Rice cakes R us

We love rice cakes! Ra ra ra. The pale crispy polystyrene tasting discs of fun. Florence has discovered that she can have one of these and feast for literally hours. She can store any left overs under her chin, in her neck, armpit, even elbow and continue to suck and gum away hours after the fact. Laden with philly they can even be stored on the roof of her mouth for supper mmmm mmmm.

We decided to go with the rice cakes even though some of the packets (heinz) say not for babies under twelve months and even though it is not in keeping with the not wheat/gluten / fun/ taste/ solid 'guidelines'. The cow and gate ones say six months so maybe not soooo bad. Extremely handy tho'. We have shared a organix biscuit too, with a friend Oliver. That went down a treat, especially on her clothes, in her ears, eyes and all over Mummy too.

I'm not exactly sure how much food Florence is taking in, and to be honest a little part of me is still concerned that I'm giving her food that 'guidelines' (grrrrr) advise against but so far, fingers crossed, everything is going well. Florence's nappies definately indicate some food is reaching her tum tho'!

My Mummy's Roast Dinner is the Best (bar Nannie's)

The Lamb was beautifully pink and juicy, the parnips were perfectly roasted, the carrots were sweet with honey and the gravy, ohhhh the gravy...

Mama's roast dinner, a perfect opportunity for Florence to sample parnips, carrots, lamb and roast potatoes. I roasted the carrots and the parsnips as advised by hananabanana on her baby centre blog- lightest spray of oil and pop in the oven, keeps them in one piece better than steaming or boiling- and gave Florence a nice large piece of lamb and a crunchy roast potato too. The carrots were quickly discarded ( didnt quite cut them large enough; they shrink when roasted) and the potato was scattered by the amazing wind screen wiper action arm (wax on, wax off). The lamb had a good old gumming but Florence began a love affair with parsnip which lasted at least twenty minutes or so. She just couldn't get enough. What a lovely couple they made.

Also found glorious evidence of Florence actually consumming what she has been playing with since last week; Her nappy demonstrated the delights of brocolli branches, kiwi pips and one lone raisin- must have been the raisin toast I let her chew on early one morning- NAUGHTY Mummy, NO RAISINS!!!

Little trees

Florence was asleep again for dinner. Florence has no concept of routine in regards to sleeping or BF; she sleeps when she's tired and BF's when she's hungry. Some may wince but by baby number three I've found far more important things to worry about and having the luxury of being a SAHM makes it all a little easier to bear.

We managed to wake sleeping beauty and place her gently in her throne. She was still a little woozey so she sat and watched Daddy eat his dinner and didnt seem to notice the titchy green trees of brocolli on her brand new pink tiny diner 'hey diddle diddle' tray (ebay bargin). She didnt even notice the fluffy new silly billyz purple bib she was now wearing (again thank you Mr Ebay). Bechod, but never mind. Eventually Florence noticed the florets and decided to have a nibble. She managed to get some into her mouth and pulled some peculiar faces; not sure if she didnt like the taste, texture or just all a little strange.

I have been wondering whether Florence has actually eaten any of the food over the past few days; her nappy is yet to reveal her secrets. To be honest I have been wondering/worrying whether I have started all too soon. But she seems to enjoy the sitting at the table process and picks the food from the table and into her mouth all of her own accord so she is doing exactly what it says on the tin - baby led weaning...A little later however, on sitting up after a little BF, she brought up a little milk which had a few green tadpoles surfing on it so I now know some food did go down.

Sunblushed or sundried?

Today Florence managed to stay conscious for her evening meal. Bright and alert she sat ready on her throne, waiting excitedly to see what delights her loyal sevants would bring her. Juicy quarters of rosy red tomatoes, sprinkles of matured Irish cheddar and succulent slithers of jewel green cucumber were piled high on the royal plate. With gusto she dived in and devoured the plump ruby chunks. Impatiently she squashed the pale green sabres into her eyes, cheeks and fists desparate to reach her wide open mouth...

You get the picture. Basically it was carnage. Papa was on pins desparately trying to stop the plate (tupperware top actually-still no tray as yet) hitting the floor or any of Florence's food invading his own precious meal. Food was everywhere, in every orafice, crease and crevice. But again fun was had all round and Florence seemed to genuinely enjoy feeding herself again.

Until next time...ttfn

Baby got back

Well we now have a cushion, booster an' all, so now baby got back so to speak. Thing is they're not waterproof?!? Not sure about the rationale behind that but they match the highchair so...

Looks eerily like a James Bond ejector seat don'cha think?

Anyway today Florence slept through dinner so perhaps BLW hasn't started after all! She did have a suck on some toast this morning though. Here she is with her big sis. From the look on Florence's face I think maybe she did miss dinner actually...

Party of five

And so dinnertime came and the party of five, Florence with her new highchair, sat down for their first ever meal together...ahh bliss





Or rather mess, slobber, peels of laughter, regurgitated cheese and cucumber bogies.

On a whim (limb?) the usually neatly polished and indecently organised mummy had managed to conjure up a new highchair (bought before birth, previously hidden in the rafters of the garage), large bibs (gift from work colleagues) and organic, free range, dairy/gluten/peanut/wheat/flavour(?) free cucumber, grated cheese (grated to prove a point to Papa that shoving a huge lump in is not the best way) and cracker bread. However due to fact that commencment of FLW (Florence led weaning) was in fact scheduled for late December/early January, Mummy did not have - Floor mat, plate/bowl/table mat, booster cushion and very importantly a drink beaker/cup of some description.

Note to self- compile list of must haves for future reference/other BLW'ers.

So Florence happily munched through her meal (well if you can catagorise sticking food in ones ears, nose, eye and neck, sucking enthusiastically and regurgitating and then reswallowing cheese, as munching) whilst strapped securely (read straightjacket type harnessing) into her highchair, propped gently (read blankets rammed into any spare space) by a blanket and the occasional shove from daddy to keep her upright. She feasted for fifteen minutes or so and was saved from dehydration by Mummy moistening her lips with tiny droplets of perfectly chilled and filtered L'eau du table (read Mummy tipping glass of water all down front of bib and said baby). Finn and Isabella laughed at every attempt and Papa secretly wiped away a tear as he marvelled at the knowledge that his baby girl was all grown up and demanding solids...

Mummy is now spending her day searching the internet for- roll up table mat (tiny diner hippo mat), doidy cups (Babyzoop), non leak (Pah!) beakers (any suggestions my BLW commrades?)booster cushions, tumble dryable bibs (silly Billyz), floor mat (blooming marvellous/ELC); Oh Papa will be pleased...





Pie and chips for next time...

Wasn't going to start this soon but...

Florence turned 20 weeks old today and although she has been exploring food already, pain au chocolat and bagette in France at 17 weeks (can literally hear HV sharp intake of breath), and has been showing a keen interest in what goes in and out of Mama and Papa's mouths I had decided that we, Florence and I, were quite happy with just BF and were not going to offically try BLW or any other weaning for that matter, till at least five and a half months. However during a trip out to lunch with Nannie all that changed. On the arrival of Nannie's and Mummy's food Florence decided she was extremely annoyed at the two of us happily munching away. She proceeded to scream angrily until we gave her some food of her own. Initially we were shocked at her cries and both Nannie and I tried all we could to pacify her. To no avail these feeble attempts were to be. However on presentation of a baton shaped piece of pepper (an omen?), a thick slice of cucumber and a juicy red quarter of a tomato, Florence regained her composure, smiled angelically and sucked, munched and gurned her way through the rest of the meal...peace at last. And so at 20 weeks Florence takes her first steps in the unchartered realms of BLW...

until dinnertime then...