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