I was cooking up a storm for Thanksgiving dinner.

Turkey. Check.
Ham. Check.
Stuffing. Check.
Sweet potatoes. Check.
Corn. Check.
Mashed potatoes, veggie tray, salad, cranberry sauce, biscuits/rolls, fruit tray, apple pie, pumpkin pie. Check, check, check, check, check, check, check!

Hubby walks into the kitchen.

Hubby: Ummm...Did you take the giblets out of the turkey?
Me: Yeah. I'm using them to make the gravy.
Hubby: Those aren't giblets.
Me: WHAT!?!?!?
Hubby: Yeah. That's the neck. Giblets look more like intestines, gizzard, liver, and other visceral organs.
Me: OMG! OMG! OMG! (sheer panic, as there would be about 30 dinner guests in attendance)
Hubby: You cleaned the bird and checked inside the cavity, right? The giblets usually come in a plastic bag stuffed inside the cavity.

I started freaking out. To be honest, this is the SECOND turkey I have EVER cooked. I've only hosted Thanksgiving dinner once before. I was vegetarian for most of my Thanksgivings in the past (and now I'm married to a beef farmer)!

Hubby opened up the oven, took out the piping hot bird. Checked it. Nope. No giblets in there.

PHEW!

Now, the question is...What happened to the giblets? And, will I have Thanksgiving dinner done in time for us to get our annual family portraits done by PhotoCaptiva AND take our out of town guests sightseeing at the Bridal Veil Falls? Gahhhh!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian family and friends! What are you thankful for today?

As parents, we love our kids. We love to cuddle them. We love playing hide-and-seek and we love reading to them. We love feeding them the healthiest foods possible. We take special care in feeding them wholesome and delicious meals. We make sure that nothing but the best goes into their little bellies. Why not make sure that we serve and store their healthy foods in something eco-friendly, safe, and stylish? You guessed it! Of course I'm talking about Wean Green Glass Baby Food Containers!

In case you hadn't guessed, we love Wean Green!

Imagine my excitement when these little beauties arrived at my doorstep!
What's not to love? The glass cubes are super cute. They're fabulous, compact, leak-proof, and durable.

• Safe & environmentally friendly
• BPA, PVC, Phthalates, and Plasticizer free
• Glass is 100% recyclable and sustainable
• Smart Clips lock and secure food inside
• Measuring lines help you monitor food intake
• Stands up to the extreme temperatures required to make, store, freeze, heat, and serve baby food
• Four fabulous colors: Raspberry, Blueberry, Peas, and Carrots

If you make your own baby food, Wean cubes are the perfect way to store your baby food and keep it fresh. When Little One was just starting on solid food, I made all of her baby food from scratch. I really wish I had discovered Wean Green when I was making Little One's baby food last year! The cubes are convenient and perfectly sized for just the right portion for your wee one.

Even though she's no longer eating "baby food", the Wean Cubes are perfect for toting around Little One's snacks and other finger foods. I pack Cheerios, raspberries, goldfish crackers, apple sauce and other yummy items in the cubes. Little One, being the independent little lady she is, loves holding onto her Wean Cubes herself and snacking on her own.
Though I'm all about using safe and environmentally friendly baby products for Little One, it sure helps that Wean Cubes are the coolest looking food storage cubes around! I even got excited when I saw the wild flower seed paper that the instructions were written on! Yes, tucked neatly into the box was a piece of recycled seed paper! Add soil, plant, water, and watch grow! How green is Wean Green?! I'm tellin' ya! They are too cool!
Don't forget to follow them on Twitter and on Facebook!

I know what I'll be getting all my friends' babies and toddlers for Christmas this year!

**GREAT NEWS!!!**
Wean Green is giving my readers a 20% discount on their Wean Green orders up until the end of the month!
Simply enter this promo code: RANDOMTHOUGHTS at checkout!






I received a set of Wean Cubes from Wean Green to review. The opinions on this blog are my own.

A winner for our Krafty Creations Contest has been selected via Random.Org.

#7

Kady L. said...

Follow you on Networked blogs!
kady@thebeerguy.ca

September 22, 2010 6:57 AM

Kady, you are the winner of an adorable crocheted beanie! Please e-mail us your mailing info to us so Krafty Creations can send your prize to you!

If no response has been received within 48 hours, a new winner will be selected by Random.Org.

I remember when Little One started eating solid food. I waited months to start her on solids. I didn't want to start her too early. She was a preemie, and I wasn't sure how developed her digestive system was and just didn't want to rush her. I also think that secretly, if she started on solids that would confirm that she was no longer dependent on me for nourishment. I know. Stupid.

There was no stopping our little preemie though. She wanted to eat! She did the whole baby cereal thing. We did the rice, oats, barley cereals and then she graduated to fruits and veggies. She loved everything. She loved her meat purees too!

On a trip to visit family in Montreal, a friend of mine gave Little One a few Cheerios. My friend has a daughter Little One's age and she was already eating finger foods. I didn't know how Little One would fare, as she had never been introduced to finger food.

Also, because she was a preemie, I was always told that preemies have a tendency to be delayed developmentally. I was told that Little One's fine and gross motor skills would not be the same as that of other babies her age.

"She's going to choke! She's got no teeth!!!", I exclaimed.

"Chris, don't worry! The Cheerios will dissolve in her mouth. They'll get soft when she puts them in her mouth. She won't choke", my friend assured me.

I winced and hesitated. "Oh, I guess you're right".

To my surprise, Little One was able to pick up those tiny Cheerios and put them in her mouth! It was that moment that I just knew our little preemie was fine and not behind developmentally. Thanks to Cheerios! Cheerios were Little One's very first finger foods.


The good people at Cheerios have come up with yet another fabulous opportunity for parents and kids. They are offering parents a chance to win some pretty nifty prizes. Enter the Cheerios Milestones contest and you can WIN $10,000 towards an RESP from TD Canada Trust! Not only that, but your child can also be featured on a special edition Cheerios Box! Visit the Cheerios website and see how easy it is to enter!
Twenty finalists will be chosen to be on a special edition Cheerios Box and win Cheerios for a year! All you have to do is upload a photo of your favourite moment. Contest closes on December 15, 2010.

Think that's great? Well, MomCentral Canada and Cheerios have yet another cool contest for you! They have given me the chance to offer a wonderful giveaway to my readers. One of you will win a Cheerios play book! The Cheerios play book is perfect for learning and for fun! I know, since Little One was given a Cheerios play book from my friend last Christmas! She LOVES it!

To enter, leave a comment sharing a story about one of your child’s milestones.

The Cheerios play book contest is open from October 5th to the 29th.

Disclosure - I am participating in the Cheerios Milestones program by Mom Central on behalf of General Mills. I received a gift card as a thank you for my participation. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Feeding times were so much easier when Little One was still little. Now she is a 22 month old girlie who is as independent as can be. She doesn't want any help eating. She can feed herself with her own fork, thank you very much. Help her spoon her yogurt into her mouth? I think not!

Along with her independence and eating on her own come the terrible table manners. Little One has the tendency to throw her food on the floor once she's had enough. When she gets full, she swipes all the food off her tray and "cleans" it off. *sigh*

Every meal, we go through the "No thank you. We do not throw food on the floor!", "Throwing food on the floor is NOT nice!", "Please do not wipe your food all over your face!" and "STOP THROWING FOOD ON THE FLOOR!" We go through this E-V-E-R-Y S-I-N-G-L-E T-I-M-E!

I don't know which table manners story is the funniest. The one where Little One smeared pasta and pasta sauce ALL OVER herself during an evening with friends or the one when she decided it would be funny to wear her hamburger on her head like a hat?She thought it was funny, and she certainly succeeded at making all our guests laugh! Mommy wasn't impressed with the flying food. I've got homemade lasagna stains on my ceiling to show for it!

Thankfully, Barber Foods and The Product Review Place are presenting "a special Table Manners Twitter Dinner Party. Join us on Thursday, October 14, 2010 from 7:30-9:00 PM EST. Tweet with us and table manners guru Sherry Thomas who’ll help answer your most pressing questions and solve everyday dilemmas when it comes to bringing peace to your dinner table."

I was recently asked to share some of our skin to skin photos for the development of educational materials for Mount Sinai Hospital. Looking back at Little One's earliest photos was bittersweet. I must have been on auto pilot mode (or maybe in denial), because I never worried once that Little One wouldn't be okay. Our days in the NICU were a roller coaster ride, but I just knew she would be fine.

I trusted her doctors and nurses to the utmost degree. I trusted that all would be fine.

One of the things I am really impressed with and thankful for is how the nurses kept encouraging me to do kangaroo care with her and to hold her skin to skin. I really do feel that this helped connect my preemie to me. We bonded, and that warmth of having her close to me really touched my heart. I treasured those moments so much, since it was nearly two weeks until I got to hold her.

Initially, it was a bit intimidating and I was afraid to hold that tiny, fragile, itty-bitty baby. I was afraid I'd break her. Honestly! She was only 2 lbs, 3 oz and full of leads, a CPAP, NG tube...It was all a bit daunting!

Her primary nurse told me to take off my shirt, tuck Little One underneath my hospital gown, and hold her.



Hubby was scared to hold her at first. He said she was so tiny and so fragile. After his first hold, he was hooked! He also treasured his quiet time with her. Skin to skin is also important for Daddies! Here he covered her up with a little face cloth so she wouldn't be cold!
Many thanks to Mount Sinai, the NICU, the lactation consultants, and the Linden Fund. We wouldn't be where we are today if it weren't for all of you.

This may sound really cheesy, but I woke up this morning feeling really blessed. Life isn't perfect, but it's pretty close! My house is always a mess these days. My 22 month old is constantly whining and clinging to me now that I'm teaching ESL again. She's also been keeping me up late and waking me up insanely early because she is cutting her molars. I'm having a hard time with lesson planning, researching, article writing, keeping the toddler happy, making sure all the household chores are taken care of, rushing home to cook supper, do dishes, do laundry and everything else.

Somehow though, I know everything will be okay. We've got a healthy, happy, kooky little girl whom no one believes was a preemie. She makes me laugh with all the funny things she comes up with.

She tries to use chopsticks to eat.

She "teaches" us to nod our head "yes" and then claps her hands emphatically and laughs.

At our friends' wedding last night, she was a dancing machine!

I'm in love with my little monkey. Oh, and with my husband too (of course)!

Though life sometimes gets a bit overwhelming, I'm fortunate and I'm happy.

Win $10,000 towards an RESP (co-sponsored by TD Canada Trust) and your child's photo on a Cheerios box! Share a photo of your child's Cheerios Milestone Moment!
http://www.cheerios.ca/milestones/

OxiClean has just launched their new stain-busting site! They are also giving readers a chance to win a new washing machine and dryer! All you have to do is visit www.stainbusters.ca and tell them how you were able to get your nastiest stain out...with the help of OxiClean, of course! Be sure to include all the messy details! By the way, those were their words and not mine! :)

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Thank you all for entering the Mo'Lovely Designs Giveaway. One lucky reader has been chosen by Random.Org!


The winner is:

Shairbearg said...

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theknitwitbyshair@hotmail.com

Please contact us with your mailing information so Mo'Lovely can send you your prize!