Hamra Time: 7/1/12

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Dierks Bentley

Trina & Darlene scored us some front row tickets to Dierks Bentley at the Ozark Empire Fair. Yes, I'm not a country fan but I do love concerts so I went and I have to admit he puts on one heck of a show! We had a blast. Here are some up close pics I snapped.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Adventures in baby-food Making: Spinach

Sawyer the Sailor Man

When I think of spinach, I think of Popeye. If you have met my son you have probably noticed his massive forearms that resemble Popeye’s, so it only seemed fitting to go with Spinach for his next veggie. And I'll admit, while making it we even sang “He’s Sawyer the Sailor Man” a few times. He seems to like them so far, however, I will probably stick to store bought organics just because of cost. Spinach is a shrinking veggie when you cook it and you have to buy tons just to get a small amount.

3 large bunches from the Farmer's Market

Steps

1. Separate leaves from roots and stems, discard the roots & stems

2. Clean and scrub leaves, wash several times in lukewarm water. Toss into large skillet

3. Cook covered without water except the droplets left from cleaning the leaves.

4. Reduce heat when steam forms and turn leaves with forks frequently for 3-5 minutes

5. Put in blender and mix until pureed.

6. Put in storage containers, freeze or refrigerator depending on when you plan to use them.

Yummy!

Sawyer & Grandpa played while Grandma and I cooked

The Math

You win some you lose some, and compared to Green Beans this is definitely a loss. It turns out great but there isn’t any cost savings for making your own baby food spinach.

HOME-MADE

3 large bunches of Asian spinach at Farmer’s Market ($1 each) made 7.5 oz. of baby food = $3.00

Total cost per ounce = 40 cents

STORE BOUGHT

Gerber 1st Foods SmartNourish Organic baby food (spinach) comes in 2 – 2.5 containers for $1.59 each, so 22 ounces = $6.99

Total cost per ounce = 32 cents

TOTAL SAVINGS PER OUNCE = - 8 cents

Friday, July 20, 2012

James Taylor

We had the pleasure of joining John's Grandparents to the James Taylor concert on Tuesday at JQH Arena. I grew up listening to his music, John wasn't as familiar but still enjoyed it. He played for a solid 2 hours and 45 minutes and sounded excellent. I was able to get a couple videos at the show. Enjoy!

Carolina In Mind

Sweet Baby James

Handy Man

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Tiny Dancer

While over at the Johnson's last Saturday for dinner, Sawyer decided to be our after-dinner entertainment. If you have ever seen John dance, you would understand how our son got his funky moves.

Megan's Video:

John's Video:

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Sawyer: 5 Months

Look at my guns!!!

I got really psyched to post about Sawyer at 5 Months because of all the fun and new things he has learned over the last 4 weeks. Nowadays, he is basically learning something new each and every day.

I don't like to stop moving for photos!

Here are the stats this month:

Weight: 16.5 lbs.

Eating: still nursing and takes 6 oz. bottles when he is away from me. His schedule now is nursing in the morning, rice cereal around 6:30 am, bottle/nurse around 11:00 with his veggies (this week is green beans), bottle/nurse around 4, veggies again around 6 and nurse before bed around 9:00 pm. Sometime depending on how hard he plays he will take another bottle in the afternoon. He has also started trying to help us feed him. He grabs the spoon and pulls it to his mouth and is quite good at holding his own bottle.

Sleeping: Still a great sleeper and now sleeps on his belly with his butt in the air (my favorite!). Usually he will go about 9:00 pm – 6:00 am but sometimes he likes to get up around 4 am to eat and go right back to bed until 9 or 10 am.

Clothing: wearing 6-9 month clothes, can still fit into some of his 3-6 month onesies though. Socks don’t seem to fit him even the ones that say “up to 12 months”.

Diapers: still in Size 2, when this pack runs out we are going to try size 3 because he has peed out a couple times.

Playing Peek-a-Boo

Playing: Since last month he has started to roll and boy does he roll a lot. He is even working super hard to crawl, right now it is a bunch of scooting in circles and lunging towards toys. Just Sunday night, he learned how to get his knees underneath and scoot. He has officially found his feet and holds on to them a lot and puts them right in his mouth. He also loves to play Peek-a-boo, makes him giggle really hard. Still loving the pool, we try to go once a week.

Talking: The cutest thing he does now is sing, during church he sings along during the Hymns and at night he sings himself to sleep. I think the vibration relaxes him. He also reads along to books at story time. His little voice is so sweet!

Teething: At his 4 month check-up the doc said she didn’t see any except low in the gum line. He is chewing everything and still drooling a lot but we are hoping we have a few more months sans teeth.

Reaching!!

Working to get his pacifier

Other new developments: His hand-eye coordination has really improved; he is able to spot his pacifier, reach, grab it and put it in his mouth (sometimes missing of course). He has also learned to reach for things he wants, he even does this with people…he reached for me when I came to feed him on my lunch break one day and just made my day.

Getting Ready to head to school with his knee protectors/leg warmers on for crawling!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Sawyer's Baptism

Sunday July 15, 2012 was a very special day, our little guy was baptized in front of family and friends at Redeemer Lutheran (where we were married). He wore the same tux John wore back in April 1983, he looked so handsome. His godparents, Tim & Megan Johnson, were his witnesses, and the service was performed by Pastor Sippy who married John and I. After the baptism, John's grandparents, Sam & June Hamra, hosted a delicious brunch for everyone at Hickory Hills Country Club. Sawyer was such a trooper and was a happy boy all day even during the actual ceremony.

Thank you everyone for being there on this memorable occasion in Sawyer's life. He is so blessed to be surrounded by such uplifting and loving people. We have video of the day, I'll be sharing later. Here are a bunch of pictures from the day.