I love, I mean LOVE fruit. Monkey seems to be taking after me in that regard. He's nuts about almost every fruit we've given him. Right now, he's really enjoying blueberries, blackberries and peaches. He even taught himself how to pick blueberries.

With all the local fruit available, I've been stocking up the freezer with fruit, making pies and jam. I like to try out new recipes, or adapt ones that I have so that I can use what's on hand, or just change things up a bit.

I made a Blueberry Peach Loaf, which was a huge hit with the little man, as well as Blackberry & Strawberry Jam. I love blackberries, but Hubby doesn't really branch out beyond apples, bananas and strawberries, so straight up blackberry jam is pushing it.

For the jam, I simply followed the recipe in the liquid Certo box for Strawberry jam, but substituted half of the strawberries for blackberries. The result: super yummy jam that Hubby will eat!

As for the Blueberry Peach Loaf, the recipe called for sour cream, I only had some plain yogurt in the fridge, so that's what I used. I also have a tendency to substitute half the AP flour with whole wheat pastry flour in most of my baking, unless it's a cake! I love using the whole wheat pastry flour because it's ground so fine that it doesn't effect the texture of the final product. It's great for pies, pizza dough, even cookies!

Blueberry Peach Loaf (my adapted version)

1 cup AP flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 peach, peeled and diced
1 cup (approx.) blueberries - let's be real though, I dumped about 3 handfuls in, so it was probably more like 1 1/2 cups

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease or line a loaf pan.

Cream together butter and sugar. Add in eggs, vanilla and yogurt.

Combine flours, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. (Or if you're me, just throw them all into the cream mixture; who wants to wash more dishes!).

Gently stir together, about 7-8 strokes. Add fruit, and continue to gently stir until everything is just moistened. DON'T OVER-MIX! If you mix too much, you will get tunnels and your loaf will be tough. I could go into a whole thing about building up too much gluten, but I won't. Just don't over-mix and you'll be fine.

Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool. Enjoy!

Summer is here and for me that means camping. Last year, the closest I got to camping was packing up the 3 week old and the puppy, and heading out to visit some friends for the day at a local Provincial site. This year we were determined to get in a camping trip or two.

Both Hubby and I grew up camping. We've done family camping in trailers and tents. We've gone backpacking, winter camping, and on canoe/kayak trips. So no, camping doesn't scare us. Taking a baby and dog, together, on their first camping trip? No problem. I remember being 5 and going on a family camping trip with my 4 month old sister, and dogs. If generations of people manage to live without the luxuries we deem necessary for everyday life, then a weekend camping shouldn't be a problem. So we packed up Kahlie, the dog, Monkey and our stuff and headed to a Provincial site about a 1 1/2 hour drive away for the long weekend.

We've got some great outdoor gear. We currently take a light-weight car camping approach. That means a combination of backpacking gear and non-technical gear. Yep, we've given up the Thermorests in favour of a more comfortable air mattress. We still try to travel pretty light since there isn't a lot of space in the Jeep after Kahlie and car seat are installed. With a baby, we knew that there would be some extras that we would have to take.

 Here's what we brought with us to make camping with Monkey as easy as
possible:
A small sleeping bag, Monkey slept on the air mattress with us, but with a little bag for himself.
A playpen, something to contain him on the site, a place for naps, and to keep him out of the goose poop on the beach.
A Rubbermaid bin, to pack his clothes, diapers, etc. in. It doubled as a bath/pool.
Long pants and shirt, where there's water, there are bugs; we needed to keep him covered up in the mornings and evenings.
Small selection of toys, mostly water toys. He was more interested in the dogs, trees, rocks and dirt, but the toys were helpful when we were making or eating dinner and needed 2 hands.
Favourite foods. Camping is already a big change, so we stuck with his favourite foods: avocado, banana, hummus and crackers, Naan bread pizza, baby cereal. He grazed off our food too.
Ergo Carrier we love our Ergo, as usual it was great for short walks or when he wanted to be up, but I needed my hands free.

We took a high chair, but as per usual, he wormed his way out and tried to stand up. I would consider it an optional item.

We had a great time on our first "family" camping trip. The site was surprisingly quite for a long weekend, full, but quiet. We had a great combination of games, good food (which is a must for me while camping!), and relaxation. By the end of each day everyone was ready for bed.

We just returned home from a holiday in the Czech Republic and Austria. We took Monkey to meet his dad's Baba, as well as explore come of central Europe.

Flying with a 10 month old was my biggest concern, especially since hubby and I were sitting a few rows apart, and neither of us travel well to begin with. Taking an evening flight was great. Because we left Vancouver at 4:30, Monkey slept for over half the first flight and for all of the second flight! Our return was in the morning, and he did not sleep until the last 2 hours of the second flight. That being said, he was one of the best behaved, and quietest babies on both the flights.

From the nickname Monkey, it's probably obvious that I've got a curious, energetic and active little guy. Fortunately, we were staying with family for the first 5 days, so he had room to crawl around and practice walking between short trips into town and visits to local points of interest. Also, this meant that we fed him at home for the most part, while he adapted to the time change.

The next few days were spent in hotels as we travelled to Southern Bohemia and Austria, so there were a few long days of car travel/stroller/carrier time. We were travelling with my in-laws, so there were lots of hands to entertain him through these long stretches. We covered a lot of ground: Czesky Krumlov, Telc,
Trebon and Kitzbuhel.

Our last 5 days were spent in an apartment in Prague. This was wonderful. We had breakfast and dinner in the apartment, and ate lunches out. Monkey got his crazies out in the morning
before we headed out, so he generally slept for the morning and then had his afternoon nap while we explored after lunch. Since we returned for the evening, he had more time to play.

Overall, our experience was great. People were accomodating, we rarely found a place that didn't have a highchair (although some were pretty sketchy!), trams has spots for strollers, and strangers were always willing to help. Monkey came home with a new food repitoire including Emmental, biscuits, dumplings and Pilsen goulash, and pizza.

Here are the things I've learned about travelling with little ones:
- Fly later in the day when possible. If they sleep, you sleep!
- Request the bulk head/bassinet while on the plane
- Bring books and toys
- Bring some baby snacks - we flew KLM, and they provided snacks (puree and biscuits) one way, but not the other.
- Stroller is a must for airports and sight seeing. I hike with Monkey regularly, but he went through a growth spurt and the 
Ergo just didn't cut it for long days on the back. I needed something with more support. Plus, all the locals use strollers, so if they can do it, why not me?!
- Stay in an apartment when possible so you don't have to
wait for restaurants to open for breakfast
- No one makes you feel bad for having a baby with you, they often smile, say hi, entertain them for a while and will even help you
- Take lots of pictures... especially of them sleeping through all the sights!
- Get to the airport early. Really early. The airline somehow "lost" our ticket to get Monkey home. An hour later we were buying a new ticket rather than leaving him in Prague.

I'm not really one for New Year's resolutions. I prefer to set goals throughout the year as they come to me. In November I signed up to complete a 22 km military inspired obsticle course in June. Maybe a bit crazy, but I want my babe to grow up knowing that his mom likes to have fun, try new things and stay active.

This got me thinking about really making a concerted effort to go out and do the things that I enjoy with the people I enjoy. This past month I hit the 6-month-wall of being on mat leave, combined with lovely Vancouver January weather, I was getting an itch to be more social; spending the weekends cleaning and walking the dog just weren't cutting it.

Dine Out Vancouver is currently on, and has been a staple activity for us over the past years. Combine living in the suburbs with a baby and it's a little more difficult to pop out for a nice dinner Downtown. Fortunately this year there was a daytime food truck event. Since we missed the summer food truck festivals we decided to take advantage of a large number of food trucks in one place as well as the opportunity to catch up with our friends that live out that way. Despite the rain, headed out, stroller and all for a day of food and fun with some friends.

We tried out three different dishes from three different food trucks:
risotto balls from Street
Meet (fantastic!!), hungry man perogies from Holy Perogy (beef jerky on the perogies, um, YES!) and a bacon and havarti grilled cheese from Mom's Grilled Cheese (totally worth the long line up). It was all delicious, and the carbs, cheese and bacon were exactly what we needed considering the wedding we'd attended the night before. Can't wait for the next food truck festival!

About a week before Christmas Monkey had a few nights where he woke up to feed 2-3 times. Since he was usually good for sleeping through until about 6 in the morning, this was a bit odd, but I wasn't too concerned. By the third night of this happening, despite him nursing heavily before bed, I figured it was time to give solids a try. He was afterall, 5 1/2 months, and constantly grabbing at our plates.

I've skimmed a few books and articles on feeding baby, but as with everything else baby related, tried to avoid following any one perscribed method or philosophy too closely. I'm me. I want my parenting style and choices to reflect me. And I want reason and common sense to be a big part of my decisions.

We started him off with some barley cereal, then introduced some yams for flavour. I don't like bland food, so why would he?!  Monkey loved the yams so we figured we'd try some pear that I'd cooked, pureed and frozen this summer while it was in season. Also a hit. Not surprising as over the previous few weeks he'd suck on pieces of apple or pear as I was eating them.

I know that the current recommendation is to follow iron-fortified cereal with meats in order to prevent iron-deficiency as baby's iron stores start to decrease at about 6 months. About a week later we tried a bit of pureed turkey mixed with breast milk. Wow! NOT A FAN!

I don't want food to be an issue with him, so I figure that if he gives it a taste 3 days in a row, and it doesn't work, then we move on. No big deal. Each day, same reaction. I think it's the texture, or maybe the taste. He just sits there with his mouth open making a bad face. He doesn't even spit it out. I have to scoop out the turkey with my figer. Agh.

We cooked up some stewing beef, pureed and mixed with milk. Hmmm. Seemed like he liked the flavour a little bit more, but again, not a fan of the texture.

Am I worried? Phoning the nurse help line, scouring internet resources or attempting to collect advise from other local mommie? No. He's a few days short of 6 months. He's still nursing 8 times a day. He like the cereal and loves yams, squash, apple and pears. I think that's reasonable for now. We'll try meat again in a few more days. As for now, we'll keep adding some new veggies. Afterall, food is about fun and exploring at this point.

So obviously being preggers was a life changing event. Of course, having a baby also meant major changes. Although, for the most part I still remained in control, or thought I was still in control for both of these events. This is quickly coming to an end.
I think we've finally hit the biggest change, aside from talking. Yep, he's moving. I now officially have an inchworm that is eager to get his little knees underneath him. Fortunately he's still moving fairly slowly so I can generally keep up with him, aside from the headder he did off the bed the other day (epic mommy fail), so baby gates are still a few weeks away.
Now there's a whole new world of things to discover. Right now he's most interested in the dogs and cat's toys, especially the kong with leftover peanut butter in it. Ick. At least he'll have a good imune system!