Honey Whole Wheat Bread

My Handsome Helper

Hey Everyone!

Lately Thing Two has been super interested in cooking. He usually wants to do everything on his own, but still needs help here and there.
We made Honey Whole Wheat Bread the other day and it turned out delicious! I really liked it but neither of the kids really liked it much. I think if we had added more honey and it was more of a dessert bread then they would have liked it. 

This recipe is a little different from what we did, but I think it will make a better bread.


Whole Wheat Honey Bread

Ingredients 

3 cups warm water
2 packs of active dry yeast
1/2 cup honey

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3TB melted butter

1/2 cup honey

1TB salt

4 cups whole wheat flour

optional: additional melted butter

Directions 

1. 1. In a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 1/2 cup of honey. 
2. 2. Add the all purpose flour and stir to combine. Let set for 30 minutes, or until the dough has doubled in size.
3. 3. Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1/2 cup honey, and salt. Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour. 
4. 4. Using the left over whole wheat flour, flour a flat surface and knead until no longer sticky (This is the fun part where the kids really get to get their hands in there, a mess always equals fun!).
5. 5.Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel and let it rise in a warm place until doubled.
6. 6. Punch the dough down and divide into 3 loaves. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans and let dough rise until the dough is uniform with the pan.
7. 7. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes.
   Optional: When the loaves come out, brush them with warm melted butter to prevent the tops from getting too hard. 

Take Your Child to Work Day

 

 

 

Well, today was Take Your Kid to Work Day.

 

It was an interesting day to say the least....

It definitely did not help that Thing One just kept telling me how bored he was. Thing Two wanted to take every customer by the hand and show them around.

 

He would even ask them to close their eyes, and then would try to lead them around the store....

 

I'm tired.

 

 

 

 

 



 

Thing Two's Mohawk

So you all know how amazingly beautiful Thing One's hair is right?
I am excited to see what Thing Two's hair is going to be like.
So far......
He has a Mohawk!!
He always looks like he's ready to rock :)

TOO CUTE!



       This is our meal plan for today;

BREAKFAST: Mac and Cheese.
This one kind of just happened. I meant for cereal, but Thing One saw the mac and cheese in the fridge and asked sooo sweetly for it that I said sure. haha

LUNCH: Turkey and Cheese Roll-Up, Carrot Sticks, Strawberries, and Yogurt Drops

DINNER: Bacon Cheeseburgers, French Fries, Salad.

SNACKS/DESSERTS: Cereal and/or Hostess Cupcake


     Easter is coming up! It really snuck on up me this year. I sure am excited though! What are your Easter plans?

Thing Two Stands!

Okay- time to update you guys!
Thing Two can stand holding on to things now! He is "cruising" as well, along the furniture.
He is getting so big!! Only 3 more months and he is going to be a year old.
He is eating mainly what we eat now. He does not like his baby food anymore. 
He has two teeth! His two bottom teeth. He loves using them to bite peices of food.

Thing One is going to be 3 this May. In less than a month.
I can't believe it. 

He is such a good boy! So helpful to me. 


This weekend Pops installed a dog run in our backyard. This way when the dogs go outside to use the bathroom, they will have an isolated area, instead of being able to tear up our whole back yard!
I cleaned and raked the entire backyard this weekend as well, and we are going to put some nice grass seed down.
It will be nice to be able to sit on our grass!!
I want to be able to play out there this summer.


This weekend I also go my hair done.

 

A friend of mine who works at a Salon did it, and I think she did a great job!

There will be more soon; lots of pictures of the kids!

Baby Teeth!

       After teething for what seemed like months Thing Two has finally gotten his first tooth! It just barely broke through, so it's still hard to see, but you can definitely feel it!
      
      He must be eager to try out his new tooth, because he no longer wants to eat baby food. He will immediately spit it out. He now only wants big people food.
     I'm going to start giving him some of our foods, but using his baby food with it.

Here are some examples:

Pasta noodles with squash baby food for a sauce.
Pea and Cheese Quesadillas
Regular oatmeal, with apple baby food mixed in.
Pancakes, with peaches or pears mixed into the batter. 

       

Happy Paczki Day!

Hey Everyone!
I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Things have been crazy. I've been changing up the way I do things around the house every day, so I haven't had much extra time.
I have so many things I want to post!
A lot of recipes and a lot of pictures of the boys.

Like this cute picture!!

Here is Thing Two and I; this picture was taken this morning.

        Speaking of this morning, Happy Paczki Day everyone! Yesterday Thing One and I went to the store and picked out some Paczki to have for breakfast this morning. Yum!

     


  I've changed up Thing Two's diet. He's older now, and able to eat more, and follow a regular eating schedule.
Here is his schedule:

7:30 AM: Breakfast: 4 tablespoons baby cereal mixed with 2 ounces breastmilk. 3-4 ounces baby food; fruit. I mix the two together.

9:00 AM: Breastfeed on demand and nap!

11:30 PM: Lunch: 1-2 ounce baby food; meat and 3-4 ounces baby food; vegetable. I mix the two together. 2 ounces 100% juice mixed with 2 ounces water.

1:00 PM: Breastfeed on demand and nap!

4:30 PM: Dinner: 4 tablespoons whole wheat baby cereal mixed with 2 ounces breastmilk, and 3-4 ounces baby food; vegetable.

5:30 PM: Breastfeed on demand and nap!

7:00 PM Breastfeed and bedtime!

         Today at breakfast there was a little bit of oatmeal left, and so instead of throwing it out, I put it on Thing Two's tray. He had tons of fun smearing it around!

Thing Two; he's so cute!

Thing Two was in his saucer the other day, and when I walked past him he took the opportunity to keep me there and grabbed my pant leg!
He grabbed it with both hands and would not let go!
Luckily the camera was within my reach.

My (failed) attempt at "crying it out".

    Thing Two is 7 months now. He is still waking up several times a night. I know this is normal. I am just use to Thing One, who slept through the night since 2 months old!

   Thing Two is very dependant on me. He usually only wants me to put him to bed. And he would rather stare at me all night than go to sleep.
   So, I am going to try and wean him off of me.

   One of the main ways is to let the baby "cry it out", which means to lay the baby in the crib while he or she is sleepy, but still awake. If they start to cry, you are to let them lay and cry until they fall asleep.
   You can check on them every 10 minutes or so, but only to tell them it's okay, but that it's time to sleep.


    So, this is what happened:

At about 7:00 pm I fed Thing Two. Usually he falls asleep while eating. I will then carefully pick him up and put him in his bed. Sometimes, like tonight, he will not fall asleep, or I will just be in a rush to get him to sleep. When I am, it's like Thing Two knows and he will not go to sleep.
I would like to be able to feed Thing Two an after dinner snack, and then later be able to just lay him in bed awake, and he will just go to sleep on his own.

So, back to the night. At 7:30pm Thing Two is looking very sleepy, so I put him right in his bed. I cover him up and tell him "night night". I then walk away. He immediatly starts crying. I sit outside the door.
He cries for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes he starts screaming. I go in and pick him up. I sit on the edge of the bed with him and hum "twinkle twinkle". He tries to suck on my eyebrow.

I hold him for about 5 minutes and then put him back in his bed. I sing "twinkle twinkle" tell him goodnight, and walk away. He again starts crying the second he can't see me. I sit outside the door again.
I plan on letting him cry for another 10 minutes, but after about 4 minutes I hear Thing One start crying. Thing Two's crys have woken him up.

I go in and pick up Thing Two to get him to stop crying. I feed him until he falls asleep. I then carefully put him in his bed.

I'm going to have to find a quieter way to wean Thing Two.

Someone's Teething.....

Yes. Thing Two is teething.
The poor thing; he's drooling all over the place, pulling at his ears, and chewing everything he can.

He's also very fussy.
There's always ibuprofen and baby orajel, but I like to try and do things naturally.
And that's where this comes in!

Cantaloupe And Mint Granita For A Teething Baby

• 1 ripe cantaloupe (if it smells like a cantaloupe and isn’t rock hard than it’s ready)
• 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves

Directions:

Slice cantaloupe in half. With a spoon, scoop out seeds and discard.

Scoop out the meat with a spoon (or chop with a knife) from both halves and place the “meat” in a food processor or blender. Squeeze any juice remaining in the shell into the food processor.
Coarsely chop mint and place in the food processor with the cantaloupe.

Puree until very smooth.
Pour into an 8″x8″ dish and place flat in the freezer.

Every 30 minutes take the puree out of the freezer and scrape with a fork. Drag the fork in rows in one direction of the entire dish. Return to the freezer. Repeat process until the puree has reached a icy flakey consistency (about 3 or so hours depending on your freezer).

Enjoy!

    I just feed this to Thing Two like I do his baby food. He pushes it all around in his mouth. It also makes the spoon very cold, and I place that on his bottom gums where the teeth are coming in.

OH.... MY..... GROSS

          Thing Two just threw up in my mouth.

Gross.
Gross.
Gross.

        He just ate peas and ham.

Gross.
Gross.
Gross.


UPDATE:
After getting sick myself, brushing my teeth a few times, and recovering from the horrible incident, I can now say what happened.

Thing Two was finished eating dinner. I laid down in my bed with him to nurse him before putting him to bed.
He was done eating, and was in a good mood, so I decided to play with him a little.
I was tickling him and making faces.
I then placed him on my chest while I was laying on my back.
I was then saying "Who's being silly?" in a goofy-mom voice, and then making a really dramatic gasping sound with my mouth wide open.
Thing Two cracked a huge smile and then I heard it.
This big noise from his belly.
And then.... puke. in. my. mouth.





Oh, the joys of Motherhood.

Wordless Wednesday: Sleeping Angel

Thing Two has taken to taking his naps in his swing.
He sleeps in this same position every time.
When he sleeps in his bed he lays on his side, just like this, but with both hands clasped together near his face.
He is definitely a side sleeper.
Angel.

Theme Nights Meal Planning

I'm starting with meal planning again.
I had tried before Christmas, and it went well, but when Christmas came, I stopped.
I'm going to start again, but I'm going to do things a little differently this time.
Last time, I would just pick random meals and would asign them to a random day of the week.
This time I am going to try "theme nights". For theme nights, each night of the week will be asigned a specific theme, and I will then figure out a meal to fit into that theme.
This will give me direction when I need it.
Here is what I've decided our themes will be for now:

Monday: Meat and Potatoes
Tuesday: Soup, Stews, Chili
Wednesday: Pasta
Thursday: Slow Cooker
Friday: Pizza Night
Saturday: Breakfast for Dinner
Sunday: Chef's Choice

This week is going to be a little different though, because I already had meals planned for today and tomorrow.
Today, we are having Chicken Korma, an Indian dish served over rice. It is made in the slow cooker. A recipe will be coming soon!
Tomorrow, we are having fajitas. I still have to figure out meals for the rest of the days...

A couple days ago, Thing One accidentally hit Thing Two in the face with a toy. Thing Two started crying.
Thing One jumped up on the couch and held his arms out and said "Give him to me, let me see him."
So I picked Thing Two up and set him in Thing One's lap.
Thing One then started stroking Thing Two's hair and giving him kisses on his cheek, saying, "It's okay, I'm sorry."
It was so sweet, I had to get a picture!

On to Meats

Thing Two is starting to eat meat now.
He's getting bigger, which means his appetite is getting bigger too!
At his last check-up he weighed 18.5 pounds.
Thing One weighed around the same at 12 months!

So, with Thing Two's big appetite I have to make sure to stay ahead of his feeding schedule or else......

BEFORE

...this happens.
He was so hungry!
This was last night, at dinner time. He had peas and ham for dinner. I was surprised because he really liked the ham.
That night Thing Two slept so much better than usual! Usually some time during the night he will wake up, and will stay awake for hours before going back to sleep. That didn't happen at all last night.
I'm hoping it's because he ate solid food right before bed.
I'm going to try and give him a snack before bed every night, and see if every night goes that well.

Here is Thing Two AFTER he ate! Full tummy and happy. :)

AFTER

ugh.

The only word I have for today is Ugh.

This was my night last night.

Thing Two went to sleep last night at about 8pm.
I went to bed at 10:00pm.


10:30pm Thing Two wakes up. I feed him and put him back to sleep.  Pops is then getting ready to go to work, so I say goodbye to him.
I get back to sleep around 11:30pm.


1:00am Thing Two wakes up again; with a fever. I give him some medicine, feed him, and put him back to bed.


3:00am Thing Two is awake, again. I feed him and try to put him back to sleep, but he is wide awake. I try to leave him in his bed, but he cries, wanting to be entertained. I try setting him on our floor, with toys, and he plays for awhile while I try to get more sleep, but he gets bored. 


5:00am I try to feed Thing Two again and he looks sleepy, so I put him back to bed.


7:00am Thing Two wakes up. He's up for the day. 
ugh.


He's still waking up like every two hours during the night. I don't know what to do!
I've tried to let him "cry it out" but our house is so small he woke Thing One up.
ugh.

It's been like this since he was born. We were lucky with Thing One that at around 2 months he slept through the night.
I did fine for the first 5 months, but for the last month, it's been so hard. I'm exhausted all day, every day.
ugh.

Pictures, Caffeine, and Shots

Thing Two has a doctor's appointment today. That means shots. He skipped his 4 month appointment, which means he has to catch up on his shots during this appointment. That means a lot of shots. :(
Does it ever get easier to see your kids get shots?
I think it's harder when they are babies. They are sitting there, smiling at you all happy, not expecting a thing. The next thing they know, they are being stabbed by something and are in pain.
On the other hand though, once they are toddlers they have to deal with the anticipation of knowing that they are about to get a shot.
The nurse has us hold their arms across their chest tight, and she holds their legs down. She then gives them their shots. Last time Thing One got shots, he was 2 years old, and got scared when we started holding him down.

The next time he gets shots, he will be 3 years old, and we are going to tell him that he is going to get shots, so he's not just suddenly getting held down for no reason.

I'm pretty sure I get much more upset about it than the kids do.

In Europe they are developing a patch for immunizations.
Is it ready yet?

I'm afraid have fallen into the dreaded caffeine curse.
In the morning, if I do not drink something caffeinated, I am in a bad mood all day; short tempered and lazy.
If I have just one cup of coffee, I am perky and happy all day; looking forward to playing with the boys and getting housework done.
I hate to be like that.
Caffeine is addictive.
And I feel that if I NEED one cup of coffee in the morning to be in a good mood, that one cup is going to turn into two, then three, then five.
Then one day it's going to just do nothing for me, and I will be grumpy and SOL!

Excuse me while I get some coffee.

Thing One is still using his camera. He can take pictures all day.
Here are some more of his pictures.

Thing Two

Thing One (He loves taking pictures of himself!)

Baby Food: Peaches

One food that I could always count on Thing One to eat when he was a baby was peaches. They were definitely his favorite, so I was excited for Thing Two to try them.
I never made baby food for Thing One, he just ate the pre-packaged glass jars.
It definitely feels nice to be able to know exactly what is in the food that Thing Two is eating.

Ingredients:

Peaches
water as needed

Directions:

Place peaches in slow-cooker. I used frozen peaches, with no sugar added.

Cook on low 6 hours or on low 3 hours until soft.

Pour peaches, liquid included into a blender or food processor. Puree, adding water to get desired consistency. I add none.
Pour into ice cube trays to freeze, or in an air-tight container in the fridge.

Thing Two likes his peaches just as much as his brother did!

He's also eating teething buscuits now. We think he might be teething, the way he wants to bite everything. Thing One got his teeth at 6 months, and Thing Two is 5 months now, so it'll probably happen soon!

Thing Two eating squash.

Thing Two got to try the butternut squash today! This was the best he has eaten solid foods in awhile. It's probably because I didn't add any cereal to it, it was just plain squash. (He doesn't like the cereal.)
Unfortunately Thing Two is so stuffed up that he couldn't finish his food. He is now laying near the humidifier to help clear him up.

Homemade Baby Food!!

Thing Two is getting older, and bigger! Which means his appetite is getting bigger as well. After nursing he sucks on anything he can, asking for more, more! He will eat his cereal but doesn't really care for it. Since he is almost 5 months now I decided to try some baby food.
First, I took some canned peas that had no added salt or preservatives. Just peas and water. Since they were so soft all I had to do was heat them up in the microwave, and then mash them with a spoon. Thing Two loved them! He would move a spoonful around in his mouth for awhile, and would then swallow. A second later, a little bare pea casing would pop out of his mouth! Since he has no teeth he can't really chew those, but it's amazing that he can suck all the pea off of them, and then spit the little shell out!
Next time I make him peas I will strain them, to get all the shells out.

After a couple of days I decided to make apples for him. I originally wanted to make Butternut Apple Sauce, but it's best to introduce a new food on it's own, and then wait a couple days to make sure there is no reaction. So I started with the apples, and will try the squash later, eventually working my way up to mixing the two.

Here is the recipe for Baby Food: Apples.

Ingredients:
Apples
Water
(Once your baby is 8 months old you can introduce them to spices such as allspice or vanilla. A lot of children have a sensitivity to cinnamon, and can break out in hives or get a bad rash, so make sure to watch carefully when introducing that.)

Directions:
Peel and chop apples. Place in slow cooker. Add about 1/4 cup water if you'd like, I added no water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

Once cooled you can either store it in an airtight container and use within 3-5 days OR you can freeze it! The best way to freeze baby food is to place it in an ice cube tray, and then put it in the freezer. Once the cubes are frozen, pop them out and put them into a labeled freezer bag.
Each cube is 1 ounce, or 1 serving. Easy!

I used two gala apples, which gave me 8 servings. 7 I froze, and one I used right away.

To thaw, place in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for about 15 seconds. You can also thaw a cube over night.
After thawing a cube I added some fresh breast milk and some rice cereal.

Frozen Cube

Thawed Cube

        To prove how big Thing Two is getting, this is him wearing a pair of his brother's pajamas!! He is 4 months old, and this size 2T outfit fits him perfectly!

Catching Up

       I will be catching up to the holiday posts soon, but until then, enjoy this video of Thing Two laughing!

Starting Solids

           

        Thing Two is 4 months now and was showing many signs that he was ready for solid foods, and so I decided to try it out. Lets just say HUGE success. He opens his mouth for the spoon, closes his lips around it, and then moves his tongue to swallow it.
          I am going to stick to rice cereal for awhile. Some research suggests that starting a wide variety of foods before 6 months can lead to food allergies, obesity later in life, and a greater risk of diabetes. Rice cereal is very gentle and bland, and is the perfect first food besides breastmilk or formula for a baby.

      It is recommended that a breastfed baby get Vitamin D drops starting at about 3 months of life, as there is only tiny amounts in breastmilk, and babies shouldn't be in the sun for long. The doctor warned me however that Thing Two would throw up the first couple of times we gave it to him until his stomach got use to it. This was another reason that I thought it might be time to start the infant cereal, as Thing Two can get his daily amount through that, and not need harsh Vitamin drops in his stomach.

       So you may be wondering, what are the signs that a baby might be ready for solid foods? Here are some of the things you can look for;

• Head control. Your baby needs to be able to keep his head in a steady, upright position.
• Losing the "extrusion reflex." To keep solid food in his mouth and then swallow it, your baby needs to stop using his tongue to push food out of his mouth.
• Sitting well when supported. Even if he's not quite ready for a highchair, your baby needs to be able to sit upright to swallow well.
• Chewing motions. Your baby's mouth and tongue develop in sync with his digestive system. To start solids, he should be able to move food to the back of his mouth and swallow. As he learns to swallow efficiently, you may notice less drooling.
• Significant weight gain. Most babies are ready to eat solids when they've doubled their birth weight (or weigh about 15 pounds) and are at least 4 months old.
• Growing appetite. He seems hungry — even with eight to ten feedings of breast milk or formula a day.
• Curiosity about what you're eating. Your baby may begin eyeing your bowl of rice or reaching for a forkful of fettuccine as it travels from your plate to your mouth.

At this age it's best to start the cereal at an almost runny soup consistency. Usually one tablespoon of cereal to three tablespoons of breastmilk or formula is good. As your baby gets use to eating solids you can slowly work your way up to one and one.
Always use breastmilk or formula as your baby still needs those calories.
Breastmilk or formula should still be your babies main food. Starting with solids twice a day, usually once at breakfast and once at dinner is good. As your baby grows and seems more hungry you can add a third serving.
Wait a couple of days in between introducing new foods to make sure your baby doesn't have any bad reactions.