Squishy Squirrel: August 2011

This past Tuesday, Autumn boarded a plane for the 10th time and we made our way back across the country after two lovely, sunny weeks in Toronto. Autumn celebrated her great-nana Mary's 90th birthday and also attended her first wedding for our pals Ray and Neysa. She was among several babies at the wedding including her sweet new pal, Ella who is just as adorable as anything!! We've been keeping up with Ella and her mama, Shar via facebook and their cute little blog, but catching up in person was much more fun! It is so nice to have such lovely mama friends to learn from and share stories with, cause let's be honest--Daddies don't love to talk about the consistency of baby poop and the cutest little sun dress I just bought!! I was also able to catch up with my long lost and ever lovely Jen and her amazing girls and my beautiful pal Cait and her handsome little River who is getting so chubby and is so in love with his mama! Babies grow fast!!! When we arrived, Squisheroo was still comfy in her 3-6 month sleepers and onesies and by the time we were reaching the end of our holiday, she had graduated to 6-9 month duds. Things are a-changing! It's pretty scary but also very exciting. We introduced our girl to a variety of firsts over the last few weeks: her first boat ride (involving her first lifejacket which she was not thrilled about), her first swim in Nana and Papa's pool and most recently, her first taste of solid food. I read SO MUCH before I decided what her first solid meal would be and after humming and hawing for a week, I went with the tried, tested and true rice cereal. There's a lot of literature out there that really encourages parents to give babies meat as their first food for zinc iron as the iron in breast milk starts to wane around the 6 month mark. I thought I'd introduce texture before flavour for a couple of days though to get her used to a spoon and swallowing food with a thicker consistency. I made the cereal by pulverizing brown rice and mixing it with boiling water and breast milk. Brown rice is jam-packed with nutrients (including iron) and this homemade version is sugar-free unlike most store-bought varieties. The breastmilk adds nutrients and a familiar flavour. You have to do what feels most comfortable and as much as I want to dive in and test out a million recipes, starting slow is what is comfortable for me--But I am so excited to get adventurous with baby food! We must make use of our luxury blender! haha! We have avocado and banana standing by for tomorrow and we're going to try organic strained turkey on Sunday. My friend Liz recommended a book called "Feeding the Whole Family: Cooking with Whole Foods" which is a series of healthy recipes that mama and dad can enjoy and make alterations to for baby to eat too. I'm looking forward to checking it out. It will be nice to only have to make one meal for all of us--Except Elliott, of course, who will continue to enjoy her delicious kibble. I have to be honest though--there isn't anything in my baby food cookbooks that I wouldn't eat. Baby butter chicken--c'mon!
Most of you don't care about my ramblings, so here are the pictures you came to see! Love to you all. xo