Mmm Mmmm Good

Why is it that 85% of the photos I post of this kid involve food? I think it's safe to say that in another 14% she is sleeping and 1% would fit into the Other category.

Here's what N has been eating lately.

Soup



Harris Pizza



IDK what she's eating, but look how good she's doing with her fork!


Canteloupe


Maybe I always take photos when she's eating because eating seems to make her happy... who knows. I would venture to bet this won't be the last of them though ;)

Is It Possible? 10 Months Already?!?

Here we are, two months from a first birthday!

She's crawling, she's pulling herself up, she walks well while holding on to fingers, she bables (and screams - happy screams of course) a lot, she says Dada all.the.time., she says Mama when she's anrgy, she loves being chased, she thinks tickling is funny 1/2 the time, she eats ev-ry-thing in sight (food or not), she claps at things she likes and breathes quickly in and out of her nose in protest at things she doesn't, she likes to read books (short ones), she loves music (Carrie Underwood and Kelli Pickler are her favs), and her favorite toys are ones that play tunes or make loud noises when banged together. It is quite possible her favorite pasttime is turning the knobs on Dada's reciever, which has resulted in programming the max volume it can reach to significantly lower than its actual capability.

Lots of firsts this month! First visit to the zoo, first visit to the beach, first time meeting cousin Milo, first teeth appeard (4 are now poking through, but none are fully in), first time on a boat, first wedding...I'm sure there are more, but I've been terrible at documenting this month! I'll edit if I think of more.

We are proudly still breastfeeding and plan to continue, though she is up to two solids meals a day now and we'll probably increase to three soon.

We are also still co-sleeping, though it's getting a little violent with the thrashing of the legs and fingernails in my eyes at 2 a.m. (I have a post in mind on this coming soon, but haven't had time to get down all my thoughts).

Oddly, Nora has for the most part quit doing baby signs completely. She was getting very good at using signs for milk, come here, and all done, but she has abruptly stopped this month, mostly resorting back to screaming with no other indication as to what she wants, just that she (obviously) wants something. It's a little frustrating, but as the saying goes "this too will pass".

Here are a few pics from the month:

First trip (of many I'm sure ) to Olive Garden


Dancing at Shannon and Slim's wedding


On the Celebration Belle for lunch with Wood side of the family





Dare devils


Cousins!


Sharing popcorn with Mama for the first time (puffy part only of course)

...tantruming when Mama didn't have anymore popcorn


"Did you see that guy cut me off?"

Milestone or Disaster?

Nora has learned how to undo Velcro. She has an Old McDonald book that goes on your hand with puppets for fingers and the book, which Velcros shut, in the palm of your hand. She is endlessly entertained by opening the book each time you close it, and its positively adorable.

The problem does not lie in the opening and closing of the book; no, the problem lies in the fact that she has also made the connection between opening her book and unfastening her Bum Genius diapers, which also use Velcro closure. Oy, the perils of having a smart kid.



We can now check "learning the art of fastening diaper while putting pants on simultaneously" off the to-do list.

On the babyfood menu this week is chicken. Yesterday, I boiled two medium chicken breasts on the stove until they were cooked through, and pureed them using water to help thin the mixture. Charlie was a little disturbed by the mushy meat, but I can assure you this looked (and smelled!) much better than any jarred meat I've seen served to a baby.



Since Nora isn't quite ready for a variety of spices just yet, I mixed the pureed chicken with a cube of apples I had made previously to give it some flavor. She seemed to approve.

Life As Usual

Many apologies for my few and far between posts lately. Work has been a nightmare, plus I took on a job designing a website for a local party bus company to earn some extra moola so my free time has been nonexistant.

Not too much has happened here.


Bear is regularly sitting on her own now, though she does still topple from time to time.


She love to drink water. She can drink from sippys that pour and regular cups, but she hasn't really grasped the sippys that don't spill yet.

Today we're cleaning (well right now she's napping) in case Mimi and Eric come up tomorrow and doing laundry.

We tried two new foods today, but I didn't get any photos. Both were, as usual, super easy to make. The pears I just cut out the core and mashed them. I didn't even take the skin off. I did have to add quite a bit of oatmeal baby cereal to the pears because they are naturally watery and if Nora's food is too runny she blows raspberries and food goes everywhere. Two pears made 12 single ounce servings.

For the applesauce, I peeled and cored three apples, then cut them into tiny chunks and simmered in 2 cups of water until they were mushy. I drained the excess water and added a teaspoon of cinnamon. Three apples made 18 single ounce servings.

She loved them both. Since neither of the fruits have a strong flavor, we will likely use them to mix with other stronger flavored foods like meats when we introduce them.

E-mail me alerts when thebaughchronicles updates!

Look At My 8-Month-Old!

It's kinda blurry, but I still love this photo.

She's getting around pretty well by scooting and rolling, but we're still waiting for the crawling. She's getting better at self-entertaining -- it never lasts too long, but at least I can set her down for a minute.


She loves any toys that make noise or play music, and she loves to eat!


This week we added peaches and pumpkin to the list of foods she loves. She even got to have a little cinnamon in her pumpkin, which was apparently delicious. Turns out the yummier the food, the messier it becomes!



Her favorite (and only) word is dada, but she's still a mama's girl for now. Once I come home, she wants nothing to do with Daddy. Yes that is her drool running down my chin.

Give a Girl a Fish...

And you give her an allergic reaction. Nora tried salmon this week, and while she loved it, it didn't agree with her too well.


Previously, it was recommended fish not be introduced to baby's diet until after a year, and according to some sources, after 3 years because it can be allergenic. Recent studies have shown low-mercury fish to OK to introduce to babies as young as 6 months, and actually encourage early introduction because of the Omega-3's not present in other early foods. Due to all this new information I thought it would be a good first meat for her.


I chose canned salmon and it was very easy to prepare. Since I don't eat fish, cooking it correctly seemed intimidating to me.


With the canned, all I did was add some water and puree it in the food processor.


First bite


Tasting


It's good!

She enjoyed it so much, she decided she needed to work on her self feeding, which became very messy.


When she was done, we headed straight up to the bath. I took her onesie off and discovered a red rash on her tummy, side and some sploches on her back.

I thought it might be the fish, but wasn't positive that the rash wasn't there before she ate -- after all we had been outside in the grass and on the back deck earlier, so anything could have irritated her skin.

The rash was gone completely by morning, so we tried the salmon again for dinner. Sure enough, 5 to 10 minutes after eating, her legs were covered in red dots.


I don't know much about allergies (though I'm going to read up now!) but I hope this is not a long-term thing -- hopefully, her digestive system just needs a little longer to tackle fish and in a few months she'll be able to enjoy it sans rash.

Asante Sana Squash Banana Wewe Nugu Mimi Apana

Ok it's really just spaghetti squash, but quoting Rafiki from the Lion King sounded more fun.

Nora seemed to enjoy spaghetti squash, but while easy, it did take a long time to make since it has to cook for an hour. It was my first time trying it too, and though I didn't hate it, for the cost ($2.33/lb!) it wasn't amazing and I don't think this will become a regular staple on the dinner menu.

But in case any loyal readers are dying to make this for their little one, here's our recipe.

Spaghetti Squash

Preheat oven to 400. Cut squash in half lengthwise and place seed-side down in a glass baking dish in about 1/4 inch of water. Bake 1 hour.

Let squash cool 10 to 15 minutes, then scoop and discard seeds. Scoop the remaining fleshy part of the squash out with a spoon. Depending on baby's age, you can chop into small bite sized pieces or puree.

If you reserve some for the adults to enjoy, add a couple tablespoons of butter and salt to taste. Since it doesn't have a lot of flavor, its a good "hidden veggie". Add it to soup or a casserole for additional fiber and calcium.

Tofu, anyone?

I've read lots of great things about introducing tofu as an early food to babies because it's an excellent source of iron, protein, and calcium, so I thought we'd give it a go even though I've never even had it myself. I'd never had an avocado before either, so I guess babies introduce all kinds of firsts, eh?

There are 3 kinds of tofu, but not having known this before I went to the store I went with "soft" because it seemed logical that Nora would need soft tofu. It was definitely soft, mushier than a banana even, but made a good finger food for her. I just cut it into small chunks and put a few on her tray at a time. She really seemed to enjoy it.


Check out this website for some really great tips on buying, storing, and serving tofu. I think I'm going to have to try a few of the "for adults and babies alike" because tofu doesn't come in small packages and I have no idea what to do with it all. I may try pureeing some with squash (our next food!) or fruit and freezing it for later. Tomorrow will be her first day with finger food at daycare...better pack some extra clothes!

E-mail me alerts when thebaughchronicles updates!

April Showers and May Flowers

After a week of beautiful weather, Nora and I sit here cooped up in the house because it's rainy and yucky outside today.

She's napping on me now (yes, on me -- spoiled girl!), but we've got a special project to work on when she wakes. You'll just have to wait to see what it is!

She's getting so big! I think she's getting ready to start crawling because she gets up on all fours now and rocks back and fourth. Then she gets angry and screams.

Yesterday, I packed up the last of her 3-month sized sleepers. I think she's still got a couple of pairs of 3-6 pants because she's short, but those excluded she's officially in 6-9 month clothes.


This weeks she brought home an art project from day care. She painted the world for Earth Day!
Oh and she officially hates being spoon fed. She's eating "meals" at night time now, but insists on feeding herself. Here she is enjoying a potato and avocado dinner the other day.




I've been slacking on keeping up with all her new foods. Since she is loving anything she can pick up with her fingers, last weekend she had macaroni noodles with olive oil and parmesan cheese.


I cooked the noodles just a little longer than the package recommended, then let them cool completely, and cut them up into bite sized pieces. She loved it, but we think we may have discovered a food allergy. We're going to wait a bit and try again to see if she has a similar reaction.


On Monday, we introduced mango. It is another super easy baby recipe. You just take 1 ripe mango, cut the "fleshy" part from the pit, and slice it from the skin. You can either serve it in chunks or puree it -- No cooking required!
It must have had a bitter-sweet flavor because every bite invoked a reaction like this:



In the end she decided she didn't really care for mango, but we've since tried it with cereal mixed in and I think it tones down the flavor because she tolerates it much better that way.

Well, I think I'm all caught up now! Off to work on the scrapbook, I'm way behind there as well. Have a good weekend all!

E-mail me alerts when thebaughchronicles updates!