He is Risen!

"Alleluia, for our Lord God Almighty Reigns!" "Jesus Christ is Risen today, Alleluia"! Two of my most favorite Easter songs, both played at mass on Sunday. I LOVE Easter! I might even like it more than Christmas but that is a tough call. I can't even verbalize the magic of Easter. Magic might not be the best word - not magic as in sorcerers, black magic, and wizards - anything anti-Catholic no more like the magic and wonder you feel when you go to Disney World as a kid. That is a better comparison - Easter morning at mass is like a kid in Disney World.

We had a wonderful Easter weekend celebration filled with lots of family and dear friends! Andy and I even were able to make it to two Holy Week masses/communion services! Here are a few pictures from the weekend...

Good Friday

We enjoyed a wonderful Friday off and were able to go to mass at 3 with our sweet girl

Eleanor's new favorite thing - to pick up objects bigger than her and carry them across the apartment.

Aunt MEA came in town and came straight to the apartment to see her "Mrs. Bubble". Her little clone also shares her love for cheese and went straight to the counter when she saw the cheese block exit the fridge. She then begged for the cheese until MEA gave it to her! She LOVES cheese!

We then went to dinner at Marmi's and had a great time with The Gentrys and Grandma and Grandpa who were also in town (along with Aunts Keekda and MEA). Nyah and Eleanor took a bath together - Nyah's first out of the sling! She is such a sweet little girl! She and Eleanor are about 4 months apart!

Holy Saturday

Another dinner at Marmi's after a fun day at Eli's bday party. The Riley's came over for dinner and we had a great time eating burgers and playing games. Eleanor is wearing her new outfit from "Aunt Amanda" - she loves her purple! :)

Eleanor was SCARFING blueberries so Grandma (my Grandma) took them away and put them on a side chair. Somehow E got onto the floor and found the blueberries...you will see below :)

Easter Sunday

Eleanor woke Daddy up and told him she wanted to go find where the Easter bunny hid her basket!

She found her basket!

Eleanor and her new bun bun from the Easter bunny and her Daddy!

"Hoppy Easter"

Eleanor helping Mommy go through her basket

After Easter mass, all in attendance except for Katie :( The Aldons have a track record for not EVER being able to all be at mass together (someone is sick or out of town...) for Easter and it has been going on for years...maybe someday....

Eleanor LOVED the baptismal font and couldn't get enough...

Our sweet little Easter Lilly in her dress and jacket

Opening her Easter present from Marmi

Ready to hunt eggs

Our little girl is getting too big! She picked up and dropped in the basket all by herself all the eggs!

What a fun Easter had by all! Lots of yummy food and fellowship with family! Happy Easter everyone!

Eleanor is 11 Months Old!

Our sweet baby is 11 Months Old today! I CAN'T BELIEVE in ONE MONTH I will have a ONE YEAR OLD! Oh WOW! As I reflect on this past year I kind of miss all the excitment that came this time last year. I was so ready to meet my sweet little one and also ready to get my body back. I remember thinking that a lot - too bad it still isn't completely and probably never will be back the same way ha!

To the most important part though, our growing girl, Eleanor!

Because of Lent and my decision to not Blog, I didn't end up even handwriting a post for her 10th month so this will be a combination of both 10th and 11th months. Sorry E, I did manage to take a pic which is posted on the "Catching Up" post. SOOO much has happened since the 9 month post! February was forever ago! The biggest growth to brag about - WALKING! Let's start there. Eleanor, you started walking a few weeks ago - took your first "step" probably end of March/beginning of April but only did that when you wanted something - like if Mommy was holding her keys. It wasn't until this past weekend that you TOOK OFF! You take 5 and 6 steps at a time and if you fall over, usually get back up and try again. You are such a smart girl, falling on your bottom where it is cushy and not forward on your hands! You love to pick things up and walk with them!

More exciting new feats for you - you have so many words you are saying! You love to point at what you want and sometimes just point, don't make a protesting noise. You usually always purse your lips and make the "pah" sound when we ask you to say please! Your words now include:

- mama

- dada

- ba ba (bottle)

- bu bu (bun bun - your favorite lovie)

- na na (night night)

- Ab pah (Abby- Marmi and Pop Pop's dog - and what you call every dog you see in person or in a book)

- Uh Oh - you have the OH down too...it use to be uh uh. You LOVE dropping things just so you can say it!

- Chees (Cheese and Jesus) you kind of say the same thing for both ha!

- Up

- Buh buh (Bye Bye) you wave your hand and say it in the sweetest tone! I could just eat you up!

- Pah for please (we try to always make you say it)

As I said, you have gotten so good at pointing at things. You LOVE to point at Jesus on the cross at church and at Mary when she is holding baby Jesus, it is a statue very near where we sit and we always pass it on our way to the back during the consecration. We figure the congregation doesn't mind hearing your joyful noises during the readings and songs but when the priest is performing the miracle of changing the bread and wine into Jesus' blood and body, we feel you might be better witnessing it behind the glass with the other babies your age. Your Daddy and I always hope you can participate in the mass even at an early age but want to also respect the people who are praying around us. That will probably be another post - when and if we put you in the nursery. Anyway, back to pointing. You love the stained glass and the big light fixtures, it is so neat to see you watch them. You also point at people you love, cock your head to your shoulder and smile. It is SO SWEET the way you like to say, "I love you!"

You also are still so good at waving hello and bye bye. You ALSO have begun BLOWING KISSES! You hold your hand (sometimes both hands if we are really lucky) to your mouth for a while and make the mmmmmm sound until you finally pull it away and finish up with a mmmmmmmmmmmmmAH! It is SOO sweet!

You LOVE your bath still and sometimes you will even say ba ba for bath too. On the bathing subject, we thought you might like the pool as well and YOU DID! You were a little fish, swimming around, kicking your legs and moving your arms. You were also trying to drink the water - we will work on that! Your first swim (where you actually participated unlike last year the few times we put you in the pool) was on a Sunday afternoon after church, April 8th. Yes it was over 80 degrees out that day and the water had a chill but you didn't mind! You wore the cutest little one piece with a diaper inside and a matching sun hat which you surprisingly left on!

I have a bad feeling about the pool being in eye shot for you this summer - I am worried you will see it and will want to swim ALL THE TIME! Probably shouldn't be a worry - I am so thankful you love the water my sweet little fishy!

In the food department, you pretty much eat anything we give you! We still have strayed from shellfish, honey, peanut butter (though you did find a peanut on the floor, put it in your mouth and promptly spit it out), and egg whites but everything else has been fair game. You have loved us introdusing you to a few new things - any type of bean, you love black beans like they were candy, new cheeses, strawberries, blueberries, peaches (these are whole fruits not pureed), wheat pancakes, blueberry waffles, whole peas, pan seared tilapia, whole wheat pasta and all of your other favorites.

You did take it upon yourself to introduce yourself to an apple a month ago. We were in sprouts and you wanted something to hold so I gave you a big apple. You decided to be a big girl and took a bite out of it as if you had done it a million times before. You LOVED it and kept biting off chunks as I peeled the skin away. It was kind of a grainy apple os it almost dissolved in your mouth as you chewed. I thought you seemed ok until I was checkign out and missed pulling off a piece of skin and you started choking as I was paying! You scared Mommy so much and you eventually got it out with some throw up. Poor thing, but you were alright and wouldn't you know that as soon as you got a breath you were reaching for the apple again!

You sometimes let us spoon feed you but it is a major fight so we usually let you feed yourself though still with your favorite fork and spoon - your hands! Below are a couple variations of a typical menu in the day of Eleanor Ann at 11 months.

Variation 1:

Breakfast

whole wheat pancake, cut up strawberries and bananas, blueberry or peach yogurt

Lunch

half of a whole wheat, turkey or ham and cheese sandwich cut up in pieces and some fruit (whole frozen blueberries, cut up peaches/strawberries/banana/apple)

Dinner

grilled chicken, sauteed spinach cut up small, sauteed in garlic and evoo, cheese and some fruit

Variation 2:

Breakfast

oatmeal with some processed apples or peaches, turkey sausage cut up and fruit

Lunch

Black beans, green peas, and fruit

Dinner

ground turkey (you like when it has taco meat flavoring), cheese, fruit, cut up green beans sauteed in garlic, evoo, salt, and pepper

Special Treats you have been introduced to are graham crackers and animal crackers. Both you love and like I said, only get them as a special treat - the graham crackers were introduced at your friend Garrett's bday party. You also tried goldfish for the first time at Katie's house and why would we even question whether or not you would enjoy them - they have CHEESE in them! We try to make fruit your dessert after meals but every once in a while you get sometime fun like those other treats. You have also eaten tortilla before and got treated to your very own cheese quesadilla off the kids menu at Cheesecake Factory. We wouldn't normally order you the kids meny but our appetizer wasn't something you would want (lettuce wraps) so we ordered you a quesadilla. I will say that we did that before they brought us a special baby plate - cut up bread and bananas - how sweet of them! Points for Cheesecake Factory!

You officially ended breastfeeding right at 10 months. Mommy was so sad to give it up but you kind of just did it yourself. I am so thankful we were able to last that long and will forever cherish that special time with you! I love you so much! You now take a 6 - 7oz bottle in the morning after breakfast, around 2 before your afternoon nap, and then at night before bed. You like to sit up and lean against our chest facing out - I do miss you liying in my arms and eating as you looked up at me but we do it this way as you like to sit up and play with your feet! You are drinking out of 9 oz. glass bottles which are pretty heavy with liquid in them and we have also kind of just let you play with your feet or hold bun bun while we have always fed you so you still haven't mastered holding your own bottle though you do hold your water cup just fine. We are working on graduating you to taking your bottle on your own. Until then, Daddy and I LOVE the time we get to slow down, sit, and rock with you holding you close as we feed you your bottle.

Sweet baby, we love you more than anything and are blessed even more every day by having you in our lives! Thank you for being such a sweet love, for bringing joy to our hearts with your hugs, kisses (you like to blow them rather than give with your lips, we take anything!), and your smiles. We love you!

Catching Up

Oh WOW! So much has happened since Ash Wednesday! I want to write and post pictures about it all...we will see how long that takes...here are a few of the highlights:

Eleanor turned 10 Months Old! I said in her 11 Month post that I really couldn't distinguish the two months in what I could remember her doing. We love seeing her grow and turn into a real person!

We finally decided after sitting down with my financial expert Dad that we are going to wait another year before buying a house. Despite the market being so in favor of buyers and the low interest rates, Andy is my dad's clone as far as being conservative with money goes (which I am thankful for) and really wants to pay off some or hopefully all of his college debt before taking on mortgage debt ha! SO it is another year on the 3rd floor in our apt. We are fine and cozy and the space works for the three of us but that is part of the reason why we are concerned about me being pregnant and carrying a one year old up the stairs...so we will see what happens but think we will wait another year in that department too...tear :(

We also made another big decision about next year, Eleanor is going to preschool! My mom needs a little bit of a break though she LOVES taking care of Eleanor. I can understand though, not that she is mobile, she makes you tired just watching much less chasing her! We started to look at in-home daycare and part-time day cares and then stumbled upon St. Philip's Catholic Church in Flower Mound. I would have preferred to put her in preschool at our parish, St. Ann, but the great thing about Little Apostle's Preschool (St. Phil's) is that they do 5 day/week daycare while St. Ann is only once a week and you have to be 18 months to start (E will only be 15 months in August). We are excited, the facility is awesome and the curriculum seems advanced so hopefully it works out well http://stphilipcc.org/index.cfm?load=page&page=173! Mom is going to take her and pick her up and E will be at school from 9 - 2 every day.

One of the weekends during Lent, we drove 2 hours and met Grandma and Grandpa in Eastland to return Grandpa's white truck that Andy has been borrowing since we married. It was perfect as they hadn't seen her and we hadn't seen them in quite a few months so it was a perfect day trip! We enjoyed lunch with them at a little Italian Restaurant off the highway. Eleanor loves Grandma and Grandpa!

Other trips out of town included to the lake for St. Patrick's Day, Eleanor's first, and to Houston for Laura and sweet Baby Jacob's shower at the Tantons. We had so much fun spending time with Hallie, Belle, and Jason and Amanda along with a dinner evening with the Wentrceks as well! All three babies are getting so big, Eleanor had so much fun with her Houston girlfriends!

Fat Tuesday - Peace Out Until Easter!

Fat Tuesday - oh one of my favorites! Your last chance to enjoy all you are giving up for Lent. For me, it is, as stated before, anything that has really distracted me from spending time with the Man upstairs. To be specific, blogs and facebook. Andy and I also decided to sacrifice our evening glass of wine and I am definitely going to miss it. I love how wine makes me relax and de-stress, I feel so chill and like everything I was worried about will be alright when I drink wine...I am hoping that instead of counting on that nightly glass, my committment to a conversation with Christ each night will be a much better replacement.

I am also going to miss chocolate - another indulgence I seem unable to live without. SO, in light of "Fat Tuesday," Andy and I picked a few foods we love to induldge in combined with what was in the freezer so to save some money and had our own little Fat Tuesday last hoorah before Lent meal. He grilled pork chops and I made decedantly wonderfully creamy mashed potatoes (my long-time weakness), creamed corn (I wouldn't touch it with a 10 ft. pole but it is Andy's fave), garlic green beans with almonds (another indulgence of mine...luckily not too unhealthy), and a FEW glasses of wine. I then indulged in dark chocolate covered almonds and more wine while watching good ol' George W on Oprah ha! Random but Andy actually wanted to watch...the only time he has EVER been interested in Oprah except this time it was clearly to see W.


I am so looking forward to the sacrifice and little bit of uncomfortable change that comes with these next 40 days! I will MISS blog and facebook but Easter will be here soon! The picture above I thought was a beautiful depiction of what we must focus on for Lent - the sacrifice our Lord made for us and a reflection of all the nails we drive into him as he hangs on the cross. What am I doing to crucify Christ? When am I NOT BEING Him to those I meet or already know? When am I not being His love to other people, His people, and then in turn, hurting Him. It reminds me of that Casting Crowns song,

"If we are the body, why aren't His arms reaching, why aren't His hands healing, why aren't His words teaching? If we are the body, why aren't His feet going, why is His love not showing them there is a way - Jesus is the way..."

Let us pray for one another as we grow closer in relationship to and in appreciation of the one who loves us and carries our cross daily for us. Let us work towards emulating Christ and letting Him remain in us as we are His body and His love to all we encounter! How cool and happier our world would be if we could all do this! See you in 40 days!

Pre-Lenten Reflection

My faith has been something I have really been thinking about lately. With life throwing so many crazy twists and turns and hardly ever lending itself to a "slow down," I find myself lately only turning to God in complete desperation. When traffic is backed up and I am still 30 min. away from school but have 10 to get there I call on a miracle from God paired with my reckless Dallas driver weaving and speeding. On weekdays when I face bedtime with utter exhaustion wondering if I will be able to make it through the rest of the week, I often call on His grace and yet another miracle to maximize my sleep when I hit the sack at 11 and plan on rising at 4 to hit the gym. As I approached TAKS Writing for the first time with my 22 4th graders and could name a handful that I was not certain would pass, I prayed in, yet again, in desperation, that God will somehow help them to know what they need to even though it seems like they haven't retained anything I have taught - but that still they would pass and help me to not be the reason my school drops below Exemplary Status. AGHH I am not used to TAKS being so early...

I pray FOR other people, asking God to give them the grace they need to endure trials, and offer them up to Christ that they may enjoy the friendship with Him that I so desire. I pray for Andy and our marriage that it continue to grow closer in mirroring the "marriage" of Christ and the love He has for His Church and that he is continuously assured as the super wonderful husband and father/provider for our family that he is but also that his faith may continue to grow as the spiritual head of our family. Still making requests though...

As I write all this I am reminded of something I was told in high school, "God is not Santa Claus." Probably stated by Fr. John Dick, a wonderful priest who always got straight to the point on things, but also spoke so much truth to me. How often am I asking God for miracles as opposed to spending time praising Him, and nurturing that friendship that He so desires to share with me?

As oftentimes we do experience in life, I find myself more in that spiritual valley than on the mountaintop with God these days. Not to say that He isn't here but that, I don't even know what it is, I am just craving and wanting more. I also am struggling with feeling like I am not perfect enough at ANYTHING I do. I have a very controlling and perfectionist personality, most know, and because of this, never seem to be satisfied. This transfers to my "jobs" and since the birth of our first daughter, Eleanor, have had a very hard time being "perfect" at my teaching job along with my job as a wife and mother. Thus leading to the ultimate predicament, balancing and being perfect at all three jobs. How in the world do I devote the time I normally would before becoming a mom to my job, staying up here until after dark and getting here early, while also being the mom I am called to be - spending the time with Eleanor I live my days for and caring for her as she needs, ALONG with being there for Andy to chat about whatever is on our minds, cook, and clean the house just to mention a few of the duties of a wife?! The answer is, I don't do it perfectly. I do it as God wants me to and with His grace do it imperfectly with Him perfecting it through me.

Fr. Alfonse, one of our FAVORITE and dearest priests along with Eleanor's "Baptist" if you will (he baptized her...) was once again God's most beautiful instrument and allowed God to speak to me (and I am sure many others but I like to think He was talking to me) about my perfectionist tendencies this past Sunday in his homily. A version of it is seen in his daily blog post if you would like to read: http://fralfonse.blogspot.com/2011/03/mt-721-27-be-one-with-me.html but the gist that I took away from it was that I did not need to worry about having the perfect body (I don't think I will ever have my pre-baby body again...I am trying to grasp the UN-importance of that when my mind and the world around me is telling me that it IS important...as I said, working on accepting that...pray for me!), the perfectly clean house, perfectly folded laundry, the perfect amount of money in savings so we can buy the perfect house and have perfect furniture, the perfect job and handling every situation/planning every lesson perfectly, the perfect marriage, perfect clothes for Eleanor with the perfect matching bow for every outfit, raising a perfect and polite who eats everything perfectly healthy and loves it child...the list goes on.

These are all areas of my life I try to perfect and DON'T necessarily let God perfect in his own way. Fr. Alfonse reminded me so much of what I forget to think about on a daily basis. There is nothing perfect except eternity with Christ. I should be longing for that every day and should think of Him before ANYTHING else. There it is - His revelation to me! I can't live without Him and my prayer must constantly be that He remain in me and I in Him. I can't function the way He created me to be (this perfectionist I for some reason am) without Him working through me, without His plan and desires for me being followed. How can I have Him constantly by my side, guiding me? "Seek ye first, the Kingdom of God"

I am so thankful God put this on my heart as I have been pining over what to sacrifice for Him for Lent. I LOVE that Lent is late this year as I always feel like after the 1st of the year it comes so quickly and I have not prepared through prayer, what God would like me to accomplish during it. I LOVE that Lent is our wonderful reminder as Catholics, as what our lives should always be - a living sacrifice for Christ, a tiny meaningless (compared to what He endured) offering in repayment for His life He offered for us on the cross. I am SO excited for Lent this year as, stated above, I really need to re-focus my life on Him.

Andy and I have quite a few decisions ahead of us, buying a house, determining how I could someday stay home with our children, and determining, with God's guidance, when we will welcome the next member of our family (I don't mean a pet...hopefully that will never happen...I mean a child ha in case there was confusion). I don't know if it is just that I am feeling like my little baby is so grown up considering she will be 1 in a couple months that I have this desire for another child (infant) or what it is but I do have that desire even though everything else is telling me that is not a good idea right now...we will see, like I said, prayer is needed. OR maybe, like He did for Eleanor, God will just make the decision for me and that would be welcomed as well! All these decisions paired with a desire for that friendship with Christ and His guidance are why I am SO EXCITED to take some time and really focus on HIM this Lent.

I read a blog a friend referred me to and it REALLY made me think about and decide upon what I am going to do for Lent. There are a few things Andy and I are doing together as a family but I have decided that I need to clear distractions that I am putting before me in place of spending time with Christ. I also find that Andy is often kind of neglected by my "bug staring at a blue light" eye lock on the computer once Eleanor goes down. I often go straight to online shopping/bargain hunting, blog reading/writing, and of course, facebook stalking. I don't spend time with him talking like we should and certainly don't leave time to have a conversation with God.

SO I am copying the girl in this blog: http://mychildiloveyou.blogspot.com/2011/02/black-out-lenten-proposal.html and I am not going to get on the blog or facebook until EASTER! AH this is going to be tough but clearly not and I am prayerful that the fruits that come from this sacrifice will be WAY better than the quick fix I get from posting pictures or reading other people's blogs, etc. I am going to spend that time with what matters most, Christ, and my family. I know I will want to be recording things so I have decided I will handwrite anything I might like to put in the blog and then after Easter, will type those reflections up for either a long or various separate entries. My in-laws and grandparents and sisters will miss the pictures of Eleanor so in that case, will email if need be and then will of course have a large album of pictures missed over Lent. If not, we will live! I MUST not give up on this and REALLY want to use this break from distractions for what it is, a break and a "vacation" if you will, with Christ. We really have a lot of catching up to do :)

Praying that anyone reading will also make the decision to clear their lives of distractions, whatever they may be, and focus this next 40 days on the only perfect thing in life, the only person who will guarantee utter happiness, our Lord and Savior! Let us remind ourselves to, as Fr. Alfonse reminded me in his blog, to allow Christ to remain in us and be one with us. Even more, let us pray that this Lent carries on afterwards as well.

Independence Day

Last night was the first meal Eleanor fed entirely to herself. We are still planning on feeding her most of her meals run through the food processor still but last night, decided to do otherwise. I make her "Turkey Apple Loaf/Sticks" from an awesome baby food making website: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/babyfingerfood.htm

The recipe is in the link but you know me, I of course altered it...I also meant to add some sort of greens and will in the future (processed spinach/peas/green beans/broccoli...whatever I have on hand)

The recipe came out pretty wet and they say to add more breadcrumbs but I really just put enough to make it stick together...she doesn't need any extra carbs...she gets plenty from eating bread and her fave, pancakes.

Here is what I used:

- 1 lb. ground turkey breast

- 1/4 cup applesauce (pureed cooked apples or you can use natural organic applesauce)

- 1/2 cup (or in my case two beaba baby food sorage "pods") of cooked pureed butternut squash

- 2 egg YOLKS beaten (no egg whites until they are one)

- 2 pieces of whole wheat bread food processed to bread crumbs (use the heels, perfect way to not waste them since I HATE eating them on a sandwich..

- 1/2 handful of rolled oats

- 1/4 c. processed rolled oats

- pinch of dried basil

- pinch of garlic salt (I didn't have any powder though powder would have been better)

Use your hands and get dirty mixing all this together in a bowl. Then, pour the mixture onto a cookie sheet (with sides just in case there is any grease dripping but it will be very little since it is turkey) and make it about as thick as half your thumb (doesn't have to fill the cookie sheet). Bake at 350 degrees until cooked thoroughly (about 20 - 30 min depending on the thickness).

When cooled, slice into strips and either serve that way for older toddlers or cut into small pieces for finger food babies :)

It isn't exactly appealing to the eyes but Eleanor liked it and it is a good way to get foods in they can't eat without you serving it to them - especially when they like feeding themselves :)

Another good finger food Eleanor has enjoyed is rice. It is a good size and is soft enough that she can smoosh it with her gums! A dear friend shared the recipe with me and if you love Chipotle's rice, you will LOVE this one! PS, when I did my shopping, I was in a rush and grabbed fresh parsley instead of cilantro. Super bummed, I used the parsley in place of the cilantro and it brough a very fresh flavor to the rice. I served it with tilapia and everyone enjoyed! Here is the recipe if you want it: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/03/chipotle-cilantro-lime-rice-4-pts.html

So Eleanor's meal consisted of Turkey loaf cut into little pieces, whole cooked peas, and parsley lime rice. I will add that after I made such a big deal out of independent eating, I did remember that Andy fed her some yogurt afterwards for dessert...oops...and we still have to feed that little stinker her bottle...she never has had the desire to hold it...would rather scratch her head or the person's face who is feeding her.

Finger Foods - 9 Months

Eleanor has not been a fan of letting us feed her lately - everyone says she is becoming independent while I am freaking out that she isn't getting the nutrients she needs becasue she can't feed herself all the vegetables I can puree quite yet to therefore get her optimal nutrients needed to keep her healthy! I then realized this is the beginning of many more moments she will crave independence and I, her worrisome mother will fight tooth and nail to keep her, my sweet baby, close and under my control ha! I guess this is where I need to learn to practice trusting God that He will lead her when I can't...maybe a little dramatic when using that statement to talk about her food independence but still...this is the beginning nonetheless.

Anyway, I have been trying various finger foods with her, here are a few she has had. She loves most. The vegetables take some getting used to but we just keep offering them hoping she will eventually like and not spit them out. Luckily, she, especially with peas, will pick one up, spit it out, and then reach for another thinking maybe it will taste different I guess and then the process starts over again ha!

Eleanor has tried:

- bananas (sliced then the slices halved and cut three times)

- whole cooked peas

- the top (floret) part of cooked broccoli

- steamed and sliced up butternut squash

- cooked zuccini sliced into tiny pieces

- cooked carrots and then sliced super thin

- shredded cheddar and mozzerella cheese (DEVOURS...we are cutting down on this snack)

- rice (tried to make cilantro lime rice and accidentally bought parsley instead of cilantro...she liked it anyway :))

- avocado

- black beans

- shredded baked or boiled chicken (loves it)

- pieces of whole wheat bread

- whole wheat pancakes (LOVES them)

- pan seared tilapia (had seasoning on it but we gave her pieces under the seasoning)

- turkey breakfast sausage cooked and cut up into tiny pieces

- turkey meatballs (I made sure the garlic chunks weren't in what I gave her)

- fresh parsley (she has had it in the meatball and in the rice)

- blueberries (quartered, fresh)

- egg yolks (she didn't like at all - prob. bc they are pretty strong...we will wait until she can eat the whites too and give her scrambled eggs before probably offering eggs again.)

She mostly likes bread (pancakes or wheat bread), cheese, and any kind of meat/fish we have put in front of her. Bananas are something she delights in as well but the problem is all of those are still white/yellow. She needs some greens, reds, and oranges on her plate so here I am, a mother on a quest to get her to have a more colorful plate...is this too OCD for a 9 month old? Am I stressing over something silly right now? My quest to have a healthy, non-picky eater continues.

Hope this helps if anyone is wondering what finger foods their 9mo. old+ can have :)

Our feeding routine now includes us trying to feed her the usual portion (whatever food I have cooked and food processed into a puree) and then also letting her finger food it in between bites as after two or three bites she pushed the spoon away and doesn't want us feeding her. Below are some pictures of her trying her new spoon out. We let her hold HER spoon, sometimes put food on it for her to feed herself, and let her feed herself with her hands (finger foods) while trying to sneak her pureed meal in at the same time. It is a major mess these days but she is learning, so whatever it takes! Might I re-state, Eleanor is a BEAUTIFUL MESS when she eats :) Love her!