Food, Food, Food!

I have been busy preparing purees for Av for when she more up to regular food. We have introduced rice and oat cereal and I have pureed, cubed and froze pears, apples, strawberries, carrots and sweetpotatos. I am excited to start introducing new foods to her..pics to follow once we start! She tried a cheerio yesterday from her Cousin Layla's snack and did great and loved it!

Stanley Cup!

We drove down to St. Stephen yesterday to get some photos with the Stanley cup and to see Don Sweeney! It was a great trip and we got some nice pics!

Busy Busy Busy

I haven't updated in awhile as we have been super busy! Kaiden has been playing t-ball for the first time this summer, we recently went to the big flea market in Sussex, and have been spending the days enjoying the weather and getting things done around the house.

I have been preparing baby food for when Av starts eating more than cereal. So far she has one serving of rice cereal in the morning and we attend the breastfeeding "introducing solids" class next wed. So far I have pureed Strawberries, pears, apples, carrots and sweet potatos. I boiled them to soften, purreed, put in ice cube trays, froze them and then pop them out and put in individual bags in the freezer with dates. I am hoping to get a good supply ready for when she starts to eat. We are also going to try a bit of baby led weaning but I want to do purees as well to ensure she gets enough :)

We also had Avarie's ears pierced this past weekend. I know that it is a subject of debate as of course their are those who agree and those who don't. I had my ears done at 4 months so had first had experience as well as checked with my family Dr who advised to go ahead once she had her first two sets of needles to prevent infection. We also required that the hair dresser we took her too, used gloves, had two women do at the same time, 14k baby studs with backs that lock in place and researched proper cleaning of them. We were told to use lubricant (KY) as peroxides/rubbing alcohol will cause ear to dry out. Our girl was sa trooper and was more upset about me holding her still. Also for those of you who know our dragonfly story, one of the women was wearing a dragonfly neclace with geen (may) birthstones <3
Here are a few photos from the past week:
Av starting to get up on her knees (eeep!)

 Handsome man enjoying the swings:

 A push from big brother (Av LOVED the swings):

 Rub a dub dub:

 New earrings :)

Cereal!

We started Avarie on rice cereal this weekend and she did great! It took her a bit to get the hang of things but she did great this morning :) Kaiden was quite excited to take a turn feeding her so he finished up for us.

A dragonfly kind of day

Decided to do another baby scene :) This idea came from my SIL who knows

how much I love dragonflies so here it is:

Rainy days

We have to come up with new rainy day activities to entertain ourselves while daddy is at work so today ended up being a PJ blanket fort kind of day

World breastfeeding week

This week is world breastfeeding week! We are nearing the 6 month milestone of BF and it has been an incredible experience! I am in no hurry to stop and cannot express how much I am enjoying the bonding and ease of BF. While camping I really appreciated that I was BF as I just pulled over and fed Av when she needed it! :)

So very lucky

I feel so lucky and blessed to have two beautiful children who are healthy and happy and feel so much pride when I look at their beautiful faces :)

Great deals!

Av's tights and baby legs came in the mail today :) So exciting and who couldn't love this little bum!

Also we are big on costumes in our house, Kaiden LOVES to dress up. We found some great finds at Frenchys (consignment store)

"Momsicle"

The Mother/baby clinic here offers suggestions to entertain your babe while eating dinner. This idea is putting frozen breastmilk in the netfeeder and giving it to baby like a popsicle. This is a way to entertain baby as well as involve them in the family dinner before they are eating solids.  We do it fairly often for Av and she just devours it!

Nearing solids!

Av celebrates her six month birthday this month so we have been talking about different foods we are going to make and I am thinking of starting to make some now and freeze them as produce is pretty easy to get this time of year at reasonable prices. I am fortunate that I had an incredible supply of breastmilk so was able to freeze so much for mixing with new foods. I am going to make her food as I have been inspired by other mom's such as my SIL who has had great success making my niece's food. I want to get her eating foods that we eat and that she will eventually be eating with us anyway! One of my mom's groups has a receipe link and I have been getting some great ideas from there as well as this site which seems to have some great ones which are super easy to make

More PEI pics!

Making Memories

Matt and kaiden posing with Lobster

Panoramic beach shot with Av having lunch in the corner and Kaiden, Mom and Maddy enjoying the beach

This past weekend we travelled to PEI for Avarie's first overnight out of province vacation and Kaiden's second visit to the Island. We met my parents as well as my brother and his girlfriend there and had a great time! We also were lucky enough to visit with some wonderful friends Marena, Erica and Lisa and Chad while on the Island :) Kaiden loved Cavendish beach and Sandspit and both children were excellent all weekend!