Take that, puffs!

Posted on February 20, 2015 by playinghousewi

The tiny one is really starting to master picking up food with her little fingers. She’s not amazing at it, but she’s making progress.

Tonight, for the first time, not only was she able to get the little sweet potato puffy things into her mouth… BUT she actually ate them! She’s only ever had them in her mouth once or twice and it’s always ended in throw up. Poor little gag reflex.

But, again, tonight she did it! She ate at least 10 of the dang things! And, not only that, but she ate little Apple pieces, too! I had steamed apples for applesauce and gave her a little before blending it up.

All in all, a good meal… FINALLY! And, on top of it, she ate some of my oatmeal today, too! Yay for food progress.

I should also mention that leading up to tonight, I have been in a major food power struggle with C. She literally just does not want to be fed. She wants to be a big girl and hold the spoon herself.

To overcome the power struggle, I decided to try a homemade “pouch.” Now, before you yell at me for letting my baby suck on a ziplock bag, it must be said that I was regulating the whole time. Anyway, I decided to make a “piping bag” our of a ziplock, which actually worked.

So, I ordered some Squooshi refillable pouches to try. They haven’t arrived yet, but I’ll keep you posted.

Holy Temper Tantrum

Posted on February 19, 2015 by playinghousewi

This morning, Charlotte lost her… Marbles. She’s been playing with her voice lately and discovering screaming… But this morning, wow. She took her new skill to new levels.

I had given her a little bite of oatmeal and went to grab her sippy cup so she could wash it down with a little water. When I gave her the cup, I realized that I must not have screwed the cap on correctly, because the dang thing started leaking water all over.

I grabbed the cup to fix it and the little one flipped. I’m talking blood curdling screams and tears. It was absolutely terrifying.

I tried to calm her down, but ultimately, I ended up giving her the paci, which quieted her a bit and then taking her out of her seat to breastfeed her.

It’s been haunting me all day.

I hate to be dramatic because this is the first temper tantrum of her tiny life, but is this my future?

Charlotte’s First Introduction to Disney

Posted on February 17, 2015 by playinghousewi

Now, before you start judging us for bringing a 7 month old to Disney, let me clarify… Charlotte joined us for a trip to DOWNTOWN Disney. For those who aren’t familiar, this is a “free” Disney tourist trap designed to get you to buy tons of souveniers and random crap. But, it gives you a tiny smidge of the Disney vibe and for a baby who was napping or in need of a nap pretty much the whole day, that’s all she needed.

What I will say is that they must sprinkle those souvenier character stuffed animals with breast milk or fairy dust or something because MAN did that Minnie doll make her squirm. Through the severe exhaustion, her tiny mouth opened wide, her arms stretched out and her feet wiggled as she giggled away. Being that there were grandparents within a 5 mile radius of this adorable and joyful display, Charlotte was given her first Minnie doll.

Unfortunately, I was most excited to get little Charlie Minnie Mouse ears (with her name embroidered on it), only to find out that they don’t come in baby sizes. BOO, Disney… BOO.

Regardless, we had a nice little trip!

These last few pictures were right before she conked out for a little afternoon napski. Can you tell??

Also… THOSE CHEEKS!! I just love how they hang off her face. I am REALLY going to miss those delicious little cheekies.

Making Valentines with Homemade Baby Paint

Posted on February 17, 2015 by playinghousewi

After a week away, we had an awesome Valentine’s Day at home… in our PJ’s. We really wanted to do something fun with Charlie… but didn’t want to leave the house (WI winter in a nutshell). SO, we decided to make Valentines with Charlie. This is our first attempt at art with our tiny lady, and I have to say, it was pretty successful. She had a blast.

Recognizing that Charlotte sticks just about EVERYTHING in her mouth, I decided that making a food-based paint would be best. I didn’t want anything with sugar or chemicals, so here’s what I did…

HOMEMADE BABY PAINT

1 cup corn starch
1/2 cup cold water
1-2 cups hot water
1-3 TBSP red beet

I’m sure there is some sort of science to this, but my first attempt failed miserably. My suggestion is to just go slow adding the water. Just put your cornstarch into a bowl. Add the 1/2 cup of cold water and stir. Then slowly add the hot water until it’s just thicker than you’d like it. Then, put the corn starch mixture in a blender with the beet. I used our Ninja Kitchen System. The beet will add liquid to your mixture, so you might need to add more corn starch. I just played around with it until I got the right texture.

This recipe will give you pink paint. I”m sure you coulkd use spinach for green, carrot for orange, blueberries for purple or blue… Just play around with different foods.

Here are the pics…

DISCLAIMER: This stuff is messy.

Florida for the Week

Posted on February 10, 2015 by playinghousewi

I know I’ve mentioned this, but I work for my parents. This week, we are in Florida for a convention. As a perk, not only am I here with my parents, but Mark and Charlotte are here, too!

Here are some pics from our trip so far…

And She’s Off!

Posted on February 8, 2015 by playinghousewi

Charlie has been lunging herself all around for the past couple of weeks… But today, the real deal started. I put her on the floor, she popped up on all fours and then instead of rocking back and forth, she lifted her hand.

I yelled for Mark and said, “I think this is it! She’s going to start crawling.”

She’s lifted her arm before, but something about her stance and the way she kept placing her hand back on the ground was different.

So Mark came in the room and after a about 3 minutes of her just staring at us smiling, she did it! It was wobbly and uncoordinated at first, but quickly, she got the hang of it.

About 20 minutes into her crawling debut, she had already crossed the room over to her dresser where she proceeded to open and close the drawer.

Crap!!

Guess it’s time to baby proof.

The Poop Saga Continues

Posted on February 6, 2015 by playinghousewi

As I mentioned, when Charlotte turned 6 months, we started her on solids. And boy did she LOVE eating… Until all of a sudden, for no apparent reason, she stopped loving it.

Her mushy baby food just was not cutting it. I had started with sweet potatoes, and then avocado next. She seemed to really love the avocado, but broke out in a crazy rash all over her tummy, arms and back, so we said goodbye to avocado.

We then went back to sweet potatoes. It went really well at first, and then with the wind, she refused to eat more than a bite. Next, we tried peas. Same story. She’d take a few forced bites and that was it.

Urgh!

So, I decided to give “baby led weaning” a try. The gist is that you give your babe big pieces of food for them to feed themselves.

The whole concept gave (and still gives) me severe anxiety. Hello, choking hazard.

The first day, I gave Charlotte a few green beans from my homemade (minimal salt) vegetable soup. She loved it!

We also gave her some small pieces of carrot. It was all great until the dang thing made her gag and she barfed all over. Mmmm.

Anyway, the next day, I gave her more green beans and a slice of apple. For the apple, I warmed it in the microwave and mushed it a bit. She loved it!

Now, the bad part… While Charlie’s taste buds seem to be loving the new foods, her tummy seems less than amused.

I should preface this by saying that when we were in Philadelphia for Mark’s grandfather’s funeral, I VERY STUPIDLY ate a bunch of crap I shouldn’t have. What the heck was I thinking? The GI made it seem like it wasn’t the biggest deal and I was feeling weak. Ugh. Whatever the excuse, I messed up and am currently in a world of regret.

Which takes me back to my sweet girl. This poor baby has had blood in her stool almost every day… Sometimes all the poops for the day, sometimes only one or two. She also is literally pooping FULL green beans. Like, when I opened her dirty diaper to change her, there was a literal green bean stuck on her butt.

Needless to say, I have put a pause on all solid food. I’m not sure if the blood is still a reaction to my indiscretions or is a reaction to the solids or some combo. So, it’s a pause on solids and back to very strict eating for me.

I feel so frustrated. Frustrated in myself… I mean, what was I thinking? I’ve been eating perfectly for over 2 months. Ugh.

I’m frustrated with her allergies… She loves to eat, but her poor tummy. I want her to be able to enjoy food without hurting her poor tummy.

And just frustrated that I have no idea what she’s allergic to.

Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall…

FYI, info on baby led weaning.

28 Weeks Young

Posted on February 3, 2015 by playinghousewi

Our little baby is already 28 weeks. This past week has been a rough one, as Mark’s Grandpop passed away. I will write more about sweet pop and our trip to PA for the funeral, but for now, I’ll just say that unfortunately, this week Charlotte attended her second funeral.

She also took her second trip via airplane… And let me just say, she was incredible. She barely slept during our 48-hour whirlwind trip, but you wouldn’t even guess it. She was so well behaved and happy and sweet. A true blessing.

In terms of milestones, she is making amazing progress in he crawling. She can move her knees, reach out with one hand and get forward motion by lunging herself forward. It’s pretty nuts.

She also started trying to sit up from a crawl position. She’s soooo close, but not there quite yet. Oh and she had her first play date with out neighbor!!

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for now…

This face…

Posted on February 3, 2015 by playinghousewi

I know I’ve been MIA for awhile. A lot has been going on, which I’ll post about soon. For now, enjoy this tiny face…

It’s Been One Week Since I’ve Had Sweet Potato or Zucchini

Posted on January 20, 2015 by playinghousewi

After a solid month of eating NOTHING but turkey, sweet potato, zucchini, squash, pear, avocado (added in after 2 weeks), olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary (added in after 2 weeks), I am FINALLY eating real food again. I’m still unable to eat wheat, eggs, dairy (ugh… it’s been over 2 months since I’ve sunk my teeth into a delicious piece of cheese), nuts, or soy. BUT, let me tell you, I really don’t even mind those exclusions at this point.

I’ll get back to the whole food thing in a minute, but the REAL news here is that we went to the pediatric GI doctor and while he believes Charlotte has a protein allergy, he is not too concerned with it (despite her green poops and the random blood streaks we’ve seen). In fact, he said that green poops are a total non-issue. He said that the benefit of me eating a more well-rounded diet far outweighs the benefits of the total elimination diet. So, that’s good news!

Since I’ve welcomed all of the brightly colored, delicious fruits and veggies back into my life (in addition to rice/corn/other non-banned food items), Charlotte’s poo seems to be looking pretty good still. We have had a couple of random poops that look like they could have blood, but other than that, the color seems good and Charlotte seems great.

The doc also gave us the okay to start solids. In fact, he said that she looked more than ready! And right he was.

As for my diet, I’ve been enjoying healthy food like crazy these days. Mark has been on this 21-day detox, so our meals work pretty well together. He can’t have salt or sugar or oil… or a lot of things, but generally speaking, my meals are pretty adjustable to fit his diet.

I’ve been using this cookbook from Real Simple and I absolutely love it (thanks, Kate!). The recipes are simple with clean ingredients, and the food is flavorful and tasty. So far, I’ve cooked Asian Beef & Cabbage Salad (I substituted ground turkey for the beef and used 2 TBPS of olive oil instead of 4 TBSP of canola, I also added a little more rice vinegar) and Salmon Tostadas (I cooked the salmon in 3/4 TBSP of coconut oil, instead of serving the beans/corn/lime separately, I combined all of them and added tomatoes and cayenne pepper to make a salsa… it was awesome). I’m planning to tackle the chicken curry this week, too!

Since the start of my elimination diet, I’ve lost 7 lbs… so, I was able to keep my baby boo safe and drop those pesky last pregnancy pounds! And now, with my current diet, I feel like I’ll easily be able to maintain my weight loss and even better, I feel really great. Energetic, not bogged down by a full and uncomfortable stomach, just good all around.