I don’t normally do this, because I don’t think I’d keep them, and so I don’t fancy setting myself up for failure.  But I thought I’d try a few that should be quite simple.

Firstly, I’m going to take more photos – and not just of Evie.  And more videos too.  I know if I don’t do this, I’ll regret it when Evie gets older.

Secondly, I’m going to spend less time messing about on the computer.  If I spent half the time doing stuff rather than messing on the computer thinking about doing it, then I’d get so much more done.  Plus I’ve realised that I don’t need to be online all that much to keep up with blogs and boards that I visit, so a lot of it is a waste of time really.

Thirdly, OK this one is a biggie, and one that I usually wouldn’t make because of the whole failure thing, but I need to lose some weight.  Especially if I want to have another baby.  Which I’m not thinking about yet, but eventually I would like to, and I don’t want to be diabetic again because that was a real pain.  So I may join Slimming World, or I might just do it on my own.  I have to do more cooking for Evie, and if I plan it a bit better I should be able to link that in with cooking for me and Newt as well.  And I might try going swimming.  I joined a gym before and that was no good for me, but swimming is OK, it’s boring but doesn’t take too long, and if I have a shower afterwards then I don’t need to wash my hair at night, so I’ll save some time there.  And now Evie’s older, I can leave her with my mum for an hour while I go.  That’s the idea anyway.  We’ll see how it goes.

We’re all just back from a week long break at Center Parcs in Nottingham. We had a great time, and I’ll be putting more about that on my LittleRach blog, but what about the food for veggies and veggie babies? Well, good and bad things to report there.

I had been reliably informed that the restaurants provided free jars of Hipp Organic baby food in jars when you eat there, and I know there’s a supermarket, so I presumed they’d sell a good selection of jars and cans and stuff. I phoned up in advance to see how much freezer room we’d have – only the freezer compartment of the fridge. So I didn’t take a huge amount of frozen stuff, thinking I’d be able to cook a little if I needed to, and it wouldn’t kill her to have a few jars for a week.

We managed to transport the frozen stuff down successfully, nothing defrosted, and it all fitted in the freezer – so far so good. But I did forget to pack the attachment for the blender, so if I did cook, it would have to be mashable stuff, nothing that needed to be a smooth puree. Later in the week I did cook some potato, carrot and broccoli mash with cheese, that I think is lovely, but isn’t a huge success with the Veggie Baby. She’ll eat it, but for some reason she’s not very impressed.

Our first meal out to the Pancake House was successful – they did indeed have a selection of Hipp jars, and a microwave, and Evie seemed to quite like it. Next, Grandma took Evie to Cafe Rouge (which used to be Chez Pierre, but is now the high street brand we all know). They did not have any jars, and rather than offering to go to one of the other places and get one (as a member of staff later did when he saw my mum still wandering round), they didn’t really have any suggestions. So Grandma had to walk all the way back to the villa to get some food, then went back to Cafe Rouge, who were by then so busy that although they warmed Evie’s food, Grandma never got served.

By the end of the week we discovered breakfast at Huckleberry’s – the American style place, and what a stroke of luck that was. Lovely veggie breakfasts for me and Newt, loads of different stuff on offer for Evie, and a big play area for when she’s bigger (actually, I probably could have taken her in bits of it now). And lovely staff that Evie loves to watch – she has a bit of a thing for waiters and waitresses for some reason.

But the supermarket. That was NOT GOOD. They had some Organix fruit pots and puddings, but all the savoury stuff was Heinz and Cow and Gate. It wasn’t organic, but I thought “Never mind” and read some of the labels. I couldn’t bring myself to buy any of it. There wasn’t a huge non-meat selection anyway, but what there was looked horrible. For example, the Cauliflower Cheese was 30% cauliflower and 8% cheese. OK, so that leaves us with 62% water, starch and other fillers and nonsense. I tried to find an example of the label on the internet, but couldn’t. What I did find was slick websites extolling the virtues of their products. Whilst I’m not trying to argue that Hipp, and Organix and Plum Baby etc etc are ideal, they do seem to contain fewer fillers and water. The jars I ended up giving her contained 96% vegetables – so only 4% of ‘other stuff’. Which I think is more what people would expect. If I buy cauliflower cheese, I don’t expect almost two thirds of that product to be neither cauliflower nor cheese.

However, I can’t blame Center Parcs for the failings of the baby food companies, but I would have liked to have seen a better selection of foods, especially given the family orientated nature of the company. And I said as much on my feedback form.

Just thought I’d add a photo of us at Cafe Rouge.

As ever, loads of photos in Gallery.

As Evie’s getting a bit older and a bit bigger, and obviously now she’s got two big girl teeth, she doesn’t think it’s very cool for mummy to feed her, and she’d much rather get on with the job by herself.  This is OK when it comes to toast, and rice cakes, not so good when it comes to  blueberry puree!

So I’m now on a mission to find new finger foods.  Today I bought some carrot batons (ready cut because I’m feeling lazy), some mango slices, some breadsticks, and some oatcakes.  Even if she doesn’t manage to eat much of them, it’ll be good practice for her, and will keep her occupied for a little while.

Didn’t really know what else to title this post! I’ve just ordered myself a Boobie Reminder Bracelet, and a Nursing Necklace from Lait d’Amour. I heard about them from a book – Imperfectly Natural Baby and Toddler by Janey-Lee Grace (the woman from Steve Wright in the Afternoon on Radio 2).

I’ve ordered the necklace in “Pretty in Pink” and the bracelet will be customised with “Evie’s next boobie”! They’re a Christmas present from the Veggie Daddy.

I mainly decided to get them because recently, when she’s feeding Veggie Baby has started to ‘twiddle’ stuff. She plays with my fingers, her ears, my bracelet, my watch, my hair – anything she can get her hands on really. So I thought it would be nice to have something that’s just for her to play with. And maybe then she won’t get as distracted, and she’ll feed for longer!

Happy New Year everyone!!

I stayed up last night to see in the new year, and although I managed to resist the temptation to wake the Veggie Baby, I did have to sneak into her room at about 5 minutes past midnight to stroke her and wish her a happy new year.  But then she started to stir, so I beat a hasty retreat!!  Today she went for a long walk with Daddy to celebrate.

Yesterday I also did a little experimental cookery.  For tea she had pasta and tomato sauce, with teeny tiny pasta stars, and I didn’t puree it, so she did really well with the lumps.  Although initially she didn’t like the tomato sauce – but thinking about it, she’s never had tomato before, and it was quite strong tasting; so I mixed a little cream with it, and she seemed to like that much better.  I think next time, I might try mixing in some mascarpone.  I then made some rice pudding, but rather than doing it in the oven, I made it in a pan.  And I didn’t use any sugar, but I put in a few drops of vanilla essence.  Seems OK, although even though it was very wet when I took it off the hob, it’s sort of solidified a little, so when I heat it I’ll have to add in some extra milk.  She’s going to have it for pudding today, so we’ll see how it goes.