Mommy FTW

Cameron loves to swing.  So yesterday while we were out and about in the afternoon we stopped at Camel Park (at the corner of Carlton and Dekalb in Fort Greene) for an impromptu ride on the swings – but they were all wet from the morning’s rain storms.  Usually I have a cloth with me for dealing with such occasions, but I hadn’t planned ahead this time.  I thought to myself… what do I have with me that is absorbent?  Duh, a diaper!

Mom Genius At Work!

Swinging Happily

So next time you are out and you need something to dry off a wet swing, try using a diaper.  It worked like a charm!

Over the winter months I do a lot of cooking in the oven.  It’s so much easier and less messy than on the stove, and I don’t mind that it makes my apartment nice and toasty either!  I recently discovered that Cameron enjoyed the roast chicken breast I was making.  It’s so easy I thought I would share the method.  For those less inclined cooks out there – don’t worry, it’s super easy!  This uses chicken breast on the bone, with the skin on.  I don’t give Cameron the skin, but it helps keep the chicken moist during cooking.

Set your oven to 400

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray (or you can use a dutch oven or casserole type dish)

Place the chicken bone side down / skin side up on the baking sheet

When the oven is up to temperature, bake for 45 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 165.

That’s it!  If you want to make this for yourself – I would add some salt and pepper to the chicken before baking it.

Of course Cameron can’t eat all this at once, so I take off a few bits at meal time and leave the rest wrapped up in the fridge.

Cameron has both the Baby Capilene as well as the Baby Puff Rider Jacket from Patagonia as part of his winter gear.  They keep him super warm, and although they were a bit pricey, I think they were worth it.  Well, now these items are 30% off (in store, or at Patagonia.com.)

I love my baby long underwear

So check out the Patagonia Winter Sale going on now through January 19th for some gear for your little one.  Oh, and plenty of Adult styles are on sale too if mom or dad need help keeping warm as well!

For a few months now Cameron has been really into the various locks on our front door, and likes for me to hold him up to them while he fiddles.  Needless to say this gets tiring for me after a few minutes.  Over Christmas while we were in DC at my parent’s house I saw they had borrowed a Melissa and Doug Latches Board from a neighbor.  Cameron (and I) were so happy with this toy I stole it from my parent’s house and brought it home!  (Sorry Mom!)  I had no idea such a toy existed!  Unlike many of Cameron’s toys, this one seems to have appeal day after day.  He is getting good at some of the easier latches and locks, but the harder ones still vex him.  So, I hope this one will be popular for awhile.  On Amazon I found two versions of the Melissa and Doug Latches board – we have the second one pictured, but I think they both have the same idea.

I think this is the newer version of the Latches Board

The one we have looks like this

This Christmas when we were driving down to DC to visit my family we stopped at Chick Fil A.  My trusty Skip Hop plate was packed away in the trunk, but it didn’t matter!   They gave us a great table topper that stuck to the table – it kept the germs away from Cameron, and made his mess fairly easy to clean up.

Cameron enjoys his Chick Fil A

I checked out Amazon to see if I could find something like this to keep in my diaper bag, and indeed I was able to!

This one comes with a pop up travel case

These toppers (above) have a sesame street theme and come with a pop up travel case – great for diaper bags!  There are other themes too, if your little one isn’t into Sesame Street.

Yesterday the family hit the slopes in Fort Greene Park for a little sledding.  Lucky for us there was an abandoned baby sled in the basement of our building!  Cameron totally loved it.  I got asked by a lot of parents where I got the sled, so I did a little research on Amazon to find a baby sled that looked similar:

Cameron's sled

Found on Amazon....

Click here to check it out so next time you’ll be ready! I think since we already have access to the baby sled, I will get these sleds so that the whole family can sled together on the next snow storm.

Cameron’s first birthday was at the end of November, so he just got a bunch of new toys.  If you are looking for some ideas of what to get your little one – maybe these suggestions will help.

School bus from fisher price:

Cameron pushes this thing all around the apartment!

Magnetic letters (these are a great distraction while I am making Cam food):

Keep your baby busy while you're in the kitchen

If you prefer wooden magnetic letters, Melissa and Doug make some.  They also make some wooden magnetic animals that are super cute!

Classic Radio Flyer bike:

So far Cam just rings the bell, but I know he will grow into this toy!

Matchbox cars:

I'm sure these will be a favorite for years to come

Some of these items should get years of use – I remember playing with magnetic letters on my fridge while growing up for a long time!  Anyways, I hope this gives you some ideas.  Generally, it’s not too late to order from Amazon with standard shipping in most cases.  And if you have Amazon Prime, you have until the 21st!  Just check on each product to see what Amazon recommends.  Good luck!

I’ve been struggling to get Cameron to eat his vegtables lately, and I had a nice butternut squash my mom had brought me from her garden, so I thought I might as well use it and make some soup – I hoped Cameron would eat it.  But at least I knew I would enjoy it, if he didn’t. Well, it turned out to be a hit, so I thought I would share my recipe:

Tasty Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash cubed

1 apple (I didn’t bother to peel it) cubed

3 carrots cut in big chunks

2 onions cut in big chunks

2 cloves of garlic

Butter, Olive Oil

Low Sodium Chicken Stock

nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste

Here’s what it looked like before I pureed it

Saute the onions and garlic in 1 TB of olive oil and 1TB of butter on medium heat until translucent. Add the rest of the veggies and fruit, stir around and let cook another minute or so. Add enough chicken stock to cover all the veggies. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer untill everything is tender – 30 minutes or so.

Puree or use a food mill. Add nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste. I didn’t really add any salt to the soup, but instead added it to my portion as I heated that up. Also to mine I added some hot sauce.

I served Cameron his soup over some rice yesterday, and today I am going to serve it over some orzo (little pasta that looks like rice).

I’m pretty sure you could make this soup with any squash, and just throw in any veggies you have in the fridge!

It is a rule of mommyhood that in cold weather you must bundle your baby to the extreme – and one of the best ways I have found to do this is to start with a base layer of baby long underwear.  Patagonia has some which they call Baby Capilene.  It’s nice and light, and nice and warm at the same time.  Here is Cameron modeling his Baby Capilene this morning (He is 12 months, I got him the 18 month size so we’d have plenty of room):

I love my Baby Capilene

It's comfy and cozy!

This year I really wanted to do a holiday photo card featuring Cameron, so I turned to my new favorite place to shop, Etsy.  There are SO MANY to choose from – it’s great!  Check out these search results for “holiday photo card” to see what I mean.  Most of the sellers seem to have digital files they send you once your picture and text is inserted (mine even let me change the card text a little to suit my needs).  You take the file to Walgreens (or someplace like that) where you can print them out, or in some cases you can have the seller do the printing for you – which is what I opted for.

Here are a few samples of the cards I was looking at as well as links to the shops of the sellers, so you can see even more options.

Links to the shops of the card sellers:  Chase and Cole (card 1) Luke Commasara (card 2) and Lil Sprout Greetings (card 3).  And the shop where I got my card from (I’m not telling which one!) Elan Ink.