Fattening up my skinny bones Jones

So, as my loyal readers know, I have a little 19 month old on my hands with zero appetite who weighs barely anything 21 lbs 2 oz–under the 3rd percentile. I found this great recipe that he absolutely loves. It’s for homemade granola bars. Here’s the recipe.

2 cups oats

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup additives (raisens, chocolate chips, cranberries, almonds, whatever…)

Toast the oats at 400 degrees for about 5-10 minutes. Melt the peanut butter and honey over low heat in a saucepan, stirring continuously. (I added a little vanilla to the mixture for some flavor.) When the oats are done, add  whatever additives you have chosen to the oats. (I picked graham crackers crushed and raisens.) Add peanut butter and honey mixture to oats. Line a pan with wax or parchment paper and pour mixture into it. Wait a few minutes to cool and then enjoy! JJ loved them and they’re full of healthy calories.

Raising a healthy kid!

Most moms can’t get their kids to eat their vegetables without bribing them somehow. Not me. I’ve got me a veggie lover on my hands. Last night, JJ had four things on his dinner plate: ham slices, cheese, sweet potato fries, and a mixture of peas, corn, and cauliflower. The first thing he went for was the peas, corn, and cauliflower mix and the next thing was the sweet potatoes. I couldn’t get that kid to eat a green vegetable for the life of me when he was eating pureed stuff. He would only eat sweet potatoes and carrots. Now, he loves green beans, broccoli, peas, etc…He’s a veggie fanatic! He loves him some fruit too though. Watermelon, oranges, and strawberries are his favorites. Last night, I gave him the choice of grapes or graham crackers for a snack and he picked grapes. Glad I’ve got me a healthy eater on my hands. Now, if only it’ll last…

Had to call poison control Saturday….

Okay, so I wonder how many parents have actually had to do this before–calling poison control. It was actually quite a funny situation, turned potentially scary, turned not-a-big-deal in a matter of about 2  minutes. A couple days ago, I noticed JJ had a little blister on his behind. I searched for a tube of diaper cream, but couldn’t find any. However, I did notice there was a little sample pack of some Desitin. I opened it up, put some on his sore and then put it up. Fast forward to almost a day later….John and I have just woken up and are checking email. JJ comes over to my chair with this gigantic grin on his face…and white cream all over his smile. Little bugger had found the half empty pack of Desitin and was sucking on it and had made himself a Desitin moustache and beard. So I grab the pack away, thinking, “Oh crap,” and give it to John. He reads it and it says if ingested, call poison control immediately. John searches for the poison control  number while I’m having a mini freak out session thinking I’ve made my baby sick or something. John tells the lady what happened and she’s like, “It’s not toxic, wipe out his mouth and give him some water.” What?!? That’s it?!? Why does the pack tell you call poison control and get all freaked out if it’s not toxic? Well, turns out diaper cream is made of zinc oxide and zince oxide is generally only toxic is its gaseous form. Oh well, crisis averted.

Update #2 (Four Stages of Weaning)

As I posted before, JJ has successfully gone from 2 feedings a night to one. That was a while back when that happened. About a month or so ago, when he was ten months old, we stopped night feeding all together and that has worked out wonderfully. So we are 2 for 4 on successful weaning.

One of the other stages, sleeping all night in his crib instead of our bed, has been absolutely successful in the past 3 days. However, I believe it is due to a couple of factors. First and foremost, he has been able to sleep as late as he wants in the morning because it is my spring break. He goes to sleep around 930 or 10 and sleeps until 7 for his morning feed and then back to sleep until 8 or 9 am. He’s rested and not over tired so it’s easy for him to stay in his crib. Secondly, I haven’t been putting him in our bed on his first wake up. I give him the binkie first and if he’s still crying after a long while or wakes up again, only then will I put him in our bed…but it’s been a while.

The last stage, putting himself to sleep, well that has worked for 3 out of the past 4 days. We get him relaxed with us in our bed…not asleep mind you, just relaxed, and then stick him in his crib. He whines for a few minutes–1-5 minutes, then crashes and sleeps all night. I don’t think this stage will be fully met until I stop with the bedtime nursings and I’m not sure when that will happen.

Currently, we are on 3 nursings a day–wake up, get home from work, and bedtime. During the weekends, I add one more in. My supply is decreasing dramatically. The past two weeks at work, I’ve only been able to pump less than an ounce each day. It’s sad. This week I’ve been trying to pump during spring break so that I don’t have to pump when I get back to work and it’s been disappointing–I pump 3 times a day for 15 minutes at a time and I got a grand total of 2 oz….I’m so close to my goal–JJ will be 1 in 14 days. I don’t have enough frozen milk to get him through that time. On his birthday, we’re cutting out all feedings except wake up and bedtime and who knows when those feedings will go. I know I’m going to miss it though. It’s nice having those mommy and baby bonding times.

It’s been a while!

Just thought I’d give everyone an update on how baby JJ and family are doing. JJ is transforming into a more goregeous little boy each day that passes by. He’s 10 1/2 months old now. When you slick his hair back, he really looks  a lot like John. He is still eating broccoli, which amazes me since it is green. He eats it plain for grandma and Brittney, disguised in fruit for the babysitter and for me, only when he wants to. He’s turned into a picky eater for me and will only take cereal and maybe fruit from me. He’s still not walking, little booger. He has gotten so quick while crawling that I think he figures out, “What do I need to walk on my legs for?” After all, he’s been crawling for almost 5 months now and he’s been cruising for about 2 1/2. He just doesn’t seem to have the confidence to let go.  One night I decided that I was going to try a technique for night weaning. I’ve heard that if you make their middle of the night feeding 10 minutes or so later each night until it runs into the morning feeding, that they’ll eventually stop wanting it. Well, the night I decided to do that, he never woke up for his feeding and the same thing has happened 3 nights in a row. Yay! I’ve figured that the key to doing this is not letting him snack during the evening so he is extra hungry at bedtime and gets more full to last him longer. Seems to be working. **fingers crossed**

I win, I win!

Well, it finally happened. JJ found something green that he will willingly eat. Before a couple of days ago, he was prone to liking only yellow or orange foods such as carrots, yams, squash, etc…Anything green was strictly off limits or spit out as he likes to do. Green beans, no go. Peas, no go. Avocado, no go. Broccoli…yum! Who would’ve thought. I figured it was just JJ eating his veggies for grandma and that he wouldn’t eat them for me, but that wasn’t the case. He had some for lunch today and I didn’t even have to disguise it in some sort of fruit or yogurt sweetness. He also likes kiwi, but that doesn’t really count since it’s a fruit and it’s sweet. Anyhow, yay!

Update to four stages of weaning!

We have successfully completed the first stage of weaning! JJ is only waking up once a night and is eating then and sleeping til morning! Now, if only I didn’t fall asleep during that feeding, he’d probably stay in his crib all night and then we’d be done with stage two as well! YAY!

It’s been awhile!

So I’ve been so so busy lately. I just realized that it’s been darn near two weeks since the last time I posted. I’m finally on Christmas break from school and it’s definitely a much needed break. I’m loving being able to be home with the baby again. It’s really nice. I’ve been out of work for 5 days now and haven’t yet had time to be bored.

We did Christmas with my dad Sunday. We met with my mom, stepdad, brother, sister-in-law, niece and of course John and JJ. We had the breakfast buffet at the Marriott and it was delicious. They do made to order omelettes which I think are the best. Plus they have the best fresh fruit. It was yummy. JJ got a few nice toys, a stocking, and some munchies. His grandma and great-grandma sent him some gifts too. He got a stocking, bib, and baby’s first Christmas hat.  The landlords even got the baby some gifts–one is an ornament and the other is yet to be unwrapped.

JJ is starting to feed himself now. He eats cut-up bananas, pieces of itty bitty pasta, and the best gift of all–strawberry apple puffs. He loves those! He’s even getting a tooth. I’ve been feeling it in his mouth (bottom center) for darn near two weeks now.  It hasn’t quite popped through though. He’s handling it pretty well though.

Well, tomorrow is Christmas and we’ll be celebrating with family. I’ll give you more updates later!

Life is Busy!!!

So life has been really busy lately with my new kindergarten position. I’ve been so busy trying to keep things together at home, work, and with the baby that I haven’t had much time to blog lately. Well, this weekend was a 4 day  weekend, so I’ve finally found some time to catch up and put some new pictures up. We recently went up to Tahoe because we found out that John’s grandma was in the hospital with an infection and that her cancer has moved up into brain. Our visit was nice, but incredibly busy. The baby was not all that cooperative the second night. He woke up 5 times that night. But we woke up to snow. Not very much, but it was there. It sure was cold. We got a lot of visiting in. It was the first time we had been up there in 6 months.

Halloween was fun. JJ dressed up as a lion and boy was he cute. He didn’t really care for the hat all that much, but I just left it loose and he was okay with it. We had some friends come over from church. They have a 4 and 5 year old and just found out their new little addition will be a girl. JJ’s new little playmate will be born in March.

Being a teacher is HARD work! I’ve been subbing and or student teaching for the past 5 years, but I tell you my notions about what a teacher does during the day were so wrong! I thought for sure as a half day kindergarten teacher I would have plenty of time during the day to get things done. NOT the case. I stay from about 7:30 to 3:30 or 3:45 each day and until about 4:30-5:30 on Fridays. I’ve gone to a few trainings already, administered math and language arts benchmark assessments and will be doing report cards and parent teacher conferences in the next 2 weeks. All of this within my first month of being there! That’s why I’ve been so overwhelmed. I can’t wait til Thanksgiving break and after things should be back to normal.

As for the baby, he has now tried oatmeal, bananas, carrots, and sweet potatoes. He likes all of them for the most part, but won’t eat carrots mixed with cereal. He keeps his mouth wide open during feedings. Just like his mommy and daddy, he loves to eat! Also, he had his 6 month appointment a couple of weeks ago. He was 15 lbs 14 oz and 26 1/4 inches. What a big boy!

Anyhow, here’s some pictures of our recent adventures. Enjoy!

First Time!!

Friday was a big day in our household. It was the first time we fed JJ solids. I decided to try oatmeal as a first food because I have had to eat it so much since we found out he was dairy intolerant I figured it would be safe. We sat him in our little Bumbo chair, put a bib on him, and started feeding him. We got a video of the whole thing. He loved it! It’s like he’s been waiting for it for a long time. He would take the spoon from my hand and put it in his mouth. He kept leaning forward like he wanted more. He loved it. I did notice on Saturday that he had a bright red rash on his booty, so of course I was all worried about allergies. However, the rash was gone the next morning and we have tried oatmeal twice since then and no more rash so I probably don’t have anything to be worried about. On Saturday I made some more baby food. I baked a sweet potatoe and steamed some carrots and then pureed and froze them. I can’t wait to try them later on. There’s a video of his first time eating on my MySpace page. It can be found at www.myspace.com/ucirvine2001 Enjoy!