The Zarski Household Update

This week is flying by and Asher is getting bigger and bigger with each passing day. We're out of almost all of our 3-6 month clothes now. I need to do some serious closet pruning. It's so tempting to buy new, cute clothes in bigger sizes, but knowing that he will only be in them for 2-3 months at the most helps keep my debit card in my wallet and my eyes away from Zulily. We've got so many things already that should last him awhile longer, thanks to our wonderful baby shower gifts and a plethora of outfits from both Grandmas in a range of sizes. They love spoiling him!

We're not quite crawling yet, but I'm sure any day now Asher is just going to take off across the living room. He "inchworm" crawls and sometimes moves in a circle or backwards.

In light of this quickly approaching development, I was able to talk John into letting me get a new rug for our living room. I found a great one on overstock.com that matches almost too well. It came yesterday! I also put away the baby swing that we haven't used in months and our living room looks so much bigger now! It's crazy how such a small change can really brighten up a room.

Suki likes to incessantly LICK the couch, so we have to protect it with a million throw blankets to avoid wet spots everywhere. Pugs are weird. I'm also going to replace the pillows and throws with ivory ones to keep the focus on the rug. Thanks to my sis, April, for the suggestion! :)

I also finally got around to covering all of our outlet plugs with safety covers. Yay! Next is the cabinet safety latches, but we still have a little time for those. They require some drilling, it looks like, so I'll be recruiting John for some help there. You don't want to see what I can do with a drill.

After our disastrous doggy-poo incident (happened twice more after that first morning, yuck!), I took Sumo to the vet and it turns out his gastrointestinal issues are stress-related. Our furry friend seems to still be upset from his recent boarding and/or still having a hard time adjusting to Asher having taken away some of his attention from Mommy (that's me!). I'll admit that I haven't been paying enough attention to him since we first brought Asher home, so I am making it a priority to give him some extra love. I've been getting him more involved when I am sitting with Asher, too, so that he warms up to him - and it's working! He's been letting Asher pet him more than ever and has been licking him like crazy (he likes to search out delicious dried hypoallergenic spit-up; but who can blame him? Yum!).



We have a new sleep routine going on due to some serious growing! I put Asher down around 7:30pm and he is up like clockwork between 10:30 and 11 for a bottle. It coincides with John getting home from work, so I almost wonder if Asher has recognized that pattern and wants to see his daddy. (Too much "crazy mommy" on that one? My baby is a genius? Sorry.) He'll stay up for about 45 minutes or so and then is back down until around 8:00am. I'm happy that we're getting that extra bottle in and also that he gets to see his dad a little more! When wedding season starts to taper off soon, he'll get more daddy time during the day with John not having to spend so much time at our shop.

I snapped this is NC on our vaca, but he has picked the habit back up starting a few days ago.
{ Love the Honest Co. dipes, BTW. Post to come soon on that. }

While on the sleep subject, Asher has started sleeping on his side, which is going to be a tremendous help for correcting his "flat head". This morning, though, he woke up with extremely puffy eyes! From a quick Google search, it seems pretty normal for when they start sleeping on their tummies/sides and should resolve quickly, but I am going to keep a close eye and definitely mention it to the doctor at our next appointment. Has anyone else had this happen?

The swelling had started to subside at this point, (like 1 hour after waking, but you can still see it a little on his right eye. :(

I've been gathering ideas for 6 month (half birthday!!) photos of Asher. So far I am thinking of having him wear a denim overall outfit with no shirt underneath for one outfit, a cute Mudpie chevron and giraffe coverall that I purchased before he was born (perfect fit now!), a onesie/leg-warmer from Kakabaka on Etsy, and of course some bare-bottomed baby pics :). I have my eyes on the CUTEST newsboy set with vest, bow-tie, and hat, but can't justify spending $75+ on a one time wear outfit. I'll have to save that sort of thing for 1 year pics. Maybe I'll just get the hat. And bow-tie. And vest. Ha! Any cute ideas? I'm all ears!

I'm kind of excited, I am going to attempt a semi-pro photo shoot with him on my own... we'll see how it goes and if I'm not pleased I'll have our photog. on speed dial. :) I'm sure we'll try to fit in a session with her anyways, but I'm going to challenge myself to get some professional looking photos on my own. I've ordered a 5 in 1 reflector because I think even lighting is one of the things I am missing when I don't use a flash, but I LOVE the look of natural light. I also have been looking at backdrops and some other fun props... I'm going to try and get a post together showing my "behind the scenes" with tips for taking pics yourself and FINALLY getting together some info on photography including my equipment, tips, etc. So look out for that in about a month!

We've introduced sweet potatoes now and all seems to be going well! I really need to get to the grocery store and pick up some more of those Happy Baby and Sprout food pouches. We're doing great with the stage 1 pouches right now and bananas are easy enough to mash up in the mornings, so I'll wait to make homemade baby food that until the "fun" combinations can begin!

So that's our week so far and now I need to stop procrastinating, for real! As usual, here are some more cute pics! :)

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Baby Asher Begins Solids - 4 1/2 Months

With babies, I guess you have to follow suit with the same philosophy that people tell you to with your birth plan - you can plan all you want, but you have to be ready to roll with the punches and be prepared for the unexpected.

Just 2 weeks ago I was all for waiting the full 6 months to start Asher on solid food. Then, his 4 month sleep regression hit, he went through a MAJOR growth spurt, and he was watching us eat our food like a hawk. With STTN already out the window (he's back to STTN now, knock on wood) and his eating so much of that ridiculously expensive hypoallergenic baby formula, I figured why not?


IS MY BABY READY FOR SOLIDS?

Baby Asher was showing the following signs of readiness:

• Is over 4 months of age
• Good head control
• Can sit with support
• Has doubled his birth weight
• Eating 32+ ounces per day
• Losing tongue-thrust
• Chews on toys, fingers, etc.
• Stares at food longingly

GASP! WE DID NOT START WITH CEREAL

Why? From my research I have found that...

*Babies can't digest grains because their bodies do not produce the enzyme necessary to do so, pancreatic amylase, until 1-2 years old or when their first molars come in. Supposedly this can throw off the balance of bacteria in their digestive tracts and cause lots of problems including food allergies. Even after 1 year, some recommend limiting all grains until their molars come in.

*Feeding white rice based cereal is the equivalent of feeding your baby spoonfuls of sugar.

*The recommendation started with an advertising blitz in the 1950s and there isn't any actual scientific evidence that starting with cereals is necessary or best.

*Starting with carbohydrates may prime baby's palate for processed carbohydrates and can lead to obesity and other health problems later in life.

*Many rice cereals contain cancer-causing arsenic.

I did find Happy Baby Happy Bellies Organic Brown Rice Cereal which is sourced from California and regularly tested for arsenic (and has never shown any). It's available at Publix! It also has probiotics in it which is a plus. I haven't given any to Asher yet and need to do some more research on the whole digestion of grains subject before I do. Any advice is welcome!

What about iron? From what I've read, babies may need additional iron (mostly breastfed babies) starting at 6 months. This can be attained through the solids, so we will work in iron containing baby food options at that time. Lentils, chickpeas, tofu, meats, even sweet potato all offer iron. Our use of iron-fortified formula is a plus for us. Also, excess iron can cause problems, too, so those iron-fortified cereals on top of iron fortified formula could end up harmful.



ASHER'S FIRST SOLID FOOD WAS BANANA!

He loved it! If you choose to start your baby off with banana make sure it is ripe (almost over ripe) or it can lead to constipation. It makes a great first fruit because it is soft and sweet and full of wonderful nutrients.

His first solid foods have been/will be:

Banana
Carrots
Avocado
Sweet potato
Butternut squash

I'm not opposed to the store-bought baby food. The best from what I have researched is the Happy Baby brand which is organic and does not have any added sodium. Be careful that in the grocery store they stock the Sprout organic brand right next to the Happy Baby pouches and they look exactly the same! I bought a whole bunch of the Sprout ones by accident. Not that they're bad, I actually gave Asher the carrots today. But they do have a little sodium in them - not much, but it's there.

I plan on mostly making homemade baby food for Asher. Hopefully this will result in better tasting, more nutrient rich food for him. I found a book on making 100 days worth of baby food in 2 hours and will get steamin' and mashin' (or blending) when it comes in. I also have another book with baby food recipes, although most are for down the road when he is a little older. More on homemade baby food to come!

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