The Basics of Baby Led Weaning

   

 I’ve been reading up on this Baby Led Weaning everyone’s been talking about, and I’m excited to say that tonight I finally tried it! Little Missy has been eating purées for about a month now, and while it’s adorable, it’s a time consuming process and I’m looking forward to proper food for her.

Getting messy with spoon feeding

    I wanted to wait for a few reasons to start BLW until Little Miss was ready. Although she had doubled her birth weight, she was unable to sit up on her own unassisted. Until now. This last week she seems to have finally gotten the hang of it! So while I unpacked the groceries one day I steamed a little fresh broccoli and decided to see what would happen.

She loved it!

    It was so exciting! She was eating real food! She chewed and smiled and babbled, and when it was gone she got sad. Sure most of it ended up in her lap (still not as messy as a purée) but just by the simple act of chewing on broccoli, she got a bigger, a little more dependant….and a whole lot cuter!

    So what is this Baby Led Weaning, anyways? Long story short: Baby eats what you eat. Steamed veggies, pieces of fruit and meat and cheese and well...you get the picture. (Keep in mind there are things like honey and milk, which should be avoided in the first year. Please research first if you are unsure.)

    I know what you’re thinking. This has to be a choking hazard, doesn’t it? Not really. Things like grapes should be cut because it’s an ideal size and shape for a choking hazard, but in general your baby will respond to her gag reflex and not put too much in her mouth. Most of the food gets smooshed and dropped/thrown/smeared anyways. A good thing to remember is food before one is just for fun. They aren’t eating to fill themselves in the first year as their primary food source is breast milk or formula. It’s the perfect time to let kids be kids and play with their food. It’s so much fun for them!

    There are a lot of pros when it comes to BLW too, the first of which I discovered as soon as we sat down to eat. Usually I would be spooning food to her while I ate, and inevitably have to stop eating to clean up the mess from her wanting to play with the spoon, and having her cry if it took too long. This time though, it was the most pleasant meal we’ve had in a very long time. She played with her broccoli, chewed, smiled, watched us. Participated in meal time. When all her broccoli was shredded, dropped, and chewed we gave her another piece and continued to eat.

   

    It’s so simple with food prep too, because you are just giving her what you eat. Chicken breast? Shred a little and see if she likes it. Veggies? Just make sure they aren’t too salty or over spiced. Which brings me to the next great thing about Baby Led Weaning: It makes you and your family eat healthier. I steamed enough broccoli to have a large serving myself, and dished some of the raw stuff onto Hubby’s plate. Had I been busy with purées and spoon feeding it may have ended up being fries. When you feed your family healthy foods you eat healthy foods, and that is always an added bonus!

    I’ve also heard that it can help your little one to be less of a picky eater. Wouldn’t that be splendid? A child who ate a wide variety of veggies, ethnic foods, and was willing to try new things? Only time will tell, but if that is the case, put another point in the pro column for Baby Led Weaning.

    I’m so happy I came across this method of feeding my daughter. I was not enjoying the blended foods and messy spoon feeding and frankly, she seems MUCH happier eating mommy and daddy’s foods. I’m so excited to start making family dinners!

Please leave your comments below and share your experiences!

How to Decorate (or Re-decorate) a Christmas Wreath Like a Florist

Although I am no longer a professional florist, I still have a very healthy appetite for floristry as a hobby. For years I worked as a florist in my small town, and loved every minute of it. Now I take a great deal of pleasure in creating holiday arrangements for my home!

    One of my favorite arrangements is the humble wreath. This year I’m tackling an old Christmas wreath (I can’t even remember where it came from) and transforming it to new glittery levels with some dollar store poinsettias and bits and bobs from around the house. Here is what I will be using:

1. Old Christmas wreath
2. Scissors
3. Floral wire
4. Wire cutters
5. Assortment of floral decorating ‘picks’
6. Candle and matches (missing from image)

    I’m opting to use wire instead of hot glue. The reason why I choose to use wire is three fold: a) I was taught using “old school” floristry techniques and prefer using it due to it’s strength  and flexibility and b) wire allows the pieces to be changed out easily so that I can re decorate the wreath every year, and c) you can bend, shape and fluff the wreath after storage! If you are decorating your own wreath and don’t want to take the extra couple steps to use wire, you can use glue if you really want;)

    Also, I know the photos are not as bright and beautiful as they could be. Full disclosure: I am not a good photographer. I borrowed a camera from my friend to take these photos and thought I could try manual. SMH...needless to say if anyone knows any tips, tricks or blogs I could read to improve my skills, I would greatly appreciate it!

The original wreath.

    First things first, I’m going to remove the bits I don’t want. Like I said, this was an old wreath in a box that never got opened last year. I want this wreath to be red and silver, so I’m starting by removing the green and gold ribbon and gold bits (keeping for another project)and fluffing up the remaining greens and reds. If the wreath contains hot glue, now is where you curse it. Hot glue makes it hard to take pieces off the artificial fir cleanly, so some of it ends up getting cut.

    Next, I’m going to take apart my flowers from the large stem by snipping them off with wire cutters, or tearing them out of the paper wrap. Now is a good time to test run where everything will go loosely on the wreath. Here is a general idea of how I would like my wreath to look:

I then take any pieces that do not have enough wire to securely attach to the wreath and add wire. In order to attach small pieces to the wire I light the candle (for optimum festivity make it a Christmas scented candle) and heat up just the tip of the wire.

Once the wire is heated to glowing (2 or 3 seconds depending on wire thickness), quickly pierce the hard plastic stem at the base of the flower head. Pull the wire through several inches and and snip, leaving several inches on either end. (Whatever is comfortable, the ends will be snipped off so better too long than too short, but I like to loop the wire 1-3 times around the wreath while securing other pieces, so I’m giving myself lots of extra) I then grab the base of the flower and give one side of the wire a couple quick tight wraps around the plastic stem just to stop it from potentially wobbling.

Any pieces of twigs or berries can be wired by looping through the branches and wrapping tightly around the base like this:

I also like to take some of the leaves off and wire them to the wreath to fill up what is already there. In order to do that fold the leaf in half, heat the wire and pierce the leaf about half way up the leaf, in the center:

 Pinch the base of the leaf and give a couple tight twists and trim the wire to size. By putting the wire in the center of the leaf you can reposition the leaf after you attach it to the wreath.

Once all the floral pieces requiring longer wire stems are wired, I begin attaching them to the wreath. start by threading your wire through part of the wreath and wrapping and twisting until secure. Make sure you trim all your wire ends and stick them into the wreath so you don’t accidentally poke your finger. I’m telling you this because I know from experience. It hurts.

Finally, I like to wrap the spool of wire around the finished product to secure the pieces from the high winds we experience here. Be careful not to bring the wire over any floral pieces, pinning them down.

Once all the pieces are wired and placed in the wreath I add finishing touches like ribbon, etc. I’m going to use some silver wire from a former project and wrap it around the exposed grape vine to add a bit of holiday sparkle:)

And that’s it! Done! Because everything is secured with wire the wreath can be fluffed up, it’s sturdy and redecorating is as simple as snipping a wire and removing! The whole project took just under 2 hours, including stopping to take pictures and fielding a phone call from a telemarketer.
 
 I hope you enjoyed my tutorial, please comment below what you thought! And if you have any requests for a floral project please let me know:)

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12 Christmas Traditions From Our Family to Yours

Twelve Christmas Traditions From Our Family to Yours

    

     

      Seeing as I’m still pretty new to the big world of blogging, I had to think long and hard about what I wanted to post. I mean people will actually read this (maybe), and heaven forbid I choose a potentially boring subject, or even worse, something that may be embarrassing in the future (the internet IS forever, after all). After wracking my brain for days trying to decide which of my loves I would write about for you fine folks, I went to Walmart to buy kitty litter. I decided to hit the seasonal section to see the new Christmas selection. Halloween is over and the remnants of candy have made it’s way to the clearance rack. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew what I had to write about.

Christmas.

    Oh yes, there are two types of people in the world. Those who cringe and scoff at the festive baubles and the sparkles that appear in every retail outlet from the big box store to the humble flea market in mid October. Then there are those who head straight to the seasonal section the very second Halloween items are sent to clearance racks. Awestruck by the glitter, holly and pine-y magic that only Christmas can bring, I am almost embarrassed to say that I am the latter. I try to contain my excitement until November, and don’t put up any decorations until after Remembrance Day, but trust me, In my head I’ve been singing Christmas Carols since September.

In our house we hold strong to the idea of tradition. Some of our traditions are old, coming from mine and Hubby’s childhood. Others are new ones we made together as a couple. Now that our little miss is with us celebrating her very first Christmas, it’s important that we create even more traditions that will include her. No wonder people celebrate the entire month of December! How else do you fit in all the wonderful traditions that the holidays bring?

I decided to share some of our Christmas traditions, both old and new. Some we are planning to do for the first time this year, and others are ones that are decades old. Some of these ideas are silly and simple, others deep and meaningful, but all of them happen in our house in December, and each one would be missed if it were forgotten.

1. Egg Nog. I don’t know who invented this stuff but I search for it starting in mid November. Hubby hates it, but it was liquid gold in my house! We would always buy the first carton we saw when it hit the shelves, and there would be eggnog in our fridge until New Year’s. 
   
   
   

   

   
   
   
2. Pajamas on Christmas Eve. We both did this as children and I am looking now for Little Miss’s first pair of Christmas pajamas. I feel like this tradition is something that pretty much everyone does, and I’m not sure why it’s so important, but it is. You get it. I bet you do it too.   
   
   
   
   
3. Tree Decorating Party. This is one Hubby and I came up with the first year we had a Christmas tree together. We invited our closest friends for supper, drinks and tree trimming. Well, what a time we had! Everyone brought an ornament to adorn on the tree, I cooked a chicken dinner and we drank and listened to Christmas music. I even put a little 13” television on a chair and played a yule log dvd and pinned stockings to it. We made the cutest, ugliest tree I’d ever seen. I was so proud of it! Then the cat wrecked it. This tradition we will probably tone down this year for little miss, but even if it’s just a bottle of wine between mommy and daddy, and decorating the tree while we eat chicken and watch movies, I will still cherish the memories we made .
   
   
   

   
4. Making Ornaments. In my house growing up, we made our ornaments. There was no pretty tree until we were teenagers. Just a whole lot of  glitter, ribbon, popcorn, and pom poms. Even when Hubby and I got together, I would still (in my twenties) sit on the floor making ornaments out of random objects like spoons, corks, twigs and pine cones. I fully expect to do the same with  Little Miss.
   
   
5. Dinner with Family on Christmas Eve. Why have one huge meal when you can have two? This is one of Hubby’s traditions. I have no family in the small city we live in, but Hubby has his parents, and an aunt and uncle. Every year  on Christmas Eve Hubby and his family would walk up the hill to his aunt and uncle’s house and have a beautiful steak dinner, with coffee and this amaaaazing buttery cake and liqueurs afterward. The adults also indulged in one (or five) glasses of rum, wine or beer. All I know is, I can’t wait for that dang cake. Seriously, it is the best cake ever, and from what I gather the recipe is somewhat of a secret.
   
   
6. Opening a gift Christmas Eve. Again, I think this one is done by more than just our household. I can only assume some parent somewhere got sick of their child asking to open one they gave in, and thus a tradition was born.
   
   
7. Chocolate Initials. My grandparents immigrated to Canada from Holland, and growing up they would always send these Dutch Chocolate Letters in our Christmas package for each of our initials. You can get something similar in stores here, and I have always sought out our initials to put in our stockings.
   
   
   
   
   
8. Attending Church in the month of December. I try to make it to church as often as I can, but honestly don’t go nearly as much as I should.  I never went to church growing up but now that I have Little Miss I wanted to teach her about our Saviour Jesus Christ. The winter of my pregnancy I decided to start attending church in order to learn more about it. I went to Hubby’s childhood church on a random Sunday and found it to be the day they lit the first advent candle. The children from Sunday School Class had made special craft wreaths and the priest spoke beautifully of the meaning of advent. I knew then and there I wanted to center Christmas around Christ for my child, and thus decided to make sure no matter how busy our lives got, we would attend church for advent, to remind us of why we were so busy planning our celebration.
   
   
   
   
   
9. Advent Calendars. Yeah, I’m talking about the cheap cardboard sheets with generic imagery and sub par chocolate hiding behind little hidden doors. I might spring for better chocolate but how can you not love these? Especially since in my house we got to open ours first thing in the morning, thus ensuring we had chocolate for breakfast every day.
   
   

   

   
   
10. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Every. Single. Year. Usually more than once.  I might even say this is my favorite movie of all time.
    
    
11. Giving to those in need. I might not always be able to do big grand gestures, but I take time out around Christmas to help those in need and to serve in the name of the Lord. Sometimes that is donating my change to the Salvation Army, or bringing toys to a toy drive, or donating food to a food bank. We remind ourselves not only of how blessed we are, but of  how wonderful and humble serving others can be.
    
    
12. Making a Christmas Village. Every year Hubby buys me pieces for my Christmas village, which now takes up the entire china cabinet and is quickly taking over my dining room.  I find myself every year turning off the lights, lighting up the village and  getting lost in the roads and buildings and tiny people trying to skate and carol.

I know this isn’t all of them, but you get the idea. These small gestures we repeat every year define what the Christmas season is for us as a family. The beautiful thing about them is that they are unique to us, and every family has their own. Please share in the comments below your favorite traditions in your home!

5 Ways to Have Fun in a Small Setting

    The city that I live in is pretty small. As in, we don’t have much in the way of inexpensive, exciting things to do. Combine that with having a six month old and well...you know. Dates aren’t surprising, fun, and eventful evenings. It’s dinner at the local pizza place and maybe a movie if we have a coupon. You have to be creative here in order to have fun.

    Thankfully I love to be creative in the name of having fun, so what a great topic to write about! I have compiled for you, my reader, a checklist of things to consider when trying to plan a fun date in a setting that isn’t exactly big city:

1. Can the date be outside? This one is the first thing I consider when planning a date because well, we live in a little slice of Heaven as far as the great outdoors go. Snowy winters, beautiful summers, mountains and woods and salt water...what better place to host a date night? The bonus is that many things outdoors are free! Think local parks, going to a local baseball game, or taking a long walk around downtown with a coffee. Many locals (Hubby included) have hangouts they had when they were teenagers. These are great places to go hang out and enjoy just being outside.
2. Can we go local? We have lots of independent businesses here, and a healthy love of local sports and the arts so why not? Go see a baseball game, or a play, or go bowling. We have plenty of fun in the way of local music, and a beautiful park full of walking trails. I always love supporting local when we can.
3. Phone a friend. Seriously. They will always have their two cents on what places are on the go and which ones aren’t. And usually they’re onto something, you know.
4. What’s my budget? Things here in our price range are blah. Boring. Been there, done that. But what if you juggled the budget? This goes both ways too, because while it’s always fun to spend a little more money, sometimes it feels fun and silly to keep it cheap, even cheaper than usual. This is how bonfires and bike rides to the ball field happen.
5. What time of year is it? Things here change with the season, so it helps to keep up with the changes. Thankfully the city I live in sends out activity guides in the spring and fall, so we know the kinds of things that are going on in the different seasons. Anything from a bowling league to an upcoming play, it helps to come up with some fun ideas for dates given the time of year.

It’s true, I don’t live in the big city like some folks do, but there is something fun about living in a small town that feels fun and safe, and maybe a little exciting in a small way;)

I hope you enjoyed my very first ever blog post! Please feel free to comment on ways that you like to have fun in your city or town!