Vegan dog biscuits!

As I'm gradually becoming more vegan I've been wondering recently if it was possible for a dog to eat a vegan diet. I've read quite a lot about it, as nutrition is not a subject to be taken lightly, and it seems that both cats and dogs can lead healthy, vegan lives. Here is a good place to start for a bit of a wake up call. There will be those of you who think it cruel not to give an animal meat based food, but seriously - have you read the ingredients list on the back of you canine friend's chow? Words like "derivative" do not appear on my food labels, so why should they appear on my furry baby's? Have you even thought about what it is and how it gets into that perfectly sealed plastic bag that so easily drops into your shopping trolley?

Over the past few weeks I've gradually changed Rinny's dog food to Yarrah - she wasn't so keen at first, but now we mix it with a little brewer's yeast in water and she loves it, more than her meaty dog food! This pleases me hugely because the ethics of the meaty dog food company are questionable. Yarrah's certifications and guarantees make me happy :-)

Anyhoo...les biscuits (please apply proper accent Français for maximum effect).

To replace Gravy Bones

To replace Markies

To replace Dentastix

I used the recipes in How It All Vegan. The quantities in the book made enough for about 2 weeks worth of each, which is doable for me, having a small baby and all. I was totally surprised at how easy they were to make and also how nutritionally balanced they are.  They're actually pretty tasty! Most importantly Rinny totally loves them. All. Lots. Two fantastic human benefits - they cost a whole lot less to make than buy AND considerably less doggie flatulence since implication of operation vegan-dog! No more nasal assaults! Or cries of "Rinny, you stinky-arsed bandit!" We hear them, but they just don't smell :-)

I'm so very glad that I'm able to provide freshly made, nutritious food for my whole family - hurrah!

Isaac’s new scream, food and family

...of horror? Terror? Pain? A combination of all of the above? Yes that's right ladles and jellyspoons, Isaac is now pooing real grown up poo. Please feel free to stop reading now, I won't be offended. I do, however, feel that I have the right to talk about this subject, at length. This is a baby blog about baby things so...suck it UP! (Not literally, that would be gross.)

So, it's no longer just breast milk he's squeezing out about once every 8-9 days. Nope. He started off pooing after every solid effing meal. Which, by the way, is 3 times a day. I don't quite know how that happened. He got a taste for real food and it fills him up more than my breast milk can I guess. We went from having banana once on Sunday evening to him eating 3 solid meals a day - breakfast, lunch and tea - almost over night. In addition to his regular feeds. WHAT?? The books say to build it up slowly. Slowly my arse. The boy wants food and he wants it NOW!!

He now poos sporadically, but always preceded by the aforementioned scream. Bless him. I genuinely wish there was a way I could make it easier for him to pass the stuff, but I know not how. I think this will be the first of many things I wish I could make easier for him, but what kind of mother would I be if I could and did?

One thing I wasn't prepared for, which I should have been really, was the mess. I'm not even letting him feed himself yet (because he isn't yet upright) and there's mess. Duh - of course there is, he's learning to eat. See left for evidence of said mess - poor Zeb has borne the brunt of a particularly savage sweet potato hit.  I'm surprised by how much I'm not freaking out about future-mess. I'm a bit of a neat geek, but I seem to have been granted infinite patience. I suppose I've been broken in already somewhat by meeting my youngest step-daughter at 9 months. Nappies, feeding, crying for no discernible reason - and not even mine! Was I mad? Possibly. But. They are both wonderful little people who I love dearly.

Aoife, 6, enjoying "The Weezer"

Roisin, 3, slightly mental, but so much fun!

Isaac loves his sisters too. They are great at entertaining him, even if he is somewhat bemused at times!

He had his first bath solo this evening. We usually avoid bathing him when the girls are here because it's just easier, but tonight he really needed a bath. So, I bathed him first in his little seat thing, rather than going in with him. Then we topped it up & the girls had their bath. Worked really well. I now know I can bath him alone with him in the seat and he won't mind - hurrah!

Anyhoo - back to food related business. I've already decided to raise Isaac as vegan. I don't feel I need to justify this to anyone, least it be said I feel he will reap the benefits of an animal free diet particularly healthwise. I'm almost there with the veganism myself, although cheese is sometimes still a hard one, specifically on pizza (a weakness fo sho). I'd like some vegan weaning pointers. All babies are essentially vegan at first, until meat is introduced. This is good. He's already had some lentils and quite liked those. My main query is: what about B12? Where does that come from? I'm not a huge fan of yeast. I've heard that the amount of B12 needed over the course of a lifetime is minimal and having researched it a little, up until the age of 4 children don't even need 1 microgram! How big is a microgram? It's got to be pretty small huh? I think I'm getting a little obsessed. How can I not? He's my little boy. I'm responsible for his well being and this includes a varied and balanced diet, among other things.

Pleh.

I shouldn't try to rationalise anything when my head feels full of cotton wool (for you Yanks) and I have a wad of tissue stuck up my nose to absorb the persistent and unblowable drip.

On that note I bid you an abrupt goodnight; I'm off to take my sweat juice and sleep this mother off.

Weaning in earnest

As the title suggests, weaning has begun in earnest. After my last post I started to um and ah about it again as he is still not yet 6 months.  Despite my indecision I've been buying bits this past week to prepare us for our imminent adventure into the world of solid food. So far we have (as Boots have 3 for 2 on feeding items) Boots weaning bowls - 3 of, Boots soft tipped spoons - 4 of,  Boots cutlery case - 1 of, Brother Max food portioners, 18 of. On order we have Brother Max combi bibs - 12 of and doidy cups - 2 of. We already have one set of Brother Max combi bibs with a crumb catcher for Roisin who, until recently, liked very much to decorate herself with food. Isaac doesn't need the crumb catcher yet so the sharing of bibs is working well, but we certainly need more of them hence the mammoth order!! We also already have a Tommee Tippee beaker thing with spouty thing. I think we'll keep it for out and about & try to use the doidy cups at home. Will have to see how that goes & report back; best laid plans & all that.

Last night was the kick up the florals we needed to decide to get fully on board with the weaning. He wouldn't feed from me properly and was incredibly grumpy. I tried to give him extra feeds yesterday to help him make up what he wasn't getting at night now that he sleeps through, but it didn't work and just buggered about with my milk supply for when he actually wanted it. I should have known to go with him rather than forcing what I think to be best on him, but this is all still new to me so still feeling the way.  Anyhoo - he's  apparently developed quite a taste for banana & devoured 3/4 of said fruit before deciding he'd had enough. Today, as well as his regular feeds, he ate 1 & 1/4 carrots followed by a full milk feed at lunch time and nearly a whole small cox's apple this evening after a full milk feed. He doesn't like avocado, for now. It's a shame about that because it'd be really really good for him, being so full of nutritious fats & all. Might make him less of a skinny bean!

So now he has his own shelf in the freezer

and one in the fridge too.

I seem to have FAR TOO MUCH TIME ON MY HANDS. Well, actually I don't, but I've clearly gone round the loop and have made this.

It is my first attempt at video. Oh the joys of modern technology! ANYONE CAN DO IT!

My goodness. My poor son.

Right, I'm off to bed before I do something else ridiculous.

A day of firsts

Today Isaac has: eaten his first proper little bowl of food (rather than tasting from the end of my spoon), done a 110° turn in his cot and grabbed (and munched on) his feet. He's been a very busy little fellow, what with his almost non-stop wiggling, and now 3 new things to add to his infant repertoire!

All towels have been removed from the cot bed. It's just him, his blanket and his sleeping bag. I thought he might wake up if he couldn't pull the blanket down over his face, but he seems to manage it wherever! Bless him. It was such a surprise for me to see him at an unfamiliar angle in there. He wiggles the most in his sleep I reckon.

The feet thing was hilarious, for both of us. I was changing his nappy and momentarily looked away to put the used nappy in the bag. I heard a squeal of laughter & looked back to see him grinning like nobody's business with his sock clad toes in his mouth! He now seems to know that those weird things that Mummy puts colourful things on are actually part of his own anatomy.

Coming up on Eating News: banana, but first a little background surrounding The Weaning. I took him to clinic to get him weighed on Thursday last week and he had lost 3oz :-( I was surprised at the time, but thinking about it now, I'm not. Since he's been sleeping through the night he hasn't been having any extra feeds during the day and he hasn't increased the duration of his current feeds either. Since last Thursday I've been giving him an extra feed before bed, which he would usually refuse, but he's been quite happily chowing down so we'll stick with that methinks. A suggestion was made a few weeks ago by HV to wean him around now. Since then she's relaxed about the issue as she's seen that I'm really not worried about him & that (other than not conforming to WHO weight gain charts) he's quite a happy wee wiggler. Anyhoo, at my baby group on Friday last week she mentioned it again to see if it would help him gain weight. He's been getting much more interested in food/eating over the past week or so (to the point where I have to put my bowl in the middle of the table almost so that he doesn't get his fingers in my dinner! Not that I mind, but babies aren't supposed to have anything with added salt so grown up food is a no-no right now.) He's displaying other signs that he's ready, such as not seeming satisfied after every feed, putting everything in his mouth etc, which makes me more confident that weaning is a good idea rather than forcing it on him before he's ready just to fit the "norm".  I've been dutifully expressing each night for about a week to build up a stock of freezer milk to add to food to make it the right consistency for Mr Man. It's actually convenient (weaning wise) that I only get 1 oz a time because then I can easily freeze small amounts. I'd still like to be able to express lots for emergencies, but hey.

Today I took the plunge and, after his first feed, gave him a very small  mashed up piece of banana (about 1/6th) mixed with some breast milk. He. Totally. Loved. It. So much so that I gave him some more after his 3 o'clockish feed - scoffed the lot. He was wise to the spoon by this afternoon and wanted to hold it himself. I'm all for baby-led weaning, but I might leave that until A) he can sit up and thus not choke, and B) until I have more bibs and some sort of floor protection!! So I've made a list of items to purchase after payday to help us on our way. We've already got blenders/whizzers/wands etc so that expense has been spared. What we really needs are...spoons, BIBS! with plastic backing, wee pots/ice cube trays & tubs and some non-slip bottomed bowls (for the baby-led business). The NCT weaning lady also said that teaching them to use a cup early on rather than the spouty things is better so I'm investigating doidy cups.

He really does seem to love it. While I'm really pleased that our first foray into solid food has gone well, I can't help but be sad that this is the beginning of the end of breastfeeding. It was tedious at first, but I think I'm really going miss it. It's afforded us such beautiful quiet time *sigh* won't be long until he's eating family food with us. As goes the cliché - how fast they grow! Or maybe I'm just having too much fun?

Two-migurumi

I think the sheer quantity of yarn that arrived has overwhelmed me somewhat! I've made 2 amigurumi since then. Well, I have made 3, but I wasn't so impressed with the first one so he doesn't get a mention. Also, having a 5 month old bebe means I can't crochet all day. Which I probably would otherwise. Geek.

Anyhoo...introducing Señor Pablo:

and Erica Bunny:

I got the patterns from Lion Brand Yarn (who have excellent amigurumi patterns). See here for panda pattern & here for bunny pattern. I used Vanna's Choice for both. The bunny pattern called for Wool Ease so mine came out a little different from the original image, not as flopsy maybe, & I also crochet the stitches quite tightly when making amigurumi so the stuffing doesn't show. I changed the bunny pattern so that the body carries on from the head rather than making 2 separate body parts & then sewing them together - why do that when you can simply continue?? That's the joy of crochet! Here's how I changed it.

Body

Bear in mind you have 6 stitches already from the bottom of the head...so just carry on & continue to use a marker in the first stitch of each round.

Rnd 1: 2 sc in each st around - 12 st
Rnd 2: sc in each sc around
Rnd 3: *2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc; rep from * - 18 st
Rnd 4-6: sc in each sc around
Rnd 7: *2 sc in next sc, sc in each of next 2 sc; rep from * - 24 st
Rnd 8-9: sc in each sc around
Rnd 10: *2 sc in next sc, sc in each of next 3 sc; rep from * - 30 st
Rnd 11-13: sc in each sc around
Rnd 14: *sc2tog, sc in each of next 3 sc; rep from * - 24 st
Rnd 15: *sc2tog, sc in each of next 2 sc; rep from * - 18 st
Rnd 16: *sc2tog, sc in next sc; rep from * - 12 st
Rnd 17: sc2tog around - 6 st

To finish off I used a tapestry needle to weave in & out of the remaining 6 stitches & pulled it tight to close the hole. It's essentially a reversed version of the original where the body is worked bottom up. I'm quite pleased (and surprised) that my post-baby brain managed to work it out!

So now I have 3 little aminals (deliberate typo...for I am the grammar Nazi) & one that I don't really like, but can't bear to unpick because I'm such a damn softie. I shall call him "the other-gurumi". I wonder what I'll do with them all?

Delivery delerium!

My yarn arrived from Lion Brand yesterday :-D

I'm not so keen on Vanna White, whoever she may be, staring at me from my lovely yarn though.

The arrival of said yarn means that I can stop kidding myself about knitting in the round. Knitting with 5 needles is JUST RIDICULOUS! I think I was only really doing it to pass the time until the above arrived. I've also come to realise that crochet is better than knitting (for me). Period. It's OK if you've been knitting for years & don't make mistakes, but for relative beginners (despite knowing how to knit for going on 18 years now) like me who occasionally slip up (or slip stitches in the wrong place i.e.: at the beginning, thus throwing off one's whole row) it is definitely not OK. With crochet each stitch is complete thus relatively easy (but not not painless) to undo & redo.With knitting on the other hand, if a mistake is spied, one has to frog the whole freaking row(s) & then spend an age faffing about with unpicking stitches, then getting them back on the needle (facing the right way too I might add) whilst ensuring no additional, unintentional stitches are dropped! Bleh. I'll stick to my one-at-a-time craft for now ta. I'm sure I'll get around to knitting my Grace Lace Beret at some point, but for now it won't even make it to UFO status because my mind is amigurumi filled!!

I found out the other day that doing what I've described before (i.e.: unpicking row(s) of knitting is called frogging. Apparently this is because you have to "rippit" out. I couldn't make that up. Seriously. :???:

In the background of the yarn shot you can just see a small section of…*drum roll please*…my lovely new sewing machine that arrived a few days ago! I know, right? The lady in the shop was surprised too. :-|

I’ve made one thing so far & that (sewing machine wise) only required 3 lines of straight stitch. The thing in question is Isaac’s cot bed tent – a collaboration of father-daughter skills. It’s rather nifty and we’re pretty pleased, even if we do say so ourselves :-) I sewed & Dad drilled.

I. Love. It.

Out of the pram and into the cot etc

Isaac slept in his cot for the first time on Tuesday. It was very exciting for me! He had his last nap in there & then slept the whole night through! Dad and I constructed a bed tent between us.

 

I wanted to do this to help him with the transition from pram to cot bed and to reduce the enormity of our room for him. He seems to like it in there and it's working so far. He continued his streak of through-the-night sleeping until last night when he woke up at 1.30am which makes it 9 consecutive nights.The towels will be removed gradually so that he has more room to move about. I think he likes the restriction for now. It was only about a month ago that we stopped swaddling him, again because he told us that he didn't want it anymore.

So...the erroneous night-wake of last night: the poor wee mite was screaming at the top of his little lungs because his eyes were glued together with Gunk - 2nd attack of the conjunctivitis methinks (apparently acquired from youngest step-sister from her half brother). How terrifying it must be to wake up and not be able to open your eyes! I didn't want to have to go to the doctors for more drops again because I know tears often clear it and so decided then and there to see how things went. I cleaned The Gunk from his eyes, fed him & put him back to sleep & there he stayed until 7am. I was fully expecting to be woken again several times with Gunk-related issues, but no! The Gunk has mysteriously vanished! Go self healing! I think that if it weren't for The Gunk then he would've slept through again last night. He's not doing so well with going off to sleep tonight, but I think that's more to do with lack of naps today and the excitement of eldest step-sister's 6th birthday tea. There's a fair bit of noise about the house while Dad fixes our stupid doors, but it's only a temporary measure and worth the end benefit of not-stupid-anymore doors. Let's hope his routine isn't compromised permanently.

I was thinking today about things I don't like about caring for a baby. The single thing I can think of is essential and so easy that you take it for granted as an adult. The task in question is: cutting nails. Seriously - it's a nightmare and I put it off until I can't stand the scraping at my breasts during feeds any longer. The first time I did it I managed to pinch his skin terribly making him scream until he had boob. Since that awful introduction to the world of baby nail cutting I live in fear that I'll actually cut him. I'm so careful when I do it and often take the clippers away from his nail & reposition it to make doubly sure I've got nail. He's recently decided it's fun to hit my nail cutting hand with his free hand while I'm doing the deed; all well and good until someone loses some skin young man! Each successful clip is a mini victory. I used to nibble them off when he was smaller, but that just leaves sharp bits now & hurt even more that long nails when he grabs at my breasts during feeds.

I can't believe he's almost 5 months old! The time really does fly. Weaning is under way in our NCT group, but I'm not rushing into anything just yet. He's starting to be much more interested in food, but I'm waiting for grabbing. He has found his knee to be an object of fun and spends quality time each day slapping it. He tries to do this in the bath as well, but ends up splashing instead, which I suppose is consequential when slapping a knee immersed in water. He quite likes this, well, doesn't dislike it any. Still isn't a fan of hair washing though, not even with warmed up shampoo.