stuff and stuff*
Is it normal for a nine month old to eat more than an adult? Baby Bug has a huge appetite! She just shovels the food in. She keeps me hopping trying to think of new things to let her eat. My favorite foods are things that she can pick up with her fingers because this slows her down a bit. Pasta is great. So is buttered waffle and toast and really slippery pieces of banana. But the problem with letting her feed herself is that she just inhales the stuff. She has no teeth so I can’t really tell her to chew her bites but is it normal to gum it twice and then swallow? She worries me, this baby. I’m afraid I’m raising one of those hamburger swilling pigs from a Carl’s Jr. commercial. Her appetite is voracious!
She can eat a whole cup full of macaroni and cheese, some bits of leftover chicken, a fourth of cheese sandwich, two cubes of squash mixed with rice cereal, about a zillion sips of apple juice mixed with water and the crust off a slice of pizza! (Broken into baby pinky sized pieces of course).
Yet she has no appetite for anything pureed. Still. I can only get her to eat her homemade baby food squash by mixing it with plain yogurt. She loves yogurt. Good thing too because back during the great illness of 06 I wasn’t producing much milk and I was really worried that Baby Bug might not be getting her vitamins. But things are working again now.
But I didn’t really want to blog about food. That’s just the picture I had handy. I wanted to blog about how I didn’t listen to you all about taking it easy. I worked like a mad woman yesterday and cleaned my house from top to bottom. It felt so good. After letting things go haywire for three weeks straight it felt good to have a clean carpet again. The laundry is done (thanks to my mom), the groceries are bought and put away (also thanks to my mom), the beds are made, the bathroom is clean, the cat litter and cat food is vacuumed up off the carpet… all is well again. Sigh……
And I’m fine! I am! Really! I thought I might have pulled a stitch trying to put away a 20 pound bag of rice in the cupboard where the water heater is (I know! But I have no other place to stow it!!!) but I’m fine. Just a little twinge and it was gone. I lift Baby Bug all day long and sometimes I even hoist her onto my hip that is dangerously close to incision number four. But it’s fine! It barely hurts! Maybe I didn’t even have surgery. Maybe it was all a scam. Maybe they just cut some surface cuts on my skin and charged my insurance a whole whopping lot of money. Cause I don’t feel anything.
I’m thanking God and moving on. It’s good to be healthy again. For a time there I thought I might have to live the rest of my life with pain. It was something I had to consider. I have a friend who has had serious back surgery and pain is a daily thing for her. I am in awe of that. I couldn’t do it. I hate the thought of being dependent on medication just to get through. But this is how it really is for a lot of people. So if anything this whole ordeal has taught me to be thankful.
I’m thankful but not necessarily smart. I didn’t rest a bit. We even went to the park yesterday. I had to put Baby Bug in the sling for a few minutes too (on top of my stitches!!!) just so I could get the stroller out of the trunk without having to put her down on the cement to play with oil stains and broken glass. It was a tiny bit uncomfortable but not that bad.
I miss the sling. The stroller is great but I don’t get to see her moving her arms up and down when she gets excited. She’s way out there in front of me behind the massive collapsing shade thing. If I want to look at her I have to stop walking and walk around to the front of her. I loved the sling because she was close to me. Like my own personal little friend, listening to every word I said as we ambled down the street. My mom thinks I’m nuts that I like to harness a sack of potatoes to my chest and take a walk. But I do. It’s just easier. Maneuvering a stroller up and down curbs, in between people is kind of a pain. It just doesn’t fit everywhere. Also it’s a pain in the neck to push up a hill. I’m much better at hiking up hills with something strapped to me than I am pushing something that wants to roll back onto me.
So maybe I’ll have to look into some kind of back pack. Or maybe I just need to find less hilly places to walk.
Sigh… I know this is a boring post. I wish I could hire a babysitter so I could have more time to be witty. But I guess that’s not really a high priority on the list of things to budget for.
*I think I used that title before… but again, no time for wittiness…
24 Comments
Mrs. Flinger
I’m glad you’re recovering well! And I like that, “Hire a babysitter so I can have time to be witty.”
Awesome. That’s SOOo my excuse, too. :0)
Angie
I had a pretty painless recovery from gall bladder surgery too. I had mine out in May of ’05. But it’s definitely possibly to overdo it, so slow down girlie!
As far as Baby Bug’s appetite, I wondered the same thing about my son. I remember telling his pediatrician that I didn’t think he had a full belly sensor. It will change once she becomes a toddler, though. Then you’ll worry that she’s not eating enough.
LOVE the spaghetti pics. She’s so adorable.
mar
Kelty backpacks are great. I used to tie a little mirror on a string to the shoulder strap so I could see when they fell asleep back there. I absolutely loved the backpack. It let me go antiquing (no antique store worth its’ salt has room for strollers!), shopping, hiking, etc. and still keep my hands free!
But give yourself a little time to recover first, ok?
mar
Oh, and both my kids ate more as babies than they do now …
karen
I loved having my baby near me too! We love the Ergo baby carrier, you can do front or back or hip and they even have these crazy coats that go over them. We didn’t use the coat. Just the regular ergo. And mostly on the back.
aunt kathy
Looks like she’s in for a growth spurt!
And slow down now. You really should now that things are in order. Go to Starbucks for me and treat yourself!
Gramma
I know you can’t really rest until your house is clean. In the morning, I don’t dare leave the kitchen until it is cleared up…otherwise the whole day goes helter skelter. So it’s not quite 11 and I have the dishwasher loaded, the iron skillet hot watered, scrubbed and swished out, and a pot of soup started in the crockpot.. Just think, I spent more than a dollar for a bone! But then, no soup maker worth her salt starts soup without a BONE. In went wilted celery, chopped coarsely, an onion, and half a head of cabbage, also chopped. Later on I’ll add stewed tomatoes and barley.
It is so easy to say “Hurry up and rest, but no so easy to rest when your chores call out to you. Just try. Read BB a story and let her turn the pages. I have fond memories of you, not quite two, holding the page down so I couldn’t turn it. “Eat you up!” you said to the Three Billy Goats Gruff. You knew there was an ugly troll under the bridge.
Mrs. Why
I second the recommendation for the Ergo. I am totally in love with mine, and so is my 10-month-old. You can’t have them looking out on your chest, only facing in, but the back position is awesome. My little girl hangs out back there happy happy, and then doses off when she gets tired.
So glad you are feeling better, whew.
Alissa
I’ll third the Ergo recommendation as I’ve been happily using mine for 4 months. I’d also recommend a mei tai or woven wrap carrier both of which can be used for front, back and hip carries. I think you’d love the mei tai in particular because of the groovy fabrics (and it is very easy for a beginner and sooo much more comfortable than a Baby Bjorn). I have a Baby Hawk mei tai which I love. Check these out – http://www.babyhawk.com/index.php and http://www.thebabywearer.com/ .
I totally understand about the cleaning as well – I was doing the same things you were after I came home from hospital after giving birth. Still you should try, if at all possible, to take it easy.
BeachMama
Wow, how awesome that you are feeling so great! I know the feeling of not being able to rest while your house is not in order. Thankfully all of my sisters and my Mom know this about me and made sure all was well in my house while I was laid up this past summer.
J used to eat more than most adults, he still does some days, but his regualr appetite wavered around 18months. And we switched to a backpack carrier when he was too big to carry in the front. A mirror helped to see him and we used it more than the stroller for a good six months. So much easier to shop and they can see so much more too. He used to fall asleep and I could transfer him to the carseat no problem. It’s a good investment.
Jennifer
My toothless baby eats like a pig too. It’s crazy. She really likes diced carrots, peas, or cut green beans straight from the can. I swear she would eat a whole can at one sitting if I let her, then move on to half a roll of Ritz crackers.
I know what you mean about going out and about and not being able to interact with your baby. I ended up finding a stroller on the walmart website that was pretty inexpensive and the only one that I can find where you can turn the baby towards you. I love it. Me babe chatter all the time on our way to pick up my older babe from preschool. It’s pretty good on most terrain also.
I hope you continue to recover as well as you have. I’m really impressed! :)
Bethany
I agree with Aunt Kathy–it sounds like Baby Bug is due for a growth spurt! As for not wanting pureed foods, some people are particular about the texture of their food. I am, and my brother is even worse. My mom says when he was a baby, he flat refused to eat baby food. So she always just cut or ground up whatever she and my dad were eating and fed it to him. And my daughter always did the stuffing thing with finger foods, too, and she didn’t get teeth till she was 14 months old! I just tried to cut all her finger food really small, so if she did shove it in her mouth, at least it was already in tiny pieces. She didn’t really stop doing this till she was almost 2. I think it’s just one of those things some kids do.
Glad you are feeling so good, by the way! Probably you are so relieved to not be in pain and throwing up anymore, that’s giving you extra endorphins and strength. Also, you do have a lot of people praying for you. :-)
gorillabuns
i’m glad you are feeling better. especially now, baby bug is so active!
don’t worry about bug, if your daughter is anything like my ex-voracious eater, you will be begging her to eat anything, just ANY DARN THING during their long hunger strikes.
Daisy Mae
Even if you were on your death bed being rod of that gallbladder pain would make you feel healthly again wouldn’t it? that is some wicked pain. I am so glad you are feeling good again. Cleaning though? You are my hero! Now stop that!
I could always tell when one of mine were going through a growth spurt. they would eat me out of house and home. as for the mush, would you want to eat that once you had tasted the glory of yogurt or spaghetti? ha ha.
Nila
Let the bug eat. Your a good mom for letting her try all those foods. I was so nervous with my first, and didn’t get to adventerous, poor kid.
Like your other commenters said, there will come a day when you don’t think she’s eating enough. It’s so much fun watching them discover new foods and textures.
Take it easy though. Even supermoms need a break every once in a while.
Lauren
olivia wouldn’t eat baby food at all … but she loved pieces of avacado and mango. very slippery.
Shannon
I have twin girls the same age as Bug. They are just starting to eat for themselves. IT’s an amazing time.
I say, let her eat. My girls tell me when they have enough. Some days it’s a ton, others it’s not.
And I’m so glad you’re recovering well!
kerflop (formerly very mom)
I have ditched our stroller for an Ergo! http://www.ergobabycarrier.com – they are fabulous. Fabulous!
Thomas Arbs
First, congratulations on your re-won health. Your blog is being read around the world, and I felt very worried to find a person I never knew, yet knew so much about, ill at the other side of the globe.
Second, isn’t your stroller a frog? But then you can turn baby bug around to face you! We do this all the time.
Third, a back carrier: You’ll want something more solid than an Ergo, or that’s what I think. After all baby bug won’t be a baby much longer. Google found a thing called the “Stallion” (yeah, it’s more of a male domain…) which looks just like the no-name thingy from my wife’s baby age that I am using. Great thing, too.
Mary O
REI has a great baby backpack called a Deuter Kangakid. I love mine and so does my 10 month old!
carrien
Here is one more comment on baby carrier ideas. Go to mommatoto.com and check out all of the different wrap and carry ideas that they have. IT’s fabulous.
jbomb
Very glad you are recovering so well. Baby bug is getting cuter and cuter everyday. =)
Jenn
FWII, I had an Ergo and returned it because it felt like my boy (8 months and 15th percentile) felt too smooshed up against me when I had him in back. There didn’t seem to be enough leeway for him to move his head around and see…I got a Kelty backpack on ebay instead. While it weighs more than the Ergo, it’s structured and is a “seat” for baby to sit in instead of being strapped in or hanging from his crotch (like the bjorn). He can almost see over my head and has lots of room back there. It also has a little backpack in the back of it to carry diaper supplies too, so no need for a diaper bag when using it.
My son still doesn’t even know what to do with finger food. I put some in front of him and he picks ut up, but never tries putting it in his mouth! Is that weird? He loves to be spoonfed though..loves the puree.
Shelley N
Hi dear! Long time no see. Just cruising by…Sadie is in preschool now–got some time on my hands :)
About the food thing…9 months is prime growth spurt time. Sometimes Sadie ate until I thought for sure she would explode, and then the next day she would turn her little nose up like she was just too good for what she had inhaled the day before. Babies. I’m still trying to figure ’em out, and Sadie is freaking 4 now. If you want to see pictures by the way, you can go to http://dssnoyes.shutterfly.com. I think that will take you to our albums.
Hope all is well–and glad you are recovering from your surgery.
much love!