The orange ones come first....

So today I had some unexpected time to myself with nothing to do.  I think the last time that has happened was sometime before Max.  Anyways I thought I would get a jump on making some of Max's baby food.  I trekked up to the grocery store and bought organic carrots, butternut squash, sweet potato's, zucchini, pea's and green beans.  My total at the register was only $14!  Today I decided to make the orange one's.  We have been told that you give orange vegetables first.  If I was a stay at home mom I would just make a small batch at a time and keep it for 3 days in the fridge and feed Max it fresh, but with me working 4 days a week that will be impossible.  So I am making a medium sized batch and freezing in 1oz size portions.  That way we can just pull out a cube at a time.

I got a great baby food cookbook for Christmas that I am using to help me get started. There are several ways to cook the food- steam, boil, bake, microwave.  Today I decided to use a few different ways to see which way was easier for me.  I ended up liking all methods but the steaming was definitely the easiest!

I diced up the sweet potato's and put them in the steamer. 

 I sliced the squash in half(cleaning out the seeds) and placed face down in a baking dish with a little water and put in the oven. 

For the carrots I cleaned and sliced up and put in a blow of water in the microwave.  The carrots were done first so off the the food processor they went.  I added a little breast milk to help it thin to the consistency I wanted.  After the carrots were done in the processor I put them in a ice cube tray with a lid.  After cooling, into the freezer.

All together I made 32 food servings for Max for probably only $7.  I haven't even looked at the prices of baby food int he stores but I am guessing this is a lot cheaper! Not only cheaper but I know exactly what is in Max's baby food.

Cereal time!!!

Max has reached a big milestone in his life, he is now eating solid(well semi-solid) food!! As I wrote in a previous post we are waiting till 6months to start him on food. I decided to start him on cereal at 5 1/2 mo because cereal helps him learn how to eat. Well this past Sat morning we mixed up his first batch. I mixed it per box instruction and it was basically milk on the spoon. Max wasn't so sure about and most of the cereal ended up on his bib. We gave him so more at night(a little thicker) and he did a bit better. Well 5 days have passed and man does he love his cereal!! We are just giving it to him in the morning after he nurses/bottle and after his bedtime feeding. He loves it so much that today at the sitters he wouldn't eat his bottle because he saw his cereal bowl and in the evening times if Scott starts to get his bumbo on the table and turns on the light he stops nursing and starts whining for it!

Max with his first cereal

Max on day 4 of eating cereal

We got our canvas in the mail this week. I got a great Groupon coupon for either $40 or $45 for canvasondemand.com. The canvas normally cost $126 so we got a great deal!!

Max is also starting to scoot! This evening I had him on the floor playing and the next thing I knew he was about 6 inches closer to me! I watched him and he was pushing his knees up! Yeah for Max!!

Here is Max's contribution to the blog!

yuuf t568iyy

Starting the new year

We have had a busy start to the new year. Scott and I went to a party with some friends and Max spent the night with aunt Jackie on NYE. We left shortly after the ball drop and headed home, I just wanted to go home and sleep. Yeah I know no fun anymore but I will take advantage of any sleep I can get!

I started my new full time job on the 3rd and am sooooo excited! I am now working 4 days a week and get vacation time and a retirement plan!! This is my first job that I have ever had that has any benefits! Not only that but I am working with GREAT people!! I have also joined the world of Ebaying(thanks to Amy) and have some of Max's item's up for sale. That is a job in its self!

Scott and I have planned(well mainly me...I love to plan!!) a trip to New york city in March for Scott's spring break/our anniversary. We are so excited and this will be Max's 2nd big trip(first was to the beach). All we really have planned is to do the double decker bus--easier to sight see with Max, and Scott and I are going to a show. I have a friend from college/work and his wife and kids that live in Brooklyn so wonderful Nikki has said she would love to watch Max while we go see the show! They have a son who is about 6months older than Max so they will have a great time playing! I splurged and got a new stroller for our big trip. It is a Maclaren. They are all over the city and by far the most popular stroller in NYC. They fold up quickly, have a shoulder strap, and are light so perfect for going down to the subway and weaving in and out of walking traffic.

Max is continuing to grow and change everyday! He now hates to lay down. He wants to sit! He try's so hard to sit up when he is laying down. I am thinking in the next few weeks he will be sitting up on his own. He is still bobble's some but does pretty good with pillows propped up around him. He is also big enough to start using some of his cool things we got as shower gifts. He loves his froggy bouncer!!

The Bolden's 2010 in photo's

Grandma's December visit

My mom and brother came down from Michigan on the 26th for 4 days. This was the first time she had seen Max in person since she left in Aug., when he was only about a week old. She was amazed by how much he has changed and how he is such a big boy! While grandma was here Scott and I took advantage of that by going shopping without Max and we even went and saw a movie! Grandma made a great babysitter! Max really like his uncle Daniel, one afternoon they played on the floor for about 45minutes and Max was just entranced!

Christmas...the many events

We had a total of 8 Christmas events this year. The first one was on the 19th(see previous post). Christmas continued on the 23rd with most of Scott's family heading up to Nashville to Scott's Aunt Glenda's house. We play dirty Santa here which is always fun!

On Christmas eve we hung out at our house then headed to Aunt Jackies for a night filled with the Christmas story(it starts at 7pm on TBS and runs over and over for the next 24 hours). More presents were opened and fun was had!


Christmas morning was at our house. Scott's dad and sister stayed the night Christmas eve and his mom and step dad came over in the morning. Scott's dad cooks a big Christmas breakfast and then we open presents. I am really torn over how we will do Christmas. Santa doesn't wrap presents in Scott's family so everything from Santa is just laying out so as Max gets older he will see everything all at once and can even sneak a peak before everyone gets up. Santa always wrapped for my family.....and wrapped everything including your stocking. It is easier for Santa not to wrap because he is so busy but makes me a little sad not to see Max's face light up over and over again as he unwraps his presents from Santa. Anyways Max was a really good boy and got a ton of great stuff!!



Christmas afternoon we head to Scott's Great Aunt's house for lunch.

Christmas night we go to Scott's mom house where we also celebrate with his step brothers. I didn't get any pics because we were all worn out at this point.

The day after Christmas my mom came to visit from Michigan. This was our last real Christmas event.

A few days later we had some of the kids over(just Madison Claire and Ryan could make it) and they exchanged gifts and played.

Whew are you exhausted?! We sure where! I can hardly imagine what this will be like next year when Max is running around!

and Christmas begins....

This past Sunday was Christmas with my dad. We all got together at Karyl's house for some yummy food(too bad I couldn't eat any of it) and presents. This was Max's 1st Christmas adventure and he did great. We opened his presents(of course) and pushed all the button's and he really seemed to like them. He was all about grabbing them :)

Last night Santa came to our neighborhood, so we bundled Max up and headed out to meet him. I think the concept is great, however it was not the real Santa but one of his helpers(I'm guessing about the age of 15). I think Max knew it wasn't the real Santa and he wanted to prove it by tugging on his beard ;)

The next few days are going to busy so look for a big Christmas post in the next week or so. Merry Christmas!!!