your weekend

I’m going to disappear a bit early for a relaxing weekend. There is nothing like a long summer weekend, right?

I was looking through photos yesterday and got a little teary eyed when I saw this picture of my daughter. She was only 2 months old here – I loved those sleepy days! Where did the time go? I can only imagine how it feels when they become teenagers!

a few more tidbits:

friendship bracelets – I dream of being a 12 year old at camp with my arms covered in these!

I love you J Crew, but who can pull off this look? Even your model looks a bit ridiculous!

if you are looking for some good reading material this weekend, check out the August issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. My husband’s 24 yr old boss, Ben Kaufman, is on the cover!

My new blog discovery this week.

Lucky Photo Booth

A building of hammocks! what a relaxing idea.

How sexy is the outdoor shower in this home?!

Fortune Cookie Coin Purses

One of my favorite homes… in Thailand.

One of my favorite weddings.

One of my guilty pleasures.

If you haven’t seen this video, it is fabulous!

Have a SLEEPY weekend!  xo, shari

forever 21 tops

Rainbow Pancakes

pinksweething.tumblr.com

Everything is more fun when it is rainbow colored, don’t you think? I know my kids would love these cute pancakes. YES, artificial coloring is NOT good for you but I do believe in “everything in moderation!”

Do you have a favorite “fun food” to make for your kids?

P.S. my Rainbow Cupcakes & colorful toast

P.S.S. more Strawberries…I love them!

28 Week Belly Pics

Shari,
I am so excited to be sharing my bump pictures with Spearmint Baby.

In the photos I was 28 weeks pregnant with our first baby. I am due September 27th and feeling great. We are not finding out the gender of our baby as we are really excited about the surprise. We are both so happy to be becoming parents.

These photos were taken at a forest preserve by our house. We also made sure to include our first baby, Maggie, our boxer. You can see more of our photos at homeontheridge.wordpress.com.

Thanks!
–
Sincerely,
Niki

are you EXPECTING?

send a photo/s of yourself (and your BUMP) to Spearmintbaby@gmail.com

feel free to include wks pregnant, boy or girl, 1st/2nd/3rd baby, cravings, and/or something interesting about your pregnancy. we all enjoy reading fun pregnancy details!! if you have a blog, etsy store, or website we would love to give you some link love!

26 Weeks

Hi!
My name is Tahlia, I’m 24, love the spearmint blogs. I am now 26 weeks pregnant with my first baby – SHE is due in October!
…something pregnancy related… how about, I have the WORST memory now that i’m pregnant and am afraid I’ll never recover! I forget to put washing powder in the machine and walk out of the house to leave with a glass of water still in my hand or forget something i was told to do or remember. I have post it notes everywhere! now. I was never like this before. my brain is turning into fluff!
my blog is tahliatales.blogspot.com
best regards
Tahlia

are you EXPECTING?

send a photo/s of yourself (and your BUMP) to Spearmintbaby@gmail.com

feel free to include wks pregnant, boy or girl, 1st/2nd/3rd baby, cravings, and/or something interesting about your pregnancy. we all enjoy reading fun pregnancy details!! if you have a blog, etsy store, or website we would love to give you some link love!

photo of the day

Dear Shari,
This is our beloved son Teodoro, directly from Brazil!
Your blog is soooo cute! Congrats!
–
Xoxoxo
Luciana

do you have a photo you would like featured for “Photo of the Day?”
please email it to spearmintbaby@gmail.com (subject: Photo of the Day)

Alexa Blog Hop 7/28 – 8/3

Grab This Banner:
<a href=”http://www.spearmintbaby.com/category/blog-hop/” _mce_href=”http://www.spearmintbaby.com/category/blog-hop/” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://www.spearmintbaby.com/badges/sb120hop.jpg ” _mce_src=”http://www.spearmintbaby.com/badges/sb120hop.jpg “></a>

if you’ve been participating in our Alexa Blog Hops the past few weeks, you have probably seen a significant improvement in your Alexa rank. if you are a new blogger looking to decrease your Alexa rank & gain new GFC (Google Friend Connect) followers, please participate. Learn more about the Alexa Hop here

here are the rules:
*download the Alexa toolbar
*add your blog name & URL to the linky list below.
*then, follow any blogs on GFC that interest you (be sure to leave a friendly comment on their blog letting them know that you are a new follower so they can follow back!) if you are already a follower of their blog, just leave a comment asking them to visit you for the Alexa hop!
*feel free to grab the Spearmint Baby Blog Hop banner & post on your blog to get new people involved. (the more new people the better!)
* please note that i keep this blog hop open all week so you have plenty of time to visit all of the blogs on the list.

we have a 3 cohosts: Kelly’s Lucky You, Scraps of Life, & Our Family World. Be sure to follow them as well.

***please post a comment if you want me to follow you***

New Baby

Paulo from Juan Francisco Pinedo on Vimeo.

I wanted to share this beautiful video with all of you that are expecting. Your 1st, 2nd, 3rd – the joy a new baby brings is like no other feeling in the world. Good luck & Congratulations!

P.S. best to download Flash if you don’t already have it.

Tips for Little Eaters

Although I doubt that many of you have the same issues that we’ve experienced with Violet, a lot of this can pertain to any kid who is picky with food, dislikes certain tastes, or has issues in general with eating solids, so I hope some of you find it helpful! Here’s what has worked for us:

Tips for Little Eaters:

1. Start with something bland. Violet’s prescription formula is very VERY bland, and we made the mistake of trying to start solids with apples. Let’s just say it was a LOT more flavor that she was used to and it didn’t go well. We went back to the drawing board and tried potatoes instead. Although she still wasn’t thrilled, it went much more smoothly than apples. We then slowly built up to carrots, apples, and so on up the taste ladder.

(Violet is currently eating plums, broccoli*, carrots, blueberries**, potatoes, avocado, prunes, and freeze-dried apples. Why no meat, grains, or dairy? No, we’re not vegans. FPIES kids react least often to fruits and veggies, although we may be trying a meat next.)

*Okay so she just bites it and then spits it out, but it’s progress! **She eats the insides and spits out the skin. I’ll take it.

2. Stick with what works. Once you’ve found a food that gets good reviews (Violet eventually decided she really loved freeze-dried apples and pureed carrots) stick with that for a little while in order to build basic eating skills (chewing, swallowing, and the like) That way they’re not focusing on the taste or texture as much and are really able to just get the basics down.

3. Patience is key. For a long time Violet would put freeze-dried apples in her mouth, but didn’t seem to realize that she was supposed to swallow them. We’d always find little apple bits all over the place, which was frustrating, but we knew we were making progress based on the fact that she wanted to put them in her mouth at all. After a LOT of patience, one day it eventually clicked and she realized that those apples were FOOD and that she was supposed to eat it. That was such a huge milestone – it was the first truly solid thing that she swallowed and that opened up whole new doors for us.

4. Discover your inner model No matter how much you DON’T want to eat prunes or broccoli or freeze-dried apples (which are actually surprisingly good), this one is really important. If you won’t eat it, most likely neither will they. Over exaggerate chewing and swallowing so that your child can observe eating skills and hopefully imitate them.

5. Use peer pressure to your advantage One of our huge breakthroughs came on a day when we went to visit Violet’s babysitter and her kids They were gobbling down Violet’s freeze-dried apples like they were candy, and Violet realized that not only were those things a hot commodity, but also that the other kids WEREN’T SPITTING THEM OUT. It was after that day that we really noticed that she started to chew and swallow. I also will play YouTube videos of other babies and toddlers eating. She really watches and imitates what she sees in the video. This is how we got her to start taking bites of larger bits of food and she also tries to use utensils now as well. Seriously, what did parents do before the internet?! Here are her current favorite videos:

Cute Baby Eating Peas (Good for eating finger foods)

Baby Eating (Good for biting pieces from larger bits of food)

Toddler Eating Strawberries with a Spoon, Very Silly! (Good for using utensils)

We also recently started to take Violet to feeding therapy. We would have started sooner, but it took THREE MONTHS to get in! Here are a few tips that the therapists shared with us:

• Provide your child with at least two preferred and one non-preferred food at each meal
• Limit distractions
• Eat as a family at the table and serve family style at all meals
• Allow your child to help with food preparation and setting of the table (Violet seems to eat more when she sees me chopping up her food for whatever reason)
• Set mealtime routine with breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner
• Allow child to ‘play’ with food and get messy. (This one surprised me as parents are notorious for telling children NOT to play with their food, but apparently studies have shown that children who are allowed to play with their food become better eaters in the long run. Playing with foods has allowed Violet to get used to new textures and to learn that eating is fun and not just a chore. It’s definitely a LOT more work, but it’s working and that’s what matters.)
• Do not hide foods in other foods, ‘trick’ you child into eating a food, or force feed your child. (The idea is to gain your child’s trust. Mostly I place the foods in front of Violet and allow her to decide what she wants to eat and doesn’t want to eat. I model and encourage certain things, but don’t force the issue. Usually she will eventually try everything on her tray.)
• Don’t strap your child into the high chair. (Obviously if you have a very squirmy child and feel that it’s a safety issue, by all means use the straps, but this kind of goes along with the trust thing and making eating fun and not a chore.)

And although this post has gotten (quite) long already, I have one more thing I really want to add. The next time you see a mom feeding her child formula, please don’t judge. I nursed Violet for nine months and would probably have gone longer if it hadn’t been for her GI issues. After months of her reacting to my breast milk and an elimination diet that caused me to lose too much weight, we finally ended up with a prescription formula that has done wonders for my baby girl. She’s like a totally different, much happier and healthier girl now that she is on something that doesn’t irritate her little body. She sleeps better, feels better, and I can’t thank formula companies enough for making these products for kids who need them. You never know for what reasons a mom is scooping powder and shaking up bottles, but know that they are most likely good reasons and that she is doing what is best for her and her family.

Thanks for letting me get up on my soapbox for a minute there. I really, truly hope that this post is helpful to some of you – whether your child is just a picky eater or something more serious.

And if you have any tips for getting your kids to eat solids, I’d love to hear them!