Parties, Purees and Pediatricians

January is already over??!?!?  How did that happen. 
Well we rung in the new year with Chad's birthday on the second.

 

We had a great Make-Your-Own-Nachos party.  I made the cake ;)  Chad's dad, sisters and nephews were here to celebrate his big day.  The big 3-0!  Everyone chipped in and got him a 4-burner propane grill.  He was completely surprised for his gift (which is hard to do) and has already made some great steaks, chicken and ribs with it. 
 

Liam started out the year with his first bowl of Rice cereal.

He LOVED it!  

We made another visit to San Diego.  We're expecting a new baby in the family, so we went down to the baby shower.  (Sorry no pictures).

We've been closely watching the football playoffs all month because both the Chargers and the Vikings were fighting for the Superbowl.

 

Unfortunately neither team made the Superbowl...but we'll still be watching!

This last weekend we were busy.  Liam got a new tub for the bath:
 

It's a blow up duck-tub that quacks when you squeeze it's beak!  He can sit up in it and I don't have to worry as much about him hitting his head on the sides of the tub. Plus he loves to lean back and I can rinse his head and he can kick and splash away! 

Liam also got another new "apparatus"... a high chair:
 

This chair has all the amenities!  Recline...4 locking wheels....adjustable height...5 point harness (like he's going to blast off or something).  But it's nice to have a spot where he knows It Is Eating Time.   It was getting hard to keep his attention in the Bumbo chair. 
 

I was also busy last weekend making baby food!  I decided to make food instead of buying the food in jars.  It's easy and I think a little cheaper than buying tons of little jars.  Of course the jars will come in handy for traveling away from home, but I like the healthy home cookin' of what I made!

I bought a cookbook with simple recipes that you can freeze:
 

I also bought myself a new 3-cup food processor.  The perfect size for making baby food batches.  You just steam fruits and vegetables than puree to your baby's liking and freeze in ice cube trays.  They are the perfect serving size for babies learning about solid food.
The book recommends carrots to start:
. 

Toby was close at hand to catch anything that might drop:
 

I want to start Liam on Veggies, so I made Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Butternut Squash and Peas.  They make some really colorful ice cubes:

So far Liam has had only carrots.   You are supposed to introduce foods one at a time to check for allergies.  I think he likes the add-in with his cereals!

Liam will be six months old on Saturday!!  Today was his six month well-baby check-up.  A few more shots :( but as always he took them like a trooper.  He now weighs in at a hefty 18lbs 3oz. and 25 1/4 in. tall! 

One happy six-month-old!  Looking forward to Grandma and Grandpa visiting in a couple of weeks!!