Baby food making made easy

As many of you know, I've been making all of Brayden's baby food.  I'll admit, at first I was a little intimidated and overwhelmed at the thought of keeping up with all the meals I'd have to prepare but once I got started I've been on a roll.  To make things easy on myself, I set aside a couple evenings a month (after Brayden goes to bed for the night) to prepare a batch or two of fruit, veggies and meet.  (Most pureed fruits and veggies can be stored for up to 3 months in the freezer and pureed meet is good for 1 month in the freezer.) 
Even as Brayden starts to experiment with table food, I am still finding myself referring to my Baby and Toddler Cookbook (a shower gift, which can be purchased at PBK) and going online to look up recipes and to learn more about what foods to offer baby at certain ages and which foods to avoid.  The website I've found the most credible and helpful, offering a plethora of yummy recipes and menu ideas for babies of all ages is Momtastic's wholesomebabyfood.com.  I highly recommend this website as a kitchen must-have for anyone wanting to prepare nutritious food for a wee one.  Ever since introducing rice cereal at 5 months, Brayden has expressed a love for all foods offered to him, no matter the colour, texture or flavour!

Keeping busy

Maternity leave has been amazing. I am loving motherhood and all the messy and adorable things that come with it.  There have, however, been days where I've felt very lonely.
It was about three months into being home with Brayden that I began to feel comfortable with everything.  Breastfeeding was finally starting to become less of a painful production and I was feeling confident in leaving the house with him (awake or asleep).  Given that it was still winter, the days were feeling extra gloomy and it wasn't exactly the best time of year to be taking a new baby out for walks.  (I despise weather below 0 so I couldn't imagine a newborn enjoying it very much.)  I found myself spending a lot of my time walking around the Pickering Town Centre (which grew old quickly).
One day, I decided to hop on Google to investigate daytime activities for mommy & baby in our neighbourhood.  I found some resources and immediately got involved -- and met some fantastic momma & baby pairs!
I highly recommend new mommas get out of the house and meet other mom/baby pairs.  Not only did it give us something to do during the daytime, but we also got to chat with other adults who wanted to talk baby and share experiences of motherhood plus, we've made some great friends! Be sure to check out what's available in your neighbourhood early on so that you can get on any potential wait lists and take advantage of programs offered to even the newest of babies.
Below is a list of the programs offered in Pickering that Brayden and I took advantage of.  Many of the programs are available across the province and some are put on by the Ontario government and are free!

Ontario Early Years Centre
Perk: Lots of programs to choose from and it's all free!
I recommend Bouncing Babies and Learn to Play. (Both are great for 5 months+)

Mommy & Baby Fitness 
Perk: Locations everywhere!
I recommend Mommy and Baby Aerobics (fall/winter) and Strollerfit (spring/summer)

Babyville
Perk: Mom (and baby) discussion group moderated by a Public Health Nurse
A great way to meet a small group of moms in the community who want to stay in touch after the program's eight weeks!

Swimming Lessons
Perk: Develops a love for swimming and water safety
- Brayden started at 4 months old and was enrolled in Starfish/Duck (Red Cross swim levels)

Nine month update

Brayden had his nine month check up this week. Unlike the previous three appointments (2,4 and 6 months), this time there were no needles involved! In fact, the nine month appointment is optional -- it's an opportunity for the doctor to ensure you're baby's growth and development are on track and for you to ask questions that might probably have come up since your last appointment.

Our appointment revealed that Brayden is 16 pounds and confirmed that he has hit all the typical developmental milestones for his age. (Way to go little guy!) While I'm not one to pay too close attention to the percentiles that inevitably come out of these appointments (usually just numbers mommies harmlessly like to throw around when comparing each other's babies) our HPC did request she see Brayden in a month to check in on his weight. (Though he has always been a slender baby, he's fallen below the fifth percentile...) The advice I received from our HPC in the meantime is to continue breastfeeding 3-4 times/day and offer him more snacks.

So, I've decided to take these next four weeks to test out whether feeding two formal snacks, in addition to the three formal meals and four nursings I've been feeding, to see whether it helps beef up our little string bean.

Sample Menu: 4 Week Challenge

Breakfast

- breast milk

- oatmeal cereal

- banana

- yogurt

Snack

- breast milk

- peach slices

- toast

Lunch

- barley cereal

- chicken puree

- corn puree

- butternut squash

- apple sauce

Snack

- breast milk

- cheese cubes

- cracker

Dinner

- brown rice cereal

- beef puree

- mashed peas

- sweet potato 

- pear puree

Bedtime

- breast milk

Daycare Woes

When I sat down to read the Star this morning, the front page headline smacked me on the face forcing me to open my eyes wide... really wide. "Markham daycare shut down after toddlers escape" was the headline and being only a few short months away from transitioning my sweet pea to a daycare centre (in a town not very far from where this incident occurred), the article hit me hard.

Claudia and Damian Alfonso pose with their daughter, Lucia, 18 months, at their Markham home. Lucia and some daycare friends left the centre's playground, crossed a busy parking lot and were found in a nearby drugstore.
ANDREW FRANCIS WALLACE/TORONTO STAR


Despite all our efforts to select the "best" daycare for our little ones, can we ever be 100 per cent confident and assured that the care these centres promise is what they're practicing when parents aren't around?

It seems like there's an endless amount of bad news daycares maintaining operation and sometimes the shenanigans are out of the operator's knowledge. It was at the beginning of the summer that I recall reading about a deceptive daycare caterer. "Former employees tell stories of milk bags left overnight in car trunks, ground beef driven to Ottawa in personal cars with no coolers and of undercooked chicken rushed off the grille to meet delivery deadlines," tells the article published in May by the Toronto Star.

It's stories like these that really shake you and make you second guess your decision.  I can only hope that the centre we've chosen for Brayden will never make headlines like this.

If you're interested in investigating whether your neighbourhood child care centres are licensed, or have any conditions placed on them by the ministry, you can visit: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/childcare/finding.html
Just know that you will not be able to find out the problems that lead to the conditions.