Let’s get cooking and be a little frugal!

Now bear doesn’t follow a dairy free diet shopping has become simple. We no longer have to read every label and we can try new things. We always encourage Bear to at least try things, he obviously has the things he likes and things he doesn’t like, but nothing makes us prouder when he just tries things because he wants to. the other day he helped himself to his daddy’s hummus, dipping some of his daddy’s cucumber (he didn’t like that much) and a raw carrot (he enjoyed chewing) although he has had these things before, he didn’t like them on a number of previous tries, but we were so pleased he gave them another go…..and all by himself. He also ate a slice of ham for the first time ever (he has very recently just cut 3 back teeth…..making it 11 teeth in total!! We think this helped him to chew, and enjoy, the ham)

We also like to encourage Bear to help with the cooking, and some fun baking too. We are trying to encourage a healthy relationship with food for him. We all love good, healthy, home cooked meals….cooked from scratch. We have discovered muscle foods as a source for amazing quality meat for a cheap price (they often do really awesome deals on big bundles, so we are definitely needing our big freezer!) I have included a link to muscle foods in case anyone is interested, if you use my referral code you will also get a free item (and i will receive some credit too). Our meat portion of our meals work out at around £2 a meal (with the latest order made, should come out somewhere near £1.50 a meal…..and that is for the 3 of us!) You can also get great groupon deals for muscle food bundles, that is where we sourced our last order…..and don’t forget you can get cashback on it if using quidco (I will also include a quidco referral code for anyone who wants it, once you start earning, we both get £5 cashback) Using quidco I have received almost £200 cashback in the last 15 months on things that I would have bought anyway…..we are really trying to live a little more frugally to save money for the finer things in life (life trips out and nice holidays!) I am thinking I may start to turn this blog into a frugal living and general life type of blog to share my experiences now we don’t have allergies to concern ourselves with. Will see how it goes and see what our followers reaction to it may be.

Muscle food link, and referral code: Receive a free gift (and i get a little bit of account credit!)

http://www.musclefood.com/LS201491

LS201491

 

Quidco referral code: we both get £5 cashback once you start earning!

http://www.quidco.com/user/4763630/2147432/

The aftermath!!

So, been off dairy again for a week now and Bear still isn’t 100% back to his normal self….but he is getting there!! He seems to be teething quite badly on top of it now too, which proves for some interesting nights!! He is still having trouble getting anything near consistent bowel movements, often being either far too loose, coming out with the wind or painfully solid, which follows a few hours of grunts and tiny tantrums. We think that this will sort itself out soon, especially when he is back to his normal eating routine, not having a functioning kitchen at home (total kitchen refit and a discovery of a rusted leaky pipe under the house!) and relying on nanny for all food has been difficult, especially as mummy came down with a sickness bug on Saturday, passing it on to nanny on Sunday who passed it on to Grandad on Monday, meaning that the sick person could not handle the smell of cooking food! We now have some functionality back in our kitchen so hopefully we can resume normality. Over the weekend we have discovered a few new things that Bear loves…..Lemon curd and Chocolate spread (not together) and he seems to demolish any sandwiches or toast with either of these 2 spreads on them, we have also purchased a variety of marmalades for him to try too. For all the dairy free followers, the Morrisons own hazelnut chocolate spread is dairy free (it also got the thumbs up from Bears daddy!)

Due to just how run down and pained Bear has been since his reaction we have decided to wait another 6 months before trying again with the milk challenge, rather than the suggested 3-4 months….he couldn’t even manage half a garibaldi biscuit so we don’t think there would be a great amount of change in 3 months, we would rather wait the extra amount of time, especially if it knocks him back for over a week at a time! In the meantime, I aim to continue searching the supermarkets for delicious things for my little boy to enjoy (or even creating some amazing baked goods in our soon-to-be finished, brand new kitchen!!) Hopefully, we will be able to share some pictures and recipes of some of our creations.

On another note, Bear will be 1 in little over 3 weeks!! EEEEK!!! where did the time go? We are planning on making him 2 amazing themed birthday cakes (the lucky boy is having 2 parties) and creating an amazing dairy free buffet for everyone (if we dont tell them I am sure they wont even know!) We just don’t know where the last year has gone 🙂 keep an eye out for a variety of themed posts from me (all Bear related of course) and possibly some new photos too! Thank you

Winter brings new troubles!!

So, this mornings frost was a very unwelcome sight!! It is so cold, we have already been out to buy a little heater to warm our tiny shop so that bear doesn’t catch a chill. But even before getting out of bed this morning we have been faced with yet another first…..Bears first ever cough and cold!! I hate it.

He stirred at around 4am and was a little distressed so I put him in bed with us for a few extra hours sleep, at 6.30 he woke with a coughing fit and the worst temperature ever…..he felt almost burning to the touch! We gave him some paracetamol and a drink and stripped him off a little and he managed to bring his own temperature down enough to go back to sleep. When we got out of bed at 7.30 his temperature was at 36.8, so was back to being ok (although slightly high for bear). Breakfast was a struggle, coughing fits throughout, followed by toast filled sneezes and subsequent tears. Getting him dressed was also a battle…..not ideal at the best of times but when he is poorly and when it is cold he needs so many more items put on! He is currently on nap number 2 of the day (its only just turned 11am) he normally only has 2 a day. His first nap was lying in my arms, this one is in the carrier….he is being super snugly today.

We also seem to be reacting to the oilatum bath stuff we were trying for bear…..it doesn’t cause any obvious soreness to see but he screams non-stop for the whole of bath time (and bear normally loves the bath) and grabs viciously and constantly at himself. Back to the drawing board on the bath wash now, think we are going to try Aveeno next (was recommended to us by some lovely CMPA mummies), fingers crossed as the box of ‘trial and error’ products is getting full and costing us a fortune!

On the plus side, after a very long trip round my local Morrisons yesterday, I have found yet more food stuff bear can eat. His lunch yesterday (and today) consisted of a slice of fruit loaf buttered, a rice cake with biscoff spread on (his personal favourite), strawberries, blackberries and a few Ritz crackers, followed by a banana milkshake. He also had one of the fruit ‘school bars’ which he enjoyed chewing on massively. Then yesterday nanny did us ham and parsley sauce for dinner (mummies favourite!!) and no one even noticed the parsley sauce was completely dairy free, made with block marge and oat milk (apart from bear of course, but he was over the moon) followed by a delicious tray bake mince pie type pud (mummy had a dried fruit mix instead of mince meat as she doesn’t like it) bear was very happy. I am not sure who is more spoilt by nanny though, bear or mummy! What would we do without her

Please do not forget that we are in the last week of moovember – CMPA awareness month….please keep helping to spread the word.

Baby wearing and other things Bear

So, after a rather failed attempt of trying to push our push chair across a muddy field whilst walking the dog on Sunday we have decided to purchase a new baby carrier. After a lot of research to find something that would suit myself and Bear I have ordered a mei tai carrier (complete with camper van printed fabric, with a plain black reversible side for dad! Will post a picture when it has arrived). The carrier we had before was not very comfortable for me and I couldn’t wear it on my back. I also often wondered if it was comfortable for bear, although he never complains. We are very excited for it to arrive, hoping it will be here by the weekend so we can take the dog to the field again, instead of sticking to paths.

In other news, nanny discovered that the Aldi block margarine is dairy free! She made us all a delicious dairy free Shepard’s pie for dinner last night (The rest of us didn’t even miss the cheesy topping) Bear loved it, although did seem to get a little grumpy if it wasn’t shovelled quick enough. Nanny also made bear some strawberry jam muffins, which he loved. She is also planning on making some mince pies that he will be able to eat….she is so good at adapting her recipes for him and nobody ever notices either. Spoils him rotten with delicious food!!

Also, a quick update on the nappies….we are working hard to battle the nappy rash before it takes hold and we think we are keeping it at bay, it is hard with bear teething so badly and are hoping that once his first few teeth have broken through it will settle down. We are also worried his eczema is also coming back, we have decided to start reusing a small amount of steroid cream to hopefully fend it off before it gets itchy and upsetting for bear. So far so good as he is barely paying attention during nappy changes. Even with the new set of nappy issues, it still isn’t as bad as when he was in disposables and I love using the cloth nappies so we will be sticking with them permanently now!