Organic Baby Food for Little Man :)

So. . . don't think I am one of those super uptight moms or anything. . . but I am making Jacob's baby food!  He loves all the fun creations I have whipped up so far.  The weekend that Lauren was up, we decided to tackle this project.  We made Jacob like a month's worth of baby food in 2.5 hours.  I was overwhelmed before we started, but now I see it is EASY!

We steamed him carrots, peas, green beans, and yellow squash.  Then we baked sweet potatoes, butternut squash (in a water bath), and apples.  After cooking, we pureed it in a food processor (thanks mom) with water and then poured it into babyfood freezing containers and ice trays. 
Here I am cutting up the veggies.

Making yellow squash.

Pureeing carrots--yum!

I tasted everything that I made for Jacob before I put it in the trays.  The funny thing was that it was soooooo GOOD!  Everytime I would taste something, I would say how good it was.  Lauren finally said, "Well, if you ever get your jaw wired shut, you'll be set with something to eat!"  Ha!  I don't think it would really be that good :)

Jacob watching as we were being productive.

Having so much fun in my exersaucer!  I can't wait to eat Mommy and Aunt Lauren's food!

Here I am pouring it into the ice trays.  After it freezes, all I have to do is pop it out and put it in a freezer bag for storage.   Super fun!

Aunt Lauren & Uncle Stan Pay a Visit!

Aunt Lauren & Uncle Stan came for another visit on the weekend of March 9-11th!  Lauren stayed at our house to help out with little man and Stanley hung out with Steph, Em, and Hannah at their house.  Brett was out of town with a youth group trip to Myrtle Beach, SC.  We decidded that Jacob might not be up for a youth trip so soon (staying up long hours, etc).  So, he and I stayed home and Lauren came up for a visit and to help out.  She arrived late Friday and stayed until late Sunday night.  We had so much fun!

We went on walks and took long naps (Jacob did)!  Lauren loves to be silly with him and always had him laughing big time!  With Brett absent, she was the voice of reason saying, "Katherine, he does NOT need a jacket!  It is 75 degrees out there!"  Brett was thanking her all the way from Myrtle Beach :)

Uncle Stan came over to have dinner with us on Saturday night.  Em had been having fevers during the week and Jacob hadn't been 100% either.  So. . . we decided to let our little ones get healthy and not have a big meal together at Steph's. 

I love my toy time! 

Uncle Stan had a short visit, but Little Man loved him being there!

Thanks so much for coming to hang out with us LBJB!  Jacob loved spending time with you and can't wait to see you soon!

Happy Cousins!

It has been WORK getting these little ones in a picture together!  As you can see, we managed to get this first shot with no one looking :)  Jacob and Em were dying to get out of my arms and Hannah just wanted to get snuggled up.  Jacob and Em are starting to get so interested in each other.  Jacob tries to touch Emily's face everytime they get together.

Here I am helping Aunt Stephanie do something.  Jacob and I went over to hang out while Bert was out of town for a couple of hours.  We had a great time, but I'm not sure how much helping I did!  At least I was some company :)  We sure do enjoy letting our babies hang out!

Here we are trying to get an official cousins picture for Mimi as she has requested many times!  We tried with Jacob in the middle, but he wasn't sure about having anything to lean on.  So. . .

We put Emmy in the middle and he really liked that!

Emmy liked that too!  We love you sweet babies and can't wait for you all to grow up together!  So happy you are here with us Hannah Banana!

Brett's Birthday Weekend!

The weekend of Brett's birthday was super fun!  Unfortunately for Brett, he had a weekend class that weekend, so he was in class from Friday from 2-10 and on Saturday from 9-5.  Mom was still up here with Steph for Hannah and Dad came up too!  We really missed Stanley (who was sick) and didn't want to come and get our little ones sick.  On Saturday, Dad came down to help with Jacob since my back was still hurting.  He loved getting to see little man and Jacob loved to getting to hang out with him!  Here they are reading books below:

Then we did some tummy time and Jacob played us a song!

Papa Stan held Jacob while I helped Brett with his birthday dinner!  He did the most work of all for this dinner since we were all covered up with little ones!

Mimi and Emily making Uncle Brett's favorite cheesecake bites!

Emmy Jean wishing Uncle Brett a happy birthday!  Too cool in her sunglasses :)

Brett getting to hold miss Hannah for the first time!  We love you Brett and are so thankful for the wonderful husband you are to me and the wonderful father you are to Jacob.

Nana & Papa visit NC!

On the weekend of the 17^th, Brett’s parents came in to help celebrate his birthday.  They arrived late Saturday morning on a beautiful day and Jacob had soooo much fun seeing them.  We ate a late lunch at the Farmer’s Table in Bunn and then came back home for J baby to take a nap.  He loves his Nana and Papa so much!  Nana and Papa both took turns feeding him a bottle, although he was so enamored with them he could hardly eat!  I think he definitely remembered them from Christmas and didn’t take any time at all in getting snuggled up with them J

We think it is so funny how big he looks in Nana's lap!

Playing with Papa

Mommy got in on the feeding action while Nana and Papa helped Brett with dinner.

We miss them (and all our other family too!) being in GA and look forward to living closer to them one day so that Jacob can really know all his grandparents.

Hannah Elizabeth Watts is Here--February 14, 2012

The afternoon of Valentine’s Day, little Hannah Elizabeth Watts decided to make her entrance into the world!  Emily and everyone else were so excited to meet her.  They all said that Em was not too sure about her mama being up in that hospital bed and wanted to “hold” Stephanie (aka “get a hug”).  Mimi and Papa Stan came to take care of Em while Steph and Bert were in the hospital.  Hannah has been such a sweet girl from the very beginning. 

Here I am getting to hold her for the first time. Brett and Jacob had to wait down in the lobby because babies under one can’t go up to the floor. Also, Brett was still sick with the aforementioned Brohchitis. I was such a proud aunt and think it is so fun that Jacob and Hannah will be in the same grade in school. He’ll have to be her big protector! He might be Emily’s too, if he can catch up with her on height and weight J

Sweet baby girls!  Hope they'll have as much fun as Steph and I did being sisters :)

February Challenges and Mimi Comes to Help :)

February was a month that we wished had passed a little faster. It wasn't like a Biblical plague or anything, but I was starting to think: "What could happen next!!??" :) The first thing to happen was a problem with my back. One night I was playing with Jacob and my back went OUT! I couldn't move for a minute and I had tremendous pain in my back and shooting pain in my legs. For the three weeks prior, I had been letting Brett know that my back was starting to hurt pretty badly. That night, it gave out from carrying my almost 22 lb baby and made it so that I could hardly walk. For the next three weeks, I was not to pick up anything heavier than 10 lbs, which made it very difficult for me to take care of Jacob. Basically, someone had to babysit me while I babysat Jacob. It was pretty funny and logistically difficult. So, the very weekend that I hurt it, Brett had class and was going to be away from the house from 2pm-10pm Friday and from 9am-9pm Saturday. We were going to have to pay someone to stay with me for all that time so that I wouldn't injure it further. So. . . Mimi came to the rescue! Praise the Lord for my sweet mama! She came to pick up Jacob for me and help me take care of him and then helped me do all kinds of housework that I couldn't get to myself. It was definitely one of the most thankful I have been for to my mom (second only the weeks following Jacob's birth!).

Jacob loves his stroller that Papa Stan got for him!

On Saturday morning, Brett woke up and said that he had run a fever all night. When we finally got him to the Dr. later that day, he had a bad case of bronchitis. His cough was really bad and was keeping him uncomfortable most the night and day. By Sunday, Jacob was sick too and had lots and lots of congestion with a bad cough. He woke up multiple times at night for about a week there. I was thinking, "if we can just make it through Febuary. . . " :) Praise the Lord, Brett got over it finally after about two weeks, Jacob's sickness cleared up about the same time, and my back continued to improve drastically. When it rains, it pours, but we had lots of blessings along the way through good help!

Here is little man snuggling up for his last bottle one night. At the same time that we were having a few sicknesses at the Sanders, we had lots of close friends that were battling ilnesses with their little ones. Many of these were sicknesses and problems that had those babies hospitalized. It humbled us and really drove home what a blessing it is to have a healthy baby. We were a bit sick but were able to stay together and keep our little one at home. As I followed others' stories of 10 day hospital visits, I thought about how much my priorities had changed in the past year. Now there isn't anything Brett nor I wouldn't do to have a healthy baby.

That precious smile!

Sweet baby cousins holding hands!