Frugal Food Fridays {Make Your Own Food Mat}

My  mom said to me recently "We would have NEVER thought to let you kids feed yourself" when I asked why, she said it was WAY too messy. She is right.
Levi loves to feed himself but the ratio of food-in-mouth to food-on-floor is not always a great one.  I was constantly scrubbing and sweeping food off the floor. When we laid the new flooring down I knew I didn't want to have it filled with specks of food bits years down the road so I though it should be protected.  Enter: the OLD SHOWER CURTAIN.......

I had it around to use for 'projects'. I cut it to size and cut away two sides to fit around the table legs. Now when meal time is over I scoop up all the food and toss it (or most often give it to the hounds).  I'm still doing the clean up but I know the floor won't have food glue between the joints in the floor.

(I couldn't resist, they are just too cute)

Another Baby On The Way

I've been neglecting to blog lately. Yes it is the Christmas season and we've been busy eating, cooking, sleeping, travelling and eating. What's missing? Egg nog and rum! Yup, I'm preggers again and number 2 is coming in July.  Our kids will be about 16 months apart.
This time around has been much different - more sickness AND I'm a big huge bag of CRAZY! Totally irrational! My husband is super patient with me though and everyone else just smiles nervously and says "Oh, maybe this one is a girl".
The plan was to tell everyone we were pregnant again at Christmas, like this.....

...and we did end up sharing this picture to tell some close friends and family.  However, we were letting it slip here and there -  I had to explain my 'flu' and/or 'lack of rational self control' or it just felt right.
We did get a chance to tell my Mother in Law in her birthday card though. At the bottom of the card my husband wrote "Love Conor, Shawna, Levi and your future granddaughter (Yup, we think it's a girl. Due July 10)"  She was screaming like she won the lottery - it was very cool.
It is different to share this news the second time around.  I personally felt less pressure to keep the news private until I was past 12 weeks. I am also showing sooner which makes people wonder. And it isn't a game changer like the first one changes your whole lifestyle - not to underestimate the impact of becoming a family of four!
Excited? Yes! Terrified? Darn Right! Having a new child to love and a sibling for our son? Bring it!

Baby Food Combinations {Free Printables}

Its an exciting transition from single solid foods to combinations of veggies, fruits, proteins, starches, herbs & spices.  Sometimes you can inherently know what will taste good together, the rest of the time you may feel clueless as I did.  

Much of my inspiration comes from a great book I picked up a few years back called Baby Blender Food (even though I don't do the blending option, still a great resource). As well as two great websites called Momtastic's Wholesome Baby Food and Homemade Baby Food Recipes. 

When I would try out a new combination I would note it on this sheet, along with my son's response and whether he had any reactions.

Free Printable Here

Eventually I put together this spreadsheet of combinations. It was especially handy when you are looking at some random foods in your fridge and thinking, what could I put with this. With a spot for notes as well on combo ideas you have. 

Free Printable Here

ALSO CHECK OUT THIS NEW FREE PRINTABLE ON SOLID FOODS FOR BABY! 

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Storage! Glorious Storage!

Welcome to the Great Canadian Kitchen Reno!
Yes, my husband and I have realized that we will live in a constant state of renos - partly due to my obsessant drive to CHANGE EVERYTHING and also to the fact we bought an outdated boring old bi level.
So begins the first stages of our kitchen reno....

The view to the kitchen/dining room before we moved in

Tearing down the walls

Ripping up the old floors to relay the laminate throughout

 Say it with me "Storage! Glorious Storage!!"

And yup, it's 'baby approved!'

Next up: Rewire the lighting, patch the drywall and ceiling, and (drumroll.......) new counters!!

Tracking the Baby Bump

I took pictures throughout my pregnancy with the plan to date them all and put them together - I needed some motivation to get this done and I thought since I was giving my blog a healthy dose of neglect that I would make this my next blog post.  

I've seen some great ideas on pinterest of ideas on tracking the bump that I hope to do for #2.  There is this adorable one where you take pics with your older child (though it would be cool to also add the age of the older child) and then another where you take a pic of your babe in a laundry basket of all their clothes each month.  And this one and this one are cool, but probably take way too much time when you are chasing around a nino already!

Fireplace Mini-Makeover | Brass + A Can of Paint |

I'm not a fan of 80s red brick fireplaces, but while we figure out what to do with the brick I thought the brass could use a makeover.  A can of high heat flat black enamel paint and we've got happy mama and a prettier fireplace!

Here is the before and after (and yes, had to try out some wall paint too!)

My husband gave me a hard time because the ONLY newspaper/magazine I had to cover the fireplace was the VS catalogue. Levi was a little confused by it too.

Mama Must Haves | Some Randoms |

Here's a few randoms for this round of Mama Must Haves......

For the Teething & Tears
Camilia Teething Relief

A wonderful shower present from my friend, all natural, no flavour and really works!

Change Your Shoes, Change Your Life

Stonz Booties

These little booties are waterproof and lightly lined. You can slip them over socks and slippers and they have drawstrings so baby can't kick them off.

How Old Is That Diaper?

Following my c-section we spent 4 days in the hospital and the nurses had us record feedings and changings. When we got home we realized that if we didn't keep track of this we would have no idea when we changed a diaper or fed the baby last - yup we were sleep deprived and clueless! 

ITZBEEN Baby Timer

This was a gift from my Mother in Law and once we figured out how easy it was to use it was always at my bedside table. You just click the symbol when you change a diaper, feed, or baby goes to sleep. Then when you wake to a crying baby for the 3rd time in the middle of the night you can see that the diaper was changed an hour ago and can probably wait. It also has a cool night light that shuts off automatically. 

Baby Connect App 

I used this app for about the first 6 months. You can track EVERYTHING and it calculates averages, and gives stats on BAR GRAPHS! Yup! A geeky mama's dream come true. It can also link up to other users so I could view my little sis's data for her daughter and we could enter data for each other too. Part of me knows I used it for 6 months kinda for something to do - to get some pretty chart at the end made me feel good. 

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Feeding Baby | Solid Food Suggestions |

The thought of constantly buying rice cereal and baby food put me off. Maybe cause I'm cheap. Maybe cause I don't trust the baby food industry to safely provide my baby what it needs better than I can with raw ingredients (though there are some really great products out there I have to admit).  I just wonder how babies were fed solids say 75 – 100 years ago? I’m sure they ate what the family ate. That sounds easy to me! Well, things have changed. Now you have to slowly introduce ingredients and monitor your bambino for any adverse allergic reactions. It’s a long process to get them to the point where they are eating with the family.

Here has been my approach…..

Start with

Avocado, Banana, Yams

Add some more flavourful foods

Melons, Peaches, Turnips, Squash

Add some herbs and spices

Cinnamon, Ginger, Garlic, Basil

Add some grains

Rice, Cous Cous, Quinoa

Add some protein

Beans, Lentils, Fish, Meat

Mix & Match to find baby’s favourite combinations

Now that my son is 9 months and tried most solid foods I could think of for him I like to always keep a fruit, veggie, grain and protein in the fridge. I'll feed him in different combinations with different herbs and spices. 

If you are like me and had some troubles of thinking WHAT to even feed baby, check out this printable I put together on solid food suggestions:

Download here

World Health Organization recommends that parents wait til baby is six months old to start them on solids – this ensures their little digestive system is up and running and ready to take on food. 

What solid foods do you prefer to start with when feeding baby?   Pin It Pin It