Mommy brain ?!@#$%^&*

As I stepped out of my car to walk into work today, I noticed my feet were so comfy...

 

This is not the first time this happened. In February, on our anniversary, I got all dressed up to go eat at a fancy restaurant, only to look down after our meal and noticed I was wearing these same house slippers "OMG, how trashy?" I thought!

Just this past Sunday, I continued to blow on my slice of orange while deep in thought about rainbows or something... it was not a very hot piece of orange.

Last Friday I put the hot coffee pot in the refrigerator and did not notice until I went to put the coconut milk on the burner... whoops!

Yesterday, when addressing some envelopes for a couple birthday cards I was mailing to family, I stamped them with my company logos instead of my personal addressing and didn't notice until I went to slip them in the PO box - this one not so bad, right?

I have severe mommy brain at least 2 days out of the week, in full view of fellow co-workers and the public (as do I'm sure most of us do).

Please help me feel more normal, and tell me your best mommy brain stories below!

The Dad Post, Part I

My wife found her talent, and many others have found her talent as well, including me. Not only is she blessed with the gift of gab, but she can somehow put her wonderful personality on paper too. I didn’t think it was possible. I figured there’s no way you can understand my wife unless you met her in person. I was wrong. I must admit that I have become a fan of the Baby Bleauxs blog that she began. Much like yourself, I’ve found myself wondering when the heck is the next blog post coming. I blame myself. She was waiting on me to write a Dad post.

She began Baby Bleauxs as a way to vent her joys, feelings, frustrations of being a new mother without spilling it all out on me. She has a cache of notebooks, pads, and journals trapped away in trunks, closets, and her nightstand where she has spewed emotion in ink so that she didn’t have to keep it all trapped inside. As my best friend, she usually shares some of her inner most thoughts and life questions with me, but even I am unfit to be a muse for some of this stuff as sometimes I’m the cause of the vented frustration. She gracefully bashes me on paper so she can be sweet to me in person. I don’t mind. No use to keep hammering away at this hard head because there’s not much that penetrates unless its sports related.

When she asked my opinion about her starting a blog about motherhood, I was a little unsure. I guess I didn’t know enough about parenthood to realize there were pleanty of people out there that share the same situations as what we have been through. Now everyone else knows how much of a gem I’ve found. Some might find us unconventional or unusual with the way we are raising our little nugget, but it works for us. Trust me, I had to be talked into the whole cloth diaper thing. I believe she had to talk herself into that one too. She’s always thinking about her nugget and this family first and how to make it better. So I listen when she brings up a new idea or a new product to try. Haha, she’s gonna laugh when she reads the part about me listening, but I do, sometimes. I definitely encourage her creativity and will try anything with her in the name of Nugget. She does so much research before she comes to me, sometimes I can’t find a reason to say no. Deep down I think she’s a born again hippie, but I guess the incense has rubbed off on me too.

As we agreed in the beginning, we are going to go through parenting 50/50. When I promised her that I would write a Dad post, I’m going to stay true to my word. Next time you hear from me, I’ll tell you the Tale of Nugget from Dad’s point of view. The whole first year, from first days to first teeth. All you moms just go easy on me though, and don’t get all sappy either. I’m not as good of a dad as my wife lets on. I’m still in training.

The Eeb

Happy Birthday... Top 12 for 12 Months

Wow. I haven't written in a long time, so there is so much to talk about... especially if you haven't been keeping up with us on Facebook! So I've decided to cut it to our top 12 from the past month to get you updated on Tuff's first 12 months, starting with...





#12 ALLERGIES: Tubes in, adenoids out! After months of one ear infection after the other and tons of antibiotics, we had enough. Not sure why it took so long for us to ask the Pediatrician about these procedures, but so glad we did. We were doing 3 breathing treatments a day, plus Zyrtec... plus saline nasil wash... plus the aspirator. About two weeks after his surgery, we had a little emergency room scare where he had to be transported to the ER in an ambulance (not that you can tell he wasn't getting enough oxygen from his picture). He is better now, however, due to a crazy pollen season, we are still doing an inhaled steroid via nebulizer every night and the Zyrtec. But we have had to use the aspirator and saline wash less often. Next month, he will be getting tested for inside allergies. Until then, we do what we gotta do.

#11 MOBILITY: There is no stopping this kid when he wants to go somewhere. Sitting and playing is just a pitstop on the way to somewhere exciting, like under the table or on Murfy's bed. He is full speed walking (or running) everywhere. When you hold his little hands, he drags you along with him (head first) where ever it is he wants to go. It's like his body is not moving fast enough for his big ole noggin! Often he falls because his top half is "a-head" of his bottom half. We've had a couple bruised eyes from him wopping his head on a rocking chair or piece of furniture, and just this weekend he got his first busted lip from running through my legs head first. His knees and beautiful face are also scraped from colliding with the concrete when he's traveling at high speed down the driveway or on the playground at school. He doesn't just move across the floor, he's climbing too. He loves climbing on his little rocking chair, or on the step stool for the kitchen. Once he's standing on that stool, you can see his mind racing with ways to get back down. Not fear, of course, but shear curiosity. And he will climb up and get back down 10 times before moving on the the next obstacle.

 #10 COMMUNICATION: He is so much like his Momma, he loves to talk. He'll stand at the speaker by the entertainment center and "preach" to who'll ever listen. He's got his own little language and he's definitely a hand talker, waving his hands in the air as he explores the world of his voice and being able to finally hear clearly. He still signs for a couple things, but he's going through a phase right now where he is verbalizing everything in whatever form suits his mood. I think we kind of laid off the signing for a couple weeks, and it was terrible timing. That, combined with picking up habits from daycare, only proved that keeping up with signing for at least the important things (eat, milk, drink, hurt, etc.) are extremely important for us, not only as parents, but for him.

#9 EMOTIONS: I know every parent says this, but I have the happiest and most entertaining kid. He will do something big (like bonk himself on the head with a spoon) and he immediately looks at us and fake laughs, or puts his hands in the air and screams "TADA"...  He's starting to experiment with negative feelings too, like jealousy. If I'm holding him and Brock kisses me, Keegan pushes his daddy's face away from mine. It's playful 99% of the time. He'll seperate us and then lay over me so Brock can't get to me. We laugh about it and keep it light, trying not to make a big deal about it. He is starting to experience a little aggravation. If he gets a chair stuck on the corner of the table, he will cry and fuss for about 20 seconds and then move on about his business. If he is over-tired and done with the day, he cannot be satisfied. He wants to be held, but he wants to be put down... He wants to be touching me, but he doesn't want me touching him. He wants to lean on me and I can't move or walk off or he starts wailing in disbelief. It's not all the time, or everyday even. But we have noticed his range of emotions are widening, and I find it quite facinating. I try to explain my feelings when I make a face, i reflect the feelings in the books using gestures, and I let him work out most things by himself. He thinks all Mommy's faces are funny and exciting, so we'll see how that goes.

#8 FAVORITE TOYS: Toys are great and all, but they are not as good as carrying around a sock for a couple HOURS waiving it in the air, in the dogs face and dropping it and picking it back up and putting it in a box and taking it out of the box. And then there is moving furniture. He LOVES rearranging the chairs at the dinner table. He knows to pull them out, and then push them around. Outside is probably his favorite place to be. Leaves and rocks are apparently facinating. He's so excited when he picks up one that he holds it up like a trophy and smiles really big. He's fallen over many times from cocking his head back so far in victory. When he's done showing it to the sky, he immediately puts it in his mouth. He just chews on the leaves like they are tobacco (especially mint leaves from the garden). To my knowledge, he doesn't really swallow them. He just chews, and chews and chews until I remove it with my Captain Hook finger. He loves this rubber bracelet that I always wear, and will dedicate an hour of the afternoon carrying it around and showing it to all the furniture. Another of his favorites is anything with buttons or switches or velcro, this is including my iPhone. I really try not to use my phone in front of him because he gets so upset when I put it away. He knows to push the "home" button to make it light up, and he will hold it down so Suri talks to him. He also knows to swipe his finger across the screen to look at pictures, and loves being able to see the other person on the phone if we Face-Time. In fact, he looks so confused if no one is on the screen but I have them on speaker. He laughs and cackles when he hears them talking. 


#7 BOOK WORM: He loves books. I can be folding and putting up clothes in his room, and he will pull every book down from the shelf and flip through them, mumbling and going on like he's reading them, for like 30-45 minutes. Pointing at his favorite pictures and showing me different things. If I sit on the floor in his room, he will drag a book over, sit in my lap and put his hands crossed in his lap, ready for me to begin. It's so cute, my heart just melts every time he does it. He loves the books that have flaps with secret things underneath. He knows where they are now, so he'll turn the page and start fiddling with the flap until he can lift it, giggling with excitement. We still read a book (or two) every night before I put him in bed. Even if he's plum worn out, a short book puts him at ease and only then is he ready for bed.

#6 SOCIAL BUG: He loves people! Lately, it's taken him a couple minutes to warm up to male figures, but when a lady walks in they are best friends. He makes sweet eyes and hugs and snuggles on every woman.  Not just humans, animals too. Him and Murfy are best friends and he loves to "get kisses" from her. She's outside for now, until we get these allergies under control, but he steals moments with her every chance he gets. He will run over to her and sticks his face in her face (his communication for "hello") and Murfy will give him a couple licks. He'll turn to me and giggle and off he goes again.

#5 LEARNING CURVE: I know it's just because he is my son, but he amazes me every single day. Monkey see, monkey do! If I show him something, I may have to repeat it once or twice before he picks it up and tries on his own. He knows how to turn on/off light switches, flip the pages of a book, open/close doors and stuff like that for months. But he's starting to reference sounds and requests with actions. If I start beeping (imagine a dump truck backing up) he will walk over to his bike, sit on it and go backwards. Then he will start making engine sounds and going forward. Put a golf club in his hand, and he starts swinging at the balls on the ground (and your shins if your not careful). If something is on the floor that is mine, he picks it up and hands it to me, then smiles and shrugs his shoulders like " I know, I'm the sweetest boy in the world". I know these are trivial, but he's just learning and picking up things so fast now. Bittersweet is a great word for how I feel - proud that he is becoming so independent and sad that everyday he needs me a little less.

#4 CLOTH DIAPERING: We are still going strong, cloth diapering about 99% of the time. When we use disposables, we still use the Honest brand. Sometimes we get home after a long day and I know it's about 30 minutes before I put him in the bathtub, so I'll put a sposie on him so I don't have to waste a perfectly clean clothie. Sometimes if we go out of town I will use them as well, especially if we are going to get home late on Sunday, because I don't feel like washing a bunch of diapers after a long drive. My grandmother and mother also use sposies  during the day time when they keep him. Nighttime is 100% cloth, no matter whose house he stays at! It is really funny how his wardrobe changes when he goes with them. The cloth diapers are a little bulkier, so the same clothes over a disposable are kind of big and sometimes end around his feet - LOL! Daycare is still great with the cloth diapers, and I'm so glad for them being so open minded.

#3 SLEEPING SCHEDULE: He has been the easiest to sleep coach **knocking on every piece of wood I can find**. Yes, there are nights when he is particularly restless, but it's very rarely an issue. Right after his surgery, I had to rock in the chair in his room for about an hour before he would lay down and go to sleep. I'm thinking because he rested alot that day, and probably wasn't feeling good. He cried a good bit, but I put my hand on his crib and he just lay his head on it and stroked it with his fingers, exhausted and still woozy from the anesthesia. 99.9% of the time, he will just talk to his giraffe or sing while rubbing his Taggie blanket. He's usually asleep by 8:00pm at the latest and wakes up about 7:00am. His daycare did switch him to only 1 nap during the day, which shows sometimes in the afternoon when he gets home... in which I let him take a 20-30 minute nap to hold him over. On weekends he usually takes 2 naps to make up for the sleep, so I usually just follow his lead on Saturdays and Sundays.

#2 TEETH: He is a late bloomer, his first tooth not breaking through until a week before his birthday. However, he's now got a collection of 5 on the top and only 1 on the bottom. Strangest tooth eruption ever, but that's the way he is. I blame the majority of his tempermental attitude on these poor pearly whites on the basis that there is no other pain like mouth pain. And with all these teeth breaking through the skin at one time, I expect him to be somewhat uncomfortable and am proud of him for being in such a smiley mood as much as he is.

#1 DIET: Of course, I saved the best for last. Keegan is a total foodie. He loves food, every kind of food, and when he is hungry you better not get in his way! He has been introduced to everything, even the food that the pediatrician recomended to wait on (peanut and almond butter). His favorites are pineapple, blueberries, broccoli, carrots, prunes and raisins, chicken, pork, tilapia, sweet potato, scrambled eggs and yogurt. But he eats whatever we put in front of him. He also has learned how to feed Murfy. After he stuffs his faces enough, he will give a bite to the dog. He even teases her by holding the food out, and then snatching it back quickly and putting it back in his own mouth and laughing. I tried telling him "no, this is Keegan's food" and he shut down and threw a huge fit. Next time I just went with it, and it actually goes a lot smoother if he shares his food. He offers it a couple times to the dog, but he also offers it to us, and gets a kick out of nibbling on his fingers and squeeling "YUM-YUM-YUM". Finger foods have been so much fun, and I get so excited that we can go to a restaraunt and order him some veggies and sweet potato fries and give him bits of our food. 

So much is changing so fast, so I will try to blog more often. Just in the course of writing this, he has grown and is showing me new things every day. Seriously, I have been using the Facebook page as my daily blog. So go check it out to see regular updates, food tips, what inspires me in motherhood and other fun articles from my favorite mommy bloggers.

Healthy Halloween Treats

Since we have been making smarter, healthier choices at home, I decided that we shouldn't  make the upcoming holidays any exception. That means the norm of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and bags of mini-fun-sized-sugar filled chocolate candies are not going to cut it this year. I've been reading all the health food blogs about their ideas of healthy giveaways and it got me excited. Then I looked into preparation for some of these ideas and they are obviously thought up by either stay-at-home moms or parents who don’t need sleep. So I've concocted my own little list of treats that we are going to give out at both our Pumpkin Decorating Party and at our church Truck’n’Treat…

#5 - Draw a pumpkin face on something orange!

This takes a little time, I'll admit... and it's one of the more expensive options I have listed here, which is why it is #5 on my list. But it's so stinkin' cute. A bag of 12 tangerines at Walmart is $3.99 and a box of 16 Mandarin orange cups (no sugar added) is $7.99 at Sam's.

#4 - Spider rings… seriously, do these ever get old!

These are just old fashioned fun. Kids and adults love putting on these plastic spider rings. But they aren't just for handouts, they are a super easy way to decorate cakes and cupcakes for parties. Not to mention, CHEAP! A bag of 125 spider rings are only $5 at your local party store.

#3 - BUBBLES... Tell me what kid doesn't LOVE bubbles?

I found 12 packs of these little multi-colored bubbles for $3 at a local Party City. This is a cheap, fun gift that you can give to all the kiddos. Bonus, imagine the magical atmosphere with all those kids blowing all those bubbles...

#2 - Halloween stickers!

You can purchase a pack of Halloween stickers and hand out individually... It's super easy to find these at your local party store for cheap! 

#1 - Candy… DUH!

Believe it or not, there is healthy candy out there folks! And if you buy in bulk, it's much cheaper... I got this bag of 325 YummyEarth lollipops (tasted one, actually really YUMMY!) for only $30! This candy is crazy... organic; allergen-free; gluten-free; GMO-free; egg-free; soy-free; nut-free; casein free; dairy free; no artificial dyes or flavors (they use purple carrots and red cabbage for coloring); and they come in 8 awesome flavors. I know these will take me all the way through our Pumpkin Decorating Party and Trunk'n'Treat... and maybe a few to take to work to satisfy a mid-day sweet tooth.

I would love to know what your favorite Halloween treats are for this year. Tell me in the comments below or post your ideas on my Facebook Page! 

50 Shades of Gray

She gently patted the beaded moisture from the creases in her neck, and gazed at her naked body in the mirror. She bent over the sink slightly, holding the damp towel between her bosom. There she stared into her own eyes, glimmering with fantasies, as the gentle sound of the water drained from the bath tub. Clusters of bubbles still gathered on her milky white hips and dangled from the ringlets of hair at the back of her neck. As she examined herself, she noticed a shimmer… a glowing tress. Her insides filled with heat and the glass began to steam from her warm breath. Could it be? No, this was not the right place, not the right time… She fingered it softly and to her repulsion she did confirm that it was true, it was all true. Her head began to spin as she realized what she had just plucked from herself was…

A f*cking gray hair!!! What the hell is it doing there? I’m not a person who has gray hair. This is ridiculous. The only reason I’m accepting this with any dignity is because my husband has come down with the symptoms as well. Gray hairs litter his chest and chin and 3 spots on his head (I know, because I cut his hair).

Needless to say, I will be calling an exterminator (or my colorist) to remedy this terrible incident. Since the hubs has a far worse case than I do, I will blame him for the infection. By Friday, my 50 shades of gray will be 50 shades of beautiful coffee. I'm quite sure that one day I will embrace the silver fox, but that day is not today. Today I am a VERY young mother of a 7 month old baby. Today I am everything but gray...

Is life turning you gray?

FINALLY... No more maternity clothes!!!

How long where you in maternity clothes AFTER you had your baby? 2 months, 4 months, 9 months...

Okay, this is one of those subjects that I think women just never talk about, even though it's more common than I thought. It’s a sad, pathetic subject that only makes us more self conscious about our post-baby bodies. So why talk about it, why hide the fact that we still sport our stretchy maternity pants 6 months after your baby is born? Because it’s TOTALLY NORMAL, that’s why! {Anyone want to tell me different, come tell me to my face}

I’ve been really self conscious about my body ever since I gave birth to my son. Every part of my body has changed and shifted, and lord knows it will probably never be the same. It is not exactly a bad thing, just really different. My body has changed so much in the past 10 years, but it was gradual. This was instant, and along with everything else that was going on, a shock for some reason.

"39 weeks pregnant"

Yeah, you hear women talk about how “you’re body will never be the same after you have the baby” and “good luck getting back into your pre-baby jeans”… But when you are pregnant, you don’t want to hear that crap. You don’t want to read a post like this. You don’t want to think about anything but good thoughts, and you want people to keep their negative feelings and insecurities to themselves so you can bask in your pregnancy glow.

I sincerely thought that keeping myself in good shape during pregnancy would enable me to succeed in all my goals: natural vaginal birth and easing back into my pre-pregnancy body (and hopefully better). I had myself convinced that I would be able to pick back up walking at least a mile every other day and swimming laps in the pool within a couple weeks of birthing my child. But this, my friends, just didn’t work out the way I planned.

The funniest part is those “negative” and “insecure” women were so right! My body is forever changed. My son is 7 months old and I’m finally (officially) out of maternity jeans and back into my pre-pregnancy jeans. However, I had to lose an extra 10 pounds to fit into them without looking like a stuffed piece of sausage or an overflowing muffin top. Technically, I could have started wearing my pre-pregnancy jeans a couple months ago, but I would have ended up on one of those Bad Walmart Photo websites. Ugh!

Finally, I’m here… and I’m the better for it. It’s taken hard work to get this far and I don’t plan on slowing my progression any time soon. I am eating better now than I have in years, my son is happy and healthy and I’m finally at the psychological stage of accepting my post-baby body! I’m truly in bliss right now. I know that I will never have the body I had 10 years ago, but I’m slowly paving the way to a much healthier place than I have ever been.

What have I been doing, you say? While I have not been overloading my already hectic schedule with tons of cardio, I have been doing some strength training. Thanks to the open-mindedness of my dear friend and co-worker Dar-Dar, I “workout” at least twice a day 4 days a week AT WORK (sometimes we do our routine up to 4 times a day, depending on work). It only takes about 5-7 minutes. We put a song on in my office and do the following:

-          20 Desk Push-Ups, feet together (harder than they sound)

-          20 Squats & 10 Low Pulse

-          20 Calf Raises & 10 High Pulse

-          60 Small Arm Circles

-          30 Second Stretch (including pot stirrers and thigh stretch)

I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it’s better than nothing, and I feel the difference. If I have a couple minutes, I do a couple passes of walking lunges across my office, or 20 jumping jacks to get the blood flowing… I fit it in where I can and it makes me feel better mentally and physically, especially when my job is mostly sitting at a desk all day. The last thing I want to do with the couple hours I have in the afternoons with my son is a workout session. However, I do walk him outside to show him all the trees and garden and grass and things. Also, I’m trying VERY hard to motivate myself to walk him in his stroller in the afternoons more often since the weather is getting cooler, and he is inside all day long. But sometimes we just sit and watch the sky on the back porch. Friday through Sunday is much easier to be constantly active with him, so we stay outside most of the time if we can on the weekends.

I wonder sometimes if my son will ever know how much I have learned because of him. I have never seen the world in such a light. I am amazed every single day because my 7 month old son is teaching ME… about innocence, about appreciation, about humanity and about how wonderful this life really is. It was amazing when I buttoned up my jeans last week and actually felt comfortable. I looked up and my son just started giggling at me. I showed him my zipped up jeans and leaned in to kiss him on the forehead in celebration, and he grabbed my face with his little hands… He was happy that I was happy!

Do you know what's in your baby's food?

I knew from the beginning (before I was pregnant) that I would be making baby food from scratch when the day came… and that day is here! Actually, Tuff has been on a palate party for about a month. He’s already gone through some major food assemblies:  a rainbow of squash (including yellow, pumpkin, spaghetti and zucchini), avocado, prune, banana, apple, pear, peach and carrot. He also loves yogurt (Yo-Baby Organic). All of his food so far has been made by my husband and I, and it’s all been organic. When our garden was producing some these veggies (squash and zucchini), we thought this food would last us till the end of the year… eh, not so much. Apparently, he’s a little human now and he wants to eat food like all the other humans do. LOL!

**Steamed Granny and Delicious apples and left over steamed peach puree, frozen into 1 oz. cubes**

**Tuff's treat for his 7-month birthday**

In my relatively small circle of mommy friends and acquaintances, there are only a fair few (let’s count 2-3 moms) that make their kids’ food. Some are eating McDonalds French fries before the age of 1. I’m not mommy-bashing, so don’t take this personally (or do if it’s necessary for you to go about your day), but I’m not trying to give my little baby French fries from a funky fast food chain that not only was fried in vegetable oil that has been sitting there all day, but has also been sitting under a heating lamp for 30 minutes. Plus, it’s loaded with salt and lord knows where the potatoes came from. Don’t even get me started on all the other food at these joints.

Yes, I think about these things all the time. I’ve worked in the fast food business, and stay away from that food as much as I possibly can. I completely understand the convenience of driving through a fast food place and then being on your way, especially with kids. I have a couple weaknesses, I’ll admit. I indulge maybe once a month, but then my face starts feeling oily and my stomach jerks and turns and growls at people in public and I’m reminded of why I stay away from these places. The fast food industry makes it super easy, but they are having a terrible time making it the least bit healthy. Even a salad from one of these places can cost you about 1,000 calories and who knows where the vegetables have come from. They are definitely not organic, because they wouldn’t stay that fresh for so long. Yes, it takes a little extra time to prepare food and snacks before going on a trip… and who doesn’t love a good donut hole every once in a while… or maybe a Little Debbie snack to hold you over until dinner is ready. Thirsty, li’l one? Here’s a Coca-Cola to quench your thirst… This is what we are teaching our children are good eating habits. Then they taste real food with healthy ingredients and they are put off, screaming for another zebra cake or they will never eat food EVER AGAIN!

**Small McD's French Fries: 230 calories; 0% Vitamin A, 8% vitamin C, 2% Calcium, 4% Iron**

(% of daily value)

**Homemade Sweet Potato Fries (20 ct): 180 calories, 80% vitamin A, 65% vitamin C, 8% Calcium, 8% Iron**

(% of daily value)

Like I said, I’m not mommy-bashing. This comes from personal experience. This is how I remember growing up and what was burned into MY brain. I would open up the pantry, and it would be full of boxed treats and cereal coated in sugar and candy bars. The freezer always had frozen pizza bites, and Hot Pockets, and processed food. At my dad’s house, it was more interesting… chocolate chips would often be found in our cornbread and Vienna sausages in our spaghetti. My Granny’s house was probably the most healthy food that we ate. Yes, my PawPaw made me coffee-milk every morning, and took me to McDonalds to get an egg McMuffin some days, and then there are the bear-claws that the Ralph’s Market used to make in their pantry (yum, just drooled). When I was growing up, it was all about convenience. Everyone was too busy to worry about what was in our food, or didn’t think it was anything to be concerned with. I mean, we’re alive and healthy today, right, that’s a good thing…

Here’s where the problem is… I’m 32, 70 lbs overweight and desperately trying to re-train myself when it comes to healthy food options and IT'S FREAKING HARD! Having to teach yourself at this age about portion control, and learning what foods help your body perform at its best is an exhausting process. THIS is why I am taking the time to start my kid’s journey into food the best way I can, and the only way to really know what is in his food and where it comes from is to make it myself. And I must say, his food tastes so much better than any baby food I’ve ever tasted (and yes, I’ve tasted several baby food brands and flavors).

Lately I’ve been reading a lot about the upcoming GMO proposition 37 in California (November). I know this is not our state, but if it is decided in California that manufacturers are required to label their products with the words “May contain genetically modified foods”, it will spread like wild fire across the US. I will not go into detail about this subject in this post, otherwise I may be typing forever. However, click on the links provided to read up on a few recent articles concerning GMO's (genetically modified organisms) and labeling.

The reason I’m mentioning the upcoming GMO proposition is because during my research into this subject, my desire to offer and prepare my family healthy organic food has become my new obsession. I’ve been really getting into reading our labels and it’s freaky how much we put into our bodies that we can’t even pronounce. My son’s baby formula is one of the scariest things that I give him. Reading the label on the back of the formula box blows my mind. I know he has to be on this formula for at least 5 more months, and I cannot wait till the day we can start giving him cow’s milk. At least then we have the option of offering him organic milk and can get away from this over-processed powder. This also deepens my passion for feeding him fresh, organic food from the very beginning. This way I know at least part of what he is consuming is natural and from the earth and free of pesticides, additives and growth hormones.

In the short time that we have been decreasing his formula, and increasing his solids, we have noticed a huge change in him. His bowel movements are more regular (and he has stopped straining and crying when he has a BM). He had a touch of eczema on his face and his skin would flare up when he would get upset or hungry or hot, this has completely cleared up. He has had some pretty bad allergies which affected his nasal passages and breathing; both have been getting better by the week. It can’t be a coincidence that these things cleared themselves up at the same time we began introducing organic purees high in antioxidants and vitamin C (I chose to introduce the veggies highest in these categories first to help promote his little immune system).

So I bring this question to you… Do you read ingredient labels before feeding it to your baby/child? Would you want to know if your food contained genetically modified organisms? Do you believe it’s worth the extra money to buy organic, or do you trust conventional produce?

Tuff-man: 6 Month Update

Wow! So much has happened in the past month. It’s just so fun to watch him grow and start putting things together in his mind. No 2+2=4 yet… LOL… But we are definitely on our way there. It is something new every day. He is really starting to get into his toys. I have to admit, he didn’t really have anything to play with until a couple weeks ago. A butt-load of books, a couple empty water bottles, a Green Sprouts teether, a couple giraffes and some soft blocks… that’s the long list! I went to a friend’s house while out of town and saw Keegan’s eyes light up with all the toys, and then the light went off in my head – the boy needs something to stimulate his curious mind! So I did what any sane mother would do, went ape-sh*t crazy on Amazon.com… LOL!

So here are a couple fun updates that make 6 months so much fun…

1.       Solids – We were a little apprehensive about starting him on solids. At 5 months, we tried rice cereal and it was not a pleasant experience. So we waited a couple of weeks and I jumped head first into some research on first foods to feed baby. We tried again a couple weeks later with yellow squash, and it was a success! Now only a few weeks later, our son is a total foodie… His faves right now are any kind of squash (yellow, zucchini, pumpkin, and spaghetti), avocado and carrots. We tried bananas, but he wasn’t really into it. So we’ll bring it back in a few weeks. We just made our first batch of prune puree, which will be given in very small quantities, but we feel is necessary to keep him regular (and they are super healthy). We had decided early on that we would make our own baby food, and it has been very rewarding to be able to do this for him. This is very close to my heart, especially since I did not have the means to breastfeed. So taking the extra time to make sure that the food he puts in his mouth is fresh and organic is very important to me, and my husband. Thank God for my husband, for without which we would not have the garden where we grow our own vegetables.

(After a Whole Foods run... Our garden is not quite producing this much, yet)

(1 oz of each: zucchini, banana, avocado)

"Am I going to have to feed myself?"

(Yummy, carrot face!)

2.       Sitting up all on his own – He loves just sitting around. He reaches for things and pops back up, he picks up his toys and plays and loves the view. He’ll tip over and roll around and scoot and lunge across the floor, and it is so much fun just watching him. I surround him with his favorite toys just out of reach, and I watch those wheels just turning in that head of his. I wonder what he’s thinking as he sees the spread I have for him. I love how he’ll be playing there and every once in a while he’ll look up at me and give this huge smile. Like he’s letting me know he’s having a great time and “look what I’m doing Momma” face. His expressions are so sweet, I pray they stay like that always.

3.       Oral fixation – Everything… EVERYTHING… goes in the mouth. Toys, fingers, feet, clothes, diapers (clean of course), TV remote, the dog… this list is endless, of course. But his favorite is still my hands. He can be sitting on my lap and my hand is just beside him, and he will take it and hug it and put it on his face and then, of course, into his mouth. Another favorite is my face. I’ll be playing with him and he puts his sweet hands on my face and lunges for the first facial feature available (usually my nose or forehead). This is probably why I stayed sick for 3 weeks, I couldn’t help but let him drool all over my face and hands, and then didn’t wash my hands enough.

4.       He recognizes faces AND voices – When my mother or my Granny call and I put them on speaker phone, his face lights up. People have told me that it’s just because he likes the sound, but I think they can kiss my @$$. He knows! Especially my Granny, he L.O.V.E.S. his Granny… and why not. She was my favorite person growing up too J

5.       He is affectionate – He is truly a snuggle bug sometimes. My favorite time is when I bath him. I sit him on the counter in the bathroom facing the mirror, and I stand behind him with my arms beside him kind of leaning over him. He will “kiss” himself in the mirror and watch as his mirror hand touches his real hand and is mesmerized. But every couple of minutes, he turns his head around to look me in the face, and then leans into me. He will grab my forearms with both his hands and “snuggle”. It melts my heart.

(Grabbing and holding Daddy's face)

(Playing with Mommy's feet, with his feet... so sweet)

6.       White boy can jump – All I have to say is the phrase speaks for itself. One of my Amazon.com splurges was this jumper, and it was worth every penny. See for yourself …

7.       He has a lovey – I actually didn’t think he would take a lovey. I tried to introduce several to him and he just wasn’t interested in them. But one night after reading him his book, I noticed he was reaching over my shoulder at a giraffe blankee that I draped over the back of the rocker. It’s small and light weight, so I gave it to him and laid him down in bed. Amazing! He clung onto it like it was his best friend and drifted off to sleep rubbing it, like they had always been together. It blew my mind. Now he finds it, where ever it is in the bed, and snuggles with it. It’s either laying next to him or under him, and he plays peek-a-boo with it in the middle of the night.

6 month stats:

Weight: 18.1 lbs

Height: 27.5 in

Head: 17.5 in

Favorite Toy: Soft blocks and soft book

Favorite Lovey: Giraffe blankie

Favorite Food: Squash

Schedule: Up at about 6am, asleep by 7:30pm

Naps: about 2 x 1.25 hour naps a day, plus maybe a short nap in the morning