Baby Monster!

Last night I was sitting on the couch watching the girls play when all of a sudden Michaela climbed onto the couch behind me and tried to hide.  "Watch out for the Baby Monster!" she whispered to me.

"The baby monster?" I asked, trying not to giggle. "Where?"

"Right there!" she whispered while pointing to Dani who was standing up holding the couch. "The Baby Monster is SCARY!" (still whispering)

"Oh... and what exactly is so scary about this Baby Monster?" I asked laughing.  "Her teal shirt or her purple pants?"

"Her scary face!" Michaela whispers back as she burrowed further into the couch.

Before it was all said and done, we were being covered up by blankets as Michaela tried to hide us from that scary Baby Monster and I was being admonished to "shhh, or she'll hear you!"  Of course, Dani was giggling at us and I was laughing hysterically at Michaela's insistence that her drooling baby sister was a "scary Baby Monster!"

Froggers

When I was a baby my parents dressed me in green footy pajamas and referred to me as their little frog (they really were 'Kermit the Frog' green).  Someday after I unpack all those boxes of photos again I will try to find a picture of me in those lovely little pjs to show everyone...  

Anyway, in honor of those froggy days from my past both my girls have gotten many a frog themed gift from my mom, including their latest set of matching froggy footy pajamas.

Ah-yaya

Dani says this a lot and I didn't really think anything of it until last night...

I was putting Dani down to bed and she was snuggling so sweetly on my shoulder that I just knew she was ready to go down.  Of course, right then is when we heard Michaela start crying very loudly (she did NOT want to go to bed).  As soon as Dani heard her big sister, she popped her little head up off my shoulder and turned her face to the door of her room as she said, "Ah-yaya."

If you haven't guessed by now "Ah-yaya" is how Dani says "Michaela."  After figuring this out I have heard Dani saying Ah-yaya quite a bit.  In fact, today she spent about 5 minutes chanting it at a picture of Michaela hanging on the living room wall.

Today she also started saying "da-da-da" at Chris - something I've been working on teaching her for a couple weeks now.  Pretty cute if you ask me.

And for those of you wondering, "MOOOOOOOOOM!!!" was first. Yay me!!! (insert shameless self promotion).  Of course, Dani only says my name when she's mad and trying to find me, hence the yelling.

How I Make Applesauce

As far back as I remember my cousins, sisters, and I were helping my grandma and mom make applesauce every year (not too surprising considering I'm from a family of apple farmers). Now that I am a mom, I too have started making applesauce every fall and when I do I inevitably get at least one person asking me how I make my applesauce or what my recipe is.  I finally decided I would just post about it and tell anyone who wants to know.

Disclaimer: I don't use a recipe.  Never have, never will.  Apples are so varied in size, taste, etc. that I would find it harder to make an applesauce that I liked the taste of if I was working within the confines of a recipe.  Instead I will tell you how I make my applesauce and some tips to help you make some for yourself.

Tip #1: get yourself an apple peeler/corer/slicer like the one pictured below if you're going to make a big batch of applesauce.  It's quick, easy to use, and the clean up is a breeze.  With this handy little tool I was able to prep 10 pounds of apples in about 1 hour. 

Tip #2: I like to use Gala apples for my sauce right now.  Galas are so naturally sweet that I don't have to use any sugar in my applesauce for the girls.  I also recommend using a 2-3 different varieties of apples to make sauce with if you want a more complex flavor.  If you're unsure of what varieties to use for making applesauce check out the Michigan Apples website to see what uses are good for any specific variety you enjoy.  For example, Honeycrisp apples are great fresh, but when cooked or baked they don't work as well.

Here's how the apple/peeler/corer works...

You just stick the apple on the prongs...

and start turning the handle to peel, slice and core the apple all at once.

Here you can see where all the slices are.  It resembles an apple 'slinky' once you are done.

Just pull off the apple slices and you're left with the core...

which you then remove from the prongs to start the process all over again.

  There is a giant suction cup on the base to hold the peeler/corer/slicer in place so you don't have to worry about slicing yourself. 

After I remove the peeled apples I cut them in half and check for any remaining pieces of core, pits, or peel.  I then cut out or off any of these remaining unwanted pieces with a paring knife before putting the sliced apples in a pot to cook.

This is an 8 quart pan.  I left about 3 inches of space at the top to keep from spilling over the edges when cooking.  Depending on how many apples you're making up you can use a much smaller pan. When I was in college and didn't have room to store any applesauce long term so I would make up half a dozen apples as sauce at once in a very small pan... you get the idea.

To cook you just add 1-2 inches of water to the pan and start cooking the apples on medium to medium high heat.  As they start to cook you will want to use a potato masher to break the apple slices down and mix the apples around in the pot for even cooking.  If you want very smooth applesauce, I would suggest using a hand blender or food processor on the applesauce once it's done cooking and cooled a bit.

If your water boils away before the apples break down enough to supply the natural apple juices for cooking just add another cup or so of water.  Remember, the more water you add the more you have to boil away before you're finished.  Continue regular mashing and stirring of the apples until they are thoroughly cooked and are to your desired 'chunkiness'. 

 Once it's all done cooking, remove from heat and add any spices (I like cinnamon and ground cloves) to your desired taste.  You can also add any desired sugar at this time to make the applesauce as sweet as you may want it.

My 10 pound bag of apples made up about 1 gallon of cooked applesauce, which I put into plastic containers, labeled and froze.  They'll keep in the freezer for about a year and we will have homemade applesauce until next fall when I start the whole process all over again. :)

If you have any questions, just leave me a comment and I'll do my best to answer you or point you in the right direction.

Michaela Got Sick

This evening Michaela got sick.  We are pretty sure that she ate some cookies this afternoon with peanuts in them and was having a reaction.  One second she was fine, the next she was throwing up everywhere.  Ten minutes later, after some juice and a bath she was feeling back to her normal self.  Kids are so resilient...

Now, it's always hard to see you kid get sick, but the hardest part was that she didn't have a clue what was happening.  While I cleaned up I could hear her and Chris having the same conversation over and over again.  It went something like this:

Michaela: "What happened to me?" 

Chris: "You got sick."

 

Michaela: "Whaaat happened?"

Chris: "Something made your tummy not feel good and your food came back out your mouth."

Michaela: "Yeah... Why?"

She could just not understand why her food would want to leave her tummy and  come back out her mouth.  Quite frankly, getting sick like that is such an unnatural feeling event that I could completely understand why she couldn't grasp the concept.

Poor kiddo.  We were glad to see her eat some waffles before falling asleep.  Like I said, kids are so resilient...

Saturday Morning

This morning both girls got up before 8 am.  While Chris went and got Dani, Michaela climbed into bed with me.  Early morning, rainy day and snuggly girls.  (deep sigh of contentment)

It was a great way to start the day.  For about five minutes they were both content to just be held by daddy and mommy.  Of course, after our allotted five minutes they both wanted to get up and run around like we had been mainlining them sugar all morning...  oh well, at least we got our five minutes. :)

Mmmm... Apples!

Coming from a family of apple growers I LOVE fall!  Fall is by far my favorite season.  To me it means fresh apples.  Right off the tree fresh. Mmmm.... my mouth is watering just thinking of all the varieties I like. (pause to remove drool)

All these fresh apples means that I will be making massive amounts of applesauce again too (last year was 3 gallons).  To start the applesauce making process this year my mom dropped off two plastic grocery bags full of apples for me last weekend.  Full as in, double bagged to handle the weight and knotted handles to prevent them from tipping over and spilling full.  FULL.  Below you can see part of one bag behind Michaela.

 Michaela was totally showing off for the camera here...

Anyway, I have yet to start the applesauce making process and had to put the bags on the floor the other day while I made dinner.  Dani promptly found the bags and managed to get an apple out of one.  Since this was quite a bit of work on her part, I washed it off for her and let her play with her new chew toy of choice (no teeth = no worries in this case).  Of course, Michaela decided she should start her third (or was it fourth) apple of the day too... 

This one makes me giggle.  Both girls were looking up at Chris because he had just gotten home... hehehe

Bath Time!

Here's a couple pictures from Michaela and Dani's very first bath together.  It was also Dani's very first bubble bath.  They had so much fun together and there were many many giggles from both girls.

 I had to hold Dani's arm the whole time since she's not steady enough to stay sitting up on her own in a slippery tub.

Michaela kept putting bubbles on Dani's head to give her a 'bubble crown'.  With every scoop of bubbles both girls would giggle hysterically at each other.

And even though it's not the best shot - I had to include this one of both girls smiling for Daddy. :)

"I'm making stuff!"

Within the past few weeks Michaela has really gotten into playing kitchen, house, restaurant, or 'making stuff' (as she often calls it).  This past Thursday I was flipping through the channels and stopped for a few seconds on the Food Network.  When I tried to continue channel surfing I got yelled at by Michaela to turn it back so she could watch 'making stuff.'

 

Here's a couple pictures of her 'making stuff' while she watched another Food Network show last night with Chris and I.  It is nothing short of hilarious when your (almost) 3 year old is telling you the list of ingredients and kitchen tools she needs to make her recipe.

Such a proud little cook!

And speaking of recipes... once while we were gone this weekend Michaela was sitting by me doodling on a piece of paper.  I asked her what she was drawing and her reply was, "I'm writing my recipe."

"Oh really, a recipe for what?" I asked.

Her response, "Bacon."

Dani - 7 Months

So, I completely missed doing a 6 month update and thought I'd get a jump start on a 7 month update.  If much changes during the next 4 days I'll let everyone know. ;)

Sleeping:  Dani is still a super sleeper.  I've started giving her the washable stuffed animals that had once all slept with Michaela as well as the original baby doll Michaela had that is also washable.  Big sister has long since outgrown these friends, but Dani is LOVING them.  She has adopted "Dolly" as her favorite sleeping aid/bedtime chew toy and as soon Dolly is handed to her Dani starts snuggling and closing her eyes to sleep.  Needless to say, this is absolutely adorable to watch!

Eating: Dani finally discovered that food other than the liquid stuff from her bottle was interesting.  One night while we were all eating dinner Dani decided she would only stop crying if I held her.  This was also the time she discovered tater tots and tried to steal them off my plate.  She has been excitedly eating baby cereal every day since and will be back to trying new foods and flavors within the week.

Growing: Dani had her 6 month doctor's check up a bit late (due to a confusion on my part) and therefore had a nearly 7 month appointment.  At 97 percentile for her height Dani had outgrown her baby carseat and was upgraded to a rear-facing convertible carseat last week.  She looks so big and grown up in there!

Moving: She crawls everywhere!  It's a funny 'army man' crawl, where she pulls with her arms and kicks one leg to get everywhere, but she gets everywhere so I don't think the method really matters.  Within the past week she has started crawling over large obstacles as well, including mom, dad, pillows, Michaela, stuffed animals, the boppy... you name it.  Two days ago she pulled herself up to standing on her knees by climbing the high chair so she could see her big sister better.  Yesterday, she figured out how to pull herself to standing using Chris or I when we are laying on the floor on our side.  Two days ago was also the day Dani figured out how to walk her legs if someone is holding her hands.  I'm sure that she will be an early walker, quite possibly even earlier than Michaela was at 10 months.  In the above picture Dani was chewing on her lips (for fun of course) and crawling through Michaela's play tunnel.

Personality: Dani is still our sweet, sweet baby.  She is very ticklish and it is very easy to get a giggle or smile from her.  She wants to be involved with anything and everything her big sister is doing, so staying in the exersaucer or jumparoo isn't as fun anymore unless Michaela is within sight.  Dani would much rather be following Michaela around the house playing (and for the record, Michaela does involve Dani in her playing, giving baby sister toys and hugs all over the house).  In the above picture Michaela was not eating her sister, she was giving Dani silly kisses on her head.