Toddler Meals

I love looking at other blogs for toddler meal ideas. I do my best to give her a big variety of foods and try to give her the same dinner that we are having, modifying it a bit if necessary for spice or texture. I will say that she is a good eater. She likes to feed herself so I have been trying to give her as many finger foods as possible and have started giving her a fork and spoon. I probably should have started giving her utensils awhile ago, even if they ended up on the floor, but oh well, I suppose she won't be heading off to college shoveling food in her mouth with her hands :) Gabriella is mostly vegetarian; not because we decided to have her eat vegetarian, but simply because she doesn't really like meat. She will eat small meatballs occasionally, but doesn't enjoy chicken or turkey. If we are eating meat, I do offer her some but I don't force it. We are lucky in that she loves other sources of protein- she will eat peanut butter, hummus, almost every kind of bean, milk, and cheese. She has had salmon and liked it mixed with pasta and peas. I don't stress out over how much she eats and offer healthy snacks between meals. So if you are looking for ideas as well on what to feed your toddler, here are some things that work for us!

Breakfast:
Toast with peanut butter and banana
Pancakes with fruit
French toast
Muffins (Pinterest is a great source of recipes for a variety of muffins that use vegetables. I have made apple zuchini, apple carrot, and even cinnamon butternut squash)

Lunch:
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich (disclaimer- I know jelly is loaded with sugar. I use just a little bit but just read another idea that suggested using the fruit and veggie kids pouches instead of jelly! I love this idea and will give it a try)
Peanut butter and banana sandwich
Grilled cheese (if we have it, I will put some avocado in as well)
Bread with hummus
Pasta with cheese and veggies
Veggie or bean burgers (I microwave them with a damp paper towel on top to keep them soft)
Bean and cheese quesadilla

On the side she usually has fruit of some sort,  yogurt (I try to use greek for the extra protein), or veggie sticks. Gabriella loves to dip things now so she loves to dip fruit in yogurt or her veggie sticks in hummus.

Dinner:
Again, I try and serve her whatever I make for us. Some of her favorites include pasta (especially tortellini that she can stick her fingers in :)), broccoli or cauliflower with cheese, soft tacos or quesadillas (cut up in tiny pieces), sweet potatoes, butternut squash soup (I do help her with this but give her some bread to hold and dip), lasagna, and pizza. She has had fish, salmon seems to be her favorite, probably because of the mild fish flavor. This week I made a butternut squash and spinach lasagna and she loved it! The recipe is here!

Snacks:
Gabriella eats a huge breakfast and lunch every day so she usually doesn't want a morning snack. She often does have an afternoon snack, and I usually give her fruit, yogurt, hummus, shredded cheese or a cereal bar, depending on what she's had to eat during the day. She gets whole milk in the morning, before nap, and before bed and has water the rest of the day.

Trying new foods with her has been a lot of fun. We have had some misses with lots of head shaking and "no, no, no" but for the most part she's willing to try anything. She usually needs to touch it, push it around, and play with it before tasting, so meal time can be a huge mess, but I think it's worth it to let her try things on her own. I love getting new ideas as well and am constantly searching online, so let me know if you have any favorite recipes that have worked for your kids!!

xo,
Mary

Tuesday Thoughts: Postpartum Depression and the NICU

I wanted to write this post because it is such an important subject to talk about, especially for new moms. I know it's a heavy topic, but it's so very important.  Over the past few years, we have become much more accepting and open about discussing postpartum depression. Celebrities openly discussing their struggles have really helped to make strides in this important topic. Even more recently, there have been a lot of studies out and a lot of articles written not only postpartum depression with NICU parents, but post dramatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Being a NICU mom myself, several people have asked my opinion about these topics recently.

Here's what I know: the birth of your baby should be the best, most wonderful day of your life. Your baby should be placed on your chest, your husband or partner snapping photos that you'll laugh about later because your hair is a mess and your 2 day old makeup is smeared. You should hear that loud cry and breath a sigh of relief knowing that you did it. You just gave birth.

Sadly, for many parents this is not the case. This was not our case. I didn't hold my daughter for 5 days. Gianni didn't get to hold her for 10 days. Even when we did get to hold her, it wasn't on our terms, we couldn't just scoop up our baby and cuddle for hours. It was a well rehearsed dance; in the early days it would take 2 nurses and a respiratory therapist to manuever her PICC line, feeding tube, and ventilator. They would take our 2 pound little baby and gently slide her down my shirt so she was resting in my bra like a little tiny kangaroo. She would curl up and her head would not even reach my neck.

The nurses and doctors that delivered Gabriella didn't clap or say congratulations. They were terrified of everything that had happened like we were. They hugged me and whispered that she was alive and the NICU staff was amazing. Gianni hugged me and was whisked away with the NICU staff and our daughter so he could sign consent forms to resuscitate her. Our parents didn't get to snuggle up to their granddaughter; instead they saw her go flying by with a team of specialists.

In the days and weeks that followed Gabriella's birth, I blamed myself. The reality is that there is nothing that I did or didn't do during my pregnancy that caused her prematurity. But in those NICU days, I felt like I had failed. In my irrational, hormonal mindset, I felt like a horrible mother. I couldn't stay pregnant. Our tiny, sweet girl was struggling to live because of what I thought I couldn't do for her.

There are a few things that helped pull me through. First, Gianni. He stayed up with me in the nights when I would be pumping and crying for the crib that was empty in our house. Just sitting next to me during those late night/early morning hours was more helpful than I  can ever describe. Second, my OB/GYN. She was very patient and had all the time in the world for me to talk about everything I was going through. She is a big supporter of "talk therapy" and spent so much time with me, not only at my 6 week appointment, but would call nearly weekly to check in. Third, the other parents around us in the NICU. We were so lucky that we were surrounded by great families. We would all talk so often and hearing that these other women had the same thoughts and fears as myself truly helped.

So for those who wonder, "can traumatic births really cause PTSD?", I would say yes. Several parents that I know struggled with their child's first birthday because it was the anniversary of such a scary and traumatic day. I can still hear the beeping from the monitors and can still hear the emergency alarms when something was going wrong. We will forever count our blessings because we have a happy outcome; our daughter is healthy, happy, and thriving. Many preemie parents do not.

Getting past PPD isn't a flick of a switch. It is gradual and for many moms, can take months. Looking back, I think I finally felt like myself again once Gabriella was home. And the nervousness and anxiety that came with bringing her home faded over time.

For fellow NICU moms (and dads!), talk to your baby's nurses and doctors if you are feeling overwhelmed or sad. Don't discount your feelings and make time to slow down. The early days in the NICU can be a whirlwind and it is easy to feel lost. Reach out to other preemie parents and lean on your family and friends during the hard days.

Gabriella is now 16 months old and while I may always be jealous that we don't have beautiful "birth" day photos or memories, I think about our story and look at our photos and think, we did it. And after all is said and done, our journey has made us stronger and you know what, our photos are amazingly beautiful :)

xo,
Mary

Five on Friday!

Happy Friday everybody! Let's get right to it, here's five things that we did this week!

1. Cousin love 

We were so excited to be able to spend the day with Sandy and Ben! I haven't seen Ben since January and in just a month he has grown so much! I forgot how much they change from the six-month to seven month mark. He is so expressive, playful, and huge! I am pretty sure he and Gabriella probably weigh the same. They are just about nine months apart, which as babies seems like a huge difference, but the reality is that they will be in the same grade once preschool and kindergarten days are here. This visit was the first time that they actually seems like they were really close in age. They were playing together, "talking" to one another, and we were laughing so hard. 

2. Bottle free!

I wrote about how we were packing away the bottles the other day, but it is official! We are bottle-free! For any of my mom friends who have also washed the million and one parts that come with Dr. Brown's bottles you know how great this is! Gabriella still loves to be cuddled with her morning and night time cups of milk but that's okay; the cuddling can stay :)

3. Meat free recipe 

It's officially Lent which means every Friday is meatless Friday,although we've been trying to do meat free a lot more. It's been a lot of fun trying new recipes and one that I found through Pinterest this week was really good. It is a baked enchilada casserole; the recipe says to use quinoa, but I forgot to buy that so I used brown rice instead. It was really easy to make and you can find it here...

http://damndelicious.net/2014/07/07/quinoa-enchilada-casserole/?m

4. Snow/sledding pictures 

These pictures are two weeks overdue, but I completely forgot to share these pictures! At the beginning of February we finally got snow and we were able to use the sled that Santa brought :) Gabriella was bundled up like the little brother in A Christmas Story, but when she realized that she was getting pulled around the yard she had a blast. 

5. More pigtails 

I can't resist ending this post with more pigtail pictures… They make me laugh so hard!

Have a great weekend!

xo,

Mary

Bottles and pigtails

After the past two weeks, I feel like we have survived a hurricane! I realize that is so overly dramatic, but seriously, having a sick 1 year old is really, really hard. Last year I was over-the-top with my germ prevention; we had a sign on our door requesting no sick visitors, and our entry way was stocked with face masks and hand sanitizer if you made it in :) As I am writing this, I realize I was sort of like the gate keeper from the Wizard of Oz.

 

Little did I know that keeping a tiny, non-mobile, baby healthy is so much easier than keeping a toddler healthy. Everything goes in her mouth. She crawls around and then sticks her hands in her mouth, and she and her friends share toys, drool, and snacks. I try and wipe her hands with wet ones as much as possible but there is only so much you can do. So this year has been the year of coughs, colds, and viruses. We had a second follow up with Gabriella's pediatrician yesterday and they are really happy with how her lungs sound and how she is doing overall. She is eating again, playing again, and pretty much back to herself. Yesterday she went on strike for half the day, refusing to have anything to drink, but we were reassured at her appointment that is totally normal for toddlers to do, especially after getting over respiratory viruses, and as long as she was still eating and still having wet diapers, not to worry. And sure enough, by the evening she was happily drinking water. At the recommendation of our pediatrician though, we decided to try and take advantage of her little protest, and of the fact that we haven't given her milk for a few days to let her stomach settle down, and start her with milk again but only in a sippy cup. I wasn't sure how well it would work because this girl LOVES her morning bottle of milk, but to my surprise, she was so happy to have some milk again this morning, she didn't even care that it wasn't in a bottle! So we ripped the bandaid right off and put the bottles away. It may seem like a little, silly thing, but having her drink milk from a cup, twice today, is huge over here :) I feel so accomplished (how things change haha :))

Bye, bye bottles!

 In other big news around here, Gabriella finally has enough hair for two little pigtails! Bear with me on what we classify as big news, it's been a longggg couple of weeks :) She keeps them in for about 20 minutes max, but that's long enough for me to take a few cute pictures. 

We stayed in and had a quiet and relaxing Valentine's Day. We had waffles for breakfast and Gianni cooked dinner for us on Sunday night. Gabriella was acting fussy most of the day; she was starting to feel better but still not 100%, so I dressed her up in her Valentine's Day dress because let's be honest, kids somehow don't seem as whiny and exhausting when they look cute :)

I finally feel like she is back to healthy today. She's been eating, drinking, and napping well and not nearly as fussy as last week. Fingers crossed that things stay this way! One last laugh for your Tuesday; I got Gabriella dressed today and when we were playing, I realized with the pigtails and bright colored sneakers, she looks like Punky Brewster :)

 

Have a great Tuesday, stay warm and dry if you are getting poured on like us!

xo,

Mary

Five on Friday!

I don't think I could yell TGIF louder if I tried! This week has been a siege; it has been a long week of viruses, hospital visits, and long nights. But as the week is coming to an end, I am fairly certain that we are close to putting this behind us. So here are 5 photos that sum up our week...

1. 

We started the week out with lots of laughs! We got snow last weekend so we brought Gabriella out in her snowsuit… based on the looks she was giving me, I am pretty sure she was not impressed! But we pulled her around on her sled a few times, got lots of good pictures and she ended up happy. 

2. 

Then the cat needed a bath. Don't ask, it is a long story, but I don't think I can remember the last time I have laughed so hard as I did the night I had to watch Gianni try to bathe the cat in the kitchen sink. I was laughing so hard I was crying. 

3. 

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw this photo earlier this week. Gabriella's respiratory virus flared up and on Monday all she wanted to do was lie on the couch with her slippers and the rubber tub stopper. Toddlers are so weird :)

4. 

Unfortunately the virus got worse and we ended up in the emergency room with her in the early morning hours. She was vomiting and wheezing so our pediatrician recommended going in to the hospital. They diagnosed her with a severe virus that just spread through her body. They kept us long enough to make sure her oxygen levels were fine, and she was tolerating some clear Pedialyte. We followed up with her pediatrician who gave us an antibiotic for her ear infection and started her on a nebulizer treatment for the next week or so to help her get past this. 

I was feeling like it was just us, that we were trapped in this little bubble of germs, but after talking to lots of friends and family it seems like viruses this year are crazy! We have family and friends who have been dealing with flus, coughs, colds, stomach issues, rashes and everything in between. I think everyone will breathe a sigh of relief when spring finally arrives!

5. 

And here we are, on Friday, and while it will take a bit more time for her to be 100% better, she is a million times better then a few days ago! Having our smiling girl back is so nice! We will be spending the weekend disinfecting our house, all of the toys, and relaxing on Valentine's Day. 

I hope you have a wonderful long weekend! Happy Valentine's Day!!

xo,

Mary

Five on Friday!

Cheers to another Friday! I'm keeping things light this week with 5 things I never thought I'd say or do before becoming a mom. I started thinking about this after Sandy and I were laughing on the phone this week about Ben becoming quite smart and figuring out how to get his way and get back to sleeping in their room. I was laughing so hard when she said, "I see his little face in the monitor and he stares right into your soul... so of course I can't let him cry because those eyes, so I bring him into our room and just like that, he's quiet and happy and I realize I've been played ". Oh parenthood, you are full of laughs:)

1. Smell her butt in public 

Seriously . I never thought I would do it. But then you are sitting in music class and everyone realizes that someone has um, destroyed their diaper. Or worse, you are innocently pushing your sweet, beautiful baby through Shop Rite and you get the smell and think, "oh sh*t", because that is literally the situation and you left the diaper bag at home so you could carry your cute new bag. Might as well confirm the nightmare by smelling her butt. Sorry Gabs, I promise to stop smelling you one day.

2. Wiping boogers 

Not only do I smell her butt in public, but I've wiped her nose with my bare hand. Why is it the better choice to have snot on my hand than her face? Not sure. 

3. Opening groceries before the register

I swore I would never, ever do this. I imagined myself being totally on top of snacks and my child and she would sit nicely in the cart while we shopped peacefully. Fast forward to real life and it doesn't matter how many snacks she's had, she shrieks and squeals when she sees something she wants in the grocery store. I've opened fruit pouches, puffs, and even a loaf of bread (crazy you say? Yes.) 

4. Share food with Gabriella 

Drool covered, wet, mushy food from her sticky hands is so gross. But when she looks up at me, smiles, and offers to share her lunch, it is so sweet and I can't say no. Parenthood is so gross (in the best way possible:))

5. Sing/dance/act crazy for a laugh 

I can not sing. I can not dance. However, in many a desperate moment, when a meltdown is on the horizon, I have started singing, dancing, twirling, doing anything for a baby laugh. No shame here :) After all, it could be worse; I could have boogers on my hand :)

Have a great Super Bowl weekend!

xo,

Mary

Tuesday thoughts

Since Sunday we have been spoiled rotten with beautiful weather! On Sunday we took full advantage of this weather and went to a playground in town. It was so nice to be outside getting some fresh air especially after last week's cough and cold. It was really the first time we've been to a playground with Gabriella and she absolutely loved it! She went in the swing and went down the slide for the very first time. It was so cute! She was all smiles and we had a blast.

Today Gabriella's exit from the birth to three program became official. Her physical therapist and case coordinator came over and I signed the evaluation that said that she was no longer eligible for services. A year ago I couldn't have imagined that we would be ending this program now. I had just assumed that we would stay with this program all the way until preschool and then continue with special ed through preschool and elementary school. Not because I was pessimistic, but simply the reality of having a micro-preemie is that they are at such a high risk for so many things. To have Gabriella "graduate" from this program after just one year is a true miracle. It really was so emotional; it made it so real that she is healthy and doing so well. I know that may seem weird to say because obviously we are with her every single day and know how well she has done. But just seeing it on paper, reaching this milestone, just hit home. She survived against so many odds, and not only survived but thrived. Something happens when you have a baby in the NICU for a long period of time;  you get so used to hearing everything that is keeping them there, everything that is not going well. Not saying that the staff is negative, but it is simply the reality of being in the NICU. Your baby is in intensive care because they are not healthy enough to be at home. You sort of permanently hold your breath, waiting, praying for good news but ready for bad news. Getting past that feeling has probably been the hardest thing I've had to adjust to this past year. It is so hard not to expect the worst. I remember when Gabriella got her first cold, months after leaving the hospital. I remember thinking, well this is going to be terrible, this will be a horrible virus, she will probably be in the hospital. But of course it wasn't, and she wasn't. It was a simple mild cold that she got past. And slowly those feelings faded. So today, seeing in writing that she is not qualified for therapy, reading that developmentally she is exactly where she should be, took my breath away and made me start crying. Tears of relief, tears of answered prayers, and tears of not believing we made it to this point. I know when you are a parent the stress and worry never ends. I know that we'll have bumps in the road, struggles, and a thousand other worries as parents. But today I felt like the little bit of NICU anxiety and worry that remained finally faded. 

xo,

Mary