Long time no see!

Hello out there Just a quickie to say our beautiful twins arrived on April 13th - 2 more gorgeous boys for me! Noah and Max. Jacob is the ever doting big brother and loves them both to bits. I am really looking forward to weaning them both (the BLW of course!) and have been looking back through this blog to remind myself of all the fun (and mess!) to come. I can't believe how much Jacob has changed - he is a proper little boy now. Look out for our new twins BLW blog in a couple of months. Laura xx

Busy bees!

My little prince

Look Mummy, no hands!




Look what I'm eating mummy!



After licking his lis yogurt lid, Jacob kindly cleaned it off in his water.



Mmmmmm, chocolate!







Oompa, Loompa doopity do....



Wow, it's been a long time! Things have been very busy here as we have been doing some home improvements (which are still ongoing!) so blogging has been bottom of the list.

Jacob is gorgeous as ever. He is sooo active and barely stops for a minute.....hence his raging appetite! As usual anything edible will do! Things he is particularly fond of at the minute are: pasta (any shape or form), meat, cheerios (dry as a snack preferably but will have some with milk for breakfast), Goodies cereal bars, satsumas or similar.

I don't think Jacob has had anything new particularly - oh except pickled red cabbage which he is realy enjoying! He continues to eat everything we eat and seems to love it all. Many people comment on how well he eats and I am sure it is down to BLW (oh and his mummy's wonderful cooking of course!). We are very proud of him. I am looking forward to trying some new recipes soon as we have a fabulous new kitchen, living, dining open plan space for Jacob to run free in while I cook (best laid plans......). Recently we have eaten out at Ask (pizza/pasta restaurant) and they were very baby friendly. Jacob had a children's menu consisting of garlic bread, salad, cheesy pasta bake and a banana split - yum he loved it!

Fun video!

Snacks in the park


Yeay! Salmon for tea

JJ has been eating fairly well over the past couple of weeks. Fish is a big favourite at the moment with salmon being top of the list! He has also taken a liking to Organix gingerbread men (although we try to keep his sweet snacks to a minimum but he knows where they are kept and he knows what he wants!).





I have added a very cute video of JJ eating his tea. It shows quite well where he is up to with his fork too. He isn't normally so excitable at meal times but it was salmon for tea which I think sent him into a frenzy! In fact he ate his fillet of slamon in about 30 seconds and then kept shouting more and pointing at this daddy's so ended up having another half!





JJ has been a bit more challenging behaviour wise recently. He has become very clingy to me at home which is driving everybody mad. He is fine if I am not there but the second he sees me he starts whinging and wanting to be picked up. I have read this is a common stage and that it passes but I really hope it passes soon. To add to this we are doing some major work to the house - re-arranging the whole ground floor and this just adds to the chaos! Because the kitchen will be out of action for a while, me and JJ are heading to my Mum's for a few days while his daddy works on it.

Walking!

Pinching biscuits!

Cinnamon apples - the old favourite!

Stew - a winter fave!

Play dough - don't hink he quite gets it!





Since the last post JJ has started walking!! He has been looking like he is ready for ages but never seemed to have the confidence to walk without holding our hands etc, but one day he started taking a few steps on his own and the next day he was walking every where! This does however mean that he has quite a few bumps on his head and he is scaring me half to death most of the time. I guess you have to let them toddle and they are bound to fall so I have to get used to the knocks!

He has seemed very grumpy in the run up to tea time recently - I think he is using more energy now he is walking, so we have started giving him a banana and rice cakes mid afternoon.

He is also now no longer breast feeding :-( I stopped the morning feed just after Christmas (replaced with cows milk) and he didn't seem to notice. I then finished his bed time feed on the 11th- again he hasn't seemed bothered and doesn't ask for it so I think he was ready. He has barely taken anything at night for a long time now - it was more for the cuddles - so he still get cuddles but no milk. He has cows milk now morning and night.

On the food front things are pretty much the same. He has stalled a bit with his fork, he got quite good and could use the scooping action to pick things up now and again but he hasn't managed it for a while now. I think Christmas and all the upheaval has set him back -I also think it depends on his mood a bit.


He drives me mad some days thinking it is so funny to drop his food over the edge of his high chair and then shakes his head and says no (well 'booooooow' which is his version!) before I do, so he knows he shouldn't. He does do it sometimes with particular things he doesn't fancy but I don't think he always realises they are going over the edge as he just sort of flings them out the way! It is usually when he has about had enough that he messes about so I just take his food away and stop the meal, or take it away for a minute then give it back. I should maybe try to ignore and say nothing, pretend not to notice so I don't reinforce it, as he thinks it's funny when I say no and I don't want him thinking it is funny. Will give it a go and let you know.

He is really growing up now and is such a cheeky chappy at the minute, but can have the odd tantrum too! I can't believe how quickly time has gone by.

Haven't heard from a few of the 'regulars' in a while - hope you are well - leave a comment and let me know how you are getting on!

Christmas capers!

Birthday cake



Christmas Dinner




A scarily green Christmas tree meringue at a party!


Wow, it's been a while since I posted! I blame the massively chaotic festive season with a string of parties, family gatherings and other such jolly festivities!

We have had a lovely Christmas time and Jacob has had a ball!


It was also his first birthday which was great - he had a blueberry sponge cake as blueberries must be his all time favourite food. He loved it, although he much preferred the berries to the cake, and spilled crumbs all over his granny!

We had a couple of baby group Christmas parties and he ate well at both - a lot of treats he wouldn't normally have but he did do well with sandwiches and fruit at them too. He thoroughly enjoyed his Christmas dinner, with turkey hot or cold being a firm favourite at the minute..luckily!

Other food he has had worth noting is Thai red curry - went down well surprisingly! He is loving clementines, pate, anything wrapped in pastry, risotto, meat (especially turkey!), jelly (occasionally at parties), malt loaf too. He has started eating toast by sucking, licking, nibbling off whatever is spread on it before (sometimes) eating the toast itself. He is much less messy and is getting very good at spooning his own yogurt and using his fork (unless he is really hungry or it is something he loves and then the fork is to slow and hit and miss so it is back to shovelling fist fulls in!).

I am not sure if Jacob is officially weaned now or not - he eats exactly what we eat 95% of the time so perhaps he is!? I will still keep blogging for a while longer until he has mastered cutlery but there is much less to report nowadays now that he has tried almost every food out there and seems to always like most things. So to avoid boring you all I will do fortnightly or so posts unless something exciting happens.

Wishing you all a happy new year!!!

teeth!

This week has been ok food wise but JJ's rapidly growing front teeth and 2 newly emerging top teeth have made him a bit unpredictable. He has been eating but not as much as usual. He has a firm favourite in potato and has eaten his own body weight in blueberries, but has otherwise been a bit picky. I am sure it will settle down once teeth are through. He is persevering with his fork and spoon but it can distract him and hold him up. If it is there he seems determined to use it but hasn't got a reliable scoop or stab action and it's a bit pot luck. Consequently he can eat a lot less if the fork gets too interesting! He is getting better with his yogurt and spoon though but does seem to have gone off yogurt a bit.

He has had jambalaya, lasagne, pasta, crumpets, egg sandwiches, omlette, jacket potatoes, chicken and more this week.

He a=has also adopted a new photo pose designed to show off his new teeth - more of a grimace on occasions and much cuter in real life than on the photos!

Other news (long!!)
JJ seems to be learning something new every day:
He is standing a lot on his own now and getting stronger every day.
He will cuddle his toys, our cat, dog or us if you ask him to.
He loves putting objects in containers, and taking them out, and putting them in etc etc!!
He nods and shakes his head to mean yes or no (if he throws food over his high chair he turns straight to me and shakes his head before I have said a word!)
He likes to kick a ball around whilst walking holding our fingers.
He loves to point and make an accompanying curious noise to direct us where he would like to go!
He demands blueberries using the point and a special 'I want blueberries' noise!
He has learnt to turn the dvd player on and off (despite the fact it is in the living room we rarely use and he has never seen us do it!)
He loves to push himself around on a ride on toy at baby group.

Mixed bag

On Saturday we had the usual breakfast of shreddies but he was not very interested.
Lunch was ...... can't remember!
For tea we had Fish and Potato pie which went down quite well.

Sunday we had beans, poached egg and toast for lunch which he really enjoyed! He always loves eggs though.
For tea we had chilli which he only ate half of. He is enjoying using his fork now but it is slowing him down a bit and distracting him from eating as he doesn't really have the hang og it yet

Monday lunch was a quesadilla for JJ with cheese, chicken and peas - he ate the while thing but it took him a while as he was very chilled and relaxed!
For tea we had pasta but again he wasn't overly enthusiastic.

Stew and lumps!

JJ had shreddies for breakfast and pinched some of my toast as usual.

Lunch was 1 slice of philly on toast (since he missed it on Wednesday!!) 3 veggie nuggets, cherry tomatoes, a banana....might have been more - not sure!

I made a stew for tea with mash and dumplings (or lumps as my brother called them when he was little).... (having a lot of mash at the minute...think it must be the cold weather!). He seemed to quite like it but didn't seem overly hungry but ate a bit and had a kiwi.

bubble and squeak

I was really poorly today so I didn't have too much enthusiasm for food! JJ had the usual breakfast, for lunch he had some veggie nuggets which I did manage to make between naps while his daddy looked after him. He really enjoyed them! He had some other stuff too but not sure what!
For tea he had bubble and squeak (made with leftover broccoli and mash - such a good leftover meal), some roast chicken and baby corn which he really seems to like to nibble at withhis new teeth. I think he had a yogurt for pud.

Large lunch and using his fork!

Yummy, JJ loves Shreddies!

What a poser!! He did this as soon as he saw the camera!

JJ had his new breakfast favourite shreddies again - he just loves em! He also had a little bit of my toast.




He had a long, leisurely and large lunch! I made some cheesy pancakes and he ate them all (6 in total!), along with a banana, some dried apricots and a tomato.

For tea JJ had chicken, mash and veggies and 2 kiwis for pudding. He also used his fork on his own properly which we caught on video. He seems to find the fork much easier than a spoon.

Other News:
JJ stood up and stayed up for a few seconds unsupported today which he hasn't done spontaneously before! He can also do the action to the song 'Wind the Bobbin up' Which is just the cutest thing!
He has also started to sleep for longer at nap times in the past week - an hour or so !!! Unheard of till now but I hoped I haven't jinxed it!

I'm sooo lazy

It has been ages since I posted - sorry! Been trying to do things other than be on the computer!

In the last week JJ has been eating well. He has had nothing new really. He did however refuse a tuna pizza I made him - he normally loves the pizzas I make but flatly refused and I am sure it was the tuna he didn't like as he has been a bit put off by it before. Never mind!

We went out for Sunday lunch yesterday and he was sooooo good. It is always so lovely to sit and eat our meal with him next to us eating his.
Today he had his new favourite - Shreddies for breakfast - lots of them!

Lunch was eaten at a friends house (Kiri had her first BLW experiece of broccoli and pear while we were there - she did soooo well!! It was wierd thinking back to the start when I was so excited when he so much as got something into his mouth - he really has come such a long way!)

Tea today was pasta with a cheese, leek, mushroom and bacon sauce I made, french bread, a yogurt and a plum. Yummy!

JJ's two front teeth are through now and he looks very cute with them. He has also learnt to nod and shake his head in the last week (which is really cute!).

Chilli, fritata, sausages...but not all at once!

On Thursday JJ had sardines on toast for his dinner but he didn't really eat very much.

For tea I made a chilli - he has never had it before but seemed to enjoy it.

On Friday JJ had a toasted cheese & carrot pitta falvoured with cumin and coriander. He quite enjoyed this and also had some fruit. For tea we had a yummy fritata with mushrooms, peppers, potatoes, onion and cheese with salad and potato wedges. He loves eggs so gobbled it down and thoroughly enjoyed it. He had some melon and a yogurt for pud.

Today JJ had a slice of cold fritata and some toast for lunch but didn't eat a great deal (perhaps the rice cakes dady gave him before lunch had something to do with it!). For tea tonight we had pork and apple sausages, mash peas broccoli and cauliflower with a pear to follow. He loved it - mash always goes down well and the peas were very popular. He learnt today to hold a quarter f pear in one hand and tear pieces off to eat with the other.

Mushroom risotto

JJ had a lie in this morning until 7.30 this morning which is a minor miracle!! I work on Wednesdays so I missed his breakfast but I am told it was the usual.

Lunch was french bread, chicken (lots of), blueberries, and other yummies.

I made a mushroom risotto for tea and JJ loved it. He ate a big bowl full with some bread and had another Frube and some fruit for pudding.

I forgot to mention that he has also had a big top tooth and another bottom tooth come through in the last week.

Tagine

JJ trying to share his breakfast with the boy in the mirror

JJ and his daddy!

Monday JJ had oatibix for breakfast and a few grapes.

He had Homemade veggie soup for lunch - I took out the veggies and he had them in his bowl but I kept the liquid seperate and dunked his bread in it for him - he's good with his bowl now but not ready for soup! He seemed to enjoy it. He also had some fruit and a chunk of cheese.

For tea we had lamb tagine and cous cous. He loves this meal and ate quite a bit. I also made a rice pudding and he ate this too along woth grapes (yep he has a bit of a thing for them at the min!)



Today JJ had a mixture of weetabix and oatibix for breakfast.



For lunch he had philly on toast, a banana and a frube! Never had one before - he refused to hold it prefering instead to open his mouth at me and make a noise like a baby bird so I would squeeze it in!



Tea was roast chicken, jacket potatoes, salad, french bread, more rice puding and a fair few blueberries. Yum!

Well, due to sheer laziness, being busy, working extra I have been very poor on the blogging front! My wrists are slapped and I will try harder!

On the food front JJ has been eating well. He has had pasta, sausage and mash, fish pie, blueberry mouse, bluberries mixed with yogurts and lots of grapes! Nothing ground breaking but all enjoyed!

I am very proud of JJ's eating as a few of his friends are going through fussy stages, refusing spoons etc. It is lovely watching him thoroughly enjoy his food and getting messy! Although I am under no illusions that he will be off his food again soon and I shall be cursing his eating! Such is life!

Today JJ had 2 weetabix for breakfast, cheese omlette and sweetpotato for lunch (we went to get a Sunday dinner but everywhere was ful and JJ was in no mood for waiting!) and some philly on toast, cherry tomatoes and yogurt for tea. He also had a fair few snacks during our shopping trip!

Hope you all have a great and safe bonfire night!

Weekend at Nanna and Grandad's

Did I say recently JJ was less messy now?!

On Saturday JJ had usual breakfast, avocado and sardines on toast and a scrummy veg and lentil curry with rice for tea. He also had a yogurt and thoroughly enjoyed licking the pot as you can tell by the photos!





On Sunday we travelled back to the coast to visit family for a couple of days. We set off after JJ's usual weetabix and banana breakfast. When we arrived we had a lovely Sunday Roast which, as always, JJ gobbled up.





For tea on Sunday he had egg sandwiches and some yogurt.





Today we were at JJ's other Granny and Grnadad's house to meet his baby cousin Grace (who is gorgeous!). He had Shredded Wheat (a mountain of) and a banana for breakfast and another egg sandwich for lunch with some grapes and cheese.


We travelled home in the afternoon and he had a quick tea of pasta with veggies, cream cheese and pesto. He was VERY slow eating it and didn't eat a huge amount. I did make 2 apples worth of cinnamon apples as I fancied some but he ended uo eating it all!





I am really hoping he figures out to get up an hour later now the clocks have changed!

Lasagne with friends

JJ had the usual breakfast and had cheesy beans on toast for his lunch. He really likes beans! (we get the low sugar and salt variety which taste surprisingly normal!).

For tea we had lasagne and some friends came over. JJ enjoyed his but was a bit put off by other children being at the table. He also took twice as long to eat his as everybody else (despite the fact that I know he can eat quicker - he just likes to take his time!). He had some banana and custard for pudding followed by even more lasagne!

JJ's absolute favourite things at the minute are:
Dancing - he loves it - he bends one knee and points the opposite hand in the air raver style! So cute - wil try to get a video.
Chasing a ball - he bashes it all over the floor and follows it giggling to himself.
Boxes - putting things in and emptying boxes
Books - can't get enough of turning the pages!

Jambalaya!

It was weetabix for breakfast and some croissant then JJ had smoked mackerel and cream cheese on toast for lunch. He didin't seem overly hungry though.

For tea he joined us in Jambalaya (a spicy rice dish with chicken and chorizo). It is mine and dh's favourite but we haven't given it to JJ before as it is a bit spicy but tonight he gobbled up a whole bowlful without much mess and seemed to really enjoy it. He had some bread with it and yogurt for pudding. Yum!

Moussaka

Who needs hair gel when you have moussaka!


JJ had banana ready break for breakfast today and really enjoyed it.


Lunch was his favourite - egg mayonaise sandwiches and cherry tomatoes. He loved them as usual but once again took ages to eat his lunch.


For tea JJ had something new - moussaka. He seemed to enjoy it and got very orange! He also had a whole cinnamon apple.

His top tooth is very nearly through so I hope it doesn't put him off his food when it makes an appearance.

JJ eating his egg sandwiches....

Mushroom pasta

JJ had weetabix and a crumpet for breakfast (couldn't give him 2 weetabix as we ran out of milk!).

For lunch he had a cheesy pitta - but it was possbly the longest lunch ever - took him a whole hour to eat one pitta and a banana.

For tea he wolfed down a bowl of mushroom pasta and had a yogurt for pud. He seemed to really enjoy his food today.