Book Review: "Cemetery Girl"

"Cemetery Girl" by David Bell

SUMMARY from GoodReads

Four years after Tom and Abby's 12-year-old daughter vanishes, she is found alive but strangely calm. When the teen refuses to testify against the man connected to her disappearance, Tom decides to investigate the traumatizing case on his own. Nothing can prepare him for what he is about to discover.

MY RATING

MY THOUGHTS

Eh. It wasn't a horrible book by any means, but it wasn't great either. I felt like it repeated itself over and over and over (and over...) again without any real climax. I felt like the author never revealed what 'really' happened. There was a lot left to the imagination and it was really predictable. It wasn't bad for an Amazon Bargain Bin read though.

Seven Months

Seven Month Stats:

Weight: 15lbs 1/2oz

Height:  27 1/2"

Clothing: Mostly 3 to 6, 6 to 9 month footed sleepers

Diapers: Still size 2's

Eating: We're doing pretty well here. We ended up seeing a Pediatric GI Specialist a few weeks ago due to his low weight gain. She didn't find any issues, so just advised us to up the amount in his bottles.

So, he now gets 5oz bottles when he's not nursing. In addition to that, he also eats 3 solids meals per day. He was doing really well with his solids, but then lost his appetite due to an ear infection :( It's slowly making a come-back.

We've been working on the sippy cup lately. He knows what to do with it, he just has a little trouble with the execution, so he prefers that I just hold it for him! 

Sleeping: Same old, same old. Before his ear infection, I felt like he was getting ready to drop is 3/4am-ish nursing session... but then he got sick and that though got tossed!

He's pretty much back to his usual sleeping pattern now, thank goodness. We had a few rough nights. I don't know how those "co-sleepers" do it every night. Oh my goodness. I slept with Charlie in my bed for 2 nights while he was sick (because he wouldn't sleep unless he was touching me) and I was so paranoid of squishing him that I barely slept at all! At least he got some rest, that's what really mattered!

Playing: Anything and everything is now a 'toy'! He loves sitting at his piano and whacking away at the keys, he also gets a kick out of yanking my hair :)

Watching him play in the jumperoo is probably one of the cutest things ever!

Other Things: He gets better with sitting everyday. He tries soooo hard to get himself into a sitting position from laying down, but he's not quite there yet.

He's really starting to push up on his hands now, just a few days ago he didn't even bother with that. Even though he's not crawling, I wouldn't consider him immobile. I pretty much just rolls wherever he wants to go! If he's not rolling, he's scooting around by pushing his feet off the floor.

We survived our first real illness (the ear infection), but it was rough. At one point his fever spiked up to 104.3. It was pretty scary, but thankfully it went down pretty quickly. I hope we can dodge any other illnesses for a while! Sick babies make for sad Mommy's.

DIY Solids

I've said a few times now that I wanted to show my process for making Charlies food.

It's honestly a lot easier that I thought it would be!! Using Wholesome Baby Food as a guide, I've made (so far) sweet potatoes, pears, peaches, peas, sweet peas, green beans, butternut squash... and probably a few other things. He's also eating bananas, avocados and applesauce - but those don't involve much prep. Next on my list to make up is carrots!

There's not much equipment involved really. I use the following:

• A steamer pot borrowed from my Mother-in-Law
• A blender we already had
• Ice cube trays we already had - although I'd like some flexible silicone ones

So really, there hasn't been any extra expense other than purchasing the fruits and veggies!

Here's a quick play-by-play for home made baked peaches (which are DELICIOUS by the way) and peas!
*
*
*
To start off - you'll need the following for pretty much anything you plan to make.

A Blender (or immersion blender, ninja, bullet... basically a blending tool of your choice)

Ice Cube Trays (again, your choice as to what kind)

Ok, onto the "how-to"....

BAKED PEACHES

(5 Peaches = 24oz of puree)

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.

For this batch, I used five average sized yellow peaches.

Halve and pit all the peaches. Then place them "face" down in a glass baking dish. Add about 1 to 1.5 inches of water to the dish.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the skin begins to pucker. I start with 40 minutes, then add 5 minute increments as needed.


Allow to cool for a bit so they are easier to handle. Remove the halves from the water (don't dump out the water yet!!), scoop out the 'meat' (about 2 cups worth) and place it in the blender along with a little of the water from your baking dish (not to much, maybe half a ladle).

Blend until you reach your desired consistency. Add more water if needed. With peaches, this doesn't take long using the puree button on my blender. Maybe a minute tops of on/off blending on the pulse mode.

Once blended, scoop puree into tray of your choice, cover with plastic wrap and freeze! Once completely frozen, pop the cubes out of the tray and into a Ziploc freezer bag, label with contents and the date.

PEAS

(1lb Peas = 28oz puree)

If you'd like, you can use fresh peas. Those weren't an option for me when I made these, and frozen works great too! I thawed the bag slightly so they would steam a little faster.

Using a steamer basket, or other cooking method of your choosing, cook the peas completely to desired tenderness. I make them pretty soft so they blend easier.

Place the peas in your blender and blend to desired consistency. Add a little water to help thin them out a bit, or you can add breast milk or formula after thawing to thin. I can't fit a whole pound of peas in my blender all at once, so I blend it two batches. Altogether there's about 4 cups or puree.

Once blended, scoop into your trays, cover and freeze! Once frozen, pop out, put in bags and label!

*
*
*
So, yeah. It's really pretty easy! If you're on the fence about making your own baby food, I highly suggest you give it a shot!