Healthy kids community

Something pretty amazing happened.. I have teamed together with a group of amazing mums around the World and we have become the 'Healthy Kids Community.'

Each week we are going to post some amazing alternative and healthy dishes to hopefully inspire other parents and also to keep insipiring ourselves.

I must admit, it was very easy to slip into familar old favourites when it came to cooking for my family, but now I have no choice but to shake things up, and personally I look forward to the challenge.


I hope you are all as excited as I am to get cooking and creating some super amazing dishes for our little tummies to enjoy.

Make sure you follow the whole group of mums on instagram, and some are also on Facebook and Pinterest too!

@katdillicious_kitchen
@cookingforgrey
@whatsbabyeating
@little_miss_s_
@sproutingyumminess
@toddlerandtoast

Plue we also have amazing giveaways happening from time to time :)

NOM NOM KIDS

NOM NOM KIDS!

I’d had a bad night and wasn’t having a particularly great start to the day, but then all that brightened up with the arrival of the postman.

I had received my delivery of NOM NOM KIDS pouches and they were every bit of gorgeous of what I had seen from Instagram.

The vibrant colours and cute animals soon got the seal of approval from Austin.

He loves animals and is getting pretty good at animal noises.

Instantly seeing the monkey and ‘uh uh uhing’ at him.

The pouches are fabulous arriving with an easy to read instruction guide.

The first clean was super easy, blow them up, open their side and clean.

They are easy to fill; attach the lid, open the side, fill to the guide line and zip lock shut.  

We put a couple in the fridge ready for immediate use once chilled and some in the freezer ready for day trips.

Get them out of the freezer in the morning and leave them to defrost during the day until they are ready to use.  

Our first smoothie was banana, frozen mango, frozen strawberries and cow’s milk.

I let Austin help put the fruit in the blender; he’s really good at that bit, one piece of fruit for him, one for blender, one for him, one for the blender...

 

Smoothies are a great way of getting extra nutrients and vitamins into our little people. I like to start my working days with a smoothie to keep me going until lunch, there are no nap times at work for me to have a cheeky ‘pick me up snack.’ Austin always wants to try my smoothie, but as it is from a glass, it’s something that he just hasn’t mastered without a smoothie shower.

I had resorted to doing frozen smoothie ice pops for him, but now, with these pouches he is able to join in with my morning smoothie ritual.

 

And you are not just restricted to smoothies, we've put yogurts and milk shakes in them too!

I highly recommend these pouches, they are in my opinion an essential for your baby weaning / feeding kit.

 

And excellent news, I am giving one lucky instagram follower the chance to win a weaning set of these amazing pouches, which includes 10 pouches, extra lids and a handy pen to keep track of what’s in which.

 

See my original Instagram post for full details.

 



Our first family holiday

I ummed and ahhed about booking a holiday for a while, we had not been in years, I wasn’t sure I could manage another year without a break away...

 

I researched and researched, somewhere close, short flight, somewhere familiar, somewhere safe.

 

We decided on Palma Nova, Richard and I have been there plenty of times, well more Magaluf, but those days are gone! So Palma Nova it was. Short flight – check! Somewhere familiar – check!

 

I found a beautiful family friendly hotel which was close to the beach. It had extras; free passes to the Katmandu Hotel & theme park – sold!

 

We flew out the day after Richards 30^th Birthday Party; thank goodness I got us an afternoon flight!

 

Austin was a dream for the take-off, he had a nap as soon as we got on the plane, woke up half way through just in time for some food. He needed a nappy change – absolute nightmare, there just is not enough room in there!

 

The decent was not so dreamy, and he started crying, holding his ears and crying, I wanted to cry my poor little baby was in pain, he wouldn’t take any snacks or drink his water to help himself. He calmed down as soon as we landed and he saw the trucks and buses!

 

We went to baggage claim and waited over an hour for all our bags and his pram, Austin wasn’t phased, he was just enjoying running around the airport in the new surroundings.

 

We had a bit of a drama checking in and searching for a shop open at midnight to get Austin some milk, in the end I took him to the bar to fill his milk up, then straight to bed ready to start our holiday!

 

I absolutely love that we have done BLW with Austin; it made eating with him on holiday so easy and stress free.

 

We went for breakfast our first morning, getting fry ups and fruit and yogurt for us all to share, ready to head to the beach.

 

Oh did I mention that it had been a heat wave! Like a paranoid lunatic mum I spent the majority of my time chasing after him with the factor 50+ and putting him in the shade or the beach tent!

 

We had so much fun playing on the beach and lost track of time (mummy burnt too busy worrying over Austin!) So quick showers all round and out for tea.

 

Our first night we went to a beach BBQ restaurant, daddy ordered steak (too rare to share) I order chicken kebab skewers with veg and rice, and garlic bread (which features a lot on our holiday!)

 

Austin was restless, it was too late for him, and so we ate and took him back to the room for him to sleep. Mummy and daddy chatted on the balcony with a few beers/ ciders / wine.

 

The next day we had breakfast in the room, I took my ‘Organix cereals’ and we had fruit and toast and headed to Marine land to see dolphins and sea lions. It was an amazing day; I was kissed by a sea lion! Austin loved the dolphin show clapping and dancing along.

 

Other activities included; the Katmandu house, which he loved, pressing all the buttons, we took him again later on in the holiday to the soft play centre – it was 42degrees, he needed somewhere cool and shaded to play and run.

 

Pirates family show – amazing as always, this was more for us, Austin got fed up by the second half, but I let him have some ice cream so this certainly cheered him up!

 

We had a pool day, letting him float in his new rubber ring, more beach days, including mummy being stung by a jelly fish, having a giant nose bleed.

 

It was a great time, some stressful times, but mostly amazing and fabulous memories made which will last forever.

Gangnam Style

This week has been a difficult week, for a couple of reasons, one day I will write about it, but not now...

 

We have had a great week of delicious food and amazing weather, we actually got to sit in the garden eating homemade burgers on Thursday. Note to self - must buy a barbecue!

 

Last night me and hubster went to a wedding, a great night for us to be with friends, drinking, dancing, and spending time with each other. Eating without having to share with the baby! It was perfect!

 

Now it is tradition, of sorts, that I request ‘Gangnam style’ at weddings, I did it to the last 2 weddings we went to and because everything comes in threes, you can see where this was going!

 

But I was beaten to it; it came on, without anyone requesting it!

 

Amazing, although, I haven’t heard the song for a while, I couldn’t actually remember the dance routine, so just proceeded to dance round the dance floor on my imaginary horse.

 

But like the last time I went out, I am up again early! Early! If anyone has any tips on how to sleep in when there isn’t a baby in the house, please do let me know!

 

I am off on a girl’s day out today for a friend’s birthday, so I need to get myself ready. But the rain has started pouring, thus putting a dampener on my outfit choices. Don’t let the word ‘choices’ fool you – there are only 2, jumpsuit or jeans... I am thinking jeans, or jumpsuit, I still have time to decide.

 

I am missing my boy, I don’t like him not being here, and I will miss him today. I am a tiny bit envious of him and the hubby spending the day together having a boy’s day.

 

Roll on Sunday for mummy baby time.

On Wednesdays I make lists

I really need to start being more proactive with this blog thing...! Especially now I have over a 1000 followers on my instagram page! Yey!

It’s Wednesday, on Wednesdays I make lists...

I do the shopping on a Thursday, but I like to go prepared!

First I check what’s in the cupboards, fridge and freezer that I can use up.

Then, I write a meal plan, well I plan what days we can all eat together, (since sometimes Daddy works evenings and we don’t get to eat together)  then I decide what were having and when.

Then finally, I write my list of what we need to buy.

I only shop at Aldi, but I do go to Tesco for my nut spreads.

I also like to write my list in order of the shop, does anyone else do that? I start with cereals, then breads, fruits & veg, meat, eggs, frozen, fridge bits, nappies and tills – you all do this, right?!

A personal choice, I like to buy fresh meat, fresh fruit and veg, I’m not against frozen foods and do get frozen pizzas, a salmon wellington, onion rings etc... But I really enjoy making my meals from scratch, I like to know what’s going into the food that I feed my family.

This is a reason we chose BLW (baby led weaning) so I could take this food journey with him, I could start trying new foods and stop being so darn fussy, because I do not want Austin being a fuss bucket like me. And I love it; I can’t believe I’ve denied myself all these foods for so long.

And who would have known that I would like cooking, and that I would be good at it!?

I prep a lot of our meals the night before where possible and this is also factored into the planning, when the baby goes to sleep this mama gets busy in the kitchen!

Maria

My poorly baby

I loved have an extra day with Austin, getting Bank Holiday Monday off.

The sun was shining so we headed out to the park.

Austin’s’ walking has come on leaps and bounds, his favourite thing is running the length of the field in the park, it is beautiful to watch him giggling and laughing while he runs, chasing me or charging at the ducks.

 
Back to work for me Tuesday and Wednesday so Austin and daddy can have quality time together.

I look forward to Thursdays so much, my time with him for 4 days.

But Thursday he woke up with a cold, it looked like a radioactive slug had been set free on his bed and over his teddies.

He cried, was clinging, screamed and refused to nap.

I took him with me to vote (lucky him) then for a walk in the hopes that the fresh air would help him nap.

No such luck.

He slept in my arms on our return, but the spirit level in him knew when I attempted to put him down, which meant the screaming restarted.

Whilst he was screaming the house down, we had a surprise visit from my parents!

Worst timing ever.

They stayed while I attempted to rock him back to sleep, which was not going to happen so I gave up and brought him down stairs.

He was falling asleep in his food so an early night was on the cards.

I foolishly thought, no nap means a full night’s sleep, how wrong was I?

He woke screaming the house down at 3 am, I tried to calm him down, but he was in so much pain that I had to give him calpol and rock him back to sleep.

He woke at 5 am, I rocked him back to sleep and he was up again at 6am, this is when our day started...

 

Friday was much the same at Thursday, crying, screaming, clingy, refusing to nap, it was also raining so no chance of any fresh air, so we bought him a ball pit in the hopes that that would cheer him up. He is not interested in it right now, but I have high hopes for when he is better.

Saturday; Hubby and I were supposed to be going out on a double date to see the band I have booked for Hubbys 30^th birthday party (which I still am NO further forward organising!?), but due to Austin being so unsettled I cancelled, I didn’t want him staying out in this state. As tired as I am (and believe me I am tired) I need to be the one that he sees that can make him better.

The sun briefly came out Saturday so we took him to the park for some fresh air and for a run; we didn’t know that there was anything happening but when we got there a little festival was happening, with food stalls, beer tents and dragon boat racing on the canal which was fun to watch.

In the midst of his cold, he is also cutting a new tooth, which explains his behaviour.

He refused to sleep Saturday night, it has been a long time since I have had to rock him to sleep, but Saturday, I had to.

Sunday, today, he has been clingy, tired, falling over because he was too tired to walk, but I got a few smiles and giggles out of him.

Today we just sat and watched Rio on TV, we NEVER watch TV, I never have a need to turn it on because he is so happy playing and entertaining himself, but today he just wanted to sit with me and I had read him EVERY book he owns multiple times over the last few days, oh, did I mention I am full of cold too and my throat is so sore? No? Well I am, so I took the TV option.

I don’t want to make a habit of watching TV with him, but I absolutely loved watching him watching TV, pointing at the characters, brumming along with the cars and planes, copying me saying ‘wow’ and clapping when Blue learned to fly – my heart actually swelled with pride!

He refused to nap this afternoon and didn’t eat much of his food so he went to bed early, luckily no screaming and fighting tonight.

It has been a tough few days, actually reminds me of the early days, before today I couldn’t remember the last time I had showered, I am exhausted, I really looking forward to going to bed, and actually looking forward to going to work tomorrow so I can have a rest.

 

But in exciting news, a post I did for Fourth Trimester Magazine website which is live today!

Bottle feeding

Bottle feeding mamas – I need your help!

As Austin is now over 12 months, I wanted to start the transition from bottles to sippy cups for his milk. He is fine drinking water out sippy cup / sports bottle.

He has been to the health visitor for his 12 month review and booster jabs and she mentioned that he needs to be off bottles as they are so bad for his teeth (which I knew anyway!) but said we probably won’t be able to get him off bed bottle...

He has 2 bottles of milk a day, one at 7am when he wakes up and one at 7pm just before bed.

This week I have started giving him his milk in a sippy cup (tommy tipee 4+months cup) but he is just not interested in drinking milk from it, he would rather paint my floor with the milk instead.

I have tried him in the Nuby sports bottle, but he just doesn’t seem interested in it unless it’s in a bottle!

I have resorted to feeding him his milk in his sippy cup so he can’t throw it everywhere, but I never wanted this kind of relationship with food or drink with him.

I have bought a new cup today to try in the morning – Munchkin 360 miracle cup 100% No Spills! Except that he has figured out how to sprinkle the water everywhere!

Does anyone have any advise, any bottles/sippy cups that you swear by.

Or kind words of “he’ll just get it in his own time.”

Maria