Chugging along

The posts are slowing down now as we prepare to take our first international trip as a family. As if packing for a baby wasn't enough we also have to haul out our winter gear to pack for a completely opposite season. This is further complicated by the fact that I have to try on all of the winter gear that was packed away because I haven't worn my "normal" winter clothes in 2 years due to the belly bump and although I'm officially at my pre-baby weight, thing's ain't where they used to be. Ah, good times.

In the meantime, Richie's becoming a very adept eater and his menu now includes kumera, pumpkin, carrot, apples, apricot, avocado and baby rice. He's looking forward to trying some new things in the US but most of all he hopes the water tastes better. He's not a fan of water in the sippy cup. Even though it's pure NZ spring water.

in bloom

Since most of the US has been suffering from winter storms lately, I thought I'd let you know what the weather is producing in our neck of the woods...lots of gorgeous flowers. Here's just some of the flowers currently in bloom.

Although I do have hydrangea and calla lillies blooming in my own garden, I don't quite have this quantity. These gorgeous bunches came from one of Paul's patients. He came come with literally a bucket of blooms just before Christmas! 

Happy New Year

As some of you may know, New Zealand is the first major country to see the rising sun each day and hence, the new year each year. This year we marked Richie's first new year celebration at the beach with a lot of other like-minded Kiwis. Richie even dipped his feet in the Pacific Ocean for the first time to celebrate (ok, totally not his idea, and he screamed because the water was cold). Note, in these pictures that this is the most crowded I have ever seen a beach in NZ. Quite often we have the entire beach to ourselves but Christmas and New Year's are traditionally spent at the beach and hence the proliferation of beach umbrellas and sun shelters (Essential beach gear due to that old hole in the ozone above NZ, thanks again to all those Aqua Net users in the 80's for that).

But Richie did get a kick out of the warm sand.

Merry Christmas to all...

and to all a good night!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Hmm, I wonder which one is Richie's?

A is for avocado, part 2

Day two of the great avocado experiment was much more successful with Daddy doing the feeding. It's now been a week since we started and he's eating as much as I give him (about 2 tablespoons). At first he had a little gas but I think he's over it now. He's sleeping much better (woke only once the past 2 nights) and last night, drumroll please.....

He slept through the night! From 8pm to 5:30am! Mom was up at 4am wondering what was going on and checked to make sure he was breathing. He may have even slept longer if the crazy cat hadn't been on the rampage with a noisy toy in the hallway. Why is it that when Richie sleeps in the cat wakes us up early? One of life's great mysteries.

Next up on the menu is pumpkin. Now I just need to find an orange bib...

A is for avocado, part 1

Richie passed another milestone this week: eating his first solid food.

I'm proud to say he's been 100% breastfed until now (a shout out to all the moms who stick with it, it's a tough job!). But starting about 2 weeks ago he started waking more often in the night, teething and most recently, mouthing while watching Mom eat (all signs that he's getting ready to start solids). So at 4 months and 3 weeks we gave him his first food: avocado. 

Sure most babies start with baby rice but when avocados are in season and packed with lots of lovely nutrients and omega 3's why not give him more bang for his itty bitty bite? It's one of the "approved" first foods along with most root vegetables, apple and pears. Apparently it's harder to get them to eat veggies if you start them on sweet fruits, so we're going to give him veggies first and then will add in some fruits (again, lucky boy lives in the "Fruit Bowl of New Zealand" and will have his choice of peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots, etc).

From what I've read and heard there is also some controversy about whether giving infants starches like rice before they have molars is a good idea as well. Some say they lack the enzyme necessary to properly digest starches until they have molars and hence get terrible gas, and others say giving them starches too soon makes them more likely to get colds. In any case, we decided to play it safe and go for a food with as much nutrition as he could get that was still safe for him to digest. And hey you can't get any easier than mashing up avocado for homemade baby food. (ok, I did add a bit of breast milk at first and water to thin it out and make it more palatable). 

Below are pics from the first attempt on Dec 16th. He was a bit more interested in the spoon as a teething device but he did seem to know what to do with the food once it got in his mouth.

*Note that the food also matches his bib and chair. Momma ain't no fool.