hiccups

hiccups, originally uploaded by holly hanes.

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.

Umm yeah, we made a really good dent.

Happy Anniversary to us!

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!

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!

Playing

July 2010 113, originally uploaded by holly hanes.

Here's a great example of how Harper loves to "play" with her brother. First she's trying to roll him over, then she's upset that his hand got stuck on her shirt. You notice as she's hugging him, that she keeps looking at me to make sure what she is doing is okay. She pats a little hard sometimes, but she's getting better. As you can see toward the end, Jasper isn't always amused with her -- though she does get him to laugh a lot most other times. :)

Reading

July 2010 115, originally uploaded by holly hanes.

Harper reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar to Jasper.

Sugar and Spice

Our sweet 2 year old girl. Oh, how we love her. Yes, life these days is absolutely crazy. However, I am soooo thankful for our little girl and how mature she becomes each day. She's always been incredibly loving to her little brother. She's always asking to hug or kiss him, and it absolutely makes her day when she gets to hold him. She's fantastic about helping out with whatever we ask her to do. Thankfully she thinks throwing away diapers is a huge privilege! Just the past few weeks, I've realized how she is gradually becoming more flexible to stretching past naptimes and traveling different places. What a blessing this is!!

In fact, she is so helpful, sometimes it is to a fault. Today I was trying to get Jasper to go to sleep and she kept bringing me things to "help". His blanket (which I didn't need), a pacifier (which I also didn't need) a bedtime story. It was all so very cute, it was all I could do but laugh and thank her for her thoughtfulness.

We are trying to instill great manners into our kids, and I am so proud to hear "Thank You" and "Please" all the time, mostly without us having to remind her. We are currently working on "Yes Sir" and "Yes Ma'am" whenever we ask her to do something. Obviously this is going to take some time, as she is definitely a stubborn 2 year old, and never is that more apparent when she really doesn't want to do something.

We've learned lately that she is rather quiet at school. We find this hard to believe since we know how she is at home - most of the time we can't get her to be quiet! I suppose I'm glad to know she's not the class clown or the one causing trouble. I'm definitely glad to have her be the quiet one. It will be interesting to see if this changes over time. She's about to move into the PreSchool class. I'm glad for the change. Most of her friends from when she first started going to school are already in that class, and they said they really focus on trying to get the kids potty-trained if they're not already. She's doing great at home, however she rarely successfully goes on the potty at school.

This picture below is a perfect example of her stubborn side. I had just come out of Jasper's room from putting him down and she popped around the corner with his bib on. It made me giggle, and I asked to take a picture of her. The expression should give a good indication of how she felt about that.



We love to laugh at how messy she is -- even when it seems there's little to be messy about! (Though after we're done laughing, we are incredulous at how we're always cleaning her from head to toe!) The other day Jon gave her a tiny piece of chocolate chip banana bread. You would've thought she was eating a chocolate mud pie or something, with how she managed to get it all over her face and hands.

Here she is eating some chocolate pudding. I've been keeping it on hand to satisfy the late-night sweet tooth I have. I make it with skim milk, so I figure it's fine to let her enjoy it too. We don't give her many desserts yet so this is quite a treat.

A couple of our friends came over and brought us some cupcakes. We saved one for Harper the next evening after dinner. She pretty much just wanted the icing, and I was happy to get a cute picture from it.

We love our sweet girl and are enjoying all the giggles, spontaneous songs, and unrequested hugs she gives us. What an amazingly adorable little girl God has blessed us with!

Baby's First 4th

Jasper was excited about celebrating his first 4th of July.

Harper was excited to take a picture with her brother because she looooves to hug him.

I was excited to actually get a picture with Harper smiling.

Just for fun, here is a picture of Harper on her first 4th of July.

Here is Jasper wearing the same shirt. He's 3 weeks older on the 4th than Harper was, yet the shirt seems to be quite a bit more snug on him. ;)