Baby Food!

I know my sister is going to give me crap, BUT... did you know you can make your own baby food?!

Yup.

Make it, like from scratch and stuff.

My sister is gonna give me guff because she did this with Sophia and I had totally forgotten about it. That is, until I quit my job and lost our extra income. Paying $1.00 for two packs of baby food seems pretty steep when money is extremely tight.

So to put it in comparison for you...

$10 will get me 20 packs of baby food. 

5 sweet potatoes for $2.40 will get me 24 1 oz. sizes of baby food. Now, that is all one flavor of course, but when you are paying so little, just imagine how much food you can make with all sorts of fruits and veggies!

So far I've made carrots, bananas, and sweet potatoes. I have pears and frozen peas as well that I am going to make. 

I knew I had to start Charly on solid foods, but money was so tight I just didn't want to buy it. I remembered my sister had made it, and I have also seen the "make your own baby food" pins all over Pinterest. So, I jumped online and searched for recipes. When I read how simple it was, I was so angry I didn't do this with Emma! Seriously, SO EASY!!

To make carrots: 

Steam about 8 carrots, 

puree/blend carrots with water until the consistency is smooth and a little runny 

fill ice cube trays with pureed carrots. 

Freeze in the freezer and then put them into Ziploc bags. 

That's it!!!

Sorry, I'm just very excited about this. VERY EXCITED!!

Steaming carrots. I am using our rice cooker that we got for our wedding that I rarely use, until now! 

pureed carrots put into ice cube trays....

Bananas!

EASY!!! You have to do it if you have little babies, HAVE TO!!

Charlotte loves it, well as much as a 7 month old can. Okay, she eats it and doesn't spit it out. That means she likes it. 

The sizes are just right for her, and I will make her two for each feeding. The bananas oxidize quickly, so after you puree them you have to get them right into the freezer or they turn bad. To heat them up, just throw them in your microwave and defrost until they are warm. I add rice cereal to the bananas because they are really runny. 

It is so cheap to make and you get so much. It just takes a little time!

Have you made baby food? Let me know if you have any tricks or secrets! 

xoxo

Rachel

 

Updates.

Lately, I have found myself checking my blogger list to see if anyone has updated their blog with cute pictures and stories. I think to myself, "gosh, I just updated my blog, where is everyone else's upates?"

Then I look at the date of my last post, and realize it's been almost a month since I updated mine. 

Whoops? I guess I'm not exempt from falling off the blogger planet either. I do know of some blogger buddies that desperately need to do some updating... you know who you are... if I read that your last post was ONE YEAR AGO, then you have some work to do!

Just kidding. But seriously.

Life is moving along for us here in the Twistle home. I love my girls more every day and we have been enjoying the sunshine and warm weather by going outside every day! If I could change anything, it would be the 15 stairs that I am forced to go up and down with a carseat, toddler, and diaper bag in tow. It. Is. THE. worst. Especially when my toddler decides to jump down each stair while I anticipate a mis-jump followed by her tumbling down the concrete stairs o' death. 

Well, I myself have been busy! Here's what I've been up to:

My friend in our ward has her own business making lollipops, and she's recently asked me to help her make them. She is getting really busy, and has been featured in multiple magazines including Martha Stewart! She has been gracious enough to trust me with her secret recipe and the magic of getting an image inside a lollipop. It has been so much fun, and has allowed me to get out of the house and "go back to work" in a way. Here's her website if you are curious to see what it's all about:

www.designerlolli.com
Not only do the lolli's taste awesome, but the images are amazing too! She can even do custom designs for big events or birthdays. If you order something, I may have been the one to help make your lollipop! I know, it's a pret-ty awesome thought.

I've also started watching my friend's baby boy Deion twice a week. He is so different than my dainty and petite girls! He is 8 1/2 months old, so it goes without saying that I have my hands full! He has been so much fun so far, and I love his handsome little face! I'm sure you've all seen the updates on FB, and you can be sure there will be more :)

I will also be watching Anne's babes on Mondays while she takes a nursing class for her degree. It's gonna be a busy summer!!

The girls are growing like weeds, and every day Emma is building up her vocabulary. I can literally watch her struggle to find the words as she is talking with me. Her favorite thing these days is to call our names and then stall by saying, "Um, this!" as she points to some random object. It's pretty adorable. 

Charlotte is rolling all over the place, and I panic daily thinking I have mis-placed my infant. I have to walk around the corner and look beyond the couch until I see her little legs kicking with pride. Then she shoots me the most perfect smile, that makes me celebrate with her as I smile back. 

I feel like the luckiest girl in the world when I think of my sweet family. I can't imagine life without them! Life is good, even with the bumps in the road :)

xoxo
The Twistles

Sister Love!

Sisterly love is flowing in our house these days!

I walk into the living room, and I notice that Emma has given Charlotte her puppy. 

If she thinks Charlotte is cold, she covers her in a blankie.

Charlotte cries, and Emma runs to her side to make her laugh.

I can't describe the Mommy joy I feel watching these two bond every day--

Watching Curious George together this morning. Emma will ask, "Charly sit with me?" 

Charlotte only has eyes for her big sister!

And this is just for fun, my cool cat Emma girl wearing Mommy's shades. Stylin'!!

I love my girls!!!!

xoxo
The Twistles

Here Comes The Sun!

Hooray!!

We officially said goodbye to cold weather this past week, and have hit 70 degrees here in Utah. I am in love. Winter was long and cold this year, and I was sick of it!

On Friday, Emma, Charlotte, and I went outside for a walk in the morning, then came home for nap time and went back out in the afternoon for the rest of the day.

I cannot tell you how much I needed that sunshine! 

Emma loves being pushed around in the double stroller with her sissy Charly! (Thanks again family!!)

Spring and Summer are great! I can open up the sliding door and Emma just plays on her own on the patio for as long as I let her. I love to sit out there with her and watch her play. It just so happens, that I can get a lot more housework done while she's playing too! 

Deep in thought. When I asked what she was doing, she told me she was watching the cars drive by :)

Today, she helped wash off the grill and then noticed how dirty her car was, so that got a wash too. It was so dirty, that it needed about 6 refills of water and bubbles to get it clean! She kept coming back inside asking, "more bubbles pretty please?" Man, it must have been a dirty car! Look at that cute smiley face-- makes my day!

We've been going to a lot of parks too, and have found some really good ones that we frequent. Emma asks daily if we can go to the park, so we've been to many in the past few weeks! Our favorite so far is Coppertone Park. It's has large, adult trees with lots of shade, and a big playground! It's about 20 mins west of where we live, so it's perfect for us. 

I love this face!! 

Remember when we were kids and playgrounds had the HUGE truck tires? Coppertone park still has them! It's a rare playground item these days.

YAY for sunshine and warm weather!!! 

xoxo

The Twistles

Life With A Toddler

We love our Emma, and every day she does things that make us laugh. 

Seriously. 

I have 3 videos to prove it.

She likes to have multiples of things. If I give her a battery (which she is obsessed with), she wants "one more battery". If I give her a penny, she wants "one more money" until I tell her  there are no more. Then, she happily takes her stash of whatever she has into her room to put it into her bowls, cups, or anything else that she can find. 

She knows there are power in numbers.

Yesterday I found her outside with a spoon and a bowl full of coins. 

She promised she wasn't eating them...

Later that night...

She loves to watch Little Einsteins, and has ever since she was a little baby. Recently, she's been responding to her Little Einstein friends when they ask for her help. Last night, she had to help cool the hot, hot volcano with Annie doing the "coola hula". She just started doing it and I found myself sitting back and laughing with her. 

And last but not least... the "mommy's lip" incident. 

She loves my lipstick. It's not really lipstick, it's like a chaptstick/lipgloss in a tube. Tomato Tamato, anyways... 

Whenever I put it on, it has to be out of sight of Emma. Otherwise, she will ask for it, look for it, and then plead to have my lipstick. 

She does not forget about it. 

So today, at our friends little girl's birthday party, I thought she was distracted enough with all the fun birthday activities, that she wouldn't notice me putting on my lipstick in plain sight. 

Woops.

She has eagle eyes that focused right in on me, and bee lined it for my pocket. So, I let her have it and she carried it around the entire time, even sharing with the birthday girl, Zoey:

Getting it away from her is near impossible. Everything fades in comparison to Mommy's lip.

I let her have it for the car ride home, and after a few minutes of complete silence in the backseat, Matt turned around to see if she had fallen asleep. Nope. She had just smothered my lipstick all over her face, hands, and hair. 

She definitely keeps me on my toes. The other day, she had my spray bottle full of water (another thing she is obsessed with, WATER), and was spraying our couch with it. I asked her not to spray water on the couch and she said, "No Mommy, wash couch, look!" and scrubbed the couch with her little toddler hands as if she was actually washing it. I just had to laugh, because she came up with that really quick! 

I love her, and I love these moments! Gosh, she makes me laugh!! 

xoxo
The Twistles

One Park, Two Park, Two Park!

We live in a condo/townhome community, so within walking distance there are about 4 playgrounds near us. By walking distance, I mean it takes us 2 minutes to get from one playground to the next. Emma loves this, and after playing on one will ask, "two park Mama?" which means she wants to go to another park to play. Her counting skills really go up to two, because she will say "one park, two park, two park!" as she counts how many parks we have. 

Since the weather has been warmer, we have been going outside every chance we get. We go to every playground until Emma is ready for the next one. Charlotte contently sits in her carseat and takes leisurely naps as I push the stroller from one location to the next. 

Here's Emma climbing up the "rock wall" at one of the playgrounds, with Dad's help of course:

Being able to get outside has done WONDERS for Emma, and has brought back my sanity. I was going stir crazy being cooped up inside all winter, so just getting outside for an hour makes such a big difference! All the girls in the Entwistle house feel so much better when we can get some sunshine. Gotta love that Vitamin D!

I already posted these videos on FB, so forgive me if they are repeats. Today we did our park run, and on the last one we found Wall-E. Well, we found a Wall-E toy that was left in the dirt. Emma was completely beside herself, she couldn't believe Wall-E was at the playground! She proceeded to take his hand, and walk him all over the playground having mini conversations with him. They went down the slide, jumped off the edge, and she even caught him as he slid down the slide all by himself. 

We left him there, since I'm sure some poor child would come looking for their lost Wall-E toy... and luckily Emma was distracted by everything else that she didn't even think about him as we left. It sure was cute while it lasted, and so cool that we found him right after watching that movie in California! Perfect timing Wall-E.

xoxo
The Twistles

Life As I Know It

Preface: I feel like I need to post this for some perspective, to remind myself of how small the bad moments are in comparison to the tender and loving moments that happen much more often.

Being a Mom is hard work. 

Real hard work.

I never thought it would be this hard, but the hard times seem few and far between when moments like these happen:

And these....

And I can't forget about these...

And the sisterly love these two already share is so apparent every day:

All these pictures were taken in the last 10 days, and I can't remember a moment of frustration looking at them. None of that matters now.

You should see the way Charlotte looks up to Emma, literally looking up at everything she does. She does not look at Matt or I that way. She looks at us with a genuine love and happiness, but when she focuses in on Emma, her world just gets bigger as she watches her big sister. 

Charlotte is so interested in Emma, I've never seen such a thing. She smiles at her, talks to her, and her eyes follow Emma's every move. 

Emma is getting more and more responsive to Charlotte's needs all the time. When I'm not looking she lies on her tummy with Charly and just looks at her. Sometimes I'll overhear her say, "okay baby?" or "kay Charly?" as if they are having their own secret conversation. 

She likes to feed her, and help her roll onto her back when she's gotten stuck on her stomach. Anytime Charlotte cries, Emma looks at me and says, "oh! baby's crying!" and runs over to Charly to see if she's Okay. 

Being a Mom is hard work.

Real hard work.

But the reward I get from the hard work means more to me than anything else on this earth could give me. After sacrificing all that I have mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially, I would give more just to see their smiley faces and receive their precious hugs and love. How thankful I am to be a Mother, and how much more now will I cherish hearing the word "Mom, Mama, Mommy" come from my toddler's lips? So much more. 

xoxo,

Rachel