Our Baby Size Life!

Posts Tagged ‘Food’

The chair...

During the week, our routine is pretty standard: get home from work, get in the house, get some food in our bellies, get Sam in a bath and get him into bed.  It’s not always that straight forward, we do throw in some good old on-the-floor playin’ around time, but that’s the gist of it. And while we go through this daily grind, Sam has pretty much been nice enough to play on his own and let us prepare supper undisturbed… unless we forget to give him his cheese!  This kids loves the mozzarella and he knows when it’s time for it.  We have barely all shuffled through the front door and Sammy-pants B lines right for the kitchen to stand at the counter where we cut his cheese.  He also has a little plastic bowl that he goes and fishes out of his toy pile and gives it to the cheese-cutter. Then an impatient finger points into the bowl expecting his snack. Naturally, to keep the peace with his grumbling belly, we comply and drop in about a dozen little cubes for him to munch on. Sam likes a quiet meal, so he used to look around for someplace to sit while eating, usually in front of the sink or fridge, because he has to see what we are doing in the kitchen. But sitting in front of the sink or fridge is a recipe for toddler trouble.  So, the we bought him the chair.

Sam likes his chair.

We place it near us in the kitchen and when he gets his dairy payment to leave us alone for a bit, he grabs his bowl and heads for the chair. At first,

Just sittin', eatin' cheese...

we needed to pick him up and sit him down on it.  But Sam wasn’t going to take this pampering any longer; he wanted to do it himself!  Now I don’t have a video of this yet, but when I do I’ll throw it up here.  It’s the funniest thing to see.  He walks up to the chair, stops about two feet away, turns around so his back is to the chair and slowly walks backwards until his heels hit the chair.   Now, his reversing isn’t very good yet because he doesn’t look back at where his going; he looks up at you with a smile like he’s saying “Hey, check me out! I’m backing up man!” When his heels hit a part of the chair, his butt drops… And so does the bowl of cheese cubes! He’s missed the chair and cheese goes flying! We still find these little, hard and dried up cheese cubes under sofas and furniture across the house! He does manage to wedge his cheeks on the chair properly after a couple of tries. He then sits down with a smile and a new bowlful of cheese to watch us get his supper ready.

Hey! Get off my Dads grass!!!

On some evenings, maybe it’s the food were preparing or the pre-dinner conversation that bores him, he picks up his chair and puts it at the front door of the house!  Our front door has a big glass window inset, so he just loves looking out onto the world while scarfing his mozza.  He’s our very own little old man, guard person.  He yelps when he sees a dog or cat, and talks out loud when people walk by. He’s even knocked on the glass to get people’s attention, and when he does, they usually wave to him which is all he needs to flash back his cute little smile.  It’s pretty neat as a parent to see your child grow up and be so aware of his surroundings.  While Sam can only speak about five words, he understands a whole lot more!  And yet, when he does something an adult would do, we are surprised. Not through doubt that he’d never do the things he does, just astonishment at the fact that this little guy, only a year before, couldn’t even roll over.  Now he’s yelling at people to get off my grass!   Clearly, he’s letting us get to know him a little more every day, quirks and all, which is great! He makes us laugh cause not only does he do funny things like this, but he knows they are funny and laughs with us. My kind of guy!

Don’t forget to laugh folks! Have a great weekend… cause Sam may be watching YOU!

Checkin' out the neighborhood.

Well, whomever said that parenting was an ever learning state of being hit the freakin’ nail on the head. Another little nugget of information concerning babies and their digestive systems has just acquired some real estate in my ever expanding parental brain. Here’s the situation: Sam has developed a little cough over the past couple days, and last night it got a little… well… wetter. You know what I mean, he’s got some snotty action going on in there now.

So, Melissa and I figure a cold has set in and we proceed to clean out his nose before giving him his pre-bedtime bottle, which is one of the favorite moments of my day. Sam and I settle into the comfy rocking chair in his room, I dim the lights, throw on a little sleepy-time music and plug the kid into his dairy fix. Bliss folks… pure bliss. That went well, the problem came afterward. Just as Sam was finishing his bottle and I was easing him off to La-La Land, Melissa sticks her head in the door way and reminds me to give him some Tempra infant cold medicine before he falls asleep. Ah Mommy to the rescue! Insensitive and uncaring Dad would’ve put little Sammy to bed all stuffed up and snorting boogers all night. Well, no, of course I would not have done that, but Mommy was right as it would help him sleep.

So up we get, away from the warm and friendly confines of the rocking chair to Sam’s crib where I lay him down. Sam immediately sits up, then stands up gripping the edge of the crib. Great! He’s more awake now and he’s vertical which should make giving him the medicine a little easier. Turns out, it just gave him greater range. Let me explain…

So I kneel in front of him and wrap one arm around his body as the other hand feeds him the meds. I had barely twisted the cap on the medicine bottle when some very warm fluid soaked my shirt. Puke! Not wanting to drop Sam, I call for Melissa to come and give me a hand, which turned out to be a good call, because Sammy-boy wasn’t done. The second and bigger projectile-like wave hit the crib railing, my left arm, his mattress, the crib bars and finally dripped down on his carpet. Super fun vomit party! Sam’s head didn’t spin, so we didn’t all a young priest and an old priest…

Sparing you some of the details (like pea and carrot chunks), everything was covered in a nice pinkish liquid, due to the fact that the milk and Tempra, a red colored cold medicine, had mixed… And the smell…whoo baby! I think I prefer the foul odor of a full diaper sitting in the hot sun. Melissa took Sam and cleaned him up as I worked on the room. After we got done, Sam fell asleep right away. Poor little guy was up way past his bedtime! Despite his rosé reflux, he slept great!

Dad, on the other hand, felt a little guilty about making his son behave like a super model on a diet, but now I know the rule not to mix red and white applies to kids too!

…and knowing is half the battle!

I know this post is long over due, but I figured I’d tell you about our Thanksgiving anyways, because we ended up in the hospital again!  Man, when it rains it pours!  I hadn’t been in a hospital in years, almost decades, and now it happens three times in a two month period!  So, with the American Thanksgiving right around the corner, I figured I’d sneak this post in now, while it’s got some relevance. My bro has some nice pics from that great Thanksgiving day, but I don’t have them with me now. It’s a bummer, but I’ll try and post ‘em later on.  We had some great family fun as my sis and her family made the drive up from Toronto.  My bro was there with his daughter and his new girlfriend and , of course, my parents were there… well we were all in their house.  So, yeah, it makes sense they be there…

Saturday was a busy day, we all had some fun on my Wii (Rock Band and Boom Blox), we played some street hockey in which my nephews once again felt the unforgiving wrath of their Uncle John as he totally and systematically destroyed their defense and piled on the goals without mercy.  I won (again) 53 to 38, and they were two on one! Yeah, I know I’m good, but what can I say… I’m a natural…  What? How old? Why they are 13 and 11… but that doesn’t mean anything! Have you seen kids nowadays?!?  They’re HUGE. My oldest nephew wears bigger sized shoes than I do! And you know what they say about a man with big feet… They wear BIG shoes! Let’s keep it clean folks!

So everything was going typically well, it was around 11 pm when things went south. My sis and brother-in-law were packing up the minivan to head back early the next day while everyone else was playing some cards and winding down after another great meal. Kudos to Mom and Dad who outdid themselves again! Check out some of the yummy food they laid out:

Mmmm... Look at that turkey. It was as good as it looks!	My plate...or I should say, one of my plates!
Apple, Cherry and Pumpkin pies!	Rollie-Pollies, a decadent recipe made of pie crust and brown sugar!

Colby, their dog, was out with my bro-in-law while he packed the car, when suddenly Colby bolts out towards the street after a couple strangers that were out taking a walk.  My bro-in-law reacted and spun to chase after the dog… but didn’t see the traveling bag he had placed on the ground.  He ended up landing hard on his left shoulder.  We walks into the kitchen, clutching his arm saying he can’t feel his fingers and arm, but his shoulder is in intense pain.

Luckily, my bro’s new girlfriend used to be a nurse and checked him out.  She thought we should get to a hospital to make sure everything was OK as she thought that his arm or shoulder could be broken!  So off we go, my Dad, my bro-in-law and me to the local hospital on Thanksgiving night, it being close to midnight.  We arrived at the hospital around 15 past midnight, and after a series of quick examinations followed by a couple hours waiting time, they recommended he get X-rays.  So we had to wait for the X-ray technician.  It was now 3 am. He got his X-rays and hobbled back to his waiting room for the doctor to give his diagnosis on the X-rays taken.  That took another 2 hours.  It was now 5 am.

Finally, the doctor came back and explained the situation to my bro-in-law:  his shoulder was broken… in two places!  No wonder he was in pain!  The doctor then advised him to go home and relax until they got into contact with a surgeon to evaluate how to proceed.  The problem was my bro-in-law had one clean fracture and another fracture that had detached a tendon.  They weren’t sure if the fracture would mend and the tendon would fuse back to the bone properly and needed the surgeons opinion.  My bro-in-law explained that he was leaving for Toronto in one hour and would have to pursue the matter when he got home.

And that’s what he did.  We drove home from the hospital and got back to my parents house around 6:30 am on the Sunday.  What an exhausting night.  My Dad and I were completely pooped out.  My bro-in-law, with his arm in a sling, climbed into his packed car with my sis and their two kids, and they left for Toronto.

Mind you, all this happened about a month ago now, so I can update you on his situation.  He was re-evaluated that Sunday afternoon in a Toronto area hospital and they ruled against surgery.  He was, and still is, under observation on a weekly basis.  Both fractures, and the tendon, seem to be healing OK, which is welcome news.  One thing I haven’t told you about my bro-in-law is that his job requires him to be on the road a large amount of the time.  And , yes folks, the day after they got home from the Thanksgiving trip, my crazy, yet dedicated, bro-in-law went on a road trip for his job!  He didn’t drive of course, but still, the guys got guts right?  Snaps his shoulder in two places and he’s out cutting deals with clients less than 48 hours later!

What a guy!  Hats off to you Mr. Bro-in-Law!  And that was our Thanksgiving 2008!

Thanks for reading.

Today our son, Samuel, started eating his first vegetable: Peas!!! He’s been tasting various cereals this past week and a half, and today, we felt he was ready to graduate to his first vegetable. We had a varied choice of veggies to pick from, since Melissa wanted to make the puray herself. So we thought about taking a sweet tasting veggie first, wanting to avoid the turnips of the world, and came up with a final choice of sweet potato or peas. Peas won out because… well they’re peas dammit! Cute, green, nice round shape, sweet… what more could you ask for in a vegetable?!

So in the blender a bunch of frozen peas went, add a little water, hit the button and presto… neon green pea puray! I told myself that when Sammy started eating “solids” that I would taste everything we give him, and I have been. Of the three cereals we’ve fed him (rice, barley and wheat) the wheat cereal was the best. So here I am staring down the barrel at a spoonful of radio-active looking snot , with Melissa looking on expectantly, as I raise the spoon to my lips and taste. “Wow! That’s really pea-y!” I say. But it’s good. It’s a raw, green, earthly taste that I rarely have the pleasure of savoring anymore with all the seasonings, spices and additives (like butter) that we put on our food. Melissa emboldened by my enthusiasm digs in herself and is pleased with the taste, although she wouldn’t eat a bowl full.

The peas have passed the parent test, now it’s time for the big show, the king of the crib, the dude of the diaper…Sam! We strap him into his highchair and remove all his toys from the tray. This is the signal he recognizes that food is on the way. Now by this point he’s already had a bottle, so he’s expecting a cereal since that’s all he’s ever had to this point. Melissa lets me have the honor of Sam’s first veggie feeding, so I load up his spoon with the green paste and send it in towards his expectant mouth at a leisurely pace, gentleman-like, not to rushed. Sam’s ninja defenses immediately perk up, arms and hands waving a complex pattern through the air to intercept any inbound intruders… like my cargo heavy, green-glowing spoon. Even though I’m only still a rookie spoon pilot, I deftly avoid his co-ordinated hand swipes and drop the spoon’s payload right into his mouth like Luke running the Death-Star trench. I pull the spoon up and away quickly, awaiting the look on Sam’s face… and we get this:

A happy smile and a “gimme some more!!!” look! Well, I guess we’ll have to give him some turnip to see those funny baby reaction faces. Maybe next week! Here’s a couple more shots from the feeding… and yes, it kind of got a little messy… but none of it was my fault I assure you!

Besides, as you can see, he was having a lot of fun! After his meal, Sam decided to kick back in his spaghetti pillow, do some reading and chew on a little after dinner “Q”… Ahhh the baby life!

Meanwhile, Dad finished the peas!

Thanks for reading!

Hey Everyone!  It took a little longer than I had thought to get this second post up, but we’re just having so much darn fun!   And I have to write this one quick because we’re on our way out check out and old lighthouse in the town of Cape May.  Just make for some nice pics!  Plus, for the ladies, the are plenty of little dinky deco shops and stuff, so that will keep ‘em happy too!

Here are a few more pics, as you can guess, our daily routine has been beach & boardwalk.  We’ve been doing that for about 4 days now, but don’t blame us for lack of originality, it’s the weather’s fault!  We’ve had nothing but beautiful clear sky and cool ocean breezes since we’ve been here!  I love it, Melissa love’s it and, of course, Sammy-Pants loves it!  Meghan gave Sam that nickname, Sammy-Pants, and I’m not sure why, Sam hasn’t worn any pants since we’ve been here!

There is a theme park here called Morey’s Pier, it consists of three huge peers that stretch off onto the beach.  It’s like a six flags amusement park: tons of rides, tons of food and tons of those games that look easy so you try them then quickly realize you got screwed and are stuck standing there looking like a dolt who just spent 24$ to get a little plush toy that disintegrates the minute it hits water…

But we’re having a blast!  Between all the sea shells and crab hunting and sand castle making and breaking and the weird food testing (like fried Oreo`s and dipping dots ice cream of the future) there’s always something to keep us entertained.

So I’d better go, we got a day of historical exploring to do… before we hit the beach again!

Man I love that salty air!!!

The weekend is upon us! The possibilities are endless on a Friday night…well for people without kids . So if you’re stuck at home this post is for you! Those who are young and free, go choke on all that fresh air your getting Seriously though, if your planning a movie night or watching the big game (GO HABS GO!) this is a great little chip dip recipe to really get your taste buds goin’ wild.

The recipe is from my brother-in-law Bill (first from the left, top row of blog header) and is best served with plain ruffles chips. Lays will do if your in a pinch, but ruffles have got a nice thickness which allows for solid dipping with no breakage, and the ripples on the surface of the chip which maximize the dip adhesion factor when dipping. Yes I am that passionate about my chip & dip!

Get the recipe here, and try not to eat the whole bowl you porkers

For today’s post, I wanted to let you all know about a cool store in LaPrairie (a city about 5 minutes from Montreal). Its called Chez Bon-Bon and its and old fashioned candy store! This place is amazing, I’m almost 30 years old but I go at least once a week, and since I’ve been on paternity leave, I think its more like twice a week! This place sells candy, chocolate, fudge, ice cream in the summer and even antiques all year round. They make gift packs and gift certificates, well they have so much stuff you have to see it to really take everything in. This place is basically heaven for me

Just take a look at that picture above! How can you not like this place and its only 5 minutes from my house too! We’ve brought all our nieces and nephews, even the neighbors two boys, there and its fun to see their eyes light up as they step through the front door. What is so very cool about this place is that you pick and choose whatever candy you like, with prices starting as low as 25 cents for 9 pieces of candy… how can you go wrong! With over 100 types of candy and chocolate products, this place has everything you might want. It has all the candy from when we were kids like ‘chocolate tools/babies’, Fun Dip, Popeye shredded bubble gum, black liquorice pipes and even home made ‘lune de miel’s!!!

Below is a sampling of what was left of a FULL bag of candies after Melissa and I got through it. So if you want to fall back into your childhood for a little while, we recommend stopping by Chez Bon-Bon in LaPrairie just for the experience, even if you’re not a sugar hound like me Click here to see how to get there!