Let's talk Baby Food...

Before Tucker was even born, I knew I wanted to make his baby food.  The main reason for this is because, I want to know exactly what he is eating, without any additives or ingredients I don't know about. By making his food, I know he is getting pure, fresh, food with nothing extra added.  With all of the weird ingredients in food these days it just scares me.  Food is just not as simple as it used to be in the old days!  When I was pregnant, I was so careful about anything I put in my body.  I wouldn't even eat McDonalds! (watch Food Inc. and you'll never want to eat it again either!)  So...now that Tucker is here, I want to be just as careful about what is going into his little body.  Call me crazy, but I think, because our food has changed SO much is one of the many reasons there are SO many new diseases, sicknesses, disorders, etc...which led me to make all of Tucker's food.  And I love doing it, it's fun!

It starts out like this...

Today I just happen to be making Tucker some Asparagus and Butternut Squash.

I also added a little mint to the Asparagus and Green Beans, which he loves :)

I start off by peeling and chopping whatever vegetables or fruit I am making that day.  And put them in the Beaba Babycook to steam and puree them.  I Love the Beaba, because it does both steaming and pureeing!  It's super easy to use and I highly recommend it to anyone!  I make a variety of different foods with the Babycook.  Some of Tucker's favorites include Zucchini, Sweet Potatoes, Pears, Mangos, Peaches, Plums, Apples, and Green Beans. 

After I've pureed, I then transfer the food to whatever I'm going to store it in.  I usually store Tucker's food in one of two things.  The Beaba flower or Green Sprouts cubes. These guys...

The Beaba flowers are great for freezing!  Simply put the food into the flower and freeze..when you are ready to use the food, it pops right out in perfect 2 oz. servings.

Then you just heat and serve!  Pretty neat, huh?


I use the Green Sprouts cubes more for when Tucker is at school and then also when we are out and about.  The cubes are like reusable baby food jars!  I can also label them for when he goes to school.  They are great too!  So instead of Gerber jars, this is what I travel with :)

Like I said before, I love making his food!  It doesn't take a lot of time and it's very cost efficient as well.  I also, love knowing he is getting fresh food chalked full of nutrition!  When it comes time for Tucker to eat, I microwave to warm it up or if we are out I just serve at room temperature since the food has usually been in the diaper bag.



My main goals when feeding Tucker are to make sure he is healthy and happy...

And I think so far...my mission has been accomplished!

Tucker's Dedication Day

"Start off children on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it."

Proverbs 22:6

Tucker's dedication was this past Sunday at our church, Church of The Highlands.  It was a very special day filled with lots of prayers for our Tucker.  As hard as it is to comprehend, because I really can't imagine anyone loving Tucker more than I do, God does.  God is love.  If it weren't for him I wouldn't even be able to experience this incredible love that I have for Tucker.  I am thankful that God entrusted us to be Tucker's parents, more thankful than I have ever been before in life.  I Love this little boy more than any words could EVER express!

I pray that Tucker will grow up to become a bold man of God.  I pray that Dustin and I can help him become this.  I pray that we can guide, lead, and teach Tucker exactly the way we should and help him to understand just how great the love of Jesus is!

We Love you Tucker Boy! :)

Prolonging the Inevitable...

Websters defines inevitable as...
unable to be avoided, evaded, or escaped; certain;necessary.


I'd say I'm pretty good at prolonging this.  I wait until the very end, until there is no other option, in some areas of life.  I've debated on whether to even share this post, because this has been such a tragic subject for me, hence the prolonging of it! 


A little backstory...before Tucker was born, a sweet co-worker handed down to me this Beautiful cradle that she had.  She told me, "it'll be great for when he first comes home to have by your bed, just for those first nights when he needs to be next to you and Dustin."  I was so thankful for this thoughtful gift.  She even had the bumpers custom made out of this beautiful Chenille, ivory fabric.  See for yourself...

So, when Tucker came home this is where he slept.  And this happens to be the place he still sleeps 7 months later!  First off, let me say this is not just your average size bassinet or cradle.  It's essentially like a miniature crib.  He still has PLENTY of room and loves this thing!  And I know he loves it, because he has slept through the night since he was around 8 weeks old people!  In the early months, any time anyone would mention moving him to his crib (or big bed as I refer to it) I would think..."I just can't yet".  I would respond with, "He is sleeping so well in the cradle, why mess up this wonderful routine we've established?!"  And then I would quickly end the conversation by saying something like, "I am going to let him start sleeping in there very soon" and then I would change the subject :)


So here we are 7 months later and I have Majorly prolonged the inevitable.  How do I know this you ask?  Well, because Tucker woke me up 2 mornings ago up on all fours peeking over the side of the cradle.  How else do I know?  (The next reason may be the reason I was hesitant to post this, but I'm a blogger now and I want to be able to share these new adventures in parenting...so here it goes.)  Tucker also just rolled off of our bed for the first time ever last night!  Which of course, makes you feel like the worst parent ever!  Thankfully, he sustained no injuries and is still the happiest baby I know.  Although, I am going to take these two things happening two days in a row as signs from the Lord that it is time.  Time for the big bed and making this this transition inevitable, unfortunately!


I know Tucker is going to do great with the transition.  He's napped in his crib and sleeps well pretty much anywhere we are with a little white noise on in the background.  It's not like he has to be in that cradle to sleep through the night.  As for me during this transition it will be a little sad, which is why I have been prolonging the inevitable.  Tucker is too mobile now though.  If I had it my way, I would have him sleeping in that cradle until his legs were hanging over the edge, but I cannot risk his safety and him falling out of the beautiful cradle for my own selfishness of me wanting him to be next to us.  So...as of tonight, I am putting our video monitors to good use as he sleeps soundly in his room right next door to us.  Wish us luck...well I guess just wish me luck, because it looks like Tucker is doing just fine already :)

Seven Months!

My sweet Tucker boy,

You are now 7 months old!  (Even though, this post is a little late...I am still new at the whole blogging thing, but I will be all up to date soon)  

You are doing so much now and we love watching you discover, explore, and learn all sorts of new things every day.  You are very mobile now and crawling ALL over the place!  You are sitting so well now and do not stay sitting in one place for very long anymore :)  You still enjoy being held, which I am so thankful for, because I LOVE holding you.  You are loving bath time even more now that you can splash and play with all of your fun bath toys.

You are a great eater.  I am still making all of your baby food and some of your favorites are...pears, zucchini, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, mangos, peaches, and plums.  Your dislikes include...carrots, bananas, and green peas.  Still eating 6-8 oz. bottles and having baby food for lunch and dinner.  Sleeping is still going very well too.  You go down for the night between 7:30-8 and sleep through the night until 6:30-7 the next morning.  I still rock you to sleep every night and sing "Bye Baby Bunting".  To be honest, I hope you want me to rock you to sleep forever!

You are still the Happiest baby I know!  You love to smile and laugh.  You seem so satisfied and content.  Sometimes when you are going to sleep, you want Daddy or me to lay down with you and you love to know we are there by rubbing our face or playing with our ears.  You really do have such a sweet personality!  We truly are excited to wake up every morning to spend our days with you.  We know how blessed we are that you are a part of our lives.  I am so thankful God chose me for the incredible job of being your mommy.  We love to watch you grow and change each month and are so excited to see what God has in store for you in life and honored we get to be a part of this!  You bring so much joy to both of us and are the light of our lives.  We love you buddy boy :)

Christmas!

Yes, I know I am a tad bit late, but I'm new at this so cut me a little slack.  And remember, if nothing else this post will be for Tucker to see when he is a wee bit older to look back on his first Christmas.

Christmas this year Felt like it lasted an entire week for our family!  We have lots of places to be and people to see, which we are so thankful for.

To start off the festivities...we attended two candlelight services.  The first at our church on Friday night.  Let me just say, an auditorium lit by 2,400 people holding candles was pretty Amazing!  The second service took place at Dustin's grandmother's church.  I couldn't think of a better way to start off the Christmas holiday.  It was great!

After our second candlelight service on Christmas Eve, we came home spent some time with my family and then did our traditional opening of one gift and started our annual watching of the 24 hour marathon of "A Christmas Story".  Since this made mine and Dustin's 10th (yes ten!) Christmas eve together, this was year number 10 he received PJ's from me!  Growing up, my mom and Granny always gave my sister and me pajamas so I had to pass on this tradition which is so special to me.  I am also very glad to be able to share this tradition with Tucker as well...he has many more pairs of Christmas PJ's to look forward to!

Christmas morning Tucker woke us up so excited to see what Santa had left..actually he was probably just hungry, but then was excited to see what Santa brought!

We then made our way to Dustin's meme's for Christmas brunch and Tucker got to open a few more presents there too.  After brunch, presents, checking out the Christmas service online from Pastor Chris at Church of the Highlands, we ended the morning by watching the original "Miracle on 34th Street" while Tucker had a little nap.  For dinner, we traveled on to Dustin's mom for an untraditional, yet awesome, Christmas meal consisting of steak, potatoes, and salad.  Untraditional, but a nice break from all of the Holiday meals!  It was so delish!  We then exchanged gifts and Tucker opened a lot of great, fun toys from GiGi!  It was a great day filled with lots of family time and LOTS of toys for Tucker boy!  

Dustin and  I ended the night, after putting Tucker to sleep, with a very fun game called "The Logo Game"...one of Dustin's Christmas gifts from me.  He won, as usual, but it was still very fun.  We might even make it a new tradition...ending the night on Christmas night with a board game.  After all, isn't that one of the things that makes the Holidays so special?  Traditions!  

I hope everyone's Christmas was as wonderful as our first Christmas a family of three! :)

It's a new year and a new blog!

Well this is it...

As my New Year's resolution, or New Year's Decision as one of our Pastors at church refers to resolutions, I have decided to start my Blog!  I have been talking about this for some time now and to be honest just haven't had the courage to do it.  My hope for this blog is, if for nothing else, to be a great way to document Tucker's new life and our new life as a family of three!  So...even if no one reads this, which I hope is not the case, at least Tucker will have this blog to look back on someday.  Lastly, as much as I Enjoy reading blogs...I might as well have my own, right?!  Please join me on this new journey as I share stories, pictures, memories, etc... in our adventures in new parenting and our "Vann Life"!