5 Ways I've been succeeding and failing at my own spending challenges

In April, my last post, I wrote about my obscene credit card balance and ways I'd been trying to make that ish GO AWAY.  I had pledged that by July or August I'd have the credit card balance down to or close to $0.

And my result--total fail.

I've gotten it down by a little more than $1k, and mostly it's because I didn't anticipate a few things in my plan.

Plan re-cap:
1. Not shopping anymore.  No clothes. No shoes.
2. Bank account consolidation.  Big guy and I weren't understanding what the other was doing and where money was going to pay for what.  It was confusing and we just didn't handle it.  Now all of our accounts (his, hers, and ours) are at one bank and with only a few weeks of this, it's made everything a lot easier.
3. Tracking spending.  Sounds rudimentary, but to force myself to look at statements, copy down what I spent and where (and the anticipation of having to do this later) is really helpful.
4. When I feel the need to buy something, I've been checking to make sure I don't already have an acceptable alternative.  Especially with clothes that I haven't been able to explore in 5 years, I'm finding that there are things that got shoved to back of the closet that are in great condition and I can wear them again.  It helps that I'm Kon-Marie ing my clothes--if it doesn't bring me joy it goes to someone that will find joy in it.
5. I'm doing my damnedest to use all the leftovers.  For all of us.  I found that even if I'm really good at bringing my lunch, there's one guy in our house that was spending lots of money on lunch ($~50 a week).

Some successes:
1 .Consolidating the bank accounts at one institution is still a thing and has been working well.
2. I've also done okay at tracking my expenses, but I've been referring to my statements more than writing things down (I'm not much of a cash person).

Fails:
1. Not shopping.  Total fail.  Clothes all over the place.
2. Leftovers.  Lots of food waste at our house lately.
3. Take out/ordering in/eating on the fly.

So why the fails?

A bit of an announcement--we're unexpectedly expecting BickerBaby #3.  And since I gave all my larger clothes and maternity clothes away during the spring, I've spent a lot of money buying things that will fit over this large belly.  I've been fortunate that many friends have also been offering their clothes (or my old clothes back), but as we all know, sometimes the things don't fit or aren't your style or aren't existing (T-shirts, I mean you!) when you borrow things from someone else.

Same goes for the Little Lady, in that a lot of her clothes are hand-me-downs, so I've had to fill some gaps for her, too--mainly shorts--and little girls clothes are obscenely expensive.

We also discovered that all of my husband's shorts were literally falling apart, so I bought him a few new pairs and some shirts that didn't have holes/covered his belly. Luckily, Little Man was pretty much all set, but I bought him a new bathing suit (a size too big so he can *hopefully use it again next year, too).

BickerBaby #3 also means I've been dog tired and not feeling well, on top of having the oddest "needs" for certain cuisines.  So meal planning, lunch packing (for me), and creativity with left-overs hasn't been a priority.  Coupled with taking two night classes over the summer, and I'd say we were ordering out for dinner 3 times a week at one point.  The vast majority of spending has gone to take-out/food.

Some good news in all this doldrum:
- I've fallen in with a group of fellow MBA students that is totally keen on book sharing and swapping, so I've saved a few hundred dollars on course materials over the last few months, and will continue to do so in the future.
- My energy and normal appetite have returned, so we've been doing better at cooking/packing/re-using meals.
- I planted a garden, y'all.  And all that awesomeness is finally starting to come to fruition.  Tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers (bell and hot), as well as a ton of herbs are being brought into the kitchen daily so it's helped to off-set our grocery bills and will continue to do so even into the fall and winter (canning, freezing, fingers crossed for an extended growing season).
- People have been supremely generous with giving us gently used baby items.  We literally gave away ALL items suitable for a child from infancy-18 months old, including car seats, strollers, carriers, clothes, boppies, etc. and friends and friends of friends have really heeded the call for "stuff" (once they stop laughing at our news).  So far, we've been lucky enough to get two convertible car seats and an infant seat, a boppie, some clothes, and a bunch of random doo-dads to help usher this child into his or her first months of life.  I've also been terrible at writing the thank you notes...

So some new goals for the next few months:
- Start packing lunches and snacks again.  At least 3 days a week, better if I can do 4.
- Stop buying clothes.  I should be good for fall with the maternity stuff and both the Little Lady and Little Man should be good to go for fall.  I'm praying that the grandparents are as generous with the call for clothes as presents at Christmas this year as they were last year.  It was really awesome, and they smartly bought clothes in the next size up so I know they'll be good through the fall this year.
- Can, freeze, dry, pickle, etc. all I can from the garden until it stops producing.  I'm hoping to keep the grocery bills as low as possible for as long as possible.
- Use what I have already in the freezer.  I KNOW there are a bunch of sausages, kale, peas, chicken parts, etc. that are buried in the bottom of our freezer that I really just need to inventory and use.  Again, helping to off-set the grocery bill, which when paired with take-out (which will hopefully be eliminated) is by FAR our largest expense after mortgage and daycare. 
and finally...
- I pledge to cut down on my visits to Dunkin' Donuts.  It's only $12 a week I spend there, but that's almost $50 a month that I would be putting toward this debt that I couldn't otherwise.

Wish me luck, and let me know your pointers for staying on track.  I obviously know what I NEED to do, but help me do it! 

Pattern Review: Baby Go-To Leggings

I had found a free pattern for baby leggings online a long time ago, have some random bits of UFO (unfinished object) fabric that I need to stop looking at, and some 50 year-old elastic laying around.  YAY!

So why not try out the free pattern on the little lady (who is just over a year now)?

Here are my experiences with the Baby Go-To Leggings Pattern.

The good news:
This is a pattern with VERY well-written instructions.  Even as a first-time project, I think someone would have a very easy time putting these together.  There are explanations of terminology, explanations of fabric (and how to determine that you're using a correct fabric), and an explanation on how to piece the pattern together from the 4 pages of letter-size paper.  And thankfully, it includes the seam allowance in the pattern, and since I've found many PDF patterns (especially the free ones) don't this is pretty awesome.

This also took less than an hour to cut the pattern, tape it together, cut the pieces, and sew it all up!

The bad news:
I think this was drafted for a very short, very fat baby.  I was so worried about the waist (which was spot on and even allows for some growth for my kid) that I didn't pay much attention to the length.  Little lady ended up with pants that are 2 inches too short...

I will definitely be using this pattern again.  I will definitely add a cuff at the ankle, though.

Cost:
Pattern--Free (with newsletter subscription for Go To Patterns)
Fabric--Free, as I was really killing a UFO and stashbusting
Notions--Free, from my hoarding of my grandmother's sewing stuff
So...FREE!

All opinions expressed in this post are my own and have in no way been solicited for nor have I received compensation or sponsorship.

It takes a village, but I'm the mayor...

It occurs to me that everyone has a parenting philosophy--even those without children.  And that's fine, but please remember this one thing:

Mom is always the mayor of village in which her children reside.

This doesn't mean that Dad isn't Deputy Mayor, taking over the reigns on a very frequent basis to cover important issues that Mayor isn't able to handle.  Personally, I'm so glad that he does! 

But that peanut gallery has just got to pipe down.

There are a few reasons for this:
1. It's really just rude.
2. You're confusing my kids.
3. Your interventions are likely counterproductive to what we're trying to achieve as parents.
4. Kids are smart and know how to achieve their goals (and get around Mom and Dad if they can).


I'm very grateful for the support we get from family and friends, and frankly I don't think that we would be successful parents without it.  But support means backing us up, and not making rumblings under your breath or flat out disagreeing with me in front of my child.

I know I'm not the only one out there with this gripe.  How do you deal with the peanut gallery?

Week 40: Almost ready to meet #2!

I'm not emotionally good at being pregnant.  I LOVE being a mother--it's a lot of fun and a responsibility I take very seriously.  But I HATE being pregnant.  Seriously.  I don't glow or glimmer, or feel anything but awkward and out of place.  But pregnancy is cheaper than buying one, and a much more sure thing than just finding one on the side of the road, so here I am.

As I enter my 40th week of pregnancy with lucky #2, I keep thinking of things I'm looking forward to doing/being once I'm not pregnant anymore.  So here's my list, and it will not include anything baby-related...
1. Getting off the couch unassisted.  Even Little Man has had to help me a few times...
2. Sleeping on my back or my stomach--anything but on my side(s).
3. Being able to see my lady parts. (I never realized how much it would bother me to not be able to see a part of my body I'm used to seeing.)
4. Weeding my garden. Haven't you wondered why I haven't posted any photos this year?  It's not because it's not there...I'm completely embarrassed by my messy garden right now.
5. Spooning my husband.  He can spoon me, but I can't spoon him.
6. Cleaning my bathtub. 
7. Giving my dogs a bath (likely before I clean the bathtub).
8. Drinking.  I miss drinking a whole drink.  And I miss drinking a sip of a drink without getting weird looks from people everywhere.
9. Eating funky, unpasteurized cheeses.
10. A lack of heartburn.
11.  Eight weeks of unabashed lounging (obviously with my new friend).
12.  Being able to put Little Man to bed--haven't been able to do that for a few months now since I can't really hold him for long or bend down to put him in bed.
13. Being able to travel.  Right now with all this extra weight (and ligament stretching hormones) I can't sit in the car for more than an hour at a clip.  I'm looking forward to seeing people again!
14.  Walking/standing/sitting/leaning/laying in one position for more than 15 minutes at a clip.  Especially the walking part.  I'm so lame I can't even take the dogs out around the block right now...
15. Making dinner.  I'm averaging two meals a week right now--super lame.
16. Wearing normal clothes.  I fit into about 5 outfits right now.  And I'm sick of wearing them.
17. That few days post-pregnancy lightness--since I'll be instantly about 25 pounds lighter, I'll feel like I'm floating for a few days.

I can't wait!

I miss making things!

Man, I never thought I'd be so out of touch with my own blog.  I've never been a super-regular journaling kind of gal (even when I had an actual diary with a lock and key that I really just drew on--not in), but the last few months (roughly 7, actually) have probably been the most unproductive of my life externally.

Since January, I've stopped my personal chef-ery business, haven't sewn a darn thing (except a rogue bra strap and hook & eye clasp repair on said bra), haven't brewed a single beer, have knitted or crocheted exactly nothing, and barely have the energy to make dinner most nights.  I've planted exactly 4 tomato plants in my garden, and put together a really cute herb garden in a strawberry pot--that's it.

Internally, I'm sustaining an expectant life.  "#2" as we affectionately call him or her is due, ironically, Labor Day weekend.  As he/she/it is literally sucking the energy right out of me, I do a lot of "supervising".  I'm lucky to have an actually helpful 2 1/2 year old and an understanding husband...

But even though I spend most of my days dreaming about making things and plotting what I might be able to make while on maternity leave, I am lucky enough to be reading a ton lately.  In addition to voraciously reading my National Geographics each month, finally catching up on my SKI and 32 degrees magazines (ironic since there's no snow and I'm really not fit to ski), I've re-discovered the awesomeness that "Leisure Reading" section at Temple University's library which is awesomely situated across the street from my office.

If you're interested in keeping up with what I'm reading or suggesting a new book, please link up!  I hate walking blindly into a book without a recommendation and I'm game to read anything.  I'm 99% sure this is my profile.

Until I'm game for making again, here are my current craft-crushes:
The Cutest Darn Thing to entertain your toddler on Two-Many
I need to have this skirt but am too lazy to make it, but I still really want to buy the pattern
Signs I may miss drinking a bit too much

I hope to have more fodder to share with you all soon, but it may just be musings on what I plan to brew for my post-baby hospital bed celebration...I'm excited about that!

My best creation to date

The official b-day pic

Sunday was a big milestone in our house--Little Man turned two.  And since I've never actually recounted any of the story of his birth (not even in a baby book I'm a bit ashamed to admit), I figured I'd do it now.  He deserves it!

My due date was January 13th--a Friday, which really made your Grampa nervous.  I worked until you came, and was planning for the 13th to be my last day at work.  But you had other plans.

On January 11th, after a long day of some last-minute projects your father and I needed to get done (we were re-wiring the 3rd floor so Nana had a place to sleep when she came to visit), I finally made my way to bed around 1130pm while your father finally ate dinner and watched South Park downstairs before he came up.  I washed up, got changed, and I think I may have even laid out clothes for the next day at work (it's not hard when only about 3 things you own still fit).  I then went over to the bed, picked up my leg to get in, and...my water broke.

The three of us at our baby shower in Nov. 2011

At first I thought I peed myself, but I soon realized what was going on and called down to your father.  (p.s. thank Jeebus a co-worker had convinced me to sleep on a towel for the last week or I probably would have ruined our mattress). I asked him to meet me in the bathroom with my phone so I could call the doctor, and then sent him back downstairs to finish eating.  As suspected, the doctor on call told us to come in, but since I was pretty comfortable, I read the Farmer's Almanac until your father came back to check on me.

He may have fallen asleep on the couch (though he'll never admit to it) because I was in the bathroom for a WHILE, when I decided to call him to see what the deal was. Your father came upstairs, helped me get cleaned up, dressed, and packed (no I hadn't finished packing for myself though your bag was good to go), and off we went.  Since we wanted it to be only us at the hospital, we didn't call Nana or Gramma or Pap or Grampa--I sent a smiley text message to Aunt Manoshi and Auntie.

On the way to hospital, we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts--your father was in desperate need of caffeine and I knew they weren't going to let me eat once we checked in.  It was the most glorious egg and butter on an everything bagel sandwich I can remember, all washed down with a hot chocolate.  Oddly enough, once I started eating, I started feeling the contractions for the first time--nothing huge or painful yet but a bit uncomfortable.

When we finally got to the hospital around 2am, the duty nurse said she was just about to call me back--they thought something might have happened since we arrived more than two hours after my initial call...but we had to eat, right?

The labor nurse I started out with was not the most pleasant person in the world, and to be frank, I felt really pressured to start taking labor inducing and pain numbing medications--both of which I didn't want to start until I really had to.  The only response that seemed to quell the resident on duty was that I wanted to wait until my doctor came on to make any decisions.

Mommy was on vicodin

Daylight changes everything, including shifts at a hospital and the strength of contractions.  By the time my doctor got in, I was laboring moderately but apparently not making a lot of progress.  Since my water had been broken for about twelve hours, I decided to let them give me pitocin and demanded that they give me an epidural if they were going to give me pitocin.  It was pretty rough trying to manage staying still for the epidural during some strong contractions, but we did it. 

I 'm glad we did.  After the medicine kicked in, your father and I settled in, relaxed and watched Indiana Jones for a few hours.  The doctor even stopped by a few times to ask us where we were at in the movie--I guess he's a fan.

Just before two o'clock, the doctor and labor nurse, Ella (who happened to know a work friend of mine) told me it was time to start pushing, and push I did.  About twenty minutes later, you came into the world, all slimy and off-color, and fairly odd-looking.  But we were so relieved to finally meet you.

1 day old

We hadn't found out if you were a boy or girl before you were born, and frankly it didn't matter much once you were here.  It mattered so little in fact, that the doctor and nurses had to remind us to check!

You were born at 2:21 PM on Thursday Jan. 12, 2012 weighing in at 7 lbs. 2 oz. and 19 inches long.  We named you Michael for your grandfathers (Pap and Grampa are both named Michael) and Michael Jacob for your  Grampa, Great Grampa, and Great-Great Grampa who are/were all MJ
Hamm.

You went home in a Flyers onesie, and watched your first Flyers game about 2 minutes after you got home.  The dogs (Pearl & Bob) were instantly taken with you.  The cat took a while to warm up, but now he's probably your best friend.

laurelharrishphotography.com

Happy birthday, buddy.

Summer Re-cap

I hate bloggers who apologize for not keeping up with their blogs--because blog readers are just glued to their computers waiting for us all to share what we had for dinner, the cute outfit we spent hours laboring over for our kid who messed it up 2 minutes after the photos were taken, or finding out what fun picture frame we fashioned into a completely useless piece of wall "art".

So, I'm not apologizing for not posting anything for almost 6 months--I have a life.  But, I've missed cataloging what I've been up to, so I thought I would do a bit of a photo montage that explains what I've been up to over the last six months.  Enjoy!

Garden:

We finally had a strawberry this year!  It rained a lot, my tomatoes are coming in like crazy (still), I built a vertical planter for sweet potatoes (that died) that seems very well suited for cucumbers, pesto: the elixir of pasta, a squash plant I started from seed and hydrangea. 

Kiddo:

 

Helping me make cinnamon buns with his friend one morning.

 

And thankfully, we had a lot of beach & lake time this summer.

Cooking:

 

I discovered the olive bar at Wegmans's; Mac n Cheese, grilled lamb leg, avocado pasta, pierogies with chorizo(!), the book that started it all, cold-brewed coffee (a revelation), we made baked beans from scratch, this crazy watermelon rum drink with limes and cilantro, Heizenberg special rock candy (just a touch of chili p yo), and the most beautiful fritatta I've ever made.

Beer/Liquor Drinks:

A small sampling what I've been drinking this summer.  Lots of ales and saisons, now transitioning into festbiers and porters.  I haven't brewed since probably Februrary, but I'm enjoying what others are making immensely!

The chill of fall has also reignited the bourbon (me) vs. scotch (my husband) debate in our house.  Here's a fun maple mint julep I made--it's actually better without the ice cubes to take that chill off your bones.

If you have any questions about what I have up here, just ask!  It may make its way into a full blog post one day!

Cleaning Sophie

I do much of my best thinking in the shower--the same location where Little Man does most of his best playing.  This morning, I noticed that his bath toys were a little less than sparkling and I realized that a lot of people probably have NO idea how to clean their children's toys without potentially poisoning them.

Rubber, plastic toys:  You can either immerse and/or wipe down with a water and vinegar solution.  If you can handle it, I recommend using 2 parts vinegar to 1 part water and then either rinsing in wiping down with clean water.  For squeezy toys (rubber ducks, Sophie the giraffe, etc.) squeeze under the vinegar water to get some inside and then shake it around before squeezing the water out.  You may want to repeat that a few times.  Some funky stuff can grow inside those guys--especially the bath toys! 

Fabric, plush:  Spot clean with warm water.  If that doesn't work, try a little clarifying shampoo (nothing moisturizing!). Don't rub if at all possible, especially on the plush.  Pat dry and let sit until completely dry or it will look worse than when you started.

Stuffed Animals: If it's just general ick on the stuffed animals (great to do post-cold, too) get a big paper shopping bag (plastic works, too but not as well) dump in a hefty amount of baking soda (about a cup) on top of the toy, close it up (folds, tie, etc.) and then shake it.  And I mean SHAKE it.  For 30 seconds to a minute depending on how gross the toy is.  Remove from bag, shake and pat (outside or over a clean garbage pail is best) until you get all the excess off.

Just a note: I highly caution against using baby wipes for "cleaning".  A lot of them have moisturizers in them that can discolor plastics, stain fabric, and flatten pile on toys.

I'd love to hear how others clean their kids' toys. Any suggestions?

Cold Weather Makes me Want to Knit!

Next week we're leaving on a week and a half journey across the Great White North--and considering it'll be February I'm assuming that Canada will live up to its nickname.

Little man just turned one, just started walking, and and just lost his only pair of mittens.  So in preparation, I've been trying to find a pair of baby mittens at stores, online, in patterns, etc.  It's harder than you'd think to find a pair of mittens for a small toddler with thumbs!  As in impossible so far.  All the mittens with thumbs were for kids at least twice his size (2T-5T was the size), and his hand swam in them.

After quite a bit of internet searching, I found some knitting patterns for 12 months sizes and also discovered some really fun places with free knitting patterns!

The first I stumbled across was straw.com, which appears to be a yarn wholesaler named Crystal Palace, and has a HUGE library of both commissioned and user-created patterns for free.  Not all of their "indie patterns" are free, and none seem to have any user comments or updates on them directly, so one can't be sure how well they've been vetted.  But I guess what you pay for.

The mittens I'm considering making from their site are their Baby-Toddler Mittens.

The other site that I came across while looking for these mitten patterns is Pickles.no.  This Norwegian yarn artisan company has a TON of free patterns, and since the pattern section is made in a blog format, there are some comments about where users ran into any issues which the Pickles folks use to actually update their patterns.  From my browsing, most of the patterns are really fashionable and current, and since they're in Norway, you know they have to be warm!  I'm going to make the kindergarten mittens for Little Man, and if time permits this cute hat, sweater, and booties babykit for my best friend's own impending Little Man.

The Pickles site actually has an online store, too, so if you fall in love with some of their yarns, you can buy them immediately.  Just make sure you find the little British flag at the top right corner so that you you can actually tell what you're buying!

I'm going to make Little Man's mittens with an appropriate yarn that I already have in my stash--I'm not convinced that he needs to wear Merino wool yet.  I'm hoping to start them this weekend, so maybe I can post them next week!  Fingers crossed!

On the menu for next week

I realized that even though I've been doing a pretty good job of sticking with my meal-planning, I haven't shared my experiences in this arena lately.

I have not stuck with a meal planning service--I didn't LOVE the recipes, and our fickle tastebuds tend to crave things that weren't in any of the menus I found.  I did, however, find a lot of inspiration of how I should be doing things and continue to use the models of execution from many of the websites I found.

So what exactly am I doing?  I've started bookmarking recipes and (GASP!) making a running grocery list of items we'll need to execute those menu items for the next few weeks.  You'll notice some things are crossed off, and that's because their procurement was delegated to the big guy who drives past a butcher on his way home from work.  Other things missing from the list are things I have in my garden, so no tomatoes, eggplants, herbs, cucumbers or raspberries will show up on here until October.

And what will we be cooking?
-Peach sauce for the little guy
-A shrimp, peach and spinach hot salad thingy (once I make it and figure out what I'm doing I'll post about it)
-Pasta with hot sausage, fried sage, and a cream sauce.
-Grilled flank steaks (probably slightly Mexican-style w/ fresh salsa and tortillas)
-Grilled chicken breasts marinated in a yogurt curry sauce.
-Eggplant (roasted, fried and baked into a "lasagna", possibly into a chutney I saw)
-Pretty much all meals will be accompanied by a tomato salad since it's that time of year.
-Left over corn chowder to eat with hamburgers and hot dogs over Labor Day weekend

It's amazing how just this little bit of conscious planning has really taken away the stress, made me a better grocery shopper in terms of both time and money, and has really made our evenings that much more enjoyable.

Apple Peach Pear Sauce

This started as an attempt to make baby food and get rid of some fruit just starting its downward spiral, and I must say it's probably one of the yummiest things I've made in a while.

2 pears, peeled, cored, cut into large chunks
3 apples, peeled, cored, cut into large chunks
2 peaches, peeled, cored, cut into large chunks
1/2 cup of water

Put all ingredients into a sauce pan (medium to large) and cook over medium heat until fruit softens a bit.  Stirring helps to even out the cooking, so I encourage occasional stirring.  Estimate 10-15 minutes for cooking max.  Whiz everything in your food processor until you get the consistency you desire, and enjoy!

I made two servings for the little guy to take to school (2 oz. cups) and froze the rest (though I stole a huge spoonful for me beforehand!).

The Great Baby Food Debate

We've been sending little man with baby food to school for about a month now.  Though, at first he was apparently a little confused at being given food (vs. milk) at school and didn't eat too much, that has all changed.  At last teacher report, he quote, "ate up dem apples like I ain't ne'er seen no baby do," so I've been sending even MORE and he keeps eating "dem".

The biggest surprise to me in this whole baby food making thing, is that people seem to have quite the range of emotions when they learn I'm making the baby food.  Other than here, I don't really advertise it since the whole parenting landscape (among other parents) can be quite a mine field I'm finding...  Some are quite surprised, impressed, and others appear to be incredulous, annoyed, and even offended that I'm making the baby food.  Most, just don't seem to get why I would even want to do this.

So, I've decided to list my reasons to clear up any confusion:
1. I am cheap!  2 oz. of gerber carrot puree is 99c.  99c!  I bought 2 lbs of carrots for $2 and made about 30oz. of carrot puree.
2.  I want to be able to pronounce everything that my kid is eating.  It's just a personal preference so that I don't sound dumb.  Though I did probably sound dumb when I asked the doctor how much food he should eat...
3.  It's really not that much work or time for me.  Last night I spent exactly 30 minutes peeling, chopping, steaming, and pureeing carrots.  And it's 30 minutes I was going to be in the kitchen anyway because I was already making dinner.
4. I actually find it easier to make my own than worry about whether he has enough food in the pantry. Even this weekend, I just made sure that I grabbed a banana from our hotel while traveling so I could mash it up in the car if we ran out of food.
5. I honestly, find this to be a lot of fun.  I like playing with my food processor and checking off the list of foods that little man has eaten.
6. I am CHEAP!  Even without teeth, little man is eating about 4 oz. of food everyday on top of his 18+ oz. of milk.  That would be an additional $28 each week, and would almost DOUBLE my monthly grocery bill!  I want to save that money for when he's a teenager and literally eating me out of house and home.

I don't think that parents that aren't making their baby's food are bad parents (I had a woman imply that I was being snooty the other day).  I like to cook.  And experiment.  If you don't like to cook, or play with food, or aren't good at multi-tasking during the dinner-making process--this isn't for you.

Plus, I found that an apple core makes a great teether the other day while making his apple sauce!

Baby Food Experiment

So, weeks ago I vowed to make little guy's baby food.  And while that has been happening, I haven't made "baby food".  I've just been mushing or pureeing a fruit or vegetable for his consumption.  And frankly, for a while it was WAY too much to send to school with him.

A few weeks ago, I saw this great recipe for something I make all the time, but for a baby this time.  Apart from an easy way to start introducing meats into my little man (6 months and not even an inkling of a tooth), I never even thought about quinoa for him.  And why not?  We eat quinoa all the time.  And it's good.  And it's a super food or something...

I still haven't gotten around to making this--it's 90 effin' degrees in Philly every day this summer--but it's on my list.

Apart from veggie purees, any suggestions from the peanut gallery?  Do babies even care if they get a whole meal's worth of taste in one bite?

Meal Planning Sites

After my last post, I tried prioritizing a few things in terms of what was bothering me the most and what seemed to be the biggest issues.  I found that dinner seemed to be the root of a lot of my angst. After a long day at work, I have a long evening of parenting, cleaning, paying bills, advising my girls of poise and purpose, laundry, and bottle washing before I even get to think about dinner.

I figure if I can get dinner under control, it would solve the poverty issue, the time issue, and a lot of this stress.  My solution: meal planning!

First, I found this blog:
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com, which is a really great account of how a woman in NC stopped eating processed foods completely.  Now, while I try my best to eat as little processed food as possible, I genuinely enjoy my instant oatmeal, Dunkin Donuts, and pizza.  But when I cook, I really don't use processed food, so the recipes and meal plans were great inspiration for me.  There are also a few weekly menu plans, but the odd ingredients (coconut oil, almond butter, etc.) just don't really work for us and the grocery stores I have available.

Then I found another blog:
http://onceamonthmom.com, which is similar in ethos to 100 days of real food, but modified all of the recipes for bulk cooking and freezing and even has a shopping list and portion adjustable menus.  I downloaded the July menu, and I was pretty impressed.  Because you can adjust the menus to however many of you there are, it really takes the guess work out of things.  Even the shopping list adjusts when you change the number of portions.  I was even able to delete recipes that I didn't want to do (ham, yuck), which was really nice. 

I've made a few of the recipes (which are taken and adjusted from other websites) so far, and they've been pretty good.  I also substituted a few things (couldn't find sweet chili paste and I wasn't about to make my own tortillas when I'm trying to save time), but most of the ingredients were really easy to find and I already had many of them in my pantry. 

Enchiladas pre-oven

The one recipe I managed to get pictures of was the Thai Enhcillands.  They sound weird and I wasn't sure it would work, but there were really good and it was perfect for a night when we were tired and didn't want to do ANYTHING.

I'm not sure that I saved any time doing things this way, but it definitely saved me a lot of stress since so much less thinking was involved.  I even managed to get out of the grocery store for less than $150 for about 3 weeks worth of groceries and do that in under an hour...

Biggest take away from this part of my experiment--when I have the time, energy, and ingredients, I need to make a few extra servings and freeze it. 

Biggest advantage found so far--we didn't get takeout (or even suggest it) once last week...$!

Baby Food Time!

Right around the 4 month mark, I noticed that my little one was reaching for my food.  Of course, at first, I thought I was just seeing things and assumed that it was a symptom of the "my baby is advanced and awesome" syndrome that so many mothers have.  Then, he tried to eat my raisin toast.

When we went in for his 4-month well visit, I mentioned this to his Dr., and she said to try some foods or cereal.  So after consulting with friends, family, and a random facebook group I'm part of, I decided to start with rice cereal, just in case he wasn't really ready for food...

I really expected it to be a disaster.  Spitting, coughing, smearing, and general displeasure and grossness all over the place.  But, boy, was this kid ready to eat.  He ate that first teeny bowl of rice cereal so quickly and eagerly that he started crying for more while I was mixing up another bowl!



We did some banana a few days after that, and MAN!  He ate half of it.  I could also see the sugar high in his eyes...but half of a banana!  And apparently a few days after starting the bananas, my husband ate one in front of the little guy, and he cried and reached out for it.  When they say, the baby will tell you what he wants, they weren't kidding!

Since he ate a whole banana, I haven't gone back to the cereal.  It literally has no nutritional content, and there are so many foods he can try that are good for him!  (And to the folks who say "he'll sleep longer with a belly full of cereal" I say, this kids has slept at least 6 hours at night since he was two weeks old...)

Last week, we tried avocado.  Little guy did not like.  So I mixed it with banana.  Little guy did not like.  So I mixed it with more banana.  Again, little guy did not like.  He ended up looking like a bird pooped on his face, and extremely unenthusiastic.  (As a rule, high eyebrows=happy; low eyebrows=annoyed)

This week, we're trying sweet potato.  I had to add a bit of water to it after mashing; little guy did not like the thickness at first, but thinned out a bit and we were good to go.

On the menu for next week?  I'm thinking pears, but the big guy gets to pick the little guy's next food, so we'll see.

I'm going to try to not go the pre-made baby food route.  I just don't see the point in spending the money on it when I just have to mush up some of what I eat for him now and eventually just cube up some stuff.  I've found some really great resources in friends and websites for ideas, and I realized that everything they're recommending for your kid, is stuff we eat anyway.  And maybe it will help me and my other guy eat better in the process...

Just to be clear: Am I ruling out ever buying/using store bought baby food?  HELL NO!  I'll probably get a few jars from the store for back up and to have jars...

How I'm making little guy's food right now:
-mashing up soft things (so far no food processor needed)
-introducing one new thing a week, while continuing to feed him the previous weeks' items as well
-once I know he likes something, I make a bit of it a time.  For example, after I realized he likes bananas, I mashed up a few in little bowls since it takes about as much time to it for three bananas as it did for a half of one.
-starting next week, I'll probably have to start freezing my mashed up bits in ice cube trays.  More than three items at one sitting might be a little too much for either me or the little guy to handle.
-I have not purchased any special "baby" eating items like a little spoon or plate.  I use a custard cup and a normal teaspoon.  Again, I don't see the point in the extra expense, but to each his own.

I found this website through a recommendation.  It has great lists of what's good to try at what time, and even some recipes, though I have not explored that part.  Of most interest to me has been (and probably will continue to be) the food preservation techniques (freezing, etc.).

I'm really excited to see what little guy will eat as our garden starts producing things he actually CAN eat.  Right now our options are non-options (rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries), but I've got squash, cucumbers, peppers, eggplant and I don't even remember what else for him to try throughout the summer and fall.  I might even try to through a melon in there real quick before it gets too late...

Summer Sewing Project Contenders

My dear friend has very thoughtfully lent me her sewing machine for a bit while I save up for a new one (she has two operational as opposed to my two unoperational machines), so hopefully I can get my sewing back on track! 

Here's a list of things I'd like to sew this summer:

- Finish sewing a shift dress I started before I got pregnant, and I thought of while fabric shopping in New York almost two years ago now.  It's a dark grey cotton shell with a lighter grey lace over lay.  I'm really excited to get this finished and on me soon.


- I'm thinking of re-purposing some old towels into changing pad covers.  I've got a curved changing pad, so it would look kind of like this, but without the monkey...unless I get terribly ambitious and make my own appliques.

- A jersey maxi dress which I would like to eventually tie-dye.  This has been inspired by one of the bloggers I follow, Feather's Flights.  She has just completed a maxi dress sew along, and has been playing with all sorts of fabric dying and treatments lately.

- A baby back pack for my little man.  I found some really fun batik double-sided quilted fabric while looking for notions for his christening gown, so now I'm searching for some shared patterns/ideas to make him a back pack.  Baby bags are kind of lame and look like old lady luggage in bad color combos (totally my opinion and I know you probably disagree).  The hippie in me sn also searching for some cheap to free corduroy to use as piping accents and bottom reinforcement on the bag.  I'm using this free set of instructions as a guide, but planning for it to look a little more like this one.
I think I'll also put a pocket on the front, but we'll see.


- And lastly, I'm considering fashioning myself some 40's sailor shorts or even a 50's style shirt dress like the to the right which I found on Simplicity's site.  I'm actually pretty keen on the entire "Lisette" line (introduced to me today by Casey), so hopefully they'll go on sale soon and I can actually afford them!

That's it for now!  Hopefully this post won't be followed with another like my pregnant projects one!