A NAPPY CHANGE TRICK

As a mother of two, I know how challenging it can get to change a baby's nappy. If you are a mother or a father of a young child, there is no doubt you'd (or will in the near future) know what I am talking about. Here is one of the tricks that I use which does not fail me in most cases.

Have a colourful pair of baby or kids socks (or with an attractive pattern like a monkey face) on your baby's hands (no, there is no typo here. I do mean 'hands', not feet). In my case, Miss Junior mastered taking off her socks from her tiny feet in a few seconds a while back and it is not a 'long term' distraction anymore. So, at this stage, I generally cover her hands with a pair of socks and it often amazes her and keeps her busy for a while whilst I change her nappy. You may need to do it a few times until the operation (!) is complete but as long as your bubba is happy and it allows you the time to finish off the change, there is no problem with that!

Small bells

Here is my favourite for you: You can make your own silly pair of socks particularly for nappy change times. You don't need to be a great tailor or a dress maker for this. As long as you know how to sew a button roughly, you are professional enough for this project. Just sew up a few buttons randomly or a face like details, small pieces of ribbons, one or two little bells that you can easily find at craft stores etc onto an old sock and during nappy change, put it on over your baby's hand. This will be a great distraction as well as a stimulant for your baby's development. If you like, you can make a few of different ones and alternate as your baby gets used to one.

Enjoy a day when you can change your baby's nappies easily :-)

Note: Make a silly sock and put it in your nappy change bag that you use out and about. This will make diaper change much less stressful when at the shops, in the car, at cafes/restaurants etc.

DID YOU KNOW ...? (22)

Lemons contain more sugar than strawberries.

DIY CAKE STAND

What a transformation of two simple styrofoam cake dummies into a stunning cake stand! For the step-by-step instructions, visit here.

GLOWING BALLOONS

This look can be achieved at home easily. It looks like all you need is simply to put a glow-stick in balloons. Well done to the original owner of the idea!

MR. HUBBY IN THE KITCHEN: Homemade Pancakes and Blueberry Sauce

Today is ANZAC Day, therefore a public holiday here in Australia. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. If you would like to read more about it, here are some recommended links for you:

http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac-tradition/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzac_Day
http://www.dva.gov.au/Pages/home.aspx

Today, we were able to have breakfast as a family and our menu was consisted of weetbix with blueberries (for Miss Junior), some homemade pancakes, a blueberry sauce and some fruit salad (for the rest of the family).

As I have mentioned in my writing titled 'Sunday Special' as well, we are so lucky to have such a talented and adventurous cook, Mr. Hubby, at home. He definitely needs a whole team of cleaners after him but lets leave it there as it is not today's topic.

This morning, we all couldn't get enough of his food once again. The recipe of his pancakes and blueberry sauce as well as some pictures are below for you.

Homemade Pancake

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 2 glasses of milk
• some melted butter (about 50g)
• 1 teaspoon baking/bi-carb soda 
• plain flour 
• orange zest (optional)
• some spray oil for cooking

Method: 

Beat the eggs until fluffy. Add milk, butter and bi-carb soda and start adding flour as you whisk. You need to aim for a creamy consistency and once you have it, no more flour is needed. 

Heat up your pan with a small amount of spray oil in it. Once hot, pour in some of your pancake mixture and cook it in high heat. When starts having some bubbles on it, it means, it is time to turn it upside down and cook the other side. It only takes seconds or a few minutes to cook a pancake, so make sure you don't walk away once you put it in the pot. We like it nice and thin. So, you may need to make a few of them per person. Best served hot.

Homemade Blueberry Sauce

Homemade no-sugar blueberry sauce

Ingredients:

• Blueberries (we used organic blueberries)
• Water (half the level of blueberries)

Method: 

Put the blueberries with a small amount of water into a saucepan and heat it up. Once boiled, you can lower the heat and simmer it for a few minutes until it forms a sauce-like consistency. Best served hot. 

Excuse the dirty plate please. This is Mr. Junior's plate after eating his pancakes. This is his own design.

Note: Have you noticed that there is no sugar or salt in any of the recipes above? Make your own and see if there is ever a need for any of it in these recipes. 

A STYLISH IDEA FOR PARTIES

I found this picture on the internet and wanted to share it with you as well. As is, it is great and very stylish but you can alter it a bit if you wanted to. This is a great serving (and presentation) idea for parties. You can put many types of snack foods in them but personally, I would definitely go for some blueberries in them (you can make the cones smaller if needed)! They are not messy, the average size of blueberries is almost perfect and are a great treat for everyone!

Note: Check this out for a paper cone tutorial.

FOOD DESIGNS (1)

Sometimes it is only because they look good, sometimes it is because there is no other way to feed kids, sometimes because it is fun, functional or a way to express ourselves, most of us would choose to design our dishes at times. Here, I decided to share some ideas that either I have come up with or I have seen and loved with you. I hope you enjoy them all and you are very welcome to share your opinions or designs here or on my facebook page (Why Bee) (or) (MADE BY Y).