The Culinary Adventures Of Baby Food

*Note* I am sorry I have been MIA as of late. I am still trying to get a balance between life, school, my home, and this blog.

The last two weeks have been a journey. The elements of this journey consist of my husband, myself, the wonderful baby bullet, rice, carrots, a spoon, and the mouth of my happy six month old son. The beginning was full of nerves, curiosity, and some flutters of excitement.

It all began on September 18th on a Sunday afternoon inside the Edman home; also known as James' grandparents. I started with half a cup of uncooked brown rice inside the baby bullet. Blended into a fine powder, this made its way into a pot with boiling bubbly water. Messy, as it overflowed, and fifteen minutes went by. A pudding like mixture remained, with the taste resembling sugarless grits.

The first bite was great; no look of disgust, only bewilderment and curiosity. But soon the game began. James pushes all the rice out that I put in. Sweet brown rice is fun, new, exciting, messy, and in all honesty, not to tasty.

Carrots was the adventure of the day! It began with me peeling, and washing, and baking. Once the carrots were soft and tender they too came face to face with the baby bullet. Another food made, rich in it's color and sweet in it's flavor. James seemed to have forgotten about his obnoxious game of spitting out his food. He gobbled up every bite happily, gleefully.

I actually found that the carrots were less of a mess, except of course when daddy decided to feed him. I am not sure why but it seems that Matt has no aim and the food on the spoon wound up on all over James' face. Carrots are sweet, successful, and are currently James' favorite.

It is only the beginning of my culinary adventures of baby food. Keep coming back for more. I think next week we are trying sweet potatoes.

Giddy Up, Cowboy!

I am sorry it has taken me so long to post but school has started and I am still getting in to the swing of things. But I had to make some time and share the wild adventures my family had on Saturday when we traveled back in time and ventured to a rendezvous in Fort Bridger!

Our costumes not nearly as amazing as what we came to see but we dressed up nonetheless. James was our little buckaroo cowboy; Matt, the evil Pawnee from "Dances with Wolves"; myself, a rather modern native american.

We traveled far and long to come upon the trading post. Alongside us on our journey was my mother and her family. For most the journey we traveled by means of car but we reached a point that our car could make it no further. We had to make the difficult decision of leaving her behind and continuing onward by foot.

The sun was beating down on us hard but luckily none of us lost our minds. The same cannot be said for another man and his car, who went so crazy they believed it was okay to drive on the trail that had only been made for bikes and man.

We then found the campsite of those also attending the rendezvous. We traveled through the many man made tents and teepees. It was eye opening to see how man once lived. Finally, we reach our destination of the rendezvous of Fort Bridger!

There was so much to see, so much to do! Tent after tent full of new things to buy, new people to see, new items to want. We found hats made of foxes, "talking" sticks carved with such detail and beauty, purses made from a turtle shell.

We found Native Americans expressing themselves through dance, we found homemade cream soda, and buffalo burgers galore! Just a word of advice, buffalo really tastes no different than cow.

There were woman in pretty dresses, some men dressed like mountain men! But beware! While James and I were protected, my husband cannot say the same. I do not know the details, and if I did I would not share. However with that said a bare bottom was most definitely seen.

We bought food, and we bought soda, a spear, and some loot. Now, we even own a dancing stick and flute!

The sun was bright that day, my husband and I have burns to prove. My son however was rescued by SPF 50, phew!

The day did come to an end but it was a wonderful adventure. We traveled back to our car, she was there waiting, still alive and rearing to go. It was time to come back to the present but memories will never fade. And this was our adventure to another time, to another place.

James' Brace *Update*

We went to the doctor at Primary Children's Hospital. James is doing great, his hip has improved but still is not quite where they would like it. However, with that I am still a very happy mama! They have decreased the time he needs to spend in the brace by so much. Last month he needed to be in for 23 hours! Only ever getting out for small breaks and bathing. Now the doctor has given the clear for him to spend 16 hours in the brace, most of which are completed at night while my little man sleeps!

I am so very happy and excited about this. I had fears of putting James behind. In the brace he was unable to roll over or practice sitting up. Now I have so many more hours in the day to work with him.

I am mainly just so happy that he does not have to be put in a cast! Poor sweetheart.

To all mamas with babies who have hip displacia. Take it one day at a time. The words of our doctor, "He'll get use to it, you probably won't but he will.". Remember that there are so many things that can go wrong with a baby and for that thing to be hip displacia is truly a blessing. And last invest in a boppy. My poor baby was so uncomfortable to have his feet up and to sit him in the boppy really helped relieve him.

My darling, James, is such a happy go lucky kid. He sleeps through the night, and is so happy, quiet, and content. At first the brace was a shock and he cried more than we were accustom too but it did get better. He soon returned to himself and we are just taking it one day at a time. Before we know it this moment will be over and behind us.

Our iPad Baby

Technology is absolutely fabulous. It can hold all our books in one place, it can track our baby's every move, it can tell us when to wake up, and let us write a paper. It can hold all our pictures, and let us draw more, it can help us teach, it can help us learn, and best of all it can give us funny nick names.

Throughout my entire pregnancy my husband joined me at each of my appointments, typing away notes on our iPad. He recorded what I weighed, my blood pressure, my measurements, and even the color of my pee. :0). My nurse quickly learned our pattern and made sure she let Matt know everything that was going on. She talked and he noted. Then James was born and nothing changed.

We had a new doctor now, our pediatrician. The notes this time were of James. All the way we we are tracking his growth, his shots, and the many questions that come with raising a little man.

The nurses here would joke and soon shared their method of remembering the new babies that came through the doors. They would give them a nickname that helps them remember the many different babies they see. They told us they have an army baby and many more. But our baby, yes our baby, is their iPad baby.

Indeed, James is our little iPad baby. It started out with note taking, and app tracking, and now we have even gone as far as laying him out in front and let him draw us some pictures.

Do not get me wrong, I love a hard cover book, and some good old pen and paper. But James is too young to pick up some crayons and do anything but eat them. But I don't have to wait to get some art from my boy.

So Apple, if you need an iPad advocate for babies, remember this, we have got the "original" iPad baby.

Art by: James Tolhurst

James' Brace

Today should be the day we are done with James' brace! We will head down to Salt Lake to Primary children's hospital and get an ultrasound done to see what our next step is.

To give a back ground, James was diagnosed with hip displacia about a month ago. We were at the doctors for a normal check up and she realized my son's hip was clicking. She referred us to an orthopedic doctor at Primary's and had us get an ultra sound and xray.

While it comes to no surprise to those who live in my town, I was not happy with my hospital. The ultra sound took a good half hour as the newbie complained about my wiggly baby and the fact that she had no clue what she was even looking for. Then I walked down to xray and asked what I thought would be a pointless question.

"Will you cover him up down there during the xray?"

First the nurse gave me a strange look and then replied, "You mean his gonads? Hmm...yeah that would probably be a good idea."

WHAT! I was so shocked that they were not thinking about doing that. They had to find a cover they normally use to cover the thyroid. Sorry, if I am being a bit overprotective, but I would really like not to ruin my son's chances of children over a test!

Well, after that process we went down to salt lake where more mature and sensible doctors live. Our doctor came to our room and told us after watching the ultrasound that our son did indeed have hip displacia in his right hip and would need to be placed in a brace.

You see hip displacia is when his hip bone is too shallow and therefore his hip can easily pop out of place. They could not give a reason to why this happens, only that it does happen. The brace he is placed in props his legs up and helps his muscles grow in the right place. This will help fix the hip displacia.

After telling us that James has about an 80% chance of the brace working he sent us down to get one more ultrasound done before we headed out. He called me later on saying with the new ultrasound, it looks much better than he thought and our chances have gone up.

If the brace has done its job, we will be done with this one challenge in parenthood, calmly waiting until the next one comes. If the brace does not do its job we may have to put him in a full body cast.

For now, I need to be calm and faithful that the treatment worked. We stayed true and kept him in for the time our doctor recommended. Now I must wait and see what is next.

Joy; First Impressions

Now, I know it is possible to change the idea someone gathers from a first impression but first impressions really put a lot of pressure on a single moment. If you are up against a close minded person a first impression can really make or break you. I always get stressed out at the beginning of the school year. The first impression I make on my teachers is so important to me. I always make sure I am well dressed, that I have everything I need to come off as a responsible student that they are going to have no troubles with.

There is nothing I hate more than being late on the first day, or showing up without a pencil. It stresses me out to not be on top of it. Today was probably the worst yet. Not only was I running late for a class in the small town next to me, twenty minutes away but I am currently without my textbook. It is coming in the mail, should be here soon.

Then moments before leaving my clumsy husband sprays with our hose he was watering the garden with. I rush inside try to fix the mess I now am and drive off to a location I am only partially sure I know where it is.

Well, turns out I was wrong and I have to call husband for directions. I find the building and all the doors are locked. Finally find one that is unlocked, get into a closed school. More locked doors, no lights, and no people.

I could not for the life of me find the classroom. I finally surrender, and try one last building. No luck here either. Solemnly, I send my teacher an apologetic email.

How is that for first impressions?

I may still be in luck though for she did send me an email back. Turns out she struggled getting into the building as well. She had to call up the technician and when she finally made it in, they had technical difficulties. You see this is a compressed video class so we need technology to be on top of its game.

So ultimately today was a rather stressful and unsuccessful day. At least my little man behaved well for me. He rarely fussed and ate off schedule to work with my new schedule. Thank you James, I love you!

You know you're a mother if...

At the end of the day you change into your pajamas and realize there has been poop on your pants all day.

Oh the joy of parenthood! As a parent I have learned that priorities change. You know that is something that all parents will tell you but until you become a parent you cannot truly understand the reality of that concept.

In the last five months I have been pooped on, peed on, puked on countless times. A few years back I could not have imagined being covered in excrement of another person and not feeling grossed out. But it is exactly like people said, the priorities change, the ideas change.

So now I shall continue...
You know you're a mom if...

You narrate, out loud, everything you do in song.

You are excited and relieved for poop!

Someone else tells you there is drool on your arm and you don't even attempt to wipe it off.

You make yourself look ridiculous, just to make him smile.

You suddenly care about what is in food and spend those extra dollars to go organic.

You feel panic-stricken at one little sneeze.

You feel need to pull out the camera for every new thing and take a thousand pictures of a single memory.

You cannot walk out of a store without at least one new toy.

If your hair has not been brushed, your breath can be smelt from a mile a way, your still in your pajamas but feel accomplished because the baby has been fed, changed, and is now down for the nap.

No matter how angry you feel the second the baby starts to babble all the anger melts away.

Now, this is the truth. It is silly and comical but it is reality. To any of my fellow mothers reading this blog feel free to add the funny truths of what it means to be a mother.

A Handful of Unconditional Love

 

Knowing me now, you would never guess that I have always been a bit of a pessimist when it comes to love. In fact the only type of love I believed in was puppy love; that silly naive love that quickly fades the moment something goes wrong.

After Matthew I learned that love is real, that love is forever. Love is not like it is in the movies. It does take work but it is possible. My perspective on love has since changed again. Now, not only am I believer in love at first sight but I am a believer in love before sight.

The day I found out I was pregnant I felt a new kind of love. This being inside of me could do no wrong. It is still amazing to me that I felt love for someone I could not see, someone I did not know. I did not even know if he was a boy or a girl yet but it really did not matter.

I do not know any better way to describe this feeling of unconditional love. The littlest thing set off my emotions. I feel like my heart is swelling inside of me; I am on the edge of a cliff, feeling like I am flying high; I feel as if I am about to burst.

In the beginning it came from a single thought of him being there, then it was those small flutters like someone was doing cartwheels inside of me. It was those small kicks and punches, then it was that first cry.

It is the babbles of an infant, a gum filled grin. It is the moment he discovered his hands to the first time he tasted his toes. It is what he shows me in his eyes that he knows who I am, and needs me to be near.

It is those senseless words he expresses as he tells me of his dreams, it is the bubbles he makes, it is the curiosity he has of the world. It was gargles that soon turned into giggles.

Every moment of every day he does something that causes my love to boil over. It is funny to me that at one point in my life I thought love was naive and pointless. I am grateful that life has shown me that if anything was naive, it was me.

As I sit here writing this, my son holds my hand. He cannot speak the words I speak. He cannot tell me he loves me. He cannot tell me he knows that I love him. But he squeezes my thumb and contently lays on my stomach. There is no doubt in my mind, he feels the way I feel, there is no doubt in my heart; he knows of this unconditional love that I have only begun to discover.

And the School Bell Tolls

It is that time of year; summer comes to an end and school work begins. Before age four I never felt the emotion of these last few days. Then I started school and nearly every year I can still remember the raging butterflies flutter away in my gut, and feeling much too excited to sleep. Then I hit Junior High and felt a new kind of dread. And in High School I started counting the days until the cycle of summer, then school, then summer, then school to finally come to an end.

Much to my surprise the path I have chosen to take is one where this cycle never ends. I am getting ready to start my second year of college. Still my life is on a summer than school cycle. And now growing older and wise, I have also discovered that summer then school is really not that bad. In fact growing up usually means one giant cycle of work. But I am working hard to keep the pattern I have become to accustom to. I am actually going to school for Elementary Education and plan to become a teacher.

I have now gone full circle and am back to where I started in kindergarten, back to loving education. It is hard not to have a love for education in this world we live upon. We are intellectuals, it is truly what separates us from the animals. The world was once much simpler and knowledge almost had no place. It was about strength, speed, and animal instinct. But today's world is full of technology, full of learning.

I love education. I love having the opportunity to read to my son, to write this blog, to teach a child to count. Yes, indeed, it is that time of year again, time for that school bell to toll. And while it means its time for my brain to get back in gear, that time in the sun is cut short, and a little more stress to bare; I cannot help but to feel those butterflies begin to flutter once more.

1000th Diaper Party!

Oh, yesterday was quite a day! First allow me to explain to you the reason to all my commotion and then I will tell you of my adventures.

Yesterday was James' 1000th diaper party! Never heard of that? Well, the reason to that is quite simple. I made up the 1000th diaper party. I have this amazing app on my phone! With it, I record everything my sweet baby James does. I record every diaper he soils, every minute he sleeps, and every drop of milk he drinks. I am a huge fan of technology and I am certainly one of those ignorant people who thinks; how did anyone live without it!

With this app I can tell you to the day and hour when my baby James had his 1000th diaper. In fact I will, I changed James' 1000th diaper on August 14th at 8:17 pm and it was pee. Yes, that is right; just pee.

Well getting back to my reasoning. We have had this app since James was born, five months ago, and at the beginning of the summer we decided it would be fun to throw a party to celebrate James reaching his 1000th diaper and so we did :0).

And now let my crazy day commence! (Be warned this may be kind of quick, do try to keep up :0))

First part of my day started the same, I woke and fed James.

Then I went to the kitchen and checked on the diaper pinata I had been paper macheing the day before. Now all it needed was a coat of paint and a little decor. I popped the balloons inside the pinata which sent my cats racing through the house, certain they were going to die.

Now James is in his bouncy, eating his sophie. I have three frying pans on the stove and I am browning meat in each. I fill up the water for my drinks and start a search for my lemonade.

Then I call husband asking where it is. He says in the cupboard, I tell him no. I am getting frustrated and I hang up the phone. Then I send an angry text regarding his koolaid I found. He calls back I answer, say something mean, and then hang up again. But now I ignore the phone.

I put the meat in the crockpot and start cooking the sloppy joes. Then I start rolling up some cresants around mini hot dogs.

James is bored and is starting to fall asleep.

My husband shows up with ice and you guessed it... lemonade.

Problem solved, right? Wrong!

I take husband back to work and head out to check out my park. Guess what? Its reserved all day long! I drive around town looking at different parks for an hour. Why are they all reserved?! Finally I find one. Now I am calling and texting all the guests letting them know where to go.

Now back home, feed James. Put laundry to wash my pants, I somehow got paper mache all over them. I put the mini hotdogs in the oven. Then I lay James down for nap.

I paint and decorate the pinata. I really like how it turned out. Next step I go to print off stuff on the computer. And of course the printer is down. Uninstall; re-install; now it is fixed.

Put some diapers on some dolls, melt some chocolate in some diapers. Check on all the food. Make some lemonade. Now its time to pack the car.

Friend shows up a little early, house is a mess from me running around...oh man, so embarassed! I tell her its at the park and then she goes.

Now I pack the car, wondering why am I bring so much? The clock is ticking and I am running out of time! Back inside, I feed James and clock is still ticking. Now we take off and go get Matt and rush to the park.

Devestation! There is another party going on! Matt goes and talks to them. Crisis averted, they were actually just about to leave...at least I hope that was true.

Friends and family show and all was good, in fact it was great! Everyone had fun, we played games, we ate food. Everything looked nice and I felt relieved.

Now the question is, would I do it again? Of course I would, I felt all the love and support. So many people came, my husband did his best despite my pissy attitude, and we got to have fun and laugh, and show off James. I don't think there is any other way to say it, except that this day was the best!

The Invitations

The Yummy Food

The Diaper Cake!

Friends and Family

The Homemade Diaper Pinata!

And yes, that is a butt crack :0)

My Story, Through the Art Called Film

Happy five months to my baby James! Here is a slide show to celebrate my life. I am so happy that James is now part of it!

"Momsicles"

Now one must be aware, although I am a mother of six, I am a first time mom to my sweet baby James. Maybe the same doesn't go for all but I am definitely a paranoid first time mom. I am very much "by the book". Another thing that all should know is I am exclusively breastfeeding James until six months old and James will be five months old tomorrow. Our ventures with food have yet to begin but I did get a taste of the messy world of solids. :0)

Introducing "Momsicles"! Now in case I haven't given enough hints; "momsicles" are breast milk popsicles. Ew; you say? Well, James does beg to differ. Of course; now the question is, "Where does one obtain such tasty treats?". My dear friends I will now give you the recipe, I'll even include a few pictures!

Ingredients and Supplies

~Some full chachas
~Breast milk from those full chachas
~A pump
~An ice cube tray
~A freezer
~A freezer zip-lock bag
~A sharpie marker
~A mesh teether

Step One: You take a breast pump; the one that suits you bests

Step Two: You pump out a few ounces of breast milk (yummy yummy)

Step Three: You pour the breast milk into a clean ice cube tray

Step Four: You place tray in freezer and freeze for a couple hours

Step Five: While freezing prepare zip-lock bag by writing "made-on" date with sharpie marker.

Step Six: You remove frozen breast milk cubes and place in zip-lock bag

Step Seven: You place one cube (we used half) into the mesh teether and give to baby

Step Eight: The little man enjoys :0)

Five months old and this is my first run in with solids. Oh boy, I have quite a journey ahead of me! Now I do feel that I need to tack on a few warnings for any mamas wanting to try this tasty baby treat. Be prepared for mess, the bib is a must. Another thing James taught me was a small little treat is a tease and he will not tolerate it. Promptly after joyfully eating, I was commanded, by him, to feed him more. Then when the second half was gobbled he was quickly placed on the breast to satisfy his sudden ravage hunger.

Tardy for Saltines and 7up

There has been quite a lot of things to happen to me in the last few years. Unfortunately I just started this blog and all of these memories are in my head and not written down. I have decided that I will have *Flash Back* posts because as my memory fades I want to look back and read about all the moments that I think matter most. So my readers, please enjoy, my first *Flash Back* post.

My husband is what most would describe as my "high school sweetheart". We have known each other since we were small children but we officially became friends when I was 15 and he was 17. There is so much to describe about him and myself. About our past, our current life, and the future that we plan. But for today, I want to share the moment I first fell in love with him.

I was 16 and I was at school wishing I was at home in bed. You see I had an awful cold and was feeling gross and under the weather. It was about time for my first hour to start, English with Mr. G. I hadn't seen Matt yet but I was texting away, complaining about each ailment I was feeling. He was trying to make me feel better with words but that really makes no difference when it comes to an illness. He told me he was coming and wanted to see me before class but the tardy bell rang. Not that I cared, I wanted to see him too.

And that is when it happened! He ran up to me with saltine crackers and a bottle of 7up. He knew he would be late but had decided to run to the store and pick me up a little something for my cold. That, my friends, was the moment I fell in love with him. I gave him a hug, for the first time. He is not a very touchy person and this had been quite awkward for him, but I could care less, I was on cloud nine.

Now I am sure all of you are thinking, who cares? 7up? What a silly little girl with a naive little heart. He is seventeen, he is a boy, he is in high school; he could care less if he was late to class. And this is my simple response to any ignorant thoughts. If you knew his step mom, if she were your mom; trust me, you wouldn't dare be late to class.

My Family

I figured that it wouldn't be fair unless I shared pictures of my family. We are a odd bunch but we go together like "peanut butter and jelly". I love them so much, they make proud do be who I am today.

My man, Matthew James Tolhurst, and our boy, James Braxton Tolhurst;

This is me, Priscilla Brooke Tolhurst, and my little bug, James;

Our Little Family;

And my four awesome cats;

Top Left (Aladin) Bottom Left (Pip) Top Right (Jasmin) Bottom Right (Raja).