No-Noise Smoothie Solution

I've written in the past (or have I video blogged?) about my dilemma with making smoothies in the morning. I work early, early, early and I feel terrible cranking up a blender while the rest of my family is trying to sleep. So terrible, in fact, that if I only have whole bean coffee in the house I will brew it the night before to save the noise of grinding. (My brewer has a thermal carafe - no heating element - that keeps it fresh and hot for over 12 hours.) If I remember to have some ground coffee beans, then I go that route before I leave for work.

Well, this girl loves a fresh fruit smoothie. It's my second favourite breakfast, I think. My first is anything with eggs - also not a great "early morning, gotta get to work asap" option. So in conclusion: breakfast can be a little depressing for me unless I have the day off.

But today! I came up with a revolutionary solution. The no-noise smoothie.

The recipe is as follows:

2 standard-size jars of pureed fruit baby food (organic preferred, homemade if you're able)
1 cup almond milk
1 scoop any greens or protein powder you like

You simply throw it all in a mason jar - jam-sized works great - and shake it with the lid on. Then drink! The fruit is already pureed and it tastes great! No added sugar!

You may be wondering why the mom of a 2 year old, and an unborn-year old, has jars of baby food in her fridge. Plus I'm so pro-homemade, what's going on?! Well, it was actually for a baby shower game that I'd put together for a friend. I had a leftover jar of peaches, and pears. I had no clue what to do with it (I'd already thrown the jar of sweet potato into a soup...) so this morning I thought: you know what? Calvin, stay sleeping, I am making a baby food smoothie! I shook the peach and pear food with almond milk and was amazed! No noise.

One jar of baby food, even organic, typically goes for under $1 at any store. So this is a pretty cool recipe to have under my belt now.

Just thought I'd share my great excitement!

What would you like to hear about next?

I am totally, and regretfully, aware of what a bummer my post-infrequency has been lately.

Florida Sunscreen PROBLEMS

I don't think my life has been too busy (well, I am moving tomorrow) or that I've exhausted the list of topics I can write on (although I have almost 250 posts currently).

Maybe I'm just waiting to have the perfect idea for a blog post... Wanna help?

I'll start you off with a list of ideas. If you like one, comment below or email me. Or, feel free to suggest an idea of your own.

As for a quick update on my life, before the list to follow: we are in fact moving homes. From a 3+1 to a 3+1, detached to detached, small-ish backyard but really nice kitchen to medium-ish backyard with pretty nice kitchen. Not an up, not a down, just something new. It's the nomad in us - always moving. I was also major - like zombie - sick for a few days. Working around children has made my illness days per year rate fly through the roof - not pretty. Unsweetened applesauce kept me going. Oh yeah - and that's going to affect my Rockin' Wellness Challenge because I had to pause it for like 4 days. Have I even written about our Florida trip? Wow, blog shame. Well, we went and it was wonderful. Oliver turned 18 months and our marriage turned 3! Okay, on to the list!

So, do you like these ideas?

• The best natural makeup brands that you can find in a drugstore or Sephora
  
• Exactly how to make and store homemade baby food
  
• How to pack toddler lunches/snacks
  
• Menu planning for a family
  
• Why some people give up toilet paper (and how gross is that)
  
• How to get internet, phone & tv on the cheap! -- This probably only applies to Canada
  
• Amy's Insanely Awesome Egg & Cheese Popover Recipe
  
• Amy's Cuckoo Delicious Lemon Poppyseed Loaf with Ginger Glaze
  
• Amy's Blow Your Socks Off Tasterific Tuna Cakes, as stolen from Sprout Right
  
• Amy's attempt at "The Life Changing Loaf" by My New Roots
  
• My Garden 2013
  
• How to grow from seed, step by step
  
• What vegetables/herbs should I grow
  
• Daycare vs Stay at Home Mom
  
• Best Restaurants in London
  
• Best Restaurants in London if You Eat Gluten-Free
  
• Why I love the Fire Roasted Coffee Company (finally)

Okay, I spent a good 90 seconds on that list. Enjoy and give me your comments. And now I will go... you guessed it, put more things in boxes. Ack, pray for good weather in the morning.

Healthy Routine for a 7-Month Old

Oliver is coming up to 7 months now.

• He talks. Well, he yells "mama" but I'm pretty sure it's a catch-all word for things like "look I can do push ups", "give me more apple puree" and "I'm stuck under the rocking chair".
• He eats. Well, about 1/2 the food goes in his mouth and the other 1/2 forms a food-beard
• And he crawls. It's an interesting technique we call the slingshot where he gets on all-fours, rocks his body back and forth gaining momentum and then shoots himself forward, ending in a face plant but that much closer to whatever he's hunting.

We're not ones for schedules. In fact pretty much everything we do, including nursing, sleeping arrangements & introduction of solids, can be considered "baby-led". That being said, Oliver has given me some clues as to what type of routine he likes for the day. He's not too fussy about it - the guy's been known to willingly (and on good behaviour) attend rock concerts, movie theaters and hockey games. But in general, here's what we do:

Morning
- Wake up around 8am
- Nurse and a much needed diaper change
- Play!
- Nurse and nap from around 11am - 1pm
Afternoon

- Eat a fruit or veggie (he likes carrots, apples, squash, yam, avocado, banana, mango)
- Play, nurse

- Nap from around 4pm - 6pm
Evening
- Eat a protein (lentils, egg yolk, beans)
- Play, maybe a bath, nurse
- Around 8pm: pj's and a diaper to last the night, then nurse and sleep (he doesn't always go in his own bed, he might continue sleeping in the family room until we go up)
- Around 11pm when I go to bed I might nurse him once more
- Sleep! (Oh yes, sometimes there's a night-nurse)

The most important things are he still gets at least 5 nursings a day (more if he wants it - he's the boss!) and 2 long naps. So far I've only implemented lentils as a protein but the fruits and veggies are much enjoyed. As he gets older it'll be imperative that his 2 solid meals contain iron. He is still on a vitamin D supplement as well.

So that's our day! We have a blast and love every second of it. If you have questions about your baby, ask away.

Baby's First Foods

Oliver is the following things:

Four months old.
Hungry every hour.
Trying to grab food from my hands/ fork/ plate.
Waking up to eat more during the night.

I honestly wanted to wait until 6 months to start him on solids but he is showing a lot of signs of wanting to start asap! Before I jump into anything, I have some research to do.

Conventional knowledge and recommendations tell us to start with a brown rice baby cereal. Easy enough, it's simple to change the consistency, relatively low risk for allergies, and seems easy to digest... but new sources say there's a better way to go.

I'm now reading about how an infant's digestive system is not suited for grains yet. Not for a while. They say fattier foods like egg yolk, coconut oil, butter and animal livers are perfect first foods.

As I'm still in the beginning of my research I don't want to claim to know much at all about this. So, what's your opinion?


http://mamaandbabylove.blogspot.com/2011/01/raw-egg-yolk-for-babies.html
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/right-way-to-feed-babies/
http://www.babyledweaningblog.com/2011/02/22/annelieses-first-food-egg-yolks/