One of the best things about having a child is waking up everyday and have a reason to smile.

Went out and bought some toys for Travis the other day! Hopefully he won’t get so bored with these ones too quickly. It always seems like he gets bored with his toys so fast! 

Daylight savings, how I dislike yah!

It’s 11PM and Travis still won’t go to sleep! 

Carrots!

I gave Travis his first vegetable today: carrots. I decided on carrots since I had carrots on hand. So I took one long piece, cut it up, boiled it till it was soft, and stuck it on the food processor with a little bit of nursery water till it became really pureed. I put about a tablespoon on his bowl and gave it to him for lunch. The result? He ate all of it! 

Always makes my morning

Nothing better than waking up every morning next to a happy, smiling baby <3

Last night, I thought about the devastation that’s been going on around the world - unrest in the Middle East, earthquakes, war, etc. I looked right next to me and saw my handsome baby boy sleeping next to me and it made me sad to think that he would one day realize that the world can be a scary place. It made me sad to think that there would be nothing I can do if a natural disaster was to suddenly happen where we are. 

The only thing I can do is to be prepared as much as possible. I’m going to make an emergency bag for Travis and me (I know, I should have made one a while back). I’ll be putting in clothing, food, passports, diapers, formula, medication, water, etc

My poor Travis

My little prince is in the midst of his teething misery (the first of many). He has been nonstop fussy and crying throughout the day. That little tooth is really kicking his butt. I took a look in his mouth earlier and found another tooth that’ll probably come out pretty soon! The tooth that’s cutting through his gums right now is one of his right lower molars. The second tooth is right next to it. Funny because I was told that the usual order is the bottom two incisors then the top two (or was it the other way around). I suppose the order doesn’t matter though! On top of that, Travis also had a slight fever, which went away with some baby Tylenol.  

The only thing that made my little Travis better was video chatting with his daddy on Skype. The minute he saw his daddy, he started babbling and gave a smile. 

Hopefully my baby boy will feel better tomorrow! 

Travis finished all his rice cereal today! I only gave him a tablespoon of the rice cereal mixed with three tablespoons of breast milk. This past Sunday, Joseph and I decided to gradually give him rice cereal once a day every other day and then increase it from there. 

So far he’s tolerated it well. I think he likes it better when the rice cereal isn’t too runny. I will give him rice cereal again on Thursday and I’ll probably give him two tablespoons and see how he takes that. If he tolerates that well, then I’ll probably start giving him rice cereal twice a day next week.

A couple of new baby food recipes to share.

Pea, Asparagus, and Barley Puree

Parenting takes a lot of creativity. Creativity means inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes & having fun.

Happy 5 Months!

Happy 5 months my little prince! Another month has passed us by. I know I say this every month, but where does time go? Before I know it, you’ll be a year old. I’m pretty excited about this month because we’re going to start introducing pureed foods to you! I hope you’ll like it :)

So here are some of the changes from the past month:

• Showed interest in food by grabbing my banana and tasting it. 
• Started eating a little bit of rice cereal at the end of the month.
• You slithered about an inch or so that one time when I put you on tummy time.
• One of your favorite activities is to bounce around in your exersaucer.
• You love it when someone is singing songs to you and making you “dance.”
• You have a predictable napping and sleeping schedule now.
• You started sleeping through the night again. 
• You’re now drinking 7 oz of milk now.

I can’t wait to see what new adventures we will have for this month! I’m so excited to see how you will like the purees! I know this next few months will be a bit lonely because daddy isn’t here with us, but we’ll video chat with him whenever we can! 

I love you baby Travis. 

Travis's intruder

Travis has a little intruder in his mouth named tooth. I see Travis’s little tooth has partly cut its way through his gums. I can feel and definitely see part of it. It’s kind of sharp! 

I would take a photo, but  my little prince won’t cooperate! He won’t open his mouth long enough or wide enough for me to take a picture. 

Hopefully the rest of mister tooth will soon follow. This little tooth is causing a lot of drooling! At least he isn’t fussy!

I can’t wait till the rest of the tooth comes out! :) 

Rice cereal

Travis had a taste of rice cereal today and I'm happy to say that he ate most of it!

I tasted some too, tastes like rice. We used Earth’s Best Whole Grain Rice Cereal - a recommendation from some friends who said they had no problems with their little ones getting constipated. I read the ingredients and they use whole grain brown rice. 

Also, I teased Travis earlier by holding the banana (that I was eating again) close to his mouth. Travis opened his mouth and tried to bite off a big piece, but of course I didn’t let him - besides he probably can’t anyway, the kid doesn’t have teeth yet!

Banana stealer!

Earlier while Travis was on my lap, I was eating a piece of banana (a small piece, peeled). All of a sudden, Travis grabbed some (little mashed up pieces) and stuck it in his mouth! He seemed to like it! So I placed him on his exersaucer and let him take a “bite” again, which he did. Every time the banana came towards him, he would open his mouth trying to take a bite. It was one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen!

We haven’t fully started him on solids yet. We did give him rice cereal about three times now. The first time was when Joseph and I were thinking, “Maybe breastmilk isn’t hitting the spot anymore (when he started regressing in sleep),” so we gave him some and his extrusion reflex was still strongly intact. So we stopped and waited about a week and half and tried giving him some again, same results as the first time. So we tried again about in a week and he’s gotten better. He was swallowing most of it and only pushing a little bit out.

Travis will be turning 5 months on Monday. When Monday comes, I’ll slowly start integrating solids into his diet. I’m so excited! :)

This whole day

I’ve been tripping all over Travis’s toys. Mainly his play gym and exersaucer.

Your toys are dangerous kid.

This CD has saved my sanity, literally! It never fails to put Travis to sleep no matter how fussy he is being or how hard he tries to fight his sleep. 

My sister gave this to him as one of his Christmas presents. She got it at Target in the section where they have those nature CDs (you know that little nifty stand where you can press on the screen and it plays the music, kind of like giving you a preview of the contents of the CD). 

Everyone, go get one!

Travis seems to be enjoying this gloomy day. Just like his daddy, he feels that the perfect way to spend a cold, gloomy day is to have a lazy day and nap for most of the day.

As for me, I’m not going to complain! I think I’m going to make myself another cup of coffee and make some banana bread.