Blog | 2008
Last weekend we tried solid food in the form of various cereals. We tried baby rice cereal. We tried ground up steel cut oats (cooked and mixed with formula). We tried ground up regular oatmeal (cooked and mixed with formula). No go on any of it. She even decided she didn’t like her spoon anymore. So, Monday night we started over. After she woke up from her post-daycare nap (that issue is a whole other story), I gave her the spoon to play with while I held her. After a few minutes, I dipped the spoon in formula and tried to “feed” it to her while I held her. She opened her mouth right up. Then, I put a little prepared baby rice cereal on the spoon and tried to feed it to her while I held her. Success! After that I put her in her Bumbo seat and proceeded to feed her the rest of the rice cereal.
Throughout the rest of the week, I continued with the rice cereal until Thursday. Of course, she always manages to wear a goodly portion, but she seems to like it and opens her mouth nice an wide for each bite. She tends to make a mess when she feels she just HAS to say something as that spoon enters her mouth and/or when she dips her head at the last second (see above). Even covered in rice cereal, isn’t that face adorable??
On Thursday, I tried oatmeal again (ground up regular oatmeal cooked in water and mixed with formula). She still made a face, but was willing to eat it if I alternated oatmeal with rice cereal. I still believed it was a texture thing (you just can’t get real oatmeal to be super smooth no matter what you do). So, I bought some whole grain cereal for babies and tried some of that Friday night. She ate it right up and has already had a couple of servings today. Each time I make it a little thicker so she will get used to different textures. All in all, I am declaring victory!
Pictures in the months to come will provide a much better comparison between our baby pictures and Brianna, but here is the best we have for six months.
This next one may not quite be fair to Jason since Brianna and I are both in dresses and posed somewhat the same, but it is what it is!
Today we tried solid food for the first time and it was certainly NOT a success, as you can see for yourself! It started out well enough. She opened her mouth right up and couldn’t wait…until that oatmeal hit her tongue. Then her face scrunched all up and she basically spit the little bit in her mouth out.
I ground up steel cut oats (that is the kind of oatmeal I like, plus it is supposed to be better for you) and made some oatmeal for her. But I think it would be fair to say I didn’t grind it up enough. It wasn’t for a lack of trying. My little cuisinart just couldn’t do it. You probably need a coffee grinder or something (of course one that has never ground coffee). Either that or I need to grind it again after it is cooked. We also tried smoother cereals, but that didn’t fly either. We will try again tomorrow.
Today we went to the pediatrician for Brianna’s 6 month checkup. She now weighs 13 lbs, 8.5 oz (25%) and she is 24.75″ long (25%). She got the last of her DTaP and Rotavirus vaccines, for which she is profoundly grateful. She will go back in a month to get the last of her HiB and Pc vaccines. I figured I should go ahead and take some pictures of her in this dress (this in one of my baby dresses) since the doctor said to start her on solid foods. Those yellow and orange veggies will not flatter this adorable dress. Don’t you just love those “butt” ruffles! 
The bottom picture is quite representative of her priorities — feet are great for nibbling, aren’t they?
Yesterday was my birthday, and Brianna celebrated by being a complete angel! Of course, she is usually pretty good, so I don’t know that I can honestly say she did it all for me. That said, who is going to argue with me? I did have a doctor’s appointment, which generally is not my idea of fun, but when you ask for a particular doctor and you are only available Tuesdays and Thursdays, you take what you can get. On the plus side, Dr. T and all the nurses were very excited to see Brianna. They all gushed over her and repeatedly told her she was “just the cutest thing” and “like a doll” and “so adorable, they could just eat her up”! Brianna took it all in and managed to not get too big headed about it. After we got home, my friend Jennifer and her kids (Corinne & Jack) came over to wish me a happy birthday. They brought me homemade cards (I love kid art!) and homemade brownies. YUM! This was especially good since Jason was unable to get my cake. Our favorite bakery has apparently significantly reduced its hours and he is having trouble getting in touch with them.
After Jason and Brianna took me out to dinner, Jason gave Brianna her bedtime bottle. Over the past month or so, she has been touching her bottle during a feeding, and occasionally she holds it for a bit, but for the most part she is just content to let him hold it. She is too busy eating to bother with that sort of thing! Yesterday, however, she took the initiative and grabbed that bottle. In the first picture Jason is still helping, but mostly because he wasn’t sure she had it. As you can clearly see by the second picture, she had it and did not need any help — bottoms up!
Today Brianna is six months old. She has changed so much, not only since she was born, but even in the last month or so! Here are some new pictures.
We will go to the doctor for her 6-month checkup this coming week, so I’ll give you an official update on her weight and height then. In the mean time, we estimate her weight to be a little over 13 lbs. She takes ~3 naps per day when she is at home. Usually at least one is 90 minutes or more. At daycare, she takes 2 – 3 naps, and never sleeps longer than 30 minutes. This week we will try a few things to see if we can improve that. Fortunately, she is generally happy, even when she is exhausted. The only way you really know she is tired is by looking at her eyes (they get a decidedly sleepy look), and by noticing whether or not she rubs her face. At night, she sleeps roughly 8 – 9 hours between feedings. Recently, she will wake up between 4:30 and 5:30 to eat, and then will sleep another 2 – 3 hours before getting up for the day. She will roll over from her tummy to her back (although not very often), and she rolls from her back to her side. She seems to sleep best on her side right now. She is pretty good at grabbing things (as you can see above), and has figured out how to use her feet to bring things closer to her hands. She laughs, shouts, screeches, and makes aah, mmmm, and eh sounds regularly, and makes ba and da sounds occasionally. While on her tummy she kicks a lot, but has not yet figured out how to turn that motion into forward motion. She occasionally pushes up on her hands. For the most part however, she does not seem particularly interested in moving herself around. We do not see any signs of teeth, but she gnaws on things A LOT. She can sit unassisted for a few seconds, and loves to stand with assistance. She also loves to “dance” to music — no music preference at this time. She has started reaching for things she wants, and has even reached up a couple of times for me or Jason.
She had her first formal portrait on Thursday (school pictures). Yesterday (Saturday) she went to her first football game. The home team did not win, but she seemed to enjoy it. I think she was following the game. Whenever she looked at the field, she only looked where the players were. When there were no players on the field, she looked at her surroundings. While watching the game, she chatted and screeched like she does when happy, so I think she liked it (good thing, huh!).
Today is picture day for Brianna at school. I meant to give her a bath last night, but she decided to fall asleep instead. What can you do? So, this morning I gave her a bath, which is not as much fun as you might think since she is not generally interested in morning baths. She was good, but didn’t splash (a favorite bath time activity these days) nearly as much as she usually does. I took this picture after we finished while she played in her exersaucer with her favorite ball. It is just too cute to not share. As you can see, post-bath she was all smiles!
Today is the first cool day of fall so we dressed Brianna up in this adorable outfit. A colleague of mine from Sweden sent it for Brianna after she was born and she just now fits into it (perfect timing, I think) — thanks Bertil!! Not only is she warm and comfortable, but this outfit gives her new textures to explore. You can’t really tell in the pictures, but those pants are a soft velour that she has never really felt before. She has been spending some of her day checking them out. Plus, the zipper on the jacket is just fabulously entertaining to her.
This weekend, Jason and I took Brianna to a couple playgrounds near our house. We have two small ones in our neighborhood, but we wanted to try out some of the bigger ones at the county/city operated parks. Obviously, Brianna is too small to play on most of the equipment, but we had fun swinging on the swings (one of my favorite activities as a child). We anticipate many fun days at the park in the future.
Today Brianna and I went to our first consignment sale. I stumbled upon it last week in the outlet mall near our house. The sale didn’t start until this past Tuesday, but you could see all kinds of stuff in the windows. Today, most things were supposed to be 50% off so Brianna and I went to see what was left. In particular, I was looking for an exersaucer for her since she seems to really enjoy the one at daycare. There were only three left out of the at least 30 I saw last week (the risk you take when you wait until discount day), but I think we did o.k. This little gem (see pictures below) only cost $6. While it may not have the bells and whistles of the newer models, she does not seem to mind. She has been playing in it for the past 15 minutes and has been just chattering away. Plus, I think Jason will appreciate the “driving” aspect of this particular exersaucer. Now she has her very own “car!” As an added bonus, we picked up a few clothes. She didn’t really need clothes thanks to everyone’s generosity so I resisted most of the tempting outfits. But, I did get her an adorable winter white coat with a hood, a light pink winter suit (Winnie the Pooh, complete with footies, hood, and mittens), and a brand new red velvet Christmas dress (complete with satin panties). We will definitely do this more as she gets older, although preferably not at lunch time on discount day. That place was a madhouse!
