Eating Adventures Part Deux

We’re actually doing pretty well in this department now…Elena no longer pinches my boob during feedings…that’s a relief! I’m glad it was a short lived phase!! I used a technique I read about to keep a teething baby from biting the nipple: expressing displeasure without scaring her, stopping the feed each time she pinched & expressing an obvious frown. After a feed or two of doing this, she stopped the pinching & hasn’t done it since…gives me hope she’ll learn not to bite me too.

As for solids, we’ve moved on from cereal to veggies now…I am proud to say that I have stuck to my decision to give Elena homemade baby food…I’m sure I’ve mentioned before but in case you forgot, let me remind you that I am LAZY!!! As much as I want to make Elena’s baby food, I thought I’d give up if it was too hard. I am happy to say it is pretty easy & am sticking with it. The worst part is the peeling, chopping & steaming but that isn’t so bad & I can often con my Mom into doing that part. I love my Magic Bullet too! It purees perfectly & is so easy to clean.

Elena has tried sweet potatoes, carrots, squash & peas so far. She, of course, loves sweet potatoes. I’m surprised to learn that I don’t mind them either. I’d never had them before feeding them to Elena. What I don’t understand is that Elena blatantly disliked carrots yet has taken a liking to peas…one strange kid, in my opinion, lol!! I mean, who likes peas & not carrots? I hate peas!!! They smell disgusting & my stomach turns every time I get a taste when I’m checking temperature while feeding Elena. Seriously! How can you like peas & not carrots?!?!?! I’m going to introduce carrots again & try to convince her that they are awesome!

Now that Elena has a few veggies under her belt, I’ve started giving her two different ones at a meal. It’s funny to see the look on her face when we switch from one vegetable to another…she’s a little miffed at first. She also does this fake little gag/cough that is hilarious…

I think we’re just about ready to jump into the world of fruits. I held off thus far because I was afraid she’d refuse vegetables if she tasted the sweetness of fruits first. Apparently that’s a myth…I swear there is so much conflicting information out there about how & what to feed your child, it’s very confusing & frustrating. It’s very important to me for Elena to be a healthy eater. I was a very fussy & picky eater…I want to try to curb that behavior in Elena. I won’t be so strict never to allow junk food…remember, I am lazy! What kind of mother would I be to deprive my daughter the pleasure that is ice cream sundaes or peanut butter cheese cake or chocolate fudge brownies…

What's New

So Much!!!! I can’t believe how much Elena has changed in the last few weeks, let alone the last 6 months. She had her well baby check up & needles last Wednesday…she weighs a whopping 19 ½ lbs & 2’3” tall! The Dr is pleased that her growth is so consistent. He said the words every nervous-first-time-worry-wart-mom needs to hear: “Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it…she’s perfect.” She took her needles like a champ…it breaks my heart though because when she’s stuck with the first needle, she cries a bit but takes it in stride but when the Dr sticks her the second time, she looks at me with this look like, “AGAIN?!?!?!?! MOMMY!!!! Why are you letting this happen to me?!?!?!??!” She calms down again pretty quickly which makes me feel better.

Elena is learning so much so quickly…she is mobile now that she figured out how to belly crawl…it made all the difference once I bought play mats to put down on top of our carpeting. I was putting her down on a quilt, which was fine for a while (& necessary due to her spitting up) but she couldn’t get any traction. I bought those interlocking foam mats & the first time I put her down on them, away she went!

She can’t get into a sitting position on her own yet but if I sit her down, she is able to balance herself & keep from toppling over most of the time. From her sitting position, she can get herself onto all fours & she rocks back & forth like she’s thinking about crawling but if I don’t save her soon enough, she’ll usually face-plant!

She’s good for about 15-20 minutes of independent play before she’s craving my attention whether it be on the floor or in her exersaucer. She seems to understand when I’m eating or pumping as she will play well on her own while I’m doing either of these but if I grab the laptop or iTouch to check emails or blogs, she fusses & squawks for my attention. I don’t mind too much though…I can’t imagine a better way to spend the day than playing with Elena & watching her discover the world. Elena is fascinated with the most mundane things but watching her eyes sparkle as she explores everything has me captivated!

She likes to watch TV & loves the Disney Junior channel…which she comes by honestly since I’m a TV-aholic (& so’s Grandma)…it’s always just on in the back ground but she has her shows that she’ll pay attention to like Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Imagination Movers & she likes some of the “commercials” between shows too…it’s the songs that grab her attention. She stops everything when Manny & the Tools sing their work song or for the Hot Dog Song on Mickey…her favourite show is Bear in the Big Blue House. It’s the only show that can hold her attention for the entire episode and she just loves Luna & the Goodbye Song…

We had to give up the cloth diapers. All of a sudden Elena was getting these really bad bum rashes…I’d switch her to disposables, it’d clear up then within a day or two of being back in the cloth ones, the rash would reappear. The service said they hadn’t changed anything so it’s a mystery why, after 5 months, she was getting these rashes. Since she was fine in the disposables, I had to switch…I was disappointed but couldn’t continue with those horrible rashes.

And that’s life with us now-a-days…better get this posted before Elena learns something else new, lol!

Wacky Dream

I had the wackiest dream the other night that I just had to post about!! It went like this:

I ran into Little One(of The Clock Finally Started Ticking) at a coffee shop & she invited Elena & I to come along with her & Scarlett to a gathering of other single moms…I said sure & we went to the penthouse apartment of Abby (of True Confessions of a Single Mama) as she & Calliope were hosting this gathering. The others that were in attendance were: Lorelei (of Perpetual Ambition) with her “daughter” Rose, SurlyMama (of It’sDefinitely Possible) with her “daughter”& Mama Time Bomb (of Baby TimeBomb) with her “daughter”, Magdalena.

Now this is strange already for a number of reasons…although I have met Little One IRL & seen photos of Abby & SurlyMama, I have NO IDEA what Lorelei or Mama Time Bomb look like, yet in my dream I have manifested faces for them…also strange is that my subconscious has “decided” that Lorelei would be having a girl & name her Rose, SurlyMama would have a daughter though my over active subconscious didn’t name her…Mama Time Bomb isn’t pregnant yet, but my mind “decided” she’d have a daughter & name her Magdalena…& it get’s weirder!!

So we’re all visiting & Abby is serving these delicious appetizers when I decide I need to change Elena’s diaper…I go into a spare room & start changing her on the floor. Little One comes in with this guy…I’m surprised since I thought this would be a SMC gathering…Little One proceeds to introduce this guy & give me a dating-profile-esque run down about him…I then go into the kitchen & there’s another guy who Abby introduces to me in the same style followed by SurlyMama introducing yet another guy…

I’m feeling pretty suspicious at this point & feeling like I’m being set up so I turn to Lorelei & ask her what’s going on. She responds, “Oh Tara, we all thought you really needed to meet someone nice & settle down so pick one of these great guys & be happy!”

At which point I woke up!! So wacky!!!

Best 6 Months of My Life

It’s easy to say that now!! Weeks 1 thru 4 ½ weren’t exactly fun…thankfully, due to the sleep deprivation, I don’t really remember details of those weeks except that I was exhausted & wondering when this motherhood gig would get fun! It’s fun now…for the most part, anyway!

Elena turned 6 months old yesterday & I take a page from Lara's book & decided to celebrate Elena's Half Birthday. We had family & friends over for a BBQ...& even though it rained most the day, we just moved the party inside & still had a great time. Since I was so busy with things yesterday, I haven't had a chance to compose an update on all the wonderful things Elena can do...so I thought, since many requested photos, I take that easy route...Enjoy!

Here she is yesterday...LOVES that toy, the post anyway...if I stack the rings on it, she dumps them off...even if she's playing with something else, when she notices I've stacked them, she will reach over, dump them off then go back to what she was doing!!

Please, Mommy??!!!

We had some professional photos taken...this is the same photographer we used for Elena's 3 week old photos...she is awesome!



99 Posts & 1 Non-Post

This is my 100^th post…I have noticed the number getting closer & have been trying to come up with a special way to commemorate it. I thought about listing 100 things that make me happy or grateful & although gratifying for me, seemed colossally boring for you. I thought about doing a giveaway but realized I don’t have anything worth giving away & though am quite talented in the craft department, just don’t have the time to take something like that on…how about 100 pictures of Elena? Cute but seriously, not as much fun for everyone else as for me...with Elena’s Half Birthday looming, I thought about tying that post to my 100^th but that would be lame…

Now here we are & I have thought of nothing special for my 100^th post…so I am going to just post this non-post, clean the slate, take the pressure off & move on…

Thanks for reading!