Recipe: Baby Cereal Cookies

Lately I've been putting a lot of effort into finding new recipes, both for me and boyfriend (who is a super picky eater), and for Chloe, who I'm trying to introduce to as many new things as possible. I wanted something new that Chloe could eat as a snack (besides raisins and blueberries!), that she might really like. Something like cookies. So I found a recipe online for cookies made with baby cereal.

Ingredients:

 2 cups - Rolled oats 

¼ cup - All-purpose flour 

1 cup - Any baby cereal

 2 tsp - Baking powder 

1 tsp - Baking soda 

½ cup - Butter 

½ cup - Packed brown sugar 

2 eggs, beaten

½ cup - Raisins (I added these myself)

Oven at 375. 

Directions:

- Mix the butter and brown sugar, then mix in the eggs.

- In another bowl, mix  together the rest of dry ingredients. Mix both bowls together. Add raisins last.

- Make cookies and put them on a greased cookie sheet.

I made mine about tablespoon-sized scoops, and flattened them a little. These babies grow to be pretty big. I made about two batches, and probably around 30 cookies. I baked them for about 7 minutes for each batch.

The results? 

She thought they were okay. She's not the biggest fan of oatmeal things, I've learned. She'll still barely eat cookies like this unless they're pure sugar. She ate enough to satisfy me, but I'm still sad that she doesn't love oatmeal. Oatmeal cookies are my favorite!

Boyfriend also tried them (before I told him they were made out of baby cereal) and he said they weren't bad.

We had a bad day

Yesterday was one of those kind of rotten days. It was a holiday, so Chloe and I were home alone for the day. Lucky (not) for us, it was also storming so we knew we weren't going anywhere. 

I don't know if it's sickness or teething, but Chloe was miserable all night, and then all day. 

She wouldn't go to bed, and when she did she woke up a few times through the night. She was up at 6:40am, when normally I have to wake her up sometime after 7am to get ready for daycare. 

She whined all morning. 

Boyfriend watched her for a couple of hours so I could take a nap. He put her in her bed for her first nap, but she didn't sleep much. After more whining, I put her back to bed around noon. This time she slept for an hour and a half. She woke up whiny all over again. 

She had a tantrum or two, one that lasted about a half hour until I finally stuck her in bed until she calmed down. She was better after that, but still whiny until I put her to bed. 

I sure hope it's teething, because we sure need a break from sickness. 

Just after her tantrum, I held her on the couch for a little while. She was serious and quiet, but as soon as she saw her face in the camera (iPhone) she perked up and started making faces. 

It was one of those bad days where I lost patience more than once, and just wanted to hide in the basement listening to loud music while she had her freak outs. I didn't, but I wanted to. One of those days where I was more than happy to put her to bed, and prayed with every fiber of my being that she would stay there. 

Nope, not a good day. But those too shall pass, right? 

Baby Skinny Jeans?

I'll be honest - I hate skinny jeans. 

I wouldn't really be caught dead in them. I mean, they look nice on a lot of people but I hate the way I feel in them. 

But baby skinny jeans? I am now in love. Especially the random bright colored ones. 

I bought these blue ones, then liked them so much that I got her some dark pink corduroy ones, and a different dark pink pair in the next size up.  

What do you think, yay or nay? 

Chloe seems to like them.

I bought them at Old Navy on sale. I am in love.

The Act of Rotating Baby Toys

This winter while visiting my best friend A. and her husband (with 3.5 month old Chloe), we went to visit one of A's friends - a mother of three children. Now, I believe she is the mother of all mothers. Her children all seem so perfectly behaved every. single. time. that I see them, and they're adorable, too. 

One thing that she did that I absolutely loved had to do with the children's toys. She would take toys that they were growing tired of, and put them away. When she would take them back out weeks or months later, it was like a whole new toy and they wanted to play with it again. She did this all the time, rotating the toys a bit. 

Chloe & Madi (boyfriend's daughter) have a few too many toys

Once Chloe was old enough and showing interest in her toys, I tried to do this a little myself. It was a little hard, since she didn't have too many toys worth hiding, but I did manage to hide one toy. A Fisher Price picnic basket, that was a little advanced for her age - since all she wanted to do was suck on the handle instead of actually try putting the shaped in the holes. 

So I put it away a couple of months ago and just today brought it out for her to retry. 

Since it was just one toy, and she was getting a little tired and cranky, she didn't play with it super long, but definitely longer than had I thrown any old toy in front of her. I still call it a success. 

Now that we have a mixture of Chloe's toys and Madi's toys, I will someday soon sort through the whole bunch and hide a few things to bring out again later. Especially since Chloe will hopefully be getting a few new toys next month for her big ol' birthday. 

Do you rotate your children's toys? If so, how has it worked for you? 

* If you're interested in the picnic basket it's the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Sweet Sounds Picnic. And might I suggest one other toy I love even more? Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Say Please Tea Set. Even I still enjoy and am not sick of the tea pot. I love that it makes a water pouring sound when you tip it over. 

* * Ps. I was not compensated or anything for this post, these are just toys I genuinely love that Chloe has. However, if you purchase the toys through my links I get a teeny tiny commission.