Noah's Private Chef

My little man and I enjoying a park day

So much has happened since I last blogged....my husband changed jobs, we have had a few colds/flus run its course in my house, then the holidays hit. I felt like I never got a moment to myself. Now that we are more than half way through January I feel like I'm finally getting back into my normal everyday schedule.

I can't believe that my little man is going to be 7 months next week!  I am still breast feeding but had added in rice cereal and  a few purees around 4 1/2 month. The little man loved it! We started with bananas and avocado then tried a new food every 4-5 days. Two weeks ago he had his 6 month check, Mr Noah is 20 pounds (yikes!) and 28 inches long (wow)! He is huge! The doctor gave us the green light to have him eat 3 meals a day. I make all of Mr Noah's food myself. Its a lot of work but well worth it. Here is a peek into the little man's day....

Any where between 6am-7am Mr Noah wakes up and then I nurse him.

Around 7:30am is breakfast time. Today he had bananas and kiwi with rice cereal and a 4 oz bottle of breast milk

The little man usually naps within a half hour of eating. I shoot for two hours but doesn't happen everyday. It just depends on what we are doing that day.

Around 10:30am he nurses then I either take him on a walk or he plays in his jumper.

At noon is lunch time. His favorite! He loves peaches straight from the fridge or homemade applesauce and a 4 oz. bottle of breast milk

Mr Noah usually takes another nap after lunch for about an hour.

Around 3pm I nurse him and then we either go on another walk or play on the floor.

He sometimes takes one more nap at 4pm then around 5pm is dinner time. Tonight he had butternut squash that I made this morning with applesauce mixed in with rice cereal and a 4oz. bottle of breast milk.

Then its bath time, maybe a little play time on the floor then off to sleepy town he goes by 7pm

I make all of his food in the Baby Brezza. I love it!!! Its so simple to use!  It steams and purees all in one. You don't have to add any cooking water before pureeing which makes it super easy. I have even put some of the peach puree in my oatmeal haha. I am able to fit a whole bag of the organic frozen butternut squash by Sprouts in it. That makes about 4-5 servings for my little man. The Baby Brezza is definitely worth the price!

I am starting to have so much fun mixing and matching the different foods for Mr Noah. Its really exciting to watch him experience new flavors and textures!

Mother's Milk

I knew before I was even pregnant that I wanted to nurse my baby. There were a number of factors that played into my decision but my number one reason was that its very easy on your baby's tummy.

To start preparing for breastfeeding before I had my little man I changed my eating habits. I started eating foods that help promote healthy milk... blueberries, oatmeal, almonds, whole grains....I also started applying essential oils directly on my chest... fennel and ginger.

I had in my head for someone reason that I didn't want to buy a pump until I had at least 3-4 weeks of strictly nursing. I didn't want to have any reason to give up when it got difficult or even painful. If your pregnant and reading this DO NOT DO THAT!!!! Mr Noah had no problem latching on from the minute he was born. What I didn't realize prior to having him that when my milk finally did come in there would be the possibility of becoming severely engorged or even worse become ill from it.

 Like clock work my milk came in on day 4. I will never forget that feeling. I woke up in the morning around 7am and couldn't left up out of my bed. My mother in law was staying with us and when she walked in her face look horrified. It was like I had to huge rocks on my chest. My mom had to help me out of bed and the poor baby was trying to nurse but I was so engorged that he couldn't get anything out. Luckily that morning I had a required lactation appointment at my doctors. I was barely able to get myself dressed and to the appointment. The lactation nurse gave me one look and said " Honey, your severely engorged... like a few hours away from an infection engorged!" She got out the pump and I had to stay there for an hour pumping until she felt I was ready to go home. I broke down and had to get a pump for at home. I have the Medela Pump In Style. Its amazing!

For the next 24 hours I had to pump every 2 hours. It was horrible! I was in so much pain but it all payed off. Within a few days my little man was able to nurse with out any problems. This would have never happen if I hadn't been so stubborn about not pumping the first month of nursing. I also regret not pumping in the first few days because I wasn't able to freeze any of the colostrum. Now that we are approaching flu season I would love to have those immunity boost in the freezer for Mr Noah.

To keep my milk supply rich and healthy I try to eat oatmeal every day with blueberries and almonds. I also drink Mothers Milk tea before bed with a drop of fennel oil. I can tell by the color of my milk when I pump if my diet hasn't been too good that day. Its amazing how the quality of your food does make a difference.

Here is a little trick to see how much milk your breast feed baby is really getting, weigh him or her before feeding then weigh again after. You should see at least 3-4 ounces in the beginning at every feeding. But all babies are different, my little man was eating 5 ounces by 4 weeks at every feeding.

My Happy Healthy Chunky Monkey 3 month old 

Happy Feeding Ladies!!!

Our First Family Vacation

 We recently took the challenge of going on our first family vacation. And of course I picked our first trip to be out of state making it an extra stressful event. We were flying to Seattle to visit my mother in law. She lives in Spokane, Washington but we decided to meet in Seattle to go to a Mariners game (also another fun first for the baby). Before I started packing I made a check list so that I wouldn't forget anything. We were staying in a hotel so I wouldn't have access to a washing machine. I had to make sure I packed triples of everything!

All this for just one little baby! 

The day before the trip I started by laying out all the outfits for my little man. I planned on having 3 outfit changes a day for the just in case messes babies are so very good at creating. I then laid out all the burp rags, blankies, a few wash clothes and bibs. I put each day's outfit in a ziplock bag to make it easy for packing and husband friendly so that while we were getting ready in the mornings we could just grab it and go. I also put all socks and bibs in one ziplock bag and his pjs in another. I made sure to pack my awesome diaper bag organizer by O.R.E Sugarbooger (www.oreoriginals.com). These are the best organizers!!! I use them daily. I know it sounds way OCD but it helped so much! Nothing got lost at the hotel and getting ready in the morning was so easy!


Both my husband and I were very nervous about flying with a baby. I packed his diaper bag with everything I thought we might need and I also made him a Lavender aromatherapy roll on to put on his little feet before boarding. When we got to the airport to our surprise all the employees were sooooo helpful. We got the first class treatment! I had my little man in the Ergo carrier (which is AMAZING) and I was able to go through security with him in it. When we boarded the plane we pulled out a few burp rags, an extra pacifier, a toy that plays music and his blankie. We were ready for anything! And to our surprise.... Mr Noah slept through the whole flight!

Checking out Seattle 

When we arrived in Seattle, he was a little cranky due to the fact that he was out of his routine. I made sure to pack all of his bath oils to help relax him at night before bed. I am happy I did because the second I started wiping him down at night he knew it was time for bed. I am too freaked out about germs to let him sleep with us in a hotel bed so we packed our Bug a Boo stroller with the bassinet attachment. He slept 10 hours each night :) ! I love love LOVE the Bug a Boo!

Our Little Family 

In the end we all survived our first family vacation and created many happy memories to look back on.

Mani/Pedi Time

I will admit, the thought of filing down my little man's nails freaked me out. When Mr Noah was born he had really strong long nails. I was way too afraid to file them at first. I waited until he was about 3 weeks old to finally try. He hated it just as much as I did! He was so squirmy and kept his little hands in very tight fist. It was pretty traumatizing. Every couple of days I would try to file down his wolverine claws but I felt like I wasn't getting great results (I think I was actually making them sharper). The little man kept scratching his face and my chest whenever I nursed him. Even though the nail file wasn't doing much I  was way too afraid to try the nail clippers.

Then last week I came across a miracle product as I was flipping through a baby magazine...the Buzz B by Zo Li. Its an electric nail file for babies! Genius! Here is why I love it....

- Its super safe for babies even as young as newborns
- It comes with four different file pads that vary in texture depending on the   strength of the nails
- It has two different speed settings


I tried it out on Mr Noah after his bath and he didn't seem to mind it at all. I really love it because its fast and gentle on his wiggly hands. I definitely recommend this product to all moms who hate giving their little monkeys manicures! Its more expensive than a nail file but so worth the investment ($30). Its not sold at Babies R Us or Target which is a bummer but luckily I was able to find it at a small children's boutique near my place. Check out the website to find the nearest retailer http://www.zolibaby.com

Baby Weight Loss Update

Its been a little over a month since I seriously started thinking about losing the last of my baby weight. My original goal was to lose 10 pounds. That wouldn't put me at my pre-prego weight but I figured I would never see that size 0 again after having my little man haha. Well I'm proud to say I lost 4 1/2 pounds in 4 weeks!!!!!  I'm very happy about this because I honestly didn't have a chance to work out more than  twice week. Its really hard to sneak out of the house with Mr Noah these days. He is going through a major separation anxiety when ever I leave the room just to shower! In order to reach my pre-prego weight I would need to lose another 10 pounds. I don't want to put that kind of pressure on myself so I am going to stick to my original goal which means I have another 6 to go!

Even though I lost 4 1/2 pounds I still feel really chubby around my mid section. I call it my accordion belly because when I sit the rolls crunch together haha. This month I am going to focus on working out at least 3 times a week. I think now that Mr Noah is turning 3 months I am going to look into the local Stroller Strides. That way I can take him with me to work out and I get to meet other moms in my area. I am also going to focus on kicking my Starbucks habit. During the last trimester of my pregnancy I would walk to Starbucks to get a Chai Frap. I have continued that habit which isn't healthy for me.  Even though its a mile walk round trip I know those little calories can add up.

When I compare my pictures I don't see much of a difference but it motivates me to work harder this month.

August 15th 

September 15th 

My goal this month is to lose 1-2 inches around my belly and another 2 pounds. Wish me luck!!! 

The Tummy Tub

Mr. Noah absolutely loves his bath at night. A few times he has started to cry when I take him out to get ready for bed. I don't mind him hanging in his bath for a while but it starts to get cold pretty quickly. So I  keep a wash cloth on his tummy and on his head to keep him warm. The only problem is that the wash cloths start to get cold so I have to keep re-wetting them. I figured this was all I can do until he is old enough to sit in a bathtub... oh so I thought....

The other night my mom and I were watching youtube videos on nursing using your Ergo carrier (I will be writing my review on that soon) when we saw videos for the Tummy Tub. Huh? The tummy what? After admiring all the cute babies in it we became very fascinated by this bathtub. So what exactly is the Tummy Tub...Its designed to mimic the shape and confinement of a mother's womb. Its tall enough to keep your baby warm at all times during the bath. Your baby is able to move freely just like when he or she was in the womb. This also helps to encourage motor skills and most importantly calm a fussy baby. It is safe to use starting at birth all the way to 35 pounds.

Hot Tubbing :) 

We found a few stores in our area that sold it so the next day we ventured out in search for the Tummy Tub. It looks like a giant clear bucket, or as my girlfriend Alaina said "giant Tubberware". I wasn't sure what my husband was going to say when I brought it home that night but then again he has stopped asking questioning since my first trimester when I was practically bathing myself in ginger oil on a flight to help my morning sickness haha. To my surprise my husband seemed to not think twice about it and actually was calling it a baby hot tub.

My chunky monkey

The time came to try it out. Mr. Noah seemed to enjoy it but also seemed a bit confused haha. We are going to try it again tonight but this time fill it up just a bit more so that the water is right up to his chest, really allowing him to experience the feeling of buoyancy.

Caution: Explosives Ahead...

As a new mommy I knew that I would be experiencing my fair share of "explosive" diapers, I just didn't think it would happen on my lap or on my bed or in the car seat or pretty much anywhere but just in his diaper. Baby poop is harder to get out of clothes than people think. Basically the item is stained for life if not treated properly. Mr Noah had a few leaks here and there when he started growing out of his newborn diapers. The first time it happened I didn't think about treating the area before washing it. It came out of the dryer with a light yellow stain.

My Secret Weapon

But a few weeks ago a bomb went off in the morning. I was nursing Noah in bed when boom!!!!!! It was all over our comforter. My husband looked at me in shock and said "You know you have to throw it out now". I was so upset.  I love our comforter. I didn't want to get rid of it. Then it dawned on me to try the DoTerra On Guard Cleanser. We had recently switched all of our household cleaning products to the DoTerra Oils and I sometimes will run the On Guard Cleanser in the washing machine to clean it and kill the germs. So I bravely carried the hazardous waste downstairs and laid the comforter out on the kitchen floor. I first spot treated the area with the On Guard Cleanser, then I washed it with Dreft detergent and voila!!!!! It looked brand new again!

Before 

 The DoTerra On Guard Cleanser not only removes the stains but it also sanitizes which is super important when dealing with these hazardous disasters.

After

Before

After

Since that morning I haven't experienced any more messes on my bed however we did have quite the episode a week ago in the bathroom while nursing him in Macy's. Luckily I was prepared with extra clothes, lots of wipes and the Arm and Hammer diaper bags to put the dirty clothes in. I didn't take any before or after  pictures of his shirt and shorts but again they came out looking brand spanking new.