About that 32 pounds....

There were several comments yesterday inquiring how I manage to put weight on my little Elisabeth. The secret is in the genes; my family makes big babies. My siblings and I were all in the 9 to 10 pound range and Elisabeth wanted to carry on the tradition. At birth she weighed in at 9 lbs 5 oz....and that was 2 weeks early! She was enormous compared to her two roommates in the NICU. One weighed 2 1/2 pounds and the other was just over 1 pound. Elisabeth looked like a giant.

Also, there is a trend of height in my family. My grandfather stood at 6'6'', my father at 6'4'', my brothers are all in the 6'2'' to 6'4'' range, and my sisters tower over me (I'm the shrimp in the family).

So yes, Elisabeth takes after my side of the family. And that is fine...except that it might have been a little easier if she were in the tenth percentile like Alexandra. Easier on my back, that is. But life isn't supposed to be easy, is it?

Now to discuss Elisabeth's diet. She doesn't know how to chew and can't tolerate much texture (or she'll vomit), so most of her meals are in the liquid form. She does however love vanilla yogurt. In fact, vanilla yogurt is the key to getting fruits and veggies in her tummy. We mix a bowl of food with about 50% yogurt and 50% Gerber fruits or vegetables. It's the only way she'll take food. No yogurt, no Gerber....those are her terms and we stick with them.

A Look at Elisabeth's Daily Intake:

She takes either formula or a nutrition drink by bottle. However, if liquids are too runny she immediately aspirates, so we thicken it with rice cereal. She will not eat the rice cereal on its own though (it makes her vomit).

We buy Elisabeth whole milk yogurt to mix with an assortment of Gerber baby foods. Usually she has a fruit in the morning and a vegetable in the evening. Elisabeth will not eat fruits or vegetable unless it is mixed with the yogurt.

Elisabeth's favorite meal is yogurt and peas. My mother-in-law, Susan, and I always chuckle at what an odd concoction it is. In fact we find ourselves making little rhymes about it. One night we got a bit carried away with our 'Yogurt and Peas' poem and came up with verse after verse after verse. Unfortunately, many of those verses have escaped my memory at the moment, but here was the opening:

Yogurt and peas,

Yogurt and peas,

Please do not tease

About yogurt and peas.

It's good for your head

And it's good for your knees.

So I will say yes!

To more yogurt and peas.

Silly, yes.....but I recite it to her everyday and do think she is becoming quite fond of it.

So my question is this:
How do you take your yogurt?

I am grateful for nutritious foods.