The babies have had sweet potatoes and peas so far, and they loved them both. On Sunday, we tried to make our first baby oatmeal, using the Super Porridge recipe from the Super Baby Food book.
I usually eat steel cut oats from Whole Foods for breakfast every morning, so I started with those. I put them in our food processor and ran it for a couple minutes until I was left with a fine powder. Then I boiled a cup of water on the stove, and added the oatmeal powder and whisked like a crazy woman. Well, I must have done something wrong, because it came out very lumpy. We tried feeding it to the babies, but they were going to start a hunger strike. So I quickly defrosted some sweet potatoes and we fed them those. I put the oatmeal into the fridge with hopes of somehow feeding it to the babies over the next couple days. (I hate to throw away food.)
Yesterday, I microwaved some of the leftover oatmeal from Sunday to soften it up. Then I put the heated, soft oatmeal back into the food processor with a little extra breast milk and pulverized it. The result was a nice, creamy porridge (much like the consistency of cream of wheat). The babies ate it up. Success!
Well, this morning, I noticed that Vivienne has a rash all over her abdomen. It doesn't seem to bother her, but it was all over her little belly and chest, so I called the pediatrician. They said to try holding off on oatmeal for another month or so to see if she is having a reaction to it. (Unfortunately, I put a new lotion on her last night after her bath, so it's impossible to determine whether it was the lotion or the oatmeal without further experimentation.)
So, I successfully fed the babies oatmeal, but Vivienne might be allergic to it. I guess we'll just have to see how she does with it in another month or so.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Diaper Sprayers and Blackout Curtains
While my mom was here visiting, I was able to do so many things that I usually can't get around to doing (or that I just don't prioritize highly enough to get done on my normal days) - things like taking long showers, getting my hair cut and going to a consignment sale. We also took the opportunity to get a few important things done around the house - cleaning, installing a diaper sprayer and putting up blackout curtains in Miles' and Vivienne's nursery.
The babies' nursery is very bright in the mornings and during the day. We have thin wood blinds, and they work ok, but they certainly don't block out most of the sunlight. About a month ago, I went to Walmart and bought some cheap blackout curtains. We finally got around to putting them up this past weekend. The curtains aren't 100% blackout, but they definitely block out most of the light. Now, the babies' nursery is nice and dark in the mornings and in the afternoons for their naps. Hopefully, this will help them to sleep soundly.
Because the babies have started eating some solid foods, their poop has gotten a lot more "interesting." It's definitely more solid and it has a pungent odor that it did not have before. (When they were only eating breast milk, their poop was mustard colored and had virtually no odor at all.) Needless to say, it was time to install a toilet diaper sprayer. It is basically a sprayer much like you have on your kitchen sink, but it's connected to the water supply going into the toilet. It also has a little hanger that allows us to hang it on the side of the tank when we're not using it. I got our sprayer free from someone who didn't need it anymore. After soaking it in a bucket of bleach for an afternoon, we installed it in our bathroom upstairs. Now, we can spray off the poops before putting the diapers into the diaper pail. So far, so good.
A HUGE thanks to Mom for all the help over this last weekend. We miss you already!
The babies' nursery is very bright in the mornings and during the day. We have thin wood blinds, and they work ok, but they certainly don't block out most of the sunlight. About a month ago, I went to Walmart and bought some cheap blackout curtains. We finally got around to putting them up this past weekend. The curtains aren't 100% blackout, but they definitely block out most of the light. Now, the babies' nursery is nice and dark in the mornings and in the afternoons for their naps. Hopefully, this will help them to sleep soundly.
Because the babies have started eating some solid foods, their poop has gotten a lot more "interesting." It's definitely more solid and it has a pungent odor that it did not have before. (When they were only eating breast milk, their poop was mustard colored and had virtually no odor at all.) Needless to say, it was time to install a toilet diaper sprayer. It is basically a sprayer much like you have on your kitchen sink, but it's connected to the water supply going into the toilet. It also has a little hanger that allows us to hang it on the side of the tank when we're not using it. I got our sprayer free from someone who didn't need it anymore. After soaking it in a bucket of bleach for an afternoon, we installed it in our bathroom upstairs. Now, we can spray off the poops before putting the diapers into the diaper pail. So far, so good.
A HUGE thanks to Mom for all the help over this last weekend. We miss you already!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Razzing, Face Exploration and Starting to Sit Up
The babies are starting to do more new things each day. As I mentioned previously, Vivienne has now proven that she can roll over (hoorah!!). Miles has been making razzing sounds for the past couple weeks, and Vivienne has really picked up on it this week. It's really cute to watch them do that.
One of Vivienne's new favorite things is to explore our faces with her hands when we hold her. She'll look right into your face (from about 2 inches away) and start feeling all over it with her hands, pulling on our lips and noses, pulling our hair. She just smiles ear to ear and explores our facial features. It's really sweet, though sometimes she can get overly excited and actually hurt us a little bit.
Miles and Vivienne are just starting to sit up. Miles was sitting up very well on our bed last night just before his bath. His core muscles are clearly getting stronger, because he can sit up from the beginner "tripod" position for a few seconds before falling over. Vivienne still really only does the "tripod" position, but she's getting stronger every day, too. Both babies will "stand" and support all of their weight on their legs if we hold their wastes to balance them. They can only do this for a short time before their little legs get tired, though.
One of Vivienne's new favorite things is to explore our faces with her hands when we hold her. She'll look right into your face (from about 2 inches away) and start feeling all over it with her hands, pulling on our lips and noses, pulling our hair. She just smiles ear to ear and explores our facial features. It's really sweet, though sometimes she can get overly excited and actually hurt us a little bit.
Miles and Vivienne are just starting to sit up. Miles was sitting up very well on our bed last night just before his bath. His core muscles are clearly getting stronger, because he can sit up from the beginner "tripod" position for a few seconds before falling over. Vivienne still really only does the "tripod" position, but she's getting stronger every day, too. Both babies will "stand" and support all of their weight on their legs if we hold their wastes to balance them. They can only do this for a short time before their little legs get tired, though.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Grandma Visits and More Fun with Peas
Grandma (Leslie's mom) is here to visit for the weekend. The babies have really enjoyed all the extra attention and cuddles from Grandma.
Jason got up at 5 am to run a half marathon this morning. He got third place overall with a time of 1:23:31. He was back home in time to feed the babies their lunch. This was his first opportunity to see Miles really chow down (remember that last weekend, Miles was still fairly averse to this "solid food" business). Daddy fed Vivienne and Grandma fed Miles. They were jokingly racing to see which baby would finish their peas first.
Tonight, Jason and I went out on a much needed date night while Grandma babysat for us. It's so nice that the babies go to bed around 6:30 with very little effort. Months ago, I would never have believed that their bedtime would become so easy. I nursed the babies around 6:30, we put them to bed, and then we went out.
We went to Chef's Pallette in Cary. It was fabulous! The ambiance was excellent. We had no wait at all. The food and the service were outstanding. I would highly recommend it for a nice dinner. (Oh, and I had a really hot date, which always helps.) =)
Jason and I had a wonderful conversation about the values and habits that we would like to uphold for our family. This conversation was inspired by some podcasts that our church released for parents to listen to before the baby dedication (we're dedicating Miles and Vivienne in late February). It was just a wonderful evening together.
Thanks, Grandma, for babysitting and allowing us to escape together for an evening!
Jason got up at 5 am to run a half marathon this morning. He got third place overall with a time of 1:23:31. He was back home in time to feed the babies their lunch. This was his first opportunity to see Miles really chow down (remember that last weekend, Miles was still fairly averse to this "solid food" business). Daddy fed Vivienne and Grandma fed Miles. They were jokingly racing to see which baby would finish their peas first.
Tonight, Jason and I went out on a much needed date night while Grandma babysat for us. It's so nice that the babies go to bed around 6:30 with very little effort. Months ago, I would never have believed that their bedtime would become so easy. I nursed the babies around 6:30, we put them to bed, and then we went out.
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| Date Night! |
Jason and I had a wonderful conversation about the values and habits that we would like to uphold for our family. This conversation was inspired by some podcasts that our church released for parents to listen to before the baby dedication (we're dedicating Miles and Vivienne in late February). It was just a wonderful evening together.
Thanks, Grandma, for babysitting and allowing us to escape together for an evening!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Baths with Grandma and Vivienne Rolls!!
Grandma (Leslie's mom) came into town today to visit the grandbabies. They are really enjoying playing with her and showing her all their new tricks. Mommy is really enjoying an extra set of hands around the house. =)
Grandma gave them each a nice, relaxing bath tonight before bedtime. We have squeaky clean and very happy babies.
On a side note, Vivienne rolled from her stomach to her back for the FIRST TIME tonight!! Miles did this 3 months ago. It was so fun to finally see her learn to flip herself over. Go, Vivienne!
Grandma gave them each a nice, relaxing bath tonight before bedtime. We have squeaky clean and very happy babies.
On a side note, Vivienne rolled from her stomach to her back for the FIRST TIME tonight!! Miles did this 3 months ago. It was so fun to finally see her learn to flip herself over. Go, Vivienne!
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| We love Grandma! |
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| Enjoying the spa treatment. (And apparently thinking "Oh... my... gosh...") |
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| Vivienne looks cute in her pink diaper cover. Congratulations on your first roll, big girl! |
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| Definitely my favorite picture of the night. I'm in love with this baby. =) |
Sweet Peas
Yesterday, we started Miles and Vivienne on eating peas. I bought a bag of frozen peas and boiled them, drained them and ground them with our food mill. Peas are admittedly not my favorite vegetable, so I was a bit surprised that the babies enjoyed them. But they ate them up!
Vivienne also did really well with the sippy cup today. I took out the diaphragm so that the water will drip out of the cup. Vivienne would repeatedly put the mouthpiece of the sippy cup in her mouth. At first I thought it was a coincidence, but she would do it repeatedly when I took the cup away and gave it back to her. She still hasn't figured out how to suck it or tilt it up so that the water drips out.
Here are some pictures of my sweet peas enjoying their sweet peas.
Here is a very short video I got of Miles eating his peas. The camera cut off because the memory card was full:
I must say that the green pea spit up is quite interesting. I guess I'll be seeing a new rainbow of spit up and poop in the coming weeks. =)
Vivienne also did really well with the sippy cup today. I took out the diaphragm so that the water will drip out of the cup. Vivienne would repeatedly put the mouthpiece of the sippy cup in her mouth. At first I thought it was a coincidence, but she would do it repeatedly when I took the cup away and gave it back to her. She still hasn't figured out how to suck it or tilt it up so that the water drips out.
Here are some pictures of my sweet peas enjoying their sweet peas.
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| Good to know he likes at least one green veggie. |
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| My Sweet Pea |
I must say that the green pea spit up is quite interesting. I guess I'll be seeing a new rainbow of spit up and poop in the coming weeks. =)
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Mikey Likes It!
Or at least Milesy likes it! Well, after 3 days of trying sweet potatoes, Miles decided yesterday that he likes it! I was so happy to see him finally enjoying the meal, instead of feeling like I'm torturing him with food.
I had decided that if we tried for 5 days and Miles hated eating the entire time, I was just going to stop for a couple weeks and then try again. I didn't want his first association with food to be a negative one. But, luckily, he changed his tune yesterday and enjoyed quite a few bites of sweet potatoes (which also happen to be one of Mommy and Daddy's favorite vegetables).
Feeding two babies at the same time is no easy task. I have to get them both in their high chairs and get the food, clean up rag, spoons and bibs ready before they start to get irritated and cranky. Then I have to feed them quickly enough that they don't lose patience. I'm just using one bowl and spoon and switching back and forth from one baby to the other. It would be crazy to actually try to do two bowls and two spoons.
After they eat their food, I've been trying to give them a little bit of water in a sippy cup. They still have no idea what to do with it, but it's cute to see them "drinking" from it (with a LOT of help from me). I removed the diaphragm from the inside so that it will actually drip water - there is no way that I would actually be able to get them to suck from it right now.
I've finally learned to roll up their sleeves (duh!). This makes the entire process a whole lot cleaner. They still manage to get their bibs all twisted around and they end up with sweet potato in their hair, but I think we're making a lot of progress in establishing a little feeding system here.
Last night, I made some peas. We'll try them today and see what they think. So far, I love making their baby food. It makes me feel like I'm really doing something truly good for my babies, and it's really easy, too!
I had decided that if we tried for 5 days and Miles hated eating the entire time, I was just going to stop for a couple weeks and then try again. I didn't want his first association with food to be a negative one. But, luckily, he changed his tune yesterday and enjoyed quite a few bites of sweet potatoes (which also happen to be one of Mommy and Daddy's favorite vegetables).
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| Miles finally has a good relationship with a spoon. |
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| My Happy Eaters |
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| Enjoyin their fourth day of sweet potatoes. |
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| I accidentally got sweet potato up her nose. Oops! |
After they eat their food, I've been trying to give them a little bit of water in a sippy cup. They still have no idea what to do with it, but it's cute to see them "drinking" from it (with a LOT of help from me). I removed the diaphragm from the inside so that it will actually drip water - there is no way that I would actually be able to get them to suck from it right now.
I've finally learned to roll up their sleeves (duh!). This makes the entire process a whole lot cleaner. They still manage to get their bibs all twisted around and they end up with sweet potato in their hair, but I think we're making a lot of progress in establishing a little feeding system here.
Last night, I made some peas. We'll try them today and see what they think. So far, I love making their baby food. It makes me feel like I'm really doing something truly good for my babies, and it's really easy, too!
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