So I was meandering in the grocery store last Saturday morning (a trip without Bryce)... and I was reminiscing about being pregnant again and all the cravings I had. At the time I really didn't think I had any cravings, but it's funny because looking back on it, I really did. Case in point-- Captain Crunch. When I was pregnant, I was always buying sugary cereals such as Captain Crunch, Reeses Peanut Butter Cereal, Lucky Charms, Cocoa Pebbles, and the like. And now, no craving for those. Weird.

It's crazy how life has changed post Bryce. It's all for good, but life is totally different.

I don't know what we did before him.

Let me just tell you about a typical evening:

1) Pick up Bryce from school. Sean almost always does this...thank goodness because they close at 6pm.

2) Clean bottles and food containers from the day at school. That would be three bottles and the four extra pieces that annoyingly accompany them, and then the two food containers and spoons. Oh yah, then all the stuff that I use to pump during the day-- the four pieces plus the bottles. We hand clean everything. This process takes about 15-20 minutes, if one is able to do this without having to watch Bryce...

3) Give Bryce a bath, or get him in his PJs...20ish minutes.

4) Give Bryce his dinner...10ish minutes.

5) Make bottles and food for next day. Defrost and pour all the milk into next days bottles, and make the food to go into the little containers...20ish minutes. And not to mention, making sure he has clean bibs and putting it all into the pack, so all we have to do is grab it going out the door.

6) Give Bryce is last bottle (now sippy cup) for the night: 10-20ish minutes depending on how hungry he is.

7) Put Bryce to bed. 10ish minutes if we read a book or two.

Somewhere in there we manage to eat dinner. And then, I still have to pump (again). Although Sean and I have a pretty good tag team going, we typically don't sit down until 8pm.

Typically, I'm in bed before 9pm, to get up and going by 5-5:15am. Tonight is a random night that I happen to be up...working, no less.

Being a full-time worker, a full-time mom, and a full-time pumper, I"m thinking that I need to give up one of these sooner rather than later. I'm thinking it's time to start weaning off the breast milk.

Six month doc appointment tomorrow. Six month pictures this weekend. More to come...

Exersaucer!

Bryce loves his exersaucer. This video doesn't really do it justice, but nonetheless, he's a happy boy!

He's in his PJ's still this morning!

Yams, Carrots & Squash...Oh My

Yum. Yams, Carrots, & Squash, oh my.

Today I cooked. For those of you that don't know me as well this was a notable occasion. Don't get too excited though. This was not for my own benefit, nor Sean's. It was for Bryce.

Let me just start off by saying that I never ever ever ever thought I would be making my own baby food (I mean, who does that and who has the time?) Well, I guess if you make time... It was a holiday today, so what do I do? I get out the big steamer from the basement (I might have used this twice in the past five years) and I steam away. I steam squash, carrots, yams, and pears.

After the steaming comes the 'puree'-ing. Yes, this is what people do-- puree baby food. There are even recipe books-- which I have.

HOLY COW. I'm exhausted. Even though this whole process only took me two hours, it was definitely a tedious task, one in which I am not sure I can keep up with. But, nonetheless, I have frozen baby food that should last for at least a couple of weeks.

So, yams for lunch. Bryce loved the yams. He ate them right up. He loved them so much they came right out 20 minutes later. They came out the opposite end and out of his diaper, up his back, into his hair and onto his elbows. And guess who else got it all over themselves?!?! Yup. Me. Yes, after I slaved for a couple hours (clean up took another hour), I got to clean up Bryce...and myself. Disgusting.

And then to top it on off, he is Mr. Fuss after all that. Apparently those yams did not set so well and we think this is why he's so upset today. Hopefully, tomorrow is a better day, and if not-- it's not my problem-- daycare! Ha!

Squash-- I put it in an ice cube tray and will freeze it until needed.

Steamer in action.

These are the yams. These were pretty easy too. The carrots were definitely the hardest because I had to use the food processor.

Yum. Yams.

No pictures of the incident that happened 20 minutes after this picture.

Off to more adventures in parenthood.

The Rice Cereal Saga

Two Weeks Ago Bryce had his first experience with rice cereal. He really wasn't a happy camper...

You might be wondering what his bib says: My Uncle is HOT and SINGLE!!! (Love you uncle Danny).

And, this is where we netted out with the rice cereal two weeks ago...in the bottle it went.

And this was last week:

And now, we have much to look forward to as baby Bryce will be starting sweet potatoes this weekend.

Happy 5-months!

Baby Bryce was 5-months old yesterday, here's what he's been up to:

- He's a well traveled baby, this last month he made his third round-trip flight to & from Dallas-- and he's a good traveler. His ears never seem to bother him.

- He started rice cereal on Monday. And I'm proud to say that although it takes him 30min to eat 2 Tablespoons, he's finally starting to get the hang of it. We figured out that it only works AFTER he's had the bottle. (The first day we gave up after the first 30-min and put the rest in his bottle...I know I know, my bad.) He eats this twice a day.

- He still is a chugger with his milk. He hardly wants to stop to burp and he gets mad when you do stop for him to burp. He can chug 7.5 oz in t-minus 7 minutes. He eats about 34-35 oz per day in addition to any that's added to his rice cereal.

- Mom is still pumping. It's starting to get a little old. But, having routine is key.

- He's in 6mos clothes and he's starting to outgrow those. Some things I still wish he could fit into, but it's just not worth the effort trying to snap that last snap that just causes the outfit to stretch to the max.

- He stands up all the time. I barely hold him and he just locks his knees and flexes his upper thighs and stands. He loves to stand. The ladies at daycare even say that he is so strong.

- His hands are always on his bottle....always. He loves trying to hold it-- he can't do it, but he loves to have his hands right on it.

- He loves bath time. Scratch that...he loves the water. We took him to the pool for the second time this month. He loves to swim.

- He smiles at everything. He loves his daddy sooo much. He likes to sing the ABCs with daddy.

- He also loves his mommy :)

Overalls are so cute.

Kisses from mommy! Such a cute combo.

New outfit we love!