Summer Salad

Here is another quick and easy recipe I saw from the blog "100 Days of Real Food."

This is a perfect summer salad - an easy side-dish or a great addition to a potluck. Holden did not enjoy it (most likely the garlic flavor), so this is definitely more for adults.

The original recipe is below, and I have put my changes in italics. Enjoy!

Lime-Cilantro Quinoa Salad
Salad
-3 cups cooked quinoa (1 cup dry)
-3/4 cup dried fruit (I omitted the dried fruit)
-1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted (I omitted this because Holden is too young for nuts)
-1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
-1 bell pepper of any color, diced (I used red)
-1 can black beans
-1 can corn
(Note: I wanted this to be more Mexican, so that is why I added the beans and corn)
Dressing
-1/4 cup lime juice (make sure to get at least 2 limes)
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (I only had spicy brown, it turned out fine)
-2 garlic cloves, minced (I only used 1 and thought it was enough garlic flavor)
-Pinch of salt
Directions
1. Mix all salad ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together all dressing ingredients.
3. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix thoroughly.
4. Eat or store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Pink Panther

Holden loves anything soft. If something is soft, or even has a soft spot, he sticks his left thumb in his mouth, puts the soft item near his face and makes a, "mm-mmm-mmm" noise (aside: I made that same noise when I was a baby).

These soft items have included our cats, touch-and-feel puzzle pieces, my bathrobe, blankets, stuffed animals, and in particular, my pink pajama pants.

Holden LOVES my pink pajama pants. He will pet me when I wear them and if they are free, he will take them around the house with him. I have to keep them in a high drawer or else he would get them every day to snuggle.

He is so in love with pink pants that on Sunday, while waiting to get a prescription filled, he saw a woman in pink pants and went up to her and started petting her leg. We quickly scooped him up and apologized. Thank goodness he is still so young and she was very forgiving!

Quick and Easy Recipe

While I do not have any pictures of my own, I finally tried a recipe from The Pioneer Woman. I've heard so much about her and have seen many friends link to her on Facebook and blogs, so I checked out her site and the Sour Cream Noodle Bake caught my eye.

Ree does a great job of giving you step-by-step instructions with amazing pictures, so it was simple to make and follow along. My only mistake was not heating the water while cooking the meat. Otherwise, everything was super quick and super easy.

Everyone really enjoyed eating it, including Holden (which equals success in my book!), and we had leftovers for lunch. I served ours with some garlic bread. Enjoy!

High Chair Relaxing

If you come over to our home, you will probably see Holden eating like this - feet up and on the table. Nathan and I started seeing signs that Holden is ready to start eating with us, so, we brought his high chair in, and Holden immediately put his feet on the table. How can I blame the guy? He just wants to relax while enjoying his meal.

Here is Holden enjoying hamburger and sweet potato rounds!

Now, don't worry those of you who swear by Ms. Manners and the method of starting where you mean to go. We are in the process of teaching Holden that feet stay down at the dinner table - but only because Nathan and I are not as flexible as he is ;)

Sick

This past week the entire Sandell family fell sick. Holden started the trend, but soon enough, Nathan and I were feeling the bug, too.

Our afternoon started off just fine, but just before we put Holden down for his nap, he started becoming restless and whiney. Usually Holden runs to his crib for his nap and is excited to go to sleep and be with his Lambie (yes, I know just how lucky I am!). Not this time, though. He was restless during his entire nap, too, and then at around 4:30PM he woke up crying, which he never does. Nathan was visiting friends who live out of town, so I rushed in and discovered a huge mess in Holden's crib. We immediately went for the bath, and as I cleaned him off, he finally calmed down and stopped crying.

Holden has never been sick in his crib before, so I was a little nervous and called Nathan to come home. It was the right decision because Holden threw up on me about an hour later. All I could do was ache for my little boy at that moment. I think as a Mama, one of the worst feelings you can have is that of helplessness when your child is in need. I could not make that sickness just go away and that was a terrible feeling.

After five more fits of throw-up, countless diaper changes and lots of snuggles, Holden finally began feeling better on Day Four. The bad news was that Nathan and I got sick that night. By God's blessing, my mom lives close by and I called her very early in the morning to be our back-up. She dutifully came over and watched Holden, helped out with the housework, and brought us fluids. I love my mom!

It took us about three days to get over our bug, and now, we are back to our healthy selves! We didn't snap too many pictures of us as we were sick, but there was a funny moment when I tried to feed Holden a mango popsicle to keep him hydrated. He loves mangoes, and the doctor suggested popsicles, so we were surprised, and amused, that Holden did NOT like the popsicle and even threw it on the carpet, and under the chair. He wanted to make sure we knew he did not approve!

Pushing the popsicle away from him

Taking the popsicle

"Gimme that popsicle!!!"

Crying and taking the popsicle over to the chair...

...because that is where yucky popsicles belong!

Splish-Splash

Yesterday, Nathan and I took Holden to the pool for the first time. It was a short trip because we know we have to get Holden acclimated to this "really big bath" before spending an hour plus at the pool. (Have I mentioned that we have a very cautious child?) Holden really did enjoy the water, but he definitely had a death grip on Nathan's chest hair! Next time we will bring his float along, and a few toys, and see if he likes the water even better.

Here is some video I captured of Holden "swimming" with Nathan:

Welcome Back...With News!

If you notice the date on my last blog post, it was in February - four months ago. A lot has happened during those four months, including a first birthday. You might think I feel extremely guilty, but Holden had an ear infection on his birthday, and he will probably thank me for not posting pictures of him looking sick and miserable.

Back to February. Nathan and I said yes on New Year's eve to going on a mission trip to Africa this summer, and February was when planning began. There were a total of seven couples going, and we had our first kick-off meeting Friday, February 18th. We met the team, introduced ourselves and were getting more and more excited by the minute. There was just one tiny problem - I was late (yup, that kind of late).

My body had just gotten back to normal in January (I went a total of 17 months - love nursing!), so when February was a little off, I wasn't too worried about it. But with Africa becoming more and more a reality, and money needing to be put down, I thought I should double check just to be sure.

Nathan and I started laughing at the possibility of me being pregnant, and then I stopped when I saw the "pregnant" word on my little pee stick. Holden was only nine months old at this point - how could I be pregnant again?!?

Everyone in our family was surprised and a little shocked. Two kids under two, two kids in diapers, just the idea of two kids. For me, I did not think I would be ready for this task, this "promotion" as Nathan called it. Honestly, I selfishly stayed in a state of shock for about three months. God's plan was not my plan. We were supposed to be going to Africa, not having another baby. We were supposed to be enjoying our little boy, not having another baby. I was selfish and I was scared.

God's grace, power and strength are amazing, though, and I am feeling more and more confident by the day. This baby started kicking much earlier than Holden, and baby has reminded me how much joy and love I have in my heart to give him/her. I look in amazement at how far Holden has come, and I am becoming more and more excited about meeting our newest addition.

I am just about 21 weeks along now, and due October 22nd. I do not know the gender of our baby, but Nathan does, so ask him if you want to know - - but keep it a secret from me!

Meet the newest Sandell:

Make Your Own

Before Holden was born, I knew I wanted to try and make my own baby food. Making your own baby food IS time consuming. I admit that after a few rounds of it, I buckled and bought some Earth's Best organic baby foods from Whole Foods. If not from me, WFM is the next best, right? Pears, green beans, squash - we tried them and gave them a chance, but jars of baby food are just not as good as the real thing. Have you ever seen the faces women make at baby showers when they try the jars of baby food? Now imagine that three times a day for months.

If you have a pot, steaming basket and a food processor/blender, you can do it too. Or, if money is no object, try the Beaba Babycook (we just got the storage holders, and love them!)

I recently made butternut squash and apples at the same time. Baking one food and steaming another allows you to use your time more wisely. Start by cutting the squash in half and scooping out the seeds with a spoon.

Take the squash and place it cut-side down in an oven safe dish. Pour in about 1/4 inch of water and bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

While the squash is baking, begin preparing the apples. We usually buy pink lady, honeycrisp, gala or macintosh apples. Wash about 6-8 apples and slice into eighths. You can leave the skin on or off at this point. This time, I decided to peel the skin before steaming.

Place cut apples into your steaming basket and pour in about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of water. Steam for five to eight minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. If you have not already peeled the skins, do so when the apples are cool to the touch. Place apples in food processor and puree to desired consistency (add water or breastmilk/formula to thin). Store apples in the refrigerator for up to three days, or freeze for up to three months.

By this time, the squash should be done. Remove the squash from the pan, peel away the skin and cut into chunks. Place squash in the washed processor and puree to desired consistency (add water or breastmilk/formula to thin). Store squash in the refrigerator for up to three days, or freeze for up to three months.

Apples in Orange, Squash in Green

The best thing about making your own food is that you are in total control of what is going in your child - just like when you were pregnant and when you nursed. I pick out the produce (mostly organic) for Holden. We have made apples (his favorite), sweet peas, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, zucchini, avocados, peaches, bananas, cauliflower, parsnips, and beets, potatoes and lamb are next on my list.

Here is our happy eater with zucchini all over his chin!

Snowed Out

Last week, the Washington DC area received a forecast of four to eight inches of heavy snow. While the Sandell family was home and safe (at the time), much of the area faced severe traffic, accidents and power outages as the snow quickly accumulated. Here are pictures outside of our condo (this was only after a few hours of snow). 

The snow was very heavy and weighed down the trees.

Holden and I watched the snow from inside. I don't think he quite understands what snow is, yet. By next winter I am sure he will be running around in it!

At one point, we let Lyla outside. She explored the snow for a minute, but then desperately wanted to come back inside! Holden loves the cats, so he was eager to let Lyla in too.

Nathan and I tucked Holden in for bed and we were about to start our Bible study. I wanted to make some delicious hot cocoa, and document the moment - hot cocoa during a snow storm and a sleeping baby. Heaven, right?

Just as my drink was ready, our power went out. I started to panic because a power outage means no heat. Normally, that would be no big deal for Nathan and me, but I can't just wrap Holden in layers upon layers. He would not stand for it!

We decided to wait until he woke up (3:00 AM), and we brought him to bed with us. In the morning, we headed out to my mom's (Nonna) house because she still had power. On the way over, there must have been at least ten abandoned cars on major roads (Braddock and Roberts). Tree branches littered yards and side streets, some of them fallen on parked cars. We drove slowly and safely and arrived to a warm house. Holden, Nathan and I enjoyed the day with my mom and after dinner, we headed back home because, praise the Lord, our power came back on!

Our area is forecasted to receive a wintry mix tonight and tomorrow, so we are praying that the power does not go out again, or there might be another round of, "to grandmother's house we go!"

Clip Clip

Nathan assumes you will think this post is about cutting Holden's hair, but we all know Holden doesn't have any hair. Our bald, cutie-pie:

No, I am talking about clip-clipping baby nails. Why did God make this such a difficult task? {Aside: Nathan thinks fingernails shouldn't grow until age two; and, he wants to know when children can start clipping their own nails. Five, five and a half, five and three-quarters - sometime around the age of five?}

When Holden was an infant, I used to clip them while he was nursing. Now, he squirms, pulls his fingers away from me, whines. This afternoon, I snuck into his room while he was still passed out in his nap and tried to clip them. Sneaky. He woke up, pulled his finger away and cried. Clearly, that did not work.

Luckily, Holden does not scratch himself. Unluckily, he likes to scratch me. More experienced moms - how do you clip nails?