I'm so domestic!

Ha. At least I'm trying to be.

Anyways, when I found out I was pregnant I knew immediately I wanted to breastfeed for as long as I could. I wanted to do whatever I could to benefit my daughter. I watched several women struggle with this during my pregnancy and I wondered if I even could?!? 

So I turned to research. I wanted to educate myself the best I could on breast feeding, and I feel like I did. I knew a natural delivery would allow oxytocin to be released which would greatly benefit my breastfeeding journey.

Thankfully we had no issues with latch, milk production, nipple confusion, etc. and she nursed for over 9 months! However she refused a pacifier, which I'm thankful for, but it would have been a nice option ;)

Anyways, I also knew that I would try to feed her as much whole and organic foods as we could. So I set my mind on making her baby food. I didn't have a fancy schmancy baby brezza (or whatever!).. I had ice cube trays and a one cup food processor. And you know what? IT WORKED FINE! I made everything for her to eat and froze it for future feedings. She loved it! She even ate it partially frozen, poor deprived child... 

Once we started branching out to different things to snack on (fruit snacks, cereal bars, crackers) I realized I could probably make them too.. So today I took the fruit snack plunge head first!! And it was a SUCCESS! 

See? The 2 empty ones are from Jarrods taste testing.

Simple and easy.. Here's the recipe!

2/3 cup juice concentrate (I added a little more after I measured, so maybe 3/4 cup)

1 box (4 packets) unflavored gelatin

Both ingredients were a little over $1.00. So I would say I spent $2.50 max on these.

Pour the juice in first and then the gelatin. Let sit for 5 mins.

Simmer over medium heat until gelatin is dissolved. Pour into molds (or if you don't have any like me - a mini muffin pan! 

Simple, delicious and 100% fruit juice with no added sugars or preservatives!

Graceyn says YUM.

Blessed.

Insta-Sunday

I'm attempting to make this a weekly post, since I obviously struggle with posting!!

I worked up 2 large pumpkins this week. I yielded about 26 cups of pumpkin between the 2.. It's a lot of work; pumpkins are slimy and slippery and I used a LARGE knife. Thankfully (and just barely) I still have all my fingers ;) I'm looking forward to pumpkin pie, pumpkin butter, and pumpkin muffins! 

This is "my pretty" at uncle Jordan's wedding. I die with the cuteness. That cheesy grin warms my heart!

Haha. Tonight Pappaw came out carrying Graceyn in her old infant seat! It was a flashback for sure!

This is how Graceyn helps me organize her clothes. I'm not sure how I ever did anything without her help!

This was a repost from a friend at church. This is the youth of the BOC (Body of Christ) singing at a camp meeting. Every year in June and October our churches from all over come together for this meeting. Amazing.

Until next week... Or sooner, hopefully!

Blessed.

Insta-Sunday

Since I have nothing to post about here lately I've decided to post some pics from my Instagram! My brother in law got married this weekend so I'll post about that sometime in the near future!

Jarrod and Graceyn napping this morning before church. She hasn't slept

well away from home this trip, so this was a nice break for all of us ;)

Texting my friend Jessica about our not so great sleeper....

I visited the restroom at UK's College of Nursing and I was so delighted to see this sign! They even had a private area with a curtain, some chairs and tables, and access to an outlet! Having breastfed Graceyn for over 9 months, I've had my fair share of scouring for places to feed in private!

Jarrod hacked my phone and IG and posted this pic of me studying before my test at UK. Yuck.

A #tbt (throwback Thursday) picture of my baby girl. One of my favorites of her, back talking me I'm sure.

This was a repost from a friend at church. Silly girl!

My bracelet for Ryman Little. Ryman has had 2 liver transplants and she is only 6 months old. Her mother and Jarrod went to school together. Follow her at:

.

http://rymanalilittle.wordpress.com/

Blessed.

Stay at home mom?

So I had the pleasure of taking this past week off from work and spending time with my girl. We had the absolute BEST time! We slept in until 9 every day (woohoo!) and just played all day long.

Before she was born I said I would never want to be a stay at home mom. I love to work and I couldn't imagine being home day in and day out. After she was born I took 12 weeks off to stay home with her, and I was more than ready to go back to work! She wasn't a good sleeper and she was generally fussy, so I always needed a break :)

Now that she has become so independent and a great sleeper (and napper!) I kind of wish I could stay home with her. I know that this feeling wouldn't last forever, and eventually I would want to to back to work. But for now I wish I could hang out with her whenever I wanted to and go to work whenever I wanted to. I can wish, right??

So for now I will wish... And one of these days I'll work LindseyPRN (aka when I want to, not when I'm needed!)

Blessed.

More Florida!

The weather in Florida was TERRIBLE! It poured almost the entire time, the waves were rough, and red flags were up the whole weekend. Good thing we didn't go to hang out on the beach. We didn't let the bad weather stop us. We did lots of shopping and hanging out with the family!

Here's the cousins.. Cute as can be! 

Not a bad view!

Jarrod, my mom, and stepdad went deep sea fishing. Look at their catches! Jarrod got a 30lb wahoo, the biggest catch of the day!

In other news.....

Graceyn today you are 13 months old!!

I wish I had been blogging since you were born so I could keep up with your monthly stats!

At your 12 month appointment you were 

22lbs, 10oz and 30 inches long. I imagine your a little over 23 pounds now. You've really slowed down when it comes to putting on weight, although you are an endless pit when it comes to eating!

Yesterday morning you had 2 bowls (your size bowls) of cereal, half a banana, and a thing of yogurt FOR BREAKFAST! 

Your mouth is full of teeth now, your constantly cutting one. Luckily for us and you, they don't affect you that bad. You love to brush your teeth! You will go in the bathroom and say "teeth, teeth" and we will brush them for you! 

You are our echo, if we say something you try to say it too. It amazes me how you just say words like you've been talking forever. Some new ones this week are "clothes", "pink", "pumpkin", "pee-pee", "poopy" and "eah" (for Aunt Leah).

We are working on talking to her about using the bathroom, in hopes that potty training is a smooth transition. She has a potty chair and she will sometimes sit on it and read ;)

You love to play peek-a-boo, especially when you are eating! It makes it kind of interesting sometimes! You think just because one eye is covered we can't see you.. We let you think this too :)

Graceyn we love you more than you will ever know, and these past 13 months have been the best!

Blessed.