More Kashi Lean!

I had Kashi Lean Cereal for dinner again last night, and Ariella really wanted some. Since she did fine with that one piece, I figured she's not going to choke on it. I wound up giving her 6 little puffs total! Granted, it doesn't sound like much, but she's a baby, so proportionally it was a nice little snack for her.

She nursed very well at her first nursing session after I got home. She only nursed a little at the 2nd session, though. Tyree theorized that she might have wanted more solid foods. I think her eating/sleeping patterns are starting to mature. She didn't eat this morning until 6:30am (although she stirred earlier, and I still had to get up around 5:30am to pump). But, it will be interesting to see how things go with that in the coming month or so.

Ariella's first "real" solid food

Ariella has done great with purees and mashed up foods (avocado and banana), but I had been hesitant to get her something like puffs because it shows those are for crawlers on the package, and she's not crawling yet.

Well, a day or so ago, I was eating Kashi Lean cereal for dinner. Ariella was EXTREMELY interested! I asked Tyree if he thought it would be ok if I gave her a piece of my cereal. He said, sure! (Although, I'm not really sure why I asked him, since he doesn't really have any knowledge of baby food - lol).

I picked out 1 little puff of the cereal and sort of sucked the milk off of it (since I heard no cow's milk until 1 year old). And, then I put it in her mouth. I expected her to spit it right out, but instead, she started gumming it! (She has no teeth yet.) It was quite exciting. I kept expecting her to choke on it or something, but she did great! I'm going to have to get some of those puffs next weekend. I think she's ready for some finger foods!

Ariella on the Trapeze!

Here's a picture of Ariella on the trapeze from her My Gym class last night. She's be doing a trapeze routine with me in no time!

Our Weekend - Moving and Swimming

This weekend was pretty full. On Saturday we helped a friend move out of her apartment. It was several hours of carrying things downstairs and onto the moving truck. We brought Ariella's exersaucer with us. She did great with that. And, we also had her reading videos for her to watch. I nursed her before we left the house, 1 time while we were out, and right when we got home. And, I fed her a jar of squash while we were driving to the new house to empty the truck. It worked very well bringing her with us, and we were still able to move a lot of things.

On Sunday, the big event was swimming! It's probably the last time we're going to be able to go before the pool is closed. But, that's ok because her swimming lessons start on the 23rd. So, it won't be too much of a gap.

Ariella still has the congestion/runny nose! The swimming helped to clear out her sinuses, and then I did the California Baby cold/flu congestion bubble bath afterwards. She was in good shape after that. But, this morning she was all stuffed up again with the runny nose and occasional cough. Sigh. How long is this going to last? Poor baby. At least she's still in excellent spirits for most of the day. Just sometimes it gets to her, and she still despises the nasal sucker thing.

Fitness and Trapeze Info

If anyone is interested in keeping up with my fitness/trapeze endeavors, I'll be posting about that in my fitness blog. I had kept extremely detailed logs in that for a couple of years, but now my life is focused on Ariella. I figure I'll post there after each trapeze class. So, if you'd like to follow along with that journey, here's the link my fitness blog:

http://joannafitness.blogspot.com/

Trapeze!

In the year or so before i had Ariella, I was heavily into fitness. I learned how to ice skate. I even took an ice hockey class after regular ice skating lessons! I was going to a rock climbing gym. I was doing weights several times a week. I did yoga and pilots at work. I trained for and ran in a 5k race. But, my main physical interest was the static trapeze - yes, like in circ de soleil. All my other activities were mainly just to help condition me for the trapeze. I took 2 sessions of classes, along with additional private lessons, and for each session, I created and performed a trapeze routine. It was a very challenging, yet exhilarating endeavor. But, of course, once I got pregnant, all of that stopped.

My husband still has his hobby. He goes to guitar lesson once a week. He also does guy's night out every so often. But, I've been in super Mommy mode, which has been great, but I really need a little "me" time. Several of my friends had told me this, but it's been so hard with scheduling time for myself, especially because of breastfeeding.

At my request,my trapeze instructor had kept me on her email list. She emailed out about an aerial choreography class on Thursdays from 5pm to 6:30pm. This is actually pretty ideal. I'll go into work a little early. I'll add an extra pumping session so that I can leave an extra bottle for Ariella, since I'll be home late those days. But, it's workable! Tyree is thrilled for me, which is great. And my instructor said she'd love to have me in that class. So, I'll be creating a new routine dedicated to Ariella. I can't wait for her to see me perform in December!

My Donated Milk Has Been Used!

I hadn't heard anything from the milk bank, so I sent them an e-mail yesterday to see if everything had gone well with the blood tests and the rest of the forms from my doctors. I got this response:

"Hello Joanna,

YES! We have everything and you should have received a donor acceptance via e-mail (sometimes it ends up in your junk folder). In fact we have processed and used your milk and it is in a baby’s tummy by now.

Thanks you so much!"

This made me so happy today. It's awesome knowing that a little NICU baby was helped by my milk!