Connor would rather suck on my dirty toe than eat home made pears!!

Yep, you heard me!! Apparently my home made pears were not the hit I thought they would be! He ate them, but he didn't seem to like them any more or less than anything else he has tried! He is very reluctant to try new tastes, so if the blonde hair didn't give it away, this confirms it - he is his father's son!!

However, unlike his father, Connor will try things more than once, and eventually learn to like them! Over the past couple days Connor has really started to like pretty much everything else we have tried! He definitely likes Oatmeal better than rice cereal, he doesn't mind when prunes are added, and he is really starting to dig peas! I know he will like peas even more when I make them myself, too! What he loves most, however, is pulling himself along the floor until he reaches my foot, and then sucking on it! I slaved over a hot steamer for those pears, and he gets way more excited over my dirty-from-my-flip-flops big toe!!! What a silly little man!!


Other than that, bedtime is going quite well! Connor sleeps from about 7:30pm to about 6:30am, and he is getting really good at going in his crib awake, and not putting up much of a fuss! Naps on the other hand, are a bit different! He much prefers to nap with me than go in his crib! It's really hard on me because the last thing I want to do during the day is lie down and have a snooze with my cuddly little boy! (I know sarcasm doesn't translate all that well through text, but I think you get the idea!) I did manage to get over an hour long nap out of him today, so even though he's not napping in his crib, I still consider this progress!! I managed to get him napping in the crib at three months instead of in his swing... so I can do this too! I just have to want to, I suppose!!

Some more pics of my messy eater:

No more peas, please!!!

So, we tried peas a few days ago, and Connor was not the biggest fan, and I was not at all surprised!! He will eat it, but he makes a very unimpressed face when he does!! I am giving it one more try tomorrow, and then we are moving on to something fun!! Here are some pictures of Connor's first and second attempt at peas!














The Dr. told me to start with veggies.... and I did! We tried peas.... and now we are moving on to something fun! Pears!!! And homemade pears at that!! I had an absolute blast making homemade baby food tonight! I have a whole whack of ice cube trays full of pears and carrots! I got the book,'First Meals' by Annabel Karmel, which has some very basic puree 'recipes' in it, all the way up to meals for toddlers and children!

I knew making baby food would be as simple as cook, blend, freeze, but I also knew that there were a few things that needed to be done differently, so I really like having a reference so I know what needs to be baked versus steamed, dried versus fresh, things like that.

My plan from now on is to alternate back and forth between introducing veggies and fruit, one new every 3 days, and I will also be starting to give Connor three 'meals' a day as of tomorrow.

Breakfast will be where we try out our newest food, so we have all day to see if there is any reaction, and I will probably give oatmeal cereal sometimes too. Lunch will probably be a fruit and a veggie, and eventually barley cereal, and dinner will be Rice Cereal and a veggie, and eventually meat, and maybe fruit once we slow down on the whole cereal thing!! I am just kind of winging it, so I'm sure this will all change again once Connor is eating more mixed meals and finger foods.

I still find this whole solid foods thing a little stressful! It was nice when he just ate only one thing! It's becoming more fun and less stress though, and making my own food was a huge confidence booster for me! I have always wanted to try it, so I am glad it was a success!!

He Sits!! For real this time!

Well, Connor has come a long way in the past couple weeks!! He now sits independently for minutes at a time!! He is figuring out how to put his hands out to stop himself when he wobbles, and, for that matter, he barely wobbles at all any more! Just last week he could only sit for a few seconds- how quickly they learn!!I am so proud of my little guy! This opens up a whole new world for him! He also scoots along the floor to get whatever he wants. Hmm... I guess it's time to babyproof!!!

So, of course I had to do a little photo shoot in the yard to celebrate his upright status! Be warned, many, many pictures to follow:

In this picture he was petting the grass, and then I realized, "Why on earth am I putting him on a towel??? Feel the world little man!!"

I love his li'l round noggin!

I actually sat him down in the yard, went on to the deck let the dogs out, and then snapped this picture... Seriously, he sits like a champ!!! Look how tiny he looks!!

Other than that, not much is new. We are really working hard on getting Connor to sleep better. I think it's working! He can now be put down awake and he stays pretty happy. Naps are another story though because I really like napping with him! That way I can usually get an hour out of him, instead of his usual 30-40 minutes. I was sort of just trying to make him get the most sleep possible during the day so that he wouldn't get overtired by the evening. I think that has really helped him sleep better at night, but now I have to work on getting him to nap longer during the day! He usually has three naps: one around 9am for 40 minutes, one around 12:30pm for 30 minutes, and a wee nap around 4pm for 25 minutes... so that's just an hour and a half, all day! From what I hear most babies take two naps of at least 90 minutes each - that would be fabulous! But, hopefully now that he is sleeping okay at night, that will in turn help his naps. We will see!!

On the feeding front, Connor still isn't particularly happy with anything we are feeding him, but we are taking things really slowly, so it will be another week before we start veggies, and then another week or two before we introduce fruits. I figure once we get to fruits hopefully he will like something!!

Daddy has taken to feeding Connor supper if he is home from work on time. I think they have a good time together!

Daddy gives me BIG spoonfulls!!

Dad!!! You got some in my nose!! Don't you dare try to feed me that again after you scrape it off of me!!

And, just a few more pictures from the last few days:

Solids log!

It's been a few days since I posted so I thought I'd pop in with a quick update! Connor is still not sleeping very well at all, so it has been a very trying few days. He has had some decent naps today though, so maybe things are looking up!!

I added a solids log to the side column, so that I can keep track of when and how I introduced foods to Connor, and how he liked them(he hasn't liked anything yet!!).

Well, enough chit chat! On to the pictures!!

This is what Connor is doing when he is supposed to be sleeping!

So he is tired when he is supposed to be playing, and has to rest his head a bit!

And this is Connor eating the bowl of food.... he doesn't like the food, he likes the bowl... Go figure!

Mom! I am dirty!!!!

Connor looking up at his big buddy Leo! (Leo is totally enthralled, as you can see!)

Connor also prefers to eat an empty egg carton over food... but who can blame him... prunes and cereal doesn't sound that good to me either!!

And the obligatory close-up. Always blurry, always adorable!!!

Six month check up today.

So, we had Connor's six month check up today, it went well, but the Dr said he was a bit concerned about Connors lack of weight gain. He did say that introducing solids will help, but I have decided to almost completely switch Connor to formula. I have always struggled with low supply, and I have been supplementing with formula for many months already, so I know how much Connor loves his bottle! I will continue to nurse him in the morning and during the night if he needs to eat for as long as I am able to. I think maybe he has been not getting enough to eat during the day for a couple months now, which may have contributed to his not sleeping as well. That being said I am not expecting the switch to miraculously make Connor have longer naps or go to bed without a lot of help from me, those are things I know we will be working on for quite some time yet! (I'll make another post about my new "bedtime routine" another day...)

Other than that, Dr. Kumar is happy with every other aspect of Connor's development, so that is great news! We have gotten the go ahead to start introducing veggies, and then fruits, and I am going to do my best to prepare as much as I can myself. I am really looking forward to getting some tasty foods into that li'l guy!!

He ate!!

Just a quick update to say that today's cereal feeding was a success!! I was just about to give up for the day, and then suddenly Connor opened his mouth and started sucking on the spoon! After that he would open his mouth for the spoon most of the time. I decided to mix it with breastmilk instead of formula, and I think that helped a little. I would guess that he actually ingested about half a teaspoon today. Not much, but it's something! I still don't think he was particularly thrilled with the taste, but, we are definitely making progress! I can't wait to give him pears or something that's actually yummy!

Hmm.. that didn't go the way I thought it would...

Well, we did it! Connor had his first solid food today! Rice cereal. You can tell by the picture just how much he liked it! After the way he has been shoving everything in his mouth lately I really thought he would gobble it up!! He actually took the spoon from me, and never once attempted to put it in his mouth, which is totally unheard of!! I think maybe I made it a little too watery, but I even added less water than the box suggested for a first feeding!

All in all, it was fun though, and I am excited to try again tomorrow morning!!

Here are a few more pictures from this momentous event!

"Okay, I am in my highchair! I like it here!! Hmm.. where are my toys?? Why do I have a bib on?? Something fishy's going on!!"

"Umm, I dunno about this... what do I do with it if it gets into my mouth??"

"Well, let's give it another shot then, bring it on!"

"Mom, okay, look at me... Does it look like I want any more of that stuff?"

"Oh good, I got the spoon, now she can't give me any more!!"

"What?!?! She has MORE spoons??"

"Seriously Mom, what is this stuff??"

"Can we be done now??? .....Please???"

Later in the day, we headed out to 'Auntie' Beth's house, so that Connor and Jamie could play! I think they had a good time!!

I love Jamie's face in the next two!

Well, that's all for now! What a busy day!!! Oh, and as far as the solid foods helping with sleep thing.... it sure hasn't yet!! I have been trying for four hours to get Connor asleep! This crazy heat makes for a sweaty, cranky li'l Connor!! Maybe once he actually ingests some food things will get better! (Or once the heat wave is over!!)

G'night!