First Porridge

I'm finally able to cook porridge for J that is soft enough for her.

Yes!!

*throws confetti*

My past few attempts include pretty awful porridge that are too hard for her to chew on.

I end up eating all of it.

It is baaaaaad....

This time round I learnt to soak the grains of brown rice before I start cooking it.

It says on the packet that pre-soaking is not required but I guess that's when you want the brown rice to turn out fluffy and not soggy.

I also made sure to add in lots of water so it doesn't dry up before the porridge gets cooked.

45 minutes on the stove and I get spinach porridge that J is able to eat!

I ever told my mum, "You know, when J is interested in feeding herself I'm just going to let her do it. Mess is inevitable. I'll just clean up. No biggie!"

Well, J hasn't shown interest to self feed yet, but I did end up with porridge smeared all over her high chair, porridge on my dining table, porridge all over her I had to bathe her again.

And the floor got all sticky from the porridge I had to mop it, again.

I've underestimated the amount of cleaning I've got to do.

That's when I realise...

Well, wasn't quite expecting that.

Pumpkin Purée

After what seems like a long time, we are finally starting J on foods other than rice cereals.

She loves the brown rice cereal and would gobble it up with delight.

Apple purée, not so much.

We tried it the last time and all she does was to hold it in her mouth and spit it out when I send in the next mouthful.

Well played, baby.

Since apple purée could be possibly sour and I have no idea how to "pick out the sweet ones", we attempted the pumpkin purée today. Certainly sweet.

At least this is decent after being mashed up. No oxidation and the colours look great.

I love how simple it is.

1. Slice pumpkin into small pieces.

2. Steam for about 20 minutes.

3. Put into bowl and flatten with spoon.

4. Voila! Pumpkin purée! 

Easy peasy!

J's verdict:

We started with a tiny bit of pumpkin purée and this was how J responded.

*cringe*

*chew*

* a small bit of pumpkin purée exits her mouth*

I tried to 'conceal' it in the rice cereal, which, by the way, was a feeble attempt because she.could.totally.taste.the.pumpkin.

Okay... I added a little too much pumpkin.

J took longer than usual to finish up the 'rice cereal' and by the looks of how she cringes with each mouthful, I know he could taste the pumpkin. She didn't resist it by refusing to eat. She just wasn't as enthusiastic about it.

Can we consider the first purée she ever tried a success? 

Thank you very much :)

How about I dig your nose?

Lil' J is a messy eater.
I'm pretty sure most babies are.

She chomps down her rice cereal clean during dinners but it's the complete opposite for lunches.
During lunch, the rice cereal gets onto...
the parenting station,
her arms,
my arms,
her legs,
sometimes mine too,
occasionally her forehead,
and...
right into her NOSE.

And she hates it when I clean her face.

No matter how hard I try to clean her, some bits of rice cereal choose to harden and hang out happily in her nostrils. I probably shouldn't, but I use my fingers to pull it away, sometimes.


So that day while the husband was cuddling Lil' J, he noticed that her nose was dirty.

"Ya, I know... She hates it when I try to remove it."

In true Singaporean style, he replied, "Of course lah. I dig your nose see you like or not."

And the house was filled with laughter.

First foods

So, the introduction of semi-solids began when Lil' J turned six months old.
It was easy.
We bought packets of organic rice cereal as her first semi solids.

The sister bought this for Lil' J shortly after she turned four months old.

But I remembered somewhere that semi solids should be introduced only at six months old and not four (why are there two different sets of guidelines?) so I delayed it till Lil' J was 5.5 months old.

She loved the rice cereal.

Then we ran out of Aptamil and we got her the brown rice cereal from Healthy Times which she loves too. So much so that she 'demands' to have it for dinner as well.

Rice cereals are so easy to prepare.
Just add formula milk or hot water. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

But, I can't be feeding her only rice cereal all the time.

I got to introduce Lil' J to some other foods, right?

So the husband went ahead and got a hand blender over the weekend.
Ah... I love the blue and white.

Hi, Mr Oliver!

I hope that you will help me work some magic in the kitchen so that I can prepare the most delicious purees for my baby, ok?

I really do need some magic because my first apple puree was a flop.
I steamed a whole apple, peeled (?! Don't ask me why I didn't cut it up) and cut off a small piece after, to squish it into puree for Lil' J to try.
It didn't look too tasty. You know what oxidisation does to apples.
I ended up with a brown, mushy mess.
Lil' J didn't quite like it.

Just a while ago, I googled 'apple puree' and got this.
Annabel Karmel.
Some friends swear by her book (which I spotted in the bookstore that day. Love the colours!)

There, her apple puree.


Source: www.annabelkarmel.com



How delightful!

I'm going to try my luck again today.
Hopefully it turns out decent!







Little Steps (To improving our health)

While I was pregnant, the husband thought that we should start eating healthy, and start using products that are more 'natural' and 'less toxic'.

I didn't pay much attention to it because I wasn't quite the believer. 

You want to buy organic foods? 

Sure, go ahead! 

But I never once initiated buying or using products that were 'natural', or 'green' or 'healthy' because well, that was never my area of interest.

I did toy with the idea of making some homemade cleaners because I see them so often on Pinterest. AND that is a good excuse to buy some pretty bottles to decorate and have fun with.

*

Then on Friday night I read this blog post while googling on what was the best teething toy to buy for Lil' J. Her current favourite 'teething toy' is my almost-witch-like chin. I don't think that will be a good option after she sprouts her pearlie whites though.

And I found this blog post while googling on Hape toys because they look so attractive and I'm tempted to get some.

And my friend posted this article on Facebook.

AND a Taiwanese TV program was talking about how our common, regular foods can be toxic. (No..! Not cod fish!)

All in one night.
I have to be honest that it was rather overwhelming.
I remembered going to my husband, telling him "The world is so toxic!!!!"

I'm not sure how to react to this, actually.
A part of me wants to clean out the house immediately and replace our current products with homemade, non-toxic ones.
A smaller part of me thinks that's going too far.
I don't want to turn out like a freak but neither would I want to expose Lil' J to all these toxins now that I know they exist.

We are not going to get obsessed but I know we have to try to reduce baby's exposure to these not-so-friendly stuff. I don't want her to look back 20 years later and tell me "Momma, you fed me rubbish and my health suffered."

For now, we are thinking of cutting down on
1. processed food
2. plastics (for foods, at least)
3. chemicals

It is probably not going to be an easy journey since I do not have many like-minded people around me. I know from the comments and looks I got when we started on organic foods earlier (though I didn't quite believe in organic food either. Then.)

We are going to try anyway.
Because it's my baby we are talking about.

A "Momma-Baby" Date

Well, kind of.

A dear friend is on leave today so we decided to have lunch together with her toddler.
I finally ventured halfway across the country (that took only 20 minutes) and managed to have lunch at the much raved about Tim Ho Wan.

We were there pretty early at 11.15am but there was already a queue. Compared to what others have commented on (one-hour waits... three-hour waits), our 30-minute wait seemed short.

I took lousy photos of the food because I was hungry.
And having a cheerful toddler around meant that I was more into playing with her than taking snapshots.
There are only two to commemorate my first visit to Tim Ho Wan, and Baby's first taste of the yummy dim sum.

I'm a satisfied-momma-to-be with our eats today even though I'm not particularly thrilled about their Pan Fried Carrot Cake ($4.50 for 3) and Prawn Dumplings ($5.50 for 4). I think I've eaten better ones.

But these, I like.
THE Baked Bun with BBQ Pork.
One of the four 'Heavenly Kings' in the menu and toddler-approved.
I learnt that each person can only order up to a maximum of 3 pieces of these buns.
It's not like 2 adults and a toddler can finish six of these but we ordered more so that we can 'pack' them home for my poor husband who is still stuck in a meeting, starving, as I'm typing away...

And these, I love.
Beancurd Spring Roll with Shrimp ($5.50 for 3) and Vermicelli Roll with Shrimp ($5.50).

That vermicelli roll... MmmmmMmm...

We also had the Steamed Egg Cake ($3.80 each, one of the four Heavenly Kings and toddler-approved. In fact, toddler loves!) and the Pork Dumpling with Shrimp ($5.00 for 4). Those came late while we were busy feeding my baby-in-tum and her toddler-in-chair, so no snapshots of them.

We walked around the mall with toddler in stroller, holding on to my finger.
My heart melted instantly.
These short four hours, I realised how smart little children are nowadays.
This sweet child is only 15 months and she seemed to understand our conversations perfectly.
She held my heavy water bottle for me and passed it to me when I said I was thirsty and needed a drink. Then she continued holding my bottle for me until it was much, much lighter.
I passed her my bag while she was in her stroller (for fun) and she pushed it away because it was heavy. But when her momma told her that she wasn't to push because I have a baby in tummy, she reached out to grab my bag and held it on my behalf. How smart!

I'm looking forward to more momma-and-baby dates.
This time round, with Baby in my arms. :)
I can't wait for her little hands to hold mine.

Happy Father's Day! + Baby's first durians

I don't know who came up with this but I've been told by numerous people,
"It's the durian season! You should go eat some durian. It's good for the baby!"

So I did.

We went to Fengshan Food Centre (lovingly known as Blk 85) for a simple Father's Day dinner with my family last evening.
I satisfied my cravings for the not-so-healthy food like the satay and chicken wings.
With a bowl of bak chor mee (minced meat noodles).
How can you not have those when you are there?

And even though I didn't get to eat it, I got to smell the or lauh (oyster omelette).
Oh, that feels so so good.
Just a couple more months and I'll be sure to treat myself to one huge plate of or luah.
Minus the oysters.
I only eat the egg and the starch.

And... no meal is complete without the Ah Balling dumplings.
So I shared a bowl with Lil' Sis. In almond milk.
Mmmmm...

***

We went back to the durian stall Mommy and Lil' Sis spotted earlier on and got me the tiniest durian.
The durian-seller must be pretty surprised when we decided that, yes, that's what we want. And that's the only bits we are getting.
That durian is really tiny.
It has only 3 seeds.

Lil' sis rubbed my belly to emphasize that only one person will be eating the durian so three seeds are definitely more than enough.

Durian Uncle got the idea and affirmed that durians + preggie mommies = strong babies.

We paid $6 for this. The uncle says it's a D13, but I really have no idea how to differentiate between the types of durians. It has always been "give-me-any-durian-and-I'll-just-eat-it."

But I must say, this tastes pretty good.
And the smell is not overpowering. It actually gave the house a natural, very pleasant, subtle durian fragrance. Someone should just make a room mist in this scent. Really.

I'm happy just eating it.
And the little princess agrees.
I know because our conversation went like this.

Me (cooing): We just had durian. Do you like the durian, baby?
*tap*
*beams*

Hubby placed his hands over my tumtum.
Me (cooing again): Do you like the durian, baby? Give Daddy a high-five if you like it!
*tap*
*hubby giggles*

So, Baby likes it too!

{Dear Baby} 19 weeks

Dear Baby,

We are seeing an improvement in our diet.
Yay to proper food!

Mommy really appreciates that we are working hard together to fight against the hormones.
You know, those that prevents us from eating wonderful nutritious food?

This past week, you've tried
- Minced meat porridge,
- Soya Chicken noodles,
- Lor Mee,
- Char Kway Teow. and
- Kenny Rogers!

Not exactly super healthy food but way better than snacks and titbits.

Daddy is also starting to chat with you more frequently lately.
Though he likes to start the conversation with "Hello, hello! Daddy here!"

We are really looking forward to seeing you at the next doctor's visit.
Remember to wave!


Smooches and Cuddles,
Mommy