Homemade baby food

The past few days I've been busy filling the freezer with home made baby food and thought I would share with you a couple of favourite recipes...

Red Pasta Sauce

I put some diced red pepper, sliced carrot, red onion and a handful of leftover baby tomatoes in the oven for half hour at 220C and then blitzed the heck out of them with a hand blender. Made a really yummy pasta sauce that the boy loves as the pepper and carrot give it a natural sweetness.

Baby carbonara

Cook up some baby size pasta or spaghetti broken into small pieces. Drain the pasta and stir in 15g (1 slice) of diced ham, 3 table spoons of Greek yoghurt and a spoon of grated cheese and warm through. This was another instant winner and hubby really liked it too!

Anyone got any other good recipe suggestions I can try?

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

What a day! Spent the morning at The Bakery having brunch with friends and their kids and then a baby shower in the afternoon.

Due to the boy's recent sleep trouble I decided to walk into town from Royal William Yard in the hope it would help him get a longer nap. As we strolled along in the sunshine, the boy fast asleep, it seemed a crazy amount of motorbikes were out in the sun too. I had never before noticed just how loud motorbikes are!! As we came to traffic lights with a motorcyclist sat nosily revving I just wanted to say "shush will you - you'll wake the kid!" Thankfully he kept on sleeping.

Once we got close to town we had another challenge to the boy's sleep - a whole selection of emergency vehicles screaming past. But still he kept on sleeping.

Next we arrived in the city centre to find huge crowds of people and lots of events going on, meaning lots of noise. I tried a whole host of alternative routes through town but it seemed everywhere I turned there was a live band or trumpet player or some other such racket. As I turned down one street I was greeted by a full on marching band coming straight towards us. You've gotta be freaking kidding me!?! I quickly dived down an alleyway and into a car park to avoid them. And still the boy kept on sleeping.

Finally (after taking an hour to do a 30 minute walk due to all the detours) we arrived at the baby shower. Josiah was still soundly asleep and having the best nap he's had in weeks and weeks.

And then Ella-Sophia came to say hello and poked him in the face. Ooops!

Never mind, he didn't seem bothered and had a fun afternoon meeting new friends.

Sleep is for the weak!

Sigh....it's been another one of those weeks.

Nap transition + sleep regression + growth spurt + learning to crawl + obsession with his door bouncer + a whole lot of chattiness = very little sleep in the Gallagher house hold!

The 8 month sleep regression is the WORST. Just when it felt like things were going well - BAM!! And it's not like a growth spurt that lasts just a few days. It's been over a month now of wondering if the boy will ever sleep again. I am now realising how much I took for granted Josiah's good sleep habits. I'm finding it really hard to go from having a kid who keeps to a pretty similar routine each day to not having a clue when he might sleep, how long for, or if I'll ever make it out of my pyjamas again let alone the house! Also, I'd got used to getting up once a night to feed him, being back in bed 10 mins later and then not hearing from him again until 7am. Now he's waking at least once before we've even gone to bed and is feeding 2 or 3 times a night. It feels like we've taken huge steps backwards and is frankly depressing.

Last night I found myself googling "8 month sleep problems" - not to find advice but simply to read about parents having an even worse time of it than us so as to cheer myself up!

As I sat bleary eyed scouring Google for signs of hope, I came across a couple of great websites that helped me to see the funny side of things. I thought I would share with you my favourite articles and hope they make you smile too.

Baby no sleeping
The Cult of Motherhood
Good times, bad times

Things I wish I'd known - Part 2

Welcome to part two of my series on things I wish I had known sooner about parenting.

Today's topic is TOYS!

When buying toys before Josiah's birth we didn't really know what we were doing and just got what we thought would be good. As time has gone by we have been surprised by what toys have and haven't been a success. For example, we got ourselves a Blossom Farm Sit Me Up Cosy thinking it would be better than a standard play mat. Josiah loves the animals that come with it and enjoys their sounds and textures and how easily the legs fit in his mouth. However, the sit me up cow bit has been very little use at all to be honest. Whenever we used it to help prop him up while learning to sit he just fell sideways and got his head wedged between the two rings! For our next child I will definitely be investing in a play mat with hanging toys above it instead.

Now, instead of me telling you what toys aren't good, let me tell you which ones have come out as favourites. Here's my tops toys list:

1. Stacking cups. Josiah has a set with holes in the bottom making them fun for pouring water out of at bathtime. The bright colours, building towers and knocking them down, learning to put them inside each other and being able to pretend to drink out of them all make these a huge success in our house.

2. Wooden spoon. Great for teething, for banging things during the 'learning about noises' phase and generally just fun to wave around to work on spacial awareness. Be sure to only give your child an old well worn wooden spoon so as to avoid splinters.

3. Teddy bear. This is Josiah's bedtime bear. He loves cuddling his bear as he falls asleep and now he's a bit older he falls asleep chatting to his bear (cute but kinda annoying at 4am). The knot in the hat is also great for sucking on and teething. The bear is so light and soft that he has been able to pick him up and throw him around the cot from a very young age and I have no fear of him accidentally being smothered by the thing. I've had to go out and buy a spare bear so I can wash the original as it's been so chewed and well loved.

4. Books. Josiah loves books and now at 8 months old is really loving ones that have different textures he can feel. He also has a couple of cloth books that he loves because he can turn the pages by himself and the pages make different noises when he turns them. Some favourites we have found are...
Squishy turtle and friends - a cloth book that has an octopus with felt legs, shiny fish, an oyster to open and various other textures to feel.
Poppy Cat's Farm - a board book with cut out windows that teaches animal noises while playing hide and seek.
That's not my snowman - there's a whole range of these board books with different textured bits on every page.
Baby Touch - Rainbow - he doesn't actually own this one, just gets super excited looking at it in the book shop while daddy reads boring books. It's a brightly coloured board book with textured bits on each page. It's part of a series of textured books teaching things from animals to vehicles.
Baby Teether Book - a board book with a chewy teething bit and rattle. Great for taking when you're travelling as it's like 3 toys in one.

5. Textured soft toys. Josiah has a toy dog that has to be one of the best designed toys he owns. It's got different colours and textures, a mirror, rings round its ankles that make it easy to grab and teeth on, a jingly sound and skinny legs he can easily grab. He loves this thing so much he's almost chewed the poor things ear off! Here's a video of when he first got the dog for Christmas last year.

Lamaze do a great range of these brightly coloured, multi textured, noise making toys.

How about you? What toys would you recommend?

Things I wish I'd known - Part 1

As parents we are learning all the time. Let's be honest, we just make it up as we go along and hope we don't kill/maim/psychologically scar the kid. There are so many things I wish I had known before instead of having to find out the hard way so I thought I'd write a couple of posts about what I've learnt.

Today's topic - food.

We're well into introducing solids to Josiah now and he loves his food. One of the biggest difficulties is deciding what to give him. I think one of the main things I have discovered along the way is that food companies may seem like they want to help give my child the best but really they just want my money. What makes me say that? Here's a couple of things:

Food companies sell a whole variety of foods claiming to be suitable from 4 months old. They send samples of these foods to parents from before their child has even reached 4 months. Is this because feeding solids from 4 months is good for my child? No. (Health professionals all advise waiting until 6 months) It's because they want to get us to buy their products from as early as possible.

Do not be naive enough to think that because something is designed for babies it will be more healthy than adult food. I was horrified to discover how much sugar and salt baby cereals have compared to some adult cereals. Heinz baby porridge has 23.5g sugar and 0.15g salt per 100g and Cow and Gate porridge has 0.12g salt and over 38g of sugar per 100g! Compare this to Weetabix with only 4.4g sugar per 100g (but 0.26g salt per 100g so the baby cereals win on that one). The clear winner though has to be Ready Brek with only 1g sugar and less than 0.1g salt per 100g. So why exactly am I buying over priced baby cereal?!?

Several baby food companies send their own 'guide to weaning' type leaflets to parents. Some of them just blatantly try to push their products on you but a few seemed actually helpful with recipes for home-made purées and lists of suggested first foods to try. All the food companies suggested baby rice as a great starter food and sent plenty of vouchers and free samples. In some ways it is a great starter food - smooth texture, simple flavour. What they failed to mention is that it is one of the top causes of constipation in babies. Others in the list of top 5 poo stoppers include apples and bananas which are found in almost all shop bought fruit purees. The first meal we introduced Josiah to was breakfast and we began feeding him the sample packs of rice cereal we had been sent by different companies. Sure enough (just as we had him sleeping well at night and even a couple of nights with zero night feeds) he got super constipated, didn't poo for almost 2 weeks and couldn't sleep properly day or night from the discomfort. Almost 2 months later we are still trying to get him back to the great sleep habits he had before! Thanks a lot Cow and Gate baby rice :(

For unbiased advice on foods that are good for your baby try this site

Do you have any weaning advice to share? I'd love to hear your comments.

"You are my sunshine...."

I'm sat looking out of the window at a gloriously sunny evening and wishing so much that I could go outside (but I'm guessing leaving an 8 month old in bed home alone while I catch some sun would be considered bad parenting). I LOVE sunshine and this past week has been like a breath of fresh air to me. It's amazing how much difference a little sun can make. Instead of staying in my pyjamas as long as possible and avoiding going out of the house I've been dying to get outside at any and every opportunity. As a result I've made so much more out of my week than usual.

As well as the sunshine, there has also been much more sleep this week. Josiah is finally taking good daytime naps which has helped my stress levels no end. He is such a joy to be around when he's happy and well rested. It's insane how grown up he's getting - he's a proper little boy now and his personality is really coming out. He plays games, laughs at jokes, reaches out to be picked up, initiates kisses, asks for juice (by reaching for his cup) or more food (by yelling and pulling a grumpy face), tries to make conversation, talks in his sleep, tries to 'read' things, reaches out for things in shops (note to self: beware accidental shoplifting!) and chats to anyone who will listen.

I feel I have so much to be thankful for this week so I'm going to take this opportunity to praise God for:

• Catching up with friends I've not seen in a while
• Trips to the park
• Family walk in the sunshine before bedtime
• Sleep!
• My wonderfully supportive husband
• A child free morning and coffee with a friend while Josh and Josiah went to 'Who let the dad's out?'
• Singing worship songs while Josh played guitar and Josiah sat transfixed
• Sunny afternoons spent on the roof terrace
• Improptu meet ups with friends
• Time to relax and enjoy my husband in the evenings instead of him being out lots
• Watching Jesus Story Book Bible DVD together as a family and discovering new insights 
• Tea and toast time - sitting round the table together and taking a break before bedtime routine begins
• Lots of smiles and laughter - seeing our boy happy and healthy

What about you? What are you thankful for this week?