6 months old

Miss Emma is 6 months old now. I can not believe it! I'm going to rattle off some random facts about her because, since she is a terrible sleeper, my brain isn't always functioning at 100% these days.

• She's been to the pediatrician four times in the past month (once b/c I thought she had an ear infection (she didn't), twice b/c of this terrible cold that she can not get rid of and again for a double pink eye infection!).

• She weighs a little over 14 lbs (her actual 6 mo well check isn't for another week).

• She is a very quiet baby...in terms of "talking". She doesn't talk much and when she does, it's pretty quiet. Sometimes she blows "raspberries".

• Did I mention that she doesn't sleep well? She doesn't. She only sleeps in 2 to 4 hour stretches (4 hours on a good night). It's exhausting. We've just started to "sleep train" her this week. It's so hard but it HAS to be done. I am loosing my mind and have no motivation. It's not fair to myself or our family. Wish us luck!

• Emma is a very hard baby to nurse. She only nurses for 5 min a time, therefore she is always hungry. There's nothing I can do about it...you can't force a baby to nurse longer! lol

• We just started giving her some baby cereal last week. The first attempt failed. She clenched her lips together and would not try a bite. The second day, she just stuck her tongue out to taste it. By the third day, though, she was taking small bites. This weekend we are going to give her some avocado. :)

• She has a tooth coming in! Front & center on the bottom. Lea only had two teeth on her first birthday, so this is early to us.

• Emma is sitting up on her own very well. She doesn't need any support anymore...however if she gets startled or excited )or just reaches too far for something), she will topple over.

• Emma has a lot more hair than Lea did at this age. It seems thicker and darker than Lea's. Emma still has blue eyes, too. (Lea's eyes are hazel)

Lea and Emma love to play together. Emma is so happy to just watch Lea and Lea loves the attention. No one can make Emma laugh out loud and giggle like Lea can! I love watching their friendship grow.

Oh, those blue eyes!

A tiny tooth!

She loves teething on cold celery.

My girls (all three!) cuddling on the sofa on a cold morning. :)

 

Yum!



Vacation, Food and Family

Obviously I have been MIA for awhile but I have an excellent excuse... we were on vacation! Yup, we went on our first family vacation. And it wasn't just an car ride away... we actually took Lea on her first plane ride to visit her Uncle Dave & Aunt Sarah in New Mexico. It was a great trip. Lea did fabulous on the plane (except for the very last flight; she cried quite a bit. I think her ears were bothering her).

Once in Albuquerque, Lea transitioned very well to the new surroundings, new people (and dog) and dry air. We spent a day shopping in Santa Fe with Aunt Sarah, a day at the Albuquerque Aquarium and Rio Grande Botanic Gardens with Uncle Dave, a (couple) days hanging out in Old Town, a day at the Rio Grande Zoo, a day driving up to Sandia Crest and then on the Turquoise Trail to Madrid...

We also ate lots of yummy food. Mexican food in New Mexico is SO much better than Mexican food here. Every time you order something, they ask "Red or Green?", meaning, red chille or green chille. I'm not a fan of really hot food, so I always opt for the green, which is usually less hot than the red, and I always ask for it on the side (even though the locals snicker at me). One of my favorite things to have are the sopaipillas... good ones are pipping hot, just out of the fryer and super fluffy with a nice big pocket of air in the middle so you can load it up with lots of honey! YUM!!

When we weren't spending time out around Albuquerque, we hung out at home with Dave & Sarah. It was so good to see them and Lea had a blast playing with them. She just lit up every evening when Dave got home from work. I can't wait for them to move back closer to us... hopefully by Thanksgiving this year. :)

Now were home and getting back into the daily grind. I just have to say that it was so nice to sleep in every day until Lea woke up... now were back to getting up before her every morning. Yuck!

Lea is a 8 1/2 months old and has so many new "tricks" these days. She has perfected cruising around the furniture and has even stood on her own, not holding a thing, for a second (a couple of times). She will be walking any day now! She talks a lot; "blah, blah, blah" and "buh, buh, buh" is what she says the most. The past week she has discovered that she can squeal... loud... and when she gets started, she squeals a lot. She's super ticklish; on her feet, under her arms, on her belly, in her neck. She loves balls and is learning to play catch... sort of. She has gotten very good at waving to people and waves to everyone. It's adorable because she flaps her entire arm when she waves! When she's excited, she breathes quickly through her mouth... almost like panting. She's still teething, chewing on anything she gets her hands on, but NO teeth, yet.

Her 9 month well check is next Friday so we'll get to find out what she weighs and how tall she is now. I am guessing she weighs quite a bit now as she really likes to eat these days. She loves steamed peas, sweet potatoes, peaches, apple sauce, avocado, banana, carrots, watermelon, pureed prunes and pears. I am still making all of her food (except when we were in NM... I bought Ella's Kitchen and Sprout organic baby food). Tonight she had steamed, shredded chicken for the first time and loved it. I used the Beaba Seasoning Ball to add some flavor: Rosemary, Thyme and Basil. Another thing she loves, which we just recently found, are Baby Mum Mum's. They're like rice cakes for babies.

My Grandmother (Lea's Great Grandma) is visiting. It's the first time she has been up since Lea was born. I love that we have four generations together in one place! It means a lot to me to have lots of family around for Lea. When I grew up, all of my family lived far away, but I have to say that my parents did make a great effort to get us together as often as possible.

Finally, here's a couple cute pictures from tonight. Another knew thing Lea has learned is "Give me a kiss". If you ask her to give you a kiss, she leans in with her mouth slightly open and lays one on ya! So cute!!!

Ella's Kitchen Review

Lea is well on her way into eating finger foods. Peas, carrots, banana, Cheerios, watermelon. This weekend we're going to try pasta and maybe even chicken. She still likes some things pureed, though. Sweet potatos with cinnamon, green beans with mint, prunes, applesauce. I have been making all of her food (with our Babycook) since she started eating solids. I enjoy making her food. I feel like it's something small and easy that I can do to help her grow into a healthy person. That being said, there are times when I either a) run out of frozen portions, b) don't have time to make something, c) are eating out/traveling or d) all of the above. That's where Ella's Kitchen steps in. Ella's Kitchen makes pureed organic fruits and vegetables in handy pouches for baby. We were sent some samples to try out.

• Strawberries and Apples
• Apples and Bananas
• Broccoli, Peas and Pears
• Carrots, Apples and Parsnips
• Sweet Potato, Pumpkin, Apples and Bluberries
• The Yellow One
• The Red One

Paul Lindley, Ella's dad, started Ella's Kitchen because he believed that food should be healty and fun for children. There is absolutley nothing artificial in these baby foods. No preservatives, either. They use organic lemon juice instead. How cool is that? On their web site, they state, "We've found a really safe and effective way to lock in all freshness of the fruit and vegetables, without compromising the goodness. Our pureed fruits and vegetables are blended together then gently and quickly pasteurized (like milk) at 200ºF for just 10 seconds, then popped into individual pouches while still hot and held at 185ºF for another 2 and a half minutes - so that the fruits stay safe and tasty in a natural way without the use of artificial preservatives."

I bet you're wondering if it's any good, right? First, let me tell you that I try everything before I feed it to my daughter. I just don't like the idea of giving her something that I haven't or wouldn't try myself. So, of course I tried these, too. Three words: yum, Yum, YUM! The Strawberries and Apples is amazing. Can they make larger pouches so I can take it to work as an afternoon snack?! Lea loved it, too. Her favorites were the Carrot blend and the Sweet Potato blend. She just kept wanting more and more. They are pureed into such a silky smooth consistency. It's almost like a soupy smoothie.

I am going to be getting more of these to have on hand for those times when I don't have any homemade food but also for our upcoming trip out of state. These will be perfect to travel with.

Here's a video of Lea enjoying one of her favorites, Sweet Potato, Pumpkin, Apples and Bluberries, at Grandma's house. Notice how she grabs for more!



Visit the Ella's Kitchen web site for more information and to find a retailer. You can also follow them on twitter.

Peas and Carrots

It's hard to believe Lea is already seven months old.  But she is!  And she is still growing and changing every single day.  I swear there are days that I get her up in the morning and she looks different to me. 

Besides being so close to crawling, she is now eating some 'finger foods'.  We've given her steamed peas and tiny bits of steamed carrots.  She loves the carrots... and tolorates the peas.  It's so much fun to watch her pick up a piece and get it in her mouth.  Every move of each finger is thought out.  She has a look of concentration on her face as she opens her fist to reveal the little bit of food she's managed to pick up and then, with her other hand, she pinches the bit and finally gets it to her mouth... sometimes.  After a few attempts with no success, she gets irritated and I help her.  She is getting better, though!

Her most favorite thing to eat right now (as it will change in a few days) is pureed blueberries with banana.  She devours it... hardly getting down one spoon full before opening her mouth for another!  We love letting her try new foods and watching her expressions with first tastes.

Here's Lea after her Blueberry/Banana dessert...

Messy!

Yummy!

Lea has tried several foods now. Here's a list of what she's had, in order of when she tried them, and what she thought/thinks about each one...

Organic Rice Cereal - yummy, at first.
Avocado - yummy mixed in with rice ceral. just ok by itself.
Sweet Potato - really yummy!
Green Peas - the yummiest so far!
Beets - pretty yummy.
Cheerios - after a few tries, super yummy and fun to play with!
Carrots - not so yummy but we'll try again.
Banana - really yummy, even though the texture is slimy and weird!

It's so much fun to watch her expressions and reactions when she tastes something new.  And, yes, I am making all of her food.  I'm actually pretty proud of myself but I must say that the Beaba Babycook makes it so easy!  I can make a couple batches (steam, puree and freeze single portions) in less than 20 minutes.  I have baggies in the freezer filled with single portions of peas, carrots, sweet potato and beets.  I simply put a few in the fridge the night before and they are thawed and ready for her to eat the next day.  I hardly ever warm her food.  She will gladly eat things cold, room temperature or warm.  I'm trying not to raise a picky eater!  I'll let you know how it turns out.

She really likes Cheerios, although she hasn't perfected eating them by herself. She can grab one in her fist and bring her fist to her mouth, but then she can't figure out how to get the little Cheerio out of her fist and into her mouth! After a few tries, she gets frustrated and requires adult assistance. :)

What should we try next?

Time to eat!

First of all, we love our Beaba Babycook!  After Lea had enough of rice cereal and avocado, we decided to try sweet potatos.  We got some locally grown sweet potatos from Kevin's parents and prepared them with the Babycook....

YUM!!!

Grunting for more!

Here's a cute video from tonight's dinner. One of Lea's new 'things' is to grunt (or should I say growl?!). It's hilarious!

Yummy, Rice Cereal!

We started solids this weekend and I am filled with mixed emotions. My baby girl is growing up! Not only that but until this point in her life, she has only had my milk to eat. Now she gets to try new things and her little world is going to grow before her eyes... or should I say, mouth!



We prepared organic rice cereal and got Lea ready in her Svan high chair. After sitting down at the dinner table, Lea knew exactly what to do. She opened her mouth, leaned forward and even tried to grab the spoon. Surprisingly, most of the cereal did stay in her mouth. To say she liked it was an understatement... she devoured it and then squealed for more!



Not only is her life changing drastically, but ours is too. Long gone are the days of having a quick dinner in front of the tv. From now on, we will be preparing dinner together and then eating together at the table. I want Lea to grow up having family dinner time every single night, just as I did growing up. I've always felt that family traditions are important. When I was little, each family member would take a turn at dinner time to share a story about their day. These are the days that we will begin our own family traditions... some may be the same from when we were little but some may be new.

The world is full of possibilities... for little Lea and Mommy & Daddy!

Baby food Giveaway!

Guess what!?

Motherhood in the Industry has extended their baby food giveaway! Check our her review on Happy Baby baby food and then enter to win some. Yea!

Hurry, the giveaway ends on Monday the 10th.

Babyfood Giveaway!

A fellow mom-blogger is currently doing a giveaway...

Visit Tales from a Marketing Mama to read her review on Sprout Organic Baby Food and then you can enter to win some! :) There's also a discount code to use on Sprout's site.

Hurry! The winner will be drawn tomorrow!!!