Guess who started solids?

(Sorry that the camera was on unstable, I was trying to feed and take video)

We are now on day 2 of solids and I don't think that she has even eaten one bite, but it just takes time, or so they say.

Life update!

I know, I know .... I am so sorry it has taken me so long to get a new blog up. Life has been moving along and I just have not made time to sit down and write everything out. So here is hopefully a quick version of everything that is going on this summer.

I am still pregnant. My estimated due date is this Saturday, July 23rd. Can you believe it is already here? I know I can't. Though I am ready to meet our little girl, I am definitely having worries about being a mom of two young children. Calan was born 7 days past my due date, so the doctors do not think that I will go early this time either. Since I am now 2 days away, I too have finally except that I will be pregnant for a little while longer.

All and all the pregnancy is still going well. I have very little to complain about even with this extreme heat wave that is hitting our country right now. I am only waking up once in the middle of the night. I am pretty mobile still; however, picking up Calan's toys is getting a little more difficult. I have just a little bit of swelling that has increased just a little this past week or so with the hot temperatures, but I still have ankle bones and veins, which last time, I didn't have any as of 36 weeks.

I am hoping she comes soon, but I know that she will come when she is ready. We are ready for her arrival. There isn't really anything left to do before she gets here.

Calan is doing great. He is almost 13 months and doing great on a lot of our pre-toddler goals. He started walking this past week. He takes about 5 or 6 steps in a row before losing balance and deciding that crawling might be a little faster, but he is getting there. I had really hoped he would be walking by a year, but 13 months isn't too bad either.

He says dog, dad, mom. Dog was his first word, so you know where Bob and I stand in his priorities. He basically only says mom when he wants food, so you know where I stand in his life. He babbles all the time. I swear once he really does learn how to talk, he isn't going to stop.

Sleeping is going pretty well. We have our good days and our bad days. "Crib parties" have snuck back into nap times. Some days he goes right down, while others he can be there for an hour or longer just babbling and walking around his crib. I think walking has him too excited to sleep. I have heard that sometimes when babies are working on a new skill or developmental stage, sleeping can go awry and I would say that is exactly what is happening.

He is eating everything. I swear most meals he eats more than I do. He is basically on all table foods and hand-feeding himself everything. I would say bananas are still his favorite food. But he really does eat basically everything. He is eating his vegetables better now as well. He doesn't like things plain. There definitely needs to be some flavor, but I wouldn't like plain broccoli either, so I really can't blame him.

Calan moved really quickly and easily to whole milk. However, we are still working on using his sippy cups. I have gotten rid of his morning bottles and he gets milk and water in sippy cups instead. Not quite ready to rid of the afternoon bottles yet. I just want to make sure that he is still getting enough milk from the sippy cups before I drop those bottles. He is getting close though, but I think that now that we are so close to Maisie's arrival, we will wait to drop the last two once she is here.

Playing with and loving his water table.

This summer Calan has loved playing in the water. From swimming to his water table, he loves being wet. Before the weather got insanely hot, Calan and I were also enjoying walks and visits to the zoo, but we will have to wait for it to cool down a little before we can do some more.

Not sure if Calan is ready for Maisie's arrival. I really can't explain to a 13-month-old what is going on, but hopefully the transition goes pretty smoothly. I am starting to have some sad feelings that soon it just won't be Calan and I anymore. I am sure that I would be having these emotions no matter how close they were  in age. I just don't know what it will be like and I hope that he is OK. He loves being around people and playing, so I think that he really will adapt well. But you never know.

Hopefully, my next post will come sooner rather than later and include a birth announcement. I can't wait for this journey to begin. I am sure that I will have lots of things to blog about once she is here and how we handle everything, so stay tuned.

Mom doesn't like it, but you must try it

Bob and I aren't picky eaters per se, but there are definite foods that we do not like. Bob hates mayonnaise and mustard. I hate melon (all types including watermelon) and turkey. I try to avoid these foods and a few others because I know that we won't eat them, but I don't want my preferences to limit our children.

We have organic produce delivered to our house each week. And while most of the time, I sub out items that we won't eat, some times (like last week) I forgot to sub out items, so we got what we got, which included a cantaloupe. Yesterday for breakfast, I gave Calan a few pieces of cantaloupe, and he was not having it. Our son is a texture eater, so he doesn't instantly like new foods. It usually takes a few bites before he decides one way or the other. However, I usually have to some what force the extra bites to make sure whether he likes it or not. Well, he did not like it. Since, I don't like it, I can't really blame him, but as his mother, I have to give the new food a fair shot before I concede. 

While I might give up one day, I usually try to figure out if there is a way Calan might like the new food. This morning, I blended the cantaloupe with strawberries and mashed banana and he loved it. I also added the mixture to my plain yogurt and I liked it too. 

Cantaloupe is full of vitamin A, vitamin C, and calcium and it also has a high concentration of beta-carotene, which is great for vision and eye development. I am glad that I was able to figure out a way for it to be eaten. I would have hated it if it went bad on my counter top. I blended up the rest of the cantaloupe with strawberries and froze it in ice cube trays to be used through out the summer. 

The elusive vegetable

From newborn to 6 months, my biggest concern and worry was Calan's sleeping and how to get him to sleep regularly and through the night and during naps and in his crib, etc. Now that I got that down, I worry about his food. Am I setting good eating habits, is he getting enough, will he transition to milk, will he ever just eat his green vegetables? The questions and concerns don't end. 

He eats a lot of things, but somethings are obviously better for him than others. Already, I am noticing that he loves the not so good things over the good things. I am already trying to hide vegetables in other foods to get him to eat them. Green beans in apple sauce, carrots with a little brown sugar, broccoli blended with cheese. I know that none of these are bad things per se, but I am hoping that it isn't a trend for the future. I hate food battles. 

If the vegetable is not to his liking he spits it out or tries to block the spoon. I know that he is just showing me that he is not liking it, but he can't live on fruit and bread. I am staying persistent and just  try to get at least half of what I planned to give him veggie-wise even if it gets spooned in with a little apple sauce or something like it. 

I just want to set up good eating habits. I am trying to avoid a picky eater and trying to avoid giving in to his preferences. I know that he will eat the veggies, but he knows that there is always something better that is going to be offered, so for the first 5 minutes of each meal is usually me trying to get him to keep his hands away from my spoon and the veggie in his mouth. If I get through that, then I give him some fruit or bread or whatever is on the menu. 

I do have to say that planning his meals has gotten a lot easier. I can just go to my refrigerator or pantry and find something for him to eat. There is not a ton of prep work in advance anymore and that is fantastic. I need him to eat pretty self-sufficiently come July. I am not trying to push him before he is ready, but I know that if he can munch on a finger-food size strawberry, he should be able to eat some broccoli. 

Expanding food palate

Before Calan was born I knew that I would make his baby food. While as a family we are not the healthiest eaters, it is important to me to know as much as I can about the food I am eating. I still like my junk food, but I like my organic veggies too. For me, moderation is key.

Calan enjoying a new oatmeal recipe this morning.

However, I have gotten a little too complacent when it comes to making his food. I am realizing that my son is 9 months old and I am still feeding him a lot of the same stuff he was eating at 6 months. It was just so easy to steam a vegetable and puree it and serve it. I did not have to worry about him choking or him making a mess. Just serve and done. But as his mother, it is my responsibility to make sure that he learns how to eat more foods and eventually can feed himself. Could you imagine a first birthday without knowing how to eat cake?

So, I am working on expanding Calan's food choices. He is no longer a vegetarian (though he is not quite a fan yet). I am finding that he likes the taste of new foods, but new textures are hard for him to swallow. He is getting there and seems to be OK, so far.

I am trying to introduce several new foods into Calan's diet this week. Here are a few recipes that I am using this week from "Top 100 Baby Purees" by Annabel Karmel:

My Favorite Oatmeal
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. rolled oats
6 dried apricots, chopped (new food for Calan)
1 pear, peeled, cored, and chopped

• Put the milk, oatmeal, and chopped apricots into small saucepan, bring to a boil, simmer stirring occasionally for about 3 minutes. 
• Then puree mixture with chopped pear.

Fillet of Flounder, Carrot, Cheese, and Tomato (I used cod instead of flounder)

4 med. carrots, peeled and sliced

8 oz. flounder fillets (Cod was new for Calan)

2 Tbl. milk

3 Tbl. unsalted butter

2 med. tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (new food for Calan)

1/3 c. grated cheddar cheese

• Steam carrots for about 15 minutes. 
• In the meantime, cook fillets in a pan, cover with milk and 1 tablespoon of butter, and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes or until cooked. 
• Melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, saute tomatoes until mushy. Stir in cheese until melted
• Blend carrots and tomato mixture together. 
• Flake fish, making sure to remove all bones.
• Mix fish with vegetable mixture.

Calan liked the oatmeal, but the fish did not get the warmest welcome. He liked eating it, but when he would get a larger piece of fish, he did not like it. I think that it is just going to take some time, but I am glad that we are moving forward.