The Seventh Month

This month has been so much fun!  I have been home with Farrah due to summer break and have loved every minute of it!  Farrah has turned into a little roly poly since she learned to roll over.  She now rolls from back to tummy (to the left) and tummy to back (both directions) very easily.  She has also started sitting up.  She leans to the front a lot and folds over, but she is sitting up.  She is also trying very hard to crawl (see the video at the bottom).  She has not gotten it down yet, but she is able to get around pretty good.  Farrah has also become much more vocal.  She has been saying yayaya and dadada which we are counting as DaDa.  My favorite thing right now, besides hearing her sweet little voice, is watching her play with her paci. She is so funny.  She puts in her mouth and pulls it right back out.  She can also spot a paci from across the room.

As for solids, we have added peaches, plums, pears, and sweet potatoes.  We also finally found something Farrah does not like, avocados.  I have been in search of more green vegetables for her to eat because I try to feed her one green and one yellow/orange vegetable a day.  Well, lets just say she has been eating a lot of peas!  Maybe we will find a new green soon. 

At the end of my last monthly blog I mentioned that Farrah would not sleep in her room anymore.  Visit my post on Cry It Out to see how that is going. 

Farrah's Schedule

6:30 - 8:00 Bottle/Wake-time (swing most days)

8:00 - 9:30 Nap

9:30 - 11:00  3T cereal + 1 fruit serving + 2oz bottle/Wake-time

11:00 - 12:30  Nap (sometimes this nap is only 45 minutes -1 hour)

12:30 -1:30/2:00  1 vegetable serving + 2oz bottle/Wake-time

1:30/2:00 - 3:30 Nap (sometimes 1 1/2 housr some times 2 hours)

3:30 - 5:00 Bottle/Wake-time (she has a snack while I cook dinner)

5:00 - 6:30 Nap (sometimes)

6:30 - 7:00/7:30 1 vegetable serving + 1 fruit serving + some water/Wake-time/Bath

7:00/7:30 - 8:30 Nap

8:30 Bottle and Bed

(by 1 serving I mean 1 Gerber 2nds sized serving)

Pool Time

Pool Time

Cry It Out

At the end of Farrah's 6th month she would not sleep in her crib.  She would only sleep if she was being held or if she was in our bed with us.  She would not even sleep in her swing.  This was very strange for her because she had been sleeping in her crib in her room since we brought her home from the hospital.  Another new mom I know told be she had the same problem with her daughter at around the same age.  She used a cry it out method and had great success. I knew I could not continue to hold Farrah during her naps and let her sleep with us, so I decided to give it a try.  I did a little online reading and set up my plan. {Put Farrah in her crib, once she starts crying I will go in every 10 minutes to giver her her paci, rub her belly, tell her it is nap time yada-yada-yada.}  I had even gotten out my notebook that I jot things down in to do a blog post on later.  I was ready.  Farrah's first nap time came around and I put her in her crib.  She didn't cry or sleep for about 30 minutes.  She just kinda laid there looking around.  Then she rolled over and began to cry.  So, I went in, rolled her back over (she could not roll herself back over at this point), gave her her paci, told her it was nap time, and left the room.  She started crying as soon as I shut her door.  I waited my 10 minutes, went back in, and did the same routine.  Once again she started crying when I shut the door.  I was doing okay with the crying.  The friend I mentioned earlier had warned me that the crying was "put your iPod in" bad.  She was right, it was horrible!  We spent almost her entire nap time with me going in every 10 minutes to comfort her.  The last time I went in (30 minutes until her nap was over) my heart just broke.  Farrah's face and sheet were soaked with tears, her nose was running, and her little face was so red.  Hearing the crying I could handle, seeing that poor little face I could not.  I picked her up, told her I was so sorry, dried off her little face, and held her for the last 30 minutes of her nap.  I learned at that moment that I was not cut out for CIO.  So, I gave up.  That is actually what I wrote in my blog notes "9:00 - GAVE UP".  I have read and heard many success stories with CIO, but it just isn't for me.  Am I still holding Farrah for every nap?  No.  Luckily she has gone back to sleeping in her crib.  I would put her in her crib at nap time and she would usually sleep about 30 minutes, then cry and want to be held.  I would get her and put he her in the swing.  She would not sleep in the swing, but I figured it was still some calm time for her.  Then the next nap I would hold her figuring she needed to sleep.  After about 2 weeks, she went right back to normal.  However, night time is a different story.

The first few nights Farrah slept with us, my husband and I hardly slept at all.  We were so afraid we would roll over on her or something.  Then we started to like having her there.  It was so sweet and special.  But, we know she can't sleep with us forever.  We decided to start putting her back in her crib and night when our monitor started to mess up.  We have a video monitor that I have been absolutely spoiled by.  I LOVE being able to look in on her anytime I want.  I just wake up sometimes during the night and look at her.  The "parent" part of the monitor can be used while plugged in an outlet or you can charge it and make it more portable.  I went to charge it one day and it would not charge.  It would not even work while it was plugged in.  Our house is really not even big enough to need a monitor.  Farrah's room is probably all of 10 steps from our room.  But, I have gotten so used to the monitor that I just can not put her in her room to sleep at night without it.  So, Farrah is still sleeping with us at night until we get the monitor working.  I keep forgetting to check the warranty on it.  Maybe I should do that now...

Baby Food - Batch Cooking

Before

After

Baby Food!

I have been making baby food for a few months now.  I typically make a little here and there.  When we have fruits of vegetables I do not think we are going to eat before they go bad, I make baby food.  Well today I decided to try batch cooking some baby food.  I made apples, plums, and sweet potatoes.  I have made apple baby food several times, but this was my first try with sweet potatoes and plums.  I am going to take you through the general steps I took to make the baby food.  For specific steps on each type, check out my post on apples, plums, and sweet potatoes.

Step 1:  Wash all of the produce.  I cooked the sweet potatoes in the oven, so I preheated my oven before I started washing the produce to 400 degrees.

Step 2: Prepare the produce and start cooking.

• Sweet Potatoes:  I started with the sweet potatoes because they had the longest to cook.  I pierced the potatoes with a fork, put them in the oven (400 degrees), and set a timer for 45 minutes. 
• Plums:  Then I went on to the plums.  I cut an X on one side of each plum (to help remove the skins after they cooked) then place them in a pot with about 2 inches of water.  Once they came to a boil, I let them cook for about 5 minutes while I prepared the apples.
• Apples:  While the plums and sweet potatoes were cooking, I peeled, cored, and chopped the apples.  I put the apples in a pot and covered them with water.  Once they came to a boil, I cooked them for 10 minutes.

Step 3: Blend and store. Once I got the apples in the pot and my cutting board cleaned up, the plums were ready.  So, I blended them with a little water until smooth and poured them in an ice cube tray.  After washing my blender, the apples were ready.  Same thing, blended them with a little water until smooth and poured in an ice cube tray.  I also put some of the apples in containers for the refrigerator for Farrah's dinner and breakfast the next day.  After washing the blender and a few more dishes, the sweet potatoes were ready.  Again, I blended them with (a lot) of water until smooth and poured in an ice cube tray and some containers for the refrigerator.  The sweet potatoes took a lot of water.  Around 2 cups.  It is recommended to use your leftover cooking water, but since I baked the potatoes I had no leftover cooking water.  I did have cooking water left from the apples, so I used that.

After about an hour, I had 5 1/2 cups of homemade baby food.  Which, according to my calculations (1/3 cup a serving), equals a little over 16 containers of Gerber 2nd Foods.  I will definitely watch for sweet potatoes to go on sale and make them as often as I can.  The four sweet potatoes I cooked produced a lot of baby food! 

Here's another look at my end results.

Freezer Stash

Refrigerator Stash

Baby Food - Sweet Potatoes

I caught sweet potatoes on sale last week and decided to get some to make for Farrah.  I have to tell you this has been the easiest of any baby food I have made so far.  Here's what I did. 

What do you need?

• An oven
• A blender/food processor.  I use a Baby Bullet.
• Storage containers

Ingredients:  Sweet Potatoes and Water

Step 1:  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Step 2:  Wash the sweet potatoes and prick several times with a fork.

Step 3:  Bake sweet potatoes in the oven for 45 minutes.

Step 4:  Remove the potatoes from the oven and cut in half.  Scoop out with a spoon.

Step 5:  Place the sweet potatoes and some water in your blender and blend until you reach the desired consistency.  I started with only a little water because all of the baby food I have made so far has needed little to no water.  Sweet potatoes are a different story.  I used about 2 cups of water.  I was batch cooking baby food that day and used the water left from cooking apples.

Step 6:  Pour your sweet potato puree in storage containers.

This picture is of everything I made that day. But, you can see the sweet potatoes I ended up with.

 I used 4 good sized sweet potatoes.  This yielded around 3 cups of puree which is about 8 Gerber 2nds sized servings.

Baby Food - Apples

Apples are something I have made often for Farrah.  So, I decided to do a post on making apples.  I was batch cooking baby food and forgot to take many pictures of the apples!  Maybe next time I make them I will remember to take to pictures to add to this post!

What do you need? 

• A pot with a lid
• Blender/food processor.  I use a Baby Bullet.
• Storage Containers

Ingredients:  Apples and Water

Step 1:  Wash, peel, core and chop your apples.  Sorry, I didn't take a picture of just the apples!

Step 2:  Place your chopped apples in a pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and boil covered for about 10 minutes, or until fork tender.

Step 3:  Blend your apples with a little of the cooking water (I used about 1/8 of a cup) until you reach your desired consistency.

Step 4:  Pour your apple puree or applesauce in storage containers.

This is everything I made that day.  You can see the apples in the tray on the left and the bullet containers on the right.

I used 5 Fuji apples.  This yielded around 2 cups of puree which is about 6 Gerber 2nds sized servings.

Baby Food - Plums

Here's a play by play of my fist experience of making plum baby food.  I only made a little because Farrah has not been introduced to plums yet.  I would hate to have a freezer full and find out she hates it!  Plums were on sale, so I decided to give it a try.

What do you need?

• A pot with a lid
• A blender/food processor of some type.  I use a Baby Bullet.
• Containers for storage.  I used ice cube trays to freeze, then I pop them out and store in a freezer bag.

Ingredients:  Plums and water.

Step 1:  Wash the plums and cut an X in to one side of each plum.  This makes it easy to remove the skin after cooking.

Step 2:  Place the plums in a pot with about 2 inches of water and bring to a boil.  Make sure the X is submerged in the water.  Let boil gently for about 5 minutes.

Step 3:  Run cold water over the plums or submerge in ice water.  Then, remove the skins and seeds.

Step 4:  Place the plums in your blender (I tore them in to small chunks) with a little water (I started with about 1/2 tbsp).  Blend, adding water as needed, until you reach your desired consistency.

Step 5:  Pour your plum puree in the container of your choice and freeze or refrigerate if you plan on using within a couple of days. 

 

Didn't it turn out beautiful!  I did learn a few things during this process.  Plums are messy!  My cutting board and I were a mess after removing the skins and the seeds.  I may try baking them next time as suggested on this site.  Maybe it would not be as messy if I only had the skin to remove and not the seed! 

I used 5 small plums.  That yielded about  a little less that 1 cup of puree which is about 2 - 3 Gerber 2nds sized servings.

The Sixth Month

 I can not believe we have made it to the sixth month already!  This month started my summer break.  So, I am home with Farrah until August!  Farrah has been a busy little baby this month.  She is much more active and grabs for her toys and bottle now.  Farrah also started noticing one of our cats this month.  His name is Mouse, yes a cat named Mouse.  We have two, but for some reason Farrah really only pays attention to one of them.  She loves to watch him and smile at him.  However, he pays not attention to her other than the occasional sniff of her head.  We also added a Bumbo seat to our collection of baby items.  Farrah seems to enjoy it.  As far as milestones go, Farrah rolled over this month.  So far she only rolls from back to tummy to her left.  She did roll from tummy to back a few times, but she doesn't exactly have the hang of it.  The rolling has not caused a huge problem in her sleeping.  Farrah sleeps swaddled.  I have been swaddling her with her arms out so she can hold her head up if she does roll over.  She is having a difficult time adjusting to sleeping with her arms out.  This seems to cause more disruptions in her sleep then the rolling.  The last few days she has been having trouble sleeping though.  For naps, I typically just hold her when she starts to act sleepy and she falls asleep.  Then, I take her to her bed and swaddle her.  We typically have no problems.  At night, I swaddle her, then rock her to sleep.  Again, we typically have no problems.  But, for the last 4 days as soon as I put her in her crib (for naps and nighttime), she wakes up and can not get herself back to sleep.  She seems to only want to sleep if she is being held.  Last night was the worst.  We tried several times to help her get back to sleep with no success.  They only way she would sleep was if we held her or put her in our bed with us.  I have no idea what is causing this.  Any suggestions?  

As far as solids, Farrah is up to two meals a day.  We had already introduced rice cereal and squash.  Now we have added bananas, prunes, apples, peas, carrots, and oatmeal.  Farrah is a really good eater! I am also still making a lot of her baby food.  If you didn't see my post on making baby food, check it out.  Baby Food - Zucchini

Enjoying the sun.

Loving her Bumbo!

Homemade Baby Food

Farrah's Schedule 

6:30-7:30 - Bottle and Wake-time

7:30-9:00 - Nap

9:00-10:30 - 1-2 Tbsp. Oatmeal plus 1- 2 Tbsp. Fruit and Wake-time (plus a 2 oz. bottle)

10:30-12:00 - Nap

12:00-1:30 - Bottle and Wake-time

1:30-3:00 - Nap

3:00-4:30 - Bottle and Wake-time

4:30-5:30/6 - Nap

6:00-7:00 - 1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp. Rice Cereal plus  2-3 Tbsp. Vegetable and Wake-time

7:00-8/8:30 - Nap (sometimes)

8/8:30 - Bottle and Bedtime

Baby Food - Zucchini

Since Farrah is now eating solids, very well I might add, I decided it was time to get out my Baby Bullet and start making some baby food.  Now, I in no way intend to make all of the baby food Farrah will eat.  I simply want to make food for her when I can.  To my surprise, it was very easy.  I have made yellow squash and zucchini at this point.  I decided to share my zucchini making process to show just how simple it really is.

What do you need?  Not much really.

• Something to prepare the fruit/vegetables in
• A blender/food processor of some type.  I received a Baby Bullet as a shower gift, so that is what I use.  Any blender, food processor, stick blender, etc. would work fine.
• Containers for storage if you plan on making more than just one serving

Ingredients: Fruit/vegetable of choice and water. I used Certified Naturally Grown zucchini from Jack-O-Lantern Farm (a local farmers market).  Zucchini is $1.50 per lb there.  These two zucchinis were not even a pound.  So I made 5 servings of baby food (at 3-4 TBSP each) for less than $1.50!

Step 1:  Slice or chop the fruit/vegetable.  It is not necessary to remove the skins from most fruits/vegetables.  I did read that babies under 7 months have a difficult time digesting the skins, so I peeled my zucchini.

Step 2:  Cook the fruit/vegetable.  You can bake, boil, or steam.  I steamed the zucchini with a little water in the microwave for about 5 minutes.

Step 3: After the fruit/vegetable cools some, blend adding a little water as you go, until you reach your desired consistency.  I added about a tablespoon of water.  From the two zucchinis I used, I ended up with just over 1 cup of baby food.

Step 4: Place your baby food in storage containers.  Any baby food stored in the refrigerator needs to be used in 2 - 3 days.  You can freeze the baby food in ice-trays and store in a Ziploc bag for up to 30 days.

Of course the last and most important step is to see if your homemade baby food passes the test.  Farrah loves her squash and zucchini!

There you go.  It is really that simple!  I have found that yellow squash and zucchini contain so much water that you really do not have to add much, if any, while you are blending.  If you do need to add water, use the water you cooked the fruit/vegetable in since it contains nutrients pulled from the fruit/vegetable.  I plan on trying green beans next.  Check back to see how that goes!

The Fifth Month

With Poppa and GiGI

The fifth month has been another exciting month (like I am sure they all will be)!  This month was our second round of vaccines.  Farrah did very good.  She only ran a low fever for one day which was much better than the two days with the first round.  She did have bruising from the shots this time though.  I was finishing up the last little bit of the school year and looking forward to my summer off with Farrah.  Farrah was busy finding her feet, figuring out how to get her new found feet in her mouth, and trying new foods.  She also started making a new noise and grabbing/holding things.  But, the big excitement was starting solids this month (around 19 weeks).  We started with a tablespoon of rice cereal at her 6:00pm feeding.  Our doctor told us to replace a bottle with a solid.  For the first few days, we still gave her 2 ounces of formula after the cereal since, from the look of her bib, she may not have been swallowing all of the cereal.  She quickly got very good at eating from a spoon.  After about a week, we upped the cereal to two tablespoons and stopped giving her the formula.  After two weeks on the cereal, we added in squash.  She did not seem to like it at all for the first couple of days.  Now, she loves it!

Farrah's First Solid

Got it!

Farrah's Schedule 

6:30-7:30 - Bottle and Wake-time
7:30-9:00 - Nap
9:00-10:30 - Bottle and Wake-time
10:30-12:00 - Nap
12:00-1:30 - Bottle and Wake-time
1:30-3:00 - Nap
3:00-4:30 - Bottle and Wake-time
4:30-5:30/6 - Nap Sometimes (This is around the time we are getting home.)
6:00-7:00 - 2 Tbsp. Cereal and Wake-time
7:00-8/8:30 - Nap (sometimes)
8/8:30 - Bottle and Bedtime

The Fourth Month

First Easter Outfit

Farrah's fourth month was a very busy month.  Wow!  These months are going by fast!  I was back at work, and our new little family was trying to establish a routine.  The month was full of smiles and a little laugh here and there (if you worked hard enough for it).  I also think Farrah started teething.  My mom was keeping Farrah since I was back at work.  When I picked her up one day, she told me that she thought Farrah was teething.  She was cranky and was drooling a lot.  This has continued off and on.  She also had an exploding diaper, which I have read is a sign of teething.  Some days she needed a bib all day and some days she was fine.  But, still no teeth.  I do see what looks like little white lines in her gums where her front two bottom teeth would be.  So, maybe they will break through soon.  Easter also fell during the fourth month.  It was the first (of many I'm sure) difficult holidays to schedule.  I just thought holidays were hard to schedule when I go married.  Boy does throwing a cute little baby in the mix make it even harder!  We had my in-laws over on Saturday to celebrate.  Then celebrated on Sunday with my family.  My grandparents, who live out of town, always come for Easter.  So, it was a nice time for Farrah to get to visit with all of her living great-grandparents. 

Easter Bunny Came!

Four Generations (My Dad's side)

Four Generations (My Mom's side)

Farrah's Schedule 
6/6:30-7:30 - Bottle and Wake-time
7:30-9:00 - Nap
9:00-10:30 - Bottle and Wake-time
10:30-12:00 - Nap
12:00-1:30 - Bottle and Wake-time
1:30-3:00 - Nap
3:00-4:30 - Bottle and Wake-time
4:30-5:30/6 - Nap Sometimes (This is around the time we are getting home.)
5:30/6:00-7:00 - Bottle and Wake-time
7:00-8/8:30 - Nap (sometimes)
8/8:30 - Bottle and Bedtime

Looking for Leo

My husband and I are both alumni of the University of North Alabama, and my husband just recently began working for UNA as a web developer.  UNA houses two live lion mascots on their campus, Leo and Una.  Recently a book called Looking for Leo was published.  The author, Dalen Keys, and illustrator, Walt Vandiver, are both alumni of UNA.  The proceeds from the book go directly to care for the lions.  A book signing was held a couple of weekends ago at the local Books-A-Million.  So, we decided this would be a good opportunity to give back to UNA as well as get a new book for Farrah that was signed by both the author and illustrator.  Of course Farrah was asleep when we got there, but she still got her picture made with the author and illustrator by the university photographer.  The book is a very cute story about Una and a group of children looking around the campus for Leo.  As a former member of the UNA band, I was excited that the band got a shout out in the book!  To find out more about purchasing the book and helping maintain the lion habitat check out the University of North Alabama's website.

The Third Month

Practicing My Smile

 The third month was full of new things and more sleep!  We took Farrah on her first big trip when she was 9 weeks old.  We went to Newport News, VA with a pit stop in Knoxville, TN.  See my post, First Big Trip, for more about our trip.  Farrah started smiling this month, and the smiling has not stopped!  She also found her hands and started holding things.  Toward the end of her third month I went back to work.  We had planned on sending her to daycare.  We visited the daycare we had picked out while I was on maternity leave.  After the visit, both Thomas and I could not picture our tiny 11 week old in daycare.   My Mom offered to keep her for us.  Which was such a blessing.  It has made it so much easier to go back to work knowing she was safe and being taken care of.  I do not know if my parents will ever know how much Thomas and I appreciate them keeping her.  I know it has not been easy for them and has made for some long nights, though they would never let on that it has.  They have a business in which they do all of the work.  My Dad has to do a lot on his own since my Mom has Farrah.  They also work after I pick her up in the evenings to catch up on what they could not do during the day.  I know they love spending time with Farrah, but they have had to make some sacrifices as well.  With that said, Farrah started going to Poppa and GiGi's this month, also!

Ready to go see Poppa and GiGi!

Farrah started sleeping through the night at 9 1/2 weeks.  What a welcomed milestone!  At this point, Farrah was eating on a combination 2 1/2 - 3 hour schedule.  She had a bottle at 8:00 PM and then went to bed.  I would wake her at 10:00 PM for one last feeding.  This was supposed to be her "dream feed", but I never was very successful at keeping her from waking all the way during this feeding.  During the second month, she had stopped waking to eat in the middle of the night.  The next big step was to cut out the 10:00 PM bottle.  I had not even thought about trying to cut out this feeding in fear that she would start waking to eat in the middle of the night again.  One night while we were in Newport News, VA, I fed Farrah at 8:00 PM and put her to bed.  I typically would stay up until her 10:00 PM feeding.  Well this particular night I accidentally fell asleep.  I woke in a panic scrambling for my phone to see what time it was.  It was 4:00 AM, and Farrah was still asleep!  So I decided to just go back to sleep and see if she would sleep until her first bottle which was usually between 6:00 AM and 6:30 AM.  Of course I figured as soon as I got back to sleep she would wake up, but she didn't.  She slept through the night!  So, that was the end of her 10:00 PM bottle, by accident.

March Madness with Daddy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

GiGi got a hat for sitting by the pool.

First Big Trip

 

 Thomas had to go on a business trip to Newport News, VA just a few weeks before my maternity leave ended.  We decided to make it a family trip.  Up until this trip, the longest trip Farrah had been on was about 2 hours.  Newport News, VA is around a 13 hour trip for us.  This trip was our first experience with public restroom changing tables, feeding Farrah in public with our fingers crossed that she would not scream bloody murder when we took the bottle away to burp her, and eating out with Farrah every meal.  I guess it was pretty obvious that we were new parents because everyone would say, "Oh, she is so cute.  She must be your first.".

Great-Grandfather

We decided to stop in Knoxville, TN on our way and spend the night.  This was still about a 6 or 7 hour trip because of having to stop to feed Farrah.  We knew we could not do the whole trip to Newport News in one day with a 9 week old, and my Mom's family lives in Knoxville.  So, it seemed like a good pit stop.  Farrah got to see her Great-Grandmother, Great-Grandfather, and Great Aunt.  Farrah was great in the car going to Knoxville.  She slept most of the time.  We visited with family, then made our way to our hotel for the night.  The next day we drove the rest of the way to Newport News, which was still a LONG drive.  We were in Newport News for several days.  There was nothing in walking distance from our hotel, so Farrah and I hung out in the hotel room while Thomas went to his meetings.  We got to know the waitress at the hotel restaurant very well.  Farrah and I would go down for breakfast every morning.  She gave us a bag full of fruit and bottled water for the trip home.  We did have time to visit Colonial Williamsburg and do a little shopping while we were there.  The trip home seemed to take forever.  We ended up stopping in  Chattanooga to stay the night and finished the drive the next day.  The following are the lessons we learned on our first big trip with Farrah.

Great-Grandmother

Great Aunt

• Bring a soft towel for baby's bath.  We really did not think about having to give Farrah a bath or packing for it.  We got some baby soap while we were out one day but did not think about the towel.  Hotel towels are not very soft.
• Always use a changing pad under baby.  You never know when she will decide to go number 2. i was changing Farrah one day in the hotel.  I put her changing pad under her as always.  While I was making the change from wet diaper to clean diaper, Farrah went number 2 with absolutely no warning.  No grunt, no red face, nothing.  Thomas's comment was, "It's a good thing you put down that changing pad.".
•  Bring dish soap for washing your bottles.  We learned this on our first little trip with Farrah to Nashville.
• Packing a car for two adults and a 9 week old for a seven day trip is not easy!