goodbye,baby food

i used to slave in the kitchen. i chopped.steamed
pureedportioned and then freezed so i don't have to do it everyday. i wanted ava to have fresh food but i wasn't too obsessive about it. i gave her the odd jar of shop bought baby food every now and then and everytime we go out. good thing i had the best piece of baby equipment which is the beaba babycook which is a steamer and blender all in one. it was expensive but worth every penny.
now, she's eating what we are eating that i don't have to cook especially for her and it is such a welcome change.

project organize

for a 17 month old little girl,ava's got too much stuff. most of the stuff she's got are gifts and i think, that made us both lucky in the sense that she gets mostly everything she needs and that i don't need to buy them for her because people have been so generous. i need more space for her stuff though because everytime i open her closet, things just come falling down on me. so many clothes,toys,books and shoes. i've decided to make our third bedroom her playroom slash store room.so,i started to sort through her things.
first stop is her closet.this is how it looked like.
and i found 26 pairs of shoes...

26,000 soft toys

2 big bags of unworn clothes that are still too big for her

and this is how our third bedroom looks like now...

we are still in the planning stage.i'll post pics once our project for our little girl is all done.watch this space.

ava's christening preps

i thank the heavens for multiply. i was able to prepare baby ava's christening party despite the fact that i'm miles away from cebu. because of multiply's online sellers and suppliers, i was able to organize everything with just a click of the mouse. all we had to do when we arrived in cebu was to follow up and make sure everything is in place. here is a list of my party suppliers and my feedback  on their service.
 http://businessshoppe.multiply.com/ - this is where i ordered the 5 page scrapbook type invitations, the personalized alarm clock giveaways and the personalized candles. the items were delivered on time and they came in perfect condition. the only problem was with the invites. they printed the unedited layout. they know it was their mistake so they sent us another set of invitations, all 60 of them printed with the edited layout. lhoelit, one of the owners and the artist was very accommodating despite me not being there. we coordinated through email and i approved and  i edited including the alarm clock and candle layout all through email. i highly recommend this site.
 http://flairpartysupplies.multiply.com/ - this i can say has got 5 star customer service. cheryl, the very young owner, is so accomodating with regards to almost everything. i didn't have a hard time at all. she patiently answered all my queries through email before we came to cebu and when we finally met in her shop, i felt so comfortable with her and i was so confident, everything will turn out right. she even had an ocular inspection of the party venue to make sure that the size of the tarpaulin is not too big or too small. i got her services for the balloon decor. she also provided the cupcake tower and the services of a professional photographer. hers is a one stop shop. i'm so satisfied with the great customer service and affordable prices that i'd definitely get her services again in the future.
 http://ralynsdesign.multiply.com/ for the chocolate fountain - what i didn't like here is that you have to pay the full payment before the day of the party. i mean, most food services would let you pay the full payment on the day itself. like the catering from maria lina's. we only have to pay a deposit and the rest we paid after the party. we did go to their shop the day before the party and still we were able to hire a chocolate fountain considering it was very last  minute. the presentation was very nice. there were two attendants who made sure there were enough dippings on the table. the chocolate didn't last very long though.

where did time go?

today i received these freebies from HIPP organic. the loot consists of weaning products and i realized that soon ava will be eating semi solids. gosh, where did time go? time flies so fast and now i have to think and surf the net for recipes for her first food. i don't really want to rely on these ready made baby food. i mean, maybe the one or two every now and then. i want to make food for her from scratch and hopefully be able to give her mostly organic. they say the best thing  you can give to your child aside from education is to give her the best start in life which is giving her healthy food and i hope to do just that.
but first i want to get my hands on this, the beaba babycook. apparently it does everything when it comes to making baby food. it steams, blends, defrosts and reheats. it makes baby food making child's play according to one review. the only downside is the price tag. it retails at £60. but if i'll be able to use it for the next two years, it will just come out like spending £30 a year which isn't bad. i'm really going to have a go at making ava's food from scratch as i wasn't able to breasfeed her for long, i feel like i have to compensate somewhere and i think this is it, making healthy and fresh food for her every single day.

sunday lunch out

went to have lunch at Giraffe in MK shopping mall after sunday mass. we haven't tried this restaurant and have been really curious as to what's on offer here. but first...ava had to have her lunch first and couldn't wait anymore, so we had to make a stop at one of the benches for her to have her feed...this is my order of hot malaysian noodles. i'm not quite sold out about this. it was a bit sweet and i hate sweetness in something that is supposed to be savoury.sonny's order of fish and chips with mashed peas on the side. this one, i looove. way better than all the fish and chips that i've tasted before. i wished i ordered this one instead of that noodles.sonny didn't want dessert so it was just me who still had space in my tummy. i ordered their waffle with roasted banana and vanilla ice cream on top. it was very yummy. i really liked it. the waffle was crunchy and the roasted banana was so tasty. yum yum.
 and they still serve coke in old fashioned bottles.nice. though i don't think i would want to go back there.

delivered today

The Graco travelling cot which we plan to take with us for our vacation to Cebu. very nice looking.sturdy and comes with built in sound system. so far.so good.

baby not included.

mommy's favorites

being a mommy you only want what's best for your baby. now that i'm in the third month of being a new mom to ava, i already have my favorite stuff that i love using when it comes to her.here's a list of my favorites so far.

• silver cross 3D pram system - no regrets in getting this one. maybe a bit expensive compared to other brands but it's worth it. it is sturdy and easy to maneuver and we can use it until ava is already a toddler because the pram converts into a stroller. we always get compliments every time we are out with it. and with silver cross, you can never go wrong.
• pampers baby dry diapers -  no wonder it's very popular. i just found out lately how wonderful this is. being practical as we are, we think there's no point using big name brands as long as it does the job and half the price compared to leading brands. so we've decided to use supermarket brand nappies like asda, tesco and sainsbury's. at first, it was ok. but as she grew older and have started urinating a lot especially at night, there's always a leak somewhere. when i pick her up at dawn for her feed, she's always wet in the waist area. so we've decided to try huggies and pampers. with huggies she still leaks but with pampers, it's wonderful. i don't have to change her at dawn after her feed and when i change the nappy in the morning, it's full and heavy but her bottom is still dry.so thumbs up for pampers.
• johnson's and johnson's wipes - this is a no brainer. this brand has been around for decades. i've tried huggies and pampers wipes (samples given during our hospital stay) and they were okay but when i tried johnson's and johnson's(bought it because it was on BOGOF promo), i loooved it. it's very nice on my baby's skin. it just glides and also nice smelling too. most times, i still use cotton ball with warm water to wipe her bottom. it's gentler to her skin. i only use the odd wipes when we are out and about.
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avent feeding bottles - i always see a lot of moms around using avent bottles but i should have known, they were using it for a reason and not just because of the name. so i bought tommy tippee bottles and when i started giving ava formula that's when i realized that it's not really good. especially the teat that was apparently designed to  mimic the mom's breast. actually,  it's no good. the tip of the teat seems to get sucked into the bottle when ava is feeding and i have to stop feeding her and take the teat out so the tip will come out again. so we bought avent bottles and i've never been happier.
sudocrem - really keeps nappy rash at bay.enough said.