Bath time with Isaiah

I have spent the last 3 days with Isaiah, and maybe because last week was crazy busy (I wasn't there to even put Isaiah to bed Monday-Saturday), I really enjoyed our days together this week! Today I pulled out the camera to capture a few of our daily activities, so of course there's an eating pic (today's meals was quinoa pizza bites and brussel sprouts.. Isaiah's adventurous eating is pushing me as well!). Look at how big those teeth are getting! Here he is chillin' in his new chair from IKEA that we put together today :c) It was bath night, so I took the opportunity to snap some shots.. Haha.. love this face He looks caught red-handed here.. Splashing around is so much fun! Showing the duck some love Crazy hair washin' time! And now, we're done- This is the towel we used a bunch when he was an infant.. the froggy face would basically cover his face.. oh how he's grown! Love Wrinkled baby feet.. All the better to eat!Sorry for all the underlining... blogger changed their format some and I still haven't figured it all out. I had so much fun just playing with my sweet boy tonight, thank you for sharing in our pictures!

Britney's Bridals

Congratulations to Britney and Rejeev! I am off shooting their wedding today, it is sure to be a beautiful event! They have already started celebrating the last 2 days with a Mehndi ceremony on Thursday and the rehearsal last night (with an Indian flair). There's already so many great images, and we have a whole wedding day to go! For now, enjoy Britney's bridals, in both her Indian dress and her traditional gown.

Halle & Cambi's 1 Year Session

These cute cousins are 1 (or almost 1)!!

Check out their adorable session from Easter weekend in Tulsa

Isaiah's "Baby Led" Eating Adventure

Isaiah is 7 1/2 months now, and although he isn't crawling, walking, or moving much, he's eating like a champ! When Isaiah was much younger, I went to lunch with a friend who's baby sat there and gummed pretzel sticks and cheese and such for lunch. Without many teeth, he was still able to manage the whole food. I liked the idea! Then another friend sent me a link to an article on the book Baby Led Weaning. The title kind of scared me because I thought it meant I might be nursing until Isaiah's 5 years old (not a part of my plan!). But I later realized that it was really about skipping the purees and introducing solids without cutting back on nursing/bottles. The idea is that babies can get all the nutrition they need from milk , and you start adding in foods that the baby can feed himself when he's able to feed himself. This is usually around 6 months, but every baby is different. Baby learns to chew first, then swallow- no need to mess with baby food! One mom said it was the lazy mom's way to feed their children. At first a balked at this because it meant I was going to have to learn to cook wholesome meals all the time, but as I've learned what to feed Isaiah, I agree with her statement! No steaming, mushing, and spoon feeding (for the most part)!
I've really enjoyed our "Baby Led" experience. I started giving Isaiah solid food around 5 1/2 months. On his first try, he didn't even open his mouth when he put the food to his mouth! He eventually learned to open his mouth, then to gum the food. There wasn't much consuming in the beginning (they say it's more for experimentation), but over time he's really turned into a food monster! I knew the first time he really consumed some because 30 minutes later there was broccoli in his poop- and if that's not TMI, yesterday he had his first (what I call) turd.. it was all solid.. my baby's growing up, and his diapers getting much stinkier! (yes, these are things that you note when you become a mom). So anyways, now Isaiah's eating food at least 3 times a day, and still nursing when he wants (usually 3-4 hours). I enjoy being able to set him in his highchair and let him eat while I prepare food or clean up the kitchen. He now wants to eat anytime he sees someone else eating, which with me can be constant.. I usually just share meals with him (the only things he doesn't eat are honey, popcorn, and peanut butter). I try to watch the sodium content of what I give him, since salt is hard on babies kidneys and I try to keep it as wholegrain and wholesome as possible (but I'm not a maniac about it). It's great to be able to go out to eat, and let him to be able to share some of my food. I also enjoy not having to take the time to spoon feed him while my meal goes cold (although we did start giving him some purees a couple weeks ago when we were trying to see if it would help him sleep better. I don't think hunger was the issue though). My biggest hope out of this all is that Isaiah will not be a picky eater, which so far, there hasn't been a food he's turned down! He's had...
deviled eggs, potatoes, red bell pepper, mushrooms, broccoli, turkey peperoni, chicken, beef, pork, salmon patties, asparagus, applesauce, oranges, spinach, avocado, mango, greek yogurt, cheese, pasta and more!

Here Isaiah is yesterday morning eating a loaded spoon of oatmeal

Yummy chicken for lunch

mmmm.. broccoli

and an all-time fav, bread!

another perk of Isaiah feeding himself- he has really developed his hand-eye coordination! It was sometime last month that he refined his pincer grasp.. (which is usually a 9 month milestone), but he realized he couldn't get some of the food in his mouth unless he changed his grip! So cool to watch-

Here are some ipone pics that I've sent Ray over the past couple months. This is asparagus!

happy eater!

He always makes this face with yogurt (plain greek.. I make a face too), but he continues to eat it!

Daddy's barbequed chicken

Fried plantain, a little taste of Ghana!

This is just a cute face :c)

Things were pretty messy in the beginning, but he's much better at hitting his mouth now!

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This is one of the earlier videos



And since we are on the subject of food, here's a shot of his chompers! This crazy kid got his 1st tooth at 3 months, and hasn't stopped! At 7.5 months he has 6 teeth, 4 lower and 2 upper (still coming in)
ahhh.. I love this smile! Can you see the slivers of upper teeth up there? It's the constant teething that I attribute the lack of sleep to...

All gone!


Like I said, each baby is different and not all will take to solid foods like Isaiah, but it has been a really fun adventure!