MOVING?? Already?!

Yes. I was advised by a good friend that Wordpress may be the better home for my blog. So before I get to hot and heavy here.... I jumped ship. Not to worry, everything has already been moved over.... so follow me here:

http://mommyneurotic.wordpress.com/

Toddler Eating: How kids should REALLY eat Mac N Cheese

If a kid has always eaten Mac N' Cheese this way, then how would they ever know the difference? That means, when we go out and about and they have the regular ol' plain Mac, then THAT is what's out of the norm - not how we eat it at home.

At home, I add organic: tofu, spinach and broccoli.  This is how my kids eat Mac N Cheese and chow it down. Honestly, I don't care how you like to prep your Mac (whether it be from scratch or from the box), but I think by just simply adding a few extra ingredients, you can make what really isn't the best toddler meal, turn into a much healthier entree. For the veggies, I heat up from frozen chopped spinach and cut up broccoli florets.

Sometimes, when I have time, I'll add organic shredded cheese and bread crumbs on top and pop it in the oven to get it nice and crispy. hmmmmm yummy breaded bake! 

 When I reach for the box, I'm usually reaching for Annie's Homegrown. Original, shells, shapes - my kids eat it all.

I love the Organic Sprouted Tofu from Trader Joes, especially because it comes in a smaller packaging. I usually just dice them into meals for the kids, so the typical larger packaging of Tofu seems like a waste. I just slice them and then put them into a tupperware container with fresh water. Then just dice slices as I need them throughout the week. Just be sure to change the water every 1-2 days!

Preparing the Baby Chef hat

So the baby is 5 months old... time to switch over to babyfood mode! On the first round of each fruit or vegetable, I did use store-bought food (Earth's Best brand mostly). Once they got an initial taste of all the basics, then I started to incorporate some homemade babyfood by yours truly.

              

I headed to Costco and got myself a Magic Bullet. Don't be fooled by all those other fancy contraptions with names that include the word "baby". It's basically a magic bullet with a higher price tag. In my opinon, any food processor would do. I also already had a small rice cooker that had a steamer basket part to it, so that's what I used to steam prior to pureeing.

I had picked up a cookbook on babyfood once, but with all the resources online, I never really did anything out of it. My favorite web source came from Momtastic's Wholesome Babyfood.  I loved clicking on the individual fruits and veggies to read up on how to best cook them and at the bottom of each page was a list of other food items that would blend well together. This was key to creating new blends of multiple foods and giving the baby some variety.

They say its cheaper to make your own babyfood. I never really kept track of the money spent/saved, but I did like the thought of knowing exactly what was going into my baby's belly. Not only that, homemade babyfood tastes like real food. Haven't you ever tasted that stuff that comes from the jar? I mean, how many pink bananas do you know of?

On another note, prior to the babyfood "pouches" such as the ones from Plum Organics, there was no way you were going to find zucchini or beets in a babyfood jar! Nor are you still going to be able to find avocado on the shelf. The only way to expose your kiddo on that one is to give it to them fresh! Yum!

I did weekly trips to buy organic food items, steam, puree, and store (some in fridge to eat and some in freezer for back-up meals). I reused the little jars from the store-bought food (which I still used when I had to feed the baby outside of the house when we are out). To make it all orderly, you can make chalkboard lids and easily keep the jars labeled! I totally didn't know of this idea until after Pinterest was born, but this would have been perfect back in my babyfood making days:

On a final note, I must be honest about one thing: I don't cook. It is not my thing. You know how you can just watch some people cook, and you can see the enjoyment and passion in in what they are doing? Yeah... that's not me. Cooking actually makes me angry almost. Like a chore. Baking I like. But general cooking, not so much. Although Pinterest has certainly sparked more enjoyment in it these days, don't go signing me up for Top Chef. 

The Play Area - Containing the Kiddie Tornado

Anyone who is a parent knows that once you have children... the little people slowly take over the household. So in preparation of my daughter getting mobile, we needed to set up a play area. Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of a separate entire playroom, so a designated play area would have to do.

So many to pick from! After hours of research, I went for the one from www.onestepahead.com
This one had the most reviews at the time (211 reviews at 4 1/2 stars). It was also the thickest on the market: 5/8" thick. The tiles are 12x12.... so I got the 26 letters, 10 numbers and the borders. (Note, I ended up never even using the borders and corners so in my opinion, you can totally do without.) When the mats arrived, I was definitely impressed with the quality of them. They were definitely thick and not cheap feeling. They didn't feel like plastic either. It was quality foam. 
It was interesting because I had a cousin to went and got a similar type of mat at Walmart and she said it wasn't even a year before it started falling apart and she had wished she went for the one I suggested from the get-go. Sometimes, when I'm at other houses with playmats, I scope them out and I still haven't found anything that compares to the quality of the One Step Ahead ones.

Update: I'm still in love with these mats. 4 years later, and they have held up really well. I did end up buying another set last year (after 3 years of use - but only because the Red mats started to peel a little. Probably because it was cleaned regularly? And oddly, it was only the red ones.) In any case, since it had already been 3 years, It wasn't a big deal for me to buy another set of letters and kind of freshen up the play area anyways. I ended up tossing the old red ones and using the remaining of the old set at my mom's house for when my kids were playing over there. 

For the surrounding gate, we went for the NorthStates Metal Superyard. Best price we found was on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/North-States-Superyard-Metal-Gate/dp/B000U5FOT2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374686074&sr=8-1&keywords=northgate+superyard 

We had to get two sets in order to make the play area size that we wanted. But it does give access via two doors. There is a plastic version as well from same company, but I wanted something more sturdy. When the kids were younger, I just tied two crib bumpers around the bottom of the play area. Yes, the kids have bumped into the gate before, but never a crazy injury with the fact that it was metal.

TA-DA! Here it is. Our 6x6ft play area. Don't mind the iMac box along the back. We have a bookshelf there, and wanted to keep the kids from messing with things back there. I do miss seeing my things on the bookshelf, but I'd rather have my kids and all their toys contained.

 

For the most part, the kid toys have always been housed in the play area and we started them playing in there starting around 6-8 months when they are starting to crawl around. I believe that because they have always had that area and spent time playing in there (both with people and independently), there has no been problem as they got older with them still playing in there. To this day, on the mornings when I am home with them, they are able to play together in there for a good hour while I get some work done on the computer. I expect that since K just turned 2, that this play area will still be around for another 1-2 years before we transition to school-aged study area (which I can't wait to design the look of - I better start Pinning!)

My nanny and my mom typically tidy up the play area, but of course the tornado hits and its a mess all over the place. However - the good news is that its contained IN THE PLAY AREA. Whew. The mess sometimes overspills outside when they throw things, but we always have clean up time (having the kids toss the toys back into the play area) when they are ready to play outside that area. 

 BEFORE (all nice and tidy)                                      AFTER (the kiddie tornado)

The kid "stuff" has definitely expanded into the living room over the past couple years, but the majority of the toys and the designated play area is still as pictured above. I feel that it still keeps the house as manageable as possible considering the circumstances, while most importantly maintaining my sanity.

For those restless teething nights....

I can only imagine what it must feel like to have beautiful empty gums... and then BAM! - Teeth start sprouting up. Yikes. The thought of something sharp emerging through the gums, breaking through and then the even wider part pushing up.... how painful is that?!

So I guess we shouldn't blame our little ones for keeping us up at night during those teething pains... However, we can try to best arm ourselves to maintain our own sanity and rest right?

I was fortunate with V, she went through teething like a champ up until her bigger molars came in at 2yrs old. Back then, I used Orajel teething gel with her... which honestly, I don't think did much compared to the products I used during round 2 with baby K.

Fast forward a couple years, and add a baby that had a harder time with teething. I was definitely on the hunt for something that worked! This time I used Hyland's Teething Tablets. Worked great and I loved that it was natural. Fortunately, by time I needed them, new ones were out on the shelf (they had a short recall). I also went browsing online and came across something that I liked even better!! Natrabio Teething Drops! Godsend! Everytime K woke up at all in the middle of the night, it was so easy to reach for the bottle and put a drop in his mouth. I swear that most of the time, he just laid back down and went to sleep. There were times that he might not have even been teething, when I gave him a drop and he just laid right back down again! I don't know... but it had this amazing instant soothing effect.

My first choice was to reach for the drops, but there were some nights tougher than others, and I would alternate between the tablets and the drops. 

Both the Hylands and Natrabio I purchased mostly from www.drugstore.com When they had a "green & natural" sale - it was 30% off, so I stocked up... plus accessed the site through www.ebates.com first to get an additional 5-12% cashback. whoooohoooo. 

During the daytime, it was much more tolerable and I'd keep my kids busy chomping on teething toys. Both my kids loved the ones that were ice cold (particularly the Munchkin one shaped like a hand - probably because the fingers were small to chomp on).

My lil' man turns TWO!

*sniff* Where has the time gone? Oh, wait. I know. It was spent the last two years pumping, logging, training, diaper changing... the list goes on.

But... today - yes! Today! My lil' man turns TWO! And I can't help but feel a huge sigh of relief. Like I have reached the light at the end of a looooong infant-stage tunnel. It feels spectacular. *pats self on back* At 2 years old, my son is already potty trained and stringing some pretty impressive sentences together. Yeeehawww. Since this is my last "baby".... I'm ready to conquer the next chapter of parenthood and no looking back this time!

I couldn't help but wonder why I was in such a rush and felt such a huge relief to get to this milestone? Perhaps its because I went through it with my daughter first... so having to do a complete repeat again wasn't the most appealing thing in the world. I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy any of it! I'm just saying that I knew it was something I had to go through again, and in all honesty, I probably tried to get through it as quickly as possible. If you are not the first time mom, then you can probably relate to some of these feelings. I wonder how much these feelings range depending on the age gap between kids? Nonetheless, the feelings are valid and most likely normal for any mom of 2+ kids.

At every age of the child, there are certainly challenges for the parent. But I gotta say, the first year is the hardest. Followed by the second year.

I'm very much looking forward now to this next year with my lil' man. My daughter will be in preschool in the mornings all week, so I'll have tons of one-on-one time with him. Now that he is talking and asking so many questions about things (and we got the potty training down), its going to be fun taking him out more to hang out and run errands or do whatever. I have the opportunity to work more, but decided to keep the hours low so that I have this full year of extra time with him before he starts a little bit of preschool himself next year. I feel like a load has been lifted off my shoulders as we reached this milestone, so time is going to start to fly by a little bit faster now.

Hullaba-who?

Am I the only person who didn't know what Hullabaloo was? Oops. Yes. I am THAT parent. And yes. I only play EDM from SiriusXM in the car. Whoops.

Turns out Hullabaloo is a nice twist on all the timeless children's songs we remember. Steve Denyes was performing today at a local library that we were at this morning. Talented musician and yes, I would have to say that the songs were entertaining for the parent as well. The last song of the performance was "You are my sunshine", which was great because it is my lil' man's favorite. I only had the lil guy with me and he was kind of half into it - more so observing everything that was going on rather than clapping his hands and singing or dancing along. I think had my 4-yr-old been there, she would have thoroughly enjoyed it because she knows more of the songs and loves to sing. Fortunately, we were there early and got some front row seats because man it was PACKED by the time it started!


Hullabaloo performs all around town all the time, so perhaps I'll take my daughter to catch a showing sometime.

http://www.hullabalooband.com/calendar/