Levi

I've got some pictures of Ezra I need to post, but Chad has the laptop and I'm on the old computer so those pictures will have to wait. In the meantime, I just wanted to say that I am SO excited to be an aunt again...for the 9th time! Levi Casey Montandon was born last night at 9:07 p.m. weighing in at 6 lbs. 14 oz. (same as Ezra's birth weight!) and 20.5 inches long. I can't wait to get my hands on that little baby. You can go here to see a couple pictures. I thought he looked like Ava's newborn pictures, but Emma says he really doesn't. Guess I'll just have to see him in person in a few weeks and judge for myself! We are so excited for Emma & Shawn and big sisters Elle and Ava.

The weekend, making baby food, teeth

This weekend Ezra and I drove to my mom's house and Ezra stayed with Granny while I spent the weekend with some friends to celebrate my friend Sara's upcoming wedding. Ezra had a great time, and I don't think he tired my mom out too much. I didn't get any pictures of the two of them together, but Erin & the kids came over and I got this picture of Kellen, Ezra and Bonnie. They love posing for pictures:
Ezra has become a pro at moving around in his walker. He can walk forward, backward, turn, etc. to get to where he wants to go. Here he is after realizing that he can open the cabinets in my mom's kitchen:
Changing subjects...I have started making my own baby food, for the sole reason that I just don't want to spend the money for store-bought food. I thought it would be complicated, or take a lot of time, so in case any of my friends out there are interested in making food for their babies, here's what I do.

1. Cook the food. I research how to cook whatever it is to preserve the most nutrients. Here, I've baked a couple of sweet potatoes. I also use frozen veggies and fruits if they're not in season (edited to add: it is really important that you cook produce to kill e.coli. In the case of the blueberries below, I boiled them to get them soft before I pureed them).
2. Blend the food (with a little added water) to desired consistency. Here, I've pureed some blueberries. Obviously I didn't hold the lid down tightly enough. Usually I don't make this big of a mess--I just happened to do it with blueberries on my white countertops.3. Pour purees into ice cube trays, freeze, and store in freezer bags. Below I've got peas and corn, ready to be heated up and eaten.
4. Feed baby. (We're back to blueberries now. This kid has liked every food I have offered him, except bananas.). It is so easy and hardly takes any time at all, unless you have to bleach your counters after blowing up blueberries in your blender. :) I calculated that I'll be saving about 2/3 the cost of what we were spending on commercial baby food, so about $30-40 a month.

This last picture was taken this afternoon during a tough time for Ezra. He cried off and on all afternoon and never took more than a 30-minute nap until he finally went to sleep tonight. He would stick his entire fist in his mouth and just chew. I think he'll be getting more teeth soon. One just broke through on the top, so I imagine the one next to it is close behind.

The weekend

Ezra and Gramme at Emma and Levi's baby shower
Ava and Ezra-cousins

We had a great weekend! Ezra and I flew into Austin to go to my sister-in-law Emma's baby shower. Levi will make his presence known in a little over a month, and I am so excited that Ezra will have a cousin who is fairly close to him in age. We flew in on Thursday, and the flight went without a hitch. Going through security was quite a production because of all the stuff (stroller, carseat, carry-on, taking shoes off, testing the bottles to make sure I hadn't put explosives in them), but it went fairly smoothly. We flew out at 6:30 in the morning and Ezra was asleep before we even took off and slept the whole way. PLUS, the flights both there and back weren't full, so they let me take the carseat on the plane and that gave Ezra a place to sleep, because he is awful at falling asleep in my arms. Anyway, we landed in Austin, got our rental car, and were on our way! The first stop was breakfast at Magnolia Cafe with dad and Ginny. Then, I had a couple places to stop and shop while I was in the south Austin area, and then we were on our way to Georgetown to Shawn and Emma's house. Thursday night I got to have dinner at Chuy's with my friend Sara, and then Friday I went shopping pretty much all day. Ezra made it with me to REI and Target, but then I thought it would be good if he spent some quality time with his gramme while I went to the outlet mall. :) Saturday was Emma's shower, and the hostesses did a wonderful job. We flew back Saturday afternoon. The two pictures above are ones that Emma sent me because I did not bring my camera. I had to pack light, and packing light means not being able to take a large SLR with you. I might need to invest in a small camera to carry in my purse and take on trips. Anyway, I love that picture of Ezra and Ava. Ava adores Ezra and she is so sweet with him. She will make a wonderful big sister.