We caved!

I had planned to wait until Emma was exactly 6 calendar months but we have been experiencing increased night wakings this last week (she is 24 weeks tomorrow) and so I thought we would see what happened.

We were having roast pork with lots of lovely veg so we gave her some carrot, parsnip and sweet potato. You could tell that she was
used to differing flavours in my breastmilk because the taste didn't seem to phase her at all.

We did them BLW style so not a lot went in but she had a very good gum on them!

The Blog is to be Reborn!!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't posted here for over a year.

Naomi is now a 2.5 year old bundle of fun and joyous mischief. She eats well, although still not as well as her brother. We struggle with fruit even now for instance. She also speaks incredibly well. Sometimes every minute she is awake it feels like!

But there has been a new addition to the family. Emma was born in late August 2008 and in a very short time, just a few weeks, she will be ready for the solids journey. I am approaching this with trepidation. I plan to do BLW with her because, in so many ways, it was the easy thing to do compared with purees. No more eating cold meals after shovelling in theirs. But I also struggled with many things in the right texture for Naomi. And breastfeeding is just SO convenient.

So if anybody is out there, watch this space!

October's new words

Naomi is now well into asking what things are. We hear "dat" - 'what' - a lot, whilst things are proffered to be named. And "there" has developed into "here" as well, so we no longer have to be watching when we ask her to find something.

But the most recent development is "wee" lol. She's been following me to the toilet for months but today I put her down so that I could go to the bathroom and so said "Mummy needs a wee". Cue her going into the bathroom ahead of me going "wee, wee, wee".

Shame it doesn't extend to her sitting on the potty lol. We aren't trying in any way to do potty training yet but she always wees about 30 seconds after coming out of the bath. So it would be good if we could get her to sit on then. Both to save the carpet (!) and to show her what the potty is for. But all attempts so far have failed! She will sit on it for ages fully clothed if SHE chooses to.

Just in case anyone is still reading lol, here is a new picture.

this week's new things

Naomi is so much more ready to try new things than either she was before or her brother. This week she has taken a liking to both Sainsbury's tomato pasta salad, which we've had for a couple of picnics, and their coleslaw. Both she has consumed with gusto whenever they have been on offer and sometimes not if she can steal more than she is allowed from someone else's plate!

She is definitely now having conversations with people. It is still mostly babble but she has the inflection of a question on many occasions and waits for your reply before saying something else. Also she will sit with a book and babble to herself as she turns the pages, pointing to letters and words as she has seen us do. It is SO cute.

And she will continuously repeat a new word as if she is attempting to work out the correct pronunciation. Sometimes she is very nearly there - this week with trousers - and sometimes she is very far off - her attempt at tortoise was hilarious. But you can see the thought processes coming out in her speech.

I LOVE this stage!

more words

Stars, hat, head, duck (how COULD I forget that one lol), quack. She also has a great range of animal noises and many many signs.

new food and new words

Luke and I were out at the Science Museum so DH did all the meals. We came home to meatballs and pasta. I have NEVER seen Naomi eat a meal SO fast. Especially one made out of mince. And, finally!, pasta spirals were going in by the handful. Lol! One very happy happy mum. We use a Nigella recipe where you don't have the fry the meatballs, its lovely.

And Naomi said 'bib' to her dad today. As clear as a bell apparently which is interesting as she often drops the first syllable of a word. This morning's 'toast' was much clearer than usual too. Although 'cheese' still often sounds like 'trees'.

Think I will start recording her other words on here for posterity too. She was 15 months this week and can say cup, car, cheese, trees, toast, bib, cat, bus, teeth, daddy, milk, book, Jess (toy cat's name), snake.

what next.....

I'm not really sure where to take this blog now. Naomi eats virtually everything we do and is even being tempted by the odd bit of spaghetti bolognaise and chilli. She adores DH's lamb burgers which he makes with mince to a meatball recipe so it really is only a matter of time. Only occasionally do we have to resort to an omelette. I meant to make some more mini pies and quiches but forgot for a bit and there isn't really a need anymore. Wowee, my baby really is a little girl.

Here she is in her new grown up chair as well lol. We've had it a while because we bought 2 when we bought Luke his. But she's so eager to do a Houdini out of her booster seat towards the table, that we thought it was time to try it.

weekend away

Our friends were married for 15 years this week and its been tough the last few for one reason or another so they decided to have a rededication ceremony. So we've been socialising!

They cooked dinner for us on Friday night but with various family from all over the country to wait for the timings were all out. So Naomi ate two and a half, yes TWO AND A HALF, of her pies followed by some fruit pot. Hungry girl! Cleaned us out now so I must make some more pronto as they are such a standby.

Friday night was vile as she is teething and so was up most of the night on and off. I think her biggest stretch of sleep was a shade under 4hrs. And so she was in bed with us and not in the cot in the hotel room. Double, triple yuck yuck yuck. Fortunately Luke didn't stir, phew.

The rest of the weekend was pretty normal - buffet lunches and fish fingers. Dipping her fingers in champagne & beer lol. And today DH made a lovely yummy chicken pie with carrot, courgette and broccoli. Not much remained at the end so hopefully she'll go through like she did last night and catch up on herself.

peas peas and more peas

I think Naomi is going to be good for my diet! Last night DH was doing quiche for us and he forgot to put her mini one in the oven too. So we just decided to give her some of the bacon & leek one we were having. Must get round to making my own but Mr Tesco isn't bad ha ha. So a quiche that usually does 2 adults and 1 child now had to do 4 people. Won't help if I then eat loads of muffins though lol.

At breakfast times I've gone back to giving her some milk in a bottle. She just drinks more that way than milk or water out of a cup and I was a bit worried that she wasn't taking in enough. Didn't seem to affect the amount of Weetabix she wanted so all well and good. And then she goes until her lunch at 12 generally although I do carry a small snack and her water cup with me when we go out.

So this evening Luke asked for fish & chips so DH did salmon fillets and home made wedges. I had chicken as I detest fish. We had salad and she had veg but we all had peas and she was just shoving them in. She does this really funny action that I can't quite describe but is kind of picking them up in a pincer grip but then putting three fingers in with the pea in a very short staccato action. And she was doing a pea a second just like that. It is hilarious to watch and good too since the peas are very good for her!

She's still a titch though. 50th centile for height and weight although when I look back Luke wasn't much above the 50th centile for height approaching the end of his first year and I didn't start plotting it regularly until he was about 1.75 yo and then he was firmly 75th centile for a good year after that before working his way up to the 91st where he is now. So there is plenty of time really. I'd just like her to have some of the height genes in the family. DH & I both have tiny sisters although my brother is exceedingly tall. I think its because now she is standing up and virtually walking people keep saying to me 'isn't she diddy to be on her feet' so I'm getting paranoid lol.

non food first

Just cannot resist showing you these. Usually I am the world's worst nightmare for marketeers. I rarely buy anything that is 'new' or 'updated' or 'absolutely must have' and I am really terrible when it comes to things for children.

However, Naomi is still refusing to walk independently even though she cruises barely holding on. But she wants to get down from the pushchair whenever she can, especially when Luke is around and particularly when we drop him off at school in the mornings and have to wait for them to open the nursery door.

So I finally succumbed to a pair of cruising shoes for her and, if I say so myself, they are gorgeous. They had a purple pair that weren't the right shape for her foot, BIG shame, and then these which come in white, pink, or brown. I decided white would get too grubby even though they are washable and I just detest pink(!) so brown it had to be. She is a 3G which I think is about normal. Luke had proper shoes at this age and he was a 3F. His feet grow ever so slowly - only bit of him that DOES - and I can usually buy just one pair a season. Hope Naomi is the same coz they are SO expensive.