What I've Learned In The First 6 Months Of Motherhood!

The journey through motherhood continues! Do I even have to say that I can't believe I have a 6 month old baby? I think it's a given that his age is always going to come as a shock to me haha!

So lets just jump into it! 

1. Sleep training is frikkin HARD, but it is so worth it. 

2. It is so incredible when your baby learns something. Hunter learned to lift the flaps in his flap book & I cried. 

3. The very first solid food brings a crazy mix of emotions. 

"Is he going to want to stop breast-feeding?" 

"Is he going to choke on this?!" 

"Is he eating enough?" 

"Omg he loves it!"

4. Having said all that, you're still going to be second guessing yourself. 6 months in, I thought things would be a bit easier, but I constantly second guess myself & am always pondering the millions of decisions that I face regarding my child. A mother always only wants whats best for her child, and the answers don't always fall in your lap. 

5. Once they learn how to crawl, that's it. There's no turning back. What has been learned, cannot be unlearned. Prepare to re-organize your living areas. 

6. Teething is the biggest asshole. If you're lucky enough to have a baby who breezes through teething... Keep that information to yourself because my baby is the complete opposite & it's hard. It's so rough on him. Rosy cheeks, sore gums, irregular sleep... Gah!

7. You may have had plans to make all your baby's food... or do baby led weaning.. or do this.... or do that.. If you stick to your original plan, wow.. good for you! Haha! I on the other hand, have mixed it all up! I said I wouldn't give him cereal. Well guess who eats baby oatmeal or ancient grain cereal every morning! Ive done a bit of baby led and a bunch of puree. I've made my own, I've bought the jars. Do what YOU want and feel comfortable with & what works for your baby! 

8. Changing diapers gets interesting when you're baby is trying to twist and turn and roll over and crawl away. By interesting, I mean annoying. 

9. This is SUCH a fun stage. Learning your baby's ever developing personality is the funnest thing! You see what makes them laugh, and they make you laugh. You can play together and watch their reactions. Seriously. So fun! 

10. The love is unreal. Especially when they can give you hugs and kisses now. A kiss from your 6 month old baby is definitely on the Top 5 Cutest Things in the World list. When they put their hands on your cheeks and open those slobbery mouths and attack your face... Melt my HEART!!! 

Perfection.

Click on the following links to see my previous blog posts!

What I've Learned in the First 5 Weeks of Motherhood!

What I've Learned About Pregnancy!

Mommy's Wish List!

1. Baby Brezza One Step Baby Food Maker

How frikkin cool would this be?? I'm just in the beginning stages of introducing solids to Hunter. We're doing a combination of baby led weaning as well as purees. Having this little magical machine steam and blend the food for me, all in one, sounds wonderful! Also, less dishes. Woo!

2. Video Baby Monitor

I'm not picky when it comes to a video monitor. I would just like to have video! Now that Hunter is mobile and pulls himself up on everything, it would be great to see what he's up to in his crib! I've seen some cool ones where the video can transmit to your iPhone or your computer. Those are pretty fancy and I don't think I need one that high-tech, but that's a good idea! 

3. Teething Necklace

I can't stress how much I need one of these! It's next on my "to buy" list for sure! Hunter is a big fan at clawing at my chest or grabbing onto my fingers or anything else he can get his hands on. He's such a distracted eater sometimes, and scratching my chest seems to keep him focused. Ouch. I think this will be a perfect distraction for Hunter! Plus how cute are they?

4. Ergo Baby 360 Carrier

This... This will be a great investment. Hunter isn't a fan of facing towards me, but he LOVES facing forward. This carrier allows for inward and forward as well as back and hip carry! Plus if you read all the features of it, it's definitely a winner & well worth the money. 

5. The NoseFrida

I'm not even going to go into the whole "getting snot in your mouth" nonsense. If you honestly think you're going to suck boogers up into your mouth, get outta here. I'm sure there's a ton of moms out there who swear by this little gem. I can only imagine its 100x more useful and efficient then the typical snot bulb sucker things. I've heard nothing but good things about the NoseFrida!

6. Shopping Cart Cover

Hunter loves sitting in carts, and I actually prefer him sitting in carts now. It just makes everything so much easier. Downside? He loves trying to put his mouth on the cart because he's a baby and a teething one at that.....everything in the mouth - all the time. Shopping cart cover to the rescue! Plus it doubles as a high chair cover - you know, if we ever in our lives go out to a restaurant. Probably not, but never say never! 

Another item on my wish list is a camera! I don't even know where to stat when it comes to cameras. I don't know anything about the brands, Nikon, Canon..? I don't know anything about lenses... But I DO know that I wish I had a camera so I don't have to use my iPhone all the time, which is the iPhone 4 by the way.... I'm behind in the times. I want some good quality photos since I take a million of them a day. Plus I've always had a love for editing photos, & it would be nice to have some decent quality photos to work with haha! 

6 Month Postpartum Update!

Outdoor play time in the tub because it was really hot that day.

Peeking at my cute baby wearing boyfriend, taking the babies for a walk <3 

Height/Weight:

We have an appointment on the 6th to get his shots, so we won't know until then how much he weighs. I would try to measure him myself but he's such a squirmy wormy and he typically gets pissed off when I lay him down for anything.. Sooooo were not going to try.

Routine:

Well... before, it was... Wake up, go outside, nap, walk to the mail and play, nap, play etc., nap, play etc., eat solids, bath, nap, nurse, sleep.... with breastfeeding before and after each nap. 
Now, since his naps are few and far between... We're just trying to survive the day. He still seems to go to sleep for the night and wake up for the day at around the same time though, which is nice. He also still sleeps all night, except for that one night he woke up at 5am and for about half an hour to party.. but he just nursed and fell back asleep.

Sleeping:
He goes to sleep for the night around 7:30 in his crib, wakes up a couple hours later to nurse, & then stays in my bed for the night. He wakes up 3-4 times a night to nurse then is up for the day at 7:30am. Napping has turned into the biggest nightmare of our lives. I typically would bounce him to sleep & lay him in his crib to nap. He would sometimes wake up as I was laying him down, so I would put him back to sleep and lay him back down. Now, he refuses to stay sleeping as I lay him down. So now were doing the "cry it out" method because he doesn't go to sleep on his own what so ever. I'll bounce him to sleep, lay him down, and if he stays sleeping [haha yah right] then WOO! If he wakes up, he cries and screams for a few minutes, I'll check on him, cries and screams for a few more minutes, I'll check on him, repeat and continue for eternity. He has yet to actually fall asleep on his own because after a couple hours of doing this, I either need to feed him again or I'll bounce him back to sleep and pray to the sleep gods that he stays sleeping when I lay him down. 
He hardly ever falls asleep in the car anymore and never sleeps in the stroller. 
I can only imagine that one day when he falls asleep on his own, all the wonderful things I'll be able to do! Like, grocery shopping, going for a walk in the park, drive anywhere....Do anything.....
Seriously, having a baby who doesn't fall asleep on his own every, anywhere, at any time, has gotta be THEE hardest thing about parenthood for me. 
The hardest effing thing.

Eating/Feeding:

He's still breastfeeding. He probably nurses every couple hours, usually before and after he wakes up from a nap. He's also been trying out some solid foods! 
He's had:
-Roasted carrots, cut into finger sized wedges
-Steamed broccoli, cut with a good chunk of the stalk still left on for something to hang onto
-Apple [from our yard], quartered and halved, skin on
-Peach, halved & pitted with skin on. He's also had frozen slices in a mesh feeder
-Peach applesauce [homemade], spoon fed
-Blueberries, frozen in a mesh feeder
-Rice Cereal, we had a sample pack come in the mail, so I thought I'd try it
Today he is [hopefully] going to try a puree of green beans. I just blended steamed beans in my magic bullet. He was supposed to have it yesterday but it was a rotten day for naps and we just couldn't incorporate it in.
I love baby led weaning, but I also love the mesh feeder as well as spoon feeding. Hunter is all for all of it. He's already figured out how to feed himself, and how to use a spoon -with my help of course. I load up the spoon and bring it to his mouth and he grabs onto it and gets all the food off, then "gives it back" for a refill.

Sizes:

His average size is 6 months... But everything is sized so crazy different that he's wearing clothes that are between 0-3 & 12 months!
He's wearing size 4 diapers.

Milestones:

He finally cut his first tooth! Little bugger was taking forever to make it's appearance. 

He is also crawling like it aint no thang! That happened quick. 

He rocks back and forth to "dance".. so frikkin cute. 

He pulls himself up using everything & he's even stood up on his own for a few seconds. 

He saw the ocean for the first time! That's something thats important to us, his dad especially... To see and experience nature!

Look at those poor rosy cheeks from teething.

His favourite snack!  

His first time at the ocean! 

Their relationship consists of him trying to grab her face and her trying to lick his.

Hunter Goes To The Ocean!

Last week, we took Hunter to the ocean for the first time! It was so neat to watch him take it all in. It was so new to him, as he has never seen a big body of water or played in the sand! 

Watching your baby experience new things, makes everything that much more fun. It's like you get to experience everything for the first time again. 

Here are some photos from our little ocean visit :)

His first time standing on the beach!

He was so amazed the whole time!

We tried to get a family selfie, but we ended up getting a photo with this cute dinosaur instead. 

This has got to be my favourite picture of all time! 

Little toe prints!

Having a little snack in the car on the way home....

....aaaaand he's out!

Geez I love that boy so much <3

Easy Cheesy Chicken Avocado Enchiladas!

Here's another recipe post! 

The quality of these photos vary greatly. They were taken at all different times of the day due to  either 

1) getting busy with something else (my baby) or 

b) forgetting I was cooking them. Haha!

This is sooo good and sooo easy to make. I'm also definitely not claiming this is a healthy dish by any means. It's covered in cheese. Otherwise, I guess it's not too bad... change up the flour tortilla for a whole wheat, or corn tortilla... use different or less cheese...add more veggies and it's a healthier enchilada! 

 You'll need a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken, or any kind of chicken you want to use. I tend to get the whole cooked chicken because it's half the price of boneless skinless chicken breasts and I can usually make two different dishes from all the meat.

You're also going to need:

 Small tortillas

Salsa of your choice

Plain Greek Yogurt 

Avocados

Onion 

Garlic cloves

Cheese 

Cilantro

+ oil & butter to cook the onions in

This is completely just a guideline.... This can be changed up any way you want it!

 I like to take all the chicken off the bone first, because I know if I don't, the remaining chicken will just sit on the bone in the fridge & will most likely end up in the garbage. I use my hands to take all the chicken off, but you can obviously use a fork & knife. Once all the chicken is off, I divide it in half and put the other half in the fridge for another meal. [I mixed it with cheese and made quick quesadillas!]

I used two 8x8 pans. You could use a 9x13 or whatever you have!

Easy Cheesy Chicken Avocado Enchiladas

6-10 small tortillas - depends on how much filling & space you have

1 small jar of salsa or about 2/3 of a large jar

1 container of Plain Greek Yogurt 

2 avocados, chopped

1 medium onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2+ cups cheese 

A handful of chopped cilantro

1 tbs oil & butter [to cook the onions in]

*Preheat oven to 400F
1. Cook the onions in a pan until soft and golden
2. Add the chicken, avocado, cilantro and garlic & season with salt & pepper to taste. Stir until combined and then turn the heat off
3. In a bowl, mix together the greek yogurt & salsa to make the sauce. Add some to your baking pan to cover the bottom.
4. Time to assemble!
  -Lay one tortilla out and sprinkle with cheese.
  -Add some of your filling
  -Drizzle some of the sauce on top
5. Roll tortilla up & place seam side down in pan. Continue until you fill the pan.
6. When all your tortillas are ready, pour some more sauce on top so the tortillas are covered.
7. Sprinkle with cheese.
8. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until top is golden and bubbly!

Make sure to let it sit for a few minutes because it's going to be hot!

The amount of filling, cheese, and sauce you use is completely up to you. If you like more sauce, add more... If you want more cheese, shred some more! 

Don't let anyone tell you there's such a thing as too much cheese. That's a lie.

If you make these, let me know! Post a photo on Facebook or Instagram & tag me in it!