Apples for Andrina

Andrina got to try a new baby food today: apples! I mixed it into her rice cereal with bananas and she loved it! I didn't get a picture this time though. She ate two big meals of solids today. She had rice cereal with apples and bananas mixed into it and a side of green beans and a side of sweet potatoes at both solid food meals. She ate so well! She finished it all and I am so happy she got such nutritious meals today. And she is also doing better overall with eating solid foods too. When we first started, it took her half an hour to eat. Now it only takes her 15 to 20 minutes to eat a meal of solids. She is definately used to eating baby food now. Yea!

Love Is In The Air

Isn't baby laughter just one of the best things in life? I LOVE it when Andrina laughs. And I'll keep doing anything to keep her laughing. Making noises while kissing her belly almost always makes her laugh, so tonight I did that during and after her diaper and clothes change. She had some great laughs while I was holding her up in the air kissing her belly. So I made Tom take some pictures. Enjoy:

Sweet Potatoes for My Sweetie

So far Andrina has had cereal, bananas, carrots, and green beans for solid foods. She has liked and eaten them all (well, cereal with bananas as a dish). Today we tried a new vegetable: sweet potatoes. And she loved them! Here's a cute picture of her with her two empty bowls:

Mommies and Babies

Yesterday Andrina and I went out with Becca and Ryan again. This is not new, the four of us go out together a lot. But not so much lately with winter and our awful cold weather. We went shopping and had Andrina's six month old portraits taken, ate lunch, visited Auntie Reenie at work and then played with the babies at Becca's house. It was a wonderful day, except I forgot my camera again and did not get any pictures of Andrina and Ryan "playing" together. Becca has some from a few weeks ago. I'm going to try to post them soon.

Andrina and I also had a very nice evening together, just the two of us. We had to go home at about 5:00 because she was really tired and did not have a good nap yet. Tom had gone out so Andrina and I got to spend the evening together after her nap. We cuddled and played. I did lots of different things to make her laugh and I just had such a wonderful time with my baby. She is so sweet and easy going. No pictures this time, just lots more memories.

Some Solid Success

What started out as a bad day concerning solid foods turned out to be a great day for them. So far, Andrina has eaten rice cereal and carrots. Today I decided that I would try bananas but I'd mix it in with Andrina's rice cereal to make the cereal more appealing to her since she was not loving it. Well, I was so excited this morning preparing her meal of cereal mixed with bananas and a small side of carrotts but was disappointed in the end. Andrina was just not in a great mood this morning. I don't think she was ready for anything except milk (which she did have 2 ounces of milk before I tried the solids). It was before her first nap of the day and she became very cranky when I tried to feed her the cereal with bananas. She appeared to like the taste of it but was just too cranky to deal with eating it. After all, she's only been eating solid food for a week now. And when I tried to feed her a bite of carrots, she started crying! She was not ready for solid food that early in the day. So I gave up and had to thow it out and console Andrina (and put her down for a nap too). I made a mental note to myself not to feed her solids until after her first nap of the day, for quite some time, like we had done before. But I was still surprised that she didn't want the cereal with bananas. I tried it and it was good for baby food, much better than cereal by itself. I thought babies were supposed to love bananas...

Well, I tried again tonight and waited until after Andrina's second nap of the day. And guess what? She loved the cereal with bananas! Not only did she open her mouth for the spoon but she even leaned into the spoon as I was bringing it towards her mouth! It was so adorable. She even made a few "mmm" noises. And she ate the entire bowl of it! So far she has not finished a whole bowl of cereal (and I don't force her to finish it either). After she ate half the bowl of cereal with bananas, I reluctantly gave her a spoonful of carrots. She made a face at first but did not turn away. She ate another bite of carrots too, willingly. So in the end, she ate her entire helpings of cereal with bananas and carrots that I prepared for her. She didn't love the carrots like the cereal with bananas but she continued to open her mouth up for them, even if a lot of it ended up on her bib. And her face. And her high chair tray. And her clothes. You get the idea. And after the solids she also had one ounce of milk too. Here's some pictures of our first GREAT solid food session:

Rice cereal tastes SO much better with bananas mixed into it!

Look how happy I am!

"Mmmm!"

Look Mom, I finished the whole bowl!

Hey, what's this? This isn't that yummy banana stuff...

But it's not too bad!
I'm still happy and eating it!

Time to play while Mommy gets to clean up all that food that got everywhere!

Stephen J. Cannell Book Signing

I got to go to a book signing tonight while Tommy stayed home with Andrina (wow, I got to do something I like, for myself, that does not involve my baby-I still have a full life, yea!). One of my favorite authors, Stephen J. Cannell, was in town for a book signing because his newest novel, "Three Shirt Deal" was released yesterday and he was here for speaking and signing.

Mr. Cannell spoke for about 45 minutes about his severe dyslexia and his writing and producing career for television (he created about 40 TV shows) and his novels. Not only do I enjoy his books and TV shows, he's also a great speaker and story teller. He also answered people's questions (I didn't ask any), signed books and took pictures. He took a picture with me, signed his new novel for me and he even signed my two "Renegade" DVDs for me (not only did he create and write that show, but he also played "the bad guy" --Dutch Dixon). He was very nice, and told me about the three actors who played the main characters and how much he enjoyed acting on the show too. I had a great time and I'm looking forward to reading his new book. Here's some pictures:

Me with Stephen J. Cannell

My signed copies of "Three Shirt Deal" (made out to me)

and my signed "Renegade" DVDs

It was so nice being able to go to a book signing again. I've only been to one other one-Anne Rice when "Tale of the Body Thief" came out in 1992. I love to read. Ever since I was a little girl I've always been reading something. I didn't get to read many novels while I was in grad school but since I've finished my dissertation I've been reading non-stop. As soon as I finish one book, I start another. Appropriately, I'm currently reading a Cannell novel as I've read all of Kathy Reich's and Anne Rice's books. And Mr. Cannell also mentioned that he's written the next novel in this series, it's coming out next winter and he has another novel being released this summer. I'm so happy I'm not going to run out of books any time soon! (Oh, a hint for other moms out there, I keep the book I'm reading in the car with me when I'm out with Andrina, so if she falls asleep she can finish her nap in the car instead of me waking her up by taking her out of the car when we get home. I simply pull over into a parking lot and read while she's asleep if we're on our way home).

Half Birthday Stats

Andrina had her 6 month well baby pediatrician's visit today. She is 25 inches tall and 14 pounds, 7 ounces. She reaching all developmental milestones on time and her physical growth is going great! She's at roughly the 50th percentile for height and weight. Oh, and her doctor said again that, "she really is a beautiful baby", just like when she was not even a day old. Awww! I love it when people notice how beautiful you are Sweetie. I worked so hard to grow you and give you life. You're so sweet and smart too, I'm so glad I got the best baby possible. I love you more than anything and everything there is combined.

Happy Half Birthday My Love!

Wow, Andrina is 6 months old today! I can't believe it! She has grown and developed so much! Happy Half Birthday Sweetie! I love you! Today we made baby handprints in clays for you. We'll find out your weight and height tomorrow since today is Sunday and there are no well-baby visits on Sundays.

Look at her really pushing herself up!

Baby Activities

Last month when Andrina and I visited April and Anne, we went to a session of story time at the library in their town. Andrina did great and we both enjoyed it so I went online to our library's website to see what programs they have available for Andrina. Well they have an infant story time once a week for babies up to 11 months old but, get this, you have to register for it! Can you believe that! And you have to enter your library card number to register! Well, I don't have a library card. I've been in college and graduate school for, what, years and years, finally finished grad school so I have had my share of the library when I was writing my dissertation. Oh wow, there's something I am relieved to have finished if I may digress....

Anyways, I had to go to the town library today, register for a library card for myself and Andrina (since the program is for her I have to register with her library card number. Seesh). I got our library cards, registered Andrina for the winter sessions of infant story time and registered myself for a parent's "early reading" workshop for her. Whew. That was a lot of work to simply be able to take my baby to story time. I found out that you can't just show up for story time, like at April's library which is really disappointing since my best friend lives in a different town so we can't take our babies to a program at the library together. Which, by the way, our property taxes go towards that stuff. Becca and I would have to register for Mommy and Me or Gymboree in order to do structured activities with our babies together. And Andrina is a day shy of 6 months old and Ryan is only 4 and 1/2 months old too. It's really disappointing that there are such restrictions on baby activities at such a young age.

I also went to a infants through pre-school open house today. I'm interested in Andrina starting structured activities but I learned that at her age, it's more like day-care for babies than it is a school; it's a full-day, 5 days a week "school" for babies up to 15 months old. Once Andrina is 15 months old, she could go to as little as 2 half days a week at this particular pre-school I visited today. That is more of what I was looking for for her. Beginning structured activities and learning and socializing with other children on a part-time basis, not day-care. That's ok though, because for right now, I think story time at the library and maybe a few Mommy and Me classes will be enough until she is a toddler. I do spend A LOT of time playing with her, reading to her, singing to her, encouraging her motor skills development, and talking with her at home. I am proud that I am doing everything I can with her for her to have the best start in life.

Time For Solid Food

Well the event that I have been postponing has finally happened. Today I gave in and started Andrina on solid foods, rice cereal for now. I've been putting it off and putting it off. Andrina probably was ready for cereal about a week ago but I just could not do it. It's been a psychological hurdle knowing that she is growing and every day she is less and less of a baby, and her eating solid foods instead of just milk has made that concrete for me. I loved nursing Andrina while I could and I loved giving her milk in a bottle too. She would be so sweetly cuddled up against me, her head resting in my arm and I could just gaze at her and drink her in while she drank her milk. I loved rocking her while she drank. I enjoyed those perfect Mommy-Baby moments so much and I hate the idea that someday they will end. So I fought it by putting off solid foods for as long as I could justify doing it. I'm thankful that at least the pediatrician agreed with me waiting until she was almost 6 months old to do it. I don't think I could have done it when Andrina was only 4 months old. It was difficult for me to do it but I finally did it. And of course when I was all alone later I cried.

Andrina handled the cereal pretty well. She does not appear to love it but she did open up her mouth and did eat some of it today. I let her do whatever she wanted while she ate. She put her hands in her mouth while the cereal was in her mouth. She smeared it on the highchair try and spit some out. She even put her hand in the bowl and squished some between her fingers. Thankfully I was able to enjoy her enjoyment of it instead of just being down that it is another step for her in growing up.

New Toys

I don't spend much time blogging my feelings and thoughts except as they pertain to Andrina. After all, she is the reason why I started a blog in the first place. I started this blog to share pictures and news of my baby with my friends and family without having to bug everyone with emails all the time. I very rarely have a blog entry that does not have photos or writing about my daughter. Well, guess what? More of Andrina! Here are a bunch of pictures of her playing with new toys and using toys that she is ready for now.

Bumbo fun! The Bumbo chair is a loaner from Auntie April and I found the tray at Target. We love them, since Andrina is so small, it helps to keep her in the chair and her toys within reach. Until she throws them on the floor that is...

Always the happiest baby!
Having fun with the toy kitchen set from Auntie April for Christmas.

Andrina loves the lights and sounds on it.

Finally ready for the stationary entertainer that I bought her months ago!

And she loves it!

Look Mommy-my feet just barely touch the bottom of it-

I can spin myself around in it to play with all of the toys!

Baby Games

For about a week now, Andrina has been more interested in playing with her bottle than drinking her milk. She'll push the nipple around in her mouth, smile, laugh, make bubbles, basically just playing and socializing more than eating. Some days it has been taking her 2 hours to finish a bottle. Some days she won't eat then a few hours after her meal time she'll start crying really loud and fierce and then she'll finish her bottle in no time. It was frustrating at first but now it is not bothering me. When she starts to play her "baby games" with the bottle, I just take it away and try again in about 10 minutes. I know she is not going to go hungry so it is no big deal. She is still consuming enough milk in one day. Starting solid foods will be interesting...

Happy New Year! Happy 2008!

Last night I actually got to go out with friends while Andrina stayed home with a babysitter. Tom and I celebrated New Year's Eve with my best friend Becca and her husband Eric. Ryan got to stay home with his nanny too. Here's a picture of me and Becca (after many, many martinis). Happy 2008!