Crazy Mommy

Before giving your baby new foods check out this site and see their food chart. They show a clear list of when you can start your baby on certain foods. http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/solids.htm

Also check out their list of forbidden foods; common knowledge ones like honey, or nuts, but also not so common knowledge ones like peanut butter, strawberries and corn.

Depending on how much pumpkin you plan to make for your little one depends on the size. I bought a medium sized pumpkin (Maybe between two or three pounds) washed the outside scrubbing with my hands and then patted it dry with a paper towel. Taking a knife I removed the stem; just like if I were to carve it. After, I took a small chunk of the pumpkin from one side and cut all the seeds and strings off of it. Cutting that small piece into even smaller but manageable pieces I placed them into a steamer. I was able to use about half the pumpkin to steam at a time, but I have a smaller steamer so if you have a larger steamer you may be able to steam the whole thing at once. I put all the seeds into a strainer where I washed and pulled all the orange stringy pumpkin pieces off of them, patted them dry and placed them in a baking sheet adding about a tablespoon of olive oil. (Which I found out you don’t really need.) Turning the oven on 300 degrees and put them into the oven for ten minutes, stirred them, than put them in for another ten minutes. I continued this process until I liked the shade of brown they turned. (Around forty minutes.) I did not give any of the seeds to my baby, these were for me.

Once the steamer was done, I took those pieces out placing them into a bowl and added the other remaining pumpkin pieces to the steamer; adding a little more water but not dumping out what was already used. (This way I don’t lose any nutrients, but just add to what is already in the water.)

After I let the already cooked piece of pumpkin cool off I take a spoon and scrape off the inside mushy part placing it into a food processor. When cooked the pumpkin is very soft and easily comes off the skin. Once all the pumpkin was done cooking, and pealed away from the skin I added some of the left over water from the pot I used to steam them in into the food processor to help make the food creamy. Add as much or as little as you want depending on how creamy you want them to be. Otherwise you can add breast milk too, which helps add a familiar taste to the food you’re making for your baby.

Now if you are like me, I disliked the smell of the pumpkin once it was pureed for my daughter. I did let her have some of it plane but you could add pear or apple or something else you’ve already introduced to your child, this may help add to the flavor. Otherwise you could add fresh ground cinnamon but don’t add butter or salt or anything like that. When introducing foods to your child it isn’t about the taste so throw all your knowledge about what may taste good with what out the window. My daughter did not like the pumpkin by itself so I mixed it with some pear, making a yellowish color and she ate it up like crazy!

Know that foods like carrots and pumpkin have Beta Carotene which if given in large amounts can cause your baby to turn orange. Ha ha

I figured it was about time that I wrote all about where my information comes from. My knowledge is based off of information from “The Baby Book” by Dr William Sears and different web sites including;

http://www.annabelkarmel.com/,  http://wholesomebabyfood.com/. Both of these sites share information on making and storing your own baby food as well as offering recipes and other helpful information. I also learn from other mommies who share their stories; either friends or posts on myspace.com and cafemom.com – as well as personal experience. I take information from all the sources and put it together with what I believe and come out with my own parenting style. I try not to let anyone push me into something I believe is wrong or unfitting for my daughter.

One important thing to remember is that all babies are different. Just because something works for one mom doesn’t mean it will work for you, so you should always try different techniques and find the one that fits for both you and your baby.

Here are some other useful sites;

http://www.drmercola.com/ - He shares a lot of useful information on health; including vaccines.

http://askdrsears.com/ - This is the site by the doctor who wrote “The Baby Book”.

http://mother-2-mother.com/ - You can find some useful breastfeeding tips.

When I first started co-sleeping with my daughter I heard a lot of negative comments about the subject. How big of a mistake it was and how difficult it will be breaking her of this habit. The way I see it, she’s only young once and I should enjoy every second of it. Everything in her life is so new and is going to take some time to learn; crawling, walking, talking etc. So I don’t expect her to break the habit of co-sleeping in one night, or even one month.

Recently I tried something new; when it is time for her naps I take her upstairs and nurse her to sleep, just like I would at night. Once she is asleep I sneak away. Sometimes I am able to move her into her crib and sometimes I have to leave her on the bed. No worries though, the bed is just a mattress on the ground and I still place pillows all along the floor and on the bed just to be safe. You can tell I’m a total first time mom because not only do I have a baby monitor but I still check on her often. Sometimes she doesn’t wake up crying, like today. I heard a small noise on the baby monitor, like a creak or tiny thump; so I went upstairs and she was sitting in the middle of the bed waiting for me.

I love when I go upstairs to check on her and she’s staring up at me. When I enter the room I get a big smile and an excited shutter. I figure, if I let her take enough naps on her own, she’ll get used to the idea and this will make the transition at night easier. Eventually I will let her spend the night in the crib while I sleep on the mattress on the floor, so she knows that I am still there but she’s still on her own. This will eventually lead to me sleeping in the room with my husband again. ha ha

Lately we’ve been having some problems getting her to sleep because her teeth are coming in with full force. She has one bottom tooth that’s slightly showing and two top teeth that show themselves then disappear. So between those three teeth non of the teething medication seems to be working. It’s so difficult to deal with because you can’t explain to a seven month old why she’s hurting or why I can’t do anything to help her. She always wants to be held and only takes small naps. Even at night right now, co-sleeping isn’t working 100% because she tosses and turns and sometimes, even with her eyes closed, will try to crawl or sit up on her own. It’s kind of obnoxious but I know I’ll laugh about it later, especially when I can tell her all about it once she’s older.

My little girl is growing up so fast! Last Friday she learned how to crawl, than Saturday she learned how to sit herself up. She has some top teeth that have been playing hide-and-seek and now she’s learning to pull herself up. We just started using the crib and now we’re already going to have to lower the mattress so she does not topple out onto her head. My husband isn’t too thrilled about this because that was the hardest part of putting it together. Tonight while I was sitting in the room though she went from holding onto the front of the crib to the side, and then tried to lunge towards the back. She’s trying so hard to learn new things. Our townhouse is surrounded by other children, from 15 months till around 12 years old and she sees all these other children running and playing and you can just watch the excitement in her eyes while we’re outside. She stiffens up her body and shakes in excitement and lets out a squeal. I’m convinced she is learning so fast so she can join in the fun. My husband and I joke about it all the time but it’s so true. She goes through spurts; for a month or so she wont learn any new “tricks” then suddenly in one weekend she learns a whole bunch of things. Sometimes it’s almost overwhelming because she doesn’t give us time to get used to her new “trick”. ha ha

I can’t say it enough. I love my daughter, she is so beautiful! I asked my husband if he’d be offended if I said that she was my favorite person on the planet. Thankfully he said he would not be offended.

On the fifth of each month I take a new photo for her monthly birthday. This month I took one of her in her Halloween outfit that my mother in law gave to her. It’s amazing to see the difference between her seven month photos and her first month photos. She’s grown up so much!

I should also mention she has her daddy’s ears. ha ha