Preparing for Solids

Husband and baby are still fast asleep and I slept an uninterrupted 6 hours last night so I feet great! It also gives me a little time to do a short post on what has been on my mind lately, starting Amélie on solids. I feel like Amélie has been ready for solids for a while now. She is showing all the signs - birth weight (more than) doubled, feeding more at night, good head control, great interest in my meals, etc. I've been doing my research the past couple of weeks by talking to other moms and reading a couple of blogs and books and I think I finally feel ready. I wanted to wait as close to the 6 month mark of solely breastfeeding, but I think 5 1/2 months is close enough and I kind of am excited to start Amélie on her way to becoming a foodie :) 

Since waiting a few days in between the introduction of new foods is recommended to pinpoint any allergies, I decided to make a calendar showing what we'll be feeding Amélie. It's your typical first baby food fruits and veggies plus some oatmeal and brown rice mixed in. I decided to skip baby rice as her first food and start her straight on fruits and veggies instead. When I introduce the grains, I will probably end up mixing them with other foods that have been previously introduced. After her first month, I'll probably become a little more adventurous and add some finger foods as well. 

*Edit: After writing the two paragraphs above yesterday morning, everyone woke up and I'm just finishing the post now!

^^Here is some of the "gear" we bought. 

Sources: 

Baby Bjorn Highchair

Philips AVENT Combined Baby Food Steamer and Blender

Philips AVENT Baby Food Storage Set

Lillypot

Tommee Tippee Explora 1st Weaning Spoons

Tommee Tippee Explora Easy Scoop Feeding Bowls

OXO Tot Baby Food Freezer Tray (forgot to put into the picture!)

Boon Squirt (forgot to put into the picture!)

^^Give me some food now please!

We're off to a castle near Manchester for a wedding the next couple of days and I have 20 minutes to get ready and packed so I should hurry! I probably won't be able to post any updates for a couple of weeks since we are moving and will be internetless for a while, but I'll be sure to keep you all posted on how introducing solids is going once we are back online. Here is a goodie from the other night: 

^^She wanted to sleep in the big bed :) 

Amélie Five Months

Miss Amélie turned five months old on Thursday and we could not be more in love with her. She weighs 15 pounds 8 ounces (7.08 kilos), which is up a whole pound from two weeks ago. I think a lot of the weight is going towards her length because her tummy has been much skinnier these days. She is so much more curious nowadays and wants to grab everything in sight/put it in her mouth. She's also found her feet and loves grabbing them both especially when she's on her changing table. Her favorite is flying in the air, which makes her giggle loads. I can see already that Amélie is an explorer because though she can't crawl, she does make her way around her play gym whether when she's on her back or doing tummy time - she always ends up doing a 180 and/or reaching for her favorite toys. Even when she's in the Bumbo, she will reach her for toys if they fall off the tray (ex. see below)

I'm not sure if you can tell from the pics above, but Amélie is also losing her hair! One day I picked her up from her crib and thought one of her stuffed animals was shedding, but I soon realized it was actually Amélie. I know it's pretty common for babies to lose their hair and for it to grow back, but I hope she doesn't lose any more. It's mainly in the back, but her bangs seem to be shorter too. 

Feeding wise, I'm still nursing her roughly every 3 hours (though it always seems like less than 10 minutes per session because she gets distracted very easily), but I think we are very close to starting solids. Amélie seems to be hungrier during the night and sometimes wakes up three times to eat. I usually have her on my lap when I'm eating lunch and dinner too now because she is so interested in what I'm doing. She had a few licks of an apple and banana I was eating one day and she seemed to like it. I'm just trying to wait as close to 6 months as possible of solely breastfeeding, but I'm thinking the beginning of November will be the likely time we start. I also think she is starting to teeth and has been loving the Sophie the giraffe teething toy these past couple of days. 

Her baby sensory and swimming classes are still going very well. I am having to sometimes pretend I know the words to some English nursery rhymes in class (and then go home and google them!) Jelly on a plate anyone? Plus, I've picked up some new vocabulary this month - gilet (aka puffy vest), faff and dungarees (overalls) are the ones that stand out. I've figured out what they mean from the context of the conversation, but I still double check with A when I get home to verify.  

Other updates - A is finally finished with a few weeks of business trips, we are officially home owners as of Monday (moving in a couple of weeks!) and we had some fun and dressed Amélie up like a panda today. It's close enough to Halloween right? 

^^It's tiring being a panda

^^5 month smiles! 

Happy 5 months baby Amélie, we love you. 

US Trip: Pumpkin Patch & Apple Picking

I love fall in New England. It's definitely my favorite season of the year so I am happy that we were able to visit just as the leaves were starting to change color and apple picking season was in full swing. The Friday before the end of our trip was a perfect sunny day with a visit to Lyman Orchards - my favorite place to go apple picking. My family has been going ever since I could remember and I'm sure we'll continue to bring Amélie as she grows up too.

^^Amélie was seriously not impressed with the pumpkins. We couldn't even get one smile out of her with all of the silly faces, singing and dancing we tried to entertain her with. She did just wake up from a nap in the car and found herself in a field full of pumpkins or maybe it was because I dressed her in white pants that were too small for her? 

^^"Sighhh - why is mommy making me do this?"

^^A on the hunt for some good looking apples. 

^^Amélie was kind of interested, maybe? 

^^I made us take a family pic, several actually. 

^^Such a beautiful and clear day in Connecticut

^^Tiff and A carried the apples, I carried the baby and then it was off to the Apple Barrel to buy some treats. 

^^Just chilling with some pumpkins. 

^^Our fall family photo, that exposed belly is too cute. 

^^So many pumpkins! I love the white ones. 

^^Waiting in line for some cider donuts, though I wanted one of everything. 

^^Just hanging out with daddy while mommy buys pies and cider (the American kind!) 

^^The apples on Tiff's table

The next day, it was already time to leave. Our bags were just at the weight limit mainly filled with baby clothes and toys for Amélie. We had a last little get together on Friday night with friends, way too much food and a fire to make s'mores. We wanted to go to the diner the next morning, but we too lazy and opted for a big breakfast at Tiff's instead - Pepperidge Farm Pumpkin Spice bread made into French toast, yes, please with bacon, extra crispy and why not throw in some left over crab rangoons and potato skins too. 

^^Exhausted and taking a nap on daddy before leaving for the airport. 

^^Finally home with a huge pile of clothes and toys, though all washed and organized now! 

and that's it for our trip to America, I already can't wait to go back for our next visit. 

US Trip: The Food

Living in England, I can satisfy most of my food cravings and my list of groceries to bring back has been narrowed down to only Thomas' English muffins (the English muffins here don't have any nooks or crannies!) and Ghiradelli chocolate chips (plus Funfetti once in a while!). There is just about everything in Chichester too except for a good pizzeria and sushi. If we go to London, we get our fix of dim sum, roast pork buns and sushi, but with the little one we can't make there too often. 

The week before any America trip, I go on a little "diet" and eat mainly chicken and veggies so I can really pig out when I'm there and here's what we had....

^^Lobstahhh rolls!

^^Pizza from Pepe's. So what if we got three large (pepperoni / sausage, mushroom & onion / fresh tomato) and I continued to eat it cold out of the fridge for breakfast several days after? 

^^Late night grilling after the baby was asleep. Steaks and potatoes. 

^^Another grill night fulfilled A's one request of barbecued chicken wings. I added the hot dogs and Annie's mac and cheese and twice baked potatoes :)  

^^Just a little photo of this cutie to break up the food pics. 

^^And the food continues with a little Italian meal - pasta & sausage

^^Amélie and grandma hanging out. A in the back working!

^Ribs, shrimp cocktail, salad, pasta, veggies aka we ate too much that night

^^Pumpkin everything before we went apple picking. Delish pumpkin bread made by Tiff and a pumpkin bagel from Stew Leonards - the best supermarket I've been too!

^^After apple picking lunch - spicy tuna roll, tempura....

^^Giant, I mean really huge oysters...

^^Melt in your mouth sashimi - the white tuna was out of this world! 

^^And why not have a boat too. We ate a lot, but I'm so glad we did. 

^^This was all followed by a late afternoon snack of a DANISH! Finally, I've fulfilled my pregnancy craving from way back when. 

^^Last meal in America - a burger from Smashburger at the airport- so good by the way! And I may have gotten cinnamon sugar pretzel nuggets from Auntie Anne's too. 

^^Lastly, how cute is this little cupcake in a sink. Don't ask - we thought it was funny. I don't think she was too amused. 

Though I should probably be eating kale and chia seeds, I've been eating the following while A's been in Paris. So good, so comforting as the weather here is changing to finally feel like fall. 

Lighter Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese

Pepperoni Skillet Pizza

Tomato Basil Soup with Cheese Tortellini

US Trip: The Party

The main reason for our trip to America was because we wanted Amélie to meet my American family and friends. Instead of trying to see everyone on separate occasions, we had one big bash at my sister Tiff's house, which served as our home for the week. We had a good ole' American barbecue with burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, Arnold Palmers, beer and sundaes. Tiff was awesome and tolerated my long list of very specific groceries to buy (Cape Cod chips! Hebrew National Hot Dogs! Split top buns!) plus took care of all the hostessing duties along with her bf.  It was so nice to have a relaxing afternoon to hang out with everyone who I've missed and for once not have to run around cooking/cleaning (thanks Tiff & John!). Amélie was also passed from person to person so it was also nice to have a burger and ice cream sundae sans baby. 

^^Suz, a friend I've known since kindergarten and my cousin Jessica. 

^^Td & Linds playing a little cornhole.

^^Justin having tons of fun with the baby. 

^^Smiles and presents. Oh I love that belly Amélie. 

^^Ice cream sundaes, which I ended up having all week long!

^^Ready, set...

^^Photoshoot! Poor girl, always making her pose. 

^^You were the star of the party Amélie! Next time, you'll be able to have hot dogs and burgers too. It was an amazing day which ended up with a few of us watching a few episodes of Dating Naked and eating too much cheesecake - so bad, but so good.  

The next few days were kind of quiet except for a trip to the outlets. Amélie caught a cold so we scratched our plans to go to NYC and instead just stayed around Connecticut doing your typical things like getting mani/pedis, going to Target & Stew Leonards, and getting pumpkin spice lattes. 

Next post, highlights of a few of the things we ate!