Gabriel is 10 Months Old!

Stats
Weight: 22 pounds, 4 ounces (58%)
Length: not done
^at 10 1/2 months when he got his flu shot booster

On the move and doing his own thing!

Our expressive little man :)

Likes:
-Walking around, exploring the house
-Holding the remote control, the house phone or our cell phones
-Opening & closing things, including doors (with supervision to avoid smashed fingers!)
-Picking toys out of the ottoman toy box
-Pushing things across the room, like his Leap Frog table, laundry baskets, empty boxes
-Everything from his 9-Month post

Dislikes:
-Having something taken away from him
-Sometimes he isn't happy to be laying him down for a diaper change

New skills:
-Walking!!!!! He took his first steps on October 19 at just 9 months & 1 week old!!! *Warning: this video is rated PG-13 for Daddy's language. He was shocked at how far Gabriel walked! ;)

-Initiating peek-a-boo (he will pull a blanket up to hide his face and quickly, before you even have a chance to say "where is Gabriel?", he puts it down and smiles so big! He also started leaning back to "hide" behind something, then lean forward to peek out!)
-Cheesy smile, crinkled-up nose and all!

Clothes/Diapers:
Gabe can wear 9 or 12-month clothes, although he is still most comfortable with the leg length of 12-month sizes. We moved up to size 4 Luvs diapers when he wears disposable.

Eating:
This month Gabriel started eating finger foods! He continues to love pieces of banana. I made diced carrots, green beans, broccoli (sometimes with cheddar cheese), diced sweet potato and sweet potato "fries". He loves Gerber Puffs but we try to limit them {the serving size on the package is 70 pieces. Really?!}. Other finger foods he has tried: pieces of whole wheat bread, whole wheat rotini pasta, cubes of mozzarella and mild cheddar cheese, pears, mango (but he couldn't quite chew them so I pureed the cubes), kiwi and toppings/spices: grated Parmesan cheese, cinnamon, garlic. His favorites are cheese and carrots! His least favorite was kiwi. I don't think he even swallowed any. He also tried a few new spoon-foods: canned pumpkin (plain and with pears), scrambled egg yolks (which he strongly disliked), plain yogurt mixed with fruits, mashed potatoes. Shortly after turning 9 months old, Gabe went through a 2-week phase of refusing food from a spoon (now we know it was most likely related to his 2 top teeth coming in. I wrote about that below in Randoms!). All the boy would eat were finger foods, and even then his appetite was low. One day I decided I would try offering him purees to see what happened and the strike was over! Thankfully there was no change in his breastfeeding and that is still going well! He nurses every 4 hours during the day when I'm home. Strangely, he started flat out refusing a bottle of breastmilk from Perry. My initial thought was it was due to the plastic nipple of the bottle causing pain on his top two teeth coming in, but he won't even drink it from a sippy cup but continues to drink water! Someone said to us, "he has learned where it comes from and it ain't a bottle!" That seems to be the case :)

Sleeping:
Gabriel is still waking up in the middle of the night, but usually just one time. The time will vary, but he tends to go 5-8 hour stretches. His nap schedule is still the same: morning nap 2 hours after waking up and then an afternoon nap sometime later. His naps range from 1 1/2-3 hours long.

Hair & Eyes:
No change in his medium brown, thin hair and big brown eyes.

Randoms:
-His top two teeth came in as a pair, finally breaking through his gums at 9 1/2 months. They look huge in his little baby mouth, with the cutest gap in between them!
-I could not believe it- he actually started opening his mouth and willingly takes medicine (ibuprofen)!
-The whole family, Mommy & Daddy and (local) grandparents, went to Trick-or-Treat The Trails on Gabriel's 1st Halloween! It was fun, and he was so cute! Separate post to come.

Being a Mommy- his Mommy- is the best!!!

Firsts: Teeth and Convertible Car Seat

10/3/12: Gabriel got his first tooth teeth one week shy of being 9 months old! We could also see the outline of his top 2 teeth under his gums but they hadn't broken through yet.

11/9/12: Our big boy outgrew the infant carrier so we got him a convertible car seat! He looked like such a big boy sitting in it.

Homemade Baby Food

I decided pretty early on that I wanted to make Gabriel's baby food. The pros outweigh the cons in my opinion. It's fresher, more nutritious, without additives & fillers, and often times cheaper. Ready-made baby foods are heated to very high temperatures in order to withstand a longer shelf life but this destroys many of the natural flavors, aromas and key nutrients (credit: The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet). On the down side, it does take more time than swiping jars off the store shelf and it requires more planning to take on-the-go.

After cooking the fruit or vegetable by steaming or baking it, I would let it cool down and puree it using my Ninja Master Prep blender {thanks, Mom & Dad W!}. To get the right consistency for the stage Gabe was at, I would mix in a little water or Bmilk. My Ninja came with 5 different containers and lids. It worked perfectly for making baby food, and I've also used it to make mixed berry sorbet & soups, too!

For freezing, I used OXO Tot Baby Food Freezer Trays {thanks, Mom!}. I also used them for stockpiling my freezer stash of Bmilk in Gabriel's first few months. They come in a set of 2, and each tray holds fourteen (14) 3/4-ounce cubes. Looking back now, my baby food-making probably would have been more efficient with more than two; it's doable, obviously, just slower because I could only freeze a little at a time. I just cooked a few foods at once and refrigerated the purees until I could get them in the freezer trays, one after another.

Once the cubes were frozen, they easily rocked out of the trays to be stored in freezer bags! Initially I swore by Ziploc brand but quickly realized it would be easier to get a good seal with a slide-lock instead of a zipper you have to pinch all together, especially when you have your arms full with a hungry baby! I switched to Hefty One Zip quart & gallon size freezer bags.

When it came time to introduce Gabriel to meat, I made several chicken & beef combinations with fruits and vegetables. I'll be honest, making meats into baby food intimidated me, but I was determined to give him the freshest, yummiest, most natural things to eat!