Momma Milk Cookies

It's not what you think...I didn't use breast milk in this cookie recipe(although, I'm not against doing that)!  No..this cookie is to help increase your Momma milk supply!

Levi is still only breastfed and I haven't had any supply issues, but lately he has been sick (more on that in another post) and hasn't been eating as much and coughs and spits up(or throws up sometimes) most of his meal. Even after a good nose cleaning with clear nostrils he still hasn't eaten as much as usual.  He still get's very distracted very easily so the faster the milk comes the better.  So in order to ease my mind a bit I have been doing things to increase my supply.  I heard oatmeal was a lactogenic food so I have been having oatmeal every day and what do you know I have really noticed a difference!  Stronger and more frequent letdowns!  Sweet!

To switch it up a bit I thought I would make some oatmeal cookies. I have majorly cut down on sweets from the first 4 months of Levis life(and even cut all added sugar etc out for a while), but every once in awhile you just want a cookie.  Well...actually I want cookies everyday..but we don't always get what we want and that's ok! :)  But yesterday I made a batch of yummy oatmeal cookies.

My friend Sandra(my baking friend queen) recommended I try this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I made a few alterations to it to make it have a little more oatmeal and a smidge more healthy and I am really pleased with the way they turned out! Just what I was hoping and Tristan loved them and he's not even a sweets guy!

Here is my adaptation of the recipe:


1/4 cup organic coconut oil
1/2 dark brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup Oat Flour(I put 1 cup instant oats in the blender)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon(it was a BIG teaspoon..cinnamon is good for you)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 cups (120 grams) rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

In a large bowl, cream together the coconut oil, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the oat flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the coconut oil/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips
Chill dough for 20mins or so.
Drop onto baking pan in tablespoon size balls. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes (your baking time will vary, depending on your oven and how cold the cookies were going in), taking them out when golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.

Makes close to 2 dozen. Total time from start to finish for these cookies(if you let them chill in the fridge) is 40-50mins.


That's it! Now just sit and enjoy them with some Mother's Milk Tea!  Hope some of you Momma's give them a try.  If you do let me know what you think!

Swimming!

We hung out at our pool yesterday with our friends Justin and Sandra and had a GREAT time! We got to use the new float we bought for Levi and he got to spend a good chunk of time in the water. The weather was perfect and so was the water. Levi had a great time... he was so relaxed and loved going around the pool and laying forward and lifting and letting his bum and legs float. There was even some possible slight kicks too! It was so much fun for this big water baby to watch her little water baby enjoy the water too!!!

Happy memorial weekend everyone. Hope you all have a great weekend!

First word.....Da da!

So just now, while Tristan has been getting ready for work Levi has said Da Da to him 3 times...and it seems yo be intentional! We are freaking out and I am so excited because I have worked so hard to get him to say Da Da to Tristan!!!! I'll try to get it on video soon!!!

Swing Time

2 days ago we went to the park with Jana and Piper for a picnic and some play time.  It was wonderful and Levi had his first experience in a swing!  He loved it so we will be doing it again soon I'm sure.  Here is a super cute picture that Jana took of him and a little video of him having fun!

Levi- 6 months

HAPPY SIX MONTHS SON!

-Babbles. Thhh, da, ta, ma, ba. I think  he will be saying da da soon when he sees Tristan because when I say "where's daddy?" He smiles, looks around the room, finds Tristan and then smiles real big.  He know the word daddy goes with Tristan..it's so cute! And since he says "da" I think soon he may connect the dots and say it to Tristan.
 And, I feel like he "talks" all day long He never seems to babble when I want him to though...like when we talk to my parents in the morning on Google Talk!

-Is full of smiles, laughs and giggles.

-Is very flexible..praise the Lord!

-Grabs at EVERYthing. Faces, plates of food,toys..etc.  And of course he wants to bring all of it to his mouth!

-Has been in a swing and loved it.

-Loves to be outside. Loves to watch trees and feel the wind.

-Rolls all over and right now uses that to get where he wants. Last month he was scooting more but once he learned how to "fly" he decided that was more fun.  He thinks that if he "fly's" and makes noises like he is working really hard he will get somewhere.

-Still LOVES to be naked.

-Loves his time with daddy in the morning and talks to him the whole time.

-Is SUPER snugly with his daddy! He is a daddy's boy!!!

-Still can't sit up unsupported.

-Still has no teeth.

-Still wears cloth diapers.

-Is still exclusively breast fed.

-Has his first "cold." Last week he started coughing a little and then one night he coughed so much(and was sleeping through it) and wouldn't stop we were ready to take him somewhere because it scared us so much.  But, after holding him upright and doing some hand thrusts on his back it got better. He has had the cough since and has had a runny nose, sneezing and red,watery, itchy eyes...so I am thinking it's something allergy related. He seems like he should be miserable but is handling it all really well.

-drools and gnaws on things all the time! Rubs his gums with his thumb too.

-Still spits up quite a bit.

-Has super waxy ears! GROSS.

-Has super sharp FAST growing nails.  I can not keep up with them.

-Is perfectly chubby.

-Has the sweetest eyes and brightest smile.

-Loves life.

-Loves people.

-Loves to read.

-Eats and sleeps like a champ.

- Has not been fighting me about going down for his naps this week. Maybe he is learning????

-Loves his Sophie Giraffe.

-Loves his blue blanket from Katie and Avery.

-Watches us like a hawk when we eat and smacks while watching!

-Is NOT happy when he is overtired and fusses and cries to let us know he needs sleep!!!

-Gets so happy when I sign "milk" to him.  

- Poops 1-2 times a day most days.

-Has nasty smelly gooey poops due to teething (I guess)..grossest poops ever..and I'm a nurse and have changed adults!

-LOVES his feet and toes and loves to chew on them.

-Loves bath time more every day and is more playful each bath!

-Does NOT like to be hot.

-Does NOT like to put on clothes.

-Does NOT like his nose wiped or suctioned.

-Still has his pointy elf ears!

-has HUGE cheeks!

-Is the love of our lives! And makes us want more kids all the time!

Happy 6 months old Levi, we love you so. I can not believe you are 6 months old already.....where has the time gone! You are such a joy and we are honored and blessed to be YOUR parents. This has been the best 6 months of our lives! We celebrate and praise the Lord today for his goodness, loving kindness, and mercy! Each day is a gift and treasure from Him!

Remember me?

Written on Tuesday May 15th


I'm sitting on the couch at my pom pom and grandma's watching my boy and my pom pom snooze, wishing my grandma was still here to keep me company right now. We would talk about Levi, we would talk about Jared and Tyler, we'd talk about Tristan, about Katie and Avery.... she'd ask and talk about everyone. She loved people and really cared. She loved me.
Next month it will be a year since she passed away. Right now I feel the hardest part is that it's becoming normal that she is not around and I just don't like that.

My dear friend Stacy knows what it means to love and loose a grandmother near to you too. When I was thinking about our spare room that would be Levi's room and our guest room I knew I wanted something for Levi that was in memory of my grandma.  Something I could point too and tell him all about her.

I couldn't get the nickname she had for him out of my head: Avocado.  She never met my boy, she never even knew he was going to be a boy but I had mentioned to her one time that he was the size of an avocado and it just stuck. Not to mention I love avocado's and she LOVED Mexican food.

I decided I wanted some sort of Avocado pillow or print or something in the room.  I looked on-line, I looked on Pinterest, I racked my brain for creative ideas. Nothing. Eventually I thought of Stacy.  This woman is so dear to my heart.  She is a forever friend, the kind you (unfortunately) rarely talk to but it doesn't matter. You will always love them. And she happens to be a vibrant person with fantastic creativity and artistic ability. And I said before she knows a grandma's love.  So I told her about my grandma and asked if she would do a painting of an Avocado for the baby room. She quickly said yes.

She texted me a picture of the painting when she was done. I was in love.  It was perfect and reminded me so much of my grandma.  Then we made plans for her to drop it off on her way down to Lytle for Thanksgiving on November 22nd.  Little did I know that I would be in labor at that time!  When she dropped by I was in the VERY early stages of my labor and Tristan and I were working hard to get the contractions to come on so unfortunately when she arrived we didn't even get to visit. 

The painting is lovely, and it reminds me of my grandma's favorite outfit,the one she was buried in. It also reminds me of my grandma's kitchen, my favorite spot in her whole house.   And just as I hoped the painting reminds me to share  sweet memories of her with my son.

Thank you Stacy, it's such a precious gift!

Here it is:

And here is my boy and pom pom sleeping(Levi was playing on the blanket, decided he was tired, laid his head down and went to sleep, it was so sweet):

Lightweight Moby Wrap Tutorial

So we love our Moby wrap but it's totally going to be tooo hot to wear during the summer so I have been meaning to go buy fabric to make my own, since it's only a long piece of fabric anyway. Well what do you know, just when I am thinking about this my dear friend Mary(She is also my sister in love's sister) posted a tutorial with instructions on making a moby wrap on her blog.

So all you Momma's to be take an hour out of your day, save yourself some money and go make you and your baby a Moby wrap!