My baby is eight months old and Friday Bloghops

Well he actually turned 8 months this past weeked (but I am close, right?). I can't believe how much has changed in this last month. He changes so much everyday and wants no part of being a baby anymore - he doesn't want to be held at all anymore unless it is time for a bottle and even then he is squirming. He wants to be playing / rolling / sitting on the floor or running around in his walker.
He no longer topples over when sitting (unless his brother is involved) and he can now reach for things, turn his body, play while sitting without losing his balance. He love's playing- and is so proud of himself when he does new things.

His favorite toys are:

• His car (that makes noise when you press the top)
• His keys (because anything that he can bite on is a good toy)
• His Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Puppy (see more about why I love this toy here)and
• he loves playing with his brothers dinosaurs...ALREADY - we are in trouble.

He is not quite crawling yet, though he gets on his hands and knees and moves. He likes do get up on his hands and knees and then dig his head into the ground to guide him around....I am not kidding - it looks painful to me. He also rolls and scoots so he gets where he is going without too much trouble.

He can stand holding onto things / people. When I am holding his hands he try's to let go but quickly realizes that he can't walk yet. When he is holding onto / leaning up against a person, table, etc he is very sturdy...he just does not have the balance yet - he wants to but he just doesn't.

Tooth count is now at 6, with at least one or two more about to pop through. The good thing about that is he is eating like a champ. We rarely give him a liquidy puree now (though I made some squash last week that was on the liquidy side) - veggies get pureed / mashed into thick puree's and as for fruit he eats most of it without us doing anything to it....he eats plums, peaches with blueberry with little to no preparation on our part and bananas get cut and he eats them in small bites and cherries get pitted and cut in half (apples and pear still usually get made into a sauce). He is eating puffs and cheerios without a problem and he tried meat (chicken) for the first time last weekend. He tried avocado again this month and was still not a fan of the consistency....though when he tried the guacamole (not a spicy one) he loved it - next time we get him avocado I am going to try to squeeze some lime on and see how he does with it.

New foods this month:

• Meat (chicken)
• Plums
• Cheerio's
• Real Oatmeal
• Hummus
  

His favorie foods are:

• Sweet Potato
• Carrots
• Plums
• Peaches
• Blueberries

His least favorite foods are:

Honestly he has done really well with food this month. There haven't really been any instances in which we gave him something that he refused to eat.

So that's the re-cap of what my little man has been up to this month and now here are some pictures....oh I almost forgot - he went to the beach for the first time this month too:

By the way I am newly on Twitter so be sure to follow me at MommyAdventure

Why I Love It Wednesday - Sand Art.

Sand Art is a perfect Rainy Day / Cold Winter day activity for you and your children. It will give them something to do on those days that are just too "yucky" to go outside (thoug you will see that I also recommend this as an outdoor activity for little ones).

Now you may not think of sand art as being educational, but it is. I know I try to take every opportunity to teach my children (even if they think that they are just playing) and this is a perfect product for learning. Your little ones will be working on their fine motor skills when pouring the sand into the containers, you can work with them on colors and color patterns when doing sand art as well....and you thought sand art was just an art activity that fell somewhere between coloring (a nice clean activity) and finger painting (a fun messy activity) on the "how much of a mess will my house be after this activity" scale.

If you are like me and worried about having to sweep colored sand off your floor for days after this project here are some tips:

• Place a plastic table cloth on the table / ground under the table for easy clean up
• Do this outside with very little ones to avoid the sand in the house
• Get plactic squeeze bottles (like the ketchup ones) with small tips this will make it easier for you little one to get the sand in the container that they are using for the sand art

We did it this past weekend with our 5 year old - here are some pictures:

See more of my Why I Love it Wednesday posts

Leapfrog Learning Table

Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Puppy

Wholesomebabyfood.com

Wordless Wednesday - Eating

See more Wordless / Wordful Wednesday at:

A Beautiful Mess

5 Minutes for Mom

Seven Clown Circus

Live and Love out loud

Homemade Baby Food - What's on the Baby's plate this week

I had a great idea this weekend while making a fruit smoothie for my older son....I made a "baby smoothie" too. This is perfect for an older baby and a great idea if your little one is starting to use a sippy cup. I actually fed it to my little guy with a spoon and that worked well until it started to really melt down.

All I did was take frozen fruit (be sure to buy the "fresh frozen" fruit meaning that it has no added sugars, syrup, etc...) that I was using for my older guys smoothie and throw it in the blender with a little bit of water to thin it our and there you have it....a "baby smoothie". We used peach and mango. Other frozen fruits that I keep in stock are blueberries, strawberries (for the older guy) and a berry mix (also for the older guy) and I obviously have frozen fruit puree's as well. An added benefit, with teething babies the coldness of the frozen smoothie will help numb the gums and provide some relief from their tooth pain.

Alternatives:

• If you are making baby food and have frozen puree's through a couple in the blender, instead of using the frozen fruit (or along with the frozen fruit)
• If your little one is getting fruit juice (my guy isn't yet) you can replace the water with fruit juice
• If you are making it for older baby's / toddlers, who are already getting milk, you can add some milk to make it more like a milk shake

Now for his menu this week -

I went a little crazy yesterday with the baby food making so both my refrigerator and freezer are stocked. I let my 5 year old help make the baby's food this weekend too and he was so excited to be able to help. He made the Sweet Potato and the Squash and did almost all of it himself. I peeled and cut the veggies, he put them in the steamer, turned on the timer, I took the out of the steamer and put them into the food processor because they were hot, but he blended them all up in the food processor too. He did a really good job and was so proud of himself.

I usually leave a little bit of each item out and those items will be eaten over the next few days. The rest goes in the freezer either for use later in the week or to be stored for some other time. This works well for me because if we have a busy weekend and I don't have time to make food for him, I know that I will always have back-up's in the freezer.

So here is what we made:

• Sweet Potato (steamed and pureed)
• Squash (steamed and pureed)
• Carrots (steamed and pureed)
• Green Beans (steamed and pureed)
• Boiled Chicken

Combinations:

• carrot, sweet potato and green beans
• carrot, sweet potato, green beans and chicken
• Natural Applesauce (just apples and water) and Sweet Potato

Other possible combinations:

• Natural Applesauce with carrots (a favorite in our house - the 5 year old loves it too)
• Natural Applesauce with chicken
• Any combination of the above with rice cereal
• Banana and sweet potato (we always keep banana in the house for the little guy)

He is also snacking on puffs or cheerios every now and then too and we keep fruit in the house, so there are times when he will have a small banana, plum or peach for a meal as well.

Here is my older guy helping me make the baby food:

My little man tried meat

We gave him Sweet Potato and Turkey for the first time tonight.  He seemed to like it....I think it could have been thicker and he probably would have done better.  He didn't seem overly excited, but he ate it.  I found a Chicken with carrot and apple recipe in my First Meals book (by the way you can get it for $1.34 at Amazon) that I think I am going to try for him tomorrow.

To all my followers and New Friends....

I have been SUPER busy at work this week (read more here)....If you stopped by and I didn't return the favor this week I will be catching up over the weekend (at night when the boys are in bed, since I have to do some catching up with them too).

I hope everyone has a great Friday and a Wonderful Weekend.

Do you love Handbags???? and more Friday Follows

Of course you do....Have you shopped at Ellington Handbags? Check them out....




The best part, they are offering free shipping....

Friday Bloghops and Diapers.com Sales

So it is Friday again and it is time for all of the blog hops....but today I also want to share some great deals that are going on at diapers.com

Diapers.com July Clothing Sale! Save up to 60%!

Save 20% off Britax Car Seats and Strollers with Code 20BRITAX

$10 off your 1st order of Diapers or Formula! Code AFF10. Total order must be $49+

Wordless Wednesday

See more Wordless Wednesday at:

A Beautiful Mess

5 Minutes for Mom

Seven Clown Circus

Live and Love out loud

Missing my Boys...

It is 8:30 and I am on the train....I am not home yet and won't be for about a half hour....That means both boys will be in bed....and since I left at 7 I only saw them for about 5 minutes this morning.  This is week two of these hours at work and I am missing my little guys.  Hopefully work will slow down soon - probably a week or so more.

I have worked (in the same type job) all along even after having my first guy - but for some reason after having the baby it has been so much harder to be away.  I don't know why it seems so much worse this time around.

Updating:
I just got home and my older guy managed to stay up to wait for me...it is way past his bed time, but I was happy to see that he was still awake.  I read him a story and got him back in bed - so it was nice to have a few minutes with him.

Follow me Back Tuesday and Tooth number 6

Our little guy got his 6th tooth this weekend.  It is funny because I had no idea that he was getting it until Saturday and by Sunday it was through.  He did well - a little cranky...not like him and not wanting his bottle like normal which was freaking me out because it was hot this weekend.  Other than that all is well and we have a new tooth.

Tuesday Tag Along and My Items on Ebay this week

Please check out some of the items that I am selling this week.

Vintage Speedaway Collectible Wooden Sled

VINTAGE MORTON SALT CANISTER  

I am starting a diet ASAP....

Today my 5 year old told me that I am having another baby because my belly is big....and that mommy's bellys get small when they aren't having babies anymore.....NICE.

Time to diet

Blog Bash

A quick introduction....My name is Maggie and I am the mom of two wonderful boys.  My oldest guy is 5 years old and my baby is 7 month old.  I love to share our daily adventures....from a 5 year old opening his peanut butter and jelly sandwich and rubbing it all over his naked belly - to our newly mobile (well sort of) baby.

1.) Why do you blog? For many reasons...It started as a way to keep a record of what my boys were up to and all of the fun adventures in our family.  Shortly after beginning I started to *meet* blogging friends and so now my blog is not only the fun family stories and pictures but I also use this as a forum to share products and tips that I love with all of my wonderful followers in blog world.


2.) What do you blog about? My boys, the adventures that we have with our 5 year old and our little man, now 7 months old.  I also blog about Family Travel Tips, Family Fun on a Budget and some of my favorite products.

3.) What do you find to be the biggest reward you get from blogging? I love having a forum to share all of the fun things that we do with our boys and sharing fun and useful tips that I have come across.  I just love having a place to get my thoughts out and I LOVE when I know that others are interested in what I have to say.

4.) How long have you been blogging? I just started blogging at the end of March.

5.) Let's hear the story behind your blog title! :) I had to use MY MOMMY ADVENTURE as my blog title.  When thinking about what my blog would include I knew that "adventure" was a perfect word to describe my life with my boys.

Friday Bloghops

Here we go again...Time for Friday bloghops - Have a great weekend everyone!!!

$5 off at Kmart.com and an additional $10 on Back to School purchases

Here is the link - go to Kmart.com to save $5 on your $50 purchase.  Use with coupon code KMART5OFF50 to get this deal.

Who doesn't love saving money???

Some other good deals at Kmart right now are

1. Save up to 50% off summer apparel for baby's and children
2. Save $10 on back to school purchases over $50 with code SCHOOL10

Check them out....