Mac and Cheese for Toddlers

Mac and Cheese with Veggies for Toddlers:

150g-200g of elbow macaroni (roughly half a packet)
1 teaspoon flour
1 teaspoon butter
150 ml of milk
3-4 slices of American cheese
1/2 carrot (small)
2 teaspoons of chopped broccoli
2 teaspoons of chopped spinach

1. Add water to pan and bring it to a boil and add the pasta to it. Add a pinch of salt and a couple of drops of olive oil or if you prefer butter. Cook as per the instructions until soft enough.
2. Take a pan melt butter and add flour to it on medium heat. Stir continuously for 3-5 minutes, until the flour is slightly cooked and changes colour slightly. Then add milk to it and keep stirring to prevent lumps from forming. Increase the heat to bring to a boil then reduce the heat.
3. While the white sauce is cooking add the finely chopped vegetables to it.
4. Keep stirring the sauce with veggies until the veggies are cooked and the sauce is a thicker consistency, if it gets too thick, add some water to it and stir until the veggies are soft. You may cover it if you like.
5. Add mixed herbs and black ground pepper to it and when the sauce it ready add the cheese slices to it and stir until it melts.
6. Stir for another couple of minutes until the cheese it completely melted then mix pasta to the sauce. Keep cooking in the pan for 5 minutes so the sauce sticks to the pasta and its nicely coated with the cheese sauce or alternative you can to bake it for 20-30 mins, but eating it without baking tastes good too.

Tips:

• Just add a pinch of salt to the pasta, don't add any salt to the sauce as American cheese can be salty and adding salt to the sauce can make it too salty. I try and limit the salt intake.
• Adding oil olive/butter to pasta prevents it from sticking together.
• You can use whatever veggies your kids like e.g. peas, beans, or even pre-cooked chicken.
• Cut the pieces according to what you child can easily eat. But chopping them finely ensures that it cooks quicker.

Total prep and cooking time is roughly 40 mins (without baking).

Even DH enjoyed it, even though he's not a big fan of home made mac and cheese.

Ear infection

So I was up most night last night with MLA as she wasn’t a happy camper. It started off as a runny nose in the evening then high fever around 2.30 am and a very restless night. She kept crying and waking up ever so often. I wanted to take the day off but unfortunately had some urgent work, so my DH took the day off instead and took A to the doctor.

So its a horrid ear infection, her 5th in the last 12 months and she is only 14 months. Which is not got, the doctor suggested that we take her to a specialist if she has one again. As it can affect the hearing. She is now on antibiotics for the 5th time :( 

I was reading on babycenter.com about ear infections and it said that most babies get ear infections about 2-3 times a year, but if its more than 6 times a year then it may be a cause of concern. Once she is recovered we’ll probably take her to see a specialist anyway, not waiting for another ear infection. As we are planning on starting daycare, and kids get ear infections more often when they are in daycares. 

I mentioned this to a colleague at work and he said giving a baby milk while lying flat (on her back/side) can cause fluid in the ears which can lead to an ear infection. And the only time A has milk is while she is sleeping, since she got her teeth she has stopped drinking milk, she just refuses to drink it. I have tried everything, putting it in a sippy cup, with a spoon, she just refuses to drink. I am running out of ideas, especially now that she getting fed up of having cereal, at least up until a week ago she used to have cereal with milk twice a day and 6oz of milk while she napped. Now her milk intake is pretty much 2-4oz a day. Just to ensure her dairy intake we try and give her yogurt instead. 

Hope she recovers quickly and doesn’t get another ear infection. Here is to positive thinking and trying everything to avoid getting one again

Any tips and suggestions regarding ear infections/milk intake are welcome.

Busy Busy Busy

Life's been so busy that I have barely had time to read the news let alone write a post. But today I decided to do so. Its strange how everybody tells you to have a baby and how its the greatest thing in the world but nobody tells you how exhausting it is. You kind of know that but you don't truly get until you become a parent.

It is exhausting, between feeds and nappy changes and going to work and trying to sleep and housework you don't realise how fast the time goes by. My baby is almost 6 months old and it only feels like yesterday we got her home. She has started to sit (for a few seconds on her own) and say boo boo and akkoon.

But no matter what my day has been like, when she smiles I forget everything else.

A few things we have gotten for her lately is the boppy pillow and the bumbo sitter seat, Both have been great and helped her getting used to sitting. She can sit on her own now for a few minutes before loosing her balance.

But to start at the beginning, I think one of the best things we got was her fisher price rocker, I think they were the best $50 bucks we spent. She plays in it, naps in it, feeds/eats in it and pretty much does everything in it until now. But now as she is getting big she is starting to feel a little confined in it. But this was amazing.

That is my quick update for today. I will come back and write soon hopefully but for now time to get back to things.

I am not trying to sell products to you, just sharing what my baby likes and what we thought was a good investment. We purchased all the products ourself.