Crumb Land

As my son approaches the 1 year old mark, I am finally realizing that the floor will truly never be clean again. At least it isn't carpet. After dinner there are bits of food everywhere. Then some how he finds bits to eat later, even though I cleaned up. Or really my husband who can't stand messy! I wish I hadn't agreed to sell that little annoying robot vacuum.

He has his favorite foods - Bananas - he can eat 2 whole bananas no problem, YoBaby Yogurt, and Cheese. When he sees a banana in the store he turns in to a monkey. I thought I was in the clear the other day after getting him past the pyramid of bananas in Trader Joe's. Only to have a customer in the dry food aisle come up with her arms full of food, including bananas. At that point it was grab a banana or leave. He also knows the yogurt container in the store and gets very excited! Of course, after his banana and yogurt he does not understand the concept of all gone. Thankfully, he doesn't quite understand what a block of cheese is until it is in mini cubes on his tray.

Seriously, his enthusiasm for his favorites in still refreshing at this point.

From Jar Food Queen to Creative Food Momma 3 easy steps

I don't know if anyone still reads this blog but here I go.

So I didn't really think in advance that I would a jar food momma. I didn't think there was anything wrong with it, I just didn't really think about it. For a family that has two working parents it is a must... convenient and worth the money! We used any organic brand we could get our hands on. Don't feel guilty just do it!

Want to be creative, no worries, that is what you do from 9-12 months. Well if you are desperate there are stage 3 jars. A boxes of Os will become your best friends. Stage 3 doesn't work for me because we aren't giving our son gluten or meat. Yes, you can mash up what you eat but there are still two problems. 1. There are still things you can't give your child until they are 1. 2. You aren't with them at lunch (try and remember some left overs from the dinner before).

I am still learning but if I do make up something - I try and make up three baby meals worth. Since most things are good in the fridge for 3 days. Unfortunately, my favorite kitchen tool is not as handy in this stage - Hand Blender - but adding a little water helps. The most frustrating part from my perspective is it seems like every corner has a new stage of mommy feeding anxiety around it.

Solids in and solids out

As a new parent you get all excited when you can final feed some solids. It is very cute to see that messy face. I have to say I wasn't ready for the change in poop. My son probably eats about 6 oz of jar food a day and his poop looks like smashed brownies! Where was the warning on this one moms. I have started giving him a little bit of water everyday just so that I can eat beloved brownies again in my life time.

Babies - They will find it and they will eat it.

Babies can find anything. They play sweet, innocent, and clueless but in reality their fuzzy little hairs must act as homing beacons for everything you don't want them to find. You can clean your floor 3 times a day but that only makes it easier for your baby to zero in on the one burr or wood chip your dog has dragged in on her fur. If the U.S. really wanted to find Osama Bin Laden they should have sent a bunch of babies into Afghanistan. One of them would eventually have tried to put Bin Laden's toe in their mouth.

Which brings me to my next point. Once they find it they will either try to stick their finger in it or (even more likely) try to put it in their mouth. My daughter and I were at a playground the other day and without warning she stuck her face in the ground and purposely took a huge bite of sand. At first I thought that'll teach her but then I realized she's probably thinking -OK I can check sand off my list now what else can I stick in my mouth. Oh well Que Sera Sera.

Common Mommy Myths

Or things moms think that are seldom, if ever, true.

1) Parenting gets easier as the baby gets older.
This might be true when the baby turns 18 but when they are young this is definitely not true. They constantly find new ways to challenge you.
2) It is possible to feed your baby “real food” and in less time than it takes to watch the movie Parenthood and also manage to keep the kitchen, yourself, your baby, and your baby’s clothes clean.
I almost had a little breakdown when I started solids because it seemed like our days consisted of breastfeed the baby, play with the baby, feed the baby real food, clean myself - the kitchen- and the baby, let the baby nap for 2 minutes, and then start the whole cycle over again. Most of my clothes and my baby's clothes now have at least one food stain. Eventually, you will learn some ninja-like feeding maneuvers that make the process easier but by that point they want to try and feed themselves (see #1).
3) Babies instinctively know not to put their hands/feet in their poopy diaper. Oh how I wish this one was true.
4) Everyone knows that your baby is the cutest/smartest/funniest baby in the world.
I think we all are programmed to think our babies are the world’s most brilliant baby or a lot less of them would survive. We wouldn't be that excited about our babies if we thought they were mediocre now would we?
5) Teething might be painful but at least it doesn’t last that long.
My daughter has been teething for 4 months but still has no teeth. Of course this allows us to blame all her grumpiness on the teething so we can still delude ourselves that she is a perfect angelic baby that never fusses without a reason.

I know there are tons more that I am not thinking of right now. What are your favorite mommy myths?

When to start solids...

When your little one turns 4 months old the pressure for solids starts... people start asking you if he is on solids yet. There is a rumor out there that rice cereal at night makes babies sleep longer. BUT every scientific study proves it doesn't. What do you do when your pediatrician tells you that that is true though. Supposedly, an infant is ready to swallow some where around 5 months and 1 week. On the other side you have the breastfeeding champions with their banner for 6 months of only breast milk. Like many things in the parenting realm you are not given a one size fits all answer, it is your choice. We will probably start on some weekend between 5.25 and 6 months. We said we were going to start several times after work but then we get tired and forget. I will give you updates!
We started sleep training last night so that will be our main focus for the next two weeks (remember if you have a baby that slept through the night early to NOT complain about other sleep issues, the sleep deprived will want to throttle you!).