Monday, July 11, 2011

Toddler Food Strike Pineapple Tuna Salad

I love to cook. So, why does my toddler refuse to eat everything, even foods he used to love?

I guess, that’s normal. At least, that’s what it says online. Although, it sure is frustrating!

After trying to give him more finger foods, which he would promptly hand back to me and say “Mama” (meaning - Mama, you eat it) or throw on the floor, I tried to feed him myself. But, if it wasn’t oatmeal, he would just push my hand away or spit it out. I was flustered.

I never would have thought that tuna salad would do the trick, but he ate it… all of it! I think the key was, it was thick enough that he could spoon it out himself, soft enough, that the texture didn’t bother him, and sweet enough that he liked it. He could also dip crackers in it, which is a plus. Yeah! Finally something worked.

So, now that I know he likes tuna salad, I decided to try to make a version which is a bit healthier and which adds in some fruit. I like the fact that it has less mayonnaise and some healthy yoghurt instead. I’m sure you could also make a chicken salad that is similar, maybe even with some applesauce. I gave him this pineapple tuna salad for lunch today with crackers and he didn’t complain a bit. He actually said, “Yum!”

Pineapple Tuna Salad (4 toddler portions)

1 6 oz can tuna w/water
1 T plain yoghurt
1 T mayonnaise
1 T sweet pickle relish
1 T crushed pineapple

1 Handful cheese fish crackers, or other crackers for dipping.

1. Open tuna and drain water. Add to bowl.

2. Mix in yoghurt, mayonnaise, relish, and pineapple. Mix well.

3. Add 1/3 of tuna salad to a small plastic bowl.

4. Serve with cheese fish crackers.

This recipe couldn’t be easier. Let me know if your toddler eats it or if you have other great dishes that worked during your toddler’s food strike.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Nursing Scarf

It’s hot outside, at least 100 degrees.

I really feel sorry for those babies out there who are being nursed under heavy wool blankets. That’s gotta be hot and uncomfortable. Nevertheless, nursing out in the open just doesn’t seem appropriate in small town USA.

I have seen different kinds of nursing cover-ups, some more practical than others. I decided to make my own with what I find nice – comfort for baby, light and airy for both of us, and, if possible, a little bit stylish.

Hmmm…

Then, one evening it dawned on me. I have a zillion unused summer scarves from Germany that I once wore a lot, but now are just sitting up on a shelf. If I cut these scarves in half, I could use the one half as a cover up for the baby, and make ties out of the other half to go around my neck. Here is the first nursing scarf that I came up with. I love this scarf, because of the tassels and am happy that it now has a new use. In the picture, you can see me using this new scarf at the zoo. It worked great!

Here’s the how to:

1. I put the scarf over my shoulder and made sure that I had enough length to cover a nursing baby and marked this spot. I then cut the scarf horizontally at this point.

2. With the remaining material, I cut out two long strips of fabric about 2 inches wide. Then, I folded each strip on the reverse side and sewed along the edge, leaving about a quarter of an inch. I turned each strip back ride side front and ironed them flat. Now, I had the ties for my neck.

3. Now, take the ties and lay them lengthwise on the fabric, so that the open end is even with the rough end of the scarf that was cut and pin in place. Make sure the ties are at least a foot apart, so that you can look between them later to see your baby. My scarf was pretty wide, so I also had at least 6 inches left between the tie and the sides of the scarf. Now, sew the entire top of the scarf including the ties down about a quarter of an inch.

4. Take the end where you just sewed and fold it down again about an inch to an inch and a half and sew once along the bottom of the fold and once on the top. If you want to cinch your scarf later, or add some wire to make it more stable (you can by special wire in fabric for this at a fabric store), you have a place to do so.

5. Finally, Put the ties around your neck and tie them in a knot. Now flip the scarf over one shoulder and you are ready to nurse in style.



Friday, June 10, 2011

Homemade Travel Crib Mattress Pad

My husband and I decided to get a baby travel crib to use as a baby crib for Lukas’s first few months. Our apartment is not very large, and a travel crib has a lot of advantages: Firstly, it doesn’t take up much space. Secondly, you can push it around from room to room. Thirdly, it is much cheaper than a brand new bassinet/crib. And, finally, it’s high enough that our 19 month old can’t reach well into it. The one disadvantage? The mattress was very hard and sunk in a bit in the middle.

The solution ended up being a combination of flattening out the bed by adding a piece of cardboard and a blanket under the mattress and adding a mattress cover. The problem was only that they don’t make mattress covers for baby travel cribs. Therefore, I decided to sew one up myself.

I decided to use a similar concept to the baby pillows that I made for Jonas. They have just enough fluff to be comfortable, but are flat enough to be safe. I also added some fold over corners to the cover so that it would stay on the mattress, another safety guard.

I think the resulting cover is so cute, it is really a shame that you have to put a sheet over it. Maybe, when he’s a bit older, I’ll just leave it in the bottom of the playpen.

Here’s the quick and easy how to:

1. Measure your playpen/travel bed so that you know how big to make your mattress cover. Then cut out 2 pieces of material, plus 2 pieces of thin polyester backing adding a half inch to each side.

2. Now cut out 4 square pieces of material, about 8 x 8 inches. Fold material in half with the nice side on the outside.

3. Lay down the pieces as follows: First one piece of material with the good side facing up. Now add the triangles to each corner, so that the two open ends of the triangle are facing the corner. Then, add your next piece of material with the good side facing down. Finally, lay the polyester backing down on top. If you have difficulties sewing over polyester backing, add a layer of newspaper to this, which you can tear off later. Add stick pins around the entire square to hold.

4. Leaving about a half inch all the way around, sew around the rectangle until you are about 4-6 inches from where you started. Now turn the entire piece inside out, so that the right side of the material is now on the outside, and the polyester backing on the inside. You will see that the triangles can be folded to either side.

5. Finally, sew up the remaining 4-6 inches by hand and you are finished.

When I added this mattress pad to our crib, my baby finally slept “like a baby.” If you need a temporary crib or travel a lot, consider making your own mattress pad.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Baby Break

Lukas Jacob is here!

Lukas Jacob Donner was born at 6:06 p.m. on Sunday, May 8, 2011.



Hello everyone,

I just wanted to let all of my readers know, that I will be taking a blog break for the month of May. I gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby boy on Mother's Day and think it's time to take a little break from blogging to just enjoy my little guy. Lukas and I are now home recuperating and just enjoying our time together, now as a family of four.

See you soon!

Kelley

Friday, April 29, 2011

Movable Door Height Marker

When I was a little girl, the door frame to my bedroom was covered in marks depicting not only my height at various ages, but also the height of my friends and even my stuffed animals. Even after I stopped growing, I loved looking at it and seeing what years I really shot up and who I was friends with at different times. There was so much history on such a short little space.

Now that Jonas is getting older, I wanted to have a place where I could also mark his height. Unfortunately, I've moved so many times in the last few years that I really doubt that it makes sense to use a door frame. So I decided to make a door height marker that I could take with me from one place to the next.

This movable door height marker is made out of material and is a bit different than the one on my bedroom door. I love the visual of seeing how much one grows during each year, because it varies so greatly. Therefore, I decided to cut and sew a piece of material for the first year and then to add pieces of material which extend from this piece for every year after that.

At the moment, I only have two pieces of material for Jonas, since he is only 18 months old. The first is 21.3 inches long, his birth height, and the second is 9.7 inches, since he was 31 inches at one year (21.3 + 9.7 = 31). On his second birthday, I will add a third piece of material to his marker.

This door height marker can be hung in a door frame, or hung on the wall until the child is a bit older. If you have more than one child, you could hang them next to each other to compare heights. Maybe someday I will sew this one into a quilt and give it to my child when they go off to college, have their own child, etc...

Here is the how to:

1. Cut a piece of material which is four and a half inches wide and so long as your child was at birth plus at least a half an inch. Turn the insides of the material together and sew along the edges with about a quarter inch remaining, leaving the top open. Now turn it back right side in, fold in the top edges a quarter inch and leaving the top open, sew around these edges or iron them down with heat bonding tape. Iron flat.

2. Iron Wonderunder to a contrasting fabric and then cut out the name of your child and how tall they were at birth. Iron this onto your material. Your first piece is finished!

3. For every year your child is old, add another piece of contrasting material and the age of the child. Eventually, your door height marker will be very colorful and a great way to remember how small your child once was.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Healthy Mexican Soup

I love Mexican food, especially burritos and nachos. However, sometimes it’s good to have Mexican taste, without all of the cheese and fat that we usually add to our so-called Mexican food.

This soup tastes light and summery with a great hint of lime. It’s great for lunch or a light supper.

Please, do me one favor. If you make this, don’t skimp on the lime, cilantro, or fresh avocado. They really add the necessary flavor. Trust me, your taste-buds will love it!

Mexican Soup

1 chicken breast
1 small onion, diced
3 green onions
1 can red beans
1 can corn
1 can black beans
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 can water
2 T brown sugar + 1 t brown sugar
1 T paprika, cumin, chili powder
Salt, pepper, and garlic salt to taste
Cilantro
Chopped avocado
Lime juice
Tortilla chips (optional)

1. Brown onions in a little olive oil. Then add diced chicken (see step 2) and spices.

2. For this soup, I like to take already prepared grilled chicken. We often grill up a few extra chicken breasts when we BBQ on the weekend, so that we have chicken for salads and other meals throughout the week. You can also brown the chicken ahead of time. Then dice and add to onions.

3. Add all your canned ingredients and the 2 T brown sugar. Cook until boiling, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add a few squirts of lime juice.

4. Pour soup into bowls, crunch some tortilla chips on top (or eat them with the soup), and add the avocados as a garnish. I like to chop up the avocado into little pieces, sprinkle with sugar and a bit of lime juice. You can also add a little cilantro as a garnish as well. This soup works great for entertaining.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Floppy Dog

This is one of my first sewing projects after getting pregnant with my first child. My husband and I knew that we would be moving the same month the baby was born and I wanted to get rid of as much clutter in the house as I could before we started packing. I had a bunch of scrap material that I decided I didn’t really need. Nevertheless, as an artist, it is sometimes hard to part with things that you have collected for future projects (whether or not these projects ever occur) and so I decided to sew up a few things first.

The idea for Floppy actually came from my childhood and memories of my Grandma Hilda who used scraps to make everything from blocks to stockings. I decided that a stuffed animal would be a good gift for me to give my child and that using the old material would be a sentimental way for me to remember my pregnancy and the anticipation of things to come.

Here is the how to:

1. I first drew a picture of what I wanted to make. I decided on a dog (although it has some similarities with a cow as well). You can use any animal, just make sure that you keep it simple. My dog basically has 3 parts: a rectangle for a body, a rounded rectangular head, and limbs/tail/ears plus your extras like eyes/pockets. Once you have drawn your animal, make patterns for each of these parts, making sure to leave about a half an inch of material anywhere you will sew.

2. Now decide what material you will use. Cut out the pieces according to your patterns, and then arrange them on a table so that you can see what your animal will look like from the front and the back. I like to really mix my fabrics, making sure that at least one piece of each fabric is on the front and the back of the animal.

3. Now you can start sewing. I prefer to start with the limbs/tail/ears. They are really easy, as you only need to lay the two pieces of material with the good sides facing each other and then sew around the edge leaving the limb open where it will connect to the body. Turn back right-side-in and then stuff with polyester filling. You may need to use a pencil to really get the filling into every corner of the limb.

4. Once all of your limbs/tail/ears are finished, it’s time to work on the head. First add your eyes. You can either sew these on by hand, or you can do them with the machine. I usually fold the edges of the material first and iron them flat. Then I sew around ¾ of the eye using the machine, stuff in some polyester filling, and then sew the eye shut. Finally, I sew the pupil using dark thread. If you do other accents, like making the head out of two different pieces of material, or adding X’s for nose/mouth, then you will also need to do this now. Now you can lay your two head pieces together, using stick pins, place the ears where they should go, sew around the whole head, and stuff it like you did the limbs. Since I sewed my head directly on the front of the body, I made sure to finish the head completely, hand sewing the final hole shut, where I had added the stuffing.

5. Now, it is time to get the body ready. I have added a pocket accent to my Floppy dog. This is just a pocket from a pair of jeans. You can often buy loads of them at your second-hand store. I like to use them on projects for fun. After sewing on the pocket, you will need to use stick pins and pin the head on where it should go. I sewed the head onto the body by hand, since I wanted it to lie on the front of the body (If you have a neck on your animal, this won’t be necessary, as you can sew it directly into the body). I made sure to sew it on really well, as I wanted to make sure that my son wouldn’t be able to pull it off.

6. Finally, I took the body and using stick pins, I placed all of the limbs/tail where they should go. Then sew around the whole body leaving only a little opening about an inch to an inch and a half wide. And, now for the fun part. Once you turn your animal back right-side-in, it is almost finished. All you need to do is stuff the body, and sew up your remaining hole and you are done. Yeah!

In the end, although it may seem like a long process, you will be amazed just how fast everything goes. I made Floppy in one weekend and was surprised just how easy it was.

If you have made similar stuffed animals, please post them. I’m always excited to see what others are creating!