Adventures in Airhartland: Finally! Solid Foods!

So it's been a while since I last posted and that is simply because we have been BUSY! I went back to work, the baby daddy started traveling for work again, and Sadie Marie has gotten BIG. She looks like the michelin man and the stay puff marshmellow had a baby. We just had her four month appointment and WOW she has gone up to 16lbs and is 24.5 inches long. Thank goodness she grew four inches.......we moved up to the 60th percentile in height (up from 20th) and also up to the 95th in weight. I can handle moving up a weight class as long as height follows. She's still a munchkin though!

So as you can see from the title we have graduated to solid foods. I'm so glad to because my little nugget is HUNGRY! I'm still breastfeeding, but she has been really interested in what we are doing at the table every night. The baby daddy, myself, Uncle John Rob, and Auntie JuJu sit at the table and Sadie Marie sits in her counter top swing and watches.......well now she wants to sit in my lap and put her hands on the table or in my food. She is SO nosy and SO interested I started rice cereal a week before her 4 month appointment. It was hilarious. If you want to see the video go to my facebook page and enjoy. She was flapping her little arms and SO excited to get some real food. She is still the milk monster but now we can add veggie monster to the resume.

My mom came to visit last weekend and I waited until then to start with sweet potatoes. I'm making my own baby food and so I wanted to let Cunnie feed her those first. Most children make huge messes on their own during their first feedings. They are not sure exactly how to swallow, the food and spoon are foreign objects, and they have a reflex that makes them spit it out. NOT Sadie Marie. She made a small mess, which was egged on by the feeder but this child swallows, she will guide the spoon to her mouth, she does not want to waste anything, AND is unhappy when it's gone. SHEESH child, at least give your tummy some time to get used to it before I increase the intake!! You know she my child though.....I have a cast iron stomach and clearly she does too. We added carrots to the menu on Wednesday and again HUGE success. She loves them. I'm going add something new this weekend I think. Butternut squash perhaps..... I love butternut squash. It looks funny and has a great name. Even Uncle John Rob will eat butternut squash fries........
I have read a lot over the past weeks about making your own baby food and how you can really just mush or process whatever you are eating and feed to them. I don't know how I feel about processing up chicken and I know that will come later after we have done veggies and fruits, but still kinda grosses me out to think about processing up chicken, adding some breastmilk, and feeding it to my baby. Think about red meat........processed. YUCK. However, in the spirit of making my own I'm going to suck it up, find some good recipes, and grind away as soon as we get there. OF course I'm going to add Lea and Perrin's worchestershire sauce to my red meat and some southern flavor....gotta start her off right. Plus I already know she likes it.....mom stuck a piece of steak slathered in it to her nose last weekend at Outback and if she could have gummed it up she would have, she opened wide!!

I will say that starting solids has solidified her poop. She still squishes but yesterday after her main course of carrots with a side of milk, she has a perfectly smooshed carrot in her diaper. It was hilarious and I also have to say I'm not longer a tub poop virgin. She totally got me the other night. Carrots = poop. I'm reading "Elmo Loves Opposites" and SQUISH. SO funny. It was like we were in the pits changing tires at the Talladega 500 trying to get her wrapped up and back to her room for a diaper before the second squish arrived. (there is always a second squish!)

It's so funny........I NEVER thought in a million years I would be this kind of mom. One who WANTS to breastfeed for a year and WANTS to make her own babyfood. It used to be all about April, but now it's all about Sadie Marie and sometimes it's about me. I also try to work in a little time for the baby daddy too. He deserves it and when I see how some of my friend's husbands act....WOW does he deserve it! LOVE YOU AIRHART. We both want to give her the best we can and the best of us. She's a little terror sometimes, but when she farts, smiles, and laughs who can remember she was up at 3 AM screaming?

So, over the coming months I get to come to AL in October AND December. I'm so excited. We will be home for Halloween! Sadie Marie's duckie outfit has been ordered! John Rob and Jules are getting married in December. Reagan and Matt in October. I LOVE a good wedding and Cunnie with get some good quality time with the little nugget while the baby daddy and I have some quality alone time :)

Below are some new pictures and eating experiences. HILARIOUS!