Feed this not that???

Ella is officially 9 months old and her eating habits are quickly changing. She can now pick up pieces of food and place them in her mouth. She loves puffs, carrot wagon wheels, rice sticks, etc. But I can-not get her to eat any veggies or fruit that she can pick up herself. She loves both in baby food form but she is now trying to take away the spoon and do it herself so it’s a messy mess!

Ive read some other blogs and a book or two of what foods are next. I've read to try first Fruits, Vegetables and Rice… is this right? i've also gotten some good advice from other moms, but Ella is not wanting the veggies just yet. I also just met another mom with twins same age and they are getting chicken fingers and fries – hahaha. She said the only way she could survive was to let them eat whatever she was eating.  We’re definitely not skipping to the chicken fingers just yet but I know Ella is ready to move on from baby food.  Little miss independent wants to feed herself!

What to feed that is the question????

Such a good little eater!

one of the faces she makes when you try to feed her new food!

First Mother's day

I woke up on Sunday to the sweet smell of breakfast and of course John turning on the lights and saying "get up its mothers day!" It was not even 6:00 am yet:)

The outfit John got her:)

John had made orange rolls (my favorite and one of the reasons I haven't lost the baby weight), had my favorite flowers, had gotten Ella an outfit that said "mommy's little girl", tied a balloon to her hand that said I love mom, wrote the sweetest poem in Ella's words and got me a massage! Perfect first mothers day!

All day long I played the "mothers day" card... I can't clean its mothers day, oh lets eat here its mothers day, Ella needs a diaper change its mothers day.

I loved my first mothers day not for the gifts or the excuse to be lazy but for the amazing feeling of being a good mom to a wonderful baby. I am truly blessed to have a healthy, sweet, beautiful little girl. I love you Ella!

Rookie parent move

I feel like the month of April has been doctor visit after doctor visit and a never ending cycle of antibiotic, diaper rash, ear aches, coughs, runny nose, gooey eye and lots of smiles. Yep smiles, I have realized that even when Ella has snot running down her nose and a cough that would kill a cat she acts like nothing is wrong. It is amazing how resilient children are. Adults can definitely learn a lesson or two from children.

Here are where the rookie moves come in...We have now experienced our first visit to the Emergency room. --Rookie Move number one. Unless, you really feel like the life of your child is at risk never go to the ER -- if your a new parent anything can seem life threatening.

On Monday night Ella wasn't feeling so good, we had already taken her to the doctor and knew she had double ear infections. That night she felt really hot around midnight and had a wet diaper. So I got up to change her and went ahead and took her temperature. The thermometer was ready 104.4 and still going up. I immediately said to John "were going to the hospital!" (Rookie Move)

Rookie parents react and don't think about giving Tylenol and waiting 30-45 min to see if the temp comes down. No we head to the ER so we can hear the words "everything is going to be okay" and "since your paying a heefy bill for being here, we'll go ahead and give her a shot" -- Oh really you would do that for us, thanks! This is what rookie parents say.

So they tell us her temp is now at 101.7 and it's the ears that have caused the high fever. Thankfully, nothing was wrong but all we could do was sit there and think about the money we just spent to hear what we already knew. But were Rookie Parents and we make expensive mistakes and really this can't be looked at like a mistake because something could have been wrong and we care about our little princess too much not make rookie mistakes.

Love you Ella, but the next time you actually need to go to the ER your dad may say no:)