first taste of tuna

We've been meaning to give Naomi tuna for a while but never really got around to it. I don't like fish of any description so DH knows I won't kiss him if he's been eating it lol! DS liked it as a small child and then went off it completely which was a bit of a pain because tuna, pasta, sweetcorn seems to be every Mum's standby dish! He does still eat ordinary fish - salmon, haddock etc., just not tinned so I will forgive him.

Today the weather was so nice we went to Wellington Country Park just over the Hampshire border and had lunch there too. We bought a ham & cheese sandwich and a tuna one for DH to share with Naomi and the reaction was just fab. On the first mouthful you could see her mulling it over, knowing it was different to the piece with cheese she had just eaten. But after that there was no stopping her! She's also getting really proficient at using her cup (piccie from earlier in the week)

For dinner she had an omelette with some leftover chicken, broccoli, peas, sweetcorn & tomato. We were having spaghetti bolognaise which she just won't countenance!

I know this is a blog mostly about food but had to share some more piccies from today. I should point out that the teacake was MINE and I did get to eat virtually all of it!

went to the pub again

People will think we are terrible parents, taking our kids to the pub quite a bit. But I just love the freedom of being able to take the children out knowing that there will be something good that we can feed them. We've recently discovered a nice pub not too far away - regular readers will remember the post about taking the kids for roast lamb when DH was away for the weekend. So because he worked yesterday, when he normally doesn't on Friday, and we are still being decorated, we decided to be decadent.

I had chicken breast in an asparagus, bacon & cream sauce with crushed new potatoes and seasonal veg (leek, carrot, courgette). So that was Naomi sorted really well. She was loving it ALL. And Dh had gammon ham, egg & chips so we gave her some of his ham too. She didn't get the lemon tart or Luke's strawberry ice-cream though. I didn't get that carried away!

She's still munching porridge for breakfast and a sandwich of some kind for her lunch.

been eating food

Apologies to my regular readers that I've not been up to date this week! Luke was 4 on Monday and his party was the Saturday. So I've been very busy making a haunted castle cake and having 15 children run my house ragged! He had a fantastic time, which was lovely, but it left little free moments for anything else. We are also having our kitchen/diner decorated. Got fed up with bare plaster after only 15 months of looking at it ha ha.

Well, as the title says, Naomi continues to eat. She is growing out of some of her clothes at an enormous rate because of her little fat tummy & her big cloth nappied bum. But since she has started to walk this week if you hold her hands (woohoo AT LAST!) maybe that will change! Her balance is really good standing so maybe she won't end up being later than average after all, she'll just skip the crawling.

Must really try and vary her diet. We are due a Tesco order so I will look for different veg. Leeks maybe, I think they might work since she eats broccoli fine! And she really likes parsnip. Still goes mad for a carrot though, her eyesight had better be good.

We had lovely roast lamb on Sunday which she and Luke just completely demolished. But I need to make more baby pies & quiches as she's had those over the last few days also. The decorating means we are eating in the playroom and can't really cook much until M has finished and he likes to knock off around 5.30pm which is late for my two to eat. But he's doing a fantastic job and will be onto the downstairs cloakroom at the end of tomorrow so I can have my kitchen back!


Have been trying to get a decent piccy of my two for ages and completely failed but here is the best I can do!

baked potatoes

Yes, that old standby! Well it was Dh in charge because he came home a little early so I could have some 'me' time and get my hair cut. Luke has his birthday party on Saturday so not only do I want to look nice for that but it means no chance of doing it at the weekend.

So baked tatties it was. We all love them so its not a problem. OK, so sausages aren't the best thing but we have organic ones for Naomi so they are better than some. And she only has one with lots of veg. Still can't get her to consider baked beans. Wonder if its a texture thing, like mince?

I had the bright idea of mashing up some blackberries in her porridge this morning. I bought them as ANOTHER fruit to try and she wasn't that keen, even though they are lovely and sweet. But, as I thought, she ate them mixed in with something else so will try them in yogurt next time. She happily eats Petit Filous but I want, as I did with ds, to move her onto fruit & natural yogurt in the not too distant future as its better for her and more variable.

Little piggy also had 24oz of formula today because Luke didn't want porridge and as I make up her bottles the night before, it was ready made to hand. So she had 6oz on her breakfast and her normal 3x6oz. Despite having a cold that, this evening, made drinking difficult for the first time that I can remember. Hope it doesn't develop into anything worse. Her nose has been running for about 2 weeks(!) but we'd put that down to teething...... watch this space.

more more more

of the same, but, hey, she's eating! DH was running late from work as he took the morning off so I could go somewhere without the children. So we had quiche & wedges. AGAIN I hear you cry but Naomi loves them. In fact she ate TWO of the mini ones I make for her along with the veg. She's got such a little podgy tummy with all this noshing she is doing.

But a number of people who haven't seen her for a while have commented that she's looking bigger and that her face has filled out - its always been rather slender - so that's good. She IS growing!

We had pancakes for breakfast and gave her slices off the edge before they were smothered in syrup and despite having eaten 1.5 weetabix she happily scoffed the lot. They are very yummy, Daddy has perfected the recipe!

is feeding going to get easier - BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

Woohoo! Naomi is no longer a gummy bear! Yes, tooth number 1 has FINALLY broken the surface. Luke was 1 day short of 11 months when he cut his first tooth, and incidentally, ate his first finger food(!) so I've not been too surprised that Naomi has taken a while. She is 9 months and 18 days today. But she has been showing signs of teething since she was only 3 months old. And I can see lots of teeth in her gums waiting in the wings, particularly the top two at the front, you can see their shapes really really clearly.

So its through, very easily in fact!, so hopefully she will be as good a teether as her brother who cut 3 of his 4 back molars without my knowing. I just opened his mouth one day and there they were. They also say that the longer they take to start coming through the stronger they are and the longer they last. We shall see! Luke is 4 and his teeth are very healthy. This he gets from his dad's side of the family (I have awful teeth) so I'm hoping Naomi will follow suit.

But whether her eating will get any easier I don't know? Might have to wait until she has the top 4 and they stop food really shooting out! Having waited 11 months to start Luke then cut the first 10 in the next 6 months. So we'll just have to wait and see. A lovely present for Mothering Sunday.

roast roast roast

Like her big brother (and her parents ha ha) Naomi absolutely loves a roast dinner. This is good because they are easy to cook and you can have leftovers of meat for the following few days. I find that this meat is so much more tender than, say, a chicken breast. So we all get to indulge.

And today we didn't even have to cook it ourselves! We went to see DH's sister as she had a second son a month ago and we've not been able to see him yet because we were all so ill. Her husband had cooked absolutely yummy yummy roast pork which went down very well. I had talked about BLW to my SIL before but they'd not seen it in action. There were we all munching and so was Naomi at the corner of the table, pork in one hand, roast potato in another and she'd have had her nose down in the waiting carrot if she'd had half a chance. It was so lovely.

She's been ravenous all day, this growth spurt is just going on and on and on. But, as DH pointed out, she's been ill for so much of the last few weeks she had a lot to catch up on.

party party party

More porridge for breakfast, getting a bit of a pattern here! But its so good for the children and no wheat which, given how much she likes a sandwich I do worry about. And we can get fruit into it so we win on all fronts!

Luke had been invited to a 4th birthday party today so we all schlepped over to Bushey and had a great time. It was at a soft play centre so Naomi sat in the ball pit and bashed them together. It had a netting structure for the sides and she thought it was hilarious that we threw the balls against Daddy who was peering in from the other side! Not that I let her have the party food as they had chips, fishfingers & pizza followed by very chocolately cake (which was VERY yummy but don't tell her!). So she had more hummous sandwiches, a petit filous and some banana.

But if that wasn't enough, tonight she ate a whole 2-egg omelette, at least half of a fruit pot and some more banana. In fact DH said he stopped feeding her because he was afraid she'd eaten too much. And she STILL had a 7oz bottle before bed. Long may the growth spurt continue. There was a baby at the party today who was born 2 weeks after Naomi and she was much bigger. But then she was being fed the traditional way. And the more I read and see about BLW, the more I see that babies regulate their own intake and I have to trust this. Its just that I'm slightly taller than average and my husband and brother are very tall so I'd like her to have some height too. Ho hum. All in the genes and I can do zilch about them!

hollow legs?......

I swear my daughter must have hollow legs. Or, more likely, an ever expanding tummy & thighs. Hope she doesn't blame it on me when she's a teenager if she still has them lol.

Huge amount of porridge & fruit puree disappeared for breakfast and only 2 hrs later she drank 7oz of milk! Lunch was a hummous and tomato sandwich on brown bread. We try not to give her too much brown as it fills children up too quickly but neither do we want them to eat all white. She had 2 whole slices with filling and then more melon. She ate more of it than yesterday, very proud of using her little fork!

Dinner was salmon with her daddy & brother. I don't like fish so I had honey & mustard chicken, but she was wolfing it down. It was only her 2nd try of salmon and she was a bit ambivalent last time but she often is about new things. Accompanied by the *usual* carrot, broccoli & potato. Sigh, we're not very adventurous poor love. But her first tooth is definitely on the way, I can really see it in the gum. And that's going to change a lot of things for the better I'm sure.

new tastes!

Well both kids are now eating us out of house and home! I really hope Naomi is growing lengthwise as well as a chubby tummy and thighs lol ! We'll get her measured in April when she next sees the paediatrician. She ate one and a half weetabix for breakfast with added banana. There was me telling Daddy to persevere as the bowl wasn't empty and I know how much porridge she gets through and he said 'its her second one'. Wow.

Following on from someone's advice I bought a melon yesterday and we gave her some after lunch. Much to my surprise, given her opinions on fruit, she was very keen. We gave her a little moon shape and she tried to eat the skin bit so then we cut it off that and put it onto her fork. She is so proud of eating like a proper person. So will try more tomorrow.

And then, tonight, DH had cooked chinese chicken with noodles. He cooked her veg separately just in case but the chicken came out of the wok and she ate four large strips. The noodles were funny though, she shook them as if they were a worm and she a bird ha ha! So we twirled them like you would spaghetti and this gave her a much better purchase on them with her gums. Her front bottom tooth is definitely coming though so who knows where we will be when it does. She also ate some mushroom for the first time and that was a big hit too. Yahay!

food *glorious* food

Oh to be able to employ a chef! I just hate it when mid-afternoon rolls round and thoughts turn to dinner. Quite why I hate it so much I don't know but it would be glorious to have a good looking man [ ;-) ] present me with a menu and then cook my choice from it. What bliss.

Ah well, dream over! Another good day today though. More porridge than usual for breakfast, she'll be having as much as her big brother at this rate. With lots of banana mashed into it.

For lunch I remembered, hurrah, that she will eat grated cheese & apple sandwiches - great way to sneak in some fresh fruit! - so she ate two slices of bread with this as the filling. And then a Petit Filous yogurt. Did some googling because on Naomi's birth board a little while ago there was an outcry about yogurts that contain cochineal. Some people didn't know what it was and then found out. And I've been a bit concerned that PF contains locust bean gum. But this turns out to be something you tap out of a carob tree. Phew.

I'd been shopping this afternoon for bits and pieces so in a fit of despair and frustration I cooked them fresh pasta ravioli. Since I meant to make my own and hugely failed last month. This had bacon & chicken for a filling and I gave Luke some tomato sauce but Naomi had hers naked. She usually has a problem with pasta but once I trimmed off the spare corners she did really really well. I was amazed. She had it with the traditional broccoli and carrot - memo to self, MUST find some more vegetables that she will eat.

She was pretty full after that but had some apple & blueberry jar for pudding. I do beat myself up regularly about not making my own fruit puree anymore but I remember a friend whose daughter would not eat any main course jar, even in an emergency. Therefore, she said, that seeing as she had to cook all that for her, she wasn't going to get despondent about jars of pudding. I am trying to do the same. And they do such lovely combinations. You could use the apple one as sauce to go with roast pork ha ha.

going great guns!

I really don't want to tempt fate by posting ha ha but Naomi has eaten really well the last two days. Long may it continue! She is having either weetabix or porridge for breakfast, with added fruit, and she will happily accept this off a spoon, funny minx. As she slept through again the last two nights I conclude that she is very hungry and so not in any mood to be difficult.

Lunch is very much sandwich based. I really need to find some new ideas otherwise she's in danger of having 3 wheat meals a day, which I really tried to avoid with Luke. But she's anti so much fruit and veg that its difficult. We do have a wide variety of spreads/fillings though. Today she had ham and Port Salut cheese which she, like the rest of us, absolutely adores!

We had quiche for dinner last night with home-made wedges & veg so I gave her one of the ones I made specially. Its so cute to see her with a slice of that in one hand and half a potato in the other.

Tonight we were having lasagne. She doesn't much care for the texture of mince but did consent to eat a couple of spoonfuls so that's a result. Before I put the mustard in the cheese sauce I put some to one side for her so she had a kind of vegetable fondue medley with gnocchi on the side.

And she still polished off 3 bottles as well today. The last 2 days she's dropped her afternoon bottle because of her sleeping pattern when out and about but we were back to normal so she's had 3x6oz. I'm not surprised she weighed 17lbs 14.5oz (8.12kg) when the Health Visitor came today. She has a right chubby tummy on her! If it carries on I'm going to have to go up to 12-18 month clothes for the waist room.

we went to visit the pub today.........

Well, seeing as how DH was having a boys' night away and they were all going to the pub for lunch I decided we would too. We had roast lamb and it really shows how great BLW can be. No spooning puree into Naomi in between cold mouthfuls of my own dinner where possible. She just sat there as pleased as punch eating whatever I gave her. Unfortunately the highchair didn't have a tray and was the wrong height for the table but she managed great and not too much mess on the floor!

So roast lamb, roast potato, carrot and cauliflower. At one point I had some lined up on the edge of the plate to cool and when I next looked up from cutting up ds's meat, the nearest bit of meat had gone. Cheeky monkey had lent over and helped herself coz I was obviously being too slow!!!!!!

She was very interested in my lemon & raspberry tart, despite having had most of a fruit pot for her own dessert. Her sign for 'more' was very much in evidence. Thankfully the merest lick was enough and I got to finish it in peace, it was very very yummy!

more more more!

Despite having a cold and, AT LAST, seemingly cutting one or more teeth, Naomi has been eating really well the last few days and continuing to sleep through the night bar one of the last five. Hooray!

DH is away overnight tonight so it had to be something simple. Roll out the fishfingers! I really should get around to making my own when I make up the next batch of mini pies & quiches and am in a cooky mood. So it was Mr Tesco who have now removed the hydrogenated vegetable fat (trans fat) from all their own brand products. Excellent! I usually peel off the batter anyway but now it doesn't matter if she gets a little bit. She also ate some broccoli, some carrots that I remembered to steam for much longer(!) and one and a half large home made potato wedges. Followed by Petit Filous and an 8oz bottle at bedtime. What a chubby tummy she will have ha ha.

But its so good to see her eating! And DH said she didn't eat much breakfast so she was probably making up for that. She had a huge sandwich for lunch and a lot more banana than I've seen her eat in a while.

normal service is resumed!

I know I haven't posted for absolutely ages! We've all been ill, me the most - 10 days in bed unable to sleep or eat. So its been very ad hoc and I really couldn't tell you what Naomi has been eating coz I've been so out of it.

But we are all nicely on the mend. Naomi has even slept through the last 3 nights, woohoo! Had a big success at the weekend with a lamb casserole. Went and bought proper neck of lamb chops from the butcher and tried to make it like my dad does. So just root veg, no pepper or mushrooms or weird stuff like that. And it was so yummy! Twice cooked for extra flavour and so you can remove much of the lamb fat, the meat was just falling apart. Made it very very easy for Naomi and she really liked the sweetness of very soft carrot. And her first peas!

So she's had 2 lots of lamb this week as there was only a small amount of leftovers. She's also continuing to munch her way through the mini pies and quiches that I made. We had spaghetti bolognaise but not only can she not manage pasta - we often use gnocchi - she really doesn't like the texture of mince. Proper meat she's absolutely fine with so I guess we'll just persevere with that and keep trying her on mince from time to time as she gets older.

She also had some strawberries at a friend's house. OK, so most of it went on her trousers! but I can quite see that when she finally has some teeth to chew them with they could be a big hit. Maybe she's taking after me, I'm much more of a summer fruit & berries person.