My kid is evil I tell ya

Just look at this face.....



l
 


cute as all get out, but shes gotta be possessed or something. That evil grin, like shes plotting.  I love it.  Never in my life did I ever imagine I could get so much enjoyment just from someones face.  Especially one as terrifying as that!

Avocado Redux

Mercy did not like avocado the first time we gave it to her.  I decided to try again, and this attempt was decidedly more successful.  And ridiculously cute.

Teething biscuits

While we were in Oregon visiting my wonderful family, my grandma picked Mercy up some teething biscuits.  I was not optimistic.  She hadn't really liked anything else we'd given her, but I figured we'd try anyways since Gram had gone to all the trouble of getting them for her. 












She loved em.

These ones were EarthsBest Wheat Teething Biscuits I believe.  They are kinda messy, but its totally worth it for all the cute pictures you can get.

More babywearing

I know  I said I would post how to make a wrap, but I have not been able to go to the fabric store and get material to make more wraps yet. (yeah, I'm going through withdrawl.)

I did however, find some more pictures of me wearing Mercy in one of my favorite wraps, because it is cute and a thin material so neither of us get too hot here in stupid humid Florida. 

 

I love this girl.

Georgia peaches!

My girl is a picky eater.  A boob snob, if you will.  She hasn't really liked anything I've given her.  Didn't like the Gerber Puffs, or the Yogurt Melts.  We gave her some pear to try.  Didn't like that either.  We had spaghetti for dinner the other night though, and I gave her some of the plain noodles to keep her occupied while we ate.  She liked playing with those, (food is pretty much just a toy to her) but didn't really eat any of it at all. 

The other day however, after a great recommendation from my friend Alanna (visit her over at Alanna in Suburbia) I decided I get her a peach to try. I cut the peach in half and took out the pit, then quartered it.  Before I gave it to her I cut out the weird pink stuff that attaches to the pit, and peeled the skin off the top half of it, but left the bottom so that way it wasn't as slippery.  At first, she wasn't crazy about it.  Gave me a look along the lines "What the hell is this?  You expect me to eat this?", but after a couple bites she decided she liked it and went to town.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I call this one....
 
"Please mom....I want some more"

Babies first Chipotle!

So I've been trying and trying to find something that Mercy will like.  So far she won't actually eat anything.   Well, we went out to Chipotle (I ♥ them) and I got a burrito. Chris was holding her while I was eating and she was going CRAZY trying to get up on the table and at my food.  So, I pulled a little bit of the tortilla (flour) off, made sure it didn't have any of the meat or sauce or anything on it, and gave it to her.  She had a BLAST playing with it, and then crammed the whole strip in her mouth.  Scared me a little bit, so we pulled it back out.  I broke it into smaller pieces and held that out for her.  My silly girl, instead of taking it out of my hand, she just dove and ate it right out of my hand.  Actually ATE.  She seemed to like it.  Didn't eat any more, just played with it.  But, she did eat that one little bit!

Quick update

Its 2:40 AM here, so I won't be taking the time to post pics and everything now.  But since my last post we have tried- Gerber Puffs, Pears, and Spaghetti noodles. 

This is just here as a place holder, so I don't forget to post about it. 

More solids...

We have added a few more solids to our palate, broccoli and bananas. So far we are up to: (in order of introduction) cucumber, raw carrots, avocado, cantaloupe, broccoli, and bananas.  The raw carrots are good for soothing her teething pains, other than that the cantaloupe and broccoli seem to be preferred, but mainly for playing.  I'm starting to think that she might not fully be ready for solids, or may have texture aversions.  When she gets a bite in her mouth she makes a grody face and spits it out, sometimes gagging and spitting up even.  :(

Sitting with Grandma, tasting broccoli for the first time.

She wasn't entirely sure which end she was supposed to be eating, and wasn't crazy about the taste, but she did enjoy playing with it!




We also (finally) got her a mesh feeder, so I don't have to worry as much about choking.  She seemed to have fun with it, but it also kind of frustrated her. We tried with cantaloupe in it since she enjoyed sucking the juice out.  This way she didnt have to worry about any of the pesky stuff actually getting in her mouth.  She enjoyed it, and it wasn't as messy as I expected it to be.  She still had sticky little hands, and even a sticky head from when she was flapping her arms and bonking herself with it.  Silly kid.


I leave you with one last broccoli face picture.  Just because its cute.                           
                                                
  

Babywearing

Hi, My name is Paige and I'm addicted to babywearing.  I have 5 wraps, 1 sling, and I don't see an end in sight.                                                                                

Babywearing is one of those things that actually becoming a mommy changed my mind on though.  Before I had Mercedes I thought (pretty please don't stone me for my once ignorant ways) that babywearing was weird.  I would see moms with their babies in slings and think "How lazy.  Why doesn't she just carry her baby?  When I have baby, I'll just carry it if it wants to be held."  I know.  I wanna beat myself up for that too.  The only way I thought wearing your baby was "normal" was in a crotch dangling carrier like the Bjorn.  Then I got pregnant and started looking at the different carriers, and talking with my sister about them.  The wraps looked pretty cool, but hard.  So I got a sling after Mercy was born, when she proved to be a pretty high needs baby who ALWAYS had to be held.  I didn't really like the sling though, and neither did Mercy.  I wanted a wrap.  I wanted a wrap real bad.  I'd gotten my first taste of babywearing and I wanted more.  However, I didn't have the 50 bucks to buy a wrap.  So I figured out how to make one, and set off to the fabric store.    This is my first wrap.  I don't use it much anymore, I now have cuter ones in better fabric.  But it sure served its purpose and made my life WAY easier.  Without it, my arms probably would have fallen off. 

I am pretty passionate about babywearing.  When I see moms in the grocery store, carrying their babies, I want to tell them all about wraps.  It especially thrills me to see other moms wearing their babies.  One time in Wal-Mart I was wearing Mercy and had just found some fabric to make more wraps and a woman came up and asked me where I got my wrap.  I gave her one.  I've had SO many people ask me about it, and I just LOVE telling them.  I'm not only a babywearin addict, I'm a babywearin enabler.  I've sold five wraps and given them away as gifts too.  (If you are interested in buying one, let me know. I'd love to make one for you!)

I've even turned my husband.  He won't wear her (yet).  But before he said he wouldn't even be seen with me when I was wearing her.  Now he makes sure I've got my wrap packed, and hes even defended me against a stupid Wal-Mart employee before who started saying that she wanted out of the wrap and to look around and see things. 

I will post instructions on making your own wrap in the near future, but I want to be able to post how-to pictures with it when I do.  Until then, here are some pics of me rockin my best accessory.

Damn it Blog...

Why are you smarter than me? I've spent more time than I'd like to admit trying to figure out how to put a hit counter on here.  Couldn't for the life of me make it work.  So I asked a friend how she did it, and she said using the Add Gadget feature HTML/Java.  Of course, the add gadget feature.  So I clicked it and it asked for the url, which I thought was pretty odd but I tried it and it didn't work.  So I tried a couple different sites but couldn't make those work either.  So I search through all the gadgets already on here to try and find a hit counter but couldn't.  I go back and reread the message.  Gadget for HTML.  Not URL.

DUH!

Our first adventures with solid food

I'm very hesitant about starting mercy on solids.  I love nursing her.  Not to mention all the lack of control that comes with solids.  I'm terribly paranoid about food allergies.

Plus, I'm worried that she'll stop nursing.  I definitely want to continue breastfeeding.  Before I had her, even just when I was pregnant, I figured I would breastfeed for six months and then I'd start her on purees.  That changed to I'd breastfeed and make my own purees.  Which changed to I wanted to delay solids, seeing as baby doesn't really need anything but breastmilk or formula for the first year, meaning skipping purees, and waiting until Mercy could finger feed herself. (Hey, I'm a woman.  Its my prerogative to change my mind.)  Well researching and trying to figure out what would be best for us, I found Baby-Led Weaning, which pretty much states that you present the baby with foods it can pick up and grasp and allow her to experiment and feed herself at her own pace.  Sounds pretty good to me.

So that became our plan, and we put it into action one night when we were out having dinner at a buffett.  Chris grabbed Mercy a cucumber slice and we sat her in her bumbo and let her play with it.  She put it in her mouth and made a grody face.  She wasn't pleased.  I had cute pictures of it, but then I lost my cell phone and all the cute pictures with it.  *sigh*  We've tried cucmbers a couple times, not in the least bit impressed.  That was all she had for awhle.  Then I decided we'd try a slice of raw carrot to help with teething and give her something to do with her hands.  She likes carrots.
 

We've also tried avocados.

She didn't really like those.

A few nights later (3 days between new foods to pinpoint allergies if there are any) we tried cantaloupe.  She likes cantaloupe much more than the avocado and cucumber.


That is as far into solids as we've gotten, aside from an unfortunate lemon incident involving my husband and father-in-law.  She hasn't had any issues with allergic reactions or choking, and is still nursing like a champ (Yay!).

In a few more nights we are going to try some steamed broccoli.  I'll let you all know how that goes.  Right now however, I'm taking Miss Cranky Britches and getting her ready for bed.

Introducing....

Me!
 
 I'm Paige.  I'm 20 years old, and a first time, stay at home mom to my wonderful daughter.
 
Meet my wonderful daughter.  Her name is Mercy, she was born February 2009 and is a smart, strong, beautiful, amazing girl already.  I didn't realize 6 month olds could have so much personality.

Meet Mercy's dad.  His name is Chris, he is a sailor in the US Navy.  We've been married for 2 years, and together for 5.  I kinda like him.

 You'll learn more about us as time goes on, these are just some basic introductions so you didn't read the posts wondering "Who the heck is this girl?!"  Well, at least now you'll wonder less.