Munchkin Meals at 16 Months

Posted on June 4, 2013 by

Obliviously I haven’t been blogging. But I an making an effort to jump back in! How do you other mamas do it!?

Thanks Brittany for hosting Munchkin Meals! At 16 months, Milo is a good eater. He prefers healthy foods over sweets, he recently ate fruit instead of chocolate cake at a BBQ (both were in front of him)…. Awesome!

Since I am currently raising him a vegetarian I need to make sure he is getting all the proper nutrition. We use flax to add omegas and healthy fat to his diet, lots of olive oil, avocados, chia seeds, and since he doesn’t like milk he gets half hemp milk, half oat milk.

In general he eats good portions. However there are meals (some times days) he doesn’t eat what seems like enough. I never force him to eat, he knows if he is hungry or not.

Breakfast:
Fruit (berries, watermelon) *not pictured because Milo ate them at our neighborhood coffee shop.
Greek yogurt with flax and blackstrap molasses (for iron) or steel cut oats with a bit of brown sugar (or agave) and flax.

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Snack:
A whole apple with a bit taken out to help him start it or freeze dried fruit and Cheerios.

Lunch:
Kamut pasta with Raos sauce, feta, Trader Joes Edamame Hummus, roasted carrots and broccoli. (Normally Milo also has 1/2 an avocado).

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We do Kamut pasta because it is only one ingredient AND is high in protein and iron.

Dinner:
Pita and hummus with tahini, roasted broccoli, and tabouli. Not pictured strawberries, blackberries and raspberries.

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Thanks for reading!
Vicky and Milo

Posted in baby mealtime, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Things To Do Around Town

Posted on October 19, 2012 by

Saturday, October 20

Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade
Dress Fido up as a pincushion, a pile of autumn leaves or a peacock for this annual canine procession. Suggested donation $5.

FREE Super Sábado! Día de los Muertos
Commemorate the Mexican holiday with skull-patterned face painting, mariachi music and a Central Park parade.

FREE Halloween Harvest Festival
Create costumes with the help of local artists and do a scarecrow-inspired dance at Socrates Sculpture Park.

Cirkus in Wonderland
Behold the acrobatic feats of Bindlestiff Family Cirkus and design a big-top poster at Bard Graduate Center. $15 per family.

FREE Woodland Discovery Day
Take a guided tour of the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center’s new exhibit before exploring the North Woods.

Giant Pumpkin Carving Weekend
Pick up carving tips from the pros before slicing into your own gourd at the New York Botanical Garden. Free with all-garden pass.

“The Grinch’s Holiday Workshop”
Join the green curmudgeon at CMOM for rhyming musical jams and Seussian hat-making workshops. Free with museum admission.

AKC Meet the Breeds
Pet a Toyger cat or a Bergamasco dog at the Javits Center’s gathering of four-legged friends. $15, children under 13 $10.

Big Apple Circus: Legendarium
Applaud acrobats, trapeze artists, jugglers and clowns in this tribute to the big top of yesteryear. $25–$175, children under 3 free.

FREE Enchanted Wave Hill Weekend
Create fairy-sized houses, listen to magical stories and paint charming wildlife scenes at the Bronx garden.

Spooktacular at the Staten Island Zoo
Rub shoulders with clowns, cave people and aliens, try your hand at carnival games and compete in a costume contest during the zoo’s Halloween celebration. $17, children under 3 free.

FREE Red Hook Harvest Festival
Little ones can boogie down to live music in the pumpkin patch, play games and meet llamas in the petting zoo at the Red Hook Community Farm.

Boo! An Underwater Halloween Spooktacular
Dress up in your underwater best for a shipwreck treasure hunt, coral reef candy sculptures, sea monster mask-making and a phosphorescent photo booth at the Queens Museum of Art. $75 per family (up to 6 people); $35 per adult-child pair.

FREE Brooklyn Bridge Park Harvest Festival
Families can prepare for Halloween by perusing the pumpkin patch, making masks and leaf rubbings or visiting the face-painting booth on Pier 6.

FREE It’s My Park Day! Fall Cleanup
Teach the kids what giving back means by taking them to Prospect Park (or one of the city’s other green spaces) for an hour of park beautification.

The House of Ichabod Crane
Explore the grounds of the Old Stone House in Park Slope, then take part in a retelling of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” woven with the real-life history of the Battle of Brooklyn. $15, children $10.

Tibetan Festival
Introduce your brood to the Asian culture by way of regional food, crafts, calligraphy demonstrations and musical performances at the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art. $10, seniors and students $8.

Play Lab Workshop: The Great Pumpkin
Before you carve your jack-o’-lantern, check out gourds from the Brooklyn Children’s Museum’s collection and catch a screening of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Free with museum admission.

Maple Grove’s Great Halloween Festival and Carved Pumpkin Contest
Little ones can join a costume parade, listen to ghost stories, create Halloween crafts and learn about constellations in the slightly eerie Maple Grove Cemetery. $5, children under 12 free.

Sunday, October 21

FREE The Third Annual Havemeyer Sugar Sweets Festival
Indulge your little sweet tooths at the humongous Billyburg bake sale and treat-making competition.

Bring Your Own Kid Concert Series: Science Fair
Leave your test tubes at home for a science-themed concert featuring Moona Luna and Babe the Blue Ox. $15, children under 2 free.

Family Fit Day at the 14th Street Y
Warm up in the Fun Walk, then work up a sweat with rock climbing, soccer and martial-arts activities. $25 per family, Fun Walk participants free.

Family Concert: The Billy Kelly Show
Explore the sounds of ragtime and ska with the eclectic musician and his sock-puppet manager. $18, children ages 2–8 $13.

Kids ‘N Comedy: The Terrified of Everything Halloween Show
Laugh away your deepest, darkest fears with the city’s youngest comedians in this Kids ‘N Comedy show. $15, plus one food or drink item.

Giant Pumpkin Carving Weekend
Pick up carving tips from the pros before slicing into your own gourd at the New York Botanical Garden. Free with all-garden pass.

“The Grinch’s Holiday Workshop”
Join the green curmudgeon at CMOM for rhyming musical jams and Seussian hat-making workshops. Free with museum admission.

AKC Meet the Breeds
Pet a Toyger cat or a Bergamasco dog at the Javits Center’s gathering of four-legged friends. $15, children under 13 $10.

Big Apple Circus: Legendarium
Applaud acrobats, trapeze artists, jugglers and clowns in this tribute to the big top of yesteryear. $25–$175, children under 3 free.

FREE Enchanted Wave Hill Weekend
Create fairy-sized houses, listen to magical stories and paint charming wildlife scenes at the Bronx garden.

Spooktacular at the Staten Island Zoo
Rub shoulders with clowns, cave people and aliens, try your hand at carnival games and compete in a costume contest during the zoo’s Halloween celebration. $17, children under 3 free.

The House of Ichabod Crane
Explore the grounds of the Old Stone House in Park Slope, then take part in a retelling of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” woven with the real-life history of the Battle of Brooklyn. $15, children $10.

Play Lab Workshop: The Great Pumpkin
Before you carve your jack-o’-lantern, check out gourds from the Brooklyn Children’s Museum’s collection and catch a screening of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Free with museum admission.

FREE Making Books Sing Family Festival
Enjoy a live musical adaptation of James and the Giant Peach and kid-friendly karaoke at Treasure and Bond’s charity event.

Events copied from my moms group, Bowery Babes

Posted in Weekend Happenings | Leave a comment

Sickness Payback

Posted on October 17, 2012 by

Have you ever written a post and then deleted it by accident, yea I just did that! Very frustrating.

Breastfeeding has many health benefits, one of them is that your baby/child won’t get sick as often. Milo and I hit seven months without a cold. I felt triumphant. That feeling went quickly down the drain with his first cold one week into month seven.

Milo’s first cold was miserable. 102+ fever, fussiness, and an extremely stuffy nose. We slept in the corner of our sectional so I could keep him propped on my chest. Did I mention I was upstate ALL ALONE? Well I called the pediatrician, her advice was give him Tylenol. I learned quickly that Milo vomits up Tylenol. So we survived, barely, Tylenol-free and just riding out the fever covered in snot.

Cold number two happened a few weeks later. Just a fever… Weird. We went to the pediatrician upstate (since we were still in Lenox). Luckily he had a fever at the doctors office and they gave him Advil, no vomiting! Thank goodness. I thought we were in the clear, I was wrong. Two days no fever and out of nowhere came vomiting for three straight hours. It started at 5:30 on a Sunday night of course. By 8:30 he was passed out in my arms. At 10:30 he wanted to go to bed and nurse. I was terrified he would throw up again. Luckily he didn’t and woke up a few more times to eat. I would stay up and watch him to make sure he was ok, I slept a total of three hours. The next day he was still out of it but was keeping food down. I decided to skip solids for a few days.

And now we are on cold number three. Slight fever, severe crankiness and stuffiness. We have been showering every night and giving him Advil (in the shower of course because I am scared he will puke). This time I caught it too. So we’re both sleep deprived, stuffy, cranky people. A joy to be around.

What I have learned….
1) sleep as much as possible, the nights are hard
2) get a humidifier
3) if your baby can’t take a certain medicine get back ups
4) hot showers are calming and help with stuffiness
5) never be afraid to call your pediatrician, no matter the day or time
6) cuddle, a lot
7) nurse or give bottle often to help with dehydration and hydrate yourself

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Posted in baby mealtime, eco-friendly | Leave a comment

I’m Not Going By The Book

Posted on September 7, 2012 by

Thankfully mealtime is more fun, more messy and less scary over here. Milo is a champ. I admit I don’t give him solids everyday, but I try. So far his food list includes halibut, orange, apple sauce (with and without cinnamon), broccoli (roasted in olive oil and steamed), sweet potato, steamed carrot, grilled zucchini, potato leek soup, blueberries cut in half and smushed, tomatoes, peach, avocado, mango, watermelon, and figs. I haven’t waited the 3-4 days in between foods… We don’t go by the book over here.

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On another note we have been trying cloth diapers, Gdiapers to be exact. I have been using both the biodegradable inserts and the fuzzy fleece inserts. So far I love it, I just haven’t mastered the cloth diaper on the go. When we are out and about I use Nature BabyCare and at home Gdiapers. You can buy both at diapers.com. If you use the code milostones you can get 20% off at soap.com, $10 off at diapers.com, 10% off at wag.com and 20% off at yoyo.com. I love these sites, they are all in one place and you can get everything from diapers to dog food all in one order! And they usually get it to you the next day!

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Munchkin Meals

Posted on August 9, 2012 by

Well solids have been off to a slow start. Baby-led weaning is a fun and messy experience. Milo is now 6 and a half months old and has one to two “meals” a day. So far he has tried quinoa, broccoli ( both steamed and roasted with olive oil), sweet potato, avocado (which he loved and cried when I didn’t have anymore!), steel cut oats, watermelon, apple sauce from the farmers market, steamed carrots, zucchini (roasted), and fresh peaches. He loves it all. I am still paranoid about chocking. Milo gags once I awhile, but nothing too scary or upsetting. I think I am ready to let him try a lot more… Here’s what’s am thinking for the next week. Baked apples with cinnamon, scrambled eggs from Balaboosta, eggplant and green beans. I am not too worried about him actually eating a lot since I know I still provide all the nutrients he needs. I will let you know how it goes.

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On another note the little guy is on the verge of crawling and pulling himself up! I have been finding him stuck in this position…

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And once in this position…

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Guess its time to baby proof. Any suggestions? What worked for you?

Posted in baby mealtime | 1 Comment

Baby-Led Weaning

Posted on July 24, 2012 by

So, we began the adventure of solid foods. I read and re-read Baby-Led Weaning, I took infant CPR, I deliberated over what Milo’s first foods should be, and I searched the Internet to learn about other peoples experiences with introducing solid foods. I know that babies will gag when they eat, it is natural, but it TERRIFIES me.

Milo is officially 6 months old and ready to eat. In the beginning I let him suck on apples or lick a banana. However, for his first food I gave him some watermelon and banana. He was ecstatic. He sucked and then began chewing it. He got a piece off and gagged… Gagged and vomited a little. It was scary but I kept my calm and of course he was fine. I decided to hold off solids of a few more days (there was evidence that he did swallow a little watermelon). Next I gave him a very over cooked sweet potato. He mushed it around, sucked it off his tray, rubbed it on his belly and had a blast. Again, evidence showed he actually ate some. Today we experimented with broccoli. He seemed to have fun, no gagging thankfully. I am contemplating steel cut oats tomorrow.

I guess we will see how it goes… Like I said ADVENTURE!

Xoxo,
Vicky and Milo

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Posted in baby mealtime | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Balancing Act

Posted on June 25, 2012 by

Milo loves being upright… He likes to sit on my lap, stand while I am holding him, hang out in his Kidco Go-pod, and he loves to be carried in his Ergo. Needless to say he loves to be able to look around and observe his world. He is a quiet observer for the most part… Unless we are at a restaurant and he wants to put everything in his mouth! Which brings me to my next question… How do people feel about when to start solids? Puréed food or baby led weaning?

We are 99.9% sure we are going to let Milo eat solids at his own pace. I am just nervous about chocking. So I am going to sign up for baby CPR. Thoughts? Suggestions?

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