Even now, when I look at it I am amazed at their similarities. I think most of it has to do with their pose and the goofy look on their faces. But still... crazy!
So... which is which?
Harper
Jasper
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Which is Which?
I recently came across a picture of my sister's oldest son Camden. I did a triple take as I marveled at how much the picture looked like Jasper. I showed it to Jon and he was amazed at the similarity. He took it to his mom and she said "what a cute picture of Jasper".
Even now, when I look at it I am amazed at their similarities. I think most of it has to do with their pose and the goofy look on their faces. But still... crazy!
Even now, when I look at it I am amazed at their similarities. I think most of it has to do with their pose and the goofy look on their faces. But still... crazy!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Green Means Go
When we first moved Harper into her big girl bed, she was very content to behave much like she did when she was in her crib. She would call for us to come get her, and never got out of her bed until we got to her room. She did this for a few months and we were very happy with how easily she transitioned to a bed without bars. ;)
Cue little brother.
Literally the first day we had him home, her sleep habits started changing. She started waking at sometimes 4, 4:30am. As you can imagine, having a new little baby at home, sleep for parents is hard to come by, so it became a real problem. She sleeps with a sound machine, so I don't think she was ever bothered by hearing him cry or by me shuffling around in the middle of the night to feed him. I think she was just thrown off by the change in family dynamic.
We tried giving her instructions to stay in bed until the she saw the sunshine in her window. This worked a little bit, but as Jasper started sleeping better, we needed her to stay in bed later than 6am. :) Plus, she was up multiple times before it was light outside, coming to our room to make sure we weren't wrong and wanted her up sooner. Oy.
I decided it was time to take serious action. I looked online, and saw this alarm clock. I read all the reviews on the product and felt like it would be great. You can set the clock to be a nightlight at night glowing yellow, and you set the time you'd like for your child to get up in the morning, at which time it glows green. It does have a face with a digital clock and one with hands too, meaning the clock can grow with your child as they learn to tell time. You can also set it to have an actual alarm for those hard-to-wake older kids. However for now, it's been fantastic to give Harper the visual cue of a glowing green clock friend to know when to get out of bed. She absolutely loves it and though she's not a perfect sleeper-inner yet, things have improved 1,000%. She stays in bed until it turns green maybe 3 out of 4 mornings, and the other mornings we usually only have to give her 1 reminder to go back to her room and wait.
Oh, and when it does turn green, she absolutely can't wait to run in and tell us "green! green!". It's pretty cute.
One funny story. We still have the video monitor in her room, so I can spy on her. A few days after she got the clock and had gotten the hang of waiting in her bed for it to change, I was watching her on the monitor. I had already sent her back to bed once and she was sitting up in her bed waiting. Once it turned, she got SO excited and started pointing to her clock saying "green green!" then jumped up, hung on to the bed rail and started stomping her feet like she was making wine out of grapes!! It was so fun to see her be so happy and do her little celebration dance without knowing I could see her. She makes me smile. :)
Cue little brother.
Literally the first day we had him home, her sleep habits started changing. She started waking at sometimes 4, 4:30am. As you can imagine, having a new little baby at home, sleep for parents is hard to come by, so it became a real problem. She sleeps with a sound machine, so I don't think she was ever bothered by hearing him cry or by me shuffling around in the middle of the night to feed him. I think she was just thrown off by the change in family dynamic.
We tried giving her instructions to stay in bed until the she saw the sunshine in her window. This worked a little bit, but as Jasper started sleeping better, we needed her to stay in bed later than 6am. :) Plus, she was up multiple times before it was light outside, coming to our room to make sure we weren't wrong and wanted her up sooner. Oy.
I decided it was time to take serious action. I looked online, and saw this alarm clock. I read all the reviews on the product and felt like it would be great. You can set the clock to be a nightlight at night glowing yellow, and you set the time you'd like for your child to get up in the morning, at which time it glows green. It does have a face with a digital clock and one with hands too, meaning the clock can grow with your child as they learn to tell time. You can also set it to have an actual alarm for those hard-to-wake older kids. However for now, it's been fantastic to give Harper the visual cue of a glowing green clock friend to know when to get out of bed. She absolutely loves it and though she's not a perfect sleeper-inner yet, things have improved 1,000%. She stays in bed until it turns green maybe 3 out of 4 mornings, and the other mornings we usually only have to give her 1 reminder to go back to her room and wait.
Oh, and when it does turn green, she absolutely can't wait to run in and tell us "green! green!". It's pretty cute.
One funny story. We still have the video monitor in her room, so I can spy on her. A few days after she got the clock and had gotten the hang of waiting in her bed for it to change, I was watching her on the monitor. I had already sent her back to bed once and she was sitting up in her bed waiting. Once it turned, she got SO excited and started pointing to her clock saying "green green!" then jumped up, hung on to the bed rail and started stomping her feet like she was making wine out of grapes!! It was so fun to see her be so happy and do her little celebration dance without knowing I could see her. She makes me smile. :)
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Fourth Anniversary
Jon and I just celebrated our fourth anniversary. We say it every year, we can't believe all that we've done in the (almost) five years we've been together.
We're doing our best to pinch pennies as always (almost debt-free...woohoo!), and we don't have to exchange lavish gifts for anniversaries, so we hadn't planned anything major.
We had planned a date night the Friday before. Nana came to babysit, and we were beyond excited to be getting out of the house without any kids. We got the kids all ready for bed and said our goodbyes, got in the car and looked forward to our evening. Little did we know that some evil force was intent on keeping us from getting there. Traffic was unbelievable and every which way we tried to go was completely backed up. Then we realized we didn't have any cash to park, and then we couldn't find an atm to get cash to park! (Note to self: to fill a major void, open a bank near the ballpark). Of course it ended up being a record-short game, and when we finally got there, it was the top of the 6th inning! We really tried to take the whole evening in stride, and made the most of it... though we both admitted it was far from our dream "date" night out.
The night of our actual anniversary was supposed to be like any other. We had planned to have some of our favorite soup and crusty bread to dip in it for dinner, and I had planned a secret dessert surprise. When I pulled up to Nana and Papa's house to get Jasper after work, Jon's car was there. oh boy. I knew immediately he had something up his sleeve -- he's usually still sleeping at this time. And what a surprise!!! He and Nana had conspired together to have she and Papa watch the kids while he and I went to an early dinner at Buca di Beppo! And as their gift to us (as if them watching the kids wasn't gift enough!), they gave us a gift card to pay for dinner with. Such a blessing!!! We had a really wonderful dinner and it was such a nice evening to make up for our bust of a date night the week prior.
Here is us at dinner. Not the best picture, and if I could change anything, I would've had more makeup on and fixed my hair. :) Ahhh, such is life with a surprise dinner after a day of work.
He also got me flowers -- my favorite: lilies and roses. Just like my bouquet 4 years before.
The only thing I insisted on at dinner was that he not order dessert. I still wanted it to be a surprise, so I didn't tell him what I had planned. The traditional gift for the 4th anniversary is fruit and flowers. I am a sentimental romantic, so I wanted to try to incorporate this somehow. We both love chocolate, and of course who could forget our amazing chocolate fondue fountain from our wedding, so I thought chocolate fondue with amazing fruit would be perfect!
Needless to say, he loved it!
Oh, and yeah, I did too.
We're doing our best to pinch pennies as always (almost debt-free...woohoo!), and we don't have to exchange lavish gifts for anniversaries, so we hadn't planned anything major.
We had planned a date night the Friday before. Nana came to babysit, and we were beyond excited to be getting out of the house without any kids. We got the kids all ready for bed and said our goodbyes, got in the car and looked forward to our evening. Little did we know that some evil force was intent on keeping us from getting there. Traffic was unbelievable and every which way we tried to go was completely backed up. Then we realized we didn't have any cash to park, and then we couldn't find an atm to get cash to park! (Note to self: to fill a major void, open a bank near the ballpark). Of course it ended up being a record-short game, and when we finally got there, it was the top of the 6th inning! We really tried to take the whole evening in stride, and made the most of it... though we both admitted it was far from our dream "date" night out.
The night of our actual anniversary was supposed to be like any other. We had planned to have some of our favorite soup and crusty bread to dip in it for dinner, and I had planned a secret dessert surprise. When I pulled up to Nana and Papa's house to get Jasper after work, Jon's car was there. oh boy. I knew immediately he had something up his sleeve -- he's usually still sleeping at this time. And what a surprise!!! He and Nana had conspired together to have she and Papa watch the kids while he and I went to an early dinner at Buca di Beppo! And as their gift to us (as if them watching the kids wasn't gift enough!), they gave us a gift card to pay for dinner with. Such a blessing!!! We had a really wonderful dinner and it was such a nice evening to make up for our bust of a date night the week prior.
Here is us at dinner. Not the best picture, and if I could change anything, I would've had more makeup on and fixed my hair. :) Ahhh, such is life with a surprise dinner after a day of work.
He also got me flowers -- my favorite: lilies and roses. Just like my bouquet 4 years before.
The only thing I insisted on at dinner was that he not order dessert. I still wanted it to be a surprise, so I didn't tell him what I had planned. The traditional gift for the 4th anniversary is fruit and flowers. I am a sentimental romantic, so I wanted to try to incorporate this somehow. We both love chocolate, and of course who could forget our amazing chocolate fondue fountain from our wedding, so I thought chocolate fondue with amazing fruit would be perfect!
Needless to say, he loved it!
Oh, and yeah, I did too.
Umm yeah, we made a really good dent.
Happy Anniversary to us!
Happy Anniversary to us!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Sweet Potatoes
Well, the time has come again. I can't believe I am making baby food again. It is so silly to think of me being so committed to making all my kids food when they're babies. I do not cook under normal circumstances. I am very open and willing to admit that unless it's a grilled cheese sandwich or a box of mac & cheese, I do not cook. And when I married someone who cooks as well as Jon, I am more than happy to allow him to handle that aspect of the household duties, and I'll do the clean up.
However, since it's not much more than baking, steaming or boiling, I'm always willing to "cook" for my babies. I'm in love with the idea of knowing exactly what they are eating. Both of my kids are exclusively breastfed without any formula needed in any form or fashion, and it makes me amazed to see how well they can grow and thrive by eating what I am providing for them. So once they move to solids, I appreciate knowing that I can continue to provide for them and know what they're eating without getting it from a jar. Now, as with Harper, there are obviously times when jarred foods are simply needed or are more convenient. (I love E@rth's Best organic jarred food and buy a ton of it when it goes on sale.) But I save a bunch of money making my own food, and it's more than worth the effort, so I will continue to make time to make what I can.
I don't plan on feeding Jasper solids until he's 6 months old, and at that time we'll start with oatmeal and rice cereal for a while. With the research I've done, babies really don't need anything other than breastmilk exclusively for the first 6 months of their life, and feeding solids before that time tends to increase the chances of allergies in childhood. I did it with Harper, and I'll do it with Jasper. He's already almost 5 months old and loves to smack his lips together and watch us intently while we eat - it's a crackup! I think he'll be more than ready in September! My supply will most likely take a dip once we start that, so I have been very diligent to stock up a backup in the freezer.
I started with some bananas that were close to being too ripe to eat. I usually let them turn pretty dark and then use them for banana bread, but I'll now be buying extras so I can use them to mash up and freeze for Jasper. Even though bananas are fairly easy to keep on hand, and certainly very easy to mash up for a quick meal, I learned with Harper that it's always great to have something in the freezer for those times when you're out of something fresh!
Here's a picture of one shelf in our freezer. As you can see, we're quickly outgrowing the space that's been dedicated to the frozen breastmilk and baby food. I date the freezer bags and use the oldest ones first when making the bottles on Sunday night, which so far has been the only times I've had to use the frozen stuff, since I freeze everything I pump and have left over from Thursday and Fridays so that it doesn't go bad by Monday. Man, a stand alone freezer would really come in handy!
About a week ago, I found a great deal on some huge sweet potatoes. I think my eyes were bigger than my freezer, and I bought about 6 of these ginormous beasts. I finally got to cook them this past weekend. I took some pics below to remember just how much there was!
Peeling potatoes is one of the most mundane things I can think of doing. Steaming the potatoes is certainly an option, but if I bake them in foil, they peel incredibly easily once they're cool enough. Score!! No peeling!
And there we are! My first foray into cooking for our little guy. I probably won't be documenting every time, but as I've said time and time again, I use this blog as a type of memory book. I am definitely going to commemorate every new food he gets just like I did with Harper. Butternut squash will be another definite, just like it was with Harper, and we'll take it from there!
However, since it's not much more than baking, steaming or boiling, I'm always willing to "cook" for my babies. I'm in love with the idea of knowing exactly what they are eating. Both of my kids are exclusively breastfed without any formula needed in any form or fashion, and it makes me amazed to see how well they can grow and thrive by eating what I am providing for them. So once they move to solids, I appreciate knowing that I can continue to provide for them and know what they're eating without getting it from a jar. Now, as with Harper, there are obviously times when jarred foods are simply needed or are more convenient. (I love E@rth's Best organic jarred food and buy a ton of it when it goes on sale.) But I save a bunch of money making my own food, and it's more than worth the effort, so I will continue to make time to make what I can.
I don't plan on feeding Jasper solids until he's 6 months old, and at that time we'll start with oatmeal and rice cereal for a while. With the research I've done, babies really don't need anything other than breastmilk exclusively for the first 6 months of their life, and feeding solids before that time tends to increase the chances of allergies in childhood. I did it with Harper, and I'll do it with Jasper. He's already almost 5 months old and loves to smack his lips together and watch us intently while we eat - it's a crackup! I think he'll be more than ready in September! My supply will most likely take a dip once we start that, so I have been very diligent to stock up a backup in the freezer.
I started with some bananas that were close to being too ripe to eat. I usually let them turn pretty dark and then use them for banana bread, but I'll now be buying extras so I can use them to mash up and freeze for Jasper. Even though bananas are fairly easy to keep on hand, and certainly very easy to mash up for a quick meal, I learned with Harper that it's always great to have something in the freezer for those times when you're out of something fresh!
Here's a picture of one shelf in our freezer. As you can see, we're quickly outgrowing the space that's been dedicated to the frozen breastmilk and baby food. I date the freezer bags and use the oldest ones first when making the bottles on Sunday night, which so far has been the only times I've had to use the frozen stuff, since I freeze everything I pump and have left over from Thursday and Fridays so that it doesn't go bad by Monday. Man, a stand alone freezer would really come in handy!
About a week ago, I found a great deal on some huge sweet potatoes. I think my eyes were bigger than my freezer, and I bought about 6 of these ginormous beasts. I finally got to cook them this past weekend. I took some pics below to remember just how much there was!
This picture does not do their size justice.
Peeling potatoes is one of the most mundane things I can think of doing. Steaming the potatoes is certainly an option, but if I bake them in foil, they peel incredibly easily once they're cool enough. Score!! No peeling!
My mini food processer would only fit one potato at a time. What a pain!
I've had to freeze them in 3 different groups, since I only have 3 covered ice cube trays. Jasper will be having sweet potatoes for a looooong time to come!
And there we are! My first foray into cooking for our little guy. I probably won't be documenting every time, but as I've said time and time again, I use this blog as a type of memory book. I am definitely going to commemorate every new food he gets just like I did with Harper. Butternut squash will be another definite, just like it was with Harper, and we'll take it from there!
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