Hey lovelies, I hope you’re all warm and well.
Guilty of neglecting my little blog recently. Just can never find the time, but it’s something I wanna get back into for sure! Thought I would share some baby meal ideas with you as cooking and experimenting with food has been something I’m enjoying more and more.

Since Oliver started weaning back in December 2019, I found myself cooking a lot more. I spend hours and hours researching recipes and meal ideas on Instagram. He’s such a great little eater and everyone always tells me his meals look yummy, so why not share some baby meal ideas we use often. Mainly lunch and dinner ideas here today as Oliver has cereal and fruit most days and I think most parents struggle more with lunch & dinner ideas. Hopefully you see something to make. Let me know if you do, would love to hear how your little ones have got on.
Lets get cracking then shall we?

Lamb Chili with rice & Avo

Super tasty and packed full of veggies! I make a big batch up and freeze portions to stash. Lamb mince for a different little taste but annoyingly it’s quite expensive. Beef mince works fine tho too.
Fry up some onions and garlic, then add the mince and brown it. Throw in all the veggies you like. I add carrot, sweetcorn, peas and tomatoes. Drain and add some kidney beans, then stir in a can of chopped tomatoes. Mix up a sachet of chili seasoning with water. Add enough to cover the mixture and let simmer for 20 mins to reduce down. Mean while boil some rice, smash some avocado and bam, dinners ready in just over half hour.

Omelette pizza with beans

This is like Oliver’s little cheat meal. He absolutely loves beans and they go so well with an omelette pizza. So quick and easy to make too!
Whisk and egg together with some pepper and a tiny bit of cheese. Pour the mixture in an hot oiled pan (like you would a pancake) and let cook for a few minuets. Flip it over and start building your pizza. I add a tablespoon of tomato puree for the base and then add cheese and veggies. You can pretty much add what you like and disguise all the veggies with cheese and meats. Let the cheese melt and the underside cook then cut into bite size pieces. How simple! Perfect for when you just don’t feel like cooking.

Sweet potato nuggets.

Oliver and I are big fans of sweet potato, but apart from mash I didn’t really know what else to do with them. After browsing the gram, I came across sweet potato nuggets and thought it was genius. Not to much effort goes into these either which is a winner from me!

Pop two sweet potatoes into the oven to bake for around an hour (don’t forget to pierce them first). Once cooked, leave to cool then remove the skin. Scoop out the potato and give it a mash, then shape into balls and squash them. Whisk and egg and a dash of milk together in a bowl and set aside. It’ll be used as a glue later on. Toast some wholemeal bread and blend to create the crumbs. Dip the potato nuggets into the egg then roll them in the bread crumbs. Once the nugs are done, pop them in the oven for 10-15 mins to crisp up. Et voila, super tasty nuggets. I serve mine with steamed veg sticks.

Cheesy salmon pasta

Anyone who knows me well, knows how I feel about fish. Before Oliver, I couldn’t even touch it. Look at me now making salmon pasta, who’d have thought it. Another super easy meal tho.
Wrap a salmon fillet in foil and bake in the oven for around 15 mins. Boil up some pasta (we use rigatoni and twists because they’re easy to hold) While it’s cooking it’s time to make the sauce. Add a heaped table spoon of butter to a hot pan and stir together a little plain flour. Gradually pour in milk and stir continuously until it starts to thicken. Then add loads of cheese and stir stir stir! Keep the sauce on a low heat to prevent it burning.
Once it’s all done, flake the salmon into the sauce then pour over the pasta.

Classic egg and soldiers

A family favourite in most households? Certainly is here. Oliver and Shane have this together of a morning at the weekends, but it can be done for an easy quick and easy lunch. I tend to boil my eggs for 4 and a half mins to get a nice dippy yolk. Slice up some toasty soldiers and you’re good to go.

So, that concludes my baby meal ideas. Hopefully it was of some use. If you’d like more leave me a comment below and I’ll happily post some more meal inspiration for you.
Is there anything you make that I should give a try?

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Baby sensory review ||| Little fawn box review

Kisses and Love
Jazziepickles
xoxo

Hey lovelies, I hope you’re all warm and well!
December already and Christmas is almost here. Where the hell has this year gone? With spending half the year pregnant and the other half looking after Oliver, I feel like my blog has been pushed on the back burner and I hardly ever get the time to sit down and write. Oliver is napping now, so I’m taking full advantage to bring you a review of a new subscription box. Little fawn box is a monthly box filled with products for mum and baby! Delivered to your door every month. I was kindly sent over the December box to test and review, and I’ll let you know how I get on with it. Now, lets dive into the products!

Products for mum!

Decembers box had 3 full size products for mummy, which I thought was very generous. I received a bottle of gradual tan, A festive berry shade of nail polish and a gorgeous scented bath bomb!  Three great products for a little pamper session! Bath bombs are a lovely way to relax in the bath and before I even unwrapped it, I knew I’d be a fan. Admittidly, I’m not one of these girls who tans but my Aunt will make great use of this. The nail polish is a gorgeous deep red colour. Perfect for the festive season!

Products for baby!

Before ordering, I was asked how old my baby was. This ensures that you get age appropriate toys in your box. Great idea. Oliver was lucky and received a lovely little nursery rhyme book. He’s starting to appreciate books more now and this was a lovely addition to his collection! The other product for baby was a box of plastic links! We love these for attaching toy to sear seats, play mat and the pram. Oliver actually likes playing with them on their own too. They have different colours and textures on, great for baby development as well as being practical.

More about Little fawn box

You can get your hands on a little fawn box for just £12.99 a month. Great value for the amount you get in the box! You can also subscribe for a few months at a time and delivery is then free! Gift vouchers are also available. Lovely way to discover new products and allow yourself a little bit of time out. Would make such a nice gift for anyone with little children, would really recommend checking them out.
Thanks to Little fawn box for sending me your lovely December box. We love it.

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Baby sensory experience || Our morning routine

Thanks for being here
Kisses and Love
Jazziepickles
xoxo

Hey lovelies, Hope you’re all warm and well.
We’ve been going to a baby group called “baby sensory” since the middle of august when Oliver was just 8 weeks old. I wanted to share with you how we found our first term, what we learnt and if we’ll be returning back next term. Hopefully you enjoy this baby sensory review.

So what is baby sensory?

A weekly session run by a trained leader covering all areas of baby development. Focusing on sensory exploration, different activities are planned each week to stimulate the senses and develop their ever growing skills. With a different topic each week the sessions  consider the baby and parent needs. The class runs from newborn to 13 months, after this there’s a toddler sense class.

Our first session.

Initially, I was worried that Oliver was too young to understand and appreciate the classes. He was only 8 weeks when we joined and I was a little apprehensive. This was our first baby group. Wasn’t sure what to expect or how Oliver would react. The first session we attended was actually being covered by one of my neighbours which was funny. It was nice to see a familiar face. The group started with a lovely little song called “Say hello to the sun” (which we now listen to in the car when Oliver kicks off). Parents are encourage to sing along and sign to their babies. I am not the best at baby sign but I picked it up fairly quickly. After this the activities started. We looked at reflections in mirrors, explored high contrast flash cards, had a puppet show with lights and music and explored different textures/shapes. When we were half way through the session, there was a little break. This is so that babies don’t experience sensory overload. It’s also a great way to meet new mum friends, feed or change your little one.

The first term.

We enjoyed our taster session so much that we signed Oliver up for the term.  My worries of him being too young seemed so silly now because there was lots of little babies and he was seemed fascinated by everything. The topics this term were music and action, teletubbies, India, weather, water and and end of term party (as pictured above). Typically  Oliver slept through teletubbies week and the baby pumpkin party, the two session I was looking forward too. He loves looking at the light up toys when it’s dark, exploring different fabrics (the kid loves holding material) and parachute games. Sometimes activities include me singing or dancing with him which I thought I would find embarrassing but it was fine because I wasn’t the only one and nobody is even looking at me.
Stand out moments for me would be India week. We actually did this session at another group but Oliver loved all the music, sounds and smells.

Does it benefit parents too?

I now know much more Baby sign! With my job I knew the basics like food, colour, a song or two and the alphabet but I have extended my knowledge on signing and can sign more relevant words to baby. Baby sensory has actually made ME more confident in new social situations, something which I found a little daunting before. I got chatting to some other mummies and it’s nice to have adult interaction haha. Also, I have such a better understanding of baby development and how I can help support my little mans learning at home. Although I worked with children for 6 years now, my experience with little babies was minimal. I’m much more better equipped with knowledge to help Oliver and I love that (should also be beneficial when I return to work). Also picked up some great little stretches to do with Oliver that I do once or twice a day with him now to help strengthen his muscles, he finds them hilarious.

Are we returning?

Yes we are. Oliver gains so much from baby sensory. He doesn’t have siblings so until he goes to nursery next year it’s fab for his social skills. He gains so much from the sessions and so do I. I love our little group, everyone is so friendly and our class leader Sam is wonderful. We love baby sensor and if there is a class near you I would really recommend trying it out.

That’s pretty much the end of my Baby sensory review. If you wanna find out more, have a look on their website. Hopefully you found this useful.
Let me know if you go to baby sensory with your little one below.
Are there any other baby groups you’d recommend?

Kisses and Love
Jazziepickles
xoxo

 

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Our morning routine (4 months) || Newborn must haves (0-3months)

Hey Lovelies, Hope you’re all warm and well!
Now that Oliver is the grand old age of 4 months old, he’s finally fallen into his own little routine. I thought I would share our morning routine because it’s my favourite time of the day. We haven’t forced a routine, we just followed his lead and we’ve got the morning down now. It’s not perfect, nor is it like this every morning but it’s just a rough insight into the average morning with a 4 month old baby.

 

8.00am – Oliver wakes up singing and smiling away around this time. It’s a great way to be woken up, his little happy face sets me up for the day. He sleeps through the night so is usually fairly hungry. I pop downstairs to make his milk and then we get cosy in bed. He guzzles down his bottle and then we have a burp and a snuggle.

8.30am – Nappy change and a wipe wash. After his milk, I change his nappy and give him a good wipe over. He likes to hold a clean nappy or muslin while I do this. I talk to him about the what we’re going to do for the day and he babbles back to me. He always has a lot to say in the morning.

8.45am – Play time. We spend time in Oliver’s room playing, singing and reading. Usually he goes on the play mat for a while, kicks and bashes some toys around while chatting away. Once he gets restless on there he does some tummy time. Either in front of a mirror, with his tummy time book (I really recommend this) or just a few toys in front of him.

9.30am – At this time Oliver starts to get a bit grumpy. We go downstairs and Oliver has a bounce in his chair. He’s quite happy in their for a while so this is when I tend to grab breakfast.

9.45 – Nap time. Although he hasn’t been up long, Oliver needs a nap after about 2 hours in the morning. He naps for about half hour in his bouncy chair and I either play on the playstation or do a few jobs around the house.

10.30- Nappy change. This is the time I usually get him dressed for the day too. We have another little play. Most of Oliver,s toys are downstairs so we either make music with his bell shakers, look in mirrors, read a little book or bash some rattles together. Sometimes I will put him on his tummy depending on his mood.

11.00- Another milk. Bottle number 2 of the day, followed by snuggles on the sofa. If we’re going out for the day it tends to be after the second bottle (except for Wednesday when we have baby sensory at 1.45).

11.45- The start of the ‘fussy hour’. Anytime from here to 1pm is usually the fussy period. He doesn’t want anything particular and fusses a lot. Tends to be calmed by being held and bounced around (usually by daddy). Once he’s calm, he’ll take his dummy and drop of to sleep slowly.

So that’s a little look into our morning. Like I said at the start, mornings are my favourite time of day. I’m in no doubt our morning routine will change in a month or two when we start introducing solid food and he becomes more active. We’re quite flexible and laid back with routine so I don’t mind. We’re still trying to master evening routine but once we have, I’ll share that with you and also how we got to that point.
In the mean time if there’s anything you wanna see from me, leave suggestions in the comment box and I will do my best,
Thanks for being here

Kisses and Love
Jazziepickles
xoxo

 

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Newborn must haves || Baby development tips

Hey lovelies, I hope you’re all warm and well.
Before I start this post, I just want to point out that I am not slamming or shaming anyone for how they choose to feed their baby. I genuinely believe “Fed is best”. As long as your baby is being fed and is growing well, that’s all that matters. I just wanted to create a post on the pressure around breast feeding and share my thoughts/experience.

It begins during pregnancy.

For me, the pressure around breast feeding began during my pregnancy. It was something I really wanted to do. Midwives and doctors speak to you about breast feeding from quite early on. You’re given advice and leaflets on breast feeding ante natal groups. They actively encourage you to make the decision on feeding your baby before they’re born. But not once did anyone speak to me about formula, bottles, expressing or combination feeding.

Looking back now I was so adamant I was going to breast feed. I watched hours and hours of videos on how to boost your supply, getting the perfect latch, the science behind milk your body produces, the lot. Formula feeding never even crossed my mind, it never seemed like an option because everything around feeding you hear from the professionals you see is about breast feeding. I’m not saying that’s completely wrong, I just think other options should be explored too. Especially with first time mums like myself.

[Read more…]