{one HAPPY baby}

The last nine months have flown by! Our guy is actually pushing 11 months now but I wanted to share his nine month photo shoot. These photos were taking by the awesome Eryn Alexander. 

Cal loves smiling and laughing. 

He loves people.

He loves to wave and clap.

He loves eating. 

He wants to walk everyone even though he doesn't know how.

He picks up anything he can get his little hands on, and puts it in his mouth. 

He has man paws. 

He loves being outside.

Christmas Spirit

The other night my friend and neighbor Eryn came over, and we attempted a Christmas Photoshoot with Cal. It turned out better than we expected! You can see the full shoot on Eryn's Blog {Here}.

Baby Food//: Carrots {Infantino Pouch System}

Baby food making is so much easier than I ever thought it would be! I actually enjoy making Cal's food, and it only takes a few extra minutes! We use our Bullet to puree everything. The bullet is awesome because the cups have steamer lids which allows you to steam veggies in the microwave. They make a baby bullet but we already had the regular one. which is cheaper and has more/larger cups! Since Cal is still new to solid foods, we are not mixing fruits and veggies. Here is some carrot baby food in the making1

A lot of my mom friends have been asking me about my Pouch making system. I use the Infantino Fresh Squeeze Squeezed Station. I love it! I only use pouches when we are 'on the go'. I use the pouch system when I make large quantities of food at one time. I fill the pouches and freeze them. When we leave the house I throw the pouches in the diaper bag, and by lunch time they are thawed and ready to eat! I would definietly recommend it to anyone who wants to make their own baby food! The other thing I love about pouches is that you can buy spoons that screw on to the tip. We have two sets of spoons; Infantino Brand and Plum Brand. Both work with the Infantino Pouches, I prefer the Plum Brand because the spoons are narrow and fit better in Cal's mouth. 

Surviving Flying with Baby {Under One}

By no means am I an expert on flying with babies. In Cal's short 6 months of life I have flown across the country twice by myself.  Also, we have two more trips planned in the next 2 months! Here are some things I've learned along the way that have really helped make the whole experience bearable.

1. Baby Wearing! (we have an ergo carrier, I can't live without it!)

Ditch the stroller! I checked mine with my carseat so I didn't have to deal with it until I got to my final destination. I've made the mistake of bringing my stroller and trying to juggle baby, diaper bag and collapse the stroller. Let me tell you, its not a pretty sight. Sometimes people offer to help, but other times I think people watch in amusement! Also, you can take the escalator and not have to hunt down an elevator in the airport!

2. Stoller Bags

My sister told me about these, every major airline sells them, as well as amazon. We bought ours the first time I flew with Cal at the southwest ticket counter. They are re-usable so you only have to buy them once. My carseat/base and umbrella stroller fit in one bag, but some people prefer to bag their carseat and stroller sepratly. They protect your stroller from wear and tear, loosing pieces and they will keep everything dry if its raining!

3. Standard Size Pillow

This was a life saver for me. A five and a half hour flight with a lap baby is not for the faint of heart. There is only so much room on your lap! Bringing a pillow allows for baby to lay flat and play with toys or sleep, also it great for nursing! This depends on the size of your baby, when they get to big the pillow is useless.

4. Disposable changing pads

I'm a little bit of a germ freak and flying is a germ breading ground! Munchkin Brand sells disposable changing pads that are awesome. Here is the link for amazon, you can also buy them at target! If you, God forbid, have to change your baby on the airplane these are great germ barriers :-).  Also I carry mini lysol spray in my diaper bag to disinfect everything, yes I know I'm a freak.

5. Hands free Diaper bag

A back pack diaper bag is best, but a cross body strap works too. It really makes a difference!

6. Paci Clip (even if your baby doesn't take a paci)

I am envious of babies that take a paci, are little boy has refused one pretty much since birth. The reason a paci clip is awesome, is you can connect any toy to it to keep it from falling on ground! What ever toy Cal was play with I would clip to him, so when he let go of it, we didn't loose it in the great abyss of the germ invested airplane floor.

7. Feed the babe during take of and landing, and any time in between!!!

Feeding on take off and landing helps their ears get adjusted, its similar to us chewing gum! Also, Cal is on a pretty stricked eating schedule, but when we are flying everything goes out the window! I feed on demand to soothe him when needed!



WHAT NOT TO DO:

Don't over fill your diaper bag! It's hard enough to reach down and get into it with a baby on your lap anyway. Pack three toys maximum! When you overstuff your diaper bag it become useless!

Homemade {Teething Biscuit}

Our boy has no teeth but he is a drool factory, which leads me to believe he is teething. Somehow I have become this overprotective momma and I don't want anything but the best ingredients going into  my boy's little body. I'm sure I will get over it, as life gets busy and he requires more food. For now, I am taking advantage of my free time and making teething biscuits from scratch. 

He loves them, and it's keeping him occupied for now! I think these are going to be a great treat to help occupy him when we fly to the east coast next week!

Here are the ingredients:

• 1 cup baby cereal ( I used brown rice baby cereal)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/3 cup organic apple sauce (I made my own, here) 
• 2-4 tbsp cold water

Combine all the ingredients, except for water, into a bowl.  Add water one tbsp at a time until a dough is formed. Roll dough on a floured surface, use cookie cutters of your choice! I experimented with different shapes using a series of round cookie cutters and a straight edge. I also used some of my rubber stamps to imprint designs into the biscuits. 

9-10-11-14

So today is a special day in the Kane house! Todays is the anniversary of the day that made me a Kane, and brought little Cal into existence! Today we celebrated by simply being together. No cards, no gifts; just hanging out, taking naps and playing with our little guy. Honestly, this year, I don't think I would want it any other way! Three years, three years! Not a long time, but at the same time, I can't remember life any other way! 

As time goes on, we grow, and change we lose more and more of the "me" and concentrate on the "us". Something that was so hard for me as a new bride! I remember feeling like, I not only lost my name, but my independence. I had such a tight grip on "me". The most important lesson I've learned thus far, is that our Marriage needs to always win. In all of our circumstances; there is a third party, it's our MARRIAGE and Marriage always wins! Pride takes a back seat, and humility jumps up front! If that doesn't make you a better person, then I don't know what will! Isn't that what this whole marriage thing is about anyway? Isn't it about another person loving you into being 'the best you, you can be'?

I heard something significant at a wedding a few weeks ago. It has stuck with me ever since, so I hope you don't mind if I share! I hope I get this right:

At the end of the wedding the pastor asked the new bride and groom to hold hands. He went on to say, "right now you are holding the most important thing you will ever hold; and any time you let go it will be for something less important" 

How significant! I'm still a baby to most married couples, Mikie and I have so much more life to live together. As things get crazy, our family grows, and life changes I need to hold on tightly to the thing that is most important.

I want to share with you some pictures! Every year we take an anniversary picture, here they all are!

9-10-11

 9-10-12-I was surprised with a weekend trip to Reno! We stopped on the way in a spot over looking Tahoe National Forest!

 9-10-13- Here we are right after we found out we were pregnant with Cal, at our first doctors appointment!

 9-10-14- This is in our backyard!

So here is where I say a quick 'thanks' to the man who made me a wife and momma! Mikie thank you for being so patient and helpful, thank you for being my teammate and loving me into being a better me!

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In other news, Cal rolled over (from tummy to back) in his crib all by himself today! Oh yea, and he's obsessed with his feet!

Boy Version

Cal's celeb look alike is the Gerger baby! 

Cal's First Taste of Food {if you want to call it that}

Baby Cereal is so strange.

We finally made our first attempt at feeding Cal cereal. We had heard it would take several times for him to figure out how to eat it. Our guy proved everyone wrong and ate the whole serving his first try.

We wanted to see if cereal at night would help him sleep better. I had read that giving a baby cereal at night to improve sleeping was an old wives tale, but I'm desperate for night time sleep and willing to try anything! Well, it didn't work.  His sleep patterns did not change at all.

After reading some current articles about introducing babies to solid foods, I think we will stop the cereal and re-visit feeding him at six months old. This is a really great article about introducing baby to solid foods with up to date resources!

Here are some pictures :-)

{A Belly Laugh}

  I never thought I would be one of those moms that gush over their children and celebrate the littlest things! Here I am, (WARNING) i'm about to do it! I will try to justify it by saying, we stare at these little human beings, that literally do nothing, for 3 months and then when they finally 'do something' it's worth celebrating! The least I can do is keep it off facebook, so I'm leaving it up to you,  you can choose if you want to participate in these little celebrations! So here it goes:

This boy laughed out loud at me yesterday (Sept 3). IT WAS THE BEST! I only got a few and then it was over. I'm sure these giggles will come more frequently in the next couple of weeks. His little laugh is perfect.

{Encouraging Diaper Bundles}

I get a new niece today! Hannah is actually in labor as I type this. I wish there was a way I could be with my sister to celebrate this new life. Unfortunately with my little one, I wouldn't be much help! Yesterday, I prepared a package to send to her! In it was some fun/encouraging diaper bundles! I bought a large pack of new born diapers, on half of them I wrote fun and encouraging notes to make night time diaper changes a little more fun! Someone did this for me, and it really was great, I looked forward to reading them in the middle of the night! Also, it is a great reminder that there are women everywhere doing this, and it will not last forever!