Pork & pumpkin – my 30 minute meal

I’ve finally started cooking with a bit more vigour again. Probably because I’ve got a cooking “partner” now. Also, I bought Jamie (Oliver)’s book 3o minute meals. I’ve tried 3 mains and a salad. Really – I can’t cook them in 30 minutes, Jamie.

This is what I can cook in 30 minutes – Pork and pumpkin stirfry! It also will get a tick from the 4 ingredients book I just realised! It’s very welcomed by Joel, Elijah and myself ( I’m sure Toby too, but there’s hardly any left usually ). I’m sure most would enjoy it too except my father who absolutely abhors pumpkin.

3-4 cloves Garlic, 400gm minced pork ,800gm roughly slicked Japanese pumpkin ,1/2 -3/4 tbsp soy sauce. Coriander for garnishing.

Mince 3-4 garlic cloves. Fry them in medium heat with some oil till slightly fragrant. Add on roughly 400gms minced pork. Keep frying on medium heat till pork is slightly browned. Add about 800gms of japanese pumpkin and mix through with the pork. Add about one cup of water (2oomls) then close with a lid to let simmer and cook the pumpkin thoroughly. Check after 5 minutes and add more water if needed. It is ready however you like your pumpkin to be. Have it with rice.

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A few days ago, I bought a new book about babies. Maybe I am a bit obsessed about Elijah! You would think that at 9 1/2 months I would’ve sussed him out already in terms of what he likes and what he doesn’t. Well, I know some and the other some I don’t. I already have a book I bought when I was at a crisis where he was not sleeping well – that was 5 months ago. That book was great in terms of her philosophy about respecting my baby. It’s not about giving in to every whimp he wants to be fed or picked up or to play with. It taught me that I needed to guide him and not just telling him what to do. I also learnt to prepare him for what was to come with some cues – whether its time to take a bathe, eat or sleep. Naturally, I think if they were not told babies are very smart to figure it out just by observation alone. But me talking to him gives me a sense of him really being in my life and not just a baby I have to take care of.

Well, so why would I bother buying another book? Since observing him and taking some action through what the book taught me he is generally quite easy to look after. He plays quite well independantly if given the right kind of stimulation, goes to sleep without much crying or fuss ( more like babbling and laughing in bed then finally drops off ), eats quite well but sometimes does fuss a bit. Therefore I do have some time to myself to relax. But something was still amiss – although our days are pretty good, after he goes to sleep at night he would be quite restless. Some days it would be tossing and turning for a long time in bed and when he is unable to settle himself he would then fuss and then cry out. Sometimes I do need to help him resettle but most times I don’t. Maybe most parents would be happy with this as really on an average, I would need to get out of bed to settle him once a night for 1 or 2 nights in a week. ( I pharmacist told me yesterday he first baby was waking up every 3 hours EVERY night till he was 18 months!! ) But I can’t help but find that this transitional period ( where they might be on the way to one nap a day ) he has with his nap times/ awake times during the day I just can’t put my finger on it yet. So if there was something to help him sleep at night better, I would gladly do.

So, here’s hoping that this new book would help me unlock what it is he needs.Fingers crossed!

Update:  Since starting on a new routine from this book- I’ve not needed to settle him anymore for any nightwakings due to too much sleep/too little sleep etc. [ Dream Baby Guide by Sheyne Rowley ]

Baby routine at 8 months

Alright, quickly I just want to write down the routine I’m having with Elijah at 8 months so I can refer to it next time ( maybe if I have a second child? ). Like I said, we went through some rubbish nights for about 6-8 weeks. He was fine throughout the day or so I thought, but after bedtime he woke up many times. As many as every hour on some nights and cries out for a short while then puts himself back to sleep. At times he can’t and needed physical intervening. I felt so sad for him. It was still alright for me to wake up every hour when he woke up, but for him it meant he was not well rested at all. So I decided to look at his entire day and reexamine what was the matter. I reread my “Baby Whisperer” book.  I think I kept him up way too long causing him to be too overstimulated. I also thought he was moving to one nap.. but he was only 8 months! ( Although some babies do well )

So a reminder to myself is to go back to the drawing board when things just go awry.

Wakeup + breasfeed : 6:45am (Activity time 3h 5min – 3h 15min)

Breakfast – 8:00am -ish

Nap : 9:50am -ish (45mins-1 hour)

Wakeup : 10:50am (Activity time 3h 25min – 3 h 30min)

Bottlefeed – 11:00am -ish, Lunch – 12:30 pm-ish,  1st half of split breastfeed 1:45pm-ish

Nap : 2:15am ( usually 2 hrs, sometimes 1h 30mins)

Wakeup : 4:00pm

2nd half of split breastfeed 4:00pm, Dinner 4:45pm-ish, last bottlefeed before bedtime

Bedtime : 7:00pm

Dreamfeed : 9:30pm.. working towards eliminating

This gives a 11hr 45min night and a 12 hr 15min day. A far less cranky baby by day and few nightwakings with this. If any most times puts himself back to sleep after 2-3mins. Yay!

A few Elijah moments

Every night after Elijah goes to bed, I finally find myself some time. Somehow though, that time goes too quickly and I am tired by 9pm and I feel I just need to shut down and retire for the night. I have so many things I want to write about but it’s either I get distracted or I find that there are better things to do. I find I am unable to do any writing in the day whilst taking care of him – I have not learnt to art of putting myself in my own space for just a little while. I think I will need to find a solution to “tune-out”.

Alright, I think I’ll start now. Joel’s asleep now – he has been since 7:10pm. I bet this is because I handed Elijah to him for half a day !

So where am I right now? I’ve been a mummy now for 8 months. You know what, this parenting thing is has its Elijah moments. Like more recently we went through a period of rubbish nights ( from sleeping through!! ). Oh boy was it a torture. Thankfully, that’s turned around quite a bit .. but now he’s decided to practice rolling over in bed , wakes himself up and has to call out to us. If we don’t turn him back he will fall asleep again but wake in his next sleep cycle again.  On one hand it’s fustrating that it happens at night , on the other hand at least he can now roll over ( only tummy to back though! ) and amuse himself a little more. There’s also the time he sat independantly. Brilliant moment for me. Why? I don’t have to sit with him anymore when he has his own play time! More recently I discovered he is actually amused when I use the little nose “sucker”. Whenever I insert it into his nostril and suck out, he laughs. Hehe, who knew that would make him laugh. He is also SO amused by Toby our dog. Just today, Joel sat him on the Bumbo seat on the floor so he could look at Toby walking and sniffing around.. he was delighted and very distracted that I think he just didn’t feel tired at his usual nap time it seemed as though he would not want to sleep. However when I took him to the room he was fussy and knocked out quickly. There’s also him pulling a face with new foods. Bananas, apples, chicken, oats. But gets used to them fairly quickly and doesn’t reject them. I haven’t given him any ready made bottle food, so I don’t know how he’ll do with them. He’s vocal repertoire has expanded he also practices them just before going to bed.

There are so many Elijah moments I wish I could collect them, keep them in a jar to be opened again later.

* Yay! I just did my “tune-out” session. Well, kinda – I was  a bit distracted with his stirring in bed just a while ago. *

Until the next time.

A usual day with Elijah at 6 months

Wow Elijah you’re six months +! How time has passed. Time for me to get this blog going again (maybe). It’s been a great big change for me being a mum and a parent – all for the better I suppose. I’m glad now I have more time to myself now that he is a bit “older” – a weeee bit older. I guess that’s why I am back here and hopefully I can update this space more. In a way I guess this blog serves as a reminder of what has gone by.

So where am I now? Well, I have to say I am a happy mother and enjoying this time in my life. No doubt being a parent has many challenges – so much has to be put aside; most especially time for myself. Sometimes I wonder what I get done in a day – so what DO I do in a day now that he is six months? He changes so much but for now the day seems more predictable.

He wakes anytime from 6:15am -7:00am.For the past week it’s been about 6:45 ish am – yay! It’s funny how 10minutes of difference is huge in my world now… I breastfeed him, “ask” him to burp and do a poo “ngg ngg” . Then it’s nappy change time so I wake daddy up for this (heh heh) whilst I prep breakfast for both adults. By this time Elijah’s in fresh nappies and having a look at our backyard in our room. Joel and I joke that it is as though he lives like a retiree – having a relaxing time after breakfast looking at the scenery with no other cares in the world. Joel and I have breakfast in our room (!) then I prep Elijah’s “breakfast” (currently the menu is pureed avocado and breastmilk and the “special of the day” is pureed boiled pumpkin and breastmilk. He enjoys his “meals” and has never looked back since he started at about 5months. We then play, sing songs and read books.

He starts getting cranky about 9:00am and then goes to bed about 9:15-9:30am. When he is tired he gets cranky and starts scratching his ears. He occasionally does a twitch with his head and eyes, and needs to either suck his fingers or my clothes to comfort himself to sleep. Thankfully naptimes and bedtime for him are not a huge battle for him or me. I then have a little time to sit down, wash the dishes and check Facebook and email.

He wakes up from sleep usually after about 1 hr and a half, looks around his cot and has a bit of a chat to himself. I leave him for a bit on his own and about 11:00ish give him his botttle of formula. Then it’s nappy change time again and then I put him in his exersaucer ( we recently hired ) and he happily entertains himself. I get to sit down and have my morning coffee time for about half an hour. [ Funnily today he fell asleep in the exersaucer bouncing up and down and nodding off... ?!! I suspect him bouncing his legs may be the start of some self-soothing as he does this in bed too before sleeping ]

1:00 ish means he’s getting slight cranky again.  Sometimes we are out shopping, at church, having lunch or at my “mothers’ group so he slowly nods off in the car when we are travelling home and I transfer him to bed. He seems to be okay with this and continues sleeping. During this period I plan for dinner, have a sit down, have lunch, maybe do some dishes again, and seemingly endless tasks of cleaning. At 2:45 -3:00 ish pm he wakes from nap and gets a breastfeed. Somehow his afternoon nap is different. He wakes up after 40mins, fusses around and I have to intervene and pat him to sleep more – sometimes he can go back to sleep sometimes he can’t or he fusses for 20minutes or so then puts himself back to sleep without my help or sleeps right through without problems. Perhaps I  just haven’t got the right amount of activity time for him. I am not sure why – it’s the same whether we’re having a day out of in.

He has more food at about 4:00pm.  After that he plays a little, then sometimes we go for a stroll just him and me, and sometimes with our dog Toby. Depending on the day if he has not had a good nap he gets cranky and naps again about 5:00ish pm. At 5:45-6:00ish is his bathtime. Joel is sometimes around so he bathes him whilst I cook dinner. Elijah enjoys his bathtime but dislikes getting dried and dressed for bed. We’ve tried lots of things – turning the heater on, singing, amusing him but he keeps whinging until he gets all dressed for bedtime! Maybe he wants to stay in the bathtub longer…

Then it’s bedtime story and singing, his bottle and nighty-nite at about 6:45-7:00pm. Joel and I can now put our feet up and have dinner whilst watching TV. At 11:00pm Elijah has his “dreamfeed” and his and my day starts again the next morning.

So really in a day I feed Elijah, change his diaper, have some activity time then put him to bed and the routine starts all over again, and again, and again, day in day out. I still have some time to myself but quite a bit of it is actually doing things for him too – cleaning his little tupperwares for stored milk,  making puree, sometimes learning nursery rhymes!!, folding some clothes ( although Joel does most of it ), etc etc. Yes, it does get a bit boring and of course I understand why mums do just want some adult conversation or something different to do. But when I look at this little baby – well I have to keep reminding myself that these seemingly mindless “tasks” may be mundane but they serve to nurture him and there will be a day he will be independant.  And thankfully – yes thankfully he started sleeping through the night since he was 5 months ( with some bumps here and there like a few days ago… maybe a growth spurt? ) so I am no longer sleep deprived and perhaps now I don’t have an excuse to stay in my PJs the whole day

To my mum – Thank you for taking care of me.