Hey, Mrs. Wilson!

Read this and protect your baby.  I just threw out a lot of “7″ plastics.

Thanks for the link Angella!

Congratulations to my brother and sister-in-law on their new baby girl, Kaitlyn Brianna!

I love you guys and I’m so excited for you!

ps. Go check her out! She’s all kinds of beautiful.

I opened my email this morning to find this:

It really has nothing to do with making baby food, I was just completely stoked when I got it! I also got my first bit of ad revenue from BlogHer. It was a good morning.

When I was almost hit by an idiot on a cell phone for the bizillionth time earlier, I was reminded how much I cannot stand idiots on cell phones. Granted, when you’re on a long trip on a straight highway, pull it out. Knock yourself out. But really, to get anywhere in my little town takes less than five minutes. What could you possible have to talk to someone about in those five minutes? Put down the cell phone. There are other people on the road and they (I) will not see “I was on the phone” as a good excuse for t-boning or side-swiping me.

I’ve taken a tiny break from making Etsy items. I absolutely love working in my little shop, but our house goes on the market in two days. That’s not very much time to make it look picture perfect. I also haven’t sold anything yet. That’s okay. I know I have to build it up a little more and advertise a little more. It’s a work in progress. I enjoy it. Making things is like therapy for me.

I came across this blog yesterday via Biblical Womanhood. It is written by a man chronicling his life with a wife who has Cystic Fibrosis. His wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl about 3 weeks ago. She was 15 weeks early. The wife is on a transplant list for a double lung transplant. The man and his wife have very strong faith in God and see every day as a blessing. I am learning a lot from them about faith.

On to what the post is really about. When I first found out I was pregnant with Liliana, I decided to do the baby thing the old fashioned way. I was going to nurse her until she was one so that she didn’t have to have formula, I was going to cloth diaper her, and I was going to make all homemade baby food.

How well did I do on that? Well, she nursed until she was 7 1/2 months old and then it did not work with my schedule anymore. I wrote about how I hated that it had to happen, but it was either give her formula or have a nervous breakdown. I chose the formula. We did not even touch cloth diapers. I have made homemade baby food a couple times, but Liliana eats mostly store bought organic baby food. Why organic? I don’t know. That’s just what we buy.

I really want to feed Liliana more homemade baby food because it’s cheaper, tastier, and healthier. So today I’m on a mission to find some recipes that we can hopefully both benefit from. (You know, if you have a baby.)

Recipes:

First Foods: Prior to having Liliana, I did not know that you could make your own baby cereal. I thought the Heinz stuff was the only way to go. Like I said before, I’m not a think-outside-the-box kind of person.

Rice Cereal
1/4 cup rice powder (brown rice ground in blender or food processor)
1 cup water

1. Bring liquid to boil in sauce pan. Add rice powder while stirring constantly.
2. Simmer for 10 minutes, whisking constantly, mix in formula or breastmilk and fruits if desired.
3. Serve warm.

Other cereals: Oatmeal, Barley

Apples/Applesauce
(Use Gala, Braeburn, Rome, or Macs)
This recipe is written so that you may use any amount of apples you wish!

1. Peel, core and cut apple into slices/chunks.
2. Place slices or chunks into a pan with just enough water to slightly cover apples.
3. Boil/steam until tender; be sure to check on the water level and stir. That’s It! Easy Peasy!
4. Apples may be mashed with a potato masher to achieve a smooth applesauce consistency. If your masher will not achieve a puree type of consistency, then follow steps 5 - 7.
5. Reserve any left over water to use for thinning out the apples.
6. Place into your choice of appliance for pureeing and begin pureeing.
7. Add the reserved water as necessary to achieve a smooth, thin puree.
8. Add cereal (if desired) to thicken up the apples.

Prunes
(this is one I use a lot since my baby is usually a little backed up)

1. Soak dried prunes in warm water until they plump up or steam gently.
2. Once plump and tender, toss into food processor or blender and begin to puree.
3. Add liquid without sparing any. Prunes tend to become a pasty gluey consistency when pureed and the more water you add, the easier it is to puree to a texture your baby will tolerate.

More fruits: Apricot puree, Banana Applesauce Mush, Avocado,

You can make pretty much any vegetable into baby food by steaming or boiling it and then putting it in the blender or food processor. The ones I like the best are carrots and peas because they’re easy! I use fresh carrots and frozen peas.

You can put each of the non-cereal recipes into ice cube trays and freeze overnight. Take them out of the ice cube trays and put into a zip-lock freezer bag. Keep them in your freezer until you need them, thaw, and serve. Easy!

I’m going to look for and post some 9 month+ recipes tomorrow, as that’s the stage I’m getting into and I want to introduce Liliana to meat.

Ciao!

So I didn’t get the call last night. I guess the OB on call (not mine) was on last night and was not into having a possible patient. My OB said to call this morning at 7:00 so I did and they told me to call back in half an our - which is in 15 minutes. I am thankful that I haven’t had to endure false labor or anything, but this waiting is almost enough to drive someone into a mental institution.

Update: Called back, now I am waiting for them to call me again. Two days ago while I was waiting for a call back, the same telemarketer called 5 times to tell me I won a cruise. Last night, they called again while I was waiting. (We have call display and do not pick it up if it says “Florida” - anymore.) If they call today, book me a spot in that institution, because waiting by the phone is definately enough to drive me mental.

Update again: I finally got the call back (8:30) and I have to call there at 4:30 to get “gelled”.

So we’re waiting by the phone. We went into the hospital for a fetal strip today (checking the heartbeat and contractions, or lack of) and my Dr is going to call a little later, she said 6 or 7, to say if she’s going to “gel me” tonight. She said that she is on call tomorrow during the day so it would be a perfect time for the baby to come since she doesn’t want to be in her office anyway. I said I was more than happy to help her get out of clinic duty. Don’t pull out the champagne yet, but there is light at the end of the tunnel!

My doctor’s appointment today was a little more eventful than my last one. Good things are happening and the doctor tried something to help it go a little faster so that Baby Wilson can meet his/her auntie before she heads back to Kelowna. The doc said that if nothing is happening before Friday morning to call and leave a message for her at the labor room and she’ll do a little more to help it along. Yay! The end is near.

That’s right! One more day! But I have a feeling that this baby is going to follow in his/her big sister’s footsteps and decide to be a week late.

That is what is happening, nothing! I had an appointment today with my OB and nothing is happening. Hopefully this little guy hurries up so that he/she can meet his/her auntie before she leaves next week! I got asked today, by someone I find a little too creepy, when the baby was coming. I told him, “I don’t know, ask God!” Maybe I’m just a little too irritable lately, but if one more person asks me when the baby is coming, I’m going to smash some heads together. What a stupid question . . . . *hormones raging with probably unjustified anger*

You’d think that being all squished in there would make Baby Wilson a little less active. Nope! This little guy is squirming like he/she’s mudwrestling a sumo wrestler.

Note: I can’t wait until Baby Wilson is born so that I can find out the sex and quit the “he/she” thing!

This afternoon Noah went to his parent’s place to watch the hockey game with his dad. I decided I wanted to go for a walk and called him to see what time he’d be home because I did not want to walk in the dark. Well, it turns out that me calling makes people jumpy! I guess when the phone rang over there, his mom saw the call display and said it was our house and Noah and his dad came running up the stairs. Noah said that I scared them all half to death and not to call anymore. He wasn’t being totally serious, just said that it scares him when I call because every time he thinks his baby is coming! Poor guy. I really didn’t mean to scare him! Oh well, he’ll get over it because one of these times that’s why I’m gonna be calling!

I’ve discovered lately that flexibility is truely the key to happiness. If you want everything done your way and you’re not willing to change your mind, you’re going to be miserable.

I’ve learned this first hand a lot lately. The main thing I am learning to be flexible about should be obvious - when this baby is going to come! I’m starting to understand that I have to go by God’s timing, not my own. It’s easy to see someone else going through it and tell them that, but when it’s you going through it, it’s way harder to see!

Alright, I now vow to stop complaining about being big and huge and accept that this baby is going to come when God chooses, instead of when I want it! (And I’m sure all of you in blogland are sick of hearing about it!)