Okay, so really it's just Keeping up with Presley, because Tony and I are chop liver these days! But I'm okay with that.
I apologize for being M.I.A. lately... as I said in one of my last posts, Presley has had some big changes lately and they require more attention than before!
So, the big thing that's been happening lately is the addition of solid foods into our routine! Things started off very slow in the food department for Presley, so I really chalked it up to her just not really liking this baby food yet and I'm honestly just happy she's still content with breastmilk since that is so cheap and (relatively) easy -- considering it's the only meal I can make in my sleep! We tried baby oatmeal (hated it), Gerber Organic Sweet Peas (not a huge fan), and Gerber Green Beans (still not a fan). I knew I'd like to try making her baby food so after we were home from our Memphis/Mississippi vacation, I decided to start with a batch of Carrots as well as a batch of Butternut Squash. We started with the carrots and let me just tell you, this kid LOVES them! She has been gobbling them up! We started out with one cube (which means, one ice cube, for those who don't know what I mean by that. I puree her food and let them freeze in ice cube trays and then pop them out and save them in freezer baggies), one time a day (I am starting her out pretty slow, I know...) and she worked her way up to demolishing two cubes - still just once a day.
With how much she loves carrots, I was nervous to start the squash today. I thawed two cubes (each cube is about 1oz each, just for a frame of reference - again, for those who haven't used this method) and realized that the squash turned out much runnier than the carrots. I thickened it up using some of Presley's Organic Brown Rice baby cereal. Like I said before, she wasn't a huge fan of cereal, so that on top of introducing a new food, I wasn't sure how she was going to like it! Come to find out, I had nothing to fret over because she destroyed what I gave her in record time; I could not give her big enough bites fast enough! SO, now I am thinking about adding another feeding to her day since she acted like a starving child (trust me, she doesn't look the part!).
Maybe adding another feeding to our morning schedule will help her take a nice nap in the afternoon - these days she refuses to nap. This drives me crazy - mostly because she needs one or two a day - but since she is sleeping pretty good at night again, I kinda just think of it as a give and take. Hopefully this will subside and just has to do with her transitioning from 3 naps a day to 2 naps a day. (Even though right now she is 0 naps a day!)
Ever since she began the nasty part of teething a few weeks ago, her sleep has been all messed up! This was made SO MUCH worse when we went out of town for a long Labor Day Weekend. We drove from Moline, Illinois to Memphis, Tennessee (10+ hours each way... dumb....) and surprisingly, the car ride was the easiest part each time! We stayed with Tony's family members - Aunt Kelly, Uncle Bob, cousin Lexi, cousin Bobby, & a few small pups! (They are the most gracious hosts and people just flock to the McQuages, I swear... but more about the fun we had on our vacation for the next post...)
Unfortunately, my first night in town I started to feel really weird. Tony was so exhausted from getting up so early to travel (4am) that when I told him I didn't feel good he just told me to sleep it off and knocked out himself. I tried to sleep but I got so hot it was overwhelming - it was making it hard for me to breath, sleep, or even think. I woke him up (he's so impossible to wake up once he's out...) and just pleaded with him to stay up with me. He felt how warm I was and by that time I started to get a little freaked out by it all - it felt like my eyes and ears were full of warm liquid. So he got up with me and we sat in the bathroom and he took my temp... 103.7!?! I expected it to be high, but not THAT high!!! So I took some ibuprofen and tried to sleep it off. Eventually my fever broke and I got some relief and a bit of sleep.
To make an already long story short, I stayed sick (on and off) the entire time we were on vacation. On top of that, in hindsight, I believe Presley was going through a growth spurt because she was up every 3 hours (or more frequent) throughout the night to eat. She was crabby as a result and was SO clingy to me. It could also have been that she was outside of her normal comfort zone, but being that I was feeling sick and spiking a fever every night, it was just awful. Since we've been back, I've been trying to find our "new" schedule after the chaos and still haven't had much luck.
And, unfortunately, after being sick and feeling so overwhelmed by taking the trip, I quit the couch to 5k program. I feel like a failure about it but I know I'll try again when the timing is better. Tony and I are still scheduled to run our first 5k next weekend and I'm still really looking forward to it and plan on giving it my all! I know we'll both still have a great time with it and I can't wait. Hopefully the 5k will spark our interest in the program again.
Last night I guess I had too much time on my hands because I started watching videos of Presley that I've taken over the last nearly seven months. This entire time I've been wishing for time to fly by to get us out of the baby stage and now that time has done just that, I've realized that isn't what I want at all! For the first time, I was really crying just watching the videos and wondering where in the hell the time has gone. Even more, where has that tiny little baby gone and why did I wish her away? I'm sad just thinking about it.
As my friend Sharon said earlier this week...
It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't. - Barbara Kingsolver
Once I gather all the pictures together, I'm going to write a big blog about all the family and friends who might as well be family that Presley got to meet or see again while we were in town. It was a big trip and so much happened that I want to dedicate an entry strictly to that! Also, be looking for a guest post soon... pretty excited to start those! I'll try to make sure there isn't such a big gap before an update, because as I said before... no one is going to be more sorry than myself for the lack of updates.
Love hearing from you guys... hope everybody is doing well with the transition back into the Fall/Autumn lifestyle!
I apologize for being M.I.A. lately... as I said in one of my last posts, Presley has had some big changes lately and they require more attention than before!
So, the big thing that's been happening lately is the addition of solid foods into our routine! Things started off very slow in the food department for Presley, so I really chalked it up to her just not really liking this baby food yet and I'm honestly just happy she's still content with breastmilk since that is so cheap and (relatively) easy -- considering it's the only meal I can make in my sleep! We tried baby oatmeal (hated it), Gerber Organic Sweet Peas (not a huge fan), and Gerber Green Beans (still not a fan). I knew I'd like to try making her baby food so after we were home from our Memphis/Mississippi vacation, I decided to start with a batch of Carrots as well as a batch of Butternut Squash. We started with the carrots and let me just tell you, this kid LOVES them! She has been gobbling them up! We started out with one cube (which means, one ice cube, for those who don't know what I mean by that. I puree her food and let them freeze in ice cube trays and then pop them out and save them in freezer baggies), one time a day (I am starting her out pretty slow, I know...) and she worked her way up to demolishing two cubes - still just once a day.
With how much she loves carrots, I was nervous to start the squash today. I thawed two cubes (each cube is about 1oz each, just for a frame of reference - again, for those who haven't used this method) and realized that the squash turned out much runnier than the carrots. I thickened it up using some of Presley's Organic Brown Rice baby cereal. Like I said before, she wasn't a huge fan of cereal, so that on top of introducing a new food, I wasn't sure how she was going to like it! Come to find out, I had nothing to fret over because she destroyed what I gave her in record time; I could not give her big enough bites fast enough! SO, now I am thinking about adding another feeding to her day since she acted like a starving child (trust me, she doesn't look the part!).
Maybe adding another feeding to our morning schedule will help her take a nice nap in the afternoon - these days she refuses to nap. This drives me crazy - mostly because she needs one or two a day - but since she is sleeping pretty good at night again, I kinda just think of it as a give and take. Hopefully this will subside and just has to do with her transitioning from 3 naps a day to 2 naps a day. (Even though right now she is 0 naps a day!)
Ever since she began the nasty part of teething a few weeks ago, her sleep has been all messed up! This was made SO MUCH worse when we went out of town for a long Labor Day Weekend. We drove from Moline, Illinois to Memphis, Tennessee (10+ hours each way... dumb....) and surprisingly, the car ride was the easiest part each time! We stayed with Tony's family members - Aunt Kelly, Uncle Bob, cousin Lexi, cousin Bobby, & a few small pups! (They are the most gracious hosts and people just flock to the McQuages, I swear... but more about the fun we had on our vacation for the next post...)
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| This is what Presley did in the car... GOOD GIRL! |
Unfortunately, my first night in town I started to feel really weird. Tony was so exhausted from getting up so early to travel (4am) that when I told him I didn't feel good he just told me to sleep it off and knocked out himself. I tried to sleep but I got so hot it was overwhelming - it was making it hard for me to breath, sleep, or even think. I woke him up (he's so impossible to wake up once he's out...) and just pleaded with him to stay up with me. He felt how warm I was and by that time I started to get a little freaked out by it all - it felt like my eyes and ears were full of warm liquid. So he got up with me and we sat in the bathroom and he took my temp... 103.7!?! I expected it to be high, but not THAT high!!! So I took some ibuprofen and tried to sleep it off. Eventually my fever broke and I got some relief and a bit of sleep.
To make an already long story short, I stayed sick (on and off) the entire time we were on vacation. On top of that, in hindsight, I believe Presley was going through a growth spurt because she was up every 3 hours (or more frequent) throughout the night to eat. She was crabby as a result and was SO clingy to me. It could also have been that she was outside of her normal comfort zone, but being that I was feeling sick and spiking a fever every night, it was just awful. Since we've been back, I've been trying to find our "new" schedule after the chaos and still haven't had much luck.
And, unfortunately, after being sick and feeling so overwhelmed by taking the trip, I quit the couch to 5k program. I feel like a failure about it but I know I'll try again when the timing is better. Tony and I are still scheduled to run our first 5k next weekend and I'm still really looking forward to it and plan on giving it my all! I know we'll both still have a great time with it and I can't wait. Hopefully the 5k will spark our interest in the program again.
Last night I guess I had too much time on my hands because I started watching videos of Presley that I've taken over the last nearly seven months. This entire time I've been wishing for time to fly by to get us out of the baby stage and now that time has done just that, I've realized that isn't what I want at all! For the first time, I was really crying just watching the videos and wondering where in the hell the time has gone. Even more, where has that tiny little baby gone and why did I wish her away? I'm sad just thinking about it.
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| Hey big girl! |
It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't. - Barbara Kingsolver
Once I gather all the pictures together, I'm going to write a big blog about all the family and friends who might as well be family that Presley got to meet or see again while we were in town. It was a big trip and so much happened that I want to dedicate an entry strictly to that! Also, be looking for a guest post soon... pretty excited to start those! I'll try to make sure there isn't such a big gap before an update, because as I said before... no one is going to be more sorry than myself for the lack of updates.
Love hearing from you guys... hope everybody is doing well with the transition back into the Fall/Autumn lifestyle!
So funny, I just started making Natalie's food last week. She HATES carrots the most. Won't touch them. I am so discouraged and a little depressed that all she wants to eat is cereals.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, good luck with the 5k. That certainly is an accomplishment just to be doing it.
Also, I know what you mean about wanting time to pass to get outta a certain stage. I'm always wishing for Nat to be walking and talking and I know once she is I will miss this stage dearly.
Glad you are better and that you guys had a wonderful vacation (despite you being sick). Presley is so precious. I love seeing pictures of her!
ReplyDeleteI totally cried a bit when Forrest outgrew his newborn clothes! Now he's no longer in newborn diapers and is wearing 1 diapers. He's growing up too fast for my taste! I suppose people are right--better enjoy your kids while they are little because they grow up so fast. :)
Ali, I'm so with you on the time passing. I feel the same when I look at Audrey's baby videos and pictures. I didn't think I'd miss that stage, and in many ways I don't, especially when I hear what my friends who just had babies are going through now. Generally I don't envy them at all, but I do get a tiny bit envious because I would love to have a chance to savor again those quiet moments with my little baby when she was dozing peacefully in my arms after a good nursing and I would admire her tiny hands, feet, and face. Just those moments though. None of the crying, screaming, worrying, spit-up, arms getting numb from holding her all day, and sleepless days/nights. No, thank you!! :)
ReplyDeleteWe just started oatmeal this past weekend. So far so good! Sorry you were sick on your vacation. I love that quote you posted about babies growing up!
ReplyDelete