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.

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…

Introducing Solids to Our Big 6 Month Old

Posted on January 19, 2015 by playinghousewi

Everything I’ve heard from doctors and lactation consultants – confirmed by everything I was reading online – led me to wait until Charlie’s 6-month birthday to introduce solids.

So, with Friday being the big day, I figured when better than on a Saturday at home with the hubs?

I didn’t want to start with rice cereal because from what I’ve heard, it’s not really necessary. Being that I’ve spent the past month or so chowing down sweet potatoes, I figured that would be a great first food for my girl. So, I looked in a baby cookbook and scoured the Internet for a sweet potato babyfood recipe… What I found was pretty dang basic…

Sweet Potato Babyfood

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

2) Pierce sweet potato with a fork (all over the potato)

3) Wrap potato in tin foil and bake for 45-60 minutes (it took my oven about 55 minutes)

4) Peel the skin off of the sweet potato (you might want to let it cool a bit because that puppy’s HOT)

5) Once cooled, chop up the peeled sweet potato and put in the food processor (we use our Ninja Kitchen System)

6) Before you blend, add breastmilk or formula. I used a pretty big potato (see photo below) and needed nearly 15 ounces of breastmilk to get it nice and liquidy.

10 ounces!

7) Blend and then disperse into the freezer tray of your choice. I used this one from Mumi & Bubi.

Blending everything up!

This recipe filled up the entire tray (27 (1) ounce cubes) plus two additional feedings. Charlotte is currently only eating a Tablespoon of food per feeding per day, meaning this one recipe will yield 56 (1) TBSP feedings.

So, how’d she like it? Well, you can see for yourself…

OR just trust me when I say that she loves to eat. She reaches for the spoon, opens wide and eats her full TBSP. She’s also drinking water out of her sippy cup. They say babes should only have a couple ounces per day, so we just give it to her with her meal. We’ve only fed her twice, but so far so good! She seems to really enjoy it and loves being in her high chair. All in all, so successful and really cute. Another special thing to share with our girl.

“I want food! I want food!” Waiting patiently for her first bite EVER.

Yummmm

More, more, more!!

Here comes the train!

Mmmm

All cleaned up. That was a successful first (solid) meal!

Feeling good!

Happy after meal two!

Coconut Oil – the Best Diaper Cream

Posted on January 17, 2015 by playinghousewi

During one of many conversations with a lactation consultant, she mentioned that I should try using coconut oil on Charlotte’s diaper rash. Because of her food allergies, she was getting some wicked rashes. Literally, at any given time, she was healing from or starting a new rash. It was endless.

Enter coconut oil. My little babe’s bum and lady parts are soft, smooth and without rash. It’s crazy how effective it’s been. And the bonus is that I can put the oil all over her (the only moisturizer I use on her face and hands) and she smells like dessert.

I know coconut oil is weirdly solid, but just get a little chunk on your hand/finger and rub it around and it instantly melts to liquid. So easy!

After a quick google search, here’s some science behind it:

Coconut oil contains antimicrobial, anti-viral, anti-bacterial and antifungal properties that help to promote the healing by soothing the baby’s delicate skin.

It has lauric acid (also found in breast milk) that treats these bacterial and fungal problems very effectively.

The anti-fungal properties of coconut oil helps to treat the yeast infection and also it will nourish and treat the irritated skin.

Lauric and Caprylic acids in this oil are the natural yeast fighting substances and all the medium chain fatty acids in this oil kills the yeast and other fungus that causes yeast diaper rash in your baby.

Good luck!!

Night Wakings

Posted on January 16, 2015 by playinghousewi

Our little Charlie has been waking up during the middle of the night every couple of days lately. And of course, it’s not a quick or quiet affair. She wakes up screaming and will seemingly go on forever.

Up until last night, Mark was going in, changing her and giving her a bottle. Last night Mark so generously nominated me for the job (thanks!). I don’t want her to get used to night feedings again since we’ve successfully weened her from them, so last night, I went in, changed her and swayed with her. With her tiny head pressed against my cheek, we rocked back and forth in her room. It was actually really sweet and peaceful.

After about 10 or so minutes, I decided to put her back down (awake). Instantly, she was crying again. I put her paci in her mouth, gave her a dolly to snuggle or gnaw on or whatever and left the room. I spent the next hour watching her on the monitor.

She cried and whined and fussed, but what was so interesting was how skilled she seemed. I watched her as she rolled on top of her paci and thought, “great… She’s never going to find it now!” But after a minute or so, she must have felt it on her neck and worked and worked until she was able to find it with her hand.

She grabbed it and immediately started chewing on it. She was biting the wrong end, but seeming to enjoy chewing on it. Her cries turned to whines and then to chatting. After about an hour, she finally flipped her paci the right way, put it in her mouth and rolled to her side before drifting off to sleep.

While it was 315 in the morning by the time she fell asleep, it was pretty fascinating to watch. And today as I feed my little 6 month old baby, I can’t help but think how old she’s already become. It’s such a crazy thing to watch these tiny infants who just sleep and eat turn into miniature people.

Such a blessing.

Such a Big Girl – 26 Weeks

Posted on January 16, 2015 by playinghousewi

I know, I know… I say this every week, but how is my baby already 26 weeks old? That seems absolutely insane. Time is flying by way too quickly.

There hasn’t been anything too groundbreaking this week. The bunny hasn’t been taking her epic naps this week. She’s still only taking two naps, but one is about an hour (she goes down between 845 and 10) and the other is about 2.5 hours (goes down around 1ish.

She has been drooling like crazy and shoves just about anything and everything in her tiny little mouth. As of now, she doesn’t have anymore teeth, but I have to imagine more are coming.

We decided to start Charlie on solids this coming Saturday. So, in the spirit of that, I let her taste my apple yesterday. Charlotte was sitting on my lap while I was eating an apple (I was nursing her… A dual snack time if you will) and she just would not stop reaching for the apple. Finally, I gave in and let her guide my hand (with said apple) into her mouth. She just sucked on the dang thing until finally I pulled it away. She didn’t make a weird face, nothing. In fact, her only reaction was to whine and reach for it once I pulled it away.

I’m not even a little surprised that she’s going to be a good lover. Hubs and I both LOVE to eat.

What else… We got Charlotte a walker and a jumperoo this week ($30 total for both on Craigslist). She loves the jumperoo… We say “jump and jump and jump and jump…” And she bounces. It’s adorable! As for the walker, she likes hanging out in it (or eating books in it), but no walking quite yet.

We also started to give Charlie a soppy cup! She likes to chew on it and is becoming more interested, but not convinced quite yet. The first time I gave it to her, I put breast milk in it and she was angry. I think she may have accused the cup of stealing her mommy’s milk and banished it from her presence. We waited a few days before introducing it again, this time with water.

Charlie also attended her cousin Judah’s birthday party this weekend. We had been at a Packer (football) party beforehand, where she boycotted her nap, so she decided to shock us and nap for the first 40 minutes of the party… In a gym, with 25 five year olds. We were impressed!