Oatmeal

The very first bite of Dylan's very first 'solid' food - oatmeal! She looked a little concerned at the start...

But right away she thought: "Hey, this is fun!"

She had big smiles the whole time! She thought it was fun to squish around with her tongue and stick her fingers in, and about every 3rd bite she would figure out how to swallow it!

"I LOVE airplane & train noises! This is a great game!!"

"This transporter-thinga-ma-bob is fun to have in my mouth too! Why haven't we played this game before??"

"Hmmm, am I supposed to swallow this stuff? Or play with it?"

"Daddy! What's Mommy doing to me?!? I'm not sure what it is, but I think I like it!"

A couple of bites in. (I forgot to take a starting picture.)

Pretty good progress for a first try, I'd say. I think she would've eaten more too, but it was dangerously close to bed time and a little too far from her last nap.

I was impressed with Dyl's first attempt at eating! Let's hope she continues to do well and just likes it more and more and figures out that it's something you swallow. :) I think bananas will be our next step.

Whew, she's still been sleeping terribly. I actually went up to talk to the doctor today in a fit of desperation. I think it was helpful, so we're trying a lot of big changes at once to try to make a big impact (and get it all over with at once.) We're starting solids, stopping swaddling, not letting her sleep in the swing anymore (this is the one I'm the most nervous about) and thus insisting she sleeps in her crib, letting her have a lovey burp cloth (her favorite thing so far), and letting her sleep with a loose knit (non-smothery) blanket. Also, we're going to try to have Chad put her down and fend her off from nursing for the first couple times she's up at night. Oh, and the doctor wants me to weigh her before and after a feeding sometime to make sure she's getting enough milk. She's worried that my extreme sleep deprivation is stressing me enough that it might be decreasing my milk supply, making Dyl have to nurse more frequently to get enough milk, sleep depriving me more, and creating a vicious cycle. Hopefully the cereal mixed with milk will help with this if it is the case. So we're changing a million things at once & seeing how it goes - wish us luck!

*5 minutes post-blog post: Dyl is already up and screaming her head off. :( extra well-wishing requested, I think this is going to be a looong transition.