Prepping for C-Day

In prepping for my scheduled c-section recovery (six weeks of no lifting my toddler) I've been tweaking how we do things around here. I’m hoping that these changes will make my recovery period go smoothly. Here’s what’s working so far:

Car climbing. I used to lift Reese up into our SUV but now she climbs in and out of the car, as well as in and out of her car seat on her own. We make it a game and she has until the count of three to get into her car seat before I “come get her.” This makes the entire process so much easier and faster than when I used to try to put her into her car seat.

Easy up and down. We are testing a BabyBjorn Booster Chair and it's working out great! It straps snuggly onto our dining chair and Reese uses a stool to climb into the booster on her very own. She can climb in and out of it with no assistance, so this is a big help since lifting her in and out of a highchair would have been painful. And I also love that it's a lot easier to clean up than a highchair because it doesn't have all the little nooks and crannies. A couple days ago I was in her room and mentioned that we were going to eat dinner pretty soon. She walked out of her room. After a few minutes I went to check on her and she was patiently waiting in her booster chair at the dining table for her dinner. Jennifer posted a full review here.

Hold me maybe. We’ve created a rule that Mommy can only hold Reese "at home" or when I'm "sitting down." This works about 85% of the time. Since I will only be able to hold her while sitting down during my recovery this has been a good rule for us. Not to mention it’s getting really hard to carry her with my big protruding belly I’m carrying these days. So when we’re out and about and she wants to be carried I offer her the option of holding hands with me, getting in her stroller (if we have it with us) or if she really needs to be held we take a break and I sit down to hold her.

Creating kid convenience. I’ve created two cubbies low enough for Reese to put her shoes and jacket in so that I can say "Please go grab your shoes and jacket" when getting ready to leave the house. This is similar to a cubby she has a preschool to hold her belongings so it's working great. She can also put some of her shoes on by herself (boots and Velcro tennis shoes).

Fending for food. I've moved "approved" snacks to a shelf in the kitchen where Reese can reach. Now when it's snack time she grabs a little bowl and reaches into the pantry. She's very good about asking before she grabs a snack...at least for now. The challenge with this so far has been that she generally wants more than one snack. 

All in all, these changes in our household are working well for us. I hope they all stick when the new baby comes. If you've had a c-section with a toddler at home, what tricks worked for you during your recovery?

Here's a short video to enjoy:

Win it! Peter Rabbit Organics Baby Food

Last summer we hosted a giveaway for Peter Rabbit Organics baby food pouches and I’m excited to announce another giveaway. The company has so generously offered to give away a 12-pack pack of assorted pouches to one of our readers. My kid LOVES them! She eats them like they're going out of style. 

Peter Rabbit Organics recently announced five new flavors. These USDA Certified Organics fruit and veggie puree snacks are sold in BPA-free, resalable pouches so our kiddos can enjoy healthy snacks while on the go. I like them because the snacks contain no added sugar, preservatives or artificial ingredients.

Check out their website for more info. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mini Egg Omelet Muffins

A hit! I was inspired by this recipe on Six in the Suburbs to create my own mini omelet muffin for Reese and she gobbled them up. Super convenient for those mornings when you want to give your child a nutritious breakfast but are short on time. 

Ingredients:

• 7 eggs (plus some milk)
• 1 zucchini
• 2 cups spinach
• ½ cup cheese (what ever kind you like)

What to do:

Preheat oven to 375. Beat eggs in a bowl and add some milk… just like you’re making scrambled eggs. Dice 1 zucchini and sauté. Then sauté the spinach. You might be able to skip this step but I didn’t want to chance it and have it be undercooked. Then add the zucchini, spinach and cheese to the eggs and mix.

I thought it would be cute to use little cup cake wrappers but it was kind of a pain to get the egg out so next time I’ll just cook the egg mix directly in the muffin pan.  I made 20 mini muffins. I kept 10 out to use within a few days and I froze the rest to use later. Enjoy! 

Healthy Snack: Baked Kale Chips

Nic has been refusing purees for a while now, which makes getting veggies into him more difficult.  I've been mixing purred cauliflower and chard into his pasta sauce, but when I came across this recipe for Baked Kale Chips, I thought they might help me up the veggie quotient.Kale chips taste and crunch like green popcorn!

Baked Kale Chips (From AllRecipes.com)

• 1 bunch kale
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a non-insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper.

1. With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt.  (Note: I tossed them with the olive oil, then spread them thinly out over two baking sheets and then sprinkled with kosher salt).
   
2. Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes. (Note: Mine took over 20 minutes and I think I could have given them a few more minutes.  You want them to be really crispy because the chewy ones aren't as good.  I also tossed mine with my fingers a few times while cooking to make sure they cooked evenly.)

The reviews on this recipe are amazing, but I was still doubtful that kale chips would actually taste good.  I should have believed the 500+ reviewers--these are amazing!  I usually leave the salt out of recipes for Nic, but figured I'd leave it in on this first batch and that was a good decision.  I'll use a little less next time, but I think it needs a bit of saltiness. 

And the best news is that when I passed them off at lunch as "crackers" (or "cawcaws" as Nic calls them), he totally bought it.  Hook line and sinker, my baby likes kale chips.

P.S.  These pretty much disolve in your mouth, so they might even work as "puffs" for early finger food eaters.  As always though, try new foods with caution.

Sample Menu for Baby

Now that Nic can eat almost anything, it’s getting really fun to feed him.  I can get more creative and give him more food that his daddy and I are eating.  Here’s what a daily menu might look like:

Breakfast (8 am)

• A few Cheerios to tide him over while I get everything ready
• Scrambled egg
• Whole grain, blueberry pancake (I few weeks ago, before he was eating egg whites, I made a batch of silver dollar pancakes using an eggless recipe and whole wheat flour.  I froze the extras and I’ve been doling them out every few days).
• Watermelon pieces
• Puree of apples and spinach with cinnamon, mixed with baby oatmeal

Snack (10:30 am)

• Orange pieces (we have two orange trees and Nic now loves oranges!)
• Whole grain crackers

Lunch (12 pm)

• A few Cheerios to tide him over while I get everything ready
• Broccoli pieces
• Pear pieces
• Whole wheat fusilli pasta, broken into pieces
• Puree of zuchinni with cumin, mixed with plain whole milk yogurt and rice cereal

Snack (3 pm)

• Fresh mozzarella chunks
• Kiwi (I usually just cut it in half and scoop him out pieces with a baby spoon)

Dinner (5:30 pm)

• A few Cheerios to tide him over while I get everything ready
• Pieces of leftover pork tenderloin
• Pieces of left over broiled veggies (carrots, broccoli, snow peas)
• Pieces of whole grain bread
• Puree of sweet potatoes and yellow squash

As you can see, Nic is a pretty adventurous eater.  The timing varies, of course, and so does the amount of food he eats.  Sometimes he eats everything I prepare, and sometimes he leaves more than half of it.  I learned from my pediatrician recently that meal times should be limited to about 20 minutes, so that’s taken away a lot of the guess work of, “Is he done eating?”  I’m also trying to teach Nic signs and “all done” is the first one he’s used reliably (waving hands in front of himself).