Good week, bad week

Well this week has had it's ups and downs...Sam still has lost the use of his arms when eating and remains my 'baby bird' - just squawking and opening and closing his mouth for food! As this coincided with him starting to crawl I have high hopes that it is just a phase.

Breakfast this week has been a pretty predictable affair, some or all of the following:

• Strawberry jam on toast
• baby porridge
• yogurt
• fruit
• fruit puree

Lunch and dinner have been a bit hit and miss with Sam deciding he likes cheesy scrambled eggs one day but not another. I got Annabel Karmel's latest book out of the library and have made and frozen some salmon footballs (which got squished in the freezer so they are more like patties), fruity chicken (with apricot cos I was worried about iron levels - for no good reason, just because I'm a mum and that's what we do!) and some 'lovely lentils' cos I happened to have the ingredients in the house.

Round Grandma Jones' on Wednesday Sam was v naughty and wouldn't even look at my freshly prepared fruity chicken - I was not very happy. However, the next day I cunningly added a bit of cream that was in the fridge and served it up again and he loved it and ate it all - he's a fickle little boy.

Having turned his nose up at houmous earlier in the week he happily ate loads on breadsticks and carrot for lunch today, and after the most impressive 'scene' ever (crying, shouting turning away) this evening I managed to put a bit of my freshly cooked lovely lentils into his open, crying mouth, after tasting it he changed his mind completely and ate the whole portion grrr he's a tinker!

We've got chinese for tea and I can't wait - special treat from the Sichuan Garden yummm.

We're back!

Hello again, it's been a long time - very busy doing stuff and growing and learning new tricks...

A lot has happened in the month or so we've not been blogging; we've had a family holiday to the New Forest, Sam had his first haircut and he's developed a very clever impression of a caterpillar and is now wriggling his way across the floor.

Sam has also worked out that he gets his food into his tummy a lot quicker if somebody else spoon feeds him, after months of him grabbing the spoon and feedng himself he is now on strike and keeps his hands firmly out of the way!

His diet is coming along too and he's tried many new foods. We had a craze on Plum organic babyfood for a couple of weeks (very handy when on holiday) but now he refuses anything from a jar. Here's a selection of what he's had:

• beef goulash
• mexican chicken
• chilli con carne (made very mild!)
• spagetti bolognese
• french toast/eggy bread
• cheese and tomato scrambled eggs
• vegetable rissole
• chicken and apple balls
• haddock fishcake and sweet potato chips

His favourites are still breadsticks and organix ricecakes, but added to this list is now strawberries (just like his mum) and blueberries and yogurt (from dad). He goes crazy for raisins and spends ages trying to pick them up and get them to his mouth (most go on the floor).

If you go down to the woods today...

Today was a beautiful day and after the usual toasty breakfast we had a lunchtime family picnic in the garden: ham, bread, coronation chicken (surprisingly Sam ate this) houmous, and tzatiki, followed by yogurt.

Afterwards we met up with one of Sam's girlfriends Pepper and her mum and dad, Sarah and Ben. We went to Staffhurst Wood to see the amazing bluebells and have a walk in the mud. On the way home we stopped for a well earned rest at The Red Barn pub - it has recently been refurbished and it was real y cosy and lovely.

Sam disgraced himself by grabbing Chris's full pint of bitter shandy and tipping it over himself and down my leg and Pepper practised for the future by clutching on to Ben's wallet and trying to suck it dry!

We lost track of time and so dinner was a rushed affair of vegetable stew - again refused from a spoon but eaten on bread (strange boy) with a bit of dairylea and some strawberry jelly.

What's not to like about cauliflower cheese??

Huumpf, not happy tonight, Sam has rejected my homemade cauliflower cheese that I spent AGES making for his tea.

I put some on a spoon and he took one sniff/lick and decided it was horrible. I am now worried there is something seriously wrong with him as I don't know anyone that doesn't like cauliflower cheese - I might take him to the doctors.

Eventually he had some because I cunningly spread it on some bread which he munched away quite happily on.

We had an exciting morning today as we all went swimming together for the first time. Sam really enjoyed it this time (before it was a bit cold and he screamed) and he was giggling away and doing 'swimming' movements with his arms and legs. Chris is going to take him swimming every week now and I am going to have an hour off - hooray!

More home cooking - call me Delia

Lazy boy Sam needed to be woken up this morning at 9 o'clock (!) for his breakfast. After his milk he had toast and jam followed by a bit of fruit puree.

As we were hosting a nappy stall at our local baby clinic Sam had a quick bit of milk before we left home, but he was not that interested in it and didn't have much. At the clinic we had a packed lunch of sandwiches; Sam shared a bit of my ham and colslaw one and then had his first ever Dairylea cheese triangle sarnie and he make quick work of gobbling it all up. Gone are the days where he just sucked his food then dropped it, now he shovels it in his little mouth and swallows the lot!

Dinner was another homemade affair from a recipe supplied by Nic called vegatable rissoles. Basically I grated some carrot, courgette and potato, mixed it with a bit of flour and then fried it in olive oil. It was really rather nice and me and Chris had some too... Next Sam had his first taste of baby sweetcorn, steamed in our new steamer, this was yum too.

Pudding was an apricot yogurt which produced an alarming reaction in Sam, he cried if I didn't give him a spoonful quickly enough and his arms and legs wouldn't stop wriggling, it was almost as if he went a bit hyper - the yogurt was a kid's one but had sugar in it so maybe that was it...I'll stick to ones sweetened with fruit juice in future I think!

Eggy, bready, Go!

Today was a real success on the food front even though our stocks are running very low, three meals and not a breadstick in sight!

We had no bread so brekkie was a pitta bread from the freezer with marmite and jam (not on the same bit), Sammy found this difficult to eat cos it was a bit tough and most of it ended up on the floor. We shared some Cheerios and I got very excited as Sam was picking the tiny rings up from the kitchen table and shoving them in his mouth - top marks for hand control. This was all finished off with a bit of orange juice jelly (Sam got very excited about this yumm).

Auntie Heather provided lunch of tuna sweetcorn sarnies made with homemade bread (get her!) and Sam shared some of Max's cheese spread sarnies too. Pudding was apple, strawberry and mango puree.

Dinner was provided by Grandma Gardiner and it was the first time either of us have made eggy bread!! Got the recipe from Babycentre friends and its so easy, and very eggy (yuk). Sam LOVED it though and found it really easy to eat as it was nice and soft. He polished off the rest of the puree for pud and was generally a very happy boy with a nice full tum.

Meltdown!!!

Today I had a crisis of confidence and got really stressy about Sam's diet and worried that I wasn't feeding him properly. I was wondering whether it would be easier to just buy some jars from Morrisons and feed him them. I don't know why today rather than any other day - maybe because there are lots of things on my mind and lots of things to do and I don't feel like I'm spending enough time planning and preparing his food and it's all got a bit much.

Anyway, breakfast was the usual TOAST! (said in a Harry Hill stylee) and jam, this time followed with half a blackcurrant flavour baby jelly which was a completely new taste and texture and resulred in a surprised and confused Sam .

Lunch was a shared veggie pizza and some ricecakes.

Then came the stressy worried bit...

After some advise from my Babycentre pals and recipe suggestions, and a chat and coffee with Nic I got back on track, and Sam really enjoyed his dinner of sun-dried tomato and mozzerella tortellini, served with chopped toms and mixed herbs, topped with grated cheddar. He also really liked the rest of the jelly pot but got a bit confused when he tried to pick some up and it turned to mush - cute!

Here's Sam expertly eating some pasta and cheese

Real nappy week!

Today was a bit nerve-wracking as I gave a talk about cloth nappies to a young parent's group in Redhill, in the end it was really good fun and I got to talk about my nappies for an hour to people who seemed interested so I was in nappy heaven and Chris was pleased too cos he didn't have to hear it!

It didn't stop my nappy addiction though as I still ordered some more...there are special offers on to celebrate RNW...but before you tell me off most of them were pressies for other people and the couple I got for me/Sam are brand new types and I NEED to try them for research purposes ;-)

On the food front Sam was especially hungry today and had lots of milk feeds as well as jam on toast followed by half a yogurt for breakfast, ricecakes, breadsticks and houmous and the other half of the yogurt for lunch and more toast and jam and fruit puree for dinner. Sam seems to have inherited his father's method of eating yogurts and foodstuffs from pots...

Prince pincer grip

...by the way, I forgot to mention that our clever little boy has started to use his 'pincer' gripi.e. using his thumb and index finger together. I've been watching his hands for the last week or so and he has stopped gripping everything in his fist and has started passing food (and toys and his muslin) from hand to hand and I am sure I have seen him use his thumb and index finger to manipulate stuff - hooray for Sammy!

Catch up

Well, it's been a busy few weeks and I haven't got round to updating Sam's blog so here's a quick summary of what I can remember...

New foods tried:

• resh ravioli pasta filled with mozzerella and tomato with a bit of tomato and marscapone sauce - this was very popular but created a terrible tomatoey-red mess and left lots of stains


• Organix carrot corn sticks (the things that look a bit like a giant wotsit) - again eaten with gusto and very messy as any bits dropped seem to turn into orange glue

• Organix apple, strawberry and mango fruit pots - he LOVES these and has lots of fun chewing the spoon and flicking it around the place


• Little Dish fromage frais pots with no added sugar, he loves these too as its basically a small variation on his all time favourite of yogurt, but I think these disagree with him as both times he's had it he possets a bit and it stinks!

• Chips from a fish and chip shop by the sea!!! We went to Falmouth and had fish and chips overlooking the harbour and they were delicious! Sam had a couple of chips dipped in mushy peas yummm

• A tiny bit of chicken

• and a few peeled and chopped up grapes

I think I am going to start being a bit more adventurous and giving him more 'proper' meals like the pasta rather than fruit and yogurts and ricecakes.

p.s. on the nappy front our Starbunz Ladybug nappy has arrived and it is extremely cute, hopefully there's a d'lish in the post and waiting for us when we get home.

So, here's today's menu:

4.45am milk - I missed the 11pm dreamfeed last night to see what would happen - what happened was that I was woken up in the middle of the night...Doh!

8.45am milk
9.45am toast with butter and marmite and strawberry jam
11.30am sleep for 2 hours
1.40pm a choice of steamed carrot, steamed green beans, houmous on breadstick, a piece of my roll, pear, and finally...yogurt. Items actually eaten and not thrown immediately on the table - a lick of the roll, and an entire adult sized yogurt!
2.15pm milk
4pm snooze for 30 mins
5pm apple flavour mini ricecakes, some chuncks of cheddar (both of these were shared with Sam and Harry the dogs who now think that Sammy is the bees knees)
6.15pm milk
7pm bed

So he is definitely dropping one of his daytime milk feeds and he's also dropped one of his daytime naps too...

I have decided to start writing down when and what Sam is eating every day...like I did obsessively for the first 4 months of his life (slight control freak alert). This is because I am finding it difficult to fit in all his milk feeds and food feeds and sleeps in a day, I think he is dropping a milk feed and I want to see what's going on.

So today this is what happened:
7.45am milk feed
8.45am weetabix
12.25pm milk
1.45pm roast sweet potato followed by mango yogurt
4pm 2 x mini apple ricecakes
4.45pm milk
5.30pm breadsticks with houmous

The mini ricecakes flavoured with apple were a resounding hit - they both disappeared with lightening speed and I kept expecting them to come back out or reappear stuck to his trousers or something but they were swallowed - thanks to Lucie for sharing her snacks - they're on the shopping list. Thanks too to Sarah for lugging her Tripp Trapp over, and for demonstrating it with Lucie! I definitely want one - now all I need to do is persuade Chris...purleeaase darling?xx

BTW I just had an email from the nappy company in America that I ordered my Starbunz from - they've just shipped it and I am v excited to see it.

Bluewater fun

I have been looking forward to today for weeks! An early start for us with Grandma Gardiner arriving in time for toast and weetabix, and then a quick clean up (warning - weetabix sets like cement on everything it touches), then off to the shops!

Bluewater wasn't too busy even though it's half-term, we looked at the Tripp Trapps and tried to measure the height from the floor to the baby strap - it needs to fit under our table as the one we've got is driving me mad as it doesn't fit underneath AND the tray doesn't fit on top...it is a real close fit so I am going to ask Sarah H to bring hers over to try it out before mum buys it...

For lunch we were very organised and had brought some bread sticks and a pear for Sam. He also tried some of our jacket potato but didn't like it and chucked it on the floor in disgust.

When we got home we just had time for cheese and tomato on toast, a slice of pear and a whole banana yogurt. Sam goes crazy for yogurt - it's really quite funny to see him get all impatient for the spoon and then ram it in his mouth as quick as possible!

BTW: we had a new nappy delivered today - it's a 'Funky Nappy' made by a WAHM (work at home mum) and it is beautiful - black with multi-coloured stars all over it lined with soft, bright red fleece - gorgeous!

sunday

Newly engaged Auntie Kathryn and Uncle Mike came round for Sunday roast today. Ruth and Al and little Ol were supposed to be there too but brand new baby Ben decided to put in an appearance instead - by all accounts he was born just as we were taking the lamb out of the oven! Congratulations to the Evans clan.

In their absence there was plenty of food to go round, Sam sampled the carrots, cheesey leeks and some lamb - he only really liked the carrots this time...

Dinner was houmous and breadsticks followed by raspberry yogurt yummmm

saturday

This morning I went out with Grandma Jones to get a fancy dress outfit for the party on Friday, and Sam stayed at home with Daddy and they had a boy's breakfast together...not sure exactly what they had but it was VERY messy.

friday

On the menu for breakfast today was weetabix and yogurt. The weetabix was definately second favourite after the yogurt, so much so that we had to mix them together on the spoon...looks like Sammy takes after his dad in the yogurt-loving stakes...

Lunch was houmous on breadsticks and cucumber with some steamed carrot and broccoli, it all went down ok apart from the broccoli that didn't get a look in at all - maybe because it was a bit old and limp.

Sam spent most of the day either sleeping or practicing his rolling over - he's getting pretty good but it definitely wears him out, and he definitely can do it grandma!

Grandma Jones came over and helped to serve up sugar-free apricot jam on toast and a bit of breadstick. She then stayed in to babysit whilst we went out...to the supermarket - woo hoo, what CRAZY Friday nights we have now that we're parents.

Anniversary and protest marches

Today is our four year anniversary of 'going out' - what a lot can happen in four short years!

I cannot remember what Sam ate today but I'm pretty sure it involved some yogurt, toast and breadsticks somewhere.

I do know that we all had ham and cheese on toast for lunch but Sam wasn't interested and wouldn't eat any of it, too much milk beforehand me thinks.

He did enjoy eating his new alphabet blocks though...


Sam took part in his first protest march today and was part of a large throng of people outside Oxted Council offices demonstrating against the plan to build on the greenbelt land surrounding Oxted - "what do we want? to save our greenbelt. When do we want it? NOW!" etc etc

Here is Sam sitting up like a pro and trying to get Bear's Baby Banz off so he can chew them - Sam is sporting his purple Happy Heiny nappy and Bear is wearing the new green camo Blueberry Minky - beautiful!

Pub lunch!

Today started out as a day like any other - toast and yogurt for breakfast followed by a lovely snooze. Lunchtime however was a completely different story and was very exciting and different.

We went to Redhill to meet Collette and Sam and baby Ethan for lunch - in a pub! Baby Sam and I shared some greek dips with bread and cucumber. He was particularly lively and insisted on grabbing everything he could see and dropping it on the floor, by the end of the meal the carpet beneath his highchair was littered with bread, houmous, cucumber, two socks, two toys and a couple of menus. He had a great time though and it was lovely to see Ethan who is 2 months older than Sam and starting to nod his head and wave!

Afterwards we had a trip into my office where Sam charmed everybody with his extreme cuteness.

When we got home grandma Gardiner had just arrived and we faffed around for ages playing and cuddling and changing bums, we then trotted into town and treated ourselves to some chips from the fish and chip shop as both Grandad and Dad were away - ha ha! We ate them back at home with fish fingers and mushy peas yummm. Sam had some fishfinger and a cooked carrot stick. He got really tired and tetchy and didn't eat much so went to bed pronto.

Dinner at Grandma's

Today we spent ages going around all the shops in Oxted and busied ourselves buying stuff from Floret and The Toy Shop, as well as a long browse at the Library. It was all a bit overwhelming for Sam and he had to have a long snooze afterwards.

Not content with a whole morning's shopping we went to Reigate in the afternoon to meet Nic and Thomas, and Dani and Noah for a coffee and a trip to Olimia. I was very excited to see they had the Silly Billyz bibs and so quickly bought two more.

Later on we went to Grandma Joneses to see great-grandma before she went back home - Sam was so tired that he had to spend the first hour and a half asleep in the car whilst I busied myself with a warm doughnut and a nice cup of tea. When he eventually woke up Sam was very hungry so had some milk and then entertained the rellies for a long while with his cute smiles and constant wriggling, he refused to perform his new back-to-front rolls though and we were accused of making it up!

Grandma has acquired a high chair and luckily I had just bought a splash mat in Reigate earlier so Sam had cheese on toast followed by a strawberry fromage frais yogurt for his tea (followed by more, previously sucked, cheese on toast as you can see below).

The mat came in handy on the carpet and the dogs helpfully cleared up for us - its a shame Pikachu is a bit more discriminating in his hoovering up duties than greedy Sam, Harry and Hampton the dogs

Aterwards uncle Simon enjoyed throwing Sam around a bit which Sammy loved - and he was only sick a little bit - it's a miracle!

New bibs

I picked up a parcel from the Post Office today and it contained loads of goodies - including 2 Silly Billyz long-sleeved bibs. They are great because Sam can bend his arms whilst wearing them and take food from the table to his mouth - brilliant! I am now wishing that I'd bought 4 though as the first one is filthy already and needs to go in the wash...

Breakfast was late due to the lovely lie-in we had today (not sure if that's because Sam was worn out from the party or because he ate so much party food - anyway whatever it was I liked it! Chris was in charge and served up wholemeal toast with lime curd and butter. This was followed by a raspberry yogurt which was excitedly received.


We had lunch out at Rebecca's house, Sam joined us at the table and feasted on pitta bread, ham and salad, followed by his first taste of pineapple - grabbed out of my hand! It was a particularly sweet and juicy one and Sam loved it.

Dinner was breadsticks with (organic) houmous on it...to start with he wasn't too sure but soon decided he liked it lots. Dinner was finished off with a mango yogurt - definitely a fave.

Birthday party

Breakfast today was quite predictable...toast with butter and strawberry jam...BUT...there was also the exciting addition of strawberry yogurt (Rachel's organic kids yogurt).

Sam's first experience of yogurt was very enjoyable...and resulted in the most mess I have ever seen (apart from when Chris eats spaghetti). There was yogurty-gloop all over the table, the chair, floor, clothes, hair and up his nose...yummmm. I had to load the spoon and then hand it over for him to put in his mouth/lap/on the floor and he got quite excited when he saw the spoon coming towards him - so cute! Here's a video showing Sam enjoying his yogurt and then being a bit confused after dropping his spoon!

In the afternoon we went to Megan and Max's 4th and 1st birthday party...Sam had a whale of a time playing with all their toys and watching the older children play. He also had his first taste of party food - pizza, banana cake, cucumber and spinach leaf (not traditional party food but I think Chris felt bad for giving him 'unhealthy' stuff!).

Two-breakfast-Sam

Sam had two breakfasts today, one with mummy and the next with daddy...

I was woken up and fed him a milky breakfast at 6.30, followed by a 'free-range' wriggle on the change mat. An hour later we shared some weetabix and some strawberry jam on toast whilst Daddy was still asleep. Then we went back to bed for a snooze.

An hour or so later Sam woke up again and this time Chris got up and took him off downstairs so I could get some more sleep. As he didn't know we'd already eaten, the two boys shared breakfast of lemon curd on toast - luckily Sammy loves toast!

Later on for lunch we all had avocado and Sam tried his spread on a ricecake, but he wasn't that fussed about it. Next on the menu was some cold chicken which he really seemed to enjoy...

Marmite!

Breakfast at Grandma Gardiner's was a tasty combo of marmite on toast, homemade marmelade on toast and a cooked apricot. This unusual mix of food was enthusiastically eaten up and here is Sam enjoying his first taste of marmite...

At lunchtime we met (uncle) Tim and had hot cheese and tomato toasties from the M&S cafe. Sam enjoyed the food and continuously tried to grab my lemon juice from me and slobber all over it - yummm...dribble - my favourite!

No official dinner tonight but naughty Grandma Jones gave Sam a digestive biscuit which he liked but didn't go crazy for...such a good, healthy boy!

Thursday 27th

Today, after a breakfast of shreddies and half-cooked apple, we went to Godstone farm. I had great fun looking at all of the baby animals - the pygmy goat was my fave - but Sam was resolutely unimpressed.

At the farm we shared a sandwich, and there was a scary moment when a huge piece of bread seemed to disappear and I started to panic thinking that he couldn't possibly swallow it...I was right - a few moments later the aforementioned lump of bread was ejected from his mouth in a slimy, dribbly mess.

For pudding Lucie kindly donated one of her cooked carrot sticks that organised mummy Sarah H had brought with her (she's a teacher you know).

Dinner was an exciting 'proper' meal of cheese on toast, followed by a banana which Sam liked this time around but found a bit slippy.

No internet access...

No posts for the last week as our internet was broken...

...here's a brief summary of what's happened:

TOAST! and lots of it, with butter and strawberry jam. This goes down very well for breakfast but is very sticky.

On Easter Sunday we had a family lunch of roast lamb and Sam joined in (in his bumbo on the butchers block as there was no room round the table), he had some carrot and also had his first taste of homemade cheese sauce, from our cheesy-leeks. We put some on his spoon and he managed to find his mouth (clever boy).

He's also had some rice cake and some melon, and a small bit of daddy's yoghurt, he even had a tiny bit of ham.

Too tired to eat

After a week of going to bed at midnight and waking up at 6 I was so tired this morning that Chris took Sam away after I'd fed him his milky breakfast, and did all the normal changing of bums/clothes and entertainment and I went back to sleep - hooray for husbands!!

Sam didn't get any foody-breakfast though as his lazy mum was fast asleep...I woke up when Sam was asleep again, and then I was rushing around getting ready to go out so we missed lunch too.

So today was just a booby day and nothing more (no photos of that!). Bad mummy, go to the bottom of the class.

p.s. Happy Birthday Uncle David xxx
p.p.s for the Grandmas - here is a video of Sam wearing his new baby blue knickerbocker dungarees that we might use as his Christening outfit - what do you think?

Happy half-birthday Sam...

...and it's payday too - what a great day.

Jam on toast for brekkie today shared with me, followed by one of Daddy's strawberries. What a bready, sticky, reddy mess.

No lunch as Sammy was asleep and then when he got up we went straight out to visit auntie Jill (and Liam who was run over by a car on Monday coming home from school - he's ok apart from lots of very impressive scabs and bruises, he's back home now - everyone's all shook up though... get well soon Liam x). Sam LOVES Liam and thinks he's very funny!

This is Sam sucking strawberry jam on toast and then throwing it away.

Birthday Eve

Tomorrow Sam will be 6 months old - eek! Where did that 6 months go?...

As Grandma brought back the bumbo last night Sam sat in it at breakfast this morning as I ate my Shreddies, he got to share the shreddies but wasn't too impressed, and didn't seem to interested in his first taste of banana either! I think it was too soon after his milky breakfast...

Here's Sam's one and only taste of banana...

Lunch was a different matter altogether....we shared some toast spread with butter and strawberry jam - Sam's first taste of jam and he loved it - yummmm.

V sticky though...

Where's my bumbo?

Food today was a messy affair as we left the bumbo seat at Grandma's house. I had to feed Sam sitting on my lap and it wasn't easy cos he's a wriggler. He only had pear but he still managed to get it everywhere and I had to change my clothes!
Not being very organised so no photos - it's not easy holding a baby and taking a photo at the same time...

Ruby wedding celebration

Today Grandma and Grandpa Jones celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. They held a big party with lots of champagne and tasty grub. Sam joined in and had some baby carrots, broccoli and bread crust...he was also offered a chocolate by naughty Mick from next door, but as he'd already had his fill of veg and milk he wasn't interested, what a good boy!

Lunch was another family affair today (it's nice having a husband that works at home some of the week), we had homemade sarnies again but on the menu for Sam was courgette and sprouting broccoli.

Sam's veg took a while to cook and we were hungry so we started without him, sitting all lonely in his bumbo we took pity on him and gave him some rocket leaves and a bit of tomato to occupy him. These went down well and he did the same trick with the tomato today as he did yesterday with the pear, kept it in his mouth and sucked/gummed it for ages before spitting it out.

This is Sam with some courgette dribbling down his chin - beautiful!

Once served up the broccoli and courgette were pretty popular - it really amazes me how he tries everything and hasn't rejected anything we've offered - except for the butternut squash, but he wasn't hungry that day.

Sam is 26 weeks/6 months old next week so we are planning to start offering him breakfast as well as lunch - need to read up on what sort of things he can have before then...

Avocado pear

For lunch today the Jones family sat down to homemade bacon, tomato and avocado rolls. Sam just had the avocado cut into wedges, he liked it but found very difficult to pick up and it was quite amusing to watch it slipping through his fingers and down his back (?!).

For pudding we had pear again and this time it went down a lot better than yesterday and he really seemed to enjoy it, this video shows him biting off a bit more than he could chew!



This is Sam sucking the piece of pear - I was worried but he didn't seem bothered at all...

First taste of fruit

Yesterday Sam was 25 weeks old and he took his first steps into the world of fruit.

On the way he met Mr Pear (who he didn't really get on with but whom Mummy liked a lot) and Mrs Strawberry. Mrs Strawberry was a completely different kettle of fish and he went mad for her!



I was a bit cautious as I have heard that strawberries can cause an allergic reaction in babies, with this in mind I was watching him like a hawk to see if his skin went red - it went red alright, along with 2 bibs and his nice stripey hoodie and the bumbo seat, but it was only strawberry juice and nothing untoward with his skin which was a relief.
He really enjoyed the strawberries; he ended up mauling two of them as one just wasn't enough, looks like he takes after his mum and Grandma in the strawberry loving stakes.

Mummy's cooking

Sam had his first taste of my cooking today...I think he liked it, I hope so anyway as he's stuck with it for the next 18 years or so!

Lunch was boiled carrot batons and a crust from my toast. Sam also seemed to like the look of my homemade spicy lentil soup (v v v thick) so I put a tiny bit on the end of his cow spoon and gave it to him, he stuck his hand in it and then smeared it all over his cheeks before getting the spoon into his mouth, then he spent ages sucking and chewing the spoon so I concluded that he liked it. I didn't give him any more because although I didn't add salt to the soup there is some bouillon vegetable stock in it which must have salt which is bad for babies apparently...

Sam seems to be getting better and better at finding his mouth but is still making a huge mess - the bib I got from Mothercare is a bit too hard and he has trouble bending his arms to reach his mouth when he wears it. I am going to try one of the Silly Billyz ones as they seem to have more flexible sleeves...I feel another shopping trip coming on!

No food today thank you

On the menu at lunch today was an elaborate meal of roasted butternut squash. I added some crushed garlic and sage from the garden to half of it, and Chris and I had that half for lunch, we'd never eaten butternut squash cooked like that before so it was quite nice for a change. Sam however, wasn't interested at all - maybe because he'd had quite a big feed not long before - but anyhow he didn't even want to pick it up so his went in the bin! All that effort for him and he didn't want any!

The day wasn't a total washout though because whilst we were having breakfast earlier he had decided he wanted a crust from our toast. We also offered him a teensy weensy bit of yoghurt on the end of his cow weaning spoon, most of which went over his face - v messy but v v cute.

Sunday lunch

Today we went to Auntie Margaret's for Sunday lunch (roast lamb with all the trimmings - v tasty), Sam was asleep during main course but woke up in time for pudding, shame he's not allowed Lizzie's homemade chocolate cake but he seemed to enjoy his carrot (all the more cake for me). He showed off his self-feeding skills to the Bennetts who I think were duly impressed (Auntie Margaret didn't even mind the bits of carrot left all over her carpet - or so she kindly said).

We're really pleased with how he's getting on - he's better at finding his mouth and is definitely swallowing the food and the gagging has stopped...full marks for the 'most improved' eater x

Saturday lunch

Saturday lunch consisted of a choice of broccoli, carrot and a crust of bread. Sam is really getting into his food now and attacked his lunch with gusto. His expression when he tasted the broccoli for the first time was very funny - a kind of disgusted, incredulous expression, then a slight pause where he seemed to think about it, and then he carried right on gumming it. The carrot was popular again - I'm sure his favourite colour is orange...




Yesterday's sweet potato definitely went down - I have seen the proof...iykwim?!

Sweet potato

What a mess! Lunch today was sweet potato roasted in the oven with a little olive oil.

This video is Sam wearing his new long-sleeved bib...but not for long the cheeky monkey!




Sam had lots of fun squidging the sweet potato through his fingers and smearing it all over his face, I think he ate some too...

I had a sneak preview of what Sam might look like when he's older if he had ginger hair, a sweet potato moustache - very handsome!

Eating out

Yesterday we went to the shops with Grandma Jones, on a mission to look for all things 'weaning'.

We took a packed lunch for Sam consisting of a ricecake and a (fairtrade) banana. Unfortunately I got so carried away buying a vegetable steamer and a waterproof long-sleeved bib that I left the bag in the car and when we sat down to lunch we didn't have it with us - doh!
Grandma saved the day by donating some of her crusts and Sam made quick work of reducing them to a soggy mess...leaving a trail of destruction all over his bib and trousers, and the nice wooden high chair. Incidently, this was the first time I'd attempted to put him in a high chair (he has his food in the bumbo at home), I was a bit nervous but he sat up really well and looked like a pro, what a star!

Almost forgot to mention the result of the 'morning poo' investigation...I can proudly confirm that there was (if I am not mistaken as I am not an expert and do not usually look too closely at poo) a small piece of carrot - hooray!!

Today all our timings were wrong and Sam was asleep when Chris and I had lunch, then we were off to visit a friend (hello Christine - I enjoyed 'mummy's biscuits' very much thanks). Am very upset not to try out the new bib and to try and cook the sweet potato but they will have to wait 'til tomorrow...

Carrot crazy

I am feeling pretty good today as at lunchtime Sam had a great time with some boiled carrot...he might even have gone so far as to swallow some! I guess I'll find out for sure when Sam has his traditional 'morning poo' (sorry if too much information)...watch this space (I probably won't post a photo of it though)...



A bit more of the gagging thing (boo), and a magnificent sneeze sending carrot chunks onto the table (hooray!) finished off lunchtime in style - bring it on!

I've got a sweet potato already lined up for the next meal and we went to Waitrose this afternoon so we stocked up on yummy broccoli, more carrots, and butternut squash.

Ricely does it

I apologise for the title today - this is Chris's finest effort I'm afraid...

Today fairtrade no added salt ricecakes were on the menu...Sam had lots of fun sitting at the lunch table in his Bumbo with mummy and daddy, and grandma and grandpa Gardiner.

The ethically sound ricecake was waved about and sucked and nibbled. There was a horrible moment when he did the 'gagging' thing we'd heard about - had I not read about it and heard other people's experiences I would have been really, really scared, but as it was Sam dealt admirably with it and the offending piece of ricecake was spat out down his lovely bib - full marks for baby Sam.

Happy Mother's day

Samuel was a very good boy today and spent all his pocket money on a beautiful bunch of roses for his mum! He also made me a card - complete with dribble smudges - perfect!

We tried out the cow cup that we got as a pressie a while back. After spending an embarrassingly long time figuring out how to use it (there was a plastic thingie inside it stopping the water coming out - dur) Sam enjoyed chewing it and waving it around, dropping water everywhere at the same time. Here's a video of him showing off his new cup and his new holding skills...

Later on at Grandma Gardiner's Sam gnawed on a piece of raw carrot and seemed to enjoy rubbing it all over his gums, before dropping it on the carpet.

Shopping list

As I had previously exhausted all my shopping ideas for Sam and haven't been able to justify spending any money for AGES (apart from nappies) (btw received a pre-loved stacinator wool wrap yesterday and am waiting for 3 more Blueberry one size, green camo, aqua and cobalt - hooray for fluffy post!).
I am now very excited about weaning - and all the weaning-related items that I have (!) to buy. Here's my shopping list...so far:

• High chair (maybe the Tripp Trapp)
• 2 long-sleeved waterproof bibs
• big splash mat for under the chair
• vegetable steamer

Friday 29th February

Today at breakfast he held some microwaved carrot (not sure how long I am supposed to cook it for - should it be raw/hard or soft? Will search on internet to see what others have done). He gummed it too but didn't seem that interested.

Lunchtime we offered sticks of cucumber and a rice cake. The rice cake was just waved around and thrown on the floor but he seemed to like the cucumber. Not sure if that's because it was cold and felt nice on his gums...he really seemed to enjoy it anyway and even sucked it (gross slurping noises!).
There were cucumber seeds everywhere and when I changed his nappy (itti bitti AIO classic in royal blue just in case you're interested) I found a piece of cucumber stuck up his top!!! Mental note: must purchase some long-sleeved bibs like the ones I've seen sported by Sam's cousin Shreya.

Starting off...

We are soooo excited about this and are busy getting prepared to start. Sam is 23 weeks old and we have decided to start offering food now so he can get used to the idea, we aren't really expecting him to eat much (or anything) to start with, and I am going to keep breast-feeding as normal for the foreseeable future.

The story so far...

This week we have sat Sam in his Bumbo (complete with tray) and put him on the table when we are eating breakfast and lunch to get him involved in family mealtimes.

Yesterday at breakfast Sam was given a piece of red pepper (organic of course) to have a look at. Not what you'd normally have for breakfast I grant you, but that was what I had in the fridge so it had to do. Anyway, he picked it up and seemed to sniff it; he looked a bit confused - very sweet! After being picked up and put down and generally fiddled with it found its way into his mouth - his surprised face was a picture - not used to his 'toys' tasting of veg! He 'gummed' it for a while and waved it around a bit, then dropped it on the floor. A very successful introduction to food me thinks.