Solids!

J feeding her little brother!

Starting solids is a messy messy ordeal, especially when you have an over-eager toddler helper on your hands.  We got the okay from our pediatrician to start solids with A and one of the things I definitely did right with J is with food.  She eats everything.  She's willing to try new foods (well, most of the time) and she typically just eats whatever we're eating. Case in point: devoured liver meatballs and beef goulash during our trip to Prague.
I want to make sure I do the same thing with A.  And basically once I started foods with J, I didn't stop - every 3-4 days I tried something new and just kept going and going...

Cannot get the food in fast enough

So A started solids about a week ago and so far he has enjoyed rice cereal, bananas, and avocado. And so far so good.  My fingers are crossed for an equally good eater.  The only difference is that this time, I'm trying my hand at making my own baby food.  For those that know me, this is definitely from my "crunchier" side.  I didn't even attempt this with J, but definitely something I wanted to at least try with A.  My best friend bought us the Baby Bullet and honestly, it's super easy.  One banana gave me almost 6 jars of food and one avocado gave me about the same.  So I have plenty of food for the week with two pieces of fruit and it took me five minutes, literally. I imagine I'll have to buy some more jars as he starts eating more and I'll definitely buy some baby food from the store, just to make sure I have it on hand, but the thought of not having the additives/preservatives in his food makes me happy.
Now, anytime you feed a 4.5 month old, it's going to get messy, but throw in my happy-to-help 3 year old and it's a MESS.  But if she can teach him all her good eating habits...I'll be a happy mommy.

More Kids?!?!

I don't know what it is about Jenna turning one but all of a sudden we've started talking about the future of our family (meaning when should we start trying for baby #2).  Not only have hubby and I started talking about it - but people have started asking us.  This last part is kind of weird to me considering my brother and I are 5 years apart...but I guess nowadays people have kids closer together since women are starting their families a little later.  I dunno!

I'm also finding myself drawn to the little babies that are around. One of my good friends is going to have a baby this week and I honestly cannot wait to just cuddle with a teeny tiny newborn...I mean it'll be great to give the baby back to her parents, but still.  Everyone says it goes so fast and it really does. It makes my uterus twitch just thinking about it!
In all honesty, I kind of want to have kids close together just so that the whole infancy/diaper phase of MY life is over quicker.  I also am at the point where I finally have my body back but I know it's just on loan until I get pregnant again.  So let's just get the pregnancies done with so I can have my body back for good. The thing that scares me is that having kids that close in age means that life is complete chaos for a while (or forever)...but then again, isn't life pretty chaotic now anyway?!?!

Dream a Little Dream

Small fact about me: I have extremely vivid dreams. Had night terrors as a kid and my husband says that I still wake him often screaming in the middle of the night (usually yelling at my brother - weird!) Dreams so real to me that I still believe that I fell down a flight of stairs when I was about 10 years old but according to my mom it was a dream (not sure who's right).  I even remember a series of dreams I had when I was a teenager that was almost like a mini-series, continuing each night where it left off...

Anyway, last night I had a dream that we had a second baby.  In my dream, I'm in my hospital gown and Mike and I decide to leave the baby in the nursery and sneak out to go buy some things. WE LEFT THE BABY AT THE HOSPITAL! What is wrong with us?!!? Oh right...just a dream! We're at the mall buying random stuff and I'm still wearing my hospital gown...

We have started very preliminary discussions about the possibility of another child and when we may start trying again...but seriously?! Leaving the baby in the hospital - maybe the thought of having a second makes me more nervous that I think!