The Saga of the Play Kitchen

One thing I've learned this holiday season is to not procrastinate on assembling Christmas presents. Oh Jennifer, you may say, that is a parent's right of passage. What parent hasn't stayed up until 2 am on Christmas Eve putting together a toy for their beloved child? I know my mom did it when she made me a handmade cloth baby doll long ago.

Oh no, my friends, this wasn't time honored procrastination. This was pure stupidity and certifiable insanity.

It all started when I saw this blog entry showing a handmade play kitchen made out of an old entertainment center. We knew we wanted to give Sebastian a play kitchen but the idea of a handmade one was really appealing and special. No one would have a kitchen like him and it would be special because we made slaved over it. Ideas flowing, I then saw this blog and this blog, all re purposed entertainment centers. With these in mind we set out to find an old entertainment center on Craigslist. We succeeded and brought one home for $20.00.

In July.

Fast forward to December 18th. Not one thing was done to the entertainment center/kitchen. It sat in the garage covered with crap. Naturally I was freaked so I made my husband drag it to an easily accessible area in the garage and I took off all of the hardware and doors, and got to sanding. That must have spurned my husband on because he finally got off his butt and got to work with me on it. The next 6 days were play kitchen hell.

Alex attached the back and I filled all the holes with wood putty.

Kitchen is sanded and primered. Alex cut the hole for the sink and put in a board to separate the under sink cabinet from the oven. I spray painted the oven black, totally hotboxing myself in the process. I also spray painted the stove top and side of the fridge silver to resemble stainless appliances. I so don't recommend that, as silver spray paint is the devil and shows every imperfection and fingerprint. At this point I had lost about a quarter of my brain cells.

Under sink cabinet and wall color added. Cabinet dark brown color painted. Inside of fridge painted.



"Granite" counter top in place and "back splash" affixed.

As we were nearing the finish line we realized we were screwed, literally, when it came to the oven door. The hinges we had wouldn't work properly and the oven handle screws were too short. At that point I was too exhausted to care.

Then came time to move the behemoth into the living room. Going through the inside garage door wasn't an option and paint was scraped off in the process. So it had to go out the garage door, into the snowy, icy night, and back through the front door. Did I mention I was too tired to care? That was a good thing because those nicks would have made normal, rested me cry. We got it set up, I retouched the nicks, and was finally off to bed.

The semi finished product, set up for Christmas morning.

Detail of the sink, stove top, and back splash.

Inside of the fridge.

We still need to hang the oven door after getting the correct hinges and longer screws for the handle. We also need to print out the "view" for the larger window ( I had a small one, it looked stupid) and hang the rail we bought for a pot rack.

That may be done by next Christmas.

Though it almost killed us to get it (mostly) done by Christmas morning (I was up until 3 am completing finishing final touches and set up) and took much blood, sweat, tears andswearing,we did it and we were reminded why we even did it in the first place as Sebastian saw his kitchen for the first time. He ran to it, immediately checking out the cabinets and accessories and has been playing with it over and over, ever since.

Supply List

Those other blogs have lists of supplies they used on their play kitchens with prices. I did that on some things but honestly, I can't remember how much everything cost and my sheet where I itemized some items got tossed with the used wrapping paper so I'll try to do my best remembering below. We initially thought this project would be cheaper than a store bought kitchen but it turned out with the cost of paint and wood, it really wasn't. This isn't to say it couldn't but we tend to go big.

Craigslist
Entertainment Center- $20

Canadian Tire
Paint
Spray paint
Brushes (foam brushes are my new husband)
"Granite" Contact Paper

Home Depot
Primer
Wood

IKEA
LAGAN faucet- $22.99
TEKLA tea towel- $.49
SAXNÄS frame- $5.99
KOSING handle- $1.99
KOSING knobs- $.99

Dollar Store
Mixing bowl for sink - $2
Back splash tiles (floor tiling)- 3/$1
Stove top(selfstick blackboard paper)- $1
Fridge door baskets(plastic baskets)- 3/$1

Habitat for Humanity Re-store
Oven/Stove knobs- $1

Forging Ahead

We moved on to the next step and completed three more days of night weaning/sleep training. So far I'm hopeful.

The Second Three Nights

Again, the nursing to sleep stops at 11 p.m. When he wakes up, hug him and cuddle him for a few minutes, but do not feed him, put him down awake. Putting him down awake is a crucial part of this whole endeavor because it really does teach him to fall asleep with a little less contact and then a little less. Not feeding is the big change during these three nights. One-year-old babies can easily go for those seven hours (or more) with no calories. They like to get fed a little through the night, but physiologically and nutritionally, this is not a long time to go without food...

...During these second three nights, some babies will cry and protest for ten minutes at a time and some will go for an hour or more. Your toddler is aware that you are right beside him, offering comfort and soothing. It just isn’t the mode of comfort he wants at the moment. It is hard to listen to him fuss, but it will work. I believe that a well-loved baby, after a year or more in the family bed, will be the ultimate beneficiary of his parents getting more sleep. Not coincidentally, the parents benefit “big time,” too.

Night Seven

Sebastian was down by 11pm and slept through until 5 am! Because it was so close to our chosen time I let him nurse and we slept for another couple hours or so.

Night Eight

He was tired tonight and was falling asleep in his high chair of all places. Of course as soon as I carried him up to bed he became a wild thing and was wanting to play *sigh*. He was asleep earlier than usual, however, and was asleep by 10:30 pm. He woke up around 4:45 am. At that point, since he went to sleep earlier, I nursed his as if it was after 6. Are we caving? Maybe but since he has a big chunk of sleep I feel ok "caving".

Night Nine

With visions of Britney Spears on Glee dancing in his head (he was mesmerized by that episode- LOL)Sebastian was down quickly with hardly any nursing and asleep by 11pm. Alex has a man cold so he chose to stay up for a while so not to disturb us. He came back to bed around 1:30 am and woke us up. I was not happy and neither was Sebastian who cried and immediately wanted to nurse back to sleep.

According to Dr. Jay's method I couldn't nurse him so I rubbed his back (which he didn't like since he kept shoving my hand away), Alex sang to him (which he also didn't like), but miracle of miracles, he stoped fussing and put himself back to sleep within ten minutes, possibly five.

Next thing I knew it was 7:50. Hallelujah!

A Training We Will Go

Thursday afternoon Alex and I discussed Sebastian's "training" (ugh, I hate calling it that), and we decided to go three more days with the first step. We really didn't want to push it.

Night Four

He was asleep my 11pm. I was not. I couldn't sleep due to the stupid ass University students who live in our complex and those that feel the need to cut through our complex while going to theirs. Seriously, drunk girls screaming their heads off at 2 am. Dudes, "whooooo"ing until all hours. I hate them. HATE. I went to bed around 1am and I think I woke Sebastian up because he started whimpering and I needed to nurse him. Course it could have also been Alex getting up to use the bathroom, or a combo of both. After that he slept until 5am without waking up again.

Night Five

He was asleep by 11pm, but up two times in the night. He also woke up mega early at 6am. I don't know what that was all about. His daddy and I were certainly not happy about it.

Night Six

He was asleep by 11pm but woke up a few times. When he ate, he really ate. I'm thinking he didn't eat much during the day, solids wise, and so was making up for it at night. He again woke up early, this time 7 am. I am hoping this early waking thing ends because I am waking up more exhausted than before.

Tonight we are going ahead and starting the second step. I'm a bit worried but we'll see how it goes. I plan on giving him a bedtime snack to see if that helps curb any night nursing.

Home from the Hospital

First off, wow have I neglected you, blog. I had so much to write about but no time and no internet connection. Maybe I'll catch up someday, maybe.

Tomorrow it'll be a week since Sebastian's Orchipexy. That is the medical term for surgery on an undescended testicle. His left was still up in his groin and needed to be pulled down. The whole situation freaked me out since my ex-husband had a testicle removed and was diagnosed with testicle cancer shortly after we started dating. Having to go through numerous surgeries and cancer treatments with someone like that can certainly add to your fears, especially when you remember a specialist at Stanford say an undescended testicle was a cancer culprit. Needless to say I wanted that sucker taken care of pronto.

Luckily, Dr. Morris, Sebastian's urologist agreed to operate on Sebastian at 14 months rather then wait until 18 months like he usually does. So we were scheduled for surgery a couple weeks after returning from California.

We had to wait forever to go into the OR but luckily they had a waiting room for children with tons of toys. Sebastian loved that. He kept playing with the play kitchen and BBQ as well as scooting the trucks around. I think all those toys took his mind off of food and nursing.







He went in around 45 minutes after his scheduled time which sucked considering he hadn't eaten since 3 am and here it was after 10.

I asked to go in when they put him under and they allowed me to, although it was pretty traumatic to watch. I told Alex later (as horrible as this sounds) that it was like putting an animal to sleep. Poor baby was fighting the gas mask and crying his eyes out. Terrible to see but I just knew I wanted to be there for him while they did it. The anesthesiologist was so sweet though, gently stroking his forehead and talking to him as she was holding the mask on. I really appreciated that. I made sure I didn't cry until I left the OR.

They gave Sebastian a caudal block for pain as well as freezing his incision sites. The surgery lasted an hour and went really well. The surgeon said the hernia was small and that his undescended testicle went into its place easily.

When they allowed me to see him in recovery he was crying hysterically. Poor baby. I'm sure he felt like crap and had no idea what was going on. As soon as I held him he passed out snoring. He only slept about an hour and then was up and raring to go. I was told by the anesthesiologist that he might not be able to stand/walk for the rest of the day due to his caudal block, but he was up and walking within an hour and a half, and was busy playing with toys in the hospital crib. That was his first time in a crib so I think he was a little confused about it.



Once we got home we napped and he was completely back to normal. We tried to give him his pain meds but he wanted nothing to do with them and didn't seem to even need them. The next morning he was practically running around (he's learning to run) and super happy. His steri strip and stitches should dissolve in a few days and we go back to the urologist in 5 weeks.

An added plus, this surgery only cost us $5.74, the price of his prescription pain meds. Thank you socialized medicine.

Attack of the Carboholic

It has happened. My once good, well rounded eater has been replaced by the carbmonster. Where he used to love his veggies and meat, he now will toss them aside for the cats or the floor to eat. Some nights it seems like he has eaten nothing. Hand him a Ritz, a piece of bread, or his new fave, a Vegetable Thin and he'll inhale that thing quicker than I can pick a cast aside piece of strawberry off the floor.

All is not lost though because he still has a love affair with all things briney. Pickles, awesome! Olives, heaven! Seriously, what kid passes up a nice juicy strawberry to nom on a Kalamata olive? Oh yeah, my kid.

The carb addiction must be a toddler thing because I see posts about other babies his age doing the same thing. When I start to worry about his nutrition, I just comfort myself my being glad we are still nursing. At least he's eating something other than Nabisco/Christie products. Maybe they'd like a spokesbaby.

One of the Worst Books Ever

Well, certainly one of the worst to read a week away from your baby's first birthday.

I happened across this book while at a local Christian bookstore, getting a baptism present for one of our favorite little dudes. Oh. my. god, I had to shut it quick before I started crying big ugly tears right there in the store.

I mean this one ranks up there with Robert Munsch's Love You Forever. You remember that one where the grown man rocks his elderly mother on his lap as she had done for so many years. KILLS ME.

You can see a few pages here but get out the tissue.

"Long ago you came to me,

a miracle of firsts;

First smiles and teeth and baby steps,

a sunbeam on the burst.

But one day you will move away

and leave me to your past.

And I will be left thinking of

of a lifetime of your lasts..."

*SOB*

"The last time when you ran to me,

still small enough to hold.

The last time when you said you'd marry

me when you got old.

Precious, simple moments and

bright flashes from your past-

Would I have held on longer if

I'd have known they were your last?"

Seriously, bad idea.

I am so not ready for his birthday to come. Please sweet boy, please stop, for just a little while. I'm not ready to let go.

My Son, MacGyver

I fear we are in for it now. Sebastian is turning into MacGyver.

I submit as evidence:

A) Two nights ago we followed him into the bathroom as he was crawling in there. He went right up to the toilet, pulled up and tried to flush the toilet.

B) That same evening I was making the fold out bed in anticipation of my mother's arrival today. Sebastian was in the room with me "helping", i.e. yanking on the sheets. One of the cats jumped on the bed. He freaking loves that cat so he tried to climb onto the bed to reach her. The bed was too high so he, I kid you not, crawled to a garbage bag of diapers I had sitting there to take out of the room with me and drug it to the bed. He then climbed on top of the bag to try to climb up on the bed. It was still too high so he gave up.

C) Last night we were battling with him to get him to sleep. He kept trying to crawl head first off of the bed. I decided to take another bedsharing family's advice and show him how to crawl off the bed back end first. Obviously we would prefer him to stay on the bed but by teaching him how to get down safely we figure it would stop some banged heads and bruises. I showed him a few times and he was having none of it. He crawled across the room, pulled up at the door, and reached towards the doorknob to get out.

Yep, we are in trouble. Next thing we know he'll be rigging a way to get out of the house with tinfoil and chewing gum.

BLW Update 3/8 - 3/21

We are starting to get into combinations of solids now rather than only individual ingredients such eggplant and pear and a piece of meat. The past two weeks Sebastian has enjoyed quite a few new recipes and seemed to like most all of them.

Again, hearts indicate favorites.

Greek salad
Tunafish casserole ♥
Croissant
Ratatouille ♥
Corned beef and cabbage with potatoes ♥
Sesame seed bagel
Celery ♥
Egg salad sandwich
Veggie lasagna ♥



Yeah, Greek salad was not a hit. The lettuce was too hard for him to manage and it kept getting stuck to the roof of his mouth.


Sebastian much preferred his green bean. We steam a couple for 20 seconds in the microwave and he loves them.


Eating corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day

I've noticed that he is very aware of what he is eating in comparison to what we are eating and will get upset if what he is eating is different from what we are eating. For example, if we have grilled cheese and soup, he can have the grilled cheese but not the soup. I'll make him a vegetable in place of the soup but he doesn't like that it's different.

My Mother, My Hero

We've already established I am turning into my mother, yet sometimes things remind me that I will never be half the woman she is in certain respects.

I was truly lucky to have a mother who stayed at home with me until I was eight years old and a welcome divorce necessitated she return to work. She was a wonder mom, the type who kept a spotless house, had a home cooked dinner on the table every night, and fresh cookies in the cookie jar each week. She also was my room mom every year.

Now that I'm a stay at home mom myself I have to ask myself, do I strive to be that wonder mom? Could I even do it? I don't think I can and here's why.

I am not anyone's damn maid.

(Well, anyone other than myself and my infant son's)

Perhaps I'm just bitter. Let me clarify and say that I am thrilled I can stay home with my son. Not being able to legally work worked out for me in that aspect. I am very grateful I can watch him grow and learn every day, and spend so much time with him. Those are moments I could never give up. However, I don't understand why SAHM = maid to all.

I get it, I get that many folks think if you are a SAHM, your job is the home and you should take care of it but that means that your job is raising the kids AND taking care of the whole house. Ideally I can see that happening when Sebastian is a bit older but now, *phhhhtt*, forget it.

It's hard because sometimes Alex comes home and makes comments about food on the highchair or crumbs on the counter (not always mine)and it makes me feel like crap. I know he sometimes wonders what I do all day. I certainly don't sit on my butt and eat bon bons. Now that Sebastian is crazy mobile I literally chase him and play bodyguard ALL DAY. I can't leave him alone for a second because he'll pull up somewhere he shouldn't, be pulling books off of the shelf (having a great time while doing it), or falling over and hitting his head because he'll try to stand on his own.

He's also very clingy at the moment so most of the time I have to be right next to him or holding him. Forget peeing in peace. If I want to get anything done while he's awake I have to wear him in my Ergo.

By reading the Bump message boards you'd think my kid is an alien because unlike the two - three naps most babies his age are taking, I am lucky if Sebastian takes one, ONE! So during that one nap I have to pack all of my cleaning for the day in and try to find a few minutes for myself (like I'm doing now by writing on my blog) lest I go crazy. Plus now that it's nicer out I try to get Sebastian and I out of the house for walks or to go to the park or library a couple times a week because we both can get stir crazy stuck inside the house.

This doesn't leave much time to clean up after everyone, because that's what I am doing. Since I've started staying at home it seems I have become everyone's maid. We don't have a dishwasher so I do all dishes. I'm the only one who cleans the bathroom, the kitchen, the dinning room, the living room, or Sebastian's room. I'm the only one who vacuums, sweeps, or mops. I'm the only one who puts Sebastian's toys away, does his laundry, or organizes his room. If I didn't wash and change our sheets we'd be sleeping on the same sheets for months. It's very frustrating when there are two other adults in the house that don't help.

Now I am grateful that Alex does much of the cooking because if he didn't love it so much or do it as much, Sebastian would be living in that Ergo.

I guess my point it, how did my mom do it? How did my wonder mother not go bat shit crazy? How come women of old could do so much more than I can? Did thy hold secret resentments or did they just put up and shut up because it was "women's work" they were expected to do and love it?

We could discuss this further but Sebastian just woke up after a 30 min nap and I need to finish washing dishes, finish cleaning the bathroom, fold and put away laundry, clean the living room, get the corned beef and cabbage ready to go in the oven, prep the house for my stepdaughter's guest,.....

BLW Update 3/1-3/7

More new foods were tried this week. Again, favorites are marked with a heart.

Salsa chicken with black beans
Corn
Spanish rice
Summer sausage ♥
Chicken balls with sweet and sour sauce ♥
Egg roll (veggie)♥
Fried won ton
Beef and peppers with garlic black bean sauce ♥
Chicken fettuccine alfredo with sun dried tomato sauce♥
Yogurt with granola
Wheat english muffins

Sebastian really liked the chinese food, even though we didn't so much since it was a new place for us. He also loved the fettuccine alfredo and cried when his tray was empty. I can't say he ate it all since a lot ends up in his bib pocket. I'm glad he is enjoying so many different flavours. Again Alex and I agree that BLW was one of the best parenting choices we have made. Sebastian still tries everything placed in front of him and he hasn't gagged in weeks.

The only new food he hasn't liked much was the homemade spanish rice. We are thinking it was too spicy. Alex said next time he makes it he'll cut down on the spices.

Baby Bucket List and Living Life

Recently I've been thinking about how I spend my time. It started with Alex and I having an argument over how much I'm online. Instead of getting defensive over it (I've been working really hard on the not getting defensive thing)I realized that he was totally right. I have my comp on all day so when Sebastian is nursing, napping, or playing on his own I can pop on and check my boards. The problem is, I think I'm too emotionally tethered to them and to Facebook and I need to cut way back. I need to focus on my family and my son. So now I turn off my computer in the evenings and am working on cutting back usage during the day.

With the computer turned off I've started to think about what I could, or should, be doing instead, yes, even what I want to be doing. Those thoughts led to what I would like to do with Sebastian, or for Sebastian. Of course I could come up with a ginormous list if I wrote down everything I'd ever like to do so I've decided to stay within 5 years. The following is our baby bucket list, things I'd like to do in Sebastian's first five years. Some things may be a bit of a stretch due to finances but I'm going to include them anyway. Some things we've already done so I'll mark them off.

1. Take S to Hawaii
2. Take S to Disneyland (Planning on it for his 5th birthday)
3. Build a snowman
4. Cut down our own tree at the Christmas tree farm
5. Go sledding
6. Have S meet his Great Grammy One of my biggest IF fears was not having a child before she passed. I am so blessed that he was able to spend time with her.
7. Take S to the SF MOMA
8. Play with homemade playdough
9. Bake cookies
10. Buy S his first LEGO set
11. Have family pictures taken
12. Ride a kiddie roller coaster
13. Take S to the Monterey Bay Aquarium
14. Play in the Pacific Ocean
15. Ride on a cable car
16. Baptize S
17. Go to the fair
18. Go to the Toronto Zoo and see the polar bears
19. Go to the library every week
20. Go swimming
21. Ride a train
22. Carve a jack-o-lantern
23. Go trick or treating
24. See the Nutcracker
25. See a children's play
26. Dye Easter eggs
27. Start Sebastian's birthday art book (Drawings every year on his birthday)
28. Play in fall leaves
29. Buy S a play kitchen
30. Build a fort
31. Go rollerskating
32. Go ice skating
33. Hunt Easter eggs
34. Get pet rats
35. Read a-loud Alice in Wonderland
36. Go camping
37. Teach S to tap dance
38. Sail on a boat
39. Go whale watching
40. Eat Monterey Fisherman's Wharf caramel corn
41. Ride bikes
42. Bounce in a bounce house
43. Play hide and seek
44. Fly a kite
45. Have a picnic on the beach
46. Go to the pumpkin patch
47. Visit an apple farm and pick apples
48. Raise money for UNICEF
49. Make valentines
50. Raise butterflies
51. Paint pottery
52. Play at Dennis the Menace Park
53. Feed the ducks at the park
54. Ride a carousel
55. Create a yearly book authored by S
56. Start family game night
57. Get a smile from his big sister
58. Plant a vegetable garden
59. Go geocaching when S can really participate
60. Build a sandcastle

I'll be adding to this list as things come to me.

The New Foods Keep Coming

Since Sunday we've tried a few new meal items for Sebastian so I thought I'd update them here rather than add them to my previous blog post.

This week he's tried:

tunafish sandwich ♥
taco
kiwi
spaghetti ♥

Baby Led Weaning Update

I've been meaning to make a post about our progress with Baby Led Weaning and now have a chance to sit down and do so. Naps are so few and far between these days.

Baby Led Weaning, or BLW, is poorly named because when people hear you are following it they assume you are weaning your child from breastfeeding which isn't BLW at all. Sometimes you'll hear it being referred to as Baby Led Solids which I feel is a much better term. Instead of spoon feeding your child purees you are giving your child table foods and allowing them to eat along with you. Studies have shown that this affords children the opportunity to explore different tastes and textures of foods. BLW children are said to be less picky with their foods. This makes sense to me because often pablum and purees seem tasteless or a far cry from their fresh counterparts.

With BLW you offer your child foods and allow them to choose what they want to eat. You do not feed them, but allow them the power to feed themselves. For example, instead of feeding Sebastian yogurt from a spoon, I load the spoon and either set it down or hold it out for him to grab. He puts the spoon in his own mouth.

In the beginning you don't expect babies to eat much of what is placed in front of them (Most of their nutrition up to a year comes from breastmilk or formula anyway). They usually just explore it. Sebastian doesn't play with his food much, nor does he drop much on the floor if he's in the mood to get down to business. He does taste everything and mash it into his mouth. He will take bites of things and roll it around in his mouth and suck on it. Sometimes I'll find a piece a few hours later that he's stored like a chipmunk.

So while he isn't swallowing much I do find evidence of it in his diapers more and more each week. I think that will just come with time. He has mastered use of his sippy cup, however, and loves totting it around to get sips of water now and again. He tips his head back and everything. Of course he also tries to drink out of any cup or bottle we are drinking out of which makes morning coffee consumption a bit difficult.

As for the foods he's tried, I'm very impressed with his list and impressed by what he seems to like and will "eat". He'll try anything you place in front of him and there are only a few thinks he's ever made a face at (but then will try it again anyway). The following is our list of foods, his very favorites have a heart next to them. Most veggies we steam though some we roast, like the squash. Most fruit will be given to him with the skin and rind on so he can get a better grip of it.

Vegetables:

Green beans ♥
Carrots
Broccoli ♥
Sweet potato (has to be mashed and he's not into that texture)
Lettuce
Cucumber ♥
Asparagus
Green Pepper
Red Pepper
Acorn squash
Eggplant ♥


Fruit:

Avocado
Apple
Peach ♥
Nectarine
Cantaloupe ♥
Asian pear
Bartlett pear
Banana
Honeydew melon
Tomato


Grains:

Wheat bread
Rolls
Whole wheat pasta
Crackers
Flat bread
Mum mums
Cinnamon raisin bagel


Meats:

Ham ♥
Roast turkey
Roast beef
Ground beef
Breaded fish
Chicken (roast and pan cooked)
Pork roast
Hot dog (small piece due to all the crap in them)


Dairy:

Cheese
Yogurt (various flavours)


Various:
Pizza (homemade including crust)
Grilled cheese ♥
Pancake
Meat pasta sauce
Cheesy potatoes

The few foods he didn't seem to like after a few tries were avocado, sweet potato, and banana. I suspect it's because of the texture. We'll keep trying those out periodically to see if he changes his mind.

Here he was double spooning. He does pretty well with holding the spoon correctly but sometimes will ignore the handle to feel the fun stuff on the spoon. After this he offered his spoon of yogurt to the cat.



This was his first try of broccoli. He got the hang of it right away and will eat both ends. It's a good food to start with because they have good handles that allow babies to get a good grip.




Mmm banana, or not. I give it to Sebastian cut in half with a fourth of the peel peeled away so he has a peel covered handle. Banana on its own was too hard to handle. As you can see by his face he wasn't liking it. This was around the fourth time we tried it. By the way, banana stains. It leaves weird black flecks on clothes. Who knew?


Another broccoli shot. He does love his broccoli. He can always have mine.



This is what gagging looks like. At first it's scary and luckily for us it doesn't happen often, however, once you settle down and realize it's the child's way of preventing choking, it's pretty cool to watch. You can see the bit of broccoli he has on his tongue. It was too big and he slowly moved it forward until he could spit it out.



"Millions of peaches...", yeah Sebastian would be happy. He loves fresh peaches.



We are still thrilled with our choice to BLW and can see that it works for us and for Sebastian. Alex says that he only wishes he knew about it when his older kids were little because he loves it so much.

For those that are interested in learning more, check out the following websites:

Gill Rapley's Original Paper on BLW (Dutch site with lots of info)
babyledweaning.com with forum

Baby Led Weaning

After researching Baby Led Weaning and talking about when and how to start solids, Alex and I decided that BLW was the way to go. We were committed to exclusively breastfeed until 6 months and ended up starting BLW a week and a couple days shy of Sebastian's six monthday. It was hard to wait since he was showing all of the "signs" of readiness for a month. I could barely eat anything or drink a bottle of water without him trying to grab it.

So we were pretty excited to start though, to be honest, it also made me a bit sad because it's just another thing along with his three teeth that are proof he's growing up and moving closer to a year. Plus, until now he has depended solely on me (and yes, I know he still does)for his food. Me = emotional mama.

Anyway, we started him on Christmas night. It seemed fitting considering it was a holiday and my mom was here to celebrate with us. It was also a prelude to our big family Boxing Day meal. We decided to offer him green beans, carrots, ham, a bit of cheesy potatoes, and a roll. He also had a new sippy cup with some water.

Here is our photographic evidence...


My big boy in his high chair, clearly excited to be joining the family for dinner.


"You mean this is all for me!?"


He went for the ham first.


He loved his roll the most.


"Forget these cheesy potatoes, I want my ham."


Trying out his sippy cup.

The whole thing was very positive and Sebastian was happy the whole time. He didn't gag at all. He preferred the ham and roll over everything else, though I don't know if he ingested any of either of them. He must have eaten some green beans because I found the evidence of a bite in his diaper today.

The following two days, were also good with Sebastian trying new foods such as avocado (meh), chicken (yum!), asparagus (thumbs up), cucumber (gimmie more), and lettuce (not a fan).

I'm so proud of him. Thumbs up for BLW.

Time to Lock Up the Electronics and Other Silly Sebastian Happenings

My kid is going to be one of those kids who takes apart Mommy and Daddy's DVD player and cell phones. I can see it already.

We are considering getting him a dummy remote because he love, love, loves our TV remote. He'll just stare at it and lean out of our arms to try and get it. I don't know how I feel about that.

He seems sort of bored with his toys in general, like he needs more stimulation though I don't know what that could be at 5 months (on Thursday). He can't sit up on his own yet so it's not like he can play with some sorts of toys yet.

Not that kids need tons of fancy toys anyway, right? Sunday, we had Alex's mom over for dinner and afterwards Alex, his mom, and I played Rummy Cube. Sebastian switched off from being on my lap to his dad's. At one point I was drinking out of my water bottle and he tried so hard to rip it out of my hands. Once I finished with it I let him have the bottle and he played with it for a good 45 minutes. He'd chew on it, stick the opening in his mouth like he was going to try drinking out of it, and ripping the label off. He actually got the whole label off!





Another occurrence that makes me fear for our gadgets besides how manipulative (in the motor skills way) he is, is how smart he seems to be.

He already knows how to remove my nursing pads and will do so sometimes when he wants to nurse. Last night as Alex and I sat on the couch watching House, Sebastian started trying to undo my nursing tank. He sat there staring intensely at it, making his old man working/thinking sounds of "Ehhhhhhhhhhhh". After he couldn't get the right one undone he started in on the left one. Poor little guy, he just doesn't have the fine motor skills.... yet. Heh. We just about died.

Oh and we have two teeth!

Mr. Personality

My son's emerging personality is a kick. Alex and I just crack up on a daily basis over things he does or faces he makes. He really is just such a funny, little boy.

Take the other night, Alex picked a stuffed ghost out of Sebastian's toy basket for Sebastian to play with. This is a plush ghost I was given years back. Starbucks sold it and it has the funniest google eyes that make me laugh every time I see it.



Apparently Sebastian agreed. The following is photo documentation of Sebastian meeting Boo the blue ghost.











This last one kills me. The look in his eyes, oh my Lord. I love his "spider eyes".



I just love this kid!

Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand, Six Hundred Minutes

"Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Moments So Dear
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
How Do You Measure - Measure A Year?"

A year ago today I received this gift and it has changed my life.




I love you more than anything, Sebastian Sylvanus and I am so happy and honored to be your mommy!

Sebastian at 11 Weeks and Moving Day

Our last few days on the Monterey Peninsula were so very busy with all of our last minute errands and trying to fit in visits with special people. Being busy was good for me because it gave me less time to think about what was happening. Luckily new adventures also helped curb the sadness and anxiety.

One of those special people was Auntie Megan. We decided to take the babies (inside and out)to some of our favorite places to eat together. I wanted to have a last meal, as it were, at The Brit and some "Sex in a Dish" at The Crown. It was kind of weird hanging out at a pub midday Saturday. We were the only chicks in the place other than the waitress (Betty). Needless to say I didn't nurse in public on this occasion.



Sebastian had a good time staring at everything, most especially Megan's food. He would just stare and drool.



We got to visit with Betty, my favorite waitress ever and say goodbye.



After lunch at The Brit we went to The Crown for dessert and had to introduce Sebastian to the Xlerator. He was not impressed but we had to take a pic for old time's sake.



The next day my mom, Sebastian, and I braved the crowds at the Monterey Bay Aquarium to go to Otter Days. It was going to be Sebastian's first visit to the Aquarium. We didn't stay long because, really, how interested and entertained can a 2 month old be by tanks of fish? He liked the Outer Bay exhibits the best and actually watched the fish and jelly fish for a bit. He got to see the Aquarium's newest Great White Shark (number 7). I was amused by how many people thought the Galapagos sharks were the Great White and would say so to all around them. Never mind that they look totally different from each other.


Sebastian admiring the fish



Monterey Bay Aquarium's Great White

After a while we knew we had hit our limit. There were way too many people around. We stopped into the gift stores to find something for Sebastian to commemorate his visit. He got an otter book, a sea otter plushie, and a shark plushie. I was wavering on which shark to get and was holding this one near him. He reached out and grabbed it so we figured he chose it for himself. His daddy wasn't thrilled with yet another stuffed animal when I told him. Later Sebastian was holding the shark in his stroller and it looked like he was kissing it. In reality I think he was tasting it.



Afterwards Sebastian and I took my mom out for her first Grandparent's day lunch. Her card made her cry.

Eventually moving day arrived. My cousin Kristin came to the airport to say goodbye and as support for my mom afterwards. I had Sebastian dressed in a onesie one of my students made for him. It was a Gerber so although it was the right size month wise, it didn't fit. So he wore it as a tee shirt.



Boarding came all too soon and I was rushed ahead in the security line making our goodbyes quick. It might have been for the best because I was already crying enough. A nice TSA woman gave me a kleenex and another, a guy, helped me through security with all of my crap.

Dealing with my shoes, jacket, moby wrap, diaper bag, car seat, stroller, laptop and bag, not to mention my 2 month old son could have been a nightmare but it went pretty easy. Everybody was so nice and helpful at Air Canada, especially when they realized I was alone.

I was worried that Sebastian would freak out and cry during the flight. Obviously the other passengers were as well. The looks of fear as we walked down the plane aisle were hilarious. It was as if there were at least three dozen brains thinking, "Please don't sit next to me, please don't sit next to me. Oh thank God they passed me."

We got an aisle seat which we requested. They left the seat in the center empty (thank goodness because I ended up needing that space for breastfeeding)and there was a quiet businessman sitting in the window seat. The dude who was sitting across the aisle from me was noticeably bummed that he was going to be sitting across from a baby. "I always sit next to the youngest person on the plane, no fail." I must brag that this was the same guy who loudly declared, "He was the best baby EVAR!" at the end of the flight. That's right, Sebastian made it through the whole flight with nary a peep. Everyone around us was so impressed. I was just grateful.

All in all the flight section of our trip was great. I have nothing but good things to say about Air Canada. The counter folks and flight attendants were so very helpful.



Then we got to customs...yeah different story. On the plane we had to fill out a declaration form. I filled it out as someone who lived in Canada with my Canadian address. This obviously was confusing and not satisfactory to the customs agent who gave me the third degree while staring me and my passport down. He freaked my shite out and grilled me for about 10 minutes. Finally he said I could go through the gates.

And then I was stopped by two other agents/guards/whatever blocking my way. Original agent must have clued them in somehow and I was told I had to go to the immigration office.

Oh My God!

I could have dropped dead of a heart attack right then. I just wheeled Sebastian, in the stroller, down the hall to the office saying, "Mommy screwed up". I totally thought I was going to get deported. Luckily the next agent was super nice. He understood what was going on, approved my paperwork saying I could bring Sebastian in the country, and stamped a visa in my passport. He said he wouldn't stamp the little boy's because he was Canadian. He wished me good luck with my permanent residence paperwork and sent us on our way. One difficulty down, one to go.

Take it from me Toronto aiport sucks beans. I had never seen an airport that did not allow outside people into the baggage area. What the hell? Here I am, all alone with a baby, immigrating with three gigantor suitcases, two carry ons, a stroller, and a car seat. Uhhhh yeah. So I quickly got one of those roller carts (thanking myself for saving some Canadian currancy from our last visit) and after putting Sebastian into the Moby, loaded all of it onto the cart like a giant tower worthy of the Duggars. That Moby saved my life, for serious. I wouldn't have been able to make it without it. Off we went through the sliding doors to see Alex waiting for us and waiting for us to start our new life.

Oh Canada!