Category: 4-6 Months
Emmalyne: Month Six
| April 6, 2012 | Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under 4-6 Months, Baby, Baby Led Weaning, Month Updates |
I can’t believe I am sitting here writing my baby’s six month update. Where has time gone? I am in awe and fully understand what my mom meant all these years when she said that time flies. I know a lot of you are new readers so if you’re just catching up here are the last few months of updates:
STATS
Height: 27 3/4 in (99&)
Weight: 17lb 2oz (85%)
Clothes: 6-9 month, 9 month
Baby girl is TALL. She is growing like a weed! Her pediatrician said that she is right on track with growth and development … and is in fact reaching some milestones ahead of schedule! Chris was off work Monday and got to go with us to the 6-month check-up and held her during her shots. He took it harder than she did 
PERSONALITY
Little-Miss-Thing is still quite the firecracker. She makes the most amazing facial expressions and is starting to try to communicate more of what she wants. She doesn’t hold back her giggles and often goes in to full on laughing fits when she is playing with Chris. My favorite moment is when I go into her room after she’s been sleeping/napping and she sees me and cracks the biggest smile. Melts. My. Heart.
EATING
Breastfeeding is still going strong … 6 months in, 6 months to go! We are still nursing every 3 hours during the day. Nursing can get quite interesting if Em gets distracted by anything. I tend to nurse her up in her room with minimal interference … otherwise it’s a wrestle fest! The biggest change this month was introducing more solid food. We are leaning more toward Baby Led Weaning at this point and I’ll do a more specific post on that soon.
PLAY
Em’s favorite thing to do is bounce in her activity center. She seriously goes nuts. I only let her in there a few times a day but she loves every second of it. We also go on walks almost every day and Emmie absolutely loves to be outside. No matter how cranky she is, the second we head out for our walk she is a happy camper. Emmalyne also still loves her play mat, her Sophie giraffe, and any tag she can find. Her FAVORITE toy though? Her spit rag. Go figure. Her best friend? Bailey. Em LOVES Bailey. Bailey has been so incredible with Em and lets her pretty pull, tug, bite, and yank every bit of her. She also follows Em wherever she goes.
MOBILITY
Em has been rolling over both ways since she was 3 months. Now she has mastered the art of scooting on her belly where she wants to go. She tends to turn complete circles on her play mat and log rolls around the living room. She hasn’t figured out Army crawling yet but it’s only a matter of time. She is starting to realize that she wants to move … just needs to figure out how. She kicks like she’s swimming when she is wanting to try to move haha.
TEETHING
Still happening. We can see the bottom tooth. The white is coming in and it’s rough. It just hasn’t completely popped thru yet. Needless to say anything and everything finds its way into Em’s mouth.
SLEEP
I am totally going to jinx myself for saying this but Em has been sleeping thru the night. She goes down every night at 7PM sharp. If we wait a few minutes longer … chaos ensues. She will typically sleep until 6:30ish. Sometimes 7 … sometimes 5. If she wakes up at 5 she nurses for 5 minutes and goes back to sleep. We spent half the month on nap strike but her union has since apparently reached an agreement with us and has since continued napping. She’ll normally take around a 45 minute nap in the morning, 1 to 1.5 hours after lunch, and sometimes a shorter nap in the late afternoon. I’ll take it.
I thank God every day for allowing me to be Emmalyne’s mother. It is a privilege beyond compare. I do my best every day to be the best mother I can possibly be. She deserves the best.
I love you baby girl, you are my sunshine!
Want more Emmie? Here are some fun videos … don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel!
Like Em’s headbands? They’re from reader Sarah! Check out her Etsy shop here!
Starting Solids
| March 29, 2012 | Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under 4-6 Months, Baby, Family |
**Don’t forget to enter my Technogel® giveaway! It will be open until Sunday 
I had a request yesterday to do a post on how we started solids with Emmie. Since this is a post I have been intending to do for awhile, I thought what better time than the present! :) We have been introducing solids now for just over a month and Emmalyne LOVES to eat! We got the go ahead from our pediatrician at her 4-month appointment. I waited until we came back our trip to Phoenix to start so Em was actually closer to 5 months when we started. In the weeks leading up to our decision to start solids we started watching for the “signs” that Em was ready.
Signs We Noticed:
- Em was increasingly interested in our food and would “chew” as she watched us eat
- She could sit with minimal support
- She turns away when she is full
- She started waking up more at night and nursing more frequently during the day
Purees vs. Baby Led Weaning
There are a couple methods you can use when introducing solids. The first is my introducing pureed baby food and spoon-feeding your child. The second, is baby led weaning. Baby led weaning is essentially allowing your baby to experience food in their “whole” form … this allows them to experience the actual texture of food. The baby also feeds themselves and dictates how much they eat, hence being “baby-led”.
We opted to do a combination of sorts. I am a little hesitant to completely skip purees (not sure why really) but intrigued by the concepts of baby-led weaning. Therefore I am kind of doing both? Haha. For example, in the morning I slice up bananas and allow Emmie to feed herself while I eat breakfast with her. Lunch is typically a puree mixed with oatmeal. Dinner can be one or the other. I will say that she is having a BLAST feeding herself and it is definitely helping with her hand-eye coordination. At the same time, girl LOVES her purees. SO I think we will stick to doing a little of both for the time being
Pureed Peas Please
Bananas for the win
*Interested in Baby-Led Weaning? Check out Brittany’s blog! She’s doing it with her daughter
First Foods
I bought the book 201 Organic Baby Purees and I highly recommend it. The book breaks down its chapters into age and provides recipes appropriate for each stage. There are a ton of run combinations in there and I am excited to introduce Em to some of them. Wholesome Baby Food is also an incredible online resource. It is REALLY important to wait at least 3 days after introducing a new food so you can watch for an allergic reaction. As you know, I have multiple allergies so I am really playing by this rule for Em. She has had the following foods … in this order:
Organic Oatmeal
Avocado
Peas
Bananas
Squash
Sweet Potatoes
Apples
Making Baby Food
I am making all of Emmie’s purees at home and I plan on doing a more detailed post on our adventures of baby food making in the near future. In regards to ingredients, I am trying to buy organic when it comes to “The Dirty Dozen“. I buy either frozen or fresh vegetables and either steam or roast them until tender. Then into my food processor they go, add some nursery water, and combine until smooth. Easy peasy
Traveling/Eating Out
We do have a few jars of Earth’s Best baby food for our move to Savannah. We are going to try to salvage my stash of homemade baby food via a cooler but we wanted a back-up plan in case the cubes turn to mush en route. When we go out to dinner I either order her a plain sweet potato or a side of avocado and she is good to go
Unrelated Side Note
Chris found a Sophie giraffe at the track last night and he immediately recalled my Sophie incident. Turns out it belonged to his friend’s wife who got hurt while working out and left without grabbing the giraffe. Sophie has since been returned to her rightful owner. :)
What kinds of “Emmie’s Eats” posts would you like to see? Do you have any questions you want me to talk about?
WIAW
| March 28, 2012 | Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under 1/2 Marathon, 4-6 Months, Bootcamp, Breakfast, Dogs, FitFluential, Running, Snack, Training, Treadmill, WIAW |
**Don’t forget to enter my Technogel® giveaway! It was funny seeing how many of you are side sleepers like me. There weren’t as many tummy sleepers as I thought there would be
Since it’s Wednesday, it means that it is time for another wonderful “What I Ate Wednesday” with the lovely Jenn from Peas and Crayons.
Breakfast
Breakfast burrito made with 1 egg, Southwestern Egg Beaters, spinach, a slice of bacon, nutritional yeast, and salsa all wrapped up in a whole wheat tortilla! Delicious.
I also had a cup if iced Starbucks coffee courtesy of my Keurig. In it I added some So Delicious coconut creamer for the first time … and it was SO Delicious Hehe. Also, hot cute is that mug? I couldn’t resist it at the Starbucks strategically located in Target … AKA the black hole for my wallet.
Work Out
I met my friend Melanie at the gym on post for a run on the treadmill. I ended up doing 5 miles in 47:05 … or 9:26 a mile! I am really proud of this since I tend to run REALLY bad when I talk while running. We were able to catch up AND I didn’t die. Win Win! Half marathon is less than 3 weeks away … EEK! I also did 15 minutes of core work for my Best Body Bootcamp workout!
Lunch
Emmie only gave me a 30 minute nap so I only had time to quickly shower before she was up again. SO it was a quick/easy lunch for me! My favorite turkey sandwich made yet another appearance …
Snack
Chobani with granola and chia for a healthy and filling afternoon snack.
Dinner
Fish tacos! I simply seasoned tilapia with paprika, salt, pepper, and lime juice and cooked them on the stove top. They were just crispy enough and were YUMMY.
Emmie’s Eats
Emmie is digging the combination of whole foods inspired by baby led weaning and purees we are doing. This morning she had slices of banana and LOVED feeding herself and let’s face it, playing with the mushiness. For lunch we did sweet potatoes mixed with oatmeal and dinner was peas! She is quite the eating champ.
Bailey’s Birthday Eats
My littlest furbaby turned 3 yesterday too! Bailey is such an amazing dog. Being a German Shepherd she is super protective of Emmie and is pretty much Em’s shadow. Wherever Emmie is, Bailey is. SO to celebrate Bails’ birthday, she and Trigger got Frosty Paws for dessert!
Hope you all have a great Wednesday! It’s always nice knowing the weekend is only a few days away
What’s the best thing you have eaten so far this week? Do you link up with WIAW?
Sweat to Street
| March 18, 2012 | Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under 4-6 Months, Baby, Fashion |
Happy Sunday y’all! I’m working on my southern dialect to get ready for Savannah I hope you all enjoyed some Irish beer last night and maybe danced a jig or two. Did you see Ellen on Friday? If not, check out her Irish jig dare
Anyways … since it’s Sunday it’s time for another Sweat to Street link-up!
HOSTS:
Family and Life in Las Vegas (Emily)
Wild Things RUN Free (Charlotte)
Running and Cupcakes (Samantha)
MCM Mama (Erika)
Boobs, Barbells, and Broccoli (Tenecia)
**Visit their blogs if you want to link up too!!!
***IF YOU WANT TO FOLLOW SWEAT TO STREET ON TWITTER OR PLAN ON TWEETINGYOUR POST, PLEASE USE THE HASHTAG #SweatToStreet***
Sweat to Street has been created as a place to link up your favorite outfits of the week as a new Sunday blog feature. The idea is to have some fun and change it up!Each week we encourage you to post one workout outfit and one outfit you wore that isn’t fitness related.
This week’s featured blogger is my good friend Maria from A Life to Bragg About! She is one hot and stylish mama and her baby Caleb is 1 month younger than the Emster and ADORABLE.
SWEAT
Top: Nike
Shorts: Lululemon Speed Short (similar)
The unbelievably beautiful weather has allowed me to wear SHORTS this week! The Arizona girl in me is singing HALLELUJAH!!
STREET
Top: J. Crew perfect shirt
Shorts: Joes Jeans (similar)
Shoes: Toms University Red
The only downside about the weather is that I have absolutely NO 3-6 month clothing for the Emster that is appropriate for these warm temps. This is so atypical for March in Missouri so I thought I would be in the clear. So not the case. She is a little small for them but I am dressing her in her 6-9 month summer-wear to beat the heat.
Emmalyne’s Fashions
Romper: Carters
Yes we are matching. No I didn’t plan it. In fact, I didn’t even realize it until Chris got home and pointed it out. Oops. Like mother like daughter? ;)
Hope you are having a fabulous weekend full of laughter, fun, and family/friends
What’s your favorite clothing brand?
WIAW + Blueberry Protein Pancakes
| March 14, 2012 | Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under 4-6 Months, Breakfast, Dinner, Recipes, WIAW |
Happy Wednesday friends! Thank you for all your kind words yesterday about my allergy testing. It’s amazing to me how many of you have gone thru testing also! I am super stoked it’s Wednesday not only because I get the awful patches off, but also because it means it’s time for another “What I Ate Wednesday” with Jenn!
Once again I failed miserably at thinking about “greenifying” my eats for yesterday but here are my eats from Tuesday nonetheless …
Breakfast
Blueberry protein pancakes. Since I couldn’t hit the gym today I decided that I had the extra time it takes to whip of pancakes and enjoy a leisurely breakfast!
Blueberry Protein Pancakes
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients (6 pancakes)
- 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1 tablespoon flax
- 1 tablespoon Truvia
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 1 cup blueberries
Instructions
Preheat a greased griddle over medium heat.
In a medium-size bowl mix together the dry ingredients.
Add your wet ingredients and mix until well combined.
Add the blueberries and mix.
Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, spoon batter onto griddle.
Allow to cook for 3-4 minutes. When bubbles form and pop, it is time to flip the pancakes. Cook an additional 1-2 minutes.
Lunch
Turkey sandwich with carrots and strawberries. Old friend made a comeback! Super easy lunch which was necessary since Emmie was in QUITE the mood today
Work-Out
Since I have the allergy patch test on my back I couldn’t go to the gym. Instead I took the Emster and the pups on a 1 1/2 mile walk and then spent an hour and a half at the dog park. Can’t WAIT to hit the gym today to catch up on bootcamp
Dinner
Grilled pork chops, corn, and grilled potato packets. It was WAY too beautiful out last night to NOT grill. Chris got home from work and played with Emmalyne while I prepared the food. He fired up the grill and we enjoyed some wine while our food cooked.
**I forgot to take pictures of my snacks today but they included Chobani yogurt with granola and chia seeds, a cara cara orange, some Special K cracker chips, and PB cheerios before bed
What was your favorite thing you ate yesterday?
Happy Wednesday friends! Thank you for all your kind words yesterday about my allergy testing. It’s amazing to me how many of you have gone thru testing also! I am super stoked it’s Wednesday not only because I get the awful patches off, but also because it means it’s time for another “What I Ate Wednesday” with Jenn!
Once again I failed miserably at thinking about “greenifying” my eats for yesterday but here are my eats from Tuesday nonetheless …
Breakfast
Blueberry protein pancakes. Since I couldn’t hit the gym today I decided that I had the extra time it takes to whip of pancakes and enjoy a leisurely breakfast!
Blueberry Protein Pancakes
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients (6 pancakes)
- 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1 tablespoon flax
- 1 tablespoon Truvia
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 1 cup blueberries
Instructions
Preheat a greased griddle over medium heat.
In a medium-size bowl mix together the dry ingredients.
Add your wet ingredients and mix until well combined.
Add the blueberries and mix.
Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, spoon batter onto griddle.
Allow to cook for 3-4 minutes. When bubbles form and pop, it is time to flip the pancakes. Cook an additional 1-2 minutes.
Lunch
Turkey sandwich with carrots and strawberries. Old friend made a comeback! Super easy lunch which was necessary since Emmie was in QUITE the mood today
Work-Out
Since I have the allergy patch test on my back I couldn’t go to the gym. Instead I took the Emster and the pups on a 1 1/2 mile walk and then spent an hour and a half at the dog park. Can’t WAIT to hit the gym today to catch up on bootcamp
Dinner
Grilled pork chops, corn, and grilled potato packets. It was WAY too beautiful out last night to NOT grill. Chris got home from work and played with Emmalyne while I prepared the food. He fired up the grill and we enjoyed some wine while our food cooked.
**I forgot to take pictures of my snacks today but they included Chobani yogurt with granola and chia seeds, a cara cara orange, some Special K cracker chips, and PB cheerios before bed
What was your favorite thing you ate yesterday?
