Baby's Chicken Noodle Soup

We were visiting family in Texas for Christmas when L came down with a bad cold...his first cold ever!  I knew his little throat was sore and hurting him, so I whipped up a little homemade chicken soup with what we had on hand.  This picture shows the most basic form of the soup, but I changed it up a little each time I made it during our visit.

I basically started with homemade chicken broth (no salt added) and cooked orzo pasta (tiny pasta stars would work too). Then I added other ingredients to jazz it up:
chopped cooked egg yolk (seen in the picture)
carrot puree
diced cooked chicken
mashed potatoes, thinned
tiny steamed broccoli florets

I have to add that getting him to drink the broth from a spoon was a challenge and pretty messy.  So I just put the leftover warm broth in his sippy cup so he could drink it.  I think this soup really helped him feel better.

Christmas Card Book

I made another book from saved cards recently.  I made my first book from L's baby shower cards and since it turned out so cute, I decided to make another from our 2009 Christmas cards. Like I stated in my other post, I wish I could take credit for this lovely idea, but I saw it on Pinterest.  Since I'm some what of a hoarder when it comes to cards, I decided to make more books.  I now have a book of our wedding cards, Christmas 2010 cards, and miscellaneous cards from 2008, 2009, and 2010...and 2011 is in progress!

Gift Wrap with Stickers

There are a few December birthdays in our family.  When I was getting ready to wrap those presents, I realized all I had on hand was Christmas paper.  So I decided to make my own wrapping using brown craft paper.  I printed out the lettering from Word in cute fonts and then copied by hand in permanent maker.  Then I added stickers from my sticker collection to embellish.  It was easy and fun!

Water Play on Highchair Tray

My little guy is obsessed with our dog's water bowl.  Since he was mobile, I've had to keep the water bowl in the bathroom with the door shut.  Every now and then, he manages to get to the bowl and the first thing he does is grab it, slosh it back and forth and tip it over, spilling water all over the bathroom rug...AGGHH!  So I thought why not give him a chance to splash his heart out somewhere other than the bath tub.  I stripped him down to his diaper, put him in the high chair and poured a little water directly onto the tray and added a few little plastic toys.  He loved it!  I have to add that his diaper did get totally soaked which made him a little cranky and ended all the fun, but I'll definitely try it again.

Butternut Squash and Apples

Apples were the first solid food L tried after rice cereal.  Not long after that I started him on butternut squash.  The two together along with a little cinnamon are delicious and one of his favorite breakfasts! When he first started solids I had to blend everything to a smooth puree, which was a lot of extra work (on top of peeling and dicing a butternut squash and six apples).  Now that he's moved on to chunky textures I just mash the mixture with a fork after steaming.  It's definitely still a chore to peel and dice that squash, but it makes enough to last a few weeks, so I don't have to do it often.  I steam the squash and apples separately since the squash cooks longer than the apple.  Once everything is cooked, I mash it together and then freeze in portions.  I add the cinnamon before serving, but it could probably be added in before freezing.

Oh, and here's a tip when picking out a butternut squash...pick out the least curvy squash you can find.  The curvier it is, the more difficult it will be to peel!

Toys Grouped by Color

L's favorite books are the ones about color.  He especially loves this lift the flap color book.  So I had the idea to arrange the toys in all his toy baskets by color.  I don't know if it will make much difference to him now at 10 1/2 months, but maybe on some level he'll start recognizing the toys as similar by color.  And if not, at least for now it makes for some pretty baskets!

Arugula and Cheddar Egg Yolk Omelette

I recently introduced eggs to L (around 8 months) starting with hard boiled egg yolk, but he wasn't crazy about that.  I decided to try a mini egg yolk omelette and that was a big hit, but only when it's chopped into tiny little pieces.  He's still adjusting to chunkier food.  I always make scrambled eggs for my husband and me in the mornings, so instead of wasting the egg white from L's egg, I just add it to our eggs.

1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 egg yolk, beaten

1 tsp grated cheddar cheese

2 small arugula leaves, stems removed and finely chopped

Heat the oil in skillet.  Add egg, cook for about 1/2 minute, then flip.  Sprinkle with cheese and arugula and fold in half.  Chop into pieces and serve.