was really fun and special, and we're looking forward to see what new skills she will learn next!

4.5 months

Soooo...I'm not doing a very good job keeping up with this blog, but I'll try to sum up the last month and a half!

Emily had her 4 month checkup on October 13th, and her stats are:

weight: 13 lbs, 14 oz (56%)...wow! a big jump from her 2 month checkup

length: 23.5 inches (25%)

head: 16 in (42%)

Diaper size: 2

Clothing size: mostly 3-6 month, but she still wears a couple of 0-3 month onsies on occasion

She is growing fast and changing every week! She is so observant these days and is no longer content very long to lie on her blanket or playmat--she would much rather be upright, looking around at the world! Her bumbo seat is very handy for this very reason (thanks, Karen!), and one of her favorite things to do is to hang out in it while I do dishes, unload the dishwasher, or prepare food (and of course I narrate everything I'm doing). I also have been wearing her in the Baby Bjorn more often, since she now faces outwards and can see what is going on around her.

Just when I thought I had figured out her sleeping habits...everything changed in one day! Emily has always taken short naps--she usually would take 3-4 naps a day of approximately 45 minutes. Her nighttime sleep was 12 hours with one, sometimes two nighttime feedings. Right around the 4 month mark, however, she began waking 3-4 times at night and only sleeping for 20-30 minutes at each nap. I had heard about a "4 month sleep regression" that is common, but didn't know any actual babies with this issue. Supposedly, babies' brains are going through huge develpments around 4 months, their sleep patterns change to be more adult-like, and they become more aware of their surroundings all at the same time and this really can affect their day and night sleep habits. (there is supposedly another regression around 9 months). Whether or not there is such a thing as sleep regression, Emily definitely threw us for a loop for a couple of weeks. Her night sleep has now gotten a bit better with fewer wakings, but I'm still trying to figure out what to do with her naps, because she definitely needs a few to recharge during the day. I think I'm going to try to do a loose schedule and see if that helps!

Emily has started laughing now, and it is the sweetest sound! You have to earn the laughs, but it is worth it every time! She is very smiley and alert. If she hears a new person talking, she will look around to find where the voice is coming from. She now watches the cat walking/running around the house (I have a feeling this will turn into chasing once she is crawling!). Going on walks or outings to stores seems to be fun for her, as there are tons of things to observe. I'm tryin to take advantage of this right now and go out every day, even if it's just to walk around Target. She has gotten much more deft at grabbing toys, fingers or whatever else captures her attention. Though she has rolled from her stomach to her back a handful of times, she hasn't done it in a few weeks, and she doesn't show much interest in rolling either way right now. I'm sure this can change in a day though!

We are planning to wait until closer to 6 months to start solid foods, but for some reason, I'm really excited about feeding her. She still eats every 3 hours or so, and is quite efficient! Emily has found her thumb and will suck on it from time to time, but she hasn't figured out that she can use it when she is sleepy or for soothing. I'm trying to help her out with finding it when she seems to want it. Matt occasionally feeds Emily a bottle if I'm going out for a bit, and sometimes she does NOT want to eat out of a bottle, and other times she'll take it easily. I think it's really cute to see him feeding her, and I finally captured it on camera!

Matt and Ems after church

Ems finds her thumb!


After an evening stroll