It Just Makes Sense

Ever since we were expecting Wryder, we wanted to attempt to have the kids share a room – based solely on the layout of our house if nothing else.  We have two bedrooms upstairs, which are ours and Sawyer’s, and two downstairs, which are a guest room/craft room and a guest room/play room.  We really wanted to have all of us on the same floor for convenience and safety’s sake, so sharing a room just made sense.

About two months before Wryder was due, Wrex and I moved downstairs.  I was making WAY too many middle-of-the-night trips downstairs to use the bathroom.  My deep sleep cycles were non-existent and I felt like a zombie most of the day, so moving down to where the bathroom was, just made sense.

Wryder soon came along and he has slept in our room since he was born.  It makes his middle of the night milk cravings a lot more bearable than trudging upstairs and (potentially) waking sister with all the crying.

Now that winter is upon us, we’ve been attempting to get our house (inside and out) winterized before fall is whisked away and the snow sets in.  In the process, Wrex had the grand idea of everyone living on the main floor for winter.  Our house was built in the 19-teens, so it’s old and quirky totally vintage which means there is no forced heat upstairs, just electric, radiant heat.  He did the math and he thinks we can save $700 – $1000 this winter alone!  So, you guessed it, moving everyone downstairs just made sense.

Bed(room) partners
Bed(room) partners

Our two cuties are officially sharing a room and loving every minute of it!  Sawyer is anyways.  She was so excited about sleeping with brother that she couldn’t sleep during her first naptime stay, but we understood!  We were excited, too!  Wryder’s pretty easy going so we’ll just say he doesn’t mind, either.

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Sawyer LOVES her tractor “beat” from Aunt Lori! She said “beat” for the word blanket ever since she was one and the name’s stuck!

He wakes up between four and five every morning ravenous but has yet to wake her with his crying.  She wakes up around seven and now has our permission to get out of bed (if she is certain that it’s light outside) and come get us in our room.  It’s been fun to watch her be excited about gaining more freedom and responsibility because she’s proved so trustworthy about not getting out of bed when that was the rule.

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Looking in from the living room
A little tight
It’s a little tight.  We thought of putting the toy box in the barn for now but I just couldn’t.  I LOVE it.  It was the kiddos’ great-great-great-grandfather’s show box.  This HAS to be in our house, right?!
Bookshelves made by daddy.  Love.
Bookshelves made by daddy. Love.
The art wall
The art wall.  It just got cleaned and sorted.  Don’t worry.  Sawyer loves office supplies..it’ll be full again soon.
A family photo
A family photo
Some of her favorite things
Some of her favorite things
Ocedo the cat wanted in on the action
Ocedo the cat wanted in on the action.  Love this hanging thing from IKEA, by the way.  It’s the PERFECT place for all those blasted stuff animals.

The layout feels a little square to me, but I keeping reminding myself of the temporariness (which is actually a real word, by the way)…and of the money we hope to pocket.  Plus, it’s really nice having both of them down here with us, and it’s been REALLY nice getting Wryder into his own room, but still on the same floor.  Here’s to hoping we really do notice a big savings in our electric bill…because saving money just makes cents.  <—  See what I did there?  Oh, Lord help me…a short night plus a long day makes for a cheesy momma. 😉

DIY: Food for the BeBe

When this handsome fella turned 5 months old,

Seriously, such a heartbreaker
Seriously, such a heartbreaker

we decided it was time to start introducing him to solid foods, pureed style, of course.  I had never made my own baby food – we bought jars with Sawyer – but decided I would give it a try this time.  I wanted it to be easy, quick and cost efficient.  HOLY.CATFISH.  It is all of the above!  I will never highly doubt I will ever purchase baby food again!

Saturday, I made peas and green beans.  For both of these purees, I bought frozen vegetables.  (For carrots, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, bananas and squash, I bought fresh.)  Canned foods aren’t ideal because they tend to leach nutrients in to the water or brine they are packed in and they have a lot of preservatives.  Read up here.  The only exception is pumpkin (which WD loves) because it isn’t cooked or packed in water, prior to canning.

To make pureed peas…

Step 1 – Cook your peas as directed on the packaging.

LOVE this pan
LOVE this pan

Step 2 – Drain (but save your water) and put peas in your appliance of choice for pureeing.  I chose the food processor this time (though a blender usually gets them smoother) because I knew I was going to press them through a strainer later.  This is recommended for peas because the skins are a little hard for baby to eat.

Making mush
Making mush

You may have to add some of your reserve water to help make a smoother puree.  (You can use formula or bottled water, too.)  After pureeing, you’ll end up with something like this:

A little too grainy
A little too grainy

It’s a little too grainy, due to the pea skins, for baby’s first foods.  Here’s where the strainer or sieve comes in.

Step 3 – Work puree through the strainer.

Use some muscle!
Use some muscle!

You’ve really got to push the peas to get the nice, silky puree you’re looking for.  I used a bowl to press this and ended up with a beautiful, Jeanie-green blend!

Isn't it pretty?
Isn’t it pretty?

We fed the leftovers, which looks a lot like guacamole, to the chickens.

Where's the chips?
Where are the chips?

Step 4 – Place into ice cube trays and freeze.

I haven't used ice trays in ages
I haven’t used ice trays in ages

Each ice cube is about 1 ounce so it’s an easy way to measure out how much you’re feeding baby.  Once frozen, I put mine in a dated Ziploc bag and toss them in the freezer.

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Once frozen, your baby food cubes will keep for 3-6 months.

When it’s time to feed your munchkin, take out the number of cubes (ounces) your baby will eat.  You can thaw them in the refrigerator (overnight) or microwave them or by submerging a small bowl of cubes into a larger bowl of hot water.  Thawed purees can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 72 hours.

To date, I’ve made around 130 ounces of food for about $10!  No joke – it really is the way to go.  On average, baby food in the store is $0.40/ounce and I’m making it for about $0.07/ounce.  To some, that might not be worth it, but for us it most definitely is.

Start to finish, this was the most labor-intensive puree I’ve made and it still only took about 30ish minutes.

Give it a try if you have the time; your kiddo and your bank account will thank you.