Future Engineer of America?

One of the joys of parenthood are to develop and nurture your kid in many aspects, including their skills for their future work. Some parents want their kids to be engineers, so you work on their math skills. Some parents want their kids to be musicians, so they start training their hearing abilities. Some parents have kids that are too young to develop these skills so they have fun dressing their kid up! Here is our little Sweetpea as a future engineer of america!

Say "Ah"

In this early footage of Sweetpea's first solids, you can see how she enjoys eating and how she quickly figured out how to let us know that she wants more. Take a look:

More on Solids

Sweetpea is well on her way to eating and exploring the wonderful flavors of food. Within the last week or so, proteins has been introduced to her diet in the form of egg yolk, and more recently, chicken. We found a recipe for the chicken that included all the foods she has previously been introduced to; we doubled the recipe so daddy and I can have some too, and the whole family enjoyed it. I thought it might be helpful to share some tips on solid food for all our friends and families who have little ones who will be starting solids soon or will be in the coming months. Feel free to comment and add some more advice and/or site/book recommendations from your experiences!

* How often: At about 6 months, when the baby is ready and is just starting solids, it is generally recommended that new foods are introduced to them using the 3 or 4 day wait rule. This allows parents to be able to figure out the source of any allergic reactions or digestive issues.
* Resources: A great site that we have been using quite often and actually use as our primary resource is WholesomeBabyFood. It contains lots of information including sample schedules to help guide parents in introducing food to their baby and lots of recipes/food preparation tips. This is where we found the chicken recipe :) To add more variety to Sweetpea's growing palate, I am just now looking into checking out some baby food books from the library. Another recent site I found that may be great for this economy is $5 Dinners; I'm linking specifically to the baby recipe section. This site is also great in planning separate adult meals on a budget as well.
* The Basics: Boil or Steam Veggies or Fruit (avocado & banana does not need to be cooked) to retain the most nutrients. Then, puree with breastmilk, formula, or water.
* Storage: Covered Ice Cube Trays (we use one made by OXO) and/or BabyCubes (these also work great for bringing food and snacks along outside the home; I'd probably skip the one oz and just get the 2 oz cubes and use the fill lines). Both stack in the fridge, and one tip that people use to maximize tray/cube usage is to transfer the frozen food cubes into labeled ziploc bags and reuse the trays or babycubes.
* The Tools: Trying to minimize exposure to bpa, pthalates, etc seems almost like an impossible task when most everyday appliances including many blenders and food processors contain some form of potential chemical leaching plastic. To minimize, try using blenders with glass jars for making large batch of food or stick/immersion blenders. Other inexpensive alternatives include the basic food mills such as BabySteps manual foodmill by Kidco or the Munchkin baby food grinder. Want electric? Kidco also makes an electric grinder that uses bpa free plastic. Want the fancy gadget? Take a look at Baeba Babycook. I've been eyeing this nifty all-in-one machine for a few weeks now. It is/was very popular in Europe but has just recently entered the US market via William Sonoma. It steams, purees, defrosts, and warms up baby food; also, being able to make small meals and clean just one thing is very intriguing. I'm so tempted to redeem my cc rewards points for a gift certificate to get one without spending extra mula. If anyone sees any coupons or discounts for WS or babycook, let me know. I've never redeemed anything with my cc and have continued to accumulate points... so it may be time :)

I hope this post is useful and gives some ideas and/or good references/tips into the wonders of homemade solid foods.

Steals & Deals

On one of my previous posts, I posted about baby/children deal-a-day sites to watch out for. It seems that two new sites have been added to the roundup since that post, so here they are for your added bargain hunting thrill: GreenBabyBargains & MockstarBaby.

For those who weren't aware, Right Start has recently filed for Chapter 11. Due to this, they are "reorganizing", and many of their stores are currently having a sale of at least 20% off strollers & car seats and at least 30% off everything else. There are better deals to be had at the store locations that are closing, so it is worth checking out. Right Start bought out Babystyle within the last couple years, so there may be some sales going on at babystyle as well.

Now, for general goodies... food goody: Free IHOP Pancakes (support a good cause) and Two Free Tacos. Also, sign up for your free sub Quizno Million sub Giveaway. Going to the mall? don't forget to print out and get these freebies FREE Origins Night Health Bedtime Face Cream, Free VS Energizing Lotion, and Free Clarins Facial.

Looking for specific items but have no time to browse? a friend recently recommended this site called ShopItToMe which tracks down the item of interest in the specified size and sends emails when they go on sale. Haven't tried it yet, but sounds like a good concept.

2008 Las Vegas & Los Angeles Christmas Recap

Looks like we are a little behind on our posts! Anyways, wanted to share Sweet Pea's first Christmas in Las Vegas (where my Lolo, Lola, and Uncle Mike live) and Los Angeles (where my Auntie Mel and her family live).

Here I am with one of my first Christmas present from my Lolo and Lola! Thanks for my very first teddy bear!



I also received a neat shape sorter toy from Uncle Mike. I like all the little puzzle pieces... and even though I can't get all the parts in the shaped holes, at least there's one big hole on top for me to get the pieces in and out!



Here we are having some laughs.



Why, here I am again with my Lolo and Lola. Any resemblance?




Ooooh... Lola took us to Belagio to take some Christmas pictures. Here is my first casino experience! I did not get to gamble any, but I did get to see these giant snowmen!




Mommy, can I have presents this big too?




And not just one, but three big ones?




My daddy likes the soldiers. I think they are called nutcrackers?




There's too many people in here. Can I go sleep now?




Here I am with my Auntie Mel! Can I come over again?




Cousins, can you help me open up my presents?




Here I am with my cousin Tiana Montana. I had lots of fun with her.




Here I am with my cousin Evelyn. Looks like I am the youngest cousin now!

Little Lady

Yesterday, little Sweetpea officially turned 8 months. We can't believe how much time has passed and how quickly she's growing. We don't have any stats update for her weight and height because it seems that as children get older, their pediatrician visits get more spread out. So, we will learn more about where she stands on the growth scale at her 9 months appointment. Meanwhile, here are a few pictures of our little miss Sweetpea. I think she looks a little different in some of these photos.

New Family Addition

No, we don't have an announcement ourselves... Not expecting. But, our family has exciting news as we learned about the birth of our first nephew. That's right. Last Wednesday evening, little Sweetpea's Ta-ee and Uncle P welcomed baby Jacob into the world. Congratulations to the both of you as you experience the joys of parenthood and enjoy your little blessing! We can't wait to meet him soon and for Sweetpea to have a playmate at family gatherings as they grow older :) We'll be praying for your new family!

Hats off

Seems that the little Sweetpea doesn't care too much for head accessories...


Or socks and shoes for that matter


Check out the flyaways from a previous hat removal

Carolyn's Eventful Weekend

Our Little Sweet Pea has been growing up very fast. This weekend was a very eventful weekend as we were able to witness Carolyn's exciting activities!

Carolyn has been very talkative this past week. This past weekend, I was able to notice certain words come out of her mouth... did she say "dada"!?!?




Carolyn has gone beyond just sitting down and waving her hands. She now likes to pull herself up whenever she gets a chance. Here is Carolyn showing us her Super Baby Strength!




We finally found the opportune times to give Carolyn her tummy time. Turns out that morning times are best when she is least fussy! She now enjoys tummy time throughout the daytime =) With all this tummy time, she finally rolls for us! We just need to give her a signal...




Carolyn's solid food is now going beyond fruits and vegetables. Here she is eating her first set of puffs. And is she feeding herself on her first try?




Giving Carolyn tummy time proves to be difficult at times without a little help from some toys. Here is one of her favorites! Turns out that she likes moving objects!