Halloween Weekend 2012 plus an Update

Hi my long lost friends! Oh how I've missed you! I'll spare you all the "I've been so busy" busniess, and honestly say that blogging had to take a backseat for a while. I wish I could say I've been yachting in St.Tropez for the entire summer and came back with an amazing tan! Or won the lottery and decided to live off the grid, so I don't spend all my winnings! But that would be a lie and the truth is life happened! I'm not 100% back, probably closer to 70% so please be kind snd bear with me! I'm back to being a SAHM to little B, which is way harder now that he's almost 2. I've missed blogging so much and I'm glad to be back to share my journey again!
This past weekend we went to the Pocanos with our Queenie (the name B calls my mom). They had a Halloween weekend at the campsite she stays at. It was such a great time. I couldnt believe some of the amazing decorations people had set up. Chainsaws, lights, fog machines and scary music just to name a few. B dressed up as Mickey and I did a quick and easy black cat look.

I hope everyone effected by hurricane Sandy is holding up well. Its so windy here, I cant remember wind this bad! It sounds like our roof us going to blow off! But all is well and Im wishing you all the same!
Make sure you stay in contact! Im on twitter @sensation _finds and instagram @sensationfinds all the time! So lets chat! Also comment below and let me know what your Halloween plans are!

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Happy Easter Friends!

Happy Easter Friends! I hope your all having an amazing day. Today we gave B is Easter basket in the morning, then we went to an Easter egg hunt downtown. It was a nice time, but way too many kids. B was only able to get one egg, before they were all gone. That was a little annoying because we waited for about 1 1/2 hours, but it was a great day. We came home, relaxed, and had Mexican for dinner! It was a great day, and I'm glad we spent it how we did. 

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Baby B's face is priceless, he was exhausted!

Last week was a really busy week at work, since it was the end of the month, so I wasn't able to do too many blog post. Things should be back to normal this week, and if not then definitely by the following week.

Slacking On My Pimpin'

I've been slacking on my blogging lately, and I miss doing it. So much is happening in my life right now, so finding time to blog is hard. I started a new job a couple weeks ago. I'm no longer an official SAHM. I still consider myself a SAHM because I still do everything I normally did, plus work 40 hours. The first couple days were hard to be away from Baby B, but I'm getting better. Right now it's the best decision for the family, and that's the number one priority. I really like my job, that's a huge plus. I work with some great people and the atmosphere is really laid, so I couldn't be happier.
We also have were on the apartment hunt, for what seemed like forever. It seemed much harder this time around. We've been in our current place for 4 years, so it's been a while. I'm happy to say that we've finally found a place! Thank God, because this mama couldn't take much more. It's a  different neighborhood, but only about 3 minutes away. I'm looking forward to moving and making this new place our home. I have so many projects to come, and can't wait to share them with you. I've gotten so inspired from different blogs I read, as well as Pinterest. I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! We had a great time, we took a ton of pictures, and seen some great kids dressed up. We went around our neighborhood, everyone was outside handing out candy to the kids. It was a great time, making memories with my boys!
Please bare with me while I get myself and my family on a schedule. I miss blogging and can't wait to get back to one of my favorite things to do!

My little tiger! 

Bobby at his first birthday party!

The Beginning of Fall

Here on the East Cost, the weather is changing. That means cooler nights and changing leaves. We decided to take advantage of that and go to our local state park. They have a beautiful area right on the Delaware River, where you can see the city skyline and get some really great photos. I plan on taking Bobby’s official 7 month photos this weekend. He’s just a couple days shy of 8 months. I’m also planning on doing a fall photo shoot in the same park, with a fall setup. It should be really cute, I hope it comes out as I imagine. Happy Saturday, I hope your having a relaxing weekend.

Halloween Costume Ideas

I know I"m probably getting ahead of myself thinking about Halloween, but I am! I can't help it, I'm really a kid at heart and love to plan and things. So I've begun my hunt for the baby's Halloween costume. I've only looked on Toy's R Us.com but they have a ton of cute costumes. I talked to my mom and we've made plans to take B to the campground that they belong to in the Poconos Mountains. She said the weekend before Halloween they have different activities for kids, including a parade and trick or treating. I'm really excited for that and plan on finding a great family costume idea for all of us. Then on Halloween we will get the baby dressed and go out around our house. These are a few costumes that I saw for Baby B and plan on finding "the one" my the end of this month. What are you and your little ones going to dress up as, any ideas yet or am I the only one excited?

This is my favorite one

The  Incredible Hulk costume is so adorable

Woody from Toy Story

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Making your own baby food and My Birthday!

I've growing a love for making homemade baby food. It's fun for me and I love knowing that I'm giving him fresh food that's made with love. I always say food that's made with love tastes way better! It's not hard at all and can become kind of time consuming if you don't have the right appliances. I feel that making our own baby food is cheaper then buying the jars. I talked to you before about the Ella's Kitchen Organic baby food that I give to B. This is only because it's hard for me to get green beans made in the right consistency. They also have some amazing combos like spinach. apple, rutabaga that I've given to B. This is still new to me, so once I get the hang of it I'm sure I'll be making it all myself.

 To start your going to need something to puree the food. If you have a food processor at your home, that's perfect to use. I started out with a small grinder, it's perfect if your going to be doing something quick for that day. I didn't know if I would like making the baby food so I didn't want to end up wasting money. I use this for now to make all the baby food. Believe me when I tell you at the end my arm hurts! So hopefully I'll be able to upgrade to the Baby Bullet soon. The Baby Bullet is a another way to puree it does the same job as a food processor but smaller. The good thing about this is it comes with all the storage containers you can refrigerate and freeze all the food you make. This is a popular one among moms. The Baby Brezza is a system that I've been looking at as well. It steams and purees all in one bowl, this would save so much time. It's the most costly of the three, costing about $100.00 on Amazon, but saving time is always a plus.

Munchkin food grinder $10.00 on Amazon

Baby Bullet $60.00 on Amazon

Baby Brezza $100.00 on Amazon

Cuisinart food processor $35.00 on Amazon

 For the first couple months all fruits and veggies should be cooked. Either by steaming, boiling, or baking. I suggest taking a look at my favorite baby food website they have tons of information on which foods should be steamed, boiled, or baked. If you are steaming you can use a food steamer or what I use is a colander inside a large pot of boiling water.

Once your fruits or veggies are cooked your going to puree them into the consistency that right for your baby. You can thin out your puree with water/breast milk/formula or thicken with cereal. I would suggest you do this before you freeze your puree. Once the puree is completely done I use ice cube trays to freeze them. Cover the trays in plastic wrap and place into the freezer. I normally will do enough food to fill 2 trays. Once the puree is frozen you can remove them and place in Ziploc freezer bag. Make sure you write the date on the bag so you'll know. For optimal quality you only want to keep for 3 months, even though they'll remain safe for 6 months. If you choose not to freeze your baby food keep refrigerated for 48 hours (many safety authorities say 72 hours is fine).

When your ready to feed your baby you can thaw the baby food in the microwave, but be careful because this can cause hot spots and burn your little ones mouth. Many bottle warmers also will steam your food to De-thaw, this is what we use most of the time. You can place frozen cubes in a closed container and refrigerate over night.

I know making your baby food may not be an option for everyone, but I hope your able to try it out and see if it's for you or not. You can buy organic or regular old fruit I've found that farmers markets have some great prices. Whole stores like Sam's Club and BJ's also have bulk size fruits and veggies that can be cheaper per pound. With meats you can save a little of whatever you make, for example I made fajitas for dinner and before I seasoned the chicken I took out some for B. I ground it up really small then placed it in his puree. Since he just started out on meats he doesn't need a lot, but I plan on just saving whatever we make for dinner then freezing it for him. I hope you were able to get some ideas and tips, if you have any new information to share with me I would love to hear it.

Today is my birthday and I had a wonderful day celebrating turning 26. My wonderful fiance brought me a watch that I've been eyeing. He made me pancakes this morning and woke me up with the baby signing happy birthday, it was so sweet. Then we spent the day lounging by the pool and just hanging. It's been one of my best birthdays. I got to spend it with my two boys, and for that I couldn't be more thankful!

5 Month Photo Shoot

Hi Guys, I just wanted to share some pictures from our 5 month photo shoot. What a little man my boy has become. It's hard to believe B will be 6 months old in a week! I'm planning a 6 month birthday party for him. So we'll get him a small gift and have cake and ice cream for family. It should be fun, so I'll post pictures I hope everyone had a great weekend! It's been extremely hot here, so we've been staying in the house for the most part. Please make sure you subscribe and comment!!

Eating like a champ!

We have been eating solids for a full month and it's going great! I'm probably one of pickiest eaters you'll ever meet. So I've been making an effort to offer B everything, even if I think it's gross! I started doing all the purees myself, and love it. To me, it seems like it's way more cost effective then buying baby food. We skipped over rice cereal, due to the fact that it's not a nutritional as fruits and veggies. So far we have had squash, sweet potato, carrots, bananas, peas, pears, plums, and green beans. I've found green beans and peas to be the hardest to make. The consistency tends to be a little more chunky because of the skins. I make a batch of 1 or 2 different fruits or veggies. Each batch is 1 full ice cube tray frozen, then stored in freezer bags. I've found so much helpful information on www.wholesomebabyfood.com. They tell you everything you need to know about making, storing, and feeding your baby.
 Today I was at Target and I was strolling down the baby aisle, and I stopped and was checking out the Ella's Kitchen organic baby food. They had so many wonderful fruit and veggie combinations. I decided to try 2 since I had some trouble getting the right consistency with some of my purees. I picked up spinach, apple, rutabaga, which Bobby loved, and broccoli, pears, peas. They were a little pricey, about $1.79 each, but perfect to stick in your diaper bag, or to give your little one different flavors to try.

Welcome!

Hey Everyone!
 I wanted to say hello and welcome to the new home of Sensational Finds. I was having problems with my Wordpress account and decided to move my little blog over to Blogger. Honestly, it's one thousand times easier to use. Wordpress layouts were pretty standard if your like me, and don't know much about web design. So I'm really happy to be starting fresh and hopefully you subscribe and we can get to know each other!

This past weekend was 4th of July. We took Baby B to a friends BBQ, and then the fireworks. I was nervous at first because the fireworks didn't start until 9 o'clock, and they can get quite loud. We decided to be "daring" and risk it all. He's almost 5 months (tomorrow to be exact) so he's getting better being out for long periods of time. I'm happy to say he did great! He loved the fireworks, but wasn't a fan of waiting in between. Every time one would go off he would look up at them. It was so cute, and I'm so glad we decided to go. Here's a couple picture of our day. What did you and your family do this year?