Excited for the long weekend.

Saturday morning photo class on the Mall.

Lunch outside with my two favorite people.  Already, she has so much sass!

Ready for Caroline’s first dip in the pool! {She loved it}

A little shopping.

And there’s still one more day to go!

Please be sure to thank a member of our Armed Forces today!

When it came time to introduce Caroline to solid food, I gave the process some thought.  I wanted to be sure she experienced food in the best way possible so that she can have a good relationship with food from the start.  Here are some of the choices we have made for this process.  Please remember that every baby is different and that you should consult with your pediatrician before introducing solids to your child.

Caroline eats the food we eat
95% of the food that we eat is not processed food.  Rather than feed Caroline packaged baby food, I have been preparing her food and will continue to do so.  I’ve tasted jarred baby food and I don’t really like it very much.  Why would we feed that to Caroline? Of course, when we travel I do take a pouch of organic baby food with me for convenience.  We’ve seen though that the processed food does not sit as well with Caroline’s stomach, so we try to limit feeding her pouches of food for dinner as often as we can.

When it comes to organic or conventional, I follow the dirty dozen list for buying organic fruits and vegetables.  I also buy HappyBaby Organic puffs, yogurt melts and rice cakes.  I buy organic milk and yogurt for us, so Caroline will also drink organic milk when she starts drinking cow’s milk and she eats organic whole milk yogurt.  I do have trouble finding organic cheese, so that is normally conventional.

{Source}

Caroline feeds herself the majority of her meals
Since she was very hungry and ready to eat at 4 months, we started her on pureed cereal, oatmeal, vegetables and fruit.  At her six month well child visit, our pediatrician advised us that we could begin giving her poultry and dairy.  I’ll tell you, the idea of pureeing chicken turned my stomach.  Rather, I poached chicken breasts and fed it to Caroline shredded into pieces the size of a rice kernel.  I slowly increased the size of the pieces of chicken over a few weeks until they were large enough that she could feed herself.  Once Caroline reached that point and was also feeding herself puffs, I started giving her chunkier foods to try.  Mashed peas instead of pureed.  Small diced cubes of butternut squash.  Small pieces of cheese.  Lentils.  Chick peas split in half.  Of course, some foods are naturally spoon fed, like oatmeal and yogurt, so I still feed those to Caroline, even though she likes to hold the spoon and guide it to her mouth.

Is this method considered Baby Led Weaning?
I’m not sure that it is.  Caroline’s food is always in very small pieces so that she either uses her pincer grip to pick it up piece by piece or she picks it up by the fistful and shoves it in her mouth. She’s quite the little lady.  What’s different about our approach is that while Caroline is feeding herself we are not giving her large pieces of food to experience.  Instead, we’re making things easy for her to get into her mouth and chew {with her gums}.  We also feed her with the mesh feeder every now and then, usually for banana or avocado, mainly because both of these foods are slippery.  We tried the larger pieces the way baby led weaning suggests, but Caroline gagged a couple of times and it was enough to make this worrywart of a mama change her methods.

We’ve found that a combination of fresh purees and small pieces of food has worked really well for Caroline.  It may not fit into a specific method of feeding, but it works for us which is all that matters.  She enjoys the process of eating and has not yet met a food that she does not like.

As with everything else with parenting, there seems to be a million and one different ways to do things.  How did you introduce food to your baby?

Have a wonderful long weekend!  

I’ve told you all that I have a hard time fitting in fitness.  Yesterday when I was working from home, I took 30 minutes to do a workout over lunch.  It was full body, didn’t require any equipment and it totally made me sweat.  I found this one on Pinterest.  The pin says it’s from Iowa Girl Eats, but I can’t find it on her site :-/

I did this through three times.  WOW my legs were shaking on that last wall sit.  I’m looking forward to doing this one again periodically to see how much stronger I feel as times goes on.

If you give this workout a try, let me know how it goes for you!

While I’m glad that Pinterest did not exist when I was planning my wedding, I am glad it’s around now—it’s a great source for me for new and different workouts. 

What’s your favorite source for workouts?

I’ve been craving pancakes for about two weeks.

Two.Weeks.

So when Caroline woke up an hour earlier than normal on a work from home day, I took advantage and headed into the kitchen.  You’d be surprised at how entertaining cooking can be for a nine month old.

I turned to one of my favorite recipes and kicked it up a bit by adding heart healthy rolled oats, chia seeds and ground flaxseeds.  It’s safe to say I have a new favorite pancake recipe.

Okay, I can’t guarantee that these will take you exactly 12 minutes, unless you cook all of the pancakes at the same time.  But I can guarantee that they’re worth the time.

I loved the texture; the oats, flax and chia add heartiness to this fluffy pancake.

The sweetness of the berries and the natural sauce that’s rendered from macerating is wonderful on top of the pancake.

The only way I could improve this dish would be to add a dollop of whipped cream to the top.  What better way to start the day?

Enjoy!

There’s no way to capture just how much we enjoyed this weekend. 

Caroline turned nine months old last week, but this is the first chance I had to post about it.

Our sweet baby girl has turned nine months. Don’t ask me how it happened so fast! If I had my way, time would pass a lot slower than it does.

At the doctor we found out that our girl is weighing in at 19 lbs. 10 oz. {70 percentile} and 28 3/4 inches {85 percentile}.  Grow, Caroline, grow!

The army crawl is so 8 months, she has moved on to better things—crawling on her hands and knees.

She also started to pull herself up to standing in her crib.  Of course the first time she did it Jeromy was out of town and I was too nervous to leave her in the crib for naps, so she napped on me in the Ergo.  As soon as he got home we lowered the mattress.  She can still stand up but she can’t really reach far over the rail.

Breastfeeding continues to go well, I’ve cut down how often I pump from four times a day to three and it has not yet affected my supply.  Caroline is a bit more aware, I think, of nursing as she now tries to move my shirt when she’s hungry.  She also wraps her legs around my arm when she’s nursing, it’s pretty cute.  I’m not sure just when I’m going to start weaning her, at least not until her first birthday.  She has moved on to eating mostly finger foods.  She loves feeding herself and is getting better and better at putting all of the food in her mouth. {I’ll tell you more about the food and our method of feeding Caroline next week—we’ve taken a hybrid baby lead weaning and puree approach.}  She also began drinking out of a straw cup instead of a spout!

Dixie continues to amuse Caroline to no end, eliciting lots of smiles, shrieks and giggles. Now that she’s mobile, she crawls after the cat.  Dixie has become pretty good at avoiding being grabbed by Caroline.

Caroline has always loved having a book read to her but now she enjoys getting her hands on the books herself.  We go through a lot of board books every day!

It’s amazing to see how Caroline learns things.  She’ll watch us do something once or twice then she’ll do it herself.  Peek-a-boo, for example.  Now when she wants to play she’ll hold a blanket in front of her face and bring it down and look at us to say something, then start laughing hysterically.  It’s incredible.  We’ve also learned that she really doesn’t have any fear as she has started moving around—she will go after anything and throw herself anywhere.  This is both wonderful and terrifying to me.

My sweet baby girl, time is going by in the blink of an eye and you are growing and changing every day.  Your daddy and I feel so very lucky to be a part of your life and will do everything we can to make sure you grow up knowing just how much you are loved, every single day.

It’s no secret that I love Greek yogurt.  By far, my favorite brand to use when cooking and baking {or just eating with a spoon!} is Chobani.  So I was really excited when I received an invitation from Chobani to attend their inaugural blogger dinner this past Saturday night at The Federalist in DC.

Group photo courtesy of Sara!

Jackie and Emily {crouching next to me} were our fantastic hosts from Chobani.  It was really interesting to hear about the history of the company and how it’s grown in just a few years.  From listening to how Emily and Jackie talked about Chobani, it was obvious that they love the product and the company. 

Greeting us when we sat down were these awesome canvas bags full of swag. Since this was my first official blogging event hosted by a company, this is also my first swag bag. I was excited. It’s the little things.

Chef Harper McClure created a menu to highlight the use of Chobani in each course.  And he did not disappoint!

{I normally do not take photos of my food in restaurants but since I was at an event specifically for food bloggers, I made an exception.}

After we put in our orders, baskets of fresh bread were served to the table.  Naturally, I had to eat one of each: a piece of cornbread and a piece of baguette, slathered in butter.

The appetizer was amazing.

White Gazpacho
Poached Laughing Bird Shrimp, Minted Yogurt

The gazpacho was so creamy and delicious.  I loved the green grape garnish and the shrimp were absolutely perfect.  I liked it so much that I commented to Jackie that if I weren’t sitting in a restaurant I would have licked my bowl clean. She encouraged me to do it anyway, but I remembered my manners and refrained.

For my entrée I went with the lamb.

Slow Cooked Spring Lamb
Gin Soaked Cucumbers, Spring Herb Salad, Espelette-Yogurt Emulsion
Suggested Pairing: Coeur de Terre Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon

I was torn between choosing the yogurt poached halibut, because I thought poaching fish in yogurt sounded intriguing, but I went with the lamb because it was paired with a pinot noir. I am a sucker for pinot noir.  Let me tell you, the lamb was incredible.  It was done two ways, as shown above, and I cleaned that plate too.

Family Style Sides

Roasted Heirloom Cauliflower

Fricassee of Wild Mushrooms

Confession: I had two servings of the cauliflower. It was that good.  It was buttery, crunchy, slightly sweet, salty and smothered in herbs.  If you don’t like cauliflower, I think this dish will make a believer out of you.

Oddly enough for me, I wasn’t super excited about dessert because I didn’t think I liked panna cotta.  I was wrong.

Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta
Strawberry Preserves, Shortbread Cookies, Long Pepper Sauce

This panna cotta made a believer out of me.  It was so velvety smooth.  I ate each bite with a piece of shortbread, some preserves and the peppery sauce for as long as it lasted.  Another plate cleaned!

I had a great time talking with other DC area bloggers, Jackie and Emily.  As a working mom, I choose to spend the majority of my free time with my husband and our baby girl but it was fun to get out on my own for a night. I even met up with a friend after dinner for a quick drink before heading home and collapsing into bed way past my bedtime.  Too bad Caroline doesn’t understand the concept of sleeping in just yet .

As for what was in the swag bag…..

a lunch bag, a water bottle, recipe cards and recipe card holder and Chobani recipes.  How fun!

Thank you again to Chobani for inviting me to this really fun event!

It has been years since I ran a race.  Literally, years.  The last race I participated in was the New Jersey State Triathlon in July 2009.

Now that I’m running again, I really wanted a race to work towards.  In the DC area we have more than enough races to choose from ranging from 5Ks to marathons.  There are 3 ten milers in the area that are very popular: The Cherry Blossom, The GW Parkway Classic and The Army Ten Miler.  I would love to complete all three of these hometown races.  I ran The Cherry Blossom in 2006.  The GW Parkway Classic just happened in April.  The Army Ten Miler is coming up in October.  Registration opened today.

So what did I do? I signed up for The Army Ten Miler! I am really excited that I have a race to work towards.  Granted, the race is in October, it’s only May and I won’t start training for it until August, but I am still excited.  Having been away from the racing scene for almost three years seems crazy to me and I can’t wait to get back into it.

In the mean time, I’m going to keep running with Caroline, fitting in fitness wherever I can and run a few shorter races before October.

Who else is running the Army Ten Miler? 

I think I’ll plan a meet up for bloggers and readers participating in the race, please send me an e-mail at thesplatteredapron {at} gmail {dot} com if you want to be included!

If there is one thing we love in this house, it’s risotto.  If there’s another thing we love in this house, it would be lemon.  Why it took me so long to put the two together, I have no idea.

While flipping through a copy of Food Network Magazine at my parents’ house, I discovered a method of cooking risotto that takes it from an occasional fancy treat to an easy weeknight meal.  It can also be the perfect one pot meal.  Do you need another reason to try this recipe?

While this was good, I think that subbing asparagus for edamame would make it great.

I absolutely love this cooking method too—it practically guarantees creamy risotto without the need to stand over a hot stove and stir a pot continuously for upwards of 45 minutes.

Lemon zest could easily be one of my most favorite ingredients.  A little bit goes a long way to develop flavor.

As a main dish or a side, this is a winner.  I could see it pairing very nicely with a simply grilled or poached salmon.

It makes me smile to think that two of the main flavors in this dish come from ingredients grown right in my backyard: lemon and tarragon.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Real Simple.

***********************************************************

If you follow me on Twitter, then you know that I’m now a FitFluential Ambassador! I am so excited to be a part of this fantastic community and can’t wait to share fitness related content with you!

Saturday morning at the park after the farmer’s market. {Wearing my Mother’s Day present a day early!}

Dixie found a cool spot outside.

Dinner with Chobani {details to come!}

Woke up to this sweet face on Mother’s Day.

Treated to brunch with my two favorite people.

Playing in the shade.

While we planted the garden.

Jeromy and I keep telling each other how much we loved this weekend.  Here’s hoping to many more just like it.

How was your weekend?