Oh The Places You Go....!

Today was a very productive day for Mommy!  Titus got his morning nap and then off we went to run some errands.  We do not do that very often I have to say, so we basically stay home A LOT.  But today I wanted and needed to get some things done outside of the house, outside of these four very white boring walls!  I love my time with my family, don't misunderstand that and lately I am loving the freedom that comes with a now 8 month old crawling and exploring!  Not only is it freedom for him no doubt but it means more freedom for Mom.  I don't have to be present (within arms length) to satisfy my sons every want.  I can actually do the dishes, with one eye on Titus, while he explores the living room!  And it is VERY FUN to watch him explore, at least at this point it is.  He is pulling himself up to a standing position on anything that is even the least bit stable, which includes a rocking chair! 

But today we went to the great store of Wal-Mart to work on some Valentine projects Titus wanted to do!  We went to the grocery store and had lunch with my aunt Mary, which the company was way better than the food I have to say!  We went to the mall to pay our cell phone bill, ugh!  And we went to see the pretty nurse at Titus' doctors office so that we could see how big we are getting!  His last check up was at 6 months in December and his next one won't be until he is 1 year in June, so we were curious to see how much we have grown and 6 months is way to long to wait!  Well, he has grown but not as much as mommy and daddy were thinkin he has.  He is now 17 lbs. 11 oz. and 28 1/2 in. long.  Only about 1 pound up and a 1/4 in. longer since his last checkup!  So technically he could stay in his infant seat still since it goes till 30 lbs. or 30 ins., whichever comes first.  We just got him this convertible seat (rear-facing to front-facing) thinking he was beyond the 30 ins. by now and it looks like a captains chair off of Star-Trek!  It does kind of go into a laying position for the rear-facing but not enough cuz when he falls asleep in it his little head hangs forward and I feel terrible for him thinking that has to be so uncomfortable.

Titus is also beginning to love his solid food, he seems to no longer really take the time to taste it or move it around to check out its texture, he just eats it!  Unless of course he doesn't like it, like pears, he seems to not like them.  He takes after his mom on that one, I do not like the grainy texture of pears.  I do like his pureed version of them but he doesn't seem to?  But he likes bananas, apples, carrots, sweet potato and parsnip so far.  Next is butternut squash, mmmmm!

I thought I would add a pic of a tasty dish Tom makes for us sometimes, also great for any vegetarians!  He buys frozen pot stickers (aka gyoza in Japanese) and fry and steams them on the stove top.  And he sautes frozen green beans in soy sauce and oil or butter.  Then he has this amazing rice cooker, that cooks the rice perfectly sticky in just 10 minutes and voila you have a wonderful Japanese style meal!  So yummy!

Anyway I should go, I don't think I forgot anything important!?

A Reminder

Today, in my quiet time I was reminded of how much God loves Me...He loves Me...someone who doesn't deserve HIS love of everything that gives out love.  Most days I don't even make the time for quiet time with my Heavenly Father and when I do He blesses me for it and gently and lovingly reminds why I need that time with Him.  Anyway I wanted to share a small piece of it with you, an exercise I went through and was reminded why God is SO GOOD.  Read the following passage and list at least five of the many ways God shows His love for us.

Psalm 103 (New Living Translation)


A psalm of David.


1 Let all that I am praise the Lord;
with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
2 Let all that I am praise the Lord;
may I never forget the good things he does for me.
3 He forgives all my sins
and heals all my diseases.
4 He redeems me from death
and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
5 He fills my life with good things.
My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
6 The Lord gives righteousness
and justice to all who are treated unfairly.


7 He revealed his character to Moses
and his deeds to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
10 He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
13 The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
14 For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.
15 Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
16 The wind blows, and we are gone—
as though we had never been here.
17 But the love of the Lord remains forever
with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
18 of those who are faithful to his covenant,
of those who obey his commandments!


19 The Lord has made the heavens his throne;
from there he rules over everything.


20 Praise the Lord, you angels,
you mighty ones who carry out his plans,
listening for each of his commands.
21 Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels
who serve him and do his will!
22 Praise the Lord, everything he has created,
everything in all his kingdom.


Let all that I am praise the Lord.

Now write Jesus a letter beginning with "Lord, I know You love me because...," and list the ways He has shown His great love for you.

Baby Food Cooking...

So for now anyway I make my own baby food for Titus, it is cheaper, healthier, tastes like real food of course but not necessarily easier.  Although, it is fairly easy just not as easy as picking something off the shelf at the store.  I have a book that helps me a lot with knowing what to do and what to offer him for first stage weaning and second stage weaning called The Healthy Baby Meal Planner by Annabel Karmel. 

Here I am steaming pears, as steaming is the best way to preserve the vitamins and fresh flavor.

Here is my little food processor that I picked up at a rummage sale long before I was married!  Perfect for pureeing baby food!

And here is my ice cube tray with the pears for freezing the perfect portion size for Titus!  Just put them in a Ziploc and label and date them, will be good for 8 weeks! 

And it seriously tastes good, I always try it and if Titus doesn't finish his portion then I do because it actually tastes yummy.  So far we have done apples, sweet potato, carrots, pears and parsnip.  Parsnip looks like a white carrot and tastes like a cross between carrot and sweet potato to me.

Just Because...

I love my husband, he is so thoughtful towards me, more than I deserve.  Usually he plays basketball at our church on Saturday mornings from 7-9 just for some exercise with whoever shows up for it.  Yesterday morning they couldn't have the gym for that because of a conflicting AWANAS event for the kids, but he never told me that!  He got up early as normal for what I thought was to get ready for basketball, but I woke up a little later and found it was starting to get light out and my husband hadn't come in to give me kiss before he left as he usually does each morning before work and basketball!  Then I started to smell something good coming through the top and floor cracks of our door and I could hear something sizzling!  Then I heard our son start waking up and I thought "should I go out there since Tom is busy cooking?"  Well I continued to hear Titus cry and wasn't sure if Tom was getting him up or not so I did go out and found that he was not in the kitchen and found this delicious looking breakfast with a rose was coming together.  So I slipped back into bed and waited for my delighted husband to bring me our son to be fed.  And he did along with something to feed me!  So sweet!

Does this count for sitting mom?

Titus loves sitting on his bottom like this now!  This is his favorite spot to sit too, next to "his" pot in front of the entertainment center glass.  He can see someone in there (his favorite reflection) and bang on "his" pot.  Man once he started crawling he is just catching on to everything, sitting so his legs help balance him, pulling himself up to stand and now just in the last few minutes he seems to be waiving at us?!  Not sure if that is really happening cuz mommy is terrible at showing him to do that but that is what it seems like he is doing to both Tom and I.  He is getting his third tooth this last week to, all three on the bottom.  Makes his smile even more cute.