Easter

We had a fun first Easter with June this year.  Poor girl was getting over a cold but she didn't let it stop her from having a good time.  We traveled to Muscatine, Iowa to have lunch with Justin's Aunt Margaret, Uncle Ron and Grandma Sylvia.  As usual when we go to unfamiliar places June sat still for quite a long time, taking in her surroundings.  Here she's starting to perk up :)

Once she was comfortable exploring June had fun pulling magazines off the end tables, banging her toys on the coffee table and watching their dog, Bailey.  We had delicious ham for lunch (June had fruit and puffs) and then we headed back to Iowa City for the Gilpin Easter celebration.

We had about 30 minutes to relax at home before going to my parent's house so we snapped a few family pictures.

My parents got June a sweet Easter basket containing new shoes, a fork and spoon set, and some cloth books that she can chew on without damaging.  June then carried her fork and spoon around for a long time, periodically sucking on the spoon.  

We had a nice dinner filled with laughs.  The app Face Swap came up in conversation, which resulted in lots of new Face Swap photos being taken.  Aunt Jean and Uncle Pat's Face Swap picture was my favorite.  Justin, June and me had to leave in the midst of that fun because it was getting close to June's bedtime.  I enjoy the opportunities we have to gather with family now more than ever.  

Something for Me becomes Something for Us

As a mom it can be tough to make time for "me time." The only scheduled me time I have currently is a monthly deep-tissue massage, which is heavenly.  I have been going for massages since June was about 4 months old and I relish that hour.

It has definitely been tough to find a balance between being a mom and taking care of myself.  Justin has encouraged me to find something I want to do that will get me out of the house.  I used to go to the gym several times a week before work, but that's no longer an option unless I want to go at 4:30 AM which, let's face it, I'm not gonna do.  Sleep is much more important right now!

In my quest to find an activity or hobby I started to think about high school and how much I enjoyed dancing in show choir.  I began to research area dance studios, hoping to find some sort of casual dance class for adults.  At first the only things I found were formal tap, jazz or ballet classes.  Not exactly what I was looking for.  I decided to search Kirkwood Community College's online catalog to see what I could find.  It turns out a dance studio in North Liberty, in conjunction with Kirkwood, offers 8 week Hip Hop dance classes that meet once a week.  Classes are at 8:15 PM, which is perfect because June is in bed by 7 PM.

Not feeling quite confident enough to sign up on my own I sent the info to my sister Abbey to see if she would be interested in signing up with me.  She was!  And then suggested that our Mom might want to take the class, too.  This will be an experience for several Gilpin women.  Classes start next week and I will be joined by Mom, sisters Abbey and Katie, and sister-in-law Sarah.  I'm excited and nervous and know we will have a lot of fun.  I'm not sure what to expect, exactly.  Will it be more aerobics based?  Will we learn dance routines to specific songs?  Will I be able to make it through an hour-long class after more than a year of no exercise other than lugging my daughter around? We will find out, and I will let you all know how it goes :)

Food

June was exclusively breastfed until she was six months old.  As she approached six months of age I began to research what method we might try for introducing solids.  There were two main options. Feed her purees, or try baby led weaning, which basically means you give your child small bits of solid food and let them feed themselves.  I wanted to try the baby led weaning approach and read about good first foods for little ones.

Literally on her half birthday was the first time we tried giving her anything but breast milk.  I imagined her sitting in her high chair, her face covered in banana and avocado.  The reality was that in the early days June wasn't too interested in eating solid food.  We tried banana, avocado, very soft carrots and broccoli.  Mostly she picked up the bits of food and smashed them in her fists, smearing whatever was left around on the tray.  The pieces that did make it to her mouth were usually pushed out by her tongue or gagged on.

Six-month-old June, chewing the chair straps more than she chewed food!

I had read about the difference between gagging and choking and knew that gagging was a frequent occurrence as little ones learned to feed themselves.  When kids are young, the gag reflex is farther forward on the tongue than it is for older kids, which helps to prevent choking.  I'm sure it was very different going from only liquid to having new textures and flavors in her mouth.  After the first few times of trying to give her food and her not showing much interest I gave up on giving June solids for awhile.  I wasn't worried about it.  I've heard the phrase "food before one is just for fun" repeatedly and knew June was getting all she needed nutritionally from my breast milk.

And I will say I went through a brief period of time where I didn't want to give up being June's only source of nourishment.  Our nursing relationship was and still is very important to me and I feared she would start eating food and wouldn't need me as much anymore.

What ended up happening is that June got to try more and more food at Nana's daycare.  My mom was great about introducing new foods to her.  I would say around 8 months is when June started to really get the hang of consistently getting food to her mouth.  And she already had 8 teeth at that point which helped.

Her favorite foods are puffs, any type of fruit, peanut butter toast, diced chicken, ground beef, and any sort of pasta. She takes after me in that regard!  We only put 5 or 6 bits of food on her tray at a time, otherwise she shovels everything in at once.

                           Blackberries and blueberries, YUM!                                     

June does not like veggies, which is probably our fault because we give her so much fruit.  I made carrots, corn and green beans for her the other night, in addition to pasta with chicken and alfredo sauce.  The veggies were immediately spit out.  I then tried to hide some corn in the sauce and she still spit it out.  So veggies are something she needs to work on.

And I'm happy to say June is still as interested in nursing as she was before eating more solids.  I don't see her weaning anytime soon.  Me and Justin enjoy sitting at the dinner table with June next to us in her high chair and watching her enjoy her food.  She's growing up so fast!

Enjoying Nana's delicious chicken spaghetti

June loves drinking water from her sippy (and chewing on the spout)

                                                    

Little Bookworm

One of June's favorite things to do these days is pull books off of her bookshelf.  June has many books, thanks to generous friends and family who gave us books in lieu of greeting cards at her baby showers. I sometimes tire of returning the books to the shelves after she pulls dozens of them to the floor.  This morning, however, her fixation on the bookshelf came in handy.

Our house went on the market and today is the first day we might have people interested in walking through the house.  There were a few tasks I needed to complete before work and I thought June would be sleeping.  But she has a stuffy nose so her sleep schedule wasn't the same today as usual. Usually June will follow me around the house, tugging at my pant legs as I'm trying to get things done.  Today, I was able to plunk her down in front of the bookshelf and she happily looked at her books.  She tends to hold them upside down which amuses me, and I love to watch her turn the pages, look at the pictures, and jabber.  Here she is surrounded by (and probably sitting on) some of her favorites.