Posts

food, motherhood

10 Yummy First Food Ideas For Babies

Jen

Hi Everyone, following on from my last post about preparing Baby Jasper’s first foods, I thought I would share the first 10 foods that he tried. I did some reading and I decided I would like to do mostly ‘veg first weaning’ so that hopefully he would love his vegetables. Whilst reading I found that there is some research that concluded the earlier vegetables are given to babies during weaning the more likely they are to accept and like them. I also found out when doing my research that babies are generally born with a sweet tooth because their milk is classed as a sweet food, which I thought was interesting. So below is the order I introduced Jasper’s 10 first foods, how long I waited before introducing new flavours and his verdict on the tastes!

2018-12-16 20.10.12
A few of Jasper’s First Foods.

Continue reading “10 Yummy First Food Ideas For Babies” →

food, motherhood

How to Prepare Babies First Foods

Jen

Hi Everyone, today’s post is about how I have been preparing Baby Jasper’s first foods. I started weaning Jasper shortly after he turned 4 months old because he had started to show signs he was ready for solid food. Prior to this he had been sleeping quite well in the night but from 4 months old he started sleeping pretty terribly and waking up in the night for extra milk. He would also watch us eat all the time and try to take the food from us and he was eating his hands a lot (but he still does that so it may not have been a sign of needing weaning!). Jasper started off by eating baby rice and now that he is 6 months old he also eats vegetables, fruits and potatoes. So this is a short guide of the ‘equipment’ I have been using and how I have been preparing his food.

Continue reading “How to Prepare Babies First Foods” →

Recipes

Snack Inspiration – Banana and Walnut Bites

Jen

Hi Everyone, today’s post is some healthy snack inspiration of banana and walnut bites. I find this snack both tasty and quick to make so it is a great mum snack. They are a great source of energy and healthy fats that which are both satisfying and leave you fuller for longer. The bitesize pieces are also ideal if you are breastfeeding!

Image-1542743891253

To make this snack simply:

  1. Slice up a a banana in to bite size pieces
  2. Spread almond butter on to each piece
  3. Pop a walnut on top of the almond butter
  4. Serve and enjoy!

I hope you enjoy this snack and I would love to know some of the snacks you like to eat.

Thanks for reading, Jen x

motherhood

How to Create a Baby Hand Print Card

Jen

Hi Everyone, today’s post is how to make a hand print card with your baby. I recently did this activity with Baby Jasper because it was his daddy’s birthday and I wanted to help Jasper make something special to give to his daddy. I thought a hand print card would be good because Jasper would have fun playing with paint and it would make a nice gift. So I took to Pinterest to get ideas and saw a fish card. I thought this would be perfect to make because we like to call Jasper our little Nemo.

So to make this card you will first need to gather the materials as in the picture below. This will include some non toxic poster paint in the colours of orange, white and green. You will need a blank card, blue works well with this design, but I would also recommend having some spares on stand by incase your hand print goes wrong the first time. Other materials will include embellishments to decorate your card such a googly eyes and stickers. You will also need something to spread the paint on the babies hand, I used a paint brush but I think a sponge would spread the paint much more evenly. I would also recommend having some wipes or a bath ready as the paint can get quite messy!

2018-09-28 07.49.52
The materials needed to make the card.

Then its time for the fun to begin, spread the orange paint on the babies right hand and print it so that the finger tips are towards the right edge of the card. Once the hand print is dry, use the white paint to add stripes to the fish and some air bubbles and the green paint to add seaweed to the bottom of the card. Then leave this paint to dry and add the embellishments to the card. I decorated my card with a googly eye for the fish and stickers that said ‘happy birthday Daddy’. Finally, write the card and gift it!

2018-09-28 07.52.59.jpg
The finished card.

I hope you enjoyed reading about this activity to do with your baby and I would also love to hear ideas for other crafts you like to do with your baby.

Thanks for reading, Jen x

Lifestyle, motherhood

Baby’s First Visit to a Pumpkin Patch

Jen

Hi Everyone, today I have a cosy activity post for you. Recently, myself and my mum took Baby Jasper to a local farm to visit a pumpkin patch. This was a great trip to get in to the spirit of the season and to get excited about the next few months.

First we took Jasper out in to the field in his pram to show him the pumpkins. This was the first time I had ever been to a pumpkin patch and I really enjoyed the novelty of seeing a field filled with pumpkins. We went mid week so it was reasonably quiet and at one point we even had the entire field to ourselves (which you can see in the picture below).

There had been quite a few days of rain prior to our visit so the field was very muddy even though the day we went was bright and sunny. This made pushing the pram pretty difficult and made quite a mess of the wheels too! I also had a bit of a mum fail because I forgot to take something to cover the wheels of the pram before putting it back in my car, oops! I would definitely recommend a baby carrier or sling for anyone taking a baby to do a similar activity as this would have allowed us to venture out further. I didn’t take my baby carrier because it is a big long wrap type which definitely would have been a bit of a disaster trying to put on here.

Jasper then started to get quite upset because he was due a nap (a bit sooner than I expected, I guess the fresh country air tired him out) so we went in to an indoor marquee that the farm had. The marquee was filled with loads of pumpkins and some spooky halloween decorations. This area was ideal for a pram and the bumpy floor helped to get him to sleep. Once Jasper was asleep we picked out a miniature pumpkin for him to bring home. We then finished off our trip with a slice of pumpkin pie in the cafe which was really delicious.

I can’t wait to go back next year and watch Jasper toddle around the field in little wellies!

Hope you all had a wonderfully spooky halloween last week.

Thanks for reading, Jen x

img-20181017-wa0007.jpg

Lifestyle

Welcome!

Jen

Hi Everyone! My name is Jen, I’m 26 years old and I live with my partner James and my baby boy Jasper. Jasper is almost 5 months old and I know it’s so cliché to say but I honestly can’t believe how fast the time has gone.

I have started this blog to share my journey through parenthood and to share my experiences of pregnancy and birth with you. I hope that you find reading these experiences both enjoyable and interesting. I also hope to include some mum tips that I learn along my parenting journey which may also be useful for you.

I am also very interested in healthy living and nutrition so would love a place to share the healthy recipes I create and the different foods that I eat. Just a little disclaimer, I’m no Gillian McKeith, I am just really interested and have done lots of my own research. I like to eat mostly plant based food so hopefully you will enjoy my posts and maybe get a bit of your own health inspiration.

Thanks for reading and welcome, I’m really excited to start posting!

Image-1540756298950