Sunday, August 17, 2008

Home from vacation!






We had a wonderful 2-week vacation in New Hampshire.  Some of the highlights were:  Fort Foster in Kittery point (we went on a downcast day & had the place to ourselves, including a gorgeous secluded beach), shopping at the Hanna Andersson outlet (where I found a pair of giraffe-print clog boots for moi for $24!!!), antique shops, lobster (twice!), York's Animal Kingdom, lots of fun at the beach of course, a new baby cousin (Abigail Dean arrived 8/4/8 on her Mom's birthday...how cool is that?!  She is sweet, she looks like a chubby little bear cub), and last, but not least, Orange  & Ocean won "Judge's favorite" for the costume parade contest with our "Purple Urchin" costume that we made by dissecting some purple pool noodles & then hot-gluing them to a leotard & then wrapping with a purple garland.  I thought it came out really good, I was surprised that the glue worked so well, it's like cement (yay for glue guns!).  We tried spiking her hair with egg whites but it didn't really work.  My sister made the signs which came out great!  Ocean was the "Beach Plum" (my Mom & sister made her costume, which was very cute as well).  Eva & Amelia were very cute bumble bees.  They didn't win anything, but they should have!  Next year! 
The "Beach Plum" is the name of a popular ice cream shop on Rt. 1 & the "Purple Urchin" is the name of a seafood restaurant conveniently located directly across from the judging pavilion.   We were a big hit.  The owner came over, offered us lunch (which we declined because we had to get back for Orange's party), and took pictures of the staff with Orange.
We won 2 restaurant certificates (she treated us to lobster one night & got her own for the very first time!) & one for the grocery store, and a "grab bag" of little toys.  Plus she'll get her picture in the newspaper!  I don't really have any pictures yet off our camera but here are some my aunt took (that's her with Ocean).

Friday, August 1, 2008

Baby food stuff: note to self



We plan on doing baby-led weaning, so we're going to skip the processed cereal crap & purees and go straight to "real" foods that she can pick up & eat herself.  This really makes sense to me as who would want flavorless mush repeatedly shoveled into their mouth?  By letting them decide what & how much to eat or whether they even want to at all  (it may just be an art project the first few times and that's fine!), you can foster healthy attitudes about food & eating right from the get-go.  There is definately mess involves but that is part of the process as baby explores the different tastes & textures.  Anyways, I'm not afraid of a little mess.   Actually, I'm usually the one who encourages mess.  

Some ideas for first foods:
bananas
avocados
sweet potato
blueberries
watermelon
pears
hummus
yogurt
beans
steamed broccoli
and some good sources of iron (since I'm skipping the iron-fortified cereal) include pumpkin, buffalo, beef, and egg yolks.

I'll add to this list as I think of more ideas.  I also have the Super Baby Food book by Ruth Yaron that I read when Orange was a babe.  I should dust that off & flip through it, I know she had a lot of great insight.  I'd also like to read Child of Mine by Ellyn Satter.  Oh, and I'd like to get one of those mesh feeders.
Ocean is showing some signs of readiness.  She can sit unassisted for a few minutes before toppling, "chews" & drools when she watches us eat (it's really cute!), and I think  she's outgrown the tongue reflex.  I offered her a bite of banana a couple of times she sucked on a stalk of broccoli once and a bean from our garden.  She doesn't have any teeth yet (although she seems to be working on it), so I'd like to wait a bit longer before "officially" offering solids.  I've read that the first teeth coming through is associated w/ the production of more digestive enzymes and thus an indication of readiness.  Makes sense.  Also, I want to breast feed as long as possible, of course.  Maybe not the 4.5 years that Orange had, but at least 2 years or longer.