Epiphany

Something happened last night that most parents are utterly terrified of, near bed time a rash appeared. The Wee One had been mostly on the mend yesterday only needing medicine once early on. when we added everything up, especially the lack of high temperature when the rash appeared we diagnosed Roseola ourselves. Fits everything that happened to the Wee One and after googling it, her rash is text book.

She is still on the mend, but still a bit grumpy. We managed some pieces of corn cake today and also tried some birryani for dinner, I think it was a bit too spicy for her though. Some chapati and rice pudding sorted her out. Still not a lot eaten.

We had been doing so well last week with meals getting eaten and it does feel back to square one again. We're hoping as she gets better, her appetite will return as well.

The Toss Up

I got my wish of sleep.

Unfortunately it's because the Wee One isn't well. A wee tummy bug/ear infection. High temperatures, sickness, diarrhoea and sleepiness.

I'd rather go back to sleepless nights knowing she was well.

My doctor suggested not to breastfeed, however this seemed alien to me, and I could hardly deny her of she wanted it. We've only had a few vomits and I'm glad I decided to keep offering the small amount she wants to take. Along with breastmilk, I've been offering cups of water and plain rice and corn cakes. Not much of anything is getting put past the mouth.

Our hearts are breaking for her, she is trying so hard to laugh and play. In fact she even mastered rolling from her back to tummy and then sitting up from there yesterday. But then she gets fed up and needs a cuddle an sleep. We're in the third day now and I'm hoping she's going to feel better soon.

This Too Shall Pass

Sleep eludes us.

It's difficult, we are all still functioning during the day, some days are harder than others. Blogging has not be forefront on my mind during the Wee One's night feeds in the past week, and it is through laziness, I can't deny I'm tired. Trying to make my brain work takes effort that I don't always want to muster.

It's times like this you have to be strong and I look to other breastfeeding mothers in particular for solace. Each one of them who has went through similar has pretty much said, "this too shall pass". If it wasn't for the support of Him, we'd be a different looking family no doubt.

Him has said he worries he looks bad for encouraging breastfeeding and Baby Led Weaning because it makes him look like such a "hands off" dad. Nothing could be further from the truth. It precisely participating in these decisions by standing back and letting breastfeeding and Baby Led Weaning take place that is helping our Wee One develop into a happy, healthy and wickedly cheeky child.

We've been averaging two meals a day in the past week or so and I can quite plainly state that the amount of food consumed is not correlating with the amount of sleep in this household. We've had nights of being up every 45 minutes and nights with only one waking. Nothing seems to explain why.

I take a deep breath when I'm getting frustrated and say, "this too shall pass... It bloody well has to!"

Sometimes, I Worry...

I swear that since having a baby my brain capacity has halved. Either that or too much of it is taken up with how to look after a baby. I even had to go back and correct halved as I had spelled it with an "f" the first time round. Oh my.

Last night, despite quite lowish temperatures outside, the Wee One has sweated through her sleeping bag. Him and I made an executive decision to take it off and use a blanket instead. The result was a 6 hour stretch and only one night feeding. Also, she slept on her tummy for the first time to our knowledge. We are using the blanket again tonight, hoping for a similar result.

Today was a good day for food. I've taken to carrying plain rice cakes with me and the Wee One snaffles pieces of them like they were sweeties. She also had some French toast, a piece of pork, some red pepper and a fromage frais.

Today also seen two nappies, neither at two o'clock. One was surprisingly mild, but I know now it was clearly to give me a false sense of security. The second one was rank. Vile. But not as much wind as normal, well, not as much noisy wind as usual. The kind of noisy wind that causes physical vibrations through the floor, or, if you are dreadfully unlucky, your leg.

I'm looking forward to tonight, I hope it's a one wake wonder.

Progress

The Wee One loves yoghurt and fromage frais. She tried yoghurt again last Friday and we've not looked back. Breakfast is still very slow, but lunch and snacks are very much welcomed now.

The past few days have went quite well with food, but we are still having bi-nightly wakings for feeding. I was lucky enough to get the Wee One weighed today and her weight has started plateaued which is great and it's where it should be. It's demonstrating that she is definitely easing into food perfectly. All the worries have been proven to be silly and not needed. Ah well. I doubt it will stop me!

I've got a few good recipes to try over the few days, sweetcorn fritters, lentil wedges and some banana bread pudding. We'll see how it goes.

We also have a road trip on Saturday for a family party, hoping to show off some awesome Baby Led Weaning skills. If anything I know she'll clap, she loves to clap. All the time.

Happy Clappy

On Thursday, clapping was mastered. The Wee One now claps at every opportunity. On seeing someone? Clapping! Upset and wanting milk? Clapping! 20 seconds after waking up? Clapping! It's adorable, and along with a "mumumumumum mumma mumma mumumumumum" babble, I'm more tightly wrapped round the Wee One's than ever before.

We had a 7 hour stretch of sleep last night. It was bliss. If it was a fleeting occurrence, I may be a little upset. To combat it, we has breakfast, lunch and dinner today. I opened one 55g tub of fromage frais (with only fruit purée added, nowt else) and it lasted us through all three meals. Toast soldiers for breakfast were barely touched. Rice cake with peanut butter for lunch was sucked on and dinner was my own concoction of Spanish Hash. Dinner was the most successful, she seemed to eat quite a bit, maybe tonight will be a longer sleep again.

I'm so glad we've revisited yoghurt, it's another road into dairy and she seems to like it off the loaded spoon. I keep a right hold of it though to prevent it going everywhere. I let the Wee One guide it in herself, my hand is there to prevent it being used as a catapult.

Tomorrow we will be opening a other yoghurt at breakfast and offer it through the day with her meals. I'm think another wee shot at porridge tomorrow, or maybe finally some French toast made by me.

Spanish Hash

1 Medium Onion
2 Fat Cloves of Garlic
1 Large Sweet Potato (or the equivalent amount of carrot if you prefer)
1 Red Pepper
1 Tin of Butter Beans
10-15 Baby Potatoes
1 Packet of Chorizo*
1 Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
1 Tablespoon of Paprika
1 Cup of Veg Stock*
2 Tablespoons of Plain Flour

1. Roughly chop the onion and garlic and add to a pan with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over a medium heat.

2. Chop the sweet potato and red pepper into large chunks and half the baby potatoes. Add to the pan along with the drained butter beans. Chop the chorizo and add te the pan. Stir for a couple of minutes and then add tinned tomatoes.

3. Add your flour and vegetable stock cube to the bottom of a cup and add a little water to make a paste. Continue to add water and stir to keep the mixture smooth until the cup is full. Add the contents of the cup to pan. If all the ingredients are not covered, top up the pan with water. Cook until the potatoes are soft, approximately 30 minutes.

*I'm adding this note to talk about salt. Chorizo is a cured meat and naturally, quite salty. As with all my recipes, I don't add salt (apart from a tiny amount in bread). The Wee One doesn't eat a soldier of bread yet, so her salt intake isn't much at this point. I'm comfortable giving her some of the stew, without the meat. This is of course a decision you need to make yourself.

Also, I used low salt vegetable stock cubes as well.

The Dark Side

I must admit, only two months in and I've become a Baby Led Weaning evangelist. Anyone I talk to with a baby or not hears about the Wee One's eating habits and more than likely has to sit through a slide show of pictures on my phone (yes, I've turned into one of those mums). I just want people to know there is another option. I will tempt them to the dark side.

I suppose, I've never really went into any of the reasons Him and I decided Baby Led Weaning was the way to go for us. Neither of us has much control over appetite, so that was a good reason to give it a try, we wanted to give the Wee One the opportunity to control her appetite from day one (this is also why I breastfeed on demand) so it led on quite well. I also had gestational diabetes during my pregnancy and by giving the Wee One control of her appetite and hopefully by proxy, her weight, we might help her avoid problems when she's older.

There is also an amazing laziness aspect to Baby Led Weaning that I've found quite pleasant, apart from having some mess to clean up, I don't need to do anything special for the Wee One, she just gets a bit of what we have mostly, it's great. No steaming mountains of veg, mushing up and putting into containers and freezing, defrosting etc. I suppose breastfeeding has made me lazy, maybe of I'd been making bottles all this time, I might have jumped on purées.

So tonight, we went to Ikea and for the first time we bought a children's meal for the Wee One. It included a cheese sandwich, a yoghurt with only fruit puree added and some organic junk free puffs an biscuits and a bit of fruit (which I didn't actually take). Basically it was enough food the feed the Wee One for 2 days. The yoghurt was a massive hit, MASSIVE. She ate around 6-8 spoonfuls, the most food consumed ever. The puffs were a bit hit too. It does grate me a wee bit that she was enjoying this "made for babies" food, but I can't deny it was wonderful to see her eating so well. So much so that I went out and bought some yoghurts for breakfasts and puddings. I also got some puffs. I'm planning on using these sparingly, but I don't see anything wrong with a few one meal a day.

Born on the 4th

The Wee One is 8 months old today. I can't wrap my head around it. She's almost been in the world longer than she was living in me. Today is also a special Auntie's birthday *waves* and lastly the day the Queen came to town.

Yes, H.M. The Queen came to town today and we took the opportunity to go see her. We got a wee flag for the Wee One and the Queen passed within a few feet of us. I've been able to get a great photo that someone took today and I hope you enjoy it.

Before going Queen spotting, we headed for lunch and the Wee One snaffled some of mine. Some ciabatta bread and a bit of sausage with melted cheese and onion marmalade. She enjoyed. I enjoyed. Bonus.

We left dinner tonight, there was very little sleep between me and the Wee One last night, there seems to be some obvious signs of teething, time will tell.

The Re-Dip Agitation

We re-visited chicken tagine tonight. I love tagine, I don't know how I've lived so long without it. It's delicious, easy and loved by us all. I would also point out it's probably not entirely authentic either. We visited Tunisia when I was around 8 weeks pregnant, I was so nauseous that I barely ate anything and didn't even want to try anything. This is not me. I've eaten chicken feet before, I'll generally try anything. I digress.

The Wee One had a breadstick dipped in the tagine sauce while her portion cooled down enough for her to get wired in. Towards the end, Him dipped her breadstick again and coated it in cous cous and sauce. She lapped it up, and got most upset when he took it away to re-dip.

Chicken Tagine

2 Chicken Breasts
1 Medium Onion
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 Medium Sweet Potato
1 tin of Chopped Tomatoes
1 tin of Chick Peas, drained
1 Large Handful of Sultanas
2 Teaspoons of Ras El Hanout Spices

1. Chop the onion and sweet potato roughly and finely chop the garlic. Soften in a casserole dish over a medium heat. Slice the chicken and add to the dish along with the spices.

2. Once the chicken has started to colour, add the chick peas and the tomatoes. Top up with water to cover all ingredients. Stir everything together and bring to a simmer.

3. Put the lid on the casserole disband put in the oven at 180 degree centigrade for at least an hour, if you have longer, turn the heat down to 160 and cook for 1.5-2 hours. Serve with cous cous and crusty bread or flat breads.

Food Graveyards

There is one undeniable truth to Baby Led Weaning. A lot will end on the floor, despite the valiant efforts of all involved.

Today, I watched the Wee One chase a piece a kiwi fruit around her highchair and onto her leg, get it in her mouth, only to drop it again and this time it went directly onto the floor.

We had the same performance with some fusilli pasta. Every bit of it ended up on the floor. I'm not sure if any was actually swallowed, tomorrow's 2 o'clock poo shall tell.

The Wee One's pincer grip is coming on a treat with a good attempt made at squished peas. I can't deny just how proud I am of her.

Degrees of Doubt

Yesterday marked two months since the beginning of Baby Led Weaning. I told Him this last night, and we both agreed it had felt like much, much longer.

We also agreed that this was both a good and a bad thing. I've said it many times now, mealtimes are great, it's fun! But the mess, the wind and of course the nappies have taken more adjusting to. Mess is a daily occurrence that we just deal with. The nappies are just vile.

We tried rice cakes finally today. The Wee One decided that she wasn't adverse to them, I will make sure to put something on them though, they are awful dry. They seem like a great addition to the menu, particularly for lunch.

Breakfasts have been the least successful meals. Porridge isn't a great hit, nor is weetabix. Toast with some sort of soft cheese is usually eaten best. I know I need to expand the breakfast repertoire to make sure the Wee One has the opportunity to eat more in the morning.

Since around 23 weeks, we've been having nightly wakings. We've graduated to bi-nightly wakings these days at 34 weeks. I can't deny it's tough, but it is made a lot easier by Him's support and also the Wee One eating and then going back to her own bed.

We have no teeth yet, we have a lot of wind to deal with and also so much going on during the day, it's no wonder my poor wee lamb is waking most nights. It must past. This is all I can say to myself to help get through it. At least when I'm awake at night I have a purpose, I cannot deny, however, that these wakings and my tired brain had me doubting every parenting decision I've made. When I look at my happy smiling lovely baby girl, I know I must be doing something right.

The Bog of Eternal Stench

Yes, my child's nappies smell what I perceive the bog of eternal stench to smell like. To the point now that I have stopped trying to identify contents to prevent myself from vomitting. I have to confess that I have started to look at when potty training can start. Of course it's when your child is ready, and I'm hoping that the Wee One has her mother's delicate constitution and wants to use the bathroom sooner rather than later.

I'm sure that the stinking nappies are good evidence of enough food getting consumed. There are fewer things ending up on the floor and more things bring spread on her face, we ended up with orange eyebrows the other evening. We go straight to baths after dinner now, it makes life so much easier.

Something New

It used to be that we got something new every week. Now we're getting something new nearly everyday. Something new and exciting that the Wee One has never done before. Yesterday we had two things, kisses and peeking round book pages. Both are utterly adorable, and melted my heart.

We reprised mushroom burgers tonight and the Wee One wolfed down 2 bits of mushroom, 3 sweet potato wedges and played and squished 2 strawberries. I was delighted.

We also got to witness the Wee One dabbing on war paint. More accurately, rubbing every bit of food over her face and into her eyes and up her nose. That was also something new. A nostril sized piece of sweet potato stuffed in her nose. I was in the middle of figuring out how to remove it, when she sneezed and it flew out.

Sweet potato is still in favour as are mushrooms. We have lots of vegetable for the next few days, we'll see where they take us.

An Apple A Day

Wednesday's are what Wednesday does, to coin Forest Gump. I got some relaxing though, for around an hour whilst the Wee One was wheeled around in luxury.

For lunch, the Wee One munched on slices of apple. I was utterly delighted with the way she dealt with it. She mushed the apple and left the skin. She's amazing.

I've been telling people over the past few weeks, that babies do not get enough credit for how clever they are. They know what they need and we just need to tune into what they're telling us. I feel very fortunate that I seem to understand what the Wee One tells me. We have minimal crying, so I'm hoping this is a positive sign.

Wednesday has taken its toll.

Night night.

Nibbler

The Wee One is her mother's daughter for sure. If she wakes in the night, she turns on her "tunes" (a light shows sans lights) to get her back to sleep. She takes her time to do something, but then she'll do it right. Him says she even snores like me.

She has also inherited my love of bread. She has become a serial nibbler crusts. If there is bread in the vicinity she is now vocal until she is in possession of a part of it. Trying to limit salt intake and processed bread do not really mix. We're definitely going to have to have a few bread free days.

I actually received a text this evening from a very dear friend asking for the 2 o'clock poo update. The big news is there wasn't one. There's not been any today. This disconcerts me, however I'm happy with milk intake and also dinner consumption this evening.

Dinner was left over ragu that Gran had sent us home with yesterday. I broke out some pasta that Him and I had bought on our honeymoon when we drove through Italy and France. It was worth waiting for. The Wee one ate her fair share, downed some water and then had two strawberries for pudding. I love strawberry season, I can see them being a regular feature on the menu for the next month or two when they are so good.

Wednesday tomorrow, busy, busy, busy.

Bottomless Pitt

So neither porridge nor French Toast happened this morning, however, we did have toast! Just ordinary toast with butter. Judging by the amount I put on the bin, I reckon around a mouthful was actually eaten.

We spent some time with Gran and Papa today. The Wee One is a very lucky girl, she got a new highchair today that is going to live at Gran and Papa's house. She was very comfy in it and ate a variety of food for dinner.

Some baguette, some meat ragu, two bits of penne, some soy and ginger salmon, a cherry tomato and then some strawberry. I think the most variety and possibly the most consumed so far. I couldn't believe the continued shovelling of food into her mouth. She seemed to enjoy everything tonight. Interesting faces for salmon, tomato and strawberries. Salmon and strawberries got whacked against the highchair too, a good sign I'm starting to think. Any food that is consumed with fervour is generally slapped with force.

So variety seemed to please the Wee One this evening. I can't believe how much she ate. I am quite intrigued to see tomorrows nappy, roll on 2 o'clock.

Daddy's Day

The clever Wee One managed to get Him a selection of presents and a card for Father's day under no suspicions. Well done that girl. Him seemed to be pretty pleased too, anything with batteries or a plug will keep him quite happy, as such he has received something with both! A remote control chinook helicopter. The Wee One quite liked it too.

For Father's Day I decided to make steak sandwiches, so the Wee One had a slice of steak, some ciabatta soaked in meaty goodness and some steamed potatoes. We had a gag and a vomit again, quite early on. The Wee One has been under the weather this week with a cough (all of us have) each of the vomits in the past few days have been full of horrible yuck, so we reckon it's been helping. As usual, the Wee One has not been upset by any gags or vomits.

The slice of steak the Wee One had this evening was well gummed and was also almost white because of all the juices that had been sucked out of it. We definitely have a carnivore on our hands.

This week I am going to try and focus on doing breakfast and dinner. I'm quite set on making porridge in the morning, however, we also have French Toast as a possibility as well. I suppose it will depend on the day, it's been so wet and miserable for the past few days, I'm sure porridge will be most welcome.

It's also time to start thinking about trying to get the Wee One to take bottles more consistently. We get one once in a while, but I will be returning to work soon and will need to have some piece of mind before I go back. I can't deny that I'm not looking forward to it. Not one little bit.

Has Thou Nowt Moist?

I do often reminisce about the old days. Especially university days when I experienced so many things for the first time. I tasted brie for the first time and avocado, quite early on. I also watched the West Wing and found out about a little Radio 4 series called Little Britain. I also borrowed a Stand Up DVD from a friend one night starring a cult comic called Peter Kay.

Yes my days are still all about discovery, through the eyes of another, and I must admit this thrills me.

Tonight we tried a cheese omelette for dinner so Him and I could enjoy a Saturday night dinner just is. I have to admit, I really love watching the Wee One eat when I'm not. It allows me to focus on each bite and watch her negotiating her way through a meal.

The omelette wasn't massive hit, however, she did keep trying it in her mouth. we had a gag and a vomit. Perhaps the newish texture (we have had omelette once before back at the beginning) was just too much to handle. She did have a blast with her water cup though. I swear we will need to dry off the ceiling with the way she was banging it off the highchair and making the water fire out.

So, perhaps I'm past making as many discoveries as I did that first few months of university, but I'm glad I get to share in the exploration of the new everyday little things with the Wee One. I think I would even give my experience just to watch it all for the first time again through the Wee One's eyes.

Interpretation

I'm starting to find out that most babies do the same sorts of things when they are eating. Here's some of the Wee One's top hits.

1. Slapping the highchair table really hard. The Wee One seems to do this when she is particularly enamoured by a food. One hand will be putting the food to her mouth, the other will be slamming out a beat.

2. Offering sloppy seconds. The Wee One loves to offer the end of her dinner to Him. She never does it to me. It is always a wet soggy mess of a thing as well. Him obliges by taking a "nibble" and making yummy noises.

3. Wiping hands in hair. I have mentioned previously about Him going down to the floor to clean up and never learning to clean the Wee One's hands first. She loves wiping her hands on his hair, mashes them right in there, and seems to sit and wait for him to start clearing up.

4. Gag-yawn. Most gags now proceed a yawn. One of the strangest/cutest things I've ever seen.

5. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Things that she seems to eat the most of are accompanied by loud mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm sounds.

I suppose due to the fact that she hasn't really reacted badly to any food put down, I can't categorically state the she "likes" or "loves" anything. I suppose I'm observing repeat behaviour and interpreting it the way I see it. I am quite close to the subject I suppose to be in anyway objective, but this is my story and I'm sticking to it.

Down in Morocco

I love Baby Led Weaning.

I will say it again.

I LOVE Baby Led Weaning.

The Wee One ate chicken tagine and cous cous tonight. We sat down as a family, talked about the day, and ate a delicious meal. What a wonderful way to round off your day. She is the centre of our world, and I never thought it would be me. I love my new life and honestly don't miss much about how Him and I used to live.

Oh and after last nights vomit? There were peas in the poo today. This made me happy.

Uh Oh Spaghetti O's

As I think I've mentioned before, Wednesday's are particularly busy for us, and today again was no exception. The Wee One and I left the house at 9.30am and arrived home just before 7pm.

We managed to squeeze in quite a bit and also even managed for me to get sun burned.

And so to dinner! We were having one of Him's favourites, and I have to admit, one of mine too. Pea and Panchetta Spaghetti, it's pretty awesome. I don't like to use that word lightly, but I think it's appropriate in this case!

I will point out that the recipe contains partially cooked eggs. I'm ok with that, it's a choice to make for yourself, I won't judge you if you don't judge me, deal?

The Wee One had fun with the spaghetti, it was rather enjoyable watching her tackle it. She also tried a wee bit of bacon and some squashed peas. It was all going so well. I then offered a final small piece of bacon and then the whole meal was regurgitated. It was upsetting for me and Him, as usual the Wee One did not bother one little bit.

I was so pleased with how she had done, and even got to discussing what we might find in the nappy tomorrow. I guess you should never count your chickens before their hatched. I'll be pleasantly surprised of anything has slipped through.

We had went so long without major gagging or any vomit I suppose we're due it.

Where Have We Been?

We've been absent. Did you miss us? We missed you.

We've experienced a lot in the last week. Firstly, Him was on holiday so that's why I decided to take a wee break from writing. It's not the best excuse, but it is true. We also had our first picnic, indoors, unfortunately, due to poor weather. The Wee One had a strawberry for the first time, she very much liked it. She also had pitta bread dipped in aioli, she is not adverse to garlic at all.

I've said it before, but mealtimes are such a joy these days. I can happily sit and enjoy just watching the Wee One touch, taste and explore. Gagging is almost non-existent these days and there hasn't been a vomit in a long time.

The Wee One has cracked sitting up in the past few weeks and also waving. Waving melts my heart, it's the best. A proper interaction that brings tears to my eyes.

I promise to be better in writing every night again. I have genuinely missed it.

Tonight's dinner was roasted red peppers and some chicken from my chicken en croute. Red pepper is very much coveted.

Steak & Cheese

The Wee One did not surface until after 10 this morning. Him and I were already showered and fed by the time she decided she would grace us with her presence, as such we skipped her breakfast.

My mind was already firmly on lunch anyways by that point. We had some large flat mushrooms and various cheeses, so I decided to make my take on the mushroom burger, inspired by two of my favourite eateries, TriBeCa and The Butterfly & Pig.

The Wee One thoroughly enjoyed her mushroom and cheese and had even stuffed a large piece of mushroom in her mouth which she would not let go of. We eventually were able to fish it out, but in the future I would probably offer her water first to see if she gets rid of it that way instead. I worry sticking my finger in her mouth could cause a multitude of accidents.

We had dinner with Gran and Papa as well as an Aunt and Uncle and some cousins. Dinner with other people makes me a little nervous, only because I'm afraid of failing in my motherly duty and may miss a crucial gag or worse. The Wee One has yet to fulfil my fears, which is great. She happily munch of a piece of steak, carrot sticks and slices of boiled potato. Steak is becoming another firm favourite and was also nearly hamstered away for later, she realised herself, though, that her mouth was a happier place empty.

Mushroom Burgers

3 Large Flat Mushrooms
1/2 Tub Ricotta
3/4 Goat's Cheese Log
Small Handful of Grated Parmesan
2 Bread Rolls
Olive Oil
Sweet Onion Chutney

1. I made my own quick sweet onion chutney but finely slicing 2 medium onions and frying gently for 5 minutes. Then adding 4 tablespoons of red wine vinegar and 2 tablespoons of sugar and reducing for around 10 minutes. I also added a pinch of garlic granules and a teaspoon of dried rosemary.

2. Place your mushrooms gill side down on a baking tray and brush lightly with olive oil. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 180 degrees centigrade, until the mushrooms starting to shrink slightly.

3. Take the mushrooms out of the oven and turn gill side up. Place a couple of tablespoons of ricotta on each mushroom and spread out. Slice the goat's cheese and place on top. Sprinkle the parmesan on top of that and then return to oven for a further 15 minutes.

4. Serve each burger on a roll, topped with the onion chutney. For child's portion slice the mushroom burger into finger widths.

Sweet

I often think about future parenting challenges that Him and I might come up against, and the Wee One being an only child, sharing is probably going to be tough. I suppose lots of exposure to other children will be the way forward, but it would appear we're already making leaps into sharing, more about that later though.

Roasted sweet potato is one of my favourite foods, I'm also delighted that the Wee One is also thoroughly enjoying them too. she skilfully removes the orangey bit from the skin and then spits it out. There was a lot of it consumed this evening. Him and I are going to have dinner to ourselves tonight so we just both sat the table with the Wee One and just enjoyed the experience. Mess really is becoming minimal, and I suppose it depends on what you serve, but I think it also has something to do with her actually eating much more food than ever before.

The nappies are incredible now. Smell has moved to the incredibly pungent end of the scale and lumps of food are increasingly prevalent. However, this week there has been no leakage whatsoever. This is a difficult compromise, I'm not sure which I prefer. Nappies that don't smell particularly but go up to her neck, or monstrosities that stay contained within.

So back to sharing. The Wee One tried to share her sweet potato with Him tonight, so maybe we're on the path to a sharing caring child? Or was she just using it as a rouse to try and steal his glasses? You decide.

Broccoli Rocks

Sorry we missed you yesterday, Thursday took its toll and poor me was feeling poorly last night.

Coughing still today, but getting through it fine.

The Wee One loves broccoli. Adores it. Covets it. She had lots of broccoli for tea tonight and very little of it escaped her mouth. There is practically no mess with broccoli now, barely any on the face and a scant scatter on the floor. This seems like a massive leap in the Baby Led Weaning stakes. Toast and ricotta is bringing up the rear as a breakfast food too.

We went out for lunch today with a Gran and Him. I was having a salad that included avocado and large bread croutons. The Wee One ate some croutons and also some avocado from a loaded spoon. I was so pleased with her progress. Again there was very little mess.

We've slipped quite comfortably into the Baby Led Weaning routine now and I'm delighted how well the Wee One is doing with it. She is clearly eating enough as between the 5th of May and the 30th of May she put on 2lbs.

I can't believe how quickly this first month of Baby Led Weaning has gone. The progress has been more than we could ever have hoped for.

Cheese Please!

Toast and ricotta is a hit. Banana is now a miss. The Wee One is just not interested in banana at all now, porridge and banana is now ignored.

To combat the lack of banana eating, which was always an easy breakfast, I finally gave into some toast and thought ricotta might be the way to go. I cut the spread toast into soldiers and each one was lock and suck and chewed on.

For dinner tonight, the wee one was on deconstructed fajitas again. A good chunk of red pepper was eaten, she definitely likes them. Loaded spoons of avocado were devoured.

We've also had a pooless day today. First time since she born! There's still an hour of the day left, no doubt the current smell of expulsions would rouse the Wee One from her deepest sleep. I've already decided, Him is totally on that one! Today at our baby group, I actually had to ensure those standing near knew that the vile smell engulfing their personal space had came from my daughter and not me.

Despite the awful stenches, I just adore this child of mine. She is bringing us such joy and meal times are just the best part of the day. Sharing food as a family is even better than I hoped it could ever be.

The Wide Awake Club

After the Wee One started sleeping through the at around 4 weeks, my own sleep pattern never really settled down. At first I think it was due to continuing to express during the night when we went through the Wee One refusing to breastfeed. I think this pattern (which to be fair was actually established during pregnancy during the nightly pee run!) just does not want to give up. I can lie awake for up to 3 hours during the night, more often it's just an hour. And I'll lie there awake and useless amongst a sleepy household trying to switch off again.

These days I've started to realise its all been a practice for the Wee One regressing to being a new born again! Last night we went back to 4 hourly feeds. To be honest I feel neither up nor down about it. I suppose it's a good thing that I'm still not back at work. I've not been tired in the morning but by the time 6pm hit, it starts to hit hard.

There is one massive difference between waking up randomly and waking up for a feed. The feeding apparently releases a sleepy hormone, which lulls you back to sleep after. Believe it or not, I'm starting to feel better being up with the Wee One during night compared to my previous night wakings.

It's just nice to have a purpose.

Al Fresco Baby

Tonight we enjoyed some al fresco dining with some suitably al fresco foods. Panzanella and gnocchi with roast veg. Lots of lovely food to savour and enjoy!

Today also seen the appearance of "proper" nappies. The kind that make you want to run to the bathroom and see your last meal in detail. These were proper poo's. There was also some form and everything. There was also a lot of it, twice.

And so to dinner, panzanella is one of my favourite summer salads, the Wee One seemed to enjoy the tomatoey bread.

Panzanella

Approx 20 Cherry Tomatoes
1/2 French Stick Baguette (stale)
2 Balls of Mozarella
2 tablespoons of Red Wine Vinegar
4 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
Handful of Basil Leaves
Black Pepper

1. Chop tomatoes roughly into around 1 inch cubes. Cover with oil and vinegar, grind some pepper to taste and set aside for 15-20 minutes.

2. If your bread is not stale already, cut into slices and dry in the oven. Slice the bread into around 1 inch slices.

3. Tear half the basil and add the the tomatoes and stir thoroughly. Slice the mozarella into fine slices and mix though the tomatoes. Leave at room temperature.

4. 10 minutes before you want to serve, tear up the bread and stir trough the tomato mixture. Tear up the rest of the basil and stir through. Put the panzanella in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

The Nightly Visitor

Since we started food we've had an extra waking between 11pm-12 midnight, eventually I discovered that it wasn't a need for milk that was fuelling this wake up, but the need to trump like a wee trumpety pants. My normally dummy refusing bambino will now take a cuddle, and then bear down on the dummy until she has expelled every last drop of wind and will then go back off to sleep.

It seems to be a common complaint among other Baby Led Weaners and particularily breast feeding Baby Led Weaners. The Wee One has been producing poops Him has been proud of since the day she was born, they are quite epic. I'm glad I figured it out though, offering milk every waking was getting exhausting. I had just assumed milk was wanted as the Wee One had never really woke up before after going to bed. I learned after an exhausting couple of days that the boob was not always in demand.

Brown rice made the wind effects much worse, and it broke my heart that the Wee One seemed in such pain.

I generally write these blogs during the night feed and I'm happy to confirm that some trumping commenced before we came up stairs. We'll see if the waking occurs or not this evening.

We gave breakfast, lunch and dinner again today, mostly because we had a full night's sleep last night and we're hoping for the same again tonight.

Breakfast was a blueberry pancake , lunch was hummous, breadstick and cheese and dinner was chicken, tomato, boiled egg, breadstick and some more cheese. The Wee One is getting an old hand now, she just grabs a bit of what's on offer and sticks it in her mouth and gives it a go.

Blueberry Pancakes

4 & 1/2 tablespoons of Self-Raising Flour
1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder
150 ml of Whole Milk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon of Sugar (optional)
2 handfuls of Blueberries

1. Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add milk and egg and beat well together. Your mixture should be quite thick. It should leave a ribbon trail when you remove your spoon.

2. Heat your pan and brush with a very small amount of oil. It's a touch and go area, just how hot it should be. Your pan shouldn't be smoking but not medium either. I always test a small amount of the batter in the pan. It should take around 30 seconds for bubbles to appear in the pancake, if it's less turn the heat down, more turn the heat up.

3. Make pancakes with around 2 tablespoons of batter, 1 tablespoon for a baby portion. Add 6-7 blueberries to each pancake as soon as it stops spreading in the pan. Once bubbles appear and pop, flip your pancake and cook on the other side for 1-2 minutes.

Makes 5 large pancakes and 1 baby sized.

Throw Another Prawn on the Barbie

Well not a prawn really, chicken and veg.

The Wee One had her first BBQ today at her auntie and uncles house, she's quite lucky, it was a lovely BBQ, chicken and vegetable kebabs. The Wee One's auntie also made her some broccoli and mushed carrot for a loaded spoon. She enjoyed it all.

We also had a big lunch of hummous, avocado and cucumber. It was eaten purely in a nappy and, my goodness me, it was messy!

Breakfast was also given today. Triple threat. Porridge with a few raspberries and banana mushed through.

The Wee One ate well today, despite another very hot day. She also drank quite a bit as well.

It's still warm, 19 degrees, so another warm night ahead.

I've started to wonder when the Wee One will sleep through the night again. We started getting more frequent wakings when food started, I'm hoping as more food is consumed, liess wakings will occur. However, she could just continue replacing missed milk feeds by getting up at night. To my mind, there has been no reduction in milk feeds at all so far, I would say the opposite has happened.

This situation requires patience. I'm glad that after all my time on earth, someone has arrived to teach me some.

Relinquishing Control

Today was still hot. We his out for most of the day and had a fun mummy and Wee One jammy day. It was lovely and relaxing.

Today for the first time, I used a few shop bought items for the little one to try. Namely wholemeal pitta bread and hummous. I could have made both, but a look at the salt content of the hummous made me happy enough, I would love to make every scrap of food from scratch, but let's face it, I'm lazy. My motivation has been lacking slightly as well during this week of sleep depravation.

Together, the Wee One and I sat and ate a lovely lunch and the hummous was a hilarious hit! I'm finding preparing for for myself and the Wee One the least time consuming part of the process as I need to eat as well. The best part is, because she is eating what I'm eating, it's forcing me to eat better and more regularly than I have been.

There was a lot of the lunch consumed, which has already been evident in the nappy, chunks of avocado and still some broccoli. Always broccoli. There is starting to be a change in consistency too. Hopefully this will be the starting signal to the end to the daily blowout. There has also been a multitude of methane clouds produced as well.

The Wee One has been a windy wee soul from day one. Her trumps literally (and for Radio 4 fans, I put the literally in there just to annoy Ed Byrne re this weeks News Quiz) trumps Him's, for which her is very proud of her. But the past couple of nights I've had to console some wind out of her when she's went to bed. It appears to be a common occurrence in BLW babes

I'm so happy hummous was such a great success, it's going to allow me to explore more dipping options.

Hot Hot Hot

Today was hot

Really hot.

Tomorrow with be hotter.

The Wee One proved today that she is indeed a winter baby. She was barely dressed and fell asleep around 5 times, most unusual.

Food wise, breakfast was skipped, I was too hot and she was happy with milk as she always is. I'm aware I'm making excuses for my laziness and I'm not even sorry. It's too hot to be sorry.

Dinner was a stirfry affair again. Ginger pork, broccoli, red pepper, spring onion and noodles. I removed the Wee One's portion again before adding any soy sauce. She had a good suck on the pork and the red pepper. The broccoli was decimated again. Stalk was left and the tops were swallowed. The noodles were played with.

We had to remind ourselves about what we're doing. It's about learning to eat not actually eating. Finding the mindset is difficult sometimes. But then you see the nappy and what she has actually eaten without persuasion or coaxing and you realise that the approach is working. Yes she may not be eating specific amounts at specific times, but I am learning to deal.

My poor Wee Lamb couldn't help falling asleep as soon as she was cuddled or exposed to any heat today, it's going to be hotter tomorrow, I'm considering getting a wee paddling pool tomorrow to let the Wee One splash around in it.

And so to bed, it's 11pm and still 18 degrees Celsius outside. As a dear friend would say, "Oy vey!".

Broccoli Features

It's been a week or so, and broccoli is back! Oh boy, this child loves broccoli! She nibbled off the trees and left the stalk of two florets. She has definite passion for the bric broc.

Breakfast was pretty much refused this morning, another aspect of Baby Led Weaning that is difficult to adjust to. If your baby doesn't want to eat, then that's just fine. Re-programming your brain to accept this is pretty hard. I'm getting there. I offered and offered and there was no interest. I ate the porridge with banana instead and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Brown rice poo is an experience. I'll warn you now. Windy, smelly and the grains of rice look like maggots. We'll be steering clear for a while. I can't deny my own tummy has been delicate with two days of brown rice too.

We're hoping that sleep continues to improve, last night we were only up for an hour, massive improvement!

As usual Wednesdays have been busy and I am looking forward to bed tonight, looking to dream up some more recipes for the rest of the week.

Sleepy Times

We have a tired household.

After the new "dream feed" which the Wee One has thrown into the mix, we're up for 2 hours trying to get her back to bed. It's quite frustrating for us all, and it's back to the drawing board as far as sleep training is concerned.

We had more purple porridge this morning, however it was all lost after the Wee One rammed her fingers down her throat, twice. *sigh*

Dinner was a lovely affair, I made fried rice. Fried brown rice. Spring onions, peppers, peas, broccoli, chicken, prawns and eggs. Removed the wee ones portion before adding soy sauce. She had a good go at everything and sucked inquisitively on a prawn. Enjoyed a spoon of yoghurt afterwards, however, clearly signalled to Him that she was done by chucking every subsequent spoon as far as she could launch it. It was funny because it wasn't me covered in blueberry yoghurt. I'm allowed to enjoy someone else being covered in food. It's usually me.

The purple staining is quite intense despite a coverall bib and a bib on top. As I've said, stain remover is a god send, I reckon we'll become awfully good friends on this baby led weaning journey.

Monday is Brought to You by the Colour Purple

Sleep has been hellish for 5 days running, I reckoned the best we could do would be to make sure the Wee One ate some decent volumes of food that she would enjoy.

We started off today with porridge. Purple porridge. I heated some blueberries in a pan and added a couple of tablespoons of already cooked porridge. Purple porridge was fun, very messy too. Thank goodness for stain remover, the jammies she had on under her coverall bib were not spared lots of purple staining!

So to dinner. I cheated with mine and Him's dinner, we had chicken with a shop bought jar of sweet and sour sauce. We had brown rice though, which has become a staple in the house, we both adore it now. For the Wee One? Some rice, mixed with a tiny amount of blueberry purée, and some chicken removed from the sauce. The brown rice was a hit. Definitely enjoyed. Even better was the pudding! Two tablespoons of natural full fat yoghurt mixed with a teaspoon of blueberry purée. Two new textures introduced tonight by way of loaded spoon. No gagging. Victory. Small victories are just as sweet.

My blueberry purée was ridiculously simple, I plan on using it to flavour yoghurt and porridge for the next few days. I used 2 handfuls of blueberries in the bottom of a small frying pan, I half covered them with water and brought to the boil and squished and stirred for 5 minutes. Transferred to a sealable tub, and I'll keep and use it for a maximum of two days.

We're hoping for sleep tonight. We'll see...

Holy Nappy Filling, Batman!

The 2 o'clock poo has become a thing of legend. If there is going to be a massive blow out, it will generally happen between 2pm and 3pm. Today was no exception. It blew out the side, up the front and out the back. It even made its way under the nappy tabs. It was not fun to clean up. Slightly more solid than usual, so hopefully this signals the near ending of dealing with daily poo monstrosities.

Dinner was a breadstick tonight that was being num nummed at viciously. Two gaggings and vomits later, it was removed from the Wee One's grasp. She wasn't impressed.

Porridge in the morning, going to get some berries to try in yoghurt as well this week. Maybe some other kinds of cheese too, marscapone and ricotta. On the mummy and daddy menu this week? Who knows, shopping tomorrow might help this, some cookery books will be getting thumbed for inspiration too.

Sleep

As a family we've been incredibly lucky in the sleep stakes. By 4 weeks old the Wee One would sleep 5 straight hours and it built up from then. We were on 10-12 hours a night. No extra feeds. I won't deny it was blissful.

Recently, I'm playing a guessing game. I generally can tell the nights we'll be up, but she throws wild cards in there all the time. It has also gotten worse with the start of food. The past three nights we've been up at least once, it's strange because these nights correlate with the days where most food has been eaten so far. It seems the opposite of what everyone starts food early for. We're getting less sleep with two meals a day than we were with just milk.

These are the ramblings of a sleep deprived mind, so feel free to ignore me.

We were at an Auntie and Uncle's house this evening and you'll never guess what we had? Curry! Very mild curry. The Wee One consumed chunks of naan bread, some pieces of chicken and basmati rice with some sauce. The rice was given via a loaded spoon and the new texture caused a bit of gagging and initial sick and then was put back with gusto. Unfortunately, the spoon was shoved a little too far down the throat and we lost most of dinner. I'm not sure if I will ever not mourn the loss of a meal. As always, the Wee One was perfectly calm and seemed to enjoy not only her food, but the attention she received at the dinner table. I loved that she was truly a part of the family and ate what we were eating.

Can't wait to venture into curry territory again. I'll be keeping it mild and fragrant, coriander is a big favourite, as are ginger and lime. We'll see what I can come up with.

Curry

I cannot wait to share the wonders of curry with the Wee One, I sincerely hope she loves it as much as I do! Giving how much of it I ate when I was pregnant, and how it is continuing now, she's either going to love it or hate it.

We had porridge this morning, loaded on the spoon with a banana mashed through it. It was a massive hit! I'll need to remember to keep it thicker next time, I cooled it down with extra milk and it ended up making a huge mess! Lesson learned. Baby Led Weaning is all about lessons learned.

Re-affirming the Faith

Seeing your child vomit up the food they have managed to swallow is disheartening. Extremely disheartening. I was starting to feel like I was doing something wrong by the Wee One and then tonight, she cracks it!

This was of course after gagging and vomiting up a milk feed trying my cheese and courgette omelette during lunchtime.

Tonight I put out some avocado, a halved cherry tomato and the obligatory breadstick. I also loaded a spoon with smushed avocado. The spoon got it. Big time. She also squished the cherry tomato and sucked out the insides. There was one gag and no puke. It was great. I loved watching her eating and making lovely noises and enjoying her food. It's made all the mess and heartache worth it!

My courgette omelette was disappointing, so I'm not going to bother posting a recipe for it. It needs tweaked considerably!

We're going to try porridge loaded on a spoon tomorrow morning and see how we get on, after tonight, I'm so excited! Let's hope it's not one step forward and two steps back.

Busy Days

Wednesday's have become extremely busy days!

We have Happy Tots first thing, then Gran takes the Wee One for a stroll whilst I went knitting, then lunch with Gran, take Gran home then getting dinner ready. Today was no exception, however to make it even busier, Him suggested we grab some dinner alone!

So it was lucky that I did do lunch today! Breadstick, attacked as usual. Cucumber sticks gnawed and sucked on. A cherry tomato cut in half? The Wee One took one squishy feel and that was the end of it. No interest whatsoever in putting it near her mouth. From what I understand that, it can take up to 12 times offering a food, whole or in purée form, for a baby to decide if they like it or not. I'm also quite confident that the messed up crazy face we got at the beginning is a reaction out with the control of my little darling, and not necessarily and indictment on my cooking skills!

I have to say, I'm delighted with the success of the breadstick, but I feel I missed a trick making them! The next time I make them, it's going to be with wholemeal flour. I might even experiment with a few herbs the next time too in half the dough. I'm halfway through my jar already and I only made them last week! I have a feeling the next batch will be getting baked next Wednesday. It's definitely not too much effort to be doing fortnightly.

I was disappointed with the lack of frittata today, but it seemed I had forgotten about busy Wednesday's. Thursday is more of a frittata day anyway.

Testing Times

Every day, more and more poo seems to arrive. It's been constant. I'm putting it down to one of three things. Something in my diet has came through my milk, something in The Wee One's new diet is taking some adjusting to or teething. As I'm not going to eliminate milk or food and have no control over the teeth, I guess we'll never know. There has been definite evidence of more food reaching the other end too.

Lunch is now needed. So tomorrow we will have a lunch time. Both of us. Haven't decided what will be served yet, but I have some courgettes and cheese and a few eggs, I'm thinking frittata?

The humble breadstick continues to be a huge hit, as does meat whenever it is served, tonight I pulled the filling out of my chicken parcel and it all got the once over. I'm quite positive some chicken was swallowed. I guess we'll find out.

I'm including a a picture of typical
Baby Led Weaning mess, well typical for us anyway. The Wee One laughed at me tonight whilst I was down on my hands and knees cleaning it up. My hair was pulled, but I had cleaned her hands already, that lesson was well learned.

Chicken & Spinach Parcels

2 Breasts of Chicken
4 handfuls of Baby Spinach
1 packet of Ready to Roll Puff Pastry
5 tbsps Cremè Fraiche
1 large handful of grated Chedder

1. Slice chicken into small strips and brown in a small pan. Once browned turn heat down and add spinach and leave to wilt.

2. Roll out and cut puff pastry to make two long rectangles around 30cm by 15cm.

3. Add 4 tablespoons of the cremè fraiche to your pain and mix through. You will be folding the pastry over to close the parcel. With this in mind divide your chicken mixture between to pastry rectangles. Place half of the cheese on top of each chicken mixture. Do not use all of the liquid in the pan, if you do, your parcels may leak.

4. Fold the pastry over and crimp the three edges you have. I used a fold and pinch method and had no leakage. Make some holes in the top of your parcels with a sharp knife. Brush the parcels with the remaining cremè fraiche.

5. Bake in an oven at 180 degrees centigrade for 45 minutes. Serve with potatoes of your choice. Can also be enjoyed cold. A perfect picnic pasty!

The Swedes Know

We have a clip on high chair, which I totally adore. The Wee One is right there in the action with us and there's not a gazillion attachments. It, however, does not like Baby Led Weaning. It is not wipe clean and has awkward grooves in it too. It's a real shame! We're hoping that once the messy stage is over (will it ever be over?) we'll hop right on back to it, but in the interim we needed a replacement. Something compact, easily cleaned and sturdy. Take a bow you lovely Swedish people! Ikea triumphs again. We purchased the antilop high chair and tray for half the price of the cheapest alternative. I love Ikea.

The wee one munched happily on a bread stick and half a banana and a bread stick in her new high chair this evening. The bread stick was ferociously attacked, it surrendered to gums and saliva, I'm quite positive a decent amount of it was actually consumed. The banana? Well tomorrows nappies will tell all. Today's nappies have been just awful. We had a proper poo-magedon. Poo all the way up the Wee One's back all the way to her neck. I was somewhat grossly impressed.

We have the added bonus that the new highchair fits under the table without the tray, meaning we can keep meals on the table too. Even after one meal, I know it was definitely the best we could of purchased for our needs.

The other purchase was coverall bibs. What on earth did we do without them? No more clothes will be sacrificed to the banana Gods in this house! It also stopped food falling on the floor. Did I mention I love Ikea? I'll say it again, I love Ikea!

I've got some baby spinach left from the salad on Saturday night and some puff pastry defrosting, so tomorrow's dinner is looking like spinach, ricotta and chicken parcels. Recipe to follow! I'm sure the Wee One will be able to nibble away at the inside of a parcel no bother!