6 Months

Well, we're halfway to a year. Baby is 6 months old...YAY! This age group of 6-9months is an exciting time including crawling, giggling endlessly and intro to solids. She had her first bites of butternut today. She was so extremely cute in her high chair. We are doing the BLW way which in a nut shell is baby leads the way. No real hard and fast rules other than don't put food in the baby's mouth and ensure the food is soft and conveniently shaped so baby can grip with her palm. Here is a link that explains baby-led-weaning nicely.

She was reaching for the butternut straight away. I helped place it in her palm and she put it straight into her mouth. She was chewing it and having fun. Then she dropped that piece in her hand and quickly reached for another one. Unfortunately, I had steamed it to be a bit too soft so it mushed and broke up before it got to her mouth. We tried a couple sliced chunks at noon and then a couple more chunks at 5pm. As barely any made it into her mouth (due to the mushyness), I took a spoon and put teeny bits on it and she brought the spoon to her mouth and took it off herself.

The first round, she did gag a bit as she bit off more than she could chew but she quickly learned not to put too much in her mouth. I'd say about 99% of the butternut ended up on her bib, high chair or floor. But that's ok. She's just learning about food and how eating works. The mantra of BLW is food under one is for fun as babies nutrition comes from milk.

A friend of mine who has 7 kids discovered BLW with her last baby and she said she had wished she'd known about it way before. She says her last baby is the best eater (not picky, doesn't overeat) which is what many who do BLW say about their babies.

The beauty of BLW is baby learns to chew before swallowing, is a less picky eater, and less likely to overeat as they control how much they want. The downfall is BLW is messy, very messy. Also, much patience is required. I was tempted to just take the butternut and mush it and feed it to her but I'm trying to keep my patience as I think it will pay off well in the long run.

Bottom line, baby really enjoyed her first experience with food. She was so relaxed and very in to it. Words cannot describe how cute the experience was. Another baby first!

Ps, this has nothing to do with BLW but since last Sunday baby has really gotten into babbling words like blebleble, mamamama, lalalala, dadadada, nananana. So adorable.

Pps, she has become so anti nap I go a little crazy during the day. She is tired when I take her for her nap but yhoo, she has no desire to sleep and throws a fit. It's a big exhausting job to get her to nap.

Musings

I am loving motherhood! I spend 24/7 with this baby and it's so fun and doesn't get old. We have lot's of cuddle time, outside time, play time, exercise time, story time, song time. One of our fav things to do is play ball. I sit her on one end of the loveseat and I at the other. Then we roll this soft soccer ball back and forth (she got it for Christmas) and we are both all smiles and squeals of happiness. My baby loves to use her feet as weapons. She pushes them into my leg, pinches my skin with her toes and then twists and turns them. She loves to kick anything and everything near her feet. And she kicks hard! But that's not what I'm here to talk to you about today...

I'm actually not here to talk to you about anything specific. Just some random thoughts. Well, maybe random isn't the word I want.

I can't wait to have baby #2 then #3 (that is if I'm blessed to have more kids). If I were in my 20's, I'd probably try to get pregnant next month. But alas, I'm mid 30's so I feel I should wait until LO is 1 so my body has that time to rebuild calcium, iron and folic acid stores to give #2 a healthy start. Plus, I still have 4kg pregnancy weight I want to shed plus a little more. I want to be thinner at the start of this next pregnancy.

I lost 6kgs so far this month. In a nutshell, it's all about eating protein, veg, fats together and carbs, vegs together and fruit alone on empty stomach. Why? Protein requires a more acidic environment to digest whereas carbs (as in grains) require a more alkaline environment. If the two are eaten together you get indigestion. Fruits digest quickly thus they shouldn't be combined with other foods to avoid gas. And fats mixed with protein doesn't cause weight gain whereas carbs with fat equals weight gain. And I avoid sugars. I honestly don't feel deprived one teeny bit! I had loosened the "reins" to have a cheat meal today and I just don't need it. I had peanut butter on toast and popcorn. That was my cheat meal! I don't think I'll have a cheat day this coming week cuz like I said, I don't feel deprived.

FB is becoming so old news and quite boring. I want to leave but I have so many photos on there I don't want to lose them and I have no desire to download them all!! I've just decided to not really go on it anymore.

I'd love to go on a family vacation. DH and I haven't been anywhere except for our mini honeymoon a couple years ago. We went an hour away up the coast for 3 nights. We couldn't afford to do much. I'd be thrilled to just go camping! But DH has never gone camping and has a tainted idea of what camping is (sleeping in the bush with bugs and praying bad guys don't come and get us). He also thinks it's absolutely absurd to take a baby camping. Africans.

Things I Hate to Hear and Things I Can't Hear Enough

There are three things that people say to me as a mother that drive me bananas. Unfortunately, I hear these things often enough that now I have to blog vent about it.

1. "Watch that baby/look after that baby!" What the H.E.double hockey sticks is that suppose to mean?? Do people think I put my child in a pile of garbage while I run off to the spa for facials?! I WATCH MY CHILD thank you very much! That child is my life. I'm with her 24/7. She even comes with me when I go to the loo. She spends a lot of time in my arms or on my lap too. When we go somewhere, I sit in the backseat with her and we hold hands (unless she falls asleep). Her bed is beside mine and shall be until she is 1. When it's her bedtime, I check on her every few minutes to makes sure all is well. Now please, dont come and say I'm a crazy overprotective mother. She has her independent play time too on her activity mat and goes to sleep on her own in her own bed at bedtime. So the next person who says "look after that baby" is gonna get whipped with a car antennae.

2. "Your baby is so big! She eats too much." The ironic thing is the people who say this to me are fat women. Uh, look in the mirror honey! A. B. my baby is a few grams above average for the weight chart for her age. She's got some chub on her thighs and forearms but she's a baby. Babies aren't suppose to be skinny!! That cute little chub that I relish will go when she crawls and grows. C. she doesn't eat too much, especially based on the calculations of babies under 6months are to eat 120-150ml/kg a day. This point is starting to not bother me so much anymore cuz I've learned that people are dumb. They don't know what what and yet they flap their jaws. My baby is perfect and her needs are being met plus billions of loves and cuddles. The End.

3. "You must...." Everyone has two cents to contribute. Please stop with the advice. I've read the books and googled the information. I'm the mother, I know my child and I have instinct. Like every adult, each baby is a unique individual. I typically just smile and nod when people share their "knowledge" and then I go about my day.

The things that I can't hear enough are

1. "Your baby is sooo cute!" One time in the grocery store a lady and her young daughter were in awe over me babe. She then said she'd give me 4 million to adopt my baby (of course she wasn't totally serious) and of course I said no, she is priceless and mine!

2. "Your baby looks like you" Sometimes I wonder if it is meant to a compliment, but I take it as one cuz my baby is dang adorable in my opinion. Thank you :)

3. "Your baby smiles a lot" Yep, we try to have a happy little family and she does smile lots :)

Baby's First Christmas

it was a lovely first for our family :) i had done the present shopping in november to avoid the crowds in the mall. we took her to sit on santa's lap last week. we took her to the ward christmas party on saturday and she got a present from santa then (stacker which is perfect for her). then yesterday, we sat her on the brown chair and she opened each present (slowly and with a little help) and she did pretty good ripping the paper off the gifts for a 4 month old. she's so dang cute! we then skyped with grandma. then she played on her activity mat (after nap time of course) with her new toys while i baked 5 dozen gingersnaps, baked 14 potatoes, roasted 2 pans of chicken and got the other stuff ready (beet salad, cucumber salad, corn on the cob, tzatziki) while hubby took care of baba and entertained guests (he can't do the kitchen stuff like i can), uncle onive braaied the borevors and the missionaries chilled and helped here and there. there was a lot of food. a lot! we've had people over for christmas luncheon for the past 3 years and each time there is just enough food. i was not interested in having to go to mcdonalds for christmas dinner this year so i went a bit overboard. we will be eating leftovers today and tomorrow. which is alright cuz then i don't have to worry about cooking.

cuz we'd been working hard the past couple days getting ready for yesterday, i've decided to do nothing today except relax, watch my christmas presents (twilight BD2, madagascar 3 and big bang theory season 2) and play with baby. i sat her on the brown couch and we played with her new soft ball. she loves it! we had so much fun rolling it back and forth. this woman is very smart and strong. then i read her the new book of colors/shapes/numbers/opposites. i have done a load of laundry tho cuz the mountain was big. but i think i'll just leave it at that one load. i also went swimming while hubby watched baby this morn. it is a hot hot summer day here in the southern hemi. we attempted a walk at 9:30am but it was waaay too dang hot and baby's legs were in the sun no matter what i did to hide them. so we scraped it 10mins into the walk.

see how cute the little woman is opening her pressies!

Yehaw!

I am thoroughly enjoying this stage of my baby-3 to 6 months! she's 3 months and 2 weeks. so delightful. she is still an adorable baby with the most kissable delicious cheeks but now she has a nice routine and has more play time and she "talks" a lot with me and smiles all the time and gets excited and loves to look at stuff and be outside. she's even doing funny things like she'll be on her activity mat tugging on her hanging toys and talking away at them, then she'll grab Cotton (her pink kitty) and put it beside her and will watch Three's Co and more often than not, laugh at the correct parts!

note mr and mrs roper on the screen, baby on one end of her "bark-a-lounger" and Cotton on the other end. I promise you, I did NOT set up the pink kitty or baby to sit as such, baby did it all on her own.

she'll make faces at things that smell bad. she does these ab crunches to sit upright-not that she lasts long in the upright position as she's still developing balance. she's really strong!! she's even got a few cute tickle spots and the way she wriggles with a cute smile and squeak when i gently tickle her. O.M.G. I can't get enough of this adorable child. i spend about 80% of the day saying "you are sooo cute!" she's clever too! when we have story time, she turns the page...the correct direction! she usually grabs more than 1 page at a time but at least she's got the jist of how to work a book. and she really pays attention to you while you talk to her. infact, she gets mad if she's trying to talk to you and you don't make eye contact. look at how she's listening to daddy.

she's like that with all conversations.

I love feeding her! she grabs my thumb in one hand, pinky in the other and squeezes (sometimes I think she will break my fingers) and gently twists/turns them. it's so cute. she has become an easily distracted eater though. her eyes are all over the place and she's turning her head every direction that a sound comes. this woman even tries to watch the tv while eating! and if daddy enters the room, she gets all wide eyed and bushy tailed. if I talk to her she stops eating and flashes me some smiles then tries to conversate back. her feet are all over the place too. when i pause to wipe her chin she ab crunches up and tries to grab at her milk back to her mouth and gives a couple "hey!s" until the food is back in her mouth. she's got an appetite fo sure. i love it.

i miss her when she sleeps. but am glad she is sleeping cuz then i can get stuff done, like now i'm bloggin. i can also do some dishes, make dinner (chicken breyani tonight!) and of course express milk.

i've knocked the expressing schedule down to 4 times in the day and once at night when she wakes up sometime between 3-5am for her meal. it's much less stressful and i still get out the same amount of milk in a 24hr period so why should i knock myself out and express 8 times for the same results? i've done lot's of searching for info on partial feeding. there's not much out there. it's either breast is best or formula amounts for baby. there's been studies on just 50ml of breast milk a day providing a host of amazing benefits for the little one, which makes me feel better. i can't help but wonder how different everything would have been if baby and i were successful at est EBF. i'd been a lot less stressed and we'd have saved tonnes of money on lactation prescriptions, lactation herbals, breast pumps (yes plural), bottles and of course formula. that's on the top of my list when i go to heaven-why couldn't baby and i EBF????? but alas, there is purpose in all things (like maybe someone in my future will experience the same and i can provide "advice" and comfort) and it is what it is. o, i can say that now. i think i've finally stopped crying about it. i wont even try to describe the emotions felt behind this cuz it can't be described. only those who experience can understand. anyways, that's not what i want to talk about.

baby still loves bath time! can't wait till she's sitting without support so i can take the little basin outside and she can splash around while i sit beside and play with water squirting toys etc. i love the smiles she flashes me during bath time. her face is extra cute (if that's even possible).

here's what our day of fun looks like:
sometime between 6-8am-breakfast 1 (she eats 5x a day and once at night)
chats, smiles, cuddles in my bed as daddy has gone to work (her bed is in our room. she used to sleep beside me in my bed but she's grown and the bed isn't big enough for 3)
nap for mommy and baby-she usually falls asleep while playing with my hand, sooo cute
wash up and dressed in day clothes
then we begin the 2.5 hr intervals of the following-
activity time (once a day it's outside and once a day mommy has exercise time while baby plays on activity mat), meal time, variety time (hang laundry with mommy/story time/song time/scripture time), nap time

she's pretty good at napping...now. she didnt used to be but as i look back, it's cuz i didn't have any kind of routine in place for her nor did i get that she needed a little help to take a nap after a certain period of being awake. that's why we had a bit of a fussy baby. anyways, live and learn. i think special spirits are chosen to be the first born cuz the parents don't really know what they're doing and need a hardier baby to practice on.

advice for future mamas-spend more time reading/learning what to do with baby when baby comes. spend less time stressing on pregnancy. i was so obsessed with the pregnancy and upcoming birthing that i didn't really prepare for what to do once the baby comes! and to know what the baby needs more in the way the needs are to be met. also read-Baby Sense and the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. 2 books i wish i had known about/encouraged to read while pregnant.

anyways, can't wait to give baby her first bites of solids! and of coures, baby's first Christmas :) presents are bought and wrapped already. not that she'll really know what's going on or even how to open the present but it is her first christmas so it's important. she will also be sitting on santa's knee.

Pink

is how I'm feeling now. My  baby is napping!!! Ahh, nice and calm. She had 3 nice naps yesterday and went to bed nicely too. She's on her 3rd nap now. When she awoke from her am nap (I bring her into bed with me so I can fall asleep after our morning chat as daddy has gone off to work early so there is plenty o room for wee one), I peeked in to the room to see how she was. And there she was quietly looking around until she caught my eye, then she flashed her gorgeous infectious smiles and started her baby babbles and squeals of delight. That stuff makes my day. She's such a dolly faced delight. She had a bath this morning. She loves baths. She gets all wide eyed and bushy tailed when she sees the towel...she knows whats about to happen. She's a clever 11 week old. She's taken to holding the bottle with both hands to feed herself these days. I'm sure once she's walking, she'll potty train herself. She even watches Three's company with me. No joke. I sit her in my lap after she eats (must keep her upright for a bit on account of her reflux you know, soon she'll grow out of that) and she literally watches Three's Company from beginning to end. Plus, I got to exercise this morning. That always makes a lady feel good.

It's hot out. Christmas is coming. Never feels like Christmas with the heat. I feel more Christmasy in July here than December. I pray next December, we'll have enough mula to take a vacay up north to have some fun in the snow with Santa.

Well. That's my story morning glory...today anyways.

Blue

is a bit how I'm feelin today. I feel like I'm not doin much as a mom. Like a couple of my other friends with babies are doing things like cooking fancy food, crafting clever home tools, caring for older children, breastfeeding (I may be pained on this forever) all while devoting love to their DH. I on the other hand am eating instant oatmeal, growing a pile of laundry, wearing the same outfit everyday like a cartoon character, expressing 15ml of milk (down from 30ml when I was on the lactation Rx) and ripping my hair out in frustration at trying to be a semi good mom to a very high maintenance allbeit incredibly cute baby. Sometimes, I even forget to drink water. I do not have it together and I am not super mom like my friends. I wish I had some family or friends in this country to help and bring us a casserole or clean my bathroom. My DH is trying his hardest by working, cooking once in awhile, doing dishes and helping with our sweet little primadonna. My mom's curse worked-when I was a young challenging child she said "I hope you have babies exactly like you! Then you will know what I've gone through." and here we are with an adorable, smiley baby who is exactly like me-stubborn, demanding, easily pissed off and wants it her way. I love her more than life and want the best for her. This is why I'm going crazy.

Isn't she cute!!