Kaitlin's First Birthday

I've decided to do one MEGA post about Kaitlin's first birthday rather than break it up into three parts. Call me crazy. Grab a cup of coffee (or glass of wine if you are reading this tonight) and stay a while.

Kaitlin's first birthday. I've been anticipating it for the last several months. I knew it would come, obviously we all grow older, but it is still shocking that the time is already here. What is it that they say? The days are long but the years are short. Something like that. I've always liked that quote and I am finding it quite fitting at the moment. 

I'm not sure if Kaitlin enjoyed her first birthday or not. I don't think she actually knew what was going on, but she did know that there were a lot of people staying at her house and playing with her 24/7. She knew that she had to keep putting on fancy dresses even though the temperature soared near 90* for a whole weekend. She knew that she was getting A LOT of extra attention - and she loved it!

Both sets of her grandparents came down to visit and help us celebrate. The day before her birthday we held a very, very small party at our local park. We had our family and a few friends gather at the park with bagels and cupcakes and we let the kids run around and play. It was a hot and humid day - Kaitlin's dress managed to stay on for an hour and then we stripped her down to her diaper because of the heat. Her dress was cute but not very cooling! Little Miss was so excited to have Grammie and Pop-pop and Grandma and Grandpa in town that she didn't take her morning nap, which made for a very cranky birthday girl. Add in the uncomfortable weather and she wasn't in the best of moods. She held out for most of the party but there were a few crying spells here and there. (Not to mention a choking episode or two. Suddenly after five months of amazing chewing skills she decides to shove ALL of her food in her mouth at once and try and swallow. I had her bent over my knee slapping her back to get it out. Just about damn near gave me a heart attack. Oh yeah, and she decided to do that four times in one day. Lord help me.) But overall a good time was had by all and we might have even lost a pound or two sweating in the heat!

  

Sunday marked the big day - her FIRST birthday! We had been waiting to get her baptized until our parents were in town and it just so happened that it fell on her birthday. So off we went to the church to get Kaitlin baptized. My parents and I went ahead to attend the service (the baptism was to take place afterwards) while Brian and his parents got her all dressed up. We met them after the service and found out that they didn't even have us on the list for that days baptism!! They quickly changed a few things around and squeezed us in, thankfully. There were four baptisms that day and Kaitlin was by far the oldest baby there. We all had to stand at the front facing the crowd while the minister baptized each one of them. We were second in line but that was far too long for Kaitlin to be held. Now that she is a walking/running machine she doen't like being held unless she wants to be held (which is pretty much never). We were definitely that family trying desperately to hold onto their toddler as she tried to jump out of my arms. Many cries and tears followed. The minister didn't even try to hold her to present her to the congregation, he let me take care of that. We let her walk around a little bit in front of us during the last two baptisms and we only had to chase her around a little. Thankfully the whole process only took about twenty minutes and as soon as it was over we bolted. Of course, it doesn't help that this all took place during Kaitlin's normal lunch and nap time. Are you starting to get an idea of how critical naps are to our little one's temperament??

After Kaitlin's nap we let her open presents! She took a very long nap and woke up in a little bit of a mood. She had been sweating during her nap too so she woke up looking a little crazy. She did very well during presents and loved playing with her new toys, looking at new books and admiring her new clothes. After all of the presents were opened we took her for a spin in her new wagon!

I wanted to do a Cake Smash session with her on her actual birthday, but with everything that we had been through earlier that day I knew it probably wouldn't go well. We had a couple of cupcakes left over from the party so we gave her those to try after she finished her dinner. 

Let's just say she is NOT a cake person.

(Want to see more pictures of Kaitlin HATING cake? Check out our not-so-perfect cake smash session)

Overall Kaitlin's first birthday was really, really nice. Sure, there was a bit more crying and more tears than I had anticipated, but it was so special to have our families there to help us celebrate. Kaitlin is turning into more and more of a toddler, and less of a baby, every single day. While it is so exciting to watch her grow and transform into a little person it is also super sad. While I don't wish to have the newborn days back, it would be nice to be able to hold onto these "baby" days for a little bit longer. 

Watch Me Grow - Week Forty Five

We started off week 45 with a bit of a rash. Kaitlin had tomato sauce for the first time and seemed to have a bit of a reaction to it around her mouth where the sauce was. It seemed to get a little better at night but worse during the day, and then I noticed that it spread to her arm. That was enough for me to call the pediatrician just to make sure it wasn't anything worse. Turns out she has a little bit of baby eczema! Luckily we were able to treat it very easily with some cortisone and heavy duty cream - it was all cleared up in two days!

I don't want to jinx anything, but it seems our little food strike might be...well, on strike. Kaitlin has been eating lots of food again and isn't as picky as she has been recently. She tried a couple new foods like watermelon, peas, acorn squash (Grandpa Miller will be so proud) and (accidentally) jalepeno! Apart from the jalepeno they all went over great :)

We also started music class last week, and so far Kaitlin really likes it! It is a song play class at our local church. We sit around in a circle and sing songs that involve the children a lot - clapping, stomping feet and singing their names in different songs. There is no pressure to have the babies sit still and participate during the whole class - they are free to crawl and walk around as they want. But parents are encouraged to sit and participate in all the songs as your baby will keep looking to you, and eventually they will make their way back to you! And Kaitlin did just that! She was keeping everyone entertained by crawling around in the middle of the circle. She was also shaking her head "no" while she was crawling which made her a little dizzy and she ended up falling over herself a bit and then laughed when she got up. She's turning into a little ham!

It took me three tries to get a photo of Kaitlin laying down this week, and I was really lucky to get that shot above. Approximately .098593749 seconds later she flipped over and sat up and was shaking her little bear rattle and waving both of her arms furiously. For like, five minutes. Who gave her coffee without offering me some?!

Watch Me Grow - Week Forty Four (and a half)

I can't believe how late I am with this weeks post. I didn't even have a chance to take a photo until yesterday. Yikes! So, this weeks update is more like 44.5 weeks considering she will be 45 weeks old on Saturday (in three days).

Week 44 was a bit challenging in terms of eating solid foods. It appears that Kaitlin is on somewhat of a food strike. There are a few things here and there that she will eat (thank god for oat cakes), but for the most part she just throws everything on the floor. She will usually eat carbs (oat cake, toast, cheerios) and protein (yogurt, turkey meatballs, hamburger, etc) but that's about it. She won't even eat her favorite super ripe bananas. I've had to give her pureed fruits and vegetables at almost every meal, but she doesn't really like eating them from a spoon. I know the whole throwing-everything-on-the-ground is her learning and exploring and pushing boundaries but it's hard not to get frustrated. Especially when I have taken the time to make and cook whole, organic foods for her - and then they end up all over the floor and walls! But every now and again she will surprise me and wolf down everything that I've put on her plate and she is still drinking a ton of formula, so I know she is still getting nutrition.

Also during week forty four Kaitlin had a visitor! Our friend Heather from NY came to visit and Kaitlin - as usual - loved the extra attention. She was a little unsure of her at first, but after a while warmed right up to her. She even let her babysit without any tears! Well, until we got back home - then she was all tears! I don't know if she was crying because she missed us or because we were home...

Notes on Baby Led Weaning (BLW)

Now that we have been doing "real solids" (aka baby led weaning or BLW) for a few months there are a lot of things I have learned. And, in my usual Tracy fashion, of course I have to share with you all (some might say I am a chronic over-sharer). Also, I have had a lot of questions from family and friends about baby led weaning, and I hope these thoughts/tips might help someone else some day.

First off I just want to clarify - baby led weaning is really nothing special. I think its a pretty fancy name for just giving babies table foods instead of purees. Most doctors recommend starting table foods with babies around nine months, so we just got a bit of a head start. So for anyone that has a baby who is 9+ months you are probably learning very similar things. Ok, with that out of the way, here we go...

1. Trust your kid - giving Kaitlin mostly solid foods has taught me, in many ways, to trust her. Trust her? She's not even a year old! What is there to trust her about? Well, it turns out quite a bit. My little squirrel puts A LOT of food in her mouth. C'mon, you've seen her cheeks, she can fit a lot in there. At first I was super concerned about how much she was putting in there. I would try and fish some of the food out, which only made matters worse - she would cough and gag and the food would end up being pushed further back in her mouth. Also, babies choke and cough A LOT. Their gag reflex is super far forward in their mouth/throat, especially compared to an adults. It's like that for a reason, so that they don't choke. Every cough does not mean that they are choking. At first every time she coughed I would tense up and hover right over her asking if she was ok. Again, it didn't make things any better. After much practice, I have learned to trust her and the food she puts in her mouth. I realized that she was actually using the excessive amount of food in her mouth to help break it down (she mashes it together with her tongue and cheeks and the next thing I know she's swallowed it). And all that coughing? Sometimes she's coughing to get a reaction out of me - surprise! To a seven month old making a coughing noise is REALLY exciting and fun. What a hoot. I still watch over her like a hawk and don't leave her alone with food just in case something does happen, but I have learned to relax and trust her more when she's eating.

2. Food needs to be really, really soft - Once Kaitlin got the hang of eating solid foods I had a field day. I was giving her everything under the sun. And then I started noticing that she wasn't really eating that much. Sure, she would chew and play with the food, but I found most of it on the floor or in the pocket of her bib. Even tried and true favorites weren't being ingested. At first I thought it was a phase, then I thought it was because she was eating too much formula and wasn't hungry enough. Finally I realized that her food wasn't soft enough. I was so excited that she was eating "adult foods" that I stopped cooking them as long, so they were more firm and harder for her to eat. It wasn't that she didn't want to eat it's just that she couldn't. I was cooking food for my taste rather than hers. Once I started cooking foods to her taste - soft enough for you to mush it between your fingers - her appetite magically returned.

*I know the whole premise of BLW is to feed your babies the same foods that you and your family eat. And that's true, but you have to make sure it is adapted for babies. Making sure foods are soft enough for them to eat also makes sure that they won't choke on anything too firm. And remember - you have a full set of teeth, they don't*

3. Its OK to give them baby food at the same time - Around the same time that Kaitlin stopped eating as much as she usually did (see above) I panicked and started giving her pureed baby food. I wanted to make sure she was still getting some solids in her tummy -  not to mention that she is crawling and climbing like a maniac and burning a lot of calories. At first I actually felt like a failure - sounds extreme but it's true. I guess it's like any parenting "goal" - you start off with the best of intentions and when it doesn't work out perfectly you get disappointed. But as I started giving her pureed baby food I actually found that she started eating even more solids than she used to - which was great. I usually keep a few pureed vegetables on hand in case she isn't eating as much or if a new food is a bust (let's just say it took eight tries to actually get her to eat broccoli rather than throw it on the floor). Back when I was only giving her purees I had such a hard time of it because she always wanted to grab and play with the spoon. But since her hands are already occupied with solid food I can easily swoop in there with a bit of puree and she gobbles it up. And I don't limit it to pureed baby food - now that she can have dairy I also do it with yogurt, which she LOVES, and have even done it with hummus.

4. Try spice - One thing that I keep reading over and over again is that you should offer your baby a wide variety of foods with different tastes, textures and smells, so that they don't become picky eaters. Once I know that Kaitlin likes a certain food (say oatmeal or hummus for example) I like to mix it up and add variation by adding some spice. Now I add cinnamon to her oatmeal, paprika to her hummus and pepper to her chicken - just as a few examples. I'm not adding crazy amounts of chili powder or curry sauce but just enough to kick it up a notch and turn an otherwise boring food into something fun!

5. Don't force it - Let's face it, some days are awesome, some days are not so awesome. As frustrating as it is when I fix a meal for Kaitlin and all she does is throw it around the room and mush it into her highchair, I have stopped trying to "force" her to eat. It's not fun for her and it's not fun for me. I don't want to create a negative connotation with eating either. So if she's having an off meal/day and not wanting to eat that much I try not to force it. I think this is a tip I am going to have to pull out as she gets older and busier and less willing to eat. Gotta love those toddle years, right?

6. Keep it interesting, but keep favorites on hand for difficult days - As I mentioned in #4 there is a big emphasis on feeding your baby new and exciting foods. I try to mix things up for Kaitlin as often as I can. I even buy foods that I would never think to eat myself, such as papaya. One thing I have to keep in mind is that it can take up to ten times for a baby/child to start eating a new food. She isn't going to like and eat every new thing that I put on her plate, even if it's as simple as pasta. I like to keep some of her tried and true favorites on hand for days when the new food on the block doesn't make the cut. I always make sure to have ripe bananas at the ready and a big tub of oatmeal in the cupboard.

7. Water can help - Kaitlin LOVES to drink. Long gone are the days (thank you lord) when I had to struggle to get her to finish her bottle. Especially now that she is so active she loves to have little sips of water in between meals. I started giving her water at meal time to help to her swallow and digest the food. Many babies don't need any additional fluids besides their normal feedings of formula/breast milk. But I find that it helps Kaitlin get down that mouth full of hamburger that she has managed to pack in there. A lot of times her cheeks will be exploding with food and I'll offer her some water. The next thing I know she has drank half of her sippy cup and all of the food is gone and she's ready for more. Without the water she would sit there and struggle to get all the food down for another ten minutes.

8. Food doesn't have to be fresh - Frozen foods might just become your best friend. The reason I like frozen foods for babies is because when they defrost they are usually pretty mushy. Frozen broccoli and butternut squash are favorites of mine because I can quickly heat some up for Kaitlin, without having to prep and cook the entire vegetable. Berries not in season where you are? Defrost some strawberries or blueberries and there you go! Often times these foods are frozen during their peak season so vitamins and minerals are locked in. Nowadays you can get almost any fruit or vegetable in the frozen food section and find an organic version as well - bonus! I can't tell you how many times I have had fruit and veggies go bad waiting for Kaitlin to eat them - remember she only eats a couple of TABLESPOONS at a time. I will also prepare a full recipe of hamburgers, meatballs, pancakes, etc and freeze all the extras. That way I can pull out one or two at a time and quickly reheat them for her meal. The more time I can save while still giving my baby wholesome, nutritional and organic foods, the better.

9. It has encouraged me to eat more healthy and whole foods - There are a lot of foods that I want to feed Kaitlin that would be so easy to just pick up at the store and give to her. Since she can't have salt and I am trying to keep as many chemicals out of her food as I can, I have learned to take the hard route to preparing her food - ie making it myself. I have started making sauces and dips at home. I try and cook dinners without added salt so she can have leftovers the next day. I'm making soups and stews more often. I am buying organic red meat and chicken (as often as I can), as well as fruits and vegetables. I know - it sound expensive, right? Especially when you add in all those organic items. But it in the end I haven't found it THAT much more expensive. Turns out, when you cut out all (ok, ok - most) of the other stuff you end up saving a lot of money. I have even started making my own hummus at home. That way I know exactly what is going into her little, growing body and for once I know exactly what's going into mine.

I tried coming up with a final, tenth tip but just couldn't do it. And besides, this post is long enough already don't you think?!

Do you have any tips for feeding your baby/toddler whole foods? I'd love some new recipes and tips for after Kaitlin's first year!

The Eighth Month

I am aware that I say this every month, but I can't help it - it's true. Kaitlin's eighth month was her biggest one yet. She celebrated her first Christmas, her first New Years (even though she slept through it), she got two more teeth, learned how to pull herself to standing and last, but not least, learned how to crawl. Whew! I'm exhausted just thinking about it all!

The picture theme of this post is definitely "food"...I can't help it - it's the only time she sits still nowadays!

Kaitlin spent her first Christmas with family in New York. She had a wonderful time visiting with family, learning how to stand, and eating way too many sweet potatoes. Once we were back in Texas she continued her standing practice on two new toys she got from both Grandparents. At the same time she really started trying to crawl. She started getting on her hands and knees while we were at my parents house before Christmas and by the middle of January she was crawling. She learns so quickly and tries, tries and tries again. Just the other day she spent a good twenty minutes pulling herself up, letting go and falling. She was practicing standing on her own, and while she only lasted a fraction of a second, she kept at it. She's building up her little muscles to finally be strong enough to stand on her own.

I started giving Kaitlin purees a couple weeks after she turned six months. While she was interested in everything that I gave her and ate with enthusiasm, I knew there was a better way for her to be introduced to solid foods. She was so enthusiastic about food on a spoon - always trying to feed herself - I decided to switch to the Baby Led Weaning (or BLW) method of introducing solid foods. Now she eats what we eat, including toast with avocado, spaghetti and bananas. There is nothing she won't try and she is eating with even more enthusiasm. Her fine motor skills have vastly improved in the few short weeks that we've been doing it - I can't wait to see how much further she develops! We might have a little foodie on our hands!

I absolutely love watching her crawl. She is getting pretty fast now that she's had some more practice! She's so little and the way she kind of shuffles along the ground just melts my heart. She always has the biggest smile on her face when she gets to where she wanted to go - you can tell she's proud and excited about her accomplishment! I think the only thing I love more is watching her stand. This might sound a little weird, and slightly creepy, but I am obsessed with her little butt. I've started putting her in real pants, like jeans and corduroys, and they are just the cutest thing over. She does this thing now when she's standing, she bops around and acts like she's dancing, I literally want to eat her every time she does it. She gets cuter and cuter every day.

God, I'm annoying about my kid, aren't I??

A few more things that I have learned...

Clean as you go

I learned this quite a few months ago but it has become even more critical now that I have a mover and a shaker on my hands. I'm sure all of you that have older toddlers and more than one child will laugh at my naivety of preaching "clean as you go" but please - let me live in my innocence for a bit longer. Now that Kaitlin is playing with more toys and has some bigger toys (walkers, music machines, etc) our living room becomes more and more of a mess as the day goes on. Throw in all of the food that gets, ahem, thrown around during meal time and our downstairs can become a disaster very quickly. I have learned, for me, it works best if I clean as the day goes on. As soon as meal time is over I let Kaitlin play quietly by herself for 10-15 minutes while I clean up. Not only is the food impossible to remove once it's dried on, it also makes me feel better to see a clean table instead of mess everywhere. When she goes down for a nap I do a quick 5 minute tidy of her toys. I put everything in her toy bin and straighten out her play mat. Why put it all away if she is just going to get it back out again? Well, for one I like to change up what toys she is playing with. It adds a little variety and lets her practice different skills (we might play with music toys in the morning and then play with balls in the afternoon). Also, we might need to go out and run an errand or go to the park once she wakes up. I feel so much more relaxed and happier if things are in order when we leave the house. Now, I'm not saying everything has to be spotless, that's just crazy talk, but it helps me stay sane to have everything picked up. It also helps with cleaning up the house at the end of the day. Instead of having to do a big clean at the end of the day and have it take 30-60 minutes, I just have to clean up her dinner dishes and put the afternoon toys in the bin and I'm done - fifteen minutes max. That gives me more time to relax, spend time with my husband or watch TV. 

At the end of the day - restock, restock, restock

This is another thing that I learned early and has become more important as Kaitlin gets older. I have found it to be a huge time saver in the long run if I restock things we use daily, at the end of each day. I'm mainly referring to her diaper bag and changing table (but feel free to apply it to whatever you use daily). If I have gone out and used some of her stuff in the diaper bag, at the end of the day I take a minute to replenish what is gone. I make sure that I have enough diapers (I usually keep five in there at all times - and yes, I have gone through all of them during one outing before), wipes, an extra change of clothes and a couple of toys ready to go. That way when I need to take it with me the next day I don't have to scramble around getting it ready. I inevitably forget something and I feel like a mess. This way, particularly if when we are running late I know that my bag is already packed and ready to go. I do the same thing with her changing table downstairs. There have been too many times when I have an open, smelly, very dirty diaper and a very squirmy baby on my hands only to find that I don't have any more wipes/diapers/diaper cream at the ready. Then I have to get said dirty, smelly, squirmy baby upstairs to change her and one of us (ok, both) always ends up a mess. Or, more than likely, I end up reaching for my diaper bag which, hopefully, I have restocked the night before.

Parenting is sad. Like, really, really sad

Sad in the best, happiest way possible. If that makes any sense. Stay with me here, let me try to explain. The last couple of months with Kaitlin have been awesome. I mean, the beginning was awesome too but in a WEEEE-WHAT-THE-HELL-AM-I-DOING-THIS-IS-CRAZY!!! kind of way. Now that we have gotten to know each other a bit more, her personality is starting to come out, I've chilled out about naps (um, kinda) and she's reaching milestone after milestone - it's been really awesome. And it makes me sad. Like, really, really sad. One of my favorite parts of the day is when I go and get her from her crib and bring her downstairs. She is so incredibly happy she starts bouncing and wiggling in my arms as we walk down the stairs and has a huge grin on her face. She squeals with delight and pulls my hair (a good sign...I think). It's so super cute (GOD - here I go gushing again. SORRY) and it devastates me that she will never remember being so happy. So happy about the simplest thing. She thinks that playing peek-a-boo with me or her father is the BEST THING EVERRRR and LOVES "flying" through the air. She is so happy 95% of the time that she's awake and is totally loving life - laughing all the time now, talking more and more and smiles all around. I know that later there will be tantrums and teenage hormones and a heck of a lot of really hard stuff to deal with. Which is why I am sad that she won't remember all of these happy times and happy memories. It encourages me even more to make the good times last, let her know that she is loved every day all day and document, document, document in case she ever has any doubts about anything. 

(Which, by the way, doesn't mean that I am going to spoil her rotten. Though at this point I can't make any promises)