Baby

Kid Friendly Apple Oatmeal Baby Muffins

Babies are limited at what foods they’re able to eat at 9 months. We want to introduce new flavors and textures to her to help her have a wide pallet. My daughter wanted to make something that they could both enjoy together. I made these kid friendly apple oatmeal baby muffins when my first daughter was a baby and they were a huge hit.

The ingredients couldn’t be more simple. We always have these items on hand. I love that baking helps my 5 year old learn math in a fun way. Baking for others also helps her express her love for them which is so sweet. Sophia has been on a baking kick after attending a Baking with Barbie class at Sprouts Cooking School. She loved it so much that she’ll be going for their Once Upon a Time week long summer camp class! I can’t wait to see what a week of baking inspires her to make for friends and family.

Kid Friendly Apple Oatmeal Baby Muffins

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 C. oatmeal (I used old fashioned for this recipe, not quick cooking oats)
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 C. unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 C. brown sugar
1 1/2 C. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. aluminum free baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
*You can also add other ingredients like chocolate chunks or nuts if they wont’ be given to a baby

Baking Instructions

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 12 count muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.

-Combine the vanilla, applesauce, egg, bananas and brown sugar, mixing well.

-Add in the salt, cinnamon, flour, baking soda, baking powder and oatmeal.

-Fill each muffin liner about 1/2 way with the batter.

-Bake 18-20 minutes. Around 18-19 minutes insert a toothpick into a muffin to check to see if it is cooked through. If it comes out clean, they are done.

We had a fun time making these baby muffins for her baby sister. They make for a great snack to take with us to the library or freeze for later on. What is your favorite muffin flavor to bake? If you’re new to baking with your kids you can see some tips I wrote here.

We have been compensated a week of summer camp through Sprouts Cooking School in exchange for spreading the word about their amazing classes. All opinions are my own (including how much I love their classes and these muffins)!

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Sharing a Bedroom With Baby

This post has been sponsored by The Clorox Company. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Sharing a Bedroom with Baby- When our daughter Sophia (age 4.5) said she wanted to share her room with her baby sister, our hearts melted. Then we realized what that meant for everyone! Those first few months with baby waking up every couple hours to eat makes for sleepless nights which we do not want to impose on our daughter. Our compromise was to set up her room to make it ready for the baby to join her once she’s sleeping at night after about six months. She was pleased with this compromise and has been very excited to get her room all set up to make her baby sister feel welcome.

Sharing bedroom with baby and how to organize

Sharing bedroom with baby and how to organize

Clorox Free & Clear safe for baby

Sharing a Bedroom with Baby

Being type A, my first thought was dealing with organization in a small room with enough stuff for two kids. My second thought was about cleanliness, keeping both girls as healthy as can be. I was so glad to see Clorox’s amazing line of Free & Clear cleaning supplies were safe for kids! On our weekly jaunt to Target, we picked up three of their products to test if they’d still work harder than natural products but be just as safe. We got Clorox Free & Clear Multi-Surface Cleaner, Clorox Free & Clear Stain Remover and Clorox Free & Clear Hard Surface Daily Wipes.

We’ve already been using the Clorox Free & Clear Hard Surface Daily Wipes while getting ready for baby. I’ve  been using them to wipe down the table after craft time, and I know it’ll come in handy when wiping down Sophia’s toys that the baby gets ahold of. Each product in the Clorox Free & Clear line is fragrance free with no harsh chemical residue, so it won’t irritate either of my daughters’ skin. To learn more about the products, go here.

Clorox Free & Clear safe for baby

Clorox Free & Clear safe for baby

In order to give enough space to each child, we re-did the girls’ walk-in closet to be more accessible for Sophia. We moved her 4-by-2 shelving unit to the basement to make room for baby’s crib and added shelves in the closet for her books and toys. We also hung her dresses and sweaters low so she is able to easily get them down and put them away. By moving some clothes to the closet, it freed up two drawers in the large dresser for baby’s clothes and other necessities. The only other change we made was to secure all picture frames in the room so there was no way they could fall on baby. We added a changing pad back to the dresser and it was all ready for both girls to enjoy!

Sharing a bedroom with baby and how to organize

Sharing a bedroom with baby and how to organize

Sharing a bedroom with baby and how to organize

Kid closet organization

The Clorox Free & Clear Multi-Surface Cleaner, Clorox Free & Clear Stain Remover, and Clorox Free & Clear Hard Surface Daily Wipes products are currently in the baby aisle near the cleaning products at Target stores so you can pick them up next time you’re there. You can also use this Cartwheel offer to save in the Target App! Keep peace of mind while maintaining a grime-free space for your little ones.

Clorox Free & Clear safe for baby

Clorox Free & Clear safe for baby

Pin it for later:

Tips on how to organize and clean a shared siblings room. How to share a room with baby so both kids are happy and healthy. #ad #bedroom

What’s in my: Diaper Bag

Hello Beauts! I’ve made it one more day without crying for the smiles of my Sophie! I have been doing all kinds of things that are really hard to do with an 11 month old. Today I’m sans car while it gets detailed, (from our road trip in July!) which I wouldn’t feel safe doing while having Sophie here. We (yes, WE) organized Sophie’s clothes for fall to determine what we needed to stock up on and I bought all her new fall (warm) clothes. I also re-organized her diaper bag which needed it desperately! Which brings me to:

diaper-bag-pinterestI feel a bit ashamed to call myself a Girl Scout with the shape our diaper bag was in. We’re lucky to have not had any craziness happen while the bag has been in such disarray. First step: dump everything from the bag to determine what needs to stay and what needs to be put away. Continue Reading about What’s in my: Diaper Bag

Baby Finger Paint

Hello artists! Today I had an awesome afternoon of being outside, creating and sitting by the pool. It was just a baby pool and I mostly watched my daughter finger paint eat finger paint, but it was still really awesome. My friend, Kristy, (and next door neighbor) had her baby a few days after I had Soph and they’ve been doing awesome at playing together lately. Kristy saw edible finger paints for kids on Pinterest, naturally, we were curious if the girls would be interested in baby finger paint.

Baby Finger PaintAll in all the painting project was a success. No crying or staining!

Baby Finger PaintTo make the paint, dollop greek yogurt into a muffin tin and add a pinch of Kool-Aid powder. Stir to get the desired color.

Baby Finger PaintBaby Finger PaintThe girls both liked dipping their fingers in the paint and we would rub them on the paper to get them used to the feeling. It was an exercise of getting the girls to have the feeling of the paint on their fingers and seeing it transfer onto the paper rather than watching them paint by themselves (because they’re too young).

hug

Andy (Sophie’s friend) wasn’t too into the painting because she really wanted to swim. All the while, Sophie was shoving her face with beautiful yogurt and trying to get hugs.

Baby Finger PaintSoph wanted to join Andy in the pool which we loved because it was an easy and fun clean up method! The yogurt came off easily and there was no staining on their skin.

Baby Finger PaintSoph was really digging the yogurt and was eying it from the pool so I let her out to have more. She ate it ALL. By the end she had every color all over her body. She was the prettiest pallet I’ve ever seen. 🙂 When was the earliest you tried finger painting with your kids? Was it a success? Anyone else use pools as a easy clean method? Fail proof.

How to Help a New Mom

Hello friends!! This past weekend I went to see my 3 day old niece Lyla and swooned over her for a couple of days! I was also able to help out her family with a few chores that were super simple for me but was one more thing off their list that they didn’t have to do. I had a lot of pain after giving birth and we had my husband’s parents come into town for a few days to help us out as well. I wanted to give some ideas on things that are helpful to a new mom or a mom who’s already knows the drill but has another child to care for as well. Knowing how to help a new mom is tough because it’ll be different for every mom but being there to offer a hand will be greatly appreciated no matter how you help.

help-new-momFor me, as a first time mom, I’d gone to all the classes, read all the books was extremely confident once we had Sophie but was physically unable to care for her for the first week. We also struggled during breastfeeding with countless hours of in-home lactation consultant visits and trips to visit the ears/noes/throat doctor. There is nothing that can prepare a mom for breastfeeding. Every baby is different, every mom is different and if you’re successful with breastfeeding from the beginning, count your blessings. One never feels as frustrated and inadequate as a mom who is unable to feed her new baby. The urgency you feel to help your baby stop crying so she can eat, so she can sleep, so she can grow and LIVE is immeasurable. The BIGGEST help was having Theresa come into our home. Being patient, calm, soft spoken and encouraging to me and Sophie through our first several weeks of trying to breast feed was exactly what we needed. I strongly encourage women to have an in-home lactation consultant come into their environment once to critique how you are feeding. The smallest adjustments can make a world of difference in the breastfeeding experience. If you’re trying to help out a new mom who you know is sleep deprived and frustrated about breastfeeding, suggest helping to pay for an in-home lactation consultant.

lowesTaking care of other children in the home is another huge help to mom and dad. Keeping them quiet for mom to rest can be difficult, so take them to the grocery to pick up dinner or to the park to get some playground time in. Have them help you water the flowers or fold the laundry. Helping with meals, baths and naps is very helpful so mom and dad don’t have to keep track of routines with their sleep deprived brains.

flowersAnother super helpful chore is outdoor work. No matter the time of year, there is always something that needs to be taken care of outside. Mowing the lawn, weeding, watering flowers, raking leaves, picking up sticks and shoveling snow are all completely off limits to a mom who’s just had a baby and it’s very likely that dad is pretty worn out as well. You could also fill bird feeders, clean bird baths, or cut a bouquet so mom can enjoy her flowers inside.

dog-walkTaking care of pets is a chore that can easily go unnoticed when you’re a new parent. Having my friend come over to walk our dog Lexi was a huge help in relaxing her and I. She was able to see a friend, get some energy out and be more calm around the baby. It is also helpful to make sure they get their food/water, brush them or give them a bath to help with the amount of hair. I get anxious with clutter and dog hair and everything was heightened when I’d just had Sophie so keeping our house clean meant a lot to me.

sophie-sunSnuggle their new baby if they say you can! I needed people to hold Sophie because it was uncomfortable for me to do so. She was happiest when walking around, which gets really tiring when you’re not sleeping. Being able to go to the bathroom, take a shower, get a snack when you need to is something that you take for granted when you don’t have a baby who needs to be held all the time. lyla-outsideGive tips on what worked for your baby if tips are welcome. Some moms don’t want you to even give them suggestions because it makes them feel like you’re trying to tell them what to do or what they’re doing wrong. In other cases, there are moms that want all the help they can get and are happy to receive suggestions. I had the mentality that if something didn’t work, we’d try something else and then something else until it worked–all suggestions were welcome.

There are numerous things you can do besides bringing lasagna and baby clothes to a family with a new baby. Whether they’re a new mom or a mom that has a few kids already, everyone could use help. No matter how small or large the task, every little bit is helpful. Depending on how close you are with the new parents, cleaning their kitchen, making dinner, cleaning bathrooms or doing their laundry are things that are non-stop and can weigh them down with necessary stress. Know your boundaries and if you don’t, just ask!  What are some ways that you’ve helped a new parent? Was there something that was particularly helpful for when you had a child?

Yesterday I was guest posting over at Dana’s site, This Silly Girl’s Life on how I made a Scrapbook of Love Letters! Go check it out!

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