No More Bumper??

It may be time for the bumper to go.  I am torn about it though.  Do I try double knotting for a while first?? He's been pulling at it for several nights now.  Normally one or two ties comes undone, but this morning I found half of it pulled down.  Do we call it quits??  I'd be fine with that except for two things . . . 1) He is a paci boy and I worry in the sleeping commotion that the paci will fall through and he won't be able to find it and he'll get upset.  and 2) that he moves so much he'll start bumping his head on the rails.  I guess he'll learn the hard way about that one, huh??

Hmmmmm . . . .

Anyway, here's the evidence:

George's Braised Beef with Carrot, Parsnip and PotatoShare

"This combination of root vegetables and beef has a smooth consistency that appeals to young babies." Wendy and I could have eaten the entire dish ourselves. DELICIOUS!!

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup leeks, sliced (we used 2 medium leeks)
1 pound lean stewing beef, cubed
1 1/4 cups sliced carrots
1 cup peeled and chopped parsnips
3/4 pounds potatoes, chopped (we used Yukon Gold)
2 cups beef or chicken stock (we used chicken)

Heat the butter in a flameproof casserole or Dutch oven. Add the leeks and saute for 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the beef and saute until browned.

Add the carrots, parsnips, and potatoes to the casserole. Cover with stock and bring the mixture to a boil.

Transfer the casserole to a 350 degree preheated oven and cook for 1.5 - 2 hours, or until the meat is soft. Blend to a puree of the desired consistency.

This made 7.5 cups - or 5 (1.5 cup) servings.

Leeks and Beef

Vegetables added to the dish!

After the braising in the oven! YUMMY!!

Into the food processor it goes!

Voila! Beef and vegetable puree!

It made five delicious servings for the little man. That's one lucky baby!

George's Flounder with Tomatoes and Potato

This makes a good, creamy-textured fish puree.

Makes 4 portions (in our case 2)

1 flounder, filleted and skinned
2 medium tomatoes, skinned, seeded, and chopped
a little margarine or butter
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup milk
1 small potato, peeled

Put the flounder (I used sole) into a casserole dish, cover with the tomatoes, dot wth butter, and add the bay leaf. Pour over most of the milk. Cover with foil and cook in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. (Note: My fish was soooo thin, I did 15 minutes and it was perfect.)

While the fish is cooking, boil the potato. When soft, mash it with the remaining milk and butter. Flake the fish when it is cooked, remove the bay leaf, and mash or puree the fish together with the liquid in which it was cooked. You can either mix in the mashed potato or serve it as an accompaniment to the fish.

OK - my other notes . . . I mixed in the potatoes. I also did not need the cooking liquid from the fish dish to puree it. I used a slotted spoon to scrape the fish & tomatoes out of the pan and it was juicy enough. Now George likes things on the think side, but there was plenty of other liquid if it's neeeded.

Coming out of the oven - the fish with tomatoes, a bay leaf and milk.

I flaked the fish and added in the mashed potatoes I made. Then into the food processor.

I didn't HAVE to process it prolly, but I hadn't diced up the tomatoes fine enough. So, I just pulsed a few times to make it the right texture for the little guy and VOILA! Fish (Sole) with Tomatoes and Potatoes.

George's First Chicken Puree

Bouillon cubes are unsuitable for babies under a year as they are high in salt, so I make my own chicken broth and use it as a base for chicken and vegetable purees. It keeps in the refrigerator for 3 days. For babies over one year you can add 3 chicken bouillon cubes for a stronger flavor. Instead of a boiling fowl, you could use the carcass from a roasted chicken.

Makes Approximately 4 Pints

1 large boiling fowl, plus giblets
4 pints water
2 parsnips (I used sweet potatoes instead)
3 large carrots
2 leeks
2 large onions
1 celery stalk
2 sprigs of fresh parsley
1 sachet bouqut garnis

Cut the chicken into 8 pieces (or ask your butcher to do it for you), trimming any excess fat. Trim, peel, and wash the vegetables as necessary. Put the chicken pieces into a large saucepan together with the giblets. Cover with 4 pints of water, bring to a boil, and skim the froth from the top. Add the vegetables and parsley and simmer for about three hours. It is best to remove the chicken breasts after about 1 1/2 hours if you are going to eat them; otherwise they will become too dry. Leave in the refrigerator overnight and remove any congealed fat from the top in the morning. Strain the chicken and the vegetables to make the chicken broth. Season to taste.

Then, puree the chicken and vegetables together in a food mill, adding some broth as needed to make a chicken and vegetable puree.

Here is George's first chicken and vegetable puree - chicken, sweet potatoes, leeks, carrots, onion, celery, herbs. Lucky boy!

Chicken was shredded and added back to the pot. It all cooked down beautifully. Then the mixture was strained and pureed in our food processor.

Wendy puts the yummy puree in little tupperwares for the freezer.

And voila! Chicken and vegetable puree and an ice cube tray full of chicken broth!

George took us camping this weekend. Rough life.

The boys were twins today. Sooooo cute. They're having some fun tummy time together.

Today Wendy made a TON of baby food for George. Can you pick out all the varieties?? There are pears, purple cauliflower, broccoli, peas, acorn squash, butternut squash, cauliflower (white), and green beans. My boy eats in style. Plus yesterday I made him a ton of peaches too. Here are some pics of our hard work . . .

George got a great report at the doctor's office today. Doctor Amy said he looks fabulous and is stronger than the average 6 month old. ;)

Weight: 17 pounds, 11 1/2 oz = 53%

Height: 26 1/2 = 50%

Head Circ: 17 1/4 = 50%

Here's George and Judi together at the doctor's office today. He's so happy in this pic, but that didn't last too long. He got three shots today. Poor baby.

Waking up is hard to do.

George and I went to the pool today for swim lessons. My mom tried to take a picture of us in the pool. Turns out the camera was facing the wrong way. HA!! Hysterical. I had to share.

We finally got the camera pointed in the right direction for a shot of George learning to kick his little legs. It was a fun 25 minutes in the pool. Good times.

Afterwards we came home and George had a mini meltdown. Too much excitement for one little guy for the day. After a bottle and a stroll in the stroller to kill some time, it was straight off to bed. We did catch a few more smiles before bedtime. Here he is happy in his stroller before bedtime.

This boy LOVES his jumperoo!

George is enjoying some play time.

People are asking for new pics, so I posted a few to Kodak Gallery today. Take a look at the link to the right. Big developments around here . . . George is really comfortable rolling over. We find him on his tummy a lot now. He's not so upset when he winds up there. He's eating foods now and loving them - butternut squash, bananas, carrots, peas, apples, etc. Aunt Karen gave him his first taste. He was a big fan right away. George is trying hard to sit up, but he's not quite there yet.

Here's one of my favorite pics. We took this just yesterday. Enjoy!

We had some GREAT memories made at the beach this week. One of my favorites was George dipping his toes in the ocean for the first time. Another great one was Jeff dunking George under water (in the swimming pool) for the first time. He wasn't too sure about the whole thing. I caught this moment on video. Take a look . . .

ALRIGHT - A ton of new pics are in the Kodak Gallery album. Click on this link to see the pics of George from the beach. Soooo cute. Here are just a few of my favs . . .

Go check out the album to see them all!

Landed in Denver!

At the airport on our way home.

Lots of new pics posted to Kodak Gallery today. Click on the link to the right to check them out. Some family pics, pics of GV eating, pics of George with aunts and cousins and such, etc. We've had a very busy week. It's been a TON of fun. George is doing great though. He's playing hard and still sleeping great. He's tried bananas and avocados for the first time. He prefers bananas I think. He's exhausted himself in the pool and at the beach. He's been napping great in his pea pod and he sleeps great at night in our borrowed pack-n-play. It's been a great week. More later on all of that. Enjoy the pics for now. We'll be home Sunday afternoon!!

XOX
Mom

George's first dip in the pool. He had mixed emotions about the whole thing.

I posted more pics in the July 2009 album. Click on the link to the right to see pics from the baptism and a few others as well.

I am such a bad mommy. ;) GV is asleep (in his pack-n-play) inside this closet. Hey it's working, though. He's been in there for 12 hours so far tonight. Don't judge!

George gets baptized

We made it to the beach! First let me tell you about the rest of the weekend. Saturday we headed to Fayetteville. Jeff, Matt and I drove to Dad's house where we were crashing for the night. We decided to make a special trip to Elizabethtown for the best hamburger in the world!! I had taken Jeff there before, but Matt had never experienced this treat. Melvins' hamburgers!! My family would stop there on the way to Wilmington when I was a kid. They invented - as far as I'm concerned - the Carolina burger. It's a hamburger - no cheese - with chili, slaw, mustard, and onions. It was amazing. The boys each ate 3 "all the way" and I had 2. No fries. No chips. Don't bother. It's all about the burger. Dad, Brenda, Dean, Kriste and Mackenzie all made the trip too.

After lunch it was back to Dad's place to relax. We weren't hungry for quite some time. We just chatted and tried to let George sleep a bit. He would have a very busy day on Sunday. Around 7:30 pm we left for dinner. We went to Cape Fear BBQ - for Carolina style barbeque and fried chicken. Hushpuppies, candied yams, brunswick stew, chopped cole slaw - the works! After dinner, Dad, Brenda, George and I stopped at the grocery and headed home. Jeff and Matt went to 316 Oyster Bar & Grill for . . . THE ROOSTER! It's a saltine with a HUGE raw oyster, horseradish, jalapeno, hot sauce. If you eat three you get a free t-shirt that says you survived the Rooster. Jeff has done it a few times. This was Matt's second successful attempt.

Back at home base, we all went to sleep and tried to get ready for a very busy Sunday. George slept great - he was so tired from lack of a decent nap. And he needed all the sleep he could get. Sunday was George's baptism. We packed up all our stuff, got everyone dressed and headed to the church. George met the Kegg cousins for the first time. All the new people swarmed all over him. He loved being the center of attention. He loves looking around and meeting all the new people. It was fun.

We were told not to take pictures but my uncle clearly missed that instruction. While at the time I think we were surprised to see him take pictures, I know we'll be very glad to have them. After the service we had cake and sandwiches. The Nunnally grandkids had a photo shoot.

After church a group of us went to the Airborne musuem and then to Huske Hardware Brewery. George had started to get fussy from his busy day. He napped a smidge in the museum, but not nearly enough. I knew he would sleep the whole way to the beach. And sure enough he did! We left Fayetteville around 5 pm and pulled into the driveway at the beach house right at 8 pm. George slept the entire way!

He was again the star of the show. Everyone was very excited to see him. He stayed up until about 8:30 pm and then he was just done again. We fed him and put him to bed. He slept until 8 am this morning and then woke me up chatting in his pack-n-play. Sooooo sweet!

Today - our first day of actual vacation - it's going to rain all day. Oh well. I'm excited for a day of lounging - rain or not.

XOX

Mom

George with Mimi

The godfather.

OK, so where was I?

George slept in Judi's room Thursday night. We had borrowed a pack-n-play from an old friend. He was by the air conditioner in Mom's room. Around 4 am, he has gas so loud, it woke Mom up. She was worried he may have had a blow-out in his borrowed bed, so she got him up to change him. Mistake #1. He was fine - no blow out - but he was sooooo cold from being next to the AC unit. She put him in bed with her. Mistake #2. He heee. Around 6 am, she moved him back to his bed so she could go back to sleep. He wasn't happy about that at all. He woke us up in the next room at 6:30. I came in and got him and we moved him to our room and we all slept until 10.

Friday was hectic. Lots of running around all day. Jeff and I met up with two of my girlfriends for lunch. It was too short. It was sooooo great seeing them. Jenny - I still owe you $10. Jenny was able to score us a swing for free and a bumbo for CHEAP. They'll be VERY nice to have this week.

Jeff and GV spent the entire afternoon hangin with Dave and Karen and Lee and Julia. Lee loved little George and the feeling was mutual! George had a GREAT three hour nap at their place in his pea pod. We picked Matt up from the airport. Big George and Jackie arrived too. And then all of us, plus my bro Dean and his family - 14 people total - went to dinner. It took a while to get a table for us all, but it was fun! George did pretty good, but was a little fussy toward the end - 9 pm local.

We're trying to keep George on Denver time, so he was ready for bed. We got back to our hotel and quickly put him to bed. As of now, he's been asleep about 10 hours without a peep. He's soooo sweet. LOVE HIM.

Heading to Fayetteville today to see Grandma and Grandpa Nunnally. Another busy day for GV!

XOX

Well, the trip itself wasn't so bad. George has been fighting off a nasty bug. We were worried about when he'd eat, when he'd sleep, and most fearful of when he'd poop. The flight went fine. He had a few moments of crying, but nothing terrible. We fed him during takeoff. We changed him after the seatbelt sign went off, and then he slept the rest of the way - even through the decent, the landing, and the walk back to baggage claim.

We got our car and made our way to the very nice Four Points. Judi offered to let GV sleep in her room and we happily accepted.

Ohhh - More later. He's crying now. Gotta go.

My sickie is attached to his lovey and his paci today. Very sweet.

My baby is sick. The tell-tell sign . . . green poop!! Ugh! I had no idea. Well, Wendy and I decided it's sea foam green. He's gassy and has diarrhea. So what do we do?? Not sure you want to know. It's a 3 - 5 day regimen of liquids, new formula, powdered probiotics, homemade diaper rash cream made from lotion and MAALOX of all things, etc. It's quite the procedure, let alone the baby not feeling so great. Poor guy.

We wanted to nip this in the bud and try to get him feeling as good as possible before we screw him up some more with the flying, lack of sleep, etc. Hopefully we can shake this out of him soon. He's not ANGRY at all. He's just a little sleepy and mopey. It's kinda sweet cause he's more cuddly than usual. But it's sad too.

Did I mention . . . he has the very best Honey in the world!! We felt bad asking, but my mom came over last night to sit with him. Jeff wanted to check out his new job site. We headed up there just for a quick drive by. Then we stopped for dinner and brought Mom home some fillet and salmon. I hope that helped a LITTLE!! We're soooooo thankful to have her here - for a million reasons.

OK - hope GV eats and sleeps and poops and feels better today. Wishing him a speedy recovery and looking forward to seeing him tonight.

XOX

Mom

Out for a stroll.

George likes his new ride.

George tried a quick dip in the kiddie pool today. He wasn't a big fan. I think we'll warm up the water some for his next swim.

George got a BIG kick out of Baby Beethoven today.

George is having a good day today.

He got to play outside for a while with Wendy and Mason.

Then he watched a little TV.

Cute little man!

Here's the new car seat we ordered for George. It will be here on Wednesday. It is narrower than the monstrosity we have now. Hopefully we'll fit through door frames better and it'll fit in a flipped over high chair. However, we selected this smaller model mostly so we could better fit in an airplane seat! Yeah!! George's first plane ride is just a few short days away!! He cannot wait to meet all his aunts and uncles and the rest of his cousins!!

My boys love each other. They're so cute!

I am a very lucky lady. I have three great guys - Jeff, Otto, and now George. After everyone was awake and George had his breakfast, we headed to the Farmer's Market for the first time this year. We didn't buy anything, but just enjoyed being outside and walking around. We applied liberal amounts of sunscreen to George for the first time. So after we got home and had a nap, we headed to Honey's for a bath. George was due anyway. Honey cleaned him good while I made us a chopped salad for lunch.

George played on a blanket on the floor while Honey and I sat next to him and had our picnic salads. After lunch we came home. George napped again while Jeff cut the grass. We lounged a little and just enjoyed a quiet day at home.

We did order a new car seat for George. Seems a little late in the process, but we can use it again if we have another kid. And it's good up to 30ish pounds, so we have a ways to go. Our car seat is just TOO HUGE!! We had been reading up on the recommended size for one to take on an airplane, so we went with something smaller to meet that requirement (since we're flying outta here very soon). The new seat will arrive here on Wednesday. I hope we all like it and Jeff can get it to fit in a stroller.

We made a healthy chicken stir fry for dinner. Now we're enjoying some quiet time again before it's time to start the bedtime routine. I hope everyone has a great week!

XOX

Mom

We had a great day yesterday. We woke up at the usual time and got George fed and dressed. Then we loaded up the Pathfinder, stopped to get Judi, and hit the road! We headed up to Frisco to cheer on Kristine. She was participating in the Avon 2-day walk for breast cancer. We had generously donated to the cause, but it was more important to me for us to BE THERE!

I remember when I "ran" the Denver half marathon in the FREEZING rain. She schlepped her entire family out in the cold rain to cheer me on along the way. It wasn't too far from the house and she didn't stay too long - I was running - but she was there and it meant the world to me. I wanted to do the same for her. So - off we went!

It was a gorgeous day. George napped on and off along the drive. Judi enjoyed the scenery. The temperature was perfect. It was fun. We got up there around 10:30 and walked around Frisco for a while - we got a snack, we shopped, we hung out with Scott and the kids. It was fun. We saw Kristine and her friend Rae Ann. They stopped and hung out with us for a while. We chatted about the walk and how they were feeling. Cole wanted to walk with mommy . . . oh - and he wanted mommy to be a horsey! Poor Kristine. No horsey after mommy has walked 15 miles. ;)

Kristine and Rae Ann kept on walking. We loaded up the car and headed down the mountain. We stopped in Idaho Springs for lunch and afterwards we decided to head up Mount Evans Road. It's the highest paved road in North America and we thought it would be a pretty drive. Judi had never been up there and we were going to show her the mountain goats.

We got about ten miles up the long, windy road (full of bikers in training - road bikes, not motorcycles) only to be stopped and turned around by a ranger. They had closed the road due to a major accident. They needed to get a helicopter in there so that they could med-evac someone out of there. Sad. I hope everyone is OK.

On the way back down, Judi got a little car sick - ICK! I don't blame her. I know I would have. So Jeff and Judi switched seats and we headed back into Denver. We spent the evening next door hanging with our friends. Pot luck dinner, drinks, cards, jalapenos that appeared to do permanent damage. ;) It was fun!

George was exhausted! I suppose it was because he didn't get to take great naps yesterday. We were in and out of places, moving around, etc. He got to snooze a lot here and there, but no solid time asleep really. We'll make up for that today.

XOX

Mom

Jeff feeding GV in Idaho Springs.

George is waiting to cheer for Kristine!

George is heading out the door to spend the day with Honey. Check out his super cute Polo jumper. Maybe Honey will take some better pictures of him in it today.

I taped a little video of George playing last night. He's trying to do a repeat of his super fancy roll maneuver. Enjoy!

George rolled over! It happened last night. Jeff and I were sitting at the dining room table, signing all the closing docs to refinance our mortgage. GV was on a play mat in the living room. We would hear him chatting and hitting the music toy he's got. So all was well. Our financial planner walked in the front door and said, "Oh look at him. You've got a roller." We just brushed it off, telling our friend that he likes to roll to his side. "No," he says. "He's over." Jeff and I looked at each other and then went in the living room. We should've taken a picture, but we just scooped him up. What a big boy.

Again, he likes to be different. George rolled from him back to his tummy. He hates being on his tummy, so he was fussy pretty quickly. It was cute though. A major milestone and we were sorta there to see it.

I posted some new, super cute pics of my boys to the June album. Click on the link on the right to see them all. Here's my favorite . . .

George gives the exersaucer a whirl today!

Wendy put together George's new exersaucer and George took it out for a spin. Enjoy this 1 minute clip of his curiosity about the whole thing.

After a bath at Honey's. Look at him trying to sit up like a big boy!