A solid 6 months!

Monday was Stella's 6 month appointment (a bit early due to VACATION!). Dr Singwi gave us the A-OK to go ahead and start introducing some solids. Last night we tried rice cereal for the first time! This morning Stella and I had our first breakfast together.


As you can see, more is coming out than is going in!



And she was probably more interested as usual in her bib.



"I think I could do this."



Food is fun!



"Really Mom, I got this".

Next up, Avocado!

Stella's 6 month appointment stats:

Weight 14pounds 13 ounces
Length 69cm
Head 41 cm

They think they messed up when the did her 4 month length and head circumfrance because she was way off the chart on that day and has now gone back to her regular curve. Her weight went up 21 oz in 48 days which is probably not as much as it should, but Dr Singwi said we would just watch for her next appointment. We'll see how things go with her bloodwork next week to check her thyroid hormones.

Oh and Stella was a champ with her needles, she's so forgiving!

April 23rd, 2010

What a great day! Stella had a good night sleep, which always leads to good napping around here.

So what happens when this happens:



Well, typically this happens:



Today we made two kinds of cupcakes, chocolate cherry and margarita. Yum



After that we took a walk to High Park and ran into our friends Lisa and Dexter. We haven't been able to go out this week without running into someone from our Wednesday Mommy Lunch date. The cherry blossums are out in the park this week so we went to check them out and have a swing.







Stella has been a grabbing machine today, nothing is off limits; my face, the pizza coupons and an egg beater....

Thoughts on Attachment Parenting and other theories.

Two nights ago Stella had a tough night. She slept through until 4am and had a good feed and went back to bed, but at 5:15am she woke up again and wasn't able to go back to sleep on her own. I let her try for a little bit but she managed to work herself into a good cry. So out of bed I got to go sooth her. With 5 minutes of a perfect mommy bounce and 10 more minutes of cuddling and rocking we're golden and back to bed we both went.

A couple nights ago when Stella had trouble sleeping I reserved some books at the library about infant sleep. By the time we actually got the books, Stella's sleeping problems had resolved. I did still take a look through them. One was very scientifically minded called "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby". The second was Dr Sear's book. The Sears family are big supporters of "Attachment parenting". A theory that emphasisizes responding to your baby's cues and parenting on demand. A lot of the scientific book bothered me, they stressed that not letting your baby get adequate sleep was the same as feeding them a junkfood diet. The also stated that it was important to be very rigid in terms of naps. I've never really agreed with this because I want Stella and I to be flexible and be able to do the activities we like. One option that Dr Sears gave for napping was too always nap with your baby; a lovely idea, but not always practical.

So what did I learn? Stay away from books. What we do works for us. Stella won't be spoiled if I let her have a nap on me, or I cuddle her when she's sad or scared in the middle of the night. She's an independant baby who loves interacting with people and still likes her independant play time.

So I'll cuddle my baby in the middle of the night, there are a finite number of nights I'll get to do that. She won't be little forever and we'll have other ways of bonding as she gets older. But having her sleep on my shoulder makes us both happy.

Pink Cupcakes

I've been trying for days to upload of video of Stella in her jumperoo which refuses to be added to blogger or facebook. So instead of adorable baby on this blog, today there will be cupcakes! Adorable pink lemonade cupcakes! I got asked my numerous people for this recipe so I thought I would post it up here, with some pictures! This recipe comes from a collection of cupcake recipes that my sister-in-law Cheryl gave me for Christmas.

1 package of white cake mix (with out pudding)
1 cup of water
3 egg whites
1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup thawed frozen pink lemonade concentrate
2 tbsp vegetable oil
red food colouring

Icing:
4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter (softened)
red food colouring

Beat cake mix, water, egg whites 1/3 cup lemonade, oil and food colouring.
Bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes
Beat powdered sugar, butter and remaining 1/4 cup lemonade, add food colouring to desired shade of pink.

I did feel like I was cheating a little bit with the cake mix, I usually like to know what's going into my baking. I'm sure you could also just use lemons to get the lemon taste with red food colouring. I left the food colouring out of the batter, but added it to the icing. The lemonade made the cupcakes a little pink already and I had to ration the last little bit of food colouring I had left. Apparently I make a lot of pink food. I also only used 3 cups of powdered sugar.



I heart my stand mixer



I heart cupcakes





Stella finally got her exersaucer today! We've been watching the sales to use up the last of the Babies R Us giftcards. She's a big fan.

Happy 5 months Stella!

This month's birthday blog is from Jeff!

Stella you are now 5 months old! In honour of that, I have my top 5 things about Stella.


1. You make us a family. Things were good before you were born, but our home was a bit empty. It is such a joy to have you in our lives and a big part of Team Lewis. We are now a real family and that is all because of you!

2. You can turn a bad day into a good day. Whether it is a chuckle, or your chatter, or grabbing my finger, whenever I see you I know there is the possibility that you are going to do something that is amazing and cause me to look at you in awe. You keep surprising us every day and we love you for it.

3. You’ve made me a better person. When we found out your Mom was pregnant, I was excited but worried that I would become over-protective and stress out too much. But it has been the opposite. You bring a calmness to our lives (even when you are wailing at the top of your lungs!). You help put everything in perspective and make us realize what is important. So Thank You!

4. You keep showing me how lucky I am to have your Mom. Kirsten is unbelievable! The constant care and attention she gives you makes it easier to go to work each day, because I know how well you will be cared for. She does an awesome job even though it can be incredibly difficult.

5. You make me excited for the future. I don’t want you to grow up too quick, but I know I am going to love every minute of it. I can’t wait to teach you new things and spend more special moments together!



So that is it Stella. My top 5. The truth is I probably could have done a top 100, but let’s stick with the theme!



So happy 5 month b-day and remember we love you with all of our hearts!

Happy Easter

Easter weekend has been beautiful here in Toronto. The sun is shining and the temperatures have been record breaking. On Friday Stella and I took a stroll to the CNE grounds to check out the "One of a Kind" show with Erin and Robyn while Jeff did his baseball draft with the lawyers. On Saturday morning we ran our race in High Park. Today we hung around the house in the morning and then Stella and I went to an egg decorating party and Jeff (almost) finished insulating the attic. And lucky us, Jeff has the day off tomorrow as well. We're going to head to Mary McCormick centre to take Stella swimming for the first time!



(Can you tell how excited Stella is about swimming?)

Stay tuned for our Guest blogger in honor of Stella's 5 monthday today!

Harry Rosen

Today was Harry Rosen's 8km Spring Run Off in High Park. It's become a bit of a family tradition around these parts. And a bit of a competition between Jeff and I. I start giving him a hard time around the beginning of March and he starts premptively thinking of excuses why I'm going to kick his butt.

This year the weather was absolutely beautiful. Normally we all stand around for an hour or so before hand jumping up and down to keep warm. This year we were all sweating our butts off only a km into the race. As always it was crowded, a sea of lime green shirts speckled with the odd running dressed to the nines for the most well dressed award.

Over all it was a great race for me. The finish is always a killer, a huge crank uphill with only 400 meters to go. So I set myself a goal of running 6 minute kms all the way to 7.5km. Which I did. Then promptly felt like I'd be punched in the stomach. In the end, I finished a mere 45 seconds behind Jeff!

With this beautiful weather there was no better to enjoy it then a nice walk home, a Cherry Bomb coffee and a pint on a patio!




Stella waiting for a cherry bomb



Way to go Dad!



Stella thinks she worked hard enough to earn a medal!