Weekday mornings with an eleven month old are hectic. It’s always quite the scramble to get her ready, give her a morning bottle, shower, get myself ready, pack our lunches & snacks for the day, make sure she keeps her clothes on and stays out of the dog bowl. So, you could say that my morning coffee tends to take a back seat If I’m lucky, I have time to throw some (pre-bottled from the refrigerated section at the grocery store) Starbucks iced coffee in a tumbler with ice as we are running out the door.

More often than not though, I wait to get coffee until she is dropped off at school. Then, I either go through the drive thru at Dunkin Donuts:

or I make myself a cup when I get to the office:

At home, we do have a Keurig but I have a hard time making a good iced coffee from it. So typically, on the weekends, one of us goes out to get us coffee. We’ve been doing this for almost two years now. I know we could save money by cutting out those weekend coffees, but it’s just something that we do and we really love it. We’ll save elsewhere

We typically just hang out in the living room and drink our coffees. We watch HGTV, play with Gracie and chat about our week and our weekend plans. Having that hour of “us” time has become so important to us.

Tell me about your morning routines and favorite coffee! Do you make your own at home every day, or do you splurge like we do?

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This is what her eating schedule looks like:

5:45-7:00am: Gracie wakes up anytime between 5:45 and 7:00, and has a bottle. 3oz of organic, farm fresh milk and 3oz of formula (Gerber Good Start Gentle). We are weaning her off formula and bottles, only three more weeks to go!

8:30am: Breakfast! She loves scrambled eggs with cheese, pancakes and fruit (watermelon is her favorite!)

11:00am: 6oz bottle (again half milk, half formula) but lately she is starting to not want this bottle. So, instead I’ve been making her a fruit & veggie smoothie and she loves it! Milk, yogurt, a handful of spinach, a whole apple, half a pear and a cup of mixed berries – blend til smooth and add water until it’s the right consistency to easily come out of a sippy cup. This makes about 10 ounces!

12:30pm: Lunch! I usually pack her leftovers from dinner- diced ham, mac’ n ‘cheese, grilled cheese, chicken meatballs, chicken sausage, ect. Then I throw in veggies (girl loves her peas!) and maybe some pasta or rice.

3:00pm: Another 6oz bottle – she usually drinks this one!

4:30pm: Snack – Yogurt or fresh fruit, yogurt melts, cheerios or puffs

6:00pm: Dinner! Always similar to lunch – it depends on what we have in our fridge! We don’t eat dinner until well after she goes to bed so whatever our dinner is, is usually her lunch the next day I’m starting to branch out more and give her new types of food – fishsticks, homemade meatballs, mashed potatoes, ect.

7:15pm: Her last bottle of the day, another 6 ounces, and she always drinks every last drop!

Her favorite foods: peas, watermelon, cheese, diced ham

Her least favorite foods: She will eat anything we put in front of her, but for some reason, she really doesn’t like vegetables that aren’t green in color!

We love taking her out to lunch and ordering her meal from the kids menu. It’s always a good portion and lasts her several meals.

I’m so grateful that she’s such an adventurous eater with a very big appetite! I’m sure we will face our challenges as she gets older and more vocal

What do you feed your babes? I’m always interested in hearing new recipes!

 I’m linking up with the girls for Thoughts for Thursday!

The post What Gracie Eats appeared first on Leopard and Grace.

Eating: You started eating more defined meals, and eating a TON more. You went through a huge growth spurt for about a week and a half – and I joked that you had overnight turned into a teenage boy I started introducing cows milk, and mixing it with your formula and you don’t even notice! You mastered drinking out of your sippy cup, and you love to guzzle water. You get that from your mama You eat anything we put in front of you, and you don’t let the fact that you only have two little teeth, stop you! You chomp and gum away at any and everything, but peas and watermelon are your favorite.

Sleep: Still doing amazing *knock on wood* – you have a great routine and if we stray from it, you do not do as well. You’re for the most part still sleeping through the night – from 7:30-5:30. You still nap twice a day – at daycare only for 30 minutes at a time, but at home you will nap for an hour to an hour and a half!

Clothes: You are wearing 12-18 month clothes, because you need it for the length! I can still squeeze some 6-12 onesies on you, but they are getting really snug! We bought you your first “real” shoes this month, and you look so grownup!

Activities: This month you mastered walking with assistance. One night, you just stood up with your walker, and took off down the hallway! You learned how to climb the stairs (time to get another gate for the bottom!) and had your first tumble down them :/ We can no longer let you out of our sight for a second – yesterday I found you chomping on a ladybug! You love to play “peek-a-boo”, going on walks and “chasing” Gunner, and hiding your socks and binkie inside our shoes There is never a dull moment!!

Happy eleven months, sweet Gracie girl. “To know how much we love you, count all the waves in the sea”.

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