Potty training is a lot of..........work. We are getting close with miss bella, but my goodness - it's tough. She'll have really good days, and then days when she stands outside and says, "uh oh!!!!!" with pee running down her leg. ahhhhh!!! Every single time she does go on the potty we make a HUGE deal about it so she gets excited and wants to do it again (tricky, I know).

Her and daddy were celebrating the other day...so freakin' sweet!

Speaking of the little princess...she got a hair cut - not just a trim. We took her to my Aunt's shop and she did awesome. Her new cut makes her look so much older! What a little sassy pants...

I decided when I was pregnant to make all of Ethan's baby food once he started eating it...and now our big guy is eating solids so I am one happy / busy momma! I dedicate one day (typically Sunday) to get all of my groceries (organic, of course!)...and spend a couple hours preparing and storing his food. I am only storing enough food right now for a 1-2 week supply...for a couple reasons, but one is that our freezer space is limited with my husband's ice cream addiction and my breast milk supply!

We introduced spinach to our big guy last night...

Here's step-by-step instruction's on how I made it...

First, wash your spinach - even though mine said 'pre-washed', I still wash it. Spinach is on the dirty dozen list of foods, so I like to be extra careful.

Next, pack as much of it as you can into a steamer. Spinach will cook down (a lot) so you can pack that baby full - let's just say, my lid didn't really stay on :)

Steam it baby! The leaves will soften pretty quickly, so just keep checking it. I took mine off after about 10 minutes. (as you can tell, it cooks down a lot!!!)

Blend it. I love my blender. It makes incredible smoothies...and really gets these puree's nice and creamy.

Pour the puree into a container. As you can tell by the picture, my packed steamer only gave me 6 ounces at first. I then steamed another batch to fill up the rest of the cooling cup.

Let it cool off a bit before you store it. I let mine sit for approximately 2 bath's and 1/2 of a bubble guppy episode :)

Next, you can store it. I like to fill up ice cube trays...they are cheap, the food pops out easily, they fit great in the freezer, and they are each 1 ounce - so you know exactly how much your little one is consuming!

Wrap up the ice cube trays with plastic wrap nice and tight and stick it in the freezer. These will be good for up to 3 months.

Of course Ethan was eager to try momma's spinach...so I mixed some up with a little bit of apple puree that I made for him last week, and he was one happy boy!

If you have any questions, comments, or ideas - I'd love to hear from you!

love day.

a little mini photo shoot with my little love bug...seriously, how can you not kiss this baby all day!? I'm sure one day he's going to be so embarrassed when I whip these photos out to show his girlfriend :)

I might have to go back and play a little catch up since I missed all of Ethan's 'first' holiday's :/

But, here are a few shots that I absolutely LOVE of him. I think it's the simplicity of the photo - which is pretty much Ethan...these were taken on 12/5/12 - so he was 3 1/2 months old.

The weekend pretty much flew by (shocker), but we had lots of fun. Started my Friday night off by heading over to Label Me Lindsay's for an eyelash touch up. I don't think I've posted about her shop - it's beautiful, and all of the ladies that work there are amazing. It's 45 minutes where I can lay there and chat it up with Stephanie and not have a two year old tugging at my leg, or a 5 month old nudging his way towards my chest :)



no makeup - lashes only.


Saturday was my nephew's 1st birthday party - I am still trying to figure out where the year went! I feel like we just heard the news that Derek & Kris were having a baby. crazy.

Bella did her fair share in the bounce house - ended up with a fat lip. sad. (she bumped it...twice.)

Sunday was the Superbowl. We are BIG sports fans in our household - so these games are lots of fun to watch. Like my husband says, "playoff sports are the best"...it's true.

Before the game started Bella and I headed to the farmers market to grab some fresh fruits & veggies. My mom joined us and we got lots of yummy stuff. I was looking for lots of stuff for my new baby - a juicer. She's beautiful - perfect and compact enough to sit on our kitchen counter. I was able to wash a lot of it - but, wasn't able to juice yet. I noticed as I was washing everything up, little mini hands were grabbing veggies off the counter as I placed them there...

This girl LOVES carrots - I can't complain. I would much rather her eat those then bags of fruit snacks /or chips all day long. She ate 3 oranges (not joking) by the time we drove home from the market. I have a feeling she's going to love the juices I make. Speaking of, trying my first one tonight!

Ethan and I also got to spend lots of time together cuddling. He loves his mommy and wants to be held a lot these days. (i love it). I think he's teething, nothing coming out yet - but he's been a little fussy, and drooling like crazy. I was once told that teething is so painful, and we are so thankful that we don't remember it as adults because we wouldn't be able to handle it again. My poor little guy - I wish they would just pop through already! Of course he's still happy 99% of the time...I have the sweetest video of him laughing at a giraffe puppet. You can see it here. Of course, I get teary eyed just listening to it. You'll even hear me comment in the video about him making mommy cry - ohhh the joys of being a parent.

 Over all fantastic weekend...looking forward to the next!

If someone told me that I could only have one picture to keep with me for the rest of my life, I honestly think this would be the one. Gosh, why do they have to grow up so fast!?