Adventures in Baby Food

I decided to do it. I am far from a hippie tree-hugger, but I thought, why not? Today I decided to make my own baby food. Rob (or I should say, Roselyn) gave me a baby food cookbook for Mother's Day and I figured I might as well try a few recipes. They seemed easy enough. Just puree some fruits or vegetables. I even went "all out" and bought organic produce. I decided to try items I have not seen "pre-made" in jars- zucchini, cauliflower, and blueberries. The zucchini was cut, steamed, and pureed- super easy. I was so impressed and confident with myself I went straight on to the cauliflower. The cauliflower steamed great, but the pureeing was another story. The cauliflower was having trouble getting to the blades, so I pushed it down with a spoon- a wooden spoon. Yeah, you guessed it- the wood in the spoon became part of the pureed cauliflower. Yum, fiber. Luckily, I still had more cauliflower to try, and this time I pushed the cauliflower down with metal spoon. However, with the lid off the mixer the cauliflower decided to take flight- and land on my counter, cabinets, and yes, even my ceiling. I hoped the blueberries would be better. Unfortunately, the quantity of blueberries that come in a container at the store makes very little baby food. By the time you puree the blueberries, push it through a sieve to remove the skins, and heat it up, I had about an ounce of baby food. I also have a battle wound from making the blueberries. You were to heat the blueberries to make it easier to "digest". The directions read 3-5 minutes, but that was for two cups of blueberries. At 3 minutes my blueberries were burning. I quickly took the blueberries off the stove and tried to spoon them into the ice tray. Because they were slightly burned they stuck to the spoon and I used my finger to try to help them fall into the ice tray. Yeah, I burned my finger as a result. Even with all the drama, I am pretty proud that I made my own baby food. Next step, let's see if Roselyn will eat it...

Long awaited update

So I did write about Mother's Day, but what has happened between Mother's Day and the middle of April? It is hard to know where to begin- there has been so many little things. First, Roselyn now eats both fruits and vegetables and is down to four nursings a day. She is eating mixed veggies and LOVES them! I am surprised that pureed spinach, peas, and grain can be so appetizing! Roselyn seemed to have her first episode of constipation at the beginning of May. Luckily, I have purchased prunes, and they work great! Thankfully, I was at a friend's house when the prunes corrected the constipation, but I arrived home just in time to hear Rob yell LAURA in a shaky voice begging for help. You can't expect a dad to do a mom's job:) Roselyn seems to be enjoying her belly more and more, though she tends to do bend her elbows and lays "Superman" style. She likes to roll to her side which causes her body to turn- there are times I leave her for a moment and she had done a 180 degree turn in a couple minutes! There have been some fluke times she has kind of rolled over-finally!
Roselyn has had a couple of dates with her friends Addison and Hudson. First we all went to Newnan Utilities park and had a picnic lunch and swinged in the swings. Roselyn had a great time, but by the time we were at the swings she literally was falling asleep as the swing rocked her back and forth. The next day we all met was at our house. Hudson loved Roselyn's toys (at least chewing on them) and Addison loved Roselyn's Sweetpeace swing. I have recently started working two mornings a week at Atlanta Fitness' childcare. Roselyn seems to like me there, but she is getting used to seeing me holding other babies and playing with other children. I have been impressed with her patience overall.
Lastly, we finally seem to have some sort of insurance resolution. We appealed Blue Cross Blue Shield's decline of Roselyn. They then approved her- starting May 1. We now have applied for a conversion policy for the month of April so we are not beyond the 63 days and show a lapse in coverage. Because Roselyn has coverage for May (YEAH) we went to have her bloodwork done. I returned to LabCorp worried about the insurance coverage elsewhere. Like before, they stuck her in her arm and could not get anything. Roselyn cried and cried and I asked them not to stick her again (they tried four times the last time and never got anything). When I asked if they could prick her heel, I was told they had too much blood to draw to do that. I then asked them to call Dr. Van Meter. I was told to bring her to his office at 1:45 that afternoon. When I arrived there I found out it was Dr. Van Meter himself drawing her blood. He took it from a vein in her hand. What a difference! She cried for three seconds when the needle came in, and cried for three seconds when the needle came out and that was it. I wish blood was drawn regularly there because it was such a huge relief to have a happy baby. And the result came back today- her levels were normal and there is no need for an increase in her medication. Good news!

Mother's Day!

Yes, it as been a while since there was an update, and I will have another post soon about the time between the last post and today, but I had to write about MOTHER'S DAY. I hoped that Rob and Roselyn had something special planned because even pregnant last Mother'd Day, Rob did not think I was ready to hear the words, "Happy Mother's Day". We started early, on Saturday, and went to Gwinnett to visit the family. First, we met Rob's mom and stepdad and sister and family at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Roselyn had a great time seeing everyone and being in such a neat restaurant. She was also able to show the family that she could sit in a high chair on her own. After lunch we went to Mimi's house where Roselyn planned with toys Mimi bought especially for when Roselyn visits. She definitely was worn out by the time we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Yates' house and slept for a while in her carseat in the dining room. When Roselyn did wake up she played with cousins Avery and Kendall Yates before we all enjoyed dinner (Roselyn had spring vegetables and grain). Shortly afterwards we could tell Roselyn was ready to go to bed so we made our way home.
On Sunday (the actually Mother's Day) Rob and I woke up to Roselyn stirring in bed. When I went into the kitchen I saw that Rob and Roselyn had gotten me a gift, a card, and a dozen pink roses. Rob went to get Roselyn so that I could feed her in bed. While we were all there I opened the gift from the two of them- a book "Are you My Mommy?" and a book on preparing baby food. Rob then took the both of us to Panera for lunch where he revealed the big Mother's Day gift- he wanted to start a tradition where we purchased a tree each year and plant it for Mother's Day. Roselyn and I decided on a peach tree and also purchased an Astor plant (that is the plant for the month of September- the month Roselyn was born). Overall, it was a wonderful day- and weekend!