Visiting Daddy

Today we took a trip to visit Daddy! Eddie had a great time making faces at all of the tellers and bankers. We also took a not so exciting trip to the grocery store, where Eddie got to face out for the first time in his Bijorn. He loved it! And Mommy had a great workout - especially when it came time to unload the massive cart of food.

...sorry for the bad pic, the lighting was horrible! But you can really see how much E looks like Frankie. Can you believe those dimples?

Tomorrow we are heading to Makray Memorial Golf Course to book Eddie's Baptism Luncheon and have some yummy food while we're at it :) (Yes, I know I am very late at the baptism, I've been avoiding choosing Godparents!)

-maggie

Baby Food

Starting solids has been a big topic on the mommy board I frequent. So, I decided to go ahead and post all about making Eddie's baby food.

First, let me say that I chose to make baby food because I have worked so, so hard to give Eddie exclusively breast milk. I am so proud to say that he has never had a single drop of formula. I love that my little man is still so pure - I know that what is going into his body is natural and organic. I wanted the same thing when we started solids. Packaged baby food is full of fillers and preservatives, making it able to stay on the shelf for 2 YEARS. That freaks me out. I want my son's veggies to taste like real veggies - his fruits to be sweet and fresh. I know I've said that I make his food to save money. And yes, I do save money doing so....but, I must say that I would make his own baby food even if it cost more than the packaged food. I would do it to know that I continue to give my son the best. And it is so easy! Don't be intimidated!!

Now, lets get started! Make sure that you have (a) Steamer (b) food processor (or blender or stick blender) (c) ice cube tray. That's it! Super easy. I also got a book (Top 100 Baby Food Purees) but also learned from wholesomebabyfood.com. I like having the book next to me as I do it, just so I can quick reference how long I should steam, how long I can store, etc.

.....a great help

Now, I'm not going to over complicate this. It isn't rocket science and you don't need to go to culinary school. You steam....puree....freeze. How easy is that?!?! Once frozen, I just separate into ziplock bags marked with the fruit or veggie and the day I made it. Some items are best if you make on demand or freeze right away such as bananas (I waited too long to freeze and had to toss), avocados and papaya. The ice cube tray puts the food into a perfect portion to start with and you can increase the number of cubes as necessary. I just pop the cube into the microwave just long enough to mildly heat it (be sure to mix it well to avoid hot spots) and start with a bottle first. Eddie normally takes about 6 ounces with a bottle, so for our solid feeding time (usually around lunch time) I give him 3-4 ounces and then do the solids.

....mmmmm carrot cube

Once your baby gets used to each food (making sure you wait 3-5 days between each new item to check for allergies) you can get creative. Annabel Karmel suggests Trio of Root Veggies (sweet potato, carrots, parsnip), Apple and Pears with (or without) Cinnamon. For the record, Eddie has tried (with success) carrots and pears, both mixed with rice cereal. After 2 days on each, he would take the fruit/veggie on its own, but I still mixed it with the rice. We have also tried (without success) oatmeal. The oatmeal gave Eddie some severe constipation, which stopped the day after we stopped giving it to him. I have read online (dr. google!) that the gluten in oatmeal can cause this in babies younger than 6 months, so I am avoiding it for a while. Everyday I look forward to meal time - I love hearing the noises Eddie makes while he eats, his face when he tries new things and just soak up every minute of it.

There is no doubt that starting solids is a fun new development in your baby's life. Be sure to have your camera ready - there are tons of things to document! While you are beaming with pride as you watch your little one discover new things, why not be proud of yourself as well? You will be surprised with how good you feel knowing that you made their food! If you're still asking yourself "why", ask yourself "why not?". Let me know if you have any questions - believe me when I say that this is pretty fool proof.

.....see? I told you...cute pictures.

-maggie

A heads up

Since so many people are asking about it, I am going to do a long post about making your own baby food. I will work on it tonight when Frank gets home, because it is going to be a long one! I also have a video of Eddie eating carrots, which he loved! If I can figure out how to post that, I will.
So, check back tonight or tomorrow if you want to learn about baby food!

-maggie

It's not easy

...to entertain a baby while cooking dinner.

....tools of the trade...too bad none of these made Eddie happy tonight...so what did?

...sitting in his highchair (a new favorite spot) and playing with a spoon. I guess we all need a change of pace every once and a while....

-maggie

BIG KILO STRIKES AGAIN!

When we were readmitted to the hospital with Eddie, we had to weigh all of his diapers to see what was going in vs. what was coming out. For the record, this is Eddie during those horrible 3 days...

Notice the paddle on his arm? That held in his IV. The eye guard he had to wear the whole time he was under the bili lights, which he had to be under all the time, except to eat. When we took him out to eat, he had to have a "wallaby" or a paddle of lights under him. It was rough. Frank and I didn't sleep for those 3 days, until a nurse finally came in and forced me into the bed. I got a couple hours of sleep but don't know if Frank did. We were so scared, but we made it through with some humor.....ANYWAY....back to the story.....so as tired as we were, we changed Eddie and put his diaper on the scale. Frank, in his sleepy haze thought that the scale said it weighed a kilo. We've called him BIG KILO ever since. Whenever he has a massive diaper, Big Kilo strikes again!

So, since I stared the oatmeal, Eddie hasn't pooped. For those that are counting, it was almost full days. Since Eddie gets only breastmilk (not formula) he poops about 3 times A DAY, normally. We knew this was bad news....so the pedi said to give him 1 tsp. of Karo Dark Corn Syrup with 2 oz. of nursery water (But did say that they were comfortable with him going 5 days with no poo!). Can you guess what is coming? This morning, we had the BIGGEST SMELLIEST POOP EVER. Up his back and sides, down his legs. And it smelled sooooo bad! Now, we're going to get all into the poo now, so beware. Breastfed baby poops are normally watery...this poo was like peanut butter. And it was EVERYWHERE. And I was puking in my mouth, to which Eddie laughed hysterically. I think I'm a pretty tough momma, I've only (almost) puked once when I got pooped on....but this morning, I was full on puking in my mouth, that is how bad it was.

I've stopped the oatmeal and am not going to give it to him for a while. He was fine on the rice cereal, no constipation on that. Once we started the oatmeal, major blockage. I also made my first batch of homemade baby food (carrots, apples, pears) and can't wait to try those! This morning, I mushed up some banana (after reading that banana could help regulate - this was pre-poo, obviously) and tried to give that to him. FAIL. He pushed it right back out. So I tried some pears, which were also supposed to help with constipation. FAIL. This man likes his food bland, let me tell you. Determined to get some poo inducing food into him (man do I regret that) I was able to mix the smallest amount of pear with some rice cereal and give that to him. If the pear to rice ratio was too high, he would push it right back out. Looks like my homemade baby food is going to stay in the freezer for a while....

-maggie

oh, as a reward for making it through all of the poo talk, here's a new picture!

Isn't he a little angel? You should smell what he's got cookin' next to me... :)

A Revalation

The past couple nights have been, to put it lightly, hell. Eddie has been sleeping very badly, wanting to be snuggled all night which means that I don't get a bit of sleep. Last night, in my sleepy haze, I had to get up and walk out of the bedroom and have myself a little breakdown. I'm tired. And then, it hit me. When he sleeps with me, he is on his side...if I am not holding him, he will relax to his back and wake up screaming, but still asleep. A-HA! Eddie is apparently a side sleeper all of the sudden. As we speak, he is asleep in his Arm's Reach ---- get this ----- WITHOUT HIS PACI!! If you know Eddie, you know how much he loves his paci. He would wake up tons of times in the night to get his paci replaced. But with a rolled up towel propping him up, he is sound asleep, again, WITHOUT HIS PACI!! (and yes, I need to yell this!)

Here's hoping I get some sleep tonight.

In non-sleep related news, we have introduced Eddie to oatmeal and he is in love! He likes it even more than the rice! Just 3 days of this and then he's going to get some carrots...I can't wait to see what he does with that.

He also enjoyed watching the inauguration of PRESIDENT Barack Obama while I cried. It feels so different watching this as a mother....I truly believe that President Obama will make the world a better place for my son. Today, January 20, 2009 is such a beautiful day. Anyway...back to baby...Eddie had to watch the inauguration standing, his new obsession. He has gotten so strong in the last couple of days, he just holds one finger in each hand and stands, stands, stands...and laughs while he does it - he loves it! I am so in awe of my little man....he has gotten so big. I love to look at this picture, for scale:

The first day Eddie came home...don't mind the fact that the next morning we brought him back to the hospital for 3 nights...

And this is Eddie on our trip, playing with his ball. Look at how different the plastic clip looks - it ate him up before!

Sorry for the totally rambling post....I am sooo tired. Keep your fingers crossed that we get some sleep tonight!

-maggie

Time for another wedding!

Eddie's girlfriend, Lillie Buchanan, was born yesterday 1/16/09. She is 7lbs, 8oz and 21 inches long....she has a beautiful head full of brown hair....Eddie is already in love! If you say "Lillie" he smiles and coo's. Ah, young love. Too bad it will be a long distance relationship, as Lillie lives in Utah. Hopefully we can visit her or she can visit us, soon!
In other news, Eddie is busy scooching himself is circles - I'm thinking this is just step one of me being in trouble with a mobile baby. He is already grabbing everything...we used to be able to hold him on our lap while we ate, but that isn't happening anymore - he has already gotten a handful of yogurt - I promise I only looked away for a second! Luckily, I was able to clean up his hand before it went into his mouth, which is where everything else ends up.

-maggie

All About Vacation....Long!

Florida was so wonderful. We stayed an extra night, just trying to avoid the weather up in Illinois. While we were driving in, we started to think about moving (sorry mom!)...after our accident, I am so scared of driving in the snow, I'm not sure I will ever be able to drive in the snow by myself again. I'm terrified. Anyway, we'll get to some pictures. As promised, I'll post some pictures from our Nashville stop...

...at The Aquarium Restaurant in Nashville

...feeding the stingrays

We arrived on Thursday evening to Nanna and Grandpa hanging out in our timeshare, which was beautiful. Here are some pictures -

....the new building at Vistana

...the beautiful waterfall and lake

We stayed at the Sheraton Vistana Villages and have nothing but wonderful things to say. It was so perfect that we even stayed an extra night! It really started to feel like home.

On Friday we went to Sea World with Nanna and Grandpa - Eddie loved all of the sights and sounds - thankfully it was pretty empty. Of course, lots of pictures....

....picture of a picture - dad and I feeding the dolphins

...Eddie in his super cool Sea World outfit

....Grandpa wanted a picture with the Clydesdale. Great! No petting! What does he do? Has Eddie pet the horse. What does Eddie do? Promptly eat his hand that touched the horse. Great...Grandpa got in lots of trouble (picture of a picture)

We had the rehearsal dinner that night, which meant that I had to leave E for the first time for that long. He had a little bit of a hard time getting to bed, but Nanna did a good job! Cousin Julie (an ER nurse) and Cousin Jerry (a former fire fighter) were also there, so that helped calm my nerves a bit. On Saturday we met up with Jerry and Julie again and went to the pool! It was a beautiful day in the upper 70's, so after slathering tons of sunscreen on E, we took a dive in the pool.

...what a beautiful pool for a first swim!

....fly little man!

He loved it! Then, to my dismay, I had to leave E and get ready for the wedding. I think I did pretty well leaving him - and everyone did a great job of entertaining him! So well, in fact, that I was snubbed for the rest of the night....he wouldn't even look at me. Thankfully, things were back to normal the next morning! Here are some wedding pics.

...our little family ....a pic with Aunt Lorrie!

....dancing the night away

Sunday we went back to Sea World (we missed the Shamu show the first day, so we went back for our second day free) with Jerry and Julie! It was super fun - they are Sea World pro's, so they knew right where to go. We saw Shamu, went to the hilarious sea lion show and more. What would this section be without pictures?!!?!

...the crew

...so cool

Finally, on Monday, we were supposed to leave but decided not to! We were going to spend 2 nights in Nashville, but that changed and we had a calm day going to the Universal City Walk and Down Town Disney. We had lunch at Emeril Lagasse's restaurant, shopped and wandered. It was cloudy and rainy, but nice to have a day finally to ourselves. I also got some of my favorite pictures of the week....

...My adorable new keychain!

....Eddie with his new favorite toy

....best lunch ever!

....nothing like a poolside snack

....we are so thankful for our wonderful friends and family. This was such a wonderful vacation and it would be impossible without either. As you can tell, our trip was great, but we are happy to be home. As much as I want to move, we love our house far too much to (not to mention the market...) so if we could figure out how to move our house to somewhere warm, maybe on a beach.....it would be perfect! I am looking forward to getting back to our routine with Eddie and really starting our rice cereal (haahaa - another pic!)

....yummy rice cereal! Eddie says he misses Saddie and Jack, his jumperoo and Fiona. I miss my bed and real kitchen. Frankie misses work - yeah right.

-maggie

ps - has anyone noticed how red Eddie's hair is getting? We predicted a red head baby, I can't believe I was right on something!

Quickie

We're having so much fun! The wedding was wonderful - the weather has been beautiful- Sea World is the greatest (screw Disney!) and we've just been having a great time.
I will have a huge post with tons of pictures when we get home. In the meantime, we leave Florida tomorrow, head to Nashville for a couple nights and then it is onto the frozen tundra that is home. Boo!

-maggie

We made it....

...barely. Eddie has had 2 complete breakdowns, which are so unlike him. My sweet boy rarely cries - only if he is too hungry. Recently, he has been hysterical because he is overtired. I'm not sure if it is all of the new places, sights, sounds, smells, etc that are just too much for him, but he hasn't been his normal self. Hopefully now that we're settled at the timeshare, he will relax a bit. Hopefully we all will - I have a lovely twitch that has developed on my right eyelid and bags under my eyes that will hopefully go away by the wedding. I'm sure Brooke wouldn't appreciate a completely worn out looking bridesmaid!

We did have some fun along the way, though. Frank and I love Nashville and stopped for lunch at the Aquarium Restaurant -it has a huge tank running through the middle of the dining area, which Eddie loved to look at. We were there for almost 3 hours stretching and showing Eddie all of the fish. He loved it! After we ate, we went to a really sketchy place to feed some Sting Rays. It was so fun - but shady. There were carnival games in the same area as the tank...you know these sting rays weren't taken care of that well. But, we had fun feeding them. I'll be sure to upload pictures when we get home!

All in all, we're happy to be here safe and sound. Tomorrow we are heading to Sea World and then Frankie and I will be going to the rehearsal and dinner without Eddie - he'll be hanging out with Nanna and Grandpa - this will only be the second time I've left Eddie for over an hour. I'd be willing to bet that my eye twitch comes back.

-maggie

We're crazy

We are starting our drive to Florida tomorrow morning. At 2am. Why? Because we're lunatics. I only hope that Eddie does okay....and that we have a safe drive down there! We have GPS in our rental car (my car is still not fixed from the accident) so that will make the trip far less stressful as I won't have to deal with giving Frank directions or vice versa. Did I mention I'm not done loading up the car? Yeah...it's almost 11:00pm. I'm in for a long couple of days.

I'll try to post while we're away - we hope to get Eddie in the pool and have a trip to SeaWorld, along with Brooke's wedding and all of the fun that goes along with that, so it may be a while.

Wish me luck! -maggie

4 Month Check Up

Today was Eddie's 4 month check up....we were excited to see how much he weighed (90th percentile for height, 85th for weight!) and see the wonderful Dr. Phillips. Dr. Phillips was the pediatrician on call that released us after Eddie had to spend an extra 3 days in the hospital due to jaundice, so he quickly became our favorite. Plus, he always makes tons of medical jokes, to which Frank and I smile and laugh and pretend like we know what he's talking about.

Today's appointment was filled with lots of talk about starting solids and Eddie's development. All is well - Dr. Phillips was very impressed with Eddie's head and neck control, his rolling and the fact that Eddie will look and grab something on purpose. He gave us the all clear to start solids, but we're going to try to wait until 6 months if we can. Eddie is already showing signs of wanting to eat - watching our food, smacking while we eat and not being fully satisfied by his normal bottle - but I am hesitant of rice cereal and would like to go right to something with more vitamins and nutrients.

In addition to all of that, Eddie also got his next round of shots. What I've failed to mention in the above is that any time I would lay Eddie on the table, he would scream. Pouty lip, tears and all.....he defiantly knew what was coming. He not only cried before his shots, but during and for the entire car ride home. He was very, very angry. Last time, we gave him a bottle which quickly calmed him, but he wasn't having that this time. He cried through the bottle. He cried through the hugs and kisses. He was not a happy camper. I had to stop at the library to stock up on books for Florida and Eddie finally fell asleep while being wheeled around. Yay! I was fully prepared to have a very crabby, crying baby back when he woke up, but surprisingly, I got this:

My happy baby boy back! Can you spot the super cool band-aid on his thigh? Good thing he's got those chunker thighs to absorb some of the ouch.

Off to pack!

--maggie

Welcome!

Well here we go!

I have decided that it will be my New Year's resolution to start and keep up with a blog. When talking to family members, I am constantly getting requests for pictures, having someone mad that I didn't email them a picture (dad!) and wishing they got more pictures, like, everyday (mom!). Hopefully this will help everyone keep up with all of the recent milestones Eddie has been reaching.

It seems like the 4 month mark has opened up a whole new baby. Eddie loves to babble and will hold a conversation with anyone. He also learned how to roll this week (!) and gave us his first belly laugh....while getting his armpits tickled. Frank and I were so excited! I ran to get the flip, but of course he wouldn't do it again. I did get the rolling on video, though!

This week will be a busy one for us - Eddie has his 4 month shots tomorrow (boo) and we are driving to Florida starting Wednesday (bigger boo). Florida should be a nice vacation, if we make it there alive. Eddie does really well in his carseat, but if we are out and about one day, he will scream if I put him in his car seat the next day.....which will obviously create a problem for our 2 day drive. Wish us luck!

As a final welcome to the blog, I'll post some pictures of Eddie. Enjoy!

--maggie