Gabe & Zara turned 6 months old at the beginning of September. Six months is the current guidance for introducing solids, and you are told to wait between 3-5 days to introduce a new food to ensure there is not an allergy. Since my birthday was over a long weekend, we decided to introduce them to solids as one of my birthday activities!

I decided to make as much of their food as I am able to, just so we know exactly what they’re eating and they’re not getting a lot of additives, and chemicals. It’s actually fairly easy and quick to prepare their food. I have a little immersion hand blender and with a little added milk, the food is a perfect consistency in no time! As we’ve learned, the key is to have the food ready when they wake up, otherwise they may not wait patiently!

We did not yet have highchairs when we introduced solids so we had to feed them one at a time in the bumbo chairs. Their first meal was sweet potatoes. Both Zara and Gabe liked sweet potatoes and ate quite a bit for their first meal!

After much research and analysis, we found great high chairs so feedings can happen in parallel, although this presents challenges too!

We have since introduced avocado, pear, banana, mango, zucchini, peas, carrots, butternut squash and yam. Zara is not really a fan of peas or carrots (who can blame her really?), while Gabe thinks that anything slightly sweet is sour tasting…. He makes the funniest face when he eats sweet things. (see video).

We have had a lot of fun watching Zara and Gabe experience new flavors.

View photos of Zara and Gabe eating their first solids.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara 1 Comment »

I’m a little late in posting this but I caught Gabe’s first roll over on video (7/30).  For the first 3 weeks he screamed every time he got to his stomach.  Over a month later and he still doesn’t consistently roll back over but now he’s too busy exploring and scooting all over to worry about being “beached” on his stomach.

Zara has rolled over but she doesn’t chose to… she’ll roll over to grab a toy then roll right back onto her back.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara 94 Comments »

We had a busy 5th month. Z’s parents visited for the first 2 wks of August and we did a lot of sightseeing. Unfortunately, the nanny we made an offer to turned us down a week before I returned to work so we were left without help! Our friend Rita came back out to help us for a few weeks until we found a new nanny. Fortunately we found a wonderful nanny and had Rita here when I returned to work. It was hard to go to work but made it so much easier knowing Gabe & Zara were in safe hands!

The babies are growing so quickly. They’re both showing a lot of personality and are quite different.

View photos of Fifth month.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara 88 Comments »

Gabriel and Zara turned 5 months old and are growing so quickly. They are both starting to giggle out loud and are happy, healthy babies. Zvonimir and I are in love with them and are having so much fun. They’re great babies and almost always sleep through the night. They’re also starting to get on a more regular nap schedule.

Gabe finally learned how to roll from his back to his stomach but he has yet to figure out how to flip back over. After a few minutes on his tummy he starts to scream. However, as soon as you turn him onto his back he flips back to his tummy. We’re hoping that he soon learns to flip back over so we don’t have to constantly flip him!! Zara hasn’t rolled over yet. She prefers to lie on her side and kick at the toys (and her brother!). Our prediction is that Zara will be the mischevious one. She has this devilish little smile.

Zvonimir, his dad, my cousin Bill and his son Cole went fishing for Salmon in Puget Sound. It was a very foggy day so unfortunately, they didn’t have great views while fishing, but they had a successful fishing trip! They were allowed to keep 2 farm raised salmon each. They caught several wild born salmon but the law prohibits you from keeping these. They also caught 2 sharks. However, the biggest catch of the trip was by Cole, who caught a seal… well, not really, but the salmon he had hooked was chased and eventually stolen by the seal. They brought home a total of 30 lbs of king salmon for the boat.

We finished up the week with Zvonimir’s parents sightseeing around Seattle and having dinner with a few friends.

View photos of Miljenko and Vida’s second week in Seattle.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Seattle 95 Comments »

We decided this year it might be a bit much to take our annual trip to Europe so Zvonimir’s parents came to Seattle to visit us. This was Vida and Miljenko’s first trip to Seattle so we had an action packed 2 weeks! Despite the unseasonably chilly weather, we enjoyed exploring Seattle including a day at Pike’s Place Market where we bought a whole Sockeye Salmon, smoked salmon, and some amazing fruits and veggies. We also visited the Salmon Ladder and Ballard Locks where we watched boats go through the locks into the lake and the salmon climbing the ladder to the lake.

We spent a few days on the Washington coast where we rented an amazing cottage in Seabrook, WA. Seabrook is a planned community across the street from the Pacific Ocean. It’s also very near the temperate rainforest and some beautiful beaches. Since the Pacific Coast and rainforest aren’t easy day trips from Seattle, the cottage gave me and the kids a place to hang out while Zvonimir and his parents did a hike in the rainforest. We enjoyed the cottage at Seabrook a lot and will hopefully return soon!

Upon returning from the coast, Zvonimir and his parents took a day trip to Mt. Rainier where they enjoyed another hike and some better weather.

View photos of Miljenko and Vida’s first week in Seattle.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Olympic Peninsula, Seattle 1 Comment »