Yummy

Max enjoyed what turned out to be almost a full week of eating banana. Ok, let's be real. I enjoyed my newfound time when he's busy sucking on his banana lollipop. Sweet!

After much deliberation and research, we have decided that his next food will be green beans. So Marc bought fresh green beans and boiled and pureed them. I was all prepared to make Max's food, but I was happy to let Marc take care of it. He's so good in the kitchen, and made Max's food for the next few days while I was putting Max to bed.

After Max fell asleep, I went in the kitchen to see how the process was going. And to my surprise, liquified green beans tasted delicious. I finger licked the blender clean. I think with a little salt and pepper it would be like any freshly made vegan soup I would order from A Votre Sante. Max's homemade baby food is delicious! Unbelievable, huh!

Only problem is that I shouldn't be eating so late at night. Green been mash after a huge Lizzy salad and sweet and salty mix from Trader Joe's for dessert. Who am I kidding. I do this every single night these days.

Sherrie is visiting from Dallas and we had a nice visit today. Our plan was to hike up temescal canyon with our babies. Her son Ethan weighs 10 lbs more than my little baby so I told her I would carry her son and she would carry mine. But she insisted that she had mom arms and was in great shape to carry the heavier baby. She even bragged to Marc that she was so strong and flexed her muscles for all to see.

That turned out to be a funny joke and we didn't even come close to the magnificent ocean view at the top of the loop. Nope, not this time. We had left salads and snacks in the car and she decided she would rather sit down at the beach and have a picnic than continue the forward march. We were hot and sweaty and tired.

In my opinion, it would have been easier to hike the rest of temescal. We didn't have any type of a blanket or towel to spread across the sand, so we improvised by sitting on our slings. I wish I had a picture of my awkward position. I spread my wet-with-sweat-moby wrap on the sand to sit on. As I attempted to snack on salad, I was holding Max with one hand and a little umbrella to keep us from getting a sunburn with the other hand.

We got sand in all our food and every crevice of our bodies, but it was a great time. Ethan has a funny love/hate relationship with the ocean. He's fascinated yet scared of the water that keeps coming back to get him. He was all boy running around and digging up sand.

Max was slightly less impressed. Nothing compares to milk bottle numbers one and two. He had his boobies so all was good. Yeah, imagine that. With everything else I was trying to balance, I had to whip out a sweaty boob for my boy. Kinda' yucky sounding, but what's a thirsty boy to do....

Sunday night we went to dinner at Sor Tino for Robert's birthday. I love this restaurant because it is walking distance from our house and the Italian food is delicious. It was such a nice, normal dinner, and then our little group of five (plus one sleeping baby) walked over to Yogurtland. We took the little sample cups and kept re-filling them over and over again. I couldn't stop laughing. Part of me was giddy happy at how long Max had slept without a peep and the other part of me couldn't believe this group (ages 33 - 42) was having so much fun eating free dessert. Gosh, we are so mature.

When I was little, I can remember thinking that being an adult meant you had to be a boring, predictable person. Now I think it means you can have more fun than ever. I can't believe no one at Yogurtland told us we needed to purchase a yogurt, or better yet to just leave.

Hey, I guess there are worse places to be than a yogurt bar on the weekends. At least we weren't at Cabo Cantina smoking cigs with the baby. Or better yet at home licking baby food off the counter.

Bananas & Babies

Max got to eat his first bite of a banana today. It was hilarious to see how much he loved it. We froze a small bite for him inside a mesh net. He worked on that banana for 20 minutes....enough time for me to make a beautiful salad for myself! It must have felt really good on his gums to chew on it because he smiled and kicked his legs with enthusiasm. It was the equivalent of giving Boogars catnip to let Max attack his new frozen treat!

I just put Max to bed at 10pm and I'm very curious if that bite of a banana will help him sleep any longer. He's been going 6 hours for his longest stretch these days and that is already considered sleeping through the night. But he is up 3 times almost every night and that's still a lot.

I'm proud of myself for not giving in to the baby training short cuts. Every time Max entered a growth spurt and was eating every hour or two, Marc would say to just feed him already. But then we'd get through that little phase and be so happy we were able to stick with exclusive breast feeding. This will ultimately benefit Max's health forever and reduce his risk of so many diseases including diabetes, allergies, and obesity.

I have to admit that when I look at my 17 pound baby who has more than doubled his weight, I am elated at the fact that I am the one who fed him every single meal. Even the small amount of bottles he's had has been my milk that I pumped. I think I would advise any new mom to just hang in there and keep up the good work. One day your baby will get sick and you might look back and wish you had done things differently. No regrets....

Thursdays at the park are always a treat. I love this group of mommies and babies. It is one of the highlights of my week to see this lovely group. Max is usually one of the most talkative babies of the bunch. I think he is happiest in groups like this where he is getting lots of attention. You can see Max upside down holding his rattle. It was a great day as usual!