Banana's on the menu

This week was Banana week!!!!

The recipe: 1/2 of a ripe banana and 1 tablespoon of formula, I smashed the banana and mixed everything in a bowl.

Conclusions:

- he liked it very much;

- no allergies or any other weird side effects;

- a daily, very good poop, a little bit harder, darker and smellier ( actually I could see bits of bananas in it), but no constipation, diarrhea or vomiting;

This week I also teased him into BLW a little bit. Meaning that I went out to a lebanese restaurant and they gave some unsalted pita and as Bryce was reaching for it, I gave him some. He was a happy camper to just chew on it. So, I'm confident that in the very near future we will do some more of that.

I notice in delight that he has a very good hand-mouth coordination ( e.g: he grabs the spoon and puts it right into his mouth with an amazing precision) and that he develops very good skills in grabbing all kinda of stuff ( sometimes food is on his way :))

Next week we will try some pear. Hope it will be another hit. We will let you know.

Some awesome grand parents

I remember myself as a kid reading books about spending the holidays with the grand parents, about those fairy tales grand parents read you before you go to sleep, play all kind of nice games and basically spoil you. Unfortunately, I didn't get to have grand parents ( just because they either died before I was born or while I was too little to remember them).

And now I have a baby myself, a beautiful son that brings so much joy and meaning to my life. And, this beautiful baby just happens to have the most awesome parents on planet Earth.

I will try to describe them a little bit:

- grand pa' Dan is a refined musician, he plays trumpet, piano, flute, you name it, the music is running through his veins and it is as vital to him as his blood;

- grand ma' Myrna is an amazing photographer; she loves arts, books, Paris, flowers; actually, she's a truly flower power, hippie, trendy kinda of a person; always open minded, always there to help you, listen to you, encourage you;

-grand ma' Rica ( she lives on the Old Continent) , she's an amazing knitter and cooker (my husband is in love with her "gogosi"); hopefully she will visit us soon;

- grand pa' Mihai ( unfortunately he died before my baby was born), but I know for sure that he would have loved him to pieces and definitely tought him chess;

We feel so blessed to have such grand parents and be together and share all these amazing and unforgettable moments.

I look forward to the days when he will be a little bit bigger and start practicing piano with his grand pa' or taking pictures with his grand ma' or whatever artsy and life lessons they will teach him. The results will be priceless.

And as my baby is growing, he will be the coolest kid on the block with a pair and a half of the coolest grand parents in the whole world.

5 months schedule

The little schedule that my son has and seems happy with it; btw, he chose it, I didn't impose it or force him into it:

- 6:30 - 7:00 am - tataratata.........Bryce is awake;

He plays in his crib and his jumparoo until around 9:00 am;

- 9:00 am - Bryce is in the high chair waiting for his breakfast;

After around one hour since he ate the fruits, he drinks one bottle of milk and goes to sleep.

- 10:00 - 10:30 am - Bryce's morning nap

Normally he naps for about 45 minutes maybe one hour.

- 11:15 - 11:30 am - Bryce is awake again;

More fun and exciting things happen until he's ready to have some milk again and go into dreams world for the Lunch sleep;

- 1:30-2:00 pm - The Lunch sleep

Most of the time, this is the longest nap of the day ( from 1-2 hours)

He will wake up somewhere around 3:30-4:00 pm. After that, more play and maybe a little nap, but most of the time, he will be ready to eat and go to nighty sleep around 7:00- 7:30 pm. He will wake up at night around every 3 hours, eat some more and go back to sleep until the next morning when a new day begins.

Less of a mom if I don't breast feed ??!!!

Well, it is not something that I planed to.

Unfortunately, since my son was 2 months old, because of some objectives reasons, I couldn't do it anymore, despite the fact that we did hire a lactation consultant and rent a professional pump etc

Did I feel bad? Yes, I did but life needed to go on and my baby needed the milk. So, we started on formula. Not because I wanted to sleep more or because it's more convenient. It's harsh to make such statements about moms that aren't breast feeding anymore. As I know for sure that most mothers out there want the best for their babies.

Even if he's on formula :

-Bryce is fed upon request as many times as he wants;

-Bryce is not overfed or overweight (at almost 5 months he was 16 pounds 05 oz which is the equivalent of 7,200 kg);

-Bryce wakes up at night at least every 3 hours;

So, how much sleep do I get at night as a formula fed mom? Well, probably less than a breast fed mother as I have to wake up and prepare the next round for the next time he's waking up.

* here, in the States, they have also already made formula, so I don't use powder and water to mix it, I just take it out from the fridge and warm it up;

I truly believe that breast feeding is the best for our babies, but sometimes, for different reasons ( laziness and commodity not included) you end up giving them formula.

Let's try not to be harsh with those moms!! They DO love and adore their babies, too.

Apple's on our checklist

So, we finished our 6 days trial with apples;

Conclusions:

- overall, he really liked lit;

- he opened his mouth, dipped his hands in the stuff I've made;

- no allergies or some other weird reactions;

- good poop ( I could see bits of apples in it, the color became darker);

We will take a 2-3 days break and next week we will try something new. This time: bananas!!!

I'm still reading and trying to gather as much information as I can about the BLW method. I've also joined the BLW yahoo forum where I can have a glimpse into other's people experience with this method.

I still believe this concept is really interesting and developing some of the baby's skills, the only thing that I'm a little bit scared of and concerned about is his ability of swallowing little pieces of food, my ability of being cool when I will see him gagging ( that most of the time looks like choking) with his face turning red and his eyes being in tears, my ability of just knowing how to react on the spot if something would have happened etc.

So, discussing these issues with my husband too, we came to the conclusion that a mixed approach at this stage would be more appropriate for our family, meaning that we will combine the classic method with the BLW; so like for example, when I will make the pureed carrots I will also try to offer him a boiled finger carrot son long and so forth...I know it is not true BLW anymore but who cares....What cares is that our family feels comfortable, safe and happy...

The thing that I know for sure is that I will not force food into his mouth.

So, we will meet next time with some banana experience until then enjoy some "apples" pictures...:)))

PS: One more thing that I would like to add about spoon feeding. Sometimes I get intrigued and irritated by some of the statements that I read in different books. This time it happens to be the one that says that spoon fed babies are more likely to choke that BLW babies because with the spoon fed babies you pushed the pureed food back in his mouth.

Well, let me tell you my experience with Bryce. Bryce DOES NOT slurp the food from the spoon, Bryce DID NOT choke on the pureed food ;what Bryce DID DO was to start to chew on what went into his mouth. Just like that, as natural as it can gets!!!!

PLEASE, let's not make moms feel bad about their decisions!!!!

I think I like apples...

Today my son is 5 months old. Yuppiii!!!!! Happy B-day kinda of my little sunshine!!!

Because mommy can not bake yet a cake for him, we thought we will celebrate with some apples-baby style!!!

So:

- I mixed 1/3 of a raw Gala apple ( looks like the Romanian "Ionatane") and one tablespoon of rice cereal; the result had a nice consistency and a good taste ( as I tried it);

*these apples are not too sweet but not too sour either, somewhere in between, my favorites ones and I'm picky when it comes about apples;

Well, I was pleasantly surprised to see that he ate everything I made. He opened his mouth in delight, I didn't push the sauce all the way in the back of his mouth but left it somewhere in the middle of his tongue and he started chewing and eventually swallowing all that it was to swallow; I loved that he didn't push it out with his tongue nor turn his head away.

Of course, this is his first day trying this new thing; I'm planing in having a six days trial, than take a little break and after that continuing with something new.

As we are approaching 6 months, I will also want to see how he will handle the BLW method. I didn't give up on it.

It is hard and challenging to raise a child but the rewards are priceless; this is one of them.:))

5 months check-up

Well, it is too much to say 5 months, as Bryce is not 5 months yet but, yesterday, January 14th we had our 5th months check-up.

Results:

- he weights 16 pounds 05 oz ( approx 7,200 kg)

- he is 27" long ( almost 69 cm long)

Our dear doctor, Nicole, whom I loved, is very happy with his development. "A healthy and happy baby" she said.

Well, I try to do my best to raise a happy and healthy baby. But, I have to admit that my son helps me a lot. I just couldn't do it without his help. He guides me and shows me exactly what to do. And so far, it worked. I hope this relationship will grow stronger and that I will remain his BEST FRIEND forever. :)))

We also redid the shots from 3 months:

- Rotavirus;

- Pc

- Polio;

After 24 hours no side effects whatsoever. I will keep my fingers crossed.

This is it for the moment. I will keep you posted with the 6 months check-up ( half a year- OMG - time just flieeeeeeeeeees). :))))

A little break

Today was the sixth day since I've started giving my baby some rice cereal.

Conclusion:

-overall not very enthusiastic;

-he didn't hate it but didn't love it either;

-he liked to play with it more than anything.

There were a couple of days when he ate 3-4 spoons but otherwise just 1 or 2 max.

We will take a short brake, I'm thinking around 1 week; next week he will be 5 months old so we're getting closer to the BIG MOMENT. But, who knows maybe the BIG MOMENT is already here.

Anyway, my next try will be with some bananas (like a pureed) , some baked apples and some sweet potatoes. Not all at once but one at a time. I'm very curious how his reaction will be but we will keep you posted.

More solids...and we're learning

As I've stated before, we make little steps towards this big thing called THE SOLIDS.

We've played with bananas, boiled carrots and broccoli and in the last couples of days we've tried a little bit of rice cereals.

I've mixed in a small bowl one table spoon of rice cereal with 4 table spoons of formula, put the bowl on his tray and I've waited to see what would happen. Of course, his fingers were all over the bawl and while I let him play, I got a soft spoon and tried to feed him some of that stuff.

He opened his mouth with no hesitation, being intrigued by the object that got into his mouth as well as by its content but without spilling it out; no, no, he just swallowed everything even if there was still a grimace on his face. :))He had around 2-3 little spoons of that mixture.

I don't even know what to make out of it. He is not yet 5 months, he will only be 5 months in one week from now, so accordingly to almost all the books I've read, I should still wait a good full month. Is he ready for the solids?

- he sits all by himself in the highchair

- he is very interested in what we're eating, he's watching us with big interest;

- if he's on our lap, he reaches for the plate in front of us and even grabs the food we try to put in our mouths;

Hmmm......as rational as I've been so far, no paranoia whatsoever, I think I will just go with what my gut is telling me...I will just fallow my instincts; that is what I did so far and it seemed to have worked. My books will be my guidelines....my inner, motherly instincts will be my final decisions.

I will keep you posted.

Rolling over is my thing

I could not but notice in delight how much he likes rolling over lately. It is like his favorite thing. He likes to do it everywhere I laid him flat, in our bed, in his crib, in the playard.

I will try to upload a video as soon as my hubby will teach me how. :)) With You Tube is so much easy.

Lately, he also loves to lift up his head like an attempt to raise in the sitting position from the back position.

He's doing and saying so many amazing things and it is so hard to catch him on camera 'cause when I turned it on he becomes very, very aware of it. I wonder if he will be as much interested in this object in the future as he is now. Remember, his father started making movies when he was only 5 so there is a gene right there. :)))

I'm so thrilled with his development and there are so many more thrilling moments to come.