Bananas and Boobs

Bananas and boobs. That is Miss Makaela's meal of choice these days. Yep, we started her on "big girl" food. At her four month appointment her doctor gave the go ahead to start foods, but I didn't feel she was QUITE ready yet. As the weeks progressed she started to show serious interest in what mommy and daddy were eating and became better at sitting up on her own so we figured it was time to give it a go.

I went back and forth on whether or not I wanted to start her on purees or do a baby-led weaning approach. Ultimately, I decided to start purees but am totally open to baby-led weaning down the road.

I've been making my own purees which is super easy (which I didn't expect) and super cheap. All of this was made from ONE sweet potato. Each "cube" is about an ounce, so the whole tray will supply many, many meals for her little tum-tum.

The first food she tried was bananas and that was a hit right out the gate. I don't freeze those because I had read they don't freeze well, so those are a make in the moment kind of meal, which takes all of 75 seconds. 

Next we moved onto sweet potatoes, apples and sweet peas. Sweet peas have been the least favorite thus far. 

We try one food at a time and eat that food for four days. Eating one food at a time helps rule things out if she has a reaction or shows signs of a food allergy. (Fingers crossed she doesn't have any food allergies like mama or worse!). I also like the idea of doing it over the course of four days because the first day she was not liking peas at all, the second day she was a good sport about it, and day three she was pretty much on board with them. 

During the first few days of eating, lunchtime always happened to fall right after bath time. Not my best idea. Now I know that bath time AFTER meal time is certainly the way to go (even though I think sweet potatoes smeared in eyebrows is totally in right now ;-)

Oh and I should also note that diaper activity has gone up a notch since starting purees, if you catch a whiff my drift. 

Look at that full belly!!

Can't wait for her to try more foods! I think avocados may be our next endeavor. Looking forward to the day when she eats more food and drinks less boob milk. Yep, I said it. 

Sensory Sunday Funday: Colorful scented water activity

While we would normally want our daughter to steer clear of yellow water, last week we encouraged her to play in it. Say whaaaaaaat?!

We decided to do some splash-splashing last Sunday. Using the left over kool-aid packets we had from the week before, we made ourselves some colorful and yummy smelling water to play in. Red, yellow and purple were our colors again... our hands did turn a little red after playing in that pool of water but it was nothing a little soap couldn't fix. 

I used cold water in one and warm water in the others to spice things up. She definitely seemed to prefer the warm water, or perhaps she was just more attracted to the red color and cherry scent, who knows!

We also brought out some smaller plastic cups and some bath toys for a swim. They were fun to play with and liked splashing too!

We kept the water pretty basic this time but I think it would be fun to add things like bubbles and glitter as she gets older. Honestly, there are few things in life that I DON'T want to add glitter to. 

Miss Mak enjoyed splashing, making waves and pulling mommy's hand through the water and mommy realized it's not super easy to photograph an activity when your hand is wet :)

 Fun, easy and F-R double E. We used the same set up on the floor as last week...plastic covered boppy  plopped on top of our don't-care-if-it-gets-messy blanket.

Colorful Scented Water Activity

H2O

Powdered drink packets (for color and scent)

Containers or bowls (we liked using clear ones)

Spoon to stir water

Toys, cups or whatever else you want to splash with

Pretty self explanatory. We filled up the water high because it was easier for her to reach. You could totally use food coloring instead of kool-aid to color the water; kool-aid just appeals to our lil noses around here. 

First time sitting in a shopping cart like a big girl

Yesterday when I went grocery shopping I decided to see how Miss Mak would like sitting in the "big girl seat." Normally, I tote her in her car seat....which is heavy. and annoying. and huge.

It started out like this...

We were holding on for dear life.  "Uhhh I'm not to sure about this mom."

But by the time we hit aisle 3, someone changed her tune and suddenly was all "I'm having THE.BEST.TIME.EVERRRRRRR."

She didn't let a single person pass by without singing to them, giggling, flirting or making other adorable baby squeals. She had everyone chuckling. What a little charmer (gets it from her daddy)!

So I SUPPOSE if she wanted to spend hours on end rollin' around Target I would oblige. Oh, the things we do for kids.... wink, wink. 

First Boo Boo :(

Aside from her occasional self-inflicted scratches on the face, we've made it through these past 5 months accident free. Granted, she's not even mobile yet so I don't know that it is necessarily something to cheer about, haha.

But it happened....a bloody lip.

Poor girl was sitting up so big, happily playing with her piano. Everything was right in the world. She had a full belly. The dogs were within view. Mama was by her side. Then suddenly the wobbles set in and in a split second someone toppled and face planted on the floor. This actually happens all the time, but this time she landed just wrong on her paci that was laying on the floor.

As usual, I picked her up and acted like it was no big deal. Kissed away those alligator tears and then I noticed it...the blood. It was mixed with spit so it seemed worse than it really was. I got her a wet cloth to suck on and all was well again in the world.

The whole ordeal lasted approximately 45 seconds and now we have that "first" out of the way.

Done and done.

Sensory Sunday Funday: Scented Edible Paint

Last Sunday we did a little project. It was messy. It was fun. It even SMELLED good.

We made scented edible finger (and toe) "paint." It took approximately 3 minutes to throw together and only involved two ingredients. I'm a sucker for easy and convenient. (I posted the "recipe" at the bottom)

We made three colors. They turned out pink, purple and yellow. They smelled like cherry, grape and mango....mmm if only the picture was scratch and sniff. 

What I love about sensory activities like this is that they are fun in different ways for a wide range of ages. Let's be real, I even had fun. Makaela is definitely on the young side of the spectrum for this project but we can't wait to see how she enjoys this in different ways as she gets older....I anticipate paint being flung at the wall and also lathered into her hair. Get away with it while you can girlllllll.

I just plopped down our don't-care-if-it-gets-messy blanket, covered her boppy in plastic bags (she still gets a little wobbily sitting up on her own) taped together a few sheets of paper and wham bam thank you ma'am our work station was set up. 

At first our little artist was cautiously curious, but then she got right down to business. Mushing the paint between her fingers, bringing it to her mouth, waving her hands all around....

Mama also invited Makaela's piggies to the party. 

What did we discover? This little Picasso prefers the human body to be her canvas. Can't lock this one down to paper. She turned her skin (and mine) into an unforgettable work of art. 

There are SO many sensory activities we want to try. I think we could do one a week for the next two years and still not hit on everything there is to explore. I'm pretty pumped to expose the little one to all sorts of homemade fun. It's like that idea that kids would rather play with the box and wrapping paper than the gift that was wrapped up. It is neat to see what a great time Mak can have with stuff laying around the house. But please, don't get me wrong....we totally love our plastic, musical, store bought toys around here. A day doesn't go by that we don't get down with our latest Target or Babies R Us finds. Real talk.

Scented Edible Paint

Plain yogurt

Powdered drink packets (for color and scent)

Containers or plates for the paint

Spoon or other stirrer to mix the paint

We simply divided up our plain yogurt into small plastic containers and mixed with koolaid packets. Use as much koolaid, as you want to get desired color. I think I used maybe 1/4 of each packet. 

What I liked about the mixture was that it was surprisingly not very sticky, I think this is thanks to the fact that there wasn't any added sugar. 

Happy Friday!

Hope you have the BEST TIME EVER this weekend.

Love, Makaela

5 month photos!

Happy Labor Day! I hope everyone is enjoying the day camping, boating, shopping or napping on the couch. All of the above sound great to me. Actually camping sounds awful in the heat, so I take that back.

Baby Mak is FIVE months old going on five YEARS old. Lately this little one is verrrrry interested in what mama and daddy are eating. Last night she even grabbed daddy's water at the restaurant and sipped out of the straw. Even though piggy toes are super tasty, we think she's ready to start trying things like rice cereal and fruit or veggie purees, so we will probably start that journey soon!

She also is big into grabbing and reaching (for mama and daddy, the puppies, toys etc.). She knows what she wants and she isn't afraid to tell you. The girl is rather long-winded....she babbles on and on and on, oh and if she knows she has a whole crowds attention, she takes it up a notch. Can we say diva?

Mak is starting to figure out cause and effect and seems to really enjoy figuring out how things work. The look of concentration on her face is the sweetest. 

She is loving baths and any time spent outside. 

She is also doing better at sleeping in her bedroom. My favorite thing that she does right now? Grabs your face and brings you in for a giant kiss. Such a lover girl. 

What a big girl. She definitely keeps us entertained. XOXO.

I picked this one for her 5 month photo because of course she has got her mouth wide open talking, and she is reaching. Two very common things for her right now.