Annabelle stopped sleeping through the night. For a mommy and daddy who really love their sleep this has been a rough trip. At Annabelle’s 4 month well baby check our pediatrician told us it would be fine to start solid foods since she is a formula fed baby. If your baby is exclusively breastfed they recommend waiting until six months. It is yet another reason why formula is sub-par to breastmilk.

So John and I mixed the runny rice cereal, we got out our video camera, we strapped her into her chair, we tied on the biggest bib we could find and shoveled the cereal into our baby’s mouth. She didn’t not like it, but her tongue, doing as four month old tongues do, pushed most of it back out again.  As reccomended by our pediatrician, we continued the treacherous, and messy battle for a week.  Annabelle got better, but most of the cereal ended up on us, on her, and on her bib.

So at the week mark we decided to try carrots. I bought a two pack of Gerber Stage one Carrots and shoveled them in. The reception was much more enthusiastic, but if I thought the cereal was everywhere, the carrots were a whole new ball game. I scrubbed carrots off of my child in places I didn’t know carrots could go…

She was doing better, but still not great. I decided to perservere and chopped, boiled and pureed my own carrots this time. I dug out the seemingly useless tiny tupperwares and meticulously measured out carrot alotments. After the six day mark I moved on to bananas.

It was when my daughter wore more bananas than ingested (sweet, yummy, amazing bananas everywhere but in her tummy) that we slowed way down for another week.

And one day when our hungry daughter turned her head at her bottle, I pulled out some carrots, mixed up some cereal and she ate, enthusiastically, voraciously, and at least 3/4 of the prepared food ended up inside of her. Granted, I’m still swabbing carrot crusties out of her nose, and this is a couple of baths later… and yesterday she ate a freshly mashed banana and loved it.

I feel much less like I’m forcing her to ingest food she isn’t ready for and much more like I’m experiencing solid foods at my daughter’s pace.

As a side note, I’m learning how to make homemade babyfood (I’ve mentioned this before).

I invite you to check out wholesomebabyfood.com if you are interested, you can look up recipes by age, or food type. It also has lots of information on storage, one of the best introduction schedules that I’ve seen and a good FAQ.

Today I’m going to make some mashed sweet potatos for Annabelle and some baked sweet potato fries for John and myself.

I laugh now, not just occasionally, but all of the time. I guess I’ve decided the world is a really funny place. I really laugh when my mom pretends to eat my belly, and when Lily does her tricks. I also laugh at my dad when he wakes up and has his “grumpy” face on. I know that when I laugh it makes him smile, even if he is kind of cranky. It works on my mom too. When I wake her up in the morning and she stumbles into my room with her crazy hair and crabby face on I smile really big, and give her a laugh and she picks me up, gives me a big kiss and we go into the kitchen to make her some coffee. Then she really cheers up.

I overheard my parents saying if I get much cuter, or my laugh gets much better they’ll never be able to put me in a “time-out” when I get big. I’m going to just keep practicing and I’ll be irresistable befote they know it.

In other news I nearly have a mullet so a haircut may be in order- the parents are still in discussion.

-Bananabelle

So today was the big day for Annabelle’s first round of vaccinations. Ay- it wasn’t so bad. She was a lot less upset than I thought she would be.  She cried a little but then I picked her up and the doctor gave her the oral rotavirus vaccine which is really sweet and tasty and she was perfectly happy after that. Though, she has been really really fussy since her appointment, but that could be her lack of good sleep.

She weighed 11 lbs 13 and a half oz. She was 22 and three quarters inches long. So she is in the 75th percentile for height and weight. The doctor said she looks awesome, is healthy and beautiful. So YEAY!

Annabelle is now in her crib as we speak and we are listening to her on the baby monitor. Mostly I’m hearing whales from her “Sleep Sheep”. We are actively trying to transition her into her crib instead of sleeping in our room. It’s pretty challenging since we aren’t willing to let her Cry it Out.

My new favorite thing is the Moby Wrap. By far, it is the best baby carrier yet. It is comfortable and Annabelle seems to love it. John has taken a liking to the Baby Bjorn.

John and I are trying to do some reorganization of our house. We have a long list of projects we are going to start whittling away at over the next couple of weeks. Among them, child proofing, thankyou notes, and some serious rearranging.

That’s the scoop from our neck of the woods!

So today I had a doctor’s appointment- they are not my favorite thing in the world by any means. First they made my mom and dad undress me so they could put me on the scale to see how much I weigh. I decided not to cry at all this time. (Last time I really gave them an earful.) As it turns out, since my last appointment, I’ve gained over a pound. I went from 7 pounds eleven ounces to 8 pounds 14 ounces! Since birth, I have grown an inch and a quarter. The doctor said I look healthy, beautiful and that my parents are doing a great job.

Today while I was at work with my mom she took me out of my sling and some of the kids gathered around to look at me. I flashed them my biggest smile yet! My favorite was starting at the upside down face right above my head. I am really starting to enjoy smiling at people, I think it’s because they give me so much focus when I do it.

Yesterday my dad put me in a Cornhusker outfit. I’m going to post a picture, especially for my Nebraska family.

My uncertain smile.

Annabelle seems to be eating a lot lately. I need to double check my baby development books but she’ll easily eat four ounces a crack, and if she doesn’t get them (say we only offer her three ounces…) she will not rest until she has consumed her fill. And on that note…

Yesterday when I was carrying her inside in her carseat, the whole bundle felt heavy! Dare I say my little darling is gaining some serious weight? I hesitate because we have her one month checkup tomorrow, and it will be sad, and a little disheartening if they say she isn’t gaining weight, or still not gaining quickly enough.

So keep your fingers crossed that my little mouse, is indeed becoming more mighty.

I just thought I’d give a couple of updates on my latest developments…

-Yesterday my dad told me a zen koan, and explained what zen was. I think I’m on my why to becoming Buddhist.

-Today I lifted my head up off of my mother’s shoulder and looked from side to side! My neck muscles are getting super strong!

-While I had tummy time with my dad, and then my mom I smiled in amusement! I’m really starting to figure out this expression thing.

-My mom told me about all of the family and friends I’m going to meet during the holidays in Omaha. Tomorrow she told me she’d tell me all about airplanes.

-I watched my mom and dad make a Thanksgiving dinner a couple of days late. I keep them up most of the night so it got postponed. I found it pretty funny watching them carve a turkey.