New dishes you MUST try

Pinterest is a tricky fad.  It's full of wonderful home decor ideas that I envy, clothes I wish I had but will never buy, hairstyles I love but will never have the courage to try, parenting tips I find interesting, recipes I try where some are wins and some are disasters, helpful home remedies, workouts that inspire me but I can't find the motivation to actually follow through with, so on and so forth.  

This post is mainly about new dishes that I've tried and were huge hits in our home.  If you are looking for new recipes to change up your weekly routine, try some of these!
(PS these pics aren't mine, they are directly from the blogs they belong to.)

Teriyaki Salmon with Sriracha Cream Sauce

Melt in Your Mouth Chicken Breast

5 Ingredient White Chicken Chili

Cilantro Lime Chicken

Crockpot Orange Chicken

Avocado Cheddar & Sundried Tomato Quesadilla

(I added shredded chicken, lime and cilantro to this recipe)

And lastly, for a quick and healthy snack, try these no-bake peanut butter bars.  I've made them twice now and eaten the whole pan myself.  I'd like to add chocolate chips sometime!

There's a baby in that leaf pile!

We have three trees in our backyard.  One is a locust so it drops all its pesky little leaves fairly early but they're so small it's impossible to rake them.  On the other hand are the two maples. They drop their leaves much later in the fall and let me tell you, if we raked all the leaves into one pile, we'd be the hottest spot in the neighborhood for kids to come and play. Here's our backyard after just one of the maples dropped its leaves.  There's grass under there somewhere.

The time came to rake and of course, we had to have a photo shoot with Selah and the leaves.  

  

Yeeees, yes, I know I'm biased.  But man my kid is cute!

This is one of my favorites!

Hahahahaha  Baby in a leaf pile!

He pulled her up and leaves were stuck all over her.  

  

Why not eat the leaves?

  

Here's all the leaves from one of the maples.  See how far behind me it goes?  And there was more behind the camera that we didn't get in the photo!

Happy fall!

First solids

Selah will turn 6 months old this Friday.  She is noticing what we're eating and reaches for our plates. Although, she's teething, so if she can get her little paws on something, it's going to go right in the mouth. Since my milk supply has decreased, we decided it's a good time to start supplementing breast milk with some solids.

Now, starting solids is a big deal to me!  I wanted Caleb to be home when we first tried so he could be a part of this fun milestone.  You know, video taping, taking pictures, the confused and unsure look on her little face, baby food all over her face, hands and in her hair.  I wanted to capture every moment!  

All we had on hand was Cream of Wheat and Oatmeal.  I researched a bit and while babies can eat Cream of Wheat, wheat is an allergen, and I decided I didn't want to try that first.  I found a recipe on how to make oatmeal for babies.  

I busted out my food processor which, until now, has only had the privilege of making salsa.  The food processor whizzed and chopped the oats into a powder, which I then made into oatmeal on the stove followed by watering it down with some breast milk.

We don't have a high chair yet so we strapped her in the Bumbo seat and began her first solids feeding. Here goes!

Let's just say... it was kind of an epic fail.

I knew it'd be a very different texture than what she is used to.  I knew it'd be bland tasting.  She hated it.  In fact, she cried.  

I found this really well done and thorough blog on making your own baby food.  I plan to try avocado, sweet potato and bananas next.  Here's to hoping it goes better next time!

5 months

This is incredibly late.  Almost 1 month late actually.  But Selah is finishing up her 5th month and we've experienced a lot of new things this month!

Milestones

She rolled over from back to tummy (just yesterday!)
She "talk"s so much; it is one of my favorite things she does.  
She loves singing.  We sing to her a lot, usually making up goofy songs.  We sound ridiculous but she enjoys it.
She loves her Exer-Saucer.  She is in her own little world talking to herself and the toys.
She actually enjoys bath time now!  She is enthralled with the bubbles, loves to kick and splash and loves her blue turtle bath toy (Turtledove as her daddy calls it).
She cut her 2 bottom teeth at 4.5 months.  She grinds her gums.  It's a horrible sound.  Her sleep was being disrupted by what we assume was teething.  We are trying the amber teething necklace and it seems to be helping her sleep better at night.
She generally sleeps very well at night now.  She goes to bed around 7:30p and will sleep till about 4a when a very heavy diaper wakes her up.  From 4a on, sleep becomes hit or miss, which makes for early mornings in the Redelman household...  for probably the next 8 years at least.
She refuses to nap in the crib.  Her naps are either in the swing, in my arms, in the car, or in the Baby Bjorn carrier.  Not super helpful.
She has found her feet.
She puts everything in her mouth.
I waved and she waved back.  7 times.  It wasn't just a fluke.
Her laugh is the most amazing sound in the world.
We are working on helping her learn to sit up.  It's hard to do tummy time with her because she spits up every time, even hours after her last feeding.  
She is noticing the food we eat and is constantly grabbing for it.  We will be starting solids in the next week.
She gets super excited when she sees her daddy come home from work.
She is enthralled with my hair and plays with it gently while she nurses.

Love you baby girl!  Stop growing!  But ... keep growing because it's fun to watch you learn.  Just don't do it too fast :-)

Selah's first Halloween

Let's just get this out in the open.  I am not a fan of Halloween.  I used to like it.  Then I used to hate it.  Now I suppose you could say I'm indifferent about it.  I'll go along with it but it comes with a reluctant sigh and a roll of the eyes.  It does help that I have a child and let's face it...  babies in costume are one of the cutest things out there.  Just look and see!

Bobbi (Selah's grandma) got her a pumpkin costume and thankfully, it fit perfectly.  She did look pretty darn cute if I do say so myself.  

 Darn that slippery couch

 Happy Halloween mom and dad!

My small group had a get together on Halloween and of course all the kiddies came dressed up.  Look!  You can't get much cuter than this!  But trying to get 4 babies to cooperate for a photo shoot is near impossible.  Although Ella has it down pat.  She's the only one that has figured out that you smile for the camera.  To be fair, the rest of the kiddos were staring at us like we were crazy because they had 6+ adults trying to get their attention.  There was a lot of funny noises, gestures and faces being made to get their attention, hence all the staring.

 There's Caleb being a good guard to make sure none of them took a dive off the couch.

We've got Zeke the lobster, Ella the Bernese Mountain puppy, and Selah & Jack the lil' pumpkins.

 This picture cracks me up.  Selah does not look amused.  And Jack, ahhh the old soul Jack.

Happy Halloween from the Redelmans and their dazed and confused lil' pumpkin.

Supermom

I admit...  I had a very different picture in my mind of what it would be like to be a stay-at-home mom.  The glorious picture looked something like this:

After so many months of settling in and getting used to our new life at home, my child would wake after a good night's rest, and I too, would wake rested (surely the exhaustion phase only lasted through the newborn phase). She would play and be happy on her play mat which would allow me to get ready for the day.

I would strap her happily into her car seat and we would run errands together.  I'd grab some groceries.  We'd go for a walk in the park.  We'd stop by a farmer's market and bring home fresh flowers.  We'd have weekly play dates, spending time with other mommys and their kiddos.

My child would go down for naps 3 times a day with no issues and sleep soundly.  During those naps, I would stroll through the house, getting laundry and dishes done, vacuum, clean the bathrooms, and have a lovely meal cooked and ready on the table when Caleb walks through the door.

That's what I envisioned for my life as a stay-at-home mom.  Basically, I thought I could be Supermom.  It's safe to say my every day looks nothing like this.  

I knew having a child was more than just baby giggles and snuggles.  But there is no way I could prepare myself for the reality of motherhood without actually living it.  I could hear all about the challenges and trials that come with the joys of motherhood.  But all of it is white noise without experiencing it.

Now here's what my every day actually looks like:

My child generally wakes up at a different time every morning.  I am awakened by her coos and squeals but feel as I've been hit by a truck.  My body feels like a ton of bricks as I drag myself out of bed to retrieve my daughter.  

I place her in the swing which on a good day, she'll last about 20 minutes in, while I grab myself some breakfast.  

We have some great play time together; she laughs at all the weird noises and funny faces I make and pulls my hair as she is enthralled with my hair right now.

Then she gets tired and naturally, it's nap time.  But she fights naps.  Just about every single one.  I rock her.  I sing to her.  I nurse her.  Sometimes it takes 20 min, other times I've spent 2+ hours trying to get her down (and yes, she is tired).  Once I get her asleep, I lay her down in the crib, as gently as possible, attempting to hold her pacifier in (because it falls out all the time even though she wants it) but wouldn't you know... she pops awake and lets me know she is not about to be left alone.  So then the routine begins all over again.

She wakes after a 30 minute nap (and when it takes over an hour to get her down, it just doesn't seem fair that her naps are only 30 minutes long.  HOW on earth can I get anything done in that amount of time?  By the time I start something, she wakes up).  Once she's up, we'll play some more.  But she does not stay content so that results in going out for a walk because that's what calms her down.

Oh and my daughter hated her car seat for the first 4 months of her life so I stayed in the house.  Every day.  I did not go anywhere. (She does great in it now by the way!)

Most days, Caleb comes home to a wife still in her pajamas who still hasn't been able to brush her teeth.  The sink is filled with dirty dishes.  The living room has exploded with baby items.  And as much as I love my daughter, I pass her to Caleb.  I feel tired.  I feel gross because I haven't had a shower in 3 days.  I feel like a bit of a failure of a stay-at-home mom because I can't get anything done in my own home.

Where is the Supermom in that?!  That sounds like a big fat serving of failure.  

Clearly, what I pictured and what is reality are at opposite ends of the spectrum.  BUT the Lord has been teaching me something in this new season of my life.  Grace.  

I am a stay-at-home mom for one reason.  My daughter.  She is the very reason that I am a stay-at-home mom.  It doesn't matter if my dishes do not get done.  It doesn't matter that it's been a few weeks and I still haven't managed to get the house vacuumed (don't judge me :-)  It doesn't matter that I have to wait until Caleb can watch her so I can run out to stock up on groceries.  If the Lord graciously lavishes grace upon us; I need to accept that grace for myself as well.

Everyone says this and I'm finally starting to believe it.  Raising your children is a 24/7 job.  It doesn't matter if it's 1 child or 5 children.  They require all of you.  She relies on me to feed her. Play with her.  Change her.  Bathe her.  Rock her.  Love her.  All that and more makes for a constant "job".  It's no wonder I can't get much done.  

I have slowly learned to accept that I will not get much else done during this season.  And I have slowly learned to grant myself grace when my natural bend is to be hard on myself for not being the "Supermom" I initially envisioned.  But when I shift my focus to simply caring for my child to the best of my ability and choosing to let the other things go, I suppose in the eyes of my child, I am Supermom and that is good enough for me.  The dishes can wait.

Letting go

You might smirk at what I'm about to tell you.  You might think I'm an overbearing parent.  You might empathize with me.  I hope it's the latter.  Although, you are completely allowed to feel how you want to feel :-)

Two nights ago, Selah had her first night in her "big girl bed."  What does this entail?  It means she slept in the crib instead of the bassinet.  That also means she slept in her room, not ours.  This milestone was harder on me than it was on her!

I was not expecting to get so emotional over this change.  We are going to begin sleep training this weekend and I thought it might be a good idea to get her used to her crib before we actually begin the training.  So when Sunday night came, we settled into our usual night routine: bath, book, prayer, nurse, sleep.  However, when the moment came to place her into her crib, I was overwhelmed with tears as I realized my baby is growing up.

I know, I know... maybe I'm being dramatic. Again.  
She is only 4.5 months old.  She is still a baby. But she is my baby that doesn't sleep in her bassinet RIGHT next to our bed anymore.  This change, albeit a small change, is the first of many to come.  I left her room, the tears flowed as I cried into Caleb's shoulder and I remember thinking "and so it begins..."

It was strange to walk into our bedroom and not see her there.  Her bassinet sat there, empty.  Even though she was in the next room, it felt like she was missing from our lives.  Remember, she has slept next to us for 4.5 months.  She knows nothing different.  And neither do we.

This is just one milestone we've reached as we learn to let go as Selah's parents.  Even something as simple as moving her into the next room, is still a "let go" moment.  I know there are many, many, many more moments that will come along in her life where Caleb and I will have to let go even more than the time before.  

Although, I made the decision to "let go" of my child even when I was pregnant with her.  She belongs to the Lord.  She always has.  And she always will belong to Him.  Of course, letting go is no easy feat and is something I feel I will have to re-learn each time it comes along.  
God has chosen us to be her earthly parents; we have been charged with this wonderful responsibility.  And while we love her more than she will ever know, it's amazing to think her Lord loves her even more than we ever could.  So naturally surrendering my child to the Lord is what makes sense to me, even those it is difficult.  When we choose to have her dedicated to the Lord, that will be a very emotional ceremony for me.  

Back to her first night in her crib, the good news is that she did incredibly well!  She slept fantastically!  We knew it was time to make the transition; she has become just about too big for the bassinet.  We went in to check on her and somehow, she had rotated herself completely to the other side of the crib.  I'm glad she has the extra room to sprawl out.  

This weekend is sleep training.  And let me tell you, this weekend could not get here fast enough!  We've had something going on every single weekend for a month and a half.  We wanted to dedicate at least 3 full days of sleep training and this weekend is the first weekend where we don't have much planned.  
What exactly does sleep training mean?  It means the main goal is to get our child to soothe herself to sleep.  We have chosen a method and will be diligently working through it this weekend.  Caleb is taking a day off work; that's how hard we are hitting this!  I'll let you know how it goes :-)
Of course I'm biased, but isn't my kiddo the cutest thing in the world?

Yarn wrapped letter tutorial

I made this cute monogram letter for my niece's nursery and I am thrilled with how it turned out!  It is a fairly inexpensive craft project but can certainly range in price depending on the type of yarn you choose, how many letters you buy or how many embellishments you'd like to add.

The paper-mache letter I bought at Hobby Lobby for about $2.50.

Some letters are tricky to wrap.  In this case, with the letter I, you begin by wrapping the letter vertically (the entire middle section and the 4 corners).

I used a piece of tape to secure the ends directly to the letter.  Once you finish wrapping the section, simply tie it off.  These vertical layers will eventually be covered by the 2nd horizontal layer.

The first vertical layers should be wrapped fairly thickly.  This will come in handy when it comes time to spread out the yarn to cover the corners.  If you wrap too thinly, you'll still be able to see some of the cardboard.  I failed to do this but know for next time.

Then, you'll wrap each section horizontally, getting as close to the edges as you can without the yarn popping off.  Once you finish, tie off on the back of the letter.  It doesn't really matter if you can see the knots, no one will see the back.

Now that your letter is wrapped, you want to cover the corners.  Simply spread out the vertical yarn to cover the edges.  This is why you want that first vertical layer to be fairly thick.  The horizontal layers covering the vertical layers prevents the vertical layers from popping off as you spread them out.

And lastly, adding the pretty final touches will be your final step.  You can add pretty much anything you want.  In this case, the 2 small ivory flowers are actually hair pins.  They were extremely easy to add as I simply slid them under the yarn which secured them tightly.

And ta-da!  You could place it on a bookshelf or hang it on the wall.  Here you are sweet Ilona!  A simple addition for your nursery made with love by your Auntie Ashley.

Fun on the farm

We took a little field trip to Kuiper Family Farm last Sunday for Jason's birthday.  It was the perfect fall day.  Bright blue skies.  Warm sun.  Cool fall breeze.  The smell of fried dough in the air.  Apple trees, pumpkins, kids.... kids... and more kids... everywhere!

While we waited for some of the group to pick apples, we had a little family photo shoot.  Happy fall!