And on the Menu Tonight ``Quinoa Stuffed Peppers``

I decided that I want to start a food journal. Why you may ask. Just cause I feel like it. I bought this new cook book called `Cook Yourself Thin`. It`s based on a tv show on Food Network. It takes everyday favorite recipes and swaps out ingredients, making the dish less fat and less calories. You`re supposed to lose a dress size in 6 weeks. Its a way to make changes in your diet by not actually dieting. We`ll see if it works. Here is whats on the menu for supper tonight. It is stuffed peppers. They are supposed to be stuffed with whole wheat orzo. As I couldnt find whole wheat orzo, I swapped it with Quinoa, which I thought was a healthier alternative. There is also sauteed onions, garlic and zucchini. Then there are fresh tomatos and chopped olives. I decided to add a few breadcrumbs ontop and a sprinkle of parmesan. Now all I have to do is bake them for 25 minutes, until the peppers soften. They look delicious, lets see if they are!

Ni -xox-

5th day and loving it?......not really!

Today is the fifth day that Luca has rice cereal for breakfast. And as you can see by this picture, he`s not loving it. After a few bites though, it gets better. But those first spoonfuls....Yucky! I`m being persistent though. It seems like everyday there is a little improvement. Technically I can switch him cereals now. The trial period is 3-5 days to see if there is an allergic reaction. Looks like we`re good with rice. I will keep giving him the rice for maybe another week. The reason being is that I have a whole box of the stuff. It would be a waste (even though most of the bowlful goes down the drain, as he only eats a few bites). Next venture...Oat cereal.

Ni -xox-

Baby's First Bus Ride

We are invited for supper at my parent's house tonight. I decided that I wanted to go spend the day. So I took Luca for his first bus ride. At first I was trying to figure out the logistics of it all. Stroller? Car seat? Diaper bag? Snugli? Winter sucks! LOL! First of all, the stroller was left in the trunk of the car....so no stroller available. The car seat would be too heavy to carry all the way. Forget the car seat. Then I realized that Luca doesn't have anything warm enough to wear outside. I usually have him in his car seat in his bundleme, which is very warm. Then I remembered that I had received two one piece snow suits from a neighbor. They are size 6 months and are both HUGE on him, but hey it was better than nothing. So I threw one in the washer and dryer and we were ready to go.

I tried putting him in the Snugli, which I figured would be the easiest thing for me to carry him in while I also carried all his luggage (babies come with so many bags!). But of course, with his snow suit on, he was too big to put in the snugli. In the end I decided (quickly because the bus was passing in 2 minutes) to just carry everything in my arms, including baby! Not the easiest task, but I did it. Luca seemed mesmorized by the bus. He was looking around very curiously. Its really not a long bus ride to my parents house, maybe 5 minutes. Then once we got off the bus, another 5 minutes walking. He seemed to have enjoyed the whole experience. The fresh air did him some good too. The excercise did ME some good. My arms were shaking for 10 minutes after we arrived and unloaded everything. So, another first for my little one. Seems like a lot of firsts lately!

Ni -xox-

Exersaucer...How fun!!!

On Sunday at Luca's 5 months, we went over to my brother's house for supper. While we were waiting for supper to be ready, we put Luca in his cousin Lucy's exersaucer to see if he would hold up. He loved it. There was lots to see and chew on. The only thing is, because he's such a little boy, he doesn't fill the seat, so he leans forward. That's OK though. He had fun. Also, he couldn't reach everything with his mouth and of course since he loves to chew on everything, he got a little frustrated. Again, that's OK. Overall it was a good experience. I will soon be setting his up. As he grows bigger he will enjoy it more and more.

Ni -xox-

First Spoon

Today Luca turns 5 months old. How time flies by. He`s almost half a year.....I cant believe it. I decided that he was ready to start eating food. I read that babies show signs of being ready when they stare at your plate, or watch you eat or grab for your food. Lately, everytime we`re eating at the table and we put Luca in his highchair, he just sits there very quietly and concentrated and stares at our mouths. He even opens his mouth everytime we open ours. Its super cute. So today was the big day. We started with rice cereal, because thats whats recommended for the first feeding, as its very rare for a baby to be allergic to rice. The first feeding is only supposed to be a tablespoon.

So we sat him in his highchair and got the cereal ready (and of course the camera), and gave him his first bite....and guess what? He hates it! LOL! He totally gagged on it. Poor baby. I felt bad. I guess its a normal reaction when babies are used to just drinking milk. Having something with a little more consistency could be weird. I gave him a couple of spoonfuls and by the end he was still making a grossed out face, but at least he wasnt gagging. I will keep trying every morning. I mean, he HAS to get used to food at some point. Cant live on mamma`s milk forever. Although i`m sure if it was up to him he would! hehe.

That was our little experience today. New steps as he gets older. It`s fun and scary at the same time. But like anything, a little time and he`ll be an expert.

Well, I hear him stirring awake from his nap. Gotta go feed him.

Ni -xox-

Luca's Baptism

On January 30, 2011, Luca was baptised at Holy Name of Jesus Parish. It turned out to be a very nice day. After the church ceremony, we all went to Meridiana restaurant. The food was delicious and everyone had a good time.

Of course my favorite part of any special occassion is planning. I decided to make my own bonbonnieras. We had started the tradition of making food-type bonbonnieras at my engagment party. My dad had made pots of delicious jam! Ever since then, every occassion that calls for a party favor, food was on the menu. I find it so much more practical then another little figurine or plate for the kitchen. Those things are nice, but if you go to many parties, you end up with so many things that you dont have space for. Food however, you eat and its over. No worries about places to store, no worries about already having one the same, and most of all, it's YUMMY! So for the baptism, I wanted to do the same thing. For weeks before I was searching online for ideas. I came up with a million of course. What to choose!?!?!

I kept coming back to a picture of this delicious looking caramel sauce. Finally, I decided to stop looking and just go with that idea. In the end I made one pot of homemade caramel sauce and one of chocolate sauce. They turned out sooooooo good. I've tried them both warmed up and drizzled over vanilla ice cream. To die for. You can even drizzle over cake or pancakes....or if you really wanted to, with a spoon right out of the jar. Hehe! I need to give a shout out to my mom for wrapping them! They're so pretty. And also my dad for helping me with the actual sauces! So here is a picture of the final product.

Cute huh??? It was a lot of work....but worth it in the end. I had fun making them.

I also have to give a shout out to my dad for the beautiful cake he made (with a broken right arm mind you!). It was simple but elegant. Perfect for the occassion. And of course it was soooooooo amazingly delicious, you cant even understand unless you taste it. It was layer upon layer of pure yummyness!

Aint it purdy! And how good does it look. My mouth is watering just looking at it.



And the star of the day, my little Luca. What a cutie. He was such a good boy all day. For his outfit, I didnt want the traditional dress (actually I wouldnt have minded, but its not really in style anymore I think). I was looking at the little suits that I've seen all the little boys wearing, but I wasnt convinced. He's only 4 months old and he's so little. Those suits have too many pieces and the poor kids are always untucked and its so annoying. They're so little, they should be comfortable. I went with a knit one piece outfit. It was so cute and appropriate for winter. He was so comfy in it. Check it out.

How cute is this hat!!!



Here is a picture of all of us

 So that sums up our day at Luca's baptism. It was a wonderful day.

Laters,

Ni -xox-

Party Planning

My cousin is having a baby and I decided to throw her a baby shower. It is her second baby, but this time it`s a girl. Finally a girl in the family (well on my husband`s side). I love party planning. It`s so much fun choosing a theme and really getting creative. I`ve been searching for original baby shower themes and came up with `Vintage Baby`. I love the imagery and colors that the theme entails. It`s so pretty and elegant. I think this will be perfect for this baby shower. I`m planning the shower with another cousin and hope she likes what I have come up.

This gets me thinking. I really would like to party plan. Nothing huge, but things like baby showers. wedding showers, kids birthday parties, etc. Do you think people would pay for someone to plan parties such as these? Who knows. Would you?

Ni -xox-

How Cute Are These!?!?!

I dont know why, but I love owls. They`re so cute!! I found these adorable handmade Owl pillows that I think are adorable. I think they would add a nice touch to a child`s room and they look very comfy for cuddling. I especially like the owl mobile. If I had a little girl, I would definately hang that over her bed.

Etsy- Stuffed Toy Owl Pillow - Colored Polka Dot
 

Etsy-Stuffed Toy Owl Pillow - Blue Stars

Etsy-Owl Mobile - Pink & Green Polka Dot


Ni -xox-

Sleeping

Lately the nights have been pretty awesome. Luca is on a very nice schedule. This weekend I feel like I caught up on some sleep. Friday night, we went to bed at 10:30pm and Luca only woke up at 3am to eat and then again at 6am. Not too bad. Last night he went to bed at 10:30pm, woke up at 3am and then 7am and then fell asleep again and only woke up at 8:45am. He stayed in his basinette until 9:15ish just talking and playing, until he got fed up. Pretty good!!! Lets hope he keeps this schedule.

There was one night last week that he woke up every 2 hours to eat. I was soooooooooo tired I couldnt stay awake during his feedings. LOL! I guess he was having a bit of a growth spurt.

He still sleeps in his basinette next to our bed. Until he starts doing his full nights without eating, I think its just easier for me to have him beside me. Its going to be so hard to transition him to his room. I think more for me than him. I always joke saying that I'm going to end up sleeping on a matress on the floor in his room. hehe! It's going to be interesting, thats for sure. I guess we'll see when the time comes. I'm lucky that he's a petite baby, so he'll fit in his basinette longer. Fewf for me! :o)

Ni

Feeding Dilemmas and Accomplishments

Until now I`ve been exclusively breastfeeding. With the occassional bottle of pumped breastmilk. It was no easy feat to get Luca to drink from a bottle. I had bought a whole bunch of glass bottles for the obvious reasons. Glass is better. However, he totally hated those bottles and gagged. I felt so bad. So then I tried the Nuk bottles, as I got one free in the mail for signing up to Nestle . At first he took the bottle. The very next day I tried again and he wanted nothing to do with it. So again I went to the store and bought a different bottle. Tommy Tippee brand from Babies`r`us. Finally I found a bottle that he was ok with. Or so I thought. He drank from the bottle several times and then I guess it was my fault for waiting a long period of time before trying again and once again, he hated it. Ugh! Not that I was bottle feeding him often. It was just in case I needed to leave him somewhere for longer than one feeding.

The other weekend, we had a wedding to go to and Luca was going to have his first night away from us. I left him with my parents. I was really nervous that he wouldnt take a bottle and my mom would have a hard time and we could end up coming home. So I left a collection of bottles with my mom, every bottle I had, a dropper, and a sippy cup. Off we went to the wedding and I was so panicked. At around 9pm, my cell rang and it was my mom. I was sure that she was going to say that I needed to come home because the baby was freaking out and he wont eat. However, to my suprise, he was fine and ate. Apperantly at first my mom had tried a bunch of different things and he wouldnt eat, so she waited and hour and tried the Nuk bottle and he guzzled the whole thing. Fewf! Success and relief. He was such a good boy that night. He drank all his bottles no problem.

I didnt want to make the same mistake that I had made with the other bottles, so now I give him one bottle every other day. He`s an expert now and actually gets excited when he sees the bottle. Cutie!

Now that we had the bottle thing down, I wanted to try formula. I had received a free tin of Nestle goodstart formula in the mail. So I kept trying and putting a few drops on Luca`s lips and he would make such a grossed out face. My baby seems to be picky! Hehe! So my mom bought the already prepared Similac formula. I was sceptical, but decided to try it. I filled the bottle to the top, and guess what....no faces, no fuss, he drank every last drop of the 5oz. I was shocked. One, that he liked it, and two that he ate 5 oz! Good job. So now I feel happy that I have all alternatives in case I cannot breastfeed. I didnt want to be stuck in case of an emergency or god forbid for some reason my body stops producing milk.

I wonder if people think of these things. If you dont intriduce your baby to a bottle at some point, he might not like it. Until it happened to me, I never in a million years thought that a baby would be fussy with a bottle and different nipples, etc. I figured, babies will drink from a bottle...it`s what they do. Boy was I wrong. Who knows, maybe its just my baby who`s picky. All good....at least I persisted and ended with success.

Food will be coming soon. In a month or two! That should be interesting!

Ni

Lots has Changed

I`m really bad at keeping these journals up to date. Ah well! I`m going to try and keep up from now on. So LOTS has changed since I last wrote. I dont even know where to start. I guess I could start with some sad news. In January 2009 I got pregnant. Fun right?? Its what I wanted so badly. Well it was. Everything was going fairly well and then at 17 weeks my water broke. Yeah I know....Crazy huh? I was at work to top it off. I rushed to the hospital in a panic, praying everything would be ok. To make a long story short, the baby could not develop its lungs without the amniotic fluid. So we had to terminate the pregnancy. On April 30, 2009 I was induced. After 15 hours of intense labor, on May 1st, I gave birth to a tiny little baby boy. I sat there with his lifeless little body in my arms and cried. I cried for our loss. I cried that this poor little baby didnt even get a chance at life. I cried because more than anything I wanted him to be alive. Alas, we had to say goodbye and tuck away the memory of his short little existence in the depths of our hearts.

Meanwhile, we had plans on May 3rd to leave on a 3 weeks Europe trip. We decided that after our tragedy, we should still take the trip. It ended up being the best thing we could`ve done. We went to Paris, Venice and Marseilles. It was a wonderful trip. I`m glad we decided to go. It made dealing with our loss much easier. I couldnt picture myself just sitting at home in misery.

Fastforward to December 2009, I`m pregnant again. Yay....and scary! Well, this time I wasnt going to take any chances of this not working again. Every precaution was taken. I had doctor appointments every 2 weeks. I also had weekly injections of progesterone which is known to hold pregnancies. Anyways, it was a pretty crazy pregnancy, considering I was seeing a doctor every week for 41 weeks! Everything this time went fairly well. A few minor complications. I was put on non-strict bed rest at 25 weeks. I didnt really have to stay in bed, but I wasnt allowed to walk a whole lot. A couple of scares at the emergency room. *sigh* Yup! Exhausting. So many precautions because we thought this baby would be born premature, but the little bugger showed us all differently and decided to come a whole week late. I was exactly 41 weeks pregnant when I went into labor. The labor was quite intense, as labor tends to be. It`s not called labor for nothing my friends. So 18 hours later, on September 20, 2010 @ 6:01am, weighing 7lbs 14oz, our little Luca Gabriel was born. We were so in love. He was perfect. I couldnt believe he was finally here and he was mine. Its such an amazing feeling. You always hear that it is, but when it actually happens to you, it`s surreal. Especially because of what happened with the last pregnancy, it was finally my turn to be happy. I cant even explain the emotion that I felt and that I still feel when I think of that whole day.

Here we are 4 months later and I`m still so in love with my little baby. He`s such a joy. So happy and smiley. Its funny that he`s only been here 4 months, yet it feels like he`s always been in my life. I guess thats how it usually feels with good life changes.

Well, thats whats been happening in my life lately. I`m all about baby these days!

Thats it for now!

Ni