Christmas Traditions

I'm a sucker for Christmas, and always have been. From choosing the Christmas tree, to what treats to bake to what holiday songs will echo through the house, I take it all very seriously. I'm proud to say that I have definitely rubbed off on my husband. With a wee one on the scene, Christmas has an extra-special feeling this year. My husband and I had a discussion about what holiday traditions we would like our family to have. Peanut is still pretty young so we haven't implemented everything yet but we have certainly done a lot festive things with her this season.  Here is a list of the things that either my husband or I did growing up and would like to continue with and a few new ideas;

1. Giving back - My mother has always instilled in me the importance of giving back. She is by far the most generous person I know. She sponsors entire families at Christmas time, drops food off to the food banks regularly, and will even fight traffic to drive into Toronto to drop off care packages to teens in needs. She truly is the greatest woman. I want Peanut to know the importance of giving back too. We started this year, and will continue for a long time having Kinley go pick out a few gifts for children in need. We will make a big deal of  this and have her involved in every step of the process including going to the store, choosing the gifts and delivering them to the donation centre.

2. Family, family, family - Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without family. Yes, friends are super important during the holidays but as far as I'm concerned family trumps everything. Spending as much time together during the holidays is so important.

3. Decorating Day - This happens any day after November 11th and involved hot chocolate and great holiday tunes.

4. Christmas Tree - Our go-to place doesn't sell trees anymore so we will have to figure out a new place to go. I take this task very seriously - it must be perfect and I will take however much time is needed to find the right tree for our family. There is a lot of twirling with trees to see all angles. This, along with decorating the tree will be done as a family.

5. Christmas movies - curled up in our jammies with treats anytime in the month of December. Classics for me include Home Alone (1 & 2), Elf, and The Santa Claus. LOVE.LOVE.LOVE.

6. Santa treats - Left out on Christmas Eve and will include a carrot for Rudolph.

7. Christmas Light Tour - My mom lives in Oakville and holy shit, do those rich folks know how to do it right! Nothing beats grabbing a hot chocolate  (& Bailey's for the passengers) and driving the town for a few hours checking out all the amazing lights.

8. Santa Wish List - We always made a wish list growing up. We understood that it wasn't a list that meant we would get all of it but I'm sure it was helpful to Santa. I am a firm believer that Christmas isn't at all about the gifts. Gift opening is a part of the tradition of Christmas, but it isn't the biggest part and I want to make sure Peanut knows this. I hope her future wish lists will be this;
One thing to read:      ______________
One thing I need:       ______________
One thing to wear:   ______________
One thing I want:    ______________

9. Christmas Baking - I love to cook and I want Peanut to be apart of this passion of mine. I want her to participate in cooking as often as she can and Christmas baking will be no exception!

That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure this list will grow as the years pass but this is a good start. Have I mentioned that I love Christmas? Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!

It still hurts sometimes.

Dear Diary,  (that's what this post feels like...lol)

Since my original Reality Bites post last September when I finally 'came out' about being infertile I have had many wonderful things happen including connecting with people who have a similar story and learning a ton about myself and my relationship with my husband. When I hear others fertility struggles regardless if I know them or not, I automatically feel a deep bond with them. I become invested in their story as much as I am invested in my own.  I cheer them on, pray for them, think of them, and cry tears of sorrow and joy with them. This isn't a fun road, but it's worth ever damn step if you able to find the beauty in it. 

First and foremost I want to say that I am forever grateful, thankful, blessed etc. that we were able to bring the most perfect miracle baby into this world. The feeling of complete gratitude to modern day science and the medical professionals that made our Peanut possible will never fade. We are so very lucky, however there isn't a day that goes by that I am not reminded that we struggled, and will continue to struggle with fertility. To be honest, I wasn't expecting these feelings to be here still. Pregnancy announcements can sometimes still be difficult but I am slowly working through this.  The emotional scars of our treatment struggles still linger in the back of my mind and the thought of doing it all over again is completely and utterly overwhelming. I've always been a 'follow your gut' type of girl and we know that our family isn't complete yet so we will be giving treatment another go when the time is right for our family. That scares the shit out of me. Last time I was going in blind; naïve to what it all entailed and I sort of liked it like that. I now know that the odds are against us and that statistically speaking we will likely have to do three rounds of treatment to be successful like last time. I will have to take time off work. I will need to lug little Peanut to may, may, may ultrasound and blood work monitoring appointments. I will have to be at my lowest, low...again. I will have to give myself injection after injection. I will lose a lot of hair. I will be scared. I will have hormonal mood swings. I will gain weight. I will spend too much money. I will line up before clinic opens in hopes to get out quickly. I will cry. I will be on bed rest. I will get angry. Knowing all of this, I will do it again because it brought us the most beautiful little girl on the planet and it worth doing again. This journey hasn't been easy, as many journey's in life aren't but my God, has it ever been worth it. It isn't over, and we know we may have a long road ahead but we are ready, whenever that might be.

Until next Diary...

FYI Search Me

For those of you who are looking for an archived post, there is a search bar on the top left side of this page. All you have to do is type in any keyword and it will bring up all of my related posts. Makes life a lot easier then what my Mother has been doing --- searching through every single one of my 400+ posts for my Green Smoothie recipe. Oh Mama...

Eggnog Cookies

I've had it on ice, mixed with spiced rum and even cut with milk but I just can't bring myself to like eggnog. I found a recipe on Pinterest the other day for eggnog cookies and icing - hmmm, this sounded like it could possibly be something I could enjoy. Probably more so if I added rum to them. Yes, great idea Jill. Spiced rum it is. As a non-eggnog lover I can confidently say that these cookies are delish, regardless if you like The Nog or not. After sampling one (see pic below) I put the cookies in the freezer without icing because I wasn't sure how they would freeze and thaw with icing on top. I froze the icing on the side and will ice them closer to Christmas when company arrives and when I won't dominate them entirely on my own. Here is my adapted recipe. Hope you like 'em too!

That awkward time I iced one cookie to try and
forgot to take a pic until after I bit it. My bad.

Cookie Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoons nutmeg, plus more for topping

1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

3/4 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 egg yolks

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup eggnog

Icing Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

3-4 tablespoons eggnog 

1 tablespoon spiced rum (optional)

3 cups powdered sugar

Cookie Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl mix together flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. In the stand mixer bowl cream butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in egg yolks then add vanilla extract and egg nog. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Roll dough in tablespoon size (should take about 32 cookies) and flatten with a flour bottom cup. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottom starts to golden. Don't over cook! Cool completely then ice with Eggnog icing and sprinkle tops lightly with nutmeg.  

 

Eggnog Icing Method 

In the bowl of an stand mixer whip butter until very pale and fluffy. Add in rum and eggnog and mix in powdered sugar. Add additional eggnog or powdered sugar to reach desired consistency.

Mama's Shortbread Cookies

A few days ago while peanut was napping I decided to get my bake on. I asked the hubby what Christmas cookies he wanted and he insisted that I make squares. Sorry, that wasn't an option buddy. Maybe later. So I decided on chewy ginger cookies and my Mom's shortbread cookies. My mom makes the best shortbread cookies ever. They are crumbly, buttery and melt in your mouth. So.So.Yummy. They taste better when she makes them but here is the recipe.

Yield: About 48 cookies

Ingredients
1 pound butter (1 block), room temperature
1 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup corn starch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour

Method
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter and sugar until very fluffy. Add vanilla. In a bowl mix cornstarch and flour and slowly beat into butter mixture. drop by tablespoon onto lightly greased cookie sheet. The key to this is do not form them into an shapes or press them down. Let them take on the natural 'blob' shape (I'm sure that's a technical cooking term). Bake for about 18 minutes or until edges start to become golden.

Can't Live Without You - 4th Edition

Peanut will be 8 freakin' months in a few short days. Slow down time! It's funny, when we first brought peanut home time moved at a slow motion pace and I didn't think the days would ever end. Now that we are in our groove and Peanut and I know each other pretty darn well, the days are going far too quick. Makes my heart ache a little....

Here is a list of the items that we haven't been able to live without over the last two months.

1. Bumbo Tray - A feeding game changer! We have a beautiful highchair waiting for peanut for when she is more experienced with this whole BLW thing and for when she's a bit bigger (she's still pretty darn small). This tray was $14 and worth ever darn penny. The tray is small enough to fit in the sink to be washed down and we also travel with the bumbo and tray so she can eat meals when we are on the road visiting friends and family.

 2. Fleece Sleep Sack with Arms - The cold winter has arrived and my Mama instinct is to cover peanut up in a million soft, warm blankets...but I can't. So we went to Once Upon a Child and scored two used sleep sacks. They are so cozy and warm!


3. Sophie - I didn't think I would ever promote this glorified dog toy but Peanut really does love it. She can hold it, chew it like crazy and make it squeak. It's our car seat only toy so she's always super-pumped to see it when I'm buckling her in.

4. Family Picture Book - I had a Shutterfly coupon code for a free 8x8 book so I decided to make Peanut a family picture book.  Each family member has their own page with their name and a few different pictures. My side of the family doesn't get to see her often so I wanted to make sure that she got to see them all the time.

5. Fleece Velcro Slippers - Ours were a hand-me-down from a hand-me-down from a hand-me-down (Sparknotes: peanut is the 4th babe to use them). They no longer have a tag on them so I don't know the brand but they are very similar to Polar Feet shown in this picture. The key is they open right up so you can slip them on easily and snuggly.

Items that we still can't live without:
Sound Machine
U pillow
Floor playmat (yup! She still loves it!)
Jump-a-roo

Chicken Taco Soup - Crock Pot Style

Last week I was at a colleagues house for a play date (let's be real, it wasn't for the babies) and she served a yummy, hardy taco soup. Here is my adaption of the recipe she gave me. I am thrilled with how it turned out and will certainly be making this one of my crock pot staples. My daughter LOVES it!

Yield: 1 large crockpot full!
Ingredients
4 chicken breasts (not frozen!)
1 cup corn (frozen or canned)
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 can kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup tomato/clamato juice (optional - if you omit this just add 1 additional cup of stock)
1 packet ranch powder (found beside the salad dressings at the store -- took me a while!)
1 packet taco seasoning (I used my homemade taco seasoning that I have on hand)
2 teaspoons dried pepper flakes (optional)

Method
Toss everything in the crockpot (chicken at the bottom) and cook on low for 6-8 hours (depends on your crockpot). Remove chicken breast and shred with two forks and return to crock pot to incorporate with the other ingredients. Serve with sour cream and grated cheese on top. So.so.good.

Turkey Stew & Dumplings

So I've had a food revelation. Gasp!! All my life I thought I just sort of liked stew until now. I realized after making this stew that I don't like potatoes in stew at all. Don't get me wrong, I love the starchy goodness of potatoes but for some reason I'm not a fan of them in the stew. Game changer! I digress....
Do you ever have leftover turkey after the holidays? Try out this easy turkey stew. We made this after Thanksgiving with all the delish leftover turkey my Mama sent home with us. I friggin' love leftovers so much.

Stew Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

4 carrots, peeled & chopped                          

4 celery ribs, chopped                           

1 small onion, diced

1 cup frozen peas  

3ish cups of leftover turkey, cubed                                                  

6 cups beef broth                                                        

1 teaspoonssalt

1/4 teaspoon pepper                                                        

1/2 teaspoon sage                                                    

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup all-purpose flour mixed with 1/4 cup water 

 

Dumpling Ingredients

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons parsley

3/4 cup milk                            

1 egg

Method

In a large soup pot sauté the carrots, celery and onion in butter for 10 minutes. Add all remaining ingredients (including flour/water mixture), stir, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 10 minutes. While it's simmering make the dumping (mix dry ingredients together, and dry ingredients separately then mix the two together -- or you can use Bisquick!). After 10 minutes of stew simmering drop dumpling dough by heaping tablespoons onto the top of the stew. Cover and continue to simmer for 20 additional minutes, or until dumplings are cooked through. Done. Delish. Enjoy!

 

Baby Led Weaning

Let me apologize for the lack of posts over the last four weeks. I am terrible. I checked out the stats and it looks like there are still many people checking back daily for new reads so here I am promising you guys that I will be starting to post more frequently. I.am.a.jerk.

Now onto the post...

Peanut was ready for solids around Thanksgiving - BOOYA! Talk about good timing - best food ever! She has been loving the process as much as her Dad and I have enjoyed watching her experience new flavours and textures.  After too much research, I decided that Baby Led Weaning (BLW) was the approach I wanted to take with introducing peanut to solids. BLW is basically letting your child take the lead with their feeding by giving them whole, healthy, homemade foods that can be easily held by them. She has done amazing with it! We don't have any food allergies in our family so we haven't been waiting in between foods. She has tried so many things - hardboiled eggs, coconut curry broccoli, chili, turkey stew - she as loved it all! BLW is definitely a messy process but it is a great opportunity to help develop fine motor skills while giving parents a little freedom to eat a meal along with their little one.  Don't get me wrong, we are helping her here and there so we aren't following the BLW rules to a tee. We have really been enjoying the process. BLW definitely isn't for everyone so do your research before you decided you want to go this route. I personally love being able to feed her whatever it is I'm eating - it's especially nice when we are out and about for mealtime and I don't have to plan ahead and pack food for her. YIPPEE! Here are some helpful Pointers and a few pictures of some meals we've had;

Only begin BLW when your baby is showing signs of readiness
Preloading spoons with sticky things like squash, avocado and oatmeal and handing them over
Having two spoons at each meal time
Baking veggies (sweet potato, squash, turnip, asperagus, etc.) into spear shape for easy holding
Ripping meat into little pieces and sticking it to avocado wedges, or spoonful's of squash
Be prepared for gagging!
Naked eating has been easiest for us for now
Bumbo & tray has made it so easy for clean up
Don't be afraid to season food!
Avoid adding lots of extra salt - a little salt is fine
If you have a history of food allergies in the family space out introducing new foods
Give water after each meal to help wash down food
Provide variety! I give at least two items per meal
Don't walk away! They are learning to chew so there is a risk for choking.
Make it fun! Clap and praise when they feed themselves
Talk to them and tell them what they are eating
Have a wash cloth close by!
Let them eat what you are eating
Eat with them. Starting family mealtime early will help establish the routine

Roasted veggies

Potato Soup & Cornbread

Steamed Carrot Sticks (first food!)

Avocado wedges & hardboiled egg

Plain Greek yogurt, clementine, & Cheerios
(this is 6 weeks into BLW)

Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies & Muffins

It was exactly a year ago that my husband and I shared with the world that we were expecting a little one. I've always loved Thanksgiving but this year it was that much more special having our looooooooooong awaited little peanut with us. I have so much to be thankful for; a beautiful home, food in our tummies, a loving and supportive family and husband, loyal friends, and a precious little daughter. I am so, so, so, so, so grateful and thankful.

Speaking of full tummies, there was way too much eating this weekend and it was awesome. Pumpkin spice anything is basically Thanksgiving in your mouth so I decided to make pumpkin spice sugar cookies to take a long to a family dinner and pumpkin spice muffins to have for breakfast or snacks this week. I was very happy with how both turned out.

Yield: 48 cookies
Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookie Ingredients
1 1/2 cups butter, softened                       

2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon clove

                                           

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. In a separate bowl combine remaining ingredients. Slowly incorporate dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Roll dough into Tim Bit sized balls and place onto a greased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with a cup (if the cup stick you can spray the bottom with pam). Bake for 7-ish minutes until cookies are light brown on the bottom. Don't over cook these - you want them slightly chewy.

 

Yield: 24 muffins

Pumpkin Spice Muffins Ingredients

3 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon clove

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

4 eggs

1 1/2 pumpkin puree

1/2 cup oil (I used olive oil because it's all I had - you could also sub with apple sauce)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup roasted green pumpkin seeds for top of muffin (got mine in the bulk section at the grocery store)

 

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In one bowl mix together all of the dry ingredients excluding pumpkin seeds. In another bowl mix together all of the wet ingredients. Slowly incorporate dry ingredients with the wet ingredients (do not over mix!). Spoon into muffin tin with paper liners. Sprinkle tops with pumpkin seeds and a little brown sugar. Bake for 19-24 minutes until tops are slightly brown and a tooth pick comes out clean.

Oh no! Decreased Supply...

Nursing can be such a bitch. As you know from one of my previous posts, it took peanut and I six weeks to learn how to breastfeed and about two weeks after that to actually feel comfortable enough not to travel without bottles, my breast pump and my nursing pillow in my car 'just in case'. It took about that long before my child's latch didn't feel like razorblades on my nipples. Since about eight weeks ago peanut has been sleeping 12 hours a night straight through. Amazing right?! I was stoked up until about a week ago when I had a gut feeling that peanut wasn't fully satisfied after nursing for her regular length of time. My fears were confirmed when we went for our 6 month appointment to find that peanut wasn't gaining weight like she should be. SHIT. As it turns out, having your baby sleep soundly through the night isn't all it's cracked up to be. My body seems to think that I don't need to produce the same amount of milk anymore. When I left the doctor's office I felt completely defeated and guilty. My poor baby wasn't getting what she needed from me anymore and that broke my heart. We both worked so hard to get to this point and I was so pissed off that things started to go down hill again. I'm happy to report that six days after that appointment my supply seems to have increased! YAHOO! For those of you reading who are looking to up your supply this is what I found to work for me;

- Fennel tea, twice per day (From Bulk Barn)
- 9 Blessed Thistle pills a day (from Bulk Barn)
- longer and more frequent nursing sessions with peanut
- pumping 20 mins just before bed
- 10 glasses of water per day
- Relaxed shoulders down during nursing (My lactation consultant often told me the importance of relaxing shoulders as it helps with flow)

Can't Live Without You - 3rd Edition

It's crazy how shit changes in the matter of days around here, and I'm not talking exclusive about poop. Peanut will be 6 months old in a few short days and that blows my freakin' mind. She has become such a little lady and definitely isn't a newborn baby anymore. She has developed quite a personality and it's so lovely to feel like I actually know her now. Anywho, here is a list of our can't live without you items from the last few months.

1. Bath Sponge - this thing cost a whopping $8.00 and is perfect for little peanut in the bathtub. So sliding around and she seems so cozy laying on it.

2. Gardening kneeling pads - My husband and I like to do bath time together (often with our puppy's head resting on our shoulders, watching) and our gardening pads save our knees. I grabbed them from Walmart for $3 a piece.

3. Plastic Rings - Oh man! These things have provided hours of entertainment and teething comfort. I originally bought them to hang toys off of but I quickly found that peanut loves the rings without crap hanging from them. They go everywhere with us. In the stroller, the car, when we go out to eat - super handy because they can snap onto just about anything.

4. Baby Legs - We've been wearing these for the last 3 months, multiple times a week. They are so handy especially when the temperatures are starting to drop in the evening.


5. Bumbleride Indie -  HOLLA! Peanut finally enjoys her stroller. We've been using it a ton and we both love it. It wasn't cheap that's for sure but in my opinion it is worth every dang penny. This is a smooth ride for road and trail walking as well as for jogging. It's only 20 lbs so we take it everywhere with us and it can collapse and fit in the backseat even with peanut's car seat in the centre.

6. Small Baby Cloths - In retrospect this should have been on my first and second list as well. We have a ridiculous amount of these clothes - 45 to be exact! At first I felt crazy keeping all of them (we got them as gifts) but I quickly realized those little bastards were great for everything! When we were bottle feeding for the first 6 weeks we would use them as a bib to keep peanut clean and dry. Peanut had a blocked tear ducts for 5.5 months which required up to massage her eye up to 10 times daily with a warm cloth. BAM! good thing we had 45 to choose from. I am now using them to wash off the never-ending doggy kisses, for bath time and spit ups and I always carry a few in my purse just in case.

Items we still cannot live without:
- Jump-a-roo
- Floor play mat
- U pillow (now used to help peanut sit up on her own)
- Noise machine! Life saver!
- BioGaia probiotics
- Sleep sacks (peanut is no longer swaddled! YAHOO!)

Sausage, Potato & Kale Soup

Pinterest strikes again! A friend of mine pinned this recipe and I immediate wanted to make it. It looked so delish. I would have liked to make this when the weather was a little cooler but I just couldn't wait. The original recipe was so freakin' wordy (sooooo annoying) so I pared it down and made some alterations. You.r.welcome.

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients
1 pound spicy Italian sausage, casing removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (if you like spice)
6 cups chicken broth or stock, 2 boxes
1/2 cup coffee cream
4 huge handfuls of kale, stemmed and chopped
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 large russet baking potatoes, cubed (keep skin on!)

Method
Over medium heat warm olive oil in a medium-large pot then drop the sausage, onion, garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes into the hot pot, breaking it up and stirring it constantly, until sausage is browned (about 8 minutes). Turn heat up to high and pour in chicken stock and nutmeg and stir until it starts to boil and reduce to low and simmer. slowly pour in cream then add kale and sliced potatoes, cover and simmer over low heat until potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Stir every 5 minutes. I know it seems like an intense amount of kale but keep in mind that the kale will wilt. Voilà. Soup.

Peace.out.

Bacon & Veggie Risotto

Thank you Pinterest for the inspiration for the recipe I made last night. This turned out great and we have a lot of leftovers to enjoy. Here is the link to the original recipe but I of course altered it a bit. I will for sure make this again and try out other veggie combos. Keep in mind this isn't a dish that you can walk away from while preparing as it requires a ton of stirring. So worth the elbow grease though. Yummy!

Yield: 6 entre sized portions

Ingredients
2 cups arborio rice

1/4 cup olive oil

6 cups chicken stock

1 cup dry white wine

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 cup bacon crumbs (cooked!)

1 small zucchini, chopped

1 medium head of broccoli, chopped

1/2 cup of fresh grated parmesan cheese

Pepper and sea salt to taste

 

Method

Chop veggies to desired size and set aside. Bring stock and wine to a simmer in a medium sauce pan and let it simmer until it is entirely used up. In a frying pan heat olive oil and cook onions until tender, about 4 minutes. Add Arborio rice and cooked bacon to fry pan and coat with the olive oil and cook for about 4 minutes, stirring often. Add one ladle of stock mixture at a time to the frying pan and stir constantly until liquid is mostly gone (about 2 mins). Add another ladle full do continue the same process until there is about two ladle-fulls left to add. At this point add your cheese, veggies, sea salt and pepper with the remaining stock mixture. Continue cooking until most liquid is gone. Don't let it dry out too much. This should take 30-35 minutes. Serve immediately. So yummy!

Mama Advice

When I was going through a difficult time with peanuts sleep issues, a friend of mine sent me a link to an article that instantly made me feel better. Ridiculously hilarious! Enjoy the read Mama's.

I Read All The Baby Sleep Books

Written by: Ava Neyer

Article from: Huffington Post

I went on Amazon and bought all the top books on baby sleep and development. I read through them all, as well as several blogs and sleep websites. I gathered lots of advice.

You shouldn't sleep train at all, before a year, before 6 months, or before 4 months, but if you wait too late, your baby will never be able to sleep without you. College-aged children never need to be nursed, rocked, helped to sleep, so don't worry about any bad habits. Nursing, rocking, singing, swaddling, etc. to sleep are all bad habits and should be stopped immediately. White noise will help them fall asleep. White noise, heartbeart sounds, etc., don't work. Naps should only be taken in the bed, never in a swing, carseat, stroller, or when worn. Letting them sleep in the carseat or swing will damage their skulls. If your baby has trouble falling asleep in the bed, put them in a swing, carseat, stroller, or wear them.

Put the baby in a nursery, bed in your room, in your bed. Co-sleeping is the best way to get sleep, except that it can kill your baby, so never ever do it. If your baby doesn't die, you will need to bedshare until college.

Use the same cues as night: cut lights, keep the house quiet and still. Differentiate naps from nightly sleep by leaving the lights on and making a regular amount of noise. Keep the room warm, but not too warm. Swaddle the baby tightly, but not too tightly. Put them on their back to sleep, but don't let them be on their backs too long or they will be developmentally delayed. Give them a pacifier to reduce SIDS. Be careful about pacifiers because they can cause nursing problems and stop your baby from sleeping soundly. If your baby sleeps too soundly, they'll die of SIDS.

Don't let your baby sleep too long, except when they've been napping too much, then you should wake them. Never wake a sleeping baby. Any baby problem can be solved by putting them to bed earlier, even if they are waking up too early. If your baby wakes up too early, put them to bed later or cut out a nap. Don't let them nap after 5 pm. Sleep begets sleep, so try to get your child to sleep as much as possible. Put the baby to bed awake but drowsy. Don't wake the baby if it fell asleep while nursing.

You should start a routine and keep track of everything. Not just when they sleep and how long, but how long it has been between sleep, how many naps they've had per day, and what you were doing before they slept. Have a set time per day that you put them to bed. Don't watch the clock. Put them on a schedule. Scheduling will make your life impossible because they will constantly be thrown off of it and you will become a prisoner in your home.

Using CIO will make them think they've been abandoned and will be eaten by a lion shortly. It also causes brain damage. Not getting enough sleep will cause behavior and mental problems, so be sure to put them to sleep by any means necessary, especially CIO, which is the most effective form. Extinction CIO is cruel beyond belief and the only thing that truly works because parents are a distraction. The Sleep Lady Shuffle and Ferber method are really CIO in disguise or Controlled Crying and so much better than Extinction. All three of these will prevent your child from ever bonding with you in a healthy way. Bedsharing and gentler forms of settling will cause your child to become too dependent on you.

Topping the baby off before bed will help prevent night wakings. When babies wake at night, it isn't because they are hungry. If the baby wants to nurse to sleep, press on the baby's chin to close its mouth. Don't stop the baby from nursing when asleep because that doesn't cause a bad habit. Be wary of night feeds. If you respond too quickly with food or comfort, your baby is manipulating you. Babies can't manipulate. Babies older than six months can manipulate.

Sleep when the baby sleeps. Clean when the baby cleans. Don't worry. Stress causes your baby stress and a stressed baby won't sleep.



 

Yet another Banana Muffin recipe

I realize that I post a lot of muffin recipes on my blog but I can't help it. Muffins are so handy to have around for easy to grab breakfast, snack or dessert. I did a double batch this time around so I could pop some in the freezer for later. I have a few different banana muffin recipes on my blog but I thought I'd try out yet another. Hope you like 'em too.

Yield: 12 muffins
Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup white flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1 cup mashed banana (2 medium ripe bananas)
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin (if you use paper cups make sure to grease them too since there is no butter or oil in this recipe). Combine dry ingredients in one bowl and mix well. In another bowl mix all wet ingredients. Add together and mix well. Spoon into muffin tin and bake for 15-20 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean.

Sleep Training Update

A week and a half ago I wrote a post about peanuts sleep regression and thought I would provide you with an update. Things couldn't be better! I honestly didn't think I would be writing a positive update when I originally wrote the sleep regression post. While we were making headway at that point I was still skeptical that it would actually work longer than a night or two. We are 14 nights in and peanut is doing amazing. At the 7 night mark she totally got it. Again, I wanted to mention that it took longer then normal because we were teaching her how to sleep without a swaddle as well. Peanut now falls asleep within 5 minutes on her own with very minimal fussing (usually) and is sleeping 11-12 hours straight and now naps for up to 2 hours at a time (sometimes its 30 mins still). She also discovered that she prefers to sleep on her tummy, which gave me a panic attack the first night (I was up every hour to check on her) but she sleeps so much more soundly now that she has found her 'sweet spot'. Her mood is drastically better throughout the day and is even enjoying car rides, walks and now jogs in the stroller. Because she is getting a good amount of sleep she has figured out a nap routine for herself. The only bummer is if we don't adhere to that nap routine she gets pretty cranky, pretty fast which was demonstrated this weekend while visiting Gramma and Grandpa. We are napping three times a day but I've read that around the 6-7 month mark babies tend to drop their third nap so we will see how that goes over the next month or so. Here is the routine that peanut seems to jive with the best;

Wake: 11-12 hours after going to bed
Nap #1: 1 hour 15 minutes after waking
Nap #2: 2.5 hours after waking from nap #1
Nap #3: 2 hours after waking from nap #2
Bath time: 7:00pm
Bed time: 7:30pm

It is so nice to finally feel like we have the nap situation under control and a happy baby. We are spending more time at home and doing quick little outings to make sure we are home for nap time but that's ok with me. We need to put in the time to establish a good routine. All in all, my husband and I are extremely happy that we decided to sleep train our daughter. Some people won't agree with that we did, but that's something I'm willing to live with. She's happier, is getting more sleep and we have given her the tools to be able to fall asleep comfortably on her own which will be useful in the years to come. Everyone wins!

Road Rage

Happy Monday.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

PS: Sorry for the language - I tried to clean it up a bit.

All Things Fall

I'm 32 years old and my whole life the answer to the question "What is your favourite season?" has always been, without a doubt SUMMER.  I now have this extreme love for the Fall. The crispness in the air, the smells, colours, sounds, traditions - I'm all of a sudden obsessed with the arrival of autumn. Perhaps I loved summer so much because I've always had summers off as a student and teacher.  For the first time the Fall isn't marked by the start of a new school year and the stresses that go along with it and I'm able to savour the Fall season. I could certainly get used to this...

Sweet corn on the family farm

My loves

Beautiful walking day

Sleep Regression. ugh.

I'd like to preface this post by saying that not everyone will agree with the sleep training approach we took with our daughter but it was the best decision for us. Each family has different needs so what might work for one family might not work for another. K, onto the post.

Like the term "Witching Hour", I had never heard of "sleep regression" before having a child. Now I cringe when I hear it. Screw you sleep regression.  When my daughter turned 14 weeks she started to become difficult to put down for naps, and by difficult I mean she would hardy f'n nap at all. After hours and hours of research and discussing this with friends and family, I attribute my daughters sleep regression to the following;

1) A growth spurt
2) A huge cognitive leap
3) Maturing sleep cycles

I literally tried everything to get our daughter to nap - new sleep routines, blacking out her room, noise machine, quiet decompression time before sleeping, soft lighting, unswaddling, not nursing before sleeping, rocking, soother - NOTHING WAS WORKING! Eventually the nap strike turned into a nap-and-going-to-bed-at-night strike. We were having to tap her bum and basically pin her down for 15-30 minutes every night, and often she'd wake after her 30 minute sleep cycle so we'd have to do it all over again. Some nights it took us 2.5 hours to get her to sleep for the night. The silver-ling was that she slept so well once she was asleep for the night. Sleeping 9-12 hours straight wasn't abnormal. After 8 weeks of peanut hardly napping and 4 weeks of taking 1+ hours to fall asleep at night my husband and I decided something had to change. I'm going to be the first to admit that before peanut was born I thought I'd be sleep training the shit out of her as soon as it were socially acceptable, that was until I realized that sleep training wasn't socially acceptable. Crap. People get heated about it. Like, really heated. After weeks and weeks of research, 5 months of getting to know my babe, and a few days of not being able to get peanut to sleep until after 3:00am we decided that sleep training needed to happen for the good of everyone. Our mission was to teach her how to fall asleep on her own once we had met all of her needs (diaper change, cuddles, a feed and quiet decompression time). As mentioned before, she isn't a baby that wakes a lot in the night so the odd time that she wakes and can't get herself back to sleep I happily feed her since I figure she needs a little snack because she's only 5 months old.

I should also mention that we are teaching our daughter how to sleep without her swaddle on so the sleep training is taking a bit longer then it typically should. We tried a few different approaches and the one that we found best for us is the Ferber technique. If you are going to try out this approach be sure read the book "Solve your child's sleep problems" by Richard Ferber so you fully understand the approach. I also found it extremely helpful to have an honest conversation with friends who had gone through the process before. You have to make sure it's the right fit for you. We have completed 5 nights of the training and have seen vast improvements. We tweaked the approach a bit to better suit our peanuts needs and are staying super consistent, even when I want to give up.

In a nutshell, this is what we are doing;  Once we complete our nightly/nap routine we place peanut in her crib after giving her a hug and a kiss and we say "Peanut we love you and are here for you. It is time to go to sleep." I give her little belly a rub and I slowly exit her room and close the door behind me, leaving her white noise machine and night light on. I immediately started my cellphone timer for 5 minutes. Using the video monitor we watch and listen to what is going on with peanut. If after 5 minutes she was still upset then one of us enters her room slowly, go over and rub her belly and say the same thing; "Peanut, we love you and are here for you. It's time to go to sleep", and stay only a maximum of 1 minute and slowly exit. We'd wait 10 minutes the next time and do the same thing. Then 15 minute intervals for the remainder of the night. If she is only whining or laying quietly we do not enter her room. Now at day 5 we had spread out the "room visits" a bit more - we enter at 10 minutes the first time, then 15 minutes for the remainder of the evening until she falls asleep. Tonight she only required one room visit but it did take her over an hour to get herself into her deep sleep (she was in an out of light sleep and was whining a bit here and there). We will see what the next few nights bring.

I'm the first to admit that this isn't easy. Sleep training isn't for the weak, that's for sure. I've cried more than my daughter but I need to keep reminding myself that most babies cannot figure out sleeping skills on their own. Peanut needs us to teach her these skills. These skills are needed for her to develop positive sleep habits. Here are a few things that have helped us get through this last week;

Consistency
Research, research, research
Tweaked the approach to suit our family
Tracked progress
Talk to friends & family for advice/support
Show peanut a tons of love


You.got.this.

BBQ Baby Back Pork Ribs

I'm the first to admit that I'm a lazy cook and like recipes that have very few ingredients and steps. When I make ribs I usually toss them in the crock pot for the day and don't worry about them. Yesterday I decided to make ribs the 'real' way, planned ahead and followed a recipe to a T (excepted I halved it), which never happens. I dry rubbed them, roasted them for a few hours then tossed them on the BBQ to finish them off. They were DELISH! I don't usually enjoy meat with bones (that's what she said) but these ribs might have changed my mind. I served them with roasted potatoes and homegrown zucchini. The homemade BBQ sauce is amaze-balls. Here is the link of the recipe of followed. I'm not going to retype it out there since there are multiple steps and...well...I'm lazy.

Nuts & Bolts

Growing up the holiday season always included a massive batch of my Mom's homemade Nuts and Bolts. They were awesome! I never really considered making them myself until I was at the grocery store and I noticed cereal was on big time sale. Perfect! I realize it's no where near Christmas time (well, sort of - 16 Friday's until Christmas!), but I love me some good ol' salty snacks so I thought, why not. Warning: This stuff is addictive!

Ingredients
1/2 box Cheereos (regular or multigrain)
1/2 Shreddies
1/2 large bag of stick pretzels
2 cups mixed nuts (salted & roasted)
3/4 cup melted butter
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Method
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a large roasting pan pour in cereals, pretzels and nuts. In a small bowl melt butter in microwave. Whisk all spices into melted better. Pour evenly over cereal mixture.  Bake for 1 hour stirring mixture every 10 minutes. Let cool and store in tins or Tupperware and eat the shit out of this stuff. So.addictive.damn.

Timothy S. Johnston strikes again.

Remember that time I told you here that I was friends with a published author (and I'm basically famous through association)? Ya, well that friend of mine has done it again and wrote another stellar book. NBD. I read his first book The Furnace and it was kick-ass. If you haven't read it stop being ridiculous and order it. Better yet, order both. They are only $2.99 each wherever eBooks are available. Buy a copy for yourself, your mom, your BFF, your BFF's mom, or your mom's BFF. Whoever. They will all love it. Here is a quick peek at the new adventure.

 

***

Evidence at a crime scene has led Homicide Investigator Kyle Tanner to Europa, Jupiter's frozen moon. There on the icy surface is a small outpost where scientists are searching for life in the ocean ten kilometers beneath them. However, the inhabitants are hardly pleased at the intrusion, and someone there will do anything possible to protect their secret --- even kill.

The Freezer is both Sci-Fi thriller and claustrophobic murder mystery. The tension is huge and Tanner faces a powerful killer in a hostile and unique environment.  It is a classic murder mystery featuring all the important elements:  a confined location, a limited number of characters, a homicide investigator, a rising body count, a hostile environment, a power outage, etc. etc. etc.

 

Reviews for The Furnace were stellar.  "Riveting," "Compelling," and "Gripping" were common descriptors.  The Freezer is a standalone mystery, and the two books can be read in any order.

 

The book is digital wherever eBooks are sold.  It is $2.99.  The release day was yesterday so you are already a day late. Go. Quick. Order it.

 

TSJ's website:  www.timothysjohnston.com

Reviews:  www.timothysjohnston.com/freezerreviews

Purchase:  www.timothysjohnston.com/freezerpurchase

 

 

Do it.

Veggie Garden & Zucchini Muffins

Since peanut has arrived I haven't had time/energy to do some of the things I used to do.  My husband has been amazing at picking up the slack whether it be dishes, cooking or tidying.  He was determined to get a vegetable garden in this summer and he has done an amazing job at maintaining it.  This year the garden is more of a spectator sport for me. I wander our there with peanut to check it out a few times a week, but beyond that I have absolutely nothing to do with it. This year my husband planted zucchini, buttercup squash, spinach, green beans, two varieties of lettuce, tomatoes, asparagus, rhubarb, and mini red peppers. Since it was planted a little late we haven't had much yet but there is certainly a ton of homegrown goodness coming our way. So far the lettuce and beans have been amazing! Our tomato plants are now 6 feet tall!  My mother in law gave me one of her huge zucchinis since ours aren't ready yet so I whipped up a double batch of my healthy-ish zucchini muffins. If you have an abundance of zucchini try out this recipe. It's pretty darn healthy and they taste great.

 

Can't Live Without You - 2nd Edition

A few months ago I wrote a post about items that I couldn't live without.  I've quickly learned that must-have-items come and go so quickly. Some of the items that I couldn't live without in those first few months are hardly used nowadays. I thought I'd piece together another list of our must-have items over that we have found super duper helpful.


1. Play Mat - Peanut spends hours a day playing on this mat! It's super handy because it collapses down and can travel well and is also light weight so I can move it from room to room while carrying my daughter.  It is also handy to have removable toys so we can change them around to add variety.



2. Burp Cloths - These are the BEST! They are the perfect size and shape to fit on your shoulder. Super convenient for those up-chuck moments.


3. The Jumperoo - Peanut is still super duper little - weighing in at 12 lbs but she is super strong and I decided to try out the jumperoo about 3 weeks ago and she totally loved it. I put a pillow under her feet and stuffed the sides with blankets which does the trick.  She can spend up to 30 minutes at a time in it tinkering around independently.


4. Probiotics - We started on BioGaia (found at Costco at the pharmacy counter) after my lactation consultant recommended it for peanuts gas pains when she was 8 weeks old. I have noticed a huge improvement and will continue to give it to her daily for the long haul. You can give 1-5 drops daily but I've found 2 drops daily do the trick for her.


5. Wrist Rattles - A God sent! We strap these on peanut when we go in the car or when we are doing errands. She chews on them and checks them out. She isn't into her feet yet but once she is we will be using the sock style toys as well.


6. HoMedic Sound Spa Noise Machine - We were away at a cottage with 4 other children under 4 and found the noise machine completely blocked out all of the night time noise. We didn't even hear the baby in the room beneath our room cry in the night. The one we found is from Bed, Bath & Beyond and has 6 different sounds and can either stay on all night or shut off after 15, 30 or 60 minutes. Worth the $30 for sure. We use it every night.




Items that were on the previous list that are still can't live without you items;
1. Halo Swaddle Sleep sack
2. U shaped pillow
3. Two Camera Video Monitor
4. Natural Baby Wipes

Naps.

My life for the last four weeks...

 

Damn you sleep regression.

Tobermory

We just arrived home from a lovely mini vacation in Tobermory with some pretty spectacular people.  My childhood best friend who moved to the states 17 years ago invited us to join them at a family cottage. My husband and I jumped at the opportunity to be able to introduce our peanut to her and to spend some quality time with her and her beautiful family.  Although the weather wasn't the warmest, we had a great time. We visited over coffee, went to a kid friendly beach, and hiked the Bruce trail. It was perfect.  Peanut did amazing! Although her nap strike somewhat continued she slept like a champion through the nights and wasn't cranky the entire trip. I was apprehensive to take her away again since the weekend away four weeks ago didn't go so smoothly. Peanut is starting to rolling with the punches and I think she is slowly accepting the fact that her mom is a busybody and likes to be on the go a lot.



I can't seem to rotate this picture...

My husband and I were in charge of one day of meals for 6 adults and 4 kiddos when we were there.  Since I knew our visiting time was limited I wanted to prepare as much as possible ahead of time.  We decided on muffins, fruit and yogurt for breakfast, quiche for lunch and chili for dinner - both meals I made at home and transported them there. I've only made quiche once before so I wasn't sure how it was going to go but was happy with the outcome. Here is the recipe I came up with.

Ingredients
9 inch deep dish pie crust
1 cup milk (some people like to use half and half cream)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup shredded cheese
4 slices cooked bacon crumbled
1 cup of diced veggies (I used tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, peppers, and onion)
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Use pie crust from frozen. Combine veggies, bacon and cheese and put into pie crust. In a bowl combine eggs, milk, salt and pepper and mix. Pour into pie crust and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes then lower to 350 for 35-40 minutes. That is all. Super duper easy!

My husband and peanut checking out the Grotto on the Bruce Trail

Quick Shepherd's Pie

My three and a half month old has given up on naps for the last 1.5 weeks so finding time to do anything is a challenge. She closed her eyes for 25 minutes this morning so I thought I would use the time to get dinner made since my husband had to work late tonight and I likely wouldn't have a spare minute because of the nap strike. I had ground beef in the fridge so I thought a quick and easy Shepherd's pie that I could toss in the fridge until dinner would be a good idea.


Picture from here

Yield: 3-4 servings

Ingredients
1/2 lb extra lean ground beef
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 sweet onion, chopped
3/4 cup corn (or mixture of corn, peas and carrots)
4 medium potatoes, cubed (I keep skins on)3 tablespoons milk
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup sour cream
pinch of paprika
salt and pepper

Method
Boil a medium pot of water and add potatoes.  Boil until they are tender. While potatoes cook, in a frying pan over medium heat cook ground beef, onion and BBQ sauce. Cook until beef is no longer pink. Put beef mixture in the bottom of an oven safe dish and top with corn. Drain tender potatoes and add milk, garlic, sour cream, paprika, salt and pepper and mix using an electric mixture until smooth. Spread potato mixture over. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Spicy Shrimp Pasta

I whipped up this pasta dish last night and it was awesome. It was super easy, delicious and it even has veggies in it so you don't have to serve it with a salad. Booya! Less work in the kitchen makes me happy these days. Enjoy!

Ingredients
24 small shrimp (I used frozen, precooked, peeled, devained, tails off shrimp)
spaghetti for two
1/2 tomato, diced
2 big handfuls of kale or spinach ripped into bite sized pieces
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoons soya sauce
1/4 of a sweet onion, chopped
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Method
Cook pasta in boiling water. While the pasta cooks throw all ingredients into a frying pan and cook over medium heat for about 7 minutes, stirring regularly.  Drain noodles when they are tender and add them to the sauce. Toss until coated and serve.