Saturday Morning Playground Fun

babyfood math

During a recent shopping trip to Whole Foods* to buy organic produce to steam and puree into baby food I was questioning whether it was all worth it. It costs about $50 per month for Aubrey's foods including the cereal and yogurt and other snacks. I was looking at the huge pile of fruits and veggies on my counter thinking of all the work I was going to have to do to turn it into baby food. Wouldn't it be so much easier to just buy Gerber Organic? (I have "cheated" a few times and bought their prunes and green beans because I hadn't had much success trying to make those myself.) So out comes the calculator and I try to guess how many little tubs Aubrey would eat per day and multiplying the cost from there. The number I came up with astounded me. $130 per month! Whoa, an $80 difference. I had no idea that convenience came at such a high cost! And really making the food isn't that hard. Two or three afternoons of work a month isn't all that bad, and now that I know that it is saving us so much money I will be happier doing it. It really does provide a great sense of accomplishment seeing a freezer full of cubes of baby food knowing that I am not only doing the healthiest thing for my baby, but also the most cost effective.

*yes, Aubrey eats way better than Bill and I do.

Nine Months Old

Aubrey wants to stand and play all the time now! It is so cute but tiring for me because I have to spot her constantly. She forgets to hold on sometimes and then she just slowly topples backwards without bending, like a tree. Just in the past few days she has just started a whole bunch of new "tricks" as Bill and I jokingly call them. Aubrey now waves, claps with one hand hitting the back of the other hand, holds her arms out to be picked up, points at something she wants, "dances" to music--a sort of bobbing up and down and wiggling of the rear end, and says mum, mum, mum when she wants to eat something (that is her version of yum).

Notes on a Vacation

Okay, it has been over a week since we got back from our vacation and I still haven't written anything about it. I meant to a while before this, but Bill got a cold, then Aubrey caught it. As any wife and mother can confirm, having a sick hubby and kid keeps you busy!

We had a great time in Corolla, North Carolina. We stayed in a big house we rented, just a few yards from the beach. It was a bit chilly, but we had an enjoyable and most importantly relaxing time. Dexter thought he was in heaven--the beach was so deserted that we could just let him run and run on it. The seagulls and other beach birds he chased did not appreciate that!

Our good friends Adam, Hayley, and Charlotte came with us--our first time on vacation with another family (other than relatives). It was so fun to have other people there and I think that the babies enjoyed each other too. Even though they can't really play together they got excited when they saw each other and like to grab toys back and forth and sometimes each other's clothes, ears, fingers, noses, etc.

The men liked playing video games together (the house came equiped with a Wii) and the ladies enjoyed doing nails and cooking. One lesson we all learned: getting in a hot tub while it is 40 degrees outside with a 30 mile per hour wind is painful. Your body is hot in the water, but your face is so very cold. The wind whips the steam away so fast it doesn't keep your head warm. This lead to an interesting discussion about how to survive hypothermia. The conclusion we drew was that girls would be much more willing to huddle together for warmth, but guys would only do that as a last result. Quote to illustrate the guys attitudes: "Dude, my fingers just fell off, lets snuggle."

We all enjoyed the vacation so much that we made tentative plans to do this together once a year for the future, especially since we probably won't always be living 5 minutes away from each other.

We took tons of pictures, those are only a few. I have an online gallery if anyone who I didn't already email it to wants to see it, just let me know.

Vacation Video

Try not to be too jealous! ;)

Random video for you to enjoy while we are on vacation!

Aubrey loves the mirror, she talks to the baby in the mirror, slaps it, chews on it, etc. It is very entertaining to watch. Of course as soon as I pick up the video camera she stops what she is doing to look at me. And then the instant she went back to really playing the batteries died! But here is what I got anyway--Enjoy!!!

Adventure Ahead!

Hooray! We are headed to the Outer banks for vacation at the end of this week. We are all so very excited--Bill and I because we haven't been on a weeks vacation since Summer 2005 in Maine, Dexter because he has never gotten to swim in the ocean and run on the beach before and Aubrey because, well, okay, maybe she isn't excited yet. But she will be because she will get to spend 24 hours a day for 9 straight days with her favorite playmate in the world--Daddy. I have been spending the morning making a list of all we need to pack and have figured out why parents get minivans or huge SUVs. The smaller the person, the more stuff they have to bring. How we are going to fit the four of us and all our stuff in the CR-V I do not know. It certainly will take some creative maneuvering. Part of me is embarrassed at how long the list is--how much of this is really a "necessity"? I know I am going to bring a ton of things we don't end up needing and forget something that we really need. But isn't that all part of the fun?

Bangs!

I decided I needed a change with my hair. The same old haircut was getting boring so I did what I have wanted to do for a long time--I got bangs! They are going to take some getting used to, it is a pretty different look for me. I am not sure I like it yet, but it is a change.