How will we ever say No to this face?

Just call me Martha Stewart

Before Piper was born, I had decided that I would try to make most of her baby food myself. This way I'd know exactly what's in it, I'd spend less money, and perhaps most importantly, I'd cut out all the waste that commercial baby foods create. Plus, I won't have to spend my time reading labels in the grocery store worrying about possible allergens that might be in the baby food (who would have thought there'd be soy in rice cereal?). Since she'll start eating "real" food next month, I wanted to begin stockpiling. We now have little ice cube portions of sweet potatoes and butternut squash in the freezer! Here's a look at the process I followed with the squash I put away this morning:



First, I baked it and scooped out the insides.




Then I put the squash in my fancy food processor (Thanks, Tammie!) along with some breastmilk to thin it out.

Almost ready!

Once it's pureed enough, I filled up two ice cube trays, covered them with foil, and set them to freeze.

The finished product: a bagful of veggies! Obviously, this is a picture of the sweet potatoes and not the squash. I wanted to post this before the squash was ready.

The best part of this is that I only threw away the skins and seeds. No plastic containers or glass jars! I even washed and reused the aluminum foil (Grandmom would be so proud). If I was only so good as to raise my own veggies like my sister-in-law Tisha!

Pictures

Here are some random pictures I haven't posted yet. Enjoy!

Piper had lots of fun with Ian this past weekend!

Josh and his mini-me

Full of smiles for Nana!

Cousin Ian came to visit!

Food!

Piper had her first bites of solid food tonight. Josh and I deemed it a success! She ate a whole tablespoon of rice cereal mixed with breastmilk. After she realized what was going on, she started grabbing for the spoon with both hands each time I took it away to refill it.

Two "before" pictures of a clean baby

Mmmmmmmm

Getting the hang of it

Thanks, Mom. I think I'll feed myself.

More, please!

The aftermath

Here's a video of the first few bites. I apologize for my horrible videography as I was not really paying attention to the camera while I was watching the action unfold. I should also apologize to Josh for bossing him around :-).

Videos

Piper's favorite new pasttime is blowing raspberries. Be sure to notice the river of drool running down her cheek!

The sweetest sound in the world

Five months old!

I can't believe that my little girl is already five months old! Josh and I agree that the last month or two has flown by, especially when compared to the first month or two. Piper is becoming quite the social butterfly, smiling at anyone who will look her way. She's still very attached to me, though, so those smiles have to come from a distance. She laughs out loud, sqeals in delight, and blows raspberries, too. The dogs have become a means of entertainment for her, and she just cackles at them sometimes. Anything within her reach (or sight, for that matter) is hers, so she thinks. This includes adult food, silverwear, the cheerios box, plastic bags, etc. We officially have a grabber on our hands (pun intended). She loves to kick her legs and has just started banging her toys on things. Oh, and she's found her toes, although they haven't found their way to her mouth yet.

Last month I wrote that she was having some sleeping issues. Thankfully those resolved themselves pretty quickly. For most of the month she returned to her schedule of bedtime at 8:00, wake around 5 to nurse, and back to bed until 8:00am. I was perfectly happy with this arrangement. However, this past week she's started waking to nurse around 1 and then again at 5. This wouldn't be quite so bad if she didn't want to start her day at the 5:00 feeding. I think this extra feeding has occurred too frequently to signal simply a growth spurt, so I've decided to go ahead and start adding solids into her feeding schedule. Sometime this week she'll have her first bites of rice cereal. Stay tuned for some messy pictures!

I know you're waiting to see new pictures, so here they are!

First forwarding-facing ride like a big girl in her stroller

Checking out the Chihuly art at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens

Finally having fun in her jumper!

With Lyndie and Nana

Hanging out with Gramps on the front of the houseboat where we saw a bald eagle fly over one day!

Mommy's little firecracker (in her 4th of July dress)

Swimming with Daddy