Food for thought

Ashton is six months now so we're introducing solids.  We started the week before he turned six months, which was my birthday so we figured that was a day to remember.  We started him on rice cereal.  At first he was kind of indifferent to it and then after a few days he got really excited about it and would start kicking his feet in his high chair and the little hands would get going and he would open his mouth wide.  This is him on day one:

When he got the hang of it, we started giving it to him twice a day.  I am using commercial rice cereal because it's iron fortified but I am making my own other food.  We're leaving several days between new foods and keeping a food journal.  I bought some green beans the other day.  Today I brought them with me to my parents and made them there as I went there to help with some stuff and I wanted to use the beans when they were fresh.  So I steamed the beans and after they were steamed I tried some.  They were delicious.  Then I food-processed them and strained them.  Mom has an applesauce strainer thing that is the best thing ever.  I tasted them after they were strained and it was nasty, which was weird because they were tasty before they were processed...I think it was just the consistency.  So mom took a video when I was feeding him and there are some pics of it below.  He seemed to really love the beans and wanted more.  It was pretty cool!

Skating picture

We went skating again yesterday. This photo is from last weekend. He's funny because he cries when he is in the stroller and then stops as soon as we get on the ice. I think I am lucky to have a child that I can pretty much take anywhere.

Ashton's first hockey practice?

I have so much more energy now that I've been more active.  I try to walk every single day whether Ashton likes it or not.  I have dance class once a week and now skating once a week.  I feel awesome.  Running up and down the stairs to do laundry 8000 times a week is getting easier too ;)

Jesse and I went skating on Sunday with a friend of ours and Ashton.  Ashton has to wear a helmet when he's in his stroller, which makes sense but the helmet perches on his shoulders because it is so huge and then it falls over his face and he gets really mad.  Jesse and I took turns with the stroller.  I wore hockey skates for the first time ever and I am used to using figure skates so it was tough for me.  I still did okay though, despite using rental skates which had short laces.  I couldn't do them up all the way so my ankle was smarting when I was done.  We are going to go every Sunday to public skating.  I love to skate and Jesse is planning on going back to play ice hockey.  We're trying to buy him skates and it's crazy because nowhere has them right now despite the fact that there is ice year round here.  There are pictures of him but they were taken with someone else's phone so I will try to post them when I can.

After skating on Sunday, we went to my parents.  It was my Oma's birthday (and Easter too) so my parents made an awesome feast with turkey and the works.  Ashton got all dressed up in his little man clothes.  At one point, he was helping me play the piano.  

Where the Wild Things Are

When I was pregnant, I was off work 4 months early.  I was not specifically on bedrest but I wasn't supposed to do much.  I have always loved the children's book "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak.  I have some of the stuffed animals.  I decided to incorporate my favourite book in to a nursery theme.  Jesse and I went on ebay and bought a clock and a light switch cover for the nursery.  I got fabric in forest colours to match for a quilt.  I haven't finished said quilt yet but it's probably a little big anyway (I did make another quilt outside of the theme for when we go out).  When you don't have a crib mattress yet (which I got when I was pregnant but after the quilt was started), you don't really think about the fact that the mattress fits in so tightly that you cannot just hand the quilt over the edge.  Of course, it makes sense that the mattress fits in like that...but I didn't think of it.  The other day, Angela got us a WTWTA floor puzzle, which is AWESOME.  I have it displayed in the box in his room.  Jesse and I went to the market and got these cool tent hangings that make me think of the book.  Not pictured is a wooden wind chime from the same market that hangs in front of his window and kind of makes me think of a sea monster.  I took pictures of the WTWTA theme nursery:

The quilt so far (over halfway done)

Ashton's reading corner with all his "Wild Things"

Roly poly

As I was logging in to update my blog, Ashton rolled over from back to front!  He's been rolling the other way since he was a month old but this was the first time going the other way!  He's not quite sitting yet, but can sit really well for 20 seconds max before he topples.  We have a Bumbo chair for him now, which he adores.  The friend that we got it from said it was great because her daughter couldn't get out of it.  Getting out of it was basically the first thing Ashton managed to do.  He was trying to look at something behind him and arched his back and then scooted his bum out and got out of it backwards.  He does seem to love the chair though.

I have been trying to get back in to shape since all I've done is walk since Ashton was born (and probably while I was pregnant too).  Not like pushing a stroller up a hill is anything to sneeze at though.  I joined a modern dance class.  I danced for 15 years or close to that anyway but it's been a few years now.  I mostly preferred modern and hip hop but I took some ballet (wasn't serious enough about it to do pointe or anything).  So I went to class and love it.  Three days later, my abs and calf muscles still are killing me, but it's a good pain.  Jesse's back to playing hockey too and after playing two days in a row, he is also in pain.  So it goes something like, "Jesse, can you lift this for me?  I hurt!" and he'll reply "I hurt too".  I'm glad that we're both getting back into shape.

Sitting!

I cannot believe it is already March.  February only had 28 days and I felt cheated.  I had to remember to mail the rent cheque out early and almost forgot about the Baby Fair which was yesterday (the 28th) because I thought "No.  The baby fair is the last day in February" which of course couldn't be the 28th.  Because months have more days than twenty-eight.  Except February.

I have thought about the routines with my little boy and realized that although babies apparently need routines, so do I.  I do the same things every day.  Wake up, get ready, Ashton wakes up, change him, feed him.  Ashton gets to go in one of his thingles (swing, etc) while I eat and make coffee.  I hang out with Ashton, Ashton gets tired within 3 or 4 minutes, Ashton takes a nap, I drink coffee.  Every day is different after this.  We go on walks, we go to baby groups, we go do something social.  Sometimes we go see Grandma (aka Mom).  Sometimes we do nothing at all and just play, sing and read at home until Jesse comes home and then we go out.  For every couple really busy days, I need to veg at home for one.  Today is one of those days.

Yesterday morning, I was looking forward to my coffee.  I put on the coffee and shortly after, noticed a puddle growing on the counter.  I forgot to put in the filter thingle...you know...the one that has coffee in it?  Guesstimated how much more water to put in the pot to replace the water on the counter.  And when it came out in delicious dark brown coffee form, it was the best coffee ever.  Sometimes the things you really work at are the best (I really worked at cleaning the mess I made...haha).  Then we went to the Baby Fair with my friend and her baby.  I entered Ashton in a photo contest where he gets his photo taken by a photographer and they send us a picture and everything (5x7) in the mail.  It's only a 10 dollar donation, which is awesome AND you can order prints.  It's cool because I've wanted to do portraits of Ashton but I wanted to wait for him to sit on his own first.  Which brings me to my next point...

HE SITS!  For the last couple weeks Ashton has been practicing sitting.  I hold his hands or sometimes just prop him so he's resting between my legs and then leave him sitting there and read to him.  Yesterday I let go of him and he stayed sitting for about 10 seconds before he started to topple.  He did this a few times for short periods.  One time he seemed like he might last a little longer but then Darcy walked by and he followed Darcy with his head and over he toppled (he loves to watch the cats, it's his new thing).  This is a picture of him sitting with me holding him and one of him holding my finger:

Snow day

I cannot believe it snowed a foot here.  I had been so happy that the big piles of snow that the plows had made along our walking route were gone at last because the stroller is not the best thing for snow (I love my stroller otherwise).  I absolutely love the look of the snow here and how bright it looks with the ocean backdrop out of my living room window.  I hate the driveway in it though.  This snowfall wasn't bad because it's melted some and I didn't go out to my baby group yesterday so I only left the house to get some groceries with Jesse and Ashton.  We didn't even get stuck at the base of my driveway coming home!

Yesterday I made tea with fennel, fresh ginger, cloves and lemon.  I let it steep for a really long time because I like the flavours to be strong in my teas.  It reminded me a little of chai.  Normally I just use ginger and lemon but a friend of mine suggested fennel and when I went to make it, I thought some cloves might be nice.

On Monday night, Ashton was up 3 times in the night and all he wanted was food.  This is odd for him as he normally sleeps through the night but he's been a little more demanding lately for food.  Same thing on Tuesday night.  Wednesday he was up twice.  Last night was funny because he woke up an hour after going to bed (something to do with a laser pointer and a cat outside his bedroom...ooops) and then again as Jesse and I were going to sleep.  But then after that he slept for 8 hours so it wasn't too bad.  The first wake-up was entirely my fault.

As I write this, the snow falls again.  Lets hope this doesn't last.  Although if it does last, at least my kid looks cute in his snowsuit.