Beyond just a spring clean, it’s become a necessity because my “junk” drawer is overflowing and unfortunately with things like important documents – not just junk. As I was unearthing tax receipts and forms and mortgage statements (joy) I also came across some old magazines (weeeeeee!). So instead of doing the thing I’m supposed to (collect tax info, ugh), I started leafing through mags and drinking a cup of tea.

Of course I came across some great ideas and started ripping out pages of crafts, recipes, how to get your kids to stay in bed tricks and other gems. I realized though, in ripping out the pages, I was just creating more clutter and so thought of my poor neglected blog.

I’m going to share some of these great inspirations (from Disney’s Family Fun magazine) – partly to share, but mostly (selfishly) so I have them written down somewhere, so I can recycle the torn out papers and declutter some more.

Getting kids to stay in bed

Super easy, right? Right. We’ve been struggling with this since N started climbing out of her crib at nine months. (And it wasn’t so much climbing as it was head-first launching). Anyhow, now at two and a half, we’ve got the falling out of bed under control, but the wandering around is a tricky one. A mom suggested this: Give your kid a “hall pass” that she can use once a week to get out of bed. She even created a cute card and laminated it. I love it. I think I’d add a time limit for the pass, maybe 15 minutes. I think it’s a great idea, especially with older children.

Getting them to eat veggies and fruit

Sometimes easy. Sometimes not. So to inspire a healthy diet, there’s this chart that encourages kids to eat fruits and veg of all colours (which is a great way to sneak in a wide variety of produce, and not just stick with the typical peas and carrots….though who doesn’t love peas and carrots). It’s called, Today I Ate a Rainbow!

I found other tid bits, crafts, and I’ll definitely share more later. But I’ve procrastinated long enough and need to get out for a walk…I mean, file my taxes.

Nadia can’t keep her hands off this batch I just made either. We’re having a kind of unofficial competition over who can eat more of these.

Nadia’s Lick out the Bowl Oatmeal Cookies (a recipe from our kitchen)

• 2 cups whole oats
• 1/2 cup flour (I mix flours, this time I used a bit of coconut flour and unbleached white flour. I also love teff, garbanzo bean, oat, etc.)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 dashes cinnamon
• 2 dashes nutmeg

Mix dry ingredients and set aside.

• 1 medium-sized apple, grated with skin on
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (and cooled so it doesn’t cook the egg when you mix it together)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla

Mix wet ingredients and add them to dry. Mix.

• 1/3 cup nuts
• 1/3 cup raisins (or chocolate chips)

Add nuts + raisins. Mix some more.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 F.

This was my first go with this recipe. Next time I might halve the maple syrup and halve the butter and add another apple. Also thinking, if I used chocolate chips, it’d be good with two bananas instead of the apples. If anyone gives these a go before I do, let me know how they turn out. I made one batch of adult-sized cookies and another of small bite-sized ones to freeze for Nadia’s lunches + treats. (Though, I’m kidding myself really. I’ll get to them before she can!) Enjoy.

I’ve found the Deck Family Farm near Portland that has “healthy happy animals” that are pasture raised. I’ve tasted the beef and it’s really good. So I’m considering getting all our family’s meat from this farm. I love knowing the people who are responsible for my food. I love that they don’t use herbicides, pesticides or antibiotics on their farm. I love that the animals eat what they were meant to eat. That they can roam. Live their lives. And then know that my family is being nourished by animals who were treated with care and respect.

This is not good news – considering that one of my favourite snacks is cheese and pickles on crackers with a glass of wine. (Seriously, it’s really good.)

I just got the news today. And it’s still not 100% official. I now have to do an elimination diet. So wine in hand and munching on cheese, I’m busy researching yeast-free diets.

I’ve got a line on a yeast-free cookbook from the library and plan to start the diet on Monday (after I rid my fridge of all its yeasty goodness….which also includes bacon, olives, vinegar (and so a lot of salad dressings), malts, juice from concentrate, mushrooms, root beer (no more floats for me) and a host of other delicious foods. Oh and get this…I’m supposed to quit chocolate and dried fruits and a bunch of fresh fruits too. Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!! I’m off to pop another bottle of wine. It’s not Monday yet!

This habit of mine of having concerns like this, came out when I was filling out this questionnaire called Ages + Stages that tells you whether your child is on track developmentally (mine is: phee-ew…which allayed my constant brain chatter of: Am I a good mother? Am I doing this right? Should she be doing THAT? Am I a good…you get what I’m talking about. So it stopped that…for one night. Well, like an evening. A new day. New concerns. More chatter). Anyways.

One of the questions asked: Do you have any concerns regarding your child? (Or something to that effect.) I answered truthfully: YES!

Every day I have concerns: Is that a dry cough? Swine flu. It must be swine flu. Oh! Are you about to fall off that crazy play structure that should have been removed in 1962? But you’re having fun, OK, carry on. And: Are you choking on that apple???? Of course you are. You’re only one! With seven and a half teeth. Give me that thing. Oh, you want it back? Really. Can’t I give you apple sauce instead (thrown in my face). Fine. Take the apple. Just don’t choke. OK? We have a deal??? Deal?

So I explained in the questionnaire (rather neurotically) that, yes, I have concerns. And they’re real. For about 30 seconds. Then I breathe and realize, I’m probably just a normal mum. Right????? We’re all like this. Tell me….we’re all like this. Like you could take an apple away from a kid who’s already perfected her death glare (and this is just the side view):

Attempt #1: Tapioca flour does not behave like wheat flour. Goop was inedible.

Attempt #2: Got caught up talking to my neighbor out front. Oops. Running out of pots. Luckily still have lots of butter.

Attempt #3: Woo-hoo! Good roux. And I managed to add milk, cheese and spices without burning it. Now I just have to convince Nadia to eat more than she chucks overboard.

Is it just me or does Nadia look like these pancakes!?!

I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Pancake Mix. Instead of a whole egg I used two egg yolks (Nadia’s still not one yet) and sliced in some blueberries. She devoured them (well, the one’s I hadn’t eaten yet!!!).

I always thought cottage cheese was gross, except in lasagna.

So it was with serious trepidation when my friend Rebecca (who owns Oregon Surf Adventures) offered me a bite of her fruit and cottage cheese. I took it, because I didn’t want to be rude. And probably more because I didn’t want to be a wuss.

It was good. Really good.

Here’s what she did: She scooped in some non-fat cottage cheese, ground in some pepper, a splash (very little) of balsamic vinegar and cut up fruit. We’ve done fresh Oregon strawberries and peaches.

It’s now become a summer favorite.

My friend often asks what I’m feeding Nadia – looking for inspiration for her own babe. So. I’m going to post Nadia’s Menu more regularly. Hoping too, that you’ll share your latest baby meals. (And the food you’re eating too….one of my favorite things to do when I’m traveling is going to a grocery store to check out what they have. I also love shopping with friends. You get new ideas for meals based on what’s in their cart.)

Breakfast

Homemade granola – whole oats, coconut flakes, sesame, pumpkin + sunflower seeds, walnuts + almonds (which I remove from her portion), coconut oil + honey (or brown rice syrup if babe’s under 1)

Mix fresh fruit (strawberries or bananas or blueberries) with whole yogurt and add a bit of the granola. If you let it sit 30 minutes or so, the granola gets mushier (though I don’t always wait). Also good, is adding baby food to plain whole yogurt. I like bananas. Of course you can always just mush up a ripe banana.

Lunch

Rice pasta in fun shapes. She’s still at the finger foods stage (just starting to play with a spoon) and so the pasta is easy for her little fingers to grab. Cut up bananas and strawberries.

Dinner

Rice crackers and hummus (today I actually made my own, but I also love the mediterranean hummus from Trader Joe’s) and loads of asparagus. (I cut it up into bite size.)

Today we did quinoa. And this time smooshed in avocado. She loved it so much she decided to feed herself with the spoon…a first!

(Oh yeah – there were also peas.)