Food, Glorious Food!

As I mentioned, Sam has started to eat his veggies. High chair time has become a completely new experience now that we're offering something that actually has taste, as opposed to that nasty, cardboard-tasting baby cereal. He now actually opens his mouth in anticipation of the next bite, rather than having to be convinced and/or tricked into taking another bite. With his favorites, which is Butternut Squash so far, we sometimes can't feed him fast enough. He actually whines if we don't shovel some more into his mouth within what he considers to be a reasonable amount of time. Buddy, we have to get more on the spoon before we can get more into your mouth! Now we are mixing veggies with his cereal and it goes down much better as well :-)

Sam is a good eater! Right now he's eating 7oz of veggie puree and 5-6 tablespoons of cereal a day, on top of nursing 5 times per day. Maybe we'll add some of that weight back on soon. He's still a messy eater, though. The small drips onto the bib aren't bad, until he takes a break to try to eat his bib and ends up rubbing the drips all over his face. Or he decides to start sucking on his fingers before he swallows his bite of food. Oh, dear. Oh, and sneezing with a mouth full of peas creates a lovely green splatter pattern all over baby, mommy, and high chair. Its not that hard to clean up, but he doesn't like to have his face wiped off. Hopefully he'll get over that!

Because his skin is already so sensitive and I've read that skin problems can be connected with allergies, we are trying to take our time introducing new foods to make sure he isn't allergic to anything. So far we have squash, peas, avocado, sweet potatoes, and zucchini on the approved list. We're going to try out bananas tomorrow!

I'm trying to take the route of making all of Sam's baby food. I found a produce market where I can get farm-fresh, seasonal fruits and veggies just a few blocks from my house, and I have a food processor that was itching to be used more, so I figured why not? I'm actually really enjoying it, and find it to be really easy. I like that I know exactly what's in his food, and that I feel like I'm already "cooking" for him. And now Sam has his own shelf in our freezer for his food.

Oh, and the best part...he's sleeping better! I'm getting 2 two-hour naps per day and he's sleeping about 11 hours at night. Sometimes he still wakes up overnight, but usually a paci is all he needs. This is a major improvement over the 1-3 times/night he was waking up just a few weeks ago!

Six Months

Sam is half a year old! He's so grown up! I know I say this every month, but I can't believe its been this long. I realized that I don't have a hard to accepting that Sam is 6 months old, but it doesn't feel like its been half a year since my life changed so dramatically. Has it really been that long since I went to work? I guess so, because my life at home with Sam feels pretty normal these days.

Last month I mentioned that Sam could sit for short periods of time unassisted. Well, just a few days later he began sitting by himself for as long as we leave him in one place. He is officially a sitter. He's even getting more daring about how far he'll reach for a toy. So I guess the next step will be crawling. When place on his tummy, he'll reach for toys with one hand, and sometimes he'll scoot a bit, but I think we're still a couple months away from crawling. That's ok - I like that to know that he stays where I put him for now :-)

Our biggest development over the past month has been the introduction of solid food. I already posted about the cereal. About a week ago we started offering veggies and he LOVES them. More on the baby food to come later...We had our 6-month well visit yesterday and spent lots of time getting questions about eczema and feeding solids answered. The good news is, even on days when I think Sam's skin is REALLY bad, the doctor only considers it to be a 3 on a scale of 1-10. We did get a prescription topical steroid to use on flare ups, so hopefully we'll be able to continue to manage his symptoms. And of course Sam was weighed and measured - he's still long and lean. Very lean. He's 26 1/4 inches long (50%), but only 14 lbs 12 oz. That's the 5th percentile for weight. The doctor spent 5 minutes reassuring me that he is not in the least bit concerned about his slow weight gain, especially since he's doing so well on his milestones. He mentioned that size as a baby is largely genetic, and I have confirmation from both grandmas that Chris and I were both peanuts as babies. I can tell you though, if our appointment had been 15 minutes later (ie AFTER he finished his bottle) he would have weighed in at 15 lbs 1 oz (I know because I weighed him after the nurse left while we were waiting for the doctor!). I looked it up and that the 11th percentile. Either way, he's pretty cute! Oh, and he got 4 shots and 1 oral vaccine while we were there. Not happy about that! Luckily he forgets quickly.

So that brings us to our monthly lists of like and dislikes:
Likes:
-Pacifier
-Veggies
-Chewing on anything he can get in his mouth
-Tickling/Blowing on his belly
-Playing Independently

Dislikes:
-Baby Cereal
-Being dropped off at the Nursery

I Want My Mommy!

When I was pregnant, and for Sam's first few months of life, I longed to have a time where he WANTED me. I hoped that he would look to me for his comfort, support, encouragement and love, rather than just as a source of food ;-) I wanted my hugs to be different than everyone else's.

Well, we're getting there. It seems that Sam is developing some separation issues. Two weeks ago when we walked into the church nursery Sam was happy and content. I handed him to the care giver - who is there every week knows him - he gave his super pathetic face and began to cry. This week we walked in, he took a look around the room and started to cry before I even handed him off. Does he really know what that room means, that mommy is leaving? Apparently so, because all reports are that he was content after I left.

And this morning at bible study, he once again cried when I handed him to the nursery worker. Oh dear. So, should I be happy that Sam wants his mommy or disappointed that he had trouble settling in with others?

Monkey-ing Around

We had quite the festive fall Saturday! Daddy had a very busy week at work, so it was nice to be able to spend lots of family time together. The weather was PERFECT - highs in the lower 70's without a cloud in the sky. Finally!

Our first stop was Zoo Boo at the Houston Zoo. We were supposed to meet up with our playgroup, but we never found anyone. So we enjoyed the zoo as the three of us. It would have been hard to maneuver with the whole group anyhow. Zoo Boo happens on Saturdays in the fall - kids dress up and in addition to normal zoo activities, there is a place to paint baby pumpkins, trick-or-treat booths, coloring stations, "monster dancing" and a few other things. It was really fun to see all the kiddos in their costumes, but my little monkey took that cake for cuteness. I don't think I'm entirely biased either. We got a lot of comments on how adorable he was in his costume! We made sure to take him by the real monkeys, and learned that his hand is about the size of a Lemur. This was our first trip to the Houston zoo; its pretty, and well shaded (very important in the summer), but I've been spoiled by the Columbus zoo and it just doesn't compare. Its a wonderful place to walk around, and I'm sure someday Sam will actually be interested in all of the animals. This time he found the people as interesting as the animals, and even fell asleep in his stroller for a bit. We all had a really nice time!

In the late afternoon/early evening we attended a Pumpkin Carving Party. It was hosted by some friends of ours who have a 2.5-year-old and a 9-month-old, so we always enjoy spending time with them and seeking advice on what's around the corner for us in parenthood. It wasn't a costume party, but I dressed Sam up anyhow so that he could be sure to wear his costume more than once. We never got around to carving our pumpkin, but we had a great time chatting and eating fall-ish party foods. And since we didn't carve the pumpkin, this way it will actually last until Halloween this year!

And of course, it wouldn't have been a fall day without football, so there was some of that thrown in between activities as well!

Florida!

Last week all three of us set out on our next great adventure...a trip to Florida! Chris was scheduled to present a paper at a conference for work (in Orlando), so we've been planning this trip since well before Sam was born. Over time it turned into quite the extravaganza, with both sets of grandparents joining us in one big condo in Orlando for the first half of the week, and then the three of us and the Florida grandparents heading back to Sarasota for the last few days. Here's how it all went down...

We flew out to Tampa very early on Saturday morning and Sam was once again a trooper on the plane. I much prefer to fly with him and another adult! He didn't really sleep this time, as the world is just so interesting these days! We loaded up into Grandma Hunniford's car and drove to Orlando, where we met up with the Ohio Grandparents, Aunt Becky and Grandpa Hunniford at the Condo. Becky only stayed one night, but the rest of us settled in for some fun.

Well, kind of. Chris spent most of the time in Orlando at his conference, business dinners, etc. But the rest of us enjoyed some wonderful time at the pool, outlet shopping, dinners out and in, meeting some cousins, and lounging. Sam enjoyed the pool this time - he hadn't been in one since 4th of July. He kept trying to pick up the mesh in the bottom of his float, as well as the pretty blue tiles on the edge of the pool. Tricky how those things are all stuck in place! But splashing was working well. He even kept his sun glasses on the whole time - so cute!


On Wednesday we all (even Chris) went to Disney World! I have to brag that my baby was a ROCK STAR. We left the condo a little before 9am and didn't leave Disney until after 7pm. During that time Sam caught a few naps on people's shoulders, but nothing longer than 30 minutes. But with all the bright colors, fun songs, and new sights, who has time to get cranky? I think it also helped that I am still breastfeeding, so I had the option to feed him where ever and when ever he needed. The first ride of his life was his favorite: Its a Small World. He especially liked the Holland room with all the spinning windmills, and the last room with all the sparkling white lights. He also seemed to get a kick out of the Country Bear Jamboree - he kept squealing at those anamatronic bears! He did well on the other rides as well, but didn't really like it when the lights went all the way off on Pirates and the Haunted Mansion. He spent the entire Carousal ride trying to eat the shiny gold pole in front of him. We got his picture with Mickey, and pair of ears with his name sewn on the back, and stuffed Mickey, and a Disney World onesie. It was a great day!

Back in Sarasota most of our time was spent with Sam meeting new people. He met Great Grandma Nordin and cousins Andy and Krissy on Thursday, and then most of the remainder of the family at a big party on Friday night. That night he met his second cousin twice removed (yes that's the correct relation - we looked it up) who was born an hour after him. She now weighs about 5 pounds more than Sam, but Sam is still a bit longer. Crazy to see them next to each other! Everyone thought that she'd be able to take Sam, but he tried to eat her head. Oh well.

Saturday morning we took him to the beach, but he was cranky so we didn't last long there. He seemed to enjoy picking up the sand, but I spent the time trying to keep him from putting the sand into his mouth. I don't think you're supposed to eat sand before you start veggies, right? He was unfazed by the water lapping over his feet, but a little confused by the sand disappearing under his feet. I think he'll really enjoy it next summer.

It was a great week, but it really wore out my little man. We tried to get him his naps, but it didn't always work and he didn't share a room with mom and dad well. Someday we'll tell him that the solution to that problem was to move his pack n play to the large laundry room in the Orlando condo ;-) Plus all the long car rides, plane trips, etc. So now that we're back home its all about getting him back onto a regular eating and sleeping schedule.

I'll leave you with a picture from the week with each grandfather. Did I mention that Sam wants EVERYTHING in his mouth these days?

Cereal

*I'm behind with this post - Sorry!*

As Sam was about to turn 5 months old, he seemed to be hungry ALL the time. So we decided it was about time to introduce him to solids. On his 5-month birthday we gave him rice cereal for the first time. You could barely call it a solid, as our pediatrician told us to mix only 1/2 teaspoon of cereal with an ounce of milk. And Sam really didn't get the whole concept of a spoon that first day. So I pretty much poured the cereal from the spoon into his mouth. But slowly over the course of the next week or so he began to understand the spoon thing.

But understand the spoon doesn't mean he liked to eat his cereal. I believe it is safe to say that Sam greatly dislikes rice cereal. He makes the nastiest faces when we put it in his mouth, and sometimes tries to gag himself. Silly boy. But I really can't blame him - I tasted it and that stuff is really bad.

So we have switched him over to baby oatmeal, and we've worked our way up to a full tablespoon of cereal twice per day. He likes the oatmeal much better, and I can confirm that it has more taste. Still not exactly excited about the stuff, though.

It is exciting to see him eat "solids," but that's tempered by his lack of enjoyment. We use a lot of toys, songs, and stupid noises to distract and entertain him as he's eating. I think he is looking forward to the fruits and veggies we'll be introducing shortly!

Operation Re-Wash

Last weekend I was discussing Sam's continuing skin issues with my mother. "Is it mainly just on his arms?" she asked. "No, its everywhere, his whole body. Well, everywhere except his diaper area," I responded. LIGHT BULB!

Of course I'd realized this before, but for some reason saying it out loud really made it click. The redness and itchiness was worst on his chest, which was always covered by clothing even when in a short sleeve onesie. Obviously, something that was touching his skin was making it worse. Thus began Operation Re-Wash.

I went out a bought some Dreft. I did a load of Sam's laundry and since Sunday he was been wearing clothing exclusively from that one load. I'm happy to report that his skin looks much better. Cured? No. But definitely better. I had been using a hypoallergenic, free and clear detergent, but apparently he wants the good stuff.

So after 4+ days of consistently clearer skin, I am convinced enough to re-wash all of his stuff. I feel like I'm 36 weeks pregnant again, diligently cleaning everything my baby owns. Towels, washcloths, sheets, onesies, clothes, burp clothes, bibs...its all in the process of being washed. I've also switched the detergent I'm using on our adult laundry, and kicked our scented detergent to the curb.

So if anyone's keeping score, we now know two things that make Sam's skin worse:
1. Heat (lovely, since we still have highs in the 90's)
2. Tide Free and Clear Laundry Detergent