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Baby review of applesauce

While we were visiting my in-laws I decided to try some natural applesauce with JSL. He is 7 1/2 month old and we have been increasing his food repertoire. He had only been given bananas, veggies, and several cereals up to this point.

JL and I both recalled NHL’s reaction the first time he had apple sauce. Here it is from March 30, 2004 when he was 7 1/2 months old:

NHL's opinion on apples

As you can see he was not really a fan. When we tasted it, we agreed it was pretty tart for a little guy who had never really had much flavor.

So fast forward to January 1, 2008 when JSL is the same age and trying some natural apple sauce that Bubbe had in her house. Note – thanks to NHL’s reaction we had our camera ready for this: 

Not an apple fan, eh?

Pretty obvious that this little money did not like this either.

*sigh*  

When we mixed it with a little oatmeal he was able to eat it without the agonizing look from the second photo on the top. In addition to this he stopped gagging. Since that time he has been gobbling up applesauce that we have at home with his oatmeal for dinner.

Thank goodness NHL also changed his mine. He loves to go apple picking and eat anything and everything with apples in it. 

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Visit to Bubbe & Grandpa – Day 3 & trip home

Tuesday morning we were told begged asked to let Bubbe and Grandpa sleep in to at least 9. Both boys slept a little later than normal (so 7-ish or so). JSL nursed and then we all went to watch television and check e-mail and things on the computer in the room NHL was sleeping in.

JSL was really tired from being very restless all night  (teething is evil I tell you). He and I went back to rest for a little while. When we got back up everyone was getting ready for breakfast. Bubbe was making pancakes for everyone. JSL was content at first just eating his Gerber Graduate Wagon Wheels and things: 

Attack on a wagon wheel!

This did not last. Soon after this JSL was very vocal about wanting more. JL and I decided trying pancake in small pieces could not hurt. He had a few bites of JL’s and LOVED it. He was quite upset when it was all gone. Bubbe was great and whipped up another batch so JSL could have his own. The little monkey ate the entire thing. Here is a study of JSL eating his first pancake: 

The Art of eating your first pancake

After pancake time we all got dressed. Here is JSL learning how to be a boy with JL:

Boys and remotes - they learn early!

 We were all pretty tired and decided to stay in during the day. JL working on my father-in-laws computer and the boys and I just played and rested. Lunch was left over Greek and Chinese – very fun combo.

Then at about 3:30 JL’s friend and his fiance came over to visit for a little while. G & L have been engaged for quite some time. Just before we left an envelope was in our mailbox from them. We had already received a holiday card, so I guessed maybe it was a wedding invitation. Sure enough it was. However, this was not just a wedding invitation, it was amazing. All 4 of us were invited to be their guests for a week long event around their wedding in SC late this year and it included transportation and accommodations!!!

We had to congratulate them, thank them and ask some questions. JL and I both wanted to make sure they were positive about the kids coming. They said they were. We found out from talking with them that there are only 30 or so people invited to this destination wedding. We were beyond honored. G later e-mailed JL and said he forgot to ask him a question. He wanted JL to be in the wedding party. G was JL’s best man in our wedding. There are a ton of things going on with the wedding. The actual ceremony is going to be early in the day on Halloween. We just have to figure out how many days we will be going for, but we are going to be there for G & L on their special day.

When G & L left it was time to think about dinner. JSL was attacking me for milk, so we went to nurse in another room. This is the result:

A new year and another nap

My mother-in-law was making her delicious chicken cutlets, lentil/tomato soup, potato kugel, and challah. Everything was delicious! Soon after this the boys went to sleep and we said goodbye and thank you to my father-in-law (he had to leave VERY early for work).

The next morning we woke up and I started to pack our things up. To complicate matters it was snowing outside, but nothing to even coat the ground. My thought was to get on the road at 10:00 to avoid rush hour traffic. This did not happen. We finally hit the road at 11:00. We made great time to the halfway point in our trip. Stopping to stretch and check out a store  (Disney Store) at the outlets there was good, but man it was windy. Rather than eat lunch there, we went over to Pizza Uno nearby. BIG MISTAKE!! We were finally back on the road two hours after we stopped.

Driving was not bad, we made great time and pulled up to our house to see there was no way we could get into the driveway. After we were plowed out from the initial storm, another 4-5 inches of snow fell and the city had plowed us in. JL got out and helped to get a path to head in.

All-in-all it was a very nice visit with Bubbe and Grandpa. I never had an allergic reaction to their dog Lacey, which is a first. A few things were said that bothered me, but such is life. JSL never wanted to be held by them much thanks to being so grumpy from teething, plus he has only seen them 4 other times (when he was born, his bris, NHL’s B-day, and Great-grandma’s B-day).

Sorry this took so long to finish. I was busy trying out a new photo editing program. I used it to make the collages up above. 

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An introduction to fruity goodness & more toofers

At 7 1/2 months old JSL is anxious to dive into anything that he sees that is edible. Unfortunately for him, we have been slow introducing things to him. We wanted to make sure he got tastes of all things veggie before going on to fruits. Last night this changed. Finally it was time to enter into the land of fruits.

Here is JL feeding JSL his first bite of banana. 

Trying banana for the first time

He was quite anxious to put it into his mouth and seemed to like it rather quickly. After chomping on it for a few seconds he wanted to get a better look at what it was that he put into his mouth. 

Let me look at that again . . . please

Next came the touch test. Little did he know . . . this sucker was slippery! 

OK - now I need to touch it too

He was successful and got the slick banana piece to his mouth. 

Yup, I think I like this!

Thanks to copious amounts of saliva (teething ya know) the banana quickly turned to mushy goo and was not suitable for JSL to hold anymore. He got quite upset when I took it away to mash up into some oatmeal. He kept "barking" at me to bring it back. He was happy once he saw that I had some very yummy cereal for him to gobble up. 

A little oatmeal with his banana

He was a VERY happy camper. In fact he slept through the night again. Then this morning when I looked into his mouth I saw white at the tip of his gum. I did not feel it cut through yet, but man it is close. From the cranky nature of things tonight during a tub and getting dressed, my guess is they may be here Sunday morning. 

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Tub full of my boys!

Tonight JSL had to have two tubs in less than an hour. I will spare you the details of the event, but it required a third load of laundry for the day. My mother was quick to point out a positive, at least it did not happen while JSL was in the tub with NHL.

That reminded me that I had never posted photos of the boys first tub together. Their first tub together was about 10 days ago on December 14th. This also happened to be JSL’s first time in the big tub using his ring. NHL was so excited to show JSL the big boy tub and play with him. As you will see he also helped Daddy to clean his little brother. All of the following photos have been "cleaned" up for sharing. I became a mohel in one so as not to show the family jewels of one of the boys!

So now I present you with a brother bath!

Here is JSL’s reaction upon entering the tub. I believe it is pretty self explanatory. 

I do NOT like this!

If that was not clear enough – maybe this one will make it more obvious! 

Not a happy baby

As NHL was getting ready to head into join his little brother, Daddy tried to show the little guy how to splash in the tub. This got his attention. 

Figuring out how to splash

Now enter big brother NHL into the tub. 

NHL gets into the tub with JSL

JSL gets shampooed while trying to splash Daddy. Meanwhile NHL’s hand can be seen trying to help wash the little guy. 

Trying to splash Daddy

Check out who was a really happy boy: 

Happy big brother

The boys play before washing continues: 

Trying to get some little toes

Big brother helps out in the tub: 

NHL helps to clean his little brother

JSL looking VERY soggy here: 

Sporting the deer in headlights looks

The boys seem to like taking a bath together. Tonight went a little better than last time. JSL enjoys being entertained by NHL . . . and NHL loves an audience! It works out very nicely.

Now if only the boys would stay clean and not need a second tub 20 minutes after the first. *sigh* 

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Chanukah Night 1 and Feeding take 2

Tuesday night we lit the first Chanukah candles and boys opening their presents. Unfortunately, the photos of the menorah with the candles burning were taken on JL’s camera and I do not have them yet. I did take my camera out and catch a few of the boys.

Here is NHL playing with an amazing wooden Chanukah set that he received from a family friend a two years ago. It is an amazing toy. There is a menorah that he can set up and then "light" his own candles. Here NHL is setting up his menorah and the Chanukah gelt (coins) are also seen.

 01 - Chanukah 2007

There is also a fry pan to make latkes, along with a spatula for flipping them. We can not forget the dreidel that must be there to play!

 02 - Chanukah 2007

Each night (and after school some times as well), NHL takes out his Chanukah set and plays with them. It is too cute to hear him reciting his own version of the prayers said when lightning the candles. I will have to try to get a video of that.

On the first night when NHL was playing, JL was cooking dinner, and I fed JSL. Last week I decided to pull out the baby food and give it a try. I just made rice cereal – VERY thick. The kid likes to "chew" so he accepted it. After a night or two of him gobbling that up, along with Cheerios and Gerber veggie puffs I decided to try something different.

For the first night of Chanukah I added a "secret ingredient" to his rice cereal. Hey why not try it – right? JSL will not eat his veggies if they are too soupy – a la baby food. So, this seemed like the perfect solution. I put half of a stage two jar of butternut squash into JSL’s rice cereal. He looked at me funny, noting it was different.

 04 - JSL feeding time

He stopped and wanted to watch NHL playing. Then this is what he decided to do . . .

 03 - JSL feeding time

Clearly the little guy was a little confused. Actually he was teething and must have just figured out a new and inventive way to gnaw at his gums. *sigh*

After a while of chewing on the high chair tray he decided he wanted to try the rice cereal with my "secret ingredient" again. This time he was much more interested and gobbled it all up. Here are some of his faces with his big blue eyes.

 05  - JSL feeding time

Thank goodness he was not coordinated enough to stick his fingers up his nose! Also note he is wearing his hockey shirt just for mommy!

 02 - JSL Feeding time

Then he got VERY serious about eating and seemed to be annoyed with Mommy and her flashy thing. Hmmm. . . unless it was when he was loading his diaper!

 01 - JSL feeding time

More photos of Chanukah to come later. Now I am off to take care of a sick NHL. His teacher called me at 9:20 this morning to tell me he had a fever (almost 101) and to pick him up. Poor little guy asked her to rest and crashed when he got home. If everyone is feeling well we are going to have Chanukah dinner with my parents, grandmother, and brother and his family (in from out of town).

 

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