7 Months Old

Our sweet little boy is 7 months old!  Here are a few updates...

Sizes?  Size 6 or 9 month clothes- he just wears what fits since sizes vary between manufacturers.  Size 2 diapers during the day, and size 3 at night.

Eating?  He nurses once a day, and receives three additional formula bottles a day (8 oz).  He's on a pretty great schedule- 6, 10, 2, and 6.  He gets two solid meals a day, as well as snacks of puffs or teething biscuits.  I'm also letting him try to eat some finger foods, and he's done great with fruit.  He's eaten a whole banana (cut into small pieces), a pear fruit cup, and a peach fruit cup.  I'm feeding him fruit packed in water with no added sugar, and breaking the larger fruit pieces into smaller chunks- he loves to pick up the pieces and feed himself!

Sleeping?  Like a champ!  Bedtime is at 6:30 pm, and he'll sleep until 6:30 am.  He also takes a short morning nap and a longer afternoon nap.   I love that he's such an easy baby to put to sleep- we just lay him down, give him his WubbaNub, crank the mobile, turn on the sound machine, and make a hasty exit (I promise that only takes 10 seconds in real life- it looks complicated in print).  He'll talk to his mobile for a little while, but then settle right down and go to sleep.

Favorite things?  Our dogs- He grins bigger for the dogs than anything else.  He also loves to play with his blocks from Mimi and Pop, his Sophie the Giraffe, and his push toy that makes a lot of noise.

New this month?
-First sick visit to the pediatrician for some diaper rash that just wouldn't clear up.
-First date night out for mom and dad, which meant babysitting from his sweet great aunt.
-First trip to the dog park to let the puppies play.

We also got to celebrate Keith's first father's day this month!  We even made a fun Auburn-inspired craft for Keith to place in his office.

How did we live before Pinterest?  I mean, really?

"What did you do to my feet, mommy?"

"I can make my Bumbo turn ORANGE!"

Totally unrelated to our craft and a blurry photo, but too cute not to post.  Look at this cutie pie!

I have the most precious little boy in the world.  I am so blessed to have him in my life.

More Baby Food

I'm two months in to homemade baby food making, and I still love preparing all of little man's food for him.  Just look at how pretty these purees are!

From top to bottom, left to right, potato-carrot-corn, strawberry, broccoli, mango, nectarine-strawberry, parsnip, cherry-banana, carrot.

Some other purees I've made that he's loved have included strawberry-blueberry, mango-banana, and blueberry-banana.

One of my baby food making books says that purees containing bananas aren't suitable for freezing.  I couldn't think of a reason why Gideon couldn't eat previously frozen bananas, other than freezing then thawing bananas changes the texture.  Little man LOVES banana containing purees.  (If I want to make just plain banana, I smush a banana with a fork and serve.  I don't prepare plain banana puree in advance).

Some tricks I've learned along the way with my most recent batches of food-

-Corn needs to be processed through a food mill or pressed through a sieve before freezing for texture.  I should've done this when I prepared english peas, as well.

-Strawberries are in season, so I've made multiple strawberry-containing purees.  It's a huge advantage of homemade baby food making- prepare what's in season for a HUGE cost savings!

-Nectarines peel easily if the peels are scored on the bottom, the nectarines are placed in boiling water for a minute, and then removed and placed immediately in ice water.  The skin just falls off.

-Peeled nectarines are slippery.  

-My dogs really like nectarines.

A few days ago I was in Target, and a mom walked past me on the baby aisle saying she was looking for mango baby food.  She continued to explain how mango was her son's favorite, but she had a really hard time finding mango puree.  This past week mangos were 10 for $10 at Publix, so for four dollars, I made six to eight servings of mango baby food, without having to search high and low for it!  Yet another homemade baby food advantage!

I think his current favorite is the cherry-banana.  The first time he tried it, he tried to steal the bowl away from me and grab the spoon.  See?

Bless him, if only I had a spoon-straw.

I'm looking forward to trying some new recipes in the coming weeks.  I'd really like to try making a puree from kale, and I can't wait until peaches are in season.

Slow down, time!

Oh my gracious little boy is growing up so fast!  Look at these neat accomplishments!

                                            Holding and manipulating Sophie the Giraffe

                                                         Playing in my activity center

                                                          And sitting all by myself!

"The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow, for babies grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.  So quiet down, cobwebs.  Dust go to sleep.  I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep."