Everyday and 6 Months

Here are some pics of every day life moments along with Millie's 6 month debut. (I didn't realize that I made her look like she's straight out of an 80's exercise video until after I took the pictures...)

Asher cozying up to his sis in the Bumbo

My whispy-haired man

Strawberry sweetheart

Stories with Papa

Slobbery kiss for you!

'Tis the Season

... for weddings that is! Now that I'm at the stage of life where I'm attending more baby showers than bridal showers, I have a renewed zest for weddings and all that comes with them! This is especially true for my little bro who is having his very own wedding Labor Day weekend. Yaaaay! And his awesome bride, Lucy, has so kindly asked me to be her matron of honor. All the more fun. :)

The bridesmaids and mothers of the bride and groom are hosting a shower next month. Yours truly made the invites. Check it:

As I put these together, I forgot how much I truly love making things. Particularly paper crafts. I get such a sense of accomplishment and I couldn't wait to see what Lucy would think of them. There's just something significant when someone creates something, especially for another person. What an honor it is to be a matron of honor!

Powersauce

Have you ever eaten something thinking it's healthy and then later read the label or somehow found out it really wasn't? Don't you hate that? Like the Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds I had for breakfast. Yep, high fructose corn syrup in it. For real? I try to not let that wretched stuff in my cabinets! Grrrrrrrr....

I've even had that kind of an experience with applesauce lately. I always feel so good and proud when serving it to my toddler. We always buy unsweetened and sometimes even organic. Oh how health savvy we are, right? In my eyes, the fewer ingredients, the better. So when the label reads: apples and water, I'm happy. It's not like applesauce is bad by any means, but I was hoping that there was more good stuff in it. You know, apples are high in fiber, vitamin A and vitamin C. So that's good stuff. Except that the label isn't showing that those things are present. Hmmmm.... I guess that's what happens when you take the skins off and boil and process the crap out of it. Bummer!

I've come to find that food in its purest form, how it was created to be (you're a smart one God!), is simply the best.

So does that mean out with applesauce in the Martin household? Not by any means! We'll just tweak it a little. Here's what I did to give our boring old sauce a power boost:

Dumped one large jar (50 oz) of boring, unsweetened applesauce in a mixing bowl

Took 1 bag of frozen organic blueberries and pureed them in a food processor

Measured out 4 tablespoons of ground flax seed

Add them all together and you've got some Powersauce, baby.

The blueberries add a boost of antioxidants and the flax seed adds some serious fiber and Omega 3 fatty acids. That's more like it!

I was afraid it might be a bit tart, but it tasted really good. Most importantly, the little man gobbled it up! We may never eat plain applesauce again!

Not Just for Babies

So Asher caught a bug or some type of sickness or is getting more teeth- who knows... But this drippy nosed, low-grade fever man wants "Up Mama" on the regular the past 2 days. This evening I really wanted to be able to serve dinner at a decent hour so I broke out the trusty sling that was Millie's BFF the first few months and still is on occasion. I remembered seeing a YouTube on how to do a hip and back carry with older babies and toddlers. Here is the result:

Mama's Day

Asher said it as well as he could, "Happy. Mama. Day.". Oh how I've enjoyed being celebrated these past two Mother's Days. And not just being celebrated, but celebrating all of the other, incredible mamas I'm surrounded by, of all ages. I can think of nothing else I'd rather do than be a mama. I truly think I was created for this. Of course I have other purposes in life too, but this takes the cake. A big, fat piece of the most amazing cake you've ever eaten. And sometimes it leaves you feeling stuffed, or exhausted or disgusted even. But most of the time, it leaves you brimming with joy, laughing, smiling, wanting more...

A gift Asher made at the sitter's. Def teared up when he handed this to me.

The best mama example a girl could have right here. I hope and pray that Millie and I will have a relationship like my mom and I do.

5 Month Pics

WAY overdue, but here they are. This sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet girl is rolling all over the place and really making the effort to crawl. What?! Big bro didn't do that 'til he was 10 months, but this chick is a mover and a shaker. A little peanut gymnast.