Intent to Vacate.

I have seen those words far too often in the past 5 years. Intent to Vacate. Brian and I were thinking back the other day, trying to calculate the number of times we had moved since we each moved away to USF (Brian in 2007, myself in 2008). The score: Ashley - 7, Brian - 6. That's crazy people, just crazy. I feel like a nomad.

Well, it makes me cringe to say it, but it seems we will be moving again! And in just 3 short weeks. We are extremely excited and slightly nervous at the same time. We're staying in Louisville, for sure--heck, we are not leaving here until Brian is holding his Masters degree in hand (Lord willing).

But it turns out the Lord has blessed us with a house to rent! An entire house. Like, with a backyard and a whole room for Brian's books and more than one toilet. We are so thrilled!

When we moved to Louisville in 2011!

Some family friends who live in Europe recently bought it as an investment opportunity. We had talked to them over the Summer about the timeline with it, but we never imagined it would still be available for us to consider, since the lease for our apartment isn't up until October 31st. I guess God had some different ideas in mind and we were blown away by his timing!

The house is located just a few blocks down from our church--which we are very excited about. It is an older neighborhood in Louisville, and admittedly a bit of a rougher section of Louisville. We've been a part of stepping into that neighborhood through different church events and we actually have several friends who have houses in the area as well. And now we'll be able to call it our neighborhood too! We are hoping that our home can be yet another beacon of light where there is much darkness.

You might ask, well why would you choose to move your family from where you currently live to a less safe area? Our response: because God commands us to go! He commands us to get away from our comfortable life, to build relationships with those who do not know Him, and to be salt and light in dark places. And what a better time to do so than while we are here in Louisville, attending seminary, and being trained as ministers of the Gospel!

Are we nervous about the change? Maybe a bit. Right now, we live in a quaint little apartment complex 1-mile from the seminary and mostly filled with fellow students. So yea, things will be quite different. But Brian and I have always been firm believers that (1) sin is everywhere and (2) God is sovereign. God is in control in every situation and in every place of residence--so we can have faith that he will be watchful over our family in our new neighborhood.  Plus, he has also given us the necessary wisdom as parents to protect our family as much as is possible, should the circumstance warrant it.

Okay, I'll end my rant on that. Anyway, we can't wait for this new opportunity. We are so looking forward to making this house a haven to our family, friends and neighbors! Now begins the less fun aspect--packing.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for some photos of our cute new abode!

Levi: Week 42 Summary

How is my baby boy 10 weeks away from a year old? I still remember the day he was born so vividly. During our routine cuddle time this morning before his breakfast, I couldn't help but notice what a big boy he was turning into. He has developed his own unique personality and he is just growing by the day. I'm so thankful that God blessed us with Levi. Here is a summary of last week (September 21-27)--his 42nd:

FEEDING
Still nursing! And pressing on toward our goal of 12 months!

This week, Levi also tried the homemade baby food I made for him. He loved all of it, with the exception of the cantaloupe and strawberry puree. Boy, he definitely hated that one! Too much melon flavor and not enough berry flavor is my guess. His face while trying it is priceless...

NAPS

His naps were very sporadic this week and many were shorter than usual. I'm pretty sure this was due to one or two of his top teeth coming in. 

NIGHTTIME

Despite the fact that Levi's naps were a bit off, he slept super well at night! Every night this past week, he slept from 7 PM - 7 AM. And this mama was sure happy about that! 

TEETHING

Yes, he is definitely teething! I had my doubts since I couldn't actually see teeth coming in, but last week one popped on through. It was his top left lateral incisor (so basically one next to his top middle teeth). I was surprised by this--all along I had expected his middle teeth to emerge first! He was definitely in so much pain though and he rarely let me put him down because of it. Brian and I started calling him "Snaggletooth" because of its lonesome placement. Toward the end of last week, I was pretty sure I spotted his right lateral incisor about to cut his gum as well. If that's the case, Mr. Levi is going to have some amazing fangs.

MOTOR SKILLS

Levi is now not only able to scoot around on his belly, but also his butt! When he is feeling particular lazy and sitting up, he'll simply wiggle his legs to move his whole body forward. He can also rotate his body around while sitting on his butt, which is so funny to watch.

OUTINGS/EVENTS

Not too much out of the ordinary this week! We spent a lot of time outside because the weather was so nice most days! Levi loves it outside, so most of the time he is super content just sitting in the grass and watching everything around him.

We did go to the SBTS pool one afternoon with my friend Cherish and her son (Levi's buddy), Seth. They had a really fun time splashing around and just watching the other kids play.  

We'll see what next week holds!

Homemade Baby Food: The Process

So, once you decide which recipes and how much of each to make, the fun begins! I wasn't exactly sure how long it would take to make everything, so I set aside a full day. I'm glad I did, because it took about 8 hours start to finish to prepare and freeze the food. I know--8 hours. Sounds insane. But keep in mind, those 8 hours consisted of feeding Levi his meals, eating my own breakfast and lunch, and a few short breaks here and there. It's difficult to do this with a baby in the house (especially because I tried to avoid running the food processor when Levi was napping), but its doable! Just set aside a day.

Here's what you'll need:
Ingredients for all the purees
A decent food processor
Ice cube trays
Quart size freezer bags

Now, you can do this one of two ways. You can either cook one recipe at a time or you can cook multiple recipes simultaneously. I stuck with one recipe at a time to avoid getting confused about which ingredients belonged with each recipe (since some of the same ingredients were used in different recipes). You'll just want to think ahead and cook the things that will take the longest first.

Yumm...veggies with lentils!

You'll obviously puree everything as it is made and then you'll begin filling ice cube trays with the purees. I really like to use these silicone cube ice trays. The cube shape makes them easily stackable in freezer bags, so they take up less space. We just happened to have a few of these already, so it worked out great. If you only have regular ice trays, I wouldn't sweat it.

Let me just tell you, I only had 4 ice trays total, so this whole freezing process took a long time. About 2 days straight of filling these little guys and refilling them. That was not fun. And I was slightly worried about leaving the purees in the fridge for that long (they ended up keeping just fine). Would I buy more for the next time I make baby food? Probably. I was just trying to avoid spending the extra money this time, since this is probably the last time I'll make baby food for Levi.

Once the cubes are thoroughly frozen, you'll just transfer them to appropriately marked freezer bags. See what I mean about the cubes taking up less space? They are a great shape to fit right in our freezer door.

Now, the night before, I'll take out Levi's food for both lunch and dinner for the following day. One cube (from any ice cube tray) is equivalent to 1 oz of food, so I simply take out however many he'll need for that day. Yea, it's a bit of extra work (and a few extra dishes), but just think of the money saved!

And that's it! Homemade baby food. Enjoy!

Homemade Baby Food: The Recipes

I used this book when deciding on recipes for Levi's baby food: 201 Organic Baby Purees

The iBook version is only $9.99, so I thought it was a pretty good deal since I needed some inspiration for what recipes to make for my little one. One thing I like about this book is the fact that all the recipes are divided into the appropriate age groups based on the ingredients and textures. Plus, it contains just what the title says--recipes for purees. When searching for "baby food cookbooks," I found many books that contained mostly baby-friendly finger food recipes with a few puree recipes--not exactly what I was looking for. This book was perfect!

Here is a list of the recipes I chose:

Garden Veggie and Lentil Dinner 

Chicken and Veggie Dinner (I added 1-2 cups of cooked brown rice)

Beefy Peas and Potatoes (I added 1-2 cups of cooked brown rice)

Autumn Harvest Puree (I added a can of garbanzo beans)

Summertime Peach and Raspberry Delight

Cantaloupe and Strawberry Joy

Apple and Plum Compote

Pear and Apricot Puree (I substituted the apricots for frozen blueberries)

I tried to pick a good variety of combinations, as well as some iron-rich foods, since Levi's iron was a bit low at his last doctor's visit. I quadrupled all of the recipes so that it made enough servings for 2 months worth of food (based on how many ounces Levi is currently eating). Some of the recipes required boiling the ingredients, but I baked anything that was supposed to be boiled (with the exception of the Beefy Peas and Potatoes)--I find that the ingredients are more flavorful that way, plus baking is supposed to be more nutritive than boiling. 

I'll add the recipes below, based on how I tweaked them. If you want the originals, I highly encourage you to buy the book!

Garden Veggie and Lentil Dinner (16-20 Servings)

4 carrots, peeled and chopped

3 celery stalks, chopped

1 small sweet onion, chopped

1 quart of chicken stock

2 cups of brown lentils, picked through and rinsed

1 large tomato, chopped

1. Saute carrots, celery and onions in extra-virgin olive oil in a medium pot until onions are translucent.

2. Add stock, lentils and tomatoes and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

3. Reduce heat to low and simmer gently with lid tilted for 30-45 minutes, or until lentils are tender.

4. Puree to the desired consistency and serve. Freeze remaining portions up to eight weeks.

Chicken and Veggie Dinner (16 servings)

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed

2 small sweet onions, chopped

2 cups frozen peas

4 carrots, chopped

1-2 cups cooked brown rice

Olive oil to coat

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Add chicken, onions, peas, carrots, and olive oil to a 9x13" baking dish.

3. Bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and veggies are tender.

4. Transfer baked ingredients, including broth, to food processor.

5. Puree until semi-smooth (add water to thin if necessary).

Beefy Peas and Potatoes (15 servings)

2-3 large russet or yukon potatoes

2 cups frozen peas

1 lb lean ground beef, cooked
1-2 cups cooked brown rice

1. Wash, peel and dice the potatoes. Place in a saucepan, cover with water, and boil for 10-15 minutes.

2. Add peas to saucepan. Boil for another 5-10 minutes until peas are tender.

3. Place in food processor with cooked beef and rice. Puree, adding cooking water as necessary to thin.

Autumn Harvest Puree (14-16 servings)

4 apples, cored, peeled and chopped

2 large sweet potatoes

1 can pure pumpkin

1 can low sodium garbanzo beans

Cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350. Sprinkle cinnamon over apples and bake for 30 minutes or until tender.

2. Wrap sweet potatoes in aluminum foil and bake alongside apples. Remove potatoes from skin once tender.

3. Combine all ingredients in food processor and puree, adding water as necessary.

Summertime Peach and Raspberry Delight (12 servings)

10 peaches or nectarines, peeled, pitted and chopped

12 oz frozen raspberries

1. Combine raspberries and chopped peaches to food processor and puree until smooth.

2. Optional: pass puree through a fine mesh strainer to remove raspberry seeds.

Cantaloupe and Strawberry Joy (15 servings)

1 cantaloupe, chopped

1 pint of strawberries, trimmed and washed

Combine both ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.

Apple and Plum Compote (15 servings)

4 sweet apples, cored, peeled and chopped

6 small plums, peeled, pitted and chopped

Cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350. 

2. Sprinkle apples and plums with cinnamon and bake for 30 minutes or until tender.

3. Transfer to a food processor and puree until smooth.

Pear and Blueberry Puree (16 servings)

5 medium pears, peeled, cored, and chopped

12 oz frozen blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Bake pears for 30 minutes or until tender.

3. Combine with blueberries in food processor and puree until smooth.

Now, on to the process... {part 3}

Homemade Baby Food: The Savings

Let me preface this by saying that I am no SuperMom! I am simply a mom who tries to help our family save money where possible and practical. For us, this means shopping the consignment racks for some of Levi's clothes, using cloth diapers, accepting gently used hand-me-downs, and most recently making homemade baby food. Are you a terrible mom if you buy your kids full-price name brand clothes, use disposable diapers, and feed him or her food from a jar? By all means, no! You might in fact be the most attentive, loving, generous, servant-hearted mother in all the world!

It just comes down to a matter of means. And since we're currently working our way through seminary, we don't have a ton of extra cash floatin' around. Hence, the homemade baby food.

We also tried baby led weaning (BLW) in the past and really liked that a lot! The principles of allowing Levi to have larger pieces of food to munch on and simultaneously help to develop his fine motor skills was really intriguing. However, once he got to the point where milk and whatever small amounts of solids he was eating from BLW was not enough, we decided to introduce purees. He was around 8 months old at that time. I found a lot more ease of mind in knowing, "okay, he ate 2 oz of this and 1 oz of that, so he should be full" rather than always questioning if he was satisfied. We still do give him finger foods after most every meal and for a mid-afternoon snack, so he can "practice" and learn what food actually looks like in its non-pureed form.

Let me just throw out there the fact that I had never made homemade baby food before to this extent. Back when Levi first started eating solids, I made a small batch of purees for him in addition to BLW. Because he was eating so little at the time, it took very little work and very few ingredients. Now that he is an eating machine, this takes a bit more effort and a lot more ingredients--but I have found it to be worth it (unless we happen to find a great sale on jarred food).

On an average day, Levi will eat 2 oz of a veggie-based puree and 2 oz of a fruit-based puree for both lunch and dinner, so all my calculations are based on those figures. He eats oatmeal for breakfast, so luckily I didn't have to make any purees for that meal. I'm a very quantitative person--I like to do the math and figure out what is going to be the most economical option in the long run. So I crunched some numbers (not that it was very difficult) and here were my results:

2 - 4 oz of Earth's Best baby food @ $1.00 per jar x 60 days = approximately $120
8 oz of homemade baby food x 60 days = $57 total in groceries (this will vary based on the recipes you make, but I feel like any ingredients for stage 2 or stage 3 recipes will be fairly close to this total)
Total savings = $63 or $31.50/month

Now to some, that may not seem like a huge savings. But to us, it seemed worth it to at least give homemade baby food a try. I mean, I love to cook to begin with, so I was excited to contribute to my family in this way. So, I planned his little menu and went grocery shopping and set aside a full day to pureeing-madness...

Check out the recipes now... {part 2}

Levi: Week 41 Summary

Not too much has changed this week, but here is a recap of Levi's 41st wonderful little week of life.

FEEDING
We are pressing on! Levi is still nursing--dare I say even better than previous weeks. He isn't as crazy distracted as he has been, except when Brian is in the room. He knows that daddy's presence equals playtime! He officially only nurses from one side now; he hated the other side and it was just becoming frustrating for us both. He seems pretty satisfied, despite this change!

Solids are still the same. Levi tried a few new things this week, including pita bread with hummus and a mozzarella cheese stick! He loved the pita with hummus! That will be a new snack item in the afternoon. I also began planning a day long adventure in making 2 months worth of baby food for our little man. I will make sure to post about my experience with that soon!

"More hummus, please!"

NAPS
Levi had a few good days this week and bad days this week as far as napping was concerned! I expected that though, since we were just getting back from vacation.

NIGHTTIME
The first few nights we were back in town, Levi was still waking up every 2 hours or so. He wasn't hungry--he just simply wanted to say hello. I was quite exhausted! But things gradually got back to normal. The last few nights of the week, he was back to sleeping from 7 PM-7 AM. Praise God!

TEETHING
Well, maybe he isn't teething as we had originally thought. Still tons of drool, but no sight of those little chompers poking through his gums yet! His grumpiness is pretty much gone too. So we'll see in the coming weeks!

MOTOR SKILLS
Levi's "scooting" really took off this week! He still won't pick his belly up off the ground and he still needs to REALLY want something in order to be motivated enough, but the little man is quick when he wants to get from place to place. Luckily, it is still pretty easy right now to keep him contained to certain areas--which I like :)

He also started "waving" this week! It's so cute. Brian and I have been waving to him every time we say hello or goodbye for about a month now--hoping he'd catch on eventually. He has! You can tell he still needs time to think about the motion when he wants to do it, but we've definitely seen him make the connection.

OUTINGS/EVENTS
Man, not too much this week as compared to my last post! We stayed in a lot this week or just went on mini-outings to run errands and such. Levi and I both needed some down time after our busy trip.

That's all for this week!

Levi: Weeks 39 & 40 Summary

The last two weeks have been super packed. Levi officially turned 9 months old and with that milestone came some definite struggles. We also attended the annual Fall Festival at SBTS and Levi and I took a trip to Florida to visit my family. It's all been a bit of blur, but here's as much as I can remember:

FEEDING
9.5 months and Levi is still nursing! I never thought I'd see the day. Amazingly, the countdown to his first year and the end to our journey in breastfeeding is on! Just under 10 weeks to go. Literally, every week that passes, I feel successful. He is pretty much only nursing from one side now--which means I haven't been as rigid with his feeding schedule. I want to make sure he definitely gets enough milk. Usually, if he wakes early from his nap, I'll let him nurse as much as he wants and then I put him right back down to sleep. He seems to be doing fine with that.

His appetite for solids is ever growing! The dude can eat. He is now eating about 2 oz of veggies, 2 oz of fruit and 2 oz of yogurt for lunch and dinner. Still doing oatmeal mixed with applesauce every morning for breakfast. I started giving him fruit puffs and Cheerios pretty regularly after meals now, as well as any other types of finger foods he might like. When we were in Florida, Levi was given a frozen chocolate covered banana for the first time. To say he loved it would be an understatement.

We are down to our last few jars of baby food that we bought last month, so I'm exploring the idea of making more homemade food.

NAPS
The week Levi turned 9 months old, he suddenly had tons of trouble napping. He would wake after only 30-45 minutes. He might have had a bit of a cold or he might have been teething (or both), so I tried not to get to frustrated with his lack of a schedule.

When we went to Florida this past week, Levi did pretty well with napping--better than the week before. He still wasn't 100% though, but I'm sure that was just because we were in a different place and some days he missed naps altogether due to our busyness.

NIGHTTIME
I don't remember much from week 39 as far as nighttime sleep--although I do remember that he rarely slept 12 hours straight without waking at least once or twice. So much for the 12 hour nights the week before!

Our 5 nights in Florida were pretty absurd. The first two, Levi did great. Slept from at least 10 PM to 7 AM each night. But the last three...oh boy! He was literally up every 45 minutes to 2 hours--even when he went to bed right on time. He was screaming like he was having teething or gas pains. My mom and I just could not figure it out. Finally, by the third sleepless night, we decided to put him in a different room than myself--thinking maybe he just kept waking because he knew I was sleeping right beside him. That night he finally slept 4 hours straight. It was the weirdest thing! And I was absolutely exhausted.

TEETHING
We are pretty positive Levi is teething right now. He keeps holding his gums, he is very clingy and altogether miserable, plus his mouth is currently a non-stop drool fountain. I am hoping this passes quickly.

OUTINGS/EVENTS
My little man is 9 months old now! Crazy to think that in 3 months he will be a full year old. He is so much more fun by the day with new noises, skills, and a developing little personality. I just love him! Here are some photos from his 9 month "photoshoot."

Levi had his 9 month appointment during week 39. Brian and I were extremely surprised--he weighed only 17.5 lbs (10th %) and measured 29 inches long (75th %). We thought for sure he was up to 20 lbs by now! So, not too much of a difference from his 6 month appointment when he was 16 lbs and 27.75 inches. He received 4 shots, plus 1 oral vaccine, and was overall very healthy. His doctor told us his iron was slightly low and that we needed to feed him more meats, beans, hummus, and dark greens.

We took Levi to his first SBTS Fall Festival on 09/06! It was such a fun time as we enjoyed the World's Fair. We spent most of the time with our friends Josh, Carly and their baby Peter. Peter is exactly 6 months younger than Levi and they are almost the same size! Unfortunately, Levi was a bit cranky, since his doctor's appointment was earlier that same day. We really wanted to see the "grand finale" of the night (which ended up being a laser light show), so we walked the babies around until they were asleep. Surprisingly, Levi slept right through the loud pops of the fireworks at the end!

Lastly, Levi and I flew home to Florida last week to spend a few days with my family and celebrate my brother's 18th birthday! We had such a fun time with my mom, dad, brother, and grandparents--and we even got a chance to see Ethan and Anna. The photos speak for themselves!

Until next week!