Making Baby Food...Round 1

We decided that we wanted to make Audrey's baby food rather than buying it at the store. It's a personal choice and it does take more effort, but it is cost effective and it is very gratifying after making it and knowing that she will probably enjoy it.  Obviously this is the first time we have attempted to make her any food, and surprisingly it's not that easy.  I am such a better baker than a cook, so it may take a few tries before we get it right.  We planned on starting out with avocados since Audrey's Great Auntie Janis brought some back with her from the Grandparents avocado farm, but they are not ripe just yet and I am too impatient to wait, so we decided carrots would be first.  My friend Melinda was sweet enough to get us a steamer basket from Now We're Cooking (I couldn't find one ANYWHERE!) and I figured the blender would be a great thing to use to puree them.  I don't think I cooked them long enough because after I stuck them in the blender they just sort of mixed and then settled into the bottom and still had some tiny bits of carrots in them.  They weren't big chunks and I didn't know what the consistency should look like.  After adding water, pulsing, whipping, pureeing, etc...it was still slightly lumpy.  I figured she could handle it so I pulled as much out of the blender as I could. She looked excited to eat it, but after slightly choking and a mini mom heart attack later we gave up and decided to try again the next day.  After going to Walmart, Target, and then finally Bed Bath and Beyond we decided to buy a Cuisinart blender thing that actually says you can make baby food with it and it is BPA free.  Hopefully after steaming the carrots a bit longer....like mashed consistency and using this new fancy appliance we can get it right and Audrey can enjoy the new world of solids!!  Wish us luck!

Oh my gosh...what is this?

Carrot face.

Blinged out Baby!

From the start we talked about getting Audrey's ears pierced when she got a little bigger.  At first Elijah was anti-ear piercing (why torture and make our baby cry when we don't have to) and told me I would have to take her myself...but after many people saying, "Oh what a cute boy you have," he caved in.  We decided to wait until after her second round of shots, so 2 weeks after that we bit the bullet and headed to the mall.  Here she is at 19 weeks old heading into the Icing with big grins, not knowing what is in store for her.  The girl who pierced her ears was very nice and Audrey seemed to like her.  They had to do one ear at a time and Daddy got the fun task of holding her head and arm still while she got blinged out.  Poor thing...she didn't want to have anything to do with the 2nd ear being done.  I teared up...what mom wouldn't and many spectators watched as our little baby became a big girl with blinged out ears!  Audrey was a trooper and only cried for a few minutes!  I must say that she does look super cute with her pretty little earrings!! So glad we did it!

Hi Mom...what are we doing here?

Do you see the little grin?  If only she knew!

Notice the red face from crying after the last ear got pierced.

Why did you do this to me Mommy???

Okay...I think I'm going to be okay!

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve was also enjoyable...as we stayed home and just spent the day together with the 4-legged babies.  It's hard going anywhere when there are fireworks involved because our big marshmallow dog, Zane, is deathly afraid of them.  He will jump into my lap like a tiny little poodle and proceed to shake and will not stop until the fireworks subside....so going anywhere during these times is nearly impossible.  We hung out and watched some of the countdown shows while Audrey played on her activity mat.  I thought it would be a great idea to give her a taste of a candy cane.   Bad idea!!  11:30 rolls around and she is totally wired, laying in her  bassinet talking up a storm and flailing her arms and legs.  She is never up this late and I don't know if she knew it was New Year's Eve or it was the candy cane, but boy was she crazy!!  She finally fell asleep after Elijah held her arms still and we crawled into bed to watch the ball drop.  Elijah was pretty much asleep as it was happening and I had to put the television on sleep mode because my eyes were rolling into the back of my head.  Thankfully Zane slept through the fireworks and didn't need Mommy to console his shivering body! New Year's Day was spent running errands and cleaning up the house.  Audrey also wore one of her novelty shirts...I see a trend going with this as I have already bought her a "Baby's First Valentine's" outfit!!  Here she is standing (which is something new that she LOVES to do) in her New Year's gear!!  Hopefully 2011 will bring us as much joy as 2010  did!!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas was extra special this year since we got to enjoy it with our new little love!!  Elijah and I decided that we were not going to get gifts for each other since we can buy what we want whenever...we made it all about Audrey (plus it was a lot less stressful)!  We were so excited to get Audrey all dressed up for Christmas.  I have this thing..being a new mom and all...that she has to have a novelty outfit for each of the big holidays.  We got her a "Baby's First Christmas" outfit and dolled her up in it for the festivities.  Her Grandpa came over early and played the Wii with Elijah while I worked on making our Mexican feast.  Her Grandma Mary stopped by to say hello and then later on her Uncle Jeff and Auntie Tam came over to open gifts and eat.  It was a long wait for presents, but a 4 month doesn't really have the concept of time.  I was more anxious to open up her gifts!! Her Nana and Grandma had sent her a box a couple of weeks before and it was all we could do not to open it!!  Audrey totally came out ahead and pretty much got a nice new start to her growing wardrobe in larger sizes, Santa brought her a Baby Einstein Exersaucer, and she got many learning toys!!  Audrey was so blessed to have a nice Christmas with her close family!

Our attempt at a family portrait

What did Santa get you??

Maybe Santa could have put the exersaucer together before Christmas Day!

Goonie

The teether is her favorite part

Old school Glo Worm...yes!!

Stacks o' clothes!!

Big girl boobie juice bottles!!

I just finished eating and now I have so much to say!!

Cheese!!!

Rice Cereal Time

There is so much controversy surrounding when you should feed your baby solids for the first time.  The doctor says to wait until 5 or 6 months, friends say don't even try until 8 months because they are not ready, Grandma says 3 weeks.  I really think it's up to you because it's your baby and I doubt your baby will die from eating a little rice mixed with breast milk.  After all, they can die from SIDS, being shaken too hard, looked at with an evil eye, wearing too much clothing, tripping while walking, etc.  The world is a scary place!  One night I was reading in my "What to Expect the First Year" book and it gave some suggestions as to when your child may be ready to try solids.  I really liked this approach because it mentioned that doctors go off of research and studies and Grandma uses old time ways, but it showed ways in which your child gives you cues.  It said that your child should at least be a supported sitter, which she is.  They should show curiosity in food, and she totally stares while we eat.  It also said that their instinctual habit of thrusting things out of their mouth should be gone.  All these signs leaned towards Audrey being ready.  Forget the backlash from friends or family who think otherwise...we are Audrey's parents and what we say goes.   So, off we go to Target to buy some rice cereal.  Here's what we bought.

Totally organic and excludes all other additives that would give her boobies when she is 3.  We pump Audrey up and tell her she is getting big girl rice and it's going to be so exciting.  Here she is getting ready for her surprise!

She was really interested in the first couple of bites....then it went downhill from there!!  The pictures explain it all!

I have no idea what I'm in for!

What the heck?

This has a different texture than my boobie juice!

Okay Mom, I'm over it!

Whoa!

Dad...please help me!

No...I'm done...quit putting the spoon in my mouth!

The scary face begins!

Please, no more...torture!

Waaaahhhh!

I want to throw up all over the place.

And this is how her first rice cereal meal ended.  Tears and an empty belly.  We love you Audrey!

Tummy Troubles

At Audrey's 2 month check up the doctor does everything from checking her height and weight to checking her reflexes and if she has hit any monthly milestones.  Dr. Zipp says she is going to check how Audrey does on her tummy.  My insides become knots because I know this is my daughters week point.  Sure enough, just as she always does, as soon as she is on her belly her hands do not come up to her chest and tuck nicely underneath to hold her gigandor head up.  No, Audrey decides to play dead or pretend to be Jesus....you pick.  She lays there with her head tilted to the side and her arms straight out like she is getting ready to be nailed to the cross.  No attempts to lift her head up or even think about lifting her chest up.  Tummy time is for the birds.  So after Audrey's assessment is done, Dr. Zipp goes through her scores, including the ones we had filled out at home.  She asks, "Guess which area she scored the lowest in?"  She asks this almost with a giggle and I am quick to say, "Tummy time!"  This area is otherwise known as her gross motor skills.  My child has wonderful head control, so it's not a matter of can she get her head up, it's a fight of laziness and if I cry enough tummy time will be over!  I have tried to document her 12 second tummy time that she allows us to give her...here are some pictures of her first attempts at tummy time.  This is with the assistance of her friend, the boppy.

Hmmm...this isn't so bad.

  

                             Rrraaaarrr...I'm going to eat my hand because I am so mad!

   Arrrgggh it's pirate tummy time!

The pictures above are from her at roughly 2 weeks old.  I thought, wow, she has great head control...she's going to be lifting her head up from her tummy in no time flat.  Haha!  She fooled us!  Now here are some pictures of her at roughly a month old.  Boy was I proud when she lifted her head all by herself.  At this point she is still using her Boppy, making pirate eyes, and eating her hand.  These are all necessary things to be successful at tummy time, according to Audrey.

Now that we have mastered the art of tummy time with assistance from the boppy, we move into tummy time with no help.  This is where Audrey becomes an epic fail.  Poor thing. She told me it's because you can't see the world when you are looking at the carpet and peoples feet.    

                                                               Why Mom?  Why?

                 Thank you for putting my arms under me....I can see the TV much better from this angle.

 Mmmmm...hand.

She has yet to figure out how to stick her arms under her, so any time she has her hands there it's because we put them there before we had Ornery Rayne join us (this is her alter ego when she is throwing a fit).  Now these next one's are fairly recently and Zane thought he would motivate her by licking her.  She probably thought he was a monster and made her get on her tummy.

    I love you sister.

 Getting ready for tummy time means I should spit up on myself so I won't have to do it.  Notice the wet spot 

on the back of her shirt.  No, Audrey...you still have to practice on your tummy.

This is a great time for grunting and the ever so fun fart because she is pushing so hard.

   I wonder what this blanket tastes like.

                     I'm over it.  So is daddy and so is Bruno.  Tummy time is torture.  It's prison for babies.  Maybe Dr. Zipp won't notice at my next appointment.  I guess we'll have to wait and see!