Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Scout // 5 Months

5 months already? Where has the time gone? Scout is growing like a weed and is almost double his birth weight! We are also starting to notice he is looking less and less like Sawyer! 

Here is how Sawyer stacked up when he was five months. Very close again, especially with eating and sleeping. Scout has him a little on weight but boy was Sawyer more mobile at this point. Not that Scout isn't but not as crazy as Mr. Sawyer!
http://www.hamratime.com/2012/07/sawyer-5-months.html

Scout 5 Month stats


weight: 16 lbs. 7 oz.  - at 3 months he was 15 lbs. 2 oz.

height: 26 inches- at 3 months he was 25 1/4 inches

clothing: 6 and 6-9 months, some 9 months fit him too.

diapers: up to Size 3

eating: Going longer now 4 to 4.5 hours during the day. We have introduced more solids so I think it is keeping with him longer. He has tried rice cereal, oatmeal, carrots, sweet potatoes and peas. He has loved them all too! At school he takes one 6 oz. bottle in the morning after his cereal, eats veggies at lunch and I nurse him around 2 pm.

sleeping: Still sleeping at great at night. He goes about 5 hours in between feedings and a few times went 6-8 hours. He is starting to do better with sleeping at school too.

teething: A little tooth has made an appearance, it hasn't completely broken through but the top of it is through the gum.
Tiny little tooth!

other updates: He is sitting up great supported and has almost complete neck control now. He will lunge forward towards the spoon when we are feeding him. He loves tummy time and sitting in his bumbo. He like to converse with anyone around him. One of his favorite things to do while on the floor is play with his toes.

Here are some more pictures and videos from the month:

5-month shoot video: http://youtu.be/CsfQYyKnQeo
Eating sweet potatoes: http://youtu.be/FTB6I_w99Ys
big brother always helping
trying out his walker

cat nap
Get outta there mom!
loves to see himself

Scout // 4 Months

Scout had his 4-month checkup today and we got to see how much he has grown, unfortunately he had to get some shots. We did get the ok to start cereal and some foods. He has definitely made some big changes over the month as far as his strength and movements. He is more active and vocal. We are starting to really see his personality. As you can tell by the photos I post, he is so happy and playful. I can already tell he is going to be quite the social little guy. After reading what Sawyer was doing at this age, we decide to bring out the Jolly Jumper and he loved it! We also plan to let him try out the walker this week too.

Here is how Sawyer stacked up when he was four months. Once again they are super close, even the exact same weight!
http://www.hamratime.com/2012/06/sawyer-4-months.html?m=0

Scout 4 Month stats


weight: 15 lbs. 2 oz. (41 percentile) - at 3 months he was 14 lbs. 6 oz.

height: 25 1/4 inches (52 percentile) - at 3 months he was 25 inches

clothing: 3-6 and 6 months. 3 months is really too small. Wearing 6-12 month socks

diapers: still Size 2

eating: Same as last month.....breast milk, eating every 3-5 hours depending on how active he is. Earring longer each time for 15-18 minutes. We think he might be ready for some cereal/oatmeal because he isn't sleeping as long at night now. He seems to be hungry every 4-5 hours at night too when it used to be more like 6-8.

sleeping: He is great at sleeping at night, will eat and go right to bed but not sleeping as long as he used to, 4-5 hour stretches. Sleeping better at school now though, has even taken a 3-hour nap there.

teething: No sign of teeth yet but he is drooling like crazy and constantly chews on his WHOLE hand, yes the whole thing fits in his little mouth.

other updates: Holding his head up on his own and even acting like he wants to crawl. He talks a ton, constantly cooing and babbling like he is trying to converse with us. He reminds me of Sawyer, always moving his arms and legs, especially to music or when he is excited.

Here are some more pictures and videos from the month:
he was so happy during our shoot, had to share a couple more

Trying to crawl: http://youtu.be/UVoa2VsJxzw

We love bath time together
Fishing with Big Bro
He even lets his brother shave his legs


Felt like such a big boy!

Jolly jumper video: http://youtu.be/wnw-08k0PPA

Friday, November 20, 2015

Baby Food Making

First taste of baby food, carrots
When Sawyer was a baby, my mother and I got together every week and made his baby food. We would visit the farmer's market or produce section at the grocery store and experiment with all different types of food for him.

Now that Scout is old enough to try foods, we have started the tradition again. We have already made carrots and sweet potatoes...he has approved of both. My mom found small containers at Dollar General (4 for $1) since I had thrown all Sawyer's out. They are the perfect size.

To  help other Moms out there who might be going through this same stage, I have compiled my entire list of baby food recipes in this one blog, in order.

For us, it saved money but also was comforting to know exactly what we are feeding our boys.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Have fun!

Carrots
http://www.hamratime.com/2012/06/adventures-in-baby-food-making-carrots.html

Sweet Potatoes

Squash & Green Beans



Apples

Plums


Cherries


Chicken

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Fall Family Photos


We had J Design Studio take some Fall Family photos for us since we hadn't taken a good family of four picture yet, plus we needed one for our Christmas Card. Once again, they did a wonderful job. We just love what they do. 
Here are our favorites (you can see them all here)

Thanks Jared & Joanna!
















Friday, October 23, 2015

Meal Delivery: Green Chef

A couple weeks ago I posted a blog reviewing the meal delivery services of HelloFresh and Blue Apron. We have tried another service, Green Chef. This was another one my friend Katie has tried and sent some free meals my way (free meal code is below if you are interested).

If you want to review what we though to HelloFresh, read my post here: http://www.hamratime.com/2015/08/meal-delivery-hellofresh.html
http://www.hamratime.com/2015/09/meal-delivery-blue-apron.html

Green Chef

use my code for 4 free meals: http://greenchef.com/invite/rn4w5

HOW IT WORKS: Same as the other companies I have reviewed except they are USDA Certified Organic with no synthetic pesticides, modified organisms, artificial ingredients, or GMOs/antibiotics plus eco-friendly packaging.

PRICING 
$10.49 per person per meal for 3 Vegetarian Recipes
$11.99 per person per meal for 3 Omnivore recipes (veggie, meat, seafood)
$13.49 per person per meal for 3 Carnivore recipes (meat and seafood)

HOW IT ARRIVES: In a large box, all ingredients wrapped in a giant insulated bag with cold packs and instructions, color coded. They aren't individually wrapped per meal, but do color coded stickers on each ingredient that matches the instruction sheets.

_ _ _ _

OUR MEALS:

Ginger-steamed Cobia

with chard argue & scallion rice cakes


Ingredients (all organic): cobia fillets, aromatic vegetables, herbs, dried shiitake mushrooms, vegetable stock, celery, Swiss chard, sushi rice, sushi sauce, mirin
Cook time: 30 minutes




Verdict: We loved the scallion rice cakes, crispy and very tasty. I liked the fish but wasn't a huge fan of the ragu. Overall it was very good, can't wait to make the rice cakes again.

_ _ _ _

Molasses Chicken

with veggie fries & caramelized onion couscous

I forgot to take a picture, here is the one from their site
Ingredients (all organic): marinated chicken breasts, spiced orange-ginger sauce, rainbow carrots, green beans, honey-glaze, rosemary, parsley, pearl couscous, yellow onion, smoked salt

Cook time: 40 minutes



Verdict: Everything was very good. It was hard to get the chicken to cook thoroughly but not burn the outside because of the molasses marinade. It was still tasty but a little over crispy for my taste. The pearl couscous was delicious!

_ _ _ _

Pesto Grilled Cheese

with marinated artichoke salad & tomato jam



Ingredients: ciabatta, organic butter, organic mozzarella & Swiss cheese, organic arugula pesto, organic olives, organic grape tomatoes, organic garlic, organic balsamic brown sugar, marinated artichokes, organic sprouted lentils
Cook time: 15 minutes

Verdict: Definitely my favorite of all of them. The arugula pesto was amazing and I actually saved some to put on my sandwiches the rest of the week. The balsamic glaze on the tomato salad was super tasty! I will be making this again.
_ _ _ _ _

Finally Opinion: Very happy that they are Certified Organic on all ingredients compared to the other companies. I wasn't a huge fan of the color coding because the colors they sent were too close to tell (pink and red) when in the refrigerator. I actually got a couple ingredients mixed up. If they picked different colors I think it would work great.


Again...here are our PROs and CONs
My biggest PROS for using a delivery service:
  • It has prevented us from eating out, we have been having dinner at home almost every night.
  • Opened us up to trying new types of recipes I would have never thought of
  • taught me cooking techniques I usually shy away from (ex. cutting corn off the cob instead of buying frozen or canned corn)
  • And my favorite, I get 20-40 minutes of ME time to cook. It has been a huge de-stresser but still Sawyer likes to help with some recipes and that is still just as enjoyable.

And CONS:
I really don't have cons except maybe the choices of how many meals and for how many people. It would be nice to get one for 3 people and maybe just 2 times a week.