Bye Bye Baby Days

So...guess who's walking.  And talking.  And drinking out of a sippy cup like it's her J-O-B.  What the hell happened to my baby?  Who is this giant grown-up child?

Despite my repeated attempts to keep her small by squeezing her and keep her immobile by taking her legs out from beneath her, this little bugger went ahead and taught herself how to crawl, stand and take steps, all within a matter of weeks.  She's a walking, talking, screaming, giggling force to be reckoned with!

She's also decided that bottles are for babies and she only wants to drink out of a sippy cup like her big brother.  Honestly, I think she'd actually prefer a regular cup like a grown up, or possible a wine glass.  She's very fancy.  Although, we love this sippy cup by Nuby.  It's easy for her to hold, doesn't spill or leak and audibly CLICKS when it's properly closed, which I love.  Of course, she spits the water everywhere and loves letting it dribble out of her mouth and all over the place, but at least the cup's not leaking, even if the baby is.  

Other things she's doing: laughing hysterically at peek-a-boo, full-body tackling her brother, jumping on the trampoline, waving, clapping, saying mama and dada, screaming at the top of her lungs when she doesn't get what she wants, shaking her head no whenever she hears the word, eating an entire steak by herself and giving high fives. 

I'm in the midst of planning her first birth party and I alternate between being thrilled that we survived the first year and devastated that we never get to do a first year again.  Can we please have a moment of silence for baby coos, sleepy days on the couch and that amazing newborn smell?  It's all gone in the blink of an eye.

No, I am not ok with it.  No, I'm not encouraging it.  No, I'm not ready for it.  And yet, it's happening. Parenthood is once again teaching me the lesson that I'm not in control and never will be again for the rest of my life, no matter how much my Type-A personality and control-freak tendencies want me to be.  I so desperately want to keep her little...and safe...and sweet.

But now I sit here and play with my almost-walking almost-toddler and watch her explore the world around her.  To her it's a wonderful exciting place filled with new adventures, new challenges, new firsts.  And I can't help but be excited about it.  Yes, I'd love to keep her little and safe forever, but I'm honored to be able to watch her grow up and be there for her as she makes her way in this world.  There are so many more amazing moments in store for us.  It just keeps getting better.  Well played, parenthood.  

Nuby Clik-it™ Designer Series- Gripper Cup

• Trainer Sipeez: No Spill™  Super Soft Silicone Spout
• 10 oz/ 300 ml
• 6 months +
• One piece spout
• Easy grip base, perfect for little hands
• Leak Proof Technology you can see and hear!
• Hear the “click” know it’s locked!
• BPA FREE
• Available at these retailers: Walmart, Babies R Us, Target

*We received this product to review as part of the Nuby Parent Blogger Program.  All opinions are 100% my own.  

Easy As Gourmet Apple Pie

You've heard the expression "easy as pie," but if you've ever made a pie, you know that pies are NOT easy to make.  They're not even all that easy to eat.  Of course pie is delicious and always worth the trouble, but pie is never something I thought I'd be making with my wild, impatient, messy three-year old.  However, we received a package of Love'illy Apple Spice Gourmet Pie Mix and Mac insisted that he help me make pie IMMEDIATELY.  Cue my panic attack.

Turns out, pie can be really easy to make.  So easy even a three-year old can do it!  With a little help from a grown-up on the peeling and baking parts.  Mac really surprised me with how excited he was he help me bake a pie and how actually helpful he was.  I was really impressed with how well he followed directions and how happy he was to create something for us.  He insisted that we were baking the pie for his grandparents and asked me multiple times if we could sing them Happy Birthday while we ate.  Yes buddy, sure thing. 

We started by prepping the apples.  I washed them and Mac started sampling them.  He took bites out of every single apple, just to make sure none of them were poisonous.  He loves apples, but he's not a fan of the peels, so that part got chewed up and spit out all over the counter and kitchen.  Cooking with a preschooler is not for the faint of heart.

Once I got the apples peeled, sampling was much easier and we lost quite a bit of our pie ingredients to his little chompers.  Thankfully I'm not very good at guestimating the weight of apples and bought way too many to begin with, so all was well.

I let Mac have the job of coring all the apples, which he loved!  Put that child to work!  I'd get them started and then let him takeover the process of pushing the apple corer all the way down to the bottom of the apple.  Sometimes this took quite a bit of effort and exertion on his part (and we had a few smashed apple bottoms), but by the 3rd apple he figured out that he could wiggle/rock it back and forth and get it through pretty quickly.  

Of course this didn't stop him from eating all the apples during the process.  

Once cored and cut into pieces, he put all the apple slices into a big bowl and added our secret ingredient....Love'illy Gourmet Pie Mix.  This stuff is genius.  Other than the apples and the crust, this is ALL you need to add to make an amazing apple pie.  

No measuring, no sifting, no mess!  I didn't have to worry about not having the right ingredients or getting flour and butter all over the kitchen.  This was it...just pour it on the apples and stir.  Literally, easy as pie.

Stirring was his favorite part.  He really wanted to use the electric mixer, but I put a stop to that idea. 

 Once the apples were coated, you just dump them in a pie crust (we used a frozen one).  

We had to sample the apples (why stop now) and they were amazing!  This spice mix was so good.  I would have loved to just throw them in a baking dish, get them soft and warm and have them as dessert without the crust.  Or serve them warm over vanilla ice cream!  Or put them on cinnamon pita chips!  Or on sugar cookies!  The possibilities are endless.

But the best part of the whole process was seeing how excited and proud this guy was to have just made his very own apple pie!  He could hardly contain himself.  Multiple times I caught him trying to eat the pie right then and there, before we even baked it!  I'm not sure the concept of needing to cook it was registering with him at the moment.  

Since I way overestimated how many apples we'd need (or maybe I just bought giant apples), we had some spiced apple mix left over, which I chopped up and wrapped in some crescent roll dough (apple-turnover style), so Mac and I could have a treat right away.  These guys only needed to cook for a few minutes and they were OH SO GOOD.  So good we ate them before I could even take a picture of them cooked. That's good. 

Back to our pie...I threw the second frozen crust on top of the pie for a home-made double-crust look and baked it while Mac was napping (all that apple coring took it out of him, apparently).  Not only was it delicious, but it made the whole house smell amazing.  We took it over to Mac's grandparents the next day and they were SO impressed that we'd made a pie!  I didn't bother to tell them just how easy it was.  Wink wink. Mac also insisted we sing them Happy Birthday three times.  Whatever. 

This mix is one of those "mom hacks" that I'm just going to take all the credit for!  :)  And now I know what I'll be offering to bring to the 4th of July picnic!  

Do your kids like baking?

What are your favorite recipes to make with kids?

* I received this product as part of the Savvy Sassy Moms Product Scouts program. All opinions are my own.

Baby Mim - 10 Months

Dear Mim,

TEN MONTHS.  I'm slightly in shock that we've entered the stage of double digit months.  Time is flying by at the speed of light and I'm baffled each time I flip the page of my calendar that you're another month closer to turning one and that much farther from being a tiny baby.  You are growing so quickly these days and you're starting to resemble a kid as my squishy baby fades away.  I'm not ready, sweetheart!  I'm just not ready!

I think the biggest change this month is in your mobility.  I swear it was only a few days between the time you started dragging yourself around on your belly to the time that you were speed crawling around the room faster than we could keep up with.  And from there, you started pulling up and cruising around on the furniture, like you'd been doing it your whole life.  Up and down was no problem for you as we watched you work on your balance and steady those wobbly little legs.  You also took me completely by surprise when showing me that you could climb stairs and I almost had a heart attack after my back was turned for 5 seconds and you were half-way up the staircase.  

Your gained mobility has come at a price though, your little forehead has taken quite a beating and you've had multiple bruises in various spots on that shiny noggin of yours.  I know once you start walking it'll only get worse and I'm trying to prepare myself mentally for more scrapes and falls by self-medicating with wine.  I hope you like Band-Aids little lady.  Between your wobbles and your brother's dare-devil stunts, you two are going to turn me grey sooner than anticipated.  I don't know whether to invest in helmets and knee-pads or just buy a case of wine and hope for the best.

I know I probably say this every month, but your personality is really starting to shine!  You are so much fun these days.  You are much sweeter and loving than your brother was at this age.  He never slowed down for a second, but you love to stop and give hugs and kisses.  Despite being very mobile, you still love to be held (and passed back and forth).  You love snuggling, rocking and nighttime cuddles.  You are just so sweet and affectionate.  You give pats on the back, face touches and the best sloppy open-mouth kisses.  You've also started to lay your head down on any pillow or blanket you find and snuggle in, which is so ridiculously adorable.  You love to laugh and be tickled, which makes my heart melt every time.  

You are also a lot like your brother in that you are stubborn and persistent and opinionated.  You want what you want and you want it immediately!  You will scream your head off if he takes something away from you that you wanted.  But then again, you will take things from him quick as lightning, with absolutely no remorse.  When you see something you want, you throw your whole body towards it (usually launching yourself out of our arms) and you usually get it.  There's really no telling you no right now, as you absolutely refuse to take that as an answer.  I like that. :)  

You are still a GREAT eater.  There's really not much that we've found that you won't eat.  You had ice cream for the first time while we were in Florida and it blew your mind.  You ate almost my entire cup of ice cream and then screamed at me for 10 minutes after it was gone in frustration and anger.  The next night we got you your own cup.  You love chicken and steak, like fruits and veggies and go nuts over anything sugary.  You're totally my kid.  You still take a small bottle in the morning and before nap time, then a big bottle at bedtime and for our dreamfeed.

At your 9-month well-visit (which was a month late), you weighed 21 pounds.  Most of that is in your thighs, which are so wonderfully squishy and amazing.  You wear size 12 month clothes and size 3 diapers.  You are getting way too heavy for me to carry around on my hip all the time, but you insist.  My left arm is SO strong.  

I'll stop there because this post is a bit late (you're going to be 11 months before I know it), so I'll save the rest for that post.  Suffice it say that you're just about the greatest little thing ever.  Keep it up, Mimmy.

Love, 

Your mama