Brinleigh Update!
Brinleigh is now 5 1/2 months old and we are still amazed everyday by this beautiful little Angel that we created. She is still developing her own personality and we are having so much fun watching her grow. Her latest obsession is her feet and toes. She is fascinated with them. She is constantly touching them, holding them, watching them, or sucking on them. Yes. My daughter sucks on her own feet. Don't judge her. She is starting to recognize her senses and so she is fascinated with touching the things she sees or looking at the things she hears. She loves being talked to and if she is facing us and can reach, she likes to put her hands on our faces. She is learning how to control her hands more and she can grab things intentionally now. You can see how focused she gets when she wants something and she is trying to get it in her tiny hands. She reaches out and tries to grab or touch anything she can see withing arms reach. This has made eating and drinking much more interesting for me when I'm holding her.
She absolutely LOVES Gunner. She is obsessed with him to say the least. If he comes within eyesight of her, she stares and watches him until he either leaves the room or until she gets bored with him laying still. She is amazed by him and gets so excited when he comes close enough for her to touch. When he licks or sniffs her hands she laughs and if she can pet him it makes her giggle. Gunner, however, wants nothing to do with her for the most part. I try so hard to get him to give her attention but he only cares about getting loved on from Kolt and I. We will continue working on this.
Her favorite toys at the moment consist of her new jungle exersaucer, which I promptly ordered upon returning home from our Christmas vacation (and put together all by myself, Thank you very much), her taggies elephant that was bought with one of her Christmas gift cards, any type of cloth (washcloth, towel, burp rag, sock, shirt, etc.) and tags of any sort.
Brinleigh is starting to hold her bottle on her own now, with a little help from us still. She doesn't fully understand that she needs to keep it tilted for the milk to flow but she can put her hands on it and hold it still for the most part. It is quite a cute sight to see.
And for the BIGGEST and most exciting news in the Foreman household ::insert drum roll here::
We have officially started feeding Brinleigh baby food! While insistently waiting until her six month well baby check up, I had an epiphany. Come to find out, I'm actually a little behind the curve.
While grocery shopping a couple weeks ago, I decided to buy a box of baby oatmeal. I knew that once we had her six month appointment we would be starting solids and the baby rice and oatmeal are usually the first. The night we bought it, I got adventurous and made a bowl according to the directions. We attempted to feed her the soup like oatmeal (that's how it is supposed to be at first) which turned into a hot mess. I ended up just giving her a bottle after a few bites sips. I again, decided to wait for the doctors go ahead to start baby food. Brinleigh has been a lot fussier than normal, which I chalked up to her teething. She has also been nursing A LOT more than she was before we left for Christmas. I assumed this was because going to Arizona for three weeks threw her off schedule and sleeping in the bed with us got her attached to me. I started to think the other day that maybe she is fussy and trying to nurse so often because she is hungry and the milk isn't cutting it anymore. So again, we attempted the baby oatmeal, this time I made it a little thicker. She grabbed a hold of that spoon like it was nobody's business and began scarfing down every bit of oatmeal that went into her mouth. She grunted and moaned in between bites like I wasn't feeding her fast enough. After she finished the oatmeal I decided to try something else. Recently, I have been putting pieces of banana into her fresh food teether and she gums them into mush and then sucks it out like it's her job. Soooo, after she finished the oatmeal I decided to mash up part of a banana and mix it with some oatmeal. She absolutely loved it! This of course, was all done before I read or researched anything about introducing baby to solids. I started reading through some books I have and realized that she is showing ALL of the signs that she is ready to start eating baby food, including reaching and grabbing for our food. A friend of mine then told me that usually the baby rice is the first food because it is thinner and easier for a baby to eat and oatmeal is the second, however, the oatmeal is healthier and better for them. Then my sister, Dana, told me to feed Brinleigh vegetables before fruits. I guess sometimes if a baby eats fruits first, they like the sweet taste and then refuse vegetables after. Ooops! So, as of now we are feeding her oatmeal twice a day and I am still nursing her like normal. This has seemed to help with her fussiness and I have also noticed that she doesn't act like she is always hungry now. It has helped improve her nap times so she sleeps longer and I'm hoping it will help her to start sleeping longer periods throughout the night without needing to nurse as often. (Our trip to Arizona really messed up our schedules, routines, and habits.) Needless to say, I don't think her gums have been bothering her as much as I initially thought they were. My growing little chunk of sunshine was just hungrier than I knew.
While on the topic of baby food, I think Kolt and I have decided that since I am staying home with Brinleigh and I have the time, that I will try to make her baby food. I just have to get the pure`e equipment to make and store the baby food. I'm also still looking into how to do this since I am a beginner.
That's all of our baby news for the time being. Brinleigh is still the happiest and most photogenic baby I have ever seen and she is still entertaining herself by hanging upside down any chance that she gets.
