1 July 2011

counting blessings:
- making rose hand cream from a recipe in a book,
- taking baby for a stroll,
- lunch,
- husband looking after baby,
- sunny day,
- small laundry load,
- excellent husband,

six of the best:
saw - sunshine on stroll with baby, baby playing with his toes,
taste - boiled egg breakfast,
touch - home-made rose hand cream,
heard - no noise from baby when grandparents are looking after him ('cos he's asleep),
did - take baby for stroll,
smelt - rose hand cream.

30 June 2011

Counting blessings:
- porridge for breakfast,
- attending PND on time,
- amenable baby,
- knitting rows,
- full lunch,
- six of the best.

Six of the best:
saw - sunshine in the afternoon,
taste - homemade chocolate cupcake,
hear - baby laughing,
touch - nose-to-nose with baby,
did - talked grandpa into taking baby to the playground for a swinging time,
smell - dissipation of burnt roast beef aroma from house.

29 June 2011

counting blessings:
- baby's dream smile in morning,
- cuddling with sleeping cosy baby,
- lunch with husband,
- knitting a few rows,
- 30min afternoon nap,
- beef and potatoes dinner,
- Jeeves & Wooster dvd,
- mum & dad,
- sleeping cosy baby cuddles.

28 June 2011

counting blessings:
- relaxing dream-image of white sand, bright sunlight, blue tropical sea, lapping waves,
- working internet,
- clean teeth, healthy-ish gums,
- great husband,
- sleeping baby,
- grizzling self-settled baby,
- knitted many rows of leg warmer.

26 June 2011

counting blessings:
- baby slept almost 5 hours in early morning;
- family picnic;
- visit to bakery, and fresh baked treats;
- ham sandwich & tea;
- internet access;
- tasty tuna & chili-ginger sauce dinner;
- husband looked after baby (two solid eliminations direct in toilet!);
- happy baby;
- content husband;
- rounds of knitting completed;
- morning shower;
- sleeping baby right now.

23 June 2011

counting my blessings:
- baby slept through the night;
- I cuddled close to my love;
- I had playtime on computer game;
- email update was sent to grandma;
- I'm going to sleep.

@)--'--

forgive me my sins

my dear little one,
forgive me my sins. forgive my transgressions against thee. your innocent self is not the cause of my self-abandonment. should I lose myself, I hope to retain my love for thee and not the pity.
forgive me, wee child my love. I strive to set a good example of behaviour to you and I fail day after day.

I want to be a fount of patience.
I want to be a fount of love.
I want to be a fount of wisdom.

I yearn to care for you as you deserve.

The ceaseless demands on my energy and waking hours sap my strength of will; I count to four and four again. I am ashamed I get satisfaction from giving you discomfort when that is easier than giving you comfort. Forgive me.

I have an aching back; I have a pained forearm. I am sleep deprived. I do not have sufficient recuperation time to regroup myself. I have alot ofhousework to do before I can be satisfied with my home environment.

sweet darling, I love kissing your baby-soft skin. I love your gentle milky scent. I adore your tuft of Tintin hair; I love the start of the curl on your forehead. Your gurgles and gummy grin, with your long lashes framing dark brown eyes, apple-cheeked laughter...adorable.

your hands grow ever larger, and nearly the size of my palm.

You have got me surrounded and out gunned.

I love you, and I won't give up. (I feel like I want to though.)

baby eats: vege puree

Makes 3/4 C (175ml)

Stage 1 (4-6 months+) vege: carrot, potato, kumara, pumpkin, kamokamo, marrow.

Stage 2 (6-7 months+) vege: broccoli, puha, parsnip, swede, cauliflower.

• 125g vege - peeled, chopped & finely diced;


• 4 T water

1. Put vegetable and water into a small pan. Bring to a boil.


2. Cover and simmer until tender (approx. 25mins).


3. Uncover and simmer until liquid is evaporated.


4. Press through sieve/strainer.

Microwave style

1. Put vege + 2T water in a microwaveable bowl. Cover, with vent.


2. Cook on High (100%) for 4 mins. Stand for 5 mins.


3. Press through sieve/strainer.

To serve: Serve at 30-37 degrees C; Mix boiled water (or formula milk or breast milk) to achieve preferred consistency.

To keep: Cover and refrigerate. Use within 24hrs.

To freeze: Spoon into ice-cube tray. Use within 10-12 months. Defrost: covered in refrigerator.

baby eats: fruit puree

Makes 1/2 C (120ml)

Note: Uncooked ripe mashed banana is ok to serve.

Stage 1 (4-6 months+) fruit: apple, pear, peach.


Stage 2 (6-7 months+) fruit: melon, plum.


Stage 3 (8 months+) fruit: kiwifruit, orange, pineapple, berry fruit.

• 1 medium apple (fruit) - peeled, cored/stoned, diced


• 1 T water (or formula milk or breast milk)

1. Put fruit & water into a small pot. Cover and simmer for 10mins until soft.


2. Press through a sieve/strainer.

Microwave-style

1. Put fruit & water in a microwaveable bowl. Cover, with vent.


2. Cook on High (100%) for 3 mins. Stand for 5 mins.


3. Press through sieve/strainer.

To serve: Serve at 30-37 degrees C.


To keep: Cover & transfer to refrigerator, and use within 24 hours.


To freeze: Spoon into ice-cube maker, and freeze. Use within 8-10 months. Defrost: covered in refrigerator.

Raising Baby: Weaning I

So. We started with bought baby rice cereal a month ago. I experimented with home-made carrot last week, including the freezing option. Baby poop turned orange for a spell; I believe I'll refrain from carrots for a fortnight. This week: homemade apple puree.

My ability to cook basic Western dishes is shockingly ill-informed. I had to find instruction to learn how to stew fruit.

I found a book, and diligently chopped apple until I became careless with a sharp knife. (I much prefer large bladed honed Chinese cleavers.)

Mater obligingly helped with chopping fruit, and pushing stewed apple through a sieve to make puree. Truly I am blessed to have such a obliging loved one.

Some of the puree was frozen in ice cube trays. Two teaspoonfuls were reserved to be used within 24 hours. The remainder of the stewed fruit was put into a loaf tin, awaiting crumble topping (made a few days previous, then frozen).

Tonight this wee family had our first meal together: mom & pop had dessert, babe had cereal-apple feed. And it was a good success.

I really enjoy fruit crumble - one of the best dishes ever. And when it is prepped in easy stages, quite a good standby to have in the freezer.

Bring Up Baby: Elimination Communication

It boils down to baby-lead teaching, e.g. when the baby is ready to poop or pee, the adult helps the baby to learn the association between the commode and elimination (poop and pee).
The methods used are: consistent association - poop/pee into toilet (or appropriate receptacle); consistent communication - baby shows signs of irritability indicating bodily discomfort, adult makes consistent sound/s when baby poop/pee so baby learns when start poop/pee as well as being able to verbalise to adult when baby expects to poop/pee.

I'd heard about it sometime last year, but only read up on it just a fortnight ago. We have been practising it for a couple of weeks and it seems to be working quite well: savings on washing poopy reusable nappies, and reduced occurrances of nappy rash, and reduction in number of butt wipes used, and baby (5-month) has developed a very strong back through continual sitting up practice.

If the caregiver has the time, I truly recommend this interactive responsive attention.

Apart from the advantages associated with the nappy change process, here are some others which I think is happening in our family:

- baby learns to communicate precise needs to parents/caregivers (i.e. baby gains a sense of "self" and "other people"),
- parents/caregivers learn to practice baby-led teaching, i.e. consistency and patience and seeing the world from the baby's point of view,
- parents learn to be more communicative, e.g. I am learning bits of British Sign Language to communicate with baby.

Elimination Communication
- wikipedia.org
- www.pottywhisperer.com
- www.nappyfreebaby.co.uk

first family picnic - from handheld [edited by keyboard]

I had a really great time with our picnic. Queen's Birthday weekend, so MK has Monday holiday. We took this opportunity to snatch a picnic lunch at the local park/reserve.

Dad, baby and I made our preparations and we set off, armed and shouldered with food, tea, umbrella and camera. It was a loverly sunny day - atypical winter weather. It was truly more akin to late spring. Young Sir didn't really need any blankets at all.

It was a quiet walk with hardly any traffic around. Birds sang, fooled into thinking it was mating and fighting season. The dew from the grass steamed into the air.

We found a decent picnic spot, and lunched. I'm very pleased with the lunch: I enjoy planning things to eat, even if I'm not very good at this.

A few photos were taken; we showed the various species of birds (sparrow, pigeon, pukeko, ducks, gull) to baby.

Baby showed signs of fussiness.

We wandered home, with the burden of food lightened.