haircut time

Posted on January 19, 2011 by mommyinthemidwest

The last 3 or 4 days, Theo has woken up with this… this… this.. THING in his hair. I don’t know how to describe it but it is like a tiny little matted up knot at the end of the hair that hangs down in his eyes. No, they are not bangs, because they are swooping around from the back of his head. No matter how you try, the THING will not go away. You can’t brush it out, you can’t comb it out. The knot itself will come out but what’s left afterwards is so not cute. It looks like he’s been electrocuted, but just in that one spot. The decision was made yesterday morning that he will definitely be getting his first haircut. I’d hoped to wait til his first birthday, just to be all traditional and stuff, but his hair is out of control. It’s always hanging down in his eyes. Sometimes it looks like he has a mullet because it is so long in the back (well over his collar). And it’s almost to the bottom of his ear on the sides. Time to go bye-bye.

The challenge with this is that I don’t want my baby to lose his baby look. I don’t want him to have bangs cut straight across his forehead. I don’t want him to have a buzz cut. I want it to still look natural, I just want the super long parts to be trimmed. He has a patch of hair right down the middle of his head that he never lost so it has just continued growing and it’s probably a good 6 inches long. We try to swirl it around and make it blend in, but it’s just not working anymore. So, it’s time. My fear is that the people at the baby hair cutting place won’t listen to me or only know how to do one thing and he’ll end up with a bowl cut. That would be devastating. Seriously, what are these people’s qualifications for baby hair cutting?

My baby boy is growing up, with or without my approval. I’ll be sure to post before and after pics.

Nervous,

~C~

homemades

Posted on January 18, 2011 by mommyinthemidwest

We got this cookbook from a friend for Christmas so over the weekend, I thought I’d be adventurous and try out a couple of the recipes. I was intimidated by the words homemade and healthy because anything homemade that comes out of my kitchen is usually the opposite of healthy. And when it comes to baby food, those little tubs/jars are so easy and convenient. Truth be told, we never feed Theo store-bought baby food at home. He eats whatever we eat 95% of the time. We keep a jar of baby food in the diaper bag and we send Stage 3 foods (along with other snacks) to the babysitter because for now, it’s just easier. I’m not looking forward to trying to pack a balanced lunch for him every day.

Anyway, over the weekend I prepared the baby Broccoli and Cheese (mini) Casserole. It made enough to fill four ramekins, 2 of which I froze for later. It was actually quite easy and SO rewarding to watch him gobble it up. He loved it. Ingredients included broccoli (duh), cheddar cheese, chicken stock (the recipe called for veggie but I had chicken on hand), shallots (I omitted because they are disgusting and I didn’t want my baby to vomit), mushrooms, and brown rice. I think that was it. I thought each ramekin would yield two servings but he pretty much polished off the entire serving the first night and most of the second ramekin the second night. (P.S. I tried the casserole and was not personally a fan of it, but to be fair, I don’t like mushrooms. And I do ~~like~~ love salt, which the recipe is void of).

Last night he had a little left over casserole along with his homemade “baby baked potato.” I have only made homemade mashed potatoes once (which is what this recipe amounted to) and they were disgusting. The texture was like concrete and the consistency was like rubber cement. You could have used this stuff to lay a foundation for a house, no doubt about that. The baby recipe says to use Yukon golds. Peel and dice then boil for 10 minutes. Strain them but don’t rinse then return to warm pan and add unsalted butter (um, I used margarine…so sue me) and whole milk plain yogurt (I couldn’t find this so I used fat free plain yogurt). Smash/mash them to your baby’s liking and add a sprinkle of parmesan or cheddar cheese. Can I just say YUM? They were the perfect consistency and texture. Yogurt. Who knew? Maybe it was the golden potatoes – they did seem to have a bit of a different flavor. Of course I added a little salt and pepper to mine but Theo liked them just the way they were prepared. Oh, the recipe called for finely chopped chives, which I also left out because they are disgusting and I didn’t want my baby to puke. If anyone wants the specific measurements (which I don’t think you really need), I’ll be happy to share them with you.

I don’t like onions in any form…can you tell?

~C~