Cooking with the Pioneer Woman=Success!

Tonight I tried a new recipe from my new cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Now if you don't know who the Pioneer Woman is, because you've been living under a rock, go check her out here!

 

The recipe is for Rib-Eye Steak with Onion-Blue Cheese Sauce and it's delish!!!

 

Ingredients: 4 rib-eye steaks, salt & pepper, 1 stick of butter, 1 yellow onion, 1 cup heavy cream, 3 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce, 3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

Lightly butter and season your steaks with salt and pepper. I grilled them on our George Foreman because I was short on time and they turned out fine.

Saute onions until they start to get golden, about 7-8 minutes on medium high heat.

Then add your cup of heavy cream, season with salt and pepper, and add Worcestershire sauce.

Stir and add your blue cheese crumbles and continue to stir until it's melted.

Here is my final result!

It looks pretty close to the picture in the book and it was awesome. This recipe combined three of my favorite things: steak, onions, and blue cheese. Yummo!

 

New Breakfast Item

Since Wyatt turned one we have had two staples for breakfast: pancakes or waffles. Now I make the pancakes in large batches and then freeze so I can pull them out as needed. Plus, it makes me feel like I'm giving him a home-cooked meal for breakfast, good mom!! The waffles are just Eggo's, my fave, and both just get some butter put on top of them.
The other morning I decided to give Wyatt half a mini-bagel. Mike and I had purchased them for us to grab and go in the morning and I thought since he loves all breads I should have him try one. The result was fantastic! He loves them!! He doesn't care for my onion and chive cream cheese spread but he does like butter on them. I had to snap some pics of him eating the bagel because he loves to eat on his Cars couch and apparently when eating bread he has to lie down to do it.

Chilling on the couch and eating the bagel

"What Momma?"

Hi!

Chowing down

Temper tantrum

We experienced probably one of the worst temper tantrums Wyatt has ever had tonight and it was a doozy! Mike made sausage, eggs, and bacon for breakfast burritos for supper tonight and as we sat down to eat Wyatt ate all his grapes first and then refused to eat anything else. We have been working with him on not just eating all of one thing first but eating a little bit of everything so that way he has his favorite stuff at the end. Well apparently it wasn't working tonight. I tried having him sit on my lap and eat his eggs and sitting in his chair eating his eggs and he wasn't having any of it. So he sat for quite a while in timeout while screaming, crying, and throwing a royal fit. We went ahead with our evening and he took his bath and got his pajamas on when he finally decided that he was hungry now and so he ate leftover spaghetti about 10 minutes before heading to bed. Needless to say it was quite an evening and one that I hope we don't have to repeat any time soon!!

McDonald's Please!!

So this week Mike was in Buffalo, NY for work and Wyatt and I were left all by our lonesomes. We spent the first couple of days doing what we normally do and on the final day before Mike came home I picked up Wyatt earlier than I normally do and we went to the park for a little bit of play time before dinner and bed. He enjoyed that quite a bit and afterwards the tired baby and the tired momma decided that we should go to McDonald's for supper. We got his favorite meal; Chicken Nugget Happy Meal with milk jug. I usually pour the milk into his own cup and let him drink that. This time though I gave him a straw and let him drink it from the milk jug that it comes in. He did pretty well for never drinking out of an open container with a straw before. And of course I took some photos to capture the moment! Enjoy!!

Loved the fact that he could bend the straw and still get the milk.

Moving the straw up and down and it making noises on the side of the jug.

This is a move that he sees Mike do a lot. Put your straw in and then stop the end to drink it out of the bottom. That's what he was trying to do but just wasn't quite there yet. :)

Food Wars

That seems to be the program that Wyatt has taken up lately. It seems like he won't eat anything unless it's a hot dog, chicken nugget, spaghetti, fruit, sloppy joes, or some sort of hamburger helper.

Tonight, Mike made chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy. I cut up the steak into small pieces and told him it was chickie nuggets cut up. Hey, I gotta try something! I even put a little ketchup on his plate like I would if he was eating chicken nuggets. Well he ate two pieces before he realized that it wasn't quite the nuggets he thought they were. Now I tried not to watch him get upset and push stuff around. I didn't want to give him the negative attention he was seeking. I kept eating my steak and making "mmmm" sounds and talking to Mike about how good it was. He finished all of his fruit and wanted more, so I gave him some more and called it good. After he ate that he wanted more fruit and I told him no more since it was all gone. He threw a fit and of course was then done eating. We told him that he wouldn't be getting a snack later if he was hungry but that didn't seem to matter.

So he went to bed tonight and I'm sure he was hungry. I just don't know what to do. Do I keep letting him be hungry or do I make him something else? Or do I let him have extra of the other stuff we are eating that he does like? Either way we have entered the Food Wars and it seems like they are here to stay!

Bad Habits

No, I'm not talking about nuns who've jumped ship! ;) Sorry a little humor for you!!

Why is it that when we go to end one bad habit we instantly pick up another? It's as if we think that we are doing ourselves a service for dropping one thing but don't realize that we've inevitably picked up a new one. For instance, Wyatt is currently trying to give up using his pacifier during the day. We don't let him have it unless it is bedtime, nap time, or riding in the car. The whole reason we started this is because I asked the daycare to make sure only to give him his pacifier during nap time and they told me that he hasn't had one for several weeks. He had been going all day and nap times without it!!! Trust me when I say that my face was in shock when she said this.

We were doing pretty well with this until Thanksgiving break and we went back to Chanute. Of course, Wyatt was teething and not feeling well so I let him have it more than the usual amount. Now that we are back home and feeling better we are going back to the no paci rule. Trust me this has been super hard for everyone involved! He cries and whines and points up to the tv stand where he knows they usually are and begs for it. Unfortunately he doesn't get it and that angers him tremendously. We are talking about crying fits where he shakes and clenches his teeth together, angry.

Since we have started this "no paci" rule supper time has now started a new bad habit. When Wyatt gets done eating his supper he gets cleaned up and then has to come and sit on our lap. Doesn't matter who but it has to be one of us. He then sits and pulls a complete "Helen". (Sorry here's some background for those that don't know what a "Helen" is. When I was little and even as an adult, I have always ate off of other's plates, mainly my mom's. It doesn't matter what it is but I like what she has more than my own and always drink her drink. She started calling me Helen, as in, Helen Keller. And tells me to find my own plate or drink.) So I shouldn't be surprised that he's taken after his momma but I was really hoping that we wouldn't start something else that we would have to break later on.

Oh well, I guess if it's not one thing, it's another!! :)

Big Boy Cup

We have been working on Wyatt start his transition to drinking from a "big boy" cup AKA a regular cup. So far we are just using the new cup during supper time. He's done pretty well and only gotten water totally everywhere once. His biggest problem is when he tries to drink to fast and then gulps the water and chokes. But either way he's excited about it and so are we!! :)

Reaching for it...

Drinking...

And putting it back. Success!!

Evening Snack

Since Wyatt only gained 2 ounces in three months, Dr. Rose suggested that we start giving him an evening snack. So last night we gave Wyatt a small bowl of Cheerios to snack on before he went to bed. He looked so funny lounging on his couch eating his snack and watching t.v.!

 Enjoying the Cheerios!

 It was so funny because the Cheerios had fallen out of the bowl and were laying across his stomach. It reminded me of when I was pregnant with him and would rest my bowl on my tummy! ;)

 Mmmmm, this is so good!!

Allergic

We may have found the first food that Wyatt is allergic to. We were eating lunch the other day and I gave Wyatt a little bit of ranch dressing to dip his cucumber slices in and he had gotten it all over his lips and cheeks. When I went to wipe it off it left a red mark where the dressing had been. It was super red and took about 30 minutes to go completely away. I took his plate and got rid of the rest of the ranch and then watched him carefully to see if there was any other reaction but he appeared okay and nothing unusual just the redness on his face. Who knew that someone could be allergic to ranch? Pretty weird. So we'll try ranch again but in a much smaller dose and a few months from now. We'll see!

Ramblings

Well this is going to be a post about a little bit of everything! Hang on!!

 Mike and I have joined the Wamego Gym (again) and so far it is going pretty good. Mike goes earlier in the evening and then when Wyatt is asleep I head out and hit the gym. It's been so nice to leave the house kid-free for the 20-30 minutes it takes for me to workout and then come home and chill for the evening and then feel great in the morning. Mike hasn't been able to workout as much since he's been working on things around the house and has been sick with sinus stuff, so hopefully he'll get to hit the gym more soon!
 We have been on the daycare search again this summer and we've hit the jackpot this time! We love that Wyatt was going to family for daycare but the commute for both was getting old and in the winter difficult with snow and ice. We found a daycare/preschool center in Wamego and I love it! The prices are great, small kid-teacher ratio, and it's in Wamego so it will work out great for Mike or I to pick him up and not having to back-track to get home.
 Wyatt has been walking more and more everyday. He still crawls but he's trying to walk more, especially outside since his little legs were getting so torn up from trying to crawl on cement! OW!! The food challenge is getting easier and actually more exciting. I'm starting to think of it as a mystery game of which foods he will it and how to take what we eat and make it kid-friendly and easy for Wyatt to eat. So far, so good!!
 Well that's it on my mind right now. Stay tuned for 4th of July pics after this weekend! :)

Food Challenge

I thought my Summer was going to be filled with finger paints, ice cream, and swimming but it has mostly consisted of when the next meal/snack is and what is going to be the meal/snack! Mike and I don't have to best eating habits and quite often will just have chips and dip for supper, no fruit or veggie (unless you count the salsa in the dip)!

I've spent most of the Summer wondering what I'm going to feed him and how balanced is the meal going to be. I have been bugging my friend, Lindsay, so much about what to feed him and different ideas for meals/snacks. She's been very helpful and I'm so grateful for that. She sent me to a wonderful website, another lunch,  that has some terrific ideas and I'm even thinking about using them for myself during the school year for my lunches!! So far, Mike and I have been pretty successful for getting a veggie and fruit on the table for lunch/supper and a fruit for breakfast.

We have even started introducing condiments for our meals and Wyatt loves ketchup! Go figure, just like his Momma!! ;)

Wyatt is eating: chicken nuggets with ketchup, cantaloupe and grapes, with grilled potatoes, green peppers, and onions!

Don't turn your back on the NutriGrain Bar!

Wyatt has been eating new and different things for breakfast since the start of the summer and one of his new breakfast ventures are Strawberry NutriGrain bars. He really likes them and has been doing a great job of feeding himself and not shoving everything into his mouth at once. In fact the other day I gave him a cookie the other day and didn't even think about breaking it up and when I realized it I looked over at him and he was eating the cookie like a person! He was taking bites of the cookie and then holding the rest until he was finished chewing and then taking more bites!! Very impressed, Momma. :)

So this morning I gave Wyatt bites of his cereal bar in a bowl and then went and washed bottles while he was eating his breakfast. I kept looking back and checking on him and slowly but surely he kept getting more and more red but he was eating and being independent so I didn't want to disturb him in his eating process. I finished the bottles and turned around to see this mess!
Needless to say a bath was due after the cereal bar disaster and I have learned a very good lesson: Don't turn your back on the NutriGrain Bar!! :)

Pancakes, we like!

Wyatt is now an official member of the "I Love Pancakes" club! I made them this morning just to see if he would eat them and was surprised by his new love. I made small silver dollar size pancakes because that's the kind of pancakes that I love the most. When I was little my brother and I spent the night at my grandmother's house every Sunday. We would have supper with Gram which consisted of rootbeer floats and popcorn and then get to stay up late and watch Johnny Carson with her in bed. The next morning she would get us up for school and make us pancakes for breakfast. She would always make me little pancakes and make big ones for Matthew. So I'm continuing my tradition of little pancakes with Wyatt.

I even was thinking ahead and decided to make some extra little pancakes so that I could freeze them and that way Wyatt could eat pancakes every morning if he wanted! He is getting so big and I love that I'm continuing these traditions with him that I have had since I was little. I can't wait for him to go spend the night at his grandma's house and have rootbeer floats and popcorn for supper!

Zoo, Milk, and Teeth Update

This is going to be a long post about many things. Hang in there because it's all good!

First, today we went to the Sunset Zoo in Manhattan. This was Wyatt's first zoo visit and it went well. He didn't seem overly happy or annoyed but just rather observant. The best part of the zoo was when we saw the flamingos. They were so noisy that he was really interested in them and what they were doing. It actually turned out pretty good because there were 2 flamingos fighting and so they were really noisy and flapping around and putting on a good show. We took a couple of photo ops with them and then moved onto the peacock that was sitting and posing for pictures. We tried to get a couple and Wyatt just wanted to keep looking at it as it walked away rather than the camera! Go figure!!

Posing with the peacock! As you can tell the peacock was way more interesting than the camera!

Second, today we also are on milk full time now! Dr. Rose said to start him on milk when we ran out of formula and today was the day! He has had 2 bottles of milk and at first he wasn't impressed. I thought it was because of the taste but it turns out that he doesn't like the ice cold milk. So we are nuking it in the microwave for a couple of seconds to just get the chill off it before he eats it and that seemed to work much better. I was hoping to start him on milk in a sippy cup exclusively so we could get rid of bottles but I don't see that happening any time soon. He really likes his 3 bottles he gets a day and the laying down with Momma when I feed him. Once he is feeling 100% from his teething then we'll try to get rid of the bottle. Fingers crossed!!

Third, we are still having teething trouble. He has been so clingy since Saturday when he was running his high fever and not doing anything but sitting on my lap and laying on my shoulder. He seems to think this should be the norm now and is so whiney when he's not on my hip or in my lap. Of course, I need to remember that at his doctor's appointment I was told that between 12-18 months is when children have the worst seperation anxiety! Uh oh!! We gots it bad. He will barely let Mike stay with him if I'm in the room or some place else in the house. So we'll see if this has to do with the teething or seperation anxiety. I'm really hoping that it's the first because he has always been such a good baby about going to other people and smiling and being friendly and I don't want him to lose that. We'll see!!

Okay, that is now the end and you can quit reading! :)

1-Year Doctor's Appointment

Wyatt had his 1-year doctor's appointment today and it went well. He now weighs 19.4lbs=5% and is 30.5inches tall-=71%. So we still have a long and lean baby! Dr. Rose gave us the green light to start whole milk after we finish his formula. Trust me, I'm not letting that leftover formula go to waste. We were also told to have Wyatt off the bottle by 15 months. When we start milk we will be going exclusively to the sippy cup. We have also started giving Wyatt fruit juice. It's not so much juice but half water and half juice. So far, he doesn't seem that impressed with juice. So we'll play it by ear for now. At the appointment Wyatt also received 4 shots and had to have blood drawn. Since we live in a house that older than fifty years old we had to take him to the lab so they could test his lead levels. I took Wyatt there and was expecting that they would prick his finger but oh no, they actually drew his blood from his arm! I was shocked, on top of the fact that the woman drawing it was a new technician and learning! I was so impressed that Wyatt did such a good job and barely cried when they were doing the draw. He cried more because he couldn't move and he wanted to and didn't like being held down. All in all he had a rough day but was a trooper through it all. What a big boy!

11-months old...and the time has flown by!

Wyatt is 11-months old today. Wyatt is 11-months old today. Sorry, I just had to say it twice to believe it. It seems like I've been waiting for this day forever and it has came in a blink of an eye all at the same time. Here are some new things that Wyatt has been up to:
-He is imitating sounds like crazy. Mainly sounds for his toys that we play with. Whenever we play with cars or his boat in the bathtub and I make the vroom sounds he is now making them, while he plays.
-Our bottle in-take has gone done significantly. You would think I would be happy but I'm not. Whenever he doesn't eat bottles it always worries me that he's not getting all of the nutrition he needs.
-He is still eating baby food and loving it. We are adding table food for him to sample but haven't really had our first real meal of table food.
-He can army crawl like no ones business. He can get up on his hands and knees but doesn't crawl on them.
-He is now pulling himself up everything.
-He likes to walk holding onto your hands but often tries to break away and thinks he can walk all by himself.
-He is getting an even bigger attitude, if that's possible.
-He can hit and loves doing it! Of course, Momma is his favorite punching bag. We are working on this and trying to show love with hugs and kisses and not hitting someone. A work in progress!
-He can now go from crawling to sitting up.

That's all I can think of. It seems like he's grown so much developementally in just the past 2 months!

He's Back

Wyatt is feeling so much better! My happy little boy is finally back and acting like his old self. We are eating at least 3 bottles again and starting to eat food again. :) He's even been content enough to play on the floor without me holding him. I'm so happy that he's feeling better now. Here'a pic of him with his new haircut. The hair sticking up isn't part of the haircut just a side effect of bed head. As you can tell it's much shorter than it was before!

Haircut #3

Tonight Wyatt got haircut #3! That's right #3. He is an old pro at getting his haircut now and all the ladies in the salon love seeing him and watching him get his haircut and he loves seeing them. Huge flirt. Wyatt got at least an inch cut off of his hair and Stacy got to use her buzz clippers on him. A first for him and he loved the feeling. He kinda squatted down and smiled while she the buzzing.

Side Note: Wyatt is fighting a little stomach bug and has been having diarrhea so that would be the reason behind the whole not eating thing and being clingy. We are going to keep pushing fluids and cut out food for right now. Hopefully this weekend he'll be feeling better so we can go and visit Ally, Amber, and Mike.

Clingy Baby

We have a Defcon 5 level clinger! Wyatt has been dealing with the winter crud; runny nose and cough. He has finally started feeling better the last couple of days but now he is crazy clingy. All he wants to do is be held and sleep. He doesn't want to play or eat his new solids. He only wants to be held. I've been so disappointed because we just bought Stage 3 food and he's only gotten to eat a few bites. On a positive note, the few bites he had he really enjoyed! :) So we are hoping that this new found clinginess will go down over the next few days and our happy playful baby will come back out.
On another note we have quite the mover on our hands. Wyatt has mastered the art of army crawling and is all over the house. His new favorite "toys" to try to play with are Mike's bow and a set of live traps! Yes, very baby appropriate! As you can read we still have quite a bit of baby proofing to get accomplished before we have a walker as well. He has also made the realization that there are items above him such as the couch and is touching it and looking up with curiousity like how do I get up there! :)

9-Month Check Up

Today was Wyatt's 9-month check up and he did fabulous! He has grown so much since last time he was at the doctor and I couldn't wait to see how big he has gotten. Here are his stats: Height-29inches=74%, Weight-17lbs. 11oz=7%(yes that's a single 7), Head Circuference-45cm=50%.
So as you can read he is still a long and lean baby! Dr. Rose wasn't concerned about his weight given his parents and our family histories. So glad!!

Here are some new things that Wyatt is up to:
-He can now Army crawl and will scoot around to whatever he wants. This is a nice break from all of the rolling he was doing.
-He can stand for quite a period of time whether it's on your lap, hanging onto something, or just standing while he's in his Johnny Jumper or Walker.
-He can now give you a High 5! Mike has been working on this with him so much and he can now do it 90% of the time you ask him.
-He is also saying "dada" a lot. He's not a big gabber but when he does he likes to say that.
-He is still eating 4 7-8 ounce bottles each day and eating oatmeal in the morning with fruit and fruit and veggies in the afternoon and the evening. We have recently started eating wagon wheels and poofs. Don't really know how much he actually eats but he really likes playing with them. We have the green light to start meats so we'll start those as soon as we can get to the store.
-He is able to grab anything and everything. We are working on stacking his blocks but he mostly just likes to knock them down.
-He also has 2 teeth on the bottom and seems to be done with teething for at least a little while!

Next on our list is to finish baby proofing the house before he can crawl everywhere and just keep working on his solids with the introduction of meats! He's growing like a bad weed and getting wiser and funnier every day.