Attack of the Taggie

Bella has really taken to this fun looking little doll. She chews on it every chance she gets, but still has yet to master grabbing it. Adam captured her on video chewing away at it until she got frustrated. The doll has received a name - “Taggie”, very creative, huh? Taggie joins Bella’s well rounded group of friends; Fred the fan, Ned & Ted the Ferrets, Blanky, and NumNums. I’ll have to post pics of Ned and Ted later. It's the simple things in life that make it worthwhile.

Thanks to the wonderful ladies on my December Mama board, we have been discussing solid foods for Arabella. Granted she's not quite 3 months, but it doesn't hurt to get things in order before the time comes. The pediatrician had discussed giving her Rice Cereal at 4 months, to which I will shoot down at our 4 month check up. I do not want to introduce solids until 6 months to give her GI tract the time it requires to develop. With that behind us the next choice is what will we feed her? I know that jarred food is easy, but the good stuff in life isn't always easy. Adam and I plan on starting our garden this spring so we can use our own foods. All I have to do is start the seeds and everything is ready to go. We are going to get a baby food processor and we will be set. The girls (namely Jen) did most of the research for us and even gave a great cookbook suggestion, for baby food. I'm kind of excited. Next item on the agenda is what to give her when. I kinda of like Dr. Sears plan for introducing solids, but I may modify it. He starts out with Rice Cereal, bananas, pears and applesauce. I've heard bad things about giving the bananas so soon (staining on clothes) and I don't like the idea of giving strictly sweet food for the first month because then she'll associate foods with sweets instead of nutrition. I may also check with my friend Liz because I like the plan she followed with Zoё. If I remember correctly she introduced the "orange" foods first such as sweet potatoes, carrots, peaches. Ugh, who knew feeding a baby could be so cumbersome? In the end we will do what is best for our little girl. I get goosebumps just thinking about her even being close enough for this sort of thing. Wasn't it just yesterday we brought her home from the hospital? It's true what they say, you can't wait to get out of high school and "grow up" and once you do, time flies by before you know it.