Pregnancy questons...

Let me preface this post with this... I know I am not an expert and below are just some of the things that worked for me... hopefully they will work for you too. I am posting this as I have been asked about things related to pregnancy for a number of people. So here's a quick post on the things I found that made mine a little easier, obviously what works for one may not work for another but when you're pregnant, you will try anything that may work so here ya go!

-A body pillow is a must for sleeping; MUST, MUST, MUST! It's great for comfort and for your back.
-Give in to the cravings, you're having them for a reason just try to eat small portions
-Fish oil supplements are your friend; great for back ups (if you get me) good for your skin and hair and statistics show they help with the baby's brain development. If you have problems with the after taste, throw them in the freezer and take them with food. Carlson's brand is what I use.
-If you have heartburn and cannot seem to find anything to ease it, like I did, try this: Hot water with about 2 tablespoons of vinegar, some honey and lemon. It works wonders, doesn't sound very good, but you will feel much better. I tried this only after going through two extra large bottles of Tums and this did more for me.
-WALK, WALK and WALK some more. If there was one thing I did my entire pregnancy was walk! It kept my spirits up, my weight down and it gave my husband and I a lot of time to talk about things as he usually joined me with our dog Shaye.
-I admit I did have a couple of sips of wine while I was pregnant, after my first trimester. I also drank about 100 bottles of Sparkling Apple Juice... the stuff was like crack. If you are craving a little bubbly, try this for a substitute.
-Fun little thing to do: There is a over the counter Gender test you can take... it's only about 85% accurate but fun to do.

Hope these little tidbits help! :)

Madyson is 8 Months old!

Holy cow, time is flying! Next week she will be driving! ;)

Madyson is doing extremely well. I think she eats better than Kevin and I. Here are some of the things she has tried thus far (all of which, we have prepared for her):

-Bananas
-Avocado
-Carrots
-Peaches
-Pears
-Apples
-Apricots
-Tomato
-Basil
-Corn
-Peas
-Leeks
-Onions
-Pumpkin
-Sweet potato
-Potato
-Cauliflower
-Zucchini
-Chicken
-Lamb (surprisingly, she really likes this one)

Tonight I am introducing her to asparagus and mushrooms.

Yesterday we went to Bates Nut Farm! This was our first trip to Bates and Madyson's first trip to a farm/pumpkin patch! We had a blast! We started off with a hayride around the farm, we even brought Shaye along and he loved it! After that, we headed over to the shade for Madyson's mid-morning snack, then over to the ponies and farm animals... Madyson wanted to ride the ponies but I told her she would have to wait until next year. :) We checked out the country store and then headed to the pumpkin patch. There were so many pumpkins! Itty bitty ones to Giant Pumpkin size, Charlie Brown would have been impressed. We walked through the bigger ones just to look around and take some pictures of Madyson and then we picked out our Jack-O-Lantern pumpkin and headed home. It was a great morning and it wiped all of us out!

She is still doing good with sleeping through the night, although her bedtime varies from 4:30pm to 6:30pm and generally wakes up around 6-6:30am. If only we could push both these times back a little we would be in there! Although, I am not complaining.

Lately, I have been trying to slowly introduce small bites for her to pick up with her hands and feed to herself. We started yesterday and she really was just moving the food around the tray. I would hold a piece for her, bring her fingers together around it and then guide it to her mouth for her. Today, we started the same way, but after about 10 minutes she was off on her own!

She has also recently started to crawl and by that I mean she has her face in the ground while kicking her legs in a frog like motion and slowly inches towards the toy (or the pine cones I have set out) until she reaches it. She is starting to figure out that it is much easier, and less painful, to keep her head up. Baby proofing here we come!

And the last update, but by no means least; she said "Mama"!!! She usually only makes this sound when she is upset, but just to hear it come out of her cute little mouth was enough to make anyone melt... I promise, you would have too. We are working on "dada" now. :)

Busy day!

After running some errands this morning, I set up shop in the kitchen and I think I prepared enough food for Madyson to last the month!

We made:
Tomato, Cauliflower and Carrot with Basil
Potato, Leek Carrot and Peas
Sweet potato with Spinach and Peas
and
Chicken with Sweet Potato and Apple

I can honestly say each of these dishes were so yummy! Let me know if you would like the recipes.

Other than that, just chillin' with the baby and hubby and about to watch the Bama game!