One Small Bite for Baby One Giant Leap for Mommy

Today was the day.  The day we let Alyssa try real food.  I have been dreading this day since we went to the doctor for her 4 month check up & she just stated matter of factly, you can start feeding her whenever & whatever.  My eyes got wide & my forhead got sweaty.  Chase left the doctor's office that day super psyched imagining all of the fun foods he was going to buy for her & try with her.  I left with my phone in hand feverishly researching & researching when to start baby food, how to start baby food, what kinds of baby foods are best to start with, how to make these "best baby foods".  I felt like I had showed up to school and a pop quiz had been thrown my way & I was completely ill prepared.  I was looking at my 3 percentile for weight baby & thinking...you're joking right?  She's not ready to eat!  Well the internet backed me up & after much (MUCH) research I felt better that the American Academy of Pediatrics and several others have researched and proved that it it much more beneficial for little ones to wait until 6 months to start adding baby food.  So wait we did.  I am really glad that I did.  For me, breastfeeding (while so not easy) is an awesome thing.  It's great for her, it's good for me, and she'll only be this small once so I don't want to rush her through these phases.  So while for the last couple of months she's grabbed at and drooled over our food while we eat, she finally got to do some eating of her own!

I decided to start with Avocados since it was literally no preparation & they've got looks of goodies for baby girl.  She did lots of gagging, as we've discovered she's got her Daddy's super sensitive gag reflex, but I think it was a good experience.  She did what she was supposed to.  Smiled some, made silly faces some, made a big ol' mess, but got lots of good practice in.  She'll get the hand down I am certain, because Baby Girl's thighs aren't going to feed themselves ;)

Here are some pictures from this big moment so you feel like you were right there with us :)

 

 

Just look at that adorable green mushy face!  I used to see moms giving their babies kisses on the mouth full of drool & who knows what else and it would make me cringe.  I always thought, "that'll never be me".  But one look at this round avocado stained face & I wanted to kiss those gooey green lips!  And that, ladies & gents, is how you know you're a parent.

XO- The Culpeppers