Baby fashion-mini Boden

Ocoee is wearing a pair of corduroy overalls from mini Boden, which is now sold at Nordstroms as well as their website. Super cute, warm and fleece lined. Under she has a shirt from cachcach, a friend gave to her at my baby shower and was purchased at Spoiled boutique in anchorage.

In the other picture she is wearing a REI fleece vest, Cherokee leggings from Target, and a onesie from baby gap. The hat is mine from swoop the brand that makes the down puffer skirts. I don't own a skirt but the hat is adorable. Ocoee has a thing for wearing out hats.

Baby fashion is ridiculously fun!

Cheers
J

Big girl-New changes, Montessori bed and stand up diapering

So now that is Ocoee is one year we are beginning a few new parenting practices around the house. The first one is using a Montessori approach to her bedroom. We ditched the crib and placed her mattress on the floor. This gives her freedom to get in and out of bed as she wants within a safe enviroment. The idea is freedom within boundaries. She is a great sleeper and has no desire to be out of her bed....but she is thrilled she can sit on it when in her room. As I sat there with her this morning I thought about how big I felt sitting on this little mattress on the floor and how I was out of scale.....then I realized this is how she must feel with all of our furniture. The next step is to replace our rocking chair with table and chairs that are her size.

There is a great link here to another blog and their approach to Montessori bedroom.

Ocoee also has given up the tray on her high chair and sits at the table without it. We are working on spoon and open cups skills as well.

Since her bed is on the floor she has options of when to get in and out....but her room is completely safe. She has been sleeping and no problems so far. The philosophy is, "Never do for a child what they can fail to do for themselves." Even failure in a safe environment leads to learning.

We are also doing stand up diapering which we read about here. The idea is simple. You change diapers while the child stands up. You talk about pee or poop so they learn the difference. You only use the bathroom at home so they begin to associate that with going to pee or poo. You show them how to flush and let them participate in getting wipes. It is the first step towards potty training. It has been working well and we use cloth diapers. She has an interest in all things bathroom and can stand by herself or holding on to us or the tub, so it was a good time to switch.

I want more than anything to raise an independent, strong capable child. These approaches make sense to me and are working so far.

The next step is to move her books to front facing bookshelves where the beautiful covers are more appealing. I saw a great idea on Pinterest....to use Ikea spice racks and paint them for front facing bookshelves. I will pick up a few when we head to Portland in February. Ocoee is changing and it only makes sense that her environment and freedoms change as well.

Cheers
Janelle

Yummy- salmon cakes

I have a friend who is in a tough battle with breast cancer and wanted to cook a nice healthy meal for her. No casseroles or other carb laden dishes would fit either of our lifestyles so I made sweet potato salmon cakes with Boursin cream sauce, French green beans with shaved Romano cheese and basalmic glazed butternut squash with almond slivers.

It was beautiful, yummy and enough To feed my friend and my family. Ocoee loved the salmon and sweet potato cakes. I packed the extra batches up and will drop of for my friend tomorrow. Food is comfort, love and nourishment all wrapped up in one. Best thing to give. When Ocoee was born the people who brought food were a huge blessing. I could barely keep up with the demands of a new baby, much less cook.

I don't really use recipes. I just look for a list of ingredients and then Wong it with what I have. The basalmic glaze and almond slivers with the butternut squash were just an idea. And it worked. Roasted in olive oil, green beans were fresh and sautéed in olive oil, cakes were all mixed together with our homemade canned salmon, bread crumbs, sweet potatoes ( steamed and mashed) onion, and baked in our toaster oven with olive oil. Love me some olive oil! It was the best meal we have had in ages. I hope it nourished my friend and helps sustain her during her fight to recover.

Cheers
J

Made it through

We stayed home today since Ocoee had a stomach bug. It was great. I never got out of my pjs and Ocoee is the happiest sick baby ever.

She played in her new tunnel and cuddled with me as I read her tons of books. She napped for three solid hours. We made it through and the blow out seem to be subsiding.

Also I now have 6 friends who are pregnant! Found out today of another one and that one pregnant couple is expecting a boy. Babies are everywhere. Such a sense of excitement and expectation in the air. Ocoee is going to be playing with all of these babies in the future! I also have a coworker who is expecting. Guess that makes it 7!! Oh my.

Also go big red!!!

Cheers
J

Sick baby

Ocoee woke up this morning with a huge blow out. I am able to go to school late one day a week, which came in handy since we had two more blow outs and outfit changes before we left the house. Ocoee usually get diarrhea during teething episodes so I just chalked it up to teething. She wasn't in bad spirits, with a temperature, or not eating so I dropped her off at daycare and warned hubby he might be getting a call.

Sure enough at 3, her daycare called saying she had blow outs and had to go home, which means she is banned for 24 hours. I scrambled to cancel our sitter and head to the performance arts center to exchange our Of Mice And Men play tickets for another date. Since we are subscribers we are able to switch the tickets. I got Nutcracker tickets for the day after thanksgiving instead. I'll take Ocoee and hope it goes well. It will be her first play.

Ocoee still seemed to be feeling ok when we put her to bed. I even commented at dinner, while knocking on wood, at least she hasn't ever thrown up.

Boy did I jinx myself. At 8, bug woke up throwing up. It was the saddest thing ever. Her little face was all covered and she was sobbing her heart out. I can't imagine how horrible it must be to throw up for the first time.

We cleaned her all up and forced some pedialite in her. She was smiling and playing within 5 minutes. Crazy. Still no fever and she is back to snoozing away. I hope it is a quick bug and will pass. She had the first flu shot a month ago and was due for her second in the series tomorrow. I'll have to call and see how that goes. May end up taking her in. I just want to hold her close to me all night and make her feel better. Sick baby is no bueno!!

Halloween in the snow-anchorage style

So one of the perks of being an Alaskan bambino is that there is almost always snow on Halloween. So kids trick or treat in full snow gear and you can barely see their costumes.

This year Ocoee is 13 months and 1 day old so we planned a full evening off activities. First hubby met me at we daycare for a parade and trick or treating in each room. The kids received healthy snacks and I made mini chocolate chip pumpkin cupcakes or her class. If you haven't seen a daycare full of kids in costume your missing out. They are ridiculously cute. One kiddo I saw was dressed as a hamburger, when I said this he corrected me and said No! I am a cheeseburger. Funny and tasty! Our daycare is also where some of our friends go so we got to see their little ones all dressed up. It was packed with parents and was a good time for the kiddos.

We walked a few blocks to humpys for a adult beverage and dinner and them had planned to head to the zoo boo event at the zoo. But Ocoee and hubby were running out of energy and let's face it- that place would have been a zoo! Instead we swung by our friend Nancy's house for a pre-trick or treat gathering. They had decorated the house very spookily and the kids were all decked out. Ocoee loved watching the big kids and playing with their toys. We snapped a few Picts, had a glass of wine and zipped home for bedtime while the others raked in the candy.

Ocoee looked sweet as can be in her flower outfit. I picked it up before she was even born and have had it all this time. Her name means passion flower so it suited her quite well.

Happy Halloween!

Cheers
J

New Phases

Ocoee one year ago!

Hubby and I are trying to adjust to the new phase that Ocoee is in. Once she hit one she morphed from a baby to a toddler overnight. She has take first steps for both hubby and I. The first one was for hubby during a night of long conferences at school and I missed it! I was devastated that I missed this big milestone. Yesterday though she stood up and pivoted and took a step to the ottoman. I was thrilled. She was nonplussed. 

She could easily walk all over the house is she wanted too. She can stand on her own and loves to push her walker all over. The problem is motivation. Today she is 13 months and simply does not feel the need to walk.....yet. The steps began because she has started enjoying carrying her clothes around snuggled up to her like a blankie or doll. If we give her a blankie or stuffed animal she tosses them aside without so much as a blink of the eye....but her clothes she loves to cuddle.....have I created a clothes horse already?

Since she is carrying her clothes she can't crawl as well and has learned she can take steps and that is easier. I know she is so close to being a real walker. It is exciting but also makes me nervous. I spent the day yesterday making the house more kid friendly and interesting to her. I rotated her toys and gave her a drawer in the kitchen with fun things to play with. We went through the spice rack smelling different spice. The kid like to EXPLORE!

I also want to vent. Ocoee took swim lessons when I was on maternity leave and loved it. The pool was really warm for babies and it was perfect before Hawaii. Since we will be in Hawaii again in a few months I wanted to get her in the pool again. All of the classes available at warm pools are during the day. No weekends or evening. Same for kindermusic. We want these activities for Ocoee but they are only offered for stay at home moms. Mommma and me yoga....daytime only. GRRRR! 

Since we got a few inches of snow last night I think we will sit and carve pumpkins in the snow. Tomorrow is a busy day with a Halloween party at daycare, zoo boo at the zoo and a Halloween party at a friends after. Last year she was only a month old so we didn't do much....this year will be more fun!

Cheers

J