6 months - Working Situation

This post has been a long time coming.  So some of you may know that I was going to start working part-time and be a stay at home mom part-time.  Well, that didn't work out exactly as planned.  I don't care to go into a bunch of details about what happened on here, but feel free to ask me in person and I will share.  The end result was me figuring out what I want and what I don't want.  I think in the end, I am happy that Noah is still in daycare.  I think he loves being with the other babies and that he will learn a lot, especially when he turns 2 and starts their preschool program.  I really like the daycare we are sending him to now and the ladies are so good with him.  I won't say they are perfect and they definitely don't care for him exactly the way I would, but I think that's just something every parent has to deal with no matter what daycare you take your child to.  No one will take care of your child as well as you will, that's just a fact.  I also like the fact that instead of me being exhausted at the end of the day and ready for Daddy to take over, I'm excited to see him and play with him.  The weekends are so exciting and I love snuggling with him in bed on Sat mornings and then we all fall back asleep.  I don't think I would feel the same if I was home with him all the time.  I'm going back to my original thinking that I'm just not cut out to be a stay at home mom and that doesn't necessarily make me a bad mom either. 

 

Now everything is not just peaches either.  I'm sad I can't go to day nursing group at Kangaroo Kids.  They have a night group and it's good, but in the evenings, Noah is crankier and I feel so much more rushed than when I could go to day group.  We also had some difficulty figuring out how I'm going to do busy season.  For now, the plan is to work approximately 7-6 at the office then come home and have family time and then work another 2 hours at home.  Saturdays I'll go into the office for a few hours in the morning.  David has also offered to do as much as he can around the house to make the burden on me easier.  Not sure if we'll continue this arrangement for many years in the future, but for now, it'll work.  The other change we are making is to hire a cleaning service.  I had a lot of internal debate on this because I feel like by doing this, I fail as a homeowner.  Why should I own a home if I can't even take care of it?  But my reasoning is that we did all this work to determine we could financially make it if I worked part-time on approximately half my salary, so clearly we have the money to splurge on this.  It also frees up more of our time to spend with Noah and do family things when we aren't working, rather than having to clean the house. 

 

Overall, I'm happy with my life for now.  I'm happy that we do have that extra money and I don't have to stress over that part of my life.  We have even started discussing taking a vacation to Hawaii next summer for our 5 year wedding anniversary (I know, I can't believe it'll be 5 years) or going to the beach with Noah as a family vacation. 

 

Other bits of information:

 

* Noah had his 6 month checkup and weighed 17 pounds, 4 ounces (approximately 35%).  His length was only in the 18% and he technically lost a 1/4 inch, but I think they goofed up the measurements the last time.  I don't really expect him to be tall since David and I are short.

 

* Solid foods are still going well.  He now eats Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Apples, Bananas, Squash, and Peas.  Next up is Pears.  I love making his food and I am thinking of doing more with fresh fruits and veggies in our own diet.

 

* Solid foods are creating new fun in cloth diapering.  We definitely need to go to Cotton Babies and get a diaper sprayer, but in the meantime, the daycare is making it easier on us by getting rid of the "bulk" in his diapers.  We didn't even ask them to do it, they just did it.

 

* We are getting ready to get a new patio.  We are super excited and I can't wait to see the end result.  I will definitely post pictures.

6 months - More solid foods (apples and peas)

So we decided after 4 days of sweet potatoes that he either wasn't ready for solid food or just not a big fan of sweet potatoes so we decided to move on to a fruit and see if we get better results. This time we tried apples. Again, super easy to make. We peeled, sliced, and cored 5 gala apples and then put them in a bowl and microwaved them. Then we threw them and the juices they made into the food processor and voila! baby food!!! I even tasted it and they were delicious. The only thing annoying about the apples was peeling them, but eventually we can throw the peels in with the food.

So then we gave them to Noah. He absolutely loved them!!!! So I'm totally convinced he just isn't a big fan of sweet potatoes. So we did apples for a few days. Then we decided to mix 1 apple and 1 sweet potato and he still liked it. I haven't tried a plain sweet potato cube by itself (too scared of rejection).

Today was a new day to introduce food and we decided on peas since we eat these all the time. These were EASY to prepare (unlike the apples). We just bought 2 steam bags ($1 each) and microwaved them. We did have to add what I thought was a ton of water to get them to puree down to an acceptable consistency, but easy enough. Again, another winner. He didn't eat them as much GUSTO as the apples but that could also be that we fed him pretty late tonight and he was just tired.

Nothing else too exciting is going on. We are trying to do sign language with him, but mostly just "milk". He sits up like a good boy. He hardly ever uses the swing or bouncy seat but loves his exersaucer. We just went shopping and got several 9-12 month outfits for the fall/winter. I can't believe we are getting so close to that 1 year mark. Sorry no pictures today.

6 Months - First Food

Noah's first food is officially sweet potatoes. We wanted to do a vegetable first because I've heard that it's better to stick with a blander food so they don't develop a sweet tooth. I'm pretty sure that's out anyway since we feed him breastmilk, which is naturally sweet. But whatever! So we are also making our own baby food. Reasons - It's cheaper, I know what's in it, and it tastes more like the real thing. After our first experience, I honestly don't know why EVERYONE doesn't just make their own baby food. I even feel like I'm cheating since I have a baby food recipe book and trays specifically designed for baby food (honestly, they just look like ice cube trays with lids, but whatever). So we bought two sweet potatoes at the market, even bringing Noah along with us (he slept the whole way so I'm sure he really understood the whole "where my food is coming from" concept). The total cost was $1.80. We cooked them in the microwave for 8 minutes (I'm not going to go into microwave vs. oven right now). Then we just scooped out the "meat" and added some water and processed it up. Here's the result:


I took that and put them into our trays (it filled all 20 slots) and then froze it. The next day I put the cubes into a plastic bag to be stored in the freezer until use. So I made approximately 20 servings/ounces for $1.80. For comparison, the store sells jars of 2.5 servings/ounces for $0.80. That same amount is about $0.22. Only like a 50 cent difference, but multiplied out by all the baby food we will make - that's a big savings! Not to mention the priceless difference that feeding Noah healthy food with no preservatives or junk. I will say Noah will probably end up eating some jar baby food if we forget something or we travel far distances, but we will try to avoid this as much as possible.

On to the fun part - feeding. So the first try was actually yesterday and I don't have any pictures from that. We recorded it though and as soon as I have some time, I will post that video. In the meantime I will share photos from today's meal. He was a lot more receptive to the food today. I hope it gets better the more we do this. Not that the first times went badly but he definitely didn't seem like he wanted to gobble it up or anything. I think he was just confused about it. It really helped when David and I started making a huge production each time he took a little bite. So here are the photos from today:

Noah's 6 month Pictures

We went to a different place this time - Portrait Innovations. In the end, we liked the quality better than Olan Mills although we did end up spending more money. Here are some of the shots we got:















We got a ton of prints, especially wallets. If you like any of these, please let me know and you can have one (or honestly, you can have a few, since we have a TON). ENJOY!!!