Amber Waves of Grain

We found the ultimate playground today! It's at a local church (that we don't attend) -- who opens their playground up to the community during the week. How nice is that? If you want to know the name, send me a note but I won't publish it on my blog. First of all, taking kids to playgrounds isn't always easy. You know the drill. Keegan is a runner. Kennedy needs chased while Keegan plays. Some kid with a snotty nose is always trying to play with your baby. Someone needs to pee and the bathrooms are nasty and you don't know what to do with your baby. But, not today. Not at my new favorite place!! Just look at this! So, this playground is the mother of all indoor playgrounds. It was clean. It was enclosed. The parking was close to the doors. There were benches and chairs for adults. During the week, I guess not many people are in there. There was only one other mom with 2 small kids so I didn't have to worry about it being too busy. There is a b...

For those of you who are interested in Keegan's food issues... We've got some great news. We found a wonderful feeding specialist who is willing to work with Keegan (and me!). She is kind and understanding and is an expert in Keegan's area of food issues. This brings me to our new plan that we worked out with our specialist . Our first goal is to rewire his thinking and remove his 'fears' of food and mealtime. We also want to teach him that all food is equal . Once we remove some of these fears and mealtime is more positive and enjoyable, then down the road we can gradually stretch him in the types of food he's willing to eat and so forth. Each meal, I give him a plate with 4 items : A fruit (because it's good for him and it's something he likes), a serving of what the family is eating , a modifed version of what we're eating , and a sweet . The modified version, for now, is something that he'll eat that looks sort of like what we...

I've got a big crockpot of potato soup cooking right now, and I just sneaked a taste. I'm not going to lie to you, it's delicious. I knew you'd want the recipe. So, here it is: Potato Bacon Soup (Or, if you use my measurements it will be "Bacon Soup With A Little Bit of Potatoes") :) 8 cups coarsely chopped & peeled potatoes (Use 8 cups of frozen southern style potatoes instead if you're lazy like me-- that's about 3lbs.... or use more if you like it really thick & chunky) 1 small onion, chopped 1 lb bacon -cooked & crumbled (the original recipe called for 1/2 lb but you know how we love bacon. Also, I fried the bacon the night before and then just used scissors to snip it all up into the crockpot the next morning) 1 8oz package cream cheese, softened 3 cans (14.5oz each) chicken broth 1 (10.75oz) can cream of chicken soup 1/4 tsp pepper In your crockpot, stir together the potatoes & onion. Stir in the bacon. In a large mixing b...

I've heard from MANY moms now asking for tips that I've learned on feeding their babies and/or kids. Obviously, I'm no expert or else my own child would eat! :) However, I have researched a lot, read a lot, tried a lot, learned a lot, and have been through some therapy with Keegan where I have learned some good tips. Here are my top 10 tips. Remember, some of these may not be age-appropriate for your child so use discretion. And, some of them are for resistant eaters while some are for picky eaters..... and some of these are just good to use on an everyday, normal eating child! Heck, some of you may want to even try these on your picky husbands. :) Top 10 Tips 1) Do not ask yes/no questions at the table. Replace "Would you like some green beans?" with "I'd like you to try some green beans." 2) Make sure kids are coming to the table hungry. When I grocery-shop while hungry, everything suddenly looks good. It all appeals to me. It...

I love when you order something special in the mail and then you forget it's coming. It's like a surprise even though you're not surprised. Know what I mean? Well, the other day my not-so-surprise came. Inside a package that arrived was a stack of fabrics samples, all bundled together perfectly and wrapped in tissue paper and sealed with an oh-so-cute sticker. Nathan suggested I rip into it; he did not appreciate the fine wrapping. Here they are after I delicately took the tissue paper and sticker off. I appreciate this: So, "What's this fabric all about?", you're wondering. I told you all that I wanted to Dress My Nest ( link ) . Well, I picked my inspiration items for Thom and he never showed. Really, I thought we were much closer than that. So... I figured I was on my own in the whole redesign project for my downstairs. I have looked high and low for months now to find the perfect fabrics for my curtains, which will then become the color pal...

Drum roll, please! This is our last Resistant Eaters Awareness post! You've survived! So, some of you are asking, "What does he eat?". Well, mostly he eats plain pasta (finally! We can now eat out at Fazolis!), plain white bread slices (only 2 brands), occasional chicken nugget (the shape is important to him and he has to be very hungry), various crackers , various cookies , Pringles , chow mein noodles ( the crunchy kind in the can ), peanuts , kid's yogurt (has to be colorful and contain no fruit slivers), cucumber slices, raw carrots , cherry tomatoes, pop tarts , Cocoa Pebbles cereal, Cookie Crisp cereal, popcorn , pretzels , dinosaur oatmeal ( it's instant oatmeal that has dinosaur eggs in it which 'hatch' when the hot water is added ), certain granola bars (chocolate chips mostly), fruit snacks (the chewy shaped ones), mini donuts (chocolate or powdered sugar), Aunt Millie's brand chocolate chip muffins (new food, yay!), and so...

For those of you reading about Resistant Eaters this week , we are on Day 2 of our awareness challenge! I know, I know... some of you are thinking, " BORING ." This is sort of your get-out-of-reading-Amber's-blog-free card. That's right; this week is your chance to play that card if you'd like. For the rest of you....... I want to tell you a little more about resistant eaters so that you can better understand Keegan or others: 1) While a picky eater will not starve themselves (ie: they eventually give in when they are hungry enough to try a new food), resistant eaters might . Keegan is very strong willed and has gone up to 2 1/2 days without eating because he was unwilling to eat what was offered (at that point I gave in and fed him what he wanted). 2) They are very aware of the imperfections of food , even their favorites. If the cookies is broken or there is a dark spot on the apple slice, forget them eating it. Keegan is also very picky about th...

Many of you know about Keegan's eating issues ( link ). Keegan is not a picky eater. That's right, he's actually diagnosed as a " resistant eater ". So, I am officially declaring my next few posts to be for Resistant Eaters Awareness . This will be boring for most of you , so feel free to slack on your blog-reading this week. This week's blogs will be more for me to raise awareness and for some documentation that I can share with other moms as needed. I've spent a lot of time researching this. Moms ask me a lot of questions and this will help me have a place to send them. I promise to make my next blogs a lot more exciting for the rest of you! For those of you still actually reading, today I'm going to share the difference between a picky eater and a resistant eater. When I talk to other moms about Keegan, they often go on to tell me they understand because their child is also 'picky.' I know they mean well, but inside I have a s...

I love the show Dress My Nest ( link ). Basically, a fun designer named Thom Filicia goes to someone's house and redecorates a room for them. To help understand the person's style, Thom has the person show 6 personal items that they choose from their home. The first 3 are items from their wardrobe that they love. The other 3 items are 3 personal items (like a sentimental item or just something that they love). Thom takes elements from these items to figure out your style. Then he incorporates the item's attributes into the space somehow. He uses things the person already loves as his muse to decorate their space. He's fabulous and creative. I'm currently in the brainstorming process of redecorating my first floor (kitchen, living room, front room, & bathroom). So, Thom, if you are reading this-- please come to my house!! I've been thinking about what my 6 items would be. Here are the 3 from my wardrobe: #1) My Anthropologie purse . I lo...

You know I love food. So, of course, this time of year is my favorite for testing out new recipes. I tried some good and some bad this year. I thought I'd share some of this year's best recipes! 1. CAKE BALLS . I shared these in a previous blog post ( link to recipe ). A few readers have told me that you made them too and they were a hit. For Christmas I found the BEST flavor combination yet. They were orange cake with vanilla icing with chocolate (chips) as the coating. I happen to love orange & chocolate together so for me they were amazing. For those of you making them, I did learn to freeze the cake/icing batter BEFORE forming it into balls and then it scoops much easier and with less mess. (this is not a photo of MY cake balls, by the way. I wish mine looked that pretty): 2. PRETZEL HUGS. I make these only because with 2 small kids, my "real" baking days are over for awhile. These are just super easy and fun to make with Keegan; he does ...