[jenedens6102]

My pediatrician said vegetables first, then fruits and then meat.

I made applesauce and bananas with cereal today in less then an hour (total time of prep, cooking, pureeing and jarring). And I have enough to last me a few weeks. It's really not as bad as I thought it would be.

[amfandrmf]

Laurie, they didn't have that stroller available when we got ours. But, we have been putting the girls in the seats without the car seats for about a month now. Its amazing what big girls we have, huh?

Jen, like everyone said...the bumbos are nice but expensive. That's why we only bought one. I would definitely wait for your next little one. I'm so impressed and how motivated you are with the homemade food. I just don't have the time or energy.

Laci, I'm glad Karson enjoyed the oatmeal! I can't wait to hear how it went today.

Hayley, I think your about where we are with food. The girls have had squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, and carrots. Now, they are on peas. Next, we'll be starting with the fruit! I think you can do fruit whenever you decide to. They just recommend doing veggies first because its not as sweet. So, if you had decided to start with fruit first they may not have eaten their veggies. We'll be starting with our first fruit on Sunday. I just don't know which one to start with.

[Laci]

Karson ate his oatmeal up like a little champ tonight. I am amazed at how well he likes it, and I am very excited at how well he is eating it compared to the rice. I am going to talk to the pedi Friday about starting veggies. So, I guess we will see.

[lauriej79]

Laci- My girls like the oatmeal and rice consistency better than baby food period. I think it has to do with the consistency. The baby food (jar food anyway) is runnier than the rice and oatmeal. I mix mine a lot. Either like fruit and oatmeal or a veggie and oatmeal. They don't care and they eat it so much better. Some of those foods are strong too so I think it cuts down on the sharpness of the taste.

Anna - Our girls favorite fruit so far has been the apples. They love them!

Jen- It sounds like you are really enjoying making the food. I may try to do some but I haven't completely made up my mind yet. If I do it won't be until after we get back from the beach. We will be going next week.

[jenedens6102]

Laurie, I am definitely enjoying the opportunity to make Ethan's baby food. And so far it really is a savings. I look at how much I spend on the produce and how many jars I yield from whatever fruit or vegetable I'm cooking. The bananas and cereal will last us a week just in jars but I also have a big toss n go bowl full that I'll be able to scoop out of next week. The applesauce turned out amazing, enough that I wanted to eat it all. I've got plenty of that too. I have six jars of carrots, avocados and sweet potatoes. So for now I think I'm good to go. I'll do the squash and pears over the weekend but I'm going to wait on the green beans and peas until I'm down to the last vegetable in the freezer. I want to prepare the others before they go bad. Since I bought frozen green beans and peas there is no hurry there.

Hayley, I did start Ethan on oatmeal first. Then I went to sweet potatoes, sweet peas, green beans, carrots and squash. Two weeks after we started vegetables I did introduce him to bananas in the morning with his oatmeal. From that point forward he's had a fruit in the morning with his cereal and a vegetable in the evening with his cereal. He hasn't turned away from anything, including the foods I'm making myself.

[akk]

Hi Everyone,

so interesting to hear about everyone's feeding schedules. I started Emery on rice cereal a week ago. she seemed to do well, nothing really came back out. i just did 3 spoonfuls. i do that each day at lunch. I am waiting on Will to get over his reflux/digestion issues a bit and am trying to get him off alimentum formula right now. i will start him on oatmeal at 6 months...the gastro ped said rice would be too constipating...which he doesn't need.

how are everyone's LO napping? i am sitting in the garage right now so i don't have to listen to DS CIO. we're having a battle of the swaddles...seems like he wants it at times, not at other times. so frustrating!

laurie, great news about avery...

and just to chime in on the conversation about bumbos...i got mine on ebay for $20 and i only got one. seems to be enough, i just use the bumbo and something else when both are up.

well, seems as if the garage can't even insulate me from the crying...DS is a loud crier!

i'm going to try to take them to a music class today. hope that goes well, they both love singing.

happy labor day weekend to everyone!

[jenedens6102]

Adrienne, I found that it was about the same time that I started Ethan on oatmeal that his reflux settled down. Not sure if he just grew out of it or if the oatmeal helped. I too chose oatmeal over rice cereal because I heard that rice was binding. We've gone through one nasty bought of constipation that landed us in the emergency room when he was about 5-6 weeks old and I don't be doing that again if I can help it!

[amfandrmf]

Karson I'm glad you're enjoying your oatmeal! Can't wait to hear what you'll be introduced to next!

Laurie, I think I'll be doing the prunes first. I have a feeling once I introduce the fruit, they will have no interest in the prunes. Next week will be interesting...hopefully their constipation problems will be a thing of the past. Oh, I have to say I think Maddie is getting close to getting a tooth. The other day when I touched her gums she turned bright red, got rigid and screamed her head off. It was sharp, but hasn't broken through yet. So, she may come in second in the tooth department. Have fun at the beach!

akk, sounds like Emery likes her cereal. On napping...well my girls aren't big on napping. They may take one big nap a day or a few really short naps. I think because they sleep so well at night that they have a ton of energy during the day. For naps during the day, they normally sleep in their swings. I still swaddle them to get them to fall asleep at night. Maddie stays swaddled through most of the night or will at least get her hands out and sleep that way. Mila stays swaddled only to calm herself down and then gets herself out of it to sleep through the night. We really haven't had to battle this yet. I can't imagine what it must be like for you hearing them crying when you're trying to get them to sleep. Can't wait to hear how the music class went! I never thought of taking the girls to something like that...

So, still fighting my cold. Its been a week now. I just have to get through work tomorrow and then I have a three day weekend to recoup. The girls haven't caught anything yet and I'm praying that they never do. Well, everywhere you go around here all you see are Harleys! It's the 105th Harley Davidson anniversary. It gets a little crazy this time of year with all the bikers in town. Not much else going on around here...We won't be doing anything for the holiday since DH works.

[jenedens6102]

Anna, on the prunes idea - I found that Ethan loved his prunes. I gave him bananas first, then applesauce, then pears, prunes and now peaches. He didn't skip a beat on the prunes but not makes faces on the peaches. I was going to save them until last but decided to bump them up a week. They did make him have bowel movements earlier in the morning but they weren't explosive or runny or anything like I imagined. Best of luck!

[amfandrmf]

Good thing to know! Thanks, Jen. Since Ethan liked the prunes, that makes me feel a little better about the girls eating it. Are you doing anything fun this weekend? I'm so happy to have a 3 day weekend! I don't even care what we do...maybe just relaxing this weekend will be enough for me. Or maybe get some things done around the house since I finally feel better!

Can you believe our little ones are getting close to 6 months old! I just can't get over the fact that we're about half way to their first birthday. I've even been thinking about the girls celebrating their first Thanksgiving and Christmas. As crazy as it sounds, I've even started thinking about things to get them for Christmas. What traditions I want to start with them... When santa clause will come...and so on. Am I crazy? Have any of you thought this far ahead?

[jenedens6102]

Anna, we are doing the same thing already. Thinking about what family traditions we want to start and keep for our little family. Imaging what Ethan's going to think about his first Thanksigiving and Christmas celebrations. I can't believe that we are inching closer to that six month mark. Just scheduling his six month ped appt was enough for me. We are almost half way to that first year and yet it still feels like yesterday.

Ethan spent the night with his grandparents last night (my parents). I went out to Cheesecake Factory with two of my girlfriends while DH did something with one of his friends. Then we came home to start cleaning and we put new gutters on the back side of the house. We've still got the side of the house to do but so far so good. Today we have church and then we are picking Ethan up and going to where DH's family are camping and spending time with them. We'll be taking Ethan swimming for the first time today which I'm pretty excited about. Tomorrow we aren't doing ANYTHING - just being lazy and relaxing with our son.

[amfandrmf]

Jen, I had to reschedule our 6 month appt for the girls since their doc just had a baby and won't be coming back until October. So, I'll have to wait until early October to see how big my girls have gotten. But, I will be making an appt with Sears to get their pics taken in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to see how they turn out! I'm hoping they actually smile for the camera this time.

How did Ethan do at his grandparents last night? Cheesecake factory sounds real good! I haven't had that in so long. I could go for my favorite dulce de leche cheesecake. Oh, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Take pics when Ethan goes swimming! I've been wanting to take the girls to a pool, but just haven't had the time lately. I've actually been thinking about joining swimtastics with the girls so they can do some fun infant swim classes. Just don't know if its in the budget.

We've just been spending the weekend at home relaxing and getting some things done and we rented lots of movies. Its so nice not to have any plans for a change.

[jenedens6102]

Ethan did very well with his grandparents and go figure....he slept longer and was more content with them then he had been with us all week. And today he's back to being a fussy baby and his teeth are driving him nuts. Cheesecake Factory was DELICIOUS. I hadn't been in almost two years. My favorite is the chocolate coconut creme cheesecake, yum! Here are a couple pictures from yesterday, his first time in the pool and his first hayride. Let me first say this hayride was HELL for me. I thought it was going to be very kid friendly and safe. This guy was ramping off into ditches, trying to climb rocks, running us through trees......oh I was one mad momma. I ended up on the floor of the wagon with Ethan pressed as close to me as possible and was scared out of my mind that he was going to end up with shaken baby syndrome. I was crying, DH's cousin (14) was crying because she didn't know if Ethan and I were ok. If I would have known it was going to be so bad I wouldn't have gone or I would have gotten off but once we left the campground I had no idea where I was. Ethan ended up falling asleep for the last half of the ride which scared me further but he's fine!

[amfandrmf]

Oh, you poor thing! That sounds like a definite hay ride from hell. I would have really b***ed out that driver. I mean don't they take into consideration at all who their passengers are! That ride would be appropriate for teenagers maybe. Ethan looks like he enjoyed the pool! That looks like a fun floaty and seems like Ethan thought it was real tasty!

The girls had prunes for their first time yesterday. They seemed to like it, but today was another story. Well, after the prunes yesterday Maddie pooped about an hour after. Then, Mila went twice today! They definitely did the trick. Well, today, I don't know if it was because I reheated the prunes or if Mila just doesn't like them...but Mila just gave the worst faces like I was poisoning her. It looked like she was eating a lemon, but she finished it all for me...such a trooper. Then, when it came to Maddie's turn, well, Maddie was so upset that I couldn't even start feeding her the prunes and she barely ate any of her bottle. I don't know if its from the teething, but I only got 4 1/2 oz down her for her last feeding. She ate the prunes yesterday, but it gave her a ton of energy. It was like a sugar rush or something and she didn't even try to start going to bed until 2 hours later than her usual bedtime.

Well, today I took the girls to DH's grandma's house for a cookout. Its kinda frustrating because when DH is not in the picture then they just don't even think to invite me. Well, the MIL is the main problem. His uncle at least called me and invited me cuz he had a good feeling that I had no idea that this bbq was even happening. I think MIL was surprised to see me there. DH had to work today, so I think she just assumes that I wouldn't want to hang out with their family. Well, I get along fine with all of them except her. But, then again, I stole away her golden child...ugh. Well, anyways, it was nice to get out of the house and everyone loved seeing the girls.

[jenedens6102]

The floaty Ethan is in is actually his cousin Eva's. She was there too. As for the hayride, only three of the passengers were teens, four were adults and the rest were all children under the age of probably 8! He knew I wasn't happy and did calm down at the end when he realized I wasn't sitting up on the hay anymore. Definitely not something I plan on doing again anytime soon. I was planning one at the pumpkin patch but now I'm not so sure!

I don't heat up Ethan's food anymore, he seems to prefer it at room temperature. When it's hot or cold he makes lots of faces.