Baby on the move

Wow - It's been quite a long time since my last post. Having a baby on the move has kept me very busy. And, if I even try to get out the computer a little someone wants to slam on the keyboard. Last time I let that happen, he paid a credit card twice! Here is a little of what we've been up to recently. Blake and I recently went through sleep training. At 10.5 months I figured it was time. It was really hard on me emotionally. I was convinced he wouldn't love me or think I loved him, if I let him cry. After a week and a half he was sleeping through the night and still providing me with a big smile when I picked him up in the morning! Blake also just had his first haircut! Many family members wanted me to wait until he was a year old, but it was time! His hair was in his eyes.

After

We also spent a few days at the beach. Blake didn't take to it too much, but I'm sure in time he'll get used to it.

Sandy Baby Toes!!!!

Wow! Packing for a beach trip with a baby for the first time is stressful. My husband and I have absolutely nothing, so we are starting to research the best products on the market.

1) Baby Tent - UV protection is extremely important to us. I am finding it difficult to get everything I want in one product. I want something that closes up, while protecting baby from the UV rays and staying cool. It seems as though from the review and product description that at most only have 2 of the 3 features; however, my husband and I finally decided on the Pacific Play Tent by Little Nursery. Surprisingly, it is one of the cheapest tents we've come across. But it serves all 3 must haves on my list and also has positive reviews from parents.

2) Baby Powder - takes the sand off of the skin

3) Several beach towels for baby

4) Beach toys

5) a Beach blanket - 31 has great blankets. They are soft on one side and plastic on the other side for easy cleaning.

6) Suntan lotion - You do not need baby suntan lotion. The ingredients are exactly the same as adult.

Penny Pinching....

Ever since Blake has been born I've been looking for ways to keep his dressed for cheap without skipping style. I like dressing him like a little man instead of clothing with all the animals on them. I feel that's a little girly for a baby boy. I've blogged about food choices, but here are some places I find adorable clothes for him for a lot less than retail prices.

http://coupon-codes-online.blogspot.com You can find promo codes here for free shipping or discounts. I use it a lot for Ralph Lauren Baby. I just snagged a pair of snow boots for next year for 18 bucks with free shipping!

Guilt.com - Comment below with your email address and I'll invite you
Zuilly.com - Comment below with your email address and I'll invite you

I also hit up the end of the season sales at GAP to buy clothes for the following year. I found shirts for him for under 3 dollars.

I've also used Ebay. I buy items NWT (New With Tags). I was able to get Blake an 80 dollar coat for 40.

I am currently looking for discount sites for swim floats. Anyone know of any????

Apples and Bananas

Introducing fruits.....

Blake is enjoying his first round of fruits this weekend. We started with bananas, I don't mind finishing them when he is full :) I am struggling with the best way to make and store his fruits. I have a few friends who make all of their babies' foods except fruits. I didn't understand why until we tried to freeze Blake's bananas. After freezing his bananas the thickness changed and when thawed out they had a film or skin formed on them, gross! I have also read in, What to Expect the First Year to buy your fruits instead of make them because of the preservatives. I am assuming the added preservatives that baby food companies add into the foods is what keeps the fruits from getting this "skin". I've decided, although, again not time saving, to make his fruits daily. The bananas only took a few minutes because they didn't need to be steamed and I added breast milk to them for added to nutrition.

We are also trying avocado this week. If you haven't started to introduce solids foods yet, I read yesterday that avocado is a great first food. It's really creamy and doesn't have a strong taste. It was really easy to cook up also.

This has nothing to do with baby food, but last night I sewed my first infinite scarf! Tonight, I am going to try to make Blake matching pants to celebrate St. Patty's Day. I'll post step by step instructions! Here is a picture of the scarf in the mean time. Excuse my appearance :)

Husbands!

My very helpful husband last night took the Beaba food processor apart to make sure all parts were clean. We do this everytime to make sure not to transfer bacteria to the baby's food. We thought we lost an important part to the Beaba and went into panic mood. My husband did a quick google search and found out you can order extra parts through this website. http://www.scichild.com/Shop/Beaba-Babycook-Parts

We ended up finding the missing part, but decided to order a few parts anyway. Hey, you never know when he will lose a part again, and we don't want to be without the cooker since I make his foods weekly.

This brings me to preparing Blake's foods. Many of the blogs I have read about baby food including blogs tagged on Pinterest show freezers full of enough baby food to last months. This is not for me. One of the many reasons I decided to make my own baby food is because I want to know what he is eating is FRESH. For me, I don't see the point in going through the trouble of buying him all organic fresh food to just freeze it and then maybe not serve it to him for a whole month. I make his foods every week, enough to send to daycare and for dinner. It isn't the most time saving method, but it's the best for my baby.

I mentioned in a previous blog that I started with carrots for my baby. The order of foods I am introducing go something like this: Orange and Yellows, Greens and then Fruits. You need to serve the same food for three to five days to be able to notice if your child has an allergic reaction to a food before introducing a new veggie or fruit. So far, Blake has had, but not always enjoyed, carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, red beets, green beans and he is in the processes of testing out green squash. Some of the veggies are really thin such as the squash, so I serve it with some cereal mixed in.

I wanted to inform my followers that there are is a high amount of nitrates in carrots, so if you choose to start with carrots do not add the steamed water back in to the carrots for pureeing. Add clean water. Wait until the babies are a little bit older before adding the steamed water back in. Same goes for red beets, although, they are recommended for babies around 8-9 months. I missed that memo!

Also, you can add formula or breastmilk before pureeing the foods, just remember not to refreeze the food if you choose to do this.

I will post recipes that I make for the boy as we get through introducing all his food foods!

Almost forgot, I use Rubbermaid's 4oz containers with freezer tape to label.

Blake and I can't live without.......

A girlfriend who is expecting in June asked me for some advice on items Blake and I just can't live without. I know everyone is different with their must haves, so I thought I'd make a list of a few of our favorites.

Number 1: Glow Seahorse. It helped sooth my fussy baby a lot during the first couple weeks.

Number 2: I hate receiving blankets. The baby only fits in them for a week or two. I think they are a waste. I am in love with aden and anais organic swaddle blankets. They are large enough to still swaddle my chunk and are made of an organic breathable material to help prevent overheating, which causes SIDS. My little guy was a little heater the first few months, so I really worried about this. adenandanais.com

Number 3: Pampers for little boys. Huggies just don't have the protection in the front that little boys need.

Number 4: A Moby Wrap. They are amazing for getting things done around the house with a new born. Helps with colic and gas as well. http://www.mobywrap.com/

Number 5: We are in love with our Beaba baby food maker.

Number 6: Medela Breast Pump. Buy the washable breast pads, so much more comfortable and affordable than throw aways. Also, don't buy the medela freezer bags, twice the price of others and other brands work just as well.

These are my 6 favorites. I'm sure more will pop up as the boy keeps growing.

My Sweet, Sweet Valentine

Well, Christmas was a bust for us. The little guy was sick in the hospital with pneumonia, so even though I am not the biggest fan of Valentine's Day, I wanted to make this one special for my little love. I wasn't sure what to do since he is so young. I thought about putting food coloring in his milk, but figured that probably wasn't the best idea. Then it hit me, I could make his meals into the shape of a heart! I already make and freeze his food, so it would be easy. Again, I use the Beaba Babycook. It cooks, steams and purees the foods.

I ran to Micheal's Craft Store and grabbed the very last heart shaped baking tray. It is silicone, making it easy for me to stick in the freezer after filling with his current foods: carrots, squash and sweet potatoes. He'll definitely have to get the sweet potatoes tomorrow :)

I filled the trays each pretty full, I wanted to make sure they took shape and if he doesn't eat it all it can always go back in the refridge. I then put them in the freezer for about three hours before popping them out. I could have placed them in individual freezer bags, but I placed them in rubbermaid containers instead since they were going to daycare. This way his teachers can feed him right out of the container.

My hope is that I can tell him about the small things I did for him in years to come and he will know just how much I really love him.


Now what to do for the dogs??? Can't forget them.

Baby Food

Blake is 5 months old now and really starting to explore his world. I've started creating his own baby food from fresh organic veggies. We are purchasing his veggies from a local farmer. It's awesome to give back to the community as well as know I am giving my baby fresh food to eat every day. I am using the Beaba food processor that can be purchased at Babies R US. I've included the link. It cooks, steams and purees the foods. We started with carrots, as you can see the boy was attacking the spoon before I could even get it in his mouth.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3772690