Too good to resist!

Sometimes it gets just too hard to strap his nappy or clothes on because he insists on chomping on his toes! Tasty!

Autumn leaves

I wish Autumn would hurry up and make way for Winter.... let's just get the cold seasons over and done with!!! 

Summer please come back!!

I hope I never attempt to actually eat like THIS

I have always been known to have a thing for chocolates, if not then a sweet of some sort. After a meal, I need that something sweet to finish off, be it a fruit, a mint or a full blown belgian waffle drizzled with chocolate sauce, topped with whipped cream and a massive scoop of vanilla ice cream, PLUS a hot chocolate to top it off. (yes, we've ever gone straight out to the waffle place at westfield after dinner, just to do that. No sharing. Hubby gets his own dessert. It's a bit crazy when we do that.)

But hey, there are crazier fruit loops out there!

 I still prefer the REAL variety, thank you very much.

No, I won't EVER be making this for christmas

and to really top it off..................

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 Although it is potentially time saving, so I can catch more rest before Kayden is up again...

I prefer having several courses rather than just a single course of this

Spaghetti frosted chocolate cake topped with Ferrero Roche 'meatballs' smothered with raspberry sauce.

Somebody please bring me a bucket.

See many more crazy food photos via thisiswhyyouarefat.com. Some are just bizarre! And a few are actually being sold out there at the shops!

Eczema

Since about 3 months of age, Kayden has been diagnosed with atopic eczema. Eczema is a very common dry skin condition here in Australia that affects 1 in every 3 Australians.  Unfortunately, Kayden is one of them.  The skin becomes red, dry and is extremely itchy. Eczema is not contagious, but when infected, it may weep, bleed and crust over, and so, as you can imagine, it is extremely uncomfortable. It can be caused by many factors including allergens, (eg.washing detergent, dust mites, pollen, foods, pets, soaps, cosmetics) and clothing such as wool, fleece - 100% cotton is preferred); irritants ( changes in weather hot/cold , dry/wet;, cigarette smoke, airconditioning and overheating) and even stress. Particularly so if there is a family history of eczema itself, hayfever and asthma. There is currently no cure for eczema.

Keeping the skin well moisturized is crucial here. I apply moisturizer on his face at every single nappy change! And I try to apply them on his body as well whenever possible. It is important that he uses something that is non fragranced and natural. His skin is pretty dry, and to keep it looking the way it is (soft and baby smooth like its supposed to be!) we've tried so many brands of moisturizers! Some keeps him sufficiently moisturized for a week or so then stops working the next week! It has been A LOT of trial and errors for months now!

Ointments are better than creams and lotions, they seal in the moisture much better. 

At the moment, dermeze is working for him

Kayden recently had a flare of the condition, it got so bad we had to bring him to a specialist. He was so frustrated and was constantly grumpy. He didn't know where to put his hands! He was sooo itchy! He gorges holes into his scalp with his fingernails when he scratches, it was a sore sight.

And what you see below is his daily 'facial' routine' now. The treatment to ease it, is a regular application of steroid creams on the affected areas. He uses more products than I do!

He is currently on a eczema treatment plan as instructed by his allergist. We apply the lot about 3 times daily and I also moisturize him at every nappy change.. We first put on the Elocon ointment (sometimes Sigmacort) on the affected areas on his face, then Elocon cream for his body, Elocon Lotion on his scalp, moisturize his whole body and face with dermeze and then put his nappy barrier cream on before we dress him up. Bonjella is also applied to soothe his gums if necessary. 

He is also on oral antibiotics twice a day and has been instructed to take bleach baths. Yes, you read me right - BLEACH. A quarter cup of household bleach goes into his bath instead of his soap free bath gels. It is a bit like taking a swim in the pool, the bleach helps kill off the bacteria that causes the infection.

So as u can imagine, it takes some skill and more than a few minutes to do all of that on methodically  every single time on a wriggly baby! After dinner, he goes for his bath, and it is a 2 man mission  every time! It is getting very cold here at night even with the heater on, so quick hands are crucial! 

After all that frantic application of his ointments, creams and lotions,  strapping his nappy on, and then twisting his arms and legs into his jumpsuit, the poor baby's all tired out  And when put into his cot, he's out like a light, snoozing away usually within a minute or two.

Most children grow out of their eczema by around 5 years of age, but a small percentage continues into adulthood. I am keeping my fingers crossed for the best!

Kayden's eczema is now totally under control, YAY!

Good skin

= less grumpy Kayden

= Happy better rested Mommy!

Routine at 6 months

I have experimented with a couple of routines, mish mashing suggestions and advice from several parenting resources. But in the world of babies, you can never be 100% planned and organized. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

So I wanted to record here, a typical day with Kayden at his 6 months mark. Bearing in mind, he is now teething and had an eczema flare a week ago and hence is currently on oral antibiotics, my poor baby.


 7.00am : Kayden wakes briefly to call out for a feed, then goes straight back to sleep once again. Usually a nappy change at this time as well.

10.30am :  Wakes up for another feed and is up and awake.

Noon : Lunchtime, wash up and nappy change.

1.00 pm : Back to bed for his afternoon nap. But it takes him quite a while to settle down for his nap. Dozes off about 1.30pm and usually sleeps for about an hour.

2.30 pm : Awake and up. I give him abit of tummy time on his playmat or he sits in his bouncer for a bit.

3.00pm : Feed

3.30pm : Out for a walk

4.30pm : Nappy change and he might go for another nap.

5.30pm : Wakes up and a quick feed

6:00pm : Dinnertime

6.30pm : Bathtime

7.00pm : Bedtime

10pm : Dreamfeed


I am currently weaning him off his middle of the night feeds which he wakes up between 3am to 4am. When he cries out, I usually pop his dummy back in his mouth and most of the times now, he goes straight back to sleep.


Trying to wean him off breastmilk however, isn't going as smoothly! I am still feeding him almost as much as before! Other than for his dreamfeed in the evening, this stubborn child refuses the bottle flat out whenever I offer it to him and just screams until he gets me!


Score : Kayden wins 17, Mommy 0

:D

:D

Kayden says...

Don't....even THINK about it.. it's MINE!!!

Nom nom nom nom nom....

 Finger lickin good!!!

Before you think I've gone psycho, I didn't really let him eat the chocolate of course! It wasn't unwrapped, but he had a great time licking and chewing on the wrapper!

Recipe: 5 Minutes Chocolate Mug Cake

It is rare I get a chance to test out new recipes I find ever since Kayden came along. I luuurve chocolate, anyone who knows me will tell you that. And ever since after my pregnancy, my sweet tooth is coming back, at full steam!

So, sometime ago, when I came across a recipe on Ju's blog that will yield me chocolate+cake in 5 minutes. The little chocolate hormones in my head went bersek. And just simply reading and looking at the scrumptious one she made left me salivatating! I skipped to my pantry as soon as Kayden took his afternoon nap and made it immediately.

 One for me, one for hubby

It was delish! And definitely a keeper! Moist with a molten center. Oh my god, it was soooooooooooooooooo good! It is a very useful recipe to have, I gather most people have the ingredients in your kitchen pantry.

It is something quick and easy to make, only 4 things to wash (2 mugs, a spoon and a bowl to mix it in, that's it!) and 5 minutes to make! Although, as with all my baking, I take ingredients out from my fridge to let it cool down to room temperature first. (hubby got used to seeing a slab of butter sitting on the window sill out of nowhere LOL) But that's just me.

5 minutes Chocolate MUG Cake
(adapted from The Little Teochew)

Ingredients
- 4 tbsp flour
- 5 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp cocoa
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp coffee powder
- A pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- 3 tbsp milk
- 3 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 2 microwave safe coffee mugs


Method
1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

2. Add the milk, egg, vanilla and oil. Mix it well.

3. Pour the batter into 2 mugs. (They should each only come up to the halfway mark as the cake will rise, and you don't want it overflowing!)

4. Microwave 1 mug at a time. Cook it for 1 full minute and then leave it for a couple of seconds, then cook it again for a further 30 seconds. Microwaves differ, so I suggest you cook it for 1 minute and see how you go.

5. Voila! and we have CAKE!! I would say dig in! But I learnt that the hard way, it was VERY HOT! So let it sit alittle first and enjoy.

Kayden 6 months : Starting solids

Kayden has started on his first solids.  So far, we HATE apples and pears, except for when Mommy sneaks it in together with the yummy pumpkin which he LOVES. So, the carrots pretend to be pumpkin and I get away with feeding him with it anyway.

 About to get his first taste of banana mush...........

 

................ and he decides it tastes disgusting. 

I tried giving him a 2 or 3 more spoonfuls after this picture, but he spits it all out every single time!

 in the end, the cheeky monkey purses his lips shut and refuses to have any more of it!

Kayden spits out mushed bananas and gives me that incredulous look on his face as if to say "You call that food??? It's DISGUSTING!". Potatoes are a touch and go.

He has gotten the hang of swallowing the purees, sometimes even holding my hand to push his spoon into his waiting open mouth if he likes the combination I give him. Babies of his age still have the tongue thrust reflex, but it looks like he is getting the hang of eating solids.

I give him the same food for 3 to 4 days, just in case he gets a reaction and if so, I know exactly which food is causing it. Which was the case with plain old packaged rice cereal. He developed a dry rash around his lips the morning after.

So really, the food that are going into him are orange, and not surprisingly so, it comes out exactly the same colour! Quite bizarre! So perhaps next week, we might try some broccoli. (green poo? haha)

He now giggles and laughs when spoken to, cries and growls with displeasure, and kicks and pulls at almost anything in sight. And everything, I mean EVERYTHING goes into his mouth! Somebody remind me WHY I am still sterilizing his bottles?

Kayden is also teething! His bottom left front tooth is cutting through. Yay for tooth but nay for the entire household. We had screaming attacks in the middle of the nights. So. Not. Fun. He wakes up frustrated and clutching his gums, the poor baby. Thank god for baby panadol and Bonjella . As the checkout lady at Coles told me earlier this week, it works wonders!

But at other times, where his tooth isn't bothering him, he gives us all plenty of his gummy smiles.

at 5.5 months

Bye bye house

WOw I haven't published an entry for what seemed like the longest time! Trust me, I have a gazillion drafts on the dashboard on blogger and I have not published them all because they are all half complete!!! So, I better finish off one of the drafts I typed out earlier..Just a short one though, I promise there's more coming soon.


I think I need more than 24 hours in a day! Before I know it, its the end of the day most of the times.

Since my last post, we have sold our house, packed up and have moved in with the in laws while we build our new home. We have been extremely busy for the past  month or so, its been CRAZY! We have only just begun to feel alittle settled, hence the time to write this post.

I forgot to take a photo of the board with the SOLD sign on it after it was sold =(

As hard as it is packing up a house, its even harder with a baby who won't let you out of his sight and starts getting clingy, and with that, nothing much gets done! But we got there. Very Slowly.  There are still heaps of boxes to unpack and put away so we don't live out of boxes for the next year or so.

 

 We got bored and stuck Kayden in a box with the blankets, he was not impressed haha