First go at puréed meat...

Well tonight I made Rhett chicken and apples. I cut up some chicken tenders and boiled them in a cup of water. I let them cool in the pan and then blended them with natural applesauce. I have to say chicken hasn't been this gross to me since last year during pregnancy! But don't worry there is no sibling on the way!

I will try Rhett on it tomorrow at lunch to see how he likes it. I can see how the recipe says it could be gritty or gummy and will alter accordingly. I find the art of making his food so relaxing... If you want to hire me I will be a baby food chef for you!

And as an added bonus a sweet shot of my boy playing on a Saturday.

Homemade food

I have been on a quest to make Rhett's baby food and to my surprise it is not hard. My absolute favorite thing I have made so far is peaches they smelled amazing and after roasting the skins fell right off. Last night I made plums using the same method. I am so filled with joy that I can do this for my sweet baby!

I am still in awe that he loves vegetables more than fruits and doesn't love carrots the most.

The plums in the pan are beautiful! 10 plums made 24 servings of baby food. Not bad!

Colorado is burning

Not much to say here aside from pray for the fire crews and the victims. Pray for a rain that does not cause more fires to spark. Support one another! This disaster is just as serious as any other!

Hot weather happenings

Rhett has been rolling all over the living room to get to things he likes recently. He can even roll to his tote of baby toys and get things from the top of it! I cannot believe he is getting so big!

We had a visit with the Kocals at the start of this week which included taking Rhett to the Amarillo Zoo. It was a sweet little zoo and incredibly hot out. Out of all the animals we saw Rhett like the Burmese pythons the most! Praying we one day do not have a snake for a pet!

Yesterday we drove out to the field to see Reid for a bit. Gary rode the tractor with Reid and I melted in the heat of the day. It was all going so well until the tractor broke down and Reid thought they could walk-- thank goodness for quick thinking and a nearby gate! And as a final visual picture this... Small red Hyundai driving in tall grass down a pasture road to get to the field.

Swimming!

On Saturday Rhett went "swimming" for the first time. We loaded up and headed over to Aunt Amy's house to splash in the baby pool. Rhett had a blast splashing in the pool with Gracee! Needless to say we are going to have to have another swim experience again soon.

I just wish we could have a baby pool at our house but Duke would have too much fun in it!

On a whole other level Rhett is sitting up on his own now for small bursts of time! It is so fun to watch him grow and learn! He also knows what it means to sit in his high chair and he gets wildly excited for a snack!

Time Flies

Well I can't say that I know where the rest of May went, perhaps all to Rhett which is completely ok! After returning from NH we had a wonderful visit from Aunt Steph, my birthday, a cousin's birthday, and a trip to Lubbock!

Aside from the day to day aspects of being a SAHM we have been busy introducing some solid foods to Rhett! So far we have attempted rice cereal, avocado, banana, squash, green beans, apple sauce, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and pears. Up next are peas! I can only imagine what the reaction to peas will be but I imagine it will be similar to "what on earth did you put in my mouth?"

More updates on baby food with pictures to come soon!

P.S. I am still continuing my never ending debate of whether to leave facebook or not... I am working on privatizing this blog and/or starting an email newsletter that will get us off the big blue bus...

Travels

As many people in my life know we went to New Hampshire recently to visit my mom, for 8 days we strayed from Texas and as the popular song notes... Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go... We did something similar and it went like this, On the highway for an hour, airport security, a short flight to Denver and stretch of the legs... back on board another plane for a much longer flight, back on the ground and a drive around town, what's that? Her place in sight!

All kidding aside, Rhett did so much better on the airplane then I could have ever expected! He played and laughed and only cried for a few minutes total! He seemed to like the flight attendants and was very interested in the man who refills the ice and drinks and takes away the trash as we were waiting in "line" to get off the airplane. It also helped that Catrina came with us and helped keep Rhett amused!

New Hampshire was great we went to my favorite place to eat, The Puritan Backroom, and spent a lazy rainy day walking around the mall. We had a delicious feast with Rob Weiss and his family on Wednesday, took a day trip to Rumney on Thursday to see the Polar Caves. It was a bit cold at the caves! We even saw snow and ice and while Catrina and I were crawling through dark and tight spaces my mom walked with Rhett around the cave property. Friday morning we took off to head north to Danforth, Maine to see my Aunt. That trip was like this... drive in the car hours out of the way to smell the ocean breeze, stop at Dysarts to see Uncle Gar, all you can eat fish at the Eagle's Nest, and more time in the car... and just when you and the baby who is screaming his head off because he wants out of the seat think you will never arrive you are still 20 minutes away! But aside from that low moment in our travels we arrived safely and had a wonderful time. I even managed to get the lasagna recipe out of my auntie! On our return trip to New Hampshire we stopped at the LL Bean flagship store (more like complex) and stretched our legs and perhaps wallets. If you ever get up North you MUST take a trip to LL Bean.

Monday our travels took us to Boston. I managed to navigate Boston with only a minor problem-- GPS does not work there! All was well though as we found our way to the aquarium and got out Boston Go Passes. Rhett seemed to love the aquarium or at least the penguins, this place had at least 50 from what I could tell! They were noisy and playing which held his attention and the best part is that I have that memory now. From there we hit up Faneuil Hall where we had lunch with some wonderful Italian women who plopped down at our table and spoke only Italian the whole time. I know they were saying some things about us as the word bambino came up several times and they motioned to Rhett. After our delicious lunch we headed back to the wharf to go on a magical trolley ride! It was wonderful and so informative, I never realized how small Boston was during colonial times or that Paul Revere was insane and had 16 children. Monday when we returned Catrina and I prepared soft tacos for supper and worked on beginning to pack for our return journey.

Tuesday we had pancakes with Andrew and my mom at the Maple barn, YUMMY! Followed by a short visit to a lovely retirement village (which I will explain later if anyone has a question,) and on to the best part Salem. Now Salem is not really as historical as one would like it to be... sure they have the old houses and the waterfront and oodles of "museums" about the Witch Trials but overall next time I would skip it and go to the Plymouth Plantation. I did love the House of 7 Gables though and while it was remodeled several times in the past 200 or so years it was so neat to see it!

Wednesday morning we got up ultra early I had a less than pleasurable airport experience and by the grace of God we made it back to my house where Catrina's vehicle decided not to turn back on in my driveway.

I have yet to load any photos off of my camera but will sometime in the near future and when I do I am hoping everyone enjoys them!