Solid food

  I finally decided I should teach this baby to eat real food.  Personally, this is the hardest chunk of time for me with a baby.  If I could I would skip these next 6 months and have a baby that can feed herself, eat table food, and be walking or very close to it.  Of course, I can't do that and I definitely don't want to miss out on Ava being a baby.  However, I've been kind of reluctant to start this stage of development knowing it's been tough for me in the past.  Not sure exactly why, but I think it is just more stuff on my plate than I am used to (prepping, packing, planning, etc.).  Of course, little Miss Ava was all smiles and ready to taste her first solids, so how could I resist?

What is this stuff in my mouth?!?!

 You'd think she must have hated it from the look on her face.  It's a good thing I am a pro at this and know that she is probably just reacting to the new taste and texture in her mouth.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't a face of disgust because it is only day 3 and she ate her entire serving of sweet potatoes, all 1.5 Tbls of it!  I kind of had a feeling she was going to like eating solids.

  Can't do a blog of this without bringing in some throwbacks.

  Joel's reaction to eating solids was very different from Ava.  In true Joel fashion, he did NOT like trying new things.  He was tight-lipped as I tried to feed him solids.  I really didn't know what to do.  The song and dance didn't even work.  He literally would shut his mouth and turn away.  Finally, after a few weeks, I took an old Tylenol syringe, filled it with baby food and casually slipped it through his shut lips.  That way he could actually taste it before deciding he didn't like it.  A couple of days later, he was eating solid food with a spoon.

  Calvin liked his food right away.  Oh man, he is such a cute baby!  I don't even remember him like this, except his eyes of course.

LOL!  His facial expressions are still the best.

  As I was looking through these old pictures, I thought to myself, "Why in the world did I take such a close up of him eating his food?"  Then as I looked at the pictures closer, I see that I had a pink bib on him.  I was probably trying to not get whatever girly pink bib he was wearing in the picture.  Now, you see it too.  Haha.

  Lastly, baby Hannah.  I was not a pro back then and so I definitely was convinced she didn't like solids at all.  This was supposed to be her first food, but it actually wasn't.  Her first real food encounter was with a chocolate milkshake.  She was sitting on my lap and as I took a spoonful of milkshake, some of it dripped off right onto her tongue.  She has been a chocolate fiend ever since!!