Why I write...

It's an interesting thing... This blog. Sometimes I feel like I don't even remember why I started it.

I think it went like this, I like being frugal, I should share my thoughts on being frugal. Somewhere along the line my purpose changed... For the better I think.

I just began writing about life. As a teacher, I think of my blog as my writers workshop.

The more I wrote the easier it became.
 The more I wrote the more i developed my own voice.
The more I wrote the more I loved writing.

 I really feel like I have improved as a writer, except for my grammar. Sorry comma police..., I still use commas incorrectly!

I don't have thousands or even hundreds of followers. I do get excited every time someone tells me they read a blog post or read my blog. And when I hear people tell me the ways God has used some of my rambling in their life, I am amazed. I am amazed that God would take something so small and use it for His glory.

From time to time you will still find my adventure in being frugal...

But my prayer has become that you will see a snapshot of a family following Christ.

5 on Friday!!!

Five thoughts for the week...

1. Baby Led Weaning... seriously we love it!  Check out the blog post! :)

2.  Half marathon training... running the Savannah Half in November... getting there slowly but surely.  Training with a 6 month old depending on you is difficult... there are just not enough hours in the day  

3. Just started reading the book Give them Grace: Dazzling your Kids with the Love of Jesus. Have you read it?  I have only read the first chapter and it seems really good so far.  It talked about how we try to raise "good" kids instead of kids that are totally dependent on God's grace.

4. Parenthood season premiere last night... so good.  You should watch.
5.  This week has been a whirlwind... unfortunately I don't even have a 5th thing... I wish I could insert some cute fall decoration or outfit here, but this is real life... and that did not happen :)!

Baby Led Weaning... have you heard of it???

Baby Led Weaning... have you heard of it?  It is a way to experience food with your little ones.

First of all... What is baby led weaning?

Letting your babe eat real foods from the start.. aka no purees!  At 6 months babies can sit up and are capable of feeding themselves... so why not let them.  Babies are fed soft, appropriate sized versions of the foods you eat.  You put the food right on their high chair tray, and they explore through touch, smell and taste.  There is no stress to eat a lot from the beginning, because nutrients primarily comes from breast milk (or formula), you don't cut any feedings.  I really like to refer to baby led weaning (BLW) as baby led solids because the weaning is a very slow process, it really is more of a process of adding solid foods.

Why are we doing solid foods this way?

I heard about BLW in my research during pregnancy (if you know me, I research everything).  We decided that this was going to be the way to go for us.  Then when BD was a couple months old we read this book about BLW.  The book was just... OK.  It was really trying to sell us on the BLW thing, and honestly we were already sold.  I still think the book is decent to have around, maybe to borrow from a friend :).  So anyways... the reasons we did it this way-

1)  It allows them to learn to chew before they learn to swallow.  When you feed babies purees, they suck it own their thought, just like they would milk.  Then when you introduce more chunk purees many babies struggle because they try to suck them to the back of their thought too.  Babies learn from the get go that they must chew food.  I can even see Bailey learning and adjusting what size pieces she is able to swallow.  Any yes you can chew without teeth (BD is still a gummy little thing)... guess it is more like gumming your food.

2)  BD is really getting to explore her food, especially the textures.  When doing purees everything is the same texture.  BD can feel, smell and taste.

3)  BD only eats when she is hungry.  There is no choo choo trains trying to force her to eat... if she is hungry she eats and she decides how much to eat.  If I give her more than one food, she chooses how much of each food to eat.  We never force her to eat anything.  This takes the stress out of meal times and teaches BD to eat when hungry.  Breast milk is more nutritious that almost anything we could give her, so she is still getting everything she needs.

4) Meal time stays a family experience.  Andrew and I don't have to scarf down our food or take turns eating so BD can eat.  She does not have to have her meal times seperate from us.  We can sit down as a family and just enjoy.

5) Works on hand eye coordination... every meal is a cognitive workout! :)

5) Selfishly, this is way cheaper and easier.  I am not spending money on prepackaged baby food.  I am not spending my time on making baby food.  I just adjust what we are eating so that she can eat it too.

6) Hopefully our whole family will start eating healthier.  I joke with Andrew because almost everything she has eaten so far... he does not like.  Hoping BD will teach us a thing or two about eating healthy!

***Sidenote- we are not against purees... this just worked best for us!!! :)

Any disadvantages?
1) It's a mess.  We went ahead and took all the padding off the highchair (BD does not mind) so it is easier to wipe down.  Also, as long as we are not out, we let her eat in just a diaper, because even with a bib she gets food on her clothes.  And the floor underneath, we are thinking about getting a thick plastic table cloth to put under her highchair.

2) Personally, I am not a very good cook.  And while I am trying to learn to love to cook, I am not there yet.  I burnt three batches of oven baked sweet potato fries the other day and ended up serving BD half floppy half burnt sweet potatoes... luckily BD did not mind.  This probably isn't a problem for most people... but it is for me!

Isn't she going to choke?
Might be the most asked question... but NO!  She has gagged, but only once or twice.  As long as you have your baby sitting upright and give appropriate pieces (soft enough and usually long so that it is easy to grab from the get go) you are good to go.  Ironically, babies are more likely to choke with purees (the whole sucking to the back of the thought thing, they tend to continue to do that even it is a more chunky puree.

What has BD eaten so far?

Sweet potato, zuccini, peaches, banana, butternut squash, chicken (yes chicken!), cottage cheese, pasta, and cucumber... I think that is it so far :)

How does BD like it?
Just check out the pictures... they say it all :)

BD 6 months...

 BD 6 months...

Monthly Milestones

 

*First time in a shopping cart! She loved it!

*First time eating solid foods... see eating patterns below and I will do a blog post soon on baby led weaning! :)

*I would say she is REALLY becoming mobile!  She can turn her whole body any direction she wants to, then scoot forward and backward using their arms and legs.  What is funny, is that she can figure out what makes her go forward and what makes her go backwards... so she will be tring to go one direction, but actually move the other.  And sometimes it looks like she is trying to pull up on things.  If I were to make a prediction it would be crawling very soon... but walking not until a year... she is just so chunky, it has got to be hard to lift that whole body up! :)

*She has been sitting up for quite sometime, but now she can really sit up and play independently for an extended period!

*Super baby push ups-  Bailey Drew has pretty much always loved tummy time. Now she likes to do this thing where she pushes up on her hands and toes... like she is doing a legit push up:)


*First run with me in the jogging stroller... another thing that is supposed to wait for 6 months, but it was a super smooth trail and BD has great head control.  She slept most of my 3 mile run! :)

Favorite Things...

*Taggie- a strange toy that I found at a baby consignment sale.  It has "tags all over it... since BD loves tags, this is a dream toy! :)

*Playmat... again!  Seriously, this simple playmat that we got for next to nothing last Black Friday has been one of the best things... for 6 months straight it has been her favorite!  She can now destroy it moving around to pull off every toy and link!

 *Standing with support! :)


*Anything paper/anything I am not supposed to have.   BD has managed to eat some paper this month. She also tries to get phones, remote controls, cords... really anything she is NOT supposed to have is better than a toy!

*Crib toy


*Walker like toy... thank you Abby and Greg for giving this to us ... she can't stop playing the little piano on it!


*Probably isn't safe... but it is exciting... BD loves being thrown, dipped, turned upside down... maybe a thrill seeker?  This picture... her face :)

Weight...

Got an exact measurement a few weeks ago... 20lbs 2 oz... probably a little more now??? Praying for her to platau soon at least for a little bit so we can wear some of these clothes longer!!! :)

Height...

28 inches a few weeks ago... our carseat only goes to 30, so we will be making a switch soon!

Clothing Size...

6-12 month

Sleep Patterns...

Daytime sleep... you have become pretty much a rockstar!  Usually you get up in the morning around 6.  You might catch a catnap for 30 at school around 9:30, but many days you don't.  When we get home from school you take a long nap from about 12:30-3:00ish.  Depending upon whether you took a morning nap and how long your afternoon nap you might catch a 30 minute catnap in the afternoon.  So in other words 1 nap and a catnap, or just 1 nap a day.  From what I read babies don't usually do this for a while, but you are happy almost all the time, so I take it you are getting enough sleep.

At night, well, you mainly want to sleep with me... so much so that I would say we are a semi co-sleeping family.  Something I vowed I would never do!  But it really isn't bad and has mostly worked for us.  I still think it is time for you to be mostly in your crib, so we will work on it this coming month.

Eating Patterns...

Daytime you are great!  You are still breast-fed and you eat 5 times a day including your feeding before bed.

You have been showing all the signs for eating solid foods since about 4 months... and we tried very hard to wait until 6 months, but we ended up starting just a tad early since we could not keep our food away from you.  We are doing baby led weaning. This means the baby continues to get most of their nutrients from milk, preferably breast milk as you introduce solid foods.  You introduce foods that the baby can eat themselves and the baby self feeds.

BD has been all about the solid foods.  The book and blogs I read said that she may not actually eat any food for a month... but she has been eating tons since day one!  We have lots of pictures of the messy fun and look for a blog post in the near future about our baby led weaning experience!

And a few million pics of BD eating... 

Outings and Celebrations...

*BCM Low Country Boil

*Super hero and princess day at Chicfila

this pic cracks me up... she would not take her eyes off of spiderman!!!

*Trip to Augusta- we took some fun UGA family pics! :)

*Uncle John Henry came to visit

*DNOW in south Georgia

Nicknames...

*Little Bit

*Little Chunk

*Chunky monkey

*Bailey Boo

*Bailey Boo Hoo

*Bailey Bug

*Bailey, Bailey Drew (Sung to the tune of Scooby Doo)

*Spit up queen- seriously she spits up all the time (this can also be sung to the tune of dancing queen) thought this would get better as we introduced  solid food... we are still waiting!

Things others have said about you...

*"She has so much hair!"

*"She is so big!"

*"She looks like she is about to crawl."

*"She is chill/easy going"

"Look at those chunks!"

Things we have noticed about you...

* You love eating and drinking real food.

*You seem really chill about things.

*You love seeing all different people! Little social butterfly.

*Persistent and determined... still

*The more people the better!

*You do like a little bit of alone play time.

*You love to smile and laugh.

For Bailey Drew...

This has been an emotional milestone for us.  Have you really been here a half a year already?  Have you really changed this much?  I couldn't help but tear up a couple of times this month as I saw newborn babies or as we were packing up clothes that don't fit anymore.  How can you be growing so fast?

But it is really exciting times too.  You are so interactive, you are getting mobile, you are eating... you are such a little person!  Sometimes you think you are an adult just like us.  Your personality is shining through more each day.  You love all different people, the more the merrier.  You talk and socialize with us and with other babies. You laugh and chuckle at funny and surprising things.

We love you so much... words do not describe.  Seriously, some days we just watch you sleep.  We read Scripture to you each day and pray for you... pray that you will know the awesome God of the universe! :)

Looking back...

BD 5 month...

BD 4 month...

BD 3 month...

BD 2 month...

BD 1month...

Birth Story...

Bailey Drew is here!!!