Making Baby Food and a new schedule

Yesterday I started making homemade baby food. It was pretty fun. I made Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans. All I had to do was boil them to get them soft. Then put them in the food processor and puree it.....adding a little water to dilute it a little. Once it is baby food consistency I placed it in ice cube trays and into the freezer. Each "ice cube" is a serving of baby food. Our doctor said to start with veggies first because fruits are much sweeter, so if I do fruits first than she may never want to eat the veggies. Although it is a bit of work, it will save us a lot of money and I can get all organic veggies and fruits. I bought 4 sweet potatoes for $2.00 and it made 40 servings!! Not too bad huh?!?!

I won't start the veggies for another week or so, we are still working on the cereal. She is not a bit fan of it. She doesn't have trouble eating it, I think she doesn't like the taste. Dr. Cross said that we should do the cereal for about a week (which it will be tomorrow) so she can get the hang of the spoon. Then we can start the veggies. But I think we will do cereal for another week.

Another big event going on over the next few weeks is a new schedule. Just when we got the other one down it is time to change it up again. Our doctor and a few books I have read says we should be doing 4/4.....four months and 4 hour feedings. So, instead of eating every 3-3 1/2 hour feedings we are now trying to change it to every 4 hours. This will get rid of one feeding a day, but she will increase her intake at each feeding. This is great for us because she was eating every 3- 3 1/2 hours and eating anything from 4-6 ounces....so we would have to make a 6 ounce bottle and at times we had to waste 2 ounces. Now she eats 6 ounces every feeding. So.....we are working on getting her used to this new eating schedule. Once we have that down (most likely tomorrow since she has adapted well yesterday and today) we will fix the rest of her schedule and we will start getting up every morning at the same time (7:30) so that we are ready for daycare in a few weeks. In order for her new schedule to work I will have to be really strict about when she naps, feds and plays. This is what we are HOPING things will look like:

7:30-eat
8-9:30/10:00-play
9:30/10:00-11:30-nap
then repeat this.

We are really working on our naps. She still does not like to nap for very long, although she took an hour nap on her belly the other day.....which meant I was checking in on her every few minutes. However, the doctor said that she is past the age of crib deaths, since she can now push herself up on her hands, can turn her head, and can almost roll over. She loves to sleep on her side too.

We are doing all this because Riley starts daycare on September 2nd. That will be one of the hardest days of my life. I know she will be totally fine, but I dont know if I will be!!