Starting Solid Food!

Last Thursday I decided it was time for Max's first food, the lovely avocado. I had wanted to give him this particular food because it's so healthy with good fats and because I like them too! I figured I could eat what he didn't :) So I sliced up the avocado and he promptly went to work on it!


I was going to do the whole 4-day wait rule that everyone advocates so I gave him many chances to enjoy the avocado over the next few days...he wasn't terribly impressed and I think he got tired of me giving it to him. Bananas were to be next, but as of yesterday they weren't ripe enough, so I bought him a very ripe pear. As you can see, it was a hit!

(I love this one!)

Not sure he actually was able to ingest much of it, but it's all about the exploration!

I was doing some more looking around on the baby-led weaning (that advocates just giving food to the child at 6 months because they can feed themselves; no purees) and decided that I'm being too insane about the 4-day wait and introducing foods one at a time. We're just going to give him what we're eating. I think it will make us eat healthier too! After all, that's how they used to do it!

I made roast, carrots, potatoes and steamed broccoli last night for dinner and gave max a carrot and some broccoli. He liked it! I'll post pictures of the carrot-broccoli debacle later ;)

Happy 6 months Max!

My little boy is 6 months old today! Time flies when you're having fun!

Oh, how I love this guy!

I am so not ready for this...

Max is 5 months old.

His life has been the most wonderful journey my husband and I have been on so far, but it's flown by so quickly! He is about to be the age at which solid foods are normally started, and I am kind of freaking out. Why, you ask?

Well, for starters, breastfeeding is easy. I don't have to think about it at all. I know that he is getting the best nutrition possible for him. The thought of introducing foods from the thousands of choices out there terrifies me. I realize that at this age it's more about just getting him acquainted with the physical aspect of having to chew things and tasting new flavors, but it sets the foundation for his entire adult life as far as diet goes. No pressure there.

Basically, I researched everything I could about being pregnant and having a baby, so by the time I actually did it, I was calm, cool, and collected. I consider myself to be a great baby-momma, but have I given much thought to being a mom of an older infant/toddler/child/adolescent? No way. I feel like I did when I got out of pharmacy school: that at any moment, someone was going to blow my cover and everyone would know that I am a complete fraud and have no idea what I'm doing here! I really feel like I've gotten the hang of this baby thing, and then everything changes on me. Now I'm responsible for his attitudes about food from now on, and considering my own attitudes about food leave much to be desired, I'm feeling apprehensive about the whole thing. That's putting it mildly. Today I felt sad about it, then excited for a few minutes, then sick for the rest of the day. I have a burning desire to be perfect for him, to make his life perfect, and I know I will never be perfect. So there's that.

Here is my baggage: 1) I am an emotional eater. If I have an emotion, I eat. Pretty much any emotion. 2) I have an enormous sweet tooth. 3) I don't currently cook very often. 4) I haven't quite gotten the hang of stocking a kitchen properly and often find myself staring blankly into the pantry and/or refrigerator racking my brain for something to eat before giving up and hitting Chick-fil-A.

My goals for Max are: 1) I will make all his baby food. 2) It will be fresh, organic, and as close to its naturally occurring state as possible. 3) He will appreciate a vast array of healthful foods and not eat junk food. 4) I want him to have treats occasionally, because I don't want to be a food Nazi, but I don't want to go overboard. It's so easy to fall into the trap of giving food as a reward, leading to unhealthy attitudes about food later.

Basically, I want him to eat the same foods as us and not processed, sugar- and preservative-laden jarred foods...which is bad because I will have to overhaul our diets, and good because I will have to overhaul our diets. (Not that we eat jarred foods, mind you) But we could definitely eat healthier. John claims he loves vegetables, and I guess I believe him, but he never comes clamoring to me asking for them. I always saw him as a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy. Me? I eat veggies because I know I need to, but honestly, I could live off cake and candy.

I know I've got a little more time before Max will be ready for solids, but it's coming on so lightning fast I needed to fret about it now, so I can be calm about it when it's time. There's just so much to think about! I'm so tired from all of it already. And so not ready for him to grow up.

My Little Splisher

He loves his bath!

Max's first trip to the Aquarium

This week my 15-year old nephew Austin and 14-year old niece Anna are staying with me. I invited them up to visit because I am a glutton for punishment. Just kidding. These kids are great! I always used to go stay with my aunt for a week or so when I was a teenager every summer and enjoyed it a lot. So I thought they'd like to come up and visit, hang out in the pool, etc.

Yesterday we went to the Dallas World Aquarium. I love that place! I've only been once, but the weekend I was there was wonderful, since that was when John asked me to marry him. :)

Anyway, I decided at the last minute not to bring my camera because I figured I wouldn't have much to take pictures of. I wish I had, though, because Max was way more into it than I would have thought. I did manage to get a picture of him on my cell phone (sorry for the poor quality):

He just kept looking at the fish, and one big one swam down close to him and he was trying to grab it! It was almost too cute for words.

I love this kid. Can you tell?

Elimination Communication

I had a question posted in the comments section of an earlier blog, so I thought I'd answer it here. It was about elimination communication (EC for short).

I was reading Cindy's blog one day about how she got into doing EC with Harper, and like her, I pooh-poohed the idea, until I read more about it. Here's the basic idea:

Animals are born with the innate desire NOT to sit in their own waste. Just look around nature and you'll see. Human babies are the only ones taught to do so. Before the advent of disposable diapers a lot of babies were potty trained prior to 2 years of age. My own grandfather's mother claimed that he was potty trained at 3 months (they just hung him out the window).

Human babies are conditioned to sit in their own waste in diapers, and then we marvel at how hard it is to train them NOT to go in their diapers after they have done it for a year or two! If you start early (prior to 6 months is ideal but you can even start later) you can learn their cues as to when they need to go and just take them to the potty. You just have to watch them, and it can take a while to learn, but they will let you know when they need to go, believe it or not! We've been doing this with Max since he was about 3-4 weeks old, and it's actually pretty fun! You don't have to do it all the time, even. Cloth diapering helps, because you can know when they've gone sooner, and they can feel when they're wet. This way they don't get used to sitting in it.

Some people do EC with the intent of going completely diaper-free, and some just use it as a tool to make true potty-training easier when the time comes. Nay-sayers say it's not training the kid, but the parent, but don't we have to learn our babies' cues for hunger, tiredness, etc.? This is no different. It just takes attachment parenting to a whole new level, and I'm for that! I like it because I'm getting to know Max even better, it cuts down on diaper changes, reduces blowouts (that alone was enough for me) and the chance for diaper rash. It's also fun to hear people's reactions...most are amazed when they hear about it, and even more so if they get to see him in action!

I'm sure I'm leaving lots of stuff out, but this is the basic idea. For more info, visit http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/, or check out the book by the same name by Christine Gross-Loh. Good stuff.

A bit of venting...

I fully intend to write a longer, more cheerful post at some point in the near future, but something is just bugging the devil out of me and I've got to vent.

I should make a sign to wear or just tattoo this somewhere on my face: "I believe that babies should be breastfed exclusively. I believe that ALL WOMEN can breastfeed their babies. DO NOT talk to me about why you 'can't' breastfeed your baby. I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR your excuses, and I AM HEARTBROKEN for your baby that you make horrible choices for his/her nutrition."

There is a girl that works at the same place I do, that is a young, single mother who was pregnant at the same time as me. I don't really talk to her too much as she tends to be a little high-strung for my taste. She came to work a few days after her baby was born and we passed over the topic of breastfeeding, and she said she wasn't going to. I do not know of a tactful way to urge people I don't know well to breastfeed. I tend to get confrontational when faced with excuses for not doing so, especially because these excuses tend to stem from ignorance, so I kept my mouth shut. Her baby is now 5 weeks old and I ran into her at work today. She began a conversation by asking me, "How much does your baby weigh?" I replied, "Oh, last check, about 16.5 pounds." She says, "My baby is 10 pounds [some-odd] ounces." (I wasn't really paying attention.) I said something non-committal like, "Oh, really?" Then she goes on to say that some friend of hers's baby is [some amount of time] older than her own and he doesn't even weigh 9 pounds or something. I said something to the effect of all babies being different, at which point she replies, "Well, we're feeding him stuff we're not supposed to. We feed him applesauce, and baby cereal." This baby is Five. Weeks. Old. She continues about how it helps him sleep at night, and he had been eating like, "every 2 hours". "Well," I said, "their tummies are very small, so that's quite normal." But then she said how much happier he is. I am so dumbfounded I can't even put together a complete sentence at this point. I think I said something like, "Well, you're happier" as I booked it out of there before I went off on her.

I do not get this. Where does this logic come from? I really wish women would educate themselves. I am so sick of hearing about these babies who are given all this extra "food" (if you want to call formula that) in the effort to make them sleep longer! And that doctors recommend it without trying to get to the bottom of why a breastfeeding baby is having trouble, if that's the reason (if they even tried it to begin with). I was talking about this with my friends Jim Bob and Cindy and how it's just basically putting them into food coma. It makes me sick about these babies getting empty calories or inferior products because their parents are either uneducated, do not care, or are just plain lazy! Human milk for human babies, people! God made our bodies to do it, but it's not easy! It's hard work to teach a mama and a baby to become an efficient breastfeeding pair, but it's so worth it! Take Max for instance. I never once entertained a thought of not breastfeeding him, but it was a lot of work at the beginning. He had to have a chiropractic adjustment in order to be able to latch on correctly, and I also had to meet with a lactation consultant. These people are worth their weight in gold.

At the pharmacy where I work, the door to get in is right next to the Great Wall O' Formula, and I shudder every time I go in or out. I guess people nowadays are just believing what they are spoon-fed by the mass media, doctors, and marketing giants as to how they should feed their child. It's just ridiculous, and I wish I could make a difference. I am just so incensed by it I tend to step on people's toes. I guess I either need to get over stepping on people's toes or figure out a way to educate people in a tactful and loving way. It is, after all, for the babies. They are the ones benefiting or suffering from a poor choice made by the parent.

That's all. I wish I could say I feel better now, but I don't. Ugh.