Monday, August 22, 2011

Varen - 9 Months

Varen @ 9 Month - August 21,2011

Weight & Height - 22lbs 8 oz & 27 3/4" long


Sleeping Patterns - Still wakes up 1-2 times a night. Still co sleeps/bed shares. If I can get him to at least drop one feeding I will probably try him in his crib again. Or maybe once Van deploys we'll try it again once we're on a better schedule.


Eating Habits - Varen is a good eater, he tries everything I offer him, has not really refused anything. He has a very seasoned pallet for taste and texture. He is still breastfed and prefers to nurse more than eat food but he still likes food.


New foods he likes - Graham Crackers, yogurt, he just recently started taking a sippy cup of water despite my efforts to give it to him months ago. He'd still rather nurse but has taken the sippy cup of water a few time.


Varen @ 9 months old


New discoveries - Varen has learned that he can pull up on things stand and bounce. So that's pretty much what he wants to do all day.

New Milestones - Varen started crawling at 8.5 months on Aug 11th. He does a wounded solider crawl. He doesn't like to crawl though, he'd much rather make his way to what ever he wants or what ever he can pull himself up on to cruise. He's a great cruiser. Very brave, likes to hold on standing up on something with only one hand.

Places baby went - Last week Varen had to go to the emergency room he had Croup and was just miserable, so I took him in to get a breathing treatment.

Anything else - At his well child check up his dr. said he could be as wide as he wants to be as long as he's breastfed, and that the foods that I'm feeding him are perfect for him. Varen doesn't just look like me, he's totally obsessed with me, he's a super mamas boy, and while sometimes it's overwhelming having to chose hearing him scream or taking him to the bathroom with me, I take it all with a grain of salt. One day he wont want to be around me, but as of now Varen is much more happier sitting next to me or in my lap.

How is older brother? Vashon is doing ok, the countdown to pre school is 2 weeks now and while he is very excited I wonder how much he'll love it after he gets in trouble or doesn't get his way for the first time. We don't allow him to always get his way at home, but it's going to be a whole different playing field in school for him. I hope he adjusts well. He's also going to be starting soccer in a few weeks so we should be pretty busy.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

What Is That Kid Eating?????

Everytime I take Varen out I also hear two things. No matter where we go or what we're doing people comment on how cute he is, and how chubby he is. While most of the comments are made in good humor and the stranger had no intentions of offending me or giving my child a weight complex, lol people are quick say things like "what are you feeding that boy???"

I've learned to smile and laugh the comments off, in the early months as Varen gained rapidly I worried if I was overfeeding him or he had some type of medical condition. After asking the peditrician multiple times there is nothing wrong with Varen's weight or the amount that I am feeding him. Infact he had his 9 month well baby check up yesterday and his peditrican told me that as long as he's breastfed, he can be as wide as he wants to be,because breastfed babies gain good fats and lean out as they start walking. She also jokingly said that I make MILKSHAKES not breastmilk. lol

But since everyone keeps asking and or assuming I'll tell you what Varen eats to dispel the myths that I must be giving him fried chicken, burgers and fries, corn bread and kool aid.
Varen eats what we eat, I delayed starting solids so that I could pretty much skip baby food. I wanted him to have a seasoned pallet and be exposed to textures early on. So does he eat salty sugary foods like we do? Nope. Because Varen eats what we eat I have had to change my cooking style a bit to accommodate him, so I cook with less salt and more herbs and spices and less sugar. If the meal can not or should not be altered I cook his portion separate before seasoning it or make him something different. Varen has helped us to eat healthier. :)

Do I make baby food? No not really. I don't blend things up and pretty much if I can't cut it, shred it, or mush it into small soft pcs I wont give it to him. It may look a lil different than what is on our plates but he has the same meal, so much the same that if I want to encourage him to take a bite, I can take a bite and not want to vomit in my mouth. :)



So what did Varen have for dinner tonight?


Ok we had Chicken Quesadillas, so Varen had 1 tbsp of shredded chicken breast, 2 tbsp of fresh avocado, and 2 tbsp of Mott's Natural no sugar added apple sauce with about 1/4 of a banana mashed/mixed into it. His sippy cup has water in it, (he only takes a few sips) and after dinner he was given a few goldfish crackers. (He only ate about 3 of them, I used them mainly for pincher grasp practice)



So as you can see the boy eats healthy, is not eating adult size portions. He has a variety of different foods that he eats and while I will say that I am guilty of giving him an OREO or a few french fries, those foods are not a part of his regular diet and will never be.





So this is a pic of Varen at 8 months and I know he looks like a 2 yr old toddler but I promise it's the angle in which it was taken and the fact that he is sitting at the edge of the couch and I'm taking the picture from the floor. Anyway I still love this pic because he is absolutely adorable rolls and all.




So what's he eating? Super Breast Milk and a healthy variety of foods.