Baby Foods

We have now given Cora a few different foods since the last post: sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, and prunes. We have also switched from rice cereal to oatmeal cereal. Adam chose the cantaloupe for Cora. I personally hate cantaloupe and all other melons, but I don't want to deny Cora any foods just because I hate them haha. She seemed to like it! We decided to give Cora the cantaloupe a different way than all her other solids so far. I had heard just a little bit about baby led weaning when I started Cora on solids, and then a friend mentioned it on the link to my last blog post on Facebook. Parenting magazine even has an article on it this month too. Simply put, your child feeds themselves. That means real food and not baby purees. You can give your baby age appropriate foods in small, chip-sized portions. They suggest chip-sized portions at this age since typically babies have not developed their pincer grasp yet. I read that babies who have done baby led weaning tend to enjoy a wider range of foods and textures and that there is research that suggests it helps prevent obesity. Apparently it is very common in the UK already. If you are interested in learning more about baby led weaning, you can check out this website. I'm being a little bit cavalier with this since I did not consult Cora's pediatrician, but I'm not fully doing baby led weaning so I didn't feel it was necessary. We bought her a little baby mesh feeder and it's going pretty well! She responded to it very well. She really loves chewing on her bibs and clothes so I think she likes chewing on the mesh. We have only put cantaloupe in it so far, but I am excited to try more foods soon!


Cora eating some melon with her mesh feeder
So out of curiosity, at what point did your babies eat more than a teaspoon of solids? All of the food that we've made at home are tablespoon sized servings and she has not come close to finishing them. Normally I nurse her first and then if she is hungry still I will give her some solids, so I thought perhaps she is too full already to eat more than she does. I have tried to give her solids before nursing though and it is the same result. I know that it s a slow process to go from breast feeding to solids, but I am curious how long it will take Cora to start filling up more from the solids. I am still planning on nursing her for her whole first year.

My sister, Khristina, is trying to teach Cora a Filipino custom called "Amen" (pronounced ah-men, not ay-men) or "blessing," depending on which way you look at it. Basically a child will take an elder's hand and bring it to their forehead as a sign of respect. The child is asking for an Amen and the elder is blessing them. (Hope I explained that correctly! Any of my Titas or Titos can correct me if not!) I remember doing it a lot as a little child, but I don't know at what point I stopped doing it and just kissed my Titas and Titos on the cheek instead. Khristina dangles her hand in front of Cora and wiggles her fingers until Cora grabs it, and then Khristina will bring her hand to Cora's forehead. Khristina has also taught Cora a new game. She will start giving her eskimo kisses and Cora will then open her mouth and waits for my sister to sing or hum into her mouth. It is so funny and cute! It is the closest thing to kissing we are getting from her! I really can't wait until I actually do get kisses from her.


Cora's "kisses"
Another new development for Cora is that she has started sticking her tongue out when she smiles. It's really cute! She sticks it out to the side and just looks so happy about it. She may have picked that up from watching Khristina smile at her and stick her tongue out at Cora.


A little hard to see, but Cora's sticking out her tongue!
So my first night away from Cora was a success! I surprisingly didn't cry and she didn't give Adam too hard of a time (or so he says). I was anxious about it all week though and definitely even more anxious about it on the actual day of the New Kids concert. I found myself to be a little grouchy and emotional. I almost cried a couple of times for such random reasons, like thinking about a family trip to Hawaii and being proud while Adam told me of his successes at work. It was silly, but I knew it was because I was having mixed emotions about the evening. We got on the road around 6:00 to drive down to American Airlines Center. Adam decided to drive us down there and then just hang out at his parents' house with Cora while the concert was going on. We pulled into a parking lot a few exits before the arena so I could nurse Cora. She really should have been hungry, but she didn't nurse very much. I felt bad that I couldn't feed her more, but she wouldn't latch back on and there was nothing I could do. Adam dropped us off at the arena after that. I think the fact that it was a little frenzied and we were trying to be quick about getting out of the car really helped me NOT to cry when saying goodbye to Cora! I knew she was in good hands and I knew I had a fun night ahead of me. Of course I had a great time that night, but I did still text Adam every now and then to check in and see how she was doing! The concert ended at 11, but we still had the after party to go to. It was fun to see NKOTB at the after party, but I was happy when Khristina said she was ready to go around 12:30. Adam had been texting me that Cora had woken up and was crying. Plus I knew that she didn't eat very much that night even though Adam tried to bottle feed her and he brought some solids for her too. By the time he picked us up though Cora had already fallen asleep in the car. I was glad she was settled, but I made sure to feed her as soon as we got home.


Our group picture at the after party with most of the members from both NKOTB and Boyz II Men!
I have to say that I am really happy with how the picture turned out! I wasn't sure how I would look since the picture is taken so quickly and of course I was all frenzied with excitement to be near them. The girls in our group were super nice and we had worked out in line where each of us would stand. If you don't know me personally, you should know that I love Jordan Knight. Like L-O-V-E him. I even had his 2012 calendar proudly hanging in my cubicle at work all year long last year. (And if you are a Jordan girl too, I highly recommend you immediately go to You Tube and look up his performance of "Kiss" by Prince. You won't regret it!) So, I worked out with the girls in our group that I would stand between Jordan and fellow New Kid Danny Wood. As we were getting closer to the photo op though, two members of Boyz II Men decided to show up, Shawn Stockman & Nathan Morris. Boyz II Men was actually my first boy band love! I even had a Boyz II Men themed party in 6th grade. I remember going to their concert when they appeared at SIU and just WISHING I could somehow get one of the roses they hand out on stage! Of course my seats back then were nowhere near the stage so that didn't happen. Nathan was my crush back then, which is a little creepy now considering how much he looks like my dad! Now that they showed up to the photo op though, the little 6th grader inside of me just had to stand next to Nathan! I tried to tell him that he was one of my first crushes, but I stumbled all over my words and I think I told him he was my number one so he probably thought I meant he was my number one crush right now, haha. Oh well. Part of me wishes I did stand in between Jordan and Danny as originally planned, but I love the picture so much it doesn't even matter! I have two other pictures with Jordan anyhow, so no big deal.


My picture with Jordan from a 2011 after party! He's squinty, but this is a GREAT memory!

Now just a little under 2 months until my next planned night out: Backstreet Boys on August 30!