New Baby Food Care Package

Hi Everyone,

For everyone who reads my blog but isn't related might not know but one of my sisters just had a baby.  He will be 3 weeks old tomorrow and he is super cute.  Well Done Guys! 

James meeting his new cousin.  I was blown away by the size difference. 

Prior to the birth, my mom and I had roughly planned to go up and visit and I know that I wanted to do something for them.  So what do all new parents need but seem to find it hard to make it work after the couple weeks with a newborn baby. Food! I tried to think back at what Wes and I found super helpful when James was just a little baby and those were food that you could grab and eat, especially with one hand.  I was never hungrier or thirstier than when I sat down to nurse James.  I will say sorry in advance for the lack of pictures.  I was kind of on warp speed when I was making these because I had to get them done for James woke up. 

I did a little research, watched what Allison liked or pinned and asked them some questions and I came up with my menu.

1. Chicken Enchiladas -  I gave the recipe for these awhile back and actually made them about a month or so before the due date and I just put them in the freezer.  I'm not a huge fan of freezer meals just do the fact that they seem to take so long too cook.  By the time that I realized that I was hungry, it would take 2 hours for it to cook.  And the first couple weeks of you being home, you don't get the hungry feeling until 9pm and waiting till 11 wasn't going to cut it.  I did put a note on the enchiladas that said to thaw first so the cook time would be shorter.  

One of the reasons why I did include these is because they are so easy to get one at a time and just reheat.  After I make these for my family, we usually have about 4 left. When I'm having these for leftovers, I just lift one out of the pan, microwave it for a minute or so and then enjoy.  Perfect for a last minute craving in the middle of the night.

2.  Zucchini Beach (Beachbody Recipe) - My sister was really into beachbody before she got pregnant and did a really good job staying with it while pregnant. So when she pinned this bread I knew that I had to make it for her and bring it. It made two loafs so I gave her one and left one for Wes.  I haven't asked her how it was but Wes said ours was a little dry.  I'm not sure if i baked it too long or just because it was pretty healthy, little sugar or no oil and only 6 egg whites, is the reason for a little dryness. 

3.  Fresh Fruit - I grabbed this one from a pinterest and I think most new moms can relate it to and it also goes into the easy to grab category but does take some time to do yourself.  I just very quickly and easily chopped up pineapple and strawberries.  A combo that I found that taste pretty awesome together. 

4. Oatmeal lactation cookies -  I found these cookies in the early weeks of baby James.  They are super to make and very delicious.  The only big difference or what makes them lactation vs. regular cookies is the flex seed and brewer's yeast that you need to the cookies.  Those two ingredients plus the oats make for a delicious way to bust your milk supply because no matter how confident you are, once you eat your first or second growth spurt you start to worry.  To add a little something extra to these cookies instead of just using chocolate chips, I add white chocolate chips, walnuts and dried cranberries.  OMG, they are soooooo good.  You don't even have to make lactation cookies.  I made some the other day (none lactation but with white chocolate chips, walnuts and cranberries) and they were great.  James and I enjoyed them.  I will post about these later in the week. 

5.  I did include some super cute clothes for the baby because I couldn't help myself. 

Those are the 5 things that I bought to my sister to help make her life a little easier.  

Father's Day

I hope everyone had a great weekend and a great Father's Day.  

Sunday, I would say, was Wes' first official Father's Day.  We did  celebrate last year but James was like two weeks old and we didn't do too much.  But this year we did a little more. 

Wes was able to take the weekend off from the shop to spend at home which meant that James got to see a lot of him.  On Saturday  James and I went up to Lafayette for a couple of hours to spend some time with my dad.  We had a nice picnic at Happy Hallow. 

James enjoy eating outside in his camping highchair

 My mom did a great job putting it all together and it was a lot of fun and a great way to be able to spend part of Father's Day weekend with both Wes and my dad. 

A custom made bag

On Sunday morning, I tried to pull together a last minute 'Happy Father's Day' sign but the printer and construction paper failed me so that didn't happen  but I do feel like I scored a big win in the gift department.  For those you don't know, Wes is very very very difficult to buy a gift for.  He isn't one of those types of people who say 'oh I wish I had that' or 'that would be nice to have'  and the times that he would say something similar to that it would be something that there would be no way I could afford it.  So for christmas, father's day and his birthday it's a constant struggle to find something that he would like/use.  There may or may not be a corner in the basement that is filled with Wes' yet to be used gifts.  I may or may not have said something about reusing them when I accidentally put his birthday twice on the calendar.  



But this year, this Father's Day, I did it.  I found a gift that he liked, he liked so much that he had it going within 30 minutes of opening it.  And what is this gift you might ask, it's called Tiles.  

It's a handy item that help you locate your keys, wallet and phone.  I had heard about it before but it wasn't until Wes couldn't find his wallet that I decided to get it for him for Father's Day.  I got a 4 pack because I was sure that we could use him.  The thing that really cool about them is that you can find your phone, even if it's on silent, just by pushing twice on the tile.  

So now we don't have to spend 5 minutes searching for his phone, wallet and keys.  Unless he misplaces all of them, then we will be in trouble.  Not too much because you can look them up online but it would slow us down a little bit. 

Along with the tiles, James and I made him a 'I'm hooked on daddy' picture.  This was quite the project and actually required my mom's help.  

It's difficult to hold, paint a baby's hand and place it on the piece of paper all by yourself. An extra pair of hands was needed.  I also included a recent picture of Wes and James at the Indians game.  Last year we had received a 'Daddy and Me' picture frame and that was part of Wes' gift last year but I thought it might need an update version. 

Along with a card, I included some jolly ranchers, Wes' favorite candy.  

After Church,   James took a nap for almost 3 hours and Wes and I worked on some stuff that's a whole lot easier to do sans James.  

A couple of hours after James woke up and had lunch, we went to the park for a quick  trip.  James loves to swing, he could probably swing for 20 minutes straight if I let him.  And anyone with a baby/toddler knows thats a long time.  It was getting kind of hot so we cut the park trip a little short and headed up.  

After the big trip to the park, James made sure he gave Wes a lot of Father's Day cuddles.  

For dinner, we had steak and corn.  I found this great recipe for a corn flavor topper in my recent Health magazine and it tasted just like the corn you get in your big shrimp and seafood bucket at Joe's Crab Shake.  

I made some apple crisp and we enjoyed it as a family and then it was PJ's and bedtime for James.  

I think all in all it was a great Father's Day and can't wait for the one years to come that James can be even more active in. 

How do you like to celebrate Father's Day?
Do you stay at home or go out?
Is the Father in your life easy or hard to buy gifts for?

-Megan