Malachi is Nine Months!

Whew!  Having a mobile child is exhausting!  Particularly when this child is most content when he is cruising through the entire house and getting into all the things that he shouldn’t be.  He certainly keeps my toes, and with each additional month it becomes more obvious that my little boy is closer to being a toddler than my baby.  While my heart breaks a little every day, I am so blessed to watch him grow and learn and explore.  On July 12, Malachi turned 9 months old.  And with that milestone, a few more firsts!

~Malachi cut two more teeth!  He now has two very cute bottom teeth and one top tooth.  He’s still drooling like a faucet and his other top tooth should cut through any day now!

~Malachi is now eating Puffs, grapes, pieces of bread and elbow pasta!  It seems with the addition of the other teeth he finally gained the confidence to try the table food again.  The first couple times were a disaster of Chi choking and me fishing out half-dissolved Puff-mush from his mouth.  YUCK!  I love that he is now able to start feeding himself some snacks..AND that he loves them!

~Malachi is still working pretty hard at standing without having to hold on to anything.  He can stand for 5-10 seconds all by himself before he starts dancing or gets bored and loses his balance.

~Malachi and I now have a new game.  I walk in front of him while he holds on to my legs and walks behind me…a human version of a walker.    We got him a toy that transitions from walker to rider and he LOVES being able to walk around on his own…though sometimes the walker gets away from him and he falls (he’s not a fan of that).

~Malachi LOVES to dance.  Any time music comes on, his hips start shaking, his head starts bopping and his smile is a mile wide!

~Malachi now is able to address me as Mama and Hal as Dada about 75% of the time correctly.  He loves to mimic the noises we make and laughs and laughs whenever we mimic him.

Monthly Highlights:

~You weigh 24 pounds (90th percentile)!

~You’re  30 inches tall (90th percentile)!

~ You are now wearing size 4 diapers!

~ You are officially in 12-18 month clothes.  You’re my little chunker!

~You are wearing size 4 sandals for those BIG feet, but you’re barefoot most of the time.

~ You are on all formula bottles.  You do drink about 2-4 oz. of water a day as well (in lieu of juice).

~You’re eating oatmeal, rice, bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, plums, peaches, blueberries, russet potatoes, green beans, peas, broccoli, carrots, acorn squash, butternut squash, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, summer squash, cauliflower, spinach, and chicken.

~You’ve started eating some table food: Gerber Puffs, grapes, bread and elbow pasta.

Malachi, you are the light of my life!  I love watching you explore your world and learn each day.  I love that you are reaching for me for hugs and to be picked up.  I love that you love kisses and snuggles from your Mama.  I love that sunny smile I see when I come get you from your crib.  I love that you enjoy playing with your puppy.  You’re so much fun, sweet boy!

Homemade Baby Food

Like all new Mommies, I had a lot of ideas of things I wanted to do once my son was born.  And I quickly learned that I needed to amend my ideas to suit my son and our new lifestyle.  However, making my son’s baby food is one of those items on the list that stayed.  I had several reasons for choosing to do this: I wanted to know what was in his food, I wanted to use organics as much as possible, and I wanted to save money!  I’ve also found it to be fun.  I’ve recently had some requests on how I make Chi’s food and what he’s eating, so the rest of the post will have all that!

The beauty of making your own baby food is that you can buy fruits and vegetables in bulk and make enough food to last several weeks.  For example, I just purchased the following gala apples, peaches, pears, sweet potatoes and cantaloupe ($15).  This dollar amount will get you about 20-30 jars of baby food (depending on where you buy them and what brands).  For $15, I now have approximately 70 “jars” of baby food.

What I Use:

I purchased the First Years Baby Pro food processor (with steamer and puree attachments).  This is great for any food that doesn’t have a tough skin.

(I just used it so please ignore the splatters)

For food with skins (like peas and green beans), I use the baby food/puree option on my Oster blender.

I also purchased 6 ice cube trays (I found mine in the dollar bin at Target) and Press and Seal wrap.  The ice cubes are approximately 1 ounce.

Fruit cubes on top, Veggie cubes on bottom

The Process: I prefer steaming all of Malachi’s fruits and veggies because the good nutrients are maintained versus cooking on the stove.  If I can’t steam something, I’ll use the microwave (for potatoes, sweet potatoes, acorn squash and butternut squash).  Once the puree is poured into the ice cube trays and frozen, remove cubes and place into FREEZER bags with the date and the type of food.

For most fruits with thin skins (apples, etc.): peel, chop into small cubes, steam until soft, puree until smooth, pour into ice cube trays and freeze

For fruits with thick skins (bananas and avocados): remove peel or skin, (pit the avocado), mash with a fork, puree, pour into ice cube trays and freeze

For squash or potatoes: wrap loosely with cling wrap, microwave 6-8 minutes until soft, remove flesh, puree, pour into ice cube trays and freeze

For most other vegetables: chop into small pieces, steam 8-12 minutes (until soft), puree, pour into ice cube trays and freeze.

***Note: I added a bit of formula or breast milk to the purees to thin them out when Malachi was younger until the puree was at the consistency I desired.

Foods I Introduced to Malachi:

***Generally, it is important to introduce a single new food for four consecutive days.  This will allow you to note if there are any allergic or adverse reactions.

Five Months: Bananas

Six Months: Bananas, Avocados, Sweet Potatoes, Apples

Seven Months: Bananas, Avocados, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Pears, Green Beans, Peas, Butternut Squash, Acorn Squash

Eight Months: Bananas, Avocados, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Pears, Green Beans, Peas, Butternut Squash, Acorn Squash, Broccoli, Blueberries, Watermelon, Russet Potatoes, Zucchini, Carrots

Nine Months: (I’ll be adding Cantaloupe, Cauliflower, Spinach, and Chicken this month).

Chi is also eating the following snacks: Gerber Puffs, elbow pasta, cut up grapes and bananas

***A great resource for a daily feeding schedule can be found at www.wholesomebabyfood.com.  I use this as a general guideline, but feed Malachi more or less as he demands.  As it stands now, Malachi gets three solid food meals a day plus an extra fruit and snacks.

***A great recipe book for baby and toddler food is The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet by Karen Knight.  This book provides month-by-month recipes, new food introductions by month, tips and allergy information.