What’s She Doing Wednesday: My House is a Battlefield

So in an effort to publish mid-week posts on this blog, I figured I’d give a shot at “What’s She Doing Wednesdays” to write about new little quirks, developmental milestones, likes/dislikes, funny behaviors, etc. So here we go:

What’s She Doing Wednesday – My House is a Battlefield

In the short few days into this first full week of 2015, Jia has managed to really show me a new and growing side of her. This week I really felt like I was starting to raise a toddler. Oh boy.

Here’s what I’ve experienced in the last (maybe not even) 48 hours:

I put safety gates at the top of two sets of stairs, not bottom. We decided to wait on the lower gate to see if Jia would actually climb them. Tonight (Wednesday) I turn my back to load the dishwasher real quick and was away for MAYBE one minute and return to find Jia already climbing up on the 3rd stair. I supervised her while she successfully climbed the remaining 4 steps to the gate. Time to get a bottom-of-the-stairs gate. This was definitely THE week to get the safety gates installed. Thank goodness I ordered them Saturday and PRIME delivered them by Monday. Patting myself on the back here.
She has decided she doesn’t like smashed food. She was a fan on Sunday. Not after. Unless it’s breakfast and she’s eating mixed berries with oatmeal. Turns head violently away from the spoon and refuses to look back at me til she can “feel” that the spoon is nowhere close.
We found the first food she disliked: Yogurt. HATES yogurt. And it’s great that I got a huge tub of Plain Organic Whole Milk yogurt, since that was a waste. Thank GOODNESS she was a fan of the (yogurt) chicken I baked tonight and scarfed down an entire mini-chicken breast! (recipe is below). This kid loves (loved, because who knows now): black eyed peas, spinach, pumpkin, quinoa, lentils, all fruit, brussels sprouts, green beans, avocado, beets, carrots, butternut squash, peas, fig, kale, persimmon, salmon, chicken, turkey. Yogurt really took me by surprise.
She’s found she can command the doggies by dropping food on the ground. She gets a huge kick out of this (look at the picture above), in between screaming because she doesn’t feel like eating the food she used to love.
Threw her head back in annoyance that she wasn’t allowed to drink from her sip cup until her spinach/sweet potato-smothered face is cleaned off.
I can no longer dump a handful of Happy Baby puffs to keep her occupied while I prep her food/dinner/clean dishes. She now eats a small amount then drops them one by one to Mei Mei. Then laughs her head off.
As I’m typing this, she’s flicking the cords behind the TV and peeks around the corner at me with a VERY mischievous grin on her face as she cackles.
Discovered and loves trash cans. This includes the bucket we keep her dirty soaking poo cloth diapers. Ewww.
“Doggie water bowl? Fantastic place to clean my hands” (I’ve had to run and pull her away from it twice since starting this post)
She discovered the unending fun that is toilet paper. We keep a roll of the “good stuff” in her changing table area, in case we get a real hefty poo in a cloth diaper.

But thankfully, here are some beautiful and adorable new things we’ve seen: Continue reading “What’s She Doing Wednesday: My House is a Battlefield” »

My Take on the New Year

Wow, after a two-week hiatus from Little Sproutings, it’s time to start up again.

The holiday flew by and it feels like it was over before it even began! We had a really nice time in Charleston, SC celebrating Jia’s First Christmas at my parents’ house, along with Jeff’s parents. We spent 8 days eating good food and dodging lots of rain storms, but it didn’t feel nearly long enough. It was actually our first Christmas with both sides of our families together, which made it even more special. Even though it is always nice to go down South to be with my parents, I was really glad to be back in the comforts of our home with Jia back in her big crib and us back in our routine.

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, mainly because I don’t ever make good on them. But, for this year I wanted to make goals for self-improvement.

I think that this year is more important than other years prior because I’m a mom. I’ll eventually be a role model for Jia, though she is already building her perception of the world and interpersonal interactions from what she sees at home with Jeff and me. So, it will become more and more important to self-reflect and make myself a better version of what and who I am. These characteristics, values, and behaviors are what Jia will use to model her own behaviors as she grows up.

This week’s post isn’t so much a topic-specific health post, but more of a spiritual, reflective, and introspective therapeutic one. Continue reading “My Take on the New Year” »

Happy Holidays from Little Sproutings!

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Little Sproutings is taking the week off to soak in Baby Jia’s 1st Christmas!

To all of you new mommies and daddies celebrating your baby’s first Christmas (or any other holiday), we hope that you have a fantastic extra special holiday season and get lots of snuggles and cuddles!

(and how cool does the falling snow look with this picture?? If you don’t see it yet, give the snow on this page a chance to fall…)

And for any of you who were wondering, things baby should NOT consume*:

egg nog
chips and salsa
cheesecake
sweet tea
pumpkin/apple pie or any other pie (or pie filling)
oreos or any other cookies
bourbon or caramel sauce
whipped cream
flourless chocolate cake
ice cream
wine (or champagne)

*There are MANY other off-limit foods, but these alone are based on ridiculously true stories/Facebook newsfeeds

{Tiny Giveaway Winner}

Congratulations to Megan Williams for winning our Tiny Giveaway! Just goes to show what entering twice can really do for you! You will be contacted shortly by The Tiny Collection about the specifics. I’m so excited for you and beautiful little Jane Rose!

Thank you to all who entered our first giveaway and thank you for spreading the word about Little Sproutings on Facebook and Instagram! I have loved all of your Sproutings Suggestions and will work hard to do some good researching into those topics. A special thanks goes out to Lindsey at The Tiny Collection for making this giveaway happen!

Keep posted for a Springtime Giveaway with The Tiny Collection’s new set of adorable designs and keep reading Little Sproutings!

The Gift of Milk Giving

Fa La La La La!! ‘Tis the season for giving, so I thought, hey this would be an appropriate topic to cover!

I very recently ran into a new mom (Hi, Christa!) at Buy Buy Baby who isn’t able to feed her newborn breastmilk due to a protein intolerance. She expressed her disappointment that her frozen milk is going unused. So, I suggested milk banking. After voicing her interest in the topic, I mentioned Little Sproutings (of course) and the post I’d written earlier that mentioned milk banking (“Boobienomics: Nature’s Supply & Demand). One of my loyal Sprout readers also suggested the topic, so how could I not dedicate a post to something I feel so proud to have been a part of?

A quick bit about my experience: I donated almost 600 ounces of milk to The King’s Daughters Milk Bank, in Norfolk VA after we realized we couldn’t feed any of my pumped milk to Jia. If you recall, we went through a process of eliminating dairy and soy from my diet (see: My Little Soy-Free Dairy-Free Sprout) so the milk I’d pumped couldn’t be given to her. I had a freezer almost entirely filled with frozen bags of milk (and no room left for food)! The milk bank I contacted made the process quick and painless!

So for those of you who have been lucky to have a supply like I was/am, your little one is past the point of breastfeeding and you’ve got a stash, or if your baby isn’t able to drink the milk you have saved up, here’s some info about a wonderful thing you can do with your liquid gold! Continue reading “The Gift of Milk Giving” »

{giveAWAY!} A Tiny Collection for your Tiny Sprout

I am so excited about Little Sproutings’ VERY FIRST GIVEAWAY, just in time for the HOLIDAYS!

The Tiny Collection is a great baby clothes company based out of Richmond, Virginia. Lindsey Frank, owner of The Tiny Collection and brilliant artist and interior designer, was constantly disappointed by the lack of variety while shopping for products for her son. She created The Tiny Collection to take the designing and production into her own hands to offer unique, beautiful, comfortable, and high-quality baby clothing.

Jia in the Lucky Horseshoe Onesie

All of Lindsey’s designs are lovingly designed by hand and are printed with baby-friendly water-based inks (even the metallics!). From a sweet Galileo quote, a dreamy night’s Pleiades constellation, to a whimsical Ship & Anchor design, all Tiny Tees and Onesies are made and printed in the USA.

Each Tiny Package is artistically wrapped and packaged, most complete with a Tiny Tag filled with a matching Tiny Tattoo (pictured above). Lindsey’s attention to detail does not go unnoticed and the special touches don’t skip a beat.

I LOVE The Tiny Collection! Seriously, The Collection’s tees and onesies (both the organic and non-organic) are incredibly soft and the designs are so beautifully illustrated and printed! The metallic ink is so eye-catching, and well, every girl’s gotta have her shimmer!! Continue reading “{*giveAWAY!*} A Tiny Collection for your Tiny Sprout” »

~{GIVEAWAY COMING!}~

We are teaming up with The Tiny Collection for a great giveaway, just in time for the holidays! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to win adorable Tiny Freebies for your Tiny Tot! Open to US Residents only.

Follow Little Sproutings on Facebook.com/littlesproutings and both of us on Instagram (@littlesproutings & @the_tinycollection) for additional entries!

Details coming soon this Saturday’s Sproutings post!