Second time is just as fun

You know what has really surprised me about doing this whole baby thing the second time around?  How much fun it is!  I'm guessing it's not necessarily the baby (but maybe it is you, sweet Maddie!), but maybe my attitude/expectations? 

Case in point.  At her four month appointment, her pediatrician said that we could go ahead and start solid food.  I was not interested and planned on putting it off - but girlfriend pretty much reverted her sleeping patterns to those of a newborn (up every 2 or 3 hours)...so  maybe she was hungry?  I mean she eats like 5.5-6 ounce bottles at day care every 3-4 hours and eats directly from me every 3 or so hours at home.  Sheesh.   But when you really think about it, she almost doubled her birth weight in just 4 months.  That's got to be exhausting, right?

So all of a sudden - we were there.  At not quite 4 months old and ready to try cereal for the first time.  I had ZERO expectations.  I pretty much figured she would have no idea what to with her tongue and just spit it back out, kind of like her brother did.  I remember being so excited before we tried it with Charlie and it was such a let down because he didn't like it at all.

Well - she surprised us and LOVED it.  She knew what to do with the spoon, her tongue and everything.  How exciting is that!!!??  I'm not going to sit here and tell you that made her sleep 12 hours straight again (I wish!), but she did start going longer stretches.  We also started putting a probiotic dry mix thing we got from CVS (in the pharmacy fridge for babies) in her bottles at school and then cereal at home.  So who knows what helped - but I will take it.

So we started sending rice cereal to school and they were like "YEAH - she rocks at it!".  And then Jimmy and I were like "maybe we should have her try some vegetables".  Off to Target I went (ALONE - omg - it was amazing) to get some baby food and like $100 of other stuff we didn't need -mainly because I was so excited to be at target alone without a diaper bag or time limit.  And then we tried sweet potatoes.  

At first, I got the stink eye from her.  And I laughed.

And then we got THIS.  Oh my.  She loves to eat and apparently feels the same way about baby food.

Which by the way - last time, I spent so much time making baby food that was organic and homemade and my child (Charlie) did not eat it, but would eat all of the Gerber food they served at school.  So unfortunately one of the downfalls of being the second child - I'm just going to not even try to start with homemade because to be honest my attitude is all like "ain't nobody got time for that".  Plus this baby food stage seems to last like 10 minutes before she's on to puffs and picking up all different kinds of other food.  For now, she will enjoy store bought baby food and I will enjoy extra sleep.

And guess what??  I even got some videos of her (GASP!).  So I had to post them to make sure she knows I am attempting to document her "firsts" just like her brother.

And I"m happy to say that I might be enjoying it all a little more thing time around because I'm not a stress ball and so fearful of the unknown.  And also because she's an awesome eater and just baby in general and I love how she just goes with the flow. 

My sweet Maddie.  She loves to eat and groan!

So to all your first time moms, enjoy your sweet first baby and know it really can be just as (or even more!) fun the next time around.

I'm looking forward to a few more firsts to come in the next few months as well!  Love this age so much!