Another Day, Another Try

Everyday we try some solid food again.  I'm not sure that any more is getting into her tummy, but we keep trying.  Here's a picture of the first taste of sweet potato.  

When to start solids is an age old question... right? 

Typically doctor's recommend between 4 and 6 months of age or when your baby shows signs of being ready. 

One of those signs is as follows -
•Losing the "extrusion reflex." To keep solid food in his mouth and then swallow it, your baby needs to stop using his tongue to push food out of his mouth.

Yea, we haven't lost that yet.  I wish I had a good picture of it.  Because, honestly, she's really good at it!

So we'll keep slowly trying....she'll get it one day.

Pizza Sans Cheese ?!?

This post is in no way meant to be a "woe is me" post about giving up dairy.  More of a amateur product review.  I know that breastfeeding is the right decision for me and Anna (actually my whole family, even Allen), so adjusting my diet for Anna is a no brainer.  Notice, I said right choice for us.  Parenting is, after all, the never ending task of decision making for you and your family.  I don't think there is a wrong choice as long as you made it for your family. I digress, perhaps a post topic for another day?

So taking out all cow protein (and soy) from my diet has forced me to be creative in the kitchen.  We've had some really good stuff lately, and it's because I've had to rethink some favorite recipes.  I've found a suitable substitute for many things, thanks to the internet or my own bravery to just try something.

A few examples -
Almond Milk works in many baking recipes instead of cow's milk.
Coconut oil works as a sub for butter most of the time. (also great for diaper rash!)
4 Tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce and one Tablespoon of water is a great sub for soy sauce.
Coconut milk ice cream is pretty good as long as you don't mind a hint of coconut flavor.
Ground turkey works instead of ground beef, something we've known for a while but now depend on.
And when desperate, eating things plain works too - raw vegetables with no dip or salad with no dressing.

So really the only thing I can't replace is cheese. For the most part this is ok, I've never been a cheeseburger girl, so a plain turkey burger is fine with me.  But just thinking about pizza makes my mouth water.  Pizza without cheese sounds like bread with spaghetti sauce. While that actually sounds good too, it's not pizza.  So I heard a rumor about dairy and soy free cheese, and I finally was able to find some locally.

Daiya is a vegan cheese (I know it sounds like an oxymoron) that seems to be mainly tapioca and/or arrowroot flours. When I read the package claims that it not only melts but stretches as well, I knew I had to document this to see just how awful good it was.  Seriously, I was dumbfounded that the ability to melt and stretch had to be touted and wasn't a given.  Anyway, I announced to Allen that we would be having dairy free pizza for dinner and he politely asked if he could have real cheese on his.  After paying what seemed like the equivalent of a semester of college for my precious "cheese," I agreed that he could have real (cheaper) cheese.  So after finding an alternative pizza sauce and dough, since our normal ones either contain soy or dairy, I was ready for this adventure.

I took a picture before baking, 5 minutes in,10 minutes later when the pizzas were done, and of the stretchiness of the cheese between two cut pieces.  Here's what I found.....



Before baking there isn't much of a difference. 
Mine looks like it was grated finer.

 

After 5 minutes of baking.  (Real cheese has pepperoni.)

After 15 minutes baking, my pizza still looks like when it was put in the oven!

 

The cheese stretch

The Daiya stretch

So it didn't look like it melted, but it did, a little.  Strangely, it melted but held its form until you cut it.  It also could stretch like cheese.  Now if it only tasted like cheese! Ha - it didn't have that bad of a taste but it definitely tasted artificial.  It brought back the memory of something specific but neither Allen nor I could come up with what it was.  When putting the flavor into words, the best we came up with was white cheddar popcorn and Doritos.   So for me it will be bread and spaghetti sauce for a while! :)

Weird, a post without a picture of the baby...  

Playtime

Anna's really getting into playtime these days.





 See! Even her feet are into it!

food presentation

We presented Anna with a piece of a whole banana earlier this week and what a difference it made.  Apparently, she didn't like having it mashed for her, she wanted to do it herself.  She was also able to hold it herself and that is always a plus.  So if you aren't familiar with this little contraption, it has a mesh bag that you can put chunks of food in so that babies can gum them without fear of choking.  It seemed gimmicky but I thought I'd give it a go and she seemed happy and content to get what she could out of the banana.  I even made the comment that she must like it because it hadn't been thrown on the floor like all the other toys.  She promptly let us know she was done by throwing the sticky gooey used-to-be-a-banana on the floor.  :) Thankfully, I hadn't gotten to mopping before dinner.



It seemed to be love at first taste.



Waiting patiently while Allen moved the banana in the bag so she could get it again.





Look at how excited she was to get it back!



Swim Baby Swim

We made it to the pool for the first time last night.  Baby in one hand, camera in the other, we were ready! Of course, we also had a super cute cloth swim diaper and one of her many swimsuits with us as well.  It seemed like Anna wasn't sure about the water at first.  She just sat in my lap or stayed still when I held her out in the water.  She eventually realized she could kick and splash the water and there was no turning back.  I'm not sure she was totally ready to be dunked, but as great parents - we did it anyway.  I then spent the rest of the night convinced she swallowed too much water and checked on her in her bed no less than seven times in three hours.  As much as she enjoyed kicking around in the water, I'm sure we will be back many times.  We'll work on the going under thing, and probably buy a tube for her to float AND kick in!  



Sitting on the stairs and getting to know the water.



What just happened to me?!?!?!
She never cried, just coughed and gasped a bit.

Look at that smile!  She's a water baby!

 

On the way home with Daddy.



We'll take that as a NO!

1.

2.

3.

Rice Cereal
Banana
???

Anna's Ride

Anna's got a new ride. Check it out!  

Looking at the water below.

There were toys along for the ride!

Hat Twins.

  

Since she is sitting up so well, we thought we'd give her hiking backpack a go this weekend.  We hiked with some good friends, and enjoyed a picinic lunch afterwards.  Always fun, always yummy.   Anna did really well in the backpack.  So did Allen, for that matter.  The middle of our hike has a nice waterfall and we completed our series of pictures located on the righthand side of the blog.  We now have one year ago, nine months ago, and today. The first picture is 6 months prior to birth and the last picture is 6 months after birth. Kinda cool!

My family!

Happy (hungry) Baby!

"Hiker in Training"

After the waterfall viewing spot, the hike continues up the "mountain," across the "river," and then down the "mountain." The steps after the waterfall really tested out Allen's legs, and rocked Anna to sleep! There was a moment when all four adults were making sure she was still breathing because of how hard she passed out!

All you could see was her glowing red hair!

Anna is turning into a real traveler.  She does so well in the car and experiencing new things. She survived a 2.5 mile hike like a champ, a diaper change on a picinic bench, and a nap practically standing up! It was a great day, and she has taken a couple of good naps since then. I hope that the one she is taking now turns into more of the nighttime sleep type, but we'll see. 

Sun Hat

I found this great new sun hat at a little consignment shop my Mom, Nana, and I found downtown a few months ago.  I hadn't been since the day we found it, but felt drawn to it last week when I went to the bank to deposit a check.  Since it's just across the street from the bank, I figured I had nothing to lose.   I was right, Anna got a cute hat!  She wears it when we are out in the sun and hasn't attempted to take it off yet.  Did I mention it's cute? And then put her in the hat, oh my!  The combo is a show stopper! ;)

Maybe I'm biased, maybe not.  What do you think?

stats

From her 6 month check up today -14lbs 12oz and 26 inches.   This puts her around the 25th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height.  No wonder her clothes are always too short before they are too small!

From her silly photo shoot last night -



Love this shot Allen got.





Surprise!



Hey! You! Let me out!





Please.



She loves the spindles on our kitchen table chairs.  Now that she is sitting up so well, I put her in one backwards to play. (I had a hand on her too, of course.) She played the part of a caged animal very convincingly.  She would grab a spindle in each hand and growl and gnash her nonexistent teeth.  Sometimes she would even attempt to break through "the cage" with her mouth.  At one point, Allen called her name to get her to look up at him and when she did she looked surprised when she saw him.  It was a great moment, and I'm so glad Allen caught it.  When she tired of the animal role, she switched to sweet, innocent eyes that could melt the coldest of hearts.  If she remembers this look in a few years, I doubt she'll have trouble getting what she wants or getting out of trouble. We are in for it.

And the winner is....

Anna as the Pebbles look alike!!

Happy Half Birthday!

Six months old today!  Time to celebrate with rice cereal! 

Anna wasn't sure about it.

Actually, I think it's more appropriate to say she didn't like it.

Maybe she'll like the cake we put in front of her for her first birthday! :)

Anna's Aunt Abby

Here's Anna hanging out with her aunt at a baseball game last weekend.

We were cheering for the Drive, but I think Anna was cheering for the giraffes.