Baby Food Making Weekend

In preparation for our foray into solid foods, Aunt Katty and Mom have been planning a Baby-Food-Making-Weekend for a few weeks! Katty found a book that is really informative and has beautiful pictures and good recipes for baby food so we decided we could do it. She came down this weekend and we went to Whole Foods to find good organic fruits and veggies. We made and froze several different entrees, enough to last two weeks. It was realatively easy and we calculated the costs savings on a few of these things to be HALF of what it costs to buy the jar of Gerber. Not to mention that one of the sections in the book talks about how manufactured baby food has a shelf life of 2 years so the idea of all of those preservatives in his very first introduction to food kinda grossed us out! So below is a picture of the finished product, the entrees we ended up with were roasted yellow squash, applesauce, creamed sweet potatoes, and steamed zuccini.
We tasted each one as we went and thought they were all pretty delicious! The zuccini needed some salt to taste good to me, but I would have eaten a big bowl of the squash and the other two were pretty good too - definately something I would eat. We also got avocados and bananas for some no-cook alternatives and we decided to start out with avocados this weekend - mostly b/c we were making fajitas and guacamole for dinner so we thought it would be nice to let him have some of what we were having (also Aunt Biz suggested this months ago - just that I try to match up what we are eating with what he is eating right now so he can associate the smells of what I'm cooking for us - with what he's eating. Makes sense right?) Speaking of Aunt Biz we missed her a lot this weekend! But we talked to her on the phone and told Cole that she would appreciate the "Booger face" or "Shrekfast" pictures below more than anyone! He gave us a few funny faces at first but it didn't take long before he was eagerly licking avocado off Katty's fingers! Pretty hilarious!

Below are pictures from dinner tonight! He will have four days of avocado and then move onto the next food. I'm giving him rice cereal for breakfast and until today he has only eaten about a tablespoon at a time. But tonight I fed him a tablespoon of avocado and then Cory came in and fed him about 2 more! He just kept eating! So I'm hoping we didn't overdo it but this kid really loves to eat! Check out his "Shrek face" below!

Jumperoo!

On Easter weekend Gigi and Pops got Cole a very exciting gift - a jumperoo! He has gotten so active lately and wears his momma's arms out with his constant demands to be standing up and jumping. So now he can jump on his own and he LOVES it! Here are some pics of the lil' jumper. He tends to fall asleep in the jumperoo - I promise that is not because we are leaving him in it for hours on end - I think he just wears out quickly from all the jumping!

Easter!

Sorry for the delay on Easter pictures! We had a great holiday weekend. Cory's parents came to Dallas, we shopped a little, went to church on Easter Sunday and had Tyler, Kristen and Tyler's dad over for Easter lunch. Cole had a very busy weekend (see my next post) and enjoyed his first Easter basket.

Cereal - a super fun mess

We took Cole to his six month checkup with Dr. Mix today. He weighed 17 pounds 3 ounces and measured 23 inches long! He's on average in the 50th percentile in weight, height and head size. And he took his vaccinations like a little champ - some crying but not like his 2 or 4 month shots!

Cole and Dad waiting for Dr. Mix. He loves the crinkle of the paper under his feet. Now the fun part is over so Mom gets to hold while we wait for the shots! Poor baby knows what is coming!

So the most exciting part about this appointment was that she said it is time to start solid foods! Last week we did rice cereal and he really liked it! We took some video which I will try to post later but he was really funny and once he got a little taste of it he was lunging at the spoon and grinning up at us when we laughed at him! Pretty cute! Of course this increases our mess factor quite a bit so here are a few pics of the first solid meal and the cereal face that resulted!

Look at that lean - this kid LOVES rice cereal!

Cereal Face!

Yum!
Full and happy!

Six Months Old

Yes it's true - Cole Allen Hohweiler is six months old! I can hardly believe it! As most of you know, I am not a great blogger but I'm trying to at least keep up with the major milestones so that this can serve as a scrapbook of sorts. So this post is really to Cole someday down the road.

Cole Allen you are six months old today! You are a bouncing baby boy, full of smiles and silliness. You still giggle at your daddy, no matter what he is doing. You think I'm pretty funny sometimes, mostly when I snort like a pig during "Old MacDonald". You love bathtime, mirrors, your jumperoo, tummy time and hanging out with your parents.

You do NOT love laying on your back - you are a big time squirmer! You have just started to notice Abner and Norman and watch them with wonder as they run around the living room - you have even started to giggle when they rough house and play where you can see them. You are friendly to everyone and smile at anyone who will talk and coo at you. You are very interested in the world around you, especially at the grocery store and on walks. We have just started to put you in the big kid stroller so you can sit up and see ahead when we go on walks and you LOVE that! People are amazed that you don't fuss about taking your vitamin or having your nails clipped. I am always surprised at how much you like having your ears cleaned with a Qtip. Your paci is your favorite toy! You play with it, you can grab it and launch it for me to return or chew on it to ease your teething pain. You constantly have it with you and if you don't - T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

You are a joy to us and to your entire extended family and we while it feels unbelievable that you are six months old, it also feels like we have never been without you!

Easter Basket

Things have been pretty crazy around here lately. I have been working a lot and Cory's family is coming this weekend. Also, Cory has been painting his office at Habitat the last two weekends. So the first weekend Cole and I packed up and went with him. Cole napped and played while I worked in Cory's current office and he painted his new one. Then last weekend I told him I just couldn't do it. To take all the toys and diaper bag and work stuff was just too much. So Cole and I stayed home and when Cory came home he had a great surprise! He had not only painted his office but also worked on the beginnings of Cole's Easter basket. He finished it up this week so I thought I'd better post some pictures. He modeled it after his childhood Easter basket and I think it turned out perfect!

And YES! Cory did paint the eyes, smile and puff paint "Cole" on it! hehehehehe

Mom, get me out of this chair!

hahahahha - Easter is fun!

...but this sun is hurting my eyes

oh well..hahahahaha

Springtime!

I finally updated my background to be a bit "Spring-ier". I know it's pink and since the theme of this blog is Cole - a baby boy - that seems a little odd. But I like this one and since it's already April - it will be short-lived and I'll update with a summer theme soon! Until then, stay tuned for an Easter/Holy Week post this week!

Almost Summer

We are enjoying a nice warm spring weekend that is making me long for summer! We started out the warm weekend by watching Dad plant a new peach tree in the backyard. I had never really thought about it but Cole hasn't really been outside much in his life and certainly hasn't had much exposure to grass, bugs, mud and other fun things that the great outdoors holds for little boys. So we went back outside this afternoon and just let him feel the crunchy grass b/t his toes, pull it up with his inquisitive little hands, he even got to squish some mud as we've had a wet week. Of course I took pictures, and then we came inside, washed off and relaxed in front of the open windows, just enjoying the fresh air.

Tiny feet in crunchy grass - it was funny to watch him curl his toes up at that tickling feeling of grass between your toes!

Sitting down now so mom can capture the toe curl at a better angle! hehehe


I think he is telling me that he can do it on his own....

Whoa!!! Don't worry, no infants were harmed in the making of this blog! He did topple backwards but didn't seem to really mind - after all he is his father's son!

Relaxing in the shade now, he is facing our open bedroom window and spent about 30 minutes just watching the curtains blow in the wind and listening to the bird chatter outside

Mom, take my paci. Hey, what are you doing - give that back!

Easing towards naptime...

Teething!

I know what you are thinking - he's too little to be teething! But much to my disbelief, Cole is almost 6 months and he's actually been teething for a while now! Nothing is really happening as far as teeth go - but he is fussy and drooling and just doing his job as a baby to grow some teeth! So here are some pictures of him hard at work on it yesterday. So far he likes his teething ring, teething keys, and a frozen washcloth if things are really bad!

Tummy Time

I had to take some pictures of tummy time last week. Usually Cole LOVES tummy time for about 1 minute (well 45 to 60 seconds!) and then he's done! He can flip himself over so that usually ends the session unless he's stuck and then he fusses until WE flip him over. But last week I took the mirror that goes over the car seat in the back seat (yes, I have only used it once and so it sits in his closet most of the time). Anyway, I propped that up on the floor in front of him and suddenly Tummy Time was fun! So here are some pictures of the momentous occasion!