Adventures in Baby Fooding

 

I began making food when Scarlett was about four and a half months. I always planned on exclusive nursing until she was six months, but since I was given a load of squash and zucchini by Texan's grandparents, who have a massive veggie garden, I got an early start and planned to freeze the veggies until her half birthday. But at about five and a half months Scarlett showed signs of being ready. She tried to pull anything I was drinking away from my mouth, and when I held a slice of watermelon in front of her, she shoved it right into her little mouth and made quite a surprised face at the sweetness and coldness, I assume. Then she went back for more.

 I started with a steamer basket, peeling and de-seeding the veggies, and steaming them until they were soft enough for a fork to slide right through.

I had never tried to de-seed a squash or zucchini. It turns out there are a ton of seeds, so basically just assume you're going to lose 1/3 of the veggie to the de-seeding process. (Pile of seeds above). The recipe I found in my baby food book called for a pinch of basil. But I hate basil and I don't see the point of really making the food all herb-y as long as baby enjoys it. And these vegetables tasted great on their own.

 Here they are post-steam. They are kind of translucent. This took about 20-30 minutes depending on how much squash I put in the steamer, and baking is also a good method which is good at maintaining nutrients. 

 I had to take a break from Baby Fooding during our move, so Scarlett went quite a few days just having breast milk. Then when she got more and more excited during food time, I caved a bought ready-made baby food. I found a form of the Beachnut brand called JUST. Basically if the front of the jar reads "pears," then the ingredient list reads "pears" as well. No extras. Coincidentally, she hates pears. So, Texan ate them,

I have one left we haven't tried yet. 

When we moved into our new house I was lucky enough to have my mom and her best friend in town to set up my kitchen for me. So I began baby food production right away. During VBS week at church, someone had harvested a ton of giant zucchini from their garden and left them on the volunteer snack table. I took one home and saved it for just such an occasion. 

To give you an idea of how huge this zucchini was, a regular-sized one makes a single portion of baby food once peeled, seeded, steamed, and puréed. This one made SEVEN! 

Today I made something very special and tasty: roasted vanilla peaches. 

I began with these: one pound the sweetest and most perfect peaches I have ever tasted. 

I peeled, pitted and halved them. Then I put them in an inch of water with a drop of vanilla at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes--until the peach was falling apart at the touch of the fork. Then I puréed them, adding a bit of the roasting water to thin them out.

 The reason the portions are smaller is because I haven't deluded the peach at all, and if I had done them full, I would've only gotten two portions which would've meant she would be eating an entire peach in one sitting. 

Two peaches made five and a half portions. I saved the half for Scarlett to have as dessert after her zucchini at dinner tonight. The rest went in the freezer for this week. 

For breakfast I put a twist on hard-boiled egg yolks. My sister advised me to try yolks as her first protein. I took two yolks--babies cannot have whites--and puréed them in my magic bullet with 1/3 of an avocado and a bit of hot water. I tried to use pumped breast milk, but I find that since I don't pump often anymore I really only make enough for Scarlett's appetite. Supply and demand. So I use water. But if you have excess breast milk, I would suggest using that since it's so nutritious! Anyway, the yolk and avocado mixture turned out to be the consistency of a light mousse. And even though I hate eggs, I ALMOST wanted to try some! Scarlett gobbled it up and I loved knowing that she was getting good protein and healthy fats in her belly first thing in the morning. 

This is her eating just yolks for the first time. The consistency is too thick, so I originally added water, but I thought how gross that is. Watery egg yolks. That's where the avocado idea stemmed from.

You may be wondering what I did with the rest of the peaches I bought. Well, Texan gobbled one up, then I sliced one up and put the slices in the freezer for Scarlett to enjoy in her feeder. And I plan on eating the last one for breakfast tomorrow morning!

Her two new top teeth will thank me later. They are taking so long to pop through, and she loved sucking on a nice cold peach slice while I cooked for her. 

In other news, this tiny pink scraper is perfect for getting the last precious tidbits out of the bottom of my big blender, which I use when making bulk meals.

I hope this gives some insight into Baby Fooding for all my new mom friends. It really takes hardly any prep and gives great peace of mind knowing exactly what your baby is getting. And I can't wait to sample those roasted peaches later!

Tomorrow: Carrots and peas, and a little more, please!

A House For Baby

I am aware that this flower is ridiculous. I bought it to clip onto her caraway but she always pulls it off. So I put it on her headband today.

This past Wednesday we signed the papers on our very first house. 

Work began immediately for Texan as he rushed to scrape all the ceilings to remove the "popcorn" style texture, paint over the newly scraped ceiling, paint the raised wood paneling (which is in the dining room, living room and hallway), and paint the base boards. As of today he is ready to paint the ceilings but has to wait for the spakel to dry. 

Scarlett and I went over to bring a new box of spakel from Home Depot and drop off some lunch for Texan this afternoon. Our friend, John, was there helping and his wife and I sat on the back patio enjoying the weather. Scarlett got a chance to reunite with her exersaucer, since it had been in our new home's garage for the past week. I had to cut down on the amount of her toys that lingered around the house here while I clean. 

Wondering why we had stuff over at the new house already a week ago? We are friends with the people we bought the house from! So on Sunday they "secretly" gave us keys to start moving boxes into the garge so I could start cleaning our current rental. It's one of the many perks of knowing the sellers. 

This I what Scarlett has been sitting in since we moved her exersaucer. It's actually a walker, but she is too short for it so her feet dangle. She is happy in it for about 15 minutes then I think it hurts her little thighs.

Since we got the keys we were able to remove all of the boxes and excess furniture leaving only our beds, dressers and living room furniture. I couldn't live in the box maze very long. Unfinished work gives me anxiety (and I know I'm not special or alone in this regard) so this in-between faze is getting old. 

Vbs ended Friday and it was nice to sleep in until almost 9 am today because it wore my sweet baby out having to be up and out the door every morning by 8:30! Ok, maybe 8:45, but it was tiring nonetheless when you're used to staying in most days. I think it's safe to say she'll be catching up on sleep this weekend. 

We are working on standing. She loves to stiffen those legs and be held up at eye level to make faces at me.

This is her sitting unsupported and you can see she's going down quickly. Her right arm is waving goodbye to sitting up and she crash landed the second I snapped this shot. But her longest sitting up has lasted about 10 seconds, so progress is good. She got lots of practice this week because she was one of only two babies not sitting unsupported yet, all the other babies cheered her on as she practiced. Just kidding, one of them did slap her in the face. 

That's our week in a nutshell. Before/after pictures of the house and Scarlett's six months pictures will be here before we know it!

Top Ten Tuesday

Here are the Top Ten Reasons I know I'm a stay-at-home mom:

10. Mealtime is anytime. Gone are the days where I ate breakfast when I woke up, lunch around noon and dinner around 6. Now it's, "Hmm, it's 3 o'clock. Should I eat my breakfast or just wait for dinner?"

9. I always have the subtitles turned on while watching Netflix/DVDs. That way I can have the volume low and not overstuimulate baby if she's awake or wake her if she's sleeping. Also, I like to run the dishwasher at night, which usually drowns out any volume that may have been turned up in the first place. 

8. My day basically revolves around feeding others. Scarlett, are you hungry? You need to eat before we go. Where's my nursing cover? What should I make for dinner tonight? I will take a shower after I pack Daddy's lunch for tomorrow. Honey, do you need a snack? Did you have enough to eat? I have to get groceries. There's plenty left. Leftovers. Yes, taco soup again. I made a triple batch. 

7. I am the hand-washing police. Did you wash your hands? Wait, let me wash my hands. Don't let her chew your finger, it's filthy! First, wash your hands. Warm water. More soap. That's body wash. Antibacterial. Let me smell. 

6. My personal time happens any time baby is sleeping. How much can I achieve in the next 45 minutes. Should I sleep? Coffee? Laundry, definitely laundry. 

5. I'll take any excuse to talk about my baby. That's a beautiful red blouse! Why, speaking of red, my daughter's name is Scarlett and she's magnificent! (I haven't used that one yet, but it's actually pretty good).

4. I speak in the third person. And I have to shut it off when adults are around. Mommy has to change the laundry, then she'll hold you. Mommy knows how hard it is to be tired and grumpy. She feels the same way.

3. I have a new struggle. And that struggle is stain removal. I have never felt so much fear that a stain might not come out. She has only worn this outfit twice! It's one of my favorites. Who knew a BANANA would stain? Why did I use a cloth bib on squash night? This bib is ruined!

2. (Related to #3) I have a new power. It is the power of oxygen...it's the stain-fighting power of Oxy-Clean! This stuff removes ANY stain. I have never felt so much elation at the sight of a once-stained onesie coming clean. And there are so many uses, according to the back of the jar. Upholstery, grout...the list goes on. I want to buy stock, bathe in it, sprinkle it on my lawn! 

1. I wake up every morning excited about what I do. I get to lay on the living room floor and play with my baby, visit my family when the mood strikes, nap. I know all of her sounds, her different cries, the different ways she sucks her thumb to tell me what she's feeling, and her schedule. I know I am so blessed to have my sweet 6-month-old to take care of, a new home to keep up with, and a hard-working husband to love. 

At 6 months Scarlett is sitting up very well. She still falls over, especially when she is tired or sees something she wants, though. She has nearly 6 teeth. Her middle top ones are starting to break through after the top lateral incisors, which is out of order for the norm. She eats carrots, zucchini, squash, pears, eggs, avocados and bananas so far and can hold a sippy cup. Although she just likes chewing on it, not drinking from it. She prefers to nurse over eating, especially when she isn't feeling well and she takes 3 naps a day totalling 3-6 hours a day of napping. Today she napped for a totalof 5.5 hours. She loves the sound of my voice when I am reading and singing. It catches her attention and puts a smile on her face. She sleeps well at night, from 8:45-5 am then going back to sleep until 8 or 9. Although last night she slept from 7-5 and then until 8. But she is fighting an ear infection and a cold still. She is my giggly, happy girl who loves her daddy and her whole family. 

Five Months

This weekend we went to my parents' house to stay. Texan's big LSAT test was on Monday just minutes from their house, so it worked out that we got to have some fun. My grandmother moved in with my parents this weekend as well, all the way from Florida. It was nice to see her and let her hold Scarlett...well, she tried to hold her. My baby, who turns 5 months old today is what I call "A Squirmy-Wormy." She loves to stand on my lap and play patty-cakes. If there is silence in the house she must be sleeping or nursing. The rest of the time she is squealing and shouting. She does well on her belly but after a while she is ready to lay on her back again. She loves her cousins, who dote on her. Nolan especially uses his "baby talk" voice and says in his little accent, "Baby Garlett is miling at me!"

The three of them took baths together and Scarlett loved to smile up at her big cousins as they splashed around together.

This week Scarlett began trying to sit up when I try to lean her back into her car seat. Her back is getting stronger and stronger. It's like she is fighting me and trying to pull herself up! Scarlett loves to be put to sleep by laying her head on my shoulder while I walk around. It's so sweet. She loves to grab people's faces and nuzzle into their necks. She still doesn't know a stranger. She still loves to nurse even when it's not time to eat, just to be comforted and put to sleep. And recently I can lay her down in her crib when she is awake and she will coo until she falls asleep all on her own, which is new. And it makes bed time a lot easier. The last two night she has slept 8 hours straight waking around 5:30 then going back to sleep until a more appropriate time. Today she went back to sleep until 10! We both needed it after such an exhausting weekend.

I love her outfit this month. It's got chevron shorts and a purple t-shirt. Her first t-shirt! Naturally, she spat up on the shirt and pooed through the shorts within 10 minutes of dawning them. So, I was glad to have gotten the pictures when I did.

 Below is her attempt at sitting up. It's more like being folded in half. I'm hoping that in our new house, which has carpet in the living room, she will get some practice at crawling and sitting up. Presently, I don't set her on the floor except to lay down on a quilt because I don't want her to bonk her head on the hardwood.

Her fingers are constantly in her mouth. Grammy thinks her top teeth are coming in, but she hasn't been fussy today or extra drooly. So who knows?

 She always crosses her ankles when she is lounging. In her swing, her bouncer, carseat.

I took these on our anniversary before we went out. I just love the outfit she was wearing.

There is nothing sweeter than this girl! She is happy and content and there is always an answer to her fusses. Sleepy, hungry, poopy. I can always solve her sadness and make her happy in no time. I just love being her mommy. These five months have been so wonderful.

Exersaucer

Here's my thought progression on the exersaucer:

I loathe the exersaucer.

It is huge.

It is loud.

Grumble...loud clanking noises as I drag it out of the spare (overly-crammed) bedroom and plop it in the middle of the living room floor...

My living room used to be MY living room.

*See Scarlett smile and hop about in ecstasy*

It is Scarlett's new "happy place."

I tolerate the exersaucer.

I always assumed I would get Scarlett an exersaucer, so when Texan's Momma gave it to me (Scarlett) I was so grateful...but then I wondered where I was going to put it. Our present home is a little 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom duplex that is perfect for us...but it doesn't have  a garage or a very large attic. That's why we are house-hunting! Yes, we need more room to put all of Scarlett's toys. But for now, I store the behemoth toy between Texan's home gym and our guest bed in our third bedroom. Now that Scarlett is gaining strength in her back for sitting up, she enjoys her saucer much more for up to 30 minutes! I am actually to the point where I get it out specifically when I need to be in the kitchen. She loves to be able to see me while she stays busy with her toys. And I love that she isn't old enough to get herself into trouble around the house...yet.

How can I resist that happy little face? Thank you, Mimi for our big, giant happy place!

Update Time

Our three day Memorial Day weekend was very was a successful one. But, four years ago, we got married on Memorial Day weekend...so I guess comparatively this year's weekend was a bit more leisurely. But it was so much sweeter because this time we actually have our sweet Scarlett in our arms! I never would''ve imagined how beautiful our baby would be and how uncontrollably we love her.
This past weekend we got to spoil Scarlett Jane, see family and friends, and do some spring cleaning. Saturday we ran errands: Texan needed new boots because he's practically walking out of his current pair (go figure, he's Texan!), and we wanted to do that thing that I never thought I would want to do on a Saturday: investigate Lowe's for home improvement ideas. Yes, we are in the market for a house, so it's fun to look around at ways to improve and update a potential home. After Lowe's, Texan decided it was time to get Scarlett Jane's ears pierced. I, however cute I thought she would look all BEDAZZLED, tried to pretend that we had forgotten that idea by saying, "Wow, we better get home. I'm starved for some lunch." Texan wasn't buying it. "But first...to CLAIRES." Never thought I'd hear him say those words...
Months ago when we decided that maybe we would get her ears pierced, we were wary of Claire's, afraid that the piercing technician would be a 16-year-old, unprofessional, unhygienic...you get the point. So this time we went in and actually saw another baby getting her ears pierced. Very professional, by an adult, and very clean. We chose 24-kt gold to avoid allergic reaction, and I let Texan choose the stone. Pearls, he chose!

It's near impossible to get a picture of both ears at once, considering those chubby cheeks of hers. So, I'll settle for the right ear. Texan's "practical" part about the earrings (is there one, really?) is the fact that fewer people will mistake her for a boy now, he says. It hasn't happened often in her lifetime, but it did happen four times in one night, the night we went to the ER at 11 o'clock--the night from down under, and I'm not talking about the place with kangaroos and dingo babies--so now on those days where she's dressed in something other than pink, maybe no one will ask me how old my son is.

Oh, shucks. One more...

Ah, those teeth. They are sharp! I looked in Texan's baby book and his mother recorded that he began teething at three months. Which would explain where my sweetie pie gets her early teething from. Of course, she waited until she had been four months for an entire day before sprouting her first razor-sharp incisor.

Recently, I was chided by a stranger: "All my babies were BABY WISE, so I could lay them down and they would put themselves to sleep." This, after she witnessed that my baby is rocked to sleep.  

If you're like me and you've read a few chapters of the manual ( I wont pretend that I read the whole thing) that boasts a cult following as well as a  set of people in strong opposition to its methods (I'm somewhere in the middle all like, "I'm rocking my baby, shhhh"), then really there's nothing you can say to someone who thinks your baby would be better off Baby Wise. I like to think if your baby sleeps well with it or without it, that's great. There are plenty of babies out there who are up all night, so I'm grateful not to be in that boat.
I love to rock and hold my baby until she falls asleep. She sleeps great at night and she takes three naps a day. I think she is too young to grasp, "If I cry, nothing will come of it, so I should just go to sleep. Boy, is it good to be Baby Wise!" I feel really blessed that she still loves to be cradled in my arms. It's like clockwork, even today, when she was ready for a nap she went horizontal in my arms and began sucking her thumb. In her eyes I saw her saying, "I'm ready for sleep!" 

There was a time--while she was teething and I didn't know it yet--that she wanted to be upright and would arch her back if I cradled her. Thank goodness that's over!

And one more thing. With great power comes...exaggerated use of that power. Since Scarlett has become a professional head-holder-upper, she has taken to craning her neck at whatever sound entices her to look that way. Here she is taking a break from nursing to investigate the sound of the laptop keyboard...

It look quite painful, but it's her new trick, and it's one of the few times I get to see in between her chubby neck rolls. I should keep a soapy rag on hand for such a time to do a quick scrub of the spit-up she stores in there in between baths. But I'm not that good yet.

Four Months

At four months old Scarlett has two new developments that no one was expecting! 

Teeth! You can see the tiny pearly-whites right next to the tip of my finger. They are completely broken through her gums, with the one on her right side being the first of the two. She is much happier now, with Sunday and Monday being the hardest days for her poor little gums.

Her daily schedule is pretty strict in terms of sleeping patterns. She takes a nap almost exactly 2 hours after waking up in the mornings, no matter what time. 

Here she is in my arms at 9:30 this morning after waking up at 7:50. Her naps are between 30 and 50 minutes, and are up to 2 1/2 hours if I lay down with her in my bed. But I don't really have time to nap for that long on a regular basis, so we only do that if we have had a rough night. 

She goes to bed between 8 and 8:30 every night and wakes up at 2:30 am and 5:30 am. Then we sleep in until and where from 7:30 to 10. But mostly 9 is our normal wakeup time. 

She has recently started to enjoy standing in her exersaucer. She looks like a busy little secretary at her desk. All alert and grabbing onto everything..

And although she is great at holding her head and neck, her spine still needs some strengthening before sitting upright will begin. She needs full support of her back still, but soon enough I'm sure we'll have those first wobbly attempts. 

My favorite thing, beside her cooing, is when I pick her up and she nuzzles into my face like she's so happy to see me. Even if I just set her down for a moment. She loves to touch our faces now, and it is so much fun to see her reaching for us. It really is the first sign of our love for her being reciprocated through touch. Whereas before I knew she loved me by the look in her eyes, but now she says it by patting my face and pulling my hair. Here she is giving Daddy some love before he left for his trip. It was hard for him to say goodbye. 

Recently, Texan went to the north east with his boss to pick up two new pickup trucks that they had won in an online auction. They flew to Philadelphia and drove back down to texas, seeing sights along the way. They stopped in Maine to see the shoreline dotted with beautiful lighthouses:

New York City:

Ellis Island

9/11 Memorial in progress 

Empire State Building 

And then they went to Washington DC and his favorite monument was the Lincoln Memorial. And we got some pretty sweet souvenirs.  

And notice the Capitol building bib in her exersaucer pic.../

While Texan was on Holiday, Scarlett and I went to Grammy and Grampy's. We had lots of fun shopping for new clothes at the mall and handy gadgets at IKEA on Friday. Then Saturday we had lunch out and lounged around the house the rest of the day watching Pride and Prejudice and napping. And although those were the first two days that I suspected teething had begun, the only fussiness occurred around bedtime/nap time. She would arch her back and growl like a baby grizzly bear in the angriest disposition I had ever seen from my sweet baby. Other than that she was as good as gold for the grandparents and they got to witness the full spectrum of her personality.

We are so grateful for a boss who turned what could've been a boring road trip into an exciting tour of a couple awesome cities, and for family that lives close by. We are thankful for a healthy four-month old, who will get to meet her Aunt Nikki tomorrow when she comes for a 4-day visit! Oh, and I am grateful that we get to celebrate Mother's Day this Saturday, since Texan was out of town and Scarlett didn't get a chance to go to the Brighton store...