Just go with it: That Don't Impress Me Much

This is about the moments where you, despite how you feel about the situation, must just roll with it, go with the flow and live those moments you never thought you'd have to.

My husband and I went to see Shania Twain in concert this weekend.  Shania is the REAL love of my husband's life.  We have an understanding when it comes to Shania (yes, we're on a first name basis).  He has permission to leave me for her, just like I have permission to leave for Jimmy Fallon.  Fair, right?

Anyways, this was an outdoor concert at a new park (don't even get me started on how disorganized and chaotic it was!).  We were so excited and made sure to read all of the "rules" on the website.  Here are some:
- No parking at the location.  Shuttle services will take you to the park.
- No outside food and beverages.
(A bunch more basic rules)
- Only purses and small backpacks allowed, and they WILL be searched.

Here's where my story begins.

I'm not a light packer, but I am an organized person!  So, here are the contents that made it into my backpack:

- Water bottles (they had to be small ones, or they'd be taken away)
- Towel
- My husband's medical supplies (a necessity!)
- Wallet
And..............
- My portable, travel size breast pump!

So of course, things got a little awkward when the big tough security guard with the spider and skull tattoos on his bald head looked through my bag.  Words were not exchanged, but the search ended very quickly, once he got to the breast pump.

The hand pump was really only there as a "just in case" kind of thing.  You know, boobs can be unpredictable.  Some days you thing they'll get huge if you're away from your LO and they won't.  Other days, you're away from you LO for like 2 hours and WABAM!  The ladies have grown 3 million sizes.  So, considering we were arriving at 12, waiting until 4 for the concert to start, watching three opening acts from 4 to 8:30 and THEN seeing Shania, I figured the pump would probably come in handy.

The issue here came up when I looked around this intense crowd of people drinking, eating, partying EVERYWHERE and I thought "Damn, my boobs are going to explode!  Where the heck am I going to pump?".  Well, ladies and gentleman, here is my "just go with it moment": I found myself pumping in a small, dirty, smelly... PORTO-POTTY!

That, is one thing I never, ever thought I would do in my life.  But there I was, staring at the green plastic walls around me, listening to the pumping "pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft", and checking my Facebook with the other hand, to make time go by just a little quicker.  On top of all that, breastmilk is like liquid gold!  Every drop counts, when your baby is starting to wean and pumping becomes more difficult.  Sadly, I had to dump it.  I dumped into the porto-potty.

What made it all better was seeing this amazing woman, who, I must admit, I have a lady crush on.

Sometimes, we gotta JUST GO WITH!

S

Why the F*%# can't anyone make "young mom jeans"

This an open letter to all the jean designers and manufactures out there...  Why in the world can't you guys make regular ol' boot cut jeans.  I don't want these ripped up and bleached jeans that seem to be in every store I visit.  I can do that to them all by myself...  Just give me a few years with them.  And who do you know that actually looks good in those??  I also don't want any kind of flower or bling or anything else on my pockets.  A little stitching is acceptable if it makes my butt look good.  Furthermore, I love skinny jeans as much as the next person but they aren't right for every occasion either.  Also what's with the rise being soooo low?! Half of the jeans I try on don't even cover my butt and the ones that do don't allow me to sit without an extra long shirt to make sure my butt crack isn't hanging out.

Now you might be thinking that I'm just shopping in the wrong place and maybe you're right, but here is my issue...  I like to think I'm still young and cool.  I might not be completely up to date with what all the teens are doing these days, but I was a teen not all THAT long ago.  I do have Facebook and Twitter and Instagram... but I also know that I don't look good in 90% of the jeans that are currently in stores I frequent.

However, I'm not ready to shop at mature ladies wear stores either.  And I don't want jeans that go all the way up to my boobs.  Or don't flatter me what so ever!  I just don't want them hanging off my butt either.  Am I asking for too much?!  I can't possibly be the only one with this problem! I'm not asking for much! 

So if you are a jean designer, here's what I need in my pair of "young mom jeans"; medium to dark blue bootcut and mid rise.  By mid-rise I mean jeans that are not hanging off my butt but not up to my belly button either.  Jeans that allow me to bend over but still wear a belt without having to tuck in my shirt (80's fashion anyone?).  I also need jeans without rips, bleach spots, stripes or stars or whatever else is in these days.  And finally I'd like it at a reasonable price.  After all I'm raising a small human and that isn't cheap.  So, I'm on a budget!  

If you are reading this and you know where I can buy such jeans please let me know!  I really don't think I'm asking for too much!

J

"What the ****?" Mommy Moments!

We all have those moments where we go "What the ****?", as mommies.  Here are some of our very best and most memorable ones so far!

1)  "What?  Really?!  Actually?! You just puked in my HAIR!"

2)  "POOP JUST FLEW ACROSS THE ROOM!!!"  (direct quote - no joke!)

3) K ate the table at East Mario's, instead of his dinner.

4) Turn around for just a second...and hear "splish..splash".  Baby has turned the toilet into a water table. (Thankfully my husband finally remembered to flush!!)

5) My baby started crawling for a straw wrapper.  No toy in the world was tempting enough, but a straw wrapper did the trick.

6) That moment when K crawled away without a diaper on, peed everywhere and then crawled through it.  The entire floor was covered in pee, along with the child.
table at East Mario's, instead of his dinner.

7) 4 words: Diaper-free poop.... Not cool, kiddo!

8) When your baby and your dog are both staring at you and smiling, and you don't know who that funky smell is coming from...

9) When I'm on the toilet and my little guy tries to pull himself up, using my legs or pants...

Bring on the Cake!

I'm not sure how it happened but somehow my sweet baby boy turned 1 year old over the weekend.  It feels like just a few months ago I was (impatiently) awaiting his arrival.  He was 9 days past my due date and each of those days felt like a year in itself.  Yet somehow here we are celebrating his transition into toddlerhood!

Of course an event this big couldn't just be celebrated for one day.  Go big or go home right?  So the birthday celebrations started a few weeks ago with a cake smash photo session with Ang from Moment.us Photography.  Whether or not you want to include a cake, I definitely recommend doing a birthday shoot.  Babies this age are so full of character and we had so much fun!  Plus, we got some amazing shots that I will treasure forever.

Not sure how to prepare for a cake smash?  Here are two things I learned from our experience.  First,
go in with no expectations and just go with the flow.  Directing a 1 year old to imitate that amazing Pinterest pose you saw will only leave you frustrated and disappointed.  Let them be and I promise you will get great pictures!  The second thing I learned was to avoid red icing.  I had heard this before but my cake had red and blue dots.  Since it wasn't a lot of red I figured it would be ok but I was wrong.  Our pictures still look great but J looks like he's wearing lipstick in some of them and he even left what looked like a bloody handprint on one of the crates!  For similar reasons I wouldn't recommend chocolate cake or brown icing... enough said!

I chose to do the cake smash about 2 weeks before his actual birthday so I would have the proofs back in time for his party.  I set them up as a slide show on the TV and they were a great addition to his special day.

The day of his birthday was a quiet affair at home but the next day was party day!  If you ask my husband he'll tell you I went overboard in my planning.  A few nights before the party, as I was getting decorations ready he told me "you realize he doesn't even know it's his birthday right??".  I do know this but the truth is that throwing myself into party planning made me excited for this milestone.  Otherwise I just wanted to cry because my tiny baby was no more...  Yes, I know he will always be my baby no matter how big he gets, but he's growing much quicker than I'd like.

But back to the party;  I chose a tractor theme and I worked with a few amazing WAHM (work at home moms) to get decorations just the way I liked.  You can see links to their business pages below.  The rest of my party supplies were from Micheals, Walmart or the Dollar Tree.  All in all, they were fairly inexpensive but I love how they all came together the day of the party.  I also used some of my husbands prized model tractors and some monthly photos of J as décor. 


The party food was labeled with tractor or farm names such as tractor tires (oreos), nuts and bolts (bits and bites), veggie garden and fruit orchard.  For dessert, my amazing sister made delicious cupcakes and of course no party is complete (in my books) without mason jar glasses and some delicious fuel... I mean fruit punch!

Although I am still having a hard time with how quickly my baby is growing up, we had an amazing party day.  The weather was perfect and we celebrated my favorite little man with family and friends.  There really isn't much in this world that is better than that!  I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us and all the new things J will learn!

Party Animals!!

Julie

Business links:

J's birthday shirt (tractor and a 1) was from Little Lily Bamboo https://www.facebook.com/littlelilybamboo

Banners, cupcake toppers, chalkboard poster and our invitations were designed by M&M chalkboard creations
https://www.facebook.com/mmchalkboardcreations

Cake smash photography by Moment.us Photography
https://www.facebook.com/Moment.usPhotography

Also a special thanks to my fellow Stretchmark mommy S for taking amazing photos of J's special day.

Top Ten Tuesday: Tips for returning to work!

Last Monday marked my return to work after a year of maternity leave.  I had mixed emotions leading up to this day as I'm sure many moms do.  Part of me was excited to have some time away from the house and I truly love what I do.  However, the thought of leaving J all day was heartbreaking.  When I was feeling sad about this I would remind myself how lucky we are here in Canada to get a year to stay home with our babies. This helped... A little.

However, regardless of how I felt, the day came and I had to take the plunge.  Now that I'm a week into it, here are a few tips I put together for those of you that are approaching this life changing event.... OK maybe life changing is a little dramatic but it is a big adjustment for the whole family!

10 Tips for parents who are returning to work:

1. Start your daycare search early.  Depending on your location I've heard of parents who have to put their name on wait list almost as soon as they find out they are pregnant!  I started my search when J was about 2 months old and once I had a spot secured I was able to enjoy the rest of my time at home without worrying about childcare.

2.  Have backups.  Even if you love the first daycare you visit make sure to visit a few more and keep your name on their list.  I've heard of many parents who's daycare closes a month before they return to work for whatever reason and they are scrambling.  if you've already visited others at least you aren't starting from scratch at the 11th hour!

3. Do trial days before you go back to work.  Whether your little one will be staying with family members or going to daycare, start transitioning a week or two before you are actually back at work.  We started with a half day, followed by 2 full days a week for the 2 weeks before I went back.  not only did this help J adjust, it also gave me some time to get myself and the house ready.  I made a bunch of freezer meals, gave the house a really good scrub from top to bottom and had a massage and a pedicure too!

4. As mentioned above, prepare meals ahead of time.  I made enough freezer meals for the first 3 week so all I had to do the morning of was put them in the slow cooker and dinner was ready when we got home!    

5. Do as much as possible the night before.  Pack lunches, pick out clothes, pack bags, prep for breakfast ect.  Trying to get yourself and a little one out the door on time in the morning is challenging so the less you actually have to do the better.

6. Have an honest conversation with work.  My first day back I had a meeting with my boss and we went over expectations we had.  For example what if the baby is sick, the day home closes for a day because she is sick ect.  I'm lucky to work for an amazing company which emphasizes the importance of work/life balance and are very understanding.  Having this conversation with your superiors will help when a situation arises... Which it will!

7. If possible, use vacation days to ease back into it.  I was lucky enough to have a lot of saved vacation time so I was able to start off at 3 days a week, transition to 4 days a week before I'll finally be back to 5 days in September.

8. Buy doubles of everything and leave them at daycare.  Less to carry back and forth and less of a chance to forget something.

9. Give yourself extra time in the morning.  Babies have a way of not cooperating when you need them to the most... You know what I mean!

10. Discuss expectations and responsibility with your partner.  Who will do daycare drop offs?  Pick ups?  Make dinner? Dishes?  My husband and I sat down and made a list of just about every household task.  We then decided who would be responsible for each one.  Of course things don't always go to plan but the list helps keep us on track.

When all is said and done dropping J off at daycare is hard but I know he has fun there and I am enjoying my adult time at work.  Plus he's all smiles when I pick him up and he loves to cuddle in the evenings!

         Hanging out while I prepare dinner!

I hope this list helps those of you who will soon be retuning to work and I'dlove to hear your back to work stories.  Comment below!

Julie

Products we swear by!

1) Hydra Sense Nasal Aspirator  This little gadget might not seem very exciting but trust me its a life saver when your little one is congested!  Essentially it's a snot sucker... but don't worry! It comes equipped with filters to ensure you have NO contact with the snot. Your baby will probably hate this device and act as though you are torturing them but once you are done and they can breath easy, they will be full of smiles!


2) HoMedics SoundSpa Portable White Noise Machine
https://well.ca/products/homedics-soundspa-portable-white_574.html
My baby is an awful sleeper and this white noise machine has been a life saver.  It has 6 soothing sounds to choose from,  can be battery or adapter operated, is small and lightweight enough to take when you are away from home and can be left on all night or you can set a timer.  It was a game changer for us! 

3) Babies R Us Nursing Pillow  There are many different nursing pillows out there and I definitely recommend this one.  Whether you plan on breast feeding or bottle feeding these will come in handy when you are holding the baby for long periods of time.  They are also great to prop up a baby who cannot yet sit unassisted.  I personally loved the Babies R Us one as it wrapped around my waist and stayed in place.  It also came with a removable cover for easy washing and I got it on sale for less then $20 (win!).

4) Cloth Diapers!!!!
Some of us are cloth diaper users.  Here are our favourite brands!

Best Bottoms (http://www.bestbottomdiapers.com)

All-in-2 cloth diapers with inserts that just snap into place inside the cover.  I swear, the inserts are the softest things ever!  They are so absorbent, even as night time diapers.  The doublers you can also purchase allow my little guy to sleep 12 hours straight, without a leak!  The covers are also incredibly adorable!  I have nothing but amazing things to say about this diaper system!  Just be prepared for your LO to have a bubble butt, and to require larger pants.

Bumgenius 4.0  We truly love these pocket diapers! They are easily accessible, being sold at Babies R Us and many local shops! I also love that the company is run by a fellow mom who seems to have such a kind heart! We also used Bumgenius newborn diapers and we're glad to have invested!

Bumgenius Flip This hybrid diaper system allows you to choose three different types of inserts, depending on your needs.  It'4.0 pockets and comes in adorable colours and prints.  My favourite part about these is how trim they are on the bum!
s easily accessible like the



5) Skip Hop Grab & Go Wet/Dry Bag This bag is large enough to accomadate 5-6 cloth diapers which makes it perfect for a day out on the town.  It also has two handy sections to keep clean and dirty diapers separated. It's also great to use for wet clothes, swimsuits, sippy cups and food.

6) 1, 2, 3 bum cream
I get this miracle cream from my local pharmacy in Ingleside, Ontario, so I'm not sure where else it is available.  However, I highly recommend it for diaper rashes or to avoid them.  Keep in mind that if you use cloth diapers, this lotion is not cloth diaper safe.  Which bring me to my next product...

7) FLEECE!  
Get some at the fabric store or even cut up some old fleece pyjamas!  The barrier it creates between your babies bum and the wet diaper will leave your little guy/gal rash-less!  Fleece doesn't stay wet, so your baby will not be sitting in the moisture of the diaper.

8) Honest Company Healing Balm
I put that s**t on everything!  I swear, this will heal anything!

9) Stackable Cups (http://www.toysrus.com/buy/babies-r-us-stacking-cups-5f5fbc5-13343706)
For 5 bucks, you will probably be purchasing one of your baby's ultimate favourite toy.  Get ready to make about 400 towers a day and repeating "yellow, green, blue, orange, red, purple, yellow, green, blue, orange" more often than your sanity can handle.  A couple of us Stretchmarks Mommies can confirm that those cups are a HIT!


10) It Works! Wraps
(https://www.facebook.com/Trishaitworks?fref=ts)
Do you have a little bit of extra skin/flub around your tummy area that's bugging you?  I did, and I bought wraps from It Works, through Trisha, and what a difference!

11) Oball Toys 

These are such a great toy for little hands! They come in a variety of different items but every one of their products that we have has been well loved since 3-4 months! 

12) Tommee Tippee Pacifiers These have been great for our little guy. It was the only pacifier he would take from birth and still provides him with a lot of comfort. The glow in the dark option is an amazing feature for late nights! The only downfall is that our dog also enjoys them far too much and has ruined about a dozen!

13) Nuk Sippy Cups The search for a sippy cup was an expensive and challenging task for us, I was so glad when I finally came across this cup, it was great for teaching my little one to lean his head back and tilt the cup. 

14) Ella's Kitchen baby food As far as pouches go, you can't beat this company! None of our Ella's kitchen products have ever gone to waste! 

15) Green Toys I love what this company is all about! Recycled materials, minimal packaging! We have had hours of fun with our fire truck, dump truck and airplane! We will definitely be expanding our collection! 

16) Tula Carrier

I'm sure you have heard all about the Tula!  There are a lot of addicts out there!  Although it is on the pricy side, this carrier is so comfortable for doing odd jobs around the house, going for walks/hikes, soothing a sick or teething baby, etc.  It comes in standard and toddler sizes, and there is also a newborn insert available.  I have to also mention that the prints available are just too cute!

17) Amber necklace

This necklace has saved us from many nights of crying, screaming and discomfort (for both little K and ourselves).  Just make sure you're buying a REAL one!

Top 8 struggles so far as a mommy

Although it has been an absolutely amazing first 9 months of motherhood, I can't deny those moments where I really find myself struggling, whether it be emotionally, mentally or physically.

I hope that some of you mommies out there can relate to the following struggles I have had since becoming a mother.

8) Looking in the mirror:  Don't worry, I do feel proud of my body for what it has so amazingly done, since I found out I was pregnant.  What our bodies go through during and after pregnancy is intense, and getting through all of that is definitely an achievement.  We created life, man!  However, I can't help but sometimes look in the mirror and feel discouraged, and long for my pre-baby body.  Having been a runner for the past few years, I was used to looking at myself and thinking "Damn, girl!" every now and then.  I try to tell myself every day that the body I now have is the body of a hard working, dedicated, happy, loving mother.

7) Letting go of routine: We have somewhat of a routine established with K these days.  Although, let's be honest, I can't say "K naps at 9am and wakes up at 10am".  I can, however, say "K naps some time between 8:45am and 9:30am, and wakes up between 9:15 and 10:30".  Nonetheless, he has some sort of a routine.  The struggle here is letting myself go places and do things that will mess around with this routine, and not feeling so gosh darn guilty about it.  Sometimes I stop myself from doing certain things, because "I don't want to mess up his nap schedule".  Mommas get cabin fever!  Get out and do something, and baby's schedule for the day will fall into place.

You'd think a ninja would need longer naps!

6) Short naps: I know I'm not the only one who has an "AHHHHHH" moment when I hear my little one wake up from his nap after 15 minutes.  As soon as you get started on some sort of task, the baby monitor, with which you have a love/hate relationship, lets out this adorable little moan or whimper.  Despite how adorable those wake up sounds are, I still go "NOOOOOOOOO!".

5) Wanting to sleep the day away, but not being able to:  Need I say more about this one?!

4) Talking to myself: As you have already read in one of my previous posts, I often either talk to myself, or the squirrel outside my window, who visits me every so often.  Sometimes I feel like I belong in the loony bin!  I always make sure that I have at least one day a week where I get together with a mommy friend, in order to have social time.  I have to, or my husband may not come home, in fear of my pent up energy and desire to talk.  Or, he will come into the house like Cesar Millan tells dog owners to do "No touch, no talk, no eye contact."

3) The feeling of constantly cleaning:  K is only eating solids three times a day right now and is BF the rest of the time.  What the heck am I going to do when he's eating 5-6 times a day?!!!

2) Projects taking longer: My husband and I don't mess around when it comes to projects like home renos.  Once, we installed new flooring in our entire main level in one weekend.  We don't stop until we are done, and that's always been how we've been and how we like it!  The "go big or go home" approach to our projects doesn't work as well anymore, since we try and power through as much as possible during K's nap time.  We are learning to cope, and I must say, it is forcing to just slow down, appreciate our time together as a family, and pay more attention to detail when we working.

1) Visits: My husband and I are home bodies.  We love staying home, tinkering around the yard, reading, doing art (mostly him), watching movies, doing little projects, sitting on our deck with a coffee (or sometimes wine/beer) and chatting, etc.  This was never an issue, until K came along and everyone wanted to see him.  Of course, it's normal for family and friends to want to see such a perfect little bundle of joy (we're not biased), and we love our family to death.  We realize it comes with the territory of being a new parent, but I'm sure you know that it takes some adjustment, as well as discipline to ensure that, for our sanity, we still find some balance between visiting and home time, just us 3.


Despite the occasional struggles, having K is actually the best thing my hubby and I have ever, ever, EVER done!  But let's be honest, it's not all unicorns and rainbows!

S

Baby's Best Friend

They say dogs are "man's best friend".  In our case, our two giant fur balls are "baby's best friend".

We rescued Mavis (the brown one) almost 5 years ago, from the OSPCA.  She is a wonderful, calm, mellow dog (unless there's food involved - I can totally relate).  Jenkins, the big black fur ball joined the family two years later and made things... Well...  More exciting.  He is a big, excited, gentle giant.  He can get a little annoying, but he just wants to be loved ALL OF THE TIME!

When we found out we would soon become a family of three, we were thrilled, but couldn't help but wonder how Mavis and Jenkins would react.  But we knew, deep down that THIS would happen....

Mavis and Jenkins watch K like a hawk.  They are gentle giants who love to watch K play and be petted (more like smacked by a baby), and they know to leave the room if they have had enough of Kingsley pulling their tail or poking their eyeballs.  All of this, I believe, happened because we TRUSTED our dogs and didn't try to keep the baby away from them all of the time.  The more you try and keep the baby away from your dog(s), the more they will WANT to see it.  I believe that this will increase the excitement and anxiety, which is when the dogs get to be too much for you and your baby.

In a controlled setting/environment, we started showing K to the dogs and letting them smell (and sometimes lick) him from the very beginning.  Mavis and Jenkins knew exactly what had entered their domain, and the baby was never an issue for them.

I'm no Cesar Millan, not even close, but I do believe that keeping your dogs "in the loop" when a baby arrives will relieve a lot of stress for you, your family and your fur babies.

I can honestly say that K loves our dogs and they love him.  No doubt about it!

Trust your pet (within reason) and take them along for this crazy parenting ride!

**Post a picture of your baby/babies and pet(s) on the comment section!**

S

Feeding a Picky Eater

When I was pregnant I spent countless hours researching what I would feed my baby once it was time to introduce solids.  After loads of time spent online and talking to other moms I decided baby led weaning (BLW) would be the way to go for us (what's BLW you ask?  Read all about it Here!).  I saved all kinds of amazing recipes on Pinterest and I was totally ready!  And then the baby gods laughed in my face and gave me the worlds pickiest eater.

At first I wasn't worried since he was only 6 months old and I had lots of time to get him eating.  After all food before one is just for fun right?  But the months started slipping by and J was showing no more interest in food.  He was nursing like a champ but this was the reaction I got to most solids I put in front of him...

 

Around 9 months of age I started getting desperate and the daily battle was getting worst.  He would scream in his high chair and on more then one occasion I found myself crying in the kitchen in exasperation (I'm blaming that one on the mommy hormones and lack of sleep!).  Finally at 11 months old we had a check up and J was down to the 10th percentile for weight (he was born around the 85th but had been steadily dropping since about 5 months).  Not only did he barely eat solids but the kid never stops moving!  So once again I scoured the internet, talked to doctors and other moms and picked up some tips and tricks to help deal with a picky eater.

1. First of all try and relax.  Trust me I know this is easier said than done but if you are stressed about meal time, babe will be too!  Keep it light and fun.
 

2. Try taking food out of the kitchen.  This one was hard for me because I liked the structure of eating meals at the table. So I compromised... We still have lunch and dinner at the table but sometimes breakfast is served in the play area.  I put something not too messy such as a muffin on the table, and try and sneak bites into him as we play.  This works really well for us!  I also try and offer several snacks this way throughout the day.
 

3. Try mixing in something new or something they don't like in with something they do like.  For example, J loves Cheerios so if I'm trying to get him to eat fruit I'll place fruit pieces and Cheerios on his tray. He's pretty good at picking out the Cheerios but he does get a bit of fruit and over time he has grown accustomed  to a couple.  Some foods J does like are;  grilled cheese, toast and peanut butter, and omelets (with added cheese and veggies) so they are offered regularly along with other foods.
 

4.  Hide the good stuff!  J refuses to eat most fruits and veggies so I make all kinds of things in which I hide these.  Admittedly this isn't ideal but I'm hoping he'll grow to like these fruits and veggies and that I won't have to hide them forever.  You can find all kinds of great recipes on Pinterest but I'll link a few of our favourites to the "Yummy!" section of this blog (Stretchmarks Yummy! Recipes - make sure you check it out as we regularly add more recipes).
  

5. Since weight is a concern for us, we make everything as high fat as possible. 10% fat Greek yogurt anyone?  We also put unsalted butter on almost everything.  I have also heard that smoothies can be great to pack lots of fat and other nutrients but I have yet to convince J to drink them.   

6. Finally the last thing that really helped us was starting daycare.  One of our main problems was that J was still getting most of his calories from nursing.  At 11 months he was still nursing 9 times a day while most other babies his age where somewhere around 4-5 times.  Since I am about to go back to work we started doing a few trial days of daycare.  J has been 3 times in the last two weeks and I have noticed a huge difference in his eating habits.  I guess if I'm not around and nursing isn't an option he eats!  I know not everyone can just drop their kid off at daycare but maybe have someone else offer food?  Leave baby with daddy or grandparents for a few hours while you enjoy some wine and a bubble bath (or crash on the couch watching Netflix!).

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xta1/v/t34.0-12/11304123_10153017942058893_1769991007_n.jpg?oh=0687439b8faebe8514ce04f6e0638861&oe=556FDA99

We have a follow up appointment in about 3 weeks so I'm hoping our efforts have paid off and my little guy starts climbing back up the weight chart! 

Do you have a picky eater?  Share your recipes and tricks in the comments below!

Julie