One potato, two potato, sweet potato...more?

Sweet potatoes won out in the race to be the first veggie in Pierce's repertoire. His primary source of nutrition for his first year will be milk/formula, but solids are fun to explore. We tried veggies for the first time on Sunday and he LOVED them! He enjoyed them on their own and mixed in with cereal, and finished the whole serving (a couple of tablespoons mixed with a couple of tablespoons of rice cereal) even attempting to feed himself. It is so much fun to feed him and watch (and listen to him) enjoying food. Our pediatrician suggested that we stick with one vegetable for a week before introducing another one, so I have a home-cooked store of sweet potatoes for lunch and dinner this week. We're thinking carrots for veggie #2! There are some pictures from the feeding below.
We also set up a foam play area in the living room so that once Piercy starts moving and grooving, he has a soft surface to explore and fall on. Plus the foam is easy to wipe down and clean when kid (and dog!) accidents happen! The textures on the mat are fun to play with which makes tummy time that much more appealing.

Hitting the Slopes

Besides getting a terrible cold at day care, Pierce had a great second week at school (as did mom). He has a girlfriend (Brianna) and is charming all of the kids and teachers alike. He is the youngest in the infant room for now, so is the center of attention--he would have it no other way! He smiles and talks his way through his days, and has learned how to put himself to sleep at nap time, which he demonstrated for mom and dad this weekend. I worked on napping without nursing to sleep for a while before going back to work, but couldn't tolerate his fussing to sleep. He only needed 2 weeks at school to pick up the skill. Hooray for all of us! He has picked up sucking the thumb of his left hand (future lefty?), which helps soothe him during the day. Just like his night-time sleep he immediately rolls onto his belly to nap. It's very cute to see! The nap picture is from another napping session--it's just a sweet shot. He had his 5 month birthday on Friday. It's funny that he seems to incorporate all of his new skills just as he enters a new month of life. Can't wait to see what 6 months brings!
This weekend we were lucky enough to head up to Vermont to visit good friend Jon Mingle and Scott and Alisa Harrison. Jon is a caretaker at a homestead in Randolph Center, and can ski out of his back door onto 400 acres of beautiful country side. The whole family went out for a cross-country skiing adventure in beautiful weather. Pierce loved the fresh air (but needed some sunglasses). He loves taking in the scenery when we are out and about. And he is finally out of the infant insert in the Ergo so gets a much better view of the surroundings. Thanks to Jon for hosting us!
Today (Monday), we had a cozy day at home in the morning, and Pierce got to test out his new floor playmat. He has taken to "swimming" when placed on his belly during awake time--watch out Michael Phelps. I am sure as soon as he gets some traction our little boy will be on the move.

We are entering our second week of rice cereal which Pierce is still loving. Next week we can venture into orange vegetables, so I am getting the babycooker out and cleaned. The big question is--carrots or sweet potatoes?

Adventures with Real Food

This weekend home gave us the opportunity to spend some QT together as a family after our first week with a new routine. We savored every minute of it, and had our friends Leah and Scott over for lunch on Saturday. They haven't seen Pierce in a couple of months, so he was a whole new baby. They were wonderful with him and were great sports to put up with Halsey and I jabbering on about baby stuff.After we enjoyed our lunch together, Pierce got to try having lunch of his own. We tried rice cereal for the first time with him, and he took to real food like a duck takes to water. He seemed to know just what to do, and was relatively cooperative with keeping some of the food in his mouth. Below are a before and after photo shoot, followed by a video chronicling all of the action. In the before, he was practicing his eating by sampling his bib. It's exciting to move into solid foods--especially since I got a baby food steamer/cooker/blender for Christmas and can test it out in a couple of weeks. We'll stick with rice cereal for a couple of weeks, I think, but sweet potatoes are on the horizon...

Before:
After:

New Year, New Firsts

Today was Pierce's first (full) day at daycare and my first day back at work. And luckily, last night was the first time he slept all the way through the night! He has always been a good sleeper (only getting up 1-2 times), and has been giving us 8-9 hour stretches for a while. Suddenly, last night he slept from 5:45pm-5:45am. What a champ! Of course, I still woke up every hour from 2am on to check on him. He was sleeping like a baby. Hopefully this is the start of a new trend!

Another first is that Pierce has been sleeping on his tummy all night long. A couple of weeks ago he began flipping over and waking himself up when he landed on his stomach. Halsey would patiently go into Pierce's room and flip him back over. These tussles went on for a couple of nights, until last night Pierce flipped over as soon as we placed him in his crib and stayed there for the whole night! It is quite a sight to see on the monitor--especially since he is sleeping with his rear in the air like a little inchworm.

Thanks to Halsey's aunts and uncles (the Poozies and Stickies), Pierce has a new exersaucer. He has been in it every day since Christmas, and loves it! His first adventure in his new toy was filled with trepidation, but he now smiles and giggles as he explores all of the treats in his "command center". Here are some shots of Captain Pierce:

Happy New Year!

It's been a while since my last post, and I don't want to get too far into January without updating the blog. We rang in the New Year with the Bourques and Harrisons and even made it up to midnight (with Erin Bourque and Pierce sound asleep). Pierce and Erin spent some great time playing with all of Erin's toys while the grown boys played a game of tennis! Thanks to Megan and Zach for hosting us in Needham, and to the Harrisons for traveling! Here are a couple of cute pictures from the festivities. Just hanging with the boys

Scotty and Alisa with the babies in their cute matching hats. Thanks Harrisons!We had a great remainder of the weekend enjoying the snowy weather (about a foot of snow), walking outside with Sadie and Pierce, and spending quality time together as a threesome. We also walked around together inside when the weather outside was just too frightful!