Car Snacks

One of the minor challenges we are currently working through is how to get home, get supper on the table and eat with as few meltdowns as possible.  My poor little lamb is more than ready to eat by the time we get home (normally 5:30ish) so just the time it takes for me to get supper on the table can be a challenge.  Even taking time to microwave leftovers is too much some days.

Norma reminded me that M3 used to take snacks in the car for her girls to eat on their way home from preschool.  In her case I believe it was to help keep her sleepy girls awake long enough to get home for naps and for me I’m trying to give Hannah a little something in her tummy to get us through supper prep.  Last week I began packing little snack packs for her and she gets one each night on our way home from daycare.

I must say that these seem to be helping out a lot!  We got through this week without a single supper prep meltdown.  Yay!!!

So far the things I’ve thought of putting in (a new combo each day) are:

- Cheerios	- Life Cereal
- Shreddies	- mini Bear Paws
- pretzels	- raisins
- dehydrated apricots	- dehydrated cranberries
- Goldfish	- yogurt covered pretzels
- Smarties	- yogurt drops
- fruit gummies	- yogurt covered raisins
- chow mien noodles

If you have any suggestions for other things I could put in Hannah’s snack packs they’d be greatly appreciated.  I’m still aware of choking so cautious about what I use and it also needs to be prepared in the morning and be able to sit in the car all day.

I’m hoping this little change will continue to help recharge Hannah enough for me to get supper on the table.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

It Was Time to Let Go…

Last week at work we were encouraged to contribute to a Thanksgiving food drive sponsored by our employer.  I knew what I needed to donate but it still wasn’t easy to part with.  I dug through the cupboards and found all of the baby food that Hannah no longer eats and took that as my donation.  Another big part of her life behind me.  *sniff*

PS – My dear M3, if you’re reading the labels, that’s French!  ;o)

The Big Question Is…

….did any of the yogurt make it into her mouth???

Yesterday's post about Hannah's Unique Sippy Holder reminded me of these pictures that also capture one of Hannah’s current habits. She’s a HUGE fan of blueberries and calls them ‘blah blahs’ so I’ve taken to calling them that too. The funny thing is that sometimes she eats the entire ‘blah blah’ and other times (like in these pics) she bites into them and that’s it. I can never tell what kind of day it will be but since she enjoys them so much I’m happy to give them to her whichever mood she’s in.

Hannah is a great eater and as much as this may sound funny, I’m going to miss these messy meals as I love watching her explore her foods both in tastes and texture.

Everything Tastes Better With Dip

Hannah loves to dip everything into anything. I’ve learned lots of interesting combos from my sweet baby girl. Some I’ve tried and liked (blueberries in vanilla yogurt) while others I’ll leave to her taste buds (pizza in guacamole; grilled cheese into caramel sauce). It’s kinda fun to see what combos she comes up with and it also keeps mommy on her toes looking for things she can use as dips. I have chosen not to introduce ketchup yet as I don’t want her to ‘need’ it with each meal and also it’s sugar she just doesn’t need.

Here are a few pics I’ve captured of my sweetie enjoying her meals. She’s an amazing eater for which I am very thankful!

Potato chips in yogurt. The goodness of the yogurt cancels out the potato chips right? :o)

Watermelon into yogurt

Something that’s no longer here into apple juice

You may notice the common element in all these pics is Hannah’s plastic bib with the pocket at the bottom. Before I was a mom I saw these on other children and in the store and never understood the need for them. Oh how I get it now!!! Hannah loves to feed herself and I’m happy to let her do so when time allows. The bib catches a multitude of dropped/spit out food and has saved many an outfit from the laundry bin. We now own 3 of these and they go everywhere with us. Oh yah, they’re also useful for snacking from when mommy takes your tray to wash it!

I’m Sure That Kernel Was Just an Oversight!

Hannah tried corn on the cob for the first time last night and you can see that it was a huge hit! In the past I’ve cut the corn off the cob and she showed me last night that she’s more than ready to enjoy it just as it is.

Looks like more corn will be on our dinner plates this summer.

Just Because She's Adorable!!

We've been busy, busy lately so sadly the blog has been a bit neglected. I'll see what I can do to get some posts up soon.

Until then, here's a pic of my sweetie enjoying supper. I'd given her crackers with Laughing Cow cheese on them which she thought were pretty fabu! When my back was turned she decided to wear one in the middle of her forehead. It was being consumed when I turned around again but I laughed as I saw the circle of cheese that remained!

Love You Berry Much!

Hannah tried blackberries for the first time on Saturday. At first she wasn't too sure what she thought but she quickly changed her mind! As quickly as I could get them on her tray she was signing 'more' and I could hear, 'moy, moy!'

Peanut butter and blackberries. A winning combination!


A meal best served wearing only a diaper and a trip to the tub was our next event of the day.

A Special Treat for a 14 Month Old

Today Hannah turned 14 months old! In the afternoon I was going through the fridge when my eyes spotted a chocolate pudding cup. Her cute little outfit was already dirty from breakfast so how much more damage could be done with a pudding cup? Quite a bit I guess but oh my did she have fun!!

The first sign that the spoon was going to be abandoned for fingers.

Who needs to scoop it out when you can drink it directly from the container?

Good to the last drop! (I love the little ring of pudding in this pic.)

She went directly from the high chair to the tub!

Happy 14 month old birthday little love!

Look Who's Eating Table Food!

Yes, we're making the transition and Hannah is doing really well. She still likes the jar baby food which I'm thankful for but at the same time she is transitioning and trying more and more table foods. This meal was made up of sliced turkey, broccoli, cooked carrots, cheese and baked potato. Looks like mommy is going to be eating healthier too as I'm guessing sharing a Big Mac and fries with her isn't high on the Canada Food Guide.

Today we tried strawberries and she enjoyed them and didn't have any reaction to them. Next step...peanut butter. As suggested by a friend I'll try rubbing a little on her hand first and if that goes okay then a little bit on toast. I really don't anticipate their being any problems but I must admit that I'm still nervous.

I have also started to introduce homogenized milk into her bottles. Like I did when changing from the Chinese formula to Canadian, I am doing it slowly. For the past week her bottles were a combination of 75% formula and 25% milk. I think she's handling the transition well although one day where I was changing her 5th dirty diaper by 2:30pm had me questioning but that was only a 1 day thing. Phew! Hopefully those are just being caused by the 4 new teeth she is working on. LOL....guess you didn't really need all those details but since this is a journal for us you get those details too! :o) This week 50% formula and 50% milk.

My Little Cheerio Tease!

Hannah began feeding me Cheerios yesterday! I had truly never thought about it but she was sitting on my lap rather than in her high chair and suddenly Hannah was feeding Mommy Cheerios! I guess all those I've fed her over the past couple of months gave her the idea to share some with me too.

I grabbed the video camera later that night to capture it on film and this cute video is the result. Oh how I love her giggles!!!

Mmmm...Watermelon!

Just a few adorable pics and a video taken a few minutes ago of XiaoFen enjoying some watermelon! Guess a bath is in order tonight.
Painting with watermelon juice on her tray


Good to the last drop. Juice was literally dripping off her chin. So cute!

This video isn't super exciting but pretty adorable I think. I love watching Hannah embrace new tastes and watermelon was new last week.

Mmmm...Noodles!

Hannah tried her first noodles since we returned from China and they were a huge hit! She enjoyed playing with them and feeding herself. I feed most foods to her but she does feed little bits to herself and is doing really well! I love to see how she's growing, changing and learning more every single day!!

I Love Bottle Time!

No words necessary. I cannot express how precious the time is that we share together when I feed Hannah her bottles!!

My Cautious Eater

I love to watch Hannah eat little things like Cheerios or Gerber Puffs. She's cautious and determined and doesn't get frustrated with the attempts and it's absolutely adorable to watch! She often gets them to her mouth but either she can't find them or they stick to her long, beautiful piano fingers and she just can't get them in. It's so cute!!
When one eventually makes it in she is wonderfully cautious to finish it before putting another one in. She has been like this since the day we met and I began feeding her Cheerios broken into 1/4's. If there is any in there she'll wait to open her mouth until this piece is done, thank you very much! Saturday night at Grandma and Grandpa P's she almost proved me wrong though when she got quite a large piece of Mum mum in her mouth so mommy (thinking she was helping) tried to scoop it out. Oh...the look in those eyes about broke our hearts! It was like, 'What did I do?' I learned my lesson after that and she was just fine with her mum mum and could handle the pieces even though I kept a really close eye on her.

Here's a little Cheerio moment. Not sure how many truly make it into her mouth as I clean many off the floor and out of the seat of her high chair but she sure does enjoy the challenge! I am so thankful to capture all these precious moments as time is fleeting and she is changing and learning so much every single day!!!

Highly Under-Advertised!!

Now that's not a statement you hear too often is it?! But in this case it's true.

In China Hannah's little friend Beckett couldn't ooo and goo enough about these teething rusks. Her mom bought a box for Hannah and I bought another one too but completely forgot about them until this morning. As I was mixing her cereal and fruit I decided to see how she liked it and to say that she enjoyed it is an understatement!!

Last night at a shower for Hannah people remarked at her long attention span and truly she is one content little girl. This morning she sat for over an hour devouring her teething rusk. I managed to fit in her brekkie between bites but the bottle went on hold until after the rusk was gone. I dared once to try and take it away and Hannah clearly let me know that she wasn't finished with it yet!

The reason I feel the product is under-advertised is that it says it is for 'teething'. Using them only to assist with teething is truly under-utilizing all the possible options for this delightful food!

Here are some of the other options Hannah came up with:

A gooey pencil for writing notes on your highchair.

A great new hair product


And finally, a wonderful facial!


Here's my baby girl in action...



Next, we were off to the bath. I have a feeling that Heinz and Johnson's Baby Bath might been in a secret alliance as one led directly to the other!!

Mixed Veggies? Ummm...no thanks!

Hannah is a great eater but so far has let me know that baby food with texture is not for her! I tried one of those rice, meat and veggie mixtures earlier in the week without success. Today we tried mixed veggies. She gave it the old college try but the first two bites were met with gagging and a look of, 'C'mon mom....what are you feeding me?' I tried thinning it down a bit with water but she still wasn't impressed. She ate about 10 bites but you can see from her face and bib that some only made it in long enough to be spit back out. This goes on record as our official messiest meal to date but she still looks so cute and when she spits it out it's with an impish smile on her face!





Hannah's final opinion about mixed veggies! (We'll try them again tomorrow but I won't tell her that yet!)