by Skyler from Michigan
Each meal time there is always something crazy with it. Either you’re fighting a kid to eat or just getting a drink between bites.
Or maybe it’s just getting them to sit still long enough to even have a meal time with you. Especially with new little ones who don't know exactly what they like to eat just yet. With teenagers the struggle might be pulling them away from their phones or the video games for them to enjoy the stuff in real life and not behind a screen.
As with everyone, being a parent is tricky, but making sure you are not overdoing it is the hardest part. My daughter is a little over a year old. When she was a baby we had started baby foods at 4 months old like they tell you to do but she was also a very picky baby at times. And since she had time to try different foods then, she's kind of less picky now. She doesn't like baby oatmeal at all, but she loves it if you put it into a recipe like no-bake cookies.
Every year my mom bakes for the holidays or sometimes just for fun.
She will bake anything like cookies, homemade hot pretzels, or even a homemade cake. All her baked goods are made without eggs because my mom is allergic to eggs. With my daughter, I try to have her help me when I make those recipes or help me shop for the ingredients because when she gets older all those recipes will get passed down to her.
For Christmas 2022, we made her great grandmother a turtle bread.
You see, the biggest tradition in our family is actually making turtle bread near the holidays. My grandfather who passed away in 2009 used to make it for her all the time. He made it every holiday specifically around Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Shortly after he passed, none of us had the heart to make it because we all knew that no one could make it as good as him. So I figured one way to have a good Christmas and a present that she would remember forever was giving her the one thing that no one else had thought of. Therefore, with my daughter's help I made the turtle bread.
It might not have been a big one like what he usually made, but I figured what came from the heart mattered the most.
It's the one thing people always forget about, you can make food anytime you want, but it’s those memories and all the feelings of love and being cared for by your relatives and remembering the little things in life. Being able to spend that time with family and acknowledging the moments you spent with your loved one while they were alive makes everything worth it.
I loved every minute I got with each of my loved ones and I know first hand what it’s like losing a lot of people at a young age. But it's those moments that make you wish you did more with them when they were alive instead of wishing for what could’ve been. I lost a friend at 17 years old who was 16 years old. I used to give her a lot of our holiday baked goodies, and the one thing I missed doing the most was being able to see her one last time.
This blog was written by one of our guest bloggers, Skyler.
About Skyler. . .
Hi my name is Skyler, I am 21 years old and a mom to an almost 16 month old. I am married, and my daughter is my first child. I love every minute of it.
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