Hey everybody – Happy Valentine’s Day!
I have a really special Valentine this year. In fact, it’s her first Valentine’s Day. Her name is Enceladus…. and I’m kinda in love with her!
Matthew and I are generally excited about holidays, especially Christmas and Halloween, so I knew when we had a child I was going to go a little Mama crazy with activities and dressing up! There’s just something in me that screams “I’M SO EXCITED TO DO ARTS & CRAFTS WITH MY BABY!”.
Apple, pear, and banana!!! All the best first foods rolled into one puree. As a mom who (for medical reasons)…
EASY TO MAKE Apple, Pear and Banana Baby Food! This recipe makes 64 ounces of baby food for only $10! This simple homemade puree uses fresh fruit that your baby will love! Follow this DIY on how to make it and info on freezer storage! This is my 7 month old’s favorite combination puree!
Ok, I can’t help it, I’m obsessed with making baby food. Did you think that this vegetable garden loving Mama wouldn’t be making baby food? I love to puree fruits and vegetables in the kitchen and watch Enceladus react to first tastes!
If you love cooking, then you understand the amazing feeling one gets when you serve friends or family a home cooked meal. When placing the food on the table in front of your family, you are essentially saying “I love you!”. So imagine my excitement when I’m cooking for my baby!
Enceladus started eating fruit and vegetable purees at around 5 months. Since turning 7 months old a few days ago, she’s tasted plenty of combinations, but this one is her favorite: Apple, Pear and Banana! What’s not to love? It’s like a tropical fruit smoothie for babies! I’ll be honest, I love this puree so much I might sneak e a few bites in when she’s not looking!
Besides the satisfying feeling of feeding your baby a home cooked meal, making your own baby food is extremely economical. Let’s do some simple math real quick.
Awwww, such cute photos! I remember those early solid food days even though it was many years ago. Enjoy every…
Change your shirt, put towels on the floor, wear a poncho – things are about to get messy. Enceladus started eating solids! This post is in partnership with buybuy BABY.
At our 4 month pediatrician visit, we got the go ahead to start solids when we were feeling ready for it, so at 5 months we decided to give it a try. After months of watching her Mom and Dad eat, Enceladus must have been practicing in her head, because on the first spoonful she reached out her hand, grabbed the spoon and shoved the pureed fruits into her mouth! Success!
(We use the Fisher-Price Deluxe Booster Seat because it attaches to a chair and saves room in our apartment!)
Awww, thanks Carol! Bofinkles is indeed a very special lady to us!
A complete schedule of a 3 month old baby, including sleeping and eating! This also lists achievements and other things we saw her do for the first time! This post is in partnership with buybuy BABY.
Hey everybody, I hope your week is off to a good start!
A few weeks ago, I thought I would document the day of our 3 month old. Before I had a baby, I thought I would be able to work during the day, or at least wipe my mouth filled with chocolate when the UPS man knocked at my door. How naive I was!
While preparing for a baby, or even now, I enjoyed reading other parent schedules. I don’t think we should ever compare our schedule to another family’s as everyone is different, but I always found it helpful and fun to prepare myself for the next few months!
(Enceladus, with her favorite toy (“Butter”) at 3 months old.)
Here is her 3 month schedule. (This was when she was 3 months, 4 weeks).
Review of the SNOO Bassinet from a mom who’s baby had colic for 12 weeks! We love the Snoo and it helped her so much to sleep through the night!
Have you heard of the SNOO bassinet? I like to describe it as the most modern, beautiful, amazing, life changing baby bassinet ever. If there’s one item we couldn’t live without (besides food and diapers) in Enceladus’s first 3 months it would be the SNOO. SNOO, I love you. I love you so much.
If you follow me me on social media or read back posts you will know that for the first 12 weeks Enceladus had a pretty severe case of colic. To be blunt, it was terrible for everyone involved and we went through a dark emotional time. At around the 12 week point we started to see the light and at 14 weeks I can safely say she conquered colic. WHEW! (For those parents dealing with colic, this article helped me SO much. I would read it in bed at night after bad days and it made me feel commodity with the author.) During her 12 weeks with colic, we tried everything. Not only was she crying 8 hours a day but she would not nap during the day, it was a nonstop day of baby tears and anger from wake up to bed time. I googled everything to try to help her colic. We bought every product marketed as colic relief. You name a swaddle, gripe water, sleeper, rock and play, pacifier, bottle, formula, probiotics etc and I will tell you we tried it without much success. We saw the pediatrician multiple times and tried acid reflux medicine. At around 9 weeks I was ready to cut off my pinky finger and give it up in a human sacrifice to solve her colic because it was heart breaking to witness. The one thing that kept us sane, and sleeping, during the 12 weeks of colic was the SNOO.
My children, who used to complain that Maine is SO boring, while growing up. They live out of state, since…
We took our 2 month old baby on a 11 hour road trip and survived! Here’s everything we brought with us and other tips to make it a success! This post is in partnership with buybuy BABY.
Next week Enceladus will turn 3 months old and she’s already a road trip expert! We took a road trip to North Carolina when I was 35 weeks pregnant so it’s no surprise she’s comfortable with long drives already! A few weeks ago we headed to Maine for a friend’s wedding and I fell in love… with Maine! It was my first time visiting and it is BEAUTIFUL! I’m not sure if we visited during peak season, but I couldn’t get over how beautiful the coast was. I’m already considering that this might need be our yearly vacation spot!
Seriously, isn’t it beautiful? I feel like every spot we went to had postcard worthy views!
Welcome to my new series “Motherhood Thoughts”. If you follow me on Instagram you know I’m pretty revealing in my Stories about how hard Motherhood has been for me. What I realized is that Brooklyn Farm Girl hasn’t dove into Motherhood as deep as I share on social media. I had a hard time deciding how to transition the blog, if I should even write about the baby, or keep it garden and recipe focused, but then I realized that Brooklyn Farm Girl is now Brooklyn Farm Mama and being a Mother is a huge part of my life. Traveling through the first 2 months of Motherhood has been a journey. Every day, I experience something new. Heck, some hours I experience something new. I’ve had such a outpouring of feedback on my Instagram Stories from other Mothers who have gone through it, I decided I’m going to share on the blog now too. If you just come here for recipes and nothing more, you can skip these posts and that is totally ok. But if you want to get to know me, Pamela, then go ahead and read on. I plan on doing these posts bi-weekly as a diary to look back on. The post will be scattered with non connected paragraphs of what I experienced that week. Hope you like it.
Enceladus was asleep, it was the middle of the night, around 2AM and suddenly our cat Xanadu meowed. Again and again and again. Xanadu was in our bed in the middle of Matthew and I. Enceladus was in her bassinet next to the bed. Matthew and I turned to Xanadu, pleading with our eyes, whispering “Please stop meowing!”. She continued. “Meow, Meow, Meow”. Enceladus stirred in her bassinet. Then I did the unthinkable, I scolded our cat. Our cat was meowing because she was happy and I told her to stop meowing. I still feel awful for this.
Enceladus has started to giggle. I am officially the funniest person in the world to her and it makes me feel awesome.
Blank walls are also hilarious to her.
Cutting baby’s nails are terrifying. The first time we cut her nails was when she was 2 days old and we cut her finger. She screamed for a minute and then moved on with life, but it still haunts us. When she came out of my belly, she had Edward Scissorhands esque nails and was constantly cutting her face. Nowadays, we’re still terrified of using nail clippers so I bite her nails. Yes, I cut her nails by putting her nails into my mouth and biting them like a Barbarian. I googled it though and lots of other Moms do this so it’s totally ok to be a animal to my baby. Now if only I could work on that sharp big toe nail of hers….
The microwave door closes so loudly! It’s not until you have a sleeping baby in your house will you realize how loud some things are. I now fear the microwave while she sleeps.
Pamela, I have so enjoyed your blogs about the gardening...I grew up on a farm and still grow herbs..condo…
Join me and Enceladus for our morning tea time walk! Mom finally gets to enjoy tea again! This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Straight Up™ Tea and Albertsons Companies. The opinions and text are all mine.
I love tea time. It doesn’t matter if it’s morning, afternoon or night… if you say, “Let’s do tea!” my response will always be “yes!” With the arrival of Enceladus, my daily routine has significantly changed, mostly because I have no routine any more… it’s whatever baby says, I do! One thing we both agree on is that we start the day off better if we go for a morning walk after her first feeding. After she’s done gulping her breakfast, I’ll throw on the carrier and we’ll head out for a 2-3 mile walk around the neighborhood. During this time she usually naps and I get to see the outside world and enjoy some daily sunshine.
I agree with you about spending more to get something that meets your needs perfectly. It's amazing how quickly they…
Looking for the perfect NYC stroller? Get the UPPAbaby Vista! You won’t regret it! Read this post for a full review of why it’s the perfect city dweller stroller to grow with! This post is in partnership with buybuy BABY.
When we found out we were going to have a baby I began obsessively researching every type of baby gear that we needed. One of the biggest decisions was what stroller we should get. I knew luxury was going to come at a cost, but I also knew that I was going to be spending a lot of time with Enceladus in the stroller so I was ready to splurge on the perfect stroller. After reading countless reviews and going back and forth on 2 specific strollers we purchased the UPPAbaby Vista and couldn’t be happier!
My wishlist for a stroller was:
It had to be a sidewalk warrior. I wanted sidewalk cracks, bumpy roads and slower walkers (kidding..sorta) to fear me.
I wanted a smooth ride. Due to the increase construction in our neighborhood I didn’t want Enceladus to wake up immediately after leaving the house.
I wanted lots of storage. The more room to keep numerous bags and be able to grocery shop, the better.
I wanted ONE stroller, from newborn to a few years old.
I wanted ONE stroller to grow with incase one baby becomes two babies one day (calm down!).
I wanted it to look really cool.
Now let’s check each of those off…
Your baby looks like an angel! You are lucky. Thanks for your blog! I enjoyed it. It will help me…
Enceladus isn’t a great sleeper during the day (at night is another story – more about that in a future post!). The only way I can get any work done during the day is by wearing her or putting her down. But I can’t put her down anywhere, she’s extremely picky about her sleeping arrangements and will let you know it! Her favorite? The DockATot! Does your baby love napping with DockATot too?
Doesn’t she look comfortable?
Since we were expecting Enceladus I had my eyes on the DockATot! So many parents gave rave reviews that this solved all their sleep issues so I had to get one! What I was most excited about was that this could be traveled with. Unlike so many other loungers, this was light, didn’t need to be plugged in and can be carried with one arm (really important!). Enceladus took her first trip Upstate to the garden last weekend and I was so worried about what to bring for her to sleep in. The DockATot lets me not go overboard with a bunch of different beds and chairs, all I need is one thing that I can throw in a bag and go! We will be making a trip later this month to Maine and I’m thrilled to know that this is the only bed that I’ll have to bring for her!
She's the cutest!!! I miss those baby days! Well not the lack-of-sleep part, but all the snuggles!!
Time to go on our first family walk with Enceladus while wearing our lillebaby tokidoki Complete All Seasons carrier! This post is in partnership with buybuy BABY.
This past weekend we decided to head out for our first family walk. I’ve taken Enceladus on multiple walks by myself (I hope you’re watching my adventures on Instagram Stories by the way!) to the studio, grocery store and other random places when I feel like we need to get out! She loves strolling around in her UPPAbaby Vista, and surprisingly handles bumps in the sidewalk like a pro without even opening her eyes!
I want to make it a mission to do one weekly thing as a family, so we headed out to show her how lucky she was to live in Brooklyn! It just happened that it was also National Ice Cream Day, so we had to stop for ice cream too…..!
Now only if she could remember her first walk with us, but she was passed out and snoring the entire time!
Hi everybody! My oh my, do I have someone who wants to meet you all. She’s my new BFF. Won’t you all say hello to Enceladus?
Full Name: Enceladus Seven Reed Rader, Born: 11:53PM on July 2, Weight: 7 pounds, 4 oz, Personality: Feisty and Silly
Everyone asks about her name, Enceladus, so I’ll save you the trouble of googling! 🙂 She’s named after a moon on Saturn. You pronounce it En-Sell-Ah-Dus.
Her middle name is Seven because she’s our 7th baby (we’ve had 6 cats prior). We really wanted to include our Meowza family in her name somehow since they’re so special to us.
She has 2 last names, Reed Rader, because it’s always made sense to us that Baby should have both names.
At 5 days old she was already helping her Mom bake her first batch of cookies, one handed. She lost a sock along the way, but don’t worry, it didn’t land in the cookie batter. She’s a natural.
We purchased this mattress for our newborn last June and it has proven to be such a great purchase. Although…
Newton Crib Mattress Review- the Wovenaire is the best mattress for your baby that is 100% breathable! Perfect for First Time Moms who are worried about everything (that’s me!).
For my next review in the baby series, I’m diving into mattresses. Consider this another category that I put endless amounts of time into reading reviews and cross comparing products. This, like so many other baby products, resulted in Matthew physically removing my computer from my lap late night one day saying “That’s enough reviews for you today”. I’m obsessed.
Baby mattresses range widely in quality and price. They’re firm, they’re soft, they’re made out of this, they’re made out of that, they are waterproof, they soak up water, they’re $29, they’re $400, etc. I ended up getting the Newton Crib Mattress for our baby because it checked everything off that was a must have for me, most importantly: safety.
The Newton Wovenaire Crib Mattress is 100% breathable and uses the highest quality food-grade polymer extruded into a crystal clear pool of water. From there it creates a resilient three-dimensional shape that is 90% air by volume. What does this mean in regular words? It means it’s safe, cleaner and healthier for your baby. If you are worried about the baby rolling over in the middle of the night, this mattress is completely breathable. Tests have shown that babies can breathe right through the mattress which reduces risk of suffocation. Being a first time parent, this is something that worries me and I know will keep me up at night so having this reassurance definitely makes me feel better.
Support bands are amazing! I also used skindeep.org during my pregnancy to check the chemicals in my beauty products. I…
Pregnancy Shopping List for First Time New Moms. List includes vitamins, lotions, pillows, clothes and more to stay healthy and comfortable for 40 weeks! This post is in partnership with
buybuy BABY.
The title should read “What a Pregnant Woman Needs… Besides Donuts and Hugs” but it was a little too long. This post is all about what every pregnant woman needs, or at the very least it’s about what this pregnant woman needs. Yes, I need donuts. Yes, I need hugs. Yes, I need my husband to tie my shoes. Yes, I need the pizza delivery to come in less than 30 minutes because if not I will bawl my eyes out and proclaim I can’t live (true story – happened a few weeks ago). I’m hungry. I’m emotional. I’m uncomfortable. I’m hard to live with. But I’m pregnant and carrying a little human inside of me – therefor I’m awesome.
Celebrating 30 weeks with a Slurpee!
Now that I’m in my 3rd trimester (What up 32 weeks!) these are the products I’ve been using. Everything here I’ve thoroughly researched before buying and come with glowing reviews! Here’s my pregnancy shopping list!
Time to reveal the baby’s crib in our NYC apartment! Space, planets, clouds and robots were our inspiration! This post is in partnership with buybuy BABY.
Oooo – things are getting serious here! We’re doing a crib/nursery reveal! If baby is reading this, please stay in my belly for another 10 weeks. But then again, if baby is reading this, we really need to talk because how do you have a laptop in there?
The last few months we’ve put hard work in making a baby nursery, building it from the ground up in our loft. Thankfully Matthew is a Mr. Super Handyman although I think we both had internal moments of “I can’t take this mess anymore!” while construction was happening. But the day is here… the nursery is done and ready to go! Today I’m going to show you my most favorite part of the room – this is where the baby is going to have sweet dreams and eventually escape so she play with her feline brothers and sisters – the crib!
We’re in love with it!
We wanted her room to be simple but with touches of things that will inspire her. We wanted touches of things that her Mom and Dad are really into and can’t wait to share with her. I’m already picturing her in her crib pointing at the framed picture saying “Saturn!”. Gosh, that would be a proud Mama moment there. We went with grey paint on the walls, mostly white furniture and some pops of color. Throw in our love of space and dinosaurs and you have her nursery!
I have a 6 month old girl :) She refuses to sleep in a normal bed because she startles in…
Talking about the first 20 weeks of pregnancy for a first time mom. Symptoms, Mood, Weight, Ultrasound Pics, Doctor Visits and more discussed!
I wasn’t sure if I was going to make these types of posts. And then I got to thinking more about it and felt it would be fun to look back on one day. Instead of documenting every 1 or 2 weeks, I’m doing Weeks 1-20… and then probably 20-30 and then 30-40, or something like that. I guess time will tell as I’m facing new experiences.
So here we are.. I’m in Week 24 now but we’re going to just discuss the first 20 weeks for now. We’ll save talking about how baby is now participating in zumba classes in my belly for another post. I guess we can get the stats and dates out of the way first. We had sex on October 14 to make the baby (hello TMI). Yes, I know the exact date. My Doctor never believes that I know the exact date but I know because we were working hard on a job and only had time/energy to do the sexy dance once during my peak ovulation week. You know how they tell you in school it only takes once to get pregnant? They’re telling the truth. My ovulation was peak on October 15. Before trying to get pregnant I had no idea you could track your ovulation with test strips. I would highly recommend them, even if you aren’t trying to get pregnant as it’s pretty wonderful to really start to witness how amazing your body is and how in tune we can get. If you’re trying to conceive I’d also suggest using a app (I used Ovia) that tracks your period, symptoms, etc and lets you know when you’re most fertile. We took a pregnancy test on October 29, which would be DPO (that’s days post ovulation) 14. It was positive. So calendar speaking, we found out around Week 4 we were with baby (to make things more confusing the first day of the last menstrual period becomes the date from which pregnancy is counted to start even though conception occurs about two weeks later.)
So beautiful article (-: i love it! thank you for sharing that with us.
A seed was planted, the plant is getting bigger, and in July we’ll be able to harvest. What type of plant are we growing? A baby! Instead of our garden, it’s growing in my belly! Brooklyn Farm Baby is coming in July!
I’ve already shared a few revealing videos and pictures on social media but I’ve kept it completely hush hush on the blog until now. Being half way through, now at 20 weeks, I wanted to make a post to let you know that we’ll be adding a human baby girl to our family in the Summer. Are we excited? Yes! Are we terrified? Yes! Are we dreaming of what we’ll be able to teach her and show her? Yes! Are we in disbelief that a hospital is actually going to let us leave with a baby in our car to take care of for the rest of our lives? Yes!
Matthew and I have been talking seriously about adding to our family for the past 5 years. It was always about waiting for the perfect time, but the more I sat with this and grew older the more I came to realization that no time will ever be perfect. I’m always going to be worried. I was worried before. I’m worried during. I’m going to be worried after. So last year we started the plan into action with preparation doctor appointments and other things that you do when this is a definite planned pregnancy. Then the fun part started, you know the part that everyone tells you is going to be romantic and great because you’re going to physically do the sexy dance that leads to a baby. Then months pass and it’s no longer that fun. It’s now a schedule. It’s me texting Matthew with directions like “Ovulation is max peak, be home by 7:30 tonight because I want to go to bed early”. Oh the romance of having a baby!
She’s gorgeous already!
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So cute... and funny. Speaking in terms of little squirmy 7 month old people, it’s like that old…