Solid Foods!

The time has finally come when we dug out the old dusty high chair and cleaned it off in anticipation to feed our 2nd born solid foods!  I remember how excited I was to start foods with Gage and it was definitely the highlight of our night.  We started right around 4 months with rice cereal and Gage was an expert from the beginning.  He hated green beans and peas, much like he does now, but would cry between bites when I wasn't shoveling it in fast enough.  We didn't start right away with Ezra because of the alleged allergy and then I had to remember how to start, how much, when, etc.  Then I had to find the time.  Because when you have two, it's not quite as convenient as it was the first time around.  I know, the poor 2nd child- always getting the shaft. 

I almost even considered letting day care do it since I would prefer him to drink less at school and it was one less thing I had to worry about.  Then I decided that was silly and how I couldn't let this baby milestone be something that I didn't share with my child on purpose.  Then I started to get excited- excited about Ezra too, meeting this milestone and eating cereal and  moving on to veggies and fruit.  So here we are- just a few days short of 5 months starting with oatmeal this time instead of rice cereal.  Unfortunately I had to mix it with formula and not breast milk though because I'm just not producing enough and I can't bear to potentially waste it if he doesn't eat it.  Plus I don't want him to have a bottle of formula if I can help it.  He wasn't nearly the fan that Gage was and the 1st night he barely ate any at all. He got better the 2nd and 3rd nights and finished the whole T. the 3rd night.  He still made a face like it was the most disgusting thing ever, but nevertheless he's learning to eat.  He doesn't seem to swallow as well as Gage and a lot came back up, but I'm sure he'll get the hang of it soon enough.  We'll see how the rest of the week goes and with any luck we'll start veggies this weekend.  Here's a few pictures of my little E in his high chair and eating his 1st bites.  I can't believe he's growing up so fast!

1st time in the high chair- he looks so much bigger than Gage did.

Would you look at this face?

Clearly not so sure

Guest Blogger: Great Expectations!

I am so thrilled to have been asked by Kyna over at Great Expectations if I would guest blog for her today.  On Mondays she does a quick and easy recipe meme and she contacted me a few weeks back to submit a recipe and I was beyond excited!  I have never done a recipe post b/c I never have time to take pictures of my food as I'm making it or even think I have enough good recipes to share.  On 2nd thought, I do have a few, but again, no pics and everyone knows you can't do a recipe post without pictures.  So in any case, here's my 1st one!  Head on over to Kyna's blog to see one of my very favorite desserts that's pretty quick and easy.  And always a winner with my husband, who got this as his birthday cake last week!

NEWS FLASH

My son ate 2 chicken strips for lunch on Monday and an entire hamburger today!  This is the kid who eats NO meat aside from turkey- sometimes!

Happenings...

I warn you now that this post is just full of the mundane happenings of the last few days and probably not interesting to 99% of the population. 

I have been out of work for the last 3 days due to snow.  I teach at a high school and the kids had their midterms this week...and missed all but one of them!  I'm sure they couldn't be more thrilled.  However, now, of course they have been postponed 'til next week, oh well, I'll take a few more half days of school.  Anyway, there wasn't a ridiculous amount of snow (not like last year anyway)- about 7 ins., but w/ a county the size of ours we never go to school if it snows that much.  In any case, we've had a Winter Break around these parts.

Wednesday, although we didn't have school, I took Gage to his school.  I knew we would probably be out Thurs. and today and I wanted to get our money's worth.  We pay entirely too much for him to go only half time b/c he's sick or there's snow.... AND I actually was productive and worked out for the 1st time since March of 2009.  hah....I am sooo embarassed to say that, but it's true, I'll fess up.  The funny thing is that I've been going through my old posts to label them in case I ever want to find something and I think I mentioned like last March that I was going back to the gym soon.  Those women who actually do go back to working out only a few months after having a baby, you're more the woman that I am.  In any case, I'm happy that I got back on the workout wagon and hopefully I am there to stay.  I also took some Mommy time to get my nails done, but don't tell anyone. Anyway, Wednesday afternoon came and so did the ice.  If you haven't seen it on the National news, I'm surprised but that commute Wed. night was one of the worst ever in history in this area....which is already one of the worst areas EVER.  It took people 10-12 hours to go 20-30 miles and there were abandoned cars everywhere.  It really was the craziest thing ever.  Anyway, while some of our friends were on the treacherous roads going NOWHERE fast....we were at home praying the power didn't go out while we took care of our PUKING baby.  Yes, the stomach flu got us again....and it was bad.  Poor Gage got 2 baths w/in 20 mins. in the middle of the night.  He spent the rest of the night next to us in his Pack n Play and thank God didn't get sick again.  Lucky for him, the two times he's gotten it, it hasn't seemed to keep him under the weather for very long.  And 2 days later, he seems to be all back to normal.  It's been close to 48 hours and my stomach's been cramping all day.  It's so much fun to count down the hours to when I'll be hugging my toilet....sigh.  I can only hope for as quick a recovery as him.

Since Wednesday night, it's been pretty uneventful around here.  Gage and I have been sleeping when possible and I sanitized every last toy and book of his last night hoping for a reprieve. Today it snowed AGAIN so our plans to go out on the town were a little thrown off.  We spent the day inside and did a whole bunch of nothing.  And I spent the day, as always, trying to rack my brain to figure out what the heck I can feed my child that he will actually eat.  No veggies/meat is his motto.  He'll eat pretty much anything but that, but let's face it, they're both pretty important.
Also, this morning was his LAST bottle ever.  I can't believe I'm finally gonna do it, but tomorrow we rid ourselves of the bottles.  I'm going to feel so bad in the am when he asks for it, but just like everything else, we'll get over it and move on. I seriously doubt he'll ever drink milk again, but eh....I guess I'll get over that too.  AND I'll  keep you posted on the no bottle situation.  Don't worry though, no caving here, just a miserable baby probably.

That's all for now, hope you all have a fabulous weekend.  Oh and my kid is up to 25 words!  Too bad he can't walk!

Last week of grad school and a week with the Grandparents...

This was the last week of grad school ever! I am so excited to say that I am completely done with all of my graduate work and will be getting a pay raise next Fall! During this last week of grad school, Grandma and Grandiddy came to take care of Gage. I think they had lots of fun seeing him 2 weeks in a row. Grandma plays hard and Gage got to go for walks, play in the pool, his new outdoor swing and Grandma pimped out his Exersaucer with pictures of myself, Luke and Gage. She took lots of pictures; however, most were on her camera. There were plenty of cute ones that I'll post when she sends them to me. Gage will miss his grandparents but we plan to see them in just a few short weeks.

Gage was in a pretty good mood all week except for the aformentioned diaper rash and gas. He did manage to sleep through the night for the 1st night in a week and a half on Wednesday. Overall, he seems to be sleeping more restfully as well. He has decided he doesn't want to nap anymore and now only sleeps one hour at a time, BUT he is sleeping through the night. Just seems off lately and I'm hoping w/ time it'll pass, just like everything else.

Today we took Gage to the pool and although it was a beautiful day, because it has been so mild lately, the water was pretty darn cold. Gage didn't mind the baby pool though and loved to use his float as a walker. He "swam" all over the pool and lounged in the sun. He LOVES the pool! I can't wait for him to go back to the beach in August.

Gage's appetite is also back! He had lost it when he was sick. He ate 2.75 jars of food for dinner tonight, plus 2 oz. of cereal! I'm hoping he's getting on track in every arena.

I think I had one more thought, but it has escaped me.

The rest of the weekend should be fun, we're headed to the zoo tomorrow and then a birthday party and the 4th annual 4th with the Hughes on Sunday. More to come...

Exhausted...

Whew...I am worn.out. I think that the bigger Gage gets and the more he eats, the more tired I get! I really need to make sure I'm eating enough to sustain both of us. Not much is new with us over the last few days other than it seems Gage is on a hunger strike of solid foods. He rarely eats breakfast for the sitter and only eats half his dinner. Of course, that might be my fault when I try to make him eat green beans, that he has clearly hated from the get go. Green beans is the only thing he gagged on from the start, but now it seems he has an aversion to bananas as well. He has become quite the picky eater....but I don't want to only feed him what he likes. I mean he's got to eat some greens at some point and can't eat ONLY fruit forever. We also tried turkey last night (which the dr. pretty much promised he would hate). She was right. He gagged on that too, so Mommy decided today to mix green beans and turkey....ha, he got 2 bites down. At this point I guess I just need to make sure he eats something, rather than nothing. In a few short weeks I'll be at home all the time and will have a better grasp at what he will/won't eat in the am.

Yesterday we decided to go for a walk to get some exercise. We waited until 5pm so it wouldn't be so hot, but as soon as we got half way around the block, I realized even that late, it was still SO HOT. We came home and because it was so close to dinner time, decided we would take a swim on the back deck instead of going to the pool. Mommy thought quickly, grabbed the blowup bathtub, filled it up w/ water and Gage got his swim trunks on. He played in the sun in his bathtub and thought it to be wonderful! He didn't know the difference and was just enjoying the weather. I think this weekend I'm going to buy a small baby pool so I don't have to bring the bathtub out. Anyway, Gage enjoyed it so much last night that we gave him a bath outside tonight! Nothing like a naked baby on the deck! hah....noone noticed or cared, but Gage loved the water (as always) and the sun. We're going to try to get back to the real pool soon!

Not feeling motivated...

I have been reading more and more blogs this week, some interesting and others not so much. I've decided that blogging could easily turn into an obsession to make your blog look pretty and have different fonts, and make your content more interesting than others, etc. I've been trying to Google certain things trying to impove upon mine, but learning all about it is pretty exhausting. Hopefully this summer I'll have some extra time to play. In any case, I'm not moved to write right now, but let me tell you a little about my week and maybe I'll get motivated.

This week we have all been a little ill again. Another thing which is getting pretty tiring. One of us always seems to have a sore throat, a runny nose, or a cough. They come and go and one day we'll be fine and the next we'll feel crappy again. I'm thinking at this point that it's probably allergies. OR maybe something in the house making us sick...mold, dirty air filters, etc. I'll be looking into that....

Gage has been cranky this week in response to his runny nose and cough. Monday he was a wreck, barely ate anything and fell asleep at 545pm. Wednesday, we had a play date with Sarah and Sawyer but have no pictures because our camera batteries are dead and the charger no longer works. My kid is going to crawl soon so I need to get this problem rectified ASAP! Gage has been between eating TONS this week and eating hardly any solids all day long. Seems to be going through a little bit of a 'stage'. Solid foods had him a little stopped up, but nothing an oz. of prune juice didn't take care of. It has been an exhausting week at work and I'm counting down the last 20 days. The pool opens this weekend so at least I can get Gage back in the water. Weekend plans consist of our 6 month portraits tomorrow (hopefully) and cooking out with Luke's coworkers on Sunday. Speaking of... they won't be Luke's coworkers for long. Luke got a new job yesterday! It is sort of bittersweet, he'll be further away from us (back in DC) and won't get to see Gage very much at night, but at the same time it's a promotion so I guess we can't complain too much.

In addition to those plans, this weekend I need to get back to Babies R Us. It's been quite a while since I've needed anything and had to make a trip out there. However, there are a few specifics I want to get Gage. I can't wait to get him doorway jumper, he's getting more and more active these days and I'm thinking that he'll love it. Of course, having a camera would be beneficial to showing you this. Also, I need to post Gage 'flying', but I need batteries first. Anyway, I'll keep you posted on pictures, cook outs and new toys for Gage. I'm still not especially moved at the moment to write much more.

Holy Smokes....my kid can eat!

We went to the dr. on Thursday and they told Gage he was a bit underweight, or rather that he was in the 30th %ile for weight...well, I guess it gave him a bit of a complex, because tonight he ate 8 oz. of solid food before he nursed. He polished off an entire container of carrots, apples and 3 oz. of cereal! I literally thought he might pop, or vomit anyway. And that is after he ate an entire container of peaches for breakfast! That's 10 oz. of food today! That's my boy!

Another week....

Another week has flown by since I last posted. Only 32 days 'til I get to spend the 1st summer w/ my little man. On Sunday we had Jamie and Brad over for Jamie's 32nd birthday. Gage and Jake hadn't seen each other in MONTHS so it was pretty fun to watch them interact. Gage kept wanting to touch and pet Jake and Jake was just more interested in cruising around a new place. There's only 15 weeks between them but in baby land it is an amazing difference. Jake has 2 teeth, is crawling, pulling up, cruising, and eating table food while Gage is just now deciding that he might want to try and move when on his belly. I've heard it numerous times but wasn't sure I believed it. Being mobile makes a HUGE difference in chub, check out the difference in Gage and Jake's legs. Pretty funny. Here are a few more pictures from Sunday, although we couldn't get a good one of the boys b/c Jake is constantly on the move.





This week was long and short all at the same time. SOL's have started at school so the schedule was all jacked up and the official end of school is coming quickly. I can't complain though, another week under my belt and that much closer to the summer time. We tried to make it to the pool again this week but didn't have much time.

Yesterday Gage had his 6 month dr's appt. and everything checked out great. Dr. Bauer said he was 'perfect' and of course she is right! He wasn't quite as heavy as we thought (he sure seems like he's gaining weight) but I guess what can you expect having us as parents? His head is still small and he apparently is right on track for height.

Stats:
Weight- 15lbs. 13oz. 30%ile
Height- 26.25" 50%ile
Head circumference- 17" 30%ile

We are now starting 2 meals a day, I can't believe how much he eats these days! He can start to have a larger variety of foods and start on pureed meat....sounds yummy! She says that at 8 months he can start on Cheerios and puffs...OMG, my baby will be eating real FOOD before the summer ends!! Also, she said to give him a sippy cup soon so he can get a feel for it before he actually starts using it around the end of the summer! Everyone says it and it's so cliche, but it's really true....babies grow up soo fast! We cherish every moment with Gage and thank God every day for our perfect little boy! Gage did ok w/ his shots, but seems a bit sore today. He slept alot yesterday and was a little cranky today... hoping for a better day tomorrow, BECAUSE......

Tomorrow Gage has his 1st Picture People appt. scheduled! That's right, hopefully tomorrow evening I will have some super cute new professional pictures to share! We are super excited to see how he does! As for the rest of the rainy weekend, we'll do lunch w/ Howard, Sherri and Evie on Sunday. That's all for now. Keep you updated on tomorrow's pictures!