Mmm...Rice Cereal

We gave Lily her first solid this evening...rice cereal mixed with breast milk. And I must say, solid is a term to be used very, very loosely. The cereal seemed more like milk than cereal, but we followed the directions on the box. Apparently rice cereal is the place to start, followed by the other single grains...oats and barley, then single ingredient fruits and veggies. I plan to make Lily's baby food, but I think it would be going a bit far to make her cereals, so those I bought. My friend recommended a great book, First Meals, by Annabel Karmel. I can't wait to get started making baby food. It is definitely the healthier and more frugal way to go. For the basic first foods, it is pretty much just steaming or baking the fruit or veggie and then pureeing it. You can make a whole bunch and freeze it in ice cube trays and then you have a bunch of single serving fruits or veggies. I will update more once I have actually made some food! For right now, we are going to do a little cereal every evening. Then, in a couple weeks, we will start introducing veggies and fruits...one every couple of days to make sure there are no allergies.
Lily wasn't quite sure about the cereal. More like she wasn't quite sure about the spoon. She probably had more on her bib than in her, but by the end she was opening her mouth and taking the spoon really well. However, I think we waited until too late in the day. Matt wanted to be home to witness this milestone, and I wanted him to take pictures. It was a little too close to bed time and even though I tried nursing her first, I think she was hungry. For a first shot, I think it went pretty well, but it is definitely something to be worked on!