First Solid Food!

Yesterday (2/24), Saoirse got her first taste of something that wasn't liquid in nature. Not breastmilk, gripe water, or tylenol. Or simethicone. Yes, our bubble issues are great.

She FINALLY got to have something on her spoon.

 She was pretty thrilled by that idea.

Full of good fats and other things that are great for a baby's developing little brain, we chose avocado as her first solid food. Mashed up and diluted with water to make it a consistency she's a bit more familiar with.

Her daddy fed her first, as I'm generally the person behind the food. This gave him a chance to be in the thick of it. Saoirse loves spoons. She loves to play with them and is pretty good at getting them in her mouth. So this was a new experience, there being something on the spoon. And she was totally digging.

She was pretty thoroughly covered with it by the end. Her face and hands were green as she likes to grab the spoon. This picture was taken before everything was over. The bib was far more green by the time she was done, due to her method of attempting to suck the food off of the spoon. But she didn't do the fairly standard 'sputter-food-out' thing. That pretty spectacular tongue thrust reflex is long gone. 

Afterward she took a shower with Cheerio. Which was a good idea since being hosed off was probably the easiest solution to the amount of baby guacamole between her fingers. And on her eyebrows. And her face in general. 

We stopped when she seemed over it. Not really interested in the food coming at her (ie grabbing the spoon). The looks she gave us while eating were pretty close to "WHERE HAS THIS BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!?" I'm pretty certain she's convinced we've been holding out on her. After the shower though, she was all up for the boob. With a look sort of like "I haven't been cut off, have I?"

No, baby girl, you haven't. You've got boob milk at your disposal for a while to come now. 

Gluten free and dairy limited

Well, largely. I did give in and have cookie dough in my frozen yogurt on Friday. But other than that, we've been gluten free since Feb 13. It's not easy. I love bread. But I've had stomach issues my whole life (lactose intolerance and diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome since around age 11), and she's been having bad painful gas that has been known to wake her up screaming. So for the sake of both of us, we're trying this whole GF thing. 

For the record, Vanilla Chex and Puffins Honey Rice cereals are really good. 

It seems to have helped my stomach at least a bit and my trial run on Saoirse was somewhat thwarted by a minor virus that due to a slightly stuffy nose increased her bubbles. That was a rough couple of nights. 

I found this recipe for GF tortillas on Pinterest (it is on my dairy and/or gluten free board) which turned out amazingly good. Link: http://www.yammiesglutenfreedom.com/2013/04/gluten-free-flour-tortillas.html?m=1

They were awesome and pretty much just like gluten tortillas. So yummy. I should make some more. 

I plan on trying these later this evening. Link: http://food52.com/recipes/24791-gluten-free-dinner-rolls

God, I want some bread. I'm going to have to somehow figure out how to substitute xantham gum for psyllium husk  and some other thing for arrowroot flour, as I couldn't find either at Whole Foods. 

1st Valentine's Day

I took these yesterday in honor of Saoirse's first Valentine's Day. I'd been meaning to do a photo shoot for a while and, well, I had black sheets on my bed which made for an easy background. She's grown so much. She's almost 17 lbs, due to start solid foods at the beginning of March, when she's 6 months old. She still fits in many of her 3 mos outfits, but she's definitely moved more solidly into the 3-6 and 6 mos clothes area. 

She loves picking things up and shoving them in her mouth. She tried to steal some of Ana-Cherie's French fries yesterday, but my mom caught her before she got them into her mouth. Which is good because French fries are definitely not what I planned for her first solid food (that'd be avocado). We still haven't had that first tooth break through, even though she's been teething for what seems like forever. 

She loves to "fly" (us holding her up in the air), it gets the biggest grin out of her. She's also recently developed some consonants. She's saying something like "da da". She also likes to sputter, lots of slobber involved there. But it's cute. 

Pre-Shot Photo Sequence

We went and got the Pc and HiB shots today. I also hijacked their scale and weighed her with her clothes and diaper on. She's nearly 17 lbs there, so probably 16.5-16.75 without clothes and a diaper (we use cloth diapers so they're a bit more hefty).  Anyway, while we were waiting for the nurses to come back with the shots I took this sequence of pics because Saoirse was in a happy, chatty mood. 

She loves her hands. 

They're a great always-with-you toy/teething item. 

Chatting up a storm 

Smiley girl. 

She did pretty well with her shots. She cried, which is okay cause it hurts, but she cheered back up pretty quickly. She was back to flirting by the time we made her appointment for her 6 month checkup and shots in March. 

Firsts

It's been a week or so of firsts for Saoirse. 

Last Wednesday she sat in a shopping cart for the first time. 

Monday she had her first not-for-shots doctor appointment, where she was diagnosed with her first sinus infection and given her first rx for amoxicillin. 

This warm/cold/warm/cold weather has everyone's sinuses messed up. 

On Tuesday, we bought her a high chair which she loves. 

It lets her be in the middle of everything AND have stuff to play with within reach. 

She also had her second shopping cart experience at Target on Tuesday. 

And today she is 5 months old. 5 months of exclusively breastmilk, which I'm pretty proud of, and which has her essentially at double her birth weight. She was 16 lbs 1 oz on Monday, and she was 8 lbs 1.5 oz at birth. 

She still fits in 3 mos clothes, but they're moving towards snug and the 6 months stuff is still a bit big but not swamping her. Her feet are still too small for a size 2 shoe by about an inch. She definitely hasn't turned out to be the ginormous baby we were half-expecting with my brother having been 9.5 lbs+ at birth (he was term, I was 2 weeks early), and her daddy being nearly 10 lbs at birth. My mom was guessing at least a 9 lb baby and that none of the newborn stuff would fit and that she would leave 0-3 months clothes quickly. She has been surprisingly average. A little higher than 50% in weight and a little lower in height (poor girl will probably end up short like her 5'3" mama). Once she was born, I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight (at least by the time I got home to a scale). 

She's beautiful, smart, and would love to buy a consonant so she can join in the conversations around her. For now, she's working with the shrieks and periodic giggles available to her. And still loving her showers. She gets so excited when shower water runs. 

Car Seat Review: Safety 1st Elite 80 3-in-1

We got Saoirse a new car seat for the van to see if she just hates car seats in general or if it's just her bucket seat (which she still fits in quite well). Well, turns out she hates car seats, but she hates her bucket (a Chicco Keyfit 30) more. Which is understandable as it is far less padded than the new S1 we got her, after I did much research. Overall, I am happy with the new purchase. 

I'm going to break this down into pros and cons.

Pros: very well padded, looks comfy, the only valid 3-in-1 convertible seat, pretty easy to install if you follow the manual, the cup holder seems like it would actually be validly usable for a child if they have, ya know, arms long enough to need a cup holder. Goes rear facing to 40 lbs. Harness forward facing to 70 lbs. High back booster til 100 lbs. No rethread harness and head rest moves with one hand (which adjusts the harness as well.) Very nice air head pads. 2 cup holders. Steel reinforced. 

Cons: it is big. Rear facing it takes up a lot of room back to front, so it wouldn't really be valid in smaller vehicles (we have a Dodge Grand Caravan). Wouldn't play well with other car seats as it is broad, but we have Captain's seats so that wasn't a concern for me. Joseph doesn't much care for the harness straps, but they don't bother me so that is a matter of opinion. 

It's pretty heavy, about 25 lbs, which is both a pro and a con. Under new regulations, LATCH shouldn't be used past when the child's weight + the car seat weight= 65 lbs. This seat rear faces to 40 lbs, so I shouldn't have to switch to using a seat belt til Saoirse is forward facing (which I don't plan to do until Saoirse is 40 lbs and is therefore too heavy to rear face in this seat).

As you can see in the above picture, I had to add a rolled up towel to get the appropriate recline on the seat, as the Grand Caravan has bizarrely slanted seats. This is allowed, per the manual. 

Smiling in her seat with Wubbanub Kitty and Mr Hedgehog. The air head pads can be seen by her head. 

Plenty of room to grow, nice sleek black coloring 

Disclaimer: I was not paid or reimbursed for this post. I bought the car seat myself, all $229+tax. The opinions expressed are mine alone. 

Ramblings

I always think of brilliant things to post about at 2 am when I can't post them because a baby is asleep on my arm and still attached to my boob. #firstworldproblems

At Saoirse's 4 month appointment, she was 14 lbs 13 oz, 24.5 inches long, and her head was 16 inches around. She's definitely teething, per her swollen lower gum (as if the drooling and finger chewing weren't evidence enough). During the day, she will fight sleep like no one's business. It often requires walking, a car ride, or me lying down with her in our darkened room and nursing to get her to sleep. Not at all certain how that will work when I get a job, but other people seem to have an easier time getting her to sleep without a boob. 

Which is good, since I'm the only one with functioning boobs. 

I'm thrilled that she has only been fed breastmilk since she was born. She's had a few bottles of pumped milk without any problems, but no formula. I'm very proud of myself for that. I didn't leave her with someone else for long enough for her to need a bottle until she was almost 3 months old. 

She definitely prefers it straight from the boob though. We had a bottle that still had half an ounce or so in it when I got home from Pure Barre and, given the status of liquid gold that breastmilk has, I kinda wanted her to finish it. She refused, just kinda chewed on the nipple for a few minutes before fussing and demanding it straight from the tap, so to speak. 

I'm quite proud of these little rolls. She has hand dimples and arm and tummy rolls and thunder thighs. She's definitely a fan of the boob. 

She's also quite good at sitting in her Bumbo. She's been able to roll from tummy to back since she was about 2 months old (oct 28), but she seems really uninterested in going from back to front. She prefers her back to her tummy, so it's not high on her list of priorities. She giggled, definitely giggled, on Jan 16. It was adorable. She likes to stand up (with support obviously), and has started "high stepping" as my mom calls it. It's cute. She will definitely have me beat for amount of hair by age 1. I was nearly bald, so it wouldn't take much, but she has way more hair regardless. 

Baby Faux-hawk